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 TWO LECTURES: 
 
 Pistoru of tb Introbudioit 
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. 
 
 II. 
 
 i, ^rosgcdifcre Sgstem 
 
 NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY CHARLES BROOKS, 
 
 OF MEDFOBD, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 53rintES 60 JSfqucst ; not yulilisbtf- 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PHINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 15, Water Street. 
 
 1864. 
 
TWO LECTURES: 
 
 Ul 
 
 Pisiorn of tbc Jlntrobuctioii 
 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. 
 
 II. 
 
 % ^rospcftibc .S^nsfcm 
 
 NATIONAL EDUCATION FOR THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY CHARLES BROOKS, 
 
 OF SIEUFOKn, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 (Ptinlct j;; l-tqiit»l;^tit'5^u^li?l)tt.' 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 IS, Water Street. 
 
 1864. 
 
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HISTORY 
 
 MISSIONARY AGENCY, IN MASSACHUSETTS, OF THE 
 STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS OF PRUSSIA, 
 
 In 1835, '36, '37, and '38. 
 
 Read at the " Q-iarter-Centenniaf y^ormal -School Celebration," in Framinr/ham, Mass 
 
 July 1, 1864. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 Mr. President, — I am called to a position which I have tried to 
 avoid. For more than a quarter of a century, I have kept profound 
 silence concerning ray connection with the introduction of the present 
 system of State Normal Schools in New England, and should have 
 kept silence to the end, had not this noble, patriotic, and Christian 
 celebration induced some friends to tempt me to break that silence ; 
 averring it injustice to withhold the facts. 
 
 It happens that I alone possess all the historical documents ; and I 
 have used them in writing a history of 168 pages concerning the pub- 
 lic movements iu 1835-8, not for publication, but as a legacy to my 
 children. I have carefuUy preserved in one large quarto volume all 
 the manuscript documentary evidence, and in a folio all the printed 
 evidence, of the facts I have stated ; carefully noting dates and places. 
 
 Now, can you imagine any thing raore ridiculous and contradictory 
 than for a living man to stand up here, and read his posthumous 
 histories? Has God opened a seam in the dark cloud of the grave, 
 that he may send one ray of light to increase the full-orbed joy of this 
 sacred occasion ? I proposed to your committee of arrangements to 
 have my excellent friend, the Hon. Henry Barnard of Hartibrd, who 
 has done more for general education thau any man on this continent, 
 or your accomplished •' historian," the Rev. Mr. Stearns, state the facts 
 I should furnish ; but the answer was in tliese words : *' It would seem 
 better that we should have the statements directly from yourself, and 
 not through another as the medium of communication." So I submit- 
 ted ; and, without angling any longer for sympathy, I must say, that to 
 the Prussian system of State Normal Schools belongs the distinctive 
 glory of this day. To prove this, I must trace its history in New 
 England. 
 
 The Prussian system is my client ; and I shall submit my case, 
 too briefly, to this intelligent and impartial jury. 
 
6 
 
 At !i litcrai-y soin'e m Lmidcm, Aiiijust, 1834, I met Dr. II. Julius of 
 Iliimburg, then on liis way to the United States; having been sent by 
 the king of Prussia to learn the condition of our schools, hospitals, 
 prisons, and other public institutions. He asked to be my room-mate 
 on board ship. I was too liappy to accede to tliat request. A passage 
 of forty-one days from Liverpool to New York gave me time to ask 
 all manner of questions concerning the noble, philosophical, and practi- 
 cal system of Prussian elementary education. He explained it like a 
 sound scholar and a pious Christian. If you will allow the phrase, I 
 fell in love ^vitli tlie Prussian system; and it seemed to po.ssess me like 
 a missionary angel. I gave myself to it; and, in the Gulf Stream, I 
 resolved to du something about State Normal Schools. This was its 
 birth in me ; and I baptized it my Seaborn School. 
 
 After this, I looked upon each child as a being who could complain 
 of me before God, if I refused to provide for him a better education, 
 after what I had learned. 
 
 When the doctor came to visit me at Hingham, I told liim I had 
 been studying the Prussian system for six months, and that I felt 
 called of God to try and introduce it into my native State. He rose 
 from his seat, seized my hands, after the Hamburg custom, and said, 
 "My friend, you are right; and I will help you all I can." He con- 
 sented to give an account of the Prussian system before the Commit- 
 tee on Education, in our legislature. His delineations were clear and 
 judicious, but so brief as led to no action. 
 
 I opened communication with M. Victor Cousin, the first scholar in 
 Paris, with whom I had become acquainted in 1833. He approved 
 most heartily of my plans, and sent me his histories of the Prussian, 
 Hollandaise, and 15avarian systems of education, and especially Normal 
 Schools. I sent him boxes of our school-books ; and his letters for two 
 or three years were my comfort and strength. I am sorry to say, the 
 rapacious autograph-hunters honestly stole some of them. I published 
 translations of them in our newspapers, and sent them to every town 
 in Plymoutli County. 
 
 I studied his books thoroughly ; and, though I preferred the Holland 
 system of governmental supervision, I concluded to take the Prussian 
 system of State Normal Schools as my model and guide, and began my 
 public lectures on the whole system in 1835. It was in a sermon to 
 my people in Hingham. Tiiey did not ask a copy for publication. I 
 had hoped they would, because, in that sermon, I had made this state- 
 ment : " The whole Prussian system is built on these eight words, — 
 AS IS THE TEACHER, SO IS THE SCHOOL, and tliercfore we must have 
 seminaries for the preparation of teachers, and I hope the first one will 
 
be ill Plymouth County. Fi-om what I have leai'ned, it is now my 
 opinion that the Prussian system is to make a ni'iii em hi the pnhlic 
 elementary education of the United States."' I felt this strongly in 
 1835. It seemed to me'there wei-e grave objections to j)rivate Normal 
 Schools, though taught by such distinguished men as Hon. James G. 
 Carter, and the principal of the Andover Academy. Massachusetts 
 needed associated State Normal Schools, owned, supported, and gov- 
 erned by the State for the State's service. For such only I resolved 
 to labor. 
 
