The Classics in the Early Republic
In the aftermath of the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America, the idea of a classical education would gradually come under questioning and attacks. These attacks were by no means new—as far back as the 1760s there had been growing concerns by some scholars and religious figures of “pagan influence” on what was a devout Christian nation.[9] For many the emphasis on pagan cultures and texts at the perceived expense of Christian tradition, teachings, and writings bode a dark path for the emerging American nation. The birth of America only accelerated these questions. Numerous notable thinkers and figures of early American history, such as Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 CE), Thomas Paine (1737-1809 CE), and Benjamin Rush (1745-1813 CE) all questioned the efficacy of a classical education for America.[10] Their primary objections were the prevalence of pagan thought and religion, but also the structure of the curriculum itself. Benjamin Rush notedly found increasing importance in the lessons found in ancient history, writing how “It is absolutely necessary that a boy should first be instructed in history…The classics are now read only for the sake of acquiring knowledge of the construction of the languages…”.[11] The strict and unwavering emphasis on grammar was seen as now inadequate for a new nation, that greater skills and focuses were far more deserving of attention, both within classics and outside. For what purpose did farmers have of Cicero, cobblers of Socrates, or merchants of Cincinnatus?
Yet for all of the objections and attacks made against the classical curriculum, they never succeeded. Due to not only a thoroughly stubborn educated elite and a few notable documents—such as Lord Viscount Bolingbroke’s Letters on the Study and Use of History and the famous (or infamous) Yale Report of 1828, the classical curriculum remained entrenched at the turn of the century and well into the 19th Lord Bolingbroke’s letter, first published in 1752 CE, argued for history to be used as a guideline for present events and crises. In order to truly navigate the chaos of the world, one must look behind so the path ahead would be clear or expected.[12] His writings were hugely influential and continued to support the existence of a classical education. Other attempts were made to reform or change the curriculum in place, with perhaps the most influential of these campaigns occurring at the University of Yale. Multiple educators, advocates, and other individuals campaigned for Yale University to eliminate the requirements of classical language knowledge for entrance into the university. The campaign failed with the publication of the Yale Report of 1828, which doubled down on the place of classics in higher education and reassured readers of all of the boons a classical education granted.[13]
Classics remained to be foundational for education in America, yet even with support from an entrenched scholarly elite it was not without serious problems. The inherent model for classical education with its relentless focus on grammar did not produce effective teachers or instructors for education; their teaching methods were inefficient, ineffective, and at times entirely unprepared for the depth of knowledge needed to be taught outside of just grammar.[14] Students found no relief in their textbooks either. Prior to the 1770s CE, almost every Latin or Greek text, whether it be a textbook, grammar manual, or ancient work, had to be imported from Europe, making these texts difficult to obtain and expensive. After the 1770s CE, classical language works began to be reprinted in America, though they suffered extensively from mistakes, defects, and poor quality.[15] The textbooks available were often massive and incredibly difficult to use as a student—the infamous Graeca Majora, the standard for Greek language learning since 1789 CE, was a loose collection of Greek excerpts with no notes, guides, or additional information, compiled in one unwieldly two-volume set.[16]
Extensive work was done to fix these issues in the 19th century CE thanks in large part to German classical scholarship, where the classics in America underwent a major revitalization. Scholars such as Charles Anthon, Edward Everett (1794-1865 CE) and George Bancroft (1800-1891 CE) incorporated a models and traits of a scholarly movement known as “German New Humanism,” which focused on “an infatuation with the art, literature, and achievements of the ancient Greeks.”[17] Utilizing these theoretical frameworks, new approaches to the classics in America were underway, with new translations and grammar manuals produced in America by Americans for American students—no more was America’s classical needs indebted to overseas production. These revolutions in America have undergone some criticism for not necessarily being innovations but more so unoriginal derivations of other’s scholarship, nonetheless they served to increase the quality and approach to classical texts and language learning in colleges by the mid-19th century.[18]