Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/origindevelopmenOOdrap 
 
Origin and Developnnent of the Ne^w York: 
 Common School System. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVEBED BEFOBE THE 
 
 New York StateTeachkrs’ Association, 
 
 AT 
 
 Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 
 
 Yuksday E^veninGjJuly 8, 1890, 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDEEW 8. DEAFER, 
 
 SUPEBINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTBUCTION, StATE OF NeW YoBK, 
 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 JAMES B. LYON, STATE PRINTER, 
 1890, 
 
AN ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Peesident and Ladies and Gentlemen of the New York 
 State Teachers’ Association : If we are loyal sons and daugh- 
 ters of the Empire State, we know what are commonly considered 
 the leading facts in her history. We can recount the chief and promi- 
 nent incidents in her first settlement, and her wonderful develop- 
 ment from the time when the Half Moon first stirred the waters 
 of her majestic North river till she came to stand out as the cen- 
 tral and conspicuous figure in the sisterhood of States. We have 
 wondered at the daring and sighed at the fate of the dauntless 
 English captain with a Queen Elizabeth ruff about his neck, who 
 sailed his little Dutch vessel through the narrows at our great 
 harbor, only to be disappointed in his confident belief that he had 
 at last found the great highway of the nations to the Indies, and 
 to find himself in an imperial fresh water river, flowing through 
 what he described as “a land peopled by vigorous men and 
 beautiful women — as beautiful a land as the foot of man can 
 tread upon.” We have regretted that a noble company of English 
 Puritans, bound for New Netherland, in the Mayflower, were 
 carried out of their course and landed upon the inhospitable 
 shores of Cape Cod. Oh ! how much New England owes to ill 
 winds or bad seamanship. We have noted and commended 
 the foresight and thrift which led the first Dutch settlers to buy 
 22,000 acres of land upon Manhattan Island from the Indians for 
 the not extravagant sum of twenty-four dollars, and to lay the 
 foundations of a State upon land in which they owned the fee. 
 We have marked the different characteristics of the Dutch and 
 the English, as first one and then the other held the supremacy in 
 the affairs of the colony. We have stood amazed in the presence 
 of the fact that before, and for many years after the coming of 
 the whites, there were upon this territory five savage nations with 
 a system of laws and a retinue of officials, each with a completely 
 
4 
 
 organized government shaped and directed by the will of the 
 majority, and all confederated together in a barbarian republic 
 upon the unique plan afterward adopted by our States and our 
 National Eepublic. We have followed in awe the unprecedented 
 advance in population, the growth of the most imperial cities, the 
 development of material resources apparently inexhaustible. We 
 have witnessed the building of the greatest canal and railway sys- 
 tems, and have watched to a successful result the most gigantic 
 commercial enterprises that human energy ever had the cour- 
 age to undertake. We have seen literature and the arts and 
 sciences nurtured and fostered by a people engrossed in the 
 world’s most bewildering activities. We have applauded the 
 sagacity of our statesmen, and we have gloried in the immortal 
 deeds of our heroes. We have listened to the discussions of 
 the earliest colonial Congresses to form a basis of union at 
 Albany, and we have heard the first Constitution promulgated 
 from the head of a barrel in front of the old Senate house 
 at Kingston. We know how intrepid Ethan Allen in the 
 gray dawn of a May morning demanded and received, from the 
 British commander in undress uniform, the surrender of Ticon- 
 deroga “ in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental 
 Congress,” when as yet the Congress had no existence ; and how 
 Mad Anthony Wayne, in reply to Washington’s inquiry as to 
 whether he would lead an attack on Stony Point, answered with 
 the ardor of the enthusiast and the instinct of the soldier that he 
 was, “ I would lead an attack on hell if the commander-in-chief 
 would order it, sir.” Our hearts have throbbed heavily as we 
 have read the story of the heroic and successful life struggle of 
 Herkimer’s thin battalions in the valley of the Mohawk, and of 
 Sullivan’s sanguinary campaign against hostile savages in the 
 Genesee country. The blood has tingled as we have heard 
 the victorious cannon, and witnessed the humiliating surrender of 
 the haughty Burgoyne at Saratoga, and we have held our breath 
 as Macdonough assembled his crew about him, knelt in prayer on 
 the quarter-deck of his fiag-ship, and asked the aid of the Almighty 
 on the ensuing action, before his navy thrashed a superior force 
 on Lake Champlain, while the army paid a similar compliment to 
 Wellington’s veterans, fresh from the field of Waterloo, and almost 
 disdaining to fight plain people, at Plattsburgh. We know how 
 
5 
 
 New York stood for independence, for the Federal Constitution 
 and the “ more perfect union,” in the first instance ; and how she 
 contributed one-eighth of her population, one-fifth of the entire 
 force which went out to save that Union when assailed. We 
 honor the names of Van Kensselaer and Stuyvesant and Schuyler 
 and Cadwallader Golden and Eichard Montgomery, and the 
 Livingstons, and the Jays, and Hamilton, and Gouverneur Morris, 
 and the Clintons, and Daniel D. Tompkins, and Washington 
 Irving, and Fennimore Cooper, and James Kent, and Chancellor 
 Walworth, and Samuel Nelson, and Silas Wright, and Marcy, and 
 Van Buren, and John A. Dix, and a host of othors, for we associate 
 them with the circumstances which mark the growth and make 
 the history of the great commonwealth. In short, we have a 
 general knowledge of the leading facts which stand out more 
 prominently than the ordinary facts in the course of the physical 
 and political development of the State. 
 
 Intellectual Advancement. 
 
 But I venture that we are exceptional even among the loyal 
 sons and daughters of the Empire State, if we have investigated 
 the causes which have promoted, or if we know the events which 
 have marked the social and intellectual advancement of the people 
 of New York. If this is so, it is not strange. In the economy of 
 state-craft as in the experience of the schools, it is the physical 
 object which arrests the attention, and it is the object-lesson 
 which excites interest, arouses enthusiasm, and leaves the deepest 
 impressions upon the mind. Eailways and steamships, merchan- 
 dise and machinery, books and newspapers, great cities, public 
 works and munificent charities, all the institutions which support 
 a free State and the temple of liberty, are but the public and 
 visible manifestation of wide-spread mental and moral develop- 
 ment. May we not to-night undertake to look through these 
 visible objects, and endeavor to discern the reason of them ? May 
 we not try to ascertain the leading influence behind these familiar 
 and invaluable things, and profitably to inquire into the causes 
 which set this influence in operation, and the results which it, 
 in turn, has produced? 
 
 Circumstances have scarcely favored this unprecedented 
 development in statehood. The foundations of New York were 
 
6 
 
 laid by a rude people, in an unbroken wilderness overrun by bar- 
 barians and savages. The struggle for bread was a hard one. 
 Yet these people offered asylum and succor to the oppressed and 
 the heart-sore of all nations. The response was overwhelming. 
 But all kinds, the best and the worst, came together. With the 
 honest man seeking the rights of conscience and the opportunity 
 of improvement, which were denied him in the old world, came 
 the adventurer and the scapegrace. We have always held the 
 greatest port of entry in the country, and the overwhelming and 
 oft-polluted tide of immigration has always surged into or 
 across our territory. The accumulation of many people in great 
 communities, always presents many and difficult social and indus- 
 trial problems. Yet who shall say that the six millions of people of 
 the Empire State are, all classes together, less generally informed, 
 less keenly and alertly intelligent than any other six millions of 
 people on the globe ? Again, who shall say that these six millions 
 of people are not better housed, better fed, better clothed, more 
 generally educated, more active in affairs, better equipped for self- 
 government than any other entire people numbering six millions, 
 unless it be other citizens of our own country, surrounded by the 
 same circumstances and conditions? 
 
 This is the result of intellectual force and of mental strength, 
 widely spread and generally diffused. The fact that it reaches all 
 classes is its chief glory. It extends not only to the manager of a 
 railway, but to the man who runs the train or walks the track. 
 Commonly both have enjoyed equal opportunities and stand in 
 different grades of the service, only because of qualities which 
 inhere in different individuals, and which no policy of the State 
 can regulate. As often as otherwise, the man at the top suffered 
 the greatest hardships, labored against the greatest disadvantages 
 and had the poorest chance. But both are alert within their 
 sphere. Each is industrious and aggressive. Each reads the 
 papers, discusses the tariff and goes to the Legislature. Each 
 owns a home, supports a church and mingles in affairs. Each 
 constitutes the right kind of material out of which to erect a free 
 State. If there is to be discrimination at all, it must be in favor 
 of the masses fairly developed, rather than of the few exception- 
 ally intellectual or unusually prominent. 
 
7 
 
 Common Schools Peomote Geneeal Intelligence. 
 
 What is the prominent and conspicuous influence which has led 
 to this general enlightenment of the people ? It is not leadership, 
 except as leadership planned wisely in the beginning. It is not 
 due to favoring circumstances ; it is in spite of unfavorable ones. 
 It is not due to the development of physical and material 
 resources. That would be misplacing cause and effect. It is not 
 the work of the university, unless it be indirectly and remotely. 
 The common history of New York unmistakably shows that this 
 widespread intelligence among her people was not manifest until 
 the State placed common schools within easy distance of every 
 home, and that from the time when this policy was well estab- 
 lished, her career has been practically unparalleled in the history 
 of States. 
 
 Qualities of Fiest Dutch Immigeants. 
 
 Let us then spend an hour in investigating the rise and tracing 
 the progress of the State public school system. 
 
 When America was first settled, Europe was just emerging 
 from the gloom of the “Middle Ages.” The prerogatives of kings 
 were being called in question, and the walled castle and the 
 mailed knight were surely doomed. Commercial enterprise was 
 beginning to show itself, industry was becoming honorable, learn- 
 ing was claiming some attention. Society, which had been pros- 
 trate for centuries before the feudal lord, was getting upon its 
 feet again. Nowhere else was this so marked as in the Low 
 Countries. Holland was the chief commercial and industrial 
 nation of the world at the opening of the seventeenth century. It 
 was doing more for education, and had a fuller conception of the 
 value of civil liberty than any other. Mr. Motley, in his history 
 of the Dutch Kepublic, says, “ the children of the wealthier 
 classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great cap- 
 itals,” and that “ intellectual cultivation was not confined to the 
 higher orders, but on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable 
 degree among the hard-working citizens and handicraftsmen.” 
 This people had sprung from sturdy Teutonic and Celtic tribes, 
 and inherited a thrifty disposition and a manly and independent 
 bearing. They had but just followed the lead of the finest orator, 
 the most sagacious statesman, and the greatest soldier of the 
 
8 
 
 sixteenth century, in a revolt against arbitrary power, and had 
 fought most heroically and suffered incomparably in the world’s 
 first and most memorable contest for liberty. Without democratic 
 theories they had been spending their treasure and blood in 
 resisting tyranny, until by force of circumstances their govern- 
 mental organization became a republic. To such a people, the 
 company of Puritans, with Pastor John Kobinson at its head, fled 
 from England for shelter before drifting upon Plymouth Kock. 
 From this people came the first settlers in a village which, for 
 obvious reasons, they called New Amsterdam, in a territory they 
 called New Netherland. 
 
 It would be strange indeed if they had not proved to be an 
 industrious and thrifty people, as it would be equally strange if 
 they had not brought with them a love for liberty and an instinct 
 for self-government. Sturdy in body and mind, quaint in figure, 
 tolerant in spirit, given to trade and to the accumulation of prop- 
 erty; they cut the forest, tilled the ground, built huts, opened 
 shops, trafficked with the Indians, while they organized society, 
 established public worship, opened schools and erected all the 
 institutions of a civil state. In the most forbidding circum- 
 stances and contending with the strongest odds, they impressed 
 their ways and their beliefs upon the future history of the 
 country. 
 
 The Dutch Establish Free Schools. 
 
