USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 46
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500 MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR OF 1812
LODGE, HENRY CABOT .- Life and Letters of George Cabot (Boston, Little, Brown, 1878)-The Federalist point of view.
LOSSING, BENSON JOHN .- The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 (New York, Harpers, 1869)-See chap. XVIII, "The War on the New England Coast in 1814."
MACLAY, EDGAR STANTON .- A History of the United States Navy from 1775-1901 (3 vols., N. Y., Appleton, 1901).
MACLAY, EDGAR STANTON .- A History of American Privateers (N. Y., Appleton, 1899)-Maclay's books cover the whole field.
MAHAN, ALFRED THAYER .- Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 (Boston, Little, Brown, 1905)-A professional discussion of the war on land and sea by a great authority.
MASSACHUSETT : (Commonwealth) : ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE .- Records of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Called out by the Governor of Massachusetts to Suppress a Threatened Invasion during the War of 1812-14 (Boston, 1913)-Edited by Brig. Gen. Gardner W. Pearson. the Adjutant-general of Massachusetts. Believed to contain lists of all officers and men enrolled.
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT .- The Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, Federalist, 1783-1860 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1913)-The Federalist point of view.
MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT .- The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783- 1860 (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1921)-The best book on its subject for the nineteenth century.
MORRIS, CHARLES .- Autobiography of Commodore Charles Morris, U. S. N. (Boston, Williams, 1880)-One of the best naval authorities.
PORTER, DAVID .- Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacific Ocean, by Cap- tain David Porter, in the United States Frigate Essex, in the Years 1812, 1813, and 1814 (2 vols., N. Y., Wiley & Halsted, 1822) -An intensely interesting account of a remarkable cruise by a great sailor.
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE .- The Naval War of 1812 (N. Y., Putnam, 1902) -- A good history of the naval war, with careful estimates of the comparative forces engaged, in ships, guns, and men.
SOLEY, JAMES RUSSELL .- "The Wars of the United States" (JUSTIN WINSOR, editor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 vols., Boston. Houghton Mifflin, 1889)-See Vol. VII, chap. VI, which in- cludes a valuable and exhaustive bibliography.
UNITED STATES : CONGRESS .- American State Papers. Documents, Legis- lative and Executive of the Congress of the United States (38 vols., Washington, Gales and Seaton, 1832-1861)-See Class V, Military Affairs : Vol. I, August 10, 1789-March 3, 1819. See also Class VI, Naval Affairs : Vol. I. Jan. 20, 1794-June 15, 1836.
Files of the newspapers of the period can be consulted in the libraries of the Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston) and the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester). Consult especially the Boston papers : The Columbian Centinel (Federalist), and The Independent Chronicle (Republican).
CHAPTER XVII
SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND SOCIAL CHANGES (1789 - 1820)
BY JAMES FORD Associate Professor of Social Ethics, Harvard University
EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION
In the life of a state, as in the life of an individual, periods of radical change and rapid development tend to follow great crises. Times that are relatively free from disturbance tend to conservation of values, to slow and even development of physical and human resources. The crisis itself is a change and may necessitate further changes. A brief reaction gen- erally follows; then, among a spirited people, rapid progress becomes possible.
The American Revolution precipitated a political, social and industrial crisis in Massachusetts. Feelings ran high, old traditions were challenged; above all, leadership for social and political reorganization proved indispensable and was not found wanting. In the formation of the American union and also of the state constitution, the political genius of John Adams on the one hand and of Samuel Adams on the other exercised a profound influence upon American institutions. Only three other states, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, exercised so marked an influence upon the constructive political thinking of the period. In all four the habit of chal- lenging political tradition was highly developed.
