P/.Mv 
 N. A:,;EfT, 
 
 To THE Congress 
 
 OF 
 
 The United States. 
 
 A 
 
 PETITION AND PROTEST 
 
 Against 
 
 SECTARIAN APPROPRIATIONS FOR INDIAN EDUCA- 
 TION, AND ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE IN- 
 CREASE OF SUCH APPROPRIA TIONS. 
 
 THE NATIONAL LEAGUE 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Protection of American institutions. 
 
 JANUARY, 1891. 
 
 ROOMS 43 AND 44, 
 
 MORSE BUILDING. 140 NASSAU STREET 
 NEW YORK CITY. 
 
PETITION AND PROTEST. 
 
 A respectful perusal is requested. 
 
 The objects for which the Association which we represent 
 exists, are thus stated in Article II of the Constitution: 
 
 “The objects of the League are to secure constitutional 
 and legislative safeguards for the protection of the common- 
 school system and other American institutions, and to pro- 
 mote public instruction in harmony with such institutions, 
 and to prevent all sectarian or denominational aj)}>ropria- 
 tions of pul.)lic funds.” 
 
 We are seeking to promote the passage of the following 
 amendment to the Unite<l States Con.Aitution, to be known 
 as the XVI Amendment : 
 
 “ No State shall ]>ass any law respecting an establishment 
 of religion, or pi’ohibiting the free exercise thereof, or use its 
 property or credit, or any money raised by taxation, or au- 
 thorize either to be used, for the purpose of founding, main- 
 taining or ai<ling, by approj)riation, payment for services, 
 expenses, or otherwise, any church, religious denomination 
 or religious .society, or any iii-stitution, society, or undertaking 
 which is wholly, or in part, under sectarian or ecclesiastical 
 control.” 
 
 We also seek the amendment of the constitutions of the 
 various State.s, in conformity with the fundamental principle 
 that in this country the functions of the Church and the 
 State are, and should be kept, distinct and separate. We 
 believe that it was unque.stionably the intention of the 
 founders of the Republic to secure tbe free and untram- 
 meled development of religious belief, without hindrance 
 from State control or help from State jjatronage. The first 
 amendment to the United States Con.stitution, which was 
 })roj)osed by Congress to the Legislatures of the various 
 States September 25, 1789, and which was ratified Septem- 
 ber, 1789 to 1791, contains the following provision : 
 
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 
 of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” 
 
 The object of this Amendment was, to exclude from the 
 consideration of Congress any projtosed law “ respecting an 
 establishment of religion.” Ivach Chui'cli was to be left 
 free to work out its own destiny without Governmental in- 
 terference or aid. On various pleas, however, this principle 
 has been departed from, in both National and State Legis- 
 latures, by grants of })ublic money which was collected 
 from the whole people, for aiding charitable or educational 
 institutions which are under .sectarian control. The princi- 
 ple being virtually allowed that if one denomination re- 
 ceived such aid, another might claim and receive the same, 
 the amount bestowed in each case depending not only on 
 the facilities of each denomination fordoing such work, but 
 also on the aggres.siveness and political influence of the 
 petitioners. The growth of this evil custom, so diametri- 
 cally opposed to the fundamental principles of the Consti- 
 tution, and so threatening to the peace of tlie community 
 by introducing questions of denominational preference into 
 our civil legislation, is illustrated b}' the following table, 
 which shows the amounts appropriated to various religious 
 bodies for the support of Indian schools during the fiscal 
 years from 1886 to 1801 : 
 
 1886. 
 
 Roman Catholic $118,343 
 
 Presbyterian 32,99.6 
 
 Congregational 16,121 
 
 Martinsburgh, Pa 5,400 
 
 Alaska Training School 
 
 Episcopal 
 
 Friends 
 
 Mennonite 
 
 Middletown, Cal 
 
 Unitarian 
 
 Lutheran, Wittenberg, Wis. 
 
 Methodist 
 
 Miss Howard 
 
 Appropriation for Lincoln 
 Institution. 
 
 Appropriation for Hampton 
 Institute. 
 
 1,960 
 
 33,400 
 
 20,040 
 
 Total $228,259 
 
 1887. 
 
 $194,635 
 .37,910 
 26 696 
 10,410 
 4,175 
 1,890 
 27,845 
 3,340 
 1,523 
 1,350 
 
 1888. 
 
 $221,169 
 
 36.500 
 
 26,080 
 
 7.500 
 4,175 
 3,690 
 
 14,460 
 
 2.500 
 Dropped 
 
 5,400 
 
 1,350 
 
 33,400 ! 33,400 
 
 20,040 ! 20,040 
 
 $363,214 $376,264 
 
 1889. 
 
 $.347,672 
 
 41,825 
 
 29,310 
 
 Dropped 
 
 18,700 
 
 23.383 
 
 3,125 
 
 5,400 
 
 4,050 
 
 2,725 
 
 275 
 
 33,400 
 
 21,040 
 
 $530,905 
 
 1890. 
 
