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sp?Search=1&InstName=Horace+Mann&SchoolID=&Address=&City=&State=&Zip=&Miles=&County=&PhoneAreaCode=&Phone=&DistrictName=&DistrictID=&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{short description|American educational reformer and politician}}
{{for-multi|the school also called "Horace Mann"|Horace Mann School|other people|Horace Mann (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Horace Mann
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Southworth and Hawes - Horace Mann (Zeno Fotografie) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Horace Mann around 1851
| alt =
| state1 = ]
| district1 = {{ushr|MA|8|8th}}
| term_start1 = April 3, 1848
| term_end1 = March 3, 1853
| predecessor1 = ]
| successor1 = ]
| order2 = 1st
| office2 = Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
| term_start2 = 1837
| term_end2 = 1848
| predecessor2 = ''Office established''
| successor2 = ]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1796|5|4}}
| birth_place = ], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1859|8|2|1796|5|4}}
| death_place = ], U.S.
| resting_place = ],<br />], U.S.
| spouse = {{ubl|Charlotte Messer Mann (d. 1832)|Mary Peabody Mann}}
| party = ]
| children = 3
| residence =
| alma_mater = {{ubl|]|]}}
| occupation = {{ubl|Lawyer|Educator|College president}}
| profession =
| religion =
| signature = Appletons' Mann Horace signature.jpg
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Horace Mann''' (May 4, 1796{{snd}}August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery ] and ] politician known for his commitment to promoting ], he is thus also known as ''The Father of American Education''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carleton |first=David |date=2009 |title=Horace Mann |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1283/horace-mann#:~:text=via%20Wikimedia%20Commons)-,Known%20as%20the%20%E2%80%9Cfather%20of%20American%20education%2C%E2%80%9D%20Horace%20Mann,curriculum%20that%20excluded%20sectarian%20instruction. }}</ref> In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the ], Mann was elected to the ] (1848–1853). From September 1852 to his death in 1859, he served as President of ]. He is known for his cleft chin.

Arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn unruly American children into disciplined, judicious ] citizens, Mann won widespread approval from modernizers, especially in the ], for building public schools. Most ]s adopted a version of the system Mann established in Massachusetts, especially the program for ]s to train professional teachers.<ref name="Mark Groen 1854, pp 251–260">{{cite journal |first=Mark |last=Groen |title=The Whig Party and the Rise of Common Schools, 1837–1854 |journal=American Educational History Journal |date=Spring–Summer 2008 |volume=35 |issue=1/2 |pages=251–260}}</ref> Educational historians credit Horace Mann, along with ] and ], as one of the major advocates of the ] Movement.<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas L. |last=Good |title=21st century education: a reference handbook |year=2008 |page=267}}</ref>

==Early years, family and education==
Horace Mann was born in ].<ref name=":0" /> His father was a farmer without much money. Mann was the great-grandson of ].<ref name= "University1921">{{cite book| author=Yale University|title=Obiturary Record of Graduates| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A55GAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA579|access-date=April 25, 2021| year=1921| publisher=Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company| page=579| archive-date= February 16, 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230216192942/https://books.google.com/books?id=A55GAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA579|url-status=live}}</ref>

From age ten to age twenty, he had no more than six weeks' schooling during any year,<ref name="Appleton">{{Cite Appletons| last=Tarbell |first=Isa Arlington |wstitle= Mann, Horace| year=1900}}</ref> but he made use of the ], the first public library in America. He enrolled at ] when he was twenty years old and graduated in three years<ref>{{cite book |last=McFarland |first=Philip |title=Hawthorne in Concord |location= New York |publisher=Grove Press |year=2004 |page= |isbn=0-8021-1776-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/hawthorneinconco00mcfa/page/72 }}</ref> as valedictorian (1819). The theme of his oration was "The Progressive Character of the Human Race."<ref name= "Appleton"/> He learned Greek and Latin from ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Mann|title=Horace Mann {{!}} Biography & Facts| website= ] |language= en|access-date=April 26, 2020|archive-date=June 25, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200625140803/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Mann| url-status=live}}</ref> who later became a famous ] minister.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://uudb.org/articles/samuelbarrett.html|title=Samuel Barrett| website= uudb.org| access-date=April 26, 2020| archive-date=September 25, 2020| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200925125356/https://uudb.org/articles/samuelbarrett.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early career==
===Legal career===
Mann studied law for a short time in ] and was a tutor of Latin and Greek (1820–1822) and a librarian (1821–1823) at Brown. During 1822, he also studied at ] and, in 1823, was admitted to the bar in ].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Mann, Horace| volume=17|page=587}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School |location= Hartford, Connecticut |publisher=Press of Case, Tiffany and Company |year= 1849}}</ref>

