'Engrossing the education of the country': John Holt Rice, Presbyterianism, and educational competition in the South, 1777-1831

This dissertation examines the educational thought of John Holt Rice (1777-1831), one of the most prolific and enterprising Presbyterian ministers in the antebellum South.;Rice's educational thought reflected a synthesis of the moralistic political culture of New England and the traditionalistic political culture of the South. Amid competition from denominations and religious groups, he advanced an aggressive, albeit unsuccessful, campaign to direct Virginia Literary Fund appropriations to Presbyterian Sunday schools, academies, colleges, and theological seminaries. Rice sought to cultivate a leadership class of educated ministers that would restore the conservative religious, social, economic, and political order envisioned by New England Puritans in the seventeenth century. According to Rice's educational vision, these orthodox Calvinist ministers, in turn, would direct religious schools designed to produce a politically and socially engaged middle class that possessed a full knowledge of the scriptures and behaved according to Biblical precepts. Thomas Jefferson was indignant when he called this effort "engrossing the education of the country," but his characterization of Presbyterian ambitions was nonetheless accurate.;Rice was inspired by the burgeoning print culture emerging in the antebellum South, and published popular magazines, pamphlets, published sermons, and essays that promoted and defended Presbyterian educational designs. In addition, his various publications criticized the perceived misuses of state funds; displayed contempt for alternative theological ideas and movements; reflected anxiety about the activity of rival denominations and religious groups; revealed ongoing tensions between ecumenicalism and denominationalism; and championed the education of the middle class at the expense of similar opportunities for women and blacks. These print debates foreshadowed the Schism of 1837, which split the Presbyterian Church into Old School and New School factions six years after Rice's death.