Princeton University
in the American Revolution
A Brief Guide for
Visitors
In 1776 Princeton University was officially known as the
College of New Jersey. It had been chartered thirty years
before by the governor of the province in the name of King
George II "for the Education of Youth in the Learned
Languages and in the Liberal Arts and Sciences." The charter
was issued to a self-perpetuating board of trustees who were
acting in behalf of the evangelical or New Light wing of the
Presbyterian Church, but the College had no legal or
constitutional identification with that denomination. Its
doors were to be open to all students, "any different
sentiments in religion notwithstanding." The announced
purpose of the founders was to train men who would become
"ornaments of the State as well as the Church." It was the
fourth college to be established in British North America,
after Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale, in that
order.
The College was originally located in Elizabeth, where
its first president, Reverend Jonathan Dickinson, was also
pastor of the town's Presbyterian church. When Dickinson
died within a few months after the opening of the College in
May 1747, the trustees were fortunate in persuading Reverend
Aaron Burr, pastor of the Presbyterian church in Newark, to
accept the presidency. The College moved to Newark in the
fall of 1747, and there in the next year a class of six
young men became the first to graduate.
The College Moves to Princeton
In the fall of 1756 President Burr brought the College to
Princeton. One of the largest buildings constructed in
colonial America stood ready to receive the students and
their tutors. Built of native stone on land donated by
Nathaniel FitzRandolph, and with funds collected partly in
Great Britain, it was named Nassau Hall at the suggestion of
Governor Jonathan Belcher, a special friend of the College,
in testimony of the "Honour we retain, in this remote Part
of the Globe, to the immortal Memory" of William III, king
of England and prince of Orange, who was "of the illustrious
House of Nassau." Until the beginning of the nineteenth
century, Nassau Hall housed all the functions of the
College. It also provided an increasingly popular
designation for the College itself, perhaps because the
institution was so fully identified with the building,
perhaps because the official name of the College somehow
lacked appeal, as is suggested by the popular usage of
Princeton College through many years before the trustees in
1896 adopted the name of Princeton University.
Revolutionary War years
The president of the College at the time of the
Revolution was John Witherspoon, eminent Scottish divine who
held the office from 1768 to his death in 1794. Witherspoon
was the only ordained clergyman to sign the Declaration of
Independence, and for six years thereafter he was an active
and influential member of the Continental Congress. During
the war years he found it difficult, and at times
impossible, to keep the College in session. The graduating
class of 1776 had twenty-seven members, the five classes
immediately following a grand total of thirty. For much of
the time, Nassau Hall was used as a barracks or hospital by
troops, either British or American. As the Battle of
Princeton drew to its close on January 3, 1777, British
soldiers attempted a last stand within its walls, but
American artillery fire helped persuade them instead to
surrender. Tradition has it that a cannon ball fired by a
battery commanded by Alexander Hamilton decapitated a
portrait of King George II, leaving the frame intact for
later use in hanging a portrait of Washington. Whatever the
fact, the damage done to the building by the war was
extensive and costly.
Continental Congress
Nassau Hall was the scene also of important political
gatherings. It was there that the first legislature of the
State of New Jersey convened, and there that William
Livingston, the state's first governor, was inducted into
office. There, too, the Continental Congress, having fled
mutinous troops in Philadelphia, sat from July to November
of 1783, presumably on most occasions in the library located
on the second floor at the front and center of the building.
It was during this session that the Congress, its members
including six alumni of Nassau Hall, received notification
that the peace treaty giving final recognition to the
nation's independence had been signed. Among the dignitaries
present for part or all of the session, the chief was
General Washington, who on August 26 accepted in person the
congratulations of the Congress "on the success of a war" in
which he had "acted so conspicuous a part." Washington
attended the commencement exercises on September 24, when
the graduation of fourteen seniors gave evidence that the
College was beginning a slow recovery from the effects of
war.
To help the struggling college, the general made a
contribution of fifty guineas. The trustees responded by
requesting that he sit for a portrait by Charles Willson
Peale. This portrait now hangs in the Faculty Room of Nassau
Hall.
If you visit, be sure to explore...
