The founding of western frontier colleges is examined in light of the changing patterns of theological thought present in the Antebellum period. It is suggested that Donald G. Tewksbury's (1969) comprehensive study of the Antebellum colleges provided an important theoretical framework. In this work, "The Founding of American Colleges and Universities Before the Civil War," Tewksbury focused attention on the numbers of sectarian colleges that later failed. He believed the decline in the Western colleges was due to the competing activities of various denominations. It is suggested that in considering the Antebellum institutions, each denominational history needs to be examined, along with the socioreligious effects of the Second Great Awakening. Some of the causes of the failure of denominational colleges included changing economic conditions, political influences, the rise of the public school system, and other influences in the West. In addition, to understand evolutionary changes in major themes of post-Revolutionary theology, it is important to consider how home missions and evangelism were nurtured by the New Haven, "New Lights," and the interrelationships of the clergy and their "genetic lineage" traced through from Jonathan Edwards. (SW)