Mann defended ] in a robbery trial by placing a ] in the minds of the jury by pointing out that the victim had previously identified someone else as the man who robbed him.{{sfn|Parr|2009|p=39}}{{sfn|Hanson|1976|p=225}} The strategy worked, and there was a ].{{sfn|Parr|2009|p=39}}

===Massachusetts legislature===
Mann was elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1827, and in that role was active in the interests of education, public charities, and laws for the suppression of ]s and lotteries. He established an asylum in ], and in 1833 was chairman of its board of trustees. Mann continued to be returned to the legislature as a representative from Dedham until his removal to ] in 1833. While in the legislature, he was a member and part of the time chairman of the committee for the revision of the state statutes, and a large number of salutary provisions were incorporated into the code at his suggestion. After their enactment, he was appointed one of the editors of the work and prepared its marginal notes and its references to judicial decisions. He was elected to the ] from Boston in 1835 and was its president in 1836–1837. As a member of the Senate, he spent time as the majority leader, and aimed his focus at infrastructure, funding the construction of railroads and canals.<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia| url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Mann| title= Horace Mann {{!}} American educator| encyclopedia= Encyclopedia Britannica| access-date= May 1, 2017| language= en| archive-date= January 31, 2017| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170131211713/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Mann|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Sarah |last=Mondale |title=School: The Story of American Public Education |url= https://archive.org/details/school00sara |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Beacon |year=2001}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1830, Mann married Charlotte Messer, the daughter of former Brown University president ]. She died two years later on August 1, 1832; he never fully recovered from the intense grief and shock that accompanied her death.<ref>{{cite book |last=McFarland |first=Philip |title=Hawthorne in Concord |location= New York |publisher=Grove Press |year=2004 |page= |isbn=0-8021-1776-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/hawthorneinconco00mcfa/page/73 }}</ref>

In 1843, he married ]. Afterward, the couple accompanied ] and ] on a dual honeymoon to Europe. They subsequently purchased a home in ], at the corner of Chestnut and Highland Streets.<ref>{{Cite web| url= http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/historic/research/collections/papers/allen.asp |title= Allen Family Papers 1846-1915| access-date=June 14, 2018|archive-date= June 15, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180615032433/http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/historic/research/collections/papers/allen.asp|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0234|title=Horace Mann Papers|website=Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=June 14, 2018| archive-date=June 8, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180608145029/http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0234|url-status=live}}</ref> Horace and Mary had three sons: ], George Combe Mann, and Benjamin Pickman Mann.

==Education reform==

It was not until he was appointed Secretary in 1837 of the newly created ] that he began the work which was to make him one of America's most influential educational reformers.<ref name="EB1911"/> Upon starting his duties, he withdrew from all other professional or business engagements as well as politics.

