USA > Mississippi > School history of Mississippi; for use in public and private schools > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
296. Temperance .- The progress of moral sentiment in the State is indicated by the following attack made by the same paper on one of the greatest evils of the times :
"We hope that no man will appear in our legislature under our new constitution, who has won his way hither, in ever so small a degree, by that indirect bribery so com-
Africa. This was not one-eighth of the number born in a single year. Of this number only 505 were from Mississippi. (De Bow's Commercial Review, Vol. XXI., p. 270.)
*Southern Planter. June 2, 1832.
234
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
mon among us, but seriously considered the worst of all possible bribery, treating by ardent spirits."
By the year 1849 several temperance societies were in a flourishing condition in different parts of the State, and a large number of people had signed a temperance pledge. The Mississippi Free Trader of January 17, 1849, says : " The time is coming when the act of drunkenness will place a blot on the character of its victim." In 1837 the Cold Water Man, the temperance organ of the State, was started at Natchez.
297. Suppression of Gambling .- At a public meeting held at Natchez in July, 1835, a society, with John A. Quitman as president, was formed to suppress gambling and other vices. In the report of a committee of this society made a few months later, gambling was called the " greatest of all curses to civil society." Shortly afterwards the people of Natchez drove the gamblers from that city. A few months before an anti-gambling society had been formed at Vicksburg. At that place the gamblers resisted arrest and killed a highly respected citizen. Several of them were then hanged, and the rest fled in different directions. Some of them went to Clinton, but were soon driven from that town. Many of them went to Columbus, where they again resisted arrest; but, being met by a band of law-abiding citizens, they again fled, and most of them left the State.
298. Dueling .- By an act of the legislature passed in 1837, an effort was made to suppress the practice of dueling, which was one of the greatest evils of the period. It declared that all persons who challenged others to fight a duel, or who carried a challenge knowingly, or acted as surgeon or second at a duel, should pay a heavy fine, and should be prohibited from liolding any office of honor or profit under the laws of the State. It also required the sur-
235
ECONOMIC HISTORY
vivor to pay all the debts of the person whom he had killed in a duel.
299. Lotteries .- In this period public sentiment began to assert itself in opposition to the system of lotteries that had been in vogue for a long time. A newspaper published in the State in 1846 stated that this was " the worst of all gambling," and called attention to the fact that " the lottery makes about fifty per cent upon all the tickets sold.'
Summary
1. The industrial system of this period (1832-1860) developed " a class of wealthy planters quite distinct from the poor white laborers.
2. The slaves on the plantations generally had comfortable " quarters." Efforts were made to supply their physical and spiritual needs and to give them reasonable enjoyments.
3. New laws were made to counteract the efforts of aboli- . tionists.
4. The citizens of the State opposed the introduction of slaves from other States until 1846, when a law prohibiting the slave trade with other States was repealed.
5. The citizens of Mississippi, in common with those of the other Southern States, encouraged the Colonization Society, hop- ing thereby to get rid of the free negroes in the State.
6. The progress of humane and moral sentiment developed opposition to whipping and branding as legal modes of punish- ment, led to the establishment of a penitentiary, and to the organization of temperance and anti-gambling societies. Duel- ing and lotteries were opposed.
CHAPTER XXX ECONOMIC HISTORY (IS32-1860)
300. Economic Developments .- The spirit of speculation that controlled the people of the State during the first five years under the second constitution brought on financial ruin, which in turn gave way to a period of slow and painful recovery, based on sounder business principles.
236
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
301. Banking (1832-1860) .*- The Planters' Bank, which had been established in 1830 (§207), was for many years well conducted. In 1837 the auditor of public accounts recommended that the State increase its stock in this bank, stating that it declared annual dividends of ten per cent, and that its stocks sold for a higher price than any other stock in the United States. At that time this bank had seven branches located at as many important business points in the State. The Whigs of the State had never become reconciled to this institution, however, as it had been recommended by a Democratic governor and estab- lished by a Democratic legislature in order to prevent the introduction into the State of a branch of the Bank of the United States, which the Whig party favored. Many Democrats also opposed this system on the ground that it created a public monopoly, and that it did not furnish sufficient banking facilities to supply the demands of the State. In his annual message of 1835, Governor Runnels recommended the " establishment of a bank on the prin- ciple of the Union or Citizens' Bank of Louisiana, the stock of which was to be taken by planters on the mortgage of their lands." . This led to the formation of the celebrated Union Bank of Mississippi, which has been already men- tioned because of its influence upon the political history of the State.
