Editing Ezra Stiles (section)

== Newport <small>(1755-1776)</small> ==
[[File:Clarke_Street_Meeting_House_Newport_Rhode_Island.jpg|thumb|Stiles moved to Newport in 1755 to serve as minister of the [[Clarke Street Meeting House|Second Congregational Church]] ]]
In 1752, Stiles traveled to [[Newport, Rhode Island]], for his health. During his trip, the city's [[Trinity Episcopal Church (Newport, Rhode Island)|Trinity Church]]—the largest Anglican congregation in New England—sought Stiles to serve as its minister, offering him a salary of £200 sterling.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=R.I.)|first1=Trinity Church (Newport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7RNAQAAMAAJ|title=Annals of Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island. 1698-1821|last2=Mason|first2=George Champlin|date=1890|publisher=G.C. Mason|pages=103|language=en}}</ref> Stiles rejected the offer and departed from the city, writing "that all his Art and Address and fine offers were ineffectual."<ref name=":2" />

In 1755, the [[Clarke Street Meeting House|Second Congregational Church]] of Newport likewise sought out the young minister. In August, after serving in an interim capacity, he joined the church as for a salary of £65 Sterling. In the later months 1756, a [[Ezra Stiles House|clapboard house]] was constructed for Stiles on Clark Street, across from the meeting house of his congregation.<ref name=":2" /> Since 1972, the residence has been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

In September of the same year, Stiles was made Librarian of the [[Redwood Library and Athenaeum]], a position that allowed him access to books at his discretion.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FFVFAQAAMAAJ|title=Annual Report of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum|date=September 28, 1881|publisher=Davis & Pitman, Book and Job Printers|location=Newport, RI|pages=11|language=en}}</ref> During his years in Newport, Stiles kept an informative diary of his life and acquaintances, which detailed—among other things—his association with Portuguese merchant [[Aaron Lopez]].

In 1757, Stiles married Elizabeth Hubbard, with whom he had eight children.<ref name=":1" />

=== Slavery ===
[[File:Ezra Stiles House, Clarke St, Newport Rhode island.jpg|thumb|The [[Ezra Stiles House]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]]]]
From time to time, Stiles invested with the merchants and sea captains of his congregation; in 1756, he sent a [[hogshead]] of rum along on a voyage to Africa and was repaid with a 10-year-old male slave, whom he renamed "Newport". Around the same time, he wrote a joint letter with fellow Newport minister [[Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803)|Samuel Hopkins]] condemning "the great inhumanity and cruelty" of [[slavery in the United States]].<ref name="yaleslavery">{{cite web | url=http://www.yaleslavery.org/WhoYaleHonors/stiles1.html | title=Ezra Stiles College | publisher=The Amistad Committee | work=Yale, Slavery, & Abolition | year=2001 | access-date=December 12, 2012 |author1=Dugdale, Antony |author2=J. J. Fueser |author3=J. Celso de Castro Alves }}</ref>

===Foundation of Brown University===
During his residence in Newport, Stiles played a major role in the establishment of [[Brown University]] (then Rhode Island College).

According to Edmund Morgan, in Rhode Island's religious diversity Stiles "saw an opportunity to join with Christians of other denominations in a project which would exemplify their common faith in free inquiry.... a college in which the major religious groups of the colony should unite in the pursuit of knowledge."<ref name=":2" /> In 1761, Stiles, along with [[William Ellery|William Ellery Jr.]] and [[Josias Lyndon]], drafted a petition to the [[Rhode Island General Assembly]] to establish a "literary institution".<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Stiles|first=Ezra|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924030935765|title=Extracts From the Itineraries and Other Miscellanies of Ezra Stiles, D. D., Ll. D., 1755-1794: With a Selection From His Correspondence|date=1916|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|editor-last=Dexter|editor-first=Franklin Bowditch|location=[[New Haven, Connecticut]]|pages=25}}</ref> The editor of Stiles's papers observes, "This draft of a petition connects itself with other evidence of Dr. Stiles's project for a Collegiate Institution in Rhode Island, before the charter of what became Brown University."<ref name=":8" /><ref>[[Brown University#Dexter|Dexter (1916)]], p. 25.</ref>

