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HISTORY
OF THE
NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA
_FROM 1619 TO 1880._
NEGROES AS SLAVES, AS SOLDIERS, AND AS CITIZENS
TOGETHER WITH
A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION OF THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN
FAMILY, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AFRICA, AND AN
ACCOUNT OF THE NEGRO GOVERNMENTS OF
SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA.
BY
GEORGE W. WILLIAMS,
FIRST COLORED MEMBER OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE, AND LATE JUDGE
ADVOCATE OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF OHIO, ETC.
_IN TWO VOLUMES._
VOLUME II.
1800 TO 1880.
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
27 AND 29 WEST 23D STREET.
1883.
COPYRIGHT,
BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
1882
NOTE.
This second volume brings the HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA
from 1800 down to 1880. It consists of six parts and twenty-nine
chapters. Few memories can cover this eventful period of American
history. Commencing its career with the Republic, slavery grew with
its growth and strengthened with its strength. The dark spectre kept
pace and company with liberty until separated by the sword. Beginning
with the struggle for restriction or extension of slavery, I have
striven to record, in the spirit of honest and impartial historical
inquiry, all the events of this period belonging properly to my
subject. The development and decay of anti-slavery sentiment at the
South; the pious efforts of the good Quakers to ameliorate the
condition of the slaves; the service of Negroes as soldiers and
sailors; the anti-slavery agitation movement; the insurrections of
slaves; the national legislation on the slavery question; the John
Brown movement; the war for the Union; the valorous conduct of Negro
soldiers; the emancipation proclamations; the reconstruction of the
late Confederate States; the errors of reconstruction; the results of
emancipation; vital, prison, labor, educational, financial, and social
statistics; the exodus--cause and effect; and a sober prophecy of the
future,--are all faithfully recorded.
After seven years I am loath to part with the saddest task ever
committed to human hands! I have tracked my bleeding countrymen
through the widely scattered documents of American history; I have
listened to their groans, their clanking chains, and melting prayers,
until the woes of a race and the agonies of centuries seem to crowd
upon my soul as a bitter reality. Many pages of this history have been
blistered with my tears; and, although having lived but a little more
than a generation, my mind feels as if it were cycles old.
The long spectral hand on the clock of American history points to the
completion of the second decade since the American slave became an
American citizen. How wondrous have been his strides, how marvellous
his achievements! Twenty years ago we were in the midst of a great
war for the extinction of slavery; in this anniversary week I complete
my task, record the results of that struggle. I modestly strive to
lift the Negro race to its pedestal in American history. I raise this
post to indicate the progress of humanity; to instruct the present, to
inform the future. I commit this work to the considerate judgment of
my fellow-citizens of every race, "with malice toward none, and
charity for all."
GEO. W. WILLIAMS.
HOFFMAN HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 28, 1882.
CONTENTS.
Part 4.
_CONSERVATIVE ERA--NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY._
CHAPTER I.
RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1800-1825.
PAGE
Commencement of the Nineteenth Century.--Slave Population of
1800.--Memorial presented to Congress calling Attention to the
Slave-trade to the Coast of Guinea.--Georgia cedes the Territory
lying West of her to become a State.--Ohio adopts a State
Constitution.--William Henry Harrison appointed Governor of the
Territory of Indiana.--An Act of Congress prohibiting the
Importation of Slaves into the United States or
Territories.--Slave Population of 1810.--Mississippi applies for
Admission into the Union with a Slave Constitution.--Congress
besieged by Memorials urging more Specific Legislation against
the Slave-trade.--Premium offered to the Informer of every
illegally imported African seized within the United
States.--Circular-letters sent to the Naval Officers on the
Sea-coast of the Slave-holding States.--President Monroe's
Message to Congress on the Question of Slavery.--Petition
presented by the Missouri Delegates for the Admission of that
State into the Union.--The Organization of the Arkansas
Territory.--Resolutions passed for the Restriction of Slavery in
New States.--The Missouri Controversy.--The Organization of the
Anti-slavery Societies.--An Act for the Gradual Abolition of
Slavery in New Jersey.--Its Provisions.--The Attitude of the
Northern Press on the Slavery Question.--Slave Population of
1820.--Anti-slavery Sentiment at the North 1
CHAPTER II.
NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in the War of 1812.--The New
York Legislature authorizes the Enlistment of a Regiment of
Colored Soldiers.--Gen. Andrew Jackson's Proclamation to the Free
Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana calling them to Arms.--Stirring
Address to the Colored Troops the Sunday before the Battle of New
Orleans.--Gen. Jackson anticipates the Valor of his Colored
Soldiers.--Terms of Peace at the Close of the War by the
Commissioners at Ghent.--Negroes placed as Chattel
Property.--Their Valor in War secures them no Immunity in Peace
23
CHAPTER III.
NEGROES IN THE NAVY.
No Proscription against Negroes as Sailors.--They are carried
upon the Rolls in the Navy without Regard to their
Nationality.--Their Treatment as Sailors.--Commodore Perry's
Letter to Commodore Chauncey in Regard to the Men sent
him.--Commodore Chauncey's Spirited Reply.--The Heroism of the
Negro set forth in the Picture of Perry's Victory on Lake
Erie.--Extract of a Letter from Nathaniel Shaler, Commander of a
Private Vessel.--He cites Several Instances of the Heroic Conduct
of Negro Sailors 28
PART 5.
_ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION._
CHAPTER IV.
RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION. 1825-1850.
The Security of the Institution of Slavery at the South.--The
Right to hold Slaves questioned.--Rapid Increase of the Slave
Population.--Anti-slavery Speeches in the Legislature of
Virginia.--The Quakers of Maryland and Delaware emancipate their
Slaves.--The Evil Effect of Slavery upon Society.--The Conscience
and Heart of the South did not respond to the Voice of Reason or
the Dictates of Humanity 31
CHAPTER V.
ANTI-SLAVERY METHODS.
The Antiquity of Anti-slavery Sentiment.--Benjamin Lundy's
Opposition to Slavery in the South and at the North.--He
establishes the "Genius of Universal Emancipation."--His Great
Sacrifices and Marvellous Work in the Cause of
Emancipation.--William Lloyd Garrison edits a Paper at
Bennington, Vermont.--He pens a Petition to Congress for the
Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.--Garrison the
Peerless Leader of the Anti-slavery Agitation.--Extract from a
Speech delivered by Daniel O'Connell at Cork, Ireland.--Increase
of Anti-slavery Societies in the Country.--Charles Sumner
delivers a Speech on the "Anti-slavery Duties of the Whig
Party."--Marked Events of 1846.--Sumner the Leader of the
Political Abolition Party.--Heterodox Anti-slavery Party.--Its
Sentiments.--Horace Greeley the Leader of the Economic
Anti-slavery Party.--The Aggressive Anti-slavery Party.--Its
Leaders.--The Colonization Anti-slavery Society.--American
Colonization Society.--Manumitted Negroes colonize on the West
Coast of Africa.--A Bill establishing a Line of Mail Steamers to
the Coast of Africa.--It provides for the Suppression of the
Slave-trade, the Promotion of Commerce, and the Colonization of
Free Negroes.--Extracts from the Press warmly urging the Passage
of the Bill.--The Underground Railroad Organization.--Its
Efficiency in freeing Slaves.--Anti-Slavery Literature.--It
exposes the True Character of Slavery.--"Uncle Tom's Cabin," by
Harriet Beecher Stowe, pleaded the Cause of the Slave in Twenty
Different Languages.--The Influence of "Impending Crisis." 37
CHAPTER VI.
ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES.
Intelligent Interest of Free Negroes in the Agitation
Movement.--"First Annual Convention of the People of Color" held
at Philadelphia.--Report of the Committee on the Establishment of
a College for Young Men of Color.--Provisional Committee
appointed in each City.--Conventional Address.--Second Convention
held at Benezet Hall, Philadelphia.--Resolutions of the
Meeting.--Conventional Address.--The Massachusetts General
Colored Association.--Convention of Anti-slavery Women of America
at New York.--Prejudice against admitting Negroes into White
Societies.--Colored Orators.--Their Eloquent Pleas for their
Enslaved Race 61
CHAPTER VII.
NEGRO INSURRECTIONS.
The Negro not so Docile as supposed.--The Reason why he was kept
in Bondage.--Negroes possessed Courage but lacked
Leaders.--Insurrection of Slaves.--Gen. Gabriel as a
Leader.--Negro Insurrection planned in South Carolina.--Evils of,
revealed.--The "Nat. Turner" Insurrection in South Hampton
County, Virginia.--The Whites arm themselves to repel the
Insurrectionists.--Capture and Trial of "Nat. Turner."--His
Execution.--Effect of the Insurrection upon Slaves and
Slave-holders 82
CHAPTER VIII.
THE "AMISTAD" CAPTIVES.
The Spanish Slaver "Amistad" sails from Havana, Cuba, for Porto
Principe.--Fifty-four Native Africans on Board.--Joseph Cinquez,
the Son of an African Prince.--The "Amistad" captured and taken
into New London, Conn.--Trial and Release of the Slaves.--Tour
through the United States.--Return to their Native Country in
Company with Missionaries.--The Anti-slavery Cause benefited by
their Stay in the United States.--Their Appreciation of Christian
Civilization 93
Part 6.
_THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION._
CHAPTER IX.
NORTHERN SYMPATHY AND SOUTHERN SUBTERFUGES. 1850-1860.
Violent Treatment of Anti-slavery Orators.--The South
misinterprets the Mobocratic Spirit of the North.--The
"Garrisonians" and "Calhounites."--Slave Population of
1830-1850.--The Thirty-first Congress.--Motion for the Admission
of New Mexico and California.--The Democratic and Whig Parties on
the Treatment of the Slave Question.--Convention of the
Democratic Party at Baltimore, Maryland.--Nomination of Franklin
Pierce for President.--Whig Party Convention.--Nomination of Gen.
Winfield Scott for the Presidency by the Whigs.--Mr. Pierce
elected President in 1853.--A Bill introduced to repeal the
"Missouri Compromise."--Speech by Stephen A. Douglass.--Mr.
Chase's Reply.--An Act to organize the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska.--State Militia in the South make Preparations for
War.--President Buchanan in Sympathy with the South. 97
CHAPTER X.
THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES."
Stringent Laws enacted against Free Negroes and
Mulattoes.--Fugitive-slave Law respected in Ohio.--A Law to
prevent Kidnapping.--The First Constitution of Ohio.--History of
the Dred Scott case.--Judge Taney's Opinion in this Case.--Ohio
Constitution of 1851 denied Free Negroes the Right to vote.--The
Establishment of Colored Schools.--Law in Indiana Territory in
Reference to Executions.--An Act for the Introduction of Negroes
and Mulattoes into the Territory.--First Constitution of
Indiana.--The Illinois Constitution of 1818.--Criminal Code
enacted.--Illinois Legislature passes an Act to prevent the
Emigration of Free Negroes into the State.--Free Negroes of the
Northern States endure Restriction and Proscription 111
CHAPTER XI.
THE NORTHERN NEGROES.
Nominal Rights of Free Negroes in the Slave States.--Fugitive
Slaves seek Refuge in Canada.--Negroes petition against Taxation
without Representation.--A Law preventing Negroes from other
States from settling in Massachusetts.--Notice to Blacks,
Indians, and Mulattoes, warning them to leave the
Commonwealth.--The Rights and Privileges of the Negro
restricted.--Colored Men turn their Attention to the Education of
their own Race.--John V. De Grasse, the first Colored Man
admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society.--Prominent Colored
Men of New York and Philadelphia.--The Organization of the
African Methodist Episcopal and Colored Baptist
Churches.--Colored Men distinguish themselves in the
Pulpit.--Report to the Ohio Anti-slavery Society of Colored
People in Cincinnati in 1835.--Many purchase their
Freedom.--Henry Boyd, the Mechanic and Builder.--He becomes a
Successful Manufacturer in Cincinnati.--Samuel T. Wilcox, the
Grocer.--His Success in Business in Cincinnati.--Ball & Thomas,
the Photographers.--Colored People of Cincinnati evince a Desire
to take Care of themselves.--Lydia P. Mott establishes a Home for
Colored Orphans.--The Organization effected in 1844.--Its
Success.--Formation of a Colored Military Company called "The
Attucks Guards."--Emigration of Negroes to Liberia.--The Colored
People live down much Prejudice 125
CHAPTER XII.
NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 1619-1860.
The Possibilities of the Human Intellect.--Ignorance Favorable to
Slavery.--An Act by the Legislature of Alabama imposing a Penalty
on any one instructing a Colored Person.--Educational Privileges
of the Creoles in the City of Mobile.--Prejudice against Colored
Schools in Connecticut.--The Attempt of Miss Prudence Crandall to
admit Colored Girls into her School at Canterbury.--The
Indignation of the Citizens at this Attempt to mix the Races in
Education.--The Legislature of Connecticut passes a Law
abolishing the School.--The Building assaulted by a Mob.--Miss
Crandall arrested and imprisoned for teaching Colored Children
against the Law.--Great Excitement.--The Law finally
repealed.--An Act by the Legislature of Delaware taxing Persons
who brought into, or sold Slaves out of, the State.--Under Act of
1829 Money received for the Sale of Slaves in Florida was added
to the School Fund in that State.--Georgia prohibits the
Education of Colored Persons under Heavy Penalty.--Illinois
establishes Separate Schools for Colored Children.--The "Free
Mission Institute" at Quincy, Illinois, destroyed by a Missouri
Mob.--Numerous and Cruel Slave Laws in Kentucky retard the
Education of the Negroes.--An Act passed in Louisiana preventing
the Negroes in any Way from being instructed.--Maine gives Equal
School Privileges to Whites and Blacks.--St. Francis Academy for
Colored Girls founded in Baltimore in 1831.--The Wells
School.--The First School for Colored Children established in
Boston by Intelligent Colored Men in 1798.--A School-house for
the Colored Children built and paid for out of a Fund left by
Abiel Smith for that Purpose.--John B. Russworm one of the
Teachers and afterward Governor of the Colony of Cape Palmas,
Liberia.--First Primary School for Colored Children established
in 1820.--Missouri passes Stringent Laws against the Instruction
of Negroes.--New York provides for the Education of
Negroes.--Elias Neau opens a School in New York City for Negro
Slaves in 1704.--"New York African Free School" in 1786.--Visit
of Lafayette to the African Schools in 1824.--His
Address.--Public Schools for Colored Children in New
York.--Colored Schools in Ohio.--"Cincinnati High School" for
Colored Youths founded in 1844.--Oberlin College opens its Doors
to Colored Students.--The Establishment of Colored Schools in
Pennsylvania by Anthony Benezet in 1750.--His Will.--"Institute
for Colored Youths" established in 1837.--"Avery College" at
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, founded in 1849.--Ashmun Institute,
or Lincoln University, founded in October, 1856.--South Carolina
takes Definite Action against the Education or Promotion of the
Colored Race in 1800-1803-1834.--Tennessee makes no
Discrimination against Color in the School Law of 1840.--Little
Opportunity afforded in Virginia for the Colored Man to be
enlightened.--Stringent Laws enacted.--History of Schools for the
Colored Population in the District of Columbia 147
CHAPTER XIII.
JOHN BROWN--HERO AND MARTYR.
John Brown's Appearance in Kansas.--He denounces Slavery in a
Political Meeting at Osawatomie.--Mrs. Stearns's Personal
Recollection of John Brown.--Kansas infested by Border
Ruffians.--The Battle of Harper's Ferry.--The Defeat and Capture
of Captain John Brown.--His Last Letter written to Mrs.
Steams.--His Trial and Execution.--His Influence upon the
Anti-slavery Question at the North.--His Place in History 214
Part 7.
_THE NEGRO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION._
CHAPTER XIV.
DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE.
Increase of Slave Population in Slave-holding States from
1850-1860.--Products of Slave Labor.--Basis of Southern
Representation.--Six Seceding States organize a New
Government.--Constitution of the Confederate Government.--Speech
by Alexander H. Stephens.--Mr. Lincoln in Favor of Gradual
Emancipation.--He is elected President of the United States.--The
Issue of the War between the States 228
CHAPTER XV.
"A WHITE MAN'S WAR."
The First Call for Troops.--Rendition of Fugitive Slaves by the
Army.--Col. Tyler's Address to the People of Virginia.--General
Isaac R. Sherwood's Account of an Attempt to secure a Fugitive
Slave in his Charge.--Col. Steedman refuses to have his Camp
searched for Fugitive Slaves by Order from Gen. Fry.--Letter from
Gen. Buell in Defence of the Rebels in the South.--Orders issued
by Generals Hooker, Williams, and Others, in Regard to harboring
Fugitive Slaves in Union Camps.--Observation Concerning Slavery
from the "Army of the Potomac."--Gen. Butler's Letter to Gen.
Winfield Scott.--It is answered by the Secretary of War.--Horace
Greeley's Letter to the President.--President Lincoln's
Reply.--Gen. John C. Fremont, Commander of the Union Army in
Missouri, issues a Proclamation emancipating Slaves in his
District.--It is disapproved by the President.--Emancipation
Proclamation by Gen. Hunter.--It is rescinded by the
President.--Slavery and Union joined in a Desperate Struggle 241
CHAPTER XVI.
THE NEGRO ON FATIGUE DUTY.
Negroes employed as Teamsters and in the Quartermaster's
Department.--Rebel General Mercer's Order to the Slave-holders
issued from Savannah.--He receives Orders from the Secretary of
War to impress a Number of Negroes to build Fortifications.--The
Negro proves himself Industrious and earns Promotion 260
CHAPTER XVII.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS.
Congress passes an Act to confiscate Property used for
Insurrectionary Purposes.--A Fruitless Appeal to the President to
issue an Emancipation Proclamation.--He thinks the Time not yet
come for such an Action, but within a Few Weeks changes his
Opinion and issues an Emancipation Proclamation.--The Rebels show
no Disposition to accept the Mild Terms of the Proclamation.--Mr.
Davis gives Attention to the Proclamation in his Third Annual
Message.--Second Emancipation Proclamation issued by President
Lincoln January 1, 1863.--The Proclamation imparts New Hope to
the Negro 263
CHAPTER XVIII.
EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.
The Question of the Military Employment of Negroes.--The Rebels
take the First Step toward the Military Employment of
Negroes.--Grand Review of the Rebel Troops at New
Orleans.--General Hunter Arms the First Regiment of Loyal Negroes
at the South.--Official Correspondence between the Secretary of
War and General Hunter respecting the Enlistment of the Black
Regiment.--The Enlistment of Five Negro Regiments authorized by
the President.--The Policy of General Phelps in Regard to the
Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in Louisiana.--A Second Call
for Troops by the President.--An Attempt to amend the Army
Appropriation Bill so as to prohibit the Further Employment of
Colored Troops.--Governor John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts,
authorized by Secretary of War to organize Two Regiments of
Colored Troops.--General Lorenzo Thomas is despatched to the
Mississippi Valley to superintend the Enlistment of Negro
Soldiers in the Spring of 1863.--An Order issued by the War
Department in the Fall of 1863 for the Enlistment of Colored
Troops.--The Union League Club of New York City raises Two
Regiments.--Recruiting of Colored Troops in Pennsylvania.--Major
George L. Stearns assigned Charge of the Recruiting of Colored
Troops in the Department of the Cumberland.--Free Military School
established at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.--Endorsement of the
School by Secretary Stanton.--The Organization of the
School.--Official Table giving Number of Colored Troops in the
Army.--The Character of Negro Troops.--Mr. Greeley's Editorial on
"Negro Troops."--Letter from Judge-Advocate Holt to the Secretary
of War on the "Enlistment of Slaves."--The Negro Legally and
Constitutionally a Soldier.--History records his Deeds of
Patriotism. 276
CHAPTER XIX.
NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.
Justification of the Federal Government in the Employment of
Slaves as Soldiers.--Trials of the Negro Soldier.--He undergoes
Persecution from the White Northern Troops, and Barbarous
Treatment from the Rebels.--Editorial of the "New York Times" on
the Negro Soldiers in Battle.--Report of the "Tribune" on the
Gallant Exploits of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers.--Negro
Troops in all the Departments.--Negro Soldiers in the Battle of
Port Hudson.--Death of Captain Andre Callioux.--Death of
Color-Sergeant Anselmas Planciancois.--An Account of the Battle
of Port Hudson.--Official Report of General Banks.--He applauds
the Valor of the Colored Regiments at Port Hudson.--George H.
Boker's Poem on "The Black Regiment."--Battle of Milliken's Bend,
June, 1863.--Description of the Battle.--Memorable Events of
July, 1863.--Battle on Morris Island.--Bravery of Sergeant
Carney.--An Account of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment by Edward
L. Pierce to Governor Andrew.--Death of Col. Shaw.--Colored
Troops in the Army of the Potomac.--Battle of Petersburg.--Table
showing the Losses at Nashville.--Adjt.-Gen. Thomas on Negro
Soldiers.--An Extract from the "New York Tribune" in Behalf of
the Soldierly Qualities of the Negroes.--Letter received by Col.
Darling from Mr. Aden and Col. Foster praising the Eminent
Qualifications of the Negro for Military Life.--History records
their Deeds of Valor in the Preservation of the Union 310
CHAPTER XX.
CAPTURE AND TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS.
The Military Employment of Negroes Distasteful to the Rebel
Authorities.--The Confederates the First to employ Negroes as
Soldiers.--Jefferson Davis refers to the Subject in his Message,
and the Confederate Congress orders All Negroes captured to be
turned over to the State Authorities, and raises the "Black Flag"
upon White Officers commanding Negro Soldiers.--The New York
Press calls upon the Government to protect its Negro
Soldiers.--Secretary Stanton's Action.--The President's
Order.--Correspondence between Gen. Peck and Gen. Pickett in
Regard to the Killing of a Colored Man after he had surrendered
at the Battle of Newbern.--Southern Press on the Capture and
Treatment of Negro Soldiers.--The Rebels refuse to exchange Negro
Soldiers captured on Morris and James Islands on Account of the
Order of the Confederate Congress which required them to be
turned over to the Authorities of the Several States.--Jefferson
Davis issues a Proclamation outlawing Gen. B. F. Butler.--He is
to be hung without Trial by any Confederate Officer who may
capture him.--The Battle of Fort Pillow.--The Gallant Defence by
the Little Band of Union Troops.--It refuses to capitulate and is
assaulted and captured by an Overwhelming Force.--The Union
Troops butchered in Cold Blood.--The Wounded are carried into
Houses which are fired and burned with their Helpless
Victims.--Men are nailed to the Outside of Buildings through
their Hands and Feet and burned alive.--The Wounded and Dying are
brained where they lay in their Ebbing Blood.--The Outrages are
renewed in the Morning.--Dead and Living find a Common Sepulchre
in the Trench.--General Chalmers orders the Killing of a Negro
Child.--Testimony of the Few Union Soldiers who were enabled to
crawl out of the Gilt-Edge, Fire-Proof Hell at Pillow.--They give
a Sickening Account of the Massacre before the Senate Committee
on the Conduct of the War.--Gen. Forrest's Futile Attempt to
destroy the Record of his Foul Crime.--Fort Pillow Massacre
without a Parallel in History 350
Part 8.
_THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM._
CHAPTER XXI.
RECONSTRUCTION--MISCONSTRUCTION. 1865-1875.
The War over, Peace restored, and the Nation cleansed of a
Plague.--slavery gives Place to a Long Train of
Events.--Unsettled Condition of Affairs at the South.--The
Absence of Legal Civil Government necessitates the Establishment
of Provisional Military Government.--An Act establishing a Bureau
for Refugees and Abandoned Lands.--Congressional Methods for the
Reconstruction of the South.--Gen. U. S. Grant carries these
States in 1868 and 1872.--Both Branches of the Legislatures in
all the Southern States contain Negro Members.--The Errors of
Reconstruction chargeable to both Sections of the Country 377
CHAPTER XXII.
THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION.
The Apparent Idleness of the Negro Sporadic rather than
Generic.--He quietly settles down to Work.--The Government makes
Ample Provisions for his Educational and Social Improvement.--The
Marvellous Progress made by the People of the South in
Education.--Earliest School for Freedmen at Fortress Monroe in
1861.--The Richmond Institute for Colored Youth.--The Unlimited
Desire of the Negroes to obtain an Education.--General Order
organizing a "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
Lands."--Gen. O. O. Howard appointed Commissioner of the
Bureau.--Report of all the Receipts and Expenditures of the
Freedman's Bureau from 1865-1867.--An Act Incorporating the
Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company.--The Business of the
Company as shown from 1866-1871.--Financial Statement by the
Trustees for 1872.--Failure of the Bank.--The Social and
Financial Condition of the Colored People in the South.--The
Negro rarely receives Justice in Southern Courts.--Treatment of
Negroes as Convicts in Southern Prisons.--Increase of the Colored
People from 1790-1880.--Negroes susceptible of the Highest
Civilization 384
CHAPTER XXIII.
REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN.
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.--The Legal Destruction
of Slavery and a Constitutional Prohibition.--Fifteenth Amendment
granting Manhood Suffrage to the American Negro.--President
Grant's Special Message upon the Subject.--Universal Rejoicing
among the Colored People.--The Negro in the United States Senate
and House of Representatives.--The Negro in the Diplomatic
Service of the Country.--Frederick Douglass--His Birth,
Enslavement, Escape to the North, and Life as a Freeman.--Becomes
an Anti-slavery Orator.--Goes to Great Britain.--Returns to
America.--Establishes the "North Star."--His Eloquence,
Influence, and Brilliant Career.--Richard Theodore Greener.--His
Early Life, Education, and Successful Literary Career.--John P.
Green.--His Early Struggles to obtain an Education.--A Successful
Orator, Lawyer, and Useful Legislator.--Other Representative
Colored Men.--Representative Colored Women 419
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Its Origin, Growth, Organization, and Excellent Influence.--Its
Publishing House, Periodicals, and Papers.--Its Numerical and
Financial Strength.--Its Missionary and Educational
Spirit.--Wilberforce University 452
CHAPTER XXV.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Founding of the M. E. Church of America in 1768.--Negro Servants
and Slaves among the First Contributors to the Erection of the
First Chapel in New York.--The Rev. Harry Hosier the First Negro
Preacher in the M. E. Church in America.--His Remarkable
Eloquence as a Pulpit Orator.--Early Prohibition against
Slave-holding in the M. E. Church.--Strength of the Churches and
Sunday-schools of the Colored Members in the M. E. Church.--The
Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D.D.--His Ancestors.--His Early Life and
Struggles for an Education.--He Teaches School in Kentucky.--His
Experiences as a Teacher.--Is ordained to the Gospel Ministry and
becomes a Preacher and Missionary Teacher.--His Settlement as
Pastor in Indiana and Ohio.--Is given the Title of Doctor of
Divinity by the Tennessee College.--His Influence as a Leader,
and his Standing as a Preacher 465
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA.
The Colored Baptists an Intelligent and Useful People.--Their
Leading Ministers in Missouri, Ohio, and in New England.--The
Birth, Early Life, and Education of Duke William Anderson.--As
Farmer, Teacher, Preacher, and Missionary.--His Influence in the
West.--Goes South at the Close of the War.--Teaches in a
Theological Institute at Nashville, Tennessee.--Called to
Washington.--Pastor of 19th Street Baptist Church.--He occupies
Various Positions of Trust.--Builds a New Church.--His Last
Revival.--His Sickness and Death.--His Funeral and the General
Sorrow at his Loss.--Leonard Andrew Grimes, of Boston,
Massachusetts.--His Piety, Faithfulness, and Public Influence for
Good.--The Completion of his Church.--His Last Days and Sudden
Death.--General Sorrow.--Resolutions by the Baptist Ministers of
Boston.--A Great and Good Man Gone 475
Part 9.
_THE DECLINE OF NEGRO GOVERNMENTS._
CHAPTER XXVII.
REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION.
1875-1880.
The Beginning of the End of the Republican Governments at the
South.--Southern Election Methods and Northern Sympathy.--Gen.
Grant not Responsible for the Decline and Loss of the Republican
State Governments at the South.--A Party without a Live
Issue.--Southern War Claims.--The Campaign of 1876.--Republican
Lethargy and Democratic Activity.--Doubtful Results.--The
Electoral Count in Congress.--Gen. Garfield and Congressmen
Foster and Hale to the Front as Leaders.--Peaceful
Results.--President Hayes's Southern Policy.--Its Failure.--The
Ideas of the Hon. Charles Foster on the Treatment of the Southern
Problem.--"Nothing but Leaves" from Conciliation.--A New Policy
demanded by the Republican Party.--A Remarkable Speech by the
Hon. Charles Foster at Upper Sandusky, Ohio.--He calls for a
Solid North against a Solid South.--He sounds the Key-note for
the North and the Nation responds.--The Decay and Death of the
Negro Governments at the South Inevitable.--The Negro must turn
his Attention to Education, the Accumulation of Property and
Experience.--He will return to Politics when he shall be Equal to
the Difficult Duties of Citizenship 516
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE EXODUS--CAUSE AND EFFECT.
The Negroes of the South delight in their Home so Long as it is
Possible for them to remain.--The Policy of abridging their
Rights Destructive to their Usefulness as Members of
Society.--Political Intimidation, Murder, and Outrage disturb the
Negroes.--The Plantation Credit System the Crime of the
Century.--The Exodus not inspired by Politicians, but the Natural
Outcome of the Barbarous Treatment bestowed upon the Negroes by
the Whites.--The Unprecedented Sufferings of 60,000 Negroes
fleeing from Southern Democratic Oppression.--Their Patient
Christian Endurance.--Their Industry, Morals, and Frugality.--The
Correspondent of the "Chicago Inter-Ocean" sends Information to
Senator Voorhees respecting the Refugees in Kansas.--The Position
of Gov. St. John and the Faithful Labors of Mrs. Comstock.--The
Results of the Exodus Beneficent.--The South must treat the Negro
Better or lose his Labor 529
CHAPTER XXIX.
RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION.
The Three Grand Divisions of the Tribes of Africa.--Slave Markets
of America supplied from the Diseased and Criminal Classes of
African Society.--America robs Africa of 15,000,000 Souls in 360
Years.--Negro Power of Endurance.--His Wonderful Achievements as
a Laborer, Soldier, and Student.--First in War, and First in
Devotion to the Country.--His Idiosyncrasies.--Mrs. Stowe's
Errors.--His Growing Love for Schools and Churches.--His General
Improvement.--The Negro will endure to the End.--He is Capable
for All the Duties of Citizenship.--Amalgamation will not
obliterate the Race.--The American Negro will civilize
Africa.--America will establish Steamship Communication with the
Dark Continent.--Africa will yet be composed of States, and
"Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her Hands unto God." 544
HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.
Part 4.
_CONSERVATIVE ERA--NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY._
CHAPTER I.
RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION.
1800-1825.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--SLAVE POPULATION OF
1800.--MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO CONGRESS CALLING ATTENTION TO THE
SLAVE-TRADE TO THE COAST OF GUINEA.--GEORGIA CEDES THE TERRITORY
LYING WEST OF HER TO BECOME A STATE.--OHIO ADOPTS A STATE
CONSTITUTION.--WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE
TERRITORY OF INDIANA.--AN ACT OF CONGRESS PROHIBITING THE
IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO THE UNITED STATES OR
TERRITORIES.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1810.--MISSISSIPPI APPLIES FOR
ADMISSION INTO THE UNION WITH A SLAVE CONSTITUTION.--CONGRESS
BESIEGED BY MEMORIALS URGING MORE SPECIFIC LEGISLATION AGAINST
THE SLAVE-TRADE.--PREMIUM OFFERED TO THE INFORMER OF EVERY
ILLEGALLY IMPORTED AFRICAN SEIZED WITHIN THE UNITED
STATES.--CIRCULAR LETTERS SENT TO THE NAVAL OFFICERS ON THE
SEACOAST OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING STATES.--PRESIDENT MONROE'S MESSAGE
TO CONGRESS ON THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY.--PETITION PRESENTED BY
THE MISSOURI DELEGATES FOR THE ADMISSION OF THAT STATE INTO THE
UNION.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY.--RESOLUTIONS
PASSED FOR THE RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY IN NEW STATES.--THE
MISSOURI CONTROVERSY.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETIES.--AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN NEW
JERSEY.--ITS PROVISIONS.--THE ATTITUDE OF THE NORTHERN PRESS ON
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1820.--ANTI-SLAVERY
SENTIMENT AT THE NORTH.
The nineteenth century opened auspiciously for the cause of the Negro.
Although slavery had ceased to exist in Massachusetts and Vermont, the
census of 1800 showed that the slave population in the other States
was steadily on the increase. In the total population of 5,305,925,
there were 893,041 slaves. The subjoined table exhibits the number of
slaves in each of the slave-holding States in the year 1800.
CENSUS OF 1800--SLAVE POPULATION.
District of Columbia 3,244
Connecticut 951
Delaware 6,153
Georgia 59,404
Indiana Territory 135
Kentucky 40,343
Maryland 105,635
Mississippi Territory 3,489
New Jersey 12,422
New Hampshire 8
New York 20,343
North Carolina 133,296
Pennsylvania 1,706
Rhode Island 381
South Carolina 146,151
Tennessee 13,584
Virginia 345,796
-------
Aggregate 893,041
On the 2d of January, 1800, a number of Colored citizens of the city
and county of Philadelphia presented a memorial to Congress, through
the delegate from that city, Mr. Waln, calling attention to the
slave-trade to the coast of Guinea. The memorial charged that the
slave-trade was clandestinely carried on from various ports of the
United States contrary to law; that under this wicked practice free
Colored men were often seized and sold as slaves; and that the
fugitive-slave law of 1793 subjected them to great inconvenience and
severe persecutions. The memorialists did not request Congress to
transcend their authority respecting the slave-trade, nor to
emancipate the slaves, but only to prepare the way, so that, at an
early period, the oppressed might go free.
Upon a motion by Mr. Waln for the reference of the memorial to the
Committee on the Slave-trade, Rutledge, Harper, Lee, Randolph, and
other Southern members, made speeches against such a reference. They
maintained that the petition requested Congress to take action on a
question over which they had no control. Waln, Thacher, Smilie, Dana,
and Gallatin contended that there were portions of the petition that
came within the jurisdiction of the Constitution, and, therefore,
ought to be received and acted upon. Mr. Rutledge demanded the yeas
and nays; but in such a spirit as put Mr. Waln on his guard, so he
withdrew his motion, and submitted another one by which such parts of
the memorial as came within the jurisdiction of Congress should be
referred. Mr. Rutledge raised a point of order on the motion of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania that a "part" of the memorial could not be
referred, but was promptly overruled. Mr. Gray, of Virginia, moved to
amend by adding a declaratory clause that the portions of the
memorial, not referred, inviting Congress to exercise authority not
delegated, "have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and
ought, therefore, to receive the pointed disapprobation of this
House." After some discussion, it was finally agreed to strike out the
last clause and insert the following: "ought therefore to receive no
encouragement or countenance from this House." The call of the roll
resulted in the adoption of the amendment, with but one vote in the
negative by Mr. Thacher, of Maine, an uncompromising enemy of slavery.
The committee to whom the memorial was referred brought in a bill
during the session prohibiting American ships from supplying slaves
from the United States to foreign markets.
On the 2d of April, 1802, Georgia ceded the territory lying west of
her present limits, now embracing the States of Alabama and
Mississippi. Among the conditions she exacted was the following:
"That the territory thus ceded shall become a State, and be
admitted into the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty
thousand free inhabitants, or at an earlier period, if Congress
shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and
restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner,
as provided in the ordinance of Congress of the 13th day of July,
1787, for the government of the western territory of the United
States: which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the
territory contained in the present act of cession, the article
only excepted which forbids slavery."
The demand was acceded to, and, as the world knows, Alabama and
Mississippi became the most cruel slave States in the United States.
Ohio adopted a State constitution in 1802-3, and the residue of the
territory not included in the State as it is now, was designated as
Indiana Territory. William Henry Harrison was appointed governor. One
of the earliest moves of the government of the new territory was to
secure a modification of the ordinance of 1787 by which slavery or
involuntary servitude was prohibited in the territory northwest of the
Ohio River. It was ordered by a convention presided over by Gen.
Harrison in 1802-3, that a memorial be sent to Congress urging a
restriction of the ordinance of 1787. It was referred to a select
committee, with John Randolph as chairman. On the 2d of March, 1803,
he made a report by the unanimous request of his committee, and the
portion referring to slavery was as follows:
"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces,
in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not
necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in
that region. That this labor--demonstrably the dearest of
any--can only be employed in the cultivation of products more
valuable than any known to that quarter of the United States;
that the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to
impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and
prosperity of the northwestern country, and to give strength and
security to that extensive frontier. In the salutary operations
of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that
the inhabitants of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find
ample remuneration for a temporary privation of labor and of
emigration."
After discussing the subject-matter embodied in the memorial from the
territory of Indiana, the committee presented eight resolves, one of
which related to the subject of slavery, and was as follows:
"_Resolved_, That it is inexpedient to suspend, for a limited
time, the operation of the sixth article of the compact between
the original States and the people and the States west of the
river Ohio."
Congress was about to close its session, and, therefore, there was no
action taken upon this report. At the next session it went into the
hands of a new committee whose chairman was Cæsar Rodney, of Delaware,
who had just been elected to Congress. On the 17th of February, 1804,
Mr. Rodney made the following report:
"That taking into their consideration the facts stated in the
said memorial and petition, they are induced to believe that a
qualified suspension, for a limited time, of the sixth article of
compact between the original States and the people and States
west of the river Ohio, might be productive of benefit and
advantage to said territory."
After discussing other matters contained in the Indiana petition, the
committee says, in reference to slavery:
"That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which
prohibited slavery within the said territory, be suspended in a
qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction
of slaves born within the United States, from any of the
individual States: _provided_, that such individual State does
not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries;
_and_ provided _further_, that the descendants of all such slaves
shall, if males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and, if
female, at the age of twenty-one years."
The House did not take up and act upon this report, and so the matter
passed for the time being. But the original memorial, with several
petitions of like import, came before Congress in 1805-6. They were
referred to a select committee, and on the 14th of February, 1806, Mr.
Garnett, of Virginia, the chairman, made the following favorable
report:
"That, having attentively considered the facts stated in the said
petitions and memorials, they are of opinion that a qualified
suspension for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact
between the original States and the people and States west of the
river Ohio, would be beneficial to the people of the Indiana
Territory. The suspension of this article is an object almost
universally desired in that Territory.
"It appears to your committee to be a question entirely different
from that between Slavery and Freedom; inasmuch as it would
merely occasion the removal of persons, already slaves, from one
part of the country to another. The good effects of this
suspension, in the present instance, would be to accelerate the
population of that Territory, hitherto retarded by the operation
of that article of compact, as slave-holders emigrating into the
Western country might then indulge any preference which they
might feel for a settlement in the Indiana Territory, instead of
seeking, as they are now compelled to do, settlements in other
States or countries permitting the introduction of slaves. The
condition of the slaves themselves would be much ameliorated by
it, as it is evident, from experience, that the more they are
separated and diffused, the more care and attention are bestowed
on them by their masters--each proprietor having it in his power
to increase their comforts and conveniences, in proportion to the
smallness of their numbers. The dangers, too (if any are to be
apprehended), from too large a black population existing in any
one section of country, would certainly be very much diminished,
if not entirely removed. But whether dangers are to be feared
from this source or not, it is certainly an obvious dictate of
sound policy to guard against them, as far as possible. If this
danger does exist, or there is any cause to apprehend it, and our
Western brethren are not only willing but desirous to aid us in
taking precautions against it, would it not be wise to accept
their assistance?
"We should benefit ourselves, without injuring them, as their
population must always so far exceed any black population which
can ever exist in that country, as to render the idea of danger
from that source chimerical."
After a lengthy discussion of matters embodied in the Indiana
memorial, the committee recommended the following resolve on the
question of slavery:
"_Resolved_, That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787,
which prohibits slavery within the Indiana Territory, be
suspended for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of
slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual
States."
The report and resolves were made the special order for the following
Monday, but were never called up.
At the opening of the next session, Gen. Harrison presented another
letter, accompanied by several resolves passed by the Legislative
Council and House of Representatives, urging the passage of a measure
restricting the ordinance of 1787. The letter and enclosures were
received on the 21st of January, 1807, and referred to the following
select committee: Parke, of Indiana, chairman; Alston, North Carolina;
Masters, New York; Morrow, Ohio; Rhea, Tennessee; Sandford, Kentucky;
Trigg, Virginia.
On the 12th of February, 1807, the chairman, Mr. Parke, made the
following report in favor of the request of the memorialists [the
_third_]. It was unanimous.
"The resolutions of the Legislative Council and House of
Representatives of the Indiana Territory relate to a suspension,
for the term of ten years, of the sixth article of compact
between the United States and the Territories and States
northwest of the river Ohio, passed the 13th July, 1787. That
article declares that there shall be neither Slavery nor
involuntary servitude in the said Territory.
"The suspension of the said article would operate an immediate
and essential benefit to the Territory, as emigration to it will
be inconsiderable for many years, except from those States where
Slavery is tolerated.
"And although it is not considered expedient to force the
population of the Territory, yet it is desirable to connect its
scattered settlements, and, in admitted political rights, to
place it on an equal footing with the different States. From the
interior situation of the Territory, it is not believed that
slaves could ever become so numerous as to endanger the internal
peace or future prosperity of the country. The current of
emigration flowing to the Western country, the Territories should
all be opened to their introduction. The abstract question of
Liberty and Slavery is not involved in the proposed measure, as
Slavery now exists to a considerable extent in different parts of
the Union; it would not augment the number of slaves, but merely
authorize the removal to Indiana of such as are held in bondage
in the United States. If Slavery is an evil, means ought to be
devised to render it least dangerous to the community, and by
which the hapless situation of the slaves would be most
ameliorated; and to accomplish these objects, no measure would be
so effectual as the one proposed. The Committee, therefore,
respectfully submit to the House the following resolution:
"_Resolved_, That it is expedient to suspend, from and after the
1st day of January, 1808, the sixth article of compact between
the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the
Ohio, passed the 13th day of July, 1787, for the term of ten
years."
Like its predecessor this report was made a special order, but was
never taken up.
On the 7th of November, 1807, the President laid a letter from Gen.
Harrison [probably the one already referred to], and the resolves of
his Legislature, before Congress, and that body referred them to a
select committee consisting of Franklin, of North Carolina; Ketchel,
of New Jersey; and Tiffin, of Ohio.
On the 13th of November, Mr. Franklin made the following adverse
report:
"The Legislative Council and House of Representatives, in their
resolutions, express their sense of the propriety of introducing
Slavery into their Territory, and solicit the Congress of the
United States to suspend, for a given number of years, the sixth
article of compact, in the ordinance for the government of the
Territory northwest of the Ohio, passed the 13th day of July,
1787. That article declares: 'There shall be neither Slavery nor
involuntary servitude within the said Territory.'
"The citizens of Clark County, in their remonstrance, express
their sense of the impropriety of the measure, and solicit the
Congress of the United States not to act on the subject, so as to
permit the introduction of slaves into the Territory; at least,
until their population shall entitle them to form a constitution
and State government.
"Your Committee, after duly considering the matter, respectfully
submit the following resolution:
"_Resolved_, That it is not expedient at this time to suspend the
sixth article of compact for the government of the Territory of
the United States northwest of the river Ohio."
Thus ended in defeat the stubborn effort to secure a restriction of
the ordinance of 1787, and the admission of slavery into the Territory
lying west of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, now comprising the
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
In his message to Congress at the commencement of the session of
1806-7, President Jefferson suggested to that body the wisdom of
abolishing the African slave-trade. He said in this connection:
"I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the
period at which you may interpose your authority,
constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States
from all further participation in those violations of human
rights which have so long been continued on the unoffending
inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation,
and the best interest of our country have long been eager to
proscribe."
This portion of the message was referred to a select committee; and in
due time they reported a bill "to prohibit the importation or bringing
of slaves into the United States or the territories thereof after the
31st day of December, 1807."
Mr. Early, of Georgia, the chairman of the committee, inserted a
clause into the bill requiring that all slaves illegally imported
"should be forfeited and sold for life for the benefit of the United
States." A long debate ensued and was conducted with fiery earnestness
from beginning to end. It was urged in support of the above
regulation, that nothing else could be done but to sell them; that it
would never do to release them in the States where they might be
captured, poor, ignorant, and dangerous. It was said by the opponents
of the measure, that Congress could not regulate the matter, as the
States had the reserved authority to have slavery, and were,
therefore, competent to say who should be free and who bond. It was
suggested, farther along in the debate, that Congress might order such
slaves into such States as prohibited slavery, where they could be
bound out for a term of years. After a great many able speeches the
House refused to strike out the forfeiture clause by a vote of
sixty-three to thirty-six. When the act was called up for final
passage, it was amended by inserting a clause imposing a fine of
$20,000, upon all persons concerned in fitting out a vessel for the
slave-trade; and likewise a fine of $5,000, and forfeiture of the
vessel for taking on board any Negro or Mulatto, or any person of
color, in any foreign port with the intention of selling them in the
United States.
During these efforts at restriction the slave population was growing
daily. The census of 1810 showed that within a decade the slave
population had sprung from 893,041, in 1800, to 1,191,364,--an
increase of 33 per cent. The following table exhibits this remarkable
fact:
CENSUS OF 1810.--SLAVE POPULATION.
District of Columbia 5,395
Rhode Island 108
Connecticut 310
Pennsylvania 795
Delaware 4,177
New Jersey 10,851
New York 15,017
Louisiana 34,660
Tennessee 44,535
Kentucky 80,561
Georgia 105,218
Maryland 111,502
North Carolina 168,824
South Carolina 196,365
Virginia 392,518
Mississippi Territory 17,088
Indiana Territory 237
Louisiana Territory 3,011
Illinois Territory 168
Michigan Territory 24
On the 10th of December, 1817, Mississippi applied for admission into
the Union with a slave constitution. The provisions relating to
slavery dispensed with grand juries in the indictment of slaves, and
trial by jury was allowed only in trial of capital cases.
During the session of 1817-8, Congress was besieged by a large number
of memorials praying for more specific legislation against the
slave-trade. During the session the old fugitive-slave act was amended
so as to make it more effective, and passed by a vote of eighty-four
to sixty-nine. In the Senate, with several amendments, and heated
debate, it passed by a vote of seventeen to thirteen; but upon being
returned to the House for concurrence, the Northern members had heard
from their constituents, and the bill was tabled, and its friends were
powerless to get it up.
In 1818-9, Congress passed an act offering a premium of fifty dollars
to the informer of every illegally imported African seized within the
United States, and twenty-five dollars for those taken at sea. The
President was authorized to have such slaves removed beyond the limits
of the United States, and to appoint agents on the West Coast of
Africa to superintend their reception. An effort was made to punish
slave-trading with death. It passed the House, but was struck out in
the Senate.
On the 12th of January, 1819, the Secretary of the Navy transmitted to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives copies of circular letters
that had been sent to the naval officers on the various stations along
the sea-coast of the slave-holding States. The following letter is a
fair sample of the remainder:[1]
"NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1811.
"SIR:--I hear, not without great concern, that the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves has been violated in
frequent instances, near St. Mary's, since the gun-boats have
been withdrawn from that station.
"We are bound by law, by the obligations of humanity and sound
policy, to use our most strenuous efforts to restrain this
disgraceful traffic, and to bring those who shall be found
engaged in it to those forfeitures and punishments which are by
law prescribed for such offences.
"Hasten the equipment of the gun-boats which, by my letter of the
24th ultimo, you were directed to equip, and as soon as they
shall be ready, despatch them to St. Mary's with orders to their
commanders to use all practicable diligence in enforcing the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves, passed March 2, 1807,
entitled 'An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any
port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States from
and after the 1st day of January, 1808.' The whole of this law,
but especially the 7th section, requires your particular
attention; that section declares, that _any_ ship or vessel which
shall be found in any river, port, bay, or harbor, or on the high
seas, within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, or
hovering on the coast thereof, having on board any negro,
mulatto, or person of color, for the purpose of selling them as
slaves, or with intent to land the same in any port or place
within the jurisdiction of the United States, contrary to the
prohibition of the act, shall, together with her tackle, apparel,
and furniture, and the goods and effects which shall be found on
board the same, be forfeited and may be seized, prosecuted, and
condemned in any court of the United States having jurisdiction
thereof.
"It further authorizes the President of the United States to
cause any of the armed vessels of the United States to be manned
and employed to cruise on any part of the coast of the United
States, or territories thereof, and to instruct and direct the
commanders to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United
States, all such ships or vessels; and, moreover, to seize, take,
and bring into any port of the United States, all ships or
vessels _of the United States, wherever found on the high seas_,
contravening the provisions of the act, to be proceeded against
according to law.
"You will, therefore, consider yourself hereby especially
instructed and required, and you will instruct and require all
officers placed under your command, to seize, take, and bring
into port, _any vessel of whatever nature_, found in any river,
port, bay, or harbor, or on the high seas, within the
jurisdictional limits of the United States, or hovering on the
coast thereof, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of
color, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, or with intent
to land the same, contrary to law; and, moreover, to seize, take,
and bring into port, all ships or vessels _of the United States_,
wheresoever found on the high seas or elsewhere, contravening the
provisions of the law. Vessels thus to be seized, may be brought
into _any_ port of the United States; and when brought into port,
must, without delay, be reported to the district-attorney of the
United States residing in the district in which such port may be,
who will institute such further proceedings as law and justice
require.
"Every person found on board of such vessels must be taken
especial care of. The negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color,
are to be delivered to such persons as the respective States may
appoint to receive the same. The commanders and crews of such
vessels will be held under the prosecutions of the
district-attorneys, to answer the pains and penalties prescribed
by law for their respective offences. Whenever negroes,
mulattoes, or persons of color shall be delivered to the persons
appointed to receive the same, duplicate receipts must be taken
therefore, and if no person shall be appointed by the respective
States to receive them, they must be delivered 'to the overseers
of the poor of the port or place where such ship or vessel may be
brought or found,' and an account of your proceedings, together
with the number and descriptive list of such negroes, mulattoes,
or persons of color, must be immediately transmitted to the
governor or chief magistrate of the State. You will communicate
to me, minutely, all your proceedings.
"I am, sir, respectfully, etc.
PAUL HAMILTON.
"H. G. CAMPBELL, _Commanding Naval Officer_,
Charleston, S. C."
On the 17th of December, 1819, President Monroe sent the following
message to Congress on the subject of the slave-trade:
"MESSAGE.
"_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:
"Some doubt being entertained respecting the true intent and
meaning of the act of the last session, entitled 'An Act in
addition to the Acts prohibiting the slave-trade,' as to the
duties of the agents, to be appointed on the coast of Africa, I
think it proper to state the interpretation which has been given
of the act, and the measures adopted to carry it into effect,
that Congress may, should it be deemed advisable, amend the same,
before further proceeding is had under it.
"The obligation to instruct the commanders of all our armed
vessels to seize and bring into port all ships or vessels of the
United States, wheresoever found, having on board any negro,
mulatto, or person of color, in violation of former acts for the
suppression of the slave-trade, being imperative, was executed
without delay. No seizures have yet been made, but, as they were
contemplated by the law, and might be presumed, it seemed proper
to make the necessary regulations applicable to such seizures for
carrying the several provisions of the act into effect.
"It is enjoined on the executive to cause all negroes, mulattoes,
or persons of color, who may be taken under the act, to be
removed to Africa. It is the obvious import of the law, that none
of the persons thus taken should remain within the United States;
and no place other than the coast of Africa being designated,
their removal or delivery, whether carried from the United States
or landed immediately from the vessels in which they were taken,
was supposed to be confined to that coast. No settlement or
station being specified, the whole coast was thought to be left
open for the selection of a proper place, at which the persons
thus taken should be delivered. The executive is authorized to
appoint one or more agents, residing there, to receive such
persons; and one hundred thousand dollars are appropriated for
the general purposes of the law.
"On due consideration of the several sections of the act, and of
its humane policy, it was supposed to be the intention of
Congress, that all the persons above described, who might be
taken under it, and landed in Africa, should be aided in their
return to their former homes, or in their establishment at or
near the place where landed. Some shelter and food would be
necessary for them there, as soon as landed, let their subsequent
disposition be what it might. Should they be landed without such
provision having been previously made, they might perish. It was
supposed, by the authority given to the executive to appoint
agents residing on that coast, that they should provide such
shelter and food, and perform the other beneficent and charitable
offices contemplated by the act. The coast of Africa having been
little explored, and no persons residing there who possessed the
requisite qualifications to entitle them to the trust being known
to the executive, to none such could it be committed. It was
believed that citizens only, who would go hence, well instructed
in the views of their government, and zealous to give them
effect, would be competent to these duties, and that it was not
the intention of the law to preclude their appointment. It was
obvious that the longer these persons should be detained in the
United States in the hands of the marshals, the greater would be
the expense, and that for the same term would the main purpose of
the law be suspended. It seemed, therefore, to be incumbent on me
to make the necessary arrangements for carrying this act into
effect in Africa, in time to meet the delivery of any persons who
might be taken by the public vessels, and landed there under it.
"On this view of the policy and sanctions of the law, it has been
decided to send a public ship to the coast of Africa with two
such agents, who will take with them tools and other implements
necessary for the purposes above mentioned. To each of these
agents a small salary has been allowed--fifteen hundred dollars
to the principal, and twelve hundred to the other. All our public
agents on the coast of Africa receive salaries for their
services, and it was understood that none of our citizens
possessing the requisite qualifications would accept these
trusts, by which they would be confined to parts the least
frequented and civilized, without a reasonable compensation. Such
allowance, therefore, seemed to be indispensable to the execution
of the act. It is intended, also, to subject a portion of the sum
appropriated, to the order of the principal agent, for the
special objects above stated, amounting in the whole, including
the salaries of the agents for one year, to rather less than one
third of the appropriation. Special instructions will be given to
these agents, defining, in precise terms, their duties in regard
to the persons thus delivered to them; the disbursement of the
money by the principal agent; and his accountability for the
same. They will also have power to select the most suitable place
on the coast of Africa, at which all persons who may be taken
under this act shall be delivered to them, with an express
injunction to exercise no power founded on the principle of
colonization, or other power than that of performing the
benevolent offices above recited, by the permission and sanction
of the existing government under which they may establish
themselves. Orders will be given to the commander of the public
ship in which they will sail, to cruise along the coast, to give
the more complete effect to the principal object of the act.
"JAMES MONROE.
"WASHINGTON, December, 17, 1819."
In March, 1818, the delegate from Missouri presented petitions from
the inhabitants of that territory, praying to be admitted into the
Union as a State. They were referred to a select committee, and a bill
was reported for the admission of Missouri as a State on equal footing
with the other States. The bill was read twice, when it was sent to
the Committee of the Whole, where it was permitted to remain during
the entire session. During the next session, on the 13th of February,
1819, the House went into the Committee of the Whole with Gen. Smith,
of Maryland, in the chair. The committee had two sittings during which
they discussed the bill. Gen. Tallmadge, of New York, offered the
following amendment directed against the life of the clause admitting
slavery:
"And provided that the introduction of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes
whereof the party has been duly convicted, and that all children
born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the
Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years."
A long and an able discussion followed, in which the authority of the
government to prohibit slavery under new State governments was
affirmed and denied. On coming out of the Committee of the Whole, the
yeas and nays were demanded on the amendment prohibiting the
introduction of slavery into Missouri, and resulted as follows: yeas,
87,--only one vote from the South, Delaware; nays, 76,--ten votes
from Northern States. Upon the latter clause of the amendment--"and
that all children of slaves, born within the said State, after the
admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of
twenty-five years": yeas, 82,--one vote from Maryland; nays,
78,--fourteen from Northern States. And thus the entire amendment of
Gen. Tallmadge was sustained, and being reported to the House, passed
by a vote 98 to 56.
The bill reached the Senate on the 17th of February, and after its
second reading was referred to a select committee. On the 22d of
February, the chairman, Mr. Tait, of Georgia, reported the bill back
with amendments, striking out the Tallmadge restriction clauses. The
House went into the Committee of the Whole on the 27th of February, to
consider the bill, when Mr. Wilson, of New Jersey, moved to postpone
the further consideration of the bill until the 5th of March. It was
rejected. The committee then began to vote upon the recommendations of
the select committee. Upon striking out the House amendment, providing
that all the children of slaves born within said State should be free,
etc., it was carried by a vote of 27 to 7, eleven Northern Senators
voting to strike out. The seven votes against striking out were all
from free States.
Upon the clause prohibiting servitude except for crimes, etc., 22
votes were cast for striking out,--five being from Northern States;
against striking out, 16,--and they were all from Northern States.
Thus amended, the bill was ordered to be engrossed, and on the 2d of
March--the last day but one of the session--was read a third time and
passed. It was returned to the House, where the amendments were read,
when Mr. Tallmadge moved that the bill be indefinitely postponed. His
motion was rejected by a vote of: yeas, 69; nays, 74. But upon a
motion to concur in the Senate amendments, the House refused to
concur: yeas, 76; nays, 78. The Senate adhered to their amendments,
and the House adhered to their disagreement by a vote of 76 to 66; and
thus the bill fell between the two Houses and was lost.
The southern portion of the territory of Missouri, which was not
included within the limits of the proposed State, was organized as a
separate territory, under the designation of the Arkansas Territory.
After considerable debate, and several attempts to insert an amendment
for the restriction of slavery, the bill creating the territory of
Arkansas passed without any reference to slavery, and thus the
territory was left open to slavery, and also the State some years
later.
The Congressional discussion of the slavery question aroused the
anti-slavery sentiment of the North, which found expression in large
and earnest meetings, in pungent editorials, and numerous memorials.
At Trenton, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other places, the
indignation against slavery was great. On December 3, 1819, a large
meeting was held in the State House at Boston, when a resolution was
adopted to memorialize Congress on the subject of "restraining the
increase of slavery in _new States_ to be admitted into the Union."
The memorial was drawn by Daniel Webster, and signed by himself,
George Blake, Josiah Quincy, James T. Austin, and others. The New York
Legislature passed resolutions against the extension of slavery into
the territories and new States; and requested the Congressmen and
instructed the Senators from that State not to vote for the admission
of any State into the Union, except such State should pledge itself to
unqualified restriction in the letter and spirit of the ordinance of
1787. These resolutions were signed on January 17, 1820.
On the 24th of January the New Jersey Legislature followed in the same
strain, with six pertinent resolves, a copy of which the governor was
requested to forward "to each of the senators and representatives of
this State, in the Congress of the United States."
