Throughout the nineteenth century political economy taught in American colleges was just one ingredient in a hearty moral philosophical stew served to students. Economics as its own course in a social scientific menu appears relatively late in the century.
I stumbled upon an article in the Boston Evening Transcript (January 13, 1897, p. 9) that reported on a pamphlet written by Dartmouth professor James Fairbanks Colby on the history of Dartmouth instruction on constitutional law, politics, and political economy. I found the pamphlet at the hathitrust.org archive and it was interesting enough for me to prepare this post with links to all the course text books that Colby mentioned.
Fun fact (if true): “William and Mary appears to have led by prescribing the use of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations as early as 1807. Most of the other Colleges followed within a few years of each other: Harvard in 1820; Yale in 1824; Columbia in 1827; Dartmouth in 1828; Princeton in 1830; Williams in 1835.” Nonetheless, the text book of choice for much of the 19th century was the English translation of Say’s Political Economy.
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Biography
James Fairbanks Colby was born November 18, 1850, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the son of James K. and Sarah (Pierce) Colby. After graduating from St. Johnsbury Academy. Colby attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1872. He received his AM from Yale in 1877 and his LL. B. from George Washington University in 1875. Colby died in Hanover, New Hampshire, October 21, 1939.
Colby was an instructor of economics and history at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University from 1879 until 1881 and taught international law at Yale Law School from 1883 until 1885. At Dartmouth College he was an instructor of history from 1885 until 1893, a professor of political economics from 1885 until 1898, and Joel Parker professor of law and political science from 1885 until 1916. He also taught constitutional and international law at Amos Tuck School of Business Administration from 1900 until 1908, and lectured in jurisprudence and international law at Boston University Law School from 1905 until 1922.
In 1902, he was a delegate to the New Hampshire Constitutional Convention; he compiled and edited the Manual of the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, 1902, as well as the revised 2nd edition in 1912. Never a candidate for public office himself, Colby exerted influence on political reform and the Progressive Movement in New Hampshire.
Source: Dartmouth Library, Archives & Manuscripts. Colby, James Fairbanks, 1850-1939.
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LEGAL AND POLITICAL STUDIES IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, 1796-1896.
by James Fairbanks Colby,
Parker Professor of Law and Political Science
Hanover, N.H.: The Dartmouth Press, 1896.
The studies of Law and Government have been pursued at Dartmouth for one hundred years. Meager records and their vague language leave it doubtful whether any American college except William and Mary, Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania), and Princeton made earlier and continuous offer of instruction in both these branches. Since their first introduction into its curriculum, Dartmouth has given both these studies constant recognition in all its plans for a liberal education. This was made possible by the broad purpose of its Founder; it became practicable through the wise resolves of its Trustees and the liberal benefaction of one of its most distinguished graduates, Chief Justice Joel Parker.
The royal charter of the College of 1769 created a corporation empowered to give instruction in “all liberal arts and sciences.” Despite this ample grant no positive evidence has been found that regular instruction was offered by the College in the particular sciences of Law and Government during the first twenty-five years after its foundation. The reasons for this delay are not hard to find. They were the original mission of Wheelock to Christianize the Indians, the scanty resources at his disposal, and the traditional limitation of the curriculum of his Alma Mater — Yale — to the Sacred and Classical Languages, Mathematics and Divinity. But the location of the College on the frontier and the stirring events which followed its founding, the Revolution, the framing of new constitutions, State and Federal, the long struggle over the New Hampshire Grants, and the rise of American political parties, aroused liveliest interest in Law and Government throughout all the region where dwelt the natural constituency of the new College, and made increasing demand upon it for legal and political training.