 Our colonial records clearly show that in the midst of the most 
 overwhelming difficulties, they were not indifferent to the import- 
 ance of schools, for even in their most important documents, the 
 affairs of the schools receive frequent mention. Their primitive 
 and crude ideas, their difficulties in raising money and regulating 
 teachers, the way in which they made great contentions out of 
 insignificant matters, would be ludicrous if not so common in the 
 closing years of the nineteenth century. 
 
 In 1621 the States-General of Holland enjoined the colony “ to 
 find speedy means to maintain a clergyman and a schoolmaster,” 
 and it was required that “each householder and inhabitant 
 should bear such tax and public charge as should be considered 
 proper for their maintenance.” Four years later the expenses of 
 the schoolmaster are shown to have been 360 florins, just one- 
 
9 
 
 fourth those of the minister. You observe that some pernicious 
 ideas relate back to very early precedent. In 1633 Adam Roe- 
 landson, a professional schoolmaster, was brought over to take 
 charge of the school. He remained in charge for nine years, and 
 is believed to have been the first professional schoolmaster in the 
 country. Unfortunately the proof is abundant that he was of a 
 quarrelsome nature and no credit to the profession. Before 1650, 
 New Amsterdam had a population of 800. Jan Cornelisen, Jan 
 Stevenson and Aryaen Janson are mentioned as teachers who 
 kept schools “ in hired houses.” The excise moneys seem to have 
 been set apart to pay teachers, and they were in part, at least, 
 paid out of the public treasury. One of the reports of the board 
 of accounts of New Netherland estimates that the expense for the 
 next year of the “schoolmaster, precentor and sexton” will be- 
 thirty fiorins, or about twelve dollars and thirty cents per month. 
 The estimate appears to have been conceived in too imprudent a 
 spirit, and was reduced to eighteen guilders or seven dollars and 
 fifty-six cents per month. On one occasion the governor of the 
 colony parleyed with the Indian chiefs and urged them to send 
 their sons down to New Amsterdam to school. After taking a week 
 to consider, they diplomatically answered that they were power- 
 less to accept the invitation for the boys were altogether under 
 the control of their mothers. I am sure that William Yestens, a 
 teacher of ancient days, will not only challenge your admiration, 
 but gain your sympathy, for he is shown to have led a bold, but 
 apparently an ineffectual movement for “ an increase of salary.” 
 
 The churches frequently maintained or supervised schools, and 
 not uncommonly the functions of the minister and teacher were 
 economically combined in the same person. Indeed, it more than 
 once happened that the poor teacher had also to act as sexton, pre- 
 centor, choirmaster or psalmsetter and a “comforter of the sick,” as 
 the person who supplied the minister’s place, was commonly called. 
 “ Clergymen, comforters of the sick, and school-masters ” were 
 designated as “ necessary officers ” in the articles adopted by the 
 economical States-General in 1638, concerning the colonization of 
 New Netherland. One of the dignified early reports upon the 
 condition of the colony,' speaks of the plate having been passed 
 around a long time to raise money to build a school-house, 
 2 
 
10 
 
 “ which has as yet been built only with words,” and asserts that 
 the school “ is kept very irregularly by this one or that according 
 to his fancy, as long as he thinks proper.” If this was not for the 
 purpose, it certainly should have had the effect of loosening the 
 purse-strings of the home government. The extension of the 
 population into the interior, is shown by the official direction to 
 provide ministers and teachers to be sent, to “ Rensselaer’s 
 Colonie,” and other “distant places.” In one instance the people 
 are plainly told by the director for the colony, that “ if they are 
 such patriots as they appear to be, they will be leaders in generous 
 contributions for laudable objects, and will not complain when 
 the directors request a collection toward the erection of a church 
 and a school.” That learning was making progress, is shown by 
 the fact that in 1655 Aegidius Luyck is spoken of “ as late 
 principal of the Latin school in New Amsterdam.” In several 
 instances, the governor and council of the colony received com- 
 plaints that the inhabitants of certain villages refused to pay for 
 the support of schools, and after notifying the delinquents to 
 appear and answer, ordered them “ to promptly pay their share for 
 the support aforesaid, on pain of proceeding against them with 
 immediate execution.” How much pain would ensue in that 
 painful event, I am certainly unable to say. 
 
 Common Schools Imported from Holland. 
 
 Reminiscences like these might be multiplied almost indefi- 
 nitely. Enough have been recited to show that while learning 
 was in its incipient stages, as was everything else, yet the 
 common school idea was among this people in the correct form, 
 and that it was developing. Indeed, it occurs to me that enough 
 has been shown to establish the proposition that we are indebted 
 to the republic in the Netherlands, rather than the kingdom of 
 Great Britain, for the first and essential principles of the free 
 school system, and that the first importation came by way of the 
 narrows at Sandy Hook, rather than over Cape Cod. 
 
 Latin Schools at New Amsterdam. 
 
 In 1658 the people petitioned Peter Stuyvesant, the director, 
 for a person to teach a Latin school, assuring him that it would 
 be well attended, and would lead to the formation of an academy, 
 
11 
 
 “ whereby this place to great splendor will have attained.” The 
 petition was granted, and a classical school was opened. Dr. 
 Alexander Carolus, a professional teacher, was principal. He 
 received $187.50 annually from the public treasury, was provided 
 with a house and garden, received six guilders from each student, 
 and was allowed to practice medicine in addition. 
 
 English Government Opposed to Common Schools. 
 
 It is said by eminent authority that when the Dutch were 
 obliged to surrender to the English in 1664, the educational spirit 
 was so common throughout the colony that almost every settle- 
 ment had a regular school taught by more or less permanent 
 teachers, and that there was a decided set back given to this 
 movement upon the advent of the English in consequence of the 
 apprehension on the part of the nobility, that common schools 
 would nourish and strengthen a spirit of independence which had, 
 even then, made some considerable headway. It is true, that the 
 official instructions sent by the government to the successive 
 governors of the province, uniformly provided that no person 
 should be permitted to come from England to teach a school with- 
 out the license of the archbishop of Canterbury, and that no per- 
 son here should do so without the license of the governor, but it 
 seems clear that this was not so much for the purpose of exclud- 
 ing incompetent instructors as it was to control appointments and 
 determine the course of the schools. 
 
 Substantially the only legislative act relating to free schools 
 passed within the colony, during the English rule, is that 
 entitled “An act for encouragement of a grammar free school in 
 the city of New York,” bearing date November 22, 1702. It 
 provided that there should be “ Elected, Chosen, Authorized 
 and appointed, one able, skilfull and Orthodox person to be 
 Schoolmaster, for the education and instruction of youth 
 and Male Children of such parents as are of French and 
 Dutch extraction as well as of the English,” and that there 
 should each year for seven years be levied and collected the sum 
 of fifty pounds for the support of such School-Master. This would 
 seem to impair the statement that the English did not aid the 
 organization of schools. But an examination of the records con- 
 
 OF 
 
 '■ibhary 
 
 lUllYoo 
 
12 
 
 firms the fact beyond question. The bill was first passed by the 
 General Assembly in which the Dutch were strong if not predom- 
 inant. The Governor and Council refused to approve it and returned 
 it to the Assembly. The Assembly adhered to its position. A com- 
 mittee of conference was appointed, and, after days of controversy, 
 a compromise was finally agreed upon by which the bill was 
 amended so as to require that the teacher should be licensed and 
 approved by the Bishop of London or the Governor or Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the province. The bill was enacted by the 
 Dutch. It was approved by the English Governor, but not until 
 amended so as to enable him to control the school in the interests 
 of the Established church and the crown. When, by its own 
 terms, the provisions of this measure expired, seven years later, 
 nothing was done to renew or continue them. 
 
 Indeed all the English schools in the province from 1700 down 
 to the time of the Declaration of Independence, were maintained 
 by a great religious society, organized under the auspices of the 
 Church of England, and, of course, with the favor of the govern- 
 ment, called “ The society for the propagation of the gospel in 
 foreign parts.” The law governing this society provided that no 
 teacher should be employed until he had proved “ his affection to 
 the present government,” and “ his conformity to the doctrine and 
 discipline of the Church of England.” Schools maintained under 
 such auspices and influences were in no sense free schools. 
 
 Indeed, as humiliating as it is, no student of history can 
 fail to discern the fact that the government of Great Britain, 
 during its supremacy in this territory, did nothing to facilitate 
 the extension or promote the efficiency of free elementary schools 
 among the people. 
 
 I observe with interest, in this connection, that Mr. Edward 
 Eggleston, in a most readable article concerning the early English 
 colony in Virginia, which appears in the July number of the 
 “ Century ” magazine, states that the policy of the English 
 government, touching schools in that colony, was precisely what 
 we have found it to be in New York. In all the colonies it was 
 what we might have expected to find. The nobility reasoned 
 that poor men and ignorant men could be governed, and that 
 learning brought disobedience and heresy into the world, and 
 
13 
 
 kings and princes, lords and earls and dnkes, acted in accord 
 with their beliefs. 
 
 If the English nobility did nothing to extend elementary schools, 
 the Dutch were largely indifferent to advanced schools. Their 
 leading men were merchants whose sons went from the 
 elementary schools into the affairs of trade. 
 
 It was precisely the same considerations which led the 
 English to treat the elementary schools with indifference, 
 that also led to the organization and shaped the policy of 
 the first college in the State. Its business was to educate leaders 
 to the tenets of the State church, so far as religion might go, and 
 who would sympathize and agree with the English aristocracy, so 
 far as politics were concerned. Twenty years after the organiza- 
 tion of this college, its officers requested a royal charter granting 
 special privileges. In a letter transmitting this request, and urg- 
 ing that it be granted, Cadwallader Golden, the Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor of the Province, concludes as follows : “ It therefore seems 
 highly requisite that a seminary on the principles of the Church 
 of England be distinguished in America, by particular privileges, 
 not only on account of religion, but of good policy, to prevent the 
 growth of republican principles which already too much prevail 
 in the colonies.” 
 
 My limits will not allow me to spend more time in referring to 
 the educational facts bearing upon the colonial period. We must 
 be content, for the present, with the statement, which is abund- 
 antly supported by the facts, that under the mistaken policy of 
 the English rule, the schools languished, and during the progress 
 of the war for independence, which raged with great fierceness 
 over our territory, they were nearly or quite obliterated. The 
 fury of war had closed the doors or entirely extinguished the 
 single college and, practically, all of the academies and schools. 
 
 Kevival of Learning at Close of the Eevolution. 
 
 With independence and free statehood came a renewed interest in 
 education, and a strong impulse toward the advancement in learn- 
 ing. The foremost statesmen deemed the subject worthy their 
 closest attention. Immediately upon the advent of peace. 
 Governor George Clinton said to the Legislature of 1784, “ there 
 
14 
 
 is scarce anything more worthy your attention than the revival 
 and encouragement of seminaries of learning.” In a communica- 
 tion to the same Legislature, asking for a revision of their charter, 
 the few remaining governors of Kings College stated that the 
 greater part of their number had died out or departed from the 
 state,” and that many parts of their charter “ are inconsistent 
 with that liberality and that civil and religious freedom which our 
 present happy constitution points out.” 
 
 In answer, came an act changing the name from “ Kings ” to 
 “ Columbia,” under which the old institution played a most 
 important part in the formative period of the Commonwealth and 
 the republic. In time she accumulated means and gathered 
 honors about her, and now, under the presidency of a young, 
 accomplished and vigorous man, whom we heard with so much 
 satisfaction last evening, seems to be entering upon a career of 
 unwonted brilliancy, and still more widely extended usefulness. 
 
 The act in May, 1784, reorganizing this college, created the State 
 Board of Regents. In theory and intent, the Regents were consti- 
 tuted a board of trustees of the existing college, with authority to 
 organize additional colleges and “seminaries,” and exercise similar 
 authority over such as should be organized. In fact, the board 
 only transacted the business of the single college for three years, 
 and in that time experienced innumerable obstacles and difficulties. 
 
