The Education President
James Garfield is one of America's least known presidents, largely because he was assassinated and died just over six months into his term. He was hospitalized for about a third of that time. It was unfortunate for progressive thinking Americans of the time. The post civil war reconstruction plans of Abraham Lincoln were derailed with Lincoln's assassination and with the pro-southern sympathies of his successor Andrew Johnson. The quest for equality and fair treatment for African-Americans in the south experienced a roller coaster ride from subsequent presidencies. Ulysses Grant tried to use military force to protect the rights of African-Americans in the south, and to combat the influence of the Ku Klux Klan. However his successor Rutherford Hayes removed this military protection, some say as part of the compromise that led to his election as President in the remarkably close election of 1876 in which the election was decided by congress and in which Hayes was chosen by a single congressional vote.
With the election of Garfield in 1880, it looked optimistic for the plight of African-American civil rights.Garfield was a very principled man with enlightened ideas for his time. Perhaps the greatest idea of its time was found in Garfield's views on education. During Reconstruction, freed African-Americans (who were former slaves and who were now referred to as "freedmen") had gained American citizenship. With citizenship came voting rights that enabled them to participate in state and federal offices. Garfield believed that their rights were being eroded by southern white resistance and also by illiteracy. Garfield was very concerned that southern freedmen would become America's permanent "peasantry".
Garfield proposed a very progressive and enlightened solution to the problem. His answer was to have a "universal" education system funded by the federal government. Garfield's concern over education was a legitimate one. There was a 70% illiteracy rate among the southern black population and Garfield was looking well past his own re-election prospects towards the future of the nation. How principled a leader Garfield was is evidenced by the fact that this was not a very popular policy, and one not likely to get him re-elected. Congress and the northern white public had lost interest in African-American rights by this time and it was not an area in which Congress was likely to approve the necessary spending for. In spite of this, Garfield pursued this vision right up to the time of his death.
One of the big surprises comes from the response of Garfield's successor, Chester Alan Arthur. Arther had been selected as Garfield's Vice-President to appease the Stalwarts in the Republican Party, who favoured patronage for their friends, contrary to Garfield's plans for unbiased civil service reform. When Arthur became President upon Garfield's death, most people assumed that he would be beholding to the Stalwarts and would not follow through on Garfield's progressive policies. They were mistaken however. Arthur followed through on Garfield's plans for civil service reform and by the end of his term he saw the passage of legislation that provided for civil servants to be appointed based on merit rather than on who they knew and what influence they had.
But unfortunately, in the field of civil rights and in following through on Garfield's plans for a better educated south, Arthur was not as successful despite his best efforts. Federal funding for universal education did not pass Congress during Arthur's term. Congress did not have the foresight to appreciate the benefit of education and how it could have bettered the lives of African-Americans in the south and of the country as a whole for generations to come.
In the election of 2000, George W. Bush promised to be "the education president." But if James Garfield had not been assassinated and if he had been able to have convinced congress of his vision, as someone as able as he might have done, it might have been James Garfield upon whom history would have bestowed that title.
With the election of Garfield in 1880, it looked optimistic for the plight of African-American civil rights.Garfield was a very principled man with enlightened ideas for his time. Perhaps the greatest idea of its time was found in Garfield's views on education. During Reconstruction, freed African-Americans (who were former slaves and who were now referred to as "freedmen") had gained American citizenship. With citizenship came voting rights that enabled them to participate in state and federal offices. Garfield believed that their rights were being eroded by southern white resistance and also by illiteracy. Garfield was very concerned that southern freedmen would become America's permanent "peasantry".
Garfield proposed a very progressive and enlightened solution to the problem. His answer was to have a "universal" education system funded by the federal government. Garfield's concern over education was a legitimate one. There was a 70% illiteracy rate among the southern black population and Garfield was looking well past his own re-election prospects towards the future of the nation. How principled a leader Garfield was is evidenced by the fact that this was not a very popular policy, and one not likely to get him re-elected. Congress and the northern white public had lost interest in African-American rights by this time and it was not an area in which Congress was likely to approve the necessary spending for. In spite of this, Garfield pursued this vision right up to the time of his death.
One of the big surprises comes from the response of Garfield's successor, Chester Alan Arthur. Arther had been selected as Garfield's Vice-President to appease the Stalwarts in the Republican Party, who favoured patronage for their friends, contrary to Garfield's plans for unbiased civil service reform. When Arthur became President upon Garfield's death, most people assumed that he would be beholding to the Stalwarts and would not follow through on Garfield's progressive policies. They were mistaken however. Arthur followed through on Garfield's plans for civil service reform and by the end of his term he saw the passage of legislation that provided for civil servants to be appointed based on merit rather than on who they knew and what influence they had.
But unfortunately, in the field of civil rights and in following through on Garfield's plans for a better educated south, Arthur was not as successful despite his best efforts. Federal funding for universal education did not pass Congress during Arthur's term. Congress did not have the foresight to appreciate the benefit of education and how it could have bettered the lives of African-Americans in the south and of the country as a whole for generations to come.
In the election of 2000, George W. Bush promised to be "the education president." But if James Garfield had not been assassinated and if he had been able to have convinced congress of his vision, as someone as able as he might have done, it might have been James Garfield upon whom history would have bestowed that title.