A Student View of the Crisis, 1816-19

Undergraduate letters from Rufus Choate to his brother describe the effect of the Dartmouth College Case on the campus at the time of the controversy. Excerpts and introductory explanations are from an earlier selection made by Edward Connery Lathem '51.

The dispute between President JohnWheelock and the Trustees emerged as apublic dispute in 1815 and early in 1816became a major political issue in NewHampshire's elections. The Trustees re-moved President Wheelock and electedFrancis Brown as the third President ofthe College.

MARCH 1816

... Respecting the affairs of this col- lege everything is at present in dread uncertainty. A storm seems to be gather- ing, the sky lowers & ere long may burst on the present government of Coll. What the event may be time will discover; if the state (& there is no doubt of it) be democratic, a revolution will take place, probably Pres. Brown may be dismissed. in that case, the Coll. will fall. however, say nothingall may yet be well & if not we are not to blame...

The New Hampshire Democrats werevictorious in the March elections, andthe state's new Governor, WilliamPlumer, in his June message to the Gen-eral Court called for legislative attentionto the College situation.

JUNE 16, 1816

Dear brother.

I am this moment informed of an op- portunity of sending directly home by private conveyance, & shall embrace it. Dr. Mussey leaves here tomorrow or next-day, on (I imagine) important busi- ness. You are aware no doubt that this is a critical moment for D. College "the storm so long gathering seems about to burst, the stroke may be fatal, the seat of science may fall" & I may have to go to Harvard or Yale College, the legis- lature is sitting & this session will decide the momentous question. You may well suppose we all feel anxious for the result; Presid. Brown is at Concord to hear his fate. If removed Prof. Shurtliff & Adams & probably Mussey will follow & about Vi of the students. . ..

The short notice given me by Dr. Mussey of his going has left me but a short time to write, & numerous engage- ments, attended with some care & anxiety prevent me from thinking at present even what I wish to tell you. Suffice it to say that life here is the same dull round, from day to day the prayer bell rings at night & it rings in the morning, the hour for recitation regularly ar-riv[es] & the moment for dinner follows, then the two °clock bell, then prayers and supper[:] no variety nor no unfortu- nate disturbance to destroy the sluggish uniformity of the day....

In the summer of 1816 the NewHampshire General Court passed its bill"to amend the charter and enlarge andimprove the corporation of DartmouthCollege." Refusal, however, of the Col-lege Trustees to recognize the act's le-gality and comply with its provisions pre-vented the new state-created board oftrustees of "Dartmouth University" fromachieving a quorum for its initial meeting.Accordingly, with the means of accom-plishing the enacted changes temporarilyblocked, the College was able to open its1816 fall term under relatively untroubledconditions on Hanover Plain.

NOVEMBER 5, 1816

... Respecting my own situation I would tell you it is in [the] highest degree pleasant; my room is good, & room-mate agreeable & our fellow students in the house[,] 7 in number mostly seniors, friendly & fam[i]liar: Compared with last term my eyes are well, though I do not attempt studying evenings; this circumstance rendering application in the daytime necessary, I have too much neglected exercise, & my head suffers for it; since conversing, however, with Dr. Mussey I have altered my habits, & regularly exercise once a day.

The instruction we enjoy is most excellent. Pres. Brown hears us in Horace & Prof. Shurtleff in Algebra & it is our own fault if we do not make suitable advances. By abridging hours of recreation, I have made myself master of the FrenchGrammar & read without a translation 1 or 2 pages in the original of Telemachus as an exercise every morning. —

We have a task assigned the class of rather a singular nature & such an one as will with difficulty be well performed; it is the rendering into English poetry one of the odes of Horace, & this with two or 3 other exercises which fall upon us, will I fear oblige me to hurt my eyes by application in the evening. I forget to observe, when speaking of instruction, that Prof. Adams, corrects composition . . .

hi December the legislature, at theGovernor's request, moved to remedythe shortcoming of the original act byproviding a supplementary bill that wouldmake possible the formal organization ofthe University board even without theparticipation of the College Trustees, andthus effectively bring Dartmouth understate control.

DECEMBER 16, 1816

Dear brother,

I have been unavoidably prevented, till this moment, from answering your last, & expressing my joy at its' contents...

You will be sorry to hear what I have to tell you respecting affairs of College. Intelligence has just reached us, that another act has passed both branches of the legislature, & become a law, authorising 9 of the new trustees only, to do business, a number which, it is supp[osed], can very easily at any time be assembled. That this body will convene immediately, perhaps before the end of the term, & remove the whole of the present government of Col- lege, & supply their places with men of their own party, is what the best informed amongst us, confidently expect. The situation of the institution, is you perceive, critical in the extreme; "consternation turns the good man pale."

You may judge better, of the singular state of the College, & of the confusion which pervails from the following circumstance. It is customary for the Sophomore class to take on itself the business of getting the catalogues of the officers & students annually printed. It was, as usual, done by my class, this fall, with this intraduction (if I may so express it) "Catalogue of the officers & students of Dartmouth College." The few democrats & fellows of "the baser sort" amongst us, immediately employed our Hanover demococratic printer to strike off an "edition" in this form "Catalogue of the officers & students of Dartmouth University, together with the trustees (old & new) & overseers of the same."! So much for affairs of "College"...

