Religious Orthodoxy, Colonial Foundations, Republican Ideals
American higher education was born in the colonial backwaters of England’s fledgling empire. In precarious settlements hugging the North Atlantic shores, Protestant emigres from Europe’s religious wars struggled to construct Christian civilization in the wilderness of the New World. In 1636, the Massachusetts General Court made provisions for a college at Newtowne (later Cambridge). Following a gift from English merchant John Harvard, the henceforth named Harvard College set forth preparing ministers and colonial officials. Harvard was tethered to the colony through the Board of Overseers, but as would become the standard American model, institutional authority was vested in the college presidency. The president and young tutors shouldered the teaching duties,...
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Sorber, N.M. (2016). The University Tradition in the United States. In: Shin, J., Teixeira, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_7-1
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