Lord, Nathan, 1792-1870
Dates
- Existence: 1792 - 1870
Biography
Nathan Lord (born November 28, 1792, Berwick, Maine [U.S.] – died September 9, 1870, Hanover, New Hampshire [U.S.]), graduated from Bowdoin College in 1809, attended Andover Theological Seminary and was a U.S. Congregational clergyman and educator. Lord served as the College’s sixth president (1828-1863).
Lord was able to bring the college out of debt, improve the overall curriculum, and raise admission levels.
He was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and in 1833 was its Vice President. But his views on slavery changed dramatically; he came to see it as "not a moral evil", but "an ordinance of...God", which "providentially found a settlement in this country". These views and his opposition to the Civil War, which he blamed on abolitionists, brought a storm of controversy, earning him the enmity of several members of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, including Amos Tuck (1835), a founding member of the Republican Party and close friend of Abraham Lincoln. Matters came to a head in 1863 when the Trustees were deadlocked on awarding an honorary degree to President Lincoln, and Lord broke the tie by voting against it. The Trustees issued a statement: "Neither the trustees nor the Faculty coincide with the president of the College in the views which he has published, touching slavery and the war; and it has been our hope that the College would not be judged a partisan institution by reason of such publications." Lord tendered his resignation.
He continued as an active member of the Dartmouth College community, in Hanover, New Hampshire, until his death in 1870.
Found in 133 Collections and/or Records:
Nathan Lord letter
Letter from Nathan Lord in Hanover to President Smith, telling him that Mr. Blaisdell said he could be paid at Commencement. Amount should be drawn in behalf of his son William H. Lord.
Nathan Lord letter
Letter from Nathan Lord at Dartmouth College to Benjamin Jewett, postmaster of Gilford, New Hampshire, telling him that he is unable to find a young man at Dartmouth to take position as teacher in Gilford.
Nathan Lord letter
Three-page letter from Nathan Lord at Dartmouth College to Rev. John Codman, telling him that he has sent James Annance to Union Academy. He proposes that the half of the township of Wheelock which belongs to Moor's School shcould be transferred to Dartmouth College. The application of the Scotch fund in such an event.
Nathan Lord letter
Letter from Nathan Lord at Dartmouth College to William Allen, telling him Mr. Aldrich thinks they should pay in corn, hereafter. Writer is sending $197.86, balance to Jan. 1, 1856.
Nathan Lord letter
Three-page letter from Nathan Lord at Dartmouth College to Oliver Payson Huubard in New Haven, Connecticut, telling him that the box has arrived and been deposited in laboratory. Mentions places Hubbard might get a room. Have all the boxes ordered come?
Nathan Lord letter
Letter from Nathan Lord at Amherst, New Hampshire to Capt. John Secombe, Capt. Daniel Campbell and Israel Fuller in Amherst, telling them that of the $850 raised annually for ministers salaried, writer relinquishes $ 100.
Nathan Lord report
Report of the president Nathan Lord to the Dartmouth College Trustees for the academic year 1852/1853.
Nathan Lord report
Report of the president Nathan Lord at Dartmouth College to the Board of Trustees for the year 1830, in great detail about departments, classes and buildings.
Nathan Lord statement
In English.