The recorded history of sign language in Western society extends from the 16th century. In the 18th century, the Abbe, a priest, visited a home and found two little girls who did not speak (and because of their silence, he thought they were rude). Soon he found out they were not rude, only deaf. This inspired him to invent a sign language and teach these language-less children.
In 1755, Abbé de l'Épée founded the first public school for deaf children in Paris; Laurent Clerc was arguably its most famous graduate. He went to the United States with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to found the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut
To develop the sign language, he observed and learned from a rudimentary system of signs already being used by the deaf people of Paris. The Abbe's system incorporated these rudimentary signs into a more formalized sign system.
The Abbe Charles Michel's success led to a "class" of at least 40 students, and in 1754 he set up and funded by himself, the first public school for the deaf in France, the "Institution Nationale des sourds-muets de Paris," which translates to the National Deaf-Dumb Institute of Paris. The formal sign system enabled deaf people in France to communicate words and concepts, and became the basis for American Sign Language and also influenced other European sign languages. Abbe Charles Michel De l'Epee (1712-1789), sculpted by Eugene Hannon, an alumnus of the school.