Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/261

DELAWARE COUNTY. 237 by individual exertion. In these cases^ the means of educa- tion are facilitated, as the expenses of schools are divided among a great many. It is in the remote and thinly populated parts of the State, where the inhabitants are scattered over a large extent, that education stands greatly in need of encou- ragement. The people there, living far from each other, makes it difficult so to establish schools, as to render them convenient or accessible to all. Every family therefore, must either edu- cate their own children, or the children must forego the advan- tages of education." The subject of universal education was one of the earliest matters of interest which drew the attention of our State Legis- lature. At the first meeting, after the ratification of the con- stitution. Glen. Clinton, then governor, called the attention of the legislature to the subject of education. He says : " Neglect of the education of youth, is one of the evils consequent upon war. Perhaps there is scarce any thing, more worthy your attention, than the revival and encouragement of seminaries of learning ; and nothing by which we can more satisfactorily express our gratitude to the Supreme Being for his past favors; since piety and virtue are generally the offspring of an en- lightened understanding." In 1795, April 9th, the legislature took the first action on the subject of education, and An act for the encouragement of schools" was passed, appropriating $50,000 annually for five years, to the establishment of and support of common schools. There were defects in this act, which its practical workings served to demonstrate, and accordingly, on the the 5th of March, 1801, the attention of the legislature was again called to the subject, and the following resolution adopted : Resolved That the Act for the encouragement of schools, passed April 9, 1795, ought to be revised and amended, and that out of the annual revenue arising to this State from its stock and other