charter delivered to the Governors of the College. This charter named as Governors, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the first Lord Commissioner for Trade and Plantations, who might act by proxy, the Lieutenant-Governor, the eldest Councillor of the Province, the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Speaker of the General Assembly, the Treasurer, the Mayor of New York city, the Rector of Trinity Church, the Senior Minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, the Ministers of the Ancient Lutheran Church, of the French Church, and of the Presbyterian Church, the President of the College, and twenty-four citizens of New York city. On the 13th of May, 1755, a piece of land on the west side of Broadway, bounded east by Church street, and running between Barclay and Murray streets, a breadth of four hundred and forty feet to the Hudson river, was conveyed by the corporation of Trinity Church to the Governors of the College. Upon the upper part of this plat, at the foot of what was formerly called upper Robinson street, and afterward Park Place, the College was built, and there the institution remained for more than a century. A part not occupied was leased, and became a valuable endowment to the College. It is sufficient in this connection to remark, that the College continued in operation until April, 1776, when the building was taken for a military hospital and its students dispersed. About four months after the city of New York had been evacuated by British troops, a part of the Governors of King's College addressed the following petition to the State Legislature then in session in New York city: "To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York, the petition of the Subscribers, Governors of the College, commonly called King's College, humbly sheweth : "That the greater part of the Governors of the said college have, since the commencement of the late war, died out or departed from this State, whereby a sufficient number of Governors cannot be convened for the carrying on of the business of the said College agreeably to its charter; that many parts of the said charter are inconsistent with that liberality and that civil and religious freedom which our present happy Constitution points out, and that an alteration of that charter in such points as well as an extension of the privileges of the said College so as to render it the mother of an University to be established within this State, would tend to diffuse knowledge and extend literature throughout the State. "Your petitioners, therefore, influenced by these motives, humbly submit the said charter to the revision and correction of the Legislature, so as to render it more adequate to these important ends, humbly hoping that your honorable body will confirm to the corporation of King's College such estate as was particularly appropri ated to its use. LEONARD LISPENARD, SAMUEL BAYARD, JR., NEW YORK, 24th March, 1784." It will be noticed that several of these persons were influential members of the State Government. Clinton was Governor; Scott was Secretary of State; Bancker was State Treasurer; Benson was Attorney-General, and Duane a State Senator and Mayor of the city of New York. The others were all men of influence and prominent in public affairs. At the beginning of that session of the Legislature, Governor Clinton, in his message, had made the following reference to the subject of education, as a subject deserving of attention by that body: "Neglect of the education of youth is among the evils consequent on war. Perhaps there is scarce any thing more worthy your attention than the revival and encouragement of Seminaries of Learning, and nothing by which we can more satisfactorily express our gratitude to the Supreme Being for His past favors, since Piety and Virtue are generally the offspring of an enlightened understanding." In Assembly, Mr. Clark, of Orange, two days after, from the Committee of the Whole House on the speech of his Excellency, reported a resolution for the appointment of a committee to prepare a bill for the establishment of seminaries and schools, and it was done accordingly. Similar proceedings were had in the Senate very soon after, and thus the subject was brought before the Legislature in both Houses, near the beginning of that session, about two months. before the petition from a part of the Governors of King's College had been presented. A bill for establishing a University had already been reported.1 In its discussion, a resolution was offered substituting a sum of money in place of the words "forty thousand bushels of wheat," but not adopted. Another, proposing to put the subject over to the next session, was voted down, and the bill became a law on the first day of May, 1784, as follows:2 "An act granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an University within this State." 3 PASSED the 1st day of May, 1784. [Chap. LI, Laws of 7th Session (folio), p. 69.] WHEREAS, By letters-patent under the Great Seal of the late Colony of New York, bearing date the 31st day of October, in the twentyeighth year of the reign of George the Second, the King of Great Britain, a certain body politic and corporate was created by the name of The Governors of the College of New York, in the city of New York, in America, with divers privileges, capacities and immunities, as in and by the said patent will more fully appear; and WHEREAS, There are many vacancies in the said corporation, occasioned by the death or absence of a great number of the Governors of the said College, whereby the succession is so greatly broke in upon as to require the interposition of the Legislature; 1 In a letter written by the Rev, John H. Livingston, D. D., to the Rev. Nichoolas Romeyn (both on the first Board of Regents) we find an allusion to the subject under discussion in the Board of Governors of Kings College, which shows that some differences of opinion existed with respect to the proposed plan of reorganization. Under date of March 18, 1784, he said: "That evening when I parted with you, the Governors of the College met, and a bill for erecting a University in the State of New York was read to us. Many observations upon the bill, in the form it then bore, were made, and some alterations were strongly urged. The alterations insisted upon were not essential with respect to the basis of the University, but only the form in which the matter was managed. There is no opposition from any quarter which occasions the least doubt but the business will be conducted with that spirit of catholicism and harmony which will insure a literary foundation of importance to the Church and State. As soon as the bill has obtained its proper alterations, and gone through its different stages, I will endeavor to obtain a copy for you, and send it over to you." (Gunn's Memoirs of Dr. Livingston, p. 270.) 