Matthias Evans Manly (1810-1881) of Chatham County, NC, a member of the Dialectic Society, graduated from the University with highest honors in 1824. After a year as a mathematics tutor, he was considered for the professorship of mathematics in 1826. Though impressed with Manly's abilities, President Caldwell decided that Manly was too young for the position. Manly eventually became a superior court judge (1840-59), state supreme court judge (1860-65), and speaker of the NC Senate (1866). A Roman Catholic, he was elected to the US Senate in 1867 and served as a University trustee from 1835 to 1868.