Editing Amherst College (section)

===Establishment===
Moore, then [[List of Williams College presidents|President of Williams College]], however, still believed that [[Williamstown, Massachusetts|Williamstown]] was an unsuitable location for a college. When Amherst College was established, he was elected its first president on May 8, 1821. At its opening, Amherst had forty-seven students. Fifteen of these had followed Moore from Williams College. Those fifteen represented about one-third of the total students at Amherst, and about one-fifth of the whole number in the three classes to which they belonged in Williams College. President Moore died on June 29, 1823, and was replaced with a Williams College trustee, [[Heman Humphrey]].

Williams alumni are fond of an apocryphal story ascribing the removal of books from the Williams College library to Amherst College.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://specialcollections.williams.edu/williams-history/groups/theft-of-the-williams-library/ |title=The Theft of the Williams Library |first=Dustin |last=Griffin |website=Special Collections - Williams College |access-date=November 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129143602/https://specialcollections.williams.edu/williams-history/groups/theft-of-the-williams-library/ |archive-date=November 29, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1995, Williams president [[Harry C. Payne]] declared the story false, but many still nurture the legend.<ref name=":1" />

In 1826, [[Edward Jones (missionary)|Edward Jones]] became Amherst's first Black graduate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=David W. |title=Amherst in the World |publisher=Amherst College Press |year=2020 |editor-last=Saxton |editor-first=Martha |pages=29–50 |chapter=Remembering Edward Jones: First Black Graduate, Missionary Hero, ‘Genteel Young Man of Excellent Disposition |doi=10.3998/mpub.11873533 |access-date=2025-01-03 |chapter-url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11873533.5 |jstor=10.3998/mpub.11873533.5|isbn=978-0-943184-20-3 }}</ref>

Amherst grew quickly, and for two years in the mid-1830s, it was the second largest college in the United States, behind [[Yale College|Yale]]. In 1835, Amherst attempted to create a course of study parallel to the classical liberal arts education. This parallel course focused less on [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]], instead emphasizing contemporary English, French, and Spanish languages, chemistry, economics, etc. The parallel course did not take hold and replace the classical, however, until the next century.<ref name=":1" />

Amherst was founded as a non-sectarian institution "for the classical education of indigent young men of piety and talents for the Christian ministry" (Tyler, ''A History of Amherst College''). One of the hallmarks of the new college was its Charity Fund, an early form of financial aid that paid the tuition of poorer students.<ref name="NEcollege">{{cite book|author=Claude Moore Fuess|author-link=Claude Fuess|title=Amherst: Story of a New England College}}</ref> Although officially non-denominational, Amherst was considered a religiously conservative institution with a strong connection to [[Calvinism]]; the [[Puritan]]s still controlled much of Massachusetts life.

As a result, there was considerable debate in the Massachusetts government over whether the new college should receive an official charter from the state. A charter was not granted until February 21, 1825,<ref name="NEcollege" /> as reflected on the Amherst seal. Religious conservatism persisted at Amherst until the mid-nineteenth century: students who consumed alcohol or played cards were subject to expulsion. A number of [[Christian revival#United States 1800–1850|religious revival]]s were held at Amherst.<ref name="NEcollege" /> Toward the end of the nineteenth century, however, the college began a transition toward secularism. This movement was considered to culminate in the 1949 demolition of the college church.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stanley King|title="The Consecrated Eminence": The Story of the Campus and Buildings of Amherst College |location=Amherst |publisher=Amherst College |year=1952|orig-date=1951 |oclc=2747723}}</ref>