As Secretary of Education, Mann held teachers' conventions, delivered numerous lectures and addresses, carried on an extensive correspondence, and introduced numerous reforms. Mann persuaded his fellow modernizers, especially those in the ], to legislate tax-supported elementary public education in their states and to feminize the teaching force. To justify the new taxes Mann assured businessmen that more education in the work force made for a richer and more profitable economy.<ref>Maris A. Vinovskis, "Horace Mann on the Economic Productivity of Education." ''New England Quarterly'' (1970) 43#4 pp. 550–571. </ref>

Most northern states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "]" to train professional teachers.<ref name="Mark Groen 1854, pp 251–260" />

Mann traveled to every School in the state so he could physically examine each school ground.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} He planned and inaugurated the Massachusetts ] system in ] (which shortly thereafter moved to Framingham), ] (which shortly thereafter moved to Westfield) and ], and began preparing a series of annual reports, which had a wide circulation and were considered as being "among the best expositions, if, indeed, they are not the very best ones, of the practical benefits of a common school education both to the individual and to the state".<ref name="Hinsdale">Hinsdale (1898).</ref> By his advocacy of the disuse of ] in school discipline, he was involved in a controversy with some of the Boston teachers that resulted in the adoption of his views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3535 |title=The Struggle for Public Schools |work=Digital History |last1=Mintz |first1=S. |last2=McNeil |first2=S. |year=2016 |access-date=March 11, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402134704/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3535 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1838, he founded and edited ''The Common School Journal''. In this journal, Mann targeted the public school and its problems. His six main principles were:

# the public should no longer remain ignorant;
# that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public;
# that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds;
# that this education must be ];
# that this education must be taught using the tenets of a free society; and
# that education should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.

Under the auspices of the board, but at his own expense, he went to Europe in 1843 to visit schools, especially in ], and his seventh annual report, published after his return, embodied the results of his tour. Many editions of this report were printed, not only in Massachusetts but in other states, in some cases by private individuals and in others by legislatures; several editions were issued in England.

Mann hoped that by bringing all children of all classes together, they could have a common learning experience. This would also allow the less fortunate to advance in the social scale and education would "equalize the conditions of men." Moreover, it was viewed also as a road to social advancement by the early labor movement and as a goal of having common schools. Mann also suggested that having schools would help those students who did not have appropriate discipline in the home. Building a person's character was just as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instilling values such as obedience to authority, promptness in attendance, and organizing the time according to bell ringing helped students prepare for future employment.

Mann faced some resistance from parents who did not want to give up the moral education to teachers and bureaucrats. The normal schools trained mostly women, giving them new career opportunities as teachers.<ref>{{cite book |first=Linda |last=Eisenmann |title=Historical dictionary of women's education in the United States |year=1988 |page=259}}</ref> Mann believed that women were better suited for teaching, regardless of their status as a mother, and used his position to push for a ] of the profession.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Motherteacher : the feminization of American education|last=S.|first=Sugg, Redding|date=1978|publisher=University Press of Virginia|isbn=0813907578|location=Charlottesville|oclc=3708082}}</ref>

The practical result of Mann's work was a revolution in the approach used in the common school system of Massachusetts, which in turn influenced the direction of other states. In carrying out his work, Mann met with bitter opposition by some Boston schoolmasters who strongly disapproved of his innovative pedagogical ideas,<ref>{{cite book |first= Myra |last= Glenn |title= Campaigns Against Corporal Punishment |year= 1984 |isbn= 0-87395-813-6 |pages= 104–6|publisher= SUNY Press }}</ref> and by various religious sectarians, who contended against the exclusion of all sectarian instruction from the schools.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Secular nature===
As the ''Old Deluder Satan Act'' and other 17th-century ] attest, early education in Massachusetts had a clear religious intent. However, by the time of Mann's leadership in education, various developments (including a vibrant populist Protestant faith and increased religious diversity) fostered a secular school system with a religiously passive stance.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Stephen V. |last1=Monsma |first2=J. Christopher |last2=Soper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqtOyWU3D54C |title=The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies |chapter=2. The United States |pages=18–22|isbn=9780742557406 |date=September 5, 2008 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers }}</ref>

While Mann affirmed that "our Public Schools are not Theological Seminaries" and that they were "debarred by law from inculcating the peculiar and distinctive doctrines of any one religious denomination amongst us ... or all that is essential to religion or salvation," he assured those who objected to this secular nature that "our system earnestly inculcates all Christian morals; it founds its morals based on religion; it welcomes the religion of the Bible; and, in receiving the Bible, it allows it to do what it is allowed to do in no other system—to speak for itself. But here it stops, not because it claims to have compassed all truth; but because it disclaims to act as an umpire between hostile religious opinions."

