Baldwin, William Houstoun, and Nathan Brownson, who were appointed the trustees of the institution to be erected.

In the passage of this act, Abraham Baldwin, a graduate of Yale, and one of the best scholars of his time, was chiefly instrumental. Though he had recently come to Georgia, Mr. Baldwin's popularity was already so great as to secure for him a seat in the General Assembly. During the session he originated the plan of the University of Georgia, and obtained from the Legislature the grant of land, as above stated, for its endowment.

BILL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA.

The Assembly, by an act passed on the 27th of January, 1785,1 developed almost into maturity the germ of a University found in their legislation the previous year. Under this act a charter was granted to the persons above mentioned, and to certain others named in addition,2 as trustees of an institution to be established and to be called the "University of Georgia." The bill was entitled, "An act for the more full and complete establishment of a public seat of learning in this State," and opens with a preamble which, in the language of Dr. Alonzo Church, "would do honor to any Legislature, and will stand a monument to the wisdom and patriotism of those who framed and of those who adopted it." This preamble reads as follows:

"As it is the distinguishing happiness of free governments that civil order should be the result of choice, and not necessity, and the common wishes of the people become the laws of the land, their public prosperity and even existence very much depends upon suitably forming the minds and morals of their citizens. When the minds of the people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled, and their conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater confusions and evils more horrid than the wild uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy where the public principles and opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the reach of laws and punishments, and can be claimed only by religion and education. It should, therefore, be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity, to encourage and sup port the principles of religion and morality, and early to place the youth under the forming hand of society, that by instruction they may be moulded to the love of virtue and good order. Sending them abroad to other countries for their education will not answer these purposes, is too humiliating an acknowledgment of the ignorance or inferiority of

1Marbury and Crawford's Digest, pp. 560-2.

2 Viz, John Habersham, Abiel Holmes, Jenkin Davis, Hugh Lawson, William Glascock, and Benjamin Taliaferro.

Address before the Georgia Historical Society, February 12, 1845. (White's Statistics of Georgia, p. 69.)

our own, and will always be the cause of so great foreign attachments, that upon principles of policy it is inadmissible.

"This country, in the times of our common danger and distress, found security in the principles and abilities which wise regulations had before established in the minds of our countrymen; that our present happiness, joined to the pleasing prospects, should conspire to make us feel ourselves under the strongest obligations to form the youth, the rising hope of our land, to render the like glorious and essential services to our country."

The act provided that the general superintendence and regulation of the literature of this State should be confided to two bodies, one consisting of the Governor and Council, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and the Chief Justice, termed a "Board of Visitors ;" and the other, consisting, as we have seen, of thirteen persons, to be called the "Board of Trustees." These two bodies, united, were to constitute the "Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia." This "Senatus Academicus " was to "consult and advise, not only upon the affairs of the University, but also to remedy the defects and advance the interests of literature through the State in general."

The fourteenth section of this bill also declared that "all public schools instituted, or to be supported by funds or public moneys in this State, shall be considered as parts or members of the University, and shall be under the foregoing directions and regulations;" while by the ninth all the officers of the University were required to be "of the Christian religion," and to "publicly take the oath of allegiance and fidelity."

LIBERAL SPIRIT OF THE CHARTER.

That which is most striking in the charter of the University of Georgia, and which best indicates the catholic spirit in which it was conceived and drawn, is found in the eleventh section, wherein the trustees are forbidden to "exclude any person, of any religious denomination whatsoever, from free and equal liberty and advantages of education,

1 The union and joint operation of these boards no longer exist (for abolition of the Senatus Academicus, see Act of December 14, 1859, Laws of 1859, pp. 26-7). The board of trustees, which originally consisted of thirteen members, has since been increased to thirty-six, and exercises an independent and unassisted control over the affairs and interests of the University. The Board of Visitors, as now known, is composed of five citizens annually appointed by the Governor, whose business it is "to attend the examinations at the University of Georgia, preceding the annual commencement, and to examine personally into the condition and management of the institution;" they receiving as a compensation for their services (which must not exceed ten days) four dollars a day, estimating from the date of leaving home. (Act of October 13, 1887, Laws of 1887, p. 67.)

