Educator; born in
Lebanon, Conn., Jan. 28, 1754; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1771; appointed lieutenant-colonel in the
American army in 1778, in which year he served against the Indians, and then became a member of the staff of
Gen. Horatio Gates.
He was president of Dartmouth College in 1779-1815; and in the latter year, owing to religious beliefs and a conflict with the trustees, he was deposed, an action which caused a storm of protest from the people.
In the following year the legislature, claiming the right to do so, reorganized the college under a new board of trustees, who replaced
Dr. Wheelock in 1817.
He served, however, only a few months, when he died in
Hanover, N. H., on April 4.
In the mean time the old trustees went to the
State Supreme Court to recover the college property, and lost their case, but on an appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States they were successful, It
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was in this trial, called the Dartmouth College case, that Daniel Webster (
q. v.) began his famous career as a constitutional lawyer.