The development of school support in colonial Massachusetts

CHAPTER I Introduction page

The problem set. — Essential to the study to enquire into (i) religious and educational ideals, (2) the evolution of poor relief and its educational implications, (3) social and political conditions in the early colony. — The close relationship between education and Puritanism shown. — Connection between the church and the support of the poor. — Connection between the support of the poor and free industrial education. — The Massachusetts Act of 1642 embodied the essentials of the Elizabethan Poor Laws. — Motive underlying the founding of a Massachusetts town as shown in the Dedham Records. — Colonial policies dictated by church-members and the educational inference. — Town policies dictated by all the townsmen therefore a variation in methods of school support 5

Chapter II

Close relationship between the church and the school as shown by Governor Craddock's letter to Endicott, and by the Acts of 1642 and 1647. — Mention of schools comes some years after the settlement of the town. — The probability of the existence of schools during this period well founded. — General social and religious conditions of the time not suitable for existence of private schools. — The church-town school the logical institution hence the method of church support is pertinent to a study of school support. — Church support passed through three stages — voluntary, and compulsory contribution, and general taxation. — Earliest methods of school support also by voluntary, and compulsory contribution as indicated by town records and Winthrop's History of New England 15

Chapter III

The colonists were familiar with the method of poor relief in England. — Single evidence of the presence of the contribution stage. — No evidence of compulsory contributions. — The Act of 1642 compared with the English Poor Law. — Recorded instances of 1) apprenticeship and 2) examination of children's ability to read. — First school rate levied in Salem for the tuition of poor children. — Other instances of town action with respect to the free education of poor children. — Act of 1642 embodies provision for the first system of free education at the expense of the public 23

4 Contents

CHAPTER IV page Meaning of " rate." — Its reduplication. — How paid. — The various rates commonly levied in the town. — Sources of school support. — School rates levied on property were of two kinds. — Tuition rates also of two kinds. — Town records on matters of school support. ... 34

Chapter V

A synthesis of preceding chapters with respect to method of support, — The Act of 1647. — Made schools compulsory and a civil rather than a church institution. — In the matter of support, two interpretations of the Act may be made. — The usual method was a combination. — General decline of interest in education during the last quarter of the 17th century. — due to different religious atmosphere, costly military expeditions, remote settlers who could have no benefit from the town school. — Details traced in Haverhill, Maiden, Plymouth, and Watertown. — Tuition and supply no longer adequate to support the school. — The moving and the divided school sprang from these conditions. — Dependent for support upon giving the opportunity to all to participate in its benefits 75

CHAPTER VI The " Free School "

Leach's discussion of the meaning of the " free school " in England. — Concludes that it refers to freedom from payment for being taught. — Interpretations given to colonial use of the term by Barnard, Bush, and Brown. — Records from 14 towns showing the use of the term " free school." — The three above interpretations refuted. — The colonial use of the term was the same as given by Leach for the English usage. — Conclusion 84

CHAPTER I Introduction

The aim of this study is, first, to trace the various methods through which the early schools of Massachusetts were supported — showing at the same time the basis of experience for dealing with the problem of support through the close relationship existing between — i) education and religion, and 2) education and the support and apprenticeship of the poor; and, second, after partial support by general taxation had become customary, to point out the main causes which made general taxation the sole method of school support and hence gave rise to the " free school " — publicly controlled and publicly supported.

The men who managed affairs in the early Massachusetts towns were beyond question influenced by the methods and ideals which prevailed in the mother country. We know that in England there was a close relationship in Puritan thought between education and religion, hence there would be a definite tendency to continue the same relationship in the colony. The mere incident of a sea-voyage would scarcely destroy all associations formed up to that time. We know that for years the English people had been working out the problem of poor relief and during the life of the colonists in England had arrived at a definite method of caring for the poor, hence it is highly improbable that, when the necessity arose, this method should not occur to the colonists as a possible way of solving a similar difficulty. In other words there can be no doubt that what these men had thought and done in England was the basis of their thinking and doing in the Massachusetts Colony. Hence in meeting the practical problem of supporting any institution we would expect them to use the prevailing English method, or a modification of that method, or the application for the support of one institution of the prevailing or modified English method of supporting another.

