USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 23
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Of this period Reuben Davis wrote: "We had no currency. The United States bank had gone down before the onslaught of the indomitable General Jackson. All the state banks were buried in its ruins. Commerce was suspended. Insolvency was the rule, and judgments accumulated against nearly all citizens. Such a time of rage and excitement is rarely seen during a period of peace. By means of executions, sheriffs were seizing real and personal estate all over the country, and advertising for immediate sale. On the days appointed for such sales, the people assembled in angry mobs, and the feeling was evidently so desperate that sher- iffs were compelled to postpone proceedings. They dared not invoke the full fury of a storm that, once let loose, would spend itself in irresistible destruction."
The State was in the grip of the rag-money bank combination, which apparently defied all effort at regulation. By maintaining the system the eminent citizens engaged in banking were able to make profits of about 50% annually out of the unfortunate public. The revolt of the debtors against the grip of the capitalists upon the legislature and courts practically paralyzed the administration of justice. In some cases, when courts were to be held, the sher- iff and coroner of the county would resign to prevent the formal
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opening of the session and the entry of judgments. This was the day when it was said that a common return by sheriffs upon writs for collection, was "G. T. T."-Gone to Texas. Against this con- dition of things-against the almost incredible insolence and audacious crime of the banking system, which had at beck and call the eloquence and wit of Prentiss and Foote and other great lawyers and orators, McNutt pounded away, blindly and fero- ciously no doubt, but with a tremendous earnestness that com- mands respect. He was accused of misdemeanor and crime, ridiculed, insulted and jeered at. He endured it all, calmly refus- ing to permit an appeal to the field of honor, which might give his antagonists an opportunity to put him out of the way, and thus gain a triumph over his cause.
He had the advantage of wealth and a happy temperament so- cially, and his political enemies were compelled to yield to his generous hospitality.
After the adjournment of the legislature, which adopted laws embodying his views regarding the banks, the governor issued his famous proclamation announcing that the State would not pay the Union bank bonds. A public meeting at Natchez, presided over by Col. Bingaman and addressed by S. S. Prentiss, denounced the proclamation as a wanton assault upon the credit of the State. The year 1840 was also memorable for the Harrison campaign (q. v.), the tornado at Natchez, and the last visit of Andrew Jack- son.
In the years 1839 and 1840 the ordinary expenses of the State government exceeded the receipts into the treasury by the sum of $54,742, and the treasurer was unable to pay warrants of the auditor to the amount of $393,500.
The treasurer's statement was $161,000 receipts, including $63,000 in Mississippi railroad notes that could not be paid out, and the auditor's report showed warrants issued in the same time for $491,632, of which $93,000 was for public buildings and $183,000 to pay loans from banks.
The treasury contained over $300,000 of various sorts of bank paper that was probably worthless. State officials received their pay in warrants, worth about 35 cents on the dollar. There was a default of $55,000 by the tax collectors.
Yet in January, 1841, Gov. McNutt said: "We produce annu- ally cotton equal in value to one-third of the whole crop of the Union; and it yields an amount equal to one-seventh of all the exports of the United States, of domestic growth. The immense increase in the growth of corn, oats, wheat and rye, and the large amount of horses, cattle and swine raised by our planters, have made us independent of other States for the necessaries of life."
Next came repudiation, with the governor as the foremost champion. In his message of January, 1841, he said the State was already in debt $400,000 on auditor's warrants, and to meet the bank bonds and interest would require another million to be raised by taxation immediately. "Such an enormous tax can never be
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collected from the hard earnings of the people of this State. They will not elect representatives who will impose it, or tax gatherers who will collect it."
Various legal arguments were made in support of repudiation, and popular pleas intended to justify the act. One was that the real seal of the State was not affixed to the Union bank bonds, which was specially made for the occasion. But the repudiation, once begun, extended to the Planters' bank bonds, against which there was no genuine objection. The fact was, the people had been victimized by their statesmen and financiers; the bonds had been sold to speculators who, if not exactly receivers of stolen goods, were expectant beneficiaries of an abuse of public trust, and, under the circumstances, the people of Mississippi, after yielding up enormous profits to the combination for a term of years, decided they could not afford to be bled any longer. There can be no manner of doubt that some sort of settlement would have been infinitely better than the course pursued. But so it was done-the pledge of the State was totally repudiated.
