At the time, the seven graduates of the class received Bachelor of Arts degrees in a private ceremony open only to faculty, trustees, and graduates—due to what was described as the ‘unsettled state of affairs.’
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“Upon the Report of the Examiners, the following candidates approved of as qualified by their standing and proficiency to be admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, are James Abercrombie, John Leeds Bos[z]man, John Clopton, William Cock[e], Thomas Duncan Smith, William Thomas, and Ralph Wiltshire; and a mandate was ordered to be made out for conferring on them their Degree of Bachelor of Arts on the 10th of June next.”
(Image: Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Minute Books, volume 2, 1768-1779; University Archives)
The May 23, 1776 “Minutes of the Trustees of the College, Academy and Charitable Schools,” later the University of Pennsylvania, give an account of seven candidates who qualified to graduate that year.
“Upon the Report of the Examiners,” the record states, “the following candidates approved of as qualified by their standing and proficiency to be admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, are James Abercrombie, John Leeds Bos[z]man, John Clopton, William Cock[e], Thomas Duncan Smith, William Thomas, and Ralph Wiltshire; and a mandate was ordered to be made out for conferring on them their Degree of Bachelor of Arts on the 10th of June next.”
Against the backdrop of a contentious May 15 meeting of the Continental Congress, rising tensions across the city, and an uprising on May 20 when thousands gathered to call for independence and a new state government, the handful of Trustees meeting that May Day in Philadelphia, also decreed that the event be private. “The Commencement is ordered to be a private one,” the minutes continue, “on account of the present unsettled State of public affairs, and the candidates are accordingly to be excused from the delivering the public exercises usual on such occasions.”
The private event with Abercrombie, Bozman, Clapton, Cocke, Smith, Thomas, and Wiltshire, attended by a handful of faculty and Trustees, took place as planned with the Provost conferring degrees.
Read more on the Class of 1776 in the Penn Gazette.
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