ALISON,
FRANCIS

(1705–November 28, 1779), was an educator in colonial America, described by Ezra Stiles as “the greatest classical scholar in America, especially in Greek.”459

On May 27, 1759, in a letter to Ezra Stiles, the future president of Yale, Francis Alison gave his support to a proposal written by Yale’s then current president, Thomas Clap, recommending a uniform plan of education for the colonial colleges. He stated:

Euclid’s elements and algebra … should be taught the classes statedly and carefully, and moral philosophy should be a business of greater care and closer application than is now the common practice; without this branch of knowledge, we shall be ill able to defend our holy Christian religion; to understand the rights of mankind; or to explain and enforce the duties which we owe to God, our neighbors and ourselves.460