The article addresses aspects related to the used methods to articulate the Public Education System in the States of Bolivar and Magdalena during the federal regime that took place in Colombia during the second half of the nineteenth century. In these States, located in the Colombian Caribbean region, public education was established by levels and legislated through diverse regulations, that sought to comply with the Organic Decree of Public Instruction –DOIP in Spanish- issued by the Government of the Union in 1870 and that constituted a significant effort to regulate primary school from a secular perspective.