American education

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1. Education

Harriot Martineau aptly summed up the European view of education in America with one sentence: "Schooling is considered a necessity of life" (143). All of the travelers are impressed by the Americans' serious commitment to education, and recognize that this commitment was related to the democratic form of government. Universal suffrage made education a necessary part of civil duty. Not surprisingly, Alexander Farkas was extremely enthusiastic about the public schools of America and their ability to promote citizens' equality and national stability.

"The greatest strength of the republic lies in the effort to have the entire population equally well educated and instilled with the knowledge of its laws. The Americans know well that just as the individual can achieve superiority through education, so can a nation through culture and knowledge rise and stay above the others. They recognize that where culture and familiarity with the laws are acquired by a small class only, there the knowledgeable will easily rule over the ignorant masses, and for that reason they will do everything to educate even the poorest members of society" (55).

"It is considered essential to the public interest that every man should receive so much instruction as shall qualify him for a useful member of the state" (Hamilton, 126).

"Certainly education could not be more diffused in this country, and a more sober, sedate steady set of people cannot be found, too much so indeed for mirth, and the few holidays that they had are gradually falling into disuse" (Hall, 104).

Though they were impressed by the idea of universal education, many of the travelers were less than enthusiastic about the American schools' ability to create a sophisticated citizenry. In an entire section titled The power of the people exceeds their educational attainments phrenologist George Combe explains that the very basic education of the public schools of America is not yet adequate to prepare people to rule a country. Other writers agree that there is an inherent inadequacy of the schools of the United States: their neglect of the more abstract pursuits of morality, virtue and philosophy.

"In the present generation of Americans, I can detect no symptom of improving taste, or increasing elevation of intellect...Elementary instruction, it is true, has generally kept pace with the rapid progress of population; but while the steps of youth are studiously directed to the base of the mountain of knowledge, no facilities have been provided for scaling its summit" (Hamilton, 21)

"In short, the state of American society is such as to afford no leisure for any thing so unmarketable as abstract learning" (Hamilton, 208).

"One defect in the American institutions and social training at present appears to me to be, that they do not sufficiently cultivate habits of deference, prudence and self-restraint...an American young man, emerging from schools, has scarcely formed a conception that he is subject to any natural laws by which the production and distribution of wealth are regulated, or the laws which determine the progress of society; nor is he trained to subject his own inclinations and will to those or any similar laws as indispensable to his well-being and success" (Combe, 146).

For young America, education was not always in the classroom. Americans had a unique kind of savvy and ability to grasp the ways of the world. Again, this trait was attributed to the pragmatism and hunger for money inherent in the American people.

"In all knowledge that must be taught, and which requires laborious study for its attainment, I should say the Americans are considerably inferior to my countrymen. In that knowledge, on the other hand, which the individual acquires for himself by actual observation, which bears an immediate marketable value, and is directly available in the ordinary avocations of life, I do not imagine the Americans are excelled by any people in the world" (Hamilton, 74).

The Universities and West Point military academy were considered attractions in themselves. All of the travelers comment on visiting either West Pointe, Harvard or the University and Medical School of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Only a few travelers inquired about the form of the educational systems, but they were not short on observations of the institutions in general. Charles Lyell found Harvard and its community to be an integrated whole, where the professors mingled with the town and students. Alex Farkas also saw the integration of the college on a more physical level, "I found it unusual that neither here nor in other states are the colleges surrounded by a high fence as they are at home" (101). Not surprisingly, Thomas Hamilton felt the universities of the U.S. suffered from the same utilitarian regimentation that the grade schools did.

"Every one is compelled to travel in the same track, and to reach the same point, whatever may be his future destination in life. It is perhaps quite right that such portions of a university course should be considered imperative, as relate to the preparatory development of the intellectual powers, but it does appear somewhat absurd to insist on cramming every boy with mathematics, chemistry, and natural philosophy. In America, the period devoted to education is so short, that there can be no folly greater than that of frittering it away in a variety of pursuits, which contribute little to the general elevation of the intellect. it is the certain result of attempting too much, that nothing will be accomplished" (204).

Overall, the Europeans felt that the educational institutions of America were a symbol of both a government of equality and the pragmatic national character. Americans were street smart and did not favor abstract theory, and their institutions of learning reflect these values.

2. The American press

еducation аmerica press industry nature

There were a variety of reactions to the fledgling American press. The travelers were all astounded by the wide dissemination of printed material throughout the young republic. Some saw the newspapers as the key to the success of the new democracy and while others maintained their poor quality, immorality, and wide availability would be its ruin.

Alexander Farkas sees the American press as an integral part of an enlightened democratic culture.

