The school was called a seminary, "for the purpose of educating youths of Heathen nations, with a view to their being useful in their respective countries", according to Jedidiah Morse.

[4] A total of approximately one hundred young men from Native American and other non-English indigenous peoples were trained at the school.

Mr. Daggett, and his very capable and faithful assistant, Mr. Prentice, the improvement of the pupils, in general, has been increasing and satisfactory, and in not a few instances, uncommonly good.

Besides being taught in various branches of learning, and made practically acquainted with the useful arts of civilized life; they are instructed constantly, and with special care in the doctrines and duties of Christianity.

[6]From its founding, the school rapidly became a symbol of American Protestant Christianity's Second Great Awakening and expansion of missionary efforts, especially in New England.

It also connected the small farm town of Cornwall in Connecticut's Litchfield Hills to the early 19th century's clash of civilizations areas of interest to the US and Great Britain.

By the second year, there were twenty-four; four Cherokee, two Choctaw, one Abenaki, six Hawaiians, two Chinese, two Malays, one Bengali, one Hindu, and two Marquesans, as well as three Anglo-Americans.

"[citation needed] The students followed a demanding schedule: in addition to mandatory church attendance, prayer, and 7 hours of daily coursework, they did field work, as the school raised much of its own food.

The classical program of study included astronomy, calculus, theology, geography, chemistry, navigation and surveying, French, Greek, and Latin, in addition to practical courses such as blacksmithing and coopering.

But the major catalyst against it were the marriages of two Cherokee students (high-ranking cousins in their tribe) to local European-American girls.

This jeopardized tribal leadership, as the young men sent for education were being groomed to become leaders in the tribes and continue to have major roles, along with their children.

In his report, Morse stated that there were twenty-nine students in the school in 1820, half of whom were Native American youths from the leading families of five or six different tribes.

In addition to the marriage issue, leaders of some of the Southeastern tribes became concerned that residence in the northern states was harming the health of their students.

[6] The Foreign Mission School and the issues of interracial marriage (of white women by Cherokee men) was dramatized in an episode of the PBS American Experience television series in 2009.