THE
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no.60
BUHR
B 1,108,095
Columbia University
Contributions to Education
Teachers College Series
CE OF RECO
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BORACI
(LAIMING)
VINERIMISL
SIGILLU
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THE SOUTH KNIGHT
OLLEGII
ARAD
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ARTES
1837
VERITAS
LIBRARY
SCIENTIA
OF THE
{ UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
DE PLURIBUS UNUM
QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
WYNYAYA

FIAMMIMITIRINHUM
THE INFLUENCE OF RECONSTRUCTION
ON EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH
BY
EDGAR WALLACE KNIGHT, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION IN TRINITY COLLEGE,
NORTH Carolina
SOMETIME FELLOW IN EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, No. 60
PUBLISHED BY
Teachers College, Columbia University
NEW YORK CITY
1913
COPYRIGHT, 1913,
EDGAR WALLACE KNIGHT
•
of so
Re-classed 5-12-84
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This subject first suggested itself by a study of The Rise and
Development of the High School in North Carolina, a master's
thesis at Trinity College, Durham, N. C., in the spring of 1911.
To Professor Paul Monroe, of Columbia University, under whom
the study was begun in a seminar on American Education, in
the fall of 1911, I am indebted for general direction in conducting
the investigation. I am indebted to Professor William A.
Dunning, of Columbia University, for reading the manuscript
and for making suggestions. To Dr. William H. Kilpatrick,
of Columbia University, I am especially grateful for his pains-
taking care in reading the manuscript and for many very help-
ful criticisms. I am also indebted to Dr. E. F. Humphrey, of
Columbia University, for assistance in reading the proof.
E. W. K.
271653
+
1
CONTENTS
CHAPTER.
INTRODUCTION
I. PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA BEFORE
THE CIVIL WAR
II. THE BEGINNINGS OF RECONSTRUCTION; CONSTITU-
TION OF 1868 AND THE FIRST SCHOOL LAW...
III. SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA FROM 1869 TO 1876
IV. SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CAROLINA FROM 1811 TO 1865..
V. BEGINNINGS OF RECONSTRUCTION; THE FIRST
SCHOOL LAW UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1868
VI. SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CAROLINA FROM 1870 To 1876
VII. COMPARISON OF SCHOOL LEGISLATION IN THE OTHER
NINE SOUTHERN STATES BEFORE 1868 AND FROM
1868 TO 1876; CONCLUSIONS.
·
PAGE
7
9
18
30
50
63
74
90
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་་
INFLUENCE OF RECONSTRUCTION
ON EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH
• Norther
INTRODUCTION
On no aspect of Reconstruction, probably, have more con-
flicting opinions been advanced than on its educational aspect.
One very popular notion has been that Southern educational
ideals were radically different from those of the North, and, in
consequence, that the educational systems of the South were
greatly at variance from those found elsewhere in the nation.
"The Northern view of the situation, as shown by the various
reports and addresses published by the teachers' associations,
the Freedmen's Aid societies of the churches, the missionary
societies, and the Freedmen's Bureau, may be summarized
somewhat as follows: (1) The South had had no public educa-
tion, was opposed to it, and such education as had been given
was based on wrong principles and had resulted in secession,
rebellion, etc.; (2) the poor whites were densely ignorant and
this ignorance, exploited by unscrupulous leaders, had been
made the basis of the Confederacy; (3) not only were the
Southern leaders opposed to the general education of the white
masses, but all classes were opposed to any education of the
recently freed negroes;
"'1 Briefly stated, the views
held by the South on these points were almost entirely opposite
those held by the North.²

66
Whether fairly representative or not, these general opinions
have led to the more definite question: What influence did the
Reconstruction or "carpetbag" régime have on the develop-
ment of educational systems in the South? Here again gen-
eralities have been indulged in.
as for free public
schools, not a single Southern State had organized and set in
operation a system before the Civil War." Obviously, how-
ever, a satisfactory answer to the question of the influence of
Reconstruction on education in the Southern States can be
1 Fleming, Documentary History of Reconstruction, Vol. II, Chap. IX.
2 Ibid.; also Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama, by the same author,
and Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi, pp. 354 ff.
3 Hart, The Southern South, pp. 289, 290.
77
8
Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
P
found only by a detailed comparison of antebellum with
reconstruction conditions. And this requires a clear differ-
entiation both of the several periods between 1865 and 1876
and of the classes of men who took part in the formal restora-
tion of the seceding states and in the work which followed.
The period of the Presidential Plan of Reconstruction, from
1865 to 1867, marks an attempt to enlist the coöperation of the
native white citizens in restoring civil order in the South. Under
the Congressional Plan, however, from 1867 to 1876, three
classes instead of one, as in the Presidential Plan, participated
in political affairs: the native whites, the negro freedmen, and
men from the North. The native whites were sharply divided.
into conservatives and radicals or scalawags; the negroes were
the most homogeneous, usually of the same mind and easily
influenced; while the men from the North, commonly known
as carpetbaggers, were, from the standpoint of the South, pre-
dominantly radical. The Reconstruction conventions and the
legislative bodies from 1868 to 1876 were composed largely of
negroes, carpetbaggers and scalawags, and the conservatives
were in most cases in the minority.
For our purpose, then, two questions present themselves:
First, What contribution was made during the years from 1868-
to 1876 to public education in the South? Second, Who made
the contribution? A knowledge of conditions before 1868 is
necessary to answer the first question; to answer the second
question it is necessary to know the composition of the con-
ventions and legislatures and the work of these bodies. When
these answers are found, the more general question, that of the
actual influence of the period of Reconstruction on education
in the South, will also be answered.
To study in detail the eleven seceding states proved a task
too large for the present work. The intensive study has, ac-
cordingly, been limited to North Carolina and South Carolina.
However, the detailed study of these two states will be supple-
mented by a comparison of legislation in the other nine states
before 1868 and between 1868 and 1876. The intensive study
of these two states and a general study of the remaining seced-
ing states should furnish sufficient means for answering, at
least with a fair degree of approximation, the question of the
influence of the period of Reconstruction on Southern education.

CHAPTER I
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE
""
CIVIL WAR
Provision was made in the initial constitution of North
Carolina (1776) for the establishment of schools by the legis-
lature and for a state university, and the same provision was
continued in the revised constitution of 1835. The university
was chartered in 1789 and organized six years later; but with
this exception no legislation for public education was enacted
for nearly forty years. In 1817, however, a committee was
appointed in the legislature, with Judge Archibald D. Murphy
as chairman, for the purpose of reporting on the subject of
'affording the best means of education to everyone, however
indigent." This committee studied the schools of New Eng-
land and the school systems of Europe, and made a very sug-
gestive report of their investigations. The result was the
appointment of another committee to digest and report a plan
for a system of public schools based on the principles outlined
in the report of the Murphy Committee. The scheme as out-
lined by the second committee met the hearty approval of the
General Assembly, but its impracticable feature—the attempt to
"maintain as well as to educate" the children of the poor,
and the fact that the state was yet very sparsely settled to-
gether with the burden of the War of 1812-proved the tem-
porary failure of the project."
2
But little attention was given to the subject of public schools
during the next decade. The question of revising the constitu-
tion of 1776, which was showing itself ill-adapted to a com-
munity of growing democratic ideals, and a widespread interest
¹ House Journal, 1817-18, p. 14; Senate Journal, 1817-18, p. 8.
2 Senate Jour., 1817-18, pp. 30-42.
³ Ibid.; the text of the Murphy Report is also given in Coon, Public Educa-
tion in North Carolina, A Documentary History, Vol. I.
• House and Senate Journals, 1817-18.
9
10 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
!
5
in national politics, almost completely overshadowed other
matters; and internal improvements and public education
received little consideration, except in the annual messages of
the governors. In 1825, however, the legislature created a
fund to be known as the Literary Fund, the income from which
was designed for public school support. The sources of the
fund were fixed by the initial act, its trustees were named and
plans for the accumulation of moneys sufficient to undertake a
system of schools were made. Slight changes were made in
the law governing the fund from time to time until 1836, when
the report of the governor placed the estimated value of the
fund at $242,045.09. A year later when Congress, by Act of
June 23, 1836, distributed the surplus revenue, $300,000.00 of
the share of $1,433,727.39 which North Carolina was entitled
to receive was placed to the credit of. the Literary Fund.
Eventually the major portion of the North Carolina apportion-
ment became a part of the fund for education. When the sys-
tem of schools opened in 1840, the fund was estimated at more
than two and a quarter millions of dollars.
7
By 1838 conditions had changed considerably; the friends of
education were numerous and active and for several years had
been agitating a movement for public schools. Conditions were
regarded as favorable to establishing a system of common
schools, even though the children of the state were sparsely
dispersed. It was believed, too, that resources were at hand
and that the will and intelligence to apply such resources with
liberality and discretion would end a long agitation and mark
the beginning of a new era. The legislature asked the Literary
Board in 1838 to report the exact condition of the Literary Fund
and to suggest a plan for common schools "suited to the condi-
tion and resources of the state. The result was the passage
on January 7, 1839, of an act establishing the first public school
system in the state. The counties by this act were to be divided
into districts, and the question of schools or no schools was to be
submitted to the voice of the people of each county. A favor-
""
5 House and Senate Journals; Messages of the Governors.
6 Laws of 1825; House and Senate Journals.
7 Laws of 1836-37, 305; Revised Statutes 1837, p. 349, Laws of 1838-39.
Reports of the Treasurer.
8 Governor's Message 1840; Treasurer's Report 1840.
Public Schools in North Carolina before the Civil War 11
9
able vote on the question meant a local tax levy of one half the
amount to be received from the Literary Fund, and the schools
thus established were to be under the control and supervision
of county superintendents. A detailed, thorough-going plan
was outlined by the act. Rarely had such enthusiasm been
displayed as was seen in the work of that legislature on the
school law. The election to ascertain the voice of the people
in the several counties was called for August of the same year;
and the majority of the counties adopted the scheme outlined
by the law, approving the principle of supporting the schools
by a combination of local taxation and state support.10
During the next few years the law was revised and supple-
mented with a view to improvement. Provision was made for
redistricting the counties, for the election of county officials,
for levying and collecting the school taxes, for taking the school
census, for courses of study, and finally for a penalty for the
neglect on the part of the county officials of any of their duties.
By 1846 the school plan had been adopted in all the counties and
the schools were growing in constant popularity. In 1852 the
office of superintendent of public instruction was created and
Dr. Calvin H. Wiley, a member of the legislature from Guil-
ford County, was appointed to that position. It is interesting
to note that this office was considered as a part of the general
plan for a system in the General Assembly in 1838-39, and that
the message of the governor nearly always urged the creation
and filling of such an office.11 Dr. Wiley was a Whig, but he
was elected by a Democratic legislature, and throughout his
entire encumbency (until 1866) some of his heartiest sup-
porters were his political opponents.12
Under the direction of Superintendent Wiley the schools
prospered. Almost every legislature until the close of the war
•
⁹ House and Senate Journals 1838-39; Laws of 1838–39.
10 The law seems to have failed in four counties in the western part of the
state and in three in the eastern. There were 70 counties in the state at that
time. See the Raleigh Register for Aug. 1839. Also, Coon, Public Education
in North Carolina, Vol. I, xlvi.
11 House Jour. 1838-39; Leg. Doc. 1846; Laws, 1852. Messages of the
governors in Leg. Docs.
12 Editorials in the Standard, and the Charlotte Democrat. Messages of the
governors; Rept. Com. Educ., 1896-97, Vol. 2, p. 1433.
12 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
1
acted with a view to improving the schools. The influence of
Mr. Wiley is everywhere apparent in the supplementary legis-
lation.13 Each district was required to build a house that would
accommodate as many as fifty pupils; the school census included
all the white children of the state between the ages of five and
twenty-one; each district had its local committeemen, who
were required to report regularly to the county superintendents
or other county officials, who in turn sent such reports to the
Literary Board or to the superintendent of public instruction.
The teachers were to be exempt from road, military, and jury
duty. Provision was made from the very beginning for such
counties as voted unfavorably on the question of schools, to have
their quota of money from the Literary Fund invested for them,
and they were entitled to it when they did decide in favor of
schools. Free negroes were not to be taxed for the purpose of
the common schools. A school visitor was appointed to visit
and inspect the schools, and his expenses were paid by a tax
levied by the counties for that purpose. The Literary Board
or the superintendent was required to distribute an abstract
of the school law among the counties with such forms and in-
structions "as are calculated to insure punctuality and system."
County examiners were provided for and their certificates were
required before a person could teach in the public schools.
tificates to the teachers were good for only one year and then
only in those counties in which they were issued. The super-
intendent was to serve two years and his salary was fixed at
$1500 per annum. The annual income of the Literary Fund
was to be distributed in the ratio of federal population.14
""
Cer-
These were the essential provisions of the school law of the
state from 1839 to 1861. In 1863 a movement was set on foot
in the legislature to grade the schools and to provide for the
training of teachers.15 Both matters were freely discussed in
the meeting of the legislature during this year, and Governor
Vance and practically all the members of the legislature were
in favor of the bill providing for such improvements. But for
the presence of the Union army at the time and for severe mili-
13 Chapter 7, Laws of 1840-41.
14 Ibid.
15
House and Senate Journals for 1863. Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1863.
Public Schools in North Carolina before the Civil War 13
tary reverses the plans might have materialized. One half of
the expenses of such teacher training as was proposed was to
be paid by the counties, and one half by the Literary Fund.
It was not until December 23, 1864, however, that a law was
passed authorizing the grading of the schools. 16
The history of the schools in North Carolina from 1852 until
1866 is little less than a history of the work of Superintendent
Wiley. The absence of any effective supervision during the
first few years of the system of schools made his task a pecul-
iarly difficult one. From the imperfect reports found scattered
here and there through the annual reports of the state officials,
we see that the county officials were very negligent of their
duties, despite the penalty for such negligence. Teachers were
very scarce, poorly equipped, and migratory; and on account of
the great diversity of habits among the people, uniformity was
well nigh impossible. But from the very day Mr. Wiley entered
office until he left it in 1866, school affairs improved.
He worked incessantly; he canvassed the entire state and gave
liberally of his own salary, with never a clerk even to aid him
in a position burdened with the routine of exacting clerical
duties; he organized the teachers of the state, wrote and edited
many of his own texts, sought out the friends of education and
enlisted the coöperation of all classes.17 Considering the con-
ditions under which Mr. Wiley worked, the superintendency
was very successful, and it must be agreed that North Carolina
had a creditable system of common schools at the outbreak of
the Civil War. Rev. S. S. Ashley, a native of Massachusetts,
the first superintendent of public instruction under the Recon-
struction régime, in his first report in 1869, said: "To within
a recent period the provision made by this state for public
schools was not only generous, but munificent. All circum-
stances considered, scarcely any sister state of the union sur-
passed North Carolina in this regard."18 Virginia, South
Carolina, and Georgia sought to copy the educational example
of North Carolina, and Dr. Wiley was invited to appear before
16 Act of Dec. 23, 1864.
17 Reports Supt. Pub. Inst. in Leg. Docs. from 1853 to 1860; see also
Weeks, Beginnings of the Common School System in North Carolina, Rept.
Com. Educ. 1896-97, Vol. 2, pp. 1431 ff.
18 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1869, p. 10.
14 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
}
the legislature of Georgia for the purpose of aiding that state
in the improvement of its school system. 19 According to Dr.
Wiley's reports for these years the system in North Carolina
was attracting the favorable attention of various sections.
The school fund was as large as many of the funds of the New
England and Northern States;20 and in teachers' salaries and
length of school21 term North Carolina challenged a favorable
comparison with these states.22
Much progress had been made in public education during the
twenty years' operation of the common school system before
1860. A lively interest in local taxation for schools had been
developed; the number of schools, of teachers, and of pupils
had gradually increased and a marked improvement in the
entire system was seen. The work accomplished by the Liter-
ary Fund and by local taxation is especially significant, when
it is remembered that for every dollar of local taxes for schools,
this fund furnished two dollars. From the table given below,
it is seen that more than $16,000.00 was collected in local school
taxes in 1841, and that nearly $50,000.00 was expended for
schools in that year. In 1860, more than $136,000.00 in local
school taxes was collected.23 The school population in this
year was 186,174, and of this number 108,938 were in school.24
The average school term for the entire state in 1860 was four
months, and the average monthly salary of teachers was $26.00.25
19 Leg. Doc. No. 10, Session 1860–61; North Carolina Journal of Education,
III, March, April, May and June, 1860.
20 Swift, Public Permanent School Funds in the United States, pp. 193, 304.
21 Ibid., p. 193; Leg. Doc. 1858-59, No. 10, pp. 7, 10.
22 In 1855, Massachusetts was paying male teachers $43.05 and female
teachers $18.52 per month; Maine was paying male teachers in the same year
$20.57 and female teachers $7.60; Indiana was paying male teachers $23.76
and female teachers $16.84. In 1847 New York paid male teachers an average
salary of $14.96 and female teachers $6.92. The school fund of Massachusetts
in 1845 was only $789,389. The school fund in North Carolina in 1840-
amounted to more than $2,225,000, and the average salary in North Carolina
in 1859 was $28. (See Rept. Com. Educ. 1896–97, Vol. 2, p. 1420; Swift,
Public Permanent School Funds, pp. 193, 304; Rept. Supt. of Pub. Inst. of
North Carolina, 1859.)
23 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1874-75, p. 4.
24 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1860.
25 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1874-75. In 1859 the average salary was $28.00.
Public Schools in North Carolina before the Civil War 15
The number of common schools actually taught in 79 counties in
the state in 1860 was 2834, and for the support of those schools
the chairmen of the boards of county superintendents of the
state received from the Literary Fund and from local taxation
more than $408,000.26
The table below will furnish an idea of the size and work of
the Literary Fund for nineteen years beginning with 1841, the
first full year of the operation of the school law of 1839.27
DISBURSE-
MENTS
FOR SCHOOLS
YEAR
INCOME
1841
$121,613.02
1842
101,323.48
150,289.59
$ 92,655.67
$ 32,836.12
65,297.24
1843
135,453.45
130,407.76
46,424.92
1844
123,009.06
121,722.65
117,897.10
1845
112,246.24
64,362.51
61,566.01
1846
116,431.93
101,325.73
96,712.01
1847
122,556.47
106,830.81
96,511.31
1848
108,342.21
115,174.81
101,530.04
1849
105,388.29
116,893.42
99,449.38
1850
106,301.40
112,816.28
107,339.00
1851
129,255.24
94,596.41
81,329.61
1852
137,380.41
161,472.33
144,351.13
1853
192,250.75
139,865.16
120,545.63
1854
196,090.25
169,983.32
153,736.79
1855
146,753.35
202,689.50
82,688.88
1856
183,073.00
193,976.09
177,479.02
1857
278,767.87
300,528.53
180,751.38
1858
164,188.44
204,674.28
179,087.48
1859
158,442.04
209,156.08
172,051.69
war.
The schools continued throughout the larger portion of the
Dr. Wiley, in a speech before the State Educational
Association in 1874, stated that he was receiving school reports
from local school officials when Johnson surrendered. 28 In 1861,
the state distributed $278,000.00 for the training of 150,000
children in schools continuing four months taught by teachers,
whose average salary was $26.00 per month.29 In 1862, nearly
26 Ibid.
27 Reports of the Literary Board and Comptroller's reports for these years.
28 Report, 1874–75, p. 37.
29
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1860–61.
16 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
90,000 children were reported in the common schools in the
state. In 1863, 60 counties made partial reports of school
conditions to the superintendent of public instruction, and in
50 of these counties 1076 schools had been in operation, 872
teachers had been licensed, and 35,495 children were attending
school three months. The average salary paid the teachers
was $25.00.30 School teachers were not exempt from con-
scription in the state, however, and there was a great and urgent
demand for them. The law of December 23, 1863, authorizing
the grading of the schools, is perhaps not so significant in itself,
except that it shows that the schools were being guarded as
well as conditions would allow; but incorporated in the act was
a provision that nothing except the want of funds should dimin-
ish the appropriations of the Literary Fund to the schools, and
that such appropriations, together with the local taxes for
schools, levied and collected under the laws of the state, should
be applied to schools as formerly. This gives some idea that
there was a wholesome educational spirit in the state; and that
the rights of the schools were considered sacred rights, this last
legislative act of the state before the fall of the Confederacy is
evidence. The last report of Superintendent Wiley was dated.
January 18, 1866. It contains, however, few statistics of value
in regard to the schools. Mr. Wiley remained in office until
the passage of an ordinance, October 19, 1865, in the Constitu-
tional Convention, which declared vacant all offices of the
state in existence on April 26 of that year. 32 The Literary
Fund had remained untouched for military purposes through-
out the war; but Confederate investments had been encouraged.
A temporary security of that part of the fund already in Con-
federate investments was made when it was changed to bank
stock. Here it seemed reasonably safe; but the banks them-
selves had invested heavily in Confederate securities, and in the
wreck which came to the banking system of the state at the
close of the war, the Literary Fund was lost.33
30 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1863, pp. 3 ff.; Table 1.
31 Leg. Doc. No. 47, Session 1865–66.
32 Ordinances, pp. 25-26.
33 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst.
Public Schools in North Carolina before the Civil War 17
To summarize: The law of 1839 and its revisions made credit-
able provisions for public education. State, county, and local
administrative organizations were well provided for and the plan
of school support proved not only well adapted to conditions,
but very popular and efficient. The Literary Fund stimulated
a healthy sentiment in favor of local taxation, which was
rapidly on the increase at the outbreak of the war. At that
time more than $136,000 was collected in local taxes for school
support; and twice that amount was paid by the Literary Fund.
More than 108,000 of the entire school population of 186,174
were in school in 1860. The average school term was about 80
days, and the average monthly salaries of teachers between
$26 and $28. The comment of Superintendent Ashley, in
1869, that North Carolina's provision for education was munif-
icent and scarcely any state surpassed North Carolina in this
regard seems unquestionably true.
CHAPTER II
THE BEGINNINGS OF RECONSTRUCTION; CONSTI-
TUTION OF 1868 AND THE FIRST SCHOOL LAW
The appointment of a provisional governor in North Caro-
lina in May, 1865, marked the beginning of the Executive Plan
of Reconstruction. Mr. W. W. Holden, whom President John-
son appointed, was instructed to call a convention for the pur-
pose of altering the constitution of the state in such a way that
the relations of the state with the Federal Government would
be re-established. Only those who had previously taken the
oath of amnesty, as set forth in the proclamation of the Presi-
dent of May 29, 1865, could qualify as electors or as members
of the convention. The election was held and the convention
met October 2, adjourning October 20 to meet again in May,
1866. It was composed largely of men who had been opposed
to secession. The convention abolished slavery, repudiated the
war debt, and declared the Secession Ordinances null and void.
The General Assembly met in November, 1865. It concerned.
itself but little with acts of general legislation, not being sure
that its acts would be regarded as valid. The body adjourned
to meet again in February, at which session about the only act
of significance passed was an act to abolish the office of super-
intendent of public instruction and the office of treasurer of the
Literary Fund.²
1
This law was passed in March, 1866. The arguments in the
discussions of the proposed law were by no means unanswerable.
The Literary Fund was indeed inadequate to maintain a sys-
tem of public schools, a large part of that valuable source of
support having been lost, and the people of the state, more-
over, being poor as a result of the war. To certain members of
1 Hamilton, Reconstruction in North Carolina, pp. 111 ff.
2 Act of March 10, 1866.
18
The Beginnings of Reconstruction
19
3
the legislature, however, it looked inexpedient and well nigh
impossible to support a system of schools; to others the schools
had accomplished much good and should in some fashion be
continued. Efforts were even made by the friends of the
system to get appropriations for the schools, but such efforts
failed. Yet it does not appear that any members of the legis-
lature were directly hostile to the school system. Less than a
month before, that body had, by resolution, appropriated
$7000 to relieve the state university of temporary embarrass-
ment. Many of the members who voted for this appropria-
tion, however, voted for the bill to abolish the office of state
superintendent, and to abandon the schools. But they seemed
to see no well-defined plan to continue the schools except by
taxation, a method which the people of the state in their poverty-
stricken condition could ill afford."
The legislature was almost unanimous in favoring schools if
they could be supported. There did appear, however, some
objection to Mr. Wiley, the superintendent; and in all the de-
bates on the bill before the General Assembly at this time,
nothing was quite so strangely severe as some remarks against
him. This dislike for Mr. Wiley appeared as the result of a
report which he had made on the swamp lands which were
property of the Literary Fund. The report urged the argument
that these lands should be surveyed and drained and entries
made in order that the Literary Fund might profit by their
returns. There was a mild suggestion in the report that those
who had had supervision of these lands had been negligent of
their duty. There was evidence that members of the legis-
lature from the eastern part of the state where these lands were
situated had been offended.5 The remarks of one member
were particularly bitter; the office of state superintendent was,
in his opinion, an unnecessary expense; a salary of $1500 had
been paid that officer for years and he had been of no use on
"God Almighty's earth and the state was unable to pay a
salary to a man who merely wrote long essays and drew inter-
minable bills." Opposition and objection to Mr. Wiley were
3 House and Senate Journals, 1866.
4 House and Senate Journals; Sentinel for March 10, 1866.
5 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1865.
6 Sentinel for March 10, 1866.
20 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
interpreted by those members who favored an attempt to con-
tinue the schools as objections to the schools themselves. It
was even suggested that this opposition originated with the
finance committee, who wished to divert the Literary Fund to
other purposes. There was also a feeling that the remaining
funds of the Literary Board could be used to much advantage
by the state government." This had a tendency to exaggerate
the bankrupt condition of the state's finances which, added to
the objection to Mr. Wiley, probably explains in a certain
measure the strange action of this legislature.
Whatever the explanation, however, this legislative action
was most unusual and highly inconsistent with the former
policies of the General Assembly. There was, to be sure, every-
where a feeling of uncertainty; there was a lack of funds; the
financial condition of the state government was deplorable.
But that the state which probably held the leadership in ante-
bellum educational effort should in a time of uncertainty delib-
erately abandon her schools, transferring all the assets of the
school fund to the general treasury of the state, and leaving all
matters of educational concern in local hands, whose powers
were both permissive and discretionary, was no less censurable
than unusual. Besides, it was a striking contrast to the work of
the law-making bodies under provisional governments in some
of the other Southern States.8
Governor Worth, who had defeated Provisional Governor
Holden in the fall election of 1865, was re-elected by a large
majority in 1866. The state government was not recognized
by the Federal government, however, and political, economic,
and social conditions were alarming. The agitation of the
"rebel question" in Congress, the congressional investigations
looking for a safe plan to pursue in dealing with the Southern
States, and the passage of reconstruction legislation, each had
its peculiar influence. There was no time to be given to matters
7 The state had borrowed $128,000 from this fund in April, 1863; this
amount was paid with interest in full in October, 1869. See Auditor's Report
1868-69.
8 In Arkansas and Georgia the school laws passed in 1866 and 1867 were
very advanced and made efficient provisions for creditable systems of schools.
See Georgia Laws of 1866, pp. 58, ff; Act of March 18, 1867, of Arkansas.
⁹ Hamilton, Reconstruction in North Carolina, pp. 122 ff; also Chapter IV.

