USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 16
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recipients of executive favor, and those who felt it their duty to oppose the intrigues of Ellicott, are considered little better than a conquered people. We have no hope of seeing a militia organized capable of efficient service. The officers have been appointed in groups, not residing among, and unknown to the men they are to command ; appointed not on the recommendation of sixty-four men who constitute a company, but at the instance of two or three favorites, of doubtful patriotism, and obnoxious to the people. Governor Sargent's letter of December 20th, 1799, to the Secretary of State, does us much wrong. He represents us as being soured with the government of the United States. This is extremely incorrect. Many of us have fought for the government, and all of us anchor our hopes in it. It is not with our government we are soured, but with the executive caprice, oppression and intrigues at home, and an experience of these under the preceding dynasty has taught us to dread them now, and to avert them by every means available to freemen. Upon his ex- cellency's arrival, we had the highest hopes of his admin- istration, but we confess our disappointment. His pro- mulgation of laws, framed by himself in direct violation of the ordinance of 1787, and subjecting us to arbitrary taxation and exorbitant fees at his own pleasure, are alarming enough. Communications to the Governor, com- plaining of these grievances, receive no attention. We, therefore, pray your honorable body to extend to us the second grade of government contemplated under the ordi- nance, with such additions and modifications as may be adapted to our peculiar condition."
In addition to the foregoing petition, Mr. Hunter was in- structed to lay before Congress the following letter from the general committee to Governor Sargent, to which, as stated in the petition, "no attention" had been paid :
"Your excellency will bear in mind that for a long time before the arrival of Mr. Ellicott, two parties had existed in this district, one composed of the planters, mechanics. etc., chiefly natives of the United States. The other of miscellaneous characters, informers and a train of court sycophants, who had been in the habit of influencing the
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Spanish authorities for their own selfish ends, at the ex- pense of the body of inhabitants. This latter party, it is notorious, got possession of Commissioner Ellicott. For want of a manly confidence, or for want of personal cour- age and integrity, he fell into the snare; and under the pretext that the people were doing wrong, he shunned those whose counsels he should have taken, (including every officer of the United States army), and threw him- self into the arms of ex-Spanish functionaries, and became a principal and active instrument in creating tumults and disaffection. After deserting and betraying the people, and abandoning the best interests of the United States, we are to view him as now engaged in new intrigues against us. Nothing can convince the people of this country to the contrary. While some of his co-adjutors were propa- gating the impression that the United States would never get possession of the district, he took particular care not to contradict the report. And while these opinions were intimidating and discouraging the people, he secretly in- formed the Spanish Governor that Col. Hutchins, Col. Green, and Ebenezer Dayton had each made propositions to seize him (the Governor) and carry him out of the coun- try ! His opposition to these three popular characters was because they had censured his inefficiency in not carrying the treaty into effect. When Captain Guion arrived and swept away his importance, Mr. Ellicott used every exer- tion to excite the people to assert a right to govern them- selves and control the military ; that their liberties were in danger. This is the man who (to finish his mischievous labors), has given the present austere and unaccommoda- ting tone to your administration, so foreign to the genius of the constitution, and so humiliating to a free and proud people."
"When he could profit no longer by fomenting quarrels in the first person, he has reached us by the influence over you. The impression he has made of us not only degrades us before the country, but they encourage here the factious and disorderly. The exertions and influence of this man may be considered an unerring barometer of the state of public order. He had kept us in perpetual commotion. But
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when Captain Guion took the command, tranquility was everywhere restored, notwithstanding Ellicott's unremitted efforts to create distrust between him and the people.
"Upon your Excellency's arrival the people were ready to embrace you as a father. There was universal rejoicing that an American Governor had come. Your address of the 16th of August, stating that "merit and a firm attach - ment to the United States should be the qualification for office, and that you postponed your appointments until you could become personally acquainted with the people," was received with satisfaction and applause. But, with- out waiting for this, you went directly to Ellicott's camp, and, as we firmly believe, you returned with your list of appointments, made out there by the American Commis- sioner, and we hear no more of your seeking an acquain- tance with the people and their wishes. We admit that some good men have been appointed to office, but the numerous rejections and resignations of your Excellency's appointments demonstrates the impossibility of reconcil- ing the people to the influence of Ellicott & Co.