During February 1817 the Universityboard had at last organized, and it proceeded to remove from office in "Dartmouth University" the recalcitrant College Trustees, as well as the President andprofessors. New officers and faculty wereappointed for the University, and earlyin March, just before the opening of thespring term, the College buildings wereseized by the University authorities.

MARCH 12, 1817

Dear brother,

Without any accident or any unusual circumstance, I arrived in town Sat. evening as I had expected to do. The situation of things was generally pleasa[nt] & far different from what we feared. After their removal from office, the old government (as they are stiled) addressed the public in an able & elegant "Circular" (which you have doubtless seen) in which their de-termination still to instruct as officers of "Dartmouth College" is made known & the reasons which induced the resolution. The partizans of Plumer, however, before the commencement of the term took possession of the College buildings & library & "opened the campaign" I believe on Monday by unit- ing in prayer, literally with but a single student in the chapel! [(T]his note of Exclamation here seems absolutely necessary). President Brown and friend[s im- mediately engaged a large & convenient hall as a chapel, & entered it the same [mo]rning with every scholar in the town, but the one above-mentioned. The students ha]ve now nearly all come on, & the following is the number on the side of the Uni[versi]ty. Freshmen, none. Sophomores 2. Juniors 1. Seniors 4. Total 7 Possibly 2 or 3 more may join them. This unanimity for President Brown will surprise you perhaps but will doubtess be gratifying....

The legal phase of the College-University controversy was initiated by the College Trustees early in 1817. Argumentswere heard during the May and September terms of the New Hampshire Superrior Court, and on November 6, 1817, aunanimous decision adverse to the College was handed down.

NOVEMBER 8, 1817

Dear Brother

I should hardly have obtruded another letter upon you till the one I wrote Hannah had received an answer, but I cannot help while my feelings are yet excited sitting down to tell how our expectations are again all blasted by the decis[i]on of the New-Hampshire judges. You have perhaps before this been made acquainted with the result, so that it will scarcely be news to you to be informed that they have given unqualified sentance in favour of the act which established Dart. University, and has been the cause of all our difficulty. In consequence of this most unheard of decision, the Trustees have appealed to the Supreme Court of the U. States as a last (and I am almost inclined to say, a precarious) resort. We shall of course have another year to pass, more disagreeable if possible than the last.

The distance between the students of the two institutions at this place is most unpleasantly widened, and the command in the Bible seems not to be wholly with- out its effect on the minds of the College scholars, "come out from among them [and be ye separate]." In the mean time the most unhappy circumstance attend- ing it is, "that such a state of [affairs(?)] necessarily discomposes the mind, and unfits it for steady & quiet reflection so indispensable [to pro]gress in science. You may easily suppose that it is impossible to sit down coolly & composedly [to] books, when you are alarmed every minute by a report, "that the library is in danger" or "that a mob is about collect- ing" or perhaps "that we are all to [be] fined & imprisoned & it may be, buffeted & scourged for our adherence to men on whom justice herself frowns;"- even when such reports are entitled to no credit whatever it takes sometime to hear them, & also some more to point out their absurdity so that much time on the whole is absolutely wasted.

Perhaps now, you will be concerned at my situation; & in truth I must say I am not altogether attached to it; but believe me, it does not prevent my pursueing with success my several studies. I have formed certain regular habits which I am determined to and can, retain; & have a system of regulations which nothing short of the burning of the College, or the tarring & feathering of some worthy but unlucky gentleman, can induce me to break for a minute. I am pursueing branches which the class know nothing about & with a relish & perserverance (rather modest to be sure) that I am quite certain not one of them possesses....

With Daniel Webster as its chief counsel the College, following defeat at thestate level, carried the legal battle for itsinstitutional existence to the SupremeCourt of the United States. The case wascalled in March of 1818, but the highCourt's opinion, invalidating the NewHampshire acts, was not announced untilthe following February.

MARCH 25, 1819

Dear brother

... People in Hanover you may easily enough conceive were all on fire with the news of the triumph of the College. When it reached here (before I came on) the bells were rung cannon fired bonfires lighted up & a thousand other unseemly demonstrations of joy exhibited not especially to the credit of the rabble that did it, or the great men that gave permission; but we are all still at present & Pres. Allen (as he is fool enough to call himself) is the only University man on the grou[n]d. Some 4 or 5 of their students have joined the College; one of them (Upham brother of him I have told you of) is my roommate. We have the buildings, although the difficulties are by nomeans settled. What prevents this I confess I know not; things will remain one year more as they now are; long before which time I am free....

Rufus Choate, Class of 1819, statesman,lawyer, and one of the College's mostcelebrated graduates, joined with DanielWebster to form the Whig Party in Massachusetts and served out Webster's termin the U. S. Senate, 1841-45.