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15Results for "June 2, 1847"
Stories

Ashbel Green
by R. Isabela Morales | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
Although Princeton president Ashbel Green condemned slavery on moral grounds, his religious convictions did not keep him from owning or hiring slaves himself—including at least three who lived and worked in his house on campus.

Betsey Stockton
by Gregory Nobles | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
Betsey Stockton (1798?-1865), enslaved as a child in the household of Princeton president Ashbel Green, became a prominent and respected educator in Princeton, Philadelphia, and the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawai'i).

The Riot of 1846
by R. Isabela Morales | Antebellum (1820-1861)
In June 1846, more than a dozen Southern students mobbed, whipped, and nearly killed an African American man in Princeton—but only after fighting off another group of classmates who opposed them. This brief flashpoint of violence, in which Princeton students came to blows after dividing along regional lines, revealed the tensions over race and slavery present even at a college known for its moderate conservatism.

African Americans on Campus, 1746-1876
by Joseph Yannielli | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861)
African Americans were a constant presence at the College of New Jersey as servants, support staff, research and teaching assistants, and students. They labored under harsh conditions on a campus dominated by racism and white supremacy.

Princeton and Abolition
by Joseph Yannielli | Colonial & Early National (1746-1820), Antebellum (1820-1861), Civil War (1861-1865)
Princeton’s faculty and students actively opposed abolition, creating a climate of fear and intimidation around the subject during the 19th century. Although some Princeton affiliates were critical of slavery, the institution demonstrated a catastrophic failure of leadership on the greatest moral question of the age.
Primary Sources

Letter from John C. Calhoun
June 24, 1847 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
A letter from John C. Calhoun, United States Senator for South Carolina, to the College of New Jersey's Board of Trustees. Calhoun thanks the trustees on behalf of "the whole Union, and, especially the South" for the college's "building up our free institutions."

Centennial College Commencement
June 2, 1847 | Antebellum (1820-1861)
An advertisement for the 100th Annual Commencement of the College of New Jersey, circulated in the South.