6 INTRODUCTION. 
this account of the success of the institution : “ That the governors of the college 
had been enabled to extend its plan of education almost as diffusely as that of 
any college in Europe ; there being taught therein divinity, national law, physic, 
logic, ethics, metaphysics, mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy, geography, 
history, chronology, rhetoric; the Hebrew, Greek, Latin and modern languages; 
the belles-lettres, and whatever else of literature may tend to accomplish the 
pupils both as scholars and gentlemen.” At the commencement of the revolu¬ 
tion, the presidency devolved upon the right reverend Benjamin Moore, bishop 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church; and the chair has since been filled by Wil¬ 
liam Samuel Johnson, doctor Wharton, William Harris and William A. Duer.* 
The fair beginning of education in the colony was arrested by the revolutionary 
war; and the college was not reorganized until 1787, when, under the immediate 
superintendence of the newly created regents of the university, the institution 
assumed the name of Columbia College, and its charter, with some necessary 
alterations, was confirmed.! 
Education was recognized as among the proper responsibilities of the govern¬ 
ment in 1784, by an act “erecting an university within this state.” What 
appears to have been chiefly intended by this act, was to convert King’s, now 
Columbia College, into a state university. The principal officers of the state 
were made, ex-officio, regents, and twenty-four other persons were appointed, 
and it was provided that each religious denomination in the state might appoint 
one of its clergy to be a regent. The regents were empowered to establish 
colleges and schools, which should be considered as jiarts of the university. This 
law was amended in November of the same year, and was revised in 1787. The 
provision authorizing the clergy to appoint a regent proved impracticable, and 
was repealed. The constitution of the university is at present substantially such 
as it was made by this last revision. 
Among the many distinguished patrons of learning who have held seats in the 
* Historical sketch of Columbia College, 1826. 
t Laws of New-York, 1784. 
