Technology and Educational Reform in Early America.

Louisiana State UniversityLSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1965 Technology and Educational Reform in Early America.. Thomas Knight Shotwell Lou

Louisiana State University

LSU Digital Commons

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School

1965

Technology and Educational Reform in Early

America.

Thomas Knight Shotwell

Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

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THOMAS KNIGHT SHOTWELL 1966

by Thomas Kni gh t Shotv el l

B S., Texas A & M Un iversity, 1955

M Ed., Texas A & M U niversity, 1959

A ugust, 1965

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T

The w r i t e r w i s h e s to express sincere a p p r e c i a t i o n to Dr.

C M Curtis, c h a i r m a n of his grad u at e committee, for the a s s i s ­ tance and guid an c e g i v e n throughout the stu d y and the p r e p a r a t i o n

of the manus cr i pt Also, thanks go to Drs C L Mondart, Antho ny Mumphrey, J H Hutchi ns on , and Lynn P e s so n for their h e l p f u l su g­ gestions during the p r e p a r a t i o n of the ma nuscript.

No adeq ua te a c k n o w l e d g m e n t c a n be m a d e to the m a n y l i b r a r ­ ians w h o ma d e this w o r k possible; however, p a r t i c u l a r r e c o g n i t i o n

is due the refe re n ce p e rs o n n e l and i n t e r- l ib ra r y loan p er s on ne l

at L o u i s i a n a State University, Texas A & M University, and the

U ni ve r s i t y of Texas.

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t is also mad e to Mrs Clara H u g ge tt for her

as si s t a n c e in e d i t i n g the ma nuscript.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T ii

LIST OF IL L US T R A T I O N S vii

A B S T R A C T viii

CHAPTER I I N T R O D U C T I O N 1

A m e r i c a n Education: The Critical Point 2

Vocational Educa ti o n and Technology 3

Science and Techno lo gy 3

The Character of S c i e n c e 4

Social Change and A d j u s t m e n t 6

Science and the Com m on M a n 7

A m e r i c a n Science and T echnology 8

Agric ul t ur e and E ng in ee r in g 9

The Rise of Interest in T e c h n o l o g y 11

The P r o b l e m 12

D ef i n i t i o n of the P r o b l e m 13

Statement of Objectives 14

Outline of Research Procedure 15

II THE EARLY S C I E N C E 17

S c i e n c e 17

B a c k g r o u n d s 18

The Heri ta ge from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth C e n t u r i e s 20

Science in the Eighteenth Century 22

Scientific Progress 24

The Am e r i c a n and French Revolutions 26

III SOME BACKGROUNDS OF TECHNOLOGY IN E D U C A T I O N 29

More, Rabelais, L e i b n i t z 29

Budd and F r a n k l i n 32

C olumbia University's P r o gr a m 34

The Agricu lt u ra l E m p h a s i s 35

Foundations and E n d o w m e n t s 37

E ducational Plans of Re v ol ut io n ar y A m e r i c a 39

The A m e r i c a n Dream 41

iii

C H A P T E R Page

IV A GR I C U L T U R A L S C I E N C E 44

Sir Humph re y Davy and Other Agricul t ur al Scientists 45 Some Problems 50

Spreading of R e f o r m 53

V THE EDUCA TI ON A L W O R K OF PHILIPP EMANUEL VON FELLENBERG 56 The S c h o o l 59

The Poor S c h o o l 60

Other S c h o o l s 62

The Collapse of H o f w y l 62

Fellenberg's Impact on A m e r i c a 63

Josiah Ho l b r o o k 65

O t h e r s 68

F el lenberg's Personal Relations wi t h America 70

The Manual Labor I d e a 72

The Long Range E f f e c t s 73

Ameri ca n s at H o f w y l 75

Fellenberg's Influence in Other Countries 76

S u m m a r y 77

VI THE M A N U A L LAB OR M O VE M EN T IN A M E R I C A N E D U CA T IO N 79

The Manual Labor Society 81

S ecular and Religious Aspects 85

The D e c l i n e 86

VII THE GARDI NE R L Y C E U M 90

Some B a c k g r o u n d s 90

Robert Hallo w el l Gardiner 91

F o u n d i n g the L y c e u m 96

The Manual Labor School at R e a d f i e l d 100

Other H a p p e n i n g s 102

Gardiner's P hi lanthropy 106

The C ur r ic ul u m at the L y c e u m 107

Gardiner's Donations 110

The Failure Ill The Broader P i c t u r e 114

VIII THE NE W H A RM ON Y M O V E M E N T 116

The New J e r u s a l e m 116

M aclur e' s M e e t in g wit h N e e f 118

The Plan 120

The C l a s s e s 120

La ck of C r i t i c i s m 124

The Lon g Range Effects of New H a r m o n y 125

iv

130 131 132 135 137 137 139 141 141 143 143 146 146 146 149 152 153 154 158 158 159 160 163 163 163 164 165 166 167 169 170 170 172

MILIT AR Y SCIENTIFIC E DUCATION

West Point .

Partridge .

Neef's Mi l i t a r y Training .

A n O v e r v i e w

THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGI N IA .

F u n d s

Religious Trouble .

The I n f l u e n c e

A GR I C U L T U R A L E D U CA TI ON IN SOUTH C A RO L IN A .

The Lethe Agric ul t ur al S e m i n a r y

The P e n dl et o n School .

Other A gricultural Interests .

THE RE N SS E L A E R SCHOOL .

Some B a c k g r o u n d s .

Eaton's Early Y e a r s

S t ep he n V an R ensselaer .

The School at T r o y

The First Students .

The Ques ti on of O r i g i n a l i t y

The Early Years .

R e l i g i o n and the S c h o o l

The S c h o o l 's Influence on T echnology .

Cultural and Philosophical Influences on Eaton SUMMARY A N D C O N C L U S I O N S

G e n e r a l

The T e r m i n o l o g y

D i v i s i o n into S c h o o l s

About the O r i g i n s

S ubsequent E v e n t s

Some Other General P o i n t s

Gardiner L y c e u m .