 $356,957 
 
 47,650 
 
 28,459 
 
 24,876 
 
 23,883 
 
 4,375 
 
 5,400 
 
 7,560 
 
 9,940 
 
 600 
 
 33.400 
 
 20,040 
 
 $562,640 
 
 1891. 
 
 $363. .349 
 44.8.50 
 27.271 
 
 29.910 
 
 24,743 
 
 4,375 
 
 5,400 
 
 9,180 
 
 6.700 
 
 1,000 
 
 33,400 
 
 20,040 
 
 $560,218 
 
 4 
 
The. following table shows the average attendance on these Jndian Schools under 
 Sectarian Control for 1800, and the number of pupils allowed for in the grants 
 of 1891. 
 
 
 1890. 
 
 1891. 
 
 
 3.01.S 
 
 3,353 
 
 
 212 
 
 295 
 
 
 ;s2o 
 
 440 
 
 
 217 
 
 247 
 
 
 62 
 
 65 
 
 
 77 
 
 85 
 
 Mpnnonitft 
 
 29 
 
 35 
 
 TTnitririn.n . 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 257 
 
 240 
 
 
 
 4,232 
 
 4,810 
 
 It will be seen that considerably more than one-balf of 
 the amount appropriated by Congress to denominational 
 schools among the Indians is given to the schools under the 
 care of one denomination, and this a denomination which 
 has never claimed to repre.sent over one-sixth of the popu- 
 lation. 
 
 Last year in spite of jirotests three new Roman Catholic 
 schools were specially appropriated for in addition to the 
 already liberal estimates of the Department, and it is claimed 
 to he true that although these added schools were not this 
 year found in the Indian Ikireau estimates they are expected 
 to he granted. It is also understood that Congrc.ss will he 
 asked to add still other sectarian .schools to the list of tho.se 
 receiving special api)ropriations. 
 
 We make our earnest prote.st against this misappro])riation 
 of public funds. 
 
 We protest against the legalized friction with the present 
 rational and American theory of the Indian Bureau for com- 
 mon-school and industrial education among the Indians 
 with a view of pre[>aring them for self-supporting citizenship, 
 caused by appropriations for sectarian instruction, which in 
 many notable in.stances has kept the tribes among wliom it 
 has prevailed helpless dependents. 
 
 We submit that it is undignified for a great nation to 
 farm out its work among its wards to the sects, instead of 
 doing its own work in a broad and liberal-minded manner. 
 
 5 
 
Many of tlie Indians have been made to believe by some 
 of tboir religious teacliers that the United States Govern- 
 ment is their enemy, and added to tliis baleful instruction is 
 their inherited belief that they have been wronged by the 
 nation. How better can the Government dissij>ate this wrong 
 conception, and prove to the Indians that tlie Government 
 authorities and tlie American jieople are their friends, than 
 b}’’ making large and uniform jirovision for their education, 
 moral, intellectual, and industrial, instead of establishing as 
 man}’’ grades of treatment as there are sects sharing in Gov- 
 ernmental appropriations ? 
 
 Wo believe that such grants are all uncon.stitutional, and 
 are utterly subversive of the letter and spirit of the First 
 Amendment already quoted. The National Government, 
 violating as we believe it does, its own Constitution by these 
 sectarian grants, casts its influence in favor of denomina- 
 tional schools, and imperils thereby the integrity of the 
 whole common-school system of the various States. 
 
 We protest against this use of public funds for the suiiport 
 of sectarian instruction because it is a menace to the Amer- 
 ican public school system. 
 
 A division of the public school moneys among the various 
 .sects means the destruction of our public .schools, and this 
 consummated means the overthrow of our civil institutions. 
 The foundation of Republican government is the intelligence 
 of its citizenship. 
 
 If the general government divides among the sects its 
 common school funds, what hope is there tliat the integrity 
 of the school fund in the States shall be kept inviolate and 
 indivi.sible? 
 
 In this country denominational advantages .should be 
 gained and triumphs should be won by moral suasion, not 
 by legislative influence, or by an appeal to political 
 majorities. 
 
 The National League is rapidly extending its work by the 
 formation of auxiliary leagues in different States, and the 
 conviction is rapidly spreading that distinctivelj'^ American 
 institutions need protection, and that the status of the 
 
 6 
 
American common free school, as one of the chief supj)orts 
 of our free institutions, must ])e speedily entrenched by 
 national and State constitutional and legislative safeguards, 
 or it will gradually but surely be crushed by sectarian en- 
 croachments. These truths are alarming to the thoughtful 
 citizen, and only can be })ut aside by thoughtless political 
 and temporizing expediency. 
 
 It is high time for a revival of Americanism that includes 
 all who believe in our institutions, whether they be of native 
 or foreign birth. We believe the time is at hand. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 .John Jay, President. 
 
 W'm. II. Parsons, l.'^t \’ice- President. 
 
