The tendency to emphasize a study of the Constitution has no better illustration than in the laws of New Hampshire, where, in 1901, it was made compulsory for every high school to give “reasonable instruction in the constitution of the United States and in the constitution of New Hampshire.”[138] Later enactments further stressed the importance of a knowledge of the state and federal constitutions by prescribing that “in all mixed schools and in all grades above the primary, the constitution of the United States and of the state of New Hampshire be read aloud by the scholars at least once during the last year of the course below the high school.”[139] The teaching of citizenship was the purpose of a Connecticut law of 1903 and of 1915, prescribing regular instruction for all pupils above the fourth grade in “the duties of citizenship, including the knowledge of the form of national, state, and local government.”[140]
Training in citizenship was the purpose of a Delaware law of 1911, which prescribed that teachers train their pupils in “honesty, kindness, justice, and moral courage ... for the purpose of lessening crime and raising the standard of good citizenship.” Four years later it was followed by an enactment requiring the teaching of United States history and instruction in “the general principles of the constitution of the United States” and of the state.[141]
In 1911 Pennsylvania prescribed for the elementary schools the teaching of United States history, history of the state and civil government.[142] These subjects received the statutory endorsement of Kentucky in 1904, Virginia in 1904 and 1906, North Carolina in 1901, 1905, 1907, 1908 and 1913.[143] South Carolina in several laws from 1892 required for schools under the direction of boards of trustees and of county boards of education, the “history of the United States and of this state, the principles of the constitution of the United States and of this state, morals and good behavior.”[144]
Texas gave her sanction to the same subjects in 1905,[145] and Alabama prescribed that in all schools and colleges supported in whole or in part by public money, or under state control, there should be instruction in the constitution of the United States and of the state of Alabama.[146] In Georgia, the law prescribed as part of the curriculum for the common schools that “the elements of civil government shall be included in the branches of study taught in the common or public schools, and shall be studied and taught as thoroughly and in the same manner as other like required branches are studied and taught in said public schools.”[147] West Virginia attained some individuality in adding to state and national history and civil government, “general and West Virginia geography.”[148]
In the schools of Florida instruction in “history” was required for the intermediate grades, and in the grammar grades the “history and civil government of Florida and of the United States.”[149] Additional emphasis was placed upon the teaching of civics in 1909 when an act provided that the “elements of civil government be taught in the common and public schools of the state, ... to be studied and taught as thoroughly and in the same manner as any other required subjects.”[150]
Louisiana committed herself to the teaching of United States history in every school district as an elementary branch by an act of 1902;[151] and Mississippi, in 1916, prescribed for the “curriculum of the free public schools,” civil government with special reference to local and state government, the history of the nation and of the state.[152]
In 1904, Ohio established civil government and the history of the United States as required subjects for an elementary school education.[153] In 1910, it was made obligatory upon each county board of school examiners to examine pupils of township schools in civil government and United States history.[154] In the Code of 1910, there were included, in both the elementary and high school courses of study, the history of the United States and civil government, and in the high school the history of “other countries” as well.[155] By an act approved May 18, 1911, but repealed in 1914, teachers in elementary schools were required to qualify in the history of the United States, including civil government, and in the high school in general history, with an election of civil government.[156] An Illinois law of this period was similar to that of Delaware in phraseology and spirit, and prescribed the teaching of “honesty, kindness, justice and moral courage” to lessen crime and develop a good citizenship.[157]
Wisconsin, as early as 1865, had required as essential for a district school education, United States history and civil government, local history and government, a practice continued through 1917. In schools offering industrial education, citizenship became an obligatory study by the statutes of 1913.[158] Minnesota made a knowledge of United States history prerequisite for entrance into high schools,[159] and Indiana expanded her list of the required number of studies to include, in all commissioned high schools, civil government, general and state, ancient, medieval or modern history and the history of the United States.[160] For the curriculum of the common schools, there was required in Indiana the study of United States history, a practice developed from a law first in force in August 1869.[161]
South Dakota,[162] North Dakota,[163] and Kansas[164] also committed themselves to the subjects popular in this period. In Nebraska, “a study of American history for at least one semester in the eleventh and twelfth grades,” became a requirement for normal training courses in the high school.[165] Missouri made a knowledge of United States history essential for entrance into the high schools, as well as prescribing that no school could be classed as a high school which did not include a four years’ course in history.[166]
Oklahoma, in 1905, illustrated well the social viewpoint characteristic of the time in her law requiring “in each and every public school it should be the duty of each and every teacher to teach morality in the broadest meaning of the word, for the purpose of elevating and refining the character of school children up to the highest plane of life; that they may know how to conduct themselves as social beings in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong and rectitude of life, and thereby lessen wrong doing and crime.”[167] In 1907, another law prescribed “the elements of economics” for all public schools receiving support from the state.[168]