Mann stated that this position resulted in a near-universal use of the Bible in the schools of Massachusetts and that this served as an argument against the assertion by some that Christianity was excluded from his schools, or that they were anti-Christian.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eURNAAAAcAAJ&q=inculcates+all+Christian+morals;+it+founds+its+morals+on+the+basis+of+religion&pg=PA117 |last=Mann |first=Horace |title=Twelfth Annual Report for 1848 of the Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts |pages=116, 177, 121, 122 |year=1849 |access-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216192906/https://books.google.com/books?id=eURNAAAAcAAJ&q=inculcates+all+Christian+morals;+it+founds+its+morals+on+the+basis+of+religion&pg=PA117 |url-status=live }}</ref> A devotee of the pseudoscience of ], Mann believed education could eliminate or reduce human failings and compensate for any biological flaws.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The teacher wars: a history of America's most embattled profession|last=Dana.|first=Goldstein|isbn=9780345803627|edition= First Anchor books |location=New York|oclc=895117195|year = 2015}}</ref>

Mann also once stated that "it may not be easy theoretically, to draw the line between those views of religious truth and of Christian faith which is common to all, and may, therefore, with propriety be inculcated in schools, and those which, being peculiar to individual sects, are therefore by law excluded; still it is believed that no practical difficulty occurs in the conduct of our schools in this regard."

Rather than sanctioning a particular church as was often the norm in many states, the Legislature proscribed books "calculated to favor the tenets of any particular set of Christians."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9S4XAAAAYAAJ&q=may+not+be+easy+theoretically,+to+draw+the+line+between+those+views+of+religious+truth+and+of+Christian+faith+which+is+common+to+all,+and+may,+therefore,+with+propriety+be+inculcated+in+schools,+and+those+which,+being+peculiar+to+individual+sects,+are+therefore+by+law+excluded;+still+it+is+believed+that+no+practical+difficulty+occurs+in+the+conduct+of+our+schools+in+this+regard&pg=RA1-PA14 |author=Massachusetts Board of Education |title=Annual Report of the Board of Education |orig-year=Covering the year 1837 |pages=14, 15 |year=1838 |access-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216192944/https://books.google.com/books?id=9S4XAAAAYAAJ&q=may+not+be+easy+theoretically,+to+draw+the+line+between+those+views+of+religious+truth+and+of+Christian+faith+which+is+common+to+all,+and+may,+therefore,+with+propriety+be+inculcated+in+schools,+and+those+which,+being+peculiar+to+individual+sects,+are+therefore+by+law+excluded;+still+it+is+believed+that+no+practical+difficulty+occurs+in+the+conduct+of+our+schools+in+this+regard&pg=RA1-PA14 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Reading instruction===
Like many nineteenth century reformers, Horace Mann believed that "children would find it far more interesting and pleasurable to memorize words and read short sentences and stories without having to bother to learn the names of the letters".<ref name="ravitch-left-back">{{cite book |last=Ravitch |first=Diane |title=Left back: a century of failed school reforms |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2000 |pages=356–357 |chapter=Chapter 9: The great meltdown |isbn= 0-684-84417-6}}</ref> According to ], he condemned the alphabet method, claiming that it was "repulsive and soul-deadening to children".<ref name="ravitch-left-back"/> He described the letters of the alphabet as "skeleton-shaped, bloodless, ghostly apparitions".<ref name="ravitch-left-back"/> To him, teaching the alphabet was entirely illogical: "When we wish to give a child the idea of a new animal, we do not present successively the different parts of it,—an eye, an ear, the nose, the mouth, the body, or a leg: but we present a whole animal, as one object".<ref>{{cite book |last=Mathews |first=Mitford |title=Teaching to Read, Historically Considered |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=1966 |pages=76–81 |chapter=From a lecture delivered by Mann in 1841 |asin= B000Z58E5S }}</ref>

