Birthplace: Attleborough, Massachusetts September 8, 1727
Died: New Haven, Connecticut November 25, 1780
President pro tempore: 1766-1777

The first Yale graduate to serve as its head was Naphtali Daggett, born in Attleborough, Massachusetts, on September 8, 1727. His father, Ebenezer Daggett, died when Naphtali was a boy, and he was reared by his mother. He prepared for college under the watchful eyes of the Reverend Solomon Reed of Abington, Massachusetts, and the Reverend James Cogswell of Plainfield, Connecticut.

Daggett tried but was not allowed to take the examination for admission to Harvard- probably because of the "New-Light" sympathies of his mentor Reed; instead he enrolled at Yale in 1744. In 1748 he was graduated with honors and won the Berkeley Scholarship. Three years later he was ordained minister at Smithtown, Long Island, and in 1753 married Sara Smith of that place.

President Clap apparently had thought highly of Daggett as a student, for in the spring of 1755, when Daggett was only twenty-eight years old, Clap nominated him for the post of Professor of Divinity, the first professorship at Yale. Daggett readily accepted-- his salary at Smithtown was practically nonexistent-- and he served a trial period of four months. When he was found to be properly "orthodox" and academically qualified (after undergoing intensive questioning by the President and the Fellows concerning his "Principles of Religion, his Knowledge and Skill in Divinity, Cases of Conscience, Scripture History and Chronology, Antiquity, Skill in the Hebrew Tongue, and various other Qualifications" (1)) he was duly installed in the Livingston Chair of Divinity on March 4, 1756.

When he arrived at Yale, Daggett was immediately dragged into President Clap's quarrel with the Reverend Mr. Noyes of the First Church of New Haven. The differences were temporarily settled in June 1757, when the College church, the Church of Christ, was officially established. Daggett served as its pastor. His duties as professor also included supervising the theological studies of resident graduates and occasionally lecturing to the undergraduates on theological topics.

President Clap resigned in 1766. The Corporation immediately offered the post to one of their members, James Lockwood of Wethersfield, who had been offered the presidency of "the college in Princetown." When he refused, Daggett as sole professor was chosen to preside as President pro tempore. This title was never changed during the eleven years of Daggett's term. When a colleague asked why he did not demand that the pro tempore be dropped, he replied indignantly, "What would you have them call me, 'President pro aeternitate'?"

The condition of the College was precarious because of the chaos of Clap's final years and the restless condition of the Colonies in general. Moreover, Daggett was a scholar rather than an administrator. He was a poor disciplinarian and proved unable to control the students. He did not in fact really want the responsibility of the President's office and concentrated on his professorial obligations, leaving the practical management of the College in the hands of the tutors. Yale was fortunate to have at this time tutors of exceptional ability, and the College prospered. Year after year distinguished young men filled the tutorships-Ebenezer Baldwin, Stephen Mix Mitchell, Job Lane, John Howe, Timothy Dwight, John Trumbull, John Davenport, and Joseph Buckminster. They revitalized the curriculum, and through the efforts of Tutors Howe, Trumbull, and Dwight at least one whole new area-the study of literature-was introduced. A second literary and debating society, Brothers-in-Unity, was organized.

Daggett himself was an ardent champion of democracy. In the first year of his administration he abandoned the practice of listing the students in the class according to their fathers' social positions, using an alphabetical listing instead. In his early years as president he seems to have been popular with the students, and enrollment increased. Yale now had more students than Harvard. In addition Daggett even revived Yale's relations with the General Assembly, and from 1767 to 1774 small grants were voted. In 1770 a Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy was created; the Reverend Nehemiah Strong, a graduate of the Class of 1755 and a former tutor, was appointed to the chair. A third professorship, in Ecclesiastical History, was also established.

By 1778, however, Daggett had succumbed to the fate which seemed up to this point to be reserved for all Yale rectors or presidents: he became vastly unpopular with the students. The exact cause is not known, but the Seniors at least resented the fact that he did not include belles lettres in the Senior curriculum (soon to be taught by Tutor Dwight). On campus he became known as "Tunker," and in 1776 the students petitioned the Corporation for his removal. The Corporation paid little attention to the demands, and campus disorder increased. Daggett resigned in the spring of 1777, but continued to serve as Professor and as Pastor until his death in 1780.

Between March 1777, and June 1778, it was so difficult to get food in New Haven that classes assembled under tutors in Farmington, Glastonbury, and Wethersfield. The Commencement exercises between 1775 and 1780 were private. Daggett was a firm supporter of Colonial rights and of the Revolution, as were most of the students and Fellows. In July 1779, when British troops invaded the outskirts of New Haven, Daggett, his ancient fowling piece in hand, rode forth to help defend the town. After a short while he was cut off from the rest of the defenders and left at the mercy of the British. He nevertheless continued to blaze away at the royal invaders. One exasperated British officer yelled to him, "What are you doing there, you old fool, firing on His Majesty's troops?" "Exercising the rights of war," Daggett answered. To this the astonished officer replied, "If I let you go this time, you old rascal, will you ever fire again on the troops of 'His Majesty?" "Nothing more likely," came the impertinent reply (2), whereupon Daggett was captured, severely beaten, and marched to the British camp. The wounds he received contributed to his death on November 25, 1780.

The College of New Jersey had conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on President Daggett in 1774 (3). Several hundred of his sermons were published. He is also credited with the authorship of the famous "Cato Letters" which appeared in the Connecticut Gazette and initiated the attack on the tax collector Jared Ingersoll, which brought Daggett additional recognition in his latter years.

Source: Holden, Profiles and portraits of Yale University presidents pages: 39-42

(1) Louis L. Tucker, Puritan Protagonist; President Thomas Clap of Yale College (Chapel Hill, 1962) pp. 185-86.

(2) R. D. French, The Memorial Quadrangle: A Book About Yale (New Haven, 1929), pp. 36-37.

(3) Yale had begun conferring the honorary degrees of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Laws the preceding year.