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A
DISCOURSE
DELIVERED AT
UNION COLLEG     E,
JULY 25, 1854,
ON  THJIE OCCASION  OF
THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PRESIDENCY OF
ELIPHALET NOTT, D. D., LL. D.
FRANCIS WAYLAND,
PRESIDENT OF BROWN UNIVERSITY,
B OS TO N:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMIPANY.
1855.
SCHENECTADY,
BY
I
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e 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,
BY PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, & Co.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
WRIGHT AND HASTY, PRINTERS, 3 WATER STREET, BOSTON.
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DI S C O U RS E.
GENTLEMEN, ALUMNI OF UNION COLLEGE:
THE reason of my appearing before you may be very briefly
told. The man, whom every Graduate of Union College loves
as a friend and venerates as a parent, thought proper to request
me to perform this service. Though gray hairs have long
since admonished me to decline all similar engagements, yet
an intimation from him, to whom I owe more than to any other living man, was as imperative as when, in yonder halls, a
thoughtless boy, I first listened to those counsels in which wisdom and eloquence were so marvelously blended. I am as
well aware as any of you can be, of my inability to meet the
just demands of this occasion. Gladly, therefore, would I
have learned that the choice of my honored instructor had fallen upon some more gifted pupil. But, in the words of Dr.
Johnson, on a different occasion, "It was not for me to bandy
compliments with my sovereign. The king said it, and it was
so." Bowing to an authority which it would be treason to
call in question, you behold me, therefore, already at my
work.
I am requested to discuss the principles which should govern
the system of collegiate education in our age and country.
Let us in the first place consider some of the principles
which should govern education in general.
By education we mean that culture either of body or mind,
which shall enable us the better to discharge the duties of our
present probation and prepare for the results which shall
emerge from that probation hereafter. It comprehends, therefore, every interest of humanity. Its influence must be felt
throughout the ages of an endless duration. Necessity, obliges 
4
us, however, on this occasion, to treat only of the culture of
our intellectual nature.
If you will allow me to commence with an elementary
thought, I would remark, that every act of the mind ends in a
knowledge, sometimes only subjective, but generally both sub jective and objective. Thus I am conscious of a simple emo tion; here is a mental act, a mere subjective knowledge. I per ceive a tree; here is a subjective consciousness and an objec tive knowledge. And, on the other hand, every knowledge
presupposes an act of mind; for were there no mind, or were
the mind incapable of action, knowledge would be impossible.
-From this simple and obvious fact, it has naturally come to
pass that men have looked upon the subject of education from
two distinct points of view, as they have contemplated either
the act of mind, or the knowledge in which it results. Hence,
some have considered education to consist merely in the communication of knowledge; others almost entirely in the discip-l
line of mind. If the first be our object, it will be successfully
accomplished precisely in proportion to the amount and the
value of the knowledge which we communicate. If, on the
other hand, we desire simply to cultivate the intellect, our success must be measured by the number of faculties which we
improve, and the degree of culture which we have imparted
to them.
It is, I presume, for this reason, that a division has, to a
considerable degree, been established between the studies
which enter into our course of higher education. Some of
them, of which the results are acknowledged to be in general
valueless, are prosecuted on account of the mental discipline
which they are supposed to impart. That they tend to nothing practical, has sometimes been deemed their appropriate excellence. Hence, some learned men have exulted rather facetiously in the " glorious inutility" of the studies which they
recommend. On the other hand;, there are many studies
which communicate knowledge, admitted by all men to be indispensable, which are supposed to convey no mental discipline, or, at least, only that which is of the most elementary 
5
character. Hence, you at once perceive that a wide ground
for debate is afforded, which writers on education have not
been backward to occupy. Hence, also the various discussions on the best methods of education, which'seein to me to
approach with but slow and unequal steps to any definite conclusion, The studies which are most relied on for mental discipline, for instance, are the classics and the mathematics.
While the advocates for these discard, almost contemptuously,
all other methods of culture, they are by no means agreed
among themselves. The mathematicians look with small favor upon the lovers of lexicons, and paradigms, and accents;
and claim that nothing but exact science can invigorate the
power of ratiocination, on which all certainty of knowledge
depends. The philologists, on the other hand, inveigh in no
measured terms against the narrow range of mathematical
culture, and boldly affirm that it unfits men for all reasoning
concerning matter actually existing, while it withers up every
delicate sentiment and turns into an arid waste the entire field
of our emotional nature. Here issue is joined, and I am compelled in truth to add, adhuc subjudice lis est.
But is it not possible to escape from the smoke and din of
this controversy, and look upon this question from a somewhat
higher point of view?  It may, I think, be safelytaken for
granted, that the system of which we form a part, is the work
of a Being of infinite wisdom and infinite benevolence. He
made the world without us and the world within us, and he
manifestly made each of them for the other. He has made
knowledge, intellectual culture and progress, all equally necessary to our individual and social well-being. He abhors all
castes, and desires that every one of his children shall enjoy
to the full all the means of happiness which have been committed to his trust. Is it then to be supposed that he has
made for our brief probation two kinds of knowledge; one necessary for the attainment of our means of happiness, but incapable of nourishing and strengthening the soul; and the other, tending to self-culture, but leading to no single practica
advantage? Shall we believe that the God and Father of al 
63
has made the many to labor by blind rules for the good of the
few, without the possibility of spiritual elevation; and the few
to learn nothing that shall promote the happiness of the whole,
living on the labors of others, selfishly building themselves up
in intellectual superiority? Is it not rather to be believed,
that he has made each of these ends to harmonize with the
other, so that all intellectual culture shall issue in knowledge
which shall confer benefits on the whole; and all knowledge
properly acquired, shall in an equal degree tend to intellectual
development?  Did God manifest himself in the flesh, in the
form of a carpenter's son, to create an intellectual aristocracy,
and consign the remaining millions of our race to daily toil,
excluded from every opportunity for spiritual improvement?
