USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 13
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tJudge Sharkey was a native of Tennessee. His parents had
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222. Public Buildings .- The constitution of 1832 pro- vided that Jackson should be continued as the capital of the State, at least until 1850. A resolution was offered in the constitutional convention to prohibit the legislature from paying for the erection of public buildings at Jackson until after 1840. This was intended to give time for the northern part of the State to become settled and thus bear its share of this expense. Although the resolution was favored by the " river counties," it failed to pass.
223. Legislative Action .- It was now necessary for the legislature to pass laws that would put the new constitution in successful operation. When the legislature met unsuc- cessful efforts were made, first, "to change the new con- stitution," and then "to revise, modify, and perfect the old constitution of 1817." All difficulties were finally over- come, and the legislature passed the acts necessary to give the new constitution a fair trial.
settled in Warren county when he was only six years of age. At the time of his election he was engaged in the practice of law at Vicksburg. He was widely recognized as a man of great legal ability and, although he had vigorously opposed the election of the judiciary, he was the first chief justice to be chosen by this method in Mississippi. The fact that he held this exalted position for eighteen years, having been re-elected from time to time from his district, a majority of whose voters differed from him in political principles, shows the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens.
#Judge Smith was a native of South Carolina. He had settled in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, in his boyhood. Previous to his election he had served in both houses of the legislature of his adopted State. His first term on the supreme bench expired in 1837. Two years later he was re-elected to this position and served on the supreme bench at intervals until 1851, when he became chief justice. He was " a judge without fear and without reproach, a citizen conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and a man whose heart was open to every sympathy for the wants and sufferings of his fellow-men."
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224. National Politics .- Another thing that disturbed the political situation in Mississippi at this time was national politics. In 1832, for the first time since the admission of the State into the Union, its citizens divided their votes in the election of a President. For several years previous to 1828 the presidential campaigns had been nothing more than bitter personal contests between men, all of whom belonged to the same party. In 1828 the followers of Clay and Adams organized the National Republican party, which afterwards came to be known as the Whig party. Their opponents were at first known as " Jackson Men," but later took the name of Democrats, by which they have since been known. By vetoing an act of Congress (1832) for rechartering the Bank of the United States, Jackson brought on a sharp conflict between the parties. In 1832 the Whig party brought out Henry Clay, its great leader, in opposition to President Jackson, who had been renominated by the Democratic party.
225. Presidential Election of 1832 in Mississippi .- In Mississippi there was a spirited contest between these two parties, and for several months before the election national questions, instead of State issues, occupied the attention of the people. This contest was made more bitter because of the fact that Mr. Poindexter, who had been elected to the Senate of the United States two years previously, had become no less active in opposing than he had formerly been in defending the course of General Jackson. Yet all opposition to Jackson was useless in Mississippi, and he carried the State by a large majority.
226. Nullification .- The presidential election was scarcely over in the State, when the legislature expressed the views of the people upon another great question which was a cause of disturbance at this time. The State of South Carolina passed (November, 1832) an ordinance declaring
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the tariff law of 1828 null and void within her limits. President Jackson pronounced the ordinance of South Carolina contrary to the constitution of the United States, and urged the people of that State to reconsider the action they had just taken. On this great question the legislature of Mississippi passed resolutions in which they declared that the doctrine of nullification was 'contrary to the letter and spirit of the constitution, and in direct conflict with the welfare, safety, and independence of every State in the Union; and to none of them would its results be more ruinous than to the State of Mississippi.'
227. Death of Governor Scott .- In 1832 Asiatic cholera spread throughout the Mississippi Valley. On October 20th of that year it appeared in Vicksburg. About the same time it broke out in several places along the Mississippi. Several months later it reached Jackson. Although many of the citizens of the capital fled to escape from this terrible disease, the importance of official business caused the gov- ernor to remain. He caught the disease and died (June 12, 1833). A writer of the times, in announcing his death, says : " He died lamented by all who knew him, the object of the respect and regard of every one who admires principle and appreciates character."
