The Rhode Island Republican

Education.—The instruction of the common mind should be the common concern.— Let the whole people be educated and brought up to the standard of good citizens and intelligent and moral members of society. Let the government care for those who have no one else to care for them. The poor, the weak, the depressed, and the neglected, have the greatest need of the protecting arm and the succoring hand of the Commonwealth. Let the children of such be deemed the children of the republic, and furnished with suitable means of instruction, that their powers, mental and physical, may be developed, and they be converted into ornaments and blessings to the community. Let the town schools be open to all, and made so respectable and so useful, that all may desire to enter them. The district school, properly governed and instructed, is a nursery of democratic sentiments. It strikingly illustrates government. There, before the pride of family, or wealth, or other adventitious distinction has taken deep root in the young heart, assemble upon a perfect level, children of all circumstances and situations of life. There they learn that rewards and honors do not depend upon accidental advantages, but upon superior diligence, good conduct, and improvement. There they have practically written upon their tender minds, too deeply to be obliterated by the after occurrences and changes of life, the great principles of equal rights, equal duties, and equal advantages.

It is the illumination of the universal mind that is the sure foundation of democracy. It is the elevation of every rational soul into moral and intellectual consciousness and dignity, that is to carry onward improvements in our social and civil institutions. To this end should be directed the highest aims and efforts of the legislature.

— Marcus Morton.