9913 poses. The articles of association for the city of Mt. Carmel provided for the division of the town site into a number of lots, one-fourth of which were called "public donation lots * *appropriated to the use of schools and religious purposes." The money realized from the sale of the public donation lots constituted a fund from which one-third was to be used for a male academy, one-third for a female academy, and the remaining one-third for religious purposes. Accordingly, a school was opened by Beauchamp, in 1819, and a charter was granted by the legislature in 1825. Mt. Carmel was early a center of Methodist influence in the southern part of the state. Religious conferences were held in the town, out of which originated the movement which resulted in the founding of McKendreean College.* The New England influence was accentuated by the Congregational and Presbyterian preachers and missionaries from that district. "Mr. Wylie was the first Presbyterian clergyman, who settled permanently, in Illinois. This gentleman was at the head of the seminary of learning in Randolph county, as well as attending to his clerical duties.''15 Rev. J. M. Ellis went to Illinois about 1820, and recognizing the need for schools, he began to advocate a seminary. Money was raised and Ellis appealed to an eastern missionary society for help. This appeal fell into the hands of a member of the Yale class of 1828. Being interested in home missions, this graduate interested others of his class in the formation of the Illinois Association with the following pledge: "Believing in the entire alienation of the heart from God, in the necessity of the influence of the Holy Spirit for its renovation, and that these influences are not to be expected without the use of means; deeply impressed also with the destitute condition of the western section of our country, and the urgent claims of its inhabitants upon the benevolence of the East, and in view of the fearful crisis which is evidently approaching, and which we believe can only be averted by speedy and energetic measures on the part of the friends 13 Boggess, Settlement of Illinois, p. 198, in Chi. Hist. Soc. Col., v. 5. 14 Ibid. The early name of McKendree college. 15 Reynolds, My Own Times, p. 199. of religion and literature in the older state; and believing that evangelical religion and literature must go hand in hand to the successful accomplishment of this desired end, we, the undersigned, express our readiness to go to the state of Illinois for the purpose of establishing a seminary of learning such as shall be best adapted to the exigencies of that country, a part of us to engage in instruction in the seminary, the others, to occupy, as preachers, important stations in the surrounding country: provided the undertaking be decided practicable and the location approved: and provided also, the providence of God permits us to engage in it. THERON BALDWIN, J. M. STURTEVANT, Theological Department, Yale College, February 21, 1829." 10 One member of this group, Lemuel Foster, was sent as a missionary to Illinois. He drove overland with his bride and was ordained at Jacksonville, in 1832. He preached and his wife taught school in a log cabin. A little later, they had an academy with two school rooms on the first floor and a church above. The founder of Monticello Seminary had distinctly a religious conception in mind. This is his account: "One morning, while lying in bed, somewhat indisposed, my wife came into the room, and as she went out, made some remark. One of our little children that had just begun to lisp a few words, caught the remark, and while playing by itself on the floor, repeated it over and over a great many times. This led me to reflect on the powerful effect of a mother's example on the minds, manners, and habits of her off-spring, and no less powerful influence that females have over society at large. Hence the great necessity of their being qualified for those important and responsible situations, in this life, which God, in His infinite wisdom has assigned them * And being desirous to act the part of a faithful steward of what God 16 Sturtevant, Autobiography, p. 139. had placed in my possession, I resolved to devote so much of it as would erect a building, to be devoted to the moral, intellectual and domestic improvement of females, particularly those whose means were limited." 17 A religious motive impelled the founding of many of the academies and higher institutions of learning in Illinois up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The same spirit which sent missionaries and preachers from the older states to look after the religious welfare of the people on the frontier was prominent in the foresight for and care of the educational institutions. Thus the Yale movement was not only an educational conception but a religious undertaking as well. About the time, though, that the New England band went to Jacksonville, the abolitionists, headed by William Lloyd Garrison, were stirring the country into a bitter rage of sectionalism. Illinois was plunged into the strife of sectional hatred so that the New England group-from the home states which had produced and supported Garrison-were looked upon, at least, with suspicion. They sought to allay and assuage that feeling by cooperating with the older denominations in the state and by trying to find southern or western professors for some