The North and the South : a statistical view of the condition of the free and slave states |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
VII. |
VIII. | CHAPTER VIII. |
IX. |
X. |
XI. |
XII. |
XIII. |
CHAPTER VIII. The North and the South : | ||
CHAPTER VIII.
EDUCATION.
I. COLLEGES.
The first college established in the Free States was Harvard
University, founded in 1636; which was sixteen years
after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The first college
in the Slave States was that of William and Mary, in Virginia,
founded in 1692, or eighty-four years after the settlement
of Jamestown. The number of students in the former is now
365; in the latter, 82. The number of alumni of the former,
6,700; of the latter, 3,000. The number of volumes in the
library of the former is 101,250; of the latter 5,000.
It will be seen by Tables XXXIII and XXXIV, taken from
the American Almanac for 1856, and showing the present condition
of the colleges in the two great sections, that the number
of colleges is nearly the same in each. The comparative character
and efficiency of these institutions, may be in some measure
learned from the following facts. The number of volumes
in the libraries of the Southern colleges is 308,011; in
those of the northern, 667,297; over two to one. The number
graduated at the South is 19,648; at the North 47,752;
about two and one-half to one. The number of Ministers educated
in the Southern colleges is 747, and in the Northern,
10,702; a ratio of fourteen to one.
It would indeed be interesting, were it possible, to compare
these institutions in respect to value of buildings, apparatus,
cabinets, &c.; but the statistics of these cannot be readily obtained.
Still more difficult would it be to compare statistically
the ability of professors and the standard of scholarship.
SLAVE STATES. | No. of Colleges. |
No. of Instructors. |
No. of Alumni. |
No. of Ministers. |
Students. | Volumes in Libraries. |
Delaware | 2 | 18 | 83 | 42 | 137 | 11,500 |
Maryland | 5 | 69 | 607 | 13 | 399 | 33,292 |
Virginia | 10 | 72 | 9,528 | 146 | 1,174 | 65,875 |
North Carolina | 3 | 24 | 1,406 | 123 | 469 | 23,700 |
South Carolina | 2 | 14 | 3,124 | 3 | 190 | 23,800 |
Georgia | 5 | 34 | 1,359 | 133 | 643 | 25,700 |
Alabama | 4 | 40 | 676 | 28 | 333 | 23,200 |
Mississippi | 4 | 16 | 252 | 16 | 315 | 10,700 |
Louisiana | 4 | 26 | 94 | 10 | 157 | 9,000 |
Tennessee | 8 | 39 | 838 | 74 | 570 | 29,744 |
Kentucky | 7 | 54 | 1,342 | 130 | 700 | 27,900 |
Missouri | 5 | 44 | 339 | 29 | 568 | 23,600 |
Total | 59 | 450 | 19,648 | 747 | 5,655 | 308,011 |
FREE STATES. | No. of Colleges. |
No. of Instructors. |
No. of Alumni. |
No. of Ministers. |
Students. | Volumes in Libraries. |
Maine | 2 | 15 | 1,418 | 303 | 274 | 43,150 |
New Hampshire | 1 | 12 | 4,187 | 883 | 258 | 31,900 |
Vermont | 3 | 16 | 1,536 | 527 | 228 | 21,650 |
Massachusetts | 4 | 47 | 9,404 | 2,612 | 807 | 122,750 |
Rhode Island | 1 | 10 | 1,860 | 500 | 225 | 34,000 |
Connecticut | 3 | 43 | 7,407 | 1,956 | 669 | 91,000 |
New York | 8 | 84 | 6,888 | 1,461 | 1,080 | 80,516 |
New Jersey | 3 | 54 | 3,855 | 837 | 449 | 28,000 |
Pennsylvania | 9 | 66 | 8,298 | 741 | 959 | 71,180 |
Ohio | 12 | 88 | 1,958 | 644 | 1,191 | 92,191 |
Indiana | 4 | 27 | 546 | 158 | 300 | 19,600 |
Illinois | 4 | 30 | 257 | 79 | 245 | 15,860 |
Michigan | 2 | 14 | 130 | 180 | 13,000 | |
Wisconsin | 5 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 30 | 2,500 |
Total | 61 | 517 | 47,752 | 10,702 | 6,895 | 667,297 |
II.—PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.
