New Athens in Harrison County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Franklin College ⎯⎯⎯ Cornerstone of Civil Rights
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, December 21, 2014
1. Franklin College Marker
Side A
Inscription.
Franklin College Alma Academy
One of Ohio's earliest colleges, Alma College (earlier known as Alma Academy) was founded in 1818 and became Franklin College in 1825. Its founders were primarily of Scots-Irish descent who had settled in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio and were of the Presbyterian faith. Many nineteenth-century national and international leaders attended this school, including 8 U.S. Senators, 9 U.S. Representatives, 32 State Legislators, and 2 Governors. Notables include John Bingham, author of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and chief prosecutor of President Abraham Lincoln's assassins; Civil War General George W. McCook; Ohio Supreme Court Justice John Welch; and Joseph Ray, publisher of the universally popular school text Ray's Arithmetic. The slavery question bitterly divided the school, and its enrollment declined in the years following the Civil War. Franklin College closed in 1921, and its charter was later transferred to Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.
Cornerstone of Civil Rights
John Bingham, Franklin College class of 1837, was the primary author of Section
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1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment protects the privileges and immunities of American citizens and guarantees due process of law and equal protection. Bingham later wrote to Franklin College classmate and friend, Reverend Titus Basfield, a former slave, "In the Fourteenth Amendment I sought to obtain for all human beings, including the long oppressed members of your race, the precious rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This means due process of law whereby the judicial system must look benignly at a person's attempt to seek redress of wrong to his immortal rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Erected 2003 by Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The International Paper Company Foundation, and The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 3-34.)
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, December 21, 2014
2. Cornerstone of Civil Rights Marker
Side B
Marker is in New Athens, Ohio, in Harrison County. It is on North Main Street (Ohio Route 9) 0.1 miles Wheeling Street ( Route 519), on the right when traveling south. Marker is located at the Franklin Museum. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: New Athens OH 43981, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Midwest, in Appalachia, and specifically in Northern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: New Athens, Ohio (here, next to this marker); a different marker also named New Athens (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); Flushing (approx. 3.6 miles away); Flushing Friends Cemetery (approx. 4.1 miles away); Georgetown (approx. 4.2 miles away); Civil War Memorial (approx. 4.3 miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx.
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, December 21, 2014
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel, December 21, 2014
4. Cornerstone of Civil Rights Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on December 7, 2021. It was originally submitted on December 21, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 1,086 times since then and 67 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on December 21, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
