This article explores some of the specificities, transformations and continuities in the role of the state in education in Mexico (New Spain) over a long period of time (1788-1848) before and after independence, by focusing on the ritual of public examinations in elementary schools. In addition to a review of the laws and regulations that led to a stronger intervention of the city councils in schooling, it discusses how the state became defined as the "provider" of education, analyses the emergence of the notion of "the public" in schooling, and examines the notions of individual achievement and merit. It is the author's contention that, throughout this period, the terms of the relationship between state and society regarding education gained new forms and changed from a "logic of reciprocity" to a "logic of citizenship". (Contains 45 footnotes.)