The American Revolution was the first great event which increased the influence of educa tion on national development. It stimulated a desire for institutions which would express na tional rather than local needs, and placed emphasis on subjects expressing national rather than local sentiments. The Revolution has tened the decline of the Latin Grammar School, already an institution failing to meet the needs of the generation before the Revolution, and ushered in the Academy, a secondary institu tion, better suited to the needs of the people and more democratic in aim, type and distri bution than was the Latin Grammar School The Academy was the forerunner of the still more democratic institution of the next gen eration, the public High School. The Revolu tion also stimulated an interest in English, the mother tongue, which was the beginning of serious study of this subject. It stimulated patriotic sentiments which led to an interest in our national history and hence the study of history and civics, the foundation of political education.
With the formation of our first national government, the Congress of the Confederation passed the first act that emphasized the national aspect of education. This was the Grayson land ordinance of 1785, which provided for the reservation of lot number 16 of every town ship as surveyed, in the newly-acquired western territory, for the maintenance of public schools within the township. The ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, 13 July 1787, contained an important article, num ber three, which reads,—°Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good gov ernment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.° On 23 and 27 -July Congress not only provided for the sale of land to the Ohio Company and authorized the reservation of land, lot number 16, in each township, for schools, but also provided the two townships demanded by the company °for the support of a literary institution.° The precedent thus es tablished was followed, and in all territory later included in the public domain, reservations for elementary and higher education were made in a similar manner. Thus provision was made for the endowment of the State universities, a type of educational institution that has had great influence on national development.
Later the Congress of the national govern ment granted additional tracts of land to the western States for educational purposes, culmi nating in the Morrill act of 1862. This act pro
vided for large grants of land to each State to endow Cat least one college where the lead ing objects shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learn ing as are related to agriculture and the me chanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical edu cation of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." The im portance of this attitude of the Federal gov ernment toward education consists in the fact that it is an acknowledgment that the Federal government has a right and duty toward na tional education, notwithstanding the delegation of the power to the States. The educational institutions resulting from these acts have had great influence on our national development.
In the second quarter of the 19th century the forces engendered by the industrial revolu tion reacted on education. The rise of manu facturing, the factory system, the new grouping of population, and the humanitarian and demo cratic movements following, brought insistent demands for free elementary and secondary education at public expense. It is principally from this period, 1830 on, that education has had an increasing influence on national life. This relationship was further stimulated by improvements in intercommunication, by means of the steamboat and the railroad, and in agen cies for the transfer of intelligence, the news papers, libraries, telegraph and telephone.
The public school has been the chief instru ment for influencing national life. The State systems of public instruction have as their basic idea, that it is the duty of the State to make education available and free for all, at public expense. Other principles gradually adopted include State support and administra tion, compulsory attendance and supervision, and fixed standards for the subject matter of the curriculum and for qualifications of teach ers. The tendency toward uniformity in these matters has made it possible for public educa tion to influence greatly national development. One important effect, for example, has been the secularization of public education, and hence a marked decrease in the religious element in the curriculum, and a decline in the influence of church supported schools. After the middle of the 19th century legislation prevented public funds, with few exceptions, from being used to promote sectarian education.