This Presbyterian minister and educator strove to provide young men in Nova Scotia with a liberal education that included science, mathematics, and philosophy. The author of anti-Catholic texts, he also founded the interdenominational Pictou Academy in 1816 for those excluded from the Anglican King’s College. When the Anglican-dominated legislative council refused the Academy regular funding, he called for political reform. The first president of Dalhousie College, he influenced the intellectual life of Canada through education and his writing, particularly The Stepsure Letters, a satirical exploration of small-town life.