Colonial colleges


The colonial colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies before the United States of America became a sovereign nation after the American Revolution. These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Seven of the nine colonial colleges are part of the Ivy League: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Dartmouth.
The two colonial colleges not in the Ivy League are now both public universities — The College of William & Mary in Virginia and Rutgers the State University of New Jersey. William & Mary was a royal charter institution from 1693 until the American Revolution. Between the Revolution and the American Civil War, William & Mary was a private institution. It suffered significant damage during the Civil War and began to receive public support in the 1880s. William & Mary officially became a public college in 1906. Rutgers was founded as Queens College, named for Queen Charlotte, and was for much of its history privately affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. It became "The State University of New Jersey" after World War II.

The nine colonial colleges

Seven of the nine colonial colleges began their histories as institutions of higher learning '. Dartmouth College began operating in 1768 as the collegiate department of Moor's Charity School, a secondary school started in 1754 by Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock. Dartmouth considers its founding date to be 1769, when it was granted a collegiate charter. The University of Pennsylvania began operating in 1751 as a secondary school, the Academy of Philadelphia, and added an institution of higher education in 1755 with the granting of a charter to the College of Philadelphia.
Institution
ColonyFoundedCharteredFirst instruction Primary religious influenceIvy League
New College
Massachusetts Bay Colony163616501642 Puritan Yes
College of William & MaryColony of Virginia169316931694Church of EnglandNo
Collegiate School
Connecticut Colony170117011702 Puritan Yes
College of New Jersey
Province of New Jersey174617461747 Presbyterian but officially nonsectarianYes
King's College
Province of New York175417541754 Church of England with a commitment to "religious liberty."Yes
College of Philadelphia
Province of Pennsylvania1755 17551755 Church of England but officially nonsectarianYes
College of Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations176417641765Baptist Yes
Queen's College
Province of New Jersey176617661771 Dutch ReformedNo
Dartmouth College'''Province of New Hampshire176917691768 Puritan Yes

Other colonial-era foundations

Several other colleges and universities can be traced to colonial-era "academies" or "schools", but are not considered colonial colleges because they were not formally chartered as colleges with degree-granting powers until after the formation of the United States in 1776. Listed below are the founding dates of the schools which served as predecessor entities and the years in which they were chartered to operate an institution of higher learning.
Institution Colony or stateFoundedCharteredReligious influence
King William's School, Annapolis
Province of Maryland16961784Church of England
Kent County Free School
Province of Maryland17231782Non-sectarian
Bethlehem Female Seminary
Province of Pennsylvania17421863Moravian Church
Free School
Delaware Colony 17431833Presbyterian, but officially non-sectarian after 1769
Augusta Academy
Colony and Dominion of Virginia17491782Presbyterian, but officially nonsectarian
College of CharlestonProvince of South Carolina17701785Church of England
Pittsburgh Academy

Province/Commonwealth of Pennsylvania1770?1787Non-sectarian
Little Girls' School
Province of North Carolina17721866Moravian Church
Dickinson CollegeProvince of Pennsylvania17731783Presbyterian
Hampden–Sydney CollegeColony and Dominion of Virginia17751783Presbyterian