The condition of the Professional Schools is shown by the
following Table, taken from the same authority as the above.
From this it appears that at the South a larger proportion of
professional students are in the Law Schools than at the North.
Next in order in this respect in Medicine, and last, Theology.
Indeed, the Census Tables do not show where the great body
of the Southern clergy are educated, since but 747 are returned
from the colleges, and only 808 from the Theological
Schools.
It will be noticed that the number of Professional Schools
in the Slave States is 32, and in the Free States 65, or two
to one. The ratio of Professors is a little larger. The number
of Students in the former is 1,807, and in the latter 4,426.
The number of volumes in the libraries of the former is
30,796, and in those of the latter, 175,951; more than five to
one. The number graduated at the former, 3,812, and at the
latter, 23,513; over six to one.
Professional Schools. | Number of Schools. |
Number of Professors. |
Number of Students, 1854–5. |
Number Educated. |
Number of Vols. in Libraries. |
Law | 9 | 19 | 231 | ||
Medicine | 13 | 75 | 1,307 | 3,004 | |
Theology | 10 | 28 | 269 | 808 | 30,796 |
Total | 32 | 122 | 1,807 | 3,812 | 30,796 |
Professional Schools. | Number of Schools. |
Number of Professors. |
Number of Students, 1854–5. |
Number Educated. |
Number of Vols. in Libraries. |
Law | 9 | 19 | 240 | ||
Medicine | 22 | 152 | 3,095 | 15,950 | |
Theology | 34 | 98 | 1,091 | 7,563 | 175,951 |
Total | 65 | 269 | 4,426 | 23,513 | 175,951 |
III.—ACADEMIES, PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
In all the New England colonies, a law was passed in 1647,
"That every township, after the Lord hath increased them to the
number of fifty householders, shall appoint one to teach all
children to write and read; and when any town shall increase
to the number of one hundred families, they shall set up a
grammar school; the masters thereof being able to instruct
youth so far as they may be fitted for the university." See
Colonial Laws.
Again, in Connecticut we find the following: "Forasmuch
as the good Education of Children is of singular behoofe and
benefit to any Commonwealth, and whereas, many parents and
masters are too indulgent and negligent of theire duty in that
kinde:—
"It is therefore ordered by this Courte and Authority thereof
that the Selectmen of every Town, in the Several precincts
and quarters where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over
theire brethren and neighbours to see first that none of them
shall suffer so much Barbarism in any of theire families as not
to endeavour to teach by themselves or others theire Children
and apprentices so much Learning as may enable them perfectly
to read the Inglish tounge, and knowledge of the Capitall
Laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect
therein." See "Code of Laws established by the General
Colonial Records of Conn.
In the year 1671, or twenty-four years after the establishment
of public schools by law in the Plymouth Colonies, and
over thirty years after Harvard college was founded, and a
printing press set up in Cambridge, Gov. Berkley, at that time
Governor of Virginia, said of that State: "I thank God there
are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have
these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience and
heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged
them, and libels against the best government; God keep us
from both."