Mann believed that "children's earliest books should teach whole words, skipping the alphabet and the sounds of the letters",<ref name="ravitch-left-back"/> though he may have been confused between "the alphabet method of learning letters through words and a word method, now called the ] method, or learning to read through saying the word as a whole".<ref name=millichap-dyslexia>{{cite web |url=https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4425 |last=Millichap |first=Nancy |title=Dyslexia, theories of causation and methods of management: an historical perspective |publisher=Loyola University Chicago |year=1986 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Mann's endorsement of "word method" for reading instruction made a lasting impression on other reformers of the period, and "by 1890 the alphabet method had virtually died out".<ref name="ravitch-left-back"/> ] and ] used the "word method" as one of the features of the ]. As Nancy Millichap notes, "Despite the enthusiasm of educators for their new methods of teaching, the illiteracy rate remained high. Among American soldiers enlisted in World War I, 24.9 percent proved unable to read or write, and during World War II approximately the same percentage of British servicemen were found to be similarly handicapped. In 1940, one-third of high school students were incapable of ] well enough to profit from textbook instruction, and one half of the adult population in the United States was ]".<ref name=millichap-dyslexia/>

The backlash against "]" culminated in a 1955 book '']'' by ], in which he condemned this method for "treating children as if they were dogs" and recommended returning to teaching ]. Nevertheless, the "ill-informed, ineffective reading instruction" remains the norm in American ] and, accordingly, in American elementary schools.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read|title = Hard Words: Why aren't kids being taught to read?|date = September 10, 2018|author = Emily Hanford|publisher = APM|access-date = June 18, 2020|archive-date = June 2, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200602093151/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read|url-status = live}}</ref>

===Emulation of the Prussian system ===
{{main|Prussian education system#United States}}

Upon becoming the secretary of education of Massachusetts in 1837, Mann worked to create a statewide system of professional teachers, based on the ] of "common schools." Prussia was attempting to develop a system of education by which all students were entitled to the same content in their public classes. Mann initially focused on elementary education and on training teachers. The common-school movement quickly gained strength across the North. Connecticut adopted a similar system in 1849, and Massachusetts passed a compulsory attendance law in 1852.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paul E. |last=Peterson |title=Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning |year=2010 |pages=21–36 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Messerli |title=Horace Mann: A Biography |year=1972 }}</ref> Mann's crusading style attracted wide middle-class support. Historian ] asserts:

<blockquote>No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ellwood P. |last=Cubberley |title=Public Education in the United States |year=1919 |page=167 }}</ref></blockquote>

An important technique which Mann had learned in Prussia and introduced in Massachusetts in 1848 was to place students in grades by age. They were assigned by age to different grades and progressed through them, regardless of differences of aptitude. In addition, he used the lecture method common in European universities, which required students to receive professional instruction rather than teach one another. Previously, schools had often had groups of students who ranged in age from 6 to 14 years. With the introduction of age grading, multi-aged classrooms all but disappeared.<ref>See in {{cite book |chapter=Age Grading |editor-first=Thomas C. |editor-last=Hunt |title=Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent |volume=2 |year=2010 |page=33 |isbn=9781412956642 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1UGM0CHOGAC&pg=PA33 }}</ref> Some students progressed with their grade and completed all courses the secondary school had to offer. These were "graduated," and were awarded a certificate of completion. This was increasingly done at a ceremony imitating college graduation rituals.

Arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined, judicious ] citizens, Mann won widespread approval for building public schools from modernizers, especially among fellow ]. Most states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "normal schools" to train professional teachers.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mark |last=Groen |title=The Whig Party and the Rise of Common Schools, 1837–1854 |journal=American Educational History Journal |year=2008 |volume=35 |issue=1/2 |pages=251–260 }}</ref> This quickly developed into a widespread form of school which later became known as the '']''.

