xt7vx05x9r6z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7vx05x9r6z/data/mets.xml Kentucky. Department of Education. Kentucky Kentucky. Department of Education. 1938-05 volumes: illustrations 23-28 cm. call numbers 17-ED83 2 and L152 .B35. bulletins English Frankford, Ky. : Dept. of Education This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.) Education -- Kentucky Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "Education 1838-1938", vol. VI, no. 3, May 1938 text Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "Education 1838-1938", vol. VI, no. 3, May 1938 1938 1938-05 2021 true xt7vx05x9r6z section xt7vx05x9r6z
P233 0 Commonwealth of Kentucky 0
33°33 EDUCATIONAL BULLETIN
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Published by
5 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
H. W. PETERS
Superintendent of Public Instruction
y ISSUED MONTHLY
Entered as second-class matter March 21, 1933. at the post Office at
Frankfort, Kentucky, under the Act of August 24, 1912.
Vo|.V| 0 May, 1938 0 No.3
f i
A CENTURY OF EDUCATION
IN KENTUCKY
1838-1938
Published by ‘
State Department of Education
H. W. PETERS
Superintendent of Public Instruction
FOREWORD
This bulletin contains l'acts concerning some ol’ the more impor-
tant events in the growth ol? public education in this (location-
wealth from the time 01" its establishment, February 16, 1838, to the
present one hundredth year of public edu 'ation. The principal facts
contained l.“i'eiii deal with the development of public elementary
and public high school education for this period.
The material for this bulletin has been selected and arranged
by Gordie Young, Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction.
ln preparing it he used as a basis for the selection of material “His
tory of Education in Kentucky”, by Hamlett, “A Study of Local
School Units in Kentucky”, and biennial reports of the Superin-
tendents of Public lnstruction.
The purpose of this publication is to provide readily availablt
material for use, of those who are interested in observing" educational
trends, planning educational, programs, and in the celebration of
the century of educational effort. It is hoped that this information
will be made available through the schools to the pupils and citizens
of each community.
II. \V. PETERS,
Superintmulent Public Instruction.
Part
Part
Part
por-
110]]-
) the
facts
itary
nged
:tion.
‘His-
[1003]
)erin-
ilublc
tiomxl
on of
ration
,tizens
.lctiUlL
Part I.
Part II.
Part III.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Education in Kentucky Before 1850 ........... . ............... 2p. ............
a. Private Education .................................................. , ...................
I). Kentucky Common School System Establishm ................ .
c. Superintendents of Public Instruction Serving
During this Period .......................................................................
Fundamental Changes Made in Public Education l.850~193t....
a. First Change—Free Schools—18504870...
I). Second Fundamental C11ange——1870 1908.
0. Third Fundamental Change—1908A- 20 ......
(1, Fourth Fundamental Change—1920493.
6‘- Fifth Fundamental Change—1934 ................................... . ........
Trends
a. The gradual elimination of the one-teacher elementary
and small high school for a larger elementary and high
school organization . .
b. Better trained teachers
More transportation of school pupils... ........
d. FeWer and larger administrative units ..........
P
Page
3
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11
It
L estab]
. DI‘OVi(
.‘ ‘ v M
h “ educa
. t 1 phant
I . 4,
Early
VS
was e
Virgin
Jeffer:
Woodi
T]
educai
true, i
State 1
V the ea
‘7: of Brii
Dl‘ogra
educat
’ As wa
h their (
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EK the E1
‘ effecte
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A Century of Education in Kentucky
Part I
EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY BEFORE 1850
PRIVATE EDUCATION
It was not until 1850 that a State supported common school system was
established by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The earliest schools were
provided more or less by individual effort on the part of residents.
Many attempts and repeated failures of Kentucky to provide adequate
educational facilities for all of: its children have resulted finally in the trium-
phant success of the present system.
