USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 15
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These words from the pen of an editor who only a few months before had written articles in favor of a division of the State and the addition of his part of it to Louisiana are very suggestive. A common pride in the glorious deeds of her soldiers had strengthened the bond of sympa- thy between the two sections of the State. Old issues were soon to be lost in the graver national questions then arising, which demanded concert of action.
From this point the student may detect a gradual change in the current of State history which will soon reach the breakers of secession, war, and reconstruction.
Summary
1. The principal events of Governor Brown's administration (1844-1848) were the incorporation of the State University and the visit of Henry Clay to Mississippi. In his second adminis- tration (1846-1848) an effort was made to establish a public
* Woodville Republican, May 1. 1847.
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school system; the jealousy between the old and the new counties reached a culmination; and the volunteers from Mississippi en- listed in the war against Mexico.
2. The people of the southern part of Mississippi lost political control of the affairs of the State. Some of them openly ad- vocated a division of Mississippi and the annexation of their part of it to Louisiana.
3. The people of Mississippi responded so heartily to the call for volunteers to enter the war against Mexico that more than enough companies for two regiments were at once formed. Ten companies were selected to make up the one regiment that was desired and were placed under the command of Jefferson Davis.
4. In the latter part of the year 1846 a second regiment was called for and was quickly formed. This regiment was composed of some of the best men of the State, though it never saw any actual service.
5. The Mississippi troops took a very prominent part in the Mexican War. The bravery of McClung and Van Dorn at Mon- terey, the celebrated " V-formation " of Jefferson Davis at Buena Vista, and the great military achievements of John A. Quitman at the capture of the city of Mexico deserve special mention.
6. A common pride in the glorious achievements of Mississippi soldiers in the Mexican War tended to strengthen the bond of sympathy between the two sections of the State.
CHAPTER XXVII
POLITICAL TRANSITION (1848-1859)
262. Administration of Governor Matthews (1848-1850). In 1847 Joseph W. Matthews, of Marshall county, the Democratic nominee for governor, was elected over Major A. B. Bradford, who had been nominated for that office by the Whig party. Governor Matthews was popularly known as the " Well Digger," from the fact that he had engaged in this occupation before entering public life. Although he had only a limited education, his strength of mind and honesty of purpose rendered him very popular
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with the people, whom he delighted to serve. In his administration " Hutchinson's Mississippi Code," contain- ing all the laws of the State from 1798 to 1848, was com- pleted and adopted by the legislature; Colonel Jefferson Davis was unanimously elected to the Senate of the United States ; a school providing for the instruction of the blind was established at Jackson (1848); and an act was passed (1848) which authorized the leasing of the Chickasaw school lands for a period of ninety-nine years.
263. History of the Chickasaw School Lands .- By an act of Congress, passed in 1803, the sixteenth section of public land in each township was reserved for the support of schools within the township. In violation of this act the United States made a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians (1834), which required that the lands held by these Indians should be sold for the benefit of the tribe. Two years later, Mr. Prentiss, who was then a member of the State legislature, prepared a very able report on this subject, and in July of the same year Congress granted the State the same number of sections to be chosen out of any public land that remained unsold within either of the land districts adjoining the Chickasaw counties. The lands thus selected are known as the " Chickasaw School Lands," and include 174,550 acres. By an act of the legislature of 1848 they were leased for a term of ninety-nine years. The fund thus secured ($816,615) is known as the "Chickasaw School Fund." It was borrowed by the State and the interest upon it is still used for the support of the schools in the sixteen Chickasaw counties and in the counties of Tallahatchie, Webster, and Yalobusha.
264. Administration of Governor Quitman (1850-1852) .- In 1849 General John A. Quitman, of Adams county, the nominee of the Democratic party, was elected governor over Luke Lea, of Hinds county, the nominee of the Whig
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party. In the administration of General Quitman the people of Mississippi were greatly disturbed by the renewal of the slavery agitation and the arrest of their governor by the Federal authorities.
265. Slavery Agitation .- As a result of the war with Mexico the United States be- came possessed of a vast west- ern territory, which extended the national boundaries to the Pacific Ocean. This led in Congress to renewed agita- tion of the slavery question, which greatly disturbed the people of Mississippi in the JOHN A. QUITMAN latter part of Governor Matthews' term and during the entire term of his succes- sor. The Northern States insisted that there should be no slavery in California. The Southern people, who had done a great deal* toward adding this territory to the United States, resisted all measures that would prevent their citizens from carrying their slaves with them into this new country. The South was also demanding the passage of a better law for regaining possession of runaway slaves.
At a convention held at Jackson in October, 1849, an . address was issued to the Southern people, proposing that a popular convention of the Southern States should meet at Nashville, Tennessee, on the first Monday in June of the following year. The proposition was favorably received,
* Taking into consideration the fact that the population of the North was at that time two-thirds greater than that of the South. the latter furnished more than three times her due proportion of volunteers for the Mexican War.