"In Europe it is considered nothing short of magic, the means by which the American people were raised so quickly to such a high degree of culture and flourishing state...One of the instruments of this magic is the publication of newspapers. The laws of the nation confer the complete and unquestioned right on every citizen to start a printing press without any special permit or the surveillance by censorship of any kind and freely print any text as long as it does not violate the rights of others. This is the simple means by which the large number of journals of science and learning in every field disseminate so quickly and inexpensively knowledge, reason, and culture" (60).

Thomas Hamilton, Harriot Martineau and George Combe find the press to be immoral and inaccurate. Hamilton especially is disgusted with the press, finding it "utterly contemptible in point of talent, and dealing in abuse so virulent as to excite a feeling of disgust not only with the writers, but with the public which afforded them support" (444). Harriot Martineau feels the same. "The profligacy of newspapers, wherever they exist is a universal complaint; and, of all newspaper presses, I never heard any one deny that the American is the worst" (103). Martineau finds that the editors will not publish any opinions contrary to those that are commonly accepted, and they refuse to take the higher moral ground. She is horrified when she discovers that a Missouri paper has not spoken out against a recent lynching. "The majority of newspapers editors made themselves parties to the act, by refusing, from fear, to reprobate it" (103).

The criticism is not completely harsh. Martineau realizes that the country needs more time to improve its press, "There will be no great improvement in the literary character of American newspapers till the literature of the country has improved" (104). She also praises "a spirited paper in Louisville" and notes that "Two New York papers, the New York American and the Evening Post, have gained themselves honour by intrepidity of the same kind, [as the Louisville paper] and by the comparative moderation and friendliness of their spirit" (106).

George Combe has no problems with the content and politics of the American press, he simply finds it full of mistakes. Like he has before, Combe looks beyond the surface and attributes the causes of the sloppy press to the shortage of labor in America.

"Many complaints are made against the morality of the American Press, but I have hitherto had experience only of its blunders. Labor is here so valuable, that every man does too much, and in consequence work is executed in a slovenly manner. At New York, the huge placards of my lectures posted in the town bore that I proposed to lecture on "Phrenology applied to Elocution" instead of Education; a most unfortunate blunder for me, as my elocution is sadly defective, and deeply tinged with a Scotch accent...The reports of my lectures in the Daily Whig of New York were often blundered in the names, grammar and spelling...In this city (Philadelphia), which is famed for the superiority of its press, the printer omitted the hour in the placards announcing my first lecture!" (189).

No matter the quality of the newspapers, all of the travelers are astounded by their number and popularity.

"Everyone of these villages, however small, prints one newspaper at least" (Hall, 49).

"...it could happen nowhere out of America, that so raw a settlement as that at Ann Arbor, where there is difficulty in procuring decent accommodations, should have a newspaper" (Martineau, 161).

"What increased my astonishment even more, was that a newspaper is published here, twice a week, the Winchester Sentinel, Mr. Marks, publisher" (60).

It was not just the cities and small townspeople that read newspapers, they also were delivered far into the wilderness. Farkas is amazed at this process and recalls it in full detail.

"In America the stagecoaches usually deliver the newspaper, too, and I had found their method of distribution very interesting and in this wilderness quite surprising. No matter how poor a settler may be nor how far in the wilderness he may be from the civilized world, he will read a newspaper. When our coach emerged into a clearance from the woods, our driver would blow his horn, signaling the settler that we were approaching. There was a box full of newspapers at the foot of the driver and he threw the settler's paper on the side of the road without stopping. This scene was repeated all day long, the driver throwing the papers left and right, on whichever side the settler might be" (151).

A few of the Europeans do not feel that the widespread distribution of these corrupt newspapers was a good thing. Martineau observes, "It is hard to tell which is worse, the wide diffusion of things that are not true, or the suppression of things that are true" (103). They maintained that the thinly educated lower classes would not be able to see through the rhetoric and sift the truth from the lies.

"The influence and circulation of newspapers is great beyond any thing ever known in Europe. In truth, ninetenths of the population read nothing else, and are consequently mentally inaccessible by any other avenue. Every village, nay, almost every Hamlet has its press, which issues second-hand news and serves as an arena in which the political gladiators of the neighborhood may exercise their power of use and abuse" (Hamilton, 266).

"Newspapers are so cheap in the United States, that the generality even of the lowest order can afford to purchase them. They therefore depend for support on the most ignorant class of the people. Every thing they contain must be accommodated to the taste and apprehension of men who labour daily for their bread, and are of course indifferent to refinement either of language or reasoning...strong words take the place of strong arguments, and every vulgar booby who can call names, and procure a set of types upon credit, may set up as an editor, with a fair prospect of success" (Hamilton, 447).

