USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume I > Part 46
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As the school continued, the attacks grew more violent. An at- tempt was made to burn Miss Crandall's house and shortly thereafter it was rendered nearly uninhabitable by a group of night marauders. Finally, on the advice of friends, she gave up the school, forced by pub- lic opinion rather than by decisions in law. She had contributed to the divisiveness developing within the state on the issue of slavery by strengthening the forces of the abolitionists.72
The state had at first rejected abolition as a solution to the slavery question and was the last of the New England states to form an abolition society. This was not established until 1838. Simeon S. Jocelyn, min- ister of the Negro church in New Haven, and Arthur Tappan, the New York merchant who lived in New Haven and who helped Prudence Crandall, were among Garrison's early enthusiastic supporters. In gen- eral, however, Garrison met with a negative reaction in the state for his methods were antithetical to the state's notion of respectability and
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contrary to its ingrained habit of gradualism. When Garrison openly criticized the colonization efforts and directed his attacks against Leonard Bacon, the conservatives closed ranks in opposition to aboli-
FEE
(Courtesy Mills Coll., Conn. State Lib.)
WEST TORRINGTON-JOHN BROWN BIRTHPLACE, A RARE PICTURE
tion.73 As abolition gained supporters, the issue became more acute. In Guilford, 123 members of the more radical anti-slavery members with- drew from the Congregational Church to form a separate congregation. On the other hand, after an agent of abolition had spoken in a Congre- gational Church in Redding, the church was blown up and in Wolcott the Congregational Church was burned to prevent an abolitionist from speaking there.74 In an attempt to obviate such violence, the General Association of Congregational Ministers resolved in 1836 that ministers
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
and churches had the right to determine who might or might not speak from their pulpits. Without mentioning abolitionists, they took an effective stand against anti-slavery lectures.75
Yet Connecticut was determined to prevent its Negro population from increasing as is revealed in the case of a band of captive Negroes who were lodged in New Haven's jail when the slave ship Amistad, somewhat by accident, was taken by a United States brig off the coast of New London. A cargo of slaves were taken from Africa to Cuba in the Spring of 1839 in violation of Spanish law. Two score of the slaves were bought by Cubans and reembarked on the Amistad for Puerto Principe. Under the leadership of one Joseph Cinquez, the slaves made a bold move for freedom, killing the Captain of the ship and forcing the two Cubans, who accompanied the cargo, to navigate the vessel in an at- tempt to return to Africa. After weeks of deliberate meandering in the Atlantic, the ship lay at anchor in Long Island Sound off New London and was captured by a United States brig. After a hearing was con- ducted in the latter part of August, the Negroes were lodged in the jail at New Haven. 76
The fate of the Negroes immediately became involved in a series of claims and counter claims. The Negroes claimed freedom and were aided in preferring charges of assault and battery and of false imprison- ment against the Cubans. The owners of the cargo in Havana claimed it; the captain of the brig claimed the Amistad and its cargo as salvage, the Spanish minister insisted that the Negroes should be given up and returned to Cuba for trial, and the United States District Attorney be- lieved that they should be held subject to the President's orders. The inherent drama in the case and the public attention which it attracted meant that inevitably factors other than legal considerations would enter into any ultimate decision.77
Efforts to free the Negroes immediately failed and they were held pending the decision of the courts. Anti-slavery leaders in New York secured counsel for the Negroes. Direct appeals to the United States At- torney General failed and a writ of Habeas Corpus was denied by the United States Circuit Court when it met in Hartford in September. The case was heard by the District Court in October which adjourned to meet in New Haven in January in 1840 when its decision was an-
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nounced. The vessel was granted as salvage, only the cabin boy was to be turned over to Spain, and the Negroes were to be freed. Upon the intercession of the United States Government this decision was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which did not render its decision until March 9, 1841. The case for the Negroes was eloquently presented by John Quincy Adams, who had been employed by the anti- slavery forces to represent the captives. The court upheld the earlier decision, except that the Negroes were "declared to be free and be dis- missed from the custody of the court" rather than to be delivered to the custody of the President.78
Freedom from the jurisdiction of the court, however, did not mean that the Negroes were at liberty to remain in Connecticut. Instead, they were to be returned to Africa in accordance with the beliefs of those who favored the African colonization of the Negroes in America. While they were awaiting their return to Africa, the Negroes were taken to Farmington where many of them learned to speak English and to accept Christianity. There was something bizarre in exhibiting the Negroes as attractions even when for the purpose of raising funds to transport them to their homelands, but funds to implement the convictions of the colonization societies were not available.
