USA > Kentucky > History of Kentucky, Volume II > Part 30
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Although nothing material seemed to develop, hope was not lost as long as there were people left to continue the agitation. In 1837 Robert Wickliffe delivered a vigorous address before the mayor and common council of Lexington arguing for an educational system as broad as the state. "Kentucky," he said, "proud as is her fame for chivalry and for arms, can never pluck the laurel of unmingled honor and renown so long as there is one single freeman on her soil that cannot read the constitution of his country and write his protest against oppression and misrule." 36 The state had been affording for a number of years past a considerable amount of agitation and enthusiasm, but little prospects of the money necessary to carry out a system of common schools were in sight. The United States had been asked for public lands, but with- out avail. But the question of the public lands and the disposition of the surplus revenues had been worrying the Federal authorities almost as much as Kentucky was agitated over having no money. In 1836 the Federal Government adopted the policy of distributing the surplus among the different states of the Union. This was hailed with delight by many Kentuckians as solving the problem of securing money for the educa- tional system. Governor Clarke, in his message to the Legislature in December. 1836, suggested that Kentucky's share be used on her schools and that the very poor be helped by direct aid. "It is a great error to suppose," he said, "that money appropriated in this way is money lost or given to the few at the expense of the many, without any correspond- ing good from it. This opinion is the foundation of the common preju- dice existing against any legislative action on the subject." 37
Conditions were now ripe for inaugurating a general system of edu- cation, with strong hopes of it succeeding. Plans were aplenty, and it seemed that the money necessary was soon to be had. The part due Kentucky amounted to almost $2,000,000, and of this $1,000,000 was to be "set apart and forever dedicated to the founding and sustaining a general system of public instruction." Due to the failure of the Fed- eral Government to complete the payments, the amount for education was later reduced to $850,000. These funds were to be invested in the stocks of the Kentucky banks and only the interest to be used.38 The
34 Argus, Oct. 2, 1833.
35 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 38, 39.
38 A Plea for the Education of the People of Kentucky. An Address, delivered before the Mayor and Common Council of Lexington, on the 29th of July, 1837; the Anniversary of the Public School of that City (Lexington, 1837), Pamphlet, 17 pp. Reviewed in North American Review, Vol. 49, pp. 262, 263. 87 Argus, Dec. 7, 1836.
88 Crittenden MSS., Vol. 5, No. 914, J. M. Bullock, Secretary of State, to Crit- tenden, August 16, 1837; Kentucky Gazette, Dec. 6, 1838; Collins, History of Ken- tucky, I, 41.
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new educational system was established in an act passed by the Legis- lature February 16, 1838. The school fund should be distributed among the different counties according to the number of children of school age; a board of education should be established, consisting of the sec- retary of state, the attorney-general, and a superintendent of schools, who should be chairman of the board; the counties were to be divided into school districts of from thirty to fifty children, five to sixteen years old; each district might tax its citizens for an amount equal to the fund received from the state; and five commissioners should be in charge of each county, to report the number of school children and to distribute the funds, with five trustees to be elected by each district, who should provide school houses and organize the schools.39
This was quite an advance over the system provided for in 1830. The local districts were given aid and at the same time made to bear a part of the expense. But the heart of the leaders of the state, regard- less of former protestations, seemed not to be in education. It was soon evident that the state was to have no greater educational facilities, regardless of this new act and a fund of $1,000,000, than had obtained previously, for the reason that the vicious habit had long been in work- ing of levying on the educational fund whenever there should be a deficit in any other department. As early as 1840 the state treasurer refused to pay the interest on the school bonds, on account of a deficit in the treasury, and it was the amazing fact that up to 1843 only $2,504 had been paid the schools, despite the fact that the interest at that time had accumulated to the amount of $116,376.40 Schools were now where they had always been-in a struggling condition or on the verge of dissolution. Some towns and counties sought in their own ways to build schools or advance them. In 1839 Paducah was allowed by the Legislature to hold a lottery to raise $100,000 for the purpose of building two seminaries and providing them with libraries and school furnishings, and other towns were attempting to advance by the same methods.41 Nicholas County was allowed to use certain lands to pay for the education of her poor children. 42
The education of poor children was no closer to a solution than be- fore, and, indeed, the facilities for those who were able to pay were generally not to be had. This was one of the fundamental mistakes of all the educational systems tried-as long as education was not free to all on an equality, the great mass of the common people could never be educated. In 1839 "Franklin," in the Kentucky Gazette, declared that any school system that did not take into account this fact would get hard knocks.43 "Penn." writing to the same paper, suggested that the very poor, who were absolutely dependent upon the labor of their children, should be paid for the time the chidlren spent in school.44
The superintendents of schools, who came and went in rather rapid succession, were men of vision who attempted to make a system work which, it seemed, was opposed by the controlling power of the Govern- ment. Joseph J. Bullock was the first superintendent, and he was fol- lowed successively before the Civil war by Hubbard H. Kavanaugh. Benjamin B. Smith, George W. Brush, Ryland T. Dillard, Robert J. Breckinridge, John D. Matthews and Robert Richardson-all being clergymen except the last. As before stated, little or no progress was being made. In 1840, conditions were relatively worse than ten years
39 Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky, 333, 334.