To carry out his part of the work Gov. McNutt passed upon the constitutionality of laws. The constitution of 1832 authorized the legislature to regulate the manner in which suits might be brought against the State, and the legislature of 1838 passed an act au- thorizing suits on claims in the superior court of chancery. Sev- eral suits for large amounts were pending in that court in 1841 and there was a probability of suits on the bonds of the Planters and Union banks. The governor gave notice that the act, in re- quiring him to issue warrants on the treasury to pay judgments, was unconstitutional, because it was provided that no money should be paid from the treasury except by appropriation by the legislature. (Message of 1842.)
The State campaign of 1841 was upon the question of honoring the faith pledge of the bonds. The Whigs proposed to do so, and nominated Judge David O. Shattuck for governor. The Demo- crats nominated Hanson Alsbury and, upon his removal from the State, Tilghman M. Tucker. The vote was Tucker, 19,059; Shat- tuck, 16,773.
In his last message, January, 1842, Gov. McNutt made a state- ment of the condition of the State government. The legislature had been meeting twice as often as the constitution provided, and "the expenses attendant thereon had impoverished the State treas- ury." The published acts of 1841 contained contradictory laws, which had created great confusion. The State officers, auditor, treasurer and secretary of state, were in the habit of absenting themselves from the capital for long periods, leaving their busi- ness in the hands of irresponsible clerks. "Under such circum- stances the public business is often neglected, and the funds of the State endangered." Auditor Mallory was indebted to the State in the sum of $54,000. "Suit has been pending on his bond for near three years. Assistant counsel have been employed by the State, but no judgment has been recovered. In the meantime his
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sureties have become insolvent, and the whole debt may be con- sidered lost." The State laws were such that "the public offices may be closed, the funds wasted and embezzled, and no power can remove the culprit until regularly impeached."
For nearly two years the treasurer had been unable to cash the warrants of the auditor, and to that extent he had ceased to be a check upon the auditor. "Many thousand dollars are annually lost to the State by delays and failures in the prosecution of suits against defaulters" among the tax collectors.
"This State, by its connection with banks, has lost the follow- ing sums, towit: In notes of the Brandon and Grenada banks, $238,102; Natchez Railroad company, $63,030; Mississippi Union bank, $1,832; Hernando Railroad company, $20; Corporation of the City of Jackson, $3; total, $302,988. The taxpayers paid said sums in funds nearly equivalent to specie. The losses sustained by the State in the reception of bank paper admonish the legisla- ture of the danger of taking it in payment of the public dues. The banks of this State have sunk about twenty millions of dollars in relieving the financiers-they will receive their last relief in the Bankrupt act."
The great record of McNutt's administration was the creation of the Union bank and a debt of $5,000,000 and the repudiation thereof, all within four years. Besides this the governor and legis- lature absolutely threw away the stock in the Planters' bank, which had previously yielded an annual dividend of $200,000, and destroyed the sinking fund. On the first day of January, 1838, there was in the treasury the sum of $279,613 in cash. Four years later there was 34 cents in specie, a lot of worthless bank notes, and claims of $8,000,000 debt pressing for adjustment. "This presents a scene of reckless extravagance and prodigality un- equalled in the administration of any free government which has ever existed." (Message of Governor Tilghman, 1843.)
McRae, a postoffice of Wayne county, named for one of the pioneer families of the county.
