USA > Alabama > The formative period in Alabama, 1815-1828 > Part 12
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noted the existence of creditable free schools as early as 1820,21 but these were not universal-perhaps not even usual.
One of the main difficulties lay in the management of the school property. This was vested in a board of commission- ers appointed by the county authorities.22 Supervision over
18 Ibid., Aug. 24, 1824.
19 Ibid., Sept. 15, 1826.
20 Blandin, Education of Women in the South, 59.
21 Hodgson, Letters from North America, I, 144, 269.
22 Acts of Dec. 18. 1819, and Jan. 1, 1823.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
these commissions was vague or non-existent, and their con- duct of affairs was a frequent source of complaint.23 ,
Even such support as the public schools possessed was men- aced when the lure of the State Bank induced the legislature to promote a scheme for selling the sixteenth sections and in- vesting the proceeds in the popular institution. In 1826, the Alabama delegation was instructed by the legislature to se- cure from Congress permission to sell these lands and devote the proceeds to the maintenance of the schools.2+ In 1827, Congress granted the request, providing that the sale should be made only with the consent of the township concerned.25 The next year the legislature made provisions for carrying out the plan. The proceeds of the lands were to be invested in the State Bank at six per cent. interest and the income devoted to the purpose for which the grant had been made.26 Thus the Bank could look forward to a considerable extension of its resources, and the schools could contemplate an uncertain fu- ture.
In addition to the public schools, private schools were es- tablished from time to time in the larger towns, and by 1823 as many as eight academies had been chartered.27 Apparent- ly, the first of these to go into actual operation was the Green Academy, chartered by the legislature of Mississippi Territory in 1812. Though a grant of five hundred dollars was made to this institution in 1816, and funds provided later brought the total up to about two thousand dollars, nothing had been done toward putting the school in operation before 1820.28 At about this time, however, the trustees bestirred themselves, raised funds by popular subscription, and had a creditable in- stitution in operation within a year or two.29
The first academy for girls was founded at Athens in 1822, and appears to have been a successful enterprise.30 At about the same time, a private school for girls was opened in Hunts- ville by a Mr. and Mrs. DeVendel.
23 Huntsville Democrat, Feb. 9, May 18, and June 29, 1827.
24 Alabama, House Journal, 1826, 244.
. 25 Statutes at Large, IV, 237. 26 Act. of Jan. 15. 1828.
27 Toulmin, Code of 1823.
28 Alabama Republican, Nov. 10, 1820.
29 Mention of the subscription papers is made in the Alabama Republi- can for Aug. 3, 1821, and the address of the trustees is among the Walk- er Papers.
30 Incorporated Dec. 9, 1822; Southern Advocate, May 19, 1826.
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RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND THE PRESS
The subjects usually taught during this period included grammar, history, mathematics, and geography, while the schools for girls included in their curriculum also music, needle-work, painting, and dancing. 'The academies took up instruction in Latin, some of the sciences, and rhetoric.
The Federal Government had granted two townships to the State of Alabama for the purpose of founding a university, and in 1820 that institution was given a formal existence by the legislature, but nothing more than a name was establish- ed at this time. 31 In 1821 a board of trustees was appointed and given power to dispose of the university lands, invest the proceeds and establish the institution as soon as a site should be designated by the legislature.32 The first meeting of the board was held during the next year and arrangements were made for disposing of the property. It was decided to adopt a credit system of sales, requiring one-fourth of the purchase money to be paid down, and the remainder in three install- ments.33 During the first few years there was a good demand for the lands, and by 1828 the total sales amounted to $285,- 000.34
But the State Bank interfered here also and the establish- ment of the University was delayed. The trustees could not move until the legislature had decided on the location, and Governor Pickens, being anxious to use the university funds as capital for the Bank, secured the postponement of the loca- tion until after his term of office had expired.35 It was in- tended from the first that the greater part of the fund should be used as an endowment, and, considering the hopes that were entertained for the success of the Bank, there was nothing morally wrong in the Governor's plan for investment, but his attitude shows where his interest chiefly lay. About $89,000, or practically all the cash received in payment on the lands sold, was invested by the trustees of the university in the Bank before anything was done to give the institution of learning a practical existence.36
Governor Murphy, on coming into office, advised the legis- lature to locate the university,37 and in 1827 Tuscaloosa was
31 Act of Dec. 18, 1820.
32 Act of Dec. 18. 1821.
33 Alabama, House Journal. 75 et seq .; Cahawba Press, June 29, 1822.
34 Alabama, Senate Journal, 1828, 98.
35 Franklin Enquirer, April 21, 1824; Alabama, Senate Journal, 1825,
8.