Nassau Hall
Designed by Dr. William Shippen and Robert Smith, both of
Philadelphia and the latter a master builder, Nassau Hall
twice has been rebuilt within the original walls following
disastrous fires, the first in 1802, the second in 1855.
Benjamin Latrobe, architect of the Capitol Building in
Washington, D.C., guided the earlier reconstruction. By
lifting the roof, redesigning the central entrance, and
adding a larger cupola above, he lent better proportions to
the building. Much more radical were the changes made by
John Notman on the second occasion. Two of the original
three front entrances were eliminated, and a tower was added
to each end of the building for ready access to its three
floors. He also enlarged the remaining central entrance in
an arched Florentine style and above it placed a still
larger cupola. The Memorial Hall through which one normally
enters was installed after the first World War in memory of
the sons of "Old Nassau" who died in military service. Names
added later carry the record through August 15, 1973.
So many alterations of the interior have been made that
only the Faculty Room retains a significant part of its
original charter. It is a modern extension of the Prayer
Hall, to which the students were called for prayers each
morning in colonial days by a five o'clock bell. Measuring
thirty-two by forty feet and two stories high, its seating
capacity was at one time enlarged by a gallery (later
removed) entered from the second floor. The room serves
today for meetings of the faculty and for display of
portraits of founders, presidents, and famous alumni. At the
far end of the room, in addition to Peale's portrait of
Washington, are hand portraits of George II and William III.
The mace lying in front of the president's chair was a gift
by the Princeton community in 1956 on the occasion of the
bicentennial of Nassau Hall.
Maclean House
Constructed at the same time as Nassau Hall, this
dwelling served as the official residence for presidents of
the College until 1878. Subsequently it was known as the
Dean's House, and presently its upper floor is occupied by
offices of the Alumni Council. The porch and bay windows are
later additions. The extension at the rear joins to the main
structure a once separate kitchen house. According to
tradition, the sycamores in the front yard were planted in
celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766.
The main part of the interior has experienced little
change since colonial days. Especially interesting is the
study behind the library that once served also as an office
for the president, with access for tutors and students
through the side door opening onto the campus. Aaron Burr,
first of the presidents to live here, died in the fall of
1757, leaving a two-year-old son who bore his father's name,
graduated in Princeton's Class of 1772, served as vice
president of the United States, and is remembered chiefly,
perhaps, for the fatal duel with Alexander Hamilton, where
Hamilton died. Even briefer was the tenure of President
Burr's successor and father-in-law, Jonathan Edwards, who
died a few weeks after assuming office in 1758. Samuel
Davies, who had helped collect funds in Britain for the
building of Nassau Hall, and Samuel Finley were the other
presidents who preceded John Witherspoon as residents of the
house. The present name of the house honors John Maclean,
president from 1854 to 1868.
Stanhope Hall
Stanhope Hall was built in 1803 along with a twin (since
demolished) on the other side of Nassau Hall according to a
design of Benjamin Latrobe with a surplus of funds raised
for the reconstruction of Nassau Hall. Over the years, it
has housed almost every function of the College and
University, and its name has varied from the Library to
Geological Hall. In 1914 it was renamed in memory of
Witherspoon's son-in-law and successor Samuel Stanhope
Smith. It now houses the Office of Communications and the
Office of Public Safety (the University security
office).
Firestone Library
Opened in 1948, this is the fifth building to house the
main library since the small beginning of the collections in
Nassau Hall, and the third to be exclusively devoted to
library services. Its holdings are rich in materials related
to the Revolutionary years. An Exhibition Gallery is located
to the right inside the main entrance.
The Art Museum
Among the Art Museum's rich and diverse collections, the
most interesting for the period of the Revolution are found
in the Boudinot Rooms, which recreate a parlor and dining
room of the home in Elizabeth, New Jersey of Elias Boudinot
(1740-1821) for display of portraits, period furnishings,
and decorative arts belonging to the family. Elias Boudinot
presided over the Congress while it sat in Princeton and
served the College as a trustee for almost half a century.
The building is closed on Monday and principal holidays.
For more information about tours of the campus, see
http://www.princeton.edu/~okkey/
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