The purpose of this paper is to examine the three overlapping movements during the nineteenth century that sought to provide public support for religious education. The first movement sought to fund denominational schools directly from public revenues. These publicly supported denominational schools received funds from the state in proportion to the number of students they enrolled. The second movement tried to establish common non-denominational religious schools. These non-denominational religious public schools were supported by the Protestant majority, though opposed by Catholics and Lutherans. In the third movement, the religious public schools, attempted to create schools that were non-denominational during the class hours but were denominational outside class hours. The first three sections of this article investigate these movements separately. The final section addresses the relevance of the three movements for the current discussion in the United States on public support for children in religiously affiliated schools.