Created out of the vision of Eleazar Wheelock to educate Native Americans as well as whites, Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 after Wheelock's first educational attempt, the Moor's Charity School, failed following 15 years of existence.
A Congregationalist minister of the Great Awakening, Wheelock decided that his personal mission transcended that of preaching and extended to the realm of education.
He thus linked his two pursuits in a vision of teaching and christianizing pagans. Deriving his inspiration from one of his students, a Native American named Samson Occom, Wheelock established the Moor's Charity School, named after its benefactor Joshua Moore.
The school prospered for 15 years in Lebanon Clark, Conn., but then encountered difficult times as enrollment significantly declined. Disappointed that his dream of educating the Native Americans would go unrealized, Wheelock decided to move his school further north, in order to be closer to those he wished to teach.
Lacking the necessary funds to establish another school, Wheelock sent Occom, his star pupil, to England to raise the required money. Occom returned to Wheelock with 11,000 pounds, and Wheelock set out deciding on the best site for the school. After many towns bid for the school, Wheelock chose Hanover, and on December 13, 1769, King George III of England signed the College charter.
Wheelock chose the name Dartmouth College after the Earl of Dartmouth, a major contributor to the school, in order to placate the English benefactors.
Despite declaring the College's mission as the "education of the youth of the Indian tribes of this land in reading, writing and all parts of learning which shall appear necessary for the civilizing and christianizing of pagans ... ," Wheelock did not recruit Native Americans, instead he focused on whites who could then teach the Natives.
Because of this apparent breach of promise by Wheelock, the English benefactors withdrew their support, and Wheelock was on his own. Surviving an arduous first year, the College graduated four students in its first Commencement ceremony in 1771.
After Wheelock died eight years later, his son John assumed the presidency of the College. John's most important contribution to the College was the addition of Dartmouth Hall in 1791, which housed a chapel, a dormitory, a library and classroom space.
After the death of the original members of the College's Board of Trustees, who were mainly relatives of Eleazar Wheelock's, a new board, hostile to John Wheelock, began to restrict his duties. Offended by these actions, Wheelock contested the Board, but was nonetheless removed from his position as president in 1816.
Wheelock, though, did not disappear as a centerpiece of controversy. In the 1816 New Hampshire state elections, the Democratic party emerged victorious, running on a platform of support for Wheelock. Maintaining their animosity toward the Trustees, the Democrats promulgated legislation changing the name of the College to Dartmouth University.
The University was able to gain financial control of the College, but it never procured the support of students or the Trustees of the College. The dissention between the two factions ultimately reached a boiling point, causing them to look toward the judicial system for a resolution. The College was able to enlist the services of Daniel Webster '01, who, after losing the case in the New Hampshire Superior Court, argued before the United States Supreme Court that the original College charter was an inviolable contract, and thus the name could not be changed.
Webster won the case for the College, and the famous words he spoke during that trial are still remembered today: "Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is weak; it is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights on the literary horizon of this country. You may put it out. But if you do so, you must carry through with your work! You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of which for more than a century have thrown their radiance over the land. It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet, there are those who love it."
After John Wheelock died in 1817, the College experienced a period of 13 years bereft of strong guidance from three different presidents. In 1823, though, Nathan Lord was appointed as the College's leader, and he went on to hold that office for 35 years. Lord brought considerable order to the school, often disciplining students with his walking stick.
However, after refusing to grant President Lincoln an honorary degree because Lord believed the Bible supported slavery, he was forced out of office.
Dodge Smith, who emerged as the next president, sought to change the reputed nature of the students by forcing them to live with their clergymen and not their peers.
Smith was later replaced by Samuel Bartlett, who was known for his biting sarcasm and propensity to be combative with students and faculty members. Bartlett was forced to defend himself in a mock trial, and after winning, he remained in office for a few more years.
After Bartlett's retirement, William Jewett Tucker was appointed by the Trustees to serve as president in 1893. In addition to vehemently defending the merits of collegiate athletics, Tucker also established the departments of biology, history, music and sociology, expanded the number of electives available to students and put running water in the dormitories.
Moreover, Tucker terminated the practice of mandatory chapel attendance, arguing that it was not the College's duty to spiritually convert the students.
Tucker is perhaps best remembered for the articulation of the "Dartmouth Spirit," which gave a new sense of purpose for the school in the 20th century.
Tucker was succeeded by a physicist, Ernest Fox Nichols, who, after seven years in office, resigned to return to the classroom.
The 11th president of the College, Ernest Martin Hopkins '01, was inaugurated in 1916. Hopkins orchestrated significant improvements to the College, not the least of which was soliciting a $2 million donation from the New York banker George Baker to construct a new library building.
In addition, Hopkins completely revamped the curriculum into the current system of majors and elective courses. He also implemented a new admissions process, which evaluated applicants on their personality, in addition to their academic ability.
Hopkins created quite a stir when he permitted Mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco to paint murals in the Reserve Corridor of Baker Library, which depict greedy capitalists being trodden upon by revolutionaries. Hopkins supported the artist's right to freedom of expression; the murals are perhaps the College's most famous pieces of art.
In 1945, John Sloan Dickey '29 filled the void created by Hopkins' retirement. A lawyer and diplomat, Dickey attempted to bolster the College's academic reputation and to make the College more attractive to respected faculty across the country.
As part of his aggressive recruiting effort, Dickey brought John Kemeny, a mathematics professor at Princeton University, to the College in 1954. Kemeny established the mathematics department as one of the best in the nation. He also created the BASIC computer language program along with Professor Thomas Kurtz.
In 1970, after he succeeded Dickey as president, Kemeny brought co-education to the College, and along with it the Dartmouth plan. He also reiterated the College's mission of educating Native Americans, establishing the College's Native American Studies program, now nationally renowned.
Furthermore, Kemeny reinforced affirmative action, removed ROTC from campus and eliminated the Indian as the official symbol because he felt it was racially pejorative.
Following 11 years at the College, Kemeny returned to the classroom, and was succeeded by then Chairman of the Board of Trustees, David McLaughlin '54. Kemeny died this past year.
McLaughlin's presidency was quite controversial, as he sanctioned the return of ROTC to campus despite vocal objection from many faculty members. His administration, though, made considerable contributions to residential life. The Office of Residential Life and the Committee on Student Life were products of his tenure.
On July 18, 1987, James O. Freedman was inaugurated as the 15th president of the College. Freedman, formerly the president of Iowa University and the dean of the Law School at the University of Pennsylvania, set out to heighten intellectualism at the College. A major element of this objective is the new curriculum in place for the Class of 1998.
Freedman's six years at the College have been marked by increased dissension on campus. Students have been considerably vocal about apartheid, the Persian Gulf War and other such controversial world and national issues.
Another hot issue that has pervaded the campus has been The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus newspaper published by students, but unaffiliated with the College. An incident in which a quote from Hitler appeared in The Review's masthead sparked a rally to combat such anti-Semitism. The rally involved many students and faculty and drew national attention.
Furthermore, the fraternity and sorority system, as well as other traditions of the College, have come under fire in past years, most recently with former Student Assembly President Andrew Beebe '93 calling for the establishment of a co-ed Greek system.
Though students, faculty and presidents will continue to shape the College in their own ways, its general nature, which has enabled Dartmouth to survive for 224 years, will continue to thrive. For as Daniel Webster articulated: "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small College. And yet, there are those who love it."
