OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 463 



interesting and useful "School History of Pennsylvania," published at Philadelphia 

 in 1868. 



"The Constitution of 1776 provided tliat 'a school or schools shall be established in 

 every county;' and the Constitution of 1790 provided tliat 'the arts and sciences shall 

 be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning.' Comparatively, a largo number 

 of academies and public schools were opened under these requirements. In 1833, fifty- 

 five institutions of this class had been regularly incorporated by the legislature. There 

 ■were also, at that time, two universities and eight colleges in the State. Tlic chailers 

 of many of these required that a specified number of poor children « should be taught 

 gratis. ' 



"A law was passed in 1809, which improved on thatof 1804, but did not fully accom- 

 plish the object for which it had been enacted, it was several times amended, and, 

 finally, in 1827, all the amendments were repealed; yet still, in its operation it came far 

 short of the great results the friends of education aimed to attain. The i)e(iple had 

 labored earnestly, during thirty years, to devise a system of public schools that would 

 fulfil the constitutional rec[uirement, by providing education for all the youth of the 

 Commonwealth; yet, in 1833, less than 24,000 children attended school at public expense, 

 and most of these were taught by very incompetent teachers. The schools were called 

 'pauper schools,' and were despised by the rich and shunned by the poor; the children 

 were classified as 'pay' and 'paui^er scholars;' thus the law, practically, separated the 

 poor from the rich, and hence failed; for in a republic, no system of education, which 

 makes a distinction on account of wealth or birth, can have the support of the i)eoi)le. 



"Numerous effoi'ts were put forth to imj^rove the Public Schools in all i)ai-ts of the 

 State; a remarkable instance of wise legislation, in response to the petitions of the 

 people, is seen in the act passed in 1831, which provided for the appointment of tru.s- 

 tees of the public schooUiouse in the town of Landisburg, Perry county, and gave 

 them power to examine teachers for said school, to visit the same once a month, and to 

 dismiss the teachers for misconduct, want of capacity, and negligence. 



"In 1827, a society was fonned in Philadelphia for the promotion of education in the 

 State; a committee, appointed for that purpose, opened con-espondence with the lead- 

 ing men in every county, collected statistics, and secured a union of eftbrt in favor of 

 free schools, that, in 1834, culminated in the enactment of a law which rejected the old 

 idea that only 'pauper children' should be educated at public expense, and provided for 

 the establishment of schools that would be free to all. This was the beginning of the 

 Common School System. 



"The act of 1834 inaugurated a new era in education in this State. From that time 

 forward steady progress has been made. At times it was slow, and to many imper- 

 ceptible; but public sentiment was never stagnant, and legislation never went back- 

 ward. With this law the foundation of the system of Connnon Schools now in use was 

 laid. It provided that a tax should be levied on all the taxable property and inhabitants, 

 that townships, boroughs, and wards should be school districts, and that schools should 

 be maintained at public expense. The establishment and supervision of schools iu 

 each district were intrusted to a Board of six Directors, to be chosen by the legal voters. 

 The people in each township were allowed to determine by an election, whether the 

 new School system should be adopted or rejected, and an election upon this tiuestion 

 might be held once in three years. The Secretary of the Connnonwealth was made 

 Superintendent of Schools, and the Legislature was authorized to appropriate funds, 

 annually, from the State Treasury in aid of the work of education. 



"In 1835, a powerful effort was made to repeal this law; but through the exertions of 

 Thaddeus Stevens, then a member of the Legislature, aided by Governor Wolf, who 

 promised to use the veto power if necessary, the new system was successfully defended, 

 and free schools were permanently established in Pennsylvania. 



"No special efforts were made during the first year to put the system in opei-ation. 