The Beginnings of Reconstruction
21
of educational concern, for nothing could be done until the
political and civil status of the state had been determined upon.
Enough of the Southern States had rejected the Fourteenth
Amendment when Congress met in December, 1866, to indi-
cate the prevailing opinion. The following February it became
known that the state governments as organized by the Presi-
dent would be superseded by military governments and that
the suffrage would be extended to the freedmen, despite any
state constitutional provisions to the contrary. North Caro-
lina along with South Carolina was put in the second mili-
tary district, under General David E. Sickles, who was suc-
ceeded a little later by General Canby.
In November, 1867, a convention for the purpose of revising
the constitution of the state in accordance with the Congres-
sional Plan of Reconstruction was called. The conservatives had
opposed a convention; they made it a point to register, however,
but to fail to vote on the question of a convention and
in this manner defeat the plan. A majority of votes actually
cast was finally declared to be sufficient to make the election
valid, and the convention was accordingly voted and met
January 14, 1868.10 Its composition is interesting. Of a mem-
ship of 120, 107 were radicals, and of these there were 16 carpet-
baggers¹¹ and 13 negroes. Many of the carpetbaggers had been
officers in the Union Army. The committee on education was
appointed January 20 as soon as the preliminary work of or-
ganization could be disposed of. It consisted of 13 members,
only two of whom were conservatives. Rev. S. S. Ashley, of
Massachusetts, who was afterwards elected the first superin-
tendent of public instruction under the new régime, was made
chairman.12 There were also several negroes on this committee.
The report was signed by all the members of the committee
except the two conservative members, J. W. Graham and I. R.
Ellis, and was in the end substantially incorporated as article

10 Ibid., pp. 227, 228, 229 ff.
11"Carpetbagger" was the name applied to Northern men who went to
the South to live after the war. They were charged with exploiting the
people and seeking private gain.
12 It was said that Ashley was of negro blood. See Hamilton, Reconstruc-
tion in North Carolina, bottom of p. 229.

22 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
""
nine of the constitution of 1868.13 The first section of the
report was adopted at once.14 Mr. Durham, a conservative
member of the convention, offered an additional section to the
report of the committee as follows: "The General Assembly
shall provide separate and distinct schools, for the black chil-
dren of the state, from those provided for white children. "--
The chairman of the committee, Ashley, immediately offered
the following as an amendment to Mr. Durham's proposed
section: "It being understood that this section is not offered
in sincerity or because there is no necessity for it, that it is
proposed for the sole purpose of breeding prejudice and bringing
about a political re-enslavement of the colored races. After
some discussion the previous question was called and sustained,
the amendment of Chairman Ashley was adopted, and the new
section as amended, proposed by Mr. Durham, was rejected by
a vote of 86 to 11.15 Two or three sections of the report were
then adopted:16 Many of the sections were adopted as they
were offered by the committee with slight verbal changes.17
One of the two conservative members on the committee, Mr.
Graham, offered the following amendment to one section:
"Provided, That there shall be separate and distinct schools
and colleges for the white and colored race. Thereupon, A.
W. Tourgee, of Ohio, a radical member of the convention,
offered the following as a substitute to Graham's amendment:
"That separate and distinct schools may be provided for any
class of citizens in the state: Provided, that in all cases where
distinct schools shall be established, there shall be as ample
and complete facilities afforded for the one class as for the other,
and entirely adequate for all, and in all districts where schools
are divided, the apportionment to each shall be equal. "18 Both
the amendments and the substitute were rejected. The entire
report, as amended, passed the final reading by a vote of 88 to
12.19 There had been few changes made in the original report,

* PELOT DIMAS, C
13 Conv. Jour., pp. 338-341; constitution of 1868.
14 Conv. Jour. p. 341.
15 Ibid., p. 342.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., pp. 342, 343.
18 Ibid.. p. 343.
19 Ibid.


The Beginnings of Reconstruction
23
and it was placed in the constitution as article nine. The con-
stitution was signed by all the members of the convention
except the conservatives, and was ratified by the people of the
state, April 21, 22, and 23, 1868. Out of a registration of 196,-
876 voters, 93,086 voted for the constitution, 74,016 against it,
and 29,774 failed to vote.20
The state now had very ample constitutional provision for.
schools; its provisions were mandatory and more thorough
than ever before: "The General Assembly at its first meeting
under the constitution shall provide by taxation and otherwise
for a general and uniform system of public schools, wherein
tuition shall be free of charge to all the children of the state,
between the ages of six and twenty-one. "21 A special session
of the legislature was called for July, 1868. The committee on
education was appointed July 7.22 The chairman of the com-
mittee was Rev. G. W. Welker, of Pennsylvania; he had been a
member of the committee on education in the constitutional
convention, and proved a moving spirit in the passage of the
law in the legislature. The House committee was appointed
July 9;23 some of its members had also been in the convention.
Little more than the appointment of these committees was done
in this special session; a few resolutions were introduced regard-
ing the Literary Fund, but beyond this nothing of an educa-
tional character took place.24 It was not until January of the
regular session that the committee on education became active.
And as the law was then finally enacted it was almost entirely
a production of the Senate.
The message of the governor was read to the legislature
November 17, 1868, when that body convened. The executive
recommended that there should be established at once a general
and uniform system of free schools; that separate schools should
be provided for the two races; "but in other respects there
should be no difference in the character of the schools, or in the
provision made to support them." Under the constitution
three-fourths of the proceeds of the entire county and state
20 Hamilton, Reconstruction in North Carolina, p. 259.
21 Article IX, Sec. 2.
22 Senate Jour., p. 37.
23 House Jour., p. 36.
24 Ibid., pp. 24, 25, 31, 50, 54.

24 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
capitation tax was to be applied to education. But the consti-
tution was silent on the subject of mixed schools, even though
that matter had been given some consideration in the conven-
tion.25 And it is very clear that the failure to incorporate in
it a provision either for or against mixed schools27 produced a
sentiment in the state that afterwards proved very harmful.28
It also caused some very undignified scenes in the legislature
in 1869.29
30
The bill for schools was introduced in the Senate in January.³
From this time until it had passed both Houses and was ratified by
joint conference nearly three months later, the chairman of the
committee worked for it very diligently and with much enthu-
siasm. The bill was read first and referred to the committee
on education January 27, 1869. It had been reported favor-
ably in the House by February 11, was returned to the Senate
the following day and consideration of it in that division of the
legislature was made a special order for February 17,31 when it
was discussed very thoroughly.32 Amendments providing that
"textbooks and all publications prescribed and used in the
public schools should be free from sectarian and denominational
and partisan bias in religion and politics," were suggested, and
in studies pertaining to the government of the United States
and that of the state, instruction should be with a view to creat-
ing that sentiment which would foster a love for the perpetual
union of the states. It was possible to pass in the Senate
several sections of the bill toward the last of February. A
motion was made at this time, however, to amend one section
by inserting a provision for separate schools for the white and
colored races.
On a call for the yeas and nays, the amend-
ment prevailed by a vote of 24 to 6, the six opposing being
radicals. Many of the sections of the bill underwent some
25 House Jour., pp. 11, 13.
26 Conv. Jour., pp. 175, 287, 342, 343.
27 The law of this session provided, however, for separate schools. Section
50, Chapter 84, Laws, 1868–69.
28 Senate Jour., pp. 359–361; 388; Peabody Proc., Vol. II, p. 101.
29 Senate Jour., pp. 359-361.
30 Ibid., p. 197.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., pp. 300 ff.
33 Ibid., p. 302.

The Beginnings of Reconstruction
25
revisions, proceeding gradually through the slow process of
legislation. Time after time the arguments grew heated over
questions on which the conservatives and radicals naturally
differed. As a rule the conservatives seemed anxious that
definite provisions be made for such matters as different schools
for the two races, white teachers for negro schools, or negro
teachers in schools where there were white children. They
were also afraid that certain subjects, which were offensive to
the native whites of the state, would be required in the course
of study to be prescribed in the law.35 In this connection a
conservative from Jackson County offered an amendment
which would prevent the teaching of certain sentiments, par-
ticularly that which was embodied "in that well known song,
'John Brown's Soul is Marching Along."" The chairman
ruled, however, that his amendment was not in order and Mr.
Love appealed from the chair. The appeal was agreed to, but
the ruling of the chairman was sustained by a vote of 38 to
one, Mr. Love dissenting. He immediately moved, however,
to amend the section under discussion by a provision that com-
mittees of schools should never employ any colored tutor, male
or female, to serve as such, in any school wherein white children
were to be instructed.37 His amendment was amended by a
provision that no white tutor should serve in any school wherein
colored children were to be instructed. The amendment to
the amendment was adopted by a vote of 28 to 11, when a
motion was made to amend it by adding "That no white demo-
crat should teach any colored girl." The president ruled this
out of order. 38 Mr. Love's amendment, the amendment to
which was adopted, was now rejected by a vote of 21 to 19.
The representative from Jackson, however, on March 3, was
before the body again, and on the same subject. This time his
suggested provision was that "No colored tutor or tutoress
shall ever be engaged in any school wherein white children are
to be taught.” Mr. Moore, of Carteret, a member from that
county, but not a native of the state, moved to amend the
34 Senate Jour., pp. 359, 360, 361, 388.
35 Ibid., p. 359.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., p. 361.
38 Ibid., p. 361.

26 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
amendment by adding: "Nor any white tutor or tutoress
wherein colored children are to be taught." Mr. Moore
moved the previous question and it prevailed. Moore's amend-
ment was adopted by a vote of 19 to 15, and Love's amend-
ment as amended, was rejected by a vote of 19 to 15.40
•
By March 11, the bill was ready for its third reading in the
Senate, but attempts to postpone it delayed it for several days.
On the date set a week later for its consideration, Welker of-
fered a substitute for some portion of it; the Senate refused to
excuse Love and another conservative for their refusal to vote
on the adoption of the substitute. The question before the
Senate being on the passage of the bill, as amended, in its third
and final reading, the Senate gave Love permission to explain
his action on the adoption of the substitute. An unusual
amount of quibbling over parliamentary procedure had already
taken place on this point. When Love began to explain, Mr.
Moore, the gentleman from Carteret, whom he had encountered
many times already in the discussions of the education bill,
arose to a point of order and stated that the gentleman from
Jackson was doing everything else except explaining. Love
immediately reported that the gentleman from Carteret was not
interested in the affairs of the people of North Carolina, that
he knew nothing of them, and besides he was a carpetbagger.
A duel of words took place. The encounter grew so fierce that
the chairman had to rebuke the Senators and appoint a com-
mittee to investigate the case. The committee, however, never
reported.41
The bill reached its final reading and was passed in the Senate
by a vote of 30 to 10, March 17, 1869.42 Three days later it
was received in the regular order of business in the House,
where some minor verbal changes were suggested to the com-
39 Senate Jour., p. 388.
40 Ibid., pp. 388 ff.
41 When Love called Moore a carpetbagger, accusing him of lack of interest
in the affairs of the people of the state, Moore replied that the gentleman
from Jackson was a liar. Love replied that Moore was not an ordinary liar,
but a damned liar. His final thrust at the "gentleman from Carteret” was
even more unbecoming to a gentleman of senatorial rank. Senate Jour.,
p. 432.
42 Senate Jour., pp. 482, 483.
The Beginnings of Reconstruction
27
mittee on education. The law, however, was almost entirely
the work of the Senate. In the House the bill was little dis-
cussed, except the section on compulsory attendance.43 The
bill was finally ratified, as amended, by joint conference April
12, 1869.
The law was definite and thorough. It provided for the
establishment and the maintenance in each township of schools
"for at least four months in every year," for the education of ·
all children in the state between the ages of six and twenty-one
years.44 On this particular point the law was especially def-
inite. In case any township failed to make such provision or
any "other provision necessary for the efficiency and success
of the schools," an estimate of the necessary expenses for con-
tinuing the schools for this period was to be made by the local
officials and sent to the county commissioners, who should levy
on the township a tax equal to the estimate at the same time
and in the same manner that the regular county taxes were
levied.45 The law thus definitely prescribed the manner in
which schools were to be maintained. The constitution pro-
vided, also, that county commissioners failing to comply with
this requirement were liable to indictment.46
The constitutional provision for the support of schools was
seventy-five per cent of the county and state capitation taxes.47
The legislature of 1869, however, in order to supplement the
funds coming from the capitation taxes and whatever income
there might be from the invested funds of the old Literary Fund,
in order that the schools might be able to continue for a period
of four months, appropriated one hundred thousand dollars
"out of any moneys in the Treasury not appropriated other-
wise. "48 This, on the surface, would indicate a liberal legis-
lative policy such as had not before this time been seen in the
state, with reference particularly to matters of educational
concern. The same legislative liberality is found in other
Southern States at this time, especially in Virginia and South
43 House Jour., pp. 446, 482, 498, 504–515.
44 Chapter 184, Sec. 15.
45 Sections 25, 29.
46 Art. IX, Sec. 3.
47 Art. V, Sec. 2.
48
Chapter 184, Sec. 53.
28 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
E
49
Carolina. But the handsome sums appropriated were usually
little more than "paper" appropriations, and were rarely ever
paid in full. It has been a popular notion that the reconstruc-
tion legislatures made by such liberal support of schools sig-
nificant contributions to education in the South. But a com-
parison of appropriation legislation and the annual reports of
the treasurers is sufficient to explode such a theory. No trace
of the full payment of this particular appropriation in North
Carolina can be found in either the reports of the treasurer or
of the auditor. The only extra state aid to public education
or to educational institutions during this period seems to have
been for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution and for the
University of the state;50 and it was not until 1899 that the
public schools of the state received any legislative appropria-
tions from the general treasury. 51 One of the sources for the
support of public schools for the year ending September 30,
1871, however, was an item of $92,976.04, under the words
"special appropriation for schools."52 But this amount was
collected under "An act to raise revenue, ratified March 28,
1870, special tax 1-12 of 1 per cent on taxable property of the
state, for the support of the public schools of the state."53 Of
this amount only $22,905.82 was collected between the passage
of the law in March and the report of the Treasurer in Sep-
tember, 1870;54 $70,070.22 was paid into the Treasury during
the fiscal year ending September 30, 1871.55 The total amount
of capitation taxes collected for the support of the public schools
for the year ending September 30, 1870, was $136,076.92.56
49 Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic, p. 206: "One of the
largest items in the budgets of reconstruction was the schools.”
50 Chap. 15, Laws of 1869-70; Chap. 138, Laws of 1870-71; Chap. 98, Laws
1871-72; Chaps. 59, 124, and 135, Laws of 1872-73; Chap. 59, Laws of 1873-
74; Chap. 104, Laws of 1874-75; Chaps. 236 and 252, Laws of 1874-75, do-
nation of the State University of land script fund and unclaimed dividends
declared by corporations, etc.
51 Laws of 1899, Chap. 637.
52 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst., p. 15.
53 Auditor's Report, p. 29.
54 Auditor's Report, p. 37.
55 Treasurer's Report, 1870, p. 29.
56 Auditor's Report, p. 6.