Evidence of effort to satisfy this demand may be found in the first formal curriculum of the College, which was adopted by its trustees in 1796. This, under the head of “Public and Classical Exercises,” enumerates among the subjects of study for Juniors “Natural and Moral Philosophy,” and among those for Seniors “Natural and Politic Law.” Since Moral Philosophy, as then defined, treated of the State — the subject matter of Political Science — the first formal curriculum of the College appears to have included both the studies of Law and Government. Neither search in the official records of the College, nor wide gleaning among the biographies and letters of graduates of that period, yields much information about the conduct of these courses from 1796 to 1822. Instruction in Natural and Politic Law apparently fell with the general care of the Senior class to the President, and so was given by John Wheelock from 1796 to 1815, by Francis Brown from 1815 to 1820, and by Daniel Dana from 1820 to 1821. The instruction in Moral Philosophy (including Political Philosophy) apparently was assigned with the general care of the Junior class to Rev. John Smith, Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages from 1796 to 1804, and to Rev. Roswell Shurtleff, Phillips Professor of Divinity,1 from 1804 to 1823. Probably the earliest text books in each of these subjects were those known to have been in use in 18162. These were the two famous works, Burlamaqui’s Principles of Natural and Politic Law, first published in Geneva in 1747 and republished in Boston as early as 1793, and Paley’s Moral and Political Philosophy, first published in England in 1785 and republished in Boston as early as 1795. The sixth book of Paley is devoted to what is now called Political Science — the State, its origin, forms of government, civil liberty, and the administration of justice. Both these books were then coming into use in America and the former was prescribed as a text in the College as late as 1828, and the latter as late as 1838.
* * * * * * * * * * *
1 In 1796 it was voted by the trustees “that it be the duty of the Professor of Divinity to teach Theology, to preach and instruct the students in Logic and Moral Philosophy.” This chair was not filled till 1804.
2 “Documents relating to Dartmouth College, published by order of the Legislature of 1816,” page 32. The included report shows the amendments made to the curriculum from 1796 to 1816.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Before 1810 a marked tendency among Dartmouth graduates toward the profession of law was noticeable. The records showed that the proportion of graduates entering that profession was increasing from decade to decade. The proportion of lawyers to graduates, which from 1770 to 1780 had been only 4½% per cent., increased from 1780 to 1790 to 17½% per cent., from 1790 to 1800 to 36 1/3% per cent., and from 1800 to 1810 to 46¼% per cent. Before this time attempts had been made by the University of Pennsylvania, William and Mary, Columbia, Princetown [sic], and Yale, all founded before Dartmouth, to promote good citizenship by academic training in law, but such instruction apparently had not been continuous in all these Colleges. The need of other legal training for the bar than that which could be had in the office of active practitioners was coming to be more and more felt, but the only law school then existing in New England was the famous Litchfield (Conn.) Law School, which was founded in 1784 and enrolled 1024 students before it was closed in 1823.
Under these circumstances the Trustees of Dartmouth College deemed it wise to plan for the establishment of a collegiate professorship of law, as is shown by the following extract from the records of their meeting3 held Jan. 7, 1808:
“Whereas, An establishment of professorships in different branches of education at universities facilitates improvement; and as a more general acquaintance with the important science of law would be greatly conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the citizens of our country; and as in promoting that end the establishment of a professorship of Law at this university is highly desirable; Therefore,
Resolved, Unanimously that this board will proceed to establish a professorship of Law and appoint a suitable person to the office so soon as adequate means shall be furnished. And as all, the present funds are necessarily applied to other objects of education the liberal and patriotic are earnestly solicited to favor and promote by their munificence the early accomplishment of this design.
Voted, that the secretary be requested to cause a suitable number of subscription papers to be printed for the purpose of aiding the object contemplated in the foregoing resolution.” Trustees‘ Records, vol. 1, p. 321.
* * * * * * * * * * *
3 Those present at this meeting were President Wheelock, Rev. Eden Burroughs, Rev. J. Smith, Hon. Peter Olcott, John A. Freeman, Nathaniel Niles, John S. Gilman, S. W. Thompson, Stephen Jacobs, Timothy Farrar Elijah Paine. Five of these trustees were eminent lawyers in their own generation in Northern New England.
* * * * * * * * * * *
It does not appear whether the Secretary prepared subscription papers nor whether the aid of the liberal and patriotic was solicited, but the serious dissensions which arose in the Board of Trustees the following year and which were to issue in 1819 in the cause célèbre, indefinitely postponed the establishment of the proposed professorship. The spread of these dissensions from 1809 to 1815 and the controversy between the College and the State which filled the years from 1815 to 1819 prevented any enlargement of the courses in Law and Government until 1822.
