The origin of the moving school in Massachusetts

Preface

This study aims to treat intensively the subject of school control in Massachusetts from the time of settlement to the first decades of the eighteenth century and to account for that development in so far as it bore upon the creation of the moving school. Because of the close connection between the abolition of the tuition-tax and the establishment of the moving school it is necessary to describe the evolution of school support during the same period.

The first four chapters — those which deal with the evolution of school control and of school support — may not seem to be logically connected with the subject proper. They are, in fact, an introduction to it, made necessary for the reasons that school control up to the present time has been considered as progressing during the seventeenth century from control of the many to control of the few, whereas the reverse is the truth ; and also because no study has yet been made, and the results presented, of the subject of school support for this period. While there is a unity in the whole by reason of the fact that it was written from a single point of view — that of describing in a complete manner the origin of the moving school, yet the discussion of the reasons for its creation begins with Chapter V. The preceding chapters serve the purpose of paving the way for a satisfactory presentation of the subject proper as contained in the last six chapters.

Two appendices are added which contain all the official local records bearing upon schools that are extant up to 1648. The purpose in presenting this material is to aid the reader in reflecting for himself upon the conclusion of the text concerning the records of these earliest years, which are so difficult to interpret satisfactorily. It must not be forgotten, however, that when the material is 50 meagre the grounds for a proper point of view in their interpretation can be determined only as a result of a very careful consideration of the entire system of civil administration as it existed, and of the practices in school administration both previous and subsequent to that time.

2 Preface.

My gratitude for help in this study is due especially to President Nicholas Murray Butler under whose instruction interest in this line of study was stimulated, to Professor Herbert L. Osgood, who has been very helpful in all questions relating to the development of civil institutions, and to Professor Paul Monroe, under whose immediate direction the work was done, and who has contributed much by kindly criticism and suggestion to all phases of the study.

Bureau of Education.

February, 1908.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction 7

Part I. — Methods of Support The school a purely local institution previous to 1647 ^^