The Beginnings of Reconstruction
29
}
But only $38,981.86 was paid to the public schools during this
year. 57
In all respects this law was much like the law of 1839. It
defined the board of education and its duties, gave directions for
the distribution of the school funds, for the election of the local
school officials, provided for a county examiner, for the certifica-
tion of teachers, and for separate schools; prescribed penalties
for neglect of duty on the part of the school committees, made
provision for the arrangement of the course of instruction, for
the length of the school day, named the qualifications of teach-?
ers, and defined the duties of the state superintendent. The
entire details of a general system of public instruction were
carefully incorporated in this new school legislation. Practic-
ally all these features were prominent in the former law and
its revisions. The essential difference between the two laws,
however, lay in the provisions for negro education, for support
and for a definitely prescribed term. In the law of 1839, the
provision for support of the schools was permissive in character;
local option was given to the counties. The schools were main-
tained by a combination of local taxation and state support
from the proceeds of the Literary Fund. But this method was
not ill-adapted to the state, and the readiness with which the
majority of the counties adopted the scheme in 1839 proved its
popularity. The law of 1869, on the other hand, provided for
a uniform system of state and county taxation. The former
law prescribed no definite term which the schools were required
to continue. The law of 1869 prescribed a four months' term,
and the local authorities were liable to indictment if provisions
were not made for such a term. But the average school term
for the entire state in 1860 shows a favorable comparison with
the average as late as 1900.58
57 Ibid., p. 26.
58 See p. 49, below.

CHAPTER III
THE SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA FROM 1869 TO
1876
1
The elaborate constitutional and legislative provisions for
public schools, enacted in 1868 and 1869, served well as the
framework for a system of education for the children for both
races. From this point of view, the work of the convention
and of the legislature had been admirably done. The new
system, however, had peculiar obstacles to encounter from the
outset. First of all, there was an apparent lack of genuine
interest in education, although the opinion that schools were
to be universal was fast gaining ground. To be sure, men of
all political beliefs who until this time had rarely coöperated
in other matters, met together, considered and acted on the
subject of schools "with singular unanimity." The discourag-
ing circumstances were more the result of the inexperience that
came from the new order of things, of ignorance or of prejudice;
and the actual objections made to schools were practical rather
than theoretical. This was the essential difference between the
objections made in the "agitation period" in the twenties and
thirties and those registered just after the war. Another
obstacle the new system had to face was the new status of the
negro. He had been given a place in politics very suddenly.
The Freedmen's Bureau was disbursing its fund carelessly for
his education; school officials, from the local committeemen
through to the state superintendent, were often foreign in their
sympathies and guided by questionable political motives or
visionary missionary zeal to raise the freedman to a place of
universal brotherhood, politically and socially. Power had
1 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 80.
2 Ibid., p. 86.
Raleigh Register, Nov. 9, 1829, letter signed "X," giving objections to
schools.
30
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 31
4
been radically transferred to him under the new régime. The
possibility, under the constitution, of forcing its schools on the
people produced a constant dread, though the fear was not so
pronounced as it was in some of the other states. If there had
been any prevailing prejudice against such a system, surely the
prejudice would naturally have been strengthened by the fact
that school boards might introduce mixed schools. And this
was indeed a consideration of much weight.5
7
In August, 1869, the superintendent believed that a few schools
would be in operation in October of that year and that there
would be schools in many places by January, 1870. The taxes
for schools had to be collected, but they would be in by Novem-
ber, 1869. Owing to the fact that new school houses had to
be built, some of the townships might not be able to open until
the following year. It was believed that there were 75,000
children to be provided for, and that the available fund would
not be more than $300,000. The Peabody Board was petitioned
to render aid to the towns and cities; this would give not only
immediate material assistance, but it would act as a stimulus.
by increasing the schools and lengthening their terms. In less
than a month, however, the head of the system had changed his
opinion; in September he advised the Peabody Board to with-
hold any appropriation from the schools in the state until the
townships had fulfilled the requirements of the law in establish-
ing schools. Until the local committees had done what they
could, outside aid would not be regarded as altogether healthy."
The taxes were slow in coming in. The statement in the report
of the auditor, exhibiting the several sources of the educational
fund for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1869, showed no
taxes.10 However, the sum of $136,076.92, "tax on polls, "¹1
8
4 On one occasion three ex-governors, an ex-supreme court justice, several
ex-congressmen and a number of other distinguished men were dining to-
gether, and the only person present who could vote or hold office was the negro
waiter. See Hamilton, Reconstruction in North Carolina, p. 298; Sentinel,
June 9, 1868.
6
5 Peabody Proc., Vol. II, p. 101.
Letter from Superintendent to Peabody Fund Agent, Aug., 1869.
7 Legislative Doc. 1870, No. 3, pp. 6, 26.
8 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 197.
9 Ibid.
10 P. 10.
" Of this amount $415.15 had been refunded.
32 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
was placed to the credit of the educational fund during the year
ending September, 1870; and altogether there was paid to com-
mon schools during this year the sum of $38,981.86.12
The first report of the superintendent of public instruction,
dated November 10, 1868, contained much information about
the antebellum system of schools. The new school law had
not been passed at this time and there was no definite concrete
evidence that the superintendent could furnish in regard to
actual educational conditions. "Prior to 1861," stated the
superintendent, "hundreds of thousands of dollars found their
way into this [the school] treasury, and were distributed over
the state, conferring upon not less than 100,000 white children
the blessing of the free school. "13 The condition and value of
the stocks owned by the Literary Board are shown in the report
and give a very definite idea of this former source of school
support.14 The Literary Board held stock in the Bank of North
Carolina and the Bank of Cape Fear to the amount of $1,047,-
100. Both of these institutions had at this time suspended
operations and this stock was regarded as worthless. The
board held stock in the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
and the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad amounting to
$600,000, the first of which was bankrupt and there was only
slight probability of profit ever being realized from the second.
The board also owned 650 shares of stock in the Cape Fear
Navigation Company, valued at $32,500. This stock was also
almost entirely worthless, selling for only ten cents on the
dollar in May, 1869,15 though for some thirty years prior to the
war it had been paying handsome dividends.16 The legislature
by an act ratified April 6, 1869, authorized the sale of the rail-
road and other stock held by the Literary Board. From this
time on the original stock investments of the board show no
substantial return.¹7
The second report of the superintendent dealt with condi-
tions during the year ending September, 1869.18 All the coun-
12 Leg. Doc. 1870, No. 3, pp. 6, 26.
13 Leg. Doc. 1868–9, No. 2, p. 10.
14 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1868.
15 Leg. Doc., 1869–70, p. 15.
16 Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor.
17 Reports of the Literary Board.
18 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1868-1869, p. 2.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 33
ties except two reported to the superintendent and according to
these reports there were in the state 330,581 children between
the ages of six and twenty-one years, 223,815 whites and 106,766
colored. Fifteen of the counties failed to report the number
of school houses. The remainder reported 1,906; of this number
685 were reported as bad.19 In making up his so-called "appor-
tionment" for the year, the superintendent depended on the
legislative appropriation of $100,000 and the capitation taxes.
The appropriation was not paid, however, and the taxes were
poorly collected.20
The uncertainty of future legislation had, along with other
elements which entered also, created obstacles for those inter-
ested in education. Though the first months of its existence
were a struggle, the system was fairly established and was,
perhaps, as successful as it could have been during times of
bitter party strife and violence. Out of the 90 counties in the
state in 1869 and 1870, 37 had a population of less than 10,000
each and only 30 counties made anything like complete reports
to the superintendent of schools for those years.21 The system
suffered during the first years from many defects; the teachers
were incompetent, there was a lack of school funds, and the
school officials were careless and negligent.22 The population
of the state in 1870 was 1,071,361, of whom 391,650 were
negroes;23 about one third of the people of the state were unable
to read and write. It was estimated that there were public
schools in 70 counties, with 65,301 white and 11,000 colored
children enrolled.24 There were 152 private schools in the
state instructing about 12,000 pupils,25 and about 70 schools
designed especially for the education of the negro.26 The Pea-
body Board was aiding the better regulated schools of the towns;
19 Ibid.
20
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1868-69×
21 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1870–71.
22 Nearly all the early reports of the state superintendent complain of mal-
administration.
23 Census Report.
24 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1870-71; Rept. Com. Educ., 1871, pp. 313 ff.
25 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst., Nov. 12, 1869; Rept. Com. Educ., 1870, p. 248.
26 Ibid.
34 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
in fact, its work began as early as 1868, when it expended $2700
to aid schools in North Carolina.27
The work of the Peabody Board during the first year of the
new order of things was very important. In 1868, the citizens
of Wilmington agreed to raise by subscription or otherwise
$3000 if the board would contribute half that amount for the
purpose of aiding schools there. In Newbern there were 1000
colored children in school and 210 white children out of more
than 500. The Peabody Board aided that town to the extent
of $1000 to provide for all the white children, the citizens rais-
ing $2500. In Raleigh 700 out of 900 colored, and 275 of the
600 white, children were attending school.28 The board prom-
ised $1000 on condition that the town raise $2500; this was
agreed to.29 The board gave to a colored normal school in
Raleigh the sum of $500. Out of 100 white children in Hills-
boro, 75 were in schools of a quasi-private character in which
tuition charges were often remitted. There was only a small
number of colored children in this town. Salisbury raised
$1000 and received $500 from the Peabody Board. Charlotte
had 650 white, and about 350 colored, children; about 350 of
the white children and 150 of the colored were reported in
school. The Peabody Board made the same arrangement with
this town as with Raleigh and Newbern.
The greatest weakness of the school system was its lack of
funds. In March, 1870, the small tax of 1-12 of one per cent
on taxable property of the state was authorized for the purpose
of continuing the schools the required four months, but it had
been neither properly levied nor properly collected.30 Less
than $23,000 had come in from this tax the first year. The
superintendent was discouraged.31 Only a small per cent of
the apportionments made to the counties for the year ending
September, 1870, was actually paid.32 Conditions were no
better in 1871 and 1872 than in 1870. A new cause of dis-
27 Peabody Proc., Vol. I; Smith, History of Education in North Carolina,
p. 173.
28 Peabody Proc., July, 1868.
29 Raleigh was slow in getting the necessary amount, however.
30 Laws of 1870, Chap. 229, Class I, Sect. II; Treas. Rept. 1870, p. 29.
31 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 297-8.
32 Leg. Doc. No. 6, 1871-72, pp. 17 ff.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876
35
couragement lay in a decision of the supreme court which
questioned the constitutionality of the law of 1869 and said
that the provisions for levying local taxes for schools could not
be enforced. The General Assembly had not provided for the
schools for 1871, and the county commissioners had applied to
other purposes the county and state capitation taxes for
schools.33
In
The law of 1869 had definitely prescribed the manner by
which the public schools should continue four months in the
year. The scheme by which this was to be done, however,
will indicate the reasons for its failure. The law provided for
local school officials to estimate annually the amount of money
necessary to run a school in each district four months.34
case any township failed to make such provision the local school
committee should furnish to the town commissioners a statement
of the necessary expenses for such school.35 A tax equal to the
amount of these estimates was to be levied on the township by
the county commissioners at the same time and in the same
manner that regular county taxes were levied. The state was
in a poverty-stricken condition and the officials did not, as a
rule, levy a tax. No taxes were ordered for building, repairing,
or furnishing the school buildings, and not a few of the old
houses were in a decayed and decaying condition, hardly fit for
school purposes.37
In a few instances, however, the local officials
made estimates of the necessary expenses of the schools and
reported them to the township trustees. The question of
levying the necessary school tax was then submitted to a vote
of the township. In most cases the people voted against the
tax almost unanimously.38
The question naturally arose whether the county commis-
sioners could levy a tax for schools after the people voted against
such a tax. The constitution provided that no county, city,
33 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 345.
34 Laws of 1868-69, Chap. 184, Sect. 29.
35 Ibid., Sect. 25.
36 It was estimated that from all sources of school support there would be
sufficient funds to furnish every child in the state fifty cents for the year for
educational purposes. Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1872–73, p. 3.
37 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1872-73, p. 4.
38
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1872–73, pp. 3, 4.
36 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
town or other municipal corporation should contract any debt,
pledge its faith or lend its credit, nor should any taxes be levied
or collected by any officials of such corporations, except for
necessary expenses thereof, "unless by a vote of a majority of
the qualified voters therein."39 Accordingly, if schools within
the meaning of the constitution were necessary expenses, the
tax for continuing them four months should have been levied
without or even against any vote of the people. If such expenses
were not necessary such a tax needed a vote of a majority of
the qualified voters.
Craven County furnished a test case. There the school
commissioners made an estimate of the necessary expenses for
schools in a certain township for the year 1870. The estimate
was reported to the trustees of the township and submitted to
the qualified voters, a majority of whom voted against the tax.
In spite of this, however, the commissioners began at once to
levy the tax on the property in the township and proceeded to
collect it. A complaint that the commissioners had violated
the constitution was filed; the judge ordered a temporary in-
junction to be issued until the defendants could appear and
show cause why an injunction should not be issued to restrain
the collection of the taxes. The defendants answered that they
had been following the constitution and the school law of 1869,
arguing that the tax for the schools was a necessary expense.
The temporary injunction was dissolved November 12, 1870.
The case was appealed and the justice decided in favor of the
plaintiffs, in January, 1871, thus reversing the decision of the
lower court. The opinion of the justice had to do with two
main points. First, the local school tax was not a necessary
expense, considered from the meaning of the constitution The
second point dealt with the equation of taxation. The consti-
tutional limitation of state and county taxation was 66 2-3
cents on the hundred dollars' valuation and $2 capitation tax.
And the justice held that this equation had not been observed.40
The effect of this decision amounted almost to the destruction
of the school system. One clause in the constitution required
39 Art. VII, Sect. 7.
40 65 N. C. 153; 109 N. C. 228; 101 N. C. 532; 66 N. C. 336-7; Art. V.
Sect. I of the Constitution.
41 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1872–3.
J.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876
37
the county commissioners to maintain schools for four months
in every township; another clause of the same constitution,
however, made school support depend upon local approval.
With popular opinion against levying taxes the school law was
practically void. The continuance of the schools seemed very
doubtful unless other provisions should be made for them. In
the early part of the legislature of 1871, an amendment was
offered to the revenue bill, looking to supplementing the school
funds of the state by a property tax. But the amendment was
voted down by a large majority.42 There seemed little room
for further taxation. The committee on education in the
Senate, however, suggested to the state superintendent that he
draw up a bill revising the school law. This the superintendent
did, and on February 12, 1872, a law was passed which looked
to an improvement of conditions. It was framed largely on
the theory that taxation for school support was not a form of
charity, but the payment of a debt which the "state owed
its children."43 The law was not essentially different from the
law of 1869 except that it made more liberal provisions for
school support. A levy of 6 2-3 cents on the hundred dollars
was made on taxable property, and a special capitation tax was
fixed at thirty cents. It was provided, however, that no
county should levy an additional school tax.45 The following
year this tax was increased from 6 2-3 to 8 1-3 cents on the
hundred dollars' valuation, and the capitation tax was decreased
from thirty to twenty-five cents.46 The same law also provided
that if the tax for public schools should prove insufficient to
maintain one or more schools in each township for four months,
then the county commissioners of each county might levy each
year a special tax to supply the deficiency.47 This additional
tax was to be levied on the properties, credit, and polls of the
county, but the matter had first to be submitted to the qualified
voters. It will be seen that the right of local taxation, while
granted to counties, was here withheld from the townships and
42 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1872, p. 6.
43 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1872; Senate Jour., p. 493.
44 Chap. 189.
45 Ibid.
46 Laws of 1872-73.
47 Ibid.
38 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
towns, thus repeating the serious defect of the antebellum
school legislation. The best schools during this period were
found in those localities where the citizens came to the aid of
the state funds and supplemented them by tuition fees. This
was frequently done.48
In spite of the recent legislation, the means of education were
very unsatisfactory. The school law was defective and there
was indifference on the part of the people." The general aspect
of education was undergoing but few changes. There appeared
to be many reasons for this. The principle of general educa-
tion by public support had been settled upon; the application
of that principle and the adjustment of plans of operation to
the conditions and wants of the people proved more difficult
tasks. Legislation, though apparently well intended, had been
undertaken with little or no preparation or consideration and
by those whose experience was limited in such matters. The
law, authorizing a local tax, was vague, uncertain, and indef-
inite, and litigation was resorted to by those who were opposed
to it.50 School officers were intimidated and the teachers dis-
couraged. The county boards of education appeared to take
little interest in the schools. County treasurers and county
examiners frequently failed to report and local officers were
frequently not elected promptly. The local taxes were some-
times not levied or collected, and the state tax was often late
in getting into the hands of the treasurer. The law, requiring
the separation of the school funds from other public funds, was
not always observed, and unscrupulous officials were accused
of using the funds for other purposes. 51 Lands which had been
given to the school funds were often in the hands of men who
were unconcerned about education and the revenues of such
lands were not always properly applied to educational pur-
poses. The public schools languished or were suspended for
want of proper administration. Mr. Sears, the general agent
of the Peabody Board, saw all these disorders in North Caro-
lina in 1872; and about the same time, the superintendent was
registering similar complaints in his report to the legislature. 52
48 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 345–6.
49 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 360.
50 Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 285-86; Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1872, pp. 22 ff.
51
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1871, p. 22; Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 286.
52 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst., 1872, p. 22.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 39
There were many reasons for the unsatisfactory conditions.
The fear of taxation and the element of charity which was
read into any system of education were unmistakable obstacles.
Tradition had done its worst work in both respects. 53 There
was a natural and deep-seated aversion to taxation; the people
had been educated from proprietary and colonial days to look
with suspicion upon all improvements made at their expense
for the public good. The fear of taxation revealed a false
conception of democracy; resentment for the element of charity
found in the schools showed a striking, but distorted, view of
community pride and local patriotism. The people reasoned.
that taxes were designed in a republican form of government to
defray its expenses; the less the tax the more ideal the govern-
ment; and they were unwilling to consider schools properly
as a part of governmental machinery.54 The domain of indi-
vidual rights had been widened and that of public interest had
been narrowed by this "false delusion," this traditional view of
taxation. Taxes, which have been borne cheerfully elsewhere,
were at this time regarded as unjust and oppressive in North
Carolina. Furthermore, there were heavy state debts hanging
over the people. In his report to the Peabody Board in October,
1874, Dr. Sears said that conditions were enough to drive the
people of the state into insanity. 55 And whether schools under
the existing financial conditions could be supported was a very
grave question. It was hinted that it might be wise and expe-
dient for the Federal Government to come to the aid of educa-
tion in the impoverished South. 56 One third of the people was
regarded as friendly, one third hostile, to schools, and the re-
mainder was more or less indifferent and easily influenced by
the dominant party. The hostile party looked with "pride on
the past, disdain on the present, and with distrust into the
future. "'57
In July, 1873, conditions were so unsatisfactory that it
seemed that no schools would be opened in the fall of that year.
Systematic and energetic efforts were needed to enlighten the
53 Raleigh Register, Oct. 26, 1827, Nov. 9, 1829, Feb. 4, 1830.
54 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 407; 65 N. C. 163.
55 Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 407-8.
56 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 128.
57 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 408.

