The Pennsylvania General Assembly granted a charter to the unified institution on March 4, 1865. The final details of the unification differed from the alumni plan. The campus in Canonsburg would house the President, some professors, the sophomore, junior, and senior classes, while the freshmen, Vice President, and some professors would be located in Washington. Board meetings, commencement, and other special events would alternate between the two locations. The unified board would include 15 from each institution with Dr. Beatty as the 31st member. Of the professors, David Hunter Riddle and Alonzo Linn stayed in Canonsburg. The new charter clearly indicated that Washington &amp; Jefferson College would be non-sectarian. On August 1, 1865, former Jefferson president Robert Jefferson Breckinridge was asked to take the presidency, an offer he formally declined that December, due to failing health and the effects from the assassination of his close friend, Abraham Lincoln. The union of the two colleges, one appealing largely to southern students and the other staunchly abolitionist, was sealed just as the Union was preserved.