The following Tables Nos. XXXVI., XXXVII., XXXVIII.,
and XXXIX., show the condition of the Academies, Private and
Public Schools in 1850, as given in the Census Compendium:
SLAVE STATES. | Number. | Teachers. | Pupils. | Annual Income. |
Scholars in Colleges, Academies and Public Schools. |
Alabama | 166 | 380 | 8,290 | $164,165 | 37,237 |
Arkansas | 90 | 126 | 2,407 | 27,937 | 11,050 |
Delaware | 65 | 94 | 2,011 | 47,832 | 11,125 |
Florida | 34 | 49 | 1,251 | 13,089 | 3,129 |
Georgia | 219 | 318 | 9,059 | 108,983 | 43,299 |
Kentucky | 330 | 600 | 12,712 | 252,617 | 85,914 |
Louisiana | 143 | 354 | 5,328 | 193,077 | 31,003 |
Maryland | 223 | 503 | 10,787 | 232,341 | 45,025 |
Mississippi | 171 | 297 | 6,628 | 73,717 | 26,236 |
Missouri | 204 | 368 | 8,829 | 143,171 | 61,592 |
North Carolina | 272 | 403 | 7,822 | 187,648 | 112,430 |
South Carolina | 202 | 333 | 7,467 | 205,489 | 26,035 |
Tennessee | 264 | 404 | 9,928 | 155,902 | 115,750 |
Texas | 97 | 137 | 3,389 | 39,384 | 11,500 |
Virginia | 317 | 547 | 9,068 | 234,372 | 77,774 |
Total | 2,797 | 4,913 | 104,976 | $2,079,724 | 699,079 |
FREE STATES. | Number. | Teachers. | Pupils. | Annual Increase. |
Scholars in Colleges, Academies and Public Schools. |
California | 6 | 5 | 170 | $14,270 | 219 |
Connecticut | 202 | 329 | 6,996 | 145,967 | 79,003 |
Illinois | 83 | 160 | 4,244 | 40,488 | 130,411 |
Indiana | 131 | 233 | 6,185 | 63,520 | 168,754 |
Iowa | 33 | 46 | 1,111 | 7,980 | 30,767 |
Maine | 131 | 232 | 6,648 | 51,187 | 199,745 |
Massachusetts | 403 | 521 | 13,436 | 310,177 | 190,924 |
Michigan | 37 | 71 | 1,619 | 24,947 | 112,382 |
New Hampshire | 107 | 183 | 5,321 | 43,202 | 81,237 |
New Jersey | 225 | 453 | 9,844 | 227,588 | 88,244 |
New York | 887 | 3,136 | 49,328 | 810,332 | 727,222 |
Ohio | 206 | 474 | 15,052 | 149,392 | 502,826 |
Pennsylvania | 524 | 914 | 23,751 | 467,843 | 440,977 |
Rhode Island | 46 | 75 | 1,601 | 32,748 | 25,014 |
Vermont | 118 | 257 | 6,864 | 48,935 | 100,785 |
Wisconsin | 58 | 86 | 2,723 | 18,796 | 61,615 |
Total | 3,197 | 7,175 | 154,893 | $2,457,372 | 2,940,125 |
SLAVE STATES. | Number. | Teachers. | Pupils. | Annual Income of Public Schools. |
Alabama | 1,152 | 1,195 | 28,380 | $315,602 |
Arkansas | 353 | 355 | 8,493 | 43,763 |
Delaware | 194 | 214 | 8,970 | 43,861 |
Florida | 69 | 73 | 1,878 | 22,386 |
Georgia | 1,251 | 1,265 | 32,705 | 182,231 |
Kentucky | 2,234 | 2,306 | 71,429 | 211,852 |
Louisiana | 664 | 822 | 25,046 | 349,679 |
Maryland | 898 | 986 | 33,111 | 218,836 |
Mississippi | 782 | 826 | 18,746 | 254,159 |
Missouri | 1,570 | 1,620 | 51,754 | 160,770 |
North Carolina | 2,657 | 2,730 | 104,095 | 158,564 |
South Carolina | 724 | 739 | 17,838 | 200,600 |
Tennessee | 2,680 | 2,819 | 104,117 | 198,518 |
Texas | 349 | 360 | 7,946 | 44,088 |
Virginia | 2,930 | 2,997 | 67,353 | 314,625 |
Total | 18,507 | 19,307 | 581,861 | $2,719,534 |
FREE STATES. | Number. | Teachers. | Pupils. | Annual Income of Public Schools. |
California | 2 | 2 | 49 | $3,600 |
Connecticut | 1,656 | 1,787 | 71,269 | 231,220 |
Illinois | 4,052 | 4,248 | 125,725 | 349,712 |
Indiana | 4,822 | 4,860 | 161,500 | 316,955 |
Iowa | 740 | 828 | 29,556 | 51,492 |
Maine | 4,042 | 5,540 | 192,815 | 315,436 |
Massachusetts | 3,679 | 4,443 | 176,475 | 1,006,795 |
Michigan | 2,714 | 3,231 | 110,455 | 167,806 |
New Hampshire | 2,381 | 3,013 | 75,643 | 166,944 |
New Jersey | 1,473 | 1,574 | 77,930 | 216,672 |
