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The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”The Place of Religion in Early National School Plans

The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”: The Place of Religion in Early National... [In January 1788, Satan contributed a series of letters to Noah Webster’s American Magazine. Addressing the rising tide of educational reform proposals in the United States and abroad, the Devil wished to offer his own plan for instructing American youth. Not surprisingly, he focused on moral education. He was especially enthusiastic about the sensational book Emile (1762), and especially hostile to that sturdy New England Calvinism espoused by, among other people, the droll young editor of the magazine. “Follow my paradoxical friend Rousseau’s advice as to religion,” he urged readers. “Let all instruction on this subject come as late as possible. Children who learn with wonderful facility all other branches of knowledge, cannot conceive that they shall be accountable for their actions; that the Diety is witness to all they do, and will reward the good, and punish the bad.” If children learned to behave and think long enough without religious teaching, Satan enthused, “you may then preach religion as much as you please; for it will have little effect.”1] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”The Place of Religion in Early National School Plans

Part of the Historical Studies in Education Book Series
Editors: Justice, Benjamin
Justice, Benjamin
The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest” — Nov 14, 2015
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References (2)

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-44453-3
Pages
155 –174
DOI
10.1057/9781137271020_9
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[In January 1788, Satan contributed a series of letters to Noah Webster’s American Magazine. Addressing the rising tide of educational reform proposals in the United States and abroad, the Devil wished to offer his own plan for instructing American youth. Not surprisingly, he focused on moral education. He was especially enthusiastic about the sensational book Emile (1762), and especially hostile to that sturdy New England Calvinism espoused by, among other people, the droll young editor of the magazine. “Follow my paradoxical friend Rousseau’s advice as to religion,” he urged readers. “Let all instruction on this subject come as late as possible. Children who learn with wonderful facility all other branches of knowledge, cannot conceive that they shall be accountable for their actions; that the Diety is witness to all they do, and will reward the good, and punish the bad.” If children learned to behave and think long enough without religious teaching, Satan enthused, “you may then preach religion as much as you please; for it will have little effect.”1]

Published: Nov 14, 2015

Keywords: Public School; Moral Instruction; Religious Freedom; Free School; American Philosophical Society

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