Did he not rather appear to scatter blessings broad-cast upon
all born of woman, so that every individual of the race whose
form he had assumed, might cultivate to its highest perfection
his intellectual and moral nature, and thus grow up into the
stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus?
These expectations seem to me to be reasonable. If so, we
might surely anticipate that all knowledge acquired according
to the established laws of mind, would be productive of selfculture.  Nay, we might suppose that that which God had
made most necessary to our existence, would be, in the highest degree, self-disciplinary. Thus every one, whatever his
position, may well be supposed to possess the means of devel..
oping his own powers, and arriving at the standing of an intellectual man. There is nothing in the nature of any occupation that renders such an expectation extravagant. The
uncles of Hugh Miller were highly cultivated men, reading
the best books, concerning one of whom he remarks,' there
are professors of natural history who know less of living nature than was known by uncle Sandy;" and yet one of them
was a harness-maker, and the other a stone-mason; each laboring industriously at his calling, for daily bread, for six
days in the week.
But if we take no account of the acquisition of knowledge
and confine ourselves simply to intellectual culture, I appre 
hend that we shall arrive at substantially the same result.
Suppose that our sole object is to develop the powers of the
human mind. We must then first ask what are these powers.
It will be sufficient for our present purpose to consider the following, as they are allowed to be the most important: Perception, by which we arrive at a knowledge of the phenomena of
the world without us; Consciousness, by which we become
aware of the changes in the world within us; Abstraction and
Generalization, by which our knowledge of individuals becomes the knowledge of classes; Reasoning, by which we use
the known to discover the unknown; Imagination, by which
we construct pictures in poetry and ideals in philosophy; and
Memory, by which all these various forms of past knowledge
are recalled and made available for the present. I am not,
however, strenuous concerning this division of the faculties of
the human mind. Let him who disapproves of it, make a bet ter for himself. I will have no controversy with him; only let
him present the faculties by which the most important acts of
the mind are performed, and let his description be definite, so
that we may clearly understand his terminology.
Now, if such be the powers conferred on us by our Creator,
it must, I think, be admitted that each of them is designed for
a particular purpose, and that a human mind would be fatally
deficient were any one of them wanting.  In our cultivation
of mind, then, we must have respect not to one or two of them,
but to all; since that is the most perfect mind in which all of
them are the most fully developed.
If, then, we desire to improve the intellect of man by study,
it is obvious that that study will be the best adapted to our pur  pose which cultivates not one, but all, of these faculties, and
and cultivates them all most thoroughly. We cultivate our
powers of every kind by exercise, and that study will most ef  fectually aid us in the work of self-development, which re  quires the original exercise of the greatest number of them.
Supposing this to be admitted, which I think will not be de  nied, the question will arise what studies are best adapted to
7
i 
8
our purpose. This is a question which cannot be settled by
authority. We are just as capable of deciding it as the men
who have gone before us. They were once like ourselves,
men of the present, and their wisdom has not certainly re ceived any addition from the slumber of centuries. They may
have been able to judge correctly for the time that then was,
but could they revisit us now, they might certainly be no bet ter able than ourselves to judge correctly for the time that now
is. If any of lus should be heard of two hundred years hence,
it would surely be strange folly for the men of A. D. 2054 to
receive our sayings as oracles concerning the conditions of so ciety which will be then existing. God gives to every age the
means for perceiving its own wants and discovering the best
manner of supplying them; and it is, therefore, certainly best
that every age should decide such questions for itself. We
cannot, certainly, decide them by authority.
There are two methods by which we can determine the
truth in this matter. First, we may examine any particular
study and observe the faculties of mind which it does and
which it does not call into action. Every reasonable man, at
all acquainted with the nature of his own mind, will be able
to do this. Take, for instance, the studies which are pursued
for the sake merely of discipline. Do they call into exercise
one or many of our faculties  Suppose they cultivate the
reasoning power, and the power of poetic combination? Do
they do any thing else? If not, what have we by which to
improve the powers of observation, of consciousness, of generalization, and combination, these most important and most
valuable of our faculties? If, then, their range be so limited,
it may be deserving of inquiry whether some studies which
can improve a larger number of our faculties might not sometimes take their places; and yet more, whether they should
occupy so large a portion of the time dovoted to education.
But we may examine the subject by another test. We may
ask what are the results actually produced by devotion to
those studies which are allowed to be merely disciplinary. We 
9
teach the mathematics to cultivate the reasoning power, and
the languages to improve the imagination and the taste. We
then may very properly inquire, are mathematicians better
reasoners than other men, in matter not mathematical? As a
student advances in the mathematics, do we find his powers of
ratiocination, in any thing but the relations of quantity, to be
visibly improved? Are philologists or classical students more
likely to become poets, or artists, than other men, or, does
their style by this mode of discipline approach more nearly to
the classical models of their own, or of any other language?
It is by such considerations as these that this question is to
be answered.  We have long since abjured all belief in magical influences. If we cannot discover any law of nature by
which a cause produces its effect, and are unable to perceive
that the effect is produced, we begin to doubt whether any
causation exists in the matter.
If there be any truth in the foregoing remarks, they would
seem to lead us to the following conclusions:
First, that every branch of study should be so taught as to
accomplish both the results of which we have been speaking;
that is, that it should not only increase our knowledge, but
also confer valuable discipline; and that it should not only
confer valuable discipline, but also increase our knowledge;
and that, if it does not accomplish both of these results, there
is either some defect in our mode of teaching, or the study is
imperfectly adapted to the purposes of education.
