University of South Carolina

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

University of South Carolina “Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros” (Learning humanizes character and does not permit it to be cruel)

The University was founded as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801, by an act of the South Carolina General Assembly initiated by Governor John Drayton in an effort to promote harmony between the Lowcountry and the Backcountry. On January 10, 1805, having an initial enrollment of nine students, the college commenced classes with a traditional classical curriculum. The first president was the Baptist minister and theologian Reverend Jonathan Maxcy. He was an alumnus of Brown University, with an honorary degree from Harvard University. Before coming to the college, Maxcy had served as the second president of Brown and the third president of Union College. Maxcy’s tenure lasted from 1804 through 1820.

The namesake town, Sumter, South Carolina, erected a memorial to Thomas Sumter (August 14, 1734 – June 1, 1832) a soldier in the Colony of Virginia militia; a brigadier general in the South Carolina militia during the American War of Independence, a planter, and a politician. After the United States gained independence, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and to the United States Senate, where he served from 1801 to 1810, when he retired. Sumter was nicknamed the “Carolina Gamecock,” for his fierce fighting style against British soldiers after they burned down his house during the Revolution.

The town is dubbed “The Gamecock City” after his nickname. (“Gamecock” is one of the several traditional nicknames for a native of South Carolina.) The University of South Carolina’s official nickname is the “Fighting Gamecocks.” Since 1903 the college’s teams have been simply known as the “Gamecocks.”

Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, a fort planned after the War of 1812, was named for him. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.

Curriculum Connections: Mascot (Gamecocks) Sectional Issues, Thomas Sumter, James Hammond (Alumni)

Butler University

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

Butler University “Education, Research, Service”

On January 15, 1850, the Indiana State legislature adopted Ovid Butler’s proposed charter for a new Christian university in Indianapolis. After five years in development, Butler University opened on November 1, 1855, as North Western Christian University at 13th Street and College Avenue on Indianapolis’ near north side at the eastern edge of the present Old Northside Historic District. Attorney and university founder Ovid Butler provided the property.

In Indianapolis, Ovid established a law firm with partners Calvin Fletcher, Simon Yandes and future Indianapolis mayor, Horatio C. Newcomb. Butler became interested and active in political and social issues. In 1849, Butler established the political and abolitionist newspaper Free Soil Banner. Due to bad health, Butler gave up his law practice in 1849, seeking retirement.

Curriculum Connections: Sectional Issues, Founder Ovid Butler, Abolition

University of Wisconsin

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

University of Wisconsin “Numen Lumen” (The divine within the universe, however manifested, is my light)

The University of Wisconsin–was founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison is the official state university of Wisconsin, and the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It was the first public university established in Wisconsin and remains the oldest and largest public university in the state. It became a land-grant institution in 1866

Miners who moved to the area in the 1820s and 1830s wasted little time in constructing shelters. Without shelter in the winter, they had to “live like badgers” in tunnels burrowed into hillsides, earning miners the nickname “badgers.” The tools and techniques involved in lead mining in these early years were relatively simple and inexpensive, allowing lucky miners to strike it rich with little personal expense.

University of Wisconsin Professor Frederick Jackson Turner

Vietnam War era at University of Wisconsin: 50 years ago, ‘Dow Day’ left its mark on Madison

James Madison University

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

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James Madison University “Knowledge is Liberty”

Founded in 1908 as a women’s college, James Madison University was established by the Virginia General Assembly. It was originally called The State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg. In 1914, the name of the university was changed to the State Normal School for Women at Harrisonburg. At first, academic offerings included only today’s equivalent of technical training or junior college courses; however authorization to award bachelor’s degrees was granted in 1916. During this initial period of development, the campus plan was established and six buildings were constructed. The university became the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg in 1924 and continued under that name until 1938, when it was named Madison College in honor of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States whose Montpelier estate is located in nearby Orange, Virginia. In 1976, the university’s name was changed to James Madison University.

I work the James Madison into my course when I cover the following topics:

Plain, Honest Men – Philadelphia 1787 In an atmosphere of crisis, fifty five delegate met in Philadelphia and forged a radically new of government through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus.

Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution [1787-1788]The ratification debate, waged in the newspapers, through pamphlets, and on the floor of the state conventions, led to heated arguments about our new government’s structure and function.