“If, then education be of admitted importance to the people, under all
forms of Governments, and of unquestioned necessity when they govern
themselves, it follows of course that its cultivation and diffusion is a
matter of public concern and a duty which every government owes to its
people. . . .
“Many complain of this tax, not so much on account of its amount, as
because it is for the benefit of others and not themselves. This is a mistake;
it is for their own benefit, inasmuch as it perpetuates the Government . . . .
He who would oppose it, either through inability to comprehend the
advantages of general education, or from unwillingness to bestow them
on all his fellow citizens, even to the lowest and the poorest, or from dread
of popular vengeance, seems to me to want [lack] either the head of the
philosopher, the heart of the philanthropist, or the nerve of the hero.”
Representative Thaddeus Stevens, speech to
the Pennsylvania Legislature, 1835
KEY TERMS BY THEME
Reforming Society (POL)
temperance
American Temperance
Society
Washingtonians
Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union
asylum movement
Dorothea Dix
Thomas Gallaudet
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe
penitentiaries
Auburn system
Horace Mann
common (public) school
movement
McGuffey readers
Seneca Falls Convention
(1848)
Susan B. Anthony
American Peace Society
Abolition Efforts (POL)
American Colonization
Society
American Antislavery
Society
abolition
William Lloyd Garrison; The
Liberator
Liberty Party
Frederick Douglass; The
North Star
Harriet Tubman
David Ruggles
Sojourner Truth
William Still
David Walker
Henry Highland Garnet
Nat Turner
Women’s Rights (SOC)
antebellum period
women’s rights
cult of domesticity
Sarah Grimké
Angelina Grimké
Letters on the Equality
of the Sexes, and the
Condition of Woman
Lucretia Mott
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B. Anthony
240 UNITED STATES HISTORY: AP ® EDITION
1. Which of the following statements best describes the issues causing the
sentiments expressed in the excerpt?
(A) People inspired by Henry David Thoreau were refusing to pay taxes.
(B) Reformers in many states were advocating for publicly funded
education.
(C) Pennsylvania was slower than most states in passing social reforms.
(D) Debates on most issues were based on the growing division over
slavery.
2. The views of Stevens on education were most similar to those of which
of the following groups during the colonial era?
(A) Small farmers in rural regions
(B) Merchants based in large cities
(C) Puritans in New England
(D) Plantation owners in southern colonies
3. Stevens said, “Many complain of this tax, not so much on account of
its amount, as because it is for the benefit of others and not themselves.
This is a mistake.” This statement supported which of the following
positions?
(A) Free public education would help everyone in a society.
(B) High taxes benefit only the poorest people in a society.
(C) Society works best when people act in what they see as their
self-interest.
(D) Society suffers when citizens allow government to expand its role.
1. (B) Reformers in many states were advocating for publicly funded education.
2. (C) Puritans in New England.
3. (A) Free public education would help everyone in a society.