25R HISTORY OF OHIO. 



them, when young, poor and destitute as to property, and yet 

 through their own exertions, under the genial influence of the 

 republican institutions of our elder sister states, were enabled 

 to raise themselves from the lowest circumstances, to the 

 heights of fame and usefulness. 



The name of the illustrious Franklin- will occur to every 

 mind. Are there no Franklins, no Monroes, no Wirts in the 

 log cabins of Ohio, who possess not even a cent of property^ 

 who have no knowledge of the rudiments of a common education, 

 and are deprived of a father's advice and protection, and even 

 without the benefit of a mothers prayers? Is it not the duty of 

 the legislature, to lay, in season, a foundation on which to 

 build up the cause of education? Ought not a system of edu- 

 cation to be founded, which should embrace with equal affec- 

 tion, the children of the poor and the rich? 



It has been said that " a little learning is a dangerous thing." 

 This may be true in monarchical governments, where the ex- 

 tremes of wealth and poverty, power and weakness exist, but 

 never can be true, in a republic like ours. Where universal 

 suffrage is the birth right of every citizen, learning enough to 

 enable the elector to become acquainted with his own rights 

 and his ruler's duty, is necessary for him to possess. In a mor- 

 al point of view, learning enough to enable every rational be- 

 ing to fully understand his duty to himself, his neighbor and 

 his Creator, is absolutely necessary. Without education and 

 morality, can a republic exist for any length of time? The 

 committee presume not. 



A great philosopher has said that "knowledge is power." 

 It is that power, which transforms the savage into the civili- 

 zed man, surrounds him with a thousand comforts, unattainable, 

 through any other medium, and exhibits man as he ought to 

 be, at the head of this lower creation, and the image of his 

 Maker. It is an acquaintance with letters, which enables man 

 to hold a correspondence, and become acquainted with his 

 fellow man, however distant they may be from each other. 

 Through this medium, all the ideas of the warrior, the states- 

 man, the poet, the philosopher and the patriot are conveyed 



