Chris Talgo, writing here at American Thinker shared that:
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson penned “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge,” in which he… [argued] that the best way to avoid despotism is to have a widely educated population with a keen awareness of history, civics, and the nature of government.
At the time, this was an unprecedented idea.
For eons, only the wealthy and privileged had access to formal education. In places like Europe, with its rigid class system and social hierarchy, the lack of general diffusion of knowledge helped keep the rich high on the hog and the poor downtrodden for generations.
It got me thinking. (As all good writing does here at American Thinker!) “‘No kings,’ my a—.” Dems don’t really mean it. They’ve never meant it. Think about it. From slavery through the corrupt teachers’ unions; the last thing Democrats actually want is a well-read populace. Why? Because a well-read populace is harder to control. Heck, you can go all the way back to the time of (literal) King Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic Church to see the pattern forming. In fact, if weren’t for one decision Henry made back then, the trajectory of our own literacy might’ve looked very different.
We think of bibles, the book so many early Americans learned read on, as ubiquitous, but it wasn’t always that way. During Henry’s time, the early 1500s, the only people who had bibles (really books of any kind) were the elites. They were, for all practical purposes, the only ones who could read. And since the Church was then inextricably combined with the State, the less the unwashed masses knew the easier the filthy peasants were to control.
Henry, having broken from the Church, decided, remarkably, to break from that tradition too and democratize the bible. In 1538 he ordered that English bibles be set up in every parish. And the people began to learn to read it. At first, Henry thought this was great. He must’ve thought he really stuck it to the Catholics with this move.
Whoops.
Suddenly the peasants were forming opinions he didn’t like. And not just about the Catholic Church. Just five years later, by 1543, Henry undertook the Act for the Advancement of True Religion (his) to try to put the genie back in the bottle, but it was too late. The masses had had a taste of the bible and they liked it, thank you very much.
Fast forward just a generation or two and bibles were in every Christian home. The masses were becoming literate on a broad scale. And that’s when the real trouble started. It took all of three generations total from the time of Henry’s initial act of largesse to get us to 1620 when the pilgrims fled to “the new world” seeking religious freedom. They knew they could do it. They’d seen their monarchs send expeditions there.
Again, whoops. Across the ocean and free — where there were literally “no kings.” Ironically, thanks to the decisions of kings! Allowing the masses to become literate and to dream of distant lands (by funding the expeditions) had lit the spark. Of course some of the people would link those two things in their minds and act. The human spirit compelled them. And the divine spirit led them.
Fast forward 156 years to 1776 and we’ve got ourselves a country, don’t we? Founded on religious liberty! And all because people could read. And dream. The world of imagination literally got wind in its sails.
Well, it didn’t take long for the Democrats to ruin it, did it? Another three generations or so after the Revolution and, we’re at war over slaves. And what did those early Democrats believe about slaves? Other than that they were property?
Don’t teach them read. Whatever you do, don’t let them become literate. Slaves don’t read; free people do. Like Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth, and others. And what did they learn? Exactly what Jefferson recommended: history, civics, and the nature of government. They read our founding charters. Our Declaration. Our Constitution. Frederick Douglass: “The Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT.”
After the war, the first thing freed blacks did was set up schooling so that every family would have the gift of learning. And once again, for most, their very first book was the bible. Add in the powerful stories of our Revolution, and the wide availability of our Liberty charters and there’s the oxygen in the flames of freedom within hearts of our black brothers and sisters.
It’s worth noting: the Declaration and the Constitution aren’t long. It turns out it doesn’t take that many words to give man freedom. It seems to take lots of words to take it away though, doesn’t it? Consider our Federal Register. Our tax code. Your average piece of legislation. Anyway, back to post-slavery America:
Democrats seethed.
Now fast forward to Woodrow Wilson. Again it took just three generations for everything to go sideways, from the end of slavery to the progressive era. Wilson was America’s first progressive president. And what did he do? Re-segregated the military. Re-segregated every office he had control over. Did everything possible to deny blacks education in general. And what were they learning? Here’s an example of an 8th grade test from the Wilson era, 1912:
Zip through another couple of generations then we approach another inflection point. And what was it?
The television era.
The 50’s brought in the popular adoption of television. Night after night of families gathered around that screen. When previously it had been the radio and the world of imagination, and previous to that books and the world of imagination. And what happened after that?
We all got dumber.
Fast forward another couple of generations to the 1990s and we have the explosion of the internet. We’re now deep into the liberal experiment in public education, with the Department of Education rooted in at the federal level, the very Democrat teachers’ unions flourishing, and “self-esteem” as the center of the curriculum. Then in June 2007 came the iPhone. Another screen to stare at. And what happened?
We all got dumber. Again.
Here’s an example of a 2025 8th grade test from NY State.
What’s a passing grade? 65 or better. On an open book exam.
This was not what Jefferson had in mind in 1779 with his “Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge” and he would no doubt find the standards on the New York Regents exam appalling.
Read to/with your children and grandchildren. Freed slaves did it. Surely we can too. Because the schools clearly aren’t getting the job done anymore. And we’re a distracted nation. Set those young minds free with roots in reading and wings of imagination. History has proven it’s the most important building block of Liberty.