New York | 11,580 | 13,965 | 675,221 | 1,472,657 |
Ohio | 11,661 | 12,886 | 484,153 | 743,074 |
Pennsylvania | 9,061 | 10,024 | 413,706 | 1,348,249 |
Rhode Island | 416 | 518 | 23,130 | 100,481 |
Vermont | 2,731 | 4,173 | 93,457 | 176,111 |
Wisconsin | 1,423 | 1,529 | 58,817 | 113,133 |
Total | 62,433 | 72,621 | 2,769,901 | $6,780,337 |
It will be seen that in the South a larger proportion of the
children who attend School, attend at private Schools, than at
the North. Still the number of scholars in these Schools is
but a slight fraction over two-thirds as great at the South as at
the North, and the amount of money paid for the support of
these Schools nearly $400,000 less in the slave than in the
free States.
It is to be regretted that we are unable to compare these
Schools in other respects, but figures can carry us no further at
this time. Perhaps by comparing the different sections of this
chapter we may be able to form a just opinion.
It will be observed that the Public School statistics would
not be materially affected for purposes of comparison, were
those of the private Schools added to them.
The number of public Schools at the South is 18,507; at
the North, 62,433; a ratio of about three and one-half to one.
Teachers at the South, 19,307; at the North, 72,621; almost
and at the North, 2,769,901; nearly five to one, and over
2,000,000 more at the North than at the South. Indeed, if
we compare the entire number attending all Schools (Colleges
Academies, private and public Schools,) we find in the North
a majority over the South of 2,241,046, which is now more
than three times the entire number attending School in the
Southern States. In other words, more than four-fifths of the
children attending School in the Union are in the free States.
The amount of money expended annually for these Schools is,
in the Slave States, $4,799,258; and in the free States,
$9,237,709.
The State of Ohio is not quite two-thirds as large as Virginia.
Virginia has 77,764 scholars at School and Ohio has
502,826.
The area of Kentucky is very nearly equal to that of Ohio,
the population almost exactly one-half as great, and the number
of scholars at School a little more than one-sixth.
Massachusetts is one-fourth as large as South Carolina, and
contains nearly four times as many white inhabitants. The
number of scholars attending School in South Carolina, is
26,025; in Massachusetts, 190,924.
The amount expended for Schools, both public and private,
in South Carolina, is $406,089; in Massachusetts, it is $1,316,972;
a difference of almost a million of dollars.
The whole number of scholars at School in the fifteen slaveholding
States, is 699,079; in the single State of New York, it
is 727,222.
Such are the figures of the Census for 1850.
Great effort has been made to obtain such statistics as to
show the condition of all grades of Schools at the present time,
much more fully than it can be learned from the census for the
time when that was taken. Not enough, however, could be obtained
for purposes of just comparison, the annual reports
from the Slave States being so exceedingly meagre. So far,
difference between the free and slave States, in regard to education,
is constantly increasing.
This arises from the want of any regular system for education
of the poorer classes, who are increasing so rapidly in the
Southern States. Proofs of this might be given, were it not a
well known fact.