Banking privileges were also bestowed upon various other corporations organized for purposes of internal in- provement. Between 1832 and 1837 the banks of the State had increased from four to twenty-four. Then followed the period of bankruptcy and repudiation, which paralyzed the banking interests of the State. The banks at Manchester
*For a fuller treatment of this subject see Brough's History of Banking in Mississippi in the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. III.
237
ECONOMIC HISTORY
{Yazoo City) and at Holly Springs stemmed the tide of adversity, however, and continued operations until 1857, being the last representatives of the old banking system of the State.
302. The "Flush Times."-To supply the need for cur- rency, the banking institutions of Mississippi were granted authority to issue paper money .* "Change notes " and " shinplasters " then multiplied as if by magic. They were issued " by the sheet," and soon became the only cheap thing on the market. This sudden increase of the currency was followed by wild schemes of speculation. Men no longer thought of accumulating wealth by economy and industry, but conceived " the new plan of making fortunes on the profits of what they owed." Credit was unlimited; and to refuse it was to give an offence that had to be atoned for on the field of honor. Fortunes were thought to be in easy reach of every enterprising man. Ambitious overseers on plantations suddenly rose to the dignity of merchant princes ; unscrupulous horse-doctors became physicians and surgeons, and superannuated justices and constables · from the older States, catching the infection, hung out their shingles as " attorneys and counsellors at law," all playing with skill their parts in the great comedy of the times. Prices rose like smoke. Lots in small villages were held at city prices ; lands formerly bought at almost nothing were sold at from thirty to forty dollars per acre, and con- sidered dirt cheap at that. Cotton, which had sold for eleven and one-half cents in 1833, brought twenty cents two years later. People flocked into the State from all parts of the Union. Paper fortunes were made rapidly. Houses and lands changed hands, and "real estate see-sawed up
*The following account is based on Baldwin's " Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi," a book which should be read in this connection.
.
238
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
as morals went down on the other end of the plank." Money gained by speculation was spent with a free hand. Debt was no longer dreaded, since it served as a sure indi- cation that the debtor had fully imbibed the spirit of the times, and was in every way worthy of the progressive age in which he lived.
303. Financial Panic .- The crash soon came, however, and men "broke by neighborhoods." They usually en- dorsed for each other, and when one fell, all fell; each got broke as security, and yet few or none were able to pay their own debts. Men thought to be worth a million owed two millions. " Promising young cities marched back into the wilderness; the ambitious town plat was reannexed to the plantation," and " the only question was as to the means · of escape, and the nearest and best route to Texas." Thus ended the farce of speculation and inflation, which was quickly followed by the high tragedy of bankruptcy and repudiation.
304. Agriculture .- In this period the agricultural pro- ducts of the State became less diversified than in former years. Interest was centered upon the cultivation of cotton, which was the crop best suited to slave labor. Between 1850 and 1860 the wheat and oat crops of the State showed a marked decrease. Agricultural societies were then formed largely for the purpose of diversifying the crops. They seem to have accomplished little, however, since Mis- sissippi in the next ten years raised more than one-fifthi of all the cotton grown in the United States. Notwithstand- ing the fact that as carly as IS40 the slaves outnumbered the white population of the State, there continued to be a demand for more slaves. The citizens of the State had the idea that successful agriculture depended more upon the number of acres cultivated than upon skilful culture. In the language of a Southern writer of that period, they
239
ECONOMIC HISTORY
were " making more cotton to buy more negroes to make more cotton to buy more negroes." The planters thought that cotton must be raised, and that if there was not suffi- cient labor to produce a diversity of crops, other products should be neglected. In 1853 a Mississippian wrote: " Let the cotton-planters for three years dare to make their own corn, pork, beef, mutton, wool, and they will see cotton at a certain price of twelve cents, and see good corn-houses, full barns, fine pastures, thrift, and all else indicative of prosperity." But this advice had no effect; King Cotton had become a tyrant.
