Kentucky and Mississippi soon followed their example; North Carolina began to create such a fund in 1825; Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina appropriated a part or the whole of their shares of the "surplus" distributed by the Federal Government under the Act of 1836 to increase these funds or establish new ones for the support of schools; and some States levied considerable taxes for the support of educational institutions.] In general the public schools of the South began as charity schools, but this was also the case in several of the older States in other parts of the country.

These schools were generally poorly taught in the early years, and it has been questioned whether the training which the pupils received compensated them for the humiliating acknowledgment of poverty which their attendance implied.

The amount of money available was small, and the teacher was generally inefficient or worse, but these "old field schools" did help some men on their way.

Several States went beyond the idea of charity in education, and some of the towns and cities established excellent schools for all the people.
The literary fund in North Carolina, for example, amounted to nearly $2,250,000 in 1840.

The rapid increase of this fund had led to the establishment of public schools in 1839.