In 1812 further organization was enacted whereby a state superintendent of common schools was to be appointed, and the county unit replaced by a more democratic town and district basis. But it had been supposed that the state fund would provide for the entire support of the schools, and there still remained an obstinate opposition to local taxes. The towns, however, were gradually persuaded to raise the amount required to secure their share of the state donation. Much progress was brought about through the first superintendent, Gideon Hawley, and while, after eight years of service, he was removed by political manipulation and the office combined with the secretaryship of state, each of his successors undertook to distinguish the educational side of his administration by some marked advance or improvement in the common schools. But for a generation the academies and colleges remained under supervision of the regents, and, except for state appropriations to academies, no one undertook to extend the public system into secondary and higher education. Moreover, the professional training of teachers in the academies was encouraged by the state, and thereby the organization of normal schools was delayed. Hence, while New York started the first system of public education adjusted to the political and social conditions of the new nation, and probably had the most effective schools of the times, not until the great period of common school development (1835-1860) were its people fully willing to contribute for a general school system, make it entirely free, or develop it consistently in all directions. [Sidenote: ‘Free School Society.’] [Sidenote: Change of name.] [Sidenote: Bethel Baptist Church controversy.] [Sidenote: City board of education.]