Ohio History Journal

AN EARLY PROPOSAL FOR A STATE

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL

 

 

BY ROSCOE H. ECKELBERRY,

Assistant Professor, Dept. of History of Education,

Ohio State University

The proposal by Governor Ethan Allen Brown of

Ohio on January 8, 1819, for the establishment of a

state polytechnic school must have been one of the

earliest in this country. The early governors of Ohio,

like those of many of the other states, were far ahead

of the legislatures in their educational vision and their

conviction of the necessity of state participation in the

provision and control of educational institutions. Al-

though Ohio did not create a state system of elementary

schools until 1825,1 twenty-two years after its admission

to the Union, every governor during this period, in his

inaugural address, his messages to the Legislature, or

both, urged the importance of legislative provision for a

system of common schools.²

Mr. Brown was inaugurated Governor on December

14, 1818, succeeding Thomas Worthington. On Decem-

 

1 Ohio Laws, XXIII, 36. The law of 1821 merely set up a method by

which local communities that desired to do so might establish schools. It

was entirely permissive in character. Ibid., XIX, 51.

2 This statement is based on an examination of the addresses and mes-

sages of the governors as reprinted in the different volumes of the Ohio

Senate Journal and the Ohio House Journal. Thomas Kirker and Othniel

Looker, who occupied the position of Acting Governor in 1807-08 and 1814

respectively, made no recommendations concerning education.

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Early Proposal for a State Polytechnic School   401

ber 16, and on January 4, he transmitted messages to the

Legislature, neither of which contained any reference

to education. On January 8, however, he devoted an

entire message to this subject. In this message he em-

phasized the social importance of education, and gave at-

tention to each level of instruction. He recommended

that the Legislature "arrest the further disposal, upon

perpetual leases, of school and college lands," and in-

crease the tax on auction sales, the increased revenue to

be used for the support of colleges and academies.

The most interesting part of the message, however,

has to do with the establishment of a state polytechnic

school. This portion of the message reads as follows:

It is understood, that a resolution is now before the legisla-

ture for appointing two persons, one a mineralogist and chemist,

and the other a civil engineer, to be employed upon state estab-

lishment.³ [Here follows a rather lengthy discussion of the value

of the services these two functionaries could render in surveying

the mineral resources of the state, planning highways and bridges,

etc., and especially in advising the Legislature as to the prac-

ticability of a system of canals.]

Some of these observations may be thought digressive to the

main purpose of this communication, namely education: but they

are connected in this; that it appears practicable, should the Leg-

islature think proper to employ these two characters, to render

them doubly useful by making them professors, and principal in-

structors in a polytechnic school; under the immediate patronage

and care of the state; for instruction in the theoretical, and scien-

tific principles of the mo[st] useful arts.

Without wishing to derogate from the pleasure and real

utility of classical and polite literature; or prevent the study of the

works of the ancients, in their own language, which the taste of

the student shall prompt, or his means enable him to pursue; per-

mit me to observe that there is a description of science, constantly

required, by persons in the industrious walks of life, who cannot

3 The resolution to which the Governor refers was passed by the Senate

on January 2, six days before this message. Ohio Senate Journal. XVII,

187. It did not pass the House.

Vol. XXXIX--26.

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402        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

afford the time and expense of, what is usually called, a liberal

education.

The proposed institution may be viewed, as a fountain, where

the young artist may imbibe a higher relish for his trade, and an

energy in practice, resulting from a conscious safety in his ex-

periments, tested, by a familiar acquaintance with the natural laws

and principles that govern the object of his pursuits. This idea is

suggested, not only for the assistance of the aspiring workman,

laboring under a fundamental ignorance of this part of his pro-

fession, but with a further view to the discovery and use, of

many sources of individual and public advantage. There is some

reason to hope that such an establishment would be influential, in

causing agriculture, and the most necessary arts to be followed

with more skill and assiduity, by rendering them more safe and

lucrative; and you would manifestly increase the disposition of

our inhabitants to embrace those beneficial occupations by giving

them the consideration justly their due in a republic, where the

most useful ought to be considered the most honorable employ-

ments. This I presume would be effected in no small degree by

causing them to be considered the objects of scientific as well as

laborious pursuit.

To add incentives to the virtue of industry, by giving dignity

to its exertion, and yielding safety to meritorious and useful en-

terprise, would be a work worthy of your labors.

