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.11
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History— 2<Veeman
VOLUME XI
LABOR, SLAYEET, AND
' SELF-GOVERNMEI^T
BALTIMORE
The Johns Hopkins Pkess
1893
C'OPYKIGHT, 1S93, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PKESS.
THE FBIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMORE.
"1J839
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. The Social Condition of Labor. By Dr. E. R. L.
Gould, 9
II. The World's Eepresentative Assemblies of To-
day : a Study in Comparative Legislation. By
Professor Edmund K. Alden, .... 51
III-IV. The Negro in the District of Columbia. By Ed-
ward Ingle, 99
V-VI. Church and State in North Carolina. By Pro-
fessor Stephen B, Weeks, 209
VII-VIII. The Condition of the Western Farmer as illus-
trated by the Economic History of a Nebraska
Township. By Arthur Fisher Bentley, . . 285
IX-X. History of Slavery in Connecticut. By Dr. B. C.
Steiner, 377
XI-XII. Local Government in the South and the South-
west. By Professor Edward W. Bemis and
others, 459
Popular Election of United States Senators. By
John Haynes, 547
The Social Condition of Labor
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History.— F?ee»ian
ELEVENTH SERIES
The Social Condition of Labor
By E, R. L. GOULD, Ph. D.
Resident Lecturer on Social Science and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
Jaiiaary, 1S93.
Copyright, 1893, bt The Johns Hopkins Pkkss.
THE FEIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMOKK.
PREFACE
It is strange that in an age when social questions chal-
lenge so largely the tlioughts of men, little attention is paid
to fact in comparison with dogma. We ought not to con-
sider it a disparagement of theoretical principles to say that
they have been pushed too far, the natural result being a
threefold grouping of society: scholars preaching philo-
sophical beatitudes, radical divisions caring for little else
save immediate material ends, while between them lies the
great conserving body, by no means unsympathetic, but very
often inactive from having no clear conceptions of what
ought to be done. By no means socialistic in my ways of
thinking, I nevertheless feel that before prescribing ideals it
behooves us first to know whetiier the environment is
adjusted to their possible realization.
Neither dogmatists nor agitators have any love for the
statistician, for the simple reason that he disturbs the dream
of the one and the occupation of the other. But I believe
thoroughly that it is he who can find the key to most of
the social problems of labor. His methods are the surest,
as he devotes himself to the diagnosis of separate com-
plaints instead of manufacturing universal cures.
The United States Department of Labor, under the able
direction of the Honorable Carroll D. Wright, may fairly
claim the honor of having in its sixth and seventh annual
reports presented a grouping of facts in a fuller, more
scientific and more useful way than has ever been done
before in relation to the social-economic position of indus-
trial labor. As one who took so large a part in the carry-
ing out of this work, I have attempted in the follomng
pages to analyze the principal facts, and to compare results
6 Preface. [6
with the essential features of a moderately conceived social
ideal. My chief aim has been to see comparatively how
an ambitious, intelligent, well-living laboring class fares in
economic competition. This question is a crucial one, for
if a high standard of life begets superior force, intelligence
and skill, these latter can be depended upon to perpetuate
themselves, and their exercise to react alike to the benefit of
employer and employed.
The present paper, dealing as it does with questions of
such broad international interest, has been presented to the
"Academic des Sciences Morales et Politiques," and is pub-
lished simultaneously in tlie transactions of that body, in
" La Reforme Sociale," the " Jahrbiicher fiir National-
oekonomie und Statistik," the " Contemporary Review," and
the Johns Hopkins University Studies. The subject-matter
has reference to the allied industries of coal, iron and steel.
I hope soon to be able to follow it up with a study, on similar
lines, of the textile branches of manufacture. The inquiry
itself being somewhat of a novelty in Europe, a rather
long introduction was necessary to explain its character and
objects. While its omission would not have been felt by
American readers, its incorporation did not seem out of
place, in order that the scope and methods of the inves-
tigation might be thoroughly understood.
Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimorf, Deceviber, 1892.
CONTENTS.
/. Introduction :
(1) Absence of reliable information concerning the conditions
of labor and industry in both the United States and
Europe 9
(2) In 1888 the Department of Labor requested by Congress
to make a detailed investigation concerning the cost of
living of laborers and the cost of production of staple
articles of production in the United States and Europe. 9
(3) A scientific basis for tariff legislation, based on the com-
parative cost of production, first proposed a number of
j^ears previously by Mr. Carroll D. Wright, the present
Commissioner of Labor 10
(4) The investigation by the Department of Labor was
thoroughly non-partisan. The facts demanded by both
parties 10-12
(5) The first report includes the industries of Coal, Iron,
Steel, etc., in the United States, Great Britain, France,
Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, and to a lesser
extent, Italy and Spain 13
A second report, not yet published, will deal with the
textile industries in a similar way 13
(6) Success of the investigation. Its character and scope — 13-14
The Condition of Laborers in the United States and European
Countries as shown by Family Budgets.
/. A Consideration of Family Budgets by Industries and Nation-
alities :
1. Table I: Bituminous Coal Mining :— Family Budgets of
Receipts and Expenditures 15
Textual analysis of table 14-17
2. Table II : Bituminous Coal Mining : — Average of Budgets
of Groups composed of Five Miners each 18
Textual analysis of table 17
3. Table III : Bar Iron Manufacture : — Family Budgets of
Receipts and Expenditures 19
Textual analysis of table 20-21
4. Table IV : Bar Iron Manufacture : — Average of Budgets of
Groups composed of Five Puddlers each 22
Textual analysis of table 21
5. Table V : Steel Manufacture :— Family Budgets of Receipts
and Expenditures 23
//. A Comparison of Conditions in the United States and Europe:
1. Table VI : The totals for the United States and Europe
compared by industries 25
8 Contents. [8
Textual analysis of table — To what extent has a fair social
standard of comfort been realized, as shown by : —
[a] The support of the family by the unaided efforts of the
husband 24-28
[b] The expenditure for food. Prices of food in Europe
and America compared 28-30
[c] The expenditure for drink. Its proportion and relation
to expenditure for rent 30
[d] Savings : The true economic significance of savings 30-32
///. A Consideration of the Foregoing as relating to a Normal
Family :
1. Definition of a normal family 32
2. Table VII : Recapitulation of Budgets for Normal Families
by Industries 32
Analysis of table : 32
IV. A Gonvparison of the Condition of Laborers by Nationalities
in tJieir Native Country and in the United States :
1. Table VIII : All Industries : — Family Budgets by Nation-
alities in their Native Country and in the United States. 34
Textual analysis of table 33-38
The standard of comfort of the Native American surpassed
by that of the Americanized Briton and German, but
itself surpasses that of other nationalities 33
The American standard quickly assumed by the trans-
planted foreigners employed in these industries 35-36
The Poles, Bohemians, Italians, etc., when drafted into
industries, no exception to this rule 37-38
The Cost of Production of Coal, Iron and Steel in the United
States and Europe.
1. The results of the investigation 38
2. Table IX : Bessemer Pig Iron Manufacture.— Relation be-
tween the earnings of workingmen, the labor cost and the
total cost of production 39
3. Table X : Bar Iron Manufacture. — Relation between the
earnings of workingmen, the labor cost and the total cost
of production 40
4. Table XI: Steel Rails Manufacture.— Relation between the
earnings of workingmen, the labor cost and the total cost
of production 41
5. Concluding Remarks 41-42
A high labor cost not a necessary sequence of a high rate of
wages.— The explanation : good w^ages are translated into
better nourishment, greater strength, skill and efficiency :
the American laborer himself largely the creator of his
wages, through the standard of life which he has adopted.
Industrial supremacy to those who earn the most and live
the best 42
THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF LABOR.
For many years there have been, so far as the general
public is concerned, both in Europe and America, exagger-
ated ideas of the industrial conditions prevailing on the two
continents. In the absence of reliable statistics, interested
parties have been able to tell harrowing tales alike of the
plutocratic American manufacturer and the European
" pauper laborer " and be believed.
Though thinking men have long been weary of exag-
gerated statements, and private investigators have sought
to learn the tmth, the field of comparative industrial sta-
tistics is so vast, as well as so difficult to exploit at first
hand, that results have necessarily been few. The meager-
ness of exact knowledge, always recognized, was never,
perhaps, more keenly felt than when in 1888 the Ways and
Means Committee of the United States House of Represen-
tatives undertook the revision of the tarifif. The effect of
this was that Congress requested the Department of Labor,
an organ of government whose functions are solely scien-
tific, to investigate comprehensively and on a comparative
basis the salient facts of industrial competition. The com-
mission given, to quote the text was "to ascertain at as
early a date as possible, and whenever industrial changes
shall make it essential, the cost of producing articles at the
time dutiable in the United States, in leading countries
where such articles are produced, by fully specified units
of production, and under a classification showing the differ-
ent elements of cost or approximate cost of such articles
of production, including the wages paid in such industries
per day, week, month or year, or by the piece, and hours
10 The Social Condition of Labor. [10
employed per day, and the comparative cost of living and
kind of living." One need hardly remark ■ that no other
legislature has ever assigned to any agency the task of
peering so deeply into the innermost recesses of industrial
life.
Mr. Carroll D. Wright, the Commissioner of Labor,
some years ago wrote a pamphlet upon the scientific bases
of tariff legislation, in which he developed the thesis that,
admitting the protective principle, a tariff, to be fair and
just to all parties, must be based upon the comparative cost
of production in competing countries. This idea was not
foreign to the tastes of Mr. Mills and his associates on the
'Ways and Means Committee, and so it happily came about
that the author of the plan was entrusted with its develop-
ment.
As there has been much misunderstanding in relation
to this inquiry of the Department of Labor, I may be par-
doned for offering a few words of explanation. In the first
place, it was not at all a partisan expedient. The House
of Representatives, by a unanimous vote-, and the Senate
nearly with unanimity, asked that it be made, the majority
in each branch of the legislature at that time being com-
posed of different political parties. Neither was it animated
by a sense of hostility to European industrial interests.
Extravagant ideas had so long prevailed that there could be
no harm in making the real truth known. Furthermore,
reciprocal favors would be bestowed, since from the results
each nation would learn its own industrial situation as well
as the conditions under which it must compete. Thirdly,
the inquiry would at least indicate whether the American
tariff was laid solely in the interests of labor, and whether
the manufacturer did not himself gain thereby. Lastly,
and most important in the eyes of all who care less for
individual advantage than for the welfare of the whole, it
would dcnionstrate the comparative utility, purely from the
economic standpoint, of laborers earning high or low wages,
and maintaininsf different standards of life.
11] The Social Condition of Labor. 11
I cannot insist too strongly upon the scientific aims and
non-partisaii character of the investigation. Absolutely no
other motive than the desire to knov\r the facts dominated
alike those who instigated and those who carried out
the work. If the European manufacturer averred that he
was the victim of unjust discrimination, he ought to be
only too glad of an opportunity to expose the truth. To
the American claiming that he was handicapped by the
payment of higher waees. tli^t-o ' '
EEBATA.
Unes,o.n,.3a„d.3. on pagenofVo,XI,No., (Gould's
Social Condition of Labor) should read as follo»s .
The workingman, so long told that the
taHl^^i^r;^^ ror hi™, would he glad to -n iHt »e.
really so. The interests of economic science
prosperity and social justice would all he served
^^ viio»_n.jseQ.
Let me remark, in passing, that a tariff based strictly
upon comparative costs of production is not considered,
especially b} business men, an available scheme. It is
evident that not only is it impossible to find a unit of com-
parison between articles made of the same material but
different in pattern, texture and weight, but also the costs
of plain units of manufacture will vary according to fluc-
tuations in the price of labor and of comm.odities. This
is perfectly true, and was clearly understood by all who
furthered the inquiry. It was never designed to erect
either a fixed or sliding scale of tariff duties on all or a
part of the articles scheduled. General industrial conditions,
not special trade necessities, were the subjects of considera-
tion. The social and economic welfare of the American
laborer was the object most at heart, since the inquiry
sought for facts to guide the legislator in his distribution
of social justice. There was never a thought of being
useful to the customs service in its control of invoices. I
10 The Social Condition of Labor. [10
employed per day, and the comparative cost of living and
kind of living,-' One need hardly remark ' that no other
legislature has ever assigned to any agency the task of
peering so deeply into the innermost recesses of indu:;trial
life.
Mr. Carroll D, Wright, the Commissioner of Labor,
some years ago wrote a pamphlet upon the scientific bases
of tarifif legislation, in which he developed the thesis that,
* * ■' - — .+--f^To nrinrinle. a tariff, to be fair and
place, it was not at an a. pan.10.^. ^
of Representatives, by a unanimous vote^ and the Senate
nearly with unanimity, asked that it be made, the majority
in each branch of the legislature at that time being com-
posed of different political parties. Neither was it animated
by a sense of hostility to European industrial interests.
Extravagant ideas had so long prevailed that there could be
no harm in making the real truth known. Furthermore,
reciprocal favors would be bestowed, since from the results
each nation would learn its own industrial situation as well
as the conditions under which it must compete. Thirdly,
the inquiry would at least indicate whether the American
tariff was laid solely in the interests of labor, and whether
tlie manufacturer did not himself gain thereby. Lastly,
and most important in the eyes of all who care less for
individual advantage than for the w^elfare of the whole, it
would demonstrate the comparative utility, purely from the
economic standpoint, of laborers earning high or low wages,
and maintaining: different standards of life.
11] The Social Condition of Labor. 11
I cannot insist too strong!}^ upon the scientific ainis and
non-partisan character of the investigation. Absolutely no
otlier motive than the desire to know the facts dominated
alike those who instigated and those who carried out
the work. If the European manufacturer averred that he
was the victim of unjust discrimination, he ought to be
only too glad of an opportunity to expose the truth. To
the American claiming that he was handicapped by the
payment of higher wages, there could exist no motive for
concealment. The workingman, so long told that the
really so. The interests of economic science, industrial
really so. The interests of economic science, indur.trial
prosperity and social justice would all be ser/ed. The
character and attainments of the Commissioner of Labor
and his principal associates offered a guarantee that the
work would be impartially done, and the practice of the
Department in so presenting information that its source
cannot be recognized made sure that industrial or trade
secrets would not be disclosed.
Let me remark, in passing, that a tariff based strictly
upon comparative costs of production is not considered,
especially b}- business men, an available scheme. It is
evident that not only is it impossible to find a unit of com-
parison between articles made of the same material but
different in pattern, texture and weight, but also the costs
of plain units of manufacture will vary according to fluc-
tuations in the price of labor and of comm.odities. This
is perfectly true, and was clearly understood by all who
furthered the inquiry. It was never designed to erect
either a fixed or sliding scale of tariff duties on all or a
part of the articles scheduled. General industrial conditions,
not special trade necessities, were the subjects of considera-
tion. The social and economic welfare of the American
laborer was the object most at heart, since the inquiry
sought for facts to guide the legislator in his distribution
of social justice. There was never a thought of being
useful to the customs service in its control of invoices. I
12 The Social Condition of Labor. [12
mention this to clear up a misconception which unfortu-
nately gained credence on some parts of the Continent
through the medium of newspapers which took absolutely
no pains to verify their suspicions. Though this step mili-
tated against the success of the work, it nevertheless caused
an injustice to the country concerned, since in some
instances the facts could only be obtained from places
which I am morally convinced did not represent the most
favorable conditions. For so unfortunate an incident, mis-
conceived patriotism and mistaken zeal are alone respon-
sible.
In the latter part of 1888 a commission of six officials
of the Department of Labor, over whom I had the honor
to preside, commenced investigations in Em-ope. The
field of operations was naturally the principal manufactur-
ing countries, — Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany
and Switzerland, and in a lesser degree Luxembourg,
Italy and Spain. Only the important industries of coal, iron,
steel and glass and cotton, woolen, silk and linen textiles
were included. Simple and standard units of manufacture,
as for example a ton of steel rails of the same size and
yards of cloths uniform in organization, texture and weight,
which are made the world over, and about whose production
trade secrets no longer exist, were the objects of inquiry.
The greatest care was taken to secure homogeneity in the
units, as otherwise a comparison of costs of production
Vv'ould be misleading and valueless.
As may readily be judged, it was not an easy matter to
conduct the investigation, especially in Europe. American
manufacturers have been so often approached by statistical
agencies that they were naturally freer to respond. But
in Europe, where the statistics of labor and industry have
been far less developed, one could not, in the nature of
things, expect a very general willingness to com.municate
to foreigners information of so confidential a character.
In the midst of the work the McKinley tarifif was
imposed, a contingency which was entirely unforeseen at the
13] The Social Condition of Lahor. 13
outset, aggravating- the natural difficulties of the situation
and becoming the root of much misunderstanding. I have
already pointed out that there was absolutely no relation
between the McKinley bill and our inquiry. Let me say,
further, that no information whatever in regard to the
textile industries was communicated from Europe before
the measure became a law. The Com.missioner of Labor,
at the request of the Senate Finance Committee, did make
a preliminary report upon the cost of production of iron
and steel, but, as is well known, the tariff on the most of
such articles was either left untouched or was reduced.
Nevertheless the idea got abroad in some quarters that
ours was a spy service in the interest of the McKinley
bill.
In this connection it is a great pleasure for me to rec-
ognize the fair-mindedness of "Le Temps." M. Francis
de Pressense, as soon as the report came to his ears,
addressed me a letter, stating that he would be glad to
know the real objects of our mission. The salient parts
of my reply were published, and the utility of such inquiries,
not only to the United States, but to Europe, was com-
mended by this enlightened journal.
It is obvious that if the results of such an investigation
are to be of any use, the hearty cooperation of a sufficient
number of manufacturers must be enlisted. The Depart-
ment of Labor may claim that such a condition has been
fairly complied with. In regard to the first group of in-
dustries, coal, iron and steel, with which the only volume
now published deals, the Commissioner states that cost of
production returns were received from 454 American and
164 European establishments. Budgets of cost of living
were secured from 2490 workmen employed in these in-
dustries in America and 770 in Europe, while the wages
of several thousand laborers, at least one-third of whom
were European, were tabulated. So liberal were the
responses from the two continents! Really representative
facts were obtained for all important branches of these
14 The Social Condition of Labor. [14
industries, except from the American producers of steel rails,
who, with one single exception, refused to state their cost
of production.
There can be no caviling as to the accuracy of the facts
themselves. Statements on cost of production and tabu-
lations of workmen's wages were taken directly from the
account books and pay-rolls of the different establishments.
The budgets of family income and expetises were gathered
with all the care that that delicate and difficult branch of
statistical work demands. Without entering too much into
details, one may say that in those cases where the laborers
did not keep books or deal at a cooperative store, we
were often accompanied to the houses by a retired postman
or policeman or some other person who was well ac-
quainted with all the families and enjoyed their confidence.
The tabulation of wages from the pay-rolls of the manu-
facturer gave a control over the statements of the work-
man as to his earnings, and it will be generally recognized
by all who have themselves made personal investigations of
this character, that if the truth is told about earnings, at
least an honest attempt will be made to speak truly of
expenses. The schedules of questions were so constructed
that it was not difficult to detect, especially after a little
experience, any material inaccuracy.
With the understanding that the statistical bases have
been broad enough in design and sufficiently thorough in
execution, let us pass on to the results. These I shall pre-
sent chiefly in the form of tabular statements, making only
such textual observations as seem necessary to elucidate
the figures.
The number of families to whom the subsequent facts
relate is first given. Next follows the average size of the
family, the parents being included. The American family
is the smallest; the English, Belgian, and German following
in the order named. Proprietorship of homes is much
more common in America than in Europe. The next
column, taken in conjunction with the second, discloses a
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16 The Social Condition of Labor. [16
curious fact. The size of the habitation is in inverse pro-
portion to the number in the family.
Not only are the total earnings of the family highest in
America, but the contribution of the husband thereto is
both absolutely and relatively larger than elsewhere.
There is not, however, so great a difference in the pro-
portions, the Englishman being nearly equal, the Belgian
9 per cent, and the German I2 per cent, less.
A large share of the American's outgo is for rent. Here
again both absolutely and relatively he occupies first place.
For food his total expense is not quite so great as for his
British confrere, but passes the Belgian and the German,
who have much larger families. But he is able to nourish
his family better on a far smaller proportion of his total
expenses, viz., 45 per cent., as against 59 per cent, and 52
per cent, respectively.
As regards clothing. Great Britain presents the most
favorable conditions. If we assume that reasonable neces-
sities were fully complied with, but no extravagances
indulged, then the American is most poorly off. He must
spend 40 per cent, more to clothe a family of two fewer
individuals than the German, for example. It must be
remembered that there is not the same disparity in the price
of clothing used by the workingman in the two continents
as there is in that worn by the richer classes. The reason
is that the former is largely of home manufacture and made
up by the iwcated denizens of New York's miserable tene-
ments. The clothes for the rich man are still generally
imported and made into garments by trade-union labor.
The American coal-laborer spends more on books and
newspapers than his Eiu-opean fellow-workers, and less for
alcoholic beverages than any except the German. In both
of these respects is he in particularly marked contrast with
the Belgian. Finally, in comparing expenses with revenue,
we find the American less provident than any of the others.
He puts aside 4^ per cent, of his income to the German 5J
per cent., the Englishman y^ per cent., and the Belgian 13
per cent.
17] The Social Condition of Labor. 17
The foregoing table refers to all classes of workmen in
the coal industry. It may happen that there is a larger
proportion of what may be called skilled laborers, /. e. fore-
men, miners, enginemen, masons, etc., in some cases than
in others. This is actually true, the proportion of such
labor being 80 per cent, amongst the American families
represented, 50 per cent, the English, 66 per cent, the Ger-
man and 90 per cent, the Belgian. Some allowance must
be made for this fact, though the influence is not so great
as might appear at first sight.
The general truth of the above statistics is strikingly
verified by the following table, vvhich displays the average
cost of living of five miners in each country. The selec-
tions were made from those earning the highest wages in
their respective countries. No very important divergence
from results previously mentioned is manifest.
A comparison of the earnings of coal-miners in America
by nationalities offers some curious and, perhaps to many,
unexpected results. The average income of 114 miners
of American birth was $381.14 per annum. Forty-four
British miners at home earned on the average $402.78
annually, while 183 miners of British origin in the United
States received $410.46 each. The figures for 11 German
miners are $265.03 at home, and for 50 in the United
States $444.83. The American coal-miner on his own soil
is clearly at a disadvantage with British and German fellow-
workmen, and even gets less than the British in their own
island. To the German the change is especially marked.
The figures, be it remembered, are for the heads of families,
and do not in all, perhaps in the majority of cases, repre-
sent the total income of the family.
In addition to the foregoing facts, if we consider the
further questions of hours of daily labor, sliding-scale pay-
ments and stability of organization, one must feel con-
vinced that the British miner at home is the best off.
Obser\-ation as well as statistics have led me to this conclu-
sion.
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20 The Social Condition of Labor. [20
Turning now to the manufacture of bar-iron, we have in
Table III statistics on similar lines to those in Table I.
Here, too, the average family is smaller in the United
States than in any of the continental countries, and it is
also better housed. Astonishing as it may seem, the size
of the habitation varies again in an inverse ratio to the
size of the family. Great Britain is not far behind the
United States, while France, Belgium and Germany follow
in the order named. The latter has the poorest accom-
modation for the largest family. The husband in the
United States earned yV^hs of the total income, and thus
fulfilled that highest of social requirements of being able to
support the family by his unaided elTort. British heads of
families are nearly in the same condition, but in all
the other countries such a contingency seems impossible
for the average workman in the bar-iron industry. In
Belgium, for example, only f ths came from the husband's
wages. The rent column offers no important deviation.
But it must be acknowledged that the American was
obliged to spend far too large a proportion here. The
American family appears to be better nourished than the
others on a smaller relative expenditure. The amounts
spent under this head in the different countries, taken
together with the size of the families, and a table of prices
of food which follows later, offer serious ground for
reflection, especially to Continental statesmen.
The figures for clothing seem to show an advantage for
the British iron-worker, though the American has not spent
a very much larger proportion. The American again
leads the list in expenditure for books and newspapers. He
spends more for drink in this case than any except the
Frenchman, though proportionally his outgo is the
smallest of all, — 3.7 per cent, to 4.4 per cent, to 5.1 per
cent., to 5.2 per cent, and 11.7 per cent, respectively.
Remark, in passing, an exceedingly unfortunate showing
in the three continental countries. The Frenchman spent
4 per cent, more for liquor than for house-rent, while in
21] Tlie Social Condition of Labor. 21
the case of Belgians and Germans the proportion of expen-
diture was abnormally high.
Naturally with a so much larger income the per cent.
of earnings saved is greater in the case of the American.
Next comes the Frenchman, then the Englishman and the
Belgian. In Germany a majority of families were unable
to make ends meet. I am far from saying that this rep-
resents the average condition in that country. The locality
whence these budgets were gathered is not industrially the
best placed. More representative districts would have been
chosen had not shortsighted views intervened to prevent
the collection of data.
The proportion of skilled to ordinary labor amongst the
families represented was highest in Germany, 69 per cent.,
next in France 6y per cent., next in Belgium 60 per cent.,
then in America 57 per cent., and finally Great Britain with
51 per cent. A study of the figures cannot scientifically
be made without considering this fact, for naturally the higher
the proportion of skilled labor the more favorable should
the economic situation appear. However, the range of
variation is not sufficient to vitiate the results, which are
only confirmed by the following table, where homogeneity
is secured. Groups of five puddlers belonging to the dif-
ferent countries have been chosen quite at random, and their
incomes and expenses averaged.
The general conditions amongst steel-workers appear
to be, broadly speaking, similar to those prevailing in the
iron industry, only the American has not as great an advan-
tage in the matter of earnings as before. This is probably
due to the larger use of mechanical processes, which enables
the manufacturer in the United States to dispense in a
greater desrree with skilled labor.
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Total Income.
Amount.
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24 The Social Condition of Labor. [24
The proportion of skilled labor in the total from whom
the above budgets were obtained is almost uniform in the
three countries, viz., 40 per cent, in the United States and
Great Britain and 43 per cent, in Germany.
Having considered the social-economic position of
workers in the coal, iron and steel industries in several
countries, let us now by proper combination ascertain the
average conditions prevailing on the two continents. Table
VI is an attempt to do this.
Broadly speaking, coal-mining presents the smallest
and the manufacture of iron the greatest contrasts. Added
to this table is one interesting element, viz., the proportion
of families who subscribed to newspapers and bought books,
and who drank liquor or smoked tobacco. For books and
newspapers the proportion in America except for workers
in coal mines is uniformly the highest, but as regards the
use of liquor the lowest, save in the case of blast-furnace
employes. A smaller number of families in Europe used
tobacco.
Forsaking for the moment the role of the statistician, and
taking up that of the social philosopher, let us examine
closely how nearly in these returns a moderately conceived
social standard has been complied with. The fundamental
condition of such a standard is that the earnings of the hus-
band alone should be sufBcient to support the family. The
wife ought never to be called away from the household if
she have children. The desertion by mothers of the home
for the factory is, I am convinced, a fundamental factor in
modem social discontent. How can the needs of the hus-
band be met and a proper moral instruction be given to
the children under such circumstances? The public school
can educate intellectually, but only indirectly morally. In
the home the character is foniied, in the home the citizen
is made, and there can be no proper homes whence mothers
have been withdrawn. One may well wonder what this
wholesale employment of women in industry Avill lead to
in the course of a generation or so. It is difificult to see
Bd ."^ wd ^ wd f* wd^
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Owning their Homes.
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26 The Social Condition of Labor. [26
how young girls who never had any domestic training, and
early went to work in factories, are going to make either
acceptable hoiiseiuivcs or good mothers. It is not very
reassuring to note that in the United States alone, and
there only in two <:ases, viz., bar-iron and steel manufacture,
was it possible for the husband unaided to support his
family. In these instances, too, the margins are so small
as to cause one to refrain from congratulation. If we
further inquire how often the husband actually did
support his family without help, we find the highest pro-
portion in any industry to be 69 per cent.
Any one who has had an opportunity to leani the real
life of European laborers understands how much more
thoroughly is there developed the sentiment of family soli-
darity. The children remain longer with their parents than
in America and contribute more to the general support.
Not only are the absolute earnings of the husband smaller
in Europe than in America, but the percentage of his con-
tribution to the total income is also less. A failure to
realize this fact is at the bottom of much misconception
in the United States regarding the true condition of the
European laborer. The family, not the individual, is the
unit of society. Hence it is quite false to say, as political
"pauper labor" conjurors are so fond of doing, that low
wages to the husband must necessarily mean a correspond-
ingly low standard of life to the family. The otherwise
certain consequences of low earnings are in practice largely
mitigated by the relatively higher economic contributions
from other members of the family. While such a practice
involves a regrettable loss of social opportunities, it permits
the maintenance of the family on a higher plane than would
first appear to those who judge merely from current rates
of wages and take no account of national customs.
The figures before us thoroughly justify the point of
view I have been endeavoring to present. The average
annual wages of workers in coal mines were 18 per cent,
higher in America than in Europe, but the total earnings
27] The Social Condition of Labor. 27
of the family were but 13 per cent. more. So for the manu-
facture of pig-iron, bar-iron and steel the respective figures
are 46 per cent, for the husband and 33 per cent, for the
family, 107 per cent, for the husband and yy per cent, for
the family, 31 per cent, for the husband and 25 per cent,
for the family higher in the New World, Such are the
average conditions prevailing in Europe and America, but
if we seek for the facts in relation to each separate nidustry
under consideration we find the practice to be everywhere
the same. For coal-workers the variations in earnings
are for the individual 13 per cent, and for the family 11
per cent, more in the United States than in Great Britain,
41 per cent, more for the individual and but 29 per cent,
more for the family than in Belgium, 66 per cent, more for
the individual and 46 per cent, more for the family than in
Germany. The manufacture of iron presents even more
striking contrasts. The American individual workman
gains 59 per cent, and his family 51 per cent, more than
the British, 11 1 per cent, and 69 per cent, respectively
greater than the French, 227 per cent, and 118 per cent,
respectively more than the Belgian and 186 per cent, and 178
per cent, respectively higher than the German, The steel
industry, so far as the returns we are considering go, pre-
sents the only exception to what I believe is a universal
law. But this is unimportant, and easily accounted for by
the caveat I have previously interposed as to the not quite
representative conditions prevailing in the locality whence
the statistics for German steel-workers were derived. The
individual workman in America is, economically speaking,
19 per cent, better off while his family is 13 per cent, better
off than in Great Britain; the individual 149 per cent, and
the family 165 per cent, better off than in Germany.
From a comparative point of view the facts we have just
been considering are of very great interest. But in their
social aspect they represent at best a negative virtue. The
greater collective effort which it is necessary to put forth
in Europe to secure a good standard of life must be at the
28 The Social Condition of Labor. [28
expense, always intellectual, often physical, and sometimes
also moral, of one or more of the individuals. Perhaps it
is a rude awakening to many to learn that the true eco-
nomic basis of a proper social existence is so generally
wanting. Only in the United States, and there but for two
of the six great divisions of coal-mining and iron and steel
manufacturing, does it obtain. Let there be no mistake
about this matter. I do not maintain that there are no
families within these industries which are not kept solely
by the economic efforts of the husband. To be sure, there
are thousands of such, and they may be found in all coun-
tries. The lesson to be learned from the figures is that
when all occupations, skilled and unskilled, are grouped
together within each specific industry, the average condi-
tions fall far short of the ideal.
A second element in a just social standard for an indus-
trial laborer is food. We see from the double column
wherein the figures are portrayed that in practically every
instance the largest absolute but the smallest relative sum
falls to the American. Does this mean that the family of
the workingman in America is better nourished than
abroad? I believe it does, and principally for two reasons.
The family in the United States is smaller, and therefore
with the largest sum of money spent the amount per capita
is considerably greater. But does higher expenditure mean
more food? We may answer affirmatively, because a
greater quantity of the principal articles in a workingman's
menu can be had for an ecjual amount of money in the
New World. The Department was careful to collect infor-
mation concerning the price of food concurrently with the
budgets. From data furnished by the wives of working-
men, which authority should be accepted as indisputable,
we are able to make a statement of comparative prices.
The price of bread does not show much difference except
in France and Germany. But the kind and quality of
flour used is by no means the same, so that to obtain an
equal amount of nourishment a much larger sum must be
29] The Social Condition of Lahor, 29
spent in the Continental countries than in Great Britain and
the United States. The average prices of the meats which
find their way to the workingman's table, without reference
to kind, figure out 23 per cent, more in Germany, 47 per
cent, more in Belgium, 50 per cent, more in Great Britain
and 52 per cent, more in France than in the United
States. Potatoes cost 3 per cent, more in Great Britain,
19 per cent, more in France than in the United States,
but 30 per cent, and 50 per cent, respectively less in Bel-
gium and Germany. Butter is 4 per cent, dearer in Great
Britain, 9 per cent, dearer in Belgium, 22 per cent, dearer
in Germany and 35 per cent, dearer in France than in the
United States. Sugar in England is only half the price
it was in the United States before 1890, but the same article
is 19 per cent, more in Germany, 51 per cent, more in
Belgium and 84 per cent, more in France. Cofifee costs
13 per cent, more in Belgium, 19 per cent, more in Ger-
many, 40 per cent, more in Great Britain and 67 per cent,
more in France than in the United States. Lard and eggs
form no exception to the general rule. It is impossible to
escape the conclusion that with the prevailing prices of
provisions so preponderatingly in favor of the American
laborer, and seeing that his family is smaller, his larger
absolute expenditure means unquestionably that he and his
kind are better nourished. The encouraging part of it all
is that the family is able thus to maintain itself at a smaller
relative sacrifice. I am glad to say that my own experience
accords perfectly with this statistical demonstration.
Right here I cannot refrain from adding further testi-
mony as the result of personal observation. The statement
so often circulated in America that meat is the rarest of
luxuries to the European industrial laborer is an absurd
falsehood. The casual worker has, we all know, a hard
enough time of it every\vhere, but it is not from his exi-
gencies that we must fix a general standard. I am wQvy
sure that the American nourishes himself and his family
better, at a smaller relative cost than any European. But
30 The Social Condition of Liibor. [30
I am no less positive that those who suj^pose industrial
laborers abroad to subsist generally on pauper's fare are
most thoroughly mistaken.
The columns in which expenditure for alcoholic drinks
are exposed present facts for serious reflection. National
pride will no doubt be flattered to learn that American
families spend the smallest sums for this purpose. Not
only so, but there must also be a smaller per capita con-
sumption, since the prices of alcoholic drinks are higher in
the New World. Still this is only a partial satisfaction.
If Vx^e conceive that the American spends too much, the
European, to whom the struggle for existence is keener,
wastes more. It is a matter of grave public concern to
learn that every year in that part of the labor world where
the hardiest workers are found, tlie publican receives three-
fifths as much as the landlord. In France and Belgium, I
am sorry to say, the quota is higher still.
I have noticed in the course of personal investigations a
curious relation between expenditures for rent and alcoholic
drinks. The economies which are necessary to indulge the
appetite for spirits are almost invariably practised on the
house accommodation. The figures in all the tables pre-
sented generally corroborate this point of view. Who does
not wish that the European laborer would flee the gin-cup,
and with the resulting savings add two more rooms to his
home, as he could then do?
No doubt I should be held guilty by a certain class of
economists if I passed by in silence the columns which
show the comparative family surplus. Without depreciat-
ing in the least the virtue of saving, one cannot but feel
that it has been elevated into an importance far beyond
its due. Not only is it inapplicable to all conditions, but
when offered as a panacea for every social ill it is very apt
to nauseate. How can a workingman, with a large family
and restricted income, the creature of commercial vicissi-
tudes and fluctuations of trade, create a fund large enough
upon which to draw in times of emergency? We have seen
31] Tlw Social Condition of Labor. 31
that in the average instance he cannot alone give support.
So if a surphis is to be built up it must be at the expense
of some of the children. The savings shown in the various
tables are quite respectable. Provided they could go on
growing from year to year, they would constitute an ample
insurance fund against want. But experience shows that
periods of strikes, shut-downs, illness or misfortune soon
dissipate the little pile.
We must never consider wages apart from thrift and a
standard of living. Where economic gains are small, sav-
ings mean a relatively low plane of social existence. A
parsimonious people are never progressive, neither are they,
as a rule, industrially efficient. It is the man with many
wants — not luxurious fancies, but real legitimate wants —
who works hard to satisfy his aspirations, and* he it
is who is worth hiring. Let economists still teach the
utility, even the necessity, of saving, but let the sociologist
as firmly insist that so far to practise economy as to pre-
vent in this 19th century a corresponding advance in civi-
lization of the working with the other classes is morally
inequitable, and industrially bad policy. I am not sorry
that the American does not save more. Neither am I
sure but that if many working-class communities I have
visited on the Continent were socially more ambitious there
would not be less danger from radical theories. One of
the most intelligent manufacturers I ever met told me
a few years ago he would be only too glad to pay higher
wages to his work-people provided they would spend the
excess legitimately and not hoard it. He knew that in
the end he should gain thereby, since the ministering to
new wants only begets others. He had tried over and over
again to induce the best of his weavers to take three looms
instead of two as in their fathers' time, but without success.
A few years later I met this same gentleman again. In the
meantime the foreman of the weaving department had died
and a new one been appointed on the express condition
that he would gradually insist on three looms per weaver in
every case where possible. The result ^id not belie my
32
The Social Condition of Labor,
[32
friend's expectations. Both he and his work-people had
profited by the change.
So far we have dealt with families as one finds them
without reference to the number or ages of the children
or any dependent members. Let us now seek a more
scientific unit of comparison. We can do this by establish-
ing what the Commissioner of Labor has been pleased to
call the "normal family." Disregarding those with more
than five children or with children older than fifteen years,
or having dependent or other persons in the house, we get
a number of similar units rather than groups of individuals.
Table VII presents the salient facts for this class of fam-
ilies, and in its almost unvarying uniformity with the pre-
ceding tables gives striking confirmation to the accuracy of
their results.
Table VIL
NORMAL FAMILIES.
Recapitulation of Family Budgets by Industries.
COTTNTRY
AND
Industry.
1. Coal Miniim
United States
Europe
2. Pi(i Iron.
United States
Europe
3. Bar Iron.
United States
Europe
4. Steel Ma7iu-
facture.
United States
Europe
Fam-
ilies.
153 4
85 4.'
3914
4914.3
286 3.8
HI 4.3
a .
ei o
^5
$446 10
381 5G
513 79
382 49
635 28
370 73
555 50
475 30
Annual Expenditure.
Rent.
$54 42
43 89
63 91
37 39
96 73
41 57
80 05 16.3
45 64 10.2
Food.
$181 04
190 11
202 47
184 53
338 11
167 11
319 87
334 91
41.7
53.5
41.3
49.7
41.6
46.3
44.7
53.6
Clothing.
$76 24
49 11
17.5
13.5
86 80 17.7
64 45 17.4
83 96 14.6
63 07' 17.4
75 06
72 03
15.3
15.7
$122 67
79 01
135 53
84 64
153 55
49 68
116 74
93 53
$434 37
363 12
490 70
371 01
572 34
361 43
491 72
446 30
$1173
19 44
23 09
11 48
53 94
9 39
63 78
28 92
2.6
5.1
4.5
3.0
8.5
3.5
11.0
6.1
The normal family is composed of the two parents and from one to five children
less than 14 years old. .
33] The Social Condition of Labor. 33
Hitherto we have been considering standards of Hving
for coal, iron and steel workers in different countries. To
a certain extent nationality has also been involved. The
figures for the United States do not refer to Americans
alone, since, as every one knows, a large proportion of the
laborers are immigrants from the Old World. It is quite
fair, I think, to call the standard of life practised in the
United States the American, since the native-bom work-
man created it, and fixed the price of his labor at a point
where he could live up to it. But we must not for a
moment suppose that he alone now-a-days maintains it. In
this he is equaled and sometimes surpassed by the best
class of immigrants who find work in mining and metal-
lurgy, viz., the British and Germans. Other nationalities
have not as yet come up to the mark. Table VIII, which
contains the necessary details to verify the above remarks,
is, to my mind, the most interesting of all.
There are facts herein presented which furnish a severe
blow to Chauvinism. The average workman in the allied
industries of American birth earns less than the Briton or
the Gennan, though he is ahead of other nationalities.
In the relative size of his contribution to the family sup-
port, he only gives place to the German, whose habits in
this respect have undergone a marked change since liis
transplanting in the New World. The proportion of cases
in which the husband actually supported the family are
fewer, the total earnings of the family are less, the house
accommodation is slightly inferior, a smaller per capita
expenditure appears for food and clothing for the native
American than for the Americanized Briton and German.
In other words, in all important respects, except the con-
sumption of alcoholic drinks, these latter seem to be living
on a higher level. As regards the other nationalities, the
American conserves his leadership, though the expatriated
Frenchman is not far behind.
This revelation will surprise many, yet if the statistics
before us mean anything at all they teach the lessons we
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35] TJie Social Condition of Labor. 35
have outlined. In analyzing them closely one can only find
two factors which may have had an influence in determining
the result. The first is that amongst the budgets included
in the returns, those for the laborers employed in making
merchant iron and steel, where the highest wages are paid,
present a slight proportion in favor of workmen of foreign
birth, viz., 422 to 384. This is so little that we may neg-
lect it. More important is the second, which shows that
tlie proportion of budgets drawn from the Southern States,
where social-economic conditions are probably not quite so
favorable, is much larger for native than for foreign-bom
workingmen, or 403 to 46. One can hardly say that the
foreigners having outnumbered the natives in the States of
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, where the
highest wages are generally supposed to be paid, in the
ratio of 1135 to 802, matters much, because a portion of
the majority is composed of Bohemians, Hungarians,
Italians and Poles, whose earnings and expenses fall far
short of the American's. Personally it does not seem to
me that there is sufficient in all of the disturbing factors to
cast doubt upon the substantially representative character
of the figures. Neither do I see any ground for regret.
May not a well-to-do citizen generously applaud the en-
hanced prosperity of his neighbor?
But there is one consideration which we must not over-
look. The American may not always equal the naturalized
European in physical power, but he greatly surpasses him
in nerve force. Consequently we most often find him
following those occupations where ingenuity, finesse and
skill count for more than the exercise of patience or strength.
It is a fact of common experience in the United States that,
in a machine-shop, for example, three-fourtlis of the fitters
will be foreign-born, while amongst the machinists seventy-
five per cent, wnll be native Americans. We must beware,
therefore, of hasty conclusions to the efifect that in all
branches of manufacture the native is being distanced by
the alien.
The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-
36 The Social Conditio?i of Labor. [36
economic status of workmen of different nationalities in
the country of their birth and the land of their adoption
furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we
are able to learn the social efifect of economic betterment.
The Briton, already accustomed to a fair standard of life,
now exerts his energies anew and earns nearly one-third
more than in his native isle. In fewer instances has he
called upon his family to assist him. Much more often
does he become the owner of his dwelling, which also has
improved in character. With a slightly larger family, the
/>er capita expenditure for food has considerably increase i,
leaving no doubt as to better nourishment. It does not
appear that quite the same proportion read books and news-
papers or drink liquor as before. In the latter respect a
notable reform takes place, the relative expenditure declin-
ing from 5 per cent, to 3| per cent. Savings, as one
would naturally expect, also increase.
One curious fact we may note in passing. Under the
caption Briton are included English, Scotch, Welsh and
Irish. Looking at each division of the same folk separ-
ately in their own coimtry, they rank in point of earn-
ings and standard of life first the Scotch, secondly the
English, thirdly the Welsh, fourthly the Irish. In America
the order is changed : the Scotchman retains the supremacy,
but next comes the Irishman, then the Welshman, and
finally the Englishman.
The number of returns from Frenchmen, it must be
acknowledged, are not sufficient upon which to base hard
and fast conclusions. To anticipate a general criticism
which may be offered as to the relatively small number
of families in comparison with the whole working popula-
tion, let me say that one must bear in mind two things:
In the first place, the industries of which we are writing
are not found in many dififerent parts of the same country
in Europe. Secondly, it does not need many budgets from
the same neighborhood to typify the average standard of
living in that locality. The validity of conclusions does
not in this case repose so much upon numbers as in many
other branches of social inquiry.
37] The Social Condition of Labor. 37
It is not very probable that the Frenchman forms an
exception to the general rule. The earnings of the hus-
band increase one-half and of the whole family nearly a
third. Not half as many fathers sought the assistance of
their children as before. Dwellings of a higher class, better
nourishment, improved intellectual conditions and far
greater sobriety are equally evident. Finally, the French-
man in the New World thinks less of saving than of self-
improvement.
Too few Belgians were found in America to make a
reliable comparison of their manner of living in the two
continents. Most probably they have done pretty much
as their neighbors, the French and the Germans.
A veritable revolution has been wrought in the habits
of the German. In a higher degree than any other he
becomes the proprietor of his abode. The dwelling itself
is doubly as good as it was. Three-fourths of the fathers
entirely support their families, and their quota has now been
raised to nine-tenths of the total revenue. The fathers
earn 125 per cent, and the whole family 84 per cent, more
than in the Old World. Rent and clothing, as in the case
of the Frenchman and the Briton, are had on less advan-
tageous terms, exceptions which have already engaged our
attention. Judging from the figures alone, the nourish-
ment should be over 50 per cent, more than before. More
read, but fewer drink and smoke, though the sums of money
spent have increased absolutely as well as in proportion.
The German, too, seems to utilize his opportunities for
saving better than any other nationality, putting aside
annually a respectable share of his income.
" Other nationalities," in Table VIII, include a very few
Austrians, Belgians, Scandinavians and Swiss (29 in all),
but principally Italians, Hungarians, Bohemians and Poles.
Comparison of their budgets of incomes and expenses,
with those of the Americans, British, French and Germans,
shows them to be living on a lower level. Collectively in all
crucial tests they do not measure up to the standard. More
than half of them receive help from their children or
wives to maintain the family. The house is very much
38 The Social Condition of Labor. [38
mferior, the per capita outlay for food and clothing con-
siderably less, while that for liquor is appreciably greater.
Only about one-half spend anj^thing for books and news-
papers. The large proportion of wages saved suggests
that as yet economy is more highly esteemed than social
betterment. Still no one can deny that there has been a
vast improvement in comparison with their previous con-
dition of life.
With no other showing should Americans be so well
pleased as with the last. The immigration problem centers
around this group of nationalities. The industrial Briton
has, broadly speaking, been reared under wholesome social
conditions. Few Frenchmen come to the United States at
all. The German is the quickest of all to adopt American
ways. The Scandinavians go most largely to the West to
engage in agriculture. The Hungarians, Italians, Bohe-
mians and Poles, who throng our gates, give most concern.
Experience has shown that, left to herd together in large
cities, they are slow to change their ways. It is therefore
with no ordinary satisfaction we note that, drafted ofif into
industry, their advance is much more rapid. Up to the
present there seems no ground to fear that such newcomers
have wielded a depressing influence. There seems rather
reason for congratulation in the fact that instead of their
having lowered the American standard of living, the Ameri-
can standard of life has been raising them.
Having bestowed so much attention upon the social
results of the inquiry, a briefer space must be allotted to its
economic aspects. Speaking generally of these, we may
say that the cost of production of a similar unit of pig-iron,
merchant iron or steel, is greater in the United States than
in the principal foreign covmtries, that rates of wages are
also higher, but that the labor cost of mamifacture is not
correspondingly more.
The production of pig-iron offers an apparent exception
to the last statement. Table IX, wherein are contained
the average figures for 15 American, 4 English and 2 Bel-
gian Bessemer blast-furnaces, shows a maintenance of the
39]
Tlw Social Condition of Labor.
39
proportions between average daily wages and labor cost
of manufacture. The exception is easily explained by the
fact that in this industry day wages, not piece wages, pre-
vail. Familiarity with labor conditions on the two con-
tinents teaches that a minimum daily wage is always much
higher in America than elsewhere. One may fix the scale
at one dollar and twenty-five cents in the United States,
to three shillings and sixpence ($0.87) in England, three
francs ($0.60) in France, two and a half francs ($0.50) in
Belgium, and two marks ($0.50) in Germany. But when-
ever quantity instead of time is the unit of payment, the
proportion in fa^'or of the New World is not nearly so
marked. The manufacture of pig-iron is also an industry
where mechanical contrivances cannot be utilized to dis-
place whatever highly paid labor exists and therefore reduce
labor cost, in the same way as in the production of merchant
iron and steel.
Table IX.
BESSEMER PIG IRON.
Relation between the Earnings of Workmen, the
Labor Cost and the Total Cost of Production.
( Unit, One Ton of 2240 LU.)
Daily Earnings of.
Cost of Product'n— one ton.
=5c
Labor.
Materials.
General
Expenses.
Country.
^u%
O+i
4-1
tC M
a
g
i
3 urt
+2
a
a
SO
-t5
a
a
a
4j) a}
a©
,9^
<
•^
^ ^m
m
®
Ph
W
Ph
<^%
<
f^H
<
PhH
<
FUH
H
United States. . .
$2 59
$2 04
$135
$152
$139
9.04
$13 25 86.21
$0 73
4.75
$15 37
Great Britain...
1 58
1 21
94
73
67
6.48
9 18 88.87
48
4.65
10 33
1 13
1 24
71
65
47
4 35
9 9191.67
43
3.98
10 81
These figures are an average of 15 American, 4 Englisli and 2 Belgian
establishments.
40
The Social Condition of Labor
[40
For the purpose of comparing wages with labor cost, and
the latter to the total cost of production, I have combined
in Table X the figures from four important establishments,
making the same product and operating under conditions
as similar as possible.
Table X.
BAR IRON MANUFACTURE.
Relation between the Earnings of Workmen, the
Labor Cost and the Total Cost op Production.
{Unit, One Ton of 2240 Lhs.)
Country.
United States
Great Britain.
France
Belgium
Daily Earnings of
Labor Cost.
>> -s"
— ®
fir a
o^
01 Om
^
aP
1
o
<
go
<D O
$5 05
$4 29
$2 44
$3 43
10.57
2 05
2 36
1 25
3 03
13.44
1 67
1 78
83
3 38
14.67
1 68
1 30
64
2 10
8.70
Total Cost
OF
Production,
$32 44
24 35
23 04
24 13
The wages of such skilled workmen as heaters and
rollers are twice as great as in Great Britain, and nearly
threefold higher than in France and Belgium. The average
wage to all classes of laborers in the establishments is also
twice as great as in Great Britain, three times as high as
in France, and four times larger than in Belgium. Com-
pare these figures with the labor cost of a similar unit of
manufacture and we find quite different proportions. It is
only a trifle more than in France, where daily wages are
about one-third as high, one-eighth dearer than in Great
Britain, with wages only half as large, and fifty-four per
cent, greater than in Belgium, where wages are down to
one-fourth.
41]
Tlie Social Condition of Labor.
41
In the manufacture of steel rails the same general law
is evident. With the average wage of the establishment
40 per cent, greater than in England, the lal^or cost is
only 10 per cent. more. In comparison with the continent
of Europe, wages are 90 per cent, and labor cost but 50
per cent, higher.
Table XI.
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL RAILS.
Relation between the Earnings of Workmen, the
Labor Cost and the Total Cost of Production.
( Unit, One Ton of 2240 Lbs.)
Daitjt
Cost of Production per Ton.
Eabnings of
Labor.
Materials.
Fuel.
Expen-
>, -g
ses.
OS
Country.
-l-s
d
■p
d
-tj
d
d
^
a
u
a
^^
ti
u
u
J ^
®
3
3
3
s
So
a
0.
M
©
>^'S
a
9,
a
y
s
a
a
o«
n
$4 50
M
•<^f^\
<
^
<
(^
<
$0 70
3.83
<
$145
5.85
irt
United States.
$5 25
$3 06
$154
6.21
$3111
85.13
$34 80
Great Britain.
3 66
3 05
1 45
1 37
7.36
16 40
88.30
45
2.43
37
3.02
18 59
Continent of
Europe.
1 45
1 55
1 08
1 04
5.33
17 67
90.37
40
3.06
46
2.34
19 57
Notes.— These figures are taken directly from the books of three large
establishments, well equipped and operating under the best conditions.
The terminal dates of the periods to which these figures relate are as
follows :
United States, 15 to 37 July, 1889.
Great Britain, April 1 to September 39, 1888.
Continent of Europe, January 13 to April 6, 1889.
The rails manufactured have nearly the same weight per yard.
We mixst also note that for bar-iron tlie proportion of
the labor cost to the total cost is less in the United States
than in Great Britain and France, and for steel rails less
than in England.
What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing
statistics? Unmistakably this, that higher daily wages in
America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor
42 The Social Condition of Labor. [42
cost to the manufacturer. But why so? Some say because
of the more perfect mechanical agencies put into the hands
of tlie workmen in American rolling-mills. There is reason
in this answer if we take the average conditions, but it
does not represent the whole truth. Moreover, it cannot be
used in a comparison between England and the United
States, since in the former country mechanical processes
have been perfected almost to the same degree as in the
latter. Particularly will the explanation fail in the present
case, since the three establishments chosen are nearly alike
in equipment and occupy a very high rank in their respec-
tive countries. If applicable to steel-making, it should
equally hold true of bar-iron, but statistics give it here even
less probability.
The real explanation I believe to be that greater physical
force, as the result of better nourishment, in combination
with superior intelligence and skill, make the workingman
in the United States more efficient. His determination to
maintain a high standard of life causes him to put forth
greater effort, and this reacts to the benefit of the employer
as well as to his own. We should give the principal credit
of the higher wages in America neither to the manufacturer,
the tariff, nor any other agency, but the workingman him-
self, who will not labor for less than will enable him to
live on a high social plane. That he can carry out his
policy with but little disadvantage to his employer in eco-
nomic competition teaches a lesson of far-reaching import-
ance. Instead of a' Ricardian regime, where the wages of
labor become barely sufficient to permit a sustentation of
effort and a reproduction of kind, it looks as if ere long
the world's industrial supremacy would pass to those who
earn the most and live the best.
II
THE WORLD'S REPRESENTATIVE
ASSEMBLIES OF TO-DAY
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History.— Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
II
THE WORLD'S REPRESENTATIVE
ASSEMBLIES OF TO-DAY
A Study in Comparative Legislation
By EDMUND K. ALDEN
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
February, 1893
COPTKIGHT, 1893, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PKESS.
THE FKIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BAI/riMORE.
PREFACE.
A few words on the arrangement of the matter in the fol-
lowing monograph may not be irrelevant. The placing of
the Table of Assemblies at the end is intended to facilitate
reference. Such a table was also necessary to illustrate tlie
preceding statements, as the prescribed limits precluded a
seriatim treatment of the different legislative bodies. The
same limitations of space have necessarily excluded much
that would enhance the value and interest of such a table,
as, for example, the minutiae of qualifications for electors
and members.
The statements made are based in all cases on the latest
available sources. As information on some topics has been
tendered to me personally, I take this opportunity of express-
ing my thanks to those who have in this way contributed
to the work.
EDMUND K. ALDEN.
Packer Collegiate Institute,
Brooklyn, N. Y., Jamiary 3, 1893.
SYNOPSIS.
Limits of the Subject.— General Division into Congresses and
Parliaments. — Nomenclature.
Comments on the Electorate :
Its Relation to the Population ; Direct and Indirect Election.
On the Composition of the Houses :
Unicameral and Bicameral Systems.
Qualifications of Members.
Size of the Chambers.
Relative Importance of the Houses.
Distribution of Members.
Apportionment.
Terms of Service.
Re-election.
On the Powers of Legislative Bodies :
The Initiative in Legislation.
Relations to the Executive.
Constitutional Restrictions.
On Procedure :
Officers.
Rules.
Committees.
Various Forms.
On Parliamentary Manners.
On Personality of Members.
On Local Assemblies.
On the Referendum and the Initiative.
Recapitulation.
Table of the Larger Representative Assemblies.
THE WOELD'S REPRESENTATIVE
ASSEMBLIES OF TO-DAY.
A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION.
The great development of popular government has led to
diversified and exhaustive studies on the subject. Historical
literature has been enriched by countless manuals of politics
and by treatises of profound learning on the theory and
practice of ruling. But we look almost in vain for an
apergu or bird's-eye view of all the legislative bodies of the
present. The plan of this monograph is foreshadowed in
its title; it does not claim to trace the genesis and evolution
of existing assemblies, nor — deeply interesting and informing
as the task would be — can the labor of a detailed analysis
and commentary on all modem legislatures fall within its
scope. It seeks rather to set in array the principal phe-
nomena of such assemblies, and from the data furnished to
draw the more striking and essential lessons.
An accepted classification of legislatures is that of Con-
gresses and Parliaments, whose fundamental distinction lies
in the presence in a Parliament of an executive or ministry
chosen wholly or mainly from its own numbers. The Old
World is the home of the Parliament, as the New World is
of the Congress. The Parliament is the older form, for,
as Sir Henry Maine says, "The American Constitution is
distinctively English,'" and again, "There is no doubt that
the modern popular government of our day is of purely
English origin."' The example of the British Parliament
was followed by France, Spain, Portugal, and the Nether-
lands, in the great constitution-forming epoch after the fall
'Maine, Popular Oovernment, 11. '^ lb. 8.
10 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [52
of Napoleon, and more tardily by Italy, Germany, Austria-
Hungary, and others; and it is the prevalent form in Great
Britain's leading colonies. While she furnished the standard
type for parliamentary government, her stalwart offspring
supplied the model for Congresses.
The guiding principle is that the administration — the
"government" — must be in sympathy, politically, with the
popular house. This is the case both in lands with an
aristocratic upper house, and in countries like France, where
the political complexion of the Senate no longer affects the
administration.^
Marked deviations from the English type occur. In
France, for instance, ministerial responsibility is, to insular
views, in a more embryonic stage; the successor of a de-
feated ministry frequently contains prominent members of
its predecessor, and depends for support partly on the
adherents of this ministry. The alignment of party groups
in the Parliaments of the Continent, their combinations
and readjustments, seem more erratic than political changes
in the British bodies. So recent is the regime of the
Reichstag in Germany that the significance of an adverse
majority vote is ill defined. But there is a family resem-
blance discernible as we follow the proceedings of the
European bodies, except in countries with a burlesque popu-
lar government.^
When we consider the United States Congress we are,
in more senses than one, in another world. That authori-
tative writer on " Congressional Government," Prof. W^ood-
row Wilson, says: "The parliamentary debates are inter-
esting, and ours are not. . . In the British House of Com-
mons the functions of our Standing Committees are all
concentrated in the hands of the Ministry. Every important
discussion is an arraignment of the Ministry by the Oppo-
' Burgess, Political Science, II., 26.
^The present rule in Bulgaria is happily characterized by F.
Hopkinson Smith as a government of opera bouffe.
53] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 11
sition. And every important vote is a party defeat and a
party triumph."'
On the other hand we may set the opinion of an equally
close observer: "1 must not be understood as advocating
the European plan as preferable for this country. The
evils that inevitably flow from any fundamental change in
the institutions of a country are apt to be much more
serious than the evils which the change is intended to re-
move. Political government is like a plant; a little water-
ing and pruning do very well for it, but the less its roots
are fooled with the better. In the American system of
government the independence of the executive department,
with reference to the legislative, is fundamental, and on the
whole it is eminently desirable."^
The nomenclature presents some interesting features.
Congress is the name in the New World ;^ Senate is the
word for the upper chamber, House of Representatives or
Chamber of Representatives for the lower. In the separate
States of the Union, Legislature or General Assembly is
the usual term for the whole body; but the two old States
of Massachusetts and New Hampshire still preserve the
name of General Court, while a few Western States have a
Legislative Assembly. The States unanimously call their
upper house the Senate; the lower body is generally termed
House of Representatives; but New York and a few West-
ern States speak of their Assembly, New Jersey of the
General Assembly, Maryland and the two Virginias of the
House of Delegates.
Abroad, Parliament, or some word equivalent to Diet, is
commonly used for the law-making body, and the native
names of Storthing, Cortes, Sobranje, Skupshtina, and Boule,
are also encountered. The Portuguese House of Peers, the
Prussian, Austrian, and British House of Lords, the Hun-
' Wilson, Congressional Government, 94.
^Fiske, Civil Government, 169.
^But Parliament is used in Uruguay.
12 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [54
garian House of Magnates, proclaim their character; while
for the lower house we find that Chamber of Deputies is
a common form.
The larger British colonies naturally copy the example
of the mother country, as the Cape, Victorian, or Canadian
Parliament; but we find that Legislative Council is the
almost universal name for the upper house in British colo-
nial bodies; the nomenclature of their lower houses is varied.
In considering the important topic of the electorate of a
country, we notice, first, the relation of this electorate to the
whole population. Universal suffrage, it is needless to say,
obtains in the United States, though Delaware still adheres
to a tax qualification in State Senate elections. On the
American continent universal suffrage, on the whole, pre-
vails, but the exceptions are numerous. In Canada a
property qualification exists. In Alexico the electorate
comprises " all respectable male adults " — a somewhat elastic
term. Costa Rica limits the suffrage to " those able to live
respectably " — a rule that would, if strictly enforced, result,
in many localities, in the establishment of a close oligarchy.
Ecuador makes a religious test: Roman Catholic adults,
able to read and write. Chili requires a property or income
qualification. Brazil presents a novel feature, in that it
disfranchises soldiers and members of certain monastic
orders. The humor of a rather dry subject is furnished by
Hayti, which enacts the requirement that her citizens should
" have some vocation."
Since the Act of 1884, the British electorate is increased
to include about one-sixth of the population (one-fourth to
nine-fortieths being about the normal ratio). Some peculiar
restrictions are observed in the colonial bodies. For ex-
ample, in the Victorian Parliament, while the lower house
is elected by general suffrage, the Legislative Council is
chosen by electors with a property qualification ; but clergy-
men, lawyers, medical practitioners, army and navy officers,
and graduates of a British university are electors ptr se, so
that a premium is placed on learning. The same respect to
55] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 13
education is shown in Tasmania; in general the Australian
colonies are fond of a property or income qualification, and
this is true of several other British possessions.
Those great bodies, the German Reichstag and French
Chamber of Deputies, are chosen by general suffrage; but
these cases are exceptional. Tlie restrictions are many and
diversified. For the Portuguese lower house the require-
ments are so comparatively insignificant that the electorate
embraces one-fifth of the population; the stipulations in
Italy limit the electorate for the lower house to one-tenth
of the inhabitants, and attendance at the voting-urns in
1892' was fifty per cent, of the electorate; in the Netherlands
the ratio is one-fifteenth; in Spain, Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden, about one-seventeenth. In the several German
States the electorate for the local Landtags is restricted in
less than half the number (including, however, Bavaria).
For relics of the feudal system we must go to IMecklenburg,
where no body exists to represent the people at large.
Neither the Austrian and Hungarian bodies, nor the Land-
tags of the crown lands, are chosen by general suffrage.
Bulgaria and Greece — recent additions to the household of
nations — allow manhood suffrage. Switzerland has general
suffrage for its National Council, but the cantons dift'er con-
siderably in electoral requirements regarding the cantonal
legislatures. To relieve the tedium of these details, we may
note an electoral provision in Montenegro, where half of the
members of the nominal State Council are elected by citizens
able to bear arms, — a provision which in that warlike little
principality must include nearly everybody outside of
cradles.
While property and income qualifications are the common
forms of restriction, various others are found. Japan dis-
franchises priests; the Orange Free State draws the color
line in its Volksraed; Italy favors learned men, as members
of academies. Both Denmark and Norway exclude house-
1 Nation, Dec. 8, 1892.
14 The Representative AssemhUes of To-day. [56
hold servants. The free cities of Germany are quite aris-
tocratic in their provisions, and favor the taxpayers and
merchants. Hungary exempts certain professional and
learned classes — chemists, engineers, etc. — from the small
income or real estate qualification, and extends this exemp-
tion to an artisan having a single workman under him.^
Direct election is the preferred form, though there are
some notable exceptions. These include Costa Rica, Peru,
and some small German States; part of the Austrian
Abgeordnetenhaus is chosen in this way, and so are, in
part, the Austrian Landtags. Rumania, too, has electoral
colleges. But perhaps tlie most noteworthy instance of
indirect election is that for the Prussian Chamber of
Deputies. The electors, in the first instance, are classed in
three groups, favoring the highest payers of direct taxes, by
an arrangement which somewhat reminds one of the old
Roman centuries and classes.
The bicameral system has met the approval of most of
the leading political writers,^ and is realized in practice by
the legislatures of the principal countries. Legislative bodies
with a single chamber are common in cities, in departmental,
provincial, and county councils. Many of the smaller Ameri-
can cities and some of the larger' have a council of one
chamber. But every* American State legislature has two
houses. The unicameral bodies fall into three or four
main groups: the Parliaments of the minor States of south-
eastern Europe, Servia, Bulgaria, and Greece; the Con-
gresses of the States of Central America, Nicaragua ex-
cepted, compose another group; the Landtags of the
Austrian crown lands are one-chambered, and so are nearly
all the Diets of the minor German States, excepting those
of the free cities.
' Victor Tissot, Unknown Hun gary, I., 134.
'^ Bagehot is a notable exception.
^E. g., New York, San Francisco, Brooklyn.
* Pennsylvania was formerly an exception.
57] The Representative Assemhlies of To-day. 15
A qualification of members is usually required, on the
lines of age, as in the United States and generally, or of
property, as is usually the case in Europe and the British
possessions; or certain classes may be non-eHgible: Brazil
objects to clergy, ministers of state, and military officers in
its lower house. The French Senate rules out generals
and admirals in active service. Victoria bars out clergy-
men, and South Australia excludes both clergymen and
judges. Italy also debars priests from its lower house.
In the Portuguese Chamber, members, if they belong to the
learned professions, are not subjected to the property quali-
fication. Hungar}'- has a provision suggestive of reflection.
It declares non-eligible members of financial societies hav-
ing relations with the State, and administrators of subsi-
dized railroads.^ The South African Republic (Transvaal),
besides other qualifications, requires candidates for the
Volksraed to be members of a Protestant church, — a stipu-
lation which calls up to Americans a reminiscence of Puritan
New England in colonial times.
In the composition of the two houses, wherever there is
a difference, the divergence is striking. If an age limit is
required, that for the upper house is considerably greater.
If property qualification is the test, the member of the upper
house is rated far higher. So it is with length of residence
and with length of terms of, service. Of the forty-four
individual States of the American Union, only thirteen have
equal terms for the two houses; the States frequently allot
either four years for the Senate and two years for the lower
house, or two years and one year respectively. Brazil,
Sweden, and Hawaii, like the United States, give to the
upper house thrice the term of service assigned to the lower.
A comparison of the relative size of the two houses is
interesting. The upper is, with hardly an exception, the
smaller. In some cases — notably in Europe — the disparity
is not great. The House of Lords numbers 559 and the
'Cy. V. Tissot, Unknown Hungary, II., 134.
16 The Representative Assemhlies of To-day. [58
Commons 670; the two chambers of the Spanish Cortes are
nearly equal, — not far from 400. The upper body in the
Swedish and Italian Parliaments is not greatly inferior to
the lower in point of numbers; and the Hungarian House
of Magnates actually counts a few more than the popular
branch ; while the new Japanese Parliament preserves almost
a parity. But the ratio is generally large. In most of the
American States the Senate is one-half to one-third the size
of the popular body. In New York, Pennsylvania, and
Georgia the ratio is i 14, in Massachusetts i : 6, in Vermont
I : 8, in Connecticut i : 12, in New Hampshire 1:15, and
in Delaware i : 22. Delaware has the smallest legislative
body of the States, — a Senate of 9.
On the question of size it would appear that when a cer-
tain point — perhaps about 250 or 300 — is passed, the work-
ing qualities of the legislature are impaired. The American
House of Representatives has steadily grown, and its present
number, 356, seems to many too large for a business body.
The old States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, and Vermont show the largest houses, and all reach or sur-
pass 240. The largest State, New York, has a Senate of
only 32 and a lower house of only 128. Turning to the
Old World, we find in the House of Commons the largest
legislative body, 670; but the French Chamber is not far
behind with 584 members. The lower houses of all the
great European powers are equal or far superior in numbers
to our House at Washington. It is to be noted that repre-
sentative bodies of a temporary character are still more
unwieldy. Thus the national conventions have double the
membership of both houses of Congress together. The
annual convention of the Massachusetts Republicans has
over 1000 members. Bulgaria has a Great Sobranje, con-
vened on extraordinary occasions, and this is just twice the
size of the Sobranje proper, and there is a similar extraor-
dinary assembly in Servia.
As to the relative importance of the houses, the close hold
which, in a democratic age, the lower house has on the
59] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 17
people, the constitutional lead which it so generally main-
tains in financial and revenue affairs give it an undoubted
pre-eminence. In view of the great powers of the United
States Senate in the matters of treaties and confirmations of
appointments, one is tempted to consider it an exception to
the rule. But it is the Chamber of Deputies whose pro-
ceedings we follow, not the French Senate; the Austrian
Abgeordnetenhaus, not the Herrenhaus. The House of
Lords concerns us little compared with its mighty confrere.
