Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a reverend in the Congregationalist church, founded the first school for the deaf in the United States. Gallaudet's interest in working with the Deaf began when he met his neighbor's daughter, a nine-year old deaf girl named Alice Cogswell.

Gallaudet eventually traveled to Europe to research existing methods for teaching the deaf. He visited a number of schools that practiced Oralism, but found teachers hesitant to explain their methods. Gallaudet was skeptical of the effectiveness of Oralism.

Gallaudet then traveled to Paris to observe how the methods used by the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets in Paris (established by the Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée). Gallaudet was impressed by the results and eventually presuaded Laurent Clerc to travel back with him to America.

There they began what is now known as the American School for the Deaf (established 1817). His son Edward Miner Gallaudet would found the first college for the deaf in 1857, which would later become known as Gallaudet University.