36 Alabama, Senate Journal, 1328, 98.
37 Ibid., 1826, 6.
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selected as its site.38 In 1828 the trustees drew up a plan in- cluding the construction of the following buildings: one cen- tral building to be used as a chapel, lecture hall, and library ; one chemical laboratory and lecture hall; four professors' houses, each accomodating two professors; two or more ho- tels or boarding houses ; and six dormitories. It was propos- ed that the central building, the laboratory, two of the profes- sors' houses, one hotel, and two dormitories be erected at once, and contracts were let accordingly.39 A tract of fifty acres adjoining the university site was purchased so that clay for brick and timber for structural purposes could be obtained close at hand.+ The corner-stone was laid during the same year,41 and in 1831 the University of Alabama opened its doors, with Dr. Alva Woods, formerly at the head of Transyl- vania University, as its first president. +2
In religious matters, the Methodists and Baptists have al- ways held the center of the field in Alabama. The predomi- nance of these two denominations in the old Southwest is an interesting phenomenon, and the development in one State would probably be paralleled by the situation in most of the others.
.
The period following the American Revolution was a fertile one for the sowing of religious seed. The events of the French Revolution had left the world more or less in doubt concerning its old creeds, and the French philosophers, follow- ed by Jefferson in this Country, gave skepticism a wide vogue. But the coming of the Wesleys and Whitfield had earlier brought a new faith, and at a time when America was begin- ning to spread westward.
The organization of the Methodist society was peculiarly fit- ted to frontier conditions. With a central governing body made up of the bishops, a definite policy could be adopted and carried out in an effective manner. With its "free-for-all" ideas regarding the ministry, men could be drawn into the service of the church whose lack of education was atoned for by a zeal which strengthened them to endure the hardships of the forest and to work for the love of their creed with very lit- tle compensation in a material way. The institution of the
3% Ibid., 1827, 109-110.
39 Alabama, Senate Journal, 1828, 13, 100, 207-208.
40 Ibid .. 1S28, 98.
11 Mobile Register. Nov. 4, 1828.
42 University of Alabama, Bulletin, November, 1906.
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RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND THE PRESS
circuit rider enabled one man to do the work of several, and was a most efficient means of meeting frontier conditions. - Finally the development of the "'camp meeting" brought the scattered people together under conditions which made a strong emotional appeal to the pioneer, and enabled a few men to exert a powerful influence over many.+3
In the combination of these means, the Methodists had an advantage over all other denominations in the thinly-settled frontier; but the Baptists, though lacking organization, had a zeal which largely overcame this difficulty. Their appeal, like that of the Methodists, was to the emotions of the plain man, and their ministry was also adapted to frontier con- ditions. They brought their gospel to the pioneer by much the same means as those employed by the followers of Wesley, and the local independence of their churches seems to have been so agreeable to the free spirit of the West that it enabled them to compete on equal terms with their religious rivals.
In the early part of the Nineteenth Century, religion was neither accepted nor rejected with the indifference that is ac- corded it today. The average back-woodsman was not by na- ture inclined to be strictly religious, but he was inclined to be positive. When the question came to him he took his stand either for it or against it, and made a good supporter or an out-spoken antagonist. Neither was he inclined to be theoret- ical, and in the struggle between the Methodists and the Bap- tists, he seems to have been more interested in the spirit in which the rivals worked than in their rival creeds.
But all this does not apply to the planters. It was said that the cultivated people never went to the camp meetings, ++ and it is certain that these were attended by a degree of emotion- alism which is often repulsive to the more refined. The strongholds of the Methodists and Baptists were in the rural districts,+ and that the townspeople were more or less unfa- miliar with camp meeting procedure is indicated by a descrip- tion which the editor of the Huntsville Democrat, who was a defender of religion, thought it worth-while to print.+ A
43 In the Minutes of Conferences, Vol. I, may be found lists of all the Alabama Methodist congregations, giving the number of members for each year, beginning with 1820.