Says Sir Henry Maine on this point: "We are drifting
towards ... a single Assembly; it will be a theoretically
all-powerful Convention, governed by a practically all-power-
ful secret Committee of Public Safety."'
The United States Senate is by general consent^ one of
the most powerful organizations in the world. Besides the
privilege of initiating any bills except those for revenue, and
of amending, concurring in or rejecting the House bills, it
confirms or vetoes many of the most important appointments
by the President, such as the nominees to diplomatic and
consular missions, judges (including those of the Supreme
Court), various notable officers in the civil service; nomi-
nally, too, it confinns or rejects the members of the Cabinet,
although this latter privilege is practically a dead letter, even
when, as is often the case, the President and the Senate
majority belong to antagonistic parties. In addition, the
Senate's assent is necessary for the validity of all treaties.
The " Upper House," by reason of its mode of election and
smaller size, is less sensitive to changes of public opinion
than the House of Representatives.
The principles involved in the terms scnitin de liste and
congressman-at-large call for some comment. The French
system of voting for the half-dozen deputies of a depart-
ment on a "general ticket" has, after some fluctuations,
since 1889 been supplanted by the district method of
'Maine, Popular Government, 126.
^E. g., cf. Maine, Popular Government, 226.
18 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [60
scrutin (V arrondissement. A few cases of scrutin de liste
occur elsewhere. On the contrasting policies of choosing
representatives at large or by districts, or rather of exacting
or not exacting a residence in the district represented, we
may quote Bryce. In an address at the Johns Hopkins
Historical Seminary' he earnestly expressed the view — after-
wards elaborated in his "American Commonwealth " — that
the practice of restricting candidates to residents of the dis-
trict is a cardinal error of the American system. It can
readily be seen how this arrangement frequently keeps
well-equipped lawmakers out of the Congress or Legislature.
On the other hand, as the representative is supposed to serve
primarily a district, and not the State or nation, it may well
be urged that he should have that familiarity with the dis-
trict's needs which residence alone could give. So strong is
the American prejudice on the matter that instances of non-
residence in the district very rarely occur; when an outside
candidate appears, the cry of " carpet-bagger " is likely to be
raised, and with effect."
Where, as in an upper house, members are chosen with-
out regard to districts, some respect to geographical dis-
tribution is often shown. To refer again to an American
example: if one United States Senator from a given State
is identified through residence or interests with the northern
or western part of that State, the other will be taken from
the southern or eastern portion. This principle is indeed
often violated, and has little hold in some States; but in
Maryland one of the Senators is invariably chosen from the
Eastern Shore, — a region which contains one-fifth of the
population of that commonwealth.
An attempt to realize a just apportionment is now made
in the British House of Commons. No borough with a
population under 10,000 has a representative. Boroughs
' 1883.
"^B. g., in the Sixth Massachusetts District, 1890 and 1892, Everett
vs. Lodge.
61] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 19
of between 10,000 and 50,000 have one each; of between
50,000 and 165,000 two each. Boroughs of over 165,000
have one additional member for each 50,000 to 60,000.
The apportionment in France, in the Chamber of
Deputies, is reasonably equitable, in the ratio of i : 70,000
inhabitants. In the German Reichstag it is very unequal:
some members represent less than 12,000 inhabitants; others,
over 160,000. No attempt at apportionment is made in the
Landtags of the Austrian crown lands.
We may say in general that attempts to realize a fair
apportionment for the lower chamber at least are in vogue,
and the ratio of a member to the number of inhabitants is
generally least in the least populous countries. Thus the
United States shows the large ratio of i : 173,000; Italy,
I : 57,000; France, i 170,000; while Paraguay has i : 6000,
and Uruguay i : 3000.
As the States of the American Union vary greatly in
population, the disproportionate representation of the minor
States — notable even at the adoption of the Constitution —
has become excessive. In Nevada 21,000 persons are rep-
resented by a United States Senator; in New York nearly
3,000,000, a ratio of i : 140; these are the extremes. In
Wyoming and Idaho a Senator's constituency is 30,000 to
40,000; in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois it is 2,000,000
to 3,000,000.
Each representative has a constituency of approximately
173,000 persons. This theoretical attempt at comparative
equality of representation is in practice considerably modi-
fied; yet the distribution is fairer than that in the British
House of Commons, in the lower houses of many Conti-
nental countries, and in the Assemblies of many of the
individual States. Several causes combine to retard the
approach to an ideal apportionment. Three States have a
population far less than the standard of representation, yet
each is entitled to a member. In others the arrangement
into districts is unequal, or it becomes so through the un-
equal development of different sections. In some States,
20 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [62
for local reasons, nearly the whole electorate takes part in
choosing a Congressman ; in others perhaps one-half or less
than one-half of the voters exercise their rights. Moreover,
the system of gerrymandering often works unjustly, separ-
ating, for political purposes, regions contiguous and related
in interests.
I quote a few cases of disproportionate representation in
Congressional districts:' Population of the Second Cali-
fomian District, 150,571; of the Sixth, 315,094. Connecti-
cut showed in the Third District 121,792; in the Second,
248,582. Minnesota showed 171,271 in the First, and
414,635 in the Fourth. Coming nearer home, in New
York the Sixth' District had 107,844, and the Thirteenth'
had 312,404. The evil has no local home. The Third
Pennsylvania District had 129,764, and the next, the Fourth,
had 309.r:86.
The distribution of seats in State legislatures is frequently
ruieven. New York presents some instances of this; in
Wisconsin, by a recent gerrymander (reversed, however, by
the Supreme Court), while the basis of population for a
n) ember in the Assembly is 16,868, four districts exhibit
these figures: 6823, 7923, 16,868 and 25,143.* But the
most glaring cases of rotten boroughs occiu* in New Eng-
land, in Vermont," and notably in Connecticut; in this
unfortunate State, to quote from a recent publicist," there
would be found in the lower house " one town with a popu-
lation of 86,045 equalized with another town having a popu-
lation of but 431; and as to the State Senate, a district
which at the Presidential election of 1888 cast 17,649 votes
equalized with another district casting but 2585 votes." We
are reminded of Old Sarum.
' Congressional Directory, 1891.
- In New York City. "^Ibid.
•* New York Evening Post, Dec. 1891.
*H. White, Fortnightly Review, 32 : 506.
« The Nation, Dec. 17, 1891.
63] The Representative AssemhUes of To-day. 21
There are in the upper house some instances of attempted
apportionment with a view to population. But where the
federal system of government prevails, the individuality of
the component parts has been jealously guarded. Compare
the equal representation of the States in the Senate, in the
American Union, with that of the Cantons in the Swiss
Council of States.
Few bodies have longer terms of existence than six years.
The model furnished by the United States Senate was
followed by some countries further south, though the Argen-
tine Republic and Brazil elect Senators for the extraor-
dinarily long term of nine years. This is also the term of
the First Chamber in the Netherlands. A maximum limit
(infrequently reached) within which time the Chamber may
be dissolved, of seven, five years, etc., is seen in the House
of Commons/ Italian Chamber, and many others. In gen-
eral, our Eastern and older States cling to short terms; the
newer and Western States prescribe longer periods. The
term in the Senate is frequently double that of the lower
house in the States. Four and two years respectively is the
combination now in use in twenty-seven out of the forty-
four States. One State — Mississippi — assigns four years
to each house.
No generalization can be made involving a comparison
of short or long terms of service and political freedom or
repression in the respective countries.
In regard to re-election of members, the best examples of
long service are to be found in the House of Commons.
Instances of ten and fifteen years' service are common;
twenty or thirty years are not rare. Gladstone's case is often
quoted; a continuous service — except a short Intermission
in 1846-47 — from December, 1832, to the present time; but
remarkable as that is, it does not greatly exceed some other
records.^ The parliamentary careers of Continental leaders
' Of twenty -three Parliaraents in this century, only three have
passed the six-year limit.
'^ E.g., Palmerston, Russell.
22 Tlie Representative AssemUies of To-day. [64
are frequently long. The prominent men in the Assemblies
of France, Spain, and Italy, for example, have been re-elected
again and again. In the United States Senate re-election is
common. Not a few Senators are a second time re-elected,
and there are some instances of service like the uninterrupted
thirty years of Benton, the twenty-three years of Sumner,
or the twenty-eight years of Sherman. Of seventy-six Sena-
tors in the Fifty-second Congress (omitting those from the
six newly-admitted States') forty have passed their first term.
It has been often stated that the South honors her delegates
by re-election more frequently than the North, but an ana-
lysis of the Fifty-second Congress shows that the percentages
of the two sections do not vary greatly.
A fair majority of representatives are usually re-elected.
A few attain a service of five or six terms, and the dean of
the body can generally look back upon over twenty years
of continuous life in the popular branch. Too often personal
reasons, party exigencies, or a mistaken devotion to the
sacred cause of rotation interfere.
In the smaller field of local American bodies, long tenure
of office not seldom prevails, and New York can boast that
the late Republican leader' of the Assembly had been
for twenty-two years elected to that body, and had been six
times Speaker. Against this we may set a small town in an
adjoining county of Connecticut, where nearly every import-
ant citizen belonging to the dominant party had served in
the legislature; or we may instance a certain district iiv
Massachusetts, where four small towns furnish in rotation
a representative ; we can easily count up seven citizens from
a single part of one of these towns who have in this way
illustrated the great principle of rotation in ofifice.
The initiative in legislation, in so far as revenue matters
are concerned, has been conferred, with substantial unanimity,
' North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho,
Wyoming.
^ James W. Husted.
65] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 23
on the lower branch. This house stands the nearest to the
people. And of all questions, those which affect the pocket-
book may be called the most vital to the citizens at large.
In the Spanish Cortes, however, either house may take the
initiative. Familiar instances of the primacy of the lower
branch in this respect are the American House of Represent-
atives, the House of Commons, the Danish Folkething, and
the Portuguese Chamber. The Bundesrath, essentially a
diplomatic body, and hardly furnishing a real parallel to
other senates or conclaves of peers, is an apparent exception
to the general rule ; it originates bills, has an oversight of the
administration, and possesses important confirming powers.
Fourteen of its fifty-eight votes can negative a constitutional
amendment. The restrictions laid on the upper house are
exemplified in some constitutions. For instance, in the
Netherlands, it cannot amend the bills of the lower body,
but must accept or reject them in toto. The British House
of Lords cannot amend a money bill, neither can the Cana-
dian Senate. The upper house of the Prussian Landtag
cannot amend the budget.
The relations to the executive show great divergence.
Countries of the English type display the ministerial respon-
sibility well developed. On the Continent generally the con-
nection is somewhat slighter. In Sweden and Norway it
is undefined. Affairs in Germany may be said to be in a
somewhat anomalous position. To be sure, the German
Constitution " creates no ministry responsible to the legis-
lature." ^ But the system of government seems to be in a
transition stage between the one-man rule of quasi abso-
lutism under constitutional forms, and the liberal regime of
modern times. There is no ministerial responsibility in
Switzerland. Between the Anglo-Continental system and the
Congressional plan there is, as was remarked above, a world-
wide difference.
'Burgess, Political Science, II., 26.
24 * The Representative Assemhlies of To-day. [66
The sovereign of a monarchy or the president of a
repubhc still has, with few exceptions, some share — often
considerable — in legislation.' The German emperor has vast
power; the other European constitutional sovereigns gen-
erally less. The king of Sweden has an absolute veto in
Sweden, and promulgates various laws, though in his office
as king of Norway he has a suspensive veto only, and pos-
sesses some temporary powers when the Storthing is not
sitting.
The restrictions placed on national governments by diff-
erent constitutions are well illustrated in the United States
and Canada. In the latter the Dominion Parliament has all
powers not expressly conferred on the Provinces. The
American States retain all powers not definitely bestowed
on the Federal Congress. The wide field of legislation
occupied by the Parliament at London is well contrasted
with the narrower scope of our Congress. " Consider the
most important subjects of legislation in England during
the present century, the subjects which make up almost the
entire constitutional history of England for eighty years.
These subjects are: 'Catholic emancipation, parliamentary
reform, the abolition of slavery, the amendment of the poor-
laws, the reform of municipal corporations, the repeal of
the corn laws, the admission of Jews to Parliament, the dis-
establishment of the Irish Church, the alteration of the
Irish land laws, the establishment of national education, the
introduction of the ballot, and the reform of the criminal
law.' In the United States only two of these twelve great
subjects could be dealt with by the Federal government,
(repeal of the corn laws and the abolition of slavery). All
the other questions enumerated would have to be dealt with
by our State governments."' Important undertakings are
now often authorized by private bills' in die British Parlia-
ment.
' The President of Honduras has the absolute veto.
' Fiske, Civil Government, 177.
' S. Walpole, T7ie Electorate and the Legislature, 132.
67] The Representative Assemhlies of To-day. 25
As another instance of differing powers, the national legis-
lature can — in Mexico for instance — determine the condi-
tions of suffrage; in Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, it
attends to details only;' and in tlie United states this matter
is left to the separate States.
The centralized tendencies of the French system are too
well known to require comment, although the provisions of
the Constitution are, comparatively, neither numerous nor
complex.^ Our Congress plays a lesser part in legislation
touching individual liberty, as that matter is provided for in
the Constitution. In such powerful States as France, Ger-
many, and Great Britain, legislation has a far greater share
in establishing such civil liberty as exists.^
The Federal Assembly of Switzerland has elective and
judicial powers. The House of Lords is a judicial body in
impeachment matters, as is the American Senate; and the
Storthing is also a high court of impeachment, in which the
Lagthing and Odelsthing have parts analogous to those of
our houses of Congress. The Bundesrath acts as a court
in certain cases. The French National Assembly has the
important duty of electing the President of the Republic,
while the Swiss Federal Assembly chooses the entire executive
(Federal Council).
The provinces covered respectively by organic law and
statute law are loosely defined in many countries, Switzer-
land* for instance. Some recent State constitutions introduce
provisions that older State constitutions have left to the dis-
cretion of the legislatures.'
Every parliamentary body has, of course, a presiding
officer and such functionaries as clerks or secretaries, and
doorkeepers, messengers or intermediaries between the diff-
erent branches of government, and various attendants. The
'B. Moses, Federal Government in Switzerland, 99.
» Wilson, State, 200.
^Burgess, Political Science, I., 182, etc.
* McCracken, Federal Government in Switzerland.
^Fiske, Civil Government, 194.
26 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [68
Speaker — as he is usually styled in Anglo-Saxon countries,
the President, to use his ordinary title elsewhere — is a per-
sonage of great importance. But in Great Britain his func-
tions are those of a presiding officer principally, and this is
usually the case. But British or colonial speakers, presidents
of chambers of deputies, sink into comparative insignificance
beside the American Speaker. This august personage has
become in importance the second in the country. Member
and a chief leader of the party in control of the House of
Representatives, he appoints the committees which shape all
legislation. Through the make-up of these committees he
promotes or retards policies and measures of great moment.
Interpreting with much latitude his functions as presiding
officer, he recognizes on the floor those whom he selects.
An interesting contrast is furnished between republican
United States and monarchical Spain. In the former a new
member, or one having no especial prominence, may for a
session vainly try, though endowed with extraordinary lung-
power, to "catch the Speaker's eye"; in the latter any mem-
ber can hand his name in advance to the Speaker, who
assigns to him a turn on the floor.' The vast appointive
power of the Speaker is possessed on a smaller scale by the
Speakers of the State legislatures.
The rules of the American House are much more compli-
cated than those of the Senate. Indeed, so intricate are the
House rules that one or two sessions must ordinarily be
passed before a member is fairly well equipped for the busi-
ness. As members not unfrequently serve but a term or
two, this complexity of rules must have marked results on
legislation. Certain days are set apart for particular branches
of legislation, as in the House of Representatives, Monday
for new bills on the roll call of the States, Friday for private
bills, etc.;' in the House of Commons, for example, Mondays,
Thursdays and Fridays are reserved for government orders,
Tuesdays for notices of motions.
1 Cf. e. g., H. M. Field, Old Spain and New, 107.
'^Wilson, Congressional Government, 73,
69] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 27
Intercourse between the chambers is conducted with less
state than formerly. In cases of disagreement between the
two houses, conference committees arrange a compromise;
on this point a curious and perhaps praiseworthy provision
exists in Austria : " if a disagreement irise between the cham-
bers (of the Reichsrath) upon a question of finance or of
militarv' recruitment, the lowest figures or numbers are to
be considered adopted." ^
To facilitate legislation and check useless talking and
obstruction, recourse is had to various devices. In tlie
United States the previous question is used. Closure has
been practiced in recent years in England as well as on the
Continent, though one important British colony has not
followed in the maternal footsteps." A radical change in
this respect was effected by the 51st Congress, in 1890,
which adopted a new set of rules; the leading point of this
celebrated code was the following : " The names of mem-
bers (sullficient to make a quorum) in the hall of the House
who do not vote shall be noted by the Clerk and recorded
in the journal, and reported to the Speaker with the names
of the members voting, and be counted and announced in
determining the presence of a quorum to do business.''"*
As already hinted, committee government reaches its
greatest development in the United States. There is a pecu-
liar arrangement in France. The Senate has nine bureaux,
and the Chamber has eleven. These select the committee-
men monthly by lot. These committees are named: those
on leave, petitions, parliamentary initiative, and local inter-
ests, and they consider propositions of private members; but
financial matters are considered in the Senate by a special
standing committee of eighteen members, the Finance Com-
mittee, and in the Chamber by a like body of thirty-three,
^Wilson, State, 347.
'^ No closure in the Dominion Parliament ; Bourinot, J. H. TT.
Studies, 7th series, 572.
'5l8t Congress. Rules, XV., 3.
28 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [70
the Budget Committee." The German Reichstag has no
standing committees/ but the Bundesrath has twelve. In
Norway the Lagthing, comprising one-fourth of the Stor-
thing, is itself a sort of revising committee. In Sweden
there is a peculiar feature in the existence of a joint com-
mittee of the houses on legislation.
The Dominion Parliament has important committees on
private bills, public accounts, agriculture and colonization.
It has one colossal committee of i6o members on railways.
These committees are appointed by a bureau called the com-
mittee of selection."
This feature of a committee of selection is taken from the
British House of Commons. That committee appoints the
select committees, alone or in conjunction with the House,
or the House alone may appoint them in some cases.^ The
Committee of Selection is itself appointed by the House."
The House has two standing committees on trade and legal
affairs; on financial matters there are two committees of the
whole House: the Committee of Supply — on the estimates —
and the Committee of Ways and Means. In the Lords, the
committees of the whole House, according to a recent
reviewer, are the poorest, while the select committees do the
best work.
Let us now take a glance at the elaborate committee
organization of Congress. In the House of the 52nd Con-
gress" there were forty-three standing and eight select. The
membership ranges from 15 in the more important, like
Ways and Means, to 7 (in the Committee on Expenditure in
the Department of Agriculture). Far at the head of all in
significance now stands the Ways and Means, appointment
to which is regarded as nearly equivalent to the chairmanship
• Wilson, State.
"^Ibid, 262.
^ Bourinot, J. H. U. Studies, 7th series, 565, 569.
■•S. Walpole, Electorate and the Legislature, 115.
"•Ibid.
'' 1891-93.
71] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 29
of an ordinary committee, while its chairman is sometimes
afifectedly styled the " Premier," from an erroneous analogy
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or First Lord of the
Treasury. Among those of next consequence may be named,
Appropriations, Judiciary, Interstate and Foreign Commerce,
Rivers and Harbors, Elections, Banks and Currency, Coinage,
Weights and Measures, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Military
Affairs, Naval Affairs, Merchant Marine and Fisheries.
The Senate had forty-three standing and eleven select
committees. The number of members on a committee
ranges from eleven in the most important to three in the
minor committees. Appropriations and Finance head the
list, and then come Commerce, Foreign Relations, Judiciar}-^,
Interstate Commerce, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, Privi-
leges and Elections, Public Lands, Rules, and Fisheries,
among the more important. The nature of the select com-
mittees may be inferred from such titles as. Transportation
of Meat Products, Committee to Establish a University of
the United States, Quadro-Centennial, Nicaraguan Claims,
and Committee on President's Message Transmitting Report
of Pacific Railway Commission.
To illustrate the character of the committee in a State
body, let us take the make-up of the New York Legislature
for 1891. There were 34 Senate Committees, of which the
chief were: Finance, Judiciary, Railroads, Cities, Commerce
and Navigation, Canals, Insurance, Taxation and Retrench-
ment, Miscellaneous Corporations. As illustrations of com-
mittees of a local nature, we may name those on Manufacture
of Salt, and Game-Laws. The average membership of
important committees was 7, on others 3, In the Assembly,
Ways and Means, Judiciary, General Laws, Revision, Codes,
Tax and Retrenchment, Canals, Affairs of Cities, Railroads,
Commerce and Navigation, Insurance, Banks, and Excise
head the list; while Soldiers' Home, Fisheries and Game
and Indian Affairs serve to illustrate lines of legislation on
distinctively local subjects. The membership of Assembly
Committees was 11 or 9. Attention is called to the cor-
30 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [72
respondence in names of the leading committees in the
upper and lower houses and those in the two houses of Con-
gress.
Now, to illustrate the use of committees in a local
legislative body, let us take Brockton, Massachusetts, a
manufacturing city of about 27,000 inhabitants, which grad-
uated from the town meeting and selectmen form of adminis-
tration some eleven years ago. There is' a board of 7 alder-
men, one from each ward, and a board of 21 common council-
men, 3 from each ward. They are elected annually and
receive no pay; the aldermen hold meetings weekly, the com-
mon councilmen ordinarily once in two weeks. There are
twelve joint standing committees, with an average member-
ship of 5, of which we may mention as specially important
those on finance, claims, accounts, public property, water,
fuel and street lights, fire, highways, sewerage and drainage.
There are two standing committees of the common council on
elections and returns, and on enrolled ordinances, and these
also give name to two of the seven standing committees of
aldermen; the remaining five are entrusted with police,
licenses, health, state aid, and buildings. A tendency to
elaboration of committee organization is observable generally
in the United States. Even the new State of Washington
finds necessary 38 standing committees in its Senate,' and 43
in its House."
The phenomenon of a permanent committee between two
sessions is observed in the Bundesrath with its eight com-
missions, and on a smaller scale in Uruguay, where a com-
mittee of Parliament sits from July to February in the place
of the main body.
Sessions are annual, as is usually the case with Congress;
or there are sessions at intervals through the year, as in
Europe; or, as in nearly all the American States, the sessions
?re biennial; only five States, viz. New York, Massachusetts,
' Brockton City Oovernment, 1889.
^ More than one to each of the 35 members.
^ Legislative Manual of Washington, 1891-92.
73] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 31
Rhode Island, New Jersey, and South Carohna, retain annual
sessions, and those of Ohio are virtually annual.
The opening and closing of sessions take place with more
or less of pomp and ceremony, with accompaniments of
speeches from the throne and presidential messages, with
important announcements, with unusual concourse of visi-
tors, and frequent hurry and rush of measures, in the closing
hours. The German Chancellor in his opening address to
the Reichstag stands like a statue in full armor, leaning on
his sword. In the Diet of Croatia and Slavonia the cere-
monies of opening and closing are still " performed with a
pomp and parade worthy of the Aliddle Ages.'"
On the subject of parliamentary manners, an American,
fresh from contemplation of proceedings in Congress or a
State legislature, is inclined to think that turbulence is often
the order of the day. The solemn carrying of the mace
through the National House of Representatives is, however,
a rare occurrence. Careful attention to the business of the
house is uncommon in both branches of Congress, where
members may be observed reading, writing or telling stories,
and an orator sometimes speaks to a corporal's guard, while
the vast majority fly to the cloak rooms.' With this habit
we may compare the practice in the British House of Com-
mons of " scraping down " a long-winded speaker. An
inspection of the records two generations ago shows an
advance. Imagine such a scene occurring now, even in
a passionate debate, as took place in Jackson's time, between
Randolph of Roanoke and a rough fighter from Connecticut,
when personal allusions on mutual bodily infirmities were
interchanged in language that cannot be reported, apparently
without reprimand. But parliamentary good manners and
orderliness are still far below the ideal. In the British House
of Commons bear-garden scenes took place when Gladstone
was assailed in 1885. One orator used the unrebuked
' Victor Tissot, Unknown Hungary, I,, 117.
^E. g., a Senator, well equipped on his theme, recently read his
carefully prepared address to an audience of one.
32 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [74
euphemism " You are a liar." ' The Saturday Review, surely
no unfriendly critic on home matters, thus declares: "The
House of Commons hardly comes up any longer to the
recognized standard of a debate in Washington."^ In the
Italian Chamber of Deputies " the violent remarks of the
Socialist leader, Signor Cipriani, who was frequently called
to order, led to so great an uproar that the presiding officer
was obliged to suspend the sitting."^ Similar occurrences
happened in the French Chamber of Deputies in the winter
of 1891-92; ''Unbridled license prevails,"' says one writer.
In a recent session of the lower house of the Austrian
Reichsrath the word traitor was used and was followed by
a scene of indescribable tumult; a crowd of Czechs sur-
rounded the orator, threatening physical violence, and the
presiding officer was forced to close the sitting.^
It is pleasant to note the testimony of observers in the
other direction. Thus an habitual attendant remarks that
" many years have passed since a member (of the Dominion
House of Commons) has been named and censured."^ The
courtesy and order in the Spanish Cortes have attracted
favorable attention. All State legislatures are not bear-
gardens. And we may believe that such scenes as those
above described are sporadic.
The personality of members is an important matter. And
we have now to consider the vocations and the general grade
of intelligence and ability. In this country lawyers lead;
bankers, merchants, manufacturers, business men in general,
farmers, and a sprinkling of doctors, professors, and clergy-
men is found. But the latter classes are rarely seen in
Congress, The 52nd Congress had only one or two exam-
ples of the "scholar in politics." Local conditions may
' Fortnightly Review, 45 : 264.
"^Saturday Review, March 4, 1882.
3N. Y. Herald dispatch, Dec. 6, 1891.
* In 1889.
^N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 19, 1892.
«Bourinot, in J. H. U. Studies, 7th series, 572.
75] The Representative Asscnihlics of To-day. 33
bring certain occupations to the front; as the farmers in many
State legislatures. On the other hand, a great city's con-
tingent to the legislature and the municipal body may
present peculiar features. Witness the annual records of that
Doomsday Book, the " Directory for Voters," published by
the Reform Club of New York; in these ominous analyses
the statements " liquor-dealer," " no ostensible business but
politics," " practical politician," " lawyer of the lowest type,"
follow one another with tiresome regularity.
We may quote here a remark of an American publicist:
"There is no country where so little respect is paid to
acquirements, preparation, training in the arts of legislation
and government. Lawyers are generally preferred for such
offices, it is true, but this is not because they are learned in
the law, but because their vocation has given them readiness
of speech";^ against this, we may set the recent prejudice
against lawyers evinced by the Populists in Kansas.
The House of Commons is still recruited very largely from
men of the leisure class. Younger sons of peers, lords by
courtesy, knights, large land-owners, still figure prominently
on the roll. But successful bankers, merchants and manu-
facturers are numerous. The " scholar in politics " is more
largely represented than in the United States. Here as else-
where the tendency manifested by men of the masses to be
led by men of the classes, may recall to the student of general
history the austere figure of Pericles, the hero of the demos,
those blue-blooded aristocratic tribunes Tiberius Gracchus
and Drusus, Mirabeau, and many others. The mass of the
temporal peers is composed of scions of families who have
appeared for ages in lists of the nobility or landed gentry.
But the ranks are steadily recruited from new blood ; a novits
homo, a successful general, brewer, or poet, bureaucratic
administrator, or treasury bench dignitary may look with
some confidence to the time when he shall be gazetted to
a viscountship or barony,
'H. White, Fortnightly Review, 1879.
34 The Representative Assemblies of Today. [76
The aristocratic persomiel of the British Parliament is,
naturally, not so marked in her colonial assemblies. The
Parliament of Victoria contains a fair sprinkling of men
from the ranks.' In a body of the composition of the House
of Lords, absenteeism is common, and sneers at " hereditary
legislators" and "drunken lords" or "sporting lords" are
only too well founded. The regular business is in fact
usually transacted by thirty or forty members. Yet it is
shown that about three-fourths of the lords speak or vote
each session. Journalists are popular candidates in France.
In the same country a man of letters or a savant, a distin-
guished novelist, poet, historian or scholar has an ambition — -
often satisfied — to crown his career by election to the
National Assembly. To a great degree the members of the
lower house of the Spanish Cortes are educated men of
position; and a recent cabinet in this monarchy, with its
traditions of grandees and a proud nobility, did not contain
a man with a title." In Germany the ^' learned element " is
probably present in fuller force than elsewhere. The Frank-
fort Parliament of 1848 was, as is well known, described as
an assemblage of professors; and the same tendency is still
visible to a less extent.
The average ability of legislators is a far more difficult
problem. Flings at the United States Senate as a club of
millionaires are common; and it must be said that there
seems no immediate prospect of a return to the epoch of
Webster, Clay and Calhoun; and it is undoubtedly true that
a rich man, of slender equipment for legislative duties, can
often reach this branch of Congress. But, it is urged, these
Senators cannot be men of light calibre; amidst the fiercest
competition they have forced their way to the front. The
standard in State legislatures does not seem to be improving,
if we may judge from recent indications.
' Fortnightly Review, 1879.
*H. M. Field, Old Spain and New, 107.
77] The Representative Assemhlics of To-day. 35
In local boards of aldermen and councilmen, the quality
of a city's law-givers depends apparently on the size of the
municipality, the indifference of a large mass of good citizens
to their political duties, and the growth of rings. Bold
indeed would be the man who would assert that New York
City had not as large a proportion of virtuous and enlight-
ened citizens as a small city in — let us say — Massachusetts.
And bolder still would be the man who would institute a
comparison between tlieir respective city councils.
In England the popular conception is undoubtedly ex-
pressed by the saying when a talented Commoner has been
translated to the Lords, that " he has been kicked upstairs."
At a modern election (1870), according to a late publicist,^
"a few Liberals of recognized ability stood for Parliament
and failed, with a single exception in Scotland, because being
men of limited means they could only afford to contest con-
stituencies where the influence of great landlords predomi-
nated." And Hare points out that the decrease of rotten
boroughs has caused fewer young men of marked ability to
enter public life.^ The days have nearly passed when a Pitt,
Palmerston, or Gladstone can hold important offices or rise
to prominence almost immediately after quitting the school
or university. It has been observed that political scholars
generally do better work outside of Parliament, as witness
Bentham, Grote, Fonblanque, and Harrison.
A careful observer of Canadian affairs says: "The
(Canadian) House of Commons comprises many of the ablest
men of the country, trained in law and politics."'' On the
Continent it is supposed that the average ability and char-
acter of the elected bodies is quite high; and this would
seem to be true in those countries where a large amount of
self-government has been intelligently practiced. The
French Senate, it is stated, will not suffer in comparison
with the Chamber of Deputies.* The turbulence noted in
' Fortnightly Review, 1879. ^ Thomas Hare, Representatives.
3 Bourinot, J. H. U. Studies, 7th series, 561.
^Burgess, Political Science, II., 112.
36 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [78
some of these Continental bodies may be racial, rather than
a criterion of character. Sir Charles Dilke, than whom there
are few more attentive observers of Continental politics,
makes this unfavorable comment : " There is a little eccen-
tricity in Italian politics, shown by the occasional return of
swindlers, libellers, lunatics and murderers to sit at Monte-
citorio."' Exceptions do not make the rule. The Hun-
garians are natural politicians; "A candidate (for the Hun-
garian Reichstag) rarely spends less than iSoo to warm his
seat, and £8000 have been spent."' The Spaniards crave a
seat in the Coites, and pay liberally for the privilege.
We next consider briefly the subject of local representa-
tive assemblies. Passing over the familiar State and Terri-
torial legislatures and municipal councils of this country,
we find that in Spanish America local self-government is
theoretically generally provided for. Each State in Mexico
has a legislature, popularly elected, as has Venezuela, whose
government is quite decentralized. Less liberal is the local
government of Colombia and Bolivia. Chili has popularly
elected departmental municipalities. Peru has a partial pro-
vision in this respect, with its Municipal Councils elected by
provincial colleges, and Costa Rica has cantonal municipal
government.' In government as elsewhere, no two things
are often farther apart than theory and practice, and th^
government of Guatemala, which enjoys universal suffrage,
is stated by a late exhaustive writer on her present condition,
to be "republican in name only."* The large and progres-
sive republics of Brazil and the Argentine Confederation
have State legislatures.
Local legislative bodies now exist in England and Wales,
since the creation of the County Councils in 1888. For these
purposes there is a division into 60 administrative counties,
61 county boroughs, and London, in all 122 districts. Coun-
' Dilke, Present Position of European Politics, 230.
'^Tissot, Unknown Hungary, II., 136.
U. B. Calvo, Gosta Rica, 161.
*W. T. Brigham, Guatemala, 321.
79] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 37
cillors are elected by popular vote for a term of three years.
In turn the councillors elect aldermen who serve for six years,
one-half retiring every three years. The councils are, how-
ever, subordinate to the Local Government Board of the
central government. They legislate on the management of
bridges, rates, hiring money, Parliamentary registration and
polling districts; they manage certain asylums and reforma-
tory schools, license halls for dancing, supervise the salaries
of certain ofBcers, etc. Except in London, they control the
police, conjointly, however, with the justices of the peace.
County Councils in Scotland, similar in most respects, were
created in 1889. Ireland has no popular government in the
counties.
The municipal corporations of England have councils,
elected by rate-payers, whose term is three years ; one-third of
the councillors retire every year. These bodies possess
wider powers than the county councils and have, in par-
ticular, a fuller control of police. The councillors elect the
aldermen and mayor. The County Council for London is
an important body of 128 members; the City of London has
a close board of 25 aldermen. Popular municipal govern-
ment in Scotland exists; in Ireland some of the towns are
partially self-governing. The city government of such large
British cities as Glasgow and Birmingham has attracted wide
and favorable comment.
Canada has provincial Parliaments with large local powers.
These Parliaments have two chambers, as in Quebec and
the Maritime Provinces, or one chamber, as in Ontario,
Manitoba and British Columbia. The North-West Terri-
tories have a Legislative Assembly, mostly elected. The
local bodies in the small British colonies are partly elected,
partly nominated. Local self-government in Australia is
rather restricted. New Zealand has popularly elected county
councils, and elsewhere there is popular government to a cer-
tain extent. The Cape, however, has quite a system of bodies
below its Parliament, divisional councils, partially elected city
councils, and Village Management Boards. In the largest pos-
38 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [80
session of all, British India, the local government principle has
been recently introduced to some extent, though Home Rule
for the country at large is jealously denied. The larger Indian
towns, and many of the smaller, now possess committees, a
majority of whose members are chosen by the rate-payers,
and the experiment, according to a recent political writer,'
was working quite satisfactorily in the Central Provinces.
France gives to its outlying possessions what Great Britain
denies — representation in the National Assembly. Algeria
contributes 6 deputies, and the colonies lo. Each French
department has an elected conseil general, having little
powers, and the elected conseils d' arrondis seine nts are also
of minor importance. Each commune possesses, through
choice by universal suffrage, a municipal council, whose
powers it is the object of the Radicals to greatly increase.
Algeria, besides representation at Paris, as above mentioned,
has a Superior Council, which votes a budget, elected by
provincial councils for the three provinces.
Each province in Spain has an annual parliament {Dispu-
tacion Provincial), and the communes have elected councils
{Aywitainiejttos) of 5 to 39 Regidores. Italy has also pro-
vincial parliaments and communal councils, and the com-
munal electorate is somewhat less restricted than the elec-
torate for Chamber of Deputies. A peculiarity in the
Belgian provincial councils is the standing committee of 6
members, which attends to local finances in the intervals
between the 15 days' sessions of the full council." Com-
munal councils, too, exist, but the electorate is restricted in
all the bodies. In the Netherlands, Provincial States, elected
for six years, legislate for the provinces and choose the upper
house. Permanent committees, called Deputed States, form
the executive. Communes have elected councils. The cen-
tral government keeps a close connection with these local
assemblies. Local self-government is not so extensive in
• Fortnigldly Review, 18S3, 45 : 243.
"^ Cf. the committee of the Bundesrath, mentioned above.
81] TJie Representative Assemblies of To-day. 39
Norway as in Sweden, although the former is considered to
be the more democratic country. Both have town and com-
munal councils, and Sweden has provincial councils.
Great diversity exists in Germany in the powers of the
local bodies, and there is no uniform system. There are
town and city councils, diets of the circles {Krcise), and
provincial landtags of the Prussian provinces; the last,
highest in importance of territory and population, have
limited powers. All tlie Swiss cantons have representative
assemblies, except Uri, Unterwalden, Glarus, and Appen-
zell, which furnish — in their Landesgemeinden — familiar
instances of pure democracy.^ The Landtags of Austria-
Hungary may be regarded as local bodies, and some of
them {e. g. the Bohemian diet) as, in a sense, national bodies.
Their composition is described in the table. Just as in some
parts of Spanish America we often find liberal provisions on
paper, and indififerent performances, so in Servia we observe
local assemblies for counties, municipalities and communes.
Legislative Assemblies in Russia may be dismissed with
almost the brevity of the celebrated chapter on the " Snakes
of Ireland." Householders of the viirs compose the com-
munal assemblies, and delegates of the mii's compose the
cantonal assemblies. The district and provincial Zemstvos
have certain powers, as have the municipal bodies; but
centralizing tendencies have been still further developed by
the changes of 1889 and 1890. Finland has a Parliament
which meets every few years. It has restricted powers, and
is formed from the four estates of nobles, clergy, burghers,
and peasants. The local self-government of the Russian
Baltic provinces, which had been largely in the hands of the
German nobility, has been nearly abolished by changes of
1888-89.
While establishing for herself an entirely new National
Parliament, Japan has also provided for prefectural {i. e. pro-
' See the interesting description of the proceedings of the Appen-
zell Landesgemeinde in Baj'^ard Taylor, Byioays of Europe.
40 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [82
vincial or departmental) and city assemblies, with restricted
powers. But she has joined the commonwealth of consti-
tutional nations too recently to allow of any deductions on
her parliamentary government.
No treatment of representative bodies would be complete
without a reference to the growth of the referendum and
initiative.' These principles can be given in no better way
than in the language of the Swiss Federal Constitution:
" Federal laws shall be submitted for acceptance or rejection
by the people, if the demand is made by 30,000 voters, or by
8 cantons. The same principle applies to federal resolu-
tions which have a general application, and which are not
of an urgent nature."'' This is in federal legislation. All
the cantons, except Fribourg, now have the referendum in
cantonal legislation. It may be compulsory, or facultative,
that is, contingent on certain requirements. But the initia-
tive goes further. To quote again from the same instru-
ment: "The Popular Initiative may be used when 50,000
Swiss voters present a petition for the enactment, the aboli-
tion, or the alteration of certain articles of the Federal Con-
stitution." " Petitions may be presented in the form of
general suggestions, or of- unfinished bills."' Seventeen
cantons have the initiative.* And the system just perfected
in the canton of Ticino is considered particularly noteworthy.
Belgium is agitating the matter. There are indications of
an increase of interest in the United States, as was evinced
by a plank in the platform of the Populist party. Cali-
fornia recently" called for a popular vote partaking of the
' " It would be rash to say that we ought to adopt the Swiss meth-
ods without modification, or that they would be applicable to all
parts in the present state of the Union, but they are worthy of
careful consideration."— J. M. Vincent, State and Federal Govern-
ment in Switzerland, 129.
'^ Swiss Constitution, Art. 89.
^ Swiss Co7istitntion, Art. 121.
*In 1891.
* November, 1892.
83] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 41
nature of "initiative," asking- that its legislature should be
" instructed " on the question of choosing United States
Senators by popular vole, and the " initiative " of the people
declared in favor of this innovation. So eminent -a publicist
as Mr. Dicey has lately advocated the introduction of the
referendum idea in Great Britain." The results produced by
a general introduction of these principles would be certainly
momentous; perhaps, as some think, they would lead to the
abolition of an upper chamber, perhaps to a more direct
popular interest in matters of government. And, possibly,
the methods which apparently work so well in a small
country like Switzerland, would prove impracticable if
adopted by the Great Powers.
Recapitulating the results of our rapid survey, we observe
the great development of the responsible ministry principle,,
and the inter-dependence of the executive and legislative.
We note a few cases — like the Storthing — where some judi-
cial functions are taken by the assembly, thus controverting
the dictum of Montesquieu, " Lorsque la puissance legis-
lative est reunie a la puissance executrice, il n'y a point de
liberte." '
We see a prevailing tendency to bicameral assemblies,
confirming the saying of Lieber, " it is a truly popular prin-
ciple to insist on the protection of a legislature divided into
two houses."' We mark the strongly exclusive character
of the upper houses in Europe, and the insistence on prop-
erty qualification, prevalent even in Anglo-Saxon offshoots
from the home country. •
We consider the privileges extended in many places to
professional men, and the restrictions frequently placed on
priests, and sometimes on government officials. But no
survey can fail to disclose the fact that some of the regions
where laws are most liberal for electors and candidates, are
' E. Dicey, Contemporary Review, April, 1890.
'^Esprit des Lois, p. 143.
^Lieber, Civil Liberty, 194.
42 The Representative AssemUies of To-day. [84
among the least shining examples of self-government. Cer-
tain South American republics, Bulgaria, and Hayti, have
— so to speak — an excellent legislative plant, but we will not
look for political salvation to come from Caracas, Sofia,
or Port-au-Prince.
A consideration of the intricate details of the existing
legislative bodies, with the changes occurring thick and fast
before our eyes as we write, would be an inviting but vastly
perplexing field of research. It might well demand the most
painstaking observation of minutiae and the broadest his-
toric grasp.
85] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 43
TABLE
OF THE LARGER REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLIES: COMPRISING THOSE ABOVE THE
RANK OF PROVINCIAL, DEPARTMENTAL, COUNTY, OR CANTONAL BODIES ;
AND GIVING THE MEMBERSHIP, TERMS, AND REMARKS ON THE
QUALIFICATIONS AND ELECTORATE.
COUNTRY.
UPPER HOUSE.
LOWER HOUSE.
ELECTORATE.
United States.
Congress.
Maine.
Legislature.
Senate 88, 6 yrs, 30
yrs of age.
Senate 31, 1 yr.
House of Represen-
tatives 356, 2 yrs, 25
yrs of age.
H. R. 151, 1 yr.
Universal suffrage.
New Hampshire.
General Court.
S. 24, 1 yr.
H. R. 359,* 1 yr.
Vermont.
General Assembly.
S. 30, 2 yrs.
H. R. 241, 2 yrs.
Massachusetts.
General Court.
S. 40, 1 yr.
H. R. 240, 1 yr.
Rhode Island.
General Assembly.
S. 37, 1 yr.
H. R. 72, 1 yr.
Connecticut.
General Assembly.
S. 21, 1 yr.
H. R. 252, 1 yr.
New York.
Legislature.
S. 32, 2 yrs.
Assembly 128, 1 yr.
New Jersey.
Legislature.
Pennsylvania.
General Assembly.
S. 21, 1 yr.
S. 50, 4 yrs.
General Assembly 60,
lyr.
H. R. 201, 2 yrs.
Delaware.
General Assembly.
S. 9, 4 yrs.
H. R. 201, 3 yrs.
Maryland.
General Assembly.
S. 26, 4 yrs.
H. Delegates 84, 2 yrs.
Virginia.
General Assembly.
West Virginia.
Legislature.
S. 43, 4 yrs.
S. 24, 4 yrs.
H. Delegates 132, 2
yrs.
H. Delegates 65, 2 yrs.
North Carolina.
General Assembly.
S. 50, 2 yrs.
H. R. 120, 2 yrs.
South Carolina.
General Assembly.
S. 32, 4 yrs.
H. R. 124, 2 yrs.
* In 1892.
44 The Representative AssemMies of To-day. [86
COUNTRY.
Georgia.
General Assemblj^
Florida.
Legislature.
Alabama.
General Assembly.
Mississippi.
Leg-islature.
Louisiana.
General Assembly.
Texas
Legislature.
Arkansas.
General Assembly.
Tennessee.
General Assembly.
Kentucky.
Legislature.
Ohio.
General Assembly.
Indiana.
General Assembly.
Illinois.
General Assembly.
Michigan.
Legislature,
Wisconsin.
Legislature.
Minnesota.
Legislature.
Iowa.
General Assembly.
Missouri.
General Assembly.
Kansas.
Legislature.
Nebraska.
Legislature.
UPPER HOUSE.
S. 44, 4 yrs.
S. 24, 4 yrs.
S. 33, 4 yrs.
S. 40, 4 yrs.
S. 36, 4 yrs.
S. 33, 4 yrs.
S. 31, 4 yrs.
S. 33, 3 yrs.
S. 38, 4 yrs.
S. 37, 3 yrs.
S. 50, 4 yrs.
S. 53, 4 yrs.
S. 33, 3 yrs.
S. 33, 2 yrs.
S. 54, 3 yrs.
S. 50, 4 yrs.
S. 34, 4 yrs.
S. 25, 2 yrs.
S. 30, 2 yrs.
LOWER HOUSE.
H. R. 175, 3 yrs.
Assembly 53, 3 yrs.
H. R. 100, 3 yrs.
H. R. 130, 4 yrs.
H. R. 98, 2 yrs.
H. R. 115, 2 yrs.
H. R. 89, 2 yrs.
H. R. 99, 3 yrs.
H. R. 100, 3 yrs.
H. R. Ill, 3 yrs.
H. R. 98, 2 yrs.
H. R. 156, 2 yrs.
H. R. 100, 2 yrs.
Assembly 100, 1 yr.
H. R. 114, 1 yr.
H. R. 100, 3 yrs.
H. R. 138, 2 yrs.
H. R. 75, 1 yr.
H. R. 84, 2 yrs.
ELECTORATE.
87] The Representative Assemblies of To-day. 45
COUNTRY.
South Dakota.
Leg. Assembly.
North Dakota.
Leg. Assembly.
Montana.
Leg. Assembly.
Idaho.
Legislature.
Wyoming.
Legislature.
Colorado.
General Assembly.
Nevada.
Legislature.
California.
Legislature.
Oregon.
Leg. Assembly.
Washington.
Legislature.
New Mexico.
Legislature.
Utah.
General Assembly.
Arizona.
Legislature.
Oklahoma.
Legislature.
Mexico.
Congress.
Guatemala.
Nat. Assembly.
One chamber.
Honduras.
Congress.
One chamber.
UPPER HOUSE.
S. 45, 4 yrs.
S. 30, 4 yrs.
S. 16, 4 yrs.
S. 18, 4 yrs.
S. 16, 4 yrs.
S. 26, 4 yrs.
S. 18, 4 yrs.
S. 40, 4 yrs.
S. 30, 4 yrs.
S. 35, 4 yrs.
Council 12, 2 yrs.
Council 12, 2 yrs.
Council 12, 2 yrs.
Council 13, 2 yrs.
Sen. 56, 2 yrs. 30
yrs old, and prop-
erty qual.
52, 4 yrs.
37, 4 yrs.
LOWER HOUSE.
H. R. 124, 2 yrs.
H. R. 62, 2 yrs.
H. R. 55, 2 yrs.
H. R. 36, 2 yrs.
H. R. 33, 2 yrs.
H. R. 49, 2 yrs.
Assembly 36, 2 yrs.
Assembly 80, 2 yrs.
H. R. 60, 2 yrs.
H. R. TO, 2 yrs.
H. R. 24, 2 yrs.
H. R. 24, 2 yrs.
H. R. 24, 2 yrs.
H. R. 26, 3 yrs.*
House Rep. 227, 2 yrs.
Property qual.
ELECTORATE.
All respectable
adults.
Universal suffrage.
Manhood suffrage.
* Universal suffrage is the rule throughout the States, in the sense that no prop-
erty qualiflcation or restrictive tax qualification is required (except in Delaware as
above noted, and except for the nominal payment of a poll-tax in many States).
Rhode Island was the last to abolish property qualification (in 1888). Various restric-
tions exist relating to illiteracy and length of residence, and criminals, idiots, and
lunatics are excluded, as elsewhere.
46 The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [88
COUNTRY.
Salvador.
Congress.
One chamber.
Nicaragua.
Congress.
Costa Eica.
Chamber Rep.
One chamber.
Colombia.
Congress.
Venezuela.
Congress.
Ecuador.
Congress.
Peru.
Congress.
Bolivia.
Congress.
Chili.
Congress.
Argentine Confed-
eration.
Congress.
Uruguay.
Parliament.
Paraguay.
Congress.
Brazil.
Congress.
Hayti.
Nat. Assembly.
Santo Domingo.
Congress.
One chamber.
Great Britain.
Parliament.
UPPER HOUSE. LOWER HOUSE.
70, 1 yr.
Sen. 18, 6 yrs.
26, 4 yrs.
Sen. 37, 6 yrs (also
6 members nom-
inated by the
president.)
Sen. 24, 4 yrs.
Sen. 33, 4 yrs.
Sen. ca. 40, 6 yrs.
35 yrs old, proper-
erty qual.
Sen. 16, 4 yrs.
Sen. 43, 6 yrs.
Large property
qual.
Sen. 30, 9 yrs. 30
yrs old. Income
qual.
Sen. 19, 6 yrs.
Sen. ca. 30, 4 yrs.
Sen. 63, 9 yrs. 35
yrs old.
Sen. 30, 6 yrs, nom-
inated by the H.
R.
23, 3 yrs.
House of Lords
559, include hered
itary peers, bish-
ops, 38 Irish peers
elected for life, 16
Scottish peers
elected for one
Parliament.
House Rep. 21, 4 yrs.
House Rep. 66, 4 yrs.
House Rep. 52, 4 yrs.
Chamber Dep. ca. 33,
3 yrs.
House Rep. ca. 80,
6 yrs, property qual.
Cham. Dep. 64, 4 yrs.
Chamber Dep. 126.
3 yrs. Property qual.
House Dep. 86, 4 yrs.
25 yrs. old.
House Rep. 53, 8 yrs.
Chamber Dep. ca. 55,
4 yrs.
Deputies 203, 3 yrs.
Non-eligible ai"e :
clergy, state minis-
ters, commanders.
House Rep. 50, 5 yrs.
House of Commons
670, 7 yrs. 31 years old.
Exclude clergymen
of English, Scottish,
Rom. Oath, church,
and peers.
ELECTORATE.
General suffrage.
Universal suffrage.
Those able to live
respectably.
Universal suffrage.
Universal suffrage.
Roman Catholic
adults, literate.
Indirect election.
Universal suffrage-
Property or income
qual.
General suffrage.
Literate.
Universal suffrage*
Exclude illiterates,
soldiers, members
of certain monastic
orders, etc.
Citizens having
some vocation.
Restricted.
Exclude : govern-
ment contractors,
returning officers,
sheriffs (also non-el-
igible for House of
Commons). Limited
property or income
qual.
* Bourgade, Paraguay.
89] The Representative Assemhlies of To-day.
47
COUNTRY.
Canada.
Pai'liament.
New South Wales-
Parliament.
Victoria.
Parliament.
South Australia.
Parliament.
Queensland.
Parliament.
West Australia.
Legislature.
Tasmania.
Parliament.
New Zealand.
Gen. Assembly.
Cape Colony.
Parliament.
France.
Nat. Assembly.
Spain.
Cortes.
Portugal.
Cortes.
Italy.
Parliament,
Belgium.
Chambers.
Netherlands.
States- General.
Denmark.
Rigsdag.
UPPER HOUSE.
Sen. 80, life; 30 yrs
old, large proper-
ty qual.
Leg. Council, 67,
life, nominated.
Leg. Council 48, 6
yrs. large prop-
erty qual.
Leg. Council 24,
3 yrs, property
qual.
Leg. Council 40,
life, nominated.
Leg. Council 15,
nominated, prop-
erty qual.
Leg. Council 18,
6 yrs.
Leg. Council 41,
life, nominated.
Leg. Council 23, 7
yrs, property
qual.
Senate 300, 9 yrs.
Election indi-
rect. 75 elected
for life.
Senate ca. 360, ex-
offlcio, hei'edita-
ry, nominated for
life or elected by
restricted bodies.
House of Peers
ca. 162, heredit-
ary, appointed
for lite, or indi-
rectly elected.
Senate 335, nomi-
nated for life, and
princes.
Senate 69, 8 yrs, 40
yrs old, tax qual.
First Chamber 50,
9 yrs, property
or high official
qual.
Landsthing 66, (12
nominated for
life, 54 elected re-
stricted. 8 yrs.)
LOWER HOUSE.
House of Commons
315, 5 yrs.
Leg. Assembly 141, 3
yrs.
Leg. Assembly 95, 3
yrs, exclude clergy-
men.
House of Assem. 54, 3
yrs, exclude clergy-
men and judges.
Leg. Assembly 72, 5
yrs.
Assembly 30, 4 yrs,
property qual.
House of Assembly
36, 3 yrs.
House Rep. 74, 3 yrs.
House of Assembly
76, 5 yrs.
Chamber Dep. 584, 4
yrs, 25 yrs old.
Chamber Dep. 431, 5
yrs.
Chamber Dep. 173, 4
yrs, property qual.
or learned profes-
sion.
Chamber Dep. 508, 5
yrs, 30 yrs old, ex-
clude priests, gov-
ernment officials.
Chamber Rep. 138, 4
yrs, 25 yrs old.
Second Chamber 100,
4 yrs, 30 yrs old.
Folkething 103, 3 yrs,
25 yrs old.
ELECTORATE.
Property or income
qual.
Property qual.
Universal suffrage.
General suffrage.
General suffrage,
plural votes.
Property qual.
Property or income
qual.
Property qual.
Property or income
qual.
Universal suffrage.
Universal suffrage.
25 yrs old.
Small income qual.
or heads of fam-
ilies.
Small tax qual. or
class qual.
Tax qual.
23 yrs old, tax qual.
30 yrs old and per-
sonal qual.
48 The Representative AssemhUes of To-day. [90
COUNTRY.
UPPER HOUSE.
LOWER HOUSE.
ELECTORATE.
Norway.
Storthing 3 yrs. 114
Lagthing. oiie-
Odel'sthing, three-
25 yrs old, property.
members, '60 yrs old,
I'ourth of the
fourths of the Stor-
income, or class
qual.
qual. of electorate.
Storthing.
thing.
Sweden.
First Chamber
Second Chamber 228,
Property or tax
Parliament.
147, 9 yrs, 35 yrs
old, property or
income qual.
3 yrs, 25 yrs old, and
qual. of electorate.
qual.
Germany.
Bundesrath 58, ap-
Reichstag 397, 5 yrs.
Universal suffrage.
pointed by the
25 yrs old.
federal state gov-
ernments tor
each session.
Prussia.
Herrenhaus,*her-
Chamber Dep. 433, 5
Indirect election,
Landtag.
editary and life
yrs, 30 yrs old, tax
those eligible for
peers, nominated
qual.
municipal elector-
and elected by re-
ate, 3 classes, ar-
stricted bodies.
ranged by direct
tax-payers.
Bavaria.
Cham, of Reichs-
Chamber Rep. 159, 6
Landtag.
rathe 71, heredita-
yrs, 30 yrs old, tax
25 yrs, tax qual.
ry and life.
qual.
WiJRTEMBERG.
Stand esherren ca.
House Dep. 93, 6 yrs.
63 Dep. chosen by
Landsstiinde.
30, hereditary or
citizens, others by
nominated.
orders or ex-offlcio.
Baden.
Upper Chamber
Second Chamber 63,
Election indirect.
Landtag.
ca. 30-40, princes,
hereditary, ex-offi-
cio, nominated or
elected by nobili-
ty.
4 yrs.
Exclude paupers.
Saxony.
Upper Cham. ca.
Lower Chamber 80, 6
Tax or property
Landtag.
50, hereditary.
yrs.
qual.
nominated, ex-
offlcio, or elected
by restricted
classes.
m .
Minor German States : Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck have aristocratic Senates,
and houses of Burgesses, the two former with restricted electorate. Mecklenburg-
Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz have a feudal Laudtag. Hesse and Saxe-Coburg-
Gotha have Landtags of two houses, the others Landtags of a single house. Elect-
orate is restricted by tax or other qualifications, or, as in Saxe- Weimar, where all the
citizens have the franchise, they elect but pai't of the chamber. The single cham-
bers vary in size from Reuss elder line (13) to Brunswick (46).
Austria-Hungary.
Delegations 130.
Austria.
Cislcithan part of
the monarchy.
Reichsrath.
60 from the Cisleithan Reichsrath, 60 from the Transleithan
Reichstag, (20 from each of the Upper Houses, 40 from the
Lower). Term 1 yr.
Herrenhaus 213,
Nobles, prelates,
nominated life
members.
Abgeordneten-Haus
353, 6 yrs.
Election direct and
indirect, 24 yrs old,
property or indi-
vidual qual.
*310 members, in 1889.
91] The Representative AssemUies of To-day. 49
COUNTRY.
UPPER HOUSE.
LOWER HOUSE.
ELECTORATE.
Hungary.
Tiansleitban pai-t
of the monarchy.
Reichstag.
House of Mag-
nates 456, hered-
itary, life, pre-
lates, dignitaries,
delegates.
House Rep. 453, 5 yrs.
20 yrs old. income,
individual or small
tax qual.
Crown Lands of
Austria.
Unicameral Landtags, term 6 yrs ; composed of large land-
owners, prelates, etc., and representatives of towns, com-
munes and guilds. Electorate restricted to large land-
own"i-s, members of guilds, direct tax-payers. Number of
members in Landtags :
Lower Austria 73, Moravia 100, Istria 33,
Upper Austria 50, BukowinaSl, Vorarlberg 21,
Carinthia 37, Dalmatia 43, Bohemia 343,
1 GOrz and 1 ^<, Salzburg 26, Silesia 31,
1 Gradiska f ""' Styria 63, Galicia 151.
Tyrol 68, Carniola 37,
Rumania.
Assembly.
Sen. 120, 8 yrs, 40
yrs old, income
qual., (8 bishops
included).
Chamber Dep. 183, 4
yrs, 25 yrs old.
Indirect election.
Tax qual.
Servia.
Skupshtina.
One chamber.
Bulgaria.
Sobranje.
One chamber.
Greece.
Boule.
One chamber.
cd. 200 (?) (in part having university de-
grees). 30 yrs old. Term 3 yrs.
250 for Bulgaria proper, and ca. 100 for
Eastern Rumelia. 3 yrs.
150, 4 yrs.
Indirect election.
Tax qual.
Manhood suffrage.
Manhood suffrage.
Switzerland.
Federal Assembly.
Council of States
44, 3 yrs.
National Council 147,
3 yrs, exclude clergy-
men.
Universal suffrage.
Swiss Cantons have representative Great Councils; but Uri, Unterwalden,
Glarus, and Appenzell have assemblies of all the citizens (Landesgemeinden).
Montenegro.
Leg. Council. One
body.
Andorra.
Council. One body.
8 members ; 4 nominated, 4 elected.
34, 4 yrs.
Arms-bearing pop-
ulation.
Heads of families.
Finland.
Parliament.
4 estates : nobles, clergy, burghers, peasants. Convoked ca.
once in 4 or 5 yrs.
Egypt.
Leg. Council.
Gen. Assembly. j
Orange Free State.
Volksraed.
One chamber.
South' African
Republic.
56, 4 yrs.
Property qual.
First Volksraed
of 24. 4 yrs. Re-
-tricted for aliens.
Second "Volksraed*
of 24, 4 yrs. Re-
stricted for aliens
Property qual. of
whites.
* Constitutional Amendment of 1890.
50
The Representative Assemblies of To-day. [92
COUNTRY.
Japan.
Parliament.
Hawaii.
Legislature.
UPPER HOUSE.
House of Peers
ca. 300. Nobles
elected by their
orders, members
elected by large
tax-payers, nomi-
inated members.
Term 7 yrs or
life.
House of Nobles
24, 6 yrs.
LOWER HOUSE.
House Rep. 300, 4 yrs.
Exclude various
officials, priests, mil-
itary and naval
officers. 30 yrs old.
House Rep. 34, 2 yrs.
ELECTORATE.
25 yrs old, tax qual.
Educational qual.
and prop. qual. for
House of Nobles.
* Prior to the revolution of January, 1893,
III-IV
THE NEGRO IN THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA.
" The best African population, the wisest, the most enlig'htened that exists
in the world, exists in the District of Columbia." — TJnited States Senator
J. T. Morgan.
"The Negro race is a living, not a dead, race, alive in the several respects
of industry, acquisitiveness, education and religious aspiration." — Rev. Dr.
Alexander Crummell.
"The better disposed class of the Negroes has signally vindicated the
capacity for civilization within the limitations of personal and race impedi-
ments and in the use it has made of its opportunities."— Rev. A. D. Mayo.
" I would entreat all who are working to solve this strange race problem— the
hardest any nation ever had to solve— not to get section against section.
North against South or South against North, or Afro-Americans against
either, but to try by careful training of the young by giving them sound
education— above all, teaching the trades and handicrafts of all kinds— by
showing them the great future there is before the Afro-Amei'ican people,, to
proclaim that racial misunderstanding should be forgotten, and that though
there never will be, never can be, never ought to be a mingling of the races,
yet each, side by side, can do much to build up this great land, of which both
races are equally citizens."— Archdeacon Francis J. Clay Moran.
JOHNS HOPKmS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IX
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History.— Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
III-IV
THE NEGRO IN THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA
By EDWARD INGLE, A. B.
Washington, D. C.
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED ^';ONTHL¥
March-April, 1893
Copyright, 1893, bt The Johns Hopkins Press.
THE FRIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BAI-TIMORE.
CONTENTS.
I. Introduction.
II. The Basis of Operations.
III. Applying the Lever.
IV. Striving for Equality.
V. An Experiment in Suffrage.
VI. A Generation Afterward.
THE NEGRO IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBU.
INTRODUCTION.
To determine the position which the negroes of the
United States are to occupy toward the civiUzation of this
country is a problem which should engage the sober, serious
efforts of all those who desire good government and the
stability of society. The solution of that problem is not to
be had in ignoring facts about the race, or in hopes that
the negroes will return to the homes of their forefathers.
They have been in this country for two centimes and a
half, they have been influenced more or less by their sur-
roundings, they have formed attachments to the soil which
may not easily be eradicated, and, as modem migration is
not toward the East, they are likely to remain in the
United States. They will either degenerate or advance
toward the goal for which the white race is striving; but
whatever their tendency, its developments and its results can-
not fail to affect the white race, upon whom will largely
depend the outcome.
The basis for a proper treatment of the subject is to be
had only in the calm, impersonal, scientific sifting of the
evidence on both sides of the slave question in all parts of
the country, which is hardly possible, perhaps, for this
generation; and In the honest, unprejudiced and equally
scientific consideration of facts about the condition — social,
moral, political, and religious — of the negroes of to-day.
Truths may be revealed which may be distasteful, but they
must be told if the best interests of this country are to be
subserved; and when by earnest and unbiased workers in
every section of the country the mass of testimony has been
8 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [100
gathered and classified, the man will probably have been
born who will be able to review it in a brief which will find
support in united public opinion.
Probably no field for the study of some of the many
phases of this great problem presents better opportunities
than those to be had in the District of Columbia, the seat
of the general government. This territory, inhabited largely
by an urban or suburban population, has always been a
kind of experimental station, from law-making to rain-
making, for the country; and the fact that there was fore-
shadowed much of the special legislation for the negro
which has been embodied in the last three amendments of
the Constitution, and that the life there presents many
remarkable features and many extremes in various lines of
human activity, makes the study interesting and instructive
for the investigator. The manifestations of the character
of the negro population in the District, which confront the
stranger on every hand, were the incentives to the work
which has resulted in the following pages, and the aim
throughout has been to examine whatever material was
available among official documents, the files of newspapers
or in other publications, for the purpose of discovering the
sources of conditions as they exist to-day, and by personal
observation and inquiry among those best qualified to speak,
to present those conditions in a light removed from mere
theory or personal opinion.
No attempt has been made to deal with the subject of
slavery except as reference had to be made to it in deter-
mining the standpoint of observation. What may be
termed the treatment of the forensic and legislative side of
that question has been written by Miss Mary Tremain, of
the University of Nebraska, in her monograph entitled
" Slavery in the District of Columbia " ; but in connection
with this should be read the able and conscientious work,
"The Negro in Maryland," by Dr. Jeffrey R. Brackett, of
the Johns Hopkins University, and its supplement, " Notes
on the Progress of the Colored People of Maryland Since
101] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 9
the War." A like Virginia treatment is yet to come. A
most valuable contribution to the literature of the ante-
bellum and reconstruction periods is the " Special Report
of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition and
Improvement of Public Schools in the District of Columbia,"
submitted to the Senate, June, 1868, and to the House,
with additions, June 13, 1871. This volume, which was
printed in 1871, contains, beside the results of a census
taken in the fall of 1867 by Dr. Franklin Hough, a minute
history of the schools for the colored population in the
District, prepared by M. B. Goodwin, which has furnished
njany facts for portions of this monograph, and a compila-
tion showing the legal status of the negro in the country at
large in respect to education in 1867.
Other material has been gathered from the Congressional
Globe, the Congressional Record, the reports of the com-
mittees who investigated District affairs while it was a Ter-
ritory, acts of the legislative assembly, reports of the
Bureau of Education, public school reports, and reports of
the District Commissioners, with which are bound the
valuable statistics furnished by the Superintendent of Police,
by the chief clerk of the department, Air. Richard Sylvester,
by the Health Ofificer, and other branches of municipal
government. The census reports also contain some ma-
terial, but it is chiefly of a general character, though it may
be that the census, with the reports of the Commissioner of
Education, will hereafter deal with the subject more mi-
nutely and furnish the basis for the true treatment of the
problem, the solution of which is so important for both the
whites and the negroes.
This study is the result of nearly eighteen months' inves-
tigation at the odd intervals of leisure in active newspaper
work, and whatever links may be missing or wrong deduc-
tions made must not be attributed to the lack of a desire to
present all necessary facts and to form an unprejudiced
judgment.
■Washinqton, D. C, January 18, 1893.
I.
THE BASIS OF OPERATIONS.
In the spring and summer of 1862 three commissioners,
appointed under an Act of Congress, were engaged at
Washington in a task which was at the same time novel and
significant. Compromises of eighty years had given place
to force, and while the armies of two great sections
were debating on the field of battle the questions involved
in slavery, that question was being settled for the seat of the
nation's government on a peaceable and equitable basis.
It was the turning-point in the career of the negro popu-
lation of the District of Columbia; it meant freedom and
hope for them, and grave doubt and anxiety for the white
race, who, confronted with radically changed conditions,
could not readily grasp the problems presented to them.
Slavery was passing, and in its disappearance were born
social, economic, and political questions which to-day, after
a generation has passed, are still not settled to the satis-
faction of all persons concerned.
• To determine the causes of this state of affairs a general
idea of the character of the colored race in the District
must be had, and this may not be gained by comparing
their life of 1893 with that of i860 without some knowledge
of what they were before the war and of the additions to
the population during the past thirty years. Slavery, though
it furnished the text for many a practical or rhetorical effort
in Congress during the early half of the century, cannot be
said to have been a cherished favorite of the people of the
District, and it is likely that it would have died a natural
death long before it was legally executed had the people
been left to follow their inclinations, uninfluenced by the
reflections at the capital of the contending sentiments of
extremists in both sections of the country, or by the fears
103] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 11
excited by such a movement as the Nat Turner uprising in
Virginia. This would be apparent, if other evidence was
lacking in a study of the statistics of population from 1810
to i860. In tlie former year, w^hen the District included
the tract ceded by Virginia, the total population was 14,093,
of whom 10,066 were whites, 783 free negroes, and 3,244
slaves; in the latter year, in a total population of 75,080,
there were 60,764 whites, 11,131 free negroes, and 3185
slaves. The white population had increased more than five
himdred per cent., the free negroes more than thirteen
hundred per cent, while the slaves had decreased about one-
per cent, and three-quarters. Though the increase of the
white population had been pretty regular, the greatest
advance having been made after 1846, when Alexandria was
ceded back to Virginia, and after 1850, when the slave trade
was forbidden in the District, while the number of free
negroes had increased steadily, the period between 1830 and
1850 showing the greatest ratio of increase, but that fol-
lowing 1850 showing a tendency for the increase to be
checked, tlie number of slaves, which rose to 4520 in 1820
and again to 3687 in 1850, had decreased by 502 in
ten years and by 59 in sixty years. In 1810 the slaves con-
stituted 22.97 per cent, of the population of the District;
in i860 they were but 4.25 per cent, of it. However, the
laws which formed what was known as the " black code,"
and which were the embodiments of the negro code of Mary-
land and Virginia existing in February, 1801, and the sub-
sequent ordinances of the municipalities within the District
and the modifications of Congress, had effect not only upon
the bondsmen, but upon the free negroes. Though there
are instances of extreme harshness in the execution of them,
and though no one would tolerate them for a moment to-
day, the position which both the slaves and the free negroes
as classes occupied at the outbreak of the war demonstrates
not only that they had shown a wonderful fortitude and
developed traits of thrift and enterprise in the face of the
menacing code, but that that code had possessed for the
12 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [104
majority of them, except in the most important matters of
education and restriction of personal liberty, the character
rather of a menace than of a system of rigorous, unrelenting
practice.