40 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
people so that they would demand of the legislature a working
system of schools, or that the General Assembly itself would
establish such a system as would command respect. 58 At no
time since the war had the conservative political party, which
was fighting for progress in social, economic, and political
matters, been in such a crisis. Everything tended to confuse
and disconcert the popular mind. No matter was more con-
fusing and alarming to the people of the state than that of
mixed schools; in some places its effect was immediately felt.
In the face of this fear contracts for building school-houses and
engagements for teachers to open schools were suspended.
School officials resigned, despairing of the conditions which
faced them; and confidence was generally shaken. 59
The local condition was made even more serious by the atti-
tude of Congress. In 1871-72, Charles Sumner labored for
the passage of his Civil Rights Bill, which looked to securing
to the freedmen rights identical with whites in hotels, public
conveyances, theaters and other places of amusement. Two
months after the death of the famous senator, as something of
a memorial to him, the Senate passed an act, which was sub-
stantially in accordance with the idea Sumner had fought for. 60.
The measure, when it finally passed, was weaker than Sumner's
original bill in that it did not apply to schools and churches; and
a portion of it was later declared void by the Supreme Court
in 1883.61 At the same time, however, the effect of the Civil
Rights Bill was keenly felt in North Carolina, as well as in other
Southern States. No legislation in favor of mixed schools had
ever been attempted in the state, and public opinion was en-
tirely hostile to it. Opposition was so strong that if the
people had been "free to choose between mixed schools and no
schools," they would have preferred the latter. 62 The friends.
of education, of all political parties, deplored any attempt on
the part of Congress to force mixed schools on the people. 63
58 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 361.
59 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 409.
60 Rhodes, History of the United States, Vol. 7, pp. 90, 91.
61 U. S. 109, 3.
62 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1874-5, pp. 63-64.
63 Ibid.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 41
The attempt to establish a system of mixed schools was the
result of a fallacious argument in the minds of its advocates. $4
Those most competent to judge predicted that the white people
would return to private schools and that the blacks would be
left entirely to the religious and philanthropic societies. Such
societies were already having practically everything they could
do in educating those of the negro race who were preparing for
the ministry. On the other hand, there was a belief that noth-
ing but public schools, under state maintenance, organization,
and supervision, could meet all the wants of the freedman at
that time.65
The attitude of the negro in this matter should be noted.
Early in 1865, outside influence was brought to bear on the
negroes which had a harmful effect. At that time a petition
had been circulated among them asking the President to give
them equal rights with the whites when the work of the organi-
zation of the State was taken up. J. W. Hood, a negro preacher
from Connecticut, who was a member of the committee on edu-
cation in the constitutional convention of 1868, and who was later
elected assistant superintendent of public instruction, had, with
other influential negroes, called a meeting in Raleigh in Sep-
tember, 1865. A resolution was prepared for the state conven-
tion which was about to meet, asking for equal opportunity
for education.66 Under the constitution of 1868 and the first
school law, the negro had equal legal advantages with the white
man in education. If there were any differences in the law, it
was incidental and purely temporary. In North Carolina, as
a matter of fact, the negro did not want to attend mixed schools;
he merely demanded the establishment of the same sort of
schools for colored as for white children. Certain southern
carpetbag congressmen urged the negroes to insist on the
rights of mixed schools; but even in South Carolina, where the
right to attend schools with the whites was given them by law,
the freedmen did not wish to exercise it.67 That part of Con-
gress which at first favored mixed school legislation did so
because of the belief, at first more or less prevalent in those
64 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 405, 409.
65 Ibid., pp. 409, 410.
66 Hamilton, Reconstruction in North Carolina, pp. 137, 138.
67 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 411.
42 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
quarters where conditions were not thoroughly understood,
that the negroes wanted such a right. When such congressmen
learned the actual attitude of the negro, they changed their
opinion. 68
The Peabody Trustees were decidedly opposed to mixed school
legislation. They doubted the origin of certain petitions to
Congress and doubted that they represented the saner senti-
ments of the colored people. That part of the General Agent's
report in the autumn of 1874, which dealt with mixed schools,
was referred to a special committee. The committee concluded
that "the prospects and hopes of the public system of education
in the South will receive a serious, if not fatal, blow from any
legislation which should make such systems of education main-
tainable only upon the scheme of 'mixed schools' as the organiza-
tion requisite for such public education."69 They acknowledged
that justice, public duty, and the interests of both races
demanded equality of opportunity. No such result, they were
convinced, could be promoted by a compulsory system of
mixed schools. Such legislation, they believed, would not only
be pernicious, but the greater share of the disastrous influence
would be visited on the negro whose wants had been equally
the subject of diligent inquiry and of anxiety to the Peabody
Board. The opinion of the special committee was very strong
and was unanimously adopted as a resolution.70
General educational conditions were in 1872 showing but
slight, if any, improvement. Only 63 counties made reports
to the superintendent, who made his usual complaints against
local committeemen, the county treasurers, and the county
examiners. The school population was about 348,603, but
only 72,318 white children and 27,598 colored children were in
school. The average school term was about two and a half
months. During the year, 2160 white, and 530 colored, teach-
ers had been examined and approved by the state. The sum
of $88,022.76 had been spent for white, and $27,256.14 for
71
68 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 412.
69 Ibid., pp. 436, 439.
7º Ibid., pp. 54, 439; Dr. Sears himself appeared before congressional com-
mittees, and had conferences with individual congressmen and warned them
against a mixed school" law. Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 405.
"
71 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1873-4, pp. 3, 4,
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876
43
colored, schools, and $16,833.30 had been spent for school-
houses.72 The revenue for schools was seventy-five per cent
of the county and state capitation taxes, provided for by the
constitution, and a tax of 8 1-3 cents on the hundred dollars'
valuation of all property and credits of the state, and a special
capitation tax of twenty-five cents." The account of the old
Literary Fund showed a few items in the receipts from taxes
on retailers and auctioneers, interest, entries in vacant land,
fines and penalties, and a small stock dividend, amounting to
nearly $45,000.74 The superintendent stated that all the
sources of support for schools would allow about seventy-five
cents to the child and would be insufficient to maintain a school
in each district, according to the requirement of the constitution.
The matter of levying an additional school tax had to be sub-
mitted to the electors of each county. In those counties which
voted against the schools, the only available fund was that
which was actually provided for by law.
The Peabody Board, however, was continuing to aid schools.
In 1869, it had contributed $6350; in 1870, $7650; in 1871,
$8750, and now in 1872, it gave $8250.75 In most of the towns
sentiment was developing in favor of public schools. Wilming-
ton, the largest town in the state, had assumed control of the
public schools, which before this time had been supported
largely by private subscriptions." The Peabody Board was
contributing to this town $1000, annually, and this amount
was being supplemented by taxation to meet the conditions of
the gift.77 Newbern had about 1000 white children and the
Peabody Board was giving $1000 on the usual condition that
the town provide suitable education for all its white children. 78
The partisan private schools of the town, which had been
opposed to the idea of public schools, had been compelled to
coöperate with the liberal policy and provisions of the Peabody
Board. The school there, which this Board partially supported,
72 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1872-3, Table III.
73 Chap. 90 Sec. 37 Laws, 1872.
74 Auditor's Report.
75 Peabody Proc., 1869-72.
76 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 243, 244.
77 Ibid., pp. 243, 198.
78 Ibid., p. 198.
1
44 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
was the only white school which was free in the city. It had
an enrollment of about 300 pupils. In Wilmington, there was
a similar school of about 400 pupils, and there were 132 pupils
in a like school at Washington. The colored school at Wash-
ington had about 450 pupils. Beaufort was receiving from
the Peabody Board about $450 for a similar white school and
$400 for a colored school." Smithfield had 170 pupils with
three teachers in a white school, and 100 pupils and two teach-
ers in a colored school. The white school received $540 and
the school for the colored youth received $200 from the Peabody
Board. The farmers in the adjoining county boarded their
children in the town and patronized these schools.80 In 1872,
about twenty other places were being aided in amounts ranging
from $200 to $500. Several colored schools were aided also
on the same general principle that applied to the schools for the
whites. Furthermore, the board set aside a sum of about
$1000 for teachers' institutes; and for every $50 which the
state gave for an institute of four weeks with 20 or more teach-
ers, the Peabody Board gave a like amount.81
In February, 1873, the superintendent issued a report which
urged the county officials to give more consideration to the
interests of education. The reports from 46 county treasurers
for this year show that there were 1427 public schools for white
children and 591 for the colored, with 57,414 white and 28,497
colored children in school.82 The white schools this year received
$112,175.36 and the colored schools $45,954.19.83 On the
basis of the report of the 46 counties, the superintendent estim-
ated that there was probably $500,000 in the hands of the
county treasurers. It was probable, he stated, that $300,000
was actually paid to schools during this year. He believed that
there were in the state as many as 2800 schools for the white
and 1200 for colored children, and that 110,000 white and
56,000 colored children were in these schools. The probable
length of school term was about ten weeks.8
84
79 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 299.
80 Ibid., p. 300.
81 Ibid., p. 301.
83 Rept. Com. Educ., 1874, pp. 317 ff. Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 415.
83 Leg. Doc. No. 5, 1873–4.
84 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1874.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 45
The defects of the system, in the opinion of the superintend-
ent, lay in the lack of provision for the training of teachers, in
a lack of efficient county and district supervision, and in a lack
of authority for local taxation for school purposes. He and the
General Agent of the Peabody Board were both convinced that
if these defects could be remedied by proper legislation the
school system would be effective and efficient. The people,
the superintendent stated, were not deficient in energy and
public spirit, or in any appreciation of popular education.
Sufficient provision was not made for the execution of the
school law. The poll. tax, constituting the chief source of
school support, was not properly collected, and when collected,
was not properly turned over to the school treasurers. The real
and urgent need, the superintendent declared in 1874, was
"statesmen in our legislative halls" and laws that would per-
mit the people to establish and maintain public schools.85
•
The work of the Peabody Board in 1874 was even more
extensive than formerly. Aid was given to about 45 towns
and districts (among them there were three colored schools),
and the Educational Journal was given the sum of $300. The
sum of $16,150 came to the state this year from the Peabody
Board. The schools aided in this manner were numerous and
their influence was felt considerably. Local tax sentiment was
beginning to develop somewhat, although the recom-
mendations of the superintendent were not being heartily
received. That officer had noticed, however, that "extreme
caution was beginning to yield to better counsels," and there
was hope of marked improvement.86
In fact, by 1874 the apparently adverse sentiment of the
people appeared to yield to wiser and better counsels. The
public mind was gradually showing itself more and more favor-
able to public education. Too much credit can never be given
the Peabody Trustees and to the assistance which the funds at
their disposal gave the state during these years. They furnished
means to support schools which were commanding universal
respect; they conferred with teachers and officers of the school
system in state and county associations; they brought influence
85 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 416.
86 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 16.
46 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
to bear on legislative bodies. They paid the expenses of state
teachers' associations, aided normal schools, contributed funds
to the support of educational journals and assisted and advised
committees in the organization of their work. The noble design
of the great philanthropist had been followed with fidelity and
jealous care.87 Mr. Sears, the General Agent of the Board, was
convinced that "nothing in the future is more certain than the
acceptance of that principle the doctrine of free schools by
the people at large, if they are free to act without unwelcome
influences from abroad." He stated that his personal inter-
course with all "classes of men in the South, and an oppor-
tunity which few had enjoyed of knowing the opinions and
feelings of the people in regard to schools, have led to the con-
viction,
that any authoritative interference with the
schools of these states would be disastrous to the dearest inter-
ests of education. "88
The year 1876 is usually given as the date of the undoing of
Reconstruction; in this year the conservatives regained their
power in the state governments. January, 1877, marks the
beginning of a new order of things in North Carolina, for at this
time the conservative constitution was adopted. There was,
henceforth, no fear of the possibility of mixed schools, for the
constitution was very specific on this point.89 The first legisla-
ture under this constitution, in January, February, and March,
took many steps forward in educational matters. The establish-
ment of two normal schools, one for each race, shows a distinct
advance." The legislature appropriated $2,000 annually to the
support of each of these schools and the money was paid directly
from the state treasury. Provision was also made by which
towns of a certain size could levy an extra tax for schools of as
much as 1-10 of one per cent a year on property and thirty
cents capitation tax. The former tax for schools, 8 1-3 cents
property tax and a capitation tax of 25 cents, was continued.
87 When Mr. Peabody made his second great donation he said to his trustees:
“This I give to the suffering South for the good of the whole country." Pea-
body Proc., Vol. I, p. 184.
88 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, p. 405.
89 Article IX, Sec. II.
90 Laws 1877, Chap. 234.
91 Ibid., Chap. 235.
The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876 47
Mr. Sears expressed delight at this action of the General
Assembly. He said: "Public schools were now fairly put upon
their own merits. There can, henceforth, be little question of
their perpetuity, for the tide of public opinion has recently
turned in their favor and it will not be easy to resist it.
1992
The following table furnishes concrete evidence of the work
of the school system from 1870 to 1876. The school law of
1869 began its operation in 1870 and the reconstruction régime
properly ends six years later. The defects and the merits of
the antebellum legislation and the system created by it have
already been discussed. Those facts and the following table
should afford a comparison of the two systems in point of their
constitutional and legal status and of the actual operations of
each.
AMOUNT SPENT FOR--
SUMMARY OF STATISTICS
DURING THE Years
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
Teaching and Supervision.. 31,597.15 115,493.16 199,389.18 159,649.55 263,116.33 263,166.33
Buildings and Supplies.
Administration.
White Teachers.
County Superintendents
...
Colored Teachers
Houses (Whites)
Houses (Colored).
4,259.51 10,446.40 16,833.30| 25,100.00 22,676.46 22,676.46
7,000.00 5,000.00 4,473.15 6,925.52 11,802.06 11,802.06
19,064.77 74,000.00 143,722.70 112,175.36 182,646.53 182,646.53
9,532.38 40,000.00 54,512.28 45,954.19 77,615.25 77,615.25
3,000.00 1,493.16 1,154.20 1,520.00 2,854.55 2,854.55
7,000.00 11,222.20| 16,733.34| 15,117.64 15,117.64
3,446.40 5,611.10 8,366.66 7,558.82 7,558.82
School Population (White).
School Population (Colored)
Enrollment (White)
Enrollment (Colored).
13,970
22,089
30,208
243,463 248,985 254,507 260,029 265,551 271,073
141,155 147,421 153,687 159,953 166,219 172,485
27,942 41,274 54,606
94,602
54,565
67,938
81,270
38,327
46,446
•
Total Enrollment..
Percentage Enrolled.
41,912
.11
63,363
.16]
84,814
.21
106,265
127,716
149,167
.25
.30
.34
Note: Discrepancies between the above figures and any statistics already given
may be explained by the difference between the more or less imperfect State and
Census Reports for any given time.
The operation of the system of schools in North Carolina be-
fore 1868 and of the system between 1868 and 1876 has been
considered. A comparison of the two systems may now ar-
92 Peabody Proc., Vol. II, p. 101.
93
Compiled from Coon, Progress of Public Education in North Carolina,
1870-1906; Census Reports.
48 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
range itself under three general topics: administrative organi-
zation; school support; and general results as seen from the length
of school term, enrollment, and teachers' salaries. However
imperfect such a comparison must be, it will serve to evaluate
the comparative merits of the system before and after 1868.
The constitution of 1868 was much in advance of the earlier
constitution. But we have already seen that the provisions
for state, county and local supervision and control as found in
1860 were not improved by the law of 1869. The duties of the
state superintendent, of the county officials, and of the local
district committeemen, were as clearly defined at the earlier
date as at the later. The facts show that the administration
of these officers under the antebellum system was no less effici-
ent than was the state, county, and local administration during
the reconstruction period. The school statistics, for example,
were much more nearly complete in 1860 than at any time
during the latter period. And this is no mean test of interest
in schools and of efficiency in the administrative part of the
system.
In the matter of school support the two systems were not
strikingly different. The otherwise creditable antebellum pro-
vision for schools was defective in that taxation for school
support was not required either by the constitution or by legis-
lation. In fact, the whole provision for schools was unquestion-
ably of a permissive character. This chief defect the constitu-
tion of 1868 and the law of 1869 remedied. Support during
the earlier period was by a combination of the proceeds of a
fixed fund and of local taxation. The popularity of such a
scheme is seen in the fact that practically all the counties.
adopted the plan the first year after it was proposed, and levied
and collected the necessary tax. The efficiency of such a
scheme is seen in the history of the schools from 1840 to 1860.
The expenditures for schools were practically as large in 1840
as in 1870;" and in 1860, in spite of the permissive character
of the method of supporting schools, more than $136,000 in
local taxes was levied and collected in the several counties.
The Literary Fund thus stimulated local initiative, and senti-
94 1840-$41,873.08; 1870-$42,862.40; Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1870, pp.
18, 19.

The Schools of North Carolina from 1869 to 1876
49
ment in favor of increase of local taxation was rapidly develop-
ing at the outbreak of the war. And the facts show no better
form of local taxation from 1870 to 1876 than in 1860.
6
A comparison of the general results of the two systems shows
the old system superior in several respects. The school term
was longer in 1860 than at any time during Reconstruction.95
As a matter of fact, the average term as late as 1900 was shorter
than it was in 1860. The school population in 1860 (white
only) was 186,174, and 108,938 were in school."" The white
school population in 1874 was 265,551, and only 81,270 were
in school. The total negro school population in this year was
166,219, and 46,446 were in school. The average monthly
salary paid teachers in 1860 was $26." At no time during
Reconstruction was this reached, and in 1900 the average salary
was only about $22.50.100
In administration, in school support, and in general results,
the system before 1868 and the one in operation between 1868
and 1876 were very similar. In administrative organization
and in the results obtained the former system appears more
efficient than the reconstruction system. Although taxation
for the support of schools was not required before 1868, yet
the method employed for school support during the ante-
reconstruction period proved quite as effective as the method
used during reconstruction.
95 In 1860, the average term was 80 days; during Reconstruction it was
about 50 days. Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1860, 1872.
96 In 1900 the white schools averaged 73 and the colored school 65 days.
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1898-1900, p. 156.
97 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1860.
98 See table above.
99 In 1859 it was $28.
100
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1898-1900, p. 156.

CHAPTER IV
SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CAROLINA FROM 1811 TO 1865
2
South Carolina had no constitutional provision for schools
and education until the adoption in April, 1868, of the consti-
tution drawn up by the reconstruction convention of that
year.¹ The original constitution of the state, adopted in 1776,
was revised in 1778 and again two years later. Other amend-
ments were added or revisions made in 1808, 1810, 1816, 1820,
1828, 1854, and 1856. In none of them, however, was there any
reference to education. The constitution of 1865, framed in
accordance with the Presidential Plan of Reconstruction, made
no provision for the schools. Everything of an educational
character had been left to the whims of the legislature, often
indifferent, at times hostile. As late as 1853, the entire educa-
tional system of the state consisted of the South Carolina Col-
lege, established in 1801, the so-called "free schools," begun in
1811, and two or three military academies. The legislature,
however, had been most liberal in the support of the institu-
tions which it had created. Roughly speaking, the college was
not only the first in the order of establishment, but also the first
in the order of importance. Every year the legislature incor-
porated in its act making appropriations for state expenses a
generous allowance for professorships in this institution, and
for its maintenance and support. There was no other source of
support for any of the institutions except the legislature. The
means of supporting schools so generally adopted in most of
the states, that of permanent public school funds,-was un-
known in South Carolina until after the war.5
4
¹ South Carolina Constitutions; Rept. Com. Educ., 1892-3, Vol. II, p. 1358-
2 Constitution of 1865.
Rept. Com. Educ., 1899-1900, Vol. I, p. 404.
* Acts and Resolutions.
* Constitution of 1868, Art. X, Sec. 11.
50
Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
51
8
The need of popular education was keenly felt by public
leaders in the state from an early date. The annual messages
of the governors mention the need of free schools; and scattered
in the reports and resolutions of the General Assembly are pe-
titions for schools from citizens in the various parishes." In
1810 and 1811 the public mind began to take hold of the ques-
tion. In 1811, in accordance with the recommendation of
Governor Middleton, the legislature enacted a bill establishing
schools in the state for the purpose of furnishing elementary
education to its youth. The act passed the Senate without
a roll call and was adopted by the House by a vote of 72 to 15.
It provided that there should be established immediately in
each election district of the state a number of free schools equal
to the number of members in the House of Representatives of
the state legislature. The law seems to have been designed as
an initial movement toward the creation of a system of educa-
tion which would furnish the means of elementary instruction
to all the children of the state; but it was couched in such ter-
minology that it worked its own defeat so far as this original
design went. The schools were to be open and free to all citi-
zens of the state; but if more children should apply for admis-
sion than could be accommodated, preference was always to be
given to poor orphans and children of indigent parents. The
schools were thus destined to sink early into pauper schools.
To accept tuition in any such institutions was an open declara-
tion of a poverty-stricken condition which the middle classes
objected to. Thus the free school system, although its original
purpose was to furnish a substantial English education to all
the children of the state, became very early to be regarded as
simply for the poor.10
Further provisions of the law were for the support of the
schools, for their management, for an increase in their number,
for the erection of houses, and for moving schools. Each dis-
• Charleston Courier, October 15, 1803.
7
Statutes, Vol. 5, p. 369; Charleston Courier, December 26, 1803. Gover-
nors' Messages found in Annual Reports and Resolutions.
8 Acts of General Assembly 1811, pp. 27–31.
• Ibid.
10 Message of Governor Orr to Special Session of Legislature in 1868; Report
of Sumner 1847; Reports and Resolutions.
.
52 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
3.
trict or county was entitled to the sum of $300 annually, for the
support of the schools, for every representative it had in the
House of Representatives of the legislature; and commissioners
ranging in number from three to thirteen were to be appointed
by the legislature for each district or county, to hold office three
years, to serve without pay and without penalty, and to have
general control of the schools. They determined the location
of the school, appointed teachers, decided on the admission of
the scholars, and drew on the comptroller for the school money.
The schools were to be kept open as long as the funds would
allow. Before a school could be established, however, the
community was required to build a schoolhouse. Until a suffi-
cient number of schools could be established the local officers
were allowed to convert those which had begun into "moving
schools," if by so doing they could better promote the purposes
of the act. The law recognized the existence of other free or
semi-free schools by the following section: "In all districts
where a school or schools are already, or may hereafter be es-
tablished by private funds or individual subscription, it shall be
lawful for the commissioners of free schools, at their discretion.
to unite such part or parts of the fund provided by this act for
such district with such school or schools, in such manner as may
appear to them best calculated to promote the objects of this
act."
Throughout the entire life of the law such schools were
in some parishes aided by the public funds." In 1824, 41 dis-
tricts reported to the legislature, and in eleven of these, private
schools had been assisted.12
Schools were established at once in as many as 34 of the 44
districts, and in these 185 schools with 4299 pupils were reported
by the local officials in December, 1812. It is certain, however,
that there were more than 185 schools; one district reported 90
pupils, one 260, one 102, without giving the number of schools
in the district. 13 The next year an effort was made by represent-
atives in the legislature from the sparsely settled regions to
abolish the free school system established in 1811, showing a
doubt about the practical operations of the law which seemed
characteristic of the public mind in many of the states immedi-
11 Reports and Resolutions 1845, p. 150.
12 Ibid., 1824, pp. 111–112.
13 Ibid., 1812, p. 97.

Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
53
ately after the inauguration of free schools. The schools seemed
too inconvenient and expensive; the law should be repealed.
This was the logic of the opponents of the schools. 14 The re-
presentatives from Charleston prevented any such action; one
member of the legislature from that town made a strong plea
for the schools.15
That 34 of the 44 districts should make reports the first year
of the operation of the law indeed spoke well for the interest of
the free school commissioners appointed by the legislature of
1811 for the various districts. The novelty soon wore off, how-
ever, and in 1813 unexpected difficulties revealed themselves.
The commissioners had been careless and indifferent, and the
committee on schools in the legislature soon complained of the
difficulty of obtaining reports from them. This was a chronic
complaint until the war.16 The first evidence of neglect on the
part of the local commissioners appears in a report of the Com-
mittee on Free Schools in December, 1814; the complaints reg-
istered there resulted in the passage at the same session of a
resolution requiring the local free school commissioners to report
school statistics annually to the legislature. By this resolution
the state was to furnish each county board of school com-
missioners with adequate blanks for the returns. Many schools
had been in operation that year although the returns of local
commissioners were very imperfect and incomplete. The report
of the state controller for the year beginning September 30,
1813, and ending October 1, 1814, shows an expenditure for
schools of $35,192.77.18 Certainly as many as 225 schools were
in operation in the state in 1814," for the support of which the
legislature appropriated $37,000.20
17
In not a few instances erroneous statements regarding the
free schools of South Carolina have appeared in otherwise care-
ful discussions. Thus Barnard's American Journal of Educa-
14 Ramage, Local Government and Free Schools in South Carolina, p. 36.
15 Ibid., pp. 36, 37; Rept. Com. Educ., 1899-1900, Vol. I, p. 468; Reports
and Resolutions 1813.

16 Reports and Resolutions.
17 Reports and Resolutions 1814, p. 111.
18 Report of Controller 1814, p. 70.
19 Reports and Resolutions 1815, p. 81.
20 Acts of 1814, p. 46.
54 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
tion, 21 in a review of the common schools and public instruction
in the United States, says: "In 1811, the state instituted a fund,
the income of which was to secure to every citizen the benefits
of education, but in the act itself was the secret of its own fail-
ure, a provision that 'if the funds should prove inadequate for
all applicants, preference should be given to the poor.""
Evidently the writer of these words had hastily concluded that
South Carolina intended to establish a public school fund as
had been done in so many of the states. A careful reading of
the law would have shown that there is nothing in the act that
would warrant such an opinion. In fact, as stated above, no
such fund was contemplated by any subsequent legislation until
the constitution of 1868.22
Swift in his "Permanent Public School Funds in the United
States "23 seems to have accepted without investigation Barnard's
error: "South Carolina appears to have established a perma-
nent school fund in 1811, but little, if any, reliable information
concerning it has been available." Swift may have been in-
fluenced by Mayo in his "Original Establishment of State School
Funds": "Although Virginia did not respond to the appeal of
her great educator statesman, Jefferson, backed by the influence
of every public man of the first order in the Old Dominion for a
complete system of common schools, yet in 1810 the literary
fund was instituted which in 1812 amounted to $2,000,000.
"In 1811 South Carolina, and North Carolina in 1825, made
the same application of public funds like Virginia, chiefly in the
direction of the free school for the poorer class of white children
and youth, or for their schooling by the subsidizing of private
and denominational seminaries. "24 We can only repeat that
Barnard, Swift, and Mayo are all wrong.25 There is evidence
that in the case of each the law was not carefully read if read at
all.
21 Vol. 24, p. 317.
22 Art. 10, Sec. 11.
23 P. 389.

24 Rept. Com. Educ. 1894-95, Vol. 2, p. 1507.
25 Boone, in his Education in the United States, makes a similar error (p.
86), which Dexter in his History of Education in the United States (p. 204)
passes on without correction.
Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
55
Another error has similarly been repeated. Ramage, in his
"Local Government and Free Schools in South Carolina," says:26
"In 1850 there were seven hundred and twenty-four free schools.
in this state with seventeen thousand eight hundred and thirty-
eight children attending them. The support of these schools
for the same year was two hundred thousand and six hundred
dollars. At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, the free
schools had grown so rapidly, that twenty thousand children
attended them, and they had an annual support of more than
two hundred thousand dollars." Again Barnard's Journal is
the original source of the error; there the statistics appear ex-
actly as given by Ramage.27 The Census Report gives for that
year: 724 public schools, 739 teachers, and 17,838 pupils. But
under the head of support of these schools, the following items
appear: endowment, $3000; taxation, $1200; public funds,
$35,973; other sources, $160,427, making a total of $200,600,
all of which appears as one item and as direct state support in
Barnard's Journal and in Ramage.28 The "other sources" were
undoubtedly private contributions or tuition fees; for the state
funds and private support were frequently combined.29
The original school law remained practically unchanged from
1811 until the war. As early as 1814, however, resolutions were
passed at almost every legislature dealing in some fashion with
the schools. But beyond such resolutions there was no signi-
ficant legislation supplementing the law or revising it. Unim-
portant details, such as the appointment of local district com-
missioners, were taken care of in the legislature by resolutions,
and this form of legislation was usually depended on to enforce
the school law. In 1814, the local commissioners were directed
to report the schools statistics to the legislature annually. The
necessity for such a resolution is evidence that the local officials
had been negligent. In 1812, these school officers had been
prompt and active in making their reports even though such
returns were incomplete. After that time, however, local sta-
26 Pp. 37, 38.
27 Vol. I, p. 368.
28 Comptroller-General's Report for 1850 shows that the state support of
free schools was only $37,192.83. In 1860 the same report shows the state's
support to be $73,181.58.
29 See Reports and Resolutions for 1824, pp. 111, 112; for 1845, p. 150.
56 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
tistics were very meager." In spite of the legislative resolution
in 1814 to enforce the school law, however, conditions showed.
but little improvement. This was the case for several years.
The committee on education in the legislature in 1819 was highly
displeased with the evidence of indifference on the part of the
local school officers and regretted that they displayed "so much
apathy toward this wise institution (the free school system) as
to neglect to make suitable reports." The committee was
convinced, however, that the schools were doing much good and
that they should be more heartily received by the people. The
recommendations of the committee rarely ever resulted in any
more effective legislation, however, than resolutions.
But for this form of legislative action little could be known of
the schools. As meager as this source of information is, a few
facts concerning the schools may be found. The failure of one
district to report in 1819 was due to the illness of its commis-
sioners and the legislature was compelled to be lenient with those
officers. A resolution was passed at the same session allowing
the commissioners of another district until the last day of the
legislature of 1820 to make the report, because two members of
the board of commissioners had been away from the district."
At the same time the Charleston commissioners were instructed
to inquire into and ascertain the practicability of establishing
one or more schools "on the Lancastrian or other improved
system of education, with the funds then disbursed for free
schools, and also to ascertain whether any coöperation could be
had from any quarter for such purpose.
1933
The reports show some improvement in the schools after 1820
even though the reports continue to be more or less incomplete.
In 1820, 37 districts reported 7045 children in the free schools
of the state, for the support of which the state expended $40,-
248.48. The following year 38 districts reported and about the
same amount of money was paid by the state for school support. 34
In 1822 a committee in the legislature expressed itself as pleased
with the results and stated that the system of schools appeared
30 Reports and Resolutions.
31 Ibid., 1815, p. 113; 1816, p. 81; 1817, p. 84; 1818, p. 88; 1819, p. 60.
32 Ibid., 1819, pp. 60, 72.
33 Ibid., p. 72.
34 Rept. Comp.-Gen. 1820, pp. 59, 60; ibid., 1821, p. 57.
Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
57
to "meet the approbation of the citizens throughout the state,"
and that it had "exceeded the most sanguine expectations of
its original founders. "35 The legislature continued to appropri-
ate annually $37,000 to the support of the schools. In order
to compel the districts to report each year, it was understood that
negligent districts would be denied their proportionate share of
the annual appropriation. Cases of negligence were common,
but sooner or later every district got its quota whether it had
made its report or not.36 In 1823, St. Peter's parish failed to
report; good excuse having been given to the committee, the
Comptroller-General was authorized by resolution in 1824 to pay
the teachers for their services in 1823.37 In 1826, on account of
the illness of the secretary of the commissioners, St. Luke's
parish was, according to law, entitled to no money from the
state, for the support of schools and the payment of teachers'
salaries for the preceding year. But a resolution was passed
December 6, 1827, recommending that the expenses of the
schools in that district be paid.38
Interest in the schools was slowly increasing. In 1825, South
Carolina College was requested by a resolution passed in the
legislature in December, to prepare a detailed system for the
better regulation of the public schools of the state and to report
the same to the legislature in 1826.39 Nothing developed from
this action, however. In 1827, in 1828 and in 1829, $37,200
instead of the usual sum of $37,000 was appropriated for free-
school support. From 1839 to 1851 inclusive the sum of $37,-
500 was annually appropriated, and the reports of the Comptrol-
ler-General show that these appropriations were usually ex-
hausted. From 1852 to 1864, the annual appropriation was
$74,400 except in 1858 and 1859 when the sum of $75,000 was
each year appropriated.40 In a few instances the expenditures
exceeded the appropriations.41
35 Reports and Resolutions, 1822, p. 107.
36 Ibid., 1824, p. 82; 1827, p. 37; 1832, p. 32.
37 Ibid., 1824, p. 82.
38 Ibid., 1827, p. 37.
* Ibid., 1826, p. 113.
40 Acts of South Carolina.
41
Acts, and Reports of Comp.-Gen.
58 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
•
Many sidelights on the system in South Carolina appear in
the annual reports to the legislature. Many of the reports show
that the state funds were frequently combined with private
funds and funds from church societies. In 1844 one school in
one district had been supported in part by a charity fund raised
by the minister of a local church. 42 In 1845 an entire district
had united the public fund with private contributions.43 In one
year, as many as eleven districts reported that private schools
had been assisted in them.44 Little light, however, is thrown on
the internal organization of the schools by the reports of the
local commissioners. It seems to have been the general under-
standing that no information concerning the manner in which
children were taught, the standards of teaching, text-books and
the like, was to be furnished the legislature. In 1846 the com-
mittee on education in the legislature stated that they did not
"pretend to furnish any adequate information.
as to
the manner in which the pupils have been taught, the standards
of competency in teachers, the books which have been used in
the schools or the discipline which is maintained in any of them."'45
The reason the committee gave for not pretending to furnish
such facts was that they "had received none." In the districts
of St. Philip's and St. Michael's, however, conditions were in
advance of those in other sections. The school commissioners
held quarterly meetings, where matters pertaining to the schools
were freely discussed. As early as 1846 there were five free
schools in these districts and as many teachers. Each school
had its own board of trustees who visited the school and ex-
amined the pupils and reported to the local commissioners. An
annual examination was also held; and "we do not hesitate to
state that the proficiency exhibited by the scholars, on these oc-
casions, in the various departments of spelling, reading, writing,
arithmetic, geography, grammar and history is surpassed by no
school in the city.”"46
Even here in Charleston, however, the schools had before
1855 no permanent location. The teachers usually had to rent
42 Reports and Resolutions 1844, p. 169.
4 Ibid., 1845, p. 150.
44
Ibid., 1824, p. 79.
45 Ibid., 1846, p. 16.
46 Ibid., pp. 118, 119; ibid., 1848, p. 152.
Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
59
houses in which to hold school and the commissioners recom-
mended that appropriations be made in order to furnish suitable
houses for the schools.47 If this were the condition of the free
schools in the advanced districts, conditions in the purely rural
and remote districts must have been very poor. In 1844, St.
Philip's and St. Michael's were allowed to raise by taxation
funds to build a free school house. 48 It was in the same year,
1848, that Henry Barnard, on the invitation of the governor
of South Carolina, helped to arouse the interest of the people
in Charleston on educational matters. In 1852 the legislature
allowed the city to levy a tax for free schools, the only condition
being that not more than the annual appropriation from the
state be raised additionally in this way. Charleston was at this
time entitled to $1500 on the usual basis of apportioning the
school appropriation. In this manner the previous amount for
schools was doubled. In 1854 the school commissioners were
among the friends of the free school plan. Their petition to
the legislature for the establishment of an improved system of
schools for Charleston was favored by that body. And from
1856, until the outbreak of the war, that city had an excellent
system of schools. With this exception, however, there was
little or nothing in the way of free schools that could be pro-
nounced creditable in South Carolina. There seemed indeed
a unanimity of purpose among the leaders in the state; the ap-
propriations were liberal; but there was an almost utter failure
of results.
49
This was the opinion even of those who favored the schools.
Nearly all the governors had something to say about the schools,
after the system was inaugurated in 1811, in their messages to
the legislature, and many of them recommended modern im-
provements. Most of them, on the other hand, candidly believed
that while the system was accomplishing some good among the
poor people, nevertheless, the free school system was a failure.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., 1848.
49 Rept. Com. Educ., 1899-1900, Vol. I, pp. 465-467. I am privately in-
formed that these schools established in 1856 were patronized by all classes.
Not a few of the most prominent and wealthy citizens sent their children to
them in order to help destroy the prejudice that had previously existed against
the free schools.
60 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
Resolution after resolution was passed in the legislature for the
purpose of inquiring into the free school system with a view to
its improvement. Little was done until 1839, however, when a
committee was appointed for this purpose. The report was
published a year later; and in 1847 it was said that the report had
been before the people ever since without "attracting one tithe
of the attention" which it demanded and deserved. 50 "Let any
dispassionate and candid individual examine these reports, .
and however much he may be disposed to laud his state, he will
there find enough to make him blush for her neglect of the all-
important cause of education. "51 The work of the state for
the education of her children was in 1847 defined as "splendid
nothings," and for this lack of adequate educational facilities
the state was responsible. "Shall the wants of the people be
satisfied? Then let the legislature do their duty!"52 A super-
intendent of the schools had been recommended, and recommen-
dations had been made for a normal school and for a better and
more extensive course of study. But such suggestions had
availed nothing. The method of distributing funds to the vari-
ous districts was justly criticised; for equality was most apparent.
Spartanburg, for instance, was entitled to $1500, and Charleston
to $5100, although Spartanburg had more voters than Charles-
ton. 53
In 1850 the governor recommended the appointment of a
superintendent and an increase of the funds for school support
by means of taxation. 54 This recommendation and one relative
to the laying of an assessment for educational purposes were
referred to a committee. However, so much of the report of
that committee as was "adverse to" the appointment of a super-
intendent and a tax for school purposes was agreed to; so much
thereof as recommended the adoption of the resolution request-
ing the governor to employ a suitable person to collect informa-
tion about the school system was disagreed to.55 Five years
50 Reports and Resolutions 1847, p. 196.
51 Suggestions Relative to the Free School System, in Reports and Resolu-
tions 1847.
52 Reports and Resolutions 1847, p. 209.
58 Ibid., p. 206.
4 Senate Jour., 1850, pp. 16, 17.
55 Ibid., p. 144.
:
Schools in South Carolina from 1811 to 1865
61
1956
later the governor, in a message to the legislature, pronounced
the school system a failure. "Its defects have long been felt,
and yet nothing has been done except to double the sum of
money wasted under a bad system. It requires a thorough
entire reformation." The governor declared it very unfortunate
that the purpose that was evidently contemplated by the act of
1811 had been abandoned, and what "was intended to introduce
gradually a general system of common schools has been per-
verted to the exclusive education of paupers. He especially
urged the appointment of a superintendent, but, as before, such
recommendations were not followed. Resolutions to improve
the free school system were agreed to in the House and sent to
the Senate, but beyond this no action of importance was taken.57
It was thus a poorly organized and inefficiently managed
system of schools restricted practically to the poor, that South
Carolina had before the war. In the foregoing there appear but
few features of a modern school system, barring the possible
exception of local organization. The law provided for schools
in every election district of the state where "free" elementary
instruction should be given to all children. Local commis-
sioners appointed by the legislature to serve three years had
general control of the schools. Their duties were to select a
school site, appoint teachers, admit pupils, and draw on the state
treasury for their quota of the legislative appropriation. With
no state supervision, little efficient local supervision and control,
the pauper schools received each year an allowance from the
legislature with no important conditions attached. And the
criticism seems justified that much money was "wasted under
a bad system."58
56 House Jour., 1855, pp. 23, 24.
57 Ibid., p. 43, 195, 251.
58 The following table of statistics will furnish some facts about the schools
before the war. These statistics were gathered from the laws making ap-
propriations, reports of the State Treasurer, and the reports and resolutions
in the annual legislative documents. Until 1842, the reports were incomplete,
and I was unable to find the school statistics for 1850 and 1851, except the
appropriations and expenditures for schools.
62 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South



Year
Annual
Appropria-
Expendi-
Dis-
Estimases by tricts
tures by
tion
the State
Local Officials Re-Schools
as Needed
Teach-
Pupils
ers
port-
ing
34
185
4299
1812
1813
1814
$37,000 $35,192.77
1815
37,000 33,866.76
29
3642
1816
37,000
34,201.34
18
229
3328
1817
37,000
39,691.39
14
2237
1818
37,000
35,619.75 $18,808.19
25
4424
1819
37,000
48,951.70 | 19,621.00
18
3302
1820
37,000
40,248.48 | 42,215.80
37
7045
1821
37,000
40,466.99 30,898.75
38
5827
1822
37,000
35,150.37 31,383.36
|
36
584
5982
1823 37,000
22,242.21 | 34,019.23
31
296
6645
1824
37,000
40,827.22 37,907.58
41
649
5575
1825
37,000
23,240.22 | 36,580.36
43
892
8834
1826
37,000
40,376.03 36,869.33
40
686
8314
1827 37,200
36,611.78 38,710.46
44
754
8765
1828
37,200
40,679.12 | 39,616.77
42
840
9036
1829
37,200
48,232.53 | 35,415.06
43
727
7813
1830
37,000
36,723.52 | 35,818.34
40
860
8572
1831
37,000
36,778.28 | 36,377.27½
42
966
90661
1832
37,000
38,305.72 36,960.95
43
817
8390
1833
37,000 37,691.30 | 36,660.55
1834 37,000 33,915.83 33,086.84
1835 37,000 35,199.78 | 33,631.30
1836 37,000 28,877.84 | 33,463.99
1837 37,000 39,352.14 36,513.11
1838 37,000 35,639.25 39,776.70
42
854
10718
37
783
8388
41
709
8475
43 695
6718
44 749
7550
43
694
7705
1839 37,500 38,268.57 40,326.29 43
1840 37,500 38,409.87
842
8867
38,750.30
43
781
8060
1841 37,500 32,345.27
43,379.12
44
869
9187
1842 37,500 36,792.83 | 41,904.44
1843 37,500 36,198.59 | 40,408.45
1844 37,500 38,329.39 | 40,545.88
1845 37,500 37,036.89 42,232.92
|
1846
37,500 36,707.90 38,346.67
1847 37,500 35,648.07 33,527.52
1848 37,500 35,079.34 | 39,203.52
1849 37,500 37,495.02 40,561.53
1850 37,500 37,192.83
44 914 820
8558
43
847 851
8882
43
931 918
8784
43
967
963
9670
44
925
919
7989
41
739
737
7188
44 994 962
8053
44
1023 1019
9122
37,500 35,522.50
1853 74,400
1854 74,400
1855 74,400
1856 74,400
1851
1852 74,400 36,188.34 34,651.13
47,961.96 | 66,464.42
74,592.96 | 72,791.98
72,746.41 79,494.18
77,538.87 | 83,004.33
1857 74,400
77,914.12 | 87,462.19
43
1858 75,000
77,799.95 | 84,537.35
44
1859 75,000 | 74,486.31 | 87,628.24
1860 74,400 73,181.58 127,539.41
44
43 831
44 1275 1275
43 1289 1287 17451
44 1542 1541 17440
44 1450 1490 19756
1465 1478 19356
1416 1375 19298
1414 1404 16841
44 1270 1294 18915
753
7454
13123

CHAPTER V
BEGINNINGS OF RECONSTRUCTION IN SOUTH CARO-
LINA. FIRST SCHOOL LAW UNDER THE CON-
STITUTION OF 1868
The Presidential Plan of Reconstruction began in South Caro-
lina with the appointment June 13, 1865, of Benjamin F. Perry,
Provisional Governor. A proclamation for the election of
delegates to a constitutional convention to be held September
4, was issued by Perry July 20. By this proclamation the citi
zens of the state were urged to qualify as electors by taking
the amnesty oath,-an indispensable condition for ability to vote.
Taking the amnesty oath would also indicate a willingness of the
people to coöperate with the President in his effort to restore civil
order in the state. The proclamation also urged that those persons
whom the President had excepted from the benefits of amnesty
should apply for pardon. Many persons availed themselves of
this means of acquiring the ability to participate in the election;
about 850, on the recommendation of the Provisional Governor,
were pardoned by the President. Of this number 650 were of
the class which owned as much as twenty thousand dollars'
worth of property.¹
The convention was in session from September 13 to 27. It
framed a constitution and passed such ordinances as were nec-
essary to place the state in an organized condition until the
legislature could meet and further steps be taken to place the
state in proper relationship with the Federal government.
Slavery was prohibited, the Ordinances of Secession were re-
pealed, and provision was made for the election of members of
the legislature and of the state officers. No provision, however,
was made for schools. At the election in October, James L.
2
1 Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, p. 14.
2 Ibid., p. 19; Rept. Com. Educ., 1892-93, Vol. 2, p. 1358.
63