Secondly, that there seems no good reason for claiming pre eminence for one study over another, at least in the manner to
which we have been accustomed. The studies merely discip linary have valuable practical uses.  To many pursuits they
are important, and to some indispensable. Let them, then,
take their proper place in any system of good learning, and
claim nothing more than to be judged of by their results. Let
them not be the unmeaning shibboleth of a caste; but, stand ing on tile same level with all other intellectual pursuits, be
2 
10
valued exactly in proportion to -their ability to increase the
power and range and sklill of the human mind, and to fuirnish
it with that knowledge which shall most signally promote the
well-being and happiness of humanity.
And, thirdly, it would seem that our whole system of instruction requires an honest, thorough and candid revision. It
has been for centuries the child of authority and precedent. If
those before us made it what it is, by applying to it the resources of earnest and fearless thought, I can see no reason
why we, by pursuing the same course, might not improve it.
God intended us for progress, and we counteract his design
when we deify antiquity, and bow down  and worship an
opinion, not because it is either wise or true, but merely because it is ancient.
But, supposing all these questions to be settled, and that we
perfectly understood the nature of the human mind, the studies best adapted to improve it, and the manner of teaching
them so as best to accomplish our purpose, it might be supposed that the work of providing a system of education for a
people would be easy. Such would be the case, provided that
men were made in all respects precisely alike, and were placed
in exactly the same circumstances. If, for instance, all men
were created not only with the same faculties, but with all in
precisely the same proportion; if they were all moved by the
same impulses and chose the same pursuits; if they were under the same conditions of wealth, civilization and general cullture, and moreover being incapable of progress, continued age
after age unchanged and unchangeable, we might then easily
devise a system of instruction which would never stand in
need either of cultivation or improvement, but which, once established, would remain established forever.
But, the reverse of all this is the truth. Thouigh endowed
witlt the same faculties, we perceive that these faculties are
bestowed in different degrees and in unequal proportions. In
one the faculty of observation predominates; in another the 
11
subjective faculty. In one the reasoning power is vigorous;
in another the power of combination. One is more capable of
action; another of contemplation. In harmony with this difference of endowment, we find the choice of pursuits among
men extremely dissimilar. This difference is necessary to the
progress, nay, almost to the existence, of society.  "If the
whole body were an eye, where where the hearing. If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling."  Hence we
find men every where addicting themselves to different departments of labor, and this bias frequently manifests itself in early youth. One displays a taste for science, another for practice; one chooses this branch of learning, and another that;
one turns instinctively to the closet, another to the forum; one
to the counting-room of the merchant, and another to the shop
of the mechanic; and we generally find that wherever a distinict love for any pursuit exists, it is accompanied by those
mental endowments which ultimately lead to success.
But the external circumstances of men are dissimilar. In
some circumstances wealth is much more universally diffused
than in others, and hence the facilities for education are unlike. Government also exerts an acknowledged power in
moulding the intellectual and social character of a people.
The institutions of Turkey and those of Great Britain must
create vast differences in the mental habitudes of the people.
The amount of general knowledge which underlies the whole
system of higher education, must greatly modify the form and
proportions of the social edifice which we propose to erect
upon it. Suppose a system of education had been devised for
a nation before the invention of printing, how unsuitable
would it prove for the people of this country at the present
moment. It is. then, apparent, that in order to construct a
system of education for any age or nation, the intellectual and
social condition of that people must ever be kept in view.
And it will at once appear that this remark applies with in creased force, the higher we rise in our scale of instruction. 
12
The elementary branches of education must be the same for
all. Ability to read is required by the emperor and the serf,
and both must begin by learning the alphabet, and both must
learn it in the same manner. Both, in order to arrive at the
dignity of manhood, need to be taught to communicate their
thoughts to others by writing, and both must begin with
straight marks and pot-hooks.  Both must be instructed in
arithmetic, geography, and the correct use of their native language, and the teaching which is best for the one is best also
for the other. In all this range of education, therefore, the
ground is common for all.
When, however, we proceed to the more advanced branches
of education, the whole scene changes. The various departments of science present themselves before us, too numerous by
far, and too difficult of acquisition to be all embraced, within
the range of the education of any individual. A choice then
becomes necessary, and this choice must be determined by the
peculiar talent and bias of the pupil, the profession in life to
which those views incline him, and for which they give him
peculiar facilities. These will also be varied by the social
condition of a people, the amount of common education generally possessed, and the character of the government for which
the higher education is designed. No system of education can
suit the wants of a people which does not take distinctly into
view all these elementary considerations.
In speaking, then, of the system of collegiate instruction, or,
that course of education which intervenes between a common
school and the entrance upon the various occupations of life,
we must first inquire what peculiarity may be observed in the
condition of the people of the United States, which should
guide our judgments in this respect.
In speaking upon this subject, I remark, in the first place,
that the physical condition of the United States is, so far as I
know, unparalleled in the history of man.
The facilities which we enjoy for the universal acquisition 
13
of conmpetence, nay, of wealth, are such as never before existed.
Within the limits of the United States, stretching from the
great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, there are millions of acres of as good land as the
sun shines upon, which may be had almost for the asking.
The government price of this land per acre, is about half a
day's wages of a journeyman mechanic. Much of it is of inexhaustible fertility, covered, far beneath the reach of the
plough, with the vegetable mould of centuries.  It extends
through the choicest portion of the temperate zone, and occupies every variety of situation.  Hence it is adapted to all the
staple productions demanded either for the food or the clothing, of man.  Flax, hemp, cotton, and silk, here find soils and
climate adapted to their most successful cultivation.  Grains
of every kind grow in abundance which mnight almost seem
ifabulous. Animal food fattens on the prairies and in the forest, without expense to the owner, and almost without his
care.