 Much depended on a right beginning. I knew that the conunon 
 people would be more moved by one practical fact than hj a bushel of 
 metaphysics. I therefore wrote three enormously long lectures ; name- 
 ly, two hours ea«h. In the first, I described minutely the Prussian 
 State system, its studies, books, classifications, modes of teaching, 
 government, rewards, punishments, &c. , &c. ; a perfect catalogue of 
 intei-esting facts. In my second, I showed how this new system could 
 be ado})ted in Massachusetts, and how it would affect every town, 
 every school, and especially every family in the State : yes, I took it 
 in my hands, and carried it from house to house, showing the parents 
 liow it would benefit their son John and their daughter INIary. In my 
 third, I showed that all these great, practical Christian results could be 
 realized bi/ establisldmj State Normal Schools, and could not be realized 
 Avithout them ; and therefore the proposed school-reform must begin 
 ^^•ith introducing such Normal Schools. 
 
 After much reflection, I concluded that my most direct and power- 
 ful auxiliaries would be conrenfiojts. Accordingly, without consulting 
 any one out of my own house, I issued, under my own name, a circular 
 to the inhabitants of Plymouth County, stating the olijects I had in 
 view, and describing the good effects produced in Germany bj' State 
 Normal Schools ; and then inviting the friends of school-reform to meet 
 in Plymouth, in Court Week, and take action in tiie [u-eraises. I sent 
 copies of this circular, printed on letter-pajier, to each Board of Select- 
 man, each School Committee, and each clergyman in the county ; 
 requesting clergymen to read it, on the next Sunday, to tiieir people. 
 Most of them read it. The circular was kindly noticed by tlie leading 
 newspapers of the State. The large meeting-house of tlie First 
 Parish in Plymouth was filled ; and I opened the whole matter as 
 clearly and strongly as I could, showing that the great work must 
 begin by founding a State Normal School in Plymouth County. I in- 
 vited the audience to catechise me as much as they could about my 
 views and plans ; and they did so. The audience warmed themselves 
 up ; and Iciiabod Morton, Esq., deacon of the First Parish, rose and 
 
8 
 
 saifl : " Mr. President, I am glad to see this day. The work is well 
 begun : the mass of facts now presented to us so plainly, prove conclu- 
 sively the inestimable value of teachers' seminaries. Mr. Brooks says 
 he wants tlie first one established in the Old Colony ; and so do I, sir ; 
 and I will give one thousand dollars towards its establishment." 
 
 I knew that the generous offer of this humble and pious man would 
 do more for my cause than all my lectures ; and I therefore secured a 
 notice of it in every newspaper in Massachusetts. Thus my client, the 
 Prussian stranger, began its journey from the Plymouth Rock. 
 
 Mr. Slorton gave me the first right hand of fdlowshii); and, over- 
 flowing with zeal, he attended the next annual meeting of the " Ameri- 
 can Institute of Instruction," and after an earnest speech proposed 
 the following : — 
 
 "Resolved, Tfiat a Committee be appointed to ohtain funds by soliciting 
 our legislature tlie next session, and inviting individual donations for the pur- 
 chase of land, and the erection of the necessary buildings, and to put in operation 
 a seminary to qualify teachers of youth for the most important occupation of 
 mankind on earth." 
 
 This was equal to a three-liundred-pound Parrot gunshot in favor 
 of educational reform. 
 
 For the numerous conventions I called, I always prepared the 
 resolutions I wished to have passed ; and they were generally passed 
 unanimously. 
 
 In 1HS6 I gave public notice that I would lecture on the Prussian 
 system of elementary instruction anywhere in the State, but, upon one 
 condition, that I would not, under any circnmstances, receive any com- 
 pensation for my lectures or my travelling expenses. I kept this 
 resolution inviolable, till I saw the legislature pass the vote establish- 
 ing a Board of Education, which, of course, secured Normal Schools, and 
 finished my work. 
 
 After my offer to lecture thus, invitations rushed in from every 
 part of Massachusetts ; and I commenced my missionary travels, and 
 kept them up till 1838 ; having rode in my chaise over two thousand 
 miles. 
 
 My mode of operation was this : To have a conventioti called to 
 meet me in every place where I lectured ; to have as long and warm 
 debates as possible after each lecture, and then to jiass the strongest 
 resolutions I could write, and ]iublisli them in the newspapers. 
 
 When newspapers refused to publish gratuitously, I paid for the 
 insertion. The whole county of Plymouth seemed to move at once ; 
 and I vi'ent from town to town, lecturing and debating, on an average, 
 twice a week, and sometimes more. Once I lectured eight times in 
 
 ( 
 
one week. All religious denominations received me ; and clergymen of 
 differing sects invited me to exchange pulpits, because all their people 
 could go to hear on Sunday. Having taken Christian culture for the 
 basis of my system, I could set the Prussian ideas in their true Sunday 
 light. 
 
 I kept up as constant a succession of articles in the newspapers as 
 I could. There were a few papers that laughed at me as a dreamer 
 wishing to till a republican State with monarchical institutions. In the 
 " Boston Daily Advertiser," then the leading paper in New England, a 
 graduate of Harvard College, in the class of 1811, after caustic criti- 
 cism, ridiculing the idea of Normal Schools, concluded his classic com- 
 munication by representing me with a fool's cap on my head, marching 
 up State Street, in Boston, at the head of a crowd of ragamuffin young 
 men and women, who bore a banner witli tliis inscription : " To a Nor- 
 mal School in the clouds." Mr. President, the writer of that article, 
 and the editor of that paper, believed that the absurdity and ridiculous- 
 ness of my attempts were truly represented by the State-street proces- 
 sion. Can we want better proof of the abysmal ignorance of that 
 period upon that subject ? But enough of my discouragements. Their 
 name was " Legion." 
 
 Plymouth, Hingham, Middleboro', Scituate, Duxbury, Bridge water, 
 and Kingston took the lead in town action, in favor of Prussian Nor- 
 mal Schools in Plymouth County. New Bedford was wide awake from 
 tlie start ; and the week I staid there lecturing and debating tilled 
 me with hopes. 
 