On page 146 of the Census Compendium, it is said of
"Georgia—no public Schools strictly, but Schools receive a
certain amount of aid from State funds. This is true for many
Southern States."
The State of South Carolina appropriates annually the sum
of $75,000 to free Schools. Gov. Manning, in his message
of Nov. 28, 1853, says that "under the present mode of applying
it, that liberality is really the profusion of the prodigal,
rather than the judicious generosity which confers real benefit."
In the State of Arkansas, only forty Schools were reported
to the Commissioner for 1854. It is of course utterly impossible
to obtain any reliable information with regard to the Schools
there, though we may form a very just opinion concerning
their character in such a community. The Commissioner says
"The great obstacle to the organization of common Schools is
not so much a deficiency in the means to sustain them, as it is
the indifference that pervades the public mind on the subject
of education."
The amount expended by the State of Virginia, in 1854, for
the education of poor children, was $69,404. For the maintenance
of the public guard, $73,189.
New England, whose area is less than one-twelfth greater
appropriated $2,000,000 for Public Schools, and felt secure
without a public guard.
The State of South Carolina has established one Free State
Scholarship; the State of Massachusetts has established forty
eight.
In Kentucky, the average number of scholars at school in
1854, was 76,429. In Ohio it was 279,635. The total amount
of money distributed (for public schools) during the year
1854, in Kentucky, was $146,047. The amount appropriated
by the State of Ohio for the same purpose, was $2,266,609; a
difference of over $2,000,000.
There are very many items of expenditure for educational
purposes at the North, for which the corresponding sums at the
South cannot be ascertained. Among these are Teachers' Institutes,
holden annually in every county in many of the
Northern States; Teachers' Associations, Normal Schools,
School-houses, &c. The value of school buildings in the State
of Ohio in 1854, was $2,197,384, and in Massachusetts it was,
in 1848, $2,750,000; even in the little State of Rhode Island
it is $319,293. The amount raised by taxation for educational
purposes is now, in each of the three states, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Massachusetts, over one million dollars annually.
The Report of the Commissioner of Public Schools to the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, for the year 1851, gives
the following facts:
The value of school buildings in the city of Baltimore, is
$105,729; New York, $552,457; Philadelphia, $858,224;
and in Boston $729,502.[1]
The following table is copied from the same report:
CITIES. | Population. | Schools | Teachers. | Pupils. | Cost of Tuition. |
Boston | 138,788 | 203 | 353 | 21,678 | $237,000 |
New York | 517,000 | 207 | 332 | 40,055 | 274,794 |
Philadelphia | 409,000 | 270 | 781 | 48,056 | 341,888 |
Baltimore | 169,012 | 36 | 138 | 8,011 | 32,423 |
Cincinnati | 116,000 | 17 | 124 | 6,006 | 81,623 |
St. Louis | 81,000 | 73 | 168 | 6,642 |
The population of Baltimore is 30,000 greater than that of
Boston. Baltimore has 8,000 scholars at school, for whose
instruction she pays $30,000. Boston has 20,000, and pays
for instruction, $230,000.
It would indeed be interesting, were it a matter capable of
statistical comparisons, to trace the results of the superior educational
advantages enjoyed by the children of the North; to
compare the philosophers, orators, and statesmen, men of skill,
science, or literature, authors, poets, and sculptors, of the two
sections. To see how many of those who are most distinguished
at the South were born, bred, and educated at the
North.
DeBow, in a labored article in the Census Compendium, in
behalf of the southern schools, says: "An examination of
Massachusetts shows, out of 2,357 'students,' mentioned, 711,
or one-third nearly, born out of the State, and 152, or one-fifteenth,
born in the South. On the other hand a southern
town, taken at random, furnished one out of three editors, four
out of twelve teachers, two out of seven clergymen, born in the
non-slaveholding States."
