Q 01/05

Under what name was Rutgers originally chartered in 1766?

A) Raritan College

B) King's College

C) New Jersey College

D) Queen's College

Answer · why

D) Queen's College

Rutgers was chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, honouring Queen Charlotte, wife of George III; King's College was the original name of Columbia.

Q 02/05

New Jersey's last royal governor, who signed the 1766 charter, was the son of which Founding Father?

A) Alexander Hamilton

B) John Adams

C) Thomas Jefferson

D) Benjamin Franklin

Answer · why

D) Benjamin Franklin

William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, was royal governor of New Jersey from 1763 to 1776 and signed the 1766 charter; he stayed loyal to the Cro...

Q 03/05

The college was founded by ministers of which denomination to train future clergy?

A) Dutch Reformed

B) Presbyterian

C) Anglican

D) Lutheran

Answer · why

A) Dutch Reformed

Dutch Reformed ministers founded the college to train clergy; the tie survives in the motto 'Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra', adapted from Utrec...

Q 04/05

Rutgers is one of how many 'colonial colleges' chartered before the Revolution?

A) Six

B) Nine

C) Twelve

D) Fifteen

Answer · why

B) Nine

Nine colleges were chartered before the Revolution: Harvard, William & Mary, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Rutgers and Dartmouth; Rutgers an...

Q 05/05

Where were the college's first classes held in 1771?

A) In a tavern

B) In a church

C) In a courthouse

D) In a barn

Answer · why

A) In a tavern

In a tavern, Frederick Frelinghuysen, the college's first tutor, taught the first classes in 1771; Old Queens, its first purpose-built home, was not b...