USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 14
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At the expiration of his term, Governor McNutt was reelected, defeating Judge Edward Turner, the Whig candidate for governor. At the same time A. G. Brown and Jacob Thompson were elected to Congress. In his second term Governor McNutt recommended the repeal of the charters of all broken banks and made an active war upon the Union Bank, the Planters' Bank, and the Mississippi Railroad Company. He also urged that the State refuse to pay the debt which she owed for the Union Bank bonds. In this he was opposed by the legislature, which passed resolutions in favor of paying them. His recommendation that the legislature select a site for a State university was more favorably received, and on the 26th day of January, 1841, the two houses in joint session located the University near the town of Oxford, in Lafayette county.
241. Northern Boundary of Mississippi .- In February, 1838, the legislature fixed the boundary which had been recently run between Mississippi and Tennessee by com- missioners representing these two States. For several years previous to this time the people of Mississippi had
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insisted upon having this boundary run, many of them expecting to acquire thereby the city of Memphis; but, to their surprise, the State lost instead of gaining territory by the new survey.
242. Completion of the Statehouse (1839) .- As early as 1833 an appropriation had been made for building a Statehouse. It niet with opposition from the people of many of the older counties, who insisted upon waiting for the settlement of the newly acquired Indian lands, in order
THE OLD STATEHOUSE
that the northern part of the State might bear its share of the expense. This opposition, with the smallness of the original appropriation, accounts for the fact that the build- ing was not ready for occupation until 1839.
243. Destruction of " Natchez Under the Hill " (1840) .- On the 7th day of May, 1840, Natchez was visited by a terrible tornado, which laid the city in ruins and killed 13
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several hundred people. It completely destroyed that part of the city known as " Natchez Under the Hill," which was the abode of the rougher element of the population, and had been the scene of many crimes and drunken sprees. Three steamboats and about eighty flatboats were- sunk and their cargoes lost.
244. Visit of General Jackson to Mississippi (1840) .- In January, 1840, General Andrew Jackson went to New Orleans to be present at the laying of the corner stone of a monument built to celebrate the great victory he had won at that place twenty-five years before. On his way up the Mississippi he stopped at Natchez and Vicksburg, where he was received with many evidences of affection. In response to an invitation from the legislature, delivered to him by a special committee, he visited the capital of Mississippi, where he was greeted by a throng of admirers, who did everything in their power to make the occasion worthy of their honored guest.
245. Formation of Harrison County (1841) .- By a legislative act of February 5, 1841, Harrison county was formed out of parts of Hancock and Jackson counties.
246. Political Campaigns of 1841 .-- In the summer of 1841 Judge David O. Shattuck was nominated by the Whigs as a candidate for governor. The Democrats nominated Hanson Allsberry, but he left the State shortly afterwards, and the nomination of his party fell to Tilgh- man M. Tucker, of Columbus. Sargent S. Prentiss became the Whig candidate for the United States Senate. He was opposed by Robert J. Walker. The bond question was the issue of this campaign. The platform of the Whig party favored the payment of the bonds, but that of the Democratic party was silent on this point. The utterances of Governor McNutt against the payment of the bonds were considered, however, as expressive of the Democratic
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position on the subject. The bond question was ably discussed throughout the State. The principal speakers of the Whig party were Sargent S. Prentiss and George Poindexter, and those of the Democratic party were Alexander G. McNutt, Robert J. Walker, William M. Gwin, and Jacob Thompson, the last two being candidates for Congress. The Democratic ticket was elected by a small majority, and this was regarded as expressing the opposition of the people to the payment of the bonds. When the legislature assembled in the following January, Mr. Walker was reelected to the United States Senate, defeating Mr. Prentiss,* who then retired from political life.
247. Administration of Governor Tucker (1842-1844) .- Governor Tucker was inaugurated in January, 1842. The principal events of his administration were the act of the legislature repudiating the Union Bank bonds, the com- pletion and the occupation of the executive mansion, the defalcation of the State treasurer, and the increase of the representation of the State in the lower house of Congress.
