Trusteeship - March/April 2021 - ABG17

Q

Since the college charter is a contract,
the legislature's actions violate the U.S.
Constitution, which expressly precludes
states from passing laws that interfere
with contractual obligations.

The defense contends:
Q Dartmouth College was chartered as
a public corporation and is therefore
subject to legislative control (citing
the charter itself that the college was
established: " ...that the best means of
education be established in our province
of New Hampshire for the benefit of said
province. " );
Q Even if the college was a private
corporation the legislature's authority of
eminent domain would apply; and
Q The college's original charter, from the
British monarch, is not protected by the
U.S. Constitution.

1817 November: The New Hampshire
Superior Court finds for the defense,
affirming Dartmouth College was a public
corporation subject to direct legislative
control. Chief Justice Richardson expounds:
" The education of the rising generation
is a matter of highest public concern and
is worthy of the best attention of every
legislature. [...] But make the trustees
independent and they will ultimately forget
that their office is a public trust-will at
length consider these institutions as their
own-will overlook the great purposes
for which their powers were originally
given, and will exercise them only to gratify
their own private views and wishes, or to
promote the narrow purposes of a sect or a
party. "

1817 November: Fearful that Dartmouth

1818 August: Having received reports

College agents were absconding with
books, three Dartmouth University
faculty members lead a group of about
20 university supporters to force their
way into the library with an axe. Perhaps
hoping to remove important books to a
more secure location, the group is met
upon its exit by about 150 students and
friends of Dartmouth College, according to
one student's report. University agents are
allowed to leave unharmed but without any
books.

not only that the college's counsel was
masterful but that their own arguments
were poorly delivered, the Dartmouth
University board changes counsel, hiring
former U.S. Attorney General William
Pinkney. A strategy is hatched to reopen
arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court at
the start of the next term.

1817 November: Alumnus Daniel Webster
agrees to petition the U.S. Supreme Court
on behalf of the Dartmouth College Board
of Trustees.

1818 March: The U.S. Supreme Court
hears arguments in Trustees of Dartmouth
College v. William H. Woodward. At dispute,
now, is the singular issue as to whether the
college charter comprises a contract under
the U.S. Constitution, and whose obligations
were abrogated by the New Hampshire
legislature. Daniel Webster's impassioned
arguments include a concern that would,
in years to come, similarly shape an
American tradition of autonomous board
responsibility for public universities:
" [This case] affects not this college only,
but every college, and all the literary
institutions of the country. They have
flourished, hitherto, and have become in
a high degree respectable and useful to
the community. They have all a common
principle of existence, the inviolability
of their charters. It will be a dangerous,
a most dangerous experiment, to hold
these institutions subject to the rise
and fall of popular parties and the
fluctuations of political opinions. "

1818 August: Dartmouth College,
graduating 26 seniors, holds
commencement exercises one week early.
Dartmouth University graduates six.
Confrontation is avoided.

1819 February: Early on the second day
of the new term, precluding the question
of fresh arguments, U.S. Supreme Court
Chief Justice John Marshall delivers a 5-1
majority opinion in favor of the plaintiff,
affirming: 1) Dartmouth College is a
private corporation, 2) the Dartmouth
College charter is effectively a contract
protected by the U.S. Constitution, and 3)
the Dartmouth University legislation " is
subversive of the contract on the faith of
which the donors' property was given. "
The Chief Justice adds:
" It is probable that no man ever will be
the founder of a college, believing at
the time that an act of incorporation
constitutes no security for the institution;
believing that it is immediately to be
deemed a public institution, whose funds
are to be governed and applied, not by
the will of the donor, but by the will of
the legislature. "

1819 February: It takes six days for news
of the victory to reach Dartmouth College.
Students celebrate by ringing bells, firing
cannons, and lighting bonfires.

1819 March: Dartmouth University
suspends operation. Most students transfer
their enrollment to Dartmouth College.

AGB.ORG

March 2021 | AGB: A CENTENNIAL HISTORY 17
http://www.AGB.ORG
Trusteeship - March/April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Trusteeship - March/April 2021
