President Quincy then issued a statement which suspended the entire Class of Sophomores except for three members who were away at the time. The number of suspensions was thus 49.

On this day too the President announced what had been a veiled threat to the select group of Sophomores and Freshmen called before him a few days previous: public charges were being formally lodged against the Freshmen for the destruction of University property. An investigation was to be launched by the Middlesex County Grand Jury.

The Sophomores were ordered to be off the campus by two o'clock of that day. After that time the administration finally replied to the petition. Their statement announced a refusal to reinstate Barnwell.

Now each class called a meeting in open defiance of President Quincy. A vote for a general strike and open disruption of the University was taken. The motion shook the passions of the students, as it resolved: "a black flag [of rebellion] be raised before tomorrow morning on some of the college buildings--that the whole college dance around the rebellion tree tomorrow morning--that no prayers or recitations be attended until these grievances be redressed." The motion was carried in the Junior and Freshman Class meetings, but before the meetings were dismissed word had been passed down throughout the seniors from President Quincy, to the effect that none of the students had been permanently expelled from the College. This news reversed the decision of the two classes.

That evening the Freshmen took the seats of the Sophomores at Chapel. The next morning the Government of the College, continuing its policy of retaliation, expelled two Freshmen who had led the Class into Chapel and one Junior who was accused of making a disturbance in Chapel. Consequently, the Juniors in another defiant meeting overwhelmingly voted to wear Black crepe on their arms for the next three weeks to display their open hostility to the administration's injustice. They also resolved to publish a circular that would give a fair account of the events.

There was open rebellion. The campus was busy with activities. Said George Moore, "Groups are to be seen at all times in the College yard and around the doors of the buildings talking over this subject."

Several days later two more Freshmen were suspended. This occurred the day that the Junior Class Circular was published. In order to announce their publication a special meeting was held. "An effigy of President Quincy was hung with a rope about his neck from the Rebellion tree--a bonfire built near it--a loud shouting raised--and after exhibited for some time in this way, it was set on fire and burnt . . . this was done by the Junior Class and by a vote of the Class."

In an increasing swell of publications the administration and the students battled with words. The administration under the name of President Quincy issued a defensive circular accounting the events as they saw them. The next day the Senior Class began drafting its statement as a reply to President Quincy's circular. But the Board of Overseers also entered the engagement by appointing a committee to look into the affair. The report of this committee under the chairmanship of former President John Quincy Adams, a relative of Josiah Quincy, was an indictment of the Senior Class circular.

Things calmed down after this somewhat. But President Quincy had to prohibit students from going to Concord to view the public prosecution of the students which was being carried on by the Grand Jury there.

In late June the administration reopened the issue by calling on Freshmen to explain their role. In the process three Freshmen were suspended. The Seniors in the meantime were being examined about their circular. This resulted in the dismissal of seven Seniors just prior to their graduation. The last movement of any force to protest the injustice of the administration was made by the Seniors at this time. They voted to refuse their diplomas and their parts in Commencement. But when the administration threatened never to give them their degrees if they chose not to accept them then, they capitulated. The last protest fell.

The administration had won; but the administration had never dealt with the student's demands. Tactics had been met with tactics. Protests and petitions had been met with suspensions and expulsions. The University had the power and it won.

The price was high. Sixty-eight students had been dismissed from Harvard, almost a third of the 216 Harvard undergraduates. Three students were charged with trespass and one student was charged with assault by the Grand Jury in Concord.

What caused the disruptions at Harvard in 1834?

According to the circular of President Quincy, which has already been quoted, the disturbances were "without cause." Even in the statements by Quincy after the affair had concluded, he held to his original non-thesis. For the President of Harvard College in 1834, the only causes of the spiraling hostilities were the bad manners and impertinence of the students.

But the Juniors of 1834 had a different theory. They took the particular instance of the expulsion of Barnwell, and calling the incident unjust, showed that the source of the injustice was President Quincy. The statement began with a long justification of the actions of the Junior class. "It is undoubtedly the duty of those who are connected with any institution to obey its laws as long as they continue as its members," began the Junior class publication. "But when the measures of those who are at its head become such as appears to them unjustified and oppressive, if open resistance be improper, they have, at least, the right of submitting their cause to the impartial judgment of the Community."