Governor Plumer communicated this message to Jefferson, who replied in his letter of July 21, 1816: "It is replete with sound principles, and truly republican. Some articles, too, are worthy of notice. The idea that institutions established for the use of the nation cannot be touched nor modified, even to make them answer their end, because of rights gratuitously supposed in those employed to manage them in trust for the public, may, perhaps, be a salutary provision against the abuses of a monarch, but it is most absurd against the nation itself. Yet our lawyers and priests generally inculcate this doctrine, and suppose that preceding generations held the earth more freely than we do; had a right to impose laws on us, unalterable by ourselves; and that we, in like manner, can make laws and impose burdens on future generations, which they will have no right to alter; in fine, that the earth belongs to the dead, and not to the living."
The following action shows the result:
"The undersigned, three of the members of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College, having this morning seen a printed copy of a bill before the Honorable House [of the New Hampshire Legislature], the provisions of which, should they go into effect would set aside the Charter of the college, and wholly change the administration of its concerns, beg leave respectfully to remonstrate against its passage. The provisions of the bill referred to change the name of the corporation; enlarge the number of Trustees; alter the number to constitute a quorum; render persons living out of the State, who are now eligible, hereafter ineligible; vacate the seats of those members who are not inhabitants of the State; deprive the Trustees of the right of electing members to supply vacancies; and give to the new Board of Trustees an arbitrary power of annulling everything heretofore transacted by the Trustees; and this last without the concurrence of the proposed Board of Overseers. The consent of the present Board of Trustees is in no instance contemplated as necessary to give validity to the new act of incorporation.
"In the opinion of the undersigned, these changes, modifications, and alterations effectually destroy the present Charter of the college and constitute a new one.
"Should the bill become a law, it will be obvious to our fellow citizens that the Trustees of Dartmouth College will have been deprived of their Charter rights without having been summoned or notified of any such proceeding against them. It will be equally obvious to our fellow citizens that the facts reported by the committee of investigation [of the last Legislature] did not form the ground and basis of the new act of incorporation; and that no evidence of facts of any sort, relating to the official conduct of the Trustees, other than the report of the committee of investigation, was submitted to your Honorable Bodies.
"To deprive a Board of Trustees of their Charter rights, after they have been accused of gross misconduct in office, without requiring any proof whatever of such misconduct, appears to your remonstrants unjust, and not conformable to the spirit of the free and happy government under which we live. If the property has been misapplied, if there has been any abuse of power upon the part of the Trustees, they are fully sensible of their high responsibility; but they have always believed, and still believe, that a sound construction of the powers granted to the Legislature, gives them, in this case, only the right to order, for good cause, a prosecution in the judicial courts.
"A different course effectually blends judicial and legislative powers, and constitutes the Legislature a judicial tribunal.
"The undersigned also beg leave to remonstrate against the passage of the bill, on the ground of inexpediency. A corporation is a creature of the law, to which certain powers, rights, and privileges are granted; and amongst others that of holding property. Destroy this creature, this body politic, and all its property immediately reverts to its former owners. This doctrine has long been recognized and established in all governments of law. Any material alteration of the corporation, without its consent, and certainly such essential alterations as the bill under consideration is intended to make, will be followed with the same effect. The funds belonging to the college, although not great, are highly important to the institution; and a considerable proportion of them were granted by, and lie in, the State of Vermont. The undersigned most earnestly entreat the Honorable Legislature not to put the funds of the college in jeopardy; not to put at hazard substantial income, under expectations which may or may not be realized."
After alluding to lack of precedent for the proposed action, and the necessary increase of expenditures which would result from its consummation, they proceed to say: "If the provisions of this bill should take effect, we greatly fear that the concerns of the college will be drawn into the vortex of political controversy. We refer particularly to that section of the bill which gives the appointment of Trustees and Overseers to the Governor and Council. The whole history of the United States for the last twenty years teaches us a lesson which ought not to be kept out of view. Our literary institutions hitherto have been preserved from the influence of party. The tendency of this bill, unless we greatly mistake, is to convert the peaceful retreat of our college into a field for party warfare.
"Whilst the undersigned deem it their indispensable duty to remonstrate in the most respectful terms against the passage of the bill referred to, they have no objection, and they have no reason to believe their fellow Trustees have any objection, to the passage of a law connecting the government of the State with that of the college, and creating every salutary check and restraint upon the official conduct of the Trustees and their successors that can be reasonably required, and with respectful deference they would propose the following outlines of a plan for that purpose.