Early American Education 2

Last week I spoke about a 1690 Connecticut law which declared: This legislation observing that...there are many persons unable to read the English tongue and thereby incapable to read the holy Word of God or the good laws of this colony...it is ordered that all parents and masters shall cause the respective children and servants, as they are capable to be taught to read distinctly the English language.

Notice the reason for this law: some citizens still could not read and thereby were "incapable to read the holy Word of God" or "the good laws of this colony.” Because illiterate citizens could not read and judge the laws of the colony against the Bible, civil leaders might pass evil laws without any opposition from the people, which would allow the rise of both tyrannical and oppressive leaders and politics.  

These educational laws were a direct response to the horrific persecutions that so many of the early settlers had personally experienced in Europe at the hands of leaders in both State and Church who did not know the Bible's teachings, which produced a limited and restrained government. With New England's strong emphasis on reading the Bible, the resulting educational approach was so successful that John Adams reported, "A Native of America who cannot read and write is....as rare as a comet or an earthquake”

Content sourced from The American Story, The Beginning. David Barton and Tim Barton