The mineral wealth of these regions is equally remarkable.
Setting aside what are called the precious metals, which, by
the way, I consider of very small value, we have here as rich
mines of lead, copper and iron, as can be found on the face of
the earth. Add to this the eastern portion of our western domain, is one inexhaustible coal basin, containing a richer supply of fuel than is contained in all the coal fields of the world
beside.
But the bounty of nature has not been exhausted by these
munificent gifts.  This whole region is amply supplied with
rivers. The invention of the steam engine has made these
rivers navigable in every direction. A boat may ply from the
Falls of St. Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the borders of Pennsylvania to the regions where the buffalo and the
prairie dog hold almost undisputed possession. This coal region is specially intersected with navigable rivers. Hence our
western states must be ere long the manufacturers for the 
14
world. Manufactories always move towards the coal measures, and the vicinity of iron mines. The branches of these
mighty rivers will bring to them the raw material from the
whole of that vast valley which stretches away between the
Allegany and the Rocky Mountains, and will either return the
finished product to the place of its growth, or bear it to the
seaboard, to supply with the means of comfort and convenience the millions of Europe.
But this is not all. The railroad has already penetrated all
these regions, and is covering the west with a net-work of
iron. A year or two since, and no one but the hunter, or the
prospector for lead, had ever visited the Falls of St. Anthony.
A few weeks ago, fifteen hundred persons, men, women and
remarkable children, made an excursion to this romantic locality, hearing at every step of their progress the throb of the
steam chamber, or the whistle of the locomotive. Every product of this region is thus brought at once to the most profitable market, and bears a price which compares with the price
in cities.
Of the enormous increase of wealth which has thus covered
this country, we can form no adequate conception. Imagination itself is staggered when the simple elements are placed
before it. Let me offer a single illustration. When I was a
student in this institution, and for some years afterwards, all
the wheat arriving at Albany from the west, was transported
on sleighs. I have seen them pass through this city in companies half a mile in length. The cost of transportation was
so great, that, in the neighborhood of Geneva, the regular
price ot wheat was thirty-seven and a half cents a bushel.
Farther west than this, the cost of carriage reduced the price
so low that it could not be raised with profit. The price of
land, of course, corresponded with that of its staple production.
Cleveland and Chicago were then unknown, and the land on
which they are built might have been purchased by the year's
wages of a respectable mechanic. West of Buffalo, the whole
earth was almost a terra incognita. 
15
A few years afterwards, the Erie Canal, that wonderful
monument to the genius, patriotism and statesmanship of DE
WVITT CLINTON, a name which I never pronounce wvithout the
profoundest emotions of veneration and gratitude, was opened.
The next year wheat rose to sixty-two and a half cents per
bushel.  The following year it reached one dollar.   From
that time it has never receded, and there have been times when
even that price has been doubled. T''he value of land, of
course, rose in proportion.
The effect thus produced on this single State by the Erie
Canal, has been produced throughout our whole western country by the steamer and the locomotive. They bring the markets of the world to every man's door, and, by reducing the
price of transportation, place tile largest share of profit in the
hands of the immediate producer. Rapidity of transportation
renders even the most perishable article every where marketable. The prairie chickens of Illinois and Indiana are regularly for sale in the markets of Boston and New York, and
the cod and salmon of the Atlantic coast, smoke upon the
tables of Cincinnati, Chicago and Indianapolis.
Now, take as the element of your calculation, the change
which I have spoken of in this State, and generalizing the idea,
spread this effect over the immense regions of the west, and I
ask, is it possible to estimate the increase of the wealth of the
United States within the period of the last thirty years q? Observe the cities that have become the marts of trade for this
vast region. Their annual increase in wealth surpasses belief.
Observe the thousands of miles of railroad spreading in every
direction, which are unable, as it would seem, to absorb our
floating capital.  Turn to the  manufacturing cities and towns
which are multiplying themselves by their own profits, on
every river, and in the vicinity of every coal mine; and when
you have added all this together, you will have formed but a
most imperfect idea of the progress in wealth of this nation.
It requires but a moment  to show that 1ll these changes 
tend to enrich not one class, but all classes. Universal and
cheap means of transportation increase, as we have seen, the
wealth of the producer.  But they, at the same time, reduce
the price of the product. As a day's labor will purchase a
larger amount of flour, or clothing, or animal food, the wages
of the laborer are by just so much advanced.  The immense
emigration to the west, reduces the number of laborers at the
east, and thus, the sl)upply falling below the demand in all the
older States, the price of labor is greatly augmnented.  Thus
the laborer receives higher wages, and his wages are worth
more than before. The immensely increasing reciprocal demand for the products of the east and the west, and the vast
amount of exchanges by which this demand is supplied, render it possible for merchants and manufacturers to pay higher
wages than before, and yet leave for themselves a profit that
accumulates around them the wealth of princes.
But another element here deserves a remark. Skill in invention, united to the miraculous power of steam, is removing
from human sinews the most laborious parts of every operation. Our forging and planing, our spinning and weaving,
our mlowing and reaping, and threshing, our transportation,
both of men and of produce, is now all done by machinery,
and generally driven by steam. In my youth, I have seen the
labors of the hand-loom, and observed how a strong man toiled
through a very long day at his slowly increasing work. A
week since, I was passing through a cotton mnill, and-observed
a young girl of ten or twelve years of age, attending upon five
looms, and while doing what was formerly the work of ten
men, she walked to and fro with an air of easy independence,
which a lady at a reception might be well pleased to emulate.
