USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 26
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12. On the 13th of November the Legislature, at its special session, passed an act abolishing the office of County Superin- tendent of Common Schools, mainly, it is believed, from the in- judicious selections of many of that class of officers, by the several County Boards of Supervisors, and the obnoxious mode in which its duties were discharged by incompetent officers. The effect of this measure, demanded, as it undoubtedly was, by the popular sentiment, was, nevertheless, highly disastrous to the prosperity of the common-school system.
1848. 13. On the first Tuesday of January, 1848, the Legis- lature again assembled, and Governor YOUNG, in his mes- sage, after alluding to the general condition of the State, briefly reviewed the history of the manorial disturbances, and recommended the institution of legal proceedings in behalf of the State, to test the validity of the titles claimed by the land- lords. He also called the attention of the Legislature to the importance of the State system of public instruction. "Com- mon Schools," he observed, "from their universality reaching every neighborhood and shedding their influence upon every family and into every mind, expelling the primary causes of vice and crime, and erecting altars to patriotism and virtue, have justly been considered the peculiar objects of legislative care."
14. The sum of one million of dollars was appropriated for the enlargement of the Erie and the completion of the Gene- see Valley, Black River, and Chemung Extension Canals. Gen- eral acts were also passed, authorizing the formation of railroad,
State officers. - Abolition of the office of County Superintendent of Com- mon Schools. - Its effects. - Governor's message. - Manorial titles. - Common schools. - Appropriations for resumption of the public works. -- General laws for corporate companies and associations.
275
FREE SCHOOLS.
gas, bridge, telegraph, and manufacturing companies, and asso- ciations for charitable, benevolent, missionary, and scientific pur- poses.
15. The late Superintendent of Common Schools, Secretary BENTON, in his annual report, adverted to the extension of the FREE-SCHOOL system, by the establishment, in many of the most important cities and villages of the State of schools, of this de- scription, and urged the importance of its adoption throughout the State, by means of a uniform system of taxation. The operations of the State Normal School had been thus far eminently successful. On the 1st of January, however, of the present year, it sustained a severe loss by the death of its Principal, DAVID P. PAGE, who had administered its affairs with signal ability and usefulness. He was succeeded by Professor GEORGE R. PERKINS, of Utica, who had heretofore the charge of its mathematical department.
16. At the annual election in November, Lieutenant-Governor HAMILTON FISH, of New York, was elected Governor, and GEORGE W. PATTERSON, of Livingston, Lieutenant-Governor. The presidential election resulted in the choice of General ZACHARY TAYLOR, of Louisiana, the hero of the Mexican War, as President, and MILLARD FILLMORE, of New York, as Vice- President, by a majority of thirty-six electoral votes over Lewis Cass of Michigan for the former, and WILLIAM O. BUTLER of Kentucky for the latter office. MARTIN VAN BUREN. of New York, was supported for President, and CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President, by the Free-Soil Demo- crats of the Union.
Free schools. - State Normal School. - Death of Principal Page. - Elec- tion of Governor Fish and Lieutenant-Governor Patterson. - Zachary Tay- lor elected President, and Millard Fillmore, Vice-President. - Free-Soil nominations.
276
EIGHTH PERIOD.
CHAPTER II.
ADMINISTRATION OF HAMILTON FISH. - THE FREE-SCHOOL CON- TROVERSY.
1. AT the opening of the legislative session of 1849, Gov- ernor FISH, after adverting to the general condition of the
1849. State, called the attention of the Legislature to the liberal bequest of four hundred thousand dollars by John Jacob Astor. of the city of New York, for the foundation and perpetual sup- port of a free public library, and recommended the necessary legislation for giving validity to the munificent donation of the testator. He also recommended the endowment by the State of an Agricultural school and a school for instruction in the me- chanic arts ; the improvement and extension of the laws for the protection of emigrants, the restoration of the office of County Superintendent of Common Schools, the establishment of Tribu- nals of Conciliation, and a modification and amelioration of the criminal code.