2 The original draft of this bill is preserved among the New York State Legislative papers (MSS.) in the New York State Library, being No. 274 of the series. The original title appears to have been " An act for granting certain new privileges to the colledge heretofore called King's Colledge, for altering the name and erecting the same into a university." A critical account of the erasures and changes made in the bill while passing through the two Houses is given in Mr. Pratt's article, above cited. WHEREAS, The remaining Governors of the said College, desirous of rendering the same extensively useful, have prayed that the said College may be erected into an University, and that such other alterations may be made in the charter, or letters of incorporation above recited, as may render them more conformable to the liberal principles of the Constitution of the State: I. Be it, therefore, enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all the rights, privileges and immunities heretofore vested in the corporation heretofore known by the name of The Governors of the College of the Province of New York in the city of New York, in America, so far as they relate to the capacity of holding or disposing of property, either real or personal, of suing or being sued, of making laws or ordinances for their own government, or that of their servants, pupils and others under their care and subject to their direction, of appointing, displacing and paying stewards, and other inferior servants; of making, holding and having a common seal, of altering and changing the same at pleasure, be and they are hereby vested in the Regents of the University of the State of New York, who are hereby erected into a corporation or a body corporate and politic, and enabled to hold, possess and enjoy the above-mentioned rights, franchises, privileges and immunities, together with such others as are contained in this act, by the name and style of The Regents of the University of the State of New York, of whom the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the President of the Senate for the time being, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Mayor of the city of New York, the Mayor of the city of Albany, the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the State, respectively, for the time being, be and they hereby are severally constituted perpetual Regents, in virtue of their several and respective offices, places and stations; and together with other persons hereinafter named, to the number of twenty-four, to-wit: Henry Brockholst Livingston and Robert Harpur, of the city of New York; Walter Livingston and Christopher Yates, of the county of Albany: Anthony Hoffman and Cornelius Humfrey, of the county of Dutchess; Lewis Morris and Philip Fell, Jr., of the county of Westchester; Henry Wisner and John Haring, of the county of Orange; Christopher Tappen and James Clinton, of the county of Ulster; Christopher P. Yates and James Livingston, of the county of Montgomery; Abraham Bancker and John C. Dongan, of the county of Richmond; Matthew Clarkson and Rutger Van Brunt, of the county of Kings; James Townsend and Thomas Lawrence, of the county of Queens; Ezra L'Hommedieu and Caleb Smith, of the county of Suffolk, and John Williams and John McCrea, of the county of Washington, be and they hereby are appointed Regents of the said University; and it shall and may be lawful to and for the clergy of the respective religious denominations in this State to meet at such time and place as they shall deem proper after the passing of this act, and being so met shall, by a majority of voices of those who shall so meet, choose and appoint one of their body to be a Regent in the said University; and, in case of death or resignation, to choose and appoint another in the same manner; and the Regent so chosen and appointed shall have the like powers as any other Regent appointed or to be appointed by virtue of this act. And to the end that a succession of Regents be perpetually kept up: II. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whenever and so often as one or more of the Regents of the said University, not being such in virtue of his or their office, place or station, shall remove his or their place of residence from within this State, shall resign or die, that the place or places of such Regent or Regents so removing, resigning or dying, shall be filled up by the Governor, or person administering the government of the State for the time being, by and with the advice and consent of the Council of Appointment, so that such appointments be of persons resident in the counties, respectively, wherein the former Regents did reside, other than where such vacancy may happen, of a Regent appointed by the clergy as aforesaid. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That as soon as may be after the passing of this act, the Regents of the said University shall, by plurality of voices, choose a Chancellor, a Vice-Chancellor a Treasurer, and a Secretary from among the said Regents; the said Chancellor, or in his absence the Vice-Chancellor, to preside at all elections and other meetings to be held by the said Regents, and to have the casting vote upon every division; and for the well ordering and directing of the said corporation: IV. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Regents of the said University, or a majority of them, shall be, and hereby are vested with full power and authority to ordain and make ordinances and by-laws for the government of the several Colleges which may or shall compose the said University; and the several presidents, professors, tutors, fellows, pupils and servants thereof; and for the management of such estate as they may and shall be invested with; that they shall have full power and authority to determine the salaries of the officers and servants of the said College; to remove from office any such president, professor, Tutor, Fellow, or servant, as they conceive, after a full hearing, to have abused their trust, or to be incompetent thereto. Provided, nevertheless, That no fine to be levied by virtue of the said laws or ordinances shall exceed the value of one bushel of wheat for any one offense, and that no pupil or student shall be suspended for a longer term than twenty days, or be rusticated or expelled, but upon a fair and full hearing of the parties by the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of the said University, and at least ten of the Regents, not being President or Professors of the College to which the person accused belongs, or under whose immediate directions the same may be; and the said Regents are hereby further empowered and directed, as soon as may be, to elect a President and Professors for the College heretofore called King's College, which |