Five new members have been added to this board through the establishment of the Georgia School of Technology at Atlanta, the commissioners appointed for the erection, equipment, and organization of that institution being regarded as ex officio trus tees of the University.

or from any of the liberties, privileges, and immunities of the Univer sity in his education, on account of his or their speculative sentiments in religion, or being of a different religious profession." Truly has it been said of this institution: "It was the creation of no one man or set of men; it was the gift of no political party; it was the offspring of no religious or denominational sect; it drew its life and being from the State by whom it was created. It was of the people, by the people, and for the people."1

After the act of 1785, under which the University of Georgia received its charter and its trustees were appointed, nothing more was done in its behalf for many years. Until the Constitution of 1798 ordained that the next Legislature should take effectual measures for the University, it had no funds or donations except the forty thousand acres of wild land at first appropriated. These lands lay on the north-western frontier, and were open to the danger of Indian hostilities.2 This circumstance, in connection with the fact of their exceeding cheapness,3 and the difficulty of securing purchasers, rendered them almost entirely unproductive of income. The lands, therefore, of the University could not be made available for any valuable purpose, and the trustees were unable to give vitality to the institution. By the treaty of Beaufort,* April 28, 1787, about five thousand acres of the land granted to the University had been ceded to South Carolina, which reduced the amount to thirtyfive thousand acres; and even this amount was further curtailed by the fact that some of the University lands overlapped lands previously granted to other parties.5

See McCord's Speech, pp. 5-6.

"The country was perfectly wild," writes Chancellor Tucker, " and mostly uninhabited, except by Indians. Even in those portions of the State which were most thickly settled, and had been longest inhabited by white people, so savage was the condition that it was found necessary to provide, by the act of March 3, 1784, 'that a guard, consisting of an officer and from six to twelve horsemen, be furnished to the commanding officer of each county; that is to say, the guard of Chatham County, to escort the President and Council to the lower line of Effingham County; that the guard of Effingham County be ready there to escort them to the lower line of Burke County; and that the guard of Burke County be ready there to escort them to the lower line of Richmond County; and that the guard of Richmond County be ready there, to escort them to Augusta.' (Tucker's Address on the Condition, Interests, and Wants of the University of Georgia, pp. 13-14.)

*

* *

"Probably the whole forty thousand acres could not have been sold for one thousand dollars. As an evidence of the low value set on these lands, it is worthy of notice, that the State offered to give five hundred acres of it to any man, and any kind of man, who would set up a saw mill on any portion of it-he to take his choice; and on the same conditions, two thousand acres to any one who would set up a forge." (Watkins, 205.) "To each head of a family who would settle on it, the State offered to give two hundred acres, with fifty acres additional for every member of his family, whether old or young, white or black." (Ibid., 234, 309, etc.) "If the sale of the forty thousand acres had been forced, it may well be doubted whether it would have brought three cents an acre." (Tucker's Address, pp. 13–15.)

4 Watkins's Digest, p. 752; and Marbury and Crawford, pp. 337, 662.

5 Tucker's Address, p. 16.

FIRST MEETING OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE.

The first meeting of the Senatus Academicus of the State, of which any record remains, was held at Louisville, in Jefferson County, in No. vember, 1799. The original intention' of the Legislature seems to have been to cause buildings for the University to be erected in that town, but the donation of Governor John Milledge2 changed the plan. In 1801 he gave to the trustees, for the benefit of the University, about six hundred and thirty acres of land, on a part of which the University buildings are situated, and the rest of which is now occupied by the city of Athens.

Soon afterward the institution went into operation. We have the following account of this event from the pen of Governor Wilson Lumpkin: 3

“In 1801,” he says, in a letter dated November 1, 1855, "the trustees determined to put a college into operation. By the patriotic donation of Governor Milledge, they had plenty of ground and a most eligible site to build upon; but they had no houses or money in hand to build them, or even funds to pay a president of a college an adequate salary, or aid him by a faculty of any sort.

JOSIAH MEIGS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF FRANKLIN COLLEGE.

