History of Education in 1800’s Essay Example

ensure proper preparation. Insufficient funding led to the closure of several female seminaries in the 19th century.

A significant portion of educational institutions were privately owned, with the owners' primary objective being profit. The success of some schools was heavily reliant on the charisma of their founder, leading to their eventual downfall upon their demise. In contrast, Mary Lyon eschewed any affiliations with religious groups or wealthy patrons and instead assembled a devoted team of male trustees who volunteered their time to ensure the prosperity and triumph of Mount Holyoke (College, 1997). The New York State Legislature authorized the establishment of the New York State Asylum for Idiots in 1851 following a recommendation from the 1846 annual report of the New York State Asylum for Lunatics (Hervey B.).

The Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded Children was founded in 1851 under the leadership of Wilbur, M.D., who served as superintendent until his passing in 1883. Initially located on rented land in Albany, the institution moved to Syracuse in 1855, following the laying of a cornerstone for a new building in 1854. Though it was commonly referred to as the New York Asylum for Idiots or the State Idiot Asylum after 1855, it officially changed its name to the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded Children in 1891.

Originally named The Syracuse Asylum for Idiots, the institution underwent name changes to become The Syracuse State School for Mental Defectives and eventually, just the Syracuse State School. During its early days, Frank B. Wilbur worked alongside Edward Seguin, M.D., who created the method of physiological training. Maria Montessori was a student of Seguin's, and her "Montessori Method" is rooted in

the foundations laid by Wilbur and Seguin in Syracuse. As noted in its 85th annual report (1935), the Syracuse State School was the pioneering institution in the United States focused on caring for and training children with mental deficiencies.

The Syracuse State School formerly conducted surgery and witnessed the birth of one child in its antiquated structure. Additional auxiliary buildings, consisting of a farm and multiple satellite cottages, were also operated by the school. In the 1970s, the Syracuse State School edifice was dismantled and subsequently embattled by a residential center denominated as the Syracuse Developmental Center. With the increasing accentuation of communitarian subsistence rather than institutionalizing those with developmental disabilities, no new subjects were placed at SDC, prompting residents to gradually move into nearby neighborhoods. In early 1998, only six individuals were still being supported by SDC.

The future of the SDC building, which was announced for closure by the University in 1988, remains unclear. On June 13, 1866, Amendment XIV (Fourteenth Amendment), including clauses such as Due Process and Equal Protection and ratified on July 9, 1868 by the United States Constitution after the Civil War to protect former slaves, is widely considered a significant alteration to America's Bill of Rights.

(contributors, 2008) The definition of American citizenship was comprehensively outlined in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. This amendment overruled Dred Scott v. Sandford and required states to provide equal legal protection for all individuals within their jurisdictions. This played a crucial role in ending lawful segregation during the mid-twentieth century, as illustrated by Brown v. Board of Education.

There has been considerable legal discussion about the Due Process Clause, particularly in regards

to privacy rights and abortion. The clause's original intent was to establish citizenship and protect civil rights from State infringement, reversing the Dred Scott decision that deprived African Americans of US citizenship and its benefits. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 revoked this ruling by granting African Americans American citizenship.

The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the principle of citizenship for all individuals born in the United States to avoid potential conflicts with Congressional authority and modification of the Civil Rights Act. The second section outlines criteria for Congress on Representative apportionment, such as tallying residents and reducing apportionment if suffrage is denied. This supersedes Article I of the Constitution, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes. Finally, the third section prohibits former officeholders who engaged in insurrection, rebellion, or treason from holding federal or State office.

The loss of slaves and debts owed to English and French banks during the war were not accepted by the United States as their responsibility for any "damages." The Panic of 1873, which was one among various economic downturns in the 19th and early 20th centuries, persisted from September 18, 1873 (the day when Jay Cooke and Company went bankrupt) until May 9, 1873 (when the Vienna Stock Exchange crumbled).

The Panic of 1873 and the financial crisis of 2008 were both caused by prolonged government encouragement of excessive credit and speculation, which led to an unnecessary expansion of railway networks. This was followed by temporary stock market closures and collapsing banks that resulted in employee layoffs and a period of depression. The Jay Cooke bank failure in 1873 triggered a series of subsequent bank failures

ultimately leading to the New York Stock Exchange's ten-day shutdown.

During the Long Depression from 1873 to 1875, 89 out of 364 railroads in the country went bankrupt, and overall 18,000 businesses failed. The unemployment rate rose to 14% by 1876. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 occurred due to wage reductions and poor working conditions, causing train movement to halt.

President Rutherford B. Hayes dispatched Federal troops to suppress the strikes, resulting in over 100 casualties and numerous injuries from clashes between strikers and the military. The strained relationship between workers and industry leaders persisted even after the end of the depression in spring 1879, which coincided with a significant influx of immigrants to the US that lasted until the early 1920s. Economic hardships led voters to criticize the Republican Party, with Democrats gaining control of Congress during the 1874 elections.

During this period, public opinion made it challenging for the Grant Administration to establish a coherent policy toward the Southern states that were increasingly falling to the Democrats. As a result, the North began to distance itself from Reconstruction. This shift meant that African Americans could no longer pursue activist policies of reform. Southern states responded to state debts during the depression with retrenchment, which often meant cutting funds from state governments. Unfortunately, education was frequently affected by these cuts - a significant issue for Black communities whose hopes for social reform relied on it. Furthermore, Homer Plessy (1863-1925), the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson, is another notable contributor to this period's history.

Ferguson carried out the detention, trial, and sentencing of Homer Plessy for breaking Louisiana's racial segregation laws in

1892. Plessy, a 30-year-old shoemaker, was apprehended for sitting in a train car designated only for white people on the East Louisiana Railroad. He declined to relocate to a black car, resulting in the "separate-but-equal" decision against him. This decision had far-reaching consequences for civil rights in the United States over the next half century as it legitimized segregation. (contributors, Homer Plessy, 2008)

Although Plessy had a predominantly white background and only a small percentage of African ancestry, he was arrested under Louisiana's law that classified individuals with any degree of black heritage as black. As a result, Plessy was placed in the segregated section reserved for "colored" or "black" people. In his legal case, Plessy argued that the law violated both the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

The Thirteenth Amendment put an end to slavery in the US. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to anyone born within the country and their state of residence, and prohibited states from implementing discriminatory practices that violated equal protection under law. Plessy argued that Louisiana's segregation law contradicted these amendments because it required separate but "equal" treatment on trains based on race, without actually guaranteeing equality.

According to Quest (2008), Judge John Howard Ferguson determined that even though the law was deemed unconstitutional for trains that operated across multiple states, in this instance, Plessy was still found guilty because the state had jurisdiction to regulate railroad companies that only operated within its boundaries. The White vehicles were deemed superior in quality and cleanliness when compared to their Black counterparts.