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Samuel Johnson (October 14, 1696 – January 6, 1772) was a clergyman, educator, linguist, encyclopedist, historian, and philosopher in colonial America. He was a major proponent of both
Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
and the philosophies of William Wollaston and
George Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...
in the colonies, founded and served as the first president of the Anglican King's College, which was renamed
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
following the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, and was a key figure of the
American Enlightenment The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and philosophical fervor in the thirteen American colonies in the 18th to 19th century, which led to the American Revolution and the creation of the United States. The American Enlightenme ...
.


Early life and education

Johnson was born in Guilford,
Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...
, the son of a fulling miller, Samuel Johnson Sr., and great-grandson of Robert Johnson, a founder of New Haven Colony, Connecticut. Johnson was substantially influenced by his grandfather, William Johnson, a state assemblyman, village clerk, grammar school teacher, mapmaker, militia leader, judge, and church
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
. His grandfather taught him English at age four, and
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
at five; he took young Samuel Johnson around the town on visits to his friends, and proudly had the young boy recite great passages of memorized scripture. After studying
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
with local ministers and schoolmasters, including
Jared Eliot Jared Eliot (November 7, 1685—April 22, 1763) was an American colonial scientist, minister, and physician. He was born in Guilford, Connecticut, but spent most of his life from 1707 until his death in Killingsworth, now called Clinton, Connectic ...
, in Guilford, Clinton and Middleton, Johnson left Guilford at age 13 to attend the Collegiate School at Saybrook, later renamed
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
, in 1710, where he studied the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
logic of
Petrus Ramus Petrus Ramus (; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Early life He was born at the village ...
and the orthodox
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
theology of Johannes Wolleb (Wollebius) and
William Ames William Ames (; Latin: ''Guilielmus Amesius''; 157614 November 1633) was an English Puritan minister, philosopher, and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the Ca ...
. He graduated in 1714 as class valedictorian with a bachelor's degree; three years later, in 1717, he was awarded a master's degree.


Career


Teacher and author

Johnson began teaching grammar school in Guilford in 1713, and continued to teach while a student a Yale and for the rest of his life, spending nearly 60 years as a teacher. In 1714, he began to write a short work titled ''Synopsis Philosophiae Naturalis'', summing up what
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
knew of natural philosophy. He left this work unfinished and began working instead for his master's thesis by writing in Latin a more ambitious "encyclopedia of all knowledge", titled ''Technologia Sive Technometria or Ars Encyclopaidia, Manualis Ceu Philosophia; Systema Liber Artis.'' It was a systematic exploration of all knowledge available to Johnson based on the methods of the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
logician
Petrus Ramus Petrus Ramus (; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Early life He was born at the village ...
. His work on this logical exploration of the Puritan New England Mind eventually resulted in 1271 hierarchically arranged theses. It has been called by Norman Fiering "the best surviving American example of student application of Ramist method to the whole body of human knowledge". His work on the ''Encyclopaidia ''was interrupted when a donation of 800 books collected by Colonial Agent Jeremiah Dummer was sent to Yale late in 1714. He discovered
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
's ''
Advancement of Learning thumbnail, Title page of 1640 edition ''The Advancement of Learning'' (full title: ''Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human'') is a 1605 book by Francis Bacon which introduces and popularizes the scientific method of o ...
'', the works of
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
and
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
and other
Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...
authors not known to the tutors and graduates of Puritan Yale and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
. Johnson wrote in his ''Autobiography'', “All this was like a flood of day to his low state of mind”, and that “he found himself like one at once emerging out of the glimmer of twilight into the full sunshine of open day". Though he finished his Latin Ramist thesis, he now considered what he had learned at Yale “nothing but the scholastic cobwebs of a few little English and Dutch systems that would hardly now be taken up in the street.” He used what he learned in the next two years to write in English a ''Revised Encyclopedia of Philosophy ''(1716). It was prefixed by a hierarchical Table or map of the intellectual world outlining the sum of all knowledge. It would be the first of a series of tables categorizing "the sum of knowledge" into ever more complex tables used for both categorizing knowledge for libraries and to define curriculum in schools. If he had published the work, it would have predated the first comprehensive English-language encyclopedia, Ephraim Chambers's 1728 '' Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'', by twelve years.


