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Immigrants
Beginning in the 1820s, increasing waves of immigrants entered the United States -
Public School Society
In 1832, to further increase enrollment and encourage students to attend common schools, the Public
School Society adopted a resolution abolishing rate-bills, effectively making education free to all
students attending schools under the Society’s purview in New York City.77 -
Bishop John Dubois
In 1834 Dubois sent a petition to the Board of Trustees of the Public School Society, requesting state funds for a new common school with a Roman Catholic teacher, but the petition was denied.79 -
Horace Mann left post as president
Horace Mann left post as president of the Massachusetts Senate to become the first secretary of the State Board of Education. -
Start of the backlash
The first in a series of challenges Mann's version of the nonsectarianism arrived in the form of a letter from Congregationalist Frederick A. Packard. -
Marcus Moron
One of Mann's most vocal critics on the issue wasMarcus Moron, who was elected as the state's first Democratic governor in November 1839. -
Mann argued for education
Mann argued that the democratic principles on which the United States was founded necessitated universal education. -
The School Library
The Board of Education had published "The School Library," -
Maclay Bill
When the Common Council denied the Catholic appeal for public funds, Seward and Hughes took the case before the state legislature. Although Catholics never succeeded in gaining access to the common school fund, they did help to secure passage of the Maclay Bill in 1842, which stripped the Public School Society of its control over state funds. -
Battle over free schooling
Just as Horace Mann was leaving his post at the Massachusetts Board of Education to serve in Congress in 1848, lawmakers in New York State were gearing up for a battle over free schooling.