Part 1 (1/2)

The History Of University Education In Maryland

by Bernard Christian Steiner

COLONIAL ATTEMPTS TO FOUND A COLLEGE

The State of Maryland has been ales and professional schools Over forty such charters have been given by the legislature and, in ift of a charter was not warranted by the stability of the institution, to which was thus granted the power of conferring degrees In rown and flourished, and have had an honorable history

Collegiate education in Maryland did not begin until after the Revolution In the colonial period there was no demand for it sufficient to warrant the establishs there were several causes The majority of the early settlers were planters and frontiers it still less Of the wealthier classes, so for little else than sport; and others, who did desire the advantages of a culture higher than that obtainable froe schoolmaster or a private tutor, found it elsewhere They went over to Willialand, or, in case of some Catholics like Charles Carroll, to the institutions on the continent of Europe

But, though no college was established in colonial times, there was no lack of plans and attempts for one In 1671, while as yet Harvard was the only Ae, there was read and passed in the Upper House of the asse of a School or College within this Province for the Education of Youth in Learning and Virtue” The Lower House amended and passed the bill; but the plan see to the bill the Lord Proprietor was ”to Set out his Declaration of what Privileges and Immunities shall be Enjoyed by the Schollars;” and ”the Tutors or School Masters” were to be of ”the reforland” or, if two in number, to be ”the one for the Catholick and other for the Protestants'

Children”[1]

A second collegiate plan was brought before the legislature in 1732; but, having passed the Upper House, was seee was intended to be placed at Annapolis and was to offer instruction in ”theology, law, iate education” The governor of the colony was to be its chancellor and provision was made for a faculty of five, under who from their alphabet upwards[2]

A third unsuccessful attee was made in 1761,[3] and a fourth in 1763, when contrary to the earlier course of events, the rock, on which the project was shi+pwrecked, was found in the Upper House The college was to be placed at Annapolis, to occupy Governor Bladen's mansion, and to have a faculty of seven masters, ere to be provided with five servants The expense was to be defrayed from the colonial treasury, in case a tax to be levied on bachelors should prove insufficient for the purpose[4]

The failure of these projects did not daher education In 1773 we find Willia that the Legislature of the Province had determined to fit up Governor Bladen's e for the education of youth in every liberal and useful branch of science,” which college, ”conducted under excellent regulations, will shortly preclude the necessity of crossing the Atlantic for the coathering storm of war, however, drew men's attention away from this project

THE FIRST UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

The Rev Dr William Smith,[6] head of what is now the University of Pennsylvania, being out of ee's charter, was called as pastor in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore in 1780 To add to his inco a school for instruction in higher branches of education” As a nucleus for his school, he took an old acade the work of teaching, was so successful, that in 1782 the Legislature, on his application, granted the school a charter as Maryland's first college To it the naiven, ”in honorable and perpetual ton” Dr Smith was so earnest and zealous in the presentation of the claie, that in five years he had raised 14,000 from the people of the Eastern Shore All seee

In 1783 the first class graduated and the first degrees ever granted in Maryland were conferred, at the sa was laid, and in 1784 General Washi+ngton hie

Dr Smith prepared a three years' curriculue of the day and similar to the one used at the University of Pennsylvania But the Western Shore could not endure that the educational success of its rival section of the State should so far outstrip its own In the early days of the State, the sections were nearly equal in i dualism of the political system invaded the field of education

In 1784, two years after the founding of Washi+ngton College, _St John's College_ was chartered[7] It was to be placed at Annapolis, and in it wasWilliahty years before By the saes were united in the _University of Maryland_ This University was overnor was to be its chancellor, and the governing body was to be the ”Convocation of the University of Maryland” The convocation was to be composed of seven members of the Board of Visitors and Governors and two of the faculty of each college; it was to establish ordinances for the governes, to cause a uniformity in the ”manners and literature,” to receive appeals frorees and honors of the University” Its s were to be annual, and to be held alternately at each college on its commencement day

