12 INTRODUCTION. 



tuting schools for the purpose of instructing children in the lower branches of edu- 

 cation." The recommendation was renewed in 1795, with the sanction of George 

 Clinton, then governor. The legislature in the same year appropriated twenty 

 thousand pounds ($50,000) annually for five years, out of the public revenue, to 

 encourage and maintain, in the several cities and towns, schools, in which the 

 children of the inhabitants residing in the state should " be instructed in the 

 English language, or be taught English grammar, arithmetic, mathematics, and 

 such other branches of knowledge as are most useful and necessary to complete 

 a good English education." The boards of supervisors were required to raise 

 by tax in each town, a sum equal to one-half of its proportion of the moneys 

 appropriated by the state ; and commissioners and trustees were directed to be 

 appointed, and required to make annual reports to the secretary of state. 



The returns made in 1798, showed that 1,352 schools had been established, 

 and 59,660 children had been instructed therein in sixteen of the twenty-three 

 counties into which the state was then divided. Mr. Comstock, a representative 

 from Saratoga in the assembly of 1800, made an unsuccessful motion that the 

 then expiring law of 1795 should be continued. The law therefore was suffered 

 to expire ; and notwithstanding the earnest and repeated representations of gover- 

 nor Clinton, the legislature omitted to adopt any measure for the reestablishment 

 of common schools until 1805, when a law was passed, declaring that the nett 

 proceeds of five hundred thousand acres of public lands should be devoted to the 

 creation of a permanent fund for the support of common schools. The act 

 directed that the lands should be sold, and the moneys derived therefrom loaned 

 and suffered to accumulate, until the interest arising thereon should amount to 

 fifty thousand dollars annually ; after which period, the annual interest should be 

 distributed for the support of common schools. The measure received important 

 aid from the recommendation of Morgan Lewis, who then filled the executive 

 chair. The fund thus established produced an income in 1810 of twenty-six 

 thousand dollars ; and Daniel D. Tompkins, then governor, in two successive 

 annual speeches, urged the importance of an immediate organization of the com- 



