# * <\' dv ^,. ^^^ %- vV 'ci- \ .^ ,0 o^ .^^ ■%. "^\^ .0- ^. %"" -'" -^^ '*^' * .. so ., % " x^'^^^^"'.. "'^^- ^^' ..^^"^. ■!^ ' » X .■" ..- ' •<■! :^' :i>' < ^^^ v^' X^^:. ■'^- 4^ '\'- .•■^ \\' <^.. O^^ -4.1 .<^ -^^. C' \ . . .. •^' • -f^ ■ - -xO <\. ' 'J --> V 0' s o %.^- A^-' '^P- V/. %^ H.y ,./:, '■^ A ' ■"^.- .*^ ,-^" 'o ' / '^ -^ o ., y-^ ' -^ >- , o V ■ -i ^^. z\^ v^ ^^^ ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES 1820-1850 BY FRANK TRACY CARLTON Professor of Economics and History in Albion College A THK8IB SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 1906 (REPRINTED FROM THE BULLETIN OF TH« UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, ECO- NOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE SERIES, VOL. 4, NO. 1. PP. 1-135) MADISON. WISCONSIN 1908 ^ ^ 970 ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES 1820-1850 BY FRANK TRACY CARLTON Professor of Economics and Histary in Albion College A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 1906 .'C>. [131 14 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN town neglect the performance hereof above one. year, that every- such town shall pay five pounds to the next until they shall perform their order. "^^ Three items in this act should be noted: — First, the school system is to be organized primarily in the interest of religion; second, public taxation for the support of schools is made optional with the local administrative units;, third, the town, not the parent, is held responsible for the exe- cution of the provis'ions of the act. In 1671 and again in 1683 the above mentioned penalty was increased, tending to show, as Hinsdale points out, a waning interest in education. The course of events in Connecticut ran in similar channels. "The early records of the Town of Hartford are lost. The first mention of the school is in 1642, seven years after the first log- house was erected, — when an appropriation of thirty pounds is settled upon it. not as a new thing, but as one of the estab- lished interests of the town — a thing to be looked after, as much as the roads and bridges, the support of public worship, and protection against the Indians. "^° In 1650 an educational law was passed modeled after the jMassachusetts Act of 1647. In- terference on the part of the state in educational matters' was justified by "the indifference and indulgence of many parents and masters." In Rhode Island the strong opposition to the in- fluence of the clergy was an important factor in delaying the development of the public school system. "Here the idea pre- vailed, as it always has in England until very recently, that the public elementary schools are charitable institutions."^'^ There was little uniformity as to educational development. Some towns were zealous in the cause ; but others were extremely negligent. The constant pressure exerted upon the towns by the Colonial government aided greatly in the general development of education. The leaders who were sent to the general court were well-educated, religious men.' Here is the phenomenon of a trained, selected leadership imposing educational requirements in the name of religious and civic welfare of the community.^® 1'' Uepi-intecl in Reijort of Coinminsioner of Education (1892-9J3), 1232. See also- The Colonial Laits of Mass. (Boston, 1880. Ueprinted from edition of 1660), 190-91. ^''Barnard's Jottrnal of Education (1857), 4:658. '■ I'errin, 26. " Schafer, Land Granta for Education, 21. [14] CARLTON — ECOXOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 15 It may be Avell to i)oint out, at this place, that in the period, 1820-1850, the striking features of the phenomenon will be found to be considerably modified. The humanitarian leaders of the later period, however, seemed to be the true successors of the religious leaders of Colonial times. A paragraph from the writings of a local historian throws more light upon the early situation. "It was not because there was a popular de- mand for the school that the school came ; it was because the men who influenced pul)lic sentiment — the best men in the Col- ony^ — led the people, and would take no refusal, that at last the public feeling rose to the task of supporting the school.. For though the government of the tOA^iis was democratic, and every church member had a vote, the best men nevertheless' took the place and the power which their education and capacity gave them, and dragged the lagging sentiment of the populace np to the demands of the times. "^^ In the elementary schools stress was laid upon the inculcation of moral virtues, and the gram- mar schools and colleges were intended as schools preparatory for teaching and preaching. "Finally the pious spirit of the ancient inhabitants of Wobuni manifested itself in their care for the religious education of their children and youth. — Regarding religion themselves as the principal thing; they were earnestly solicitous to inculcate the same great truth on the minds and hearts of their offspring."-'' The general education which the mass of the New England people received during the Colonial period has often been over- estimated. In support of this opinion, the views' of several writers will be quoted. "In those days, there was little civil law. or medicine, or book learning outside the clergy. All there was backed by the influence of property, went to regulate the towns, and to balance any excessive tendencies of the religious element."-^ "The people of Colonial Xew England were not all well-educated, nor were all their country schools better than old field schools. The farmer's boy, who was taught for two winter months by a man and two summer months by a woman, seldom learned more in the district school than how to read, '■' De Forest. H. P.. Hmloyii of Westborouf/h, Mass., 100. Also Schafer, 14. ^"Sewall, History of M'ohuni, Mass., 00-7. *• Weeden, 1 :87. [15] 16 BULLETIN OF THE UNRTERSITY OF WISCONSIN write and cipher."-- The prominence given to the grammar school and to religious instruction and the strict supervision ex- ercised by the ministers over the schools, makes Supt. Draper's charge against the early Engfish schools appear pertinent also to the schools of Colonial New England. The English treated "the elementary schools with indifference," and they desired "to educate leaders to the tenets of the state church, so far as religion might go, and who w^ould sympathize and agree with the English aristocracy^, so far as polities Avere concerned."-^ In like manner the New England leaders were solicitous for that kind of education Avhich tended to maintain the existing re- ligious belief and to preserve their leadership. As late as 1821 it Avas Avritten of Ncav England that "education was entirely in the hands or under the direction of the clergy, Avho were all Independents and Calvinists. "-■* In the South, as Ave haA^e seen, economic conditions Avere radi- cally dissimilar. The difference between the early Ncav Eng- land settlers and those of Virginia and the Carolinas was not alone sufficient to produce great variations in their attitude man- ifested toAvard education. Tobacco, cotton, rice and indigo are crops favorable to the formation of the plantation system and the use of indentured and slaA'e labor. Fiske asserts that "the economic basis of that community [Virginia] Avas the cultiva- tion of tobacco on large plantations and from that single eco- nomic circumstance resulted"-" most of the peculiar social features of southern life. After 1646 there Avas "a consider- able amount of compulsory education in Virginia;" but the sys- tem of isolated plantations and the absence of any community life precluded the development of such a system of schools as was found in Ncav England. -''• In the South, therefore, a system of tax-supported schools could not be anticipated because of the wide separation of the plantations and the lack of community feeling betAveen the people of the different plantations, hofaus-; the plantation system produced a highly self-reliant and in- ^- Fiske, Old Virf/inin and her Neighhors, 2:2.51. "" r)raDer. <>ri(>/., 240. [16] CAHLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 17 clividiialistic class who would naturally oppose free tax-sup- ported education, and, lastly, because the presence of a class of indentured servants and of slaves constituted a barrier to the development of the free-school system. During the early Colonial period education was fostered pri- marily on the ground of religious necessity. The public schools were supported, as a rule, by means of land grants or other ap- propriations, local taxation, tuition and private beneficence. In certain localities, particularly in Massachusetts, the schools became practically free."' This is distinctly a period of middle- class control; clerg-janen dominated in the management of edu- cational affaiirs. Religion and education went hand in hand. In Colonial New England, the leaders, rather than the mass of the settlers, were interested in the education of the entire people; but class differentiation was not as yet an important phenom- enon. " Martin, Evohition of the Mass. Pvhlic School System, 52. [17] 18 BULLETIN OF THE UNIMLRSITY OF WISCONSIN CHAPTER II THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION EDucATiON^yi, Decline In New Englaud during the early Colonial Period, as we have seen, the centers of educational advance were also the strong- holds of the Calvinistic theocracy. As might be expected, in Rhode Island where this theocracy was never enthroned, the early educational development was dwarfed. But with the growth of new settlements, pushing farther and ever farther into the interior, aided by the constant pressure of a new and ijrimitive environment, a new democratic spirit, a spirit which chafed Lmder the authority of religious and educated leadership, de- veloped and became powerful. Not only was the supremacy of the early New England Church threatened by this rising spirit of democracy with its accompanying diversity of creeds, but the extreme and unwise zealousness of its own ministers tended to produce a reaction against it. After the crusade against witchcraft at Salem, it has been pointed out, the authority of the ministers began to wane.^ Writers on the history of Chris- tianity in the United States record a period of religious' decline. "By the end of the first third of the eighteenth century, New England, politically, ecclesiastically, theologically, and morally, had come into a state of imstable equilibrium."^ 1662-1720 "was a period of marked religious declension in all the colo- nies."^ In 1678, Increase Mather asserted: — "The body of the rising generation is a poor, perishing, unconverted, and except the Lord pour down his Spirit, an undone generation. Many ^ Cobb, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America, 237. -Bacon, A History of Ainericaii Christianity, 105. 3 Dorchester, Christianity in the United States, 1.34. [18] C-VELTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 19 are profane, drunkards, lascivious scoffers at the power of God- liness. "* The commercial depression of 1740, ''fell npon a generation of New Englanders whose minds no longer dwelt preeminently upon religious matters, but who were, on the con- trary, preeminently commercial in their interests."^ Neverthe- less, in spite of these changes in the sentiment of the people, the ministers remained, at least until the time of the downfall of the Federalist party, a powerful political factor in New Eng- land. If, as has been maintained, early Colonial education was a growth fostered particularly by the religious leaders, an educa- tional declension would be the logical result of the weakening of the ministerial authority. Such a phenomenon actually was ob- served." Many other forces contributed their quota in pro- ducing this result, and in delaying a revival of educational zeal until after the War of 1812 — over a century later. "This de- clension is' commonly ascribed to the w^ars with the Indians and the French that w^asted the blood and treasure of the colony [Massachusetts] ; the political and social contentions that dis- turbed its peace; the uncertain relations that existed between ^Massachusetts and the Mother Country, and internal, economic, and social changes."" The foregoing analysis would, however, lay the stress directly upon the decline in religious ardor, and indirectly upon those forces which contributed to this result. The intermittent warfare which the colonies were engaged in down to the end of the Revolution was certainly sufficient to prevent much attention being paid to education, Avhich deals with the future rather than the immediate needs of a people. In the early Colonial period all schools were town schools. As the population increased and became scattered, a new social condition developed. The population of a town was no longer concentrated around one church and one school-house. As a result of this expansion of population, a very important changa took place in the management of educational affairs which ^Quoted ihid.. 137. ^Greene. M. L., The Drrr1ni)iiicnt of Rclir/ious Liberty in Conn., 22G. ''' Hinsdale, Horace Mann, '.). - Ihid., 9. [19] 20 BULLETIN OF THE UNIX^RSITY OF WISCONSIN modified, in no small measnre, the progress of educational de- velopment. At first, in order to meet the needs of all the chil- dren of a to'OTi the "traveling school" was resorted to. "The traveling school reversed the usual practice; the school went to the children, not the children to the school; that is, the single town school was kept a certain time in one corner of the town, then in another, and so on until the circuit had been completed, the periods that it spent in different localities being equal or unequal, as circumstances' might determine. ' '^ This soon led to the formation of several district schools within a given town. But as might be expected with a people accustomed to the town meeting form of government and extremely jealous of central- ized control, the district system of school management followed. This process was a gradual one; the culmination of the power of the school district was not reached until 1827.° This year "marks the utmost limit to the subdivision of American sover- eignty — the high water-mark of modern democracy, and the low Avater-mark of the IMassachusetts school system. "^*' At this time only two limitations were placed upon the powers of the district, namely, the raising and apportionment of taxes, and the qualification of teachers." The Grammar school had been, as we have seen, the distinc- tive and important grade of school in the early period. The groAvth of the district system necessarily meant the decline of this grade of school, because the districts, being small units, could not support, in the majority of cases, a good grammar school. At this point in our history the famous academy is ushered in. This is simply the visible token of the decline in the "free" grammar school; it grows out of the demand of the well-to-do classes for better educational facilities than could be obtained in the district school. While the district system led toward democracy and equality of privilege from the political point of view on the one hand; it tended on the other toward class differentiation. This latter tendency, coupled with the 8 Hinsdale. Horace Mniin. 11. » Martin, The Evolution of the Mass. fichool Sif.itcm. 02. In Conneeticiit. the formation of "school societies" may have been a factor in the development of the district system. '» Martin. 92. " Ihhl., 93. [20] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 21 growth of an industrial class, led finally to the educational awakening which placed our educational system upon a new basis, and to an era w^hich demanded centralized school admin- istration and tax-supported free elementary schools. During the long period of "marking time" in educational affairs, which preceded the era under investigation, while many dissimilar forces were aiding in the disintegration of the early Massachusetts and Connecticut school system, one influence stands out prominently in opposition to the prevailing tendency, namely, the system of land grants for educational pur-poses. The presence of large quantities of land at the disposal of the towns, the colonial, and later the state, governments enabled them to subsidize the schools along the well-lmown line of least resistance. They could aid in the development of education without apparently touching the pocketbook of the tax-payer, "In the light of English practice respecting school support, it is not surprising to find the early American colonists founding 'free schools' or 'free grammar schools,' and endowing them with lands. The custom was followed to some extent in all of the colonies', but in certain ones, namely Massachusetts, Con- necticut and New Hampshire, it developed steadily in the di- rection of the public land grant system. In many, perhaps in most cases, these lands, wiien granted, were of little value. But their value steadily increased with the general development of the country, and with this increase the popular interest in them kept pace."^- It is worthy of notice that the system of land' grants for educational purposes orig-inated in order to aid the grammar, not the elementary or common school.^^ The chief disintegrating forces of this long period of transi- tion may, therefore, be summarized as follows, although it must be remembered that these are not distinct, isolated, or unrelated influences: (a) The decline in the power of the Puritan the- ocracy and the increasing strength of various religious sects; (b) the enlargement of the sphere of settlement, and the con- sequent development of the district system; (c) wars, internal dissentions and the formation of a new government distracted the attention from the field of education; (d) the decrease of " Schafer, Tlic OiUjin of the System of Land Grants in Education, 11, 15. "iW(;., 23. [21] 22 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN mutual interdependence among the settlers and the weakening of the spirit of clannishness. On the other hand, the forces which tended to continue our educational progress appear to be ; (a) an inherited belief in the religious and civic value of edu- cation; (b) the use of land grants for educational purposes. Soon' after the "War of 1812, other forces appear in the fore- ground which give a new impulse to educational progress. Just at the dawn of this period, one of the earliest spokesmen of edu- cational radicalism declared: — "Under our present constitution, or for the last forty years, the schools have no doubt been vastly improved. But they have most certainly, not kept up with the prt>gress of society in other respects. Although their absolute motion must be acknowledged, their relative motion has been for many years retrograde. And there never was a time, since the settlement of the country, when the common schools were farther in the rear of the improvements of the age in almost everything else affecting our condition and happiness than they are at the present moment."^* The Situation at the Opening of the Period (1820-1850) "VYhat then were the educational conditions in the different states at the opening of the period under consideration? The Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780 stated that it 'was the duty of "legislatures and magistrates," to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them: especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and "grammar schools in the town. ' ' The school law of 1789 was still in force •in 1820. This law is conceded to be a step backward in com- parison with previous laws.'^ By this act the district system was legalized. The toAvns were still required to maintain schools, but the minimum length of the school year was only six months. Towns of one hundred and fifty families or more were re(| aired to support a grammar school. Penalties were provided in case of neglect, by a town, to support schools. For example, a town of fifty families was fined fifty pounds for such neglect.^''' One iiCartor, .T. C, The Schools o' Mass. ?» 1S20 in Old flonth Leaflet. No. \^'t, '.i. ''■ Dexter, History of Edueation in the United (States. 80. ^« Barnard's Journal of Education (1857). 4:057-710. [22] C.mLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 23 important clause of this Act reads thus: — "Be it enacted hy the authority aforesaid, That all plantations which shall be taxed to the support of the government, and all parishes and precincts, are hereby authorized and empowered, at their annual meeting in ]March or April to vote and raise such sums of money upon the polls and ratable estates of their respective inhabitants for the support and maintenance of a schoolmaster to teach their children and youth to read, write, and cipher as they shall judge expedient, to be assessed in due proportion and to be collected in like manner with the public taxes. "^' After speaking of the educational laws of this state, Winterbotham remarks: — "These laws respecting schools are not so well regarded in many parts of the state, as the wise purposes which they were intended to answer, and the happiness of the people require. "^^ At the opening of our period there Avere no public schools where chil- dren could prepare for the grammar schools. In 1817, a sub- committee of the School Committee of Boston was appointed to consider the desirability of public primary schools. The sub- committee reported that "for children under the age of seven years', it is true, no schools are maintained at public expense." But it was asserted, this class of children was not neglected; they were cared for in a series of small private schools. Al- though the tuition acted as a tax upon the parents, it was not considered to be burdensome or inequitable. The sub-committee also emphasized the importance of home training for very young children. In view of the heavy taxation already levied for pub- lic schools, it was urged that the establishment of free primary schools for children under seven years of age was not "expe- dient."^'' At the opening of the period of educational revival, in Massachusetts', the state whose educational history is proudly pointed to by students of history, elementary education, al- though legally a part of the duty of the public schools, actually devolved, in the main, upon private schools. ■'Full text of the law jxiven in Report of CrunviL^xioiicr of Eilucaiion (1S92-3), 1234-37. Also. The Perpetual Laws of Mass. (1801), 2:39-44. ^^ All Historical, Gco», 14:423. ^^ Piftsflchl Sun, May 10, 1822. Copied in Baltimore Moniinu Chronicle, May 25. 1822. =" Dexter, 59. [26] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 27 more, tli^^y [poor boys] are indebted for the ample means of in- struction which they now enjoy, . . . "^^ The famous ordinance of 1787 consecrated the Northwest to freedom, and proclaimed that "religion, morality, and knowl- edge, being essential to good government, schools, and the means of education, should forever be encouraged." The first Consti- tution of Ohio, the first state to be carved out of the Northwest Territory% contained the following clause: — "schools and the means of instruction should be forever encouraged by legislative pro\asion, not inconsistent with the right of conscience." The first general school law was not passed until 1821, nearly a score of years,' later; and this was unsuccessful. Previous to this law, education in Ohio was purely a private matter. JMany schools were organized by means of private subscription; many private houses were utilized as sehoolhouses.''"'' "Schools worthy of re- membrance, between 1802 and 1820 were known only in most enterprising towns'."'" The slow development of public educa- tion is made evident by the following quotation. "In the year 1833, tiiere were twenty-four private schools in the city [Cin- cinnati] , with thirty-eight teachers and one thousand two hun- dred and thirty pupils, and in the public schools but twenty-one teachers and two thousand pupils. "^^. At the beginning of our period. Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, iMichigan, and Wisconsin, were still frontier states. Education was necessarily much neglected; but the influential settlers, as a rule, adhered to the early New England viiew as to the necessity and value of univereal educa- tion. In the South, excepting South Carolina, prior to 1820 there was practically no provision made in any .state for public education. In New England, excepting Rhode Island, at the beginning of our period, the principle of free tax-supported schools for all was, in theory, accepted. Elsewhere free public elementary educatiion was only for the poor. But even in New England the free schools were much less efficient than private ones. Kev. Edward Everett Hale in A New England Boyhood said that '■''■ Baltimore Morning Chronicle, December 10. 1822. ^0 Life and Times of Ephriam Cutler, 49. 88, 172. ^' liarnanVx Journal of Education (1850). 0:82. ^ Venable, Ijiterary Culture in the Ohio Valleii, 421. [27] 28 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN there was no thought of sending him to a public sch-ool, — too poor in eharacter.^^ The difference between New England and other sections was in reality only one of degree. However, this difference changed slightly the character of the struggle during the period of educational revival. In New England, the demand was nominally for supervision ; but supervision signified better free tax-supported schools, it stood for a leveling of the invidious distinctions between public and private schools'. In New York and Pennsylvania, particularly in the latter, on the other hand, the issue was clear-cut; it was definitely and unmistakably "free" versus "pauper" schools. 2' Hinsdale, Horace Mann, 30, foot note. [28] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 29 CHAPTER III FUNDAMENTAL INFLUENCES The foregoing chapters have given us a view of the conditions at and preceding the opening of this important period in our educational and industrial history. We have before us the traditional and inherited beliefs and tendencies in regard to education. The attention must now be directed to the changes, social and industrial, which occurred during the period. This epoch (1820-1850) is one of rapid transformation from house- hold industry to the factory system ; it is the era of the extension of the suffrage, of the abolition of imprisonment for debt, of various humanitarian movements from religious revivals to the ■establishment of communistic settlements, from temperance re- form to the abolition of slavery. During this period the growth of the cities was rapid, an important labor movement arose, and the theory of protection received recognition from Congress. Brief consideration will now be given to various changes, in- dustrial, social and political which appreciably influenced the development of the public school system. The Growth of Population and op Manufacture The year 1790 may be selected as the date of the birth of the factory system in this countrj'. The first factory within the borders of the United States was erected in Beverly, Massachu- setts, in 1787. Thi.s' venture Avas unsuccessful.^ From this time until the end of the period under consideration, there was a gradual transfer of industry from the household or the small workshop to the factory. With the development of the factoiy 1 Trie Factorv ffustcm of the U. .S'. iu CaifiKS RcporiS. 1880. Manufaciiircs. 2 .G- [29] 30 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN system came the concentration of industry in the towns, more minute diviision of labor, and rapid increase in the production of manufactured articles'. The percentage of population living in towns and working in manufacture and trades increased at a. rapid rate. The Embargo Act and the War of 1812 caiLsed capital to shift from commerce to manufacture, particularly in New England. During this period, importation was greatly reduced ; and this fact tended, in a measure, to stimulate inven- tion and home manufacture. "At all events, we know that the embargo and the war did cause the introduction of numerous manufactures on a larger scale than ever before; and that those Avho engaged in the business had a natural monopoly."- But Avhile the manufacturing interests were benefited, the shipping interests were seriously injured ; and shipping regulations adopted by other nations subsequent to the war further increased their distress. The business of ship-building came to a standstill ; and many ships lay idle in port.'' Immediately after the War of 1S12, and the close of the Euro- pean straggle with Napoleon, this county was flooded with for- eign manufactured goods. The infant industries, for such they might then justly be termed, having been artifically stimulated by the restrictions laid, in the immediately preceding years, by the embargo act and the conditions of war, were unable to meet the excessive competition ; and an era of hard times set in,, which continued until after 1820. iQ'he entire period (1820-1850) is characterized by the rapid gro-wiih of urban population, the development of manufacture, and a multiplicity of important inventions. The population of Massachusetts increased during the two decades, 1800-1820, nearly 2-1 per cent. ; during 1820-1840, over 40 per cent. ; during 1830-1850, nearly 60 per cent. ; but during the same periods the increase in the population of the city of Boston was approxi- mately 73, 115, and 123 per cent, respectively.* Lowell, which - Stanwood, Amoiciin Tariff Coiitrorcrsics. 1: ll!8. 3 Stanwood, 1: 104; and yilcs' Rcfjistcr, 11: .374. Mil 1830. the population of Boston was 61.392; rrovidence 16,833; New York Cffy, 202,589; Philadelphia (city and county), 161,427; Pittsburg and Allegheny. 18,000 ; Cincinnati, 24.831. [30] CAELTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 31 had no existence in 1820, boasted of a population of over 20,000 in 1840; New Bedford increased from 3,947 to 12,087 during the same space of time. "Lowell is a mere manufacturing vil- lage, and no place, we believe, has ever increased from manu- factures alone, with greater rapidity, or with the same popula- tion, has had an equal number of operatives. In 1830, its pop- ulation was 6,500 and in December 1833, it was estimated at 15,000; and more than one-third of these were employed in cot- ton establishments."^ In 1790 less than one-twentieth part of the total population of ^Massachusetts lived within the limits of city of Boston; in 1820, about one-twelfth part, and in 1840, about one-eighth part Avere inhabitants of that city. "Within ten miles of Boston there is now (1846) one quarter part of the population of the state, amounting to more than 200,000, chiefly dependent upon Boston as the center of business; in 1790 the number was less than a ninth part of the whole. '"^ Chick- ering shows that 213 towns chiefly agricultural, situated in INIass- achusetts, increased only 8.5 per cent, from 1820 to 1840, while 88 manufacturing towns increased 79.62 per cent.^ Dur- ing the score of years from 1820 to 1840, the population of Rhode Island increased approximately 31 per cent., that of the city of Providence nearly 100 per cent. ; in New York State the increase was nearly 77 per cent., while in the city of New York the percentage was about 153 per cent.; in Pennsylvania the increase was over 64 per cent., and that of Philadelphia over 72 per cent.® In the three New England States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut during the period from 1820-1840, the number of persons engaged in agriculture increased approxi- mately one-fourth; those engaged in commerce decreased about one-third; and those engaged in manufacture and trades in- creased nearlv two and one-half times." Owing to inaccura- M'itkin. Thos.. .1 Statistical Vicic of the Cnmmcrcc of the U. S., (1835), .j2:J " Chickerlng, On Population and Immiijration, li)9. ■ IbU., 49. ^ Cenaust Reports: also Tucker, I'royrcss of the V. »S'. *IUd., Tucker, 135-36. [31] 32 BULLETIN OF THE UNI\TERSITY OF WISCONSIN cies and to different classifications in the two census reports these figures can only be considered approximate ; but they show clearly the drift toward manufacture. In 1840, according to the census reports in jMassaehusetts, the number of persons en- gaged in agriculture was 87,837, in commerce, 8,063, in manu- facture and trades, 85,176; in New York. 455,954, 28,468, and 173,193 respectively; in Ohio, 207,533, 15,338 and 105,883 re- spectively. The number of cotton factories in the United States increased from 801 in 1831, to 1,240 in 1840. In 1831, the num- ber of persons' employed in cotton manufacture in JMassaehusetts was 13,343, and in 1850, 28,730; in Rhode Island, 8,500 and 10,875 respectively." The immigration into the United States during the decade, 1820-1830, was 143,439; during the next decade, 599,125, and during the period 1840-1850. it increased to 1,713,251. From 1830 to 1837 the immigration increased nearly three and one- half times." A census of the city of Boston taken in 1845 stated that 37,289, or 32.6 per cent, of a total population of 114,366 consisted of foreigners and their children. The state Census of New York (1845) found that more than one-eighth of the Whole population were of foreign birth, and more than one- third of the inhabitants of New York City were foreign born.^- The character of the population was rapidly changing. ]\Iany foreign immigrants were finding homes in the North Atlantic States, and many of the home stock were migrating westward. Among the important inventions and innovations of this period of thirty years are many which practically revolutionized industrial methods, for example, the general introduction of the power loom, the use of the hot-air blast in iron smelting, the in- troduction of anthracite coal into the same industry, the in- ventions of the mower, the reaper, the sewing machine and the friction match, the introduction of the steam printing press, the ^0 The Factorii Snalon of ihc U. 8. in Ccii>43 Xfwpoit cduiit V ." 1 ,45n 516 Kent .■oniitv 78-t 838 P.rist.il county 08:5 238 Wnsliinuton county 1,181 813 Total 6,677 7,748 The New York Jounuil of Commerce stated "that the consti- tution thus rejected is a different thing from that which is called the free suffrage constitution which was the result of a popular movement, and sustained by most of those who opposed the constitution thus rejected. "^^ In Ehode Island the cities and the working classes fathered the suffrage movement which, in other states was forced by the frontier. Professor Blackmar makes the following statement regarding the removal of the religious tests relating to the exercise of the suffrage. "From this time on, [1691] the freehold test became- more general until at the beginning of the eighteenth century it was nearly universal in practice in the colonies'. The relig- ious test became less exacting in many instances, and finally broke down altogether on account of the great diversity of relig- ious beliefs of the new immigrants, rendering it impossible to maintain a popular government under a religious test."^" This, argument, if tenable, ought also to account for the removal of the property qualifications in the fii-st half of the nineteenth century. During this period class differentiation increased, and the opposition between rural and urban districts began to be clearly discernable. Social antagonism shifted from the relig- ious to the economic point of view. The West — the frontier — did much to force more liberal suf- frage provisions ; and the ballot in the hands of the wage-earners was an important factor in making tax-supported schools an actuality. The latter statement is supported by these facts which will be considered later: (a) "Workingmen 's conven- ■■2V(7es' Register, April, 2, 1842, '{2: 80. i« Quoted, ibiiL, «a: 8.J. ^° ClinutduijiKin. ii'2t 29. [35] 36 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN tions and parties during this period, favored tax-supported schooLs; (b) the cities rather than the rural districts supported the movement. The following testimony from English experi- ence is pertinent. "If factory regulation had been attempted, though only in a piece-meal way, sometime before we had a dem- ocratic house of commons, the same can not be said of educa- tional law. It was the parliament elected by a more popular suf- frage in 1868 that passed, as we Imow. the first great educational act. That act introduced compulsory schooling."-'' Fred- erick Jaclvson — a representative labor leader, — voiced a similar sentiment from the view point of the workingmen when he de- clared in January, 1867: — "Nothing will force the governing classes to recognize the workingmen 's claim and judge them fairly, nntil they find them wresting into their own hands real political power. ' '-^ The Humanitarian ^Movement* Two movements now attract our attention: the humanitar'an and the labor movement of the period under consideration. It is not for us in this study to consider these important social movements in detail; but they are so inextricably connected and interwoven with the educational advance of the period that we mii&t note the sources of these two movements, and notice the causes which led to their decline or dilution. After the termi- nation of the War of 1812 came a period of anxiety and distress for the artificially stimulated manufacturing industries which the War and the Embargo Act had fostered. This period ter- minated in the crisis of 1819. With the revival of industries, beginning about 1822 and becoming quite apparent in 1825, came the rapid growth of town population, the stimulation of immigration ; and a new set of industrial and social problems were placed before the people of this young republic, particu- -0 Green, T. 11.. Wo]ks. .'5: S.*^!). -1 Quoted l)y .T. B. Andrews, in The Commons, June, 190.5, 840. * See article by the writer in The International Journal of Ethics, October, 190G. [36] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 37 larly those residing in the northern and eastern states. The pecu- liar evils of modern urban life became apparent; but experience ^'ained from rural life afforded no adequate guide as to the proper and etfective methods of coping >witli these new evils. Idle and uneducated children appeared upon the streets' of the cities and towns, on the one hand ; and on the other, the problem of child and woman labor in factories or in intensive domestic industry, pressed for solution. The rush into the towns, the consequent change from outdoor and active, to indoor and com- paratively sedentary life, and the greater opportunity for associa- tion with others, made more noticeable, if it did not actually in- crease, the evils of intemperance. Pauperism and crime be- came crying evils. Societies for the prevention of crime, for the aid of the poor, and for other benevolent purposes, sprang as by magic into existence. As early as 1813. a "Society for the Suppression of Intemper- ^ ance" was formed in Massachusetts. The " Penusylvania So- ciety for the Promotion of Public Economy" was founded in 1817 ; and a similar society :was organized in the same year in New York City. Juvenile crime became especially noticeable in 1820 and 1821. The American Temperance Society was or- ganized in 1826.'-' Public meetings were called to consider measures to better social conditions. ' ' From such earnest efforts to prevent pauperism and crime there sprang most naturally a di.scussion and revision of the means then employed to reform criminals and lessen the repetition of crime, in short, of criminal codes and penitentiary .systems in use in the States."'^ The ])i'evalence of juvenile crime turned attention toward the matter of education. The long continued hard times accentuated the evils of the factory town and the industrial city, and produced a fertile soil out of which sprang public interest in the reforma- tion of morals, and the humanitarian movement.-* Several quotations, taken chieHy from contemporary writers may make the picture clearer. In 1819, it was calculated that the --McMaster, 4; eh. ;!T ; also lliyf. iif X. Anirrica, IS: 4:>C.. El. by Lee. -' MeMaster. 4: .-,4(i. ■-' IbiiL, 4: ell. ;{7. [371 38 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN number of persons in Pittsburg thrown out of work by the de- pression from 1816-1819. was 1,288; in Philadelphia, in thirty branches, 7,288. In Rhode Island alone, in the cotton industry, the number employed was' diminished, 1816-1819, by 11.337.-^ In 1826, Rev. Joseph Tuckerman resigned his pastorate in Bos- ton, and devoted himself to the interests of the poor. "He found the streets tilled with idle children, large families occupy- ing the damp and dirty cellars of Broad and Sea streets, gradu- ating thence to the hospitals and almshouses. Indefatigably visiting from house to house, giving practical counsel, apprentic- ing boys, procuring employment for adults, starting an infant school, attending the courts, the whole problem of poverty, ignor- ance and vice now absorbed him, heart and head."-*' In 1833, it was reported that 6,069 criminals and vagrants were com- mitted to local prisons in New York City; and the number of public paupers was estimated to be 24,326. — making a total of 30,395, or about one-eighth of the total population of that city. The amount of public money needed for the support of these cla.sses of the population was about $300,000. The number of dramshops in the city of New York in the year 1833, was ap- proximately 3,000.-' \ The following statistics, representing the total for the states of Virginia, jMaryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and the New England states, give an idea of the amount of woman and child labor in the cotton industry during the opening years of the decade 1830-1840: Males employed, 23,301; females, 39,178; children (under 12 years of age), 5,121.-^ Ji In the cotton mills of the Union Manufacturing Com- pany of INIaryland, in 1822, there were employed 120 girls, 58 boys (7-19 years of age), and 6 men.-" Mr. Carey published a pamphlet in which he stated "that there are in the four North- em cities, probably from 18,000 to 20,000 women who, if con-. ^- Fraul-Uii G(i::cite. February 12. 1821. -'■Tiffany, Chas. Francis Barnard, His Lif( and Wnrlc. 14. 2" Quoted from N. Y. Ohscrrcr. liy Amcr. [lailji Adrcriiscr, February 11, 1835. -« Boston, (Md.) Rcpnliiican Star. April :'., 18.12. ^^Ihid., December 10, 1822. [381 Cx^LTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 39 stantly employed for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, can- not, on an average, earn more than $1.25 per week. "^° A cor- respondent to Niles' Register in 1816, makes a cold blooded cal- culation as to the additional amount of wealth which might ac- crue to the United States, if children, not now employed, could be placed in the mills and factories of this' country. Such a step, it was argued, would benefit commerce and agriculture as well as manufacture.^^ This interesting phenomenon, known as humanitarianism, was a product of the social and economic change and unrest of the period.^- Certain educated leaders and literary men are found advocating better conditions for workingmen, and presenting high ideals to the American people. The prominent humani- tarian ajid educational leaders of the period, such as Emei'son, Thoreau, James G. Carter, Geo. Ripley, J. F. Clarke, Wm. E. Channing, Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, Robert Rantoul, Jr., 0. E. Brownson, Theodore Parker, Samuel Lewis and F. H. Hedge, came chiefly from old New England stock; they were sons of ministers, farmers and merchants, and they were nearly all college bred.^^ But they Avere only remotely connected with the great industrial changes which had been sweeping over New England. These men Avere representatives of a class in the community which was losing its' grip upon social and political authority. As one writer states, "a feeling was abroad that all things must be new in the new world. "^* This feeling was in reality produced because the ground was being cut out from ^"Xiles' Register, 38: 141. "' Ihid., 11: 86 '= Humanitarianism. as it manifested itself in the United States at tliis time, is l>.v no means, an isolated and unique plienomenon. It seems to arise in every complex society in a period of acute social antagonism when the lower classes are strugsling for better conditions. Prof. Dunning observes that it is a "familiar phenomenon" to find radical views based upon reactionary institutions. (Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu, 77-78). The French Revolution and the fall of Japanese feudalism present to the student of history two very striking climaxes of humanitarian movements. In these two instances the con- trolling classes seem to have become enthused with the spirit of self-sacrifice, mixed with fear. ^^ See Appendix II, for short biographical sketches of these men. " Frothingham, Transcendentalism in Xcv England, lOG. [39] 40 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN under the very class which had hitherto molded the ideals and directed learning of New England. Another student of this period looking at this phenomenon from an entirely different point of ^aew makes the follo'vving statement: "The commercial classes of New England robbed of their functions as a ruling class, while still retaining a sufficient wealth to maintain them were dying out in a blaze of intellectual fireworks. ' '^" This produced the transcendental movement. — a branch of the more inclusive humanitarian movement. Let us, however, examine a little closer into this humanitar- ian movement which plays such an important role in the educa- tional progress of the period. Why should its leaders turn to- ward measures for the improvement of the workingmen? As Nieboer has pointed out, in slave countries a slave is personal property, and the slave is held by the master or employer by means of personal compulsion. On the other hand, in countries where modern industrial system has developed and laborers are plentiful, the workers are obliged to seek employment through impersonal compulsion. At one end of the chain is the slave economy where the owner has a direct personal interest in the slave or worker; at the other end is the modem factory owner with no direct personal interest in his hired workmen. ^"^ Be- tween these two extremes stand serfdom and the domestic system of industry wdth its peculiar and intimate relations between ap- prentices, journeymen and masters. New England witnesse.d, at the beginning of our period, a rapid destruction of the crude and unsystematic forms of the domestic system of industry, and the adoption of the factory system, or of a more intensive and systematic form of domestic industry. Contemporaneous with this evolution came necessarily and inevitably a considerable modification in the relations existing between employers and employees. The new class of employers was not connected to employees by any customary or intimate relations. Now, the class of men from which came the humanitarian leaders was, as ^ Simons, A. M... Class Struggles in America, 22. 2" Nieboer, Slavery as an Industrial Siistcm, 419 et seq. [40] aUlLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 41 has been noted, intimately connected with the other classes of the eommunity. These men were still strongly inflnenced by the ideals and customs as to the treatment and care of workers, which prevailed under the old form of the domestic system. The influence of cu&tom here as elsewhere in the economic world was such as to soften the rigor of the competitive system.'" At this particular time, custom stood for better treatment of the working classes ; it urged the necessity of a paternalistic atti- tude on the part of the employers' toward employees. The hu- manitarian leaders were not directly influenced by the economic motives which so rapidly changed the point of view of the man- ufacturing interests ; and it must not be forgotten that the roots of this movement were nourished in the soil of eighteenth cen- tury idealism.