USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 11
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151
POLITICAL EVENTS
thoroughly acquainted with the needs of the new State. In his message to the legislature he urged among other things the necessity of revising and harmonizing the laws and of separating the chancery and common law courts of the State. As a result of his attack upon the State Bank the privileges that had been given it in 1818 were taken away. In 1821 the seat of government was moved from Natchez to Columbia.
179. Indian Lands .- The limits of the State, as prescribed by the act of Congress in 1816, embraced a large part of Indian territory on which white people were not allowed to settle, and over which the State government had no control. The " Old Natchez District," the " Coast Addi- tion," and the "First Choctaw Cession " were the only parts of the State that were organized into counties, and hence were represented in the constitutional convention of 1817 .* The rapid increase of population soon caused the people of the State to grow restless within these narrow limits and to seek for other places to settle. The national government recognized the rights of the Indians to the land which they still held, and adopted the policy of buying from time to time as much of it as they could be persuaded to part with in exchange for land in the Indian Territory and for a sum of money to be paid each year to the tribe.
* See Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. I., pp. 48-49; Vol. II., p. 27.
When the eastern boundary line of the State was run, it was found that about three hundred and fifty square miles of land east of the Tombigbee which had been supposed to be part of Alabama, were really part of Mississippi. The Indian title to this part of the State had been extinguished by the Chickasaw treaty of 1816. This isolated territory was called Monroe. Its inhabitants on learning that they were Mississippians, sent a delegate to the legislative assembly to advocate their rights. He was allowed a seat in the house, but had no vote.
152
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
180. Treaty of Doak's Stand .- The second Choctaw cession was made by a treaty drawn up at Doak's Stand in Madison county on October 18, 1820. The extent of the territory which was then ceded may be seen by consult- ing the map on page 150. In return for this important cession the United States granted to the Choctaw nation a body of land west of the Mississippi, and to Moshulitubbee (mo shū li tub'bee), the young chief of the Lower Towns, one hundred and fifty dollars a year during the remainder of his life. In making this treaty the United States was represented by Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hinds.
181. Poindexter's Code .- By an act of the legislature (1821) Governor Poindexter was asked to revise the laws of the State. In May, 1822, his code was completed, and in the following June it was adopted by the legislature. The value of his service is shown by the fact that much of this code still exists in our system of laws. The part of the new code which related to slavery was strongly opposed, however, by many of the best people of the State, who asserted that it was very cruel, and that it really kept slaves from religious worship. It is said that this part of his work made him so unpopular that he was afterwards defeated for Congress .*
182. Administration of Governor Leake (1822-1825) .- Walter Leake, a native of Virginia, was elected governor of Mississippi in 1821. He had served as judge in the Territory of Mississippi for several years, had been a prominent member of the constitutional convention of 1817, and for three years following the admission of the State had represented it in the Senate of the United States. In his term of office Poindexter's Code was adopted, the
*A copy of these obnoxious sections will be found in Good- speed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., p. 96, and in Claiborne's Mississippi, p. 385.
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153
POLITICAL EVENTS
capital of the State was located at Jackson, and a contest arose between the legislature and the supreme court.
183. Establishment of a Permanent Seat of Government .- In 1821 the legislature selected the town of Monticello as the capital of the State. On the day after the act was passed it was repealed. Three commissioners were then appointed to locate within twenty miles of the center of the entire State two sections of land which had been given for a capital two years before by the general government .* This commission was instructed to lay off the future capital, which the act declared should be called "Jackson " in honor of Major-General Andrew Jackson. Three squares were reserved for a Statehouse, a courthouse, and a college. The money raised by selling lots was set apart for building the Statehouse. In order to build up the new capital the commissioners were authorized to sell the best town lots to responsible persons at a low price, provided the pur- chaser would build by the first Monday in November, 1831, "a neat log or frame-house thereon, not less than thirty feet in length."t
184. Death of Governor Leake (1825) .- Less than two months before the end of his administration, Governor Leake died at his home, at Mount Salus (Clinton). He was succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Gerard C. Bran- don, who filled out the term.
185. Struggle Between the Legislative and Judicial Branches of the Government (1825) .- In. 1825 the supreme court of Mississippi declared an act passed by the legisla- ture a year previously to be unconstitutional. The house of representatives thereupon made the judges appear
* Hutchinson's Code, Chapter IV.
t In 1827, Monticello made another vigorous, though unsuc- cessful, attempt to become the capital of the State. (Woodville Republican, January 23, 1827.)