The fundamental political institution of the period in Mas- sachusetts was the town meeting. Inasmuch as the population of the state in 1790 was chiefly rural, and as Boston and Salem, then the largest cities, were still small towns, as meas- ured in later times, it was possible to continue the town meet- ing form of government through the second decade of the Nineteenth Century even in the city of Boston. When the first state constitution was adopted in 1780, no one successfully
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND CHANGES
questioned the desirability of continuing this type of local government, in which the people of each community were a deliberative body, making decisions on every type of public question. In Boston, which in 1780 had about 3,000 voters, the excitement at these meetings was sometimes intense; but every citizen legally had an even chance with his neighbor of influencing the trend of public affairs. An attempt in 1784 to establish a board of aldermen was hotly rejected; and somewhat similar suggestions in 1815 and 1820 suffered the same fate. Here was a true political democracy: general interest, coupled with considerable personal participation, and responsibility on the part of male citizens qualified to vote,- roughly one-sixth of the population.
The social legislation of the period,-partly the resultant of town meetings, and partly the work of the General Court,- expressed the popular will as swayed by the demagogues, or interpreted and led by the political thinkers of the period. The outcome of these democratic institutions may fairly be said to be sturdiness of character, high but rugged ideals, and practical far-sightedness on the part of the population of the Commonwealth.
SOCIAL STANDARDS IN 1788
The result was also a function of able leadership. The best contemporary characterization of the social life and the popu- lar trend of the period is that of a French visitor, Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville, in his description of Boston in 1788. "You no longer meet here that Presbyterian austerity, which interdicted all pleasures, even that of walking; which forbade travelling on Sunday, which persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own. The Bostonians unite sim- plicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of manners which render virtue more amiable. They are hos- pitable to strangers, and obliging to friends; they are tender husbands, fond and almost idolatrous parents, and kind mas- ters. Music, which their teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, begins to make part of their education. In some houses you hear the forte-piano. This art, it is true, is still in its infancy; but the young novices who exercise it, are so
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EDUCATION
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gentle, so complaisant, and so modest, that the proud perfec- tion of art gives no pleasure equal to what they afford.
"One of the principal pleasures of the inhabitants of these towns, consists in little parties for the country, among the families and friends. The principal expence of the parties, especially after dinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole man- ner of living, the Americans in general resemble the Eng- lish. Punch, warm and cold, before dinner, excellent beef, and Spanish and Bordeaux wines, cover their tables, always solidly and abundantly served. Spruce beer, excellent cyder, and Philadelphia porter, precede the wines.
"Country houses .... are seen at small distances through the forests of Massachusetts. Neatness embellishes them all. They have frequently but one story and a garret; their walls are papered; tea and coffee appear on their tables; their daughters, clothed in callicoes, display the traits of civility, frankness, and decency; virtues which always follow content- ment and ease. Almost all these houses are inhabited by men who are both cultivators and artizans; one is a farmer, another a shoemaker, another sells goods; but all are farmers."
EDUCATION
Popular education was a matter of public concern. Sam- uel Adams, the Commonwealth's gifted champion of republi- can institutions, recognized the importance of its development. In 1790 he remarked that "The Body of the People in this Country are not so ignorant as those of England were in the Time of the Interregnum Parliament. They are better edu- cated .... Education is within the Power of Men, and Societys of Men. Wise, and judicious Modes of Education, patronized and supported by communities, will draw together the Sons of the rich, and the poor, among whom it makes no distinc- tion; it will cultivate the natural Genius, elevate the soul, excite laudable Emulation to excel in Knowledge, Piety and Benevolence, and finally it will reward its Patrons, and Bene- factors by shedding its benign Influence on the Public Mind. Education inures Men to thinking and reflection, to reasoning and demonstration. It discovers to them the moral and re- ligious duties they owe to God, their Country and to all Man- kind. Even Savages might, by the means of Education, be
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND CHANGES
instructed to frame the best civil, and political Institutions with as much skill and ingenuity, as they now shape their Arrows. Education leads youth to the Study of human nature, society, and universal History, from whence they may 'draw all the Principles' of Political Architecture, which ought to be regarded. All Men are 'interested in the truth.' Education by showing them 'the End of all its consequences' would induce, at least, the greatest numbers to inlist on its side. The Man of good understanding who has been well educated, and improves these advantages as far as his circumstances will allow, in promoting the happiness of Mankind, in my opinion, and I am inclined to think in yours is indeed 'well born.'"
