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Gc 977.2 B645h Boone, Richard Gause, 1849- 1923. A history of education in Indiana
IC
INDIANA COLLECTION
A HISTORY OF
EDUCATION IN INDIANA
BY
RICHARD G. BOONE, A. M., PH. D. PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGICS IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND AUTHOR OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
INDIANA COLLECTION
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1892
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY RICHARD G. BOONE.
1073807 PREFACE.
THE value of a wisely timed and intelligently directed study of the school systems and educational movements in their development is now commonly conceded.
As to scope, the study appears as (1) an inquiry into the growth of public sentiment and educational doctrine, the instruments and means of culture, and the conditions of their use in the larger sense of the world- progress; (2) the like movement as manifested in the history of a particular people, giving rise to views of na- tional education; and (3) a similar inquiry into the con- ditions and growth of State and other local systems. The present text has to do primarily with this third view, and offers a sketch of the rise and development of edu- cation and educational agencies in Indiana, chiefly since 1816.
Whatever other professional fitting teachers do or do not require, they unquestionably need a familiar acquaint- ance with the genius and limitations and structure, the obligations and privileges, involved in a service under their own system. In our own State this need has been but poorly provided for. Little has heretofore been done to make Indiana's educational record known, or to dis- cover the lines of her progress. With the whole move-
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PREFACE.
ment the acquaintance is necessarily desultory and par- tial. The small volume edited by Dr. James H. Smart, in 1876, the biographies of our State Superintendents, pre- pared by H. M. Skinner, and issued by the department, together with occasional miscellanies in official reports and in the proceedings of the Teachers' Association, com- prise about all that has been done to trace the growth of Indiana along educational lines.
Moreover, the system of Indiana is a typical one, its leading features having been adopted, in forty years, in perhaps more than two thirds of the States since organ- ized, and in the educational reorganization of others. Its central control of funds and revenues; its county super- vision and township management; the State direction of all professional examinations, of institutes and teachers' reading circles ; and the integration of the several public agencies for elementary, secondary, and superior train- ing-have a reputation with, and have claimed the in- terest and attention of, teachers and school officials, and others concerned with education, in adjoining States as well.
This book is the published result of a series of lectures annually given to members of the Pedagogical Department in Indiana University since 1886. It has grown in ma- terial and form, under the inspiration of the class-room. For many of the facts of personal and local significance the author is indebted to records obtained through the interest and courtesy of students, and their knowledge of details.
Great credit-the largest credit-is due to the State Educational department for the statistics of the system, historical documents, early records, and much summary matter that could not have been obtained elsewhere.
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PREFACE.
Special mention also should be made of the very valu- able and frequent and cheerful service rendered by Mr. J. P. Dunn, of the State Library, in putting at the writer's disposal files of State papers and numerous addresses and personal documents there collected.
Among the most helpful and suggestive sources, fur- ther, were the private library and rich collection of papers (some reaching back to 1830) and journals, belonging to Hon. Horace P. Biddle, of Logansport, which were re- peatedly consulted.
Perhaps the most frequent drafts upon both time and materials were of Judge D. D. Banta, of the Indiana Uni- versity Law School, whose collection of materials concern- ing the early and recent history of public and local insti- tutional life in Indiana is very full and well selected. Not only was this kindly put at the disposal of the author, but frequent and helpful use was made of the judge's well-known interest in and large acquaintance with the social movements that have built up our Indiana school system.
To all of these the thanks of the author are due, and gratefully extended in this public way.
Moreover, the gathering of materials has involved the writing of hundreds of letters; and but for the generous aid of county and city superintendents and teachers throughout the State, college men and school officials, and numbers of other persons both in private and public life, the volume, if written, would have been in many ways in- complete. The service of such has been constantly re- membered and appreciated.
There will doubtless be found by individual readers inaccuracies in the book, and omissions, both of fact and statement, though every effort has been made to verify all
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PREFACE.
material points by reference to the original records. Any suggestions or corrections will be gratefully received and acknowledged, especially as touching the system of the early days, and the old seminaries and academies.
RICHARD G. BOONE. INDIANA UNIVERSITY, January, 1891.
CONTENTS.
PART I. THE TERRITORIAL PERIOD, 1793-1816.
CHAP. PAGE
1. TERRITORIAL ACTS . 1
1. Indiana a Province of Virginia. 2. A Possession of the United States. 3. The Ordinance of 1787. [4. The Organ- ization of Indiana Territory. 5. The Federal Enabling Act.