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HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
and the Nashville convention met at the appointed time. The delegates from Mississippi took a prominent part in the proceedings. Chief Justice W. L. Sharkey, of this State, was chosen president of the convention. The body passed resolutions recognizing the right of secession, when- ever such a step might become necessary, and recommend- ing such measures as were deemed proper for the protec- tion of the rights of the Southern States. The passage by Congress of the Compromise Measures of 1850, which prohibited slavery in California and made a strict fugitive slave law, prevented secession at the time, but did not fully satisfy either section of the United States. The Demo- crats of the State, through their mass meetings and through their public press,* denounced these Compromise Measures, but the Whigs were generally in favor of them.
266. Resignation of Governor Quitman .- Governor Quit- man was inaugurated in January, 1850. In February of the following. year he was arrested by the United States marshal of the southern district of Mississippi on a charge of having given aid to Lopez in his expedition against Cuba. Before leaving the State for New Orleans, where he was to be tried before a Federal court, he resigned the office of governor, stating that the arrest and forcible removal from the State of her chief magistrate for an indefinite period of time would not only degrade the State, ---
* "We will and must secede from the Union. Either we must submit to disgrace and soon to abolition, with all its horrors, or we must prevent it and that by secession." (Woodrille Repub- lican.)
"It only remains to be decided whether we will submit or resist. For one we are for resistance." (Ticksburg Sentinel.)
"We recommend State secession. We see but two ways, seces- sion or submission. Let the issue be fairly presented to the people-Secession or Submission." (The Natchez Free Trader.)
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but would bring great injury and disaster upon her interests.
267. Governor Quitman's Successors .- John I. Guion, of Hinds county, who was president of the senate, discharged the duties of governor under the constitution until the expiration of his term as senator in November. After an interval of about three weeks, during which the State had no regularly qualified governor, James Whitfield, of Lowndes county, was chosen president of the senate and performed the duties of governor until the newly elected governor was inaugurated, in January, 1852.
268. Political Campaign of 1851 .- Governor Quitman was renominated for governor by the Democratic party .* The Whigs, whose party was now dead, and a large num- ber of Democrats that had favored the Compromise Measures in order to save the Union, met at.Jackson and formed what was called the "Union party." They de- nounced the disunion movement, and nominated Henry S. Foote, who was then a United States senator from Missis- sippi, and had supported the Compromise Measures, as Governor Quitman's opponent. The legislature had called a convention to meet in September for the purpose of discussing the grievances of the State and adopting measures for redress. The delegates to this convention were to be elected the first Monday in September. In every county of the State each party nominated delegates to the convention and representatives to the legislature. The result of the election of delegates to the convention, which was held a month before the general election for State officers, was an overwhelming triumph for the Union party. When Governor Quitman learned that in this election the
* This party changed its name first to the "Southern Rights party " and then to the "Democratic State Rights party." The members of this party were also called " Resisters."
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people of the State had pronounced against his views by a majority of nearly seven thousand, he withdrew from the contest. The Democratic party, being left without a leader, chose Jefferson Davis to take Governor Quitman's place on its ticket, hoping thereby to reverse the verdict of the people at the September election. Senator Davis responded to the call of his party, resigned his seat in the United States Senate, and entered the political struggle with great zeal. Although he was defeated, he reduced the majority of nearly seven thousand by which the Union party had carried the State in September to less than one thousand in the November election. The Unionists had a . majority in the newly elected legislature, which, when it assembled, elected two United States Senators to succeed Jefferson Davis and Henry S. Foote, who had resigned their positions to enter the race for governor.
269. State Convention (1851) .- The convention which had been called by the legislature, and to which delegates had been chosen in the September election, assembled at the appointed time (September). It was composed of ninety-three delegates, representing fifty-six counties of the State. As a majority of the delegates were Union men, the convention adopted resolutions declaring its unchange- able attachment to the Union .* After this there was little talk of secession in Mississippi until the next presidential election, in 1856.
270. Administration of Governor Foote (1852-1854) .- Henry S. Foote was inaugurated governor of Mississippi in January, 1852. ""He came to Mississippi about 1830, and at once took a prominent part in the politics of the State. Governor Foote was a man of great ability, and had been highly educated. He enjoyed the excitement of party con-
* See Claiborne's Life ond Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Vol. II., Chapters XVI. and XVII.
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test, and was for many years a very prominent figure in the political history of Mississippi. *
In the first year of Governor Foote's term (1852) the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad, connecting Grenada and Memphis, was chartered. The State was excited over the presidential campaign, in which General Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate for the presidency, was defeated by Franklin Pierce, the nominee of the Democratic party. In the same year Colonel A. K. McClung, in response to an invitation from the legislature, delivered before that body his eloquent address on the life and character of Henry Clay; and Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited . Jackson, and was the guest of Governor Foote. In 1853 the State Lunatic Asylum was located near Jackson, two miles north of the Statehouse.
