TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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A PLAN 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, .
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,

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21

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

Thoughts upon Female Education, accommodated to the
present state of society, manners and government, in
the United States of America, . .

A defence of the Bible as a School Book,
An address to the ministers of the Gospel of every deno-
mination in the United States upon subjects interesting
to morals,

57

57

93

:. 114.

An inquiry into the consistency of Oaths with Christi-
anity,
An inquiry into the Effects of Public Punishments upon
Criminals, and upon Society,

An enquiry into the consistency of the punishment of

Murder by Death, with Reason and Revelation,

125

136

.

164

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

An Account of the Progress of Population, Agriculture,
Manners, and Government, in Pennsylvania,

An Account of the manners of the German Inhabitants
of Pennsylvania, .
Thoughts on Common Sense,

183

189

213

226

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

An account of the life and death of Edward Drinker, who
died on the 17th. of November, 1782, in the 103rd.

256

261

270

year of his age,

288

Remarkable circumstances in the constitution and life of
Ann Woods, an old woman of 96 years of age,

293

Effays,

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 LEGISLATURE AND CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE YEAR 1786.

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EFORE I proceed to the fubject of this effay, I fhall point out, in a few words, the influence and advantages of learning upon mankind.

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

II. It is favourable to liberty. only in the fociety of knowledge.

Freedom can exift

Without learning,

men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor univerfal.

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ment.

III. It promotes juft ideas of laws and govern"When the clouds of ignorance are difpelled (fays 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 fociety and converfation.

V. It promotes agriculture, the great bafis of national wealth and happiness. Agriculture is as much a fcience 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 focieties.

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

For the purpose of diffufing knowledge through every part of the ftate, I beg leave to propofe the following fimple plan.

I. Let there be one univerfity in the state, and let this be eftablished in the capital. Let law, phyfic, divinity, the law of nature and nations, economy, &c. be taught in it by public lectures in the winter feason,

after the manner of the European univerfities, and let the profeffors receive fuch falaries 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 Lancafter; and a fourth, fome years hence at Pittsburg. In these colleges, let young men be inftructed in mathematics and in the higher branches of fcience, in the fame 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 fpending a feason or two in attending the lectures in the university. I prefer four colleges in the ftate to one or two, for there is a certain fize of colleges as there is of towns and armies, that is most favourable to morals and good government. Oxford and Cam- · bridge in England are the feats of diffipation, while the more numerous, and lefs crouded univerfities and colleges in Scotland, are remarkable for the order, diligence, and decent behaviour of their ftudents.

III. Let there be free fchools established in every township, or in districts confifting 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 fend them from home, and are difpofed to extend their educations, may remove their children from the free school to one of the colleges.

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