Neither Martineau and Hamilton's harsh criticism of the crude beginnings of the American press reflect their educated, upper-class status in England. Hamilton actually applauds the English papers for their expense because it keeps them from the lower classes. The American press is one of the strongest symbols of its democratic government and high standard of living. Here is another instance where the English are not comfortable with the absence of hierarchy in the United States. The aristocratic travelers coming from a class-structured society can only see the unsightly condition of the crude American newspaper, and not its virtues. Alex Farkas was the only one who saw the widespread and widely read press as a symbol of the enlightenment and equality of America.

3. Nature, Industry and the American West

The Europeans appreciate the beauty of the American landscape and see the value of its abundant natural resources. They also observe how the industrious Americans gratuitously mare their rivers, forests and grasslands in the name of the almighty dollar. The West is where the Europeans see this use of nature for profit carried out most vividly. Travelers from all backgrounds continuously comment on the Americans' belief in the endless riches of their land and their propensity to pack up whatever they owned and head off toward the setting sun.

American was undeniably a place of natural abundance.

"The United States are not only vast in extent; they are inestimably rich in material wealth...Never was a country more gifted by nature" (Martineau, 130).

"Again the enormous width of the river struck me with astonishment and admiration. Such huge bodies of water mark out the country through which they run, as the future abode of the most extensive commerce and the greatest maritime power in the universe" (Kemble, 53).

The ability of Americans to destroy their landscape in the name of industry strikes most of the tourists. The Europeans look to the landscape for beauty, while the Americans look at it for wealth. Europe was full of gardens and courtyards; America was cut by fields and open prairie. Where industry encroached upon the landscape, nature was sure to lose. The travelers were disturbed by the Americans' cavalier attitude toward the natural beauty of their world.

"but all the marshes were formerly larger before the surrounding forest was partially cleared away. The removal of the tall trees has allowed the suns rays to penetrate freely to the soil, and dry up part of the morass...Within the memory of persons now living, the wild bison's or buffaloes crowded to these springs, but they have retreated for many years, and are now as unknown to the inhabitants as the mastodon itself" (Lyell, 141).

"Nature, when undisturbed by man, is never without a beauty of her own. But even in these remote mountain recesses the marks of wanton havoc are too often visible. Numbers of the trees by the road were scorched and mutilated, with no intelligible motive but that of destruction" (Hamilton, 315).

"There is one sad drawback, however. At precisely the most beautiful point of the scene [Trenton Falls] there has been erected--what, good reader?--but you will never guess--a dram shop" (Hamilton, 395).

"where the land has been cleared the trees were looked upon as the greatest impediment to improvement and cultivation, and were cut down without either mercy or judgment" (Hall, 29).

"There were some magnificent trees at Louisville and the roots of some still larger, which on enquiry we found had been cut down to make cogs for wheels or some such purpose, for which a smaller tree could have answered quite as well" (Hall, 274).

"They were, I doubt not, once beautiful. But alas! the waters have been turned off to turn mills, and a thin curtain which falls over the rocks like a vapoury sheet of blue smoke, is all that remains of Genesee Falls...Truly, mills and steam engines are wonderful things, and I know that men must live, but I wish it were not expedient to destroy what God has made so beautiful, in order to make it useful" (Kemble, 192).

"It is a pity here, as everywhere, much of the beauty of the area is spoiled by cutting and burning of the trees, which are scattered everywhere, too heavy to be moved" (Gustorf, 14).

If the battered landscape of the East reflects the American's industry and growth, the open vastness of the West hold the promise for the future. All of the travelers are continually impressed with the hope that Americans found in their constant ability to move further west.

"The possession of land is the aim of all action, generally speaking, and the cure for all social evils, among men in the United States. If a man is disappointed he buys land. If he disgraces himself, he betakes himself to a lot in the West" (Martineau, 168).

"First there is not a class in want or extreme poverty here, partly because the facility of migrating to the West, for those who are without employment, is so great..." (Lyell, 62).

"Today we stopped at a little town on the Virginia side to take aboard a load of American emigrants with wives, children, and all their possessions. They did not look very inviting. Their hopes seemed to be pinned on the Far West (wherever Americans live in the West, they believe there are greater opportunities even farther in that direction)" (Gustorf, 20).

"Here on this prairie also are many settlers from Kentucky and Tennessee. Believe it or not, they are preparing to move farther West. An American feels no particular attachment to the soil he cultivates...someone mentions a new piece of land, regardless of its distance, which offers the advantages of good timber and fertile soil, or perhaps the opportunity of opening a store for trading or swapping, or founding a new town, and at once he hitches the oxen to his wagon, loads his wife and children and all his belongings, and start moving" (101).

It is clear that the Europeans recognize the American fascination with the West, but they speak about it comically and with puzzlement. They do not understand the endless hope and potential that is manifested in the constant ability to move west and carve out a new life for one's self.

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