Early Schools——
What is now the State of Kentucky was originally a part of Virginia. It
was established as Kentucky County of Virginia, December 31, 1776, by the
Virginia Legislature. This county was divided into nine counties, namely:
Jefferson, Lincoln, Fayette, Nelson, Bourbon, Mercer, Madison, Mason, and
Woodford, prior to its admission to the Union, June 1, 1792.
This bit of history is cited because it has a direct bearing upon the
educational system of Kentucky from its beginning to the present. This is
true, in the \first place, because the first school taught in what is now the
State of Kentucky was while it was a part of Virginia, and, secondly, because
the early settlers of Kentucky were Virginians, and, consequently, chiefly
of British stock. This had its effect upon the development of an educational
Program'in Kentucky because these people took the attitude that public
education, except for higher education, was for the poor classes of people.
As was practiced in England, the upper classes of people could and did send
their children to private schools or employed private tutors for them. This
attitude toward public education was further strengthened by the fact that
the Emancmation Proclamation for the Negroes had not at that time been
effected. The problem of indentured servants and the strict religious beliefs
0f the people settling the early colonies added to the difficulty of the develop
ment Of a Dl‘Ogl'am of education by the State at large. Furthermore, the
$32; :91: “few. and far between” and were busy with the work of clearing
the plantzltlt' making a. 11v1ng. This made slaves and sewants useful and:
of a pl‘imtlon (holder more able to furnish his offspring with the advantages
England fOe e ucation: Some of the plantation holders sent their sons to
"danghters'l: indeducation. Note the word “sons” because education for the
must not for at not yet become a 'common practice. Along this line, we
yet a very dfe that the matter of llving in this section of the country was
These infilgerous one because of the frequency of Indian attacks.
Such attitudesetn ed attitudes and those acquired by contact with people of
to see Wh t Ogether With the problems at life at that time, makes it easy
y he first Constitution of Kentucky did not provide for a system
3
of public education. A study of the first Constitution of Kentucky will
reveal that it was framed somewhat after the Federal Constitution which
made no provision for education.
The immigrants to Kentucky for the next half century were of the same
stock and opinions as were the pioneers of Kentucky; consequently, with all
these factors as hindrances to a program of education paid for by the State
as a whole, Kentucky was without public education in its present-(lay mean.
ing for many years. However, Kentucky, was not totally without a system
of education all these years, because there was growing up throughout the
State a system of private education; in fact, such a system of education
began, as has been previously stated, while the present Kentucky was yet a
part of Virginia. Horlacker states in his thesis, page 9, “Hardly had a
permanent settlement at Harrodsburg been made in 1774, before Mrs. William
Coomes, a faithful Catholic woman from Maryland, taught a school in the
fort. Another school was taught at McAfee’s Station near Harrodsburg, in
the year 1777, by John May. The next known school was that of Joseph
Doniphan, in the old fort at Boonesboro, in 1779. The fourth school was
that of John McKinney, in the fort at Lexington, in 1780. The fifth school
in Kentucky was of a different kind.”
These schools were known as the “Oldfield” type of school. They prob-
ably got their name because they were usually built on waste land. They
were taught by traveling pedagogues, who wandered from place to place,
located wherever subscriptions and comfortable boarding places made the
situation attractive. There had not yet been any system of taxation for
the support of education; consequently, these teachers were paid for their
services in the form of tuition, whiskey, corn, tobacco, furs and board.
