USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 33
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NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS.
But I beg to call attention for a few moments to the history of the schools of this city, which has a peculiar interest to us. When that distinguished statesman, De Witt Clinton, was Mayor of the city of New York, a Free School Society was established in the city "for the education of such poor children as do not belong to or are not provided for by any religious society." This organization was formed in pursuance of an act of incorporation obtained from the Legislature, the Mayor himself being one of the incorporators, and the first President of the Society. The first school under this act of incorporation was opened in the year 1806. It depended chiefly for its support on the contribu- tions of the benevolent. In the course of twenty years this excellent society had established in the city several well-organized schools, for the support of which they had received both municipal and State aid.
PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK CITY.
In the year 1826 the various schools of this society, together with others which were in existence and not under its control, were united and directed under the management of a corporation called the "Public School Society." This organization gave a new impulse to the cause of popular education, and . placed the whole system on a broader basis and infused new energy in all its operations. This society performed a most useful service to the State and to the cause of education during the period of its existence, and those who managed its affairs deserve high commendation for their disinterested public service. During the existence of this society not less than six hundred thousand youth of the city had been educated, and a large number of teachers prepared for service. The Board of Education was organized under an act of the Legislature, passed April 18th, 1842, which act extended to the city of New York the common-school system which prevailed in the other portions of the State, the schools under which were managed by officers elected by the people for the purpose. The Board of Education commenced its operations as soon as its measures could be perfected, and proceeded to erect school-houses and gather scholars for instruction. It was evident that the mission of the " Public School Society " was now over, that it was neither wise nor economical to have two systems of instruction proceeding at the same time, in the same field of operation ; it would lead to conflict of opinion, and that both judicious action and usefulness would be impaired. This was soon felt by all the friends of education and good government. The necessity for unity of system, and
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administration without distraction became manifest. In 1853, an act of the Legislature was passed authorizing the Public School Society to discontinue its organization, and to transfer its property, real and personal, to the city of New York, and a portion of its trustees to become Commissioners at large of the common schools of the city and members of the Board of Education ; and its property, valued at over $600,000.00, under the act, and by the action of the society itself, passed to the control of the Board of Education, upon whom the administration of the common-school system was thenceforth solely to depend. The influence of the consolidation of these two organizations into one harmo- nious body was beneficial to the salutary working of the system.
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
Since the year 1853 and up to the present time, the public schools of New York have been under the control of this organization, called the " Board of Education," the members of which have been elected by the people, and during that period of time our school system has attained to its present great prosperity and usefulness. Under its care and management has been perfected a wise and judicious system of instruction ; it has progressed and expanded and adapted itself to the improvements which have taken place in science and arts and the methods of instruction. The cause of education or its adminis- tration has not been stationary. It has steadily grown and increased in its means of usefulness. It has appropriated to itself and endeavored to put in practice in the schools whatever experience has established to be beneficial in method or subjects of instruction. The results of its operations may this day be regarded with emotions of honorable pride by every citizen of New York, Under the means and influences which this Board has furnished, the great mass of the children and youth of the city have been educated. Contemplate for one moment the result of its work. It has established and well maintained thirty-four Primary Departments and Schools, in which were instructed this day at least sixty-five thousand children. It has established and well main- tained eighty-nine Grammar Schools, male and female, in which were instucted this day over thirty-five thousand children.
The system of instruction of the males terminates in a full and complete course of collegiate education of four years in the College of New York, fitting and preparing them for any sphere of action or usefulness in life ; and that of the females in a Normal College, which at this time contains over one thousand pupils who are themselves being educated and trained to become the teachers and guides of others, The number of schools wholly under the control of the Board of Education was 221, in addition to which there are some fifty corporate schools, partly under the charge of this Board, and who participate in the enjoyment of the public moneys. In the work of instruction are daily engaged 363 male teachers and 2,326 female teachers, making a total of 2,089 teachers. And the extent of the work accomplished by these earnest and painstaking toilers in this interesting department of the work of life, charged with so much responsibility for the present and future, to the individual and to the State, may be appreciated when it is considered that during the year past nearly 235,000 pupils have received instruction in the public schools, and that the average daily attendance in all the schools under the charge of the Board is over one hundred thousand.
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APPENDIX XV.
FEMALE TEACHERS.
When it is considered that quite eight tenths of all the instruction of the youth of the city of New York, of both sexes, is performed by females, no one can well exaggerate the importance of the results to follow from the establish- ment of the Normal College for their education and discipline. This institution, completely and thoroughly organized during the past year, under its efficient President and able corps of teachers and instructors, may well command the interested attention and invoke the best wishes and prayers of all who are interested in successful and useful education. But the Board of Education, as the other organizations which have preceded it, has done its . work. , Under that name it belongs to the past. But from this rapid sum- mary of what it has accomplished it must be conceded that its mission was a good one, and its work, if not perfect, was at least well done.