The presumption is that not so large a proportion of the students
in Southern institutions are sent there from the North to
be educated, and that, on the other hand, not so large a proportion
of the editors, teachers and clergymen of the North are of
Southern birth and education.
Besides this there were paid for new buildings in Boston, $56,000; in
Philadelphia, $24,473; and in Cincinnati, $10,000.
IV.—LIBRARIES.
The following tables, Nos. XLI. and XLII., are of great
importance in connection with the subject of education, as showing
the literary tastes, habits of thought, and sources of enjoyment,
of the people. These tables also show the character of
the various institutions in the two sections, more correctly than
it could be ascertained from almost any other source, embracing
as they do the Public School, Sunday School, College and
Church libraries:
SLAVE STATES. |
Public. | School. | Sunday School. | College. | Church. | Total. | ||||||
Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | |
Alabama | 4 | 3,848 | 32 | 3,500 | 15 | 5,775 | 5 | 7,500 | 56 | 20,623 | ||
Arkansas | 1 | 250 | 2 | 170 | 3 | 420 | ||||||
Delaware | 4 | 10,250 | 12 | 2,700 | 1 | 5,000 | 17 | 17,950 | ||||
Florida | 1 | 1,000 | 2 | 800 | 4 | 860 | 7 | 2,660 | ||||
Georgia | 3 | 6,500 | 11 | 1,800 | 15 | 1,988 | 9 | 21,500 | 38 | 31,788 | ||
Kentucky | 47 | 40,424 | 18 | 4,617 | 11 | 33,225 | 4 | 1,200 | 80 | 79,466 | ||
Louisiana | 5 | 9,800 | 2 | 12,000 | 3 | 5,000 | 10 | 26,800 | ||||
Maryland | 17 | 54,750 | 8 | 6,335 | 84 | 28,315 | 10 | 33,792 | 5 | 1,850 | 124 | 125,042 |
Mississippi | 4 | 7,264 | 103 | 3,650 | 6 | 730 | 4 | 10,093 | 117 | 21,737 | ||
Missouri | 13 | 23,106 | 13 | 17,150 | 66 | 14,500 | 4 | 19,700 | 1 | 600 | 97 | 75,056 |
North Carolina | 4 | 2,500 | 1 | 1,500 | 19 | 2,352 | 5 | 21,593 | 9 | 1,647 | 38 | 29,592 |
South Carolina | 16 | 73,758 | 3 | 2,750 | 7 | 30,964 | 26 | 107,472 | ||||
Tennessee | 9 | 5,373 | 2 | 5,100 | 18 | 2,498 | 5 | 9,925 | 34 | 22,896 | ||
Texas | 3 | 2,100 | 3 | 430 | 5 | 1,600 | 1 | 100 | 12 | 4,230 | ||
Virginia | 21 | 32,595 | 6 | 2,706 | 11 | 1,975 | 14 | 50,856 | 2 | 330 | 54 | 88,462 |
Total | 152 | 273,518 | 186 | 57,721 | 275 | 63,463 | 79 | 249,248 | 21 | 5,627 | 695 | 649,577 |
FREE STATES. |
Public. | School. | Sunday School. | College. | Church. | Total. | |||||||
Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | Number. | Volumes. | ||
California | |||||||||||||
Connecticut | 42 | 38,609 | 4 | 5,039 | 107 | 38,445 | 8 | 82,600 | 3 | 265 | 164 | 165,318 | |
Illinois | 33 | 35,982 | 29 | 5,875 | 86 | 12,829 | 4 | 7,800 | 152 | 62,486 | |||
Indiana | 58 | 46,238 | 3 | 1,800 | 85 | 11,265 | 4 | 8,700 | 1 | 400 | 151 | 68,403 | |
Iowa | 4 | 2,650 | 4 | 160 | 24 | 2,980 | 32 | 5,790 | |||||
Maine | 77 | 51,439 | 11 | 2,225 | 131 | 26,988 | 8 | 39,625 | 9 | 1,692 | 236 | 121,969 | |
Massachusetts | 177 | 257,737 | 792 | 104,645 | 433 | 165,476 | 18 | 141,400 | 42 | 14,757 | 1,462 | 684,015 | |
Michigan | 280 | 65,116 | 119 | 31,427 | 15 | 3,500 | 3 | 7,900 | 417 | 107,943 | |||