M i s c e l l a n e o u s

Some L i m i t a t i o n s

High er Educa t io n .

v

46 47 48 67 84 93

101

122

123 148 151 156

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Sir Jo h n S i n c l a i r

Title Page of Code of A g r i c u l t u r e

Pyramid of A g r i c ul t ur al I n q u i r i e s

Josiah H o l b r o o k

Title Page of Wel d' s Annual Report

Robert Hallow el l G a r d i n e r

Gardiner L y c e u m

W i l l i a m Maclure and the New Harmony School Title Page of Joseph Neef's First Book Amos Eat on .

S tephen Van Re n ss e l a e r .

R ensselaer School, 1825 .

vii

A BS T R A C T

The sociological and philosophical origins of career educ a­ tion in a g ricultural and m e ch an i c a l sciences ha v e be en surveyed and related to the founding of the first A m e r i c a n institutions in w hi c h emphasis wa s placed on scientific technology.

In general, the study wa s confined to the period beginning

w i t h the close of the W a r of Independence and ending about 1835; h o w ­ ever, c on s i d e r a t i o n of philos o ph ic a l currents w as carried w e l l into

activity prior to 1850, emphasis has been g i v en this aspect but not

to the exclu s io n of e n gineering and other m e ch a n i c a l interests The impact of the scientific, the French, and the A m e r i c a n Revolutions

is related to the agricultural r evolution in England and in America, and to the rise of the "common m a n ” in the philosophical backgrounds

of education.

C ha r acteristics common to the founding of the earliest schools have b e e n discu ss e d w i t h i n the context of international c om m un ic at i on although most of the w o r k centers about developments w i t h i n the United States Particular details were given concer ni n g the first ha lf - d o z e n schools established, as w e l l as information relative to their d i f f i ­ culties and achievements.

C on si de r at io n of the developments in chemistry, botany, and

g eology in so far as these influenced educational as we l l as a g r i c u l ­

viii

in "useful k n o w l e d g e " and in social r e g e n e r a t i o n w e r e ev al u a t e d and related to de ve l op me nt s in fron ti e r America, bot h from the s tandpoint

of the ne w A m e r i c a n thought in p o l it i cs and of the g a t h e r i n g indu s­ trial revolution.

It was c on cl u de d that the r a t i o n a l i s m of the late eight e en th century, the advanc es in a gr i c u l t u r a l and m e c h a n i c a l technology, and the n e w de mo cr a t i c v i e w of the role of the m a s s e s in society c o m ­

bi n e d to create a p e d a g og i ca l c l im a te in w h i c h a strong interest in

a p pl ie d science cou ld repl ac e mu c h of the traditional curriculum The e d u c a t io n al w o r k s of P e st al o z z i and L a n c a s t e r w e r e consi de r ed

w i t h i n the context of A m e r i c a n education.

A l t h o u g h distant, a signi fi ca n t r e l a t i o n s h i p ha s b e e n e s t a b ­ lished b e t w e e n the ear l y schools and the Land G r a n t and subseq ue n t acts r e la t in g to v o c a t i o n a l e d u c a t i o n in general.

ix

Americans, unshackle your minds, and act

c h il dr e n long enough, subject to the c o n ­ trol, and subservient to the interest of

a h a u g h t y parent You h a v e now an inter­ est of your own to augment and defend; you h av e an empire to raise and support

by your exertions, and a national c ha r a c ­ ter to establish and extend by y o u r w i s ­

do m and virtues To effect these great objects, it is nece s sa ry to frame a lib­ eral plan of policy, and build it on a broad system of education.

Noah Webs te r

"On the Educat io n of Youth

in Amer ic a ," A m e r i c a n M u s e u m , September, 1792, pp 312-13.

x

t raditions of social and econo mi c thought W e found the h i s t o r y of science w a n t i n g and b e g a n to study it anew We found the h i s t o r y of

t echnol o gi ca l d e v e l o p m e n t h a d b e e n studied in a serious m a n n e r m o s t l y

d ur i n g the last decade.

The study of A m e r i c a n science ha s largely b e e n don e in terms of

b i o g r a ph i ca l sketches, m a n y of w h i c h are not truly exhaustive The socio lo g y of science demands diffe re nt i ntellectual tools than h i s t o r ­ ians ha v e c o m m o n l y applied; for instance, the h i s t o r y of science has itself only r e c en tl y come of a g e - - i n terms of the a d e q u a c y of h i s t o r ­ ical studies, yes, but m o r e i m p o r t an tl y in the p h i l o s o p h i c a l r e f i n e ­

m e n t w i t h w hi c h we a p p r o a c h e d the intellectual p h e n o m e n o n k n o w n as

s c i e n c e

Para ll el adva nc es a c c u m u l a t i n g in soci ol og y and a n t h r o p o l o g y

n o w reveal to us in adequ at e terms the c u lt u ra l and a c a d e m i c e n v i r o n ­

m e n t s e xp e c t e d to be conduc iv e to the advent of a b r o a d - b a s e d r e v o l u ­ tion The s o c i o l og is t m u s t al s o be on intimate terms w i t h all of the

1

sciences if he is to w r i t e a history Such p r e p a r a t i o n is itself no small task.

A m e r i c a n E d u c a t i o n : The C r i t i c a l Point

The formative years in A m e r i c a n t h o u g h t , the crisis in p o l it ic al orientation, came w i t h the r e v o l u t i o n a r y war As polit ic al problems eased their demands, A me ri ca n s turned their ener gi e s to education,

d ou b tl es s par tl y because e d u c a t i o n seems always to be a b u r n i n g d o m e s ­ tic issue, but largely becau s e the n e w A m e r i c a n thought deman d ed a ne w kind of A m e r i c a n man A soci e ty of freed men, they felt, could exist only if the great mas s of the peop le could be raised to ne w levels of

k no w l e d g e and l e a r n in g on ly if the c o m m o n m a n cou ld be trusted w i t h the d e st i ny of all m e n w o u l d the e x p e r i m e n t work.

