The idea of tax.supported public schools first took hold under the leadership of the "Public School Society" In New York. This body of citizens fought strenuously for the public transportation of all the nations youth and supported a be. wildering variety of schools. even Roman Catholic ones. in the state and city of New York. The public schools they ran. however. took it coolly for granted that the Instruc. tion of youth should be Christian. and felt no qualm in equating "Christian" with "Protestant." The scriptures read. the prayers said. the riguals shared were all of Protestant cast and nature. and. to the fury of the immigrant parents. teachers felt little scruple about attacking the errors and evils of Romanism. When Horace Mann became secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1830. he brought to his post his own under. standing of religious tolergnce. which stopped well short of what he called "that Vice Regent of Hell the Pope of Rome." Bishop John Hughes of New York struggled manfully. even to the extent of sponsoring several political candidacies. to get prayers and Bible reading out of the public schools In the city and state of New York. He wanted fully secular public schools. and only when he failed to get them did his attention and energy focus on the developing parochial school system.
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