"Yet that most excellent man, with all his attainments, Josiah Meigs, LL. D., was induced to accept the presidency, of what has been called Franklin College ever since the year 1801, with a limited and precarious salary, and if I am to rely upon record, without the aid of a professor or even a tutor, and he continued in that office until 1811, his first classes reciting under the shades of a large oak, for the want of a better

6

'See Watkins's Digest, p. 320, Act of January 26, 1786. The expediency of establishing the University at Greensborough was also at one time considered, the Legislature having, by an act for laying out Greene County within the limits of Franklin County, and including a portion of the University land, approved February 3, 1786 (Watkins, pp. 322–3), authorized the trustees to lay out that town, sell the lots, and apply the proceeds to the benefit of the University. This project, however, did not meet with general favor. Efforts were also made to locate the institution in Hancock, Columbia, and Wilkes Counties.

2 It is due to the memory of Mr. Milledge to say that he was one of the first with whom the idea of establishing our State University originated. He cordially united with the most eminent men in Georgia to carry out that important measure. 3 Lewis's Report, pp. 124-5.

4 When Franklin College was opened, we are told (Evans's History of Georgia, p. 124) that no suitable building had as yet been erected; and there were but two houses in Athens at that time. According to Chancellor Tucker's account, the only college edifice was a frame building of only one room. (Tucker's Address, p. 23.)

5 He was a professor of natural philosophy and astronomy in Yale College, and was elected by the "Senatus Academicus" in 1800, at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars. (Stevens's History of Georgia, Vol. II, p. 362.)

"The truth was that he had the assistance of one professor for the first five years of his service, and of one tutor during the last five years, (Lewis's Report, p. 125.)

shelter. Yet in the ten years of Mr. Meigs's presidency, upward of fifty students were graduated and received their regular degree of A. B.” The first commencement of Franklin College was held in May, 1804, the exercises being conducted under an arbor formed of branches of trees, upon the campus. "Here, in this rustic chapel, surrounded by the primeval forest, and amidst a gathering of a few friends of the institution, and a still larger number of persons assembled to witness the novel scene, Col. Gibson Clark, the Hon. Augustin S. Clayton, General Jephtha V. Harris, Col. William H. Jackson, Prof. James Jackson, Thomas Irwin, Jared Irwin, Robert Rutherford, Williams Rutherford, and William Williamson graduated with the honors of the institution." 1

Upon the close of President Meigs's term of service the exercises of the college were, through lack of funds, suspended for a year. In 1812 the Rev. John Brown, D. D., was called to the vacant chair, where he remained until 1816, when he resigned. During his administration upward of twenty students received diplomas. There were no classes in 1813, in consequence of the war with Great Britain.

3

At first the college had looked for its partial support to the rent accruing from the lands given by the State. In that early day English ideas were largely prevalent, and it was thought that a long rent-roll was the best of all endowments. Experience soon proved that in this new country the renting of lands was not profitable. Some of the lands were accordingly sold, and the college was sustained from the proceeds of such sales. It was soon discovered, however, that this plan was unwise, and afterward the lands were all sold, payment being made in the notes of the purchasers, bearing interest and secured by mortgage.4 By the act of December 16, 1815, the State authorized the Governor to advance to the trustees any amount of money not exceeding two-thirds of the sum called for by these notes, and to receive the notes in lieu of the same. One hundred thousand dollars was the sum agreed upon,

1 Stevens's History of Georgia, Vol. II, p. 364.

2 Lewis's Report, p 125.

"None of the lands were sold until 1803, and then only a small portion, and at a low price." (White's Statistics of Georgia, p. 73.)

4 Section III of the act of December 16, 1815 (Prince's Digest, pp. 870-1), declares that" if the said trustees should dispose of the lands aforesaid upon a credit, the bonds given by the purchasers for the same shall be secured by good personal security, together with a mortgage upon the land so purchased; and the said bonds and mortgages, when collected, shall be applied by the said trustees to the subscription for stock in any banks now in this State, in case further subscriptions should be by them opened, or any bank which may hereafter be established by the State or the United States."

5 Under the provisions of this act the University lands were sold, and, as nearly as has been ascertained, the aggregate amount of the sales was about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one hundred thousand of which, under the direction of the Legislature, were converted into bank stock, and the balance, it is supposed, was applied to the purpose of reimbursing the State for advances made to the University from time to time. (Lewis's Report, p. 119.)