 Board of Regents Propose Elementary Schools. 
 
 This original Board of Regents was the first representative body 
 since the Dutch rule to make any official or public deliverance 
 looking to the organization of a State public school system. 
 Technically, it had no legal authority or responsibility concerning 
 elementary schools, and it so understood. Indeed, there were no 
 such schools at the close of the war, and the prevalent, if not the 
 universal idea, was that society itself was not chargeable with any 
 responsibility in that connection. But the wisest statesmanship of 
 the day was in that Board of Regents. In a musty book of records, 
 now in the archives of Columbia college, and as to the custody of 
 which that institution and the Board of Regents have held contrary 
 opinions, there is to be found the journal of the board during the 
 three years when that college constituted the entire university, and 
 
15 
 
 when the functions of the Eegents were mainly confined to the super- 
 vision of the same. In this book there is a record which is certainly 
 of interest to us. On the 31st of January, 1787, the board appointed 
 a committee, in the language of the record, “ to take into considera- 
 tion the present state of the university, and to report as soon as 
 possible, the measures necessary to be adopted to carry into effect 
 the views of the Legislature with respect to the same, and par- 
 ticularly with respect to Columbia College.” The committee con- 
 sisted of the mayor of New York, and Messrs. Jay, Kogers, Mason, 
 Livingston, Clarkson, Gros and Hamilton. The report was pre- 
 sented at a meeting held February 16, 1787, adopted, and ordered 
 to be transmitted to the Legislature. From the nature and 
 verbiage of this report, as well as the order in which the names 
 of the committee appear, it seems reasonably clear that Hamilton 
 drafted it. After setting forth the various difficulties which the 
 board had experienced and suggesting the necessary remedies, 
 the committee went outside of its prescribed duty and, so far as I 
 know, made the first public and official presentation of the neces- 
 sity of common schools maintained by public authority, in the 
 following words : 
 
 “But before your committee conclude, they feel themselves 
 bound in faithfulness to add that the erecting of public schools 
 for teaching, reading, writing and arithmetic is an object of very 
 great importance which ought not to be left to the discretion of 
 private men, but be promoted by public authority. Of so much 
 knowledge no citizen ought to be destitute, and yet it is a reflec- 
 tion as true as it is painful that but too many of our youth are 
 brought up in utter ignorance. This is a reproach under which 
 we have long laboured unmarred by the example of our neigh- 
 bors, who, not leaving the education of their children to chance, 
 have widely diffused throughout their State a public provision for 
 such instruction. 
 
 “Your committee are sensible that the Eegents are invested with 
 no funds of which they have the disposal, but they nevertheless 
 conceive it to be their duty to bring the subject in view before 
 the honorable, the Legislature, who alone can provide a remedy.” 
 
 Nothing came of this. The Legislature passed the act which ’ 
 the board submitted, but it contained no mention of common 
 schools. It is impossible to discern in any of these early educa- 
 tional statutes any acknowledgment of the principle that the 
 State shoiild be responsibly for ylementary schools. They pro* 
 
16 
 
 vided for and aided colleges and academies only, quite possibly 
 in the belief that thereby elementary education would be 
 promoted indirectly and perhaps most effectually. 
 
 Gospel and School Lands. 
 
 It is indeed strange how little mention there was of schools in 
 those early legislative sessions. In a comprehensive act of the 
 Legislature in February, 1789, providing for the sale of certain 
 public lands of the State, the Surveyor-General was directed to lay 
 out twenty townships, so that each should contain 100 lots of 250 
 acres each, and sell the same, except that he should, reserve, near 
 the center of each township, one lot which should be devoted to the 
 support of the gospel, and one other to the support of schools. 
 Here is the origin of the gospel and school moneys which have 
 mystified so many minds. This action, however, contained no 
 recognition, whatever, of the common-school principle. It was 
 only an admission of the propriety of public encouragement to 
 churches and schools, and that on equal terms. 
 
 Fikst Statute foe an Elementaky School. 
 
 In 1791 an act was passed, authorizing six gentlemen, of whom 
 the first was Robert R. Livingston, to receive certain moneys 
 arising from excise fees and fines in the town of Clermont, in the 
 county of Columbia, and “ not wanted for the relief of the poor,” 
 and to build a school-house and maintain a school therewith. 
 Here is the first authority of the new commonwealth for an 
 elementary school. But it meant little. It levied no tax. It per- 
 mitted a town to use for a school, moneys which would legally go 
 to the support of the poor, and which were not needed for that 
 purpose. It put the alms-house and the school on about an 
 equal footing. 
 
 First General Statute Encouraging Elementary Schools. 
 
 But in six years after their first utterance, the Board of Regents 
 recurred to the matter persistently and heroically. In 1793 and 
 ’94 and ’95, the board urged the matter in their annual reports, 
 and the stanch old Governor likewise talked strongly and soundly 
 in the legislative ear. In the latter year he spoke in this fashion : 
 
 “ While it is evident that the general establishment and liberal 
 endowment of academies are highly to be commended and are 
 
17 
 
 attended with the most beneficial consequences, yet it can not be 
 denied that they are principally confined to the children of the 
 opulent, and that a great proportion of the community is excluded 
 from their immediate advantages. The establishment of common 
 schools throughout the State is happily calculated to remedy this 
 inconvenience, and will therefore engage your early and decided 
 consideration.” 
 
 These influential appeals brought from the Legislature of 1795 
 a law entitled “An act for the encouragement of schools,” which 
 became the substantial corner-stone of a State elementary school 
 system. It appropriated $100,000 each year for five years, from 
 the State treasury “ for the purpose of encouraging and maintain- 
 ing schools in the several cities and towns of this State, in which 
 the children of the inhabitants residing in the State shall be 
 instructed in the English language, or be taught English grammar, 
 arithmetic, mathematics and such other branches of knowledge as 
 are most useful and necessary to complete a good education.” 
 This was a grand and noble thing to do. The appropriation 
 was munificent when we consider the valuation upon which it 
 was levied. The entire assessable valuation then was but about 
 $100,000,000. The same rate upon our valuation would yield 
 nearly $3,500,000 as the annual State appropriation for common 
 schools now, which, by a curious coincidence, is precisely what 
 the State does appropriate. The State was then heavily in debt ; 
 it is free from debt now. But in addition to the appropriation, 
 the act required each town to raise by tax half as much more as 
 it received from the State appropriation. It did not authorize 
 this ; it required it. In the Assembly, when the bill was under 
 consideration, a motion was made to provide that each town 
 should share in the appropriation only upon condition that it 
 should raise one-half as much more by local taxation. The 
 proposition was voted down. The House said no, there shall be 
 no conditions or uncertainty about it. We will make this appro- 
 priation ; we will require each town to raise half as much more 
 as we give it, and we will set up the machinery which will insure 
 its proper expenditure for elementary schools. This was not 
 only a grand and a noble, but it was a heroic thing to do^ 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 But in other ways this first general school law reveals the 
 handiwork of the best statesmanship. It stated the purpose of 
 the law accurately and felicitously. It provided a system for 
 allotting the appropriation and for the annual election of not less 
 than three nor more than seven commissioners in each town, who 
 were to supervise and direct the system. This appropriation was 
 not intended to pay the full expense of the schools. It was only 
 to assist. It was reasoned that the people in localities would 
 associate together because of this assistance, and open schools. 
 The act contemplated the organization of school districts in the 
 country, provided for the election of trustees, and set forth their 
 powers and duties. In short, it brought into being the elements 
 of a Statt- school system, and gave shape and form to that system, 
 in essential particulars, as it exists to-day. 
 
 Wise and courageous as were the men who framed this great 
 statute and breathed the breath of life into a common school sys- 
 tem, and they were wise and courageous beyond their generation, 
 yet they had no conception of, and gave no adhesion to the doc- 
 trine now pervading the school system, that it is the duty of the 
 State to provide by common tax an elementary school within 
 easy access of every home, and that a good English education at 
 general expense is the rightful inheritance of every child of the 
 commonwealth. They advanced to the point of believing that 
 the State should encourage schools, and even to the point of 
 believing that it might rightfully do this in a substantial way 
 through its power to levy and collect taxes. But they still 
 believed that, primarily, the responsibility rested upon each indi- 
 vidual to educate his offspring, and that only when he failed to 
 do this, private or public charity might properly aid the 
 unfortunate. 
 
 It seems strange, in view of the fact that the State had pre- 
 viously confided its educational interests, so far as it had acted at 
 all, to the Board of Regents, and that the common school system 
 was established largely through the influence of that board, that 
 it did not give the Regents supervision of the new system. But it 
 did not do so. On the contrary, the bill recited that special pro- 
 vision had previously been made for encouraging colleges and 
 ^.cademies, and provided that nothing contained in this act should 
 
19 
 
 be construed as extending to such institutions. In 1800, a strong 
 movement was made for continuing the provisions of the act of 
 1795 for another five years. It succeeded in the House, but 
 failed in the Senate, near the close of the session, by a close vote. 
 Each succeeding year for five years the Governor urged the sub- 
 ject, but nothing was done. Evidence is not wanting to show 
 that the unfortunate delay and neglect resulted from differences 
 as to the best course to pursue, and particularly as to whether 
 the administration of the system should be given to the Regents. 
 In 1805, the foundations of a permanent common school fund were 
 laid, and from that time, in spite of some neglect and hin- 
 drances innumerable, the common school system has, with unvary- 
 ing uniformity, grown in strength and in efficiency. In 1798, the 
 reports received showed the organization of 1,352 schools, with 
 59,660 pupils. In 1815, there were 2,755 districts and 140,106 
 pupils. In 1830, there were 9,063 dis^tricts, and 499,424 pupils. 
 Last year there were 1,803,667 pupils in the common schools of 
 the State. 
 
 Public School Society of New York City. 
 
 Even the briefest narration of the development of the State 
 school system would be unfaithful, which failed to make mention 
 of a great organization known as the “Public School Society 
 of the City of New York.” It was chartered by the Legislature 
 in 1805, and was composed of the foremost citizens of the 
 metropolis. Its object, as stated in its charter, was to establish 
 “ a free school in the city of New York for the education of such 
 poor children as do not belong to or are not provided for by any 
 religious society.” This illustrates the prevailing sentiment of the 
 time concerning the relation which society should sustain to 
 common education, better than any language of mine can do it. 
 In acting up to the spirit of the times, and in carrying out the 
 beneficent object for which it was created, this society won the 
 gratitude of the ages. It received public and private contribu- 
 tions, and tuition fees for the support of its work ; it controlled 
 all the public schools in the city for nearly fifty years, and exerted 
 a strong influence upon the educational opinion of the country. 
 At its dissolution in 1853, it had supervised the instruction of 
 
20 
 
 600,000 children, and it turned over to the board of education of 
 the city of New York, property worth more than $450,000. 
 
 What this society was doing in the city of New York, was being 
 done in one way or another to a greater or less extent, by 
 associated effort in all the cities and towns of the State. 
 
 Growth of the System. 
 
 The fact that the State assumed to regulate the affairs of the 
 schools to some extent, as well as the aid which it gave them, 
 coupled with the growing public interest in them and the ardor 
 of the professional educators, steadily promoted the growth and 
 development of the system till, in the judgment of the most com- 
 petent and impartial witnesses, it clearly led the educational work 
 of the country. In his annual report for 1845, Horace Mann, 
 secretary of board of education of Massachusetts, says : “The 
 great State of New York is carrying forward the work of public 
 education more rapidly than any other State in the Union, or any 
 other country in the world.” And Henry Barnard, of Connec- 
 ticut, at the first meeting of your association in the same 
 year, said, “I have watched the progressive improvement in the 
 organization and administration of the school system of this great 
 State with intense interest, and regard it at this time as superior 
 to any other of which I have any knowledge, for its extent, its 
 liberality, its efiiciency and the general intelligence and activity 
 with which its widespread affairs are administered.” These will 
 be recognized, at once, as great names — perhaps the greatest — in 
 the history of common school development in the country. 
 