154
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
before it and show cause why they should not be removed from office for daring to pass upon the constitutionality of an act of the legislature. The matter was referred to a special committee of the house, which acquitted the judges of any wrong motives, but stated that it knew of no power that the supreme court had to declare any law unconstitu- tional. One of the judges then resigned .*
186. Visit of Lafayette to Mississippi (1825) .- When Lafayette was the guest of the nation, in 1825, he made a tour throughout this great country. He received an ovation at Natchez. After he had reviewed the State militia and had listened to the affectionate addresses of welcome, he thanked the people for the honors shown him, telling them that he rejoiced with them in the blessings of self-government. Before his departure from the State this patriot, with the tenderness and love of a father, bestowed his blessings upon a number of children who were brought before him in a body.
187. Second Administration of Governor-Holmes (1826). Governor Holmes resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States to become a candidate for governor. He was again elected to the highest office in the gift of his adopted State. He was able to continue in office only a few months, however, and in the autumn of 1826, advanced in years and broken in health, he resigned. Thus his public career in Mississippi ended as it had begun-as governor. Lieutenant-Governor Brandon again became governor of the State, and filled out Governor Holmes' term.
188. Administration of Governor Brandon (1828-1832) .- Governor Brandon had done so much for the State that in the autumn of 1827 he was elected to the office of governor
* See Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. I., p. 121.
155
POLITICAL EVENTS
over four other candidates. He was the first native of the State to be chosen to this high position, having been born in Adams county. For some time previous to his election he had lived in Wilkinson county, hav- ing represented it in the constitutional convention of 1817. The fact that he was chosen governor for a second term shows the high regard in which he was held by the people of the State. The principal events of his administra- tion were, the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, the ex- tension of the govern- ment of the State over the Indian lands within Gerard C. Brandons its borders, and the estab- lishment of the "Planters' Bank of the State of Mis- sissippi."*
189. Grand Council of the Choctaw Nation (1828) .- Only a few years had passed after the second Choctaw cession, when the white people of the State began to urge the national government to make another treaty with the Choctaws. At a great council of these Indians (1828) they refused to sell the land they still owned. There was much ill feeling among them because of the fact that the celebrated chief Greenwood Le Floret and Colonel David
* For an account of the establishment of the Planters' Bank, see section 208.
t This celebrated chief was born of a Canadian trader and a
1
156
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
Folsom, both of whom were half-blooded Choctaws. advised the removal of the nation to the Indian Territory.
They were accused by the full-blooded Choc- taws of favoring the white man to the injury of the natives, and a civil war was narrowly averted.
190. Extension of the State Government Over the Indian Lands Within Its Borders (1829-1830). Two acts were passed in Governor Brandon's terms of office for the purpose of limiting the power of the Indians and GREENWOOD LE FLORE of hastening their re- moval from the State. The first of these acts (1829) made the white people, living in the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, subject to the laws of the State. It did not affect, however, the tribal organization and the laws of the Indians, since they were especially exempted from its application. By an act of the year following, the gov- ernment of the Indians was abolished, citizenship was granted them, and the laws of the State were extended
Choctaw woman in 1800. He was educated at Nashville. Return- ing to his own nation, he was elected chief of the Yazoo District in 1824, when only twenty-four years of age. When the Choctaws were removed beyond the Mississippi he remained upon his estate in Carroll county, conducting a mercantile house in addition to his extensive planting interests. He represented Carroll county in the State senate from 1840 to 1843. (See Claiborne's Mississippi, pp. 116 (note) and 515.)
157
POLITICAL EVENTS
over them. The act subjected to fine and imprisonment all persons who presumed to perform among the Indians in any manner the functions of chief, or of any other tribal office not recognized by the laws of the State.
191. Treaty of Dancing Rabbit (1830) .*- In 1830 the " mingoes, chiefs, captains, and warriors " of the Choctaw nation assembled at Dancing Rabbit Creek, and agreed to a treaty by which they granted to the United States all the remaining lands they held east of the Mississippi. They were given a tract of land in the Indian Territory for that which they might leave in Mississippi and in addition the sum of twenty thousand dollars a year for twenty years. The three chiefs of the nation each received two hundred and fifty dollars a year and four sections of land in the State. Besides this, four sections of land were reserved for Colonel David Folsom and four for each of the wives of Pushma- taha and Puckshennubbee (puck she nub'bee). It was also provided that any Choctaw, the head of a family, who desired to become a citizen of the State, might have land enough for a home therein.
192. Election of Governor Scott .- In the latter part of 1831 Abram M. Scott, a native of South Carolina, was elected governor of Mississippi. He had settled in the State at an early date, and had been a member of General Claiborne's celebrated expedition against the Creeks at Holy Ground. He had represented Wilkinson county in the constitutional convention of 1817, and had served two terms as lieutenant-governor under Governor Brandon, notwithstanding the fact that both were from the same county.
* For an account of this treaty, see Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society, Vol. III., pp. 99-106.