The agencies of local government 12

Functions of local government in administration of schools 13

Principles followed in interpretation of records 14

Sources of support of English schools 15

Sources of support of Puritan schools in England 15

Methods of support of church in America 17

Evolution of "poor rate" and "church rate" from the contribution. 19

English methods of support in America 21

The period of the contribution — to 1639 22

The contribution at Boston in 1636 22

Social and economic conditions favorable to contribution 24

Examination of records indicates its general prevalence 27

The period of the compulsory contribution, 1639-47 29

Its two tendencies illustrated in Boston and Salem 29

The "voluntary" feature illustrated in Dedham and Roxbury 32

Records of other towns considered 34

The compulsory contribution predominant 36

Part II. — Agencies of Control The agencies of control and their functions 38

The problem stated 38

Puritans predisposed to aristocratic control in church and state 39

Puritan theory placed control of the school in the church 39

Reasons for placing control of schools in local civil governments. . . 41

Examination of town records 42

The necessary legislative functions stated 43

Legislative action was necessary in years in which no record appears . 43

The selectmen performed the greater part of this legislation 46

Conclusion 50

4 Contents.

Chapter III Part I. — Methods of Support

PAGE

Eflfect of the law of 1647 upon school control and support 52

Different methods of raising the master's salary 56

First few years characterized by dominance of rate and tuition, used

singly 56

Reasons for abandonhient of rate as single source of support 60

Support during remainder of century characterized by different

combinations of tuition-tax and town rate 60

Tuition-tax on scholars and balance by town rate 61

Tuition-tax on all children of school age and balance by town rate. 63

Town rate of fixed amount and all income from tuition-tax 64

The town rate the chief source of support in Boston and Braintree ... 66

Chapter IV Part II. — Agencies of Control

The period characterized by increasing democratization and secularization 68

The two types of control 70

The decline of the aristocratic control in various towns 70

Variety in extent of ministerial power given selectmen in towns of

second type 78

The evolution of the school committee 81

Laws of 1654 and 1692 affected control indirectly 82

Chapter V Communal nature of society of first settlers 84

The disruption of the church and of the old social bonds 86

Subordination of church to state 91

A civil society ruled by selfish considerations 92

Extent of disintegration at close of century 93

Chapter VI Limitations placed upon earliest settlements 94

Motives working for extension of settlements 96

These motives became dominant about 1660 97

Effect of the wars upon the form of settlement 100

Contents. 5

PAGE

The form of settlement in towns at the close of the century loi

Effect of dispersion of population upon the origin of the moving

school 102

Difficulties of travel, severity of winters, spring floods, extent of the

forests and their dangers 102

Character of roads and of vehicles 102

The topography of the country 103

Chapter VII Change in motives for education 107

General opposition to schools 108

Discontinuance of schools and shorter terms 109

Artifices to avoid penalties of law iii

Poor attendance iii

Altered curriculum 112

Social and economic conditions did not require education 113

Hard economic conditions discouraged support of school 114

Intellectual acquirements of people 115

Tendency to dispense with reading and writing school 115

Beginning of educational revival 116

Two instances illustrating transitional character of period 118

Chapter VIII The movement outlined 121

Political system promoted development of democracy 122

Influence of parish on origin of moving school 124

Influence of evolution of precincts for care of highways 129

Influence of division of offices among several men 132

Conditions at close of century in administration of civil affairs .... 134

Chapter IX Instruction in private schools and families 136

Early existence of dame school 137

Located in all parts of town 139

Relation to town and higher private schools 140

Effect upon creation of moving school 141

Effect shown in concrete instances 141

The private reading and writing school kept by a master had same

effect 145

6 Contents.

Chapter X The Abolition of the Tuition-Tax PAGE

The educational revival 150

The law of 1701 151

The origin of the moving school closely related to the abolition of

the tuition-tax ^ 152

This illustrated in two typical towns 153

Connection between two events established in other towns 163

Towns which never had tuition-tax confirm general principle 166

Also towns which established the divided school 167

The two exceptions do not affect validity of conclusion 169

Conclusion

Summary of origin of moving school 171

Outline of development of moving school into the school district. . 172

Appendices 174

List of References 182

Introduction

The town in Massachusetts was the original local unit for control of schools. The school district was evolved out of the town through a long process extending from the middle of the seventeenth century to about the close of the first quarter in the nineteenth century. The moving school was the first and most distinctive step in that process. Roughly the period of its general dominance was the first half of the eighteenth century.

This study is an attempt to account for the establishment of the moving school. Speaking generally, it was wanted because the central original fixed, or standing, school failed to satisfy longer the new conditions arising in the development of colonial life, Many of these new conditions were in themselves a product of slow growth, extending back over the entire latter half of the seventeenth century. As a result this treatment deals for the most part with the life of this earlier period.

This study properly belongs to the history of school administration. As such it lies both in the field of the history of education and of political history. From the standpoint of the former the creation of the moving school may be studied as throwing light upon the efficiency of the school district as an educational institution ; from the point of view of political history the movement may be regarded as an evolution of a new organ of local government. This study aims to satisfy both points of view. By showing the educational situation which gave rise to the institution, a basis of criticism is established which has its application to the present problem of the abolition of the school district. On the other hand, by considering the control of schools as but one of the many subjects of local administration, some of which were closely related to it and passing through a similar process of evolution, the subject is treated as an evolution of a new political institution. As such the school district must possess great interest, for it displays the genius of the American people in the construction of a new type of institution to meet a new situation. Of all the steps in the process leading to its formation, the moving school will ever claim the greatest attention, as it

8 Introduction.

was in its creation that this genius reached its highest flight. It is also true that the remarkable part in the entire process was confined to the first step. The later development was a result of familiar tendencies which are always working in the body politic and was characterized by a gradual even advance, while the moving school was a great step forward and the beginning of a different order of things.

To understand the rise of the moving school, it is necessary to understand the character of the control of the town school and its tendencies from the time of its establishment. This is to be determined primarily by a study of the town records. For the distribution of powers between the central and local governments gave large powers to the town in strictly local affairs ; and in the matter of methods of school control there was little interference by the General Court. Its efforts were directed toward strengthening the work that the agencies of the local governments should do rather than toward prescribing what agencies should perform it.

While the creation of the moving school as a step in the evolution of the school district is properly a subject in the evolution of school control, yet its establishment was closely related with a distinctive change in the methods of school support. In consequence, to understand fully the rise of the moving school it is necessary to know the character and tendencies of school support subsequent to the time of its formation. This information is to be obtained from the town records for the same reasons as itated in the preceding paragraph.

The evolution of school control and the evolution of school support were closely united. They were interdependent, profoundly affecting each other. There were two distinct periods in their evolution, first that of the church-town school from the beginning to 1647, and that of the civil school from 1647 to the time of the establishment of the moving school. This division into periods will be observed in their treatment, first studying the methods of raising the master's salary in the church-town school and then in the civil school, and then the distribution of the functions of control betzveen the various governmental agencies in each of the two periods. In this way the close relation between the movements may be shown.

Introduction.

