In establishing his main ideas and ideals of education, Mann put forth six main principles:

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1. The public should no longer remain ignorant.

2. Education should be paid for, controlled and sustained by an interested public. 

3. This education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds.

4. This education must be non-sectarian.

5. This education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society.

6. That education should be provided by well-trained professional teachers.

He worked for more and better equipped school houses, longer school years (until 16 years old), higher pay for teachers and a wider curriculum.

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In March of 1843 Horace was persuaded to sail to Europe to study common schools by his close friend Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe. Once he had decided to make the trip with Howe and Howe’s new bride, Horace decided not to make the trip alone, and asked a woman he had long known, greatly admired and most certainly loved, Miss Mary Tyler Peabody of Salem.  She would later become his biographer.

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Mary Peabody, along with her two sisters Elizabeth and Sophia, led a group of forward thinkers and reformists known as transcendentalists. Among the group that met at the weekly Wednesday evening open houses at the Peabody home were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, to name but a few.  

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For many years, Horace Mann was admired by more than one of the Peabody sisters. But there was only one that held his attention and eventually his heart.  He asked Mary to marry him and asked if she could possibly be ready to marry in just 5 weeks, by the first day of May – the day the Britannia would sail from Boston.  It was all very sudden, she said. But she thought she could manage.  

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The wedding took place in the morning of May 1, 1843, and the couple left on their honeymoon that afternoon. As part of his tour Mann studied the methods and organization of European schools, particularly those in Prussia.

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Mann’s Seventh Annual Report for the Board of Education, published after his return, summarized the results of his European trip and study. Not only was this report printed in Massachusetts, but in other states as well, by state legislatures and private individuals. Many copies of the report were also published and distributed in England. It is noted that in 1852, he supported the decision to adopt the Prussian education system in Massachusetts. Shortly after Massachusetts adopted the Prussian system, the Governor of New York set up the same method in twelve different New York schools.

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Mann hoped that by bringing all children of all classes together, they could have a common learning experience.  The common experience would give an opportunity to the less fortunate to advance in the social scale, and Mann hoped that education would “equalize the conditions of men.” It was viewed as a road to social advancement by the early labor movement and as a goal of having common schools.  

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Mann suggested schools would help those students who did not have appropriate discipline in the home. Building a person’s character was just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic. Instilling values such as obedience to authority, promptness in attendance, and organizing the time according to bell ringing helped students prepare for future employment. The normal schools trained mostly women, giving them new career opportunities as teachers.  

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Two of Horace Mann’s nieces, Maria and Rebecca, were taught by their uncle and became teachers, Maria teaching in Massachusetts for over 50 years: 

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“The best part of my life, and the maximum of whatever humble ability I ever possessed, have been devoted to the culture and well-being of youth.” 

The practical result of Mann’s work was a revolution in the approach used in the common school system of Massachusetts, which influenced other states.  Not all were happy with the direction he was taking education in America, and many argued against the exclusion of all sectarian instruction.  But his thoughts and ideals prevailed.  Rather than sanctioning a particular church as was often the norm in many states, the Legislature promoted books “calculated to favor the tenets of any particular set of Christians.”