If the public revenue, after defraying other necessary ex-

penses, shall be deemed insufficient, to cover the additional charge

of the professorships, it is thought that a light tax, specifically

applicable to these objects, and fairly graduated, on iron works,

mills, canals and locks, without being burthensome would produce

an immediate income of several thousand dollars and with the

continual addition to those works would be of increasing produc-

tiveness. It is also presumed, that as the effect is likely to operate

to the immediate benefit of those establishments; it would be paid

with cheerfulness.

It would be a reasonable hope that Congress, in consideration

of procuring an enhanced price for the public lands by reason of

the formation of canals; may be induced to yield assistance in

furthering the design.

*    *     *    *.   *     *    *    *     *    *

I cannot nor do I wish to conceal my desire of participating

with the legislature, in the glory of laying the foundation of per-

manent establishments, that shall give additional prosperity to our

state, and luster to its name; and could they now be undertaken,

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Early Proposal for a State Polytechnic School  403

as I hope, I should reflect with pride, that they were commenced

during my administration.⁴

These recommendations are remarkable in that they

anticipate so many later views and movements. Gover-

nor Brown's belief that the establishment of a state

polytechnic school would contribute to the prosperity of

the State by making possible a more intelligent exploita-

tion of its natural resources has a very modern sound.

The development of many different forms of off-campus

service by modern state and urban universities is closely

akin to his conception of the functions of his proposed

"two characters."   His argument that the establishment

of such an institution would make the agricultural and

mechanical occupations more honorable and therefore

more desirable, would be indorsed by modern advocates

of social democracy.5

Most remarkable, perhaps, is the extent to which this

message anticipates the arguments employed in the agi-

tation which led to the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

and the provisions of the act itself. There is the same

distinction between the traditional college work, which

was commonly regarded as furnishing a suitable train-

ing for members of the leisure class and of the learned

professions, and a type of education adapted to the much

larger number of people engaged in agricultural and in-

dustrial pursuits. There is the suggestion of national

4 Ohio Senate Journal. XVII, 226-232. I have followed the original

punctuation.

5 Cf. the memorial of the New York City Board of Education in 1847,

seeking legislative authorization for the establishment of the Free Academy,

which later became the College of the City of New York. Quoted in

Cosenza, Mario E. The Founding of the College of the City of New York.

Published by the Associate Alumni of the College of the City of New

York, 1925, pp. 92-95.

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404         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

aid to the State for the support of the new type of educa-

tion, but, of course, no definite plan, such as was pro-

posed by the Illinois Legislature in 1853, and embodied

in the Morrill Act.⁶

These recommendations coming as early as they did

are all the more remarkable. At the time this message

was written college curricula were still dominated by the

classics and mathematics; science teaching was in its

infancy.⁷ There was no institution, either public or

private, specifically devoted to instruction in applied

science.⁸

Agitation for instruction in science in order to in-

crease production in agriculture and manufactures be-

 

6 The Morrill Act is reprinted in Cubberley, E. P., and Elliot, Edward

C., State and County School Administration. New York, The Macmillan

Company, 1915, II, 86-89.  For an account of the movement which even-

tuated in the Morrill Act, see Kandel, I. L., Federal Aid for Vocational

Teaching. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,

Bulletin No. 10, pp. 78-79. For a more complete account of the agitation

in Illinois see James, E. J., The Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862.

University of Illinois Studies, Vol. IV, No. 1.

7 See Ricketts, Palmer C. History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

1824-1914. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1914. pp. 1-3.

8 The United States Military Academy at West Point, established in

1802, is an exception, but was, of course, designed for the training of

army officers only. In 1819 the American Literary, Scientific and Military

Academy was established in Norwich, Vermont, by a graduate of West

Point. Its course included instruction in science and engineering. The

next such institution was the Gardiner Lyceum in Maine, opened in 1823.

The opening address of the Principal stated the object to be "to give in-

struction in those branches which are most intimately connected with the

arts, and to teach them as the foundation of the arts."  Bennett, C. A.