The fifth school was an academy \established by a land grant of eight
thousand acres of public land. This became Transylvania Academy. Soon
after the establishment of this Academy by the Legislature, private individ-
uals began to establish and organize academies. This had its influence on
the Legislature, and, during the latter part of the eighteenth century and
the early part of the nineteenth century, the various Legislatures attempted
to establish an academy in each county of the State, and for the sullpOl‘tOf
such, six thousand acres of land were donated in each county. It was made
compulsory that the county courts have six thousand acres of land in each
county surveyed for the support of such academies. In 1808 the Legislature
passed an Act providing “that a seminary of learning shall be and is herebl‘
established within each county within this Comm011Wea1th, except those coun-
ties in which seminaries are now established by law.” This Act further DYO‘
vided that the several counties appoint seven trustees for the administra'
tion of the business of those seminaries or academies. This law alSO DFO'
vided that new counties being established in the Commonwealth 5110“”
establish seminaries by the same means. AS time passed, the Legislflme
delegated to the trustees of the several seminaries the power to sell the
land donated by the Commonwealth for the purpose of the support and estab;
lishment of those seminaries. Land was cheap at that time and 1110“”
not so plentiful. Much of this public land was sold for a few cents per act:
and the amount of money received for it was insufficient for the purpose °
building and establishing the seminaries. Consequently, the SYsleIT‘ 0
public academics in the several counties of Kentucky was doomed ‘50 WW:
Of course, these lands were not the only means of support 0f the academle'
4
becai
laturl
occas
acade
grant
anion
of the
to otl
Priva‘
Ii
more
These
rules,
until
prohil
few p:
been 1
owned
were i
and p]
acadei
Popula
N1
who e
were c
trainin
lit
follow;
coeduc
Tl
tuition
were v
than a
system
Efforts
Th
Dublic
Dublic
for the
below,
Set
SYE
am
cor
for
the
suc
sch
(101
13.11
0t
' will
which
same
ith all
State
mean-
lystem
ut the
cation
‘. yet a
had a
William
in the
urg, in
Joseph
01 was
school
y prob
They
) place.
ade the
ion for
or their
d.
3f eight
r, Soon
individv
,ence on
my and
tempted
pport 0f
as made
in each
gislatule
s hereb)‘
ose coun'
ther pro'
ministra'
also pl‘U'
l1 should
,gislature
. sell the
.nd estab'
ld money
; per acre
.m‘pose 0f
ystem 0f
to failure-
.cademies’
because subscriptions, tuitions, gifts, etc., were authorized by the Legis-
lature. There were a few such donations made. The towns and counties
occasionally made appropriations of land and money to their respective
academics and all the academies charged tuition. In 1840 the Legislature
granted to the Anderson County Court the authority to levy a tax up to the
amount of $1.00 upon the tithable persons of the county provided a majority
of the voters of the county approved it. Later this authority was extended
to other counties.
Private Schools—
In 1825, the Legislature passed an Act which made it legal for five or
more individuals in a community to get together and organize a school.
These schools were chartered by the Legislature, as were the public acade-
mics, and there were approximately 230‘ of them established from that time
until 1890. In that year Kentucky framed its fourth Constitution, which
prohibited special legislation for school purposes, and, subsequently, very
few private schools were chartered. By that time, public high schools had
been established in many of our cities. While the public academies were
owned by the State Legislature and the county courts, the private academies
were the property of religious denominations chiefly, and of stock companies
and private individuals. Contrary to the practice in establishing the public
academy, the religious denominations placed their schools in centers of
population.
Not to be overlooked is the fact that there were several popular teachers
who established and maintained schools of their own. These academies
were chiefly secondary schools, most of which had provisions for elementary
training.
llt is interesting to note that there were three types of acedemies, as
follows: one type for boys, one type for girls, and one type which was
coeducational.
These academies charged tuition, and those people who were able to pay
tuition could send their children to school and those of the poor classes
were very often neglected in the field of education, to which, perhaps, more
than anything else, is due the fact that during this same time our present
SYStem of public education for the State at large was being developed.
Efforts to Found a Public School System in Kentucky—
The short sketch presented below recites some of the efforts to found a
Public school system in Kentucky. Among the first efforts to establish a
Public school system was an Act approved February 10, 1798, which provided
:1; the endowment of seminaries. A short history of this efiort is presented
ow. .