"We entreat your Excellency to divide the territory into proper districts. Let the people have the privilege of recommending their militia officers. Let your field officers be Americans, who have never been concerned in foreign intrigues, and your magistrates should be of the same character. Some of your laws cannot be reconciled with the Constitution of the United States, or with the laws of the States. By your Code any person convicted of trea- son, incurs the death penalty and forfeits all his property. real and personal, to the Territory. The Constitution of the United States declares that Congress alone shall have the power to declare the punishment for treason, and by their laws no forfeiture is incurred.
"By your Code the person convicted of arson is to be whipped, pilloried, confined in jail not exceeding three years, and forfeits all his estates to the Territory. The Constitution of the United States says that excessive fines and punishment shall not be imposed, and that none of these offences shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate, longer than during the life of the person con-
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victed, and that in the case of treason only. If a state of society exists here, which makes it expedient for you to ignore the Constitution, of the United States in framing your statutes, we are yet to see it. We have been in the district for more than twelve months at a time without the benefit of laws of any kind, and notwithstanding we had been distracted by the intrigues of Ellicott and others, the general stock of virtue was sufficient to preserve peace and awe the vicious. Crimes were not more frequent then than they are at present ; and if this fact be admitted (and it cannot be confuted), it affords a hint to executive and leg- islative bodies that merits their deepest attention."
Mr. Hunter laid these documents before Congress with the following pungent and incisive letter to a prominent member of Congress :
PHILADELPHIA, February 4, 1800.
SIR-You inquire first, "By what authority Cato West and others were appointed a committee for the territory ?" A meeting was held by the principal inhabitants on the 6th of July last, to consult upon the unhappy condition of affairs, and if possible devise a remedy. The result of this conference was a circular to each of the districts (or beats), recommending the people to assemble and nomi- nate a committee charged to bring their grievances before the Governor and before Congress. The result was the election of the committee. I have copies of the circular and of the instructions given by the people of the several districts to the committee.
2d. You inquire, "What is the aggregate number of free inhabitants of the territory ; what proportion are natives of the United States, what the number of our militia ?"
Our Governor has never taken a census of the people, nor has he been able to organize the militia, so that we are at a loss with respect to our numbers. I think, however, we cannot have less than six thousand free inhabitants, and about two thousand capable of bearing arms. Our people are, with the exception, perhaps, of one-tenth, natives of the United States.
3d. "Is there much immigration to the territory? Have
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many of the citizens removed to the Spanish province below, and if so, what have been the inducements ?"
"The immigration to our territory is, at this time, very limited, owing to the impossibility of obtaining lands except by purchase from individuals. The facility with which lands are obtained in the Spanish dominion by grant or order, of survey, at merely nominal cost, draws the immigrant in that direction. Men of property are in- clined, even with this difference, to prefer our territory, but the poorer classes are induced to go below. A number of families have recently left for the Spanish Territory with Dr. White, and others are preparing to sell out, if possible, for that purpose. Various circumstances have operated to this end, but the morose and arbitrary conduct of Gov. ernor Sargent is a primary cause. The laws he has put forth are odious ; in conflict with the Federal Constitution ; with no precedent in the laws of other States; both the fees he exacts and the fines he imposes are excessive. His appointments, civil and military, have given, for the most part, general dissatisfaction. All the officers that enjoy the respect of the people have either refused his appoint- ments, or after holding them a short time, have thrown them up. He will never be able to organize the militia, notwithstanding his law imposing heavy fines on those who refuse his appointments. His exorbitant fees for passports to persons who desire to return to the United States, and for tavern and marriage licenses, are universally denounced as burdens on the public for his own enrich- ment."