248. The Union Bank Question .- In 1838 the legislature decided that the State should own part of the Union Bank, and passed an act authorizing the governor to issue bonds which would enable the State to raise five millions of
* This celebrated leader of the Whig party in Mississippi was born in Portland, Maine, in 1808. He came to Mississippi in the autumn of 1827. After he had spent several months teaching near Natchez, he began the study of law under the direction of Robert J. Walker, his future political opponent. In 1832 he removed to Vicksburg. After serving in the legislature of the State and in the Congress of the United States, he retired to private life. In July, 1845, a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in a case involving the possession of the property which he had accumulated at Vicksburg, led to his financial ruin. A few months later he removed to New Orleans, where he spent the remaining five years of his life.
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dollars for that purpose. This was done, though many people of the State were opposed to it. A few years later every one saw that the bank was losing instead of making money.
Then the people who had opposed the legislative act by which the State came to own part of the bank insisted that the legislature repudiate, or refuse to pay the debt that had been made for that purpose. They argued that the legislature had been forbidden by the constitution of the State to make this debt and that the tax-payers of the State should not be made to pay it. Some argued that, although the debt was not lawful, the people of Mississippi should pay it in order to save the reputation of the State, and to prevent loss to those who had bought the bonds issued by the State for raising the five millions of dollars. Others said that the debt was lawful and just, and should, there- fore, be paid. The State refused, however, to pay it.
If foreign nations, whose citizens had bought the bonds and the people of the State who favored paying this debt, had acted differently, it would, probably, have been paid. Claiborne says of the people of Mississippi: 'Liberally they would have given had the application been put in some other form than a threatening demand, but not a dime would they yield to insult and threat.' The same writer tells us that at a public meeting in the State, after General John A. Quitman had made a strong appeal for the pay- ment of the debt, the speaker who followed him spoke of English vessels in the Gulf and of their right to seize cotton belonging to Mississippians. This aroused the warlike spirit of General Quitman, who immediately got up and said : " Sir, in that event I join my countrymen who oppose the payment of the bonds. My sword-aye, sir, the last drop of my blood, shall be spent in resisting the demand.
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My State, sir, may she always be right ; but, right or wrong, the State, sacred, intangible, and unprofaned forever."*
249. Defalcation of Richard S. Graves .- On the 22d of March, 1843, Richard S. Graves, the treasurer of the State, was arrested on a charge of stealing from the State treasury $44,838.46. During the trial he was confined in his home, in the care of the sheriff of Hinds county. On the fourth day after his arrest his wife was admitted to his room by the guards. After the lapse of a short time she returned to her own room, as the guards supposed. Afterwards it was found that Mr. Graves, dressed in his wife's clothing, had passed the guards and made his escape. Although a liberal reward was offered for his capture, he escaped to Canada, thus evading the penalty of his crime.
In after years Mrs. Graves returned to Jackson and made a touching but vain appeal to the legislature of the State in behalf of her aged and infirm husband, who, she said, desired above all things to return to Missis- sippi to spend the remain- der of his life and to be buried finally beneath its soil.
250. Political Campaign of 1843 .- In the autumn of 1843 an effort was made to form a union between JACOB THOMPSON the Whigs and that branch of the Democratic party which was in favor of paying the bonds. This plan failed, and the election which fol-
* Claiborne's Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Vol. I., p. 208.
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lowed resulted in another Democratic triumph. Albert Gallatin Brown, of Copiah, was elected governor and Jacob Thompson, Tilghman M. Tucker, W. H. Ham- mett, and R. W. Roberts were elected representatives in the lower house of Congress. At this time four congress- men were elected instead of two because of the increase in the population of the State, as shown by the census of 1840.
