Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
model of higher education, it was also an anomaly; the vast
majority of colleges continued to be denominationally founded
and controlled.
With the exception of U.Va.,
during the early 19th century,
“Ironically, women’s
exclusion from electoral
politics helped transform
them into active citizens.”
(“Women, Social Science,
and Public Work During
the Progressive Era,”
HEX, 2005.)
congregational colleges that were
very closely linked to particular
communities rapidly proliferated.
Between 1800 and 1861, the number
of colleges increased tenfold—and
that is only counting those that
actually survived. Communities
wanted their sons to be educated
locally, and having a local college
became a key component of civic
pride. On the whole, however,
because particular communities tended to be religiously homogeneous,
the rapid expansion of locally rooted colleges also reinforced
their denominational character. Although many of these “colleges”
were actually more like glorified high schools, the point remains
that in the early 19th century, communities saw institutions of
higher education as central to civic life.
During the early republican period of American history, women’s
education gained importance. The ideal of “republican motherhood”
—that women have a special civic role to play in educating future
citizens—bolstered the cause of women’s education. In 1792, Sarah
Pierce founded the first women’s college, the Litchfield Female Academy
in Connecticut, which existed until 1833. That same year, Oberlin
College was founded by liberal Congregationalists as the first coeducational
institution in the country, and by 1835 it was racially inclusive
as well. A number of women’s colleges were founded during the 19th
century, including George Female College (Wesleyan) in 1839, Saint
Mary-of-the-Woods College in 1840, Mills College in 1852, Vassar in
1861, Hunter College in 1870, Smith in 1871, Wellesley in 1875, Spelman,
the first college for African American women, in 1881, Bryn
Mawr and Mount Holyoke in 1888, and Barnard in 1889.
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