Jefferson, who secured for him the appointment as
first professor of natural science and law in the University of
Virginia--a position which Cooper was forced to resign under the fierce
attack made on him by the Virginia clergy. After filling the chair of
chemistry in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. (1811-1814), and in the
University of Pennsylvania (1818-1819), he became professor of chemistry
in South Carolina College, at Columbia, in 1819, and afterwards gave
instruction in political economy also. In 1820 he became acting
president of this institution, and was president from 1821 until 1833,
when he resigned owing to the opposition within the state to his liberal
religious views. In December 1834, owing to continued opposition, he
resigned his professorship. He had been formally tried for infidelity in
1832. He was a born agitator: John Adams described him as "a learned,
ingenious, scientific and talented madcap." Before his college classes,
in public lectures, and in numerous pamphlets, he constantly preached
the doctrine of free trade, and tried to show that the protective system
was especially burdensome to the South. His remedy was state action.
Each state, he contended, was a sovereign power and was in duty bound to
protest against the tyrannical acts of the Federal government. He
exercised considerable influence in preparing the people of South
Carolina for nullification and secession; in fact he preceded Calhoun in
advocating a practical application of the state sovereignty principle.
The last years of his life were spent in preparing an edition of the
Statutes at Large of the state, which was completed by David James
McCord (1797-1855) and published in ten volumes (1836-1841). Dr Cooper
died in Columbia on the 11th of May 1840. As a philosopher he was a
follower of Hartley, Erasmus Darwin, Priestley and Broussais; he was a
physiological materialist, and a severe critic of Scotch metaphysics.
Among his publications are _Political Essays_ (1800); _An English
Version of the Institutes of Justinian_ (1812); _Lectures on the
Elements of Political Economy_ (1826); _A Treatise on the Law of Libel
and the Liberty of the Press_ (1830); and a translation of Broussais'
_On Irritation and Insanity_ (1831), with which were printed his own
essays, "The Scripture Doctrine of Materialism," "View of the
Metaphysical and Physiological Arguments in favour of Materialism," and
"Outline of the Doctrine of the Association of Ideas