American academic and Congregational minister (1703–1767)
The Reverend
Thomas Clap
5th President of Yale University
In office 1745–1766
Preceded by
Elisha Williams as rector
Succeeded by
Naphtali Daggett as pro tempore
Personal details
Born
(1703-06-26)June 26, 1703 Scituate, Massachusetts
Died
January 7, 1767(1767-01-07) (aged 63) New Haven, Connecticut
Alma mater
Harvard College
Thomas Clap or Thomas Clapp (June 26, 1703 – January 7, 1767) was an American academic and educator, a Congregational minister, and college administrator. He was both the fifth rector and the earliest official to be called "president" of Yale College (1740–1766).[1] He is best known for his successful reform of Yale in the 1740s, partnering with the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson to restructure the forty-year-old institution along more modern lines. He convinced the Connecticut Assembly to exempt Yale from paying taxes. He opened a second college house and doubled the size of the college.[2]
Yale graduated more students than Harvard beginning in 1756.[2] He introduced Enlightenment math and science and Johnson's moral philosophy into the curriculum, while retaining its Puritan theology. He also helped found the Linonian Society in 1753, a literary and debating society and one of Yale's oldest secret societies. He personally built the first Orrery in America, a milestone of American science, and awarded his friend Benjamin Franklin an honorary degree.
His educational accomplishments were marred by many political, theological, and polity conflicts, with first the New Light faction in Connecticut, then the Anglicans, then the Old Light faction. He fought with the Connecticut Assembly, the Yale board, and finally, with his own tutors and students. He was forced to resign as president of Yale in 1766 and died soon after.
^Welch, Lewis et al. (1899). Yale, Her Campus, Class-rooms, and Athletics, p. 445.
^ abKimball, Bruce A., The True Professional Ideal in America: A History, Rowman & Littlefield, 1996; Appendix 2
ThomasClap or Thomas Clapp (June 26, 1703 – January 7, 1767) was an American academic and educator, a Congregational minister, and college administrator...
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graduate; married Isabella Jones Mary Foote Beecher (1805–1900), married ThomasClap Perkins (1798–1870) in 1827; Perkins was the brother-in-law of Roger...
1745 when Yale College was chartered by the Colony of Connecticut and ThomasClap's title was changed to president. In 1878, Yale incorporated as a university...
Lights, which resulted in a fifteen year pamphlet war against leader ThomasClap, and was himself considered a leader of Old Light politics in Connecticut...
college's president pro tempore in 1766 after the resignation of President Clap. Daggett held the office of President for the next eleven years, until 1777...
presidents of colleges, including Puritan religious leaders Jonathan Edwards, ThomasClap, and Ezra Stiles, Presbyterian minister and college president John Witherspoon...
Margaret Clap (died c. 1726), better known as Mother Clap, ran a coffee house from 1724 to 1726 in Field Lane, Holborn, Middlesex, a short distance from...
Thomas Perkins may refer to: Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764–1854), American businessman and philanthropist ThomasClap Perkins (1798–1870), American lawyer...
&: Clap hands 1: Clap partners right hand &: Clap hands &: Clap partners left hand &: Clap hands 2: Clap both partners hands &: Clap hands Another Version:...
Enlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidents ThomasClap and Ezra Stiles. They were both instrumental in developing the scientific...
there, his wife died, and he married Elizabeth Scott, daughter of Rev. Thomas Scott, of Norwich, England. Returning home, he narrowly escaped shipwreck...
President John Tyler James K. Polk Preceded by Charles Chapman Succeeded by ThomasClap Perkins Personal details Born (1807-10-08)October 8, 1807 Derby, Connecticut...
wanted their own school to train orthodox ministers. However president ThomasClap (1740–1766) strengthened the curriculum in the natural sciences and made...
occupations as soon as possible. There was one great exception: Reverend ThomasClap (1703-1767), president of Yale college, 1740-1766. At his death he left...
than half of the college's enrolled students, and college president ThomasClap announced that funds would be raised from the Colony of Connecticut for...
troops during the French and Indian War; nephew of university president ThomasClap David Wooster (B.A. 1738), brigadier general in the American Revolutionary...
John Tyler Jonathan Stoddard 1844 1849 John Tyler and James K. Polk ThomasClap Perkins 1849 1853 Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore Elisha S. Abernethy...
Founded in 1701, Yale moved to New Haven in 1716. In 1753, President ThomasClap began holding separate Sunday worship services for students in the college...
Philip Doddridge, English hymn-writer and educator (d. 1751) 1703 – ThomasClap, American minister and academic (d. 1767) 1726 – Victor Amadeus III of...
library to the school. Now holding a sizeable collection, Yale President ThomasClap decided to catalogue the collection for the first time, then housed in...
1651) 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1686) 1767 – ThomasClap, American minister and academic (b. 1703) 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin,...
Carl Blechen, German painter (d. 1840) ThomasClap Perkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 1870) July 30 – Thomas Chilton, American politician (d. 1854)...
highest Happiness by the practice of virtue". It was promoted by President ThomasClap of Yale, Benjamin Franklin and Provost William Smith at The Academy and...
1863 †), Civil War Union Army Officer killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. ThomasClap (1703–1767), Rector & President of Yale College – buried in the City...
ThomasClap, who was the fifth President of Yale College; a descendant of Governors George Wyllys and John Haynes of Connecticut and Governor Thomas Dudley...
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