Thomas Clap

Born: Scituate, Massachusetts; June 26, 1703
Died: New Haven; January 7, 1767

Entry by Bruce P. Stark

Thomas Clap was a Congregational minister and the head of Yale College for almost twenty-seven years. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1722, and in August 1726 was ordained pastor of the First Church in Windham. He was an excellent scholar, one of the founders of the Philogrammatican Library in Lebanon, and became known as a strict disciplinarian and ardent defender of the Congregational way. These qualities impressed the trustees of Yale College, and upon the resignation of Elisha Williams (1694-1755) as rector in 1739, Clap was chosen to succeed him. He was formally installed on April 2, 1740.

Clap was a good administrator and had a sincere interest in learning. He drafted a more liberal charter for Yale that transformed the rector into a powerful president. The new charter was adopted by the General Assembly in 1745. He drew up a code of laws for the College, prepared a catalogue of books owned by the College, oversaw the erection of new buildings, and saw the student body almost double in size. His rigid Congregationalism and authoritarian methods, however, brought trouble to himself and to Yale.

He so strongly opposed the Great Awakening that in the spring of 1742 he expelled all students who deviated from traditional Congregational practices.  A decade later, however, President Clap saw the growing power of New Light proponents of revivalism and became dismayed by a drift by Old Lights away from Congregational orthodoxy. He decided to identify with the New Lights. Soon thereafter he became dissatisfied with the preaching and theology of Old Light minister Joseph Noyes (1688-1761) of the First Church of New Haven. The rupture with Noyes led in 1757 to the establishment of the Church of Christ of Yale College. At about the same the Yale Corporation adopted the requirement that every future officer of the College publicly endorse Congregational orthodoxy as set forth in the Saybrook Confession of Faith and the Westminster catechism.  These two actions split the corporation and spawned strong resentment to Clap and his rule among conservative elements in the colony. The passing years did not lessen antagonism to Clap and his policies. A series of student rebellions beginning in 1764 culminated in his resignation in the summer of 1766. Clap died, a broken and exhausted man, four months later.

A strong and opinionated man, Thomas Clap left a strong mark on Yale College, but his policies aroused intense opposition among conservatives. His enemies eventually became so numerous that he was forced to resign.

For Further Reading

Kelley, Brooks Mather. Yale: A History. New Haven, Connecticut, 1974.  See chapter 6.

Tucker Louis Leonard. Puritan Protagonist: President Thomas Clap of Yale College. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1962.

* Entry under revision.