 The Bate Bill. 
 
 The early legislation seems to have been framed on the belief that 
 the income of the State School Fund, and the tax equal to one-half 
 its share, which each district was required to raise, would support 
 the schools, but this was found to be inadequate, and then it was 
 provided that the schools should be maintained a specified time 
 each year, and that any deficiency in funds should be collected 
 from the patrons of the schools in proportion to the attendance of 
 their children. This gave rise to the “ rate bill.” It was only a 
 tax levied upon parents in proportion to the number of days 
 which their children attended the school. The amounts raised in 
 
21 
 
 this way were not inconsiderable. In 1830 it was $374,000; in 
 1840, $475,000 ; in 1867, the last year of the system, it was 
 $709,000. The average sum annually collected by rate bill in the 
 forty years from 1828 to 1868, was $410,685.66. 
 
 The greatest contest concerning schools which the State has 
 known was over the abolition of the rate-bill and the consequent 
 establishment of absolutely free schools. Every man here, past 
 50 years of age who is accustomed to be interested in affairs, will 
 feel the blood coursing more rapidly through his veins at the 
 remembrance of the fight for schools, free to all and maintained 
 at public expense. I fear none of the ladies are old enough 
 to recall it. 
 
 The system became odious. It discriminated against the poor. 
 Although it permitted trustees to excuse such from paying fees, 
 no self-respecting man could suffer himself to be publicly 
 adjudged to be poor, by a school trustee. It afforded a good 
 excuse, or plausible pretext for non-attendance. It was attended 
 with many misunderstandings and disputes, and promoted 
 demoralization in many ways. Sentiment was deeply agitated, 
 and found expression in every direction. In 1849, the Legislature 
 submitted the question to a vote of the people, and the returns 
 showed 249,872 in favor of making “ the property of the State 
 educate the children of the State,” and 91,951 against it. The 
 opponents were not content. In 1850, they procured legislation 
 resubmitting the question, and the returns showed 209,616 against 
 the rate bill, and 184,303 for the old system. Still the opponents 
 were not content. In 1850, a kind of compromise was effected, and 
 the controversy was attempted to be settled by restoring the rate 
 bill and levying a State tax for $800,000, to be distributed with 
 the school money. This tax increased to larger amounts has 
 been annually raised since, and is technically known as the “ free 
 school fund.” 
 
 But, as a general thing, the cities would not tolerate the rate 
 bill. At their solicitation the Legislature, from time to time, 
 passed special acts creating a board of education with general 
 powers and duties, and in this manner set up an organized school 
 system in each city. These special laws ordinarily authorized 
 taxation adequate to the entire support of the schools, and thus 
 
22 
 
 the rate bill became obsolete in most of the cities at a compara- 
 tively early day. 
 
 In the meantime, the “ union free school district system ” 
 became legally permissible, and met with considerable favor. It 
 authorized districts to combine and- establish a graded school, 
 and meet the expenses by a general tax, thus obviating the 
 necessity for the rate bill, in communities adopting it. In 1867, 
 under the impetuous and able leadership of Victor M. Eice, the 
 rate-bill system was finally abolished, and the principle that the 
 schools should be absolutely free to all and supported at public 
 and general expense, was fully and triumphantly established. 
 
 What has Promoted the Growth of the Common School System. 
 
 Now permit me, in as few words as I can well employ, to speak of 
 the distinguishing characteristics which have made our State school 
 system the leading influence in developing the intellectual, and 
 therefore the material life of the commonwealth, and have consti- 
 tuted it a model for other States, so far as their representatives 
 have had the foresight and the courage to follow it. It may fairly 
 be said that these are four in number: 
 
 1. State support. 
 
 2. Extent and manner of supervision. 
 
 3. Technical training of teachers. 
 
 4 . Cooperative effort. 
 
 State Support. 
 
 The State has not, at all times, done all that her ardent educa- 
 tors have asked. Her generosity has been so munificent that 
 their standard has been high and their expectations great. For 
 many years her authority has been potent, and her bounty plen- 
 teous. Passing the first splendid appropriation, before the dawn 
 of the nineteenth century, to which I have previously adverted, 
 we find that in 1805, she laid the foundation of a permanent com- 
 mon school fund, and provided for its increase, until last year it 
 amounted to $4,000,000. Acting upon the commonly accepted 
 theory of the times, large sums were appropriated year after 
 year to encourage schools. At an early day, the State began 
 the policy of requiring localities to raise by tax such additional 
 amounts as were necessary to maintain schools, and author- 
 
23 
 
 ized all communities to levy such additional amounts as they 
 saw fit for the same purpose. More than fifty years ago, the 
 State initiated the school district library system, and since 
 that time has annually made a liberal appropriation to maintain 
 the same. It is true that portions of this money have been 
 diverted to other uses, and that the whole matter needs revision 
 now, but it is equally true that the millions of volumes which the 
 fund has supplied, greatly enhanced the efficiency of the schools, 
 and promoted the mental growth of the people of the State. In 
 1851, it disavowed the old doctrine that education was the rightful 
 inheritance of the opulent, but ought to be doled out in reason- 
 able quantities as a charity offering to the poor, adopted the 
 principle that :he property of the State should educate the 
 children of the State, and began regularly to levy a State tax for 
 schools, and commenced the annual appropriation of the “ free 
 school fund.” Under this policy the amount raised by general 
 and local taxation for common schools in the State, has rapidly 
 advanced from $1,600,000 in 1850, to $3,700,000 in 1860 ; 
 $10,000,000 in 1870; and nearly $17,000,000 last year. In 1866, 
 the State extended to local authorities the power to acquire 
 land for school sites by the right of eminent domain. It is a 
 lesson wdiich the States of the Union have been slow to learn, 
 and which some of them will apparently never learn, that the 
 efficiency of a school system must necessarily depend largely upon 
 the extent of support, and the proper but complete exercise of 
 State authority. Men who understand it, not uncommonly lack 
 the courage to say so. The Empire State appreciated this fact early, 
 earlier than any other, and her statesmen have acted with wisdom 
 and courage in the matter. Now, for many years, the authority 
 and power of the State have been freely exerted in innumerable 
 ways to the extension and betterment of school property, and the 
 improvement of the schools. 
 
 Extent and Manner of Supervision. 
 
 When New York first took action looking to the organization of 
 common schools, town commissioners with trustees in subdistricts 
 were provided for. When the time came to set about reducing 
 the disconnected schools, which under her aid and encouragement 
 
24 
 
 had been organized in her cities and towns and along her 
 picturesque hillsides and valleys, into something like an organized 
 and related system, she did it through a general system of super- 
 visory officers, a plan which has since been put in operation in all 
 the States of the Union, but in the adoption of which she clearly 
 led the way. 
 
 In 1812, an act was passed providing for the appointment, by 
 the counsel of appointment, of a State Superintendent of Common 
 Schools. The same statute also provided for the election in each 
 town, at the annual town meeting, of three commissioners to super- 
 intend and manage the affairs of the schools within their town. 
 In 1814, this statute was reenacted with some amendments, among 
 which was a provision that there should also be chosen at each 
 town meeting “ a suitable number of inhabitants not to exceed 
 six,” to act with the three commissioners as inspectors of common 
 schools. 
 
 Upon the office of Superintendent of Common Schools being 
 established, Gideon Hawley, then a young lawyer, and whom I 
 recollect as a pleasant and dignified old gentleman on the streets 
 of Albany sixty years later, was appointed to fill it. His vigor- 
 ous intellectual powers and his devotion to the duties of his posi- 
 tion brought a stately and compact system out of disorganization, 
 chaos and confusion, and gained for him a large share of public 
 confidence and esteem. But he did not get on well with the 
 wicked politicians with which the State seems to have been 
 infested in those early days. The counsel of appointment removed 
 him just prior to the expiration of its own life, as provided by the 
 Constitution of 1821, and appointed Welcome Esleeck in his 
 place. So strong was the public indignation concerning this act, 
 that the Legislature promptly abolished the office of Superinten- 
 dent, and devolved the duties thereof upon the office of Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 Chapter 260 of the Laws of 1841, is very important in that it 
 provided for the appointment, by the board of supervisors in 
 each county, of a deputy superintendent of common schools for 
 the county, except that in counties having more than 200 school 
 districts, they were to appoint two deputies. Here we find the 
 beginning of the county or district commissioner system. 
 
25 
 
 In 1843, the offices of town commissioners and inspectors were 
 abolished, and provision was made for the election in each town 
 at town-meeting, of a “ town superintendent of common schools.” 
 
 In 1847, the office of county deputy-superintendent or county 
 superintendent, as it had come to be called, was abolished. 
 
 In 1854, by a bill introduced by Hon. William H. Robertson, 
 then and now the Senator from the Westchester district, and 
 always the steadfast and able friend of the schools, the State 
 Department of Public Instruction was organized, and the office of 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction was created. 
 
 In 1856, the office of town superintendent was abolished, and 
 that of school commissioner was again created. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that we have had supervision by State 
 officers since 1812, by county or district officers from 1841 to 1847 
 and from 1856 to the present time, and by town officers from 1795 
 to 1856. The general features of this comprehensive plan of 
 school supervision have affected the development of the school 
 system most advantageously. 
 
 Eminent Superintendents. 
 
 In the list of State Superintendents, some very eminent names 
 appear. 
 
 Gideon Hawley was, in his' way, truly a great man. Of lofty 
 personal attributes and great natural dignity of character, yet 
 modest and retiring in demeanor, he was methodical, pains- 
 taking and persevering to the last degree, the ideal man through 
 the period of construction and organization. For the paltry sum 
 of $300 per year, he perfected a system for the management of the 
 School Fund, and for the organization of districts, provided for 
 the fair and equitable distribution of the bounty of the State in 
 each district, and set in operation the vast and intricate machinery 
 of the State school system. The State never rewarded him for 
 his disinterested labors, but posterity will not withhold the credit 
 which is his due. 
 
 Particularly fortunate was the State in its general superinten- 
 dents from 1826 to 1845. This period is covered by the continu- 
 ous administration of four great men — Azariah C. Flagg, John 
 A. Dix,- John C. Spencer and Samuel Young. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 The first had been in the Legislature several years before com- 
 ing to this work, and went from it to the office of Comptroller of . 
 the State, which he filled from 1834 to 1846, and rounded out a 
 reputation as one of the truly eminent men of the State. 
 
 Of General Dix, the world knows. Before he put his great, . 
 natural and scholastic abilities at the service of our school sys- 
 tem, he had been on a special and delicate mission to Denmark, 
 and received high military honor, including the office of Adjutant- 
 General of the State. He afterwards held innumerable positions 
 of public trust, including those of Secretary of the Treasury, United 
 States Senator, Major-General in the United States army during 
 the rebellion, and finally Governor of this State. 
 
 Mr. Spencer was a graduate of Union, and had served one term 
 as Attorney- General, one term in Congress, and two in the State 
 Senate, and had served as a Commissioner in revising the statutes 
 of the State, before he became Superintendent of Common 
 Schools, and was Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury 
 afterward. 
 
 Samuel Young had been in each House of the Legislature, had 
 served as Canal Commissioner from 1816 to 1840, and was the 
 Democratic candidate for Governor against Mr. Clinton in 1824. 
 Incidentally it is amusing to recall that in more illiberal times 
 than these, he once denied an application to revoke the certificate 
 of a teacher for dancing, card-playing and drinking, on the ground 
 that he did the same things himself when a young man. 
 