After the way has thus been prepared the bearing of the social, economic, and general political development of the same periods whereby the stationary central school was rendered unsatisfactory and a new institution required in order to meet the situation, may be intelligently appreciated. This development will be presented under the headings of Social Disintegration, Dispersion of Population, Intellectual Decline, and Decentralizing Tendencies of Democracy.

But there was another influence outside of this field which had a great deal to do with the founding of the moving school. It was the existence of private master's and dame's schools. Of these, the latter is best known and was probably on the whole the more influential. They are both discussed under the heading, The Dame School. Finally, as the most immediate cause of the creation of the moving school, Abolition of the Tuition Tax is presented. In this chapter connection is made with the previous treatment of the evolution of school support. The causes of this particular step are set forth and its important bearing upon the establishment of the moving school fully demonstrated.

Chapter I Part I Methods Of Support

1635-1647

The school of the Puritan was a very simple institution compared with the school of today. It was held in one room, usually in a private house, and taught as a rule by a single teacher. There were both the private school taught by a master, and the school which the local government controlled in some way, and which for that reason may be called the town school. It is generally accepted to be true that the private school antedates the town school and that they existed side by side throughout all the colonial history.

The establishment of a town school as distinct from a private school was wholly a matter of local initiative until 1647. In this year a law was passed compelling all towns of fifty householders and over to have a school open to all the children in the town. With the motives that led these church-towns to provide a town school we are not here concerned. It is rather the political aspect of their action which we must notice. Legally the General Court was the source of all governmental authority and the towns could perform only acts which had the warrant of this supreme power. But from the beginning the town met in town meeting — the general court of the settlement — elected officers, legislated upon some matters of purely local concern without interference and apparently with the full, though tacit, approval of the General Court. (^) Finally the right to do so was confirmed by an express act of the colonial legislature in the year 1636. This act ratified and confirmed the course of procedure already practiced by the towns and in granting them the authortiy " to make such orders as may concern the well ordering of their towns not repugnant to the laws and orders here established by the General Court "(^) gave them a wide range of power for the future.

(1) Salem Recs. p. 7.

(') Mass. Col. Recs. I. p. 172.

The principle of local initiative was legally established in local civil affairs by this act. The continued observance of it in educational affairs has caused local practice to be in advance of central legislation in the framing of institutions.

In the dozen years preceding the passage of the first colonial law regarding schools different towns proceeded in the establishment of a town school under this general grant of power. As it was purely a local affair each town proceeded in its own way. In consequence there resulted a great variety in the details of control and support. In these first two chapters an attempt will be made to determine the nature of the common fundamental elements in the variety of plans and processes.

When a town took action concerning a school it did so by means of the agencies of local government already established, or, if these were not satisfactory or sufficient, it created others. These were the town meeting, and its subordinate agencies, the selectmen, the permanent school committee, and the temporary committee. The last need receive but little attention in these first two chapters, however, because of its rarity and comparative unimportance.

The town meeting was an assembly of all those who were eligible to vote on town affairs. Eligibility did not rest on the narrow qualification of church membership that was fundamental in colonial citizenship. From the very beginning the " freemen " of the colonial government admitted those who were not church members into the local corporation and gave them their votes. This custom was legalized by the action of the General Court in 1635 (^^ and more specifically defined in 1647. ^^^ Thus the action, of town meetings upon schools have always been acts of bodies which in theory at least were democratic. ^^^

By the word " selectmen " we mean here to designate those bodies of men who were appointed by the town meetings to perform a certain class of functions, and known variously as the " selectmen," which became the common term later, the " selected townsmen," " ye chosen men for managing the prudential affairs," the " prudential men," " the town representative," the " five," the " seven," the " nine," or " thirteen " men.^*) In

(») Mass. Col. Recs. .1. p. i6i.

(3) A "valid vote" must have had the support of a majority of the "freemen" either in town meeting or in the selectmen's meeting.

(*) Howard, Local Const. Hist. p. 74; Doyle. English Colonies II.; p. 11.

general they may be regarded as the ministerial ofificers of the town meeting.

The school committee performed the duties and exercised the powers fixed upon it by the town meeting. The functions are usually definitely stated; so, there is little uncertainty as to its powers.

Having described the agencies of local government, let us now proceed to define the functions of government performed by them. As in all cases of distribution of governmental powers they may be divided into the legislative and administrative functions, the former embracing the expression of the will of the people of the town, and the latter the execution of that will as expressed. <^^> The legislative and administrative functions included doubtless great variety of detail, but only the necessary actions — the minimum amount necessary to secure the establishment and continuance of a town school — need here be considered.