The circumstances of that controversy and especially the forensic triumph of Webster as the filial champion of the “small College” before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1819 seem to have awakened fresh interest in the study of American Constitutional Law and to have been the immediate occasion of its addition to the curriculum. There is no authentic record at least of such a course before 1822. The catalogue of that year, the first published by the College, enumerates among the studies for Juniors Moral and Political Philosophy, (Paley), and for Seniors Natural and Politic Law (Burlamaqui), Moral and Political Philosophy (Paley), the Federalist. No change in these three courses was made till 1828, but the appointment in 1823 of Daniel Oliver (Harvard, 1809) as Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy probably made him the instructor in Political Philosophy for the next five years.
In 1828 Prof. Roswell Shurtleff (D. C., 1799) was transferred to the newly established chair of Moral Philosophy and Political Economy, and the Trustees having voted, “that the Senior class be instructed in Say’s Political Economy so far as can be by leaving out Burlamaqui,” his Natural and Politic Law disappeared from the curriculum.
The establishment of this chair and the almost simultaneous introduction of the study of Political Economy by other American Colleges is noteworthy.4 Probably this was due to the industrial revolution which the inventions of Arkwright, Hargreaves and Fulton had wrought, the expansion of commerce which followed the close of the Napoleonic wars, and the rise of new political issues in the United States — the tariff, the bank, slavery, and internal improvements. The addition of Political Economy to the curriculum of Dartmouth as well as other Colleges undoubtedly was facilitated by the appearance as early as 1821 of an American edition of Say’s Political Economy which presented the subject in clear, orderly and attractive form.
* * * * * * * * * * *
4 William and Mary appears to have led by prescribing the use of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations as early as 1807. Most of the other Colleges followed within a few years of each other: Harvard in 1820; Yale in 1824; Columbia in 1827; Dartmouth in 1828; Princeton in 1830; Williams in 1835.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The three courses prescribed in 1828 in Political Economy, Moral and Political Philosophy (transferred from Senior to Junior year in 1833), and the Federalist, underwent no modification until the resignation of Professor Shurtleff in 1838. Throughout his long service Prof. Shurtleff was a popular and respected instructor. The marginal notes in his own handwriting in his copies of Paley and the Federalist reveal his acuteness, skill in argument and abounding humor.
His successor, though the name of the chair was changed to that of Intellectual Philosophy and Political Economy, was Professor Charles B. Haddock (D. C., 1816). He continued the three courses previously described during his term of office and extended the instruction. In 1838 he substituted Wayland’s Moral Philosophy [Elements of Moral Science, 1835] for Paley’s, and in 1842 added a course in Kent’s Commentaries, Vol. 1, for Seniors in the second term. In 1845-6 this course, probably to enable students to work by themselves to advantage during the long winter vacation, was opened to Juniors as well as Seniors. In the catalogue of 1851-2 Story on the Constitution [1833: Volume 1; Volume 2; Volume 3], open to Juniors and Seniors, took the place of Kent’s Commentaries, Vol. 1, which probably had been used continuously since 1842, though it is not named in the catalogues of 1846-7, 1848-9. In 1852-3 the study of Guizot’s Lectures on Civilization was added to the courses previously prescribed for Seniors. In 1854 Prof. Haddock, who three years earlier had accepted the position of Charge d’ Affaires of the United States at the court of Lisbon, resigned his chair. A nephew of Daniel Webster, Prof. Haddock resembled his distinguished relative in graceful diction, luminous statement and, capacity for logical argument. These qualities, though best displayed in his brief service in the New Hampshire Legislature and his public addresses, made his class room instruction memorable and the tradition of its large value is uniform.
His successor was Rev. Clement Long (D. C., 1828), who had served as Lecturer on Intellectual and Moral Philosophy since 1851. The courses in Law, Government and Economics when he assumed his chair were the four previously named: Political Economy, (Say), History (Guizot), Constitutional Law (Story [1833: Volume 1; Volume 2; Volume 3],), open to both Seniors and Juniors — and the Federalist. No change was made by him in these courses during his term of office, except that in 1860-61 Story on the Constitution was withdrawn and Woolsey’s International Law was offered to Juniors though it does not appear during the years immediately following. Prof. Long, like all the other incumbents of this chair, occasionally supplemented the prescribed textbooks by formal lectures. Two of his are the only ones that an extended search has discovered. One is entitled “The Justice and Expendiency of Laws Regulating Trade.” The other treats of “The Importance of the Study of Human Nature in Relation to Politics,” and discusses first, the actual interest of Americans in politics; second, urgent reasons why their political opinions should be correct; third, the certainty that there must be somewhere a basis of fact for some political theories; fourth, some principles in human nature which a political theorist should recognize, and fifth, certain errors which have sprung from a disregard of these principles. Prof. Long was a trained logician who had a scrupulous regard for facts and unusual power to stimulate thought. His professional training led him to give large place to the ethical aspect of whatever subject he taught, and his success as a teacher of Political Science and Economics and his moulding power upon his students was marked.