Seminaries_
systerlgls mig‘l‘it be termed the first effort to establish a public school
kind to: tAn Act for the endowment of certain seminaries of learning
001111310? her purposes’, approved February 10, 1798, enabled the county
for the eatllglinber 01; counties to locate each 6,000 acres of vacant land
thereto insth 11511111th and support Of a County Academy, vested title
such land f9 TTUStees of each Academy, respectively, and exempted all
school nu: rom taxation so long as they should be held and used for
donated t Doses. Thirty thousand acres of public domain were thus
lands lying glfllmon schools; and it was further provided, “that all the
of Culnbe l 1P the bounds of this Commonwealth, on the south side
1‘ and River, below Obey’s RiVer, which are now vacant and un-
5
appropriated, or on which there shall not be, at the passage of this act,
any actual settler under the laws of this State for the relief of settlers
south of Green River, shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved by the
General Assembly, to be appropriated as they may hereafter, from time
to time, think fit to the use of the Seminaries of Learning throughout
the different parts of this Commonwealth." The recital of the act declar-
ing that “to aid and accelerate this most desirable purpose, must be one
of the first purposes of every wise government”. Subsequently to the
passage of the above statute, 114,000 acres of land were donated to
other Seminaries; and it was finally enacted, in a law approved Decem.
ber 21, 1805, “that the several county courts of counties in which Acad-
emies have not been established, or for the benefit of which no appro-
priation of land has been made, shall be, and are hereby authorized to
have located, surveyed, and patented, of any vacant lands in this Com-
monwealth, 6,000 acres, for the use of such schools may be hereafter
established within either of the said counties, under the like rules and
regulations as are prescribed by the act approved February 10, 1798.”
Provision was thus early made by enlightened legislation for the
founding of Seminaries of Learning in every county in the Common-
wealth. It was a noble scheme; but the wretched management of those
institutions made them fall short of the wishes of the philanthropist or
the liberal design of the General Assembly. By a variety of legislative
acts Seminary lands were permitted to be sold, and the proceeds
expended in the erection of buildings and for other purposes. Under
these laws reckless sales were made. In the case of one institution.
lands now worth about half a million dollars were disposed of many
years since, for a comparative trifle. In a flew instances, from the
scarcity of good lands, no profitable locations were ever made; but in
most others, through the negligence of Trustees, and the arts of specu-
lators, nearly the whole original endowment was sunk, and with it, for
many years, the success of anything like a common school system in
Kentucky. I know of but one “County Seminary” in the State which
deserves honorable mention for not having gone down amid the general
wreck, and that is the Bracken Academy, in the town of Augusta.
It is greatly to be regretted that the County Seminary system of
Kentucky was not carried forward to a consummation worthy of the
State, and of the philanthropy of those by whom it was founded. Had
those Seminaries been :prederved, and their success promoted by 5!“
practical means, they would furnish an important, an essential link In
the chain of popular education; affording adantages to thousands who
are not able to incur the expenses of a collegiate education; and suppne
what is now beyond all question, the greatest desideratum in our com"
mon school system—competent teachers for the district schools. In
their failure they teach us an impressive lesson, that there is no publiC
interest so philanthropic or so sacred that neglect may not impall‘ 1101'
speculation invade it.
Literary Fund-—
This may be termed the second effort to establish a. public school
system.
{During the session of 1821 the IJegislature passed another general law
in relation to common schools, which, had it been effectually IeXecuted, would
have been a source of lasting benefit to the State. The “Act to establish‘1
Literary Fund, and for Other Purposes,” approved December 18, 182119”
vided “that one half of the clear profits that have arisen, and may hereafter
arise to the State, from the operations of the Bank of thle Commonwealth
of Kentucky, be, and the same is hereby, set apart and appropriated as a
fund, which shall be known by the name of the Literary Fund, and foreverl
maintained as such, for the establishment and support of a system of gen“?
