bridge, public schools, and grammar-schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, by rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, Constitution of 1784, and 1792

(The constitution of 1776 had been silent on the subject)

Sec. 83. Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community being essential to the preservation of a free government, spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to promote this end, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools; to encourage private and public institutions, rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trade, manufactures, and natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and economy, honesty and punctuality, sincerity, sobriety, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

PENNSYLVANIA, 1. Constitution of 1776

Sec. 44. A school or schools shall be established in every county by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct youth at low prices; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more universities.

Sec. 45. Laws for the encouragement of virtue, and prevention of vice and immorality, shall be made and constantly kept in force, and provision shall be made for their due execution; and all religious societies or bodies of men heretofore united or incorporated for the advancement of religion or learning, or for other pious and charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and estates which they were accustomed to enjoy, or could of right have enjoyed, under the laws and former constitution of this State.

2. Constitutions of 1790 and 1838

Sec. 1. The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide, by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the State, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis.

Sec. 2. The arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning.

DELAWARE, Constitution of 1792

(The constitution of 1776 had been silent on the subject)

ART. VIII, Sec. 12. The Legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law for ... establishing schools, and promoting arts and sciences. (Continued unchanged in the Constitution of 1831.)

NORTH CAROLINA, Constitution of 1776

41. That a school or schools shall be established by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged, and promoted, in one or more universities. (Continued unchanged in the Constitution of 1835)

GEORGIA, I. Constitution of 1777

ART. 54. Schools shall be erected in each county, and supported at the general expense of the State, as the Legislature shall hereafter point

out.

2. Constitution of 1798

ART. IV, Sec. 13. The arts and sciences shall be promoted, in one or more seminaries of learning; and the legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, give such further donations and privileges to those already established as may be necessary to secure the objects of their institution; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at their next session, to provide effectual measures for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institutions.

260. Educational Provisions of the First Ohio Constitution (Constitution of Ohio, 1803. Poore, B. P., Charters and Constitutions, vol. II, pp. 1461-63. Washington, 1877)

The first constitution of Ohio, framed by a convention meeting at Chillicothe, November 1-29, 1803, the year after its admission as a State, contained two sections which were noteworthy, for the time, for the strong stand taken for religious freedom and against any discrimination against children of the poor in the new schools to be provided by the State. These sections read:

ARTICLE VIII

That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized, and forever unalterably established, we declare

Sec. 3. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience; that no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no man shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent; and that no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship; and no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office of trust or profit. But religion, morality, and knowledge being essentially necessary to the good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction' shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience.

Sec. 25. That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor in the several counties and townships within this State, from an equal participation in the schools, academies, colleges, and universities within this State, which are endowed, in whole or in part, from the revenues arising from the donations made by the United States for the support of schools and colleges; and the doors of the said schools, academies, and universities shall be open for the reception of scholars, students, and teachers of every grade, without any distinction or preference whatever, contrary to the intent for which the said donations were made.

261. Educational Provisions of the First Indiana Constitution (Constitution of Indiana, 1816. Poore, B. P., Charters and Constitutions, vol. 1 pp. 508-9. Washington, 1877)

The first constitution of Indiana, adopted by the constitutional convention meeting at Corydon, on June 29, 1816, was noteworthy for its broad and generous provisions regarding the matter of education and the advancement of human welfare by the State. The article relating to education reads as follows:

SECTION 1. Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community being essential to the preservation of a free government, and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to this end, it shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this State for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which may be raised from such lands, or from any other quarter, to the accomplishment of the grand object for which they are or may be intended. But no lands granted for the use of schools or seminaries of learning shall be sold, by authority of this State, prior to the year eighteen hundred and twenty; and the moneys which may be raised out of the sale of any such lands, or otherwise obtained for the purposes afore

said, shall be and remain a fund for the exclusive purpose of promoting the interest of literature and the sciences, and for the support of seminaries and the public schools. The general assembly shall, from time to time, pass such laws as shall be calculated to encourage intellectual, scientifical, and agricultural improvement by allowing rewards and immunities for the promotion and improvement of arts, sciences, commerce, manufactures, and natural history; and to countenance and encourage the principles of humanity, industry, and morality.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, ascending in a regular graduation from township schools to a State university, wherein tuition shall be gratis, and equally open to all.

SEC. 3. And for the promotion of such salutary end, the money which shall be paid as an equivalent by persons exempt from military duty, except in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportions, applied to the support of county seminaries; also, all fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws shall be applied to said seminaries, in the counties wherein they shall be assessed.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to form a penal code, founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice; and also to provide one or more farms to be an asylum for such persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or other misfortunes, may have a claim upon the aid and beneficence of society, on such principles that such persons may therein find employment and every reasonable comfort, and lose by their usefulness the degrading sense of dependence.

SEC. 5. The general assembly, at the time they lay off a new county, shall cause at least 10 per cent to be reserved out of the proceeds of the sale of town-lots in the seat of justice of such county for the use of a public library for such county; and at the same session they shall incorporate a library company, under such rules and regulations as will best secure its permanence and extend its benefits.

262. Early American State School Legislation

(Digest of legislation, compiled from state histories)

The States making the best provision for schools early in their national history were the four Calvinistic-Puritan States in New England, and the State of New York, which early became a virtual westward extension of New England. Beside supporting the three colony colleges - Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale and maintaining grammar schools and academies, the laws of these five States made, for the time, good provisions for the man

agement and support of a state system of elementary schools. Summarized briefly by States the laws enacted provided as follows:

Vermont. First general state school law in 1782. District system authorized. Support of schools by district tax or rate bill on parents optional. State aid granted. 1797 Districts failing to provide schools to receive no state assistance. Reading, writing, and arithmetic to be taught in all schools. 1810 Town school tax obligatory, and gradually increased from 1 per cent to 3 per cent by 1826. 1825 — State school fund created. 1827 New school law required towns to build school buildings; required certificates of teachers; made the beginnings of school supervision; and added spelling, grammar, history, geography, and good behavior to the list of required school subjects. New Hampshire. First general state school law in 1789. Town tax required, and rate fixed; teachers' certificates required: English schools and Latin schools required in the larger towns. 1791 -Town taxes for schools increased. 1821 State school fund created. 1827Poor children to be provided with schoolbooks free.

Massachusetts. First general state school law in 1789. This legalized the practices in education of the past hundred and fifty years, and changed them into state requirements. A six-months elementary school required in every town, and twelve-months if having 100 families. Also a six-months grammar school required of every town having 150 families, and twelve-months if 200 families. All teachers to be certificated, and all grammar school teachers to be college graduates or certificated by the minister as skilled in Latin. These laws also applied to Maine, which was a part of Massachusetts until 1820.

Connecticut. Laws of 1700 and 1712 required all parishes or school societies operating schools to maintain an elementary school for from six to eleven months a year, varying with the size of the parish. Law of 1714 required inspection of schools and teachers. These laws continued in force by the new State. A permanent school fund had been created in 1750 by the sale of some Connecticut lands, and in 1795, on the sale of the Western Reserve in Ohio for $1,200,000, this was added to the permanent school fund. 1798 - School visitors and overseers ordered appointed.

New York. Little of an educational nature had been done in this State before the Revolution, except in the matter of church charity schools. In 1795 a law, valid for five years, was enacted which distributed $100,000 a year to the counties for schools. By 1798 there were 1352 schools in 16 of the 23 counties, and 59,660 children were enrolled. On the expiration of the law, in 1800, it could not be reënacted. By 1812, when the first permanent school law was enacted, New England immigration into the State had counter balanced the private-parochial