 Some conventions passed eight or ten resolutions. But tlie four 
 points noticed in nearly every convention were these : 1st, Deploring 
 the low state of the public scliools ; 2d, Expressing a readiness for 
 reform ; 3d, Declaring a clear conviction that Normal Schools after the 
 Prussian model would reform and vitalize the whole sj'stem of ele- 
 mentary education in the State ; and, 4th, That the surplus revenue 
 should be used for our public schools. 
 
 At the close of 1836, it was thought that Plymouth, Bristol, and 
 Norfolk Counties were ready to petition the legislature for a Board of 
 Education and Normal Schools. 
 
 The governor knew what we had been doing, but did not even 
 mention our Normal-school plan in his inaugural message ; yet ac- 
 knowledged interrogatively our Board of Education, thus : — 
 
 " Wliether the creation of a Board of Commissioner of schools to serve with, 
 out salary, with authority to appoint a Secretary, on a reasonable compensation, 
 to be paid from the school-fund, would not be of great utility ? " 
 
10 
 
 We were grateful for a little dew, though the State was ready 
 for a copious shower; for six days after this speech, Jan. 10, the 
 House of Representatives, by a unanimous vote, offered me their 
 Chamber for the delivery, before them, of my two lectures on State 
 Normal Schools ! This showed the public pulse, and what the Prus- 
 sian system had really done. This invitation was proposed by a mem- 
 ber who was a stranger to me, and was as wholly unexpected as it was 
 unsought. The whole heavens now seemed to me to be filled with rain- 
 liows. Public notices brought more to the State House than the 
 Chamber would hold. I believe the Hon. Edmund Dwight got in. On 
 that evening, I laid out all my strength, and suited my lecture to my 
 audience as well as I could. Both lectures were kindly received ; and 
 the next week the newspapers through the State contained communi- 
 cations from the members of the legislature ; some calling the new 
 movement by funny names. I had a shower of invitations to repeat 
 these lectures in different parts of the Commonwealth ; and I went 
 from Cape Cod to Berkshire, the only lecturer in the field. 
 
 While at Boston, I had the best opportunity of urging immediate 
 action by the legislature of 1837 ; and the Committee on Education 
 gave me a patient hearing. From what members of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives told me, I felt it in my very bones, that the 
 great questions of a Board of Education and Normal Schools were 
 settled in Massachusetts, and, if settled here, then throughout New Eng- 
 land. Mr. President, at that early time I felt the very same assurance 
 that these blessed institutions would soon come into existence in the 
 Old Bay State, as I now feel that the cursed institution of slavei-y will 
 go out of existence in rebeldom. 
 
 Tlie Plymouth-county Convention was held at Halifiix, 24th of 
 January, 1837. The circular I wrote convening it was very long; 
 and printed copies were read from the pulpit; and every town, but two, 
 ^vas represented : some sent two delegates, some six, some sent all the 
 clergymen, some the school committee. I prepared, by request, all 
 the business, the resolutions, and the questions ; also a draft of the 
 petition to the legislature. The Convention was verj^ large and intel- 
 ligent ; through a day discussed the vital topics with feeling and 
 power, and voted unanimously to present the petition for Normal 
 Schools, and requested me to attend to and defend it before the 
 Committee on Education. 
 
 Mr. Ichabod Morton's resolution in the American Institute, to 
 l^etition for the same things, was accepted : George B. Emerson, 
 Esq., was appointed to draft the petition ; and he wrote one, which, for 
 comprehension of thought, force of statement, truth of reasoning, and 
 
11 
 
 persuasiveness of spirit, coiikl not be surpassed. It must have carried 
 conviction to every reasoning mind. It does my heart good to thank, for 
 the second time, this distinguished friend of education for his Normal- 
 school petition. lie has laid future generations among us under 
 obligations to his personal labors as a teacher, and to his pen as a 
 philosopher and Christian. 
 
 Feb. 28, 1837, Eev. Dr. Channing was moved to help us ; and 
 on that day, in a public address, he said : " We need an institution for 
 the formation of better teachers ; and, until this step is taken, we can 
 make no important progress. An institution for training men to train 
 the young would be a fountain of living watera sending forth streams 
 to refresh present and future ages. We trust that our legislators will 
 not always prove blind to the highest interest of the State." 
 
 The Board of Education was established by a vote of the legis- 
 lature. On the 20th of April, 1837, it was approved by the governor ; 
 and, on the 29th of June, it was organized. This act was avowed to 
 be prospective to State Normal Schools. Never was a heart fuller of 
 gi-atitude to God than was mine. I felt that my work was done ; for I 
 had said in public and private, over and over again, that, if a Board of 
 Education could be obtained, its first duty and interest would be to 
 secure Normal Schools. Does not daylight in the east promise the 
 coming of the sun/' 
 
 I had proposed Hon. James G. Carter as the Secretary of the 
 Board ; but the choice fell on his rival, Hon. Horace Mann, who, on 
 that day, was summoned to an unaccustomed calling. On that daj' he 
 laid down his law-books, and took up his school-books ; and what a 
 scholar he made himself! Not a man in the commonwealth could 
 have planned more wisely or executed more successfully. The record 
 of his labors will be his everlasting monument. 
 
 He invited me to keep on lecturing about Normal Schools until 
 they were secured. I told him Mcy were already sectired, and no power 
 could stop them. I went through the State, lecturing on school- 
 reform at Worcester, Springtield, Northampton, Deerfield, and many 
 other smaller places. 
 