^® The humanitarian leaders wished to continue the old semi-pat- ernalistic method of domestic economy into modern industrial and city life. They saw the existing evils of child and woman labor, pauperism, juvenile crime, intemperance and unemploy- ment ; they were strongly impressed by the disintegrating ef- fects, upon the family, of crowded city and town life; and they magnified and glorified the desirable features of the earlier form of domestic industry with its intimate personal relations between workers and employers. The hurry and bustle of business and the keenness of the race for profits offended and shocked them ; and no golden stream 'was finding its way into their pockets to obscure their vision of conditions, pasfan.d present. The humanitarian leaders saw a new class of men rising to control not merely the wealth, but the political and social afiiairs, of the state and nation. They were animated by very diff^erent ideals and motives from those which appealed to this new economic and social class. The two classes were instinctively antagonistic; and the humanitarians struggled against that which seemed to them to be evil. These men more or less uncon.sciously joined ^" Webb. Indiistria} Dcmocracu, — s GO.j et srij. ^* "The individuars conscience is apt to be the mirror of the particular ouviron- ment in which he has jri'own up : and even his revolt against existing institutions bears traces of its unavoidable influence." Ritchie. Xatiiivl Rights, 85. [411 42 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN hands Avith the new-born labor movement. These two dissim- ilar forces united in aiding in the educational advance toward tax-supported schools. Educational progress was most marked in the cities' where these two forces developed their greatest strength. ^^ The Labor Movement In this study, it is not wise to enter into an intensive consid- eration of the labor movement which waxed and waned during the period which we are examining. Its inception was, of course, the natural, or rather the inevitable, result of the aggregation of workers in towns and factories. "Organized labor is labor in its normal condition."*" Four phases of this movement may be distinguished: (1) The development of trade unions; (2) co-operative or communistic activity; (3) the birth of working- men's parties and the participation of workingmen in the polit- ical activities' of the time; (4) the appearance of journals and newspapers devoted to the cause of labor.*^ This labor move- ment was ephemeral and in one sense premature; conditions were not yet ripe for permanency. The peculiar importance of this evanescent movement was due, not to the solidity and strength of its internal organization, but to external conditions, to the peculiar balancing of divergent interests which obtained at this particular period in the history of the United States. "Five industrial classes were at this time struggling for the mastery in America. The plantation South in alliance with the pioneer West held the reins of power. However, their interests were by no means identical ard there were many points of dis- agreement concerning a political program. In the North the commercial class was just giving Avay to the manufacturing class 2" Recently in England a similar phenomenon may be noticed. "The Socialist leaders and the most notable spiritual descendants of Cobden and Mill" were united on the question of tree trade and the South .African war. Ilolihouse, Democracy and Reaction. *° Ely. II. T., The Labor Morcmcnt in America, ?A. *^ IbiiL, chs. 2 and ii : also, Simons. International Socialist Rcrieu-. 5: 140-7. [42] CVRLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 43 and arrayed against this latter Avere the new social forces of the proletariat."" Even if this bald mathematical statement of the resolution of the social and political forces of this era, is not correct, it cer- tainly is true that at this time there was great diversity of inter- ests. It is perhaps sufficient to point to the election of John Q. Adams as President, and to the bitter struggle and changing attitude as to the tarifit', to illustrate the point that here was an excellent political opportunity for the rapidly increasing Avork- ing population. It was this unique situation which gave the workingmen a peculiarly strategic political position. It has been pointed out that the argument that protection would tend to raise the rate of wages was not injected into tariff discussions until after the rise of a laboring class.*' In the city and state of New York and in Philadelphia, after the Workingmen 's Party had exhibited considerable strength the old parties hastened to conciliate the workers and to dissipate their political strength by adopting important planks of their platform, or by placing some of the candidates or friends of the workingmen upon their tickets." The success of ]\Iartin Van Buren, Jackson's chief lieutenant in the important State of New York, Avas, in no small measure, due to keeping in close touch Avith the labor vote.'''' Although this movement soon lost its strength, it left an in- delible impress upon our institutions. ]\Iany forward steps were taken AA'hich have not, as yet. been retraced. The reasons for its disintegration may be briefly summarized under fi\'e headings. (1) A strong pennanent labor organization is' not to be anticipated Avhile much practically free land can be ob- tained; and AA'hile it is possible for the employee to pass easily and readily to the position of employer. Under such conditions class consciousness and the feeling of solidarity of interests' among the Avorkers do not readily develop to a suf^cieut degree "Simons. A. M.. Chifif^ !. **Nrir Yfirk ffprrtalor. October ."0. 1S.:\a : Wor1;hn/ Man'-t Adrncntc. Mnreh 1."?. 1830. Myers, G., History of Tammany Hall, 97 et seq.; Mechanics' Free Press, (I'liila.) September 2(1 and I.'". ()ctol)er IS. 1828. « Simonds. J. C, The Story of Labor in All Af/es. 438. [43] 44 BULLETIN OF THE UNI\^RSITY OF ^YISCONSIN to insure strong;' and permanent labor union organizations. (2) The attainment of many of the more moderate demands of the labor party and labor press, such as a mechanic's lien: law, abolition of imprisonment for debt, and increased taxation for the public schools, naturally reduced the number of adher- ents and diminished the ardor of those remaining. (3) Coupled with this 'was the rising tide of the slavery agitation which drew the attention from the demands of the workers and ab- sorbed much of the vigor of the humanitarian leaders. (4) The stigma of infidelity which became attached to the working- men's party was a serious handicap. A' New York newspaper in discussing the success of the "Infidel" or "Fanny Wright" ticket (which elected a state assemblyman in 1829), after hav- ing enumerated its chief demands', said: "Principles like these, we are persuaded, would be regarded with utter abhorrence by the great body of 'mechanics' and 'vvorkingmen' who were so artfully enlisted in their support."**' Yet there was nothing in the published platform which savored of infidelity or of an- archy. (5) The communistic movement Avas also an import- ant factor in weakening and dissipating the strength of the working-men's organization. This movement also absorbed a portion of the strength of the humanitarian movement. The Workingmen's Party in New York City was first split on the question of agrarianism. A few months later the most import- ant branch of the party was divided into two sections on the subject of education. The weaker wing stood for the boarding, or communistic, school ; and the other for improvement in the familiar common school svstem.*' *'■' AVir York Mrrciiiij. November 11. ISlIU. ^' The writer. The Workingmen's Party of New York City, 1829-31 in T7ie Political Science Quarterly, Sept., 1907. [44J C.VELTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 45 CHAPTER IV ARGUIMENTS FOR AND AGAINST EDUCATION The i)robleni which now ccnfronts us, baldly stated, :s What were the forces engaoed in the struggle for free tax-sup- ported public schools? The antecedent balance of forces, and the important industrial and social changes of the period of struggle have been considered. The question directly before us presents itself under two closely connected aspects. First : AVhat were the arguments advanced during this ])erii)d for and against free tax-supported schools, and to what classes or inter- ests in the comnniu'.ty did each argument particularly appeal? Second : AVhat was the actual alignment of the various inter- ests, — ^social. industrial .and religious? The arguments for the free tax-supported schools, or for educational advance, may be summarized under seven heads. These are arranged approximately in the order of importance: (1) Education is necessary for the preservation of free in- stitutions. (2) It prevents class differentiation. (3) Edu- cation tends to diminish crime. (4) It reduces the amount of poverty and distress. (5) It increases production. (6) Education is the natural right of all individuals'. (7) Edu- cation will rectify false ideas as to unjust distribution of wealth. It will be noticed that arguments 1, 2, 6, and 7 relate to civic and ethical considerations ; and 3. 4 and 5 to economic consider- ations. The arguments against the above proposition may be arranged as follows: (1) Free education for all increases taxation unduly. (2) Taxation for the purpose of maintain- ing free public schools is a violation of the rights of the individ- ual. (3) A public system of schools was opposed by certain religious elements because of possible injury to particular re- ligious sects. (4) Certain non-English -speaking people op- [45] 46 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN posed the public schools because they feared that their owm tongue would be supplanted by the English language. (5) Im- practical legislation caused much opposition. (6) It was urged that education would not benefit the masses. (7) In- jury to the private school was alleged. (8) Public education tends to break down social barriers. In addition, as influences acting adversely to educational progress may be mentioned the increasing opportunity to put children to work in factories, and a wide-spread apathy and iudifiference toward education which was evident in certain sections and among certain classes in the community. It i.s more difficult to classify these opposing forces'; but 2, 3, 4 and 8 may be labeled as purely conservative forces, and 1 and 7 as of economic nature. The idea that universal education is essential to free institu- tions is inherited from Colonial New England. This was the favorite argument of the man from New England. We find it used for example by Thaddeus Stevens and Samuel Breck in Pennsylvania, and by Samuel Lewis and Ephraim Cutler in Ohio. In general, this argument was advanced by two quite different elements in the nation, — the well-educated leaders in- fluenced by early New England ideals, and the laboring classes. Its advocates approached the question from two viewpoints. On one hand, it was urged that free institutions, could not long exist or could not progress without wide diffusion of education. "A self-governing people without education is an impossibility; but a self-governing people, imperfectly and badly educated may continually thwart itself, may often fail in its best pur- pose, and often carry out the worst. More especially will this be the case, if the power of wealth, and the power of knowledge failing to co-operate because one or the other is placed in a false position, act in destructive contradiction to each other. "^ The above quotation from an address delivered, in 1839, by Robert Rantoul is perhaps a typical statement of the argument. Gov- ernor Clinton of New York, at the opening of the Session of the State Legislature in 1827, said : ' ' The great bulwark of repub- lican government is the cultivation of education ; for the right of the suffrage cannot be exercised in a salutary manner without. ^ Rantoul, Robert, Jr., Memoirs, 134. [46] CAKLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 47 intelligence."- "In a republican government, general intelli- gence should be diffused among its citizens. They are thus en- abled to perform their duties as constituent parts of the govern- ment."^ Governor Seward of New York in his message (1839) declared: "The consequences of the most partial improvement in our system of education will be wider and more enduring' than the effects of any change of public policy, the benefits of any new princi]:>le of jurisprudence, or the results of any enter- prise we can accomplish."'* The following two quotations present the same view from the standpoint of the workingmen. The first shows clearly a feel- ing of class antagonism. "Indeed, to conceive of a popular government devoid of a system of popular education, is as dif- ficult as to conceive of a civilized society destitute of a system of industry. This truth has been generally received in this country, and never, I believe, directly denied ; although its force has been attempted to be evaded by the rich, who have hereto- fore, unfortunately, .been our sole law makers, through the odious system of charity schools — the bare idea of which im- presses a consciousne.ss of degradation, and leads to results the very reverse of those that ought to be produced by popular in- struction."^ This spirit of discontent is one phase of the move- ment which found concrete expression in the election of Andrew Jackson. A paper devoted to "the interests of farmers and la- boring classes voices the sentiment in the following; trite state- ment. "But few out of the many can receive more than a com- mon school education. — Give to every child this and our Repub- lic is safe. ""^ The second viewpoint emphasized the social side of the ques- tion, and argued that universal education was necessary to pro- mote the common welfare. Accordingly, education was held to be a public affair ; the essence of tliis view is the same as that which animated the men of INIassachusetts when they placed the Act of 1642 upon the statute books. "It is vain to say that educa- ^ Randall, Ilistory of the Hchool System of yeie York. 27. ^ Gov. Porter, in inaiisural address, 18.30, (I'a.) Connectieiit Common Sehool Journal (1839), 1: 80. * Ihid. 5 Simpson, Stephen.. A Manual for Workihgmen, (1831), 201. ^ Farmer^s and Mechanics^ Journal, (Alexander, N. Y.) April 7, 1838. [47] 48 BULLETIN OP THE LTNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN tion is a private matter, and that it is the duty of every parent to provide for the instruction of his own children." Some par- ents will not. others can not. ''The State has an interest in every child within her limits."' Thus argued Bishop Doane to the people of New Jersey in 1838. A legislative committee in the same state declared that the duty of education is a constitu- tional one. "In the first place the power over education is one of the powers of the public police, belonging essentially to gov- ernment. It is the duty of self-preservation, according to its actual mode of existence, for the sake of the common good. ' '** The Secretary of the Commonwealth (Pennsylvania) in a com- munication to the House of Representatives of that state, used this argument: "If the maxim is true, that know.'edge is ■ power, and liberty itself but a precarious blessing without it, then its general diffusion becomes the common interest of all our citizens, in proportion to the extent each may have, personal and pecuniary, to defend and protect."'' " Seth Luther in his address on the "Education of Workingmen." delivered in 1832, expresses the radical position of the workingmen. "In our re- view we have seen a large body of human beings ruined by a neglect of education, rendered miserable in the extreme, and incapable of self-government ; and this by the grinding of the rich on the faces of the poor, through the operations of cotton and other machinery."^" Luther emphasizes the evils of the' factory system, dwelling particularly upon the evils of long hours and child labor. He holds that the factory system with its overivvork. unhealthy conditions and accompanying crowded home conditions is rendering the "common people unfit to gov- ern themselves," because the physical energies of the operative, "man, woman or child, are wasted and his mind is rendered su- pine."'^ In 1850, the supporters of the School Law of New York, passed in 1849, stood firmly on the ground that a tax to support schools was justified on the ground of social utility. "We hold, therefore, that our present school tax is not imposed ' Hcpoit of Commifisioner of E% to moral degradation, physical want and so- cial l>arbarism."''' The same writer complains of the arrogance and pride of the educated; and adds, the "educated are gener- ally rich." "Literature and education, thus afftanced to opu- lence, naturally feel a strong repugnance to share their intellect- ual dominion with the nuiss of society. "'■* The retention of the "conniion law of (Jr-at Riit'-iin" \vas, he hf^ld, a vit-V error, as 't is incompatible with ecpuility in government. "A State of So- ciet}^ exists in this counti'y which prevents the producing classes from a participation in the fountains of knowledge, and the ben- "AVir York TrilnnK'. September L'S. IS.'O. •^.4 Manual for ^Vorkill!/lll('l> . 214-1."). '* Thi(L. 24--,. 4 [49] 50 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN efits equally designed for all." This condition is produced and sustained by "Avarice, which is nurtured and fostered by a defective education. "^^ The Delaware Free Press declared its mission to be "to awaken the attention of Working People to the importance of cooperation in order to attain the rank and station in society to which they are justly entitled by virtue of their industry, but from which they are excluded by want of a system of Equal Republican Education. "^'^ In 1835, a Min- ers' Journal urged that the school law of Pennsylvania would tend toward equality for individuals and toward the perma- nence of republican institutions. "The Education Law is em- phatically the Poor Man's Friend. "^^ One of the toasts given at a Workingmen's banquet, on July 4, 1830, read as follows: "Universal Education. — The nation's bulwark; a fortress that will alike defy the siege of aristocracy, and the ravages of time."^^ Horace Mann adhered emphatically to this view. "Educa- tion, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is," he said, "the great equalizer of the conditions of men, — the bal- ance-wheel of the social machinery."^'' As early as 1795, Sam- uel Adams pointed out the dangers of the private academy. He feared that it would detract from the value of the common school, and lead to class distinctions between rich and poor.-** The evils which these men were combating were real, not imag- inary. We learn that in ^Massachusetts, "in 1838-39 there was spent for instruction in private schools — -not incorporated — one- half as much money as was spent for the common schools, — • wherever the private-school system in any community gets on its side the social and political leaders, it will grind the public schools to the wall, and do it under legal and constitutional sanction."-^ An investigation into the conmion school systems of New England and New York by an official conunittee from a ''■ Luther, Seth. Address previously cited. ^■'Dcluwfire Free Press, January 9, 10, and 2.S, 1S:50. Also, Free Enquirer, (N. Y.) November 21, 1820, 29. "■Quoted in American Daiiii Aiirertiscr, (I'liila.). January 21, 1835. ^^ Free Enquirer, July 17, 1S:3(». 304. ^Education and Prosperity, in Old South Leaflet, No. 144, also 12tn Report.' =" Martin, Evohiiiun o, the Mass. Public School System; 128. -' Ihifl., 129-30. [50] CARLTOX — ECOXOMIC IXFLUENCES UPOX EDUCATIOX 51 Avesteru state furnishes contemporary evidence on this point. "Indeed, they [Schools of New England and New York] are al- ready, in some cases', particularly in Connecticut, producing that very discrimination between rich and poor, which above all things they aim to prevent and are accelerating the classifica- tion of the members of society according to their wealth. Only allow the rich (no matter under what pretext, whether of phil- anthropy, or patriotism, or interest) to prescribe the education of the poor, and they prescribe their conditions and relative im- portance."-- The leaders of the movement in New England for school supervision saw clearly that if the public school was to be beneficial to the masses, it must be approximately as efficient as the private school. The two following quotations throw light upon the western and southern view as to the efficacy of education as a leveler of in- vidious class distinctions. A legislative committee on common schools, in Ohio, -reported (1825), the system of free schools "seems most consonant to the principle of our constitution. It places the children of the rich and poor more nearly upon a level and counteracts, that inequality which birth and fortune would othertwise produce."-" Even in the South during this period are found advocates of a system of public schools. About 1830, the Southern Free Press, published in Charleston, South Carolina, stated in its prospectus, "Our great object will be to urge you to break down the barrier which separates your chil- dren from those of lordly aristocrats by the establishment of national schools. ' '-* The economist must recognize the importance and correctness of the plea that education does tend to equalize opportunity, although today our definition of education would be broader than that of the men of 1830-1840. Wages of individuals vary greatly from the wage received by the eonnnon day laborer to the salary received by the skilled professional man ; and the dif- ference between the two rates of compensation is by no means solely due to differences in the expense of training w^orkers for the two dissimilar positions in life, or to absolute differences in "Barnard's Journal of Education, 5:136-37. -■^ American Journal of Educi;. "Quoted in the Worl^iin/ Man's A,lru,-4-7. [60] CARLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUEXCES UPOX EDUCATION 61 the thrifty pay toi- the shiftless? I am not so un-c;hristian as to say that the ehihl once here should not be ca.red .for. But BO long- as tax-payers pay for expensive play grounds, etc., the children of the poor will increase like rabbits :n a burrow."*^ Dr. Wayland appears tt) luive held similar views. He believed that educational expenses might be provided "partly, by a general fund. This fund should, however, never defray more than a portion of the expense; for no man values highly, what he gets for nothing."'^'" The plea that free public education is a violation to the rights of the individual and an infringement upon his liberty, joins hands on the one side w'th the argument .iust discussed, and on the other side Avith religious opposition to a public school system. It is extremely interesting and important to notice that many of. the points advanced by the men who presented this line of argument, have reappeared in more recent years, under a slightly different garb in opposition to other radical or progressive measures advocated by workingmen. The neg'a- tive definition of liberty 'was used by those who employed this argument as a weapon directed against the public school sys- tem. Liberty was assumed to be non-interference with the in- dividual: protection and tax-supported schools looked to govern- ment interference. The definitions of "rights" and of "in- dividual liberty" are extremely liable to be given a class or sectarian interpretation, or to be used merely as catch i\hrases to snare the unwary. Rhode Island affords an example of the extreme position taken by the opponents to tax-supported schools. "The original Providence compact to obey the government of the majority 'only in things civil' had been perverted so that education by the state was supposed to violate the religious liberty of the parent, a curious illustration of the way in which the narrowest sectarianism may fraternize with the most radical assertion of c!vil and religious liberty; . . . So violent was this prejudice that respeetal)le members of the legislature declared that the attempt to tax a connnunity for public schools 'would be resisted *o Vfiirdf/o Uccnrd-Hcmhl. Novprnher 10. IDo: ^'> Political Economji, 13(t. [61 62 BULLETIN OF THE UXI\-ERSITY OF WISCONSIN at the point of the bayonet.' ''''^ Here is an excellent example of liberalism imitiug with reactionary religious sectarianism against the more modern ideal of democracy. The force which in the earlier history of Rhode Island stood for progress, was now a conservative and retrograde influence. In 1828, a law Avas passed making the support, of the public school optional with the towns. In 1844, 16 years later, only three towns im- posed a tax for school purposes. In 1847, on the contrary, only three towns refused to impose local taxes for that purpose. This apparently sudden reversal of public opinion in this manu- facturing state has been attributed to the campaign of enlighten- ment carried on by Henry Barnard.'