Pennsylvania had taken action on the 11th of December, 1819; but the
resolves were not signed by Gov. William Findlay until the 16th of the
month. The Legislature was composed of fifty-four Democrats and twenty
Whigs, and yet there was not a dissenting vote cast.
Two Southern States passed resolutions,--Delaware and Kentucky: the
first in favor of restriction, the last opposed to restriction.
The effort to secure the admission of Missouri with a slave
constitution was not dead, but only sleeping. The bill was called up
as a special order on the 24th of January, 1820. It occupied most of
the time of the House from the 25th of January till the 19th of
February, when a bill came from the Senate providing for the admission
of Maine into the Union, but containing a rider authorizing the people
of Missouri to adopt a State constitution, etc., without restrictions
respecting slavery. The bill providing for the admission of Maine had
passed the House during the early days of the session, and now
returned to the House for concurrence in the rider. The debate on the
bill and amendments had occupied much of the time of the Senate. In
the Judiciary Committee on the 16th of February, the question was
taken on amendments to the Maine admission bill, authorizing Missouri
to form a State constitution, making no mention of slavery: and
twenty-three votes were cast against restriction,--three from Northern
States; twenty-one in favor of restriction,--but only two from the
South.
Mr. Thomas offered a resolution reaffirming the doctrine of the sixth
article of the ordinance of 1787, and declaring its applicability to
all that territory ceded to the United States by France, under the
general designation of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six
degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, etc. But on the following
day he withdrew his original amendment, and submitted the following:
"_And be it further enacted_, That in all the territory ceded by
France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which
lies north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, north latitude,
excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits
of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary
servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby
forever prohibited. Provided always, that any person escaping
into the same, from where labor or service is lawfully claimed in
any State or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be
lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her
labor or service as aforesaid."
Mr. Trimble, of Ohio, offered a substitute, but it was rejected. The
question recurring upon the passage of the amendment of Mr. Thomas,
excluding slavery from all the territory north and west of Missouri,
it was carried by a vote of 34 to 20.
Thus amended, the bill was ordered to engrossment by a vote of 24 to
20. On the 18th of February the bill passed, and this was its
condition when it came to the House. By a vote of 93 to 72 the House
agreed not to leave the Missouri question on the Maine bill as a
rider; but immediately thereafter struck out the Thomas Senate
amendment by a vote of 159 to 18. The House disagreed to the
remaining Senate amendments, striking out the clause restricting
slavery in Missouri by a vote of 102 to 68.
Thus rejected, the bill was returned to the Senate shorn of its
amendments. After four days of debate in the Senate it was decided not
to recede from the attachment of the Missouri subject to the Maine
bill; not to recede from the amendment prohibiting slavery west of
Missouri, and north of 36° 30´ north latitude, and insisted upon the
remaining amendments without division.
When the bill was returned to the House a motion was made to insist
upon its disagreement to all but section nine of the Senate
amendments, and was carried by a vote of 97 to 76.
The Senate asked for a committee of conference upon differences
between the two Houses, which was cheerfully granted by the House. On
the 2d of March, Mr. Holmes, of Massachusetts, as chairman, made the
following report:
"1. The Senate should give up the combination of Missouri in the
same bill with Maine.
"2. The House should abandon the attempt to restrict Slavery in
Missouri.
"3. Both Houses should agree to pass the Senate's separate
Missouri bill, with Mr. Thomas's restriction or compromising
proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and west of
Missouri.
"The report having been read,
"The first and most important question was put, viz.:
"Will the House concur with the Senate in so much of the said
amendments as proposes to strike from the fourth section of the
[Missouri] bill the provision prohibiting Slavery or involuntary
servitude in the contemplated State, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes?"
The vote resulted as follows: For giving up restriction on Missouri,
yeas, 90; against giving up restriction of slavery in Missouri, 87.
Mr. Taylor, of New York, offered an amendment to include Arkansas
Territory under the prohibition of slavery in the territory west and
north of Missouri, but his amendment was cut off by a call for the
previous question. Then the House concurred in the Senate amendment
excluding forever slavery from the territory west and north of
Missouri by a vote of 134 to 42! And on the following day the bill
admitting Maine into the Union was passed without opposition.
Thus the Northern delegates in Congress were whipped into line, and
thus did the South gain her point in the extension of slavery in
violation of the sacred compact between the States contained in the
ordinance of 1787.
But the struggle was opened afresh when Missouri presented herself for
admission on the 16th of November, 1820. The constitution of this new
State, adopted by her people on the 19th of July, 1820, contained the
following resolutions which greatly angered the Northern members, who
so keenly felt the defeat and humiliation they had Suffered so
recently:
"The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws, first,
for the emancipation of Slaves without the consent of their
owners, or without paying them, before such emancipation, a full
equivalent for such slaves so emancipated; and second: to prevent
_bona-fide_ emigrants to this State, or actual settlers therein,
from bringing from any of the United States, or from any of their
Territories, such persons as may there be deemed to be Slaves, so
long as any persons of the same description are allowed to be
held as Slaves by the laws of this State.
... "It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pass such laws
as may be necessary,
"First, to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and
settling in, this State, under any pretext whatever."
Upon the motion to admit the State the vote stood: yeas, 79, nays, 93.
Upon a second attempt to admit her, with the understanding that the
resolution just quoted should be expunged the vote was worse than
before, standing: yeas, 6; nays, 146!
The House now rested, until a joint resolve, admitting her with but a
vague and ineffective qualification, came down from the Senate, where
it was passed by a vote of 26 to 18--six Senators from Free States in
the affirmative. Mr. Clay, who had resigned in the recess, and been
succeeded, as Speaker, by John W. Taylor, of New York, now appeared as
the leader of the Missouri admissionists, and proposed terms of
compromise, which were twice voted down by the Northern members, aided
by John Randolph and three others from the South, who would have
Missouri admitted without condition or qualification. At last, Mr.
Clay proposed a joint committee on this subject, to be chosen by
ballot--which the House agreed to by a vote of 101 to 55; and Mr. Clay
became its chairman. By this committee it was agreed, that a solemn
pledge should be required of the Legislature of Missouri, that the
constitution of that State should not be construed to authorize the
passage of any act, and that no act should be passed "by which any of
the citizens of either of the States should be excluded from the
enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are entitled
under the Constitution of the United States." The joint resolution,
amended by the addition of this proviso, passed the House by 86 yeas
to 82 nays; the Senate concurred (Feb. 27, 1821) by 26 yeas to 15
nays--(all Northern but Macon, of N. C.). Missouri complied with the
condition, and became an accepted member of the Union. Thus closed the
last stage of the fierce Missouri controversy, which for a time seemed
to threaten--as so many other controversies have harmlessly
threatened--the existence of the Union.
By this time there was scarcely a State in the North but that had
organized anti-slavery, or abolition, societies. Pennsylvania boasted
of a society that was accomplishing a great Work. Where it was
impossible to secure freedom for the enslaved, religious training was
imparted, and many excellent efforts made for the amelioration of the
condition of the Negroes, bond and free. A society for promoting the
"_Abolition of Slavery_" was formed at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 2d
of March, 1786. It adopted an elaborate constitution, which was
amended on the 26th of November, 1788. It did an effective work
throughout the State; embraced in its membership some of the ablest
men of the State; and changed public sentiment for the better by the
methods it adopted and the literature it circulated. On the 15th of
February, 1804, it secured the passage of the following Act for the
gradual emancipation of the slaves in the State:
"AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
"SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of
this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the
same_, That every child born of a slave within this State, after
the fourth day of July next, shall be free; but shall remain the
servant of the owner of his or her mother, and the executors,
administrators, or assigns of such owner, in the same manner as
if such child had been bound to service by the trustees or
overseers of the poor, and shall continue in such service, if a
male, until the age of twenty-five years, and if a female, until
the age of twenty-one years.
"2. _And be it enacted_, That every person being an inhabitant of
this State, who shall be entitled to the service of a child born
as aforesaid, after the said fourth day of July next, shall
within nine months after the birth of such child, cause to be
delivered to the clerk of the county whereof such person shall be
an inhabitant, a certificate in writing, containing the name and
station of such person, and the name, age, and sex of the child
so born; which certificate, whether the same be delivered before
or after the said nine months, shall be by the said clerk
recorded in a book to be by him provided for that purpose; and
such record thereof shall be good evidence of the age of such
child; and the clerk of such county shall receive from said
person twelve cents for every child so registered; and if any
person shall neglect to deliver such certificate to the said
clerk within said nine months, such person shall forfeit and pay
for every such offence, five dollars, and the further sum of one
dollar for every month such person shall neglect to deliver the
same, to be sued for and recovered by any person who will sue for
the same, the one half to the use of such prosecutor, and the
residue to the use of the poor of the township in which such
delinquent shall reside.
"3. _And be it enacted_, That the person entitled to the service
of any child born as aforesaid, may, nevertheless, within one
year after the birth of such child, elect to abandon such right;
in which case a notification of such abandonment, under the hand
of such person, shall be filed with the clerk of the township, or
where there may be a county poor-house established, then with the
clerk of the board of trustees of said poor-house of the county
in which such person shall reside; but every child so abandoned
shall be maintained by such person until such child arrives to
the age of one year, and thereafter shall be considered as a
pauper of such township or county, and liable to be bound out by
the trustees or overseers of the poor in the same manner as other
poor children are directed to be bound out, until, if a male, the
age of twenty-five, and if a female, the age of twenty-one; and
such child, while such pauper, until it shall be bound out, shall
be maintained by the trustees or overseers of the poor of such
county or township, as the case may be, at the expense of this
State; and for that purpose the director of the board of chosen
freeholders of the county is hereby required, from time to time,
to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such trustees or
overseers for the amount of such expense, not exceeding the rate
of three dollars per month; provided the accounts for the same be
first certified and approved by such board of trustees, or the
town committee of such township; and every person who shall omit
to notify such abandonment as aforesaid, shall be considered as
having elected to retain the service of such child, and be liable
for its maintenance until the period to which its servitude is
limited as aforesaid.
"A. Passed at Trenton, Feb. 15, 1804."
The public journals of the larger Northern cities began to take a
lively interest in the paramount question of the day, which, without
doubt, was the slavery question. Gradual emancipation was doing an
excellent work in nearly all the Northern States, as may be seen by
the census of 1820. When the entire slave population was footed up it
showed an increase of 30 per cent. during the previous ten years, but
when examined by States it was found to be on the decrease in all the
Northern or free States, except Illinois. The slave population of
Virginia had increased only 8 per cent.; North Carolina 21 per cent.;
South Carolina 31 per cent.; Tennessee 79 per cent.; Mississippi 92
per cent.; and Louisiana 99 per cent. The slave population by States
was as follows:
CENSUS OF 1820--SLAVE POPULATION.
Alabama 41,879
District of Columbia 6,377
Connecticut 97
Delaware 4,509
Georgia 149,654
Illinois 917
Indiana 190
Kentucky 126,732
Louisiana 69,064
Maryland 107,397
Mississippi 32,814
Missouri 10,222
New Jersey 7,557
New York 10,088
North Carolina 205,017
Pennsylvania 211
Rhode Island 48
South Carolina 258,475
Tennessee 80,107
Virginia 425,153
Arkansas Territory 1,617
---------
Aggregate 1,538,125
The anti-slavery sentiment of the Northern States was growing, but no
organization with a great leader at its head had yet announced its
platform or unfurled its banner in a holy war for the emancipation of
the Bondmen of the Free Republic of North America.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I have in my possession large numbers of official orders and
letters on the suppression of the slave-trade, but the space
appropriated to this history precludes their publication. There are,
however, some important documents in the appendix to this volume.
CHAPTER II.
NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.
EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF 1812.--THE NEW
YORK LEGISLATURE AUTHORIZES THE ENLISTMENT OF A REGIMENT OF
COLORED SOLDIERS.--GEN. ANDREW JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION TO THE FREE
COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA CALLING THEM TO ARMS.--STIRRING
ADDRESS TO THE COLORED TROOPS THE SUNDAY BEFORE THE BATTLE OF NEW
ORLEANS.--GEN. JACKSON ANTICIPATES THE VALOR OF HIS COLORED
SOLDIERS.--TERMS OF PEACE AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR BY THE
COMMISSIONERS AT GHENT.--NEGROES PLACED AS CHATTEL
PROPERTY.--THEIR VALOR IN WAR SECURES THEM NO IMMUNITY IN PEACE.
When the war-clouds gathered in 1812, there was no time wasted in
discussing whether it would be prudent to arm the Negro, nor was there
a doubt expressed as to his valor. His brilliant achievements in the
war of the Revolution, his power of endurance, and martial enthusiasm,
were the golden threads of glory that bound his memory to the
victorious cause of the American Republic. A lack of troops and an
imperiled cause led to the admission of Negroes into the American army
during the war of the Revolution. But it was the Negro's eminent
fitness for military service that made him a place under the United
States flag during the war in Louisiana. The entire country had
confidence in the Negro's patriotism and effectiveness as a soldier.
White men were willing to see Negroes go into the army because it
reduced their chances of being sent forth to the tented field and
dangerous bivouac.
New York did not hesitate to offer a practical endorsement of the
prevalent opinion that Negroes were both competent and worthy to fight
the battles of the Nation. Accordingly, the following Act was passed
authorizing the organization of two regiments of Negroes.
"AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE RAISING OF TWO REGIMENTS OF MEN OF
COLOR; PASSED OCT. 24, 1814.
"SECT. 1. _Be it enacted_ by the people of the State of New York,
represented in Senate and Assembly, That the Governor of the
State be, and he is hereby, authorized to raise, by voluntary
enlistment, two regiments of free men of color, for the defence
of the State for three years, unless sooner discharged.
"SECT. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That each of the said
regiments shall consist of one thousand and eighty able-bodied
men; and the said regiments shall be formed into a brigade, or be
organized in such manner, and shall be employed in such service,
as the Governor of the State of New York shall deem best adapted
to defend the said State.
"SECT. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That all the commissioned
officers of the said regiments and brigade shall be white men;
and the Governor of the State of New York shall be, and he is
hereby, authorized to commission, by brevet, all the officers of
the said regiments and brigade, who shall hold their respective
commissions until the council of appointment shall have appointed
the officers of the said regiments and brigade, in pursuance of
the Constitution and laws of the said State.
"SECT. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioned
officers of the said regiments and brigade shall receive the same
pay, rations, forage, and allowances, as officers of the same
grade in the army of the United States; and the non-commissioned
officers, musicians, and privates of the said regiments shall
receive the same pay, rations, clothing, and allowances, as the
non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the army of
the United States; and the sum of twenty-five dollars shall be
paid to each of the said non-commissioned officers, musicians,
and privates, at the time of enlistment, in lieu of all other
bounty.
"SECT. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That the troops to be
raised as aforesaid may be transferred into the service of the
United States, if the Government of the United States shall agree
to pay and subsist them, and to refund to this State the moneys
expended by this State in clothing and arming them; and, until
such transfer shall be made, may be ordered into the service of
the United States in lieu of an equal number of militia, whenever
the militia of the State of New York shall be ordered into the
service of the United States.
"SECT. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be lawful
for any able-bodied slave, with the written assent of his master
or mistress, to enlist into the said corps; and the master or
mistress of such slave shall be entitled to the pay and bounty
allowed him for his service; and, further, that the said slave,
at the time of receiving his discharge, shall be deemed and
adjudged to have been legally manumitted from that time, and his
said master or mistress shall not thenceforward be liable for his
maintenance.
"SECT. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That every such enrolled
person, who shall have become free by manumission or otherwise,
if he shall thereafter become indigent, shall be deemed to be
settled in the town in which the person who manumitted him was
settled at the time of such manumission, or in such other town
where he shall have gained a settlement subsequent to his
discharge from the said service; and the former owner or owners
of such manumitted person, and his legal representatives, shall
be exonerated from his maintenance, any law to the contrary
hereof notwithstanding.
"SECT. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That, when the troops to
be raised as aforesaid shall be in the service of the United
States, they shall be subject to the rules and articles which
have been or may be hereafter established by the By-laws of the
United States for the government of the army of the United
States; that, when the said troops shall be in the service of the
State of New York, they shall be subject to the same rules and
regulations; and the Governor of the said State shall be, and he
is hereby, authorized and directed to exercise all the power and
authority which, by the said rules and articles, are required to
be exercised by the President of the United States."[2]
Gen. Andrew Jackson believed in the fighting capacity of the Negro, as
evidenced by the subjoined proclamation:
"HEADQUARTERS OF 7TH MILITARY DISTRICT,
"MOBILE, September 21, 1814.
"TO THE FREE COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA:
"Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a
participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in
which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist.
"As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most
inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks with
confidence to her adopted children for a valorous support, as a
faithful return for the advantages enjoyed under her mild and
equitable government. As fathers, husbands, and brothers, you are
summoned to rally around the standard of the eagle, to defend all
which is dear in existence.
"Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish
you to engage in her cause without amply remunerating you for the
services rendered. Your intelligent minds are not to be led away
by false representations. Your love of honor would cause you to
despise the man who should attempt to deceive you. In the
sincerity of a soldier and the language of truth I address you.
"To every noble-hearted, generous freeman of color, volunteering
to serve during the present contest with Great Britain, and no
longer, there will be paid the same bounty in money and lands,
now received by the white soldiers of the United States, viz.:
one hundred and twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred and
sixty acres of land. The non-commissioned officers and privates
will also be entitled to the same monthly pay and daily rations,
and clothes, furnished to any American soldier.
"On enrolling yourselves in companies, the major-general
commanding will select officers for your government from your
white fellow-citizens. Your non-commissioned officers will be
appointed from among yourselves.
"Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers.
You will not, by being associated with white men in the same
corps, be exposed to improper comparisons or unjust sarcasm. As a
distinct, independent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of
glory, you will, undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of
your countrymen.
"To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my anxiety
to engage your invaluable services to our country, I have
communicated my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully
informed as to the manner of enrollment, and will give you every
necessary information on the subject of this address.
"ANDREW JACKSON, _Major-General Commanding_."[3]
Just before the battle of New Orleans, General Jackson reviewed his
troops, white and black, on Sunday, December 18, 1814. At the close of
the review his Adjutant-General, Edward Livingston, rode to the head
of the column, and read in rich and sonorous tones the following
address:
"TO THE MEN OF COLOR.--Soldiers! From the shores of Mobile I
collected you to arms; I invited you to share in the perils and
to divide the glory of your white countrymen. I expected much
from you, for I was not uninformed of those qualities which must
render you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew that you
could endure hunger and thirst and all the hardships of war; I
knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like
ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But
you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these
qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.
"Soldiers! The President of the United States shall be informed
of your conduct on the present occasion; and the voice of the
representatives of the American nation shall applaud your valor,
as your general now praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His
sails cover the lakes. But the brave are united; and if he finds
us contending among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor,
and fame, its noblest reward."[4]
But in this war, as in the Revolutionary struggle, the commissioners
who concluded the terms of peace, armed with ample and authentic
evidence of the Negro's valorous services, placed him among chattel
property.
And in no State in the South were the laws more rigidly enforced
against Negroes, both free and slave, than in Louisiana. The efficient
service of the Louisiana Negro troops in the war of 1812 was applauded
on two continents at the time, but the noise of the slave marts soon
silenced the praise of the "Black heroes of the battle of New
Orleans."
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Laws of the State of New York, passed at the Thirty-eighth Session
of the Legislature, chap. xviii.
[3] Niles's Register, vol. vii. p. 205.
[4] Niles's Register, vol. vii. pp. 345, 346.
CHAPTER III.
NEGROES IN THE NAVY.
NO PROSCRIPTION AGAINST NEGROES AS SAILORS.--THEY ARE CARRIED
UPON THE ROLLS IN THE NAVY WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR
NATIONALITY.--THEIR TREATMENT AS SAILORS.--COMMODORE PERRY'S
LETTER TO COMMODORE CHAUNCEY IN REGARD TO THE MEN SENT
HIM.--COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S SPIRITED REPLY.--THE HEROISM OF THE
NEGRO SET FORTH IN THE PICTURE OF PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE
ERIE.--EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF A
PRIVATE VESSEL.--HE CITES SEVERAL INSTANCES OF THE HEROIC CONDUCT
OF NEGRO SAILORS.
It is rather a remarkable fact of history that Negroes were carried
upon the rolls of the navy without reference to their nationality.
About one tenth of the crews of the fleet that sailed to the Upper
Lakes to co-operate with Col. Croghan at Mackinac, in 1814, were
Negroes. Dr. Parsons says:--
"In 1816, I was surgeon of the 'Java,' under Commodore Perry. The
white and colored seamen messed together. About one in six or
eight were colored.
"In 1819, I was surgeon of the 'Guerrière,' under Commodore
Macdonough; and the proportion of blacks was about the same in
her crew. There seemed to be an entire absence of prejudice
against the blacks as messmates among the crew. What I have said
applies to the crews of the other ships that sailed in
squadrons."[5]
This ample and reliable testimony as to the treatment of Negroes as
sailors, puts to rest all doubts as to their status in the United
States navy.
In the summer of 1813, Captain (afterwards Commodore) Perry wrote a
letter to Commodore Chauncey in which he complained that an
indifferent lot of men had been sent him. The following is the letter
that he wrote.
"SIR:--I have this moment received, by express, the enclosed
letter from General Harrison. If I had officers and men--and I
have no doubt you will send them--I could fight the enemy, and
proceed up the lake; but, having no one to command the 'Niagara,'
and only one commissioned lieutenant and two acting lieutenants,
whatever my wishes may be, going out is out of the question. The
men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set--blacks, soldiers,
and boys. I cannot think you saw them after they were selected. I
am, however, pleased to see any thing in the shape of a man."[6]
Commodore Chauncey replied in the following sharp letter, in which he
gave Captain Perry to understand that the color of the skin had
nothing to do with a man's qualifications for the navy:
"SIR:--I have been duly honored with your letters of the
twenty-third and twenty-sixth ultimo, and notice your anxiety for
men and officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you; and no
time shall be lost in sending officers and men to you us soon as
the public service will allow me to send them from this lake. I
regret that you are not pleased with the men sent you by Messrs.
Champlin and Forrest; for, to my knowledge, a part of them are
not surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleet; and I have yet
to learn that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of
the coat, can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have
nearly fifty blacks on board of this ship, and many of them are
among my best men; and those people you call soldiers have been
to sea from two to seventeen years; and I presume that you will
find them as good and useful as any men on board of your vessel;
at least, if I can judge by comparison; for those which we have
on board of this ship are attentive and obedient, and, as far as
I can judge, many of them excellent seamen: at any rate, the men
sent to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of sending a
fair proportion of petty officers and seamen; and, I presume,
upon examination it will be found that they are equal to those
upon this lake."[7]
Perry was not long in discovering that the Negroes whom Commodore
Chauncey had sent him were competent, faithful, and brave; and his
former prejudice did not prevent him from speaking their praise.
"Perry speaks highly of the bravery and good conduct of the
negroes, who formed a considerable part of his crew. They seemed
to be absolutely insensible to danger. When Captain Barclay came
on board the 'Niagara,' and beheld the sickly and party-colored
beings around him, an expression of chagrin escaped him at
having been conquered by such men. The fresh-water service had
very much impaired the health of the sailors, and crowded the
sick-list with patients."[8]
These brave Negro sailors served faithfully through all the battles on
the Lakes, and in the battle of Lake Erie rendered most effective
service. Once more the artist has rescued from oblivion the heroism of
the Negroes; for in the East Senate stairway of the Capitol at
Washington, and in the rotunda of the Capitol at Columbus, in the
celebrated picture of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, a Negro sailor has
a place among the immortalized crew.
The following testimony to the bravery of Colored sailors is of the
highest character.
"EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF THE
PRIVATE-ARMED SCHOONER 'GOV. TOMPKINS,' TO HIS AGENT IN NEW YORK,
DATED--
"AT SEA, Jan. 1, 1813.
* * * * *
"Before I could get our light sails in, and almost before I could
turn round, I was under the guns, not of a transport, but of a
large _frigate_! and not more than a quarter of a mile from
her.... Her first broadside killed two men, and wounded six
others.... My officers conducted themselves in a way that would
have done honor to a more permanent service.... The name of one
of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the
book of fame, and remembered with reverence, as long as bravery
is considered a virtue. He was a black man, by the name of John
Johnson. A twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip, and took
away all the lower part of his body. In this state, the poor
brave fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed to his
shipmates: '_Fire away, my boys; no haul a color down._' The
other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis, and was
struck in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times
requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way
of others.
"When America has such tars, she has little to fear from the
tyrants of the ocean."[9]
After praise of such a nature and from such a source, eulogy is
superfluous.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Livermore, pp. 159, 160.
[6] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 165, 166.
[7] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 186, 187.
[8] Analectic Magazine, vol. iii. p. 255.
[9] Niles's Weekly Register, Saturday, Feb. 26, 1814.
PART 5.
_ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION._
CHAPTER IV.
RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION.
1825-1850.
THE SECURITY OF THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AT THE SOUTH.--THE
RIGHT TO HOLD SLAVES QUESTIONED.--RAPID INCREASE OF THE SLAVE
POPULATION.--ANTI-SLAVERY SPEECHES IN THE LEGISLATURE OF
VIRGINIA.--THE QUAKERS OF MARYLAND AND DELAWARE EMANCIPATE THEIR
SLAVES.--THE EVIL EFFECT OF SLAVERY UPON SOCIETY.--THE CONSCIENCE
AND HEART OF THE SOUTH DID NOT RESPOND TO THE VOICE OF REASON OR
DICTATES OF HUMANITY.
An awful silence succeeded the stormy struggle that ended in the
violation of the ordinance of 1787. It was now time for reflection.
The Southern statesmen had proven themselves the masters of the
situation. The institution of slavery was secured to them, with many
collateral political advantages. And, in addition to this, they had
secured the inoculation of the free territory beyond the Mississippi
and Ohio rivers with the virus of Negro-slavery.
If the mother-country had forced slavery upon her colonial
dependencies in North America, and if it were difficult and
inconvenient to part with slave-labor, who were now responsible for
the extension of the slave area? Southern men, of course. What
principle or human law was strong enough to support an institution of
such cruel proportions? The old law of European pagans born of bloody
and destroying wars? No; for it was now the nineteenth century.
Abstract law? Certainly not; for law is the perfection of reason--it
always tends to conform thereto--and that which is not reason is not
law. Well did Justinian write: "Live honestly, hurt nobody, and render
to every one his just dues." The law of nations? Verily not; for it
is a system of rules deducible from reason and natural justice, and
established by universal consent, to regulate the conduct and mutual
intercourse between independent States. The Declaration of
Independence? Far from it; because the prologue of that incomparable
instrument recites: "_We hold these truths to be self-evident--that
all_ MEN _are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed._" And the peerless George Bancroft has
added: "The heart of Jefferson in writing the Declaration, and of
Congress in adopting it, beat for all humanity; the assertion of right
was made for all mankind and all coming generations, without any
exception whatever; for the proposition which admits of exceptions can
never be self-evident." There was but one authority for slavery left,
and that was the Bible.
Many slave-holders thought deeply on the question of their right to
hold slaves. A disturbed conscience cried aloud for a "Thus saith the
Lord," and the pulpit was charged with the task of quieting the
general disquietude. The divine origin of slavery was heard from a
thousand pulpits. God, who never writes a poor hand, had written upon
the brow of every Negro, the word "_Slave_"; slavery was their normal
condition, and the white man was God's agent in the United States to
carry out the prophecy of Noah respecting the descendants of Ham;
while St. Paul had sent Onesimus back to his owner, and had written,
"Servants, obey your masters."
But apologetic preaching did not seem to silence the gnawing of a
guilty conscience. Upon the battle-fields of two great wars; in the
army and in the navy, the Negroes had demonstrated their worth and
manhood. They had stood with the undrilled minute-men along the dusty
roads leading from Lexington and Concord to Boston, against the
skilled redcoats of boastful Britain. They were among the faithful
little band that held Bunker Hill against overwhelming odds; at Long
Island, Newport, and Monmouth, they had held their ground against the
stubborn columns of the Ministerial army. They had journeyed with the
Pilgrim Fathers through eight years of despair and hope, of defeat and
victory; had shared their sufferings and divided their glory. These
recollections made difficult an unqualified acceptance of the doctrine
of the divine nature of perpetual slavery. Reason downed sophistry,
and human sympathy shamed prejudice. And against prejudice, custom,
and political power, the thinking men of the South launched their best
thoughts. Jefferson said: "The hour of emancipation is advancing in
the march of time. It will come, and whether brought on by the
generous energy of our own minds, or by the bloody process of St.
Domingo, excited and conducted by the power of our present enemy
[Great Britain], if once stationed permanently within our country and
offering asylum and arms to the oppressed [Negro], is a leaf in our
history _not yet turned over_." These words, written to Edward Coles,
in August, 1814, were still ample food for the profound meditation of
the slave-holders. In his "Notes on Virginia" Mr. Jefferson had
written the following words: "_Indeed, I tremble for my country when I
reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever._
That, considering numbers, nature, and natural means, only a
revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among
possible events. That it may become probable by _supernatural
interference_. _The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with
us in such a contest._"[10]
The eloquence of Patrick Henry and the logic and philosophy of Madison
and Jefferson rang in the ears of the people of the slave-holding
States, and they paused to think. In forty years the Negro population
of Virginia had increased 186 per cent.--from 1790 to 1830,--while the
white had increased only 51 per cent. The rapid increase of the slave
population winged the fancy and produced horrid dreams of
insurrection; while the pronounced opposition of the Northern people
to slavery seemed to proclaim the weakness of the government and the
approach of its dissolution. In 1832, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, a
grandson of Thomas Jefferson, lifted up his voice in the Legislature
of Virginia against the institution of slavery.
Said Mr. Jefferson:--"There is one circumstance to which we are
to look as inevitable in the fulness of time--_a dissolution of
this Union_. God grant it may not happen in our time or that of
our children; but, sir, it must come sooner or later, and when it
does come, border war follows it, as certain as the night follows
the day. An enemy upon your frontier offering arms and asylum to
this population, tampering with it in your bosom, when your
citizens shall march to repel the invader, their families
butchered and their homes desolated in the rear, the spear will
fall from the warrior's grasp; his heart may be of steel, but it
must quail. Suppose an invasion in part with _black troops_,
speaking the same language, of the same nation, burning with
enthusiasm for the liberation of their race; if they are not
crushed the moment they put foot upon your soil, they roll
forward, an hourly swelling mass; your energies are paralyzed,
your power is gone; the morasses of the lowlands, the fastnesses
of the mountains, cannot save your wives and children from
destruction. Sir, we cannot war with these disadvantages; _peace,
ignoble, abject peace,--peace upon any conditions that an enemy
may offer, must be accepted_. Are we, then, prepared to barter
the liberty of our children for slaves for them?... Sir, it is a
practice, and an increasing practice in parts of Virginia to
_rear slaves for market_. How can an honorable mind, a patriot
and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient Dominion,
rendered illustrious by the noble devotion and patriotism of her
sons in the cause of liberty, converted into one grand managerie,
where men are to be reared for market like oxen for the shambles.
Is this better, is it not worse, than the _Slave-Trade_, that
trade which enlisted the labor of the _good and the wise of every
creed and every clime to abolish it_?"
Mr. P. A. Bolling said:--
"Mr. Speaker, it is vain for gentlemen to deny the fact, the
feelings of society are fast becoming adversed to slavery. The
moral causes which produce that feeling are on the march, and
will on _until the groans of slavery are heard no more in this
else happy country_. Look over this world's wide page--see the
rapid progress of liberal feelings--see the shackles falling from
nations who have long writhed under the galling yoke of slavery.
Liberty is going over the whole earth--hand-in-hand with
Christianity. The ancient temples of slavery, rendered venerable
alone by their antiquity, are crumbling into dust. Ancient
prejudices are flying before the light of truth--are dissipated
by its rays, as the idle vapor by the bright sun. The noble
sentiment of Burns:
'Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,
That man to man, the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that'--
is rapidly spreading. The day-star of human liberty has risen
above the dark horizon of slavery, and will continue its bright
career, until it smiles alike on all men."
Mr. C. J. Faulkner said:--
"Sir, I am gratified that no gentleman has yet risen in this
hall, the advocate of slavery. * * * Let me compare the condition
of the slave-holding portion of this commonwealth, barren,
desolate, and scarred, as it were, by the avenging hand of
Heaven, with the descriptions which we have of this same country
from those who first broke its virgin soil. To what is this
change ascribable? Alone to the withering, blasting effects of
slavery. If this does not satisfy him, let me request him to
extend his travels to the Northern States of this Union, and beg
him to contrast the happiness and contentment which prevail
throughout that country--the busy and cheerful sound of industry,
the rapid and swelling growth of their population, their means
and institutions of education, their skill and proficiency in the
useful arts, their enterprise and public spirit, the monuments of
their commercial and manufacturing industry, and, above all,
their devoted attachment to the government from which they derive
their protection, with the division, discontent, indolence, and
poverty of the Southern country. To what, sir, is all this
ascribable? 'T is to that _vice_ in the organization of society
by which one half of its inhabitants are arrayed in interest and
feeling against the other half; to that unfortunate state of
society in which free men regard labor as disgraceful, and slaves
shrink from it as a burden tyrannically imposed upon them. _'To
that condition of things in which half a million of your
population can feel no sympathy with the society in the
prosperity of which they are forbidden to participate, and no
attachment to a government at whose hands they receive nothing
but injustice.'_ In the language of the wise, prophetic
Jefferson, 'you must approach this subject, YOU MUST ADOPT SOME
PLAN OF EMANCIPATION, OR WORSE WILL FOLLOW.'"
In Maryland and Delaware the Quakers were rapidly emancipating their
slaves, and the strong reaction that had set in among the thoughtful
men of the South began to threaten the institution. Men felt that it
was a curse to the slave, and poisoned the best white society of the
slave-holding States. As early as 1781, Mr. Jefferson, with his keen,
philosophical insight, beheld with alarm the demoralizing tendency of
slavery. "The whole commerce," says Mr. Jefferson, "between master and
slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the
most unrelenting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission
on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it--for man
is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in
him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees
others do. If a parent could find no motive, either in his
philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of
passion toward his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that
his child is present. But generally, it is not sufficient. The parent
storms; the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on
the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose tongue to
the worst of passions, and, thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised
in tyranny, cannot but be stamped with odious peculiarities. The man
must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by
such circumstances. And with what execration should the statesman be
loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on the
rights of the other, transforms those into despots and these into
enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the _amor patriæ_ of
the other!"[11]
And what was true in Virginia, as coming under the observation of Mr.
Jefferson, was true in all the other States where slavery existed. And
indeed it was difficult to tell whether the slave or master was
injured the more. The ignorance of the former veiled from him the
terrible evils of his condition, while the intelligence of the latter
revealed to him, in detail, the baleful effects of the institution
upon all who came within its area. It was at war with social order; it
contracted the sublime ideas of national unity; it made men sectional,
licentious, profligate, cruel,--and selfishness paled the holy fires
of patriotism.
But notwithstanding the profound reflection of the greatest minds in
the South, and the philosophic prophecies of Jefferson, the conscience
and heart of the South did not respond to the dictates of humanity.
Cotton and cupidity led captive the reason of the South, and, once
more joined to their idols, the slave-holders no longer heard the
voice of prudence or justice in the slave marts of their "section."
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii, p. 404.
[11] Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii. p. 403.
CHAPTER V.
ANTI-SLAVERY METHODS.
THE ANTIQUITY OF ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT.--BENJAMIN LUNDY'S
OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH AND AT THE NORTH.--HE
ESTABLISHES THE "GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION."--HIS GREAT
SACRIFICES AND MARVELLOUS WORK IN THE CAUSE OF
EMANCIPATION.--WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON EDITS A PAPER AT
BENNINGTON, VERMONT.--HE PENS A PETITION TO CONGRESS FOR THE
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.--GARRISON THE
PEERLESS LEADER OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION.--EXTRACT FROM A
SPEECH DELIVERED BY DANIEL O'CONNELL AT CORK, IRELAND.--INCREASE
OF ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES IN THE COUNTRY.--CHARLES SUMNER
DELIVERS A SPEECH ON THE "ANTI-SLAVERY DUTIES OF THE WHIG
PARTY."--MARKED EVENTS OF 1846.--SUMNER THE LEADER OF THE
POLITICAL PARTY.--HETERODOX ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY.--ITS
SENTIMENTS.--HORACE GREELEY THE LEADER OF THE ECONOMIC
ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY.--THE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY.--ITS
LEADERS.--THE COLONIZATION ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.--AMERICAN
COLONIZATION SOCIETY.--MANUMITTED NEGROES COLONIZE ON THE WEST
COAST OF AFRICA.--A BILL ESTABLISHING A LINE OF MAIL STEAMERS TO
THE COAST OF AFRICA.--IT PROVIDES FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE
SLAVE-TRADE, PROMOTION OF COMMERCE, AND THE COLONIZATION OF FREE
NEGROES.--EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS WARMLY URGING THE PASSAGE OF
THE BILL.--THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ORGANIZATION.--ITS EFFICIENCY
IN FREEING SLAVES.--ANTI-SLAVERY LITERATURE.--IT EXPOSES THE TRUE
CHARACTER OF SLAVERY.--"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," BY HARRIET BEECHER
STOWE, PLEADED THE CAUSE OF THE SLAVE IN TWENTY DIFFERENT
LANGUAGES.--THE INFLUENCE OF "IMPENDING CRISIS."
Anti-slavery sentiment is as old as the human family. It antedates the
Bible; it was eloquent in the days of our Saviour; it preached the
Gospel of Humanity in the palaces of the Cæsars and Antonies; its
arguments shook the thrones of Europe during the Mediæval ages. And
when the doctrine of property in man was driven out of Europe as an
exile, and found a home in this New World in the West, the ancient and
time-honored anti-slavery sentiment combined all that was good in
brain, heart, and civilization, and hurled itself, with righteous
indignation, against the institution of slavery, the perfected curse
of the ages! And how wonderful that God should have committed the task
of blotting out this terrible curse to Americans! And what "vessels of
honor" they were whom the dear Lord chose "to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound!"
Statesmen like Franklin, Rush, Hamilton, and Jay; divines like
Hopkins, Edwards, and Stiles; philanthropists like Woolman, Lay, and
Benezet! And the good Quakers--God bless them!--or _Friends_, which
has so much tender meaning in it, did much to hasten the morning of
freedom. In the poor Negro slave they saw Christ "an hungered," and
they gave Him meat; "thirsty," and they gave Him drink; "a stranger,"
and they took Him in; "naked," and they clothed Him; "sick," and they
visited Him; "in prison," and they came unto Him. Verily they knew
their "_neighbor_."
They began their work of philanthropy as early as 1780. In
Maryland,[12] Pennsylvania, and New Jersey the Friends emancipated all
their slaves. At a single monthly meeting in Pennsylvania eleven
hundred slaves were set at liberty. Nearly every Northern State had
its anti-slavery society. They were charged with the humane task of
ameliorating the condition of the Negro, and scattering modest
literary documents that breathed the spirit of Christian love.
But the first apostle of _Abolition Agitation_ was Benjamin Lundy. He
was the John Baptist to the new era that was to witness the doing away
of the law of bondage and the ushering in of the dispensation of
universal brotherhood. He raised his voice against slave-keeping in
Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Maryland. In 1821 he established an
anti-slavery paper called "The Genius of Universal Emancipation,"
which he successively published in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington City,--and frequently _en route_ during the tours he took
through the country, wherever he could find a press. Once he made a
tour of the free States, like another Apostle Paul, stirring up the
love of the brethren for those who were in bonds, lecturing, obtaining
subscribers, writing editorials, getting them printed where he could,
stopping by the wayside to read his "proof," and directing and mailing
his papers at the nearest post-office. Then, packing up his
"column-rules," type, "heading," and "directing-book," he would
journey on, a lone, solitary "Friend." He said in 1830:--
"I have, within the period above mentioned (ten years),
sacrificed several thousands of dollars of my own hard earnings;
I have travelled upwards of five thousand miles on foot and more
than twenty thousand in other ways; have visited nineteen States
of this Union, and held more than two hundred public meetings;
have performed two voyages to the West Indies, by which means the
emancipation of a considerable number of slaves has been
effected, and I hope the way paved for the enfranchisement of
many more."
He was a slight-built, wiry figure; but inflamed by a holy zeal for
the cause of the oppressed, he was almost unconscious of the vast
amount of work he was accomplishing. As a Quaker his methods were
moderate. His journalistic voice was not a whirlwind nor the fire, but
the still, small voice of persuasiveness. Though it was published in a
slave mart, his paper, a monthly, was regarded as perfectly harmless.
But away up in Vermont there was being edited, at Bennington, a paper
called "The Journal of the Times." It was started chiefly to advocate
the claims of John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, but much space was
devoted to the subject of anti-slavery. The young editor of the
above-named journal had had experience with several other papers
previous to this--"The Free Press," of Newburyport, Mass., and "The
National Philanthropist," of Boston. "The Genius of Universal
Emancipation," was among the exchanges of "The Journal of the Times,"
and its sentiments greatly enthused the heart of the Vermont editor,
who, under God, was destined to become the indefatigable leader of the
Anti-slavery Movement in America, _William Lloyd Garrison_! To his
advocacy of "temperance and peace" young Garrison added another
excellent principle, intense hatred of slavery. He penned a petition
for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, which he
sent to all the postmasters in Vermont, beseeching them to secure
signatures. As the postmasters of those days paid no postage for their
letters, many names were secured. The petition created a genuine
sensation in Congress. The "Journal of Commerce" about this time said:
"It appears from an article in 'The Journal of the Times,' a
newspaper of some promise, just established in Bennington, Vt.,
that a petition to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia is about to be put in circulation in that
State.
"The idea is an excellent one, and we hope it will meet with
success. That Congress has a right to abolish slavery in that
District seems reasonable, though we fear it will meet with some
opposition, so very sensitive are the slave-holding community to
every movement relating to the abolition of slavery. At the same
time, it would furnish to the world a beautiful pledge of their
sincerity if they would unite with the non-slave-holding States,
and by a unanimous vote proclaim freedom to every soul within
sight of the capital of this free government. We could then say,
and the world would then admit our pretence, that the voice of
the nation is against slavery, and throw back upon Great Britain
that disgrace which is of right and justice her exclusive
property."
Charmed by the originality, boldness, and humanity of Garrison, the
meek little Quaker went to Boston by stage; and then, with staff in
hand, walked to Bennington, Vt., to see the young man whose great
heart-throbs for the slave he had felt in "The Journal of the Times."
There, in the Green Mountains of Vermont, swept by the free air, and
mantled by the pure snow, the meek Quaker communed with the strict
Baptist, and they both took sweet counsel together. The bright torch
that Garrison had held up to the people in Vermont was to be
transferred to the people of Baltimore, who were "sitting in
darkness." So, as a result of this conference, Garrison agreed to join
Lundy in conducting "The Genius of Universal Emancipation."
Accordingly, in September, 1829, Garrison took the principal charge of
the Journal, enlarged it, and issued it as a weekly. Lundy was to
travel, lecture, and solicit subscribers in its interest, and
contribute to its editorial columns as he could from time to time.
Both men were equally against slavery: Lundy for gradual emancipation
and _colonization_; but Garrison for _immediate and unconditional
emancipation_. Garrison said of this difference: "But I wasn't much
help to him, for he had been all for gradual emancipation, and as soon
as I began to look into the matter, I became convinced that immediate
abolition was the doctrine to be preached, and I scattered his
subscribers like pigeons."
But the good "Friend" contemplated the destructive zeal of his young
helper with the complacency so characteristic of his class, standing
by his doctrine that every one should follow "his own light." But it
was not long before Garrison made a bold attack upon one of the vilest
features of the slave-trade, which put an end to his paper, and
resulted in his arrest, trial for libel, conviction, and imprisonment.
The story runs as follows:
"A certain ship, the 'Francis Todd,' from Newburyport, came to
Baltimore and took in a load of slaves for the New Orleans
market. All the harrowing cruelties and separations which attend
the rending asunder of families and the sale of slaves, were
enacted under the eyes of the youthful philanthropist, and in a
burning article he denounced the inter-State slave-trade as
piracy, and piracy of an aggravated and cruel kind, inasmuch as
those born and educated in civilized and Christianized society
have more sensibility to feel the evils thus inflicted than
imbruted savages. He denounced the owners of the ship and all the
parties in no measured terms, and expressed his determination to
'cover with thick infamy all who were engaged in the
transaction.'"
Then, to be sure, the sleeping tiger was roused, for there was a vigor
and power in the young editor's eloquence that quite dissipated the
good-natured contempt which had hitherto hung round the paper. He was
indicted for libel, found guilty, of course, condemned, imprisoned in
the cell of a man who had been hanged for murder. His mother at this
time was not living, but her heroic, undaunted spirit still survived
in her son, who took the baptism of persecution and obloquy not merely
with patience, but with the joy which strong spirits feel in
endurance. He wrote sonnets on the walls of his prison, and by his
cheerful and engaging manners made friends of his jailer and family,
who did everything to render his situation as comfortable as possible.
Some considerable effort was made for his release, and much interest
was excited in various quarters for him.[13]
Finally, the benevolent Arthur Tappan came forward and paid the
exorbitant fine imposed upon Garrison, and he went forth a more
inveterate foe of slavery. This incident gave the world one of the
greatest reformers since Martin Luther. Without money, social
influence, or friends, Garrison lifted again the standard of liberty.
He began a lecture tour in which God taught him the magnitude of his
work. Everywhere mouths were sealed and public halls closed against
him. At length, on January 1, 1831, he issued the first number of "The
Liberator," which he continued to edit for thirty-five years, and
discontinued it only when every slave in America was free! His methods
of assailing the modern Goliath of slavery were thus tersely put:
"I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of
emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker
Hill, and in the birthplace of liberty. That standard is now
unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoliations of
time or the missiles of a desperate foe; yea, till every chain be
broken, and every bondman set free! Let Southern oppressors
tremble; let their secret abettors tremble; let all the enemies
of the persecuted Black tremble. Assenting to the self-evident
truths maintained in the American Declaration of
Independence,--'that all men are created equal, and endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' I shall strenuously
contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave
population.
* * * * *
"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but
is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and
as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to
think, or speak, or write with moderation. No! No! Tell a man
whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to
moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell
the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into
which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a cause
like the present! I am in earnest. I will not equivocate--I will
not excuse--I will not retreat a single inch. AND I WILL BE
HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue
leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the
dead.
"It is pretended that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by
the coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my
measures. The charge is not true. On this question, my influence,
humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable extent;
and it shall be felt in coming years--not perniciously, but
beneficially,--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY
WILL BEAR TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT. I desire to thank God that
He enables me to disregard 'the fear of man which bringeth a
snare,' and to speak truth in its simplicity and power; and I
here close with this dedication:
* * * * *
"Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
By thy soul-withering glance I fear not now--
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place,
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
I also kneel--but with far other vow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base;
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalizing sway--till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod;
Such is the vow I take--so help me, God!"
There never was a grander declaration of war against slavery. There
never was a more intrepid leader than William Lloyd Garrison. Words
more prophetic were never uttered by human voice. His paper did indeed
make "Southern oppression tremble," while its high resolves and
sublime sentiments found a response in the hearts of many people. It
is pleasant to record that this first impression of "The Liberator"
brought a list of twenty-five subscribers from Philadelphia, backed by
$50 in cash, sent by James Forten, a Colored man!
One year from the day he issued the first number of his paper, William
Lloyd Garrison, at the head of eleven others, organized _The American
Anti-Slavery Society_. It has been indicated already that he was in
favor of immediate emancipation; but, in addition to that principle,
he took the ground that slavery was supported by the Constitution;
that it was "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell"; that
as a Christian it was his duty to obey God rather than man; that his
conscience was paramount to the Constitution, and, therefore, his duty
was to work outside of the Constitution for the destruction of
slavery. Thus did Garrison establish the first Anti-slavery Society in
this country to adopt aggressive measures and demand immediate and
unconditional emancipation. It is not claimed that his methods were
original. Daniel O'Connell was perhaps the greatest _agitator_ of the
present century. In a speech delivered at Cork, he said:--
"I speak of liberty in commendation. Patriotism is a virtue, but
it can be selfish. Give me the great and immortal Bolivar, the
savior and regenerator of his country. He found her a province,
and he has made her a nation. His first act was to give freedom
to the slaves upon his own estate. (Hear, hear.) In Colombia, all
castes and all colors are free and unshackled. But how I like to
contrast him with the far-famed Northern heroes! George
Washington! That great and enlightened character--the soldier and
the statesman--had but one blot upon his character. He had
slaves, and he gave them liberty when he wanted them no longer.
(Loud cheers.) Let America, in the fulness of her pride wave on
high her banner of freedom and its blazing stars. I point to her,
and say: There is one foul blot upon it: you have negro slavery.
They may compare their struggles for freedom to Marathon and
Leuctra, and point to the rifleman with his gun, amidst her woods
and forests, shouting for liberty and America. In the midst of
their laughter and their pride, I point them to the negro
children screaming for the mother from whose bosom they have been
torn. America, it is a foul stain upon your character! (Cheers.)
This conduct kept up by men who had themselves to struggle for
freedom, is doubly unjust. Let them hoist the flag of liberty,
with the whip and rack on one side, and the star of freedom upon
the other. The Americans are a sensitive people; in fifty-four
years they have increased their population from three millions to
twenty millions; they have many glories that surround them, but
their beams are partly shorn, for they have slaves. (Cheers.)
Their hearts do not beat so strong for liberty as mine.... I will
call for justice, in the name of the living God, and I shall find
an echo in the breast of every human being. (Cheers.)"[14]
But while Garrison's method of agitation was not original, it was new
to this country. He spoke as one having authority, and his fiery
earnestness warmed the frozen feeling of the Northern people, and
startled the entire South. One year from the formation of the society
above alluded to (December 4, 5, and 6, 1833), a _National
Anti-Slavery Convention_ was held in Philadelphia, with sixty
delegates from ten States! In 1836 there were 250 auxiliary
anti-slavery societies in thirteen States; and eighteen months later
they had increased to 1,006. Money came to these societies from every
direction, and the good work had been fairly started.
William Lloyd Garrison created a party, and it will be known in
history as the _Garrisonian Party_.
While Mr. Garrison had taken the position that slavery was
constitutional, there were those who held the other view, that slavery
was unconstitutional, and, therefore, upon constitutional grounds
should be abolished.
The Whig party was the nearest to the anti-slavery society of any of
the political organizations of the time. It had promised, in
convention assembled, "to promote all constitutional measures for the
overthrow of slavery, and to oppose at all times, with uncompromising
zeal and firmness, any further addition of slave-holding States to
this Union, out of whatever territory formed.[15] But the party never
got beyond this. Charles Sumner was a member of the Whig party, but
was greatly disturbed about its indifference on the question of
slavery. In 1846 he delivered a speech before the Whig convention of
Massachusetts on "_The Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig Party_." He
declared his positive opposition to slavery; said that he intended to
attack the institution on constitutional grounds; that slavery was not
a "covenant with death or an agreement with hell"; that he intended to
do his work for the slave inside of the Constitution. He said:--
"There is in the Constitution no compromise on the subject of
slavery of a character not to be reached legally and
constitutionally, which is the only way in which I propose to
reach it. Wherever power and jurisdiction are secured to
Congress, they may unquestionably be exercised in conformity with
the Constitution. And even in matters beyond existing powers and
jurisdiction there is a constitutional mode of action. The
Constitution contains an article pointing out how at any time
amendments may be made thereto. This is an important article,
giving to the Constitution a progressive character, and allowing
it to be moulded to suit new exigencies and new conditions of
feeling. The wise framers of this instrument did not treat the
country as a Chinese foot, never to grow after its infancy, but
anticipated the changes incident to its growth."
He proposed to the Whigs as their rallying watchword, the "REPEAL OF
SLAVERY UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT."
Discussing the methods, he continued:--
"The time has passed when this can be opposed on constitutional
grounds. It will not be questioned by any competent authority
that Congress may by express legislation abolish slavery, first,
in the District of Columbia; second, in the territories, if there
should be any; third, that it may abolish the slave-trade on the
high seas between the States; fourth, that it may refuse to admit
any new State with a constitution sanctioning slavery. Nor can it
be doubted that the people of the free States may, in the manner
pointed out by the Constitution, proceed to its amendment."
Thus did Charles Sumner lay down a platform for a _Political Abolition
Party_, and of such a party he became the laurelled champion and
leader.
The year 1846 was marked by the most bitter political discussion;
Garrison the _Agitator_, the Mexican war, and other issues had greatly
exercised the people. At a meeting held in Tremont Temple, Boston, on
the 5th of November, 1846, Mr. Sumner took occasion to give his
reasons for bolting the nominee of the Whig party for Congress, Mr.
Winthrop.[16] Mr. Sumner said that he had never heard Mr. Winthrop's
voice raised for the slave; and that, judging from the past, he never
expected to hear it. "Will he oppose," asked Mr. Sumner, "at all
times, without compromise, any further addition of slave-holding
States? Here, again, if we judge him by the past, he is wanting. None
can forget that in 1845, on the 4th of July, a day ever sacred to
memories of freedom, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, he volunteered, in
advance of any other Northern Whig, to receive Texas with a welcome
into the family of States, although on that very day she was preparing
a constitution placing slavery beyond the reach of Legislative
change."[17]
Here, then, was another party created--a _Political Abolition
Party_--for the suppression of slavery.
In 1848, Mr. Sumner left the Whig party, and gave his magnificent
energies and splendid talents to the organization of the _Free-Soil
Party_, upon the principles he had failed to educate the Whigs to
accept.
Charles Sumner was in the United States Senate, where "his words were
clothed with the majesty of Massachusetts." The young lawyer who had
upbraided Winthrop for his indifference respecting the slave, and
opposed the Mexican war, was consistent in the Senate, and in harmony
with his early love for humanity. He closed his great speech on
FREEDOM NATIONAL, SLAVERY SECTIONAL, in the following incisive
language:--
"At the risk of repetition, but for the sake of clearness, review
now this argument, and gather it together. Considering that
slavery is of such an offensive character that it can find
sanction only in positive law, and that it has no such 'positive'
sanction in the Constitution; that the Constitution, according to
its Preamble, was ordained to 'establish justice,' and 'secure
the blessings of liberty'; that in the convention which framed
it, and also elsewhere at the time, it was declared not to
'sanction'; that according to the Declaration of Independence,
and the address of the Continental Congress, the nation was
dedicated to 'Liberty' and the 'rights of human nature'; that
according to the principles of common law, the Constitution must
be interpreted openly, actively, and perpetually for Freedom;
that according to the decision of the Supreme Court, it acts upon
slaves, _not as property_, but as _persons_; that at the first
organization of the national government under Washington, slavery
had no national favor, existed nowhere on the national territory,
beneath the national flag, but was openly condemned by the
nation, the Church, the colleges, and literature of the times;
and finally, that according to an amendment of the Constitution,
the national government can only exercise powers delegated to it,
among which there is none to support slavery;--considering these
things, sir, it is impossible to avoid the single conclusion that
slavery is in no respect a national institution, and that the
Constitution nowhere upholds property in man."
This speech set men in the North to thinking. Sumner was now the
acknowledged leader of the only political party in the country that
had a wholesome anti-slavery plank in its platform.
Daniel Webster and the Whig party were in their grave. After the
Democratic Convention had met and adjourned without mentioning
Webster, a Northern farmer exclaimed when he had read the news, "_The
South never pay their slaves_!"
During all these years of agitation and struggle, the pulpit of New
England maintained an unbroken silence on the slavery question. Doctor
Lyman Beecher was the acknowledged leader of the orthodox pulpit. Dr.
William E. Channing was the champion of Unitarianism and the leader of
the heterodox pulpit. Dr. Beecher was fond of controversy, enjoyed a
battle of words upon every thing but the slavery question. He
proclaimed the doctrine of "_immediate repentance_"; was earnest in
his entreaties to men to quit their "cups" at _once_; but on the
slavery question was a slow coach. He was for _gradual_ emancipation.
He frowned not a little upon the vigorous editorials in "The
Liberator." He regarded Mr. Garrison as a hot-head; "having zeal, but
not according to knowledge." Abolitionism received no encouragement
from this venerable divine.
Dr. Channing was a gentle, pure-hearted, and humane sort of a man. He
dreaded controversy, and shunned the agitation and agitators of
anti-slavery.
The lesser lights followed the example of these bright stars in the
churches.
But all could not keep silent,--for slavery needed apologists in the
North. Stewart, of Andover; Alexander, of Princeton; Fisk, of
Wilberham, and many other leading ministers endeavored to prove the
_Divine Origin and Biblical Authority of Slavery_.
The silence of the pulpit drove out many anti-slavery men who, up to
this time, had been hoping for aid from this quarter. Many went out of
the Church temporarily, hoping that the scales would drop from the
eyes of the preachers ere long; but others never returned-were driven
to infidelity and bitter hatred of the Christian Church. Dr. Albert
Barnes said: "That there was no power out of the Church that would
sustain slavery an hour if it were not sustained in it."
Among the leaders of the HETERODOX ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY--those who
attacked the reticency, silent acquiescence, or act of support the
Church gave slavery,--were Parker Pillsbury, James G. Birney, Stephen
S. Foster, and Samuel Brooke. The platform of this party was clearly
defined by Mr. Pillsbury:--
"That slavery finds its surest and sternest defence in the
prevailing religion of the country, is no longer questionable.
Let it be driven from the Church, with the burning seal of its
reprobation and execration stamped on its iron brow, and its fate
is fixed forever. Only while its horrors are baptized and
sanctified in the name of Christianity, can it maintain an
existence.
"The Anti-Slavery movement has unmasked the character of the
American Church. _Our religion has been found at war with the
interests of humanity and the laws of God._ And it is more than
time the world was awakened to its unhallowed influence on the
hopes and happiness of man, while it makes itself the palladium
of the foulest iniquity ever perpetrated in the sight of
heaven."[18]
This was a bold movement, but it was doubtless a sword that was as
dangerous to those who essayed to handle it, as to the Church whose
destruction it was intended to effect. The doctrine that was to
sustain and inspire this party can be briefly stated in a sentence:
THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD, AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.
