Abstract
This chapter begins with the philosophical examination of idealist and realist origins before detailing the educational founding fathers and beginnings of federal and state support. It argues that the work of Jefferson, Webster, and others was significant in providing the blueprint for our contemporary system of public schools. It concludes with a discussion on the educational legacies of this period and recommendations for further reading.
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Notes
- 1.
Noah Webster, An American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking, Being the Third Part of the Grammatical Institute of the English Language (Newport: Peter Edes, 1789), n.p.
- 2.
Thomas Jefferson, “Extract from President Jefferson’s Sixth Annual Message,” in James Conant, Thomas Jefferson and the Development of American Public Education (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963), 106.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
H.W. Brands, “Founders Chic: Our Reverence for the Fathers has Gotten Out of Hand,” The Atlantic Monthly 292, no. 2 (2003): 101–110.
- 5.
Howard Brinton, Friends for 350 Years: The History and Beliefs of the Society of Friends Since George Fox Started the Quaker Movement (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 2002).
- 6.
Freeman Butts, “The Promise of the American Revolution: 1776–1826,” Public Education in the United States: From Revolution to Reform (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978)
- 7.
Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klien, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar … Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes (New York: Penguin Books, 2008).
- 8.
James Conant, Thomas Jefferson and the Development of Public Education (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963).
- 9.
Lawrence Cremin, American Education: The National Experience, 1783–1876 (New York: Harper Books, 1980).
- 10.
Jostien Gaarder, Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994).
- 11.
Joshua Kendall, The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture (New York: Penguin Books, 2010).
- 12.
John Rury, “Philanthropy, Self Help, and Social Control: The New York Manumission Society and Free Blacks 1785–1810,” Phylon 46, no. 3 (1985): 231–241.
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Janak, E. (2019). Education in the Early Revolutionary and Early National Periods (1776–ca. 1820s). In: A Brief History of Schooling in the United States . The Cultural and Social Foundations of Education. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24397-5_2
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