After a long discussion of the petition of the people of the Territory against Governor Sargent, the following reso- lution was reported :
"Resolved, That there does not appear cause for further proceedings on the matters of complaint for mal-adminis- tration against Winthrop Sargent, as Governor of the Mis- sissippi Territory."
This was on the 3d of March, 1800, and while the adoption of the resolution would have been a tacit acquittal of the Governor, it is a matter of fact, that the resolution was negatived, many of the most prominent members of
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the House voting against it. There seemed no disposition, however, to pursue Governor Sargent, and no further action was taken.
"On the 3d of April, 1800," says Claiborne, "Governor Sargent, leaving his infirm Secretary, John Steele, in charge, departed from the Territory for Boston, to vindicate him- self, and to rally a party there against the advance of the Territory, as prayed for by the people."
From this time we hear no more of Governor Sargent in connection with the executive department of the Territory of Mississippi. In leaving the Territory, he left it literally without an executive head. Mr. Steele, the Secretary, had been a confirmed invalid from his first arrival in the Terri- tory, and was unable, from the wretched condition of his health, to perform the most trivial duty. Leaving under these circumstances, Governor Sargent added nothing to his reputation by abandoning his field of duty, and the performance of his official functions, to one wholly unable to discharge, either his own duties as Secretary, or to take upon himself the performance of other, heavier and greater responsibilities.
Governor Sargent had been a good soldier, was a man of brains and courage, was doubtless a thoroughly honest one, and a century and a half earlier would have made a model Colonial Governor for Massachusetts. As the Gov- ernor of the Territory of Mississippi, however, he was out of place. He was not en rapport with the people he was sent to rule over. He had no throb of sympathy with the hardy, independent and proud men he came in contact with in Mississippi, and necessarily and inevitably his adminis- tration was an utter failure.
Under an act of Congress, approved May 10th, 1800, the representation in the Territorial Legislature was appor- tioned. By this act Adams county was entitled to four representatives, Pickering, (which originally comprised all the territory now embraced in the counties of Jefferson and Claiborne,) was entitled to four representatives, and to the Tombigbee and Tensaw settlements one representative was allotted. This act provided that representatives should be elected on the fourth Monday in July, and that the
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legislature should convene in the town of Natchez, on the fourth Monday of September. It also provided for the meeting of the legislature once a year.
Section 10 of this act authorized the appointment of commissioners to compromise and settle the adverse claims of Georgia to the Territory of Mississippi. Under these commissioners an agreement was reached by which Geor- gia surrendered all right and title to the Territory of Mis- sissipi to the United States, and by the same commission- ers a final settlement was made with the purchasers of lands under the celebrated "Yazoo Land Companies," which sales had previously been formally repudiated by Georgia.
The triumph of the people in their contest with Gov- ernor Sargent was complete. They had protested against the arbitrary laws of the Governor, and the onerous fees and license taxes exacted under those laws, and Congress had formally condemned both. The people had demanded a second grade territorial government, and a legislature chosen by themselves. Congress granted both proposi- tions. It not only gave the people the power to elect their own legislators, but clothed the legislature thus chosen with the power to override the veto of the Governor by the usual two-thirds majority. It made the advice and consent of the legislature necessary for the confirmation of all appointments to office by the Governor. It took from him the arbitrary power of enacting laws, and confided that power to the legislature chosen by the people. This was all that the people of the territory had ever desired, and they were more than content with the victory they had won.
November of the year 1800 witnessed the election of Thomas Jefferson as the third President of the United States, and on the fourth day of March, 1801, he was in- stalled into his great office.
On the 10th day of July, 1801, President Jefferson ap. pointed the Honorable William Charles Cole Claiborne to be Governor of the Mississippi Territory to succeed Win . throp Sargent. On the 2d day of August Mr. Claiborne accepted the position, and announced to the President his
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inability to leave Nashville, his then home, for his new post of duty until the ensuing month of October.
