Biography on Horace Mann

On August second, 1859, a great man departed from earth. Horace Mann, politician, teacher, unitarist, and above all, hero, died of natural causes at Antioch College. In the 63 years he was alive, he made a huge impact on society and changed the world for the better. Mann was born on May fourth, 1796, in Franklin, Massachusetts. His father was a poor farmer and consequently Mann only had six weeks of schooling a year between the time he was 10 years old and 20 years old. At age 23 he graduated from Brown University, and moved on to study law in Wrentham, Massachusetts at Litchfield Law School. In 1823, he was admitted to the bar.
In his career, Mann struggled with many obstacles. He was forced to work on a farm with his father for the majority of this childhood, but being self-motivated , he studied at a library founded by Benjamin Franklin. Without much of an education, it was difficult for Mann to get admitted to a college. In his years in politics, it was also difficult for him to provide an equal education to children throughout America. Mann wanted a “common school”, or public school that all children can attend for free, but because of racial and social division in society, this was a challenging task to accomplish.
Although the majority of his actions in government were praised, there was controversy around whether or not christianity should be taught in school. Mann believed that the ethics of christianity should be taught in school, but the religion and stories should not. He was criticized by non-christians because he was supporting his christian beliefs in this, and additionally, by christians for finding his approach anti-christian. Although he was being shunned by both sides of this problem, it was the only way afind to satisfy legal and religious requirements. Mann was in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1827 to 1832. During that time he helped get support for a railroad between the Hudson River and Boston, and tried to get an asylum