New Hampshire | 47 | 42,017 | 3 | 1,200 | 70 | 20,117 | 3 | 19,975 | 6 | 2,450 | 129 | 85,759 | |
New Jersey | 77 | 43,903 | 10 | 4,080 | 35 | 8,564 | 4 | 24,000 | 2 | 338 | 128 | 80,885 | |
New York | 43 | 197,229 | 10,802 | 1,388,729 | 137 | 33,294 | 25 | 138,870 | 6 | 2,698 | 11,013 | 1,760,820 | |
Ohio | 65 | 65,703 | 13 | 9,665 | 248 | 53,910 | 22 | 56,573 | 4 | 975 | 352 | 186,826 | |
Pennsylvania | 90 | 184,666 | 30 | 17,161 | 226 | 58,071 | 21 | 77,050 | 26 | 26,452 | 393 | 363,400 | |
Rhode Island | 26 | 42,007 | 12 | 5,814 | 50 | 23,765 | 1 | 31,000 | 7 | 1,756 | 96 | 104,342 | |
Vermont | 30 | 21,061 | 16 | 9,700 | 38 | 10,020 | 9 | 23,280 | 3 | 580 | 96 | 64,641 | |
Wisconsin | 9 | 12,040 | 33 | 2,163 | 28 | 5,017 | 2 | 1,800 | 72 | 21,020 | |||
Total | 1,058 | 1,106,397 | 11,881 | 1,589,683 | 1,713 | 478,858 | 132 | 660,573 | 109 | 52,723 | 14,911 | 3,888,234 |
From these it will be seen that the total number of volumes
in the libraries of the South, is 649,577; in those of the
North, 3,888,234; a difference more than 3,000,000 in favor
of the free States. Six volumes in the libraries of the North
to one at the South. But we need not compare aggregates
when the difference is so overwhelming. The Sunday School
libraries of the North are nearly twice as great as the College
libraries of the South; and the College libraries of the
North greater than all the libraries of the South.
Maine has more volumes in her libraries than South Carolina,
Rhode Island than Virginia, or even more than all the
five states, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Florida; and Massachusetts more than all the fifteen slave
States.
Michigan and Arkansas are very nearly equal, both in age
and territory, Michigan having been admitted into the Union
in 1837, and Arkansas in 1836; while the area of Michigan is
56,243 square miles, and that of Arkansas 52,198. Michigan
has 107,943 volumes in her libraries, Arkansas has 420; a
ratio of 257 to 1.
The public school libraries alone of the single state of
New York, contain more than twice as many volumes as all
the libraries together of the whole South. Nor are we to
suppose that because Common School Libraries, they are necessarily
inferior either in cost or character. We learn from the
American Almanac for the present year, that in the State of
Illinois "690 school libraries, of 321 volumes each, were distributed
throughout the state. The aggregate cost of these
221,490 volumes was $147,222, or an average of $213 for
each library."
If the New York common school libraries were purchased
at a similar cost, (over sixty-six cents per volume,) their value
is doubtless greater than that of all the libraries in the fifteen
slave States.
V.—ILLITERATE.
Thus far the large figures have been all in one direction, but
here the case is different. The South is in advance and still
advancing.
The following tables, Nos XLIII. and XLIV., show the
number unable to read and write. It will be seen that the
number of native white citizens of this class in the free States
is 248,725, and in the slave States 493,026, a number about
twice as great in a population of far less than half.