Those who have read in the Amistad case a radical change of senti- ment from the Prudence Crandall incident have read carelessly, as is revealed in the views of A. T. Judson, who was the central figure in the persecution of Miss Crandall and the Judge of the United States District Court before which the Amistad case was tried. In the Crandall case, the right of the Negroes to an education was not contested, but objections were raised to their importation into the state. In the Ami- stad case, it was held that the Negroes were natives of Africa and should be transported there. Connecticut's attitude toward the Negro at the end of the 1830's was strikingly similar to her attitude toward the itin- erant in colonial days: Liberty included the liberty to stay away.79
Whereas the state was not favorable to the increase of the number of Negroes in the state, the courts showed clearly that they had no de- sire to perpetuate the institution of slavery. It was assumed that the competition of slave labor with the poor white would tend "to reduce the price of their work and prevent their employment, and to bring the
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free laborer, in some measure, into the ranks with slaves." To prevent these consequences, an Act of 1774 provided that a slave could not be left within the state and an Act of 1784 provided that slaves would be- come free upon reaching the age of 25 years. 80
(Courtesy New Britain Chamber of Commerce)
NEW BRITAIN-ELIHU BURRITT MEMORIAL
The opposition to the continuation of the institution was further in- dicated in the case of Nancy Jackson vs Bulloch brought, in behalf of a Negro slave born in Georgia, against her owner, J. C. Bulloch, who was residing temporarily in Hartford where his children were in school. In a divided opinion, the court granted Nancy her freedom in a liberal interpretation of the earlier laws. It was held that she had been "left" in Connecticut in the meaning of the 1774 Act, although it had not been in- tended that the slave would stay permanent within the state. It was further held that residents of another state could not claim privileges
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denied those of Connecticut. In pronouncing its decisions, the court enunciated principles, despite conflicts between theory and practice, which were of enduring significance in the struggle for human liberty. "Every human being," the decision reads, "has a right to liberty, as well as to life and property, and to enjoy the fruits of his own labor."81
Connecticut espoused the principles of the reform movements, but stopped short of legislation to make these an effective reality. Religious conviction led to a fear that character could be weakened by too much assistance and established limits to society's efforts to improve or assist him through humanitarian efforts. This, and a prudence in the expend- iture of public funds, prevented Connecticut from approaching ade- quate provisions to meet the acknowledged needs of society. Where a principle, rather than the relief of a condition, was involved, liberalism was extended to the limits defined by religious orthodoxy.
A Connecticut Yankee, so Vernon L. Parrington suggests, was not averse to turning an honest penny when he became his brother's keeper. It is, at least, true that, in the decisions on social reforms, cost was a far more important determinant than need. The town poor were farmed out to the lowest bidders. Assistance to the insane was limited to as- sistance to private enterprise. Asylumns for the deaf and dumb would not admit those who could not pay the tuition. The balance sheet was an important determinant in the location of the prison at Wethersfield. Care for the unfortunate was the primary responsibility of the indi- vidual. Preachers harangued about the evils of drink, but did not ex- pect those who had invested capital to assume any responsibility for control.