2. The Legislature, in accordance with the recommendation of the Governor, adopted a concurrent resolution authorizing the appointment of a Board of Commissioners to mature a plan for the establishment of an Agricultural College and Experimental Farm, and submit a detailed report of such plan at the ensuing session. Strong resolutions were also passed declaring the un- alterable determination of the people of the State to resist the extension of slavery over territories now free.
3. The Superintendent of Common Schools (Hon. CHRISTO- PHIER MORGAN, Secretary of State), in his annual report, strongly urged the adoption by the Legislature of a system of FREE SCHOOLS, based upon the imperative duty of the State to secure the means of education to every child within its borders, as a preventive of crime and pauperism, an incentive to industry and usefulness, and a proper preparation for the discharge of the various duties to be devolved upon them as future citizens.
4. On the 26th of March a bill passed both Houses for the
. : Governor's message. - Proceedings of the Legislature.
277
STATE FREE SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED.
ESTABLISHMENT of FREE SCHOOLS throughout the State, to be supported by the public funds set apart for that purpose by the Constitution, and by county, town, and school-district taxation, for any sum required beyond these funds, for the building of suitable school-houses, and the instruction of every child be- . tween the ages of five and twenty-one years for a period of at least four months in each year. This bill was required to be sub- mitted to the electors of the State for their ratification at the ensuing November election.
5. An act was also passed on the 30th of March, appropriat- ing an annual sum of two hundred and fifty dollars to such academies in the State, designated by the Regents of the Uni- versity, as should instruct at least twenty of their pupils in the science of common-school teaching for a period of four months during the year. Ex Governor WILLIAM H. SEWARD was, in February, elected United States Senator, in place of General John A. Dix, whose term had expired.
6. At the November election, CHRISTOPHER MORGAN, of Cayuga, was re-elected Secretary of State; WASHINGTON HUNT, of Niagara, Comptroller; and SAMUEL STEVENS, of Albany, Attor- ney-General. The act for the establishment of free schools throughout the State was approved by a majority of 158,000 votes ; every county in the State, with the exception of Tomp- kins, Chenango, Cortland, and Otsego, giving majorities in its favor. Previous to the official announcement of this result, the Boards of Supervisors in nearly half the counties had adjourned, without making the necessary appropriations for carrying the provisions of the law into effect, throwing the entire burden of the support of the schools for the ensuing year on the respective school districts.
7. This heavy deficiency of funds, together with the great inequality of taxable property in the several districts, and the burdens thereby imposed upon the wealthy inhabitants, ren- dered the execution of the law exceedingly oppressive, and created a strong revulsion in the popular sentiment, which
Act for the establishment of free schools throughout the State. - Teach- ers' Department in Academies. - United States Senator. - State elections. - Approval of the Free-School Bill. - Obstacles to its execution. - Causes of its unpopularity.
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1
278
EIGHTH PERIOD.
manifested itself in numerous petitions and memorials to the Legislature of 1850 for a repeal or modification of the act. Some of the courts also held its provisions unconstitutional, by reason of the submission to a popular vote. The Attorney- General, however, dissented from this opinion ; and no decision was finally pronounced on appeal.
8. The utmost efforts were made by the friends of the law to secure its favorable consideration, notwithstanding the un- avoidable obstacles to its immediate operation. The almost entire unanimity with which it was adopted by the Legislature and sanctioned by the popular vote, its intrinsic justice and beneficent results in opening the common schools to every child, without discrimination or restriction, and the paramount importance of the principles involved in its enactment, were ably and eloquently urged in every section of the State. The rural districts were, however, almost unanimously determined to effect its unconditional repeal.
9. At the opening of the session in January, 1850, 1850. Governor FISH renewed his recommendations of the pre- ceding year, urged the propriety of establishing a State asylum and school for the instruction and care of idiots, and the passage of suitable laws for the regulation of railroad companies and the comfort and convenience of passengers. In conclusion he re- viewed the progress of the discussions in Congress in reference to the admission of California and the new territories acquired from Mexico, and expressed the unalterable determination of the State to resist, by all legitimate and constitutional means, the introduction of slavery into any of the territories of the United States where it had not already obtained a footing.