education, to be distributed in just proportions to all the counties 0f ““5
State, and applied to said purpose, under such regulations as the Legislature
6
may
profit
Gree‘
Colle
W. '1
Pope
Rope
to th
of cc
same
An In
(
from
will (
of th
of co:
ment
reple
tiou,
the le
ing tr
tyran
it wa
was i
—it i
and 1
deser
incut
must
of na
ambi
despt
usun
lamp:
let u
libert
a mc
these
ance
upon
our 1
posts
1
ing c
on tl
dome
in th
the s
still
total
spon
this act,
settlers
d by the
cm time
'oughout
.t declar-
t be one
v to the
dated to
, Decem-
ch Acad-
.o appro-
n‘ized to
his Coma
rereafter
ules and
0, 1798.”
for the
)‘ommon-
of those
ropist or
:giSlatiW
proceeds
Under
stitution,
of many
from the
a; but in
of specu-
th it, for
ystem in
te which
a general
sta.
ystem of
y of the
ed. Had
:d by a“
.1 link in
tlldS who
supplied
our com-
10015. 111
no public
with 1101‘
to school
Ieral 13W
ed, would
Itablish a
[821, DI‘O'
hereafter
onwealth
tted 35 a
d forever
if general
5 of fill!
ggislature
may devise and adopt.” The act further provided that one half of the clear
profits realized from the branch banks at Lexington, rDanville, and Bowling
Green, should be donated respectively to Transylvania University, Centre
College, and the Southern College of Kentucky. In the same statute, Hon.
W. T. Barry (at that time Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky), Hon. John
Pope, David R. Murray, John R. Witherspoon, David White, Jr., and Wm. P.
Roper, were appointed a committee to collect such information in relation
to the subject as they might deem necessary to enable them to digest a plan
of common schools suitable to the condition of the State, and submit the
same to the next General Assembly.
An Interesting Report—
One year afterwards, Messrs. Barry, ’Witherspoon, Murray, and Pope,
from this committee, submitted to the Legislature an elaborate report, Which
will ever be ranked among the most interesting and important State papers
of this Commonwealth. It embodies an unanswerable argument in behalf
of common schools; it contains practical suggestions touching their establish-
ment which it will be well to engraft even upon our present system; it is
replete with passages of the highest truth and eloquence. Popular educa-
tion, say the committee, “is the prop which sustains free institutions, and
the lever which overturns the oppressor’s throne. Happily, we are not labor-
ing to undermine a fabric of despotism; but to remove the rock on which
tyrants build. It was not Caesar that overturned the liberties of Rome—
it was ignorance. It was not Napoleon that made France a despotism—it
was ignorance. It was not the Holy Alliance that keeps Europe in bondage
—it is ignorance. Knowledge maintains there a silent warfare, which now
and then bursts forth in open revolution. In Spain, in Naples, in brave,
deserted Greece, she lifts her voice and calls upon Europe to shake off the
incubus which oppresses the mind and energies of man; but seas of blood
must be waded before she assumes her legitimate empire over the affairs
of nations. Even on American soil, bordering on our own happy country,
ambition has found this broad rock, and is attempting to erect thereon a
despotism more terrible than that of Montezuma. While monarchs and
ui‘llll'pers understand and pursue their own interests, by extinguishing the
lamps of knowledge, and punishing with death the free expression of opinion,
let us not be blind to the means of preserving and perpetuating our own
liberties. Bind‘theminds of men in chains of ignorance, and it requires but
a moderate portion of art and talents to enslave their bodies. Wherever
these chains exist, let us break them. Let us wage on the citadels of ignor<
“08 a perpetual and exterminating war. Let us remove every fragment
upon which ambition can sieze to erect his gloomy edifice. It is the first; of
0111‘ political duties—we owe it to our principles, to our institutions, to our
posterity, and to mankind!