Previous to appointing his successor, President Jeffer- son wrote to Governor Sargent, "that from various and delicate considerations, which entered into the appoint- ment of a Governor for the Mississippi Territory, it was expedient, in his judgment, to fill the station with another than himself, whose administration, with whatever meri- torious intentions conducted, had not been so fortunate as to secure the general harmony, and the mutual attachment between the people and the public functionaries so par- ticularly necessary for the prosperity and happiness of an infant establishment."
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CHAPTER VIII.
MISSISSIPPI AS . A TERRITORY. FROM 1801 To 1804.
G OVERNOR CLAIBORNE arrived at Natchez on the 22d day of November, in the year 1801, to enter upon the discharge of his new. onerous and responsible duties.
The selection of Mr. Claiborne for Governor of the young Territory was a most fortunate one, as well for the people most directly interested as for the Federal Government. William C. C. Claiborne was born in Virginia, obtained a good education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and when quite young, migrated to Tennessee, where he soon acquired a large and lucrative practice. He served as one of the Judges of the Superior Court of Tennessee, was a Representative in Congress four years, and was a practical man of affairs, with a handsome person, genial disposition and attractive manners.
His administration of the affairs of the Mississippi Ter- ritory was a success from the start. He imparted new life to the long dissatisfied and dejected people, and the con- trast between the morose, austere and bigoted puritan, and the handsome, frank and genial young Virginian, was most marked. While Governor Sargent repelled all confi- dence and friendship, his successor, on the other hand, by his frank, cheerful and hearty manner, won all hearts, and paved the way for a most successful and popular adminis- tration. The various positions he had filled, his large and long contact with the world, his experience in four years service in Congress, had given Governor Claiborne a knowl- edge of men that was most useful to him in his new posi- tion, and his various appointments soon indicated the pos- session of an unerring instinct in selecting the right man for an official position.
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The appointments made by Governor Claiborne during the first four months of his administration, were capital ones, and were universally selected from the most intelli- gent men of the community, gentlemen of education, character, and with a substantial interest in the young Ter- ritory. As evidence of this, and his wisdom and thorough knowledge of men, we adduce the following list of his ap- pointments for Adams, Claiborne, Jefferson and Wilkin- son counties :
Abner Green, of Adams county, was appointed Treas- urer-General for the Territory; and for the same county the following appointments were made to fill the various county offices : For justices of the peace, Abram Ellis, James Ferrall, Adam Tooley, Caleb. King, George Fitz- gerald; for sheriff, Daniel Kerr; for county clerk, Peter Walker, and John Henderson, county treasurer; Robert Stark, clerk of the Adams District Court ; Abner L. Dun- can, district attorney, and Archibald Lewis, clerk and mas- ter in equity for the Adams county district. The follow- ing militia officers for Adams county were appointed at the same time : Benijah Osmun, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Abram Ellis and Richard King, majors.
For Claiborne county, Wm. Downs, George W. Hum- phreys, James Stanfield, Ebenezer Smith, Daniel Burnet, and James Harman, were appointed justices of the peace. Samuel Cobun was appointed sheriff; Mathew Tiernay, clerk of the county court, and Samuel Gibson, coroner. Daniel Burnet was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and Wil- liam Nealy, major.
For Jefferson county, Cato West, Thomas Calvit, Jacob Stampley and Henry Green were appointed justices of the peace ; John Girault, clerk of the county court; Daniel James, clerk of the district court, and Felix Hughes, mas- ter in chancery. Zacharia Kirkland and William Thomas were appointed majors of the militia.
For Wilkinson county, John Ellis, Hugh Davis, John Collins, Richard Butler, William Ogden and Thomas Dawson, were appointed justices of the peace ; Henry Hun- ter, sheriff, and Samuel Lightner, clerk of the county
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court. John Ellis was made lieutenant-colonel, and Rich- ard Butler was appointed major.
