USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 49
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567
THE CATECHISM.
[1644.]
number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university. And if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, then every such town shall pay five pounds per annum to the next such school, till they shall perform such order.
" The propositions concerning the maintenance of scholars at Cambridge, made by the commissioners, is confirmed. And it is ordered, that two men shall be appointed in every town within this jurisdiction, who shall demand what every family will give, and the same to be gathered and brought into some room, in March, and this to continue yearly as it shall be considered by the commissioners."
It was also enacted that the selectmen of each town should keep a "vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors," and see to it that parents and masters did not neglect the education of the children under their care; and that all heads of fami- lies should, at least once a week "catechise their children and servants in the grounds and principles of religion ;" and parents and guardians were to learn such children and ap- prentices "some short orthodox catechism" so that they shall be able to answer the questions that may be propounded to them by their parents, masters, or the selectmen.
In the revised edition of the statutes published in 1672, these laws were substantially retained, with the omission of the last clause respecting the college at Cambridge.
In New Haven, it was ordered, in 1641, that " a free school should be set up" in that town ; and Mr. Davenport, together with the magistrates were authorized to determine what allowance should be given to it out of the common stock of the town. During the same year, a public grammar school was established there, and placed under the superintendence of Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. In 1644, in response to the pro- position of the commissioners, heretofore referred to, a yearly contribution was directed to be taken up to aid in the educa- tion of indigent students, of requisite talents at the college in Cambridge. In less than ten years after the erection of the
-
568
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
first log house in Quinnipiack, the people of New Haven colony began to consider the importance of founding a college within their own borders. Thus, in 1647, in a vote relative to the distribution of home lots, the committee were directed to "consider and reserve what lot they shall see neat and most commodious for a college, which they desire may be set up as soon as their ability will reach thereunto." At a meet- ing of the General Court, June 28, 1652, it was "thought to be too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to undergo alone," but, they add, "if Connecticut do join, the planters are generally willing to bear their just proportion for erect- ing and maintaining a college there."
In a code of laws for New Haven colony, drawn up by Governor Eaton, and published in London in 1656, it was made the duty of the deputies, or constables of the several towns, to see to it that all children and apprentices of a suit- able age are taught to "read the Scriptures and other good and profitable printed books in the English tongue." In cases where the parent or guardian refused or neglected this duty, fines were imposed ; and if he persisted in his neglect, the court was authorized to "take such children or apprentices from such parents or masters," and place them in the care of others "who shall better educate and govern them."
After the union of the colonies of New Haven and Con- necticut, in 1665, the laws of New Haven colony were super- ceded by those of Connecticut. In the code of 1672, it was provided that a grammar school should be established in every county, to be under the superintendence of a teacher who should be capable of fitting young men for college. To further this object, six hundred acres of land were appropri- ated by the General Court to each of the four county towns- Hartford, New Haven, New London, and Fairfield,-" to be improved in the best manner that may be for the benefit of a grammar school in said county towns, and to no other use or end whatever." As this order seems not to have been in all cases complied with, it was directed, at the May session, 1677, that where any county town should "neglect to keep a Latin
569
GOVERNOR HOPKINS' WILL.
[1658.]
School according to order," a fine of ten pounds annually should be levied and paid to the next town in that county that would comply with the terms. A fine of five pounds was imposed upon any town in the colony which should neglect to provide a school for a period of more than three months in each year.
In 1690, the county schools in Hartford and New Haven were made free schools and constituted of a higher grade. In them, children were to be taught reading, writing, arith- metic, the Latin and English languages. At the same time, it was made the duty of the grand jurors, each year, to visit every family suspected of neglecting the education of the chil- dren and servants, and report all such neglects to the county court, which court shall impose a fine of 20s. for each child or servant whose education is thus neglected.
On the 2d of June, 1658, Governor Hopkins, died in Lon- don, leaving by will certain property in New England, for the "encouragement in those foreign plantations for the breeding up of hopeful youth both at the grammar school and college, for the public service of the country in future times." This bequest was left in trust to Theophilus Eaton, Esq., and Rev. John Davenport, of New Haven, and to Mr. William Goodwin, and Mr. John Cullick, of Hartford. After much contention and doubt as to the precise intentions of Governor Hopkins, the legatees finally allotted £400 to Hartford, and £412 to New Haven. These sums laid the foundations of the " Hopkins Grammar Schools," which are still flourishing in each of those towns.