271. Question of Repudiation Reopened .- The High Court of Errors and Appealst decided (1853) that the State ought to pay the debt which had been made by selling her bonds in order to get money to buy an interest in the Union Bank (ยง248). In the same year the question was again referred to the people of the State, whose vote not only upheld the act of the legislature passed eleven years before, but also repudiated the Planters' Bank bonds, amounting to two millions of dollars. The Planters' Bank bonds would doubtless have been paid by the State but for the fact that the friends of the Union Bank and the Planters' Bank " made a common cause in the fight against repudiation."
* See Foote's Casket of Reminiscences.
For the arguments that were advanced at this time and the decision of the court see "The State of Mississippi vs. Johnson," 25 Mississippi Reports, p. 625.
#See Brough's History of Banking in Mississippi in the Pub- lication of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. III.
The name of Judge William Yerger is intimately connected
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272. Increase of Representation in the Lower House of Congress (1853) .- The census of 1850 showed the popula- tion of Mississippi to be 606,526. The representation of the State in the lower house of Congress was increased from four to five.
273. Administration of Governor McRae (1854-1858) .- In 1853 John J. McRae, the Democratic nominee for governor, defeated Patrick Rogers, who had been nomi- nated for that office by the Whig party. Governor McRae was inaugurated in January of the following year. He was born in 1815 in Leedsborough, North Carolina. In 1837 he began the publication of the Eastern Clarion at Paulding, in Jasper county. Before his election to the office of governor he had served in both houses of the State legis- lature, and had been appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate, resulting from the resignation of Jefferson Davis in 1851. In his inaugural address Governor McRae made a strong plea for public education, and argued that it was the duty of the State to provide for the education of its people.
The legislature of 1854 established at Jackson an insti- tution for the education of the deaf mutes of the State. It also provided for the appointment of a commission to prepare a new code of laws. When the work of this com- mission was completed it was accepted by the legislature, and is known as the " Revised Code of 1857."
with the celebrated case to which reference has just been made. He was noted for his profound knowledge of the law and for his high sense of duty. Although a Whig, he was elected in 1850 to a seat upon the bench of the High Court of Errors and Appeals by a district that was Democratic. He delivered his decision in the bond case with boldness, in spite of the fact that it was not in accord with the view of the dominant party and was fatal to his future political preferment. For a sketch of the life of Judge Yerger see Lynch's Bench and Bar of Mississippi, pp. 326-341.
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In 1855 Governor McRae was reelected over C. D. Fon- taine, of Pontotoc county, the nominee of the Know- Nothing party.
274. National Politics .- As the political history of Mis- sissippi was at this time closely connected with national questions, it is necessary at this point to make a brief study of national politics in order to follow the course of the State's history.
In November, 1839, a new national party put forth a candidate for the presidency. It was known as the Liberty party, deriving its name from the fact that it favored the abolition of slavery. In the election of 1840 it polled a popular vote of only 7,609. From that time anti-slavery sentiment grew so rapidly in the North that at the next presidential election (1844) the Liberty party polled 62,300 votes. In 1848 the Whig and Democratic parties refused to take a stand on the slavery question, and this so dis- pleased many of the members of these parties who opposed slavery that they held a separate convention at Buffalo, where they were joined by the old Liberty party, and formed the Free Soil party. They adopted a platform in which they declared that Congress* had no more power to
* The Southern people well knew that Congress had not made slavery, but that it was an established institution in all of the original thirteen colonies long before the Revolutionary War. Great Britain forced slavery on Virginia against the protests of the Virginia House of Burgesses; and in Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration of Independence this was mentioned as one of the grievances of the colonies against the mother country. Massachusetts was the first of the Northern colonies to abolish slavery (1780). As a matter of fact slave labor was not profitable in the North, and it was due to this economic principle that the Northern States abolished the institution. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the New England States voted for a con- tinuation of the slave traffic, and traders from that section continued to import slaves into the South as long as they were permitted to do so (1808) by the Constitution of the United States.
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make a slave than to make a king; that there must be a " free soil for a free people "; and that there must be " no more slave States, no more slave Territories."