These were as follows:

1. Legislative functions.

a. Decision to have a school — i.e., to secure a master.

b. Election of the master.

c. Determination of how master should be paid.

d. The amount to be paid master, or,

e. Length of term.

2. Administrative functions.

Securing the money to pay the master, aiding in the finding of a master, fixing the time for his school to begin, renting of house for his school when there was no town house for the school, providing fuel, fixing school hours, making incidental rules and regulations, paying the master, etc.

In regard to this outline of minimum governmental action several things should be said. In the first place, it cannot be applied to any one town on account of the variety of methods used in the various towns. Second, the entire scheme emphasizes the master, for the reason that he was the primary and almost the sole factor in many of the schools except the scholars, and the only one dealt with in the town records with that degree of frequency and continuity which enables the student to analyze

(}) Goodnow, Politics and Administration pp. 16-23.

and trace the development of control and support. Third, the election of the master is placed under the head of legislative action, because it was regarded as one of the functions of government which should be participated in by all the people in the primary assembly. He was looked upon in much the same way as the pastor of the church. (^> Fourth, the scheme presents an arbitrary division: the validity or invalidity of this division is of no importance, however, in the conclusions.

This study of school control and support must determine which of the agencies performed these various functions during this period of the church-town school ; and also what methods were used in supporting the master. As dealing with matters of support constituted some of the prominent governmental functions concerning the school, it follows that the decision as to the agency adopted to carry on the legislative and administrative features connected with support would be conditioned by the methods of raising the money. It will therefore facilitate the progress of this study and secure a clearer understanding of the situation to examine the records first with the point in view of determining the manner in which the towns secured the money to support the master of these town schools.

The meagreness, indefiniteness, and the small number of the records bearing upon schools present many obstacles to the student. It is possible to fill in the skeleton of knowledge they furnish of school control and support for different conceptions of what was done. In consequence this study has required extreme caution. It was necessary to apply constantly certain principles of historical interpretation. These the reader must likewise bear in mind. They presented themselves to the author as he began his study, as follows :

First, as institutions do not spring up full-fledged from the mind of man, but rather are the gradual outgrowth of those which preceded them, so it is to be expected that the agencies of control and methods of support of the Puritan school were shaped to some extent at least by, if not literally copied after, the practices of school administration as they existed previously and contemporaneously in England. It is, therefore, necessary that these English practices be kept constantly in mind in the interpretation of the records.

(') De Montmorency, State intervention in English Educatii

Second, though previous institutions furnish the basis upon which new institutions are founded, the entire life of the people who modify the old in the construction of the new plays a prominent part in the process. It is, therefore, necessary that one understand the relation of the school to the other institutions in the colonial society, the political theories of the Puritans particularly as they bore upon local government, and their practices in the support and control of other public enterprises. All these features of the new elements in the Puritan civilization must be given due weight in reaching our conclusions.

Third, the interpretation given to the records must be consistent with an orderly evolution of institutions from this period to the following. It is requisite also that this evolution be satisfactorily accounted for.

Fourth, when the above standards fail to point to one conclusion, it may then be taken into account that the Puritans were an eminently practical people. It was their habit to take the " short cut " and to choose the method which seemed the simplest and most direct.

Fifth, all preconceptions of Puritan practices must be laid aside, and the reading into the past of present conditions avoided.

Methods of Raising the Master's Salary ^^^

The sources of school support in general use during the early seventeenth century in England were annuities from the crown, rent from land, income from endowment, and tuition. No instance of the levying of a civil tax is known to have occurred ; and certainly it was not a common thing for a town to take money out of its treasury for the support of any school within its limits.*^-) It can be safely said that the levying of a local tax, if it ever did occur, was so singular and rare a thing that it could not have produced any appreciable influence upon the Massachusetts settlers.

To the Puritan in Europe and in England the school was subordinate to the church ; its chief object was to secure the establishment of the "true religion," <^) or as it is stated in another

f) The references to the town records before 1647 are not given in the text but in the appendix in connection with the records as there given. The reader should consult the appendix frequently.

(2) Monroe. Hist, of Education, 393-5; Stow. The Elizabethan Grammar-Schools. In preparation.

