College Life in the Old South

First published in 1928, College Life in the Old South relates the early history of the University of Georgia from its founding in 1785 through the Reconstruction era. Not a dry compilation of facts, E. Merton Coulter©s classic study portrays the struggles and accomplishments of America©s first chartered state university. Coulter recounts, among other things, how Athens was chosen as the university©s location; how the state tried to close the E. Merton Coulter university and refused to give it a fixed allowance until long after the Civil War; the early rules and how students invariably broke Foreword by Thomas G. Dyer them; the days when the Phi Kappa and Demosthenian literary societies ruled the campus; and the vast commencement crowds that overwhelmed Athens to feast on oratory and watermelons. Coulter©s account, interspersed with delightful anecdotes, not only depicts the early university but also shows its importance in the antebellum South. came to the University of Georgia as an associate professor in 1919; he was named an emeritus professor of history in 1958 and continued to work on campus until his death in 1981. During his distinguished career, he wroted or n edited more than thirty books and his contributions to periodicals o were extensive. Coulter was coeditor of the ten-volume History of the South and author of two of the volumes in the series; he also served as editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly for fifty years. Athens, Georgia 30602 www.ugapress.org _________ vl-13: 978-0-8203-3199-7 ISBN-10: 0-8203-3199-6 90000 As Seen at the University of Georgia Georgia COLLEGE LIFE IN THE OLD SOUTH The University of Georgia in antebellum times. This engraving first appeared in Gleason©s Magazine in 1854 but probably depicts the campus about a decade earlier. (University of Georgia Libraries.) COLLEGE LIFE IN THE OLD SOUTH E. Merton Coulter Foreword by Thomas G. Dyer THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS Athens Copyright 1928 by the Macmillan Company, 1951, 1979 by E. Merton Coulter Foreword by Thomas G. Dyer copyright 1983 by the University of Georgia Press Published by The University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 www.ugapress.org All rights reserved Printed digitally in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coulter, E. Merton (Ellis Merton), 1890- College life in the old South / E. Merton Coulter; foreword by Thomas G. Dyer. xvi, 320 p.: ill. map; 22 cm. ISBN 0-8203-0684-3 (pbk.) Originally published: College life in the old South as seen at the University of Georgia. 1928. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 299-305. 1. University of Georgia History. I. Tide. LDi983.C6 1983 378./58©i8 19 83-9210 Paperback reissue 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3199-7 ISBN-IO: 0-8203-3199-6 TO GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY PATRON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FRIEND TO MAN CONTENTS FOREWORD ix PREFACE xv I A UNIVERSITY IN THE WILDERNESS 1 II THE FIGHT FOR LIFE 14 III How THE UNIVERSITY WORKED 33 IV JUSTICE IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE FACULTY 59 V BETWEEN LESSONS AND PROFESSORS 90 VI DISCIPLES OF DEMOSTHENES AND THE FOLLOWERS OF OTHER ANCIENT GREEKS 103 VII WHEN COMMENCEMENTS WERE NEW 134 VIII THE COMING OF RELIGION 149 IX THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE 166 X REVOLT AND REORGANIZATION 191 XI WHAT A COLLEGE TOWN THOUGHT ABOUT AND DID 204 XII IN TIME OF WAR 232 XIII PEACE AND THE PASSING OF THE OLD SOUTH 248 NOTES 277 BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 INDEX 307 FOREWORD FEW SCHOLARS would dissent from the observation that E. Merton Coulter ranks among the most productive of Ameri can historians. In a career which spanned seven decades, the University of Georgia professor produced an enormous array of publications including dozens of books, scores of articles, and almost-too-numerous-to-count lesser publica tions. This prodigious outpouring contained works on numerous topics in southern and Georgia history and two major syntheses of critical eras in American history. In ad dition, Coulter found time to serve as coeditor of a series of major historical volumes on the South and for fifty years presided over the editing and publishing of the Georgia His torical Quarterly. While agreement exists that Coulter stands among the most prolific of historians, no similar consensus can be found as to the relative importance of his major contribu tions to the study of southern history. Some would argue that A Short History of Georgia, first published in 1933 and republished several times thereafter, had the greatest impact and thus constitutes his major contribution. Others would say that his controversial volumes on the Civil War and Reconstruction in the Louisiana State University Press ser ies on the history of the South secured his place among scholars. Still others might suggest that Coulter performed best as a biographer, and that he had an unusual