Gilded Age Ohioan Presidents and American Progressive Education: How Ohio and Its Presidents Influenced and Shaped the American Public Education System
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand how historical developments distinctive to the Ohio Territory and the State of Ohio shaped the Gilded Age Ohioan presidents, who, in turn, influenced the evolution of the American public education system. While the Territory and subsequent State of Ohio valued education and the four Gilded Age Ohioan presidents—Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley—advanced 20th century concepts of public education, these connections linking education among the state, the men, and their presidencies are not discussed in the historical literature about this time or these men. Although the corpus of secondary research demonstrates fundamental deficiencies in this area, the primary materials illustrate the value that these men shared for public education and the use of the presidency to advance public education. Therefore, this dissertation is a history that examines connections between specific historical phenomena and education, the presidency during the late 1800s and public education, and the history of education and the implications of that history for practitioners of education in the present. To illustrate these connections, this research study uses qualitative historical methodology to uncover information discussing the history of the Ohio Territory and the State of Ohio, the value of education in Ohio from its founding, the influence of Ohioan education for the four Gilded Age Ohioan presidents, and the attitudes and influences of these presidents. Connections surfaced among these historical occurrences and illustrate how these men from Ohio ultimately set the stage for modern concepts of national intervention into public education.
Subject Area
Education history|Ancient history
Recommended Citation
Scott Cook,
"Gilded Age Ohioan Presidents and American Progressive Education: How Ohio and Its Presidents Influenced and Shaped the American Public Education System"
(2011).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3486981.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3486981