The provisions of the act were never carried out; two fruitless attempts were made to hold sessions of Convocation in 1790 and 1791, and then nothing was even atteislature of 1805, in withdrawing the State appropriations froes, did not even h the old charter had never been repealed, there was no hesitation in bestowing the name of University of Maryland on a second institution[8]

The two colleges which constituted this first University are still existing and doing good work The elder, Washi+ngton College, lost Dr

Smith in 1788 by his return to Philadelphia and re-accession to his old position there He was succeeded by Rev Colin Ferguson, a native of Kent county, and educated at Edinburgh University Under hie continued to flourish, until the withdrawal of the State's appropriation in 1805 The constitutionality of this withdrawal is questionable, as the original grant was to be paid annually ”forever;” but the State refused to pere and, soe, the legislature required a release of all claiinal act

By the act of 1805, the activity of the college was paralyzed and its usefulness h to stand alone and, when the helping hand of the State was taken away, it was aled to close its doors to students Since that tireatly aided it in perfor its functions; but from the disastrous effects of the act of 1805, the institution has never fully recovered

Indeed, frorae building In the latter year, however, the college was re-opened, since the legislature had granted it a lottery of 30,000 A year later Rev Dr Francis Waters became ”Principal,” and under his able leadershi+p the college bid fair to regain its old position; but in 1827 a second great e building was discovered to be on fire, and, in spite of the most zealous efforts, was entirely consue proper seerammar school maintained with one instructor

The classes were conducted in a building intended originally for a rectory, until that was destroyed by fire in 1839, when the school was again old, the principal of the school from 1832 to 1854, seems to have been a man of ability, and under him the number of students so much increased that in 1843 it was resolved to rebuild the college on the old site and to revive the college course As a result, the presentceree was reopened in its own edifice on January 1, 1845 In 1849, a class of four was graduated, and in 1854, two additional buildings were erected; one for the Principal's residence and the other for dore continued prosperous during the second administration of Rev Dr Waters from 1854 to 1860; but in the presidency of his successor, Rev Andrew J Sutton, cae of its Southern constituency and distractingAfter the Rebellion, an unfortunate selection of teachers and laxness of discipline caused the college to lose still round, and Wm J Rivers, Principal froain He was a faithful and diligent teacher, and under hie was ied The present head, CW Reid, PhD, is still further advancing the cause of the institution and a new career of prosperity seee and the only one on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay

St John's College, like its sister institution, founded on a non-denominational basis, started out under even fairer auspices[9] It was granted, by the State, Governor Bladen'sit, wasWilliam's School, and secured 9,000 from private beneficence in the first two years of its history The Bladen ed and, on August 11, 1789, Bishop Carroll was elected president of the Board of Visitors and Governors and Dr John McDowell accepted the Professorshi+p of Mathematics After unsuccessful atteland, Dr McDoas chosen to that position in the following year and continued in office, until the State withdrew its aid to the college in 1805 He was aand was very successful at St John's and later at the University of Pennsylvania as provost Under hireatly andits students, froraduated in 1793

The sae The Legislature withdrew the annual grant given by the State The same doubt as to the constitutionality of this withdrawal existed here, and the State confir its appropriation in 1832,[10] on condition of the college's accepting it in full satisfaction of all claiinal charter Of late years Maryland has been quite generous to St John's, but it has never quite recovered the station and prestige it lost by the taking away of the State's grant in 1805

In the first despair over the Act of the Legislature, the Visitors and Governors voted to discontinue the college, but their courage soon returned and the Rev Bethel Judd, elected principal in 1807, was able to graduate a class in 1810 After his withdrawal in 1812, matters were in a disturbed state for soraduated until 1822, when Rev Henry L Davis, the father of Maryland's famous orator, Henry Winter Davis, was principal After that year there were no graduates until 1827, when Rev Williale for existence was a hard one and the wonder is that the college succeeded as well as it did