The Growth of the Law School Industry in the Postbellum Period

 

Between 1868 and 1916 the United States Commissioner of Education produced an annual report on education in the United States. Immediately after the civil war government spending on education bloomed. In the south federal spending on education was part of the reconstruction plans set forth by congress and local governments. The office of education as added to the department of the Interior in 1867 by the republican eld congress. As the precursor to the Department of Education this office grew in complexity, staff, and budget until the 1970s. Henry Barnard the inaugural office holder was a Yale educated Lawyer who rose through political and education ranks to oversee states as governor and universities as president.

The first report his office produced in 1868 was a massive undertaken nearly 1000 pages; The original report included policy plans, legislation, details about higher and public education, development of education for woman and education in the south, the creation and functionality of his newly created department and much more. Data sets were not included in that first-year production. But quickly it was recognized as any good policy, education or economic expert would understand, data is essential to logical understanding. The reports began to include massive sections on statistical data on various school types enrollment and figures. By 1872 the annual report included statistics on enrollment, data broken down for rural versus urban locations, territories versus states, normal schools, teachers’ colleges, law school, agriculture mechanics, business programs, women, theology, medicine and much more.

The current research that this project will focus on describes the economic impact of a educational change for lawyers from the apprenticeship programs that are incredibly rare today to the formalized education both private and state sponsored that takes the economic benefit away from students and lawyers and places it on the state and the education industrial complex. As more formal and professional attitudes and concept of graduate and higher education have developed the explosion of law school students has matched these changes. This data will demonstrate over the post bellum period a significant formalization and increase in education spending by students and the government funneling into educational institutions and away from traditional apprenticeship or reading law approaches. This matches additional aspects of the education and professional education industries. The law school is an example of this change not an outlier.

The data from 1872 shows forty-two open law schools, these schools were overwhelming in the north or union states. Just ten of these schools were in former confederate states. The schools noted tuition costs of between 300 and 30 dollars depending on the year the student entered the three-year programs.[1]  Every law school combined had less than 10,000 reported alumni. Current number of students in 1872 was over 1,000, nearly ten percent of the number of current alumni.

While each year’s data provides interesting insights into these developments, a simple forward movement by ten years to the 1882 report demonstrates the vast changes. These future reports began to track income the law schools were receiving. 1882 saw an increase to 48 schools, a doubling of enrollment from ten years prior and productive funds for law schools totaling over a million dollars. This million-dollar educational industry was created and expanding rapidly. Three of these new law schools opened in the old confederate states and one in the California west coast.

Another ten years forward and the 1892 report notes the rapid expansion of law school students from 3000 in 1888 to over 6500 in 1892. It notes this is not an increase in the legal profession but instead, “a large number of young men seeking systematic instruction in law schools rather than in the private offices of attorneys and counselors.” The 1892 report data notes the balancing if geographic split of law schools. 63 schools total with now 11 law schools in the south, and 5 in the west.

Finally, at the dawn of the new century the report of 1902 paints a vastly different picture than immediately after the war, in under 40 years an explosion of law school graduates, an expansion of law schools and a geographic disbursement of those schools is clear. Tuitions ranging from tens to hundreds of dollars, 102 law schools total throughout the nation accepting daytime and evening students some accepting male and female students. A collection of data on operating costs, endowments, and funds shows a multimillion-dollar education industry. These final reports separate law schools with medical and theological schools in its own separate professional schools’ category. The report directly compares the nearly 14,000 law students with the far fewer theological students. However, the theological schools appear to have more valuable endowments and grounds. However only 12 states had automatic acceptance for to the bar for a law school diploma. In 18 states an exam was required. In dozens of other states years of study under an attorney was still accepted.

In the postbellum period law schools grew, tuition remained steady for 4o years but the number of students and schools and their disbursement around the country exploded to match other professional schools. Even with this change up until the 20^th century, apprenticeships remained not only an option but prevalent in most states. The complete transfer from reading the law to attending law school would come later in the 20^th century.

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[1] An approximate value of 6,507 – 650 dollars in 2020.