 I speak of these four men with some particularity, not so much 
 because they otherwise attained such great prominence, as to 
 recall the qualities which they brought to the discharge of the 
 duties of Superintendent, and to point out their influence upon 
 the affairs of the schools. They occupied the office through a 
 trying and critical period. They enjoyed the office and filled it. 
 They shaped the policy and gave tone and substance to the whole 
 system. Their decisions have, in many instances, become the 
 common law of the schools. Their strong sense of right and their 
 uncompromising steadfastness constituted a secure fortress against 
 which the waves of ignorance, prejudice and controversy might 
 beat harmlessly and without effect. Other names are entitled to 
 a place upon the bright side of the temple of fame, and to share 
 
27 
 
 in the gratitude of the commonwealth for exerting an exceptional 
 influence in behalf of her schools, but it was the matchless leader- 
 ship of these four great men, from 1826 to 1845, which, according to 
 Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, placed the New York system 
 in the advance of all the rest at the end of that period. 
 
 To every one of the old State Superintendents may be traced 
 some prominent feature of our present school system. Besides 
 those whose names I have mentioned, Nathaniel S. Benton and 
 Christopher Morgan, Henry S. Eandall and Elias W. Leaven- 
 worth, Victor M. Bice and Henry H. Van Dyck, were strong men, 
 all of them. The aggressiveness of some of them, and the sub- 
 stantial conservatism of others, perhaps in equal degree, have 
 impressed themselves upon the work of the schools, and so com- 
 bined all in a common system, as to carry the best feature of each 
 to all the remotest parts of the State. 
 
 Necessary Authority. 
 
 The extreme decentralization of authority, the mistaken idea 
 that the operation of the schools should largely be left to local 
 direction, has been a great drawback upon American public 
 schools. The power and authority which, at a very early day, this 
 State vested in its School Department, has given it an advantage 
 over its neighbors, which they will recover only with extreme 
 difficulty. It is possible that this authority has been injudiciously 
 or erroneously exercised upon occasions. I do not believe it has 
 ever been exercised maliciously or influenced by unworthy con- 
 siderations. In any event, the presence of such an exalted power, 
 the fact that it may be speedily and conclusively exercised, and 
 that, ordinarily, it is well exercised, has quelled disputes, shaped 
 policy, directed and applied energy, procured support, concen- 
 trated effort, made the school system the creature of the State, 
 and in innumerable ways promoted its healthful and productive 
 activity. For the same reasons, if not in equal degree, local super- 
 vision has been helpful to the development of the school system. 
 The work of the city superintendent and the county commissioner 
 has promoted uniformity, put out incompetency, aided and 
 encouraged the timid, directed the strong, curbed the passionate, 
 and in more ways than can be mentioned, given effectiveness 
 
28 
 
 to tlie means and tlie energies devoted to the service of the 
 schools. In short, the system of supervision which is everywhere 
 present, with its authority to regulate buildings, certify teachers, 
 control all the concerns of the schools, and which is required to 
 collate and report the facts, and is held in a large measure 
 responsible for results, has been a potent influence in advancing 
 the character and efficiency of the schools. 
 
 Pkofessional Training of Teachers. 
 
 The next feature which must attract the attention, in investi- 
 gating the causes which have been most potential in advancing the 
 State free school system, is the continuous and costly effort to 
 improve the teaching service. Aside from an exceedingly small 
 number of prominent positions, the compensation of teachers 
 has, from the beginning, been so moderate that persons with 
 the required qualifications would be allured to other occupa- 
 tion by larger remuneration. It must be admitted, also, 
 that the uncertainties and humiliating conditions surround- 
 ing a teacher’s employment, are frequently such as to drive 
 an independent and self-respecting person to other work 
 at no better pay. For these and other reasons not necessary 
 here to enumerate, the greater number of persons who com- 
 mence teaching, do so upon the understanding that it is only a 
 temporary expedient, and not a permanent means of livelihood. 
 This has made it exceedingly difficult to secure the requisite 
 number of persons completely, or even measurably, adapted to 
 the instruction of the schools. This has been largely so from the 
 beginning, but the fact has been more prominent in recent years 
 because the qualities which constitute a good teacher, and the 
 vast importance of having such qualities in every school-room, 
 have come to be so much more generally understood. 
 
 The best statesmanship of New York appreciated this matter 
 from a comparatively early date, and at once began special efforts 
 for training competent teachers for the schools. In his annual 
 message to the Legislature, in 1826, Governor DeWitt Clinton 
 referred to the subject in these words : 
 
 With a full admission of the merits of several who now officiate 
 in that capacity, still it must be conceded that the information of 
 the instructors of our common schools does not extend beyond 
 
rudimental education ; that our expanding population requires 
 constant accessions to their numbers ; and that to realize these 
 views, it is necessary that some new plan for obtaining able 
 teachers should be devised. I therefore recommend a seminary 
 for the education of teachers. A compliance with this recom- 
 mendation will have the most benign influence on individual 
 happiness and social prosperity.” 
 
 In his annual message in 1827, the Governor recurs to the sub- 
 ject with added emphasis, and goes so far as to recommend a 
 central school in each county for the special education of teach- 
 ers. In that very year the Legislature added $150,000 to the 
 capital of the Literature Fund, “to promote the education of 
 teachers.” 
 
 From this time there was much discussion of the subject until 
 a statute was enacted in May, 1834, which authorized the Kegents 
 to spend a portion of the Literature Fund in specially educating 
 teachers, and this brought into existence the teachers’ classes in 
 the academies. The sum of $500 was given to purchase books 
 and apparatus for an academy in each of the Senate districts as 
 they then existed, and the further sum of $400 was given for the 
 support of an instructor in each academy. The classes for teach- 
 ers were opened in these academies in the autumn of 1835. In 
 succeeding years the appropriations were increased, and thus the 
 number of classes was multiplied. This work has been continuous 
 to the present time. A. year ago the supervision of these classes 
 was transferred from the Board of Regents to the Department of 
 Public Instruction, and this year the appropriation was raised 
 from $30,000 to $60,000. 
 
 In April, 1843, the first teachers’ institute was held at Ithaca. 
 There were twenty-eight teachers present, and the session con- 
 tinued two weeks. These gatherings of teachers were at first 
 voluntary, but soon came to be regulated and supported by the 
 State. In later years they have been held with regularity in each 
 commissioner district, and teachers have been paid for attendance, 
 while attendance has been compulsory. 
 
 In 1844, the first State normal school was opened at. Albany. 
 Others have been established from time to time until now there 
 are ten of these institutions, and the eleventh is to be opened in the 
 coming autumn. These schools have real estate worth $1,400,000, 
 
30 
 
 and furniture and apparatus valued at $150,000 more. Last 
 year they had all told 6,468 pupils and graduated 537. The State 
 paid for the maintenance of these institutions last year, 
 $272,581.85. In March last the name of the original school was 
 changed to that of “ The New York State Normal College,” and it 
 will hereafter receive only pupils who have more fully completed 
 their work in subject matter in the ordinary schools, and will 
 devote its entire time to the technical training of teachers, not 
 only for the elementary, but the advanced schools. 
 
 In 1870, the city of New York opened a normal college for the 
 purpose of preparing teachers for the public schools of that city, 
 and from which the supply is largely drawn ; and in nearly every 
 other city of the State, special schools or classes are continually 
 maintained for the same purpose. In most cities of the State no 
 teachers are certified or employed who, in addition to scholastic 
 attainments, do not show a year or more of professional training. 
 A bill to establish this principle in all cities and villages, employ- 
 ing a superintendent of schools, passed the last Legislature with 
 but little opposition, and only failed to become a law for want of 
 the approval of the Governor. The law would only have hastened 
 matters somewhat. The inevitable trend is in this direction. 
 The city that does not exact as much will soon find itself behind 
 the times. Wdth or without law, the time will soon come when 
 some special and technical training will be exacted on the part of 
 all persons seeking employment in the schools of our cities and 
 villages. 
 
 In the country, the uniform system of simultaneous examina- 
 tions for teachers and the multiplication of teachers’ training 
 classes in the academies and union schools are leading steadily in 
 the same direction. 
 
 The Empire State has a proud record upon this matter, and I 
 refer to it with pride and satisfaction. She commenced the work of 
 training teachers early. I do not claim for the fathers who inaugu- 
 rated the work, sixty years ago, a very clear comprehension of the 
 problems involved. They probably knew but little of psychology 
 and pedagogy. They were not thinking of technical or professional 
 training. Th^y were looking for teachers who had knowledge with- 
 out much reference to the art of transmitting it successfully. In 
 
31 
 
 making provision at public expense for even the education of 
 such, they builded up academies in all parts of the State, and 
 created centers where learning glowed to radiate and illumine 
 all the country round about. They reared and trained scholars 
 who, in their turn, stimulated and promoted educational and 
 public school development everywhere. They heightened the 
 general intelligence, and hastened the time when the common 
 sentiment of the people will forbid that helpless children shall be 
 delivered into the care of other children, or of weaklings and 
 unfortunates on the one hand, as well as the unfit favorites of 
 small politicians on the other. They opened the way for the early 
 understanding of the difficult problem involved, and the general 
 acceptance of the proposition that teachers in the schools must 
 be not only liberally educated, but specially and technically 
 trained, or come short of the requirements of the service. All 
 honor to the statesmanship which inaugurated, as well as to that 
 which has since sustained and prosecuted this work so intelligently 
 and generously. It has contributed more than it knew to the 
 intellectual and moral health of the commonwealth. 
 
 Voluntary Associations. 
 
 The remaining great influence which has promoted the healthful 
 development of our public school system, and which I shall feel 
 justified in taking time to consider, is that of the voluntary 
 associations of the friends of education, and particularly of teach- 
 ers. This influence has been a most consequential one. The 
 order in which I mention it must not be accepted as an indication 
 of its importance. I think you will find the subject interesting. 
 I know you would if there was time to thoroughly investigate it. 
 
 “Society of Associated Teachers,” New York City, 1794. 
 
 In the custody of the State library at Albany, in company with 
 the original Andre papers, the original copy of President Lincoln’s 
 Emancipation Proclamation, the original of Washington’s Farewell 
 Address, there is a manuscript volume of more interest to us than 
 any of them. It is the original minutes of the first permanent or 
 continuing teachers’ association in America. It was an associa- 
 tion of schoolmasters, organized in New York city in May, 1794. 
 
32 
 
 The minutes are neatly and correctly kept, and indicate that any 
 one of the secretaries would have been able to pass the State 
 examination, if they had had such mechanical contrivances for 
 testing the qualifications of teachers in those days. The journal 
 shows that meetings were held with much regularity at least till 
 1807. The first meeting was held May 15, 1794, at the school- 
 room of “ Citizen, Gad Ely.” The first resolution adopted after 
 agreeing to organize, was one “ that the person filling the chair 
 for the time being, be authorized to call to order any member 
 when necessary.” The fact that this precaution* was deemed 
 necessary will at once put us on terms of easy fellowship 
 with these early teachers. John Wood was chosen chairman, 
 and John Winchell secretary. Fifteen persons were present 
 at the first meeting. Opposite nearly every name in the list, some 
 hand has written the words “ since dead.” It was essentially a 
 secret society. It may seem superfluous, therefore, to state the 
 related fact that no ladies were admitted. Members were elected 
 by ballot, requiring a three-fourths vote to elect, and were received 
 into membership by an initiatory ceremony. The admission fee 
 was one dollar. Meetings were held in the school-rooms or at 
 the residences of the members, and ordinarily about every week. 
 From the twenty -first of March to the twenty-first of September, 
 the association met at 8 o’clock and adjourned at 10, and from the 
 twenty-first of September to the twenty-first of March, it met at 7 
 and adjourned at 9 o’clock. The time of meeting suggests early 
 hours and regular habits in somewhat striking contrast with 
 those observed by their successors in office. Six shillings were 
 paid to the secretary that he might purchase a record book, and 
 he secured a good one, bound in leather, every page of which is 
 water-lined with an English coat-of-arms, and the letters “ G. K.” 
 in remembrance of the fact that one of the Georges was king. 
 On July 21, 1794, the common council granted the association the 
 right to meet in the common council chamber “ at such time as the 
 same shall not be occupied by the public on business or by the 
 Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, the Medical 
 Society, or the St. Cecilia’s Society.” With the assurance of a 
 veteran, the infant at once drew on the St. Cecilia’s Society to 
 change its night of meeting for the better convenience of 
 
33 
 
 the schoolmasters’ association. The officers were a president, 
 secretary and steward. They served for three months, were 
 required to take an obligation or pledge to perform faithfully the 
 duties of the several offices, and the president and secretary were 
 fined twenty-five cents, and the steward eighteen and one-half 
 cents for each absence, unless excused. 
 