History of Manual and Industrial Education up to 1870. Peoria, Illinois,

The Manual Arts Press, 1926, pp. 348-349. The Rensselaer School was

founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer "for the purpose of instruct-

ing persons........in the application of science to the common purposes

of life." Ricketts, op. cit., p. 9. Its name was later changed to Rensselaer

Institute, and later to The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Early Proposal for a State Polytechnic School    405

gan to develop in the later years of the eighteenth cen-

tury and became stronger after the War of 1812. Until

the organization of the Gardiner Lyceum and the Rens-

selaer School, however, very little was done actually to

provide such instruction, and progress along this line

continued slow until the middle of the century.⁹

To what extent Governor Brown was indebted to

others for his views on a state polytechnic school, cannot

be definitely stated. Accessible biographical information

concerning him is very scanty, and throws no light on

this question. It is altogether probable that he was in-

fluenced by the agitation for instruction in applied

science, which was becoming rather wide-spread by this

time.   If it be assumed that he was not altogether

original, but was influenced by others, the exact source

of his ideas still remains a matter of conjecture. Thomas

Jefferson would seem to be the most probable source.

Mr. Jefferson, from his earliest entrance into public

life had been a strong advocate of a state system of

education covering every grade from the elementary

school to the university. During the latter years of his

life he concentrated his efforts on securing the estab-

lishment of a state university in Virginia. He conceived

the University of Virginia along non-conventional lines,

9 "For engineering education the striking features of the period from

1770 to 1830 are the gradual and persistent growth of the demand for

scientific information for the purpose of increasing production, and the

scanty attention given to devising ways and means of satisfying it." Mann,

C. R. A Study of Engineering Education. Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin 11, p. 4. For accounts of these early

movements see Ibid., pp. 3-4; True, A. C. "Education and Research in Ag-

riculture in the United States." Yearbook of the United States Depart-

ment of Agriculture, 1894, pp. 81-86; Bailey, L. H. ed. Cyclopaedia of

American Agriculture. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1910-1911.

IV, 362-365, 386-387, and passim.

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406        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

giving to the natural sciences and to technical instruction

a much larger place than they received in existing col-

leges.¹⁰ Mr. Brown as a prominent Democrat, must have

been familiar with Jefferson's political philosophy, and

likewise not improbably acquainted with his educational

views.

It is possible also that Brown was influenced by

Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York. Clinton, like

Jefferson, was a prominent Democrat, a very able states-

man, and a wise and persistent advocate of educational

progress on a comprehensive pattern.11 In the opening

paragraphs of his first annual address to the Legislature,

he made the following recommendations for the provi-

sion of instruction in agriculture and the related

sciences:

And it has not been sufficiently understood that agriculture

is a science, as well as an art; that it demands the labor of the

mind as well as of the hands; and that its successful cultivation is

intimately allied with the most profound investigations of philoso-

phy, and the most elaborate exertions of the human mind.

If not the exclusive duty, it is certainly the peculiar province

of the state governments to superintend and advance the interest

10 For Jefferson's detailed statement of his plan see his letter of Sep-

tember 7, 1814, to Peter Carr. It is reprinted in Lipscomb, A. A., ed.

The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Washington, The Thomas Jefferson

Memorial Association of the United States, 1903. XIX, 211-221. See also

Adams, H. B. Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia. U. S. Bu-

reau of Education Circular of Information No. 1, 1888, pp. 48, 63-64, and

passim. The act making an appropriation for a state university and pro-

viding for a commission to determine its organization and location, was

passed by the Virginia Legislature on February 21, 1818. On January 25,

1819, seventeen days after the delivery of Governor Brown's message, the

Virginia Legislature approved the report of the commission.  Adams,

op. cit., pp. 85, 97.

11 See Fitzpatrick, Edward A. The Educational Views and Influence of

De Witt Clinton. Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to

Education, No. 44. New York, 1911.

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Early Proposal for a State Polytechnic School  407

 

of agriculture. To this end, it is advisable to constitute a board

composed of the most experienced and best-informed agriculturists

and to render it their duty to diffuse agricultural knowledge;

. . . to explore the minerals of the country and to publish

periodically the most valuable observations and treatises on hus-

bandry, horticulture, and rural economy. . . . A professorship

in agriculture connected with the board or attached to the univer-

sity might also be constituted, embracing the kindred sciences of

chemistry and geology, mineralogy, botany, and the other depart-

ments of natural history, by which means a complete course of

agricultural education would be taught, developing the principles

of the science, illustrating the practice of the art, and restoring

this first and best pursuit of man to that intellectual rank which it

ought to occupy in the scale of human estimation.¹²

This address was delivered on January 27, 1818,

nearly a year before that of Governor Brown, and not

improbably was known to him.       This probability is in-

creased by the fact that Clinton was the great protag-

onist in the construction of the Erie Canal, and Brown

was the earliest prominent leader in the movement for a

state system of canals in Ohio.¹³ It is, therefore, quite

within the bounds of probability that the two men had

been in correspondence. If Brown was indebted to Clin-

ton for his idea, he carried it further. The latter had

recommended instruction in science as applied to agri-

culture only, while Brown would have included also the

applications to industry.

