y was far from being a
harmonious little family, and dissensions arose between the students and
teachers over the establishment of fraternities; while the jealousy of
rival religious denominations and the lack of a strong executive
multiplied the difficulties which made the first years of the University
far from happy.

Nevertheless the University came through it all, not unscathed, but
sufficiently strong and vigorous, and with great possibilities for the
future in the rising fortunes of the Commonwealth, which gradually came
to take a great pride in this child of its first years. To the State, no
less than to the Regents and Faculty, belongs the credit of Michigan's
great achievement in American educational history,--the first proof that
a university, maintained by the people of a state as part of its
educational system, could be made a practical success.

The idea of a state university, or rather a state educational system,
was not in itself strikingly new; in fact two interesting experiments in
Detroit had preceded the University. But none of the original thirteen
colonies, or the new states so rapidly being carved out of the lands
brought in by the addition of the Northwest Territory, had been able to
make really practical that provision in the Ordinance of 1787 which,
from its place above the stage in University Hall, has sunk into the
consciousness of so many student generations of the University of
Michigan.

Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of
education shall forever be encouraged.

The actual success of the University was Michigan's first great
contribution to the Nation. The inauguration of practical laboratory
work in science, as well as the speedy organization of Medical and
Engineering Departments, was the second step. This led to a new
relationship between education and practical life; others besides
candidates for the ministry began to come in greater numbers to seek
degrees. Hardly less revolutionary in the third place was Dr. Tappan's
effort to make Michigan a real University,--the introduction of true
graduate study which, though not immediately successful, made Michigan
once more a pioneer among American schools. Again, the establishment of
the chemical laboratory, the introduction of co-education, and the
creation of a Department of Education, bringing with it a correlation of
the University