1787, but that it had already been in operation in one section of the country for many years. It was also found that these local customs could be traced back, through somewhat varying forms, to the earliest period of American colonization in the seventeenth century, and even to English practise in the sixteenth century. These facts determine the mode of treatment to be followed, and fix in a general way the limits of the subject. The attempt will be made to trace the evolution of the land grant policy, beginning with the idea as brought in germ from England to the colonies. It will be shown how the idea of permanent school endowments, as understood by the English colonists, was affected by the two forces, public care of education, and free land; how a definite land grant policy grew up in several of the colonies under the stimulus of these forces; and finally, how the local policy became the policy of the entire nation. In endeavoring to localize the land grant custom it was seen that examples of its earliest form might be found in all the colonies, but since, for special reasons, the growth into the later and significant forms took place only in a part of them, the illustrations are all selected from these colonies. The materials for this study have been drawn almost entirely from original sources. Only on the first and last sections has any considerable help been derived from work done along these lines by others.5 The study of English Schools at the Reformation, by Mr. Arthur F. Leach, has afforded much light on English educational conditions in the sixteenth century; while Dr. Knight's monograph has greatly shortened the labor of tracing out the way in which the land grant policy was nationalized. CHAPTER I. ENGLISH PRECEDENTS FOR LAND GRANTS FOR EDUCATION. There is a very general impression that education in England during the middle ages was a matter of little account; and that it was only with the opening of the modern era that progress began. Modern investigation, however, is forcing us to greatly modify our earlier ideas about educational conditions in mediaeval England. A recent writer has shown that during the later middle ages England was fairly well supplied with schools of the ordinary kinds, and that, in proportion to population, she was probably better supplied with Grammar schools than she has ever been since that time. These schools were generally connected with church properties of various kinds, and were supported from the incomes of such properties. Some pertained to cathedrals, some to monasteries, some to collegiate churches, and a very large proportion to the numerous chantries. With the destruction of the monasteries (and other religious foundations) by Henry VIII and Edward VI, the schools depending upon them lost their support and naturally perished also. Therefore the reign of Edward VI was from one point of view a dark age for education. On all hands the schools to which the people were accustomed had fallen. It is true Edward restored a number of them, but many were utterly lost; so that, as late as 1562, the speaker of the House of Commons complained to Queen Elizabeth that “at least a hundred [grammar schools] were wanting in England which before [the suppression of the monasteries] had been."8 Perhaps it is fortunate that the disaster came just when it did. for by that time the influence of the new learning, working Leach, A. F., English Schools at the Reformation. 7 Ibid. Introduction; see also Gasquet, Henry VIII, and the English Monasteries II, 518-520. Traill, Social England, III, 228. through such men as Erasmus, Colet and More, was beginning to quicken the intellectual life of the English people. They were therefore in some degree able to appreciate the loss of their accustomed schools, and were prepared to make sacrifices in order to replace them. Thus in the reaction which followed the suppression of the monasteries, we have the beginnings of a new educational movement;-a movement stimulated by the need created by the ruthlessness of kings, but endued with the spirit of the new age. Had the schools been destroyed a century and a half earlier it is possible that little effort would have been made to retrieve the loss; now, however, the English people became aroused on the subject of education, and began that activity in building and endowing schools which was still noticeable in the next century, and with which the colonizers of America were familiar. In some cases the inhabitants of places in which schools formerly existing had been destroyed by act of the king, petitioned for their reestablishment. Such petitions were often favorably acted upon, the schools so established being endowed. with portions of the sequestered church lands. The famous grammar school at Shrewsbury was founded in this manner. At that place, we are told, Latin had been taught in the monasteries until their suppression. In 1551 "the total want of some public institution for the education of youth in this town was represented to the King-and a considerable portion of the lands of the two dissolved collegiate churches of St. Mary and St. Chad were solidited for the maintenance of a Free Grammar school." The king acceded to the petition and established