^- The really significant fact is that in the early forties the long struggle for a consti- tution and broader suffrage qualifications ended. Immediately after this extension of the right to cast the ballot, tax-supported schools begin to increase rapidly, and by 1850 the principle was apparently established in this state, beyond controversy. If the two facts are closely related to each other; one further connnent ought to be made. In 1840, according to the census reports, fifty-one and a fraction per cent, of all persons engaged in gainful occupations, in Rhode Island, were engaged in manu- facture; or in other words a very high percentage of her citi- zens were wage-earners. We must not lose sight of these facts when more detailed consideration is given to influence of the wage-earning population upon the development of the public schoor system. In Massachusetts, in 1839, a new administration came into power. It Avas suggested that the care and control of the schools should be left to "the nurseries of pure democracy," — the town and district meeting. It was asserted that the Board of Educa- tion which was trying to introduce supervision into the schools,, and to increase the power of the central authorities and weaken that of the local districts, was trying to ' ' Prussianize ' ' the schools. Further the new administration held that the Board was at- tempting to substitute aristocratic for democratic measures,—^ an ingenious device for crushing the liberties of the citizens of" Mayo. Rri)nit of Coiiiui i>isinncr of E<1 neat ion, (1890-07), 787. J hid., 7S4 ft Sit/. [62] CAELTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 63 the eoinniomveMlth. This view did not prevail in the le^i'islature, and the Board of Education was allowed to continue its work.^* A writer discussing opposition to free education, has stated the arguments as follows; — ^*'But these opponents of free education' object to any coi-iipulsory proceedings on the part of the State, alleging that a law of this character, if passed, would be a viola- tion of the liberty of the cititzen, who has a right to do as he pleases, to educate his children or not, as he pleases, to w^orship God or not, as he pleases, and to live free from any restraint of any kind, whether civil or moral."'* It would not be difficult to find arguments advanced in opposition to labor unions, col- lective bargaining, or an eight-hour day, which rest upon the same foundations and repeat almost identical phrases. A strong defender of the cause of public schools and a friend of the working classes, makes a rather long statement of the situation, but one whicli seems worthy of ciuotation. "A sys- tem of general education, one would hardly imagine, could meet with an opponent in an age so enlightened and so philanthropic — an age so distinguished for the march of mind, the diffusion of knowledge, and a severe scrutiny into all the principles that combine in the structure of society. And yet, wonderful to say, public education for the people has gothic adversaries, and illiberal, narrow-minded traducei's. The extension of the lights of loiowledge by popular education, to all the people of the re- public, has ever been the avowed ob.ject of our most illustrious statesmen. The text of the friends of liberty was — to enlighten the people is to promote and cement the public virtue. The soundness of the text was never questioned anterior to the or- ganization of a party, whose ob.ject it was to obtain it from the legislature as a right, un.justly withheld. When public instruction was bestowed as a boon of charity, it found numerous advocates, and met with no opponents; but now when we .justly demand it as a right — and under our constitution it must be a right and not a charity— it is not only refused by some, but to our utter amazement, its consequences are painted as baneful to the people, and deprecated as having a fatal tendency upon the good order *» Martin, Evolution of Massachusetts School System, 17S-79. " Dnflaeld, D. B., Barnard's Journal of Education, 1857, 3: 95. [63] 64 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN of government. AVe seem to have resuscitated from the tom)) of time the very spirit of the feudal ages, in the breasts of certain bigots, intolerants, aristocrats, and narrow-minded monopolists of knowledge, Avho seem as averse to giving the people light, as they are to paying them for their labor in hard money. "^^ Several states which authorized in their constitutions, or by-laws, the formation of a public school system, allowed these laws or constitutional provisions to be dead letters for years. When an attempt >vas finally made to enforce the laws or carry out the requirements laid down l)y the constitution, violent op])Osition •immediately arose. It appears that there are grounds for the contention made in the latter part of the quotation. One other feature of interest in the above quotation is the use of the term "liberty." It is quite evident that Simpson has abandoned the narrow negative definition, it means something positive to hiuL To conclude the discussion of this argument, it may be well to present a clause quoted from resolutions purporting to have been drawn u}) at a New York State mass meeting in 1850. These resolutions give us an inkling into the bitterness of the fight on tax-supported schools in the Empire State, less than three score years ago. The present law, declared the resolutions, "is infidel socialism in its principles; unjust and oppressive in its operation; immoral in its tendency, irreligious in its conse- quences, and injurious to the cause of education; both l)y not possessing the proper requisites — and by destroying the harmony so necessary for its successful operation.""''' Racial and religious opposition to the public school system during this period may be considered under one head, as these two forms of opposition usually went hand in hand. In New England, one nationality was predominant; differences in lan- guage did not complicate the situation. While many slightly different religious sects did spring up in New England, these were practically in accord in regard to the value and desirabil- ity of the maintenance of schools by the state rather than l\v the church. The scene is, therefore, shifted from New England to =5 Simpson, A Manual for Workinymen, (1831), 212-13. ^^Neir York Tribune, September 26. 1850. Meeting lield in Cliarton. Saratoga Co. [64] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 65 the Middle Region ; and the most important and speetaeiihir strusi- gle of this nature occurred in Pennsylvania. In these states is found a heterogeneous population. In New York and Pennsyl- vania, for example, we see very clearly and distinctly, the clash of city against rural districts, agriculture against manufacture and commerce, nationality against nationality, and religion against religion. These two important states became the battle ground of interests, economic, racial and religious. They became the breeding grounds of political rings and bosses. Here we find the struggle for and against the public school system un- rolled in all its severity and complexity. At present, we are concerned with and must examine only one phase ; namely, that caused by the commingling in one commonwealth of different peoples possessing widely divergent ideas of life and religious beliefs. The antagonistic peoples are chiefly represented by the English on the one hand and the Germans and the Dutch on the other : the religious elements are the Calvinistic belief or some modification of it transplanted from Xew England, and the Quaker. Lutheran, or some allied sect. As has already been mentioned, the attempt to carry out the provisions of the "pauper clause" in the constitution of the state of Pennsylvania, was not crowned with success. In the early part of 1834. an educational law was passed by the state legislature, with little consideration or opposition. Its provisions were not well understood at the time of its passage, and it proved to provide for a very cumbrous and unAvieldy mechanism. The following quotation from a letter written by a member of the state legislature shows why the bill of 1833-183-4 was carried with practically no opposition, and gives one reason for later opposition. "The bill reported by the joint committee of 1833- 34 was generally regarded as correct in principle, and, as mem- bers of either house were alike inexperienced, it was not much discussed, but was passed l)y a unanimous vote in the Senate and with but one dissenting vote in the House. Samuel Breck of the Senate. Chairman of the joint committee, was undoubtedly the author of the bill. He was a highly educated gentleman, past the meridian of life, who had never mixed much with the people living in country districts. Hence we cannot wonder that the main fault of this law, perhaps its only material fault, was 5 [65] 66 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN the great amount of machinery required to carry it into effect."^'' This law provided for free schools for all in the districts ac- cepting it. A state appropriation was provided to be distributed to those districts which would levy a local tax for the purpose of providing and maintaining free public schools. Districts not providing for local taxation received nothing from the state.^^ The following quotations from "Wickersham 's admirable His- tory of Education in Pennsylvania, give a vivid picture of the opposition which this unfortunate law stirred up and brought to the surface. "Of the 987 districts then in the State, 485 either voted outright against free schools or stubbornly took no action whatever- in reference to the matter. In many districts the contest between those in favor of accepting the new law and those determined to reject it, became so bitter, that party and even church ties were for a time broken up, the rich arrayed themselves against the poor, and the business and social rela- tions of whole neighborhoods were greatly disturbed. Cases are Imown in which father and son took different sides, and in cer- tain districts an outspoken free school man was scarcely allowed to live in peace and transact his ordinary business. ' '"^ The op- position was by no means entirely confined within certain re- ligious denominations; but on another page the same author declared: "The new law (1833-1834) met with most favor in the northern counties. These had been settled principally by people from New England and New York, who had been accus- tomed to public schools and understood their advantages. It was comparatively well received in the counties Avest of the Alle- ghanies, where a diversity in wealth had not yet bred distinc- tions of class, and where different nationalities and different religious denominations had become so thoroughly mixed as to recognize an educational interest in common. Opposition to it was most formidable in the southern, central, and southeastern portions of the State, and greatest of all in the counties and dis- tricts where the people were principally of German descent. "^° "Quoted T)y Edmonrls, History of the Central High Sclioo-l of Phila., 21, foot note. =^ Senator Breck was a New England man by liirth. lie was born in Boston^ in 1771 : and was at this time living near Bhiladelphia. '-' Wickersham. 31S. '"Hid.. 318-19. See also Edmonds, 21. [66] CARLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 67 The Friends, T^utheraiis. the Keforuied and ]\Iennoiiites. where they were sufficiently numerous, usually had schools of their own and. as a rule, arrayed themselves against this law.'^^ The free schools were called " Ztviny Schulen," — forced schools. Of the Quakers and their view of education, Fiske writes: — ■ "In spite of their liberalism, the Quakers attached far less im- portance to education than the Puritans of New England — Quakers, in studying the Bible depended upon their Inner Light rather than that critical interpretation of texts to which the orthodox Puritans attached so much importance.'"'- In 1786 this prayer was introduced into the litany of the Lutheran Church. "And since it has pleased Thee, chietiy by means of the Germans, to transform this state into a blooming garden, and the desert into a pleasant pasturage, help us not to deny our nation, but to endeavor that our youth may be so educated that German churches and schools may not only be sustained, "but may attain a still more flourishing condition. "^^ It was this conservatism which placed the Germans in the ranks of opposi- tion to free public schools. "Many persons of German descent combated the -free school idea because the instruction was to be given in the English language, and they feared tbat it would result in the displacement of their mother-tongue.'"'* Hon. H. A. Muhlenberg in his frequently quoted letter to the working- men of Philadelphia, (Jan. 1836) presents another reason for German opposition. "The Germans of our State are not op- posed to education as such, but only to any system that to them seems to trench on their parental and natural rights." The op- position of the Germans was then, two-fold: their idea of an educational system was that of one dominated by the church and clergy, to this the public school stood directly opposed; and they feared an>i:hing which would tend to destroy the use of their language. In the state of New York this phenomenon was less marked, but by no means absent. A newspaper correspondent, in 1850, wrote that objection to the free school law of 1849 came from '•' Jhi Niles' Register, (1816), 2: 2. 71] 72 BULLETIN OF THE UNU^RSITY OF WISCONSIN CHAPTER V THE ALIGNMENT OF INTERESTS The story of the development of our tariff system, for exam- ple, is the history of a struggle between different interests and sections within the United States as a whole ; likewise onr edu- cational advance, indirectly modified by the influence of prog- ress in one state upon that in another, was, and is, the result- ant of the conflict of interests — economic, social, religious and racial — wuthin the different states. The bitterness of the strug- gle is augmented 'where great diversity of interests exist. We must look, as in the study of our tariff' history, to the motives which actuated groups of men, rather than particular men. The study of the actual alignment of interests has, of course, been to some extent anticipated in the last chapter. In study- ing these forces or influences we nmst consider them as abstract and impersonal. A given individual may be influenced by many more or less conflicting and antagonistic interests and de- sires. Imagine, for instance, a German-Lutheran wage-earner and non-tax-payer living in a city; his racial and religious bias would tend to produce a somewhat different attitude on the subject of free education from that which his economic and oc- cupational interests would tend to create. In other words, the individual is a focus of many more or less conflicting emotions, demands and ideals. Religious belief and inherited traits, particularly during a period of rapid industrial and social modification, often stand in opposition to the influence of oc- cupational or economic forces. The individual on account of his membership in conflicting groups may be first on one side and then on the other. His allegiance is determined by the strength of contending motives, and is necessarily altered by changes in his social environment, his occupation, economic en- [72] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 73 vironiiioiit. and so on through a long list. The individual is more or less submerged in the mass. His views are biased and colored by the aims and ideals of the class to which he belongs, or the interests which he represents. The following classification of interests acting for and against the development of a system of tax-supported public schools mav be of assistance. For j\Ien considered as : Citizens of the Republic. "Workingmfen. Non-tax-pay ei^s'. Calvinists. Residents o'f cities. Against, or lukewarm; j\Ien considered as : Residents of rural districts. Tax-payers. Members of exclusive or ul- tra conservative classes. Lutherans, Quakers, etc. Possessing a mother tongue other than English. Proprietors of Private Schools Such an analysis does not signify that all workingmen were favorable to the public schools, or that all Germans, for example, Avere opposed to them. It indicates that the workingmen, as a class' during this period, stood for better educational facilities, and that the Germans, in the main, were unfriendly to an in- stitution which seemed to threaten the continuation of the use of their mother tongue. In the American nation which had recently achieved inde- pendence after a long and costly struggle, and had established a republican form of government, the good of the republic be- came almost a religion to the mass of the people. Pleas for education as the comeretone upon which good citizenship rests, strengthened because of the rising tide of foreign immigration, exercised a powerful influence. Practically e\ery argument con- sidered, in the last chapter, which was favorable to education ap- pealed to the man as a citizen, and three (2, 5 and 6) of the op- posing arguments also favorably impressed him. The citizens* belief in free institutions and in the desirability or the neces- sity of education in order to maintain them was balanced against the danger of infringing upon the liberty [731 74 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN and the rights of the individual, through compulsory taxation for educational purposes. The arguments which urged that education diminished crime and poverty, and increased production, decreased the opposition of the taxpayer. Where the numerical strength of a religious sect, in a given dis- trict, was not sufficient to warrant the establishment of sectarian schools, the effect was, as a rule, to reduce the opposition to the public schools on the part of the members of sects who were, under other conditions, strongly arrayed against it. Similarly, the strength of the individual opposition of non-English-speak- ing settlers was' diminished wherever the concentration of this class of people was not particularly marked. It is perhaps un- necessary to consider further the position taken by different in- terests, except that of the cities and rural districts, and that of the workingmen. As early as 1799, the Mechanics' Association of Providence made a vigoroiLS demand for a system of public schools. In the same year the legislature of Rhode Island enacted a local option school law ; but only Providence availed itself of the law, and it was repealed by the votes of the remainder of the state in 1803.^ Three decades later, in the fall of 1829, the interest of working- men in the question of public education suddenly rose to a fever heat, and continued unabated during 1830. From that time it seemed gradually to diminish and in the forties very little is heard about education from the spokesman of the workers.- They were, during this later period, more interested in other pressing problems, of which the public land question was per- haps the most important. This ebb in the sentiment favoring public education appears to be due, in part, to the fact that the workers came to realize that education was not a panacea for all social ills; and to be partly due to the improvement in the school system during the decade of the thirties. That the workers remained firm believers in the desirability of a free 1 Mayo, Rep't of Com. of Education, 1896-97, 784 et seq. MVhen the Worhiiuj Man's Adiwiitf (X. Y.I. edited by Ceo. II. Evans, first ap- peared on October ;U, 1829. it w.as wildly enthusiastic ou the subject of educa- tion. Evans declared that this was the one measure which would regenerate society. But when, after the publication had been discontinued for several years, a new series appeared (1844) under the .ioint editorship of Evans and 'John Windt. other prolilems attracted the editors' attention. [74] CARLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUEXCES UPOX EDUCATION 75 school is, however, adequately proven b}' the decisive referendum vote in New York State in 1850.^ Nevertheless, there is adequate evidence that the Working- men's parties of Philadelphia and New York, although they took up education as the chief plank in their platform, did not origi- .nate in a demand for better educational facilities for the masses.* That was a later development. It was taken up at a time when ^agitation was rampant. The workers felt that they were suf- fering from grievious ills; and they were looking for a remedy. P'or 5'ears it had been impressed upon the public that education made for equality; that it was a prime essential in a free coim- try. In both New York and Pennsylvania the governors' mes- sages had repeatedly heralded this opinion. Nicholas Biddle in 1810 had voiced this sentiment in an official report to the legisla- ture of Pennsylvania.^ New England men, like James' G. Car- ter, had been faithfully preaching the gospel of education. The trustees of the Public School Society, in a widely circulated re- port, had declared that "those who are without education must always be' a degraded caste. '"^ Finally came men like Robert Dale Owen and Geo. H. Evans teaching a still more radical doc- trine as to the efficacy and need of better educational facilities. Suddenly the workers became enthused on the subject. It spread like wildfire. Practically eveiy workingmen's meeting ^ See latter part of this cliaiiter. * At a meeting of "meclianics and other workingmen" held in April, 1829. a committee of fifty was appointed to draft resolutions to be read at a later meet- ing. On October 19, 1S29. this committee made its report. While recognizing the fundamental importance of education they held that other reforms must first be adopted. This report may be found in the first issue of the M'nrl-in;/ .Ifo/j's Advocate, October 31, 1829. The preamble of the Mechanic's Union of Trade Associations of Philadelphia (1828) does not mention the subject of education, but does demand increased leisure time. See the Mcchionics' Free Press. October 2.5. 1828. Similar sentiments are found in "An Address to the .Tonrneymen House Carpenters of Philadelphia" in Mechanies' Free Press, June 14, 1829. The Workingmen's Party in New York City has been said to have originated as the result of a demand for a mechanic's lien law. See Hammond, Political History of ^cir York, il: 330: and .Jenkins. .T. S., Historn of Political Parties in yew Yoric. 1: 309. But the first impulse seems to have been due to a demand for a greater amount of leisure time. See Morning Courier, (X. Y.). April 25, 1829 and April 30. 1829. sprinted in full in the M'orkiiui Man's Advocate, April 3. 1830: from the Me- chanics' Free Press. (I'hila). « 5,000 copies of this "Address to the Public" were printed and distributed Feb- ruary. 