Once outside the orthodox church, Theodore Parker gave himself wholly
to this idea. He preached the "_Gospel of Humanity_"; and, standing
upon a broad platform, preaching a broad doctrine, bound by no
ecclesiastical law, his claims to a place in the history of his
county, and in the gratitude of his countrymen can be fairly audited
when his work for the emancipation of evangelical churches from the
thraldom of slavery is considered. He did more in his day to rupture
the organic and sympathetic relation existing between the Northern and
Southern churches, and, thereby, hasten the struggle between the
sections for the extension or extinction of domestic slavery, than any
other man in America. The men who found themselves on the outside of
the Church gathered about Parker, and applauded his invective and
endorsed his arraignment of the churches that had placed their hands
upon their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, before the slave
power. He touched a chord in the human heart, and it yielded rich
music. He educated the pew until an occasional voice broke the long
silence respecting the bondman of the land. First, the ministers were
not so urgent in their invitations to Southern ministers to occupy
their pulpits. This coldness was followed by feeble prayer and
moderate speech on behalf of those who were bound. And the churches
themselves began to feel that they were "an offence" to the world.
Every note of sympathy that fell from the pulpit was amplified into a
grand chorus of pity for the slave. And thus the leaven of human
sympathy hid in the orthodox church of New England, leavened the whole
body until a thousand pulpits were ablaze with a righteous
condemnation of the wrongs of the slaves. Even Dr. Channing came to
the conclusion that something should be "So done as not to put in
jeopardy the peace of the slave-holding States!"[19]
THE ECONOMIC ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY was headed by the industrious and
indomitable Horace Greeley. His claim to the feelings of humanity
should never be disputed; but as a practical man who sought to solve
the riddle of every-day life he placed his practical views in the
foreground. As a political economist he reasoned that slave labor was
degrading to free labor; that free labor was better than slave labor,
and, therefore, he most earnestly desired its abolition. Wherever you
turn in his writings this idea gives the edge to all his arguments
concerning slavery. "But slavery," wrote Mr. Greeley, "primarily
considered, has still another aspect--that of a natural relation of
simplicity to cunning, of ignorance to knowledge, of weakness to
power. Thomas Carlyle, before his melancholy decline and fall into
devil-worship, truly observed, that the capital mistake of Rob Roy was
his failure to comprehend that it was cheaper to buy the beef he
required in the Grassmarket at Glasgow than to obtain it without
price, by harrying the lowland farms. So the first man whoever imbibed
or conceived the fatal delusion that it was more advantageous to him,
or to any human being, to procure whatever his necessities or his
appetites required by address and scheming than by honest work--by the
unrequited rather than the fairly and faithfully recompensed toil of
his fellow-preachers--was, in essence and in heart, a slave-holder,
and only awaited opportunity to become one in deed and practice.... It
is none the less true, however, that ancient civilization, in its
various national developments, was habitually corrupted, debauched,
and ultimately ruined by slavery, which rendered labor dishonorable,
and divided society horizontally into a small caste of the wealthy,
educated, refined, and independent, and a vast hungry, sensual,
thriftless, and worthless populace; rendered impossible the
preservation of republican liberty and of legalized equality, even
among the nominally free. Diogenes, with his lantern, might have
vainly looked, through many a long day, among the followers of Marius,
or Catiline, or Cæsar, for a specimen of the poor but virtuous and
self-respecting Roman citizen of the days of Cincinnatus, or even of
Regulus."[20]
But Mr. Greeley's philosophy was as destructive as his logic was
defective. He wished the slave free, not because he loved him; but
because of the deep concern he had for the welfare of the free, white
working-men of America. He was willing the Negro should be free, but
never suggested any plan of relief for his social condition, or
prescribed for his spiritual and intellectual health. He handled the
entire Negro problem with the icy fingers of the philosopher, and
always applied the flinty logic of abstract political economy. He was
an _anti-slavery_ advocate, but not an _abolitionist_. He was opposed
to slavery, as a system at war with the social and commercial
prosperity of the nation; but so far as the humanity of the question,
in reaching out after the slave as an injured member of society, was
concerned, he was silent.
THE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY had its birth in the pugnacious
brains of E. P. Lovejoy, James G. Birney, Cassius M. Clay, and John
Brown. All of the anti-slavery parties had taught the doctrine of
_non-resistance_; that if "thy enemy smite thee on thy cheek, turn the
other also." But there were a few men who believed they were possessed
of sacred rights, and that it was their duty to defend them, even with
their lives. It was not a popular doctrine; and yet a conscientious
few practised it with sublime courage whenever occasion required. In
1836 James G. Birney, editor of _The Philanthropist_, published at
Cincinnati, Ohio, defended his press, as best he could, against a mob,
who finally destroyed it. And on the 7th of November, 1837, the Rev.
Mr. Lovejoy sealed the sacred doctrine of the liberty of the press
with his precious blood in the defence of his printing-press at Alton,
Illinois. Cassius M. Clay went armed, and insisted upon his right to
freely and peaceably discuss the cause of anti-slavery.
But these men only laid down a great, fundamental truth; it was given
to John Brown to write the lesson upon the hearts of the American
people, so that they were enabled, a few years later, to practise the
doctrine of _resistance_, and preserve the _Nation_ against the bloody
aggressions of the Southern Confederacy.
THE COLONIZATION ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY ante-dated any of the other
organizations. Benjamin Lundy was one of the earliest advocates of
colonization. The object of colonizationists was to transport to
Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa, all manumitted slaves. Only
_free_ Negroes were to be colonized. It was claimed by the advocates
of the scheme that this was the only hope of the free Negro; that the
proscription everywhere directed against his social and intellectual
endeavors cramped and lamed him in the race of life; that in Liberia
he could build his own government, schools, and business; and there
would be nothing to hinder him in his ambition for the highest places
in Church or State. Moreover, they claimed that the free Negro owed
something to his benighted brethren who were still in pagan darkness;
that a free Negro government on the West Coast of Africa could exert a
missionary influence upon the natives, and thus the evangelization of
Africa could be effected by the free Negro himself.[21]
To this method Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Horace Mann, of Massachusetts;
Rev. Howard Malcom, of Pennsylvania; Rev. R. R. Gurley, of New York;
and many other persons of distinction, gave their endorsement and
assistance. The American Colonization Society was organized in 1817.
Its earliest supporters were from the Southern and Middle States. A
fair idea can be had of the character of the men who sustained the
cause of colonization by an examination of the following list of
officers elected in March, 1834.
"_President._--JAMES MADISON, of Virginia.
"_Vice-Presidents._--Chief-Justice MARSHALL; General LAFAYETTE,
of France, Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD, of Georgia; Hon. HENRY CLAY, of
Lexington, Kentucky; Hon. JOHN C. HERBERT, of Maryland; ROBERT
RALSTON, Esq., of Philadelphia; Gen. JOHN MASON, of Georgetown,
D. C.; SAMUEL BAYARD, Esq., of New Jersey; ISAAC MCKIM, Esq., of
Maryland; Gen. JOHN HARTWELL COCKE, of Virginia; Rt. Rev. Bishop
WHITE, of Pennsylvania; Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, of Boston; Hon.
CHARLES F. MERCER, of Virginia; JEREMIAH DAY, D.D., of Yale
College; Hon. RICHARD RUSH, of Pennsylvania; Bishop MCKENDREE;
PHILIP E. THOMAS, Esq., of Maryland; Dr. THOMAS C. JAMES, of
Philadelphia; Hon. JOHN COTTON SMITH, of Connecticut; Hon.
THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, of New Jersey; Hon. LOUIS MCLANE, of
Washington City; GERRIT SMITH, of New York; J. H. M'CLURE, Esq.,
of New Jersey; Gen. ALEXANDER MACOMB, of Washington City; MOSES
ALLEN, Esq., of New York; Gen. WALTER JONES, of Washington City;
F. S. KEY, Esq., of Georgetown, D. C.; SAMUEL H. SMITH, Esq., of
Washington City; JOSEPH GALES, Jr., Esq., of Washington City; Rt.
Rev. WM. MEADE, D.D., Assistant Bishop of Virginia; Hon.
ALEXANDER PORTER, of Louisiana; JOHN MCDONOUGH, Esq., of
Louisiana; Hon. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, of New Jersey.
"_Managers._--Rev. JAMES LAURIE, D.D.; Gen. WALTER JONES; FRANCIS
S. KEY; Rev. WM. HALEY; JOHN UNDERWOOD; WILLIAM W. SEATON; WALTER
LOWRIE; Dr. PHINEAS BRADLEY; Dr. THOMAS SEWALL.
"_Secretaries._--Rev. RALPH R. GURLEY, WILLIAM H. MACFARLAND.
"_Treasurer._--JOSEPH GALES, Senior.
"_Recorder._--PHILLIP R. FENDALL."
The Colonization Society was never able to secure the sympathy of the
various anti-slavery societies of the country; and was unable to gain
the confidence of the Colored people to any great extent. But it had
the advantage of being in harmony with what little humane sentiment
there was at the South. It did not attempt to agitate. It only sought
to colonize on the West Coast of Africa all Negroes who could secure
legal manumission. Nearly all the Southern States had laws upon their
statute-books requiring all emancipated slaves to leave the State. The
question as to where they should go was supposed to be answered by the
Colonization Society. It had much influence with Congress, and did not
hesitate to use it. A Mr. Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, petitioned
Congress for the establishment "of a line of Mail Steam-ships to the
Western Coast of Africa," in the summer of 1850. The Committee on
Naval Affairs reported favorably the following bill:
"A BILL TO ESTABLISH A LINE OF WAR STEAMERS TO THE COAST OF
AFRICA. [Report No. 438.]
"_In the House of Representatives, August 1, 1850. Read twice,
and committed to the Committee of the whole House on the State of
the Union._
"Mr. F. P. Stanton, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, reported
the following bill:--A bill to establish a line of war steamers
to the coast of Africa, for the suppression of the slave-trade,
and the promotion of commerce and colonization:
SEC. 1. "_Be it enacted_ by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress
assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the
Navy, immediately after the passage of this act, to enter into
contract with Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, and George Nicholas
Saunders, of New York, and their associates, for the building,
equipment, and maintenance of three steam-ships to run between
the United States and the coast of Africa, upon the following
terms and conditions, to wit:
"The said ships to be each of not less than four thousand tons
burden, to be so constructed as to be convertible, at the least
possible expense, into war steamers of the first class, and to be
built and equipped in accordance with plans to be submitted to
and approved by the Secretary of the Navy, and under the
superintendence of an officer to be appointed by him, two of said
ships to be finished and ready for sea in two and a half years,
and the other within three years after the date of the contract,
and the whole to be kept up by alterations, repairs, or
additions, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, so as to
be fully equal to the exigencies of the service and the faithful
performance of the contract. The said Secretary, at all times, to
exercise such control over said ships as may not be inconsistent
with the provisions of this act, and especially to have the power
to direct, at the expense of the Government, such changes in the
machinery and internal arrangements of the ships as he may at any
time deem advisable.
"Each of said ships to be commanded by an officer of the Navy,
who with four Passed Midshipmen to act as watch officers, and any
mail agents who may be sent by the Government, shall be
accommodated and provided for in a manner suitable to their rank,
at the expense of the contractors. Each of said ships, if
required by the Secretary, shall receive two guns of heavy
calibre, and the men from the United States Navy necessary to
serve them, who shall be provided for as aforesaid. In the event
of war the Government to have the right to take any or all of
said ships for its own exclusive use on payment of the value
thereof; such value not exceeding the cost, to be ascertained by
appraisers chosen by the Secretary of the Navy and the
contractors.
"Each of said ships to make four voyages per annum; one shall
leave New Orleans every three months; one shall leave Baltimore
every three months, touching at Norfolk and Charleston; and one
shall leave New York every three months, touching at Savannah;
all having liberty to touch at any of the West India Islands; and
to proceed thence to Liberia, touching at any of the islands or
ports on the coast of Africa; thence to Gibraltar, carrying the
Mediterranean mails; thence to Cadiz, or some other Spanish port
to be designated by the Secretary of the Navy; thence to Lisbon;
thence to Brest, or some other French port to be designated as
above; thence, to London, and back to the place of departure,
bringing and carrying the mails to and from said ports.
"The said contractors shall further agree to carry to Liberia so
many emigrants being free persons of color, and not exceeding
twenty-five hundred for each voyage, as the American Colonization
Society may require, upon the payment by said Society of ten
dollars for each emigrant over twelve years of age, and five
dollars for each one under that age, these sums, respectively, to
include all charges for baggage of emigrants and the daily supply
of sailors' rations. The contractors, also, to carry, bring back,
and accommodate, free from charge, all necessary agents of the
said Society.
"The Secretary of the Navy shall further stipulate to advance to
said contractors, as the building of said ships shall progress,
two thirds of the amount expended thereon; such advances to be
made in the bonds of the United States, payable thirty years
after date, and bearing five per cent. interest, and not to
exceed six hundred thousand dollars for each ship. And the said
contractors shall stipulate to repay the said advances in equal
annual instalments, with interest from the date of the completion
of said ships until the termination of the contract, which shall
continue fifteen years from the commencement of the service. The
Secretary of the Navy to require ample security for the faithful
performance of the contract, and to reserve a lien upon the ships
for the sum advanced. The Government to pay said contractors
forty thousand dollars for each trip, or four hundred and eighty
thousand dollars per annum.
"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the President of the
United States shall cause to be issued the bonds of the United
States, as the same may, from time to time, be required by the
Secretary of the Navy to carry out the contract aforesaid."
Public sentiment, North and South, was greatly in favor of the
measure. T. J. Durant, Esq., of New Orleans, in an elaborate letter
addressed to the "Commercial Bulletin" of New Orleans, under date of
September 12, 1850, answered objections, and warmly urged the passage
of the bill. The Chaplain of the U. S. Senate, Rev. R. R. Gurley,
wrote a letter on the 10th of October, 1850, to George N. Saunders,
Esq., urging the measure as of paramount importance to both America
and Africa. The press of the country generally endorsed the bill, and
commented upon the general good to follow in numerous editorials. A
scheme of such gigantic proportions poorly set forth the profound
thought that harassed the public mind in regard to the crime of
keeping men in slavery. A few extracts from the papers will suffice to
show how the matter was regarded.
EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS.
"The Report of the Naval Committee to the House of
Representatives in favor of the establishment of a line of mail
steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa, and thence via the
Mediterranean to London, has been received by the public press
throughout the Union with the warmest expressions of approbation.
The Whig, Democratic, and neutral papers of the North and South,
in the slave-holding and non-slave-holding States, with a very
few exceptions, appear to vie with each other in pressing its
consideration upon the public attention. This earnest and almost
unanimous support of the measure by the organs of public opinion,
without respect to party or section, shows the deep hold which
the objects it proposes to effect have upon the public favor.
Those objects are to promote the emigration of free persons of
color from this country to Liberia; also to increase the steam
navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States,--all, it
will be almost universally conceded, desirable objects. The
desirableness of the objects being admitted, the question is,
does the mode proposed for promoting them recommend itself to the
sanction of Congress? We are forced to the conclusion that it
does. We are aware that while all agree as to the expediency of
increasing our steam navy--some are in favor of the Government's
building its own steam-ships, and others advocate the
encouragement of lines of steam-packets, to be established by
private enterprise under the auspices of Government....
"The considerations, however, which in our opinion should commend
this measure to the favorable attention of Congress are so
obvious, and have been so clearly and strongly presented in the
report of the committee, that we need not here repeat them. If
the voice of the press, of all sections and of all parties, be
any indication of popular opinion, we are free to say, that it
would be difficult for Congress to pass a measure which would be
received with more _general_ satisfaction by the people of the
United States."[22]
"AFRICAN STEAM-LINES.--The entertainment by the Government of
Great Britain of a project for the establishment of a powerful
line of steam-vessels between that country and the African coast,
ostensibly for the conveyance of a monthly mail, and the more
effectual checking of the slave-traffic, is strong proof, we
think, of the value that the commerce between the two countries
is capable of becoming. It may, in addition, be regarded as
corroborative of the justness of the position taken by the
advocates of a mail-steamer line between this country and Africa.
We are by no means disposed to look invidiously on the
enterprising spirit exhibited abroad for securing a closer
connection with a country, the great mercantile wealth of which
is yet, comparatively speaking, untouched. This spirit should
have on us no other than a stimulating effect. Besides, for
years, if not ages, to come, the trade with Africa can admit of
no very close competition. The promised vastness of this trade,
whilst excluding all idea of monopoly, must continue to excite
the new enterprise by its unlimited rewards. It is unnecessary
that we should exhibit statistics to show her how largely England
has been benefited by persevering though frequently interrupted
communication with the interior parts of that great continent;
nor to make plain how, with better knowledge and more ready means
of access, mercantile risks will be lessened and mercantile
profits enlarged. It will be remembered that the Congressional
committee to whom the question of establishing mail steamers
between this country and Africa was referred, adverted in their
report to the aid its adoption would afford in the consummation
of the plans of the Colonization Society. On the intimate
relation between the one and the other, it was supposed that a
good part of the required success was dependent. It is something
singular that the colored race--those in reality most interested
in the future destinies of Africa--should be so lightly affected
by the evidences continually being presented in favor of
colonization. He will do a service to this country as well as
Africa who shall do any thing to open the eyes of the colored
race to the advantages of emigration to the fertile and, to them,
congenial shores of Africa."[23]
"AFRICA AND STEAM-SHIPS.--If but a single line of steam-ships is
to be authorized this Session--and the state and prospects of the
finances must counsel frugality and caution,--we think a line to
Africa fairly entitled to the preference. That continent on its
western side is comparatively proximate and accessible; it is
filled with inhabitants who need the articles we can abundantly
fabricate, and it is the ancestral soil of more than three
millions of our people--of a race on whose account we are deeply
debtors to justice and to heaven. That race is more plastic and
less conservative than the Chinese; their soil produces in
spontaneous profusion many articles which are to us comforts and
luxuries, while nearly every thing we produce is in eager demand
among its inhabitants, if they can but find the wherewithal to
pay for them. Instead of being a detriment and a depression to
our own manufacturing and mechanical industry, as the trade
induced by our costly steam-ship lines to Liverpool, Bremen, and
Havre mainly is, all the commerce with Africa which a more
intimate communication with her would secure, would be
advantageous to every department of American labor. Her surplus
products are so diverse from ours, that no collision of interests
between her producers and ours could ever be realized, while
millions' worth of her tropical products which will not endure
the slow and capricious transportation which is now their only
recourse, would come to us in good order by steam-ships, and
richly reward the labor of the gatherers and the enterprise of
the importers.
"But the social and moral aspects of this subject are still more
important. We are now expending life and treasure, in concert
with other nations, to suppress the African slave-trade, and it
is now generally conceded that such suppression can never be
effected by the means hitherto relied on. The colonization of the
Slave Coast, with direct reference to its Christianization and
civilization, is the only sure means of putting an end to this
inhuman traffic. And this colonization, all who are interested in
the work seem heartily to agree, would be immensely accelerated
by the establishment of a line of African steam-ships. Liberia,
now practically distant as Buenos Ayres, would, by such a line,
be brought as near us as Bremen, and the ports regularly visited
by our steamers could not fail rapidly to assume importance as
centres of commerce and of increasing intelligence and
industry."[24]
"THE COLONY OF LIBERIA AND ITS PROSPECTUS.--By every arrival from
Liberia we learn that the colony of free negroes from the United
States is progressing at a rate truly astonishing, and that
before many years it promises to be a strong and powerful
republic. The experiment of self-government has been completely
successful; the educational interests of the inhabitants are duly
cared for; civilization is making great headway among the
aborigines; and, by means of Liberia, there is a very flattering
prospect of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa being entirely
destroyed. Governor Roberts, a very intelligent colored man, of
mixed blood, goes even so far as to say that Liberia is destined
to rival the United States, and that both republics, by a unity
of action, can civilize and Christianize the world, and
especially benighted Africa. We are pleased to hear such good
accounts from Liberia, and we shall always be pleased to hear of
its success, and of the progress and welfare of its inhabitants.
Founded, as it has been, by American philanthropists, and peopled
by our emancipated slaves, the United States will ever watch its
progress with interest, and aid and assist it as far as it
possibly can."[25]
But notwithstanding the apparent favor the cause of colonization
received from the press, it was an impractical, impossible, wild, and
visionary scheme that could not be carried to the extent its
projectors designed. It lost strength yearly, until all were convinced
that the Negro would be emancipated here and remain here; that it was
as impossible to colonize a race of people as to colonize the sun,
moon, and stars.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD organization was perhaps one of the most
useful auxiliaries the cause of agitation had. It could scarcely be
called an organization. Unlike the other societies, it did not print
its reports.[26] Like good Samaritans, its conductors did not ask
passengers their creed; but wherever they found human beings wounded
in body and mind by slavery, they gave them passage to the "Inn" of
Freedom on Canadian soil.
In a sense, the Underground Railroad was a secret organization. This
was necessary, as the fugitive-slave law gave the master the right to
pursue his slave when "fleeing from labor and service in one State
into another," and apprehend him by due process of Federal law. The
men who managed this road felt that they should obey God rather than
man; that the slave's right to his freedom was greater than any law
the nation could make through its representatives. So the Underground
Railroad was made up of a company of godly men who stretched
themselves across the land, from the borders of the sunny slave States
to the snow-white shores of Canada. When men came up out of the hell
of slavery gasping for a breath of free air, these good friends
sheltered and fed them; and then hastened them off in the stillness of
the night, with the everlasting stars as their ministers, toward
Canada. The fugitives would be turned over to another conductor, who
would conceal them until nightfall, when he would load his living
freight into a covered conveyance, and drive all night to reach the
next "station"; and so on until the fugitives found themselves free
and safe under the English flag in Canada.
This was the safety-valve to the institution of slavery. As soon as
leaders arose among the slaves, refusing to endure the yoke, they came
North. Had they remained, the direful scenes of St. Domingo would have
been enacted, and the hot, vengeful breath of massacre would have
swept the South as a tornado, and blanched the cheek of the civilized
world.
ANTI-SLAVERY LITERATURE wrought mightily for God in its field.[27]
Frederick Douglass's book, "My Bondage and My Freedom"; Bishop
Loguen's, "As a Slave and As a Freeman"; "Autobiography of a Fugitive
Negro," by the Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward; "Twenty-two Years a Slave,
and Forty Years a Freeman," by the Rev. Austin Stewart; "Narrative of
Solomon Northup," "Walker's Appeal,"--all by eminent Negroes, exposed
the true character of slavery, informed the public mind, stimulated
healthy thought, and touched the heart of two continents with a
sympathy almost divine.
But the uncounted millions of anti-slavery tracts, pamphlets,
journals, and addresses of the entire period of agitation were little
more than a paper wad compared with the solid shot "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
was to slavery. Written in vigorous English, in scintillating,
perspicuous style; adorned with gorgeous imagery, bristling with
living "_facts_", going to the lowest depths, mounting to the greatest
altitudes, moving with panoramic grandeur, picturing humanity forlorn
and outraged; giving forth the shrillest, most _despairing_ cries of
the afflicted, and the sublimest strains of Christian faith; the
struggle of innocent, defenceless womanhood, the subdued sorrow of
chattel-babyhood, the yearnings of fettered manhood, and the piteous
sobs of helpless old age,--made Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" the magnifying wonder of enlightened Christendom! It
pleaded the cause of the slave in twenty different languages; it
engrossed the thought of philosophers, and touched the heart of youth
with a strange pity for the slave. It covered audiences with the
sunlight of laughter, wrapt them in sorrow, and veiled them in tears.
It illustrated the power of the Gospel of Love, the gentleness of
Negro character, and the powers and possibilities of the race. It was
God's message to a people who had refused to listen to his
anti-slavery prophets and priests; and its sad, weird, and
heart-touching descriptions and dialogues restored the milk of human
kindness to a million hearts that had grown callous in an age of
self-seeking and robbery of the poor.
In a political and sectional sense, the "Impending Crisis," by Helper,
exerted a wide influence for good. It was read by merchants and
politicians.
Diverse and manifold as were the methods of the friends of universal
freedom, and sometimes apparently conflicting, under God no honest
effort to rid the Negro and the country of the curse of slavery was
lost. All these agencies, running along different lines, converged at
a common centre, and aimed at a common end--the ultimate extinction of
the foreign and domestic slave-trade.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] In the Library of the New York Historical Society there is "An
Oration Upon the Moral and Political Evil of Slavery. Delivered at a
Public Meeting of the Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of
Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes and Others Unlawfully Held in
Bondage, Baltimore, July 4, 1791. By George Buchanan, M.D., Member of
the American Philosophical Society. Baltimore: Printed by Phillip
Edwards, MDCCXCIII."
[13] Men of our Times, pp. 162, 163.
[14] Speech delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Cork Anti-Slavery
Society, 1829.
[15] Sumner's Works, vol. i. p. 336.
[16] At the election that took place on the 9th of November, 1846, the
vote stood as follows: Winthrop (Whig), 5,980; Howe (Anti-Slavery),
1,334; Homer (Democrat), 1,688; Whiton (Independent), 331. The number
of tickets in the field indicated the state of public feeling.
[17] Sumner's Works, vol. 1. p. 337.
[18] Church As It Is, etc., Introduction.
[19] Channing's Works, vol. ii. p. 10, sq.
[20] American Conflict, vol. i. pp. 25, 26.
[21] The following were the objects of the Colonization Society:
"1st. To rescue the free colored people of the United States from
their political and social disadvantages.
"2d. To place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of
free government, with all the blessings which it brings in its train.
"3d. To spread civilization, sound morals, and true religion through
the continent of Africa.
"4. To arrest and destroy the slave-trade.
"5. To afford slave-owners who wish, or are willing, to liberate their
slaves an asylum for their reception."
[22] The Republic, Sept. 11, 1850.
[23] National Intelligencer, October 23, 1850.
[24] Tribune, December 25, 1850.
[25] Herald, December, 17, 1850.
[26] It is to be regretted that William Still, the author of the U. G.
R. R., failed to give any account of its origin, organization,
workings, or the number of persons helped to freedom. It is an
interesting narrative of many cases, but is shorn of that minuteness
of detail so indispensable to authentic historical memorials.
[27] Judge Stroud, William Goodell, Wendell Phillips, William Jay, and
hundreds of other white men contributed to the anti-slavery literature
of the period.
CHAPTER VI.
ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES.
INTELLIGENT INTEREST OF FREE NEGROES IN THE AGITATION
MOVEMENT.--"FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR" HELD
AT PHILADELPHIA.--REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
A COLLEGE FOR YOUNG MEN OF COLOR.--PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE
APPOINTED IN EACH CITY.--CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS.--SECOND CONVENTION
HELD AT BENEZET HALL, PHILADELPHIA.--RESOLUTIONS OF THE
MEETING.--CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS.--THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL
COLORED ASSOCIATION.--CONVENTION OF ANTI-SLAVERY WOMEN OF AMERICA
AT NEW YORK.--PREJUDICE AGAINST ADMITTING NEGROES INTO WHITE
SOCIETIES.--COLORED ORATORS.--THEIR ELOQUENT PLEAS FOR THEIR
ENSLAVED RACE.
The free Negroes throughout the Northern States were not passive
during the agitation movement. They took a lively interest in the
cause that had for its ultimate end the freedom of the slave. They did
not comfort themselves with the consciousness that _they_ were free;
but thought of _their brethren_ who were bound, and sympathized with
them.
"_The First Annual Convention of the People of Color_" was held in
Philadelphia from the 6th to the 11th of June, 1831. Its sessions were
held "in the brick Wesleyan Church, Lombard Street," "pursuant to
public notice, ... signed by Dr. Belfast Burton and William Whipper."
The following delegates were present:
_Philadelphia_--John Bowers, Dr. Belfast Burton, James Cornish,
Junius C. Morel, William Whipper.
_New York_--Rev. Wm. Miller, Henry Sipkins, Thos. L. Jennings,
Wm. Hamilton, James Pennington.
_Maryland_--Rev. Abner Coker, Robert Cowley.
_Delaware_--Abraham D. Shad, Rev. Peter Gardiner.
_Virginia_--Wm. Duncan.
The following officers were chosen:
_President_--John Bowers.
_Vice-Presidents_--Abraham D. Shad, William Duncan.
_Secretary_--William Whipper.
_Assistant Secretary_--Thos. L. Jennings.
The first concern of this convention was the condition of that class
which it directly represented--the "free persons of color" in the
United States. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Morel, Shad, Duncan,
Cowley, Sipkins, and Jennings, made the following report on the
condition of the free persons of color in the United States:
"_Brethren and Fellow-Citizens:_
"We, the Committee of Inquiry, would suggest to the Convention
the propriety of adopting the following resolutions, viz.:
"_Resolved_, That, in the opinion of this Convention, it is
highly necessary that the different societies engaged in the
_Canadian Settlement_ be earnestly requested to persevere in
their praiseworthy and philanthropic undertaking; firmly
believing that, at a future period, their labors will be crowned
with success.
"The Committee would also recommend this Convention to call on
the free people of color to assemble _annually_ by delegation at
such place as may be designated as suitable.
"They would also respectfully submit to your wisdom the necessity
of your deliberate reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and
ignorant condition of a large portion of the colored population
of the United States. They would not, however, refer to their
unfortunate circumstances to add degradation to objects already
degraded and miserable; nor, with some others, improperly class
the virtuous of our color with the abandoned, but with the most
sympathizing and heartfelt commiseration, show our sense of
obligation as the true guardians of our interests, by giving
wholesome advice and good counsel.
"The Committee consider it as highly important that the
Convention recommend the necessity of creating a general fund, to
be denominated the CONVENTIONAL FUND, for the purpose of
advancing the objects of this and future conventions, as the
public good may require.
"They would further recommend, that the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the United Stales be read in
our Conventions; believing, that the truths contained in the
former are incontrovertible, and that the latter guarantees in
letter and spirit to every freeman born in this country, all the
rights and immunities of citizenship.
"Your Committee with regret have witnessed the many oppressive,
unjust, and unconstitutional laws which have been enacted in the
different parts of the Union against the free people of color,
and they would call upon this Convention, as possessing the
rights of freemen, to recommend to the people, through their
delegation, the propriety of memorializing the proper
authorities, whenever they may feel themselves aggrieved, or
their rights invaded, by any cruel or oppressive laws.
"And your Committee would further report, that, in their opinion,
_Education_, _Temperance_, and _Economy_ are best calculated to
promote the elevation of mankind to a proper rank and standing
among men, as they enable him to discharge all those duties
enjoined on him by his Creator. We would, therefore, respectfully
request an early attention to those virtues among our brethren
who have a desire to be useful.
"And lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and
respectfully submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the
operations and misrepresentations of the American Colonization
Society in these United States.
"We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste of
lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some
individuals engaged in that cause. But we cannot for a moment
doubt, but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional,
unchristian, and unheard-of sufferings emanate from that
unhallowed source; and we would call on Christians of every
denomination firmly to resist it."[28]
The convention was in session for several days. It attracted public
attention on account of the intelligence, order, and excellent
judgment which prevailed. It deeply touched the young white men who
had, but a few months previous, enlisted under the broad banner Wm.
Lloyd Garrison had given to the breeze. They called to see Colored men
conduct a convention. The Rev. S. S. Jocelyn, of New Haven,
Connecticut; Arthur Tappan, of New York; Benjamin Lundy, of
Washington, D. C.; William Lloyd Garrison, of Boston, Massachusetts;
Thomas Shipley and Charles Pierce, of Philadelphia, visited the
convention and were cordially received. Messrs. Jocelyn, Tappan, and
Garrison were invited to address the convention. They delivered
stirring addresses, and especially urged the necessity of establishing
a college for the education of "Young Men of Color." At the suggestion
of the speaker the convention appointed a committee with whom the
speaker conferred. The report of the committee was as follows:
"That a plan had been submitted to them by the above-named
gentlemen, for the liberal education of Young Men of Color, on
the Manual-Labor System, all of which they respectfully submit to
the consideration of the Convention, are as follow:
"The plan proposed is, that a College be established at New
Haven, Conn., as soon as $20,000 are obtained, and to be on the
Manual-Labor System, by which, in connection with a scientific
education, they may also obtain a useful Mechanical or
Agricultural profession; and (they further report, having
received information) that a benevolent individual has offered to
subscribe one thousand dollars toward this object, provided that
a farther sum of nineteen thousand dollars can be obtained in one
year.
"After an interesting discussion, the above report was
unanimously adopted; one of the inquiries by the Convention was
in regard to the place of location. On interrogating the
gentlemen why New Haven should be the place of location, they
gave the following as their reasons:--
"1st. The site is healthy and beautiful.
"2d. Its inhabitants are friendly, pious, generous, and humane.
"3d. Its laws are salutary and protecting to all, without regard
to complexion.
"4th. Boarding is cheap and provisions are good.
"5th. The situation is as central as any other that can be
obtained with the same advantages.
"6th. The town of New Haven carries on an extensive West India
trade, and many of the wealthy colored residents in the Islands,
would, no doubt, send their sons there to be educated, and thus a
fresh tie of friendship would be formed, which might be
productive of much real good in the end.
"And last, though not the least, the literary and scientific
character of New Haven, renders it a very desirable place for the
location of the college."
The report of the Committee was received and adopted. The Rev. Samuel
E. Cornish was appointed general agent to solicit funds, and Arthur
Tappan was selected as treasurer. A Provisional Committee was
appointed in each city, as follows:
"_Boston_--Rev. Hosea Easton, Robert Roberts, James G. Barbadoes,
and Rev. Samuel Snowden.
"_New York_--Rev. Peter Williams, Boston Cromwell, Philip Bell,
Thomas Downing, Peter Voglesang.
"_Philadelphia_--Joseph Cassey, Robert Douglass, Sr., James
Forten, Richard Howell, Robert Purvis.
"_Baltimore_--Thomas Green, James P. Walker, Samuel G. Mathews,
Isaac Whipper, Samuel Hiner.
"_New Haven_--Biars Stanley, John Creed, Alexander C. Luca.
"_Brooklyn, L. I._--Jacob Deyes, Henry Thomson, Willis Jones.
"_Wilmington, Del._--Rev. Peter Spencer, Jacob Morgan, William S.
Thomas.
"_Albany_--Benjamin Latimore, Captain Schuyler, Captain Francis
March.
"_Washington, D. C._--William Jackson, Arthur Waring, Isaac
Carey.
"_Lancaster, Pa._--Charles Butler and Jared Grey.
"_Carlisle, Pa._--John Peck and Rowland G. Roberts.
"_Chambersburg, Pa._--Dennis Berry.
"_Pittsburgh_--John B. Vashon, Lewis Gardiner, Abraham Lewis.
"_Newark, N. J._--Peter Petitt, Charles Anderson, Adam Ray.
"_Trenton_--Samson Peters, Leonard Scott."
The proceedings of the convention were characterized by a deep
solemnity and a lively sense of the gravity of the situation. The
delegates were of the ablest Colored men in the country, and were
conversant with the wants of their people. The subjoined address shows
that the committee that prepared it had a thorough knowledge of the
public sentiment of America on the subject of race prejudice.
"CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS.
"_Respected Brethren and Fellow-Citizens:_
* * * * *
"Our attention has been called to investigate the political
standing of our brethren wherever dispersed, but more
particularly the situation of those in this great Republic.
"Abroad, we have been cheered with pleasant views of humanity,
and the steady, firm, and uncompromising march of equal liberty
to the human family. Despotism, tyranny, and injustice have had
to retreat, in order to make way for the unalienable rights of
man. Truth has conquered prejudice, and mankind are about to rise
in the majesty and splendor of their native dignity.
"The cause of general emancipation is gaining powerful and able
friends abroad. Britain and Denmark have performed such deeds as
will immortalize them for their humanity, in the breasts of the
philanthropists of the present day; whilst, as a just tribute to
their virtues, after-ages will yet erect unperishable monuments
to their memory. (Would to God we could say thus of our own
native soil!)
"And it is only when we look to our own native land, to the
birthplace of our _fathers_, to the land for whose prosperity
their blood and our sweat have been shed and cruelly extorted,
that the Convention has had cause to hang its head and blush.
Laws, as cruel in themselves as they were unconstitutional and
unjust, have in many places been enacted against our poor
unfriended and unoffending brethren; laws, (without a shadow of
provocation on our part,) at whose bare recital the very savage
draws him up for fear of the contagion,--looks noble, and prides
himself because he bears not the name of a Christian.
"But the Convention would not wish to dwell long on this subject,
as it is one that is too sensibly felt to need description.
"We would wish to turn you from this scene with an eye of pity,
and a breast glowing with mercy, praying that the recording angel
may drop a tear, which shall obliterate forever the remembrance
of so foul a stain upon the national escutcheon of this great
Republic.
"This spirit of persecution was the cause of our Convention. It
was that first induced us to seek an asylum in the Canadas; and
the Convention feels happy to report to its brethren, that our
efforts to establish a settlement in that province have not been
made in vain. Our prospects are cheering; our friends and funds
are daily increasing; wonders have been performed far exceeding
our most sanguine expectations; already have our brethren
purchased eight hundred acres of land--and two thousand of them
have left the soil of their birth, crossed the lines, and laid
the foundation for a structure which promises to prove an asylum
for the colored population of these United States. They have
erected two hundred log-houses, and have five hundred acres under
cultivation.
"And now it is to your fostering care the Convention appeals, and
we appeal to you as to men and brethren, yet to enlarge their
borders.
"We therefore ask of you, brethren,--we ask of you,
philanthropists of every color and of every kindred,--to assist
us in this undertaking. We look to a kind Providence and to you
to say whether our desires shall be realized and our labors
crowned with success.
"The Convention has done its duty, and it now remains for you,
brethren, to do yours. Various obstacles have been thrown in our
way by those opposed to the elevation of the human species; but,
thanks to an all-wise Providence, his goodness has as yet cleared
the way, and our advance has been slow but steady. The only thing
now wanted, is an accumulation of funds, in order to enable us to
make a purchase agreeable to the direction of the first
Convention; and, to effect that purpose, the Convention has
recommended, to the different Societies engaged in that cause, to
preserve and prosecute their designs with double energy; and we
would earnestly recommend to every colored man (who feels the
weight of his degradation), to consider himself in duty bound to
contribute his mite toward this great object. We would say to
all, that the prosperity of the rising generation mainly depends
upon our active exertions.
"Yes, it is with us to say whether they shall assume a rank and
standing among the nations of the earth, as men and freemen, or
whether they shall still be prized and held at market-price. Oh,
then, by a brother's love, and by all that makes man dear to man,
awake in time! Be wise! Be free! Endeavor to walk with
circumspection; be obedient to the laws of our common country;
honor and respect its lawmakers and law-givers; and, through all,
let us not forget to respect ourselves.
"During the deliberations of this Convention, we had the favor of
advising and consulting with some of our most eminent and tried
philanthropists--men of unblemished character and of acknowledged
rank and standing. Our sufferings have excited their sympathy;
our ignorance appealed to their humanity; and, brethren, we feel
that gratitude is due to a kind and benevolent Creator, that our
excitement and appeal have neither been in vain. A plan has been
proposed to the Convention for the erection of a college for the
instruction of young men of color, on the manual-labor system, by
which the children of the poor may receive a regular classical
education, as well as those of their more opulent brethren, and
the charge will be so regulated as to put it within the reach of
all. In support of this plan, a benevolent individual has offered
the sum of one thousand dollars, provided that we can obtain
subscriptions to the amount of nineteen thousand dollars in one
year.
"The Convention has viewed the plan with considerable interest,
and, after mature deliberation, on a candid investigation, feels
strictly justified in recommending the same to the liberal
patronage of our brethren, and respectfully solicits the aid of
those philanthropists who feel an interest in sending light,
knowledge, and truth to all of the human species.
"To the friends of general education, we do believe that our
appeal will not be in vain. For the present ignorant and degraded
condition of many of our brethren in these United States (which
has been a subject of much concern to the Convention) can excite
no astonishment (although used by our enemies to show our
inferiority in the scale of human beings); for, what
opportunities have they possessed for mental cultivation or
improvement? Mere ignorance, however, in a people divested of the
means of acquiring information by books, or an extensive
connection with the world, is no just criterion of their
intellectual incapacity; and it had been actually seen, in
various remarkable instances, that the degradation of the mind
and character, which has been too hastily imputed to a people
kept, as we are, at a distance from those sources of knowledge
which abound in civilized and enlightened communities, has
resulted from no other causes than our unhappy situation and
circumstances.
"True philanthropy disdains to adopt those prejudices against any
people which have no better foundation than accidental
diversities of color, and refuses to determine without
substantial evidence and incontestible fact as the basis of her
judgment. And it is in order to remove these prejudices, which
are the actual causes of our ignorance, that we have appealed to
our friends in support of the contemplated institution.
"The Convention has not been unmindful of the operations of the
American Colonization Society, and it would respectfully suggest
to that august body of learning, talent, and worth, that, in our
humble opinion, strengthened, too, by the opinions of eminent men
in this country, as well as in Europe, that they are pursuing the
direct road to perpetuate slavery, with all its unchristianlike
concomitants, in this boasted land of freedom; and, as citizens
and men whose best blood is sapped to gain popularity for that
institution, we would, in the most feeling manner, beg of them to
desist; or, if we must be sacrificed to their philanthropy, we
would rather die at home. Many of our fathers, and some of us,
have fought and bled for the liberty, independence, and peace
which you now enjoy; and, surely, it would be ungenerous and
unfeeling in you to deny us an humble and quiet grave in that
country which gave us birth!
"In conclusion, the Convention would remind our brethren that
knowledge is power, and to that end, we call on you to sustain
and support, by all honorable, energetic, and necessary means,
those presses which are devoted to our instruction and elevation,
to foster and encourage the mechanical arts and sciences among
our brethren, to encourage simplicity, neatness, temperance, and
economy in our habits, taking due care always to give the
preference to the production of freemen wherever it can be had.
Of the utility of a General Fund, the Convention believes there
can exist but one sentiment, and that is for a speedy
establishment of the same. Finally, we trust our brethren will
pay due care to take such measures as will ensure a general and
equal representation in the next Convention
[Signed] "BELFAST BURTON,
"JUNIUS C. MOREL,
"WILLIAM WHIPPER,
"_Publishing Committee_."
Encouraged by the good results that followed the first convention,
another one was called, and assembled in Philadelphia, at Benezet
Hall, Seventh Street, June 4, 1832. The following delegates were
admitted to seats in the convention:
PENNSYLVANIA.
_Pittsburgh_--John B. Vashon.
_Philadelphia_--John Bowers, William Whipper, J. C. Morel,
Benjamin Paschal, F. A. Hinton.
_Carlisle_--John Peck.
_Lewistown, Miffin County_--Samuel Johnson.
NEW YORK.
_New York City_--William Hamilton, Thomas L. Jennings, Henry
Sipkins, Philip A. Bell.
_Brooklyn_--James Pennington.
DELAWARE.
_Wilmington_--Joseph Burton, Jacob Morgan, Abm. D. Shad, William
Johnson, Peter Gardiner.
MARYLAND.
_Baltimore_--Samuel Elliott, Robert Cowley, Samuel Hiner.
NEW JERSEY.
_Gloucester_--Thomas D. Coxsin, Thomas Banks.
_Trenton_--Aaron Roberts.
MASSACHUSETTS.
_Boston_--Hosea Easton.
_New Bedford_--Nathan Johnson.
CONNECTICUT.
_Hartford_--Paul Drayton.
_New Haven_--Scipio C. Augustus.
RHODE ISLAND.
_Providence_--Ichabod Northrop.
On the following day the convention adjourned to the "First African
Presbyterian Church." The following report was adopted:
"_Resolved_, That in the opinion of this Committee, the plan
suggested by the first General Convention, of purchasing land or
lands in Upper Canada, for the avowed object of forming a
settlement in that province, for such colored persons as may
choose to emigrate there, still merits and deserves our united
support and exertions; and further, that the appearances of the
times, in this our native land, demand an immediate action on
that subject. Adopted.
"_Resolved_, That in the opinion of this committee, we still
solemnly and sincerely protest against any interference, on the
part of the American Colonization Society, with the free colored
population in these United States, so long as they shall
countenance or endeavor to use coercive measures (either directly
or indirectly) to colonize us in any place which is not the
object of our choice. And we ask of them respectfully, as men and
as Christians, to cease their unhallowed persecutions of a
people already sufficiently oppressed, or if, as they profess to
have our welfare and prosperity at heart, to assist us in the
object of our choice.
"_Resolved_, That this committee would recommend to the members
of this Convention, to discountenance, by all just means in their
power, any emigration to Liberia or Hayti, believing them only
calculated to distract and divide the whole colored family."
In accordance with a resolution of the previous day the Rev. R. R.
Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, was invited to
address the convention. He endeavored to offer an acceptable
explanation of the Society, and to advocate its principles. But the
Colored people, almost to a man, were opposed to colonization; and
most of the anti-slavery societies regarded colonization as
impracticable and hurtful to the cause of emancipation. William Lloyd
Garrison happened to be present, and followed Gurley in a speech that
destroyed the hopes of the friends of colonization, and greatly
delighted the convention.
While the Colored people opposed colonization they regarded Canada as
a proper place to go. They felt that as citizens they had the right to
decide where to go, and, when they got ready, to go on their own
account. Canada had furnished an asylum to their flying,
travel-soiled, foot-sore, and needy brethren,--was not so very far
away, and, therefore, it was preferred to the West Coast of Africa.
The committee having under consideration this subject, made the
following comprehensive report:
"_Resolved_, That the members of this Convention take into
consideration the propriety of effecting the purchase of lands in
the province of Upper Canada, as an asylum for those of our
bretheren who may be compelled to remove from these United
States, beg leave, most respectfully to report:
"That, after due consideration, they believe the resolution
embraces three distinct inquiries for the consideration of this
Convention, which should be duly weighed before they can adopt
the sentiments contained in the above-named resolution.
Therefore, your Committee conceive the resolution premature, and
now proceed to state the enquiries separately.
"_First._--Is it proper for the Free people of color in this
country, under existing circumstances, to remove to any distant
territory beyond these United States?
"_Secondly._--Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages and
conveniences to those held out in these United States or
elsewhere?
"_Thirdly._--Is there any certainty that the people of color will
be compelled by oppressive legislative enactments to abandon the
land of their birth for a home in a distant region?
"Your Committee, before examining those enquiries, would most
respectfully take a retrospective view of the object for which
the Convention was first associated, and the causes which have
actuated their deliberations.
"The expulsory laws of Ohio, in 1829, which drove our people to
seek a new home in Upper Canada, and their impoverished situation
afterward, excited a general burst of sympathy for their
situation, by the wise and good, over the whole country. This
awakened public feeling on their behalf, and numerous meetings
were called to raise funds to alleviate their present miseries.
The bright prospects that then appeared to dawn on the new
settlement, awakened our people to the precariousness of their
situations, and, in order more fully to be prepared for future
exigencies, and to extend the system of benevolence still further
to those who should remove to Upper Canada, a circular was issued
by five individuals, viz.:--the Rev. Richard Allen, Cyrus Black,
Junius C. Morel, Benjamin Pascal, and James C. Cornish, in behalf
of the citizens of Philadelphia, calling a convention of the
colored delegates from the several States, to meet on the 20th
day of September, 1830, to devise plans and means for the
establishment of a colony in Upper Canada, under the patronage of
the general Convention, then called.
"That Convention met, pursuant to public notice, and recommended
the formation of a parent society, to be established, with
auxiliaries in the different towns where they had been
represented in _general_ convention, for the purpose of raising
moneys to defray the object of purchasing a colony in the
province of Upper Canada, for those who should hereafter wish to
emigrate thither, and that immediately after its organization, a
corresponding agent should be appointed to reside at or near the
intended purchase.
"Our then limited knowledge of the manners, customs, and
privileges, and rights of aliens in Upper Canada, together with
the climate, soil, and productions thereof, rendered it necessary
to send out agents to examine the same, who returned with a
favorable report, except that citizens of these United States
could not purchase lands in Upper Canada, and legally transfer
the same to other individuals.
"The Convention resolved to reassemble on the first Monday in
June, 1831, during which time the order of the Convention had
been carried into operation, relative to establishing Societies
for the promotion of said object; and the sum and total of their
proceedings were, that the Convention recommended to the colored
people generally, when persecuted as were our brethren in Ohio,
to seek an Asylum in Upper Canada. During which time,
information having been received that a part of the white
inhabitants of said province had, through prejudice and the fear
of being overburthened with an ejected population, petitioned the
provincial parliament to prohibit the general influx of colored
population from entering their limits, which threw some
consternation on the prospect. The Convention did not wholly
abandon the subject, but turned its attention more to the
elevation of our people in this, our native home.
"The recent occurrences at the South have swelled the tide of
prejudice until it has almost revolutionized public sentiment,
which has given birth to severe legislative enactments in some of
the States, and almost ruined our interests and prospects in
others, in which, in the opinion of your Committee, our situation
is more precarious than it has been at any other period since the
Declaration of Independence.
"The events of the past year have been more fruitful in
persecution, and have presented more inducements than any other
period of the history of our country, for the men of color to fly
from the graves of their fathers, and seek new homes in a land
where the roaring billows of prejudice are less injurious to
their rights and privileges.
"Your Committee would now approach the present Convention and
examine the resolution under consideration, beginning with the
first interrogatory, viz.: Is it proper for the Free people of
color in this country, under existing circumstances, to remove to
any distant territory beyond the United States?
"If we admit the first interrogatory to be true, as it is the
exact spirit of the language of this resolution, now under
consideration, it is altogether unnecessary for us to make
further preparation for either our moral, intellectual, or
political advancement in this our own, our native land.
"Your Committee also believe that if this Convention shall adopt
a resolution that will, as soon as means can be obtained, remove
our colored population to the province of Upper Canada, the best
and brightest prospect of the philanthropists who are laboring
for our elevation in this country will be thwarted, and they will
be brought to the conclusion that the great object which actuated
their labors would now be removed, and they might now rest from
their labors and have the painful feeling of transmitting to
future generations, that an oppressed people, in the land of
their birth, supported by the genuine philanthropists of the age,
amidsts friends, companions, and their natural attachments, a
genial clime, a fruitful soil,--amidst the rays of as proud
institutions as ever graced the most favored spot that has ever
received the glorious rays of a meridian sun,--have abandoned
their homes on account of their persecutions, for a home almost
similarly precarious, for an abiding-place among strangers!
"Your Committee further believe that any express plan to colonize
our people beyond the limits of these United States, tends to
weaken the situation of those who are left behind, without any
peculiar advantage to those who emigrate. But it must be
admitted, that the rigid oppression abroad in the land is such,
that a _part_ of our suffering brethren cannot live under it, and
that the compulsory laws and the inducements held out by the
American Colonization Society are such as will cause them to
alienate all their natural attachments to their homes, and accept
of the only mode left open, which is to remove to a distant
Country to receive those rights and privileges of which they have
been deprived. And as this Convention is associated for the
purpose of recommending to our people the best mode of
alleviating their present miseries,
"Therefore, your Committee would, most respectfully, recommend to
the general Convention, now assembled, to exercise the most
vigorous means to collect monies through their auxiliaries, or
otherwise, to be applied in such manner, as will advance the
interests, and contribute to the wants of the free colored
population of this country generally.
"Your Committee would now most respectfully approach the _second
inquiry_, viz.:--Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages
and conveniences to those held out in the United States or
elsewhere?
"Your Committee, without summing up the advantages and
disadvantages of other situations, would, most respectfully
answer in the affirmative. At least they are willing to assert
that the advantage is much in favor of those who are obliged to
leave their present homes. For your more particular information
on that subject we would, most respectfully, refer you to the
interesting account given by our real and indefatigable friend,
Benjamin Lundy, in a late number of the "Genius of Universal
Emancipation." _Vide_ "Genius of Universal Emancipation," No. 10,
vol. 12.
"From the history there laid down, your Committee would, most
respectfully, request the Convention to aid, so far as in their
power lies, those who are obliged to seek an asylum in the
province of Upper Canada; and, in order that they may more
effectually carry their views into operation, they would
respectfully request them to appoint an Agent in Upper Canada, to
receive such funds as may be there transmitted for their use.
"Your Committee have now arrived at the _third_ and last inquiry,
viz.:--Is there any certainty that we, as a people, will be
compelled to leave this our native land, for a home in a distant
region? To this inquiry your Committee are unable to answer; it
belongs to the fruitful events of time to determine. The mistaken
policy of some of the friends of our improvement, that the same
could be effected on the shore of Africa, has raised the tide of
our calamity until it has overflowed the valleys of peace and
tranquillity--the dark clouds of prejudice have rained
persecution--the oppressor and the oppressed have suffered
together--and we have yet been protected by that Almighty arm,
who holds in his hands the destinies of nations, and whose
presence is a royal safeguard, should we place the utmost
reliance on his wisdom and power.
"Your Committee, while they rejoice at the noble object for which
the Convention was first associated, have been unable to come to
any conclusive evidence that lands can be purchased by this
Convention and legally transferred to individuals, residents of
said colony, so long as the present laws exist. But, while they
deem it inexpedient for the Convention to purchase lands in Upper
Canada for the purpose of erecting a colony thereon, do again,
most respectfully, hope that they will exercise the same laudable
exertions to collect funds for the comfort and happiness of our
people there situated, and those who may hereafter emigrate, and
pursue the same judicious measures in the appropriation of said
funds, as they would in procuring a tract of land, as expressed
by the resolution.
"Your Committee, after examining the various circumstances
connected with our situation as a people, have come, unanimously,
to the conclusion to recommend to this Convention to adopt the
following resolution, as the best mode of alleviating the
miseries of our oppressed brethren:
"_Resolved_, That this Convention recommend the establishment of
a Society, or Agent, in Upper Canada, for the purpose of
purchasing lands and contributing to the wants of our people
generally, who may be, by oppressive legislative enactments,
obliged to flee from these United States and take up residence
within her borders. And that this Convention will employ its
auxiliary societies, and such other means as may lie in its
power, for the purpose of raising monies, and remit the same for
the purpose of aiding the proposed object.
[Signed] "ROBERT COWLEY, }
"JOHN PECK, } _Committee._"
"WM. HAMILTON, }
"WM. WHIPPER, }
"BENJ. PASCHAL, }
"THOS. D. COXSIN, }
"J. C. MOREL, }
This convention's work was carefully done, its plans were laid upon a
broader scale, and the Colored people, beholding its proceedings, took
heart, and went forward with zeal and courage seeking to increase
their intelligence and wealth, and improve their social condition. In
their address the convention did not fail to give the Colonization
Society a parting shot.
"CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS.
"_To the Free Colored Inhabitants of these United States_:
"FELLOW-CITIZENS: We have again been permitted to associate in
our representative character, from the different sections of this
Union, to pour into one common stream, the afflictions, the
prayers, and sympathies of our oppressed people; the axis of time
has brought around this glorious, annual event. And we are again
brought to rejoice that the wisdom of Divine Providence has
protected us during a year whose autumnal harvest has been a
reign of terror and persecution, and whose winter has almost
frozen the streams of humanity by its frigid legislation. It is
under the influence of times and feelings like these, that we now
address you. Of a people situated as we are, little can be said,
except that it becomes our duty strictly to watch those causes
that operate against our interests and privileges; and to guard
against whatever measures that will either lower us in the scale
of being, or perpetuate our degradation in the eyes of the
civilized world.
"The effects of Slavery on the bond and Colonization on the free.
Of the first we shall say but little, but will here repeat the
language of a high-minded Virginian in the Legislature of that
State, on the recent discussion of the slave question before that
honorable body, who declared, that man could not hold property in
man, and that the master held no right to the slave, either by a
law of nature or a patentee from God, but by the will of society;
which we declare to be an unjust usurpation of the rights and
privileges of men.
"But how beautiful must the prospect be to the philanthropist, to
view us, the children of persecution, grown to manhood,
associating in our delegated character to devise plans and means
for our moral elevation, and attracting the attention of the wise
and good over the whole country, who are anxiously watching our
deliberations.
"We have here to inform you, that we have patiently listened to
the able and eloquent arguments produced by the Rev. R. R.
Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, in behalf
of the doings of said Society, and Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Esq., in
opposition to its action.
"A more favorable opportunity to arrive at truth seldom has been
witnessed, but while we admire the distinguished piety and
Christian feelings with which he so solemnly portrayed the
doctrines of that institution, we do now _assert_, that the
result of the same has tended more deeply to rivet our solid
conviction, that the doctrines of said Society are at enmity with
the principles and precepts of religion, humanity, and justice,
and should be regarded by every man of color in these United
States as an evil, for magnitude, unexcelled, and whose doctrines
aim at the entire extinction of the free colored population and
the riveting of slavery.
"We might here repeat our protest against that institution, but
it is unnecessary; your views and sentiments have long since gone
to the world; the wings of the wind have borne your
disapprobation to that institution. Time itself cannot erase it.
You have dated your opposition from its beginning, and your views
are strengthened by time and circumstances, and they hold the
uppermost seat in your affections. We have not been unmindful of
the compulsory laws which caused our brethren in Ohio to seek new
homes in a distant land, there to share and suffer all the
inconveniences of exiles in an uncultivated region; which has led
us to admire the benevolent feelings of a rival government in its
liberal protection to strangers; which has induced us to
recommend to you, to exercise your best endeavors, to collect
monies to secure the purchase of lands in the Canadas, for those
who may by oppressive legislative enactments be obliged to move
thither.
"In contributing to our brethren that aid which will secure them
a refuge in a storm, we would not wish to be understood as
possessing any inclination to remove, nor in the least to
impoverish, that noble sentiment which we rejoice in exclaiming--
"This is _our_ own,
Our native land.
"All that we have done, humanity dictated it; neither inclination
nor alienated feelings to our country prescribed it, but that
power which is above all other considerations, viz.: the law of
necessity.
"We yet anticipate in the moral strength of this nation, a final
redemption from those evils that have been illegitimately
entailed on us as a people. We yet expect, by due exertions on
our part, together with the aid of the benevolent philanthropists
of our country, to acquire a moral and intellectual strength that
will unshaft the calumnious darts of our adversaries, and present
to the world a general character that they will feel bound to
respect and admire.
"It will be seen by a reference to our proceedings, that we have
again recommended the further prosecution of the contemplated
college, proposed by the last Convention, to be established at
New Haven, under the rules and regulations then established. A
place for its location will be selected in a climate and
neighborhood where the inhabitants are less prejudiced to our
rights and privileges. The proceedings of the citizens of New
Haven, with regard to the erection of the college, were a
disgrace to them, and cast a stigma on the reputed fame of New
England and the country. We are unwilling that the character of
the whole country should sink by the proceedings of a few. We are
determined to present to another portion of the country not far
distant, and at no very remote period, the opportunity of
gaining for them the character of a truly philanthropic spirit,
and of retrieving the character of the country, by the
disreputable proceedings of New Haven. We must have colleges and
high-schools on the manual-labor system, where our youth may be
instructed in all the arts of civilized life. If we ever expect
to see the influence of prejudice decrease, and ourselves
respected, it must be by the blessings of an enlightened
education. It must be by being in possession of that classical
knowledge which promotes genius, and causes man to soar up to
those high intellectual enjoyments and acquirements, which place
him in a situation to shed upon a country and a people that
scientific grandeur which is imperishable by time, and drowns in
oblivion's cup their moral degradation. Those who think that our
primary schools are capable of effecting this, are a century
behind the age when to have proved a question in the rule of
three was considered a higher attainment than solving the most
difficult problem in Euclid is now. They might have at that time
performed what some people expect of them now, in the then barren
state of science; but they are now no longer capable of
reflecting brilliancy on our national character, which will
elevate us from our present situation. If we wish to be
respected, we must build our moral character on a base as broad
and high as the nation itself; our country and our character
require it; we have performed all the duties from the menial to
the soldier,--our fathers shed their blood in the great struggle
for independence. In the late war between Great Britain and the
United States, a proclamation was issued to the free colored
inhabitants of Louisiana, September 21, 1814, inviting them to
take up arms in defence of their country, by Gen. Andrew Jackson.
