(1692), was named for King William III, Prince of Orange (1650–1702) and Queen Mary II (1662–1694), who jointly ruled England after James II was driven to out. The second oldest college in the United States, it was founded in Williamsburg, Virginia, through the efforts of Reverend James Blair (1656–1743), who was its first president, 1693–1743.
James Blair was born and educated in Scotland, moved to England, where he met Dr. Compton, Bishop of London. In 1685, he was sent as a missionary to colonial Virginia, where he was appointed Commissary of the Bishop of London for the Province in order to reform the Anglican Church there. Blair received a seat on the colonial council which heard trials pertaining to clergymen, 1689–1743. He was president of the Virginia Council and acting governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1740–41. James Blair served as minister in Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, 1710–43, and published Our Saviour’s Divine Sermon on the Mount, 1722.
In 1749, George Washington received his surveyor’s commission from the College of William and Mary, and from 1788 to 1799, served as the College’s Chancellor. Benjamin Franklin received an honorary degree of Master of Arts from the College in 1756. In 1782, the College bestowed Thomas Jefferson with a degree of Doctor of Civil Law under George Wythe. Notable alumni of the College of William and Mary include: President James Monroe, President John Tyler, Chief Justice John Marshall, and Peyton Randolph, who was the first president of the Continental Congress, as well as sixteen other members of the Continental Congress.428
The Charter of the College of William and Mary, granted to James Blair, 1692, stated:
William and Mary, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King and Queen, Defenders of the Faith, to all whom these our present Letters shall come, greeting.
Forasmuch as our well-beloved and trusty Subjects, constituting the General Assembly of our Colony of Virginia, have had it in their minds, and have proposed to themselves, to the end that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a Seminary of Ministers of the Gospel;
And that the Youth may be piously educated in Good Letters and Manners, and that the Christian Faith may be propagated amongst the Western Indians, to the glory of God.429
In 1792, the requirements of the College of William and Mary stated:
The students shall attend prayers in chapel at the time appointed and there demean themselves with that decorum which the sacred duty of public worship requires.430