1829. Printed in full in P.ouiiie's Ifisltirif of the Puhlic School .Voc/cf// of J\'. v.. 110-1 is. [75] 76 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN from Alhriny to AVilminyton and Charleston took up the cry; for one or two years few sets of resolutions were passed in work- ingmen's meetings which did not give a prominent place to a ' demand for educational reforms. AVhen, in the period 1833 to 1836. union organization supplants the loose party associations, the demand is still continued; but the question of wages becomes uppermost. In Boston, where the school system was better or- ganized than elsewhere, the educational demand is not so prom- inent. In Rhode Island, the suffrage question overshadowed all else in the minds of the workingmen. In order to show the attitude of the wage earners, a few typi- cal resolutions and declarations from various' cities will be se- lected from the mass of such material. At a meeting of work- ingmen held in New York City in November, 1829, resolutions were adopted which Tead in part as follows : ' ' Resolved, that the most grievous species of inequality is that produced by inequal- ity in education, and that a national system of education and' guardianship which shall furnish to all children of the land, equal food, clothing and instruction at the public expense is the only effectual remedy for this and for almost every other species of injustice. Resolved, that all other modes of reform are, com- pared to this, particular, inefficient, or trifling."" Again among the resolutions adopted by a " General Meeting of Mechanics and "Working Men" of New York City, held December 29, 1829, are found the following: ''Resolved, that next to life and liberty, we consider education the greatest blessing bestowed upon man- kind. Resolved, that the public funds should be appropriated (to a reasonable extent) to the purpose of education upon a reg- ular system that shall insure the opportunity to every individ- ual of obtaining a competent education before he shall have ar- rived at the age of maturity."^ In an official communication from the Painters'' Society of the City and County of New York to the "Association for the Protection of Industry and the Pro- motion of National Education," is found this statement of opin- ion ; "We are therefore of opinion . ." . that the State should furnish throughout the land, at public expense, state institutions,. ''Free Enquirer, (N. Y.), November 7,. 1829, 15. >^M'firl-iii;j Man's Admcdte, .January ]G, 1830. ■16] C-VKLTOK — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 77 where every yoimg citizen should be educated and maintained from youth to manhood, and where each should obtain (besides the various branches of a liberal education) a competent knowl- edge, of at least one trade or occupation, by which even Avhile completing his education, he may earn his living. ' '^ A Avorkingmen's meeting in Philadelphia on September 26, 1829, adopted a preamble which contained the following clause : "No system of education, which a freeman can accept, has yet been established for the poor; whilst thousands of dollars of the public money have been appropriated for building colleges and academies for the rich."^° "The determined stand taken by the productive classes of the commimity of the city and county of Philadelphia, and in many other sections of the Union, to ao- eomplish the important object of a general and equal system, is beheld with emotions of heartfelt pleasure by every friend of liberty. "^^ At New Castle, Delaware, in 1830. an Association of "Workingmen was formed. In the preamble of their constitution the.y endorsed this sentiment : ' ' Let us unite at the polls and give our votes to no candidate who is not pledged to support a ra- tional system of education to be paid for out of the public funds, and to further a rightful protection to the laborer. "^- At an adjourned meeting of "Workingmen, IMechanics, and -others friendly to their interests," held in Boston, August 17, 1830. it was resolved, "that the establishment of a liberal system of education, attainable by all. should be among the lirst efforts of every la'wgiver who desires the continuance of our national independence."^^ In its editorial address the Workingmen' s Ad- vocate and Practical Politician (Boston) used the same phrase- ology' regarding the duties of lawgivers.^* The committee on education appointed at a workingmen 's convention held in Bos- ton, October 2, 1833, recommended, in addition to facilities for elementar\' education, lectures to adults on political economy. ^ Free Eur/tiirer, .January 9. ISoO. S:'.. "> 'Workinfi Man's Advocate. October 31. 1820. For other Pennsylvania meet- ings, ihith, February 13, 1830. " Quoted. ihUl., .January 30. 1830. from }frch((iiic.s' Free Press. '-Quoted, McMaster, Ac(juisition of Politicul, Social and Industrial Rif/hts, 107. See also. Delairare Free Press, May 22, 1830. '3 Boston Courier, August 28. 1S30. "Quoted. Boston Courier. March 11. 1831. :77] 78 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN and a general system of education by means of manual labor schools ''free to all, at the expense of each State." It was also suggested that ministers ought "to enlighten the people on their true temporal interests. "^^ In an oration delivered before an association of trade unions in Boston, on July 4, 1834, Frederick Eobinson declared: "We are yet but a half -educated and half- civilized people. The few are educated in one-half their facul- ties, and the people in the other half. The many have been obliged to devote their whole time to bodily labor, while the powers of mind have been almost wholly neglected. "^^ Thus, he anticipated the more recent advocates of manual training. At a banquet given in the evening of the same day, one of the toasts was, "Manual labor schools — The salvation of our insti- tutions and the hope of the children of the poor."" A committee from the General Trades Union of Cincinnati^ Ohio, issued in 1836 an "Appeal to the Working Men of the- AVest, ' ' in which they state that their efforts will be directed to- ward elevating the condition of the "Working Man," and toward obtaining a "National System of Education."^® In 1835, the- workingmen of Washington in an enumeration of their demands, stated; "We ask for a universal system of education; for the abolishment of monopolies ; for the abolishment of imprisonment for debt; and for a just representation of all interests. These are the objects we ask, and all we ask. The charges that are made against us of agrarianism and a desire to strip from the rich the possessions they have acquired, or which have descended to them by inheritance, is as false as the spirit is despicable that niakes the charge."^'' In the first number of a western labor paper, the editor writes, "But what shall claim our particular attention 'will be a system of Public, Republican, Scientific, Prac- tical Education for the Poor as well as for the Eich, looking to the Treasury of the Nation for a part of the surplus revenue. '^ Proceedings of the Working Hen's Convention. Pamphlet in Atheneum li- brary. ^" Rogers, E. H., Minority Rep't of Commissioners on Hours of Labor. ,l/«sis. HoKse Bill, yo. .',, 1H6T. '■ Ihid. '* The Washingtoniun, August 8. 18."^>0, 2. ''^Address to the Mechanics of the District of Coluinhia. issued liy the Trades- Union of the D. of C. I'amphlet in tlie Library oif Congress. 78] C.VKLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 79 to carry it into ett'ect."-'* The National Laborer (Philadelphia) published by the "Working-men's National Society for the Diffu- sion of Useful Knowledge." informed the public that it would "advocate the establishment of a Universal Republican System of Education, knowing that to a want of Imowledge alone may be ascribed all the evils which infest society, and which bear particularly heavy on the productive classes."-^ In 1830 the ' ' Farmers '.]\Iechanicks ' and Workingraen 's ' ' party of New York held a state convention at Salina, and nominated Erastus Root for Governor. Among others, the convention gave its adherence to the following resolution, "Resolved, that a sys- tem of education more universal in its effects, is practicable, so that no child -in the republick, however poor, should grow up without an opportunity to acquire at least a competent English education ; and that the system should be adapted to the condi- tion of the poor both in the city and country."-- The Equal Rights party of the city and county of New York, which was in a measure the successor of the Workingmen's party, in 1837 pledged itself "to procure a more extended, equal and conven- ient system of Common School Instruction."-" The letter of Hon. H. A. Muhlenberg to the workingmen of Philadelphia -* clearly indicates that the workingmen of that city w-ere deeply interested in education, in 1834-1836; and also it is good evidence that they 'were an important political factor at that time. The foregoing, together with statements in preceding chapters, is sufficient to establish the fact that the workingmen of the country were much alive to the benefits of a system of public schools', and that their influence was an important factor in has- tening the development of the system. This item in the pro- gram of the labor movement of the first half of last century is now generally accepted throughout the United States, and by all classes. The progress of the world has been, for centuries, to- ward the betterment of the working classes; it seems reasonable, therefore, to argue a priori that, if progress continues, the chief 2'^ The Union and Jilcclianics' and Working Men's Advocaie,, Inclianapoli^, Ind. Quoted in ^Xorldng Man's Advocate, .Tune 11, 1831, 3. 2' 2>'a1ional Lahorer, March 20, 1836, 1. No. 1. " The Crafts)nan, Rocliester. Soptember 4. 1S30. ^^ Farmei-'s and Mcchanirs!' Jnitmol, Alexander, X. Y., November 4. 1837. =« Quoted in ch. 4. [79] 80 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN items in the program of the working people and non-propertv owTiers of one generation will be accepted in the next, by society as a whole. As long as progress means the uplift of the workers, so long will their program rather than that of the business or professional man represent progress. The latter acts as a fly- wheel which steadies progress, and prevents disaster; but they stand for controlling or modifying, not impelling, forces. This view is particularly illuminating in studying the educational development of our period. In the cities, a large proportion of the people were workingmen and small taxpayers: and in the cities the need of educational facilities was most clearly urgent; and better opi^ortunities were offered for carrying on an agita- tion. But the workingmen 's zeal in the cause of universal edu- cation came down to him from the traditions and experience of the past; and was kept alive and made more intense by the labors and exhortations of the leaders of the humanitarian movement. With the development of the factory system, the problem of •child labor assumes a threatening form on the horizon of the educational and industrial world. Before the factory era, at certain periods of the year there was little work for the children at home. This time was utilized, in many sections, for school work. With the rise of the cities and the growth of factories, the children began to be sent out of the home to work. Industry lost much of its seasonal character; and. if the children were sent to school, a reduction of the family income was, apparently, the direct and measurable result. The question of education now became immediately and directly a factor in the household econ- omy of the workingman. The inevitable tendency, in many in- stances, was to slight education, to mortgage the future for the present ; immediate concrete earnings looked larger and more in- viting than future indefinite opportunities for the children of the family. The interests of the mill-owner and of the poor, lazy, or short-sighted Avorkman were miited as to the desirability of child labor. The phenomenon of child-labor caused a certain class of workingmen to become less' insistent in their demands for educational facilities. Child-labor in factories spelled lack of education for the workers. Seth Luther in drawing his gloomy picture of the evils of child-labor and of excessively long hours of work, compared the position of the workingmen to the [80] aVRLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 81 situation of a horse whose master was asked if he ever fed him. "Fed him, m)w that's a good 'uii; why he's got a bushel and a half of oats at home, only he 'aint got no time to eat 'um. "-^ This told the .story of the working-man's opportmiity to get an education in the mill town of Xew England in the thirties. The intluenee of prosperity and demand for child workers was disastroiLs' to school attendance. For example, in 1820, over 5,000 pupils were on the rolls of the public schools of Philadel- phia.-'' But as the country began to recover from the effects of the crisis of 1819, the demand for child labor increased with the result that in 1821 less than 3,000 were in the schools of that city ; and the school authorities called for legislative action. "In 1822 the attendance was 450 less than in 1821, and in 1823 was less than half what it had been in 1820."-' Nearly a score of years later, the following testimony was given as to child-labor in Connecticut. "The comparative cheapness of the labor of females, and of children, where it can be resorted to at all, has led to its excessive introduction into factories, to the exclusion as far as possible, of the more costly labor of men. . . . One thing is clear from the experience of the past, both at home and abroad, that about such establishments will always be gath- ered a large number of parents, who either from defective educa- tion in themselves, or from the pressure of immediate want, or from the selfishness which is fostered by finding profitable em- ployment for their children do not avail themselves" ,of the ad- vantages of free schools.-*' "Where the factor}^ system exists with its regularity of operation througrhout the year, the maintenance of a public school system is not alone sufficient. It must be sup- plemented by laws restricting child-labor and by compulsory education laws. Such enactments are difficult of passage, in many eases, because of the attitude of the workingman himself, particularly where organized labor is not strong. In certain states where manufacture is just springing into prominence and -'^ AfUlross. Ediicciiiin af WorJciiifimcn . (18.'^2). =8 77k>v/ Aiintinl lirp't of ControUer.i of Public Schools of the First School Dis- trict of the State of Peuiisi/lranid, 4. Quoted McMaster, 5: .S59. " McMaster. 5: .SGO. '^ First Annual Rcp't of the Sec. (Hrnrii Barnard) of the Board of Common School Commissioners of Conn.. May. 1K3'.». (Juoteil in Conn. Common School Journal, 1: 106. 6 [81] 82 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN importance, the problem which faced New England three-quar- ters of a century ago is now being re-solved. In several of the southern states which are now entering the industrial field, the evils of child-labor are great, — equal to those of which Luther so bitterly complained. One recent observer remarl^s, "the inter- est of the cracker, the preacher, the overseer, the superintendent, the president, and the stockholder are so involved that they can- not see the truth. "-^ The individual workingman is a prey to conflicting interests in regard to the question of educating his children ; but his organization now, as in the earlier period, stands for education and against child labor which deprives the child of its opportunity to attend school, or to live the normal, healthy life of a child. This period which was distinguished by the development of the industrial town, marks the rise of the urban school. The city then assumed the educational leadership ; development in educa- tion during the nineteenth century was chiefly directed and con- ditioned by the needs of urban life and by the changes in indus- trial methocLs. Town and city life coupled with the develop- ment of the factory system or of an intensified system of domes- tic industry, deprived the child of opportunity for home instruc- tion as to the practical affairs of life, and removed him from con- tact with nature and diversified industry. The city child lived in crowded quarters, and Avas forced constantly to associate with a heterogeneous ma&s' of young'sters. He could work as a wage- earner outside or even inside the home, go to school, or run the streets. Concentration of population apparently multiplied the evils of ignorance and poverty; division of labor and increasing specialization of industry tended to deprive the child of invalu- able training in regularity and industry. It was assumed by the leaders of the educational renaissance that intellectual edu- cation alone would remedy the difficulty. The effect of changed environment and modified home conditions due to growth of cities and innovations in industry was not as yet understood. The manual labor schools which flourished for a short space of time were concrete results of a partial recognition of the necessity for "'Hubbard, Amfricati Fcdfratiniiist. April. I'.Ki.j. [82] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 83 a close I'oniiet'tioii between intellectual and manual labor; but the time was not yet ripe. City life and industrial specializa- tion had not as yet assumed sulificient importance in our national life. Thirty or forty years after the. close of our period came the triumph of the principle of manual training, although, even today, many intelligent persons deny or minimize its educational value. In the thirties, purely intellectual education was advo- cated, except by the communists, as the magic wand which would arrest the progress of the wave of juvenile crime, transform the weak and erring boy into the good citizen, perpetuate the repub- lic, train the efficient wx)rker, and instill the ideals of America into the child of the immigrant. In the cities the effects of the new industrial, home and social life which the industrial evolution of this period ushered in, were fii"st and most markedly felt. Eeformers and the mass of the people of the cities turned with an almost child-like faith to the school, — the common school of the three R's. This was per- haps a groping in the dark, a failure to recognize changing con- ditions, a measurement of present necessities according to worn- out and obs(jlete standards ; but it led to a step in advance. We of today know that the educators of that day did not grasp the significance of the industrial evolution going on before their eyes ; but we are repeating the blunder year after year. Educational progress is still lagging far behind industrial advance. The modern movement for free public schools originated in the cities ; and improvements in educational methods and curricula first find a place in the city schools, because here the necessity is great- est and most noticeable. Indeed, the educational conservatism and apathy of the rural districts during the period (1820-1850) is accomited for chiefly by two circumstances. The industrial changes did not vitally effect the indastrial and home life of the farmer of this period ; and in the country nearly every man paid direct taxes. The added expense of schools, or of improvements in .schools, was visible to all and felt by all. xinother phe- nomenon which tended to increase the conservatism of the rural population in Xew England is familiar to the student of the more recent period of our national life, namely, the drawing of the best blood of the rural districts into the cities or toward the [83] 84 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN West.^" This migration began early to affect the attitude of the rural districts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island as to educational advance ; and by 1850, its effect was not negli- gible in the state of New York. In the Pennsylvania contest of 1834 and 1835, however, this phenomenon need not be consid- ered; and in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois up to the end of the period, the pioneer element was still predominant in the rural districts. The antagonism of the rural districts of Rhode Island to the law of 1799-1800, and of those of Massachusetts to the laws of 1826 and 1836, have already been mentioned."^ In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia provided for practically free schools at public ex- pense several years before the passage of the free school law of 1834. But it is to New York that we must turn for the most clear-cut and spectacular exhibition of the antagonism between urban and rural districts on the question of free tax-supported schools. In ]\Iarch, 1849, the New York Legislature passed an *'Act establishing free schools throughout the State." These schools were to be free to all children between the ages of five and twenty-one. Local taxation was authorized to supplement the state tax. A referendum was granted: and the vote stood 249,872 for, and 91.951 against, the enactment of such a law. In New York county, the vote was 21.052. in favor of; against 1,313; in Richmond county, 1.437 to 22 respectively; and in Kings county, 8.549 to 159. The foregoing three counties were strictly urban comities, including and surrounding New York City and Brooklyn. Albany county, containing the city of Albany, gave 8,604 votes for, and 1,806 against, the proposed law; Erie county, containing the city of Buffalo, 8,800 to 1,542 respectively. Only four counties gave majorities against the bill : these were the rural counties of Tompkins, Chenango, Cort- land, and Otsega.^- As soon as the attempt to put the law into actual operation was made, however, great hostility was mani- fested. In the next year, 1850, the (lue&tion of the repeal of the law •was referred to the people. Forty-two out of a total of fifty- ^ See Martin. Erohitiii\i of the M(isi<. I'lihUc ^chodl Siifitcm. 20.3. '' See also the section on "The South" in eh. 0. 32 Randall, History of the Common SchoC'l System of N. Y., 74 et seq. [84] C-VRLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 85 nine counties now favored the repeal ; but the majority given by the seventeen was sufficiently large to prevent this retrograde step. The vote was 209.346 against, and 184,308 for, the repeal. The seventeen counties which were against the repeal are the following: Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Erie, King's, Mont- gomery, New York. Onondaga, Putnam, Queens, Renssalaer, Kichmond, Rockland, Schenectady, Seneca, Ulster and West- chester. •'■' New York. Kings, Queens, and Richmond coimties in- cluded New York City, Brooklyn and suburbs ; Albany county, the city of Albany ; Erie county, the city of Buffalo ; Renssalaer county, the city of Troy ; Schenectady county, the city of Schen- ectady; Onondago county, the city of Syracuse; and Columbia,. Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster and Westchester counties border on the Hudson river, and lie between New York and Albany. The voice of the cities was unmistakable. Although the legislature did not fully carry out the 'will of the majority as represented by this referendum, and although the rate bill in a modified form was not finally abolished until several years later, this vote may be said to have definitely settled the matter of tax-supported schools in the state of New York. The Neiv York Tribune, in commenting on this referendum, said: "the cities have fairly tried free schools as the country has not; our approval of them is founded on knowledge, while the country's, hostility is iii good part founded on prejudice."^* Before the eye and the mind are distracted by the details which a study of the different states will present, let us examine briefly the outline picture which is now before us. The second great period in our educational development foUo'ws closely upon the rapid growth of industrial center, the increase of manufacture^ and of mutual interdependence due in this case to the birth of the modern factory system and the specialization of industry. Preceding the educational revival of the second quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing type of school was rural rather than urban. Horace Mann "stands in history as the rep- resentative of the urban school." It is important to notice that at the moment when the theories of natural rights, laissez fairer 3-' Ihifl. 