The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 234
319 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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est in public education, he said, and the subject was one in which
there were no jarring interests involved, and no acrimonious
political feelings excited. "It is admitted by all," he continued,
"that cultivated mind is the guardian genius of Democracy, and
while guided and controlled by virtue, the noblest attribute of
man. It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge, and the
only security which freemen desire." His recommendation was
that "a liberal endowment which will be adequate to the general
diffusion of a good rudimental education in every district of the
Republic, and to the establishment of a University where the
highest branches of science may be taught, can now be effected
without the expenditure of a single dollar-postpone it a few
years, and millions will be necessary to accomplish the great
design." His idea was that an appropriation of lands for that
purpose would be no hardship, and would constitute the best en-
dowment for the school system.
The part of the message relating to education was submitted to
the committee on education in the House, and early in January
a bill was presented in harmony with Lamar's suggestions. It
speedily passed both Houses of Congress and received the signa-
ture of the President on January 26, 1839. It provided that each
county should have, in tracts of not less than 160 acres, three
leagues of land for primary schools. If a county did not have
within its limits enough good land vacant, it was entitled to sur-
vey any unoccupied land in the Republic. For two colleges or
universities fifty leagues were to be set aside, and not to be dis-
posed of except by lease.47 On the same day an act was passed
incorporating the "College of DeKalb." The act named a board
of superintendents or trustees, exempted the property from taxa-
tion, authorized the board to employ teachers, suppress nuisances,
and collect a fine from any liquor dealers within a half mile of
the college. Four leagues of land were granted by Congress to
this institution for buildings and apparatus, and for the promo-
tion of arts, literature and sciences. This was but one of sev-
eral acts appropriating land in aid of private institutions.
The act appropriating lands for the benefit of a general school
system, January 26, 1839, like so many acts of the Republic, pro-
vided no method of administering its provisions. The next ses-
"'Gammel, Laws of Texas, II, 135.The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
234
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920, periodical, 1920; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101075/m1/240/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.