Educating and Debating Social and Political Issues in the Naperville Lyceum

This historical research responds to a call from other scholars to allow thetopics discussed in the lyceum of the nineteenth century to shed light onthe social consciousness of the frontier settlements of the era. The recentdiscovery of the “Proceedings of the Naperville Lyceum” (1836-1843)provided the means to do this. Since political topics were clearly central tothe Naperville Lyceum members, this research focused on those items. Itis revealing that lyceum topics in this location were not self-absorbed. Thedebated topics included several global issues and did not simplychampion the American status quo. It suggests that the frontier settlers ofNaperville were concerned with concerns of justice as citizens of acosmopolitan world, one in which they valued self-governance. The studyfurther reveals how some topics have continued to be politically relevantfor more than 180 years since the Naperville Lyceum began. Many of thesame topics are prominent in modern political discussion and debate