Wheelock, John , 1754-1817
Biography
John Wheelock was born on January 28, 1754, in Lebanon, Conn.He was the eldest son of Eleazar Wheelock who was the founder and first president of Dartmouth College; John Wheelock succeeded his father as the College’s second president.
Wheelock began his higher education at Yale, then followed his father to Hanover, NH when his father founded Dartmouth and completed his studies there, where he was a member of the College’s inaugural graduating class in 1771.
In 1776, Wheelock became a leader of the United Committees, a group of disgruntled New Hampshire citizens angry at their lack of representation in the state legislature and the distance of the state capital; in retaliation for these slights, Wheelock and others led twelve New Hampshire towns to secede from the state and attempt to join Vermont. The next year, 1777, as the Revolutionary War raged, Wheelock briefly served in New York and Vermont as a lieutenant colonel in Colonel Bedel's Regiment.
Upon his father's death in 1779, John Wheelock assumed the presidency of the College, despite the fact that he was neither an academic nor a minister.
During his almost forty years as Dartmouth's president (1779–1815), Wheelock oversaw the construction of Dartmouth Hall and the founding of Dartmouth Medical School, the fourth-oldest medical school in the country; he also maintained the College’s fiscal solvency throughout the Revolutionary War, mainly through the Vermont legislature’s grant of 23,000 acres (93 km²) in Wheelock, Vermont.
During the latter half of Wheelock's tenure, he became embroiled in a dispute with Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees. Wheelock proceeded to convince the governor of New Hampshire to fill the Board with supporters and turn Dartmouth College into a state-controlled Dartmouth University. The original, private Board resisted and eventually sued. The case, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, went through various judicial courts, before the United States Supreme Court decided in the Board's favor in 1819, the result of a brilliant peroration by Dartmouth alumnus Daniel Webster, class of 1801, who had, ironically, graduated under Wheelock's tenure. However, by this time, Wheelock, who had been forced out of the presidency in 1815 by failing health and poor relations with the Board, had died.
Found in 655 Collections and/or Records:
J. Wheelock letter
In English.
J. Wheelock letter
In English.
J. Wheelock letter
In English.
J. Wheelock letter
In English.
J. Wheelock letter
In English.
J. Wheelock letter
Personal letter from J. Wheelock at Dartmouth College to Jonathan Curtis.
J. Wheelock letter
Two-page letter from J. Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Joseph McKean regarding the admission oc C.H. Bruce.
J. Wheelock letter
Letter from J. Wheelock at Dartmouth College to John Taylor, Lieutenant Governor of New York, introducing William H. Woodward.
J. Wheelock letter
Letter from J. Wheelock at Dartmouth College to John Armstrong, Secretary of War, objecting to Hanover being used as a rendevous for the new recruits and suggests West Lebanon or Orford.
J. Wheelock letter
Two-page letter from J. Wheelock at Dartmouth College to Robert Mayo, MD, thanking him for a copy of his "Historical Views of Ancien Geography."
J. Wheelock letter
Two-page letter from J. Wheelock to Daniel Stroud, informing him that Thomas Adams (D,C. 1814) agrees to teach at the academy in Stroudsburgh, Pennsylvania.
J. Wheelock letter
Letter from J. Wheelock in Hanover to Senator Thomas W. Thompson, discussing the political situation.
J. Wheelock letter
Letter from J. Wheelock at Dartmouth College to Jonathan Curtis informing him that he is to make a master's oration.
J. Wheelock letter
Four page letter from J. Wheelock to John Rogiers he and Mrs. Wheelock have just been on a visit to Beverwyck. Warner Rogier (D.C.1793) doing very well. Business matters.
J. Wheelock letters
Letter from J. Wheelock of Dartmouth College to Charles H. Bruce, announcing his admission to the senior class.
J. Wheelock memorial
Memorial of J. Wheelock of Philadelphia to Congress asking that his salary as Lieut. Col. from 15 Nov. 1777 to 20 June 1779 be paid. "The above memorial was not offered to Congress, - the state of national affairs not admitting..."
J. Wheelock to D. McClure
Three-page letter fro John Wheelock in Concord to David McClure, telling him that he is sending him a copy of the "Sketches." He would like to resign his position, but feels it his duty to keep on. Religious revival in the College.
J. Wheelock to David McClure
Three page letter from J. Wheelock of Dartmouth College to David McClure, informing him of the trouble with Mr. (Charles) Backus. The 3d. class tickets of the lottery sold. Lawsuit with Esquire Wheelock settled in favor of John Wheelock. Trouble between members of the college and the propietors of the meeting-house.
J. Wheelock to David McClure
Three page letter from J. Wheelock of Dartmouth College to David McClure in which he urges him to be present at Commencement.
J. Wheelock to David McClure
Two page letter from J. Wheelock of Dartmouth College to David McClure, telling him about discussion in the recent Trustees' meeting of the trouble over Mr. Backus.
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- Collection 594
- Archival Object 61