The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”

1. Introduction
Benjamin Justice

Part I. Methods

2. The Mysterious No. 3
Lisa Green

3. “Raked from the Rubbish”: Stylometric Authorship Attribution and the 1795 American Philosophical Society Education Contest
Eric Strome

Part II. Meanings

4. False Start: The Failure of an Early “Race to the Top”
Campbell Scribner

5. “Encouraging Useful Knowledge” in the Early Republic: The Roles of State Governments and Voluntary Organizations
Nancy Beadie

6. Race and Schooling in Early Republican Philadelphia
Hilary Moss

7. Gender and Citizenship in Educational Plans in the New Republic
Margaret Nash

8. The Significance of the “French School” in Early National Female Education
Kim Tolley

9. The Place of Religion in Early National School Plans
Benjamin Justice

10. The Perceived Dangers of Study Abroad, 1780–1800: Nationalism, Internationalism, and the Origins of the American University
Adam R. Nelson

Part III. Materials: Essays from the American Philosophical Society Education Contest, 1795–1797

11. Introduction to the Essays: Reading the Late Eighteenth Century in the Early Twenty-First
Benjamin Justice

12. Remarks on Education: Illustrating the Close Connection Between Virtue and Wisdom: To which is Annexed, a System of Liberal Education
Samuel Harrison Smith

13. An Essay on the Best System of Liberal Education, Adapted to the Genius of the Government of the United States. Comprehending Also, an Uniform, General Plan for Instituting and Conducting Public Schools, in this Country, on the Principles of the Most Extensive Utility
Samuel Knox

14. Review of Essay No. 3, “A Letter to the American Philosophical Society in Answer to their First Prize Question.”
Benjamin Justice

15. On Education and Public Schools
Hiram

16. A Plan for the Education of Youth
Academicus

17. Concerning Education in Public Schools
Hand

18. Concerning Education in Pennsylvania
Freedom

Keywords: Education, History of Education, Administration, Organization and Leadership, Educational Philosophy, History of the Americas, US History, Modern History