PART II. UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION, 1816-1851.
II. CONSTITUTIONAL AND FIRST LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS . . 10 1. Article IX of the Constitution. 2. Vincennes University.
III. ATTEMPTS AT SCHOOL SYSTEMS .
19
1. Previous Territorial Attempts. 2. The Act of 1816. 3. The Seminary Law of 1818. 4. The Law of 1824. 5. Edu- cational Conditions.
IV. ATTEMPTS AT SCHOOL SYSTEMS (continued) . 30 1. Incidental Legislation. 2. The Law of 1833. 3. Educa- tional Conditions. 4. State Superintendent of Common Schools.
V. SEMINARIES AND ACADEMIES 42 1. The Law of 1818. 2. Seminary Buildings. 3. Seminary Funds. 4. Teachers and Schools. 5. The Curriculum. 6. Seminary Principals. 7. A Table of County Seminaries.
VI. PRIVATE AND INCORPORATED SEMINARIES . 59 1. List of Seminaries. 2. Philanthropic Movements. 3. Church Schools. 4. Education Societies. 5. Private
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
PAGE
Schools. 6. Union of Private and Public Effort. 7. Higher Grade Schools. 8. Manual Labor Schools.
VII. THE SEMINARIES (continued) . 77
1. Preparation of Teachers. 2. The Education of Girls. 3. General Influence of the Seminary.
VIII. CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849 . . 87
1. Educational Condition. 2. The State's Illiteracy. 3. The First Message. 4. Caleb Mills. 5. The Convention of 1847. 6. Second Message. 7. The Legislature of 1847-'48. 8. The Campaign of 1848. 9. Objections to Free Schools. 10. The Free School Vote of 1848. 11. Third Message, by One of the People.
IX. THE LAW OF 1849 . 112
1. Text of the Law. 2. Character of the Law. 3. The Campaign of 1849. 4. Table of the School Law Vote. 5. Fourth Message.
PART III. UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-1891. X. THE SECOND CONVENTION AND ARTICLE VIII OF THE CONSTI- TUTION . 129
1. The Need of Constitutional Revision. 2. Fifth Message. 3. Public Interest in Education. 4. The Educational Committee. 5. Attitude toward the University. 6. State Supervision. 7. Text of Article VIII. 8. Sixth Mes- sage.
XI. THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1852 . . 143
1. General Provisions. 2. Township Control vs. District Control. 3. The Distribution of School Revenues. 4. Decision of the Supreme Court.
XII. THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1852 (continued) . 152
1. Local Taxes and Building Funds. 2. Decisions of the Supreme Court. 3. City and Town School Corporations. 4. Decision of the Supreme Court. 5. Miscellaneous Pro- visions.
XIII: ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE COMMON SCHOOL FUND . 164 1. Table of State Funds. 2. Sources of the Permanent Fund of Indiana. 8. The Congressional Township Fund. 4.
ix
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
PAGE
Table of the Congressional Township Lands and Funds. 5. Growth of the Fund.
XIV. SCHOOL FUNDS (continued) . 181
1. The Saline Fund. 2. The County Seminary Fund. 3. The Bank Tax Fund. 4. The Sinking Fund.
XV. SCHOOL FUNDS (continued) . 193
1. The Surplus Revenue Fund. 2. Table of Surplus Reve- nue Deposits. 3. Delinquent Tax Funds. 4. The Swamp Lands Fund. 5. Contingent Funds. 6. Analysis of the School Fund.
XVI. PERMANENT FUNDS . 212
1. The Consolidation of Funds. 2. Decision of the Supreme Court. 3. The Increase of the Permanent Fund. 4. The Investment of the Common School Fund.
XVII. TWENTY YEARS UNDER THE NEW LAW . . 217
1. Condition of the Schools. 2. Revival of Seminary Or- ganizations. 3. Table of Recent Seminaries. 4. Church Schools. 5. Private Schools. 6. Business Schools. 7. The Education of Girls. 8. General Character of the Seminaries. 9. The Legislation of 1865. 10. Re-enact- ment of the Local Tax Law in 1867. 11. Supreme Court Decision of 1885. 12. Education of the Negroes.