at Shrewsbury "The Royal Free Grammar School of King Edward VI." 10 Social England, III, 29 et seq. 10 Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury 346, 350. Compare Social England, III, 29. Another excellent example comes from Kent. At Eversham there had been a grammar school endowed by an individual but placed, under the control of the monastery. Henry VIII. destroyed the monastery and the school fell. The people at once petitioned for its restoration, but without success. A number of years later Queen Elizabeth, on one of her progresses, rested in the town two nights, and the people seized this favorable occasion to plead for the reestablishment of their school. This time they did not plead in vain, for the Queen endowed the new grammar school with a portion of the lands that had But the restorations made by the monarchs did not compensate for the schools destroyed, and private individuals of wealth and public spirit came forward to supply the deficiency. The parliamentary statutes for the period and the annals of English towns, tell a story of private generosity in the founding of schools which forms a bright page in English history." The statutes name as founders, "knights," "esquires," "clerks," plain men without titles of any kind, and one who is described as a "citizen and grocer of London." The histories of towns and counties present numerous additional illustrations. Thus Tiverton 12 had a free grammar school endowed by a wealthy clothier in 1604; Uttoxeter 13 had one founded and endowed by a priest in 1558; clergymen also endowed the schools at Skipton1 and Lincoln.15 In Alford16 the grammar school was richly endowed by a merchant, in 1565, and in Spaulding" by "John Blanche," in 1558. Horncastle had a grammar school "founded and endowed by Lord Clinton and Saye, Lord High Admiral of England, under the authority of letters patent 1652."18 belonged to the old one. (Hastad, History of Kent I, 714.) For other illustrations, see the History of the County of Lincoln (2 vols. London and Lincoln, 1834), I, 262, 307. The following, taken from Ruffhead, Statutes at Large, II and III, will illustrate the movement from the parliamentary side: An act for the confirmation of a free school erected in the town of Stamford, and for the more sure enjoying of the lands given by William Ratcliffe for the maintenance of a schoolmaster there. (2 & 3 Edw. VI., 20, 21.) An act for the erection of a free school in the town of Pocklington in the County of York. (5 & 6 Edw. VI., 8.) An act for the better and further assurance of lands given to the maintenance of the free Grammar school in Tunbridge in the County of Kent. (14 Eliz., 2.) An act for the perfection of assurance of certain lands given for the maintenance of a free Grammar School in the city of Coventry. (23 Eliz., 4.) An act for the foundation of a hospital, a grammar school and maintenance of a preacher, in the town of Thetford forever, according to the last will and testament of Richard Fulmarston, Knight. (4 James I.) An act to confirm and enable the erection of an hospital, a free grammar school and sundry other godly and charitable acts and uses, done and intended to be done and performed by Thomas Sutton, Esquire. (4 James I., 21.) Other cases occur in the reigns of James I., Charles I., and Charies II. 12 Harding, History of Tiverton, I, 43. 13 Redfern, History of Uttoxeter, p. 303. 14 Dawson, History of Skipton, p. 333. 15 History of Lincoln, II, 307. 16 Ibid, p. 242. 17 Ibid, I, 291. CHAPTER II. EARLY AMERICAN LAND GRANTS FOR EDUCATION. In the light of English practise respecting school support, it is not surprising to find the early American colonists founding "free schools," or "free grammar schools," and endowing them with lands. The custom was followed to some extent in all of the colonies, but in certain ones, namely Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire,19 it developed steadily in the direction of a public land grant system. We have seen that in England a very common form of school endowment was through a grant of land made by an individual. Such cases also appeared in the colonies. Capt. John Mason,20 proprietor of New Hampshire, died in 1636. In his will, dated November 26 appears a provision for devoting one thousand acres of land in his colony to "the maintenance of a free grammar school for the education of youth." In 1671 Mr. Thomas Bell, dying in England, bequeathed to Mr. John Eliot in trust for the use of a school in Roxbury, Massachusetts, all his lands and tenements situated there. The property was leased, and at once produced an income sufficient for schooling thirty boys. Sixty years later a part of the land was sold for a sum, the income of which supported a school of one hundred and thirty boys, with six teachers, al! receiving the highest salaries paid for grammar school work.21 The cases noticed above illustrate the very general and well known custom of private endowment. It was not at all remarkable, in view of the educational activity of that and several preceding generations of Englishmen. But, alongside of these private grants, we have from the earliest time a class of public 10 The same was true of Vermont, which became a separate state. |