The federal government first granted support for the establishment of public elementary and secondary schools in the new territory when Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Land Ordinance of 1785 required each town to set aside land for public schools. The Northwest Ordinance stated, “Religion, morality [righteousness], and knowledge, being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
The town schools that existed in the years after the American Revolution were quite different from modern public schools. School terms were usually short so that children could help on their family’s farms. Many schools were only open for a few weeks during the winter. Even in the cities or wealthy towns, very few schools stayed open all year. There were no separate classes. Pupils of all ages sat in the same room. One teacher usually taught all students, and often was only able to spend a few minutes per day with each student.
Most of the stories of students in the first public schools are negative. For example, Nathan Hedges, who attended school near Morristown, New Jersey, said the following of his school years:
“The first [school] I attended was taught by a cruel old man, by the name of Blair. . . . The [school] house was new, about sixteen feet square; had a writing table on one side, fast to the wall, for the larger pupils; all others were seated on benches made of slabs. The only books used in spelling and reading were Dilworth’s Spelling book and the Testament [the Bible]. I have no recollection [memory] of an arithmetic [book] in the school. Geography and grammar were not even thought of. . . . I well remember that when I could not multiply by even one figure, he [Mr. Blair] would give me a sum in multiplication, with four figures for a multiplier, and from day to day would pound my bare feet with his hickory club for not doing the sum correctly. He furnished no help, no instruction, no kind of encouragement to a beginner, but relied on the severity [harshness] of his punishment.”
