[9] Unsure what career path to take, he had worked on the family farm for two summers, and also unsuccessfully attempted to find clerk jobs with Providence businesses.

While in Vienna, he received a letter from Francis Wayland, the president of Brown University, offering him a choice of jobs as chairman of either the Civil Engineering or Modern Language Department, with a year and a half of continued study in Europe.

Extension classes were initiated to bring instruction to the wider community, and Angell gave lectures on his experiences in Europe and on the topic of education.

In the presidential contest, Angell felt that Rhode Island's interests would be best served by the nomination of staunch abolitionist William H. Seward as the Republican candidate.

Angell ran the Journal for the entire Civil War, and briefly considered buying it to run as a non-partisan newspaper (an idea which Senator Anthony rejected), but the workload took its toll on his health.

This effort faced resistance both from classicists worried about the influence of the new college on the quality of education and from farmers who doubted the university curriculum had much to offer them, but Angell was able to build enough trust between the groups that the integration went forward, and both the finances and enrollment began to recover; the latter grew from 31 in 1866 to 67 in 1870.

[22] Angell traveled to state and county fairs around Vermont to attract publicity for the university and his fundraising efforts, and also secured donations from prominent alumni such as Henry J. Raymond, founder of The New York Times, and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.

Due to a lack of funds to hire professors, he personally taught the university's courses in history, rhetoric, German, and international law.

[27] But it was still more a collection of colleges than an expression of the "German model" of university that had been envisioned by its first two presidents, Henry Philip Tappan and the recently departed Haven.

One involved his expressions of Christian piety in the course of official business, which drew criticism as aligning the state-funded university too closely with his personal faith.

[a] Detroit resident Stephen B. McCracken lodged a complaint in 1873 that said such Christian—and specifically Protestant—favoritism violated the state constitution, to the detriment of Catholics, Jews, spiritualists, and free thinkers.

Angell recognized the need to make the Christian spirit he wished to cultivate more voluntary and less explicitly Protestant, first by dropping compulsory chapel attendance, then by hiring the university's first Roman Catholic faculty member, Eugene W.

[35] In October 1875, an audit of student laboratory fees in the chemistry department found a shortfall of $831.10, attributable to one of two professors, Silas H. Douglas or Preston B.

A two-month investigation by the state legislature produced a 740-page report, and the case ultimately went to the Michigan Supreme Court, where Douglas won a judgment against the university in 1881.

[39] Concerned about the growing role of professionalism in collegiate sports and a loss of control by faculties over athletics on campus, Angell called for a meeting in 1906 of the presidents of the members of the Western Conference (now the Big Ten).

In spite of Angell's efforts to institute more control, Yost convinced a majority of the regents to support him, and Michigan left the athletic conference for nearly a decade rather than abide by the new rules.

[40] Angell put his academic career on hold at several points in order to carry out a variety of diplomatic assignments, including serving as minister to the Qing Dynasty in China and the Ottoman Empire as well as negotiating maritime treaties with Britain and Canada.

Angell left for Peking that June with fellow commissioners John F. Swift and William Henry Trescot, and presented his credentials on August 16, succeeding George Seward.

[47][48] The results of these negotiations, the Bayard-Chamberlain Treaty, was signed on February 15, 1888, but subsequently failed ratification in the U.S. Senate, whose Republican majority had objected to the formation of the commission in the first place.

The commission, created by Congress, was to negotiate an agreement between the U.S. and Canada regarding the creation of a waterway to allow ocean-going traffic between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

President McKinley asked Angell to serve as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire in April 1897, and he agreed on the condition he could return home after a year if he wished.

[57] The pressing issue facing Angell in the Ottoman Empire was the protection of American missionaries during the unrest following the massacre of Armenians that had been carried out over the previous two years, as well as compensation for damage to their properties they claimed were caused by both the deliberate actions and the inaction of Turkish forces.

He was mostly unsuccessful on this front, except for negotiating a $50,000 surcharge on a warship the Ottoman Empire was purchasing from an American firm, with the understanding that this would be used to resolve the claims of damages (and which was eventually paid in 1901).

Angell blamed this failure in part on the outbreak of the Spanish–American War causing American naval ships to leave the area and remove pressure on the Sultan.

[59] President McKinley was disturbed by a request from Angell to send American warships to "rattle the Sultan's windows"; he feared it would lead to an event like the sinking of the Maine, and approached Oscar S. Straus about taking over the post.

[63] Angell's health began to decline while on a tour of Europe in the summer of 1911, when he suffered a stroke of paralysis in Germany following an exhausting excursion to Russia.

[65] Angell's historic legacy is based on the transition of Michigan from a small local state college to a major national University featuring state-of-the-art research.

He introduced a broader mission including admission by merit; coeducation; teaching large classes by lecture; and an increasing emphasis on graduate studies.

His moderation, natural tact, and political astuteness strengthened his leadership role, and his diverse background in foreign languages, literature, civil engineering, and newspaper work facilitated his approaches to every major interest group in the state.