. A principal feature of this able report was the instructive and interest-
mg correspondence it contained, from eminent men throughout the Union,
on the subject of common school education. The committee had prepared
domestic and foreign circular letters, and addressed the same to gentlemen
in this and other States, for the purpose of eliciting information concerning
the schools in their respective localities. Their domestic circulars (as is
:Efilfhedflase Whenever they are issued from this department) were almost
s Y 13rfgavrded. Their foreign circulars shared a better fate. In re-
DODBe to them the committee received letters, of nearly the same date, from
7
l
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—another item in a list of strangé coin-
” cidences exhibited in the lives and labors of the men who were the chief “E’m
, ' ‘I ..- authors in the work of American Independence! The following extract will priat:
"* ' ‘ I ‘ 1 show that the letter of the venerable Mr. Adams—then considerably beyond Kent
. * , " octogenarian age—is characterized by the patriotism and eloquence of TAD?
“ ' V" earlier and memorable years: $31:
“The wisdom and generosity of your Legislature in making liberal appro- nors,
j priations of money for the benefits of Schools, Academies, Colleges, and the l
, University are an equal honor to them and their constituents; a proof of mam
' . ' their veneration for literature and science, and a :portent of great and last- Kent
~- 1.,“ ing good to North and South America, and to the World. nor A
I 1 ”Great is truth—great is liberty, and great is humanity, and they must 1 1'6901
. . and will prevail. I have communicated your letters to as many of my ’ 01109
1 . ‘ . ~ 'I ' 2 friends as I have seen, and requested them to assist me in complying with I work
- | l , your views. If the taper thread of life should continue to burn a little longer, upon
, a, I hope that you will hear more from me. At present, blind and paralytic,l “001
"-, ‘ i am incapable of research or search. I can only give hints from memory. Comr
' _ A law in this colony, almost two hundred years ago, obliged every town to able
1 maintain a school master, capable of teaching the Greek and Roman lan- 50011
1'; guages, as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic in English. Those school- that
. 2‘ masters were to be examined by the clergymen and magistrates; and the a fe‘
‘- 1‘ clergymen in those days were learned men. This law is in force to this 1)“in
I' hour, though not so punctually executed as it ought to be. I had myself ”PEI
the honor to be a schoolmaster from 1755 to 1758 in the town of Worcester, 59.1%
‘_ 1‘1 under this law. Those schoolmasters and school-houses are maintained by fall‘“
1 ' taxes, voluntarily imposed on themselves by the people, in town meeting, A Th
‘ “ , annually; and the ardor of the people in voting money for this noble purpose 1
.1 ‘, ’ is astonishing. In this small town of Quincy, consisting of not more than in K
' ' ‘ 1,400 inhabitants, I think they voted this year $1,700 for the support of , latur
schools—more than a dollar a head for every man, woman, and child in the fully
‘ K‘ h 1 place. The principal school, which is not more than half a mile from me, in re
. ’ ‘ pours out of its doors, at twelve o'clock every day, from one hundred to two our :
'\ I ;;i hundred boys and girls, as happy as Scott or Shenton has described them allou
’ *1 ii and their masters, in their romances.” the g
. i: ‘ Jefferson writes: “Your favor of the 15th June is received, and I am glen:
.. _‘ L very thankful for the kindness of its impressions respecting myself; but it t‘e
“ ' ' ‘, ascribes to me merits which I do not claim. I was only one of a band voted 53::
' . ‘7 to the cause of independence, all of whom exerted equally their best endeaV- thosi
. ~ - ' ‘V ore for its success, and have a common right to the merits of its acquisition. 10 00
' ' i ' “To the printed inquiries respecting our schools, it is not in my power be e:
, " to give answer. Age, debility, an ancient dislocated and now stiffened wrist, a s01
:' render writing so slow and painful that I am obliged to decline everything justi
, L ' ‘ ,1 ; possible requiring writing. An act of our Legislature will inform you Of our been
" .I plan of primary schools; and the annual reports show that it is becoming of 1e
.‘ . i- completely abortive, must be abandoned very shortly, after costing us to this i
-' ' I . day $180,000, and yet to cost us $45,000 a year more, until it shall be dis- of t
‘ , 1. continued; and if a single boy has received the elements of common educa- estal
tion, it must be in some part of the country not known to me. But on £1115 of t]
subject I must refer to others more able than 'I am to go into the necessary This
details.”