Nevertheless, in this period the standards of public educa- tion fell short of those of colonial times. For men of ability could find more profitable employment at other occupations than teaching, and the possibility of using women as teachers was not yet recognized. The act of 1789 required towns of fifty families or more to provide six months of constant in- struction, and required a grammar teacher of specified qualifi- cations for towns of two hundred families; whereas the earlier laws had required such teachers for towns of half that size. This act was subsequently superseded by that of 1824, which was even less adequate and limited its requirements to more elementary education except for communities of 5,000 in- habitants or more.
An important result of this situation was the development of private academies, some of which have had a long and distinguished career, while others were as poor as the common schools of their period. Most notable among the former was Phillips Andover Academy, which opened in 1778 and was incorporated in 1780. Meanwhile, collegiate education re- ceived an impetus, not only at Harvard but through the es- tablishment of Williams College in 1793 and of Bowdoin College, in the Eastern District, chartered by the Massachu- setts legislature in 1802.
CULTURAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT
Scientific interests were developing, as is evidenced by the establishment of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in this period and by the scientific productions of Nathaniel
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INDIVIDUALISM
Bowditch. Royall Tyler was the leading Massachusetts novel- ist and satirist. The establishment of the Monthly Anthology and Magazine of Polite Literature in Boston in 1803, and of the North American Review by the same group in Boston in 1815, are evidence of a reviving interest in literature and of an original and creative culture. Perhaps the most striking index of developing intellectualism was the rapid development of Unitarianism under the leadership of William Ellery Channing. This philosophical and scientific challenge of the predominating religious traditions of the earlier period stimu- lated a broader and more intellectual attitude on problems of a religious, moral, or social nature. It was accompanied by a development of Protestant denominations hitherto under seri- ous legal handicaps. The Episcopal Church was firmly founded. The Methodists, the Baptists, the Universalists, even the Catholics erected convents, built churches, created elementary institutions, and claimed equal legal standing and privilege.
The division between Orthodox and Unitarians caused many painful divisions of communities, and led to disagreeable legal proceedings for the possession of communion services and church benevolent funds.
INDIVIDUALISM
A continuous undercurrent of individualism and rebellious- ness was strikingly exemplified on various occasions in the first three decades. Shays's Rebellion in 1786 was a fairly well organized resistance to heavy taxation and to centralization, and involved directly or indirectly thousands of people, chiefly in the central portions of the state. It is somewhat reminis- cent of the spirit of the Boston Tea Party, but was a mis- directed popular uprising against federal institutions not then fully appreciated by a considerable portion of the electorate. Feelings ran high also against democratic leaders, especially among the well-to-do families of Boston and Essex County. The long struggle over the state constitution, described in another chapter of this work, to some degree reflected the rivalry between Boston and the smaller places, and between the large maritime towns and the smaller agricultural towns.
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The organized resistance of Massachusetts against the em- bargo and against Jefferson in 1809 led even to threats of dissolution of the union. The resistance to the War of 1812, popularly manifested by a mob in Plymouth, August 3 of that year, revealed a lingering sentiment of the contract na- ture of the Federal Constitution. In fact, until 1814 con- siderable discussion was heard in Massachusetts of the possi- bility and desirability of separation from the Union.
Such independence of thought and temper must be listed not among the liabilities but among the assets of a body of American citizens who had taken the leadership in resistance to the aggressiveness of the mother country. Progress is dependent upon challenge rather than on conformity; and in challenge Massachusetts has a record of preeminence, asso- ciated throughout with a willingness to cooperate for recog- nized common ends.
THE SLAVERY PROBLEM
The population of Massachusetts in this period was not homogeneous. Many Indians still lived in the state, though their number was diminishing. Descendants of negroes brought into the Commonwealth during the preceding cen- turies were mostly free citizens, but at this time some still were in a condition of slavery. In 1777 Vermont, upon its separation from New York, adopted a constitution prohibit- ing slavery. March, 18, 1777, a body of slaves in Boston addressed the following petition to the legislature.
