Mightier Than the Sword: Americans’ Use of Education in Nation-Building at Home and Abroad, 1785-Present

Benjamin Justice

This study examines the history of Americans’ use of education in nation-building. Using a wide array of secondary works and archival sources from the federal agencies and volunteer organizations, the book will examine eight case studies of Americans’ educational nation-building at home and abroad over the last two centuries. The project organizes these case studies into three thematic sections: the use of education to create future “American” republics, the use of education as a means to pacifying and rehabilitating enemy states, and the use of education in contemporary nation building projects in the Middle East. The word “nation-building” conjures images of imperial government and neo-colonialism, but instead this study hopes to offer a more nuanced understanding of the educational ideas and motivations of Americans by exploring the connection between their own cherished political ideals and the educational systems that they impose on others. This study can make a major contribution to our historical understanding Americans’ ideas about the role of education in a democratic society, and also offer an important perspective to scholars and policy makers concerned with American nation-building efforts today.

About Benjamin Justice

Dr. Justice holds a B.A. in history from Yale and an M.A. in history and Ph.D. in History of Education from Stanford University. His first book, The War That Wasn’t: Religious Conflict and Compromise in the Common Schools of New York, 1865-1900 (SUNY, 2005) examines the ways in which democratic, local control of common schools interacted with religious diversity in an age of political polarization. Dr. Justice’s other works focus on a variety of topics, including prison education, civic education, the art and politics of Thomas Nast, and the political uses of history today. Dr. Justice is an Assistant Professor of Education and (by courtesy) History, and Co-Director of the Social Studies Education Program at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.