Originally founded as King’s College in 1754 by royal charter of England’s King George II, what is now Columbia University suspended instruction in 1776.  In 1784, Governor DeWitt Clinton, Mayor James Duane, and Assemblyman Alexander Hamilton revived the former Anglican institution, persuading the New York Legislature to create a state university that would assume the property of King’s College under a new charter and a new name.  The new name, Columbia College, reflected a desire to appear to be a New-World, non-British institution.