Slavery has been abolished, and no persons would be
more opposed to its restoration in this country than those
who felt its burdens the most; but it had two sides. As
the field-hand was a comparatively small element in slavery
as it existed in the District, the system there presented
what may be termed its more favorable side, and though
the slaves may have been restricted in their means of
acquiring book learning, they were assisted toward acquir-
ing this weapon of education by the whites in Sunday
worship and about the house, especially before the terrors of
1 83 1 which did much to estrange the two races; and in the
daily life in the cities they, with their nimble wits, acquired
a practical education which may not be had in the mere
learning to read and write. On the other hand the free
negroes, who were representatives of a superior element of
their race and were destined to be a powerful leaven for their
fellows, had many advantages in the beginning. " Many of
them," says one writer who possessed excellent opportu-
nities to study them, "were favorite family servants, who
came here with congressmen from the South and with the
families of other public officers, and who by long and faith-
ful service had secured, by gift, purchase or otherwise, their
freedom. Others were superior mechanics, house servants,
and enterprising in various callings, who obtained their free-
dom by their own persevering industry. Some, also, had
received their freedom before coming to this city."' Ben-
jamin Banneker, the negro astronomer, assisting in sur-
veying the District in 1791; Sophia Browning buying her
husband's freedom for $400 from the proceeds of her
market garden, and being in turn purchased by him ; Alethia
Tanner purchasing her own freedom in 1810 for $1400, and
'Special Report, Commissioner of Education, p. 195.
105] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 13
that of her sister Laurena Cook and five children in 1826;
John F. Cook, one of those children, a shoemaker by trade,
learning the rudiments of education while a messenger in
the Treasury Department, and closing a useful life, in spite
of persecution at the hands of a mob, as a minister and
educator among his people, and leaving sons to carry on
his work, — are but some of the examples of the spirit dis-
played by the free negroes. Before the date of the Nat
Turner outbreak there are evidences that the relations of
the two races in the District were of more trustfulness and
consequently of greater friendliness than afterward; but, as
one of the descendants of a negro who probably suffered
most through the feeling against his race fomented by that
event, writes, "The darkness that had gathered about him
presented an opportunity for the exhibition of a character
which, under ordinary circumstances, might never have been
seen. The withdrawal of the friendly mite which had been
occasionally given and the friendly word aroused a spirit of
determination, self-reliance, and irrepressible energy that
instantly foreshadowed eventual success."^ There are also
evidences that the mite and the friendly word were not
entirely absent in the subsequent years, and the sentiments
of the whites toward the negroes in spite of the " black
code," and the ability of the negroes to make good even
their slight advantages, are proved by their possession, at the
outbreak of the war, of $650,000 in real estate and the
support of their own schools and churches.
Such was in brief the condition of the negroes of the
District when war, following the election of a President
whose views on the question of slavery were well defined,
rendered it expedient and practicable for the experiment of
emancipation to be made in the District. At the outset of
the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, in De-
cember, 1861, Senator Wilson, whose name will always be
associated with those of Grimes, Sumner, and others in
'Public Schools of the District, 1874-75, p. 91.
14 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [106
connection with the efforts on behalf of the negroes of the
District and of the country at large, introduced into the
Senate a resolution providing that the Committee on the
District of Columbia should take into consideration all
measures relating to fugitives from service and all laws
relating to negroes in the District, with a view to abolishing
slavery in the District.
This he followed later with a bill to abolish slavery, and
a bill to annul the " black code." The Senator was
determined to push matters, and his speech of March,
1862, was an impassioned arraignment of the system which
he and others would abolish. The question was debated at
great length, and finally the bill abolishing slavery, pass-
ing the Senate April 3 and the House April 11, was signed
by President Lincoln, April 16, 1862, the free negroes and
those who had been placed on the straight road to freedom
uniting in their churches in thanksgiving for the act.^ The
act provided that " all persons held to service or labor
within the District of Columbia by reason of African
descent are hereby discharged and freed of and from all
claim to such service or labor, and from and after the
passage of this act neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except for crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted,
shall hereafter exist in said District." A sum of money not
exceeding $1,000,000 was appropriated to compensate
owners loyal to the government for their former slaves, it
being provided that the average price for each slave should
not exceed $300, and the compensation was not to extend
to those persons who were disloyal to the government or
who should bring slaves into the District after the passage
of the act. Kidnapping was declared a felony, the punish-
ment being placed at from five to twenty years' imprison-
ment. One point of additional interest about the act was
the appropriation of $100,000 to aid in the colonization of
free persons, including those liberated, "as may desire to
' Special Report, Commissioner of Education, 1871, p. 319.
107] The Negro in the District of Columbia- 15
emigrate to Hayti or Liberia or to such country beyond the
limits of the United States as the President may determine."
Both compensation and colonization, the principles which
had prevailed in earlier schemes for emancipation, were still
recognized, and the extreme war measure was not yet
announced. In tliat it differed in a marked degree from the
measures leading to the Thirteenth Amendment submitted
February i, 1865, and ratified in the following December,
and the interests of slaveholders loyal to the government
were still protected. As late as July 17, 1862, in an act "to
suppress insurrection," etc., it was ordered that the slaves
of those in arms against the United States were to be
declared captives of war, and that all slaves " being within
any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied
by the forces of the United States shall be deemed captives
of war and shall be forever free of their servitude and not
again held as slaves." The act also provided that no slave
escaping to free soil should be delivered unless the person
claiming him should be able to prove his loyalty to the
government, and that the President should be authorized to
provide for the transportation of slaves freed under it or to
use them in any way he thought proper to bring the war to
a close. Even in his warning of September 22, 1862, Mr.
Lincoln clung to the idea of the earlier emancipation, and
when the South had refused to heed either the bribes of
pecuniary relief or the threats, his emancipation proclamation
of January i, 1863, was declared by him to be "a fit and
necessary war measure," and it was to have efifect only in
the territory actually occupied by the Confederate forces,
tlie document expressly defining them as follows:
"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St.
Bernard, Plaquemines, Jeflferson, St. John, St. Charles, St.
James, Ascension, Assumption, Terra Bonne, La Fourche,
Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New
Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South
Carolina. North Carolina, and Virginia (excepting the forty-
eight counties designated as West Virginia and also the
16 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [108
counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth
City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the
cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts
are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were
not issued ").
But while these war measures were being advanced,
the disenthralment of the three thousand slaves or
more in the District was finding its complement in the
careful daily sessions of the three commissioners, Daniel R.
Goodloe, Horatio King, and J. M. Brodhead, who had been
appointed under the act of April i6 to arrange for the
compensation of the owners. They began their inquest
April 28, and at the outset were confronted with the fact
that they could depend upon no person in Washington to
appraise the slaves. " There are few persons," they said,
" especially in a community like Washington, where slavery
has been for many years an interest of comparatively trifling
importance, who possess the knowledge and discrimination
as to the value of slaves which are necessary to a just
apportionment of compensation under the law." It was,
they claimed, difficult to assign value to slaves, and consul-
tation with an experienced dealer in slaves, Mr. B. M.
Campbell, of Baltimore, led to the conclusion that " Slaves
in fact cannot be said to have had a current saleable value
since the commencement of the war; while their intrinsic
value on the i6th day of April, as determined by the un-
diminished value of the products of the soil and the un-
diminished wages of labor, was not less than formerly.
Indeed, in both these respects it was greater, since there has
been a constant rise of prices, both of labor and products."
Campbell, too, had ceased to purchase slaves since May,
1861, as " all communication with the South was then cut
ofif." He, however, gave the commissioners some figures of
his purchases between February 2 and May 18 of that
year. Of thirty-seven slaves whom he had handled, the
majority of them being in the prime of life, and four being
children, the average cost had been $636.75. Other diffi-
109] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 17
culties in the way of reaching a just average were found in
the varying character of the slaves. The chief support of
some famiUes had been derived from hiring out their slaves,
while in other cases expenses had been reduced by employ-
ing: die slaves at home. Some slaves were held for a term
of years or for the life of the owner, some were securities
for the payment of debts, and in some instances there
existed an agreement between the slaves and their owners
that emancipation was to be given upon the payment of a
certain sum. The commissioners finally adopted the plan
of classifying the slaves " according to their value before
the commencement of the war, and reducing these classes to
the average compensation allowed by law." According
to their report the whole number of petitions under the
original act was 966, of which 909 were granted, 36 were
rejected entirely, and 21 were rejected in part; Under an
additional act of July 12, 1862, whereby slaves were per-
mitted to file their own schedules, and the right of negroes
to testify was emphasized, 161 petitions were presented, of
which 139 were granted and 22 were rejected. Later,
thirteen claims for twenty-eight slaves, filed by persons who
had been prevented from one cause or another from avail-
ing themselves of the provisions of the act of April, were
allowed, the sum involved being $7212.50, and the total
amount of compensation being kept within the million
dollars. The largest amount paid to any one person was
$17,771.85 for his sixty-nine slaves, and the smallest sum
allowed for any slave was $21.90 for a male infant.
It is noticeable that in some cases the beneficiaries under
the act were negroes, one man receiving $2168.10 for ten
slaves, another $832.20 for two, another $43.80 for one, and
another $547.50 for one, while from the $4073.40 placed to
the credit of the Sisters of the Visitation of Georgetown,
$298.75 were deducted, as that amount had been paid to
the Sisters by Ignatius Tilghman toward the purchase of the
freedom of his family. The claims for two free-bom
negroes were not allowed, and some of the slaves were too
feeble by reason of advanced years to be of any value.
18 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [110
Mr. Campbell was of great assistance to the commissioners
in estimating the value of the slaves, and it is related that
his last resort, when very great difficulties were presented,
was an examination of the negroes' teeth. The commis-
sioners, as well as the government, were greatly aided also
by Mr. W. R. Woodward, upon whom much of the clerical
work fell. They had some curious experiences during their
labors. For instance, one man brought before them could
not give any idea of his age beyond the statement that
" during General Washington's war he could catch a horse
and feed him"; and when questioned as to the value of his
services, indicated that he could plow in one day half as
much as an able-bodied man. A case was presented of a
slave whose former owner had died, willing his slaves to
his wife for her lifetime, and after her death they were to
be freed and were to inherit his Maryland farm. Some
owners were slow to take advantage of the act, being under
the impression that their sentiments regarding the war
would debar them; but they were assured that they were
really beneficiaries, provided they had committed no overt
act against the government. Revelations were made of
attempts to evade the law by the removal of slaves into ter-
ritory not affected by it, and it was shown that one man
had transported all his slaves ten days before the act became
a reality, to his farm which lay partly in Maryland and
partly in the- District, and had housed them in a tenement
built beyond the District line, to which their daily food was
sent by members of the family from the dwelling within the
District. Such cases as these led to the supplementary act
of July 12, 1862, which provided that "all persons held to
service or labor under the laws of any State and who at
any time since the sixteenth of April Anno Domini 1862,
by the consent of the persons to whom such service and
labor is claimed to be owing, have been actually employed
within the District of Columbia, or who shall be hereafter
thus employed, are hereby declared free and forever released
Ill] The Negro in the District of Colmnbia. 19
from such service, anything in the laws of the United States
or any State to the contrary notwithstanding.'"
Upon the passage of the emancipatory act some slaves
left the homes of their former owners to take places else-
where, some left the District to find work, but others
remained to mingle with the thousands of n\en who had
been born free or wlio had become. so without the legal
intervention of the government or the exercise of a right
founded upon might.
Presently, though, they were joined by otliers of their race,
who had not enjoyed either the comparative advantages of
bondage in a city where population was denser, and conse-
quently where a gaining of practical knowledge was easier,
or the opportunities of free negroes, though hedged in by
restrictions arising from the presence of a slave element.
The safeguards against migration from Maryland and Vir-
ginia, which had been asked of Congress, had not been pro-
vided, and the hegira from those two States to the negroes'
Land of Canaan had begun. It continued for many years,
the greatest number of negroes arriving as fugitives, or con-
trabands, before 1867, and another large inflation of this
portion of the population occurring between 1870 and 1874.
A comparison of the populations in two decades shows not
only the marvelous rapidity with which the negroes flocked
to the capital, but also that the fears of 1862 of citizens of
the District were not unfounded. Between i860 and 1870
the population of the District increased from 75,080, of
whom 14,316 were negro, to 131,700, of whom 43,404
were negro; and between 1870 and 1880 the population
increased to 177,624, of whom 59,596 were negro. Of the
negroes in the District in 1870 but 13,448 were natives of
the District, while 16,785 had come from Virginia and
West Virginia and 11,720 from Maryland; and of the negro
population of 1880, Virginia had furnished 19,913 and
'The details of this remarkable transaction are given in full in
the report of the Commissioners, Executive Documents, No. 42,
Thirty-Eighth Congress, 1st session.
20 The Negro i?i the District of Columbia. [112
Maryland 12,245, — the natives of the District numbering
24,775-
Midway between i860 and 1874 a most thorough census
of the District was made under the auspices of the Bureau
of Education, and the figures appearing in the report of that
work are full of suggestiveness. The white population was
then 88,327, and the negroes numbered 38,663, an increase
of 24,347 in seven years; this increase being largely due to
the horde of negroes from the near-by States, whose oppor-
tunities for acquiring a knowledge of any occupation save
that of manual labor of the simplest form had been limited.
The following table will show the situation at a glance. It
is formed upon statistics collected by Dr. Franklin B.
Hough, though it does not include by any means every one
of the interesting details made public by him.'
White. Negro.
Population 88,327 38,663
Owners of Real Estate 6,485 1,399
Renters of Real Estate 8,895 4,595
Voters 13,294 6,648
Married couples 14,147 5,509
Children of school age 21,447 10,246
Children in public schools 5,349 450
Children in private schools 5,352 232
Unable to read, over 15 years 1,812 11,025
Unable to write, over 15 years 2,150 12,615
In government service 12,690 822
In personal service 2,122 3,647
In trade and finance 2,052 98
Owning and working land 440 245
In arts and mechanics 4,503 577
Laborers, etc 2,460 3,956
Churches 43 14
From the figures in this table, particularly those relating
to illiteracy, may be obtained some idea of the character of
the population which was to evolve into the people who
constitute one-third of the inhabitants of the District to-day.
' Special Report, Commissioner of Education, pp. 38-48.
113] The Negro in the District of Columbia^ 21
The community in which they had found a home was
divided in its sentiments toward the negroes, as it included
those who had found at Washington a field for a thorough
test of their ideas of philanthropy, those whose sentiments
against the negroes had been intensified by their helplessness
in the face of the legislation, which they believed was likely
to inure only to the disadvantage of the capital, and those
who cared neither for the whites nor for the negroes except
as possibilities for the furtherance or blocking of their
designs. The swarms of adventurers who flocked to Wash-
ington in the closing years of the war and later, belonging
to the class of whites which found its most congenial
home there, were not of a character likely to benefit the
mass of ignorance, which found little sympathy among the
older residents. Even the negroes themselves had their dis-
tinctions, not always well defined, perhaps, but yet capable
of being classed broadly as of those who had been free
before the war, those who had been liberated in 1862, and
those who had entered the District as fugitives or as con-
trabands of Avar.
To deal with these diverse elements so as to make them
of value to the communit}^ instead of causing them to be-
come drawbacks, was a problem requiring all the tact,
wisdom and judgment of statesmanship. To its solution,
however, were too frequently brought partisanship and enthu-
siasm lacking reason or experience; and when the move-
ments of the past generation are calmly reviewed, the only
conclusion is that of astonishment that the negroes, in spite
of dissensions among themselves, neglect or hostility on the
part of some of the whites, and short-sighted efiforts in their
behalf by would-be friends, have reached the advanced posi-
tion in which some are able to maintain themselves to-day.
11.
APPLYING THE LEVER.
If the negroes in the District before the war can be said
to have been remarkable in any respect, they were so in
their desire for education; but in this they received com-
paratively little encouragement from the authorities. Indeed,
the expansion of population consequent upon the war was
necessary to make the white public school system of the
capital an important factor in municipal life. Although the
movement for the public instruction of children had begun
in 1805 by trustees, with Thomas Jefiferson as their presi-
dent, many causes contributed to its unpopularity, as shown
in 1840 in the attendance of 776 children upon private
schools and but 213 upon public ones, and in the expendi-
ture of but $257,721.74 for the system during the eight
years immediately preceding the war. Whatever benefits
were to be derived from the system, though, were not
extended to the free negroes, and at the outset they were
obliged to depend mostly upon their own resources for
acquiring knowledge, supplemented by the efiforts of earnest
men and women, who labored principally in the Sunday
schools, where provision was made for negro children.
With an energy surprising, when viewed against the back-
ground of their antecedents, the negroes detemiined to
gratify their thirst for knowledge, and within a few months
after the first two public school-houses had been built the
first school for negroes was opened in 1807.
It was built by three men, recently emerged from slaver}-, —
George Bell, Nicholas Franklin, and Moses Liverpool, and
was taught by a white man named Lowe. Odiers were
started later, the occasional admission of a negro to a white
private school not apparently meeting the requirements of
the case; an attempt at a free school was even made, and
115] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 23
after the line of demarcation between the whites and negroes
had been for die first time sharply drawn in the Sunday
schools, the number of private schools for negroes increased
and their scope widened, until, at the outbreak of the war,
when the negro population of school age was 3172, it is
estimated that 1200 were in the schools. Though white
teachers at first were the principal teachers, intelligent negro
men and women gradually took their places, until the
instruction by the whites was limited to such schools as
that of Father Vanlomen, in Georgetown. Their schools
ranged from the mere primary ones to those in which the
higher branches, French and music, were taught, and the
prospectus of one of the latter displays the spirit which
animated such undertakings. "The object of this academy,"
wrote Arabella C. Jones in her prospectus in 1852, "is of
great importance, particularly to those who are devoid of
schools in their vicinity, and also to society at large. Here
the poor are educated gratuitously, the orphans clothed,
educated and a good trade given them. Females in this
age are naturally destined to become either mothers of
families or household servants. As mothers, is it not neces-
sary that they should be skilled in habits of industr}' and
modesty, in order to transmit it to posterity? As domestics,
should they not be tutored to the virtues of honesty, integ-
rity and sobriety? Last, though not least, many of our
citizens of color are emigrating to Liberia, and it is neces-
sa.ry, as well-wishers of our race, that our children be well
educated, in order to impart their knowledge to the illit-
erate."
This was originally quoted by M. B. Goodwin, who
has preserved for the future student the story of the labors
of the founders of the negroes' educational system at the
capita! and of such pioneers as William Costin, Louise
Parke Costin, Henry Smothers, John F. Cook, Myrtilla
Miner, Arabella Jones, Mary Wormley, Alexander Hays,
John H. Fleet, Charles H. Middleton, and others, who in
spite of hardships, drawbacks and at times persecution of
24 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [116
one shade or another, struggled persistently toward the light,
and justified the conclusion that '' it is worthy of observa-
tion, also, that in no case has a colored school ever failed
for the want of scholars. The parents were always glad to
send their children, and the children were always ready to
go, even when too poor to be decently fed or clothed.
When a school failed it was for want of money, and not for
want of appreciation of the benefits of education."^
This eagerness was marked when, in 1862, emancipation
of the slaves was followed by the first step taken
toward the real emancipation of the class of which the
slaves formed a small proportion. The question of the
public support of schools for the negroes had been mooted
in 1848 and 1858, but had never reached any definite shape
until coincidentally with the debates on the freeing of the
slaves were considered measures for the education of their
race, and within a little more than a month after the act of
emancipation of April 16, 1862, its fit complement was had
in the acts initiating a public school system for the negroes.
This movement was remarkable in more respects than one.
In the first place it was not bom of legislative sentiment
alone, for, upon the development of opposition, energetic
negroes, including some who were at the time interested in
private schools, went to the trouble of collecting statistics
proving that their demands were reasonable; the most
striking fact evolved, perhaps, being that to which Senator
Grimes alluded on April 29, that the negroes were paying
$3600 taxes upon $650,ocxd worth of real estate, and that
they were sharing the tax of ten cents on every $100
devoted to the support of white schools exclusively. Another
curious feature was the enactment of a school law for the
county section of the District one day in advance of that
for the cities of Washington and Georgetown, inasmuch as
an effort to establish a white public school system in the
county in 1856 had proved ineffective because it was not
' Special Report, Commissioner of Education, 1871, p. 222.
117] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 25
ratified at an election in which women were allowed to vote
and in which they cast their ballots generally with the
opposition. The act of May 20, 1862, provided for a tax of
one-eighth of one per cent, upon the property of negroes
outside the cities for the support of schools for their
children; and that of May 21, 1862, ordered that ten per
cent, of the tax levied in the two cities upon negro property
should be devoted to negro public schools. In tlie county
the funds w'ere to be under the control of seven trustees
for all the schools, and in the cities under the control of
the trustees of the white schools. Both acts proved ineffec-
tive, even though, to set at rest all apprehension about the
disposition of the separate fund in the cities, three trustees
for the negro schools in Washington and Georgetown were
appointed by the Secretary of the Interior under an act of
July II, 1862; and in 1864 another act became the funda-
niental law for the whole District. This provided that the
authorities should set apart each year from all the funds
received for educational purposes " such proportionate part
thereof as the number of colored children between the ages
of six and seventeen years in the respective cities bear to
the whole number thereof, for the purpose of establishing
and sustaining public schools in said cities for the education
of colored children," and a similar arrangement was made
for the county schools. In the two years following the
original act for the cities but $736.86 had been credited to
the separate school fund, and it was not until March, 1864,
that the first public school for negroes w^as opened in a
negro church, and not until the next year that the first
building for school purposes only was occupied. The local
authorities still construing the act in a manner different
from the advocates of the negroes, Congress, by act of
July 23, 1866, ruled that the act of 1864 should be so con-
strued " as to require the cities of Washington and George-
town to pay over to the trustees of the colored schools of
said cities such a proportionate part of all moneys received
or expended for school or educational purposes in said
26 The Negro in the District of Cohmihia. [118
cities, including the cost of sites, buildings, improvements,
furniture, books, and all other expenditures on account of
schools, as the colored children, between the ages of six and
seventeen years in the respective cities, bear to the whole
number of children, white and colored, between the same
ages; that the money shall be considered due and payable
to said trustees on the first day of October of each year;
and if not then paid over to them, interest at the rate of ten
per centum per annum on the amount unpaid may be de-
manded and collected." It was also arranged that contri-
butions from persons disposed to aid in the education of
the negro should be kept distinct from the general school
fund.
While as late as November, 1867, the trustees of the negro
schools were complaining that they had been hampered by
the refusal of the corporation of Washington to execute the
acts of Congress relating to the schools, affairs in the county
had progressed much more smoothly, especially after an
appropriation by Congress, on July 28, 1866, of $10,000 to
purchase sites and erect the necessary buildings; and the
negroes' schools fared as well as the whites', an estimate of
expenditures from 1864 to 1870 showing that the former
had received $43,057.73 and the latter $50,721.91, and the
former class of pupils having really the better accommoda-
tions.
During the earlier years of the war, when the migration
to the capital of contrabands and refugees began, efforts
were made to reach them in schools. The first school
devoted exclusively to slave children was opened in the
county in August, 1861, by a negro woman, but the next
year the American Tract Society began its work among the
contrabands, and its example was followed by the American
Tract Society of Boston, the American Missionary Society,
the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, Volunteer
Teachers' Association, the Philadelphia Friends' Freedmen's
Relief Association, the African Civilization Society, the
Reformed Presbyterian Mission, the Old School Presby-
119] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 27
terian JMission, the New York Freedmen's Relief Associa-
tion, the New England Freedmen's Aid Commission, the
New England Freedmen's Aid Society, the New England
Friends' Mission, the Washington Christian Union, the
Universalists of Maine, and others. Their work was carried
on in the basements of negro churches, in temporary bar-
racks and other makeshifts, and extended to men, women
anci children. At first there were dissensions, which, how-
ever, were removed, and finally through the efforts of A. E.
Newton, who was, in 1867, appointed superintendent of the
negro public schools by the trustees, the cooperation of all
the interests was secured and the way was paved for the
public schools continuing the work of the relief societies,
when all but one withdrew their aid in 1868. Great aid was
given at this period by the Freedmen's Bureau, which, not
limiting its assistance to schools for primary instruction, did
much toward the establishing of Howard University, which
was incorporated March 2, 1867, and in which no distinction
was made on account of race, color or sex, though it had
originally been intended for the education of negro men
alone.'
Some of these schools were open by day and some by
night, the total number of day schools in May, 1864, includ-
ing one public school, being 12, with 23 teachers and 1200
pupils, and in 1867 being 62, with 80 teachers and 4228
pupils, the trustees of the public schools at that time con-
trolling 5 schools, with 7 teachers and 450 pupils, and the
total sum received from the North between 1863 and 1867
amounting to $135,000. At this time the extremes of the
negro race were represented in the schools, and while in one
private institution in 1868, of fifty pupils, 16 were taking
music lessons, two years before Miss Susan Walker had
been subjected to indignities in the conduct of her school
which will bear comparison with the violence of " a set of
* Wayland Seminary, an institution still influential, was organized
during this period.
28 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [120
ragamuffins" of 1835, tlie annoyances of negro children
from white youths at a subsequent period, and the treatment
of some of those connected with Howard University in
its earlier history. The chronicler tells it in this simple
language: "December i the school was opened in one
of the barrack buildings, and soon Miss Walker had
under training, six hours a day, about 70 scholars, mostly
women, who were taught various kinds of plain sewing, she
preparing the work for them, cutting the garments, etc., in
the evening. As these women could not afiford to take the
time even for instruction, unless receiving some remunera-
tion, Miss Walker adopted the plan of paying them pro-
portionately from the articles of clothing made. In Sep-
tember of the next year, 1866, a regiment of cavalr}^ took
up its quarters near her school, causing her great annoy-
ance and much anxiety, as well as disturbing the school
work. The officer in command gave her assurance of the
fullest protection, but the soldiers finally broke into the
school-house and destroyed or took away private property
and private papers, — a summary way of declaring their creed
on the subject of educating contrabands."'
The conferring of the suffrage upon the negroes and the
accession to the mayoralty, in June, 1868, of one of their
particular friends, was followed by further agitation in Con-
gress for their schools, and in the summer of that year the
Senate, under a misunderstanding of the wishes of the
negroes, passed a bill abolishing the offices of separate
trustees, and the matter being forgotten in the lapse of
several months, the same measure was passed by the House
in February, 1869. Immediately the negroes were aroused,
and. they flocked to their old rallying points, the churches,
and set forth their wishes in strong resolutions. They
feared that the removal of negro trustees would bring about
the same condition of affairs as had made the act of July
II, 1862, a necessity, and that the existence of the schools
' Special Report, Commissioner of Education, 1871, p. 242.
121] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 29
would depend upon local politics alone. There was some
little hesitation about taking this stand, because some
thought that the negroes might be considered as opposing
Congress; but the final resolutions looked to a change in
the whole system, which was thought to reflect distinctions
in race and color. In view of the position of the negroes
of the two cities, President Johnson vetoed the measiu"e, and
called the attention of Congress to the statement that the
trustees for the negro schools, two of whom were negroes,
had given satisfaction to their constituency, and therefore
he saw no reason for transferring their duties to others. It
was at this time, when the negroes had begun to be promi-
nent in the police and fire departments of the city and in
other phases of municipal life, that the question of mixed
schools was incontinently agitated, culminating in a debate
in Congress in the early spring of 1871, in which the effort
was unsuccessfully made to remove all restrictions on
account of color from all the public schools, and which also
produced the statement in the Senate that for eighteen
months or two years the board of trustees for the negro
schools had been in a controversy among themselves,
"fighting constantly at their meetings," the latter clause
not meaning, of course, that they had come to blows.'
Under the territorial government which followed this
debate, some modifications were made in the administration
of the negro schools. Under an act of the Legislative
Assembly of March 3, 1873, George F. T. Cook, who had
been chosen in 1868 superintendent for the negro schools
and who still occupies that position, was appointed super-
intendent by the Governor, and his report began to appear
with that of the superintendent of the white schools, the
trustees were increased in number to nine, and the acts of
Assembly laying a tax for education, instead of specially
designating the amounts for the two systems, read "for the
support of public schools, including colored schools," though
'Congressional Globe, 1871, pp. 1054-1061.
30 Tlie Negro in the District of Columhia. [122
in expending the funds the proportion of white and negro
pupils to the whole school population appears to have
remained as a basis. The abolition of the experiment in
1874 produced other changes. At that time there were
more than forty school trustees for four different systems of
schools, — twenty for the white schools of Washington, live
for the white schools of Georgetown, nine for the negro
schools of Washington and Georgetown, and seven for the
white and negro schools of the county. The three Commis-
sioners of tlie District appointed by the President consoli-
dated these boards in August, 1874, into one board of
fifteen members, increased, however, in the next month to
nineteen, to the great benefit of the schools resulting from a
uniformity of supervision, discipline, text-books and methods
of instruction, there being some slight modifications to suit
peculiar conditions; and while the white superintendent
was given oversight of all the white schools and the negro
schools of the county, the negro schools of the two cities
remained uxider their own superintendent. The same admin-
istration continued when the form of government for the
District crystallized in 1878 into its existing form ; but since
July 15, 1882, the board of trustees has been composed of
but nine members, three of them being negroes; and from
one of seven divisions in 1879, the growth of the negro
school had, by February, 1891, made necessary three divi-
sions, with a supervising principal in each, the eighth divi-
sion having been created in the session of 1882-83.
During the thirt}^ years from the time when Congress
first took a hand in the negro school alTairs, they have
advanced almost as rapidly as the white schools in points
of attendance, administration and methods of instruction.
Though the first teacher of a negro public school in the
District was a negro woman, with a white woman as an
assistant, the problem about the proper kind of teachers was
at first similar to that presented in the negro private
schools before the war. In the first ten years of the system
the teachers were in a great degree white women from the
123] The Negro in the District of Cohnnhia. 31
North; but the change from white teachers to negro was
begun in the sixties, in 1869 the fifty schools being equally
divided among them. At that time but eighteen of the
negro teachers were natives of the District/ At present all
negro schools have teachers of the negro race. The
schools originally of a primary character gradually enlarged
their field; between 1871 and 1875 there was a preparatory
course advanced beyond the grammar schools, and in 1876
the colored High School graduated its first pupils, and has
since sent its graduates to Cornell, Howard, Harvard uni-
versities, the University of Michigan and Oberlin College;
while the Normal School, which began operations a few
years later, has furnished material for teachers of the local
schools. The teachers of reconstruction times had realized
the necessity for some sort of manual training among their
pupils, and this idea was later incorporated in the public
school system and in the institutions for higher education.
Drawing was introduced into the public schools in 1875,
and the establishing in 1880 by Mrs. Woodbury of the
First Mission School for cooking, with the subsequent
organization at Washington of the National Industrial Asso-
ciation, gave an impetus to this most important branch of
teaching. In 1883 industrial training became a part of the
' A curious commentary upon the situation at this time is had in
the circular of the trustees, issued in September, 1869. They said :
" It is our determination to elevate the character of the schools by
insisting on a high standard of qualifications in the teachers. This
can be done only by employing the best teachers that our money
will procure irrespective of color. While we think it right to give
preference in our schools to colored teachers, their qualifications
being equal , yet we deem it a violation of our.ofBcial oath to employ
inferior teachers when superior ones can be had for the same
money. It is no discredit to admit that the number of colored
teachers, at least in this District, who can compete successfully
with those of the hitherto more favored class, especially those from
the Northern States, is at present small. When our young men
and women shall have enjoyed equal advantages for a sufficient
length of time, we may expect this will be changed." Special
Report, Commissioner of Education, p. 257.
32 The Negro in the District of ColumUa. [124
curriculum of Howard University, and the demands of this
branch of instruction have so increased that a separate
building is now devoted to it for the pupils of the prepara-
tory and normal departments. The outfit includes a car-
penter shop, tin shop, bookbindery, tailor and shoe shops,
kitchen, and printing office, from which is Issued monthly
The Howard Standard. The other departments of the insti-
tution, which in 1892 had 562 pupils, are theological, medi-
cal, law, and collegiate, the students being confined to no
race, sex or color, but including whites, negroes, West
Indians, and coming from such extremes as Africa and
Japan.'
Manual training was introduced into the High School in
1886, where also at present the boys have the advantage of
a military drill, and instruction in physical culture is given
in the primary and grammar grades. The system of manual
training as extended through the different grades embraces
drawing, clay modeling, paper cutting, cooking, carpentry,
turning and metal work, and it has not only been of great
advantage to the pupils, but the results have demonstrated
the capabilities of the negro race in this direction to the
satisfaction of those who have watched its growth.'
The schools which, with the assistance of the relief soci-
eties, had pupils of three generations at once, have evolved
into a system devoted entirely to children, and from one
school, with forty pupils in 1864, the negro schools have
' An account of the history of industrial training at Howard Uni-
versity, by Prof. W. P. Mitchell, is given on pp. 330, 331 of Part II
of the publication just issued by the Bureau of Education on
" Industrial and Manual Training in Public Schools."
^Isaac Edwards Clarke, in commenting on their exhibition, said :
"The step from the condition of their original African barbarian
ancestors to the present development of these children of American
freedom is a long one, and one the study of which, of interest to
all students of ethnology, must be of surpassing interest to those
who hope for the progress of all mankind. How much of this
evolution is to be attributed to the result of the two centuries of
training and association of these native Africans and their children
125] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 33
increased to more than two hundred schools, with 14,490
pupils, while the attendance upon private schools has de-
creased from 1200 to about 650, with 410 in parochial
schools. The trustees, though, have failed to be entirely
satisfied about the work which is being done for the educa-
tion of the negroes, and the president of the board in 1891
wrote as follows on this point:
"The seventh and eighth divisions embracing the colored
schools of the city have been a subject of serious thought
with the whole board of trustees. The question has been
asked by the best class of colored citizens and by others
who feel a deep interest in the success of their schools, *Are
we getting the best results obtainable for the expenditure of
means?' From the best information that I, as the president
of the board of trustees, have been able to obtain, I am
clearly of the opinion that we do not. I have been visited
by and have consulted with the most intelligent and edu-
cated of the colored citizens, with whom it has been a subject
of anxious thought ' What,' say they, ' shall we do to
improve our schools? We know that we are not obtaining
the best results ; we are not abreast of the white schools, nor
do we yet expect to be; but we are too far behind them, and
such should not be the case.' We have intelligent, earnest
men in the board of trustees, representing more nearly the
colored schools, who give their time and personal super-
vision to the schools of their respective divisions. Yet the
work is not what it should be. There must be a reason for
it. Some of the supervising principals and teachers of
with their white masters under the hard conditions of slavery, and
how much is solely due to the inspiring influence of freedom during
the past quarter of a century, is a problem in equity, for the relative
proportion of credit due to each were not easy justly to apportion.
It may not be denied, however, that the average slave of 1860 was,
in all that makes the civilization of a race possible, far in advance
of his savage kin in Africa. If in nothing else he was advantaged,
he had in the acquisition of English as his native language, gained
a priceless possession, a master-key to all knowledge." Industrial
and Manual Training in Public Schools, pp. 248-249.
34 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [126
colored schools are men fully capable by both education and
culture to lift these schools to a higher standard than they
have yet attained. But there seems to be a something
somewhere that prevents it. What is it? I submit this
question to the consideration of tlie Commissioners of the
District."
As far back as 1873 the trustees, recognizing that hu-
manity as well as public interests demanded that provision
should be made for educating those who had been given the
responsibilities of citizenship, discovered that the work of
the schools was hampered by home influences, the parents
being unable to discipline their children properly or to
supplement the studies at school with home instruction;
and in spite of nearly twenty years of labor, somewhat similar
conditions were the subject of comment by the superinten-
dent of the negro schools in 1891. This opinion was to the
effect that dilBculty in training the children to the correct
use of language was due to " the large and constantly oppos-
ing forces of the home and its association." And to the
absence of a cultured home, which is not the growth of a
generation, is traced the disproportionate amount of illit-
eracy among the negroes in spite of the equipment of their
public schools, the conduct of night schools during certain
months, the gradual introduction of free books in the dif-
ferent grades, the gathering of libraries in the different
schools, aggregating 3000 volumes, through the individual
efforts of teachers and pupils, and the general results which
should be expected from additions each year to the com-
munity of graduates of the high school. At times the school
authorities squint toward compulsory education, which is
permitted under the act of 1864; but this has never been
executed because the attendance upon both tlie white and
negro schools has been fully equal to the provisions for it,
and since the two systems have been operating with as little
friction as possible, the number of negroes in the schools has
been in the same proportion to their portion of the popu-
lation of school age as the attendance upon the white
127] The Negro in the District of Columbia.
35
schools has been to white children between the ages of 6
and 17 years/
In the report of the Commissioner of Education for 1886
the fact was noted that while the attendance upon the white
schools was maintained in all the grades, that upon the negro
schools diminished as the grades ascended. This gives the
clue to a partial explanation of the failure of the negro
population to be benefited by the system equally with the
whites, and behind it is the bed-rock reason, — the poverty
of parents and the necessity for many of the children to aid
in some way in supporting the family preventing tliem from
pursuing the whole course and even from remaining in
school during a year at a time. Figures of the police census
of June, 1892, throw a flood of light upon this situation.
In that year the white population was 173,610, of whom
36,272 were of school age, 30,085 of whom were at school
and 2948 were earning wages. But the negro population,
84,821, furnished a school population of 18,726, with 13,041
' The following table is a good basis for a comparison of the sta-
tistics of white and negro schools since 1880. In the white schools'
statistics are included the negro pupils in the county schools, their
number being as 1 to 23 of the whites, and the Normal School is
omitted from the negro statistics.
&0
a .
Pupils.
Teacheks.
"Oeo
a®
White.
Negro.
Total.
White.
Negro.
Total.
1880
18,378
8,061
26,439
306
128
434
1881
19,153
8,146
27,299
327
134
461
1882
19,031
8,289
27,320
342
143
485
1883
19,836
8,710
28,546
358
147
505
1884
21,221
9,167
30,388
371
154
525
1885
21,267
9,598
30,865
393
162
555
1886
22,198
10,138
32,336
421
174
595
1887
23,073
10,345
33,418
438
182
620
1888
23,810
11,040
34,850
466
188
654
1889
24,594
11,170
35,764
496
197
693
1890
25,468
11,438
36,906
534
211
745
1891
26,354
12,132
38,386
569
226
795
1892
30,085
13,041
43,126
612
283
895
36 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [128
at school and 2870 earning wages. The fluctuations in
attendance, though, seem to be lessening each year, and the
advance in material welfare of the population indicated
thereby may so extend as to place the attendance through
the whole system on a plane with that in the white schools.
Lack of culture and wealth among the great body of the
negro population may account in part for the inability of
the negro children as a class to be equal in literacy to white
children of the same age; but another drawback may be
found in the teachers. More than once have the trustees
made a point of commending the attainments and capabilities
of the present superintendent, and in 1879 they had this to
say in commenting upon the satisfactory condition of the
negro schools:
"Nor can it occasion surprise that such should be the
case to those who have acquainted themselves with the
extraordinary ability and unremitting zeal exhibited by the
superintendent of the colored schools in the administration of
the afifairs of his peculiar department. To properly appre-
ciate the high order of talent and the degree of industry
which have characterized the performance of his official
duties, it is to be borne in mind that his task, because of the
former anomalous relations of the colored schools to the
rest of the system, has, from its inception, been eminently
creative and largely dependent for its successful accomplish-
ment upon the resources of his unaided genius. To his
personal efforts is to be attributed the rapid advance made,
in recent years, by that department of our public schools
and its entire harmony with the general scheme of instruc-
tion.'"
These qualities of the superintendent are his rightly by
inheritance, and they are manifest in the comprehensive
reports which he furnishes each year. He early realized the
advantages to be derived from the opportunities for local
training of the teachers for the local schools of their own
color, but has not been backward in criticising imperfections
1 Public School Report, 1878-79, p. 17.
129] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 37
in the Normal School results. A negro critic of his race,
at a recent meeting, made this statement: " Make a colored
girl a school-teacher, and when she draws her first month's
salary she refuses to speak to other girls." This was an
exaggerated statement of a germ of truth which finds par-
tial confirmation in the report of 1889 o^ the principal of
the Normal School. Her observation was that young negro
girls too frequently chose teaching as a profession without
due regard to its importance, and that their disappoint-
ment about obtaining positions, resulting in their passion
getting the better of their judgment, did not tend to " the
moral elevation of either pupils or school." On this same
line the superintendent, believing that the average product
of the Normal School is good, has had occasion to observe
in 1890 that the graduates lacked experience, and more or
less " that more pronounced personal and moral character
whose growth is conditioned by maturer years, and which,
in itself, presents an embodiment of those virtues whose
silent influences in the school-room contribute so largely to
the proper bent of youthful character."'
These defects in the teaching class, however, are counter-
acted in part by the enthusiasm of individuals, and in criti-
cising existing conditions it must be remembered that hardly
a generation has passed since the means of any public
education were given the negro race in the District, and
that the history of the race in this country before that time
reveals very little of the mode of life which would be likely
to produce either a teaching or a learning class; but the
spectacle of elderly persons in the night schools, of news-
boys seeking at odd moments to acquire at Howard Uni-
versity the rudiments of an industrial training, and of pupils
in the other schools bringing their breakfast to school in
order to be prompt in attendance, not only indicates that the
race has lost none of the eagerness for learning which char-
acterized it in antebellum days, but also is full of promise
of greater development of the schools in the future.
' District Commissioners' Reports, 1889, p. 979; 1890, p. 972; 1891,
p. 910.
III.
STRIVING FOR EQUALITY.
Under the old regime, free negroes in the District were
affected not only indirectly by the laws referring to their
kinsmen slaves, but also by special municipal legislation
directed against themselves. The nine or ten o'clock curfew,
though evaded at times, the provision in Georgetown
against assemblages, though not rigidly enforced, the pro-
hibition in Alexandria of separate places of worship, the
hardships of registry and of the presentation of satisfactory
evidence of freedom, and the limitation of license to engage
in business, reflecting the feeling of citizens against migra-
tion into the District of free negroes, were some of the
evidences of the inequality before the law of negroes with
whites, and were drawbacks to the possibility of negroes
attaining the semblance of mental or material equality with
the dominant race.
The wholesale emancipation of the slaves had not in itself
tended to benefit them materially, nor had it been of value
to those who had previously been free, for the old restric-
tions, bom of the custom of centuries or of the exigencies
of particular occasion, were still in force. The slave had
become free, but neither he nor his brother had become a
freeman either in the strict sense of the word or before the
law.
It was the purpose, though, of the negroes' advocates to
correct, as far as possible by law, the remarkable fallacy
of American institutions that all men are by nature equal,
and in addition to making the slaves free, to make them and
their fellows freemen. Senator Wilson had aimed at this
in his bill of February, 1862, to abolish the black code.
He was ceaseless in his activity, and finally found a shorter
route to his desire, in the amendment which very appropri-
131] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 39
ately he had added to the bill of Senator Grimes, providing
for education of tlie negroes, which became a law May 21,
1862, and which provided tliat all negroes in the District
should be amenable to the same laws and ordinances as
whites, that they should be tried for any offenses in the same
manner as whites, and that upon conviction they should be
liable to the same punishment, and all laws inconsistent with
the act were repealed. So much was accomplished, in a
few words, toward relieving the negro of tlie inequalities in
case of his arrest; but it was only a beginning. As the
admission of negro testimony had been varying, it was neces-
sary to define and expand it more thoroughly than had been
done in the emancipatory act, which in that particular case
permitted the testimony of free or slave negroes; and
accordingly, to Mr. Wilson's bill of July 12 was appended
Mr. Sumner's motion that "in all judicial proceedings in
the District of Columbia there shall be no exclusion of any
witness on account of color," the principle which a few years
later was extended to the federal courts of the country.
The right to serve as jurors was not conferred until the
passage of the omnibus bill of rights of March, 1869, which
also gave the negroes the right to hold office, a complement
to the right of suffrage given them several months j^re-
viously.
But these were not all the measures urged upon Congress
for the particular class who had become in more senses
than one the proteges of the government. The tendency to
distinguish against them in public conveyances, which has
in more recent years found practical application in some
quarters in separate cars for negroes, was manifest at that
day. But the supports of this tendency were one by one
cut away. The Washington and Alexandria Railroad Com-
pany, wishing to extend its line into the District, came
before Congress for an enlargement of its charter, and this
enabled the Senate to amend the bill, which became law,
March 3, 1863, so that no distinction against negroes should
be made in the cars. In the meantime the far-seeing capi-
40 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [132
talist, recognizing the advantages of obtaining valuable fran-
chises on easy terms, had begun to operate street cars in the
city, and the Washington and Georgetown Company, which
was chartered in 1862, in deference to prevailing sentiments
of the whites and the demands of negroes, had provided
separate cars for the latter. This was one of the distinctions
which Mr. Sumner would abolish, and he saw his chance
for a beginning when the Metropolitan Railroad Company
came forward for a charter. This was granted July i, 1864,
but it carried with it a provision that in operating the road
there should be no regulation excluding any persons from
any car on accouat of color. This was the wedge upon
which he labored for a few more months, and although his
efforts were unsuccessful when he first attempted to apply
the same rule to the Washington and Georgetown Rail-
road, he was victorious in his second essay, and when the
Metropolitan charter was amended March 3, 1865, it had a
rider inserted applying the non-exclusion principle to every
other railroad in the District.
The culmination of this legislation was the municipal act
of June 10, 1869, which prohibited distinction on account of
color in places of public amusement, hotels and similar quasi
public resorts, and it must be said that by that time the
impression seemed to prevail among the negroes, particu-
larly those who had not been inhabitants of the District for
many years, that if any distinction was shown it was against
the whites.
There is no doubt that both parties in Congress had their
extremists, and on a careful reading of some of the debates
one is forced to the conclusion that while, on the one hand,
if such a thing had been possible, some would have passed
a law changing the color of the skin of the negroes to
white, on the other hand would have been found others
willing to enact a law that the special advocates of the
negroes should change their complexion to black. The
negroes may have been unanimous in their desire for such
special legislation, but that the leaders were at times mis-
133] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 41
taken in their zeal is apparent from the incident of 1868-69,
regarding the pubhc schools trustees, and the debate on tlie
separate street cars showed that even among those who were
specially friendly toward the negroes was not always a
thorough understanding as to the most expedient course of
action. Again, in 1871, the radical efforts for equality
found expression in the bill providing that "no distinction
on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude
shall be made in the admission of pupils to any of the
schools under the control of the Board of Education, or in
the mode of education or treatment of pupils in such
schools." The debate on this bill, which was introduced too
late to become of value, as the change in the form of gov-
ernment for the District was about to be made, illustrated
the extremes of opinion on the subject, and proceeded far
enough to effect the elision of the idea of mixed schools by
an amendment substituting for the words " the admission of
pupils" the words "in providing the means for the educa-
tion of pupils."
Since that time the real struggle for equality has been
continued. When upon the District were conferred the
rights of territorial government, much of the time of Con-
gress had been devoted to legislation affecting the negroes,
with the result that according to law they had equal rights
with whites at the polls, in the courts, in the street cars,
in places of public amusement and entertainment; the
provision for the instruction of their young by the govern-
ment was upon the same basis as that for the white children,
and in one institution, the protege of the Freedman's Bureau,
was absolutely no distinction of race, sex or color. This
condition of affairs was advantageous for them, but yet con-
tained an element of disadvantage. The theory of the legis-
lation in their behalf may have been perfect. It may have
seemed only logical, in accordance with the accepted prin-
ciple underlying American institutions, to clothe the new
element in American life with all the rights and privileges
hitherto enjoyed exclusively by the whites. But an appar-
42 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [134
ently logical conclusion may easily be demolished when it
is discovered that the premises are wrong. Just as the
original idea of immigration to this country', eminently
proper at the time, has been perverted to such a degree that
the welfare and happiness of great cities, if not of the whole
country, are threatened until it is recognized that under
existing circumstances the idea has an element of radical
wrong- in it; so, while the changed conditions of negro life
at the capital might justify every act protecting them in
their civil rights, the same act twenty-five or thirty years age
may have been most unwise and evil in its tendency.
The safest legislation, the legislation most likely to benefit
the greater number in a civilized community, is that which
incorporates the sentiments of that community, and not
those of persons who reason that because a law works no
ill in one section of the country' it will be beneficial in every
other section no matter how the economic and sociological
conditions may differ. A premature law, that is, a law
forced upon a people instead of springing from them, may
not always be pernicious in its effects, but it is a dangerous
experiment. That the equalizing before the law of the
negroes with the whites in the District did not result in
greater disaster than the outgrowth of the experiment in
suffrage, is due not only to the comparatively well disposed
nature of the new population in spite of their previous dis-
advantages, but also to the fact that influence of the weight
of government at the capital, with its many ramifications,
was a tremendous power against action, had the desire been
formulated by any mass of citizens to bring the law into
disrepute. At the same time the imposition by Congress of
such legislation upon the community against the wishes of
the native white portion of it, who knew from experience
and long association the character of their negro neighbors,
did not inspire them to aid the negroes in their evolution,
and served also to harden the distinctions in personal rela-
tions which had been drawn as soon as the negroes had
ceased to be a comparatively insignificant element in the life
of the capital.
135] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 43
In the early days at Washington the two races had been
nearer each other in various ways than they were in i860.
Their separation before the war cannot be said to have been
due primarily to the difference of color or to prejudice aris-
ing therefrom, though it may have been hastened thereby.
The transfer of the colored people from tlieir quarters in
the white churches and Sunday schools to their own edifices
was not solely the result of the alarm of the whites after
1 83 1, but was according to a natural tendency of the
negroes, just as of any other class in a city, to associate more
and more with those who were bound to them by a com-
munity of race, social and material interests, when unusual
influences do not prevail. The same principle has obtained
since the war among the mass of negroes, though seeming
contradictions, which may be explained by the presence of
a mixed population in the District, have been made at
times and exist at present. The failure of a negro to obtain
admission to the law department of a white institution has
not interfered with his subsequent appointment as a special
attorney under the District government. The controversy
over his application for admission to the law school was
paralleled by that which arose over the pioneer attempt of a
negro to become a member of the local typographical union.
He, however, was ultimately successful, and his example was
followed by others of his race, while to-day the barbers'
assembly, in which no line is drawn, has a negro as
its executive. It is also stated that when several years
ago the white printers upon one of the papers at the
capital went on a strike, the members of the colored washer-
women's union did what they could to aid them by practi-
cally boycotting in their small way some of the tradesmen
who patronized the newspaper.
There is probably less distinction between the races among
some bodies of organized labor than in any other of the
many relations of life. In the professions the lines seem to
be strictly drawn, as a rule, and this may be illustrated by an
incident of quite recent date. For some years negroes have
,44 The i^fegro in the District of Columbia. [136
at intervals attempted to become members of the Medical
Society of the District. They have been unsuccessful. The
latest candidate of prominence was Dr. Forman J. Shadd, a
light-complexioned negro, bom in the District, a graduate
of Howard University, house surgeon at the Freedman's
Hospital and lecturer on medical jurisprudence. In the
spring of 1891 the members of the Medical Society received
the following anonymous message on postal cards:
"Dr. F. J. Shadd, resident physician at the Freedman's
Hospital, is a candidate for membership in the Medical
Society. The election will occur Wednesday, April i.
Dr. Shadd is well and favorably known as a man and a
physician. Indirectly he has furnished much interesting
material for the Society. It will be a just and manly act to
elect him. His friends are urged to be present."
On some of the postal cards was added in lead pencil the
single word " colored," and this in part was the reason for
an imusually large attendance of the members at the meet-
ing, which was expected to be stormy, but the full pro-
ceedings of which were protected by its secret session.
Nineteen persons were presented for membership, and of
these eleven were admitted. With one exception the names
of all those whose applications were refused were placed on
the list below that of Dr. Shadd. Five were graduates of
Howard University, and the vote on their application
ranged from 16 to 29 in favor of them to 23 to 37 against
them. One of the members explained afterward that the
failure of the other Howard graduates to enter was due to
a feeling that at the next election their votes would be given
for Dr. Shadd. Commenting on the result. Dr. Shadd said:
"The result is not unexpected. Several years ago two
other colored men were voted down by the Society, which is
a sort of close corporation. I did think, though, that the
question of admission would depend upon a man's merit and
attainments, and not upon his color. Yes, I shall keep on
applying until I am elected a member. I know nothing
about the anonymous postal card." The matter did not
137] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 45
really end there, but came before Congress in April, 1892,
when tlie District Committee of the Senate was instructed
to investigate into the truth of the report that the Medical
Society discriminated against colored physicians or phy-
sicians who had been or might be teachers in Howard Uni-
versity.' Dr. Thos. G. Smith, the corresponding secretary
of the Society, and Dr. Charles B. Purvis, the physician at
the Freedman's Hospital, were heard by a sub-committee.
From the report of the committee it is learned that Dr.
Smith said frankly " that the color line was drawn tacitly in
the Medical Society, and that no colored man can be
elected a member. This result was not reached by any for-
mal action in respect to color, but simply resulted from the
fact that when the name of a colored man was up the indi-
vidual members exercised their privilege of voting against
him, as they would vote against a white man who might, for
any reason, be objectionable to them.
" Dr. Smith said that the Society could not and did
not attempt to keep colored men from practising the pro-
fession of medicine, but did keep them from the meetings
at which papers were read and medical matters discussed in
a semi-social manner. The fear was that the presence of
colored members would introduce discord in the meetings,
and that so many members, especially among the older ones,
would withdraw that the Society would be broken up.
Objection was also made to both white and colored
graduates of the Howard University Medical School, because
they attended a school where the fees were lower than at
other schools in the District.
"Dr. Purvis testified that some twenty years ago he and
Dr. Augusta applied for membership in the Medical Society.
There was a favorable report by the censors on their appli-
cations, but the vote against them was overwhelming. Since
then Dr. Cook and Dr. Francis, both colored graduates of
the Medical School of Michigan University, had been re-
^ Senate Eeport No. 1050, 52nd Congress, Ist Session.
46 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [138
jected by the Society, as also had Dr. Shadd, a reputable
colored physician.
" Inside the Society, Dr. Purvis continued, there is an asso-
ciation, or committee, to regulate the ethics of the profes-
sion. No colored man can belong to this association. The
Medical Society licenses the colored physician, but refuses
to allow him to become a member of the licensing body.
As for the question of Howard University fees, said Dr.
Purvis, that school was not chartered for the use of colored
pupils, and the majority of the first class were whites, the
fees being the same as those in other schools. As the
number of colored students increased the fees were reduced,
and the other schools have also reduced their fees.
" Dr. Reybum, Dr. Lamb, and Dr. Joseph Tabor Johnson
were members of the Society before they became Howard
professors. After they went into the faculty they had to
withdraw from it. Subsequently Drs. Reybum and John-
son left Howard and identified themselves with the medical
department of Georgetown University, and again became
members of the Society. Within a year Drs. Graham and
Hood, however, have been admitted to the Society not-
withstanding their connection with Howard University, but
Dr. Perry, a member of the Howard faculty, has been
rejected.
'' Dr. Purvis claimed that the leading physicians in Wash-
ington favor Howard, but that the younger men are averse
to the institution. He himself consults with Drs. Lincoln,
Ford Thompson, and others of equal standing; and the
leading medical society of Baltimore admits colored grad-
uates of Howard University."
The committee on June 22 found these facts, and in
submitting their report made this comment only: "Your
committee are fully satisfied, from the testimony of both
sides to the controversy, that the Medical Society of the
District of Columbia does not admit to membership colored
physicians, however reputable or well qualified they may
be, and that as regards teachers in the medical school of
139] The Negro in the District of Cohimbia. 47
Howard University it appears that in some cases they are
admitted and in others rejected."
This episode is recalled to illustrate the point to which a
broad interpretation of equal civil rights may be carried, and
to direct attention to the tendency to confuse equality of
civil rights with that of social rights. It may be said,
broadly speaking, that the letter of the law passed before
1870 is observed. At different times during the past twenty
years or more well-known negroes have been accommodated
in the hotels of Washington without causing a stampede of
white guests; the street car lines and steam railroads in the
District offer equal accommodations to all, and if there is
disorder on the late cars, particularly on Saturday nights,
it is not so much due to the color of the occupants as to
bad whiskey, which makes no discrimination in its effects
on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
In July, 1833, Joseph Jefferson, father of the present Rip
Van Winkle, was joint lessee with a Mr. Mackenzie of the
Washington Theater, and together they addressed an appeal
to the city fathers asking relief from a great burden that
oppressed them most heavily. The appeal stated : " There is
at present a law in force which authorizes the constables of
the city to arrest the colored people if on the street after
nine o'clock without a pass. A great proportion of our
audience consists of persons of this caste, and they are con-
sequently deterred from giving us that support that they
would otherwise do."^ The lessees estimated that the law
meant a loss of $10 nightly, and as they paid a tax of $6 a
night they asked for some modification of it While it is
hardly likely that any of the managers of Washington
theaters would send a similar petition to the District officials
should another early retiring law for the negroes be
enforced at this day, the proportion of the negroes in the
city able to pay for theater privileges is not such as to lead
to any desire on the part of managers to evade the law
'Special Report, Department of Education, 1871, p. 316.
4:8 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [140
flagrantly. Indeed, in one theater, where the performances
are such as to appeal most strongly to that element known
as the gallery gods, it is not unusual for the black gods to
be in the great majority.
In the courts there is no distinction; negroes serve on
juries in civil as well as in criminal cases, the counsel for
the defense in a murder trial pays the same tribute to the
intelligence and integrity of the negro juror as he pays to
the inherent qualities of the white ones, and the acquitted
man shakes the hands of all twelve of them with equal
gratitude and cordiality. If a negro attorney is at times
rebuked by the judge it is not on account of his color but
because of his choler.
Ofhce-holding by negroes cannot be considered wholly as
a local question, but what has been conceded to them at
Washington is of interest in connection with the question
of equality. This must also be viewed in a comparative
light. The population of the United States by the census
of 1890 was 62,622,250, of whom 30,554,370 were females,
and 7,470,040 are of African descent. The total number of
employes of the government at Washington is 23,144, of
whom 6105 are females, and between 2500 and 3000 negroes,
and these figures show that the percentage of negroes of
the country holding office in Washington does not diflfer
materially from the percentage of whites on the same basis.
Taking the Interior Department, the branch of the govern-
ment employing the greatest number of persons in Washing-
ton, as a fair example of the whole system as far as the general
government is concerned, it is found that of a total of 6120
employes in 1891 the negroes numbered 337, while in the
departments of the District government of a total of not
more than 3000 employes in the summer of 1892 1431 were
negroes. In the general government the negro employes
ranged from Recorder of the District, which has been given
to one of their race under Democratic and Republican
administrations since the appointment of Douglass, through
clerks, school-teachers and other vocations to charwomen
141] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 49
and janitors; and in the Interior Department, where the
estimate was made, the list included 74 clerks, 38 copyists, i
typewriter, 2 transcribers, 12 computers, i assistant examiner,
53 messengers, 11 skilled laborers, 74 laborers, 5 firemen, i
janitor, 15 watchmen, 5 packers, i painter, 3 receivers, 2
attendants, and 34 charwomen, and of the total nimiber of
negroes thus employed 103 were citizens of the District
when appointed. Though the greater portion of these
employes come under the head of unskilled labor, these
figures indicate that the negro has been equitably treated
in the distribution of offices, unless the contention be raised
that they should have been appointea solely because they
were negroes/
Because of the confusion of civil or public rights with
those of a personal or private nature, certain elements of the
'In August, 1892, the disposition of the negroes employed under
the District Government was as follows : 1 assistant assessor, 5
clerks, 1 food inspector, 1 superintendent of public schools, 283
teachers, 1 custodian of books, 9 police privates, 5 members of the
fire department, 15 messengers, 981 laborers, 18 drivers, 72 janitors,
2 assistant superintendents and 7 foremen of street and alley clean-
ing, 2 cooks, 3 nurses, 18 owners of horses and carts, 5 miscellan-
eous. The most lucrative position in the District held by a negro
has probably been that of Recorder of Deeds. This has recently
been changed from a fee office to a salaried one. Statistics pub-
lished recently by a negro who had collected them, show, in addi-
tion to those already given, 5 negroes employed at the Executive
Mansion, 53 by the Superintendent of Public Grounds and Buildings,
4 United States consuls, 5 messengers and 7 laborers in the State
Department, 3 collectors of customs, 331 other employes of the
Treasury Department, including 1 auditor and 1 chief of division ;
354 in the Interior Department, 173 in the War Department, 41 in
the Navy Department, 8 in the Department of Justice, 70 in the
PostoflBce Department, 37 in the Agricultural Department, 29 by the
Smithsonian Institution, 204 by the Public Printer, 67 at the Capitol,
including 1 librarian ; 19 in the office of Recorder of Deeds and 68 in
the Washington City postoffice. The employment of negroes in tbe
higher positions, such as ministers to Liberia and Haiti, just as in
the lower ones, is rather a gauge of the political influence of the
race than anything else, except where appointments have been
made to the classified service.
50 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [142
negro population place themselves in a position which is
not commended by those of either race, who are really well-
wishers for the progress of the negroes and who recognize
that there are certain relations of life which cannot be regu-
lated by law, even should a law to regulate them be passed
in that lack of wisdom which has sometimes entered into a
consideration of the relative status of the two races. At
times the feeling that the law does not meet the demands of
their race has led some of the negroes of the capital to set
forth their grievances in public meetings or in interviews,
which are reported in the daily papers with or without com-
ment. This feeling cannot be thoroughly appreciated by
any one save the individual possessed by it, for, as one of
the negro thinkers has pointed out, neither critics nor
champions of the negro have been entirely " acquainted with
the life they wished to delineate, and through sheer
ignorance ofttimes, as well as from design, have not been
able to * put themselves in his place.' "^ The nearest
approach the student may have to this place is to listen to
those who speak from that standpoint.
Upon several occasions opportunity to do this has been
given, and the grievances of the negroes have been filed by
them as well as answered by them. In December, 1891, a
special meeting was held to effect some organization to
obliterate color prejudices. One speaker said that if a colored
person was arrested by a policeman he was treated entirely
differently from a white person ; he was clubbed by a police-
man without any justification; that the great difference in
the vital statistics among the colored and the whites was due
to the fact that the colored people were forced to live in
unhealthy houses in alleys, for which a higher percentage of
rent was charged than for the palaces of the rich, and it was
known that no respectable colored person could rent a
house on certain streets on account of the combinations
against them of real estate agents and owners. Another
' Mrs. Annie J. Cooper in a speech delivered April 5, 1892.
143J The Negro in the District of Columbia. 51
declared that the purpose of the organization was to carry
on an agitation and cooperation in patronizing those pro-
fessional and business men and tliose stores where their
race was recognized in the employment of clerks and sales-
men. A third speaker pointed out that it mattered not how
skilled the colored doctor might be, on account of prejudice
he could not enter the bedchambers of the white people as
the white doctor could enter those of the colored people.
He had, however, discovered an establishment in the city
where a colored salesman was employed by the white pro-
prietor, and he would not advise his hearers to give their
trade exclusively to places run by colored people, though
he thought one of the best things they could do was to
encourage colored people who undertook business enter-
prises of their own when they found such men responsible
and reliable. This speech led to that of another man, who
reasoned that if the colored people had a few more stores
of their own they would be in a better position. White
people, he thought, were ahead of them in the matter of
employing colored people in order to get colored trade, and
he concluded with tlie statement that the people of the
colored race who have money never had anything to do
with these meetings; he wanted the colored men who had
money to try the colored people, and thought it was time
not only to ask the white man to take in the negro, but
also to ask the negro to take himself in, and they should
show to the world that they believed what they preached by
practising it. Just before adjournment the last speaker,
who thought the whole plan out of joint, argued that if
they were to interfere with the white man who discriminated
against them they should do the same thing by the black
man who acted in the same manner.
The proceedings of this meeting did not, of course, meet
with the approval even of all present, much less of the com-
munity of negroes at large, and at a subsequent meeting,
from the incoherency of purpose displayed, were derived
•certain statements as illustrative of the sentiments of those
52 2%e Negro in the District of Columbia. [144
assembled. One individual contended that the affair had
been started to give some one a chance to gouge money
out of the trusting; another said that he saw more preju-
dices among colored people of the District than between
whites and blacks ; another, that a business man must invest
his money where it would bring the best returns, and
colored capitalists did not propose to have the rabble who
could not earn money dictate how they should spend it;
while another knew black business men who had made their
money ofi their own race and then invested the proceeds in
a gilded palace for white people.
Shortly after these meetings, which failed of accomplish-
ing anything, as might have been expected from the pro-
ceedings themselves, another mass meeting was called to
protest against the killing of a young negro by a police-
man, and to emphasize the feeling among a certain class of
negroes that the police were extra harsh in their treatment
of offenders of their race. The excitement ran high for
several days, but the policeman was ultimately acquitted in
the Criminal Court of the murder of the negro. The feeling
was not eradicated, though, and found expression again a
few months later in an attack upon the superintendent of
police upon the ground that he was biased and prejudiced
against the negroes. He had, however, suspended the
policeman until his acquittal, and then restored him to the
force, and these facts were brought out again in the con-
troversy at the time, which was punctured quite cleverly by
a negro lawyer, who wrote:
" But the question recurs that this is a Republican admin-
istration and that a good Republican ought to have the office
of chief of police. To this I would say in behalf of the
colored people that this is true as a general statement, but
that in this particular case Maj. Moore represents that large
and controlling element of white citizens to whom the
colored people look for employment and whose sympathy
and help the colored people need and want. They want it
in the way of a public sentiment that will encourage higher
grades of employment, the establishment of training schools
145] The Negro iri the District of Columbia. 53
for old and young, friendly advice as to conduct at home
and abroad, the repression of the liquor traffic, the encour-
agement of those who are doing the best they can, the visit-
ing of the sick, the furnishing of work for the idle. In view
of these considerations and of his established fitness for the
place, leave Maj. Moore where he is and encourage him
to go forward and fill to the utmost the opportunities for
good of his position and of his class."
When it is borne in mind that the indignation meeting
was held but a short time before the meeting of the Repub-
lican Convention in the District, and that the revival of the
agitation occurred in the waning days of a national cam-
paign, the wisdom of the lawyer's observation is apparent.
There is reason to believe, though, that a negro prisoner
is treated at times with undue harshness, but this is not
because of a desire to discriminate against the race by those
at the head of the police department, but rather to the
stupidity or lack of self-control on the part of an officer,
not sufficient, though, to counteract his general value as a
preserver of the peace. For instance, not long ago a
respectable-looking colored boy was arrested on Sunday for
carrying a shotgun along the street. The Assistant District
Attorney refused to make out a charge against him of
carrying concealed weapons, but the policeman who had
arrested him secured a fine against him in another division
of the police court under an old law for carrying a gun
"with the apparent intention of hvmting on the Sabbath."
It should be remembered, though, before passing from this
topic, that there are sections in Washington where a police-
man carries his life in his hands, and the utmost severity
is necessary to enforce respect for his office and his uniform
on the part of the criminal classes, of which the negroes are
an unequal proportion, constituting one-third of the popu-
lation and contributing more than one-half to the number
of arrests.*
^TTie Washington Post, Dec. 1, 9, 22, 25, 1891. The Evening Star,
Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 1, 9, 22, 1891, Aug., 1892. Washington Post, Mar.
12, 15, 16, 17, 20,1891.
54 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [146
In the spring of 1891, Congress having failed to appro-
priate sufficient money to meet the expenses of the National
Guard of the District, Gen. Albert Ordway, commanding,
issued, on March 9, an order that the four companies of
negro militia, forming two battalions, be mustered out.
