On November 17, 1794 in the College Hall at the corner of Murray Street and West Broadway, Kent delivered his inaugural address. He began by calling attention to the fact that this was the first time in the history of Columbia College that "the science of our municipal laws has thus been admitted into friendship with her sister arts, and has been invited to lend her aid to complete a course of public instruction." He proceeded to emphasize the importance of American lawyers being conversant with American principles, specifically the power of the courts to bring the validity of a statute to the test of the Constitution. Kent concluded his address by defining the ultimate aim of law professorship: "If he to whom is entrusted in this seat of learning the cultivation of our laws, can have any effect in elevating the attention of some of our youth from the narrow and selfish objects of the profession to the nobler studies of the general principles of government and the policy of our laws…he will deem it a happy consolation for his labors."
Kent's first course consisted of two lectures a week for a total of 26 lecturers delivered from November 17, 1794 to February 27, 1795. Kent's lecturers emphasized a study of municipal law but also included a discussion of the nature and just ends of civil government, the history of the United States, and the interpretation of its Constitution. He described his lecturers as "well attended" with an audience comprised of "seven students and thirty-six gentlemen, chiefly lawyers and law students who did not belong to the college." However, his second course, which commenced in November 1795, was indifferently received with only two students in attendance, prompting Kent to relocate his class from College Hall to his smaller legal office where he delivered 31 lectures. As an advertisement in December, he published his three preliminary dissertations on "The Theory, History, and Duties of Civil Government," "The History of the American Union," and "The Law of the Nations" together with an outline of the whole course. The pamphlet failed to attract any students and did not even sell well enough to recover the cost of publication.
That same year Kent's friend John Jay was elected governor of New York. Kent reaped the benefits of the newly Federalist controlled state government as he was given small, but lucrative patronage appointments. In February 1796, Jay appointed Kent to be one of the two Masters in Chancery in New York City. The duties of that office occupied most of Kent's time. By November 14, 1796, Kent was ready to begin his third academic year as a professor, however no students appeared at his lecture. Thus he was left completely free to attend the sessions of the Assembly (to which he had been elected in the spring of 1796) in January and February 1797. While he was absent in Albany, Jay appointed Kent to be Recorder of the City of New York. Having no students and two public offices to keep him busy, Kent decided to quit his chair. On May 2, 1797, he sent a letter of resignation to the Trustees. The Trustees, however, instead of accepting Kent's resignation, met in special session and conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Kent thus continued his professorship, and in the winter session of 1797-98, six to eight students attended Kent's lectures, which were again presented in his office. After this third successive failure to attract a significant audience for Kent's lectures, the Trustees finally accepted Kent's resignation in April of 1798. The state subsidy that paid his salary was not renewed, and the Professorship of Law at Columbia was allowed to remain vacant. With his relocation to Poughkeepsie and his appointment to be a judge on the New York Supreme Court, Kent embarked on an important new phase in his life.
The reasons behind the failure of Kent's professorship and Columbia's first significant venture into legal education remain open for debate. The April 27, 1923 edition of the Columbia Alumni News suggests that, "The period of great expansion and westward migration turned attention from the
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Cover of Kent's Introductary Lecture from Nov. 17, 1794 (Columbiana--"James Kent" file)
Kent's letter of resignation is printed below. The original manuscript of his letter is in the University archives. It was taken from a chest of old records, regarded as lost for more than a century, which was discovered in 1932 by Milton Halsey Thomas, Curator of Columbiana.
Gentlemen:
I take the liberty to communicate to you my wish to resign the appointment of Professor of Law in Columbia College which I have had the honor to hold from you for upwards of three years past. And it is with sincere regret I mention that the Institution has not been attended with all the Success which you intended & which I have endeavored to produce.
My first Course consisting of twenty-six lectures commenced in November 1794, & received the very flattering encouragement & steady attention of forty Students, as well as of several other Gentlemen of this City equally distinguished for their literary accomplishments, & their zeal for the Knowledge & Improvement of our municipal Law. The second course in a more correct State, & with several additional lectures commanded only two Students. I then supposed that a more general acquaintance with the plan I had delineated, & the manner in which it was executed, might possibly conduce to the benefit of the establishment, & accordingly published in the early part of that course, the three preliminary Lectures together with a Summary of the entire course which I had prepared, & which formed the completion of my original Plan. In this expectation I was disappointed. The Commencement of a third annual course in November last was duly announced in the public Prints, but no students appeared to countenance the attempt, & the trial was abandoned.
Having thus acquitted myself to the bets of my ability in the Discharge of a Duty which I accepted with Diffidence, my resignation becomes proper & necessary. I cannot however take my leave of the College without returning to you Gentlemen my grateful & respected acknowledgements (& which I shall always owe) for the very honorable confidence you have placed in me; & be pleased to accept my cordial wishes that the general Principles of our Constitution & Laws may still be academically taught, & that the Institution you had the Liberality to establish may hereafter under abler Professors & in more auspicious times be crowned with happier Success.
I have the Honor to be
Gentlemen
With perfect respect
Your obedient Servant
JAMES KENT
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law, however, and, as occurred in practically all the law schools, few students attended and [Kent's] course was dropped." The course's lack of success has also been attributed to Kent's preoccupation with his other municipal posts, his lackluster lecturing style, the curriculum's great degree of difficulty, and its over-emphasis on Federalist principles. Furthermore, at this time, a legal education was not necessary for advancement into the law profession, and generally having professional legal practice was preferred to having completed a college law course. Thus, as Kent went on to pursue an illustrious judicial career, legal instruction at Columbia College was once again put on hold.
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