3* Editorial, .V. Y. Trihiun , November 2S. IS.'jO. "85" 86 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN individualism, are apparently at liigh-water mark, we find a growing demand for protection for the manufacturing classes and for tax-supported free schools for all classes, and an increas- ing tendency away from an extremely decentralized administra- tive system. These three important manifestations of this period of social unrest are not mutually unrelated phenomena. They are the natural fruit of specialization and concentration of industry and of the development of improved methods of transportation; in short, of the introduction of modern indus- trial and commercial methods. They mark the widening and intensifying of the sphere of common interests. Urban commun- ities demand an increase in collective activity over that required by rural districts. The religious motive for the support of the connnon schools which had been predominant in colonial times, has no'vv dropped out of sight. With the growing heterogeneity of population, the elements which fostered the school system in the early history of New England lost interest, and turned to the private schools. This period (1820-1850) marks the rise of the influence of man- ufacturing interests and of the city in the affairs of the nation. The cities and the workingmen looked to economic, civic and ethical motives. The prevention of class differentiation and the preservation of free institutions are the two arguments in which these two overlapping elements' of our population saw the chief justification of tax-supported schools. The elements of our popu- lation 'whose agitation and political power forced the general acceptance of the doctrine of free education for all. were pushed to the front and made powerful factors in American life as a result of mechanical inventions and industrial progress. The visible and honored leaders were humanitarians whose zeal was developed by a genuine desire to alleviate the suffering and misery which the rapid groiwth of towns, workshops and fac- tories 'was producing. The point which this analysis throws into clear view is one which has been, hitherto, almost uniformly overlooked or neglected, namely, that the real underlying forces with which we are chiefly concerned are industrial. Educational history during the first half of the ninteenth century must l)e studied by the aid of the light given us by industrial history. [86] CARLTON" — ECONOMIC INPI-UENCES UPON EDUCATION 87 The inventor and the entrepreneur guided the steps of the edu- cator and the legislator. In short, the power loom, the slide-rest, steam and water power, the canal, the railroad and the blast furnace have in- creased the size and the importance of the cities, added to the numbers who toil for wages and built up an important manu- facturing interest. The consequent displacement of the political and social center of gravity developed that unique and powerful, although not numerically strong, class called humanitarians. The frontier has placed the ballot in the hands of the adult white male population; and the increasing mobility of popula- tion has softened the animosities' of sectarian and racial diifer- ences. Directed and aided by the humanitarian leaders, the workingmen and the cities have effectively used 'the weapon placed in their hands by the men of the frontier. The agitation for tax-supported schools which gradually acquired strength during the first fifteen years of the period, came to fruition during the latter decade and a half. The educational Ideal of the Puritan has receded into the background, and a new demo- cratic one conceived during this period of unrest and social flux, has replaced it. Each section or each state has its own peculiar trend of industrial and educational advance. In order to complete the picture and to note whether the details harmonize with the outlines already sketched, a detailed study of several representative states must be undertaken. [87] 88 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CHAPTER Yl PROGRESS IN DIFFERENT STATES Massachusetts In Massachusetts, as we have seen, the principle of tax-sup- ported schools was firmly established. It came down from the act of 1647. In this state and in Connecticut, the old traditions as to education never completely lost their hold. There was, however, a modification in regard to the relation of the state to education. The early New England statutes emphasized the right of the state to compel the father to provide education for his children. The view which was generally accepted before the end of this period 1820-1850, placed the emphasis upon the duties of the state. The latter should not only demand the education of all children; but must also provide schools and teacher's.^ The following newspaper clipping gives an idea of the condition of the schools of Boston at the end of the first decade of our period. "The system of education here, sup- ported from the municipal treasury, takes the child at four years of age, and carries it through a course of education, till it is fourteen, or older if a pupil at the Latin or High School. The range of instruction is from the A. of the alphabet, through the sciences, and to a knowledge of the Greek and Latin lan- guages. The number of Public Schools in Boston is 68 . . . and the estimated expense, for the current year, is $52,500. The assumption of this duty by the city, secures the tuition of all children, while it relieves parents from much direct care and expense. It increases the taxes, but the addition to rate-bill is inconsiderable, compared with "^^•hat the preceptor's charges would be against the parents."- ^Pen-in, Compulsory Education. (Univ. of Chicago, 1896.) ^Nen: Enyland Palladium and Commercial Adrertlscr. .July 10. 1829. [88] CAELTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 89 The struggle for better education in ^Massachusetts was two- fold: centralization of authority in order to overcome the glar- ing evils of the district system, and the establishment of free public high schools. One serious obstacle standing jn the way of the improvement in the schools of Massachusetts was alleged to be "the little interest taken by the most enlightened part of the community ... in the condition of the common schools, from the circumstances that their own children are re- ceiving education in private schools at their ovni expense."^ A state of afifair.s developed similar to that which is found where various religious denominations support schools of their own. The influence ,of the private schools of this state during the twenties and thirties was considerable. "The amount paid for tuition in private schools, for one-sixth of the children of the state, is $328,000 ; while the amount raised by taxes for the edu- cation of the other five-sixths in public schools is $-465,000, and the amount voluntarily contributed to the public schools is $48,000."-' "The district school of the central village . . . often is . . . the poorest in the whole territory. "^ " In 1830 returns from 131 towns in jMassachusetts, showed that the an- nual amount paid in those towns for public schools was $170,- 342.96; and the number of pupils, 12,393.*' There was urgent need of improving the public schools; but the friends of the private schools were hostile and powerful. The fight which centered around the legalizing of the high school presented many features similar to those found in New York and Pennsylvania in regard to the tax-siipported ele- mentary school. The opposition between rural and urban dis- tricts was clearly marked; and the rural forces were reinforced by the friends of the private schools. "In towns containing a village center, growing popuhnis under the new order of things, a struggle began between the village and the outskirts, often protracted for years. The movement for the town high school was in most cases an occasion for an annual tug of war.'"" ^Aorth American Review, (1838), 47: 303. *imd.. 304. '^Ihid.. 3(1.5. 'NUes' Reyistcr, 38:401. 'Martin, Evolution of the Mans. Common School Sijstem, 203. [89] 90 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN The law of 1826 made obligatory upon the towns of Massachu- setts, the establishment of a high school, to be open ten months in the year. The two elements of opposition soon succeeded in securing a partial repeal of the act. In 1836, the law Avas re- enacted in its original form; but again in IS-IO, it was prac- tically repealed. In 1848, however, it was again placed upon the statute books.'' The recognition of the growing evils of child labor in factories found expression in the law which 'went into effect April 1, 1837. The law required three months schooling in the twelve months preceding the child's employment by a manufacturing estab- lishment. Of its' enforcement, Horace Mann wrote; "Com- paratively speaking there seems to have been far greater dis- regard of the law by private individuals and by small corpora- tions, especially where the premises are rented from year to year, or from term to term, than by the owners and agents of large establishments."-' In general, a like situation obtains today in regard to apprenticeship. The larger establishments are most -keenly alive to the desirability of the establishment of systems of apprenticeship. The peculiar and distinctive feature of the development of the school system of Massachusetts is the strength of tradition and habit. Conservatism and radicalism in education joined hands on the proposition that free tax-supported elementary schools were desirable. The habit of paying taxes for the sup- port of public schools was formed and fixed. Here the past for other reasons' than those advanced by the then present, and acting according to different motives from those which actuated the men of the time under consideration, had removed the great- est obstacle in the path of educational evolution in this period. Connecticut The development of the Connecticut school system up to 1800 was not greatly dissimilar from that of IMassachusetts' ; and the industrial development during our period was similar in these Ihi'l.. 198. Mann, Report for 1S39 in Life and Works of H. Mann, 3:5. [90] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 91 two New England states. The distinctive feature in Connecti- cut seems to be her large educational fund. Like Massachusetts, she acquiesced in the proposition of sui)portin Repoi-t of ihe Joint Relcct Committee on Common Schools in Conn. Com. School Jo-urn.. 1838, 1:2-3. [91] 92 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Miiole eomiiiimity for elementary instruction. . . . Taxa- tion for school purposes had not only ceased to he the cheerful habit of the people, but was regarded as something' foreign and anti-democratic. The supervision of the schools had become in most societies a mere formality . . . and the whole system seemed struck with paralysis."" Aii article in the North Ameri- can Review for April, 1823, states: "Taxation for schools be- ing infrequent, must be borne with impatience ; and if some school societies increase the school money by tax, the practice is gradually discontinued, and will soon cease entirely. As to time then, we do not find that anything has been gained by the school from the operation of the fund. If some schools con- tinue longer, each year, others are brought sooner to a close, the amount of time, through the whole, being not materially varied.''^- A connnittee of citizens of New Jersey investigated the Connecticut system in 1828; and reported "that the Con- necticut system does produce the result of repressing the liberal- it3^ of the people toward this object of benevolence,^^ and leads them into the habit of relying upon the public money, to the neglect of education in most of their districts, during a con- siderable part of the year, we have the best reasons for believ- ing. "^* In 1837, Henry Barnard estimated that 10,000 children of the rich and educated were receiving good instruction in private schools at an expense greater than that appropriated for the other 60,000 or 70,000 children of the state.^" As early as 1813, a law was enacted requiring the proprietors of manufacturing establishments to see that the children em- ployed by them were instructed in reading, writing and arith- metic; "and that due attention was paid to their morals."^" But in the first report of the newly formed Board of Commis- sioners of Common Schools, Mr. Barnard complains that this law is not well enforced. "It will be but poor glory for ^^ Barnard's Jmirntih (IS.jSt, 5: J. 54. '2 Quoted Baniard'ii ./ounuil, dS.jS). 5: 120. For amount of annual dividends from school fund, see ihid.. 6:425; 1820, $58,439.36; 1850, $136,505.50. " The use of the word "benevolence"' should be noticed. ^* Barnard's Journal, 5: 1.":^. ^■'IhUl.. 5: 153. ''■■Ibid.. 5: 123. [92] CAELTON" — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 93 Connecticut to be able to point to her populous and industrious manufacturing villages as the workshops of the Union, . . . if they are also to become blots upon her intelleetual and moral character. "'' The same writer stated that non-attendance upon any school in the cities was confined chiefly to four classes', (a) "The children of the reckless, the vicious, and the intemperate." . . . not readily amenable to the influence of public opin- ion; [h) "The children of the poor, the ignorant and the negli- gent." These can be reached by a vigorous and healthy public opinion; (c) "Apprentices and clerks," who are hurried into offices and workshops from haste of parents or from necessity and (d) colored children.^'* Educational progress in Connecticut was extremely slow. As late as 1855 in an official report the state superintendent of com- mon schools declared that "a vast number of children among us are growing up without that intellectual and moral culture necessary to make them industrious, respectable, la»w-abiding citizens. "^'■' So while Massachusetts, with a comparatively in- significant school fund pressed steadily forward, Connecticut "marked time." Two reasons may be given for the marked divergence, during our period, in the school systems of these two New England states, which, up to 1800, were practically a unit as to educational policy and progress. (1) The smaller percentage of urban and wage-earning population in Connec- ticut; (2) the 'weakening of the habit of paying local taxes for educational purposes in Connecticut, on account of the large school fund derived from the sale of public lands. Rhode Island In this unique little New England state, no union had ever existed between church and state, and therefore the maintenance of the connnon school had not been considered to be a true func- tion of the state. Rhode Island had almost completely broken aw^av from the New England ideals. Accordingly, before the ''Coiiii. fdiii. Silidiil./iiiini.. (Isr'.Sl, 1: ItlO. '» Ibiil.. 1: n;.".. "Quoted. Rriiort of CoiiniiisKiuiicr of Edin-nl'K.n. i IS'.iT-'.is i . 1: rjo:' [93] 94 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN opening of our era, to compel a citizen of that commonwealth "to educate his children would have heen an invasion of his rights as a "tree-horn Ehode Islander, which would not be en- dured." In Rhode Island there was no precedent for taxation for educational purposes; no "cheerful habit" of tax-paying^ for this important purpose had ever been formed. This fact, together with the early peculiar economic and social conditions in the colony, necessarily shaped the course of its educational development quite differently from that of other New England states. The force of public sentiment was distinctly unfavor- able to tax-supported public schools. Attention was previously called to the struggle, culminating in the Dorr war, which led to the extension of the suffrage ; and to the rapid development of the public school system thereafter. A factor in this sudden change of sentiment as to public schools, which was not then alluded to, seems to have been due to a re- action among the conservative and propertied classes. Quite likely a picture of the French Revolution arose before their eyes. "The cost of the conflict [Dorr War] taught the most parsimo- nious, that it was cheaper in a pecuniary respect to prevent than to defray the expenses incident to an uninstructed populace. . . . Under these circumstances, the attention of many of the in- fluential citizens w^as directed to the situation of the common schools, and the impression seems to have been general and deeply fixed, that no one interest was half so vital as this to the prosperity of the commonwealth, and perhaps even to the secur- ity of the new government."-" In other words extra-legal or unconstitutional nets — the show of force — on the part of the masses of the ])eople caused the conservative interests to de-nand public schook', to unite with the wage-earners and r,on-tax-payers on this piopositiou. "Vv'hen, ,;herei;ore they were rejoicing in their escape from the recent convulsion, and looking forward with that wise forecast which its fresh-re- membered terror might well inspire, it is not surprising that all the active spirits of the time from the oldest to the youngest, should have deemed this enterprise an object worthy of their attention, and should have entered upon the work with char- 'yorth American Review (1848), «7: 247-48. [94] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 95 acteristic enerizy. Tlie iiianiifactnrers might well tremble in the presence of the large masses of nninstrueted population which were gro-tving around them, and see it written everywhere with a distinctness Avhieh none could comprehend so well as they that it was only ]\v educating this population that their business would prosper and their lives and property be secure."-^ The story Avhich this state unfolds is certainly suggestive. J^hode Island by tradition and habit was averse to tax-sup- ported schools. Suddenly she developed from a predominately commercial and agricultural state to a preeminently manufactur- ing state. The sharpest and most bitterly contested struggle for the extension of the sutfrage which is found in American historv^, took place in this little state; and within a decade after its conclusion the tax-supported school became a generally ac- cepted institution. In 18-48, the rate bill was aboli.shed ; but not until nearly a sco^e of years later did it disappear in New York and Connecticut. New York Passing from New England, many factors in our problem are greatly modified. The Puritan regime never obtained a firm foothold outside of New England, although its influence was potent. New York is a state much larger than any one of the three New^ England states ju&t considered. City and rural dis- tricts are widely separated; and her population was, even during this period, cosmopolitan. "Wide differences of religious belief existed side by side. The past does not play as important a role as in New England; social conditions are more mobile. In 1812 a law w^as enacted granting state aid to the public schools of the state. In order to receive the appropriation, each county was required to raise by a tax an amount equal to that appropriated ]jy the state. The office of state superintendent of schools was also created. From time to time the provision.s' of this law were modified. Later the counties 'were required to raise an amount by a tax equal to the amount apportioned to them from the state funds; and the local school districts were authorized to levy a [95] 96 BULLETIN" OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN tax for building and maintenance of school buildings, supplies, fuel, etc. The remaining amoimt necessary for compensation of teachers and other expenses was raised by a rate bill. Each person paid according to the number of children he had in school, indigent persons excepted.-- This was in brief the basis of legislation prior to the Free School Act of 1849. The schools of the city of New York were not included in the state system until 1842, when the first board of education was established. "During this period [1813-1837], while the common schools of New England, including ]Massachusetts and Connecticut, were under a partial eclipse, the common school was largely intro- duced and fostered by New England influence in the state of New York, and gradually improved and became more deserving the confidence of the people."-^ The following table-^ clearly presents' to the eye, this steady development. No. of Children school districts taught Dates. leportiiiii-. therein. 1S16 2,755 14n.lfl6 1820 ..: 5,7fi3 271,877 18-M 7.382 377.0.34 1826 7.773 425,350 1830 8.609 480.959 1833 9,60U 494,959 1840 570,000 1845 (est) 700,000 The following tal)le-" shows the imi)ortance of rate-bills ia maintaining the pul)lic school system of this state. Total salar.v ' .\inr. raised of all teachers li.v rate Dates. of state. hill. 1N31 J5S6,.520 CO ; $346,807 00 1844 509,376 97 1845 99"'. 222 00 447.566 00 1847 1,058,814 64 462,840 44 This is the key to an understanding of the bitterness of the struggle of 1849-1850. Although the school system was being gradually extended and improved, it was very imperfect and inadequate. "The exten- sion of the free schools in the state is progressing moderately; -- l^tiittitcs of the State of Xnr York rrhitiiifi to tin- Coiiniion Schools. (Issued by tne Supt. of Common Schools, Alban.v. 1847.) -■•Mayo. Rei)'t of Coin, of Education. (1807-98). 1: 4:^7. " Compiled from ahstract of a rep't of the siipt. of common schools of X. Y., given in Entitnn. Md. Star. June 27. 1826; and from Randall, Common School .S)/.s- tem of the State of Xnr Yorl:. CIS.")!). 25 Randall, ."U, :'>C. 47 and .".8. [96] CiVULTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 97 and laws are passed at nearlj^ every session of the legislature, providing' for their establishment in populous and wealthy vil- lao-es: while the poorer and less populous districts, in the same towns are left to struggle, from year to 3^ear, in the best way they can . . . sustaining a school perhaps only four months in the year to secure the next appointment of the public moneys."-*' The apathy and indifference of certain districts of the state were remarkable and discouraging. In 1841. it was ordered that one copy of a Common School Journal be sent to svery school district in the state of New York. "It is mortify- ing and painful to state what the truth of history requir&s' us to record, that it is within our personal knowledge that the trustees of many school districts refused to take from the post- office this excellent journal, . . . because they were un- willing to paj^ from the conunon funds of their respective dis- tricts the sum of one shilling a year for postage."-" As late as 1850. Superintendent Randall made the following appeal: "100,000 destitute children of penury and affliction are silently appealing to you [citizens of New York] for permission to enter the public common schools of your state, and to participate equally with their more fortunate brethren and sisters in the blerssings of education. "-- The peculiar educational situation in Ncav York City must not be overlooked in our study of the development of education in the Empire State. All preceding educational systenxs were destroyed bj' the military government of the Revolutionary period. Soon after the termination of the war and the evacua- tion of the city by the British troops, schools w^ere established by different religious denominations.-'' The non-sectarian Pub- lic School Society, which was mentioned in a preceding chapter, had for its object the establishment of "a free school in the city of New York for the education of such poor children as do not belong to, or are not provided for, by any religious' society."^" -''■ lirp-t of ^iiii'i (if Cnin»inii iichuojfi. (1S47K Quoted Banrtall. 