Harvard, Yale, and Princeton University Stats

What are our colleges and universities founded upon?  Let's go back and find out about 3 of our nation's leading universities: Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

Harvard was started by the Congregationalists for training ministers of the gospel.

Harvard produced signers of the Declaration such as:
John Adams
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
William Ellery
William Hooper
Robert Treat Paine
William Williams
Elbridge Gerry

Harvard also produced the following Signers of our Constitution:
William Samuel Johnson
Rufus King

Other prominent leaders from Harvard were:
Fisher Ames – A framer of the Bill of Rights
William Cushing – Original U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Timothy Pickering – Revolutionary War General; Secretary of War for     Presidents Washington and Adams

What was Harvard’s educational philosophy?

The answer to that question is set forth in Harvard’s 2 mottos:
“For Christ and the Church.”
“For the glory of Christ.”

Read Harvard’s directives to students:
Let every student be plainly instructed and consider well (that) the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.

The directives continue…
Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein.


Yale University was also started by Congregationalists for training ministers of the gospel.

Declaration signers from Yale:
Philip Livingston
Lewis Morris
Oliver Wolcott

Signers of the Constitution from Yale:
Abraham Baldwin
Jared Ingersoll
William Livingston

Other prominent leaders form Yale:
Noah Webster - Famous educator; author of Webster’s Dictionary
Zephaniah Swift – Author of the first American Law book.
James Kent – Leading Judge; “Father of American Jurisprudence”

Yale admonishes students with:
Above all, have an eye to the great end of all your studies, which is to obtain the clearest conceptions of divine things and to lead you to a saving knowledge of God in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Yale requirement:
All scholars are to live a religious and blameless life according to the rules of God’s word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, and constantly attending all the duties of religion.


Princeton University was started by Presbyterians to train ministers of the gospel.

Princeton produced signers of the Declaration:
Richard Stockton
Benjamin Rush

Signers of the Constitution from Princeton:
Gunning Bedford
Jonathan Dayton
James Madison
William Paterson

Other prominent leaders from Princeton:
Oliver Ellsworth – Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Henry Lee – General in the American Revolution
William Bradford – George Washington’s Attorney General
   
John Witherspoon was the President of Princeton University and a Signer of the Declaration

What did Witherspoon require of his students?
Every student shall attend worship in the college hall morning and evening… (and) shall attend public worship on the Sabbath… (T)here shall be assigned to each class certain exercises for their religious instruction…and no student belonging to any class shall neglect them.

Witherspoon taught:
(H)e is the best friend to American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind.
Whosoever is an avowed enemy of God, I (hesitate not) to call him an enemy to his country.

Dr. Witherspoon taught that a true friend to liberty and to America would promote religion and bear down on profanity and immorality.


Here are some interesting statistics regarding our nation’s universities during the foundation of our country:

In 1860, 262 of 288 college presidents were Ministers of the Gospel and over 1/3 of faculty were Ministers of the Gospel as well.

An 1890 Survey of State Universities conducted by James Angell (president of University of Vermont and University of Michigan) found the following statistics:

• Over 90% had chapel services.
• 50% had compulsory chapel.
• 25% required Church attendance.

So, the next time someone tells you we are not a Christian nation, here is more evidence in the contrary!