Upon the death of Governor Scott, Charles Lynch, president of the senate, discharged the duties of governor until the inauguration of Governor Runnels (November 20, 1833).
228. Formation of Holmes County (1833) .- In February, 1833, Holmes county was formed out of a portion of Yazoo. Governor Scott had opposed the act creating this county, but it was passed over his veto by a two-thirds vote in each branch of the legislature.
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Summary
1. So many changes had taken place in the political ideas of the people of Mississippi in the fifteen years following the for- mation of the first constitution that the legislature of the State took steps for the formation of a new constitution (December 1831).
2. The constitutional convention met in Jackson (September 10, 1832), and organized by electing the Hon. P. Rutilius R. Pray as its president. It completed its labors after a session of one month and sixteen days.
3. The second constitution of Mississippi differed from the first in the following respects: (1) All offices, both State and county, were made elective; (2) no officers of the State could be elected for life or for the term of good behavior; (3) all property qualifications for voting or holding office were removed; (4) ministers of the gospel were made eligible to membership in the legislature or to the office of governor; (5) the judicial system of the State was reorganized; (6) the office of lieutenant-governor was abolished.
4. The supreme court of Mississippi as first organized con- sisted of William L. Sharkey, Cotesworth P. Smith, and D. W. Wright.
5. Immediately after the formation of the constitution of 1832 the people of Mississippi were confronted by the difficulties of applying successfully the new principles contained in the con- stitution. This task was made more difficult by the disturbing effects produced by national politics.
6. In the presidential election of 1832 in Mississippi, Senator Poindexter led, in vain, the attack upon the policy of General Jackson, the Democratic nominee.
7. The legislature of Mississippi denounced the tariff of 1828, and maintained that the doctrine of nullification was contrary to the constitution.
8. In the autumn of 1832, Asiatic cholera spread throughout the Mississippi Valley. Several months later Governor Scott con- tracted the disease and died in June, 1833.
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CHAPTER XXIV
BEGINNING OF POLITICAL DISSENSIONS (1834-1837)
229. Administration of Governor Runnels (1833-1835) .- Governor Scott had been a candidate for reelection, but was defeated about a month before his death by Hiram G. Runnels, of Hinds county. Governor Runnels was a native of North Carolina, his father having settled in Law- rence county in the territorial period. In the administra- tion of Governor Runnels sixteen new counties were formed, and there was a conflict between the chief executive and the senate.
230. Creation of New Counties .- In December, 1833, the greater part of the territory acquired through the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was divided into. sixteen new counties. Four of these-Noxubee, Kemper, Lauderdale, and Clarke-extended along the Alabama line. In the second row of counties from that line were Oktibbeha, Winston, Neshoba and Jasper, all of which were established by the same act. To the west of the latter counties were organized Choctaw, Attala, Leake, Scott, and Smith. Three other counties-Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, and Car- roll-were also created at this time.
231. Representation of the Newly Organized Counties .- On January 19, 1835, the governor called the legislature in extra session. As the census had not been taken since the organization of the counties created in 1833, no arrangement had been made for the election of members of the legislature from those counties. The governor, however, ordered elections to be held, asserting that these counties were entitled to representation. The lower house admitted the representatives from these counties, but the upper house
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of the legislature claimed that the governor had no right to order such elections. It not only refused to recognize the representatives who had been thus elected, but pro- nounced the lower house of the legislature, in which they sat, an unconstitutional body.