Not many years before that a similar failure on the part of
Congress had resulted in companies being cut off, and the
second episode brought out not only the protests of the
militia affected by the order and their friends, but also the
politicians, who saw at once another instance of the color
line, and for several days the controversy raged. A protest
of negro citizens was presented to the President, to whom
Gen. Ordway had explained that the matter was a financial
one, and that so far from having any feeling in the matter
he would himself make as large a contribution toward main-
taining a colored battalion which would include the four
companies, as any other individual, and he would, if neces-
sary, pledge the rental of the armory for a year. The con-
ference with the President resulted in a change from the
plan of disbanding the companies to one of consolidating
them, which had, indeed, been contemplated previously, and
another example was given of the equitable treatment of the
negroes, supported by public sentiment. The two opinions
on the subject may be had in the words of the commanding
general, and of one of the committee which conferred with
him. The former said : " I am glad the difficulty has been
arranged and that the colored companies can still be kept in
the National Guard. I hope the consolidation will be
effected harmoniously, if it is decided on, and that all the
necessary public help will be forthcoming. I have not
drawn the color line at all in this matter, and the reasons for
my action were purely military ones, as will appear to any
one who looks into the matter." The latter said: "When
the order disbanding the colored militia was issued, the
impression made upon the public mind, and in which we
shared, was that race and color, and not politics, was the
cause of it. In reply to this, Gen. Ordway frankly ad-
147] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 55
mitted that whatever his motives may have been, his order,
under the circumstances, was susceptible of that construc-
tion." The consolidation took place, and nothing more of
friction came to the surface until some indefinite fears were
expressed that tlie participation of the militia of both colors
in a Thanksgiving sham battle might result in some
unpleasantness, and the injury of one colored soldier was
attributed privately to race feeling.
Occasionally the controversy over discrimination takes a
grotesque form, as in the case of the embryo bathing beach
on the Potomac; and to a complaint that negroes were
given a separate place from the whites, the superintendent
replied : " I have allotted to the colored folks more area per
capita than to the whites, but the whiles have not complained
... it is my aim to make the beach a popular bathing place,
and everybody knows that can never be if the two races are
forced to mingle. The Creator marked the races with
different colors, and I do not ask why; I take them as they
are, and with a desire to benefit both I shall not try to
obliterate the mark. White folks will not be permitted to
occupy the colored premises, nor colored folks the white
premises. This seems to me the only practicable solution
of the question, and I think the commissioners are sus-
tained both by law and public opinion in maintaining the
distinction the same as in the schools." While another
correspondent wrote : " The black boy has the same privi-
lege as the white. The beach is the same, as are the dress-
ing-rooms, and I am quite sure both have the same privi-
lege of bathing if they choose, and the white boy is not
indignant that he has to bathe alone, for which reason I can-
not see why his colored friend should be, they being on
exactly the same footing with regard to privileges and restric-
tions and being held to be upon an equality."
In brief this is a review of the contention of the negroes
for equal rights in the District. It is presented in as
impartial spirit as possible, and no better commentary on
the status of the negro as to civil rights is had than in the
56 The Negro in the District of Gohnnhia. [148
experiences during the recent encampment of the Grand
Army of the Republic in Washington. When the enterpris-
ing citizens were striving to bring the encampment to that
city, certain negroes bestirred themselves against the plan.
One of the spokesmen said, in referring to the Grand Army :
" It dare not bring its next encampment to this city, when
it is a fact that quite a number of those who signed the
call to bring it here make bold to say that in their places
of business no negro could or would be accommodated, and
two of the signers have made the public statement that
they wished no negroes would ever again enter their stores.
We shall appeal to the moral sense, the loyal sense of the
eminent men of the country, as well as the rank and file,
not to encamp here on these grounds, and for other solid
reasons, which we will make good by correspondence
between now and then and in a public meeting in Detroit
the first night of the encampment."
" We have no idea," said another, " of allowing the
encampment to be held here, and already a hall has been
secured in Detroit in which we shall hold meetings and
fight every claim set forth by Washington. There are more
than the colored Grand Army men opposed to this thing,
and they intend to fight it to the bitter end. If it is not
already a political matter, it will be made one before it is
over."
The Grand Army came, however, and in its great parade
two negroes were on the stafif of the chief marshal of the
citizens' escort, a collection of negro school children on
one stand sang the same songs as the collection of white
children on another, the same public provision was made
for the comfort of the negro veterans as for the white ones,
and in spite of the fact that the occasion presented unpre-
cedented opportunities for the politician, but one case of
alleged violation of civil rights was made. A negro of New
York charged against the proprietor of a first-class restau-
rant that his color had prevented his being served in the
establishment. The proprietor testified that his orders had
149] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 57
been to serve all Grand Army men, white or black, the
floor-walker gave his version of the incident, and in three
minutes the jury gave a verdict of not guilty/
It must not be inferred from this summary of the question
that in such places as first-class saloons, restaurants, hotels
or other public resorts tlie negro customer would be as
welcome a visitor as the white one, however equal the money
of the two races might be in other places of bargain and
sale; but this latent spirit of discrimination would be found
to exist in a proprietor no matter what his color, provided
the great mass of his customers were white. This is but
an outcropping of that feeling, recognized by the sober-
minded of both races, that however equitably the civil rights
of the negroes may be observed, the line is drawn when the
question of equal social privileges is raised; but even in
that case where personal preferences govern, as in the case
of public resorts, where the law oflfers protection, the sensible
negro perceives the wisdom of remaining where his com-
pany is desired instead of attempting to force himself upon
those who prefer the association of the whites alone.
The public schools are an illustration of the feeling that
on social lines the line must be defined between the two
races, and the willingness that in public education the
negroes shall enjoy privileges similar to those of the whites,
while what might be a great lever toward the attainment of
social equality is to be avoided, but emphasizes the feeling
which finds expression in church relations and the inter-
course of the private home. Whether the negroes were
originally forced from the white churches, whether they
willingly retired, or whether there was a medium between
these extremes, it is doubtful whether the great majority of
the negroes would avail themselves of the full privileges of
the white churches should such be offered them, for it is
noteworthy that the negro followers of two faiths, the
Catholic and the Congregationalist, which seem to draw no
' Washington Post, July 5, '91 , Sept, 29, '92.
58 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [150
color line in their sanctuaries, have since the war and their
enjoyment of equality under the law, organized separate con-
gregations of their own; and it is also interesting to note
that in the only Catholic church erected for the negroes
particularly, whites and negroes are found worshiping
together under tlie ministrations of white priests who are
served by negro acolytes. In some of the white churches of
other faiths a few negroes are numbered among the congre-
gation, but they occupy the back seats or the gallery, as
they have been accustomed to do since long before the war
and emancipation; and the advent of a negro in responsible
official station in the body of a church near the pew of the
President of the United States creates as much unfavorable
comment from some of the whites as that aroused among
some of the negroes when one of their number preferred to
attend a white Congregationalist church instead of lending
his influence to a congregation of his own color. The only
Presbyterian church in the District for negroes had its
origin before the war, while the only Lutheran congregation
of negroes and the Episcopal congregation of negroes, with
a negro rector, and the Episcopal missions for them in
charge of white clergymen, are growths of the post-bellum
period; but the reason for the comparative scarcity of negro
congregations of these faiths is not due to a slackening of
the line of demarcation, but rather to a failure of their
methods of worship to attract the negro.
It was the opposition to social equality, too, which
resulted in the organization of the Colored Yoimg Men's
Christian Association. In the preliminary meetings, while
one element attacked the white organization on the ground
that as it claimed to be a Christian association it should
admit to its membership any Christian, no matter what his
color, another explained that while those upon whom the
existing association depended for its support objected to the
admission of negroes, it would second any eflforts of the
new body for the welfare of the negroes. In another non-
sectarian organization, the Woman's Christian Temperance
151] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 59
Union, a different spirit prevails. Some of its members are
negroes, and they have rendered efficient service among the
members of their race. They participate in tlie meetings of
the Union, and at its receptions are on an equaUty v^ith
everybody else present. Another organization of a some-
what philanthropic character, Wimodaughsis, the name being
formed of the first two or three letters of the words wives,
mothers, daughters, sisters, had not been in operation a year
before the color question was raised, with the result of the
resignation of the secretary, who considered herself the
founder. The trouble was precipitated by the entrance into
the classes of the institution of a negro woman, a teacher
in the public schools. The resigning secretary gave her
views as follows :
"The idea of the Wimodaughsis is not only that of a
business corporation, but it is a social organization. We
have pleasant rooms here where members can come in even-
ings and read and amuse themselves. Every Thursday
evening we have social entertainments and once or twice
refreshments. It was by presenting this social feature that
I was able to bring so many of my friends, a large number
of them being Southern ladies, to subscribe for stock in the
organization. You can see that if negroes were admitted
the social features would be destroyed. At the Thursday
evening entertainments gentlemen are admitted. If colored
women were allowed to be members, why there is nothing
to prevent them bringing colored men to the entertainments.
I feel that I have been treated outrageously, and in this
belief I am sustained by not only the Southern lady stock-
holders, but by the ladies further North who are not woman-
suffragists. The trouble all lies with the woman-suffragists,
who, to be true to their doctrine of equality, must advocate
the admission of negroes."
The position of the majority of the board of directors,
who favored the admission of negro women to the privi-
leges of the Wimodaughsis, was that it was a business cor-
poration, and as there was nothing in the charter limiting
60 Ths Negro in the District of Gotumhia. [152
the membership to any class or race, any woman who sub-
scribed for stock was entitled to the privileges of the club,
and any one who paid her tuition must be given that for
which she had paid; that it was an incorporated body to
which the provisions of the civil rights amendment applied
just as strictly as to any other public institution. They
denied that it was a social organization, but claimed that it
was a club for the education of women. The result of the
controversy was in favor of the element which the ex-sec-
retary considered as representative of woman-suffragists;
and the organization continued its work, and at subsequent
events of distinctively social character, negroes were present
and moved about as freely as anybody else.
Aside from such organizations and those of a political
complexion, the color line in society is drawn almost as dis-
tinctly in Washington as in Richmond or Baltimore. Even
in the posts of the Union veteran associations it has been
found expedient to separate the races, though in the general
organizations of men and the auxiliary of the women no
such distinction is raised, and at their public meetings have
been a liberal proportion of negro men and women. Per-
haps a negro official or ex-official may be present at a
White House function, and thus supply material for inflaming
at a later date personal animosity against a presidential
candidate; perhaps in an organization of citizens intended
for the general welfare the negroes may have representa-
tion; of twelve hundred and eighty-nine marriages in a
year, of which 341 are among colored people, there may
be cases of miscegenation, as was the case in 1891, with
similar acts in previous years ;^ perhaps a former mayor of
Washington may entertain at his home negroes at a recep-
tion in honor of the Methodist Ecumenical Conference, to
which negroes were delegates ; perhaps two or three negroes
may be present at a reception by the citizens of Washington
'Of three such cases in 1889 there were two white grooms and
negro brides and one negro groom and white bride.
153] The Negro in the District of Cohimbia. 61
to the Grand Army of the RepubHc, or by some pubUc
character at other times; — but such incidents among the
thousands of events in the composite and conglomerate
society found at the nation's capital do not demonstrate that
there is any real lessening of social restrictions. The com-
plaint about these distinctions is not always directed against
the whites, for the negroes feel that they have social limita-
tions among their own race. Speaking generally, the white
woman who marries a negro must find her chief social
pleasures among his associates, if he does not lose by such
a marriage some of their respect and sympathy; and the
organization of a Colored Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion, instead of being a protest against caste, as one negro
styled it, may be a half-conscious testimony to race pride.
One of the leaders of the negroes, who has frequently made
the capital the pulpit for his utterances to the country, had
this to say about the Ecumenical Conference:
" Nothing has done more to drive away the prejudice
that exists against the colored race than this conference of
educated Christian gentlemen. This was evidenced by what
I saw a few days ago in the elegant residence of ex-Mayor
Emery, of this city. Among the elegantly dressed people
in that house I saw the colored people moving freely about,
not crouching as if they had no right to be there. The
blackest of them moved about as though they had always
been used to it. It was an illustration of the universal
brotherhood of man and that human equality which could
not be brought about anywhere as it has been at this con-
ference. *
" Our American brethren fought a little shy of us, but
our English, Scotch, and Canadian brothers took us by the
hand as if they could never let go. We have often heard
the doctrine of human equality preached, but in this case we
had it exemplified. I felt proud of the dignity, the decorum,
the gentlemanly bearing displayed by our brethren in con-
nection with this new revelation of American society. The
great demon that must be cast out of the American mind is
62 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [154
prejudice, the assumption of inferiority on account of the
black man's color. This demon of prejudice has never been
more authoritatively ordered to come out of Washington
than by this conference. The example will not be lost. If
after these English brethren have gone the Americans
attempt any proscription, we will inform on them at the
next conference."
Though what he termed "the demon of prejudice" has
failed to obey such orders, his remarks are an example of
one view held by some negroes at the capital, which has
been expressed in another way in the statement that "the
colored race in fifty years will have sufficiently advanced in
intelligence to break down a majority of the barriers now
existing between them and the white people." The other
view, which it is believed is held by the majority of the
negroes who have given serious thought to the subject, is
that of a member of a political organization in which a dis-
cussion of the color line was had. As for social equality,
he said he did not want it. All he wanted — all any sensible
colored man wanted — was equal rights under the law. He
did not believe in social equality. There might be members
of the association whom he would object to have visiting his
wife and family. Each man must be a judge of such things.
No colored man of sense would ask for social equality.
This was but a blunt way of giving vent to the sentiment
which was expressed in a meeting of a literary society.
"The matter of social equality," said the speaker, "will
be, and ought to be, left to individual preferences. Although
we have been accusal of it, we are not contending for this
sort of recognition from our white friends, because we
recognize the right of the party doing the entertaining and
paying the bills to select the guests, and because we find
among ourselves all of the purely social that we have any
need for. We do not practise unrestricted equality among
ourselves and ought not to. We invite whom we desire;
they accept or refuse, as they desire. There never will be
any friction between the races on this score. We under-
155] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 63
stand and practise the same customs, distinctions and pref-
erences which white people follow. This is not what we are
contending for. We are not objecting because we are
excluded from the social whirl. It is by a dexterous jug-
gling with this idea of association with colored people in
a purely social sense, an idea so repugnant to white people
generally as just explained, that some persons unfriendly to
us endeavor to raise the dust of color prejudice so thick that
our white friends who are disposed to accord us justice can-
not see their way clear to do it. We can take care of our-
selves in a purely social way. But when their prejudices
make them set up invidious distinctions and discriminations
in public licensed dining halls, hotels and places of amuse-
ment, make them want to exclude us from tlie avenues of
remunerative employments, the commercial world, and make
them deny to the most cultured and aspiring among us
admission to their best professional schools, schools of art,
their professional, scientific and literar}^ associations, we
think it a hardship which we, as loyal American citizens,
ought not to be compelled to endure."
The exceptions to the general rule regarding personal
equality only define the rule more sharply, and no more
prove or indicate a change of sentiment than did the ride
of Charles Sumner and Henry W. Longfellow in a car set
apart for negroes back in the sixties show that the great
mass of the white population of the District favored a
removal of those cars.
V.
AN EXPERIMENT IN SUFFRAGE.
Had the legislation in behalf of the negroes in the District
stopped short at provision for their education and civil
rights under the law, and had those provisions been fulfilled
in a conservative seconding of the radical spirit which
dictated them, one chapter of life at the national capital
would have remained unwritten, and the District of Columbia
would probably not present now, in a government ostensibly
of the people, by the people and for the people, the appear-
ance of a political eunuch. Though later events may have
demonstrated that the extension of the suffrage to the
negroes was unwise at the time, and disastrous in its effects
in after-years, a careful study of the events following the
passage of what is known as the bill of rights for the District,
with the manoeuvres preceding it, is not only instructive
when compared with movements in other sections of the
country, but furnishes food for careful consideration by
those who, from a sentimental or practical standpoint, would
devise some form of local self-government for the seat of the
national government.
The dream of the participation of negroes in the politics
of the District, which was enunciated as early as 1849,
seemed at that time the veriest figment. Eighteen years
later the dream became a realit}', with effects which were
immediate, pronounced and, in a measure, permanent.
Following the various acts in the negroes' behalf in the
early years of the war, the agitation for granting them the full
privileges of citizenship had reached such a stage in 1865
that a special election was held, in December of that year,
in Washington and Georgetown to determine the will of
the white voters on the subject. The poll was a large one,
and showed that the voters were almost unanimously opposed
157] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 65
to the scheme, tlie resuhs being, for negro suffrage, Wash-
ington, 35 voters, Georgetown, i ; against negro suffrage,
Washington, 6556 voters, Georgetown, 813. This sentiment
as voiced at tlie polls was emphasized a few days later in
a letter by Mayor Richard Wallach, of Washington, who
had been mayor of that city since August, 1861, during all
the exciting days of the war, and whose position in public
and private life justified his judgment of the prevailing
wishes of the voters of his community. He wrote, under
date of January 6, 1866: "No others in addition to this
minority of thirty-five are to be found in the community who
favor the extension of the right of suffrage to the class and
in the manner proposed, excepting those who have already
memorialized the Senate in its favor and who, with but little
association, less sympathy and no community of interests or
affinity with the citizens of Washington, receive here from
the general government temporary employment and having
at the national capital residence limited only to the presiden-
tial term and invariably exercising the elective franchise
elsewhere." Mayor Wallach's position was one of argu-
ment, but to argument was added threats, one newspaper
of that time boldly insinuating about the negroes that,
" should they go to the polls to deposit their ballots, the
probabilities are that they would not all return to their
homes."
But Congress, and especially those members of the Senate
who had become the special advocates of the negroes, had
before them the petition of "twenty-five hundred colored
citizens of the District " ; they had, in a sense, come to regard
that special legislation for the District as inaugurating the
policy which was to be pursued toward the rest of the
coimtry, and, in the face of the opposition of the representa-
tives at the polls of the white population, in spite of the fact
that in nine States distinctively loyal and represented in the
Congress, namely, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the right of
suffrage was limited to white males, and in others there
66 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [158
being a property or educational qualification, the Senate
set about conferring the franchise upon all men in the Dis-
trict who had resided in it a year, "without distinction of
race or color."
The debate, however, was on, and it was continued for
several months, marked by all the bitterness of opposition
on the one hand, and the pugnacity of views on the other,
which had characterized similar discussions since the negro
question had become congressional property. Quotations
from Scripture, appeals to physiology were of no avail.
The wise amendment offered by Senator Dixon, of Con-
necticut, providing for a qualification of intelligence, was
lost, as was also that of Senator Cowan, of Pennsylvania, to
strike out the word " male " from the act, though this propo-
sition, which was at first considereda joke, precipitated a pro-
longed debate, which will all be repeated in all likelihood
before the enfranchisement of women. On December 13, 1866,
the bill was passed by the Senate, and on tlie next day the
House acted favorably upon it. It had, however, not yet
become effective and received a temporary check when it
was returned, on January 5, 1867, with the veto of President
Johnson. His message on the subject was a lengthy one,
but after he had reviewed the special election of 1865, he
went to the heart of the matter in tliese words, in referring
to the new voters who would be created should the bill
become a statute:
■' Possessing these advantages but a limited time, the
greater number, perhaps, having entered the District of
Columbia during the later years of the war, or since its
termination, one may well pause to enquire whether after so
brief a probation they are, as a class, capable of an intelligent
exercise of the right of suffrage and qualified to discharge
the duties of official position. * * * Clotiied with the elec-
tive franchise, their numbers, already largely in excess of
the demand for labor, would soon be increased by an influx
from the adjoining States. Drawn from fields where employ-
ment is abundant, they would in vain seek it here, and so add
159] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 67
to the embarrassment already experienced from the large
class of idle persons congregated in the District. Hardly yet
capable of forming correct judgments upon the important
questions that often make tlie issues of a political contest,
they could readily be made subservient to the purposes of
designing persons * * * It is within their power to come into
the District in such numbers as to have the supreme control
of the white race and to govern them by their own officers,
and by the exercise of all the municipal authority, among
the rest, of the power of taxation over ' property in which
they have no interest."'
Congress was not to be restrained by such reasoning, but,
on January 8, passed the bill over the veto, and the right of
franchise was conferred upon the representatives of more
than 30,000 persons, the majority of whom were but five or
six years removed from the life on a plantation. This was
less than seven months after the fourteenth amendment had
been proposed and more than eighteen months before it
became a part of the Constitution by ratification. It was
nearly two years before the fifteenth amendment was pro-
posed, but it was soon followed by the civil rights bill of
the District. This provided that the word "white" where-
ever it occurred in the laws relating to the District of Co-
lumbia, or in the charter or ordinances of the cities of
Washington or Georgetown, and operated as a limitation
on the right of any elector of the District to hold any office,
or to be selected and to serve as a juror, was to be repealed.
Passed in July, 1867, and again in December of that year,
it failed to become a law through President Johnson's not
signing it, but on March 18, 1869, it received the signa-
ture of President Grant, and the sweeping legislation for
the political benefit of the negroes reached its culmination.
Effects of this were instantaneous almost, and in April,
1869, Congress was asked to change the form of government.
The agitation to this end was continued during the terms of
1 Veto Messages, 1792-1886, p. 324.
08 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [160
service of Mayors Sayles J. Bowen and M. G. Emer}\ On the
floor of Congress the new class of full-fledged citizens were
reckoned among the elements contributing to make the
government of the capital " the worst government in the
United States," and, indeed, one speaker stated as his opinion
that " now the truth is that there are reasons why a muni-
cipal government for this District, elected by universal
suffrage, should be a worse government for the District
than the municipal government of other cities, if that be
possible." It was a curious form of government, to say
the least, and when, in spite of objections of municipal
authorities, and a '' reform " movement, it was changed
by act approved February 21, 1871, to a territorial form,
it was thought that the people and Congress would have
some measure of relief. Escaping from Scylla, however,
the District seemed to have dashed against Charybdis,
for within less than a year after the inauguration of
the territorial government, which included a governor,
a council and a board of public works appointed by the
President, a House of Delegates, and a delegate to Con-
gress elected by the people, an investigation of its aft'airs
was demanded of Congress and granted, A special commit-
tee sat for ninety days, beginning January 22, 1872, and
devoted their time to a study of documents and the hearing
of testimony regarding the conduct of elections and the man-
aging of the finances of the corporation, notably the $4,000,-
000 loan which by an election held in November, 1871, had
been authorized for the use of the board of public works.
The investigation was useful not only in illustrating the
character of elections under universal male suffrage, but
also in indicating what would be the result of the system
under the peculiar conditions prevailing in the District.
Witnesses told of the absence from the polls of tickets
against the loan, of negroes marching to the polls or camp-
ing in their vicinity for hours, and of some reputable citizens
remaining away from the polls entirely. One witness, for
instance, said:
161] The Negro in the District of Columhia- 69
" On the Republican side we would have our meetings in
each precinct the evening prior to election, and in some
instances we would go to the polls in bodies and sleep there
till morning, to await the opening of the polls, because it
would sometimes take a man two hours before he could get
at the window to deposit his vote." ^ One body of men,
who were then organized, included 7 whites out of 86 voters,
and it is really not surprising to read the statement of the
memorialists praying for an investigation, that " the
minority, appalled by the perception that five voters who
had nothing might surely be counted on to tax the property
of the sixth," made no efforts at the polls.
In November, 1867, the number of voters in the District
were 13,294 white, 6648 negro; in April, 1871, of the
28,502 votes registered, 26,306 were cast at the election of a
delegate to Congress; in November of the same year, of
the 28,529 voters registered, 17,757 were white and 10,772
negro. The vote in that month, on tlie $4,000,000 loan,
was 14,760 for and 121 3 against,, while, at the same time,
17,750 votes were cast for the District house of delegates.'
As there is nothing in evidence to show that the negroes
were backward in exercising their new rights, it is fair to
presume tliat there was much truth in the words of the
memorialists. The testimony of one witness is so enlight-
ening that it should be read in this connection. Rev. J. W.
Green, a negro divine, was before the committee, and this
was the dialogue:
" State your name, residence and occupation."
" J. W. Green ; I reside in Washington ; am a minister of
the Gospel."
"Were you present at a meeting on the 12th of October,
1 87 1, in the seventeenth district, held at Island Hall?"
" I was."
' Investigation into the Affairs of the District, 1872, p. 274.
* Investigation, etc., 1872, pp. 442-443, 493. Cf. Investigation,
etc., 1874, p. viii.
70 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [162
" Where Colonel Perry Carson was chairman and Joseph
Williams was elected secretary pro tem.?"
"Yes, Sir."
" Is that a truthful report of what occurred at that meet-
ing?" (Question objected to.)
" State what occurred at that meeting."
" I was present at that meeting called by F. A. Boswell,
the chairman of the Republican club of that district. Mr.
Boswell left after calling the meeting, and went to Massa-
chusetts. The meeting went on, and Perry Carson was a
vice-president and called the meeting to order. Mr. Williams
was elected secretary pro tem. Carson stated the object of
the meeting, when Williams got up and stated the call for
the meeting, and then said that he himself advocated the
four million dollar loan, or words to that amount; and that
he was sorry it was not ten million instead of four. The
report in the paper (the Citizen) is substantially correct."
Objection being made to the witness stating what he him-
self said, as he was not connected with the government, so
much of the proceedings of the meeting were then read as
included what Mr. Williams said, as follows:
"Joseph Williams arose and said that he only hoped it
was for $10,000,000 instead of $4,000,000, for the laborers
would at least get the drippings. If the loan was defeated,
the laborers would be thrown out of employment and their
families would suffer. Some people alleged against him that
he was a contractor. He thanked God that he had brains
enough to be a contractor, and that he was not dependent
on office for his support. All he wished was contracts, and
he would fill them rightly. He expected to transmit his
brains to his children and all the children around him. He
had brains enough for the whole seventeenth district. * * *
He always paid his laborers, and if he made money in his
contracts, he did it on the square, and he defied any one to
catch him tripping * * * Whoever, said he, shall vote against
the loan must take the consequences. He was interested
in the loan, and if any man voted against it and came to him
for work, he would tell him go starve."
163] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 71
This suggestive extract having been read, the examination
of Green was continued. He was asked:
" Do you know whether the colored men were intimi-
dated at the polls?"
" I do not know," he replied, " whether they were directly
at the polls, but they were before they went there."
" By whom?"
" By threats made in public speeches, in like manner to
this one read."
" By contractors or men in the city government?"
" I cannot say, but I think so."
"Do you know whether any member of the District gov-
ernment made any such threats?"
" I would not say but I think I could be prepared tc
answer that question."
"Were voters brought up to the polls in bodies?"
" No, Sir, they came up two abreast."
" Did they go up in considerable numbers at one time,
under leaders?"
" There were attempts made several times, but the police
prevented it."
"Was there any arrangement made beforehand that they
should vote in a certain way?"
" I do not know."
" Did they have leaders to supply them with tickets?"
" The tickets were placed in the hands of various persons,
who dealt them out on the morning of the election. I was
chairman, and dealt out tickets and saw that they were dis-
tributed properly."
"Were the tickets for and against the loan of dififerent
colors?"
" I did not interfere with that election at all. I think four
were placed in my hands. I voted for the delegate and kept
the other three. I don't know how voters were brought up
at the last election. I was speaking of the common custom.
I didn't bother my head with the last election; I simply
voted and passed along. I don't recollect about the color of
tickets."
72 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [164
"At the elections here, are the colored men in the habit
of voting for men upon their own preferences and judg-
ment?"
"Many are not; they depend upon others more than the
white voters generally, because tliey are uneducated. Men
of my own color will deceive their color as well as
white men. White men can deceive them better, because
they are educated."
" Who edited the paper when Mr. Williams' speech was
reported?"
" I do not recollect. I heard the speech, and so far as
read it is substantially correct."
" Did you oppose the loan?"
" Yes, Sir."
" Did you make speeches against it?"
"Yes, Sir."
" Did you vote at all on it yourself?"
" No, Sir."
" Do you know any one who was influenced, either by
money or intimidation, to vote for the loan?"
" I do not, personally."
" Do you know of the use of any money?"
" No, Sir."
"Was money offered to you?"
" No, Sir. I informed them that no man must offer me
money."
" You have been a leader among your people on election
days?"
" I have always taken an interest among our people, to
instruct them, as they are mieducated, and tried to see that
no advantage was taken of them."
" When you spoke of distributing votes, you did not
allude to the last election?"
" No, Sir. I have opposed some of the men of my own
color, and have been abused by them because I expressed
my sentiments against certain men. There seemed to be
more interest in the last election, generally, than usual."
165] Tlie Negro in tfie District of Columbia' 73
" More in the loan tlian in electing a delegate to Con-
gress
?"
" I suppose some did; the loan brought in a different class;
some interested for money, and some for politics."
" Do you know of money being used in either elections?"
" Yes, Sir."
" Was any treating done at the other elections ?"
" Considerable."
" Have you been in the employ of Mr. Albert Grant?"
" No, Sir."
" Did you vote on the loan on either side?"
" No, Sir. I think there were tickets at the polls against
the loan in the morning."
" For whom did you vote for delegate?"
" Mr. Boswell. I did not know whether he was in favor
of the loan or not."
" How long before the last election was the meeting at
which Mr. Williams made the speech which has been
referred to?"
"The election was on the 21st of November; the meeting
was on the 12th of October."
" What proportion of the people of your district are labor-
ing men?"
"A large portion of them; mostly colored men. Many
of them have been in the habit of laboring on the streets."
" Do you know whether colored men were imported from
Maryland or Virginia, outside?"
"Yes, Sir; men were brought in from Maryland, who
worked on Seventh Street, inside of the boundary; and men
were brought from Alexandria to work on the canal."
"Did they vote?"
" I do not know rightly whether they did or not."
"Were many brought in?"
" There were on Seventh Street. I saw fifteen out of
eighteen that were brought from Alexandria."
" Were they brought here to work or vote, or both ?"
" I do not know ; but I know they were residents of Alex-
andria."
74 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [166
" Did you have any conversation with any of them about
voting?" i
" No, Sir."
" Did you see any of them vote at the polls?"
" No, Sir. It was before election."
" Have you any knowledge of intoxicating liquors being
dealt out at polling places?"
"I did not see it; only its effects."
"Do you know that it has been threatened that, if the
Democrats were successful, they would restore slavery?"
" I have heard that frequently, and have had to fight it,
and tried to instruct them to know better than to believe
such a thing." ^
Comment is almost unnecessary upon this array of state-
ments and inferences, which were a fair exemplification of
the position occupied by the negroes in the politics of the
time. But the exhibit is the more significant because the
elections not only placed men of color in the Legislative
Assembly, where they had the ultimate power of taxation,
but also because this particular election opened, as it were,
the bunghole of the treasury, through which the money of
the people flowed in ever-increasing volume, instead of per-
colating moderately and unvaryingly through the legitimate
spigot. It was told in the investigation how some of the
funds of the District were used, the telling of this, perhaps,
explaining, in part, the comparative unanimity of those able
to read among those who appeared at the polls. At that
time, when the population of the District did not exceed
135,000, of whom not more than 90,000 were white, fifteen
newspapers enjoyed either a substantial or a more or less
precarious existence. In the first ten months of its opera-
tions, the government felt called upon to distribute among
all these papers, for advertising and printing, $101,221.79,
and from January 31, 1872, to April i, 1874, $88,803.53, a
total of $190,025.32 in three years; this total not including
'Investigation, etc., 1872, pp. 372-374.
167] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 75
the accounts of the fire department and tlie various school
boards. The expenditure in tlie first ten months, according
to the statements of the government, though the minority
of the investigating committee estimated it at $143,635.62,
was but $11,813.36 less than tlie total amount spent under
the administration of the last two mayors, a period of three
years, and that sum, $112,035.15, included the cost of bind-
ing the official documents. Granted that the change of
government necessitated extra advertising, even the majority
of the committee acknowledged that some of it was unneces-
sary, and within a few weeks after the investigation closed
without action against the authorities, the Legislative As-
sembly, on June 20, passed an act regulating the municipal
advertising, by which the expense in that line was some-
what reduced, though William E. Chandler had explained
the situation in these words:
" It was difficult to give the advertising to one newspaper
without giving it to all, and with that generosity which
public olificials usually show to the newspaper press, the
papers of the District were allowed to print all the govern-
ment advertising, without any attempts to make sharp bar-
gains with them. Complaints of this character, 'too great
expenditure of money for printing and advertising,' are
always made against every municipal, State or national
administration, and while such expenditures cannot always
be justified, the ofTenses may well be treated as venial and not
deserving of severe reprehension."*
^Appended to Investigation, etc., 1872, p. 19. On this point the
minority report had the following (p. xvii) : "The seventh charge
is that ' an unparalleled profligacy in advertising has been exhibited
in the employment of fifteen newspapers, bearing an ominous
resemblance to subsidizing the press of the District.' This charge
is fully proven, the amount thus expended reaching the enormous
sum of $143,635.62 ; and the recklessness and profligacy of the
District government and board of public works in regard to this
charge is fully admitted by the majority. It was attempted on the
part of the District government to justify this large expenditure
for advertising and printing on the ground that its use brought the
76 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [168
The investigation ended in what was considered a vindi-
cation of the municipal administration, though the minority
report to Congress voiced the opinion of some, that some
change should be made by which greater power over the
officers should be enjoyed by the people. But the proposi-
tion then advanced, to make all the officers elective, except
the governor, would hardly have met the united support of
the opposition, as with them it was not so much a question
of the people having a voice in the conduct of their affairs,
as of some people not having a voice, inasmuch as they were
not qualified to exercise their new-gained privileges intel-
ligently.
Results of the first investigation did not cause the opposi-
tion to relax their efforts, which culminated in another invest-
igation in 1874. At the first session of the forty-third Con-
gress, several petitions were presented by citizens of the
District, asking that a joint select committee should be
appointed to examine into the affairs of the District govern-
ment. The committee was appointed and, after organization,
on February" 11, and the arrangement of certain preliminaries,
commenced taking testimony, on March 5, and continued
its sessions for that purpose daily until May 28th.
The committee's task was to inquire whether unlawful
contracts had been made for public improvements, the actual
cost of the improvements, the amount agreed to be paid for
newspapers to the support of the loan, and the unity of sentiment of
the people as expressed through the press had a material influence
on the value of the bonds in the market, and yet we have the
sworn statement of every newspaper proprietor in the District that
the amount received from advertising and printing had no influence
whatever upon their action, which clearly establishes the fact that
the large expenditure above named, or the greater portion of it,
was utterly thrown away, and was simply taking that sum from the
pockets of the tax-payers and giving it to the press ; not for the
purpose of subsidizing it, for that is sufficiently disproved by the
sworn statements of the proprietors themselves, but simply from a
high regard entertained by the District government for the news-
paper press."
169] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 11
them; whether unlawful assessments and taxes had been
levied; whether correct measurements of work had been
made; the existing debt on its account, and what, if any,
portion of such indebtedness was created on account of
Government property and might be paid out of the United
States treasury; and to report such amendments to the
organic acts as might be necessary to protect further tlie
rightr of citizens, or to regulate the handling of moneys.
Governor Shepherd, who had succeeded Governor Cooke
as the executive of the District, in answer to the petitioners
had submitted a memorial arraigning the other memorialists,
reviewing briefly tlie afifairs of government under the terri-
torial system, and, while disclaiming all purpose to evade
any reasonable and proper investigation, asking whether,
under all the circumstances, it would be fair and just to the
pe(iple of the country and of the District, and to himself and
his associates, to enter upon an inquest without some probable
cause shown of the truth of the charges made. He stated
that, in addition to the report of tlie former investigation,
" completely vindicating the District authorities," " every
charge of unlawful exercise of power by the District authori-
ties now complained of has been presented to the courts of
the District, and in every instance the District authorities
have been sustained; that at every election, of which there
have been several, the people of the District have sustained
its officers by large majorities; that notwithstanding attacks
through the public press and the utmost efforts of the fac-
tionists of tlie District already alluded to, which for malevo-
lence, unscrupulousness and want of truth have been unpar-
alleled, still your memorialist believes that the officers thus
assailed have not forfeited the respect of the public at large
or the citizens of the District, but would be fully vindicated
before your honorable body if their voices could be heard.
Your memorialist denies that the opposition, now demanding
a third or fourth investigation, are law-abiding citizens or
are seeking the good of the District; but says their whole
purpose is either to overthrow the present form of govern-
78 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [170
ment or to cause the removal of officers whose appointment
they cannot themselves dictate."^
Mr. Shepherd was heard again and at length in the inves-
tigation, in which the utmost latitude seems to have been
allowed in the examination of witnesses and the admission
of testimony, and at its conclusion the report to Congress,
made June i6, was signed by all the committee, — Senators
William B. Allison, Allen G. Thurman, William M. Stewart,
Representatives Jeremiah M. Wilson, Jay A. Hubbell,
Lyman K. Bass, Hugh A. Jewett, and Robert Hamilton,
who were unanimous in the recommendations to Congress.
The greater part of the examination was devoted to the
board of public works, which was claimed by counsel for
the defense to be not subordinate to the mimicipal body
corporate, and which it was alleged had levied special assess-
ments under express authority of the legislative assembly
and not independently of it. Counsel also contended that
the board had not usurped authority, that its construction
of the organic act under which it had conducted operations
had been sanctioned repeatedly by judgments of the courts,
that Congress had from time to time made appropriations
for payment of the work, and that the indebtedness of the
board of public works was no portion of the indebtedness of
the municipality of the District of Columbia,
The investigating committee, after weighing all the evi-
dence, found that while they could join in the general
expressions of gratification at tlie improved condition of the
national capital, they were compelled to condemn the
methods by which the sudden transformation had been
efifected. They considered that the board had adopted an
erroneous method, vicious in its results, of awarding con-
tracts without open competition, with the attendant increased
cost for improvements and tlie opening of the way to favor-
itism in letting contracts and of brokerage in the same.
They found that in three years the funded indebtedness of
'Investigation, etc., 1874, p. 11.
171] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 79
the District had increased from $4,350,189.91 to $9,902,-
251.18, and tliat tlie total burden upon the property of the
District was $20,716,008.07, while the assets represented by
all forms of taxation was $6,726,360.04, and tlie District
treasury was practically exhausted in all its departments.
As illustrative of the financial methods of the administration,
the committee's report may be quoted verbatim as follows:
" The act creating the board limited the total debt of the
District of Columbia to 5 per cent, upon the assessed value
of property within the District, the intent of which was to
limit the actual debt of the District to that sum. The
board, however, construed the various provisions of the
organic act as placing them and their transactions without
the pale of this limitation, endeavoring, at the same time, to
keep within the letter of the law, while violating its spirit;
and to this end the legislative assembly, from time to time,
passed acts which were simply devised for the purpose of
raising money with which to pay previously incurred obli-
gations, and continue the improvements by creating tem-
porary obligations upon the property of individuals in the
District. Thus we find that after exhausting the $4,000,000
loan, authorized by the act of July 10, 1871, in the improve-
ment of streets and the building of sewers, an act of the
legislative assembly was passed authorizing the issuance of
$2,000,000 of what were called ' certificates of indebtedness,'
the payment of which was secured by a pledge of the assess-
ments upon property adjacent to the improvements. Again,
after exhausting this device for the payment of contractors,
the legislative assembly, by an act, divided the cities of
Washington and Georgetown into sewerage districts, and
levied a tax upon the various sewerage districts, varying in
rate from 5 to 20 mills upon the square foot, although at
the time this act was passed nearly one-half of the entire
sewerage system was completed as contemplated by what
was known as the comprehensive plan, submitted to the
legislature in 1871, as a basis of the $4,000,000 loan, which
expressly included a system of sewerage. By this device
80 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [172
$2,120,000 were added to the assets of the board of public
works, and were disbursed to contractors, except about
the sum of $500,000 thereof. Various other acts were
passed of a similar character, involving smaller sums, and
by this system of credit upon credit, or rather debt upon
defbt, the board continued its vast operations, the result of
which has been to create a debt for which the board of
public works and the District, in one form or another, are
liable, and when added to the other floating indebtedness of
the District, together with the funded indebtedness, aggre-
gates not less than $18,000,000 instead of $10,000,000, as
limited by the act of Congress of May 8, 1872."'
With this view of the situation, with the fact before them
of an exhausted treasury and a largely expanded debt upon
the people of the District, and in spite of the enhancement
of the capital as a place of residence and the essential
improvements which were attempted in a brief space of
time when years should have been occupied for their com-
pletion, the committee, without precluding the idea that there
should be some form of representative government in the
District, recommended the abolition of the executive, the
secretary of the District, the legislative assembly, the board
of public works, and the office of delegate in Congress, and
the appointment of a commission to manage the District
affairs until Congress should have time to frame a proper
form of government; for the committee had arrived unani-
mously at the conclusion "' that the existing form of govern-
ment is a failure ; that it is too cumbrous and too expensive ;
that the powers and relations of its several departments are
so ill-defined that limitations intended by Congress to apply
to the whole government are construed to limit but one of
its departments; that it is wanting in sufficient safeguard
against maladministration and the creation of indebtedness;
that the system of taxation it allows opens a door to great
inequality and injustice, and is wholly insufficient to secure
'Investigation, etc., 1874, pp. xii, viii, xiii, xxviii.
173] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 81
the prompt collection of taxes; and that no remedy short
of its abolition and the substitution of a simpler, more
restricted and economical government will sufHce."'
Four days after the presentation of the committee's report
its recommendation was adopted in an act of Congress end-
ing the short life of the territorial government, and appoint-
ing a commission of three persons to administer affairs. At
the same time provision was made under which the present
form of government by three commissioners was established
July I, 1878.
An experiment had been tried in negro suffrage and it
had failed, and failed in such a manner as to tinge with
prophecy the words of Johnson in his veto message. Men
fresh from the plantation, where they had had absolutely no
schooling in the duties of citizenship, men without any
interest of associations or property in the welfare of the
District beyond the fact that they expected to make a living
there, had been at one stroke clothed with powers equal not
only to those of their race who in spite of " the black code "
had by urban life been placed far in advance of the field
hand, but also to those of the white race, who, having
enjoyed for centuries all the elevating gifts which usually are
evolved from education and wealth, were best qualified to
realize what would most conduce to the welfare of the
community. This latter class, it may be argued, had not
always displayed the wisdom which they should have pos-
sessed, but this may be explained to some extent. There
are gradations among the whites just as there are among
the negroes, and there are few municipal governments in
which the element, which naturally should be expected to
lead in public afifairs, are moved to do little beside holding
mass meetings before elections and indignation meetings
afterward, in the meantime neglecting the most important
work of elections, — organizing the voters and seeing that
all the votes are cast. But the white people of Washington,
'Investigation, etc., 1874, pp. viii, xv, xxviii, xxix.
82 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [174
even had they been united poUtically or had community of
interests, had done little in seventy-odd years to raise Wash-
ington much beyond the grade of a village, and the munici-
pal governments were far from perfection.
Just as in the case of the negroes, there were three
distinct classes of whites in the community, — tlie conserva-
tive element of education, wealth or refinement, the employes
of the government, and a mixed aggregation of the elements
which had made the Snow riot in 1835 and other overt
acts against the negroes a possibility, the flotsam and jetsam
of the armies, the hangers-on to politicians, and the adven-
turers of various sorts which had for years infested the capi-
tal. The extremes of the white race were as far removed
from each other in affinity as was the white race from the
negroes in color. Even before the extension of the suffrage
the whites were divided politically, and afterward they did
not unite their forces on public questions or at the polls as
did most negroes. The reputable part of the community,
even had they been of one mind about the suffrage, were
powerless in the face of the determination of ruling spirits
in Congress to push the special legislation for the negro to
its utmost; and while it may be an easy matter now to
point out that this or that should have been done, it is easy
to understand with what despair the opposition saw the
horde of ignorance turned loose upon the polls. It was a
shock to their inherited and developed ideas to see the
negroes acting as policemen and firemen or occupying
positions in the local government, the legitimate fruits of a
suffrage at a time when the theory that to the victors belong
the spoils had unlimited sway. But it was not that which
appalled them. Their great fear was based upon the fact
that the negroes holding the balance of power, if not actually
controlling affairs, were the real arbiters of the expenses of
government and of the taxation of which they bore but a
slight part, and they dreaded the results of such a rule, and
this fear was not unreasonable when the situation is ex-
plained. For instance, in 1870 Washington, in a group of
175] The Negro in the District of Columbia- 83
the first twenty cities of the country, occupied the twelfth
place in population. Of this the negroes constituted 32.46
per cent., — the largest among the twenty cities, New Orleans
being next, with 26.35 P^^" ^^"t. At the same time, of 37.71
per cent, of persons engaged in all classes of occupation
in Washington, 23.90 per cent., the largest percentage in the
twenty cities, were engaged in callings which cannot be said
to add directly to the wealth of a city; while the percentage
of those engaged in agriculture, manufactures and trade was
much below that of the other cities. The preponderance of
the non-productive elements was due to the incoming of the
negroes, largely, though the presence of officeholders had
not a Httle to do with it. At the same time, out of a popu-
lation of 38,726 negroes in Washington and Georgetown,
it was estimated there were 23,843 above 10 years old who
could not write and a large proportion of them unable to
read.
But the views of the whites regarding the suffrage were
not harmonious by any means. While such a man as George
W. Riggs was willing to say, " I think that the majority of
voters here are incapable of self-government," and would
have a government by a commission, another such as
Walter S. Cox, favoring bodies elected by taxpayers,
asserted that he did not intend to discriminate against colored
voters, and added, " I should be for allowing all to vote
who were obliged to share in the burdens of government.
I know," continued he, "a great many colored people in
Georgetown who are as competent to vote as the white
people of the same class." He considered them generally
orderly and industrious, although he had no doubt
that a great many of those who had recently arrived in the
District from the surrounding counties were too ignorant to
be properly qualified to vote. " If I had my way," he said,
" I would make both property and intelligence qualifications
for all voters."^
'Investigation, etc., 1872, pp. 692, 701.
84 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [176
Though these opinions vai-ied as to the remedy for the
existing evils, they practically coincided as to the influences
which demanded a change, and their echoes are heard when-
ever the agitation for local self-government finds utterance
in the halls of national legislation. As recently as the
winter of 1890 the Senate, while discussing a resolution
referring to the Commissioners of the District, was given
a review of the question of negro suffrage by some of those
who had done so much to bring local government to an end
by their recommendations, and by others whose memories
reached back to that time/ The text of the review was
given by Mr. Ingalls, who said : " The experiment of popular
suffrage was tried here for a number of years, the experi-
ment of a representative local government was tried here,
and after many years of experience it was deliberately
abolished by the concurrence, and I think the unanimous
concurrence, of both houses of Congress acting in their
constitutional capacity as the rulers of this District, and
with the approbation of all the people of the District except
those men who wanted to be in local office. . . The subject
was considered from alpha to omega, and the investigation
resulted in the unanimous conclusion that under the con-
ditions which existed here it was wise that Congress should
resume the function it had abdicated."
Mr. Stewart, of similar mind, alluding to the right of
suffrage for which Mr. Blair had pleaded, said that he had
seen it at the capital, " when it was in the hands of the people,
and they were called upon to elect a vast number of officers,
and they made worse mistakes here than elsewhere.
Perhaps the condition was peculiar at the time. There had
been a large addition to the voters of people imaccustomed
to exercise the right of franchise, but they showed the same
incapacity here that they do everywhere to select the large
number required of them."
' Congressional Record, Dec. 1890, pp. 171-77.
177] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 85
Mr. Morgan then undertook to review ihe matter, and
phrased his opinion thus: "That local government became
corrupt and abominable and disgraceful, an eyesore, a
rebuke, a disastrous commentary upon civil government.
It was called tlie ' feather-duster legislature,' and it had
about it so many ludicrous phases, and it was so the sub-
ject of general reprobation and ridicule, that it could not be
tolerated any longer. It was abolished by an act of Con-
gress, and the pendulum swung to the other extremity."
He asked Mr. Allison what was the leading circumstance
that caused this entire change, and the Senator from Iowa,
who had been a member of the second investigating com-
mittee, in reply said that there had been a great many cir-
cumstances, though he thought the chief thing was that
there was an enormous debt of the District and of the cities
of Washington and Georgetown. He did not know pre-
cisely what the Senator from Alabama had in his mind in
asking for the chief motive on the part of the investigating
committee for changing the government, but he added that
"it was absolutely necessary to destroy every existing gov-
ernment here in order to have a settlement of the situation
at that time." This action was characterized by Mr. Morgan
as similar to the method of stamping out disease among
cattle by slaughtering every animal which should be in any
way likely to be affected.
"To bum down the bam to get rid of the rats," inter-
jected Mr. Ingalls.
"Yes," retorted Mr. Morgan; "to bum down the bam
to get rid of the rats, and that is what was done in this case,
the rats being the negro population and the bam being the
govemment of the District of Columbia, 'the feather-duster
legislature.' "
"That is the Senator's inference and not mine," was
Ingalls's comment.
" It was so palpable," said Mr. Morgan, " that the Sena-
tor from Kansas had expressed what was in the mind of the
Senator from Iowa that I could not refrain from applying
86 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [178
the allusion of the Senator from Kansas to the Senator from
Iowa."
Continuing, he contended that there had been no occasion
for depriving every white man in the District of his right to
vote, but that all the bad material in the electoral power
should have been extirpated, and he added some statements
which seem largely borne out not only by the facts elicited
in 1872 but by the traditions still current in Washington.
" Now, the historical fact," he said, " is simply this, that
the negroes came into this District from Virginia and Mary-
land and from other places; I know dozens of them here
now who flocked in from Alabama in that period of time.
The invitation being a very urgent one to them, they came
in here and they took possession of a certain part of the
political power of this District; that is to say, they did not
take possession of it, for they were incapable of doing that;
but their masters and owners, the owners of their consciences,
having stronger bonds upon them than their masters had
ever had upon their persons while they were in slavery,
took them and put them as a factor, a political power and
agency, into the administration of the afifairs of the District
of Columbia, and there was but one way to get out, so Con-
gress thought, so this able committee thought, and that was
to deny the right of suffrage entirely to every human being
in the District and have every office here controlled by
appointment instead of by election. Thereupon in the face
of this influx of negro population from the surrounding
States, the Senate and the House of Representatives, in order
to preserve property rights and the decency of administra-
tion in the central government of the United States here
around the very footwalls of the Capitol, found it necessary
to disfranchise every man in the District of Columbia, no
matter what his reputation or character might have been or
his holdings in property, in order thereby to get rid of this
load of negro suffrage that was flooded in upon them.
That is the true statement. History cannot be reversed.
No man can misunderstand it."
179] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 87
The blame for the condition of affairs reflected in this
debate cannot be placed entirely upon the negroes. It is
not surprising that they should have tlironged to the polls
at the • first opportunity to do so. They had been a
political question ever since the compromise of 1787, and
during the conditions resulting logically from that compro-
mise they had been induced to regard the government as
their particular patron and the party in power as their
savior. When that party, after a debate which could not
have failed to arouse their deepest interest even as it per-
colated to them through hearsay, placed the ballot in their
hands, it was the most natural thing in the world for them
to seek to exercise their newly-acquired privileges; and as
the act of Congress tended to increase the antagonism to
them of those who from a political standpoint would have
been wise in obtaining control of the new voters, if that had
l^een possible, it was not strange that the new citizens, par-
ticularly those who were latest from the plantation and most
deeply submerged in the consequent ignorance, should have
become the dupes and tools of those among the whites or
of their own race who in all modem politics thrive upon
the lack of intelligence of their followers, or should have
come under the malign influence of the adventurers who
thronged to the capital towards the close of the war and in
the following years.
There were, indeed, in political afifiliation with this com-
bination of greed and ignorance, men who, because of the
historic position which their party had assumed, felt obliged
from policy or principle to place themselves in line with the
newly enfranchised; but however reputable they may have
been they could do little had they desired to stem the cur-
rent which was carrying the local government to ruin.
At the same time no one is now inclined to doubt that
much of the grandeur and beauty of the national capital
is the outcome of the activity of the board of public works,
which was made effective by the votes of this very element
in which there was so much danger. The first investigation
88 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [180
had revealed the causes of the condition of the District
exposed to the second, Vv'hich the committee considered
" chargeable to the attempt early made by the authorities
placed over it to inaugurate a comprehensive and costly
system of improvements to be completed in a brief space of
time, which ought to have required for its completion
several years."^ One line in every report of the Commis-
sioners of the District is a reminder of the times between
1867 and 1874, and in spite of the exhibit made eighteen
years afterward in the symmetry and beauty which appear
on the surface at Washington, it is difficult for the unpreju-
diced mind to reach any conclusion but that the experiment,
which ended in the loss of suffrage for all, was untimely, and
that its expense may be best measured in the financial con-
dition of the government at the capital when it ceased to be
a territor)\
'Investigation, etc., 1874, p. viii.
VL
A GENERATION AFTERWARD.
Under ordinary circumstances twenty-five or thirty years
form a very narrow period in the Hfe of any race upon
which to base a criterion of it. A generation after the
battle of Hastings, after the French Revolution, or after the
events of 1776 in this country, would contribute but little to
the total of the advancement of the races which were affected
respectively by such changes. Since the war, though, the
history of this country has been one of wonderful progress
in many directions, as well as of retrogression in others, for
the white race, and the same may be said of the negro race.
At the capital the conditions of the two races have been as
similar as the strong arm of the national government could
make them, and there consequently is presented an excellent
field for forming an estimate of the negro's achievements or
failures. This may be done only by comparison, remem-
brance being had at the same time that the preparation of
slavery for the stniggle of negroes on equal lines with whites
represents but a small fraction of the centuries through which
Anglo-Saxon civilization has reached its present stage, and
also that the advantages and opportunities suddenly con-
ferred upon the negroes were those, which were the natural
heritage of white Americans and which had been of gradual
growth, preparation keeping pace with attainment
In modem times, when among civilized races physical
force has become of secondary consideration, the weapons
of evolution are wealth, education, and suffrage. The last
has been eliminated from the question in the District, the
opportunities for education by the State are equal for both
races, and the government lends its aid to such an institution
as Howard University for the higher education of the
negroes. Because the capital city has assumed the character
90 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [182
of a place for residence rather than for any other purpose
beyond the phases of departmental and congressional life,
there have been but few means there for acquiring wealth
legitimately except in the execution of contracts until the
territorial government ended, in the ownership of real estate
or in the various lines of retail trade. The aggregate
wealth of the negroes, therefore, represents in large measure
the enhancement in the value of their real estate and the
improvements upon it. In i86i, of the $54,000,000 assessed
valuation, about $650,000 represented property of negroes,
and their churches were worth $75,000. Of the $153,307,541
assessed valuation in 1890, they owned at the least $8,000,-
000 as far as may be estimated, and one of their churches
alone is valued at much more than the whole wealth of that
kind thirty years ago.
Owners of real estate range from the humble workman
who cannot read or write, who holds his property by gift or
purchase in days before the war or immediately subsequent
to it, to the capitalist who is in a position to employ a white
agent to attend to his property. The complaint that agents
have combined to prevent negroes, on account of their
color, from renting dwellings in certain localities must have
been based, if entirely true, upon action in recent years, if
one may judge by the results of a stroll in nearly any
section of the capital. For police purposes tlie District is
divided into nine precincts, and the figures of the last census
show^ that in five of these the proportion of negroes to
whites is beyond that of the whole number in the District
to the entire population. The exceptions are in the first
and sixth precincts and in the seventh, which include the
oldest portion of Washington and Georgetown, and in the
ninth, which comprises much of the recently developed
section of Capitol Hill, or the northeastern part of the city.
That of the 30,000 population in 317 alleys the majority are
negroes is explained by their poverty. There may be a
combination, but it is not because dealers in property do
not regard the negro's money as good as the white's. The
183] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 91
desire to own a home, as shown as early as 1867, when
one-fifth of the owners of real estate in the city were
negroes, is a mark of the stability of purpose of some of
the race, and its maintenance is a monument of thrift and
industry most marked perhaps among- the elements repre-
senting the old ante-bellum slaves and free negroes, but by
no means confined to them.
The experience with the Freedman's Bank, remembered
in sorrow by many a negro, may perhaps be the reason why
the negroes have preferred to do business with established
banking houses of the whites, and make some provision for
their families by joining the Odd Fellows, organized before
the war, or the many beneficial societies which their race
has produced. Undeterred, though, by this apparent disad-
vantage, a number of negroes organized in October, 1888, a
savings bank with an authorized capital stock of $50,000, of
which $32,000 have been paid up. During the first year
$117,000 were deposited in this bank, and in 1892 the
deposits amounted to more than $317,276. In a statement
recently issued the fact was announced "that the bank has
steadily grown in popular favor and public confidence is
evidenced by the class of men who have lately become its
patrons, and by the fact that different charitable and social
organizations as well as business enterprises are making this
bank their place of deposit." Private bankers also do busi-
ness. Though at least one establishment controlled by white
men has employed a negro as a salesman, there is a tendency
among some of the negroes to branch out into lines of
trade for themselves, and they would doubtless be successful
if they could secure the hearty cooperation of their own
race. The lack of this may be found to be the fault of both
parties to the undertaking. They have, however, engaged
in many other lines of business beside running barber shops
or cobbling, and among them may be found dry goods
merchants, contractors, grocerymen, real estate men, and
dealers in the market, the last including the comfortable-
Icoking proprietor of a stall within the market building and
92 The Negro in the District of Coliimhia. [184
the vendor of herbs and garden " sass " on the outside, an
excellent type of the survival of the suburban negro of
thirty years ago. Recently some of them have started a
house-cleaning bureau, and tliey announce that this bureau
" has selected with great care and pains an efficient corps of
able-bodied workmen, and is prepared to make monthly or
yearly contracts to clean new and old houses, wash windows,
take up and put down carpets, scrub floors, wash paints, or
do any other work required about a house. Special arrange-
n:ents will be made for sweeping and dusting office rooms
in public buildings, and for furnishing boys to run errands,
either by the hour, day, or week."
Not a few of the race have increased their means by care-
ful investment, some by money earned by them and saved
with prudence, by inherited propeity or by a due appre-
ciation of the friendly aid extended them became possessors
of hotel properties, which are used by the whites, and
one of these, which was long famous as a first-class hostelry,
particularly for people of wealth and refinement, was the
result of the life work of a man who started most modestly
and whose later reputation as a caterer is still remembered
by some of the older inhabitants.
This accumulation of wealth in some sort or another has
resulted in a class of negroes competent to enjoy many of
the refinements and comforts which have made the respect-
able middle class of whites in this country the conservative
element in the community, and the mimetic powers of the
negroes have made the gradations in their society similar
to those of the whites, though complexities are added by a
survival of the feelings generated in slavery and by the
influx from all parts of the country of educated negroes who
have obtained employment in the several departments of the
general government. They have their clubs, from the
fashionable resort fitted with the usual conveniences of such
resorts, where great men of the race, including Pete Jack-
son or a foreign minister, are specially entertained, to the
obscure places devoted to gambling; and though the Bethel
185J The Negro in the District of Columbia. 93
Literary- Society, now in its twelfth year, is not only an
influential power, socially and educationally, the beneficial
societies or similar organizations appeal strongly to the great
majority of tlie negroes. The social extremes are wide
apart and present sharp contrasts. At one time a church
may be thronged with a dignified congregation, displaying
gowns of the most approved fashion, the work, perhaps, of
negro seamstresses, some of whom are among the best in
the city, to witness the marriage of a daughter of a man who
has made his money by shrewdness and enterprise, to a
member of the younger generation who has had to depend
upon brain and perseverance to make his mark. The
bridal costume is a real gown, the diamonds are real, and
the number of the carriages as they carry tlie guests to the
reception is as distinctively matrimonial as if their occupants
were whites. Let a perambulatory piano strike up a lively
air in any part of the town almost, and it is soon setting the
pace for two or three or more negro girls of fourteen years
or younger, who tickle the fancy of passers-by or the crowd
which collects by their gyrations, their flings and shuffles,
which would put a Lottie Collins to the blush. Let a band
of music, good, bad or indifferent, sound its notes on any
highway, and immediately it is surrounded by a mass of
half-grown men and women, frequently in rags, their heads
and bodies swaying in time with every note, particularly of
the bass drum or of the trombone, which seems to appeal
peculiarly to their hearts, slipping, sliding, executing im-
promptu waltzes, laughing and shouting. They appear so
suddenly that they may be said to spring almost from the
asphalt, and it is a debatable point whether the community
would suffer should one of the musicians become a Pied
Piper and lead the throng into the bowels of the earth,
never to appear again.
It is unfortunate for the negro that outride of the pro-
fessions about the only vocations paying salaries or wages
in Washington open to anybody are those of clerks, sales-
men, offlceholders, laborers or servants of one kind or
94 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [186
another. The practical exclusion of negroes from the first
two classes is due to a preference of white people for whites,
as well as to the presence of a number of white men and
women sufficient to meet the demand for sucli services, and
the willingness of a former mayor of Washington to hold a
subordinate position in a department or of an ex-clerk in
the treasury to be a street-car conductor is a manifestation
of the ups and downs of political life in Washington, which
hedge out the negro from other lines of competition and
livelihood. The development of industrial training in the
public schools, while theoretically an excellent idea, practi-
cally seems to lose its value partly if the pupils intend to
become artisans and mechanics, at the same time remaining
in the District; for there is a limit to their employment just
as there is a limit to the number of negro doctors, lawyers,
teachers, officeholders, and ministers who may find profitable
employment. Washington is not a manufactiu^ing city in
the strict sense of the term, though there has been an
increase of industries in the past ten or twelve years.
The census of 1890 deals witli 115 of them, employing
23,477 hands in 2300 establishments and paying $14,638,790
wages. The important industries were brick and tile-
making, carriage and wagon factories, flour and grist mills,
foundry and machine shops, lumber mills, employing a total
of 2393 hands; lithographing and engraving, printing and
publishing, with 3724 hands; bottling establishments, malt
liquor breweries, 328 hands; and confectioneries, 349 hands.
The situation of negro men in this respect, lamentable as it
may be, is even better than that of the women. The prin-
cipal of the Normal School at one time expressed the
belief that the young girls of her race were peculiarly situ-
ated in that " they have no avenue open to them in this
city by which a livelihood can be obtained outside of the
school-room and menial positions"; and it is interesting to
compare that statement, which has a tone of regret about it,
with that of Arabella Jones, in 1852, who realized that in
that age females were naturally destined to become mothers
187] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 95
or household servants, and that for either position some
education was necessary. But the question arises whether
an education which carries pupils to a point where their
legitimately acquired ambition has but limited means of
gratification is not only harmful for the individuals, but a
possible source of danger to the community. May it not
also be the case that, as so frequently happens with others,
the negro has mistaken the means of education for educa-
tion itself, and thought that the training of the memory
would develop the faculties of judgment and reason?
The secular education ofifered by the public school is
after all preparatory for real culture, which must be had by
the intercourse of everyday life in the family, in associates,
in trade or business, and, in the church relations. In the
District their churches have been the centers in which many
of the movements of the negroes have been formulated, and
from their pulpits have frequently been sent the battle-cry
for the race whether in the District or for the coimtry at
large, and there, too, have their quasi-leaders uttered the
sentiments designed for use in the national political arena.
Their churches have also been the places for a cultivation
of their social instincts, and although in recent years some of
the race have built a hall especially for their meetings, the
mass still abide by their historic rendezvous. The simple
structures, about a dozen in number in 1861, have in-
creased in pretentiousness and number nearly ninety, ranging
from the small building in a neighborhood inhabited by the
lowliest of the race, to the more costly ones in modem style
and of substantial architecture in the vicinity of the fashion-
able residence sections of the city. Some of the pastors are
men of marked ability as preachers, and their congregations
are large and enthusiastic. The negroes appear to cherish
the forms of religion which appeal to their heart and
emotions rather than those which require more exercise of
the mind, — excepting the Catholic, on the one hand, and the
Congregationalist on the other; and though the bush meet-
ing is losing its hold upon the more cultivated of the city
96 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [188
folks, it still has an attraction for those in city or
country who have not drifted from the traditions of slavery.
The statistics of some of the churches well illustrate this
condition. The Baptist body has 13 white churches and 42
negro ones, the Methodists of all stripes 23 white and 36
negro, the Episcopalians 24 white and 3 negro, the Presby-
terians 18 white and i negro, the Lutherans 12 white and i
negro. The remarkable contradiction in the situation of the
Catholic body, which has but one negro church, and of the
Congregationalists, whose churches are about equally
divided between the two races, has been mentioned pre-
viously. The efforts of earnest workers among the negroes
to reach those who may be of influence hereafter has resulted
in the organization of a Young lyien's Christian Association
and the occupation of a building in a once notorious locality,
the character of which has been materially changed by the
personal endeavor of the pastor of a Congregationalist
church; within a few weeks a young negro, devoted to
missionary work among his people, has spent much of his
time in the establishment of a home for the unfortunate
negro women for whom no other provision of the kind
exists in the District; and these movements, like that of
negro women connected with the Woman's Christian Tem-
perance Association, are evidence that the highly flavored
rhetoric of the pulpit and the exultation of the pews asso-
ciated with many of the churches of twenty years or more
ago are giving place to the more practical expressions of
religion, which may be increased by the non-sectarian union
of the preachers who hold their meetings in the hall of their
Young Men's Christian Association.*
The newspaper, generally regarded as a great educational
factor, has not attained a great growth as an undertaking by
negroes. This has been due not always to lack of capa-
bilities on the part of the editors, or to the tendency to
' The Protestant Episcopal Church, in its preparatory school for
negro clergymen at King Hall, seems to be nearing a solution of
the church question as far as that body is concerned.
189] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 97
indulge in personalities and political debates not of an edify-
ing character. The newspaper readers of the race have gen-
erally preferred to confine their support to the papers pub-
lished by die whites because more is given for their money;
their own publishers have thereby missed so much of that
support or part of it, and it is not surprising tliat two
weekly publications represent at present the secular press of
the negroes at the capital.
To their religion, to the refining influences of wealth and
education, and to the example of the more favored of the
race, the negroes have been obliged to look for guidance and
assistance in the development of their morality.
Early in the vears of their emancipation Congress took
steps to remedy whatever defects in the bases of morality
among the negroes had been bequeathed by the extinct
system. The act of July 25, 1866, provided that all negroes
in the District who, previous to the act of April, 1862, had
agreed to occupy the relation of husband and wife, and who
were living together as such, or recognizing the relation as
still existing, whether the rites of marriage had been cele-
brated between them, should be regarded as husband and
wife and should be entitled to all the rights and privileges
and subject to all the duties and obligations of the relation
just as if they had been married according to law. All
their children, whether born before or after the passage of
the act, were to be deemed legitimate were the parents
still living together. If the mother had died or the parents
had ceased to live together for any other cause, all children
of the woman recognized by the man as his should be legiti-
mate. This provision may have been efficacious in settling
relations for the forming of which abundant opportunity had
been presented in the swarming of the new population from
the fields, but was really no deterrent for those who fol-
lowed in poverty and ignorance their natural instincts, care-
less in their thought for the morrow, and living in a style
which was of a character to dull the sense of personal
purit}^ even among individuals of a more advanced tv^pe.
98 The Negro in the District of Colwnhia. [190
Their poverty and accessions to them of ignorance from
near-by regions have been a great incubus upon the negroes
as a whole. It is estimated that in 1867, of 32,000 negroes
in the District one-half were destitute, and the removal of
contraband families five years before from the camps in the
city to a point across the river was the origin of a negro
orphan asylum, — nearly fifty children being left with no
parents to claim them. It was part of the task of the
Freedman's Bureau to relieve this distress, and on March
16, 1867, Congress appropriated in one lump $15,000 for the
relief of the freedmen in the District or of destitute negroes
under direction of the Bureau. There was at the same
time considerable destitution among a class of whites, and
it was even charged that some of the funds designed for the
negroes had gone in this direction. Their destitution has not
been remedied to any great extent, and of the 16,000 persons
in the District now who are believed to be without visible
means of support the great majority are negroes. The extent
of pauperism is shown in the number of negroes who eke out
a livelihood from their pickings on the dumps, and by such
a picture as was presented in April, 1891, when in one room
of a one-story shanty were found one day a dead infant,
and five grown persons and six children suffering from the
influenza which prevailed at that time. The police have
probably the best machinery in the District for unearthing
poverty and misery and for aiding in applying relief, but
though the cases of sickness and destitution reported by
them as sent to the hospitals show that the whites have been
in a majority in recent years — i89i,for instance, furnishing
1440 white cases and 11 32 negro ones — the report of the
health office reports show another phase of the question, the
physicians to the poor in the same year treating 4641 whites
and 8597 negroes, and of the total of 17,048 surgical and
medical cases receiving aid from the seven dispensaries
receiving District aid 12,033 being negroes. The total num-
ber of cases treated by the physicians to the poor between
1883 and 1 891 was 45,410 whites and 93,970 negroes.
191] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 99
While the death rate for botli races has decreased in the
past sixteen years, tlie larger rate of the two has been and
is among the negroes, — in 1891 it being 32.68 for tlie
negroes and 18.27 for the whites. The death rate among
the negroes is largely increased by infant mortality, and this
the health officer attributed in 1889 to a great extent to the
location of negroes in the alleys and unhealthy parts of the
city, and this was due to their poverty, which, however, is
not such as makes them willing to go to the almshouse,
apparently, as in 1890 of the 273 inmates received but 98
were negroes, and in 1891 of 182 inmates 81 were negroes.