The result of all this it is very easy to perceive. God is
thus lifting off fromn us that oppressive severity of toil which
paralyzes intellect and benumbs the power of emotion.   The
mind is thus rendered physically capable of thought and reflection. The rise in the rate of wages, the greater value of
16 
17
wages, and the diminished number of hours of daily labor, are
placing our whole population in a condition for improvement
such as no country has ever before enjoyed.  We see here a
tendency to realize the beneficent designs of the Creator. It
is evident that God intended all men to think, and to enjoy all
the advantages of intellectual culture, for he has given to all
men all the powers adapted to thought and culture. It is
equally evident that he intended all men to labor, for labor is
essential to physical health and enjoyment. And, moreover,
men think the better for working, and they work the better for
thinking. He, however, never intended that labor should
crush the power of thought. His design concerning us will
not be accomplished, until every man shall be able to secure
a competence by an amount of labor which shall leave his
spiritual nature free and unembarrassed, nay, the better prepared for its work on account of the physical labor in which it
has been engaged.
The condition of this country looks towards the realization
of this idea. In no country on earth has physical labor ever
been so well remunerated.  In no country has there ever been
so universal an ability to acquire knowledge for ourselves, and
bestow education on our children. Unless.we are cursed with
wicked counsels and inflamed with an insane love of conquest;
unless the public conscience is debauched by oppression and
injustice, which corrupts at the core all generous public spirit;
unless while we persuade ourselves that we are masters, we
are degraded into slaves, we may hope to see in this country
a population of which no philanthropist or statesman has ever
formed a conception.
I have spoken of our facilities of intercommunication. The
effect of this element of our condition is deserving of a remark.
We all speak the same language. We all are under the same
government. There is not a man among us to whom every
act of this government is not a matter of interest. But more
than this: there is no part whatever of our country which is
3
. 
is
not connected by a thousand ties with every other part. A
man can travel in no direction over any State of the Union,
without finding some of his former neighbors, to whom nothing is more grateful than information from the ancient homestead. The present facilities of intercourse cherish this interest, and keep it ever on the alert. The amount of personal
communication between the various parts of our country is
absolutely incalculable, especially between the east and the
west, and particularly in the Free States. This facility of
intercourse is immeasurably quickened by the lines of telegraph wire stretching in every direction, uniting every portion
with every other, and with every part of the civilized world.
The Atlantic steamer has not reached her berth, before the
news which she brings is proclaimed in the streets of Cincinnati and St. Louis. The official signature is not dry upon a
legislative act in any one of our States, before its provisions are proclaimed from the shores of the Atlantic to the banks
of the Missouri.  A change in the price of any staple production concerns every man in the community, and every man is
anxious to satisfy himself on the subject.  Thus the public
mind is ever wakeful. Every man is continually forming judgments, true or false, but yet judgments, not only
concerning the events in his own town or village, but events
that are occurring throughout the Republic and the world.
The effect of all this in diffusing a love of information,
quickening mental energy, enlarging the breadth of generalization, and cultivating the love of progress, is too obvious to need
illustration. The physical conditions of our country thus present as glorious a field in which to scatter broadcast the seeds
of all knowledge, as the imagination of the philanthropic statesman ever conceived.
Let us next inquire what is the educational character of our
people.
The Puritan ancestors of this country were men of whom the
world was not worthy. England was sifted to furnish the 
19
seed with which these Northern States were planted. They
left their homes, and became the inhabitants of a wilderness, in
obedience to moral principle. They sought for freedom to
worship God. They established a civil society on the foundation of equal rights. They well knew that equal rights could
only be secured on the basis of intelligence and virtue. Here,
then, they laid the corner stone of their social edifice. They
determined that every citizen should be instructed in good
learning, and be provided with the means of religious instruction. - They were well persuaded that a people nurtured under
such auspices could never be either slaves or oppressors; for
he who is intelligent and just, must love liberty, as well for his
neighbor as for himself. Their first care was, therefore, the
establishment of schools for the whole community.
As population multiplied and wealth increased, their system
of education expanded and improved. The schools have, in
most of the States, been placed under legislative supervision.
Private as well as public munificence, has added to their means
of efficiency. Normal schools are scattering able and well instructed teachers throughout the land. Schools are liberally
sustained by taxes imposed by the people on themselves.
School districts are uniting to furnish themselves with instruction in the more advanced branches of learning. There is no
subject which calls forth a livelier interest, in any town in New
England, than the advancement of knowledge.  It banishes
even political hostility, and men of all parties unite with each
other in carrying forward a cause, on the success of which all
that we hold valuable so essentially depends. In this good
work, Massachusetts, by confession, takes the lead. Within a
few years she has added to her ancient glory, by passing an
act authorizing every town to tax itself for the maintenance of
a library; thus establishing the principle, that it is the duty of
society not only to care for the instruction of the individual,
but also to provide the means for rendering this instruction in
the highest degree valuable. 
20
The example of Massachusetts was early emulated by the
States in her neighborhood, and thence the love of education
has been disseminated over all the northern and western portions of the Union. The State of New York, moved, I believe,
by the venerable man, whose efforts in the cause of education
we have met to celebrate, at an early period established a magnificent fund for the support of public schools. It is cheering
to observe the rapidity with which this spirit has been diffused
throughout the Western States. I believe that the man is still
living who erected the first cabin on the spot now known as
the city of Cincinnati. At the present moment, the provisions
of Ohio for common school education are inferior to none in our
country, and the schools of the Queen City of the West do not
decline a comparison with those of any city in the land.
