This paper was written Spring Semester, 1999, under Michael Gagnon, in the History Department, at the University of Georgia, as a requirement for completion of History 4000, "Social History of Antebellum America." The views expressed in this paper are strictly the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the instructor, the department, nor the university.

      The churches of Athens, Georgia, like all churches of Antebellum times, were the social centers of the community. It was as if the sun rose and set around each citizen's church. The churches of Athens soon followed the national trend: forming their own Sunday Schools. These schools were on the rise across Antebellum America, and Athens was not about to be left behind. First formed by Presbyterians, the Sunday School soon became a place of free education for all. In the following pages, the various subjects taught in Athens and American Sunday Schools will be brought to light. Also discussed will be how Athens and all American Sunday Schools handled the education of slaves and poor children. There were several Societies that helped in the education of these children, and you will learn of these. All of these factors led to the development of a nationally funded public school system. The changes brought about by Sunday Schools were seen throughout the nation, and Athens was no exception.

      The Sunday School movement began as an effort to give American children a general knowledge of the Bible, and how to read and interpret it. However, the classes seemed to stray from this mission to provide a more secular education. While establishing literacy in the classroom, Sunday School teachers began to see their institutions as "instruments of instruction rather than conversion."1 This was not the goal they had in mind. Many church members were very opposed to secular education on the Sabbath, and many small skirmishes took place over this issue. Trying to silence this debate, Sunday Schools made their curricula strictly Biblical instruction.

      Sunday Schools went through some experimentation phases trying to find their best method of teaching. Athens had a Christian choral school teaching students to read the music as well as lyrics.2 In all schools, there were hymn sings and a great deal of Scripture memorization. In fact, a decade (1800-1810) of Sunday School instruction was known as the "Memorizing Era" 3. This era was a short lived experiment in the Sunday Schools, but parts of it continue even today. Each student would memorize as much as they could out of the Bible, and would recite it to their instructor. The memorization technique seemed a fine plan, but it was soon realized the pupil did not really learn what they were saying. There were scores of children who discontinued their lessons, and statistics for Birmingham Sunday Schools show that levels of reading competence actually dropped in the decade of 1800-1810. After realizing the lack of learning presented by the students, Sunday Schools once again adjusted their curricula to provide a well-rounded education.

      Realizing that students needed literacy to comprehend the Bible and its teachings, Sunday Schools began a campaign to provide more secular education to their pupils. However, competing with the secular education offered from private schools of Athens was no easy task. One private school of Athens offered the general reading and writing instruction, but also classes like astronomy, history, rhetoric, and a broad range of specific topics4. Instruction manuals experienced a huge production boom at this time. The instruction manuals of the Sunday School were mostly only used for the purpose of teaching students reading. It was not until later that writing became prevalent. The teachers used just a few texts in their lessons, but the variety to choose from was very broad. The basic texts offered a huge selection, but only offered a beginning edition with no follow up instruction5. Soon after these texts became out of date, popular periodical reading guides came to be. Novelty reading guides like The Spanish Armada, The Gunpowder Plot, and Honesty the Best Policy6 taught students the fundamentals of learning, while making it different and exciting. With the texts in place and a general curricula established, Sunday Schools proved to be an efficient force in education. It was clear that with the correct organization, free public schooling could be just as beneficial as private institutions.

      The founders of Sunday Schools began with a mission to provide free education to all of the children of their communities. The working class citizens of farming communities or industrial centers could not afford to let their children attend private schools. The lost money in tuition, due to the lack of free public schooling, and the lost labor/ income brought in by a working child was much too great of a sacrifice for working class families. A Sunday School in a New England industrial center actually set forth a rule that, "No children admitted to this school but such as are by poverty deprived of the means of learning on the weekday." 7 This rule was often an unspoken one in many other Antebellum church schools. The Sunday School administrators were also concerned about the middle and upper class childrens' education, but realized their opportunities to be taught during the week. The pioneers of Antebellum Sunday Schools made extra efforts to educate the working classes of their communities. After several years of the Sunday School's success, Athens children working in the factories during the week were given opportunity to learn outside of their Sunday School. In January of 1849, Mr. D. Williamson was named Factory Missionary, a position that may have granted him rights to teach the children on their breaks, and witness to all of the workers above the noise of the machinery8. It may sound that the workers in the Sunday Schools worked out of the goodness of their heart, but they did receive funding from a somewhat unlikely source.

