John Witherspoon, James Madison, and The Founding Fathers Believed Revelation Supreme. John Witherspoon taught a large group of the Founding Fathers, his college; Princeton, proscribed the dominant view in America; Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Penn, and every other institution of higher learning, including the country at large, believed in the same views. As third President of Princeton University, Witherspoon's influence was vast in the field of education by instructing and forming the first Presidents of the following American Colleges: Union College of New York, Washington College and Hampden-Sidney College of Virginia; Mount Zion College in South Carolina; Queen's College and the University of North Carolina; Washington, Greenville, Tusculum and Cumberland Colleges and the University of Nashville in Tennessee; Jefferson College, Pennsylvania; and Transylvania College, Kentucky.
Of his layman graduates James Madison became fourth President of the United States. Aaron Burr became Vice-President. Ten became cabinet officers and sixty served in the U.S. I. BLAS''PHEMY, n. 11.1.17_John_Witherspoon_Preacher_and_Patriot_by_Raymond_Frey. Witherspoon, John. Witherspoon, John (1723-1794), was the sixth president of Princeton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and from 1776 to 1782 a leading member of the Continental Congress. He came from Scotland in 1768 to assume the presidency of the college and held office until his death a quarter of a century later.
A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, who received an honorary doctorate from St. Andrews in 1764, Witherspoon had become widely known as a leader of the evangelical or ``Popular Party'' in the established Church of Scotland, of which he was an ordained minister. The trustees of the College first elected him president in 1766, after Samuel Finley's death; but Mrs. Witherspoon was reluctant to leave Scotland, and he declined. With their five surviving children (five others had died in early childhood), and 300 books for the college library, the Witherspoons reached Philadelphia early in August 1768.
Not all of Witherspoon's preaching was done on the road. W. American History from Revolution to Reconstruction and beyond. A Biography of George Mason 1725-1792 < Biographies. Benjamin Rush. Benjamin Rush was a key Founding Father. Signer of the Declaration of Independence, education visionary and renowned physician Founding Father Dr Benjamin Rush was signer of the Declaration of Independence, an early advocate for public education regarding our First Principles, and a famous physician. Born in Byberry Township near Philadelphia on December 24, 1745, Rush graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton). After studying medicine overseas, he became perhaps the most famous physician in America. He published the first American textbook in chemistry, and wrote extensively regarding scientific, medical, and political matters.
He is often referred to as the “Father of American Psychiatry” because of his cutting edge views and for publishing the first textbook on the topic in America. During the course of the American Revolution, Rush was appointed Surgeon-General to the armies of the middle department of the Continental Army, and treated the wounded at several battles. Rush died on April 19, 1813. Back.