==A Whig in Congress==
In the spring of 1848 he was elected to the ] as a ] to fill the vacancy caused by the death of ]. His first speech in that role was in advocacy of its right and duty to exclude ] from the territories, and in a letter, in December of that year, he said: "I think the country is to experience serious times. Interference with slavery will excite civil commotion in the South. But it is best to interfere. Now is the time to see whether the Union is a rope of sand or a band of steel."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mann|first=Horace|title=Speech of Horace Mann, on the right of Congress to legislate for the territories of the United States, and its duty to exclude slavery therefrom|publisher=William B. Fowle|year=1848|location=Boston}}</ref> Again he said: "I really think if we insist upon passing the ] for the territories that the south—a part of them—will rebel; but I would pass it, rebellion or not. I consider no evil so great as the extension of slavery."<ref>James Ford Rhodes, ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Mckinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896'' (1892) vol 1, Page 132. </ref>

During the first session, he volunteered as counsel for ], who were indicted for stealing 76 slaves in the ], and at the trial was engaged for 21 successive days in their defense. In 1850, he was engaged in a controversy with ] concerning the extension of slavery and the ], calling Webster's support for the ] a "vile catastrophe", and comparing him to "Lucifer descending from Heaven".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Speech_Costs_Senator_His_Seat.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Speech Costs Senator His Seat|access-date=March 20, 2018|archive-date=December 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210015521/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Speech_Costs_Senator_His_Seat.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|title=Profiles in Courage| year=2004| pages=69–70}}</ref> Mann was defeated by a single vote at the ensuing nominating convention by Webster's supporters; but, on appealing to the people as an independent anti-slavery candidate, he was re-elected, serving from April 1848 until March 1853.

==Abolitionism==

Mann was a staunch opponent of slavery as a member of Congress; in a written address to an 1852 "Convention of the Colored Freemen of Ohio" he stated: {{Blockquote|hat slavery is to continue always, it would be the grossest atheism to affirm. A belief in the existence of a just Governor of the Universe, includes a belief in the final and utter abolition of slavery."}} In the same address he opposed plans to forcibly deport freedmen from the United States to other nations: {{Blockquote|The idea of forcibly expelling the American born negro from the place of his birth and residence, and driving him out of the country against his will, is as abhorrent to my notions of justice and equality, as it can be to those of anyone. The next most cruel thing to kidnapping a race of men, forcing them from their home and dooming them to slavery in a foreign land, would be the seizure of the descendants of that race, and driving them from the new home they had acquired. So great a crime as this second expatriation would be, could hardly be conceived unless by a mind that had prepared itself for it by participating in the commission of the first.}} Mann considered there to be three legitimate methods by which the Africans in captivity in the US could emancipate themselves, including, as a last resort, that {{Blockquote|"such as our revolutionary fathers adopted against Great Britain not only with the justification but with the approval of the civilized world. For this there are two conditions: a sufficient degree of oppression to authorize an appeal to force, and a chance, on the part of the oppressed, of bettering their condition. The measure of the first condition is already full - heaped up - running over. The second condition will be fulfilled, either when the slaves believe they can obtain their freedom by force, or when they are so elevated and enlarged in their moral conceptions as to appreciate that glorious supplication of ], 'Give me liberty or give me death!'"}} Mann's preferred method for the self-emancipation of the slaves was that free blacks should voluntarily form all-black communities of their own - either in ] or in another Caribbean nation - or perhaps in the American West - in which men like ], ] and ] "instead of making speeches might be making laws. Instead of commanding the types of a newspaper press might be commanding armies and navies" and could more effectively organize the liberation of their enslaved brethren in the U.S. from these strongholds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://credo.library.umass.edu/cgi-bin/pdf.cgi?id=scua:mums312-b239-i036 |title=Letter, Horace Mann to 1852 Convention of the Colored Freemen of Ohio |last=Mann |first=Horace |date=December 31, 1851 |website=Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries: W.E.B. Du Bois Papers |publisher=David Graham Du Bois Trust |access-date=January 30, 2022 |pages=19–23 |quote="However disastrous may be the result of the first, or the tenth, or the hundredth struggle on the part of the slave; however many of the colored ] and ] of that revolution may be singled out for vengeance and placed beyond the reach of pardon each death will be transfigured into a multitude of more glorious lives, and for every drop of heroic blood which the earth shall drink, it will send back an armed man." |archive-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130171219/https://credo.library.umass.edu/cgi-bin/pdf.cgi?id=scua:mums312-b239-i036 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Leadership of Antioch College and last years==
]'s a studio, {{circa|1849}}]]
In September 1852, he was nominated for ] by the ], and the same day was chosen president of the newly established ] at ]. Failing in the election for governor, he accepted the presidency of the college, which he continued until his death. There he taught economics, philosophy, and theology; he was popular with students and with lay audiences across the Midwest who attended his lectures promoting public schools. Mann also employed the first female faculty member to be paid on an equal basis with her male colleagues, ], his niece. His commencement message to the class of 1859 was to "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://alumni.antiochcollege.edu/page/victories-grant|title=Antioch College - Winning Victories Grant|website=alumni.antiochcollege.edu|language=en-us|access-date=April 26, 2020|archive-date=December 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217150052/https://alumni.antiochcollege.edu/page/victories-grant|url-status=live}}</ref>