O p e r a t i n g o n this a s s u m p t i o n their energ i es w e r e e x p e n d e d in two directions: (1) toward mor e and b e tt er tradi ti on a l e d u c a t i o n in order

to raise the v u l g a r and brutal out of their d ep r iv at i on , and (2) for a diffe re n t c u r r i c u l u m d e s i g n e d to give the w o r k i n g classes relief from the poverty, su p erstition, and i ne ff i ci en cy w i t h w h i c h they wer e b u r ­ dened

Thus, the formative year s in c a r e e r e d u c a t i o n - - o t h e r than law, medic in e, and the m i n i s t r y - - w e r e the years i mm ed ia t el y following the end of h o s t i l i t i e s over w a r w i t h the m o t h e r l a n d in 1783, and the

period iinnediately follo wi ng the W a r of 1812 C l e a r l y the latter of these two periods was the m o r e v i go r ou s, the m o r e n a t i o na l is ti c, and the m o r e produc ti v e of p ed a g o g i c innovations In m a n y quar te rs the

v i e w is h e l d that v o c a t i o n a l e d u c a t i o n be g a n w i t h the M o r r i l l Ac t or

e v e n aft er the twenti et h c e n t u r y started This stu dy repud i at es

3 those views and ties it with the same intellectual current wh i c h c r e ­ ated the scientific, the French and the Am e r i c a n revolutions.

Vocational E d u c a t i o n and Technology

A lt h o u g h vocat io na l educa ti on wi l l not bring about the wan te d industrial revolutions, it has b e e n invariably associated w i t h a c c e l ­

e r at io n of ag ricultural and e ngineering technology and production.

The e du c at io n of technologists in America dates at least back to

G ardiner L y c e u m in 1823 The e n gineering educat io n of the early years,

it appears, was critical for the subsequent spurts to development whi ch came about 1850 and thereafter Likewise the high interest in m a k i n g

a science of the a gr icultural enterprise provided at least a goodly part of the impetus for the ag r icultural revolu ti o n which in turn made patent the industrial one.

S cience and Techn o lo gy

The fierceness with w hi c h the twentieth century pursues an u n d e r ­ standing of science and its h an dm ai d en s is almost amusing Were it not

a truly serious undertaking, if the answers we r e not as illusive, if the surging effect on m e n wer e not so obvious, we could indeed smile

u pon the " p hilosopher of science." But the truth of the m a t t er is

that the W e s t e r n w or ld generated first a spark, then a torch, and now our entire existence is ablaze w i t h science Thus as we pursue this

p he n om en on w i t h more and mo re urgency w e mus t realize the stakes.

There is m o r e he r e than the satisfa c ti on of the urge for i n t e l­ lectual orde r of the scratching of A lb e r t Einstein's type of cryptic

"itch." As it is true the boundaries of science are not yet mapped

so is it true that many ramifications are only vaguely conceived by

p hilosophers and not at all by laymen The study of the hist o ry of science has attracted some of the finest m e n of the last fifty years, and clearly, the h i s t o r y and philosophy of science is in its youth Yet, this intellectual force whi ch has become a m a j o r factor in d e ­ ciding our Individual and collective fate has passed beyond the

understanding of e v e n the w e l l educated layman.

The Character of Science

We should be honest; we do not u nderstand science T H H u x ­ ley's "common sense" interpretation, though it is beautifully simple, simply w i l l not do Science is not an empirical study either; g e o m e ­ try itself is an intelligent play on axioms (one m a y invent all sorts

of new "geometries" wi th different axioms) Reality is neither flat

"correct" way of descri bi ng nature or any of its manifestations Some ways are more pleasing to m e n than others and hence preferable As our estimate of w h a t is p l e as i ng changes so does our science We must recognize a nature benea th (not beyond) the nature we know.

Wher e once we lived in a substantial w o r l d of material objects, the twentieth century has cast us into a bodiless void, reality becoming

a tangled w e b of events in space-time And no sooner shall we become acquainted wi th this new uneasiness than, if we m a y judge from the

h ist or y of science, our w o r l d will no doubt be cast into a still more encompa ss in g form There is no end to it No longer is it m e a n i n g ­ ful to speak of addin g to our "store" of scientific kn owledge at least not in the old sense of the term no d e sc ri pt i on of any

phenomena, no e x p l a na ti o n of any cause or effect w i l l be adequate for all time And this, w e should recognize, is the m o s t remarkable s c i en ­ tific disco ve ry of the century!

More pertinent to the d i sc us s io n at hand is the impact of this difficult subject on the minds of m e n generally, not just on sci en ­

tists and philosophers The utiliz at io n of this knowledge has a s ­

suredly bee n a substantial force in the m ou l d i n g of our industrial

age and of the suburban existence for w h ic h we are to be known More important to a great m a n y people is the less obvious but equally im ­ portant effect upon the persons involved: upon their w o r k a d a y e x i s ­ tence, upon their interests and well-being, upon their vi e w of life and its mea ni ng f ul ne s s to them The unrelatedness of science and

morality, of science and religion, and of the real and the abstract are simple and comfortable views w h i ch we only recently have been able

to put away We put them away not so much because w e w a n te d to, but

b e ca us e we we r e forced, largely by this thing called science, to r e c o g ­

(1956), gave a great push to this view.