XVIII. THE LAW OF 1873 . 240
1. The Certificating of Teachers. 2. School Examiners. 3. The County Superintendency Law. 4. The County Su- perintendent. 5. The County Board of Educ
XIX. THE PRESENT SYSTEM 252
1. State Control. 2. The Superintendent of Common Schools. 3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction. 4. List of the State Superintendents. 5. Service of the Superin- tendents. 6. Functions of the Office. 7. The School Law and Commentaries. 8. The State Board of Educa- tion. 9. Duties of the Board.
XX. THE PRESENT SYSTEM (continued) . . 271
. 1. Local Control. 2. Administration in Townships. 3. In- corporated Towns. 4. Cities.
X
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
XXI. THE PRESENT SYSTEM (continued) . . 277
1. The Common School. 2. Rural Elementary Schools. 3. Early attempts at Gradation. 4. Provisions of the Law. 5. Graded Schools. 6. A Graded Course.
XXII. THE PRESENT SYSTEM (continued) . . 289
1. Graduation from Rural Schools. 2. Joint Graded and Township Schools. 3. Table of Graded Schools. 4. Miscellaneous Conditions.
XXIII. THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM . . 297
1. City Schools. 2. City Supervision. 3. Township v8. City Systems. 4. The Common School Course. 5. High Schools. 6. Table of High Schools. 7. Relation of the High School to the University. 8. Commissioned High Schools. 9. Objections to High Schools.
XXIV. THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM (continued) . 309 1. School Text-books. 2. The Selection of Text-books. 3. Statistics of Common Schools. 4. School Enroll- ment. 5. School Terms. 6. The Teaching Force. 7. Salaries. 8. School Expenditures. 9. The Certificat- ing of Teachers.
XXV. SCHOOL REVENUES . 324
1. Revenue vs. Fund. 2. Taxes and Interest. 3. Tuition v8. Special Revenues. 4. Fixed and Variable Reve- nues. 5. Sources of Revenue. 6. Interest. 7. Taxes. 8. Unclaimed Fees. 9. Liquor Licenses. 10. Building Taxes. 11. The Apportionment of School Revenues.
XXVI. LIBRARIES . . 336
1. The Beginnings. 2. County Libraries. 3. School Dis- trict Libraries. 4. Township Libraries. 5. Town Li- brarics. 6. The State Library. 7. Miscellaneous Li- braries.
XXVII. THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS . 352 1. The Indiana System. 2. Indiana University. 3. Its Early Organization. 4. The College. 5. University Funds. 6. The Curriculum. 7. Its Organization into Courses. 8. Museums, Libraries, and Laboratories. 9. Purdue University. 10. The Congressional Grant of 1862. 11. The Early Organization of Purdue. 12. The Present Organization.
xi
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
PAGE . 372
XXVIII. SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
1. Deaf-mute Education. 2. The Education of the Blind. 3. Reformatory Institutions. A. For Boys. B. For Girls. 4. The Orphans' Home. 5. School for the Feeble-minded. 6. Young People's Reading Circle.
XXIX. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS . 381
1. Pedagogics in the University. 2. The State Normal School. 3. The De Pauw Normal School. 4. The Richmond Normal School.
XXX. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS (continued) . 393
1. County Institutes. 2. Township Institutes. 3. The Teachers' Reading Circle.
XXXI. DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES . .
. 406
1. Reasons for Church Schools. 2. Table of Denomina- tional .Colleges. 3. Hanover College. 4. Wabash Col- lege. 5. De Pauw University. 6. Franklin College. 7. Concordia College. 8. Earlham College. 9. Butler University. 10. Union Christian College. 11. Moore's Hill College. 12. Hartsville College. 13. University of Notre Dame. 14. St. Meinrad's College. 15. Jas- per College. 16. Denominational Academies.
XXXII. PRIVATE AND ENDOWED INSTITUTIONS . 430 1. Rose Polytechnic Institute. 2. Vincennes University. 3. Independent Normal Schools.
XXXIII. EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS . 437
1. General Associations. 2. Teachers' Organizations. 3. Sectional Associations. 4. The Annual Convention of County Superintendents. 5. The College Association. 6. The Indiana Academy of Science. 7. The State Mathematical Association. 8. County Teachers' Asso- ciations.
CONCLUSION . 447
PART FIRST. THE TERRITORIAL PERIOD.
CHAPTER I.
TERRITORIAL ACTS.
ANY sketch of education in Indiana, however brief, would be incomplete if it failed to make clear an exposition of the origin of the earliest educational ideas of the State, and the conditions and means of their development into institutions through established systems.