Antioch College was founded by the ], which later withdrew its financial support causing the college to struggle for many years with meager financial resources due to sectarian infighting. Mann himself was charged with nonadherence to sectarianism because, previously a ] by upbringing, he joined the ].

Mann was also drawn to Antioch because it was a coeducational institution, among the first in the country to teach men and women in the same classes, Mann and his wife had conflicts with female students, however, who came to Yellow Springs in search of greater equality. The young women chafed at restrictions on their behavior, and wanted to meet with men in literary societies, which Mann and his wife opposed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rury |first1=John |last2=Harper |first2=Glenn |title=Mann and Women at Antioch |journal=History of Education Quarterly |date=Winter 1986 |volume=26 |issue=4 |page=481|doi=10.2307/369009 |jstor=369009 |s2cid=144827867 }}</ref>

He collapsed shortly after the 1859 commencement and died that summer of ]. Antioch historian Robert Straker wrote that Mann had been "crucified by crusading sectarians." ] lamented "what seems the fatal waste of labor and life at Antioch." Mann's wife, who wrote in anguish that "the blood of martyrdom waters the spot," later disinterred his body from Yellow Springs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Burton R. |title=The Distinctive College |publisher=Adline Publishing Co. |year=1970 |page=16}}</ref> He is buried in the ] in ],<ref></ref> next to his first wife.

==Legacy==
Historians treat Mann as one of the most important leaders of education reform in the antebellum period.<ref name="Mark Groen 1854, pp 251–260" /><ref>{{cite journal |first=Barbara |last=Finkelstein |title=Perfecting Childhood: Horace Mann and the Origins of Public Education in the United States |journal=Biography |date=Winter 1990 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=6–20|doi=10.1353/bio.2010.0400 |s2cid=144976387 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas C. |last=Hunt |title=Moral Education in America's Schools |year=2005 |pages=31–48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=R. B. |last=Downs |title=Horace Mann: Champion of the Public Schools |year=1974}}</ref>

=== Commemoration ===
]|alt=]]
Many places around the world are named after Mann. Among them are more than 50 public schools in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Search for Public Schools - Search Results|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&InstName=Horace+Mann&SchoolID=&Address=&City=&State=&Zip=&Miles=&County=&PhoneAreaCode=&Phone=&DistrictName=&DistrictID=&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=nces.ed.gov|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200633/https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&InstName=Horace+Mann&SchoolID=&Address=&City=&State=&Zip=&Miles=&County=&PhoneAreaCode=&Phone=&DistrictName=&DistrictID=&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1|url-status=live}}</ref>
] (1863) by ]]] ] (1863) by ]]]
] stands in front of the ] along with that of ]. ] stands in front of the ] along with that of ].