And in order that you may have an idea of the manner in which
they acquitted themselves on that perilous occasion, we will
refer you to the proclamation of Thomas Butler, Aid-de-Camp.
"You there see that your country expects much from you, and that
you have much to call you into action, morally, religiously, and
scientifically. Prepare yourselves to occupy the several stations
to which the wisdom of your country may promote you. We have been
told in this Convention, by the Secretary of the American
Colonization Society, that there are causes which forbid our
advancement in this country, which no humanity, no legislation,
and no religion can control. Believe it not. Is not humanity
susceptible of all the tender feelings of benevolence? Is not
legislation supreme--and is not religion virtuous? Our oppressed
situation arises from their opposite causes. There is an
awakening spirit in our people to promote their elevation, which
speaks volumes in their behalf. We anticipated at the close of
the last Convention, a larger representation and an increased
number of delegates; we were not deceived, the number has been
tenfold. And we have a right to expect that future Conventions
will be increased by a geometrical ratio, until we shall present
a body not inferior in numbers to our State Legislatures, and the
_phenomenon_ of an _oppressed people_, deprived of the rights of
citizenship, in the midst of an enlightened nation, devising
plans and measures for their personal and mental elevation, by
_moral suasion alone_.
"In recommending you a path to pursue for our present good and
future elevation, we have taken into consideration the
circumstances of the free colored population, so far as it was
possible to ascertain their views and sentiments, hoping that at
a future Convention, you will all come ably represented, and that
your wishes and views may receive that deliberation and attention
for which this body is particularly associated.
"Finally, before taking our leave, we would admonish you, by all
that you hold dear, beware of that bewitching evil, that bane of
society, that curse of the world, that fell destroyer of the best
prospects and the last hope of civilized man,--INTEMPERANCE.
"Be righteous, be honest, be just, be economical, be prudent,
offend not the laws of your country,--in a word, live in that
purity of life, by both precept and example,--live in the
constant pursuit of that moral and intellectual strength which
will invigorate your understandings and render you illustrious in
the eyes of civilized nations, when they will assert that all
that illustrious worth which was once possessed by the Egyptians,
and slept for ages, has now arisen in their descendents, the
inhabitants of the New World."
Excellent as was the work of these conventions of men of color, they
nevertheless became the magazines from which the pro-slavery element
secured dangerous ammunition with which to attack the anti-slavery
movement. The white anti-slavery societies were charged with harboring
a spirit of race prejudice; with inconsistency, in that while seeking
freedom for the Negro by means of agitation, separate efforts were put
forth by the white and black anti-slavery people of the North. And
this had its due effect. Massachusetts and other States had abolition
societies composed entirely of persons of Color. "_The Massachusetts
General Colored Association_" organized in the early days of the
agitation movement. It had among its leading men the most intelligent
and public-spirited Colored citizens of Boston. James G. Barbadoes,
Coffin Pitts, John E. Scarlett, the Eastons, Hosea and Joshua; Wm. C.
Nell, Thomas Cole, Thomas Dalton, Frederick Brimley, Walker Lewis, and
John T. Hilton were a few of "the faithful." In January, 1833, the
following communication was sent to the white anti-slavery society of
New England.
"BOSTON, January 15, 1833.
"_To the Board of Managers of the New-England Anti-Slavery
Society_:
"The Massachusetts General Colored Association, cordially
approving the objects and principles of the New-England
Anti-Slavery Society, would respectfully communicate their desire
to become auxiliary thereto. They have accordingly chosen one of
their members to attend the annual meeting of the Society as
their delegate (Mr. JOSHUA EASTON, of North Bridgewater), and
solicit his acceptance in that capacity.
"THOMAS DALTON, _President_,
"WILLIAM C. NELL, _Vice-President_.
"JAMES G. BARBADOES, _Secretary_."
The request was granted, but a few hints among friends on the outside
sufficed to demonstrate the folly and hurtfulness of anti-slavery
societies composed exclusively of men of color. Within the next two
years Colored organizations perished, and their members took their
place in the white societies. Such Colored men as John B. Vashon and
Robert Purvis, of Pennsylvania; David Ruggles and Philip A. Bell, of
New York; and Charles Lenox Remond and Wm. Wells Brown, of
Massachusetts, were soon seen as orators and presiding officers, in
the different anti-slavery societies of the free States. Frederick
Douglass, the Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward, James McCune Smith, M.D.;
James W. C. Pennington, D.D.; Henry Highland Garnett, D.D.; Alexander
Crummell, D.D.; and other Colored men were eloquent, earnest, and
effective in their denunciation of the institution that enslaved their
brethren. In England and in Europe a corps of intelligent Colored
orators was kept busy painting, to interested audiences, the cruelties
and iniquities of American slavery. By association and sympathy these
Colored orators took on the polish of Anglo-Saxon scholarship. Of the
influence of the American Anti-slavery Society upon the Colored man,
Maria Weston Chapman once said, it is "church and university, high
school and common school, to all who need real instruction and true
religion. Of it what a throng of authors, editors, lawyers, orators,
and accomplished gentlemen of color have taken their degree! It has
equally implanted hopes and aspirations, noble thoughts, and sublime
purposes, in the hearts of both races. It has prepared the white man
for the freedom of the black man, and it has made the black man scorn
the thought of enslavement, as does a white man, as far as its
influence has extended. _Strengthen that noble influence!_ Before its
organization, the country only saw here and there in slavery some
'faithful Cudjoe or Dinah,' whose strong natures blossomed even in
bondage, like a fine plant beneath a heavy stone. Now, under the
elevating and cherishing influence of the American Anti-slavery
Society, the colored race, like the white, furnishes Corinthian
capitals for the noblest temples. Aroused by the American Anti-slavery
Society, the very white men who had forgotten and denied the claim of
the black man to the rights of humanity, now thunder that claim at
every gate, from cottage to capitol, from school-house to university,
from the railroad carriage to the house of God. He has a place at
their firesides, a place in their hearts--the man whom they once
cruelly hated for his color. So feeling, they _cannot_ send him to
Coventry with a horn-book in his hand, and call it _instruction_! They
inspire him to climb to their side by a visible, acted gospel of
freedom. Thus, instead of bowing to prejudice, they conquer it."
In January, 1836, Rev. Mr. Follen offered the following resolution in
a meeting of the New England Anti-slavery Society:
"_Resolved_, That we consider the Anti-slavery cause the cause of
philanthropy, with regard to which all human beings, white men
and colored men, citizens and foreigners, men and women, have the
same duties and the same rights."
In support of his resolution, he said:
"We have been advised, if we really wished to benefit the slave
and the colored race generally, not unnecessarily to shock the
feelings, though they were but prejudices, of the white people,
by admitting colored persons to our Anti-slavery meetings and
societies. We have been told that many who would otherwise act in
unison with us were kept away by our disregard of the feelings of
the community in this respect.... But what, I would ask, is the
great, the single object of all our meetings and societies? Have
we any other object than to impress upon the community this one
principle, that the _colored man is a man_? And, on the other
hand, is not the prejudice which would have us exclude colored
people from our meetings and societies the same which, in our
Southern States, dooms them to perpetual bondage?"
In May, 1837, the _Anti-slavery Women of America_ met in convention in
New York. In a circular issued by the authority of the convention, and
signed by Mary S. Parker, President, Angelina E. Grimkie, Secretary,
another attack was made upon proscription in anti-slavery societies.
There was a Colored lady named Sarah Douglass on the Central
Committee. The following paragraphs from the circular are specimens
sufficient to show the character of the circular; and the poetry at
the end, written by a Colored member. Miss Sarah Forten, justified the
hopes of her white sisters concerning the race:
"Those Societies that reject colored members, or seek to avoid
them, have never been active or efficient. The blessing of God
does not rest upon them, because they 'keep back a part of the
price of the land,'--they do not lay _all_ at the apostle's feet.
"The abandonment of prejudice is required of us as a proof of our
sincerity and consistency. How can we ask our Southern brethren
to make sacrifices, if we are not even willing to encounter
inconveniences? First cast the beam from thine own eye, then wilt
thou see clearly to cast it from his eye.
"We are thy sisters. God has truly said
That of one blood the nations He has made.
O Christian woman! in a Christian land,
Canst thou unblushing read this great command?
Suffer the wrongs which wring our inmost heart,
To draw one throb of pity on thy part?
Our Skins may differ, but from thee we claim
A sister's privilege and a sister's name."
Every barrier was now broken down inside of anti-slavery
organizations; and having conquered the prejudice that crippled their
work, they enjoyed greater freedom in the prosecution of their labors.
The Colored orators wrought a wonderful change in public sentiment. In
the inland white communities throughout the Northern States Negroes
were few, and the majority of them were servants; some of them
indolent and vicious. From these few the moral and intellectual
photograph of the entire race was taken. So it was meet that Negro
orators of refinement should go from town to town. The North needed
arousing and educating on the anti-slavery question, and no class did
more practical work in this direction than the little company of
orators, with the peerless Douglass at its head, that pleaded the
cause of their brethren in the flesh before the cultivated audiences
of New England, the Middle and Western States,--yea, even in the
capital cities of conservative Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] The Minutes, in possession of the author.
CHAPTER VII.
NEGRO INSURRECTIONS.
THE NEGRO NOT SO DOCILE AS SUPPOSED.--THE REASON WHY HE WAS KEPT
IN BONDAGE.--NEGROES POSSESSED COURAGE BUT LACKED
LEADERS.--INSURRECTION OF SLAVES.--GEN. GABRIEL AS A
LEADER.--NEGRO INSURRECTION PLANNED IN SOUTH CAROLINA.--EVILS OF
SLAVERY REVEALED.--THE "NAT. TURNER" INSURRECTION IN SOUTH
HAMPTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA.--THE WHITES ARM THEMSELVES TO REPEL THE
INSURRECTIONISTS.--CAPTURE AND TRIAL OF "NAT. TURNER."--HIS
EXECUTION.--EFFECT OF THE INSURRECTION UPON SLAVES AND
SLAVE-HOLDERS.
The supposed docility of the American Negro was counted among the
reasons why it was thought he could never gain his freedom on this
continent. But this was a misinterpretation of his real character.
Besides, it was next to impossible to learn the history of the Negro
during the years of his enslavement at the South. The question was
often asked: Why don't the Negroes rise at the South and exterminate
their enslavers? Negatively, not because they lacked the courage, but
because they lacked leaders [as has been stated already, they sought
the North and their freedom through the Underground R. R.] to organize
them. But notwithstanding this great disadvantage the Negroes _did_
rise on several different occasions, and did effective work.
"Three times, at intervals of thirty years, has a wave of
unutterable terror swept across the Old Dominion, bringing
thoughts of agony to every Virginian master, and of vague hope to
every Virginian slave. Each time has one man's name become a
spell of dismay and a symbol of deliverance. Each time has that
name eclipsed its predecessor, while recalling it for a moment to
fresher memory; John Brown revived the story of Nat. Turner, as
in his day Nat. Turner recalled the vaster schemes of
Gabriel."[29]
Mention has been made of the insurrection of slaves in South Carolina
in the last century. Upon the very threshold of the nineteenth
century, "General Gabriel" made the master-class of Virginia quail
with mortal dread. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence;
and his plans were worthy of greater success. The following newspaper
paragraph reveals the condition of the minds of Virginians respecting
the Negroes:
"For the week past, we have been under momentary expectation of a
rising among the negroes, who have assembled to the number of
nine hundred or a thousand, and threatened to massacre all the
whites. They are armed with desperate weapons, and secrete
themselves in the woods. God only knows our fate; we have strong
guards every night under arms."
The above was communicated to the "United States Gazette," printed in
Philadelphia, under date of September 8, 1800, by a Virginia
correspondent. The people felt that they were sleeping over a
magazine. The movement of Gabriel was to have taken place on Saturday,
September 1st. The rendezvous of the Negro troops was a brook, about
six miles from Richmond. The force was to comprise eleven hundred men,
divided into three divisions. Richmond--then a town of eight thousand
inhabitants--was the point of attack, which was to be effected under
cover of night. The right wing was to fall suddenly upon the
penitentiary, lately improvised into an arsenal; the left wing was to
seize the powder-house; and, thus equipped and supplied with the
munitions of war, the two columns were to assign the hard fighting to
the third column. This column was to have possession of all the guns,
swords, knives, and other weapons of modern warfare. It was to strike
a sharp blow by entering the town from both ends, while the other two
columns, armed with shovels, picks, clubs, etc., were to act as a
reserve. The white troops were scarce, and the situation, plans, etc.,
of the Negroes were admirable.
"... the penitentiary held several thousand stand of arms; the
powder-house was well-stocked; the capitol contained the State
treasury; the mills would give them bread; the control of the
bridge across James River would keep off enemies from beyond.
Thus secured and provided, they planned to issue proclamations
summoning to their standard 'their fellow-negroes and the friends
of humanity throughout the continent.' In a week, it was
estimated, they would have fifty thousand men on their side, with
which force they could easily possess themselves of other towns;
and, indeed, a slave named John Scott--possibly the dangerous
possessor of ten dollars--was already appointed to head the
attack on Petersburg. But in case of final failure, the project
included a retreat to the mountains, with their newfound
property. John Brown was therefore anticipated by Gabriel sixty
years before, in believing the Virginia mountains to have been
'created, from the foundation of the world, as a place of refuge
for fugitive slaves.'"[30]
The plot failed, but everybody, and the newspapers also, said the plan
was well conceived.
In 1822 another Negro insurrection was planned in Charleston, S. C.
The leader of this affair was Denmark Vesey.[31] This plot for an
insurrection extended for forty-five or fifty miles around Charleston,
and intrusted its secrets to thousands. Denmark Vesey, assisted by
several other intelligent and trusty Negroes, had conceived the idea
of slaughtering the whites in and about Charleston, and thus securing
liberty for the blacks. A recruiting committee was formed, and every
slave enlisted was sworn to secrecy. Household servants were rarely
trusted. Talkative and intemperate slaves were not enlisted. Women
were excluded from the affair that they might take care of the
children. Peter Poyas, it was said, had enlisted six hundred without
assistance. There were various opinions respecting the number
enlisted. Some put it at hundreds, others thousands; one witness at
the trial said there were nine thousand, another six thousand. But no
white person ever succeeded in gaining the confidence of the black
conspirators. Never was a plot so carefully guarded for so long a
time.
"During the excitement and the trial of the supposed
conspirators, rumor proclaimed all, and doubtless more than all,
the horrors of the plot. The city was to be fired in every
quarter, the arsenal in the immediate vicinity was to be broken
open, and the arms distributed to the insurgents, and an
universal massacre of the white inhabitants to take place. Nor
did there seem to be any doubt in the mind of the people that
such would actually have been the result, had not the plot
fortunately been detected before the time appointed for the
outbreak. It was believed, as a matter of course, that every
black in the city would join in the insurrection, and that, if
the original design had been attempted, and the city taken by
surprise, the negroes would have achieved a complete and easy
victory. Nor does it seem at all impossible that such might have
been or yet may be the case, if any well-arranged and resolute
rising should take place."[32]
This bold plot failed because a Negro named William Paul began to make
enlistments without authority. He revealed the secret to a household
servant, just the very man he should have left to the skilful
manipulations of Peter Poyas or Denmark Vesey. As an evidence of the
perfection of the plot it should be stated that after a month of
official investigation only fifteen out of the thousands had been
apprehended!
"The leaders of this attempt at insurrection died as bravely as they
had lived; and it is one of the marvels of the remarkable affair, that
none of this class divulged, any of their secrets to the court. The
men who did the talking were those who knew but little."
The effect was to reveal the evils of slavery, to stir men to thought,
and to hasten the day of freedom.
"Nat." Turner combined the lamb and lion. He was a Christian and a
_man_. He was conscious that he was a man and not a "thing";
therefore, driven by religious fanaticism, he undertook a difficult
and bloody task. Nathaniel Turner was born in Southampton County,
Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, a very
wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a cruel
and exacting master. Young "Nat." was born of slave parents, and
carried to his grave many of the superstitions and traits of his
father and mother. The former was a preacher; the latter a "mother in
Israel." Both were unlettered, but, nevertheless, very pious people.
The mother began when Nat. was quite young to teach him that he was
born, like Moses, to be the deliverer of his race. She would sing to
him snatches of wild, rapturous songs, and repeat portions of prophecy
she had learned from the preachers of those times. Nat. listened with
reverence and awe, and believed every thing his mother said. He
imbibed the deep religious character of his parents, and soon
manifested a desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to "the
Gospel Ministry" by his father, the Church, and visiting preachers. He
was quite low in stature, dark, and had the genuine African features.
His eyes were small, but sharp, and gleamed like fire when he was
talking about his "mission," or preaching from some prophetic passage
of Scripture. It is said that he never laughed. He was a dreamy sort
of a man, and avoided the crowd. Like Moses, he lived in the solitudes
of the mountains and brooded over the condition of his people. There
was something grand to him in the rugged scenery that nature had
surrounded him with. He believed that he was a prophet, a leader
raised up by God to burst the bolts of the prison-house and set the
oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, the storm-cloud, the air, the
earth, the stars, at which he would sit and gaze half the night, all
spake the language of the God of the oppressed. He was seldom seen in
a large company, and never drank a drop of ardent spirits. Like John
the Baptist, when he had delivered his message, he would retire to the
fastness of the mountain, or seek the desert, where he could meditate
upon his great work.
At length he declared that God spake to him. He began to dream dreams
and to see visions. His grandmother, a very old and superstitious
person, encouraged him in his dreaming. But, notwithstanding, he
believed that he had communion with God, and saw the most remarkable
visions, he denounced in the severest terms the familiar practices
among slaves, known as "conjuring," "gufering," and fortune-telling.
The people regarded him with mixed feelings of fear and reverence. He
preached with great power and authority. He loved the prophecies, and
drew his illustrations from nature. He presented God as the
"_All-Powerful_"; he regarded him as a great "_Warrior_." His master
soon discovered that Nat. was the acknowledged leader among the
slaves, and that his fame as "prophet" and "leader" was spreading
throughout the State. The poor slaves on distant plantations regarded
the name of Nat. Turner as very little removed from that of God.
Though having never seen him, yet they believed in him as the man
under whose lead they would some time march out of the land of
bondage. His influence was equally great among the preachers, while
many white people honored and feared him. His master thought it
necessary to the safety of his property, to hire Nat. out to a most
violent and cruel man. Perhaps he thought to have him "broke." If so,
he was mistaken. Nat. Turner was the last slave to submit to an insult
given by a white man. His new master could do nothing with him. He ran
off, and spent thirty days in the swamps--but returned. He was
upbraided by some of his fellow-slaves for not seeking, as he
certainly could have done, "the land of the free." He answered by
saying, that a voice said to him: "Return to your earthly master; for
he who knoweth his Master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes." It was no direction to submit to an earthly
master, but to return to him in order to carry out the will of his
Heavenly Master. He related some of the visions he saw during his
absence. "About that time I had a vision, and saw white spirits and
black spirits engaged in battle; and the sun was darkened, the thunder
rolled in the heavens, and blood flowed in streams; and I heard a
voice saying: 'Such is your luck, such are you called on to see; and
let it come, rough or smooth, you must surely bear it.' It was not
long after this when he saw another vision. He says a spirit appeared
unto him and spake as follows: "The serpent is loosened, and Christ
has laid down the yoke he has borne for the sins of men; and you must
take it up and fight against the serpent, for the time is fast
approaching when the first shall be last, and the last shall be
first." These visions and many others enthused Nat., and led him to
believe that the time was near when the Blacks would be "first" and
the whites "last."
The plot for a general uprising was laid in the month of February,
1831. He had seen the last vision. He says: "I was told I should arise
and prepare myself, and slay my enemies with their own weapons." He
was now prepared to arrange the details of his plot. He appointed a
meeting, to which he invited four trusted friends, Sam. Edwards, Hark
Travis, Henry Porter, and Nelson Williams. A wild and desolate glen
was chosen as the place of meeting, and night the time when they could
perfect their plans without being molested by the whites. They brought
with them provisions, and ate while they debated among themselves the
methods by which to carry out their plan of blood and death. The main
difficulty that confronted them was how to get arms. Nat. remembered
that a spirit had instructed him to "slay my enemies with their own
weapons," so they decided to follow these instructions. After they had
decided upon a plan, "the prophet Nat." arose, and, like a great
general, made a speech to his small but brave force. "Friends and
brothers," said he, "we are to commence a great work to-night! Our
race is to be delivered from slavery, and God has appointed us as the
men to do his bidding; and let us be worthy of our calling. I am told
to slay all the whites we encounter, without regard to age or sex. We
have no arms or ammunition, but we will find these in the houses of
our oppressors; and, as we go on, others can join us. Remember, we do
not go forth for the sake of blood and carnage; but it is necessary
that, in the commencement of this revolution, all the whites we meet
should die, until we have an army strong enough to carry on the war
upon a Christian basis. Remember that ours is not a war for robbery,
nor to satisfy our passions; it is a _struggle for freedom_. Ours must
be deeds, not words. Then let's away to the scene of action!"
The blow was struck on the night of the 21st of August, 1831, in
Southampton County, near Jerusalem Court-House. The latter place is
about seventy miles from Richmond. Not only Southampton County but old
Virginia reeled under the blow administered by the heavy hand of Nat.
Turner. On their way to the first house they were to attack, that of a
planter by the name of Joseph Travis, they were joined by a slave
belonging to a neighboring plantation. We can find only one name for
him, "Will." He was the slave of a cruel master, who had sold his wife
to the "nigger traders." He was nearly six feet in height, well
developed, and the most powerful and athletic man in the county. He
was marked with an ugly scar, extending from his right eye to the
extremity of the chin. He hated his master, hated slavery, and was
glad of an opportunity to wreak his vengeance upon the whites. He
armed himself with a sharp broadaxe, under whose cruel blade many a
white man fell. Nat.'s speech gives us a very clear idea of the scope
and spirit of his plan. We quote from his confession at the time of
the trial, and will let him tell the story of this terrible
insurrection.
"On returning to the house, Hark went to the door with an axe,
for the purpose of breaking it open, as we knew we were strong
enough to murder the family should they be awakened by the noise;
but, reflecting that it might create an alarm in the
neighborhood, we determined to enter the house secretly, and
murder them whilst sleeping. Hark got a ladder and set it against
the chimney, on which I ascended, and, hoisting a window, entered
and came down stairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns
from their places. It was then observed that I must spill the
first blood, on which, armed with a hatchet and accompanied by
Will., I entered my master's chamber. It being dark, I could not
give a death-blow. The hatchet glanced from his head; he sprang
from his bed and called his wife. It was his last word. Will.
laid him dead with a blow of his axe."
After they had taken the lives of this family, they went from
plantation to plantation, dealing death-blows to every white man,
woman, or child they found. They visited vengeance upon every white
household they came to. The excitement spread rapidly, and the whites
arose and armed themselves in order to repel these insurrectionists.
"The first news concerning the affair was in the shape of a
letter from Col. Trezvant, which reached Richmond Tuesday
morning, too late for the columns of the (Richmond) "Enquirer,"
which was a triweekly. The letter was written on the 21st of
August, and lacked definiteness, which gave rise to doubts in
reference to the 'insurrection.' It was first sent to
Petersburgh, and was then immediately dispatched to the Mayor of
Richmond.
* * * * *
"Arms and ammunition were dispatched in wagons to the county of
Southampton. The four volunteer companies of Petersburgh, the
dragoons and Lafayette artillery company of Richmond, one
volunteer company from Norfolk and one from Portsmouth, and the
regiments of Southampton and Sussex, were at once ordered out.
The cavalry and infantry took up their line of march on Tuesday
evening, while the artillery embarked on the steamer 'Norfolk,'
and landed at Smithfield.... A member of the Richmond dragoons,
writing from Petersburgh, under date of the 23d, after careful
examination, thought that 'about two hundred and fifty negroes
from a camp-meeting about the Dismal Swamp had murdered about
sixty, persons, none of them families much known.'"[33]
Will., the revengeful slave, proved himself the most destructive and
cruel of Nat.'s followers. A hand to hand battle came. The whites were
well armed, and by the force of their superior numbers overcame the
army of the "Prophet,"--five men. Will. would not surrender. He laid
three white men dead at his feet, when he fell mortally wounded. His
last words were: "Bury my axe with me," believing that in the next
world he would need it for a similar purpose. Nat. fought with great
valor and skill with a short sword, and finding it useless to continue
the struggle, escaped with some of his followers to the swamps, where
he defied the vigilance of the military and the patient watching of
the citizens for more than two months. He was finally compelled to
surrender. When the Court asked: "Guilty or not guilty?" he pleaded:
"Not guilty." He was sustained during his trial by his unfaltering
faith in God. Like Joan of Arc, he "heard the spirits," the "voices,"
and believed that God had "sent him to free His people."
In the impression of the "Enquirer" of the 30th of August, 1831, the
first editorial, or leader, is under the caption of THE BANDITTE. The
editor says:
"They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down
from the Alps; or, rather like a former incursion of the Indians
upon the white settlements. Nothing is spared: neither age nor
sex respected--the helplessness of women and children pleads in
vain for mercy.... The case of Nat. Turner warns us. No black-man
ought to be permitted to turn a Preacher through the country. The
law must be enforced--or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us
in vain."[34]
A remarkable prophecy was made by Nat. The trial was hurried, and,
like a handle on a pitcher, was on one side only. He was sentenced to
die on the gallows. He received the announcement with stoic
indifference, and was executed at Jerusalem, the county seat of
Southampton, in April, 1831. He died like a man, bravely, calmly;
looking into eternity, made radiant by a faith that had never
faltered. He prophesied that on the day of his execution the sun would
be darkened, and other evidences of divine disapprobation would be
seen. The sheriff was much impressed by Nat.'s predictions, and
consequently refused to have any thing to do with the hanging. No
Colored man could be secured to cut the rope that held the trap. An
old white man, degraded by drink and other vices, was engaged to act
as executioner, and was brought forty miles. Whether it was a
fulfilment of Nat.'s prophecy or not, the sun was hidden behind angry
clouds, the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and the most
terrific storm visited that county ever known. All this, in connection
with Nat.'s predictions, made a wonderful impression upon the minds of
the Colored people, and not a few white persons were frightened, and
regretted the death of the "Prophet."
The results of this uprising, led by a lone man--he was alone, and
yet he was not alone,--are apparent when we consider that fifty-seven
whites and seventy-three Blacks were killed and many were wounded.
The first reliable list of the victims of the "tragedy" was written on
the 24th of August, 1831.
"List of the dead that have been buried:--At Mrs. Whiteheads', 7;
Mrs. Waller's, 13; Mr. Williams', 3; Mr. Barrows', 2; Mr.
Vaughn's, 5; Mrs. Turner's, 3; Mr. Travis's, 5; Mr. J. Williams',
5; Mr. Reice's, 4; Names unknown, 10; Total, 57."
Then there was a feeling of unrest among the slaves and a fear among
the whites throughout the State. Even the proceedings of the trial of
Nat. were suppressed for fear of evil consequences among the slaves.
But now all are free, and the ex-planters will not gnash their teeth
at this revelation. Nat. Turner's insurrection, like all other
insurrections led by oppressed people, lacked detail and method.
History records but one successful uprising--San Domingo has the
honor. Even France failed in 1789, and in 1848. There is always a zeal
for freedom, but not according to knowledge. No stone marks the
resting-place of this martyr to freedom, this great religious fanatic,
this Black John Brown. And yet he has a prouder and more durable
monument than was ever erected of stone or brass. The image of Nat.
Turner is carved on the fleshy tablets of four million hearts. His
history has been kept from the Colored people, at the South, but the
women have handed the tradition to their children, and the "Prophet
Nat." is still marching on.
Of the character of this remarkable man, Mr. Gray, the gentleman to
whom he made his confession, had the following to say:--
"It has been said that he was ignorant and cowardly, and that his
object was to murder and rob, for the purpose of obtaining money
to make his escape. It is notorious that he was never known to
have a dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of
spirits. As to his ignorance, he certainly never had the
advantages of education; but he can read and write, and for
natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, is surpassed
by few men I have ever seen. As to his being a coward, his
reason, as given, for not resisting Mr. Phipps, shows the
decision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps present his
gun, he said he knew it was impossible for him to escape, as the
woods were full of men; he therefore thought it was better for
him to surrender, and trust to fortune for his escape.
"He is a complete fanatic, or plays his part most admirably. On
other subjects he possesses an uncommon share of intelligence,
with a mind capable of attaining any thing, but warped and
perverted by the influence of early impressions. He is below the
ordinary stature, though strong and active, having the true negro
face, every feature of which is strongly marked. I shall not
attempt to describe the effect of his narrative, as told and
commented on by himself, in the condemned hole of the prison: the
calm, deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds
and intentions; the expression of his fiend-like face, when
excited by enthusiasm; still bearing the stains of the blood of
helpless innocence about him, clothed with rags and covered with
chains, yet daring to raise his manacled hands to Heaven, with a
spirit soaring above the attributes of man. I looked on him, and
the blood curdled in my veins."
In the "Richmond Enquirer," of September 2, 1831, appeared the
following: "It is reported that a map was found, and said to have been
drawn by Nat. Turner, with _polk-berry juice_, which was a description
of the county of Southampton."
The influence of this bloody insurrection spread beyond the Old
Dominion, and for years afterward, in nearly every Southern State the
whites lived in a state of dread. To every dealer in flesh and blood
the "Nat. Turner Insurrection" was a stroke of poetic justice.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] Atlantic Monthly, vol. x. p. 337.
[30] Atlantic Monthly, vol. x. p. 339.
[31] Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii. pp. 728, 744.
[32] Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii. p. 737.
[33] Richmond Enquirer, August 26, 1831.
[34] Richmond Enquirer, August 26 and 30, 1831.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE "AMISTAD" CAPTIVES.
THE SPANISH SLAVER "AMISTAD" SAILS FROM HAVANA, CUBA, FOR PORTO
PRINCIPE.--FIFTY-FOUR NATIVE AFRICANS ON BOARD.--JOSEPH CINQUEZ,
THE SON OF AN AFRICAN PRINCE.--THE "AMISTAD" CAPTURED AND TAKEN
INTO NEW LONDON, CONN.--TRIAL AND RELEASE OF THE SLAVES.--TOUR
THROUGH THE UNITED STATES.--RETURN TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY IN
COMPANY WITH MISSIONARIES.--THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE BENEFITED BY
THEIR STAY IN THE UNITED STATES.--THEIR APPRECIATION OF CHRISTIAN
CIVILIZATION.
On the 28th of June, 1839, the "Amistad," a Spanish slaver (schooner),
with Captain Ramon Ferrer in command, sailed from Havana, Cuba, for
Porto Principe, a place in the island of Cuba, about 100 leagues
distant. The passengers were Don Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz, with
fifty-four Africans just from their native country, Lemboko, as
slaves. Among the slaves was one man, called in Spanish, Joseph
Cinquez,[35] said to be the son of an African prince. He was possessed
of wonderful natural abilities, and was endowed with all the elements
of an intelligent and intrepid leader. The treatment these captives
received was very cruel. They were chained down between the
decks--space not more than four feet--by their wrists and ankles;
forced to eat rice, sick or well, and whipped upon the slightest
provocation. On the fifth night out, Cinquez chose a few trusty
companions of his misfortunes, and made a successful attack upon the
officers and crew. The captain and cook struck down, two sailors put
ashore, the Negroes were in full possession of the vessel. Montes was
compelled, under pain of death, to navigate the vessel to Africa. He
steered eastwardly during the daytime, but at night put about hoping
to touch the American shore. Thus the vessel wandered until it was
cited off of the coast of the United States during the month of
August. It was described as a "long, low, black schooner." Notice was
sent to all the collectors of the ports along the Atlantic Coast, and
a steamer and several revenue cutters were dispatched after her.
Finally, on the 26th of August, 1839, Lieut. Gedney, U. S. Navy,
captured the "Amistad," and took her into New London, Connecticut.
The two Spaniards and a Creole cabin boy were examined before Judge
Andrew T. Judson, of the United States Court, who, without examining
the Negroes, bound them over to be tried as pirates. The poor Africans
were cast into the prison at New London. Public curiosity was at a
high pitch; and for a long time the "_Amistad captives_" occupied a
large place in public attention. The Africans proved to be natives of
the Mendi country, and quite intelligent. The romantic story of their
sufferings and meanderings was given to the country through a
competent interpreter; and many Christian hearts turned toward them in
their lonely captivity in a strange land. The trial was continued
several months. During this time the anti-slavery friends provided
instruction for the Africans. Their minds were active and receptive.
They soon learned to read, write, and do sums in arithmetic. They
cultivated a garden of some fifteen acres, and proved themselves an
intelligent and industrious people.
The final decision of the court was that the "Amistad captives" were
not slaves, but freemen, and, as such, were entitled to their liberty.
The good and liberal Lewis Tappan had taken a lively interest in these
people from the first, and now that they were released from prison,
felt that they should be sent back to their native shores and a
mission started amongst their countrymen. Accordingly he took charge
of them and appeared before the public in a number of cities of New
England. An admission fee of fifty cents was required at the door, and
the proceeds were devoted to leasing a vessel to take them home. Large
audiences greeted them everywhere, and the impression they made was of
the highest order. Mr. Tappan would state the desire of the people to
return to their native land, appeal to the philanthropic to aid them,
and then call upon the people to read the Scriptures, sing songs in
their own language, and then in the English. Cinquez would then
deliver an account of their capture, the horrors of the voyage, how he
succeeded in getting his manacles off, how he aided his brethren to
loose their fetters, how he invited them to follow him in an attempt
to gain their liberty, the attack, and their rescue, etc., etc. He was
a man of magnificent physique, commanding presence, graceful manners,
and effective oratory. His speeches were delivered in Mendi, and
translated into English by an interpreter.
"It is impossible," wrote Mr. Tappan from Boston, "to describe
the novel and deeply interesting manner in which he acquitted
himself. The subject of his speech was similar to that of his
countrymen who had spoken in English; but he related more
minutely and graphically the occurrences on board the "Amistad."
The easy manner of Cinquez, his natural, graceful, and energetic
action, the rapidity of his utterance, and the remarkable and
various expressions of his countenance, excited admiration and
applause. He was pronounced a powerful natural orator, and one
born to sway the minds of his fellow-men. Should he be converted
and become a preacher of the cross in Africa what delightful
results may be anticipated!"
A little fellow called Kali, only eleven years of age, pleased the
audience everywhere he went by his ability not only to spell any word
in the Gospels, but sentences, without blundering. For example, he
would spell out a sentence like the following sentence, naming each
letter and syllable, and recapitulating as he went along, until he
pronounced the whole sentence: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth."
Of their doings in Philadelphia, Mr. Joseph Sturge wrote:
"On this occasion, a very crowded and miscellaneous assembly
collected to see and hear the Mendians, although the admission
had been fixed as high as half a dollar, with the view of raising
a fund to carry them to their native country. Fifteen of them
were present, including one little boy and three girls. Cinque,
their chief, spoke with great fluency in his native language; and
his action and manner were very animated and graceful. Not much
of his speech was translated, yet he greatly interested his
audience. The little boy could speak our language with facility;
and each of them read, without hesitation, one or two verses in
the New Testament. It was impossible for any one to go away with
the impression, that in native intellect these people were
inferior to the whites. The information which I privately
received from their tutor, and others who had full opportunities
of appreciating their capacities and attainments, fully confirmed
my own very favorable impressions."
But all the while their sad hearts were turning toward their home and
the dear ones so far away. One of them eloquently declared: "If Merica
men offer me as much gold as fill this cap full up, and give me
houses, land, and every ting, so dat I stay in this country, I say:
'No! no! I want to see my father, my mother, my brother, my sister.'"
Nothing could have been more tender and expressive. They were willing
to endure any hardships short of life that they might once more see
their own, their native land. The religious instruction they had
enjoyed made a wonderful impression on their minds. One of them said:
"We owe every thing to God; he keeps us alive, and makes us free. When
we go to home to Mendi we tell our brethren about God, Jesus Christ,
and heaven." Another one was asked: "What is faith?" and replied:
"Believing in Jesus Christ, and trusting in him." Reverting to the
murder of the captain and cook of the "Amistad," one of the Africans
said that if it were to be done over again he would pray for rather
than kill them. Cinquez, hearing this, smiled and shook his head. When
asked if he would not pray for them, said: "Yes, I would pray for 'em,
an' kill 'em too."
These captives were returned to their native country in the fall of
1841, accompanied by five missionaries. Their objective point was
Sierra Leone, from which place the British Government assisted them to
their homes. Their stay in the United States did the anti-slavery
cause great good. Here were poor, naked, savage pagans, unable to
speak English, in less than three years able to speak the English
language and appreciate the blessings of a Christian civilization.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Sometimes written Cinque.
PART 6.
_THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION._
CHAPTER IX.
NORTHERN SYMPATHY AND SOUTHERN SUBTERFUGES.
1850-1860.
VIOLENT TREATMENT OF ANTI-SLAVERY ORATORS.--THE SOUTH
MISINTERPRETS THE MOBOCRATIC SPIRIT OF THE NORTH.--THE
"GARRISONIANS" AND "CALHOUNITES"--SLAVE POPULATION OF
1830-1850.--THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS.--MOTION FOR THE ADMISSION
OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA.--THE DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG PARTIES ON
THE TREATMENT OF THE SLAVE QUESTION.--CONVENTION OF THE
DEMOCRATIC PARTY AT BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.--NOMINATION OF FRANKLIN
PIERCE FOR PRESIDENT.--WHIG PARTY CONVENTION.--NOMINATION OF GEN.
WINFIELD SCOTT FOR THE PRESIDENCY BY THE WHIGS.--MR. PIERCE
ELECTED PRESIDENT IN 1853.--A BILL INTRODUCED TO REPEAL THE
"MISSOURI COMPROMISE."--SPEECH BY STEPHEN A. DOUGLASS.--MR.
CHASE'S REPLY.--AN ACT TO ORGANIZE THE TERRITORIES OF KANSAS AND
NEBRASKA.--STATE MILITIA IN THE SOUTH MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR
WAR.--PRESIDENT BUCHANAN IN SYMPATHY WITH THE SOUTH.
The arguments of anti-slavery orators were answered everywhere
throughout the free States by rotten eggs, clubs, and missiles. The
public journals, as a rule, were unfriendly and intolerant. Even
Boston could contemplate, with unruffled composure, a mob of her most
"reputable citizens" dragging Mr. Garrison through the streets with a
halter about his neck. Public meetings were broken up by pro-slavery
mobs; owners of public halls required a moneyed guarantee against the
destruction of their property, when such halls were used for
anti-slavery meetings. Colored schools were broken up, the teachers
driven away, and the pupils maltreated.
The mobocratic demonstrations in the Northern States were the
thermometer of public feeling upon the subject of slavery. The South
was, therefore, emboldened; for the political leaders in that section
thought they saw a light from the distance that encouraged them to
entertain the belief and indulge the hope that their present sectional
institution could be made national. Southerners thought slavery would
grow in the cold climate of the North, excited into a lively existence
by the warmth of a generous sympathy. But the South misinterpreted the
real motive that inspired opposition to anti-slavery agitation in the
North. The violent opposition came from the mercantile class and
foreign element who believed that the agitation of the slavery
question was a practical disturbance of their business affairs. The
next class, more moderate in opposition to agitation, believed slavery
constitutional, and, therefore, argued that anti-slavery orators were
traitors to the government. The third class, conservative, did not
take sides, because of the unpopularity of agitation on the one hand,
and because of an harassing conscience on the other.
There were two classes of men who were seeking the dissolution of the
Union. The Garrisonians sought this end in the hope of forming another
Union _without_ slavery.
In an address delivered by Wm. Lloyd Garrison, July 20, 1860, at the
Framingham celebration, he declares:
"Our object is the abolition of slavery _throughout the land_;
and whether in the prosecution of our object this party goes up
or the other party goes down, it is nothing to us. We cannot
alter our course one hair's breadth, nor accept a compromise of
our principles for the hearty adoption of our principles. I am
for _meddling with slavery everywhere_--_attacking it by night
and by day, in season and out of season_ (no, it can never be out
of season)--in order to _effect its overthrow_. (Loud applause.)
Higher yet will be my cry. Upward and onward! No union with
slave-holders! Down with this slave-holding government! Let this
'covenant with death and agreement with hell' be annulled! _Let
there be a free, independent, Northern republic_, and _the speedy
abolition of slavery_ will inevitably follow! (Loud applause.) So
I am laboring to dissolve this blood-stained Union as a work of
paramount importance. Our mission is to regenerate public
opinion."
The Calhounites sought the dissolution of the Union in order that
another Union might be formed _with_ slavery as its chief
corner-stone. Inspired by this hope and misguided by the apparent
sympathy of the North, Southern statesmen began _preparations to
dissolve the Union of the United States_.
During these years of agitation and discussion, although the foreign
slave-trade had been suppressed, the slave population increased at a
wonderful ratio.
CENSUS OF 1830.--SLAVE POPULATION.
District of Columbia 6,119
Delaware 3,292
Florida 15,501
Georgia 217,531
Illinois 747
Kentucky 165,213
Louisiana 109,588
Maryland 102,994
Alabama 117,549
Mississippi 65,659
Missouri 25,091
New Jersey 2,254
North Carolina 245,601
South Carolina 315,401
Tennessee 141,603
Virginia 469,757
Arkansas 4,576
---------
Aggregate 2,008,476
Now, this was the year the agitation movement began. Instead of the
slave population decreasing during the first decade of anti-slavery
discussion and work, it really increased 478,412![36]
CENSUS OF 1840.--SLAVE POPULATION.
Alabama 253,532
Arkansas 19,935
District of Columbia 4,694
Delaware 2,605
Florida 25,717
Georgia 280,944
Illinois 331
Kentucky 182,258
Louisiana 168,452
Maryland 89,737
Mississippi 195,211
Missouri 58,240
New Jersey 674
New York 4
CENSUS OF 1840.--SLAVE POPULATION.--(_Continued._)
Pennsylvania 64
North Carolina 245,817
South Carolina 327,038
Tennessee 183,059
Virginia 449,087
---------
Aggregate 2,487,399
During the next decade the slave population swept forward to an
increase of 716,858. The entire population of slaves was 3,204,313;
2,957,657 were unmixed Africans, and 246,656 were Mulattoes. The free
Colored population amounted to 434,495, of whom 275,400 were unmixed,
and 159,095 mixed or Mulatto. The total number of families owning
slaves in 1850 was 347,525.
CENSUS OF 1850.--SLAVE POPULATION.
Alabama 342,844
Arkansas 47,100
District of Columbia 3,687
Delaware 2,290
Florida 39,310
Georgia 381,682
Kentucky 210,981
Louisiana 244,809
Maryland 90,368
Mississippi 309,878
Missouri 87,422
New Jersey 236
North Carolina 288,548
South Carolina 384,984
Tennessee 239,459
Texas 58,161
Virginia 472,528
Utah Territory 26
---------
Total 3,204,313
The Thirty-first Congress was three weeks attempting an organization,
and at last effected it by the election of a Southerner to the
Speakership, the Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia. President Zachary
Taylor had called the attention of Congress to the admission of
California and New Mexico into the Union, in his message to that body
upon its assembling. On the 4th of January, 1850, Gen. Sam. Houston,
United States Senator from Texas, submitted the following proposition
to the Senate:
"WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, possessing only a
delegated authority, has no power over the subject of negro
slavery within the limits of the United States, either to
prohibit or to interfere with it in the States, territories, or
districts, where, by municipal law, it now exists, or to
establish it in any State or territory where it does not exist;
but as an assurance and guarantee to promote harmony, quiet
apprehension, and remove sectional prejudice, which by
possibility might impair or weaken love and devotion to the Union
in any part of the country, it is hereby
"_Resolved_, That, as the people in territories have the same
inherent rights of self-government as the people in the States,
if, in the exercise of such inherent rights, the people in the
newly acquired territories, by the annexation of Texas and the
acquisition of California and New Mexico, south of the parallel
of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude,
extending to the Pacific Ocean, shall establish negro slavery in
the formation of their State governments, it shall be deemed no
objection to their admission as a State or States into the Union,
in accordance with the Constitution of the United States."
On the 29th of January, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, submitted to the
United States Senate the following propositions looking toward an
amicable adjustment of the entire slavery question:
"1. _Resolved_, That California, with suitable boundaries, ought,
upon her application, to be admitted as one of the States of this
Union, without the imposition by Congress of any restriction in
respect to the exclusion or introduction of slavery within those
boundaries.
"2. _Resolved_, That as slavery does not exist by law, and is not
likely to be introduced into any of the territory acquired by the
United States from the republic of Mexico, it is inexpedient for
Congress to provide by law either for its introduction into, or
exclusion from, any part of the said territory; and that
appropriate territorial governments ought to be established by
Congress in all the said territory not assigned as within the
boundaries of the proposed State of California, without the
adoption of any restriction or condition on the subject of
slavery.
"3. _Resolved_, That the western boundary of the State of Texas
ought to be fixed on the Rio del Norte, commencing one marine
league from its mouth, and running up that river to the southern
line of New Mexico, thence with that line eastwardly, and so
continuing in the same direction to the line as established
between the United States and Spain, excluding any portion of New
Mexico, whether lying on the east or west of that river.
"4. _Resolved_, That it be proposed to the State of Texas, that
the United States will provide for the payment of all that
portion of the legitimate and _bona-fide_ public debt of that
State contracted prior to its annexation to the United States,
and for which the duties on foreign imports were pledged by the
said State to its creditors, not exceeding the sum of----
dollars, in consideration of the said duties so pledged having
been no longer applicable to that object after the said
annexation, but having thenceforward become payable to the United
States; and upon the condition, also, that the said State of
Texas shall, by some solemn and authentic act of her Legislature,
or of a convention, relinquish to the United States any claim
which she has to any part of New Mexico.
"5. _Resolved_, That it is inexpedient to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia whilst that institution continues to exist
in the State of Maryland, without the consent of that State,
without the consent of the people of the District, and without
just compensation to the owners of slaves within the District.
"6. _But Resolved_, That it is expedient to prohibit within the
District, the slave-trade in slaves brought into it from States
or places beyond the limits of the District, either to be sold
therein as merchandise, or to be transported to other markets
without the District of Columbia.
"7. _Resolved_, That more effectual provision ought to be made by
law, according to the requirement of the Constitution, for the
restitution and delivery of persons bound to service or labor in
any State, who may escape into any other State or territory in
the Union. And
"8. _Resolved_, That Congress has no power to prohibit or
obstruct the trade in slaves between the slave-holding States,
but that the admission or exclusion of slaves brought from one
into another of them, depends exclusively upon their own
particular laws."
Senator Bell, of Tennessee, offered a series of resolutions on the
same question on the 28th of February, containing nine resolves. As
usual, on all propositions respecting slavery, the debate was
protracted, earnest, and able. The Clay resolutions attracted most
attention. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, said:
"Sir, we are called upon to receive this as a measure of
compromise! As a measure in which we of the minority are to
receive nothing. A measure of compromise! I look upon it as but a
modest mode of taking that, the claim to which has been more
boldly asserted by others; and, that I may be understood upon
this question, and that my position may go forth to the country
in the same columns that convey the sentiments of the Senator
from Kentucky, I here assert, that never will I take less than
the Missouri compromise line extended to the Pacific Ocean, with
the specific recognition of the right to hold slaves in the
territory below that line; and that, before such territories are
admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be taken there from
any of the United States at the option of the owners. I can never
consent to give additional power to a majority to commit further
aggressions upon the minority in this Union, and will never
consent to any proposition which will have such a tendency,
without a full guaranty or counteracting measure is connected
with it."
A number of very able speeches were made on the resolutions of Mr.
Clay, but the most characteristic one--the one most thoroughly
representing the sentiment of the South--was made by John C. Calhoun.
He said:
"The Union was in danger. The cause of this danger was the
discontent at the South. And what was the cause of this
discontent? It was found in the belief which prevailed among them
that they could not, consistently with honor and safety, remain
in the Union. And what had caused this belief? One of the causes
was the long-continued agitation of the slave question at the
North, and the many aggressions they had made on the rights of
the South. But the primary cause was in the fact, that the
equilibrium between the two sections at the time of the adoption
of the Constitution had been destroyed. The first of the series
of acts by which this had been done, was the ordinance of 1787,
by which the South had been excluded from all the northwestern
region. The next was the Missouri compromise, excluding them from
all the Louisiana territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty
minutes, except the State of Missouri,--in all 1,238,025 square
miles, leaving to the South the southern portion of the original
Louisiana territory, with Florida, to which had since been added
the territory acquired with Texas,--making in all but 609,023
miles. And now the North was endeavoring to appropriate to
herself the territory recently acquired from Mexico, adding
526,078 miles to the territory from which the South was, if
possible, to be excluded. Another cause of the destruction of
this equilibrium was our system of revenue (the tariff), the
duties falling mainly upon the Southern portion of the Union, as
being the greatest exporting States, while more than a due
proportion of the revenue had been disbursed at the North.
"But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium between
the two sections, the action of the government was leading to a
radical change in its character. It was maintained that the
government itself had the right to decide, in the last resort,
as to the extent of its powers, and to resort to force to
maintain the power it claimed. The doctrines of General Jackson's
proclamation, subsequently asserted and maintained by Mr.
Madison, the leading framer and expounder of the Constitution,
were the doctrines which, if carried out, would change the
character of the government from a federal republic, as it came
from the hands of its framers, into a great national consolidated
democracy."
Mr. Calhoun also spoke of the anti-slavery agitation, which, if not
arrested, would destroy the Union; and he passed a censure upon
Congress for receiving abolition petitions. Had Congress in the
beginning adopted the course which he had advocated, which was to
refuse to take jurisdiction, by the united voice of all parties, the
agitation would have been prevented. He charged the North with false
professions of devotion to the Union, and with having violated the
Constitution. Acts had been passed in Northern States to set aside and
annul the clause of the slavery question, with the avowed purpose of
abolishing slavery in the States, which was another violation of the
Constitution. And during the fifteen years of this agitation, in not a
single instance had the people of the North denounced these agitators.
How then could their professions of devotion to the Union be sincere?
Mr. Calhoun disapproved both the plan of Mr. Clay and that of
President Taylor, as incapable of saving the Union. He would pass by
the former without remark, as Mr. Clay had been replied to by several
Senators. The Executive plan could not save the Union, because it
could not satisfy the South that it could safely or honorably remain
in the Union. It was a modification of the Wilmot proviso, proposing
to effect the same object, the exclusion of the South from the new
territory. The Executive proviso was more objectionable than the
Wilmot. Both inflicted a dangerous wound upon the Constitution, by
depriving the Southern States of equal rights as joint partners in
these territories; but the former inflicted others equally great. It
claimed for the inhabitants the right to legislate for the
territories, which belonged to Congress. The assumption of this right
was utterly unfounded, unconstitutional, and without example. Under
this assumed right, the people of California had formed a constitution
and a State government, and appointed Senators and Representatives. If
the people as adventurers had conquered the territory and established
their independence, the sovereignty of the country would have been
vested in them. In that case they would have had the right to form a
State government, and afterward they might have applied to Congress
for admission into the Union. But the United States had conquered and
acquired California; therefore, to them belonged the sovereignty and
the powers of government over the territory. Michigan was the first
case of departure from the uniform rule of acting. Hers, however, was
a slight departure from established usage. The ordinance of 1787
secured to her the right of becoming a State when she should have
60,000 inhabitants. Congress delayed taking the census. The people
became impatient; and after her population had increased to twice that
number, they formed a constitution without waiting for the taking of
the census; and Congress waived the omission, as there was no doubt of
the requisite number of inhabitants. In other cases there had existed
territorial governments.
Having shown how the Union could not be saved, he then proceeded to
answer the question how it could be saved. There was but one way
certain. Justice must be done to the South, by a full and final
settlement of all the questions at issue. The North must concede to
the South an equal right to the acquired territory, and fulfil the
stipulations respecting fugitive slaves; must cease to agitate the
slave question, and join in an amendment of the Constitution,
restoring to the South the power she possessed of protecting herself,
before the equilibrium between the two sections had been destroyed by
the action of the government.
Here was a clear statement of the position and feelings of the South
respecting slavery. The ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri compromise
of 1820 "were destroying the equilibrium between the _two sections_!"
And the anti-slavery agitation, "if not arrested, would destroy the
Union!" The sophistry of Calhoun sought a reasonable excuse for the
South to dissolve the Union. In a speech of his, written during a
spell of sickness, and read by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, he referred to
Washington as "the illustrious Southerner." When it was read in the
Senate Mr. Cass said:
"Our Washington--the Washington of our whole country--receives in
this Senate the epithet of 'Southerner,' as if that great man,
whose distinguished characteristic was his attachment to his
country, and his whole country, who was so well known, and who,
more than any one, deprecated all sectional feeling and all
sectional action, loved Georgia better than he loved New
Hampshire, because he happened to be born on the southern bank of
the Potomac. I repeat, sir, that I heard with great pain that
expression from the distinguished Senator from South Carolina."
There was certainly no ground for reasonable complaint on the part of
the South. From the convention that framed the Federal Constitution,
through all Congressional struggle, and in national politics as well,
the South had secured nearly all measures asked for. And the
discussion in Congress at this time was intended to divert attention
from the real object of the South. Another fugitive-slave law was
demanded by the South, and the Northern members voted them the right
to hunt slaves upon free soil. The law passed, and was approved on the
18th of September, 1850.
It was difficult to choose between the Democratic and Whig parties by
reading the planks in their platforms referring to the subject of
slavery. On the 1st of June, 1852, the Democratic Convention, at
Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for
the Presidency, on the forty-ninth ballot. This plank defined the
position of that party on the question of slavery.
"That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere
with or control the domestic institutions of the several States,
and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every
thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the
Constitution; that all efforts of the abolitionists, or others,
made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery,
or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to
lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences; and that
all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the
happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and
permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any
friend of our political institutions.
"That the foregoing proposition covers, and was intended to
embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and
therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this
national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful
execution of the acts known as the compromise measures settled by
the last Congress--the act for reclaiming fugitives from service
or labor included; which act being designed to carry out an
express provision of the Constitution, can not with fidelity
thereto be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its
efficiency.
"That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing,
in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question,
under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made."
The Whig party, at the same city, in convention assembled, on the 16th
of June, 1852, nominated Gen. Winfield Scott, for the Presidency, on
the fifty-third ballot. The Whig party declared its position on the
slavery question as follows:
"That the series of acts of the Thirty-first Congress--the act
known as the fugitive-slave law included--are received and
acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States, as a
settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and
exciting question which they embrace; and so far as they are
concerned, we will maintain them and insist on their strict
enforcement, until time and experience shall demonstrate the
necessity of further legislation, to guard against the evasion of
the laws on the one hand, and the abuse of their powers on the
other, not impairing their present efficiency; and we deprecate
all agitation of the question thus settled, as dangerous to our
peace; and will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew
such agitation whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be
made; and we will maintain this system as essential to the
nationality of the Whig party of the Union."
The political contest ended in the autumn in favor of Mr. Pierce. The
public journals in many parts of the country thought the end of the
"slavery question" had come, and that as the Whigs were determined to
"discountenance all efforts to continue or renew" the agitation of the
subject, there was no fear of sectional strife.
In his inaugural address, March 4, 1853, President Pierce said:
"I believe that involuntary servitude is recognized by the
Constitution. I believe that the States where it exists are
entitled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional
provisions. I hold that the compromise measures of 1850 are
strictly constitutional, and to be unhesitatingly carried into
effect. And now, I fervently hope that the question is at rest,"
etc.
In the month of December, upon the assembling of Congress, the
President, in his message to that body, again referred to slavery as
"a subject which had been set at rest by the deliberate judgment of
the people." But on the 15th of December, nine days after the message
of the President had been received by Congress, Mr. Dodge, of Iowa,
submitted to the Senate a bill to organize the territory of Nebraska,
which was referred to the Committee on Territories. After some
discussion in the committee, it was finally reported back to the
Senate by Mr. Douglass, of Illinois, with amendments. The report was
elaborate, and raised considerable doubt as to whether the amendments
did not repeal the Missouri compromise. A special report was made on
the 4th of January, 1854, so amending the bill as to remove all doubt;
and, contemplating the opening of all the vast territory secured
forever to freedom, startled the nation from the "repose" it had
apparently taken from agitation on the slavery question, and opened an
interminable controversy.
On the 16th of January, Mr. Dixon, of Kentucky, gave notice that he
would introduce a bill clearly repealing the Missouri compromise. The
first champion of the repeal of the compromise of 1820 was a Northern
Senator, Stephen A. Douglass, of Illinois. He hung a massive
argument--excelling rather in quantity than in quality--upon the
following propositions:
"From these provisions, it is apparent that the compromise
measures of 1850 affirm, and rest upon, the following
propositions:
"_First._--That all questions pertaining to slavery in the
territories, and the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be
left to the decision of the people residing therein, by their
appropriate representatives, to be chosen by them for that
purpose.
"_Second._--That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and
'questions of personal freedom,' are to be referred to the
adjudication of the local tribunals, with the right of appeal to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
"_Third._--That the provision of the Constitution of the United
States in respect to fugitives from service, is to be carried
into faithful execution in all 'the original territories,' the
same as in the States.
"The substitute for the bill which your committee have prepared,
and which is commended to the favorable action of the Senate,
proposes to carry these propositions and principles into
practical operation, in the precise language of the compromise
measures of 1850."
Mr. Douglass said:
"The legal effect of this bill, if passed, was neither to
legislate slavery into nor out of these territories, but to leave
the people to do as they pleased. And why should any man, North
or South, object to this principle? It was by the operation of
this principle, and not by any dictation from the Federal
government, that slavery had been abolished in half of the twelve
States in which it existed at the time of the adoption of the
Constitution."
