thought
The Massachusetts system of education is a noble tribute to freedom of
thought. The power of educating a people, which is, in fine, the chief
power in a state, has been often, if not usually, perverted to the
support of favored opinions in religion and government. The boasted
system of Prussia is only a prop and ally of the existing order of
things. In France, Napoleon makes the press, which has become in
civilized countries an educator of the people, the mere instrument of
his will. Tyrants do not hesitate to pervert schools and the press,
learning and literature, to the support of tyranny. But with us the
press and the school are free; and this freedom, denied through fear in
other countries, is the best evidence of the stability of our
institutions. It is now a hundred years since an attempt was made in
Massachusetts to exercise legal censorship over the press; but we
occasionally hear of movements to make the public schools of America
subservient to sect or party. The success of these movements would be as
great a calamity as can ever befall a free people. Ignorance would take
the place of learning, and slavery would usurp the domain of liberty.
