University of Georgia Charter

University of Georgia Charter, page 1

University of Georgia Charter, page 2

University of Georgia Charter, Preamble 

In 1985, the University celebrated its 200th anniversary of signing its Charter. The Charter was written by Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut who graduated from Yale University. He was selected to be the first President of the University. The Charter was written in 1785 after the General Assembly of Georgia set aside 40,000 acres to erect a College. The University Charter is the first document in American history which set the example that is a responsibility of the State to provide access to higher education to its citizens. The Charter was reprinted a numerous amount of times, each reprinting having some sort of alteration. Since there are multiple copies of the Charter which have altered the true text of the document, Dr. E. Merton Coulter and John O. Eidson have carefully read and transcripted the document. The University of Georgia only began accepting students in 1801, with the first class graduating in 1804. The first building of the University was Franklin College, completed in 1806. Franklin College was the only building on Campus until 1821. Abraham Baldwin wrote within the charter that is was the duty of the state of Georgia to educate its citizens, and through education, the citizens will then in turn aid the state. Baldwin states “that our present happiness joined to pleasing prospects should conspire to make us feel ourselves under the strongest obligation to form the youth,” meaning that to educate students is an obligation (Baldwin). During this time period, those who were offered this education were white men, regardless of wealth. Throughout the University’s deep history, the right to education expanded to truly encompass all citizens, not simply white men. In 1918 women were admitted as regular students and in 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were the first African American students to enroll at the University.

Sources

Denby, Larry. “University of Georgia.” New Georgia Encyclopedia, 8 June 2017,

       www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/university-georgia.

“History of UGA.” University of Georgia, www.uga.edu/history.php.

Baldwin, Abraham. “The University of Georgia Charter.” University Archives :: Hargrett Library ::

     University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, 30 May 2017,

     www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/exhibit/charter/.

Charter Transcription:

 http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/exhibit/charter/chartertranscription.html