 Mr. Mann wisely adopted the system of county conventions. I 
 requested him to appoint such a convention to meet at Hanover, Ply- 
 mouth County, because I knew that Hon. John Q. Adams was at 
 Quincy, and Hon. Daniel Webster at Marshfield ; and I was resolved 
 to secure their approbation of State Normal Schools. I invited them. 
 Mr. Adams, in a very long letter, refused to attend, on account of his 
 " ignorance of the subject." Mr. Webster said he would come, but, as 
 he had a cold, would not speak. I was fortunate enougji to get tlieni 
 
12 
 
 both there. They listened to our explanations in the morning and in 
 the afternoon. We had a noble, characteristic speech from each. I 
 took notes, and printed the speeches in a pamphlet, and sent a copy to 
 every school committee and clergyman in the State, and also to each 
 member of the legislature of 1838, before whom the question of State 
 Normal Schools was to come. The distinguished orators emphatically 
 approved of our labors, and hoped that Normal Schools would be 
 established, not only in Massachusetts, but throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 The Board of Education began by instituting a course of lectures 
 to be delivered by different gentlemen in the House of Representatives, 
 appointing their Secretary for the first lecture. They invited me to 
 deliver the second, and requested me to speak on " Normal Schools 
 and school-reform." My evening was the 25th of January, 1858. 
 The newspapers reported my arguments for State Normal Schools ; and 
 the governor, who wrote the first Annual Report of the Board of Edu- 
 cation, recommended, eight days afterwards, that the legislature 
 should establish Normal Schools. Mr. Dwight gave ten thousand 
 dollars for the purpose ; and, on the 19th of April, tlie legislature 
 accepted his patriotic gift, and established the fii-st State Normal School 
 on this continent. 
 
 My cup of joy was full ; and the 19th of April, 1838, has ever since 
 been a red-letter day in my memory. After the vote in the legisla- 
 ture was declared, a witty lawyer said to me, " Mr. Brooks, was it an 
 accident, or was it by design, that you had your Prussian egg hatched 
 on the 19th of April?" 
 
 One word more for my client, the school-system of Prassia, and I 
 am done. The Prussian system, with its two central powers, a Board 
 of Education and Normal Schools, was not known in New England 
 when I first described it, in public, in 1835 ; but, on the 19th of April, 
 1838, Massachusetts, the banner State, adopted State Normal Schools 
 by statute. Remembering well how the good leaven spread in 1835-8, 
 I say it was the Prussian system which wrought out the educational 
 regeneration of New England. 
 
 The beautiful fountain " Arethusa " sank under the ground in 
 Greece, passed inider the sea, and re-appeared in Sicily ; but the Sici- 
 lians have never regretted the appearance of that foreign blessing 
 among them. 
 
A LECTURE 
 
 PROSPECTIVE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL EDUCATION 
 FOR THE UNITED STATES; 
 
 CONSISTING OP 
 
 mEE SCHOOLS, FREE COLLEGES, AND FREE UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Delivered, li/ request of the School Committee, in the Town Hall of ifedford, Mass., 
 
 Oct. 17, 18G4. 
 
MEDFORD, Oct. 3, 1864. 
 
 Rev. CiiAMxs Brooks. 
 
 De.^u Sir, — Tlic undersigned, a Sub-Committee appointed by the Board 
 of Scliool Committee of Medford, desire to e.xpress to you the great gratification 
 with wliicli we listened to the valuable and interesting outline of a Plan of 
 National Instructios, presented and read by you at a recent meeting of our 
 Board ; and as the subject is one of vast importance to the future interests of 
 our growing repubhc, and involves considerations of the weightiest moment to 
 all the friends of education, we are anxious that greater pubUcity should be given 
 to your views ; and woidd therefore invite you, at yom- earhest convenience, to 
 address a meeting to be convened for the purpose, before which your plan can 
 be more fully laid, with such additions as your experience may suggest. A life 
 devoted as yours has been to the cause of education, and so fruitful in practical 
 and positive results, would seem to point to you as one eminently fitted to inau- 
 gurate this work ; and we trust that your plan will so commend itself to the 
 intelligence of our people as to lead to its adoption in every State. 
 
 With great respect we have the honor to subscribe ourselves, 
 
 Yours fiiithfully for the cause of Education, 
 
 John S. Barry, ^ 0/ the 
 Geo. M. Preston, > School Committee 
 E. BOTNTON, Jr., } of Medford. 
 
15 
 
 T. E C T U Tv E. 
 
 The Quarter Centennial Normal-scliool Celebration, Julj' 1, 18G4, 
 unexpectedly brought before the public my labors for schools in 
 1835-38. 
 
 Since then, various requests have been made for me to give some 
 account of my subsequent efforts in other States. This I should not 
 have done, had not Prof. Agassiz, in his recent speech at Springfield, 
 mentioned one of the points contained in a system of national educa- 
 tion, which I drew up in 1839. Availing myself of so ]iowerful an 
 auxiliary, I would now state a few of the facts requested, merely to 
 show the continuity in the steps of educational reform at that time. 
 
 State Normal Schools having been secured to Massachusetts in 
 1838, I commenced lecturing on Normal Schools and National Educa- 
 tion in the other New-England States ; and then in New York, New 
 Jersey, Philadelphia, and Wasliington. 
 
 New-York Evening Star, March 18, 1839. 
 
 " It is with no ordinary gratification that we notice tliat tlie Philadelphia 
 papers have just published a call for a 'National Education Convention ' to be 
 held in that city in November next. This movement was suggested by Prof. 
 Charles Brooks, of Massachusetts, in his lectures recently delivered iu that city. 
 We trust the members of the Convention will come prepared to recommend a 
 ' National System of Education ' which will approve itself to the friends of 
 freedom and humanity. 
 
 " At the annual meeting of the ' American Lyceum,' held in the city of New 
 York on the 3d, 4th, and 6th of May, 1839, the following resolutions, proposed 
 by Prof Brooks of Massachusetts, were maturely considered, and unanimously 
 adopted : — 
 
 '"Resolved, That it is expedient to hold a National Convention, for one week, 
 in the Hall of Independence, at Philadelphia, beginning on the 22d of No- 
 vember next, at 10 o'clock, a.ji., for the piu'pose of discussing the various 
 topics connected with elementiiry and popular education in the United States. 
 
 '"Resolved, Th.at a committee of five be now appointed to request the gov- 
 ernor (and, if in session, the legislature) of eacli State iu the Union, to invite 
 the friends of education in their State to attend the Convention.' — C'opi/ of 
 Records." 
 
