Documents in Year 1865                     

Links of Interest:

• America's Founding Primary Source Documents:

1865 - Amendment XIII in the Bill of Rights - Emancipation Proclamation = slavery ended

• Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth U.S. President

(1861-1865)  Assassinated April 14, 1865.

• Andrew Johnson, Seventeenth U.S. President

(1865-1869)

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• Civil War: Ends 9 April 1865

Matthew Brady, Civil War Photographer

Famous People of the Civil War Era

• Harper's Weekly Newspapers

The most popular newspaper during the Civil War. Links to the complete weekly paper.

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• Education:

  Common School Movement

"The period from 1830 to 1865 has been designated the age of the common school movement in American educational history. During this period, the American educational system as we know it today began to take form. By 1865 systems of common schools had been established throughout the northern, midwestern, and western states, and more than 50% of the nation's children were enrolled in public schools."

Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 127 & 135 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010

Higher Education:

Morrill Act established Land-grant Industrial colleges to meet the needs of farmers and laborers to improve their social and economic status. 65 new land-grant colleges were established including:

University of Maine (1865)

University of Illinois (1867)
University of West Virginia (1867)
University of California (1868)
Purdue University (1869)
University of Nebraska (1869)
Ohio University (1870)
University of Arkansas (1871)
Texas A&M University (1871)

Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 140-141 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010

Training Teachers

"Theory and Practice of Teaching or The Motives and Methods of Good School Keeping, by David P. Page, published in 1847, became the standard text in teacher education" in what were called normal schools. "Admission to most normal schools required an elementary education and was free to residents of the state" and lasted for two years.  By 1865 more than 50 normal schools were in operation and by 1900 a reported 350 normal schools were operating in 45 states."  By 1900 normal schools also started training secondary teachers and admission required high school completion and the normal school program extended to three years.  By the 1920s the normal school program extended to 4 years and were being called state teachers' colleges." 

Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 150-151 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010 see 1867 for next event...

• Literature: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote for Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. His tale about life in a mining camp, "Jim Smiley and his jumping frog," was printed in newspapers and and magazines around the country.

  • Biography - learn about Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

  • Memory Game - test what you remember about Mark Twain