The North and the South of antebellum United States were already different enough to warrant differing types of education facilities. The northern states, particularly in the New England region, developed a networked series of private institutions of higher learning. That foundation of private colleges was missing in the South, so they came up with their own version — public universities, founded and chartered by the states themselves.

On this day, January 27, 1785, the University of Georgia was chartered, with the motto “Et docere et rerum exquirere causas” (meaning “both to teach and to inquire into the nature of things”). By date of charter it was the first state university founded.

UGA’s claim to primacy is however in dispute by another university founded in 1789. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, despite drawing a charter four years after Georgia, was the first to admit students. Georgia did not begin admitting students until 1801.