16 
 
 It was my purpose to have the venerable John Quincy Adams 
 preside in the National Convention. To my letter inviting him to do 
 so, I received the following : — 
 
 QniNCY, 1st July, 1839. 
 Rev. Charles Brooks. 
 
 My dear Sir, — At the commencement of om- Revolutionary War, there 
 was a class of citizens, in the prime of life, volunteers in the service of their 
 country, not enlisted soldiers, and known by the name of Minute-Men ; so called 
 from the principle of the association, which was, that every one of them 
 should be ready at one minute's notice to march to any indicated point, to meet and 
 repel the enemy. 
 
 I am, or ought to be, as every man of my age ought to be, a minute-man for 
 the other world ; and it is therefore impossible for me to contract for attendance 
 at any meeting in this so far distant time as the 20th of next November. I 
 cannot engage to meet you on that day in Philadelphia. Nor is it for me, for 
 tlie same and for other reasons equally cogent, to take the lead in your laudable 
 great national movement for the advancement of education, by presiding at the 
 meeting. 
 
 If I can make my arrangements so as to be at Philadelphia on the 20th of 
 November, I will cheerfully attend the meeting, ftnd give its objects all my good 
 Avishes, and any assistance that may be in my power. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, faithfully your friend, 
 
 J. Quincy Adams. 
 
 The Convention met. It was large, and composed of most distin- 
 guished men, from different parts of the Union, and was called " A 
 Convention of Sages and riiilanthropists." 
 
 The resolutions, prepared, discussed, and passed with entire una- 
 nimity, were the follo^ving: — 
 
 " Whereas the cause of popular education is one which should connnand the 
 energy and zeal of every lover of his country, and which calls for the united 
 action of the citizens of this repubUc ; therefore, — 
 
 " Resolved, That the National Convention of the friends of education, now in 
 session in Philadelpliia, desire that an earnest appeal be made, in their behalf, to 
 the people of the United States, in relation to this interesting cause, embody- 
 ing the precepts contained in the Farewell Address of the immortal Washington, 
 and the spirit of his compatriots of the Revolution. 
 
 " Resolved, That a memorial from this Convention to the Congress of the 
 United States be prepared, asking an early appropriation of the Smithsonian 
 legacy to the purposes of education, for which it was designed by the generous 
 philanthropist whose name it bears. 
 
 " Resolved, That a memorial be prepared by the Convention to the Congress 
 of the United States, urging upon that body the propriety of appropriating all, 
 or a part, of the proceeds of sales of pubUe lands for the purposes of education. 
 
 "Resolved, That a memorial be presented, on behalf of this Convention, to 
 the legislatures of the several States of the Union, urging the estabUshment 
 of the system of general education, whereby free and connnon schools may be 
 made accessible to all, and that knowledge secured to the people which is the 
 liulwark of social and political happiness, and freedom. 
 
17 
 
 "And whereas it is most important to rally the friends of education through- 
 out our widely extended country ; therefore it is further — 
 
 " Eesoh-ed, That the governors of the several States be requested by this 
 Convention to direct, iu their messages, the attention of the legislatures to the 
 state of popular education in their respective States ; and also, that they offi- 
 cially promote immediate inquiry how the same can be improved. 
 
 "Resoloed, That the National Convention, now in session in Philadelphia, 
 recommend to the friends of education, in the several States of the Union, the 
 holding of Stale Conventions, or the formation of State Education Societies, for 
 the promotion of the cause of education by such means as may seem to them 
 most suitable. 
 
 "Resolved, That a general Convention of the friends of education, to consist 
 of delegates from State Conventions, lyconns, public bodies, connected institu- 
 tions for education, or from regularly constituted public meetings of the friends 
 of the cause, be held in Washington on the first Wednesday of May nest. 
 
 "Resolved, That tliis Convention recommend to the several State Conven- 
 tions to appoint delegates to the National Convention, to be held in Washington, 
 and a Standing Committee, to correspond with the Committee of tlie National 
 Convention. 
 
 " Resolved, That the President and Vice-Presidents of this Convention be 
 authorized to appoint the requisite number of Committees, to consist of five 
 members each, to prepare the address and memorials contemplated in the pre- 
 ceding resolutions. 
 
 " Resolved, That tlie proceedings of this Convention be signed by the Presi- 
 dent, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries ; and that the editors of the papers in the 
 United States, friendly to the cause of education, be earnestly requested to give 
 them an insertion in their cohunns." 
 
 Tlius we see how fully tbi.s Convention of " sages and philanthro- 
 pists " comprehended the sacred importance and vastness of their 
 work ; and how methodically and practically they took every efficient 
 step to bring the great question, first before Congress and the people 
 of the United States, then before each State, and finally before each 
 town ; and then proceeded to secure a full attendance at a second 
 National Convention, to be held at Washington the next year, when 
 Congress would be in session. 
 
 If I had had the drawing-up of the resolutions, and the appointing 
 of the Committees, they could not have been more perfectly accordant 
 with my suggestions and plans. 
 
 It was in this Convention that I was to bring forward the Syslem 
 of National Education vihicXx I had prepared. 1 have reason to be- 
 lieve it would have been received with the most friendly feelings ; and 
 that a Committee would have been chosen to examine it, and report ;it 
 the Jlay Convention in Washington. 
 
 It was to me the deepest regret that I could not attend the Phila- 
 delphia Convention of the 22d of November. The arrangement of 
 the courses of lectures ou Natural llistorv, at the Sorbonne and Gar- 
 
18 
 
 den of Plants, in Paris, compelled me to leave America, Sept. 9, 1839, 
 in order to attend them. I wished to show to that Convention how 
 a truly national system would be but the natural consequence of the 
 principles and methods we had adopted in Massachusetts ; and that a 
 republic, where every citizen has equal rights, can give vitality and 
 usefulness to a general system of free national education as no other 
 power on earth can. This year of 1864 brings to my mind deeper 
 and clearer faith that our re-organized and regenerated Union will be 
 able to accomplish what no nation has accomplished since the Christian 
 era. Our republic is to stand and flourish through more centuries 
 than did the Grecian or Roman. The next hundred years will see 
 two hundred millions of free and patriotic citizens within our bor- 
 ders. Five years from this time should see our National Constitution 
 altered, and our National Government established upon the broadest 
 and deepest foundation. 
 
