Samuel Stanhope Smith (March 15, 1751 – August 21, 1819) was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister, founding president of

Hampden–Sydney College Hampden–Sydney College (H-SC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Men's colleges in the United States, college for men in Hampden Sydney, Virginia. Founded in 1775, it is the oldest privatel ...

and the seventh president of the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

) from 1795 to 1812. His stormy career ended in his forced resignation. His words – "If reason and charity cannot promote the cause of truth and piety, I cannot see how it should ever flourish under the withering fires of wrath and strife" – epitomize his career.William H. Hudnut, III. "Samuel Stanhope Smith: Enlightened Conservative" ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 1956 17(4): 540-552

Early life

Smith was born in Pequea, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1751. He was the son of Robert Smith (1723–1793) and Elizabeth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Blair) Smith (1725–1777). In 1769, he graduated as a salutatorian from the College of New Jersey (name later changed to

), and went on to study theology and philosophy under John Witherspoon.

Career

In his mid-twenties, he worked as a missionary in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and from 1775 to 1779, he served as the founder and rector of

, which he referred to in his advertisement of 1 September 1775 as "an Academy in Prince Edward." The school, not then named, was always intended to be a college-level institution; later in the same advertisement, Smith explicitly likens its curriculum to that of the College of New Jersey. "Academy" was a technical term used for college-level schools not run by the established church. Stanhope Smith held honorary doctorates from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

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 ...

and in 1785, was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

President of Princeton

Smith studied under president Witherspoon and returned to Princeton as a professor in 1779, and succeeded Witherspoon as president in 1795. The situation during the winter semester of 1806–07 under Smith's presidency was characterized by little or no faculty-student rapport or communication, crowded conditions, and strict school rules — a combination that led to a student riot on 31 March–1 April 1807. College authorities denounced it as a sign of moral decay. Smith was active in the affairs of the

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 ...

and served as moderator of the 11th General Assembly in 1799. Smith was an urbane and cultivated man who sought, in the tradition of Witherspoon, to maintain orthodoxy while opposing tendencies toward rigidity and

obscurantism In philosophy, obscurantism or obscurationism is the Anti-intellectualism, anti-intellectual practice of deliberately presenting information in an wikt:abstruse, abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subj ...

. His efforts were unsuccessful, and he was forced to resign from his office in 1812 as a result of criticism from within the church. In his efforts to reconcile

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

and

revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

Smith left himself vulnerable to charges of

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

and

Arminianism Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was origina ...

Theories

Smith was the first systematic expositor of Scottish Common Sense Realism in America. An empiricist in his anthropology and a Lamarckian before

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...

, he sought to mediate between science and religious orthodoxy. In his work, Stanhope Smith expressed progressive views on marriage and egalitarian ideas about race and

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. The second edition of his ''Essay on the Causes of Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species'' (1810) became important as a powerful argument against the increasing

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

of 19th-century

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

. He opposed the racial classifications of naturalists such as

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22 January 1840) was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He has be ...

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now ca ...

, and

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

. In this text, his attempt to explain the variety of physical appearances among humans involved a strongly environmental outlook. An example he provides involves "the blacks in the southern states." Smith noted that field slaves had darker skin pigmentation and other "African" features than did domestic slaves, and claimed that exposure to white, European culture through their "civilized" masters had changed their anatomy as well. In Smith's essay titled ''Essay on the Causes of Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species'', Smith claimed that Negro pigmentation was nothing more than a huge freckle that covered the whole body as a result of an oversupply of bile, which was caused by tropical climates. In this essay Smith described the basic concept of

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...

, this was before

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

later popularized the theory. Smith is also known for his attempt to refute

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 ...

's claim in '' Notes on the State of Virginia'', that there were no great black writers or artists. In it, he attacked Jefferson's disregard of poetic abilities of

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784), was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates Jr., Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: ...

, African slave prodigy. Noah Webster cited Stanhope Smith in Webster's 1828 Dictionary in the definition of philosophy. The citation was from Stanhope Smith's second edition of his ''Essay on the Causes of Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species'' (1810). The quote as given, "True religion, and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle."Webster, 1828: definition of philosophy

Personal life

On June 28, 1775, Smith was married to Ann Witherspoon (1749–1817), the daughter of his mentor and predecessor President. Together, they were the parents of: * Elizabeth Smith, who married John Marsden Pristard. * Frances Ann Smith (1780–1807), who married Judge John Bartow Prevost (1766-1825). * Anna Maria Smith, who married Thomas Callender (1778–1827). * Susan French Smith (1784–1849), who married Dr. Dirck G. Solomons. * Mary Clay Smith (1787–1864), who married Kentucky Secretary of State Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1788–1823), the son of U.S. Attorney General John Breckinridge and the father of

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

John C. Breckinridge. * John Witherspoon Smith, who married Sarah Henrietta Duer (b. 1787), daughter of Continental Congressman William Duer. * Caroline Laurens Smith (1798–1814), who died young. Smith died on August 21, 1819, in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

Works

*''Essay on the Causes of Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species.'' (1787, 2nd ed. 1810) *''Sermons.'' Newark, New Jersey: Jacob Halsey and Co., 1799. *''Lectures on the Evidences of the Christian Religion.'' (1809) *''Lectures on Moral and Political Philosophy.'' (1812) *''A Comprehensive View of the Leading and Most Important Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion: Digested in Such Order as to Present to the Pious and Reflecting Mind, a Basis for the Superstructure of the Entire System of the Doctrines of the Gospel'', Samuel Stanhope Smith, New Brunswick, N.J., Deare & Myer, 1815

References

;Notes ;Sources *Dain, Bruce R. ''A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory in the Early Republic.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002. (Stanhope Smith and 18th century race theory 40-49, 55-58, 64-70). *Webster, Noah. ''An American Dictionary of the English Language.'' New York: S. Converse, 1828. Definition of philosophy *Brinkley, John Luster. ''On This Hill: A narrative history of Hampden–Sydney College, 1774-1994.'' Hampden–Sydney: 1994.

External links

*

at the Princeton University web site. *Longe

* ttp://www.richardsibbes.com/Princeton.Cemetery.Presidents.htm Photographic tour of Samuel S. Smith's grave at Princeton Cemetery.br>Biography of Samuel Stanhope Smith at the Hampden–Sydney College web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Samuel Stanhope 1751 births 1819 deaths Presidents of Hampden–Sydney College Presidents of Princeton University Proto-evolutionary biologists 18th-century American writers 18th-century American male writers 19th-century American writers Presbyterian Church in the United States of America ministers University and college founders People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania People from colonial Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society Burials at Princeton Cemetery People from colonial New Jersey Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America