On the 3d of February, Mr. Chase, of Ohio, moved to amend by striking
out the words, "was superseded by the principles of the legislation of
1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and," so that the
clause would read: "That the Constitution, and all laws of the United
States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force
and effect within the said territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within
the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to
the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820,
which is hereby declared inoperative."
Mr. Chase then proceeded to reply to Mr. Douglass. He called attention
to that part of the President's message which referred to the "repose"
of the subject of slavery, and then said:
"The agreement of the two old political parties, thus referred to
by the Chief Magistrate of the country, was complete, and a large
majority of the American people seemed to acquiesce in the
legislation of which he spoke. A few of us, indeed, doubted the
accuracy of these statements, and the permanency of this repose.
We never believed that the acts of 1850 would prove to be a
permanent adjustment of the slavery question. But, sir, we only
represented a small, though vigorous and growing party in the
country. Our number was small in Congress. By some we were
regarded as visionaries, by some as factionists; while almost all
agreed in pronouncing us mistaken. And so, sir, the country was
at peace. As the eye swept the entire circumference of the
horizon and upward to mid-heaven, not a cloud appeared; to common
observation there was no mist or stain upon the clearness of the
sky. But suddenly all is changed; rattling thunder breaks from
the cloudless firmament. The storm bursts forth in fury. And now
we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation, the end and issue
of which no man can foresee.
"Now, sir, who is responsible for this renewal of strife and
controversy? Not we, for we have introduced no question of
territorial slavery into Congress; not we, who are denounced as
agitators and factionists. No, sir; the quietists and the
finalists have become agitators; they who told us that all
agitation was quieted, and that the resolutions of the political
conventions put a final period to the discussion of slavery. This
will not escape the observation of the country. It is _slavery_
that renews the strife. It is slavery that again wants room. It
is slavery with its insatiate demand for more slave territory and
more slave States. And what does slavery ask for now? Why, sir,
it demands that a time-honored and sacred compact shall be
rescinded--a compact which has endured through a whole
generation--a compact which has been universally regarded as
inviolable, North and South--a compact, the constitutionality of
which few have doubted, and by which all have consented to
abide."
But notwithstanding the able and eloquent speech of Mr. Chase, his
amendment only received thirteen votes. The debate went on until the
3d of March, when the bill was placed upon its passage, and even then
the discussion went on. When the vote was finally taken, the bill
passed by a vote of 37 yeas to 14 nays. The bill went to the House,
where it was made a substitute to a bill already introduced, and
passed by a vote of 113 yeas to 100 nays as follows:
"Representatives from free States in favor of the bill, 44.
"Representatives from slave States in favor of the bill, 69.
----
113.
"Representatives from free States against the bill, 91.
"Representatives from slave States against the bill, 9.
----
100."
And thus, approved by the President, the measure became a law under
the title of "_An Act to Organize the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska_."
Congress had violated the sublimest principles of law, had broken
faith with the people; had opened a wide door to slavery; had blotted
from the map of the United States the last asylum where the oppressed
might seek protection; had put the country in a way to be reddened
with a fratricidal war, and made our flag a flaunting lie in the eyes
of the civilized world. There was nothing to be done now but to let
the leaven of sectional malice work, that had been hurled into the
slavery discussions in Congress. The bloodless war of words was now
transferred to the territory of Kansas, where a conflict of political
parties, election frauds, and assassination did their hateful work.
The South began to put her State militia upon a war footing, and to
make every preparation for battle. The Administration of President
Buchanan was in the interest of the South from beginning to end. He
refused to give Gov. John W. Geary, of Kansas, the military support
the "_border ruffians_" made necessary; allowed the public debt to
increase, our precious coin to go abroad, our treasury to become
depleted, our navy to go to the distant ports of China and Japan, our
army to our extremest frontiers, the music of our industries to cease;
and the faith of a loyal people in the perpetuity of the republic was
allowed to faint amid the din of mobs and the threats of secession.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] There were nearly 500 slaves held in Northern States not placed
in this census.
CHAPTER X.
THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES."
STRINGENT LAWS ENACTED AGAINST FREE NEGROES AND
MULATTOES.--FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW RESPECTED IN OHIO.--A LAW TO
PREVENT KIDNAPPING.--THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF OHIO.--HISTORY OF
THE DRED SCOTT CASE.--JUDGE TANEY'S OPINION IN THIS CASE.--OHIO
CONSTITUTION OF 1851 DENIED FREE NEGROES THE RIGHT TO VOTE.--THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF COLORED SCHOOLS.--LAW IN INDIANA TERRITORY IN
REFERENCE TO EXECUTIONS.--AN ACT FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF NEGROES
AND MULATTOES INTO THE TERRITORY.--FIRST CONSTITUTION OF
INDIANA.--THE ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION OF 1818.--CRIMINAL CODE
ENACTED.--ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE PASSES AN ACT TO PREVENT THE
EMIGRATION OF FREE NEGROES INTO THE STATE.--FREE NEGROES OF THE
NORTHERN STATES ENDURE RESTRICTION AND PROSCRIPTION.
Although slavery was excluded from all the new States northwest of the
Ohio River, the free Negro was but little better off in Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois than in any of the Southern States. From the earliest
moment of the organic existence of the border free States, severe laws
were enacted against free Negroes and Mulattoes. At the second session
of the first Legislature of the State of Ohio, "_An Act to Regulate
Black and Mulatto Persons_"[37] was passed.
Sec. 1. That no black or mulatto person shall be permitted to
settle or reside in this State "without a certificate of his or
her actual freedom."
2. Resident blacks and mulattoes to have their names recorded,
etc. (Amended in 1834, Jan. 5 1, Curwen, 126.) _Proviso_, "That
nothing in this act contained shall bar the lawful claim to any
black or mulatto person."
3. Residents prohibited from hiring black or mulatto persons not
having a certificate.
4. Forbids, under penalty, to "harbor or secrete any black or
mulatto person the property of any person whatever," or to
"hinder or prevent the lawful owner or owners from re-taking,"
etc.
5. Black or mulatto persons coming to reside in the State with a
legal certificate, to record the same.
6. "That in case any person or persons, his or their agent or
agents, claiming any black or mulatto person or persons that now
are or hereafter may be in this State, may apply, upon making
satisfactory proof that such black or mulatto person or persons
are the property of him or her who applies, to any associate
judge or justice of the peace within the State, the associate
judge or justice is hereby empowered and required, by his
precept, to direct the sheriff or constable to arrest such black
or mulatto person or persons, and deliver the same, in the county
or township where such officers shall reside, to the claimant or
claimants, or his or their agent or agents, for which service the
sheriff or constable shall receive such compensation as he is
entitled to receive in other cases for similar services."
7. "That any person or persons who shall attempt to remove or
shall remove from this State, or who shall aid and assist in
removing, contrary to the provisions of this act, any black or
mulatto person or persons, without first proving, as herein
before directed, that he, she, or they is or are legally entitled
so to do, shall, on conviction thereof before any court having
cognizance of the same, forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand
dollars, one half to the use of the informer and the other half
to the use of the State, to be recovered by the action of debt
_quitam_ or indictment, and shall moreover be liable to the
action of the party injured."
So here upon free soil, under a State government that did not
recognize slavery in its constitution, the Negro was compelled to
produce a certificate of freedom. Thus the fugitive-slave law was
recognized, but at the same time an unlawful removal of free Negroes
from the State was forbidden.
At the session of 1806-7, "_An Act to Amend the Act Entitled 'an Act
Regulating Black and Mulatto Persons_,'" was passed amending the old
law. The first act simply required "a certificate of freedom"; the
amended law required Negroes and Mulattoes intending to settle in Ohio
to give a bond not to become a charge upon the county in which they
settled. Section four reads as follows:
"4. That no black or mulatto person or persons shall hereafter be
permitted to be sworn or give evidence in any court of record or
elsewhere in this State, in any cause depending or matter of
controversy where either party to the sale is a white person, or
in any prosecution which shall be instituted in behalf of this
State, against any white person."[38]
But this law did not apply to persons a shade nearer white than
Mulatto [the seven-eighths law].[39] Their testimony was admissible,
while that of Negroes and Mulattoes was not admitted against them. In
Jordan _vs._ Smith [1846], 14, Ohio, p. 199: "A black person sued by a
white, may make affidavit to a plea so as to put the plaintiff to
proof."
Attention has been called to the fact that the fugitive-slave law was
respected in Ohio. In 1818-19, a law was passed to prevent the
unlawful kidnapping of free Negroes, which, in its preamble, recites
the provisions of the law of Congress, passed February 12, 1793,
respecting fugitives from service and labor.[40] And in 1839 the
Legislature passed another act relating to "fugitives from labor,"
etc., paving the way by the following recital:
"WHEREAS, The second section of the fourth article of the
Constitution of the United States declares that 'no person'
[etc., reciting it]; and whereas the laws now in force within the
State of Ohio are wholly inadequate to the protection pledged by
this provision of the Constitution to the Southern States of this
Union; and whereas it is the duty of those who reap the largest
measure of benefits conferred by the Constitution to recognize to
their full extent the obligations which that instrument imposes;
and whereas it is the deliberate conviction of this General
Assembly that the Constitution can only be sustained as it was
framed by a spirit of just compromise; therefore."
Sec. 1. Authorizes judges of courts of record, "or any justice of
the peace, or the mayor of any city or town corporate," on
application, etc., of claimant, to bring the fugitive before a
judge within the county where the warrant was issued, or before
some State judge with certain cautions as to proving the official
character of the officer issuing the warrant; gives the form of
warrant, directing the fugitive to be brought before, etc., "to
be be dealt with as the law directs."[41]
J. Peck, Esq. [9, Ohio, p. 212], refers to the laws of 1818-19, and
1830-31, as a recognition by the State of Ohio of the power of
Congress to pass the act of 1793, though that the act was not
specially mentioned.
The first constitution of Ohio [1802] restricted the right of suffrage
to "all white male inhabitants." "In all elections, all white male
inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the
State one year next preceding the election, and who have paid or are
charged with a State or county tax, shall enjoy the right of an
elector," etc.[42] This was repeated in the Bill of Rights adopted in
1851.[43]
Article iv., Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States says:
"The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States." The question as to
whether free Negroes were included in the above was discussed at great
length in the Dred Scott case, where Chief-Justice Taney took the
ground that a Negro was not a citizen under the fourth article of the
Constitution. But the fourth article of the Articles of Confederation
[1778] recognized free Negroes as citizens. It is given here:
"ART. 4.--The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship
and intercourse among the people of the different States in this
Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States--paupers,
vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted--shall be entitled
to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several
States; and the people of each State shall have free ingress and
regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all
the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties,
impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof,
respectively; provided that such restrictions shall not extend so
far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any
State, from any other State, of which the owner is an inhabitant;
provided, also, that no imposition, duty, or restriction shall be
laid by any State on the property of the United States, or either
of them."[44]
By this it is evident that "paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from
justice" were the only persons excluded from the right of citizenship.
The following is the history of the Dred Scott case:
"In the year 1834, the plaintiff was a negro slave belonging to
Dr. Emerson, who was a surgeon in the army of the United States.
In that year, 1834, said Dr. Emerson took the plaintiff from the
State of Missouri to the military post at Rock Island, in the
State of Illinois, and held him there as a slave until the month
of April or May, 1836. At the time last mentioned, said Dr.
Emerson removed the plaintiff from said military post at Rock
Island to the military post at Fort Snelling, situate on the west
bank of the Mississippi River, in the territory known as Upper
Louisiana, acquired by the United States of France, and situate
north of the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north,
and north of the State of Missouri. Said Dr. Emerson held the
plaintiff in slavery at said Fort Snelling, from said
last-mentioned date until the year 1838.
"In the year 1835, Harriet, who is named in the second count of
the plaintiff's declaration, was the negro slave of Major
Taliaferro, who belonged to the army of the United States. In
that year, 1835, said Major Taliaferro took said Harriet to said
Fort Snelling, a military post, situated as herein before stated,
and kept her there as a slave until the year 1836, and then sold
and delivered her as a slave at said Fort Snelling unto the said
Dr. Emerson herein before named. Said Dr. Emerson held said
Harriet in slavery at said Fort Snelling until the year 1838.
"In the year 1836, the plaintiff and said Harriet at said Fort
Snelling, with the consent of said Dr. Emerson, who then claimed
to be their master and owner, intermarried, and took each other
for husband and wife. Eliza and Lizzie, named in the third count
of the plaintiff's declaration, are the fruit of that marriage.
Eliza is about fourteen years old, and was born on board the
steamboat 'Gipsey,' north of the north line of the State of
Missouri, and upon the river Mississippi. Lizzie is about seven
years old, and was born in the State of Missouri, at the military
post called Jefferson Barracks.
"In the year 1838, said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff and
said Harriet and their said daughter Eliza from said Fort
Snelling to the State of Missouri, where they have ever since
resided.
"Before the commencement of this suit, said Dr. Emerson sold and
conveyed the plaintiff, said Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie to the
defendant, as slaves, and the defendant has ever since claimed to
hold them and each of them as slaves.
"At the time mentioned in the plaintiff's declaration, the
defendant, claiming to be owner as aforesaid, laid his hands upon
said plaintiff, Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie, and imprisoned them,
doing in this respect, however, no more than what he might
lawfully do if they were of right his slaves at such times.
* * * * *
"It is agreed that Dred Scott brought suit for his freedom in the
Circuit Court of St. Louis County; that there was a verdict and
judgment in his favor; that on a writ of error to the Supreme
Court the judgment below was reversed, and the same remanded to
the Circuit Court, where it has been continued to await the
decision of this case.
"In May, 1854, the cause went before a jury, who found the
following verdict, viz.: 'As to the first issue joined in this
case, we of the jury find the defendant not guilty; and as to the
issue secondly above joined, we of the jury find that before and
at the time when, etc., in the first count mentioned, the said
Dred Scott was a negro slave, the lawful property of the
defendant; and as to the issue thirdly above joined, we, the
jury, find that before and at the time when, etc., in the second
and third counts mentioned, the said Harriet, wife of said Dred
Scott, and Eliza and Lizzie, the daughters of the said Dred
Scott, were negro slaves, the lawful property of the defendant.'
"Whereupon, the court gave judgment for the defendant.
"After an ineffectual motion for a new trial, the plaintiff filed
the following bill of exceptions.
"On the trial of this cause by the jury, the plaintiff, to
maintain the issues on his part, read to the jury the following
agreed statement of facts (see agreement above). No further
testimony was given to the jury by either party. Thereupon the
plaintiff moved the court to give to the jury the following
instructions, viz.:
"'That, upon the facts agreed to by the parties, they ought to
find for the plaintiff.' The court refused to give such
instruction to the jury, and the plaintiff, to such refusal, then
and there duly excepted.
The court then gave the following instruction to the jury, on
motion of the defendant:
"'The jury are instructed, that upon the facts in this case, the
law is with the defendant.' The plaintiff excepted to this
instruction.
"Upon these exceptions, the case came up to the Supreme Court,
December term, 1856."[45]
Judge Taney gave the following opinion:
"The question is simply this: Can a negro, whose ancestors were
imported into this country and sold as slaves, become a member of
the political community formed and brought into existence by the
Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to
all the rights and privileges and immunities guaranteed by that
instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege
of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified
in the Constitution.
"It will be observed that the plea applies to that class of
persons only whose ancestors were negroes of the African race,
and imported into this country, and sold and held as slaves. The
only matter in issue before the court, therefore, is, whether the
descendants of such slaves, when they shall be emancipated, or
who are born of parents who had become free before their birth,
are citizens of a State, in the sense in which the word citizen
is used in the Constitution of the United States. And this being
the only matter in dispute on the pleadings, the court must be
understood as speaking in this opinion of that class only, that
is, of those persons who are the descendants of Africans who were
imported into this country and sold as slaves.
* * * * *
"We proceed to examine the case as presented by the pleadings.
"The words 'people of the United States' and 'citizens' are
synonymous terms, and mean the same thing. They both describe the
political body who, according to our republican institutions,
form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the
government through their representatives. They are what we
familiarly call the 'sovereign people, and every citizen is one
of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. The
question before us is, whether the class of persons described in
the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and are
constituent members of this sovereignty. We think they are not,
and that they are not included, and were not intended to be
included, under the word 'citizen' in the Constitution, and can
therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that
instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United
States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a
subordinate [405] and inferior class of beings, who had been
subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not,
yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or
privileges but such as those who held the power and the
government might choose to grant them.
"It is not the province of the court to decide upon the justice
or injustice, the policy or impolicy, of these laws....
"In discussing this question, we must not confound the rights of
citizenship which a State may confer within its own limits, and
the rights of citizenship as a member of the Union. It does not
by any means follow, because he has all the rights and privileges
of a citizen of a State, that he must be a citizen of the United
States. He may have all of the rights and privileges of the
citizen of a State, and yet not be entitled to the rights and
privileges of a citizen of any other State. For, previous to the
adoption of the Constitution of the United States, every State
had the undoubted right to confer on whomsoever it pleased the
character of citizen, and to endow him with all its rights. But
this character of course was confined to the boundaries of the
State, and gave him no rights or privileges in other States
beyond those secured to him by the laws of nations and the comity
of States. Nor have the several States surrendered the power of
conferring these rights and privileges by adopting the
Constitution of the United States. Each State may still confer
them upon an alien, or any one it thinks proper, or upon any
class or description of persons; yet he would not be a citizen in
the sense in which that word is used in the Constitution of the
United States, nor entitled to sue as such in one of its courts,
nor to the privileges and immunities of a citizen in the other
States. The rights which he would acquire would be restricted to
the State which gave them. The Constitution has conferred on
Congress the right to establish an uniform rule of
naturalization, and this right is evidently exclusive, and has
always been held by this court to be so. Consequently no State,
since the adoption of the Constitution, can, by naturalizing an
alien, invest him with the rights and privileges secured to a
citizen of a State under the Federal Government, although, so far
as the State alone was concerned, he would undoubtedly be
entitled to the rights of a citizen, and clothed with all the
[406] rights and immunities which the Constitution and laws of
the State attached to that character.
"It is very clear, therefore, that no State can, by any act or
law of its own, passed since the adoption of the Constitution,
introduce a new member into the political community created by
the Constitution of the United States. It cannot make him a
member of this community by making him a member of its own. And,
for the same reason, it cannot introduce any person or
description of persons who were not intended to be embraced in
this new political family, which the Constitution brought into
existence, but were intended to be excluded from it.
"The question then arises, whether the provisions of the
Constitution, in relation to the personal rights and privileges
to which the citizen of a State should be entitled, embraced the
negro African race, at that time in this country, or who might
afterwards be imported, who had then or should afterwards be made
free in any State; and to put it in the power of a single State
to make him a citizen of the United States, and indue him with
the full rights of citizenship in every other State without their
consent. Does the Constitution of the United States act upon him
whenever he shall be made free under the laws of a State, and
raised there to the rank of a citizen, and immediately clothe him
with all the privileges of a citizen in every other State and in
its own courts?
"The court think the affirmative of these propositions cannot be
maintained. And if it cannot, the plaintiff in error could not be
a citizen of the State of Missouri, within the meaning of the
Constitution of the United States, and, consequently, was not
entitled to sue in its courts."[46]
This decision of the Supreme Court on the plea in abatement that the
plaintiff (a Negro, Dred Scott) was not a citizen in the sense of the
word in Article iii, Sec. 2 of the Constitution, was based upon an
erroneous idea respecting the location of the word _citizen_ in the
instrument. The premise of the court was wrong, and hence the
feebleness of the reasoning and the false conclusions. Article iii,
Section 2 of the Constitution, extends judicial power to all cases, in
law and equity, "between citizens of different States, between
citizens of the same State," etc. But Article iv, Section 2, declares
that "citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States." The plea in abatement
was brought under Article iii, but all the judges, except Justice
McLean, built their decision upon the word _citizen_ as it stood in
Article iv.
By the constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1851, free Negroes were not
only denied the right to vote, but were excluded from the militia
service. This law was not repealed until 1878.
Neither the constitution of 1802, nor that of 1851, discriminated
against free Negroes in matters of education; but separate schools
have been maintained in Ohio from the beginning down to the present
time, by special acts of the Legislature.
In the territory of Indiana there were quite a number of Negroes from
the beginning of the century. Some were slaves. In 1806, the first
Legislature, at its second session, passed a law in reference to
_executions_, as follows:
"Sec. 7. And whereas doubts have arisen whether the time of
service of negroes and mulattoes, bound to service in this
territory, may be sold on execution against the master, _Be it
therefore enacted_ that the time of service of such negroes or
mulattoes may be sold on execution against the master, in the
same manner as personal estate, immediately from which sale the
said negroes or mulattoes shall serve the purchaser or purchasers
for the residue of their time of service; and the said purchasers
and negroes and mulattoes shall have the same remedies against
each other as by the laws of the territory are mutually given
them in the several cases therein mentioned, and the purchasers
shall be obliged to fulfil to the said servants the contracts
they made with the masters, as expressed in the indenture or
agreement of servitude, and shall, for want of such contract, be
obliged to give him or them their freedom due at the end of the
time of service, as expressed in the second section of the law of
the territory, entitled 'Law concerning servants,' adopted the
twenty-second day of September, eighteen hundred and three. This
act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day
of February next."[47]
This was bold legislation; but it was not all. Negroes were required
to carry passes, as in the slave States. And on the 17th of September,
1807, "_An Act for the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into_"
the territory was passed.
"Sec. 1. That it shall and may be lawful for any person being the
owner or possessor of any negroes or mulattoes of and above the
age of fifteen years, and owning service and labor as slaves in
any of the States or territories of the United States, or for any
citizens of the said States or territories purchasing the same to
bring the said negroes and mulattoes into this territory.
"Sec. 2. The owners or possessors of any negroes or mulattoes as
aforesaid, and bringing the same into this territory, shall,
within thirty days after such removal, go with the same before
the clerk of Court of Common Pleas of proper county, and in
presence of said clerk the said owner or possessor shall
determine and agree to, and with his or her negro or mulatto,
upon the term of years which the said negro or mulatto will and
shall serve his or her said owner or possessor, and the clerk
shall make a record.
"Sec. 3. If any negro or mulatto removed into this territory as
aforesaid shall refuse to serve his or her owner as aforesaid, it
shall and may be lawful for such person, within sixty days
thereafter, to remove the said negro or mulatto to any place [to]
which by the laws of the United States or territory from whence
such owner or possessor may [have come] or shall be authorized to
remove the same. (As quoted in Phoebe v. Jay, Breese, Ill. R.,
208.)
"Sec. 4. An owner failing to act as required in the preceding
sections should forfeit all claim and right to the service of
such negro or mulatto.
"Sec. 5. Declares that any person removing into this territory
and being the owner or possessor of any negro or mulatto as
aforesaid, under the age of fifteen years, or if any person shall
hereafter acquire a property in any negro or mulatto under the
age aforesaid, and who shall bring them into this territory, it
shall and may be lawful for such person, owner, or possessor to
hold the said negro to service or labor--the males until they
arrive at the age of thirty-five, and females until they arrive
at the age of thirty-two years.
"Sec. 6. Provides that any person removing any negro or mulatto
into this territory under the authority of the preceding
sections, it shall be incumbent on such person, within thirty
days thereafter, to register the name and age of such negro or
mulatto with the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the
proper county.
"Sec. 7. Requires new registry on removal to another county."
"Secs. 8, 9. Penalties by fine for breach of this act.
"Sec. 10. Clerk to take security that negro be not chargeable
when his term expires.
"Sec. 12. Fees.
"Sec. 13. That the children born in said territory of a parent of
color owning service or labor, by _indenture_ according to law,
should serve the master or mistress of such parent--the males
until the age of thirty, and the females until the age of
twenty-eight years. (As quoted in Boon v. Juliet, 1836, 1,
Scammon, 258.)
"Sec. 14. That an act respecting apprentices misused by their
master or mistress should apply to such children. (See the
statute cited in Rankin v. Lydia, 2, A. K. Marshall's Ky., 467;
and in Jarrot v. Jarrot, 2, Gilman, 19.) This act was repealed in
1810."[48]
Under the first constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, Negroes were
not debarred from the elective franchise. In Article i, Section 1, of
the Bill of Rights, this remarkable language occurs: "That all men are
born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent,
and unalienable rights," etc. But the very next year the primal rights
of the Negro as a citizen were struck down by the following: "No
negro, mulatto, or Indian shall be a witness, except in pleas of the
State against negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, or in civil cases where
negroes, mulattoes, or Indians alone shall be parties."[49]
In 1819 [March 22d], an execution law was passed by which the time of
service of Negroes could be sold on execution against the master, in
the same manner as personal estate. From the time of the sale, such
Negroes or Mulattoes were compelled to serve the buyer until the
expiration of the term of service.[50]
In 1831, an act regulating free Negroes and Mulattoes, servants and
slaves, declared:
"Sec. 1. Negroes and mulattoes emigrating into the State shall
give bond, etc.
"Sec. 2. In failure of this, such negro, etc., may be hired out
and the proceeds applied to his benefit, or removed from the
State under the poor law.
"Sec. 3. Penalty for committing such without authority.
"Sec. 4. Penalty for harboring such who have not given bond.
"Sec. 5. That the right of any persons to pass through this
State, with his, her, or their negroes or mulattoes, servant or
servants, when emigrating or travelling to any other State or
territory or country, making no unnecessary delay, is hereby
declared and secured."[51]
In 1851 the new constitution limited the right of franchise to "white
male citizens of the United States." "No negro or mulatto shall have
the right of suffrage."
"Art. xii., Sec. 1. The militia shall consist of all able-bodied
white male persons, between, etc.
"Art. xiii., Sec. 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into, or
settle in the State after the adoption of this Constitution.
"Sec. 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into
the State contrary to the foregoing section shall be void; and
any person who shall employ such negro or mulatto or encourage
him to remain in the State shall be fined not less than ten, nor
more than five hundred dollars.
"Sec. 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the
provisions of this article, or of any law hereafter passed for
the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set
apart and appropriated for the colonization of such negroes and
mulattoes and their descendants as may be in the State at the
adoption of this Constitution and may be willing to emigrate.
"Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the
provisions of this article."
Other severe laws were enacted calculated to modify and limit the
rights of free persons of color.
The first constitution of the State of Illinois, adopted in 1818,
limited the [Art. ii, Sec. 27] elective franchise to "free white"
persons. Article v, Sec. 1, exempted "negroes, mulattoes, and Indians"
from service in the militia. In March, 1819, "_An Act Respecting Free
Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants, and Slaves_" passed. Sec. 1 required
Negro and Mulatto persons coming into the State to produce a
certificate of freedom. Sec. 2 required them to register their family
as well as themselves. Sec. 3 required persons bringing slaves into
the State, for the purpose of emancipating them, to give bonds. Passes
were required of Colored people, and many other hard exactions. The
bill above referred to contained twenty-five sections.[52]
On the 6th of January, 1827, a criminal code was enacted for offences
committed by Negroes and servants, which contained many cruel
features. On the 2d of February a law was passed declaring that all
Negroes, Mulattoes, and Indians were incompetent to be witnesses in
any court against a white person; and that a person having one fourth
part Negro blood shall be adjudged a Mulatto. This law was re-enacted
in 1845.[53] In 1853, February 12th, the Legislature of Illinois
passed "_An Act to Prevent the Immigration of Free Negroes into this
State_."
"Secs. 1, 2. Fine and imprisonment for bringing slave, for any
purpose, into the State. _Proviso_: 'That this shall not be
construed so as to affect persons or slaves, _bona fide_,
travelling through this State from and to any other State in the
United States.'
"Sec. 3. Misdemeanor for negro or mulatto, bond or free, to come
with intention of residing.
"Sec. 4. Such may be prosecuted and fined or sold, for time, for
fine and costs.
"Secs. 5, 6, 7. If such do not afterwards remove, increased fine
and like proceedings, etc., etc. Appeal allowed to the circuit.
"Sec. 8. If claimed as fugitive slave, after being thus arrested,
a justice of the peace, 'after hearing the evidence, and being
satisfied that the person or persons claiming said negro or
mulatto is or are the owner or owners of and entitled to the
custody of said negro or mulatto, in accordance with the laws of
the United States passed upon this subject,' shall give the owner
a certificate, after his paying the costs and the negro's unpaid
fine, 'and the said owner or agent so claiming shall have a right
to take and remove said slave out of the State.'
"Sec. 9. Punishment of justice for nonfeasance, and of witness
falsely accusing negro."[54]
While slavery had no legal, constitutional existence in the three
border States, there were, in fact, quite a number of slaves within
their jurisdiction during the first generation of their existence. And
the free people of Color were, _first_, denied the right of
citizenship; _second_, excluded from the militia service; _third_,
ruled out of the courts whenever their testimony was offered against a
white person; _fourth_, could not come into the free border States
without producing a certificate of freedom; and, _fifth_, were annoyed
by many little, mean laws in the exercise of the few rights they were
suffered to enjoy. A full description of the infamous "_Black Code_"
of these States would occupy too much space, and, therefore, the dark
subject must be dismissed. Posterity shall know, however, how
patiently the free Negroes of the Northern States endured the
restrictions and proscriptions which law and public sentiment threw
across their social and political pathway!
FOOTNOTES:
[37] 1, Chase, p. 393, sects. 1-7.
[38] 1, Chase, p. 555.
[39] Jeffries _vs._ Ankeny, 11, Ohio, p. 375.
[40] 2, Chase L., p. 1052.
[41] Curwen, p. 533.
[42] Revised Statutes of Ohio, vol. i. p. 60.
[43] Ibid., p. 111.
[44] Elliot's Debates, vol. i. p. 79.
[45] Sanford's Dred Scott Case, pp. 397-399.
[46] Howard's Reports, vol. xix. pp. 403-405, sq.
[47] Hurd, vol ii. p. 123.
[48] Terr. laws 1807-8, p. 423.
[49] Laws of 1817, ch. 3, sec. 52.
[50] See Hurd, vol. ii. p. 129.
[51] Revised Laws of Indiana, 1838.
[52] Session Laws, 1819, p. 354. R. S., 1833, p. 466.
[53] R. S., 1845, p. 154.
[54] Rev. St. of 1856, p. 780.
CHAPTER XI.
THE NORTHERN NEGROES.
NOMINAL RIGHTS OF NEGROES IN THE SLAVE STATES.--FUGITIVE SLAVES
SEEK REFUGE IN CANADA.--NEGROES PETITION AGAINST TAXATION WITHOUT
REPRESENTATION.--A LAW PREVENTING NEGROES FROM OTHER STATES FROM
SETTLING IN MASSACHUSETTS.--NOTICE TO BLACKS, INDIANS, AND
MULATTOES, WARNING THEM TO LEAVE THE COMMONWEALTH.--THE RIGHTS
AND PRIVILEGES OF THE NEGRO RESTRICTED.--COLORED MEN TURN THEIR
ATTENTION TO THE EDUCATION OF THEIR OWN RACE.--JOHN V. DEGRASSE,
THE FIRST COLORED MAN ADMITTED TO THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL
SOCIETY.--PROMINENT COLORED MEN OF NEW YORK AND
PHILADELPHIA.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST
EPISCOPAL AND COLORED BAPTIST CHURCHES.--COLORED MEN DISTINGUISH
THEMSELVES IN THE PULPIT.--REPORT TO THE OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETY OF COLORED PEOPLE IN CINCINNATI IN 1835.--MANY PURCHASE
THEIR FREEDOM.--HENRY BOYD, THE MECHANIC AND BUILDER.--HE BECOMES
A SUCCESSFUL MANUFACTURER IN CINCINNATI.--SAMUEL T. WILCOX, THE
GROCER.--HIS SUCCESS IN BUSINESS IN CINCINNATI.--BALL AND THOMAS,
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS.--COLORED PEOPLE OF CINCINNATI EVINCE A DESIRE
TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.--LYDIA P. MOTT ESTABLISHES A HOME FOR
COLORED ORPHANS.--THE ORGANIZATION EFFECTED IN 1844.--ITS
SUCCESS.--FORMATION OF A COLORED MILITARY COMPANY CALLED "THE
ATTUCKS GUARDS."--EMIGRATION OF NEGROES TO LIBERIA.--THE COLORED
PEOPLE LIVE DOWN MUCH PREJUDICE.
In 1850 there were 238,187 free Negroes in the slave States. Their
freedom was merely nominal. They were despised beneath the slaves, and
were watched with suspicious eyes, and disliked by their brethren in
bondage.
In 1850 there were 196,016 free Negroes in the Northern States. Their
increase came from [chiefly] two sources, viz.: births and emancipated
persons from the South. Fugitive slaves generally went to Canada, for
in addition to being in danger of arrest under the fugitive-slave law,
none of the State governments in the North sympathized with escaped
Negroes. The Negroes in the free States were denied the rights of
citizenship, and were left to the most destroying ignorance. In 1780,
some free Negroes, of the town of Dartmouth, petitioned the General
Court of Massachusetts for relief from taxation, because they were
denied the privileges and duties of citizenship. The petition set
forth the hardships free Negroes were obliged to endure, even in
Massachusetts, and was in itself a proof of the fitness of the
petitioners for the duties of citizenship.
"_To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives, in
General Court Assembled, for the State of Massachusetts Bay, in
New England_:
"The petition of several poor negroes and mulattoes, who are
inhabitants of the town of Dartmouth, humbly showeth:
"That we being chiefly of the African extract, and by reason of
long bondage and hard slavery, we have been deprived of enjoying
the profits of our labor or the advantage of inheriting estates
from our parents, as our neighbors the white people do, having
some of us not long enjoyed our own freedom; yet of late,
contrary to the invariable custom and practice of the country, we
have been, and now are, taxed both in our polls and that small
pittance of estate which, through much hard labor and industry,
we have got together to sustain ourselves and families withall.
We apprehend it, therefore, to be hard usage, and will doubtless
(if continued) reduce us to a state of beggary, whereby we shall
become a burthen to others, if not timely prevented by the
interposition of your justice and power.
"Your petitioners further show, that we apprehend ourselves to be
aggrieved, in that, while we are not allowed the privilege of
freemen of the State, having no vote or influence in the election
of those that tax us, yet many of our color (as is well known)
have cheerfully entered the field of battle in the defence of the
common cause, and that (as we conceive) against a similar
exertion of power (in regard to taxation) too well known to need
a recital in this place.
"We most humble request, therefore, that you would take our
unhappy case into your serious consideration, and, in your wisdom
and power, grant us relief from taxation, while under our present
depressed circumstances; and your poor petitioners, as in duty
bound, shall ever pray, etc.
"JOHN CUFFE,
"ADVENTUR CHILD,
"PAUL CUFFE,
"SAMUEL GRAY, [his x mark.]
"PERO ROWLAND, [his x mark.]
"PERO RUSSELL, [his x mark.]
"PERO COGGESHALL.
"Dated at Dartmouth, the 10th of February, 1780.
"Memorandum in the handwriting of John Cuffe:
"This is the copy of the petition which we did deliver unto the
Honorable Council and House, for relief from taxation in the days
of our distress. But we received none. JOHN CUFFE."[55]
Not discouraged at the failure that attended the above petition, the
indefatigable Paul Cuffe, addressed the following to the selectmen of
his town the next year.
"A REQUEST.
"_To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting_:
We, the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you
would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for
calling a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before
said town, by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether
all free negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in
this said Town of Dartmouth as the white people have, respecting
places of profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together
with all other privileges in all cases that shall or may happen
or be brought in this our said Town of Dartmouth. We, your
petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray,
[Signed] "JOHN CUFFE,
"PAUL CUFFE,
"Dated at Dartmouth, the 22d of the 4th mo., 1781,"
As early as 1788 Massachusetts passed a law requiring all Negroes who
were not citizens, to leave the Commonwealth within two months from
the date of the publication of the law. It has been said, upon good
authority, that this law was drawn by several of the ablest lawyers in
the Bay State, and was intended to keep out all Negroes from the South
who, being emancipated, might desire to settle there. It became a law
on the 26th of March, 1788, and instead of becoming a dead letter, was
published and enforced in post-haste. The following section is the
portion of the act pertinent to this inquiry.
"V. _Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_ [the
Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled],
that no person being an African or Negro, other than a subject of
the Emperor of Morocco, or a citizen of some one of the United
States (to be evidenced by a certificate from the Secretary of
the State of which he shall be a citizen), shall tarry within
this Commonwealth, for a longer time than two months, and upon
complaint made to any Justice of the Peace within this
Commonwealth, that any such person has been within the same more
than two months, the said Justice shall order the said person to
depart out of this Commonwealth, and in case that the said
African or Negro shall not depart as aforesaid, any Justice of
the Peace within this Commonwealth, upon complaint and proof
made that such person has continued within this Commonwealth ten
days after notice given him or her to depart as aforesaid, shall
commit the said person to any house of correction within the
county, there to be kept to hard labor, agreeable to the rules
and orders of the said house, until the Sessions of the Peace,
next to be holden within and for the said county; and the master
of the said house of correction is hereby required and directed
to transmit an attested copy of the warrant of commitment to the
said Court on the first day of their said session, and if upon
trial at the said Court, it shall be made to appear that the said
person has thus continued within the Commonwealth, contrary to
the tenor of this act, he or she shall be whipped not exceeding
ten stripes, and ordered to depart out of this Commonwealth
within ten days; and if he or she shall not so depart, the same
process shall be had and punishment inflicted, and so _toties
quoties_."[56]
The following notice, with the subjoined names, shows that the cruel
law was enforced.
NOTICE TO BLACKS.
The Officers of Police having made return to the Subscriber of
the names of the following persons, who are Africans or Negroes,
not subjects of the Emperor of _Morocco_ nor citizens of the
_United States_, the same are hereby warned and directed to
depart out of this Commonwealth before the 10th day of October
next, as they would avoid the pains and penalties of the law in
that case provided, which was passed by the Legislature, March
26, 1788.
CHARLES BULFINCH,
_Superintendent_.
_By Order and Direction of the Selectmen._
_Portsmouth_--Prince Patterson, Eliza Cotton, Flora Nash.
_Rhode Island_--Thomas Nichols and Philis Nichols, Hannah
Champlin, Plato Alderson, Raney Scott, Jack Jeffers, Thomas
Gardner, Julius Holden, Violet Freeman, Cuffy Buffum, Sylvia
Gardner, Hagar Blackburn, Dolly Peach, Polly Gardner, Sally
Alexander, Philis Taylor.
_Providence_--Dinah Miller, Salvia Hendrick, Rhode Allen, Nancy
Hall, Richard Freeman, Elizabeth Freeman, Nancy Gardner, Margaret
Harrison.
_Connecticut_--Bristol Morandy, John Cooper, Scipio Kent,
Margaret Russell, Phoebe Seamore, Phoebe Johnson, Jack Billings.
_New London_--John Denny, Thomas Burdine, Hannah Burdine.
_New York_--Sally Evens, Sally Freeman, Cæsar West and Hannah
West, Thomas Peterson, Thomas Santon, Henry Sanderson, Henry
Wilson, Robert Willet, Edward Cole, Mary Atkins, Polly Brown,
Amey Spalding, John Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, George Homes,
Prince Kilsbury, Abraham Fitch, Joseph Hicks, Abraham Francis,
Elizabeth Francis, Sally Williams, William Williams, Rachel
Pewinck, David Dove, Esther Dove, Peter Bayle, Thomas Bostick,
Katy Bostick, Prince Hayes, Margaret Bean, Nancy Hamik, Samuel
Benjamin, Peggy Ocamum, Primus Hutchinson.
_Philadelphia_--Mary Smith, Richard Allen, Simon Jeffers, Samuel
Posey, Peter Francies, Prince Wales, Elizabeth Branch, Peter
Gust, William Brown, Butterfield Scotland, Clarissa Scotland,
Cuffy Cummings, John Gardner, Sally Gardner, Fortune Gorden,
Samuel Stevens.
_Baltimore_--Peter Larkin and Jenny Larkin, Stepney Johnson, Anne
Melville.
_Virginia_--James Scott, John Evens, Jane Jackson, Cuffey Cook,
Oliver Nash, Robert Woodson, Thomas Thompson.
_North Carolina_--James Jurden, Polly Johnson, Janus Crage.
_South Carolina_--Anthony George, Peter Cane.
_Halifax_--Catherine Gould, Charlotte Gould, Cato Small, Philis
Cole, Richard M'Coy.
_West Indies_--James Morfut and Hannah his wife, Mary Davis,
George Powell, Peter Lewis, Charles Sharp, Peter Hendrick,
William Shoppo and Mary Shoppo, Isaac Johnson, John Pearce,
Charles Esings, Peter Branch, Newell Symonds, Rosanna Symonds,
Peter George, Lewis Victor, Lewis Sylvester, John Laco, Thomas
Foster, Peter Jesemy, Rebecca Jesemy, David Bartlet, Thomas
Grant, Joseph Lewis, Hamet Lewis, John Harrison, Mary Brown,
Boston Alexander.
_Cape François_--Casme Francisco and Nancy his wife, Mary
Fraceway.
_Aux Cayes_--Susannah Ross.
_Port-au-Prince_--John Short.
_Jamaica_--Charlotte Morris, John Robinson.
_Bermuda_--Thomas Williams.
_New Providence_--Henry Taylor.
_Liverpool_--John Mumford.
_Africa_--Francis Thompson, John Brown, Mary Joseph, James
Melvile, Samuel Bean, Hamlet Earl, Cato Gardner, Charles Mitchel,
Sophia Mitchel, Samuel Frazier, Samuel Blackburn, Timothy
Philips, Joseph Ocamum.
_France_--Joseph ----
_Isle of France_--Joseph Lovering.
LIST OF INDIANS AND MULATTOES.
The following persons from several of the United States, being
people of colour, commonly called Mulattoes, are presumed to come
within the intention of the same law, and are accordingly warned
and directed to depart out of the Commonwealth before the 10th
day of October next.
_Rhode Island_--Peter Badger, Kelurah Allen, Waley Green, Silvia
Babcock.
_Providence_--Polly Adams, Paul Jones.
_Connecticut_--John Brown, Polly Holland, John Way and Nancy Way,
Peter Virginia, Leville Steward, Lucinda Orange, Anna Sprague,
Britton Doras, Amos Willis, Frank Francies.
_New London_--Hannah Potter.
_New York_--Jacob and Nelly Cummings, James and Rebecca Smith,
Judith Chew, John Schumagger, Thomas Willouby, Peggy Willouby,
John Reading, Mary Reading, Charles Brown, John Miles, Hannah
Williams, Betsy Harris, Douglass Brown, Susannah Foster, Thomas
Burros, Mary Thomson, James and Freelove Buck, Lucy Glapcion,
Lucy Lewis, Eliza Williams, Diana Bayle, Cæsar and Sylvia Caton,
---- Thompson, William Guin.
_Albany_--Elone Virginia, Abijah Reed and Lydia Reed, Abijah
Reed, Jr., Rebecca Reed and Betsy Reed.
_New Jersey_--Stephen Boadley, Hannah Victor.
_Philadelphia_--Polly Boadley, James Long, Hannah Murray,
Jeremiah Green, Nancy Principeso, David Johnson, George Jackson
William Coak, Moses Long.
_Maryland_--Nancy Gust.
_Baltimore_--John Clark, Sally Johnson.
_Virginia_--Sally Hacker, Richard and John Johnson, Thomas
Stewart, Anthony Paine, Mary Burk, William Hacker, Polly Losours,
Betsy Guin, Lucy Brown.
_Africa_--Nancy Doras.[57]
The constitutions of nearly all the States, statutes, or public
sentiment drove the Negro from the ballot-box, excused him from the
militia, and excluded him from the courts. Although born on the soil,
a soldier in two wars, an industrious, law-abiding _person_, the
Negro, nevertheless, was not regarded as a member of political
society. He was taxed, but enjoyed no representation; was governed by
laws, and yet, had no voice in making the laws.
The doors of nearly all the schools of the entire North were shut in
his face; and the few separate schools accorded him were given
grudgingly. They were usually held in the lecture-room of some Colored
church edifice, or thrust off to one side in a portion of the city or
town toward which aristocratic ambition would never turn. These
schools were generally poorly equipped; and the teachers were either
Colored persons whose opportunities of securing an education had been
poor, or white persons whose mental qualifications would not encourage
them to make an honest living among their own race; there were noble
exceptions.
A deeply rooted prejudice shut the Negro out from the trades. He could
not acquire the art of setting type, civil engineering, building
machinery, house carpentering, or any of the trades. The schools of
medicine, law, and theology were not open to him; and even if he
secured admission into some gentleman's office, or instruction from
some divine, the future gave him no promise. The white wings of hope
were broken in an ineffectual attempt to move against the bitter winds
of persecution, under the dark sky of hate and proscription.
Corporations, churches, theatres, and political parties made the Negro
a subject of official action. If a Negro travelled by stage coach, it
was among the baggage in the "boot," or on top with the driver. If he
were favored with a ride on a street car, it was in a separate car
marked, "_This car for Colored people_." If he journeyed any distance
by rail, he was assigned to the "Jim Crow" car, or "smoker," where
himself and family were subjected to inconvenience, insult, and the
society of the lowest class of white rowdies. If he were hungry and
weary at the end of the journey, there was "no room for him in the
inn," and, like his Master, was assigned a place among the cattle. If
he were so fortunate as to get into a hotel as a servant, bearing the
baggage of his master, he slept in the garret, and took his meals in
the kitchen. It mattered not who the Colored man was--whether it was
Langston, the lawyer, McCune Smith, the physician, or Douglass, the
orator--he found no hotel that would give him accommodations. And
forsooth, if some host had the temerity to admit a Negro to his
dining-room, a dozen white guests would leave the hotel rather than
submit to the "_outrage_!"
The places of amusements in all the large cities in the North excluded
the Negro; and when he did gain admission, he was shown to the
gallery, where he could enjoy peanut-hulls, boot-blacks, and
"black-legs." Occasionally the side door of a college was put ajar for
some invincible Negro. But this was a performance of very rare
occurrence; and the instances are easily remembered.
When courts and parties, corporations and companies had refused to
accord the Negro the rights that were his due as a man, he carried his
case to the highest earthly court, the Christian Church. He felt sure
of sympathy and succor from this source. The Church had stood through
the centuries as a refuge for the unfortunate and afflicted. But,
alas! the Church shrank from the Negro as if he had been a reptile. If
he gained admission it was to the "Negro pew" in the "organ loft." If
he secured the precious "emblems of the broken body and shed blood" of
his Divine Master, it was after the "white folks" were through. If the
cause of the Negro were mentioned in the prayer or sermon, it was in
the indistinct whisper of the moral coward who occupied the sacred
desk. And when the fight was on at fever heat, when it was popular to
plead the cause of the slave and demand the rights of the free Negro,
the Church was the last organization in the country to take a position
on the question; and even then, her "moderation was known to all men."
If the Negro had suffered from neglect only, had been left to solve
the riddle of his anomalous existence without further embarrassment,
it would have been well. But no, it was not so. Studied insolence
jostled Colored men and women from the streets of the larger cities;
mobocratic violence broke up assemblages and churches of Colored
people; and malice sought them in the quiet of their homes--outraged
and slew them in cold blood. Thus with the past as a haunting, bitter
recollection, the present filled with fear and disaster, and the
future a shapeless horror, think ye life was sweet to the Negro?
Bitter? Bitter as death? Ay, bitter as hell!
Driven down from the lofty summit of laudable ambitions into the
sultry plains of domestic drudgery and menial toil, nearly every ray
of hope had perished upon the strained vision of the Negro. The only
thing young Colored men could aspire to was the position of a waiter,
the avocation of a barber, the place of a house-servant or groom, and
teach or preach to their own people with little or no qualifications.
Denied the opportunities and facilities of securing an education, they
were upbraided by the press and pulpit, in private gatherings and
public meetings, for their ignorance, which was enforced by a narrow
and contracted public prejudice.
But "none of these things moved" the Negro. Undismayed he bowed to his
herculean task with a complacency and courage worthy of any race or
age of the world's history. The small encouragement that came to him
from the conscientious minority of white men and women was as
refreshing as the cool ocean breeze at even-tide to the feverish brow
of a travel-soiled pilgrim. The Negro found it necessary to exert
_himself_, to lift himself out of his social, mental, and political
dilemma by the straps of his boots. Colored men turned their attention
to the education of themselves and their children. Schools were begun,
churches organized, and work of general improvement and self-culture
entered into with alacrity and enthusiasm. Boston had among its
teachers the scholarly Thomas Paul; among its clergymen Leonard A.
Grimes and John T. Raymond; among its lawyers Robert Morris and E. G.
Walker; among its business men J. B. Smith and Coffin Pitts; among its
physicians John R. Rock and John V. DeGrasse; among its authors Brown
and Nell; and among its orators Remond and Hilton. Robert Morris was
admitted to the bar in Boston, on Thursday, June 27, 1850, at a
meeting of the members of the Suffolk County Bar. The record is as
follows:
"_Resolved_, That ROBERT MORRIS, Esq., be recommended for
admittance to practice as a Counsellor and Attorney of the
Circuit and District Courts of the United States.
"(Signed) ELLIS GRAY LORING, _Chairman_.
"CHAS. THEO. RUSSELL, _Secretary_."
John V. DeGrasse, M.D., an eminent physician of Boston was perhaps the
most accomplished Colored gentleman in New England between 1850-1860.
The following notice appeared in a Boston journal in August, 1854:
"On the 24th of August, 1854, Mr. DeGrasse was admitted in due
form a member of the 'Massachusetts Medical Society.' It is the
first instance of such honor being conferred upon a colored man
in this State, at least, and probably in the country; and
therefore it deserves particular notice, both because the means
by which he has reached this distinction are creditable to his
own intelligence and perseverance, and because others of his
class may be stimulated to seek an elevation which has hitherto
been supposed unattainable by men of color. The Doctor is a
native of New York City, where he was born in June, 1825, and
where he spent his time in private and public schools till 1840.
He then entered the Oneida Institute, Beriah Green, President,
and spent one year; but as Latin was not taught there, he left
and entered the Clinton Seminary, where he remained two years,
intending to enter college in the fall of 1843. He was turned
from this purpose, however, by the persuasions of a friend in
France, and after spending two years in a college in that
country, he returned to New York in November, 1845, and commenced
the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel R. Childs, of that city.
There he spent two years in patient and diligent study, and then
two more in attending the medical lectures of Bowdoin College,
Me. Leaving that institution with honor in May, 1849, he went
again to Europe in the autumn of that year, and spent
considerable time in the hospitals of Paris, travelling, at
intervals, through parts of France, England, Italy, and
Switzerland. Returning home in the ship 'Samuel Fox,' in the
capacity of surgeon, he was married in August, 1852, and since
that time he has practised medicine in Boston. Earning a good
reputation here by his diligence and skill, he was admitted a
member of the Medical Society, as above stated. Many of our most
respectable physicians visit and advise with him whenever counsel
is required. The Boston medical profession, it must be
acknowledged, has done itself honor in thus discarding the law of
caste, and generously acknowledging real merit, without regard to
the hue of the skin."
The Colored population of New York was equal to the great emergency
that required them to put forth their personal exertions. Dr. Henry
Highland Garnet, Dr. Charles B. Ray, and the Rev. Peter Williams in
the pulpit; Charles L. Reason and William Peterson as teachers; James
McCune Smith and Philip A. White as physicians and chemists; James
Williams and Jacob Day among business men, did much to elevate the
Negro in self-respect and self-support.
Philadelphia early ranked among her foremost leaders of the Colored
people, William Whipper, Stephen Smith, Robert Purvis, William Still,
Frederick A. Hinton, and Joseph Cassey. From an inquiry instituted in
1837, it was ascertained that out of the 18,768 Colored people in
Philadelphia, 250 had paid for their freedom the aggregate sum of
$79,612, and that the real and personal property owned by them was
near $1,500,000. There were returns of several chartered benevolent
societies for the purpose of affording mutual aid in sickness and
distress, and there were sixteen houses of public worship, with over
4,000 communicants. And in Western Pennsylvania there were John Peck,
John B. Vashon, Geo. Gardner, and Lewis Woodson. Every State in the
North seemed to produce Colored men of marked ability to whom God
committed a great work. Their examples of patient fortitude, industry,
and frugality, and their determined efforts to obtain knowledge and
build up character, stimulated the youth of the Negro race to greater
exertions in the upward direction.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized as early as 1816.
Its churches grew and its ministry increased in numbers, intelligence,
and piety, until it became the most powerful organization of Colored
men on the continent. The influence of this organization upon the
Colored race in America was excellent. It brought the people together,
not only in religious sympathy, but by the ties of a common interest
in all affairs of their race and condition. The men in the
organization who possessed the power of speech, who had talents to
develop, and an ambition to serve their race, found this church a wide
field of usefulness.
The Colored Baptists were organized before the Methodists, [in
Virginia,] but their organization has always lacked strength. The form
of government, being purely Democratic, was adapted to a people of
larger intelligence and possessed of greater capacity for
self-government. But, notwithstanding this fact, the "independent"
order of Colored Baptists gave the members and clergymen of the
denomination exalted ideas of government, and abiding confidence in
the capacity of the Negro for self-government. No organization of
Colored people in America has produced such able men as the Colored
Baptist Church.
In Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, Colored men distinguished
themselves in the pulpit, in the forum, in business, and letters.
William Howard Day, of Cleveland, during this period [1850-1860]
Librarian of the Cleveland Library and editor of a newspaper; John
Mercer Langston, of Oberlin; John Liverpool and John I. Gaines, of
Cincinnati, Ohio, were good men and true. What they did for their race
was done worthily and well. At the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, held
at Putnam on the 22d, 23d, and 24th of April, 1835, the committee on
the condition of the "people of Color," made the following report from
Cincinnati:
The number of Colored people in Cincinnati is about 2,500. As
illustrating their general condition, we will give the statistics
of one or two small districts. The families in each were visited
from house to house, taking them all as far as we went:
Number of families in one of these districts 26
" of individuals 125
" of heads of families 49
" of heads of families who are professors of religion 19
" of children at school 20
" of _heads of families_ who have been slaves 39
" of individuals who have been slaves 95
Time since they obtained their freedom, from 1 to 15 years;
average, 7 years.
Number of individuals who have purchased themselves 23
Whole amount paid for themselves $9,112
Number of fathers and mothers still in slavery 9
" of children 18
" of brothers and sisters 98
" of newspapers taken 0
" of heads of families who can read 2
EMPLOYMENT OF HEADS OF FAMILIES.
Common laborers and porters 7
Dealers in second-hand clothing 1
Hucksters 1
Carpenters 2
Shoe-blacks 6
Cooks and waiters 11
Washer-women 18
Five of these women purchased themselves from slavery. One paid
four hundred dollars for herself, and has since bought a house
and lot worth six hundred dollars. All this she has done by
washing.
Another individual had bargained for his wife and two children.
Their master agreed to take four hundred and twenty dollars for
them. He succeeded at length in raising the money, which he
carried to their owner. "I shall charge you thirty dollars more
than when you was here before," said the planter, "for your wife
is in a family-way, and you may pay thirty dollars for that or
not take her, just as you please." "And so," said he (patting
the head of a little son, three years old, who hung upon his
knee), "I had to pay thirty dollars for this little fellow six
months before he was born."
Number of families in another district 63
" of individuals 258
" of heads of families 106
" of families who are professors of religion 16
" of heads of families at school 53
" of newspapers taken 7
Amount of property in real estate $9,850
Number of _individuals_ who have been slaves 108
" of _heads of families_ who have been slaves 69
Age at which they obtained their freedom, from 3 months to
60 years; average, 33 years.
Time since they obtained their freedom, from 4 weeks to 27
years; average, 9 years.
Number of heads of families who have purchased themselves, 36
Whole amount paid for themselves $21,515.00
Average price $597.64
Number of children which the same families have already
purchased 14
Whole amount paid for these children $2,425.75
Average price $173.27
Total amount paid for these parents and children $23,940.75
Number of parents still in slavery 16
" of husbands or wives 7
" of children 35
" of brothers and sisters 144
These districts were visited without the least reference to their
being exhibited separately. If they give a fair specimen of the
whole population (and we believe that to be a fact), then we have
the following results: 1,129 of the Colored population of
Cincinnati have been in slavery; 476 have purchased themselves,
at the total expense of $215,522.04, averaging for each, $452.77;
163 parents are still in slavery, 68 husbands and wives, 346
children, 1,579 brothers and sisters.
There are a large number in the city who are now working out
their own freedom--their free papers being retained as security.
One man of our acquaintance has just given his master seven notes
of one hundred dollars each, one of which he intends to pay every
year, till he has paid them all; his master promises then to give
him his free papers. After paying for himself, he intends to buy
his wife and then his children. Others are buying their husbands
or wives, and others again their parents or children. To show
that on this subject they have sympathies like other people, we
will state a single fact. A young man, after purchasing himself,
earned three hundred dollars. This sum he supposed was sufficient
to purchase his aged mother, a widow, whom he had left in slavery
five years before, in Virginia. Hearing that she was for sale, he
started immediately to purchase her. But, after travelling five
hundred miles, and offering all his money, he was refused. Not
because she was not for sale, nor because he did not offer her
full value. She had four sons and daughters with her, and the
planter thought he could do better to keep the family together
and send them all down the river. In vain the affectionate son
pleaded for his mother. The planter's heart was steel. He would
not sell her, and with a heavy heart the young man returned to
Cincinnati. He has since heard that they were sold in the New
Orleans market "_in lots to suit purchasers_."
Cincinnati produced quite a number of business men among her Colored
population.
HENRY BOYD
was born in the State of Kentucky, on the 14th day of May, 1802. He
received some instruction in reading and writing. He was bound out to
a gentleman, from whom he learned the cabinet-making trade. He
developed at quite an early age a genius for working in all kinds of
wood--could make any thing in the business. He came to Ohio in 1826,
and located in Cincinnati. He was a fine-looking man of twenty-four
years, and a master mechanic. He expected to secure employment in some
of the cabinet shops in the city. Accordingly, he applied at several,
but as often as he applied he was refused employment on the ground of
complexional prejudice. In some instances the proprietor was willing
that a Colored man should work for him, but the white mechanics would
not work by the side of a Colored man. In other cases it was quite
different. The proprietors would not entertain the idea of securing
the services of a "Black mechanic." So it was for weeks that Mr. Boyd
sought an opportunity to use his skill in the direction of his genius
and training; but he sought in vain. Disappointed, though not
disheartened, he turned to the work of a stevedore, which he did for
four months. At the expiration of this time he found employment with a
house-builder. Within six months from the time he began work as a
builder he had so thoroughly mastered the trade that he quit working
as a journeyman, formed a co-partnership with a white man, and went
into business. The gentleman with whom he joined his fortunes was a
mechanic of excellent abilities, and acknowledged the superior fitness
of Boyd for the business.