THE NEW DEPARTMENT.
The Department of Public Instruction, under the recent act of the Legisla- ture amending the city charter, now commences its career under our direction as its Commissioners. I have deemed it proper to give this brief but yet very imperfect survey of the past history and accomplishment of the cause of educa- tion in New York, in order that we may be sensibly and properly impressed with the importance of the work in which we are engaged, and with the mag- nitude of the trust to which we have, by the appointment of the Mayor of New York, succeeded. The change at this time wrought is not in the system of the schools, nor in their administration, nor in the course of instruction. Nothing is extended or diminished. The recent act establishes a connection between the administration of public instruction and the municipal govern- ment. The Department of Public Instruction is in name and in fact a branch and department of the city government. If instruction is the business of the State, this is as it should be. Our duties as Commissioners are no more and no less than they were as members of the Board of Education.
But as Commissioners of Public Instruction our term of office has been - extended, nor may the number of this body be increased or diminished, except . by force of additional legislation or by death or resignation.of the members. There is, then, before this Commission, a term of five years for disinterested and useful devotion to the cause of education, and the good of the State, and the happiness and welfare of its people. We have succeeded to the public schools when they are in successful operation, well officered with principals and teachers; and when they enjoy to a very large extent the confidence, and when they are earnestly regarded with the warm interest of the people. For we all know that these schools lie close to the heart of the people of this great ; metropolis.
We take these schools when our city has a population of one million of souls, and at a time when the proper education and discipline of our youth is justly regarded by every observing mind as the foundation of the continued prosperity and safety of the State and city. Those who have preceded us have 7.80 perfected and amplified the subjects and methods of instruction as to have brought the means of education and the acquisition of useful elementary knowl- edge, in an attractive form, to every house, and within the reach of every child in the city, of teachable years. They have erected for us large, commodious, and
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well-ventilated school-houses, constructed with reference to the comfort, cheer fulness, and health of the teacher and the pupils. We have, at our hands, already supplied books and apparatus such as are suggested by the latest improve- ments in arts and science, and advanced methods of instruction. And we have to aid us an able and experienced Superintendent of the schools, with his assist- ants, upon whom is imposed the duty of visitation and examination, without which no system is complete, and a large band of skilled teachers and instruct- ors eager for the discharge of their duties, and ready to co-operate with us and second our efforts to further extend the blessings and advantages of education. Both the State and city are liberal in the dispensation of their funds to us ; no reasonable demand for money for the purpose of public instruction has ever . been denied. For the coming year there is placed at our disposal two million seven hundred thousand dollars. These weighty considerations should give us a corresponding sense of our duties and responsibilities, and we should be pre- pared to bring to this work a disposition faithfully and as intelligently as we can, to discharge its duties, as we will justly be held to a great accountability. Ours is not a work of construction, but of improvement and extension.
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Dr. Franklin, as early as 1752, advocated a scheme for the education of the youth in Pennsylvania, which embraced instruction in book-keeping, the rudi ments of geometry, astronomy, geography, history, logic, and natural science.
In addition to the Latin and Greek, he advocated instruction in the French, German, and Spanish languages. To all of which was to be added good morals and good manners. Franklin thus early saw how useful to the American youth, business man, and citizen, would prove the knowledge of these modern tongues -the languages of people with whom, as he foresaw, we were to have exten- sive commercial intercourse, and who in a great degree would in time become a constituent part of our own people. * *
Gentlemen, in the administration of this trust, as Commissioners of Public Instruction, let us be ever impressed with its importance and its responsibility. Let it be our office to devote our time and our attention to the duties of the place. Let it be ours to suggest and carry out any needed improvement and just advance in the cause of education and in methods and systems of instruc- tion, and where errors exist let us correct them in all cases. Let us see to it that the youth of this generation be well instructed ; let us place within their reach every means of knowledge which will make their lives more useful and happy, and enable them to become good citizens of the Republic, always remem- bering that no system of education is valuable which does not tend to improve the intellect, strengthen the physical an I develop the moral nature.
No education is valuable which does not lead the pupil into habits of right - thought, knowledge, and action, and which does not furnish him with the means to be of service to the State, by being a law-abiding, peaceful, intelli- gent, and virtuous citizen, whose highest aim in life is to be faithful in all his relations to his God, his country, and mankind.
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APPENDIX XVI.
NEW YORK SOCIETY IN THE OLDEN TIME.