40 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 503.
41 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 44. For Frankfort, see Crittenden MSS.,
Vol. 6, Nos. 984, 985. Letter from M. Brown to Crittenden, Jan. 24, 1838. 42 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 41.
43 Dec. 26, 1839.
44 Kentucky Gazette, Feb. 14, 1839.
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before. There were only 32,920 children reported in school -- scarcely over 1,000 more than were attending schools in 1830. But the school population had increased more than 40,000 over 1830. There were 42,000 persons over 20 years of age in the state who were unable to read. Some counties were still without a single school, while others ministered to the educational wants in a feeble way. In Floyd County, with 2,055 children of school age, and in Clay County, with 1,180, not one was in school, while Ohio and Knox counties had a little better record, with 25 out of 1,714 in school in the former and 46 out of 2,566 in the latter. The most progressive counties in education could not muster a half of their children in school.+5
One superintendent after another made recommendations, but they fell upon deaf ears. In 1842 the superintendent recommended the "or- ganization by law of a profession of teachers, analogous to the other learned professions; also the elevation of a number of common schools to the rank of academies, so that they may furnish a thorough English education, including the sciences connected with agriculture." 46 The Legislature, always profuse in good intentions expressed in resolutions, asked the superintendent to report on the expediency of carrying out the above recommendations as well as to offer suggestions on the evils in the educational system and the best method of eliminating them.+7 The superintendent in 1843 made numerous forward-looking suggestions and recommendations. He would have teachers' societies organized, to meet quarterly in each county, two normal schools established for train- ing teachers, and libraries set up in the various school districts where books of "history, biography, travel, natural history, agriculture, me- chanics" and such-like should be placed "to neutralize the effect of the light, ephemeral productions which are covering the country like the sere leaves in autumn." He believed an important source of teachers had been left undeveloped, namely, women. He said: "They have been generally employed in the Eastern States to teach the summer common schools, and their salaries have been generally about one-third less than the salaries of male teachers. But observation and experience both combine to prove the worth of female instruction, until she is now rec- ognized not only as his equal, but in many instances his superior." 48 He also believed that the people generally were not sufficiently awake and informed along educational lines. To remedy this, he would have a gentleman of influence appointed in each judicial district to bring the people together and address them on the subject of common schools. In 1845 Superintendent Dillard recommended better school houses beau- tified within and without, better equipment, more beautiful school grounds and better sanitation.
There was no actual hostility of any consequence anywhere against common schools-the trouble was that the Legislature and others in authority were following the line of least resistance. While they be- lieved that common schools were a good thing for the state, they did not believe it with sufficient strength to prevent them from sacrificing school funds for other activities they deemed of greater importance. The school fund had been raided so often and appropriated for other uses that the Government relieved itself of the necessity of paying back the debt in 1845 by cancelling all her obligations to that fund.49 De-
45 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 45.
46 Quoted in Irne T. Myers, "Report on the Archives of the State of Kentucky" in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1910, p. 360.
47 Acts of Kentucky, 1841, p. 303.
48 In 1824 the following toast was offered at a Lexington dinner: "Female edu- cation-The surest, if not the best, foundation of internal improvement." Niles' Register, Vol. 26, p. 227.