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HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
193. Organization of Counties Between 1817 and 1832 .- In 1819 Covington county was formed out of parts of Lawrence and Wayne. In 1820 Perry county was organ- ized. In the year following, Monroe and Hinds counties were established. The former was smaller in area than the constitution required, but this could not be avoided, since at that time the Choctaw country lay between this district and the rest of the State. In 1823 two new counties- Yazoo and Copiah-were formed. In 1824 Simpson county was created out of a part of Copiah. Jones county was formed out of parts of Covington and Wayne (1826). In 1827, Washington county was formed out of portions of Yazoo and Warren. The next year Madison county was formed out of that part of Yazoo east of the Big Black River. In the same year (1828) Rankin county was formed out of that part of Hinds cast of Pearl River. In 1830 the southern part of Monroe county was formed into a new county named Lowndes .*
Summary
1. The State government was organized with David Holmes as governor, and was admitted into the Union December 10, 1817.
2. In the first term of Governor Holmes' administration (1817-1820) the supreme court was organized, and the Bank of Mississippi obtained a monopoly of the banking business of the State.
3. In the administration of Governor Poindexter (1820-1822) the legal and judicial systems of the State were organized, the seat of government was moved from Natchez to Columbia, and new territory was opened to settlement by the treaty of Doak's Stand.
4. In the administration of Governor Leake (1822-1825) Poin- dexter's Code was adopted, the capital of the State was located
* For further information with reference to these counties, see Appendix.
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS
at Jackson, a struggle arose between the legislative and judicial departments of the State, and General Lafayette visited Mis- sissippi.
5. The principal events of Governor Brandon's administrations were the extension of the government of the State over the Indian possessions within its limits (1829 and 1830), the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit (1830), and the establishment of the " Planters' Bank " (1830).
. CHAPTER XX
SOCIAL CONDITIONS (1817-1832)
194. Growth of Population .- In the period of the first constitution the older parts of the State became more densely settled, and the area of land that could be occupied by settlers was doubled. In 1816 the population was almost forty-six thousand, and in 1830 it was 136,621, almost four times the number with which the State had entered the Union thirteen years previously. From 1820 to 1830 the colored population grew much more rapidly than the white, the former having increased over one hundred per cent and the latter less than sixty per cent. The rapid increase of slave population was a matter of great concern to many of the leading men of the State.
195. Efforts to Stop the Importation of Slaves .- The census of 1830 revealed the fact that the prophecy made by Governor Claiborne twenty-five years before, that Mis- sissippi would " soon be overrun " by the slaves from the older States, was being rapidly fulfilled. This great increase in the slave population was due to the large profits that could be made by raising cotton, and to the fact that Mississippi was one of the last States to prohibit the im- portation of slaves from other parts of the Union. With the reduction of the number of States allowing the slave
160
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
trade, there came an increase in the number of slaves imported into those which still permitted it. In his annual message to the legislature in 1828 Governor Brandon said : " Slavery is an evil at best, and has invariably operated oppressively on the poorer class in every community into which it has been introduced, and excludes from the State, in proportion to the number of slaves, a free white popu- lation, through the means of which alone can we expect to take rank with our sister States. With these reflections I submit to the wisdom of the general assembly to say whether the period has not arrived when Mississippi, in her own defence, should, as far as practicable, prevent the further introduction of slaves for sale."
This agitation resulted in a partial prohibition of the importation of slaves by the second constitution of the State in 1832.
196. Legal Rights of Slaves .- A decision rendered by the Supreme Court of the State at its first term, in June, 1818, granted freedom to several slaves who had been unjustly held in bondage. This is noteworthy, because it shows that at that early date " the negro could safely appcal in Mississippi to the courts for protection in his rights, even the rights of liberty."
In 1821 a white man, convicted of killing a slave, made the plea that this deed could not be murder, but the Supreme Court of the State, to which he appealed, decided that he was guilty of murder and must suffer death .* Hence
* The following extract is taken from this important decision: " In this State the legislature has considered slaves as reasonable and accountable beings; and it would be a stigma upon the charac- ter of the State, and a reproach to the administration of justice if the life of a slave could be taken with impunity, or if he could be murdered in cold blood, without subjecting the offender to the highest penalty known to the criminal jurisprudence of the country. Has the slave no rights because he is deprived of his
I61
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
the first capital case reported in the decisions of the Supreme Court of Mississippi is that of a white man sentenced finally to be hanged on July 27, 1821, " for killing a slave."
