He joined other young Whigs in support of Henry Clay, even participating in a brawl against students who supported James K. Polk during the 1844 United States presidential election.[20] Arthur also supported the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish republican organization founded in America; he showed this support by wearing a green coat.[37] After completing his college preparation at the Lyceum of Union Village (now Greenwich) and a grammar school in Schenectady, Arthur enrolled at Union College there in 1845, where he studied the traditional classical curriculum.[20] He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity,[38] and as a senior he was president of the debate society and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[37] During his winter breaks, he served as a teacher at a school in Schaghticoke.[37]

The home in Manhattan where Arthur spent most of his adulthood years
After graduating in 1848, Arthur returned to Schaghticoke and became a full-time teacher, and soon began to pursue an education in law.[39] While studying law, he continued teaching, moving closer to home by taking a job at a school in North Pownal, Vermont.