Seelye, Julius Hawley

Seelye, Julius Hawley

(sē`lē), 1824–95, American clergyman and educator, b. Bethel, Conn., grad. Amherst, 1849, and Auburn Theological Seminary, 1852, and studied in Germany; brother of L. C. Seelye. After serving as pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, N.Y., he became professor of mental and moral philosophy at Amherst in 1858; he was president of the college from 1876 to 1890. He inaugurated at Amherst what is said to be the first instance of student self-government on record in any American college. Seelye also served (1874–77) in Congress, to which he was elected in a nonpartisan movement. His writings include The Way, the Truth, and the Life (1873), Duty (1891), and Citizenship (1894).