Public opinion and the teaching of history in the United States

by Bessie Louise Pierce

CHAPTER II
Nationalism and Localism in History Legislation, 1860-1900

THE CURRICULUM

The Civil War marked a turning point in American history. Forces undreamed of before 1860 conspired to change the whole tenor of American life. From isolated rural communities of simple tastes and unexploited resources, the United States emerged into a growing urbanization of multifarious activities. Prior to 1860 there had been little change from the days of George Washington, when nine-tenths of the people had been engaged in agriculture; by 1890, however, the population had so shifted that more than one-third dwelt in towns of over two thousand inhabitants.

These vast and far-reaching changes were brought about by an expansion particularly in the fields of transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing. Steam, electricity, progress in invention, the growth of an immigrant population, and the opening of new lands to settlement, all served as contributing factors. It was a period characterized by a strong national sentiment. The theory of state rights had been settled forever by the victory of the Union in 1865, and a realization of the great opportunities of America bore the fruit of patriotic fervor. Nationalism expressed itself in the nationalization of industry, in the organization of national labor units, in the nationalization of the financial resources of the country, and in a deepened interest in the public school system. It led inevitably to a new appreciation of the distinctive contributions of local communities to the new national spirit, and was, in a sense, responsible for a strong reaction toward deep-seated local interests in the ’nineties.

These vast changes necessitated new aims and purposes in education. The preceding period had witnessed the educational system transformed from an instrument of the church into one of the state. By 1860 the theory of tax-supported schools had become established, and most states provided at least elementary instruction. By 1880, legal and legislative objections to the establishment of high schools had succumbed to the conviction that education was essential in the new social and industrial order. There came to be an abiding faith in the power of education to regenerate society. The “knowledge aim” of the preceding decades was followed by the desire for a citizenship trained to active participation in the society of which it was the warp and woof. As a result, those subjects in the curriculum tending to promote patriotism and good citizenship received the sanction of the educator.

Although history had been found to some extent in the school curriculum before the Civil War, there had been no general acceptance of it as a required study.[27] Now in the form of United States history it was received with widespread approval. A gradual extension of the requirements grew out of the spirit of the times, and to American history was added the study of the constitution of the nation and of the state, as well as the study of state history. Twenty-three states, during the four decades following 1860, placed upon their statute books laws requiring the teaching of history in the public schools. Over one-fourth of these commonwealths lay below the Mason and Dixon line, the states of the Middle and Far West becoming the most active after 1880.

In 1862, Vermont, in a law dealing with “the instruction of the young,” prescribed history and the constitution of the United States, and special instruction in “the geography, and history, constitution and principles of government of the state of Vermont” as a part of the school curriculum.[28] A later law extended the social studies curriculum, for towns of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, to embrace political economy, general history, and civil government in the high school course.[29] The nearby state of Connecticut included in her law, regarding the branches to be taught in her schools, the subject of “history,” later specifying “United States history.”[30]

During the early years of the period Southern legislatures were particularly active, both in the border states and in the Confederacy. In each case the legislation was responsive to the nationalistic tendencies of the time; and, in the states of the Confederacy, the study of national history and of the federal constitution were for the first time required by law.[31] Such statutes, sometimes enacted before the restoration of home rule and under the influence of Reconstruction agencies, sought, through the public schools, to overcome the intensified sectionalism of the post-war South. Laws making it a duty of the teacher to inculcate a proper attitude toward “the laws and government of the country” had much the same purpose as those requiring specifically the study of United States history and government. Thus a law of the first legislative assembly of West Virginia, passed December 10, 1863, made it the duty of all public school teachers “to inculcate the duties of piety, morality and respect for the laws and government of their country.” All teachers and boards of education were expressly “charged with the duty of providing that moral training for the youth of this state which shall contribute to securing good behavior and virtuous conduct, and to furnishing the state with exemplary citizens.” In 1874, a statute designed for the primary schools of the state prescribed the teaching of the common school subjects including geography and history.[32]

Similar enactments were passed by Missouri and Maryland in 1865. In Missouri, it was provided that “all teachers, when employed shall be required to instruct their pupils in the fundamental principles of the Government of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and the duties of loyal citizens thereto.”[33] Maryland, in 1865, made it a duty of her teachers to train their pupils in piety and justice, loyalty and sacred regard for truth, and in love of country; and to lead them into a clear understanding of the virtues which were the basis upon which was founded a republican constitution; “to preserve the blessings of liberty, promote temporal happiness and advance the greatness of the American Nation.”[34] The study of United States history was likewise required, followed in 1868 by the subject of government, both federal and state. It was not until a few years later that state history was added to the prescribed list.[35]

Among the first of the states of the Confederacy to enact laws requiring the teaching of United States history were Arkansas, South Carolina and Mississippi.[36] Passed during the period of carpet-bag control, their statutes show plainly the effects of reconstruction influences. The Arkansas law of 1868 and South Carolina’s law of 1870 prescribed not only the study of national history but also required a knowledge of the principles of the federal and state constitutions. In 1881, North Carolina enacted a statute for the teaching of both national and state history, and Tennessee, in 1873, accorded a place to United States history among the subjects required in her schools.[37] It was not until later that the Alabama Code records similar action by the legislature of that state in prescribing instruction in “the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Alabama” for “all pupils in all schools and colleges supported, in whole or in part, by public money, or under state control.”[38]