History of Adult and Community Education: 1860-1870

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History of Adult and Community Education: 1860-1870

Robyn Spoon

Ball State University

EDAC 631

February 12, 2017

Abstract

This paper explores adult education in the time period between 1860-1870 using information gathered from the Morrill Act of 1862 (also called the Agricultural College Act), and supporting documents, which detailed the history of the time and the impact of this key legislation. With the United States at a precocious point in its history, this legislation acted as a catalyst to show the strength of the federal government and to provide for a strong system of higher education for decades to come. Individuals such as Amos Brown, President of People’s College of New York had a lasting impact on both higher education and adult education in general.  In addition to Brown, Justin Morrill, whom the Morrill Act of 1862 was named after was instrumental in changing higher education in America. The Morrill Act of 1862 proposed and ultimately provided for the funding of state institutes of higher education through federal gifting of land for state’s use in the formation of these colleges and universities.  This paper explores this challenging time period in history and the lasting impact the Morrill Act had on adult education.

Introduction

            The decade between 1860-1870 was the most tumultuous period of time in American History after its founding.  During this time period, America was struggling to determine its national identity. Would the United States simply be the congregation of many individual states or would there be more of a national identity? Would the United States include the southern states? One of the biggest struggles facing the nation was determining the role of the federal government versus the role of individual states. James Buchanan, possibly the worst president in America’s history (History.com, 2009), was on his last legs as the country heated up towards civil war, with state’s rights front and center.

According to the History Channel (2009), “Buchanan, a Democrat who was morally opposed to slavery but believed it was protected by the U.S. Constitution, was elected to the White House in 1856. As president, he tried to maintain peace between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the government, but tensions only escalated.”

The situation worsened when Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution, “which would have allowed Kansas to become a slave state” (History.com, 2009). Slavery was just one of many issues dominating the discussion in the United States at the time concerning state’s rights.  Along with many other issues of the day, my research found the decision about whether or not an issue was the responsibility of the federal government often fell off a state responsibility or a state’s right during the Buchanan Presidency, leaving the Morrill Act dead on President Buchanan’s desk during his last days as President.

            Education was one of many issues put to the test of federal or state responsibilities during the Buchanan Presidency. While education has always held a place of significance in America, it grew in both formal and informal ways throughout the Colonial Period leading up to the Civil War. Wilton (2010) shares that “During this period, the family, church, school and college—and to a lesser extent, the newspaper—were the primary educative institutions” (p. 89). The structure of higher education in America still had much growing to do. A wide variety of both public and private institutions already existed throughout the United States, with Harvard University being the first of such schools. University of Georgia is considered the first state school and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the second, both in the south.  While all of this expansion of higher education was taking place, the Dred Scott Case determined according to Morton (1991) “slaves were not citizens and as such had no rights” (p. 4).  In the south, anyway, that included the right to learn how to read. Morton further displayed in a timeline of African American milestones in education that in 1860 only 5% of African Americans were considered literate.

            Soon after Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President in the spring of 1862, the Civil War broke out.  The country fully understood the position the new President, and the Republican Party, had on state’s rights and particularly promised to defend the union.  Embroiled in a Civil War, the new President sought to bring meaning to the federal government.  The country was divided bitterly and fought amongst itself. He attempted to bring about unifying the divided citizens through several key pieces of legislation, one of which would impact higher education well into the future.

Highlights

Prior to the 1860’s, there were a variety of ways Americans sought out education and there was a growing body of individuals interested in broadening access to education. The main focus of adult education during this time period was the lyceum movement. Until and through The Civil War, the lyceum movement was flourishing, bringing high quality speakers and debates on important topics of the day to adults in communities across the country.

According to the Columbia Online Encyclopedia:

Lyceum groups were concerned with the dissemination of information on the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs. The National American Lyceum (1831) developed from the lectures given by Josiah Holbrook at the first lyceum group in Millbury, Mass. (Columbia Online Encyclopedia, 1826).

Many speakers included authors that are well-known and still read today, including Ralph Waldo Emerson. In addition to philosophy and literature, a hot topic of discussion at lyceums was public education and a desire to bring it to children throughout the United States.  Beyond education, a topic of interest to attendees at lyceums was slavery. This lyceum movement would continue through the 1860s and begin to merge with the Chatauqua movement as the Civil War came to a close.               

In addition to Amos Brown, there were other individuals interested in expanding a more formal movement in education during that time period. In particular, the idea of educating people about agriculture had been long considered along with other content areas. In his book Amos Brown and the American Land Grant College Movement (1997), Lang shared that “various attempts had been made to reform the American college…” He later expanded by sharing that “successful reforms were few in number and insignificant in terms of practical effect” (p. 3). While the country as a whole was embroiled with divisiveness concerning slavery and state’s rights, there were those concerned with higher education and adult education.

