Priorities of the College of William and Mary

Priorities of the College of William and Mary. . , Chartered February 8, 1693, by King William and Queen Mary. Main buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren. , First college in the United States in its antecedents, which go back to the college proposed at Henrico (1619). Second to Harvard University in actual operation., First American college to receive its charter from the Crown under the Seal of the Privy Council, 1693. Hence it was known as “their Majesties’ Royal College of William and Mary.”, First and only American college to receive a colonial coat-of-arms from the College of Heralds, 1694., First college in the United States to have a full Faculty, consisting of a president, six professors, usher, and writing master, 1729., First college to confer metallic prizes: the gold medals donated by Lord Botetourt in 1771., First college to establish an inter-collegiate fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa, December 5, 1776., First college to have the elective system of study, 1779., First college to have the honor system, 1779., First college to become a university, 1779., First college to have a school of Modern Languages, 1779., First college to have a school of Municipal and Constitutional Law, 1779. , First college to teach Political Economy, 1784. , First college to have a school of Modern History, 1803.