State a guiding light in public education during the 19th century

First foray would result in the creation of the University of Michigan

This article was originally published in January 2017. Part 1 of a two-part series. 

  The Ordinance of 1787 (known to posterity as the Northwest Ordinance) served as a blueprint for how this vast, new land area--won from the British as a result of the Revolutionary War--would be surveyed, sold to settlers, administered as territories, and then brought into the nation as states.

   Ultimately five states would be carved out of the territory—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

  The document, approved by Congress, had other intents as well, not least of which was an encouragement of education. The lead sentence of the provision dealing with this topic states:  "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

   To that end, grants of land from the federal government were given to the new states to support the establishment of schools.  More specifically, the state rather than the federal government was to receive the proceeds from the sale of section sixteen of each township.

   In Michigan, the total grant of land (these “section sixteens”) amounted to over a million acres.   

     In his book Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State (published in 1965), Willis Frederick Dunbar said that the state’s early leaders embraced the concept.

    “…In Michigan there was better stewardship of these (land) grants than in other states,” said Dunbar. “Elsewhere the funds derived from the lands often were squandered and dissipated, the tracts being sold at low prices to attract settlers. Michigan made mistakes in the management of its land grants for education, but far larger amounts were realized from them here, and they were applied more faithfully to the purpose for which they were intended.”

  Perhaps that “better stewardship” occurred, in large part, because (noted Dunbar) Congress agreed to a request that “instead of turning over section sixteen in each township to the township for schools—as had been done in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois when these states were admitted to the Union—these sections would instead be granted to the state of Michigan, with the proceeds from the sales to be placed in a state school fund.”

   These early leaders, beginning in the early 1800’s when Michigan was first established as a territory, were the torch bearers for the state becoming a guiding light in the field of public education during the 19th century.

  Interesting, while Michigan would be noteworthy in how it established an education system for the primary and secondary levels, writing landmark language into the first constitution of 1835, the state was even more of a pioneer in higher education.

  Michigan State Normal School (later to become Eastern Michigan University) was the first one in the West, while Michigan Agricultural College (later to become Michigan State University) was the first state agricultural college in the nation.

    However, both of those “firsts” came later on. The college for training teachers, located in Ypsilanti, was established in 1849, and the agricultural college was founded in 1855. Michigan State, in addition to being the initial agricultural college, also became the nation's first land-grant institution under the Morrill Act of 1862, serving as a model for future land-grant universities.

   THE STATE’S FIRST FORAY INTO HIGHER EDUCATION actually came much earlier and resulted in the eventual creation of the University of Michigan.

   Success, as they say, has many fathers, but four men have been credited with this honor. First was Father Gabriel Richard who was interested in education, along with his other duties as a priest and missionary.

   He was already running several schools around Detroit, when he requested land for a college from the territorial government.  One of those officials, Chief Justice Augustus Woodward “harbored a dream of classifying all human knowledge” and, historical accounts noted that he shared his ideas with his friend, Thomas Jefferson, during visit to the latter’s Virginian home in 1814.

    Three years afterwards, in 1817, Woodward drafted an act establishing a Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania. The college was to include 13 different professorships (or didaxiim). These were based on the classifications he had outlined in a book he’d published the year before, A System of Universal Science.

   Woodward created new names for these fields of study, using a mix of Greek and Latin. Even so, they covered such familiar fields of study as Literature, Natural History, Chemistry, and Philosophy as well as Military Science, Economic Sciences, Intellectual Sciences, and Universal Science (which he called Catholepistemia).

     The Act was signed into law by Woodward, Judge John Griffin, and acting governor William Woodbridge. Rev. John Monteith, who had arrived in Detroit the year before after graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary, was named president and given seven of the professorships, while Father Richard was granted six professorships and the vice presidency. 

   Historical accounts indicate that Woodbridge and Monteith were acquainted with Father Richard and supported his efforts in advancing public education in the territory. They, in turn, were backers of Woodward’s plan.

   Under the provisions of the new act, the officers would not only run this fledgling university, but have control over the education in the entire territory “with the authority to establish colleges, academies, schools, libraries, museums, athenaeums, botanical gardens, laboratories and other useful literary and scientific institutions consonant to the laws of the United States and of Michigan, and provide for and appoint Directors, Visitors, Curators, Librarians, Instructors and Instructrixes among and throughout the various counties, cities, towns, townships, or other geographical divisions of Michigan."

   That was certainly a grand and overarching vision. In actuality, a building was erected a few months later and within a year a primary school and classical academy were in operation. But no university.

   Eventually, Gov. Lewis Cass and two new judges—finding the name Catholepistemiad a bit pretentious—passed a new act in 1821 that changed the name to the University of Michigan. The new law also abolished the presidency and vice presidency and put control in the hands of a Board of Trustees that included 20 appointees and the governor. Both Rev. Monteith and Father Richard were among those named to the new board.

   However, despite the new set-up, the primary school and classical academy, now operating in both Detroit and Grand Blanc, were the group’s only administrative responsibility. And by 1827 neither school was in operation.

   Except for the legal entity that had been created and the name, the University had ceased to exist. But the idea remained.

   With Michigan about to become a state and having already written a constitution, the university (with yet another new administrative format) was created in March of 1837. Two days later, deciding to accept an offer of property from a group of Ann Arbor businessmen, the legislature passed another act stipulating that the university be located in that city.

    The first classes were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore being taught by two professors. The first commencement ceremony in 1845 saw eleven men receive their diplomas.

   “By 1860,” wrote Dunbar in his history book, “the University of Michigan had become the most successful state (i.e. public) university in the nation.”

 * * *

   Author's Note: The information about the history of the Catholepistemaid and the four men credited with laying the foundation for what became the University of Michigan came from Dunbar's book, but also (initially) a Wikipedia article on the early history of the U of M and a 1928 article in The Michigan Alumnus entitled "The Founders of the Catholepistemaid." I also collaborated some of the facts and accuracy of the information from a few other internet sources. 

    Further research indicated the information I used from Wikipedia came mainly from two sources--"The History of the University of Michigan" by Burke Hinsdale (1906) and "The University of Michigan" by Wilfred Shaw (1920). I also came across information about the Catholepistemaid at  the website: www.detroit1701.org that showed a picture of the historical marker at  the site in Detroit where the building (long since tore down) was located that had housed the primary school and the classical academy, along with providing background information.

Steve Horton is a Michigan-based journalist & commentator.