College of Philadelphia

The College of Philadelphia began in 1749, when Benjamin Franklin published the anonymous pamphlet Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania that called for the creation of a public academy along a model unique in Anglo-American educational history. Practicality was Franklin’s goal in the academy: “As to their Studies, it would be well if they could be taught every Thing which is useful, and every Thing which is ornamental: But Art is long, and their Time is short.” Instead of the “ornamental” classical curriculum that dominated the educations of wealthy young white Americans, students at Franklin’s proposed academy would be trained in modern subjects to prepare them for future careers. His educational plan was firmly grounded in his own practical self-education, his grasp of Enlightenment ideas, and the needs of the ethnically and religiously diverse population of PHILADELPHIA.

The academy quickly became an institution far different from what Franklin had envisioned. Much of that transformation was due to the Anglican priest William Smith (1727-1803), whom the trustees hired as a professor in 1754. The following year, under Smith’s influence and leadership, the board applied for a new charter that would allow them to grant college degrees, but Smith’s personal habits and politics repelled as many as they enticed. He had little interest in forming a coalition with QUAKERS, LUTHERANS, or PRESBYTERIANS in the religiously diverse city. His personal interests were in teaching and befriending the sons of wealthy Anglican MERCHANTS, not in providing charity EDUCATION for ARTISANS’ children. Franklin eventually came to consider Smith one of his most bitter enemies, and the College and Academy of Philadelphia became a hotly contested issue in the increasingly divisive PENNSYLVANIA politics, having serious repercussions for the school during the late colonial period and during and immediately after the Revolution.

—George W. Boudreau