sensitivity to the tenor and tone of the lives of those individuals whose biographies he wrote. Each of these arguments has merit, but perhaps the strongest case can be made that Coulter©s most important and most enduring contribution was his third book, College Life in the Old South. First published in 1928, republished in 1951 in conjunction with the sesquicentennial of the open ing of the University of Georgia, and then twice reprinted, College Life in the Old South occupies a secure niche in the IX X FOREWORD literature not only of Georgia history but of southern history and the history of higher education as well. In many ways a book ahead of its time, College Life antic ipated most of the primary questions of theme and interpre tation that intrigued scholars and students of the history of higher education for the next fifty years. In the book, Coulter addressed important questions on the origins of American state universities and the forces that shaped the first of these to be chartered, the University of Georgia. He also closely examined the importance of students and stu dent organizations to the texture of antebellum higher edu cation and attacked important questions concerning their social and economic origins. Moreover, the book contains one of the earliest and one of the best attempts to show the multifaceted relationships that existed between nineteenth- century colleges and the communities in which they were located. Coulter took great pains to understand the ties be tween the University of Georgia and the growing town of Athens and also carefully explored the often difficult and stormy relationship between the institution and its sponsor ing society, the state of Georgia. These and other interpre tive matters still have not been fully explained, of course, but College Life makes substantial and important contribu tions toward their explication. The authority with which Coulter addressed these ques tions of interpretation and fact rests on his creative and thorough use of the source materials that form the basis of the book. The University of Georgia has generated a sizable documentary base for its historical record throughout the nearly two hundred years of its existence and the record is especially complete for the antebellum period. Trustee min utes, faculty minutes, and the records of an extinct early governing body, the Senatus Academicus, provide much of the foundation for the book, but Coulter also supplemented his research in these archival sources with a close reading of numerous antebellum newspapers. This research yielded sharp insights into political questions surrounding the rela tionship of the university to the state since the newspapers FOREWORD xi often published extended debates and exchanges of letters by many of the principals involved. Coulter also utilized other types of sources including both printed and manu script diaries and personal memoirs. Much of the source material Coulter used had never been mined, and in no small measure this accounted for the fresh ness and originality of the book. Reviewers applauded Col lege Life in the Old South, and although they did not accept all of the book©s conclusions and assertions, most critics re garded it as an important contribution to historical scholar ship. College Life quickly proved to be more than a significant addition to the scholarly literature. It soon became a popu lar book among general readers and continued over the years to hold wide appeal, a fact amply demonstrated by the repeated printings. There are many reasons why the book has remained so popular. Most histories of individual col leges and universities are notoriously dry, overly serious, and unrelievedly self-serving. In such volumes little is said which might be construed as criticism of the institution under study and much is made of the allegedly unique con tributions of the college to the greater progress of the human race. Typically, authors sketch successive presidents as demigods leading a courageous faculty in the noble aim of educating a group of scholastically eager (but wholesomely rambunctious) students. By contrast, Coulter©s book is lively and informative. Al though an affectionate portrait of the University of Georgia, College Life does not overlook the early blemishes of the institution, nor does it gloss over the conflicts and tribula tions involved in the building of a university. Neither does Coulter attempt to apotheosize the various presidents of the institution. Josiah Meigs, the first president, is correctly presented as an iconoclastic and somewhat difficult man who had protracted disputes with Georgia politicians and the trustees. Moses Waddel, who saved the college from possible extinction, emerges as an effective president (and one whom Coulter admired) but also as somewhat excessively pious. xii FOREWORD Coulter has fewer kind words for President Alonzo Church, a devout, puritanical, and sometimes irascible Vermonter who presided over the institution for nearly thirty years.

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