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estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy under such regulations as the General Assembly of this State shall direct.

This section was also incorporated in the constitution of 1793 unchanged, and is still in force:

MASSACHUSETTS, Constitution of 1780

[Part II, Chap. V, The University at Cambridge, and Encouragement of Literature, etc.]

SECTION 1. The university

ART. 1. Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so early as the year 1636, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of God, been initiated in those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employments, both in church and state; and whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America, it is declared, that the president and fellows of Harvard College, in their corporate capacity, and their successors in that capacity, their officers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and franchises which they now have, or are entitled to have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy; and the same are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them, the said president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, and to their officers and servants respectively, forever.

ART. 2. And whereas there have been, at sundry times, by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, and conveyances heretofore made, either to Harvard College, in Cambridge, in New England, or to the president and fellows of Harvard College, or to the said college by some other description, under several charters successively, it is declared that all the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and conveyances are hereby forever confirmed unto the president and fellows of Harvard College, and to their successors, in the capacity aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors.

ART. 3. And whereas by an act of the general court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed in the year 1642, the governor and deputy governor, for the time being, and all the magistrates of

that jurisdiction, were, with the president, and a number of the clergy, in the said act described, constituted the overseers of Harvard College, and it being necessary, in this new constitution of government, to ascertain who shall be deemed successors to the said governor, deputy governor, and magistrates, it is declared that the governor, lieutenant-governor, council, and senate of this Commonwealth are, and shall be deemed, their successors; who, with the president of Harvard College, for the time being, together with the ministers of the Congregational churches in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, mentioned in the said act, shall be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers and authority belonging or in any way appertaining to the overseers of Harvard College: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the legislature of this Commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university as shall be conducive to its advantage and the interest of the republic of letters, in as full a manner as might have been done by the legislature of the late province of the Massachusetts Bay.

SECTION 2.

The encouragement of literature

CHAP. V, SEC. 2. Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar-schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, by rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, Constitution of 1784, and 1792 (The constitution of 1776 had been silent on the subject.) SEC. 83. Knowledge and learning generally diffused through a community being essential to the preservation of a free govern

ment, spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country being highly conducive to promote this end, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools; to encourage private and public institutions, rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trade, manufactures, and natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and economy, honesty and punctuality, sincerity, sobriety, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

PENNSYLVANIA, 1. Constitution of 1776

SEC. 44. A school or schools shall be established in each county by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct youth at low prices; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more universities.

SEC. 45. Laws for the encouragement of virtue, and prevention of vice and immorality, shall be made and constantly kept in force, and provision shall be made for their due execution; and all religious societies or bodies of men heretofore united or incorporated for the advancement of religion or learning, or for other pious and charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and estates which they were accustomed to enjoy, or could of right have enjoyed, under the laws and former constitution of this State.

2. Constitutions of 1790 and 1838

SEC. 1. The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide, by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the State, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis.

SEC. 2. The arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning.

DELAWARE, Constitution of 1792

(The constitution of 1776 had been silent on the subject.)

ART. VIII, SEC. 12. The Legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law for . . . establishing schools, and promoting arts and sciences. [Continued unchanged in the Constitution of 1831.]

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NORTH CAROLINA, Constitution of 1776

41. That a school or schools shall be established by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged, and promoted, in one or more universities. [Continued unchanged in the Constitution of 1835.]

GEORGIA, 1. Constitution of 1777

ART. 54. Schools shall be erected in each county, and supported at the general expense of the State, as the Legislature shall hereafter point out.

2. Constitution of 1798

ART. IV, SEC. 13. The arts and sciences shall be promoted, in one or more seminaries of learning; and the legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, give such further donations and privileges to those already established as may be necessary to secure the objects of their institution; and it shall be the duty of the general assembly, at their next session, to provide effectual measures for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institutions.

TENNESSEE, Constitution of 1796

ART. I, SEC. 24. No member of the general assembly shall be eligible to any office or place of trust, except to the office of justice of the peace, or a trustee of any literary institution, where the power of appointment to such office is vested in their own body.

With the admission of Ohio, in 1802, the national government began a land-grant policy (see Chap. II) which began to stimulate an interest in public education, and the constitution of Ohio of 1803 (see Chap. V), is the first of the states to show this new interest.

CHAPTER II

NATIONAL AID FOR EDUCATION

I. LAND GRANTS FOR COMMON SCHOOLS

1. Disposal of the National Lands

THE Revolutionary War ended in 1783, but it was six years before the national government was instituted under the new Constitution. During this interval the Congress carried on the government, as best it could, but without any settled policy. As the War drew to a close both soldiers and statesmen began to turn their attention to the new west as a field for colonization, but this large territory was disputed as to title, and not open as yet to settlement. A number of the states claimed that their titles extended to the Mississippi, and the claims overlapped. Indian tribes populated the land, and Indian titles also remained to be extinguished before settlement could take place. Gradually the idea of the nationalization of these lands, and the uniting to win from a common enemy, took the place of the idea of state ownership and control, and state after state ceded the lands in question to the national government. Everything north of the Cumberland River had been ceded before the Federal Constitution had been ratified by the requisite number of states.

In the meantime colonists were pushing westward, and the demand for the opening of these lands to purchase and colonization became more insistent. In 1783 Col. Thomas Pickering submitted a series of propositions to Congress for organizing a new state which would comprise about the eastern four fifths of the present state of Ohio, which was to be settled by officers and soldiers of the Federal army, associated for the purpose.

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