Various means have been adopted to meet this emergency
of poverty, one of the latest being the National Association
for Destitute Colored Women and Children. The hospitals
which admit both races render efficient service, a good idea
of this being given by the report of the Freedmen's Hos-
pital, which deals with charity cases, and to which were
admitted in 1892, of a total of 2539 patients, 1970 negroes.
It is not surprising that the conditions bom of poverty
have contributed largely to the development of immorality
and crime in spite of the influences of church life, but when
the statistics in these fields are examined other causes must
explain the figures, startling in some respects.' In thirteen
years the number of legitimate white births has increased
from 2068 in 1879 to 2440 in 1891, and the illegitimates
from 49 to 73 ; while the number of legitimate negro births
has decreased from 1400 in 1879 to 1371 in 1891, and the
number of illegitimates has increased from 299 to 460 in the
same years. The respective populations have increased in
about the same proportion, the negroes remaining about
one-third of the total. The per cent, of illegitimacy to total
births has decreased from 12.5 to 12.3, the per cent, of ille-
gitimacy to total illegitimacy by color has decreased for the
'The following tables, derived from the Report of the Health
OflBcer of Washington, will prove interesting for the student of
this phase of the question, some of the figures of population being
approximate :
100 l^he Negro in the District of Columbia. [192
By Color and Legitimacy.
White.
Negro.
Births,
Still-births.
Births.
Still-births.
6
6
®
6
<jj
S
i
i
Oj
oi
<g
S
S
03
a
•r1
OS
S
a
a
a
u
A
-M
be
±^
31)
i^
be
+j
bo
■g
^H
Sii
V
bo
V
bo
®
b!)
X>
<o
<I>
0)
>*
n
oo
J
^
>A
'-'
ij
1— 1
w4
'-'
1879
3,816
395
2,068
49
112
18
1,400
299
171
94
1880
4,095
358
2,241
56
105
14
1,456
342
159
80
1881
3,595
370
1,961
53
125
16
1,274
307
143
86
1882
3,391
351
1,747
53
124
16
1,277
314
146
65
1883
3,116
362
1,631
53
136
18
1,132
300
139
69
1884
3,224
351
1,684
63
123
9
1,196
281
141
78
1885
3,334
391
1,805
56
154
25
1,136
337
127
85
1886
3,516
406
1,916
65
149
15
1,184
351
138
104
1887
3,728
406
2,022
70
127
22
1,288
348
146
111
1888
3,670
458
1,964
71
156
26
1,262
373
155
121
1889
4,001
443
2,098
78
137
20
1,397
428
163
123
1890
4,070
474
2,171
75
172
11
1,341
483
181
110
1891
4,344
440
2,440
73
154
18
1,371
460
157
111
Percentages may be studied in this table :
Per cent of
B^
Per cent of
Per cent of
white
llegiti-
illegitimacy
illegitimacy
mates to white
Population.
to total
to total ille-
births, and
««
births, by
gitimacy.
negro i
llegiti-
=^
color.
by color.
mates to negro
Year.
q-. as
births.
p
6
6
d
6
d
White.
Negro.
u
2
&
2
Si
3
fe
Ph
^
'^
^
!z;
^
!?:
1879
115,247
57,130
12.5
1.31
7.83
14.0
86.0
2.32
17.60
1880
118,236
59,402
12.0
1.38
8.35
14.0
86.0
2.43
19.02
1881
121,300
61,760
12.9
1.47
8.54
14.8
85.2
2.63
19.42
1882
124,441
64,212
12.3
1.60
9.26
14.4
85.6
2.09
19.73
1883
126,300
65,680
14.1
1.74
9.63
15.0
85.0
3.14
20.95
1884
130,700
69,300
13.4
2.00
8.70
18.3
81.7
3.60
19.02
1885
132,700
69,300
15.0
1.68
10.18
14.3
85.7
3.00
22.88
1886
136,000
69,300
15.2
1.85
9.98
15.6
84.4
3.28
22.86
1887
140,000
70,000
14.8
1.83
9.33
16.7
83.3
3.34
21.27
1888
145,635
72,522
16.1
1.93
10.16
16.0
84.0
3.49
22.18
1889
149,000
74,000
12.7
1.95
10.70
15.4
84.6
3.59
23.45
1890
154,352
75,600
13.7
1.84
11.90
13.4
86.6
3.34
26.50
1891
170,000
80,00i;
12.3
1.68
10.70
13.7
86.3
2.90
25.12
193] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 101
whites and increased for the negroes, while the per cent, of
white illegitimates to white births has increased from 2,32 in
1879 to 2.90 in 1 891, the highest per cent in that period
having been 3.59 in 1889, and the per cent, of negro ille-
gitimates to negro births has increased from 17.60 in 1879
to 25.12 in 1891, the last figure having been exceeded most
in 1890, when the per cent was 26.50. Of course, the
statistics of illegitimacy do not include all cases, as the
finding of 98 dead infants in 1888, 71 in 1889, 69 in 1890,
75 in 1891, and 97 in 1892, and the reports of abandoned
infants prove. These amounted in 1888 to 5 negro and i
white, in 1889 to 8 negro and 2 white, in 1890 to 3 negro,
in 1 891 to I white and 3 negro, and in 1892 to 19 negro and
I white. This condition of affairs is attributed to the prac-
tical absence of any penalty for seduction or adultery beyond
tliat relating to girls under 16 years of age, and of provision
compelling the father to support his illegitimate child, and
the abandonment of infants to die or fall into the hands of
the police has been traced to servant girls who were unable
to keep their children with them while at work, and the
cases of still-birth are said to have been due to heavy lifting
and overwork, particularly among negro women.
The general statements about immorality may be applied
to those relating to crime.' In 1877 the negroes furnished
* The statistics of crime for fifteen years may be studied in the
following table :
Population.
Arrests.
Tear.
White.
Negro.
White.
Negro.
1877
109,505
52,870
7,523
5,460
1879
115,247
57,130
8,485
4,125
1880
118,23fi
59,402
7,914
3,644
1885
136,271
67,388
13,189
10,036
1887
140,000
70.000
10,819
9,156
1888
145,635
72,522
10,572
9,958
1889
149,000
74,000
10,719
10,431
1890
154,352
75,600
11,764
12,608
1891
170,000
80,000
11,546
13,620
1892
173,610
84,821
12,415
14,251
102 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [194
42 per cent, of the whole number of arrests, and in 1892
they furnished 53 per cent, and while between those years
the negro population has increased 62 per cent., the number
of their arrests has increased 161 per cent., the proportion
of the negro population to the white remaining relatively
the same. INIore minute study of the statistics of the occu-
pations of those arrested shows that those which are monopo-
lized by the negroes furnish the largest number, — the arrests
in 1877 being 3905 laborers and 788 servants, and in 1892
being 9068 laborers and 1856 servants, while those having
no occupation were 270 in 1877 and 1021 in 1892. Com-
menting on this in 1890, the superintendent of police said
that "the meanest of all crimes, petty pilferings and thefts,
constitute the most frequent annoyance to the citizen, house-
wife, hotel-keeper and stranger here. Dishonest servants
are in a great measure responsible. The sneak, of whom
there are so many, belongs to that class of loafers who play
' crap ■ and hang about low-down groggeries and resorts
during the day and steal under cover of darkness." Of the
greater criminal cases, while the whites have furnished
the greater proportion of arrests for forgery, embezzle-
ment, and false pretense, the negroes are in the majoritv'
of those arrested for crimes of violence. Nine whites
were charged with murder in 1888 and 10 negroes, in
1889 5 whites and 14 negroes, in 1890 12 whites and
7 negroes, in 1891 i white and 6 negroes, and 1892 showed
a marked exception, 12 arrests on this charge being of
whites and 5 of negroes. The negroes in the workhouse
preponderate.* For this disproportion of negro arrests the
superintendent of police, in his report for 1891, believes the
neglected state of the negro child and youth is responsible
to a great extent "This is evidenced," he says, "by the
fact that out of 228 cases where petit larceny was charged,
192 were against colored children under 16 years of age,
and out of 330 charges for the same alleged commissions,
260 of the accused were between 18 and 21 years of age.
On the other hand, while the colored youth take to theft.
195] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 103
the white youth takes to drink. Out of 12 cases of intoxi-
cation where the persons were under 16 years of age, 7
were white and 5 colored; 104 out of 185, where the persons
were between 18 and 21, were white; while the whites over
21 years were extreme, representing 2769 cases in a total of
3440. A strange feature in this matter is found in the fact
that, while the white breaker of the peace is disorderly gen-
erally when under the influence of liquor, the colored rep-
resentative creates disturbances without the invigorating
influence of drink."
The superintendent of the negro schools in 1890 seemed
to realize the same facts, and he deduces from a report of
the preceding year that the offenses committed by the negro
youth were such " as the school-room, in its greater removal
from opportunity, would have largely furnished a pre-
ventive," and adds that " it is but a reasonable inference
that, as a rule, the first step to the causes leading to these
arrests is idleness, and that in its continuance the step to
the greater and more aggravated offenses, which the remain-
ing cases of arrests embrace, becomes not only easier, but
more and more probable. The school-room, to the" extent
it discourages idleness in the employment it affords, may
contribute to the diminution of crime; but there must be
recognized other and graver causes for it — causes that are
wholly beyond its pale. After leaving it, conditions, imposed
through inability to earn a livelihood, may force to the
street, and thus very measurably shorten the distance to the
prison."
This theory seems to be sustained by the figures of illit-
eracy of those arrested in recent years, for in 1877 of those
arrested 8707 could read and write and 4276 could not, and
in 1892 20,587 could read and write, while 6079 could not,
an increase over 1891 of 206, and over 1890 of 2362, inter-
vening years showing similar variation.
As long as comparisons of immorality and crime may be
made with the whites it cannot be said that these phases of
life are peculiar to the negroes, and their environments are
104 The Negro in the District of Columhia. [190
such as to assist them materially in whatever inclination
they have to imitation. In the case of immorality alone the
great majority of the mulattoes are innocent memorials of
the disgraceful example in vice set the negroes by members
of the white race before and since the war, and the presence
of great armies at or near the capital during the war could
not be regarded, as a general rule, as likely to furnish
recruits from an ignorant and poverty-stricken race to the
ranks of personal purity. Statistics on this subject are com-
paratively scarce, and may be partly explained by immigra-
tion. In 1807, of the 494 free negroes, 215 were mulattoes,
but no distinction was made among the 1004 slaves; the
census of i860 showed 4500 mulattoes among 11,131 free
negroes, and 933 mulattoes among 3185 slaves, a total of
5433 mulattoes in a negro population of 14,316. Of
43,000 negroes in 1870 it is estimated that 8032 were
mulattoes, showing a decided proportionate decrease, and
the census of 1890 shows 55,736 pure blacks and 19,836
negroes of mixed blood, of whom 1126 were quadroons and
721 octoroons. This is an increase over 1870. Some
notion of the relation of the mulattoes to crime in the
District is also given in the last census. There is no peni-
tentiary in the District, but in the Reform School in 1890
were 68 whites, 119 negroes, of whom 82 were mulattoes; of
paupers in the almshouse, 10 were white, 211 negroes, of
whom 37 were mulattoes; and of inmates of the jail 19 were
white, 169 were negroes, of whom 42 were mulattoes.
This classification, though, Mr. Frederick H. Wines, the
expert who prepared the special reports on this subject,
thinks may not be exact.
While poverty, their previous existence without law as a
rule, and the examples before them have doubtless con-
tributed much to the active agencies against a great number
of the negroes' progress to the plane occupied by the thrifty,
educated and conservative middle class, other drawbacks
have existed in the want of solidarity among the negroes
themselves; and while some may quote the saying that all
197] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 105
races of the earth have been created of one blood, they
seem to lose sight of the advantage of recognizing that the
members of the particular negro race have been created of
one blood. This state of affairs is an effect in part of the
war-time distinctions, but the obliteration of these has been
delayed by politics if they have not indeed been increased.
The withdrawal of the suffrage from residents of the District
by no means ended political life there. On the contrar)-,
politics of the practical sort, robbed of all disguises of public
policy or patriotism which usually are supposed to be the
real issues upon which many voters divide, has too fre-
quently been revealed as the bald struggle for personal
preferment. This has not been confined to party or race, and
the rival factions of negroes in separate Republican con-
ventions sending contesting delegates to a national conven-
tion, but parallel rivalries among the Democrats with similar
results, which, however, continue when preliminaries for
inauguration ceremonies are to be arranged.^ The negroes
have not been the entire body of the party in the District with
which as a general rule they have affiliated, and some
curious contrasts are presented.
There are some negro Democrats, and a change of admin-
istration is likely to swell their ranks, if present indications
are of value. The difference between the whites and the
negroes in this particular is that the former do not permit
differences, bom of the heat of a campaign, to enter into
their relations when a movement is started to benefit their
community. Not so with the negro politicians, however.
A study of the names prominent in their race's mass meet-
' The restoration of the suffrage is frequently urged , and an organ-
ized movement to that end has been started. Experience, though,
is likely to change the signal-cry of no taxation without represen-
tation, to that of no representation without taxation, should the
citizens of the District be enfranchised, and it would not be sur-
prising if at the capital the experiment were to be made of a suf-
frage limited only by property or educational qualification, or by
both.
106 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [198
ings or in undertakings expressive of their ambitions and
aspirations will frequently reveal animosities of politics, caus-
ing division of views about methods of material progress. A
curious manifestation of this has been the dispute at times
about the celebration of the District emancipation day,
opposing political leaders marshaling their respective follow-
ers about differing opinions, — one faction insisting upon a
parade, another believing only in a mass meeting, at which
the very sensible programme included a distribution of
prizes to the young folks for the best specimens of brain-
work and handicraft, and the excitement reaching such a
pitch at one time that one of the orators not only expressed
the opinion "that there are a great number of negroes in
this city who are unfit to be free," but thought that if they
continued " to follow brass bands and emancipation chariots
and spend $5000 for one day's frolic or to demonstrate
which is the biggest man," there could be little improvement
in their condition. The climax was reached, perhaps, in
1886, when it was determined to have two parades. The
leaders of the rival factions sought to secure a promise from
President Cleveland to review them, but they received the
following suggestive letter at the hands of his private sec-
retary:
"Sir: It having come to the knowledge of the President,
to his regret, that the differences which have existed among
certain colored citizens of this city concerning the parade
on Emancipation Day are not likely to be harmonized, and
that two processions are contemplated, he directs me to
inform you that he will not take sides in the quarrel, and
therefore declines to accept either of the invitations to
review the parade. If, however, he can be assured that the
dififerences have been adjusted, I am quite sure that it would
give him pleasure to accept a joint invitation to review one
procession in which all shall amicably participate."
The wise advice half revealed in this letter was not fol-
lowed, for the two parades took place, with brass bands and
" queens of love and beauty " for both. The speech of
199] The Negro in the District of Columbia. 107
1891 showed that politics alone did not contribute to the
dissension, and additional evidence of this was given in a
letter of a few years ago, in which the writer took the
ground that invidious distinctions were made in a parade of
negroes only, which with its incidentals was demoralizing to
the youth.
The same may be said about some of the other phases of
agitation, for at a meeting in 1891, intended to assist the
plan of the Educational and Relief Association of the Dis-
trict, which had in six months raised more than $1500 for
an institution of shelter and training for negro youths in
destitute circumstances, a strong criticism was made of the
absence of " men of means, of influei ce, of popularity, of
name and fame," who should have been present, and though
the association had, it was said, clothed and fed 225 chil-
dren and placed 155 in the public schools, one of the
speakers lamented the fact that so many seats in the church
were vacant when a thousand persons should have been
present. Just a year after that an opposite of this situation
existed in a call issued for a lecture by a well known white
leader of the negroes, the proceeds of which were to be
devoted to the " Industrial Institute Association " and " The
Children's Home." The men of influence, means and fame
signed this call. It is one of the most unfortunate facts for
the negroes in the District that there the "professional
negro " has found his most congenial surroundings, and
though the mass are beginning to appreciate the reason for
his existence, they have not yet been able to loose them-
selves entirely from that impediment to their more complete
emancipation. The agitator of the platform and the poli-
tician of the pulpit have not yet ceased to beguile their
thousands or to scatter the seeds of disunion of a race.
Some may be sincere in their utterances, but the complaints
which rise now and then to the surface indicate that many
negroes believe that others are not, and the more general
such a sentiment becomes the better chance will the race
have for harmonious development.
108 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [200
Lack of unity, the absence to a great degree of proper
race pride, are the elements of weakness in the negroes, as
shown by their history in the District. The two factors
have no doubt been fostered by philanthropy, theoretical
and practical, and by the preponderating use of the negroes
as a campaign issue, which have led them to look to the
white race rather than to themselves for advancement; but
while dependence may aid an individual here and there, it
is likely to hamper the real development of the mass, if it
does not result in actual retrogression. The negro popula-
tion at the capital is as complex as it is interesting. It
embraces the pure African, the negro whose blood has
been untainted since his family has been in this country, the
mixture of negro, white and Indian, and the various grades
of the mulatto, including the children or descendants of the
white father and negro mother and the children of the white
mother and negro father. The native free negro and freed-
man, the whilom contraband, the educated or uneducated
negro from many sections of the country have found their
home there and form distinct types which are commingled
in other classes based upon education, wealth or political
influence. Dependence leased upon politics seems to be
lessening in its intensity, and this change will tend to oblit-
erate the distinctions and cross purposes which now exist,
the discontent and petulance which crop out at the meet-
ings intended to strengthen the negro's position, The want
of harmony is deplored by members of the race who in
public speaking seek to guide their fellows into right lines
instead of using them merely as instruments for their self-
aggrandizement; and one of the most significant, because
truthful, expressions in this direction was that of a negro
woman who spoke at a meeting on the first day of this year
commemorative of the act of general emancipation thirty
years before.
" The achievements of which we boast," said she, " are not
enough in any line to make it patent to the world that we are
advancing. The individual, however learned, accomplished or
201] The Negro in the District of Colwiibia. 109
wealthy, must, in a large measure, follow the condition of
his race. The whole is equal to the sum of its parts, and if
ninety-nine of those parts are poverty, degradation and
ignorance, the one-hundredth part counts as nothing toward
changing the result as a whole. Of the many things which
may be said to militate against our race, all of them might
be condensed into one sentence : ' Lack of true racial pride.'
Lack of unity follows almost as a matter of course.
" Of no other race can it be so truly said that the hand of
every . other race is raised against it, and its own hand is
raised against itself. Other races are proud of their history
and antecedents; we seem to wish to get as far from ours
as possible; other races struggling for a foothold unite for
that purpose and strengthen each other against the common
enemy. Our race, alas! will not unite on either commercial
or material grounds."
Study of the history of one race which many centuries
ago were in a condition similar to that of the negroes before
the war, impresses one with the fact that in all their struggles
they have been strengthened by pride of race, which is
strictly maintained to-day. When they were contending
against oppressive measures which have been but faintly
mirrored in the history of the freedmen, their unity of blood
kept them compact, and the same principle makes their
race one of the most independent ones in America to-day.
It will also be remembered that when this race had been
led to the borders of the Promised Land, the man who had
led them out of bondage and for forty years in the wilder-
ness was taken from them. For this there may have been
other reasons than the act in Zin. A settled race requires
a different sort of leader from the ruler of a migratory
body; and though the history of the negroes may never
parallel that of the Hebrews, they may be prevented from
enjoying the full fruits of the strivings of forty years or
more by the fact that their Moses of one kind or another
still is with them and essays to' apply past methods of
leadership to present conditions, which show a change to a
wonderful degree.
110 The Negro in the District of Columbia. [202
Sir John Lubbock tells of a plant which sprouts suddenly
to some height and then by its own weight sinks to its
original level, and progresses firmly and steadily by tendrils,
which it sends in all directions. It may be that the negro
in the District is destined to follow a similar course, and
that those who have been given or who have gained by their
own exertions advantages of the best sort and who have
shown the possibilities of their race, will see the wisdom of
reaching down to their less fortunate brethren and of encom-
passing the whole body in a compact, healthy growth, bound
together by the tendrils of education, refinement and
material prosperity, which may be the great factor for the
elevation of their race in the whole country.
V-VI
CHURCH AND STATE IN NORTH
CAROLINA
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History.— Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
V-VI
CHURCH AND STATE IN NORTH
CAROLINA
BY
STEPHEN BEAUREGARD WEEKS, Ph.D.,
Professor of History and Political Science,
Ti-inity College, North Carolina.
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
May-June, 1893
COPTKIGHT, 1S93, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS.
THE FRIEDENWALD CO., PEINTEKS,
BALTIMORE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction.
Summary of an earlier paper on "The Religious Development in
the Province of North Carolina," 7. Purpose of the present paper, 8.
CHAPTER II.
Church and State under the Proprietors, 1711-1728.
Influence of Acts of 1711 on the Colony, 9. They legalize dissent
by reaffirming the Toleration Act, 9. The Toleration Act ; an "Act
of Indulgence"; its value, 10. The first Church Acts met with re-
bellion ; the latter fought along legal and technical lines, 11. The
first Acts nominally repealed, but remain practically in force, 12.
Vestrj' Act of 1715 ; parishes, vestrymen, oath, salary, tax, churches ;
reception, 13. Drawback to the work of the S. P. G. in North
Carolina in the character of their missionaries, Brett, Blair, Gerrard,
Rainsford, Taylor, Newman, Blacknall, and Bailey, 15. Biographies
of Urmatone, Gordon, and Adams, 16. Bad influence of the mis-
sionaries on the people and on the development of the Colony, 22.
CHAPTER III.
Church and State under the Royal Government, 1728-1776.
Burrington made Governor in 1730 ; his instructions, 23. The
eighty-second section re-enacts the Schism Act, 23, Terms of the
Schism Act, 1714-1718, 24. Exasperating character of this Act and
its probable enforcement, 24. Efforts of Burrington for an Estab-
lishment in 1731 and 1733, 26. The state of the Church and of the
colony religiously, 27. Johnston made Governor in 1734 ; former
instructions renewed, 27. His zeal for the Establishment leads him
to misrepresent the Dissenters ; their numbers, and character of
their work, 28. Vestry Act of 1741 ; parishes, vestrymen, oath, tax,
29. Activity in ecclesiastical legislation ; special taxes, 30. The
Act of 1741 probably of little effect, 31. Dobbs made Governor in
1754 ; former instructions renewed, 32. The labors of Dobbs for the
Establishment, 32. The ten years' fight over the Church laws, 32.
This fight due to the contested right of presentation, 34. Evil in-
fluence on the Establishment, 35. Encourages Dissenters ; their
character in 1760, 36. Their method of fighting the Establishment,
36. The Vestry Act of 1764 and its probable cause, 37. Tryon made
Governor in 1765 ; his views of toleration, 38. Schism Act re-
newed ; and enforced in New Bern, 1766 ; in Edenton, 1768 ; rumb-
6 Contents. [208
lings of discontent, 39. Martin made Governor in 1771 ; Church
and Schism Acts renewed, 40. Schism Act enforced against Queen's
Museum in 1773, 40.
Marriage Acts, 1669, 1715, 1741 ; discussion of the latter, 42. The
limitations sought for in the Clergy Bill of 1762, 43. The Marriage
Act of 1766 ; its reception ; protests from Mecklenburg, Try on,
Anson, Orange, and Rowan counties, 43. The Marriage Act and the
War of the Regulation, 45.
The inequality of Muster laws, 46.
The Quakers and the Affirmation ; the case of Borden, 47.
Summary : Little direct persecution ; note on the Baptists in New
Bern, 48. Persecution indirect by (1) tithes, extent, by (2) Muster
laws, in (3) the Marriage Acts, by (4) the Schism Act, 50. Both
English and Colonial governments responsible, 52.
CHAPTER IV.
The Fall of the Establishment.
The beginning of the end ; Vestry Act of 1768 the last, 53. Gov.
Martin's contrast of Churchmen and Presbyterians and argument
for the better establishment of the Church, 53. Churchmen gener-
ally faithful to the American cause, 54. Dissatisfaction with eccle-
siastical laws highest in Mecklenburg, 54. Their instructions to
delegates to Halifax Conventions of April and November, 1776, 55.
The latter adopts a constitution and provides for religious freedom,
56.
CHAPTER V.
Epilogue.
The work of the Constitution completed by Acts of Assembly, 57.
The absence of a guarantee of religious freedom in the Federal Con-
stitution provokes much hostility in North Carolina, 58. Attacks of
Abbot, Caldwell, Lenoir and Lancaster answered by Iredell, John-
ston. Spencer and Spaight, 58. North Carolina neither " to ratify
nor to reject," but to propose a Bill of Rights and amendments;
adopts Constitution after amendments are proposed by Congress, 60.
The thirty-second clause of the State Constitution of 1776, 61. Gas-
ton's summary of the interpretation of this clause, 62. Probably
aimed at but not enforced against Catholics, 63. Gaston's inter-
pretation and action in 1833, 63. Convention of 1835 substitutes
" Christian " for " Protestant," 64.
Bibliographical Note, 65.
CHURCH AND STATE IN NORTH CAROLINA,
1711-1776.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction.
In a former paper' the present writer pursued studies
along two lines. First, he sought to show from external
and internal evidence, from contemporary and later authori-
ties, that the first settlements in North Carolina were made
not by Quakers fleeing from religious intolerance in other
colonies, but by men seeking for homes under better eco-
nomic conditions. In the course of a few years, especially
after the failure of Bacon's rebellion, tliese first settlers were
reinforced by others seeking political freedom, which they
found flourishing finely in the little colony by the Albe-
marle. Before the end of the seventeenth century settlers
were coming into the colony, possibly from religious motives,
for Quakers were then coming from Ireland as well as from
Pennsylvania, and Huguenots were making their settlement
about Bath.
The second part of the paper was an effort to arrive at
the true relations between CJiiircli and State as developed
in theory and practice by the Lords Proprietors. We saw
that provision was made for a State Church in the charter
granting Carolana to Sir Robert Heath in 1629. These
provisions were re-enacted in the charters to the Lords Pro-
prietors in 1663 and 1665. No effort was made, however,
to put them into practice until 1701, when a vestry act
was passed providing for an establishment. The fortunes
' " The Eeligious Development in the Province of North Caro-
lina," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
Science, X., pp. 239-306, May-June, 1892.
8 Church and State in North Carolina. [210
and influence of this act were traced. The act passed late
in 1704 or early in 1705 was examined and its relation to
the " Gary Rebellion " considered. Dr. Hawks follows the
example of the colonial leaders in disparaging the principles
of Gary and his followers; with him they are rebels and
indefensible. A more charitable view, that these men were
struggling for political rights against the representatives of
despotic power, has been recently advanced by Hon. Wil-
liam L. Saunders and Captain Samuel A. Ashe, and has
been adopted by Hon. Kemp P. Battle; but the writer
believes that the "rebellion" stands for more than a politi-
cal struggle. It was the uprising of a free people against
the attempt of foreign and domestic foes to saddle on them
a church establishment with which they had no sympathy,
and he has treated it as such. He does not believe it pos-
sible to explain the extent of the commotion on any other
basis.
The purpose of this paper is to continue the line of study
already begun ; to trace further the relations between Church
and State in North Carolina; to enquire if there was any
persecution in North Carolina — if so, its character, when,
where, by whom, and who were the sufferers; and to dis-
cover whether the colonial or home government was respon-
sible for the persecution. The writer will show that from
1730 to 1773 the home and colonial governments enforced
in North Carolina the atrocious Schism Act; that dissenting
clergymen were denied for years the privilege of performing
the marriage ceremony; that this was finally granted them
only under burdensome restrictions; and that they were
discriminated against in the enforcement of muster laws.
He will also trace the evolution of that spirit of opposition
to an Establishment which was to culminate in the Declara-
tion of Rights and in the State Constitution of 1776, in the
first amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1789, and
in the final triumph of absolute religious freedom by the
removal in 1835 of what seemed to be a ban placed on
Roman Catholics Dy the State Constitution in 1776.
CHAPTER II.
Church and State under the Proprietors, 1711-1728.
The acts passed by the Assembly of 171 1 in its efforts to
settle the religious and political questions growing out of
the troubles with the Dissenters came veiy near plunging the
country into a real civil war, as we have already seen/ But
this new rebellion was nipped by the Virginia troops sent in
by Gov. Spotswood, and the laws of which the colonists
were here complaining remained in force.
There was, however, one bright spot in this dark cloud
of usurpation and oppression. These acts put the Dis-
senters of North Carolina on a legal basis. The colonists
had grown tired of the uncertainties and sufferings attendant
on the arbitrary will of the Proprietors, and boldly pro-
claimed that "this province is annexed to and declared to
be a member of the Crown of England." They enacted
that the laws of England, "so far as they are compatible
with our way of living and trade," were to be the laws of
the province, and that "all such lav>rs made for the Estab-
lishment of the Church and the laws made for granting
indulgences to Protestant Dissenters" were to be a part of
the law of the colony.*
This was a great step forward. Before this time there
had been no legal recognition of Dissenters at all. Pro-
vision had been made in the charters for toleration, but
how, when and under what circumstances it was to be
exercised were matters to be left completely in the hands
of the Lords Proprietors. How arbitrar}^ and capricious
this recognition might be we have already seen.
' Religious Development in the Province of North Carolina,
pp. 59-62.
^Col. Rec, I., 789,790.
10 Church and State in JSforth Carolina. [212
The Dissenters in North Carolina were now on the same
footing as the Dissenters in England. Their position had
been defined by the Toleration Act which had been passed
on May 24, 1689. Its title is " An Act for Exempting their
Majesty's Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of
England from the Penalties of certaine Lawes.'" Under this
act Protestant Dissenters were allowed to attend their own
places of worship, and were protected by tlie law from dis-
turbance, provided they took the oath of allegiance and
supremacy and subscribed the declaration against transub-
stantiation; but their congregations had to be duly regis-
tered and the doors of their meeting-houses had to remain
unlocked and unbarred. Their ministers had to subscribe
to the doctrinal portions of the Anglican articles, except
that Baptists were relieved from the section in regard to
infant baptism, and the Quakers had only to affirm their
adhesion to the government, to abjure transubstantiation, to
profess faith in the Trinity and in the inspiration of the Bible."
This act is technically described as an "Act of Indul-
gence." It suspended in certain cases the operation of laws
which still remained on the statute-book. It did not repeal
these laws, and thus left the Dissenters more or less under
the stigma of the law. They were still excluded from the
universities; they could be married only by the Anglican
ceremony, and the Corporation and Test acts prevented them
from entering corporations and public offices without re-
ceiving the sacrament according to the Anglican rite. This
act was the high-water mark of toleration in the seventeenth
century. Its grants were considered as favors, not as
' William and Mary, Chap. 18, in Statutes of the Realm (1819), VI.,
74-76.
* Cf. the act for Liberty of Conscience in Col. Rec, II., 884, where
it is provided that "all Protestant dissenters within this govern-
ment shall have their meetings . . . provided that the same be
public and subject to such rules, regulations and restrictions as by
the several acts of Parliament . . are made and provided." The
Quaker was allowed to affirm.
213] Church and State in North Carolina. 11
riglits; it conferred a great practical advantage on tlie Dis-
senters, but Lecky doubts if the cause of religious liberty
received anything from the Revolution of 1688. William
earnestly desired complete toleration, if not equality, among
Protestants, but this policy was not feasible after the fear
of a Catholic sovereign was removed. Measures to abolish
the sacramental test or to make the reception of the sacra-
ment in any Protestant form a sufficient test were introduced
into Parliament and defeated.^
When the members of the Establishment in North Caro-
lina drew nearer, in 1701 and 1704, to the model of the
home government and undertook to force a development
along these lines, the Dissenters tried the virtue of rebel-
lion. It is clear that their government dc facto, 1707-10,
was recognized by the Proprietors," but a new wave of
loyalty suddenly swept them out of power in the latter year.
From that time the Dissenters, in characteristic English
fashion, submitted to the will of the majority, and began
to fight their battles along legal and technical lines. Dur-
ing the next sixty-six years North Carolina was not with-
out discussion and agitation on ecclesiastical matters, and
this discussion, culminating in the Mecklenburg instruc-
tions of 1775 and 1776, and crystallizing in the Constitution
adopted at Halifax in December, 1776, put North Carolina
close to Virginia, the first political organization in the world
to solve the problem of a free church in a free State, each
independent of the other.'
' Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Centiiry, I., 219-221.
' If any are disposed to doubt this statement it is enough to invite
them to read the Colonial Records carefully. The Collections of the
South Carolina Historical Society, I., 181, inform us that the Proprie-
tors appointed Emmanuel Lowe, one of the rebel leaders, secretary of
the province on Nov. 30, 1710. He does not seem to have accepted,
so Jan. 31, 1711, his son, Neville Lowe, was appointed to the same
office (Hid., L,160). Cf. also my paper on John Archdale and some
of his Descendants, in Magazine of American History for Feb., 1893.
^ Mr. William Wirt Henry (Papers Amer. Hist. Association, II., 23-
30) claims this honor for Virginia. He bases this claim on the six-
12 Church and State in North Carolina. [214
The rebellion of Gary, moreover, had not been able to solve
the question of tithes. We have the clearest testimony that
the vestrymen found great difificulty in collecting church dues,
and we know that the earlier church acts were repealed by
the Proprietors; but in spite of these hindrances the Church-
men managed to keep some sort of an ecclesiastical law in
existence. At no time within this period were the Dissenters
quiet or regardless of their own interests ; but from all the ac-
counts we have of the religious inclinations of the colonists, a
majority of them were of the Church of England. They
had been reared within its communion; they were, therefore,
naturally inclined toward it, and might be ready for that
reason to connive at the efforts of their more zealous par-
tizans. We are led to this conclusion from statements in
the records. In 1704 Dr. Blair was promised £30 per
annum " as the law provides " ;^ the next year Gerrard was
teenth section of the Bill of Rights adoptedby the Virginia Conven-
tion, June 12, 1776. This section was the work of Patrick Henry.
Dr. Charles J. Stills replies in the next volume of the Pajoers (III.,
205-211) that a Bill of Rights is not a law. and it was not until 1785
that Jefferson's bill establishing religious freedom was passed.
There was still religious intolerance in Virginia in October, 1776,
when Jefferson began his labors of reform, and this did not come to
an end until 1799. Pennsylvania put the religious liberty clause
into her constitution in 1776. Mr. Henry replies {Ibid., III., 457 et
seq.) that the Bill of Rights was a law and was so interpreted by the
Virginia Court of Appeals. The trouble was that the Virginia legis-
lature failed to recognize it. Madison seems to have represented
the general opinion, cf. what he says in discussing the proposed
Bill of Rights to the Federal Constitution (Elliot's Debates, III.,
330, ed. 1836) : "Is a Bill of Rights a security for religion? Would
the Bill of Rights, in this State, exempt the people from paying
for the support of one particular sect, if such sect were established
bylaw?"
The thirty-second clause of the North Carolina Constitution :
*' That no person, who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of
the Protestant religion . . shall be capable of holding any office,"
etc., will be discussed in Chapter V.
' Col. Rec, I., 597.
215] Church and State in North Carolina. 13
promised the same sum '' which tlie law directs " ;' and in
1708 Adams writes that each precinct by "act of Assembly"
allows each minister £30.' The Proprietors had disallowed
the law of 1701, and that of 1704 was evidently repealed;
but in spite of all this tlie Churchmen managed to derive
the same benefit from the law as if it had still continued in
force. Urmstone tells us furtlier that the Assembly had
a way of reafitirming at the beginning of each session all
acts of the preceding Assembly which they desired, and this
obviated the trouble arising from any interference with their
plans by the Lords Proprietors."
The first one of the church acts to come down to us is
the Vestry Act of 1715/ This was no doubt in some
respects similar to the acts of 1701, 1704 and 171 1, but how
far they were alike we do not know. By it the right of Dis-
senters to exist is recognized; but the preamble beginning,
*' This province of North Carolina being a member of the
Kingdom of Great Britain; and the Church of England
being appointed by the charter from the crown to be the
only Established Church to have public encouragement in
it," etc., indicates clearly enough that the right to dissent
was not yet recognized as natural and inalienable.
The act divided the province into nine parishes, and ves-
trymen were appointed in each. Provisions w^ere made for
them to meet and organize, and an oath was required wherein
each declared that it was unlawful to take up arms against
the king "upon any pretext whatever,"' and that he would
' Col. Rec, I., 616. ^ iMd., I., 682. UMd., II., 22i.
* Cf. text in Col. Eec, II., 207 et seq.
' The Corporation Act (1661-1828) required all magistrates and
municipal officers to take the sacrament according to the Church of
England, to aVijure the Covenant, and to take an oath declaring it
illegal to bear arms against the King. In an act passed in North
'Carolina in 1715, public officers were required to take and subscribe
"the several oaths" required in Great Britain under a penalty of
£20 (Col. Rec, II., 885). The effort was evidenth' made to enforce
in North Carolina the English laws in their severity, and this clause
of the vestry act is a proof of it.
14 Church and State in North Carolina. [216
" not apugn the liturgy of the Churcli of England as is by
law established." Every vestryman who refused to sub-
scribe to this ironclad declaration of the divine right of kings
was fined £3, "if such person is not a known and publick
Dissenter from the Church of England." Each vestry
was empowered to employ "a person of a sober life and
conversation to be clerk," to employ a minister in each pre-
cinct for not less than £50, "and that in the raising thereof
and all other parish charges, the whole do not exceed live
shillings per poll on all taxable persons in the parish." The
churchwardens and vestrymen were given power to pur-
chase a glebe, build a church and one or more chapels in
each precinct, and "to raise and levy money by the poll,"
under penalty of double distress in case of refusal or neglect
of payment.
This was the last act relating to the establishment of the
Church passed during the Proprietary regime.' It re-
mained in force until 1741, when it was superseded by a new
and fuller provision. We have no means of learning the
amount of disturbance and confusion created by it; the
records are silent on this point, for the Dissenters have
few representatives in its pages. The Dissenters were the
men of action, not of talk; but we can get side-lights now
and then as to its effects. Quakers exhort each other faith-
fully to keep up their " testimony against the anti-Christian
yoke of tithes," and the continual and bitter quarrels which
Urmstone was always waging against his vestries, and the
heartless abuse he pours out upon the colonists in general,
indicate that the tithe law brought him very little gain.
The vestrymen were empowered by law to distrain in
case of refusal, but this seems to have been seldom resorted
to. They no doubt fully appreciated the feeling which had
raised such deep opposition to former church acts, and cared
less for the howls and curses of the blasphemous missionary '
' In 1720 an Additional Act to the Vestry Act was passed, but has
not come down to us. Cf. Swann's Revisal, 43, ed. 1752.
217] Church and iState in North Carolina. 15
than for tlie hatred aiid contempt of their neighbors and
kinsmen. Laws are hard to enforce in any country when
the moral sentiment of the whole people does not sustain
them, and Col. Byrd bears involuntary witness to the free-
dom and independence of North Carolina when he sneer-
ingly remarks that these people pay tribute neither to God
nor to Caesar. Why should the Proprietors expect willing
tribute from a province which they valued only as a source
of revenue? Why should Churchmen pay to the support of
a ministry when they were given such men as Urmstone,
and why should Dissenters pay to the support of any church
save their own?
The Establishment and the Society for the Propagation of
tlie Gospel had begun their work in North Carolina almost
simultaneously; they had been of mutual assistance to each
other; this assistance might have been many-fold greater had
the character of the missionaries of the S. P. G. beein better.
Never, perhaps, did the average standard of devotion, purity
and piety fall lower than it did in the case of these men.
They were worse than the people whom they came to in-
struct. Their presence did harm to the cause of religion
and moralit}\ Some were weak men, others were positively
vicious. A few biographies will be sufficient to establish
the truth of these assertions.
The first of these missionaries was Daniel Brett, who
turned out in six months to be a scoundrel.^ Dr. Blair
came next. He was pious, but faint-hearted, and in six
months was gone.^ Henr}^ Gerrard was not sent out by the
Society, but his -career was in eminent keeping with that of
the average missionary, for in a few months after his appoint-
ment the vestry record that they have heard of "several
debauched practices which (if true) tends highly to the dis-
honor of Almighty God and the scandal of the church.'"
Rev. Giles Rainsford came out in 171 2, and Rev. Ebenezer
> Cf. Religious Development, 34, 35. ^ Ibid., 42, 43.
sCol.Rec, I., 680.
16 Church and State in North Carolina. [218
Taylor in 171 7. These men were pious and upright in
conduct, but weak and vacillating in disposition. They
served the colony only a few years, and Newman, who
came out in 1722, died within a few months. We must
add to this list the names of Blacknall, a knave of superior
rank, and Bailey, a drunkard,' who were the last to appear
in the colony under the Proprietary regime.
These men seem bad enough, but they sink into insig-
nificance when compared with John Urmstone, whose pres-
ence, Dr. Hawks very frankly and very justly remarks,
" did more to retard the spread of Christianity and the
growth of the Church of England in Carolina than any and
all other causes combined."^ This worthy was a native of
Lancashire,'' and was born in 1662.^ He had received a
liberal education, perhaps a university one; he had had the
benefit of long travels, and knew something of French and
Italian,^ he is perhaps the same as the " Mr. Urmstone "
who was chaplain to the English factory at Archangel in
1703, and who became a corresponding member of the
Si P. C. K.* From the letters of Urmstone no one would
ever charge him with having any of the spirit and meekness
of Christ. He was unamiable and quarrelsome, he was
haughty in disposition and ready to presume on the dignity
of his sacred office. He had taken orders, no doubt, as
too many of the clergy of that day had done, simply that
he might live like a gentleman. He came to North Caro-
lina not from a sense of duty to his divine Master, but with
the hope and expectation of gain, for he complains in the
most open and avowed manner that he and his predecessors
had been laden with " calumnies, reproach and scandalous
falsehoods instead of wealth."' He doubtless expected to
' The vestry of Bath writes to the Society in very high terms of
Bailey.
2 History of North Carolina, II., 353.
3 Col. Hec, II., 249. * IMd., II., 372. ^ Ibid., II., 432.
^ McClure, A Chapter in English Church History, Journal of S.
P. C. K., pp. 262, 263. ^ Col. Rec, II., 1 26.
219] Church and State in North Carolina. 17
find well-ordered parishes, good churches, a people sub-
servient to tithes and fat livings for missionaries, as he would
have found in some of tlie West Indies; instead he found
a scattered population living under tlie vampire-like do-
minion of the Proprietors, who cared more for quit-rents
than for souls. Whatever progress had been made toward
financial independence had been made in spite of bad gov-
ernments and by honest toil; as a rule the people were poor;
many of them were Dissenters, and the colony was just emerg-
ing from disturbances bordering on civil war due largely to
the fixing of an Establishment. They paid scant respect
then to the new clerg}'man from across tlie water, who soon
showed that his own life was more immoral than tlie lives
of the men whom he came to teach in religious things.
The biting tongue of the missionary was unloosed in the
first letter to the Society that has been preserved, and this
may be taken as a fair sample of the voluminous corres-
pondence that was to follow during the next ten dark and
gloomy years from his heartless and imsympathetic pen. He
is introduced to us with what was in that land of plenty a
lie upon his lips : " Since my arrival here I . . . am at last
together with my family in manifest danger of perishing for
want of food, we have lived many a day only on a dry
crust and a draught of salt water out of the sound."* And
thus with almost every letter this suffering missionary was
on the point of being laid in the tomb from sheer starva-
tion;^ yet he alone of all the missionaries who came to
North Carolina was able to buy a plantation,' to bring white
female servants with him from England, to buy English
servants in Carolina, and buy negroes there;* to send to
' Urmstone's first letter to the S. P. G. is dated Juh'- 7, 1711 (Col.
Rec, I., 763). From this we gather that he had then been in the
province about a year ; but the vestry book of St. Paul's parish
shows that he was an incumbent of that parish in 1708 ; cf. Perry,
Amer. Epis. Ch., I., 636.
2 Col. Rec, I., 850 ; II., 77, 116, 130, 131, 176, 218, 248, 279.
3 lUd., I., 764. " lUd., II., 127.
18 Church and State in North Carolina. [220
Guinea for negroes ;' to buy canoes for his work, and to hire
overseers for his slaves." We may rest assured that no other
missionary was able to furnish his farm with stock, with
tools and agricultural implements;' but all these things John
Urmstone, the starving missionary, could afford. He not
unfrequently closes his letters to the Society by an urgent
request that his bills be allowed, which was not always
done, and that they ship forthwith various and sundry-
articles of English goods, among them '" Sugar the best
sort — INIolasses and Rum of each a barrel, the best pale or
slack dried 'Malt, a hogshead, with hops together with
spices, condiments and cider proportionable."' Then the
pious and godly missionary goes on to inform the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel that " the three former
are as precious here as gold of Arabia; with them I can buy
provisions."
It would be tiresome to follow this scapegoat through the
mazes of a voluminous correspondence extending over ten
years, the burden of which is always complaint against the
people, not so much for any lack of religion, but because
of a manifest unwillingness to pay him his dues. Urmstone
missed his calling; he constantly complains that he has no
English goods with which to trade; had these been fur-
nished him, had he come out to Carolina as a merchant
instead of a missionary, from all appearances and from his
own testimony he would have grown very wealthy, and in
consequence, instead of abuse he would have written home
most flattering accounts of the country on which he had
been able to prey. Unfortunately for the colony, during the
greater part of his residence Urmstone was the only clergy-
m.an of the English Church in it. He resided in Chowan,
but seems to have visited all sections. He left North Caro-
lina suddenly in March, 1721.° The cause of Christianity
>Col.Rec.,II., 260. UMd.,U.,12&. ^IMd.,l.,7CA. * Ibid., U., 128.
^ Col. Rec, II., 430. Anderson, History of Colonial Church, finds
him later in Philadelphia. In July, 1721, he was in London (Col.
Rec, II., 431).
221] Church and State in North Carolina. 19
had been the gainer had he never set foot within her bor-
ders. He never had a good word for the province, nor its
people, nor did they have respect for him. Gov. Hyde says
that his troubles were owing purely " to himself and his
unfortunate temper."^ Rainsford said that "a lazy distem-
per had seized him."' Gov. Eden expresses the hope that
nothing Urmstone might have to say in his own defense
would make any impression, and some of his parishioners
said that he was "a very unfit missionary. . .his life is so
wicked and scandalous, notorious drunkard and swearing
and lewdness is also what he is occupied of.'" Urmstone
confesses himself that he administered the sacrament but
twice in five years, and the court records show that he was
punished for drunkenness and profanity.* The wickedness
of his life is only equaled by the malignity of his hate
and the acrimonious bitterness of his speech toward those
whom he dislikes, and his total unfitness for his sacred
ofifice, his utter want of Christian charity, is shown when he
calls the colony " a hell of a hole," and declares that he had
rather be " Vicar to the Bear Garden than Bishop of North
Carolina."'
After such a repulsive and sickening picture as this, it is
a relief and a pleasure to say that there were some men
among these missionaries who would do honor to Chris-
tianity in any age or country. These men were James
Adams and William Gordon. They were sent out by the
S. P. G., and arrived in North Carolina in April, 1708,' after
the colony had been without a minister of the Establishment
for two years. Mr. Gordon took charge of the precincts of
Chowan and Perquimans.' In Chowan the church sadly
needed repairs. The people were ignorant, "there being
few that can read and few^er write " ; but to the minister they
' Col. Rec, I., 849. « IMd., I., 858. » Ibid., II., 430, 431.
* Hawks, II., 127 ; Col. Rec, II., 401.
5 Col. Rec, II., 374. « Ibid., I., 677. ' Ibid., I., 680, 712.
20 Church and State in North Carolina, [222
seemed well inclined both in public and in private, " many
of them being ready to embrace (as far as tliey could) all
opportunities of being instructed."' This precinct was very
large, but the missionary went into every part of it, bap-
tizing nearly a hundted children, distributed some tracts and
" gave some books for the use of scholars." In Perquimans
he found a compact little church, " built with more care and
expense, and better contrived than that in Chowan," but as
yet unfinished. Here the Quakers were numerous and their
attacks furious. He found it necessary to preach against
them, but was as moderate as was possible in his
expressions and free from harsh reflections. He was also
able to show them some favors through his knowledge
of medicine. These means were more successful than the
" rougher methods which it seems had been formerly used
with them"; for they "not only became very civil, but
respectful to me in their way," and many times entertained
him at their houses with " much freedom and kindness."
The Quakers, no doubt, had been strangers to such things
as politeness or kindness from the churchmen, and were won
by it at once. In Perquimans Gordon found that even the
vestry were "very ignorant, loose in their lives and uncon-
cerned as to religion. . .their ill example and the want of
ministers and good books have occasioned many who were
better disposed, through ignorance, to join with the Quakers ;
being willing to embrace anything that looks like religion,
rather than have none at all . . . some having told me they
owned their first departing from tlie church to the ill example
and imprudent behavior of their ministers."^
On account of the disturbed state of the province, due to
the " Gary rebellion," Gordon found it expedient to return
to England after four months.^ He bore with him the
testimony that he had been "universally approved"; that
his "sweetness of disposition and spotless conversation"
and his "practical way of preaching" had "prevailed even
» Col. Rec, I., 712 et seq. ^ Ibid., I., 685.
223j Church and State in North Carolina. 21
with the very enemies of the church [Quakers] to be silent
at his deserved applause."^
Adams was now alone, but he did not become discour-
aged. He settled in Pasquotank, which then included Cam-
den, and besides this took care of Currituck.^ There was
no church in Pasquotank, but after his coming the people
at once resolved " to build a church and two chapels of
ease,"^ He labored faithfully for two years, although suffer-
ing " a world of miser\' and trouble, both in body and
mind."^ He was exemplary in life and blameless in conver-
sation,^ and thus kept the Dissenters, who were now in the
ascendant in civil matters, from making capital out of his
shortcomings, as had been done in the case of previous min-
isters. His work was blessed of God; he had the pleasure
of celebrating the sacrament on several occasions, and ad-
ministered baptism to nearly three hundred persons. His
flock was steadily increasing, but they had not given him
enough since his coming to pay for his " diet and lodging."*
This treatment was disheartening and undeserved, but he
labored on for a while longer. At last he realized that he must
seek a lighter field of labor, where the Church was better
organized and where the difBculties did not seem so insur-
mountable as in North Carolina. The vestries of the
churches in Pasquotank and Chowan bore witness that he
had been a faithful man and had "behaved himself in all
respects as a messenger of the mild Jesus,"^ and seem to
have been deeply moved at his departure. His last letter
comes to us dated "Va., 4 Sept., 1710." He now prays the
honorable Society to change his mission to South Carolina,
" where I doubt not but, by God's assistance, I shall be able
to do more good " f but the work of the self-sacrificing and
sufifering missionary was ended, and the Master soon called
him to his eternal home.
' Col. Rec. I., 685. * Ibid., I., 681. ^ jj^^^^ j.^ ggl.
* Ibid., I., 734. 5 fiid., I., 729, 730. « Ibid., I., 721.
' Ibid., I., 729. 8 Ibid., I., 733, 734.
22 Church and State in North Carolina. [224
Adams was the most respectable and the most successful
missionary sent to North Carolina by the S. P. G., but he
arrived in troublesome times. Party contests were at their
highest, the Dissenters were in possession of the govern-
ment, and although a church law was in existence/ the
churchmen could collect little under its provisions. Their
private contributions were not large, and the result was that
the missionary received but little for his labors. The
churchmen w^ere " a numerous and considerable body of
people," but all the evidence of the records goes to show
that at this period in the struggle there was little religion
among them.
The wickedness and carelessness of the people was in-
duced in part, no doubt, by the badness of the missionaries.
It is due to the manhood and character of the early settlers
of the State that so much good has since come from such
evil examples. Had the S. P. G. sent to North Carolina
more men like Gordon and Adams, men with strong moral
character, sound common sense, strong will power, and not
entirely selfish, the results of their labors might have been
far different; as it Avas, the chief fruit was civil dissensions
and bloodshed, culminating in foisting on the colony an
Establishment which was to be a constant source of annoy-
ance and which is directly responsible for a large share of
the backwardness of the State in education and intellectual
pursuits. These missionaries did not have that enthusiasm
for humanity which characterized the work of the apostles
of Methodism. It was necessary for them to give up all,
including almost even the necessities of life, for the sake of
the cause. This they could not do. They still looked and
hoped for good quarters and abundant supplies, and to
obtain these relied on State aid. This aid made them less
self-respecting and less self-reliant; at the same time it failed
to accomplish the purpose for which it had been provided,
and succeeded only in irritating the Dissenters.
'Col. Rec, I., 682.
CHAPTER III.
Church and State under the Royal Government,
1728-1776.
In 1730 George Burrington became the first royal gov-
ernor of North Carolina. His instmctions in regard to the
Church are voluminous and indicate a purpose to provide
for an Establishment. North Carolina, along with the other
American provinces, had already been put under the eccle-
siastical control of the Bishop of London. Burrington had
the right of collation/ and was instructed to " permit a
liberty of conscience to all persons (except papists) so as
they be contented with a quiet and peaceable enjoyment of
the same, not giving offence or scandal to the government."
He was directed to see that the '• book of common prayer
as by law established " be read each Sunday and holiday,
and " the blessed sacrament administered according to the
rites of the Church of England." He was to see to it that
" a competent maintenance be assigned to the minister of
each orthodox church " ; that " a convenient house be built
at the common charge for each minister," and that there be
" a competent proportion of land assigned him for a glebe
and exercise of his industry." The governor was not to
prefer any minister to any benefice Avithout a certificate
from the Bishop of London " of his being conformable to
the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England and
of good life and conversation." No minister was to preach
or to administer the sacrament in any " orthodox church "
" without being in due orders."
The requirement imposed by the eighty-second section of
these instructions is fearful in its deliberate atrocity: "And
we do further direct that no schoolmaster be henceforth per-
> Col. Rec, III., 70.
24 Church and State in North Carolina. [226
mitted to come from this kingdom aiid to keep school in
that our said province without the Hcense of the Lord
Bishop of London, and that no other person now there or
that shall come from other parts shall -be admitted to keep
school in North Carolina without your license first ob-
tained."'
This clause of Burrington's instructions reproduced the
essential features of the English Schism Act. This act had
been passed in 1714 to supplement the Occasional Con-
formity Bill which was intended to exclude Dissenters from
all positions of power, dignity or profit. The Schism Act
was to crush their seminaries and deprive them of the means
of educating their children. Lecky" characterizes it as one
of the most tyrannical measures of the century. It pro-
vided that no one, under pain of three months' imprison-
ment, should keep either a public or a private school, or
should even act as tutor or usher, unless he had obtained a
license from the Bishop, had engaged to conform to the
Anglican liturgy^, and had received the sacrament in some
Anglican church within the year. To prevent occasional
conformity it was provided that a teacher so qualified who
attended any other form of worship was to suffer the full
term of imprisonment and to be forever incapacitated from
acting as tutor or schoolmaster. The facility with which
this act was passed shows the danger religious liberty was
in during the closing years of Queen Anne. This act and
the Occasional Conformity Bill were repealed in January,
1718.
This repeal only makes its re-enactment for the colony
the more exasperating. School-teachers were few enough
in North Carolina during the whole period of its colonial
existence. Of those who did appear, some, no doubt, were
Dissenters; but with fiendish atrocity the English govern-
ment closes to them the avenue to greatest usefulness.
' Instructions to Burrington, §§ 74-84, Col. Rec, III., 110, 111.
' History of England in Eighteenth Century, I., 103-5.
227] Church and State in North Carolina. 25
This is the greeting which the royal government sends out
to the daughter rejoicing in her recent escape from the rule
of the Proprietors. This was the precious heritage with
which the first royal governor comes out to meet tlie sub-
jects who had twenty years before boldly tlirown off the
rule of the Proprietors and claimed the King's protection.
It seemed that the new government was to be worse tlian
the old, for the royal government now took the lead in eccle-
siastical legislation and had, unfortunately, a large following
in the colony.
Burrington, when he asked the provincial Assembly to
make such laws as were necessary for him to carry out the
royal instructions in relation to the Establishment of the
Church/ does not include the Schism Act in his list; nor
does he mention it in the resume of his work in his letter
to the Duke of Newcastle, July, 1731." This absence of all
mention might indicate one of two things: either tliat he
did not dare to undertake to enforce the Schism Act, and
therefore completely ignored this part of his instructions, or
(2) that there was no occasion to enforce it because of the
non-appearance of Dissenting schoolmasters. But there
was certainly no reason for him to bring the matter before
the Assembly; no provincial law was necessary; the execu-
tion was in his own hands. The records are silent in regard
to any attempts to enforce its provisions, but we have no
reason for expecting such reference. That there were few
schoolmasters of any kind we know well enough, and that
the most of these were the missionaries of the S. P. G., and
would, therefore, have the license, we know from Brickell.^
If we judge from the experience of the New Bern
Academy in 1766, of the Edenton Academy in 1768, and of
Queen's IMuseum in 1773, the Schism Act was enforced in
1 73 1, provided a case came up. If it was not enforced it
' Col. Rec, III., 257, 286. ^ j^i^^ ^o,
^ Natural History of North Carolina, 35, quoted in Smith's History
of Education in North Carolina, 16.
26 Church and State in North Carolina. [228
was because Burrington knew the temper of the people too
well. It is just about this time he writes that " they are
neither to be cajoled or outwitted, whenever a governor
attempts to effect anything by these means he will lose his
labor and show his ignorance." " The inhabitants of North
Carolina," he says, '' are not industrious, but subtle and
crafty to admiration." They always behaved insolently to
their governors ; " some they have imprisoned, drove others
out of the country, at other times set up two or three sup-
ported by men under arms. All the governors that ever
were in this province lived in fear of the people (except
myself) and dreaded their assemblies.'" We can read clearly
enough in this glowing tribute to the North Carolina
democracy that spirit of fear which Burrington denies. And
this wholesome fear no doubt went far in mitigating the
harshness of the original instructions.
Burrington found the Assembly little inclined to pass the
laws necessary for him to carry out the instructions in re-
gard to Church affairs. When he asked that this be done,
the Assembly replied that it had been provided for by an
earlier vestry act.^ He obtained nothing of the Assembly
of 1 73 1, and wrote home that he could not "observe much
sense of religion am.ong them."' His request was renewed
> Col. Eec, III., 338.
* Col. Eec, III., 295. Reference was had here to an act passed
in November, 1729, for regulating vestries and for the better inspect-
ing the vestrymen and churchwardens' accounts. The text has
not been preserved, but it seems to have been intended as a supple-
ment to the act of 1715. A similar request to the Assembly of 1733
elicited the rejjly that they thought the act of 1729, which was then
under the consideration of the King, looked to the establishing of
vestries, building of churches, purchasing of glebes and providing
for the clergy. (III., 552, 571.) Burrington replies to this that if
he understood the intended law of 1729, the "true meaning of it
is that none of those good things should be effected" (600). There
was considerable discussion as to the validity of this law, as it was
passed just at the time of transition from Proprietors to King.
(175, 176.)
3 Col. Rec, III., 152,339.
229] Church and iStatc in North Carolina. 27
of the Assembly' of 1733, but this was equally dismclined to
follow in the path marked out by the English government,
and returned Burrington the same indefinite answer.
We do not know that any further effort was made by
Burrington toward an Establishment. His poor success
would indicate that the Dissenting element was large and
powerful enough in the Assembly to prevent the enactment
of extensive Church acts. The Church received certain
fines,' and there was a poll tax of five shillings, but as this
could be paid in " bill money," little more than enough was
collected to pay the readers who officiated on Sunday' and
the occasional clergyman who came out from Virginia to
preach before the Assembly.* The Established Church had
sunk ver>' low; there was no regular clergyman in the
province/ and those who had been there gave offense by
their vicious lives.* We must conclude that from the stand-
point of the Establishment the state of the colony was
deplorable: no "orthodox clergy," no certain support from
the colony, this still more uncertain in the collecting, and a
numerous and aggressive body of Presbyterians, Anabap-
tists, and Quakers," who all knew how to make the best of
their opportunity.
Gabriel Johnston became governor of North Carolina in
1734, and the instructions sent to Burrington, including the
church acts and the Schism Act, were renewed for his
successor.^
Gov. Johnston was zealous for the Church. He takes
care to remind the Assembly that the instructions for Estab-
lishing the clergy were already on their books.'' He writes
feelingly and eloquently in regard to " the deplorable and
almost total want of divine worship throughout the pro-
vince."'" He had it ''much at heart to obtain a legal Estab-
lishment of a competent maintenance,"" and we find that
1 Col. Rec, III., 541, 564. * Ibid., HI., 159. ^ jj^^,^ jii_^ 152.
* Ibid., 298, 584. ^ Ibid., III., 152, 394, 429. ' Ibid., III., 429.
' i"5i(i., III., 48, 394, 429. ^ Ibid., 111., 498. ^ Ibid., lY., 122.
" Ibid., IV., 227. " Ibid., lY., 264.
28 Church and State in North Carolina. [230
the Assembly courteously laments "■ the want of Publick
Divine worship," but does noticing. The governor, bursting,
with anger because of its indifference, dissolves it (March,
1737)-'
His zeal even leads him to gloze and hide the true state
of affairs to help the Establishment. In his address to the
Assembly in 1739 he says: "The establishment of the pubHc
worship of Almighty God, as it is the great foundation of
the happiness of society, and without which you cannot
expect His protection, deserves your earliest care. That
in such a wide extended province as this is, inhabited by
British subjects, by persons professing themselves Christians,
there should be but two places where divine service is regu-
larly performed is really scandalous. It is a reproach pecu-
liar to this part of His Majesty's dominions which you
ought to remove without loss of time."'
In this address Gov. Johnston ignores entirely the Dis-
senters and their work. These were neither insignificant in
numbers nor in the character of the work done. Burrington
wrote in 1732 and 1733 that the Quakers had four meeting-
houses and were " considerable for their numbers and sub-
stance; the regularity of their lives, hospitality to strangers,
and kind offices to new settlers inducing many to be of their
persuasion."' Presbyterians were now beginning their mi-
grations to the province, and we know that they established
churches almost from the first.* Baptists had been in the col-
ony as early as 1695. They were then, as now, energetic and
aggressive, and a competent authority has recently said
. ' Col. Rec, IV., 214. « IMd., IV., 357.
^ Ibid., III., ?>39, 430.
* Dr. Blair tells us as early as 1704 that he found a sect " some-
thing; like Presbyterians" (Col. Rec, I., 602), and Adams (1709)
found a few in Pasquotank "who now constantly join with us in
our service " {Ibid., I., 720). Other missionaries mention them also.
These were English and were no doubt few in numbers. The
migration of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians began about
1730.
231] Church and State in North Carolina. 29
that "from 1727 to 1755 the Baptists of North CaroHna
were the most prosperous body of Baptist Christians in the
world.'"
The object of the Governor was accomplished, however;
the Council and the House of Burgesses make haste to
answer his Excellency that they thought " the establishment
of the worship of Almighty God in this province merits our
chiefest care. We shall therefore apply ourselves to con-
sider tlie most proper methods, to make fartlier provision
for the maintaining of an orthodox clergy among us."" In
1 741 an act for "Establishing the Church, for appointing
Parishes, and the method of electing Vestries, and for direct-
ing the Settlement of Parish Accounts," was passed. Under
its provisions the province was divided into sixteen parishes.
The inhabitants of each were to choose their own vestry, who
were to subscribe to a declaration not to oppose the liturgy
of the Church of England as by law established, under
penalty of £3, unless a known Dissenter. The vestry
could raise money not exceeding five shillings proclamation,
' Dr. William H. Whitsitt, of Louisville, Ky., in hi? address at
Wake Forest College, June, 1888. Knight, History of General Bap-
tists, says there were individual Baptists in North Carolina as early
as 1690. Morgan Edwards puts the date 1695, and this has heen
adopted by Benedict and Sprague. We find no mention of them in
the records until 1714, when John Urmstone said that there were
two Anabaptists among his vestrymen (Col. Rec, II., 131, 304).
It is usually said that the first Baptist church was organized in
Perquimans county in 1727 by Paul Palmer, a native of Maryland,
who was in North Carolina as early as 1720, when he was indicted
for theft and abduction, but acquitted {Ibid., II., 406, 409, 410, 411,
415, 471). In 1729 his church had thirty-two members, consisting
chiefly of those who had been members of a Baptist church at Bur-
leigh in Virginia (Sprague, Annals, VI., xiii). But Dr. Whitsitt
reverses this and suggests that Palmer was attracted to North
Carolina because there were a good many Baptists there already, and
that the Baptists of lower Virginia were derived from those of North
Carolina, for the latter, 1727-1755, were prosperous, aggressive and
flourishing, the former few and weak.
2 Col. Rec, IV., 358.
30 Church and State in North Carolina. [232
per poll, under penalty of distress and sale of goods; they had
power to build churches, purchase land for glebes, erect
suitable buildings thereon and keep them in repair. They
were to employ a minister " qualified according to the eccle-
siastical laws of England," at not less than £50 a year, and
had power to dismiss him for cause. All former ecclesias-
tical acts were repealed/
There seems to have been considerable activity about
this time in ecclesiastical legislation. A bill for an "Act
for Liberty of Conscience " was presented to the Legislature
of 1740,' but failed in passage, as it does not appear in
Swann's Revisal. Whether it was a virtual re-enactment of
the Liberty of Conscience Act of 171 5 we do not know, but
its defeat seems to have had a purpose, as we shall see in the
case of Borden, the Quaker.
As the regular poll of five shillings was not enough for
erecting houses of worship, the commissioners of certain
towns were allowed by private acts to lay a special tax for
the use of that parish in completing churches already begun.
This was done in New Bern, Edenton, and Wilmington.
For the New Bern church the tax was is. 6d. on the
tithable for two years, and persons not paying were to for-
feit 4s., besides costs. Sums subscribed were considered
promissory notes, and in 1751 the sherififs of Johnston and
Craven were given power to levy by warrant on those who
had not paid this tax.^
■ Swann, Eevisal of the Laws, 156 et seq., ed. 1752. It will be
noticed that this act is, with transpositions and verbal alterations,
the same as the act of 1715 except that the iron-clad recognition of
the divine right of kings is no longer inserted, indicating growth
along democratic lines, and that the minister is subject to the vestry.
The case of the poor was also put into the hands of the vestry, and
funds for their support came from the general levy for church pur-
poses. For the civil functions of the parish in colonial North Caro-
lina, ef. Howard, Local Constitutional History of the United States, I.,
129-134.
2 Col. Rec, IV., 514.
^ Swann's Revisal, 108, 111, 346, 348, ed. 1752 ; Davis's Revisal, II.,
121, 133, ed. 1765. As was a usual thing in those days, we find that
233] Vhiirch and IStatc in North Carolina. 31
The act of 1741 was the only general church act passed
during- Johnston's administration. It levied only a poll tax,
the most unjust and burdensome of all taxes, but from
the efforts to secure another law we may feel sure that it
gave little satisfaction even to the Churchmen. Their at-
tempts were renewed wath the Assembly which met in Sep-
tember, 1 74 1, but Moir says he soon discovered that
'' nothing was to be done for a proper encouragement of
an established ministry.'" Garzia says they w-ould pay him
only £2,2 I OS., the least allowed by " a new^ law.'" Moir
who is only outgrowled by Urmstone, says that his salar}'
is very ill paid and that "the essential branch of the consti-
tution of this province is "to do as little justice as possible to
creditors."' Besides, he was paid in rated commodities of
which he could not dispose. In 1746 the secretary of the
S. P. G. writes Gov. Johnston in regard to the encourage-
ment that can be given if more missionaries are sent out;*
but ]\Ioir saw no hope.^ He says many had turned Baptists
for want of clerg}^men, while others were "much inclined to
encourage missionaries, and often complain of their being
pestered w^ith sermons of Baptist teachers, whom I always
found to be as grossly ignorant as those they pretend to
teach.""
Johnston exerted himself steadily in the interests of the
Establishment. In his address to the Assembly in 1749 he
points out the "want of a sufficient provision for maintain-
ing the public service,"' and urges that this be remedied.
A bill for establishing the Church, erecting schools, etc.,
was introduced in 1752,' but failed. It may be that the
school clause was attached as a rider to secure the votes of
Dissenters, but if so, the scheme did not work.
the churches at Wilmington and Brunswick were finally finished
by the aid of a lottery. (Col. Eec, VI., 507, 508, 511; cf. also Davis,
Revisal of 1765, II., 213.)
' Col. Eec, IV., 603. - Ibid., 604, 606. ' Ibid., IV., 754.
* Ibid., IV., 794. » Ibid., IV., 791. « Ibid., IV., 878.