.232. The Expunging Resolutions .- General Jackson, who understood his reelection to the presidency in 1832 to be a popular verdict in favor of his policy in opposing the national bank, proceeded to destroy that institution by removing the public moneys therefrom. Resolutions cen- suring this action were passed by the Senate of the United States, both of the senators from Mississippi-George Poindexter and John Black-voting for them. Governor Runnels was a sincere admirer of the President, and desired the legislature of Mississippi to instruct the senators from that State to vote for a motion to take the resolutions of censure from the records of the Senate of the United States. The lower house of the legislature agreed with Governor Runnels, and desired to gratify his wish, but the senate not only refused to act on the measure, but set a date for ad- journment. The house refused to adjourn, however, and it became necessary for the governor to exercise the authority granted to him by the constitution, to fix the time for adjournment when the two houses could not agree thereon. He, therefore, adjourned the legislature after a stormy session of only eleven days.
233. Election of 1835 .- Governor Runnels was renomi- nated by the Democratic party of the State as candidate for governor, and Charles Lynch was nominated by the Whig party. The campaign which followed was marked by much bitterness, the best speakers of both parties enter- ing the contest with an enthusiasm hitherto unknown.
The most prominent men in this campaign were Robert
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J. Walker, Franklin E. Plummer,* and George Poindexter, the three candidates for the Senate of the United States. Mr. Walker, who asserted that he had made the first nomination of Jackson for the presidency in Pennsylvania, before coming to Mississippi, was brought out by the Jackson party in opposition to the national bank. He was ably assisted by H. S. Foote, a candidate for the office of chancellor on the same ticket. Governor Poindexter, who was approaching the end of his political life, made some forcible speeches against General Jackson. He was not physically able, however, to follow his opponents over the State. Franklin E. Plummer also entered this contest as an independent candidate for the Senate, but really in the interest of Poindexter. His famous battle cry, " Plummer for the people and the people for Plummer," resounded throughout the State. He was at once recognized as the leading spirit among those opposing the Jackson Demo- crats. Although a candidate for the Senate, he directed his rugged eloquence chiefly against Governor Runnels, whom he succeeded in defeating.t Lynch was elected
* Mr. Plummer, a native of Massachusetts, came to Mississippi at the age of 21 and opened a "log cabin school " in Copiah county shortly after its creation. When Simpson county was organized, he removed to Westville, where he "stuck out his shingle as attorney and counsellor-at-law." He represented his county in the legislature for several years and finally, "in 1829, to the surprise, not to say the disgust, of the old politicians he announced himself for Congress." He was successful in this campaign, as well as in all others which he entered previous to 1835, when he ran for the Senate. Governor Runnels and Mr. Plummer founded two rival towns, Tullahoma and Pittsburg in Grenada county. These were afterwards consolidated into the town of Grenada.
t This campaign was also noteworthy because in it "a sec- tional complexion was first given to the discussions of political questions in Mississippi," and "political runners" were first
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governor, though the Democrats had a majority in the new legislature. David Dixon and Colonel J. F. H. Clai- borne, both of whom were Democrats, were elected to the lower house of Congress, and Robert J. Walker was elected to the Senate of the United States over Poindexter and Plummer.
234. The Texas Revolution .- The people of Mississippi greatly sympathized with their friends and relatives in Texas, who were suffering under the oppressive rule of Mexico. Within one month from the time Texas had declared her independence, the citizens of Vicksburg raised $3,500 to aid that State in the struggle which followed. General Felix Houston also publicly enlisted Mississippi troops for the service of Texas. When Santa Anna, the Mexican general, boasted that he would not stop until his troops slept on American soil and were quartered in New Orleans, the martial spirit of John A. Quitman, of Natchez, was aroused, and he devoted himself to the raising of volunteers for the defence of the country he loved so well. In three days he had a force of one hundred picked men, armed and equipped at his own expense. Hurrying off with his little band, he had nearly reached the scene of conflict, when Santa Anna was routed and his forces scattered.
235. An Interregnum .- The constitution of 1832 pro- vided that the governor should continue in office "two · years from the time of his installation." Governor Run- nels, who had been installed on the 20th day of November, 1833, declined to continue in the office until January, 1836,
sent over the State " to make appointments, circulate documents, and make cross-road and bar-room speeches." Mr. Walker was responsible for both of these innovations. Read the interesting account of this campaign given in Claiborne's Mississippi, Chapter XXXI.