 But with all these incidental matters which inspire a smile, this 
 association did substantial work. Its proceedings were of prac- 
 tical interest and importance. The association assumed to act as 
 a breakwater against incompetency in the schools. A committee 
 of seven was appointed to examine persons wishing to teach, and 
 such as they found worthy, they certified to be so. It is to be 
 hoped that they did not forget that they were once young and 
 inexperienced themselves. The association also examined and 
 recommended text-books, and evidently compelled such text- 
 book publishers as there were, to treat the society with proper and 
 becoming respect. The City Library conferred upon the associa- 
 tion one membership right in that institution, and a “ reader” was 
 appointed to examine the books and report any information he 
 might receive, for the good of the society. When any student 
 was so disorderly as to oblige the master to expel him, the facts of 
 the case were reported for the information of all. The association 
 assisted its members in collecting tuition fees from slow patrons. 
 Among the subjects considered, the following are observed, viz. : 
 “Is silent study or studying aloud most conducive to the improve- 
 ment of scholars?” “Whether a systematical method of teaching 
 penmanship is more eligible than such methods as are commonly 
 pursued ? ” “ Whether the practice of good flagellations by the 
 
 tutor is advantageous to the good regulation of a school ? ” 
 “Whether it is better to subject the passions to reason or root 
 them out? ” “Ought any religion further than morality be incul- 
 cated in the schools?” “Whether an indolent person of great 
 abilities or one of inferior talents and assiduity makes the best 
 teacher?” “Is the same mode of education equally applicable 
 to the male and female sex ? ” 
 
 They decided that a “theater, under the usual regulations, was 
 not unfavorable to morals;” and that “the present situation of 
 affairs was unfavorable to matrimony;” that “ it would not be 
 5 
 
34 
 
 good policy to manumit slaves in America immediately,” and the 
 association seems to have gone to pieces in trying to decide 
 whether “ the mental powers of the Aborigines of North America 
 were equal to those of the Europeans.” 
 
 These reminiscences of this, the earliest of teachers’ associations, 
 might be continued almost indefinitely. But so much must suffice 
 for the present. It was a primitive organization, but it shows a 
 devotion to their calling on the part of these old teachers. With 
 steadfast earnestness they continued for thirteen years at least, 
 to maintain a teachers’ association for mutual improvement, 
 and the advancement of their schools. They had no precedents 
 to guide them, no successes and failures to light their path. 
 They did not copy ; they originated. History has not yet done 
 them justice, but it may not always be so. The State Teachers’ 
 Association may well stand with uncovered head, while it respects 
 and honors their memory. 
 
 Other Local Associations. 
 
 From the time when the State really assumed a share in the 
 support and supervision of schools, city, county and town associa- 
 tions of teachers became common, and have had no small part in 
 determining the characteristics of the school system. Almost every 
 page in the early books and periodicals related to the interests of 
 education, reports the doings of these local associations. As early 
 as 1830, the State superintendent headed a movement for the 
 organization of county and town associations and for the holding 
 of public celebrations, and as a result, there was marked activity 
 in the way of organizations in all directions, and a notable increase 
 of public interest in all the affairs of the schools. 
 
 First State Convention of Teachers. 
 
 The first State convention of teachers in this State, and the first 
 in any State, so far as my investigations have gone, was held at Utica 
 in October, 1830. , Undoubtedly a thorough investigation would 
 reveal the circumstances which led to this gathering, as well as 
 the facts touching its character and its transactions. It is shrouded 
 in some mystery, however. I am certain of but one thing con- 
 cerning it, and that is that it resolved upon and provided 
 
35 
 
 for calling a future convention. The fact that it called another 
 convention only three months later, indicates that it was a slim 
 affair, and did little, if anything beyond this. The next State 
 teachers’ convention was held at Utica, January 12, 13 and 14, 
 1831. Kev. Henry Davis, D. D., of Hamilton College, was presi- 
 dent. Most of the counties were represented, and most of the 
 names of the active school men of the day appear in the roll of 
 the convention, but we examine it in vain for the name of a 
 woman. Committees were appointed as follows, viz.: On the 
 qualifications of teachers ; on the studies and exercises proper for 
 common schools ; on appointing one or more agents for carrying 
 into effect the objects of the convention ; on the construction and 
 furnishing of school-rooms ; on the school law of the State. 
 
 The question as to whether the State should establish normal 
 schools or utilize the academies for educating teachers, was as 
 hot then as it ever has been since. The convention, for obvious 
 reasons, declared in favor of utilizing the existing schools. 
 
 The committee on “ studies and exercises in the schools,” 
 reported that the following studies should be pursued, viz. : Bead- 
 ing, writing, spelling, mental and practical arithmetic, geography, 
 English grammar, composition, a method of keeping accounts, some 
 brief systems of political economy, and some of the simpler parts 
 of the natural sciences.” The committee observe that they are 
 aware that their list is too large to be pursued in a single school, 
 especially if the number of pupils is large. They urge by way of 
 a solution of the difficulty, that one teacher should never have 
 charge of more than thirty or forty pupils, and that where the 
 school is larger than this, grading should be resorted to. The 
 committee urge among other things, that the schools should 
 “ call into action the intellectual powers of the pupils, and teach 
 them by independent investigation, to arrive at conclusions for 
 themselves, which shall be according to truth;” that pupils 
 “ should not waste time in loading the memory with what is not 
 understood ; ” that they “ should not be suffered to pronounce 
 words without a knowledge of their meaning;” that in arithmetic 
 pupils “ may derive much valuable improvement by the help of 
 sensible objects, without being burdened with rules above their 
 comprehension*” 
 
36 
 
 This convention sixty years ago, also faced the text-book 
 question, but precipitately surrendered in its presence, and con- 
 tented itself with saying that while the multiplicity of text-books 
 was a great evil, still they thought it unwise for them to enter a 
 field which would require them to discriminate, and with apparent 
 solemnity, expressed the belief that “ if a remedy shall be found 
 out for the other defects in the system of common school instruc- 
 tion, the text-book evil will gradually disappear.” 
 
 To all of this the convention agreed. It also provided for a 
 State agent to go about, hold meetings, arouse the people, 
 encourage teachers, organize lyceums, etc. 
 
 The convention seems to have been in something of a fog 
 concerning the improvement of school-rooms. It declared that 
 “ school-houses are too small, the ceilings too low, the windows 
 placed quite too near the floor, and that too little regard is paid 
 to the ventilation of the rooms.” But, in its opinion, the methods 
 of remedying these defects were “ too plain to require explana- 
 tion.” Then it immediately proceeded to explain and suggest 
 that “ instead of the plain ceilings in common use, arched ones 
 might be constructed with great advantage, and at little additional 
 expense ; and that, “for the purpose of ventilating the rooms, the 
 contrivance should be rather to let down the upper, than to raise 
 the lower sash of the windows, as by that means the greater por- 
 tion of the air, rendered unfit for respiration, may be easily 
 expelled without exposing the students seated next to the wall to 
 currents which pass through the windows, or tempting them to 
 gaze at external objects to the neglect of their proper studies.” 
 As a masterstroke in the then budding sciences of school economy 
 and school architecture, the convention proposed that all schools 
 should adopt the plan upon which the principal room in the Low- 
 ville Academy was constructed, and proceeded to describe it as 
 follows, viz. : “ The students are so seated for study that while no two 
 of them can see each other, the instructor has a full view of all his 
 pupils. This mode of seating pupils is easily carried into effect by 
 having the base of the building a dodecagon or a polygon of a less 
 number of sides, separated into two unequal divisions by a parti- 
 tion, and in the larger division should be the seat and table of the 
 instructor. On the floor of the principal room there should be con- 
 structed three or four concentric ranges of seats, ascending from 
 
37 
 
 tlie center towards the periphery of the room — as in a theater — 
 and crossed by partitions five feet high, regularly converging 
 toward the instructor’s seat.” If pupils failed to emerge from this 
 formidable machine, with their physical, mental and moral natures 
 thoroughly developed and well-polished olf, the educational situa- 
 tion would seem to be in as serious a fi:s as the pupils were when 
 in the box. 
 
 We must pass from this early convention, although we might 
 pursue our investigations into its proceedings, with great interest* 
 The convention concluded its deliberations by organizing a New 
 York State Lyceum, and by adopting an address to the public in 
 which it set forth, with much ability, the needs of the schools, 
 and called a meeting of the “ friends of education from every 
 State in the Union,” in New York city, on the first Wednesday in 
 the following May, for the formation of “a National Lyceum — a 
 republic of letters, coextensive with one polical confederacy, 
 whose aim it shall be to establish, as far as practicable, a uni- 
 versal system of education, reciprocally to yield and enjoy the 
 advantages of each other’s discovery, to bind ourselves in firmer 
 union, by the humane, yet intimate association of literature and 
 science, and relieve the asperities of conflicting interests and 
 selfish jealousies by the interchange of intellectual treasure.” 
 
 Other State Conventions. 
 
 Other conventions were subsequently held, but not with 
 regularity, until 1845. One occurred at Albany in September, 
 1836, and another at Utica in May, 1837. In May, 1842, a State 
 convention of county superintendents was held at Utica, which 
 was presided over by Jabez D. Hammond the author of the 
 “Political History of New York.” Forty-two of the fifty-nine 
 counties were represented, and Colonel Young, the State Super- 
 intendent, Horace Mann and many eminent men were present 
 and participated in the deliberations. Subsequent gatherings of 
 the same character were held at Eochester in 1843, at Albany in 
 1844, at Syracuse in 1845, and at Albany again in 1846. 
 
 Permanent Organization of “The State Teachers’ Association.” 
 
 A most important convention assembled at Syracuse on July 
 30 and 31, 1845, if its importance is to be measured by permanent 
 results. It was the first meeting of a permanent and enduring State 
 
38 
 
 Teachers’ Association. On the first day 185 delegates were pre* 
 sent from thirty-two counties. On the next day 300 teachers were 
 present. William Boss of Seneca was temporary, and J. W. Bulkley 
 of Albany, permanent president. Substantially the first business 
 was to invite all the text-book agents to address the convention, 
 and Mr. A. L. Smith of New York, agent for Smith’s geography, 
 arithmetic, grammar and divers other books ; Mr. H. H. Haw- 
 ley, publisher of Perkins’ mathematical series ; Mr. Silas Cornell, 
 manufacturer of globes, Mr. A. B. Boyle, a phonographist, Mr. B. 
 Mortimer, agent for Salem Town’s books, and others, overcame 
 the traditional and proverbial modesty of their craft sufficiently 
 to advocate their respective claims before the convention. This 
 convention discussed ably and seriously the leading educational 
 questions of the day, including the reading of the Bible in the 
 schools, the necessity for pedagogical literature, school discipline, 
 and the education and elevation of the teaching profession. It 
 determined upon and effected a permanent organization which has 
 met each year since, except that the meeting of 1850, which was 
 to have been in New York city, was not held because of the 
 prevalence of cholera. This gathering constitutes the forty-fifth 
 in the series of annual meetings. 
 
