Address by Professor Baldwin. xvii 



framed the Constitution of 1789 had just closed its sessions. 

 Whether to ratify or reject the work, whether to side with Ham- 

 ilton or Patrick Henry, were questions which quite superseded 

 any that could be raised by Dr. Edwards as to the analogy 

 between the Hebrew and the tongue of the JVInhhekaneews. 

 Party spirit soon awoke, and whatever time Connecticut could 

 give to academic subjects was devoted to readjusting the relations 

 between the State and Yale College by bringing the Governor, 

 Lieutenant-Governor, and six of the Assistants into her board of 

 management. 



This was accomplished in 1792, and seven years later, on March 

 4th, 1799, a new organization was quietly effected at New Haven, 

 under the name originally selected by Dr. Stiles. It was at first 

 a voluntary association, but a few months later, at the October 

 session of the General Assembly, in 1799, a charter of incorpora- 

 tion was easily obtained. It included many of the members of 

 the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences, but there was no 

 formal merger of the moribund institution with that thus brought 

 into existence. 



The first meeting of the Academy under its charter was held at 

 the State House in this city on October 22d, 1799. 



There was an organization on a solid foundation. The President 

 was the President of Yale College. The Vice-President was the Go v- 

 ernor of the State, and the head of the " Counselors " was the Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor ; both also being ex officio Fellows of the College. 

 The charter did not specify the objects of the Academy, otherwise 

 than by its name, and in the preamble, which declared that "lit- 

 erary Societies have been found to promote, diffuse and preserve 

 the knowledge of those Arts and Sciences, which are the support 

 of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, and to advance the 

 dignity, virtue and happiness of a people." These same words 

 were repeated in the charter of the American Geological Society, 

 when that was incorporated by Connecticut, twenty years later.* 



Any organization of which President Dwight was the head had 

 from that fact alone an assurance of success. His strong, domi- 

 nating character, active mind, and untiring energy, set the Acad- 

 emy at once upon a course of useful activity. 



* Private Laws of Connecticut, Vol. 1, p. 1098. 