10. Several bills were introduced in each House for the repeal or modification of the Free-School Law of the preceding session. Able reports were presented by Mr. BEEKMAN in the Senate and Mr. KINGSLEY in the Assembly ; and Mr. BURROUGHS, of Orleans, Chairman of the Committee on Colleges, Academies, and Com- mon Schools of the House, introduced a bill providing for the levy of a State tax of $ 800,000 annually for the support of the
Demand for repeal. - Efforts of its friends. - Governor's message. - State asylum for idiots. - Railroad restrictions. - Slavery in the territories. - Bills for the repeal of the Free-School Law.
279
DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR.
common schools, after applying the revenues of the funds set apart for that purpose. This bill passed the Assembly by a strong vote, but failed in the Senate. An act referring the question of the repeal of the existing law to the people at the November elections was finally adopted by both Houses.
11. During the session an act was passed providing for the establishment of an asylum and school for the care and instruc- tion of idiots, to be located at Syracuse. This institution was accordingly completed and organized under the direction of Dr. WILBUR, and its preliminary operations were crowned with the most gratifying success.
12. On the 9th of July, ZACHARY TAYLOR, the President of the United States, died at Washington, and was succeeded by Vice-President MILLARD FILLMORE. Upon the question of the admission of California as a State, the series of measures known as the "Compromise Bill," introduced by Mr. CLAY of Ken- tucky, were passed in July, admitting that State without re- striction as to slavery, leaving the new territories acquired from Mexico on the same basis, and providing for a more stringent execution of the Fugitive-Slave Law.
13. The friends of free schools, after the most strenuous and persevering, though fruitless, efforts to obtain such amendments or modification of the act of 1849 as might render its provisions generally acceptable, determined, under these circumstances, to oppose its unconditional repeal. A State Convention was held at Syracuse in July, Mr. MORGAN, the Superintendent, presid- ing, at which resolutions to this effect were adopted, accom- panied by a pledge to unite in any effort to amend and perfect the details of the existing law.
14. An animated and vigorous canvass ensued throughout the State between the opponents of the act, who demanded its unconditional repeal, and the advocates of the principle of universal education through schools free to all, without regard to the details of the existing bill. So obnoxious were thesc provisions, however, in the rural districts of the State, that at the fall elections forty-two of the fifty-nine counties returned an
Death of President Taylor. - Succession of Vice-President Fillmore. - Admission of California. - " Compromise Bill " of Mr. Clay. - Free-school canvass.
280
EIGHTH PERIOD.
aggregate majority of nearly forty-nine thousand votes for its repeal, while in the seventeen remaining counties, including the city and county of New York, a majority of seventy-two thousand against repeal was given, - leaving a majority of about 25,000 votes in favor of the bill. The majority in New York City alone was 37,827.
15. WASHINGTON HUNT, of Niagara, the late Comptroller, was elected Governor by a majority of about two hundred votes over HORATIO SEYMOUR of Oneida ; and SANFORD E. CHURCH of Orleans, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected Lieutenant-Governor.
CHAPTER III.
ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON HUNT. - MODIFICATION OF THE FREE-SCHOOL LAW. - ERIE CANAL ENLARGEMENT. - AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
1. GOVERNOR HUNT, in his annual message to the Legislature of 1851, after adverting to the general condition of the
1851. State, invited the attention of the Legislature to the sub- ject of common-school education, regarding the decision of a ma- jority of the electors of the State as conclusive in favor of the principle of free schools, while leaving the details of the system subject to such equitable modification as should render its administration acceptable to all interested in its burdens as well as its benefits.
2. " It cannot be doubted," he observed, " that all property estates, whether large or small, will derive important advantages from the universal education of the people. A well-considered system which shall insure to the children of all the blessings of moral and intellectual culture will plant foundations broad and deep for public and private virtue ; and its effects will be seen in the diminution of vice and crime, the more general practice of sobriety, industry, and integrity, conservative and enlightened legislation, and universal obedience to the laws."
Majority against repeal. - Free-school controversy. - Message of the Governor.
281
CANALS AND SCHOOLS.
3. After stating that sixteen millions of dollars had already been expended upon the canals of the State since the com- mencement of the Erie Canal enlargement in 1835, and dis- cussing various plans for the completion of these great works at the earliest practicable period, he recommended such an amend- ment to the Constitution as would facilitate the accomplishment of this object. He also concurred in the recommendation of his predecessor for the organization of a State Agricultural College and Experimental Farm.