The reorientations whic h followed Planck's q u a n tu m mechanics, the organic evolu ti o n of Darwin, and relat iv it y after Einstein, could scarcely be dismissed lightly Althou gh we can dismiss our ever-present political revolutions as ever present, we are confronted w i t h the moral

r ev ol ut i on in all its frightening proportions, and, at the same time,

w i t h some interesting n e w insights into a picture of o r th od ox religion

w h i c h leaves some observers alarmed and others pl easantly warmed The overall trend, our sociologists tell us, is toward secularization, and

Social Change and Adjus tm e nt

Tr ad i ti on a ll y it is said science has little dire ct effect on the

w or l d view of illiterates The impact on hi g h school graduates is

u sua ll y not said to be m u c h larger, and one w o ul d be accused of e x a g ­ geration if he should allege that all college graduates even today

c onsciously perceive a conflict has occurred b e t w e e n science and

Christianity But then neither h a v e they read A n dr ew D Wh i t e ' s two volume H i st o ry of the W a r fa r e of Science w i t h Theology in C h r i s t e n d o m The great str ea m of direct influence, however, is felt in the colleges and universities, perhaps m o r e in graduate w o r k than in undergraduate The educated m a n w h o w o u l d mak e sense of this tangled experience called life must som e ho w come to grips w i t h the intellectual p he n om en a of our century and reduce the inherent incongruities w h e r e v e r they are found,

or perhaps, compartme nt a li ze his m e n t a l facilities so as to avoid the conflicts C o m p a r t m e n t a l i z a t i o n seems to be the more popular.

Not everyone is capable, apparently, of the sort of m i n d - s p l i t ­ ting w h i c h wi l l let one carry on the ordinary life For example,

Samuel Butler found D a r w i n i s m a formidable idea system, as did W i l l i a m Jennings Bryan, Pierre Lecomte du Nouy, Edmund W Sinnott, and Pierre Teilhard de C h a r di n- - al be it for var ie d reasons We m a y even conclude from George G Simpson's n e w book This V i e w of L i f e that e volution

h as become and promises to continue to be the "new m y s t i c i sm "

7 Science and the Co m m o n M a n

A m i s ta ke w o u l d be made if we assume to find In learned m e n and their ideas the essence of the Impact of scientific thought on m o d e r n man Noth in g could be m o r e misleading The gradual re- or l en ta ti o n of the w o r l d - v i e w of h u m a n i t y in the W e s t e r n w o r l d clearly stems f r o m a deeper and broader base than m a y be provided by these or any similar group The m ov e m e n t beg an in the fifteenth century and broke to the surface, m a n y woul d say, w h e n Ch r is to ph e r Marlowe set his pe n to Dr Faustus in 1588 The change in society has bee n a deep and f u n da m en ­ tal reorientation, a change in w hi ch a ut h o r i t y is o ve rt h ro wn for e x ­ perience, in whic h r a t i o n a l i s m and s k ep ti ci s m shake the thrones of

point u n de rl y in g our treatment if we recognize no indirect effect, no change in the conmon man, in the farmer, the mechanic, and the young

m e n in the gray tweed suits C o n t e mp or a ry society is based mor e on science and technology than on m or al and religious attitudes: it is not the J u d o - C h r i s t i a n heritage, not the "Age of Reason" whi c h marks our daily lives We are awakened each m o r n i n g by technology; we c a t a ­ lyze brea kf as t and are transported to a technical job by technology;

we w a n d e r about the earth and shoot at the m o o n wit h our technology.

Of course, the layman does not quest io n ecclesi as ti c al autho ri t y nor

is he m u c h involved in abstract truth of any sort, yet compared w i t h his m e di e va l counterparts he is a product of metamorphism W h e th e r his morals are for the better or wors e is debated by churchmen; n e v e r ­ theless, science has w r e n c h e d h u m a n life about and set us, as a people,

b usi l y to w o r k c r ea ti ng the endless gadgetry, transforming our

8 environments, and eagerly q uestioning our own character as w e l l as the essence of this strange force The quiet thoughts, the "secret ecstasy"

of Kelper and his fellow thinkers is echoed in each new wave of h u m a n beings until today wh at b e g a n as a w h i s p e r is hear d as an earnest shot fired at the even i ng star.

The earliest applications of science we r e made by the few m e n

w h o could arrive at profound intellectual insights The study is c o m ­ plicated because they used the term "natural philosophy" to describe

use of educational terminology; u t i l i ta r ia n science came into the c u r ­ riculum under m a n y names, the most comm o n probably was "useful k n o w ­ ledge "

A m e r i c a n Science and Techno lo g y

Of all countries to be expected as leaders in applying n e w k n o w ­ ledge to the welfare of the comm on man, A m er ic a m u s t be thought of as most important For in the period 1800-1830 a v i s i o n of the future opened up opened wi t h such clarity that v ir t u a l l y every man, woman, and child could feel the excitement of partic ip a ti ng in what they b e ­ lieved, w i t h Jefferson, was the impending gold e n age; w h e n armies and navies should be reduced to h a n d l i n g civil disturbances As the h i s ­ torian H e n r y Adams has said, "Few m e n h a v e dared to legislate as

though eternal peace we r e at hand, in a w o r l d torn b y wars and c o n v u l ­ sions and drowned in blood; but this was w h a t Je ff e r s o n aspired to do."

It w a s not only a peaceful future they foresaw W e l l before 1830

they kn ew the effect of steamboats and "iron h o r se s, " and they needed

n o extra talents to measure wit h reasonable accuracy the potential

w hi c h lay bey on d the A p p a l ac h ia n mountains A great man y recognized science and its useful knowledge as the instrument w h er e by their dream might be ma t erialized They set about their w o r k in no uncertain way, and, we shall see, one of the efforts was to bring to the school c u r ­

r icu lu m those changes which it wa s hop ed w o u l d create a classless and affluent society The "practical" e d uc a ti on for the fanner, the m e ­ chanic, and the tradesman w a s at the core of the movement.

A griculture and Engineering

Prior to 1820 the agricultural emphasis was u nd erstandably domi­ nant Frank l in h ad recommended it as early as 1749 in his Proposals

R elating to the Educat io n of Youth in P e n s i l v a n i a The Ne w England Farmer was published by Samuel Deane in 1797, and a similar treatise, The Ex perienced F a r m e r was published in 1799 by Richard Parkinson.

In addition, England w as under go in g an agricul tu ra l revolu t io n in the embrace of A r t h u r Young and Sir Jo h n Sinclair The a p p l i c at io n of

e ngineering knowl ed ge simply did not come to Ameri ca before 1815 The first e n gineering task of any magnitude, a canal, was beg un in 1816 and finished in 1825 The first tunnel was constructed in 1831 and iron bridges became popular about 1840 The en g in ee r in g emphasis added in turn to the agricultural needs by bringing the threshing machine and all sorts of edge tools about 1825 Immediately f o l l o w ­

C A and M R Beard so aptly noted, "It was science, not paper

declarations relating to the idea of progress, that at last made

10 patent the practical methods by which democracy could raise the s t a n d ­ ard of living for the great mass es of the people."

