=Work of James G. Carter.=--All these movements indicate the educational ferment that was going on. But the predecessor of Mann, who accomplished most for the common schools, and influenced that reformer most directly, was James G. Carter (1795-1849). Carter (Fig. 37) was a practical teacher and wrote continually on the need of a training institution to improve instruction in the public schools. These appeals proved very successful, and earned him the title of ‘father of the normal schools.’ After being elected to the legislature, he accomplished much by his zeal and skill in parliamentary tactics. In 1826 he secured an act by which each town as a whole was required to choose a regular committee, instead of the ministers and selectmen, to supervise the schools, choose text-books, and examine, certify, and employ the teachers. But the effect of this enactment was largely lost the following year by allowing the districts, as a compromise, to choose a committeeman, who should appoint the teachers. In 1826 he placed secondary education, then largely conducted by academies, more under public control through a law requiring each town of five hundred families to support a free English high school (Fig. 41), and every one of four thousand inhabitants to maintain a classical high school. Next, in 1834, Carter succeeded in getting a state school fund established from the proceeds of the sale of lands in the province of Maine and the state’s claims against the federal government for military services. But his most fruitful victory was won in 1837, when he procured the passage of the bill for a State Board of Education, after it had been once defeated, by inducing the house to discuss it in ‘committee of the whole.’ [Sidenote: Peculiarly fitted by heredity and training.] =Horace Mann as Secretary of the Massachusetts Board.=--By reason of his merits as an educator, his persistent efforts in behalf of educational reform, and his advocacy of the bill, it was assumed by most people that Carter would be chosen secretary of the new board. To their surprise, a lawyer named Horace Mann (1796-1859), at that time president of the senate, was selected for the post, but the choice is now known to have been most fortunate. By both heredity and training Mann (Fig. 38) was suffused with an interest in humanity and all phases of philanthropy and education. He possessed a happy combination of lofty ideals, intelligence, courage, enthusiasm, and legislative experience, which equipped him admirably for leadership in educational reform. The law proposed for the new Board of Education numerous duties in the way of collecting and spreading information concerning the common schools and of making suggestions for the improvement and extension of public education, but it provided no real powers, and the permanence and influence of the board depended almost wholly upon the intelligence and character of the new Secretary.