Yale College

In 1716, Johnson was appointed the senior tutor at
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
. Founded in 1701, Yale was located on a small neck of land in
Saybrook, Connecticut Deep River is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Reg ...
. By 1716, Saybrook Point was considered too small to handle the needs of the growing school. Connecticut Governor
Gurdon Saltonstall Gurdon Saltonstall (27 March 1666 – 20 September 1724) was governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1708 to 1724. He was born into a distinguished family and became an eminent Connecticut pastor and a close associate of Governor Fitz-John ...
and seven Yale trustees proposed moving the college to
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
. They were opposed by three trustees, two of whom split the college, and opened a schismatic branch in
Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield ( ) is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 27,298 at the time ...
, taking half the students and the junior Yale tutor with them. For over two years, Johnson was the sole member of the Yale faculty and the only administrator on-site at the college in
New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
. Unsupervised, he took the opportunity to introduce the Enlightenment into Yale. When Johnson's close friend Daniel Brown left his position as Rector of Hopkin's Grammar School and was formally hired as a second tutor in 1718, Johnson found time to create the first catalog of books of Yale's expanded library, and, between 1717 and 1719, to write up ''Historical Remarks Concerning the Collegiate School'', the first history of Yale. Johnson's first publication was a broadside printed for the 1718 Yale Commencement, which contained Latin commencement thesis. It shows that Johnson taught Locke, Newton, Copernican astronomy, modern medicine and biology, and, for the first time in an American college, algebra. The next year was one of tumult. In November 1718, Governor Saltonstall forced the schismatic Wethersfield students, including a young
Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician **Jonathan Edwards (album), ''Jonathan Edward ...
, to come to New Haven. The Wethersfield students were surly and rebellious. Johnson attempted to teach them his Enlightenment curriculum, and the schismatic students complained that he was a poor teacher. They returned to Wethersfield in January, 1719. After the spring 1719 elections confirmed Saltonstall as Governor, the schismatic trustees and students gave up and returned to New Haven. According to historian
Joseph Ellis Joseph John-Michael Ellis III (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His book '' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' won a Nation ...
, "Johnson's presence precluded its reunification," so he was "sacrificed for college unity" and lost his job as tutor. Out of a job, he designed a new curriculum for a Yale now run by his friend Rector Timothy Cutler and Tutor Daniel Brown, studied religion and philosophy, and wrote up a book on ''Logic ''(1720), which may have been used as class notes at Yale, but was not published in his lifetime.


Congregationalist minister

In 1720, Johnson became Congregationalist minister of a church in West Haven, Connecticut. Even though "he had much better offers", he took up the position for the sake "of being near the college and library". There he, Yale Rector Timothy Cutler, Yale Tutor Daniel Brown, and six other Connecticut ministers, including the Rev.
Jared Eliot Jared Eliot (November 7, 1685—April 22, 1763) was an American colonial scientist, minister, and physician. He was born in Guilford, Connecticut, but spent most of his life from 1707 until his death in Killingsworth, now called Clinton, Connectic ...
of Clinton, and Johnson's friend the Rev. James Wetmore of North Haven, formed a group to study the Anglican divines and the "doctrines and facts of the primitive church". Their reading and discussions led them to question the validity of their ordinations, and the book group members converted from embracing a
Presbyterian polity Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance (" ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session ...
on
ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
to an Episcopal one sometime in 1722. At Yale's September 13, 1722 commencement, in a very public and dramatic event labeled the “Great Apostasy” by American religion historian Sidney Ahlstrom, the nine member group declared for the
episcopacy A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
. After strong pressure from the Governor and their family and friends, five of the nine recanted, but Johnson, Cutler, Brown and Wetmore, refused to change their decision, and were expelled from their positions at Yale and their Congregational ministries. Johnson along with the others left the colony in order to seek ordination in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. As one of the now famous Great Apostates, he was greeted warmly by the Church and University establishment. On Sunday, March 31, 1723, at the church of
St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
, "at the continued appointment and desire of William, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and John, Lord Bishop of London, we were ordained Priests most gravely by the Right Reverend Thomas, Lord Bishop of Norwich". He was granted honorary master's degrees at both the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, where he was the first American awarded an honorary master's degree by the university, and the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. He returned to Connecticut in 1723, under the auspices of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...
, as a missionary priest. He opened the first
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church built in the colony, Christ Church in
Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bri ...
in 1724. Charged with spreading the Anglican church in the colony, he formed parishes and opened house churches throughout the colony, which he then staffed with his disciples, then built physical churches in the town. He founded 25 churches in the Colony by 1752, for which he has been called "The Father of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut". Beginning in the 1730s, he participated in a long running pamphlet war with
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
. "Johnson willingly and enthusiastically defended his beliefs in a series of three pamphlets" titled ''Letters to His Dissenting Parishioners'' (1733–37), and in the next decade, was attacked, and then counter-attacked his greatest Puritan antagonist, the President of Princeton Jonathan Dickinson, in a series of
pamphlets A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...
titled ''Aristocles to Authades ''(1745–57). The debate was not only theological, but political and legal. As a minority Anglican in a Congregationalist established church state, he led the Anglican side against both the Old Light and New Light Puritans who dominated the elected Connecticut Assembly, struggling to emancipate his people from Puritan church taxes and laws restricting Anglican worship. He defended his American Anglican practices vigorously, and advocated for an Anglican Bishop in America. This request for a Bishop was vigorously opposed not only by New England Puritans and their supporters in England, but by Southern Anglicans who wished to preserve their independence. Johnson failed in this effort: no Church of England Bishop was ever sent to America, and there was no Episcopal Bishop until
Samuel Seabury (bishop) Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729February 25, 1796) was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalist ...
was ordained by the
Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...
. In addition to dealing with the powerful Old Lights from 1723 on, after 1740 he now had to deal with the
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
outburst occasioned by the New Light popular preacher and fellow Anglican minister
George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke Coll ...
and the
Great Awakening The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals in American Christian history. Historians and theologians identify three, or sometimes four, waves of increased religious enthusiasm between the early 18th century and the late 20th cent ...
he unleashed. He opened a successful
common school A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretar ...
in Stratford shortly after his arrival in 1723, and boarded and tutored the sons of prominent New York families to prepare them for college. He also trained Yale students for the Anglican ministry at his
parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...
in Stratford, converting many of them from
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
denominations, as well as training Anglicans in a kind of small seminary. Between 1724 and his death in 1772, Johnson mentored 63 Yale graduates who intended to take Anglican orders. His disciples resided in all 13 states and Canada by the time of the Revolution.