Even agriculture had not long been a serious topic among the elite The first agricultural society in Germ an y came in 1764, in Russia in 1765, and in France there was an early agricultural society

Thomas Budd had recommended a strangely technical educ at i on as early

as 1685 in Good Order Es tablished in Penns y lv an ia and New J e r s e y , a

b ook designed to "catch the ejre of emigrants."

A chair of Ag riculture and Rural Economy had been established

at the Un iversity of Edinburgh in 1790 The trustees of Columbia U n i ­ versity recognized the neces si ty of a p ro fessorship of agriculture in 1792.

During the second h a l f of the e ighteenth century the colonies were bathed in currents of liberalism and rationalism; giving rise to

" philosophical" (scientific) societies As agriculture was the p r e ­ dominant economic interest, e x p e ri me n ta ti on gravitated to it, but due

to the intellectual character of the m o v e m e n t "gentlemen" farmers c o n ­ stituted v i rt u al ly the entire field of experimenters George W a s h i n g ­ ton is noted, in addit io n to his farming experiments, for his proposals for a national university including agricu lt u re as one of its basic areas In 1794 the first proposals for a Society for the P r om o ti on of

A griculture we r e projected in Philadelphia.

11 The Rise of Interest in Technology

Revolution, the new visio n of America, the rise of the ’'common man, " the influence of Jefferson and of J a c k s o n all effected a d i st il l at io n

of thought whi ch brought "useful knowledge" to A point wher e pursuit

of it beca me something of a rage It played no small part in a land­ slide adult educa ti on m o v em e nt begu n in 1826, the Am e r i c a n Lyceum

A lre ad y in 1831 after traveling the colonies, Alexis de Tocqueville

in Democr ac y in America said the United States wer e engaged in a dangerous neglect of theoretical science: " for if there be some nations w h i c h allo w civili za ti on to be torn from their grasp, there are others w h o trample it themselves under their feet."

But the situation was, of course, not quite so simple A g a in the conditions of evolving thought were a little like those of the

m id -s ix t ee nt h century w h e n Agricola's De re Meta ll i ca (1556) made unusually clear the deep interaction between pure and applied sc i ­

on m i n i n g and metallurgy Advances in theory became possible only

teenth century progress moved on the basis of such ingenious in­

struments as Leeuwenhoek's microscope, the telescope (probably

first developed by Hans Lippershey and later improved by Galileo) the thermometer, the barometer and the p e nd ul u m clock At the end

of the sixteenth century m e n ha d an itch to measu r e every th in g wit h precision, and by the end of the seventeenth the artisans ha d p r o ­ vided a v a r i e t y of means w h e re wi th to scratch.

12 The A m er ic a of the nineteenth century was undertaking something

on a far grander scale It was no longer an intellectual itch that

m o ti va t ed the educators of 1825; and though they scarcely k n e w it them­ selves, the results of their artisan pupils' educat io n w o u l d not lead

to scratching; w h a t they w e r e about wa s a broad based industrial r e v o ­ lution, which, before it w a s over, wou ld upend society The mould- board plow, the reaper, the cotto n gi n came first in an ever-broadening line of devices and gadgets w h i c h w o u l d free an equally enlarging popu­ lation to indulge mo r e than ever before in exercising curiosity The time nece ss a ry for satura t io n of the feedback possibilities between

a pplied and pure science exis ti ng in A m e r ic a in 1800 has not yet be en reached E v e n no w w e continue to release mo r e and more of our p o pu la ­ tion from h u m a n drudgery Whe r e in 1800 farmers represented 85 per cent of the population, today each farmer feeds twenty-five n o n -f ar m people More important, they are no longer "slaves of fear striving

to avert starvation" to use McCormick's phrase Wave after wav e of rural families left their property to feed the enormous appetities of the swelling industrial age an age w hi c h in turn excites m e n to study and to research.

The Problem

It is the i ntention of this thesis to study the educational movem en t cent e ri ng about the period 1795-1835 in an attempt to see

w h y and h o w m e n chose to beg i n the a p pl ic a ti on of "useful" k nowledge

to the business of education It is h o p e d that a general v i e w of the

p hi losophical and social m o ve me nt s leading to the p ro du c t i o n of the first genera ti o n of appli e d scientists (specialists) wil l help put our troubled "two c ultures" into better perspective.

13 Whi l e A m er ic a certainly was not alone in this effort, it is believed that this study in the sociology of science adequately d e m o n ­ strates some of the reasons for the later clear and surprising superi­ ority of Ameri c a as an industrial and economic worl d power The scope

of the project does not all ow inclusion of muc h detail about activity across the world, but a general outline to include something of the sources and exchanges of ideas seems merited.

Finally, it is indicative of the generally admitted inferior chara ct er of educational history that no study reasonably approximates this one The most critical factor whi c h led to the choice of this area has been an interest in the inter-play between pure and applied

doubt, part of the e x pl an a ti on as to w h y we have not chosen to study this phase of educational h i s t o r y lies in the scientific and social

so ph i st ic a ti on of scholarly studies of the last decade or so Rapid advances in both sociology and the h i st o ry and philosophy of science

m a y now realize the existence of an important climate of thought which affected profoundly the direction of America's, yes, of the world's development.

D e fi ni t io n of the Probl e m

The existing works in the h i s to r y of science and the h i st o ry of educa ti o n consider the respective areas w e l l enough but evaluate the character of the interplay betw ee n the two fields little or not at all.

