Manuscript copy of the College Charter, from the Minutes of the Trinity Board of Trustees, April 22, 1823 (Minutes, vol. 1). Image credit: Trinity College Archives

The Charter ¹⁾ is the document that allowed Trinity College to be officially established, and was approved by the Connecticut General Assembly in May 1823. At the time, the name of the institution was Washington College. May 16, the date generally accepted as the day the charter was granted, is celebrated as Charter Day.

Trinity's origins begin with Samuel Seabury, Jr., the first Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut, who supported establishing an Episcopal college in Connecticut. Yale, the only college in the state at the time, was Congregationalist, the predominate sect in New England. Seabury and others supported the creation of the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, but attempts to transition the Academy to a college failed. It was not until decades later that new attempts would be made to establish an Episcopal college in Connecticut.

Thomas Church Brownell, the third Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut, led the push for Washington College's establishment. In late 1822, Brownell and 18 colleagues began drafting the petition to establish the College and by March, the document was ready; it was sent to the General Assembly on May 7. The charter was passed by the House on May 16 and, after amendments, was passed again on May 22 and signed by Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr.

In 1868, Bishop John Williams expressed to the Trinity students that the 16th of May should be celebrated annually as a holiday commemorating the College's birthday. Eben Edwards Beardsley, Class of 1832, also notes May 16 in his History of the Episcopal Church (1868); however, other sources, such as the Trinity College Catalogues from 1912-1938, as well as the original Bill in the Connecticut State Archives, use May 22.

The original charter is brief; it establishes the Trustees, the Fellows, and President, how they are selected and what they are allowed to do, such as “have full power and authority to direct and manage the funds for the benefit of the institution,” and “grant all literary honors and degrees, as are usually granted by any University, College, or Seminary of learning in this State,” and to “make all ordinances and by-laws which to them shall seem expedient for carrying into effect the designs of the institution.” The charter also states that “the funds which may at any time belong to the institution now incorporated, shall enjoy the like exemption from taxation,” and finally, “whenever funds shall be contributed or secured to the said college to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, and not before, the trustees may proceed to organize and establish the said college in such town in this State, as they shall judge most expedient.”

Throughout the centuries, the charter has been amended through petitions to the General Assembly. Its first major revisions occurred in 1845, at which time the College's name was changed to Trinity, and several amendments to detail the Board of Fellows' and Board of Trustees' allowances were proposed.

The Trinity Tripod, 05/25/2020.

Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, p. 2.

The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, p. 6.

The Resolves and Private Laws of the State of Connecticut, Vol. 1 (1837), p. 468.

Charter of Washington College (1824).

The Trinity College Trustees Minutes, Vol. 1. (1823-1887). LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Connecticut Courant (1791-1837); Hartford, Conn. [Hartford, Conn]. 27 May 1823.

LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Connecticut Courant (1791-1837); Hartford, Conn. [Hartford, Conn]. 20 May 1823.