Timothy Dwight IV
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Timothy Dwight (May 14, 1752January 11, 1817) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of
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, ...
(1795–1817).


Early life

Timothy Dwight was born May 14, 1752, in
Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...
. The
Dwight family The Dwight family of New England had many members who were military leaders, educators, jurists, authors, businessmen and clergy. Around 1634, John Dwight came with his wife Hannah (1604-1656), daughter Hannah (1625-1714), and sons Timothy (1629 ...
had a long association with Yale College, as it was then known. Dwight's paternal grandfather, Colonel Timothy Dwight, was born on 19 October 1694 and died on April 30, 1771. His father, a merchant and farmer known as Major Timothy Dwight, was born May 27, 1726, graduated from Yale in 1744, served in 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 died June 10, 1777. His mother Mary Edwards (1734–1807) was the third daughter of theologian Jonathan Edwards. Dwight was said to have learned the alphabet at a single lesson and to have been able to read the Bible before he was four years old. He had 12 younger siblings, including journalist Theodore Dwight (1764–1846). Dwight graduated from Yale in 1769 (when he was only 17 years old). For two years, he was rector of the Hopkins Grammar School in
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 ...
. Dwight was a tutor at Yale College from 1771 to 1777. Licensed to preach in 1777, he was appointed by Congress chaplain in General Samuel Holden Parsons's Connecticut Continental Brigade. Dwight served with distinction, inspiring the troops with his sermons and the stirring war songs he composed, the most famous of which is "Columbia". On March 3, 1777, Dwight married Mary Woolsey (1754–1854), the daughter of New York merchant and banker Benjamin Woolsey (1720–1771). This marriage connected him to some of New York's wealthiest and most influential families. Woolsey had been Dwight's father's Yale classmate, roommate, and intimate friend. On news of his father's death in the fall of 1778, Dwight resigned his commission and returned to take charge of his family in Northampton. Besides managing the family's farms, he preached and taught, establishing a school for both sexes. During this period, he served two terms in the
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
legislature.


Career

Dwight first came to public attention with his Yale College 1772 commencement address when he received his M.A. degree and later his "Valedictory Address" of 1776, in which he described Americans as having a unique national identity as a new "people, who have the same religion, the same manners, the same interests, the same language, and the same essential forms and principles of civic government." Declining calls from churches in Beverly and Charlestown, Dwight chose instead to settle from 1783 until 1795 as minister in "Greenfield Hill," a congregational church in
Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull, Easton, Connecticut, Easton, Weston, Connecticut, W ...
. There he established an academy, which at once acquired a high reputation and attracted pupils from all parts of the Union, including Elihu Hubbard Smith. Dwight was an innovative and inspiring teacher, preferring moral suasion over the
corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...
favored by most schoolmasters of the day. In 1788, Dwight purchased a slave, a woman named Naomi. He stated that his intention was for her to 'purchase' her freedom for an unspecified number of years of faithful servitude. It is unknown whether she was successful in obtaining her freedom. It is also unknown whether Dwight held her in slavery while serving as the President of Yale. In 1793, Dwight preached a sermon to the General Association of Connecticut entitled a "Discourse on the Genuineness and Authenticity of the New Testament" which when printed the next year became an important tract defending the orthodox faith against Deists and other skeptics.


Presidency of Yale College (1795–1817)

Dwight was the leader of the evangelical New Divinity faction of
Congregationalism Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
, a group closely identified with Connecticut's emerging commercial elite. Although fiercely opposed by religious moderates, most notably Yale President Ezra Stiles, he was elected to the presidency of Yale on Stiles's death in 1795. Shortly afterwards, Dwight was elected an honorary member of the Connecticut
Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...
. His ability as a teacher and his talents as a religious and political leader soon made the college the largest institution of higher education in North America. Dwight had a genius for recognizing able protégé such as James Murdock, Lyman Beecher, Nathaniel W. Taylor, and
Leonard Bacon Reverend Leonard Bacon (February 19, 1802 – December 24, 1881) was an American Congregational preacher and writer. He held the pulpit of the First Church New Haven and was later professor of church history and polity at Yale College. Biograph ...
, all of whom would become major religious leaders and theological innovators in the antebellum decades. During troubled times at Yale College, President Timothy Dwight saw his students drawn to the radical republicanism and "infidel philosophy" of the French Revolution, including the philosophies of Hume,
Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered to be one of the founders ...
, Tindal, and Lords Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke. Between 1797 and 1800, Dwight frequently warned audiences against the threats of this "infidel philosophy" in America. An address to the candidates for the baccalaureate in Yale College called "The Nature and Danger of Infidel Philosophy, Exhibited in Two Discourses, Addressed to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate, In Yale College" was delivered on September 9, 1797. It was published by George Bunce in 1798. This book is credited as one of the embers of the
Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a k ...
. Dr. Dwight has made a contribution to science though he was not trained in any particular field. Yale's faculty, still small and theological at the end of its first century, significantly transformed when Dwight hired three new professors between 1801 and 1803: Jeremiah Day, professor of mathematics; James Luce Kingsley, professor of classical languages; and Benjamin Silliman, professor of chemistry and geology. Silliman, Yale's first chemist, who introduced science education at Yale, became the patriarch of American science. Day, a minister as well as a mathematician, succeeded Dwight as Yale College president upon his death.