305. Foreign Commerce .- For some time before the beginning of this period the planters and the business men of the western part of Mississippi had been complaining that a large part of the exports from the State had to be sent to New Orleans for shipment to Eastern and European markets. They argued that the numerous charges imposed at New Orleans on these exports were entirely too high, and placed the agricultural and business interests of Mis- sissippi at the mercy of that city. At an early date the rapidly growing jealousy between Natchez and New Orleans asserted itself in a scheme for building a railroad from the former city to Jackson and thence to the Atlantic seacoast. A rival scheme for building a railroad from New Orleans along the western bank of Pearl River to Jackson and thence to Nashville was enthusiastically sup- ported by the citizens of New Orleans and of that part of Mississippi through which the road was to be constructed. Both of these companies received charters from the legisla- ture of Mississippi, but the Natchez company lacked the capital to compete with its rival .*
Natchez was more successful in her efforts to establish
*See Claiborne's Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Vol. I., pp. 136-138; 169-185.
240
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
herself as a port for foreign vessels, and by this means to open direct communication with Europe. In October, 1833, · the citizens of Natchez were delighted at the arrival at their city of a vessel direct from Liverpool just as a ship laden with Mississippi cotton was leaving for England.
A few years later (1838) the merchants and planters of Mississippi constructed a vessel, "The Natchez," for the purpose of establishing direct communication between New York and Natchez. Governor McNutt, in his inau- gural address in January, 1838, called attention to the fact that the annual exports of Mississippi were then one-sixth of those of the whole Union.
306. Cotton Factories .- In 1840 there were in Mississippi fifty-three cotton factories, all of which were valued at $6,420, and employed only eighty-one men. About this time the citizens of the State began to direct their attention to the building of more cotton factories. This development was greatly encouraged as a means for diversifying the pursuits of labor and remedying the evil of overproduction, which had reduced the price of cotton. The issues of the Mississippi Free Trader for 1848 and 1849 mentioned the fact that this subject was being agitated in Choctaw, Mar- shall, Adams, Hinds, Copiah, and Attala counties. In 1850 a cotton mill propelled by steam was in operation at Wood- ville. These developments were arrested by the War between the States .*
307. Railroads .- In the period between 1831 and 1841 little was done in the way of building railroads except on paper. Although twenty-two railroad companies had been organized in this decade, the railway facilities of the State were summed up in 1849 in the following sentence : " For several years we have had a railroad from Vicksburg to
* For a detailed statement of the occupations of Mississippians in 1840 see Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., pp. 104-105.
.
.
24I
ECONOMIC HISTORY
Jackson."* It is interesting to note that the fare on this . road was at that time six cents a mile. In 1857 work was being done on five roads within the State, and in the year following almost twenty millions of dollars had been in- vested in these enterprises. In 1860 the railroad mileage of the State was estimated at 860.
308. Levees .- At an early date the planters on the Mis- sissippi built and kept up at their own expense small embankments, which at that time were called levees. As the land along the river front was not all occupied, these efforts to protect the farms against overflows were not satisfactory, and as the country was occupied for several miles in the interior, the planters along the river began to feel the injustice of being forced to keep up levees which protected these lands as well as their own. County boards were then organized for wisely expending the funds raised for this purpose by county taxation. In December, 1858, the legislature passed an act organizing a levee board and authorizing a State tax for the building of levees.
Summary
1. As the Planters' Bank of Mississippi did not meet the de- mands of the people, the Union Bank, railroad companies, and other corporations were chartered with banking privileges.
2. The inflation of the currency and the wild schemes of specu- lation known as the " Flush Times " left the State in bankruptcy.
3. During this period the agricultural interests of Mississippi were centered on the cultivation of cotton.
4. The jealousy between Natchez and New Orleans led to rival schemes for the building of railroads. Natchez was successful in establishing itself as a port of entry for foreign vessels.
