On October 9, 1701, the colonial legislature of Connecticut chartered the Collegiate School in Saybrook to educate students for "Publick employment both in Church & Civil State." Originally based at the house of the first rector in Killingworth, the school moved to New Haven in 1716, and in 1718 was renamed Yale College to honor its early benefactor, the merchant Elihu Yale. Yale graduates were influential in the American Revo...