251. Jefferson Davis .- The campaign of 1843 is note- worthy because it marked the beginning of the political ca- reer of Jefferson Davis, who was then the Democratic can- didate for State senator from Warren county. He was born in Kentucky in 1808 and came to Mississippi with his parents when a child. After graduating at West Point at the age of twenty, he spent seven years in the army, serving in several campaigns against the Indians on the western frontier. At a time when his military career gave promise of great distinction he voluntarily resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the army and retired to private life. He married a daughter of General Zachary Taylor, and lived in a quiet home near Vicksburg. The next eight years of his life were devoted to hard study. In 1843 he suddenly left this quiet life and entered politics. As his county was a stronghold of the Whig party, he was defeated for the State senate, but the reputation he made in this race caused him to receive other honors, which then came in rapid succession. In 1844 he was made a presi- dential elector on the Democratic ticket. The year fol- lowing he was sent to Congress, entering the national House of Representatives shortly before the outbreak of the Mexican War. He was afterwards elected to the United States Senate, but resigned to enter the race for governor. In 1853 he entered President Pierce's cabinet as secretary of war .*
* See Pollard's Life of Jefferson Davis with a Secret History of the Confederacy.
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Summary
1. In order that Mississippi might have representatives in the extra session of Congress in 1837, a special election was held, which resulted in the choice of the Democratic candidates, Clai- borne and Gholson. Although they were seated for the entire session of two years, Prentiss and Word, the Whig candidates, were chosen at the regular election and unseated Claiborne and Gholson, but did not themselves obtain seats. At a special elec- tion, held in April, 1838, Prentiss and Word defeated Claiborne and Davis.
2. In the first term of Governor McNutt (1838-1840) the Whigs won a second victory in the election of a speaker of the house; the Union Bank was incorporated and State bonds were sold to pay for five million dollars of stock therein; the northern boun- dary of the State was run; and the Statehouse was completed.
3. In his second term (1840-1842) Governor McNutt made a vigorous war upon the Union Bank, the Planters' Bank of Mis- sissippi, and the Mississippi Railroad Company; "Natchez Under the Hill " was destroyed by a terrible tornado; and General Jackson visited the State.
4. In the election of 1841 the Democrats, who opposed the payment of the bonds, defeated, by a small majority, the Whigs, who favored paying them.
5. The principal events of Governor Tucker's administration (1842-1844) were the completion and occupation of the executive mansion, the increase of the representation of the State in the lower house of Congress, and the defalcation of Richard S. Graves, treasurer of the State. :
6. In 1843, the people of the State were very much agitated over the question of the payment of the Union Bank bonds. Jefferson Davis entered politics for the first time in this campaign.
CHAPTER XXVI
INTERNAL JEALOUSIES AND FOREIGN WAR (1844-1848)
252. Administration of Governor Brown (1844-1848) .- Albert Gallatin Brown was born in South Carolina in 1813, and in early life removed to Mississippi and settled in Copiah county. Although he was scarcely thirty-one years
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of age at the time of his inauguration as governor of Mississippi, he had seen ten years of public life in the legislature, in Congress, and on the bench. It is said that he was never defeated before the peo- ple for any office for which he was a candidate.
In his first term as gov- ernor of Mississippi the State University was in- corporated by a legisla- tive act (1844) providing for the appointment of a board of trustees, to whom the organization. and government of that A. G. Brown institution were to be in- trusted. Another inter- esting event of the year 1844 was the visit to Mis- sissippi of Henry Clay, the great Whig Icader.
The second term of Governor Brown (1846-1848) was marked by an effort to establish a public school system and by a bitter contest between the old and new counties of the State. At this time, too, the war with Mexico absorbed the attention of the people of Mississippi.
253. Visit of Henry Clay to Mississippi .- On his return from New Orleans in 1844 Henry Clay, in response to an invitation from his supporters and admirers in Mississippi, visited the capital of the State. He was then a candidate for the presidency in opposition to James K. Polk, the nomince of the Democratic party. At Vicksburg, Mr. Clay was met by a committee who escorted him to Jack-
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son, where he was greeted by an immense gathering of people, who assembled to give him a welcome to the State. He stood in an open carriage in front of the Statehouse and delivered an eloquent address, which thrilled his audience and filled his followers with renewed enthusiasm for the principles which he advocated.
254. Formation of New Counties (1844) .- The legislature of 1844 formed Issaquena county out of a part of Wash- ington, and Sunflower county out of a part of Bolivar.