As a builder he succeeded first-rate for four years. But his color was
against him. His white partner would make the contracts, secure the
jobs, and then Boyd would come forward when the work was to be done.
He had an abundance of work, and always finished it to the entire
satisfaction of his patrons. It is impossible to estimate just how
many houses he built, but the number is not small. He had made a
beginning, and secured some capital. He did not like the builder's
trade, and only entered it at the first from necessity--as a
stepping-stone to his own trade, for which he had a great deal of
enthusiasm. In 1836, ten years after his arrival in Cincinnati, he
engaged in the manufacture of bedsteads. For six years he carried on
this business--found a ready market and liberal pay. He brought to his
business some of the oldest buyers in the bedstead line, and had a
trade that kept him busy at all seasons of the year. His very
excellent business habits won for him many friends, and through their
solicitations he enlarged his business by manufacturing all kinds of
furniture. He put up a building on the corner of Eighth Street and
Broadway, where he carried on his manufacturing from 1836 till 1859, a
period of twenty-three years. His business required four large
buildings and a force of skilful workmen, never less than twenty,
frequently fifty. He used the most approved machinery and paid
excellent wages.
His manufactory presented, perhaps, what was never seen in this
country before or since. His workmen represented almost all the
leading races. There were Negroes, Americans, Irishmen, Scotchmen,
Englishmen, Frenchmen, and men of other nationalities. And they didn't
bite each other! Their relations were pleasant.
He was burned out three times, but he rebuilt and went ahead. He was
doing such an extensive business that some thought it advisable to
destroy his buildings. His losses were very heavy, yet he kept right
on, and kept up his business for some time; but finally had to yield
at the last fire, when he had no insurance.
He invented a machine to turn the rails of a bed, but being a Colored
man he could not take out a patent. He, therefore, had one taken out
in the name of a white gentleman. "The Boyd bedstead" sold throughout
the United States then, and was popular for many years after he quit
the business.
He has been engaged in several different businesses since he quit
manufacturing, and for the last nine years has been in the employ of
the city.
SAMUEL T. WILCOX.
In 1850 Samuel T. Wilcox decided to embark in some business venture in
Cincinnati. Accordingly he built a store on the northeast corner of
Broadway and Fifth streets. He at once occupied it as a grocer. In
those days fancy groceries were not kept. But Mr. Wilcox opened a new
era in the business. He introduced fancy articles, such as all
varieties of canned fruit, choice liquors, cigars, first quality of
hams, all kinds of dried fruit, the best brands of sugars, molasses,
and fine soaps. He made a specialty of these, and succeeded admirably.
His trade was divided between two classes--the finest river packets
and the best families of the city. His customers were the very _best
families_--people of wealth and high standing. And perhaps no grocer
of his times in Cincinnati did so large a business as Samuel T.
Wilcox.
His business increased rapidly until he did about $140,000 _of trade
per year_! This continued for six years, when his social habits were
not favorable to permanent success. He had been sole owner of the
business up to this time. He sold out one half of the store to Charles
Roxboro, Sr.; thus the firm name became "Wilcox & Roxboro." The latter
gentleman was energetic and business-like in his habits. He cast his
courage and marvellous tact against the high tide of business disaster
that came sweeping along in the last days of the firm. He resorted to
every honorable and safe expedient in order to avert failure. But the
handwriting was upon the wall. He failed. Wilcox had begun business
with $25,000 cash. He had accumulated $60,000 in real estate, and had
transacted $140,000 of business in a single year! He failed because
his life was immoral, his habits extravagant, and his attention to
business indifferent.
ALEX. S. THOMAS.
This gentleman came to Cincinnati in 1852, where he made the
acquaintance of a Colored gentleman of intelligence, J. P. Ball, who
was in the daguerrian business at Nos. 28 and 30 West Fourth Street.
Mr. Thomas became affianced to Miss Elizabeth Ball, sister of J. P.
Ball; and after they were married, Mr. Thomas accepted the position of
reception clerk for his brother-in-law. He filled this position with
credit and honor for the space of one year. It was now 1853.
Daguerrotypes were all the "rage." Photography was unknown. Mr. Ball
had an excellent run of custom, and was making money rapidly.
As operator, Mr. Ball soon discovered that Mr. Thomas was a man of
quick perception, thorough, and entirely trustworthy. He soon became
familiar with the instrument, and in 1854 began to "operate." He
continued at the instrument during the remainder of the time he spent
at 28 West Fourth Street. He shortly acquired the skill of an old and
well-trained operator; and his success in this department of the
business added greatly to the already well-established reputation of
the gallery.
Mr. Thomas was not satisfied with being a successful clerk and
first-class operator. He wanted to go into business for himself.
Accordingly he opened a gallery at No. 120 West Fourth Street, near
the "Commercial," under the firm name of "Ball & Thomas." The rooms
were handsomely fitted up, and the building leased for five years.
In May, 1860, a severe tornado passed over the city, destroying much
property and several lives. The roof of the Commercial [Potter's
Building] was carried away; part passed over the gallery of Ball &
Thomas, while part went through the operating room, and some fragments
of timber, etc., penetrated a saloon in the rear of the photographic
gallery, and killed a child and a woman. The gallery was a complete
wreck, the instruments, chemicals, scenery, cases, pictures, carpets,
furniture, and every thing else, were ruined. This was in the early
days of the firm. All their available capital had been converted into
stock, used in fitting up the gallery. Ball & Thomas were young
men--they were Colored men, and were financially ruined. Apparently
their business was at an end. But they were artists; and many white
families in Cincinnati recognized them as such. Their white friends
came to the rescue. The gallery was fitted up again most elaborately,
and was known as "the finest photographic gallery west of the
Alleghany Mountains."
This marked a distinct era in the history of the firm, and many
persons often remarked that the luckiest moment in their history was
when the roof of the Commercial building sat down upon them. For years
the best families of the city patronized the famous firm of Ball &
Thomas. They had more business than they could attend to at times, and
consequently had to engage extra help. These were years of
unprecedented success. One hundred dollars a day was small money then.
The firm became quite wealthy. After spending fifteen years at 120
they returned to 30 West Fourth Street, where they remained until May,
1874.
Photographers move considerable, and it is seldom that men in this
business remain in one street or building as long as Ball & Thomas.
They passed twenty-one of the best years of the firm in Fourth Street.
This is both a compliment to the public and themselves. It shows, on
the one hand, that Colored men can conduct business like white men,
and, on the other hand, if Colored men have ability to carry on any
kind of business, white people will patronize them.
The old stand at 30 West Fourth Street was fitted up anew, and
business began with all the wonted zeal and desire to please the
public which characterized the firm in former years. The rooms were at
once elegant and capacious. Their motto was to do the best work at the
cheapest rates. But as in all other businesses, so in photographic
art, there was competition. And rather than do poor work at the low
rates of competitors, they decided to remove to another locality.
Accordingly, in May, 1874, they moved into No. 146 West Fifth Street.
The building was leased for a term of years. It was in no wise adapted
to the photographic business. The walls were cut out, doors made,
stairs changed, skylight put in, chemical rooms constructed,
gas-fixtures put in, papering, painting, and graining done, carpets
and new furniture ordered. It cost the firm more than $2,800 to enter
this new stand.
The first year at the new stand was characterized by liberal custom
and excellent work. The old customers who were delighted with the work
done at 30 West Fourth Street, were convinced that the firm had
redoubled its artistic zeal, and was determined to outdo the palmy
days of Fourth Street. The business, which at this time was in a
flourishing condition, was destined to suffer an interruption in the
death of Thomas Carroll Ball, the senior member of the firm. It was
at a time when the trade demanded the energies of both gentlemen. But
Death never tarries to consider the far-reach of results or the wishes
of the friends of his subject. The business continued. Ball Thomas,
the son of Mr. A. S. Thomas, who had grown up under the faithful
tuition of his father, now became a successful retouching artist. For
the last two years Mr. Thomas has conducted the business alone. He is
now doing business at 166 West Fifth Street, and it is said that he is
doing a good business.
* * * * *
The Colored people of Cincinnati evinced not only an anxiety to take
care of themselves, but took steps early toward securing a home for
the orphans in their midst.
In _ante-bellum_ days there was no provision made for Colored paupers
or Colored orphans. Where individual sympathy or charity did not
intervene, they were left to die in the midst of squalid poverty, and
were cast into the common ditch, without having medical aid or
ministerial consolation. There was not simply studious neglect, but a
strong prohibition against their entrance into institutions sustained
by the county and State for white persons not more fortunate than
they. At one time a good Quaker was superintendent of the county
poorhouse. His heart was touched with kindest sympathy for the
uncared-for Colored paupers in Cincinnati. He acted the part of a true
Samaritan, and gave them separate quarters in the institution of which
he was the official head. This fact came to the public ear, and the
trustees of the poorhouse, in accordance with their own convictions
and in compliance with the complexional prejudices of the community,
discharged the Quaker for this breach of the law. The Colored paupers
were turned out of this lazar-house on the Sabbath. The time to
perpetuate this crime against humanity was indeed significant--on the
Lord's day. The God of the poor and His followers beheld the streets
of Christian Cincinnati filled with the maimed, halt, sick, and poor,
who were denied the common fare accorded the white paupers! There was
no sentiment in those days, either in the pulpit or press, to raise
its voice against this act of cruelty and shame.
Lydia P. Mott, an eminent member of the Society of Friends and an able
leader of a conscientious few, espoused the cause of the motherless,
fatherless, and homeless Colored children of this community. She
attracted the attention and won the confidence of the few
Abolitionists of this city. She determined to establish a home for
these little wanderers, and immediately set to work at a plan. The
late Salmon P. Chase was then quite young, a man of brilliant
abilities and of anti-slavery sentiments. He joined himself to the
humane movement of Lydia P. Mott, with the following persons:
Christian Donaldson, James Pullan, William Donaldson, Robert Buchanan,
John Liverpool, Richard Phillips, John Woodson, Charles Satchell, Wm.
W. Watson, William Darnes, Michael Clark, A. M. Sumner, Reuben P.
Graham, Louis P. Brux, Sarah B. McLain, Mrs. Eustis, Mrs. Dr. Stanton,
Mrs. Hannah Cooper, Mrs. Mary Jane Gordon, Mrs. Susan Miller, Mrs.
Rebecca Darnes, Mrs. Charlotte Armstrong, Mrs. Eliza Clark, Mrs. Ruth
Ellen Watson, and others. Six of the gentlemen and four of the ladies
were white. Only six of this noble company are living at this time.
The organization was effected in 1844, and the act of incorporation
was drawn up by Salmon P. Chase. It was chartered in February, 1845,
the passage of the act having been assured through the personal
influence of Mr. Chase upon the members of the Legislature.
The first Board of Trustees under the charter were William Donaldson,
John Woodson, Richard Phillips, Christian Donaldson, Reuben P. Graham,
Richard Pullan, Charles Satchell, Louis P. Brux, and John Liverpool.
But one is alive--Richard Pullan.
The first building the Trustees secured as an asylum was on Ninth
Street, between Plum and Elm. They paid a rental of $12.50 per month.
The building was owned by Mr. Nicholas Longworth, but the ground was
leased by him from Judge Burnet. The Trustees ultimately purchased the
building for $1,500; and in 1851 the ground also was purchased of Mr.
Groesbeck for $4,400 in cash.
During the three or four years following, the institution had quite an
indifferent career. The money requisite to run it was not forthcoming.
The children were poorly fed and clothed, and many times there was no
money in the treasury at all. The Trustees were discouraged, and it
seemed that the asylum would have to be closed. But just at this time
that venerable Abolitionist and underground railroader, Levi Coffin,
with his excellent wife, "Aunt Kitty," came to the rescue. He took
charge of the institution as superintendent, and his wife assumed the
duties of matron. Through their exertions and adroit management they
succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of many benevolent folk, and
secured the support of many true friends.
It was now 1866. The asylum building presented a forlorn aspect. It
was far from being a comfortable shelter for the children. But a lack
of funds forbade the Trustees from having it repaired. They began to
look about for a more desirable and comfortable building. During the
closing year of the Rebellion a large number of freedmen sought the
shelter of our large Northern cities. Cincinnati received her share of
them, and acted nobly toward them. The government authorities built a
hospital for freedmen in a very desirable locality in Avondale. At
this time (1866), the building, which was very capacious, was not
occupied. The Trustees secured a change in the charter, permitting
them, by consent of the subscribers, to sell the Ninth Street
property, and purchase the hospital building and the accompanying six
acres in Avondale. The Ninth Street property brought $9,000; the
purchase in Avondale, refitting, etc., cost $11,000, incurring a debt
of $2,000.
During the first twenty-two years of the institution much good was
accomplished. Hundreds of children--orphans and friendless
children--found shelter in the asylum, which existed only through the
almost superhuman efforts of the intelligent Colored persons in the
community, and the unstinted charity of many generous white persons.
The asylum has been pervaded with a healthy religious atmosphere; and
many of its inmates have gone forth to the world giving large promise
of usefulness. An occasional letter from former inmates often proves
that much good has been done; and that some of these children, without
the kindly influence and care of the asylum, instead of occupying
places of usefulness and trust in society, might have drifted into
vagrancy and crime.
Amidst the struggle for temporal welfare, the Colored people of
Cincinnati were not unmindful of the interests and destinies of the
Union. A military company was formed, bearing the name of _Attucks
Guards_. On the 25th of July, 1855, an association of ladies presented
a flag to the company. The address, on the part of the ladies, was
delivered by Miss Mary A. Darnes. Among many excellent things, she
said:
"Should the love of liberty and your country ever demand your
services, may you, in imitation of that noble patriot whose name
you bear, promptly respond to the call, and fight to the last
for the great and noble principles of liberty and justice, to the
glory of your fathers and the land of your birth.
"The time is not far distant when the _slave must be free_; if
not by moral and intellectual means, it must be done by the
sword. Remember, gentlemen, should duty call, it will be yours to
obey, and strike to the last for freedom or the grave.
"But God forbid that you should be called upon to witness our
peaceful homes involved in war. May our eyes never behold this
flag in any conflict; let the quiet breeze ever play among its
folds, and the fullest peace dwell among you!"
While the great majority of the Colored people in the country were
bowing themselves cheerfully to the dreadful task of living among
wolves, some of the race were willing to brave the perils of the sea,
and find a new home on the West Coast of Africa. Between the years of
1850-1856, 9,502 Negroes went to Liberia, of whom 3,676 had been born
free. In 1850, there were 1,467 manumitted, while 1,011 ran away from
their masters.
Notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which the free Negroes of
the North had to labor, they accomplished a great deal. In an
incredibly short time they built schools, planted churches,
established newspapers; had their representatives in law, medicine,
and theology before the world as the marvel of the centuries. Shut out
from every influence calculated to incite them to a higher life, and
provoke them to better works, nevertheless, the Colored people were
enabled to live down much prejudice, and gained the support and
sympathy of noble men and women of the Anglo-Saxon race.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] This is inserted in this volume as the more appropriate place.
[56] Slavery in Massachusetts, pp. 228, 229.
[57] Massachusetts Mercury, vol. xvi. No. 22, Sept. 16, 1780.
CHAPTER XII.
NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS.
1619-1860.
THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUMAN INTELLECT.--IGNORANCE FAVORABLE TO
SLAVERY.--AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA IMPOSING A PENALTY
ON ANY ONE INSTRUCTING A COLORED PERSON.--EDUCATIONAL PRIVILEGES
OF THE CREOLES IN THE CITY OF MOBILE.--PREJUDICE AGAINST COLORED
SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT.--THE ATTEMPT OF MISS PRUDENCE CRANDALL TO
ADMIT COLORED GIRLS INTO HER SCHOOL AT CANTERBURY.--THE
INDIGNATION OF THE CITIZENS AT THIS ATTEMPT TO MIX THE RACES IN
EDUCATION.--THE LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT PASSES A LAW
ABOLISHING THE SCHOOL.--THE BUILDING ASSAULTED BY A MOB.--MISS
CRANDALL ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED FOR TEACHING COLORED CHILDREN
AGAINST THE LAW.--GREAT EXCITEMENT.--THE LAW FINALLY
REPEALED.--AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF DELAWARE TAXING PERSONS
WHO BROUGHT INTO, OR SOLD SLAVES OUT OF, THE STATE.--UNDER ACT OF
1829 MONEY RECEIVED FOR THE SALE OF SLAVES IN FLORIDA WAS ADDED
TO THE SCHOOL FUND IN THAT STATE.--GEORGIA PROHIBITS THE
EDUCATION OF COLORED PERSONS UNDER HEAVY PENALTY.--ILLINOIS
ESTABLISHES SEPARATE SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN.--THE "FREE
MISSION INSTITUTE" AT QUINCY, ILLINOIS, DESTROYED BY A MISSOURI
MOB.--NUMEROUS AND CRUEL SLAVE LAWS IN KENTUCKY RETARD THE
EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES.--AN ACT PASSED IN LOUISIANA PREVENTING
THE NEGROES IN ANY WAY FROM BEING INSTRUCTED.--MAINE GIVES EQUAL
SCHOOL PRIVILEGES TO WHITES AND BLACKS.--ST. FRANCIS ACADEMY FOR
COLORED GIRLS FOUNDED IN BALTIMORE IN 1831.--THE WELLS
SCHOOL.--THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED IN
BOSTON BY INTELLIGENT COLORED MEN IN 1798.--A SCHOOL-HOUSE FOR
THE COLORED CHILDREN BUILT AND PAID FOR OUT OF A FUND LEFT BY
ABIEL SMITH FOR THAT PURPOSE.--JOHN B. RUSSWORM ONE OF THE
TEACHERS AND AFTERWARD GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF CAPE PALMAS,
LIBERIA.--FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED
IN 1820.--MISSOURI PASSES STRINGENT LAWS AGAINST THE INSTRUCTION
OF NEGROES.--NEW YORK PROVIDES FOR THE EDUCATION OF
NEGROES.--ELIAS NEAU OPENS A SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY FOR NEGRO
SLAVES IN 1704.--"NEW YORK AFRICAN FREE SCHOOL" IN 1786.--VISIT
OF LAFAYETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOLS IN 1824.--HIS
ADDRESS.--PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN IN NEW
YORK.--COLORED SCHOOLS IN OHIO.--"CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOL" FOR
COLORED YOUTHS FOUNDED IN 1844.--OBERLIN COLLEGE OPENS ITS DOORS
TO COLORED STUDENTS.--THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COLORED SCHOOLS IN
PENNSYLVANIA BY ANTHONY BENEZET IN 1750.--HIS WILL.--"INSTITUTE
FOR COLORED YOUTHS" ESTABLISHED IN 1837.--"AVERY COLLEGE," AT
ALLEGHENY CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, FOUNDED IN 1849.--ASHMUN INSTITUTE,
OR LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, FOUNDED IN OCTOBER, 1856.--SOUTH CAROLINA
TAKES DEFINITE ACTION AGAINST THE EDUCATION OR PROMOTION OF THE
COLORED RACE IN 1800-1803-1834.--TENNESSEE MAKES NO
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST COLOR IN THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1840.--LITTLE
OPPORTUNITY AFFORDED IN VIRGINIA FOR THE COLORED MAN TO BE
ENLIGHTENED.--STRINGENT LAWS ENACTED.--HISTORY OF SCHOOLS FOR THE
COLORED POPULATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
The institution of American slavery needed protection from the day of
its birth to the day of its death. Whips, thumbscrews, and manacles of
iron were far less helpful to it than the thraldom of the intellects
of its hapless victims. "Created a little lower than the angels,"
"crowned with glory and honor," armed with authority "over every
living creature," man was intended by his Maker to rule the world
through his intellect. The homogeneousness of the crude faculties of
man has been quite generally admitted throughout the world; while even
scientists, differing widely in many other things, have united in
ascribing to the human mind everywhere certain possibilities. But one
class of men have dissented from this view--the slave-holders of all
ages. A justification of slavery has been sought in the alleged belief
of the inferiority of the persons enslaved; while the broad truism of
the possibilities of the human mind was confessed in all legislation
that sought to prevent slaves from acquiring knowledge. So the
slave-holder asserted his belief in the mental inferiority of the
Negro, and then advertised his lack of faith in his assertion by
making laws to prevent the Negro intellect from receiving those truths
which would render him valueless as a slave, but equal to the duties
of a freeman.
ALABAMA
had an act in 1832 which declared that "Any person or persons who
shall attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell,
read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined
in a sum not less than $250, nor more than $500." This act also
prohibited with severe penalties, by flogging, "any free negro or
person of color" from being in company with any slaves without written
permission from the owner or overseer of such slaves; it also
prohibited the assembling of more than five male slaves at any place
off the plantation to which they belonged; but nothing in the act was
to be considered as forbidding attendance at places of public worship
held by white persons. No slave or free person of color was permitted
to "preach, exhort, or harangue any slave or slaves, or free persons
of color, except in the presence of five respectable slave-holders, or
unless the person preaching was licensed by some regular body of
professing Christians in the neighborhood, to whose society or church
the negroes addressed properly belonged."
In 1833, the mayor and aldermen of the city of Mobile were authorized
by an act of the Legislature to grant licenses to such persons as they
deemed suitable to give instruction to the children of free Colored
Creoles. This applied only to those who resided in the city of Mobile
and county of Baldwin. The instruction was to be given at brief
periods, and the children had to secure a certificate from the mayor
and aldermen. The ground of this action was the treaty between France
and the United States in 1803, by which the rights and privileges of
citizens had been secured to the Creoles residing in the above places
at the time of the treaty.
ARKANSAS,
so far as her laws appear, did not prohibit the education of Negroes;
but a study of her laws leaves the impression that the Negroes there
were practically denied the right of instruction.
CONNECTICUT
never legislated against educating Colored persons, but the prejudice
was so strong that it amounted to the same thing. The intolerant
spirit of the whites drove the Colored people of Hartford to request a
separate school in 1830. Prejudice was so great against the presence
of a Colored school in a community of white people, that a school,
established by a very worthy white lady, was mobbed and then
legislated out of existence.
"In the summer of 1832, Miss Prudence Crandall, an excellent,
well-educated Quaker young lady, who had gained considerable
reputation as a teacher in the neighboring town of Plainfield,
purchased, at the solicitation of a number of families in the
village of Canterbury, Connecticut, a commodious house in that
village, for the purpose of establishing a boarding and day
school for young ladies, in order that they might receive
instruction in higher branches than were taught in the public
district school. Her school was well conducted, but was
interrupted early in 1833 in this wise: Not far from the village
a worthy colored man was living, by the name of Harris, the owner
of a good farm, and in comfortable circumstances. His daughter
Sarah, a bright girl, seventeen years of age, had passed with
credit through the public school of the district in which she
lived, and was anxious to acquire a better education, to qualify
herself to become a teacher of the colored people. She applied to
Miss Crandall for admission to her school. Miss Crandall
hesitated, for prudential reasons, to admit a colored person
among her pupils; but Sarah was a young lady of pleasing
appearance and manners, well known to many of Miss Crandall's
present pupils, having been their classmate in the district
school, and was, moreover, a virtuous, pious girl, and a member
of the church in Canterbury. No objection could be made to her
admission, except on acount of her complexion, and Miss Crandall
decided to receive her as a pupil. No objection was made by the
other pupils, but in a few days the parents of some of them
called on Miss Crandall and remonstrated; and although Miss
Crandall pressed upon their consideration the eager desire of
Sarah for knowledge and culture, and the good use she wished to
make of her education, her excellent character, and her being an
accepted member of the same Christian church to which they
belonged, they were too much prejudiced to listen to any
arguments--'they would not have it said that their daughters went
to school with a nigger girl.' It was urged that if Sarah was not
dismissed, the white pupils would be withdrawn; but although the
fond hopes of success for an institution which she had
established at the risk of all her property, and by incurring a
debt of several hundred dollars, seemed to be doomed to
disappointment, she decided not to yield to the demand for the
dismissal of Sarah; and on the 2d day of March, 1833, she
advertised in the 'Liberator' that on the first Monday in April
her school would be open for 'young ladies and little misses of
color.' Her determination having become known, a fierce
indignation was kindled and fanned by prominent people of the
village and pervaded the town. In this juncture, the Rev. Samuel
J. May, of the neighboring town of Brooklyn, addressed her a
letter of sympathy, expressing his readiness to assist her to the
extent of his power, and was present at the town meeting held on
the 9th of March, called for the express purpose of devising and
adopting such measures as 'would effectually avert the nuisance
or speedily abate it if it should be brought into the village.'
"The friends of Miss Crandall were authorized by her to state to
the moderator of the town meeting that she would give up her
house, which was one of the most conspicuous in the village, and
not wholly paid for, if those who were opposed to her school
being there would take the property off her hands at the price
for which she had purchased it, and which was deemed a reasonable
one, and allow her time to procure another house in a more
retired part of the town.
"The town meeting was held in the meeting-house, which, though
capable of holding a thousand people, was crowded throughout to
its utmost capacity. After the warning for the meeting had been
read, resolutions were introduced in which were set forth the
disgrace and damage that would be brought upon the town if a
school for colored girls should be set up there, protesting
emphatically against the impending evil, and appointing the civil
authority and select-men a committee to wait upon 'the person
contemplating the establishment of said school, and persuade her,
if possible, to abandon the project.'
"The resolutions were advocated by Rufus Adams, Esq., and Hon.
Andrew T. Judson, who was then the most prominent man of the
town, and a leading politician in the State, and much talked of
as the Democratic candidate for governor, and was a
representative in Congress from 1835 to 1839, when he was elected
judge of the United States District Court, which position he held
until his death in 1853, adjudicating, among other causes, the
libel of the 'Amistad' and the fifty-four Africans on board.
After his address on this occasion, Mr. May, in company with Mr.
Arnold Buffum, a lecturing agent of the New England Anti-Slavery
Society, applied for permission to speak in behalf of Miss
Crandall, but their application was violently opposed, and the
resolutions being adopted, the meeting was declared, by the
moderator, adjourned.
"Mr. May at once stepped upon the seat where he had been sitting,
and rapidly vindicated Miss Crandall, replying to some of the
misstatements as to her purposes and the character of her
expected pupils, when he gave way to Mr. Buffum, who had spoken
scarcely five minutes before the trustees of the church ordered
the house to be vacated and the doors to be shut. There was then
no alternative but to yield.
"Two days afterward Mr. Judson called on Mr. May, with whom he
had been on terms of a pleasant acquaintance, not to say of
friendship, and expressed regret that he had applied certain
epithets to him; and went on to speak of the disastrous effect on
the village from the establishment of 'a school for nigger
girls.' Mr. May replied that his purpose was, if he had been
allowed to do so, to state at the town meeting Miss Crandall's
proposition to sell her house in the village at its fair
valuation, and retire to some other part of the town. To this Mr.
Judson replied: 'Mr. May, we are not merely opposed to the
establishment of that school in Canterbury, we mean there shall
not be such a school set up anywhere in the State.'
"Mr. Judson continued, declaring that the colored people could
never rise from their menial condition in our country, and ought
not to be permitted to rise here; that they were an inferior race
and should not be recognized as the equals of the whites; that
they should be sent back to Africa, and improve themselves there,
and civilize and Christianize the natives. To this Mr. May
replied that there never would be fewer colored people in this
country than there were then; that it was unjust to drive them
out of the country; that we must accord to them their rights or
incur the loss of our own; that education was the primal,
fundamental right of all the children of men; and that
Connecticut was the last place where this should be denied.
"The conversation was continued in a similar strain, in the
course of which Mr. Judson declared with warmth: 'That nigger
school shall never be allowed in Canterbury, nor in any town of
this State'; and he avowed his determination to secure the
passage of a law by the Legislature then in session, forbidding
the institution of such a school in any part of the State.
"Undismayed by the opposition and the threatened violence of her
neighbors, Miss Crandall received, early in April, fifteen or
twenty colored young ladies and misses from Philadelphia, New
York, Providence, and Boston, and the annoyances of her
persecutors at once commenced: all accommodations at the stores
in Canterbury being denied her, her pupils being insulted
whenever they appeared on the streets, the doors and door-steps
of her house being besmeared, and her well filled with filth;
under all of which, both she and her pupils remained firm. Among
other means used to intimidate, an attempt was made to drive away
those innocent girls by a process under the obsolete vagrant law,
which provided that the select-men of any town might warn any
person, not an inhabitant of the State, to depart forthwith,
demanding $1.67 for every week he or she remained after receiving
such warning; and in case the fine was not paid and the person
did not depart before the expiration of ten days after being
sentenced, _then he or she should be whipped on the naked body,
not exceeding ten stripes_.
"A warrant to that effect was actually served upon Eliza Ann
Hammond, a fine girl from Providence, aged seventeen years; but
it was finally abandoned, and another method was resorted to,
most disgraceful to the State as well as the town. Foiled in
their attempts to frighten away Miss Crandall's pupils by their
proceedings under the obsolete 'pauper and vagrant law,' Mr.
Judson and those who acted with him pressed upon the Legislature,
then in session, a demand for the enactment of a law which should
enable them to accomplish their purpose; and in that bad purpose
they succeeded, by securing the following enactment, on the 24th
of May, 1833, known as the '_black law_.'
"'Whereas, attempts have been made to establish literary
institutions in this State for the instruction of colored persons
belonging to other States and countries, which would tend to the
great increase of the colored population of the State, and
thereby to the injury of the people: therefore,
"'_Be it enacted, etc._, That no person shall set up or establish
in this State any school, academy, or other literary institution
for the instruction or education of colored persons, who are not
inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, for the purpose of
attending or being taught or instructed in any such school,
academy, or literary institution, any colored person who is not
an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent in
writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil authority,
and also of the select-men of the town in which such school,
academy, or literary institution is situated,' etc.
"'And each and every person who shall knowingly do any act
forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein,
shall for the first offense forfeit and pay to the treasurer of
this State a fine of $100, and for the second offense $200, and
so double for every offense of which he or she shall be
convicted; and all informing officers are required to make due
presentment of all breaches of this act.'
"On the receipt of the tidings of the passage of this law, the
people of Canterbury were wild with exultation; the bells were
rung and a cannon was fired to manifest the joy. On the 27th of
June, Miss Crandall was arrested and arraigned before Justices
Adams and Bacon, two of those who had been the earnest opponents
of her enterprise; and the result being predetermined, the trial
was of course brief, and Miss Crandall was 'committed' to take
her trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Brooklyn,
in August. A messenger was at once dispatched by the party
opposed to Miss Crandall to Brooklyn, to inform Mr. May, as her
friend, of the result of the trial, stating that she was in the
hands of the sheriff, and would be put in jail unless he or some
of her friends would 'give bonds' for her in a certain sum."
The denouement may be related most appropriately in the language of
Mr. May:
"I calmly told the messenger that there were gentlemen enough in
Canterbury whose bond for that amount would be as good or better
than mine, and I should leave it for them to do Miss Crandall
that favor. 'But,' said the young man, 'are you not her friend?'
'Certainly,' I replied, 'too sincerely her friend to give relief
to her enemies in their present embarrassment, and I trust you
will not find any one of her friends, or the patrons of her
school, who will step forward to help them any more than myself.'
'But, sir,' he cried, 'do you mean to allow her to be put in
jail?' 'Most certainly,' was my answer, 'if her persecutors are
unwise enough to let such an outrage be committed.' He turned
from me in blank surprise, and hurried back to tell Mr. Judson
and the justices of his ill success.
"A few days before, when I first heard of the passage of the law,
I had visited Miss Crandall with my friend, Mr. George W. Benson,
and advised with her as to the course she and her friends ought
to pursue when she should be brought to trial. She appreciated at
once and fully the importance of leaving her persecutors to show
to the world how base they were, and how atrocious was the law
they had induced the Legislature to enact--a law, by the force of
which a woman might be fined and imprisoned as a felon in the
State of Connecticut for giving instruction to colored girls. She
agreed that it would be best for us to leave her in the hands of
those with whom the law originated, hoping that, in their
madness, they would show forth all their hideous features.
"Mr. Benson and I, therefore, went diligently around to all who
he knew were friendly to Miss Crandall and her school, and
counselled them by no means to give bonds to keep her from
imprisonment, because nothing would expose so fully to the public
the egregious wickedness of the law and the virulence of her
persecutors as the fact that they had thrust her into jail.
"When I found that her resolution was equal to the trial which
seemed to be impending, that she was ready to brave and to bear
meekly the worst treatment that her enemies would venture to
subject her to, I made all the arrangements for her comfort that
were practicable in our prison. It fortunately happened that the
most suitable room, unoccupied, was the one in which a man named
Watkins had recently been confined for the murder of his wife,
and out of which he had been taken and executed. This
circumstance we foresaw would add not a little to the public
detestation of the _black law_. The jailer, at my request,
readily put the room in as nice order as was possible, and
permitted me to substitute for the bedstead and mattrass on which
the murderer had slept, fresh and clean ones from my own house
and Mr. Benson's.
"About 2 o'clock, P.M., another messenger came to inform me that
the sheriff was on the way from Canterbury to the jail with Miss
Crandall, and would imprison her unless her friends would give
the required bail. Although in sympathy with Miss Crandall's
persecutors, he saw clearly the disgrace that was about to be
brought upon the State, and begged me and Mr. Benson to avert it.
Of course we refused. I went to the jailer's house and met Miss
Crandall on her arrival. We stepped aside. I said: 'If now you
hesitate--if you dread the gloomy place so much as to wish to be
saved from it, I will give bonds for you even now.' 'Oh, no,' she
promptly replied, 'I am only afraid they will not put me in jail.
Their evident hesitation and embarrassment show plainly how much
they deprecated the effect of this part of their folly, and
therefore I am the more anxious that they should be exposed, if
not caught in their own wicked devices.
"We therefore returned with her to the sheriff and the company
that surrounded him, to await his final act. He was ashamed to do
it. He knew it would cover the persecutors of Miss Crandall and
the State of Connecticut with disgrace. He conferred with several
about him, and delayed yet longer. Two gentlemen came and
remonstrated with me in not very seemly terms: 'It would be a
---- shame, an eternal disgrace to the State, to have her put
into jail--into the very room that Watkins had last occupied.'
"'Certainly, gentlemen,' I replied, 'and this you may prevent if
you please.'
"'Oh!' they cried, 'we are not her friends; we are not in favor
of her school; we don't want any more ---- niggers coming among
us. It is your place to stand by Miss Crandall and help her now.
You and your ---- abolition brethren have encouraged her to
bring this nuisance into Canterbury, and it is ---- mean in you
to desert her now.'
"I rejoined: 'She knows we have not deserted her, and do not
intend to desert her. The law which her persecutors have
persuaded our legislators to enact is an infamous one, worthy of
the dark ages. It would be just as bad as it is whether we would
give bonds for her or not. But the people generally will not so
soon realize how bad, how wicked, how cruel a law it is unless we
suffer her persecutors to inflict upon her all the penalties it
prescribes. She is willing to bear them for the sake of the cause
she has so nobly espoused. If you see fit to keep her from
imprisonment in the cell of a murderer for having proffered the
blessings of a good education to those who in our country need it
most, you may do so; _we shall not_.'
"They turned from us in great wrath, words falling from their
lips which I shall not repeat.
"The sun had descended nearly to the horizon; the shadows of
night were beginning to fall around us. The sheriff could defer
the dark deed no longer. With no little emotion, and with words
of earnest deprecation, he gave that excellent, heroic, Christian
young lady into the hands of the jailer, and she was led into the
cell of Watkins. So soon as I had heard the bolts of her prison
door turned in the lock, and saw the key taken out, I bowed and
said: 'The deed is done, completely done. It cannot be recalled.
It has passed into the history of our nation and our age.' I went
away with my steadfast friend, George W. Benson, assured that the
legislators of the State had been guilty of a most unrighteous
act, and that Miss Crandall's persecutors had also committed a
great blunder; that they all would have much more reason to be
ashamed of her imprisonment than she or her friends could ever
have.
"The next day we gave the required bonds. Miss Crandall was
released from the cell of the murderer, returned home, and
quietly resumed the duties of her school until she should be
summoned as a culprit into court, there to be tried by the
infamous '_Black Law of Connecticut_.' And, as we expected, so
soon as the evil tidings could be carried in that day, before
Professor Morse had given to Rumor her telegraphic wings, it was
known all over the country and the civilized world, that an
excellent young lady had been imprisoned as a criminal--yes, put
into a murderer's cell--in the State of Connecticut, for opening
a school for the instruction of colored girls. The comments that
were made upon the deed in almost all the newspapers were far
from grateful to the feelings of her persecutors. Even many who,
under the same circumstances, would probably have acted as badly
as Messrs. A. T. Judson & Co., denounced their procedure as
'un-Christian, inhuman, anti-Democratic, base, mean.'
"On the 23d of August, 1833, the first trial of Miss Crandall
was had in Brooklyn, the seat of the county of Windham, Hon.
Joseph Eaton presiding at the county court.
"The prosecution was conducted by Hon. A. T. Judson, Jonathan A.
Welch, Esq., and I. Bulkley, Esq. Miss Crandall's counsel was
Hon. Calvin Goddard, Hon. W. W. Elsworth, and Henry Strong, Esq.
"The judge, somewhat timidly, gave it as his opinion 'that the
law was constitutional and obligatory on the people of the
State.'
"The jury, after an absence of several hours, returned into
court, not having agreed upon a verdict. They were instructed and
sent out again, and again a third time, in vain; they stated to
the judge that there was no probability that they could ever
agree. Seven were for conviction and five for acquittal, so they
were discharged.
"The second trial was on the 3d of October, before Judge Daggett
of the Supreme Court, who was a strenuous advocate of the black
law. His influence with the jury was overpowering, insisting in
an elaborate and able charge that the law was constitutional,
and, without much hesitation, the verdict was given against Miss
Crandall. Her counsel at once filed a bill of exceptions, and
took an appeal to the Court of Errors, which was granted. Before
that, the highest legal tribunal in the State, the cause was
argued on the 22d of July, 1834. Both the Hon. W. W. Elsworth and
the Hon. Calvin Goddard argued with great ability and eloquence
against the constitutionality of the black law. The Hon. A. T.
Judson and Hon. C. F. Cleaveland said all they could to prove
such a law consistent with the _Magna Charta_ of our republic.
The court reserved a decision for some future time; and that
decision was never given, it being evaded by the court finding
such defects in the information prepared by the State's attorney
that it ought to be quashed.
"Soon after this, an attempt was made to set the house of Miss
Crandall on fire, but without effect. The question of her duty to
risk the lives of her pupils against this mode of attack was then
considered, and upon consultation with friends it was concluded
to hold on and bear a little longer, with the hope that this
atrocity of attempting to fire the house, and thus expose the
lives and property of her neighbors, would frighten the
instigators of the persecution, and cause some restraint on the
'baser sort.' But a few nights afterward, about 12 o'clock, being
the night of the 9th of September, her house was assaulted by a
number of persons with heavy clubs and iron bars, and windows
were dashed to pieces. Mr. May was summoned the next morning, and
after consultation it was determined that the school should be
abandoned."
Mr. May thus concluded his account of this event, and of the
enterprise:
"The pupils were called together and I was requested to announce
to them our decision. Never before had I felt so deeply sensible
of the cruelty of the persecution which had been carried on for
eighteen months in that New England village, against a family of
defenseless females. Twenty harmless, well-behaved girls, whose
only offense against the peace of the community was that they had
come together there to obtain useful knowledge and moral culture,
were to be told that they had better go away, because, forsooth,
the house in which they dwelt would not be protected by the
guardians of the town, the conservators of the peace, the
officers of justice, the men of influence in the village where it
was situated. The words almost blistered my lips. My bosom glowed
with indignation. I felt ashamed of Canterbury, ashamed of
Connecticut, ashamed of my country, ashamed of my color."[58]
Thus ended the generous, disinterested, philanthropic Christian
enterprise of Prudence Crandall, but the law under which her
enterprise was defeated was repealed in 1838.
It is to be regretted that Connecticut earned such an unenviable place
in history as this. It seems strange, indeed, that such an occurrence
could take place in the nineteenth century in a free State in a
republic in North America! But such is "the truth of history."
DELAWARE
never passed any law against the instruction of Negroes, but in 1833
passed an act taxing every person who sold a slave out of the State,
or brought one into the State, five dollars, which went into a school
fund for the education of _white children alone_. In 1852, the Revised
Statutes provided for the taxation of all the property of the State
for the support of the schools for _white children_ alone. So, by
implication, Delaware prohibited the education of Colored children.
In 1840, the Friends formed the African School Association in
Wilmington; and under its management two excellent schools, for boys
and girls, were established.
FLORIDA.
On the 28th of December, 1848, an act was passed providing "for the
establishment of common schools." The right to vote at district
meetings was conferred upon every person whose property was liable to
taxation for school purposes; but only white children were allowed
school privileges.
In the same year an act was passed providing that the school funds
should consist of "the proceeds of the school lands," and of all
estates, real or personal, escheating to the State, and "the proceeds
of all property found on the coast or shores of the State." In 1850
the counties were authorized to provide, by taxation, not more than
four dollars for each child within their limits of the proper school
age. In the same year the amount received from the sale of any slave,
under the act of 1829, was required to be added to the school fund.
The common school law was revised in 1853, and the county
commissioners were authorized to add from the county treasury any sum
they thought proper for the support of common schools.[59]
GEORGIA
passed a law in 1770 (copied from S. C. Statutes, passed in 1740),
fixing a fine of £20 for teaching a slave to read or write. In 1829
the Legislature enacted the following law:
"If any slave, negro, or free person of color, or any white
person, shall teach any other slave, negro, or free person of
color to read or write either written or printed characters, the
said free person of color or slave shall be punished by fine and
whipping, or fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court;
and if a white person so offend, he, she, or they shall be
punished with a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment in the
common jail at the discretion of the court."
In 1833 the above law was consolidated into a penal code. A penalty of
$100 was provided against persons who employed any slave or free
person of Color to set type or perform any other labor about a
printing-office requiring a knowledge of reading or writing. During
the same year an ordinance was passed in the city of Savannah, "that
if any person shall teach or cause to be taught any slave or free
person of color to read or write within the city, or who shall keep a
school for that purpose, he or she shall be fined in a sum not
exceeding $100 for each and every such offense; and if the offender be
a slave or free person of color, he or she may also be whipped, not
exceeding thirty-nine lashes."
In the summer of 1850 a series of articles by Mr. F. C. Adams appeared
in one of the papers of Savannah, advocating the education of the
Negroes as a means of increasing their value and of attaching them to
their masters. The subject was afterward taken up in the Agricultural
Convention which met at Macon in September of the same year. The
matter was again brought up in September, 1851, in the Agricultural
Convention, and after being debated, a resolution was passed that a
petition be presented to the Legislature for a law granting permission
to educate the slaves. The petition was presented to the Legislature,
and Mr. Harlston introduced a bill in the winter of 1852, which was
discussed and passed in the lower House, to repeal the old law, and to
grant to the masters the privilege of educating their slaves. The bill
was lost in the senate by two or three votes.[60]
ILLINOIS'
school laws contain the word "white" from beginning to end. There is
no prohibition against the education of Colored persons; but there
being no mention of them, is evidence that they were purposely
omitted. Separate schools were established for Colored children before
the war, and a few white schools opened their doors to them. The Free
Mission Institute at Quincy was destroyed by a mob from Missouri in
_ante-bellum_ days, because Colored persons were admitted to the
classes.
INDIANA
denied the right of suffrage to her Negro population in the
constitution of 1851. No provision was made for the education of the
Negro children. And the cruelty of the laws that drove the Negro from
the State, and pursued him while in it, gave the poor people no hope
of peaceful habitation, much less of education.
KENTUCKY
never put herself on record against the education of Negroes. By an
act passed in 1830, all the inhabitants of each school district were
taxed to support a common-school system. The property of Colored
persons was included, but they could not vote or enjoy the privileges
of the schools. And the slave laws were so numerous and cruel that
there was no opportunity left the bondmen in this State to acquire any
knowledge of books even secretly.
LOUISIANA
passed an act in 1830, forbidding free Negroes to enter the State. It
provided also, that whoever should "write, print, publish, or
distribute any thing having a tendency to produce discontent among the
free colored population, or insubordination among the slaves," should,
on conviction thereof, be imprisoned "_at hard labor for life, or
suffer death_, at the discretion of the court." And whoever used
language calculated to produce discontent among the free or slave
population, or was "instrumental in bringing into the State any paper,
book, or pamphlet having such tendency," was to "suffer imprisonment
at hard labor, not less than three years nor more than twenty-one
years, or death, at the discretion of the court." "All persons,"
continues the act, "who shall teach, or permit, or cause to be taught,
any slave to read or write, shall be imprisoned not less than one
month nor more than twelve months."
In 1847, a system of common schools for "the education of white youth
was established." It was provided that "one mill on the dollar, upon
the _ad valorem_ amount of the general list of taxable property,"
should be levied for the support of the schools.
MAINE
gave the elective franchise and ample school privileges to all her
citizens, without regard to race or color, by her constitution of
1820.
MARYLAND
always restricted the right of suffrage to her "white male
inhabitants," and, therefore, always refused to make any provisions
for the education of her Negro population. There is nothing upon her
statute-books prohibiting the instruction of Negroes, but the law that
designates her schools for "white children" is sufficient proof that
Negro children were purposely omitted and excluded from the benefits
of the schools.
St. Frances Academy for Colored girls was founded in connection with
the Oblate Sisters of Providence Convent, in Baltimore, June 5, 1829,
under the hearty approbation of the Most Rev. James Whitfield, D.D.,
the Archbishop of Baltimore at that time, and receiving the sanction
of the Holy See, October 2, 1831. The convent originated with the
French Fathers, who came to Baltimore from San Domingo as refugees, in
the time of the revolution in that island in the latter years of last
century. There were many Colored Catholic refugees who came to
Baltimore during that period, and the French Fathers soon opened
schools there for the benefit of the refugees and other Colored
people. The Colored women who formed the original society which
founded the convent and seminary, were from San Domingo; though they
had, some of them, certainly, been educated in France. The schools
which preceded the organization of the convent were greatly favored
by. Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, D.D., who was a French Father, and
Archbishop of Baltimore from 1817 to 1828, Archbishop Whitfield being
his successor. The Sisters of Providence is the name of a religious
society of Colored women who renounced the world to consecrate
themselves to the Christian education of Colored girls. The following
extract from the announcement which, under the caption of "Prospectus
of a School for Colored Girls under the Direction of the Sisters of
Providence," appeared in the columns of the "Daily National
Intelligencer," October 25, 1831, shows the spirit in which the school
originated, and at the same time shadows forth the predominating ideas
pertaining to the province of the race at that period.
The prospectus says:
"The object of this institute is one of great importance,
greater, indeed, than might at first appear to those who would
only glance at the advantages which it is calculated to directly
impart to the leading portion of the human race, and through it
to society at large. In fact, these girls will either become
mothers of families or household servants. In the first case the
solid virtues, the religious and moral principles which they may
have acquired in this school will be carefully transferred as a
legacy to their children. Instances of the happy influence which
the example of virtuous parents has on the remotest lineage in
this humble and naturally dutiful class of society are numerous.
As to such as are to be employed as servants, they will be
intrusted with domestic concerns and the care of young children.
How important, then, it will be that these girls shall have
imbibed religious principles, and have been trained up in habits
of modesty, honesty, and integrity."[61]
The Wells School, established by a Colored man by the name of Nelson
Wells, in 1835, gave instruction to free children of color. It was
managed by a board of trustees who applied the income of $7,000 (the
amount left by Mr. Wells) to the support of the school. It
accomplished much good.
MASSACHUSETTS.
A separate school for Colored children was established in Boston, in
1798, and was held in the house of a reputable Colored man named
Primus Hall. The teacher was one Elisha Sylvester, whose salary was
paid by the parents of the children whom he taught. In 1800 sixty-six
Colored citizens presented a petition to the School Committee of
Boston, praying that a school might be established for their benefit.
A sub-committee, to whom the petition had been referred, reported in
favor of granting the prayer, but it was voted down at the next town
meeting. However, the school taught by Mr. Sylvester did not perish.
Two young gentlemen from Harvard University, Messrs. Brown and
Williams, continued the school until 1806. During this year the
Colored Baptists built a church edifice in Belknap Street, and fitted
up the lower room for a school for Colored children. From the house of
Primus Hall the little school was moved to its new quarters in the
Belknap Street church. Here it was continued until 1835, when a
school-house for Colored children was erected and paid for out of a
fund left for the purpose by Abiel Smith, and was subsequently called
"Smith School-house." The authorities of Boston were induced to give
$200.00 as an annual appropriation, and the parents of the children in
attendance paid 12½ cents per week. The school-house was dedicated
with appropriate exercises, Hon. William Minot delivering the
dedicatory address.
The African school in Belknap Street was under the control of the
school committee from 1812 to 1821, and from 1821 was under the charge
of a special sub-committee. Among the teachers was John B. Russworm,
from 1821 to 1824, who entered Bowdoin College in the latter year, and
afterward became governor of the colony of Cape Palmas in Southern
Liberia.
The first primary school for Colored children in Boston was
established in 1820, two or three of which were subsequently kept
until 1855, when they were discontinued as separate schools, in
accordance with the general law passed by the Legislature in that
year, which provided that, "in determining the qualifications of
scholars to be admitted into any public school, or any district school
in this commonwealth, no distinction shall be made on account of the
race, color, or religious opinions of the applicant or scholar." "Any
child, who, on account of his race, color, or religious opinions
should be excluded from any public or district school, if otherwise
qualified," might recover damages in an action of _tort_, brought in
the name of the child in any court of competent jurisdiction, against
the city or town in which the school was located.[62]
MISSISSIPPI
passed an act in 1823 providing against the meeting together of
slaves, free Negroes, or Mulattoes above the number of five. They were
not allowed to meet at any public house in the night; or at any house,
for teaching, reading, or writing, in the day or night. The penalty
for the violation of this law was whipping, "not exceeding
thirty-nine" lashes.
In 1831 an act was passed making it "unlawful for any slave, free
negro, or mulatto to preach the Gospel," upon pain of receiving
thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the presumptuous preacher.
If a Negro received written permission from his master he might preach
to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, providing six
respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present.
In 1846, and again in 1848, school laws were enacted, but in both
instances schools and education were prescribed for "white youth
between the ages of six and twenty years."
MISSOURI
ordered all free persons of color to move out of the State in 1845. In
1847 an act was passed providing that "no person shall keep or teach
any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes in reading or
writing in this State."
NEW YORK
had the courage and patriotism, in 1777, to extend the right of
suffrage to every male inhabitant of full age. But by the revised
constitution, in 1821, this liberal provision was abridged so that
"no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen
of this State, and for one year next preceding any election, shall be
seized and possessed of a freehold estate of $250 over and above all
debts and encumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually
rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such
election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation
unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as
aforesaid." In 1846, and again in 1850, a Constitutional amendment
conferring equal privileges upon the Negroes, was voted down by large
majorities.
A school for Negro slaves was opened in the city of New York in 1704
by Elias Neau, a native of France, and a catechist of the "Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." After a long
imprisonment for his public profession of faith as a Protestant, he
founded an asylum in New York. His sympathies were awakened by the
condition of the Negroes in slavery in that city, who numbered about
1,500 at that time. The difficulties of holding any intercourse with
them seemed almost insurmountable. At first he could only visit them
from house to house, after his day's toil was over; afterward he was
permitted to gather them together in a room in his own house for a
short time in the evening. As the result of his instructions at the
end of four years, in 1708, the ordinary number under his instruction
was 200. Many were judged worthy to receive the sacrament at the hands
of Mr. Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church, some of whom became
regular and devout communicants, remarkable for their orderly and
blameless lives.
But soon after this time some Negroes of the Carmantee and Pappa
tribes formed a plot for setting fire to the city and murdering the
English on a certain night. The work was commenced but checked, and
after a short struggle the English subdued the Negroes. Immediately a
loud and angry clamor arose against Elias Neau, his accusers saying
that his school was the cause of the murderous attempt. He denied the
charge in vain; and so furious were the people that, for a time, his
life was in danger. The evidence, however, at the trial proved that
the Negroes most deeply engaged in this plot were those whose masters
were most opposed to any means for their instruction. Yet the offence
of a few was charged upon the race, and even the provincial government
lent its authority to make the burden of Neau the heavier. The common
council passed an order forbidding Negroes "to appear in the streets
after sunset, without lanthorns or candles"; and as they could not
procure these, the result was to break up the labors of Neau. But at
this juncture Governor Hunter interposed, and went to visit the school
of Neau, accompanied by several officers of rank and by the society's
missionaries, and he was so well pleased that he gave his full
approval to the work, and in a public proclamation called upon the
clergy of the province to exhort their congregations to extend their
approval also. Vesey, the good rector of Trinity Church, had long
watched the labors of Neau and witnessed the progress of his scholars,
as well as assisted him in them; and finally the governor, the
council, mayor, recorder, and two chief justices of New York joined in
declaring that Neau "in a very eminent degree deserved the
countenance, favor, and protection of the society." He therefore
continued his labors until 1722, when, "amid the unaffected sorrow of
his negro scholars and the friends who honored him for their sake, he
was removed by death."
The work was then continued by "Huddlestone, then schoolmaster in New
York"; and he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Wetmore, who removed in 1726
to Rye; whereupon the Rev. Mr. Colgan was appointed to assist the
rector of Trinity Church, and to carry on the instruction of the
Negroes. A few years afterward Thomas Noxon assisted Mr. Colgan, and
their joint success was very satisfactory. Rev. R. Charlton, who had
been engaged in similar labor at New Windsor, was called to New York
in 1732, where he followed up the work successfully for fifteen years,
and was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Auchmuty. Upon the death of Thomas
Noxon, in 1741, Mr. Hildreth took his place, who, in 1764, wrote that
"not a single black admitted by him to the holy communion had turned
out badly, or in any way disgraced his profession." Both Auchmuty and
Hildreth received valuable support from Mr. Barclay, who, upon the
death of Mr. Vesey, in 1746, had been appointed to the rectory of
Trinity Church.
The frequent kidnapping of free persons of color excited public alarm
and resulted in the formation of "The New York Society for Promoting
the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting such of them as have been or
may be Liberated." These are the names of the gentlemen who organized
the society, and became the board of trustees of the "_New York
African Free School_":
Melancthon Smith, Jno. Bleeker, James Cogswell, Lawrence Embree,
Thomas Burling, Willett Leaman, Jno. Lawrence, Jacob Leaman, White
Mattock, Mathew Clarkson, Nathaniel Lawrence, Jno. Murray, Jr.
Their school, located in Cliff Street, between Beekman and Ferry, was
opened in 1786, taught by Cornelius Davis, attended by about forty
pupils of both sexes, and appears, from their book of minutes, to have
been satisfactorily conducted. In the year 1791 a female teacher was
added to instruct the girls in needle-work, the expected advantages of
which measure were soon realized and highly gratifying to the society.
In 1808 the society was incorporated, and in the preamble it is
recorded that "a free school for the education of such persons as have
been liberated from bondage, that they may hereafter become useful
members of the community," has been established. It may be proper here
to remark that the good cause in which the friends of this school were
engaged, was far from being a popular one. The prejudices of a large
portion of the community were against it; the means in the hands of
the trustees were often very inadequate, and many seasons of
discouragement were witnessed; but they were met by men who, trusting
in the Divine support, were resolved neither to relax their exertions
nor to retire from the field.
Through the space of about twenty years they struggled on; the number
of scholars varying from forty to sixty, until the year 1809, when the
Lancasterian, or monitorial, system of instruction was introduced
(this being the second school in the United States to adopt the plan),
under a new teacher, E. J. Cox, and a very favorable change was
produced, the number of pupils, and the efficiency of their
instruction being largely increased.
Soon after this, however, in January, 1814, their school-house was
destroyed by fire, which checked the progress of the school for a
time, as no room could be obtained large enough to accommodate the
whole number of pupils. A small room in Doyer Street was temporarily
hired, to keep the school together till further arrangements could be
made, and an appeal was made to the liberality of the citizens and to
the corporation of the city, which resulted in obtaining from the
latter a grant of two lots of ground in William. Street, on which to
build a new school-house; and in January, 1815, a commodious brick
building, to accommodate 200 pupils, was finished on this lot, and
the school was resumed with fresh vigor and increasing interest. In a
few months the room became so crowded that it was found necessary to
engage a separate room, next to the school, to accommodate such of the
pupils as were to be taught sewing. This branch had been for many
years discontinued, but was now resumed under the direction of Miss
Lucy Turpen, a young lady whose amiable disposition and faithful
discharge of her duties rendered her greatly esteemed both by her
pupils and the trustees. This young lady, after serving the board for
several years, removed with her parents to Ohio, and her place was
supplied by Miss Mary Lincrum, who was succeeded by Miss Eliza J. Cox,
and the latter by Miss Mary Ann Cox, and she by Miss Carolina Roe,
under each of whom the school continued to sustain a high character
for order and usefulness.
The school in William Street increasing in numbers, another building
was found necessary, and was built on a lot of ground 50 by 100 feet
square, on Mulberry Street, between Grand and Hester streets, to
accommodate five hundred pupils, and was completed and occupied, with
C. C. Andrews for teacher, in May, 1820.
General Lafayette visited this school September 10, 1824, an abridged
account of which is copied from the "Commercial Advertiser" of that
date:
VISIT OF LAFAYETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOL IN 1824.
"At 1 o'clock the general, with the company invited for the
occasion, visited the African free school, on Mulberry Street.
This school embraces about 500 scholars; about 450 were present
on this occasion, and they are certainly the best disciplined and
most interesting school of children we have ever witnessed. As
the general was conducted to a seat, Mr. Ketchum adverted to the
fact that as long ago as 1788 the general had been elected a
member of the institution (Manumission Society) at the same time
with Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson, of England. The general
perfectly remembered the circumstances, and mentioned
particularly the letter he had received on that occasion from the
Hon. John Jay, then president of the society. One of the pupils,
Master James M. Smith, aged eleven years, then stepped forward
and gracefully delivered the following address:
"'GENERAL LAFAYETTE: In behalf of myself and fellow-schoolmates
may I be permitted to express our sincere and respectful
gratitude to you for the condescension you have manifested this
day in visiting this institution, which is one of the noblest
specimens of New York philanthropy. Here, sir, you behold
hundreds of the poor children of Africa sharing with those of a
lighter hue in the blessings of education; and while it will be
our pleasure to remember the great deeds you have done for
America, it will be our delight also to cherish the memory of
General Lafayette as a friend to African emancipation, and as a
member of this institution.'
"To which the general replied, in his own characteristic style,
'I thank you, my dear child.'