Creating "A New System of Morality"

Johnson was a seminal figure of
American philosophy American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can neverthe ...
. Though busy with ministry and educational duties, and raising his family, he never stopped learning or writing, and kept to his self-appointed mission to write up the sum of all knowledge. In February 1729, Johnson noted in his ''Autobiography'', "came that very extraordinary genius
Bishop Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...
, then Dean of
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
, into America, and resided two years and a half at Rhode Island". Johnson hurried to visit him, and his group in
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
, including the painter John Smybert. He became for a time a disciple of Berkeley's, and exchanged many letters with the philosopher over the years, discussing Berkeley's
idealist Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...
philosophy. Before Berkeley left America in September 1731, Johnson convinced Berkeley to donate to Yale a large number of books, 500 pounds sterling, and a 100-acre farm with 100 pound sterling yearly income which would fund three scholars at the college. Johnson published the essay "An Introduction to the Study of Philosophy, exhibiting a General view of all the Arts and Sciences” in the May 1731 issue of London-based periodical ''The Present State of the Republick of Letters'' (1728–36). Written just as he was about to send his two Nicoll stepsons to Yale, it was a manual for teaching young men
ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
and
moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...
, things not taught at a Yale that had reverted to the Puritan curriculum after the Great Apostasy; it was the first work published by an American in a British journal. In 1740s, while Johnson's son William Samuel Johnson was attending Yale, Johnson collaborated with Rector
Thomas Clap Thomas Clap or Thomas Clapp (June 26, 1703 – January 7, 1767) was an American academic and educator, a Congregational minister, and college administrator. He was both the fifth rector and the earliest official to be called "president" of Yale C ...
to create a new curriculum, for which he revised his moral philosophy and his tables on the sum of all knowledge. He published it as a textbook titled ''An Introduction to the Study of Philosophy (1743)''. It was three times longer than his previous essay. In large bold letters on the front page facing the title page, he proclaimed it "A New System of Morality". The work "was intended from the beginning to accompany President Clap of Yale's 1743 ''Library Catalogue of the Library of the Yale–College in New Haven''." The work contains a moral philosophy textbook along with a revision of his table of the sum of all knowledge, which was used by Clap to index his
library catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliography, bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libra ...
, and by Johnson to order a recommended reading list of books to be read by Yale students included as an appendix to the textbook. Though Johnson had begun replacing the Puritans' ideas of Predestination and Sin with his American Enlightenment idea of pursuing happiness as far back as his sermons in 1715, the new system makes the pursuit of happiness its starting point. In its opening paragraph, reflecting the influence of William Wollaston and Berkeley, he defines philosophy as "The Pursuit of true Happiness in the Knowledge of things as being what they really are, and in acting or practicing according to that Knowledge." Going beyond Wollaston and Berkeley, "Johnson extended these men's constructions with his own unique practice-oriented ideas of perception leading to action, and a freewill model of humans with a value system focused on pursuing happiness." Its library catalog schema taken from Johnson's scheme was adopted by other colleges, and "was superior to anything until
Melvil Dewey Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. He was a founder of the Lake Placid Club, a chief librarian a ...
published his
Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (pronounced ) colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. ...
Scheme in 1876." Johnson, who had first cataloged the Yale library back in 1719 when its books were moved from Saybrook to New Haven, and who had secured the large Berkeley donation of books, selecting which volumes would go to Yale from the wealthy philosopher's large collection, has been called “The Father of American Library Classification”. Also in 1743, for his successful missionary work and his defense of the Anglican church in America he received an honorary
doctorate of divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...
from Oxford. He was only the third American to receive this honor. That same year he built the second Christ Church in Stratford, startling his Puritan neighbors with Gothic-style architectural elements, heating, an organ, and a steeple with a clock and a bell, topped by a gold-brass rooster. Johnson revised his moral philosophy textbook again, titling it ''Ethices Elementa: or the First Principles of Moral Philosophy''. According to educator Henry Barnard, “This work had a high reputation at the time of its publication, and met with an extensive sales.” He revised it again with editions released in 1752 in Philadelphia and 1754 in London. Professor Mark Garett Longaker noted that it contained "a system of morals built upon his philosophical idealism, and the conclusion of this entire system (moral, philosophical, and rhetorical) is that all human endeavor aims towards happiness, a condition realized when one fully understands and obeys God's will."