14 The sociology of scientific e ducation remains most l y untouched by

either group of historians H o w important was the effect of the early

p hilosophical societies on agricultural education? H o w mu ch of the trend for applied science in less than college grade schools originated

in Europe? H o w important was the industrial revolution in determining the shape of school w o r k in the early ninete en t h century? To what

extent can existing studies be synthesized into a more meaningful

whole? W h o are the men, organizations, and institutional leaders who played the more important roles in the evolu t io n of u ti li t ar ia n e d u ­ cati on prior to the Morrill Act?

e duc at i on during the time w h e n the industrial revolution wa s b eg i n ­

remote origins, with the subsequent integration of these into a m e a n ­ ingful patt er n from w hi c h we gai n new insights into A m e r i c a n education The w a v e s of intellectual ferment and the gyrations in w o r l d v i e w taking place in the minds of Americans is giv e n c on si d er at i on w i t h i n the fra me ­

w o r k of frontier America S im u ltaneously the developments in e d u c a ­ tional thought are related to the overall h i s t o r y of teaching and

learning.

O u t l i n e of R e s e a r c h P r oc e du re

The c h a r a c t e r of the p r o b l e m demanded, first of all, a rather comp le te m a s t e r y of the e du c at i o n a l ferment of the earl y ni ne t e e n t h century In addition, It w a s n e c e s s a r y to p a r a l l e l this w i t h an

e qu i v a l e n t u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the Important s ci e nt if ic de velopments

M o s t l y these two areas we r e don e through a caref ul stud y of ex i s t i n g

h i s t o r i c a l mater ia l Dirk J Struik's Y a n k e e Science in the M a k i n g (first p u bl is he d in 1948) and B H i n d l e ' s The Pursu it of Science In

R e v o l u t i o n a r y A m e r i c a (1956) c o ns ti tu t e the b u l k of the p ub li sh e d

w o r k on the s o c i ol og y of science in A m e r i c a for this period A C True has done mu c h w o r k in the h i s t o r y of a g r i c u l t u r a l e d u c a t i o n in these ear ly years The d e t a i l e d i n f o r m a t i o n on specific schools and

m i n o r m o v e m e n t s is s up p l e m e n t e d by r e se a rc h on m a n u s c r i p t s and papers left by such m e n as Robe rt H a l l o w e l l Gardiner, P h i l i p p E m a n u e l v o n

F e l l e n b e r g and J o s i a h Holbrook M u c h of the important li terature of the p e ri o d was a v a i l a b l e in m i c r o - p r i n t or on m i c r o - fi lm ; some was

a c q ui re d for short loans through ac a d e m i c libraries The r e c a n be

no dou b t that mu c h of the p er t i n e n t m a t e r i a l h a s a l r e a d y b e e n lost

to mankind The rural grou p read m o s t l y newspapers, a l m a na cs and pamphlets There is no w a y to tell p r e c i s e l y h o w m u c h or w h a t kind

w e r e po p u l a r as a gre at m a n y have disappeared Though this absence

of sources is a po s i t i v e li mi t a t i o n on the study, it does not d i s ­

q u a l i f y efforts at r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of a r e a s o n a b l e pict u re of the

p e r i o d

In A merica, the p u r e l y p ra c t i c a l part of

s cience is a d m i r a b l y understood, and c a r e ­ ful a t t e n t i o n is pa id to the theoretical portion, w h i c h is im m ed ia t el y requisite

to a pplication O n this head, the A m e r i ­ cans alw ay s d i s pl ay a clear, free, original, and inventive power of mind But h a r d l y

a nyo n e in the Unit ed States devot e s h i m s e l f

matter Or for another example, when, in time, does wa t e r over a

flame begi n to boil? Unfortunately, however, the m o r e explicit we become about the point wh e r e sea and land divide, the m o r e difficult becomes our problem For there is a little soil in every sea and a little w a t e r in all the land Likewise, as we w a t c h the first bubbles ever so gradually forming, we are hard pressed to say precisely w h e n the pot bega n to boil But such is the character of the reality we know We must categorize and generalize; indeed, such is the c h a r a c ­ ter of science.

W h e n peering over the hopes and dreams and fears of our a n c e s ­ tors, we m u s t also realize the conti nu it y of ideas through time.

Always w e find the present rooted deeply into the past and the future the fruit born of today's labors Should we step back from our c l o s e ­ ness to the prob le m of separating land and sea, then does the solution become simpler, and, could w e compress time in upon itself, our pot

w ou l d seem to beg i n suddenly to boil Because this o bservation is

17

18 vaiid- -t h ou gh w e can scarcely find the absolute beginning of whatever

it is w e describe as "science" we ca n m ea n i n g f u l l y speak of the

Scientific Revolution, of the Humanities, and e v e n of A p p li ed Science.

W e must not forget, however, that as we b eg i n to approach close d e ­

lineation of the subject our p reviously clean-cut c at egorizations b e ­ come unmanageable They m u s t be crossed and c risscrossed if we are

to make sense of our intellectual heritage.

Backgrounds

Emerging in the sixth or seventh m i l l e n n i u m B C., humanity

clothing, and homes w e r e to be fashioned, and this done in addition to that m o s t important of all i n novations settied agriculture It is not

at all difficult to trace science back into Babylonia and Egypt.^

Further, as w e follow the history of sciences up through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we realize a broad energ iz in g has taken place in the w o r l d of munda ne scholarship so that by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a revol ut i on in thought wa s being laid, a

r ev ol ut i on w h i c h the eighte en t h century w o u l d seize upon and form into

a nineteenth century industrial revolution The h i s t o r y of science in

^See S F Mason, M a i n Currents of Scientific Thought (New York:

He n r y Schuman, 1953), "Part One," pp 1-43.

19 the sixteenth, seventeenth, and e i g h t e e n t h cent u r i e s has b e e n giv e n

2

r e m a r k a b l y able treatment by A b r a h a m Wolf.

A p p l i e d science has, of course, b e e n involved in the entire

d e v e l o p m e n t of science an d of sc ientific method, but for convenience, the ter m is applie d in this study to d e s i g n a t e the con s c i o u s a p p l i ­

c a t i o n of ab s t r a c t k n o w l e d g e to improvi ng the c o n d i t i o n s of h u m a n life This proce ss b e g a n in earn est w i t h the e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y and gathered force as the nin etee nth began.