++ Royall, Letters from Alabama, 122.
45 Riley, Baptists in Alabama, 64; McDonnold, Cumberland Presbyteri- an History, 162-163.
46 Huntsville Democrat. Oct. 14, 1823; See also Southern Advocate. Sept. 9, 1825, and July 28, 1826; Huntsville Democrat, Oct. 14, 1823, and Oct. 27, 1826.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
favorable spot in the woods was selected as the place of wor- ship, and a pulpit and altar erected in a crude way. Benches were arranged around this, and tents for the accomodation of tables and guests were pitched about the grounds. Two ser- mons were usually preached in the morning, and then a short recess was allowed for dinner. At this time, the worshippers would repair to the tents where abundant supplies of food were laid out for the benefit of all. People from the sur- rounding country came on horseback, in carriages, or afoot, as circumstances permitted, and brought their picnic lunches with them. The occasion was one of social as well as religious enjoyment; and crowds of thousands were sometimes assembl- ed to hear favorite exhorters, After dinner, the services were resumed, and they were always concluded by an invita- tion to repentant sinners to come up to the altar. Large num- bers usually went forward, and as the minister prayed for them, the congregation went into a religious ecstacy of pray- ing, moaning, and shouting. But it must not be inferred that these were disorderly gatherings. There was a spirit of so- ciability and festivity on the part of the people and of gravity on the part of the leaders which gave them a dignity of their own.
The planters usually had at least some latent religious belief. There were Episcopalians among them, but they were not of a missionary spirit and their numbers were too few to found many churches in the early days.+ Presbyterians were present in larger numbers and a church of that faith was usually estab- lished in the leading towns. 48 Here they were active rivals of the Methodists and Baptists, who also established churches and held "protracted" meetings." Bible societies were or- ganized in several places,50 and Huntsville had an inter-de- nominational Sunday School.51 In Mobile the Episcopalians formed the nucleus of an inter-denominational protestant church, which was the only rival of the older Catholic congre- gation of that place.52
47 Whitaker, Episcopal Church. 13.
48 Wyman, Geographical Sketch of Alabama, in Transactions, Ala. His. Soc., 1898-1899, III, 118; Mobile Register, April 29, 1828, and Nov. 4. 1828; Franklin Enquirer, March 20. 1824.
49 Huntsville Democrat, May 16, 1828.
50 Southern Advocate, Aug. 12, 1825; Tuscumbian, Apr. 18, 1825.
51 Huntsville Democrat, Sept. 5, 1828.
52 Mobile Register, Jan. 1, 1828, and Feb. 28, 1828.
CHAPTER XIV.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND SLAVERY
In a newly-settled area to which people have flocked from many places and for many purposes, one would expect to find varied social conditions, and in Alabama they ran all the way from one extreme to the other. To begin at the bottom, the Indian border offered a favorite location for fugitives from justice, traffickers in whisky, and rascals of every description. The State had no jurisdiction within the reservations, and this fact was taken advantage of by all such persons. It worked a great hardship on the natives and gave rise to complaints which were fully justified, but very hard to meet.1 It was often said that the contact of the red men with the whites was sadly detrimental to the former, and since their associations were usually with the worst of the whites, this is not hard to understand.
But the miscreants were not confined to the borders. New country is attractive to adventurers of every sort; the lonely roads through the forests afforded robbers a choice field of operations, while the towns were alluring to gamblers of va- rious breeds." There is an account of a band of men inter- cepted on their way to Huntsville whose baggage was found to contain counterfeit notes and gambling devices of every de- scription.3 Complaint was made that gamesters in that town often assumed an air of importance because they were noticed by men of standing,+ and the young men seem generally to have fallen an easy prey to the wandering gamblers.5
The towns were infested also with a set of people who were not criminals, but who might be included under the term "rowdy."6 While the young men of the towns appear to have
1 Southern Advocate, April 14, and Dec. 15, 1826; Alabama, Senate Journal, 1821, 11; Birney's Birney, 55; Levasseur, Lafayette en Ameri- que, II, 335-339.
2 Alabama, Senate Journal, 1825; 12; Huntsville Democrat, Apr. 6, 1827, and June 30, 1826; Hall Papers, Report of a committee of the leg- islature appointed to investigate causes of crime.
