The College of William and Mary (also known as William and Mary, WandM, and officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, after Harvard University.
William and Mary educated American Presidents Thomas Jefferson (third), James Monroe (fifth), and John Tyler (tenth) as well as other key figures pivotal to the development of the nation, including the fourth U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall of Virginia, Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay of Kentucky, sixteen members of the Continental Congress, and four signers of the Declaration of Independence, earning it the nickname "the Alma Mater of the Nation." A young George Washington (1732–1799) also received his surveyors license at The College. WandM students founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776, and WandM was the first school of higher education in the United States to install an honor code of conduct for students. The establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 makes it one of the earliest higher level universities in the United States.
In addition to its undergraduate program, WandM is home to several graduate programs and four professional schools. In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to Americas Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William and Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies".
A school of higher education for both Native American young men and the sons of the colonists was one of the earliest goals of the leaders of the Colony of Virginia. The college was founded on February 8, 1693, under a royal charter (legally, letters patent) to "make, found and establish a certain Place of Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good arts and sciences...to be supported and maintained, in all time coming." Named in honor of the reigning monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II, the college is the second oldest college in the United States. The original plans for the college date back to 1618 but were thwarted by the Indian Massacre of 1622, a change in government (in 1624, the Virginia Companys charter was revoked by King James I and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority as a crown colony), events related to the English Civil War, and Bacons Rebellion. In 1695 before the town of Williamsburg existed, construction began on the College Building, now known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building, in what was then called Middle Plantation (Virginia). It is the oldest college building in America. The college is one of the countrys nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution. The Charter named James Blair as the colleges first president (a lifetime appointment which he held until his death in 1743). William and Mary was founded as an Anglican institution; students were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles.
In 1693, the college was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and it was determined the college would be supported by tobacco taxes and export duties on furs and animal skins. The college acquired a 330 acres (1.3 km2) parcel for the new school, 8 miles (13 km) from Jamestown. In 1694, the new school opened in temporary buildings.
Williamsburg was granted a royal charter as a city in 1722 by The Crown and served as the capital of Colonial Virginia from 1699 to 1780. During this time, the college served as a law center and lawmakers frequently used its buildings. It educated future U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler. The college has been called "the Alma Mater of a Nation" because of its close ties to Americas founding fathers. A 17-year-old George Washington received his surveyors license through the college and would return as its first American chancellor. William and Mary is famous for its firsts: the first U.S. institution with a royal charter, the first Greek-letter society (Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776), the first collegiate society in the country (F.H.C. Society, founded in 1750), the first student honor code and the first law school in America.
During the period of the American Revolution, freedom of religion was established in Virginia notably with the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Future U.S. President James Madison was a key figure in the transition to religious freedom in Virginia, and Right Reverend James Madison, his cousin and Thomas Jefferson, who was on the Board of Visitors, helped the College of William and Mary to make the transition as well. In 1779 the college became the first American university with the establishment of the graduate schools in law and medicine.[clarification needed] As its president, Reverend Madison worked with the new leaders of Virginia, most notably Jefferson, on a reorganization and changes for the college which included the abolition of the Divinity School and the Indian School and the establishment of the first elective system of study and honor system.
The College of William and Mary is home to the nations first collegiate secret society, the F.H.C. Society, popularly known as the Flat Hat Club, founded November 11, 1750. On December 5, 1776, students John Heath and William Short (Class of 1779) founded Phi Beta Kappa as a secret literary and philosophical society. Other secret societies known to currently exist at the college include: The 7 Society, 13 Club, Alpha Club, Bishop James Madison Society, The Society, The Spades, W Society, and Wren Society.
Thomas R. Dew, professor of history, metaphysics, and political economy, and then President of William and Mary from 1836 until his death in 1846, was an influential academic defender of slavery.:21–47
In 1842, alumni of the college formed the Society of the Alumni which is now the sixth oldest alumni organization in the United States. In 1859, a great fire caused destruction to the College Building. The Alumni House is one of the few original antebellum structures remaining on campus; notable others include the Wren Building, the Presidents House, the Brafferton, and Prince George House.
At the outset of the American Civil War (1861–1865), enlistments in the Confederate States Army depleted the student body; and on May 10, 1861, the faculty voted to close the college for the duration of the conflict. The College Building was used as a Confederate barracks and later as a hospital, first by Confederate, and later Union forces. The Battle of Williamsburg was fought nearby during the Peninsula Campaign on May 5, 1862, and the city was captured by the Union army the next day. The Brafferton building of the college was used for a time as quarters for the commanding officer of the Union garrison occupying the town. On September 9, 1862, drunken soldiers of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry set fire to the College Building, purportedly in an attempt to prevent Confederate snipers from using it for cover. Much damage was done to the community during the Union occupation, which lasted until September 1865.
Following restoration of the Union, Virginia was destitute from the War. The colleges 16th president, Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, finally reopened the school in 1869 using his personal funds but the college closed in 1882 due to lack of funds. In 1888, William and Mary resumed operations under an amended charter when the Commonwealth of Virginia passed an act appropriating $10,000 to support the college as a teacher-training institution. Lyon Gardiner Tyler (son of US President and alumnus John Tyler) became the 17th president of the college following President Ewells retirement. Tyler, along with 18th president J. A. C. Chandler, expanded the college into a modern institution. In March 1906, the General Assembly passed an act taking over the grounds of the colonial institution, and it has remained publicly supported ever since. In 1918, William and Mary became one of the first universities in Virginia to admit women and become coeducational. During this time, enrollment increased from 104 students in 1889 to 1269 students by 1932.
Largely thanks to the vision of a William and Mary instructor, Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin, the College Building, the Presidents House and the Brafferton (originally the Indian School) were restored to their 18th-century appearance between 1928 and 1932 with substantial financial support from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Together, they led the establishment and beginnings of Colonial Williamsburg.
In 1930, William and Mary expanded its territorial range by establishing a branch in Norfolk, Virginia – The Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary. This extension would eventually become the independent state-supported institution known as Old Dominion University.
Significant campus construction continued under the colleges nineteenth president, John Stewart Bryan. President Franklin D. Roosevelt received an honorary degree from the college on October 20, 1934. In 1935, the Sunken Garden was constructed, just west of the Wren Building. The sunken design is taken from a similar landscape feature at Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
The college has a history of supporting freedom of the press dating back at least to the 1940s. In 1945, for example, the college administration sanctioned the student Marilyn Kaemmerle for an article she had written in The Flat Hat supporting the end of racist policies of segregation, anti-miscegenation laws and white supremacy. According to Time magazine, in response, over one-thousand William and Mary students held "a spirited mass meeting protesting infringement of the sacred principles of freedom of the press bequeathed by Alumnus Thomas Jefferson." She was pardoned by the college Board of Visitors decades later.
The college admitted Hulon Willis into a graduate program in 1951 because the program was unavailable at Virginia State. However, the college did not open all programs to African-American students until around 1970.
In 1960, The Colleges of William and Mary, a short-lived five campus university system, was founded. It included the College of William and Mary, the Richmond Professional Institute, the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport College, and Richard Bland College. It was dissolved in 1962.
In 1974, Jay Winston Johns willed Highland, the 535-acre (2.17 km2) historic Albemarle County, Virginia estate of alumnus and U.S. President James Monroe, to the college. The college restored this historic presidential home near Charlottesville and opened it to the public.
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