Upon the death of Prof. Long in 1861 he was succeeded by Prof. Samuel Gilman Brown (D. C., 1831). During his occupancy of this chair the three courses in Political Economy (Say), History (Guizot), and the Federalist were offered in each year, and in addition the following: in 1862 Lieber’s Civil Liberty and Self Government; in 1864 May’s Constitutional History of England [1878: Volume 1; Volume 2 ; Volume 3]; in 1865 Pomeroy’s Municipal Law. Prof. Brown resigned in 1867. Widely known to American lawyers as the graceful biographer of Rufus Choate, Prof. Brown in the class room emphasized the historical phase of his work and impressed all who came under his instruction by his varied culture, exact thought, and judicial temper.
His successor was Prof. Daniel J. Noyes (D. C., 1838), during whose term the instruction in Law and Government was greatly strengthened. He substituted Pomeroy’s Constitutional Law for the Federalist which had been used continuously in the class room at least since 1822, and Bowen’s National Economy and later Perry’s Political Economy for Say’s which had been used by successive classes since 1828. In 1867-8 International Law was offered to Juniors for whom it continued to be prescribed till 1876 when it became a Senior study.
From 1869 to 1875 Joel Parker (D.C. 1811), Chief Justice of New Hampshire from 1838 to 1848, and Royall Professor of Law in the Harvard Law School from 1847 to 1868, Trustee of the College from 1843 to 1860, annually delivered a course of lectures on law before its officers and students. Unfortunately only three of these lectures, those delivered in 1869, were published. These may be found in the volume entitled Addresses of Joel Parker, under the titles of: 1, “The Three Powers of Government;” 2, “The Origin of the United States and the Status of the Southern States on the Suppression of the Rebellion;” 3, “The Three Dangers of the Republic.” These were clear, logical and masterly discussions of some of the questions in American Constitutional Law which were then agitating the public mind. The events of the recent Rebellion which suggested these subjects, the clear and interesting exposition of the National Theory of the Constitution by Pomeroy in the class room by Professor Noyes, and the legal acumen and powerful logic with which that theory as applied by the party then dominant in the government was criticised in the lecture room by Judge Parker, gave special interest during this period to the course in Constitutional Law.
In 1871 Benjamin Labaree (D. C., 1828), ex-President of Middlebury College, was added to the faculty as special Lecturer on International Law, and continued to instruct Juniors in this subject until his retirement in 1876, when it was transferred to the Senior year. His lectures, with illustrations drawn from our recent diplomatic history, worthily supplemented those just described on Constitutional Law.
In 1883 Professor Noyes resigned. Of him no discriminating pupil could say less than that he had “the beauty of accuracy in his understanding and the beauty of righteousness in his character.” In the class-room he always showed thorough command of the material of his text books and constantly “aimed to secure the thorough mastery of these, as being for most students the best preparation for broad and thorough supplementary study of other authors, and other aspects of each subject.”
During the two following years the regular courses in Political Economy, in Constitutional Law, and in International Law were conducted by Samuel G. Brown, Professor of Intellectual Philosophy and Political Economy, 1863–7 and ex-President of Hamilton College, and Henry A. Folsom, Esq., (D.C., 1871), a member of the Suffolk Bar of Massachusetts.
In 1882 the study of American Political History was added to the curriculum for Seniors, and during the collegiate years 1882-5, there being no chair of history, instruction in this subject was generously given by Charles F. Richardson, Winkley Professor of the English Language and Literature. The manual used as a basis in this course was Johnston’s American Politics.