McRae, John J., was a son of John McRae, who was a merchant at Sneedsboro, N. C., until his removal to Winchester, Wayne county, in 1817. There John McRae was prominent as a cotton buyer, and was the first to send barges down the Pascagoula river, loaded with cotton for shipment to New Orleans. He finally estab- lished a station and agency at the mouth of the river, whither he removed for his health in 1826. John J. McRae was born in North Carolina, January 10, 1815, and was educated at the Frederick school at Pascagoula, and at Miami university, near Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was graduated before he was 19. He read law with Judge Pray, at Pearlington, and while there became engaged to a widow, Mrs. McGuire, to whom he was married in 1835. He was occupied for some time, with a brother of President Tyler, in the removal of Indians to the west, and was very active in making the campaign to secure popular support along the line of the pro- posed Mobile & Ohio railroad. In early manhood he founded the
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newspaper, Eastern Clarion, at Paulding. He was the representa- tive of Clarke county in the legislature in 1848 and 1850, and in that time of exciting political combat was one of the popular ora- tors of the State Rights party, led by Quitman and Davis. He was "a bright speaker, gay, humorous and fascinating." He was speaker of the house in 1850, and in the fall of 1851, after Senator Davis had resigned to become a candidate for governor, McRae was appointed by the acting governor, Whitfield, to fill the vacancy until the legislature could elect. He took his seat at the opening of congress in December, and served until March 17, following. The elections went against his party, and though he received his party vote in the legislature, Stephen Adams was elected. McRae was governor, 1854-58. In 1858, upon the death of Gen. Quitman, McRae was elected to succeed him as representative in congress, and was reelected to the next congress, serving until he retired January 12, 1861, upon the secession of the State. He was an ar- dent supporter of secession, and a representative of Mississippi in the First congress of the Confederate States. After the fall of the Confederacy, suffering under this calamity, financial losses and the death of his wife and mother, his health failed rapidly. His great desire was to meet once more his brother Colin, who had been in Europe several years as financial agent for the Con- federacy, and was then at Belize, in British Honduras. He sailed thither from New Orleans in May, 1868, and after a rough voyage was so prostrated that he was barely able to recognize his brother. He died there May 31, 1868, and his brother was buried there be- side him in 1876. (Publ. Miss. Hist. Soc., VI, 270.)
McRae Administration. In his inaugural address, January 10, 1854, Gov. McRae took occasion to speak of that "glory and beauty of our institutions, that changes of our rulers take place as quietly as the changes of the seasons. The executive head of the State is changed today, and the masses of the people are scarcely aware of the transition." This sentiment was in marked contrast to the acute personalities of the farewell address of Gov- ernor Foote's administration (q. v.). Gov. McRae based his elec- tion upon popular belief in certain general principles. "First in importance of these is the nationality of the great doctrine of State Rights, based upon the individuality and sovereignty of the several States, as co-equals in the Confederacy. Upon this depends the perpetuity and safety of the Union. Co-equal rights in the Union, and the right of the States severally to judge for them- selves of infractions of the Constitution, as well as of the mode and measure of redress, is the great distinguishing feature of our republican form of government." To this the governor added : "To nationalize this great principle is the work of patriotism; to sectionalize it is to destroy the best hopes of the Republic."
In his plea for education the governor said: "There are but two great ideas worthy of life-God and liberty. They embrace all of value here; all that is important hereafter. But to appreciate these, man must be intelligent; to be intelligent he must be edu-
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cated; to be educated, the means must be provided, and this is the duty of the State."
His administration was confronted by financial embarrassment. The new State treasurer, Shields L. Hussey, reported that when he took office in the preceding December, there was very little money in the treasury except what was due to the Trust funds, and he had been able to cash but few of the auditor's warrants since. He suggested that he be permitted to draw on these funds to meet the ordinary expenses. The secretary of state, elected in 1853, was William H. Muse; the auditor, Madison McAfee. Col. David C. Glenn was elected attorney-general to succeed John D. Freeman, who had served since 1841. Muse died January 9, 1855, and A. B. Dilworth was appointed to the vacancy.
To the legislature of 1854 was presented a petition of ladies, married and unmarried, for some action regarding "the alarming evils of intemperance, prevalent to so fearful an extent, not only in the city of Jackson, but also throughout the State of Missis- sippi." The legislature responded to this and other petitions with an act regulating license and submitting the question of license to the sentiment of the majority of the community in which it was asked to be granted.