A p p l i c a t i o n of knowledge, both a g r i c u l t u r a l an d m e c h a n i c a l was

c e r t a i n l y n e c e s s a r y and fruitful in the irriga ted fields of E gy p t i a n farmers It is e q ual ly true that a great store of k n o w l e d g e was passed along through the gener ation s from the ear l i e s t days on to the Dar k Ages and up to the e i g h t e e n t h century This h e r i t a g e of e mpiri cal in­

f orma tion remaine d u n c h a n g e d in its b a sic form and m o r e or less u n i m ­ prove d until w e l l into the Renaissance T h e n as the c o n t i n u i n g

inquiries into nature a c c u m u l a t e d a store of u n tapp ed und erstandings,

m e n b e g a n to express interest in s i g n i f i c a n t l y e x p a n d i n g ut i l i t a r i a n kno w l e d g e for h u m a n w elfar e It is for this r e a s o n as mu c h as for any

o t h e r that A W o l f chose to desc ribe the e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y as the "Age

of H u m a n i s m " "It was the c e n t u r y in w h i c h the k n o w l e d g e acq u i r e d was

^ A b r a h a m Wolf, A H i s t o r y of Science, T e c h n o l o g y and P h i l o s o p h y

in the S i x t e e n t h and S e v e n t e e n t h C e n t u r i e s , Tw o v o l u m e s (New York:

m a d e known to far w i d e r circles than had ever been the case previously, and wa s applied, moreover, in every possible d i rect ion in order to im- prove the conditions of h u m a n life."

Unfortunately, the results of these efforts w e r e not great until the next century The first A m e r i c a n attempts at placing this p r a g ­

m a t i c scientific knowledge in the hand s of teachers and pupils w a s a

c o n t i n uatio n of these humanist ic views W h i l e rare incidences of

instruction in ho m e industry or agriculture appear in the eighteenth century, the greatest surge of interest came early in the nineteenth century; hen c e the chronological limits of this study are 1795-1835.

The Heritage from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

A n impressive case may be constructed for d escr ibing the six­ teenth and seventeenth centuries as the Age of Genius Leona rdo da Vinci (1452-1519) led out with a talent strong enough to have created, almost single handed, a scientific revolution, but Florence was not ready for him Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), G a lileo Galile i (1564- 1642) and Sir Isaac Newt o n (1642-1727) together pre cipit ated decided changes in the entire field of letters Georgius A gr i c o l a (1494-1555),

a doctor w h o turned to m i n i n g and m echanics, wrot e a pivotal treatise consist ing of twelve books covering every aspect of the m i n i n g indus­ try and its associated meta llur gical processes.

3

A H i stor y of S c i e n c e , Te chnol ogy and Philosophy in the E i g h ­ teenth C e n t u r y , o p c i t p 27.

21 This was the epoch of Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), of the ill- fated panthei st Gi o r d a n o Bruno (1548-1600); and as if this w e r e not

enough, w e mus t add the names of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), Andreas Ves- alius (1514-1564) , Antoni us L e e u w en hoek (1632-1723), Robert Hooke

(1635-1703), Gottfr ied W i l h e l m Liebn iz (1646-1716), and Tycho Brahe

(1546-1601) W h e r e w o u l d one today find such an array of talent! We must not overlook the great Benedlctus de Spinoza (1632-77) or John

Locke (1632-1704).

In the field of a griculture Jethro Tull (1674-1741) along with Charles Townshend (1674-1738) made the only significant contributions Muc h deve lopme nt in agric ultu ral science w a s reserved for the ni n e ­

teenth century.

The Royal Society of London, probably d e l i b e ratel y and c o n ­

sciously created because of Francis Bacon's writings, was founded about

1645 as the first scientific organization The French A ca demie des

Sciences was organized in 1666 and, after two attempts, the Berlin

A c a d e m y was founded in 1700 Discoveries we r e ma d e both w i t h i n and

outside of these organizations The mo s t significant were the m i c r o ­ scope, the telescope, m a r k e d advances in m athematics, the d iscovery

of the c i r c u latio n of blood by Harvey, Newton's works generally, and the C o perni can v i e w of a he lio - c e n t r i c solar system Descartes c o n ­

tributed m i g h t i l y w i t h his Disc ourse on M e thod (1637), and Spinoza

and Bruno championed the pantheists' v i e w that all nature is God and god is all Nature Both m e n were living dangerously, the latter being burned at the stake by the I n q u i sit ion in 1600.

22 Significant advances m a d e in chem istry and mechanics w e r e

dwarfed by the proportions of similar developments in the e ighteenth

advance of the seventeenth century w a s the stationary steam engine Calculating devices also mad e a beginning.

No doubt the most creative field wa s philosophy; the five

m a j o r divisions around whi c h philosophi cal efforts center today were laid clearly before the world: the M a t e r i a l i s m of Hobbes, the E m p i r i ­

ci s m of Locke, the P a n t h e i s m of Spinoza, the Idealism of Leibniz, and the Duali sm of Descartes So as the se venteenth century closed, we are tempted to say one era came to an end and another began But

that w o u l d not m a k e it so Mos t of the de velopments of the eighteenth century wer e already well underway long before the numbers rounded out

to zeros again.

Science in the Eighteenth Cent ury

We find difficulty, peering backward into our own youth, in fix­ ing a specific year in which w e as individuals changed from the u n c o n ­ scious animalistic or g a n i s m into an aware conscious self The roots

of individual identity and of Intellectual p erc eptio n which distinguis h

us humans a c ut ely from our nearest living relatives ha v e their origi n

in the dim distant past Equal d i ffic ulty is encou ntere d w h e n one attempts to m a k e explicit statements about similar gradual changes in

m a n k i n d today We must, nevertheless, recognize such changes do occur

during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries w e m a y say m a n became

23 aware of himself, then the eighteenth century saw h i m engage his f r ig ht­ fully powerful intellect in a broad based study of the natural world, and in loosening the various ties on h i s freedom.

