(Fig. 41) had been established in Boston (1821), but this type of secondary school had not begun to have any influence as yet. Into such a decadence had the liberally supported system of public education fallen, before the rapid development in common schools began and the influence of Horace Mann and other reformers was felt. Developments in the Other New England States.The development of common schools in Massachusetts may be considered typical of New England in general, except Rhode Island. Connecticut similarly degenerated Connecticut, into a district system, which was recognized by law in 1794, and was destined later to constitute one of the greatest problems during the period of educational development (see pp.313 and 320). Vermont likewise made Vermont, provision for town and district schools, and eventually established a state school fund and school commissioners, but this legislation was soon repealed, and the schools of the state were in a parlous condition when the awakening found them. New Hampshire and Maine also present New Hampvery similar features. In Rhode Island the voluntary Rhode Island. organization of education continued throughout the eighteenth century. In 1800 a law permitting each town to maintain 'one or more free schools' was passed, but no municipality availed itself of this permission, except Providence, and the act was repealed in 1803. The basal state law for common schools was not passed until 1828, when at length $10,000 was appropriated, and each town was required to supplement its share by such an amount as should annually be fixed in town meeting. The Extension of Educational Organization to the Northwest. It is thus evident that by the close of the first half century of the republic, there was everywhere shire, and Conditions at slowly growing up a sentiment for public education. close of transi- The development of common schools had, however, been the Southern greatly hindered in the Southern states by the separation of classes in an aristocratic organization of society. Yet tion period in and Middle states, the superior class had shown no lack of educational interest in their own behalf and had through the facilities offered reared a group of intellectual leaders, some of whom, like the far-sighted Jefferson, had caught the vision of universal education. The great diversity of nationality and creed in the Middle states, on the other hand, had fostered sectarian jealousies and the traditional practice of the maintenance of its own school by each congregation. This had proved almost as disastrous to the rise of a system of public schools, although Pennsylvania, and even more New York, had well begun the establishment of a public system. In both sections of the country public education was at first viewed as a species of poor relief, and the wealthy were unable to see any justice in being required to educate the children of others. As a result, the young 'paupers' at times had their tuition paid in private schools, and these institutions were not infrequently allowed to share in public funds. The New England states, however, as a result as opposed to of the homogeneity of their citizens, had early adhered those in New England. to a system of public schools for all, organized, supported, and supervised by the people. While the efficiency of their common schools was eventually crippled by the grant of autonomy to local districts and the arising of petty private and political interests, they had initiated this unique American product,-a public system for all, dependent upon local support and responsive to local wishes. conditions Northwest This growth of a 'common schools consciousness' was destined, as the result of a great educational awakening, to increase rapidly during the second quarter of the nineteenth century in the Middle and Southern, as well as the New England, states. But before describing this development further, it is important to see the effect of the ideals of these three sections of the country when introduced into a new part of the United States by emigrants from the older commonwealths. The new domain Effect of these referred to was those large tracts of unsettled territory, upon the belonging, according to claims more or less overlapping, Territory. to six or seven of the original states, and finally (1781), in settlement of these disputes, ceded to the federal government, with the understanding that the territory should be 'formed into distinct republican States.' After much discussion and various acts of Congress for half a dozen years, the famous 'Ordinance of 1787' was The Ordinance passed for the government of this 'Northwest Territory.' provisions for An earlier act (1785) had divided the entire territory into townships, six miles square, after the New England system, and of the thirty-six sections into which each township was subdivided, section sixteen was reserved for the support of public schools. A special contract also started the practice of providing two townships for the establishment of a university in each state. These provisions were later extended to the vast territory purchased from France in 1803 and known as 'Louisiana,' and to all the other territory afterward annexed to the United States. This federal land endowment gave an additional stimulus to the establishment of public education in the four commonwealths-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan-that were admitted from the Northwest Territory of 1787, and its education. educational de before 1840. But the final system of public education in these new states took form slowly for various reasons. Hindrances to The settlers were poor; incessant Indian wars, the wildervelopment. ness, wretched roads, and lack of transportation facilities tended to repel immigrants and leave the country sparsely settled; the large tracts of school land were slow in acquiring value, and, to attract settlers, were often leased at nominal rates or sacrificed at a small price; and social distinctions and sectarian jealousies persisted among the immigrants. As a whole, immigration from the earlier commonwealths had followed parallels of latitude, and the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were occupied mostly by people from New England and New York, and the southern by former inhabitants of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and other states where the public school system was not yet as well developed. In Michigan, however, because of its northerly location, the great influx throughout the state had come from New York, New England, and Northern Ohio. Struggle to school sys tem, Consequently, the history of public education in the first three of the new states seems to be in each case secure public largely a record of a prolonged struggle to introduce common schools among those of the people who had come from states not yet committed to this ideal, but Michigan, whose inhabitants had migrated from states where public education was in vogue, showed the germs of a public system even before statehood was conferred. The history of the common schools in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois is very similar in general outline. Each one started off by claiming two townships of land for a university and the sixteenth section for schools, and the Ohio, |