For Washington county, a county organized by Governor Sargent, extending from Pearl to the Chattahoochie river, and embracing the present city of Mobile, and the settle- ments on the upper Tombigbee river, John Caller, John Johnson, James Fair, Joseph Thompson, John McGuire, Thomas Bassett, John Brewer and Joseph Henderson were appointed justices of the peace, and Richard Lee, clerk of the county court. John Caller and Nathaniel Christmas were appointed majors in the militia of the county.
The George Wilson Humphreys, of Claiborne county, who was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Claiborne, was the son of Col. Ralph Humphreys, who commanded a Virginia regiment during the war for independence, and this son was the father of the late Ben- jamin G. Humphreys, who was successively Representa- tive and Senator in the Legislature from his native county, Colonel and Brigadier-General in the army of the Confed- erate States of America, and finally was chosen by the people as Governor of his native State, the proud and prosperous commonwealth of Mississippi.
The day after his arrival at Natchez, that is to say, on the 23d of November, 1801, Governor Claiborne wrote to Mr. Madison, the then Secretary of State :
"I left Nashville on the 8th ultimo, and arrived here yesterday morning. The voyage was a long one, owing to the low state of the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The shores of the Mississippi are fertile beyond description, apparently a vast deposit of alluvium; the accumulation of sedimentary matter during centuries of overflow. Its future of productive power and population is beyond the wildest imagination to calculate. This great delta is almost entirely unoccupied. On the western or Spanish shore there are but three petty settlements be- tween the mouth of the Ohio and the post of Concord, opposite this place, an interval of some eight hundred miles. * * Col. Steele, the Secretary of this Ter- ritory, is still living, but too low to give me any informa- tion as to the posture of affairs. The Legislature will convene next Tuesday."
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On the 12th day of December, 1801, Governor Claiborne writes to Mr. Madison as follows :
"The Legislature assembled on the 1st instant, and on the next day I delivered an address to the two houses. I hazard the opinion that this assembly is composed of hon- est men, truly attached to the Union, and to the interests of the Territory. For want of experience their proceed- ings may be attended with some irregularities, but with their intelligence these will soon disappear. All opposi- tion to the second grade of government has vanished, and the citizens generally seem contented with the political situation. I find myself most cordially received, and shall study, on my part, to promote their best interests."
Again, on the 20th of December, he writes to Mr. Madi- son :
"A treaty has just been concluded with the Choctaws at Fort Adams, by which they consent to the opening of a post road through their country to Tennessee, but refuse the privilege asked for white men to erect and keep houses of entertainment on the route. This privilege they shrewdly retain for themselves. They desire looms and farming implements, and the exclusion of liquors from their country.
"The river front here is thronged with boats from the west. Great quantities of flour and other produce continu- ally pass. Cotton, the staple of this Territory, has been very productive and remunerative. I have heard it suggested by our business men that the aggregate sales this season will exceed seven hundred thousand dollars! A large rev- enue for a people whose numbers are about nine thousand, of all ages and colors. Labor is more valuable here than elsewhere in the United States, and industrious people soon amass wealth. This undeniable prosperity has silenced the clamor against the second grade of govern- ment, which was chiefly based on the increased expense and taxation, and the inability of the people to endure it.
"The Legislature is now engaged on a new judiciary system. The manner in which the superior and inferior courts have heretofore been arranged is generally con- demned. There is certainly room for improvement. One-
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half, perhaps more, of the citizens have no confidence in the judges. The Legislature participates in this feeling, and will, I fear, be inclined to legislate more against men than upon principle. * *
* The Legislature will give me, I think, in pursuance of my recommendation, an ef- fective militia law. My predecessor, notwithstanding strenuous exertions, was unable to organize the militia, and I found the Territory wholly defenceless.
"We require five hundred muskets, and as many rifles, which I hope will be sent as early as practicable. Bor- dering on a foreign power, separated from the nearest State by a wilderness of six hundred miles, with numer- ous savage tribes enveloping our settlements, and a servile population nearly equal to the whites, an armed militia is essential to both safety and tranquility."
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