Religious leadership

Dwight was as notable for his political leadership as for his religious and educational eminence. Known by his enemies as "Pope" Dwight, he wielded both the temporal sword (as head of Connecticut's
Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a conservativeMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 17 ...
), and spiritual sword (as nominal head of the state's Congregational Church). He led the effort to prevent the disestablishment of the church in Connecticut—and, when its disestablishment appeared inevitable, encouraged efforts by protégés like Beecher and Bacon to organize voluntary associations to maintain the influence of religion in public life. Fearing that the failure of states to establish schools and the rise of infidelity would bring about the destruction of republican institutions, Dwight helped to create a national evangelical movement—the second "Great Awakening"—intended to "re-church" America. In 1809, Dwight was introduced to the Hawaiian-born Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia by his relative Edwin W. Dwight, a student at Yale. ʻŌpūkahaʻia, a 17-year-old boy orphaned at the age of 10, had arrived in New Haven after being given passage from Hawaii by New Haven resident Captain Caleb Britnell. Dwight agreed to tutor ʻŌpūkahaʻia, who later became instrumental in establishing Christian missions to Hawaii. In 1810, Dwight became a founder of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...
, which launched its first mission to Hawaii in 1819 under Hiram Bingham.


Scholarly accomplishments

Dwight was a founder of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences and Andover Theological Seminary. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1797, and was also an early member of the American Antiquarian Society, elected in 1813. He received honorary degrees from the College of New Jersey in 1787 and
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
in 1810. Dwight was well-known as an author, preacher, and theologian. He and his brother, Theodore, were members of a group of writers centered around Yale known as the " Hartford Wits" In verse, Dwight wrote an ambitious epic in eleven books, ''The Conquest of Canaan'', finished in 1774 but not published until 1785, a somewhat ponderous and solemn satire, ''The Triumph of Infidelity'' (1788), directed against
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...
,
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
and others; ''
Greenfield Hill Greenfield Hill is an affluent historic neighborhood in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States, roughly bounded by Easton to the north, southern Burr Street/northern Black Rock Turnpike to the east, and Southport and Westport to the south and west ...
'' (1794), the suggestion for which seems to have been derived from John Denham's ''Coopers Hill''; and a number of minor poems and hymns, the best known of which is that beginning "I love thy kingdom, Lord". Many of Dwight's sermons were published posthumously under the titles ''Theology Explained and Defended'' (5 vols., 1818–1819), to which a memoir of the author by two of his sons, W. T. and Sereno E. Dwight, is prefixed, and ''Sermons by Timothy Dwight'' (2 vols., 1828), which had a large circulation both in the United States and in England. Probably his most important work, published posthumously, is his ''Travels in New England and New York'' (4 vols., 1821–1822). The work contains much material of value concerning social and economic New England and New York during the period 1796–1817. The term " Cape Cod House" makes its first appearance in this work. The work also contains the correspondence between Dwight and the theologian Gideon Hawley, following Dwight's visit to the elder preacher who was a very close friend of Dwight's parents.


