A look at the political movement which established tuition free elementary and secondary education.
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The story of public education in the United States begins with the “common schools” movement. In the decades after independence, political leaders in the early Republic were worried. Democracy required ordinary people to do more than dumbly follow the commands of their social betters; they were expected to actively take part in the decisions of government. This caused no end of anxiety among elites. Could “the people” really do this? Could a political system that depended on the opinion of “every citizen who is worth a few shillings,” as Noah Webster put it, really survive?
The answer, according to figures ranging from the abolitionist Webster to the slaveholder Thomas Jefferson, was yes—just as long as “the people” were properly educated. The educational “system” of the era—characterized by private academies, individual tutors, and the occasional charity school—was not up to the task. This need for democratic education was the driving motivation behind the establishment of “common schools”—publicly funded, free elementary schools that were available to boys and girls through eighth grade.
The real founder of the common school movement was Horace Mann, a wealthy lawyer who was appointed as Massachusetts’ first Secretary to the newly created Board of Public Education in 1837. Mann was an extraordinary character: a canny backroom politician, a talented community organizer, a brilliant orator, and a messianic true believer, all rolled into one. He dedicated his strange personality entirely to the creation of common schools (following his own personal edict: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity”).
For more:
- Common School.
- Common School movement.
