CHAPTER XV. THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSITY.-FRANKLIN AND THE ACADEMY. WHEN this history was written, the author used all the material that was then accessible in its preparation, and the conclusions he arrived at were unquestioned. Since then, however, certain views have been expressed regarding the origin of the University, which, if correct, ascribe to it a different source from that wherefrom Dr. Wood supposed it sprung; while another view concedes to Franklin very different intentions in establishing the Academy from what his own statements lead us to suppose he entertained. Besides this, new matter has been discovered throwing additional light upon the early history of the institution, relating particularly to Dr. Smith's appointment in it, and to the means taken to interest Thomas Penn in its welfare. In the following chapters we propose to review these subjects and add such new facts as have been gathered. It is claimed that the University had its origin, not in the natural development of the Academy which Franklin and other public-spirited citizens were active in establishing in 1749, but in the Charity School connected with the "New Building," which was begun in 1740, for the accommodation of the Rev. George Whitefield and other itinerant ministers who should visit Philadelphia.* This claim is based on the following facts: That the establishment of a charity school was a part of the object for which the money subscribed for the "New Building" in 1740 was obtained; that the property acquired by the trustees of the building passed into the hands of the trustees of the Academy, who bound themselves. to maintain a school for the education of poor children gratis; that the Charity * See page 9. School was thus succeeded by the Academy, as the Academy was subsequently succeeded by the College, and the College by the University;* that the Charter received by the trustees of the Academy in 1753 was for the Academy and Charity School of Philadelphia, and that the name of the Charity School appears in all the charters granted to the Academy, to the College, or to the University; that the transfer of the property by the trustees of the "New Building" to the trustees of the Academy was merely an enlargement of the scheme entertained by the former, giving power to the latter to erect on the property an Academy, college, or other seminary of learning, for instructing youth in the languages, arts, and sciences;" that * The late Thompson Westcott, in his "Historic Mansions of Philadelphia," goes farther, and says that the proposals for a school which Franklin drew up in 1743 (see page 5) were for the establishment of the Charity School in connection with the New Building, and then by inference connects Franklin's plan of 1749 with the Charity School. There is nothing to support this statement or this inference, and Franklin's plan of 1743 is not known to exist. the Charity School is a part of the University, cannot be separated from it, and, as the proposition to establish it antedates the origin of any other school or department of the University, the date of that proposition is the date of the origin of the University. If the origin of such an institution is to be sought in the title-deeds of the property it holds, and not by following the line of its corporate existence back to the beginning of the oldest department in unison with its character, then some such claim as the above, placing the origin of the University at 1740, might be established. Before accepting this theory, however, it will be well to examine the history of the Charity School, and to consider the original aims of the Academy. The history of the building erected by the friends of Whitefield for religious worship and for a charity school is given by Dr. Wood.* It is safe to say that no school was held * See page 9. within its walls until the opening of the Latin and English schools by the trustees of the Academy in January, 1751. No charity school had been opened up to August, 1747,* as in that month a petition was presented to the Assembly by some of the subscribers to the New Building, stating that the establishment of a charity school was a part of the original scheme; that none had been established; and they therefore prayed that the trustees be obliged to repay the petitioners their subscriptions, or that an act be passed to sell the building and devote the proceeds to that purpose. It is not probable that any school was opened between 1747 and 1749, as the deed conveying the property to the trustees of the Academy does not stipulate that they shall continue the Charity School, but that they shall open one in two years. So, too, in the representation made by the trustees to the * See Votes of Assembly, vol. iv., page 59. Misquoted in Smith's "Life of Smith" as 1749. See vol. i., page 53. |