and eight-story business blocks were replacing those of three and four stories. Gas drove out whale-oil for lighting purposes (1825). Huge stages gave way to the street-car (1831), the first in the world. The mayor, at first appointed at Albany (1777-1822), then chosen by the aldermen (1822-34), was now elected by the people. Cornelius W. Lawrence was the first mayor chosen by ballot.1 The city had fourteen public markets (1835). The valuation of the city had increased from $26,000,000 (1805) to $186,000,000 (1835). The total imports were $77,000,000, and exports $22,196,000. More than $16,000,000 was paid in duties each year.

Life in the Metropolis.-New York in 1835 was far different from the present metropolis. Only a few of the rich could burn coal; the rest burned wood. Hard coal was unknown for fuel, and the match was not thought of. Merchants lived in their own stores. The cobblestone streets were swept every Saturday by each householder. There was but one bath-tub in the city. Bull-baiting, slavery, and lotteries were common. Hogs and cows roamed the streets freely. Milk was distributed by women from tin cans hung from their shoulders. Tobacco and brandy were commonly used. There were but two theaters in the city. Buffalo was four days distant, and Philadelphia thirteen hours. Postboys on horseback brought mail from various directions.2 The people were happy, sociable, well fed, and prosperous.

135,147 votes were cast that year. After 1840, mayors were elected in all the cities of the state.

2

A daily mail was received from Washington.

Social Conditions. In 1834 there were in the city 573 lawyers, 181 brokers, 237 butchers, 1,600 cartmen, 230 druggists, 141 clothiers, 2,700 grocers and tavernkeepers, 559 hotel-keepers, 3,750 merchants, 124 clergymen, 1,220 office-holders, 553 physicians, 163 professors and artists, 285 teachers, 319 shipmasters, and 16,038 mechanics. The city cared for 19,000 paupers at a cost of $90,000. There were two asylums for the insane, one for the deaf and dumb, one for orphans, a poorhouse, a hospital, a refuge, a house of industry, an eye and ear infirmary, and three dispensaries. A debtor's prison still disgraced the city. In 1817 the debtors imprisoned numbered nearly 2,000, of whom half owed debts under $50. Imprisonment for debt was not abolished until April 26, 1831.

CHAPTER XXXII.-PROGRESS IN EDUCATION

Spiritual and Intellectual Progress.-The growth of the state in material welfare was supplemented by social, intellectual, and spiritual development. Churches multiplied and sects increased. Moral ideas against intemperance, slavery, lotteries, gambling, and betting were growing. A higher plane of thought and living was advocated. The colleges increased from two (1811) to seven (1834).1 The forty academies had become eighty, and the private schools numbered about twenty. There were sixty-four schools for girls in the state.

1 Columbia (1754), Union (1795), Hamilton (1812), Geneva (1825), University of the City of New York (1831).

Education after the Revolution.-After the Revolution Governor George Clinton led the movement for an educational system worthy of the young commonwealth. The first step was to reorganize King's College as Columbia College and place it under a state board of regents (1784). The whole educational system of the state was soon put under the supervision of this body (1787). The regents early recommended a publicschool system, but that was not to come for some years. In 1789 the legislature reserved from public lands 500 acres in each township to support the gospel and schools. Two years later the first public common school was authorized for Clermont, Columbia county, to be supported from the poor fund. The corner-stone of the common schools was laid when, in 1795, $50,000 a year was appropriated for five years to establish schoo's to complete a good education." Each town receiving help had to raise an equal amount by taxation.

Steps toward Free Schools. When public funds stopped (1800), the schools languished, though efforts were made to raise money by lottery. Governor Lewis in 1805 induced the legislature to set aside the proceeds of the sale of 500,000 acres of land for the support of schools. When the interest amounted to $50,000 it was. to be distributed yearly. This was the basis of the present common-school fund. In 1826 the annual income was $100,000. The number of schools and pupils grew rapidly. In 1798 there were 1,352 schools in which 60,000 children were taught. There were 2,755 districts and 140,106 scholars in 1815, and 9,063 districts and 500,000 pupils in 1830. The successful struggle for free schools was due largely to patriotic

governors like George Clinton, Jay, Lewis, Tompkins, Marcy, and De Witt Clinton, and to noble superintendents like Hawley, Yates, Flagg, Dix, and Spencer.1

The "Public-school Society" of New York City (1805 -1853) was formed to establish a free school for the poor. A free school for girls had been opened in 1802, and various religious societies supported "charity schools." De Witt Clinton was president of the society, which opened its first public school in 1806. Primary departments were introduced about 1831, and soon a normal school was opened (1843). When the society and the city board of education were consolidated (1853), over $3,500,000 had been spent for the education of 600,000 children.

Newspapers. The 364 post-offices in the state (1811) had increased in number to 1,453 (1834). This meant that the people wrote more letters and read more papers and books. The oldest newspaper in New York as a state is The Commercial Advertiser (1793). Among its editors were Noah Webster, William L. Stone, and Thurlow Weed. Philip Freneau started The Time Piec (1797), and The Evening Post and The American Citizen came next (1801). The Federalists established The Post, and the Clintonians ran The Citizen. Burr's friends published The Morning Chronicle (1802), in which appeared the earliest productions of Washington Irving, the first great American writer. The Albany Argus (1813) was the mouthpiece of the Albany Regency, and The National Advocate represented Tam

1 For thirty years (1821-1851) the office of superintendent of schools was merged into that of secretary of state.

many Hall. The leading papers of a later date were The Ploughboy and The Journal of Commerce (1821), The New York Patriot (1823), The New York Courier and Enquirer (1827), The Albany Evening Journal, an Antimasonic paper edited by Thurlow Weed, and The New York Express (1836). Nearly every village had its weekly paper. No newspapers were printed in Franklin and Putnam counties. Papers sold for six cents when The Sun appeared as the first penny paper in America (1833). The Morning Post was published by Horace Greeley the same year, and was followed in two years by The New York Herald of James Gordon Bennett. A few magazines had appeared. In 1835 there were 260 newspapers in the state, of which 25 were dailies, 15 being in the metropolis alone.

Institutions of Culture came with the general progress. The New York Historical Society was founded (1804), and in 1809 celebrated Hudson's discovery. The American Academy of Fine Arts (1808), the Lyceum of Natural History (1818), and the National Academy of Design (1826) were established. The New York Society Library, started in 1754, owned 40,000 volumes (1835). The State Library was organized at the capital (1818), and soon libraries were started all over the state. The American Lyceum was begun (1831) and extensively copied. A geological survey was ordered (1836), and the reports brought great credit to the state.

Religious Organizations began in this period. The American Bible Society (1816), the American Board of Foreign Missions, the American Home Missionary Society (1826), the American Sunday-school Union So