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By Rebecca Downing

The story of the charter that established the institution that would become Colgate, and a word on a past celebration of Charter Day

1819
A scan of the opening lines of the institution’s original charter
A scan of the opening lines of the institution’s original charter

Charter establishing the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York (BESSNY)

With scattered but eager students, the Education Society faced two pressing tasks: to obtain a state charter and to find a promising site for their institution.”

James Allen Smith ’70 Becoming Colgate

Like cities and corporations, the creation and definition of a U.S. educational institution is granted through a written instrument known as a charter, by the sovereign power of a state.1

With the institution having evolved in name and scope since its founding, Colgate University’s charter story is somewhat complex.

But it is the first charter, sought by the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York (BESSNY) in an effort to solidify its mission and purpose, and granted in 1819, that is considered Colgate’s founding document.

Becoming Colgate

Illustrated depiction of the founders congregating at Olmstead House

The walls of Merrill House feature a mural illustrating the institution’s history.

Illustrated depiction of the founders congregating at Olmstead House

James Allen Smith, Class of 1970, tells the story in Chapter One of his forthcoming history of the University, Becoming Colgate:

“In the beginning, the Education Society approached congregations throughout New York and New England, seeking support for the young men they knew to be best suited for training as missionaries and ministers. The funds would enable aspiring ministerial students to leave their farms, shops, and schoolhouses and devote time to their studies… The new educational cause was steadily winning adherents and gaining resources…

“Soon there was a semblance of a college. It was referred to simply as ‘the Institution’ since, as yet, it had no name. It also lacked other essentials: a faculty, a formal curriculum, and a permanent home. But students were already being drawn to Hamilton and nearby towns. Jonathan Wade, the first beneficiary of the Baptist Education Society, arrived in February 1818, and received $27.12 for three months’ board with [Daniel] Hascall. Within the year, at least 13 students were studying with other ministers in nearby villages and enjoying Baptist Education Society ‘patronage,’ their term for financial aid. With scattered but eager students, the Education Society faced two pressing tasks: to obtain a state charter and to find a promising site for their institution.

“The Society initiated its request for a New York charter by submitting a petition to the State Legislature in January 1819. Granting a state charter to a religious society troubled some Assembly members, but after several readings and shrewd legislative maneuvering, the bill passed with 62 in favor and 35 opposed. On March 5, 1819, with a preamble announcing that the Society’s purpose was ‘to educate pious young men to the gospel ministry,’ the charter was signed into law.”2

Although the 1819 charter did not directly establish a seminary or college, it did authorize BESSNY to ‘make such Constitution, By-Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations for the appointment of officers [and] the Government of the Seminary…’ In An Historical Sketch of Madison University, published three decades later in 1852, the authors reflected on the 1819 charter: “It is evident, that the Society, thus chartered, did originally, intend to found a school at which to educate the beneficiaries.”3

Therefore, the date on which the Baptist Education Society was granted its charter — March 5, 1819 — has become the generally accepted date for the founding of the University.

Observation of Charter Day

In 1944, the 125th anniversary of the Baptist Education Society’s founding was celebrated despite the conditions of World War II. A special University Charter Day program on March 4, courtesy of the National Broadcasting Company and its independent affiliated stations, was broadcast both to alumni luncheons around the United States and via shortwave radio to Colgate men in the armed forces overseas. Under the theme of “The American College: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” speakers included Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Class of 1900; Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps; and James Phinney Baxter III, president of Williams College.4

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was invited to attend the event but declined, offered instead a stirring message of support: “...my hearty congratulations on the 125th anniversary of Charter Day. It is an anniversary in the celebration of which all Americans can join. The charter granted a century and a quarter ago contained a proviso ‘that if the said society . . . shall at any time pass any law or regulation affecting the rights of conscience . . . the said corporation shall cease and be void.’ Not only your Alumni, but millions of other Americans have taken up arms in defense of those very ‘rights of conscience.’ The phrase still stands as one of the clearest and most precise expressions of things for the defense of which we and our Allies in this war are fighting.”5

Letter from President Franklin Roosevelt
Letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Everett Case, February 9, 1944 (Source 6)

Giving Back

The Baptist Education Society was founded with the primary ambition of educating not only the pious, but also the financially needy student — he of sound morals and humble background, who might then devote his life to “public usefulness.”7 Many of the 13 founders themselves “struggled with poverty,” and they sought to remove this financial obstacle for other impoverished young men as they began their studies in literary and theological knowledge.8 In an appeal for the first round of donations, the Society inquired, shall “our worthy, pious and promising young brethren, of indigent circumstances, be assisted, or not?”9

In the spirit of this generosity, civic-mindedness, and “zeal for energetic action,” Colgate will celebrate Charter Day in its Bicentennial year with events focused around giving back, gratefulness, and reflection.8 On March 5, 2019, Colgate will host a ceremony and special event on campus to recognize this pivotal date in the University’s history.

Notes & Sources

Endnotes
  1. Merriam-Webster.com
  2. Smith, James A., Becoming Colgate, Colgate University Press, forthcoming 2019
  3. An Historical Sketch of Madison University, Hamilton, N.Y.: Waldron and Baker, Printers, 1852 (italics in original)
  4. Williams, Howard D., A History of Colgate University 1819–1969. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969
  5. Letter from Roosevelt on Radio Program,” Colgate Maroon, March 8, 1944
  6. Letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Everett Case, February 9, 1944, Presidential letters collection, M4002,  Colgate University Special Collections and University Archives
  7. Annual report of the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, 1818. Baptist Education Society of the State of New York records, A1010, Colgate University Special Collections and University Archives
  8. Adams, Seymour Webster, 1815–1864. Memoirs of Rev. Nathaniel Kendrick, D.D., and Silas N. Kendrick. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1860, 120
  9. Annual report of the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, 1818. Baptist Education Society of the State of New York records, A1010, Colgate University Special Collections and University Archives
Images in Order of Appearance
  1. 1819 Baptist Education Society of the State of New York charter, Chapter 35, Laws of New York, 1819, Series 13036: Enrolled acts of the State Legislature, New York State Archives
  2. Merrill House mural, drawn by Bill Breck, 1933, photographed by Mark DiOrio, Colgate University Communications office, 2018
  3. 1819 Baptist Education Society of the State of New York charter, Chapter 35, Laws of New York, 1819, Series 13036: Enrolled acts of the State Legislature, New York State Archives

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