Liberal Education Confronts the Rise of Democracy: Yale’sReportsof 1828

Abstract

The Yale Reports of 1828 are one of the most important documents in American higher education. They established the parameters of liberal education for much of the nineteenth century. Scholars have argued over whether the reports looked to the past or the future. This essay argues that the Yale Reports inaugurated a new era for the humanities and American liberal education. By publishing their ideas and subjecting them to the give and take of public opinion, Yale’s officers and faculty members recognized that, in a democracy, citizens would determine the value of liberal education, rather than the other way around. The Yale Reports thus signified a transformation in the epistemological foundations of liberal education. In a democratic society, advocates would need to make a case for liberal education before an already-enfranchised citizenry. In short, with the Yale Reports, the humanities entered a new historical phase, in which they would be tested by, but also contribute to, democratic culture and politics.