"The petition of a great number of negroes, who are de- tained in a state of slavery in the very bowels of a free and Christian country, humbly showing,-
"That your petitioners apprehend that they have, in com- mon with all other men, a natural and inalienable right to that freedom, which the great Parent of the universe hath be- stowed equally on all mankind, and which they have never forfeited by any compact or agreement whatever. But they were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand of power from their dearest friends, and some of them even torn from the em- braces of their tender parents,-from a populous, pleasant and plentiful country, and in violation of the laws of nature and of nations, and in defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity, brought hither to be sold like beasts of burden, and,
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THE SLAVERY PROBLEM
like them, condemned to slavery for life-among a people possessing the mild religion of Jesus-a people not insensible of the sweets of national freedom nor without a spirit to re- sent the unjust endeavors of others to reduce them to a state of bondage and subjection.
"Your Honors need not to be informed that a life of slavery like that of your petitioners, deprived of every social privilege, of every thing requisite to render life even tolerable, is far worse than non-existence.
"In imitation of the laudable example of the good people of these States, your petitioners have long and patiently waited the event of petition after petition, by them presented to the legislative body of this State, and cannot but with grief re- flect that their success has been but too similar.
"They cannot but express their astonishment that it has never been considered, that every principle from which Amer- ica has acted, in the course of her unhappy difficulties with Great Britain, bears stronger than a thousand arguments in favor of your humble petitioners. They therefore humbly beseech Your Honors to give their petition its due weight and consideration, and cause an act of the legislature to be passed, whereby they may be restored to the enjoyment of that freedom, which is the natural right of all men, and their children (who were born in this land of liberty) may not be held as slaves after they arrive at the age of twenty-one years. So may the inhabitants of this State (no longer chargeable with the inconsistency of acting themselves the part which they condemn and oppose in others) be prospered in their glorious struggles for liberty, and have those blessings secured to them by Heaven, of which benevolent minds cannot wish to deprive their fellow-men.
"And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray :-
LANCASTER HILL PETER BESS BRISTER SLENEEN PRINCE HALL JACK PIERPONT NEGRO FUNELO NEWPORT SUMNER
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND CHANGES
No record exists of the action of the committee on this petition, but a bill to prevent "The Practice of holding per- sons in slavery" was introduced in the General Court, June 9, 1777. After the second reading it was moved, and seconded, that the Bill lie upon the table.
Hence an opportunity was given to the makers of the Mas- sachusetts Constitution of 1780 to put a stop to slavery in Massachusetts. For in that Constitution is the noble declara- tion that "all men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights."
So-called Freedom Suits had earlier been entered without result. This provision was not self-operative. Several cases were brought before the Massachusetts courts, and this sec- tion of the Constitution was construed to grant freedom to all slaves. Thus, in 1781, a case was tried before the court in Worcester County in which a white man named Jennison, was indicted for beating a negro named Quock Walker. Jen- nison claimed that the negro was his slave and that the beat- ing was a necessary correction. The court ruled that the Constitution had granted freedom to slaves, and fined Jenni- son forty shillings. This decision was confirmed by the Su- preme Court of the State in 1783. A somewhat similar deci- sion was rendered in the case of Elizabeth Freeman, known also as "Mum Bet." Massachusetts was therefore the second state in the Union to eliminate personal slavery. The example was followed by Rhode Island and Connecticut in 1784, Pennsylvania in 1780, New York in 1799. For New Jersey there was never a clear and complete antislavery statute pre- vious to the Civil War of 1861. This is a most striking example of the early establishment of the high principle of human freedom and of honest interpretation of the popular will by the court.
LEGISLATION ON IMMIGRATION
The attitude toward the immigrant in this same period reveals less of high principle. It does, however, display an- other group of the fundamental characteristics of the Massa- chusetts law-makers and the populace of the period, namely, thrift, shrewdness, and resistance to imposition.