"Several of the pupils underwent short examinations, and one of
them explained the use of the globes and answered many questions
in geography."
PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN.
These schools continued to flourish under the same management, and
with an attendance varying from 600 in 1824 to 862 in 1832, in the
latter part of which year the Manumission Society, whose schools were
not in part supported by the public fund, applied to the Public School
Society for a committee of conference to effect a union. It was felt
by the trustees that on many accounts it was better that the two sets
of schools should remain separate, but, fearing further diversion of
the school fund, it was desirable that the number of societies
participating should be as small as possible, and arrangements were
accordingly made for a transfer of the schools and property of the
elder society. After some delay, in consequence of legislative action
being found necessary to give a title to their real estate, on the 2d
of May, 1834, the transfer was effected, all their schools and school
property passing into the hands of the New York Public School Society,
at an appraised valuation of $12,130.22.
The aggregate register of these schools at the time of the transfer
was nearly 1,400, with an average attendance of about one half that
number. They were placed in charge of a committee with powers similar
to the committee on primary schools, but their administration was not
satisfactory, and it was soon found that the schools had greatly
diminished in numbers, efficiency, and usefulness. A committee of
inquiry was appointed, and reported that, in consequence of the great
anti-slavery riots and attacks on Colored people, many families had
removed from the city, and of those that remained many kept their
children at home; they knew the Manumission Society as their special
friends, but knew nothing of the Public School Society; the reduction
of all the schools but one to the grade of primary had given great
offence; also the discharge of teachers long employed, and the
discontinuance of rewards, and taking home of spelling books; strong
prejudices had grown up against the Public School Society. The
committee recommended a prompt assimilation of the Colored schools to
the white; the establishment of two or more upper schools in a new
building; a normal school for Colored monitors; and the appointment of
a Colored man as school agent, at $150 a year. The school on Mulberry
Street at this time, 1835, was designated Colored Grammar School No.
1. A. Libolt was principal, and registered 317 pupils; there were also
six primaries, located in different parts of the city, with an
aggregate attendance of 925 pupils.
In 1836 a new school building was completed in Laurens Street, opened
with 210 pupils, R. F. Wake (colored), principal, and was designated
Colored Grammar School No. 2. Other means were taken to improve the
schools, and to induce the Colored people to patronize them; the
principal of No. 1, Mr. Libolt, was replaced by Mr. John Peterson,
colored, a sufficient assurance of whose ability and success we have
in the fact that he has been continued in the position ever since. A
"Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children" was
organized, and established two additional schools, one in Thomas
Street, and one in Centre, and a marked improvement was manifest; but
it required a long time to restore the confidence and interest felt
before the transfer, and even up to 1848 the aggregate attendance in
all the Colored schools was only 1,375 pupils.
In the winter of 1852 the first evening schools for Colored pupils
were opened; one for males and one for females, and were attended by
379 pupils. In the year 1853 the Colored schools, with all the schools
and school property of the Public School Society, were transferred to
the "Board of Education of the City and County of New York," and still
further improvements were made in them; a normal school for Colored
teachers was established, with Mr. John Peterson, principal, and the
schools were graded in the same manner as those for white children.
Colored Grammar School No. 3, was opened at 78 West Fortieth Street,
Miss Caroline W. Simpson, principal, and in the ensuing year three
others were added; No. 4 in One Hundred and Twentieth Street (Harlem),
Miss Nancy Thompson, principal; No. 5, at 101 Hudson Street, P. W.
Williams, principal; and No. 6, at 1,167 Broadway, Prince Leveridge,
principal. Grammar Schools Nos. 2, 3, and 4, had primary departments
attached, and there were also at this time three separate primary
schools, and the aggregate attendance in all was 2,047. Since then the
attendance in these schools has not varied much from these figures.
The schools themselves have been altered and modified from time to
time, as their necessity seemed to indicate; though under the general
management of the Board of Education, they have been in the care of
the school officers of the wards in which they are located, and while
in some cases they received the proper attention, in others they were
either wholly, or in part, neglected. A recent act has placed them
directly in charge of the Board of Education, who have appointed a
special committee to look after their interests, and measures are
being taken by them which will give this class of schools every
opportunity and convenience possessed by any other, and, it is hoped,
will also improve the grade of its scholarship.[63]
NORTH CAROLINA
suffered her free persons of color to maintain schools until 1835,
when they were abolished by law. During the period referred to, the
Colored schools were taught by white teachers, but after 1835 the few
teachers who taught Colored children in private houses were Colored
persons. The public-school system of North Carolina provided that no
descendant from Negro ancestors, to the fourth generation inclusive,
should enjoy the benefit thereof.
OHIO.
The first schools for Colored children in Ohio were established at
Cincinnati in 1820, by Colored men. These schools were not kept up
regularly. A white gentleman named Wing, who taught a night school
near the corner of Vine and Sixth Streets, admitted Colored pupils
into his school. Owen T. B. Nickens, a public-spirited and intelligent
Colored man, did much to establish schools for the Colored people.
In 1835 a school for Colored children was opened in the Baptist Church
on Western Row. It was taught at different periods by Messrs. Barbour,
E. Fairchild, W. Robinson, and Augustus Wattles; and by the
following-named ladies: Misses Bishop, Matthews, Lowe, and Mrs.
Merrell. Although excellent teachers as well as upright ladies and
gentlemen, they were subjected to great persecutions. They were unable
to secure board, because the spirit of the whites would not
countenance the teachers of Negro schools, and they spelled the word
with two g's. And at times the teachers were compelled to close the
school on account of the violence of the populace. The salaries of the
teachers were paid partly by an educational society of white
philanthropists, and partly by such Colored persons as had means. Of
the latter class were John Woodson, John Liverpool, Baker Jones,
Dinnis Hill, Joseph Fowler, and William O'Hara.
In 1844, the Rev. Hiram S. Gilmore, founded the "Cincinnati High
School" for Colored youth. Mr. Gilmore was a man rich in sentiments of
humanity, and endowed plenteously with executive ability and this
world's goods. All these he consecrated to the elevation and education
of the Colored people.
This school-house was located at the east end of Harrison Street, and
was in every sense a model building, comprising five rooms, a chapel,
a gymnasium, and spacious grounds. The pupils increased yearly, and
the character of the school made many friends for the cause. The
following persons taught in this school: Joseph H. Moore, Thomas L.
Boucher, David P. Lowe, Dr. A. L. Childs, and W. F. Colburn. Dr.
Childs became principal of the school in 1848.
In 1849, the Legislature passed an act establishing schools for
Colored children, to be maintained at the public expense. In 1850, a
board of Colored trustees was elected, teachers employed, and
buildings hired. The schools were put in operation. The law of 1849
provided that so much of the funds belonging to the city of Cincinnati
as would fall to the Colored youth, by a _per capita_ division, should
be held subject to the order of the Colored trustees. But their order
was not honored by the city treasurer, upon the ground that under the
constitution of the State only electors could hold office; that
Colored men were not electors, and, therefore, could not hold office.
After three months the Colored schools were closed, and the teachers
went out without their salaries.
John I. Gaines, an intelligent and fearless Colored leader, made a
statement of the case to a public meeting of the Colored people of
Cincinnati, and urged the employment of counsel to try the case in
the courts. Money was raised, and Flamen Ball, Sr., was secured to
make an application for _mandamus_. The case was finally carried to
the Supreme Court and won by the Colored people.
In 1851, the schools were opened again; but the rooms were small and
wretchedly appointed, and the trustees unable to provide better ones.
Without notice the Colored trustees were deposed. The management of
the Colored schools was vested in a board of trustees and school
visitors, who were also in charge of the schools for the white
children. This board, under a new law, had authority to appoint six
Colored men who were to manage the Colored schools with the exception
of the school fund. This greatly angered the leading Colored men, and,
therefore, they refused to endorse this new management.
The law was altered in 1856, giving the Colored people the right to
elect, by ballot, their own trustees.
In 1858, Nicholas Longworth built the first school-house for the
Colored people, and gave them the building on a lease of fourteen
years, in which time they were to pay for it--$14,000. In 1859, a
large building was erected on Court Street.
Oberlin College opened its doors to Colored students from the moment
of its existence in 1833, and they have never been closed at any time
since. It was here that the incomparable Finney, with the fierceness
of John Baptist, the gentleness of John the Evangelist, the logic of
Paul, and the eloquence of Isaiah, pleaded the cause of the American
slave, and gave instruction to all who sat at his feet regardless of
color or race. George B. Vashon, William Howard Day, John Mercer
Langston, and many other Colored men graduated from Oberlin College
before any of the other leading colleges of the country had consented
to give Colored men a classical education.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Anthony Benezet established, in 1750, the first school for Colored
people in this State, and taught it himself without money and without
price. He solicited funds for the erection of a school-house for the
Colored children, and of their intellectual capacities said: "I can
with truth and sincerity declare that I have found among the negroes
as great variety of talents as among a like number of whites, and I am
bold to assert that the notion entertained by some, that the blacks
are inferior in their capacity, is a vulgar prejudice, founded on the
pride or ignorance of their lordly masters, who have kept their slaves
at such a distance as to be unable to form a right judgment of them."
He died on the 3d of May, 1784, universally beloved and sincerely
mourned, especially by the Negro population of Pennsylvania, for whose
education he had done so much. The following clause in his will
illustrates his character in respect to public instruction:
"I give my above said house and lot, or ground-rent proceeding
from it, and the rest and residue of my estate which shall remain
undisposed of after my wife's decease, both real and personal, to
the public school of Philadelphia, founded by charter, and to
their successors forever, in trust, that they shall sell my house
and lot on perpetual ground-rent forever, if the same be not
already sold by my executors, as before mentioned, and that as
speedily as may be they receive and take as much of my personal
estate as may be remaining, and therewith purchase a yearly
ground-rent, or ground-rents, and with the income of such
ground-rent proceeding from the sale of my real estate, hire and
employ a religious-minded person, or persons, to teach a number
of negro, mulatto, or Indian children to read, write, arithmetic,
plain accounts, needle-work, etc. And it is my particular desire,
founded on the experience I have had in that service, that in the
choice of such tutors, special care may be had to prefer an
industrious, careful person of true piety, who may be or become
suitably qualified, who would undertake the service from a
principle of charity, to one more highly learned, not equally
disposed; this I desire may be carefully attended to, sensible
that from the number of pupils of all ages, the irregularity of
attendance their situation subjects them to will not admit of
that particular inspection in their improvement usual in other
schools, but that the real well-doing of the scholars will very
much depend upon the master making a special conscience of doing
his duty; and shall likewise defray such other necessary expense
as may occur in that service; and as the said remaining income of
my estate, after my wife's decease, will not be sufficient to
defray the whole expense necessary for the support of such a
school, it is my request that the overseers of the said public
school shall join in the care and expense of such school, or
schools, for the education of negro, mulatto, or Indian children,
with any committee which may be appointed by the monthly meetings
of Friends in Philadelphia, or with any other body of benevolent
persons who may join in raising money and employing it for the
education and care of such children; my desire being that as
such a school is now set up, it may be forever maintained in this
city."
Just before his death he addressed the following note to the
"overseers of the school for the instruction of the black people."
"My friend, Joseph Clark, having frequently observed to me his
desire, in case of my inability of continuing the care of the
negro school, of succeeding me in that service, notwithstanding
he now has a more advantageous school, by the desire of doing
good to the black people makes him overlook these pecuniary
advantages, I much wish the overseers of the school would take
his desires under their peculiar notice and give him such due
encouragement as may be proper, it being a matter of the greatest
consequence to that school that the master be a person who makes
it a principle to do his duty."
The noble friends were early in the field as the champions of
education for the Negroes. It was Anthony Benezet, who, on the 26th of
January, 1770, secured the appointment of a committee by the monthly
meeting of the Friends, "to consider on the instruction of negro and
mulatto children in reading, writing, and other useful learning
suitable to their capacity and circumstances." On the 30th of May,
1770, a special committee of Friends sought to employ an instructor
"to teach, not more at one time than thirty children, in the first
rudiments of school learning and in sewing and knitting." Moles
Paterson was first employed at a salary of £80 a year, and an
additional sum of £11 for one half of the rent of his dwelling-house.
Instruction was free to the poor; but those who were able to pay were
required to do so "at the rate of 10s. a quarter for those who write,
and 7s. 6d. for others."
In 1784, William Waring was placed in charge of the larger children,
at a salary of £100; and Sarah Dougherty, of the younger children and
girls, in teaching spelling, reading, sewing, etc., at a salary of
£50. In 1787, aid was received from David Barclay, of London, in
behalf of a committee for managing a donation for the relief of
Friends in America; and the sum of £500 was thus obtained, which, with
the fund derived from the estate of Benezet, and £300 from Thomas
Shirley, a Colored man, was appropriated to the erection of a
school-house. In 1819 a committee of "women Friends," to have
exclusive charge of the admission of girls and the general
superintendence of the girls' school, was associated with the
overseers in the charge of the school. In 1830, in order to relieve
the day school of some of the male adults who had been in the habit of
attending, an evening school for the purpose of instructing such
persons gratuitously was opened, and has been continued to the present
time. In 1844, a lot was secured on Locust Street, extending along
Shield's Alley, now Aurora Street, on which a new house was erected in
1847, the expense of which was paid for in part from the proceeds of
the sale of a lot bequeathed by John Pemberton. Additional
accommodations were made to this building, from time to time, as room
was demanded by new classes of pupils.
In 1849, a statistical return of the condition of the people of color
in the city and districts of Philadelphia shows that there were then
one grammar school, with 463 pupils; two public primary schools, with
339; and an infant school, under the charge of the Pennsylvania
Abolition Society, of 70 pupils, in Clifton Street: a ragged and a
moral-reform school, with 81 pupils. In West Philadelphia there was
also a public school, with 67 pupils; and, in all, there were about 20
private schools, with 300 pupils; making an aggregate of more than
1,300 children receiving an education.
In 1859, according to Bacon's "Statistics of the Colored People of
Philadelphia," there were 1,031 Colored children in public schools,
748 in charity schools of various kinds, 211 in benevolent and
reformatory schools, and 331 in private schools, making an aggregate
of 2,321 pupils; besides four evening schools, one for adult males,
one for females, and one for young apprentices. There were 19
Sunday-schools connected with the congregations of the Colored people,
and conducted by their own teachers, containing 1,667 pupils, and four
Sunday-schools gathered as mission schools by members of white
congregations, with 215 pupils. There was also a "Public Library and
Reading-room" connected with the "Institute for Colored Youth,"
established in 1853, having about 1,300 volumes; besides three other
small libraries in different parts of the city. The same pamphlet
shows that there were 1,700 of the Colored population engaged in
different trades and occupations, representing every department of
industry.[64]
In 1794, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society established a school for
children of the people of color, and in 1809 erected a school building
at a cost of four thousand dollars, which they designated as "Clarkson
Hall," in 1815. In 1813, a board of education was organized consisting
of thirteen persons, with a visiting committee of three, whose duty it
was to visit the schools once each week. In 1818, the school board, in
their report, speak very kindly and encouragingly of the Clarkson
Schools, which, they say, "furnish a decided refutation of the charge
that the mental endowments of the descendants of Africa are inferior
to those possessed by their white brethren. We can assert, without
fear of contradiction, that the pupils of this seminary will sustain a
fair comparison with those of any other institution in which the same
elementary branches are taught."
In 1820, an effort was made to have the authorities of the white
schools provide for the education of the Colored children as well as
the whites, because the laws of the State required the education of
all the youth. The comptrollers of the public schools confessed that
the law provided for the education of "poor and indigent children,"
and that it extended to those of persons of color. Accordingly, in
1822, a school for the education of indigent persons of color of both
sexes, was opened in Lombard Street, Philadelphia. In 1841, a primary
school was opened in the same building. In 1833, the "Unclassified
School" in Coates Street, and at frequent intervals after this several
schools of the same grade, were started in West Philadelphia.
In 1837, by the will of Richard Humphreys, who died in 1832, an
"Institute for Colored Youth" was started. The sum of ten thousand
dollars was devised to certain trustees who were to pay it over to
some society that might be disposed to establish a school for the
education of the "descendants of the African race in school learning
in the various branches of the mechanic arts and trade, and in
agriculture." Thirty members of the society of Friends formed
themselves into an association for the purpose of carrying out the
wishes and plans of Mr. Humphreys. In the preamble of the constitution
they adopted, their ideas and plans were thus set forth:
"We believe that the most successful method of elevating the
moral and intellectual character of the descendants of Africa, as
well as of improving their social condition, is to extend to them
the benefits of a good education, and to instruct them in the
knowledge of some useful trade or business, whereby they may be
enabled to obtain a comfortable livelihood by their own industry;
and through these means to prepare them for fulfilling the
various duties of domestic and social life with reputation and
fidelity, as good citizens and pious men."
In order to carry out the feature of agricultural and mechanic arts,
the association purchased a farm in Bristol township, Philadelphia
County, in 1839, where boys of the Colored race were taught farming,
shoemaking, and other useful trades. The incorporation of the
institution was secured in 1842, and in 1844 another friend
dying--Jonathan Zane--added a handsome sum to the treasury, which,
with several small legacies, made $18,000 for this enterprise. But in
1846 the work came to a standstill; the farm with its equipments was
sold, and for six years very little was done, except through a night
school.
In 1851, a lot for a school building was purchased on Lombard Street,
and a building erected, and the school opened in the autumn of 1852,
for boys, under the care of Charles L. Reason, an accomplished young
Colored teacher from New York. A girls' school was opened the same
year, and, under Mr. Reason's excellent instruction, many worthy and
competent teachers and leaders of the Negro race came forth.
Avery College, at Allegheny City, was founded by the Rev. Charles
Avery, a native of New York, but for the greater part of a long and
useful life adorned by the noblest virtues, a resident of
Pennsylvania. By will he left $300,000 for the christianization of the
African race; $150,000 to be used in Africa, and $150,000 in America.
He left $25,000 as an endowment fund for Avery College.
At a stated meeting during the session of the Presbytery at New
Castle, Pa., October 5, 1853, it was resolved that "there shall be
established within our bounds, and under our supervision, an
institution, to be called the Ashum Institute, for the scientific,
classical, and theological education of colored youth of the male
sex."
Accordingly, J. M. Dickey, A. Hamilton, R. P. Dubois, ministers; and
Samuel J. Dickey and John M. Kelton, ruling elders, were appointed a
committee to perfect the idea. They were to solicit and receive funds,
secure a charter from the State of Pennsylvania, and erect suitable
buildings for the institute. On the 14th of November, 1853, they
purchased thirty acres of land at the cost of $1,250. At the session
of the Legislature in 1854, a charter was granted establishing "at or
near a place called Hinsonville, in the county of Chester, an
institution of learning for the scientific, classical, and theological
education of colored youth of the male sex, by the name and style of
Ashum Institute." The trustees were John M. Dickey, Alfred Hamilton,
Robert P. Dubois, James Latta, John B. Spottswood, James M. Crowell,
Samuel J. Dickey, John M. Kelton, and William Wilson.
By the provisions of the charter the trustees were empowered "to
procure the endowment of the institute, not exceeding the sum of
$100,000; to confer such literary degrees and academic honors as are
usually granted by colleges"; and it was required that "the institute
shall be open to the admission of colored pupils of the male sex, of
all religious denominations, who exhibit a fair moral character, and
are willing to yield a ready obedience to the general regulations
prescribed for the conduct of the pupils and the government of the
institute."
The institute was formally dedicated on the 31st of December, 1856. It
is now known as Lincoln University.
RHODE ISLAND
conferred the right of elective franchise upon her Colored citizens by
her constitution in 1843, and ever since equal privileges have been
afforded them. In 1828 the Colored people of Providence petitioned for
a separate school, but it was finally abolished by an act of the
Legislature.
SOUTH CAROLINA
took the lead in legislating against the instruction of the Colored
race, as she subsequently took the lead in seceding from the Union. In
1740, while yet a British province, the Legislature passed the
following law:
"Whereas the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them
to be employed in writing, may be attended with inconveniences,
_Be it enacted_, That all and every person and persons
whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach, or cause any slave or
slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe
in any manner of writing whatever, hereafter taught to write,
every such person or persons shall for every such offense forfeit
the sum of £100 current money."
In 1800 the State Assembly passed an act, embracing free Colored
people as well as slaves in its shameful provisions, enacting "that
assemblies of slaves, free negroes, mulattoes, and mestizoes, whether
composed of all or any such description of persons, or of all or any
of the same and a proportion of white persons, met together for the
purpose of _mental_ instruction in a confined or secret place, or with
the gates or doors of such place barred, bolted, or locked, so as to
prevent the free ingress to and from the same," are declared to be
unlawful meetings; the officers dispersing such unlawful assemblages
being authorized to "inflict such corporal punishment, not exceeding
twenty lashes, upon such slaves, free negroes, mulattoes, and
mestizoes, as they may judge necessary for deterring them from the
like unlawful assemblage in future." Another section of the same act
declares, "that it shall not be lawful for any number of slaves, free
negroes, mulattoes, or mestizoes, even in company with white persons,
to meet together and assemble for the purpose of mental instruction or
religious worship before the rising of the sun or after the going down
of the same." This section was so oppressive, that in 1803, in answer
to petitions from certain religious societies, an amending act was
passed forbidding any person before 9 o'clock in the evening "to break
into a place of meeting wherever shall be assembled the members of any
religious society of the State, provided a majority of them shall be
white persons, or other to disturb their devotions unless a warrant
has been procured from a magistrate, if at the time of the meeting
there should be a magistrate within three miles of the place; if not,
the act of 1800 is to remain in full force."
On the 17th of December, 1834, definite action was taken against the
education of free Colored persons as well as slaves. The first section
is given:
"SECTION 1. If any person shall hereafter teach any slave to read
or write, or shall aid or assist in teaching any slave to read or
write, or cause or procure any slave to be taught to read or
write, such person, if a free white person, upon conviction
thereof shall, for each and every offense against, this act, be
fined not exceeding $100 and imprisonment not more than six
months; or, if a free person of color, shall be whipped not
exceeding fifty lashes, and fined not exceeding $50, at the
discretion of the court of magistrates and freeholders before
which such free person of color is tried; and if a slave, to be
whipped, at the discretion of the court, not exceeding fifty
lashes, the informer to be entitled to one-half the fine and to
be a competent witness. And if any free person of color or slave
shall keep any school or other place of instruction for teaching
any slave or free person of color to read or write, such free
person of color or slave shall be liable to the same fine,
imprisonment, and corporal punishment as by this act are imposed
and inflicted on free persons of color and slaves for teaching
slaves to write."
The second section forbids, under pain of severe penalties, the
employment of any Colored persons as "clerks or salesmen in or about
any shop, store, or house used for trading."
TENNESSEE
passed a law in 1838 establishing a system of common schools by which
the scholars were designated as "white children over the age of six
years and under sixteen." In 1840 an act was passed in which no
discrimination against color appeared. It simply provided that "all
children between the ages of six and twenty-one years shall have the
privilege of attending the public schools." And while there was never
afterward any law prohibiting the education of Colored children, the
schools were used exclusively by the whites.
TEXAS
never put any legislation on her statute-books withholding the
blessings of the schools from the Negro, for the reason, doubtless,
that she banished all free persons of color, and worked her slaves so
hard that they had no hunger for books when night came.
VIRGINIA,
under Sir William Berkeley, was not a strong patron of education for
the masses. For the slave there was little opportunity to learn, as he
was only allowed part of Saturday to rest, and kept under the closest
surveillance on the Sabbath day. The free persons of color were
regarded with suspicion, and little chance was given them to cultivate
their minds.
On the 2d of March, 1819, an act was passed prohibiting "all meetings
or assemblages of slaves, or free negroes, or mulattoes, mixing and
associating with such slaves, at any meeting-house or houses, or any
other place or places, in the night, or at any school or schools for
teaching them reading and writing either in the day or night." But
notwithstanding this law, schools for free persons of color were kept
up until the Nat. Turner insurrection in 1831, when, on the 7th of
April following, the subjoined act was passed:
"SEC. 4. _And be it enacted_, That all meetings of free negroes
or mulattoes at any school-house, church, meeting-house, or other
place, for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day or
night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed and considered
an unlawful assembly; and any justice of the county or
corporation wherein such assemblage shall be, either from his own
knowledge, or on the information of others of such unlawful
assemblage or meeting, shall issue his warrant directed to any
sworn officer or officers, authorizing him or them to enter the
house or houses where such unlawful assemblage or meeting may be,
for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such free negroes
or mulattoes, and to inflict corporal punishment on the offender
or offenders, at the discretion of any justice of the peace, not
exceeding 26 lashes.
"SEC. 5. _And be it enacted_, That if any person or persons
assemble with free negroes or mulattoes at any school-house,
church, meeting-house, or other place, for the purpose of
instructing such free negroes or mulattoes to read or write, such
persons or persons shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a
sum not exceeding $50, and, moreover, may be imprisoned, at the
discretion of a jury, not exceeding two months.
"SEC. 6. _And be it enacted_, That if any white person, for pay
or compensation, shall assemble with any slaves for the purpose
of teaching, and shall teach any slave to read or write, such
person, or any white person or persons contracting with such
teacher so to act, who shall offend as aforesaid, shall, for each
offense, be fined, at the discretion of a jury, in a sum not less
than $10, nor exceeding $100, to be recovered on an information
or indictment."
This law was rigidly enforced, and in 1851, Mrs. Margaret Douglass, a
white lady from South Carolina, was cast into the Norfolk jail for
violating its provisions.
West Virginia was not admitted into the Union until 1863. Wisconsin,
Vermont, New Hampshire, and New Jersey did not prohibit the education
of their Colored children.
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
presents a more pleasing and instructive field for the examination of
the curious student of history.
In 1807, the first school-house for the use of Colored pupils was
erected in Washington, D. C., by three Colored men, named George Bell,
Nicholas Franklin, and Moses Liverpool. Not one of this trio of Negro
educators knew a letter of the alphabet; but having lived as slaves in
Virginia, they had learned to appreciate the opinion that learning was
of great price. They secured a white teacher, named Lowe, and put
their school in operation.
At this time the entire population of free persons amounted to 494
souls. After a brief period the school subsided, but was reorganized
again in 1818. The announcement of the opening of the school was
printed in the "National Intelligencer" on the 29th of August, 1818.
"_A School_,
Founded by an association of free people of color, of the city of
Washington, called the 'Resolute Beneficial Society,' situate
near the Eastern Public School and the dwelling of Mrs. Fenwick,
is now open for the reception of children of free people of color
and others, that ladies or gentlemen may think proper to send to
be instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar,
or other branches of education apposite to their capacities, by a
steady, active, and experienced teacher, whose attention is
wholly devoted to the purposes described. It is presumed that
free colored families will embrace the advantages thus presented
to them, either by subscribing to the funds of the society, or by
sending their children to the school. An improvement of the
intellect and morals of colored youth being the objects of this
institution, the patronage of benevolent ladies, and gentlemen,
by donation or subscription, is humbly solicited in aid of the
fund, the demands thereon being heavy and the means at present
much too limited. For the satisfaction of the public, the
constitution and articles of association are printed and
published. And to avoid disagreeable occurrences, no writings are
to be done by the teacher for a slave, neither directly nor
indirectly, to serve the purpose of a slave on any account
whatever. Further particulars may be known by applying to any of
the undersigned officers.
"WILLIAM COSTIN, _President_.
"GEORGE HICKS, _Vice-President_.
"JAMES HARRIS, _Secretary_.
"GEORGE BELL, _Treasurer_.
"ARCHIBALD JOHNSON, _Marshal_.
"FRED. LEWIS, _Chairman of the Committee_.
"ISAAC JOHNSON,} _Committee_.
"SCIPIO BEENS, }
"N. B.--An evening school will commence on the premises on the
first Monday of October, and continue throughout the season.
"[Symbol: Right pointing hand.] The managers of Sunday-schools in
the eastern district are thus most dutifully informed that on
Sabbath-days the school-house belonging to this society, if
required for the tuition of colored youth, will be uniformly at
their service.
_August 29, 3t._"
This school was first taught by a Mr. Pierpont, of Massachusetts, a
relative of the poet, and after several years was succeeded by a
Colored man named John Adams, the first teacher of his race in the
District of Columbia. The average attendance of this school was about
sixty-five or seventy.
MR. HENRY POTTER'S SCHOOL.
The third school for Colored children in Washington was established by
Mr. Henry Potter, an Englishman, who opened his school about 1809, in
a brick building which then stood on the southeast corner of F and
Seventh streets, opposite the block where the post-office building now
stands. He continued there for several years and had a large school,
moving subsequently to what was then known as Clark's Row on
Thirteenth Street, west, between G and H streets, north.
MRS. HALL'S SCHOOL.
During this period Mrs. Anne Maria Hall started a school on Capitol
Hill, between the old Capitol and Carroll Row, on First Street, east.
After continuing there with a full school for some ten years, she
moved to a building which stood on what is now the vacant portion of
the Casparis House lot on A Street, close to the Capitol. Some years
later she went to the First Bethel Church, and after a year or two she
moved to a house still standing on E Street, north, between Eleventh
and Twelfth, west, and there taught many years. She was a Colored
woman from Prince George's County, Maryland, and had a respectable
education, which she obtained at schools with white children in
Alexandria. Her husband died early, leaving her with children to
support, and she betook herself to the work of a teacher, which she
loved, and in which, for not less than twenty-five years, she met with
uniform success. Her schools were all quite large, and the many who
remember her as their teacher speak of her with great respect.
MRS. MARY BILLING'S SCHOOL.
Of the early teachers of Colored schools in this district there is no
one whose name is mentioned with more gratitude and respect by the
intelligent Colored residents than that of Mrs. Mary Billing, who
established the first Colored school that was gathered in Georgetown.
She was an English woman; her husband, Joseph Billing, a
cabinet-maker, coming from England in 1800, settled with his family
that year in Washington, and dying in 1807, left his wife with three
children. She was well educated, a capable and good woman, and
immediately commenced teaching to support her family. At first, it is
believed, she was connected with the Corporation School of Georgetown.
It was while in a white school certainly that her attention was
arrested by the wants of the Colored children, whom she was accustomed
to receive into her schools, till the opposition became so marked that
she decided to make her school exclusively Colored. She was a woman of
strong religious convictions, and being English, with none of the
ideas peculiar to slave society, when she saw the peculiar destitution
of the Colored children in the community around her, she resolved to
give her life to the class who seemed most to need her services. She
established a Colored school about 1810, in a brick house still
standing on Dunbarton Street, opposite the Methodist church, between
Congress and High streets, remaining there till the winter of
1820-'21, when she came to Washington and opened a school in the house
on H Street, near the Foundry Church, then owned by Daniel Jones, a
Colored man, and still owned and occupied by a member of that family.
She died in 1826, in the fiftieth year of her age. She continued her
school till failing health, a year or so before her death, compelled
its relinquishment. Her school was always large, it being patronized
in Georgetown as well as afterward by the best Colored families of
Washington, many of whom sent their children to her from Capitol Hill
and the vicinity of the Navy Yard. Most of the better-educated Colored
men and women now living, who were school children in her time,
received the best portion of their education from her, and they all
speak of her with a deep and tender sense of obligation. Henry Potter
succeeded her in the Georgetown school, and after him Mr. Shay, an
Englishman, who subsequently came to Washington and for many years had
a large Colored school in a brick building known as the Round Tops, in
the western part of the city, near the Circle, and still later
removing to the old Western Academy building, corner of I and
Seventeenth streets. He was there till about 1830, when he was
convicted of assisting a slave to his freedom, and sent a term to the
penitentiary. Mrs. Billing had a night school in which she was greatly
assisted by Mr. Monroe, a government clerk and a Presbyterian elder,
whose devout and benevolent character is still remembered in the
churches. Mrs. Billing had scholars from Bladensburg and the
surrounding country, who came into Georgetown and boarded with her and
with others. About the time when Mrs. Billing relinquished her school
in 1822 or 1823, what may be properly called
THE SMOTHERS SCHOOL-HOUSE,
was built by Henry Smothers on the corner of Fourteenth and H streets,
not far from the Treasury building. Smothers had a small
dwelling-house on this corner, and built his school-house on the rear
of the same lot. He had been long a pupil of Mrs. Billing, and had
subsequently taught a school on Washington Street, opposite the Union
Hotel in Georgetown. He opened his school in Washington in the old
corporation school-house, built in 1806, but some years before this
period abandoned as a public school-house. It was known as the Western
Academy, and is still standing and used as a school-house on the
corner of I and Nineteenth streets, west. When his school-house on
Fourteenth and H streets was finished, his school went into the new
quarters. This school was very large, numbering always more than a
hundred and often as high as a hundred and fifty scholars. He taught
here about two years, and was succeeded by John W. Prout about the
year 1825. Prout was a man of ability. In 1831, May 4, there was a
meeting, says the "National Intelligencer" of that date, of "the
colored citizens, large and very respectable, in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church," to consider the question of emigrating to Liberia.
John W. Prout was chosen to preside over the assemblage, and the
article in the "Intelligencer" represents him as making "a speech of
decided force and well adapted to the occasion, in support of a set of
resolutions which he had drafted, and which set forth views adverse to
leaving the soil that had given them birth, their true and veritable
home, _without the benefits of education_." The school under Prout was
governed by a board of trustees and was organized as
A FREE SCHOOL,
and so continued two or three years. The number of scholars was very
large, averaging a hundred and fifty. Mrs. Anne Maria Hall was the
assistant teacher. It relied mainly for support upon subscription,
twelve and a half cents a month only being expected from each pupil,
and this amount was not compulsory. The school was free to all Colored
children, without money or price, and so continued two or three years,
when failing of voluntary pecuniary support (it never wanted
scholars), it became a regular tuition school. The school under Mr.
Prout was called the "Columbian Institute," the name being suggested
by John McLeod, the famous Irish school-master, who was a warm friend
of this institution after visiting and commending the scholars and
teachers, and who named his new building, in 1835, the Columbian
Academy. The days of thick darkness to the Colored people were
approaching. The Nat. Turner insurrection in Southampton County,
Virginia, which occurred in August, 1831, spread terror everywhere in
slave communities. In this district, immediately upon that terrible
occurrence, the Colored children, who had in very large numbers been
received into the Sabbath-schools in the white churches, were all
turned out of those schools. This event, though seeming to be a fiery
affliction, proved a blessing in disguise. It aroused the energies of
the Colored people, taught them self-reliance, and they organized
forthwith Sabbath-schools of their own. It was in the Smothers
school-house that they formed their first Sunday-school, about the
year 1832, and here they continued their very large school for several
years, the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church ultimately springing
from the school organization. It is important to state in this
connection that
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL,
always an extremely important means of education for Colored people in
the days of slavery, was emphatically so in the gloomy times now upon
them. It was the Sabbath-school that taught the great mass of the free
people of color about all the school knowledge that was allowed them
in those days, and hence the consternation which came upon them when
they found themselves excluded from the schools of the white churches.
Lindsay Muse, who has been the messenger for eighteen Secretaries of
the Navy, successively, during fifty-four years, from 1828 to the
present time, John Brown, Benjamin M. McCoy, Mr. Smallwood, Mrs.
Charlotte Norris, afterward wife of Rev. Eli Nugent, and Siby McCoy,
are the only survivors of the resolute little band of Colored men and
women who gathered with and guided that Sunday-school. They had, in
the successor of Mr. Prout, a man after their own heart,
JOHN F. COOK,
who came into charge of this school in August, 1834, about eight years
after his aunt, Alethia Tanner, had purchased his freedom. He learned
the shoemaker's trade in his boyhood, and worked diligently, after the
purchase of his freedom, to make some return to his aunt for the
purchase-money. About the time of his becoming of age, he dislocated
his shoulder, which compelled him to seek other employment, and in
1831, the year of his majority, he obtained the place of assistant
messenger in the Land Office. Hon. John Wilson, now Third Auditor of
the Treasury, was the messenger, and was Cook's firm friend till the
day of his death. Cook had been a short time at school under the
instruction of Smothers and Prout, but when he entered the Land Office
his education was at most only the ability to stumble along a little
in a primary reading-book. He, however, now gave himself in all his
leisure moments, early and late, to study. Mr. Wilson remembers his
indefatigable application, and affirms that it was a matter of
astonishment at the time, and that he has seen nothing in all his
observations to surpass and scarcely to equal it. He was soon able to
write a good hand, and was employed with his pen in clerical work by
the sanction of the commissioner, Elisha Hayward, who was much
attached to him. Cook was now beginning to look forward to the life of
a teacher, which, with the ministry, was the only work not menial in
its nature then open to an educated Colored man. At the end of three
years he resigned his place in the Land Office, and entered upon the
work which he laid down only with his life. It was then that he gave
himself wholly to study and the business of education, working with
all his might; his school numbering quite a hundred scholars in the
winter and a hundred and fifty in the summer. He had been in his work
one year when the storm which had been, for some years, under the
discussion of the slavery question, gathering over the country at
large, burst upon this district.
THE SNOW RIOT,
or "Snow storm," as it has been commonly called, which occurred in
September, 1835, is an event that stands vividly in the memory of all
Colored people who lived in this community at that time. Benjamin
Snow, a smart Colored man, keeping a restaurant on the corner of
Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, was reported to have made some
remark of a bravado kind derogatory to the wives of white mechanics;
whereupon this class, or those assuming to represent them, made a
descent upon his establishment, destroying all his effects. Snow
himself, who denied using the offensive language, with difficulty
escaped unharmed, through the management of white friends, taking
refuge in Canada, where he still resides. The military was promptly
called to the rescue, at the head of which was General Walter Jones,
the eminent lawyer, who characterized the rioters, greatly to their
indignation, as "a set of ragamuffins," and his action was thoroughly
sanctioned by the city authorities.
At the same time, also, there was a fierce excitement among the
mechanics at the Navy Yard, growing out of the fact that a large
quantity of copper bolts being missed from the yard and found to have
been carried out in the dinner-pails by the hands, the commandant had
forbid eating dinners in the yard. This order was interpreted as an
insult to the white mechanics, and threats were made of an assault on
the yard, which was put in a thorough state of defence by the
commandant. The rioters swept through the city, ransacking the houses
of the prominent Colored men and women, ostensibly in search of
anti-slavery papers and documents, the most of the gang impelled
undoubtedly by hostility to the Negro race and by motives of plunder.
Nearly all the Colored school-houses were partially demolished and the
furniture totally destroyed, and in several cases they were completely
ruined. Some private houses were also torn down or burnt. The Colored
schools were nearly all broken up, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that the Colored churches were saved from destruction, as
their Sabbath-schools were regarded, and correctly regarded, as the
means through which the Colored people, at that time, procured much of
their education.
The rioters sought, especially, for John F. Cook, who, however, had
seasonably taken from the stable the horse of his friend, Mr. Hayward,
the Commissioner of the Land Office, an anti-slavery man, and fled
precipitately from the city. They marched to his school-house,
destroyed all the books and furniture, and partially destroyed the
building. Mrs. Smothers, who owned both the school-house and the
dwelling adjoining the lots, was sick in her house at the time, but an
alderman, Mr. Edward Dyer, with great courage and nobleness of spirit,
stood between the house and the mob for her protection, declaring that
he would defend her house from molestation with all the means he could
command. They left the house unharmed, and it is still standing on the
premises. Mr. Cook went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, opened a school
there, and did not venture back to his home till the autumn of 1836.
At the time the riot broke out, General Jackson was absent in
Virginia. He returned in the midst of the tumult, and immediately
issuing orders in his bold, uncompromising manner to the authorities
to see the laws respected at all events, the violence was promptly
subdued. It was, nevertheless, a very dark time for the Colored
people. The timid class did not for a year or two dare to send their
children to school, and the whole mass of the Colored people dwelt in
fear day and night. In August, 1836, Mr. Cook returned from
Pennsylvania and reopened his school, which under him had, in 1834,
received the name of
UNION SEMINARY.
During his year's absence he was in charge of a free Colored public
school in Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which he
surrendered to the care of Benjamin M. McCoy when he came back to his
home, Mr. McCoy going there to fill out his engagement.
He resumed his work with broad and elevated ideas of his business.
This is clearly seen in the plan of his institution, embraced in the
printed annual announcements and programmes of his annual exhibitions,
copies of which have been preserved. The course of study embraced
three years, and there was a male and a female department, Miss
Catharine Costin at one period being in charge of the female
department. Mr. Seaton, of the "National Intelligencer," among other
leading and enlightened citizens and public men, used to visit his
school from year to year, and watch its admirable working with deep
and lively interest. Cook was at this period not only watching over
his very large school, ranging from 100 to 150 or more pupils, but was
active in the formation of the "First Colored Presbyterian Church of
Washington," which was organized in November, 1841, by Rev. John C.
Smith, D.D., and worshipped in this school-house. He was now also
giving deep study to the preparation for the ministry, upon which, in
fact, as a licentiate of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he
had already in some degree entered. At a regular meeting of "The
presbytery of the District of Columbia," held in Alexandria, May 3,
1842, this church, now commonly called the Fifteenth Street
Presbyterian Church, was formally received under the care of that
presbytery, the first and still the only Colored Presbyterian church
in the district. Mr. Cook was elected the first pastor July 13, 1843,
and preached his trial sermon before ordination on the evening of that
day in the Fourth Presbyterian Church (Dr. J. C. Smith's) in the city,
in the presence of a large congregation. This sermon is remembered as
a manly production, delivered with great dignity and force, and deeply
imbued with the spirit of his work. He was ordained in the Fifteenth
Street Church the next evening, and continued to serve the church with
eminent success till his death in 1855. Rev. John C. Smith, D.D., who
had preached his ordination sermon, and been his devoted friend and
counsellor for nearly twenty years, preached his funeral sermon,
selecting as his text, "There was a man sent from God whose name was
John." There were present white as well as Colored clergymen of no
less than five denominations, many of the oldest and most respectable
citizens, and a vast concourse of all classes white and Colored. "The
Fifteenth Street Church," in the words of Dr. Smith in relation to
them and their first pastor, "is now a large and flourishing
congregation of spiritually-minded people. They have been educated in
the truth and the principles of our holy religion, and in the new,
present state of things the men of this church are trusted, relied on
as those who fear God and keep His commandments. The church is the
monument to John F. Cook, the first pastor, who was faithful in all
his house, a workman who labored night and day for years, and has
entered into his reward. 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.'
'They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.'"
In 1841, when he entered, in a preliminary and informal way, upon the
pastorate of the Fifteenth Street Church, he seems to have attempted
to turn his seminary into a high school, limited to twenty-five or
thirty pupils, exclusively for the more advanced scholars of both
sexes; and his plan of studies to that end, as seen in his
prospectus, evinces broad and elevated views--a desire to aid in
lifting his race to higher things in education than they had yet
attempted. His plans were not put into execution, in the matter of a
high school, being frustrated by the circumstances that there were so
few good schools in the city for the Colored people, at that period,
that his old patrons would not allow him to shut off the multitude of
primary scholars which were depending upon his school. His seminary,
however, continued to maintain its high standard, and had an average
attendance of quite 100 year after year, till he surrendered up his
work in death.
He raised up a large family and educated them well. The oldest of the
sons, John and George, were educated at Oberlin College. The other
three, being young, were in school when the father died. John and
George, it will be seen, succeeded their father as teachers,
continuing in the business down to the present year. Of the two
daughters, the elder was a teacher till married in 1866, and the other
is now a teacher in the public schools of the city. One son served
through the war as sergeant in the Fortieth Colored Regiment, and
another served in the navy.
At the death of the father, March 21, 1855, the school fell into the
hands of the son, John F. Cook, who continued it till May, 1857, when
it passed to a younger son, George F. T. Cook, who moved it from its
old home, the Smothers House, to the basement of the Presbyterian
Church, in the spring of 1858, and maintained it till July, 1859. John
F. Cook, jr., who had erected a new school-house on Sixteenth Street,
in 1862, again gathered the school which the tempests of the war had
dispersed, and continued it till June, 1867, when the new order of
things had opened ample school facilities throughout the city, and the
teacher was called to other duties. Thus ended the school which had
been first gathered by Smothers nearly forty-five years before, and
which, in that long period, had been continually maintained with
seldom less than one hundred pupils, and for the most part with one
hundred and fifty, the only suspensions being in the year of the Snow
riot, and in the two years which ushered in the war.
The Smothers House, after the Cook school was removed in 1858, was
occupied for two years by a _free Catholic school_, supported by "The
St. Vincent de Paul Society," a benevolent organization of Colored
people. It was a very large school with two departments, the boys
under David Brown, and the girls under Eliza Anne Cook, and averaging
over one hundred and fifty scholars. When this school was transferred
to another house, Rev. Chauncey Leonard, a Colored Baptist clergyman,
now pastor of a church in Washington, and Nannie Waugh opened a school
there, in 1861, that became as large as that which had preceded it in
the same place. This school was broken up in 1862 by the destruction
of the building at the hands of the incendiaries, who, even at that
time, were inspired with all their accustomed vindictiveness toward
the Colored people. But this was their last heathenish jubilee, and
from the ashes of many burnings imperishable liberty has sprung forth.
About the time that Smothers built his school-house, in 1823,
LOUISA PARKE COSTIN'S SCHOOL
was established in her father's house on Capitol Hill, on A Street,
south, under the shadow of the Capitol. This Costin family came from
Mount Vernon immediately after the death of Martha Washington, in
1802. The father, William Costin, who died suddenly in his bed, May
31, 1842, was for twenty-four years messenger for the Bank of
Washington in this city. His death was noticed at length in the
columns of the "National Intelligencer" in more than one communication
at the time. The obituary notice, written under the suggestions of the
bank officers who had previously passed a resolution expressing their
respect for his memory, and appropriating fifty dollars toward the
funeral expenses, says: "It is due to the deceased to say that his
colored skin covered a benevolent heart"; concluding with this
language:
"The deceased raised respectably a large family of children of his
own, and, in the exercise of the purest benevolence, took into his
family and supported four orphan children. The tears of the orphan
will moisten his grave, and his memory will be dear to all those--a
numerous class--who have experienced his kindness"; and adding these
lines:
"Honor and shame from _no condition_ rise;
Act well your part--there all the honor lies."
John Quincy Adams, also, a few days afterward, in a discussion of the
wrongs of slavery, alluded to the deceased in these words, "The late
William Costin, though he was not white, was as much respected as any
man in the district, and the large concourse of citizens that attended
his remains to the grave, as well white as black, was an evidence of
the manner in which he was estimated by the citizens of Washington."
His portrait, taken by the direction of the bank authorities, still
hangs in the directors' room, and it may also be seen in the houses of
more than one of the old and prominent residents of the city.
William Costin's mother, Ann Dandridge, was the daughter of a
half-breed (Indian and Colored), her grandfather being a Cherokee
chief, and her reputed father was the father of Martha Dandridge,
afterward Mrs. Custis, who, in 1759, was married to General
Washington. These daughters, Ann and Martha, grew up together on the
ancestral plantations. William Costin's reputed father was white, and
belonged to a prominent family in Virginia, but the mother, after his
birth, married one of the Mount Vernon slaves by the name of Costin,
and the son took the name of William Costin. His mother, being of
Indian descent made him, under the laws of Virginia, a free-born man.
In 1800 he married Philadelphia Judge (his cousin), one of Martha
Washington's slaves, at Mount Vernon, where both were born in 1780.
The wife was given by Martha Washington at her decease to her
granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis, who was the wife of Thomas Law, of
Washington. Soon after William Costin and his wife came to Washington,
the wife's freedom was secured on kind and easy terms, and the
children were all born free. This is the account which William Costin
and his wife and his mother, Ann Dandridge, always gave of their
ancestry, and they were persons of great precision in all matters of
family history, as well as of the most marked scrupulousness in their
statements. Their seven children, five daughters and two sons, went to
school with the white children on Capitol Hill, to Mrs. Maria Haley
and other teachers. The two younger daughters, Martha and Frances,
finished their education at the Colored convent in Baltimore. Louisa
Parke and Ann had passed their school days before the convent was
founded. Louisa Parke Costin opened her school at nineteen years of
age, continuing it with much success till her sudden death in 1831,
the year in which her mother also died. When Martha returned from the
convent seminary, a year or so later, she reopened the school,
continuing it till about 1839. This school, which was maintained some
fifteen years, was always very full. The three surviving sister own
and reside in the house which their father built about 1812. One of
these sisters married Richard Henry Fisk, a Colored man of good
education, who died in California, and she now has charge of the
Senate ladies' reception-room. Ann Costin was for several years in the
family of Major Lewis (at Woodlawn, Mount Vernon), the nephew of
Washington. Mrs. Lewis (Eleanor Custis) was the granddaughter of
Martha Washington. This school was not molested by the mob of 1835,
and it was always under the care of a well-bred and well-educated
teacher.
THE WESLEYAN SEMINARY.
While Martha Costin was teaching, James Enoch Ambush, a Colored man,
had also a large school in the basement of the Israel Bethel Church,
on Capitol Hill, for a while, commencing there in April, 1833, and
continuing in various places till 1843, when he built a school-house
on E Street, south, near Tenth, island, and established what was known
as "The Wesleyan Seminary," and which was successfully maintained for
thirty-two years, till the close of August, 1865. The school-house
still stands, a comfortable one-story wooden structure, with the sign
"Wesleyan Seminary" over the door, as it has been there for
twenty-five years. This was the only Colored school on the island of
any account for many years, and in its humble way it accomplished a
great amount of good. For some years Mr. Ambush had given much study
to botanic medicine, and since closing his school he has become a
botanic physician. He is a man of fine sense, and without school
advantages, has acquired a respectable education.
FIRST SEMINARY FOR COLORED GIRLS.
The first seminary in the District of Columbia for Colored girls was
established in Georgetown, in 1827, under the special auspices of
Father Vanlomen, a benevolent and devout Catholic priest, then pastor
of the Holy Trinity Church, who not only gave this interesting
enterprise his hand and his heart, but for several years himself
taught a school of Colored boys three days in a week, near the
Georgetown college gate, in a small frame house, which was afterward
famous as the residence of the broken-hearted widow of Commodore
Decatur. This female seminary was under the care of Maria Becraft, who
was the most remarkable Colored young woman of her time in the
district, and, perhaps, of any time. Her father, William Becraft, born
while his mother, a free woman, was the housekeeper of Charles
Carroll, of Carrollton, always had the kindest attentions of this
great man, and there are now pictures, more than a century and a half
old, and other valuable relics from the Carroll family in the
possession of the Becraft family, in Georgetown, which Charles
Carroll, of Carrollton, in his last days presented to William Becraft
as family keepsakes. William Becraft lived in Georgetown sixty-four
years, coming there when eighteen years of age. He was for many years
chief steward of Union Hotel, and a remarkable man, respected and
honored by everybody. When he died, the press of the district noticed,
in a most prominent manner, his life and character. From one of the
extended obituary notices, marked with heavy black lines, the
following paragraph is copied:
"He was among the last surviving representatives of the old
school of well-bred, confidential, and intelligent domestics, and
was widely known at home and abroad from his connection, in the
capacity of steward for a long series of years, and probably from
its origin, and until a recent date, with the Union Hotel,
Georgetown, with whose guests, for successive generations, his
benevolent and venerable aspect, dignified and obliging manners,
and moral excellence, rendered him a general favorite."
Maria Becraft was marked, from her childhood, for her uncommon
intelligence and refinement, and for her extraordinary piety. She was
born in 1805, and first went to school for a year to Henry Potter, in
Washington, about 1812; afterward attending Mrs. Billing's school
constantly till 1820. She then, at the age of fifteen, opened a school
for girls in Dunbarton Street, in Georgetown, and gave herself to the
work, which she loved, with the greatest assiduity, and with uniform
success. In 1827, when she was twenty-two years of age, her remarkable
beauty and elevation of character so much impressed Father Vanlomen,
the good priest, that he took it in hand to give her a higher style of
school in which to work for her sex and race, to the education of
which she had now fully consecrated herself. Her school was
accordingly transferred to a larger building, which still stands on
Fayette Street, opposite the convent, and there she opened a boarding
and day school for Colored girls, which she continued with great
success till August, 1831, when she surrendered her little seminary
into the care of one of the girls that she had trained, and in October
of that year joined the convent at Baltimore as a Sister of
Providence, where she was the leading teacher till she died, in
December, 1833, a great loss to that young institution, which was
contemplating this noble young woman as its future Mother Superior.
Her seminary in Georgetown averaged from thirty to thirty-five pupils,
and there are those living who remember the troop of girls, dressed
uniformly, which was wont to follow in procession their pious and
refined teacher to devotions on the Sabbath at Holy Trinity Church.
The school comprised girls from the best Colored families of
Georgetown, Washington, Alexandria, and surrounding country. The
sisters of the Georgetown convent were the admirers of Miss Becraft,
gave her instruction, and extended to her most heartfelt aid and
approbation in all her noble work, as they were in those days wont to
do in behalf of the aspiring Colored girls who sought for education,
withholding themselves from such work only when a depraved and
degenerate public sentiment upon the subject of educating the Colored
people had compelled them to a more rigid line of demarcation between
the races. Ellen Simonds and others conducted the school a few years,
but with the loss of its original teacher it began to fail, and
finally became extinct. Maria Becraft is remembered, wherever she was
known, as a woman of the rarest sweetness and exaltation of Christian
life, graceful and attractive in person and manners, gifted,
well-educated, and wholly devoted to doing good. Her name as a Sister
of Providence was Sister Aloyons.
MISS MYRTILLA MINER'S SEMINARY
for Colored girls was initiated in Washington. This philanthropic
woman was born in Brookfield, Madison County, New York, in 1815. Her
parents were farmers, with small resources for the support of a large
family. The children were obliged to work, and the small advantages of
a common school were all the educational privileges furnished to them.
Hop-raising was a feature in their farming, and this daughter was
accustomed to work in the autumn, picking the hops. She was of a
delicate physical organization, and suffered exceedingly all her life
with spinal troubles. Being a girl of extraordinary intellectual
activity, her place at home chafed her spirit. She was restless,
dissatisfied with her lot, looked higher than her father, dissented
from his ideas of woman's education, and, in her desperation, when
about twenty-three years old, wrote to Mr. Seward, then recently
elected Governor of her State, asking him if he could show her how it
was possible for a woman in her circumstances to become a scholar;
receiving from him the reply that he could not, but hoped a better day
was coming, wherein woman might have a chance to be and to do to the
extent of her abilities. Hearing at this time of a school at Clinton,
Oneida County, New York, for young women, on the manual-labor system,
she decided to go there; but her health being such as to make manual
labor impossible at the time, she wrote to the principal of the Clover
Street Seminary, Rochester, New York, who generously received her,
taking her notes for the school bills, to be paid after completing her
education. Grateful for this noble act, she afterward sent her younger
sister there to be educated, for her own associate as a teacher; and
the death of this talented sister, when about to graduate and come as
her assistant in Washington, fell upon her with crushing force. In the
Rochester school, with Myrtilla Miner, were two free Colored girls,
and this association was the first circumstance to turn her thoughts
to the work to which she gave her life. From Rochester she went to
Mississippi, as a teacher of planters' daughters, and it was what she
was compelled to see, in this situation, of the dreadful practices and
conditions of slavery, that filled her soul with a pity for the
Colored race, and a detestation of the system that bound them, which
held possession of her to the last day of her life. She remained there
several years, till her indignant utterances, which she would not
withhold, compelled her employer, fearful of the results, to part
reluctantly with a teacher whom he valued. She came home broken down
with sickness, caused by the harassing sights and sounds that she had
witnessed in plantation life, and while in this condition she made a
solemn vow that whatever of life remained to her should be given to
the work of ameliorating the condition of the Colored people. Here her
great work begins. She made up her mind to do something for the
education of free Colored girls, with the idea that through the
influence of educated Colored women she could lay the solid
foundations for the disenthrallment of their race. She selected the
district for the field of her efforts, because it was the common
property of the nation, and because the laws of the district gave her
the right to educate _free_ Colored children, and she attempted to
teach none others. She opened her plan to many of the leading friends
of freedom, in an extensive correspondence, but found especially, at
this time, a wise and warm encourager and counsellor in her scheme, in
William R. Smith, a Friend, of Farmington, near Rochester, New York,
in whose family she was now a private teacher. Her correspondents
generally gave her but little encouragement, but wished her God-speed
in what she should dare in the good cause. One Friend wrote her from
Philadelphia; entering warmly into her scheme, but advised her to wait
till funds could be collected. "I do not want the wealth of Croesus,"
was her reply; and the Friend sent her $100, and with this capital, in
the autumn of 1851, she came to Washington to establish a Normal
School for the education of Colored girls, having associated with her
Miss Anna Inman, an accomplished and benevolent lady of the Society of
Friends, from Southfield, Rhode Island, who, however, after teaching a
class of Colored girls in French, in the house of Jonathan Jones, on
the island, through the winter, returned to New England. In the autumn
of 1851 Miss Miner commenced her remarkable work here in a small room,
about fourteen feet square, in the frame house then, as now, owned and
occupied by Edward C. Younger, a Colored man, as his dwelling, on
Eleventh Street, near New York Avenue. With but two or three girls to
open the school, she soon had a roomful, and to secure larger
accommodation, moved, after a couple of months, to a house on F
Street, north, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, west, near
the houses then occupied by William T. Carroll and Charles H. Winder.
This house furnished her a very comfortable room for her school, which
was composed of well-behaved girls from the best Colored families of
the district. The persecution of those neighbors, however, compelled
her to leave, as the Colored family who occupied the house was
threatened with conflagration, and after one month her little school
found a more unmolested home in the dwelling-house of a German family
on K Street, near the western market. After tarrying a few months
here, she moved to L Street, into a room in the building known, as
"The Two Sisters," then occupied by a white family. She now saw that
the success of her school demanded a school-house, and in
reconnoitring the ground she found a spot suiting her ideas as to size
and locality, with a house on it, and in the market at a low price.
She raised the money, secured the spot, and thither, in the summer of
1851, she moved her school, where for seven years she was destined to
prosecute, with the most unparalleled energy and conspicuous success,
her remarkable enterprise. This lot, comprising an entire square of
three acres, between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, west, N and O
streets, north, and New Hampshire Avenue, selected under the guidance
of Miss Miner, the contract being perfected through the agency of
Sayles J. Bowen, Thomas Williamson, and Allen M. Gangewer, was
originally conveyed in trust to Thomas Williamson and Samuel Rhodes,
of the Society of Friends, in Philadelphia. It was purchased of the
executors of the will of John Taylor, for $4,000, the deed being
executed June 8, 1853, the estimated value of the property now being
not less than $30,000. The money was mainly contributed by Friends, in
Philadelphia, New York, and New England. Catharine Morris, a Friend,
of Philadelphia, was a liberal benefactor of the enterprise, advancing
Miss Miner $2,000, with which to complete the purchase of the lot, the
most, if not all, of which sum, it is believed, she ultimately gave to
the institution; and Harriet Beecher Stowe was another generous
friend, who gave her money and her heart to the support of the brave
woman who had been willing to go forth alone at the call of duty. Mr.