In the matter of school support, as we shall see later, the English methods were not suited to the social and economic conditions of the early colony. Some other method had to be found and we know that the present method, general taxation, was not the first. Under these circumstances we would expect the early solution of the problem to be influenced by the methods used in meeting other charges of a public nature, especially by the methods used in supporting those public charges closely connected with the school. For this reason it has seemed best, since the records with respect to the early schools are so few, to show the development of church and poor support in the Colony. If we find distinct methods of meeting the charges incident to the maintenance of the church, and of the poor — including the apprenticeship of poor children — and if here and there we find a record showing that a school was maintained through a similar method, we have as conclusive proof as may be of the method or methods through which schools were maintained during the early period. Expressed in somewhat graphic form by representing well defined methods by heavy lines and the less well defined by dots the general argument from relationship and suggestion is as indicated :

support of poor in England.

support of the church in Mass.

• ■ • — • • — support of the school in Mass.

It is essential by way of introduction to our study to make a more detailed analysis of those phases of experience which are pertinent to the furtherance of its aim ; ( i ) to enquire somewhat into the ideals which were fundamental to the Puritan religion and the relation of such ideals to the necessity of education; (2) to enquire into the methods of poor support in England since for centuries there had been a close relationship between the church, the poor, and the education of youth; (3) to state a few pertinent facts with respect to civil and social conditions in the early settlements. These topics form no part of our investigation but serve to put us in touch with the general conditions necessary to give the social and historical setting of the problem.

1. The fundamental principle of the Renaissance and its northern aspect, the Reformation, was the firm conviction that liberty and reason lay at the basis of individuality and that individual achievement was most worth while. In the South, a civilization of pagan origin which during the pagan period produced some of the world's best thoughts and artistic products naturally turned to those great masterpieces for uplift and guidance ; in the North, a people who before Christianity had produced nothing, by the same natural process turned to the Bible and the patristic writings, the sources from which the Northern civilization had sprung. In either case it was the Era of the New Learning, an eager searching after Truth in the manuscript and the printed page and, in the North especially, a dependence upon the authority of the Bible which was as great as had been the previous sway of Aristotle. But though the Scriptures were the great authority the spirit of the Reformation demanded that this authority be individually declared — not by priest or pope to the unthinking and receptive masses but by the best interpretation of its commands and precepts which the individual might be able to make for himself. Liberty and reason were the basis for a new relationship between God and man.

This startling innovation in method of thought and action was soon modified. It was too anarchistic to allow men to live together in any degree of harmony ; too opposed to the natural instinct to form like-minded groups. And so, consciously or unconsciously, men took from the Bible that which best suited their ideas and dispositions — creeds began to fetter the free exercise of thought and narrowness and intolerance were rampant. Learning became narrower in scope and purpose, yet learning was necessary to compass even this faint remnant of the Reformation ideal. Whatever remained of liberty and reason seems to have been transferred from the individual to the group and it fought as valiantly and persistently for its as did ever Luther for his tenets.

The point here to be emphasized is, that however false men have proved to be at times to the Reformation ideal it has always demanded at its best an enlightened people and an educated clergy. The Bible was put into the hands of the people to be for each one an individual guide and help and at least an education sufficient to read and understand it was a necessary corollary. That such was the case is evidenced by the school systems established in Saxony, Wurtenberg, Gotha and other German States under the influence of the Reformation movement. The root idea being to give reading, writing, and singing to all, with higher schools to act as selective agents for the State and ministry. By means of education Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon, Duke Ernest and many others hoped to reform well nigh unendurable conditions and raise the general moral plane of mankind to a higher level through educated leadership of a reading, thinking people.

It was against dogmatism, authority, form, pretence that Puritanism and its sister movements Pietism and Jansenism arose. Conduct, faith, piety, righteousness, and good works, the holding up of high individual standards marked this movement and made its followers stand out distinctly. The religious tenets of the Puritans believed to have been ably and faithfully worked out of the Scriptures, at first carried out the best traditions of the Reformation in the general ideas expressed above ; that they soon became narrow and intolerant is but the fault of the age. The fact that they believed themselves to be God's elect as proved by the Bible, that their way of thinking and doing must therefore be the only possible escape from punishment and the way whereby mankind might be saved made them the stronger and more persistent in their ideas when they were met by opposition and persecution. The Puritan was one with the Reformation in his belief in his power to draw inspiration from God, to have direct personal communion between each human being and his Maker, and to find in the Bible, each man for himself, the guiding principles of all his thoughts and acts.

