They cannot be very useful, except to young gentlemen who want them as models of reasoning and eloquence, in the pulpit or at the bar. But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. It is observed by the great Montesquieu, that the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles of the government. In despotic governments, the people should have little or no education, except what tends to inspire them with a servile fear.
Information is fatal to despotism.
In monarchies, education should be partial, and adapted to the rank of each class of citizens. Here every class of people should know and love the laws. Such a distribution of lands and such principles of descent and alienation, as shall give every citizen a power of acquiring what his industry merits. Such a system of education as gives every citizen an opportunity of acquiring knowlege and fitting himself for places of trust. Hence the absurdity of our copying the manners and adopting the institutions of Monarchies.