Rhodes, some years editor of the "Friends' Quarterly Review," died
several years ago, near Philadelphia. Mr. Williamson, a conveyancer in
that city, and father of Passmore Williamson, is still living, but
some years ago declined the place of trustee. The board, at the date
of the act of incorporation, consisted of Benjamin Tatham, a Friend,
of New York City, Mrs. Nancy M. Johnson, of Washington, and Myrtilla
Miner, and the transfer of the property to the incorporated body was
made a few weeks prior to Miss Miner's death. This real estate,
together with a fund of $4,000 in government stocks, is now in the
hands of a corporate body, under act of Congress approved March 3,
1863, and is styled "The Institution for the Education of Colored
Youth in the District of Columbia." The officers of the corporation at
this time are John C. Underwood, president; Francis G. Shaw,
treasurer; George E. Baker, secretary; who, with Nancy M. Johnson, S.
J. Bowen, Henry Addison, and Rachel Howland, constitute the executive
committee. The purpose of the purchase of this property is declared,
in a paper signed by Mr. Williamson and Mr. Rhodes, dated
Philadelphia, June 8, 1858, to have been "_especially for the
education of colored girls_."
This paper also declares that "the grounds were purchased at the
special instance of Myrtilla Miner," and that "the contributions by
which the original price of said lot, and also the cost of the
subsequent improvements thereof, were procured chiefly by her
instrumentality and labors." The idea of Miss Miner in planting a
school here was to train up a class of Colored girls, in the midst of
slave institutions, who should show forth in their culture and
capabilities, to the country and to mankind, that the race was fit for
something higher than the degradation which rested upon them. The
amazing energy with which this frail woman prosecuted her work is well
known to those who took knowledge of her career. She visited the
Colored people of her district from house to house, and breathed a new
life into them pertaining to the education of their daughters. Her
correspondence with the philanthropic men and women of the North was
immense. She importuned Congressmen, and the men who shaped public
sentiment through the columns of the press, to come into her school
and see her girls, and was ceaseless in her activities day and night,
in every direction, to build up, in dignity and refinement, her
seminary, and to force its merits upon public attention.
The buildings upon the lot when purchased--a small frame dwelling of
two stories, not more than twenty-five by thirty-five feet in
dimensions, with three small cabins on the other side of the
premises--served for the seminary and the homes of the teacher and her
assistant. The most aspiring and decently bred Colored girls of the
district were gathered into the school; and the very best Colored
teachers in the schools, of the district at the present time, are
among those who owe their education to this self-sacrificing teacher
and her school. Mrs. Means, aunt of the wife of General Pierce, then
President of the United States, attracted by the enthusiasm of this
wonderful person, often visited her in the midst of her work, with the
kindest feelings; and the fact that the carriage from the Presidential
mansion was in this way frequently seen at the door of this humble
institution, did much to protect it from the hatred with which it was
surrounded.
Mr. Seward and his family were very often seen at the school, both
Mrs. Seward and her daughter Fanny being constant visitors; the
latter, a young girl at the time, often spending a whole day there.
Many other Congressmen of large and generous instincts, some of them
of pro-slavery party relations, went out there, all confessing their
admiration of the resolute woman and her school, and this kept evil
men in abeyance.
The opposition to the school throughout the district was strong and
very general, among the old as well as the young. Even Walter Lenox,
who, as mayor, when the school was first started, gave the teacher
assurances of favor in her work, came out in 1857, following the
prevailing current of depraved public sentiment and feeding its tide,
in an elaborate article in the "National Intelligencer," under his own
signature; assailed the school in open and direct language, urging
against it that it was raising the standard of education among the
Colored population, and distinctly declaring that the white population
of the district would not be just to themselves to permit the
continuance of an institution which had the temerity to extend to the
Colored people "a degree of instruction so far beyond their social and
political condition, which condition must continue," the article goes
on to say, "in this and every other slave-holding community." This
article, though fraught with extreme ideas, and to the last degree
prescriptive and inflammatory, neither stirred any open violence, nor
deterred the courageous woman in the slightest degree from her work.
When madmen went to her school-room threatening her with personal
violence, she laughed them to shame; and when they threatened to burn
her house, she told them that they could not stop her in that way, as
another house, better than the old, would immediately rise from its
ashes.
The house was set on fire in the spring of 1860, when Miss Miner was
asleep in the second story, alone, in the night-time, but the smell of
the smoke awakened her in time to save the building and herself from
the flames, which were extinguished. The school-girls, also, were
constantly at the mercy of coarse and insulting boys along the
streets, who would often gather in gangs before the gate to pursue and
terrify these inoffensive children, who were striving to gather wisdom
and understanding in their little sanctuary. The police took no
cognizance of such brutality in those days. But their dauntless
teacher, uncompromising, conscientious, and self-possessed in her
aggressive work, in no manner turned from her course by this
persecution, was, on the other hand, stimulated thereby to higher
vigilance and energy in her great undertaking. The course of
instruction in the school was indeed of a higher order than had
hitherto been opened to the Colored people of the district, as was
denounced against the school by Walter Lenox, in his newspaper attack.
Lectures upon scientific and literary subjects were given by
professional and literary gentlemen, who were friends to the cause.
The spacious grounds afforded to each pupil an ample space for a
flower bed, which she was enjoined to cultivate with her own hands and
to thoroughly study. And an excellent library, a collection of
paintings and engravings, the leading magazines and choice newspapers,
were gathered and secured for the humble home of learning, which was
all the while filled with students, the most of whom were bright,
ambitious girls, composing a female Colored school, which, in dignity
and usefulness, has had no equal in the district since that day. It
was her custom to gather in her vacations and journeys not only money,
but every thing else that would be of use in her school, and in this
way she not only collected books, but maps, globes, philosophical, and
chemical, and mathematical apparatus, and a great variety of things to
aid in her instruction in illustrating all branches of knowledge. This
collection was stored in the school building during the war, and was
damaged by neglect, plundered by soldiers, and what remains is not of
much value. The elegant sofa-bedstead which she used during all her
years in the seminary, and which would be an interesting possession
for the seminary, was sold, with her other personal effects, to Dr.
Carrie Brown (Mrs. Winslow), of Washington, one of her bosom friends,
who stood at her pillow when she died.
Her plan embraced the erection of spacious structures, upon the site
which had been most admirably chosen, complete in all their
appointments for the full accommodation of a school of one hundred and
fifty boarding scholars. The seminary was to be a female college,
endowed with all the powers and professorships belonging to a
first-class college for the other sex. She did not contemplate its
springing up into such proportions, like a mushroom, in a single
night, but it was her ambition that the institution should one day
attain that rank. In the midst of her anxious, incessant labors, her
physical system began so sensibly to fail, that in the summer of 1858,
under the counsel of the friends of herself and her cause, she went
North to seek health, and, as usual in all her journeys, to beg for
her seminary, leaving her girls in the care of Emily Howland, a noble
young woman, who came down here for the love of the cause, without
money and without price, from the vicinity of Auburn, New York. In the
autumn, Miss Miner returned to her school; Miss Howland still
continuing with her through the winter, a companion in her trials,
aiding her in her duties, and consenting to take charge of the school
again in the summer of 1859, while Miss Miner was on another journey
for funds and health. In the autumn of that year, after returning from
her journey, which was not very successful she determined to suspend
the school, and to go forth into the country with a most persistent
appeal for money to erect a seminary building, as she had found it
impossible to get a house of any character started with the means
already in her hands. She could get no woman, whom she deemed fit to
take her work, willing to continue her school, and in the spring of
1860, leasing the premises, she went North on her errand. In the
ensuing year she traversed many States, but the shadow of the
Rebellion was on her path, and she gathered neither much money nor
much strength. The war came, and in October, 1862, hoping, but vainly,
for health from a sea-voyage and from the Pacific climate, she sailed
from New York to California. When about to return, in 1866, with
vivacity of body and spirit, she was thrown from a carriage in a
fearful manner; blighting all the high hopes of resuming her school
under the glowing auspices she had anticipated, as she saw the
Rebellion and the hated system tumbling to pieces. She arrived in New
York, in August of that year, in a most shattered condition of body,
though with the fullest confidence that she should speedily be well
and at her work in Washington. In the first days of December she went
to Washington in a dying condition, still resolute to resume her work;
was carried to the residence of her tried friend, Mrs. Nancy M.
Johnson; and on the tenth of that month, surrounded by the friends who
had stood with her in other days, she put off her wasted and wearied
body in the city which had witnessed her trials and her triumphs, and
her remains slumber in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Her seminary engaged her thoughts to the last day of her life. She
said in her last hours that she had come back here to resume her work,
and could not leave it thus unfinished. No marble marks the
resting-place of this truly wonderful woman, but her memory is
certainly held precious in the hearts of her throngs of pupils, in the
hearts of the Colored people of this district, and of all who took
knowledge of her life, and who reverenced the cause in which she
offered herself a willing sacrifice. Her assistants in the school were
Helen Moore, of Washington; Margaret Clapp, Amanda Weaver, and Anna H.
Searing, of New York State, and two of her pupils, Matilda Jones, of
Washington, and Emma Brown, of Georgetown, both of whom subsequently,
through the influence of Miss Miner and Miss Howland, finished their
education at Oberlin, and have since been most superior teachers in
Washington. Most of the assistant teachers from the North were from
families connected with the Society of Friends, and it has been seen
that the bulk of the money came from that society. The sketch would be
incomplete without a special tribute to Lydia B. Mann, sister of
Horace Mann, who came here in the fall of 1856, from the Colored
Female Orphan Asylum of Providence, R. I., of which she was then, as
she continues to be, the admirable superintendent, and, as a pure
labor of love, took care of the school in the most superior manner
through the autumn and winter, while Miss Miner was North recruiting
her strength and pleading for contributions. It was no holiday duty to
go into that school, live in that building, and work alone with head
and hands, as was done by all those refined and educated women who
stood from time to time in that humble, persecuted seminary. Miss Mann
is gratefully remembered by her pupils here and their friends.
Mention should also be made of Emily Howland, who stood by Miss Miner
in her darkest days, and whose whole heart was with her in all her
work. She is a woman of the largest and most self-sacrificing
purposes, who has been and still is giving her best years, all her
powers, talents, learning, refinement, wealth, and personal toil, to
the education and elevation of the Colored race. While here she
adopted, and subsequently educated in the best manner, one of Miss
Miner's pupils, and assisted several others of her smart girls in
completing their education at Oberlin. During the war she was teaching
contrabands in the hospital and the camp, and is now engaged in
planting a colony of Colored people in Virginia with homes and a
school-house of their own.
A seminary, such as was embraced in the plan of Miss Miner, is
exceedingly demanded by the interest of Colored female education in
the District of Columbia and the country at large, and any scheme by
which the foundations that she laid so well may become the seat of
such a school, would be heartily approved by all enlightened friends
of the Colored race. The trustees of the Miner property, not
insensible of their responsibilities, have been carefully watching for
the moment when action on their part would seem to be justified. They
have repeatedly met in regard to the matter, but, in their counsels,
hitherto, have deemed it wise to wait further developments. They are
now about to hold another meeting, it is understood, and it is to be
devoutly hoped that some plan will be adopted by which a school of a
high order may be, in due time, opened for Colored girls in this
district, who exceedingly need the refining, womanly training of such
a school.
The original corporators of Miss Miner's institution were Henry
Addison, John C. Underwood, George C. Abbott, William H. Channing,
Nancy M. Johnson, and Myrtilla Miner. The objects, as expressed in the
charter, "are to educate and improve the moral and intellectual
condition of such of the colored youth of the nation as may be placed
under its care and influence."
MARY WORMLEY'S SCHOOL.
In 1830, William Wormley built a school-house for his sister Mary,
near the corner of Vermont Avenue and I Street, where the restaurant
establishment owned and occupied by his brother, James Wormley, now
stands. He had educated his sister expressly for a teacher, at great
expense, at the Colored Female Seminary in Philadelphia, then in
charge of Miss Sarah Douglass, an accomplished Colored lady, who is
still a teacher of note in the Philadelphia Colored High School.
William Wormley was at that time a man of wealth. His livery-stable,
which occupied the place where the Owen House now stands, was one of
the largest and best in the city. Miss Wormley had just brought her
school into full and successful operation when her health broke down,
and she lived scarcely two years. Mr. Calvert, an English gentleman,
still living in the first ward, taught a class of Colored scholars in
this house for a time, and James Wormley was one of the class. In the
autumn of 1834, William Thomas Lee opened a school in the same place,
and it was in a flourishing condition in the fall of 1835, when the
Snow mob dispersed it, sacking the school-house, and partially
destroying it by fire. William Wormley was at that time one of the
most enterprising and influential Colored men of Washington, and was
the original agent of the "Liberator" newspaper for this district.
The mob being determined to lay hold of him and Lee, they fled from
the city to save their lives, returning when General Jackson, coming
back from Virginia a few days after the outbreak, gave notice that the
fugitives should be protected. The persecution of William Wormley was
so violent and persistent, that his health and spirits sank under its
effects, his business was broken up, and he died a poor man, scarcely
owning a shelter for his dying couch. The school-house was repaired
after the riot, and occupied for a time by Margaret Thompson's school,
and still stands in the rear of James Wormley's restaurant.
BENJAMIN M'COY'S, AND OTHER SCHOOLS.
About this time another school was opened in Georgetown, by Nancy
Grant, a sister of Mrs. William Becraft, a well-educated Colored
woman. She was teaching as early as 1828, and had a useful school for
several years. Mr. Nuthall, an Englishman, was teaching in Georgetown
during this period, and as late as 1833 he went to Alexandria and
opened a school in that city. William Syphax, among others now
resident in Washington, attended his school in Alexandria about 1833.
He was a man of ability, well educated, and one of the best teachers
of his time in the district. His school in Georgetown was at first in
Dunbarton Street, and afterward on Montgomery.
The old maxim, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church," seems to find its illustration in this history. There is no
period in the annals of the country in which the fires of persecution
against the education of the Colored race burned more fiercely in this
district, and the country at large, than in the five years from 1831
to 1836, and it was during this period that a larger number of
respectable Colored schools were established than in any other five
years prior to the war. In 1833, the same year in which Ambush's
school was started, Benjamin M. McCoy, a Colored man, opened a school
in the northern part of the city, on L Street, between Third and
Fourth streets, west. In 1834 he moved to Massachusetts Avenue,
continuing his school there till he went to Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, in the autumn of 1836, to finish the engagement of Rev.
John F. Cook, who came back to Washington at that time and re-opened
his school. The school at Lancaster was a free public Colored school,
and Mr. McCoy was solicited to continue another year; but declining,
came back, and in 1837 opened a school in the basement of Asbury
Church, which, in that room and in the house adjoining, he maintained
with great success for the ensuing twelve years. Mr. McCoy was a pupil
of Mrs. Billing and Henry Smothers; is a man of good sense, and his
school gave a respectable rudimental education to multitudes, who
remember him as a teacher with great respect. He is now a messenger in
the Treasury Department. In 1833, a school was established by Fanny
Hampton, in the western part of the city, on the northwest corner of K
and Nineteenth streets. It was a large school, and was continued till
about 1842, the teacher dying soon afterward. She was half-sister of
Lindsay Muse. Margaret Thompson succeeded her, and had a flourishing
school of some forty scholars on Twenty-sixth Street, near the avenue,
for several years, about 1846. She subsequently became the wife of
Charles H. Middleton, and assisted in his school for a brief time.
About 1830, Robert Brown commenced a small school, and continued it at
intervals for many years till his death. As early as 1833, there was a
school opened in a private house in the rear of Franklin Row, near the
location of the new Franklin School building. It was taught by a white
man, Mr. Talbot, and continued a year or two. Mrs. George Ford, a
white teacher, a native of Virginia, kept a Colored school in a brick
house still standing on New Jersey Avenue, between K and L streets.
She taught there many years, and as early, perhaps, as half a century
ago.
DR. JOHN H. FLEET'S SCHOOL
was opened, in 1836, on New York Avenue, in a school-house which stood
nearly on the spot now occupied by the Richards buildings at the
corner of New York Avenue and Fourteenth Street. It had been
previously used for a white school, taught by Mrs. McDaniel, and was
subsequently again so used. Dr. Fleet was a native of Georgetown, and
was greatly assisted in his education by the late Judge James Morsell,
of that city, who was not only kind to this family, but was always
regarded by the Colored people of the district as their firm friend
and protector. John H. Fleet, with his brothers and sisters, went to
the Georgetown Lancasterian School, with the white children, for a
long period, in their earlier school days, and subsequently to other
white schools. He was also for a time a pupil of Smothers and Prout.
He was possessed of a brilliant and strong intellect, inherited from
his father, who was a white man of distinguished abilities. He studied
medicine in Washington, in the office of Dr. Thomas Henderson, who had
resigned as assistant surgeon in the army, and was a practising
physician of eminence in Washington. He also attended medical lectures
at the old medical college, corner of Tenth and E streets. It was his
intention at that time to go to Liberia, and his professional
education was conducted under the auspices of the Colonization
Society. This, with the influence of Judge Morsell, gave him
privileges never extended here to any other Colored man. He decided,
however, not to go to Liberia, and in 1836 opened his school. He was a
refined and polished gentleman, and conceded to be the foremost
Colored man in culture, in intellectual force, and general influence
in this district at that time. His school-house on New York Avenue was
burned by an incendiary about 1843, and his flourishing and excellent
school was thus ended. For a time he subsequently taught music, in
which he was very proficient; but about 1846 he opened a school on
School-house Hill, in the Hobbrook Military School building, near the
corner of N Street, north, and Twenty-third Street, west, and had a
large school there till about 1851, when he relinquished the business,
giving his attention henceforth exclusively to music, and with eminent
success. He died in 1861. His school was very large and of a superior
character.
CHARLES H. MIDDLETON'S SCHOOL
was started in the same section of the city, in a school-house which
then stood, near the corner of Twenty-second Street, west, and I,
north, and which had been used by Henry Hardy for a white school.
Though both Fleet's and Johnson's schools were in full tide of success
in that vicinity, he gathered a good school, and when his two
competitors retired--as they both did about this time,--his school
absorbed a large portion of their patronage, and was thronged. In
1852, he went temporarily with his school to Sixteenth Street, and
thence to the basement of Union Bethel Church on M Street, near
Sixteenth, in which, during the administration of President Pierce, he
had an exceedingly large and excellent school, at the same period when
Miss Miner was prosecuting her signal work. Mr. Middleton, now a
messenger in the Navy Department, a native of Savannah, Ga., is
free-born, and received his very good education in schools in that
city, sometimes with white and sometimes with Colored children. When
he commenced his school he had just returned from the Mexican war, and
his enterprise is especially worthy of being made prominent, not only
because of his high style as a teacher, but also because it is
associated with
THE FIRST MOVEMENT FOR A FREE COLORED PUBLIC SCHOOL.
This movement originated with a city officer, Jesse E. Dow, who, in
1848 and 1849, was a leading and influential member of the common
council. He encouraged Mr. Middleton to start his school, by assuring
him that he would give all his influence to the establishment of free
schools for Colored as well as for white children, and that he had
great confidence that the council would be brought to give at least
some encouragement to the enterprise. In 1850 Mr. Dow was named among
the candidates for the mayoralty; and when his views in this regard
were assailed by his opponents, he did not hesitate to boldly avow his
opinions, and to declare that he wished no support for any office
which demanded of him any modification of these convictions. The
workmen fail, but the work succeeds. The name of Jesse E. Dow merits
conspicuous record in this history for this bold and magnanimous
action. Mr. Middleton received great assistance in building up his
school from Rev. Mr. Wayman, then pastor of the Bethel Church, and
afterward promoted to the bishopric. The school was surrendered
finally to Rev. J. V. B. Morgan, the succeeding pastor of the church,
who conducted the school as a part of the means of his livelihood.
ALEXANDER CORNISH AND OTHERS.
In the eastern section of the city, about 1840, Alexander Cornish had
a school several years in his own house on D Street, south, between
Third and Fourth, east, with an average of forty scholars. He was
succeeded, about 1846, by Richard Stokes, who was a native of Chester
County, Pa. His school, averaging one hundred and fifty scholars, was
kept in the Israel Bethel Church, near the Capitol, and was continued
for about six years. In 1840, there was a school opened by Margaret
Hill in Georgetown, near Miss English's seminary. She taught a very
good school for several years.
ALEXANDER HAYS'S SCHOOL
was started on Ninth Street, west, near New York Avenue. Mr. Hays was
born in 1802, and belonged originally to the Fowler family in
Maryland. When a boy he served for a time at the Washington Navy Yard,
in the family of Captain Dove, of the navy, the father of Dr. Dove, of
Washington, and it was in that family that he learned to read. Michael
Tabbs had a school at that time at the Navy Yard, which he taught in
the afternoons _under a large tree_, which stood near the old Masonic
Hall. The Colored children used to meet him there in large numbers
daily, and while attending this singular school, Hays was at the same
time taught by Mrs. Dove, with her children. This was half a century
ago. In 1826, Hays went to live in the family of R. S. Coxe, the
eminent Washington lawyer, who soon purchased him, paying Fowler $300
for him. Mr. Coxe did this at the express solicitation of Hays, and
seventeen years after he gave him his freedom--in 1843. While living
with Mr. Coxe he had married Matilda Davis, the daughter of John
Davis, who served as steward many years in the family of Mr. Seaton,
of the "National Intelligencer." The wedding was at Mr. Seaton's
residence, and Mr. Coxe and family were present on the occasion. In
1836, he bought the house and lot which they still own and occupy, and
in 1842, the year before he was free, Hays made his last payment, and
the place was conveyed to his wife. She was a free woman, and had
opened a school in the house in 1841. Hays had many privileges while
with Mr. Coxe, and with the proceeds of his wife's school they paid
the purchase-money ($550) and interest in seven years. Mr. Hays was
taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by Mr. Coxe, his wife, and
daughters, while a slave in their family. When the Colored people were
driven from the churches, in the years of the mobs, Mrs. Coxe
organized a large Colored Sabbath-school in her own parlor, and
maintained it for a long period, with the cooperation of Mr. Coxe and
the daughters. Mr. Hays was a member of this school. He also attended
day schools, when his work would allow of it. This was the education
with which, in 1845, he ventured to take his wife's school in charge.
He is a man of good-sense, and his school flourished. He put up an
addition to his house, in order to make room for his increasing
school, which was continued down to 1857--sixteen years from its
opening. He had also a night school and taught music, and these two
features of his school he has revived since the war. This school
contained from thirty-five to forty-five pupils. Rev. Dr. Samson, Mr.
Seaton, and Mr. Coxe often visited his school and encouraged him in
his excellent work. Thomas Tabbs used also to come into his school and
give him aid and advice, as also did John McLeod.
MR. AND MRS. FLETCHER'S SCHOOL
was opened about 1854, in the building in which Middleton first
taught, on I, near Twenty-second Street. Mr. Fletcher was an
Englishman, a well-educated gentleman, and a thorough teacher. He was
induced to open the school by the importunities of some aspiring
Colored young men in that part of the city, who desired first-rate
instruction. He soon became the object of persecution, though he was a
man of courtesy and excellent character. His school-house was finally
set on fire and consumed, with all its books and furniture; but the
school took, as its asylum, the basement of the John Wesley Church.
The churches which they had been forced to build in the days of the
mobs, when they were driven from the white churches which they had
aided in building, proved of immense service to them in their
subsequent struggles. Mrs. Fletcher kept a variety store, which was
destroyed about the time the school was opened. She then became an
assistant in her husband's school, which numbered over one hundred and
fifty pupils. In 1858, they were driven from the city, as persecution
at that time was particularly violent against all white persons who
instructed the Colored people. This school was conducted with great
thoroughness, and had two departments, Mrs. Fletcher, who was an
accomplished person, having charge of the girls in a separate room.
ELIZA ANNE COOK,
a niece of Rev. John F. Cook, and one of his pupils, who has been
teaching for about fifteen years, should be mentioned. She attended
Miss Miner's school for a time, and was afterward at the Baltimore
convent two years. She opened a school in her mother's house, and
subsequently built a small school-house on the same lot, Sixteenth
Street, between K and L streets. With the exception of three years,
during which she was teaching in the free Catholic school opened in
the Smothers school-house in 1859, and one year in the female school
in charge of the Colored sisters, she has maintained her own private
school from 1854 down to the present time, her number at some periods
being above sixty, but usually not more than twenty-five or thirty.
MISS WASHINGTON'S SCHOOL.
In 1857, Annie E. Washington opened a select primary school in her
mother's house, on K Street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth
streets, west. The mother, a widow woman, was a laundress, and by her
own labor has given her children good advantages, though she had no
such advantages herself. This daughter was educated chiefly under Rev.
John E. Cook and Miss Miner, with whom she was a favorite scholar. Her
older sister was educated at the Baltimore convent. Annie E.
Washington is a woman of native refinement, and has an excellent
aptitude for teaching, as well as a good education. Her schools have
always been conducted with system and superior judgment, giving
universal satisfaction, the number of her pupils being limited only by
the size of her room. In 1858, she moved to the basement of the
Baptist Church, corner of Nineteenth and I streets, to secure larger
accommodations, and there she had a school of more than sixty scholars
for several years.
A FREE CATHOLIC COLORED SCHOOL.
A free school was established in 1858, and maintained by the St.
Vincent de Paul Society, an association of Colored Catholics, in
connection with St. Matthew's Church. It was organized under the
direction of Father Walter, and kept in the Smothers school-house for
two years, and was subsequently for one season maintained on a smaller
scale in a house on L Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets,
west, till the association failed to give it the requisite pecuniary
support after the war broke out. This school has already been
mentioned.
OTHER SCHOOLS.
In 1843, Elizabeth Smith commenced a school for small children on the
island in Washington, and subsequently taught on Capitol Hill. In
1860, she was the assistant of Rev. Wm. H. Hunter, who had a large
school in Zion Wesley Church, Georgetown, of which he was the pastor.
She afterward took the school into her own charge for a period, and
taught among the contrabands in various places during the war.
About 1850, Isabella Briscoe opened a school on Montgomery Street,
near Mount Zion Church, Georgetown. She was well educated, and one of
the best Colored teachers in the district before the Rebellion. Her
school was always well patronized, and she continued teaching in the
district up to 1868.
Charlotte Beams had a large school for a number of years, as early as
1850, in a building next to Galbraith Chapel, I Street, north, between
Fourth and Fifth, west. It was exclusively a girls' school in its
later years. The teacher was a pupil of Enoch Ambush, who assisted her
in establishing her school.
A year or two later, Rev. James Shorter had a large school in the
Israel Bethel Church, and Miss Jackson taught another good school on
Capitol Hill about the same time. The above-mentioned were all Colored
teachers.
Among the excellent schools broken up at the opening of the war, was
that of Mrs. Charlotte Gordon, Colored, on Eighth Street, in the
northern section of the city. It was in successful operation several
years, and the number in attendance sometimes reached one hundred and
fifty. Mrs. Gordon was assisted by her daughter.
In 1841, David Brown commenced teaching on D Street, south, between
First and Second streets, island, and continued in the business till
1858, at which period he was placed in charge of the large Catholic
free school in the Smothers house, as has been stated.[65]
* * * * *
Here is a picture that every Negro in the country may contemplate with
satisfaction and pride. In the stronghold of slavery, under the shadow
of the legalized institution of slavery, within earshot of the
slave-auctioneer's hammer, amid distressing circumstances, poverty,
and proscription, three unlettered ex-slaves, upon the threshold of
the nineteenth century, sowed the seed of education for the Negro race
in the District of Columbia, from which an abundant harvest has been
gathered, and will be gathered till the end of time!
What the Negro has done to educate himself, the trials and hateful
laws that have hampered him during the long period anterior to 1860,
cannot fail to awaken feelings of regret and admiration among the
people of both sections and two continents.
FOOTNOTES:
[58] Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict, by Rev. Samuel J.
May.
[59] Barnard, p. 337.
[60] Barnard, p. 339.
[61] Barnard, pp. 205, 206.
[62] Barnard, p. 357.
[63] Barnard, pp. 364-366.
[64] Barnard, pp. 377, 378.
[65] Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1871.
CHAPTER XIII.
JOHN BROWN--HERO AND MARTYR.
JOHN BROWN'S APPEARANCE IN KANSAS.--HE DENOUNCES SLAVERY IN A
POLITICAL MEETING AT OSAWATOMIE.--MRS. STEARNS'S PERSONAL
RECOLLECTION OF JOHN BROWN.--KANSAS INFESTED BY BORDER
RUFFIANS.--THE BATTLE OF HARPER'S FERRY.--THE DEFEAT AND CAPTURE
OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN.--HIS LAST LETTER WRITTEN TO MRS.
STEARNS.--HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION.--HIS INFLUENCE UPON THE
SLAVERY QUESTION AT THE NORTH.--HIS PLACE IN HISTORY.
On the 9th of May, 1800, at Torrington, Connecticut, was born a man
who lived for two generations, but accomplished the work of two
centuries. That man was John Brown, who ranks among the world's
greatest heroes. Greater than Peter the Hermit, who believed himself
commissioned of God to redeem the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of
infidels; greater than Joanna Southcote, who deemed herself big with
the promised Shiloh; greater than Ignatius Loyola, who thought the Son
of Man appeared to him, bearing His cross upon His shoulders, and
bestowed upon him a Latin commission of wonderful significance;
greater than Oliver Cromwell, the great Republican Protector; and
greater than John Hampden,--he deserves to rank with William of
Orange.
John Brown was nearly six feet high, slim, wiry, dark in complexion,
sharp in feature, dark hair sprinkled with gray, eyes a dark gray and
penetrating, with a countenance that betokened frankness, honesty, and
firmness. His brow was prominent, the centre of the forehead flat, the
upper part retreating, which, in conjunction with his slightly Roman
nose, gave him an interesting appearance. The crown of his head was
remarkably high, in the regions of the phrenological organs of
firmness, conscientiousness, self-esteem, indicating a stern will,
unswerving integrity, and marvellous self-possession. He walked
rapidly with a firm and elastic tread. He was somewhat like John
Baptist, taciturn in habits, usually wrapped in meditation. He was
rather meteoric in his movements, appearing suddenly and unexpectedly
at this place, and then disappearing in the same mysterious manner.
When Kansas lay bleeding at the feet of border ruffians; when Congress
gave the free-State settlers no protection, but was rather trying to
drag the territory into the Union with a slave constitution,--without
noise or bluster John Brown dropped down into Osage County. He was not
a member of the Republican party; but rather hated its reticency. When
it cried Halt! he gave the command _Forward, march_! He was not in
sympathy with any of the parties, political or anti-slavery. All were
too conservative to suit him. So, as a political orphan he went into
Kansas, organized and led a new party that swore eternal death to
slavery. The first time he appeared in a political meeting in Kansas,
at Osawatomie, the politicians were trimming their speeches and
shaping their resolutions to please each political faction. John Brown
took the floor and made a speech that threw the convention into
consternation. He denounced slavery as the curse of the ages; affirmed
the manhood of the slave; dealt "middle men" terrible blows; and said
he could "see no use in talking." "Talk," he continued, "is a national
institution; but it does no good for the slave." He thought it an
excuse very well adapted for weak men with tender consciences. Most
men who were afraid to fight, and too honest to be silent, deceived
themselves that they discharged their duties to the slave by
denouncing in fiery words the oppressor. His ideas of duty were far
different; the slaves, in his eyes, were prisoners of war; their
tyrants, as he held, had taken up the sword, and must perish by it.
This was his view of the great question of slavery.
The widow of the late Major George L. Stearns gives the following
personal recollections of John Brown, in a bright and entertaining
style. Mrs. Stearns's noble husband was very intimately related to the
"old hero," and what Mrs. Stearns writes is of great value.
"The passage of the Fugitive-Slave Bill in 1850, followed by the
virtual repeal of the Missouri Compromise, under the name of the
Kansas Nebraska Act, in 1854, alarmed all sane people for the
safety of republican institutions; and the excitement reached a
white heat when, on the 22d of May, 1856, Charles Sumner was
murderously assaulted in the Senate chamber by Preston S. Brooks,
of South Carolina, for words spoken in debate: the celebrated
speech of the 19th and 20th of May, known as 'The Crime Against
Kansas.' That same week the town of Lawrence in the territory of
Kansas was sacked and burned in the interest of the slave power.
The atrocities committed by the 'Border Ruffians' upon the
free-State settlers sent a thrill of terror through all
law-abiding communities. In Boston the citizens gathered in
Faneuil Hall to consider what could be done, and a committee was
chosen, with Dr. S. G. Howe as chairman, for the relief of
Kansas, called the 'Kansas Relief Committee.' After some $18,000
or $20,000 had been collected, chiefly in Boston, and forwarded
to Kansas, the interest flagged, and Mr. Stearns, who had been
working with that committee, saw the need of more energetic
action; so one day he went to Dr. Howe, and told him he was ready
to give _all_ his time, and much of his money, to push forward
the work. Dr. Howe seeing that here was the man for the hour,
immediately resigned, and Mr. Stearns was chosen unanimously
chairman of the 'Massachusetts State Kansas Committee,' which
took the place of the one first organized. In the light of
subsequent history it is difficult to believe the apathy and
blindness which failed to recognize the significance of this
attack upon Kansas by the slave-holding power. Only faithful
watchmen in their high towers could see that it was the first
battle-ground between the two conflicting systems of freedom and
slavery, which was finally to culminate in the war of the
Rebellion. 'Working day and night without haste or rest,' failing
in no effort to rouse and stimulate the community, still Mr.
Stearns found that a vitalizing interest was wanting. When Gov.
Reeder was driven in disguise from the territory, he wrote to him
to come to Boston and address the people. He organized a
mass-meeting for him in Tremont Temple, and for a few days the
story he related stimulated to a livelier activity the more
conservative people, who were inclined to think the reports of
the free-State men much exaggerated. Soon, however, things
settled back into the old sluggish way; so that for three
consecutive committee meetings the chairman was the only person
who presented himself at the appointed time and place. Nothing
daunted, he turned to the country towns, and at the end of five
months he had raised by his personal exertions, and through his
agents, the sum of $48,000. Women formed societies all over the
State, for making and furnishing clothing, and various supplies,
which resulted in an addition of some $20,000 or $30,000 more. In
January, 1867, this species of work was stopped, by advices from
Kansas that no more contributions were needed, except for
_defense_. At this juncture Mr. Stearns wrote to John Brown, that
if he would come to Boston and consult with the friends of
freedom he would pay his expenses. They had never met, but
'Osawatomie Brown' had become a cherished household name during
the anxious summer of 1856.[66] Arriving in Boston, they were
introduced to each other in the street by a Kansas man, who
chanced to be with Mr. Stearns on his way to the committee rooms
in Nilis's Block, School Street. Captain Brown made a profound
impression on all who came within the sphere of his moral
magnetism. Emerson called him 'the most ideal of men, for he
wanted to put all his ideas into action.' His absolute
superiority to all selfish aims and narrowing pride of opinion
touched an answering chord in the self-devotion of Mr. Stearns. A
little anecdote illustrates the modest estimate of the work he
had in hand. After several efforts to bring together certain
friends to meet Captain Brown at his home in Medford, he found
that Sunday was the only day that would serve their several
convenience, and being a little uncertain how it might strike his
ideas of religious propriety, he prefaced his invitation with
something like an apology. With characteristic promptness came
the reply: 'Mr. Stearns, I have a little ewe-lamb that I want to
pull out of the ditch, and the Sabbath will be as good a day as
any to do it.'
"It was this occasion which furnished to literature one of the
most charming bits of autobiography. Our oldest son, Harry, a lad
of eleven years, was an observant listener, and drank eagerly
every word that was said of the cruel wrongs in Kansas, and of
slavery everywhere. When the gentlemen rose to go, he privately
asked his father if he might be allowed to give all his spending
money to John Brown. Leave being granted, he bounded away, and
returning with his small treasure, said: 'Captain Brown, will you
buy something with this money for those poor people in Kansas,
and some time will you write to me and tell me _what sort of a
little boy_ you were?' 'Yes, my son, I will, and God bless you
for your kind heart!' The autobiography has been printed many
times, but never before with the key which unlocked it.
"It may not be out of place to describe the impression he made
upon the writer on this first visit. When I entered the parlor,
he was sitting near the hearth, where glowed a bright open fire.
He rose to greet me, stepping forward with such an erect,
military bearing; such fine courtesy of demeanor and grave
earnestness, that he seemed to my instant thought some old
Cromwellian hero suddenly dropped down before me; a suggestion
which was presently strengthened by his saying [proceeding with
the conversation my entrance had interrupted]: 'Gentlemen, I
consider the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence one
and inseparable; and it is better that a whole generation of men,
women, and children should be swept away, than that this crime of
slavery should exist one day longer.' These words were uttered
like rifle balls; in such emphatic tones and manner that our
little Carl, not three years old, remembered it in manhood as one
of his earliest recollections. The child stood perfectly still,
in the middle of the room, gazing with his beautiful eyes on this
new sort of man, until his absorption arrested the attention of
Captain Brown, who soon coaxed him to his knee, tho' the look of
awe and childlike wonder remained. His dress was of some dark
brown stuff, quite coarse, but its exactness and neatness
produced a singular air of refinement. At dinner, he declined all
dainties, saying that he was unaccustomed to luxuries, even to
partaking of butter.
"The 'friends of freedom' with whom Mr. Stearns had invited John
Brown to consult were profoundly impressed with his sagacity,
integrity, and devotion; notably among these were R. W. Emerson,
Theodore Parker, H. D. Thoreau, A. Bronson Alcott, F. B. Sanborn,
Dr. S. G. Howe, Col. T. W. Higginson, Gov. Andrew, and others. In
February (1857) he appeared before a committee of the State
Legislature, to urge that Massachusetts should make an
appropriation in money in aid of those persons who had settled in
Kansas from her own soil. The speech is printed in Redpath's
'Life.' He obtained at this time, from the Massachusetts State
Kansas Committee,[67] some two hundred Sharp's rifles, with which
to arm one hundred mounted men for the defense of Kansas, who
could also be of service to the peculiar property of Missouri. In
those dark days of slave-holding supremacy, the friends of
freedom felt justified in aiding the flight of its victims to
free soil whenever and wherever opportunity offered. The
Fugitive-Slave Law was powerless before the law written on the
enlightened consciences of those devoted men and women. These
rifles had been forwarded previously to the National Committee at
Chicago, for the defense of Kansas, but for some unexplained
reasons had never proceeded farther than Tabor, in the State of
Iowa. Later on, Mr. Stearns, in his individual capacity,
authorized Captain Brown to purchase two hundred revolvers from
the Massachusetts Arms Company, and paid for them from his
private funds, thirteen or fifteen hundred dollars. During the
summer of 1857 he united with Mr. Amos A. Lawrence and others in
paying off the mortgage held by Mr. Gerritt Smith on his house
and farm at North Elba, N. Y., he paying two hundred and sixty
dollars. It would be difficult to state the entire amount of
money Mr. Stearns put into the hands of John Brown for
Anti-Slavery purposes and his own subsistence. He kept no account
of what he gave. In April or May, 1857, he gave him a check for
no less a sum than seven thousand dollars. Early in 1858, Hon.
Henry Wilson wrote to Dr. S. G. Howe that he had learned John
Brown was suspected of the intention of using those arms in other
ways than for the _defense_ of Kansas; and by order of the
committee, Mr. Stearns wrote (under date May 14, 1858) to Brown
not to use them for any other purpose, and to hold them subject
to his order, as chairman of said committee. When the operations
of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee virtually ceased, in
June or July, 1858, it happened that this committee were some
four thousand dollars in debt to Mr. Stearns, for advances of
money from time to time to keep the organization in existence;
and it was voted to make over to the chairman these two hundred
Sharp's rifles as part payment of the committee's indebtedness.
They were of small account to Mr. Stearns. He knew them to be in
good hands, and troubled himself no further about them, either
the rifles or the revolvers; although keeping up from time to
time a correspondence with his friend upon the all-engrossing
subject.
"In February of 1859, John Brown was in Boston, and talked with
some of his friends about the feasibility of entrenching himself,
with a little band of men, in the mountains of Virginia, familiar
to him from having surveyed them as engineer in earlier life. His
plan was to open communication with the slaves of neighboring
plantations, collect them together, and send them off in squads,
as he had done in Missouri, 'without snapping a gun.' Mr. Stearns
had so much more faith in John Brown's opposition to _Slavery_,
than in any theories he advanced of the _modus operandi_, that
they produced much less impression on his mind than upon some
others gifted with more genius for details. _From first to last,
he believed in John Brown._ His plans, or theories, might be
feasible, or they might not. If the glorious old man wanted money
to try his plans, he should have it. His plans might fail;
probably would, but _he_ could never be a failure. There he
stood, unconquerable, in the panoply of divine Justice. Both of
these men were of the martyr type. No thought or consideration
for themselves, for _history_, or the estimation of others, ever
entered into their calculations. It was the service of _Truth_
and _Right_ which brought them together, and in that service they
were ready to die.
"In the words of an eminent writer[68]: 'A common spirit made
these two men recognize each other at first sight; and the power
of both lay in that inability to weigh difficulties against duty,
that instant step of thought to deed, which makes individuals
fully possessed by the idea of the age, the turning-points of its
destiny; hands in the right place for touching the match to the
train it has laid, or for leading the public will to the heart of
its moral need. They knew each other as minute-men on the same
watch; as men to be found _in_ the breach, before others knew
where it was; they were one in pity, one in indignation, one in
moral enthusiasm, burning beneath features set to patient
self-control; one in simplicity, though of widely different
culture; one in religious inspiration, though at the poles of
religious thought. The old frontiersman came from his wilderness
toils and agonies to find within the merchant's mansion of art
and taste by the side of Bunker Hill, a perfect sympathy: the
reverence of children, tender interest in his broken household,
free access to a rich man's resources, and even a valor kindred
with his own.'
"The attack upon Harper's Ferry was a 'side issue,' to quote the
words of John Brown, Jr., and a departure from his father's
original plan. It certainly took all his friends by surprise. In
his letter of Nov. 15, 1859 (while in prison), to his old
schoolmaster, the Rev. H. L. Vaill, are these words: 'I am not as
yet, in the _main_, at all disappointed. I have been a good deal
disappointed as it regards _myself_ in not keeping up to my own
plans; but I now feel entirely reconciled to that even: for God's
plan was infinitely better, _no doubt_, or I should have kept my
own. Had Samson kept to his determination of not telling Delilah
wherein his great strength lay, he would probably have never
overturned the house. _I did not tell Delilah_; but I was induced
to act very _contrary to my better judgment_.'[69]
* * * * *
"It is idle to endeavor to explain, by any methods of the
_understanding_, any rules of worldly wisdom, or prudence, this
influx of the Divine Will, which has made John Brown already an
ideal character. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear
the sound thereof; but know not whence it cometh, or whither it
goeth.' So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Man works in
the midst of laws which execute themselves, more especially, if
by virtue of obedience he has lost sight of all selfish aims, and
perceives that Truth and Right alone can claim allegiance.
Emerson says: 'Divine intelligence carries on its administration
by good men; that great men are they who see that the spiritual
are greater than any material forces; and that really there never
was any thing great accomplished but under religious impulse.'
"The deadly _Atheism_ of Slavery was rolling its car of
Juggernaut all over the beautiful Republic, and one pure soul was
inspired to confront it by a practical interpretation of the
Golden Rule.
"That Virginia would hang John Brown was a foregone conclusion.
The Moloch of Slavery would have nothing less. His friends
exerted themselves to secure the best counsel which could be
induced to undertake the _formality_ of a defense, foremost among
whom was Mr. Stearns. A well-organized plan was made to rescue
him, conducted by a brave man from Kansas, Col. James Montgomery,
but a message came from the prisoner, that he should not feel at
liberty to walk out, if the doors were left open; a sense of
honor to his jailer (Captain Acvis) forbidding any thing of the
kind.
"Not a little anxiety was felt lest certain of his adherents
might be summoned as witnesses, whose testimony would lessen the
chances of acquittal, and possibly involve their own lives. John
A. Andrew (afterward Gov. Andrew) gave it as his opinion, after
an exhaustive search of the records, that Virginia would have no
right to summon these persons from Massachusetts, but
subsequently changed his opinion, and urged Mr. Stearns to take
passage to Europe, sending him home one day to pack his valise.
The advice was opposed to his instincts, but he considered that
his wife should have a voice in the matter, who decided, 'midst
many tears and prayers, that if slavery required another victim,
he must be ready.
"With Dr. Howe it was quite different. He became possessed with a
dread that threatened to overwhelm his reason. He was in delicate
health, and constitutionally subject to violent attacks of
nervous headache. One day he came to Medford and insisted that
Mr. Stearns should accompany him to Canada, urging that if he
remained here he should be insane, and that Mr. Stearns of all
his friends was the only one who would be at all satisfactory to
him. This request, or rather demand, Mr. Stearns promptly
declined. How well I remember his agitation, walking up and down
the room, and finally entreating Mr. Stearns for 'friendship's
sake' to go and take care of him. I can recall no instance of
such self-abnegation in my husband's self-denying career. He did
not _stoop_ to an _explanation_, even when Dr. Howe declared in
his presence, some months later, "that he never did any thing in
his life he so much wished to take back." I had hoped that Dr.
Howe would himself have spared me from making this contribution
to the truth of history.
"On the 2d of December, Mr. Stearns yearned for the solitude of
his own soul, in communion of spirit, with the friend who, on
that day, would 'make the gallows glorious like the Cross'; and
he left Dr. Howe and took the train for Niagara Falls. There,
sitting alone beside the mighty rush of water, he solemnly
consecrated his remaining life, his fortune, and all that was
most dear, to the _cause_ in whose service John Brown had died.
"How well and faithfully he kept his vow, may partly be seen in
his subsequent efforts in recruiting the colored troops at a
vital moment in the terrible war of the Rebellion which so
swiftly followed the sublime apotheosis of 'Old John Brown.'"[70]
That John Brown intended to free the slaves, and nothing more, the
record shows clearly. His move on Harper's Ferry was well planned,
and had all the parties interested done their part the work would have
been done well. As to the rectitude of his intentions he gives the
world this leaf of history:
"And now, gentlemen, let me press this one thing on your minds.
You all know how dear life is to you, and how dear your lives are
to your friends: and in remembering that, consider that the lives
of others are as dear to them as yours are to you. Do not,
therefore, take the life of any one if you can possibly avoid it;
but if it is necessary to take life in order to save your own,
then make sure work of it."--John Brown, before the battle at
Harper's Ferry.
"I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of
property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make
insurrection. The design on my part was to free the
slaves."--John Brown, after the battle at Harper's Ferry.
Distance lends enchantment to the view. What the world condemns to-day
is applauded to-morrow.
We must have a "fair count" on the history of yesterday and last year.
The events chronicled yesterday, when the imagination was wrought upon
by exciting circumstances, need revision to-day.
The bitter words spoken this morning reproach at eventide the smarting
conscience. And the judgments prematurely formed, and the conclusions
rapidly reached, maybe rectified and repaired in the light of departed
years and enlarged knowledge.
John Brown is rapidly settling down to his proper place in history,
and "the madman" has been transformed into a "saint." When Brown
struck his first blow for freedom, at the head of his little band of
liberators, it was almost the universal judgment of both Americans and
foreigners that he was a "fanatic." It seemed the very soul of
weakness and arrogance for John Brown to attempt to do so great a work
with so small a force. Men reached a decision with the outer and
surface facts. But many of the most important and historically
trustworthy truths bearing upon the motive, object, and import of that
"bold move," have been hidden from the public view, either by
prejudice or fear.
Some people have thought John Brown--"_The Hero of Harper's Ferry_"--a
hot-headed, blood-thirsty brigand; they animadverted against the
precipitancy of his measures, and the severity of his invectives; said
that he was lacking in courage and deficient in judgment; that he
retarded rather than accelerated the cause he championed. But this
was the verdict of other times, not the judgment of to-day.
John Brown said to a personal friend during his stay in Kansas: "Young
men must learn to wait. Patience is the hardest lesson to learn. I
have waited for twenty years to accomplish my purpose." These are not
the words of a mere visionary idealist, but the mature language of a
practical and judicious leader, a leader than whom the world has never
seen a greater. By greatness is meant deep convictions of duty, a
sense of the Infinite, "a strong hold on truth," a "conscience void of
offence toward God and man," to which the appeals of the innocent and
helpless are more potential than the voices of angry thunder or
destructive artillery. Such a man was John Brown. He was strong in his
moral and mental nature, as well as in his physical nature. He was
born to lead; and he led, and made himself the pro-martyr of a cause
rapidly perfecting. All through his boyhood days he felt himself
lifted and quickened by great ideas and sublime purposes. He had
flowing in his veins the blood of his great ancestor, Peter Brown, who
came over in the "Mayflower"; and the following inscription appears
upon a marble monument in the graveyard at Canton Centre, New York:
"In memory of Captain John Brown, who died in the Revolutionary army,
at New York, September 3, 1776. He was of the fourth generation, in
regular descent, from Peter Brown, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, who
landed from the 'Mayflower,' at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 22,
1620." This is the best commentary on his inherent love of absolute
liberty, his marvellous courage and transcendent military genius. For
years he elaborated and perfected his plans, working upon the public
sentiment of his day by the most praiseworthy means. He bent and bowed
the most obdurate conservatism of his day, and rallied to his
standards the most eminent men, the strongest intellects in the North.
His ethics and religion were as broad as the universe, and beneficent
in their wide ramification. And it was upon his "religion of
humanity," that embraced our entire species, that he proceeded with
his herculean task of striking off the chains of the enslaved. Few,
very few of his most intimate friends knew his plans--the plan of
freeing the slaves. Many knew his great faith, his exalted sentiments,
his ideas of liberty, in their crudity; but to a faithful few only did
he reveal his stupendous plans in their entirety.
Hon. Frederick Douglass and Colonel Richard J. Hinton, knew more of
Brown's real purposes than any other persons, with the exception of J.
H. Kagi, Osborn Anderson, Owen Brown, Richard Realf, and George B.
Gill.
"Of men born of woman," there is not a greater than John Brown. He was
the forerunner of Lincoln, the great apostle of freedom.
One year before he went to Harper's Ferry, a friend met Brown in
Kansas [in June, 1858], and learned that during the previous month he
had brought almost all of his plans to perfection; and that the day
and hour were fixed to strike the blow. One year before, a convention
had met, on the 8th of May, 1858, at Chatham, Canada. At this
convention a provisional constitution and ordinances were drafted and
adopted, with the following officers: Commander-in-Chief, John Brown;
Secretary of War, J. H. Kagi; Members of Congress, Alfred M.
Ellsworth, Osborn Anderson; Treasurer, Owen Brown; Secretary of the
Treasury, Geo. B. Gill; Secretary of State, Richard Realf.
John Brown made his appearance in Ohio and Canada in the spring of
1859. He wrote letters, made speeches, collected funds for his little
army, and made final arrangements with his Northern allies, etc. He
purchased a small farm, about six miles from Harper's Ferry, on the
Maryland side, and made it his ordnance depot. He had 102 Sharp's
rifles, 68 pistols, 55 bayonets, 12 artillery swords, 483 pikes, 150
broken handles of pikes, 16 picks, 40 shovels, besides quite a number
of other appurtenances of war. This was in July. He intended to make
all of his arrangements during the summer of 1859, and meet his men in
the Alleghanies in the fall of the same year.
The apparent rashness of the John Brown movement may be mitigated
somewhat by the fact that he failed to carry out his original plan.
During the summer of 1859 he instructed his Northern soldiers and
sympathizers to be ready for the attack on the night of the 24th of
October, 1859. But while at Baltimore, in September, he got the
impression that there was conspiracy in his camp, and in order to
preclude its consummation, suddenly, without sending the news to his
friends at the North, determined to strike the first blow on the night
of the 17th of October. The news of his battle and his bold stand
against the united forces of Virginia and Maryland swept across the
country as the wild storm comes down the mountain side. Friend and foe
were alike astonished and alarmed. The enemies of the cause he
represented, when they recovered from their surprise, laughed their
little laugh of scorn, and eased their feelings by referring to him as
the "madman." Friends faltered, and, while they did not question his
earnestness, doubted his judgment. "Why," they asked, "should he act
with such palpable rashness, and thereby render more difficult and
impossible the emancipation of the slaves?" They claimed that the blow
he struck, instead of severing, only the more tightly riveted, the
chains upon the helpless and hapless Blacks. But in the face of
subsequent history we think his surviving friends will change their
views. There is no proof that his fears were not well grounded; that a
conspiracy was in progress. And who can tell whether a larger force
would have been more effective, or the night of the 24th more
opportune? May it not be believed that the good old man was right, and
that Harper's Ferry was just the place, and the 17th of October just
the time to strike for freedom, and make the rock-ribbed mountains of
Virginia to tremble at the presence of a "master!"--the king of
freedom?
He was made a prisoner on the 19th of October, 1859, and remained
until the 7th of November without a change of clothing or medical aid.
Forty-two days from the time of his imprisonment he expiated his crime
upon the scaffold--a crime against slave-holding, timorous Virginia,
for bringing liberty to the oppressed. He was a man, and there was
nothing that interested man which was foreign to his nature. He had
gone into Virginia to save life, not to destroy it. The sighs and
groans of the oppressed had entered into his soul.
He had heard the Macedonian cry to come over and help them. He went,
and it cost him his life, but he gave it freely.
Captain Acvis, the jailer, said: "He was the gamest man I ever saw."
And Mr. Valandingham, at that time a member of Congress from Ohio, and
who examined him in court, said in a speech afterward.
"It is in vain to underrate either the man or the conspiracy.
Captain John Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever headed
an insurrection, and, in a good cause, and with a sufficient
force, would have been a consummate partisan commander. He has
coolness, daring, persistency, stoic faith and patience, and a
firmness of will and purpose unconquerable! He is the farthest
possible remove from the ordinary ruffian, fanatic, or madman."
No friend, howsoever ardent in his love, could have woven a chaplet
more worthy than the one placed upon the brow of the old hero by his
most embittered foe. A truer estimate of John Brown cannot be had.
South Carolina, Missouri, and Kentucky sent a rope to hang him, but,
the first two lacking strength, Kentucky had the everlasting disgrace
of furnishing the rope to strangle the noblest man that ever lived in
any age.
The last letter he ever wrote was written to Mrs. Geo. L. Stearns, and
she shall give its history:
This letter requires the history which attaches to it, and
illustrates the consideration which the brave martyr had for
those in any way connected with him. It was written on a half
sheet of paper, the exact size of the pages of a book into which
he carefully inserted it, and tied up in a handkerchief with
other books and papers, which he asked his jailer (Mr. Avis) to
be allowed to go with his body to North Elba, and which Mrs.
Brown took with her from the Charlestown prison. Her statement to
me about it is this: She had been at home some two weeks, had
looked over the contents of the handkerchief many times, when one
day in turning the leaves of that particular book, she came upon
this letter, on which she said she found two or three blistered
spots, the only _tear drops_ she had seen among his papers. They
are now yellow with time. On the back of the half sheet was
written: "Please mail this to her," which she did, and so it
reached my hand; seeming as if from the world to which his spirit
had fled. It quite overwhelmed my husband. Presently he said:
"See, dear, how careful the old man has been, he would not even
direct it with your name to go from Virginia to Boston through
the post-offices; and altho' it contains no message to me, one of
those '_farewells_!' is intended for me, and also the 'Love to
_All_ who love their neighbors.'"
"CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON CO VA. 29th Nov. 1859.
"MRS. GEORGE L. STEARNS
"Boston, Mass.
"My Dear Friend:--No letter I have received since my imprisonment
here, has given me more satisfaction, or comfort, than yours of
the 8th inst. I am quite cheerful: and never more happy. Have
only time to write you a word. May God forever reward you _and
all yours_.
"_My love to_ ALL who love their neighbors. I have asked to be
_spared_ from having any _mock, or hypocritical prayers made over
me_ when I am publicly _murdered_; and that my only _religious
attendents_ be _poor little, dirty, ragged, bareheaded and
barefooted, Slave Boys; and Girls_, led by some old _gray-headed
slave Mother_.
"Farewell. Farewell.
"Your Friend,
"JOHN BROWN."[71]
The man who hung him, Governor Wise, lived to see the plans of Brown
completed and his most cherished hopes fulfilled. He heard the warning
shot fired at Sumter, saw Richmond fall, the war end in victory to the
party of John Brown; saw the slave-pen converted into the
school-house, and the four millions Brown fought and died for,
elevated to the honors of citizenship. And at last he has entered the
grave, where his memory will perish with his body, while the soul and
fame of John Brown go marching down the centuries!
Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, and John Brown have to wait the calmer
judgments of future generations. These men believed that God sent them
to do a certain work--to reveal a hidden truth; to pour light into the
minds of benighted and superstitious men. They completed their work;
they did nobly and well, then bowed to rest--
"With patriarchs of the infant world--with kings,
The powerful of the earth,"
while generation after generation studies their handwriting on the
wall of time and interprets their thoughts. Despised, persecuted, and
unappreciated while in the flesh, they are honored after death, and
enrolled among earth's good and great, her wise and brave. The shock
Brown gave the walls of the slave institution was felt from its centre
to its utmost limits. It was the entering wedge; it laid bare the
accursed institution, and taught good men everywhere to hate it with a
perfect hatred. Slavery received its death wound at the hands of a
"lonely old man." When he smote Virginia, the non-resistants, the
anti-slavery men, learned a lesson. They saw what was necessary to the
accomplishment of their work, and were now ready for the "worst." He
rebuked the conservatism of the North, and gave an example of
adherence to duty, devotion to truth, and fealty to God and man that
make the mere "professor" to tremble with shame. "John Brown's body
lies mouldering in the clay," but his immortal name will be pronounced
with blessings in all lands and by all people till the end of time.
FOOTNOTES:
[66] This was in the last days of 1856.
[67] The committee also authorized him to draw on their treasurer,
Patrick L. Jackson, for $500.
[68] Samuel Johnson, the accomplished Oriental scholar and devoted
friend of the slave.
[69] The italics are his.
[70] The above account of Capt. Brown was prepared for us by the widow
of the late Major Geo. L. Stearns. It is printed as written, and
breathes a beautiful spirit of love and tender remembrance for the two
heroes mentioned.
[71] This letter is printed for the first time, with Mrs. Stearns's
consent.
PART 7.
_THE NEGRO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION._