The American Civil War and the transcontinental railroad brought cultural change to the United States, and the [[Morrill Act]] sparked a wave of establishment of non-sectarian public universities. From about 1860 through the 1950s, compulsory chapel at the private Ivy League schools began to be challenged. One after another, they abolished it. "Godless Harvard"<ref>An epithet first levelled by [[George Whitefield]] c. 1740</ref> was first. Under the presidency of Unitarian Charles W. Eliot—with the support the famous Episcopalian minister [[Phillips Brooks]]—Harvard abolished compulsory chapel in 1889.<ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511919 Harvard's Secularization], from The Harvard Crimson</ref><ref>[http://www.harvardmag.com/mj96/vita.html Vita: Phillips Brooks], The Harvard Magazine</ref> In the Ivy League, Princeton held on the longest, abolishing it in 1962.<ref>[http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/mfs/05/Companion/university_chapel.html?15 The University Chapel], Princeton website</ref> | The American Civil War and the transcontinental railroad brought cultural change to the United States, and the [[Morrill Act]] sparked a wave of establishment of non-sectarian public universities. From about 1860 through the 1950s, compulsory chapel at the private Ivy League schools began to be challenged. One after another, they abolished it. "Godless Harvard"<ref>An epithet first levelled by [[George Whitefield]] c. 1740</ref> was first. Under the presidency of Unitarian Charles W. Eliot—with the support the famous Episcopalian minister [[Phillips Brooks]]—Harvard abolished compulsory chapel in 1889.<ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511919 Harvard's Secularization], from The Harvard Crimson</ref><ref>[http://www.harvardmag.com/mj96/vita.html Vita: Phillips Brooks], The Harvard Magazine</ref> In the Ivy League, Princeton held on the longest, abolishing it in 1962.<ref>[http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/mfs/05/Companion/university_chapel.html?15 The University Chapel], Princeton website</ref> |