CHAPTER VI.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY.

AFTER the discovery of America by Columbus, the leading nations of Europe contended for the possession of the new world. Each claimed for itself, by right of discovery, sole right and title to vast sections of North America, along the coast of which their explorers and navigators had sailed.

The

FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. In process of time settlements were made here and there along this coast. French were the first settlers in Canada, and hence they claimed the entire valley of the St. Lawrence river. From Canada their explorers, particularly the priests of the Roman Catholic Church, pushed out westward, crossed the great lakes, floated down the Ohio and the Mississippi, and finally France took possession of the entire valley of the Mississippi river. The French, therefore, held these two great valleys.

SPANISH SETTLEMENTS. - Spain confined her operations to the warmer latitudes, made settlements and laid claim to Florida, Mexico, and Central America. At one time it seemed as though the great contest for supremacy on this continent would be fought out between France and Spain, and that either one or the other would dominate the continent.

BRITISH COLONIES. Great Britain sent over a few feeble colonists. These settled, at first, in Virginia and

future generations the best possible conditions for their development and happiness. This is "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

In this view of government the foundation principle would be, that the government has the right and is charged with the duty to promote the public welfare, by all legitimate measures in which that welfare can be better secured by the government than by individual, private enterprise.

SUMMARY. Let us then summarize the great duties of the government. They may be stated as follows: (1) To provide for the common defence against foreign nations, (2) To secure the people under the government against domestic violence and personal injustice, (3) To promote the general welfare of the people by carrying on all those great enterprises which are necessary, and which reason and experience show can be better carried on by the government than by private means. Under this head we have found the town government maintaining schools and building highways. We shall hereafter find that our national government establishes and maintains post-offices, by which correspondence can be conducted and printed information disseminated throughout the whole country, easily, promptly, and at slight expense.

The national government also maintains a light-house system for the general advantage and protection of commerce. It spends a large amount of money each year for the protection and improvement of harbors and rivers, also in the interests of commerce. It provides for broad and careful scientific observations, in order to secure those advantages which accrue from a better

knowledge of geography, astronomy, and the laws of physics, chemistry, meteorology, etc., etc.

The government surveys public lands and attends to the recording of deeds, which are the evidence of ownership in lands. We shall find that some of these matters are left to the national government, others to the state government, and yet others are managed by the county, and the city and town governments.

Some persons are of the opinion that it would be wiser to leave the post-offices, roads, light-houses, public education, and all matters of this kind to private enterprise. Such a movement, however, would result in disastrous failure. Many persons, on the other hand, are strongly of the opinion that, before many years, the government will find itself under obligation, in promoting the public good, to assume the control of the railroads of the country, telegraph, and telephone lines, and the work of the express companies. Undoubtedly the true rule which should govern in this matter is this: whatever the people in their individual capacity can do as well should be left in their hands. Whatever the public good requires that the government should undertake should be committed to the government.

The motto should be, "the best means to promote the greatest good to the greatest number." The ends to be sought are the most healthy development, the greatest good, the highest and largest happiness to the whole people. These are the functions of government.

CHAPTER III.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

To promote the welfare of the citizens is one of the proper objects of government. This alone would be a sufficient warrant for the establishment of a system of education by the government, but our American plan of public schools is also based upon the fundamental principle of self-preservation. It is an absolute necessity for a republican government.

The perpetuity of a republic depends upon the intelligence and virtue of the people. A monarchy may best sustain itself by keeping the people in ignorance. Like the soldier in the army, the first duty of a subject is to obey. Yet it has been found that intelligence combined with the musket and the bayonet wins the battle. In a republic, however, which, as President Lincoln has said, is "a government of the people, for the people, and by the people," it is absolutely necessary that the people, the whole people, be intelligent.

EARLY PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NEW ENGLAND. - Recognizing this, the founders of New England early established the principle, that the property of the state should be taxed to educate the children of the state. Hence public schools were established at a very early date in the New England colonies.

SCHOOLS AT THE WEST.

During the early part of this century large numbers of emigrants from New

England became settlers in the valley of the Ohio and the upper Mississippi. These pioneers carried with them the New England system of public schools. They were greatly aided in this by a clause in the ordinance of 1787, which was passed by the Continental Congress for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio river. This famous ordinance provided that schools and the cause of education should forever be encouraged in this territory.

PUBLIC LANDS FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES. When the national government platted the public lands, the arrangement was made for cutting up the territory into townships, each township being six miles square. The township was to be divided into sections, each section being one mile square. The sections, therefore, were numbered from one to thirty-six. In pursuance of the policy outlined in the ordinance of 1787, Congress set apart the 16th and 36th sections in each township for the support of public schools. These sections were sold, and the proceeds turned into the treasury of the state. In this way the states of the northwest accumulated a school fund, and each state was, therefore, committed to a public-school system. Hence, education by the state became an established principle throughout that section of our country.

SCHOOLS OF THE SOUTH. Since the civil war, which resulted in the abolition of slavery, the Southern states have adopted a public-school system. Thus the cause of education has progressed until every state in the American Union has an established system of free schools. By this system of public education at public expense each state claims the right to tax the property