The History of Education / Educational Practice and Progress Considered as a Phase of the Development and Spread of Western Civilization

by Ellwood Patterson Cubberley

[31] The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, a great admirer of French life and a propagandist for French ideas.

[32] Compare the American preamble with the following sentence from the Social Contract (Book I, chap, ix) of Rousseau:

"I shall close this chapter and this book with a remark which ought to serve as a basis for the whole social system; it is that instead of destroying natural equality, the fundamental pact, on the contrary, substitutes a moral and lawful equality for the physical inequality which nature imposed upon men, so that, although unequal in strength or intellect, they all become equal by convention and legal right."

[33] "I read attentively the cahiers drawn up by the three Orders before their union in 1789. I see that here the change of a law is demanded, and there of a custom—and I make note of them. I continue thus to the end of this immense task, and, when I come to put side by side all these particular demands, I see, with a sort of terror, that what is called for is the simultaneous and systematic abolition of all the laws and of all the customs existing in the country; whereupon I instantly perceive the approach of the vastest and most dangerous revolutions that have taken place in the world." (De Tocqueville, A. C., State of Society in France before the Revolution of 1789, p. 219.)

[34] For example, the clergy of Rodez and Saumur demanded "that there may be formed a plan of national education for the young"; the clergy of Lyons that education be restricted "to a teaching body whose members may not be removable except for negligence, misconduct, or incapacity; that it may no longer be conducted according to arbitrary principles, and that all public instructors be obliged to conform to a uniform plan adopted by the States- General"; the clergy of Blois that a system of colleges under church control be formed (R. 252); the nobility of Lyons that "a national character be impressed on the education of both sexes"; the nobility of Paris that "public education be perfected and extended to all classes of citizens"; the nobility of Blois that "better facilities for the education of children, and elementary textbooks adapted to their capacity, wherein the rights of man and the social duties shall be clearly set forth" shall be provided, and to this end that "there be established a council composed of the most enlightened scholars of the capital and of the provinces and of the citizens of the different orders, to formulate a plan of national education, for the benefit of all classes of society, and to edit elementary textbooks." The Third Estate of Blois demanded the establishment of free schools in all the rural parishes.

[35] See footnote 1, page 165. One of the great results of the French Revolution was the abolition of serfdom in central and western Europe. The last European nation to emancipate its serfs was Russia, where they were freed in 1861.

[36] "Great was the difference between France at the end of 1791 and at the end of 1793. At the former date all looked hopeful for the future; the king was the father of his people; the Constitution of 1791 was to regenerate France, and set an example to Europe; all old institutions had been renovated; everything was new, and popular on account of its novelty…. By the end of 1793 all looked threatening for the future; for the purpose of repelling her foreign foes, who included nearly the whole of Europe, France submitted to be ground down by the most despotic and arbitrary government ever known in modern history,—the Great Committee of Public Safety; the Reign of Terror was in full exercise, and it was doubtful whether the energy, audacity, and concentrated vigour of the Great Committee would enable France to be victorious over Europe, and thus secure for her the right of deciding on the character of their own government. She was to be successful, but at what a cost!" (Stephens, H. M., The French Revolution, vol. II, p. 512.)

[37] The Code Napoléon, prepared in 1804, was the first modern code of civil laws, though Frederick the Great had earlier prepared a partial code of Prussian laws. What the Justinian Code was to ancient Rome, this, organized into better form, was to modern France. This Code, prepared under Napoleon's direction, substituted one uniform code of laws worthy of a modern nation for the thousands of local laws which formerly prevailed in France.

CHAPTER X

[1] The complaints were largely along such lines as that the instruction was confined to a few Latin authors; that instruction in the French language was neglected; that instruction in the history and geography of France should be introduced; that time was wasted "in copying and learning notebooks filled with vain distinctions and frivolous questions"; that training in the use of the French language should be substituted for the disputations in Latin; that in religion the study of the Bible was neglected for books of devotion and propaganda compiled by the members of the Order; that moral casuistry and religious bigotry were taught; and that the discipline was unnecessarily severe and wrong in character.