USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 12
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200. Social Conditions Among the White People .- In this period there was little of that contrast between the rich and the poor which makes class hatred. It was often the case that men of wealth preferred to live on a level with their less fortunate neighbors. The people were sociable and hospitable. They made fewer "calls" and more " visits " than at the present day. It was customary to go with one's family to the house of a-" neighbor " a few
* For an excellent presentation of this feature of Mississippi life, read Mrs. Susan Dabney Smedes' Memoirs of a Southern Planter; Claiborne's Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Vol. I., pp. 79-82.
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miles distant to remain from Saturday until Monday or even longer.
201. Imprisonment for Debt .- For many centuries imprisonment for debt was a principle of law throughout the civilized world. Mississippi was one of the first States in the Union to abolish this punishment (1824)*, and thus declare that indebtedness was no longer a crime, and that the honest debtor should not be thrown into prison for his misfortune. A few months later the Senate of the United States declared against imprisonment for debt. The act which finally abolished imprisonment for debt in Mississippi was passed by the legislature in 1839.
202. The Shooting-Match .- During the early history of the State the shooting-match was one of the favorite amusements in Mississippi. Contests were held at regular intervals at almost every mill and in many of the villages of the State. Prizes of various kinds were offered to reward the skill of the best marksmen. The contestants paid for the privilege of shooting, each shot costing from twenty-five cents to one dollar, or even more. When a beef was offered for a prize it was divided into what was then called five "quarters," the hide and tallow being
* By an act of the legislature of 1824 the prison bounds of each county in the State were extended to the entire limits thereof, and any person imprisoned for debt was required to give bond and security to keep in the limits of the county of his residence at the time of his imprisonment. Unfortunately this was repealed the year following. Another provision of the same act, which was left unchanged, declared that no free white woman should be "in any manner, imprisoned or retained in prison for debt, within this State, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." In commenting upon this act the National Intelligencer, published at Washington, D. C., very prop- erly observed that it " does credit to the gallantry of the State and, in our estimate, is even more honorable to its intelligence and liberality."
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counted the fifth. At a very early date the lead that was shot was still another "quarter." The successful con- testants were allowed the choice of six " quarters " in the order of their rank as marksmen, the best having the first choice, the second best the choice of what was left, and so on until the five or six " quarters " were chosen. Of course, the hide and tallow always fell to the lot of the fifth in rank, and the lead to the sixth. At a time when ammunition was scarce, the "sixth quarter " was by no means a poor prize. The lead was carefully extracted from the board or tree into which it had been shot, and was remolded.
Each contestant was allowed the choice of guns. When the marksmen stood at equal distance from the target, those using rifles shot "off-hand " and those using shot- guns " at rest." Shooting matches were frequently given at which only rifles were used .*
203. The Old Field Muster .- In the territorial period the people of Mississippi were forced to have a militia, owing to the almost constant danger from the Indians and the Spaniards. Besides the company and regimental drills, there was the "general muster." The last of these was the great event of the year, as it brought together a larger number of people than any other occasion. In the early history of the State the men took much pride in military drills; but as soon as danger from enemies had dis- appeared the whole militia system became a farce, and the musters were devoted more to frolic and merry-making than to military drills. Horse races, shooting-matches, wrestling contests, and fisticuffs came to be recognized as necessary features of these occasions. The musters them-
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* See Longstreet's Georgia Scenes for an accurate, yet ludi- crous, account of this kind of contest.
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selves were often called " corn-stalk drills," because many
ATTENTION, WOODVILLE BEAT !!!
of the men, either having no guns or neglecting to bring them, drill- ed with corn- stalks .*
204. Other Amusements .- There were nu- merous other amusements that helped to relieve the hardships of frontier life. The A LL those composing Capt. Fassitt's Company, of the Woodville beat are ordered to meet on the 5th Saturday,, or 30th of the present month of January, at 9 o'clock precisely armed and equipped ac- cording-to law. It is expected of each member that be will be in the best possi- ble order. people had log- rollings in early spring and house- raisings, corn- huskings and dances in the au- The captain commanding hopes that the gentlemen composing his company, will be animated by a laudable military price, and will omit no exertion to gain & sustain a reputation such that their fellow citizens will not contemplate them with less satisfaction in the moments of nation al repose, iban confidence in the hour of danger, tumn and winter. A failure to ask a neighbor to a house-raising, a clearing, or chop- ping frolic, or his family to a quilting was considered a A. J. FASSITT, Capt. Ws. S. LEWIS, O. S. great insult-such Woodville Jan. 1. 1830. 5013. a one too as had to be answered for at the next muster or county court.
See Guild's Old Times in Tennessee, p. 322; Roosevelt's Winning of the West, Vol. IV., pp. 245-246.