Influential Factors:

            In the late 1850’s, while much of the country was concerned with the possibility of entering a civil war, individuals like Amos Brown, President of The People’s College of New York, were concerned with educating people in the areas of agriculture and science. The concept of mechanic arts was vague in terms of its broad understanding of exactly what it would mean to teach mechanic arts. According to Lang (1997), “The People's College's first objective was to provide an education that would prepare a student to enter a mechanical trade or take up scientific farming immediately after graduation” (p. 6).  This educational opportunity extended beyond young white men and included women and adults. The People’s College was named such because it was meant to be a college for the people.  The goal was to train individuals to become better farmers and mechanical technicians.  The People’s College also offered a variety of courses for adults in the local area in the form of lectures. According to Lang (1997), both agricultural education and mechanic arts instruction was taking on a similar style at the time with both making use of a variety of instructional methods, such as journals, fairs and other (p. 6).  Brown desired to expand on the typical university teaching of the day by including a requirement that the students not only understand topics covered in books, but they also had to learn to use the equipment they learned about. Eventually, the Land-Grant Colleges created from the Morrill Act would take on many of these same features and include much of the same content of instruction as The People’s College, making Amos Brown an important figure in adult education.  

As stated earlier, an attempt was made to pass the Morrill Act in 1859, but was vetoed by then President Buchanan. Many continued on with efforts to pass the Morrill Act in the hopes that they might expand access to higher education to a more diverse group of people in a more diverse geographic region of the United States. However, the new President, Lincoln, was eager to show the states that the federal government had value. In addition to the Homestead Act, he also pushed through a land grant to fund railroad expansion and finally, the Morrill Land Grant Act to help fund higher education through the northern states.  The political climate was ripe for the vision Brown had for the future of higher education in the United States.  It hadn’t been an easy journey to get there, however.  The only true addition to the original Morrill Act that Buchanan had previously vetoed was military tactic instruction.  In a bulletin created by the Department of the Interior entitled The Land Grant of 1862 and Land Grant Colleges (1918), Andrews clearly defines the purpose of the Land-Grant Colleges in the following way:

…without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life (p.8).

It is impossible to discuss the Morrill Act of 1862 without discussing Justin Morrill, a congressman from Vermont.  While Amos Brown prepared to share his work with others concerning the People’s College in the hopes of creating federal support for his project (and others like it), Justin Morrill was busy doing the same in Washington DC.  Brown joined Morrill’s efforts to support the Morrill Act for a successful passage. (Lang, 1997).

Implications

            The period of time between 1860-1870 was a dramatic time period to be alive in America.  It is amazing to consider the astronomical fracture the nation faced. More significant is the fact that while the country endured war and division, many individuals fought on other battlefields.  The work done by Amos Brown, Justin Morrill and others has had a significant impact on our educational system. My research revealed that this worthwhile and lasting piece of legislation was hard fought. Living in Indiana, I was reminded through my research of the great impact the Morrill Act of 1862 has on daily life in Indiana through Purdue University and its extension offices that provide educational opportunities. However, my research uncovered that we have more than the Morrill Act of 1862 to thank for these extension services in our communities. In their article titled, The Land-Grant Model (1990), Jones, Oberst and Courtland  noted the following:

Morrill's fine idea might have died on the vine had it not been for two additional pieces of legislation, the Hatch Act of 1887 and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. By providing for experiment stations and extension services, this "three-legged stool" of legislation ensured that knowledge coming from these colleges and universities could be tested in a real-world setting and effectively transmitted to a public beyond enrolled students.

We could all learn something today from these major pieces of legislation and their impact.  This same vision laid out many years ago to extend learning from the classroom, test it in the world and share the information beyond the college campus itself can be applied to other areas of content beyond agriculture. This same type of extension could be applied to engineering and other concepts (Jones, Oberst &Courtland, 1990).

Social Background	State’s Rights, Buchanan Presidency, Lincoln Presidency, Civil War Begins
Highlights	Lyceum movement, Chatauqua movement, Amos Brown
Influential Factors	Amos Brown, The People’s College of New York, The Morrill Act of 1862
Implications	Lasting Land-Grant Colleges, Extension Offices, Future possibility of extension offices

References

Andrews, B. F., & Department of the Interior, B. (1918). The Land Grant of 1862 and the Land-Grant Colleges. Bulletin, 1918, No. 13. Bureau Of Education, Department Of The Interior.

History.com Staff. (2009). James Buchanan. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-buchanan

Jones, R. C., & And, O. (1990). Building U.S. Economic Competitiveness: The Land-Grant Model. Change, 22(3), 10-17.

Lang, D. W. (1997). Amos Brown and the American Land Grant College Movement. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

Lyceum, 19th-century American educational association. (2016). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1.

Morton, S. T. (1991). Charting the Course of Lifelong Learning for Blacks.