There is further documentary evidence that Stiles was making plans for a college in 1762. On January 20, Chauncey Whittelsey, pastor of the First Church of New Haven, answered a letter from Stiles:<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Bronson|first=Walter Cochrane|url=http://archive.org/details/historyofbrownun0000bron|title=The History of Brown University, 1764-1914|date=1914|publisher=Providence, The University|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-405-03697-2|pages=346–347}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=The week before last I sent you the Copy of Yale College Charter ... Should you make any Progress in the Affair of a Colledge, I should be glad to hear of it; I heartily wish you Success therein.}}Stiles agreed to write the Charter for the college, submitting a first draft to the General Assembly in August 1763. A revised version of the Charter written by Stiles and Ellery was adopted by the Rhode Island General Assembly on March 3, 1764, in [[East Greenwich, Rhode Island|East Greenwich]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia Brunoniana {{!}} Charter|url=https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=C0350|access-date=2021-04-10|website=www.brown.edu}}</ref> In drafting the document, Stiles combined broad-minded public statements defining Rhode Island College as a "liberal and catholic institution" in which "shall never be admitted a religious test" with private partisanship: his draft charter packed the board of trustees and the fellows of the college with his fellow Congregationalists.

Baptist members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, to Stiles' dismay, amended the charter to allow Baptists control of both branches of the College's Corporation.<ref>Hoeveler, David J., ''Creating the American Mind: Intellect and Politics in the Colonial Colleges'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, p. 191</ref> Stiles declined a seat on the College's Corporation, writing that Baptists had seized "the whole Power and Government of the College and thus by the Immutability of the numbers establishing it a Party College." Stiles continued to work towards his vision of a non-sectarian institution after the establishment of Rhode Island College, presenting in 1770 a petition for the establishment of another college in Newport.<ref name=":2" />

===Scholarship===
[[File:Ezra_Stiles_by_Nathaniel_Smibert_1756.jpeg|thumb|A 1756 portrait of Stiles]]

==== Semitic scholarship ====
Stiles struck up a close friendship with [[Haim Isaac Carigal]] of Hebron during the [[Rabbi]]'s 1773 residence in Newport.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Rabbi from Hebron and the President of Yale |url=http://hebron.org.il/history/363 |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=the Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en}}</ref> Stiles' records note 28 meetings to discuss a wide variety of topics from [[Kabbalah]] to the politics of the [[Holy Land]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Geffen |first=Rabbi David |date=2021-05-13 |title=Hebron Rabbi Spoke on Shavuot in 1773 Newport |url=https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/hebron-rabbi-spoke-on-shavuot-in-1773-newport/ |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=Atlanta Jewish Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Stiles improved his rudimentary knowledge of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], to the point where he and Carigal corresponded by mail in the language.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stiles |first1=Ezra |url=http://archive.org/details/andthejews00stilerich |title=Ezra Stiles and the Jews; selected passages from his Literary diary concerning Jews and Judaism |last2=Kohut |first2=George Alexander |date=1902 |publisher=New York, P. Cowen |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> Stiles' knowledge of Hebrew also enabled him to translate large portions of the Hebrew [[Old Testament]] into English. Stiles believed, as did many Christian scholars of the time, that facility with the text in its original language was advantageous for proper interpretation.

==== Native American scholarship ====
Stiles conducted research on the Native Americans of New England. In 1761, he visited a Native American village in [[Niantic, Connecticut]], where he recorded notes on the traditional construction methods of [[wigwam]]s. Stiles additionally documented information on the languages and petroglyphs of New England's Native peoples. According to archaeologist Edward J. Lenik, Stiles "produced one of the most important early records of petroglyphs and American Indian life in New England."<ref name=":0" />