The Nine Colonial Colleges
Seven of the nine colonial colleges began their histories as institutions of higher learning de novo (i.e., with no predecessor parent organization). Dartmouth College began operating in 1768 as the collegiate department of Moor's Charity School, a secondary school started in 1754 by Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock. Dartmouth considers its founding date to be 1769, when it was granted a collegiate charter. The University of Pennsylvania began operating in 1751 as a secondary school, the Academy of Philadelphia, and added an institution of higher education in 1755 with the granting of a charter to the College of Philadelphia.
| Institution (present name, where different) | Colony | Founded | Chartered | First instruction (degrees) | Primary religious influence | Ivy League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New College (Harvard University) |
Massachusetts Bay Colony | 1636 | 1650 | 1642 (1642) | Puritan (Congregational) | Yes |
| The College of William & Mary | Colony and Dominion of Virginia | 1693 | 1693 | Church of England | No | |
| Collegiate School (Yale University) |
Connecticut Colony | 1701 | 1701 | Puritan (Congregational) | Yes | |
| College of New Jersey (Princeton University) |
Province of New Jersey | 1746 | 1746 | 1747 (1748) | Presbyterian but officially nonsectarian | Yes |
| College of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania) |
Province of Pennsylvania | 1740 | 1755 | 1755 (1757) | Church of England but officially nonsectarian | Yes |
| King's College (Columbia University in the City of New York) |
Province of New York | 1754 | 1754 | Church of England with a policy of commitment to "religious liberty." | Yes | |
| Rhode Island College (chartered as the College or University in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, in America) (Brown University) |
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations | 1764 | 1764 | Baptist (no religious requirement for admissions) | Yes | |
| Queen's College (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) |
Province of New Jersey | 1766 | 1766 | 1771 (1774) | Dutch Reformed | No |
| Dartmouth College | Province of New Hampshire | 1769 | 1769 | 1768 (1771) | Puritan (Congregational) | Yes |
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Famous quotes containing the words colonial and/or colleges:
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)
“I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has already lived, through the poverty or the splendor of his speech. Life lies behind us as the quarry from whence we get tiles and copestones for the masonry of today. This is the way to learn grammar. Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)