 And what a notable and noble series of educational meetings 
 it has been ! How they have been anticipated, and how they 
 have been remembered ! What tender ties of affection have been 
 here welded ! How many minds have been here opened to the 
 light ! The destiny of how many children has been here 
 influenced and directed ! How these meetings have affected the 
 educational policy of the State and the United States. 
 
 Other Associations. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the State Teachers’ Association in 
 Troy, in August, 1856, the superintendents in the cities and 
 villages, and the county commissioners, formed the State Associa- 
 tion of Commissioners and Superintendents. The association has 
 met regularly since. This organization has really come to be 
 distinctively an association of county commissioners, as the 
 superintendents have since associated themselves together in still 
 another organization. 
 
39 
 
 On the 4th day of August, 1863, the first meeting of officers and 
 teachers in our colleges and academies, convened by the Board of 
 Regents, and since called the University Convocation,” occurred, 
 and a similar meeting has been annually held at the Capitol 
 since. 
 
 In 1883, at Syracuse, the superintendents in cities and villages 
 met and organized the “ State Superintendents’ Council,” and 
 have held annual meetings at different points since. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1885, the secondary principals of the 
 State met in the High School building at Syracuse, and effected 
 an organization which has since met regularly, and has come to 
 be known as the “ Conference of Associated Academic Principals.” 
 
 Each of these organizations is in vigorous life, with a good 
 record and excellent prospects. 
 
 Influences of the Associations. 
 
 The beneficial influences which all these voluntary associations 
 have exerted, and continue to exert, in behalf of the school system, 
 is inestimable. 
 
 For a great many years a little company of gentlemen with 
 scientific or literary tendencies, and known as the “Albany 
 Institute,” has met semi-monthly in that city, and discussed sub- 
 jects of mutual interest. The meetings are so quiet and unob- 
 trusive that they attract but little attention, and influence the 
 social life of the Capital but imperceptibly. Yet John Ericsson 
 gained his idea of the revolving turret for armed war vessels from a 
 volume of the transactions of the “ Albany Institute,” and from a 
 paper read and long since forgotten, and with this idea he blew 
 the Merrimac out of water and drove to cover the most formidable 
 armed cruisers which the best engineers, unlimited means and 
 the most skillful iron and steel-workers of England could produce, 
 and restored the honor and regained the prestige of the United 
 States flag upon the high seas. 
 
 Who shall say that the deliberations of any association of 
 thinkers go for naught ? And who shall undertake to calculate 
 the extent to which all these regular and continuous gatherings 
 of teachers have promoted the general intelligence and the mental 
 strength of the State ? There is no standard for such a measure- 
 
40 
 
 ment. As I have read the records of their proceedings, I have been 
 again and again struck with the fact that the leading reforms in the 
 law governing the schools, as well as in the procedure of the schools 
 themselves, have originated with and been accomplished through 
 the operations of these associations. They have concentrated 
 forces and they have distributed information. On the one hand, 
 they have removed misunderstandings, originated suggestions, 
 carried the ripest experience and the best thought of each teacher 
 into every city, and every village, and every district ; and on the 
 other hand, they have combined educational effort, directed edu- 
 cational energy and shaped the educational policy of the common- 
 wealth. Each has become a power in itself, but the combined 
 strength of all is invulnerable. Happily, fellowship between 
 them is now so complete that no unusual movement is prosecuted 
 without the concurrence of all, and with such cooperation the 
 success of the undertaking is practically inevitable. 
 
 Small Matters. 
 
 I have now, in a way, covered the ground contemplated at the 
 outset. How inadequately I have been able to do so, I am fully 
 aware. Whether or not I have been able to interest you, I can 
 truly say that such investigation as, at odd moments, I have been 
 able to make into the circumstances which produced and the 
 causes which have advanced the State public school system, has 
 been a delight to me — such a delight as I know can not be trans- 
 mitted through any ability of mine to tell the story. I would I 
 had the time to tell you of some of the small but interesting and 
 amusing matters I have come across in my reading; — of the com- 
 plaints of the Kegents and that first New York city association, 
 because their lottery investments did not pay better dividends ; 
 of the tribulations in the State Superintendent’s office before 
 Mr. Spencer proposed printed forms for trustees’ reports in 1841 ; 
 of General Dix’s hurry and anxiety to get out his report “ before 
 the close of navigation;” of the poorer pay and “boarding around ” 
 experiences of the earlier teachers ; of “ summer schools ” and 
 “winter schools;” of the physical struggles to decide whether the 
 teacher or the big boys should control the school ; of David P. Page, 
 the first normal principal, going about with horse and wagon to 
 
41 
 
 /> 
 
 examine candidates for admission and ordinarily determining that 
 they were qaalified; of Dr. E. A Sheldon and Susan B. Anthony, 
 noble man and noble woman that they were and are, sitting side by 
 side in this association year after year, he with his resolutions for 
 the consolidation and more effective organization of educational 
 /. work, and she with her continual claim for equal rights and a fair 
 ' show for her sex. 
 
 I would like to tell you also of John Lancaster and the Lan- 
 castrian methods; of the philanthrophy of James Wadsworth, who 
 put “ The School and the Schoolmaster,” a most excellent volume 
 of 650 pages, in the hand of every officer and teacher in the State ; 
 of the reciprocal influences of the old academies upon the com- 
 . mon schools and the schools upon the academies ; of the stubborn 
 contest with sectarianism ; of the growth of high schools and night 
 schools and technical schools, — of a thousand things which have 
 contributed to the development of the school system in its present 
 form. 
 
 The field is a rich one and it is to be hoped that some loyal son 
 or daughter of the State, who is jealous of her glory and has an 
 ,, inclination and a gift for original research, will enter and 
 ^ cultivate it for the advantage and benefit of all her children. 
 
 New York Leading the Nation. 
 
 Looking back over the field we can not escape being impressed 
 J with the fact that New York has scarcely had full credit for the 
 ' magnificent part she has borne in making the history of our 
 common country. Few people, very few, have the leisure or the 
 inclination for original research. The multitude are only too 
 s ready to take statements at second hand. It is commonly as 
 , helpful to the fame of a people to have had fervent poets, orators 
 y and historians among their sons, as to have performed the deeds 
 4 .' , which light the beacon fires of history. 
 
 No one can envy New England the historic facts, and they are 
 ‘ radiant and innumerable, which are her honor and her glory. 
 Much less can I. With an English ancestry who first found 
 lodgment and built a home on the Massachusetts coast, before the 
 seventeenth century had fairly turned its meridian, and before 
 William Bradford and Miles Standish had gone to their eternal home, 
 6 
 
42 
 
 with my direct ancestor and at least two others of my blood and 
 my name in the Massachusetts line when Lexington and Concord 
 fired the sliot “ heard round the world,” and Bunker Hill rang the 
 Independence bell with a tone and a meaning it had never sounded 
 before, it would be strange indeed if I was not jealous of all that 
 belongs to the men and the women who first erected her civil and 
 religious institutions, or those other men and women who in later 
 years so heroically maintained and extended them. Their 
 character, their beliefs and their acts laid the sure foundation of 
 an imperishable fame which can never be shadowed or disparaged 
 by giving others that credit which is their due. 
 
 The colony at New Amsterdam loved liberty as dearly and cer- 
 tainly, had as true a conception of the public institutions and 
 regulations which guarantee civil and religious freedom as the 
 colony at Plymouth. New York has contributed as' liberally as 
 New England to the material, as well as the intellectual develop- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 If these observations are just in any sense, they are as related 
 to the building up of a system of common schools. The first 
 public school in America of which we have any knowledge was 
 upon Manhattan Island. The principle that all the property 
 should educate all the children of a people was first enforced 
 there. The oldest school in America is now maintained at 
 No. 248 West Seventy-fourth street in the city of New York. It 
 was in the Colony of New York that teachers were first required 
 to be certified or licensed. New York was the first State in the 
 Union to levy a general tax for the encouragement of elementary 
 schools, as she was also the first to establish a permanent State 
 Common School Fund. She was the first to establish State 
 supervision of elementary schools. She was the first to specially 
 provide for the education of teachers, and she is now doing more for 
 the professional training of teachers than any other. The institute 
 system was first established in New York. She was the first to pro- 
 vide school district libraries. She was the first to publish a journal 
 exclusively devoted to the interests of common schools. The 
 first local association of a permanent character in the country 
 among school teachers was in New York city. The first State 
 Teachers’ Convention in the country was held at Utica, and the 
 oldest permanent State Teachers’ Association in America is the 
 
43 
 
 one I now have the honor to address. The first woman’s college 
 in America was established at Elmira, and the old Albany Female 
 Academy is the first higher educational institution for women the 
 world ever knew. New York is the only State to have established 
 a special court to determine all school controversies, and provide 
 that its decisions shall be final and conclusive. It is the only 
 State to provide architects’ drawings and estimate for school- 
 houses, and to determine the character of the structures which 
 localities must provide for school purposes. It is the first and 
 only State to give statutory recognition to the work of the col- 
 leges and universities in educating teachers, and to give the same 
 recognition to teachers of acquired position who may come to us 
 from other States. We are doing more to build up a teaching 
 profession, by exacting proper qualifications on the part of teach- 
 ers and protecting their legal rights, than is being done anywhere 
 else in the country. The great State is spending more money and 
 exercising closer supervision over common schools than any other. 
 The legislative power has been and is continually being exercised 
 to consolidate and systematize her educational work upon an 
 intelligent plan, with a definite purpose, to a greater extent than 
 any commonwealth east or west. It is no thoughtless, self-con- 
 ceited boast, it is a fact in the case, which her teachers ought to 
 understand, that they may appreciate the responsibility under 
 which they rest, that for what she has done and what she is doing, 
 and what she is trying to do, her common school work occupies 
 the leading position among the States of the American Union. 
 
 Criticisms upon the Schools. 
 
 Criticism upon the work of the public schools is frequent. 
 Sometimes it is intelligent and just. Criticism of this class is 
 always welcome. But most of it is not of this kind. You may 
 have heard of the man who could never appreciate the new moon 
 because of his veneration for the old moon. Undoubtedly, you 
 have seen a man who will always believe that no other woman 
 could make such pies as his mother made when he was a boy. 
 Those men are among us yet. In the fitness of things they 
 should have been gathered to their fathers long ago, but they still 
 linger on this side of the river in a world that, according to their 
 idea, is continually becoming more and more degenerate and 
 
44 
 
 depraved. They will insist that there never was such a school as 
 the one in the little red school-house near their country home, 
 with its slab benches, text-books which had been handed down 
 through many generations, and a teacher whose principle qualifi- 
 cation was his ability to thrash big boys. Smile at these innocent 
 and well meaning relics of antiquity and let them go. But the 
 theorist and the doctrinaire is also among us. He has not been 
 in a public school for many years; probably never was. He has no 
 knowledge of school facts ; no comprehension of the problem 
 involved; yet he thinks his superior reasoning power is all 
 sufficient to bring him to a sound conclusion without any 
 knowledge of facts. He writes in the newspapers and once in a 
 while in the literary magazines. He writes learnedly, in technical 
 phrases, and enforces his profundity by quoting Latin, on occa- 
 sions. He is of the same class as the dyspeptic who is prone to 
 advise healthy people what and when they may safely eat, and as 
 the unattractive dress-reformer who assumes to educate ladies as 
 to what they should wear and how they should wear it. He too 
 is harmless ; deal with him gently. But strange as it is, the 
 enemy of the schools is among us, too. Commonly he is a secret 
 enemy, and works in the dark or by underground process to dis- 
 parage the schools. Sometimes he avows his enmity. Join the 
 issue and never spare him. Designedly or mistakenly he is the 
 enemy of free institutions and of government by the people. 
 
