<P> William & Mary educated American Presidents Thomas Jefferson (third), James Monroe (fifth), and John Tyler (tenth) as well as other key figures important to the development of the nation, including the fourth U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall of Virginia, Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay of Kentucky, sixteen members of the Continental Congress, and four signers of the Declaration of Independence, earning it the nickname "the Alma Mater of the Nation ." A young George Washington (1732--1799) also received his surveyor's license through the College . W&M students founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776 and W&M was the first school of higher education in the United States to install an honor code of conduct for students . The establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 makes it one of the earliest higher level universities in the United States . </P> <P> In addition to its undergraduate program (which includes an international joint degree program with the University of St Andrews in Scotland and a joint engineering program with Columbia University in New York City), W&M is home to several graduate programs (including computer science, public policy, physics, and colonial history) and four professional schools (law, business, education, and marine science). </P> <P> A school of higher education for both Native American young men and the sons of the colonists was one of the earliest goals of the leaders of the Colony of Virginia . The College was founded on February 8, 1693, under a royal charter (legally, letters patent) to "make, found and establish a certain Place of Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good arts and sciences...to be supported and maintained, in all time coming ." Named in honor of the reigning monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II, the College is the second oldest college in the United States . The original plans for the College date back to 1618 but were thwarted by the Indian Massacre of 1622, a change in government (in 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority as a crown colony), events related to the English Civil War, and Bacon's Rebellion . In 1695 before the town of Williamsburg existed, construction began on the College Building, now known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building, in what was then called Middle Plantation (Virginia). It is the oldest college building in America . The College is one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution . The Charter named James Blair as the College's first president (a lifetime appointment which he held until his death in 1743). William & Mary was founded as an Anglican institution; students were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty - Nine Articles . </P> <P> In 1693, the College was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and it was determined the College would be supported by tobacco taxes and export duties on furs and animal skins . The College acquired a 330 acres (1.3 km) parcel for the new school, 8 miles (13 km) from Jamestown . In 1694, the new school opened in temporary buildings . </P>

Who was william and mary college named for