of the college departments. Another obstacle, however, was encountered when the New England Presbyterian-Congregational denominations first tried to obtain a charter for Illinois College from the legislature which was still southern. The law makers were afraid of the sectarian influence which might result. Judge Hall put the case thus: "In several instances, acts of incorporation for seminaries of learning, and for religious associations, have been refused by the legislature; and one institution of learning has been incorporated, with an expressed provision, that no theological department shall ever be attached to it. This is another indication of public sentiment in this state, or at least of the policy of the legislature. There seems to be a great dread among law givers, of religious domination, and of sectarian influence. Bills for acts to incorporate religious societies, for the single purpose of enabling them to hold a few acres of ground for their meeting house and graveyard have been more than once intro 17 State Supt. Rept., 1867-8, p. 266. duced and rejected. No college, or other institution of learning, in which any one religious sect is known to have a predominant influence, has ever yet received a charter in this state; nor will any such institution ever be incorporated there unless public sentiment shall undergo radical change."' 18 Judge Hall then argued for the right and necessity of religious denominations instructing their children: "If religious denominations think proper to educate their own children in their own tenets, they have a clear right to do so. It is enough for those who object to the exertion of sectarian influence upon the young mind, to withhold their support from institutions which they disapprove. The granting of a charter to a literary institution, confers upon it no moral power, stamps no authority upon the tenets of the persons who control it, nor affects in the slightest degree, any of the rights of conscience. It merely gives to such an institution facilities for the transaction of its financial concerns, and for the safe-keeping of funds bestowed upon it by the benevolent, for public and beneficial purposes." "In a country, where religious opinions are perfectly unshackled, and men may believe and worship as they please, it seems to be unfair, that they should not be allowed every facility for educating their children according to the dictates of their own judgment; and we doubt, whether it is not a violation of the spirit at least, of our free institutions, to refuse to a religious society, the ordinary facilities of law, for the protection of its property, the management of its concerns, and the dissemination of its opinions. The truth is, that the best colleges in the United States are sectarian; each of them is under the direct patronage and influence of a religious sect. No college, from which such influence has been excluded, by expressed prohibition, has been successful. The reason of this seems to be that the business of education falls naturally into the hands of the clergy. It comes legitimately within the sphere of their duties. They are fitted for it by the nature of their studies and pursuits; while liberally educated men, in other professions, could only become qualified for the business of tuition 18 Hall, Sketches of the West, 1835, v. 2, p. 206. by the sacrifice of their other avocations. Those avocations are too lucrative and honorable to be abandoned by men of talents, for the humble and precarious calling of teacher or professor.'' 18 The new democracy, moreover, feared that there was on foot a plan to unite the church and state to establish an aristocratic clergy, and to destroy the liberties of the people. Consequently, when Alton, Illinois and McKendreean Colleges and several academies petitioned the legislature from 1830 to 1835, for articles of incorporation, charters were refused. The educational convention of common schools at Vandalia, in 1833, with numerous petitions by friends of the colleges and academies, caused the Committee on Petitions to make this report to the legislature: "In view of your committee, three questions here arise upon the settlement of which the whole matter will turn." 19 "1. Are institutions of this character really needed in this state? 2. Is it important to their success that the trustees who manage them should become bodies corporate? 3. Can corporate powers be granted with safety to the public interest?", 20 With regard to the first question, the committee found that higher institutions were necessary to furnish teachers for the common schools. The latter are unable to exist without the former. Therefore, it should be the policy to charter academic institutions. The other argument, relative to the first question, stated that higher institutions were necessary to provide scientific men. They instanced such men as Sir Humphry Davy and Eli Whitney. "The engineer, for instance, upon whom we must depend, to survey, and at every step of their progress direct in the construction of our canals and railroads, must be acquainted with algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. * We must have institutions which shall be the depositories of science-liberally endowed-and furnished with apparatus, libraries, and able and learned men as instructors ** who shall write our school books. 18 Hall, Sketches from the West, 1835, v. 2, p. 206. |