Personal life

Dwight married Mary Woolsey. They had eight sons: Timothy Dwight (1778–1844), a New Haven merchant and philanthropist; Benjamin Woolsey Dwight (1780–1850), a New York physician; educator and theologian; twins James Dwight (1784–1863) and John Dwight (1784–1803);
Sereno Edwards Dwight Sereno Edwards Dwight (May 18, 1786 – November 30, 1850) was an American author, educator, and Congregational church, Congregationalist minister, who served as Chaplain of the Senate. Early years Dwight was the fifth son of Yale College ...
(1786–1850), who served as the third president of
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
; clergyman William Theodore Dwight (1795–1865); Henry Edwin Dwight (1797–1832), an educator and author; and one who died young. Dwight's grandson and namesake, "Timothy Dwight the Younger" (1828–1916), served as Yale's president, from 1886 to 1899. His nephew, Theodore Dwight Woolsey (1801–1889), served as Yale's president between 1846 and 1871. Another nephew was Theodore Dwight (1796–1866), an author and journalist. Dwight died of
colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...
in 1817 and was buried in New Haven's
Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace th ...
. Mary Woolsey Dwight died on October 5, 1845.


Legacy

Dwight's 1785 poem ''The Conquest of Canaan'' is considered to be the first American
epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
. Greenfield Hill's Timothy Dwight Elementary School is named after him in
Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull, Easton, Connecticut, Easton, Weston, Connecticut, W ...
, as well as Timothy Dwight Park. In the twentieth century, Yale named
Timothy Dwight College Timothy Dwight College, commonly abbreviated and referred to as "TD", is a residential colleges of Yale University, residential college at Yale University named after two presidents of Yale, Timothy Dwight IV and his grandson, Timothy Dwight V. ...
for him and his grandson.Bergin, Thomas G. ''Yale's Residential Colleges: the First Fifty Years''. Yale University, Office of University Development. 1982. In New York City, University Heights, Bronx, has PS 33, Timothy Dwight school, recently expanded. In 2008, The Library of America selected Dwight's account of the murders of Connecticut shopkeeper William Beadle for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.


Notes


References

* * * *


Further reading

* Berk, Stephen E. (1974). ''Calvinism versus Democracy: Timothy Dwight and the Origins of American Evangelical Orthodoxy.'' Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books * Cuningham, Charles E. (1942). ''Timothy Dwight, 1752–1817.'' New York: Macmillan Company * Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. "Timothy Dwight" in ''Yale Annals and Biographies,'' III, 321–33 * Dowling, William C.'' Poetry and Ideology in Revolutionary Connecticut'' (University of Georgia Press, 1990) * __________. "Timothy Dwight" in ''American National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 1999 * Dwight, Timothy. (1831). ''Theology Explained and Defended.'' London: T. Tegg * __________. (1823). ''Travels in New England and New York'', W. Baynes and Son, and Ogle, Duncan & Co., London, England, 1823 * Dwight, Timothy, ''Memories of Yale Life and Men'', 1903 * Fitzmeir, John R., ''New England's Moral Legislator: Timothy Dwight, 1752–1817'', Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1998 * Hall, Peter Dobkin, "The Civic Engagement Tradition," in Mary Jo Bane, Brent Coffin, & Richard Higgins, ''Taking Faith Seriously'', 2005 * Howard, Leon, ''The Connecticut Wits'', University of Chicago Press, 1943 * Olmsted, D., "Timothy Dwight as a Teacher." In ''American Journal of Education,'' V (1853), 567–85 *Parrington, Vernon Louis, ''The Connecticut Wits'', Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1926 * Silverman, Kenneth, ''Timothy Dwight'', Twayne Publishers, New York, 1969 * Sprague, William Buell, ''Life of Timothy Dwight'' in vol. iv. (second series) of Jared Sparks's ''Library of American Biography'', 1856 * Tyler, Moses Coit, ''Three Men of Letters.'', G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1895 * Wells, Colin, ''The Devil and Doctor Dwight: Satire and Theology in the Early American Republic'', University of North Carolina Press, 2002. * Wenzke, Annabelle S., ''Timothy Dwight (1752–1817)'', E. Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York, 1989


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwight, Timothy, Iv 1752 births 1817 deaths 18th-century American poets 18th-century apocalypticists 18th-century American male writers American Congregationalist ministers American slave owners American male poets American theologians Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Clergy in the American Revolution Deaths from cancer in Connecticut Epic poets Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Hartford Wits Historians of New England Family of Jonathan Edwards (theologian) People from colonial Massachusetts Presidents of Yale University Yale College alumni Writers from Fairfield, Connecticut Writers from Northampton, Massachusetts Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United States