The University of Michigan | Page 8

and as may be authorized by the terms
of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as
may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent
security of the funds of said University.
This constitution went into effect as soon as Michigan became a state
on the 26th of January, 1837, though Pierce, afterwards known
affectionately in University circles as "Father Pierce," had already been
serving as the Superintendent of Public Instruction since the previous
July. Upon him fell the important task of preparing a system for the
organization of common schools, together with a university and its
branches. The system he devised has become a landmark in educational
progress throughout the world, as is shown by the numerous foreign
delegations which have visited the University in recent years for the
purpose of studying our educational system. As for the plans outlined
by Pierce, which were quickly approved by the Legislature in March,
1837, we can best quote President Angell when he said fifty years later:
"Our means have not yet enabled us to execute in all particulars the
comprehensive plan which was framed by Mr. Pierce."
There was no precedent in America for the task set him. Eight of the
new states, it is true, had accepted federal grants of land but had failed
in the trust thus imposed, and the feeble schools they supported offered
no more guidance than Michigan's two experiments in Detroit. The
field was practically virgin soil, actually as well as metaphorically; the
problem was the effective organization of a university on the basis of
the land given by the Government to the State for this purpose.
The answer was the Organic Act of the University of Michigan
approved March 18, 1837. In essentials it provided for a Board of

Regents with a Chancellor who should be ex-officio President. Of the
Regents twelve were to be nominated by the Governor and confirmed
by the Senate, while the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the Judges of
the Supreme Court, and the Chancellor of the State were to be members
ex-officio. The University was to consist of a Department of Literature,
Science, and the Arts, a Department of Law, and a Department of
Medicine. The professorships were specified and it is significant that,
in addition to the usual branches taught in those days, such as Ancient
and Modern Languages, Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, and Natural
Theology, provision was also made for professorships in Chemistry,
Geology, Botany, Fine Arts, and Civil Engineering and Architecture. A
limiting clause, however, was incorporated in this ambitious scheme,
which provided that only so many professorships should be filled at
first as the needs of the institution warranted. While the immediate
government of the University was to be entrusted to the respective
Faculties, the Regents had final authority in the regulation of courses
and the selection of textbooks, and were empowered to remove any
professor, tutor, or other officer, when in their judgment the interests of
the University required it. The fees were to be $10 for residents of the
State. A Board of Visitors was also to be appointed by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to make a personal examination of
the University and report to him their observations and
recommendations. It was also provided that such branches of the
University were to be established in different parts of the State as might
from time to time be authorized by the Legislature. These branches,
however, were not to confer degrees, though they were to have
Departments of Agriculture in connection and also an "institution for
the education of females in the higher branches of knowledge,
whenever suitable buildings should be provided for them." The funds
for these branches were to be appropriated from the University Fund in
sums proportionate to the number of scholars.
Shortly after the first meeting of the Board of Regents in 1837, the
Legislature, following some of their suggestions, modified the
University Act in certain particulars; abolishing the Chancellorship of
the Board of Regents and making the Governor the President of that
body, at the same time directing the Regents to elect a Chancellor of

the University who should not be a member of the Board. This act also
gave the Regents power to assign the duties of vacant professorships to
any professor already appointed and to establish branches in the
different counties without further legislative authority. The Board was
also authorized to purchase philosophical apparatus, a library, and a
cabinet of natural history.
These were the essential provisions for the University. With so novel a
scheme the Regents and the Legislature naturally had to proceed on a
more or less cut and try method, but those at all familiar with the
organization of the present institution will recognize familiar features
in this first plan. One