TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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PACE
A PLÁN for establishing Public Schools in Pennsylvania,

and for conducting education agreeably to a Republi-
can form of Government. Addressed to the Legisla-

ture and citizens of Pennsylvania, in the year 1786, . 1
Of the mode of Education proper in a Republic,
Observations upon the study of the Latin and Greek

languages, as a branch of liberal education, with hints
of a plan of liberal instruction, without them, accommo-
dated to the present state of society, manners and

go-
vernment in the United States,

21
Thoughts upon the amusements and punishments, which
are proper for Schools,

57
Thoughts upon Female Education, accommodated to the

present state of society, manners and government, in
the United States of America,

57
A defence of the Bible as a School Book,

93
An address to the ministers of the Gospel of every deno-

mination in the United States upon subjects interesting
to morals,

114
An inquiry into the consistency of Oaths with Christi-
anity,

125
An inquiry into the Effects of Public Punishments upon
Criminals; and upon Society, ..

196
An enquiry into the consistency of the punishment of

Murder by Death, with Reason and Revelation, 164

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256 ?

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A plan of a Peace Office for the United States, .. 183
Information to Europeans who are disposed to migrate to
the United States of America,

189
An Account of the Progress of Population, Agriculture,

Manners, and Government, in Pennsylvania, ..... 213
An Account of the manners of the German Inhabitants
of Pennsylvania,

226
Thoughts on Common Sense,

249
An Account of the Vices peculiar to the Indians of

North America,
Observations upon the influence of the Habitual use of
Tobacco upon Health, Morals, and Property,

261
An Account of the Sugar Maple Tree of the United
States,

i. 270
An account of the life and death of Edward Drinker, who

died on the 17th. of November, 1782, in the 103rd.
year of his age,

288
Remarkable circumstances in the constitution and life of

Ann Woods, an old woman of 96 years of age, 293
Biographical Anecdotes of Benjamin Lay,

296
Biographical Anecdotes of Anthony Benezet,

302
Paradise of Negro Slaves a dream,

305
An Inquiry into the causes of Premature Deaths, 310
Eulogium upon Dr. William Cullen,

$ 16
Eulogium upon David Rittenhouse,

335

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Essays,

LITERARY, MORAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL

A PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN

PENNSYLVANIA, AND FOR CONDUCTING EDUCATION AGREEABLY TO A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GO VERNMENT. ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURL AND

CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THL YEAR 1786.

B

EFORE I proceed to the subject of this ef

say, I shall point out, in a few words, the influence and advantages of learning upon mankind.

I. It is friendly to religion, inasmuch as it assists in removing prejudice, superstition and enthusiasm, in promoting just notions of the Deity, and in enlarging our knowledge of his works.

II. It is favourable to liberty: Freedom can exift only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.

B

III. It promotes just ideas of laws and govern. ment. “ When the clouds of ignorance are difpelled (says the Marquis of Beccaria) by the radiance of knowledge, power trembles, but the authority of laws remains immoveable.”

IV. It is friendly to manners. Learning in all countries, promotes civilization, and the pleasures of society and conversation.

V. It promotes agriculture, the great basis of national wealth and happiness. Agriculture is as much a science as hydraulics, or optics, and has been equally indebted to the experiments and researches of learned 'men. The highly cultivated state, and the immense profits of the farms in England, are derived wholly from the patronage which agriculture has received in that country, from learned men and learned societies.

VI. Manufactures of all kinds owe their perfection chiefly to learning-hence the nations of Europe advance in manufactures, knowledge, and merce, only in proportion as they cultivate the arts and sciences.

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For the purpose of diffusing knowledge through every part of the state, I beg leave to propose the following simple plan.

1. Let there be one university in the state, and let this be established in the capital. Let law, physic, divinity, the law of nature and nations, ceconomy, &c. be taught in it by public lectures in the winter season,

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after the manner of the European universities, and let the professors receive such salaries from the state as will enable them to deliver their lectures at a moderate price.

II. Let there be four colleges. One in Philadelphia; one at Carlisle; a third, for the benefit of our German fellow citizens, at Lancaster; and a fourth, some years hence at Pittsburg. In these colleges, let young men be instructed in mathematics and in the higher branches of science, in the same manner that they are now taught in our American colleges. After they have received a testimonial from one of these colleges, let them, if they can afford it, complete their studies by spending a season or two in attending the lectures in the university. I prefer four colleges in the state • to one or two, for there is a certain size of colleges as there is of towns and armies, that is most favourable to, morals and good government. Oxford and Cambridge in England are the seats of dissipation, while the more numerous, and less crouded universities and colleges in Scotland, are remarkable for the order, ! diligence, and decent behaviour of their students.

III. Let there be free schools established in every township, or in districts consisting of one hundred families. In these schools let children be taught to read and write the English and German languages, and the use of figures. Such of them as have parents that can afford to send them from home, and are disposed to extend their educations, may remove their children from the free school to one of the colleges.