5. In this period attention was directed to the building of cot- ton factories, and there was a revival of interest in the building of railroads.
6. In 1858 the legislature passed an act organizing a levee board and authorizing a State tax for the building of levees.
Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, p. 78.
16
242
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
CHAPTER XXXI
RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, AND LITERARY PROGRESS (1832-1860)
309. Religious Development .*- This period was one of church expansion. Two new denominations-the Cumber- land Presbyterian and the Christian-began to organize churches in the State in 1832 and 1836 respectively. These, with the older denominations, increased their efforts to spread their beliefs throughout the State and to counteract the bad effects of the times upon the spiritual natures of the people. Through the efforts of Bishops James H. Otey (1834-1838 and 1841-1850), Leonidas Polk (1838- 1841), and William Mercer Green (1850-1857) and a num- ber of local ministers, the Episcopal church made substan- tial progress in the State. Churches of this faith were estab- lished at Jackson (1838), Vicksburg (1839), Columbus, Raymond, Grenada (about 1840), and at Holly Springs (about 1842). In 1835 the Presbyterian churches in Mis- sissippi and Louisiana were formed into the Synod of Mississippi. Under this arrangement, from 1835 to 1861 this church continued to prosper. Its ministry and eldership included in them men of marked ability. The Methodist church developed so rapidly from 1832 to 1861 that at the outbreak of the War between the States there were several churches of this faith in every county in the State. In 1846 the Rev. Robert Paine was made a bishop, being the first of the only two Methodist bishops that have been chosen from this State. The Rev. C. K. Marshall, one of the most eloquent men in the history of Methodism in Mis-
*A fuller account of the religious history of Mississippi will Le found in Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II., Chapter XII.
243
RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, LITERARY PROGRESS
sissippi, was a great factor in the development of the church at this time. As early as 1837 the Christian Herald was published at Natchez under the auspices of the Methodist church. In 1855 the Mississippi Conference established a - book and tract society at Vicksburg. In 1836 the Baptist church of the State organized the Mississippi Baptist State Convention, which has had a continuous existence to the present time. It also organized home and foreign mission boards. The year following (1837) the Southern Luminary was established at Natchez in the interest of this church. This paper was unsuccessful, however, and in 1846 the Mississippi Baptist was established, which, after many changes in the editorial management and in the place of publishing, was beginning to receive the support of the church throughout the State when the outbreak of the War between the States led to its suspension. The Catholic church, having entered upon a period of increased activity, had several missionaries in the State whose work was like- wise interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities in 1861.
310. Denominational Schools .- Oakland College, which had been founded by the Presbytery of Mississippi in 1830, was in a flourishing condition throughout this period. At its first commencement, in 1833, James Smiley was granted a diploma, being the first son of Mississippi to receive a degree from an institution in this State. The Cumberland Presbyterian church established in Lafayette county the Mount Sylvan Academy in 1845 or 1846, and the Union Female College in 1854. Besides the . Elizabeth Female Academy, which closed its useful career about 1844, it is asserted that the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist church had control of eight institutions of higher education in 1858. Among these were Centenary College, first located at Brandon (1839), and later (1846) removed to Jackson, Louisiana ; Sharon Female Academy in Madison
244
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
county, and Port Gibson Collegiate Academy. In 1859 the Whitworth Female Academy was founded at Brook- haven. It afterwards (1884) passed into the possession of the Mississippi Conference. In this period nine Baptist female colleges were opened in different parts of the State. Two of these-the Central Female Institute (now Hillman College), established at Clinton in 1853, and the Yalobusha Baptist Female Institute (now the Grenada Female Col-
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE ( MAIN BUILDING)
lege), established at Grenada in 1851-have had a con. tinuous history to the present time, though the latter has become the property of the Methodist church. In 1842 Mississippi College passed into the possession of the Pres- byterian church, and thus became a denominational insti- tution for the first time in its history. Eight years later it was transferred to the Baptist church, and has since been one of the greatest factors in the development of this church in the State. St. Thomas Hall, located at Holly Springs, began in 1844 its long and highly useful career under the auspices of the Episcopal church. Eleven years
245
RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, LITERARY PROGRESS
later (1855) a commercial college was established under Catholic control at Bay St. Louis.
