Download or read book Notes on College Charters (Classic Reprint) written by UNKNOWN. AUTHOR and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Notes on College Charters Harvard College originated in action of the General Court or Legislature of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1636, when suffrage was restricted to members of the Colonial Church. In 1637 twelve of "the most eminent men of the Colony" were appointed by the General Court "to take order for a college at Newtowne" (Cambridge). In 1642 the general administration of the college was committed to a Board of Overseers which included "the Governor and magistrates of the Colony" and the teaching elders of the six towns "next adjoining" the locality of the college. The Board of Overseers having proved too large for effectiveness, a charter was granted in 1650, twelve years after the founding of the college, by which the college was made a Corporation under the name "President and Fellows of Harvard College." The Corporation included the president, five fellows and a treasurer, and was self-perpetuating. It was provided "that all orders and by-laws of the Corporation shall have the consent of the overseers." After the War of the Revolution, in 1780, when the constitution of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts was framed, articles were introduced "securing to the president and fellows of Harvard College the perpetual enjoyment of all their vested rights and powers" and "providing for" the organization of the Board of Overseers. From the outset the Corporation was held to be free from control by the civil power except as this was exercised by the Board of Overseers who continued, ex-officio, representative of the State and of the Congregational churches, which, after extension of the civil suffrage under the charter of King William in 1692, were separated from the colonial organization. The Board of Overseers, thus composed originally of representatives of the State, was from the outset subject to legislative control. The constitution of 1780, in the article relating to overseers, provided that all power of control resident in the colonial legislature should be recognized as transferred to the legislature of the Commonwealth, and that nothing in the provisions of the act should be so construed as to prevent the legislature from exercising such power as it deemed conducive to the advantage of the University. In 1810, by action of the legislature, the Board of Overseers was made mainly elective, instead of ex-officio. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.