King's College in New York City

Johnson had been considering a college in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
since 1749. In 1750, Johnson began to exchange a series of letters with
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
over the founding of a "new-model" or "English" college. Franklin admired Johnson's moral philosophy, and asked him to head up a proposed College of Philadelphia. Johnson declined the offer, and instead worked with his wife's relations, his step-sons, former students, and the rector and vestrymen of the Anglican Trinity Church in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
to found a college there. In 1751, a board of trustees had been appointed by the New York colonial assembly to manage money raised in a lottery for a college in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. In 1752, Johnson was proposed as the logical choice for its president. They decided to name it King's College to help them secure an official
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
from King George II. Johnson had recently met William Smith, a young Scot immigrant tutor, at the New York City salon of Mrs. De Lancey, wife of Lt. Governor James De Lancey. Johnson had suggested and mentored Smith's writing of a Utopian book of college education, titled ''A General Idea of the College of Mirania ''(1753).'' ''Johnson recommenced the young William Smith to Franklin. During the
colonial era Colonial period (a period in a country's history where it was subject to management by a colonial power) may refer to: Continents *European colonization of the Americas * Colonisation of Africa * Western imperialism in Asia Countries * Col ...
, "The chair of moral philosophy stood above all other faculty positions in importance and prestige." Selecting a moral philosophy was thus a fundamentally important consideration when founding a college. In 1752, at Franklin's urging, Johnson revised his philosophy textbook again to create a philosophy suitable for the proposed new-model colleges. Franklin took the unusual step (for him) of self-funding the domestic printing of ''Elementa Philosophica'' (1752).


