3. The Rise of the Public High School.— In the early part of the 19th century there appeared a strong demand for schools under the exclusive control of the State. The Cal vinistic view of the civil power had prepared the way for State agency in education, and the steadily advancing separation between Church and State kept alive the question as to the relation of the schools to both. The well established theory that the State should grant charters to colleges, authorizing them to man age their own affairs under dose corporations, with incidental aid from the State in the shape of gifts of land or money, was long applied to secondary education as well. The first step in the establishment of public secondary schools was taken by the larger towns and municipali ties, under the lead of Boston, where in 1821 was established an 'English Classical School,' which soon took the name of °English High School,' probably imitating the style of the Edinburgh High School. The report to the school commit tee made at the time of its founding said: °The mode of education now adopted, and the branches of knowledge that are taught at our English grammar schools are not sufficiently extensive nor otherwise calculated to bring the powers of the mind into operation nor to qualify a youth to fill usefully and respectably many of the stations; both public and private, in which he may be placed.' A three-year course was adopted, embracing English lan guage and literature, mathematics, navigation and surveying, geography, natural philosophy (including astronomy), history, logic, and moral and political philosophy. Latin and modern languages were added afterward and the course was extended to four years. Students were received into the high school from the elemen tary schools of the city, but at first were not prepared for admission to college, that being the function of the Latin school. But with the addition of foreign languages to its course of study the English High School fitted its stu dents for admission to certain higher institutions.
Other Massachusetts towns followed the lead of Boston in this matter. Philadelphia, in 1838, established the Central High School, under special authorization from the Pennsylvania legislature. Baltimore followed with the estab lishment of a °city college.' Providence opened a public high school in 1843. Hartford, in 1847, transformed her old grammar school into a school of the newer type. New York opened a °free in 1848, the name of which was afterward changed to the College of the City of New York. This school was estab lished in accordance with a special act of the State legislature, ratified by vote of the people of the city. The growth of public high schools prior to the Civil War was not rapid. The exact number established in the first 40 years of the movement has not been accurately de termined, due to the inaccuracy and meagerness of data upon the question. Inglis, compiling from data given in the report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1904, estimates the total number established prior to 1860 at 321, indicating, however, that the esti mate is probably very inexact. Cubberley, fol lowing a table prepared by William T. Harris while United States Commissioner of Educa tion, says that as late as 1860 but 69 of our present cities are regarded as having organized a clearly defined high-school course of study. Prior to the Civil War, and for a long time after it, the public high school movement en countered hostility from those who regarded the academy as the final or best solution of the problem of public secondary education. It also encountered hostility from those who were op posed on principle to the recognition of sec ondary education as a proper field for govern mental agency.
4. The Beginnings of State Systems of Secondary Bduclation, Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, new State systems of education began to be established, in which special provision was made for secondary schools. The University of the State of New York, erected in 1784, is a notable example of the strong influence which French thought then exercised in American affairs, as it realized the conception of a university put forth by Diderot and others of the great French writers of the latter half of the 18th century. It em braced the whole provision for secondary and higher education within the State, with the exception of schools of a purely private charac ter. Its control was vested in a Board of Regents, consisting of the governor and the lieutenant-governor, ex officio, and 19 members elected by the State legislature. The reorganiza tion of 1787 made the Board of Regents distinct from the Board of Trustees of Columbia Col lege, with which it had been identical. This "university)) exercised great influence on later systems; and in Georgia, by an act passed in 1785, "All public schools instituted, or to be supported by funds or public moneys in this State, shall be considered as parts or members of the university"; and in the territory of Michigan an act was passed in 1817 instituting a university of imposing character. The latter establishment existed mainly on paper, and the act incorporating it was repealed in 1821. The Georgia "university* also never amounted to much in its original form. But although the comprehensive type of university organization was not widely adopted, there was a general desire in the early part of the 19th century to establish complete and well-rounded systems of public instruction. The legislature of Ten nessee declared in 1817 that "Institutions of learning, both academies and colleges, should ever be under the fostering care of this legis lature, and in their connection with each other form a complete system of education.* Even more significant is the provision of the consti tution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, that "It shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, ascend ing in regular gradation from township schools to a State university wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all.° For the most part, however, actual State agency in secondary education was as yet lim ited to the subsidizing of privately managed academies. In Massachusetts the provision for grammar schools under town control was con tinued after the colony became a State, but the law was so changed that only the larger towns were left subject to this requirement. At the same time academies established by private initiative were endowed by the legislature with grants of public lands. In Kentucky the State legislature granted 6,000 acres of public lands to an academy in each county. In Pennsylvania colleges and academies received financial aid from the State for many years, culminating in 1838 in a general State system of educational subsidies. Five years later such aid was dis continued. In other States the granting of State subsidies, in money or lands, to secondary and higher schools was customary for many years. For the most part there was but little system or consistency observable in the distribution of such aid; and the State-aided institutions were not subjected to any sort of State control.