The turn of the century was greeted by six year old Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire), perhaps the m o s t Incomparable infidel of all time, and by a twelve year old boy suffe ring f r o m infantile paralysis Ale x a n d e r Pope who was to become one of the greatest English poets.

The century greeted Ben Fr a n k l i n in 1706, and back across the seas,

Carl Linnaeus in 1707 Othe r important m e n bo r n w i t h i n the first half

of the eight eent h century Include Jean Jacques R ousse au (1712), Imman­ uel Kant (1724), A d a m Smith (1723), Thomas Paine (1737), Joseph

Priestley (1733), George W a s h i n g t o n (1732) and both Thomas Jeffer son and Antoine Lavoisi er (in 1743).

Although Joha nn W o l f g a n g v o n Goethe was born near mid-century, the swing of his m i g h t y intellect w o uld have a significant effect on

c i v i liz ation e v e n before the nineteenth centur y could begin.

By no mea ns an exhaustive listing of the genius of the eighteenth century, perhaps the d i s c u s s i o n here wi l l serve to give the reader some substantial footing for the h i s t o r y w h i c h follows The birth of the

"Enlightenment" is generally ascribed to seventeenth century Engl&nd Durin g the e ight eenth century the spirit of h u m a n i s m and of r a t i o nal ism ordered a n unpreceden ted spread of knowledg e beyond the narro w circles

of the learned The middle and upper classes, althoug h they r e p r e ­

sented a small segment of the total population, enjoyed the n e w liter­ ature immensely Still, although books w e r e g e ner ally available, the

wo r k i n g class could scarcely enjoy wh a t they ha d not been taught to

r e a d

24 Clearly a certain malic e toward the lower classes existed on the part of m o s t leaders of the Enlightenment W hi l e Rousseau and his followers felt m a n was quite all right w i thou t education, the

great maj o r i t y were openly afraid of the results of a general e n l i g h t ­

vulg a r and the brutal in their places This is precisely what m o t i ­ vated the perceptive Voltaire to remark "If there were no God, we

should have to invent one." Honore^ Gabriel Riqueti M i rabea u (1749- 91), A d a m Smith (172 3-1790)^ « d Benj amin Tho m p s o n (Count Rumford) (1753- 1814) proclaimed, albeit rather unsuccessfully, the need for the

educatio n of the poor, m a k i n g themselves thereby exceptions to the thinking of the majority.

W i t h this prevailin g attitude toward the masses, any proposal for significant educat ion of the w o r k i n g m a n was simply out of step with the dominant spirit of the age It is true that the poor and oppressed were being championed on every hand, but we must distinguish between givi ng people relief and in giving people knowledge V o c a ­ tional educa tion woul d have a long wait; a free liberal educati on for the masses wou ld wa i t longer.

Scientific Progress

During the eighteenth century m athem atic s was extended, s y s t e m ­ atized, and better integrated into mechanics, physics, and astronomy Electricity, magnetism, and chemistry made great strides on all fronts

proved only a little, but the study of h u m a n anatomy and physiology made nice progress.

A l exa nder Pope's famous "the proper study of m a nki nd is man"; p h i l o s ­ ophy was taking up the scattered ends of the racy seventeenth century.

In agriculture the "gentleman" farmer was an emphasis w h i ch took no small part of its origin from R o m a n agrarianism By the end

of the century agra ri a n i s m was all the rage Although n e i ther much new information nor ma n y inventions were made on behalf of a g r i c u l ­ ture, the existing knowl edge was systematized and dispersed as never

Europe and America as the cent ury drew to a close A spirit of e x peri ­

m e n t a t i o n thoroughly permea ted the field of ag riculture and a "science

of agricul ture" based on experimental results w a s firmly established, although a great deal was still to be learned by continued empirical observations of crop rotations, fallow procedures, and fertilizer

u s a g e

Inventions of note include some lightweight plows, all iron

for cutting small grains, and threshers for removing the stalks and chaff we re being used, but on a quite limited scale.

T e chno logy made important advances on eve r y hand In machines for weaving, for power conversion, for building construction, and for

was tried in the great effort to short-cut the w o r l d ' s work Spring devices, new buil ding techniques, new bridges of iron, new w agons

for transport, and Improvements in road b u il ding and steam engine

co n s t ru ction were made A Wolf, in his h i s t o r y of eighteenth

26 century science, devotes some one h u ndre d and sixty pages to the fer­

activity mus t not be overlooked F or by the end of the century the industrial r e v o l u t i o n was fully launched there could be no turning back.

The A m e r i c a n and Frenc h Revolutions

If we w o uld at all understand the eightee nth centu ry w e must understand that it brought about the A m e r i c a n and French revolutions The most pertinent o b s e r v ation for e d u c a t i o n was that the contemptuous attitude popul arly he l d toward the lower classes was largely crippled

by these two c at aclys mic upheavals No educated pers on living during the rev ol u t i o n could escape the social and political implications; a great ma n y m e n w ere profoundl y influenced in their life's w o r k by what

start has be e n ma d e w h e n we say the French R e v o l u t i o n w a s fought for

L i b e r t e Egalltd', Fraternlte** ■ W e l l - k n o w n forces were responsible for this frightening series of crises in France.

Centr al among the problems leading to unrest before the French

R evolution beg an in 1787 w e r e the corruptness and a uthoritativeness

of the a ncl e n r e g i m e the economic plight of workers, e xtr e m e l y he a v y taxation by the state and by the H o l y Roman Empire, and the in t e l l e c ­ tual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment.

The revolutions triggered an equally v a s t c o m plex of c a s cadin g

space has b e e n g i v e n in subsequent discussions wh i c h deal w i t h forces

affecti ng the decisions of individuals w h o were involved in the f o und­

of r e s p ectab ility given to champions of the worker, the loosening of religious bonds, and the personal r e s o l u t i o n pre c i p i t a t e d by both revolutions we r e all exactly calcul ated to induce trial attempts at edu c a t i o n w h i c h w o u l d put the fruits of science into the p roductive hands of the people.