255. Division of the State into Congressional Districts .- On the 4th of March, 1846, the legislature divided the State into congressional districts. Previous to that time all of the representatives in Congress had been chosen by the State at large .*
256. Contests Between the Old and the New Counties of Mississippi .- When Mississippi was admitted into the Union only the southern third of the State was occupied by white people, the rest being held by the Indians. The destruction of Indian titles, followed by the rush of popu- lation to tire central and northern parts of the State, made it impossible for the people of south Mississippi to control the State; and they were humiliated by the thought that the new counties would soon control affairs. The newer sections held, first, the balance of power, and then full control in all public questions. A division between the inhabitants of the old counties had enabled those of the new to overthrow the constitution of 1817, and then to repudiate the bonds of the State. The two sections also differed with each other with reference to the location of the University. There were at first seven places selected as possible sites for the institution. These were Louisville,
* For a list of the senators and representatives in Congress chosen after this date see Appendix.
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Kosciusko, Mississippi City, Brandon, Oxford, Middleton, and Monroe Missionary Station. The contest finally nar- rowed down to Oxford and Mississippi City, one in the far northern, and the other in the extreme southern part of the State. The former place was chosen by a vote of 58 to 57. Five years later (1846) a representative frost Wil- kinson county vainly led a movement to divide the State into four collegiate districts, giving to each a fourth of the money that had been intended for the State University, in order to support colleges or universities at the most impor- - tant points in the State .* In this same legislature (1846) these opposing sections were arrayed against each other on an apportionment bill, and south Mississippi was again defeated. The conflict reached its end by the middle of the year 1846, when a division of the State and the annexation of southwestern Mississippi to Louisiana was openly advocated.t At this juncture public attention was diverted by the war with Mexico and the sudden appear- ance of other questions of greater importance.
* See Mayes' History of Education in Mississippi, pp. 123-134. t " The Natchez Courier is advocating the policy of annexing the southwestern part of Mississippi to Louisiana. We go in for it heart, hand, and soul, and have done so for some time past, through our paper and privately. There is scarcely a reason why we should remain linked (like the living to the dead among the Romans) to the dead carcass of northern Mississippi. There is little sympathy between us, few principles in common, but trifling intercourse between us, and no benefit derived by us from the State government, unless to pay the chief taxes and to have little or no representation in the legislature, and to be cursed with all the evils of local legislation made exclusively for the northern part of the State's benefit-be considered a benefit. We say, go ahead-let us off-off from Brownism, demagogism, toadyism, repudiation, taxation without representation." (Woodville Republican, June 27, 1846.)
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257. Change in Public Interest .- In the latter part of Governor Brown's second term old issues received less attention than in former years. Public interest in Missis- sippi was so absorbed by the war with Mexico that com- paratively little attention was bestowed upon sectional or party grievances.
258. War with Mexico (1846-1848) .- When Texas was annexed (1845) a dispute arose between the United States and Mexico over the boundary between the two nations. The disputed territory was occupied by United States troops, and war soon followed.
259. Response of Mississippi to the Call for Volunteers .- When war was declared the President of the United States called for only one regiment of volunteers from Mississippi, but the response was so hearty that more than enough companies for two regiments were at once formed. Ten of these companies were accepted and ordered to Vicksburg, where they were formed into a regiment* and placed under the command of Jefferson Davis, who resigned his seat in Congress in order to accept this im- portant position. The organization of the regiment was then completed, Alexander K. McClung being chosen lieutenant-colonel and Alexander B. Bradford major. " The First Mississippi Regiment," wrote Reuben Davis, " was composed of the best-born, best-educated, and wealthiest young men of the State."
* This regiment consisted of the following companies: Wil- kinson Volunteers, Raymond Fencibles, Vicksburg Volunteers, Lafayette Company, State Fencibles, Marshall Guards, Yazoo Company, Vicksburg Southrons, Tombigbee Company, Carroll Company. The Claiborne Company of volunteers, failing to get into the Mississippi regiment, went to New Orleans and offered their services to General Gaines. Not being accepted by him, they joined the Texas Rangers and thus got into the war.