The legislature refused to make a legislative apportionment, against which 21 members of the house filed a solemn protest. A smaller number protested against the giving of a cash bonus to the proposed New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern railroad. In 1854 the State had as railroad outlets the Mobile & Ohio road, in operation from Lauderdale Springs to Mobile, and the Mem- phis & Charleston road through Corinth. The New Orleans road had been laid to the State line.
The Deaf and Dumb institute was opened in August, 1854, through the purchase of the Cleaver Female institute grounds and buildings with funds from the sales of public lands placed to the credit of the State by act of congress, 1841.
Gov. McRae was renominated by his party in the spring of 1855. There was no Whig nomination against him. The "Know Noth- ing" or American party (q. v.) was at the climax of its sudden and brief career. It promised to be a national party, and there was need of one. It spread with wonderful rapidity North and South. It was the issue in 1855, and the candidate of the new movement, selected, it was said, at a secret meeting at New Or- leans, was Charles D. Fontaine, of Pontotoc, a lawyer of high standing. The nomination was admitted by all to be a strong one. Lock E. Houston was one of its candidates for Congress. In some counties the movement was so strong that Democratic nom- inations went begging. The Whigs went into the movement al- most unanimously. That old party had practically ceased to be, with the defeat of Scott.
But McRae was reelected by about the same vote as before- 32,666 to 27,579. After this the Democratic party rapidly became
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the Southern party, in the South. Events began to combine rap- idly toward a climax of sectional strife.
At the general election in 1855 two amendments to the consti- tution were adopted, numbers Four and Five. The first extended the terms of all public officers which would expire at the general elections in 1857, or any subsequent year, to the first Monday of January following, and provided that the terms of officers elected in 1857 should begin in January, 1858. The Fifth amendment changed the general elections to the first Monday of October, and restricted them to one day; the elections of congressmen, state officers and legislators to be biennial beginning in 1857; the legis- lature to meet on the first Monday of November in 1857, and thereafter biennially; the governor's term to begin on the third Monday of November, and the terms of other officers on the first Monday of January; the elections of county, district and judicial officers to be held biennially, beginning in October, 1858. These were inserted in the constitution by act approved February 6, 1856.
Within a few months the talk of secession was revived in con- gress, during the great struggle for the election of a speaker, in which there was a Southern Know Nothing candidate as well as a Democrat candidate. Then there was heard the voice of the Free Soil party, taking the old name of Jefferson's party, "Republican," and declaring that it would soon have a majority in congress and would utterly deny the theory of secession and by force prevent any attempt at secession. To which a Virginian made answer that whenever the Republicans elected a president, the South would secede.
Governor McRae submitted to the legislature in January, 1856, the resolutions of the legislature of Maine, demanding the aboli- tion of slavery in the District of Columbia, the repeal of the Fugi- tive slave law, the prohibition forever of slavery in the Territories of the United States, and the admission of no new States in which slave labor was permitted. Against this he set the resolutions of the Mississippi convention of 1851 (q. v.), which he and his party had at the time opposed, seeking not disunion, he said, but a per- manent settlement of all questions. He recommended the legis- lature to reaffirm these resolutions, calmly and firmly, "and our determination to maintain them at all hazards."
The legislature of 1856 gave much of its time to considering and adopting the code prepared by Sharkey, Ellett and Harris, and being unable to finish that work, completed it at a special session begun in December, 1856.
Governor McRae's message in 1856 was notable as the first one for several administrations, devoted mainly to a discussion of State affairs. It set the pattern for executive messages which, with some amplification, has ever since prevailed. He said that with the exception of the pestilence which, within a few years past, had begun again its annual visitation to the cities of the State, including Jackson and some of the interior villages, the peo-
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ple had been blessed with unusual health and the harvests had been bountiful. "The burdens of government rest lightly upon the people, prosperity scatters plenty to them, patriotism subdues ambition, and we scarcely know or inquire what it is that brings us the great blessing we so happily and securely enjoy. It is the shield of the government over us, held by the overruling hands of Providence, manifesting itself through our institutions, and in the sentiment of our people which acknowledges it, and for which we should be ever grateful."