New American college model

Along with
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
and William Smith, Johnson created what President James Madison of the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
called a new-model plan or style of American college. They decided it would be profession-oriented, with classes taught in English instead of
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, have subject matter experts as professors instead of one tutor leading a class for four years, and there would be no religious test for admission. They also replaced the study of theology with non-denominational moral philosophy, using Johnson's "new system of morality" and his philosophy textbook as the core of the curriculum. Johnson, Franklin, and Smith met in Stratford in June 1753. They planned two new-model colleges: Johnson would open King's College in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and Franklin and Smith would open the College of Philadelphia, now the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Immediately after the meeting, Smith left for London to raise funds and receive Anglican orders. Franklin and the board of trustees appointed him Provost of the College of Philadelphia when he returned. Johnson with the help of his stepson Benjamin Nicoll, his former students. who were now powerful merchants, the De Launcey-Nicoll Popular downstate majority party in the New York Assembly, and the clergy and vestry of Trinity Church, New York City, created a board of Governors for the new college, ensuring that it had an
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
majority though it included
Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...
and
Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...
members. The assembly voted that a lottery be established to raise funds for the new college. The funding was bitterly opposed in print by board member William Livingston and other Presbyterian politicians along with their Provincial upstate party allies in an intense two year newspaper war. Without funding and without an official charter, Johnson defiantly opened King's College (now
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
) in July 1754. On October 31, it finally received the
Royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
. It
charter
promoted a college without a religious test for admission, was practice and profession oriented, public spirited, inclusive and diverse, and taught the then new disciplines of English literature and moral philosophy. It was
polytechnic A polytechnic is an educational institution that primarily focuses on vocational education, applied sciences, and career pathways. They are sometimes referred to as ''institutes of technology'', ''vocational institutes'', or ''universities of app ...
in scope, teaching math, science, history, commerce, government, and nature. Colonial historian Richard Gummere noted that, "Had Johnson himself offered a specific course for each of these fields, he would have been presiding, ''mutatis muntandis,'' over the equivalent of a twentieth-century university." Johnson also presented a values-focused curriculum, proposing in the ''Advertisement'' "in May 1754, to teach student to be “Ornaments to their Country and useful to the public Weal in their Generations” and "to lead them from the study of nature to knowledge of themselves, and of the God of nature and their duty to him, themselves, and one another, and everything that can contribute to their true happiness, both here and hereafter." Once again, the pursuit of happiness was the focus of Johnson's curriculum, his table of philosophy, and his textbook. In addition to the burden of dealing with the political Presbyterians attacking his college as a devious Anglican plot, and hence leading Presbyterian parents to refuse to send their sons to it, and the usual ramp-up problems of starting a new college, the nine-year-long
French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
coincided almost exactly with Johnson's tenure at King's College, drying up funds and draining the pool of potential students while raising fears of invasion. He also had to deal with periodic outbreaks of smallpox, during which he had to leave the college to be run by his tutors for months at a time. Yet he persevered. In the 22-year period from 1758 to 1776, when the college closed due to the Revolutionary War, 226 men attended, and 113 graduated. Among the 83 college students who attended King's College during Johnson's -year tenure were some prominent future
Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
, including
Adolph Philipse Adolphus Philipse (1665–1750) was a wealthy landowner of Dutch descent in the Province of New York. In 1697 he purchased a large tract of land along the east bank of the Hudson River stretching all the way to the east to the Connecticut b ...
, Daniel Robart, Abraham De Peyster, and John Vardill. But he taught many more men who became prominent Patriots, including
John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
, Samuel Prevoost, Robert R. Livingston, Richard Harrison, Henry Cruger,
Egbert Benson Egbert Benson (June 21, 1746 – August 24, 1833) was an American lawyer, jurist, politician and Founding Father who represented New York State in the Continental Congress, Annapolis Convention, and United States House of Representatives. He ...
, Edward Antill, Dr. Samuel Bard, John Stevens, Anthony Lispenard, and Henry Rutgers. Among the students taught by his successor Dr. Myles Cooper, were
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...
and
Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the ...
. In 1764, he returned to his ministry, replacing as Rector his successor at Christ Church, the Rev. Edward Winslow, who moved to
Braintree, Massachusetts Braintree () is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is officially known as a town, but Braintree is a city with a mayor-council form of government, and it is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The populat ...
. Johnson also began working on another revision of his philosophy. This time Johnson wrote not a textbook but a
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...
titled ''Raphael, or The Genius of the English America ''(c. 1764–5), which Johnson called "a Rhapsody". It begins with the arrival of "guardian or genius of New England" of a "beautiful countenance" who tells ''Arisctocles'', named after Aristocles of Messene, and who represents Johnson, to "call me ''
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
''". His son William Samuel Johnson in 1765 would represent Connecticut at the
Stamp Act Congress The Stamp Act Congress (October 7 – 25, 1765), also known as the Continental Congress of 1765, was a meeting held in New York City in the colonial Province of New York. It included representatives from most of the British colonies in Nort ...
, and the work hints at the controversies of the period; historian
Joseph Ellis Joseph John-Michael Ellis III (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His book '' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' won a Nation ...
suggests that a disillusioned Johnson believed that "the underlying cause of the growing discontent between England and America was the breakdown of a sense of community". Parts of the work praise the British form of
Parliamentary government A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...
, while others foreshadow the ''
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
'', including its core principle that, “The natural obligation to virtue is founded in the necessity that God and nature lays us under to desire and pursue our happiness.” By 1767, Johnson was calling the British ministers in Parliament " a pack of Courtiers, who have no Religion at all.” In 1767, his son William Samuel Johnson, was appointed Colonial Agent to Great Britain for Connecticut, and left Stratford for London, where he would remain for five years. Johnson was left in Stratford with his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. He continued to minister, teach and write. He also taught prospective Anglican priests in a kind of “little Academy, or resource for young students of Divinity, to prepare them for Holy Orders”. He taught his two grandsons English and Hebrew, as his own grandfather had taught him 70 years before. He wrote for them the first English Grammar (1765) and the first Hebrew grammar (1767) published in America authored by an American. In a 1771 revised edition of Hebrew grammar, he printed his last revision of his table, presenting the sum of all knowledge. In October 1771, just before he finished his ''Autobiography'', his son William Samuel returned home from London to Johnson's "great and unspeakable comfort and satisfaction". Johnson died a few months later, on January 6, 1772. His protegee and friend President Myles Cooper penned the inscription which adorns his monument in Christ Church, Stratford, where Johnson was minister for most of the 47 years between 1723 and his death, minus the eight and a half years he spent at King's College in New York City. ''If decent dignity, and modest mien,'' ''The cheerful heart, and countenance serene;'' ''If pure religion and unsullied truth,'' ''His age's solace, and his search in youth;'' ''In charity, through all the race he ran,'' ''Still wishing well, and doing good to man;'' ''If learning free from pedantry and pride;'' ''If faith and virtue walking side by side;'' ''If well to mark his being's aim and end,'' ''To shine through life the father and the friend;'' ''If these ambition in thy soul can raise,'' ''Excite thy reverence or demand thy praise,'' ''Reader, ere yet thou quit this earthly scene,'' ''Revere his name, and be what he has been.''


