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[[File:Col-mass.jpg|thumb|300px|Harvard College was founded in 1636 making Boston the intellectual center of New England]]
[[File:Col-mass.jpg|thumb|300px|Harvard College was founded in 1636 making Boston the intellectual center of New England]]
When president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the Baptist faith in 1653, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism. Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing, as a newly converted Baptist, that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed, and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him, in his job as Harvard's president, to uphold the colony's religious mission. Thus, he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.<ref> Timothy L. Wood, "'I Spake the Truth in the Feare of God': the Puritan Management of Dissent During the Henry Dunster Controversy," ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2005 33(1): 1-19, </ref>
The takeover of Harvard by the [[Unitarians]] in 1805 resulted in the secularization of the American college. By 1850 Harvard was the "Unitarian Vatican." The "liberals" (Unitarians) allied themselves with [[Federalist Party|high Federalists]] and began to create a set of private societies and institutions meant to shore up their cultural and political authority, a movement that prefigured the emergence of the Boston Brahmin class. On the other hand, the theological conservatives used print media to argue for the maintenance of open debate and democratic governance through a diverse public sphere, seeing the liberals' movement as an attempt to create a cultural oligarchy in opposition to Congregationalist tradition and republican political principles.<ref>Neil Brody Miller, "'Proper Subjects for Public Inquiry': the First Unitarian Controversy and the Transformation of Federalist Print Culture," ''Early American Literature'' 2008 43(1): 101-135; [http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0100_Christianity_in_U.S..html A Brief History of Christian Influence in U.S. Colleges]</ref>
The takeover of Harvard by the [[Unitarians]] in 1805 resulted in the secularization of the American college. By 1850 Harvard was the "Unitarian Vatican." The "liberals" (Unitarians) allied themselves with [[Federalist Party|high Federalists]] and began to create a set of private societies and institutions meant to shore up their cultural and political authority, a movement that prefigured the emergence of the Boston Brahmin class. On the other hand, the theological conservatives used print media to argue for the maintenance of open debate and democratic governance through a diverse public sphere, seeing the liberals' movement as an attempt to create a cultural oligarchy in opposition to Congregationalist tradition and republican political principles.<ref>Neil Brody Miller, "'Proper Subjects for Public Inquiry': the First Unitarian Controversy and the Transformation of Federalist Print Culture," ''Early American Literature'' 2008 43(1): 101-135; [http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0100_Christianity_in_U.S..html A Brief History of Christian Influence in U.S. Colleges]</ref>
Charles W. Eliot, president 1869-1909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, but by Transcendentalist Unitarian convictions. Derived from [[William Ellery Channing]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], these convictions were focused on the dignity and worth of human nature, the right and ability of each person to perceive truth, and the indwelling God in each person.<ref>Stephen P. Shoemaker, "The Theological Roots of Charles W. Eliot's Educational Reforms," ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History'' 2006-2007 31: 30-45, </ref>
==Expansion==
==Expansion==
Harvard alumnus and author Ross Douthat attributed this problem partly to socioeconomic differences, and noted that "Harvard students are creatively lazy, gifted at working smarter rather than harder", being brilliant largely in their tactics "to achieve a maximal GPA in return for minimal effort." Few people who have taught at Harvard agree with Douthat's notions.<ref>Ross Douthat, "The Truth About Harvard," ''The Atlantic Monthly'' March 2005 ; adapted from his book, ''Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class''</ref>
Harvard alumnus and author Ross Douthat attributed this problem partly to socioeconomic differences, and noted that "Harvard students are creatively lazy, gifted at working smarter rather than harder", being brilliant largely in their tactics "to achieve a maximal GPA in return for minimal effort." Few people who have taught at Harvard agree with Douthat's notions.<ref>Ross Douthat, "The Truth About Harvard," ''The Atlantic Monthly'' March 2005 ; adapted from his book, ''Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class''</ref>
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Abelmann, Walter H., ed. ''The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology: The First 25 Years, 1970-1995'' (2004). 346 pp.
* Harvard U. ''Education, Bricks and Mortar: Harvard Buildings and Their Contribution to the Advancement of Learning'' (1949) [http://www.questia.com/read/59261318?title=Education%2c%20Bricks%20and%20Mortar%3a%20Harvard%20Buildings%20and%20Their%20Contribution%20to%20the%20Advancement%20of%20Learning online edition]
* Harvard U. ''Education, Bricks and Mortar: Harvard Buildings and Their Contribution to the Advancement of Learning'' (1949) [http://www.questia.com/read/59261318?title=Education%2c%20Bricks%20and%20Mortar%3a%20Harvard%20Buildings%20and%20Their%20Contribution%20to%20the%20Advancement%20of%20Learning online edition]
* James, Henry. ''Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University, 1869-1909'' (1930) [http://www.questia.com/read/1107046?title=Charles%20W.%20Eliot%3a%20President%20of%20Harvard%20University%2c%201869-1909 online edition]
* James, Henry. ''Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University, 1869-1909'' (1930) [http://www.questia.com/read/1107046?title=Charles%20W.%20Eliot%3a%20President%20of%20Harvard%20University%2c%201869-1909 online edition]
* Keller, Morton. ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University'' (2001), major history covers 1933 to 2002 [http://www.questia.com/read/106186126?title=Making%20Harvard%20Modern%3a%20%20The%20Rise%20of%20America%27s%20University online edition]
* Keller, Morton. ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University'' (2001), major history covers 1933 to 2002 [http://www.questia.com/read/106186126?title=Making%20Harvard%20Modern%3a%20%20The%20Rise%20of%20America%27s%20University online edition]
* Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, ed. ''Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History'' (2004). 337 pp.
* Wright, Conrad Edick. ''Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence'' (2005). 298 pp.
* Wright, Conrad Edick. ''Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence'' (2005). 298 pp.
==References==
==References==
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==Notable Attendants==
==Notable Alums==
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