64 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
Orr was chosen governor. The members of the legislature,
elected at the same time, met in special session October 25;
their chief work was the ratification of the thirteenth amendment.
The regular session began November 27, continuing until De-
cember 21. On that day Provisional Governor Perry was or-
dered to deliver to Governor-elect Orr all papers and property
relating to the office of governor, and South Carolina was for-
mally restored to her relations with the Federal government.³
Nothing of an educational character was done by this regular
session; it concerned itself largely with the passage of laws.
dealing with the freedmen, popularly known as the "Black
Code." An extra session was called, however, September 4,
1866, to make changes in the laws already passed and to meet
the exigencies of the peculiar conditions of the state; but in this
nothing concerning schools and education was attempted. The
second regular session of the legislature was opened November
26, 1866, adjourning December 21; this was the last regular
meeting of the law-making body under the constitution of 1865.
It concerned itself particularly with the adoption of the four-
teenth amendment. The message of the governor indicated
his lack of sympathy with its adoption, and the legislature
shared with him a feeling that the state could not accept fully
all the terms of the amendment. The Senate was unanimous in
its vote against it, and in the House only one vote was cast for
it.4
March 21, 1867, marks the beginning of the so-called military
reconstruction in South Carolina. At this time Major-General
Sickles assumed command of the Second Military District of
the Southern States, composed of North Carolina and South
Carolina. Sickles was succeeded by Major-General E. R. S.
Canby, September 5, who ordered an election of delegates
November 19 and 20 to frame a constitution. The results of
that election were, for the convention, 130 whites and 68,876
blacks; against it, 2801 whites. The convention met in Charles-
ton January 14, 1868, to frame a constitution and a civil govern-
ment in accordance with provisions of the Reconstruction Acts.
3
* Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 23, 26.
4
▲ Ibid., pp. 33, 34.
5 Ibid., pp. 64, 69, 74.
Beginnings of Reconstruction in South Carolina
65
passed by Congress. Of the 124 delegates constituting the con-
vention 48 were whites and 76 negroes; of the entire delegation,
120 were radicals. There were 59 South Carolina negroes in
the body. Of the 48 white members, 23 paid no tax whatever;
and of the total tax paid by the remaining 25, which was $761.62,
one of the conservatives paid $508.85. The total tax paid by
the radical members was $359.70, an average of less than $3.00
each. No tax was paid by 59 of the colored members. The
total tax paid by the colored members was $117.93, and of this
amount $85.35 was paid by one man from Charleston."
8
Governor Orr appeared before the convention immediately
after it had assembled and addressed it on matters that in his
opinion should be given serious attention. That portion of his
message which dealt with the urgent need of schools in the state
and which insisted on a thorough constitutional provision for
common schools for all the youth of the state, is very significant.
It was not a novel thing, however, for the governor of the state
to mention in his annual message to the legislature the need of
schools and education for all the white children. Practically
every executive had from as early as 1811 until as late as the
fifties dealt at more or less length on the subject. It is interest-
ing to note, however, that at this time Governor Orr recommended
a general capitation tax for the support of schools for both races.'
The committee on education was named very soon after the
convention organized. Rev. F. L. Cardozo, a negro, who was
very active in South Carolina politics and who afterwards be-
came treasurer of the state, was made chairman.
To serve
with him were J. K. Jillson, of Massachusetts, who had pre-
viously been in the employ of the Freedmen's Bureau as teacher
and who later became the superintendent of public instruction
of South Carolina, and two other white men and five negroes.10
When the committee made its report, a heated discussion took
place over that portion which concerned compulsory attendance
of the children of both races in the schools. Benjamin Byas, an
eccentric and ridiculous negro member, was one of the first to
* Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 78, 79.
7 Ibid.
8 Reports and Resolutions of South Carolina, 1847, pp. 229–243.
9 Conv. Proc., p. 51.
10 Ibid., p. 56; Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 76, 77, 87.
66 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
.
be heard on the point. He insisted very vigorously that the
word "compulsory" should be taken out of the section; he de-
sired a pure republican form of government where compulsion
was unknown. He argued that a man should not be compelled
to educate his children any more than he should be compelled to
direct "them to heaven or hell," because "man is a free, moral
agent, and he should be left where God put him."11. Among
the provisions was one which compelled all children to go to
schools of some description. If families of whites were unable
to send their children to private schools, "they should be obliged
to send their children to the public schools, in which all white
and colored shall be educated in common. 7712 Most of the dis-
cussion was carried through by the negro members.13 Opinion
was very much divided, however; some of the negroes felt that
to incorporate a provision in the constitution to compel the chil-
dren of both races "to mingle in the schools together and as-
sociate generally" would serve to humiliate the white people.14
There were others who knew that such a provision would be
dangerously reckless.15
Chairman Cardozo fought hard for the original wording of the
report.16 With him it was a distinct anti-white fight, and he
had a considerable following.17 "We only compel parents to
send their children to some school," he said, "not that they shall
send them with the colored children; we simply give those colored
children who desire to go to white schools the privilege of doing
So. "'18 One of his supporters was an enthusiastic negro by the
name of Chestnut. He believed that the report should stand
as it was originally brought in. "Sir," he concluded his ar-
gument, "you can by no persuasive and reasonable means es-
tablish civilization among an ignorant and degraded community
such as we have in our country. Force is necessary, and, for
one, I say let force be used. "19 Mr. Jillson, who became the
11 Conv. Proc., p. 686.
12 Ibid., p. 691.
13 Ibid., pp. 686–689.
14 Ibid., pp. 900, 901.
15 Ibid., pp. 702–704.
16 Ibid., p. 691.
17 Ibid., p. 703.
18 Ibid., p. 691.
19 Ibid., p. 692.
Beginnings of Reconstruction in South Carolina 67
executive head of the system of schools as it was finally organized,
discussed the question at some length, quoting and referring
freely to the school laws of Massachusetts, and other New Eng-
land States, of Switzerland and of Prussia, in an effort to have the
report of the committee adopted.20 One negro member was
alert enough to detect the fallacy of most of the argument
based on such references. "We occupy an entire [sic] different
position from what those states do. We have just been born.
to a new life, and we are not prepared at this state of our pro-
ceedings to enact or enforce any such law, or to incorporate it
in the constitution. "21 Such a view as this, however, was en-
tirely too conservative for another negro member, who stated
that he did not rise to make a speech, "but it had been said by
the member from Beaufort that we have just been born. I wish
to deny that, and to inform the member that we are three years
old. Having made such tremendous strides in three years, I
think it highly necessary that some method be adopted by which
these three-year old children, instead of running around mo-
lasses barrels or stealing cotton, be compelled to go to school. I
noticed with regret on my way here this morning, some eighteen
colored children standing before the door of the Guard House in
this city. If those little boys and girls were at school, they
would not have been arrested for stealing. But I think enough
has already been said on this question, and I move the post-
ponement of all the amendments. "22
One of the four conservatives in the convention, C. P. Leslie,
of Barnwell, later a member of the Senate, made a heated speech
directed against "our friends from Massachusetts." His
efforts failed, however. 23 Cardozo was on his feet at once, and
stated in reply that the colored delegates could not be frightened
by the "bugbear of the defeat of our constitution. I would
simply say that I do not think there is a colored delegate but
what knows that we have carried the convention against the
white people of the state, and will carry the constitution also."24
He was asked how many native-born South Carolinians were on
20 Ibid., pp. 695 ff.
21 Ibid., p. 698.
22 Ibid., pp. 701–702.
23 Ibid., pp. 702 ff.
24 Ibid., p. 703.
68 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
the committee on education, and he replied: "There is only
one Massachusetts man on the committee." He was pressed
further and asked if any South Carolinian had voted in the com-
mittee meeting for the provision under discussion. Again an
evasive answer: "I would say that one style of argument, of
appealing to our fears, or cowardice, or our manliness, is scarcely
worth noticing. "25 Later he stated that he desired to divest
the question of "false issues which some cunning political dema-
gogues on the floor have connected with it." Objection was at
once raised to the term "political demagogues," and a most
undignified scene followed.26
Such prolonged quibbling had no effect, however, in changing
the original section on compulsory attendance. It provided
that all children between the ages of six and twenty-one years
should attend school at least six months in the year, and it was
adopted by a large vote of the convention.
The section on taxation for the support of the schools like-
wise caused trouble in the convention. Provision that a gen-
eral capitation tax should be applied to educational purposes
was proposed. There seemed little or no objection to this, but
some members desired that the penalty for non-payment of the
tax be deprivation of the privilege of voting. This would
guarantee the prompt payment of the major portion of the funds
for school support. Most of the members of the convention
had no property, and would be assessed only a capitation tax.
Therefore, that section of the constitution which stated that no
person could ever be deprived of the right of suffrage for failure
to pay this capitation tax, passed the convention as it was ori-
ginally drawn by the committee by a vote of 81 to 21.27 The
same section provided that the legislature should levy at each
annual session a tax on all taxable property of the state for the
support of public schools. 28 Provision that the legislature
should within five years establish and support a normal school
for prospective teachers, passed with little discussion.29
25 Conv. Proc., p. 704.
26 Ibid., pp. 703, 704.
27 Ibid., pp. 737, 738.
28 Ibid.; Constitution, Article X, Section 5.
"Conv. Proc., pp. 744, 745.
Beginnings of Reconstruction in South Carolina
69
The section which provided that all educational institutions
supported by public funds should be open and free to all the
youth of the state without "regard to race or color" was warmly
discussed. The words "race and color" reverberated through
the convention chamber. The chairman hesitated to pass.
finally on the section before it had gone to the committee again.
He recommended that it be returned to the committee with in-
structions to report further at an early date.30 But there was
a fear that the section would in this manner be changed; it
seemed necessary to vote on it at once. To temporize was un-
wise. One member suggested that as there seemed to be some
very important reason "that we do not want the public to know,
I move that we go into secret session." Benjamin Byas, the
negro member who was frequently on the floor, was convinced
that "race and color" should remain, "and I will have them
there if I am compelled to talk for three weeks. "32 The situa-
tion grew tense; two members had a heated dispute; one reflected
on the other's "dignity as a gentleman." The one who had been
vilified appealed to the chairman, who ruled that the language
was "enigmatical. The section was returned to the com-
mittee room.33
""
It emerged substantially unchanged. Just before the report.
was taken up for further discussion, however, that section of the
report of the committee which concerned the creation of a per-
manent public school fund came up for consideration. South
Carolina had no such fund before the war. There was no reason
for opposing the creation of a school fund, and the section passed
with but little important discussion.34
The
One of the last acts of the convention was to dispose of the
section which had been returned to the committee.35
discussion was as heated as before. One member declared that
the result of the passage of the section would be most damaging,
and would prevent the white children from attending the schools,
and he recommended that the whole matter be left to the legis-
30 Conv. Proc., p. 747.
31 Ibid., p. 748.
$2 Ibid., p. 748.
23 Ibid.
“ Ibid., p. 750.
$5 Ibid., p. 748.
70 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
lature. His speech had no effect. Until the very end of the
convention this section formed a portion of the unfinished work.
Chairman Cardozo began to sum up the arguments made against
the section and each of them he undertook to answer in an effective
manner. He was of the opinion that the best way to remove
any prejudice from the minds of the people was to allow the
children to "mingle in school together and associate generally."
Separate schools could under the provision be established and
separate schools would probably be established in places like
Charleston. But "for ten or fifteen white children to demand
such a separation would be absurd; and I hope the convention
will give its consent to no such proposition." This was the
final word on the subject. Ninety-eight members voted for,
and four against, the section; nineteen were absent.
"37
The constitution was adopted by the people of the state,
April 14, 15 and 16, 1868. Of the 133,597 voters registered,
70,758 voted for the constitution, 27,288 voted against it, and
35,551 failed to vote. The fourteenth amendment was ratified
in July, and South Carolina was admitted to representation in
Congress. 38
The state now had an elaborate constitutional provision for
schools. As has been stated above, neither the original constitution
nor its revisions made provision for education. The lack of
such provision, however, had not materially interfered with
antebellum progress. Now there was a new determination to
enforce public schools for both races, and a creditable basis
for educational progress had been made. The office of superin-
tendent was created, to be filled by the qualified voters of the
state. There was to be a board of education. The legislature
was to establish and maintain as soon as practicable a liberal
and uniform system of public schools, free and open to all the
youths of the state; one or more such schools should be open
six months in the year in each district. The legislature was to
provide for the compulsory attendance of all children of school
age; a property and capitation tax was provided for to support
such schools. All the school money was to be distributed on
36 Conv. Proc., p. 892.
37 Ibid., pp. 900, 901.
38 Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, p. 93.
1
Beginnings of Reconstruction in South Carolina
71
the basis of school attendance. Provision was also made for
the establishment and maintenance of the state university, of
an agricultural college, and of a normal school for teacher training.
All such institutions should be open to all the youths of the state
without regard to race or color. A permanent public school
fund was also provided for. 39
The legislature met in special session July 6. The Senate was
composed of 10 negroes and 21 whites; of the white members
there were 6 conservatives. The House was composed of 124
members, 46 whites and 78 negroes, with only 14 conservatives.
On joint ballot the negroes numbered 88 and the whites 67; and
of the entire body, 135 were radicals and 20 were conservatives.40
The entire legislature paid in taxes $635.23; of this amount the
conservatives paid $203.84. No tax was paid by 91 of the
radical members.41
The following day a message was read from the retiring
governor, James L. Orr. He urged, among other things, the
immediate establishment of a system of schools in accordance
with the provisions of the new constitution.42 Incidentally, re-
ference was made to the system of common schools prior to the
war. The governor stated that the sums of money which had
been expended by the legislature for the support of free schools.
in the state since 1811 "had placed it within the reach of every
orphan and child of indigent parents to acquire a substantial
English education; and if any citizen has grown up in ignorance,
it has not been from any default on the part of the authorities
of the state, but from the neglect of the parent or child. "'43 He
recommended the establishment of separate schools for the chil-
dren of the two races, and was much displeased with that por-
tion of the constitution which made mixed schools possible. He
went so far as to pronounce the section which provided that all
educational institutions supported by the public funds should be
open to both races, an authority for making a most reckless
experiment. "It was demanded," he declared, "by neither
39 Constitution of 1868, Art. X.
40 Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 107, 108.
41 Ibid., p. 108.
42 Journals of Assembly, p. 13. Scott was not inaugurated until two days
later.
43
* Ibid., p. 43.
72 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
•
the colored or white race, and if submitted to their decision, the
idea of mixed schools would have been overwhelmingly repudi-
ated by both .
In the new relation between the two
races there already exist causes enough for bickering and con-
troversy, and the prudence of grown people is taxed to its ten-
sion to prevent disagreeable antagonisms. No greater cruelty
could be inflicted by legislation upon parents of children of the
two races than that which is contemplated by this objectionable
feature of the constitution. "44
Scott was inaugurated July 9, and his message was read to the
legislature the following day.45 His recommendations on the
subject of schools were: the creation of a permanent public
school fund to relieve the people as much as possible of the burden
of taxation; the establishment of "at least two schools in each
school district, when necessary, and that one of such schools
shall be set apart and designated as a school for colored children
and the other for white children, the school fund to be distri-
buted equally to each class in proportion to the number of chil-
dren in each between the ages of six and sixteen years. I deem
this separation of the two races in the public schools a matter of
the greatest importance to all classes of our people." Later
he said: "Moreover, it is the declared design of the constitu-
tion that all classes of our people shall be educated, but not to
provide for this separation of the two races will be to repel the
masses of the whites from the educational training that they so
much need, and virtually to give to our colored population the
exclusive benefit of our public schools. Let us, therefore,
recognize facts as they are and rely upon time and the elevating
influence of popular education, to dispel any unjust prejudices
that may exist among the two races of our fellow-citizens.
This seems to have been the sentiment, not only at this time but
a few years later, of the leaders in the state. 48
1947
The committee on education in the Senate was appointed
July 8 and was composed of J. K. Jillson, R. M. Sims, B. F.
Whittemore, H. E. Hayne, and W. B. Nash. Jillson had been
44 Journals of Assembly, pp. 44, 45.
45 Ibid., pp. 55-72.
46 Ibid., pp. 61, 62.
47 Ibid., p. 62.
48 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 405, 409, 411, 412.
1

Beginnings of Reconstruction in South Carolina
73
prominent in the convention. Sims was a conservative, Whitte-
more was a carpet-bagger, and Hayne and Nash were negroes.
All members of the committee had been in the convention."9
The committee in the House was appointed July 14, and con-
sisted of Reuben Tomlinson, and Charles Kuh, radicals; John
Wilson, conservative; and Wilder, Lee, Johnson, and Johnston,
negroes. Wilder, Johnson and Johnston had been members of
the convention. 50 By August 11, the committees had submitted
a report accompanied by a bill to provide for the temporary
organization of the educational affairs of the state, which passed
its readings in regular order without any significant discussion
and was approved by the governor September 17.51 The act
provided for a superintendent of education, to be elected as the
other state officers were elected, to serve for four years.
He
was required to give bond, and his duties were defined in a general
fashion. He was to receive a salary of $2500 and traveling
expenses. The act further provided for a school census, defined
the duties of the county school commissioners, and provided in
general for the temporary organization of the state department
of education. 53
The regular session undertook but little work of an educational
character. The act providing for the temporary organization
of the school system, passed at the special session in September,
1868, was slightly amended. By the amendment all school
accounts had to be approved by the state superintendent. At
the next regular session, however, beginning December, 1869,
the first thorough school law was passed. The bill passed through
both Houses with no exciting discussions, and was signed by the
governor, February 16, 1870.55
49 Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 87, 106, 107; Senate
Jour., pp. 4, 14.
50 Ibid., pp. 107, 108; House Jour., pp. 5, 6, 7, and 78.
51 Senate Jour., pp. 154, 184, 242; House Jour., pp. 195, 264, 300, 437.
52 Acts and Resolutions 1868, pp. 31, 32.
53 Ibid., pp. 22–24.
54 Acts of 1868-69, p. 175.
55 Senate Jour., pp. 390, 398.