Personal life

In 1725, Johnson married the widow Charity Floyd Nicoll, the mother of three young children, one of whom, William Nicoll, was heir to the vast estate of Islip Grange, in
Sayville, New York Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,569 at the time of the 2020 census. History The earli ...
, then part of a 100 square mile estate on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
owned by the Matthias Nicoll family. Johnson acquired close contacts with the leading merchant, legal, and political families of the colonial-era
Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...
, many who sent their sons to board with him in Stratford, to be prepared for college. His first son by Charity,
William Samuel Johnson William Samuel Johnson (October 7, 1727 – November 14, 1819) was an American Founding Father and statesman. He attended all of the four founding American Congresses: the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, the Congress of the Confederation in 1785–1 ...
, was born on October 7, 1727; his second son, William "Billy" Johnson, was born on March 9, 1731. Johnson turned 60 in 1756. That year, he lost his first grandson. The same year, his beloved son William "Billy" died of
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
on his ordination trip to England. His wife Charity died of smallpox two years later, in 1758. His stepdaughter Anna and his student and wife's nephew Gilbert Floyd died in 1759. His stepson Benjamin Nicoll, his best tutor Daniel Treadwell, and his fellow Great Apostate Rev. Wetmore died in 1760. On June 18, 1761, Johnson married Sarah Beach, the widow of his old friend William Beach, and his son's mother-in-law, and for a brief time he was "very happy". In 1762, Johnson and the board of Governors hired the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
-trained minister Myles Cooper, a young man recommended by the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, as professor of moral philosophy with the expectation that Cooper would someday succeed him. Johnson quickly bonded with Cooper, who "was with him as a son". On February 9, 1763, Johnson lost his second wife Sarah to
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
, and a few weeks after, amidst an unpleasant controversy with the Board of Governors over funding his pension, "he committed the care of his affairs to Mr. Cooper", and returned to
Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bri ...
by sleigh during a snowstorm.


Works

Johnson published his first philosophy work in 1731 as an essay in the English Journal ''The Republick of Letters''; his name also appears as author in 34 books in the English Short Title Catalog printed before 1800. In 1874 Dr. Eben Edwards Beardsley published "portions of diary and of his correspondence with "eminent men in merica and with Bishops and leading minds in the Church of England" in ''Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson D.D. : missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut, and first president of King's College, New York''. In 1929, Herbert and Carol Schneider published a four volume work of Johnson's ''Career and Writings, ''reprinting seven of these works. The Schneiders also published for the first time his ''Autobiography'', various letters, a catalog of over 1400 books he read, ''Synopsis Philosophiae'', ''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', ''The Revised Encyclopedia'', ''Logic'', ''Miscellaneous Notes'', selections from his textbooks on philosophy, ''Raphael'' ''or the Genius of the English America, Reflections on Old Age and Death,'' twenty-four selected ''Sermons'', various liturgical writings, and various documents relating to the founding of King's College and its early years. Herbert Schneider provides a bibliography of all of Johnson's writings at the end of Volume IV. Many of Johnson's sermons and diaries remain unpublished. Johnson's major works include:


Reputation

Johnson has not garnered anywhere near the attention of his student and great rival, the Puritan theologian Johnathan Edwards; he received, for example, only two pages compared to sixteen on Jonathan Edwards in Sydney Ahlstrom's classic work ''A Religious History of the American People.'' But he has been admired for his missionary work, his educational ideas, and his philosophy. Johnson has been called "a towering intellect of colonial America, a man of great curiosity and philosophical interests", "the most erudite colonial Anglican theologian of the eighteenth century", "The Founder of American Philosophy", the "first important philosopher in colonial America and author of the first philosophy textbook published there", "the first to give to education that thought and attention which his countrymen have continued to devote to it", the "Father of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut", and "The First Psychological Author in America". His works and his list of books read between 1719 and 1755 have been used to trace the evolution of the American colonial mind by Norman Fiering and Joseph Ellis. He is the subject of two 19th-century biographies, each of which went to two editions; three 21st-century books; a number of book-length dissertations; and is the focus of two 21st-century books.


