Excerpt from The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams

Reprinted in Major Problems in American Colonial History

Published in 1993

"The Difficulties that attend the study may discourage some, but they never discouraged me. . . ."

America was the first nation to provide free education to all citizens. The importance of an educated population dated to the earliest years of the colonial period. New England Puritans were the first to establish schools, but solely for the purpose of giving religious education and training ministers. (Puritans were a Protestant Christian group that observed strict moral and religious codes.) Adults and children were expected to be able to read the Bible and to understand the laws of the colony, which were based on the Bible.

For instance, in 1647 the Massachusetts Bay...