In 1885 a legacy to the College from Chief Justice Parker, whose death occurred ten years earlier, became available for the establishment of such a collegiate professorship of law as had been planned by the Trustees in 1808. This distinguished jurist, whose many and unrequited services to his Alma Mater were not limited to or measured by his faithful discharge of the duties of Trustee and Lecturer on Law during a whole generation, intended to found a Law Department in Dartmouth College. The inadequacy of the realized endowment for that purpose and the difficulties that were anticipated in the attempt to conduct an additional law school in New England, apart from any populous center and remote from courts, led the Trustees, when duly authorized thereto, in 1885, to apply this legacy to the establishment of the Joel Parker Professorship of Law and Political Science. In the same year the present incumbent of this chair was elected and also was made Instructor in History. The courses offered under his tuition during the next ten years, 1885-95 (except when transferred to his colleagues as below specified), included the following:
- Constitutional Law (Required for Seniors). Text, Cooley’s Principles of Constitutional Law.
- Elementary Law (Elective for Seniors). Text, Hadley’s Roman Law and Markby’s Elements of Law, or Holland’s Jurisprudence.
- International Law (Elective for Seniors). Text, Woolsey’s or Davis’ International Law.
- Elementary Political Economy (Required for Seniors). Text, Walker’s Political Economy. This course was transfered to the Professor of Social Science in 1893.
- Advanced Political Economy (Elective for Seniors). An historical and critical study of some present economic problems, such as Taxation, Tariff History of the United States Banking, Bimetallism. Among the texts used in different years were Cossa’s Principles and Methods of Taxation, Taussig’s Tariff History of the United States, Dunbar’s Theory and History of Banking, Hadley’s Railroad Transportation, and the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency. This course was introduced in 1888 and a part of its work was transferred to the Professor of Social Science in 1893.
- Advanced Political Economy (Elective for Seniors). Economic History. Lectures with use of Rand’s Economic History since 1763 and Wells’ (D. A.) Recent Economic Changes. This course was introduced in 1888 and was transferred to the Professor of Social Science in 1893.
- Mediaeval and Modern History (Required for Sophomores). Text, Freeman’s General Sketch of European History or Myers’ Mediaeval and Modern History. In 1888 this course was transferred to Librarian Marvin D. Bisbee to give place to course 9 below described.
- American Political History (Elective for Seniors), Lectures on the Physical Geography of the United States, the Planting of the English Colonies, the Formation of the Union, and a study of the period 1783-1860. Manuals used were Fiske’s Critical Period of American History, Johnston’s American Politics. This course was transferred to the Professor of History in 1893, though taught during that year by Prof. D. Collin Wells.
- English Constitutional History (Elective for Seniors), Texts, Taswell-Langmead’s or May’s Constitutional History of England [1878: Volume 1; Volume 2 ; Volume 3].
During these years, 1885–95, while many new electives were being added to the curriculum the number of students pursuing the studies above described is shown in the following table:
|
Class
|
Constitutional Law
(Required) |
Elementary Law (Elective) |
International Law (Elective) |
American Political History (Elective) |
English Constitutional History (Elective) |
Elementary Economics (Required) |
Advanced Economics (Required) |
Economic History (Elective) |
|
1886
|
55 |
17 |
47 |
45 |
|
55 |
|
|
| 1887 |
63 |
9 |
26 |
38 |
|
63 |
|
|
|
1888
|
48 |
23 |
24 |
30 |
|
48 |
10 |
|
| 1889 |
52 |
8 |
21 |
27 |
8 |
52 |
4 |
7
|
|
1890
|
53 |
12 |
25 |
38 |
8 |
53 |
23 |
4 |
| 1891 |
46 |
21 |
29 |
43 |
4 |
46 |
25 |
20
|
|
1892
|
55 |
13 |
20 |
43 |
11 |
55 |
31 |
24 |
| 1893 |
56 |
18 |
20 |
42 |
18 |
56 |
26 |
9
|
| 1894 |
65 |
18 |
7 |
15 |
13 |
65 |
33 |
15
|
In 1893 a notable enlargement and marked improvement in the work of the College was made possible by the establishment of chairs of Social Science and of History. The resulting division of the labor of the Parker Professor of Law and Political Science, the addition of numerous courses5 in Social Science and History, and the mutual helpfulness of each of these departments whose subject matters are interdependent, have united to give Dartmouth exceptional means among smaller colleges for the pursuit of those studies which directly promote good citizenship.
* * * * * * * * * * *
5 See “Study of Sociology at Dartmouth,” by Prof. D. C. Wells, in The Dartmouth, June 14, 1895, and “Teaching of History at Dartmouth,” by Prof. H. D. Foster in The Dartmouth, May 22, 1896.
* * * * * * * * * * *
In Law and Political Science the courses offered during the current year, 1895–96, the object proposed and the method used are as follows:
- American Constitutional Law (Prescribed for Seniors, First Term). This course is designed to give students a knowledge of the general principles of the Constitutional Law of the United States, both federal and statal. Such knowledge is exacted of all students because it is deemed essential to intelligent citizenship. The historical aspect of the subject is emphasized and particular attention is given to the origin and development of American political institutions, to the merits of written and unwritten constitutions, and to the immediate causes of the adoption of the federal constitution and to the most important parts of its text. The system of State and Federal courts is also described, frequent reference is made to reports, and students are urged to read leading cases and those of present practical interest. Recitations, supplemented by lectures and examination. Forty-two exercises, three hours weekly. (Cooley’s Principles of Constitutional Law).
- English Constitutional History and Law (Elective for Seniors, Second Term). This course is planned with special reference to the needs of students who expect to enter the profession of law. It traces the growth of English political and legal institutions from the earliest times to the present. Forty-eight exercises, four hours weekly. (Taswell-Langmead’s English Constitutional History, or Anson’s Law and Custom of the Constitution [1886: Part 1 Parliament ; 1896 Part 2 The Crown], with use of the Statutes of the Realm, and Select Charters).
- The State (Elements of Politics). (Elective for Seniors, Second Term). This course is historical as well as comparative and critical. It treats of the origin and development of the state, its forms, functions, and ends. It includes a brief study of the governments of Greece and Rome, the Teutonic (Mediaeval) Polity, and comparison of the present constitutions of England, France, Germany and the United States. Recitations and lectures. Twenty-four exercises, two hours weekly. Manual, Wilson’s The State.
- Elementary Law. (Elective for Seniors, Third Term), This course is intended for students who expect to enter the profession of law, and is planned to give a general view of the whole field of the law and an introduction to its terminology and its fundamental ideas. It consists of (a) an historical survey of the Roman Law and of the English Common Law and (b) a critical examination of the fundamental ideas in both these systems of law. Recitations and lectures with reports on assigned topics in the history of law. Forty exercises, four hours weekly. Texts, Hadley’s Introduction to Roman Law, Markby’s Elements of Law.
- International Law. (Elective for Seniors, Third Term). This course is historical and explanatory of present international relations. It treats of the origin and development of the rules that generally govern the intercourse of modern civilized states, the most important European treaties since 1648, and some subjects of recent interest in American Diplomacy such as the Northeast Fisheries, Asylum on American Merchant Vessels in Foreign Waters, Jurisdiction over Behring Sea, Recognition of Cuban Belligerency. Lectures and readings. Twenty exercises, two hours weekly. Manual, Lawrence’s Principles of International Law.
- Graduate Course. This is an extension of courses 1, 2, 3 and 4. The work includes American Constitutional History, 1789-1865, English Constitutional History, 1760-1870, the History of the Common Law, and Comparative Constitutional Law.
In all these six courses the method of instruction is a combination of recitation upon text book and of lectures. The proportionate use of each varies both with the subject matter and with the class or division and its adjudged requirements; but in all cases a text-book with set lessons, followed by examination, both oral and written, is prescribed as a basis for the class or division work.
In 1894, through the liberality of Gardiner G. Hubbard, Esq., (D. C. 1841), a Lectureship on United States History during and since the Civil War was established which has been filled for the past three years by ex-Senator Henry L. Dawes. His large ability, long experience in both branches of Congress and ripe judgment have made these lectures authoritative expositions of constitutional law, economic policy and recent political history, and greatly strengthened the regular work of the College. The subjects of these lectures were as follows:
In 1894: The Dual Character of Our Government; The Respective Powers of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches of the Government; The Executive Department; The Battle Before the War; The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of the Seceding States; The History of Tariff Legislation.
In 1895: The Amendments of the Constitution, Their History and Character; The Origin and Basis of Nullification and Secession; The History and Character of Our Territorial Acquisitions; The Presidency in Court (Impeachment and Counting the Electoral Vote); Thaddeus Stevens and His Leadership in the War and Reconstruction; The United States and the Indian.