The reluctance of the state to intensify its efforts in behalf of the welfare of its unfortunates is brought more clearly into focus when the attitude is set off against the state of public finances. The business of government was practically self-sustaining. For all practical purposes, Connecticut was free of debt. The state enjoyed extraordinary receipts, which provided a large percentage of the funds for the state's budget and even larger amounts for distribution to the towns. The permanent fund which had been established from the profits of the American Rev- olution was transferred from United States stocks to bank stocks during the period. This fund had grown to $400,000 by 1846, and had yielded,
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since 1833, approximately $30,000 annually.82 From the federal gov- ernment, the state received approximately one and one-half million dollars. All, except about forty thousand of this, was distributed to the towns, who used the returns to keep the taxes for the costs of local gov- ernment low.83 In addition, the school fund provided monies for almost all of the cost of public education. The income from this fund had increased to $120,000 annually by 1846.84 With these very favorable fi- nancial conditions, the state could have supported a program commiser- ate with the needs of the unfortunate. She was content, however, to keep taxes at one cent on each dollar of the grand list. Taxes yielded an average of about forty thousand a year or less than half of the state budget which at no time during the period exceeded $95,000. Con- necticut residents, then, paid an average of less than thirteen cents per capita for the support of their government. The government, in the period 1818-1846, spent an average of about thirty cents per capita. In- stead of using its resources for the improvement of her institutions or the care of its citizens, the state used the income merely to reduce taxes. Connecticut was busy making money.
NOTES-CHAPTER
1 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 126-27.
2 Robbins, Diary, Vol. I, pp. 885-86; Charles Beecher, ed., Autobiography, Correspond- ence, etc., of Lyman Beecher, D.D., Vol. I, (New York: 1864), pp. 442, 450.
3 Ibid.
4 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 126.
5 Ibid., p. 125.
6 Ibid., pp. 129-30; Edward Clinton Gardner, "Man as a Sinner in Nineteenth Century New England Theology: A Study in the Challenge of Romantic Humanitarianism," (Unpublished doctoral thesis, Yale University, 1952), pp. 143-65.
7 Ibid., pp. 123-24; Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. V, pp. 573-77; Morse, Neg- lected Period, pp. 129-30.
8 Thomas Duggan, "The Catholic Church in Connecticut," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. III, pp. 459-462; Austin Frank Munich, "The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Connecticut," Tercentenary Commission of Connecticut (New Haven, n.d.), pp. 16-18; Sister Maria Renata Daily, "The Connecticut Mind and Catholicism, 1829-1860: A Case Study in the Evolution of New England So- ciety," (Unpublished doctoral thesis, Yale University, 1939), p. 54.
9 Ibid., pp. 26-51, 67-89, 97-103.
10 Ibid., pp. 67-89, 107-108, 125-28.
11 Duggan, "Catholic Church in Connecticut," pp. 468-77, 486-87.
12 Daily, "The Connecticut Mind and Catholicism," pp. 138, 201-226.
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13 Ibid., p. 145.
14 Gardner, "Man as a Sinner in Nineteenth Century New England Theology," pp. 143-65.
15 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 127.
16 Ibid., pp. 131-32.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., pp. 132-34.
20 Charles Roy Keller, The Second Great Awakening in Connecticut, (New Haven, 1942), pp. 136-37.
21 Ibid., pp. 138-154.
22 Ibid., pp. 215-220.
23 Ibid., pp. 188-215.
24 Ibid., p. 139.
25 Ibid., p. 141.
26 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 204.
27 Ibid., p. 204; Keller, Second Great Awakening, p. 142.
28 Beecher, ed., Autobiography . . . of Lyman Beecher, Vol. I, pp. 246-48.
29 Keller, Second Great Awakening, pp. 144-45.
30 Ibid., pp. 150-51.
31 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 206.
32 Ibid., pp. 206-207; Keller, Second Great Awakening, pp. 154-55.
33 Lyman Beecher, Six Sermons on Intemperance (New York, 1838), pp. 5-14, 38, 105. 34 Ibid., pp. 14-64.
35 Ibid., p. 65.
37 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 208-209; Keller, Second Great Awakening, pp. 156-57.
38 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 214-16.
39 Ibid., pp. 213-14.
40 Ibid., pp. 214-16.
41 Ibid., pp. 215-16.
42 Keller, Second Great Awakening, pp. 165-69.
43 Ibid., pp. 169-71; Henry F. Walradt, The Financial History of Connecticut from 1789 to 1861 (New Haven, 1912), pp. 95, 108.
