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William Seward and Common School Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Vincent Peter Lannie
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Extract

William Seward was elected governor of New York State in 1838. Economic depression and distress resulting from the Panic of 1837, a strong political machine engineered by Thurlow Weed, and the editorial talents of Horace Greeley produced a Whig landslide and the election of Seward by ten thousand votes. Very early in January 1839, Seward delivered his first annual message to the state legislature. After carefully submitting his recommendation for internal improvements within the state—a subject which held high priority in all of Seward's messages—the Whig governor turned his attention to the progress of education in New York State. Although the state's system of public instruction was by no means unsuccessful, the governor thought “that its usefulness is much less than the state rightfully demands, both as a return for her munificence and a guaranty of her institutions.” Superior educational facilities were imperative if Americans were to achieve an enlightened understanding of responsible citizenship and cherish the legacy of their republican heritage. Seward was convinced that only a first-rate education could effect “the improvability of our race”—an elevation which was infinite in dimension. Careful not to deprecate the past merit of New York's educational system, Seward tempered his critical remarks by noting that “all that is proposed is less wonderful than what has already been accomplished.” Lest his legislative audience misconstrue his educational observations as mere platitudes doomed to oblivion amid more important priorities, the chief executive forewarned that “education is the chief of our responsibilities.” In fact, Seward prophesied that during his administration “improvement in our system of education will be wider and more enduring than the effects of any change of public policy.”

Type
Research Article
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , September 1964 , pp. 181 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © 1964, University of Pittsburgh Press 

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References

Notes

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10. The Public School Society was incorporated by the state of New York in 1805. Originally known as the Free School Society, its name was changed to the Public School Society in 1825. By 1840, any citizen who paid ten dollars could become a member of the Society for life and the Common Council, mayor, and recorder of the city were ex officio members. The Society was controlled by a Board of Trustees of fifty members. This Board had authority to increase its number to a maximum membership of one hundred trustees. In addition to the Board of Trustees, an Executive Committee, consisting of five specially elected trustees, the officers of the Society (president, vice president, treasurer, secretary) and chairmen of various sub-divisions exercised a general supervision over the Society's work and appointed the teachers and assistants for all its schools. Cf. Twenty-Ninth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public School Society of New York (New York, 1834); Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public School Society of New York (New York, 1842).Google Scholar

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