197. Slave Laws .- Traders were not allowed to sell slaves over fifteen years old without registering with the proper authority certificates stating that they had not been guilty of any crimes in the State from which they were brought. Slaves were forbidden not only to keep weapons or ammu- nition without having permission to do so from a justice of the peace, given at the request of their masters, but to take part in riots or unlawful assemblies or to be guilty of seditious speeches. Masters could not give permission for their slaves to go at large and trade as freemen or hire themselves out. Trading with slaves without permission from their masters was forbidden. Slaves were not allowed to leave the tenements of their masters without having passes to show that they were away with the consent of the proper authorities. A slave who was found at the distance of eight miles, without a pass, or had "lain out more than two days from the service of his master " was considered "a runaway," and was returned to his master or committed to jail. Masters were not allowed to inflict
freedom? He is still a human being, and possesses all those rights of which he is not deprived by the positive provisions of law; but in vain shall we look for any law passed by the enlight- ened and philanthropic legislature of this State, giving even to the master, much less to a stranger, power over the life of a slave. Such a statute would be worthy of the age of Draco or Caligula, and would be condemned by the unanimous voice of the people of this State. where even cruelty to slaves, much less the taking away of life, meets with universal reprobation." (See Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. I., p. 115. For a fuller account of the rights of slaves see Stone's Early Slave Laus of Mississippi in the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. II., pp. 133-145; also Poindexter's and Hutchinson's Codes of Mississippi.)
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HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
cruel or unusual punishments on their slaves, under a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars. The testi-
NOTICE.
N pursuance of a Deed of Trust execu- ted by William Yerby, on the 19th day of April, 1824, for the use of John F. Car- michael, the undersigned Trustee, therein named will proceed to sell to the bighest bidder. for ready moncy, on the 5th day of December next. at the Court House of the County of Wilkinson, the following
NEGRO SLAVES, to wit.
Anthony, Jack, Jim, Dennis, Ellison, Loui sa, Martha, Rose, Jane, Lewis, Criss, Sally, Charlotte and Chelson.
or so many thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the several sums of money mention- ed in said Deed, with the costs attendant thereon.
mony of slaves was admitted in the courts of the State. No mas- ter was allowed to free a slave without the con- sent of the legis- lature, and this could be given only when the slave had per- formed some act of great merit for his master, or had rendered some dis- tinguished service for the State.
The legal pun- ishment of slaves was usually by the T. H. PROSSER, Trustec. November. 4. 1825. 99 infliction of stripes .* It must be remembered that at this time the pillory, the whipping post, and the branding iron had not been abolished through- out the world, and corporal punishment was frequently
* The following items appear in the list of fees to the sheriffs of Mississippi by an act of January 23, 1824:
Putting a prisoner in pillory or stocks by order of court. $2 00
Whipping a free person by order of court. 2 00
Whipping a slave by order of the court, to be paid by the owner 1 00
Burning in the hand or face 2 00
163
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
inflicted upon people of the white as well as the colored race. The maximum number of lashes was thirty-nine.
198. The True Condition of Slaves .- In order to under- stand the true condition of slaves in Mississippi it is neces- sary to turn from the stern facts of law to a consideration of the slave as he really was. On this subject it is difficult to speak in general terms with confidence or with accuracy. The treatment of the slave depended very largely upon the disposition of the master. Each master was practically a magistrate upon his own plantation. A competent northern writer who visited the South in slavery times gives the following statement of the manner in which this power was used:
"On principle, in habit, and even on the grounds of self-interest, the greater part of the slave-owners were humane in the treatment of their slaves-kind, indulgent, not over-exacting, and sincerely interested in the physical well-being of their dependants."*
On the smaller farms, where they came constantly in contact with their masters, they were more humanely treated than they were on the larger plantations, where they had to be dealt with in the mass. In many parts of the State public opinion would not tolerate cruel treatment of slaves, and the slave-dealer was nowhere respected. The slaves usually joined the churches of their masters, with which they were at liberty to unite at will. As a rule, slave- owners recognized their duty to provide for the religious needs of their slaves. This fact is shown by the following extract from a letter written in 1831 by a Presbyterian minister, who was himself a slave-owner: "Nearly all the planters here feel their responsibility for their servants so deeply, that they have united to provide regular and
* See Claiborne's Mississippi, pp. 144-149.
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HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
frequent religious instruction for them by good and com- petent teachers."*
199. Free Negroes .- In 1820 there were four hundred and fifty-eight free negroes in the State. They were a source of much concern to the slave-owners, who feared the results of their influence upon such slaves as were inclined to be seditious. For this reason free negroes were not permitted to keep weapons or ammunition without license. They were also forbidden to give or sell intoxi- cating liquors to slaves. In 1822 they were prohibited from moving into the State, and those then living in it were required to be registered and numbered in a book kept for that purpose. They were also required to have their certificates of freedom renewed every three years.
In order to remove the dangers arising from the presence of free negroes in the midst of a large number of slaves, an act was passed in 1831, requiring all free negroes to leave the State unless they could obtain from the proper authorities licenses, based on uprightness of character and honesty of deportment, allowing them to remain in the State. 5
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