The Biographical Dictionary of America/Alexander, Archibald

ALEXANDER, Archibald, educator, was born in Rockbridge county, Va., April 17, 1772, son of William Alexander, a farmer of means, who gave him an academic education under William Graham in the celebrated school founded by his great-uncle, Robert Alexander in 1749, and then known as "Liberty Hall." This school was the germ of Washington and Lee university. During the great revival of 1789-'90 Archibald turned his attention to religious study, was ordained by the presbytery of Hanover, and preached several years as an itinerant pastor over several churches in Charlotte and Prince Edward's counties. He was elected president of Hampden-Sidney college in 1796, serving until a revolt among the students forced him to retire in 1806. In 1802 he was married to Janetta, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Waddel, the blind preacher, immortalized by William Wirt. He acted as pastor of the old Vine street Presbyterian church of Philadelphia from 1807 to 1812, when he became leading professor in Princeton theological seminary, the first theological professor elected by the general assembly of the Presbyterian church. He opened the seminary with three students, and in a few years, as the number of professorships increased, he was able to confine his work to didactic and polemic theology. He had been moderator of the general assembly in 1808, and in his annual sermon before that body had advised the establishment of a theological seminary. This led to the foundation of the seminary at Princeton in 1812. There he founded the chair of Christian ethics and apologetics, and after his retirement it became known as the Archibald Alexander chair. For nearly forty years he labored in this field, shaping the views and character of hundreds of preachers. He possessed extraordinary powers as a pulpit orator and in polemics, so popular in his day. His first published work was, "A Brief Outline of the Evidences of the Christian Religion" (1823), widely translated and largely used as a text-book. He prepared a pocket edition of the Holy Bible in 1831. In 1833 he followed it with: "The Canons of the Old and New Testament Ascertained;" "Lives of the Patriarchs" (1835); "Essays on Religious Experiences" (1840); "Evidences of the Authenticity and Canonical Authority of the Holy Scriptures," 5th ed. (1836); "History of African Colonization" (1846); "History of the Log Cabin" (1843); "History of the Israelitish Nation" (1852); "Outlines of Moral Science" (1858); and minor works. He died at Princeton, N.J., Oct. 22, 1851.