 Is not now the time, therefore, to start the discussion of the great 
 system of national education suited to our thousand years' life, and our 
 nameless millions of inhabitants ? Let us expand our minds to this 
 great conception, and look at the matter from this angle. Let us plant, 
 that others may reap. Some little, invisible, winged seed may fall on 
 good ground, spring up, and bring forth fruit a hundred-fold. 
 
 I propose now to give a brief abstract of my system of democratic 
 national education, and thus close the history of my labors in this 
 department. I wished to address the Convention thus : — 
 
 All children by nature have equal rights to education. A repub- 
 lic, by the very principles of republicanism, is socially, politically, and 
 morally bound to see that all the talent born within its territory is 
 developed in its natural order, proper time, and due proportion ; thus 
 enabling every mind to make the most of itself. The republican State 
 stands in loco parentis to every child, and is therefore bound to use 
 all the means and capabilities sent by Heaven for its highest aggran- 
 dizement. 
 
 The question, then, is. How can our Union thus promote its own 
 highest good? I answer, By the establishment of Free Schools, 
 Free Colleges, and Free Universities. 
 
 Extend the New-England idea of free schools, and the true demo- 
 cratic result is reached. It may be illustrated thus : The town says 
 to every child born within its limits, " Go to the Primary School as 
 soon as you are four years old ; there you will lind rooms, books, and 
 teachers : use them all gratis ; your parents need only clothe and feed 
 vou." When these children have been four years in tlie Primary 
 
19 
 
 School, the town says to them, " Go uji into the Grammar School ; 
 tliere you will iind rooms, books, aud teachers : use them all at our 
 expense ; your parents need only clothe and feed you." When these 
 pupils have spent four years in the Grammar Schools, the town again 
 says to them, ■• Go up, into the High School ; there you will find rooms, 
 books, apparajtus, and teachers : use them all gratis ; your parents need 
 only clothe and feed you." When these pupils have spent four years 
 in the High School, and the town has done all it can for them, then 
 the Sfafe says to them, " Go up into the College, and enter the de- 
 partment for which you are prepared ; there you will find rooms, 
 books, apparatus, and teachers : use them all gratis ; your parents need 
 only clothe and feed you." When these students have passed through 
 four years of College instruction and discipline, the United States says 
 to them, " Go up iuto the National University, and enter any depart- 
 ment for which you can prove yourself prepared ; there you will find 
 rooms, books, apparatus, and teachers : use them all gratis ; your 
 parents need only clothe and feed you." 
 
 Thus following up the New-England idea of pure, republican, 
 democratic education, I arrired at the necessity of free National 
 Universities. To give a full description of the foundation, powers, 
 character, uses, and utility of the two Universities of my plan, would 
 take a small octavo volume. The abstract and outline I now propose 
 to give will, I fear, be necessarily so brief and imperfect as to aflbrd 
 you but small satisfaction. Poor as they are, they are as follows : — 
 
 Two National Universities. 
 
 These two Universities shall be the property of the citizens of the 
 United States, and be under the control of the national government. 
 
 Location. — One of these National Universities shall be placed near 
 the centre of that jiart of the republic which is this side of the Rocky 
 Mountains. The other should be placed near the centre of that part 
 of the republic which is on the other side of the Rocky jMountains. 
 A hundred years would find them surrounded by a vast population. 
 Twenty miles square of land should be appropriated to each ; contain- 
 ing a mountain, a river, and a waterfall. 
 
 Appropriation. — Twenty millions of dollars should be appropriated 
 to each as a beginning. 
 
 Officers of Government and Instruction. — There shall be a Presi- 
 dent, Vice-President, Professors, Tutors, and Assistants ; all of whom, 
 except the President, shall be teachers : and they shall assist the 
 President in the daily government of the University. 
 
20 
 
 Governmental Supervision. — Congress shall appoint, to each Uni- 
 versity, fifty gentlemen who are known to be most acquainted with the 
 studies to be pursued. They shall be called the University Board of 
 Overseers ; and they shall determine the courses of study and the 
 modes of government. Each member of the Board shall hold his office 
 for ten years, after the expiration of the first ten years. Before the 
 expiration of that time, five members shall annually retire, and five be 
 choseQ in their place. The Board shall present annually to Congress a 
 minute report of the condition, wants, and prospects of the University. 
 
 Elections. ■ — The Board of Overseers shall nominate to the Senate 
 of the United States the gentlemen whom they wish to be elected as 
 President, Vice-President, Professors, Tutors, and Assistants. "\Mien 
 the Senate have chosen the candidate thus nominated, they shall report 
 the name to the President of tlie United States for his approval or 
 rejection. 
 
 Candidates. — Tlie candidates for any office of teacher shall pre- 
 sent themselves together before the Board of Overseers for examination, 
 and shall there go through a concours, as in France, where each candi- 
 date is examined by his competitors and the Board ; and the victorious 
 competitor shall be nominated to the Senate. 
 
 Course of Studies. — In these National Universities shall be taught, 
 by the most accomplished teachers, every thing which can make a great 
 Christian nation healthy, learned, polished, heroic, powerful, prosperous, 
 and good. The course of studies should be such as aim constantly at 
 these results. The Universities must not be reservoirs only ; they 
 must be fountains. They must not only teach what is known, but be 
 pioneers in discovering truths- heretofore unknown and powers here- 
 tofore untried, and then reducing such new forces to their practical 
 applications. They are thus to send new life and power into every 
 college, workshop, and fiimily in the land. 
 
