Harvard University was much Transcendentalism in Phi Beta Kappa addresses and Yale University was much anti-Transcendentalism very often, at least conservatism or conservatism religion in antebellum Phi Beta Kappa addresses. Harvard was providing Transcendentalism in Edward Everett (more or less) in 1825, and Reverend Orville Dewey in 1830. Emerson was providing the American Scholar in 1837. Post-American Scholar Transcendentalism were Frederick Henry Hedge in 1843, George Putnam in 1844, Andrew Peabody in 1845, George Marsh in 1847, and more or less, Horace Bushnell in 1848. But Harvard University was also providing Theophilus Parson in 1835 and Timothy Walker in 1850 were conservative -- and both of them were legal scholars.
And Yale University had Heman Humphrey in 1838, Daniel Barnard in 1846, S. Henry Dickson in 1842, President Simeon North of Hamilton College in 1847, Charles Haddock in 1848, Ashbel Smith in 1849, and Daniel Lord in 1851 were conservative. A number of them are optimists, including Willis Hall and John W. Andrews. The exceptions are Edward Everett in 1833, (more or less) Horace Bushnell in 1837, and William Seward in 1854. Yale was more conservative than Harvard, although changes were afoot.
The Jurisprudence of Antebellum Phi Beta Kappa Addresses is available on ssrn.com. Next up are Union College, Brown University, and Dartmouth College in antebellum Phi Beta Kappa addresses.
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