      The mission of providing a free education to all children was an expensive task and was funded by those who benefited least from it: the middle and upper class citizens. Some historians say the middle and upper class donated money to their local Sunday Schools in hopes of establishing "national prosperity with moral purity and future blessedness." 9 Other historians claim the funding of Sunday Schools by the higher classes was a form of social control. 10 The middle and upper class felt that by imposing Sunday Schools on the lower class, it would do away with traditional working class culture. Sunday Schools were also known nationally among the middle to upper classes as "charity schools," 11 indicating they donated strictly for social gain. Donations were frequently published in their local newspaper12, to make sure everyone knew of their origins. The origin was more than likely from the upper and middle class. In spite of the insincerity of some, the Athens community seemed quite serious about their donations. For instance, the Athens Bible Society- founded by middle class citizens- donated over two hundred dollars worth of Bibles to surrounding residences13. For social gain or not, this donation was a generous one. However, there were also projects that were unable to be completed through the Sunday School's budget.

      One such project was that of the proposed Athens Manual Labor School. The education of the working class seemed to be becoming less inferior to that of the middle and upper classes. In October of 1832, an idea was brought before the Presbyterian Church to build a Manual Labor School. 14 The prospective site was found on 450 acres of Mr. John Nesbit's land to build a place where young men could work their way through school in preparation for college. The idea was to build an "Army of the Lord." 15 In order to build this army, they would only admit young men who had a desire to become Presbyterian ministers. All of Christian America, as well as the Athens area, was caught up in building this Army. It seemed free education was the only way to have a prosperous and pure nation. However noble this plan seemed, the necessary funding was never donated.

      As the Sunday School became the domain of the working class youth, slaves saw no reason why they should not have access to this free form of education. Many people affiliated with the church seemed to have no problem with the education of slaves. In 1817, a missionary named John Peck went to St. Louis and founded his own "Sunday School for Negroes." 16 Peck showed that not all Sunday Schools turned slave or free black children away. However, many were not extremely eager to have them either. With the turbulent issue of Abolitionism at hand, the church could lose half of their congregation if they chose to educate people of color. Depending on the area, a church could also lose half of its congregation if they chose not to educate the black population. It was almost a no win situation for Sunday School administrators.

If there was any instruction of slaves, it was kept quiet. Many Sunday Schools instructed their staff to not even mention the delicate topic of slavery. 17 Their general purpose was "to bring every child and youth... under the influence of the gospel." 18 This secret teaching of slaves, and supposed antislavery teachings were seen as a conspiracy by some. Citizens of the Mississippi Valley thought that the Presbyterians were covertly trying to gain the favor of their younger generation to end slavery. While much controversy existed, there was no violent opposition to the Sunday School movement.

      The administrators of the Sunday Schools often had to consider their sources of funding when deciding whether or not to admit slaves and free children of color to their institutions. The First Presbyterian Church of Athens did admit slaves to their Sunday School, but they only taught slaves with the consent of their master. One such case was seen in 1844, in the Southern Banner:

The undersigned, for reasons best known to himself, would respectfully request those who have charge of the Sunday School in Athens, for the instruction of coloured people, to prevent his negroes in future from becoming members of that school-and dismiss those of my negroes who have already joined.

      To men like Mr. Greer, a smart slave was a dangerous slave. The church reluctantly complied with Mr. Greer's request and no controversy evolved. However, Mr. Greer's "Notice" states that there were slaves being educated, and that the church welcomed them.

      There was no nationwide conflict about the education of people of color, but there were communities and individual institutions affected by it. For instance, the Lane Seminary completely supported the antislavery cause. Some students enrolled there would soon follow their institutions beliefs, and others would not. The students debated the antislavery issue often outside of class hours, and many students eventually left the school. 20 Against the wishes of some Americans, slaves and free people of color were taught side by side with white children. This practice was a distant look into the future of free schooling in America.

      The various societies of Sunday Schools in America were very positive in the growth of Schools. In Athens, there was a Georgia Presbyterian Education Society which ran the Presbyterian Sunday Schools. 21 The Baptists had an Education Society as well. These two groups were very competitive with one another, causing some tension. The Presbyterians would offer one thing the Baptists did not, and the Baptists would counter with their own new feature. So, the competition improved the quality of each school, but brought down local unity in the church. It was not long until Athens had its own connection with the major influence of Sunday Schools in America.

