Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. Officially chartered in 1795, Union can trace its beginnings to 1779. Certain that General John Burgoyne's defeat at the Battle of Saratoga two years before would mean a new nation, nearly 1,000 citizens of northern New York (which then included what eventually became Vermont) began the first popular demand for higher education in America. Local academic and religious activists persisted in these efforts for sixteen years until the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York recognized the school with that institution's first charter.