The influence of these examples has pervaded the general
government itself.  Hence, in the organization of the new
States, if I do not misremember, provision is always made for
public education, by reserving large tracts of land to be forever
appropriated to this purpose. A permanent foundation is thus
laid for the universal education of the people. Some of this
land has been appropriated to university education, and hence
a provision is made for the establishment of seats of learning,
in what was very lately a wilderness, which will vie in extent
and magnificence with those in any part of the world.
The result of all this may be easily imagined.  A common
school education, good now, and every year growing better, is
placed within the reach of every child in the older Free States,
and in the new States where it is not rendered impracticable
by sparseness of population; and of these advantages the people very generally avail themselves. Reading and writing,
and the ordinary branches of school education, are the acquisition of every child. Even among our English ancestors,
formerly, I might almost say now, these were rare accomplishments which conferred on their possessor an enviable distiuction. Among us, they have long since ceased to be a distinc 
21
tion, while to be unable to read or write is an acknowledged
disgrace, When a man cannot sign his name, it is taken for
granted that he is not a native-born American.
The result of all this has been that, at the present moment,
there are probably more readers of the English language in the
United States than in all the world beside. Instead of being
merely a province, we are becoming the chief seat of the AngloSaxon nation. If I remember correctly, Macaulay's History
of England had not been published six months, before ten times
as many copies had been printed in this country as in England.
LoIg before this time, I presume that this disproportion has
been doubled. It has been printed in every variety of form, as
cheap as twenty-five cents a volume, thus showing that its circulation penetrated every rank of society. The same fact is
illustrated by the vast number of newspapers published in this
country.  Every man reads them, and every man whom  you
meet is acquainted with the news of the day. The increasing
amount of authorship is an indication of the same character.
A large proportion of this authorship, moreover, proceeds from
persons who have received no aid from collegiate education.
The remark of HORACE is specially true of us; docti et indoctihe might have said, indoctm - scribimus. A large number of
our most acceptable writers are women, who are excluded from
our colleges. A very respectable periodical was for some time,
I know not but it is still, conducted by the factory girls at
Lowell. Such facts as these indicate the extent and the excellence of the education which is offered freely to every young
person among us. The intellectual culture of Americans who
labor has been frequently remarked by intelligent foreigners.
To this they have ascribed our unparalleled progress in the
arts. The best English writers on this subject, at the present
day, urge this as a reason why education, and good education,
should be universally diffused among the working classes at
home. They acknowledge us to be their rivals in all the use ful arts, and they confess that they must be distanced in the 
22
race, unless they can elevate the standard of intellectual attain ment in their people, to a level with our own.
When we speak of higher, or, as it is called, collegiate edu cation, we mean that course of instruction which begins when
common or school education ends. Now I ask, in view of these
facts, when did a people exist that ever presented such a field
for this kind of instruction? When the whole mass of mind is
thus quickened, remarkable talents, those endowments which
God has bestowed for the good of the whole, cannot but display
themselves. What we seem specially to need, is the means of
developing such talent in every direction, so that not one of
these special gifts of God may be lost. Distinguished talent
for any thing, is one of the most signal blessings ever bestowed
upon man, and we are false to ourselves, and ungrateful to our
Creator, if we do not improve it all, and improve it to the uttermost.
I will mention only one other peculiarity of the condition of
this country: it is that our institutions are in every respect
thoroughly democratic.
Democracy supposes that the object of society is simple, that
it is to confirm every man in the enjoyment of all the means of
happiness bestowed upon him by his Creator. It takes it for
granted that every man has a right to hirmself, and to all the
innocent results of the use of his faculties. The object of society, and of government, which is its agent, is to guarantee to
every individual the full possession of this right.  This ob]igation, in the formation of a civil polity, men mutually assume
toward each other. This, then, is the essential limit of the
power of society over the individual. If, for mutual convenience, any other power is entrusted to society, it is always
done on the condition that it be exercised for the good of every
member equally, for all the members being equal, no power
can be rightly exerted for the benefit of the one, unless it be
also exercised for the benefit of all.
Beyond this, democratic society does not interfere. It leaves 
the individual to work out his own destiny for himself.  Every
man is thus made the architect of his own fortune.  If he succeed, he alone is entitled to the advantages of his success. If
he fail, it is the result of his own voluntary action, for which
he has no one to blame but himself. Every individual is allowed to pursue his own happiness, in his own way, and all
that society does is to protect him from the interference of his
neighbor. If it ever attempts to confer any aid, it confers it
equally upon all, knowing no distinction between the high or
low, the rich or poor; but looking upon them all from one
single point of view, that is, as members of society.
The responsibility of every individual's success or failure, is
thus thrown wholly upon himself. Hence arises the intense
activity which pervades republican institutions.  Every motive
power has free and unembarrassed action. Universal competition gives intensity to every effort. Every inducement is
spread before every individual to benefit his condition by every
means in his power. The spirit pervades the whole social
mass. Every atom becomes vital. Every man has a distinct
object to be accomplished, and he knows that it can be accomplished only by putting forth all the power with which he has
been endowed. To this we owe that self-reliance and adaptation to every condition which is said to distinguish our countrymen. Go where you will, from the equator to the pole, you
will every where find the representatives of the " Universal
Yankee Nation," and you will generally find them intelligent,
enterprising, laborious, and therefore successful.
Now, it can scarcely have escaped the notice of such a people, that the practice of every art depends for success on a
knowledge of some social or physical law. Knowledge, to every intelligent man, is emphatically power.  If he fail in any
art, he knows that it must have been because he has violated
some law; if he succeed, it must be because he has obeyed it.