07. =' Quoted. Lossing's Etniiirc titntr. 40.-., loot note: from nainmond. PoUticnl Hiatori/ of V. Y.. »: 22.".. '^Kew Yorl- Trihuuc. Octoher UC. 1850. 29 I'almer. Thc.Xrir Yorlc Public School, (190.5), 11 et seq. *> Charter of the Society, Draper, The N. T. Common School System, 46; David Ilosack. Memoirs of De Witt Cliiitov, 101>-17.S. 7 [97] 98 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN In 1813. the New York leg-jslature paasecl a special act providing for a distribution of public money, derived from the state school fund and from local taxation, among the church societies and other schools in the city of New York ; but in 1824, another act was passed giving the common council of the city the right to designate the "institutions and schools" which should receive the public money.^^ Soon after the passage of this act the re ligious societies were excluded from receiving a share of the public money; but they continued from time to time to demand a portion of these fimds for the support of their schools. After the matter of funds was decided in their favor, tht Public School Society began to charge a moderate tuition fee. During the first year (1826) of the experiment the fees amounted to $4.426.00 ; but in 1831 the receipts from this source were only $1,366.24.'- In February, 1829, the Society issued a long address to the public regarding the condition of education in the city. It was estimated that there were 24,200 children between the ages of five and fifteen years, living in New York City, who were not attending school. The number attending public schools was declared to be approximately 10,000 ; and the number attending private schools, 17.500. The ratio of scholars in schools to the total population was estimated to be one to seven. An earnest appeal was made for an increase in taxation so that the pay system might be abolished, and the efficiency of the system improved. "It is obvious from what we have already said," reads the address, "that these schools should be supported from public revenue, should be public property, and should be open to all, not as a charity, but as a matter of common right. ' '^^ A petition was widely circulated, and the aid of the common council obtained. The legislature w^as urged by the petitioners and the council to levy a tax of one-half of a mill upon the dollar on all property in the city. The legislature, however, only granted a tax ley>^ of one-eighth of one mill. In 1831, an' addi- tional tax levy Was authorized. As a result, in February, 1832, the schools of the Society were made absolutely free ; action in the matter w^^s, however, undoubtedly hastened by the diminu- 31 Bourne. Hif. 1S4'J. Also II. .T. Desmond. The Knoir-XotUint/ Parti/. 28-33. 42 The vote was. in the Senate. 13 for and 12 against: in House, SO to 20 re- spectively. [100] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 101 York Tribune called this bill an act "to extend the blessings of Sectarian and Political strife into the management of our city Common Schools." The editor declared that Tammany was forced to support this bill because of fear of a defection of two thousand Catholic voters."*^ After the enactment of this law the schools under the control of the Public School Society steadily declined. In 1852, the Society terminated its existence, and turned over the schools in its charge to the board of education. The Public School Society had, in 1842. undoubtedly passed its period of greatest useful- ness; its methods and numagement did not harmonize with ideals of the time. The results of this sectarian contl.ct were produc- tive of good. "The importance of the controversy that sprang up around this corporation in the city of New York can hardly be overrated. . . . Indeed, the reorganization of the New York City schools assured the great popular majority of votes in that city in favor of an absolute free school system for the State, which carried the point."** Passing from the city to the state, we need only call attention to the law of 18-19 which did away with the odious rate-bill throughout the entire state. It reads; "Common schools in the several school districts in this State shall be free to all persons residing in the district over live and under twenty-one years of age,"*^ The schools were to be supported by the distribution of state funds and by local taxation. The fight of 1849 and 1850 was merely one to prevent the lopping off of the rate-bill. Since 1812, local taxation had been utilized for the public schools; but it was the increase in this tax which stirred up such bitter opposition. iMassachusetts and Connecticut, with a comparatively homo- geneous population, and still nursing a fear of any sort of cen- tralized administration, delayed the adoption of any systematic plan of school supervision until the latter part of the decade of the thirties. Rapidly increasing heterogeneity of population made possible and desirable, the work of Horace i\Iaun and ".V. y. Trihuiie. April 11, 1S42. "Mayo, Rep't of Commissioner of Education, 1897-98, 1: 452, 454. *^ Act to rstahlish free nchooi^ tliroin/lioHt the state in Slatutcs of Xcw York, 18^9, sec. 1. noil 102 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Henry Barnard. In Xe,v York, on the contrary, the first act looking- toward state supervision was enacted as early as 1812, with apparently little opposition ; and today the school adminis- tration of the state of New York is perhaps centralized to a greater extent than in any other .state in the Union. New York has "had supervision by State officers since 1812, by county or district officers from 1811 to 1817 and from 1856 to the present time, and by town officers from 1795 to 1856. "^« This is one of the significant and interesting features of the educational development of the state of New York. Pennsylvania * In the educational development of Pennsylvania, three points are especially worthy of notice; the prominence given to sec- tarian schools, the unusual odium which attached to the "pau- per" children attending the public schools, and the evident influence of the New England man in the establishment of the free school system. The acts of 1802 and 1809 carried out the provisions of the state constitution, and provided for the free instruction for the children of the poor. These acts with some modifications remained in force until the passage of the free school act of 1834. The law of 1809 "compelled parents to make public records of their poverty — to pauperize themselves, so to speak, by sending their children to school with this in- vidious mark upon them. Another disagreeable feature of the law was. that it re([uired teachers to make oath or affidavit of all such children too poor to pay for their own schooling, where- upon the County Commissioners were required to compensate the schoolmaster in charge. Under this pauper act, so much odium was attached to those who attended the schools, that many people preferred to keep their children at home in ignor- ance rather than suffer the humiliation to which they were subjected by those whose parents could afford the expense of educatjing them privately."*" Thus this pauper clause, in- serted probably' because of the general prevalence of sectarian <" nraper. The N. Y. Common School Sufifcni, (1890). .^>9. " Uiddle, Wm., School History of LancfhttPr. Pcnn.. -1. [102] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 103 schools, tended to discredit the public school system, to accent- uate class distinctions, and to increase the intluence and num- bers of the sectarian and private schools. Those who could afford to pay rate bills sent their children elsewhere and many who could not kept their children out of school entirely. Even a decade after the passage of the free school act, the pri- vate schools "were still all-powerful, and those attending them only too frequently looked with disdain upon those compelled .through necessity in many instances tu attend the 'state schools.' '-^^ Pennsjdvania became unhappily distinguished for the large number of her children who were not attending school. "By a recent estimate made by competent persons, it appears that there are one million children in the United States, grow- ing up in ignorance, without the means of education; of these 250,000 are said to be in Pennsylvania."^^ Another account states that in 1837. more than 250,000, out of 400,000 children in the state were destitute of school instruction;^"' a third es- timate places the number at 200.000 in 1835.^^^ As has already been noticed in the fight of 1834r-1835 for the free school law, the influence of the New England men was in favor of the law. "In a group of ten counties found on the northern border of the state, settled largely from New England and New York, there was not found a single hostile district. It was in this region that the first settlement in the beautiful Wyoming- valley by a Connecticut colony had established the New England system of common schools before the Revolution- ary war. These counties' were not only intensely patriotic, but they also forced the brief acknowledgement of universal educa- tion into the constitutions of 1779 and 1790. And here had been found the solid column of support for the gallant leader- ship of Thaddeus Stevens, which had upheld the new school law during the a.ssault that followed its enactment."^- The follow- ing testimony from a county having a mixed population is also *^ Ibid., 2\. *»:S€wark ScnPincl. Quoted in Philndclpltia Liherator, June 29. 1883. '^Portland Transcript. Quoted in Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal. September 8, IS.'^S. ^^ Pittshurgh Visitnr. Quoted in Phila. American Dailii Advertiser. January 21, 18.35. =2 Mayo, Rcp't of the Com. of Education. 1807-98. 474. [103] 10-1 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN pertinent. "As has been said, there was from the time of the first settlement of this old town the nucleus of an English pop- ulation. It was small in number at first, but all-powerful in scholastic training and religious' conviction, elements that have ever dominated the social, political and intellectual life of this city from then to the present day, (1905). This, however, is in no way intended to convey the impression that the Lutheran, the Moravian and German Reformed Congregations, the oldest with the possible exception of the Friends, were any less intelli- gent or aggressive. But they differ from the English settlers in adhering more strictly to their own denominational schools and places of worship ; and they manifested little interest, at least for many years in the political and secular affairs of the community. "^^ Every county in the northern tier of counties was overwhelmingly in favor of living up to the conditions im- posed bj' the free school law ; and five out of seven on the west- ern row were favorable to it. Among the counties most strongly against it and in 'which nearly all districts rejected the pro- visions of the law, were Berks, Dauplin, Lebanon, Lehigh, and Union. '^^ As late as 1866, twenty-three districts in eleven dif- ferent counties, having at least six thousand children of school age, still refused to put the public schools in operation, and re- jected the grant of state aid.^^ Governor Wolf in his message of December, 1835, said: "The state exclusive of the city and county of Philadelphia, which are not embraced within the pro- visions of the law [1834 and the supplemental act of 1835], and the counties of Greene, Columbia, Montgomery and Clear- field, from which no reports have been received has been di\nded into 907 school districts, of this number 536 have accepted and 371 rejected the provisions of the law. "^^ When we re- member that, if a district rejected the provisions of the law, it lost all claim to state aid in educating its children , we are able to picture the bitterness of the opposition to the free schools. Like New York City, Philadelphia, the largest city of the state was favored by a special school law. In 1818, a special "Riddle, School History of Lancaster, (100.")). 7-8. •'* WicUersham, (1886), 322. ■■5 Ihkl., 562. =" Quoted in Hazard's Rcqlsicr of P( nnsi/lrania, (1830). IG: 372. [101] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 105 law was passed to establish a better aiid less expensive system of schools in the city, than those in operation under the general state law of 1809. However, these schools were in principle "pauper schools" exactly as w^ere those organized under the state law; ''and they are more to be commended only because they were organized into a system under the management of responsible officers, and provision was made for the building of schoolhouses. the preparation of teachers and the furnishing of text-books."^" However, these schools gradually became "so much like free schools that the transition of 1836 was scarcely felt except in the multitudes of new pupils who applied for ad- mission."^^ As' stated above, the law of 1834 did not apply to Phil- adelphia. The special law of 1836, amended the act of 1818 so as to admit all children. The power of conservative and sectarian interests is particularly noticeable in this city. "The city of Philadelphia and the four adjacent counties were largely, in their influential classes, still dominated by the religious sect of the Friends' or Quakers. This body, from the first, had been strongly attached to a special parochial system of education, and had built up. not only for the higher, but largely for the poorer classes, including the neglected colored people, an edu- cational system satisfactory to itself. In this, still the most in- fluential, wealthy, and cultivated section of the state, after a three-years experiment, little more than one-half of the districts in these counties had accepted the common schools. To meet this condition the law had been modified in the interest of the prevailing system to subsidize all schools willing to come under a merely nominal control of the state, retaining the power of appointing their own teachers. "^^ In both cities, New York and Philadelphia, where the pecu- liar evils of modern urban life were early apparent, the need of education for the children of the working classes was felt, before it was discerned elsewhere in the two states. To meet this demand sectarian and private schools became numerous'; and althoush these cities contained a large wage-earning and " Wickersham, (1886), 286-87. 58 7biV7., 287. f^fMayo. Rep't of Com. of Education, ( 1807-98) , 474. [105] 106 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN non- or small tax-paying population, such was the influence of the private and sectarian schools that the development of the public school system in these two cities actually lagged behind, in certain respects, that of the general system in their respec- tive states. While at the time of their inception these non-pub- lic schools represented progress' ; in, the course of events, they became conservative and blocked the way leading toward a pub- lie school system, uniform with the remainder of the state. They were animated by a conception of educational methods and duties which was incompatible with modern industrial and urban conditions; their ideals were chiefly traditional and un- democratic. Contrasting the educational development in these two import- ant states, it seems that the earlier enactment of a free school law in Pennsylvania was due in no small measure, to the pecu- liar odium which attached itself to the "pauper clause" in the e«rly school law of that state. This in turn was due to the strength of the German and sectarian influence. The milder form of the early school law in New York actually delayed the final enactment of a free school law, devoid of the pauper stigma. The Pennsylvania struggle was one in which nationalities and religious sects played a considerable role. The New York climax came a decade and one-half later, when the contrast be- tween urban and raral, and between wage-earners and large tax-payers was much more definitely marked. In New York and Rhode Island the student may see most clearly the forces which have hastened the evolution of the tax-supported public school system. Before passing on. attention should Ije called to a notable re- port on education prepared by a committee appointed, in Sep- tember, 1829, by the workingmen of Philadelphia."" The com- mittee, which reported about five months later, painted a very dismal picture of educational conditions in Pennsylvania. With the exception of Philadelphia. Lancaster and Pittsburg, which were favored by special school laws, it was found that the schools of the state were in a deplorable condition. The pro- <• Report printed in full. Dehnrarr Free Press. March l."^. 20 and 27. 1830. Free Enquirer. March C and i::. 1S::(). irorA/»f/ Mun-» Adrucatc. March 0. 1830. [106] CARLTON — ECONOillC IXFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 107 visions of the act of 1809 were frequently inoperative. "The funds appropriated by the act have, in some instances, been enibezzk'd l)y frauduk'nt agents; and in others, partial returns of the children have been made, and some have been illegally and intentionally excluded from participating in the provisions of the law." This connnittee then presented its proposals for remedying the deficiencies in the then-existing public school system. Re- membering that this report was Avritten three-quarters of a cen- tury ago, it is certainly not an exaggeration to designate it a.s a remarkable document. First and foremost is the demand that the "pauper clause" in the school law be removed, and the schools opened free to all. Then four important proposals were made which are worthy of particular notice. (1) Schools for the care and instruction of infants were favored. It was as- serted that the young children of the poor could not be properly taken care of at home. (2) It was recommended that at least one manual labor school be established in each county. These schools, it was urged, would reduce the expense to the connnun- ity by enabling the children to maintain themselves; and would make it possible for the poor to send their older children to school. It was pointed out that "the practice, formerly univer- sal, of schooling apprentices, has, of late years, greatly dimin- ished, and is still diminishing;" manual labor schools would tend to remedy thig evil. (3.) The committee favored a sys- tem of school management similar to that now' employed in "school cities" or in the George Junior Republic. (4) It be- wailed the prevalence of the vice of intemperance among the city youth; and emphasized the importance of. and necessity for a plan of education which would combine study, play and man- ual labor. Such a plan "by its almost entire occupation of the time of the pupils either in labor, study or recreation, by the superior facilities it affords for engrossing their whole attention and by its capability of embracing the whole juvenile ])opula- tion furnishes, we believe, the only rational hope of ultimately averting the ruin which is threatened by this extensive vice." This sentiment clearly anticipates many of the most modern ideas as to the treatment of juvenile delinquents. The parental noTi 108 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN school is now doing- the kind of work this committee recom- mended. The men who framed this report evidently did not, however, anticipate immediate important, practical results. "It is to be expected," reads the report, "that political demagog- ism, professional monopoly and monied influence, will conspire as hitherto (with solitary exceptions more or less numerous) they ever have conspired against everything that has promised to be an equal benefit to the whole population." Vermont The progreas of educational evolution in this New England state is instructive because Vermont is a typical New England commonwealth. Her people possessed all the traditions', cus- toms and habits of the early New Englanders. But Vermont, unlike ]\Iassachussetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, has re- mained, down to the present era, a preponderantly rural state. No large cities are found in the state. The direct influence of the growth of an industrial population and of cities is very small ; indirectly, of course, the influence of educational ad- vance in other states has lieeii felt. The first settlers of Vei-mont came chiefly from the colonies of iMassiachusetts and Connecti- cut,"^ and were animated by the same religious spirit. That the people of Vermont possessed all the peculiar equalities of the typ- ical New England Yankee as to personal independence, is clearly shown by the first report of the board of school commission- ers in 1828. "No system of common school education can be of lasting or essential benefit to the state unless it receives the cordial cooperation and support of parents and instructors. But so generally diffused through the great mass of the com- munity is the sense of personal as well as political independence, and so sleeplesis' is the jealousy of arbitary power, which is al- most instinctive in the popular mind, that the attempt, however well-intentioned, to dictate the books to be used in our common schools is regarded by many as invasion of the right of private Smith and Rami. Jlintorij af IiKtliind Vountii. lidl. [108] C.VBLTOK — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 109 jiulginent. and ('un.se(iuently as incoinpatiblc with the genius of our free institutions. ""- In 1856, nearly twenty years later than in ^Massachusetts, "a rising wave of a popular educational revival lifted the fathers of the State to the establishment of a board of education, ' ' siin- ilar to that of Massachusetts.*^^ The educational uplift which ]\Iassachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island experienced in the thirties and forties seems to have reached Vermont ten to twenty years later. For example one of Vermont's histori- ans writing in 1853, declared: "But while Vermont is not perhaps behind any of her sister states in the general intelli- gence of the people, we cannot help thinking that the general in- terests of education have, for several years past, been culpably neglected. While other states have been rapidly improving their schools und school systems, Vermont has remained nearly stationary.""* Even in 1867. the state superintendent of educa- tion declared that the condition of the schools for a score of years was a "source of grief and mortification to a large ma- jority of our citizens."'*^ In 1856, the then superintendent as- serted that "the public mind seemed to have sunk into a state of torpor and indifference, the legitimate and usual consequences of State inaction."*"^ The inherited New England belief in the value of universal education, and the reflected influence of progress in neighl)or- ing states, kept alive the educational spark in Vermont. The lesson is that homogeneity of population, absence of wide dif- ferences of interests among the inhabitants, and the predomi- nance of the middle classes did not give birth to the modern tax- supported public school system : if these were the potent influ- ences, Vermont should have stood in the forefront of educational development during our period. The story of Vermont points toward the conclusion, certainly, that the tax-supported school system evolved out of heterogeneity of population, improvement in methods of production, the specialization of industry, the "-Quoted in Rcp't of Com- of Education, (1S97-9S), 1: 408. <» Ibid. 413. « Thompson, Zadock, History of reniwnt, (1853), pt. 2, 142. «' Rann, W. S., History of Chittenden County, 211. <^ Kep-t Com. of Education. (1897-98). 1: 414. [109] 110 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN division of labor, the growth of factories and the separation of home life from industrial occupations. Ohio Turning to the AYest, where frontier influences were still pre- dominant, let us examine into the causes of the trend of educa- tional development in this section. The first act which made any attemjot to carry out the constitutional requirements as to education in the state of Ohio, was passed in January. 