Revision as of 09:10, 22 January 2024

sp?Search=1&InstName=Horace+Mann&SchoolID=&Address=&City=&State=&Zip=&Miles=&County=&PhoneAreaCode=&Phone=&DistrictName=&DistrictID=&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Statue of Horace Mann (1863) by Emma Stebbins

Horace Mann's statue stands in front of the Massachusetts State House along with that of Daniel Webster.

At Antioch College, a monument carries his quote, which has been recently adopted as the college motto: "Be Ashamed to Die Until You Have Won Some Victory for Humanity."

The University of Northern Colorado named the gates to their campus in his dedication, a gift of the Class of 1910.

The Springfield, Illinois-based Illinois Education Association Mutual Insurance Company, was renamed in honor of Mann in 1950 as the Horace Mann Educators Corporation.

Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, has a building named Horace Mann School. It currently houses the Student Welcoming Center.

In Massachusetts, public charter schools that are authorized by local school districts are known as Horace Mann charters.

Horace Mann School, the Bronx, New York City

Brown University Graduate School awards an annual Horace Mann Medal to one of its alumni.

Schools

Horace Mann House at Brown University, Mann's alma mater

College and university buildings

Works

See also

References

  1. "University History: A Photographic History of UNC". University of Northern Colorado. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  2. "Horace Mann Medal | Graduate School". www.brown.edu. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  3. "Horace Mann Elementary". Hominy Public Schools. Archived from the original on April 15, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  4. "What Happens When A Neighborhood Loses Its School?". 90.5 WESA. October 24, 2018. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  5. "Pages - default". public.rcas.org. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  6. "Horace Mann Junior High School Home Page". Goose Creek Independent School District. Archived from the original on December 31, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  7. "Middle Schools - Wausau School District". www.wausauschools.org. Archived from the original on September 2, 2014.

Works cited

Further reading

  • Cremin, Lawrence A. American Education: The National Experience (1982).
  • Curti, Merle. The Social Ideas of American Educators (1935) pp. 101–38 online
  • Downs, Robert B. Horace Mann: Champion of the Public Schools (1974) online
  • Finkelstein, Barbara. "Perfecting Childhood: Horace Mann and the Origins of Public Education in the United States," Biography, Winter 1990, Vol. 13#1 pp. 6–20
  • Hinsdale, Burke A. Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States (New York, 1898), in the Great Educators series online
  • Kalvin, Louis. "The Educational Philosophy of Horace Mann" (PhD dissertation, New York University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1936 7303222).
  • Kendall, Kathleen Edgerton. "Education as 'The Balance Wheel of Social Machinery': Horace Mann's Arguments and Proofs," Quarterly Journal of Speech (1968) 54#1 pp. 13–21.
  • Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann; a biography (1972) online, a standard scholarly biography
  • Messerli, Jonathan. "The Early Education of Horace Mann: Home, Meeting House, and Village" Historian (1967) 29#3.
  • Murphy, Garry Paul.  "Professional development of Massachusetts school teachers: An examination of the Horace Mann Teacher Program" (PhD dissertation, Boston College; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1990. 9101677).
  • Peterson, Paul E. Saving schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning (Harvard University Press, 2010)
  • Stornello, Joe Allen. "Horace Mann and twentieth-century educational historians: Problems of ideology and knowledge in historical texts" (PhD dissertation, University of Missouri - Kansas City; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1998. 9900319).
  • Taylor, Bob Pepperman. Horace Mann's Troubling Legacy: The Education of Democratic Citizens (University Press of Kansas, 2010).
  • Vinovskis, Maris A. "Horace Mann on the Economic Productivity of Education," New England Quarterly (1970) 43#4 pp. 550–571. online
  • Whiting, George C. "Horace Mann: A comparison of a traditional and a revisionist biography" (PhD dissertation,  The College of William and Mary; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1989. 8923063).
  • Woodworth, Jed.  "Horace Mann and the Revolution in American Childhood" (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2016. 10190139).

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