24 September 1757 A.D. Aaron Burr, 2nd President of Princeton College. While a short life, it was a life that had a long impact
24 September 1757 A.D. Aaron Burr,
2nd President of Princeton College.
While a short life, it was a life that had a long impact.
Dr. Rusten tells the story.
Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten,
Sharon. The One Year Christian History.
Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
Aaron Burr was born in
Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in
1735—first in his class. He became the Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in
Newark, NJ.
David Brainerd caused a stir at
Yale College by a judgment aspersion on a Professor. Aaron Burr and John
Dickinson, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, NJ, took an
interest in Brainerd’s case. It was a
remark arising in relation to the not-so-Great Awakening.
Yale’s action, however,
reconfirmed decisions by the NY and NJ synods to establish a Presbyterian
college. One was started.
The College of New Jersey—later
named Princeton College—got a charter from the Governor of NJ in 1746.
7 trustees, Burr being the
youngest, all Yale graduates but one, started the college in 1747. It began in 1747 in Rev. Dickinson’s
parsonage in Elizabethtown, NJ. But,
Rev. Dickinson parted this world.
Aaron Burr became the 2nd
President of Princeton. The college was
moved 6 miles to Newark, NJ. Classes
were held in Burr’s parsonage. Burr did
the teaching while retained his Pastorate.
He was unmarried at the time. He
ended up marrying the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, Esther Edwards. He was 36; she was 21. They were married in
Burr’s Church in Newark.
He served as a Pastor and
President until 1755. He then resigned his Pastorate for fulltime duties as a
President and Professor.
Burr supervised the building of
Nassau Hall. It was so named after King
William III of the House of Nassau whose monarchy had re-established
Protestantism in England.
In 1756, President Burr, 70
students, and 2 tutors moved into Nassau Hall—the largest stone building in the
colonies.
At the young age of 41, President
Burr died on 24 September 1757. He was buried in Princeton Cemetery, the
resting places of
·
Joseph Addison Alexander
(1809–1860), Presbyterian biblical scholar and third son of Archibald Alexander
·
William Cowper Alexander
(1806–1874), politician, businessman and second son of Archibald Alexander
·
Aaron Burr (1756–1836), Controversial Revolutionary War
hero, New York Attorney General
third Vice President of the United States, political opponent and killer of Alexander Hamilton,
adventurer who was eventually tried and acquitted of treason.
·
Aaron Burr,
Sr. (1716–1757), Presbyterian minister, second president of Princeton University and
father of Aaron Burr
·
Roger Atkinson Pryor
(1828–1919), Special US Minister to Greece, US Congressman from Virginia, CSA
Congressman, CSA General, Journalist, New York Supreme Court Judge.
Esther Edwards wrote her mother:
“I think I have been enabled to
cast my care upon Him and have found great peace and calmness in my mind, such
as this world cannot give or take…Give me leave to entreat you both, to request
earnestly of the Lord, that I may never despise His chastenings, nor faint un
this this, His sever stroke.”
5 days later, her father, Burr’s
father-in-law, Jonathan Edwards, was chosen to be Princeton’s next President.
Questions:
1.
How did
Princeton College spawn or lead to Princeton Theological Seminary?
2.
Aaron
Burr’s life was short, but what were the longer term impacts of his
leadership? Who was who who graduated
and served in the founding of the emerging nation?
Sources:
Calhoun. Princeton Seminary.
Kesler, Ben. “Shaping
the Campus.” Princeton Alumni Weekly. 101
(May 16, 2001): 24-31.
Piper. God’s Passion for His Glory. 70-73.
------. The Hidden Smile of God. 122-157.
Sereno, Dwight. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. 2 vols.
Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974. 1: clxxii-clxxvi.
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