311. Common Schools .- In 1843 A. G. Brown, who was then a candidate for governor, issued an address to the - people of Mississippi urging " the establishing of schools in which every poor white child in the country may secure, free of charge, the advantages of a liberal education." In his inaugural address, delivered in January of the year following, Governor Brown made an eloquent plea for a system of common schools, but the legislature failed to act upon this important subject. After the adjournment of the legislature Governor Brown invited Judge James S. . B. Thacher, of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, to devise a scheme of public education for the State. In the autumn of 1845 the Judge addressed an open letter to the governor, which was published by several of the newspapers of the State. In June of the same year the Democratic party of Wilkinson county adopted resolutions in favor of the establishment of a public school system, and instructed its delegates to the State Convention to press the subject before that body. A clause in favor of such a system was accordingly inserted in the Democratic platform of that year, which was the first party platform in this State to advocate this measure. Governor Brown was reelected, . and in 1846 made another appeal in behalf of public educa- tion. In March of the same year the legislature passed the first statute in Mississippi for a uniform and general system of common schools. The bill provided for the levying of a special tax for public school purposes in those townships in which a majority of the heads of families were favorable thereto. The news that the legislature had passed a com- mon school law was at first the cause of much rejoicing in the State. This joy was soon turned to sorrow, when it became apparent that the necessary consent of the majority
-
246
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI
of the heads of families in the various townships was with- held.
In his last message to the legislature, January 3, 1848, Governor Brown stated that the common school law had not fulfilled the expectation of its friends. He therefore recommended that it be immediately repealed, and that "an act more in accordance with the suggestions " con- tained in his message of two years before be substituted. But instead of following this recommendation the legisla- ture passed four other acts, which provided for as many different schemes of educational management in thirty-five counties of the State, and left the rest of the counties under the application of the old law. Each succeeding legislature increased the number of special acts, thus rendering the public school system more complicated and less effective year by year. This development reached a climax in the legislature of 1859-1860, which passed no less than twenty- six different acts of this nature. "Under such manage- ment," says Mayes, " the schools drifted along to the period of the War between the States, doing some good, more in some localities than in others, of course, but in all crippled, in many paralyzed, by the want of a uniform and vigorous policy."*
312. Private Schools and Academies .- The custom of employing private tutors or governesses was made neces- sary in this period because of the lack of school facilities. Although this necessity was removed by the development of the country and the increase of population, the custom was still rigidly adhered to by many of the wealthy and conservative planters of the State. The less wealthy citizens frequently united in the employment of teachers for neigh- borhood schools. Private academies too numerous to men-
*For a very satisfactory treatment of this subject see Mayes' History of Education in Mississippi, Chapter XV.
247
RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, LITERARY PROGRESS
tion then sprang up in every part of the State, and had . a great influence for good upon its history. The educational revival in Mississippi in the latter part of this period greatly reduced the percentage of illiteracy between 1850 and 1860.
313. City Schools .- In this period good systems of graded schools were established in Natchez, Vicksburg, and Jack- son, for the free education of the children of those cities. Franklin Academy, at Columbus, continued to prosper.
314. University of Mississippi .- In 1840 the legislature transferred to the University of Mississippi the funds arising from the sale of lands given to the State by the national gov- ernment for the establishment of a seminary of learning. At the same time the legislature provided for the location of the University near Oxford in Lafayette county. Four years later the institution was incorporated, and its first board of trustees chosen. The citizens of Oxford and Lafayette county purchased and presented a section of land to the University, and arrangements were promptly made for the ·erection of a building. In July, 1848, the first faculty of four members was elected. and in November the first session opened with about Atty students. For the purpose of en- larging the institution, the legislature in 1856 made a special appropriation of $100,000, to be paid in five annual instalments. Owing to the outbreak of the War between the States only seven students appeared for matriculation in the autumn of 1861. The exercises were therefore sus- pended for the next four years.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.