3 Southern Advocate, July 22, 1825.
+ Huntsville Democrat. June 16. 1826.
5 Huntsville Democrat, June 16, 1826, and May 25, 1827; Saunders, Early Settlers in Alabama, 45.
6 Riley, Conceuh Cou ty. 93; Saunders, Early Settlers in Alabama, 45- 46; Yerby, Greensboro, 8, 12; Tuscumbian, Oct. 22, 1824.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
been victims to dandyism, idleness, and gambling rather than to boorishness," the rowdies were apparently visitors from the surrounding country who came in to make a holiday in a boisterous manner. It is stated that in Greensboro horse rac- ing through the main street became such a nuisance that the citizens were provoked to threaten to shoot any one who per- sisted in the practice.s
It was, however, at the cross-roads store, the militia mus- ter, and the barbecue that the rusties mostly congregated. Horse-play was the rule at such places, and assemblies usually ended in drunkenness and fighting. Yet these frays were not blood-thirsty affairs, but merely a hardy form of sport. Those who engaged in them were not brutal, but mere- ly vigorous pioneers who loved a struggle with nature or with man.9
The barbecue, like the camp-meeting, was an institution. Its use was largely political and its appeal seems to have been almost irresistible. Before an election, these gatherings were arranged and advertised by men whose interest was primarily financial. Shoat and whisky in abundance were always taken for granted, and the candidates were bound to appear to assert their claims and prove their democracy.10 Sentiment against the barbecues began to be aroused about 1826 and the Hunts- ville papers instituted a campaign against them. The candi- dates seem to have been willing enough to drop the practice, and some of them began to refrain from attendance.11 But whisky was always one of the strongest arguments in a politi- cal campaign. A Mobile paper published an ironical offer to furnish any man enough whisky to drown his reason on elec- tion day, which was a jibe at the custom of "treating" by the candidates.12 A Huntsville paper makes the statement that bottles of liquor were arranged in rows with labels on them which the casual observer would take for designations of brand, but which in reality designated the candidate who furnished the drink.13
7 Tuscumbian, Feb. 28, 1825.
8 Yerby, Greensboro, 14.
Riley, Makers and Romance of Alabama History, 584-588.
10 Royall, Letters from North America, 120; Southern Advocate, July 8, 1825, and June 1. 1827.
11 Southern Advocate, Aug. 5, 1825, July 13, 1827, April, 18. 1828, Apr.
25, 1828, May 2, 1828, and June 6, 1828; Mobile Register, July 19, 1828. 12 Niles Register, XXXVI, 165.
13 Southern Advocate, Aug. 5, 1825.
.
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND SLAVERY
This is the darker side of a picture which was not all dark. The habit of drinking was almost universal at the time, and the practice of "treating" was looked upon more as hospitali- ty than as bribery. To let this and the other conditions which have been described prejudice one's mind against the people of early Alabama would be to do an injustice to the great mass of them who farmed their patches of cotton and corn; lived a hardy, rugged life close to nature; were friendly toward their neighbors and hospitable toward strangers; made an honest living for themselves and their families; attended to their own business most of the time and only stopped now and then to celebrate. 14
The planters formed a class to themselves, yet it was neither a closed nor a homogeneous class. The smaller ones lived much as did the farmers, while those with extensive estates some- times attained an elegance which was impressive. The great majority of them, however, were merely in comfortable cir- cumstances and their pride was based, not upon wealth or dis- play, but upon the sense of independence and authority which their position in society gave them.
Perhaps Montgomery County best represents the planter life of the early days. The soil here was more uniformly fer- tile than that of most other counties, and consequently it was more uniformly taken up by men of the planter type. Prosperi- ty and independence came to be the rule. Being in easy water communication with Mobile and doing business on a sufficient scale to warrant it, the planters had few dealings with local merchants, but traded directly with the port on the Gulf, gen- erally going down once a year to purchase supplies. The soci- ability of the people and the law-abiding nature of the com- munity are pictured as ideal, no jail having been maintained and only one duel having been fought during the early period.15
It is true that the combination of rural simplicity and native refinement on the plantation at its best furnished the basis for a picturesque and pleasant civilization, but the best is not often attained. In Madison County, for instance, there was a large planting community, but some of the planters were ex- cessively wealthy and used their wealth to secure commercial and political advantages. This aroused the antagonism of
1+ Blue MS., St. Clair County, 10; Fayette County, 10; Pickens Coun- ty, 10.