4. The annual report of Secretary MORGAN, as Superintendent of Common Schools, urged upon the Legislature the importance of such an amendment of the existing law establishing Free Schools, as was demanded alike by justice and expediency, and by an enlightened public sentiment. " The Common Schools of the State," he observed, "should be declared free to every resident of the respective districts of the proper age to par- ticipate in their benefits ; and their support should be made a charge upon the whole property, either of the State at large, or of the respective counties and towns in which they are situated."
5. Numerous petitions were forwarded to the Legislature from different sections of the State for the repeal or amendment of the act. On the sixth day of February, Mr. THEODORE H. BENEDICT, of Westchester, Chairman of the Assembly Com- mittee on Colleges, Academies, and Common Schools, presented an elaborate and able report, accompanied by a bill for the estab- lishment of Free Schools, to be supported by an annual tax of eight hundred thousand dollars, in addition to the funds already provided by the Constitution, and the raising of any balance re- quired for the support of the schools by a poll-tax on the inhabitants of the respective districts.
6. Mr. BURROUGHS, of Orleans, from the minority of the Com- mittee, reported a similar bill, providing for a State tax of the same amount, one fourth of which, together with one fourth of all other moneys applicable to the support of common schools, should be equally divided among the several school districts, the residue apportioned according to the number of children of
Eric Canal enlargement. - Proposed amendment to Constitution. - Agricultural College and Experimental Farm. - Report of the Superin- tendent of Common Schools. - Propositions for amendment of the laws.
282
EIGHTH PERIOD.
suitable school age residing in each, and any balance raised by rate-bilì on those sending to school, after exempting all indigent. inhabitants. In this shape, after substituting one third instead of one fourth for equal distribution among the districts, the bill, on the 12th of April, became a law.
7. On the first Tuesday of February, Ex-Governor HAMILTON FISH, of New York, was appointed United States Senator, in place of Lieutenant-Governor Dickinson, whose term had ex- pired. A joint resolution of the Legislature was also adopted, authorizing the Governor to appoint a Special Commissioner for the codification and revision of the school laws of the State, un- der which provision S. S. RANDALL, Deputy-Superintendent of Common Schools, was appointed.
8. At the November elections, HENRY S. RANDALL, of Cort- land, was elected Secretary of State and Superintendent of Common Schools ; JOHN C. WRIGHT, of Schoharie, Comptroller, and JOHN VAN BUREN, of Albany, Attorney-General, with a Democratic majority in the Legislature. In December the ex- iled Hungarian patriot, LOUIS KOSSUTH, arrived in New York on a visit to the United States, and was received with the greatest enthusiasm in all the principal cities and towns.
9. The message of Governor HUNT, at the opening of the 1852. session of 1852, recapitulated the principal recommenda- tions of the preceding year ; stated the entire indebtedness of the State at twenty-two millions of dollars, and the canal reve- nues at $3,700,000, which, after defraying the expenses of re- pairs and maintenance, and contributing upwards of a million and a half dollars to the payment of the principal and interest of the debt contracted for their construction, left a surplus of nearly a million dollars for the completion of the public works.
10. The assessed valuation of the State was estimated at $1,100,000,000. The capital of the Common-School Fund was six and a half millions of dollars, of the revenues of which, nearly a million and a half had been expended during the preceding year, in the payment of teachers' wages and the purchase of
Passage of the Act. - United States Senator. - Commissioner for revis- ion of school laws. - State officers. - Visit of Kossuth. - Legislature of 1852. - Governor's message. - State debt. - Revenues of the canals. - Valuation of taxable property. - Common schools.
283
SEYMOUR AND CHURCH.
school libraries. The number of pupils in attendance upon the several public schools was seven hundred and twenty-six thou- sand.
11. The Governor reviewed the action of the Legislature and the people of the State, in reference to the effort to secure an entirely free system of common schools, and characterized the enactment of the preceding session as a temporary compromise between the advanced views of the advocates of Free Schools and the fears and prejudices of a majority of the tax-payers and inhabitants of the rural districts, long accustomed to the exist- ing system, and unwilling to sanction its entire abandonment. The progress of public opinion might be relied upon to diffuse a more liberal view of the relations of the State to its future citizens.