 I must leave to others more competent the arrangement of stmlies, 
 and shall content myself with merely naming a few of the departments 
 of study ; such as may give a glance at the magnitude and objects of 
 my plan. The order in which I shall name them will be nearly acci- 
 dental ; and the necessaiy studies, not named, may be as numerous as 
 those I record. I begin with, — 
 
 Theology and lieligion. — The Universities shall furnish places for 
 public worship and religious teaching to each Christian denomination. 
 Theological jirofessors and Cln-istian preachers, in each denomination, 
 shall bo nominated, by their respective denominations, to the Board o^ 
 Overseers, and then be elected and paid as other professors and teach- 
 ers. These professors and teachers, in each sect, sliall be the teachers 
 
21 
 
 of the classes in their respective theological schools. Every thing era- 
 bracing a complete theological and clerical education shall be taught to 
 those who have dedicated themselves to the Christian ministry. Every 
 such student shall have the fullest liberty of pursuing any of the dil- 
 ferent courses of theological and religious instruction allowed in the 
 Universities. 
 
 Each undergraduate shall attend public worship on Sunday, and 
 shall have liberty of selecting his religious teacher on that day. 
 
 While every Christian preacher shall be at liberty, on Sunday, to 
 discuss in his sermons polemically any sectarian doctrine or creed, it 
 is to be hoped he would benevolently study the ages and antecedents 
 of his audience, and generally devote himself to explaining and enfor- 
 cing man's duties to himself, to his neighbor, and to his God ; and thus 
 illustrate hovr purity, justice, holiness, benevolence, and piety make the 
 soul grow in heavenly gi'ace, and shape the immortal character ; in 
 other words, to strive to make the young like Abraham in faith, like 
 Paul in labors, like John in love, and like Christ in every thing. 
 " Deus et Christus : Ratio et Lux. " 
 
 Medical School. — In this department shall be studied, by those pre- 
 paring for the medical profession, anatomy, surgery, chemistry, botany, 
 mineralogy, zoology, physiology, pathology, materia raedica, and what- 
 ever else relates to the science of vital forces, disease and health. 
 
 Natural History. — All the branches of natural history to be taught 
 and then illustrated by gardens of plants, museums of specimens in 
 zoology, comparative anatomy, mineralogy, botany, &c. There should 
 be a very large farm for teaching every part of agriculture ; for trying 
 the pi-oductiveness and value of all kinds of seeds which can be procured 
 in the world ; and also for the introduction and improvement of the 
 best breeds of animals for labor and food. 
 
 School of Practical Science. — In this department shall be taught 
 all the science that belongs to architecture, navigation, engineering, 
 transportation of persons and things. The above studies to be illus- 
 trated from a collection of model machines, like the United-States 
 Patent-office. Workshops for constructing machines and trying ex- 
 periments in dynamics. 
 
 Science, whether it be natural, physical, mental, moral, mathemati- 
 cal, absolute, or abstract, should have its high place in the required 
 course of studies ; and in each department there should be such aids and 
 means of illustration as the observatory furnishes to the astronomer. 
 No money or labor should be spared in making the two observatories 
 of our National Universities equal to any in existence. How much 
 we now need the help of such a class of men, who would devote them- 
 
22 
 
 selves to the science of climatology; and, after collecting authentic 
 records from every part of the world, so classify and arrange the data 
 as to evolve the laws which govern the weather during the earth's 
 revolution round the sun. 
 
 Lmo School. — In this department the most extended legal education 
 shall be required ; embracing all the known branches and relationships 
 of law, first in this country, and then in foreign countries and distant 
 times ; also politics, as a branch of legal science and national law, 
 reduced to a system of justice and morality ; also government, its 
 science and character in all nations, and especially its nature, laws, 
 and purposes in our republic. 
 
 Military School. — It should be mainly like West-Point Acade- 
 my ; and should be the means of introducing a drill exercise into 
 all the classes of undergraduates. 
 
 School of Fine Arts. — Sculpture, painting, and music, with all 
 their associated branches of study and labor, should be taught in their 
 fullest developments ; and galleries of sculpture, painting, engraving, 
 &c., should be collected as aids and illustrations. 
 
 Libraries. — One million of dollars would be a small appropriation 
 for commencing such a library as would be necessary for one National 
 University. A catalogue raisonne of the books that should be studied 
 in our Universities would fill a volume. This subject and others I 
 have not mentioned, hoping that my plan for our gi-eat seminaries may 
 be descried even amidst the brief and broken notices which I have 
 given of topics of study and modes of procedure. 
 
 Literature. — AH the results of learning, knowledge, and imagination 
 which have been recorded, and which properly come under the head of 
 literature, shall be taught -in ej-toiso. All languages, from the oldest 
 Oriental to the most modern, which can illustrate for practical purposes 
 the history of human progi-ess, shall be taught from the best authorities 
 in each ; thus introducing logic and metaphysics, poetry and philosophy, 
 history and fable, oratory and taste, to their appropriate spheres. The 
 ] lower which true classical learning has for quickening human thought, 
 expanding national sympathies, and firing noblest ambition, should be 
 carefully brought to bear upon every scholar in the Union. 
 
 Lectures. — When a teacher has finished his lecture, then should 
 follow, under his guidance, a voluntary debate or discussion of the 
 suljject treated, by the whole class. A lecture should also be delivered 
 by each member of a class, followed by a voluntary, extemporaneous 
 deljate on tlie tojiic treated. In these semi-coneours, the presiding 
 otHcer should do all he can to bring into powerful action all the 
 available knowledge and skill of the class. 
 
23 
 
 Exploring Expeditions and Travelling Scholars. — Corps of these, 
 in every material department, must penetrate every quarter of the 
 globe, and bring home descriptions or models of whatever will add 
 to and enrich our institutions, laws, trade, arts, and agencies. They 
 must form scientific, literary, and educational alliances with the great 
 institutions of other countries, and strive to bring into general favor 
 the simple and all-powerful plan of God for imiversal culture. 
 
 Rcvino of Studies. — In every department of study, the students 
 shall review their lessons very often ; and the marks of relative rank, 
 given by the examining teacher after these recitations, shall be counted 
 as the highest in value. 
 
 Annual Examination. — Near the close of each academical year, 
 all the undergraduates shall be examined with searching scrutiny by 
 the Board of Overseers, who may call to their aid other scholars in 
 the country, who are distinguished for their attainments in particular 
 branches of learning. The results of these examinations are to make 
 part of the annual report to Congress, and also a part of the marks by 
 which the relative rank of each scholar shall be determined at the end 
 of the year. 
 