The Hopkins fund, in New Haven, now consists of a valu- able lot on which the school-house stands, a building lot in Grove-street, $2,000, and bank stock valued at $2,500. The fund sustained a loss of $5,000 by the failure of the Eagle Bank in 1823. The Hopkins fund, at Hartford, amounted in 1852, to $20,000, and yielded in that year an income of $1,500 .*
* Annual Report for 1853, of the Hon. Henry Barnard, Superintendent of the
570
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
In the revised edition of the laws, published in 1702, the same general acts for the support of schools were retained, and, in addition, a tax was ordered to be collected each year, of forty shillings on every thousand pounds in the grand list, which was to be paid proportionably to those towns only which should keep their schools according to law. Slight alterations and amendments were made to this provision, but it remained substantially the same for many years. In 1712, it was extended to parishes, instead of towns-and from the year 1717, to the present time, parishes or ecclesiastical societies have been authorized in some cases to conduct business connected with common schools.
In May, 1733, the committee that had previously been appointed to view the seven townships" belonging to the colony, recommended that an act should be passed granting all the monies that might be realized from the sale of those towns, " to be improved and secured forever to the use of the schools" of the several towns in the colony that had already been set- tled ; and that one of the fifty-three shares in each of the seven townships " should be sequestered for the use of the school or schools in such town forever." The funds received from the sale of the townships named, now constitutes a portion of the local school fund of the different towns and societies. t
Another edition of the statutes, newly revised, was pub- lished in 1750, under the supervision of a committee appointed in 1742. No important change was effected in the school laws. Every town where there was but one ecclesiastical society, and having seventy householders and upwards, and every ecclesiastical society having that number of house- holders, was compelled to maintain at least one good school for eleven months in each year ; and every town and society with less than seventy families was obliged to sustain a good
Common Schools of Connecticut. A portion of the Hopkins property was allotted to Harvard College, which now amounts to more than $30,000.
* Norfolk, Goshen, Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury, and Sharon.
t Annual Report of the Hon. Henry Barnard.
1
571
THE RESERVATION.
school for at least half of each year. The majority of legal voters in each town and society, were clothed with full power to lay taxes and make all the necessary arrangements in relation to the establishment and support of schools. The selectmen of each town containing but one ecclesiastical society, and a committee of each society when there was more than one, were empowered to manage all lands and funds belonging to the town or society, for the benefit of schools.
In May, 1766, and in October, 1774, provisions were made for appropriating certain excise money for the use of schools. From 1754 to 1766, the annual amount ordered to be delivered by the colonial treasurer to each town and school society was ten shillings on every thousand pounds in the grand list ; from 1766 to 1767, this rate was twenty shillings ; and from 1767 to 1800, it was forty shillings.
In 1786, Connecticut ceded to the United States all her right and title in the public lands-with the reservation, however, of a tract of about three and a half millions of acres, lying within her ancient charter limits, and which is still known as the "Connecticut Reserve," in Ohio .* At the
* The present counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Cuy- ahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, Erie, and the north part of Mahoning and Sum- mit, are embraced within the limits of the territory thus reserved. The right of jurisdiction over the Reserve was ceded by Connecticut to the United States in April, 1800.
In 1792, the legislature of Connecticut granted five hundred thousand acres of the western portion of this tract, to citizens of Danbury, Fairfield, Norwalk, New London, and Groton, to indemnify them for the loss of property occasioned by the burning of those towns by the British during the revolution. The territory em- braced in this grant was afterwards known as the "Fire Lands."
Our state has sometimes been reproached for having made any reservation at all. On this point, we cannot better vindicate the fame of Connecticut, than by quoting the following extracts from a debate in the Senate of the United States (Sept. 26, 1850,) between Mr. Mason, of Virginia, and our own patriotic senator, the Hon. Roger S. Baldwin :
"MR. MASON. After the close of the war, in order to heal dissensions and provide a fund for the federal government, all the states were called upon to make cessions of these unappropriated lands. In response to that call the state of Vir- ginia gave up the whole at once. Like the poor old Lear, in whose character the
.