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Each settler was ready to help in all improvements, and felt insulted if the opportunity was not given him to do so .*
Summary
1. In 1830 the entire population of Mississippi was almost four times as large as it was thirteen years before. In the decade between 1820 and 1830 the colored population increased over one hundred per cent and the white population less than sixty per cent. This led to numerous efforts to stop the importation of slaves.
2. The courts of the State were open to slaves who had any just grievances to redress, and a white man was sentenced to be hanged for murdering a slave. The laws of the State which defined the rights of slaves and regulated their conduct and the relation between master and servant were for the most part just and humane.
3. On the small farms slaves were more humanely treated than on the large plantations. Masters generally felt their respon- sibility for the physical and spiritual welfare of the slaves, and there was often a feeling of mutual affection between the two classes.
4. The influence of free negroes upon the slaves was a con- stant menace to the peace of the country. Efforts to remove this danger were first directed to the enactment of laws, and finally to the expulsion of all those who did not have license permitting them to remain.
5. There were no regularly enforced social distinctions among the white people, and they were, on the whole, sociable and nospitable.
6. Mississippi was one of the first States in the Union to abolish imprisonment for debt.
7. The shooting-match and the old field muster not only gave amusement to the people of this period, but afforded occasions for indulging in other sports such as horse races, wrestling matches, etc. Among the other amusements of the time were log-rollings, house-raisings, corn-huskings, and dances.
* Guild's Old Times in Tennessee, p. 328.
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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
CHAPTER XXI
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (1817-1832)
205. Internal Improvements .- In this period a great deal was done in road-building and in river improvements. The most important points in the State were connected by a network of roads extending in every direction, there being twenty-four State roads established by legislative acts from 1824 to 1830. Efforts were made to render many of the smaller streams of the State navigable. Six turnpike companies were formed from 1825 to 1831 .*
206. Beginning of Railroads in Mississippi .- In 1831, three years after the building of the first railway in the United States, the people of Woodville organized a com- pany to build a railroad from that place to St. Francisville. It was the first railroad in the State. In the same year a company was formed for the purpose of building a railroad from Vicksburg to Jackson. t
207. Money and Banking .- As has been mentioned in a previous chapter, the territorial legislature at an carly date (1800) allowed receipts for cotton delivered at a public gin to take the place of money. Similar acts were passed from time to time, until there were four of them. In 1822 these were united into one act, which remained in force for many years afterwards. As there were very few planters that were able to build private gins, most of the cotton was carried to public gins. As steam power was not used in ginning until 1830, the gins of this period were run by horse or by water power. Ginning was, therefore, very slow, the planters often having to wait for weeks before
* Hutchinson's Code, pp. 137-156.
t Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. I., p. 77.
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they could get their cotton prepared for market. The law provided that the planters might use in the settle- ment of their debts the receipts signed by the directors of the public gins, stating the number of pounds of cotton delivered .*
In 1818 the legislature gave the Bank of Mississippi a monopoly of the banking business of the State until 1841, and changed its name to " Bank of the State of Mississippi." In violation of the charter right of this bank the legislature afterwards (1830) chartered a rival bank, known as the " Planters' Bank of Mississippi," with a capital of three millions of dollars, two-thirds of which was owned by the State. The Bank of the State of Mississippi then went out of business (1832).
208. Lotteries .- Lotteries were frequently used for raising money for religious, educational, or charitable pur- poses. They could be established, however, only by the legislature. They were instituted to raise money for Jefferson College, and to establish Elizabeth Female Academy in Washington, to erect a Masonic hall, to com- plete Trinity church in Natchez, and to promote other enterprises of like nature.
209. Mississippi Towns in the Twenties .- During this period Natchez continued to be the largest and most important town in the State. It was a center of trade and of fashion. Audubon, the great naturalist, who visited this place in 1820, made special mention of the pretty houses of the " upper town," which he spoke of as " models of luxury and comfort." The "lower town," usually known as "Natchez under the hill," he called the abode of "a rascally population," living in rude houses, made chiefly from the ruins of flatboats.
* Hutchinson's Code, pp. 638-639.
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In the spring of 1822 Audubon visited Jackson, the new capital of the State. His impressions of the town, which is at present one of the most attractive in the State, were very unfavorable. He called it " a mean place, a rendezvous for gamblers and vagabonds." It developed rapidly, and before the end of this period became the most important town in central Mississippi.
In 1817 Thomas Moore built the first log cabin at the site of the town of Columbus on the Tombigbee. Two years later the citizens of the community held a meeting and decided to call the new town " Columbus." In 1821 it had become of sufficient importance to lead to the introduc- tion of a bill into the legislature to have it connected with Jackson by means of a great roadway. The town was incorporated in 1832.
