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William Smith (September 7, 1727 – May 14, 1803)〔Birth date noted at 〕〔Death described at 〕 was the first provost of the University of Pennsylvania. ==Biography== Smith was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, to Thomas and Elizabeth (Duncan) Smith. He attended the University of Aberdeen, later claiming a master's from the institution. He also held the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Aberdeen, the University of Oxford, and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1753, Smith wrote a pamphlet outlining his thoughts about education.〔http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?textID=ac7_sm683_753g&PagePosition=1〕 The book fell into the hands of Benjamin Franklin; as a result Franklin asked Smith to come to Philadelphia and teach at the newly established academy there (now the University of Pennsylvania). In 1755 Smith became the first Provost (the equivalent of the modern post of university president) of the school. He held the post until 1779. Smith was an Anglican priest and together with William Moore, Smith was briefly jailed in 1758 for his criticism of the military policy in the Quaker-run colony. Indeed, during the French and Indian War, Smith published two anti-Quaker pamphlets that advocated the disenfranchisement of all Quakers—who were, at the time, the political elite in Pennsylvania. However, their pacifist beliefs made it difficult for the Quakers in government to provide funds for defense, and as a result anti-Quaker sentiment ran high, especially in the backcountry which suffered from frequent raids from Indians allied with the French. Smith's second pamphlet, ''A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, For the Year 1755'' (1756) actually went so far as to suggest that while one way of "ridding our Assembly of Quakers” would be to require an oath, “another way of getting rid of them" would be "by cutting their Throats.”〔Smith, ''A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, For the Year 1755'' (London, 1756), 70. For a good guide to the difficulties confronted by Pennsylvania Quakers during the French and Indian War, see Ralph L. Ketcham, “Conscience, War, and Politics in Pennsylvania, 1755-1757,” ''William and Mary Quarterly'', 3d ser., 20, no. 3 (July 1963): 416-39.〕 Smith's virulent attacks on Quakers alienated him from Franklin, who was closely allied with the Pennsylvania Assembly. Smith courted and married Moore's daughter, Rebecca, and had seven children. Smith advocated for the Church of England to appoint a bishop in America, a highly controversial proposal insofar as many Americans feared any ecclesiastical institution that might compel compliance with the force of royal authority. Smith received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from the University of Oxford and the University of Aberdeenin 1759 and from Trinity College, Dublin in 1763. In 1768 he became a member of the American Philosophical Society. When the American Revolution broke out, Dr. Smith was in a bind. As an Anglican priest, he was viewed as a loyalist, though his sentiments were far more sympathetic towards the patriots than otherwise, even to the point of founding a college named for the George Washington, the commander in chief of the patriot Continental Army, in the midst of war. He was appointed to serve on the Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence in 1774, along with such notables as John Dickinson, Samuel Miles, and Joseph Reed. Forced to leave Philadelphia, Smith moved to Maryland where he used the abilities he had needed to help found the University of Pennsylvania to become the first president of Washington College, an institution he intended to be the premiere academic institution of the region, and which received almost exclusive patronage from the first President of the United States, George Washington. After the war he returned to Philadelphia where he briefly regained his post at Penn. His final project was the development of land in the western region of the state. Huntingdon, Pennsylvania was founded by Rev. Smith and his sons were the first leaders of its government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Smith (Episcopalian priest)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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