A study of the period is important as fixing the bound- aries of our territory, determining the lines of settlement, the conditions of our later system, particularly as to funds, and the obligation of the State concerning education. Its consideration falls under the following heads :
1. A Province of Virginia.
2. A Possession of the United States.
3. The Ordinance of 1787.
4. The Organization of Indiana Territory.
5. The Federal Enabling Act.
1. A Province of Virginia.
Being a portion of the old Northwest Territory, Indiana shares with other parts of it in the provisions for general and superior education. So important has been the influ- ence of the congressional act providing for the government of this Territory, and so far-reaching the effects upon schools and their means of support-in five States directly, in others
2
THE TERRITORIAL PERIOD.
incidentally, and in Indiana particularly-that, both as an introduction to the subsequent study of our school system, and to preserve in their connections all the links to the chain, a paragraph is here inserted setting forth the main facts, chiefly historical, in the organization of Indiana Ter- ritory.
Portions of the section had been occupied by settlers- generally French, sometimes English-for almost a century; but immediately upon the close of the Revolutionary War steps were taken for the disposition of the territories lying to the west of the "Colonies," and their erection into a gov erned and organized part of the national domain. In 1760 the territory passed into the hands of the English, and by treaty of 1783 (November 3d) it was transferred to the United States, along with all other English possessions within the treaty limits. Its particular ownership was vested in the Commonwealth of Virginia, except a claim to a small sec- tion in northeastern Ohio, held by Connecticut. Within less than two months (December 20, 1783) the Legislature of Virginia had passed "an act to authorize the delegates of Virginia in Congress to convey to the United States, in Con- gress assembled, all the right of this Commonwealth to the territory northwestward of the river Ohio."
2. A Possession of the United States.
In accordance with this act of the Virginia Assembly the territory was, on March 1, 1784, transferred by deed to the United States. The deed was signed by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe-the afore- mentioned delegates to Congress from Virginia. The ces- sion comprised the lands now included in the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, besides so much of Minnesota as lies east of the Mississippi River, and cov- ered 265,562 square miles. Two months later (April 23, 1784) a temporary organization for the new territory was adopted by Congress, but it included no provision touching schools or education.
3
TERRITORIAL ACTS.
"Few statesmen of that day," says a recent writer,* " valued this territory for the almost unlimited possibilities it afforded for the future greatness of the nation, in the establishment of new States which in wealth and influence and power would soon rival their older sisters. If this thought had found place in the minds of any, it was gener- ally subordinated to a far less exalted sentiment." Vacant Western lands were chiefly valuable as they could be readily turned into cash to meet current expenses and overdue obli- gations to the army and other creditors. In general it may be said that provisions for the education of possible Western settlements were an afterthought.
3. The Ordinance of 1787.
A month later, the subject having been repeatedly before Congress already, Thomas Jefferson, chairman of a commit- tee having it in consideration, reported to Congress a bill respecting the disposition of public lands in general, includ- ing the recent cession from Virginia. The Western lands were looked upon at the close of the war as a possible means of resources for the payment of urgent claims against the Government, and a means of meeting current expenses. It was desirable to find some reliable method of locating and disposing of them to prospective settlers. This was the pur- pose of the bill. In it, however, no reference is made either to schools or education.
The year following, Jefferson having left his seat in Con- gress, a like committee reported another bill, with the pro- vision that " surveyors should divide the Territory into town- ships of six miles square, by lines running north, and others crossing at right angles as near as may be ; t that the plats of the townships respectively shall be marked by subdivisions into lots one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction
* George W. Knight, Ph. D., Land Grants for Education in the North- west Territory, p. 10.
t This was the origin of " rectangular surveys," now in common use.
4
TIIE TERRITORIAL PERIOD.
as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 36 ; and that there shall be reserved the lot numbered 16 * of every town- ship for the maintenance of public schools, and the one im- mediately adjoining the same, to the north ward, for the sup- port of religion."
This was in February, 1785. After prolonged discussion, covering many months, frequent amendments, and several changes in the membership of the committee, the clause re- ferring to the reservation of a section of land in each town- ship for the support of religion was stricken out ; and on the 20th of May, 1785, the bill as amended, bearing the same title as Jefferson's bill of the previous year, was passed.
For its more liberal provisions, especially those concern- ing education, we are perhaps indebted to Colonel Timothy Pickering. Early in the following year the permanent or- ganization of this large territory was a frequent theme of discussion, but resulted in no settled plans. In the spring of 1787 the whole matter was referred to a new committee that revised the bill, and added among other provisions a clause that has since become historical concerning educa- tion. This was finally passed on the 13th of July, as " An ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio," then and now known as the "Ordinance of 1787."