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the date fixed for the inauguration of his successor. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house having been elected to other offices, the secretary of state called the senate in special session December 3d to elect a presi- dent to fill the office of governor until the installation of Governor Lynch. John A. Quitman was chosen to this position, and began at once to discharge the duties of the office, which he held until January 7, 1836. During the two weeks preceding his election, however, the State had no governor.
236. Administration of Governor Lynch (1836-1838) .- Charles Lynch was inaugurated on the 7th day of January, 1836. The two years of his administration were a period of financial extremes-the people of Mississippi were excited over the " flush times " and the great financial panic which followed (1837). This period is also remarkable because in it immigration from the older States increased rapidly, and foreign vessels, loaded with imports, ascended the Mississippi to Natchez for the first time. The principal political events of Governor Lynch's administration were the organization of ten new counties, the disagreement which arose over their representation in the legislature, and the heated contest between the Democratic and Whig parties. .
237. Treaty with the Chickasaw Indians (1832) .- On October 22, 1832, the United States made with the Chicka- saw nation, at their council-house on Pontotoc Creek, a treaty which destroyed the remaining Indian titles to lands within the borders of the State. This gave the State the land now embraced in about twenty counties. The terms of the treaty were the same as those of the last treaty with the Choctaw nation, except that the Chickasaws retained the right to decide when they would move. Many of them left the State in 1835, and by the end of the year 1839 the
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rest had moved to their new lands west of the Choctaw nation in the Indian Territory.
238. Representation of the Chickasaw Counties (1836) .- The question of providing for the representation of the Chickasaw counties now became. a serious one. As no census of these counties had been taken, and no provision made for their representation in the legislature, the gov- ernor refused to order elections in them. The boards of police in these counties, however, ordered elections, assert- ing that, according to the constitution, every county was always entitled to at least one representative. Since repre- sentation in the senate was based entirely upon population, and no one county had a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle it to one member in the upper house, senators could not be elected until the different counties had been grouped into senatorial districts. When the legislature met (January, 1837), the members from these counties asked for admission. They obtained seats in the house against the wishes of twenty-two of its members, led by Sar- gent S. Prentiss, the member from Warren county. The sen- ate also opposed the seating of the new members, since it destroyed the proportion between the two branches of the legislature, as established by the constitution, and deprived the upper house " of its share in the exercise of the powers of legislation." As the two houses could not work in harmony, the legislature adjourned after passing important acts relative to the Union Bank and to the New Orleans and Nashville Railroad.
In April of the same year the governor called the legis- lature in special session to prevent, if possible, the financial ruin which threatened the State. At this time twelve mem- bers from counties which had not been authorized to elect representatives, were admitted to seats in the lower house.
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This led to the resignation of several members of both branches.
Summary
1. At an extra session of the legislature, convened by Governor Runnels in 1835, a coniest arose over the representation of the sixteen newly organized counties; the lower house admitted the new members against the protest of the senate.
2. Governor Runnels wished the legislature to instruct the United States Senators from Mississippi to support the expunging resolution, and the lower house was in favor of such an action, but the senate refused to act on the measure. Governor Runnels then adjourned the legislature.
3. The political campaign of 1835 caused much bitterness, the principal issue being the national bank question. The Demo- crats, who opposed the - bank, were defeated in the contest for governor, but were successful in electing congressmen and had a majority in the State legislature.
4. The citizens of Mississippi greatly sympathized with the people of Texas in their struggle for independence and aided them with money and men.
5. Governor Runnels' term expired November 20, 1835, and for about two weeks there was no one legally qualified to act as governor. John A. Quitman was elected president of the senate . December 3, and served as governor until the following January.
6. The two years of Governor Lynch's administration (1836- 1838) present a period of financial extremes, the "flush times " and the great financial panic of 1837. Foreign vessels ascended the river to Natchez for the first time, and immigration from the older States increased.
