West Virginia University: Symbol of Unity in a Sectionalized State

Chapter 2: Yankee Centralization to Confederate Decentralization

Chapter 2 1867-1885 John Rhey Thompson March 28, 1877- March 12, 1881 Yankee Centralization to Confederate Decentralization WITH THE FACULTY and student body embarked upon creating a university in the fall of 1867, President Alexander Martin began his behind-the-scene task of convincing the West Virginia legislature that the University should receive a "pittance so fairly deserved and really required." The exact sum he left the lawmakers to determine as best they could, "Whether this should be by a stated contribution , or by such an appropriation as will, when funded, annually supply the means for this end." Working originally in a political atmosphere affected by the reconstruction plans of Presidents lincoln and Johnson and of the Radical Republican Congress, the first WVU president not only found himself contending with other state agencies for badly needed monetary assistance but also witnessing from his northern college site the legislative struggle over disfranchisement and enfranchisement in central, southern, and eastern West Virginia. Such battles in the Mountain State were between whites and whites; whereas in the William Lyne Wilson Confederate South the conflicts were emoSeptember 6, 1882- June 11, 1883 tionally projected as political contests between 16 1867-1885 17 whites and blacks. This was despite the fact that although abolitionist-created West Virginia had not committed political suicide during the Civil War as had its secessionist mother, Virginia, and was not reduced to the status of conquered federal territory administered by military authorities from 1867 to 1870, its native Confederate sympathizers nonetheless were made to suffer the pains of reconstruction. In such an immediate post-Civil War atmosphere , the University had no choice but to project itself as a Yankee, Republican , Methodist seat of learning. On March 3, 1868, the Radical Republican Legislature responded with its very first contribution to the University from its own limited resources: $10,000 for the endowment and $6,000 for current expenses. In his annual report Martin applauded the "wise and liberal policy" which had secured such an appropriation, expressed the hope that no one would "grudge the continuance for a few years" of that small benefaction until the college attained full stature, and counted one other special University blessing in 1868 by noting: 'The health of the students and of the Faculty has been remarkably good. It is said to be now about one year since any death occurred in Morgantown , a circumstance rarely equalled in a village of this size, and which is demonstrative of its general healthfulness." But in matters of overall appropriations during his seven-year stint as president, Martin went from bad to worse as the state passed from Republican to Democratic control. In June, 1869, the Board of Regents adopted a resolution requesting the Legislature "to perfect the endowment fund" by an annual appropriation "of ten thousand dollars, for the term of ten years." It was refused, and when the board renewed the request in 1870, it was denied again. As a consequence, the Regents borrowed from the permanent endowment the $10,000 appropriated in 1868 to complete University Hall, repair College Hall, and meet faculty payrolls. In turn, the executive committee came to the rescue by making themselves responsible for $5,950 of the sum loaned the construction fund, and the Legislature rewarded the benefactors by refusing to legalize their actions. In the 1871 session of the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature, the lawmakers surprisingly appropriated $10,000 for the endowment; but even with this unexpected windfall, the board found it necessary to sell $3,100 of Virginia state bonds, "a part of the assets from the Monongalia Academy donation," at the highest market price in the East (about forty-four cents on the dollar) to clear the contingent fund of a deficit of $1,500. In 1872, Martin and the board persuaded the Legislature to grant $10,000 to replace the sum borrowed from the endowment fund by the executive committee to complete University Hall and thus raise the permanent endowment to a peak total of $110,000. Receipts from tuition, boarding hall, and endowment together were providing an income of $8,680 yearly. 18 CENTRALIZATION TO DECENTRALIZATION Concerning a permanent endowment, Governor John J. Jacob gave the University no comfort when he denied the institution an emancipation from politics and an assurance of a steady income by stating in 1872: Even if our resources were ample, I conceive it would not be good policy to...