In this open letter, printed on the front page of De Hoop des Vaderlands. Weekblad voor Christelijk-Nationaal Onderwijs [The hope of the fatherland: Weekly paper for Christian-National primary education], numerous suggestions and proposals are put forward about how to elevate the importance and activity of the local auxiliary associations of the Union for Christian National Primary Education (CNS).

Founded in 1860, the CNS was in danger of narrowing its goals to the establishment of Christian schools and losing the focus of its original purpose to advance and propagate the Christian National school. After making Christian schooling possible, many of the governing boards of the local auxiliary associations no longer had a clear vision of what they should be doing. The Central Committee of the CNS published this open letter to assist local auxiliary associations in interpreting their mission and developing more detailed organizational structures.

The correspondence (ACNS, no. 86) makes clear that Kuyper wrote the draft. Groen van Prinsterer had commissioned him to draft the letter at the general meeting of the union (cf. 1869.15). The draft was originally intended as the text of a circular letter which would be sent to the boards of the auxiliary associations of the union. After making a few changes of minor significance, the Central Committee decided to publish this letter instead under the name of its commissioners (J. de Neufville, chairman, and N.M. Feringa, secretary) in De Hoop des Vaderlands. Kuyper very likely drafted and composed many items where his name did not appear or where it simply appeared in the midst of other signatories.