44 Keller, Second Great Awakening, p. 171.
45 Capen, Poor Law of Connecticut, p. 159; Keller, Second Great Awakening, p. 172.
46 Ibid., pp. 172-74.
47 Capen, Poor Law of Connecticut, pp. 231-37; Walradt, Financial History of Connecti- cut, pp. 95, 108.
48 Keller, Second Great Awakening, pp. 174-75.
49 Ibid., pp. 175-78.
50 Walradt, Financial History of Connecticut, p. 75.
51 In the early 19th century, the provisions for acquiring a settlement were not changed basically and approval of Inhabitants and officials, ownership of property, and commorancy continued to be bases for this. Only details were changed. In 1810, the requirement for payment of taxes during the six years before settlement was acquired became an additional requirement for receiving legal settlement but was not a ground for removal, and thus did not interfere with freedom of res- idence. In 1821, non-payment of these taxes was not listed as a bar to settlement, but became a ground of removal during the six years. If not exercised, then legal settlement was achieved, apparently. In 1830, there was a reversion to the 1810
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provision, withdrawing non-payment as a ground for removal, but leaving it as a ground for not securing settlement. Capen, Poor Law of Connecticut, pp. 102-106. 51a Capen, Poor Law of Connecticut, pp. 138-43.
51b Walradt, Financial History of Connecticut, pp. 84-85, 107.
51c Capen, Poor Law of Connecticut, p. 134.
51d Ibid., p. 118.
51e Ibid., pp. 133-35.
51f Ibid., p. 134.
52 Keller, Second Great Awakening, p. 234.
53 Ibid.
5+ Bomhoff, "Development of State Support of Teacher Education," p. 84.
55 Ibid.
56 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 187-88.
57 Ibid., p. 188.
58 Bomhoff, "Development of State Support of Teacher Education," p. 84.
59 Catherine Beecher, The Duty of American Women to Their Country, (New York, 1845), pp. 62-72.
60 Bomhoff, pp. 318-19; See A. Lutz, Emma Willard.
61 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 190.
62 Beecher, ed., Autobiography . . . of Lyman Beecher, pp. 63-70.
63 Ibid., p. 69.
6+ Ibid., pp. 158-62.
65 Statutes of the State of Connecticut, 1849, pp. 273-74.
66 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 191.
67 Ibid., pp. 192-93; Robert C. Senior, "New England Congregationalism and the Anti- Slavery Movement, 1830-1860," (Unpublished doctoral thesis, Yale University, 1954). 68 Ibid., pp. 30-39.
69 Ibid., pp. 45-50, 74-89, 127-34.
70 Bernard Steiner, History of Slavery in Connecticut, Johns Hopkins University Studies in History and Political Sciences (Baltimore, 1893), pp. 415-18; Anna T. McCarron,
"Trial of Prudence Crandall for Crime of Educating Negroes in Connecticut," The Connecticut Magazine, Vol. 12, 1908, pp. 225-28.
71 Ibid., pp. 228-30; Steiner, History of Slavery in Connecticut, pp. 418-20.
72 Ibid., pp. 420-22; McCarron, "Trial of Prudence Crandall," pp. 230-32.
78 Senior, "New England Congregationalism and the Anti-Slavery Movement," pp. 50-70. 74 Ibid., pp. 173-78.
75 Ibid., pp. 181-82.
76 Steiner, History of Slavery in Connecticut, pp. 426-28; Ralph Foster Weld, "Slavery in Connecticut," Tercentenary Commission of the State of Connecticut, (New Haven, n.d.), pp. 27-28.
77 Steiner, History of Slavery in Connecticut, pp. 58-59.
78 Ibid., pp. 60-67.
79 Ibid., pp. 67-68; Weld, "Slavery in Connecticut," pp. 27-29.
80 Steiner, History of Slavery in Connecticut, p. 455.
81 Ibid .; Weld, "Slavery in Connecticut," pp. 25-26.
82 Walradt, Financial History of Connecticut, pp. 70-72.
83 Ibid., p. 76.
Ibid., pp. 78-79.
PROPERTY OF HOLMES SCHOOL DARIEN, CONN.
PROPERTY OF HOLMES SCHOO DARIEN, CONN.
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