The bill presented is preserved in the Archives as House 7291, although first introduced in the Senate. It reads as follows:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve. An Act.—To establish a, College in the District of Maine, within this Commonwealth.—
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that there be erected and established in the District of Maine upon one of the Townships hereafter mentioned a College for the purpose of educating youth, to be called and known by the name of the Maine Literary and Theological College to be under the government and regulation of a body politic, as in this Act is hereafter described.—
Section 2d—And be it further enacted, that Daniel Merrill, Caleb Blood, Sylvanus Boardman, Thomas Green, Robert Low, Benjamin Titcomb, Thomas Francis, Daniel McMaster, Hon. James Campbell, John R. Stinson, John Haynes, Timothy Johnson, Daniel Hutchinson, Joshua Taylor, John Hubbard, Samuel Baker, Joseph Bailey, Phinehas Pilsbury, & Hezekiah Prince, together with the President, Treasurer and Fellows of the said College for the time being, to be chosen as in this Act is hereafter directed, be and hereby are erected a body politic and corporate by the name of the President, Fellows and Trustees of the Maine Literary and Theological College and that they and their successors and such others as shall be duly elected members of said Corporation, shall be and remain a body politic and corporate by that name forever.—
Section 3d—And be it further enacted—That the Trustees aforesaid be hereby empowered to elect nine persons of education to be Fellows of the said Institution and who shall be stiled the learned faculty whose duty it shall be to determine the qualifications of all Candidates for degrees, which shall be given only by their authority.—
Section 4th—And be it further enacted—That for the more orderly conducting the business of the said Corporation, the President, [and][1]Fellows and Trustees shall have full power and authority, from time to time, as they shall determine, to elect a Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary of said Corporation; and to declare the tenure and duties of their respective offices, and also to remove any Trustee or Fellow from the said Corporation, when in their judgment, he shall be rendered incapiable, by age or otherwise of discharging the duties of his office, and to fill up all vacancies in the said Corporation by electing such persons for Fellows or Trustees as they shall judge best.—Provided nevertheless—That the number of the said Corporation including the President of the said College and the Treasurer for the time being shall never be greater than thirty one, nor less than twenty one.—
Section 5th — And be it further enacted That the said Corporation may have one common seal, which they may change, break or renew at their pleasure ; and that all deeds, signed and delivered by the Treasurer, and sealed with their seal by the order of the Corporation, shall when made in their [respective][1] Corporate name, be considered in Law as the deed of the said Corporation.—And that the said Corporation may sue and be sued, in all actions, real, personal and mixed, and may prosecute and defend the same, to final Judgement and execution, by the name of the President, and Corporation, of the Maine Literary & Theological [University][1] College, And that the said Corporation shall be capable of having, holding, and taking in fee simple, or any less estate, by gift, grant, devise, or otherwise, any lands, tenements, or other estate, real or personal.—Provided nevertheless, that the annual clear income of the
