Among the border states, Kentucky, as well as West Virginia, called for the teaching of history, to which was added the study of civil government after “July 1, 1889.”[39]
Florida reverted to a form of the morality laws for the promotion of citizenship through the public schools. In 1881, she directed and authorized each teacher “to labor faithfully and earnestly for the advancement of pupils in their studies, deportment and morals, and to embrace every opportunity to inculcate by precept and example, the principles of truth, honesty, patriotism, and the practice of every Christian virtue; to require the pupils to observe personal cleanliness, neatness, order, promptness, and gentility of manners, to avoid vulgarity and profanity, and to cultivate in them habits of industry and economy, a regard for the rights and feelings of others, and their own responsibilities and duties as citizens.”[40] In 1889 there was added another duty to the list enumerated above: that of “reading at least once a month the Declaration of Rights as set forth by the constitution of the state of Florida.”[41]
The states of the Middle West also desired to inculcate patriotism in the youth of that section and to emphasize the accomplishments of America. In a series of laws, beginning in 1861, Minnesota prescribed the study of the “history of the United States.”[42] In 1878, she sought to carry out the desire for an exemplary citizenry in “An Act to introduce Moral and Social Science in the Public Schools of the State,” in which was reëchoed the sentiment of the morality laws of a former time.[43]
By 1876, Wisconsin had allied herself with those endorsing the study of government, by prescribing that “the constitution of the United States and of this state shall be taught in every district school.”[44] By later laws the study of United States history and civil government was required.[45]
Among the subjects prescribed in Indiana and Missouri was United States history, the latter state directing that elementary school pupils before entering the high school must have completed the subject.[46] South Dakota, in 1895, made United States history a requirement of her common school curriculum,[47] and North Dakota by a series of laws sanctioned both United States history and civil government.[48] Before statehood had been achieved, the territory of Dakota had prescribed, in 1883, that “the highest standard of morals shall be taught, and industry, truthfulness, integrity, and self-respect inculcated, obedience to law enjoined, and the aims of an upright and useful life cultivated.”[49] The same purpose was evident in North Dakota’s law of 1890 and that of South Dakota of 1893, which provided for “moral instruction tending to impress upon the minds of pupils the importance of truthfulness, temperance, purity, public spirit, patriotism, and respect for honest labor, obedience to parents and due deference for old age, shall be given by each teacher in the public schools.”[50]
The states of the Far West were likewise active. They followed in the wake of the older states by prescribing, in most cases, the teaching of United States history, and in some instances the study of government. In addition, they reverted to the type of law found at an early time in the Eastern states, which required a teacher to instruct in the principles of a free government “to train them [the pupils] up to a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship.” Both types of law are found in the legislation of Washington,[51] Montana,[52] California,[53] and Arizona.[54] Nevada and New Mexico allied themselves with the movement to teach United States history in the public schools.[55]
Utah also prescribed United States history as a part of the school curriculum and included in another law an admonition for instruction in patriotism.[56] This statute is a good example of the evolutionary stage through which most states passed in the making of laws, and shows the tendency of the newer states to revert to the old type of laws in the early period of statehood. In Idaho no content subject was prescribed by law, but the teacher was held responsible for inculcating the “principles of morality, truth, justice, and patriotism.”[57]
The place of history in the school curriculum was thus thoroughly established by law at the close of the nineteenth century. United States history was required in more statutes than any other field of history, although, in some instances, political economy and general history found a place in the high school program. Frequently added to the requirement of national history, was the study of civil government, both federal and state, and occasionally local or state history.
During the period one-third of the legislatures enacting social study laws prescribed the teaching of the federal constitution. A knowledge of the state constitution was required in Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, and Arkansas; and North Carolina and Maryland, besides Vermont, prescribed the teaching of state history. The emphasis placed upon a knowledge of state institutions was but the reaction from the intense nationalism of the years immediately following the Civil War. It was especially evident toward the close of the century and during the early years following 1900. Indeed, from 1880 to 1900 local pride evinced a quickened consciousness in the organization of such groups as the Sons of Veterans in 1881, the United Confederate Veterans and the Sons of the American Revolution in 1889, the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1890, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1896. In literature, writers like Cable, Eggleston, Harte and Stockton glorified the characteristics peculiar to their localities; and laws relating to the public school curriculum reflected precisely the same temper.[58]
Educational and learned societies likewise bore testimony to the interest in the study of history. In 1876, a committee of the National Education Association recommended United States history for the elementary school and a study of “universal history and the Constitution of the United States for high schools.”[59] In 1892, the Committee of Ten was created by the same organization to consider “programs of the secondary schools in the United States and ... the requirements for admission to college.”[60] Eight years of history were asked by this committee, four for the high school and four for the elementary.[61] In 1896, the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association was appointed, and in 1899 recommended a four years’ course in history.[62] During this time colleges also extended their entrance credits to include more history, which, with the committee reports, aided much in increasing the offerings in the public school curriculum. These activities are an indication of the place that history was coming to hold in the education of the young. They are added proof of the attention which the public was giving to the social studies in a period in which twenty-five states passed laws to include them in a required course of study.[63]