ge coin-
le chief
act will
beyond
ance of
1 appro-
and the
)root of
mi last-
ey must
of my
mg with
longer,
ilytic, I
lemory.
town to
an lan-
school-
tnd the
to this
myself
rcester,
ined by
ieeting,
purpose
re than
port of
1 in the
om me,
to two
(1 them
(1 I am
but it
1 voted
endeav-
lisition.
power
1 Wrist.
rything
of our
coming
to this
be dis-
educa-
on this
:essari’
Letters in response to the circular of the committee were also received
from Hon. Robert Y. Hayne and ex-President Madison. “The liberal appro-
priations,” writes the latter eminent statesman, made by the Legislature of
Kentucky, for a system of general education, cannot be too much applauded.
A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquir-
ing it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge
will ever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own gover-
nors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
Notwithstanding the ample means provided for it, and the auspicious
manner in which it was begun, this second system of popular education in
Kentucky was doomed to a failure even worse than that of the first. Gover-
nor Adair, in an able message to the Legislature, called their attention to the
report of the educational committee, and recommended their adoption at
once of a practical plan for the establishment of common schools. This
work—though the report of the commisisoners, and an accompanying report
upon it by the Hon. George Robertson, were largely published—was never
accomplished by that or by the succeeding Legislature. Unfortunately, the
Commonwealth’s Bank failed in a few years, involving the State in irretriev-
able embarrassment; and a common school fund of about $60,000 per annum
soon dwindled to nothing. Still more unfortunately, the Legislature, about
that time, inaugurated a pernicious policy, which was continued until within
a few years since, of making the school fund subservient to every other
public interest. The revenue proper became insufficient to defray the
expenses of the State government; the little all of the common schools was
seized upon for that purpose. It is almost needless to record a second
failure of our educational system.
A Third Effort—
After the school system—if such it might then be called—had languished
in Kentucky for many years, an opportunity was again afforded the Legis-
lature to revive it, in another form, but far more permanently and success—
fully than ever. As early as 1821 the General Assembly had, by “Resolutions
in relation to a portion of the public lands of the United States,” requested
our Senators and Representatives in Congress to urge the passage of law
allowing to Kentucky her equitable proportion of the public domain held by
the general government, to be used by this State—I quote the language of the
General Assembly—“for the purpose of education." These resolutions recite
the facts, that the total amount of literary appropriations made up to that
time, by Congress, to the new States and Territories, was nearly 15,000,000
acres; that the additional amount required to extend the same system to
those States for which no appropriation had yet been made, would be nearly
10,000,000 acres, and that Kentucky, as her part of such appropriation, would
be entitled to more than 1,000,000 acres. They look to the public lands as
flSOIH'Ce from which appropriations for the purposes of education may with
Justice be claimed by those States for which no appropriations have yet
been made.” There is, in one sense, a memorable significance in this act
of legislation.
Kentucky presented her claim to the United States for a due proportion
of the public lands. Wherefore? “For the purposes of education”—to
establish (as her sister States and Territories which had been the recipients
of that great bounty, had uniformly done) a system of common schools.
T1115, and none other, was the foundation on which the claim rested, To
9
divert the funds which might be received from the general government to
any other object than that of education, was something which the State
could not do without dishonor; and yet the subsequent history of our school
system shows that those funds Were thus diverted.
The School Fund—
The appropriations were finally made. By the Act of Congress, approyed
June 23, 1836, the government of the United States distributed among the
several States a very large sum of money, which had accumulated in the
National Treasury, by reason of immense sales of the public lands. Under
the provisions of this act, New York, then, as now, the most populous State
in the Union, received the sum of $2,750,000, the whole of which was dedi-
cated to common schools, and yields now, at an interest of six per cent,
$165,000 annually. Kentucky receiv