The final committee, serving from May, 1787, consisted of Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut, Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, William Smith, of Pennsylvania, Nathan Dane, and Patrick Henry. Of the text of the ordinance Nathan Dane is said to have been the author, though Dr. Manasseh Cutler is entitled to the credit of suggesting the clause touching education and religion. The provision of the "Ordinance of 1785," concerning the reservation for schools, was confirmed in all subsequent legislation regulat- ing the sale of public lands ; but it is not mentioned in the "Ordinance of 1787."
* "Lot " 16 was first called " Section 16," May 18, 1796.
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TERRITORIAL ACTS.
This latter document provided for a division of the ter- ritory into civil districts ; the descent and conveyance of property; the appointment and election of officers ; repre- sentation in the General Assembly; and, in six numbered articles, for-
1. Freedom of worship and belief.
2. The safe and reasonable execution of the law.
3. Schools-declaring that "religion, morality, and knowl- edge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind-schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged" ; and the just and considerate treat- ment of Indians.
4. The levying of taxes.
5. The final division of the territory into States.
6. The exclusion of slavery.
The act, in whatever way it may be viewed, but espe- cially as to the support of, and encouragement accorded to, education, and the social conditions for its promotion, was one of wise and comprehensive provisions. "We are accus- tomed," said Daniel Webster, "to praise the lawgivers of antiquity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any law- giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more dis- tinct, marked, and lasting character than the 'Ordinance of 1787."" "Never, probably, in the history of the world," said Chief Justice Chase, "did a measure of legislation so ac- curately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed, the anticipation of the legislators."
Conditioning the character of social and political insti- tutions ; in a general way, but emphatically, prescribing and proscribing industries, and erecting new standards of conduct and life, its educational implications were even more decisive and determining. The generous policy couched in the terms of this unpretentious "ordinance," resting upon a Federal interest in education and initiated by the needs of a section, has extended its benefits and its influence to every subsequent State and Territory. In the Southwest and far 2
6
THE TERRITORIAL PERIOD.
West education has been remembered in the reservation of one or more sections in each township, after the manner of the ordinance for the government of the Northwest. The principle has been recognized both in spirit and letter in every new State admitted (except West Virginia) since the passage of the congressional act.
Certainly the full force of the ordinance was not under- stood, either by its framers or its supporters. The most wise among them all could not have been aware of the far-reach- ing benefits to accrue to the Government and to individuals from a free soil dedicated to virtue, to learning, and to in- dustry. Nevertheless, they builded well. "In the breadth of its conceptions," it has been said, "in its details and re- sults, the ordinance has been perhaps the most notable in- stance of legislation that was ever enacted by the repre- sentatives of the American people. It fixed forever the character of the immigration, and of the social, political, and educational institutions of the people who were to in- habit this imperial territory."
4. The Organization of Indiana Territory.
By an act of Congress, approved May 7, 1800, it was pro- vided in section 1: "That all that part of the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio River, which lies westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the terri- torial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate Territory, and be called the Indiana Territory."
It was also provided by section 6 of the same act that "Saint Vincennes, on the Wabash River," should be the seat of government for this Territory. Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State in 1802, and in 1804 Indiana Territory, as described above, and comprising all that then remained of the "Old Northwest," was given by Federal authority three land-offices-one at Detroit, one at Vincennes, and one
7
TERRITORIAL ACTS.
at Kaskaskia. This was really the official act opening the Territory for settlement. And immigrants soon came.
A settlement, or rather a simple French military post, had been located on the present site of Vincennes in 1702 by one of the officers of Louis XIV and his men. Within fifty years various other posts for trading and defense were established, along the Wabash chiefly, by French Catholics. In 1760 the territory passed into the hands of the English. At this time there were perhaps something more than a hundred French families throughout the whole of Indiana.
Immediately English garrisons were placed at the trad- ing posts, but English settlements were prohibited by procla- mation beyond (west of) the Alleghany Mountains. This policy was maintained during the British control of the territory. In 1778, through the negotiations of Colonel G. R. Clark, at Vincennes, with the French settlement, the set- tlers' oath of allegiance was taken, the Territory included in what is now Indiana brought under the American flag, and after February, 1779, held as a dependency of Virginia.
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