 James M. King, General Secretary. 
 
 Wm. Fellowes Morgan, Treasurer. 
 
 Law Coiniuittec. 
 
 Wm. Allen Butler. Cephas Brainerd, 
 
 Dorman B. Eaton, Henry E. Howland, 
 
 Stephen A. Walker. 
 
 Hoard of ^lanascrs. 
 
 John Jay, 
 
 James M. King, 
 Churchill H. Cutting, 
 James M. Montgomery, 
 Wm. Fellowes Morgan, 
 John 1). Slayback, 
 James McKeen, 
 
 Wm. II. Parsons, 
 Warner Van Xonlen, 
 M. A. Kursheedt, 
 
 Peter A. Welch, 
 George S. Baker, 
 
 F. P. Ih'llamy, 
 
 George D. IMackay, 
 Peter Donald, 
 
 James McGee, 
 Alexander E. Orr, 
 Chas. E. AVhitehead, 
 H. II. Boyesen, 
 
 A. J. I). Wedermeyei' 
 
 A<ldeil Names. 
 
 Of the thousands of prominent citizens in ditferent }>arts 
 of the country, co-operating with us, and who are o[)posed 
 to all sectarian appropriations made either by the General 
 Government or by the States, and who have recorded their 
 names with The National League, and have ex[)ressed 
 their desire for the passage of the i>roposed XVI Amend- 
 ment to the Constitution of the United States, we append 
 one hundred representative names. 
 
 Charles Kendall Adams, 
 Edward G. Andrews, 
 
 D. F. Appleton, 
 
 William H. Arnoux, 
 Darius Baker, 
 Cornelius N. Bliss, 
 
 7 
 
George Bliss, 
 
 Jabez A. Bostwiek, 
 Edwin Booth, 
 
 James M. Buckley, 
 Charles Butler, 
 
 II. K. Carroll, 
 
 Franklin Carter, 
 Charles F. Chandlei’, 
 John Clallin, 
 
 Charles L. Colhy, 
 
 James B. Colgate, 
 A\hishington E. Connor, 
 James M. Constable, 
 Austin Corbin, 
 
 A. Cleveland Coxe, 
 Howard Crosby, 
 
 George William Curtis, 
 J. L. M. Curiy, 
 
 Charles P. Daly, 
 
 Noah Davis, 
 
 William E. Dodge, 
 Daniel Dorchester, 
 
 C. I). Drake, 
 
 Andrew S. Draj)er, 
 Sherman Evarts, 
 
 Cyrus W. Field, 
 
 Henry AVise Garnett, 
 Gustav Gottheil, 
 Frederick D. Grant, 
 Alatthew Hale, 
 
 Chas. Cuthhert Hall, 
 John Hall, 
 
 Tennis S. Ilamlin, 
 
 AVm. T. Harris, 
 Rutherford B. Hayes, 
 Abram S. Hewitt, 
 Henrv Hitchcock, 
 
 E. N.^Horsford, 
 AAA^’land Hoyt, 
 
 Richard AI. Hunt, 
 AVilliam Jay, 
 
 Alorris K. Jesuj), 
 Thornton A. Jenkins, 
 Horatio King, 
 
 Joseph F. Knapp, 
 
 A. J. Kynett, 
 
 Charles Lanier, 
 
 Ahiel A’. Low, 
 
 Charles Lyman, 
 
 C. C. McCabe, 
 
 John J. McCook, 
 
 R. S. AlacArthur, 
 AVillard F. Mallalieu, 
 Henry G. Marquand, 
 F. DeSola Mendes, 
 Ezra P. Mills, 
 
 J. Pierpont Alorgan, 
 Fred’k Law Olmsted, 
 John E. Parsons, 
 
 John F. Plummer, 
 Henry C. Potter, 
 Horace Porter, 
 
 E. A. Quintard, 
 
 John Harsen Rhoades, 
 John D. Rockefeller, 
 
 D. B. St. John Roosa, 
 Russell Sage, 
 
 Jacob H. Schiff, 
 
 J. Edward Simmons, 
 Chas. Stewart Smith, 
 Charles Scribner, 
 Philip Schaff, 
 
 Homer B. Sprague, 
 
 J. Noble Stearns, 
 Edmund C. Stedman, 
 Richard S. Storrs, 
 
 J. S. T. Stranahan, 
 AATlliam Strong, 
 
 Josiah Strong, 
 
 Ellwood E. Thorne, 
 Charles L. Tiffany, 
 Chas. Edward Tracy, 
 
 F rederick T ownsen d , 
 Jonathan Trumbull, 
 Cornelius A'anderhilt, 
 Henry A'illard, 
 
 John H. A'incent, 
 Francis A. AA'alker, 
 Francis AA'ayland, 
 
 H. L. AVayland, 
 Alexander S. AVehh, 
 Herbert AVelsh, 
 
 S. V. AVhite, 
 
 E. AA^hittlesey. 
 
 8