 Regardless of what may be said, freely admitting the oppor- 
 tunity and the duty of improvement, the fact still remains that 
 never before were the public schools of the county so well 
 housed, so well provide with books, apparatus and appliances of 
 every description, so intelligently and practically taught, so per- 
 vaded with a kindly and affectionate spirit, so full of enthusiasm 
 and progress, so fruitful of ennobling results and far reaching, 
 beneficent consequences as they are in this year of our Lord 
 1890. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 I must conclude upon the instant. Even the hasty and super- 
 ficial examination of the rise and development of our State 
 common school system, which we have been able to make in a 
 single evening, will be fruitful of suggestions which your interest 
 in the subject will easily enable you to discern. The one which 
 
45 
 
 comes to me with more force than any other is that history clearly 
 and unmistakably reveals the fact that free schools have invari- 
 ably been the accompaniment and the support of civil liberty and 
 of government by the people. Wherever there has been self- 
 government there have been common schools; wherever there 
 have been common schools mental strength and manly indepen- 
 dence have developed, and the government has been a democracy, 
 or the kingship has been only a name. 
 
 We can not doubt the stability and the permanence of our 
 unique American system of free schools. It is warp and woof of 
 our social fabric, the staunchest pillar of our governmental 
 temple. The most deserving and practical patriots are the men 
 and women who do most to simplify and perfect its machinery, to 
 make its work ennobling, and to keep its life pure. The most 
 insidious, and therefore the most dangerous, foe of the Republic 
 is the man whose politics or whose religion, whose ignorance or 
 whose selfishness, leads him, deliberately or unwittingly, to thwart 
 the best results of its high and holy mission. 
 
 I thank you for your patience; it has seemed boundless. For 
 all your thoughtful and considerate courtesy I make my most 
 respectful acknowledgments ; it encumbers the State Superin- 
 tendent with obligations which he has no power to repay save 
 only in sincere and grateful appreciation. 
 
 Note.— Investigations, incident to the preparation of the foregoing address, have led 
 me to think that an exhibit showing the extent and manner of school supervision 
 which has been in operation in this State since the organization of the school system, 
 together with a complete list of State superintendents, and a statement indicating the 
 places of meeting, and the presiding officers at the various sessions of the different 
 State associations, would be acceptable to the educators of the State, and I take the 
 liberty of adding the same in a brief appendix. I also embrace the opportunity for 
 acknowledging my indebtedness to Mr. C. W. Bardeen, of Syracuse, who kindly and 
 generously loaned from his private library rare books and documents which have 
 been of great assistance, not only in supplying this added information, but in the 
 preparation of the address itself. 
 
 A. S. 1). 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 System of Supervision. 
 
 1796 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 By State By county 
 officer. officers. 
 
 By city 
 officers. 
 
 By town 
 officers. 
 
 1813 
 
 1841 
 
 1847 
 
 
 1851 
 
 1856 
 
 1890 
 
 State Superintendents. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Gideon Hawley 
 
 Welcome Esleeck 
 
 Seo'etaries of State and Superintendents, ex officio: 
 
 John Van Ness Yates 
 
 Azariah C. Flagg 
 
 John A. Dix 
 
 John C. Spencer 
 
 Samuel Young 
 
 Nathaniel S. Benton 
 
 Christopher Morgan 
 
 Henry 8. Randall 
 
 Elias W. Leavenworth 
 
 Department of Public Instruction: 
 
 Victor M. Rice 
 
 Henry H. Van Dyck 
 
 Emerson W. Keyes* 
 
 Victor M. Rice 
 
 Abram B. Weaver 
 
 Neil Gilmour 
 
 William B. Ruggles 
 
 James E. Morrison* 
 
 Andrew S. Draper 
 
 Residence. 
 
 Chosen. 
 
 Albany 
 
 January 
 
 14, 1813 
 
 Albany 
 
 February 22, 1821 
 
 Albany 
 
 April 
 
 3, 1821 
 
 Plattsburgh 
 
 April 
 
 14, 1826 
 
 Cooperstown . . . 
 
 April 
 
 1, 1833 
 
 Canandaigua ... 
 
 April 
 
 4, 1839 
 
 Ballston 
 
 April 
 
 7, 1842 
 
 Little Falls 
 
 April 
 
 3, 1846 
 
 Auburn 
 
 November 2, 1847 
 
 Cortland 
 
 November 4, 1851 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 November 8^1863 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 April 
 
 4, 1864 
 
 Albany 
 
 April 
 
 7, 1857 
 
 Albany 
 
 April 
 
 9, 1861 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 February 
 
 1, 1862 
 
 Deerfield 
 
 April 
 
 7, 1868 
 
 Ballston Spa 
 
 April 
 
 7, 1874 
 
 Bath 
 
 March 
 
 14. 1883 
 
 New York city... 
 
 January 
 
 1, 1886 
 
 Albany 
 
 April 
 
 6, 1886 
 
 * Acting Superintendents by reason of resignations. 
 
1846 
 
 1846 
 
 1847, 
 
 1848, 
 
 1849 
 
 1860 
 
 1861. 
 
 1862, 
 
 1853. 
 
 1864. 
 
 1855. 
 
 1856. 
 
 1857. 
 
 1868. 
 
 1869. 
 
 1860. 
 
 1861. 
 
 1862. 
 
 1863. 
 
 1864. 
 
 1866. 
 
 1866. 
 
 1867. 
 
 1868, 
 
 1869. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1871. 
 
 1872. 
 
 1873. 
 
 1874. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 1878. 
 
 1879. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 
 1884. 
 
 1886. 
 
 1886. 
 
 1887. 
 
 1888. 
 
 1889 
 
 1890. 
 
 1891, 
 
 47 
 
 New York State Teachers’ Association. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 Place. 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 Utica 
 
 Rochester 
 
 Auburn 
 
 * 
 
 New York 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 Elmira 
 
 Rochester 
 
 Oswego 
 
 Utica 
 
 'Proy 
 
 Binghamton 
 
 Lockport 
 
 Poughkeepsie 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 Watertown 
 
 Rochester 
 
 Troy 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 Elmira 
 
 Geneva 
 
 Auburn 
 
 Owego 
 
 Ithaca 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 Lockport 
 
 Saratoga Springs 
 
 Utica 
 
 Binghamton 
 
 Fredonia 
 
 Watkins 
 
 Plattsburgh 
 
 Albany 
 
 Penn Yan 
 
 Canandaigua 
 
 Saratoga Springs 
 
 Yonkors 
 
 Lake George 
 
 Elmira 
 
 Saratoga Springs 
 
 Niagara Falls 
 
 Elizabethtown ... 
 
 Watkins 
 
 Brooklyn 
 
 Saratoga Springs 
 Saratoga Springs, 
 
 President. 
 
 John W. Bulkley. 
 Chester Dewey. 
 
 Joseph McKeen. 
 Samuel B. Woolworth. 
 Charles R. Coburn. 
 Charles R. Coburn. 
 John W. Bulkley. 
 Nehemiah P. Stanton. 
 Charles Davies. 
 
 Victor M. Rice. 
 
 Reuben D. Jones. 
 Leonard Hazeltine. 
 Thomas W Valentine. 
 George L. Farnham. 
 Oliver Arey. 
 
 James N. McElligott. 
 Edward A. Sheldon. 
 James Cruikshank. 
 Emerson C. Pomeroy. 
 James B. Thomson. 
 Edward North. 
 
 James Atwater. 
 Samuel G. Williams. 
 James W. Barker. 
 William N. Reid. 
 Samuel D. Barr. 
 
 J. Dorman Steele. 
 James H Hoose. 
 Edward Danforth. 
 Andrew McMillan. 
 
 H. R. Sanford. 
 
 Noah T. Clark. 
 
 Edward Smith. 
 
 John W. Mears. 
 
 Casper G. Brower. 
 James Johonnot. 
 Jerome Allen. 
 
 Albert B. Watkins. 
 
 J. A. Nichols. 
 
 Charles T. Barnes. 
 
 S. A. Ellis. 
 
 Charles E. Surdam. 
 George GriflQth. 
 
 J. W. Kimball. 
 
 E. H. Cook. 
 
 Walter B. Gunnison. 
 James M. Milne. 
 
 No meeting held on account of prevalence of cholera in New York. 
 
48 
 
 Commissioners and Superintendents’ Association. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 Place. 
 
 President. 
 
 1866 
 
 Troy 
 
 Victor M. Rice, State Supt., ex officio. 
 H. H. Van Dyck, State Supt., e officio. 
 H. H. Van Dyck, State Supt, » .officio. 
 H. H. Van Dyck, State Supt, ex officio. 
 H. H. Van Dyck, State Supt, ex officio. 
 
 1857 
 
 Cortland 
 
 1858 
 
 Elmira 
 
 1859 
 
 Lyons 
 
 I860 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 1861 
 
 
 1862 
 
 1 During the war of the rebellion, the association ceased to hold 
 
 1 meetings. 
 
 1 
 
 1863 
 
 1864 
 
 1865 
 
 Elmira 
 
 John W. Bulkley (reorganization). 
 John W. Bulkley. 
 
 James Cruikshank. 
 
 Charles T. Pooler. 
 
 * 
 
 Jason B. Wells. 
 
 Edward Smith. 
 
 * 
 
 0. F. Stiles. 
 
 Edwin McMath. 
 
 Edwin McMath. 
 
 Edwin McMath. 
 
 Edwin McMath. 
 
 Andrew McMillan. 
 
 Andrew McMillan. 
 
 Sidney G. Cooke 
 
 Sidney G. Cooke. 
 
 George V. Chapin. 
 
 Edward Wait. 
 
 George F. Crumby. 
 
 J. Joel Crandall. 
 
 Edward C. Delano. 
 
 •Tared Sandford. 
 
 1866 
 
 Geneva 
 
 1867 
 
 Auburn 
 
 1868 
 
 Owego 
 
 1869 
 
 Ithaca 
 
 1 870 
 
 Svracii se 
 
 1871 
 
 Utica 
 
 1872 
 
 Rochester 
 
 1873 
 
 Saratoga and Utica 
 
 1 874 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 1875 
 
 Rochester 
 
 1876 
 
 Watkins 
 
 1 877 
 
 Albany 
 
 1878 
 
 Utica 
 
 1879 
 
 Ithaca i 
 
 1879 
 
 Auburn 
 
 1880 
 
 Utica 
 
 1882 
 
 Albanv 
 
 1 883 
 
 Little Falls 
 
 1884 
 
 Rochester 
 
 1885 
 
 Utica 
 
 1886 
 
 Ithaca 
 
 1887 
 
 Syraonso 
 
 1888 
 
 Binghamton 
 
 Charles E. White. 
 
 James L. Lusk. 
 
 Ezra B. Knapp. 
 
 Emmons J. Swift. 
 
 1889 
 
 New York 
 
 1889 
 
 Cortland 
 
 1891 
 
 Batavia .*.. 
 
 
 
 *It is impossible at present to supply these names. Any person who can do so will 
 confer a favor by forwarding them. 
 
 Council of .Superintendents. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 Place. 
 
 President. 
 
 1 883 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 Edward Smith. 
 Charles W. Cole. 
 David Beattie. 
 
 L. C. Foster. 
 
 Charles E. Gorton. 
 
 B. B. Snow. 
 
 David Beattie. 
 
 1 884 
 
 Albany 
 
 1 88fi 
 
 Auburn 
 
 1886 
 
 Binghamton 
 
 1 887 
 
 Rochester 
 
 1888 
 
 Utica 
 
 1 889 
 
 Albany 
 
 
 
 Conferences of Associated Academic Principals. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 Place. 
 
 President. 
 
 1 885 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 George R. Cutting. 
 George R. Cutting. 
 George R. Cutting. 
 
 C. T. R. Smith. 
 
 1 886 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 1 887 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 1 888 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 1 889 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 C. T. R. Smith. 
 
 
 

 "i 
 
 
 •i 
 
 
 'f. 
 
 Si 
 
 > i