      In 1817, a group of several local societies uniting Sunday Schools met in Philadelphia to discuss the formation of a nationwide Sunday School Union. 22 Philadelphia was one of the largest American cities at the time, and it had a small national connection to several Sunday Schools. 23 This group consisted mainly of laymen and few clergy were involved. When they had adjourned, the men had a constitution established. The men entitled the constitution "The Philadelphia Sunday and Adult School Union." 24 The constitution was later incorporated by decree of the Supreme Court. They had formed one of the more influential organizations of Antebellum times: The American Sunday School Union. This group took over all of the executive decisions of all member Sunday Schools. The Union appointed leaders to local member organizations, and devised a division of labor system. All in all, they reduced the workload of the individual church, while improving the quality of education.

      The American Sunday School Union developed a Uniform Lesson System, 25 insuring students were all on track with their learning. This system consisted of many of the teaching techniques mentioned in the section on curricula. It added new standardized tests, administered in public, to the student's education. The public tests also let the public know of what was going on at their local Union Sunday School. It gained popularity and more funding for the Sunday School cause. 26 A new standard for teachers was also set forth by the Union. Teachers were required to take tests as well, insuring they could read, write, and that they understood the Uniform Lesson System. 27 This testing insured the Union that they had quality teachers, and that their students were catching the private schools.

      The American Sunday School Union was formed as mainly an improvement for all Sunday Schools who paid dues and kept up to qualifications. However, after several years of steady improvement, the Union saw themselves as a competitor against public day schools. With more public acts and a gradual moral improvement of the community, the Union Sunday Schools felt they were better than the private institutions. In 1819, there were 2,019 schools, 31,442 teachers, and 237,584 students enrolled at Unionized Sunday Schools. By 1835, the numbers grew to 7,842 schools, 110,841 teachers, and 909,618 students! 28 The impact made by the Union was quite apparent. The foundation it laid down for education was one that would prove the free public school was just as competent, maybe more so than their opponent private schools.

      Deciding on the proper curriculum for a Christian centered education proved to be a difficult task. Sunday School administrators did not want too much emphasis put on the Bible, because this would take away from the general knowledge of reading and writing. Yet, a lack of a Christian foundation meant that the church was not fulfilling its main purpose-- spreading the word of God. The critics of all schools were quite unfair, but "none has been so savagely attacked... as the Sunday School." 29 It seemed all decisions made were the wrong decisions. There was no correct way to do things, and the Schools were seen as an inferior form of education for inferior people.

      Deciding to provide an education for the working class was not difficult. The working class children were the only children in need of weekend education. In early days of Sunday Schools, The middle and upper classes would consider it belittling to send their children to a Sunday School. It was a mediocre institution, and the higher classes would only minimally fund the institutions to make the working class worthy of their company. As the Sunday School movement moved forward, more middle and upper class citizens saw it as a little more than a free school. It became a solid educational institution. Statistics from the later Antebellum years show that there were just as many students attending Sunday School and Day School as there were attending Day School only. 30

One barrier standing between more students attending Sunday School was the education with slave students. Parents would have a hard enough time allowing their child to attend a Sunday School, let alone one that teaches slave children the same as white children. The Sunday Schools still taught the children of color just the same, and while it was never completely accepted, it never caused serious problems.

      The American Sunday School Union put the worries of Sunday School administrators to rest. The Union took over all aspects of the operations of the Sunday Schools, and made sure things went smoothly. They decided who and what would be taught in the classrooms of their member schools31. The Union was the principal of the nation' Sunday School.

      All of the topics presented here lead to the conclusion that America needed a free form of secular education. The Day Schools of Antebellum America had proven themselves useful in providing knowledge in a wide variety of topics. The Sunday Schools of the time proved that free education could be very effective as well. The Sunday School worked so well because of the social significance of the church. Any working class family that attended church sent their children to the free school provided by their church. Americans interested in education used the organization of the Sunday School, combined with the content of the Day Schools and formed the American Public School System. The evolution of Sunday Schools was very much like the evolution of Public Schools. There was a similar dilemma in establishing a curricula, a controversy of deciding who and who not to teach, and the formation of a central authority. The Sunday Schools of Athens and America helped pave the way for improved education across America, and created its own legacy while doing so.