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The second oldest institution of higher education in the United States, William & Mary remains one of the top public colleges in the country.
By the time of the
American Revolution, the
College of William and Mary was already into its eighth decade as the academic source of what the new nation would become and how it would relate to the larger world.
Its land had been surveyed by George Washington, and its first honorary degree had been given to Ben Franklin. It would go on to educate two signers of the
Declaration of Independence, three American presidents, and three justices of the
Supreme Court. Chartered by British royalty in 1693, the college retains that connection to its roots into the 21st century. Remarkably through history, the
College of William and Mary was, and remains, a public university--one of 16 in the
Commonwealth of Virginia. At a time in American history when the 18th-century thought and practice of Thomas Jefferson has become part of the contemporary conversation, the college from which he graduated in 1762 continues to pursue his simple notion that
worth and genius [be] sought from every condition of life.
About the author
Author Chris Dickon is a writer and Emmy-winning television producer. His work has been broadcast and published internationally, much of it derived from Virginia's rich past as the original source of American history and its continuing economic, military, and social vitality in the larger world. College of William and Mary is assembled from college archives and other sources, including the Library of Congress.