(3) Ibid, pp. 433-7- Grant's Burgh Schools of Scotland, pp. 76-80.

place. " the education of children in piety, and good literature." This subordination of school to church is shown most clearly among the English Puritans in the Welsh Education Act, passed by the Cromwellian parliament in 1649. Its title " an Act for the better Propagation and Preaching of the Gospel in Wales and Redress of Some Grievances " reveals its tenor. It provided for the appointment of Commissioners v^^ho among other things, had the right to grant certificates to " Ministers of the Gospel for the preaching of the Gospel in settled Congregations and Parochial charges or for the keeping of

Schools and Education of Children."(^>

Their views as to methods of support of schools were under such conditions, strengthened by the force of practice of the preceding centuries, inseparably bound up with the methods of the support of the church. This is shown in this same act. The commissioners were directed to receive and disperse " all and singular the rents, issues, and profits of all ecclesiastical livings within the disposal of parliament provided that the yearly maintenance of a Minister do not exceed one hundred pounds, and the yearly maintenance of a School-master exceed not forty pounds. "(^) The most prominent school founded under the provisions of this act was supported by endowment. Another instance of this close connection of church and school is seen in Chapter 31 of the year 1649. By it the first-fruits and tenths created by Henry VIII were vested in trustees upon trust " to pay yearly all such salaries, stipends, allowances, and provisions, as have been limited or appointed for preaching the Gospel, Preaching Ministers, or Schoolmasters or others in England or Wales, settled or confirmed by Ordinance or Order of Parliament." In the event, however, that the amount of first-fruits and tenths did not reach £20,000, then " some other part of the yearly revenue payable into the exchequer should be provided to make up the deficiency." ^^^

(') De Montmorency, State Intervention, p. 102.

(3) Ibid. pp. 103-4. Note. — Although there is nothing to show positively that the measures framed in the efforts of the Puritan to establish schools in other countries had a direct influence upon the plans of the Massachusetts settlers, vet even if there was a bond of connection between the movements, there is nothing in' the history of education in these countries that materially differs from the situation in England as set forth in these two acts. Monroe, Hist, of Education, pp. 433-7. Grant, pp, 76-80

Control and Support of the Church-Toivn School. 17

The Puritan in America undoubtedly adhered to the same fundamental views regarding the relation of the school to the church and the sources of its support as did the Puritan in England. While some features of the English laws of 1649 ^ire the effect of the experiences of Massachusetts in dealing with the questions of schools, yet the fundamental proposition in the Welsh Education Act regarding support, that the school should be supported from the church funds, had undoubtedly been held by all the Puritans for over a half century before the emigration to America. It may therefore be affirmed that it is reasonable to expect that this principle was carried out in America.

This necessitates an inquiry into the sources of support of the church in Massachusetts. It is to be expected at the outset that it will be different from that referred to in the acts of 1649 because of the difference in conditions. Inquiry shows that the first method was the contribution, the second, its lineal descendant, the compulsory contribution.

The "contribution " as it was first spoken of was grounded upon the practice of the early church at Corinth. Authority was given for its use in December 1633 when " after much deliberation and serious advice, the Lord directed the teacher Mr. Cotton, to make it clear by Scriptures, that the minister's maintenance, as well as all other charges of the church, should be defrayed out of a stock or treasury, which was to be raised out of the weekly contribution, which accordingly was agreed upon." (^'> It became a regular feature of the Sunday service, and is thus described by Lechford, " Prior to the dispersion of the people in the afternoon, a contribution is taken. One of the deacons, saying, ' Brethren of the congregation, as God has prospered you, so freely offer,' the magistrates and chief gentlemen first, and then the elders and all the congregation of men, and most of them that are not of the church, all single persons, widows and women, in absence of their husbands, come up one after another one way, and bring their offerings to the deacon at his seat, and put it into a box of wood for the purpose if it be money or paper ; if it be any other chattel, they set or lay it down before the deacons, and so pass another way to their seats again." <2)

(') Felt, Ecclesiastical History of N, E. I. p. 162. (») Ibid. I. p. 433- i8

TJie Origin of the Moving School in Massachusetts.

The example set by the Boston church was generally followed. ('> It was the substitute for the tithe of the old church, which in many respects it resembles. Like it, the " stock " thus raised was spent for the maintenance of the clergy, the preservation of the fabric or church buildings, and the benefit of the poor.(^) Of these three avenues of expenditure the first persisted in America the longest. Some of the congregations at first built their meeting houses from the proceeds of the rate, as at Watertown.^^^ However as late as 1641 at least, the contribution was still generally used for this second purpose. Lechford tells us that on " extraordinary occasions, as the building or repairing of the meeting house and other necessities, the ministers press a liberal contribution with effectual exhortation out of the Scriptures." (*) Watertown in 1642 levied a " rate " for the supf>ort of the poor and Salem in 1643 began aiding the poor by a tax levied upon the inhabitants. (^> On the other hand in Boston as late as 1684 the original custom continued. (''^ The practice of supporting the minister continued in Boston for over a century, ^^^ but by 1660, it had been given up in practically all other towns.f^^