Second Prize.

In 1796 the American Philosophical Society held a contest to design the best system of education for the United States. Samuel Knox entered, proposing a system of national instruction particularly designed for this "wide extent of territory, inhabited by citizens blending together almost all the various manners and customs of every country in Europe." Providing elementary education for both girls and boys, uniform training and salaries for teachers, standard textbooks produced by a national university press, with a college in every state each charging the same fees and tuition, and at "the fountain head of science" a national university, Knox's ambitious plan won second prize.

Career and Ministry.

First prize had gone to Samuel Harrison Smith, who would go on to a career as a journalist and politician during the Jefferson years. Knox, on the other hand, never strayed too far from education...