12. At the November elections, HORATIO SEYMOUR, of Oneida, was elected Governor, and SANFORD E. CHURCH, of Orleans, re- elected Lieutenant-Governor, by a majority of about twelve thousand votes over Governor HUNT and Lieutenant-Governor PATTERSON ; FRANKLIN PIERCE, of New Hampshire, was elected President, and WILLIAM R. KING, of Alabama, Vice-President of the United States, by a large majority, over Lieutenant-General WINFIELD SCOTT and WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, of North Carolina.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF HORATIO SEYMOUR. - AGRICULTURAL COL- LEGE. - MANORIAL TITLES. - RAILROADS. - FINANCES OF THE STATE. - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. - PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NEW YORK CITY.
1. THE Legislature met on the first Tuesday of Janu- 1853. ary, 1853. Governor SEYMOUR, in his message, indorsed the recommendations of his predecessor for the adoption of such a constitutional amendment as might facilitate the early completion of the Erie Canal enlargement and the construction of the Genesee Valley, Black River, and Oswego Canals. He
Election of Governor Seymour and Lieutenant-Governor Church. - Elec- tion of President Franklin Pierce and Vice-President William R. King. - Legislative proceedings. - Governor's message. - Canal enlargement.
284
EIGHTH PERIOD.
aiso urged the establishment of a State Agricultural and Scien- tific College, for instruction in the practical application of the various branches of science. The suits instituted by the State to test the validity of the several manorial titles having been decided in favor of the landlords, he counselled submission to the laws on the part of the tenants, and such a disposition of their leases as should prove most advantageous to their interests.
2. An act was passed, in accordance with the recommenda- tion of the Governor and his predecessors, granting a charter for the establishment of an Agricultural College, with an experi- mental farm. Sixty-six railroad companies had been organized under the general provision of the Constitution, and suitable laws were enacted for their regulation and the safety and con- venience of travellers.
3. A special session of the Legislature was convened by the Governor, immediately upon its adjournment, for the purpose of considering the embarrassed financial condition of the State, the omission to make the necessary appropriations for the sup- port of the government, and adopting the necessary measures for the progress and completion of the public works. An amendment to the Constitution was proposed for the accom- plishment of this object, and an act passed, which was, however. decided by the Attorney-General to be unconstitutional, for the immediate raising of the requisite funds for this purpose.
4. Immediately upon his inauguration in March, President PIERCE appointed Ex-Governor WILLIAM L. MARCY, of New York, Secretary of State, which office he continued to hold during the entire presidential term. On the 18th of April, Vice-President KING expired at his residence in Alabama, and DAVID R. ATCHI- sos, of Missouri, was chosen President of the Senate in his place.
5. On the 4th of June an act was passed revising and amend- ing the school law of the city of New York, by which the several ward schools of that city and the schools of the Public School Society were consolidated, and a Board of Education established for the general management of the system, consisting of two commissioners from each ward and fifteen from the Public
State Agricultural and Scientific College. - Manorial titles. - Railroad companies. - Special session of the Legislature. - Financial embarrass- ments. - Proposed amendment to the Constitution.
285
ADMINISTRATION OF HORATIO SEYMOUR.
School Society, with local Boards of Trustees and Inspectors in the several wards. At this time there were 224 ward and cor- porate schools, including those of the Public School Society, with about one thousand teachers and 123,530 pupils on register, with an average attendance of 43,740, together with twenty-five evening schools, with about four thousand pupils.
6. The Public School Society of that city had been in exist- ence since the year 1805, and from the period of the opening of its first public school in 1809 had, with the aid of a propor- tionate share of the State School Fund, organized and adminis- tered a system of elementary education unsurpassed by any in the country. The time seemed now to have arrived, however, when the necessity for a more extensive system of public in- struction required the dissolution of the society, and the trans- fer of its property to the Board of Education already organized for the accomplishment of the same object, with greater facilities ; and the results have amply vindicated the wisdom of their de- termination.
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