The True Genesis of the Academy
Although many might associate the Abbots of Massachusetts with affluence, Benjamin Abbot’s ancestors were quite well-acquainted with the earth. For five generations his family lived, planted, harvested and died on the same patch of land in Andover, Massachusetts. This was the life that Benjamin, the third son of his parents, expected to inherit.
Young Abbot worked on his father’s land until his enrollment, at the age of 21, in Phillips Academy, Andover. He excelled in school; in 1788, he graduated first in his class at Harvard and, following in John Phillips’s steps, was selected to deliver the Salutatory Oration at commencement. During these years, Mr. Abbot nurtured his love for education and fostered an almost religious zeal reminiscent of the Founder’s.
His pupil, Dr. John H. Morrison, wrote that “when Dr. Abbot entered the Academy yard, or lifted his hat, as he did to every student he met, it was as if the benignant spirit of a Christian gentleman diffused itself visibly around him and gently touched the boy’s mind with a new sense of personal dignity and kindness.”
Academy historians have long puzzled over the Founder’s decision to hire this 26-year-old fresh college graduate following the resignation of the forgettable first preceptor, William Woodbridge, due to poor health. Laurence Crosbie theorizes in The Phillips Exeter Academy, a History that Samuel Phillips or Abbot’s Harvard professors planted the name in John Phillips’s mind. The fact that the two had opposing theological views mattered none; to Abbot’s concerns of religious disagreement, John Phillips apparently replied, “never mind that. Have a drink of brandy.” Soon thereafter, Phillips appointed Mr. Abbot temporary, then permanent preceptor at the age of 26. The preceptorship was changed to the principalship in 1808.
Mr. Abbot found the Academy “few in numbers and backwards in scholarship,” and breathed life into the school. Enrollment skyrocketed from a mere 13 students to 47 in his second year. In six years, the Trustees recognized that the first Academy Building, a house, was the limiting factor in the Academy’s growth. The next year, the Second Academy Building was built on land given by Governor John Taylor Gilman, where the Fourth now stands. In those halls, Abbot educated the famous Daniel Webster, U.S diplomat, politician and President of Harvard University Edward Everett, Principal Gideon Lane Soule, U.S diplomat and politician Lewis Cass, George Bancroft, the two Peabodys, Principal Mark Newman of Phillips Academy, Andover, and many, many more.
More remarkable than this impressive slate of alumni, however, is the style of Dr. Abbot’s instruction. Professor Joseph Gibson Hoyt wrote that “manners and morals meant the same thing to him in his life as well as in his Latin lexicon.” One cannot ignore the similarity between Dr. Abbot’s style and Dr. Phillips’ expectation that “the attention of the instructors to the dispositions of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care.” In this task, Abbot performed phenomenally. His pupil, Dr. John H. Morrison, wrote that “when Dr. Abbot entered the Academy yard, or lifted his hat, as he did to every student he met, it was as if the benignant spirit of a Christian gentleman diffused itself visibly around him and gently touched the boy’s mind with a new sense of personal dignity and kindness.” Hoyt wrote that “the moral suasion of his manner was the principal element in his governing power.” Abbot simultaneously encouraged good conduct and practiced his ideology of “resist[ing] beginnings” of trouble.
Dr. Abbot was no different in discipline than on the path. He much preferred sweeping over any form of corporal punishment. This may be attributed to the apparently frequent beatings that his schoolmates reported from their time at Andover. Nonetheless, in The Phillips Exeter Academy, a History, many of Abbot’s students report that “even in private the venerated Doctor used nothing more severe than stern looks and words to accomplish his ends.” Of course, there was the occasional infliction of corporal punishment, but these occasions were most unpleasant for all involved; George Lunt, Class of 1818, wrote that on those “solemn occasions … the good doctor’s manner upon his return was painful to witness, and was rather that of one who had suffered himself than of a master who had exacted from an offender the punishment due to his delinquency.”
Dr. Abbot’s positive attitude regarding the education and discipline of his students won him widespread respect and adoration. Any repudiation of this fact fails in the face of his retirement celebration—the Abbot Festival, at the end of his tenure as principal. Of the two thousand students he taught over the span of 50 years, several hundred returned to campus in an event which overshadowed any gathering at a New England educational institution. Among the most notable alumni were Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Leverett Saltonstall, George Bancroft, Oliver W. Peabody, John G. Palfrey and Abbot’s teacher while he was at Andover, Judge Jeremiah Smith. Of these speakers, none is more widely recognized than Webster. After presenting a silver vase to his 76-year-old teacher, Webster declared, “some men have wrought on brass, some men have wrought on marble, but Abbot wrought in mind.” A news correspondent wrote that “the applause was like a sudden peal of thunder. Never have I heard anything so eloquent in Webster or any other orator.” The speeches, poems and songs that the alumni sung as tribute to Dr. Abbot are more than worthy of any person’s attention but are too long for this article. They are available in the library. However, one verse of one song, appropriately set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, captured Dr. Abbot’s legacy as principal:
And here, a band of grateful sons,
We, too, to-day have met,
To bless the kind, paternal care
We never can forget; —
To bless the hand that guided us
In Learning’s pleasant ways,
And led us to the springs of Truth,
In those, our early days.
A good friend of mine recently asked me if I’m prouder of being an Abboteer or an Exonian. I am proud of both equally; Benjamin Abbot, during his fifty years at this Academy, defined the spirit of the place. His principalship was the true genesis of our school. I concur wholeheartedly with Principal Gideon Lane Soule’s assessment of Dr. Abbot’s contributions: Benjamin Abbot was our “second Founder.”