Michigan prescribed the reading of the Declaration of Independence to all pupils in the public schools above the fifth grade upon the twelfth and twenty-second of February, and upon the twelfth of October, with an obviously patriotic intent, in her legislation of 1911.[199] Washington’s birthday occasioned legislation in Maryland in 1904 and in Maine in 1913, as a day suitable for the propagation of patriotism.[200]
In the latter state Columbus Day, October 12, was included in those observance days upon which exercises should “aim to impress on the minds of the youth the important lessons of character and good citizenship to be learned from the lives of American leaders and heroes and from a contemplation of their own duties and obligations to the community, state, and nation of which they constituted a part.”[201] Columbus Day received the recognition of several other state legislatures, Michigan, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Oregon especially setting it aside for patriotic purposes.[202]
Flag Day, likewise, was deemed worthy of observance. New York in her legislation of 1898, Arizona in 1903, and Kansas in 1907 included it among those days set aside for special exercises in the schools.[203] Connecticut decreed, in 1905, that the governor, annually in the spring, should designate by official proclamation the fourteenth day of June as Flag Day, upon which “suitable exercises, having reference to the adoption of the national flag be held in the public schools.”[204]
In 1906, a proclamation of the governor of New Jersey, couched in grandiloquent phraseology, recommended that suitable exercises be held in the public schools for commemorating the birthday of the American flag. It urged a more extended knowledge of the flag’s history. “The history of our flag is the history of the growth of our nation,” he proclaimed, “and the celebration of the anniversary of its birth is not only a patriotic duty but an educational privilege. On the day of its inception it stood as an emblem of the unity of a few modest little colonies. To-day it is the symbol of a mighty nation. It has floated over many a battlefield, inspiring the sons of patriotism with a courage and strength that made possible the triumph of the right and the preservation of the Union. It has been carried to far distant lands and has aroused the enthusiasm of thousands to whom its advent meant emancipation from cruelty and oppression.”[205]
Reminiscent of the local history movement of the decades following the Civil War was legislation prescribing the celebration of days of interest peculiar to different states. In 1897, Massachusetts passed a resolution recommending to the governor that he issue a proclamation to public school teachers suggesting commemorative exercises for the centennial of the inauguration of “John Adams of Massachusetts,” in order “to impress upon their pupils the significance of the inauguration of the president of the United States and the importance of the part sustained by the commonwealth in American history.”[206]
“Rhode Island Independence Day” was acclaimed in 1909, for May the fourth. At this time, so the statute read, the celebration of the “first official act of its kind by any of the thirteen American colonies” in a declaration of sovereignty and independence took place. From the date of the passage of the law, every fourth of May in the future, it was determined, should become the occasion for the salute of thirteen guns by detachments of the state artillery, at all places in the state where artillery was stationed, besides a display of state and national flags, as well as patriotic exercises in the public schools.[207]
March the eighteenth assumed a distinctive place in the school calendar of South Carolina by a law enacted in 1906, being known as “South Carolina Day.” The selection of this date sprang from a desire to honor John C. Calhoun, and from the hope that an observance of this day would “conduce to a more general knowledge and appreciation of the history, resources and possibilities of the State.”[208] In like spirit Georgia, in 1909, endeavored to awaken local pride in the pupils of the public schools by a celebration of “Georgia Day” on February twelfth, “as the landing of the first colonists in Georgia under Oglethorpe.”[209] Confederate heroes received special tribute by patriotic exercises on January nineteenth, the birthday of Robert E. Lee, through a law of Arkansas. The program of exercises, the law prescribed, should deal with events connected with the life of General Lee and “other distinguished Southern men” with attention to those men of renown in civil and military life.[210] In Maryland, the state board of education, by a law of 1904, was given the privilege of naming a time suitable for the observance of “Maryland Day.”[211]
“The geography, history, industries and resources” of Minnesota, through a law of 1911, received especial attention in the public schools on “Minnesota Day.”[212] Montana, through a celebration of “Pioneer Day” endeavored to instruct in the pioneer history of the region.[213] Missouri paid homage to her state history in a law of 1915 through observance by teachers and pupils on the first Monday in October. At this time, the law prescribed the “methodical consideration of the products of the mine, field and forest of the state” and the “consideration of the achievements of the sons and daughters of Missouri in commerce, literature, statesmanship and art, and in other departments of activity in which the state has rendered service to mankind.”[214] The American Indians, through a law of 1919, in Illinois, were likewise deemed worthy of commemorative exercises.[215]
The persisting desire of the lawmaker to instil patriotism, either local or national, in pupils in the public schools has been the incentive for laws respecting the flag and observance days. Local pride is evident in the Northern laws for the observance of Memorial Day and the birthday of Lincoln; whereas in the South a sectional interest is shown in days memorializing the heroes of their section. The Middle and Far West have also attempted to inculcate local pride. There is a dearth of legislation in the Southern states for the commemoration of Flag Day by special exercises, but Washington and Columbus have been accorded homage by both the North and the South.