15 Robertson, Montgomery County, 11-13, 15-16, 36-38, 125, 139-140.
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men who were not financially independent, and there was a strong element of Tennessee farmers to wage the fight. In fact there was generally a tendency for the poor to be jealous of the rich, but there was no antagonism against the planters, as such16 The plainer people had no political leaders of their own and appear to have been perfectly willing to support planters of means when they made it their business to court popular favor by advocating popular measures.
The social atmosphere of Alabama, as established by the planters, varied from place to place. Where wealth was even- ly distributed and notable fortunes and town-life were large- ly lacking, there does not appear to have been that gaiety of social intercourse which is usually thought of in connection with the plantation. The people spent their time in an unas- suming and largely self-sufficient way. But neighborliness and hospitality were not wanting even under these circum- stances.17 Gaiety was the rule, however, in the towns, which furnished the centers of recreation.18 Dramatic clubs were formed among the younger people, theatres were built in the larger communities, and dances and parties were of frequent occurrence. There was a greater freedom in Western society than in that of the East;19 calling was more informally done, and women were somewhat less restricted by convention. An Eastern paper criticised the ladies of Huntsville for attending a Fourth of July celebration at the local inn, and a local editor defended them, saying that he saw nothing improper in their having done so.2ยบ There was a general diffusion of informa- tion concerning matters of common knowledge, but though li- braries were established in Huntsville and Montgomery, little attention was, as a rule, paid to purely intellectual cultivation. Among the men, horse-racing was a favorite sport and courses were established in the vicinity of the more important towns. Some fanciers had fast horses of English breed and kept race-
16 Huntsville Democrat, April 12, 1825, March 17, 1826, July 6, 1827, March 23, 1827; Royall, Letters from Alabama, 95, 100.
17 Saunders, Early Settlers in Alabama, 42; Meek, The Southwest, 32- 33; Blue MIS. Baldwin County, 10, Autauga County, II, 10, Lowndes County, 5, 10, Wilcox County, 10, Lawrence County, 10, Limestone County, 10.
18 Yerby, Greensboro, 17-19; Royall, Letters from North America, 48; Hodgson, Letters from North America, I, 185; Huntsville Democrat, April 13, 1827.
19 Royall, Letters From America, 46.
20 Huntsville Democrat, Sept. 9, 1825.
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tracks of their own. Playing for stakes was a common diver- sion, and drinking was as prevalent among the wealthy as it was among the poorer people. It is stated in the biography of James G. Birney that he, while living in Huntsville, followed the fashion in all these things,21 and the historian of the Bap- tist denomination in Alabama asserts that even ministers were often patrons of the bottle and carried potions of their favor- ite brands in their pockets when they went to meetings.22 But gentlemen prided themselves on knowing when they had had enough, nor were such practices confined to Alabama at that time. As always, the earliest days were the roughest. A set- tler of this period who had not attended a trial in many years, was so much impressed by the improved order which he found in the court-room after his long absence, that he said he felt as though he were attending church services,23
The conditions under which slavery adjusted itself to a new frontier afford an interesting topic for study, but, since mat- ters of domestic economy were taken for granted, specific in- formation has been difficult to obtain.
Basil Hall gives an excellent description of the plantation system as it existed on a sea-island estate of Georgia in 1828.24 The hands were rated in accordance with their physi- cal ability and given daily "tasks" in proportion to their strength. The fields were divided into quarter-acre tracts, and one, two, or three of these tracts, depending upon the na- ture of the work to be done, constituted the task for the day. Diligence enabled the slave to finish his assignment early in the afternoon and he was allowed to spend the remainder of the day at leisure. In this way discipline was maintained and the necessity for compulsion reduced to a minimum.
Hall states that this system was universally employed, say- ing that the existence of distinct classes in the South discour- aged all innovation. Other accounts show that the tasking system existed in South Carolina. Writers of the period stress the necessity for well-defined and clearly-understood regula- tions in the management of slaves, and the strict enforcement of discipline is insisted upon as a prime necessity.25 The dis- gruntled slave had the recourse of running away, and in order
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