School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time

by John W. Moore

CHAPTER XLVIII.

ORIGIN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

A. D. 1837 TO 1842.

It will be remembered that in 1767 the first school was incorporated by the Legislature of North Carolina, by the act in favor of the academy at New Bern. In this, and subsequent legislation for schools at Edenton and elsewhere, it had provided that the teachers should all be communicants of the Church of England. This stipulation was, of course, part of the English Church and State system of government.

2. When, just previous to the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, the founders of the "Queen's Museum," at Charlotte, a school so named in honor of the queen of England, asked incorporation of the Colonial General Assembly, it was not granted, for the reason that this institution was Presbyterian, both as to trustees and faculty. Up to that period dissenting ministers had not been allowed any legal recognition, and it was considered a great concession that the Presbyterian clergy were allowed to officiate at marriages.

3. During the Revolution (in 1777) the useful seminary at Charlotte was first legally chartered as "Liberty Hall." It was in no way sustained by or connected with the State, but was to the Presbytery of Orange what Davidson College is now to the, Synod of North Carolina, and was sustained solely by the contributions and patronage of private citizens. Indeed, this had been the case all along with the chartered schools of New Bern and Edenton.

4. In 1776, when the convention at Halifax framed the first Constitution for the State, among the leading ordinances of that instrument was that for the State's active aid to the education of the people. With this clause in the Constitution which they all swore to uphold, the legislators had done nothing so far, except to provide, in 1790, for the establishment of the University at Chapel Hill. *

*Section 41 of the Halifax Constitution declared "that a school or schools shall be established by the Legislature for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices. All useful learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more universities."

5. This disregard of their organic law, on the part of those constituting the State government, was deeply regretted by many wise and good men. But only a few dared to encounter the opposition to taxation for popular education. Governors Johnston and Davie in former days, and Judge Murphy and Bartlett Yancey of later times, had been strenuous for a larger compliance with the terms of the State Constitution, but the members of the several Legislatures, fearful of incurring popular displeasure, or for other reasons, had held back.

6. General Jackson and the Democratic party had opposed the distribution of the proceeds from the sale of national public lands as a fixed rule in the policy of the government, but in his last administration many millions of dollars had accumulated in the Federal treasury, for which the general government had no immediate use. In 1837 this fund was divided out to all the States except Virginia (that Commonwealth refusing her share). North Carolina's proportion amounted to one and a half million dollars.

7. This fund, together with the amounts realized from the sale of swamp lands belonging to the State, and certain shares of bank stock, also the property of North Carolina, was set aside and invested for the benefit of the public schools of the State, and was known as the "School Fund."

8. It was not until the year 1840 that any effective legislation was had for the establishment of the free educational system. By an act of the Legislature of 1836, the Governor and three others, by him to be appointed, were constituted the "Literary Board." In 1839 an act was passed to divide the counties into school districts. It left to each county the option of schools or no schools. It showed considerable advance in popular wisdom, that all but one of the counties decided to have schools and to be taxed for the election of such buildings as were necessary in the work.

[NOTE—The Presidential campaign of 1840 was an unusually exciting one. The Whig nominee, William Henry Harrison, was charged by his opponents as having lived in a "log cabin," with nothing to drink but "hard cider." His friends made good use of these charges. "Hard Cider" became a political watchword, and in the numerous Whig processions a "log cabin" on wheels occupied the most prominent and honored position. The "Log cabin Campaign" will long be remembered. President Harrison died within one month after his inauguration. His last words were, "The principles of the government; I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.">[

9. Not in the General Assembly alone was the subject of education receiving unusual attention. The Baptists, in 1826, established a high school on the farm of Colonel Calvin Jones, in Wake county. A little later it was changed in name and became Wake Forest College. The Presbyterians, in 1838, founded Davidson College, in Mecklenburg. These denominational institutions became noble adjuncts to the University in affording opportunities for liberal culture in our own borders.

10. Thus, at last, the "old-field schools" were superseded as better institutions took their place. The old-fashioned country teacher, who passed from house to house for subsistence, and was wholly dependent upon the feelings or caprices of one or two employers, gradually disappeared as academies and common schools multiplied.

11. The Bingham School in Orange, the Lovejoy School in Raleigh, the Bobbitt School in Franklin, the Caldwell Institute in Greensboro, Trinity College near Raleigh, the Donaldson Academy in Fayetteville, and numerous other excellent male academies greatly added to the number of well-informed and useful men.

1842.

12. The Salem Seminary, so widely renowned for the host of cultured women sent out to every portion of the South, at last found a worthy rival in St. Mary's School. This institution was established at Raleigh, in 1842, under the patronage of Bishop Ives and the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Rev. Dr. Aldert Smedes, who soon presided over its fortunes, was singularly fitted for such place; for in no other institution in America was intellectual training more largely supplemented by the moral and social graces. These popular institutions were soon reinforced by the excellent Methodist Female College at Greensboro.

13. Presbyterian's, a few years later, had a first-rate school for the education of their daughters in "Edgeworth," a noble seminary established by Governor Morehead at Greensboro.