572
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
May session of the General Assembly, 1795, a committee of eight persons, of which the Honorable John Treadwell, was
poet has beautifully depicted principles that belong to the whole human family, she gave up the whole. She reserved only a given quantity to satisfy her military bounties, and to make indemnity for the expenses of the war. And what did the state which is represented by the honorable gentleman over the way [Mr. BALD- WIN] do, when she made a cession of land in response to the same call ? Sir, in that cession she reserved all the territory lying between the 41st and 42d degrees of north latitude, and west of the western line of Pennsylvania, to the amount of 3,666,000 acres ; and that, too, for private purposes. She withheld it from the general fund, in order that she might be enriched ; and from that territory the state of Connecticut has derived in money upwards of $2,000,000. Yet, after all this the state of Virginia is to be rebuked by the representative of that state for having made large appropriations of military bounty land to her officers ! Sir, I feel strongly when a rebuke come from any quarter respecting the conduct of Vir- ginia in regard to the revolutionary war; but I feel something like indignation when it comes from that quarter."
" MR. BALDWIN. Sir, the senator from Virginia has thought proper to refer disparagingly, to the conduct of the state of Connecticut in reserving from her cession a portion of her public domain. I can inform that senator, sir, that Con necticut, small as she is in territory, small as she was in population when compared with the state of Virginia, had more troops in the field during the revolutionary war than the great state of Virginia .*
* The following table, derived from the report of General Knox, to Congress, in 1790, in obedi- ence to a call on the War Department by the House of Representatives, shows the number of regu- lar soldiers furnished by each state to the war of the Revolution. See National Intelligencer, Oct. 7, 1850.
Soldiers.
Population in 1790.
New Hampshire,
.12,497
141,891
Massachusetts, including Maine,
7,097
475,257
Rhode Island,
.5,908
69,110
Connecticut,
31,959
238,141
New York,.
17,781
340,120
New Jersey,
10,726
181,139
Pennsylvania,
5,678
434,373
Delaware,.
.2,386
59,098
Maryland,.
13,912
319,728
Virginia,.
26,678
748,308
North Carolina,
. 7,263
393,751
South Carolina,
6,417
249,073
Georgia,.
.2,509
82,548
Total,.
231,971
2,820,959
"This was stated by Chief Justice Ellsworth, one of the delegates from Con- necticut in the convention which formed the constitution of the United States ; and no delegate from Virginia-though Mr. Madison was present and participated in the debate-ventured to deny it. And yet the senator from Virginia says he looks almost with indignation upon the state of Connecticut, because one of her
573
SALE OF RESERVE LANDS.
chairman, was appointed to make sale of the lands of this reservation, and appropriate the avails to a permanent fund,
senators, in the performance of a duty imposed upon him as a member of one of the committees of this body, has thought proper to rebuke the frauds which have been committed by individuals in the state which that senator has the honor to represent. Sir, Virginia is a noble state ; I impute nothing dishonorable to her. But, inasmuch as I have deemed it my duty to rebuke those frauds, the senator alludes in terms of disparagement to the state which gave me birth, and which I have the honor to represent, because with all her revolutionary claims she thought proper, in ceding her western domain, to reserve a comparatively small portion of it for the purposes of popular education. Sir, this reservation was not made for any mere private objects; it was not made to aid her in the discharge of her revolutionary responsibilities, or the payment of her civil-list expenditures, but for the noble purpose of providing for the education of every child within her limits, and of peopling as well the magnificent territory which she ceded, as that which she reserved, with an educated, enlightened, and enterprising population.
"It was by this reservation that she laid the foundation of that munificent School-Fund which enables those who took the census in 1840, to return that they found in the whole state of Connecticut but five hundred and twenty-six persons of adult age who were not able to read and write, and these are believed to have been chiefly foreigners. Can the senator from Virginia say as much for his state, and appeal to the returns of the census to confirm him ?