Vicksburg (Fort Nogales, or Walnut Hills) was occupied by a Spanish garrison as early as 1783, and was later (1798) held for a short time by a company of United States troops, who changed its name to Fort McHenry. Rev. Newell Vick, a Methodist preacher, settled in that vicinity about 18II, and decided to build a town on the present site of Vicksburg. The town was founded after his death, and in 1820 the first store was erected and a road was opened from that place to Clinton. Four years later the road was extended to Jackson.
- Port Gibson, Rodney, Woodville, Monticello, and Grand Gulf were at that time among the most promising towns in the State. Washington was still an important place, though its fate had been sealed by the removal of the capital from its limits :*
* See Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., Chapter VIII.
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Summary
1. This period was characterized by increased activity in road building and in river improvements. A board of internal improve- ments was finally appointed to direct these important interests.
2. In 1831, one company was organized to build a railroad from Woodville, Mississippi, to St. Francisville, Louisiana, and another to build a road from Vicksburg to Jackson.
3. The use of cotton receipts for money was regulated by a legislative act.
4. Lotteries were frequently used for raising money for re- ligious, educational, and charitable purposes.
5. The principal towns of the State in this period were Natchez, Jackson, Columbus, Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Rodney, Woodville, Monticello, and Grand Gulf.
CHAPTER XXII
EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS (1817-1832)
210. Provisions for Common School Education .- In 1803 Congress wisely voted the sixteenth section in each town- ship to the support of the schools therein. Shortly after the formation of the State government (ISIS) the county courts of the different counties were given control over these lands within their respective borders, with the authority to lease then. A legislative act of 1824 author- ized the election of trustees in each township to preserve the school lands, to lease them, and to apply the fund arising therefrom to the building of schoolhouses and the employment of teachers .*
Upon the recommendation of Governor Poindexter the
* For further information on the educational history of Mis- sissippi, see Mayes' History of Education in Mississippi; Good- speed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., Chapter XI .; and the articles on Elizabeth Female Academy and Jefferson College in the Publicutions of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. II.
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legislature established (1821) a " literary fund " for the free education of poor children, and authorized the lending of it to individuals or the investment of it in bank stocks within the State. This fund was raised by setting. aside the moneys obtained from fines and forfeitures " not other- wise appropriated." By the latter part of the year 1836 it amounted to over thirty thousand dollars, but the greater part of it was invested in bank stocks and lost.
211. Higher Education .- Jefferson College was forced to close its doors in 1826. Three years later it began work as a military institution. Governor Brandon in his message to the legislature, in 1830, said: " Schools and academies are rising up in every county, and are in a flourishing condition. Jefferson College continues to prosper beyond our expectations, and promises to do much good by spreading a knowledge of science and military tactics throughout the State."
The greatest obstacle to the early progress of higher education in Mississippi was the attachment shown by the people to the older institutions of other States. The planters of Mississippi naturally wished to send their sons to the colleges where they themselves had been educated. As a consequence no college degree was conferred upon a son of Mississippi by an institution in the State before 1833. As there were no time-honored female colleges in the older States, and as traveling was very difficult, the people of Mississippi were liberal in their support of schools for the higher education of young women .*
212. Elizabeth Female Academy .- In ISIS Miss Elizabeth Roach gave to the Mississippi conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the lands and buildings for a school
* This subject is ably discussed in Mayes' History of Education in Mississippi, pp. 125-126.
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of higher education for women. The academy was located one-half mile from the town of Washington. In 1819 it received a charter from the legislature, being the first school to be chartered by that body after the formation of the State government. This was probably "the first chartered institution for the higher education of young women in the South, if not in the United States."* It was a college in fact, though not in name. When the town where it was located began to wane, its prosperity ceased, and it finally closed its doors about 1844.
213. Franklin Academy .- This celebrated institution, located at Columbus, is by twenty-four years the oldest free school in Mississippi. It was chartered in 1821, and has been a free school from that date to the present time. This is due to the fact that it has been supported by the funds received from the leasing of lots in the city of Columbus, the greater part of which was built on a six- teenth section. This school soon sprang into prominence, and Columbus was regarded as an educational center from the time of its establishment.
214. Mississippi College .- The Hampstead Academy, located at Mount Salus (now Clinton), was chartered in 1826, and began active work the following year. Its name was changed to "Mississippi Academy," and it received for five years from 1825 the rents from certain lands that had been granted by Congress for the aid of an institution of learning. In 1828 the friends of this new institution made an effort to have it changed into a State university. Although five thousand dollars was lent to the academy by the State, and its name was changed to "Mississippi College," it did not become a State institution, but re-
* See Bishop Galloway's Elizabeth Female Academy, the Mother of Female Colleges, in the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. II.
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mained under a board of management appointed by the citizens of the town.
215. Oakland College .- In 1830 Oakland College, located in Claiborne county, was opened under the direction of the Presbyterian church. It exerted a great influence for good upon the early history of Mississippi.