Influence

Johnson was among the few colonial Americans whose cultural and intellectual achievements garnered notice in Great Britain. He was a friend of both Bishop George Berkeley and his son, the Rev. George Berkeley, Jr. The author of the English Dictionary, Samuel Johnson of London, was a warm friend of his son William Samuel and "knew of" the other transatlantic Dr. Johnson. The American Dr. Johnson corresponded regularly with English archbishops and bishops, colonial governors, college heads in England and America, and the secretaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. His influence in the British American colonies was even greater. He was well known at Yale, where he tutored, co-administered the Berkeley scholarship program from its inception in the 1730s, and partnered with President Clap to create an Enlightenment curriculum and reform the college in the 1740s. He created the Anglican church in Connecticut, beginning with parishes founded in 1723 in New Haven, North Haven, and West Haven, and a church he built in 1724 in Stratford. By the time of his death in 1772, there were forty-three churches in the colony. His Anglican disciples had spread out through all thirteen colonies and Canada by 1776. Johnson noted in a 1752 letter to
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
that he had "the great Satisfaction to see some of them in the first pulpits not only in Connecticut but also in Boston and York and others in some of the first places in the Land." Johnson new-model college reforms spread quickly. Rhode Island College, which is now
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
, opened in 1764 as a
nondenominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...
college in the "new-model" style not far from where Johnson took philosophical walks with Berkeley. In 1774, members of the board of trustees of the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
, including
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...
,
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
,
Peyton Randolph Peyton Randolph (September 10, 1721 – October 22, 1775) was an American politician and planter who was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States. Born into Virginia's Randolph family of Virginia, wealthies ...
,
George Wythe George Wythe (; 1726 – June 8, 1806) was an American academic, scholar, and judge who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The first of the seven Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, signatories of the ...
, and Thomas Nelson, Jr., who later passed the
Lee Resolution The Lee Resolution, also known as "The Resolution for Independence", was the formal assertion passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776, resolving that the Thirteen Colonies (then referred to as the United Colonies) were "free a ...
and the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
at the
Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, which established American independence ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, proposed to reform the college on the new-model plan of Johnson, Franklin, and Smith, which they accomplished in 1777. During the Revolutionary War, Johnson's protégé, Provost William Smith, would found two more colleges in Maryland: Washington College on the east shore and St. James College on its west shore. While Johnson's
moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...
had been taught at Yale since the early 1740s, his most influential textbook on philosophy was his 1752 ''Elementa Philosophica'', a revision and major expansion of his 1731, 1743, and 1746 textbooks on moral philosophy, to include metaphysics and science, made at the request of Benjamin Franklin. In 1752, Franklin printed a fine if expensive first edition in Philadelphia, while a lower-cost second edition printed in London in 1754 appeared with Johnson's corrections and an introduction by Dr. William Smith, provost of the College of Philadelphia. It has been estimated that about half of American college students between 1743 and 1776 were taught Johnson's moral philosophy. According to Colonial College historian J. David Hoeveler, "In the middle eighteenth century, the collegians who studied" the ideas of the new-model colleges "created new documents of American nationhood." Three members of the
Committee of Five The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress was a group of five members who drafted and presented to the full Congress in Pennsylvania State House what would become the United States Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. Th ...
who edited the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
were connected to Johnson: his educational partner, promoter, and publisher
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
; his student Robert R. Livingston of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
; and his son's legal and political protégée and Yale treasurer
Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an early American politician, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, ...
of
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. Indeed, it has been estimated that fifty-four percent of the contributors to the Declaration of Independence between September 5, 1775, and July 4, 1776, and fifty percent of the men who debated and passed it between June 28 and July 4, 1775, were connected to Johnson or his moral philosophy, making it the dominant morality at the Congress. Johnson taught many students in his fifty-nine–yearlong career as a teacher in Connecticut and New York. His most important pupil was one of the founders of the American Republic: Johnson was the father of Dr.
William Samuel Johnson William Samuel Johnson (October 7, 1727 – November 14, 1819) was an American Founding Father and statesman. He attended all of the four founding American Congresses: the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, the Congress of the Confederation in 1785–1 ...
, a
Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colon ...
, who attended the
Stamp Act Congress The Stamp Act Congress (October 7 – 25, 1765), also known as the Continental Congress of 1765, was a meeting held in New York City in the colonial Province of New York. It included representatives from most of the British colonies in Nort ...
, the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...
, the United States Federal Constitutional Convention, and was the first
U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
from Connecticut at the
1st United States Congress The 1st United States Congress, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington's presidency, first at Federal Hall ...
, "the only man who attended all four united congresses" that founded America. He followed his father's footsteps, attending Yale and becoming president of Columbia College. A lawyer often called to argue in interstate disputes and a colonial agent to England from 1767 to 1772, he is best known as the chairman of the Committee of Style that wrote the U.S. Constitution
edits to a draft version
are in his hand in the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.


