In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

C h a p t e r 2 1 Free Schools, Not Free Common Schools Universal free schools came to West Virginia with the creation of the new state and the writing of its constitution. The issue of education was intertwined politically with other Civil War era issues. Political separation of constituencies that favored free schools from those who opposed them is difficult because of the usual lack of politicalcandor.Fromthecreationoffreepublicschoolsintheoriginal constitution, most West Virginians, as time passed, in increasing numbers came to recognize the societal benefit of them. Throughout the era, however, opponents of West Virginia statehood and Confederates tended to include creation of free schools among the calamities that had befallen western Virginia, and they demanded a return to an older time without public schools. Pro-Union and Republican Party advocates and newspapers had continually warned that the abolition of free schools would be the firstresultwhenDemocratsandformerConfederatesachievedpoliticaldomination. After the convention began, the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer warned that the First Family Virginians and their sympathizers in the assembly covertly opposed the free public school system but feared to attack it openly because of substantial public support for the enterprise. They would try to administer “a fatal stab” indirectly by provisions weakening the present system. Possibilities were the elimination of the office of state school superintendent or having the county court run the system along with its duties of building roads and bridges. The latter activity would compete for funds on an equal or advantageous basis. These silent opponents could not accept anything that resembled a Yankee system created by Republicans and Unionists. The paper surmised that in the final analysis, attacks on the free school system would fail because the people of West Virginia supported it. Out of eleven delegates on the Committee of Taxation, Finance, and Education, not one was a Republican who had supported free schools. The Intelligencer credited President Samuel Price for this packing of the committee with hostile members.1 507 508 West Virginia’s Civil War–Era Constitution Immediately before the convention began to consider the education question, the Democratic Wheeling Daily Register copied an editorial from its sister paper, the Charleston Courier, that warned Democratic delegates that the convention had to provide adequately for public education if they sought ratification of their work. The Courier viewed a fully funded, distinctive, and independent system as essential for effectiveness. The Register, in the same issue, added its admonition to fellow Democrats that the unified sentiment of the state’s people favored free schools and that ratification depended on providing for them. The educational provisions had to equal or exceed present constitutional requirements for schools. The Register’s editor read fifty-one West Virginia newspapers of all political stripes published where 75 percent of state population resided, and he knew none that advocated impairment of the school system’s efficiency. The paper also supported separation of schools from any department of state government so that their function could be efficient, honest, and accountable.2 Because of the convention’s committee structure where specific committees had sole jurisdiction over specific topics, proposals regarding education reposed, along with corporation and railroad matters, with the taxation, finance, and education committee. The convention’s order of business considered education matters simultaneously with prospective corporate and railroad provisions. William H. Travers, chairman of the committee, submitted his committee’s report on education to the convention on 13 March. Perhaps ominous and justifying the fears of supporters of the free school system, the Travers committee had changed the article’s heading from “Education” as in the existing constitution to “Free Common Schools.” This designation revealed the traditional Virginia disparagement of free public schools. The report was laid on the table, and the convention ordered it to be printed.3 An anonymous writer, “Kanawha,” reported to the Register that a general feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction in the convention greeted the committee report. The opinion was that “its recommendations are feeble and do not come up to the requirements of public opinion.” The report called for only three months of schooling and provided no means to enforce this minimal amount, the observer complained. He predicted that the convention would never approve the report and would have to breathe some life and vitality into the education provisions.4 On 25 March, Chairman William H. Travers moved that the proposed education article be taken up and referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration. Section 1 empowered the legislature to provide by general law “for...

Share