BY RT. REV. BISHOP KIP .*
To lament the days that are gone, and believe the past better than the present, is a tendency which has been remarked as far back as the days of Sol- omon. "Say not thou," says the wise king, " What is the cause that the former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." However this may be, it is a propensity, which has always existed, to compare unfavorably the present with the distant past. The Golden Age of which poets sang was in " our fathers' day, and in the old time before them."
From this feeling the writer realizes that he is not free, and, in many respects, might be inclined to impute his estimate of the present to the waning light in which he sees it. When dealing, however, with facts with which he is well acquainted, he feels that he cannot be prejudiced ; and in this way it is that he contrasts the society of the present with that which once existed in New York. From his distant home he looks back on the rush and hurry of life as it now exists in his native city ; and, while he realizes its increased glit- ter and splendor, he feels that it has depreciated from the dignity and high tone which once characterized it.
Of the society of the olden time he can, of course, know but little by actual experience. His knowledge of it began when the old regime was just passing 'away. In the days of his childhood, the men of the Revolution were fast going down to the grave. Of these he knew some in their old age. His father's contemporaries, however, were somewhat younger, though brought up ander the same inflences. But when that generation departed, the spirit which had aided in forming their characters had gone also, never again to be felt. To many of these men he looked up as if they were superior beings; and, indeed, he has felt, in all his passage through life, that he has never seen the equals · of those who then stood forward prominently in public affairs.
* This article originally appeared in Putnam's Magazine for September, 1870.
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The earliest notice we have of colonial society is in Mrs. Grant's delightful American Lady. She was the daughter of a British officer who came over with troops during the old French war, and her reminiscences begin about 1760. Her residence was principally in Albany, with the Schuyler family. Still, she was brought in contact with the leading families of the colony, and. as she was in the habit of often visiting New York, she learned much of the state of things in that city. She writes thus of the old Dutch and colonial fami- lies of that day : " They bore about them the tokens of former affluence and respectability, such as family plate, portraits of their ancestors executed in a superior style, and great numbers of original paintings, some of which were much admired by acknowledged judges." In New York, of course, the highest degree of refinement was to be seen, and she says : " An expensive and elegant style of living began already to take place in New York, which was, from the residence of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, become the seat of a little court."
Society, in that day, was very stationary. About 1635 the first Dutch set- tlers came out, and the country was much of it occupied by their large grants, many of which had attached to them manorial rights. They brought with them some of the social distinctions of the old country. In the cities of Hol- land, for a long time, there had been "great " and " small " burgher rights. In Amsterdam the " great burghers" monopolized all the offices, and were also exempt from attainder and confiscation of goods. The "small burghers " had the freedom of trade only. In 1657 this " great burgher " right was introduced into New Amsterdam by Governor Stuyvesant.
About fifty years after the arrival of the early Dutch settlers, they were fol- lowed by the Huguenots, driven abroad principally by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and including in their number members of some of the best families in France. Thus came the Jays, De Lanceys, Rapaljes, De Peysters, Pintards, &c. In 1688 the English took possession of the colony, and, from that time, English settlers increased. The colony became (as Paulding says) " a place in which to provide for younger sons." Still, this often brought out scions of distinguished families and the best blood in England.
Thus matters stood until the Revolution. The country was parceled out among great proprietors. We can trace them from the city of " New Amster- dam " to the northern part of the State. In what is now the thickly-populated city were the lands of the Stuyvesants, originally the Bowcrie of the old Gov- ernor. Next above was the grant to the Kip family, called "Kip's Bay," made in 1638. In the center of the island were the possessions of the De Lauceys. Opposite, on Long Island, was the grant to the Laurence family. We cross over Harlaem River and reach " Morrissanea," given to the Morris family. Beyond this, on the East River, was "De Lancey's Farm," another grant to that powerful family ; while on the Hudson, to the west, was the lower Van Courtlandt manor, and the Phillipse manor. Above, at Peekskill, was the upper manor of the Van Courtlandts. Then came the manor of Livingston. then the Beekmans, then the manor of Kipsburgh, purchased by the Kip family from the Indians, in 1686, and made a royal grant by Governor Dongan, two years afterward. Still higher up was the Van Rensselaer manor, twenty. four miles by forty-eight ; and, above that, the possessions of the Schuylers. Further west, on the Mohawk, were the broad lands of Sir William Johnson,
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created a baronet for his services in the old French and Indian wars, who lived in a rude magnificence at Johnson Hall. All this was sacrificed by his son, Sir John, for the sake of loyalty, when he took up arms for the King and was driven into Canada. The title, however, is still held by his grandson, and stands recorded in the baronetage of England.