Legacy

Johnson's missionary efforts in Connecticut have thrived and expanded. Christ Church, Stratford, remains an active and successful parish. A third church building was built in 1858 in the Carpenter Gothic Style to replace Johnson's 1743 building; but the bell and the golden "brass" rooster weather vane that Johnson donated to the second 1743 church were installed in its steeple, and still call people to worship today. Out of this one church, Johnson founded 26 other churches in Connecticut colony himself, and he lived to see forty-three total founded in the state, with seventeen more founded by his disciples before his death in 1772. Today, there are more than one hundred seventy Episcopalian parishes in the state, serving a membership of nearly sixty thousand people. Johnson closed his Stratford Common School in 1752, but his name is memorialized in th
Stratford Academy's Johnson House
the facility for grades three (3) through six (6). Its motto is ''Tantum eruditi sunt liberi'' "Only the educated are free". The college he founded, King's College, was renamed by the New York Assembly after the Revolutionary War, and is now Columbia University. For over two hundred years, "Columbia has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world." In one ranking in 2008, it was tied with two others as the top ranked American university.
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
winner, Columbia president, and American philosopher
Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler (April 2, 1862 – December 7, 1947) was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel ...
summed up Johnson's impact as an educator and philosopher: "Suffice it to say here that Samuel Johnson was, with all his obvious limitations, a very remarkable man. No one but a remarkable man could have had his career, have rendered his public service, or have had his vision of what world-wide illumination might follow from the flickering little candle which he lighted in the vestry room of Trinity Church during the summer months of 1754." In 1999, Johnson's "Sermon Concerning the Intellectual World" was published in Michael Warner's ''American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King, Jr.,'' an anthology of just fifty-eight American sermons from colonial times to the Civil Rights Movement. In 2006, the Columbia University Engineering Alumni Association (CEAA) created the ''Samuel Johnson Medal for Distinguished Achievement Beyond the Realm of Science or Engineering''. The medal seeks to commemorate Samuel Johnson's life and emphasis on a well-rounded person applying their training in fields beyond their formal education. The Samuel Johnson Medal honors the highest achievement across the entire arc of human endeavor wherever rigor and methodical thinking and actions are applied beyond the traditional fields of science and engineering. Such fields may include education, law, public affairs, business, social sciences, architecture, and the arts, whether in commerce, public service, or academia. Johnson's moral philosophy did not long outlast the Revolution in college classrooms, as "Scottish realism became the academic prop of American higher education" all the way through "the middle of the eighteenth century". However, Johnson's moral philosophy, defined in his textbook ''Elementa Philosophica'' as "the Art of pursuing our highest Happiness by the universal practice of virtue", influenced the core documents of the American Republic, and hence his work is still active in the governing and culture of America as embodied in the phrase, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". Dr. Samuel Johnson, along with Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Dr. William Smith, may be considered one of the “Founding Grandfathers” who "first created the idealistic moral philosophy of 'the pursuit of Happiness', and then taught it in American colleges to the generation of men who would become the Founding Fathers." Today, there is once again a great deal of intellectual activity on the philosophy of
happiness Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...
.Haybron, Dan, "Happiness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . Accessed August 26, 2013.


Footnotes


Further reading

* Eben Edwards Beardsley, ''Life and correspondence of Samuel Johnson D.D.: missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut, and first president of King's College'', New York, Hurd & Houghton, 1874. * Peter N. Carroll,''The Other Samuel Johnson: A Psychohistory of Early New England,'' Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1978 . * Thomas Bradbury Chandler, ''The life of Samuel Johnson, D.D., the first president of King's College, in New York,'' T. & J. Swords, 1824. * Joseph J. Ellis, ''The New England Mind in Transition: Samuel Johnson of Connecticut 1696–1772, Yale ''University Press, 1973. * Don R. Gerlach, ''Samuel Johnson of Stratford in New England, 1696–1772.'' Athens, GA: Anglican Parishes Association Publications, 2010. * Elizabeth P. McCaughey, ''From Loyalist to Founding Father: the political odyssey of William Samuel Johnson'', Columbia University Press, 1980. * Neil C. Olsen, ''Pursuing Happiness: The Organizational Culture of the Continental Congress,'' Nonagram Publications, 2009. * Herbert and Carol Schneider, ''Samuel Johnson, President of King's College: His Career and Writings'', Columbia University Press, 4 vols., 1929. * Louis Weil, ''Worship and Sacraments in the Teaching of Samuel Johnson of Connecticut: A Study of the Sources and Development of the High Church Tradition in America, 1722-1789'' (doctoral dissertation, 1972)


External links


Biographical Sketches of King's College Notables

Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D.D. Missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut and First President of King's College, New York, By E. Edwards Beardsley, D.D. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1874.


{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Samuel 1696 births 1772 deaths 18th-century American educators 18th-century American historians 18th-century American philosophers American encyclopedists American people of English descent American sermon writers Slave owners from the Thirteen Colonies Columbia University faculty Historians from Connecticut People from Guilford, Connecticut People from colonial Connecticut Presidents of Columbia University Yale College alumni