 On April 30, 1821, Governor Lewis Cass and Judges John Griffin and James Witherell passed a new act that changed the name of the Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania to the University of Michigan, and put control in the hands of a Board of Trustees consisting of twenty members plus the governor.After serving as a Supreme Court justice for nearly twenty years, Witherell resigned in 1828 to accept an appointment by President John Quincy Adams to become Secretary of the Territory.He held the position until May 1830.