Editing Andrew Dickson White (section)

===Founding of Cornell University===
{{Further|History of Cornell University}}
[[File:AD White 1865.jpg|thumb|White in 1865, when he and [[Ezra Cornell]] co-founded [[Cornell University]]]]
In 1863, White returned to reside in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] for business reasons. In November, he was elected to the [[New York State Senate]] on the [[National Union Party (United States)|Union Party]] ticket.<ref>{{cite news | title = The State. Miscellaneous Returns | work=[[The New York Times]]| date = November 4, 1863| url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1863/11/04/79179933.pdf | access-date =May 27, 2009 }}</ref> In the Senate, White met the fellow [[upstate New York|upstate]] Senator [[Ezra Cornell]], a self-taught [[Quakers|Quaker]] farmer from [[Ithaca, New York|Ithaca]] who had made a modest fortune in the [[telegraph]] industry.<ref name="CAM Obit" /> Around then, the senators were called on to decide how best to use the higher education funding provided by the [[Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act]], which allocated timberland in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], which states could sell as they saw fit. Through effective management by Cornell, New York, generated about $2.5 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2500000|1863|r=-6}}}} in today dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}) from its allotted scrip, a greater yield per acre than any state except perhaps [[California]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Individual, Society, and Education|url=https://archive.org/details/individualsociet0002kari|url-access=registration|author=Clarence J. Karier|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1986|page=[https://archive.org/details/individualsociet0002kari/page/68 68]}}</ref> The senators initially wanted to divvy the funds among the numerous small state colleges of their districts. White fervently argued that the money would be more effectively used if it endowed only one university. Ezra Cornell agreed and told White, "I have about half a million dollars more than my family will need: what is the best thing I can do with it for the State?" White immediately replied, "The best thing you can do with it is to establish or strengthen some institution of higher learning."<ref name="CAM Obit" /> The two thus combined their efforts to form a new university.

White pressed for the university to be located on the hill in Syracuse, the current location of [[Syracuse University]], because of the city's transportation hub. That could help attract faculty, students, and other persons of note. However, as a young carpenter working in Syracuse, Cornell had been robbed of his wages,<ref>Goldwin Smith, ''Reminiscences'' (New York, 1911), p.371;quoted in Morris Bishop(1962), p.11, ''A History of Cornell.'' Cornell University Press</ref> and insisted for the university to be in his hometown of [[Ithaca, New York|Ithaca]]. He proposed to donate land on his large farm on East Hill, overlooking the town and [[Cayuga Lake]]. White convinced Cornell to give his name to the university "in accordance with [the] time-honored American usage" of naming universities after their largest initial benefactors.<ref name="CAM Obit" /> On February 7, 1865, White introduced a bill "to establish the Cornell University" and, on April 27, 1865, after months of debate, Governor [[Reuben E. Fenton]] signed into law the bill endowing Cornell University as the state's [[list of land-grant universities|land-grant institution]].In 1865, White also authored "...The Negro's Right to Citizenship - a very detailed legal, ethical and logical argument for citizenship for the Negro." A staunch abolitionist, White was also the author of "abolition of Slavery the Right of Government under the War Powers Act" as well as several other legal arguments in favor of the Negro."<ref>{{cite book|title=SWANN Printed & Manuscript African Americana |date=March 1, 2012|page=69}}</ref>

White became the school's first president and served as a professor in the [[Cornell University Department of History|Department of History]].  He commissioned Cornell's first [[Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning|architecture student]], [[William Henry Miller (architect)|William Henry Miller]], to build [[Andrew Dickson White House|his president's mansion]] on campus.

White was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1869<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1869;year-max=1869;smode=advanced;startDoc=1|access-date=2021-04-26|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1884.<ref>{{Cite web|title=MemberList: W |publisher=American Antiquarian Society|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistw|access-date=2023-02-07|website=www.americanantiquarian.org}}</ref>

In 1891, [[Leland Stanford|Leland]] and Jane Stanford asked White to serve as the first president of [[Stanford University]], which they had founded in [[Palo Alto, California]]. Although he refused, he recommended his former student [[David Starr Jordan]].