314 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK : 
his character was such as to inspire respect and veneration and to 
endear him to all who knew him.” * He died in 1868. 
The reason that McVickar abandoned the teaching of Political 
Economy at the time was no doubt the fact that in that year 
there was created at Columbia a new chair of History and 
Political Science, to which the distinguished scholar Francis 
Lieber was called. Lieber continued to teach political economy 
in addition to his famous lectures on history, political philosophy, 
and comparative jurisprudence. When he died, in 1872, political 
sconomy was assigned for a few years to Professor Nairne, the 
accomplished Professor of Philosophy and English Literature. In 
1876 Professor John W. Burgess was called to the new chair of 
History, Political Science and International Law, and a year or 
two later Richmond Mayo-Smith was called to Columbia and 
to him was transferred the teaching of political economy, a 
separate professorship for that purpose being created in 1881. 
In the other American colleges political economy was intro- 
duced at almost the same time. In 1825, the same year when 
Dr. Cooper began his lectures, the subject is found in both Yale 
and Rutgers. 
At Yale it appears as a part of the regular curriculum for 
seniors in 1825. Whether the subject was previously taught at 
Yale is uncertain. We know that President Timothy Dwight had 
charge of the course in Moral Philosophy before 1825, and we 
are told that he dealt with the “more important disputable points 
in Science, Politics, Morals, and Theology.” * As to how far 
Economics was included under the head of Politics is not quite 
clear. 
The probability that Mr. Dwight touched on economic topics 
is evident from the list of published questions that he discussed 
with the Senior class in Yale College in 1813 and 1814. Among 
the questions decided are the following: 
Dispute II-—Ought Foreign Immigration to be encouraged? 
Dispute IX—Ought the Poor to be supported by Law? 
Dispute XX—Is a Savage State preferable to a Civilized? 
t A History of Columbia University, 1754-1904. New York, 1904, p. 142. 
Further details of his life may be found in William A. McVickar, The Life 
of the Reverend John McVickar, New York, 1872. 
2 Timothy Dwight’s Theology Explained and Defended, with a Memoir 
mn the Life of the Author, 7th ed. New York, 1830, 1-47.