216. General Features of Church Work .- The pioneer work of the early Protestant churches of Mississippi ended about the close of the territorial period. Then followed a period of church organization on a large scale. Prepara- tions were made for systematic work among the Indians, the slaves, and the white people of the thinly settled regions .*
217. Beginnings of Sunday School Work .- Mississippi was a pioneer State in Sunday school work. A Sunday school of about twenty or twenty-five children was taught fifteen miles east of Natchez as early as 1822; it lasted only a year or two. A Sunday school organized under Method- ist control at Natchez in 1827 or 1828 was one of the first permanent denominational schools in the United States.
Summary
1. In the period between 1817 and 1830 twenty-nine schools and literary associations were incorporated by the legislature. As early as 1818 an effort was made to use the sixteenth sections for the educational needs of the State, and in 1821 the legislature established a literary fund for the free education of poor children.
2. Owing to the partiality of the people of Mississippi to the older colleges of the other States, higher institutions for the edu- cation of young men did not prosper in this period. These diffi- culties did not affect the growth of schools for the higher educa- tion of young women.
3. Elizabeth Female Academy, near Washington, chartered in
* For a fuller account of the religious history of the State see Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., Chapter XII.
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1819, was the first school to be incorporated after the formation of the State government, and was the oldest chartered institu- tion for the higher education of young women in the South if not in the United States.
4. Franklin Academy, at Columbus, incorporated in 1821, is by twenty-four years the oldest free school in Mississippi.
5. Mississippi College, at Clinton, was incorporated as the Hampstead Academy in 1826. It received some aid from the legislature and at one time aspired to be a State institution.
6. Oakland College was established in Claiborne county by the Presbyterian church in 1830.
7. The first Sunday school in Mississippi was organized near Natchez about 1822; the oldest Sunday school that had a regular succession was conducted at Natchez under Methodist control, beginning in 1827 or 1828.
8. This was a period when the churches of Mississippi became organized on a large scale and made preparation for systematic missionary work within the borders of the State.
PERIOD II .- UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832
CHAPTER XXIII
REORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT (1832-1834)
218. Demands for a New Constitution .- The fifteen years immediately following the formation of the first constitu- tion of Mississippi produced many changes in the political ideas of the American people. At first most of the older States required that all persons who voted must possess certain amounts of property. The new States in the middle West, in their efforts to attract settlers, had offered to give all men settling in their borders the right to vote. The example of these States was followed by others, until in the
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course of a few years a large majority of the States had done away with the old requirements for voting. The people of Mississippi saw this and became dissatisfied with the high requirements of their first constitution for voting and holding office.
This constitution had also placed the choice of the judges in the hands of the legislature. The people of a sister State, Georgia, had the power to choose their own judges by direct vote, and this seemed to the citizens of Mississippi to be a better plan than their own. There was also much dissatisfaction over the fact that the judges of the supreme court practically held office for life. These and other objections to the constitution of 1817 caused the legislature, in December, 1831, to take steps for the formation of a new constitution.
219. The Constitutional Convention of 1832 .- Delegates from the twenty-six counties of the State met in Jackson on September 10, 1832. The convention organized by electing the Hon. P. Rutilius R. Pray, an able lawyer from Hancock county, as its president. Among the other dis- tinguished members of this body were Gerard C. Brandon, former governor of the State, and John A. Quitman and Charles Lynch, who were afterwards elected to this high position. The convention completed its work on October 28th, after a session of one month and sixteen days. The new constitution went into effect without being voted on by the people for adoption or rejection.
220. The Constitution of 1832 .- Probably the most important change introduced by the constitution of 1832 was the requirement that all officers, both State and county, should be chosen by the people. Another change, scarcely less important, forbade the election of any officer in the State for life or for a term of good behavior. By a third change citizens were no longer required to own property
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in order to vote or to hold office. By another provision ministers of the Gospel were allowed to become members of the legislature and to hold the office of governor. Pro- vision was made for a "High Court of Errors . and Appeals," for a superior court, and for probate courts. The office of lieutenant-governor was done away with, the president of the senate being authorized to act as governor in case of a vacancy in that office.
The bringing of slaves into the State as mer- chandise or for sale was forbidden, and imprison- ment for debt, after the surrender of the debtor's property for the benefit of his creditors, was pro- hibited except in case of fraud. The legislature was authorized to meet in regular session every two years instead of every year.
221. The Supreme WLS harley Court .- The "High Court of Errors and Ap- peals " consisted of three judges, elected for a term of six years, one of whom was to be chief justice. D. W. Wright,* William L. Sharkey,t and Cotesworth P. Smitht were the first judges elected.
*Judge Wright was a native of Tennessee. He was a man of ability, though he never wrote an opinion in the five years he was on the bench.
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