Nothing could be stronger than the Puritan belief in the Bible. The Westminster Confession which the Puritan accepted teaches that all things necessary for man's salvation are found in the Scriptures ; that they were immediately inspired by God and contain within themselves the infallible rule of interpretation; and that they commanded all the people of God to read and search them. 1 Unquestionably the Bible and the capacity to read it was an essential part of Puritan society derived from the general Reformation movement. They did not wish a blind acceptance of their faith but that each should read for himself and embrace the Creed through conviction of the righteousness of their faith. Such conviction was possible only to those who could read a Bible whose authenticity was vouched for by a still higher scholarship. They were God's elect, but to deserve His protection each one must read, ponder over the Scriptures and the explanation by the minister in order to know His will.

1 Westminster Confession, Chap. I., Section VI., VII., IX., VIII.

Unquestionably the spirit of Puritanism demanded that religion and education go hand in hand. The following quotations from De Montmorency's " State Intervention in English Education " bear directly upon this point :

"In 1 561 Knox and the early reformers added to the First Book of Discipline certain regulations about schools and colleges, which if they had been carried into effect would have given us before now an almost perfect system of education. Knox proposed that the entire revenues of the old Church should be devoted to the maintenance of schools, of ministers, and of the infirm poor." 2

Though a little later than the settlement of Massachusetts the Welsh Education Act of 1649 was worked out by men of the same generation and religious faith and hence may be introduced as pertinent to our discussion:

"The Parliament of England taking into their serious consideration the great Duty and Trust that lies on them to use all lawful ways and means for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this Commonwealth, in order thereunto, Do Enact and Ordain, and be it Enacted and Ordained by this present Parliament, and by the Authority thereof, That ( ) are hereby constituted and appointed to be Commissioners in ( ) . . . . That they the said Commissioners or

any five or more of them, shall have full power and authority, and are hereby enabled and authorized to receive all articles or charges which shall be exhibited against any Parson, Vicar, Curate, Schoolmaster, or any other now having, or that shall have any Ecclesiastical benefit or promotion within the said counties or any of them " 3

It is clear that in the eyes of the Puritan Commonwealth a schoolmastership was regarded as an appointment that ranked with a benefice.

This same Puritan spirit caused the Scottish Parliament in 1633 to empower the Bishop, with the consent of the major part of the tax-payers to enforce a rate on land for the benefit of the school. 4

All that has been said on this topic is a matter of common knowledge but, as has been previously said, it seems best to bring these points together that we may have a clear conception of the main religious ideas and motives — experience stuff — which was a part of the mental outfit of the New England Puritan. It

2 De Montmorency, State Intervention in English Education, 116-117.

io Introduction

has also seemed legitimate for the purposes of this study to indicate the general results of these same religious ideas and motives as they worked themselves out with reference to church and school in Scotland and Wales. And so before turning to the next topic, the development of the support of the poor in England, let us bring together by way of summary the general aims of the Puritan faith wherever found. Briefly they are: Individual responsibility to God ; the Bible the guide to conduct ; the ability to read ; and the consequent close relationship between religion and education./

2. The last stage ill the development of the support of the poor in England — that is, general taxation, was completed during the years of the early colonists' residence in the mother country and was, therefore, a highly pertinent factor in the general mass of experience which might be brought to bear on any question of support. The poor law of England was of importance also from another point of view since its essential features were incorporated in the Massachusetts law of 1642 which made education compulsory for all and formed the basis for free instruction for poor children.

Previous to the confiscation of monastic and guild property by Henry VIII. there had been no legislation with respect to the poor and their support. In the cities, the guilds had taken care of their members when sick or disabled, had pensioned the widows, and paid the apprentice fees of the children; in the country districts the monasteries had played a similar role for the support of the poor. With the confiscation of these sources of supply for relief, legislation begins. The first of importance is 5 & 6 Edward VI. cap. 2. It directs the collectors " to gently ask and demand of every man and woman what they of their charity will give weekly towards relief of the poor."

In 5 Elizabeth cap. 3, the following addition seems to have been necessary : " That if any person of his froward or wilful mind shall obstinately refuse to give wekly to the relief of the poor according to his ability " the justices may tax such persons according to their discretion. The method was round-about and not completely given here but it established the principle that property be held subject to the relief of the destitute.

