From you we have learned what we, at least, value, to separate Church and State; and from you we gather inspiration at all times in our devotion to learning, to religious liberty, and to individual and National freedom.

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In 1902 Low resigned as president of the university to become the second mayor of the newly consolidated City of New York. McClellan Jr. Low & Brothers which had been founded by his father in New York.

He was a leading municipal reformer during the Progressive Era.