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The second stage in the development of a public educational system was reached when the states began to see that children must be compelled to go to school. In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first compulsory-education law. In 1864 the District of Columbia followed. In 1867 came Vermont; in 1871, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Washington.10 From that time on the other states have been enacting such laws. The Southern states, which before the Civil War had practically no public-school system and after the war were economically depressed, were the last to pass compulsory-attendance acts.

Without attempting to deal with the remoter historical development of such legislation, it is possible to show by reference to contemporary reports the difficulties in securing and enforcing such laws. Two quotations from the reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States indicate the present conditions with regard to compulsory attendance. The report of 1915 makes the following statement:

The year 1915 was a notable year for the cause of compulsory school attendance. Four States—South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Texas—which did not have laws on the subject, enacted laws at the last sessions of their legislatures. This new extension of the compulsory attendance area carries required attendance at school into the section where it has hitherto met the most stubborn resistance; the area now practically includes the entire United States, Georgia and Mississippi alone remaining without laws on the subject.11

The report of 1916 supplements this statement as follows:

Efforts were made to secure the enactment of attendance laws in both of these States [Georgia and Mississippi] in 1916, and in the former the effort was successful. The new law of Georgia, in brief, requires the attendance of every child between 8 and 14 years of age for four months each year. Exemptions from this requirement apply to those who have completed the fourth grade of school work; those upon whom needy members of the family are dependent for support; those whose parents or guardians are unable to provide the necessary books and clothing, unless the same are otherwise provided; those whose services are needed for farm emergencies; those who are mentally or physically incapable; and those who reside more than 3 miles from school. Boards of education of counties and of cities and towns are intrusted with the enforcement of the law in their respective jurisdictions.12