14 Elizabeth, cap. 5 directs the justices to tax the inhabitants and appoint persons to collect the amount levied. This Act differs from the preceding in that it went direct to its object and provided the requisite machinery for collection and distribution.

Turning now to the apprentice features of the LawSi It was enacted by 27 Henry VIII. cap. 25 that all children between five and thirteen who were begging or in idleness might be appointed to masters in husbandry or other craft. 16 Elizabeth cap. 3 ordered the justices to provide a stock of wood, hemp, flax, iron, and other stuff by taxation in order that poor youth might be trained up in labor and work. 39 Elizabeth cap: 3 gave the overseers" of the poor with the consent of two justices the power to " set to work the children of all such whose parents shall not be thought able to keep and maintain them." They were also empowered to raise by taxation an amount sufficient to pay the apprenticeship fees of such children.

All the foregoing laws are summed up in 43 Elizabeth cap. 2 (1601) in which the first section provides that overseers of the poor shall be annually nominated for each parish by the justices. To these are added the churchwardens and from two to four substantial householders according to the size of the parish. Their duty is —

(1) To take measures, with the consent of two justices, for setting to work children whose parents are unable to maintain them ;

(2) To raise weekly by taxation of every inhabitant and occupier, such sums as they shall think fit —

(a) For obtaining a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, and other necessaries for the poor to work upon;

(b) For putting out poor children as apprentices.

The particular facts which we are to keep in mind with respect to the development of poor support, since they are pertinent to our further discussion, are, that it passed through three definite stages, (1) the period of voluntary contribution, (2) the period of compulsory contribution, and (3) the period of general taxation ; that the apprenticeship law was purely industrial in character, that all necessary charges were met by taxation, and that properly constituted authorities had the power to apprentice children and youths; and that this Law of Elizabeth was transferred in all its essential details to the colonial Law of 1642 which made education compulsory for all and free to poor children.

3. The transfer of the government from England to the Colony itself in 1629, coupled with the idea of making New England a refuge for the Puritan believers and a proper place to found a Biblical Commonwealth was the signal for a general movement to the New World. Before Christmas of that year more than 1,000 colonists had landed on the New England coast. The ministers who emigrated were men of standing and influence. Among the laity were many graduates of Cambridge and many who were well versed in public affairs. By far the great majority were men of purpose and character and the influence of these men must always be kept in the foreground in a discussion of the shaping of the early policies of the Colony.

The Company as a trading corporation held title to all the land within its grants and it, through the General Court, granted land to each of the stockholders and larger tracts to a number of individuals in common on condition that they establish a town and a church. These individuals became the proprietors and in turn granted home lots, farms, and rights of common to such applicants as they saw fit to admit to their number. As an example of the origin of a town let us examine the method pursued at Dedham which is typical of any one of the other towns of the Colony.

The first step was a petition to the Court, in which a certain tract of land was mentioned, that the petitioners might " haue and enjoye all those Lands Meadows, Woods and other grounds, together with all the Waters and other benifits what so euer now being or that may be within the Compass of the afore said limits to vs with our ascociates and our assignes for euer." 5

All newcomers as they were voted into the minor corporation received assignments of land, married men being given home lots of twelve acres ; if not married, they were given eight acres each. All such persons were first, however, required to sign the town covenant which shows the spirit of the undertaking so well that it will be given entire :

"1 We whose names ar here vnto subscribed, doe. in the feare and Reuerence of our Allmightie God, Mutually : and seuerally pmise amongst our seules and each to other to pffese and practice one trueth according to that most pfect rule, the foundacion where of is Euerlasting Loue :

' ' 2 That we shall by all meanes Laboure to keepe of from vs all such as ar contrarye minded. And receaue onely such vnto vs as be such

s Dedham Records, Vol. III., I.

as may be pbably of one harte, with vs as that we either knowe or may well and truely be informed to walke in a peaceable conuersation with all meekness of spirit for the edification of each other in the knowledge and faith of the Lord Jesus : And the mutuall encouragmt vnto all Temporall comforts in all things: seekeing the good of each other out of all which may be deriued true Peace

"3 That if at any time difference shall arise betwene pties of our said Tovvne. that then such ptie and pties shall prsently Referre all such difference vnto som one. 2 or. 3 others of our said societie to be fully accorded and determined without any firther delaye if it possibly may bee:

