In 1764, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a charter that would fundamentally alter the landscape of American higher education by explicitly forbidding religious tests for admission. This document, drafted by Ezra Stiles and William Ellery, declared that sectarian differences would not form part of public instruction, a radical stance for an era when Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were deeply tied to specific denominations. The College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was born from a petition by three men: Ezra Stiles, a future president of Yale; William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; and Josias Lyndon, a future governor. They sought to create an institution where Baptists, who had no college of their own, could study alongside Quakers, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. The charter stipulated that the board of trustees would be composed of 22 Baptists, 5 Quakers, 5 Episcopalians, and 4 Congregationalists, ensuring a denominational cooperation that was unprecedented in colonial America. This progressive foundation set the stage for a university that would later become the first to codify that admission and instruction of students was to be equal regardless of religious affiliation, distinguishing it from its peers and establishing a legacy of inclusivity that would define its future.
The Brown Family Legacy
The institution known today as Brown University owes its name and much of its physical existence to the Brown family, whose wealth and influence were inextricably linked to the transatlantic slave trade. In 1804, Nicholas Brown Jr., a member of the Class of 1786, donated $5,000 to the struggling Rhode Island College, a sum that entitled him to name the institution Brown University. This donation was the first of many, totaling nearly $160,000 over the years, which funded the construction of Hope College and Manning Hall. The family was divided on the issue of slavery; John Brown defended the institution, while his brothers Moses and Nicholas Brown Jr. became fervent abolitionists. This internal conflict mirrored the university's own complex history, which was only fully addressed in 2003 when President Ruth Simmons established a steering committee to investigate the university's ties to slavery. The committee released the