To such a community, knowledge is then a matter of impera tive necessity. This is the very element of success. Without
2t)e
I 
24
it, unless by accident, man must labor in vain, and consume
his capital without remuneration.  Hence, it may readily be
believed that such a people would eagerly desire that physical
knowledge, on which all success in the usefiul arts depends, as
well as that other spiritual knowledge which the human mind
instinctively craves, as soon as its energies are aroused, and
the true and the beautiful are brought within its field of vision.
That such is becoming rapidly the tendency of this country,
must, I think, be evident.  It is obvious from the wonderful
development of the talent for invention, for which we are re markable. It is shown in the earnest endeavor to improve our
school system, to which I have already alluded. It is proved
by the immense suins, bestowed in every part of our land, for
the endowment of institutions of learning; a very large part of
which is given by men who have acquired their wealth by the
labor of their hands. If it be said that, after all, the men who
avail themselves of the laws of nature in their daily pursuits,
do not resort to otir colleges, the reply is easy. We may well
ask, if they resorted thither would they find what they wanted?
Our teaching of nature's laws is designed not for men who expect to use their knowledge, but for those, who expect imnmediately to forget it. Let, however, instruction be given, adapted
to the wants of the community, on any scientific subject, and
the instructor, wherever he can find men, will rarely want for
hearers.
Such, then, is the condition of our people. We have a population increasing in wealth with a rapidity wholly unprecedented. The intellect of this people is aroused to action by the
means universally provided for common school education.
This awakened intellect is stimulated to uncommon activity
by the legitimate effects of the democratic principle. Now, can
a philanthropist, a patriot, or a statesman, hesitate for a moment, when he is called upon to determine the principles by
which the higher education of such a people should be governed? 
25
Shall we, having educated the whole people up to a certain
point, giving to all equal advantages for self-development, then
reverse our whole system, and bestow the advantages of higher
education only upon a few? Shall'we say that the lawyer,
and physician, and clergyman, need a knowledge of principles
in order to pursue their callings with success, while the farmer, the mechanic, the manufacturer, and the merchant'require
no knowledge of the laws upon which the success of every operation which they perform depends? Shall we say that we
need a literary class of men, and for the education of these we
will make ample provision, while for all the rest it makes no
manner of difference whether they be thoughtful, independent
and self-reliant, or nothing but mere hewers of wood and
drawers of water?  Shall we say that intellect is to be cultivated and talent developed in one direction alone, or developed
in every possible direction? I cannot conceive it possible for
American citizens to hold any divided opinion on this subject.
He would certainly be a rare man who would openly contend
for such a distinction as these questions suppose. We are all
equal. We-are all left each one for himself to work out his
own destiny, and to make provision for those that shall come
after him. Every one needs knowledge, knowledge of the
laws which shall command success in his own avocation. Every one needs that knowledge which shall enable him to form
correct judgments, and all men need it equally. Wherever a
provision is made for education by private munificence, all
men may reasonably expect to share it without distinction;
where provision is made by the public, they may rightfully
demand it. Nothing can be conceived of, more diametrically
opposed to the first principles of our government, than to impose a tax upon the whole, and then appropriate it to the benefit of a part.
But it will, I presume, be answered, that I am contending
where there is no adversary; that all our institutions of learning are equally open for all, and that all men may avail them
4 
26
selves of their advantages if they be so disposed. All this I
grant. But I ask, for whom were our present systems of collegiate education devised? - for the few or for the many? They
were originally designed exclusively for the clergy, and in the
fatherland they have been perpetuated for the clergy and the
aristocracy. They are, in this country, devised mainly for the
professions, and their success is measured by their results upon
the professions. The learning which they cultivate is in kind
and amount measured by the demands of the professions. But
I ask, as I have done before, have not the mechanic and the
merchant, the farmer and the manufacturer, as much need of
knowledge, each in his own profession, as the lawyer, the minister, and the physician? Have they not as just a claim on the
money taken from their own earnings, as those classes which
have been so exclusively favored? May they not then justly
demand that not only education in higher knowledge shall be
provided for them, but that it shall be education of which they
may profitably avail themselves; so that they may enter upon
their career in life, under as favorable auspices as those who
prefer what are sometimes called literary professions?
It would seem then that, in devising a system of higher education for our country, we should commence with the self-evident maxim, that we are to labor not for the benefit of one but
of all; not for a caste, or a clique, but for the whole community.  Proceeding upon this ground, we should provide the instruction needed by every class of our fellow-citizens. Wherever an institution is established in any part of our country,
our first inquiry should be, what is the kind of knowledge (in
addition to that demanded for all) which this portion of our
people needs, in order to perfect them in their professions, give
them power over principles, enable them to develop their intellectual resources and employ their talents to the greatest advantage for themselves and for the country? This knowledge,
whatever it may be, should be provided as liberally for one
class as for another. Whatever is thus taught, however, 
should be taught, not only with the design of increasing knowledge, but also of giving strength, enlargement and skill to the
original faculties of the soul. When a system of education
formed on these principles shall pervade this country, we may
be able to present to the world the legitimate results of free institutions; by pursuing any other career we may render them
a shame and a by-word.
Who can fail to see that the universal dissemination of the
most valuable knowledge is imperatively demanded by the
present condition of our country. We possess a territory of
boundless extent, embracing every variety of soil. This inmmense domain can never be taught to yield its richest and most
abundant products, until the knowledge of vegetable and animal physiology, the chemical constituents of soils, meteorology,
and physical geography shall have been made the common
property of all our citizens. The mineral wealth of all this
region is yet unknown, except in those localities where it has
obtruded itself upon the surface. Scientific mining and geology can alone reveal to us the treasures which lie beneath the
soil, warning us against absurd explorations, and pointing out
to us the spots where our labors will be rewarded with abundant success. To accomplish this result, however, it will not
be sufficient to teach merely such an amount of physical science as may be required by a lawyer or a clergyman; but
these departments must be elevated into thorough courses of
study, designed for and adapted to the wants of those who
need their aid in advancing the material progress of our coun
try.