" But, sir, it seems that the state of Virginia, in order to induce her citizens to share in the perils and the glories of the revolution, was obliged to offer the enor- mous bounties which I have already stated to the Senate. Sir, the citizens of Connecticut rushed at once to the combat. They were at Ticondaroga, sir. Yes, sir ; they were there with Ethan Allen, and his Green mountain boys-himself a native of Connecticut, at their head-on an expedition planned in Connecticut, and supplied from its public treasury, before the Continental Congress of 1775 had assembled-capturing that important fortress, almost before the blood had grown cold that was shed at Concord and at Lexington. They were at Bunker's Hill with Putnam, and Knowlton, and Grosvenor, and their brave compatriots, who needed no bounty to induce them to engage in the service of their country. I need not dwell on the revolutionary history of my state. It is known to all who hear me. Was it too much, then, I ask, when the state of Virginia, with fewer troops in the field than Connecticut, thought proper to reserve 9,000,000 acres of land in what is now the state of Kentucky, and 3,700,000 more in Ohio, in the cession of her claims to the north-western territory, that the state of Connecticut should reserve 3,000,000 acres of her territory for the free education of her children ? -the descendants of her sons who had bravely fought and many of whom had fallen on the battle-fields of the revolution, in the service of their country-a ser- vice in which they had engaged without any such inducements to stimulate their patriotism as were offered by Virginia to her sons ? Was it too much for them to ask ; and is it for Virginia to cast reproach for this? no, sir ; no, sir.
"Sir, I do not propose at this time to go into the question of the title of Virginia
574
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the interest of which should be annually distributed among the several school societies of the state, according to the list of polls and ratable estate in each .*
Since the year 1798, the towns, as such, have ceased to have the controlling power in the direction and management of schools, that authority having been vested in school socie- ties especially constituted for the purpose. This arrange- ment still continues throughout the states and certainly pos- sesses some advantages over the systems that have been adopted in other states.
The committee appointed to dispose of the lands of the Connecticut Reserve, immediately entered upon their duties, and at the October session, 1795, submitted their report, by which it appeared that they had disposed of the tract for the sum of twelve hundred thousand dollars, payable in five years, with annual interest after the expiration of two years. t
to this north-western territory, which she professes to have ceded to the govern- ment of the United States. If time permitted, sir, I could show that, while the state of Connecticut had a title to the lands which she reserved, the title of Vir- ginia to the territory she ceded was at least a doubtful one. And for all the ser- vices which are claimed to have been rendered by her sons in conquering that ter- ritory from the enemy, they have received a liberal reward from the government and been quartered on the public treasury. How can it be claimned that Virginia was entitled to the fruits of the conquest, when her soldiers have been so liberally provided for out of the common treasury, and are now claiming that the govern- ment of the United States should assume and pay a large additional amount for the yet out-standing bounties offered by that state ? Sir, no such claim has been inade by the state of Connecticut."
* The other members of this committee were-James Wadsworth, Marvin Wait, William Edmund, T. Grosvenor, Aaron Austin, Elijah Hubbard, and Syl- vester Gilbert.
t Among the offers which the committee did not think proper to accept, were the following : James Sullivan, Esq., of Boston, offered $1,000,000; Zephaniah Swift, Esq., of Windham, $1,000,000 ; Oliver Phelps, Esq., $1,000,000 ; Colonel Silas Pepoon, of Stockbridge, $1,130,000 ; John Livingston, Esq., of the state of New York, $1,255,000. The last offer was finally withdrawn. The following is a complete list of the gentlemen composing the company who, through their agent, Oliver Phelps, Esq., effected the purchase, with the sums subscribed by each : ], Robert Charles Johnson, $60,000 ; 2, and 3, Moses Cleveland, $32,600 ; 4, Wil- liam Judd, $16,250; 5, James Johnson, $30,000 ; 6, William Law, $10,500; 7, Daniel Holbrook, $8,750 ; 8, Pierpont Edwards, $60,000; 9, James Bull, Aaron Olmsted, and John Wyllys, $30,000; 10, Elisha Hyde, and Uriah Tracy, $57,-
575
JAMES HILLHOUSE.
[1810.]
