The Influence of the Dartmouth College Case on the American Law of Educational Charities ELIZABETH BRAND MONROE One ofthe important features ofAmerican history has been the availability ofhigher educa tion. Religious toleration, low capitalization costs, few educational impediments, public interest and commitment, and ready corporate status made the foundation ofcolleges and universities a common event in early nineteenth-century America.1 By the time ofthe Revolution Americans had founded ten colleges; by 1800, twenty-four; by 1820, thirty-eight; and by the Civil War, 232, ofwhich 104 have survived.2 Although the earliest colleges had religious affiliations, with the founding of the University of Georgia in 1785, states also began providing directly for higher education. But the creation of these institutions led to disputes within them over curricula and governance. How the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a seemingly minor political dispute involv ing the governance of a small New Hampshire college would determine not only that college’s relationship to state and federal government, but also that of all other corporations.3 The literature on Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) is largely the creature of constitutional historians, on the one hand, and scholars of American education, on the other. I delved briefly into works on the early devel opment ofDartmouth College, general studies on American education, and histories of col leges and universities before the Civil War.4 Research on American contract and corpora tion law, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Dart mouth Collegeproved more useful.51 have also brought to this article a general knowledge of the history of the era. In the last quarter of the eighteenth cen tury, Americans rebelled against the British government, disestablished religion, and abol ished most English statutory law. While new constitutions in the 1770s and 1780s quickly created state and federal governments, other republican reforms occurred slowly or incom pletely. Religious-toleration statutes of the colo nial era had allowed dissenters to practice their faiths so long as they continued to fi nancially support the established church. But during the Revolutionary era, back-country 2 JOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY Dartmouth College, like other colleges and universities in the new republic, was dependent on charitable donations for funding. In a culture that favored limited government and few taxes, colleges relied on state governments to encourage the creation and financial support of educational charities. nonconformists grew more militant, and by 1800 most states, after much social and po litical unrest, had adopted anti-establishment policies that whittled away at the privileges of state churches. Hostility to state-supported churches was matched by hostility to British law.6 State legislators rejected English statutes as unfit for democratic society and wiped them from state statute books. After the War of 1812, American suspicion of English legal institu tions increased, although American lawyers and judges continued to rely on English com mon law, partly because it was accessible. While politicians in the new republic de clared William Blackstone and Lord Edward Coke irreconcilable with democratic insti tutions, American editions of Blackstone’s Commentaries were the most widely avail able treatises prior to 1830. Politicians might decry English case law as inconsistent with American attitudes, but American lawyers and judges cited English reports because reports of state decisions were unavailable.7 Americans of the era also sought to re alize the potential of the Revolution through balancing liberty and government power. To maintain the appropriate balance, republican leaders espoused an educated citizenry, pro tection of property rights, and the inculcation of civic virtue, or devotion to the affairs ofthe commonwealth.8 An important institution in this early vision of self-government was the college. But the earliest colleges were affil iated with colonial established churches and maintained boards of trustees largely com posed of the faithful. To provide colleges that reflected the new republican attitudes required either state-sponsored colleges, removal of sectarian influence from boards of existing colleges, or creation of nonsectarian colleges independent of the state. In a culture that fa vored limited government and few taxes, each of these forms of higher education would de pend on public donations. To secure dona tions, state policy would have to encourage the creation...