1821. This act permitted the funds derived from the sale of the school lands to be applied to the erection of schoolhouses. Each dis- trict might determine for itself the amount of taxation to be ap- plied to school purposes. Eate bills twere to be levied.^" The next step in educational development in Ohio was taken one year later by the appointment of a commission to report on a common-school system. This measure was passed after resort to "log-rolling;" a combination was formed between the friends of education and of canals.*'^ The law of 1825 was the result of the labors of this coimnittee. This law furnivshed the real foundation of the school system of the state. It Avas made the duty of the town- ship trustees to organize school-districts. A county school tax of one-half mill was ordered and provisions were made for dis- tributing the funds derived from the school lands among the school districts. Examination of teachers was mandatory, and the required branches to be taught were prescribed to be the famous three R's.''^ "The school law of 1825 wa.s not well re- ceived in even a majority of the principal toA^ais of the state, and eleven years elapsed before adequate steps were taken to render the system it provided for efficient. "^° "Almost coincident with the eastern educational revival un- der Horace Mann in 1837, a popular wave of public school en- thusiasm struck Ohio."'^ The keynote of the act of 1837 which «' King. Rufus. Ohio, 348; Barunid'n Jotiniul of Eihicutinn, (18.50). O: 82 et scq. Dexter. Hlstoiu of Education in tin- V. S., Ki.j. >^s Kins, Kufus, Ohio, 348. •ss Hinsdale, Rep't of Com. of Education, (1901), 1: 134. ~o Bnrnard's Journnl o' Edurntion. (1859), O: 85. ■1 Dexter, 105. [110] C-VBLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 111 resulted from this "poinilar wave" was supervision, as was true of the act passed in ^lassachusetts. Samuel Lewis Avas appointed state superintendent of schools soon after the passage of this act.'- Many acts were passed between 1825 and 1850 changing the rate of taxation for school purposes.'^ In 1853. the rate- bill was finally relegated to the past. The curriculum of the common schools of Ohio.Avas extremely narrow during the period under discussion. Grannnar and geography were first ordered to be placed in the curriculum in 1848."^ As late as 1845, many school directors of the districts, "forbade the teaching of any branches except reading, writing and arithmetic. "^^ The course of educational advance in Ohio during this period was unmarked by spectacular episodes. Two points, however, must not be overlooked in the consideration of the educational history of Ohio. (1) Broad suffrage provisions are found in the first constitution of the state. (2) Agricultural interests were per- dominate in the state; there was no marked opposition between rural and urban populations previous to 1850. The constitu- tional provisions and the early laws as to education seem to have been attained through the efforts of men imbued with New England ideals. One reason for this opinion rests on the preva- lence of the New England district system, and the extreme decen- tralization of the school administration. Until very recently the school districts were practically free from all effective supervision. Another support for this opinion is found in the refu&'al on the part of many towns to accept the provisions of the act of 1825.'*' The New England man seems to have been an important factor in the political history of Ohio. "A majority of the legislators of our State were, a few years before the establishment of our school sj'&tem, natives, or descendants from natives, of New England, and, in due time, they gave efficient aid to the enact- ment of the school law. In the middle and southern portions "TTiis office was abolished in 1840. From 1840 to IS.-}.*? the secretary of state acted as superintendent of schools. For analysis of the school history of Ohio, see Orth. S. P., Tlic centraUsatlon of administration in Ohio in Columbia Studies,- 1«: No. 3, 73. " Barnard's Jounial, (1859), 6:545-46. " Ibid., 95. " Ibid., 90. '° See previous citation li((rnard\s Jnunuil, O; 85. [Ill] 112 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ■of our State, most of the first settlers were from Pennsylvania, and from states further south."'' "In the Ohio legislature in 1822 there were thirty-eight of middle state birth, thirty-three of southern (including Kentucky), and twenty-tive of New England."'* The Western Reserve, consisting of a block of twelve counties in the northeastern portion of the state, and peopled largely from Connecticut, fostered education from the outset, and was no small factor in determining the course of educa t: on al develop m ent . ' ^ ' ' The early immigrants to Ohio from New England considered schools and churches as among their first wants . . . those from Pennsylvania considered them the last . . . while those from New Jersey, and the few from IMaryland, Virginia, the other Southern states, had their views of education fixed upon so high a scale that nothing less than colleges, or semi- naries of the highest class could claim much of their attention, or seem to require any extraordinary efforts for their establish- ment. "-- Professor Turner speaking of certain conditions in the decade, 1820-1830, writes: "The West was too new a sec- tion to have developed educational facilities to any large ex- tent. The pioneei-s' poverty, as well as the traditions of the southern interior from which they so largely came discouraged extensive expenditures for public schools."*^ The principle of public support of common schools' seems to have been accepted in theory at least by an influential fraction of the population of the commonwealth at the time of the adop- tion of the fir-st state constitution. In Massachusetts, as has been stated, the educational advance during the period was to- ward better supei'insion of the schools. This movement was more successful in that state than in her sister state, Connecti- cut, where industry was not so important a factor in the state's economic life as in ^Massachusetts. In Ohio, a state which in- herited, in no small degree, the New England traditions and '' Footo. .T. 1'., The firlinols of Cincinnaii. (1855), ."■">. 's Turner, F. J., Colonisation of the IVest in Amer. Hist. Rev., 2: 308. Also KilCft' Rcfjistrr. 31: 368. "Mathews, A.. Ohio arid her Wr.strni Re.trrvr, IOC. ™ Foote. School'^ of Cinciiiiidti. (1855K 35. s' Turner. Colotiixation of the West in Amer. Hi^t. Rev., 2: 326. [112] aVRLTON — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 113 ideals, but lagged behind both ^lassachusetts and Connecticut in industrial and urban development, supervision failed of practical results comparable with those of Mas»sachusetts. De- mand for the centralization of educational authority, in the United States, tends to become strong where the population -consists of widely divergent social and industrial factors; and when industrial and urban population are important factors in the community. The South The failure of the common school .system in the South pre- vious to the Civil war is important, in view of the fact that our study of the North has forced upon us the conclusion that the cities and the working classes were chiefly instrumental in plac- ing our schools upon a tax-supported basis. A contemporary writer has so well summarized the forces which operated in the South during our period that it is advisable to quote a para- graph^ Before the Civil war. "the towns and cities assumed •comparatively slight dmportance. The South had little export trade of manufactured articles. Its' cotton went to England and New England cotton mills. It had not reached the point of working up its raw products for commercial purposes. Hence, as a distinctly manufacturing center, the city was quite un- known, and with the majority of the population engaged in agriculture the town exerted no dominant influence. The senti- ments that characterized the rural population permeated the towns and formed public opinion in the South. "^^- To this must be added the entire lack of New England traditions, the presence of a slave population, and the prevalence of the plan- tation system. These influences seem sufficient to account for the trend of educational development in this section. In recent years industries are springing up in many of the southern states; and the prol)lems relating to education and -to child labor are becoming acute. This section of the nation is passing through a period of development similar to that through «= Simons. May W.. A)nirican Jouninl of Roeiolomi, lO : 383. S [113] 114 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN which New England and New York passed nearly three-fourths of a century earlier.^=^ The following poster was used in a campaign of educat&on in Georgia in 1905.^* ''Vote for j^our children. Local taxation for education is the cheapest insur- ance for the coming generation. It's right! It pays! Vote out Ignorance. Vote in the only Basis of Economic Progress.'^ Here is a recrudescence of the economic argument in the form in which it was used in the North more than half a century ago. The educational phenomena of the South strikingly strengthen the opinion that modern educational progress and industrial evolution proceed hand in hand.-^ The experience of the Carolinas throws some light upon the problem before us. In 1811, South Carolina passed a free school law. This law did not provide for local taxation, but authorized a state appropriaition of three hundred dollars each to as many schools as there were representatives in the lower house of the state legislature. Every citizen was entitled, ac- cording to the law, to send his children to the free schools ; but in case more children applied than could be conveniently ac- conunodated, the children of the poor 'were to be given the pref- erence.**** In December, 1814, an attempt was made to repeal this law. "The act which established a fund for the support of Free Schools through the state of South Carolina has been repealed! And this too. notwithstanding a committee of the Legislature unanimously reported that they had examined the reports of the Commissioners of 23 school districts and found that no less than 4,651 children had been educated the last year from the fund; and that the act had been productive of un- bounded good and no evil. To the honor of the Charleston rep- resentation it ought to be stated that they all voted against the "The writer, The South during the Last Decade in Seivanee Revieio, April, 1904. " Now in tho hands of Trof. R. T. Ely. , "A southern commercial convention, helrt in Memphis in 18.'i3, recommended to the people of the South, "the education of their youth at home, as far as prac- ticable." UcJioti's h'eiit'ir. 15: i!(58. 8« Cooper, Thomas, Statutes at large of South Carolina, (1SS9), 5: 639-41.. Also Courtenay, Mayor William A., Education' in South Carolina, (188G) ; a pam- phlet issued by the city council of Charleston. [114] CARLTON — ECONOMIC INTFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 115 repeal."^' The Senate refused to concur with the' House ;^* and the law remained upon the statute books during the entire period, 1820 to 1850.-'^ Its provisions were not well carried out;'-*^ as its execution was left to districts and was without centralized control. In 1853, it was written: "We have the M-hole work to begin anew."®^ A public school system was inaugurated in North Carolina in 1810. In 1858, it was stated that "upon a calm review of the entire facts', it is neither immodest nor unjust to assert that North Carolina is clearly ahead of all the slave-holding states with her system of public instruction, while she compares favor- ably in several respects with siome of the New England and Northwestern States."''- Economic and social conditions in North Carolina approximated those of Vermont or Ohio much more closely than di'd the conditions existing in the other states of the slave-owning South;''" and here is found the closest ap- proach to the rural school system of the North. In South Caro- lina, the sigTiifieant feature is the influence exerted hy the city of Charleston in favor of free public schools. Delaware The state of Delaware furnishes some very interesting and instructive material. This state is quite narrow in comparison with its length; and is composed of three counties only, — ^New Castle on the north, Kent in' the middle, and Sussex on the south. The only important city is "Wilmington, situated in New Castle county. In 1850, one-third of the population of this county were included within the corporate limits of Wilming- ^' Coluinhia Ccniinc! (Boston), .Tamiary -1, 181."). 2. ^^Tioston Ga::ettc, .Taniiary 12. ISl."), 2. *' In 18i:6, there were four fri^e schools established in Cliarleslon. Mills. Roltert, Staii sties of Charleston, (1820), 438. The total population of the city in 1820, in- cluding slaves, was 24,870. "^ Message of Gov. Andrew Pickens, Xational Intelligencer, December 9, 1817. '" Thornwell, .1. II., Letter to //iJ*r Exeellencn Oor. Manniny on Piihlic Instruc- tion in South Ciirolina. (IS.j.'i), 28. 92 Rev. C, II. Wiley, Sup't of Common Schools of X. C, A\ C. Journal of Educa- tion, February, 1858. Quoted by Smith, Chas. I^.. History of Eiliication in North Carolina. Issued by Com. of Kducation. (ISSSt, 100. ■ »2 Bruce. P. A., The Rise of the Seir South in History of yortli America, 17. [115] 116 BULLETIX OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ton. Sussex county was a purely agricultural county; in 1850 nearly seven per cent, of its population were slaves. Kent •county, containing the village of Dover, was of a distinctly rural character, but only about one and one-half per cent, of its popu- lation were slaves. 1840. «■• New Castle Co, Kent Co Sussex Co Population. 33,120 19,872 25,093 Number of persons employed in agriculture. Number of persons employed in manufac- ture. 5,119 4,604 6,292 2,805 659 596 Number of primary and common schools. Population. Slave population. Pdblic Schools. 1850. ^'i Taxation for. Pupils. Tax per pupil. Newcastle Co Kent Co Sussex Co 42,780 22,816 25.936 394 347 1,.549 $8,975 4,161 1,286 3,227 2,403 3,340 $2.78 1.77 0.38 In 1829, a local option school law, fathered by a New Eng- land man, Willard Hall,'"' was passed by the state legislature. The principles underlying this law, as afterwards stated by I\Ir. Hall, represented a cross between the southern and the New England idea as to the educational functions of the state. ' ' The Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education declares that the cardinal principle which lies at the foundation of their educational system is, that all the children of the State, shall be educated by the State. Let it be distinctly remarked that this is not the principle of our school system; but that our 8* CoiHiifi RriHiits: (1S40». Population. Dover (villaao). Kent Co 3.790 New Castle (village). New Castle Co 2,737 Wilmington (village). New Ca.stle Co 8,367 ^-'Ibid. (]S.50(. ""Willard Ilaii (1780-1875), was born in Massaohusetts. and graduated from Harvard iu 1799. He was a lawyer and a politician, and became the first superin- tendent of public scliools of Delaware. [116] CARLTOX — ECONOMIC INFLUENCES UPON EDUCATION 117 school system is founded upon the position that the people must educate their own children and that all the State should do, or can do for any useful effect, is to organize them into commun- ities so as to act together for that purpose and help and en- courage them to act efficiently."" This is the voice of the lib- eral, not of the democrat. This school law operated fairly well in New Castle county: but not so Avell in Kent and Sussex.^^ In New Castle county, in 1852, the amount raised by tax was double that of 1832. In Kent and Sussex counties, it had only increased about one- fifth, and was actually less than in 1841.^^ In 1850, one-third of the total population of New Castle county lived in Wilming- ton ; and the amount of money per pupil, raised by taxation 'was $2.78. But the strictly rural coimty of Sussex, with a com- paratively large slave population, raised only thirty-eight and a fraction cents per pupil. This striking contrast cannot be adequately explained, as has been argued,^°° by the influence of annual school conventions in New Castle county and the ab- sence of their influence in Sussex county. The dissimilarity be- tween the economic and social conditions was, as the preceding tables have shown, very great; and it is in this circumstance that we must look for a more adequate explanation of the edu- cational phenomena exhibited by these two counties. In the history of the development of the school system of Delaware from 1820 to 1850, therefore, three points stand out prominently. First, the initiative of the educated leader im- pelled by humanitarian impulses. Second, the favorable in- fluence of the urban population and of the workingmen. The workingmen of AVilmington and New Castle county, like those of NcAv York and Philadelphia, were insistent, at the opening of the decade of the thirties, in their demands for better edu- "" Speech before a state school convention, at Dover, in 1S4.S. Quoted Barnard's Journal of Education, IG: 370. "« Willard Ilall in a letter to Dr. Barnard. Jiarnard's Journal of Education, 16: 129. "» Powell, Ilistonj of Education in Delaware, (1893), 144. Issued My Com. of Education. '""Powell. 14 (. Also Barnard's Journal of Education, 16: 129. [117] 118 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN cational facilities.^"^ Third, the retarding influence of the rural population, particularly where slaves were owned. About 1850, democratic tendencies were beginning to overwhelm the liberal sentiment. "Public sentiment throughout the State was rapidly increasing in favor of removing taxation for the maintenance of schools beyond the caprices. narro^A^less, and prejudices of the voter.^*^^ In this movement New Castle county naturally assumed the leadership. ^^'- Delaware Free Press, January 9, July 31. August 2s. Septemlier IS and 25 and October 9, 1S30. 1"= Powell, 147. [118] CARLTOX — ECONOMIC IXFLUEXCES UPON EDUCATION 119 CHAPTER VII CONCLUDING REMARKS What were the immediate influences' which produced the edu- cational advance of the period 1820-1850? Which is funda- mental, educational progress or industrial and social changes? What answer does our investigation offer? The facts presented in the preceding chapters seem to warrant the conclusion that economic and social conditions are the sources from which spring educational methods and ideals rather than the reverse. It is an old fallacy that institutions and forms of governments mold a people; on the contrary it is much nearer the truth to maintain that political institutions and laws are outward and visible manifestations of the spirit and ideals of a people. Similarly, educational systems while introducing important modifying factors are true products of the industrial and social life of a people. The New England school system did not arise in' the South or in Rhode Island during the colonial period, be- cause of different economic and social conditions'. Rhode Island, becoming predominately an industrial state, adopted the tax- supported sr^'stem before 1850 ; but the South, committed to the plantation system and to the institution of slavery, adhered to the old policy of private schools. Today when indiLstry is quick- ening her pulses', the demand for efficient tax-supported schools is growing insistent. ^Manual training and laboratory'- work were not placed in the curriculum until sub-division of labor and the factory system made such additions imperative. The demand for tax-supported schools became strong and vigorous after the growth of the industrial clasis and the development of the modern city with its heterogeneous population. The evi- dence adduced in the preceding chapters shows that the tax-sup- ported, state-maintained public school is essentially an out- growth of industrial evolution. [119] 120 BULLETIN OF THE TNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Universal education is a modern doctrine; it is borne along- on the rising tide of modern democracy. It springs from the same sources as does democracy. Universal education did not fit into the program of the feudal or the militaiy state. The idea of taxation for the support of the common schools and of compulsory attendance upon the same is midoubtedly foreign to the spirit of the eighteenth century as expressed by the Eng- lish people. The doctrine of natural rights does not harmonize with the demand for free tax-supported schools. The modern system of education is a product of democracy, not of liberalism. The old theocratic idea of the religious necessity of education; transmitted through generations of New England men is an important element of strength which the past bequeathed to the modern movement ; but the present can never be explained with- out a consideration of the past. Educational aims, methods and ideals are modified as in- dustrial and social conditions change. There are no hard and fast standards of educational values. Wliile no one of the states presents the different forces isolated, as one would desire for a laboratory experiment ; such an examination as has been made in the preceding chapters does disclose . Smith, C. L., History of Education in North Carolina. Washington, 1888. Smith and Rann, History of Rutland County (Vt.1. Syracuse. N. Y., 1886. Stanwood, Edw., American Tariff Controvercies in the Nineteenth Century. Boston, 1903. Steiner. B. C. History of Education in Maryland. Washington, 1894. Stevenson. R. T., History of North America, Vol. 12 ; The Growth of the Nation. Pbila.. ]9(».5. Tiffany, F.. Charles Francis Barnard, His Life and Work. Boston, 1895. Venable, W. H., Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley. Cin., 1891. Webb, S. and B., Industrial Democracy. London, 1902. Weeden. W. B , Economic and Social History of New England. Boston, 1890 Wickersham, J. P., History of Education in Pennsylvania. Lancaster, Penn., 18S6. ■C Abticlbs. Andrews, J. B., Employer's Associations. In The Coiiununs June, 1905. Blackmar, F. W., History of Suffrage in Legislation in the U. S. In The ChcHitauquan, Oct., 1895. Carlton, F. T., The Home and the School. In Education, Dec, 1905. Carlton, F. T., The Influence of Recent Economic and Social Changes upon Educational Aims, Ideals and Methods. In Journal of Pedagogy, March, 1906. Carlton, F. T., The Industrial Value of Manual Training. In Engineering Magazine, Sept., 1904. Carlton, F. T., The South During the Last Decade. In Sewanee Review, April, 1904. Carlton. F. T., Humanitarianism, I'ast and Present. In The liitcrnalional JournaJ of Eihics. Oct., 1906. Carlton, F. T., The Workingmen's Party of New York City. 1.829-18.'U. In The Political Science Quarterly, Sept., 1907. Channing, Edw., The Narragansett I'lanters. In Johns Hopkins University Studies, 1886. Hinsdale, Mary, A Legislative History of the Public School System of the State of Ohio. In Report of Commissioner of Education, 1901. Hubbard, Elbert. Slaughter of the Innocents. In American Federationist, April, 1906. Mayo, A. D., Development of the Common School System. In Reports of the Commissioner of Education. Robinson, M. H., History of Taxation in New Hampshire. In American Econ,omio Association Publications, 1902. Simons, A. M., The Rise of Labor in America. In International 8ociaU»t Review, Sept., 1904. Simons, M. W., Education in the South. In American Journal of Sociology, Nov., 1904. Turner. F. J., Colonization of the West. In American Historical Review, Jan., 1906. Turner, F. J., The Significance of the Frontier in American History. In Revorta of American Historical Association, 1893. [135] JUL X3 ii>U» LB Mr "09 i^ %, O^ ^ , ,v -* ,0^ ':i C' ^ ^^ J J- ,- ■^' vXN' * ~(H\ $& .V r. ^ ^"^^ -> ^^ ^c. ^>. ,-iV -0^ \^^ "^^, '^> ..\ ^''^^^\a' „A'«, -^ ^«'^' -^' .-^^ N ,7 "^-^ ,-0' .:"/. •'' c3-' ' -^J. vV \"' -c<. .«> -^c^ vOO^ (D N C- A'^' «. <^^ ^. v-^^ ~^ \- ' .,