Horace Mann was born in Franklin Massachusetts in 1796. He is perhaps the most famous and best known of the early common school reformers. Being from New England had a formative effect on Mann, the value of hard work, and diligence was important in Mann’s upbringing. He represented the Protestant work ethic which he saw as positive moral values. There are several ideas that lead me to believe that Horace Mann made arguments for the Common School Movement from moral obligations rather than practical reasons. According to Goldstein, Mann had become a devotee of phrenology which is the analysis of people’s physical characteristics especially the sizes and shapes of their heads to determine their moral and intellectual nature. He found phrenology