■> Ibid., IV., 1009, 1027. * Ibid., IV., 1321, 1322, 1337, etc.
32 Ghurch and State in North Carolina. [234
The death of Johnston in 1752 had no effect on the
estabhshment of the Church. He was succeeded by Arthur
Dobbs. The instructions of Dobbs were sent over in 1754/
It is interesting to compare the steady and stubborn oppo-
sition to an Estabhshment as manifested by the Dissenters,
with the thoughts and desires of the authorities at home.
In 1730 they had instructed Burrington to enforce the
infamous Schism Act, a leading cause for the backward
state of the province in education. In 1733 these instruc-
tions were renewed to Johnston. After twenty years of
conflict with the colonists the home authorities are no wiser
than before, and in 1754 renew their old instructions, includ-
ing the Schism Act. It is evident that the home govern-
ment was doing all in its power to restrict the growth, devel-
opment and liberty of the colony; but if they expected the
Dissenters there to be behind those in England they found
themselves mistaken.
Dobbs began work for the Establishment at once. In
his message to the Assembly of 1754 he recommends the
providing a proper fund to support a sufficient number of
learned, pious clergymen, who were to reside in the pro-
vince. They were to be accommodated with houses, glebes
and parish clerks, " to enable them to instruct the inhabi-
tants and the rising generation in the principles of true
religion and virtue."" An act to this effect was passed by
this Assembly, but was repealed by proclarnation,'' although
Dobbs writes that he thought it for the interest of both
king and colonists "to get so good an establishment imme-
diately fixed, considering the number of sectaries who are
against all establishments, and the danger of their increasing
if we don't fix a parochial clergy."*
This was but the beginning of a triangular fight between
Dissenters, democratic Churchmen, and supporters of
the rights of the Crown. The ecclesiastical history of the
next ten years is of interest chiefly because of the stubborn
» Col. Rec, v., 1136, 1137. ^ Ibid., V., 213, 216.
3 Davis's Revisal, II., 34, ed. 1765. * Col. Eec, V., 332.
235] Church and State in North Carolina. 33
resistance to the enforcement of church laws by the Dis-
senters, the stubborn determination of the Churchmen to
have an estabhshment with the right of presentation and
the steady opposition of the Crown to both parties. In 1755
a proposition to ptu-chase glebes met with failure.' The
next year a recommendation for the support of clergy had
the same fate.^ In 1758 an act making better provision for
the clergy was passed. It was repealed and included in the
more comprehensive law of i ^62.^ An act making provision
for an orthodox clergy was passed in 1760 and repealed.*
The same year a vestry act was made, proved unsatisfactory,
and was repealed; an act allowing separate parishes to elect
vestries was passed, but it depended on the general vestry act,
and so fell through.' The same was the case in 1761.'' We
must conclude that whatever legal allowance there may have
been remained practically useless for lack of officers to collect
it.^
' Col. Rec, v., 527. * IMd., V., 660, 662.
' Davis's Revisal, II., 142, ed. 1765. * Ibid., 182.
5 Davis's Revisal, II., 211, ed. 1765. ^ Ibid., II., 224.
' Col. Rec, VI., 57, 234, 977 ; Davis's Revisal, 182, ed. 1765. It is
worthy of remark that the salaries given these missionaries were
doubtless superior to what the same class of men received in
England. In 1754 the salary was £50, proclamation, equal to £30
sterling. In 1756 }t was fixed at £80. In 1762 it reached the high-
water mark, £133 6s. 8d., worth £75 to £82 sterling. It remained
at this figure, which in 1767 was worth £60 to £65 sterling. (Col.
Rec, VII., 493 ; cf. note to The Beligioiis Development in the Province
of North Carolina, 38. Adam Smith says that in 1776, £40 was
reckoned very good pay for a curate.) But it is probable that they
did not receive all collected for them under the law, for it was
sometimes found hecessary to appropriate the funds that had been
set aside for school and church purposes to pay the costs of the
French and Indian war. {Cf. Col. Rec, V., 573 ; VI., 150, 153. Cf.
also Smith's History of Education in North Carolina, 40.) McConnell,
History of American Episcopal Chiirch, says that while the colonial leg-
islatures could not disestablish the Church, they could and did pass
such laws as made it more than useless. But as the Legislature of
North Carolina, prior to 1701, had, by ignoring, prevented an Estab-
lishment, we may conclude that they might have continued the
same policy to 1776 had they desired.
34 Chill di and iState in JSortli (Jarolina. [236
In 1762 it was found that there was not sufficient mainte-
nance for the clergy, and a new bill was passed. Under this
law the minister was to receive a salary of £133 6s. 8d.,
proclamation money. He was to have in addition regular
fees for marrying, publishing banns, and granting certifi-
cates, and for funeral sermons; he could demand and receive
these perquisites, if he had not neglected or refused to per-
form the service, although another had actually officiated.
The law made provisions for a glebe, and suitable houses
were to be erected thereon; the sole right of presentation
remained in the vestry, and a minister might be removed
for cause by the Governor, with the advice of the Council.'
This act seems to have been repealed at once by procla-
mation; for missionary Reed writes in June, 1763, that
" the clergy are still destitute of any legal provision or
encouragement";'' and Governor Tiyon recommends in
1765 the re-enactment of the law of 1762, without the objec-
tionable clause relating to presentation, which was done.'
The central cause for all this trouble was the right of
presentation to livings. The authorities in England were
zealous for the supremacy of the Church and the Crown,
and wished to retain it, while the democratic temper of the
colonial Churchmen made tliem equally determined to secure
it for the vestry, and caused them to clog their bills "with
objections incompatible with the rights of the Crown and
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction."* They excluded the Bishop
from examining and correcting abuses, and the right of
appeal was taken from the CroAvn. " After all these pro-
visions," writes the Bishop of London in regard to the Act
of 1754, "what becomes of the king's supremacy or the
bishop's jurisdiction?"' He thought this mtidel of govern-
ment might have come from the Presbyterians and Inde-
pendents of New England. He was astonished to see
' Davis's Revisal, II., 279, ed. 1765. '^ Col. Rec, VI., 990, 999.
3 Davis's Revisal, 338, ed. 1773.
* Col. Rec, VI., 10, 81, 223 ; VII., 103. « JMd., VI., 10.
237] Church and State in North Carolina. 35
such a statute in the laws of North Carohna, " where con-
formity is so strongly insisted on " that each vestryman is
compelled to subscribe to the same declaration as is re-
quired of clergymen in England/
So keen was this jealousy on the part of the home gov-
ernment that tlie Rev. Alexander Stewart, missionar}^ at
Bath, writes in 1760 that within the last six years four acts
for electing vestries and supporting the clergy had been
passed only to be repealed by the authorities at home
because unsatisfactor}^ To prevent the Church law that
was enacted in 1760 from being repealed by proclamation,
it was necessary to divide the clauses relating to vestr}' and
clergy, and to pass them separately.' These were then re-
ferred to the Bishop of London. It was not enough for
him that the vestrymen should take the oath of abjuration
and subscribe the Test Act. The declaration required, a
simple promise not to oppose the Church of England as
by law established, he correctly claimed, might have been
taken with equal propriety by Presbyterian, Anabaptist, In-
dependent, Quaker, Jew, or pagan. The bishop demanded
that the vestry be required to subscribe to the declaration of
conformity laid down by the vestiy act of 1755.' He ob-
jected that there was no means provided for the minister
to recover dues in case of refusal of payment, and the
section in regard to the removal of the minister, he said,
tended to take away "the little remains of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, if any is left in that province." The law was
repealed.*
These squabbles had a very baleful influence on the for-
tunes of the Establishment. It was difificult to get a church
' Col. Rec, VI., 12 ; cf also IX., 83, where the same language is
used with reference to a law then before the Bishop for examina-
tion. This law also took the presentation from the Crown and put
the government into the hands of the vestry.
- Col. Rec, VI., 242.
^ This act was passed at the Dec. -Jan. meeting, 1754-55.
■» Col. Rec, VI., 714, 721, 722, 723 ; VII., 224.
36 Church and State in North Carolina. [238
law at all, and when such as could be secured were repealed
by proclamation, the colonial clergy were left without re-
sources. In 1758 they felt it necessary to petition the Leg-
islature for better support/ In 1762 Dobbs writes that their
number is diminishing;' in 1764 there were but six orthodox
clergymen in the province, "four of which are pious";' and
to this lack of " an orthodox and pious clergy " the Assem-
bly of 1758 ascribes much of the great immorality and
profanity in the lives and manners of many of the people.*
Not only was the jealousy of the home government to be
m.et by the Churchmen, but also the aggressive attacks of the
Dissenters who wanted no establishment at all. Between
these two antagonists the way of the colonial Churchman
was hard, and the life of an ecclesiastical law hung by a
slender thread. Further, the Establishment became rela-
tively weaker as population increased, for nearly all of this
incoming population was made up of Dissenters.' In 1760
we have a summary of dissent from the Rev. James Reed:
" Great number of Dissenters of all denominations came
and settled amongst us from New England particularly,
Anabaptists, Methodists, Quakers, and Presbyterians; the
Anabaptists are obstinate, illiterate, and grossly ignorant;
the Methodists ignorant, censorious and uncharitable; the
Quakers rigid; but the Presbyterians are pretty moderate,
except here and there a bigot or rigid Calvinist. As for
Papists, I cannot learn there are above nine or ten in the
whole county. I have estimated the number of infidels
and heathens to be about one thousand.'"
In the next year we find him complaining that the spe-
cial study and endeavor of these Dissenters was to render
' Col. Eec, v., 1062, 1063, 1067. ' Ibid., VI., 709.
3 Ibid., VI., 1027. * Ibid., V., 1095.
^ Moir thought that this "inundation of sectaries" was due
largely to the lack of proper vestry acts, since the generality of
the inhabitants were "much inclined to the offices of our church."
(Col. Rec, VI., 995.)
' Col. Rec, VI., 265.
239] Church and State in North Carolina. 37
tlie ministers aiid liturgy of the Church of England as
odious as possible, that they and tlieir doctrines might meet
with a better reception.' This seems to have been the case,
for they took advantage of the technicalities of the acts to
become vestrymen, and thus succeeded in making the laws
null and void. They combined to elect only such vestries
as would be favorable to their interests.' These vestrymen
performed ineu* civil duties and calmly ignored their eccle-
siastical functions, and this they could do under their oath.
In Rowan county they refused to qualify, and obstructed
business.^ Dobbs could not get a vestry to lay a tax for
building purposes;* others threatened to dock the minister
if he ever absented himself,^ and the steady purpose of all
vestries was to make the minister dependent on themselves.*
They so hindered in various ways the raising of money that
Dobbs thought it necessary to propose that clergymen be
paid out of the common funds of the colony.''
This is probably the best way to explain and apologize for
the vestry act of 1764, the severest of all the acts against the
Dissenters, and which has as the only feature to redeem it
from total infamy tlie exasperating circumstances in which
the colonial Churchmen found themselves. The church acts
were so displeasing that many electors refrained from going
to the polls, and so took no part in the elections. To stop
this practice the act provided that all qualified electors
(except Quakers) should appear and vote for vestrymen, or
incur a fine of twenty shillings, proclamation. In times past
manv of the vestry had neglected or refused to qualify.
' Col. Rec, VI., 595. "- Ibid., VII., 241.
3 Col. Rec, VIII., 202, 217, 218, 221, 503. Mr. Drage, the Episco-
pal minister, had a hard time in Rowan. The persons on the list
returned for vestrymen declared that "they would not qualify,
that the}' had thus kept the church out for years, and hoped to do
so perpetually, with much impudence and impertinent threats. . . .
They said it was their opinion every one ought to pay their own
clersj', and what the law required was a constraint."
•* Ibid., VI., 33. 5 /5j^^ VI., 563. " Ibid., VI., 715.
■< Ibid., v., 870 ; cf. also VI., 990.
38 Church and State in Isiorth Carolina. [240
They were now required to subscribe a declai'ation not to
oppose the doctrine, disciphne and Hturgy of the Church
of England as by law established; and a vestryman-elect
refusing to qualify, "if he be a known Dissenter from the
Church of England," was to forfeit £3. The vestry were to lay
a poll of ten shillings or less for building churches, paying
the salary of ministers, clerks and vestries, purchasing glebes
and erecting suitable houses thereon, encouraging schools
and maintaining the poor, and this tax could be collected
by distress.' This act was to last for five years. It made
the minister a member of the vestry, v/hich had not been
the case formerly and had caused much dissatisfaction.
We have little comment on this law, but we can judge from
the character of the complaints that have come down to us
that it was regarded with the bitterest hostility.
William Tryon succeeded to the work left unfinished by
Dobbs. In 1765 he recommends the re-enactment of the
law of 1762, without its objectionable clause, and adds: "If
I have pointed out any consequences that are likely to attend
the continuance of the neglect of our religion, I hope no
persons of a different persuasion will imagine I am an enemy
to toleration. I profess myself a warm advocate for it in
the fullest sense of his Majesty's indulgence, yet I must
inform them I never heard of toleration in any country
made use of as an argument to exempt Dissenters from
bearing their share of the support of the established re-
ligion."^ Tryon professes himself in the beginning a strong
supporter of the orthodox church, and well he might be,
for in his instructions sent over in 1765 the sections relating
to the Church and the infamous Schism Act are again
renewed.*
• Davis's Eevisal, II., 315, ed. 1765; cf. also ed. 1773, 434. The
act of 1764 was changed in 1768 so as to inchide all persons under
the penalty for refusal to qualify as vestrymen and was re-enacted
for five years.
»Col. Rec, VII., 43.
» Ibid., VII., 137. The Schism Act is ^106 of Dobbs' instructions.
241] Church and State in North Carolina. 39
But the mere statement of the Schism Act was not all.
W'e have seen what a difficult thing it was to procure school
advantages of any sort under the royal government. At
last a school-house was finished in New Bern. In 1766
]\Ir. Reed writes that "it is a large and decent edifice for
such a young countr}', forty-five feet in length and thirty
in breadth, and has already cost upwards of i300, this cur-
rency."' There was now to be a struggle for the enforce-
ment of the Schis'm Act. The upper house insisted that a
clause excluding all Dissenters from teaching in the school
be inserted.' The Churchmen won in the struggle, and the
Schism Act was enforced in North Carolina in 1766.'
Two years later the battle was fought again over the
Edenton Academy. The lower house w^as democratic and
liberal in its tendency. The Council was the opposite, and
addresses them: "We observe that }'ou have deled the fol-
lowing clause, viz. ' Provided also that no person shall be
admitted to be master of the said school, but who is of the
Established Church of England and who at the recommen-
dation of the trustees or directors or the mai'oritv of them
' Col. Rec, YII., 241. • ^ lUd., YII., 316, 392.
' While we have no direct testimony as to the influence of this
act on the patronage of the school, we know that a considerable
proportion of the pupils of Dr. Caldwell's school came from this
section of the province; cf. Smith. History of Education in North
Carolina, 41, quoting Caruthers' Caldwell, 30. After studying the
explanation and defense made of this act by the writers in Church
History in North Carolina, 171, 176-179, I am unable to see it in any
other light than that given above. The New Bern school, if started
on the church basis, became a public institution by accepting
the duty on rum. The school at Edenton i ad no public aid, but
could not get a charter without this clause ; and Queen's Museum could
not get one with the clause, because it was Presbyterian in senti-
ment, and such a charter would add "encouragement to toleration."
Were these three acts independent of the former history of the
colony it might be possible to explain them, but they are all in
direct accord with the instructions of Governor Tryon, and these
instructions had been unchanged since 1730. Hence we naturally
conclude that they were a part of a deliberate polic}'.
40 Church and State in North Carolina. [242
shall be duly licensed by the governor or commander-in-
chief for the time being.' Which clause we propose stet-
ing!'^ The Commons objected and prayed that the bill be
passed as it left them.' They won, and the bill was vetoed
by the governor, " not esteeming the words ' with the appro-
bation of his Excellency the governor or commander-in-
chief for the time being ' " as equivalent to the restrictions
quoted above.' The school got no charter until 1770 and
then with the restrictive clause inserted."
We need not be surprised, then, when we find that North
Carolina hated the Establishment and all it implied. We
can understand the meaning of the words when Tryon
writes that the people were '^ uneasy under the provisions
of the clergy bill,"' that the citizens of Pitt seemed "as
jealous of any restraint put on their consciences" as they
had recently shown themselves of that put on their prop-
erty,' and that the men of Mecklenburg thought an Estab-
lishment " as oppressive as the Stamp Act."^ This was but
the prelude to that drama of which the last scenes were to be
enacted at Guilford Court House and Yorktown.
But not even all these rumblings of discontent serA'-ed to
warn the infatuated British government of the folly of its
course. In 1771 they renew in their instructions to Gov-
ernor Martin the clause relative to the Schism Act.^ It is
very probable that in the formal instructions to a colonial
governor, renewed at uncertain intervals, some of the
phases of these laws should escape the attention of the
authorities, but they were none the less real and burdensome
to the citizens of North Carolina, as they were soon to
discover to their cost.
In 1 771 the Assembly chartered Queen's Museum in
Charlotte, an institution for higher education, of which
' Col. Rec, VII., 598. - Ibid., VII., 600. ' Ibid., VIII., 6.
* Davis's Revisal, 478, ed. 1773.
^ Col. Rec, VIII., 14. ' Ibid., VII., 261.
■' Rev. Andrew Morton to S. P. G., Col. Rec, VII., 253.
«Col. Rec, VIII., 514.
243] Church and (State in Notth Carolina. 41
Governor Tryon says the necessity was obvious. The pro-
moters of the movement yielded so far as to provide that
the president should be of the Established Church and
licensed by the governor, but the fellows, trustees and
tutors would be, for the most part, Presbyterians. On tliis
question the Board of Trade whites the King that **' from the
prevalency of the Presbyterian persuasion within the county
of JMecklenburg we may venture to conclude that this Col-
lege. . .will, in effect, operate as a seminary for the educa-
tion and instruction of youth in the principles of the Pres-
byterian Church. Sensible as we are of the wisdom of that
tolerating spirit, which generally prevails throughout your
Majesty's dominions ... still we think it our duty to submit
to your Majesty, whether it may be advisable for your
Majesty to add encouragement to toleration by giving the
royal assent to an establishment, which in its consequences
promises with great and permanent advantages to a sect of
Dissenters from the Established Church who have already
extended themselves over that province in very considerable
numbers."^ The recommendation of the Board of Trade
was accepted and the King repealed the charter of Queen's
Museum in 1773.^
This is the third time, at least, that the Schism Act was
enforced in North Carolina after its repeal in England.
There was less freedom of education in North Carolina in
1773 than in 1673; a more rigid conformity was required in
the province than in England. This was injustice and intol-
erance, persecution and tyranny. The history of colonial
North Carolina is a continual struggle against a govern-
ment which sought to repress all aspirations whether politi-
cal, religious or intellectual; for her the War of Indepen-
dence was not a Revolution only; it brought with it a
Reformation, and made possible a Renaissance.
' Col. Rec, IX., 250.
- Ibid., IX., 596, 665; cf. Davis's Revisal, 455, 501, ed. 1773; cf.
also Dr. Smith' s History of Education in North Carolina, 32, 33.
4:2 Church and State in North Carolina. [244=
But the enforcement of the Schism Act was not all with
which the soul of the Dissenter was vexed. In no way
was the petty meanness of an Establishment brought out
more clearly than in the regulations concerning marriages.
An act of 1669 had made marriage a civil contract, for
lack of clergy/ By the vestry act of 171 5 magistrates were
empowered to perform the ceremony " in such parishes
where no minister shall be resident."' In 1741 a special
marriage act was passed. By this act the performance of
the marriage ceremony was confined to clergymen of the
Church of England, and, for want of such, to magistrates;
and the minister serving the cure of any parish was to
have the marriage fee whether performing the ceremony
or not, "if he do not neglect or refuse to do the service
thereof." This was the formal re-enactment of a clause of
the vestry act of 171 5. There is no recognition of the
rights of Dissenters in this law, unless we can call the clause
forbidding them to marry whites to negroes and Indians a
recognition.^ It is true that in this, as in the former cases,
the Assembly did not undertake to give this right to the
clergy, but simply recognized it as resting on prescription.
But they might have granted this right to Dissenters as
they proposed doing in the act of 1770. The Quakers
seem to have been allowed to marry after their owti
fashion from the first, and why not allow this right to Pres-
byterians and Baptists?'' But by this act their preachers
' Col. Rec, I., 184. Fisher, History of Christian Church, 437,
shows that the Puritans had early solemnized marriage as a civil
contract only. But on top of this Doyle can say, The English in
America, I., 453, that tlie acts of 1663, of which this was one, tended
to make North Carolina " an Alsatia for ready and profligate adven-
turers." What should the people have done since they had no
ministers — forbidden marriage and produced concubinage ?
^ Col. Rec, II,, 212. ^ Swann's Revisal, 127-130, ed. 1752.
* Gf. Church History in North Carolina, 68, 89. The Quakers had
been organized now for sixty-five years, and there were certainly
dissenting preachers in the colony. Besides, this law refers not
only to the year 1741 but equally to the next twenty-five.
245] Church and IStute in North Carolina. 43
were debarred from performing the ceremony even among
their own flocks. They were thus put to. grave inconveni-
ence, and the law of 1766 recites that tlie Presbyterians
refused to consider themselves as bound by its provisions.
This law made dissent burdensome and humiliating; it put
a premium on confonnity; it was religious persecution.
The next feature of the marriage question was developed
during the discussion of the clergy bill of 1762. The gov-
ernor and Council tried to force on the lower house a clause
by which it was enacted that "no Dissenting minister of
any denomination whatsoever shall presume on any pre-
tence to marry any person, under the penalty of forfeiting
£50." The law does not seem to have been successful/ but
it is a clear statement of the tendency of the act of 1741,
and shows the position of a certain element in the province.
There was no new marriage act between 1741 and 1766.
The former had sought to prevent all Dissenters from cele-
brating the rite; but the Presbyterians did not consider
themselves as coming under its provisions, and had joined
couples without either license or publication. By the act of
1766 these marriages were legalized, and it was made lav^^ful
for any Presb}'terian minister "regularly called to any con-
gregation " to celebrate the rites of matrimony " in their
usual and accustomed manner, under the same regulations
and restrictions as any lawful magistrate." These marriages
were always to be by license, and the minister of the Church
of England was to have the marriage fee in all cases, unless
he refused to perform the same."
J Col. Rec, VI., 881, 952, 954.
^ Davis's Revisal, 350, ed. 1773. It was proposed (Col. Rec, VII.,
411) to limit this law to three years, which was not done. It pro-
vided for no Dissenters except Presbyterians. But it seems that the
original intention was to cover the case of all Dissenters. The
second section probably read "dissenting or of the dissenting Pres-
byterian clergy.'^ The clause in italics was stricken out and the
phrase "dissenting or Presbyterian clergy" took its place, thus
excluding all Dissenters except Presbyterians. {Ibid., VII., 329, 3?.l,
411.) That this is the proper interpretation is evident from the
44 Church and State in North Carolina. [246
This law showed no favor to Dissenters other than Pres-
byterians. They got no recognition at all, and were, accord-
ing to Tryon's fashion of looking at things, " enemies to
society and a scandal to common sense.'" We are to under-
stand, moreover, that the Presbyterians were not thus favored
out of any sense of justice and right, but because, as Governor
Tryon writes, under the circumstances it could not " be of any
real prejudice to the Established Church, especially as the
marriage fee is reserved to the ministers of the parish.'"
The law was liked little by the Presbyterians. It made
no provisions for their missionaries who were laboring on
the outskirts of the province but not in regular congrega-
tions. Those of Mecklenburg considered themselves
"highly injured and aggrieved" by this law, "the preamble
whereof scandalizes the Presbyterian clergy."' The Presby-
terians of Tryon county were " much aggrieved " by this
act. It took from them a privilege " which a million of our
fellow-professors in America now enjoy. . .neither was it
ever taken from Dissenters in America until it was taken
from us by this act, of which we now complain."* The
people of Anson petitioned against it,° and tlie manly pro-
test from the inhabitants of Orange and Rowan claims that
the right of " dissenting ministers " to perform the marriage
ceremony after their own fashion was " a privilege they
were debarred of in no other part of his Majesty's do-
minions; and as we humbly conceive a privilege they stand
entitled to by the Act of Toleration, and, in fine, a privilege
phrase "Presbyterian or dissenting clergy" in one section, and
as an equivalent of it in the next "Dessenting or Presbyterian
Cbrgy." The protests mentioned later indicate the same thing.
This act remained in force until April, 1778. Cf. Laws of 1778,
chap. 7.
' Ou7' Living and Our Dead, III., 633. Cf. also Col. Saunders in
Prefatory Notes to Col. Rec, VIII., xlv.
« Col. Rec, VII., 432.
^ Cf. their petition for its repeal in Col. Rec, X., 1015.
^ Col. Rec, VIII., SOh. ' Ibid., VIII., 78.
247] Church and State in North Carolina. 45
granted even to the very Catholics in Ireland and the Prot-
estants in France."'
The Churchmen could not wholly resist the pressure
against tliis law. In December, 1770, an act was passed,
but with a suspending clause, allowing Presbyterian min-
isters the right to celebrate marriage by publication of
banns or by license, zvithout " the payment of fees to the
inciunbent of the parish."' It is interesting to note with
what Satanic disregard of the rights of man the leaders in
the Establishment can write. Says Reed : " The bill was
pushed by the dissenting interest, and [because of] tlie dan-
gerous situation of the province from such a formidable
number of malcontents [Regulators], the governor acted
with the greatest prudence in passing the bill with a sus-
pending clause. . . . Should this act receive the royal assent
it would be a fatal stroke to the Church of England, but
as the insurrection is entirely quelled, I flatter myself with
hopes that the act will meet with a repulse."^ Again the
Board of Trade writes that this regulation appears to act as
"a bounty to the tolerated religion"; they add their petition
for its disallowance,* and his Majesty graciously listens to
the advice of his councilors, and his subjects in the wilds
of Carolina were left without remedy. Not until the Revo-
lution and the Constitution of 1776 had swept away the
Establishment did the dissenting clergy have the legal right
to perform the marriage ceremony.''
But the ills under which the colony suffered were not
borne in silence, for the petition from Rowan and Orange,
which I have just quoted, was presented to Governor Tryon
» Col. Eec, VIII.. 82.
''Act in Col. Eec, IX., 7 ; cf. Davis's Eevisal, 480, ed. 1773 ; cf. also
Col. Eec, VIII., 297, 300, 322, where a committee on the laws
argues strongly in favor of its passage.
3 Col. Eec, IX., 6. *IMd., IX., 7, 248, 251, 284, 366.
* This was secured by the act of 1778, where "all regular ministers
of the Gospel of every denomination " were so authorized ; cf.
Iredell's Eevisal, 354.
46 Church and State in North Carolina. [248
by Herman Husband, the leader of the Regulators." It
embodied the grievances against which those counties were
complaining-. The lack of religious liberty occupies a
conspicuous place in the complaints of the inhabitants of
Tryon, Rowan, and Orange counties, and the fight at
Alamance, on the sixteenth of May, 1771, the first pitched
battle of the Revolution, was not a struggle for civil lib-
erty only; it was equally a struggle for religious liberty.
The beginnings of the Establishment in North Carolina
were marked by the "Gary Rebellion"; the struggles
against it were continuous, and the close of its career fol-
lows hard on the War of the Regulation and the battle of
Alamance.'
Again, the injustice of an Establishment was shown in
the laws relating to mustering, and in this all Dissenters
were concerned. The clergy of the Church of England
had been exempted from this duty as early as 1746 at least;
but not until 1764 were Presbyterian ministers, and then
only those who were " regularly called to any congrega-
tion," exempted from service.* As early as 1755 an attempt
' Swain, War of Kegulation, in Norlli Carolina University Magazine,
IX. (1859-60), 339.
* The writer does not claim that the lack of religious freedom was
more than one of a number of causes of the War of the Regulation.
But he cannot agree with the hostile attitude assumed toward the
Regulators by Colonel A. M. "Waddell in his A Colonial Officer and
His Times, 130 et seq. Governor Tryon is reported to have said" that
the Regulators were a faction of Quakers and Baptists who were
trying to overturn the Church of England. All the Baptist historians,
Morgan Edwards, History of North Carolina Baptists, George W.
Purify, History of Sandy Creek Association, R. I. Devin, History of
Orassy Creek Clmrcli, have taken pains to disclaim participation in
this movement by their coreligionists, and to condemn the few
Baptists who were engaged m the movement as if it were a heinous
crime; but this is unnecessary, for the Baptists do not seem to have
done much for religious liberty in North Carolina. Religious free-
dom was represented in the earlier half of the struggle by the
Quakers, and in the later half by the Presbyterians.
3 Swann's Revisal, 215. Davis's Revisal, 310, ed. 1765.
249] Church and State in North Carolina. 47
had been made to get a law exempting Quakers, but it
was opposed by the Council, who offered to substitute in
place of the regular equipment of the soldier that of the
pioneer, — axe, spade, shovel or hoe.^ This failed to be-
come law; but by the terms of a special act passed in 1770
for five years the Quakers were released from attendance
on general or private musters, provided that they were
regularly listed and served in the regular militia in case of
insurrection or invasion.^ There seems to have been no
general law of exemption for ministers. Presbyterians and
Quakers were favored by special enactment, while Baptists
were simply ignored.
The Quakers met with trouble in another way bearing on
our subject. This was the question of the affirmation.
Under the North Carolina act of 171 5 every Quaker who
was " required upon any lawful occasion to take an oath
in any case" was permitted to make his affirmation instead.'
It seems this was intended to meet all conditions, for the
preamble recites that the oath was to be taken in " courts of
justice a/i'/ otJicr place sP We have no record of conflict
under this law, but it would seem that the defeat of the
liberty of conscience act in 1741 indicated a change in
public opinion for the worse; and while there is nothing in
the records of the Quakers to indicate that they were to
be sing-led out, we have one case of persecution which
comes under this rubric. In 1747 William Borden appears
as a member of the Assembly duly elected from the county
1 Col. Rec, v., 269, 291, 506, 538.
* Davis's Eevisal, 455, eH. 1773; c/. also the acknowledgment of
the Quakers in Col. Rec, IX., 176. Because of their peculiar views
the Quakers suffered about as much from military fines as from
tithes. In the Revolution this became heavier. In 1778 they paid
£1213:9:2 in military fines, in 1779 it, amounted to £2153:5:10, and in
1780 to £841:15:7, "good money, silver dollars at eight shillings."
The writer does not think that the injustice came in here in requir-
ing Quakers to bear arms, but in the fact that their preachers were
not exempted from this duty, as the clergymen of the Establishment
were. ^ Col. Rec, II., 884.
48 Church and State in North Carolina. [250
of Carteret. He informed the authorities that he was a
Quaker and " therefore desired his solemn affirmation might
be taken," which he evidently expected to be done. This
affirmation a committee of the Council appointed to qualify
the members of the lower house refused to receive, and a
new election for a successor to Borden was ordered.'
We may summarize the work done so far by saying that
in 1776, by a slow and laborious process, some recognition
of Dissenters had been wrung from the Churchmen. This
recognition was confined to Presbyterians and Quakers;
while the Baptists, although strong and vigorous, were
entirely unrecognized.''
There was little direct persecution in North Carolina.
There was no opportunity for it under the existing laws,
and the Dissenters were aggressive and powerful. The
manuscript records of the Friends show perfectly conclusively
that while they suffered distraint for tithes and military
levies, they were not imprisoned. They suffered no bodily
violence. We have found no case, save that of Borden,
where they were deprived of office because of religious
views. But Dissenters were not prominent as officeholders
during the royal period. They seem to have reached no
higher than the lower house of the Assembly. They Avere,
perhaps, never in the Council, and we may be certain that
no Dissenter could have been appointed to the governor-
ship, as had been done under the Proprietors. There was
more religious liberty at the beginning than at the close of
the colonial life of North Carolina, but there is no well
authenticated case of bodily persecution in our annals, unless
we count the imprisonment of the Quakers who refused to
» Col. Rec, IV., 855-857.
* There were Methodists in the province as early as 1760 (Col.
Rec, VI., 264, 565, 594, 1047, 1060 ; VIT., 97, 102), but they had not
yet been differentiated from the Established Church ; cf. The History
of Methodism in North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century, now in
preparation by Mr. Robert H. Willis.
251] Church and State in North Carolina. 49
bear arms in 1680 as such, and this seems to have been more
poHtical than reHgious in its character.*
The persecution in North CaroHna was indirect; men
were not put in jail, but they were harassed and subjected
to injury and loss in other ways.
(i) They were required to pay tithes, and thus help to
support a clergy other than their own. The fact that these
laws were passed by natives of North Carolina, rather than
by the British government, does not relieve the odium of
' This brings us to the much-disputed case of the Baptists in New
Bern. On June 20, 1740, we find a " sect of dissenting people called
Babtists" petitioning for the liberty to build a house of worship,
"they desiring to preach among themselves." The petitioners were
duly examined before the court and acknowledged "all the articles
of the Church of England except part of the 27th and 36." The
matter was referred. When it came up in the afternoon, parties
" made oath to several misdemeanors committed by the s*^ Peti-
tioners contrary to & in contempt of the laws now in force. Upon
which it was ordered by this court the s'^ Petitioners be bound by
Recognizance for their appearance at the next court of assize and
Goale delivery to be held at this Town then & there to answer to
such things as they shall be charged with and in the meantime be
of Good behavior to all his Majesties Liege People." John James,
William Fulsher, Francis Ayers, Lemuel Harvey, Nicholas Purify
and John Brooks forthwith appeared and gave bond, dividing the
securities among tfiemselves. The petition came up again in Septem-
ber and was granted. This much is clear and nothing more. But
about 1879 Rev. John T. Albritton made the statement that
Baptists had been whipped in New Bern. It was denied. He
asked the editor of the JYew Bern Journal to look the matter up.
This was done, and, Sept. 6, 1883, the Journal printed an editorial
in which it is stated that when Baptists applied in 1741 for the
privilege of building a church, which they could do under the
Toleration Act (this act required that the meeting-houses of Dis-
senters be registered. The Presbyterians of Rowan registered theirs
(Col. Rec, VIII., 227, 507), and in 1758 the Quakers concluded to
have theirs registered), they were not only refused the privilege,
but were whipped, bound over to keep the peace, required to give
bond for good behavior and to take the Test Oath.
After many efforts I have been unable to get a copy of this
editorial in any form. There are persons living who claim to have
50 Church and State in North Carolina. [252
the laws. They were none the less oppressive for that
reason/ It is difficult for us to tell how extensive and bur-
densome these tithes were; but that is of small moment, as
a matter of principle was involved rather than one of
pounds, shillings and pence. We may, perhaps, take the
Friends as representing the general success of the tithe law.
Prior to 1700 they had ordered that a true account of suf-
ferings for truth's sake be kept. This was renewed in 1723
and again in 1756. In 1726 Friends in Perquimans com-
plain of unlawful distraint, and report the case to the Meet-
ing for Sufferings in London. In 1755 a committee was
seen the original record which is now lost, but they cannot be
induced to publish what they know, nor have I been able to get so
much as a written statement that is definite and tangible. The
advocates of persecution content themselves with vague assertions,
and the photographs made by the Baptists of the Craven county
records prove nothing whatever as to persecution. Dr. Vass, who
was on the ground, looked the matter up very carefully not long
after the time the Journal did and could find no indication of
whipping. Cf. the account given in his History of the Presbyterian
Church in Neio Bern, N. C, 81-84.
Since the above was in type, two articles on this subject by Rev.
Dr. C. Durham appeared in the Biblical Recorder for March 29 and
April 5, 1893. The Journal editorial is quoted ; a tradition in regard
to this persecution has come down to our day ; the records, which
had been previously photographed, are printed, but no new material
is produced. It is claimed that the record "has, seemingly by
design, been mutilated," but they were intact when Dr. Vass exam-
ined them and he could find no evidence. Dr. Durham promises
a third article. Cf. also Church History in North Carolina, 61.
1 Dr. Cheshire, Church History in North Carolina, 88, 89, calls atten-
tion to the fact that these clergymen were not paid by the British
government as has been claimed. It is incomprehensible how such
an egregious blunder should arise. But I cannot agree with him
when he says that " there was practically no discontent among the
people," or that it was never felt " to be a popular grievance, nor had
it created prejudice against the Church among the people of the
Revolutionary period" (p. 253). I think the quotations I have
made from the records will show that these statements are not
exact.
253] Church and State in North Carolina. 51
appointed whose duty it was " to take the opportunity with
some of tlie vestry so as to inform themselves on what
account the levies are laid, before the time of the same, in
order to prevent tiie like hereafter." Sufferings in 1756,
chiefly for the maintenance " of an hireling priest," iio 14s.
5d.; two years later it was £14 17s. 6d., for same cause. The
next year there was " a shortness in some Friends in respect
to a compliance with tlie payment of the demand to support
a hireling ministry. Friends are recommended to be more
careful, diligent, watchful." Sufferings, 1759, £85 and over;
1760, £23; 1761, "Friends have had no sufferings this year,
part we believe is owing in a great measure to the modera-
tion of the officers." No sufferings in 1762, nor in 1765;
1768, fines reported amounted to £5 4s., "being for priests'
wages and repairing of tlieir houses called churches." In
1772, no suffering, except 30s., "church rates so-called";
none in 1773 or 1774.^
The amount of tithes collected here is ridiculously small.
The whole amount for half a century would hardly support
two clergymen decently for a year; but in this small sum
was wrapped the whole principle of liberty of conscience.
(2) They suffered under muster laws, where a distinction
was made in favor of the clergymen of the Church of Eng-
land and against dissenting ministers.
(3) Presbyterian ministers were not allowed to perform
the marriage ceremony until 1766. Even then the fee went
to the minister of the Church of England. Other Dis-
senters, Quakers excepted, were not allowed this right
before 1776.
(4) The most infamous section of all, the continued re-
enactment and enforcement of the Schism Act, which had
been repealed in England in 171 8. This act exasperated
the Dissenters, throttled the few sickly schools that had
begun to rise in the province, put a premium on the Estab-
1 Manuscript Records of Friends' Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly
Meetings in North Carolina.
52 Church and State in North Carolina. [254
lishment and on ignorance, separated the different denomi-
nations from each other, hindered free political discussion
by keeping men ignorant of political matters, and is directly-
responsible for the large percentage of ignorance and for
the backwardness in intellectual life so characteristic of the
State to-day/
For this state of affairs we must hold both the English
and colonial governments responsible. The initiative was
taken by the home government. It was sanctioned and
carried to its literal fulfilment by a powerful set in the
colony. Illiberal ecclesiastical acts could have been easily
made a dead letter, if not repealed, had the colonists op-
posed them, since these colonists were not at a loss for
expedients to circumvent the British authorities.
' Strangely enough, Dr. Charles Lee Smith, in his excellent His-
tory of Education in Worth Carolina, has entirely failed to recognize
the importance of the Schism Act in its relation to education ; cf.
32, 41, 42.
CHAPTER IV.
The Fall of the Establishment.
As tlie days of the Revolution drew nearer, the Established
Church grew relatively weaker. The struggle against the
increasing number and power of the Dissenters was con-
tinued, but tlie State support on which its clergymen
depended often failed them. This fact will explain and
mollify many of their harsh criticisms of the colonists; but
tlie support failed through no fault of the colonial Church-
men. They did what they could; the spirit of the age was
against them.
With the end of the seventh decade ecclesiastical legisla-
tion ceased. The Vestry Act of 1768 is the last law in
North Carolina seeking to perpetuate an endowed Church
at the expense of other denominations. From 1770 the
entries in the records in regard to Church affairs become
fewer; as times became more troublesome the mouths of the
missionaries, who were mostly Tories, were gradually
stopped. The Vestry Act of 1768 expired by limitation in
1773, and the law amending and further continuing it,
passed in 1774, related solely to the poor.^ The Establish-
ment was dead.
But the Establishment threatened for the time to make a
breach in the ranks of the patriots. '' Distinctions and ani-
mosities," writes Governor Martin in 1774, "have imme-
morially prevailed in this country between the people of the
Established Church and the Presbyterians on the score of
the difference of their unessential modes of church govern-
ment and the same spirit of division has entered into, or
1 Col. Rec, IX., 1014.
54 Church and State in North Carolina. [256
been transferred, to most other concernments; at present
there is no less apparent schism between their politics than
in matters appertaining to religion, and while loyalty, mod-
eration and respect to government seem to distinguish the
generality of the members of the Church of England, I am
sincerely sorry to find they are by no means the characters
of the Presbyterians at large." " If my opinion is right,"
he adds, " I submit to your lordship's wisdom the expe-
diency of giving greater encouragement to the Establish-
m.ent of the Church of England in a political view with
respect to religion."^
This recommendation of Governor Martin was the dying
wail of the Establishment. But it was uttered in vain. The
great majority of the Churchmen remained faithful to the
cause of the colonies, and the Establishment simply dis-
appears from the history of North Carolina. A majority of
its ministers remained faithful to the home government and
were deprived of their cures. They returned to England,
and the Episcopal Church received a set-back from which it
did not recover for a generation. Others threw in their
lot with the colonists and became useful citizens of the
infant State.'' The correspondence of the S. P. G. disap-
pears. Its work, whether good or bad, had been done, and
it passed from politics into history. The Dissenters had
kept up a manly fight; for three-quarters of a century they
had struggled for the rights of man. The struggle was
now rising to its flood, and on the crest of the receding
waves of royalty went the Establishment with all it means.
Dissatisfaction seems to have reached, if possible, a higher
height in Mecklenburg than elsewhere. These people were
^ Col. Rec, IX., 1086. Governor Martin was writing from New
York, but it is evident that he did not intend his remarks to apply
to that province alone. Further, he expresses his desire that the
clergy of North Carolina be put on a better footing, since religion
helps to maintain " order and good government." We know wbat
" good government" meant with him.
^ Rev. Charles E. Taylor was a chaplain to the Provincial Congress,
Col. Rec, X., 140, 169.
257] Church and State in North Carolina. 55
mostly Scotch-Irish and had been Dissenters for genera-
tions before coming- to America. This county, which was
to become soon the " Hornet's Nest " of the Revolution, in-
structed its delegates in September, 1775, to oppose in tlie
Congress that was to meet in Halifax in April, 1776, "any
particular church or set of clergymen being invested with
power to decree rites and ceremonies and to decide in con-
troversies of faith to be submitted to under the influence of
penal laws." They were to oppose also " the establishment
of any mode of worship to be supported to the opposition
of the rights of conscience."^
But this convention was busy making preparation for war,
and did nothing. The instructions to the delegates to the
Halifax Convention of November, 1776, are still more clear-
cut and positive in their position. They are in the hand-
writing of Waightstill Avery, a representative of the best
Puritan blood of New England. Sections twenty and
twenty-one of these instructions sum up the cause for which
the Dissenters had carried on their long war:
"That in all times hereafter no professing Christian of
any denomination whatever shall be compelled to pay any
tax or duty towards the support of the clergy or worship of
any other denomination.
" That all professing Christians shall enjoy the free and
undisturbed exercise of religion, and may worship God
according to their consciences without restraint except
idolatrous worshipers."
After the adoption of the constitution and form of gov-
ernment, the delegates were instructed to " endeavor to have
' Col. Rec, X., 241. This paper was the work of Dr. Ephraim.
Brevard and will compare favorably with any State paper in Amer-
ica. The liberality of the man is indicated by the fact that in
naming a basis for their " Religion of the State," the Presbyterians
put the 39 Articles, excluding the 37th and those suspended by the
Toleration Act, on a level with the Westminster Confession. Cf.
Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 68-76.
56 Church and State in North Carolina. [258
all vestry laws and marriage acts heretofore in force totally
and forever abolished."''
These instructions had immediate effect. A clause was
inserted in ihe Declaration of Rights recognizing " the
natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God
according to the dictates of their own consciences." But
this was not all. They inserted a section in their constitu-
tion:
" XXXIV. That there shall be no Establishment of any
one religious Church or Denomination in this State in Pref-
erence to any other, neither shall any person, on any pre-
tence whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of wor-
ship contrary to his own Faith or Judgment, or be obliged
to pay for the purchase of any Glebe, or the building of
any House of Worship, or for the maintenance of any Min-
ister or Ministry, contrary to what he believes right, or has
voluntarily and personally engaged to perform, but all per-
sons shall be at Liberty to exercise their own mode of Wor-
ship. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued to exempt Preachers of treasonable and seditious
Discourses, from legal trial and Punishment."*
The divorce of Church and State was complete.
' Col. Rec, X., 87Qd. According to these instructions, Atheists
were to be excluded from holding ofRce, and its UberaUty is marred
by the exckision of Unitarians and Catholics also.
^ This Convention met at Halifax on November 12, 1776, and
adjourned December 23.
CHAPTER V.
Epilogue.
Little more remains to be said on the history of Church
and State in North Carolina. In 1774 the Assembly now
calling itself a Provincial Congress, took charge of and con-
trolled the government; but there is nothing in the proceed-
ings of tliese Congresses disturbing the status q?co . There
were five Provincial Congresses. The first met in Newbem
in August, 1774. The fiftli met in Plalifax in November,
1776. This Congress adopted, on December 17, the Bill
of Rights, and on the next day a Stale Constitution. These
instruments contained the j)rovisions for religious freedom
which have been already mentioned. It now only re-
mained for the laws of the new State to be brought into
conformity with her new Constitution. The Established
Church fell with its adoption. An ordinance was passed
securing to the different churches such glebes, lands and
tenements as they already possessed. Marriage was put on
a new footing in 1778^ by a law giving the privilege of per-
forming the ceremony to all ministers alike. The terms of
the afiimiation for Quakers, Moravians, IMennonites, and
Dunkards were fixed.^ The law in regard to the care of the
' Laws of 1778, ch. 7, Iredell's Revisal, 354.
' Laws of 1779, chap. 10, Iredell's Revisal, 369 ; cf. also Laws of
1780, ch. 13, ibid., 400, and Laws of 1784, ch. 29, ibid., 505.
The Quakers were not willing to take the oath of allegiance (Laws
of 1777, ch. 10), and say in a petition to the Assembly that the set-
ting up and pulling down of governments and kings is God's work
and that they " cannot be active either for or against any power
that is permitted or set over us." They hoped the State would con-
sider their principles a much stronger security than anj' test (Yearly
Meeting Records). In 1778 it was decided to labor with those who
took the "aflBrmation of allegiance or fidelity," in love and tender-
ness ; if they remained stubborn they were not to be considered
58 Church and State in North Carolina. [260
orphan children of Quakers, passed in 1762, was repealed/
and with this repeal ecclesiastical laws disappear from our
history.
But there was still another stage in the separation.
There was no guarantee of religious freedom in the Federal
Constitution as proposed to the States in 1787. The ab-
sence of this guarantee provoked so much criticism in no
other State as in North Carolina. The leaders in this attack
were the Rev. Henry Abbot, of Camden county, a Bap-
tist minister, who had been a member of the second Halifax
Convention in 1776, and who is said to have been the author
of the clause of the Bill of Rights declaring for religious
freedom,^ Rev. David Caldwell, representative from Guilford,
the most distinguished Presbyterian divine in the State, and
Gen. William Lenoir, one of th heroes of y6.
Abbot said some were afraid that under this new consti-
tution they might be deprived of the privilege of worship-
active members. The next year they considered the matter again
and concluded that they could not " consistently take any test
while things remain unsettled and still to be determined by militia
force." (Quarterly and Yearly Meeting Records.)
» Laws of 1784, ch. 29, Iredell, 505.
^ Abbot was a member of the committee on tbe Bill of Rights and
Constitution ; tradition ascribes to him the nineteenth clause of the
former. This claim is evidently founded on a passage in Burkitt
and Read's Goncise History of the Kehukee BcqMst Association (pp. 107-
109), where the author remarks, "to him we owe our thanks, in a
measure, for the security of some of our religious rigJits." This
statement was repeated by Biggs in his continuation to Burkitt (pp.
87-89), and has been amplified by later writers. Burkitt was a con-
temporary and an acquaintance of Abbot, and we may assume that
the statement is substantially correct. Abbot was the son of John
Abbot, Canon of St. Paul's. While still young he ran away, came
to America and settled in that part of Pasquotank county which is
now Camden. He taught school until his conversion, when he be-
came an itinerant Baptist preacher. He acted in this capacity for
a few years, and in 1764 or 1765 took charge of Shiloh church in
Camden county. He was a man of much public spirit and had
been a member of tlie Halifax Convention of April, 1776, as well as
of the second convention in November. He died in May, 1791.
261] Church and State in North Carolina. 59
ing God according to their conscience. Would their lib-
erties be secure, or would the general government make
laws infringing these liberties? It was feared that the
authority which had the treaty-making power might enter
into an engagement to adopt the Roman Catholic religion,
which would prevent the people from worshiping God ac-
cording to their own consciences. If there is to be an
Establishment, what shall be its form? As there are no
religious tests, pagans, deists and Mahometans might obtain
office, and senators and representatives might all be pagans.
By whom were men to swear? — by Jupiter, Juno, Minerva,
Proserpine [sic], or Pluto ?^
To these arguments, James Iredell, later a Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, replied. He recog-
nized the evils of religious persecutions. The purpose of
the convention was to establish a general religious liberty.
Congress has no authority to interfere in the establishment
of any religion whatsoever; if there is a religious test, how
is it possible to exclude any set of men without taking
away that principle of religious freedom which we ourselves
so warmly contend for? He had just seen in a pamphlet
that the Pope of Rome might become president;^ there was
no provision against such an emergency, nor was there one
against one of the kings of Europe; one would be as
rational and judicious as the other.
Gov. Samuel Johnston said a Jew, a Mahometan or a
pagan could get office only in one of two ways: either the
American people would have to lay aside the Christian
religion altogether, or such persons would have to acquire
confidence and esteem by good conduct and the practice
of virtue.
' Elliot, Delates, I., 277, saj'S the clause abolishing religious tests
passed "unanimously in the affirmative," but Madison reports
that North Carolina voted against it: cf. Schaff, Church and State in
United States, in Papers American Historical Association, II., 403.
^ Schaff, Ihid., 407, says this remark was made by a delegate from
North Carolina in the Convention of 1787. I have not been able to
fix the authorship of the pamphlet to which Iredell refers.
60 Church and State in North Carolina. [262
Dr. Caldwell thought the absence of the test was an
invitation to Jews and pagans of every kind, and that these
might endanger the character of the United States.
Judge Samuel Spencer replied that he was in favor of
religious liberty in particular; no one particular religion
should be established; religious tests have been the founda-
tion of persecution in all countries ; they keep good men out
of office, not bad ones ; is it reasonable to suppose that men
would be chosen without regard to tlieir characters?
Gen. Lenoir said that there was no provision against
infrmgement of the rights of conscience; that ecclesiastical
courts might be established which would be destructive to
our citizens ; these courts might make any establishment they
thought proper.
Mr. R. D. Spaight denied that the power to establish
ecclesiastical courts was given to Congress.
Mr. William Lancaster said tliat a test would secure
religion, and that religious liberty ought to be provided for.
" But let us remember that we iorrn a government for
millions not yet in existence. I have not the art of divina-
tion. In the course of four or five hundred years I do
not know how it will work. This is most certain, that
Papists may occupy that chair, and Mahometans may take
it. I see nothing against it."^
The Federalists, under the leadership of Iredell, Davie,
Maclaine, Johnston, and Spaight, made a gallant fight for
the adoption of the Constitution; but the lack of a Bill of
Rights, and a guarantee of religious freedom, and the strong
centralizing tendency of the instrument were too much for
them, and the Convention resolved "neither to ratify nor
to reject the Constitution," but " that a declaration of rights,
asserting and securing from encroachment the great prin-
ciples of civil and religious liberty, and the unalienable rights
of the people, together with amendments to the most am-
biguous and exceptionable parts of the said Constitution of
government, ought to be laid before Congress and the con-
' Discussion in Elliot's Debates, 2d edition, vol. 4, pp. 191-215.
263] Church and State in North Carolina. 61
vention of the States that shall or may be called for the pur-
pose of amending the said Constitution, for their considera-
tion, previous to the ratification of the Constitution afore-
said on the part of the State of North Carolina,"
In accord with this program, a declaration of rights, con-
sisting of twenty articles, the last of which declares for " an
equal, natural and unalienable right to tlie free exercise of
religion according to the dictates of conscience," and
twenty-six amendments to the Constitution itself were
recommended to the States for adoption.'
North Carolina was therefore unrepresented in the extra
session of the first Congress. This session took up the
question of amendments, and twelve were proposed to the
States. One of tliese, now standing a? the first, provided
that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establish-
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
These amendments covered the vital principles for which
North Carolina had been striving. It became evident that
they would be adopted, for the same features had been
emphasized by Virginia, New Hampshire, and New York,
and North Carolina adopted the Federal Constitution with-
out debate in convention at Fayetteville, November 21,
1789.
There remains but one thing more. The thirty-second
section of the Constitution of 1776 read: "That no person
who shall deny the Being of God, or the truth of the Prot-
estant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or
New Testament, or shall hold religious principles incom-
patible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be
capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in
the civil department within this State."'
^ This declaration of rights is the same as that adopted by Vir-
ginia in June of the same year. The Virginia amendments were
twenty in number. North Carolina adopted these and added six
others.
* This section has been accredited to Rev. David Caldwell (Foote,
Sketches of North Carolina, 240). It was opposed by Governor
62 Church and State in North CaroliTia. [264
It was never possible to arrive at any uniformity of
belief as to the parties intended. Judge Gaston summarized
the state of belief in his great debate in the Convention of
1835 ^s follows: "One [of the previous speakers] informs
us that it excludes nobody — that it cannot be interpreted to
exclude anybody — that, for want of a tribunal to enforce
and expound it, the entire provision is a dead letter, as if
it had never been embodied in the instrument. Another
thinks that it clearly excludes atheists and such deists as
make a parade of their infidelity, by proclaiming the Holy
Scriptures to be false. A third believes that it disqualifies
atheists, deists, and Jews — for that the latter necessarily
deny the divine authority of the New Testament, and
deists deny the divine authority both of the New and Old
Testament. A fourth supposes that these are excluded, anH
that it was intended also to exclude Catholics, but that the
language is not sufficiently explicit to warrant a judicial expo-
sition to that effect. A fifth holds that it was not only
intended to exclude, but, by a legal construction, does
exclude them. A sixth is satisfied that Quakers, Men-
nonites, and Dunkards are disqualified, because their doc-
trine, that arms cannot lawfully be used in defense of the
country, is subversive of its very freedom and repugnant to
its safety. Some think it will be a matter of fact for a jury
to determine — others, a matter of law, for a court, to pro-
nounce what religious principles are incompatible with the
freedom and safety of the State — ^while not a few are inclined
Johnston: "Unfortunately, one of the members from the back
country introduced a test, by which every person, before he should
be admitted to a share in the Legislature, should swear that he be-
lieved in the Holy Trinity, and that the Scriptures of the Old Testa-
ment was written by divine inspiration. This was carried after a
very warm debate, and has blown up such a flame, that everything
is in danger of being thrown into confusion." (McRee's X^/(6 and
Correspondence of James Iredell, I., 339.)
265] Church and State in North Carolina. 63
to hold that the Legislature may, in this respect, define what
the Constitution has left vague and uncertain.'"
The clause had probably been aimed at Roman Catholics.
But it had never been interpreted against them. Thomas
Burke, who "publicly professed and openly avowed the
Catholic faith," had been a member of the Continental Con-
gress from North Carolina, and in 1781 had been elected
governor of the State. Judge Toomer said that this clause
was a declaration of principles, not a proscription of indi-
viduals; that infidels and Jews had been members of each
branch of the General Assembly;' that votaries of the
Romish Church had filled tlie highest executive, legislative
and judicial stations in the State; that the construction of
the section had been settled by the decisions of every
department of the government and that this had been
accepted by the people.* Mr. Fisher said all offices had
been filled by Catholics from governor down to constable.*
The most distinguished oi these Catholics was William
Gaston, one of the best and purest men whom North Caro-
lina has produced. He had been a member of the State
Senate, he was Speaker of the House of Commons, he was
a representative in Congress; but his right to hold these
oflEices had never been questioned. In 1833 he was chosen
' Debates of Convention o/1835, 270, 271. It was on this occasion
that Judge Gaston made his famous address in defense of the
Catholic Church, Debates, pp. 264-305, which did much, no doubt,
to move the Convention toward a more liberal view ; but his
historical references are sometimes warped and even untrue. In
1823, during the " AYestern Convention," Henry "W. Harrington
moved that this clause be stricken out. It was discussed favorably,
but was withdrawn as foreign to a " Western Convention." Ibid.,
275.
^ Judge Gaston instances the case of Jacob Henry, a Jew, who was
in the House of Commons in 1808 from Carteret. The clause did
not exclude these classes from legislative offices, but only from civil.
They could make, but could neither execute nor interpret the laws!
3 Ibid., 314, 319.
* Ibid., 327. Cf. also a summary of these by Martin I. J. Griffin,
in American Catholic Historical Researches, July, 1890, pp. 129-133.
64 Church and State in North Carolina. [266
a Justice of the Supreme Court by the Legislature. In a
letter to Thomas P. Devereux he explains how he can bold
office under this clause: The Constitution is based on the
general principles of civil and religious liberty; therefore all
citizens are competent to take and to hold office who are not
clearly disqualified; it was in the power of the people to
create penal incapacity, but persons must be unequivocally
debarred before this can take effect; the only part of the
Constitvition that can be so interpreted is the thirty-second
section; it is possible that some of the framers intended to
exclude Catholics; but what is the Protestant religion? We
have no establishment to determine the truth of that religion
and pronounce on schism and heresy; this establishment is
forbidden by the Constitution; the Constitution has not
defined the Protestant religion, has not excluded Catholics
or any other denomination eo nomine^ and is therefore
inefficient and unmeaning. Is a belief in the Catliolic a
denial of the truth of the doctrines of Protestants? Again,
test laws and disqualifying enactments were familiar to
England and her colonies; if this old system of proscription
had been intended, can it be doubted that the intent would
have been unequivocally manifested? Judge Gaston con-
cluded that he was not disqualified and that he had "no
right by any over-nice scruples to be instrumental in practi-
cally interpolating into that mstrument an odious provision
which it does not contain."^
Judge Gaston had assumed his seat on the supreme
bench, and there had been no complaint; but it was thought
best to amend the section when the matter came up for
settlement in the constitutional convention. The debate on
the section was long, but almost wholly in favor of amend-
ment,' the opposition argument being based largely on the
1 North Carolina Umversity Magazine, VII. (N. S. 1887-88), 61-63 ;
included in his Convention speech.
^ The printed debates make a volume of 424 pages, octavo, of
which this section takes up pp. 213-332.
267] Church and State in North Carolina. 65
fact that it was already dead. It was determined to sub-
stitute the word " Christian " for " Protestant," and thus, in
the eloquent words of Judge Gaston, was the carcass of this
last remnant of religious persecution interred, " lest its pes-
tilential effluvia should poison the atmosphere of Freedom."
Bibliographical Note.
A number of books and monographs have been pub-
lished on the history of the Baptists, Episcopalians, Luth-
erans, Methodists, Moravians, and Presbyterians in North
Carolina, but the authors have in most cases confined
themselves to the growth and development and the inner
life of the denomination. Little attention has been given
to their relations to other denominations or to the State.
The question of Church and State has been discussed
from the Presbyterian standpoint by Rev. E. W. Caruthers,
in his Li/c of Rev. David Caldzvell, D. D. (Greensboro,
1842) ; by Rev. L. C. Vass, in his History of the Presbyter-
ian Church in Neiv Bern, North C«r<?/m« (Richmond, 1886),
who gives a resume of ecclesiastical affairs in eastern
North Carolina ; and from the Episcopal view by Rev.
Joseph Blount Cheshire, in Church History in North Carolina
(Wilmington, 1892). The principal materials used in this
paper were Tlie Colonial Records of North Carolina (10 vols.,
Raleigh, 1886-1890), the Laws of North Carolina (Revisals
of 1752, 1765, 1773, 1791), Elliofs Debates (Washington,
1836), the Debates of the Convention ^/i835 (Raleigh, 1836),
and the manuscript records of the Monthly, Quarterly and
Yearly Meetings of the Friends, now in the care of Josiah
Nicholson, Esq., Belvidere, North Carolina, and of Prof.
J. W. Woody, Guilford College, North Carolina.
[Notes supplementary to the Johns Hopkins University
Studies in Historical and Political Science, 1893, No. 1.]
THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.
By WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL. D.
U. S. Commissioner of Education.
A course of five lectures on the Philosophy of Education was given to
those members of the University who are engaged in teaching or who
expect to become teachers, by William T. Harris, LL. D., Commissioner of
Education, January 7-14, 1893. An abstract of the principal topics dis-
cussed is here given.
The following list of books is suggested as useful for reference in connec-
tion with the course :
1. Rosenkranz : Paedagogik als System (English Translation, D. AppUton & Co., New
York). Third part, treating of the suhstantial contents of the national education — its
sacred books, and the idea that the nation stands for in the history of the world. (Lec-
ture 1.)
2. Karl Schmidt: Geschichte der Paedagogik; gives a much fuller statement of the
details of the culture systems of the several nations. (Lecture 1.)
3. R. H. Quick ; Educational Reformers. (Lectures 2, 3, i, and 5.)
4. Pestalozzi : Lienhard und Gertrud. {English Translation, Boston.) (Lecture 3.)
5. Herbart ; Lehrbuch zur Psychologie. (English translation. New York). (Lecture 3.)
6. Rousseau : Emile. (Lecture 4.)
7. Herbert Spencer ; Essay on Mucation. (Lecture 5.)
Lectuke I. — January 1th, 1893.
THE LITERATURE OF EDUCATION.
The first and most important of all educational literature is that showing
the ideals of a people — the literature on which they are brought up — gen-
erally the sacred books which reveal what the people regard as divine ;
consequently what is the highest ideal to be realized. China, for example,
has Confucius and Mencius, showing the family as the type of the social
whole. These writings furnish the contents of the mind of the Chinese —
minute observances of etiquette ; how to behave towards one's elders and
superiors in rank; towards one's inferiors or juniors; towards one's equals.
Chinese schools are almost exclusively devoted to filling the memory of the
pupil with the ethical maxims of these sacred books, so that the mind shall
be full of family etiquette. The aim of Chinese education was to teach the
young how to behave ; that of the Persians, how to ride, shoot, and speak
the truth — a faculty not much thought of by the Hindus. The Persian
1
2 The Philosophy of Education. [270
differs from the Buddhist in that the latter wishes to get rid of the world,
while the former attempts to conquer the real. The Phoenicians, again, fur-
nish a contrast to Chinese education. Their object was to wean the child
from the family ; whereas the Chinese endeavor to educate the young so
that they will become submerged in the family. The Phoenicians aimed
to create a love of adventuz-e. Their children were educated in myths. The
stories in Homer's " Odyssey '' must have been derived from the tales of
the Phoenician sailors, which were calculated to engender a hunger and
thirst for adventure, so that the young Phoenician would gladly get on
board ship and go to the ends of the world in the interests of trade. The
Greeks were imbued with the new world-principle of a spiritual and beau-
tiful individuality. They thought more of the games which they practised
in the evenings on the village green than of the tasks by which they earned
their bread. They learned history and geography from the second book of
Homer's "Iliad." They thought not of commercial education, like the
Phoenicians, but of that heroic individual who furnished a beautiful ideal.
Later on, Greek education became more scientific and more reflective. The
Roman concentrated his whole mind on the will. He went beyond the
circle of his city, and studied to cause even foreigners to live under the
same laws with himself. Freedom meant more to him than to any of the
Asiatic nations. It meant the power of the individual to hold, alienate, and
devise property. Tliis was an enormous step upward in educational pro-
gress. Hitherto, property could only be held by the family. Contract is
the supreme idea of the Roman. He even carries it into his religion. Thus
he prays to one of his deities to help him in some extremity or to give him
his desire, and he promises, in turn, to build the god a temple. The Roman
wants to conquer all peoples and to make them free under the law. But
the greatest educational lesson is derived from the Hebrew people. They
teach the personality of the Divine apart from Nature. This Divine Per-
son creates Nature in order that He shall have something to recognize
Him. The Divine Being does not efface man simply, but is the embodiment
of goodness and righteousness — the righteousness that breathes the spirit of
loving kindness, holding his creatures responsible only in so far as they know
the right, and returning their deeds upon them. Art education ranked
first in the Greek mind, for he woishipped the beautiful. Then came
science and philosophy. From the Greeks we get these elements of our
educational curriculum. From the Romans we get the principle of organi-
zation. Whetlier or not a person is educated reflectingly into civilization,
he finds himself in the great network of usages that go to make up civili-
zation. Education is meant to give one an insight into the genesis of these
things, so that he can detect an element of each in^the tlireads of his civili-
zation. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people in every civilized nation are
automata, careful to walk in the prescribed paths, careful to follow prescribed
custom. This is the result of substantial education, which, scientifically
defined, is the subsumption of the individual under his species. The other
271] The Philosophy of Education. S
educational principle is the emancipation from this subsumption. This is
subordinate, and yet, in our time, we lay more stress upon it than the other.
Look at the French Revolution. What a prodigious emancipation that
was. It was predicted by Rousseau ; but those who read him only super-
ficially, without first studying his genesis, will find that their minds are
poisoned by his doctrine of the supremacy of nature. Comenius taught
the emancipation of the individual from the printed page. Spencer says
that the modern school system is all wrong, and has a tendenc_y to get away
from science and cause students to waste time over the dead languages.
Emancipation has now become the important side of the educational ques-
tion. But the student of advanced education must first avail himself of the
wisdom of the race, and learn how not to be limited by it. He cannot pro-
gress unless he is a free man, for he must not be so much subsumed that he
cannot investigate scientifically, and with safety to himself, all problems
that present themselves.
Lecture II. — Saturday, January 14:th, 1893.
PROBLEMS PECULIAR TO AMERICAN EDUCATION,
There are two kinds of education. The first may be called substantial edu-
cation — tlie education by means of the memory ; the education which gives
to the individual, methods and habits and the fundamentals of knowledge.
It is this education which the child begins to receive from its birth. This
sort of education is education by anthoritj' — that is, the individual accepts
the authority of the teacher for the truth of what he is told, and does not
question it or seek to obtain insight into the reason for its being so. It
is this education by authority — the education of the past — that the
modern or second kind of education seeks to supersede. This second kind
may be called individual or scientific education ; it is the education of insight
as opposed to that of authority. When this kind of education is acquired,
it frees the individual from the authority of the other. Under the system
of education by authority when told, for instance, that the sum of three
angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles, this will be blindly be-
lieved only as long as authority sanctions this belief; but when an insight
into the reason for this geometrical truth is obtained, no change of authority
is able to make the individual doubt. But there is this danger in the system
of education by insight, if begun too early, that the individual tends to
become so self-conceited with what he considers knowledge gotten by his
own personal thought and research, that he drifts toward empty agnosticism
with the casting overboard of all authority. It is, therefore, necessary that
this excessive conceit of self which this modern scientific method of education
fosters, be lessened by building on the safe foundations of what has been
described as the education of authority. The problems of the reform move-
ment centre, therefore, on the proper method of replacing this authoritative
or passive method of education by education through self-activity.
4 The Philosophy of Education. [272
There is another problem — that of the method of study. Germany
advises us to teach by oral methods, by giving pieces of information and
insight orally by word of mouth. But the American educators have blun-
dered upon what may be defended as the correct method, namely, the text-
book method. It was merely the outcome of an unconscious trend. The
method is of course liable to very serious abuse, but the good points greatly
outweigh the bad. It has the advantage of making one independent of his
teacher ; you can take your book wherever you please. You cannot do that
with the great lecturer, neither can you question him as you can the book,
nor can you select the time for hearing the great teacher talk as you can for
reading the book. And it is true that nearly all the great teachers have
embodied their ideas in books. The greatest danger of text-book education
is verbatim, parrot-like recitation ; but even then from the poorest text-book
a great deal of knowledge can be gleaned. Then there is the alertness which
in any large class will necessarily be engendered by an intelligent under-
standing and criticism of the results arrived at by different pupils in discus-
sing a certain piece of work given in his own words. And then there is the
advantage to be found in the fact that with the text-book the child can be
busy by itself. Lastly, there is the problem of discipline. There should be
very little corporal punishment ; the milder forms of restraint should be
used. The child that is brought up accustomed to the rod loses his self-
respect, and may become the man who must have police surveillance.
Silence, punctuality, regularity and industry are fundamental parts of a
"substantial education" as much as the critical study of mathematics, liter-
ature, science and history is a part of the " education of insight." These
two kinds of education, that of authority and that of self-activity, should be
made complementary.
Lecture III. — January 21si, 1893.