"4 That euery man that now, or at any time heereafter shall haue Lotts in our said Towne shall paye bis share in all such rates of money and charges as shall be imposed vpon him Rateably on pportion with other men As allso become freely subject vnto all such orders and constitutions as shall be necessariely had or made now or at any time heere after from this daye fore warde as well for Loveing and comfortable societie in our said Towne as allso for the psperous and thriueing Condicion of our said Fellowshipe especially respecting the feare of God in which we desire to begine and continue what so euer we shall by his Loveing fauoure take in hand." 6

In passing it will be well to notice the main characteristics which mark the settlement of this town — the deeply religious motive, the desire to build up a homogeneous community, the spirit of mutual helpfulness in both spiritual and temporal affairs, and the paying of whatever rates that might be imposed for the well-being of the community. It may be safely held that these motives underlay the founding of all the early New England towns.

At first it was thought that all the business of the " Country " might be transacted by the freemen meeting in a body four times a year but so many applied for the privilege of the franchise that this method was found impossible. The very number applying alarmed the Court and made it fear for the future of the undertaking, therefore it added to the freeman's oath the further qualification :

"To the end the body of the commons may be preserved of honest and good men, it was likewise ordered and agreed, that for the time to come no man shall be admitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." 7

This measure effectually secured the result wished for, namely, that all laws of the Commonwealth be made by men of the Puri-

B Dedham Records, III. 2-3. 7 Mass. Col. Rec. I., 87.

tan faith and the Congregational Church since none but freemen of the towns could vote in the election of deputies. So we may be certain that all laws made by the General Court and enforced on all the colonists were in keeping with Puritan ideals.

In the towns, with respect to local affairs, the franchise seems not to have been so restricted and there is every probability that whatever ordinances were passed or rates levied represented the majority opinion of the townsmen and rate-payers, although many were not members of the Church and thus not entitled to the general franchise. In 1647 the right of suffrage was legally extended to the townsmen but in answer to a petition from Ipswich in 1658 the Court held that freemen of the town might restrict such townsmen for cause from exercising this right. 8 This left the directing force in the hands of the freemen as before though I find no evidence of such power having been used.

In a cursory way the following points have been indicated and they are to be especially borne in mind when considering the early period since during that time recorded actions concerning schools are very few: (1) The general intelligence of all the early colonists and the importance to the settlements of the large number of college men who as ministers and leaders were so influential in counseling and guiding new endeavors and policies as well as keeping up the best traditions of English Puritanism ; (2) the deep religious and moral convictions fundamental to all their acts; (3) the spirit of co-operation and helpfulness; (4) the general participation of the townsmen in all that pertained to local government, and the consequent adaptation of general policies to local needs and ideas.

Under the three preceding heads we have attempted to give a formulation of well known facts, ideals, and tendencies which entered into the experience and formed the character of the early New England Puritan. All this he brought with him and this mass of experience formed the basis of every working hypothesis which was made toward the solution of new problems of state, church, or school to which the exigencies of a new environment gave rise. Connected experiences of the Old still remained connected in the New World and in the immediate study of the problem, especially during the early period, to which we now turn we are to keep this fact in mind.

8 Mass. Col. Rec. IV., 335.

CHAPTER II School Support by Contribution

We now propose to discuss the relation between religion and education in the early history of the Massachusetts towns in order to form some basis of judgment as to the existence or non-existence of schools during the early period in which the town made few, if any, records of a school; also to take up the methods of church support since, as we shall find that the church and the school are closely affiliated, the development of the one will aid in the explanation of the development of the other. This is especially desirable for during the early period, as we have mentioned above, records concerning the schools are not sufficient in themselves to establish clearly the general methods of support.

Matthew Craddock, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company, in 1629, wrote as follows to John Endicott, the deputy governor of the Colony:

"We are very Confident of yor best endevors for the genrall gooi, & wee doubt not but God will in mrcye give a blessinge vpon our laboures, & wee trust you will not be vnmindfull of the mayne end of our plantacon by Indevoringe to bringe ye Indians to the knowledge of the gospell; wch yt it maye be speedier & better effected, ye earnest desire of our whole Compa is yt you have dilligent & watchfull Eye on our owne people, that they live unblemished & without reproofe, & demeane themselves justlye & Curteous towards ye Indians, thereby to drawe them to affect our prsons and consequently our religion, as alsoe to endeavore to gett some of theire Children to trayne up to readinge & Consequently to Religion, whilest they are younge."