"The School Is under My Direction": The Politics of Education at Fort Vancouver, 1836-1838

Stephen Woolworth Tlic School Is Under My Direction" ThePoliticsofEducation at FortVancouver, 1836-1838 Mr. Beaver and Dr. McLoughlin now do not speak to each other and thegentlemen of theFort have not attended the servicesfor several Sabbaths. The difficulty is about the school and thedoctrines that should be taught. ? Narcissa Whitman, 1836 As the young students of Fort Vancouver arrived for school in the gray, damp of latewinter on theColumbia River, they spoke inCree, Nez Perce, Klickitat, Chinook Jargon, and L. French.1 Their teacher, an American named Solomon Smith, attempted to calm the "bedlam" by calling them to order. "Having come from a land of discipline," and therefore believing in the necessity of order in the schoolroom, Smith explained to the students how he planned to manage the school. To his surprise, the one student who understood En glish challenged his authority.2 At some point during the standoff between Smith and the boy, Dr. JohnMcLoughlin appeared in the doorway. Stand ing at about six foot fourwith longwhite hair and a set of broad, muscular shoulders, McLoughlin was a physically imposing figure. As chief factor of Fort Vancouver, themost western depot of theHudson sBay Company in theOregon Country, McLoughlin was well known throughout the region. 228 OHQ vol. 104, no. 2 ? 2003 Oregon Historical Society Fort Vancouver, looking across the Columbia River atMt. Hood Visitors to the forthad described him as fair,generous, and courteous, but he had also earned a reputation for being strong-willed, dictatorial, and short-tempered. Itwas this last trait, along with McLoughlin's belief in corporal punishment, that spelled trouble for the defiant young student.3 AfterMcLoughlin was informed of the boy's disrespectful manner, Solo mon Smith later reported, he "made such an example of the boy that I never afterward had any trouble inmy governing."4 If therewere any questions about the chief factor's intention to direct themanagement of the fort's school, it seems likely that theywere an swered with his thrashing of the defiant young student. McLoughlin had started the school in the remote settlement, and he intended towatch over itclosely. This would become even more apparent in the years ahead with the arrival ofHerbert Beaver, the fort's first chaplain, who claimed that he ? notMcLoughlin ? was the resident authority on schooling. The subse quent contest that developed between the twomen to control the school at Fort Vancouver was the first recorded formal conflict over education in the Pacific Northwest. Itbegan because McLoughlin and Beaver could not Woolworth, "The School IsUnder My Direction" 229 come to terms on the school's mission and what itwas that theywanted theNative and m?tis children in the fort to learn. While the contest between McLoughlin and Beaver received consider able attention in the Oregon Historical Quarterly and other Northwest publications during the firsthalf of the twentieth century, there are several compelling reasons to revisit the dispute. To begin with, the examination of the conflict has been more descriptive than analytical.5 In addition, little has been written about how each man perceived his own authority vis-?-vis the fort school. For instance, on what grounds did McLoughlin and Beaver base their formal claims of authority with regard to theman agement of the school? How were those claims of authority influenced by religion, culture, and profession? Some writers have tended to reduce the complexity of the conflict to the personalities of the two principal actors while overlooking the structure and organization of the Hudson s Bay Company.Put simply, how did theCompany figureintothedispute? In March 1821, theHudson sBay Company merged with itsformer competitor, theNorth West Company, enabling the HBC access to some threemillion square miles ? roughly one-quarter ofNorth America ? stretching from theAtlantic to the Pacific Ocean. "The HBC retained exclusive trade privileges inRupert's Land. A royal grant of December 1821 extended these privileges, rent free, to land outside the Canadian provinces and to the Pacific slope. By deed of covenant, the Company agreed to abide by the terms embodied in an 1821Act of Parlia ment 'regulating the Fur Trade and establishing a Criminal and Civil Ju risdiction within certain parts of North America.' "6 In 1825,HBC head quarters was moved from...