In 1866, Ohio congressman and future president James Garfield championed the creation of a federal Department of Education to address high illiteracy levels among former slaves and an influx of European immigrants.
As part of the post-Civil War Reconstruction effort, Confederate states were required to guarantee education for all in their rewritten constitutions. The new federal agency would monitor and enforce compliance, notes a brief history of the Department of Education published by the Conference Board think tank.