The number of native white adults who cannot read and
write, in the State of Tennessee, is 77,017, in a white population
of 756,836. The number in New York, 23,241, in a
white population of 3,048,325.
SLAVE STATES. | Whites. | Free Colored. |
Natives. | Foreign. | Native Whites. |
Alabama | 33,757 | 235 | 33,853 | 139 | 33,618 |
Arkansas | 16,819 | 116 | 16,908 | 27 | 16,792 |
Delaware | 4,536 | 5,645 | 9,777 | 404 | 4,132 |
Florida | 3,859 | 270 | 3,834 | 295 | 3,564 |
Georgia | 41,200 | 467 | 41,261 | 406 | 40,794 |
Kentucky | 66,687 | 3,019 | 67,359 | 2,347 | 64,340 |
Louisiana | 21,221 | 3,389 | 18,339 | 6,271 | 14,950 |
Maryland | 20,815 | 21,062 | 38,426 | 3,451 | 17,364 |
Mississippi | 13,405 | 123 | 13,447 | 81 | 13,324 |
Missouri | 36,281 | 497 | 34,917 | 1,861 | 34,420 |
North Carolina | 73,566 | 6,857 | 80,083 | 340 | 73,226 |
South Carolina | 15,684 | 880 | 16,460 | 104 | 15,580 |
Tennessee | 77,522 | 1,097 | 78,114 | 505 | 77,017 |
Texas | 10,525 | 58 | 8,095 | 2,488 | 8,037 |
Virginia | 77,005 | 11,515 | 87,383 | 1,137 | 75,868 |
Total | 512,882 | 55,230 | 548,256 | 19,856 | 493,026 |
The number in Georgia is 40,794, in a white population of
521,572, and of Pennsylvania it is 41,944, in a white population
of 2,258,160.
Again. The number of white inhabitants over twenty years
of age, in the state of New Hampshire, is 174,232. The
number of native white adults who cannot read and write, is
893, or 1 in 201. In Connecticut it is 1 in 277; in Vermont
1 in 284; and in Massachusetts 1 in 517. In South Carolina,
on the other hand, it is 1 in 7; in Virginia 1 in 5, and in North
Carolina 1 in 3.
Such facts as these show the condition and character of the
schools in the North and the South more clearly than all other
statistics combined.
FREE STATES. | Whites. | Native Whites. |
Natives. | Foreign. | Free Colored. |
California | 5,118 | 117 | 2,318 | 2,917 | 2,201 |
Connecticut | 4,739 | 567 | 1,293 | 4,013 | 826 |
Illinois | 40,054 | 1,229 | 35,336 | 5,947 | 34,107 |
Indiana | 70,540 | 2,170 | 69,445 | 3,265 | 67,275 |
Iowa | 8,120 | 33 | 7,076 | 1,077 | 7,043 |
Maine | 6,147 | 135 | 2,134 | 4,148 | 1,999 |
Massachusetts | 27,539 | 806 | 1,861 | 26,484 | 1,055 |
Michigan | 7,912 | 369 | 5,272 | 3,009 | 4,903 |
New Hampshire | 2,957 | 52 | 945 | 2,064 | 893 |
New Jersey | 14,248 | 4,417 | 12,787 | 5,878 | 8,370 |
New York | 91,293 | 7,429 | 30,670 | 68,052 | 23,241 |
Ohio | 61,030 | 4,990 | 56,958 | 9,062 | 51,968 |
Pennsylvania | 66,928 | 9,344 | 51,288 | 24,989 | 41,944 |
Rhode Island | 3,340 | 267 | 1,248 | 2,359 | 981 |
Vermont | 6,189 | 51 | 616 | 5,624 | 565 |
Wisconsin | 6,361 | 92 | 1,551 | 4,902 | 1,459 |
Total | 422,515 | 32,068 | 280,793 | 173,790 | 248,725 |
CHAPTER VIII. The North and the South : | ||