 Degrees. — These being signs, no undergraduate should receive the 
 sign until he has proved, under examination, that he possesses the thing 
 signified. The diploma should designate the department and the rela- 
 tive rank of the graduating student. To decide this rank, the marks 
 of the last year shall be counted, and then the marks of the last annual 
 examination, and then those of the final conronrs. He who has the 
 highest number from all these shall receive Diplojia No. 1 ; he who 
 has the next highest number shall receive Diploma No. 2 ; and so 
 on, through the two or three thousand who may graduate. If any in 
 the class fail to reach the lowest number entitling a student to a degree, 
 they shall leave the University without any recommendation. 
 
 I had hoped to extend this programme much farther ; but have 
 concluded, that, the more I added, the more I should be dissatisfied with 
 it ; and, as my dissatisfaction is already enormous, I conclude to stop. 
 
 I may be allowed here most emphatically to forljid that the defects, 
 omissions, or inconsistencies of these details shall be quoted against my 
 fundamental principle and general idea of National Universities. I 
 believe the fundamental plan is a practical, patriotic, humane, and 
 Christian plan ; and that wiser men and better scholars maj' be found 
 who can fill up philosophically and harmoniously the details. 
 
 The infimt of to-day may live to see two hundred millions of free, 
 intelligent, and happy republicans occupying the territory owned by 
 
24 
 
 the United States. National Universities are absolutely necessary for 
 such a country as Heaven has destined ours to be. The Anglo-Saxon 
 blood on this side of the globe must peacefully conquer and educate 
 the other races. It is our destiny, and we must fulfil it. The Univer- 
 sities here must be as much above and beyond P>ngland's Oxford and 
 Cambridge, as those institutions are larger than our rural colleges. 
 " Westward the course of empire takes its way. " New States are 
 steadily coming into our Union ; and it is of measureless importance 
 to them that they begin wisely and nobly. When the time comes to 
 alter our National Constitution in four important points (making free 
 national education one of those points), and we then start forward on a 
 career of light, liberty, and power unexampled in history, then we shall 
 see the value of gigantic forces, which can properly educate rising gen- 
 erations, direct public opinion, begin great enterprises, and stamp them 
 all with the seal of universal republicanism and pure Chi-istianity. 
 
 Greece and Rome were great in war, arts, and letters. We are to 
 be great for centuries in peace, science, civilization, wealth, letters, 
 and religion. We are to rule with the quadrant and the plough, 
 the steam-engine and the loom, the telescope and the microscope, the 
 spelling-book and the Bible. Our Universities will build a school- 
 house in every village between Baffin's Bay and Cape Horn. 
 
 The dangerous rush of pupils to these Universities, which my plan 
 may seem to favor, can be fully and for ever prevented, and the law 
 of demand and supply have its conservative and discriminating control. 
 The terms of admission may bar the doors to all but those who should 
 enter. 
 
 Hoping that the time may soon come when sound philosophers, true 
 patriots, and good t'hristians, will examine the momentous subject here 
 proposed, without any regard to my view of it, I will close my remarks 
 upon it, with a brief mention of some of the reasons for adopting 
 National Universities. 
 
 1. Thci/ are stricthj democratic. — -They are for the people, and 
 the whole jieople alike, wholly regardless of sects in religion and par- 
 ties in politics ; while they have special and unlimited regard to our 
 common humanity and common citizenship. They are places where 
 every youth in the United States, who is endowed with extraordinary 
 talent, may find all the.helps he needs to prepare himself for becoming 
 the great benefactor of his country and his race. 
 
 2. They are promoters of fraterncd and ■poJiticcd union. — The two 
 Universities will grasp hands on the to|.) of the Rocky Mountains, and 
 hold tlie entire population in one united and fraternal whole. The 
 undergraduates, coming from all part^ of our wide and widening conn- 
 
25 
 
 try with a common aim, a common interest, and a common hope, will, 
 in foni- such j'cars, as naturally fraternize as contiguous drops of water 
 melt into one. 
 
 3. They send healthy agencies to colleges and schools. — As is the 
 teacher, so is the school. From their Normal-school department, our 
 Universities will send forth purposely prepared teachers, who will raise 
 the standard of jiopular education, and organize a system of national 
 elementary instruction. They will also prepare instructors for the 
 highest offices in our colleges. 
 
 4. They are just, benevolent, and prophetic. — Just to ourselves; for 
 they are what we owe to our history, to our capabilities, and to our 
 hopes. Benevolent to others ; for they are what the poor and unfor- 
 tunate and friendless may use for their highest good. Prophetic ; for 
 they may open a future of honor and success which no imagination 
 now can gra^p. 
 
 5. They are the index of American character. — This is the culmi- 
 nating point, — tlie Alpha and Omega of the whole system. Our Uni- 
 versities must feel it to be their paramount duty and honor to hold up 
 before all people the liighest type of individual and national character 
 which can be attained on earth ; thus attracting Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa to imitate our example. 
 
 Take an illustration in trade. IIow worthy and useful would it 
 be for our Universities to attempt to persuade all nations to adopt a 
 system of uniform weights, measures, and currency ! 
 
 TaliC an example in government. How benevolent and politic 
 would it be in us to persuade aU nations to appoint a congress of 
 nations, who should settle a code of international law ; and then ap- 
 point a grand jiny of the world, before which all international dispntes 
 shall be brought, tried, and finally settled ! thus for ever putting an end 
 to the unjust, unchristian, and bloody arbitrament of war. 
 
 Thus ends my first plan for an American system of Free Schools, 
 Free Colleges, and Free Universities. It is founded on the broadest 
 basis of pure democratic republicanism ; and it is to be carried into 
 effect by the united wisdom of a rich, powerful, intelligent, and C'iiris- 
 tian people. 
 
 Shakspeare says : — 
 
 " Doubt not but success 
 Will fashion the event in better shape 
 Than I cau lay it down in Ukelihood. " 
 
 CH.\RLES BROOKS. 
 West Medford, March 31, 1864. 
 
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