OPPOSITION BETWEEN PESTALOZZI AND HERBART AS
EDUCATIONAL LEADERS.
Pestalozzi laid great stress on sense-perception as the foundation of all
school education. Herbart lays stress on the elaboration of sense-perception
or rather upon the mental reaction against the impressions made on our
senses. Thought goes bnck of the object to understand and explain its
origin, how it became to be what it is, what purpose it is to serve. Thought
sees objects in the perspective of their history. It studies causes and pur-
poses. Thus thought is not as the disciples of Pestalozzi hold, a continued
and elevated sort of sense-perception, but rather a reaction against it. It
is a discovery of the subordinate jilace held by objects in the world ; they
are seen to be mere steps in a process of manifestation — the manifestation
of causal energies. A new perception is received into the mind by adjust-
ing it to our previous knowledge ; we explain it in terms of the old ; we
classify it, identify it ; reconcile what is strange and unfamiliar in it with
273] The Philosophy of Education. 5
previous ex[)erlence; we interpret the object and comprehend it ; we trans-
hite the unknown into the known. This process of adjusting, explaining,
classifying, identifying, reconciling, interpreting and translating, is called
apperception. We must not only perceive, but we must apperceive ; not
only see and hear, but digest or assimilate what we hear and see. Herbart's
" apperception " is far more important for education than Pestalozzi's " per-
ception." At first the memory was the chief fiiculty cultivated in educa-
tion ; then Pestalozzi reformed it by making the culture of sense-perception
the chief aim: now with Herbart the chief aim would be apperception or
the mental digestion of what is received by perception or memory. Illus-
trations of the power of apperception to strengthen perception : Cuvier
could reconstruct the entire skeleton from a single bone ; Agassiz the entire
fish from one of its scales ; Winckelman the entire statue from a fragment
of the face; Lyell could see its history in a pebble; Asa Gray the history
of a tree by a glance. Apperception adds to the perceived object its process
of becoming. Noir^ has illustrated apperception by showing the two series
of ideas called up by the perception of a piece of bread. First the regres-
sive series — dough, flour, rye ; and the processes — baking, kneading, grind-
ing, threshing, harvesting, planting, &c. Each one of these has collateral
series, as for example, planting has plowing, plow, oxen, yoke, furrow,
harrowing, sowing seeds, covering it, etc. The second series is progressive
— bread suggests its uses and functions; food, eating, digesting, organic
tissue, life, nourishing strength, supply of heat, bodily labor, &c. The
course of study in schools must be arranged so as to prepare the mind for
quick apperception of what is studied. The Pestalozzian makes form,
number, and language the elements of all knowledge. He unfortunately
omits causal ideas, which are the chief factors of apperception ; we build
our series on causalty. Accidental association satisfies only the simple-
minded and empty-headed.
Lecture IV". — January 2Sih, 1893.
ROUSSEAU AND THE RETURN TO NATURE.
REVOLUTIONARY PROTEST.
The time of Louis XIV : the nobles attracted to Court and to a life of
gayety, neglecting their estates and wasting the fruits of toil in riotous
living ; the laborers deprived of the advantage of the directive power of the
nobility fail in power of production. The French Revolution is the result.
Rousseau its prophet ; he proclaims a return to nature. " Nature," a word
of ambiguous meaning; human nature versus physical nature; human
history the revelation of man's nature ; it is realized in institutions and not
by man as an isolated individual. Nature in time and space is under the
dominion of necessity, everything constrained to be what it is by outside
forces. Human nature is an ideal, and when realized it has the form of
6 The Philosophy of Education. [274
freedom and self-determination, each man a law unto himself and each one
engaged in helping every other one, for by this each one helps himself.
Rousseau appealed to nature in everything. What we call civilization was
to him a mere artificial form. His plea was to be natural, come back to the
point where nature leaves you. Rousseau came from Switzerland to France,
and at an opportune time for him ; for there was a great ferment of ideas
at this epoch. He was struggling along in Paris, barely securing a liveli-
hood, when there came the offer from the Academy of Dijon of a prize for
an essay on the progress of the arts and sciences, whether it has tended
towards the purification of morals and manners. The negative side sug-
gested itself more forcibly to him, as he was better fitted for it by his mode
of living and morals, and by his literary style, and he found himself at once
a "censor of civilization." This essay was soon followed (1752) by one
on the origin of the inequality among men. The great tension produced by
the artificiality of the civilization of the Court life of the time had caused
men to become anxious to get back to a simplicity of living, and Chateau-
briand painted the charms of the forest life of the Indians. In this reaction
the meaning of civilization is ignored. Man emancipates himself from
drudgery and compels nature by the forces of his intellect to feed and clothe
him. The "Social Contract" followed (1762) this with an attack on the
authority of the State; and in the same year his Emile undermined the
School and the Church ; and so he attacked all the social institutions one
after another — the family, civil society, the Church and State. He pro-
posed to sweep all away by summoning them before the bar of his individual
judgment and condemning all. In the opening paragraph of his Emile he
declares that everything which comes from nature is good, while everything
degenerates in the hands of man. The antithesis of civilization is sav-
agery, and Voltaire wittily exposed the fallacy of Rousseau's teaching in
his letter accepting the book. He said — " never has anyone employed so
much genius to make us into beasts. When one reads your book he is
seized at once with a desire to go down on all fours." External authority
is a perennial necessity for man in his immaturity. An appeal to nature
is always a piece of jugglery with words. In mere nature we have matter
and force. Everything inorganic is made by some external influence. But
organic nature is the opposite of inorganic. The plant has the power of
assimilation, and the animal the further powers of locomotion and feeling,
or ability to select or choose its surroundings. In man this is still further
increased by recollection and memory, by which the mind makes over its
impressions. To do his duty properly he must look to higher things, and
in ethical ideas the human becomes transcendental. The moral man acts
as though the sole being in the world is humanity. No natural instinct is
admitted as having validity against the moral law. If we adopt the doc-
trines of material nature and yield to our feelings and impulses, we remain
animals. But if we take nature in the sense of our ideal, divine possibility,
and realize it by education, we attain to human nature properly so-called.
275] The Philosophy of Education. 7
which is not something given us without eflfort, but only the product of
culture.
Lecture V. — February 4:th, 1893.
HERBERT SPENCER AND WHAT KNO'WLEDGE IS OF
MOST WORTH.
In Herbert Spencer, the return to nature means the study of natural
science, and this becomes the great thing. But natural science is only the
instrument with which we conquer nature. Everybody becomes filled with
the idea of progress by it, for we see that nature as it is, existing in time
and space, is conquered by inventions and made to serve man. There was
never a more unscientific book made than Spencer's essay on education ; for
while he praises science, he does not apply it to a study of education as it
is and has been. To do this he ought to study the genesis of the course of
study and explain its functions. The unscientific person takes things as
they are, and cares not for their origin. To study things from a scientific
standpoint means to take an inventory of them — to find the process in which
they are being produced ; to connect them with other things ; to see things
in their causal process. He does not understand the system of education as
it exists, because he does not know the educational value of its branches.
The education he proposes for us is for the purpose of complete living ; but
what is Spencer's definition of this complete living ? Spencer does not take
education as the genesis of man's spiritual life, but merely as something
useful for showing how to care for the body and perform the lower social
functions as the tool of life, the instrument by which life is preserved. Now
suppose the definition of complete living to be, to elevate each individual
so that he can take advantage of the life and experience of his race. Then
he would find complete living to involve the initiation into the civilizations
of the past that furnish the elements out of which our own civilization is
formed. Spencer thinks that the first business of the child is to know
physiology ; the next is the selection of a vocation or trade, which leads to
training for citizenship ; and last of all he puts relaxation and amusement,
in which he includes literature and art. Now, Aristotle characterized man
as the symbol-making animal. Human nature has to be expressed by sym-
bols. The poets of a people first paint the ideal, which makes civilization
possible. Literature furnishes the most essential branch of education, so far
as its function is to help the child into civilization. Man sits in the theatre
of the world (as Plato tells us) and sees the shadows of men and events
thrown on the curtain before him. Behind him and out of his sight is the
Great Leader, who is making these shadows. From them he draws his
ideals, but ideals are potentialities, not realities. Self-activity, the freedom
of the soul, is made possible by the institutions of society, the family,
civil society. State and Church. We must not confound the mere school
with these other great institutions of civilization. In the family are learned
8 The Philosophy of Education. [276
the mother tongue, habits, and nurture. Civil society teaches him his voca-
tion ; the State, his duties as citizen ; and the Church shows him his place
in the divine plan of the universe. Spencer calls education the subject
which involves all other subjects, and the one in which they should all
culminate. But some one has better said that school education is the giving
to man the possession of the instrumentalities of intelligence. By his school
education he does not attain all education, but he gets the tools of thought
by which to master the wisdom of the race. There are, then, three epochs
of school education — elementary, secondary and higher. The first or ele-
mentary stage is the opening of the five windows of the soul. (1) Arith-
metic is the foundation of our knowledge of nature, by which we measure
and count all things inorganic. When its first principles are mastered the
child begins to want to combine the organic with the inorganic, and then
we come to another window (2), that of elementary geography. The dis-
tribution of animal and plant life is learned, and the child begins to peep
into the organization of things, the growth of plants, and the formation of
the continents and the earth. Thirdly, he learns to read and write, and gets
a glimpse into literature. The original colloquial vocabulary learned at
home, variously estimated at from 300 or 400 to 3,000 or 4,000 words, deals
only with commonplace things. But the school takes this colloquial vocab-
ulary as a key and opens up the great reservoir of literature in books, initia-
ting him into a higher class of words, expressive of fine shades of feeling and
thought. Thus, to his own vocabulary are added those of great writers, who
have seen nature from a different point of view, and presented their thoughts
in gems of literary style. Literature lifts up the pupil into the realms
of human nature and discloses the motives which govern the actions of
men. Yet Spencer puts this last in his course of study. After learning all
science has to give, after learning one's trade and the care of his body, he
would then, if there is leisure, permit literature and art. But literature is
the greatest educator we have. It has made possible newspapers and peri-
odicals and books, with pictures of human life and of the motives governing
our actions. The fourth window of the soul is grammar, wherein we have
a glimpse of the logical structure of the intellect as revealed in language.
The fifth window is history (that of his own country), wherein he sees
revealed the aspirations of his countrymen, his own nature, written out in
colossal letters ; and these five studies should make the elementary educa-
tion of the student. The secondary education takes up human learning and
continues it along the same lines, namely : 1, inorganic nature; 2, organic
nature; 3, literature (the heart); 4, grammar and logic (the intellect);
and 5, history (the will). Algebra deals with general numbers, while Arith-
metic has definite numbers to operate with. Geometry and physics con-
tinue inorganic nature, while natural history continues the study already
commenced in geography. Then come Greek and Latin, and here is opened
up a great field of study into the embryology of our civilization. In the
dead languages we have the three great threads running through the his-
277] The Philosophy of Education, 9
tory of human progress. The Greek, with its literature and aesthetic art
and its philosophy, showing the higher forms of human freedom in contrast
with the Egyptian, which showed only the struggle for freedom and never
the man separated from the animal and the inorganic world. The Roman,
with the continual gaze upon the will of man, seeks the true forms of con-
tracts and treaties and corporations, whereby one man may combine with
another, and it essays the conquering of men and reducing them to obedi-
ence to civil law, not only external conquest but internal conquest as well.
The Hebrew thread is the religious one, which we recognize in the celebra-
tion of worship one day each week and in the various holy days. We
acknowledge this the most essential thread of our civilization. So, with
the secondary education we begin to get the embryology of our forms of
life. The higher or collegiate education is the comparative step of educa-
tion. Each branch is studied in the light of all the others. Natural science
and sociology are investigated ; logic and mental philosophy ; ethics and
rhetoric ; as well as the philosophy of history and of literature, and the
comparative sciences, which furnish the light for the whole method of
higher education. The first, or elementary education, then, is but super-
ficial, a mere inventory ; the secondary insists on some reflection on what
has been learned; and the third, or higher education, is the unity and
comparison of all that has been learned, so that each is explained by the
whole. Give the child possession of the embryology of civilization, and
his insight into the evolution of civilization is insured. Educators have
adopted the course of study as it exists, led by an unconscious or blind
impulse. Herbert Spencer should have investigated and discovered its
purpose, which is a far deeper one than he has thought out when he advo-
cates its overthrow for the sake of knowledge that leads to direct self-
preservation.
VII-VIII
m CiDITli OF m WESIEM FiElR
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
HiSTOEICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History. — Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
VII-VIII
IHE COIDlIli OF THE WESTERI FiMEIi
AS ILLUSTEATED BY
THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF A
NEBRASKA TOWNSHIP
BY
ARTHUR F. BENTLEY, A. B.
Johns Hopkins University
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
July-August, 1893
COPTKIQHT, 1893, BY TH^ JOHNS HOPKINS PKESS.
THE FBIEDKNWALD CO., PRINTEBS,
BALTIMORE.
CONTENTS.
I. Introduction 7
II. Colonization and History :
Colonization of Nebraska 11
Settlement of Hall County 20
Economic History of Harrison Township :
Description of the Township 24
Settlement " " 25
Conditions of Colonization 27
Financial Condition of Settlers in First Years .32
Changes in Ownership by Years, — Table 1 33
Purchases and Sales of Different Classes of Lands,
—Table II. . . 37
Causes of Settlers leaving, — Table III 39
Land Values 43
Renting 44
Credit 44
Taxation 46
Markets, Prices, and Freight Rates 48
III. Present Economic Condition of the Farmers of Harrison
Township :
A. The Land and its Ownership 53
a. The Lands considered 53
b. Quality of the Lands 54
c. Ownership of the Lands 55
B. Condition of Resident Owners 58
a. Chattel Mortgages 59
6. Real Estate Mortgages 60
1. General Statement 61
2. Debt on ' " Government, " " Railroad ' ' and
" School " Lands 62
3. Debt of Residents and Non-residents .... 63
4. Debt and Acquisition of Lands 66
5. Debt and Quality of Lands 70
c. Improvements on Land 72
IV. Conclusion :
Summary of Present Status of Farmer 76
Discussion of Economic Iniluences seen at work in
Harrison Township 78
V. Appendices :
A. Land Laws and Technical Expressions 88
B. Comparison of the Figures shown in this Paper
with those of Census of 1890 91
THE CONDITION OF THE WESTERN FARMER
AS ILLUSTBATED BY THE
ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF A i^EBEASKA
TOWNSHIP.
I.— INTRODUCTION.
The study on which this paper is based was suggested by
the desire of the writer to obtain some actual knowledge of
the true economic condition of the farmers in the western
states. The farmers' movement, culminating in its attempt to
change the policy of the government in many important par-
ticulars, had for its raison d'etre the depressed financial con-
dition of the agricultural classes. Against this position, the
other political parties urged that the financial depression
affected all classes alike, and that in no way did farmers have
greater difficulty in attaining prosperity than persons in other
lines of activity. Realizing the worthlessness of the isolated
examples cited for proof, as well by one side as by the other,
the author undertook the present investigation.
Two ways lie open to one desiring to find an answer to such
a question as that set before us. Either many and varied
statistics for the whole region under consideration may be
collected and examined, or a study in miniature may be made
of some little district which can fairly lay claim to being
t}'pical of the whole region. For the first method, the pres-
ent United States census furnishes masses of figures, the use
of which is of great value. Nevertheless there are certain
grave difficulties connected with this method, not the least
of which is the continual danger of wide-reaching misinter-
pretation, growing out of some little fault or error at the
start. The study of a small district, 'on the other hand, while
8 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [286
avoiding these greater dangers, is only of value if it can be
shown that the district chosen is really representative, so that
what is true of its inhabitants can fairly be predicated in gen-
eral of the inhabitants of all that region about which knowl-
edge is sought. It is this last form of study which has been
adopted in this monograph, with the hope that it may, if
nothing more, supplement the facts shown by other and more
pretentious investigations.
The local causes at the basis of the farmers' movement
differ greatly between the South and the West, as between
other parts of the country, so that in any study these various
sections would need to be kept distinct; and it is to the West
alone, and to that part of the West whose main agricultural
development has taken place within the last twenty-five or
thirty years, that any conclusions drawn in this paper may be
applied. The district chosen for consideration is Harrison
township, in Hall county, Nebraska. Harrison is not only a
political subdivision, but also a congressional survey town-
ship, and so contains just thirty-six square miles. This
paper relates almost entirely to that small area, and to the
conditions which have directly affected it; only enough pre-
liminary matter is inserted to show clearly the relations of
the district with the state in which it lies and the group of
states of which it forms a part.
In weighing the reasons which are now to be given as
indicative of the representative character of the district se-
lected, it must be kept in mind that often the " average case "
is not the real representative one. The true "type" is
sometimes very different from the bare mathematical average.
For example, in such a study as the present one, the crucial
point is not alone such a question as whether the average
amount of mortgages owed by residents of the town is the
same as the average owed in the state as a whole. To dis-
cern a truly typical district, we must go much further than
that and take into consideration the many influencing con-
ditions: in short, we must strike a careful balance between
these conditions.
287] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 9
The following reasons may be instanced among those
which have led to the selection of Harrison township for
study, and which give weight to the claim that it is truly
typical of large portions of our western agricultural states.
The township was settled during the time when the immi-
gration to Nebraska was at its height. It does not lie in the
older settled regions along the Missouri river, nor is it in the
dry and very recently settled lands in the western part of the
state. Its lands are of an average fertility, certainly not better
than the average of good Nebraska uplands. The district
has never been subject to any serious detrimental influences
not common to, or paralleled in, large stretches of territory.
Another point which makes it a fair choice for study is that it
is entirely agricultural. There are no towns within its limits
to disturb in any way the market price of its farms, by giving
them a value for other than agricultural purposes. Never-
theless the market facilities of the township are good, inas-
much as a railway station can be found within from one to
four miles of each of its corners, so that no portion of the
town is more than six or seven miles distant from a ship-
ping point. No railroads pass through the town or nearer
it than the stations referred to. Again, it will be found that
the figures obtained agree, if rightly interpreted, with such
analogous figures for the whole state as the census of 1890
has as yet made kno\^^l.^ Another confirmatory circum-
stance is the marked way in which the yearly changes in the
number of resident owners, as shown in Table I, can be ex-
plained by references to the agricultural conditions prevail-
ing in the various years.
In comparison with a statistical investigation on a large
scale, this form of study has advantage in that we get from
it a better knowledge of the real life of the farmer. Where
the figures are on a very large scale, all sense of the actual
economic life of the individual is lost, and that sense, it may
well seem, is the true object of inquiry and the one from
^ See Appendix B.
10 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [288
which the most benefit can be derived. Again, the detailed
study gives us the best opportunity to investigate the local
causes of changes in financial condition. The causes which
would tend to produce depression among agriculturalists fall
in general into two classes : those due to the general economic
condition of society, and those more directly connected with
tlie local conditions of agriculture. The first class of causes
is entirely without the scope of our inquiries, but in seeking
the facts of the present status of the farmers, we obtain natur-
ally, and in the same process, knowledge of the local condi-
tions and of their effects during the years which the study
covers.
The materials for the study were gathered during the sum-
mer of 1892. For the historical part of the paper, the var-
ious collections of materials for Nebraska history were used,
as were also the documents, speeches, and manuscripts in the
possession of the Nebraska State Historical Society. As a
basis for the study of the township proper, the records of the
United States Land Office at Grand Island, Nebraska, of
the Union Pacific Railway Land Office at Omaha, and of the
office of the County Clerk of Hall county, were exploited.
The personal information as to former residents was col-
lected from old settlers in the township, mainly by personal
interviews at their homes.
II.— COLONIZATION AND HISTORY.
Colonization of Nebraska.
The beginnings of the occupation of Nebraska by white
men are, as would naturally be expected, to be found, not
among agriculturalists, but among traders and trappers. As
early as 1810 the American Fur Company had established a
station on the Missouri river, in what is now known as
Sarpy county; and for many years it had sole possession of
tlie trade of vast stretches of territory. The United States
government guarded with great jealousy the rights of the
native Indian tribes, — Sioux, Poncas, Otoes, Missouris, and
Omalias — and until 1854, when the lands were formally
thrown open to settlers, no white man was allowed to reside
on Nebraska territory without a special permit from the
Secretary of War. Traces are evident of one or two such
permits during 1852, and by the close of 1853 some seven
or eight cabins, occupied \vith the consent of the govern-
ment, could have been found at various points along the
shore of the Missouri.
As it became evident that the territory of Nebraska would
soon be organized and its lands thrown open to settlement,
speculators and adventurers began to gather in the western
part of Iowa, more especially at Council Bluffs and other
river cities. In the first months of 1854 a few of the more
impatient ventured across the river and laid out for themselves
squatters' claims, but they rarely remained longer than the
day or two required to blaze the boundaries of their chosen
pieces of land. During March, 1854, treaties were concluded
with the Omahas and Otoes by which these tribes gave up
their rights to vast tracts of land; and at length, on the 24th
of June, the President, after authorization by the act of Con-
gress creating the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, for-
mally declared the removal of all restrictions as to residence.
12 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [290
And now followed a great rush by the waiting emigrants for
the best claims all along the river, although the land had not
yet been formally opened for pre-emptions. In order to pro-
tect the squatter rights, and later the pre-emption rights,
clubs, or claim associations were founded in the various
river counties, and " club law," dealing out summary punish-
ment to claim-jumpers and others of their ilk, became the
order of the day.' Before the close of 1854 several towns
had been projected, among them Omaha, Florence, Platts-
mouth, and Nebraska City, the opening of the latter having
been celebrated " on the spot," July 4th, 1854.
The air was full of speculation, and the early activities of
the settlers were directed mainly to the advancement of their
civic interests, or in other words, to the sale of comer lots.
At first agriculture was very little thought of, the new-comers
looking upon themselves for the most part as transients, and
Nebraska as their abiding place only until the happy day
when they would have finished the accumulation of small
fortunes, for enjoyment in their eastern homes. In fact,
there seems to have been a pretty general belief that the new
territory was very ill adapted for farming, and that whatever
else it might become, it would at least never be a great agri-
cultural state. Even after the lapse of five or six years farm-
ing was a matter of very minor importance, as can be seen
from the figures of the census of i860. In this year the popu-
lation of Nebraska was 28,841, but only 3982 of these were
reported as engaged in farming; and even of these latter the
greater number were only nominally farmers, so that, on the
authority of Senator Paddock," the area of regularly honestly
cultivated land probably did not at the outside exceed more
than 500,000 acres for the whole territory.' But with the rap-
^ See Transactions Nebraska State Historical Sociey, Vol. II, liere
and there. Also Jesse Maey's Institutional Beginnings in a West-
em State, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. H., No. 7.
''Address before the State Board of Agriculture, Lincoln, Neb.,
Sept. 26, 1878.
' The census of 1860, however, reported 118,789 improved acres
and 512,425 imimproved acres in farms; but its figures are undoubt-
edly too large.
291] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 13
idly increasing security of person and property, and tlie per-
ception of tlie real value and fertility of the soil, this state of
affairs quickly changed; speculators gave way to settlers, and
tlie border line of cultivation advanced rapidly toward the
west. This progress and its conditions will now briefly be
Considered.
As we have noticed, the first emigrants to Nebraska had
no better title to their chosen lands tlian squatters' rights,
and they had to combine and often make use of force to
secure peaceful possession. As this was prior to the time of
the homestead acts,^ the emigrants had to rely mainly on the
pre-emption acts for acquiring lands, and it was not until
1859 that a general public sale was ordered. The progress
of settlement was greatly retarded by the number of specu-
lative claims that had been staked out as soon as entrance to
, the territory had become a possibility ; for a new-comer would
soon find himself forced to go eight or ten miles back from
the river, or pay some speculator an exorbitant price for the
opportunity to settle on the better situated piece of land
which the latter had in his clutches. As a result a large
amount of land remained unimproved in the midst of the
newly opened farms, and permanent damage was done the
country.
During the early part of the fifties there could be found
here and there along the overland trail to the coast, so-called
" ranches " kept by pioneers, typical border characters, whose
greatest pleasures were incident to their remoteness from
civilized life. At these ranches, the wearied wagoner could
rest himself and renew his store of provisions if he so desired,
or could perhaps have necessary repairing done to his wagons.
But as these ranchmen had no thought of permanent resi-
dence — ^the very nature of their occupation, in fact, limiting
their activity to the period prior to the introduction of rail-
ways, — and as they paid practically no attention to farming,
it would not be proper, in summing up the advance of settle-
* See Appendix A.
14: The Condition of the Western Farmer. [292
merits from the point of view of agriculture, to iuQlude them
as early residents; so, when the term "first settler" of any
county is used, it will mean the first actual farmer who
entered upon permanent possession.
In probably all the counties along the Missouri, except
those on the northern boundary of the state, quite a numiber
of inhabitants could have been found by the close of the year
1854; but owing to the character of the people and the con-
ditions of life in a frontier state, almost no farming can have
been attempted before 1856 or 1857. Meanwhile the set-
tlers began to push backward from the river, though the
advance was quite slow. Indian scares were frequent, though
the real danger was comparatively slight. Moreover, an idea
that had gained wide currency was that beyond the Salt Creek,
a stream some fifty miles west of the Missouri, the land was
utterly uninhabitable; that in fact the little stream marked
the beginning of the Great American Desert. But the exper-
ience of an adventurer here and there proving this view fal-
lacious, settlements extended, so that we are safe in saying
that, with one possible exception, every county within eighty
miles of the Missouri had by i860 a few, at least, actual
settlers living within its borders.
The early settlers followed naturally the course of the little
rivers in eastern Nebraska, partly for the sake of the easy
water suppl}^, partly for the shelter of the timber along the
banks, and partly also on account of the easy means of com-
munication thus offered. So also when settlers ventured
further into the interior of the state, the first claims were
placed upon the banks of the streams, while the intervening
country was passed over. Almost the whole state of Ne-
braska is an alternation of valleys and uplands, and almost
invariably the latter were entered upon only after the former
had been pretty thoroughly occupied. The same thing is
to be observed with reference to the Platte river, for at a
very early day settlements had followed it upwards for quite
a distance. It is to be noticed that they followed the river in
preference to the old emigrant trail across the country. The
293] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 15
route of early overland emigrants had not lain along tlie
river, owing to the great curves which the course of the Platte
follows, but had run some distance to the soutli in a more
nearly straight line, and had only begun to follow the Platte
at Fort Kearney, about a hundred and seventy-five miles
from the Missouri. In fact this trail seems to have had no
influence on the course of settlement at all, for, in illustration,
one of the counties through which it passed before reaching
P^ort Kearney seems to have received absolutely no settlers
between the time of the early ranches and the comparatively
late date 1866, though this county itself lay immediately
south of the Platte. Of the counties along the Platte, by
1856 there were settlements in Sarpy, Cass, Douglas, Saun-
ders, Dodge, Colfax, and Platte counties, reaching out over
100 miles, and the following year Nance, Merrick, and Hall
were invaded. In 1858 Buffalo county, too, had settlers.
This brings us to the neighborhood of Fort Kearney, but
beyond this point even the advantages of the neighboring
river did not attract settlers for a number of years, owing
mainly to the idea, of which we have seen illustrations before,
that the limit of good agricultural land had been reached and
that further west dependence could only be put upon stock-
raising. The greatly augmented danger from Indians to
the west of Fort Kearney had also its effect in hindering the
advance of population. In fact, it was only after the build-
ing of the Union Pacific Railroad that any inhabitants but
the ranchmen along the overland trail could be found in all
that stretch of hundreds of miles between the immediate
neighborhood of Fort Kearney and the Rocky Mountains;
and not until 1872 was the first farming, even in the western
part of Buffalo county, attempted.
And here a word may be said about the settlements in the
western part of the state, and that subject be then permanently
dropped; for nothing can be gained from it that will be of
interest in our further investigations. With the exception
of the comparatively rare river valleys, the western third of
the state is sandy, and is in parts composed to a large extent
16 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [294
of sand-hills; and so it has been much better fitted for grazing
purposes than for agriculture. Consequently agricultural
settlements, the only kind with which we are concerned,
date back in many cases only five or six years. The sparse
populations have had great difficulty in withstanding the
partial failures of crops to which they have repeatedly been
subjected; and their term of occupation has been so short,
and the real nature of their lands is yet so imperfectly known,
that a discussion of them would teach us very little of value.
To return now with more of detail to the region of the east-
em Platte, we notice that nearly all the settlements along its
banks, with the exception of those near the Missouri river,
were on the northern side.^ The reason for this is to be
found in the difference of the lay of the land on the two
banks. The bluffs on the south border directly on the river
for long distances, and in consequence, the first settler, with
the whole land before him to choose from, turned to the
north where the rich bottom lands stretch back from five to
twenty miles before reaching the bluffs. To these bottom
lands the settlements were very largely confined for many
years, and in very many cases it was not .until several years
after the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad that the
back lands in these counties were entered upon at all. It
has been shown before that much the same <!onditions
affected the settlement of the bottom lands of the small
streams in the whole eastern part of the state.
During the decade i860 to 1870 settlements in the
eastern counties became much thicker and there was a grad-
ual pushing westward all over the state. In 1870 the rate of
settlements seems to have been greatly accelerated again,
several new counties being entered upon, and the back lands
of the Platte River coi^ ities being to a considerable extent
taken. For several years this rate was kept up and then
settlers were forced, in order to get any land at all, to enter
^ Of the counties previously enumerated, Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge,
Colfax, Platte, Nance, Merrick, part of Hall, and Buffalo, lay to the
north.
295] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 17
the more sandy lands in the western part of the state, which
have already briefly been spoken of.
In order to get a better idea of the way in which these set-
tlements progressed, an outline of the development in one or
two counties may be given.
Seward county lies immediately west of Lancaster county,
in which is situated the capital of the state, and is some sixty
miles west of the Missouri. The first arrivals were in 1859,
when some disappointed gold-seekers on their way back to
the " states " determined to stop in Nebraska and try their
luck there. They established ranches, but did not do farming
at this time. The next comers established ranches in '62,
and in '63 a few more appear. The next year immigration
started out xtvy briskly ; but soon a great Indian scare drove
most of the settlers out of the county to safer parts on the
Missouri, and at the election in the fall only seven votes
were polled. Prior to 1867 the most of the settlements had
been made in the southern part of the county, but now the
location of the state capital at Lincoln, only a few miles away,
gave a great impulse to immigration, and by the close of the
spring of '68 a large proportion of the government land in
the county had been taken. In 1870 the school census
for Seward county showed 782 children of school age, while
the total number of inhabitants was 2953, and there were
some 24,000 acres of land under cultivation. The county
may then be called settled, and it proceeded in its growth
with the various ups and downs incident to agriculture. Be-
tween 1865 and 1875 the assessed value of property increased
from $29,000 odd to $1,597,000; and by 1879 it is said that
one-third of the acreage was actually under cultivation, while
the population had increased to over 11,000.
Taking up now Adams county, which lies in the third tier
of counties west of Seward, we find a very dififerent course.
Though it is now one of the richest and most populous
counties in the state, before the spring of 1870 Adams county
had not even had a ranch of any description ^vithin its bor-
ders. Two facts may be mentioned which indicate the causes
18 The Condition of the Weste^^n Farmer. [296
of the failure to colonize at an earlier date. First, the lands
lay at some little distance south of the Platte river, and so
were out of the direct course of the earliest settlements; and
second, the region was in too great proximity to the favorite
hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians. In March of 1870
two typical plainsmen took claims which they held for about
three years, but then gave them up to get further away from
the settlements, which were becoming too thick to suit them.
The same year saw still other settlers, and in the spring of
'71 a party of Englishmen came in and took claims in the
county. By the fall of this year there was a voting popula-
tion of twenty-nine. From this time on the rate of settle-
ment was so rapid that by the census of 1880 the county had
a population of 10,235.
The life of tlie early settlers of Nebraska, though full of
hardships, had its pleasant aspects, and probably was much
easier than that of the settlers of many of the states. For
one thing, the pioneer stage was everywhere very short, and
the discomforts attendant thereon proportionately reduced.
This may be attributed, from a local point of view, to two
things: first, to the absence of forest lands, this doing away
with the necessity of the clearing process, so that the lands
as they lay could be brought into cultivation with a com-
paratively small outlay of time and money; and second, to
the uniform fertility of the lands, this allowing settlers' farms
to lie contiguous for many miles, thus giving the benefits
of easy mutual assistance. Of course the existence of a
great mass of emigrants ready to flow into whatever region
ofifers them the greatest advantages is a necessary prelim-
inary to such a rapid settlement of any particular state. An-
other influence that may be mentioned, of very great im-
portance for Nebraska, was the railroad building in the state,
especially betv^^een 1866 and 1870 or '"^2.
The early settlers along the Missouri had the advantage of
being near their base of supplies, for Iowa was already quite
well settled, and, as we have seen, owing to the intensely
speculative activity of the time, merchants J?nd towns had
297] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 19
actually preceded farmers in the possession of the land. But
those whose claims were further inland not only felt the dis-
advantage of their location in the ditiiculty of laying in their
supplies and selling their produce, but also in the retarding
of the speed with which they could bring their lands under
cultivation. For instance, the farmer at a distance from the
river was greatly delayed by the always recurring necessity
of having his plow resharpened, a thing which, owing to
his situation, he could not easily and quickly accomplish by
turning it over to a mechanic; he was compelled to stop his
plowing entirely while he awkwardly performed the work, or
else to travel a long distance in order to get it perhaps very
little better done.
The price of clothing was during the early days very high,
and the settler had often to content himself with garments
made of skins. Overcoats, when the settlers w^ere so fortu-
nate as to possess them, were more likely than not such as
had been originally made for the United States army but
had been condemned and rejected by the government.
These, shipped out to the prairies, brought very high figures.
The question of food is of more interest. Com bread and
" r>'e hominy " formed the staples, eked out often by wild
fruits. Melons grew in great abundance and were a source
of refreshment and often of great profit to the pioneer.
Game was frequently obtainable — antelope, the wild goose,
the prairie chicken and the quail. After the first year the
settler's pig or two and his few chickens would have so
increased that he could depend on them to quite an extent
for animal food. Money was very scarce at first, but later
comers usually brought with them a little coin, for which
they would purchase from the older settlers farm produce
for use while getting under way, thus putting the money in
circulation, and giving the first comers the opportunity to
procure needed articles which previously lack of coin had
put beyond their reach.
Whatever the early settler had in the way of provisions he
was liable to be called on at anv time to share with some
20 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [298
still more needy home-seeker who happened to pass his way.
To such, lodging and a meal could not be refused, though to
give them required an appreciable sacrifice, and rarely was it
that any payment was tendered in return. The pioneer was
hotel-keeper and distributer of alms to all the world that
came his way. This, needless to say, was often a serious
drain.
The amount of land granted to the railroad companies in
Nebraska before July ist, 1880, was 6409,376 acres, and this
fact made considerable difference in the settlements after 1864
and '66, the time when the first grants went into effect. For,
although the railroads offered their lands at low rates and on
long time, the settler, if he was qualified, naturally preferred
to enter government land which cost him nothing, and this
led to a less thick but probably more widely extended popula-
tion than would have otherwise been the case. In fact there
is, in many cases, even yet a marked difference between the
number and the condition of settlers on the two classes of
lands.^
Settlement of Hall County.
Hall county, within the limits of which most of the mater-
ial for this paper has been gathered, is one of those counties
lying along the Platte river, which, as we have seen, were in
course of settlement at a comparatively early date. The
Union Pacific Railroad runs through it, and the eastern bor-
der of the county is some one hundred and fifty miles from the
Missouri river by rail, or perhaps twenty-five miles less than
that by a direct line. Somewhere near its southern comer
the several channels of the Platte enter the county, rtmning
through it in a northeasterly direction, and passing out of the
county near the center of its eastern boundary line. The dis-
tance between the north and south channels of the river
varies in this county from two and a half to four and a half
miles. Along the south bank of the river are bluffs, and from
them a rich table-land stretches off to the south.
1 See Part III.
299] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 21
To the north, nearly parallel with the river, and separat-
ing the valley of the Platte from that of the Loup, another
chain of low and rather sandy hills runs through the county,
and the level countr)- between these hills and the blufifs to
the south of the river may properly be called the valley of the
Platte, though a mile or two north of its north channel there
is a slight rise that divides what are known as the " first bot-
tom " and " second bottom " lands.
It was in early July, 1857, that the first settlers reached
the county, the party consisting of thirty-seven persons.
They came under the auspices of a company controlled by
the Washington banking house of Chubbs Bros, and Bar-
rows, their object being not so much agriculture as the found-
ing of a town, to which the company thought — so much were
they under the influence of the speculative fever of the time —
that they could secure the removal of the capital of the United
States in the near future." Unfortunately for the hopes of
the projectors of the enterprise, the banking house went
down under the pressure of the panic of the following year,
and the national capital was permitted to remain undisturbed
at Washington. The immigrants, immediately upon arrival,
staked out claims and put up several log-houses. Only
about fifty acres of land were broken the first year, when the
approach of winter compelled the cessation of work. The
winter was passed under ver}^ great trials, owing to the dis-
tance from supplies and the impassableness of the roads, so
that at times even actual starvation was feared. In the spring
came fresh supplies, and with them renewed ability to labor;
and the work of preparing the soil for cultivation progressed
rapidly. In July of 1858 there arrived a new band of some
twenty persons. Thus far the settlers were almost entirely
Germans, only about five Americans having cast their lot
with the colony. The land on which they settled lay on
^ At this time tlie United States survey had not been extended
beyond Columbus, nor were there any settlements west of that
point.
22 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [300
the " first bottom '" of the Platte. During the first year or
so the struggle to get established was very severe, and had
it not been for the supplies of provisions forwarded by the
original town company, the attempt at colonization might
have been a failure. But in the fall of 1859 the colonists
obtained a contract for supplying the government at Fort
Kearney, some forty miles distant, with two thousand bushels
of corn at $2 a bushel, and this helped the colony in great
measure to become self-supporting. Besides this, many of
the settlers were able, in the intervals of their activity, to
obtain employment at the fort, thus adding to their incomes.
About this time, trade with the emigrants to the gold mines
in Colorado and other western territories became very profit-
able for the settlers; a good cabbage-head would bring as
high as fifty cents, and a watermelon a dollar. In addition
the emigrants would often have lame cattle and young calves
which they were very glad to sell to the settlers at low prices ;
and as such stock could very easily be brought back into
good condition, the profit in the transaction was great.
During 1858 a number of Mormon farms had been opened
along Wood river at a distance of ten or twelve miles from
the original settlement; but these unwelcome residents soon
concluded to move further west and join the remainder of
their brethren in Utah. The part of the county south of
the Platte received its first settlers in i860, when a family
by the name of Martin started a cattle-ranch there, but the
greater danger^ from the Indians kept settlers away and
greatly retarded the development of this region. In the
northern part of the county new-comers slowly but steadily
appeared during the following years and settled down to
farming. In i860 there were 116 residents in the county.
But colonization soon received quite a serious setback from
the withdrawal ' of almost all the United States troops in
^ See p. 21 above.
- At tMs time the Sioux claimed all the western part of Nebraska
south of the Platte as their himting grounds and were very vigilant
in avenging all intrusion, whether by other redskins or by whites.
301] Tlie Condition of the Western Farmer. 23
tlie territory on account of tlie necessities of the Civil
War, This left the colonists almost entirely unprotected,
and as a result tlie Indians became very much bolder
and threatened to drive all the whites out of the country.
In fact, almost all the settlers in the Platte valley fled beyond
the Missouri; but at two or three points, one of which was
the settlement in question, fortifications w^ere erected and so
firm a stand was maintained that no heavy damage was suf-
fered. In Hall county there were several massacres at un-
protected farm-houses, but on the whole comparatively little
harm was done. When the Civil War was over the work of
settlement went on again apace. The building of the Union
Pacific Railroad, which was finished through this part of the
country in 1866, made immigration much easier, and only
with its completion did the first settlers venture off the river
bottoms. But the building of the railroad was by nd means
an unmixed blessing for the cause of colonization, for the
contractors ruthlessly destroyed all the natural timber along
the Platte and other streams; and this timber, little enough
at the start, was very sorely missed, and has only been re-
placed by careful labor for many years in protecting the
regrowth and in planting anew. By 1870, Hall county's pop-
ulation had increased to 1057, of whom about two-thirds
were male; and 5870 acres had been brought under cultiva-
tion. Up to this time all the immigrants without exception
had located their claims near the river on the " first bottom "
lands. The first settler to locate on the " second bottom "
lands did so in the fall of 1870, and the following year a num-
ber of claims were located in that part of the county. The
oldest settlers looked with anything but hopeful eyes on
these attempts to farm the uplands. In fact, most felt sure
that agriculture on such lands was an impossibility, and they
predicted that the attempts could result in nothing but failure.
The writer is credibly informed by one of the oldest settlers
that year after year the weather was so dry that on the
" second bottom " lands the grass was, by the middle of July,
in a fit condition for prairie fires, nor could it after that time
24 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [302
be used for pasturage except on the very banks of the small
streams. But this condition has been materially changed
by the settlement of the country and the increase of timber.
How little justification in fact these early predictions had will
be seen with the progress of this paper.
All the land thus far occupied had been " government
land,"' and, indeed, before 1870 there had been only three
sales of "railroad land" in the county. During 1872, how-
ever, practically all the available "government land" in the
county was entered, and though after that time here and there
an entry on an abandoned piece of land was made, neverthe-
less one who wished thereafter to settle in Hall county had to
depend either on " railroad land " or on purchasing from
older settlers. Since then the county has continuously in-
creased in population and has had its fair share of prosperity.
It has suffered from the grasshoppers, felt the impetus of years
of good crops and the discouragement of years of crop failure,
and has come out, it must be owned, with its fair share of
mortgages. The population was, according to the census of
1890, 16,513, of whom"8454 were residents of city or villages,
the remaining 8059 being residents of farms. With this we
can dismiss the consideration of the county as such; for all
that is important in the economic history of the farming
classes after this time will be brought out as fully as possible
in the following more detailed account treating of Harrison
township.
Economic History of Harrison Township.
The boundaries of Harrison Township (or Precinct, as it
was called before the county adopted township organization)
coincide exactly with those of the congressional township
known as township eleven, range eleven, west of the sixth
principal meridian, and thus it contains very nearly thirty-six
^ For this and other terms used in a rather teclinical sense through-
out tliis paper, as well as for a brief account of the ways in which
a settler could acquire title to the different classes of lands we are
to consider, see Appendix A.
303] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 25
square miles. Its southeast corner is, as nearly as may be, the
geographical center of Hall county. The main channel of
the Platte river lies, at its nearest point, about five miles
distant, while the northwestern corner of the township is
some thirteen or fourteen miles distant from the river. The
lands are what we have designated in this paper as " second
bottom " lands. The surface is very slightly undulating, so
slightly indeed that one who was not a close observer might
call it an almost perfect level. Through the northwestern
quarter of the town runs a small stream, Prairie Creek, and
there is one other streamlet which contains running water
only at certain times of the year. The fertility of the land is,
on the whole, of a very high grade; this matter, however,
will receive more careful attention hereafter.
The first settlement in Hall county, on that part of the
" second bottom " lands which is drained by Prairie Creek,
had been made in the year 1871, but it was not until 1872 that
a claim of any sort was taken within the limits of Harrison
township. By the end of that year, however, entries of some
kind had been made on all of the government land therein.
The first entry was in the latter part of March, when two pre-
emptions were filed on quarter sections in the southeastern
part of the township. In April nine entries were made, most
of them homesteads, near the two claims taken in March;
two, however, were pre-emptions, placed in the western part of
the town by ranchers who hoped, while controlling under their
own claims but a few hundred acres, to be able to have the
use of many thousands of acres of unclaimed land around
them for grazing their cattle. Needless to say, the rapidity
of settlement surprised these men so greatly that they gave
up their claims in disgust and moved farther away. In May
there were six entries; in June, eleven; in July, six; in
August, twelve; in September, nineteen; in October, three;
and in November, two. This includes, it must be remem-
bered, only the first entry on each tract of ground, the total
number of such entries being seventy; and as the government
land originally available for entry consisted of sixty-four
26 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [304
quarter-sections, the average number of acres taken on each
entry was 146.3.
Of these original entries, fourteen were pre-emptions, forty-
seven were homesteads, and nine were soldiers' homestead
declaratory statements, intended to mature in due time into
homesteads proper, — all but four, in fact, doing so. It is
proper, then, to say that there were fourteen pre-emptions as
against fifty-six homesteads; that is, four-fifths of all entries
were homesteads. This shows, at least, the relative estima-
tion in which the two ways of taking land were held. It
might at first sight seem that the taking of a homestead indi-
cated that the settler came with the intention of residing
permanently, but did not have sufficient means to purchase
the land he desired, even at the very low prices demanded by
the government; thus it would follow that four-fifths of the
entries were made by settlers who were lacking the means
necessary for pre-emption. But such a conclusion must be
looked at with caution, for in considering the individual cases
we find that here and there a well-to-do " speculator "^ took
a homestead, while on the contrary a pre-emption was occa-
sionally taken by one whose possessions were as nearly nil as
they well could be, and whose hopes for paying up on a pre-
emption must have been based entirely on some wild notion
of fabulous crops in the first years. Of the fourteen pre-emp-
tions mentioned above, only one was paid up, that one being
one of the two taken by the ranchmen Avhom we have spoken
of before. Three men relinquished their pre-emptions to
take homesteads on the same land, and four relinquished in
order to take timber-claims on the same land; the remaining
four gave up their holdings in the township altogether and
* The term " speculator," as used liere and at other places in this
paper, always refers to residents. It includes both those who took
government land and resided thereon just long enough to " pi'ove
up," and those who, coming later and purchasing land from the
railroad company or from other settlers, had a speculation as their
prime motive, but who really made their living out of the farms for
one or more years, while waiting for an opportunity to sell at a
profit.
305] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 27
moved away. This relinquishment of pre-emptions occurred
almost entirely in the fall of '74, when the time given by law
for " proving up " had expired, and the holders found them-
selves unable to pay the amounts required to complete their
title under the pre-emption laws. It must be remembered
that this land being within the Union Pacific ten-mile limit,
pre-emptors were obliged to pay the government the double
minimum price, $2.50 per acre.
Facts given in Appendix A will show how it sometimes
happened tliat several entries were made upon the same tract
of land. To illustrate the number sometimes so made, we
may take the case of the northwest quarter of section
eighteen in this township, on which ten entries were made,
the first in '72 and the last in '82.
The last entry made on government land in the township
was in February, 1884. In all 159 entries had been made, of
which ninety-seven were homesteads, fourteen soldiers' home-
stead declaratory statements, twenty-five pre-emptions, and
twenty-three timber claims.
We have noticed above the number of entries made on
land in the various months. By referring to these figures it
will be evident that the number of entries in August and
September, 1872, formed nearly half of the total number in
that year. Now, many of those who made entries at this
time did not actually enter into possession of the land until
the following spring, and, evidently, those who took pos-
session in the fall could do little more than get some kind of
habitation in readiness, and a very little, if any, breaking
done, before winter set in and put a stop to work. So their
first year saw, practically, no farming undertaken.
Those not familiar with the subject sometimes think of
the conditions of colonization under our present land laws as
having been of such a character that the empty-handed settler
could, through the mediation of the government, soon be-
come the possessor of a well-equipped farm. But a very little
reflection shows us that the gift of the soil is by no means
all that is needed as the foundation for a farm. To convert
$5o.oo
500.00
200.00
150.00
100.00 $1000.00
28 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [306
the raw prairie into a habitable and income-producing farm
is not an easy task, and quite a little capital is needed to do it
satisfactorily. Prof. Rodney Welch makes the following
estimate of the necessary expenses:
Registering, etc
Horses and implements .
Furniture, small stock, etc. .
House (sod), stables and seed
Breaking forty acres sod
To this must be added the cost of sustenance for self and
family during the year, or perhaps two years, which inter-
vened before regular crops could be raised. The country
being new, little work could be found by which the income
could be helped out. It would be perfectly safe to say that
the ordinary immigrant had very much less means than the
amount mentioned, and was much hindered in his work by
his lack of sufficient capital. Those who came out to their
claims with practically no capital were usually forced to leave
before much time had passed, though here and there a pros-
perous farmer is to be found who started out with not even a
team with which to plow his land.
There were several things which tended to lighten the bur-
dens of the settlers. One of these which helped them in
many cases was their previous ser\ice in the army, for a very
large proportion of the settlers had taken part in the Civil
War. The amount of time spent in the army is deducted
from the five years' residence on the land which is otherwise
required of the "homesteader" before he can acquire title
to his " claim." Besides this advantage, a pension gave to
many the wherewithal on which to live until they could raise
their first good crops. Much trouble and some expense was
saved the settlers of Harrison township by the fact that they
were located so near the government land ofifice. The fact,
too, that they were within a few miles' distance of lands that
had been under cultivation for ten or fifteen years had a very
1 The Fonim, Vol. VIII., No. 5.
307] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 29
important influence; for the new settler could, in conse-
quence, find near at hand tlie grain and other supplies which
he needed during his first year's residence until he could
raise crops for himself; and as the cost of transportation of
such commodities was avoided, the amount which he would
have to expend for support in these years was much less than
would othenvise have been the case.
Another tiling of ver}^ great importance, in many cases, was
the simultaneous settlement of former neighbors or acquaint-
ances in one locality, for they could render many mutual ser-
vices which the lone settler was precluded, to a great extent,
from receiving. Especially was this true when several
brothers or a father and his sons came together and took
" claims " side by side ; and where the father had well-grown
minor sons whose continuous services he could require, his
possibility for prosperity was still more enhanced.
There were certain hardships to which the first settlers on
the prairies were peculiarly liable, one of the most dreaded
being the prairie fires, which, during some seasons of the year,
frequently threatened certain destruction of house and home
as well as crops. Another thing which caused much suffer-
ing and loss in the early times — one that has repeatedly been
brought to the writer's notice — was the fact of residence at
long distance from a physician. The disadvantage in this
was twofold: first, the inability to get medical attendance
promptly, and secondly, the great cost of it when obtained;
a heavy bill was speedily incurred and bore a discouragingly
large proportion to the scanty cash income during the first
years of settlement.
But by all means the greatest hindrance during the early
years, and one that afifected all settlers alike, was the grass-
hopper pest. Though the harm done by these insects will be
considered in detail when we come to examine the financial
history of the settlers year by year, yet the grasshoppers were
such an important economic factor in Nebraska that a brief
sketch of their history there seems advisable. The calopte7ii
spreti, or "mountain locusts," were first seen in small num-
30 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [308
bers in 1862; again in '64 and '65, and in '66 and '68 they
were seen, but did little harm. In '69 in certain sections,
as in Hall county, they destroyed the whole crop. The habit
of the insects is to soar high in the air in immense swarms,
and from time to time to pounce down on a field, often strip-
ping it bare of all vegetation before continuing tlieir flight
The grain most commonly devoured was com. After '69
the pests were not seen in central Nebraska till '73, and
though in this year many families suffered very severe
losses, yet the average crop for the whole state was fair, and
prices of grain were not greatly raised. Hall county was
fortunate enough to escape them almost entirely at this time.
In the last days of July and the first of August, '74, they suc-
ceeded in devouring almost all the growing corn, and those
settlers on the frontier whose " sod corn '" had been their
sole crop, and those farther east who had concentrated almost
all their labor on that one crop, were sometimes reduced to a
condition of absolute want. The years '75 and '76 saw the
return of the " hoppers," as the settlers familiarly called them,
but in neither year was the destruction so great as before.
It will be well to discuss in this place the standard of living
of the early settler and its relation to his possibility of finan-
cial progress. It is true the early settler possessed very little
property, but on the other hand his needs were few. A sod
house gave him shelter, and after the first year his farm mr-
nished him most of the food he required. The standard of
living was practically the same for all the settlers, so that with
the purchase of a little clothing and a few groceries, one
could live comfortably, as the times went, on a very small
outlay of cash. True, it was a hard life to live, but as a better
was well-nigh impossible, and as there was always bright
hope of improvement in the future, the settler was content.
Rivalry being so largely lacking, the forces which would tend
to raise the standard of living were very weak, and all the in-
' Sod crops are raised on prairie which has only just been
broken. They are usually very light and easily destroyed by a
bad season.
309] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 31
centives were for the farmer to invest upon his farm any sur-
pkis he might have, instead of consuming it in a less directly-
productive manner. The great difficulty of getting credit
at the time furthered such investment, for capital was sorely
needed upon the farms, and practically the only way for the
farmer to put it there was by carefully avoiding all expendi-
tures for living that were not absolutely necessary, and so
saving the necessary amount, or what part of it he could.
This form of investment, in turn, gave a certain degree of
prosperity ; and it may well be that the man who could main-
tain his footing under the circumstances which we have
described, would not be able to prevent loss at the present
day, when the conditions are so different; for a much higher
standard of living must to-day be maintained, and it is now
comparatively easy to fall into the habit of borrowing until
all hope of retrieving one's fortunes is gone. This difference
may to some extent account for the fact, which we shall see
later, that fewer of the farmers were ruined in the early years
by what we may call the prevalent agricultural conditions,
than have, in recent years, failed in a similar manner.
The matters that we have mentioned present some of the
salient features of the economic conditions that surroimded
the first settlers. Bearing these facts in mind, let us now
proceed to consider with more or less detail the financial con-
dition of the farmers during the first few years after the set-
tlement of the township w^as begun; and from that we can
pass to a more hasty sketch of the changes from year to
year until the present time.
Tlie number who took claims or bought railroad land dur-
ing 1872, and who followed up the taking of their claims by
actual residence, was sixty-one; but probably many of these
were only nominally residents until the follo\\'ing year. In
1873 the number of residents increased to seventy-three,
thirteen new men coming in and one man leaving. Of the
newcomers nine entered government land; three contracted
for the purchase of railroad land, and one purchased his
land of a non-resident holder of railroad contracts. The
32 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [310
assessment rolls for '73 show no one in this township
taxed as the owner of land, but twenty-two persons were
assessed as the owners of personal property. During this
year none but " sod crops " were raised, and, fortunately,
the grasshoppers, so bad throughout the state as a whole,
did scarcely any damage to the crops in Harrison township,
so that the farmers were permitted to gather in whatever
grain the newly opened soil could furnish. The one man
who left during this year is said to have been a gambler
and speculator who had come to the country with some
vague idea of making a fortune in the immediate future,
but who soon tired of even his nominal residence on a farm
and sought more agreeable fields.
Though the grasshoppers did considerable damage in the
state as a whole during 1873, ^^ we have seen, yet their rav-
ages were not so great as to cause very high prices for grain
in the spring of the following year; nor was immigration to
the part of the state which we are considering materially
hindered thereby. In fact, in 1874 the number of arrivals in
the township was larger than in 1873. Seventeen new settlers
came, of whom nine entered upon government land, five on
railroad land, and three purchased of older settlers. In this
year we find taxes levied for the first time on real property;
while thirty-eight persons were taxed on personal property.
Owing to the grasshoppers and severe hot winds, the crops
this year were very much damaged, the corn being wholly
lost, and the small grains yielding less than one-half of an
average crop. In consequence many persons were left
entirely without means of support except such as they could
obtain from the relief associations.
During 1874, five men gave up their holdings in Harrison
township. Two of these were speculators ; one lost his farm
through legal complications consequent on mortgaging his
personal property too often; a fourth, having no capital, had
made no improvements on the land on which he was nomi-
nally resident, and had gained his support by working for
neighbors, and, although he left as poor as he well could be.
311] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 33
he caiinot be said to have failed in farming. The fiftli had
completed his title to a homestead before selling, having been
able to do this by taking advantage of tlie special privileges
in time, etc., that the law gave to former soldiers. He had
poor health and lacked in energy; the bad crops quickly dis-
couraged him, so tliat he lost confidence in the country and
its resources. Having an opportunity to do so, he willingly
sold his farm and returned to his native state of Michigan to
work in the more healthful pineries. Thus far, therefore,
we find only one man whose departure can in any sense be
said to have been caused, or even accelerated, by unfavorable
conditions of soil or climate.
During 1875 prices of grain went higher than ever, owing
to the crop failure of the preceding year, com being sold at
over $1 a bushel; and this affected the new settler in that in
most cases he was compelled to buy grain for his own use.
The bad years seem finally to have had their eflfect on immi-
gration, for in 1875 no new settlers entered the township,
while five either sold out or abandoned tl\eir claims and left
the country. More than this, if we can place any dependence
on the tax lists, there were this year but twenty-two persons
in the township owning taxable personal property; although
the number of persons to whom real estate was assessed had
increased from one to thirteen.
Without considering the following years in such detail,
it can be seen by reference to Table I. in what way the num-
ber of resident farmers owning their land^ has changed.
* For the purpose of this paper all claimants or contractors will
be treated as owners; and in Table I. the acquisition of claims under
the land laws, or the making of a conti'act for the purchase of rail-
road lands, is included with the actual purchases under the head of
" purchasing," while the alienation of the settlers' interests, either
by abandonment or relinquishment of claims, or by assignment or
cancellation of railroad contracts, is included under the head of
" seUiQg." It must be remembered that especially during the past
few years the number of rented farms has constantly increased,
and that the table does not show the total number of cultivated
farms, but includes only those which have been cultivated by resi-
dent owners. It is perhaps needless to add that the figures refer
to heads of families, not to individuals, in residence.
34
The Condition of the Western Farmer. [312
The first two columns show the changes in ownership
occurring each year among resident owners; the third
column, the number at the close of each year who had ever
been resident owners and still owned the land. After deduct-
ing the number shown in the fourth column as moving away
without selling, we have left in the fifth column the number of
owners, at the end of each year, who were actually occupying
their own farms.^
I.— RESIDENT OWNERS.
Resident during part or all of term of
ownership.
Moved
out of
Township
(still hold
title).
Total
owners in
Number
Purchasing.
Number
Selling.
Total
Owning.
actual
residence.
1872
3
4
5
61
13
17
1
5
5
61
73
85
80
3
61
73
85
77
6
7
8
9
80
2
5
9
20
9
8
7
4
10
5
74
72
77
87
91
1
1
1
71
68
72
83
85
1
2
3
4
5
1
7
7
15
4
3
6
1
9
3
89
90
96
102
103
1
83
83
89
95
96
6
7
8
8
90
3
4
4
3
3
5
5
3
7
4
101
100
101
97
96
1
1
94
93
93
89
87
1
2
1
2
9
6
88
84
1
78
74
190
106
84
10
74
* In this connection, tlie following table, indicating the average
length of time during which resident owners have retained title to
the land which they occupied, may be of interest:
DURATION OF OWNERSHIP BY RESIDENTS.
On
Government
Land.
Ou
Railroad
Land.
Purchasers from
other than Rail-
road Companies.
Average for
all Residents.
Men who have
sold
7.4 years
7.5 years
6.0 years
7.0 years
Men who still
own
17.8 years
14.6 years
7. 6 years
12.0 years
313] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 35
We observe that the number of such owners increased
rapidly until '74, at which time there were more o^vners in
residence than there are now; that it then decreased almost
as rapidly, owing to the successive crop failures, until 'yy.
With '78 began a new rise in the number of such inhabitants,
which progressed steadily, though with a slight break in '81,
until '85, when the number of resident owners reached its
highest point. For three years longer the number remained
almost stationary, but by '89 it had begun to fall again, until
now there are hardly more owners in residence than in '73.
We are able to trace a very close connection between the
number of resident owners in the various years and the
climatic and crop conditions/ The number of such owners
increased on the wave of immigration until 1875, but a
complete cessation of settlement was caused in that year
by the grasshopper pest of the preceding seasons, and, in
fact, the same cause was at the basis of the continued
decrease in the number of resident owners, which lasted
through ^yy. The crop of 1876, wherever it was not destroyed
by grasshoppers, and the crop of ^yy throughout the whole
state were exceptionally good; and with the good crops
came a renewed immigration to the state. Moreover,
by 1878 the chances to take government land were pretty
thoroughly exhausted, except in those parts of the state in
^ The connection is so close as to do much to justify the claim
that Harrison township is reaUy typical of large sections of coun-
try. It will be at once seen that unfavorable general conditions,
such as grasshoppers or drouth, have within a year or so after
their occurrence almost completely stopped immigration, and that
they also drive settlers out of ilie township; that unfavorable local
conditions, such as hail, have not hindered immigration— for they
are looked on rather as accidents than as properties of the coun-
try—but that they have often caused the failure and departure of
former resident owners. We may add that unfavorable conditions,
whether local or general, cause emigration from the township in
tAvo ways: first, by completely discouraging the farmer with his
prospects, in which case the full effect may not be seen for several
years; or, second, by inflicting on some already heavily burdened
settler such a severe loss of crops that further struggle for pros-
perity becomes at once impossible.
36 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [314
which the sandy soil or the roughness of the land was a
drawback, or in which it seemed that without irrigation
success in agriculture would be very doubtful. This indi-
cates another reason why the number of settlers in the
township should so greatly increase at this time, the immi-
grants often turning back from the frontier and preferring
to purchase railroad lands in tried parts of the state near
the means of transportation, rather than to take from the
government free land the value of which was very uncer-
tain. We must here remember the fact, indicated in another
plac^, that the settler who took government land really
needed almost the same amount of capital in order to bring
his " claim " well under cultivation as was required by the
purchaser of railroad land on long time. In 1878 the crops
throughout the state were very good, but hail caused almost
total destruction of grain over at least half of Harrison
township; and here we can observe the effect of unfavorable
local conditions; for the number of newcomers in '79 was
not at all affected by the losses of the previous year, being
in fact greater than in any other year since 1872; but the
number of removals was affected, being in 1879 much
greater than the average. The temporary cessation of im-
migration during 1881 must be laid to the severe drouth of
1880 and the consequent crop failure. During the next five
or six years crops were heavy and prices were good, and in
connection with this we notice the steady increase in the
number of resident owners. The decrease in the number of
such owners in late years must partly be attributed to the
removal of prosperous farmers and partly to the removal
of those who had met with failure — ^just in what propor-
tion will better be seen at a later stage of this paper when
we have more data before our consideration.
Table 11.^ contains the number of purchases or entries,
and of sales of lands in the township during the various
^In this table, for the sake of simplicity, purchasers of school
lands are included imder the third subhead.
315] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
37
years, and is to a certain extent supplementary to the pre-
ceding table. It gives, however, in addition, data for dis-
covering the causes which led to the taking of land in dif-
ferent ways at different times. Separate columns show the
number of those settlers of each year who are still resident
o^^^lers, and those who have since sold and moved away.
II. — Purchases and entries made each year, ivith number of
such purchases and claims since sold or relinquished, and
number still retained by original purchaser or claimant.
.13 .
On Government Land.
On Railroad Land.
Purchased of other
than Railroad
1 Company.
3-13
O u
u o
No. of
entries
each
year.
Have
since
sold or
relin-
quish'd
Still
hold.
No. of
pur-
chas'rs
each
year.
Have
since
sold.
Still
hold.
No. of
pur-
chas'rs
each
year.
Have
since
sold.
Still
hold.
1872
3
4
5
57
9
9
40
8
7
17
1
2
4
3
5
1
2
4
3
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
6
7
8
9
80
1
3
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
15
3
1
1
3
7
4
8
3
1
3
6
1
3
3
3
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
1
2
7
7
13
4
3
4
4
2
4
3
9
2
6
7
8
9
90
3
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
2
4
3
3
1
2
1
2
1
2
86
60
26
39
19
20
65
27
38
Now, remembering the fact that those listed as entering
government lands in the later years — say from '75 to '85 —
had, to quite an extent, the character of purchasers, it is evi-
dent that the taking of government land, as such, was almost
38 Tlie Condition of the Western Farmer. [316
exclusively the characteristic of the first three years of set-
tlement. This will be still clearer when we consider the fact
that several of those who appear as taking railroad land
during these years, also owned government land which ad-
joined their new tracts, though just outside the limits of the
township. The others who bought railroad land during
these first three years did so, we may presume, either on
account of the exceptionally good quality of the particular
piece of land chosen, or for the purpose of being near
friends, or because it seemed better to the individual settler
to have the advantages of residence in a settlement a few
years old, than to go out upon the still newer frontier. The
largest number of settlements on railroad land occurred in
'78 and '79, immediately after the effects of a renewed period
of good crops had begun to be felt; between a half and two-
thirds of all the purchases of such lands being made in these
two years. During these years several homesteads and pre-
emption entries were made on odd-numbered sections, it be-
ing thought that the railroad title thereto had been forfeited;
but soon the United States Supreme Court decided that
the claim of the railroad company was still good, and these
entries of course came to nought. Since that time the great
majority of settlers have been obliged to buy their lands of
former individual owners.
Let us now briefly consider the various causes for selling
or surrendering claims. From Table III. can be seen in the
first column the number of owners who left owing to causes
which can be classed together as " Prevalent agricultural
conditions." All who left the country after unsuccessful
attempts at farming, and whose troubles cannot be traced
to some definite cause which would have afifected them in like
manner if occurring in one of the older states, are put in this
column. We have already seen that by 1874 there had been
only one man to be so classified. In the other columns are
put those who left owing, as nearly as can be ascertained, to
the causes enumerated. It has been a matter of the greatest
difficulty to ascertain with exactness what were the reasons in
317] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
39
each case which caused the individuals to leave, and often
there is a plurality of causes, preventing easy classification.
But each case has been considered carefully and the results
are approximately correct.
III.— CAUSES FOR SELLING OR SURRENDERING CLAIMS.
1.— Owing to
prevalent
agricultural
conditions.
Il.-Saies by
those who had
bought in hopes
of an advance.
III.— Failure to
improve or
cultivate the
land.
-a
®
o o o
l.2|
1-1
s
1
>
o
O h
O i^
1- o
o
B ai 01
1
§
1872
3
4
5
1
1
2
1
3
2
1
5
5
6
7
8
9
80
1
1
2
1
2
2
3
1
14
4
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
1
4
8
7
4
10
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
3
6
1
9
3
6
7
8
9
90
2
1
2
19
1
1
1
3
2
3
3
5
5
3
7
4
1
2
2
1
2
2
2
18
9
6
9
16
7
16
7
106
Column I. — In regard to those in the first column, it
wll be noticed first that the great majority of the cases
occur in comparatively late years. This is something of a
surprise, as one would naturally expect to find the con-
ditions of the early settlement less favorable for permanence
of residence than those prevailing later.^ One thing which
^ The only advantage wMch the settlers of Harrison townhip had
over the settlers In most other parts of the state consisted in their
nearness to tlie older settled district on the river bottom, the influ-
ence of which has already been discussed.
40 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [318
may have had its influence on this fact is the low standard
of living which prevailed during the early years and which
we have discussed above.
The first man here listed leaving in '74 would probably
have stayed had his health been better and his energy con-
sequently greater. The next one, in '76, was a hard worker,
though with very small capital; after repeated crop failures
he became so discouraged that he gave up his land and
moved away. The case occurring the following year is
almost exactly similar, except that a general tendency toward
shiftlessness plays quite a large part in the failure to raise
good crops. Of those leaving in '82, one had really left his
claim a few years before under circumstances similar to the
second case named above, but did not sell until this year;
the other had come in '79 with a small capital of, say $500,
and had begun to open up a piece of railroad land, but find-
ing that he could not meet his payments, he moved back to
his old home to resume work at his trade and allowed his
contracts to be canceled. The case of '84 was similar to
the first one of '82. Of the two who thus lost their farms
in '88, one was an original settler on government land, who
kept steadily running behind till he was forced to sell his
farm to pay his debts ; the other had settled on railroad land
in '78, and what ^\^th poor management and bad crops got
into such a financial condition that he was forced to sell
and had practically nothing left. The six cases remaining
in this column, who left during '90, '91 and '92, were, with
one exception, all purchasers from other individuals. No
doubt the serious drouth of 1890 had much to do with
accelerating their ruin. One of these had too little capital to
enable him to pay up for his farm, and so had to give it up ;
he is now a renter in the same precinct; the second and third
were at start moderately well ofif, but ran through every-
thing and are now renters; the fourth was still better oflf at
the start, but got into debt to everybody and so lost his land ;
the fifth, after twelve years' residence on and cultivation of
an eighty-acre fann, found himself considerably behind-
319] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 41
hand and sold out to move farther west, where free govern-
ment land was to be had; the sixth and last started with a
comparatively large capital, say $4000, and in six years had
gotten rid of it all.
We note, tlien, that the settlers leaving in this general con-
dition of impoverishment in the early years did so mainly
because tlieir continual loss of crops had thoroughly dis-
couraged them with the prospects of the country, if, indeed,
it had not made their further attempts at farming absolutely
impossible; that there then follow several who had to give
up because of unwise attempts to bring under cultivation
railroad or other land with too small capital; and that lastly
we have a class of men, mainly later purchasers, who fail and
lose their farms owing to economic conditions, the cause of
which is not apparent on the surface.
