Everyone knows what happened 250 years ago: The Declaration of Independence was signed, and a nation was born. Less remembered is that another important document was issued on April 3 of that same year, when the President and Fellows of Harvard College voted to confer a Doctor of Laws degree on George Washington, then the commanding general of the Continental Army, making him the first non-Harvard alumnus to be so honored.
The honorary degree, written in Latin, commemorated Washington’s success in delivering the University and New England “from the unjust and cruel arms of Britain” — a campaign so intertwined with Harvard that during the Siege of Boston, his army was quartered in the College’s dormitories while students were relocated to Concord to continue their studies.
Harvard Law School wouldn’t be founded for another 41 years, but Washington’s commendation was soon followed by honorary law degrees for several others: John Adams (1781), who also received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the College; Thomas Jefferson (1787); and Samuel Adams (1792).
Benjamin Franklin had them all beat, however, having received an honorary degree from Harvard in 1753 — not a law degree but a master of arts.
Other U.S. presidents who have since been named honorary Harvard lawyers include: John Quincy Adams, George H.W. Bush, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Herbert Hoover, Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, James Monroe, Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.