49 Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky, 334-336; Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 503.
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spite such loud-speaking actions, Legislature and governor each suc- ceeding year expressed the most tender considerations for common schools, speaking and resolving in favor of them. The situation would have been ludicrous had it not been so serious, but the time was not far distant when the cup of disgrace and hypocrisy would be filled to over- flowing. Governor Owsley, in his message to the Legislature in 1847, said, in referring to the school situation: "This is a trite subject in our State, and from long hearing the words, the mind is apt to turn away with a sort of aversion at their mention. It has become almost a stereotype part of messages-a reference to the Common School system and a kindly recommendation of it to the good will of the Legislature. The charge has too often been politely received and acknowledged and then neglected." He declared the time had now arrived when Kentucky must have a real system of schools, or the state would justly stand disgraced.50 The Legislature realized the woeful situation keenly, in language, but seemed not to consider the fact that it was in any way to blame. In thanking the outgoing superintendent in 1847, R. T. Dil- lard, it took occasion to refer to the school system as "deficient in its character, and imbecile for want of pecuniary means to carry it into practical operation." 51
But the day of the school was at hand. In 1847 the common school system of Kentucky really began, when Robert J. Breckinridge was ap- pointed superintendent. No cause ever had a more ardent champion. With his characteristic vigor, energy and earnestness, so strong as to verge on intolerance, powers which he had been constantly using for the past quarter of a century in disputations and causes of less conse- quence than this, he set out with one grim determination-to give the common people their much needed schools. He attacked the forces of reaction and ignorance wherever he found them. He carried on a cam- paign of speech-making over the state, and soon had the people aroused on the subject. When once he had set the leaven to working, crys came up from every quarter for him to appear and speak on education.52 He carried his campaign into the legislative halls of the Capitol, when in 1848 he delivered a powerful address on education in the Hall of the House of Representatives. The Legislature ordered 5,000 copies of this address to be printed and distributed.33
He also set about restoring, building up and intrenching the school fund. In 1847 he whipped the Legislature into passing an act directing the governor to issue new bonds for all arrears of interest due the schools and also providing for submitting to the people the question of leaving an extra 2 cents on the $1oo for school purposes. So thoroughly had he aroused school sentiment over the state that the tax carried by a very substantial majority-the vote being 74,637 for and 37,826 against.54 Rejoicing over the success of the proposition, Governor Crit- tenden said, "Let us exhibit to the nation the noble spectacle of Ken- tucky educated as she ought to be-her sons and daughters adding the grace and powers and virtues of cultured minds to their fine natural qualities, and those who have contributed to bring about the result will be entitled to the lasting gratitude of posterity." 55 The school fund was also increased in 1849 by the addition of the returns from the Green and Barren River projects, which the state "forever sets apart and dedi- cates." 56
50 Kentucky Yeoman, Dec. 31, 1846.
61 Acts of Kentucky, 1846, p. 384. Dated March I, 1847.
52 Numerous appeals from various counties for Breckinridge to make educa- tional addresses are preserved in the Breckinridge MSS. (1848).
63 Acts of Kentucky, 1847, p. 485. Resolution dated March 1, 1848.
54 Kentucky Yeoman, Oct. 5, 1848.
55 Niles' Register, Vol. 75, p. 60.
56 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 58.