CHAPTER VI
THE SCHOOLS IN SOUTH CAROLINA FROM 1870 TO 1876
South Carolina now had, for the first time in her history,
constitutional provisions for schools and a fairly thoroughgoing
law which made provision for an adequate school system. A
state board of education, consisting of 32 county commissioners
and a superintendent of public instruction, took the place of the
legislative committee on education of antebellum days. A text-
book commission was provided to assist in the introduction
of suitable and usable books, with an idea to uniformity. Books
were to be furnished free to those children whose parents ne-
glected or refused to provide books for use in the schools. A
superintendent of public instruction was provided for and his
duties defined. Before the war there had been no executive
head of the free schools, though to provide for one was one of
the reforms needed and recommended. By the law of 1870,
the superintendent was to be elected to serve for four years, to
give bond, and his salary was fixed at $2500 and traveling ex-
penses. He was to make annual reports to the legislature, ex-
amine and certificate teachers, and have general supervision of
the schools.
1
In each county there was to be a local school commissioner
with duties similar to those of a county superintendent of schools
to be elected by popular vote. His duties were to visit each
school once during each term, to advise with the teachers, make
reports to the state superintendent, and in other ways promote
the cause of education. He was to see that the common branches
of an English education were taught, together with "history of
the United States, principles of the constitution and laws of the
United States, and good behavior." His salary was fixed at
$1000 per annum and traveling expenses. "Two suitable and
¹ Senate Jour., 1850, pp. 16, 17; House Jour., 1850, p. 57.
74
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876 75
discreet" persons were to be appointed by this commissioner
to serve with himself as a county board of examiners. No
teacher should be employed in any of the common schools with-
out a certificate from this board or from the state superintend-
ent. The law made provision also for local districts and local
district trustees. There were to be three trustees in each dis-
trict to be elected by the qualified voters thereof to serve for
one year, and to have general control of local educational mat-
ters. The school year was defined; but the county school
commissioner had "power to limit the school year according to
the school fund appropriated to his county." Provision was
also made for the schools in Charleston.2
A new school law was enacted March 6, 1871, which was
practically a copy of the law of 1870, reorganized, recast and im-
proved in diction. No significant changes are to be noticed in
the new legislation.
3
The first report of the superintendent of public instruction
was made in January, 1870. According to this report the school
population was 168,819; of this number 100,711 were colored,
and 68,108 white, children. There were 8163 colored and 8255
white children in school. There were reported 381 schools with
528 teachers. A variety of means was used to support these
schools. In one case two schools for colored children were
taught on the plantation of a "Southern Loyalist" and were
"sustained by him." In another case a "Southern Loyalist
supported a school for colored children."4 In some cases the
schools were housed in churches, in private residences, or in
private buildings. Some of the schools were supported by public
patronage; in others the tuition was paid by "parents or guar-
dians except for beneficiaries." In other cases support was ex-
pected "chiefly from the state," tuition money was "paid by
pupils," the "teacher expects pay from the state," or the school
was "supported by subscription from the neighborhood."5
There was expended by the state during 1869 the sum of
$39,023.81 for school support. Before the war nearly twice this
2 Laws of 1869-70, No. 238.
3 Laws of 1870-71.
4
* Reports and Resolutions 1869-70, pp. 423, 424.
5 Reports and Resolutions 1869–70.
•Treasurer's Rept., p. 43.
76 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
7
amount had been spent annually for the support of white
schools alone, and even this was supplemented in most cases by
private funds. In addition to the various means already men-
tioned for continuing schools, many societies aided the work of
education. Some of them were: Pennsylvania Association
of the Freedmen's Bureau, American Missionary Association,
Southern Educational Association of St. Louis, New England
Freedmen's Aid Society of Boston, United States Direct Tax
Commission, New England Freedmen's Union Mission, Presby-
terian Committee of Home Missions of New York, The Protes-
tant Episcopal Home Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal
Church. In many places the schools were defined as "self-
supporting," supported by "private enterprise," or supported
by "family. "8 In some cases the house was "owned by neigh-
bors." With all these agencies for education, however, there
were obstacles which perplexed and harrassed the friends of the
schools for many years.
Some of these difficulties were unavoidable. Lack of funds,
indifference resulting from ignorance of the people, the deep
prejudice against mixed schools, had delayed the opening of the
schools under the temporary law of 1868. The superintendent
pronounced these causes quite beyond his control. Yet, by the
end of the school year in June, 1870, there had been a substantial
increase in school attendance. Out of a school population of
197,179, of whom 114,983 were colored and 82,196 white children,
about 30,000 were in school. There were 769 schools and 734
teachers, and of this number 630 schools were supported wholly
or in part by the state." The Peabody Board was also aiding
as many schools as possible.10
In certain places some progress was being made, though con-
ditions were discouraging. The work of the Peabody Board was
mainly in the towns. In Columbia, which had been very seri-
ously injured by the war, there were 800 colored children and
679 of them were in school.11 There were 900 white children in
the town also, but only 250 were in school or receiving any in-
7 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst., 1869.
8 Ibid.
⁹ Ibid., 1870-71.
10 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 101 ff.
11 Ibid.,
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876
77
struction.12 In Anderson the colored children had been well
provided for, but half of the white children were neglected. Ex-
Governor Orr and the mayor of the town undertook to
raise $600 for free schools, the Peabody Board agreeing
to pay $400. In Pendleton the children were greatly
neglected and the poorer people were growing up in
ignorance. The town authorities were charged with care-
lessness and indifference. Dr. Sears became interested
in the town and arranged to provide instruction for 100 white
and 100 colored children who were not in school, for one year.13
In the town of Walhalla nearly half of the 300 children, most of
whom were white, were in school, and an effort was made to as-
sist a project for free schools there so that all the children could
attend. Half of the white children in Greenville were in school
in 1868 and 1869, but the colored children were unprovided for.
This was somewhat singular; for Greenville had been a town
of considerable educational influence before the war. In 1868,
through the influence of the mayor of the town, the sum of $2500
was raised, to be increased by $3500 from the Peabody Board,
to organize and open at once a system of free schools. This
was regarded as a most encouraging sign of interest on the part
of the leading citizens of the town.14 In Abbeyville "the emi-
nent men of the town manifested the liveliest interest in the
subject" of education; and Dr. Sears was anxious to furnish
two-fifths of the cost of systematizing the schools there and
making them free.15
Charleston furnished an example of the uncertainty of affairs,
educational and political, not only in South Carolina, but in the
entire South. Mr. Sears had examined the educational interests
of Charleston and consulted with the governor concerning them.
The result was an offer of $500 to the $1000 already given by
the Peabody Board for the purpose of making provision for
200 or 300 more children in the primary schools. The school
board approved the offer and appeared enthusiastic, but it
did not think that it was a favorable time for such action,
because political affairs were so uncertain.16
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., p. 102.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., p. 103.
16 Ibid.
:
78 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
Schools and education were suffering in a number of ways.
Although the constitution was clear on the subject of state sup-
port, providing for the entire capitation tax to be applied to edu-
cation, the schools were in great need of funds. In addition to
the capitation tax, the General Assembly was required to levy
annually a small property tax for schools. 17 The legislature,
however, was very slow about the matter and it was not until
1873 that such a tax was levied.18 Until that time the sole state
support of education was a capitation tax and annual legislative
appropriations.
By these school appropriations the reconstruction régime
has been credited with an extraordinary interest in popular edu-
cation.19 The legislatures were indeed most liberal in making
appropriations for schools; but the appropriations seem not to
have been paid fully or even in large part. The situation in
South Carolina will illustrate this apparent liberality and in-
difference. Beginning 1869, the following appropriations for
schools, "in addition to the capitation tax," appear:
1869..
1870..
•
1871..
1872..
1873.
1874...
1875.
1876...
Total....
50,000
50,000
190,000
375,000
300,000
300,000
240,000
250,000
..$1,755,000
For the same years the following sums were paid for free
school support:
1869....
**
$
39,023.81
1870...
111,369.91
1871..
164,485.66
1872.
•
128,442.93
1873...
361,101.37
1874..
298,440.91
1875...
1876...
Total.....
321,752.70
208,489.11
$1,633,106.40
17 Article X of the Constitution.
18 Laws of 1872–73, p. 410.
19"One of the largest items in the budgets of reconstruction was for
schools." Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic, p. 206.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876 79
Placing the taxable polls of the state from 1868 to 1876 at the
conservative average of 150,000,20 the sum of $1,200,000 in
capitation taxes should have been available for school support
in addition to the appropriations from the legislature. More-
over, beginning 1873 a property tax of two mills on the dollar
was also levied for school purposes. If the state school support
for these years as represented by the reports of the treasurer
came, as is probable, from the combined sources of capitation
taxes and appropriations, the schools were entitled to receive
fully $1,321,000 more than they actually received. If the
capitation taxes were not collected but the appropriations paid,
the schools were entitled to receive as much as $120,000 more
than they received.22 If the capitation taxes were collected, then
less than half a million dollars of the legislative appropriations
was paid to the schools. 23 And if the property tax for schools
be considered, the liberality of the legislature is at once less ap-
parent.24
20 In 1870, 136,608 votes were cast for governor and 149,236 were cast in
1874, and many people refused to vote during these years. In 1872 it was
said that as many as 40,000 refused to vote. House and Senate Journals;
Annual Cyclo., 1870, p. 682; Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina,
pp. 93, 155, 226.
21 The capitation taxes plus the appropriations, less the amounts actually
paid from the State Treasury.
22 The appropriations less the amounts actually paid by the State Treasury.
23 The amounts actually paid by the State Treasury less the capitation
taxes.
24 The matter may be viewed from the following table:*
YEAR
APPROPRIA-
TION
POLL TAX†
TOTAL
PAID FOR
SCHOOLS
DEFICIT
1869
$ 50,000
$150,000
1870
50,000
150,000
$200,000
200,000
$ 39,023.81
$160,976.19
111,369.91
88,630.09
1871
190,000
150,000
340,000
164,485.66
175,514.34
1872
375,000
150,000
525,000
128,442.93
396,557.07
1873
300,000
150,000
450,000
361,101.37
88,898.63
1874
300,000
150,000
450,000
298,440.91
151,559.09
1875
240,000
150,000
390,000
321,752.70
68,247.30
1876
250,000
150,000
400,000
208,489.11
191,510.08
Total,
$1,755,000
$1,200,000
$2,955,00
$1,633,106.40
$1,321,893.60
* This does not take into account the property tax levy for schools; if this were
counted the deficit would be larger.
†Poll tax approximated.
80 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
!
Whatever the conditions, there is much evidence that the
legislature failed to make good its promises to support the schools.
In December, 1873, no part of the appropriations of 1871 had
been paid; not "one dollar of the state school appropriation of
$300,000" for 1872 had been paid, although $1,044,000 was col-
lected in taxes for that year. A large amount of the appropria-
tion of 1873 was yet unpaid, even though a special property tax
was levied to meet this promise. In 1874 only a little more
than one-half of the assessed poll tax was available for school
purposes, and in 1875 an enormous amount is exhibited as un-
paid. The superintendent believed that "there was something
rotten in Denmark. "25
Not only did the superintendent complain that the legislatures
had acted in bad faith, but their unfulfilled promises had a most
disastrous effect on education.26 Nearly all the schools were
closed in 1872 on account of the failure to pay the state funds.
Public confidence had been betrayed; teachers could not ob-
tain their present salaries on presentation of their certificates
to the county treasurers, but were forced to dispose of their
paper at "unreasonable and oppressive rates of discount to
other parties who are doubtless either in collusion with or in the
interest or employ of, sharks and shavers connected, directly or
indirectly with the county treasury. "27
In addition to this lack of state support, there was constant
complaint at the incompetency of teachers, negligence of the
local school officials and the existence of what was defined as
much "fraud and wrong.28 "Our schools never will and never
can become deservedly popular so long as the evil of employing
so many incompetent, inefficient and worthless teachers" con-
tinues. The teachers were poorly prepared and resorted to
their work "from motives of personal convenience, and, in many
instances, from a consciousness of being unfit for anything else."
The superintendent charged the county examiners with the ex-
istence of this condition.29 "I have personal knowledge of in-
25 Repts. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1873–75.
26 Ibid., 1873, p. 274.
27
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1874, p. 77; see also Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp.
248, 363, 364, 416, 417.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid., p. 78.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876 81
stances of where certificates of qualification have been given to
persons whose ignorance was glaringly apparent to the most
careless observer. "30 The success of the schools was checked
by this lack of qualified teachers, the unfitness of school officers,
lack of genuine interest, as well as by lack of funds. The small
salary which they had to accept, and the uncertainty of its final
payment, explained the decrease of the better class of teachers; 31
and the inefficiency of the majority of the schools was attributed
to the employment of persons wholly unworthy to teach. The
superintendent declared that the "mischief wrought by inferior
teachers is incalculable."
The presence, power, and influence of the negro in political,
educational, and social affairs were other factors which com-
plicated an already anomalous condition. Just how far the pro-
moters of mixed school legislation expected it to reach is a matter
of speculation; but that it did keep many white children from
school is a certainty. The damaging influence of the mixed
school policy can probably be shown in no better way than by
the case of the state university, known before the war as the
South Carolina College. This institution had a creditable
career before 1860, and its influence was widely felt. 32 As al-
most all the older educational institutions in the South, this
college, chartered in 1801, was greatly crippled when the war
closed. It was reopened, however, immediately after political
conditions in the state began to adjust themselves. A radical
change in the personnel of the board of trustees of the univer-
sity in 1869, and the opening of the institution to blacks, in-
30''COUNTY SCHOOL COMMISIONERS OFFICE.
"Richland County.
'The foller ring name person are Rickermended to the Boarde for the Hower
(Howard?) Schoole (Here follows a list of names) haveing Given fool sat es
fact Shon in thi tow Last Years.
"The whit School" (Another list of names)
The following letter was written to a merchant in Columbia by a school
trustee:
"Mr..
•
Pleas give to the Barrow for mee Dick Kenenedy one
plug of to Baco and a Bar of soape I am Bussy myself trying to get a Bale of
Cooton to you or i would come.”
(Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 122, 123.)
31 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1875.
32 Merriweather, History of Higher Education in South Carolina.
82 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
creased the distrust of the white people of the state to such a
degree that most of the white students left. 33 In 1873 when the
state normal school was organized, it was decided to locate the
school in one of the university buildings. The university
professors were to lecture to the normal school students, and the
university library was to be used by the normal school. Until
this time, in spite of confusion, some good work was being done
by the institution. However, a combination of circumstances
led finally to closing it.
In October, 1873, Henry E. Hayne, a negro, who was secre-
tary of state, entered the school of medicine. Two years before,
he created such a sensation in going to the communion table of
a mission church, along with the white members, that the mission
was eventually suspended. When Hayne entered the university,
three members of the faculty resigned. The trustees accepted
their resignations, stating in a resolution that the admission of
Hayne as a student caused the resignations. This being the
cause of these resignations this board cannot regret that a
spirit so hostile to the welfare of our state, as well as to the dic-
tates of justice and the claims of our common humanity, will no
longer be represented in the university, which is the common
property of all our citizens without distinction of race. "34 Other
negroes entered the university at once; among them were several
middle-aged men. A year later, State Treasurer Cardozo ma-
triculated in the law school. Soon afterwards, nine-tenths of
the entire student body, numbering about 200, were negroes.
The requirements for admission had been very lax; little or no
preparation was required for entrance to the school. In 1877
the institution closed, to open three years later as the College
of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts.35 The normal school was
opened in September, 1873, and the larger portion of the stu-
dents was negroes.
The first report of the principal of the normal school, made
October 1, 1874, shows a scheme of study for the common schools
of the state, in the preparation of which the principal explained
that he had spent much time and thought, and had called to his
33 Ibid.; Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 231 ff.
Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 233, 234.
35 Merriweather, History of Higher Education in South Carolina; Reynolds,
Reconstruction in South Carolina, pp. 234–237.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876 83
aid all the suggestions he could get. How much the principal
drew from his experience with the teachers in the normal school
is uncertain, but that he found them a basis for the scheme he
so heartily recommended to the teachers of the state is very
evident. Certain quotations from his scheme speak for them-
selves and undoubtedly reveal a class of errors peculiarly
racial.36
It must be remembered that during these years the state was
not under home rule, and there was little chance for native
white leadership in any political or educational work.
legislature was composed largely of illiterate negroes, local
political puppets, and corrupt men from beyond the state, and
its policy was one of stolid opposition to the white leaders.
Flagrant bribery schemes were common: political positions
were bought and sold; extravagance created enormous debts.
It is, therefore, not strange that these anomalous conditions
reached the school system and made it "worse than a failure.”
36´´Grammar-Correction of Errors.
"The teacher should never allow an improperly constructed sentence to
pass without correction. Of course no reason can, at this stage, be given for
the corrections; the pupil must take it for granted that the teacher knows
what is right. (The teacher cannot be too careful that he be right). A few
of the more common classes of errors are noticed here once for all. Teachers
are referred to this page, and to their grammars for information
on this subject.
'(1) The disagreement of the verb with the subject-as: I does for I do;
I is for I am; I hopes, I thinks, I loves, etc., for I hope, I think, I love; he are
for he is; he hope, think, love, eat, for he hopes, he thinks, loves, eats; he have
come, have been, have done, for he has come, been, done; I has come, been,
done, for I have; he has love, has work, has whisper, for he has loved, has
worked, has whispered.
"(2) Faulty plurals-as: The mens are come; the mans are come; the boy
are all gone, two girl were there, etc.
"(3) Faulty Possessives-as: Mr. Smith house; my mother shawl; my
pa horse; Miss Miller book; Mr. Brown horse.
"(4) The Objective Case as Subject-as: Us girls are going; John and me
are going; Who is going? John and him and me; Sarah and her and all them
are going.
" 'A few moments
•
may be taken daily, for correction of these
However discour-
•
mistakes in classes, especially in the higher grades.
aging this part of the teacher's work may be, it is his duty to faithfully begin
and continue it. There is, there can be, no excuse for its neglect, even as to
the youngest pupil."
(Report, Supt. Pub. Inst. 1874, pp. 110 ff.)
84 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
The school officers were, as a rule, unlettered, inexperienced,
and incompetent men; the examining boards inefficient, and
the teachers were not always men and women of proper reputa-
tion.37
In spite of these general conditions, however, the state did
have a very active and comparatively efficient head of its free
school system. The ability with which Superintendent Jillson
exacted from the majority of the local county school officials
more or less perfect school statistics, and the force with which
he used these facts to promote through legislation improve-
ment in the schools, are not an uncomplimentary commentary
on his effective work. Not infrequently did the recommenda-
tions incorporated in his annual report reveal themselves in
laws, even though such laws were not always enforced. The
act to prevent the shameful discount of teachers' salaries; the
act to levy a property tax for free school support; the act to
establish a normal school for the training of teachers, and the
act to enforce the payment of the poll taxes, were recommended
and insisted on in his reports, which were always full of sug-
gestions and recommendations for school reforms. In 1875
his report is especially striking. He recommended to the Gen-
eral Assembly through the governor an act to secure prompt
and complete payment of all unpaid balances of past appro-
priations to the schools. He felt sure that the state would not
pay these amounts unless it were forced to do so in some such
manner. He went a step further, even. In his opinion, an
act should be passed at once to authorize the county treasurers
to set aside and retain out of all the funds collected by them on
account of the taxes, sufficient sums of money to cover the
apportionment of the state school fund made to the counties.
He also wanted to see a law passed which would deprive the
counties of their apportionment from the state appropriation
if they did not undertake by local taxation to help themselves.
To do this, however, required a constitutional amendment or
revision; but the urgency of the case was sufficient excuse for
the recommendation. The defects of the constitution and the
law did not escape his notice. From 1811, the method of appor-
37 Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1875; Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Caro-
lina, pp. 218 ff.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876
85
tioning school funds had been very poor, based as it was on
representation in the House of Representatives in the legisla-
ture rather than on actual school attendance. This defect was
carried over to the system established in 1868, and was con-
stantly attacked by the state superintendent.
A slight improvement in results appears in the annual reports
of the superintendent from 1871 to 1876. The school popula-
tion in 1871 was 206,610, of whom 123,063 were colored, and
83,547 white, children. Of this number, 33,834 colored, and
32,222 white, children were reported in 1639 schools in 460
districts taught by 1898 teachers, who were paid $261,346.53.
The total amount paid by the state for school support was
$136,504.42. It appears, therefore, that, just as before the
war, the funds of the state were supplemented by private and
neighborhood contributions. The following year 38,635 colored,
and 37,687 white, children were in school. There were 1919
schools in 462 districts, taught by 2185 teachers, who were
paid during that year $268,091.67, of which amount the state
paid $128,443.93. In 1873, the total school population was
230,102; 145,127 of these were colored, and 84,975 white, chil-
dren, of whom 46,938 colored, and 38,656 white, children were
in school. There were 429 school districts, 2017 free schools
and 2374 teachers. The returns from 29 of the 32 counties of
the state placed the average school term at about five months.
The sum of $333,790.13 was paid for teachers' salaries; alto-
gether the state expended for school support in this year the
sum of $361,101.37. In 1874, there were 44,470 white and
56,249 colored children in 2277 schools, taught by 2536 teach-
ers for about five months. There were 2228 school houses,
valued at $274.803.44. Of this number only 595 were owned
by the school districts. Teachers' salaries this year amounted
to $385,023.05, the state paying $298,440.91.³
38
In 1875, the sum of $321,752.70 was spent by the state for
free school support. The school population was 153,689 colored,
and 85,566 white, children, and 63,415 colored, and 41,001
white, children were in 2580 schools, taught by 2855 teachers,
who received $369,685.21. The next year the state paid $208,-
489.11 for the education of 70,802 colored, and 52,283 white,
38
* Repts. Supt. Pub. Inst. and Treasurer's Reports.
86 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
children in 2776 schools, taught by 3068 teachers. The average
term was four and one half months. Teachers' salaries
amounted to $373,848.29.39
We have already seen that the Peabody Board began its work
in South Carolina early. There is probably no other force that
lent itself so admirably to interest in local taxation throughout
the entire Southern States; and the gradual growth of town and
city high schools had its early impetus in the encouragement
and stimulation that came from this source. A very fair and
unpartisan view of general conditions may be seen from the
annual reports of the General Agent, who was on the ground,
had first-hand information, and enjoyed an extraordinary con-
fidence of leaders everywhere. The public school system was
undoubtedly the merest pretense during the first few years of
the new régime. Few of the schools were altogether free, for
the plan in vogue seems unquestionably to have been the pay-
ment, in the majority of instances, of the state appropriations
to private schools or schools conducted by church and benevolent
societies, for the purpose of reducing tuition charges. A com-
parison of the amounts paid teachers, as given in the annual
reports of the superintendent, with the total support given the
schools by the state, as seen in the reports of the treasurer, at
once shows that a considerable portion of school support came
from a variety of sources. But for some other support than
that of the state the chronic complaint at the lack of funds for
continuing schools would have been even worse. Compara-