But, after all, the most valuable treasures which God bestows upon every country is found in the spiritual nature of
man. Distinguished talent, if it be only guided by virtue, is
the richest gift which is ever lavished upon a nation.  Native
talent is probably given in larger measure to those who labor
(provided their labor is not exhausting and brutalizing) than
to other men. Hence it is, that, in revolutions when great
27 
ability is required, it is generally found to exist in the middle
classes. Physical labor cultivates mental energy, resolution,
and self-reliance; all prime elements in the formation of eminent character. It is from this range of condition that invention generally proceeds, that wonderful talent which, within
the last century, has wrought so mighty changes in the aspects
of civilization. From the minds of WATT, ARKWRIGHT, and
STEPHENSON, have originated those combinations that have
opened so glorious a path for the progress of humanity. In
our own country, the wonderful increase of the cotton culture,
and the incidental and fearful growth of the slave power, is all
to be ascribed to the cotton-gin of ELI WHITNEY. It is to the
genius of FULTON that we owe the development of the mighty
west; and the transfer of the dominion of this country from
the eastern to thile western slope of the Alleghanies. We have
now the most intelligent and self-reliant mechanics on earth.
We need nothing more than to spread a knowledge of the laws
of nature among those who daily, without knowing how, put
them in practice, to give this country unapproachable precedence in the useful arts. The results of this universal diffusion of knowledge, upon science, literature and discovery, are
obvious; but my limits do not allow me to treat of them in
detail.
The present is a most auspicious moment in which to take
this subject into full consideration. There seems a fatal tendency, in the formation of systems of education, blindly to follow precedents, without examining the laws on which they
are founded, or the results which they have attained. The
west, in organizing its institutions, looks backward to the east,
and considers its labor perfected when it has copied the universal model.  We of the east, as far as public opinion will
permit, have imitated Cambridge and Oxford, without considering how utterly unsuited to our condition must be institutions founded for the education of the mediceval clergy, and
modified by the pressure of an all-powerful aristocracy.  But
28 
29
the spirit of reform, originating from without, is already transforming these venerable seats of learning. It is confessed that
they are wholly unadapted to meet the wants of the Great
Britain of the present, and the nation insists that their character must be changed. They must be open to all, and they
must teach the knowledge which England needs. Such are
the demands of humanity, and these demands must be satisfied.  Is it not becoming in us to follow this example?  Is it
not imperative on us to set an example for ourselves?  In a
free country like our own, unembarrassed by precedents, and
not yet entangled by the vested rights of by-gone ages, ought
we not to originate a system of education which shall raise to
high intellectual culture the whole mass of our people? When
our systems of education shall look with as kindly an eye on
the mechanic as the lawyer, on the manufacturer and merchant as the minister; when every artizan, performing his
process with a knowledge of the laws by which it is governed,
shall be transformed from all unthinking laborer into a practical philosopher; and when the benign principles of Christianity shall imbue the whole mass of our people with the spirit
of universal love, then, and not till then, shall we illustrate to
the nations the blessings of Republican and Christian Institutions.
You all perceive that the line of remark which I have here
pursued, has been suggested by the circumstances of the present memorable occasion. An aged man, the Nestor of American teachers, finds himself this day surrounded by pupils who
have assembled from every State in our Union, to offer him
their filial congratulations. An officer of instruction, who has
for half a century presided over a most flourishing seat of
learning, is here met by the thousands who have returned to
the home of their education, to declare that whatever of success they have achieved in their several professions, has been
greatly owing to the wisdom of his precepts and the purity of
his example. He who, while discharging with unrivalled
r..1. 
30
ability the duties of the lecture room, and watching with parental solicitude over the individual development of every
pupil committed to his charge, has yet found time, by masterly
skill, to accumulate a fund which must render Union College
the most favored institution in our country, has this year comnpleted his labor, and has laid this magnificent offering on the
altar of public education. While for fifty years distributing
gratuitous instruction with profuse liberality, hlie has been also
providing the means for a wider and richer distribution of its
blessings for all comining time.  A  benignant Providence has
spared that honored life, and crowned those labors with triumphant success; and now a whole community, uttering the
voice of humanity, has assembled to bow in grateful reverence
before that hoary head, which, for half a century, has been
encircled with the wreath of profound learning, matchless
sagacity, unwearied benevolence, surpassing eloquence, and
childlike piety. The youth and the age of the present seem
here to unite with the coming generations of the future, and
shower on the head of that "old man eloquent " their selectest
benedictions.
Venerable man! We rejoice to see that thine eye is not dim,
though thynatural force is somewhat abated. We thank you
for your care over our youth; we thank you for those counsels which have so often guided our manhood;  we thank you
for that example which has ever so clearly pointed out to us
the path of earnest duty and self-forgetful charity. Long may
you yet live to witness the happiness which you have created,
and cherish the genius which your inspirations first awakened
to conscious existence. And when the Saviolur, in whose footsteps you have trodden, shall call thee home to receive thy
reward, may death lay his hand gently on that venerated
form, and gently quiet the pulsations of that noble heart. May
thy fainting head recline upon the bosom of the Redeemer
whom thou hast loved; may thine eye open upon visions of
~
::. ~.
.;*.... 
31
glory which man may not utter; and so may an entrance be
abundantly administered to thee into the joy of thy Lord.
Heaven will account itself richer, as it opens its pearly gates
to welcome thy approach; but where shall those who survive
find any thing left on earth that resembles thee? 
I