Editing Thomas Clap (section)

==Early years of reform and religious conflict at Yale==
He was elected rector of [[Yale College]] following [[Elisha Williams]]'s resignation, largely because the trustees believed he would oppose Arminianism at Yale, and was inducted in 1740. His administration was to become known for its orthodoxy, pugnaciousness, authoritarianism, and embroilment in controversy.<ref>Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=B2aDRhohtx8C&q=Yale+a+history&pg=PA49 ''Yale: A History,'' p. 49.]</ref> In 1743, his nephew [[Nathan Whiting]], whom he and his wife Mary had raised after the death of his parents, graduated from Yale. He was learned both in theology and in science and constructed the first [[orrery]] in America. After the death of his first wife he married Mary Haynes on February 5, 1740 or 1741.

He was known as a "rigid",<ref>Dexter, Dexter, ''Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College'', Holt, 1896;, Volume 1, p. 724</ref> "dogmatic and obstinate" leader who used "autocratic methods" to impose discipline at the college.<ref>Holden, Reuben Andrus, and Holden, Raymond Peckham,''Profiles and Portraits of Yale University Presidents'', Published by Bond Wheelwright Co, 1968</ref> His religious views and personality led to conflict within the school: he objected to the teachings of English minister [[George Whitefield]], an itinerant minister of the [[First Great Awakening|Great Awakening]], and other itinerant teachers such as [[Gilbert Tennent]]. Rev. [[Joseph Noyes]], pastor in New Haven, invited [[James Davenport (clergyman)|James Davenport]] to his congregation to preach: Davenport used the opportunity to brand him an "unconverted man" and a "hypocrite": the congregation was eventually physically split, resulting in the two Congregational Churches that still stand on the New Haven Green.

In 1741, two masters' candidates at Yale were denied their degrees for their "disorderly and reckless endeavors to propagate" the [[First Great Awakening|Great Awakening]], and the college made it an offence for a student to imply that the rector, trustees, or tutors were "carnal or unconverted men" or "hypocrites". It was not long before a student, [[David Brainerd]], did so, saying that Tutor Whittelsey "had no more grace than a chair", and was expelled. [[Jonathan Edwards (theology)|Jonathan Edwards]], [[Rev. Aaron Burr]] (father of the vice-president), and [[Jonathan Dickinson]] unsuccessfully appealed for Brainerd's reinstatement.

Clap campaigned for laws to inhibit itinerant preachers and lay exhorters and to stop the disintegration of churches by separation. Religious disputation continued to fragment to student body, who refused to submit to discipline, avoided religious instruction from the "[[Old Lights]]" (preachers established before the Great Awakening), and attended [[separatist]] meetings. In 1742, Clap closed the college, sending the students home. He was supported by the General Assembly, and many of the more ardent students transferred to other institutions when Yale reopened in 1743.

While he was feuding with the New Lights, Clap was partnering with the Anglicans. Beginning in 1740, he worked with the Rev. Samuel Johnson of Stratford, Connecticut, to reform Yale. He brought math and science into Yale's curriculum, and undergraduate studies in divinity were replaced by Johnson's non-denominational moral philosophy. Clap published a Yale library catalog in 1743, with an index system based on his friend Samuel Johnson's map of learning, and drafted a new charter of the school, granted by the General Assembly in 1745, incorporating the institution as "The President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven".<ref name=baldwin>Baldwin, Ebenezer. ''Annals of Yale College, in New Haven, Connecticut, from Its Foundation, to the Year 1831.'' Hezekiah Howe (1831), pp. 56-73.</ref> Clap was sworn in as Yale's first President on June 1, 1745. His formulation of a new code of laws for Yale in [[Latin]] became, in 1745, the first book printed in New Haven.<ref name=sprague>Sprague, William B. ''Annals of the American Pulpit''. Robert Carter and Brothers (1857), Vol. I, p. 345.</ref>

Whitefield returned to New England to preach, and Yale issued "The Declaration of the Rector and Tutors of Yale College against the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, his Principles and Designs, in a Letter to him". In 1746, Clap expelled Samuel Cooke from the Yale Corporation for his role in setting up the separatist congregation in New Haven.

In May 1747, the General Assembly granted Yale the right to hold a lottery to raise funds: this income, together with the proceeds from the sale of a French boat captured by the colony's frigate, were used to build [[Connecticut Hall]], the second major structure at Yale.<ref name=sprague/> It was completed in 1753.