Public School Education in North Carolina

pulation of the colony was estimated at not more than thirteen thousand, and the inhabitants were sparsely distributed. Conditions still continued unfavorable to intellectual and educational development. As late as 1736 the colony had no printing-press, no printed collection of its laws, and perhaps only a few regularly settled schoolmasters. The first printing-press came into the colony in 1749 and the laws were first published two years later. For a long time no governmental provision was made for schools, but "there were many highly educated citizens scattered throughout the province, who lived with considerable style and refinement. Sturdy, honest, and hospitable agriculturists gathered around themselves elements of large future development, and their premises showed wealth, industry, and care." Later on many of these well-to-do families of the Cape Fear region sent their sons to Harvard, those of the northeast section sent theirs to England for education, and the Presbyterians of the interior region educated their sons at Princeton. Some local provision was also made for education, though the poorer classesof the population were neglected and more or less ignorant. Occasional attempts were made, however, for educational improvement of the masses. The first notable example of such efforts was in 1736, when, in his message to the Assembly, Governor Gabriel Johnston said, after "observing the deplorable and almost total want of divine worship throughout the P...