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Breckinridge had successfully forced the restoration of the school fund and he had built it up by special taxes and otherwise; but what assurance did he or the people throughout the state have that the fund might not be mis-appropriated and destroyed again? It was his good fortune that the state constitutional convention had been called to meet at this time ( fall of 1849) ; he would intrench the fund in the fundamen- tal law of the land, which neither Legislature nor governor could change or disregard. The Legislature lent its good offices by resolving that the convention should incorporate the school system in the new constitution, and such members of the convention as Larkin J. Proctor, John D. Tay- lor, William K. Bowling, Ira Root, Thomas J. Hood, and Charles A. Wickliffe successfully carried the day for education. This instrument (Article XI) declared that the school fund should be "held inviolable for the purpose of sustaining a system of common schools." 57
Although the victory seemed complete now, still a bitter fight between Breckinridge and Governor Helm in 1850-1851 over the school fund had to be settled before the absolute status of that fund could be settled. The trouble arose over the attempt of Breckinridge to have the interest on the school fund to be paid out of the Sinking Fund, for if it were not thus met at that time the state would have to levy additional taxes for the school money, and this, it was feared, would make schools unpopular. A bitter struggle ensued in which the Legislature was lined up against the governor, finally passing a bill instructing the commissioners of the Sinking Fund to pay the interest due on the school bonds. Helm vetoed the bill, but it was passed over his objections.58 Alluding to this contest and to the fact that the constitutional convention had apparently settled the status of the school fund, the Kentucky Yeoman said, "We had seen fund after fund which had been set apart and solemnly dedicated to the noble object of educating the children of the State, afterwards squan- dered on some ephemeral object, until we almost despaired of seeing one of the wishes of our life accomplished." 59
The new constitution made the superintendent of education elective, and in the first election of state officers under it, Breckinridge was chosen to carry on the work he had been so vigorously engaged in. In 1853 he resigned but not before having given his state a real system of schools. When he took up his duties in 1847 he found only 27 counties out of the total of 99 sufficiently alive in educational matters to make reports on the schools; he found only 20,602 children in school out of a total of 173,968 of school age; and he found only 174 school districts throughout the whole state.60 When he resigned in 1853 he left schools in every one of the 101 counties (and all reported statistics that year) ; he had raised the attendance to 201,223 out of a total number of 220,645 children; and he had increased the number of school districts to 3,112.61 When he entered office he found a so-called school fund of $1,000,000 which yielded nothing for schools; when he retired he left a fund consisting of $1,326,770 in state bonds, $73,000 in stocks of the Bank of Kentucky, 2 cents tax on the $100, and other smaller items-and he left the fund not at the mercy of every depart-
57 Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky, 335, 336; Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 504; Niles' Register, Vol. 75, P. 317.
58 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 504. 59 April 25, 1851.
60 These were the statistics reported; conditions were by no means as bad as these figures would seem to indicate. It should be remembered that although only 27 out of the 99 counties reported school statistics, there were many more counties that had schools in operation. The report for the preceding year offers some cor- rection : 39 counties reported 27,845 children in school in 314 districts.
61 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 507, gives important school statistics from 1841 to 1873. The number given as attending school does not mean in school at one given time, but at any time throughout the year. The average attendance in 1853 was 72,010.
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ment of the Government to levy upon to fill its deficit, but dedicated by the constitution of the state to schools. The combined revenues for schools from all sources amounted at this time to 60 cents yearly for every child.62 This was a remarkable piece of work, hard to dupli- cate in the annals of any state. To Doctor Breckinridge, therefore, partly belongs the credit of establishing the common school system in Kentucky.
This high standard was not allowed to deteriorate by the succeed- ing superintendents until the Civil war virtually destroyed the system during the conflict. In 1855 the people by an overwhelming majority voted to increase the tax from 2 cents to 5 cents on the $100 for educa- tional purposes. The state had not lost hope of obtaining aid from the Federal Government evidenced by the attempt in 1854 to convince Congress to set aside a part of the national domain for Kentucky schools.63
The higher institutions of learning had a steady growth during this period. Transylvania University had its periods of brilliancy and of decline, a football for politics and religion. In 1856 it was re-or- ganized again and made principally a school for teachers, a need which was being keenly felt by many in the state. Kentucky had grown weary of outsiders, and especially those from the North, doing her teaching. In explaining the purpose for establishing the Normal Schools the Lexington Observer and Reporter said, "We had grown weary of the constant importation of Yankee teachers who had sown the seeds of abolition broadcast throughout the borders of the state. We had become disgusted with the frequent instances of treachery and ingratitude upon the part of those imported teachers, who had been intrusted with the education of the young in our midst." 64 About this time the Kentucky Teachers' Association was founded as an aid in the movement to attract native teachers and to better the profession generally.65
After struggling along for more than half a century with few common schools but numerous plans for them, the state finally through the remarkable work of one man inaugurated a system of schools designed to give the state the position she deserved in the educational world. But one of the outstanding shames of the times was the mis- erable treatment of the most promising educational institution of the West-Transylvania University.
