Skip to main content

Clergymen and the Origins of the Kentucky Public School System

It took until 1850 and Kentucky’s third state constitution for the Commonwealth to guarantee public education for its citizens. The 1891 constitution[1] is still in effect which mandates the legislature to provide a common fund to pay for a state-wide school system that does not discriminate by race or color. The constitution does not permit the fund to be used to support sectarian or denominational schools.

Initially, the Kentucky legislators were apathetic to the idea of a state public school system and resistant to the thought that anyone should have to pay for the education of someone else’s child. For decades the legislature prioritized roads, bridges and railways over education. These have been characterized as “short-term” goals by historian, Frank Mathies, that were more certain to be rewarded with votes[2]. It took the combined lobbying of the Kentucky Education Society founded in 1827, the Kentucky Common School Society, founded in 1834, and the Kentucky Association of Professional Teachers, founded in 1833, to achieve the first legislation in 1838 to create a state-wide common school system which only served white students. The legislature did not fund a state-wide common school system for African American students until 1874[3].

The first Kentucky State Superintendent of Schools was Princeton educated, Joseph J. Bullock, a Presbyterian minister who pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Frankfort. He held both roles in 1838. He organized the state school system well with good policies for accountability which were largely ignored. Speaking of the Commonwealth he said:

                “Let it never be forgotten that all her prosperity is suspended on the virtue and intelligence of                   her children; that these are her strongest bulwarks”[4]

Bullock was followed as superintendent by five clergymen: Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists. It took ten years for the superintendent appointed by Governor Owsley, Rev. Thomas Jefferson Breckinridge, to succeed in getting the legislature to fund and mandate a state-wide school system in Kentucky.

Just two years later, at the 1849 Constitutional Convention in Frankfort, then Governor Hardin argued against the inclusion of education in the constitution. He argued against Superintendent Breckinridge’s campaigns for John J. Crittenden’s 1848 gubernatorial candidacy, alleging that his speeches would incite enslaved African Americans against their white owners[5]. Crittenden won the election. A state-wide system of common schools was funded and established.

The significant leadership that Kentucky Christian ministers provided was vital to the establishment of a public school system in this state. The Kentucky Faith and Public History Education Project considers both Rev. Joseph J. Bullock and Rev. Thomas Jefferson Breckinridge to have been famous Kentucky Christians.

By Lesley Barker PhD ©2020


[1] Constitution of Kentucky. Kentucky General Assembly website. ONLINE at https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/constitution#:~:text=In%20its%20over%20two%20hundred,third%20adopted%20in%201850%2C%20and. ACCESSED 12/8/2020.

[2] Frank F. Mathies. “Kentucky’s Struggle for Common Schools 1820-1850”. The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Vol. 82, No. 3 (Summer 1984). pp. 214-232. Kentucky Historical Society.

[3] Rachel Kennedy and Cynthia Johnson. Kentucky Historic Schools Survey. Education Arts and Humanities Cabinet. 2002.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Mathies 1984.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Juneteenth on the Walking Trail

Are you looking for a way to celebrate Juneteenth in Kentucky? A visit to the Walking Trail at 616 Clintonville Road, Paris, KY 40361, can introduce you and your children to the contribution of African Americans in Kentucky.  June 19, 1865 was the day that General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 which proclaimed the freedom of every enslaved person in the whole United States. It became known as Juneteenth and is now celebrated as a federal holiday. Granger is buried in Fernwood Cemetery in Henderson, Kentucky. General Gordon married Maria Letcher from Garrard County, Kentucky, so we can claim a Kentucky history connection to Juneteenth.  We celebrate the lives of 14 African Americans in the Eye-Spy Game on the Walking Trail. They are: Elisha Green, Effie Waller Smith, Peter Durrett, Emma C. Clement, James B. Johnson, Helen LaFrance, Albery A. Wilson, Nancy Green, Carl Brashear, Mary Britton, Rolla Blue, Martha Cross, Samuel Oldham, and Julia Chinn. Select a number. F...
Post a Comment
Read more

George Frideric Handel- a Famous World Christian

On April 13, 1742 Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time. It happened in Dublin. This oratorio was criticized as blasphemous because it treated the life and teaching of Jesus Christ as theater. When it was performed at Westminster Abbey, however, the same work was called sacrilege because it was a theatrical work performed in a church. Sometimes you can't win. Handel eventually arranged to perform the Messiah as a fund-raiser for the London Foundling Hospital. This was well received and it became an annual event. The lyrics of the Messiah are lifted straight from the King James Bible .  Handel was born in Germany in 1685. In 1727, he became a naturalized British citizen. That same year he accepted a commission to compose a coronation anthem for King George II. Again Handel took inspiration from the Bible - this time from the coronation of Solomon. Nathan the prophet and Zadok the high priest officiated at Solomon's coronation. Hence Handel called his anthem Za...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arbor Day STEAM (tree) Field Trip for 1st through 3rd Grades Friday, April 28, 2023

  Arbor Day is Friday, April 28, 2023. We're opening the Walking Trail and Arboretum for first, second and third grade classes to come for a 40-minute outdoor STEAM adventure featuring trees. Your students will hear and read poems about trees. They will learn to identify the parts of a tree and count tree rings to figure out how old a tree was when it was cut down. The experience involves a half-mile walk on a gravel trail through a beautiful arboretum at 616 Clintonville Road in Paris, Kentucky. We are charging $2/person. Use this link to select when your group will come and to help us have enough tree cookies on hand. A spacious picnic area is available for your class to use if you want to bring brown-bag lunches. Some souvenirs: books, candy, and trading cards are for sale if your class brings spending money. Please use this link to register your class and to select the time you will come. 
Post a Comment
Read more