The financial statement showed receipts in the two years 1854 and 1855, of $826,376; disbursements, $905,583; but the receipts on account of the Internal improvement fund and Swamp land sales, made an apparent surplus of $83,000.
The administration of Gov. McRae was particularly memorable for the actual beginning of railroad development. Under an act of legislature of 1854, the State took $300,000 stock in the main lines, which gave them a needed impetus. In 1856 there was no line running through, except the Memphis & Charleston, in the northeast corner, but some important links were laid down, and the completion of 800 miles of road in the State was near at hand. Gov. McRae declared, "The brilliant prosperity which they will give to our State, the most sanguine has not conceived, and won- der herself will be astonished at the magnificent result." (See Railroads.) He advised the further investment of $200,000 annu- ally in railroad stock, to be raised by taxation, until the State had a million and a half invested. No one doubted then that the State had the power and the brains to protect its own investments.
An achievement of surpassing importance in this period was the work of building levees (q. v.) supported by the donation of overflowed lands by congress to the State. J. L. Alcorn, president of the superior board of levee commissioners, created in 1854, re- ported in 1856 that there had been a wonderful increase in land values. In fact, lands considered hopelessly unavailable as late as 1848 were now eagerly sought for, tens of thousands of acres having been sold since levee protection was assured. There was a great area of State lands in the new domain, as well as Chickasaw school lands. The educational fund, likewise the funds available for aid to railroads, were being greatly benefited. Concerning the school lands, "an exciting struggle commences with this session of the legislature (1856) in permanently fixing the basis for the distribution of the money to the counties rightfully owning the same."
The old struggle for territory between the opposing interests of North and South, after a momentary lull, was now revived. The proposed States of Kansas and Nebraska were the bone of contention. Gov. McRae said (January, 1856) : "The difficulties in the territory of Kansas have produced much excitement in the country, and awakened a feeling of deep interest among the people of the Southern States. Fully impressed with the importance of securing that territory to our interests, and for
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the extension of our institutions, after the most mature reflection, I have not been able to see how the State, in her sovereign capacity, can take measures to effect that result;" but if it were within his line of duty he would earnestly urge the people to encourage emigration to that country. He believed that no matter how many emigrants went there from the Northern States, the Southern emi- grants could control it by "the irresistable energy of their deter- mination and their will. If the territory is lost to the South, it will be the fault of our own people."
The presidential election of 1856 was one of great interest, Buchanan and Breckinridge was the Democratic ticket, Fillmore was nominated for president by the Know Nothings, and Fremont by the Republicans. At the same time there was actually war in Kansas between colonizing parties from the Northern and South- ern States, the skirmish line of the Great War near at hand.
The adjourned session of the legislature begun in December, 1856, proposed two more amendments to the constitution, one prohibiting suits against the State, the other abrogating the Fourth and Fifth amendments so far as they related to the tenure of office of members of the legislature.
The Democratic state convention was held in June, 1857, and that of the American party in July, at Jackson. Both adopted res- olutions censuring Gov. Robert J. Walker (q. v.), of Kansas, for proposing to submit the state constitution of Kansas to the popu- lar vote, and this censure was extended to President Buchanan. At the election in October the Democratic nominee for gover- nor, William McWillie, received 27,377 votes. Edward M. Yer- ger, the nominee of the American party, carried Warren and Hinds counties, but was in a minority in nearly all the others, particularly in the north of the State, and had a total vote of only 14,095.
The legislative tenure of office amendment was adopted; the other amendment was rejected.
In his final message, November 2, 1857, Gov. McRae entirely ignored politics, and wrote exclusively of State affairs, treating of the serious condition resulting from the financial crisis of 1857, the general suspension of specie payments and the worthlessness of the paper money in circulation (See Banking) ; the adoption of the Code of 1857, the railroads, common schools, public institu- tions, etc.
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