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In the latter part of 1846 the people of Mississippi promptly responded to a call for another regiment of volunteers. The ten companies composing the Second Mississippi Regiment* were ordered to Vicksburg. The regiment was organized with the following officers : Reuben Davis, colonel; J. H. Kilpatrick, lieutenant-colonel; and Ezra R. Price, major; but, very much to the disappoint- ment of its members, it did not have an opportunity to appear on the field of battle.
At the outbreak of the war John A. Quitman, of Natchez, received from President Polk an appointment as brigadier- general of volunteers.t
260. Mississippians in the Mexican War .- Shortly after the organization of the First Mississippi Regiment, it was ordered to the scene of conflict by way of New Orleans. It was there joined by Colonel Davis, who had sailed from New York, having on board the ship with him the rifles for arming his men. His regiment was finally ordered to join the army of General Taylor in its advance against Mon- terey. In the bloody attack of three days which soon followed, the Mississippi regiment was in General Quit-
* The Second Mississippi regiment was composed of the fol- lowing companies: Lowndes Guards, Choctaw Volunteers, Mar- shall Relief Guards, Lauderdale Volunteers, Monroe Volunteers, Tippah Guards, Thomas Hinds Guard (Jefferson county), Union Grays (Attala county), Panola Boys, Union Company (Lawrence and Covington counties).
t This distinguished citizen of Mississippi was born in New York in 1798. He came to Mississippi in 1821 and soon gained prominence in the practice of law at Natchez. He then entered politics and was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1832. He was afterwards elected president of the State senate, and chancellor of the State. Upon receiving his appointment as brigadier-general of volunteers he left without delay for the seat of war. where his great achievements soon made his name a household word throughout the nation.
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man's brigade, and fought bravely. Colonel McClung received two wounds while leading an assault. Earl Van Dorn, another Mississippian, who had gained distinction by exposing himself to the fire of the enemy in order to replace an American flag that had been cut down by a cannon ball, added new glory to his State by his bravery in this bloody battle .* When the Mexicans finally began to yield, Colonel Davis was appointed one of the commis- sioners to arrange the terms for a surrender of the city. Five months later (February 21-23, 1847), at the battle of Buena Vista, where the American forces were greatly outnumbered by the enemy, the soldiers of Mississippi won still greater honors. Here Colonel Davis, at a critical moment in the battle, arranged his troops across a narrow pass in a "V-formation," both flanks resting on ravines; and thus repelled the charge of three times their number of Mexican lancers. This turned the tide of battle and saved the day for the Americans. This movement was pronounced by the Duke of Wellington, the great hero of Waterloo, to have been new and masterly. General Taylor, in speaking of this battle, said that the Mississippi regiment was whipped three times without knowing it, and that the men " fought on just as if nothing uncommon had happened to them."
After the victory of Buena Vista the American forces under General Winfield Scott captured the city of Vera Cruz. Then followed a number of brilliant victories, which resulted in the capture of the City of Mexico. The great military qualities shown by General Quitman in the last engagement of the war led to his appointment by General
* He afterwards rendered himself conspicuous by his gal- lantry in the conflict at Cerro Gordo, Cherubusco, and at the Belen Gate, and was promoted to the rank of major before the end of this war.
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Scott as governor of the city of Mexico. In this memor- able conflict General Quitman distinguished himself by being the first in the fortress of Chapultepec (cha pool'ta- pěk), the first on the walls of the capital, the first to take charge of the city, and the first to raise the American flag on its loftiest tower.
261. End of Local Jealousies .- In reviewing the career of the volunteers from the State who served in the war with Mexico, a Mississippi newspaper of the time says that " hereafter it will be sufficient to mark a man for dis- tinction and honor for him to say, 'I was one of the First Mississippi Regiment.' Its gallant heroes have covered themselves and their State with everlasting glory, and bad, indeed, must be that heart which is not swelling with pride at the praise everywhere bestowed on the conduct of this brave band and its noble leader."*
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