In the Harbinger, vol. 1830, page 555 [sic], Mr. Campbell says of education:

      The plan which we had to propose in the Virginia Convention for this purpose, still appears to us the most eligible for the present state of society: not for a better state of society, but for the present state of society. But there were few ears in that body disposed to hear a word upon the subject. It was a scramble for power. It was not what system of arrangements, what constitutional provisions will make the happiest population; but how shall we of the East retain our dominion [451] over the West; and how shall we of the West obtain that equal share of power in the government to which we are, in justice, entitled? This question, like Pharaoh's ill-favored kine, devoured everything, fat or well-favored, which appeared in the Convention.

      The plan, in its great outlines, embraced the following principles, and would have required the following details, had it been discussed, or carried into effect. The cardinal principles on which it sought to be based are these:--

      1. Ignorance is the parent of idleness, and this becomes the fruitful source of immorality and crime of every gradation.

      2. To prevent crime is much wiser than to punish it.

      3. Government having for its object the prevention rather than the punishment of crime; the preservation of life, liberty, reputation, and property, rather than the punishment of infractions upon these, ought, if it act wisely, to devote its energies to the erection and maintenance of the safeguards of life, liberty, reputation, and property, which, it is agreed on all hands, are INTELLIGENCE AND VIRTUE.

      4. Schools and seminaries of learning, well conducted and sustained, are essential, in every community, to the expulsion of ignorance, and the promotion of intelligence and virtue.

      5. They are, therefore, the most necessary, useful, and every way appropriate objects of legislation, and of governmental supervision, protection, and support; and as such, ought to be sustained by all the same means by which government is sustained and the expenses thereof borne.

      The details would have embraced, among others, the following:--

      1. The whole territory of the State, the land and personal property, shall be subject to such imposts, levies, or taxes, as are sufficient to educate well every child born within the commonwealth.

      2. There shall be one University in the State, in which all the languages, arts, and sciences, comprising the most liberal education, shall be taught; and as many common schools as will make it convenient for all the children in every vicinity, to attend.

      3. The Professors of this University, and all the teachers of the common schools, shall be paid by the State. The principal use of the University to the State, besides affording a liberal education to all who attend it, will be to furnish teachers for the common schools, not merely by educating them, but to hold two examinations every year, at which, whosoever attends, whether taught in that University or in any other school, or self-taught, and shall, on examination, be found to possess the knowledge of any science, or department of literature, he shall receive a diploma, or certificate, signed by the board of examinators of said University, attesting such attainments; and [452] in a given time after the establishment of said University no person shall be employed in any common school as a teacher, who can not produce a certificate from the State University declaring his competency.

[A. C.]      

Source:

Alexander Campbell. Extract from "Incidents on a Tour to Nashville, Tennessee.--No. I." The Millennial Harbinger 1 (December 1830): 554-555.

[MHA2 451-453]