In 1896: Politics in Appointments; The Constitution and Interstate Commerce; Inter-Oceanic Commerce; The History and Scope of the Monroe Doctrine; England During and After Our Civil War; Fifty Years of Development and Expansion in a Written Constitution.
No account of instruction in Law and Economics in Dartmouth College would be complete which failed to mention the work which has been done in its Associated Institutions. In the Chandler Scientific School at different times between 1853 and its closer union with the College in 1893, brief elective courses were offered in Municipal, Constitutional and International Law, and Political Economy. Instruction in these subjects commonly was given by the same person who taught them in the College, but in Municipal Law, from 1883–6, by Henry A. Folsom, Esq., and in Political Economy from 1884–92 by Charles P. Chase (D. C. 1869), the present Treasurer of the College.
In the Medical School lectures on Medical Jurisprudence were given as early as 1838 and a professorship of Medical Jurisprudence was established as early as 1847. This chair has been held in succession by three eminent graduates of the College whose contributions to legal literature and whose services as teachers of law have added to their high reputation, Chief Justice Joel Parker, Chief Justice Isaac F. Redfield and Prof. John Ordronaux.
The Law Library of the College numbers by recent count 2700 volumes, made up of statutes, histories of law, treatises, English and American reports, and numerous works on Roman Civil Law. A large part of the treatises and reports were received from Chief Justice Parker. The more recent additions are due to the liberality of some of the Alumni of New York. There is need of constant though small additions to this library for which there is no permanent fund.
Such have been the civic studies offered by Dartmouth for one hundred years. With what measure of success they have been taught by the different instructors named must be judged by the Historian of the College. But it is permissible, so plain is the record, for any one to affirm that all of them, Shurtleff, Haddock, Long, Brown, and Noyes, and the special Lecturers have been faithful to their high trust of training American youth for good citizenship. This implies, since Dartmouth has constantly insisted that all candidates for its degrees should have some knowledge of Political Science and the fundamental laws of their country, that none of its graduates have gone forth wholly unprepared for the intelligent discharge of their duties as citizens. The circumstance that a large proportion of these graduates have entered the profession of law and the subordinate place commonly given to the topics of Political Science, Public and International Law in Law Offices and Law Schools also have contributed to make these collegiate instructors important though silent forces in the Commonwealth. The extent of the influence of a college upon public affairs is not susceptible of exact statement, but an unmistakable sign that that of Dartmouth has been large is found not only in the number of its distinguished graduates whose names are part of our legal and political history, among whom are Webster, Choate, Chase, Parker, and Redfield, but also in the marked tendency of its graduates toward the profession of law. This tendency, challenging attention in the early years of the century and continuing to its close, is shown in the following table compiled from the General Catalogue:
|
Years
|
Total Graduates |
Lawyers |
Per cent |
| 1771-1780 |
89 |
4 |
4 ½
|
|
1780-1790
|
165 |
29 |
17 ½+ |
| 1790-1800 |
363 |
132 |
36 1/3 +
|
|
1800-1810
|
337 |
156 |
46 ¼ + |
| 1810-1820 |
400 |
109 |
27 ½ +
|
|
1820-1830
|
335 |
101 |
30 + |
| 1830-1840 |
388 |
104 |
26 ¾
|
|
1840-1850
|
588 |
163 |
27 ¾ + |
| 1850-1860 |
565 |
178 |
31 ½ +
|
|
1860-1870
|
495 |
143 |
29 – |
| 1870-1880 |
616 |
184 |
30 –
|
|
1880-1890
|
538 |
130 |
24 + |
|
4879 |
1433 |
29 +
|
Whatever Dartmouth College has been able to accomplish during the long period under review by the offer of political, legal, and economic studies in promoting good citizenship and in contributing to the broad training of lawyers has been due in no small degree to two causes. One is the strong character of the youth who have formed its constituency and who have come to its portals mainly from New England where township government already had awakened their political instincts and made them unusually receptive of the ideas of political philosophers and eager for a practical knowledge of law. The other is the wise refusal of its Founder to prescribe any such test of political orthodoxy for its teachers as was set up by Jefferson in the University of Virginia or Wharton in the School of Finance and Economy in the University of Pennsylvania, and its trustful commission to them to teach untrammelled and without regard to sect or party what they believed to be the truth.
Source: James Fairbanks Colby, Legal and Political Studies in Dartmouth College, 1796-1896.