tively speaking, the actual annual contributions of the Peabody
Board to the work of schools in South Carolina were rather
small, but no source of support was of more lasting value, be-
cause it helped to develop a wholesome attitude toward public
education.
But for such an influence the whole story of the growth of
public education in South Carolina would be different. The
bankrupt condition of the state, the bad plight of the finances
of the individual counties, the enormous increase in the state's
indebtedness, the dominance in the legislatures of ignorant and
illiterate field hands, the highhanded and impudent thievery,
the extravagance and fraud-these things constitute a colossal
39 Repts. Supt. Pub. Inst. and Treasurer's Reports.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876 87
reproach to the state, felt indeed in no end of ways. There was
no basis for schools in such a condition. The collection of the
poll tax was always loosely conducted, and, as a rule, only those
who had taxable property were forced to pay. The entire
negro population was, therefore, almost always exempted from
payment of the poll tax. One could refuse to pay this tax
with impunity, for the constitution had specifically declared that
failure to pay it would not deprive one of the right of suffrage."⁰
The constitutional provision for school support, in fact, appears
less liberal and seems made in not so good faith when this fact
alone appears.
40
Though its work began there early, the Peabody Board failed
to receive at once the encouragement and coöperation it
deserved. Conditions were not altogether favorable to the
prosecution of its work. Some of the causes of this have already
been indicated. The school law was not rigidly enough enforced,
and the school funds were not sufficiently ample to produce
good results. With the apportionment of the school money re-
ceived each year by the various districts, it was impossible to
maintain schools for more than a very brief period; and "the
people are either unable or disinclined to make very strenuous
efforts to prolong the public schools, or to open others of their
own." Other reasons are found in the failure, in many cases,
of the people to accept the conditions and methods of distribu-
tion adopted by the Peabody Board. A few schools, however,
had been assisted and opportunities were constantly being
sought to increase the donations.42 In 1871, Mr. Sears believed
that conditions would soon improve and that his board would
be justified in "contributing something towards the education
of the people in other parts of the state. "43 Several towns and
cities had already been aided, but the Peabody Board wished
an opportunity to do more work there." In 1872, the condi-
tion had not improved any. Unfaithfulness of the state offi-
cials in the use of the school funds, the incompetency and indif-
ference of many of the school officers, were forcing the school
40 Art. X, Sec. 5.
41
Peabody Proc., Vol. II, pp. 103, 104.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 248.
44 Ibid.
88 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
system into disrepute and destroying its usefulness in the
beginning. The Peabody Board, therefore, could accomplish
nothing important in connection with the schools of the state;
only $500 was contributed by the board to South Carolina in
this year.45 The following year, few schools were being sup-
ported and the Peabody Board had little opportunity to make
many contributions. The sum of $1800 was contributed by the
Peabody Board to assist two schools in the state in 1873.46 In
1874, Mr. Sears declared that the schools were so poorly man-
aged and so badly supported that "no aid we can give will make
them attractive to intelligent families." Only $200 was con-
tributed by the Board this year.47 In 1875, Mr. Sears said
"we can at present say but little" of South Carolina. "Until
recently only a few applications for assistance have been made
from that State. We are eagerly looking for such action on
her part as will justify us in giving aid to a large number of
schools; and measures have already been taken for that purpose,
with good prospects of success."48 In 1876, about $5000 was
contributed to eight schools, two of which were colored.49
As late as 1877 the schools were reported as poorly taught
and of short duration. Efforts were being made, however, by
the superintendent and the friends of education to secure the
passage of a better law, to protect the school funds, to secure
more competent officers and teachers, and to improve the sys-
tem generally. But the task was most difficult. Public con-
fidence had been weakened by the failure of the state to make
good its promises and by the unfitness and unfaithfulness of
the school officers and the worthlessness of so many of the
teachers. The Peabody Board fully expected that it would
require a very long time to recover this lost confidence, and to
get the school system properly reorganized. 50
A brief comparison of the schools established in 1811, with
the system created during the reconstruction régime, may be
in order here. Notable improvement in provisions for schools
45 Peabody Proc., Vol. I, pp. 363, 364.
46 Ibid., pp. 416, 417.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 13.
40 Ibid., p. 66.
50 Ibid., pp. 103, 104, 105.
The Schools in South Carolina from 1870 to 1876
89
at once appears in the constitution of 1868 and the law of 1870.
Instead of no constitutional provision for schools before 1868,
there is now a mandatory provision. For the first time, state
supervision was provided for and the schools were to be open
to all the children of the state. There is little advancement
made in local supervision and control, however; local school
commissioners were probably as efficient in 1860 as during the
period of Reconstruction, and certainly more faithful and
businesslike in the handling of school moneys.
A very decided step forward is seen also in school support.
Until 1868, the schools were supported by annual legislative
appropriations, which, though liberal, were not judiciously and
equitably apportioned and the result was a waste of much
money in an inefficient system. By the law of 1870, provision
was made for school support by a system of uniform taxation.
A comparison of the results of the two systems is more dif-
ficult. Information concerning teachers' salaries and the
length of school term is not found in the local commissioners'
reports of the antebellum period. Though the schools of that
period were nominally open to all the white children of the
state, preference was given to the poor. The schools thus
early sank into pauper institutions. At no time before 1868
does the enrollment seem to have exceeded 20,000 (See p. 63).
The system created by the law of 1870, on the other hand,
provided for both races. During the next six years the enroll-
ment gradually increased until in 1876 there were 50,283 white,
and 70,802 colored, children in schools continuing between four
and five months.
The reconstruction period marks an educational advance-
ment in South Carolina. This advance is clearly seen in regard
to state supervision and in the matter of provision for school
support. There appears little improvement, however, in local
supervision. And though the schools during Reconstruction
were of short duration, the enrollment was much larger than
during antebellum days.
CHAPTER VII
COMPARISON OF SCHOOL
LEGISLATION IN THE
OTHER NINE SOUTHERN STATES BEFORE
1868 AND BETWEEN 1868 AND 1876;
CONCLUSIONS
We have already seen that the constitution of 1868 of North
Carolina was more thorough and mandatory in its provisions
for education than the constitution of 1776. But the study of
that state showed that provisions for negro education and for
a uniform tax for school support were the only other elements
that came from the carpetbag régime in that state.
We saw,
however, that the influence of that period in South Carolina was
larger and more far-reaching than in North Carolina. A de-
tailed study of educational provisions and educational condi-
tions in the other nine Southern States before 1868 and during
the reconstruction period has not here been attempted; but
there follows below a comparison of legislation in these states
which indicates the essential provisions for education during
the two periods. This comparison supplements the study of
North Carolina and South Carolina and furnishes additional
means for determining the influence of the period of Reconstruc-
tion on Southern education.
The following table gives the essential features of educa-
tional legislation in the other nine seceding states during the
two periods mentioned above. The left-hand column shows
the various provisions of the school laws before 1868, the year
in which the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction began. The
right-hand column gives the provisions of the school legislation
enacted between 1868 and 1876, the period covered by the
Congressional Plan of Reconstruction.
90
School Legislation in the Other Nine States
91
ALABAMA¹
Up to 1868
1. Fund.*
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
Between 1868 and 1876
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. Local tax allowed for houses and 7. County and local taxation.
apparatus.
8. For whites only.
9. Support: fund, tuition fees.
1. Fund.
8. For whites and blacks.
9. Support: fund, poll tax, one-fifth
aggregate annual revenue of the
State, and special taxation per-
mitted.
10. Definite school term prescribed.
11. Normal schools.
ARKANSAS2
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
8. Four months' term prescribed.
9. Support: fund, property tax.
1. Fund.
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Three months' term prescribed.
9. Support: fund, poll tax, pro-
perty tax.
10. Institutes.
11. Compulsory attendance attempted.
FLORIDA
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
* Explanation: The word "fund in this column means that a school fund had
been provided for and established. "State superintendent, State Board and
Superintendent, examination of teachers,” and “school statistics,” mean that these
features of the school system were provided for in the laws.
99 66
1 Constitutions of 1819, 1845; laws of 1828, 1854; Revised Code of 1867;
Constitution of 1868; legislative documents and official reports.
2 Constitutions of 1836, 1868; laws of 1843, 1845, 1866-67, 1868, 1872-76;
legislative documents and official reports.
3 Constitutions of 1845, 1868; laws of 1840, 1844, 1845, 1851, 1853, 1868-
1876; legislative documents and official reports.
92 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
I
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
8. Normal schools.
9. County taxation permitted.
10. Support: fund, permissive tax.
1. Fund.
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Normal schools.
9. County taxation required.
10. Support: fund, property tax.
11. Definite school term prescribed.
12. Institutes.
GEORGIA 4
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Support: fund, local county tax, 8. Support: fund, poll tax, local tax.
appropriations.
9. Moving schools.
9. Moving schools.
10. Definite school term.
1. Fund.
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
8. Normal schools.
9. Support: fund, property tax.
LOUISIANA 5
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Normal schools.
9. Support: fund, poll tax and pro-
perty tax.
10. Institutes.
11. Definite school term.
12. Separate schools forbidden.
4 Constitutions of 1777, 1798, 1868; laws of 1858, 1859, 1866, 1870-1876;
legislative documents and official reports; Peabody Proc., Vol. II. The act
of 1866 did not go into effect, the state government being overturned by the
scheme of Congressional Reconstruction.
5 Constitutions of 1845, 1852, 1868; laws of 1845, 1868, 1869–1876; Revised
Code of 1856; legislative documents and official reports; Peabody Proc., Vol.
II.
School Legislation in the Other Nine States
93
1. Fund.
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
MISSISSIPPI
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Support: fund, permissive local tax. 8.
1. Fund.
2. State superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6 School statistics.
7. For whites only.†
8. Definite school term.
Support: fund, poll tax, pro-
perty tax.
9. Definite school term.
10. Institutes.
TENNESSEE7
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Definite school term.
9. Support: fund, capitation tax, pro- 9. Support: fund, poll tax, county
perty tax and appropriations.‡
tax, property tax, special tax
in incorpo rated towns and cities.
TEXAS8
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent.
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
† Provision was made in 1867 for negro education, however,
A local tax was permitted to continue the schools five months.
• Constitutions of 1817, 1869; laws of 1821, 1833, 1836, 1837, 1842, 1846;
Revised Code of 1848 and of 1871; legislative documents and official reports.
7 Constitutions of 1796, 1835, 1870; laws of 1838, 1867-1870, 1871–1876;
Revised Code of 1858; Legislative documents and official reports; Peabody
Proc., Vol. II.
8 Constitutions of 1845, 1869; laws of 1854, 1866, 1870, 1871, 1873; Digest
of 1850; legislative documents and official reports.
94 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
8. Support: fund, and one-tenth of the 8. Support: fund, poll tax, one-
annual revenue of the state.
1. Fund.
2. State Literary Board.§
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites only.
fourth annual revenue of the
state, local tax.
9. Definite school term.
10. Compulsory attendance attempted.
VIRGINIA'
1. Fund.
2. State board and superintendent
3. County officials.
4. Local officials.
5. Examination of teachers.
6. School statistics.
7. For whites and blacks.
8. Support: fund, capitation tax, 8. Support: fund, capitation tax,
local tax (permissive).
property tax, local tax.
9. Normal schools.
10. Children whose father failed to
pay the poll tax could not at-
tend the schools, unless the
father were a pauper or dead.
The detailed study of North Carolina and South Carolina,
and the facts discovered in the above comparison, make it
evident that Southern ante-reconstruction educational condi-
tions were more nearly similar to educational conditions found
in other sections of the nation than is generally supposed. This
is seen along at least three lines: in provisions for general
administrative organization, in provisions for support, and, to
a large extent, in results, so far as results may be ascertained.
It has already been pointed out, however, in the case of North
Carolina and particularly in South Carolina, that the recon-
struction constitutional provisions for education in these states
were superior to the provisions before that time. This is true.
of practically all the Southern States. Reconstruction con-
stitutional provisions for education were more mandatory and
thorough than the provisions before 1868.
Provisions for administrative organization in these states are
very similar to provisions in other sections of the country.
§ The secretary of the Literary Board acted as superintendent of schools.
known as the Second Auditor.
He was
9 Constitutions of 1851, 1864; Acts of 1797, 1810, 1818, 1846, 1870-1876;
Revised Code of 1849, 1860.
School Legislation in the Other Nine States
95
All the Southern States except South Carolina had created
before 1868 creditable permanent public school funds, the pro-
ceeds of which formed the basis of early support of elementary
education. All the Southern States except South Carolina and
Virginia had legal provision for state supervision by a super-
intendent or commissioner.10 Provision for a state board of
education was practically universal in these states, and such a
board existed in the form of a school fund board, the literary
board, or as a regularly constituted board of education." County
superintendents, or boards of county school commissioners,
were provided for in all the Southern States; and provision for
local school trustees or directors was invariably made. Some
form of examination and certification of teachers was required,
and the school officials were required to report the school census
and other local school statistics. As a rule, definite school
terms were not prescribed, although Arkansas, as early as 1843,
made four months the legal term, and in Tennessee, in 1867, a
five months' term was prescribed. We saw that in the case of
North Carolina, although no term was prescribed during the
antebellum period, the schools were continued longer in 1860
than at any time during the reconstruction régime, and that
the term as late as 1900 was shorter than it was in 1860.
The method of school support varied with the states. 12 As
a rule, the school funds formed the basis of support.
In some
10 The creation of the office of superintendent in other states was about as
follows: New York, 1813; Massachusetts, 1837; Ohio, 1837; New Jersey,
1845; Maine, 1846; Wisconsin, 1849; Indiana, 1852; Illinois, 1854; Minnesota,
1858; Kansas, 1859. From 1821 to 1854 this office in New York was merged
into that of the secretary of state. This seems to have been a popular cus-
tom in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia. Although
Virginia had no specific legal provision for a superintendent, the Second
Auditor performed the duties of the superintendent of schools and his duties
seem to have been largely educational. See Boone, History of Education
in the United States, pp. 101 ff.; Dexter, History of Education in the United
States, pp. 199 ff.
11 North Carolina seems to have been the first state to organize a state
board of education. See Boone, p. 108.
12 The income from the school fund in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Pennsylvania was apportioned in practically the same manner as in North
Carolina. See Mass. Rev. Statutes, 1860, Chap. 36, Sec. 3; Rhode Island
Rev. Statutes, 1857, Title XIII; Wickersham, History of Education in Penn-
ylvania.
96 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
cases, however, the proceeds of the public school funds were
supplemented by tuition fees; in others, the public funds were
combined with private support, and in still others, there was a
combination of the funds with a local tax. Arkansas, Tennes-
see, and Louisiana¹ supplemented their funds with a small
property tax; Georgia had a certain form of county taxation
and made large legislative appropriations for school support
in addition to the income from the school fund. State support
of schools in South Carolina, as we saw in the study of that
state, consisted entirely of legislative appropriations; a repre-
sentative example of a combination of public and private funds
is seen in that state also. Alabama, in addition to the proceeds
from the school fund, allowed a local tax for school houses and
school apparatus. To the income from the school fund in
Texas, one-tenth of the annual revenue of that state was added
for school support. Virginia had a capitation tax for schools
and a small permissive local tax to supplement the income from
a large school fund. A local tax was required in North Caro-
lina before a community could receive any assistance from the
school fund. We saw that not only was this method not ill
adapted to the state, but that the promptness with which it
was adopted proved its popularity. We further saw that it
stimulated local initiative and created a sentiment in favor of
an increase in local taxation. Tennessee required, in addition
to the income from the school fund, a small capitation tax for
school support; the legislature of that state also made appro-
priations for the support of schools. The school fund in Florida
formed practically all the support for elementary education.
The same may be said of Mississippi, although in that state a
small tax was permitted.14
13 Just before the opening of the war, Louisiana was appropriating $300,000
annually for the support of schools. See La. Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. 1860.
14 Early legislation in New York was framed on the belief that the state
school fund income and a tax equal to one-half of such an income were suffi-
cient for educational purposes. Provision for any deficiency in the funds,
after the schools had continued a certain term, was made by collecting from
the patrons of the school in proportion to the attendance of their children, a
custom which gave rise to the so-called "rate-bills,"—a tax levied on parents
in proportion to the number of days their children were in school. This
system lasted in New York until 1867. See Draper, Origin and Develop-
ment of New York Common School System, pp. 20 ff.
School Legislation in the Other Nine States
97
>
Even in respect to educational sentiment and educational
results conditions do not appear very different in the Southern
States from those found elsewhere. A study of the messages
of the governors and of the recommendations incorporated in
the annual reports of the superintendents of public education
suffices to substantiate this statement. The governors through-
out the country invariably urged progressive educational poli-
cies, pointing out in a general way the weaknesses of the school
systems. In their tone, the message of an Eastern governor is
similar to that of a Western or Southern governor. The same
thing is seen in the reports of the superintendents. They
regularly registered complaints against lax methods in local
administration, incomplete school reports, inefficient forms of
examination and certification of teachers, inadequate state
support of schools, irregular attendance, and the poor salaries.
of teachers.15 These conditions seem to have been peculiar to
no section of the country.16
The idea of popular education developed very slowly in all
the states outside New England. Opposition to the public
school was more or less widespread and was not confined to any
section of the country The so-called "agitation period” in
North Carolina is almost exactly paralleled in Pennsylvania.17
15 This fact is abundantly illustrated in the legislative documents of al-
most all the states as late as 1860.
16 In Pennsylvania, in 1848, 200 out of 1330 districts refused to put schools
in operation; and as late as 1868 there were 23 districts in that state which had
no common schools. In Illinois, in 1860, there were 8956 public school dis-
tricts and 734 had no schools at all. In New Jersey, in 1860, there were 17
cities and townships in which no school tax was collected. In Connecticut,
in 1859, only 252 of the 1624 districts assessed a property tax for schools; in
691 districts a "rate bill" was assessed, and in 50 districts no legal school was
kept. See Wickersham, History of Education in Pennsylvania, p. 369;
Rept. Supt. Pub. Inst. of Ill. 1860; of New Jersey, 1860; of Connecticut, 1860.
17 The famous Stevens speech in the Pennsylvania legislature in 1835 is
worthy of note here. It was said that some members of the House of Repre-
sentatives owed their election to their opposition to general education, and
that others lost their election by favoring schools, and by favoring the school
law of 1834, Governor Wolf was defeated at the ensuing election. "Party
and even church ties were for a time broken, the rich arrayed themselves
against the poor, and the business and social relations of whole neighborhoods
were greatly disturbed." Out of 51 counties, 38 petitioned the Legislature
to repeal the school law of 1834. It was in defense of the school system that
Stevens made his speech. See Wickersham.
98 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
Early school legislation was by the nature of the case more or
less permissive and discretionary and necessarily passed through
an experimental state. The pioneer school law of an advanced
state like Ohio gave an option to the electors which largely
defeated its purpose.18 The same thing may be said of Penn-
sylvania until the late fifties. Not only was the Pennsylvania
law discretionary, but an analysis of the reasons for opposi-
tion to it shows the prevalence of a strong "aristocratic notion."
The argument that men were not equal was frequently urged
in that state and the effect of such argument was widely felt.
Local option was the principle on which public schools were
established, and a district had to levy and collect a local tax
before it could receive the appropriation from the state for
school support. Many districts gave the school system a
trial, rejected it, or voted it "up and down several times with
unaccountable capriciousness. "19
The length of school term, teachers' salaries, and school
enrollment, so far as these things may be ascertained, show that
conditions in the Southern States were quite similar to condi-
tions elsewhere. We have already seen that at the outbreak
of the war, the schools in North Carolina were continued four
months each year, a term which was not reached after the
war until 1900. In 1859, the school term in Virginia was about
the same length.20 Teachers' salaries in North Carolina aver-
aged $28 per month in 1859 and $26 in 1860, and in Virginia at
that time the average monthly salary was about $25. The
school population in North Carolina in 1860 was about 186,000,
and there were enrolled in the schools the same year about
108,000 children. In Georgia, in 1856, the school population
was about 156,000, and there was an enrollment of 77,015.21
18 See White, History of Education in Ohio for Fifty Years.
19 Pub. Doc. 7, 1859.
20 House Jour. Jan. 29, 1859.
21 In New Jersey in 1860, the school population was 192,075 and 126,331
children were in school; the average term was about nine months. Male
teachers received about $43.33 and female teachers about $25.55 per month.
In Indiana in 1859 the school population was 495,019, and 267,515 children
were in schools the average term of which was nearly four months (77 days
to be exact). Male teachers received $22.60, and female teachers $17.20.
In Pennsylvania in 1860 the school population was 596,765, and 384,752
children were in schools continued about five months and seven days. Male
School Legislation in the Other Nine States
99
•
These facts, then, show only a slight influence of the Recon-
struction or "carpetbag" régime on Southern education. It
is clear that the direct influence of the period was much less than
is popularly supposed. However, specific and mandatory pro-
visions for education were introduced into the constitutions at
this time. Besides this, two other provisions also appear in
the educational legislation of Reconstruction that are not
found in ante-reconstruction legislation: first, provision for
negro education; and second, provision for a uniform system
of taxation for school support.
A discussion of the first provision is not necessary. The
beginnings of negro education came naturally as a result of the
changed political status of the freedmen and became at least
nominally effective in all sections of the county alike and at
the same time.22
:
As for the second provision, changes in the method of school
support were not peculiar to the South alone. The belief of
the North (see introduction) that Southern educational ideals
lay at the root of the war had much to do with the development
of Northern school systems and the expansion of educational
statutes after 1865. There was a popular feeling everywhere
that nothing must now be left to the hostility and indifference
of legislative bodies. This feeling was shared by leaders in
the South between the close of the war and the beginnings of
the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction. During the con-
fusion of these years, there is a marked interest in improved
provisions for education in several of the Southern States,
which were expecting to be restored to the national govern-
teachers received $25.68 and female teachers $19.71 per month. Male
teachers' salaries in Illinois in 1860 averaged $28.82 and female teachers'
salaries averaged $18.80 per month. In Connecticut in 1859 the school
population was 105,464, and 75,692 children were in school. Male teachers'
salaries averaged $30.05, including board and female teachers' salaries aver-
aged $16.59 per month including board. See the reports of the superinten-
dents of public instruction of these states for these years.
22 It is not generally known that states north of the Mason and Dixon's
line made any educational distinction between the children of the two races
before the war. See, however, Act of March 5, 1855, and Act of May 13,
1869, of the laws of Indiana; also Lewis v. Henly, 2 Ind. 332; Polke v. Harper,
5 Ind. 241, and the Laws of Ohio for 1853 for provisions for the education of
the negro.
UorM
1
100 Influence of Reconstruction on Education in the South
ment in accordance with the. Reconstruction Plan of President
Johnson. And the evidence seems on the whole to indicate
that had there been no outside interference, practically the same
educational policies would have been outlined as were made
by the reconstruction régime.23
23 See Fleming, Documentary History of Reconstruction, Vol. II, Chap. IX,
and Civil War and Reconstruction, by the same author. See also Garner,
Reconstruction in Mississippi, pp. 354 ff.
Mou
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