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LEGISLATION ON IMMIGRATION
"An Act providing for the relief and support, employment and removal of the poor," passed in February 26, 1794, pro- vides for the removal and deportation of immigrants upon complaint of the overseers of the poor. Any immigrant be- coming a pauper might, on warrant from the overseers, be removed by the justice of the peace "to any other State, or to any place beyond the sea, where he belongs, if the Justice thinks proper." By the same law the master of any vessel who shall bring persons from any other State or Nation, who have been convicted of crime, or have been of "notoriously desolute, infamous and abandoned life and character" and knowing him or her to be such, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, one half to go to the State and the other half to the citizen who shall prosecute and sue for the same by action of debt.
The masters of vessels are also required in the same act, within forty-eight hours of arrival from any country outside of the United States to report on "all such passengers, their names, nation, age, character and condition, so far as hath come to his knowledge, to the overseers of the poor of the town or district at or nearest to which such vessels shall arrive, who shall record the same in a book kept for that purpose in their office." For failure to make such a report or for rendering a false report, the forfeit for each offense was fifty pounds.
The immigration problem became an increasing burden, and in 1820 "An Act to prevent the introduction of paupers from foreign ports or places" was passed in the following terms :
"Bc it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives : That when any ship or vessel, having any passengers on board, who have no settlement within this Commonwealth, shall ar- rive at any port or harbor within the Commonwealth, the mas- ter of such ship or vessel shall, before such passengers come on shore, leave a list of their names and places of residence, with the Selectmen or Overseers of the Poor of the town where such passengers shall be landed; and if, in the opinion of said Selectmen or Overseers, any such passengers may be liable to become chargeable for their support to the Common- wealth, the master of such ship or vessel shall, within five days after his arrival, as aforesaid, and on being notified by
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND CHANGES
the Selectmen to that effect, enter into bonds with sufficient sureties, to the satisfaction of said Selectmen in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars for each passenger, to in- demnify and save harmless such town, as well as the Com- monwealth, from all manner of charge and expense, which may arise from such passengers, for and during the term of three years; and if the master of such ship or vessel shall land any such passengers, without entering their names and giving bonds as aforesaid, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars for each passenger so landed, to be recovered by action of debt, by any person who shall sue for the same ; one moiety thereof to the use of the Commonwealth, and the other moiety to the prosecutor; provided, this act shall not take effect until the first day of May next and that nothing in this act shall be construed to extend to the master of any ship or vessel, in any voyage on which such ship or vessel may now be employed."
SOCIAL EFFECT OF INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS
It was thus not immigration in itself but the unloading of paupers and criminals that most troubled the legislators and public servants of that time. In a community with little super- fluous wealth, living conditions were hard; and the support of incompetent persons shipped from Great Britain, or else- where, was a serious burden. Good workers were, however, welcome, because there was plenty of land in the rural dis- tricts, and particularly because new and expanding industries in the cities called for an increase in the labor supply.
According to Henry Adams, Massachusetts in the period from 1800 to 1812 owned over one third of the registered tonnage of America, and the resulting profits were great. Manufacturing was stimulated, and (to use Adams's term) "created" by the embargo. There followed a rapid growth of industries; as, for example, the making of hats and shoes, of cotton cloth and soap, of iron and nails, and woolen goods. These manufactures were retarded by large importations of goods from Europe at the close of the War of 1812, and Victor S. Clark reports that in 1816 almost every textile mill in New England was closed, but that in cotton manufactures
BOSTON, Plymouth & Sandwich MAIL STAGE,
CONTINUES TO RUY AS FOLLOW'S :
LEAVES Boston every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings at 5 o'clock, breakfast at Leonard's, Scituate ; dine at Bradford's, Plymouth ; and arrive in Sandwich the same evening. Leaves Sandwich every Mon- day, Wednesday and Friday mornings; breakfast at Bradford's, Plymouth; dine at Leonard's, Scituate, and arrive in Boston the same evening. Passing through Dorchester, Quincy, Wyemouth, Hingham, Scituate, Fianover, Pembroke, Duxbury, Kingston, Plymouth to Sandwich, Fare, from Boston to Scituate, 1 doll. 25 cts From Boston to Plymouth; 2 dolls. 50 cts. From Boston to Sandwich, 3 dolls. 63 cts.
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