The very names of places, in some cases, show their history .. Such, for instance, is that of Yonkers. The word "Junker " (pronounced Younker), in the languages of northern Europe, means the nobly-born-the gentleman. In West Chester, on the Hudson River, still stands the old manor-house of the Phillipse family. The writer remembers, in his early days, when visiting there, the large rooms and richly-ornamented ceilings, with quaint old formal gardens about the house. When, before the Revolution, Mr. Phillipse lived there, "lord of all he surveyed," he was always spoken of by his tenantry as " the Yonker " -the gentleman-par excellence. In fact, he was the only person of that social rank in that part of the country. In this way the town, which subsequently grew up about the old manor-house, took the name of Yonkers. -
This was a state of things which existed in no other part of the continent. In new England there were scarcely any large landed proprietors. The country was divided up among small farmers ; and, when the Revolution commenced, the people almost unanimously espoused its cause. The aristocratic element, which in New York rallied around the Crown, was here entirely wanting. The only exception to this which we can remember, was the case of the Gardiners. of Maine. Their wide lands were confiscated for their loyalty ; but, on account of some informality, after the Revolution, they managed to recover their prop- erty, and are still seated as Gardiner.
At the South, where so much was said about their being " the descendants of the Cavaliers." there were no such feudal relations. The planters had no tenantry ; they had slaves. Their system, therefore, was similar to that of the serfdom of Russia. With the colonial families of New York it was the English feudal system.
Hereditary landed property was, in that day, invested with the same dignity in New York which it has now in Europe ; and, for more than a century, these families retained their possessions, and directed the infant colony. They formed a coterie of their own. and. generation after generation, married among them- selves. Turn to the early records of New York, and you find all places of official dignity filled by a certain set of familiar names, many of which, since the Rev olution have entirely disappeared. As we have remarked, they occupied a posi- tion similar to that of the English country gentleman, with his many tenants, and were everywhere looked up to with the same kind of respect which is now accorded to them. Their position was an acknowledged one, for social distinc- tions then were marked and undisputed. They were the persons who were placed in office in the Provincial Council and Legislature, and no one pretended to think it strange. "They." says a writer on that day, "were the gentry of the country, to whom the country, without a rebellious thought, took off its hat."
In that age the very dress plainly marked the distinctions in society. No one who saw a gentleman could mistake his social position. Those people of a century ago now look down upon us from their portraits, in costumes which, in our day, we see nowhere but on the stage. Velvet coats with gold lace, large
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sleeves, and ruffles at the hands, wigs and embroidered vests, with the accom. panying rapier, are significant of a class removed from the rush and bustle of life-the " nati consumere fruges"-whose occupation was not-to toil. No one, in that day, below their degree, assumed their dress; nor was the lady surpassed in costliness of attire by her servant. In fact, at that time there were gentlemen and ladies, and there were servants.
The manner in which these great landed estates were arranged fostered a feudal feeling. They were granted by Government to the proprietors on con- 'dition that, in a certain number of years, they settled so many tenants upon them. These settlers were generally Germans of the lower class, who had been brought over free. Not being able to pay their passage money. the captain took them without charge, and then they were sold by him to the landed pro- prietors for a certain number of years, in accordance with the size of the family. The sum received remunerated him for the passage-money. They were called. in that day, Redemptioners ; and, by the time their term of service-sometimes extending to seven years-had expired, they were acquainted with the ways of the country and its manner of farming, had acquired some knowledge of the language, and were prepared to set up for themselves. Thus both parties were benefited. The landed proprietor fulfilled his contract with the Government, .
and the Redemptioners were trained for becoming independent settlers.
From these Redemptioners many of the wealthy farming families now liv. ing in the Hudson River counties are descended. In an early day they pur. chased lands which enriched their children. The writer's father once told him of an incident which occurred in his grandfather's family. One of his German tenants, having served out his time of several years' duration, brought to luis late owner a bag of gold which had come with him from the old country, and was sufficient to purchase a farm. " But," said his master, in surprise, " how comes it, Hans, with all this money, that you did not pay your passage, instead of serving as a Redemptioner so long ?" " Oh," said the cautious emigrant trom the Rhine, " I did not know English, and I should have been cheated. Now I know all about the country, and I can set up for myself."
These tenants, however, looked up with unbounded reverence to the landed proprietors who owned them, and it took much more than one generation to enable them to shake off this feeling, or begin to think of a social equality.
There was, in succeeding times, one curious result of this system in the con fusion of family names. These German Redemptioners often had but one name. For instance, a man named Paulus was settled as a tenant on an estate. As his children grew up, they needed something to distinguish them. They were Paulus' Jan, and Paulus' Hendrick. This naturally changed to Jan Pau lus and Hendrick Paulus, and thus Paulus became the family name.
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