We are not so uncertain concerning the influence

exerted by Brown's recommendations. Apparently he

was so far ahead of his time that this part of his message

failed to make any impression. The House ordered one

 

12 Lincoln, Charles Z., ed. Messages from the Governors [of the State

of New York]. Albany, J. B. Lyon Company, State Printers, 1909, II,

897-898.

13 The opponents of the canals in Ohio frequently referred to them as

Brown's Folly.

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408      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

hundred copies printed,¹⁴ but there is no record that the

message or any part of it was referred to a committee

for study and report, as was customary. A joint com-

mittee which had been appointed earlier in the session

for the consideration of the educational recommendations

in Governor Worthington's message of December 7,15

made a report on January 22. It contains no reference

to Governor Brown's message, but it recommends the

introduction of a bill "to arrest the further disposal upon

perpetual lease" of school and college lands, using the

same language that he had employed in his message.¹⁶

The committee, therefore, must have considered the mes-

sage; but the part recommending a polytechnic school

was ignored.

No contemporary Ohio newspaper that I have seen

made any comment on this proposal. Newspapers of

that time were, of course, much smaller than they are

today, and editorial comment accordingly more re-

stricted. But making due allowance for that fact, it

seems that this proposal failed to arouse public interest.

The Miami Herald (Hamilton) in its issue of January

19, and the Portsmouth Gazette in its issue of February

3, reprinted the message "without note or comment."

The Supporter (Chillicothe), which from week to week

gave a fairly complete account of matters before the

Legislature, in its issue of January 27, reprinted the mes-

sage without comment. The Columbus Gazette, which

unlike some of the others, did comment on legislative

matters, reprinted this message17 but had nothing to say

14 House Journal, XVII, 340.

15 Senate Journal. XVII, 54-55, 60-61; House Journal. XVII, 67, 71-72.

16 The report is printed in Senate Journal. XVII, 321-323.

17 Issue of January 14, 1819.

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Early Proposal for a State Polytechnic School  409

about it. The Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette,

which carried but the briefest account of legislative do-

ings, did not reprint or mention either this message or

that of January 4, in which the Governor discussed is-

sues other than education. The Western Spy and Cin-

cinnati General Advertiser carried weekly reports of the

proceedings of the Legislature, reprinted the message of

January 4,18 but did not reprint or mention the message

of January 8. The Inquisitor and Cincinnati Advertiser

contains neither reprint nor mention of either of the

messages. Its issue of February 9, contains an item

copied from the Zanesville Messenger commending the

stand of Governors Worthington and Brown in favor

of a state school system, and also an editorial of its own

commending the governors and advocating free schools.

But neither the copied item nor the editorial mentioned

the proposal for a polytechnic school. Governor Brown

apparently came to realize that his proposal was prema-

ture; at any rate, he did not renew it in his second in-

augural address or subsequent messages.

This recommendation seems to have fared no better

in later years than it did among the author's contem-

poraries. So far as I have been able to learn, it has

escaped the attention both of historians of education in

Ohio and of students of the general movement for in-

struction in applied science. Although its direct influ-

ence was negligible, it is deserving of record as being

one of the earliest recommendations by a governor for a

state polytechnic school; it is not improbably the first.

It is not surprising that this proposal attracted as

little attention as it did. Like all new ideas, it had to go

18 Issue of January 23.

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410      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications through a long period of incubation, had to be stated and restated in many different forms, before it could be realized in practice. In Governor Brown's decade and the succeeding decades, the idea that the State ought to provide elementary education for all its citizens was just on the point of realization, while the provision of second- ary education as a part of the public school system was not to develop in any large measure until the middle of the century. It was not until the later decades of the cen- tury, after the enactment of the Morrill Act of 1862, that instruction in applied science was to become a part of the educational activities of the various states.

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