The Compromise Measures of 1850 were not satisfactory either to the abolitionists or to the advocates of slavery. One of these measures, providing for the capture and delivery of runaway slaves, was nullified by many of the free States, and the number of abolitionists in that section increased; another, admitting California as a free State, was considered by many of those who favored slavery to be a breach of a former compromise passed in 1820, and to bring up anew the question of slavery or no slavery in the Territories. Stephen A. Douglass, the leader of one branch of the Democratic party, introduced in Congress a bill which left the settlement of this question in the Kansas- Nebraska territory to the inhabitants thereof. This led to the formation of a State government in Kansas under a constitution permitting slavery. As the compromise of 1820 had already declared that this part of the country was free territory, the passage of the bill caused great excite- ment throughout the United States. Those who opposed this bill withdrew from the old parties. Some of the Whigs, rather than enter the Free-Soil party, united with the " Know-Nothings," who " volunteered with reference to slavery, to be 'Do-Nothings.'" But all efforts to make the country forget the slavery question were vain. The opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska bill united to form another party, which soon came to be known as the Repub- lican party. This party grew so rapidly that within one year after its organization it had obtained a popular majority in fifteen States; and the election of 1856, though a Democratic victory, showed that the Republican party would surely become a strong organization at an early date.
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275. Presidential Election of 1856 in Mississippi .- Although Governor Foote had been elected as an opponent of secession, there was little division of sentiment in Missis- sippi upon the question of extending slavery to the Terri- tories, and when this became the great issue in national politics, it unified the party organization of the State, and gave Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic nominee, a large majority of the votes cast in Mississippi .*
276. Administration of Governor McWillie (1858-1860). In 1857 William McWillie, the Democratic nominee for governor, was elected over Edward M. Yerger, the Whig candidate for that office. Governor McWillie was a native of South Carolina. In 1845 he settled in Madison county, where he engaged in planting. The interest he took in politics is shown by the fact that he was elected to Congress in 1849, when he had been in the State only four years. He was nominated to succeed himself two years later, but was defeated by the Union party in the same political campaign
*In 1857 Jacob Thompson of Mississippi entered the President's cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. This distinguished citizen was born in North Carolina in 1810. He moved to Mississippi in the twenty-fifth year of his age and settled at Pontotoc. He soon became a leader of the Democracy of North Mississippi, and took a prominent part in the numerous political campaigns that followed. For many years he served with distinction in the lower House of Congress. Shortly after entering the cabinet he reorgan- ized the department of the interior by unifying the work of the different bureaus. This caused the department to grow in favor with the whole country. At the outbreak of the War between the States Mr. Thompson entered the service of the Confederacy. After serving his State on the battle-field and in the legislative hall, he was induced by President Davis to enter the secret ser- vice. He spent some time in this service in Canada. At the end of the war he returned to his home in Oxford. He afterwards engaged in business in Memphis. He died in the spring of 1885. For a sketch of his life see Claiborne's Mississippi, pp. 447-466.
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in which H. S. Foote defeated Jefferson Davis for governor of the State. In the administration of Governor McWillie, Mississippi lost the services of that soldier and patriot, General John A. Quitman, who died in July, 1858; and the State, in common with the rest of the Union, became greatly agitated over the Kansas struggle* and over John Brown's raid.
277. Effects of John Brown's Raid .- In 1859 John Brown made a desperate, though unsuccessful, attempt to arouse the slaves of Virginia to an insurrection. This event stirred the South deeply, since a slave insurrection was to the people of the South the greatest danger they had to fear. It was discovered that Brown had received help from the North; and, although it was shown that those from whon he received arms and money thought they would be used in the Kansas struggle, the South felt that this method of opposing slavery had at least the moral support of the anti- slavery men of the North. Grave doubts began to arise in Mississippi and the other Southern States as to whether or not the Federal constitution would afford the necessary protection to slavery. In order to suppress in Mississippi all attempts like that made by Brown in Virginia, the legislature of 1859 appropriated $150,000 for the purchase
*The trouble over the slavery question in Kansas grew more acute year after year until it plunged that Territory into a civil war. President Buchanan appointed Robert J. Walker of Natchez governor of Kansas Territory. Mr. Walker accepted this position against the advice of his friends, and promptly undertook the difficult task of restoring peace and harmony, which of course he could not accomplish. In after years he was sent to Europe as financial agent of the United States for the purpose of discred- iting the Confederate States and preventing them from getting aid and recognition from foreign governments. A sketch of his life will be found in Lynch's Bench and Bar of Mississippi, pp. 109-112; also in Claiborne's Mississippi, pp. 415-423.
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of military supplies, and passed an act to regulate the militia and volunteer systems of the State.
Summary
1. In the administration of Governor Matthews (1848-1850) " Hutchinson's Mississippi Code " was adopted by the legislature; Jefferson Davis was elected to the Senate of the United States; an institution for the blind was established at Jackson; and the Chickasaw school lands were leased for ninety-nine years.
2. In the administration of Governor Quitman (1850-1852) the people of Mississippi were greatly agitated over the slavery ques- tion; at a State convention held at Jackson, in 1849, they recom- mended the calling of a convention of the Southern States, which met in Nashville in the following June and passed important resolutions regarding the rights of the Southern people. Upon the arrest of Governor Quitman on a charge of having given aid to Lopez in his expedition against Cuba, he resigned his position as governor.
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