Looking at this fascinating map, you’re witnessing the birth of American higher education. These nine dots scattered along the Eastern seaboard represent something remarkable: the nine institutions generally categorized as “colonial colleges” in the United States of America, founded and chartered as institutions of higher education before the American colonies’ independence in 1776.
The Prestigious Seven That Became Ivy League
What’s truly striking about this map is how it reveals the origins of America’s most prestigious universities.
Seven of these nine colonial colleges grew up to become seven of the eight famous Ivy League universities. These are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Dartmouth.
The eighth Ivy League school, Cornell, wouldn’t be founded until 1865, well after the colonial era ended.
Harvard College was established in 1636 by the General Council of Massachusetts, the first college to be founded in North America, making it nearly 140 years old by the time of the Declaration of Independence.
Moving south on our map, we find Columbia University, which was chartered in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of George II of Britain, and renamed Columbia College in 1784 after the US gained independence.
Religious Roots and Regional Distribution
The map also tells a story of both religious diversity and geographic strategy.
In New England, Puritans established Harvard in 1636 and Yale in 1701. The two others from that region, Rhode Island College (Brown) and Dartmouth College, sprang from the Great Awakening in 1764 and 1769, respectively. Queen’s College (now Rutgers) was founded in 1766 by members of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Meanwhile, the middle colonies and southern regions established their own institutions to serve local needs.
The Two That Chose Public Service
Here’s where the story gets interesting. William & Mary and Rutgers are the only two of the nine Colonial colleges founded in British North America before the American Revolution to eschew the Ivy League and instead take on the roles of state universities.
While their seven peers remained private institutions, these two colleges chose a different path, becoming public universities serving their respective states.
Revolutionary Impact
When you look at this map, you’re seeing more than just educational institutions. When the American Revolution erupted into war, there were nine prominent institutions of higher education in the American colonies.
These colleges would play crucial roles in shaping the intellectual foundation of the new nation, educating many future leaders and revolutionaries.
Scattered from New Hampshire to Virginia, they represent the colonists’ commitment to education and intellectual development even while living on the frontier of the known world.
Today, they remain among America’s most respected universities, their colonial origins a testament to the enduring vision of those early educational pioneers.
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