It was Morgan Edwards, who, as Moderator of the annual meeting of the Philadelphia Association on October 12, 1762, made the motion for the establishment of a Baptist college, for which cooperation was pledged by some of his colleagues, but not by all – in his own words from his "Materials for a History of the Baptists of Rhode Island," "The first mover for it in 1762 was laughed at as the projector of a thing impossible.Edwards, Morgan
In 1762, the design of establishing a college was promoted, with the Reverend Morgan Edwards, moderator of the Association a prime mover of the project, and Rhode Island was selected as a likely site, since the colony had been settled by Baptists, was still largely governed by Baptists, and had no college.Founding
Accordingly, James Manning, a graduate of New Jersey College (Princeton) in 1762, visited Newport in July 1763, where he met with "about 15 gentlemen of the same denomination" at the home of Deputy Governor John Gardner.Founding
James Manning studied at the Latin Grammar School conducted by Isaac Eaton in Hopewell, New Jersey, and graduated second in a class of 21 from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1762.Manning, James
Celebrators could also enjoy three performances of "The Provoked Husband," a play within a play "In Colony Times," by Henry A. Barker and A. E. Thomas, which recalled the first production of "The Provoked Husband" in Providence in 1762, complete with John Brown and his trusty cannon in front of the improvised theatre, ready to ward off colonists who were protesting against the ungodly performance.Sesquicentennial celebration