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Columbia University and its History

Columbia University founded in 1754 was established as King’s College. This college is the oldest establishment of higher education in New York and it is the fifth in the USA.

Controversy preceded the establishing of the institution, with different groups competing in order to determine its position and religious affiliation. So Advocates from New York met with great success on the former point, whereas the Anglicans insisted on the latter. Nevertheless, all constituencies decided to commit themselves to ideas of religious liberty.

Samuel Johnson (in July 1754) held the first lessons in a new building of school adjoining Trinity Church, situated on what is today lower Broadway in New York, namely Manhattan. And there were eight people in the class. So the potential leaders of colonial community could get an education planned for enlarging the Mind, improving the Understanding, polishing the whole Man, plus qualifying them to maintain the greatest Characters in the important stations in life. And one early demonstration of the college’s lofty aims was the foundation of the medical college to provide the M.D. degree in 1767.

The American Revolution caused the growth of this university to a great halt, forcing a postponement of teaching in 1776 which lasted for more than eight years. Nevertheless, the institution kept on exerting a considerable influence on the life of American through the people related to it. Among the first students of the university were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, the creator of the final part of the U.S. Constitution; as well as Robert R. Livingston.

The college revived in 1784 with its new name-Columbia-which embodied the patriotic passion that had aroused the Americans’ quest for independence. And the revitalized school was known as the inheritor of the colonial ancestor, because of its inclination to Anglicanism and the desires of a city population, however there were significant differences.