A. Large sums have been appropriated by government, for the purposes of education, yet nearly all has been expended in endowing universities, in which the sons of the noble and rich could alone gain access. Q. Have the people of the United States pursued a similar plan? A. No: desirous that none should be ignorant, their principal care has been to impart the advantages of instruction to the whole mass of the population. Q. What law was passed in 1647, in regard to schools? A. A law was passed in Massachusetts, providing that a school should be kept in every town containing fifty families, in which all the children might be taught to read and write. Q. What is the amount of the school fund in Connecticut now, 1833 ? A. About two millions of dollars. Q. What was the number of children in all the school districts in Connecticut, in 1832? A. Eighty-five thousand. Q. What sum of money was divided among the school districts of this state, during the same year? A. Seventy-six thousand six hundred dollars. Q. What was the amount of the school fund in NewYork, in 1832! A. The productive capital was one million seven hundred thousand dollars, besides 869,000 acres of land. Q. What was the number of scholars in the common schools of this state, in 1832 ? A. Five hundred and six thousand. Q. What has the national government done in regard to education? A. In offering the unappropriated land of the United States for sale, there has been reserved in every township, one section, comprising 640 acres, for the support of schools. Q. Which is the oldest college in the United States, and when was it founded? A. Harvard; founded in the year 1638, only eighteen years from the settlement of Plymouth. Q. When was Yale College founded? Q. How many colleges are there in the United States now, 1833? A. Sixty one. Q. What celebrated inventors may America boast of? A. America may boast of her Godfrey, whose quadrant has been almost as serviceable, as the compass, to navigation; of her Franklin, who has made our dwellings comfortable within, and protected them from the lightnings of heaven; of her Whitney, whose cotton-gin has added greatly to the product of that article; of her Whittemore, the inventor of the wonderful machine for making cards; of her Perkins, the inventor of the nail machine; and of her Fulton, who has rendered the power of steam subservient to the purposes of navigation. Q. Who are her most eminent historians? A. Marshall, Ramsay, Belknap, and Williams; the works of Franklin, and the Annals of Home, are also works of sterling merit. Q. Can you mention the most celebrated theological writers? A. Yes: Edwards, Hopkins, Dwight, Lathrop, Davies. Kollock, and Miller, are justly celebrated. Q. What American painters have acquired a high repu tation? A. Benjamin West, Leslie, Copley, Stuart, and Trumbull. Q. How often does the population of the United States double? A. It doubles in less than twenty-five years. Q. How often does the population of Great Britain double? A. Once in eighty years. Q. In reviewing our history, what questions seem naturally to arise? A. Who of our ancestors anticipated results from their toil, so great and stupendous as those which we behold? Who of them predicted, that they were commencing an empire that, within two centuries, would extend thousands of miles, and embrace a population of twelve millions? Who then thought of cities a thousand miles from the Atlantic, with their busy population? Yet, all this, and fur more, has been brought to pass. Q. In what manner did the branch planted by our an cestors, acquire stability? A. It has acquired stability by oppression, and gathered importance from the efforts made to crush it. A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF AMERICAN EVENTS, FROM THE DISCOVERY, IN 1492, TO THE YEAR 1834 A. D. 1492 America discovered by Christopher Columbus. 1584 Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh. 1608 Quebec founded. 1610 Hudson Bay discovered. 1614 New-York settled. 1620 Settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts. 1623 New-Hampshire settled. 1624 New-Jersey settled. 1627 Delaware settled. 1633 Connecticut settled. 1634 Maryland settled. 1636 Rhode Island settled. 1639 The first printing press established in America, at Cambridge. 1650 North and South Carolina settled. 1681 Pennsylvania settled. 1700 Yale College founded. 1704 First newspaper published in America, at Boston. 1732 February 22, George Washington born. Georgia settled. 1745 June 6, Louisburg and Cape Breton taken by the British troops. 1755 Defeat of General Braddock. 1759 September 17, General Wolfe takes Quebec. 1760 Montreal taken by the British. A. D. 1765 Stamp Act passed. 1775 April 19, battle of Lexington. June 17, battle of Bunker's hill. 1776 March 17, British evacuate Boston. July 2, Constitution of New-Jersey adopted. 4, INDEPENDENCE proclaimed. 5, Constitution of Virginia adopted. August 4, Constitution of Maryland adopted. 27, battle of Flatbush, (L. I.) 30, New-York evacuated. November 16, capture of Fort Washington. April 20, Constitution of New-York adopted. August 16, battle of Bennington. 20, defeat of General Wayne. 22, British defeated at Red Bank. December 18, Constitution of N. Carolina adopted. 1778 February 6, treaty with France. June 18, battle of Monmouth. August 29, battle of Rhode Island. 1779 May 12, siege of Charleston. July 16, Stony Point taken. August 29, Sullivan defeats the Indians. 1780 March 2, Constitution of Massachusetts adopted. 21, Charleston (S. C.) besieged. May 12, Charleston surrenders. August 6, Sumpter defeats the British. September 21, Arnold's desertion. October 7, battle of King's Mountain. |