As early as 1762 a movement was instituted by James Manning of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, to establish in Rhode Island a university on the broad basis of religious freedom, but under the special care of the Baptists. A charter, to be presented to the General Assembly in 1763, was prepared by Rev. Ezra Stiles, a Congregational minister at Newport. When the document was ready for presentation, it was noticed that the governing power was to be given to a presbyterian body. That occasioned postponement. A charter was granted, however, in February, 1764, under the name of “The Trustees and Fellows of the College or University in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America.” The corporation was given power to change its name. It organized with James Manning as president. Active teaching work was commenced at Warren in 1766. The founding of this university was an event touching not only the life of Rhode Island, but of the whole country. As a Baptist movement, it was first proposed by Morgan Edwards in 1762, at the Philadelphia Baptist Association. James Manning came from the little church at Scotch Plains, New Jersey, and from a Baptist Association to the only place in America, at that time, where a Baptist university could be established. The Baptists desired the controlling power, but not the whole power of administration, in order to preserve their great principle of religious freedom. According to the original charter, twenty-two of the thirty-six trustees were to be Baptists, five Quakers, four Congregationalists, and five Episcopalians. Of the twelve fellows, eight were to be Baptist, the rest indefinitely of any or all denominations. The following extract shows the Baptist ideal: into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests, but, on the contrary, all the members hereof, shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience; and that the places of professors, tutors, and all other officers, the President alone excepted, shall be free and open for all denominations of Protestants, and the youths of all religious denominations shall and may be admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments, and honors of the university; and that the sectarian differences shall not make any part of the public and classical instructions. Its early history is interesting. There was but one student during its first year, the Rev. William Rogers, of Newport, then fourteen years old. In 1767, four new students enrolled. The first years of the college were spent at Warren, where Dr. James Manning, the president, was the acting pastor of a Baptist church recently organized. In 1769, the first class of seven was ready for graduation and the first commencement was held on September 7, 1769.