7. The United States made a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians in 1832, which destroyed the remaining Indian titles to the lands within the State. This tribe had all moved to the Indian Terri- tory by 1839.
8. When the legislature met in 1837 the representatives to the lower house from the ten newly organized counties were seated after a heated contest in which the opposition was led by S. S. Prentiss. An important act relating to the Union Bank was passed, and the New Orleans and Nashville Railroad was incor- porated.
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CHAPTER XXV
BANKRUPTCY AND REPUDIATION (1837-1844)
239. Congressional Campaigns of 1837, 1838, 1839 .- The money troubles which threatened the country caused President Van Buren to call an extra session of Congress to meet in September, 1837. The terms of Claiborne and Dixon in Congress had expired on the 4th of March pre- ceding this session, and as the regular election would not come off until the No- vember following, it be- came necessary for Gov- ernor Lynch to order a special election in July, for the purpose of filling
the vacancies. In this election, Claiborne and Gholson, the Democratic candidates, defeated Prentiss and Word, the Whig candidates, through the opposition of the Chickasaw coun- SARGENT S. PRENTISS ties, to whose represen- tation in the legislature Prentiss had objected the year before. Claiborne and Gholson were seated for the en- tire session of two years, and did not, therefore, stand for reelection at the regular election in November. Mr. Pren- tiss, however, canvassed the State, speaking in forty-four out of the fifty-seven counties. In consequence the Whig candidates were elected by a large majority. Congress having seated Claiborne and Gholson for the full term of two years. the historic contest then followed in which the
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thrilling eloquence of Prentiss gave him a national repu- tation as an orator. As a result, Claiborne and Gholson were unseated, though Prentiss and Word were not admitted into the house to fill the vacancies thus created. A special election was held in April, 1838, to settle the matter. Mr. Gholson* declined a renomination, and James Davis was chosen in his stead to enter the race with Colonel Claiborne.t . The eloquence of Prentiss broke the power of the opposition, and he and Word were elected. At the expiration of his term of office Mr. Prentiss did not offer for reelection.t The campaign of 1839 was, there- fore, less brilliant than those of the two preceding years, and ended disastrously for the Whig party. The election resulted in the choice of A. G. Brown and Jacob Thompson to represent the State in the lower house of Congress.
240. Administration of Governor McNutt (1833-1842) .- The election of 1837 resulted in a victory for Alexander G. McNutt, the brilliant young Democratic candidate for governor, over J. B. Morgan, the nominee of the Whig party. McNutt was a native of Virginia and a graduate of Washington College. He had lived in Mississippi about fifteen years when he was inaugurated governor of the State (January, 1838). In his first term as governor there
* Shortly after Gholson declined to run for Congress, Le was appointed judge of the Federal District Court for Mississippi, which position he held for many years. He afterwards served with distinction in the Confederate army.
t Colonel Claiborne devoted the greater part of the remainder of his life to literary work. He achieved prominence as an editor, but his greatest title to distinction rests upon the results of his historical investigations.
# For interesting information concerning the life of Prentiss, see Prentiss' Life of Prentiss; Shield's Life and Times of Prentiss; Baldwin's Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi, pp. 197-222; Spark's (W. H.) Memories of Fifty Years, pp. 354-361.
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occurred two spirited political contests in which the Whig party was successful. One of these resulted in the election of Prentiss and Word to Congress, as related above; the other, in the choice of Dr. John W. King, of Rankin county, for speaker of the lower house of the legislature over A. G. Brown, the talented young Democratic leader from Copiah. In the first year of Governor McNutt's term the legislature reenacted a measure of a previous legislature incorporating the Union Bank, and passed, with reference to this institution, a " supplemental act," which exerted a great influence upon the politics of the State. State bonds were also issued and sold to pay for five million dollars of stock in this bank. (§248.)
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