62 Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky, 336.
63 Acts of Kentucky, 1853, pp. 192, 193.
64 March 28, 1857.
65 Lexington Observer and Reporter, Jan. 10, 1858.
CHAPTER LVII SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE MIDDLE PERIOD
The social and intellectual development of the state stood out in various ways and was emphasized by frequent interesting incidents. As has already appeared in the discussion of educational affairs, many of her outstanding statesmen and politicians had other interests than elec- tions and political problems. Their interests may not have been as per- sistent and compelling in these other things as in politics, but they nevertheless existed and played their part. But there was a leadership out of politics which was becoming powerful along different lines. Clergymen, men of science and letters, and newspaper editors were yielding a conspicuous influence. Then there was the great ground swell of progress emanating from the masses, natural as well as resul- tant from conscious leadership. But withal, the genius of the Kentuck- ians as a people was military and political more than along any other lines.
They were a practical people, nevertheless with a vision, who would attack a problem with more force and determination, when it was re- alized that a material benefit would result from the solution. Science should be encouraged and advanced but it should show that the efforts bestowed in its advancement should not be wasted on theory alone. So it was then that the public mind was early directed to a search for the cure of devastating diseases of both man and beast. Governor Adair in 1823 suggested that the medical faculty of Transylvania Uni- versity should "by some means, organize themselves with the physicians throughout the state, so as to be able to collect the earliest possible information of the diseases that visit us under such incessant changes, and discovering the most successful means of encountering them, to diffuse the knowledge thus acquired as speedily as possible, and thereby render the science of the institution as universal and efficient as practi- cable." 1 When the worst visitation of the cholera came in the early '30s, a call was again made upon the medical profession to evolve a cure or admit that it knew little about the disease. A disease that visited the state at frequent intervals, and was especially malignant in the latter '20s was a malady popularly known as "milk sickness." This disease attacked cattle in the fall and spring, and often proved fatal. People drinking the milk from cattle so affected were also made sick and some died. It was reported that even the scavengers of the air which ate of the carcasses died. It was thought by some that the disease was caused by cattle eating some poisonous herb.2 So much interest and alarm was aroused that the Legislature in 1828 offered $500 for the discov- ery of the cause and cure of "milk sickness," if made within the fol- lowing year, or one-half the amount of either. Two years later the reward was increased to $600.3 Another disease that ran a long course of destruction among hogs was hog cholera. It was bringing a serious
1 Niles' Register, Vol. 25, p. 203. Message to the Legislature.
2 Argus, Jan. 10, 1827.
3 Acts of Kentucky, 1827, p. 238, 239; Ibid., 1829, pp. 300, 301.
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economic loss to the state, which aroused the Legislature in 1860 into offering $1,000 to any person who should discover the true cause and cure of the disease.4
If interest in science was largely actuated through the desire for practical results, it was no less true that the interest of the people in their historic past was due to the fact that they believed it was glorious, and its records should be preserved. Governor Breathitt in 1834 re- gretted that many important documents relating to the state's history were not to be found, and some that did exist were only in manuscript. The frequent destruction of the state capitol by fire had carried with it many priceless records; it was now encumbent upon the state to save the rest. "Do we not owe it to ourselves and to posterity, to rescue from the oblivious hand of time important papers, in which all should feel an interest ? It is a fact not generally known, that the people inhabiting the district of Kentucky had many meetings. Convention followed convention, for several years anterior to the separation from the state of Virginia. The journals of those conventions have never been printed, and perhaps but a single copy remains in the hands of a private gentleman. The journal of the convention of 1799, which formed our constitution, I find, also, in manuscript. We are proud of the name of Kentuckians. There is a laudable solicitude to know everything in respect to our history. Those 'pioneers of the west' were a bold, patriotic, enterprising, and liberal people. Let us, at least, per- petuate their public acts in some durable manner, and be able to furnish a complete history of the proceedings of the various public assemblies in connection with our government." He recommended to the Legis- lature the appointment of a committee to make an investigation and the printing "of such document as may be regarded necessary to a per- petuation of our political history as a state." 5
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