The Story of American Public Education 1800 - 1900

Education in America in the early 1800’s was a vessel for the mobility of society.

During the years of the American Revolution, citizens of the thirteen colonies only contained the knowledge to be capable of reading the Bible and newspapers, as well as doing taxes. When America won its independence after the war, founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson shared radical ideals about public education. Jefferson believed in the basic education of three years for the colonies’ children, and further education for the wealthy.

Horace Mann, the first secretary of the Board of Education for the state of Massachusetts believed in Jefferson’s ideals, having a huge impact on public education reform during the early. Along with standardizing most curriculum students were learning, Mann was also responsible for getting most of society on board with a tax-funded educational system. He traveled to all schools around the state, writing reports of the state of schools, teachers and their pupils.

Public schools in the mid-nineteenth century confronted topics of race and religion. Immigration of various peoples caused a question of religion in public schools. The great school debates in New York city were held when Catholic and Jewish religious leaders asked for part of the funds used for mainly Protestant public schools, to also fund schools that supported their religious beliefs.

Public schools were racially segregated in North. With influence from revolutionaries such as Fredrick Douglas, African Americans petitioned for schools to be desegregated in Boston, Massachusetts throughout the 1840s. In 1855 Mass. schools were desegregated, proving to be precedence in the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

With expansion westward after the Civil War, schools were attractive incentives for settlers when choosing places to live. Women teachers were sought after because they were cheaper and better with children. Revolutionary, Catherine Beecher made teaching a respectable profession for middle class women, creating a feminized ethic in schools.

In 20 years $78 more million was spent on education throughout the United States. Education proved to be a right in which every child deserved, and was radicalized and standardized, representing the bones of the educational system we know today.