Down to 1800, the school fund was managed by the com- mittee that negotiated the sale. In that year, Messrs. John Treadwell, Thomas T. Seymour, Shubael Abbe, and the state treasurer for the time being, were appointed " Managers of the funds arising in the sales of the Western Reserve." For the next thirteen years, the fund was administered by the committee and this board of managers, and the interest paid out to the several school societies, amounted to $35,135 18 per annum. As it appeared from the annual report of the managers in 1809, that a large amount of the interest was unpaid, and that the collateral securities of the original debt were not safe, it was deemed advisable to appoint some one individual who should devote his whole time to a superin- tendence of the fund. Accordingly, at the May session of the legislature, 1810, the Hon. James Hillhouse, then a mem- ber of the United States Senate, was appointed sole "Com- missioner of the School Fund." He at once resigned his seat in the senate, and entered on the duties of his appoint- ment. By his thorough management he soon brought order out of confusion, and reduced the complicated affairs of the office to a system. During the fifteen years of his adminis- tration, the annual dividend of the fund averaged $52,061 35, and the capital was augmented to $1,719,434 24.
The State Constitution, adopted in 1818, provides that "no law shall ever be made, authorizing said fund to be diverted
400 ; 11, Luther Loomis, and Ebenezer King, $44,318; 12, Roger Newberry, Enoch Perkins, and Jonathan Brace, $38,000; 13, Ephraim Root, $42,000 ; 14, Ephraim Kirby, Uriel Holmes, Jr., and Elijah Boardman, $60,000; 15, Oliver Phelps, and Gideon Granger, Jr., $80,000; 16, Oliver Phelps, $168,185 ; 17, John Caldwell, and Peleg Sanford, $15,000; 18, Solomon Cowles, $10,000; 19, Solomon Griswold, $10,000 ; 20, Henry Champion, 2d, $85,675 ; 21, Sam- uel P. Lord, $14,092; 22, Jabez Stocking and Joshua Stow, $11,423 ; 23, Timothy Burr, $15,231 ; 24, Caleb Atwater, $22,846 ; 25, Titus Street, $22,846 ; 26, Elias Morgan, and Daniel L. Coit, $51,402 ; 27, Daniel L. Coit, and Joseph Howland, $30,461 ; 28, Ashur Miller, $34,000 ; 29, Ephraim Starr, $17,415 ; 30, Joseph Williams, $15,231 ; 31, William Lyman, John Stoddard, and David King, $24,730; 32, Nehemiah Hubbard, Jr., $19,039; 33, Asahel Hatheway, $12,000 ; 34, William Hart, $30,462 ; 35, Samuel Mather, Jr., $18,461; 36, Sylvanus Griswold, $1,683. Total, $1,200,000.
576
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
to any other use than the encouragement and support of com- mon schools among the several school societies, as justice and equity shall require."
In 1823, the office of Assistant Commissioner of the School Fund was created, and the Hon. Seth P. Beers, of Litch- field, was appointed, with a salary of $1,000 and his expenses. Two years after, Mr. Hillhouse resigned, and Mr. Beers was appointed commissioner .*
It has been found necessary to give a very brief, and there- fore a very imperfect account of the enactments made by our fathers, relative to our system of common schools, and to note the origin and progress of the present magni- ficent provision for the education of the youth of the state, not for a single generation only, but for all future ages. It was characteristic of the forethought and expansive benevo- lence of our state, and has proved to be a measure as benignant in the influences which it has shed upon other parts · of our great nation, as upon the citizens of Connecticut. The noble domain thus devoted by our state for educational purposes, was nearly equal in extent to the territory now embraced within her jurisdiction. At the time of the sale, it was a wilderness, shaded perhaps since the dawn of crea- tion with vast forest-trees watered by rivers and washed by the waves of Lake Erie. The panther, the bear, the wolf, the wild-cat, and the fox, shared its acres as tenants in common, and the red Indian roamed over it and left here and there on the dry leaves that were matted above its surface, the blood-stain of his vengeance. Fifty years have rolled away. Let us look again. Where is the forest, and where are the wild beasts, and savage men, its old inhabitants ? They are gone, to return no more. Who are their successors ? Look at the animated features, the strong eye, the stalwart frame of him who tills the field ; note the lively motions of the mechanic,
* Mr. Beers continued to hold the office until May, 1849. During his admin- istration the principal of the fund was augmented to $2,049,482 32, and the average annual income was $97,815 15. The aggregate amount distributed to the several societies during the twenty-four years of Mr. Beers' superintendence of the fund, was $2,347,563 80.
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