Early American Colleges P6

Columbia, 1754. In 1754, the Rev. Samuel Johnson became the first president of what is now called Columbia University. It began as King’s College, but following American Independence it no longer seemed appropriate to honor a king in its title, so in 1784 its name was changed to Columbia in honor of Christopher Columbus. At that time, William Samuel Johnson (a signer of the Constitution, and son of the school’s founder) became its president. Originally founded as an Anglican school, with the name change it became a non-denominational Christian college. An early advertisement for the school affirmed its purpose and objective: The chief thing that is aimed at in this college is to teach and engage the children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve Him in all sobriety, godliness, and righteousness of life, with a perfect heart and a willing mind, and to train them up in all virtuous habits and all such useful knowledge as may render them creditable to their families and friends.

Some of the college’s early students included signer to the Constitution Alexander Hamilton, first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, and Robert Livingston (the highest judicial official in New York, and one of the five assigned by Congress to draft the Declaration of Independence.)

Content sourced from The American Story The Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton