Difference between revisions of "Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse"

Latest revision as of 10:02, 15 October 2024

Title page from William Barton's Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse (Philadelphia: Edward Parker, 1813).

David Rittenhouse (1732 – 1796) was an American astronomer, surveyor, inventor, and first director of the United States Mint. Rittenhouse was chosen as a "corresponding member" of the Virginia Society for the Advancement of Useful Knowledge in 1774.^[1] He is mentioned by George Wythe as early as 1776, when he was investigating the border between Pennsylvania and Virginia (now West Virginia).^[2] Mason and Dixon's survey of the Pennsylvania–Maryland border was finished in 1784 by Rittenhouse and Andrew Ellicott, complete to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania.

The College of William & Mary presented Rittenhouse with an honorary Master of Arts degree in December, 1784, for his construction of an advanced orrery. Wythe mentions the honorary degree from William & Mary in a letter to James Madison (receiving his own degree) in 1785, stating that the honor has also been bestowed upon the likes of "Franklin, Jefferson, Rittenhouse, E. Randolph, John Page of Rosewell, &c.".^[3] Rittenhouse's diploma was signed by James Madison, President of the College, and Professors George Wythe, Robert Andrews, and Charles (Carlo) Bellini.

Rittenhouse's nephew, William Barton (1754 – 1817), published this biography in 1813.^[4] The text of Rittenhouse's honorary Master of Arts from William & Mary is included in an appendix.

Portrait of David Rittenhouse, from the frontispiece of the Memoirs. Engraving by David Edwin, from a painting by Charles Willson Peale (1772).

FROM THE TIME OF HIS SETTLEMENT IN PHILADELPHIA

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In the year 1784, Mr. Rittenhouse was employed on the part of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of determining the western extension of that state; and was associated in that business with Mr. Lukens, Dr. Ewing, and Capt. Hutchins: the commissioners in behalf of Virginia were Dr. (afterwards bishop) Madison, Mr. Ellicott,⁽⁶⁹⁾ Mr. J. Page, and the Rev. Mr. R. An-

(69) Although Mr. Ellicott is a native of Pennsylvania, and was a citizen of that state until the British army took possession of Philadelphia, in 1777, he resided in Baltimore county about eight years after that event.

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drews. A record of the astronomical observations which were made on this occasion, and on similar ones of an important nature, will be found detailed in a letter, under the date of April 2, 1795, addressed by Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Patterson, in the fourth volume of the Am. Philos. Society's Transactions. Among the observations contained in the first part of that letter, are those of the immersions of the satellites of Jupiter, taken at Wilmington on the Delaware, by Messrs. Rittenhouse, Lukens, Page and Andrews, at divers days from the 1st to the 23d of August, in the year 1784; together with those taken at the western observatory by Messrs. Ellicott, Ewing, Madison and Hutchins, at divers days from the 17th of July to the 19th of August: also, the emersions of those satellites by the same eastern observers, from the 29th of August to the 19th of September; and by the same western observers, from the 27th of August to the 19th of September; all in the same year.

"After the determination," says Mr. Ellicott, "we completed the southern boundary of Pennsylvania; it being likewise the north boundary of Maryland, and a part of Virginia; and which had been carried on some years before,⁽⁷⁰⁾ by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, the distance of 242 miles." This line is in the parallel of 39° 43' 18" North latitude.⁽⁷¹⁾

(70) In the years 1767 and 1768.

(71) The difference of 16' 42", between the latitude above mentioned and the beginning of the 40th degree of north lati-

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It was at the close of this year, that the college of William and Mary, in Virginia, complimented Mr. Rittenhouse with an honorary degree of Master of Arts, by an unanimous vote of the rectors and faculty of that institution. His diploma, which is a special one, and wherein he is styled the Chief of Philosophers,⁽⁷²⁾ has a place in the Appendix.

The college of William and Mary was founded in the joint reign of the king and queen of those names, who endowed it with twenty thousand acres of land, besides a small duty on certain exported tobaccoes, granted by stat. 25 Ch. II: in addition to which, the assembly of Virginia also gave to it, by temporary laws, a duty on liquors imported, and on skins and furs exported. And from these resources, its funds amount-

tude, (which was the southern limit assigned to Pennsylvania, by her charter,) was gained by Mr. Penn, as far as the northern boundary of Maryland extended westward, in consequence of a compromise entered into by him and Lord Baltimore; whereby the latter obtained some advantage on his part in return. From the western extremity of this northern boundary of Maryland, the line between Pennsylvania and Virginia was continued, westward, in the same parallel of latitude, (instead of these coming back to the 40th deg. of N. lat.) by virtue of an agreement between these two states; the former, in consideration of that privilege, relinquishing her right to run her western boundary line parallel to the meandrings of the river Delaware.

(72) "Principem Philosophorum," in the original:—Such was the appellation (Principes Philosophorum) by which Cicero honours Pythagoras, Democritus, Plato, Xenocrates, Zeno, Cleanthes, Diogenes the Stoic; men, among others, whose usefulness (he observes) old age might diminish, but not destroy.

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ed, on a medium, to more than 3,000l. Virginia currency, (or $10,000,) per annum. The Hon. Robert Boyle,⁽⁷³⁾ of England, had also made a liberal donation to this college, for the purpose of instituting a professorship, called the Brafferton, (the name of the English estate, purchased with the money granted by him to the college,) for the purpose of compensating mission-

(73) Mr. Boyle was the seventh son of Richard, the first earl of Cork, in Ireland, and first earl of Burlington, in England; and was born at Lismore in Ireland, the 26th of January, 1726-7. This eminent philosopher and sincere Christian established, by his will, in the year 1691, a perpetual fund, equivalent to about two hundred and twenty-two dollars per annum, for instituting a course of eight sermons or lectures, to be delivered annually; designed to prove the truth of Christianity, generally, without engaging in any of the controversies subsisting among its professors: And to this establishment, denominated Boyle's Lectures, the world are indebted for many able and elaborate defences both of natural and revealed religion. In addition to several extensive benefactions, for charitable and religious purposes, of this great and excellent man, besides his donation to the College of William-and-Mary (which, according to Mr. Jefferson, was "considerable" in its amount, he gave, in his lifetime, a sum equivalent to thirteen hundred and thirty-three dollars, towards propagating the Christian Religion in America. So great was his veneration for the name of God, that he never pronounced it without a discernible pause: he was steady in his secret addresses to the throne of heaven: and, amidst all his enquiries into nature, his chief design seemed to be that of continually elevating his own mind, and the minds of others, by contemplating the Glory, the Wisdom, and the Goodness of God. Were this illustrious man to be considered in no other point of view, than that of a benefactor to America, his memory would be entitled to respect in this country: but his virtues, his talents, and the services he has rendered to mankind in general, will for ever endear his name to the good and wise of all nations. He died the 30th of December, in the year 1691.

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aries, to instruct the Indian natives and to convert them to Christianity. After the revolution, the constitution of the college of William and Mary underwent a considerable change: three of the six original professorships, that is to say, two of Divinity, and one of the Greek and Latin languages, were abolished; and three others, namely, one for Law and Police—one for Anatomy and Medicine—and a third for Modern Languages, were substituted in their stead; the Brafferton, it is presumed, has been diverted into other channels, if not wholly neglected.

This once respectable college, or university, is at present in an unprosperous condition; and will not probably soon, if ever, regain its former reputation. A country of which a large portion of the population consists of slaves, is ill suited for the site of an extensive seminary of learning, and for the education of youth: nor can it be expected, that where an almost despotic sway of masters over their slaves⁽⁷⁴⁾ is daily exhibited to the view

(74) The author of a poem, entitled, 'The Dying Negro,' has introduced these lines into that poem:

"Oft have I seen them, at the break of day,
"Rous'd by the lash, go forth their cheerless way."

No man ever held the slave-trade, and the condition of the hapless people who are the objects of that nefarious traffic, in greater abhorrence, than the benevolent Rittenhouse: a passage in his Oration, fully evinces his sentiments on this subject.

In addition to this highly respectable testimony against Negro Slavery, let it be remembered, that one of the last acts, of a pub-

* It was written by Mr. Day, the friend of Mr. Darwin.

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of both young and old, the children of those masters will submit to that degree of subordination, and to that exercise of authority by their literary preceptors, which the discipline of an academic education renders indispensable. The late Bishop Madison contributed much by his abilities, his suavity of manners and his prudence, to maintain a due degree of order in this institution, over which he long presided with distinguished reputation; but the death of that respectable man, it is feared, augurs ill for the future prosperity of the seminary.

lic nature, in which our philosopher's predecessor* was concerned, was to sanction with his name the Memorial presented to the government of the United States, on the subject of the Slave-Trade, by "The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the relief of free Negroes, unlawfully held in Bondage;" of which Society, that distinguished man was the President.

* Dr. Franklin.

APPENDIX

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Diploma.

Praeses et Professores Collegii, seu Universitatis, Gulielmi et Mariæ, omnibus at quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, Salutem.—Cum eum in finem gradus academici majoribus

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nostris prudenter instituti fuerint, ut viri optimé meriti, seu in gremio nostræ matris educati, seu aliundi bonarum artium disciplinis eruditi, istis insignibus a literatorum vulgo secernerentur; sciatis, quod nos, ea sola quæ possumus viâ, gradu Artium Magistri libenter studioséque concesso, testamur quanti facimus Davidem Rittenhouse Philosophorum Principem, qui ingenio nativo Machinam celeberrimam, motus et phænomena cœlestium manifestius exhibentem, commentus est:—Idcirco, in solenni convocatione, tricessimo die decembris, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo octogesimo quarto, habito, conspirantibus omnium suffragiis, eundem virum egregium, Davidem Rittenhouse, Artium Magistrum creavimus et constituimus.—In cujus rei testimonium, sigillum Universitatis, quo in hac parte utimur, præsentibus apponi fecimus. Datum in domo nostræ convocationis, anno domini, die et mense, prædictis

J. Madison, Præses, et prof. Ma. and Nat. Phil.   G. Wythe, Leg. et Polit. Prof.   Robertus Andrews, Math. Prof.   Carolus Bellini, Neot. Ling. Prof.

See also

• Faculty Minute Book
• Honorary Degree Conferred on Jefferson by the College of William and Mary
• Virginia Gazette, 16 June 1774
• Wythe, et al. to Patrick Henry, 17 September 1776
• Wythe to James Madison, February 1785

References

1. ↑ Virginia Gazette (Purdie and Dixon), June 14, 1774, 2.
2. ↑ Wythe, et al., writing from the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to Patrick Henry, September 17, 1776.
3. ↑ Wythe to James Madison, February. 1785.
4. ↑ William Barton, Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S.: Late President of the American Philosophical Society, &c. Interspersed with Various Notices of Many Distinguished Men (Philadelphia: Edward Parker, 1813).

External links

• "Honorary degree recipients," William & Mary Libraries, Special Collections Research Center.
• Read this book in Google Books.