Bowdoin College

History

Bowdoin College was chartered in 1794 by Governor Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, of which Maine was then a district, and was named for former Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin, whose son James Bowdoin III was an early benefactor. Although Bowdoin is now non-sectarian, it was initially affiliated with the Congregational Church. At the time of its founding, it was the easternmost college in the United States.

Related Topics:
Samuel Adams - Massachusetts - Maine - James Bowdoin - James Bowdoin III - Congregational Church

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Bowdoin came into its own in the 1820s, a decade in which Maine became an independent state as a result of the Missouri Compromise and the College graduated a number of its most famous alumni, including future United States President Franklin Pierce, class of 1824, and writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, both of whom graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1825.

Related Topics:
Missouri Compromise - Franklin Pierce - Nathaniel Hawthorne - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Phi Beta Kappa

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Bowdoin's connections to the Civil War have prompted some to quip that the war "began and ended" in Brunswick. Harriet Beecher Stowe, "the little lady who started this big war," started writing her influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in Bowdoin's Appleton Hall while her husband was teaching at the College, and General Joshua Chamberlain, a Bowdoin alumnus and professor, was responsible for receiving the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House in 1865. Chamberlain, a Medal of Honor winner who later served as governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin, distinguished himself at the Gettysburg, where he lead the 20th Maine in its valiant defense of Little Round Top.

Related Topics:
Civil War - Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin - Joshua Chamberlain - Army of Northern Virginia - Appomattox Court House - Medal of Honor - Gettysburg - 20th Maine - Little Round Top

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There are other Civil War connections as well: General Oliver Otis Howard, class of 1850, lead the Freedmen's Bureau after the war and later founded Howard University; Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew, class of 1837, was responsible for the formation of the famous 54th Massachusetts; and William P. Fessenden 1823 and Hugh McCulloch 1827 both served as Secretary of the Treasury during the Lincoln Administration. After the war, Bowdoin contended that a higher percentage of its alumni fought in the war than that of any other college in the North -- and not only for the Union. In fact, Confederate President Jefferson Davis held an honorary degree from Bowdoin, which he received while United States Secretary of War in 1858.

Related Topics:
Oliver Otis Howard - Freedmen's Bureau - Howard University - John A. Andrew - 54th Massachusetts - William P. Fessenden - Hugh McCulloch - Confederate - Jefferson Davis

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Although Bowdoin's Medical School of Maine closed its doors in 1920, the College is currently known for its particularly strong programs in the natural sciences. While Bowdoin's best-known alumnus in the sciences is the controversial entomologist-turned-sexologist Alfred Kinsey, class of 1916, the College's reputation in this area was cemented in large part by the Arctic explorations of Admiral Robert E. Peary, class of 1877, and Donald B. MacMillan, class of 1898. Peary lead the first successful expedition to the North Pole in 1908, and MacMillan, a member of Peary's crew, became famous in his own right as he explored Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador in the schooner Bowdoin between 1908 and 1954. Bowdoin's Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum * honors the two explorers, and the College's mascot, the Polar Bear, was chosen after MacMillan donated a particularly large specimen to his alma mater in 1917.

Related Topics:
Alfred Kinsey - Robert E. Peary - Donald B. MacMillan - North Pole - Greenland - Baffin Island - Labrador - Polar Bear

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Following in the footsteps of President Pierce and House Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed, class of 1860, several 20th century Bowdoin graduates have assumed prominent positions in national government while representing the Pine Tree State. Wallace H. White, Jr., class of 1899, served as Senate Minority Leader from 1944-1947 and Senate Majority Leader from 1947-1949; George J. Mitchell, class of 1954, served as Senate Majority Leader from 1989-1995 before assuming a prominent role in the Northern Ireland peace process; and William Cohen, class of 1962, spent twenty-five years in the House and Senate before being appointed Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration. Maine's First Congressional District, today held by Tom Allen, class of 1967, has been christened the "Bowdoin seat" due to its long occupation by graduates of the College. A total of eleven Bowdoin graduates have ascended to the Maine governorship, and three graduates of the College currently sit on the state's highest court.

Related Topics:
Pierce - Thomas Brackett Reed - Wallace H. White, Jr. - George J. Mitchell - William Cohen - Clinton - Tom Allen

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Over the last several decades, Bowdoin College has modernized dramatically. In 1970, it became one of a very limited number of selective schools to make the SAT optional in the admissions process, and in 1971, after nearly 180 years as a small men's college, Bowdoin admitted its first class of women. Bowdoin also abolished fraternities in the late 1990s, replacing them with a system of college-owned social houses. Recent developments include the 2001 appointment of Barry Mills, class of 1972, as the fifth alumnus president of the College, and a 2002 decision by the faculty to change the grading system so that it incorporated plus and minus grades.

Related Topics:
SAT - Fraternities - Barry Mills

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