Column II. — This column includes all speculators, as the
term is described on page 26, note. We see that about half of
the men whose prime purpose in farm residence was specula-
tive, and who have since sold, had sold within the first five
years. Of those who entered government land with this
object in early years, most sold their land quickly; two or
three have only recently sold, while a few still own. The
remainder of those listed as selling in recent years belong
to the class of comparatively late purchasers, as previously
described.
Column III. — ^Those who did little or nothing on their
land. These men came with the intention of farming, but
owing to lack of capital, or attracted by opportunities to
make good wages at other trades or occupations, they left
after short residences. It is seen that all such cases occurred
in the early years of settlement.
Column IV. — Those who left owing to complications
other than those arising from their attempts at farming.
Among such troubles may be mentioned becoming entan-
gled in civil lawsuits; becoming surety for and having to
pay the debts of another; speculating in cattle; committing
crimes or misdemeanors, etc. Such cases occurred with
42 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [320
great regularity, and it is evident were not dependent, to
any extent, upon the characteristics of the special year or
period.
Column V. — Here are included all those who died while
resident owners of land witliin the township.
Column VI. — Those who, after a more or less successful'
career in Harrison, moved to better farms, or farms that
suited them better. Most of these went to other parts of
the county or to other counties in Nebraska where they
could get larger tracts of land, or could be near relatives or
friends; often the wife's desire to be near her relatives was
the cause of moving. A few moved back to their old homes
further east, mainly Ohio or Iowa.
Column VII. — Those who moved to cheaper farms. Part
of them left because they recognized that their original cap-
ital was insufficient to initiate and carry on the farming of
the land which they had ; part of them because of failing for-
tunes which they hoped to retrieve by a fresh start somewhere
else. Some of these went further west and took homesteads
from the government.
Column VIII. — Those who have removed to towns or
villages. Under this head are included the few whose capital
was such that they could live comfortably on the income to be
derived from its judicious investment; also those who have
entered upon business as small merchants or saloon-keepers ;
or who have preferred the opportunities offered them by
residence in towns to pursue trades with which they were
conversant, where they could at the same time find pleas-
anter social life and better education for their children. In
all cases they are men who can be ranked as having been
fairly successful farmers. As would be expected, they are
almost all found toward the close of the period \ve are now
considering.
^ This term must be understood as used in comparison with the
careers of the other farmers of tlie township. Just what the meas-
ure of success was will be discussed in the Concluding Remarks.
321] The Condition of the ^^estern Farmer. 43
What we learn from the facts in these latter columns simply
confirms our former ideas of the condition prevailing in the
various years. We need only add to the summary given
above the remark that farming in this township seems to
have been at its best in the middle part of the period that
has elapsed since colonization began. After the drawbacks
attending the first settlement were past, the prosperity of
the settlers was at its highest point, and in the later years,
while the older settlers have in the main increased their
wealdi, but at a much slower rate than before, yet those who
have come in as purchasers from the older settlers have,
almost without exception, fallen behind rather than gained
in their net wealth.
Land Values,
When Harrison township was first settled, land in limited
quantities could be purchased from the government by actual
setders for $2.50 an acre. At the same time the Union
Pacific Railroad was asking $4 an acre for its lands. As the
government land was all so quickly taken, and as sales were
made by the railroad company at its own prices, we can con-
sider the actual value of the lands from 1872 to 1874 to have
been about $4 an acre. During the two or three years fol-
lowing 1874 there was absolutely no sale for farming land, but
after immigration began again in 1878, the railroad price may
be considered as indicative of the actual marketable value of
the lands. In '78 and '79, $5 and $6 per acre were the cur-
rent prices. From 1880 to 1884 land of the average quality
brought from $6 to $8 per acre. These were the prices, of
course, for unimproved land sold on long time and easy
terms. A settler who wished to sell for cash would get very
much less, unless the improvements represented a substan-
tial sum. With the exception of two or three years prior to
1 891 or '92, land has, since 1880, steadily increased in value,
though usually it has been of rather slow sale, because owners
have habitually asked prices for it above what purchasers
were willing to pay. At the present time, land with good
44 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [322
average improvements will sell with comparative readiness
for about $25 an acre, though owners often claim that they
would refuse any offer of less than $30 to $35 an acre.
Renting of Farming Lands.
Until quite recently the usual rent of farming land has been
one-third of the produce, and there has always been plenty of
land to be obtained upon such terms. But within the last
two or three years the demand for farms has very greatly in-
creased, and there has been a corresponding increase in the
rent. Owners are beginning to ask for their farms either
two-fifths of the produce, or a cash rent of from $1.50 to
$2.25 for each acre of plow-land. In 1892 about four-fifths of
the rented land was rented on shares, and the remainder for
cash. In the same year, of the farms rented, about two-thirds
were rented to tenants who resided on the lands; while the
remaining one-third was rented to neighbors.
Credit.
There are in general four ways in which the farmers have
made use of the capital of others. These are, first, by obtain-
ing credit with the retail dealers with whom they trade; sec-
ond, by borrowing with real estate security; third, by borrow-
ing with chattel security (and this includes most of the debt
on agricultural implements, for the part of the price of such
implements which is not paid in cash is usually secured by
mortgage on the machinery itself) ; and fourth, by borrowing
with unsecured promissory note or with personal security.
The first method is relatively unimportant, as the total
amount of credit so obtained has necessarily been quite small.
Let us then pass to the consideration of the three other forms.
When the township was settled, money could only be bor-
rowed on chattel security, and was very difficult to obtain
even at the high rates then offered and demanded; for capi-
talists were few, and the condition of the borrower was such
as to warrant only the smallest line of credit. Moreover, the
insecurity of the loan made the interest required very high.
323] Tlie Condition of tJie Western Farmer. 45
But in time real estate became of importance as security.
The agent of the first company that loaned money upon real
estate in this part of Nebraska appeared about 1875, and
twelve per cent was the rate of interest demanded, with a
bonus of from ten per cent to twenty-five per cent for com-
mission. The rates have gradually lowered; in 1880 they
were eight per cent interest and two per cent commission;
then seven and two; later, seven and one; and now the
current rate is six and one, while a certain large life
insurance company will make all good loans of over
$2000 that are desired at six per cent without commission.
But for a long time the chattel mortgage held its o^vn
and was the form of security regularly in use for borrow-
ing money; even tlie most well-to-do did not hesitate to
allow such mortgages to appear on record against them.
This has changed to a certain extent, however, and real
estate or personal security is coming to be given in pref-
erence by the more prosperous farmers. Chattel mortgages
are still frequently given by cattle-feeders as security for their
extra purchases of stock for winter feeding, but even in this
line of business they are less common than formerly. The
amount of money now borrowed on personal security, or
simply on individual note, is not large, for only the more
prosperous can so borrow, and they are just those who want
to and who do borrow the least. I was allowed to examine
the books of a bank that does perhaps the greater part of the
business of this township, and found only an insignificant
amount of this last variety of paper.
Those few settlers who were able to borrow of a father or
of other relatives in the eastern states had a very great ad-
vantage, especially in the first years of residence, as in trying
times they could count on aid without having to pay the
exorbitant interest charged by local lenders. Many were the
occasions for borrowing in the early days; but most of the
debt was incurred either to provide sustenance during a year
of lost crops, or to make improvements, or to settle an
unpaid balance of purchase money.
46 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [324
It will be necessary later to discuss in detail the use of
credit in its relation to agricultural prosperity; but two gen-
eral incentives to mortgaging may be here mentioned, the
influence of which has been felt throughout a great part of
the history of the township, but especially during the earlier
days. The first incentive grew out of the appreciation in the
price of land, the farmer being led into realizing this in ad-
vance by means of mortgaging; as fast as he could increase
his loan he would do so, and use the sum obtained sometimes
to make good deficiencies and losses, or for current expendi-
ture, and sometimes for investment, whether legitimate or
speculative, upon his farm. The second incentive lay in the
fact of the relatively large returns of crop in proportion to
the cost of the land. In the early days the farmer's profits
were very high in proportion to the amount of capital em-
ployed, whenever his crops were at all good; and this often
led him to purchase and cultivate more land than he was able
to manage; then if bad crops, which he had not counted on,
came, he would become hopelessly involved in debt. It is
true the farmer may often have suffered from excessive inter-
est and grasping creditors; but it was less frequently the av-
arice of the lender that got him into trouble than the fact that
he was too sanguine and too prone to believe that he could
safely go in debt, on the assumption that crops and prices in
the future would equal those in the present.
Taxation.
The direct taxes which have been levied on the farmers of
the township since the first year of settlement consist of state
taxes, county taxes, and school taxes.^ Since 1884, at which
time the present township organization went into effect, there
have been, in addition, township taxes. Table IV. shows the
rate in mills of the taxes levied for state and county purposes
in each year since 1872, the county tax being classified
according to its expenditure. The table gives also the town-
^ During the first five years, that is from 1872 to 1876, there was
also a road tax of $4 for every quarter section of land. This tax is
not included in the tables wliich are to follow.
325] The Condition of the Westeim Farmer.
47
ship taxes and the assessed valuation in the township since
1884. No table can be given for the rate of levy of school
taxes, because the school district boundaries are constantly
changing and have no reference to the township boundaries.
However, from the amount of such tax collected within the
to^^'nship, we can say that the rate averages about ten mills.
Putting all these taxes together, we find the average rate per
annum to be about thirty-three mills on the dollar of assessed
valuation.
IV.— RATES OF TAXATION.
State
Tax 1
County Tax.
Township Tax.
Township
mills. ]
mills
mi
lis.
assessment
ti
c S
6.
DO
1
^-1
'6
6
bo
2
3
1872
5.750
3.
1.5
10.50
3
6 250
6.
7.50
1.5
15.
4
6.250
6.
5.25
6.
1.
18.25
5
7.350
6.
.50
3.
3.75
10.25
6
7.850
6.
3.
.25
13.25
7
6.125
8.
2.
4.5
.50
15.
8
6.375
6.
.50
5.
.50
12.
9
5.750'
5.5
3.50
8.5
.50
18.
80
4.000
6.5
6.
2.5
2.5
17.50
1
5.750
8.5
3.50
5.
17.
2
5.000
8.
4.
8.
2.
17.
5^
6.875
7.875
5.
7.
4.
3.
3.
8.
12.
13.
1.5
4
2.
2.5
6.
^64,349
5
7.850
8.
2.
4.
14.
2.
2.
2.
2.
6.
85,818
6
7.975
8.
2.
4.
1.
15.
2.
2.
6.
101.065
7
8.125
8.6
2.
4.
.40
15.
1.
1.
1.
3.
87,723
8
8.0001
8.4
4.
2.2
.40
15.
1.
2.
1.
4.
91.111
9
7.0181
8.2
2.70
.50
11.40
1.5
2.
.5
4.
97,548
90
6.893
9.
3.90
1.5
2.10
16.50
1.5
2.
.5
4.
94.945
1
6.875
8.3
3.30
2.5
.90
15.
1.5
2.
.5
4.
95,195
2 7.1251
8.5
3.
.50
12.
2.
2.
1.
5.
97.752
The assessments, however, are very low. During the first
few years after the settlement of the township, we find real
estate assessed usually at $2.50 per acre. In 1880 the as-
sessed valuation was $2.87 for unimproved land and $3.41
for improved land. Since then the average for improved
land in the township has been about $3-/5 per acre, the assess-
48 TJie Condition of the Western Farmer. [326
ment having only once gone above $4. The valuation of the
unimproved land has changed little for many years, the range
being from $2.74 to $3.08 per acre. To indicate the valua-
tion of personal property, the following rates, copied from the
assessor's book for 1892, will be of interest: Fat cattle, $5
to $7; steers, $4; thoroughbred bulls, $10; heifers, cows and
young steers, $2 to $4; calves and yearling heifers and fat
sheep, $1 ; lambs, 50 cents; hogs, per 100 lbs., 75 cents; horses
and mules and all other personal property at one-fourth the
cash value. It may be added, that though there seems to be
no particular method of determining what is and what is not
improved land, yet on the whole, in late years, all quarter-
quarter sections which do not contain buildings have been
listed as unimproved, no matter whether they were under
regular cultivation or not. Since 1886, less than one-fifth of
the land on the average has been assessed as improved,
though during the three years '84, '85 and '86, from one-half
to two-thirds of the land was so assessed. In 1892 the aver-
age quarter section was assessed for about $500, or an eighth
of its real value, and probably the proportion of the value of
personal property assessed was not more than that; so that,
the tax rate being about thirty-six mills, the real tax levied
was less than half a cent on the dollar of true valuation.
Markets, Prices, and Freight Rates.
During the years 1872 and '73 all the agricultural produce
of Hall county could be readily sold to the new settlers, at
prices so high as to make shipments to outside markets un-
profitable. During the three following years it was necessary
to bring grain into the country rather than ship it out, on ac-
count of the successive crop failures caused by grasshoppers
and drouth ; but with 'yy a period of fairly good crops began,
and during most of the time from then until '84 the markets
in the western part of Nebraska, and in the Black Hills and
other near regions in which settlement was just beginning,
gave better prices for com and oats than could be realized by
shipping them to eastern grain centers. Between '85 and '87
327] Tl\e Condition of the Western Fanner.
49
the activity in railroad building in states to the west gave rise
to good markets for com, and quite high prices prevailed.
From 1877 to 1883, Chicago was by far the best market for
wheat, but since 1883 the local mills have competed with it
and absorbed a good share of the crop. Since 1887 it has
been necessary to ship most of the grain to eastern markets,
or sometimes to the South, and this is especially the case
w^hen crops are heavy. While therefore during a great part
of the period we are considering the prices obtained for grain
have been somewhat better than could be obtained by ship-
ments to the eastern markets, yet since 1877 the price of
wheat has been to a great extent afifected by the net price to
be obtained by shipping to Chicago, and since 1887 the Chi-
cago prices have had a by no means inconsiderable effect on
the selling price of all grains. It is unfortunately impossible
v.— AVERAGE CHICAGO PRICES OF CORN, WHEAT,
AND OATS.'
Corn " No. 2."
Wheat "No. 3" Spring.
Oats "No. 3."
cts. per bushel.
cts. per bushel.
cts. per bushel.
72
34.3
111.5
26.1
3
33.3
103.9
25.6
4
59.3
97.6
41.7
5
54.8
88.9
41.
6
40.
92.6
28.3
7
43.7
131.5
29.5
8
36.9
95.2
22.3
9
35.6
99.6
26.8
80
37.7
105.7
29.8
1
50.
114.8
37.8
2
67.5
116.6
43.6
3
53.8
101.7
34.5
4
51.6
83.
29.1
5
43.
83.9
29.
6
37.
76.6
27.6
7
39.5
75.6
26.
8
46.8
90.
28.6
9
34.
85.5
23.2
90
39.3
89.2
30.9
1
58.4
96.6
39.1
' For fuller tables see " Statistical Information Pertaining to Chi-
cago Markets." Howard, Bartels & Co., Cliicago,
50 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [328
to obtain records showing the prices which grains have
brought in the local markets, but Table V. gives the average
prices for corn and wheat and oats in Chicago for each year
since 1872.
In attempting to estimate, on the basis of the preceding
table of prices, the profits which the farmer has been able to
make on his grain, we should next have to take into account
the cost of raising the grain and the cost of transporting it to
market; and though we shall be unable to discuss this mat-
ter in detail here, a few facts bearing on the subject may not
be out of place.
The cost of raising corn in Nebraska has been investigated
by the Nebraska Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics,
and in its report for 1891-92 the estimates of some six or
seven hundred farmers are given, which make the average
cost of the production of corn per acre to be $6.40, and there-
fore, figuring forty bushels of corn to the acre, the cost per
bushel Avould be 16 cents. The method of this estimate is,
however, faulty, in that the cost of husking and cribbing is
estimated by the acre and not by the bushel, as it should
be, and thus the size of the crop is entangled from the start
with the cost per acre. Leaving out these items of husking
and cribbing, the average cost per acre shown by the report is
$4.90. From this latter figure, the cost per bushel should be
estimated according to the size of the crop, and then an
addition made to cover cost of husking and cribbing. More-
over, the figures given in the report do not include cost of
hauling to market, which is for the farmers of Harrison town-
ship from one to two cents a bushel. The cost to the farmers
we are considering of com delivered by them at the market-
place cannot be estimated under from eighteen to twenty
cents per bushel for a fairly good year, that is when the crop
averages from thirty-five to forty bushels to the acre.
The report of the Bureau indicates that the cost of raising
corn in the eastern counties is greater than in the western
counties of the state. The reasons suggested for this are
that the item of interest on the investment in the land in the
329] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
51
newer counties is less than in the older ones, as is also the
amount of cultivating which it is found necessary to give the
land. Analogy with this conclusion would suggest that the
cost of raising com in Harrison was less in earlier days than
now, and therefore, though the freight rates were much higher
then than at present, yet the price which the farmer had to
realize for his corn in order to make a profit from it \vas less
than now.
As to freight rates on grain. Table VI. will show all the
changes since 1880-83 iri the rates between Grand Island and
Omaha, and between Grand Island and Chicago. A com-
parison made between the figures in the table itself will show
how large the local rates have been as compared with
through rates.^ A comparison" of the rates here given with
the Chicago prices of grain as seen in Table V. will show
how much of the value of the product is absorbed in finding
a market for it. If further deduction is made from the
Chicago price for the commissions of two middlemen, we
\x\\\ begin to appreciate the position and feelings of the
farmer w^ho said that when he bought his farm he thousfht
VI.— FREIGHT RATES (in cts. per cwt.).
Grand Island to Omaha (150 miles). Grand Island to Chicago (650 miles).
Date effective.
Corn.
Wheat
Oats.
Date effective.
Corn.
Wheat
Oats.
Jan. 1, '83 . .
18
19+
18
Jan. 7, '80 . .
32
45
32
Apr. 16, '83 .
15
16i
15
Sept. 15. '82 .
38
43
38
Jan. 10, '84 .
18
19*
18
Apr. 5, '87 .
34
39
34
Mch. 1, "84 .
17
19*
17
Nov. 1, '87 .
25
30
25
Aug. 25. '84 .
20
20
20
Mch. 21. '90 .
22+
30
25
Apr. 5, '87 .
10
16
10
Oct. 22, '90 .
22
26
22
Nov. 1, '87 .
10
12
10
Jan. 15, '91 .
23
28
25
Mch. 7, '88 .
9i
111
9i
Dec. 15, '88 .
10
12
10
' It must, however, be remembered that the through rates are not
strictly to be found by adding the local Nebraska rates to the
Omaha-Chicago rates, there being usually some deduction for
through traffic.
-In making comparisons with the preceding table, figure wheat
at 60 lbs. per bushel, oats at 33 lbs., and corn (shelled) at 56 lbs.
52 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [330
he was really going to own the land, but that he soon dis-
covered that he only held it on an uncertain tenure from the
railroad companies. It will be noticed that the proportion
of the market price which is paid for freight is mucli higher
f or « corn and oats than for wheat, and in the former grains
often runs over one-third of the total price.
III.— PRESENT ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE
FARMERS OF HARRISON TOWNSHIP.
A. The Land and its Ownership.
a. The Lands Considered.
We are now to take up the more direct study of the pres-
ent economic condition of the farmers in Harrison township.
In this connection there must be borne in mind what has
already been said, in recounting the reasons for selecting this
township for the field of our investigations, in regard to the
character of its lands. Heretofore mention has frequently
been made of Harrison township in a way that would
imply that detailed study would be confined solely to the
land in it; and for most of the matters studied, such a
statement would be true. But in many of the tables it has
been found necessary to include also certain additional acres
bordering on the township. We have to consider, in ad-
dition to all the lands in the to^^-nship, all those pieces
of land bordering on it w^hich form component parts of
farms, the remainder of which lies in Harrison township.
These lands could not be omitted because it w^ould not
be just to consider a farmer's position with reference to
only part of the farm which he had under cultivation,
and, moreover, because very commonly mortgages are ex-
tant covering both land in and land out of the towTiship,
and to properly distribute the burden between the differ-
ent parts of a farm so mortgaged w^ould hardly be possi-
ble. But these added pieces of land are considered only
with reference to present owners; and so only in such tables
as those containing mortgage statistics and those concern-
ing the size of farms. The former ow^ners, if any, of the
added tracts are in no case considered. Table VII. gives the
54
The Condition of the Western Farmer. [332
total acreage of government, railroad, and school lands in
regard to which our investigations will be made/
VII.— ACREAGE OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF LANDS.
In Harrison
township proper.
In added lands.
Total.
Government land.
10,240
520
10,760
Railroad land.
11,520
820
11,840
School land.
1,280
160
1,440
23,040
1,000
24,040
T). The Quality of the Lands.
Through the kindness of a mortgage company doing
business in Hall county, the writer has been enabled to obtain
the ratings which this company makes of the quality cf
the lands in Harrison township, ratings which we may feel
confident are as nearly correct as it is possible to get them.
The ratings are on the scale of lo, which number repre-
sents the very best land obtainable in the county, and they
grade from that point down. Land represented by 7 would
be of a very poor quality. Taking the average grade for
each quarter section, we find in Harrison township eighty-
two quarters ranked as 10; twenty-nine ranked as 9 or
9 + ; twenty-seven ranked as 8 or 8 +; and six ranked as 7
or 7+ The best land is found along the southern and
western borders of the town. In fact tliere is hardly any
land in the two rows of sections along the southern and
the two along the western border which is not rated at
10. In the northeastern part of the township the land is
poorer, a little of it being very poor, and it is here tliat
^ In order to avoid complication, each congi-essional section of
land is treated as if it contained exactly 640 acres, though in those
sections which lie long the northern and western bomidaries of the
township, the tnie size varies from 631.42 acres to 647.70 acres.
These differences offset each other, and the totals given La the
table vary only very slightly from the total true acreage of the
township.
i
333] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
55
the small amount of land in the township which is not
under cultivation lies. Alth6ug"h the cultivators of poor
land are at a very great comparative disadvantage, still
this northeastern quarter contains one or two of the most
prosperous farmers in the whole township; their prosperity
being due, however, directly to their own thrift. None but
a very good manager can succeed on this poorer land.
As has been implied, the northeastern part of the township
was less rapidly brought tmder cultivation than the other
portions, and year by year the soil there requires the appli-
cation of a greater amount of labor. It is to be reniarked
that the Germans are much more numerous in this part of
the township than in any other. . Among the seventy-four
resident owners in the town, twenty are German, and of
these, eleven, or fifty-five per cent, reside in the northeastern
quarter. In no part of the township is the land perfectly
regular as to quality or depth of the soil. Even on the best
farms there may be found occasionally small patches of poor
land. The writer thinks especially of one farm on which
the soil in one corner is seven or eight feet deep and of the
best quality, while in the opposite corner the sand subsoil
crops out.
c. The Ownership of the Lands.
We have next to consider the ownership of the lands we
have been describing. Table^ VIII. shows the total number
VIII.— SCHEDULE OF OWNERS.
Never
Resident.
Once
Resident,
now Non-
Resident.
106
Now-
Resident.
Total.
Have sold.
188
294
Still own.
51
10
74
135
239
116
74
429
^ We must note that there are certaia names which appear on the
records but which are not mcluded in these tables. For instance,
"Where several members of one family successively held title to a
56 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [334
of persons Avho have at any time owned land within the
township, and classifies them in two \vays: first, according
to their present status — whether they have sold or still own;
and second, according to residence — whether they now reside
upon the land, or have never resided upon it, or have
formerly resided upon it but are at present non-resident.
We see that there have been one hundred and ninety owners
in all who have at one time or another resided in the town-
ship, of whom seventy-four are still resident; and that the
total number of owners of land in the township at present
is one hundred and thirty-five. Table IX. still further
subdivides the owners, first classified as to residence, into
those who took government land, those who purchased from
the railroad company, and those who purchased from other
owners. Next the present owners of farms are classified
according as they reside in the township, in the county but
outside the township,^ or outside the county. We see that
about fift3^-five per cent of the present owners reside upon
their own farms.'
Of the resident owners twenty-seven per cent, as has been
seen, are Germans, the remainder being mainly Americans,
with some few Irish and others. The states which have con-
tributed the most settlers are Iowa and Ohio, though nearly
all tlie states in a due easterly direction have furnished their
shares.
tract of land of wliich tlie real farming was, during all that period,
carried on by the same person, the title of the land has been con-
sidered as remaining continuously in the name of the head of the
family; for our unit here is the family rather than the individual.
Nineteen names have been omitted under these conditions.
^ It may be intei'esting to show the character of those owners
who reside outside of Harrison township but within Hall county.
Of the thirty-four so classified, seventeen have never been engaged
in farming, five moved from the township to enter upon other
occupations than farming, four are owners each of several fanns
which they oversee, though they do not personally engage in farm-
ing, and the remaining eight are farmers hving upon farms which
they own in other parts of the county.
= Attention is called to the fact, shown in Parti., that the numbers
of this class have greatly declined in recent years.
335] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
57
IX.— INCLUDES ALL OWNERS WHO HAVE AT ANY TIME
BEEN RESIDENTS.
On Govern-
ment land.
Purchased
from K. R.
Purchased
from other
owners.
Total.
Still own and
resident.
18
19
37
74
Still own, now
non-resident.
8
1
1
10
Have sold.
60
19
27
106
86
39
65
190
X.— PRESENT OWNERS.
Residents of township,
Non-residents of township but residents of county:
Formerly resident in township, . . 5
Never '• " . . 39
Non-residents of county:
Formerly resident in township, ... 5
Never ■• '' ... 23
74
34
135
Turn now from the personal side of the question to the
acreage possessed by the various classes of present owners.
Table XI. shows the acreage of land held by each of the
three classes of owners, and also the number of acres farmed
by owners, farmed by tenants, and still uncultivated. We
find that over half of the land is farmed by owners, and that
only about seven per cent is still uncultivated. The per-
centage of aci-es owned by residents is almost exactly the
same as the percentage of owners who are residents. The
average size of a resident's holding of land is about one
hundred and seventy-five acres. The owner who resides
in some other part of the county has on the average a some-
what larger holding than this, while the owner non-resident
of the county has, in general, a smaller holding; the figures
being one htmdred and ninety and one hundred and seventy
acres respectively.
58
Tlie Condition of tJie Western Farmer. [336
XI.— ACREAGE HELD BY VARIOUS CLASSES OF PRESENT
OWNERS.
Owned by
Farmed
by owner
Farmed
by tenant
Not
farmed
(hay land)
Totals
Average
size of
farms
Residents of
township.
11,920
1,040
12,960
175.14
Non-residents of
township but
residents of county.
1,040
4,520
920
6,480
190.59
Non-residents of
county.
3,800
800
4,600
170.37
12,960
9,360
1,720
24,040
Per cent of acres farmed by owner, 53.91
" " •' tenant 38.94
" " not farmed 7.15
Per cent of acres owned by residents of township, . 53.91
" " •• county, . . 26.96
" " " non-residents of county, 19.13
B. Condition of Resident Owners.
Under this heading will be considered the debt of the
residents of the township, whether secured by real estate or
chattel mortgage, together with the improvements which
are on their lands. The attempt may later be made to see in
how far the debt is represented by improvements, and in
how far it means that the owners of the encumbered land
are losing in wealth. We may assume that, in general and
under normal conditions, a moderate debt incurred for the
purpose of bringing the farm under better cultivation, and
for acquiring machinery and protecting it after it has been
acquired, is a sign of progress rather than of deterioration.
And we may assume this here even though the facts brought
out later in this paper tend to show that, under the special
circumstances we have been considering, a debt incurred
even for what we may call legitimate purposes has been a
hindrance and not a help.
337] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 59
a. Chattel 3Iort(/af)es.
Lc+ us consider first the chattel mortgages against resi-
dents of Harrison township.' Table XII. shows the total of
unreleased mortgages on file to be $23,932.22, but on account
of a duplicate entry, one mortgage for $1000 must be
deducted from this- to get the true amount of such debts
shown by the books. After these figures were obtained,
every mortgagor and mortgagee, as far as possible, was
asked as to the state of the debt in which he was interested,
and it became evident that almost two-thirds of the chattel
mortgages appearing on record as still due had really been
paid. The exact figures are given in the table. In attempt-
ing to get at the real amount of debt owed in the township
XII.— CHATTEL MORTGAGES.
Total unreleased Chattel Mortgages on file. 103, §23,932.22
Less duplicate entry, 1. 1,000.00
102, $22,932.22
INVESTIGATION OF TRUE STATUS OF MORTGAGES.
Mortgages investigated, 88, $21,910.50
Unable to investigate 14, 1,021.72
Of investigated Mortgages
Really paid, but not canceled, 54, $11,991. 40
Partial payments, 2 ,178.00 $14,169.40
Still unpaid, 34 $7,741.10
Per cent of investigated Chattel Mortgages still due, 35i
" '• " '■ really paid, 64|
Taking these percentages of all Chattel Mortgages, we have:
Total amount still unpaid $8,102.07
really paid, 14,830.15
$22,933.22
Amount secured both by Real Estate and Chattel
Mortgage, and included elsewhere under the
head of Real Estate Mortgages, .... $1,475.00
Net Chattel Mortgage debt of the Township, . $6,627.07
^ The figures presented here are those as shown by tlie books of
the county clerk of Hall county on the first of September, 1892,
and include all mortgages filed since September 1, 1887. Mort-
gages filed . before that time are invalid, being outlawed by the
statute of limitations.
60 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [338
a further deduction has to be made for debts secured both
by real estate and by chattel mortgages, which debts being
included in the lists of real estate mortgages should not be
again reckoned here. Making the necessary deductions, the
actual total of unpaid chattel mortgages against owners of
land in the township is brought down to $6627.07.
Out of the seventy-four resident owning farmers, only
twenty-seven owe any money on chattel mortgage, and of
these twenty-seven, sixteen had ninety-one unreleased mort-
gages against them. This very uneven distribution shows
that the chattel mortgage has now come to be rather a mark
of poor success. An important bearing of the facts here
stated is in refutation of the argument based on the increase
of chattel mortgages which is very often adduced to prove
that western farmers are sinking ever deeper into financial
difficulties. Whatever may be the real truth about the con-
clusion, the argument certainly is far from right. As long as
farmers are too negligent or too careless about their own per-
sonal standing before the community, to place on file the
releases of the mortgages v/hich they have paid, just so long
we can expect nothing else than that the total amount of such
mortgages on record will show an enormous apparent in-
crease from year to year.
1). Real Estate Mortgages.^
The bulk of the debt owed by farmers is secured by mort-
gages upon their farms, given in the main to resident agents
^ The following figures are b.ased on the records in the office of
the county clerk of Hall county; those for 1892 include no instru-
ments filed later than September 1st. Only mortgages evidently
given to secure the piincipal of a debt are included in the totals,
and no interest due on this debt is regarded. It is very common
for the farmer in his dealings with a loan company to execute a
second mortgage in favor of the company to secure the payment of
its commission, which is usually about one per cent. As these com-
mission mortgages are really of the nature of interest, none of them
are here included, though their total would be qmte a considerable
sum.
339] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 61
of large eastern loaning companies;' and it is due to the size
of this debt, and the debtor's consequent liability of losing
his homestead if poor management or bad luck prevent him
from meeting his payments as they fall due, that much of
the recent wide-spread discontent has arisen. The tables to
be given will include, first, a general statement of the debt;
second, an analysis of it based on the character of the land,
whether originally government, railroad, or school land;
third, an analysis with reference to residents and non-resi-
dents ; fourth, an analysis of the debt owed by residents with
regard to the source from which they derived their title to
the land; and fifth, the connection will be traced between
the debt and the quality of the lands mortgaged.
I. Table XIII. shows the number and per cent of farms
mortgaged, and also the number and per cent of acres mort-
gaged. It then gives the face value of the mortgages as
they stand in the office of the county clerk; but in order to
allow for partial payments which have undoubtedly to some
extent been made, and which it was not possible to inves-
tigate directly, a deduction of 5.21 per cent is made, since
it has been shown by the census of 1890 that that per cent
is the average proportion of partial payments on real estate
mortgages for the State of Nebraska. With the total amount
of debt thus calculated, we find the average indebtedness on
each acre mortgaged to be $8.78, and the average debt per
fann to be $1517.32. Now it w^ould not be safe to estimate
the average value of these farms, even when well improved,
above, say, $25 an acre, so w^e can see what a large propor-
tion on the average the debt on the mortgaged farms bears
^ Seventy-six per cent of the mortgages were given to loaning
companies; twelve per cent were given to persons of whom the
land was purchased, and twelve per cent to other persons or cor-
porations. As to the residence of the mortgagees, seventy-nine per
cent of the mortgages are o"v^^led by persons or corporations non-
resident of Hall coimty; seventeen per cent are owned by residents
of the comity, while the remainder, four per cent, have owners
whose residence is uhknoT\Ti. Xone of the mortgages are owned
by residents of the township.
62 The Condition of tlie Western Farmer. [340
to their total value, being in fact considerably over one-
third. With interest to pay on such a sum, and with the
final payment to provide for, it is no wonder that the years
of partial failure, always liable to occur in agriculture, become
doubly discouraging to any but the most energetic farmer.
XIII.— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES.
Total number of farms mortgaged,
Per cent, of farms mortgaged, . . .
Total number of acres mortgaged, . .
Per cent, of acres mortgaged, , , , .
Face value of mortgages on record,'
Less 5.21 per cent, for partial payments.
Estimated true value of debt, ....
Av. debt against each mortgaged acre,
"■ " " mortgagor, . .
" " " acre in township,
" '' " owner in township.
91.
67.41
15,720.
65,39
S145,665.42
.$7,589.17
3138,076.25
$8.78
$1,517.32
$5.74
51,022.79
2, We have already seen in Table VII. that in the district
which we are considering there are 10,760 acres of land to
which the title has come directly from the government;
11,840 acres which have been acquired through the Union
Pacific Railway, and 1440 acres obtained from the State
school lands. Table XIV. will show the relative amount
of debt which these dififerent classes of land now bear.
^ One mortgage, on record, for $50,000, covering 600 acres in the
township, has been omitted for the following reasons: It covers,
besides the GOO acres in the township, also 3280 acres in other
parts of the coimty. It was given by a non-resident corporation in
the course of a speculative investment in lands. The 600 acres
mortgaged is school land, to which the corporation mentioned holds
only contracts of sale from the State, and there is a prior debt of
$3780 to the State on the land, which latter debt is included in the
tables. The whole transaction is entirely foreign to the general
character of land ownership and indebtedness in the township.
In short, since the part of the mortgage attributable to this land
is really the impaid purchase money of the Inst sale of the land,
the matter is treated just as if the sale had not taken place and the
laud was still in the hands of its last owner.
341] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
63
These figures may be hastily passed over, for they prove little
except that the three classes of land have been subjected
to the same influences, as m trading, to such an extent tliat
there is no great difference at present in the average amount
to which they are mortgaged. It is shown, however, that
tlie proportion of acres of lands derived directly from the
government, which have been mortgaged, is not yet so
large as that of land derived through the railroad company.
The variation in the debt per acre on the school lands is
due to the fact that in most cases the debt is not borrowed
money, but simply the unpaid remainder of the purchase
money.
XIV.— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES ON GOVERNMENT,
RAILROAD AND SCHOOL LANDS.
Government
land.
Raih'oad land.
School land.
Total aci'eage.
Acres under mortgage, . .
Acres clear.
10,760
6.400
4 360
11,840
8,040
3,800
1,440
1,280
160'
Amount of mortgages. . .
$58,549.16
.f71.701.23
$7,825.86
Av. debt on each acre of each
class in township, . . .
Av. debt for each mortgaged
acre of each class, . . .
$5.44
9.15
$6.06
8.92
$5.43
6.11
Per cent, of acres mortgaged.
59.48
67.91
* This 160 acres has not yet been sold by the State.
3. The real estate mortgages are next to be classified into
those upon lands owned by residents and those on lands
owned by non-residents, with a view to seeing whether the
actual burden of the former class is greater or less than the
average burden for the whole class of present owners as
shown previously. Table XV. shows the general figures
as to the distribution of all farms and of mortgaged farms,
and of all acres and of mortgaged acres, between residents
and non-residents. It shows also the amount of debt owed
bv each of these classes.
64
The Condition of the Western Farmer. [342
XV.— MORTGAGES ON LANDS OWNED BY RESIDENTS AND
BY NON-RESIDENTS.
Owners
Eesident.
Owners
Non-resident.
Per cent of
owners
resident.
For all farms,
For mortgaged farms, . .
74
57
61
34
54.81
62.64
For all acres, . . .
For mortgaged acres,
Acres owned
by residents.
12,960
9.320
Acres owned
by non-
residents.
11,080
6,400
Per cent
acres owned
by residents.
53.91
59.29
Amount after deducting 5.21
per cent for partial pay-
ments,
Debt of
residents.
$75,281.85
Debt of
non-residents,
$62,794.40
Per cent of
debt owed by
residents.
54.52
In comparing the figures in this table, we see that while
about seventy-seven per cent of the residents have their
farms mortgaged, only about fifty-five per cent of the non-
residents are similarly encumbered. Again, the residents,
owning 53.91 per cent of all the acres, owe almost exactly
the same proportion (54.52 per cent) of the debt. Confining
ourselves to persons holding mortgaged property alone, we
find that residents own 59.29 per cent of all the mortgaged
acres, but they owe a somewhat less proportion of the debt,
viz. 54.52 per cent. From the next table (XVI.) we see the
average size of mortgages and the average debt per acre
for each of these classes. Table XIII. has shown us that the
average debt against each mortgaged owner in the township
is $1517.32, but we see here that the average debt against
each mortgaged resident is only $1320.73, while that against
each mortgaged non-resident is $1846.90. Similarly, the
average debt on each mortgaged acre in the township is
$8.78, while that on each mortgaged acre belonging to resi-
dents is $8.08, and that on each such acre belonging to non-
residents is $9.81. The averages, based on the same distinc-
tion, for all residents in the township, whether mortgaged
or not mortgaged, are also subjoined.
343] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
G5
XVI.— AVERAGE SIZE OF MORTGAGES AND AVERAGE
DEBT PER ACRE.
Average size of mortg'ges
Average debt per acre.
Residents.
Non-
residents.
Residents.
Non-
residents.
For all owners in town-
ship,
For mortgaged owners
only
$1,017.33
1.320.73
$1,029.41
1,846.90
|o.81
8.08
$5.67
9.81
Thus far our figures have tended to indicate that the
average debt of owners in actual residence is not quite so
heavy as that of the class of farm owners as a whole. But
we can widen our point of view a little, and attribute the
debt to residents or non-residents, not according to the class
in which the land under its present ownership falls, but ac-
cording to the class to which the land belonged at the time
when the debt was incurred. For instance, a farmer in
actual residence may have found himself compelled to put
a mortgage on his home, and he may then, some time later,
have sold either for his own profit or compelled by neces-
sity; or he may have moved off his farm wdthout selling.
In these cases, the purchaser, if any, often stands ready at
any time to pay the mortgage, but of course cannot do so
until it is due without considerable loss. Now if we should
divide the debt into two classes, according as it was in-
curred by residents or by non-residents, such cases as those
above would fall in the former class, though in the tables
we have given they of course came among the debts of
non-residents. Table XVII. shows the debt incurred by
residents and that incurred by non-residents, and we find
that 68.75 psr cent of the debt was incurred by the former
class, upon 70.99 per cent of all the mortgaged acres. But
we still find that the average debt per mortgaged acre for
residents is considerably lower than that for non-residents,
as is also the case wnth the average size of the mortgage.
But if we now compare the average debt per acre on all
acres for residents with that for non-residents, we find the
former to be about forty per cent larger than the latter, the
66
The Condition of the Western Farmer. [344
figures being $6.41 as against $4.67. The conclusion is
that wliile over two-thirds of the debt has been incurred by
residents, and a much larger percentage of residents' land is
under mortgage than of non-residents', still the debt per acre
which the mortgaged residents have incurred upon their
lands is slightly less than the debt similarly incurred by
mortgaged non-residents.
XVII.— DEBT INCURRED BY RESIDENTS AND BY NON-
RESIDENTS.
Incurred by
residents, .
Incurred by
non-residents,
Acreage.
Sh aj bjo
oj a> cs
,^ ^ be
OS u
'^ a
11,160
a o S
ga|
70.99
Debt.
94,928.16
0,—.
68.75
4,560 29.01 43,148.09 31.25 862.96 1876. 4.67 9.46
Average size of
mortgage.
fi=£
1,116.
O cS
P^ ej
1396,
Average
debt
per acre.
o o
6.41
-< 0)
P b£
8.51
4. Our next tables deal with the debt of residents still
more largely from a personal point of view. They distrib-
ute it into divisions according as the borrower was a taker
of government land, a purchaser of land from the railroad
company, or a purchaser from some other former owner;
purchasers of school land are included, for the sake of sim-
plicity, under this last division. Table XVIII. shows the
number of owners both with mortgaged and with unmort-
gaged lands in each of these three classes, and gives the
number of acres each class possesses, and tlie totals of its
debts. It also gives the average size of farms, the average
debt per man and the average debt per acre for each of
these classes. Class "A," composed of those who took
their original lands from the government, is divided into
two sub-classes according as the farmers have borrowed
money on their original homesteads, or still have them free
from debt; and those who have their original homes still
unencumbered are divided further into those who owe no
345] The Condition of ihe Western Farmer.
67
money whatever upon land, and those who owe monev
only upon additional lands recently purchased. A foot-note
gives the facts about the mortgages which have been exe-
cuted by the men of this last subdivision.
XVIIL— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES OWED BY RESI-
DENTS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE MODE OF
ACQUISITION OF THE LANDS.^
A. SETTLED OX GOV-
ERNMENT LAND.
a. Original home un-
mortgaged :
1. No mortgage on
any land, ....
■ 3. Additional lands
only mortgaged,^ .
b. Original home mort-
gaged,
B. SETTLED ON RAIL-
ROAD LAND.
a. Lands unmortgaged,
b. Lauds mortgaged,
C. PURCHAS'RS OF LAND
FROM INDIVIDUALS.
a. Lands unmortgaged,
b. Lands mortgaged,
p
Acres.
s
9
1,680
5
1,280
4
640
3
720
16
3,000
4
440
33
74
5,200
12,960
Amount of
debt.
$8,950.00
3,300.00
23,400.00
48,769.61
),419.61
Aver-
age
size of
farm,
acres.
186.66
256.00
160.00
240.00
187.50
110.00
157.57
175.14
Average
debt per
man.
$790.00
825.00
1,462.50
1.477.87
$1,073.21
A\er-
age
debt
per
acre.
$3.09
5.16
7.80
9.38
S6.13
These figures are very striking from almost every point
of view. First, we observe that half of all the settlers on
government land have their lands entirely free from mort-
gage, while only four have mortgages upon their original
homes; in the case of those who have mortgages upon their
additional lands, the average debt per acre is very low, being
only $3.09. Of those who have their original homes mort-
^ In this table the percentage of partial payments has not been
deducted, as the figures are used only for comparison, and by omit-
ting this deduction the matter is much simplified.
^ The mortgages against these five men cover 480 acres of their
lands, and, the total amount of their debt being $3950, the average
amoimt they owe on each mortgaged acre is $8.23.
68 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [346
gaged, two came in among the last of those who took gov-
ernment land; two have very small mortgages; moreover, the
average debt per acre on the property of these is itself quite
low, being $5.16. Then again we notice that the size of the
farms among these settlers averages larger than among
either of the other classes; the homes of those, especially,
who have additional lands which they have mortgaged are
much larger than those of any of the others. Not one of
these settlers on government land who has a mortgage to
take care of can be said to be at all seriously embarrassed
by it, and some of them are, despite their mortgages, as
well ofif as any men in the township.
Take up next the settlers on railroad land and what a
difference ! There are only three of them without mortgage,
as against sixteen holding mortgaged farms, and the aver-
age debt per acre on those lands which are mortgaged is
$7.80, or half again as much as the average debt borne by
those settlers on government land who have their original
homes mortgaged. Following the analogy of class " A,"
we would expect to find the mortgaged farms larger than
those which are clear, and we shall find this to be the case
in class " C " ; but in class " B," the unmortgaged farms are
considerably larger on the average than the mortgaged;
this points to something exceptional in these particular
cases and in investigating the cases in detail we find this
indication borne out in fact. Of the three purchasers of
railroad land who have their lands unmortgaged, two are
brothers who had been farmers in Germany, and who, com-
ing to America with considerable property, were able not
only to buy and pay for comparatively large farms, but to
put considerable money in bank — certainly a very excep-
tional state of afifairs with the ordinary settler on a Nebraska
farm. The third case is that of a man who bought railroad
land at an early date and farmed it for a number of years,
but on the death of his wife drifted away into other employ-
ments. Having made the final payments on his land, and
having inherited more land in the immediate neighborhood,
347] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 69
he has now come back with a new wife, once more to try his
hick at farming.
When we come to purchasers, we find only four unmort-
gaged farms, as against thirty-three mortgaged ones. The
average size of the farms is ver}^ much smaller, being only
one hundred and ten acres for the unmortgaged and about
one hundred and fifty-seven acres for the mortgaged. The
average debt per acre is higher than in either of the other
classes ; in fact, so much higher that, despite the comparative
smallness of the farms, the average debt per farm is higher
than elsewhere.
It has already been remarked that none of the settlers on
government land are in poor circumstances, while among
tlieir ranks the great majority of the most prosperous farmers
are to be found. Of the settlers on railroad land, nearly
all would be included if they were as a class described as
quite heavily mortgaged, but with debts not so great as to
make it seem probable that any of them will be unable to
extricate tliemselves ^\^th time. The only case here to be
ranked among those whose future prospects are doubtful
is that of a man w^hose agricultural experience has been very
limited, and as he seems to have almost no capital, and
labors under still other disadvantages, it is doubtful how
long he will be able to hold out. But now, when we turn
from the purchasers of land from the railroad company to
class " C," the purchasers from other owners, we find as
marked a change in conditions as we noticed in passing
from class "A" to class "B." The mortgages are heavier,
the well-to-do are comparatively rare, and there are many
persons in very poor circumstances. In fact, there are quite
a number with whom it seems to be only a question of time,
and a short time at that, when they will have to give up their
holdings. One is almost tempted to draw the moral that
tlie would-be purchaser, at least the one whose means are
not sufficient to pay entirely for his farm and then tide him
over all subsequent periods of hard times, had almost better
throw his monev awav than invest it in farming operations
70 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [348
in Nebraska, at the current prices of land and under the
present agricuhural conditions; unless, indeed, he be pos-
sessed of unusual energy and ability/
5. Our last analysis of the real estate mortgage debt will
consist in drawing a comparison between the size of the
mortgages and the fertility of the lands mortgaged, showing
what a very great disadvantage the possession of relatively
poor land is to a farmer. These figures are not given for
the whole district which we have heretofore been consider-
ing, but only for the thirty-six square miles included within
the township proper.^ Table XIX. shows the amount of
the debt on all the lands of the four different grades described
on page 54. As it refers to both residents and non-residents
it is naturally rather vague, but we see from it in general
the fact that the mortgages on the poorer lands tend to be
larger than those on the better lands, and that, in the main,
a larger percentage of the poorer lands is under mortgage.
Table XX. contains the same statistics, but limited en-
tirely to residents. We see that the average debt per acre
for all land of each class decreases steadily with the rise to
better grades of land; also the percentage of the land which
is under mortgage is much less for the better land than for
the poorer. All of the land of grade seven owned by resi-
^ This statement, it is tnie, is at variance with the eager demand
that exists ia certain quarters for really desirable farming land.
Why this great demand may exist and yet the position taken in the
text be true, will be touched upon in a later place.
^ The omission of the outside lands is made necessaiy because the
writer has not at hand any ratings for the fertility of the lands not
within the township proper. The estimates have been made by
using quarter sections of land as a basis, not, as in the preceding
tables, by considering the individual man as a basis and referring
all his debt to all his property. Consequently the totals will differ
in some respects from those preceding. The total debt for each
quarter section, whether it is to be paid by one or more persons,
and whether aU or only part of the area is encumbered, is attributed
to the quarter section as a whole, and so to tlie appropriate grade
of land. Thus only those quarter sections come under the heading
immortgaged which have no encumbrance upon any portions of
them.
349] The Condition of the Western Farmer.
71
dents is under mortgage, while less than two-thirds of the
land of grade ten is encumbered. Similarly we find a de-
crease in the average debt per acre for mortgaged acres as
we ascend to better grades of land, though here there is a
slight break in the case of grade nine, which has a lower
average debt per acre than grade ten. We infer, in general,
from these facts, that the lot of the settler on the best land
is disproportionately better than that of the man on poor
land. If it were a mere question of how much one could
borrow, the resident of good land would of course be able
to incur the heavier debt. Both the farmer of good and the
farmer of poor land started on a level, or, if the latter was a
comparatively recent purchaser, he acquired his farm at a
lower price and consequently started with a smaller debt or
outlay of purchase money, but he has now fallen very far
behind in almost ever\^ case. So decidedly is this true that
one might almost infer that the ordinary man had better pay
twenty-five dollars an acre or more for a good farm than take
the poor one as a gift, if he has any regard whatever for his
probable condition after a number of years of farming.
XIX. AITD XX.— MORTGAGES AND FERTILITY.
Area in acres.
Amount of
debt.
Debt per acre.
Perc'tage
of lands of
land.
Unmort-
gaged.
Part mort-
gaged.
For all
acres.
For
m'tg'g'd
acres,
each
quality
mortgag'd
-a
a
1
r
7
8
9
10
160
1.760
1,280
4,000
800
2.560
3,360
9,120
$8,301.81
22,560.67
25,782.67
81,870.27
$8.65
5.22
5.56
6.24
$10.38
8.81
7.67
8.98
88.33
59,26
72.41
69.51
a
o
a
©
M
1
W*
M
r
7
8
9
10
L
240
480
2,880
560
1.120
1,480
5,280
$6,035.14
10,035.14
12,000.00
44,949.33
$10.78
7.38
6.12
5.51
$10.78
8.96
8.11
8.51
100.00
82.35
75.51
64.71
72 The Condition of the Western Fanner. [350
c. Improvements on Land in Harrison Toivnship.
In accordance with the plan of this part of the paper, the
next thing to consider is the value of improvements on the
various farms, and under the head of improvements we in-
clude here buildings, fences, fruit trees, if any, draining, etc.,
but not the cost of breaking the land, that being a necessary
preliminary for all the land before it goes into cultivation.
Table XXI. gives a map' of the township proper, with figures
representing the estimated value of improvements on each
tract of farming land. An asterisk means that the land
has no improvements upon it in the sense above, though
it may be broken and under regular cultivation either by an
owner non-resident of the township or by a renter. The
figures given are for values in dollars at the present day, not
for cost of construction, and are of course estimates based
partly on examination of the buildings themselves and partly
on the statement of the occupant or some one of his neighbors.
Owing to the scanty opportunities for learning the facts, the
figures can by no means be considered as exact, and many
errors have no doubt crept in; but an effort was made to
approximate actual values as nearly as might be, and the
figures given are thought in the main to be sufficiently
accurate for the purposes of this paper. Table XXII. gives
a similar outline map showing the mortgages on the same
tracts of land. Here a circle represents unincumbered
land. This table is introduced here for purposes of compar-
ison, in preference to bringing it in under the heading of
real estate mortgages previously considered. By turning
from one table to the other we can readily see how nearly
the mortgage on any one tract of land corresponds to the
amount expended on it for improvements. The letters " G,"
^ In tMs and the following map the heavy lines indicate section
boundaries, and serve at the same time as the limiting lines of
farms. Whenever one farm includes land on each side of the sec-
tion boundary, the heavy line is replaced by a dotted line, to indi-
cate that fact. The light solid lines are in all cases the limiting
lines of farms.
351] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 73
" R," and " P " are inserted, (but only on those tracts of land
on which owners are in actual residence), to indicate whether
the owner of the tract has been classed respectively as a settler
on government land (G), a purchaser from the railroad
company (R), or a purchaser from a former individual owner
(P). In running through the cases we see that it is the last
of these classes whose mortgages are to the least extent rep-
resented by improvements, while at the other extreme the
comparatively few settlers .on government land whose places
are encumbered have ample improvements to show for their
debts in all except perhaps two cases. This conclusion agrees
very closely with that arrived at when considering mortgages
alone with reference to the kinds of land originally settled
upon.
XXI. -ESTIMATED VALUE OF IMPROVEMENTS ON LANDS IN HARRISON
TOWNSHIP, NEBRASKA.
*
100
1000
1500
800
i
600
300
800 :
4000
1500
600 1
50
*
800
3000
*
300-400
300
500
100-150
*
1200
*
*
*
i
700
1200
1200
700
i
*
*
200
200
2000
*
*
700
*
*
1500
*
*
1800-2000
200
*
§
1000
o
700
*
500
r
500
1200
*
*
*
*
700
1000
400
50
1
500
*
400
250-300
400-500
400
*
i
*
700
*
*
^
TOO
700
*
150-200
50
*
*
300
200
300
*
500
300
250-300
1000
700
1000
1200-
1400
400-500
250-300
100
200-300
*
900
400-500
1200
* 1 *
400
900
X
o
s
500
800-1000
400
200
50
1000
200
1100
800
500-600
*
*
200-300
2000
700
* 500
500-600
1200
600
300-400
400-500
TOO
*
*
1200
800-900
300
1000
750
150
*
200
* 250-300
*
1000
*
500
*
lOOOJ 1000
800
son
«
*
300
500
*
J
^^
800
200
100
1
1
XXII.— MORTGAGES ON LANDS IN HARRISON TOWNSHIP, NEBRASKA.
o
o
G
o
P
700
P
700
G
g 600
CO P
o
R
2000
2500
P
1200
R
2000
R
1500
o
G
o
1600
300
P
3500
1600
o
5070
P
o
o
o
800
R
800
P
CO
2983
1100
P
R °
o
o
1500
1843
1000
R
o
o
o
1000
o
o
R
o
1600
3000
R
o
950
600
o
1
2V00
P
o
P
1008
o
4000
o
l'>nft
1200
R
1000
R
1008
P
700
750 750
P I^
2500
P
o
1008
o
P
o
1200
R
o
o
=
2000
1900
P
700
1500
P
1750
1750
3200
° G
1000
G
1800
P
1900
P
1600
3000 ■
2000
1000
R
o
G
G
1100
G
800
o
o
o
500
G
3400
P
3439
500 j 571
o
G
o
O p
o
500
P
1400
G
2000
250 R
800 R
600 R
700 P
1800
P
3150
733
350
°
1100
P
o
G
o
G
o
G
2000
P
300 P
o
1050 P
200 P
o
867 ' °
o
G
1467
P
1400
P
1000 P
o
G
3663
700
3000
37
30
1000
800
3000
800
433
333
° G
1500
o
2700
600
o
p
o
I
° G
I
>
900 P
o
F
zi
IV.— CONCLUSION.
It remains now to summarize briefly the facts shown
respecting the condition of the farmers in Harrison township
since its settlement, with a view to learning something of the
various economic influences that during that time have been
operative upon western agriculture, as far as they may be
exemplified in this township. As will be seen, our data permit
us to examine only such influences as can be seen plainly at
work in individual cases. Matters like the burden of indirect
taxes, or the effect of changes in the value of the circulating
medium, which can be observed only on the wide scale, are
here excluded.
We have had before us a class of farrners owning lands of
steadily increasing value. Of those who are still residents,
about half got their lands either as gifts from the govern-
ment, or on very easy terms from the Union Pacific Railway
Company; the remainder purchased their farms from other
owners than the railway company, at prices ranging from
seven or eight dollars an acre in earlier times to twenty-five
or thirty dollars in late years ; in most cases these paid a good
part of the purchase money in cash. The farmers of this
township have on the average a little over a quarter section
of land each, and usually from 125 to 135 acres in a quarter
section is plow-land. A large proportion of the farms are
mortgaged, and the debt on such as are mortgaged is on the
average something over one-third the actual value of the
farms. When a tract of land is once encumbered, the ten-
dency is often for the mortgage on it to increase in size as
the rise in the value of the security makes a larger loan possi-
ble. The mortgages on lands obtained from the govern-
ment or the railway company are in general lighter than those
on lands purchased from individual owners, and the condi-
tion of the farmers owning such lands is correspondingly
355] The Coiulition of the Western Farmer. 77
more prosperous. This we find natural to a certain extent,
inasmuch as purchasers are very rarely able to pay in full at
the time of purchase, and so usually start out encumbered by
a mortgage debt; but the frequent increase in the size of mort-
gages thus incurred, and the corresponding unprosperous
condition of those who are to pay them, is indicative of the
fact that in yery many instances the real burden of a mort-
gage has been much greater than one would infer from the
mere knowledge of its amount.
We must note, however, that there is among the residents
of the township, as nearly as can be judged, a comparative
freedom from floating debt. The chattel mortgage debt, of
which the sum-total is comparatively small, is confined mainly
to those most heavily burdened with debt on real estate, and
can be interpreted in general as emphatic evidence of the
poor financial condition of the least prosperous farmers.^
The appreciation in the value of lands furnishes us the clue
to the lack of floating debt among the more prosperous
farmers ; for w^henever any amount of such debt has accumu-
lated, the farmer, unless his land is already mortgaged to the
maximum, is usually able to augment his loan on the basis of
the increased value of the land, and, with the funds thus
obtained, to pay ofif his smaller debts. This expedient is
usually resorted to ; for the rate of interest on the real estate
loan is considerably less than that on smaller loans with other
security, and there is in addition an advantage in being free
from the annoyance of having continually to provide for the
satisfaction of small debts coming due at frequently recur-
ring intervals. As to improvements on land, our tables have
indicated that these are much better on the farms of settlers on
government land than on the farms of other classes, and tliat
it is mainly on the farms of the later purchasers that the debt is
not represented by improvements. We note that the number
of resident owners has greatly decreased in late years, and also
^ However, in a more recently settled townsliip, or In a township
where the farmers were in the habit of buying cattle on a large
scale to feed, on credit, this rule would not hold.
78 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [356
that the number of farmers faiHng in comparatively late years
from what seemed unavoidable causes directly connected with
their farming operations, has been larger than at any other
period in the history of the township. The drought of 1890
had undoubtedly very much to do with this fact, but a cause
is also to be found in the temporary cessation of increase in
land value in the years just prior to 1890 or '91, and the con-
sequent inability of the debtors to increase their loans so as to
make good past deficiencies with the proceeds.
With the knowledge now arrived at of the condition of the
farming classes, let us pass in review the various economic
influences which have affected them so far as these influences
are exhibited by the material collected in this monograph.
What is said about these forces must be understood to apply
to the farmers of normal ability, who have at their service an
average amount of capital. Unusual shiftlessness or misfor-
tunes may have accelerated the failure of some, and unusual
ability may have given positive prosperity to others, but such
elements we may for the time leave to a certain extent out of
consideration. It seems sufificiently evident from Part II. of
this paper that over and above those who have failed owing
to personal causes, there are men whose ruin or financial
embarrassment has had behind it causes which cannot be so
localized; and their lack of success has been described as due
to prevalent agricultural conditions, a phrase which we are
now to analyze.
However, of the conditions possibly unfavorable to the
farmer, we evidently have no data here from which to exam-
ine those which may be connected with the whole economy of
our industrial society, such as indirect taxes, changes in the
value of money, the modern distributive process, and perhaps
also the influence on prices of the greatly increased produc-
tion from the recently opened prairie states. Other matters,
however, of a less wide-reaching character we are in a posi-
tion fairly to examine.
From our account of the farmers' condition, it is clear that
the central fact is the rise in the value of land. For it is this
rise that has given the opportunity for the continued increase
357] TJie Condition of the Western Farmer. 79
of mortgage debt; and even a temporary cessation in it has
been followed by an increased number of failures among the
farmers. We may almost infer that in many cases the greater
part of the wealth that the farmer of average ability now has
must be attributed to this rise in value; for very often the
value of the improvements and personal property is covered
by the mortgage debt, and this means that the amount of
profits which have been realized and invested upon the farm
has been very small. Indeed, in many cases the present
farmer's equity in his land would be little or nothing were it
not for this rise in value, while he would have been unable
without it to obtain the means to reach even as advanced a
system of cultivation as is in vogue at present. It must be
admitted, however, that this conclusion will hold good only
for the farmer of average ability. A man of poor personal
habits, or one who is shiftless in his management, will dissi-
pate the increment in the value of his land as fast as he can
make use of it as security for new loans. On the other hand,
a skilful, energetic, economical farmer, who knows how to
avail himself of every advantage, will probably be able, with
average good luck, to pay off in time even a heavy debt
incurred in the purchase of his farm. But even with these
qualifications, should fortune not favor him he may fail mis-
erably; for he is dependent on credit, and credit, though it fur-
nishes wings to the man fit to use them, so long as the wind
of fortune is fair, becomes a dead weight to drag down the
less able, or even the competent when fortune fails. If there
were space to consider the individual cases of the farmers in
Harrison township, we should find a few young men whose
ability has been such as to enable them thus to overcome the
hindrance of heavy debt at the start and become in the end
prosperous farmers.
Probably the only other persons besides these exception-
ally able ones who have succeeded in making considerable
profits and saving any part of them are those farmers who
received their land in early times from the government.
These, having a clear start, were enabled in most cases to
avoid the burden of heavy debt, and consequently, in a year
80 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [358
of good crops, they could at once invest their profits perma-
nently on their farms.
It may well seem that these statements in regard to the
frequent unprofitableness of farming operations are not in
harmony with such facts as that the market price of land is at
present increasing rapidly, and that there is now a more eager
demand for good agricultural land than has obtained for a
number of years; and again that land is now being eagerly
sought by renters who are willing to pay a larger proportion
of the produce for rent than ever before, and who will in
some cases even pay a quite high cash rent. It might be
said that in order to occasion such a demand for lands to
purchase and to rent, farming must be very profitable, or at
least that the chances of high profits in it must be very good,
and this would not agree with our preceding inferences. At-
tention should, however, be directed to one or two influences
of importance which, apart from the profitableness of the
investment, might create a high demand for land.
In the first place, although the available free government
land has been practically exhausted, yet the tradition of cheap
farms easily obtainable still lingers in the minds of the
people, and so the home-seeker still turns his thoughts toward
the West, where prices of land are really low in comparison
with those current further east. But the conditions make it
necessary for him to resort to new methods of acquiring the
desired land. If he has some little capital he will probably
try to purchase as large a farm as possible with what means
he has at his disposal for the first cash payment; then, giving
a mortgage for the balance of the purchase money, he will
trust to Providence for the ability to meet the debt when it
comes due. If the newcomer has not money enough to pur-
chase land in any way, he will seek for a farm to rent with the
hope that he may before long become an owner himself. In
these facts we see a prominent reason why the demand for
land may have increased without regard to the income pro-
duced by it, until its selling price, and as well its rental, have
become much higher than the income really warrants. The
possibility of such influences having their effect upon the
359] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 81
demand for land is made greater by one of the characteristics
of investment in farming operations, which may be specially
mentioned; this is tlie slowness with which the true rate of
agricultural profits can be estimated, owing to the great var-
iations from year to year in the size of the crops and in the
prices at which farm products will sell.
A special case of this migration of home-seekers to the
newer western states is exemplified on a considerable scale
by the large parties of farmers who at the present time
(March, 1893) are leaving Illinois for Nebraska, the Dacotas,
and neighboring states. As the value of land in such
states as Illinois increases, the younger generation finds it
constantly growing harder to acquire farm homes of their
own. Consequently it often happens that the owner of a
small farm sells it, perhaps to a non-resident landowner, and
moves with his sons further west, where the proceeds from
the old farm will purchase enough land for both father and
sons.
But again, a cause for the increased demand for farming
lands may be sought in the deeper relations underlying all
industrial society. Farming may be an uncertain means of
getting a living, and yet it, or the ideas of it current in the
eastern states, may seem to many a laborer so much better
than his existing lot, or may actually be such an improvement
upon it, that he is only too glad to seek to better himself by
means of it; and thus he helps to swell the already over-
crowded ranks of agriculturalists, and so raises the price of
their primary necessity — the land.
Though the special peculiarities in the character of the
income derived from farming operations should by no means
be left out of account in considering the status of the farmers,
yet a brief mention of these peculiarities must suffice here.
In the first place, the irregularity in the amount of the
income from year to year has very important effects. Though
even the tenant farmer may almost always feel confident that
a sufficient supply of food is assured him, no matter how poor
the crop, still every farmer is liable to have his year's profits
82 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [360
totally wiped out, or even to suffer quite a heavy loss if the
season should be very bad; for the margin between the
normal net income and the sum of the living expenses and the
interest on the investment is often very narrow. Thus while
a well-to-do farmer may be able to recuperate in succeeding
years from a heavy loss of crops, yet such a blow may be too
great for one who is poorer or deeply indebted, and may
effect his ruin before he has time to attempt to repair his
losses. The effects of bad management in wiping out this
margin of profit are very similar to those of bad seasons, and
when poor management and poor crops are "found in con-
junction, there is little hope for the farmer.
T^ should be remarked, however, that while the crop failure
of 1890 ruined many farmers who were already heavily
encumbered with debt, still in some cases indirect results of a
very different kind can be traced. For many of those farmers
whose affairs were in moderately good condition and who
had sufBcient energy to cause them at once to set to work to
recover their lost ground, have really profited by their
experience. They have become much more conservative, and
are less inclined to enter upon speculative transactions,
especially where they would have to make use of credit. Con-
sequently they will soon be in better position to resist heavy
losses, should such again befall them.
Next, in regard to direct taxes, it has been seen that these
are by no means so high as seriously to affect the farmer's
prosperity, being probably in no case above four or five mills
on the dollar of true valuation.
Freight rates have played a more important role, especially
since of late years it has become necessary to ship large
amounts of surplus products to distant markets; and they
often absorb a large part of the gross price for which the
product sells. Whether the responsibility for this deduction
from the farmer's receipts lies with railroad companies which
charge excessive rates, or with the conditions which make
necessary the shipment of grain for such great distances,
must be decided from other evidence than that which we have
gathered.
361] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 83
The influence of the use, and more especially of tlie abuse,
of credit will require a more extended treatment, for it is by
no means a simple matter and needs to be looked at from
several points of view. In the first place, the mere borrowing
of money cannot be said to be in itself a harmful thing.
Credit has a tendency to multiply as well the opportunities
for gain of the man who makes use of it, as to make greater
his dangers of loss; but it is only rarely that it can be called
the direct cause of either gain or loss. ]\lerely to say that
the farmer pays too high interest for his money is in no way
an explanation of his financial difficulties; for the rate of
interest is adjusted by a competition acting with comparative
freedom, and we must go back of it to consider the earning
power of the material things in which the borrowed money is
invested.
The economic significance of a mortgage debt depends
partly on the previous financial condition of the debtor, but
perhaps to a still greater extent on what is the corresponding
item on the opposite side of his balance-sheet As to this
latter, we must consider whether there stands back of the
debt an asset, the liquidation of a loss in the past, or a present
personal expenditure. If the money is borrowed for either
of the last two purposes, then the debt will be a dead weight,
to be provided for from other sources. If the item offsetting
it in the accounts is an asset, then one must consider further
whether it has the actual present value of the debt; for in so
far as it has not, the debt will be a drag, just as in the cases
above. If the asset does actually have a value equal to the
debt, then we must examine first whether it is likely to appre-
ciate or depreciate, and second whether it is income-produc-
ing or not. If income-producing, then such income must be
investigated as to its amount, as to the regularity with which
it accrues, and the probability of its permanence.
Applying these principles, we shall be able to see ^vhy a
mortgage bearing seven per cent interest, that represents in
part a payment for high-priced land, in part a new house, and
in part losses or expenses in excess of income, may perhaps
be more burdensome to the farmer of to-dav than a small
84 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [362
loan at three per cent a month given by an early settler who
had practically no means to obtain the funds to begin cultiva-
tion or even to make the first payment on cheap land. For
the early settler could reasonably expect to make and save
both principal and interest out of a single crop, while the
variable income of the farmer to-day may often fall so low as
to fail to yield sufficient surplus to pay the interest on that part
of the debt which is represented by income-producing assets,
much less on the remainder of it.
In the region which we are considering, capitalization of
all agricultural property is too high (it has been previously
maintained that the basis of capitalization is not so much
income as a demand arising from other causes), and from this
two results follow: first, that the rate of income from land is
low compared to that from other investments, and second,
that the marginal amount of money that can be borrowed on
the land is high in just the proportion that the capitalization
is high. Now under these circumstances let a farmer pay
the rate of interest which is current in the money markets,
and if the debt is large or long-continued, the tendency is for
him steadily to lose. It must of course be remembered that
agriculture is a highly uncertain occupation, so that a suc-
cession of good crops may entirely overcome this normal
loss, or a succession of poor ones may greatly increase it.
What we have thus far said of the use of credit has been of
such general application as to apply to all borrowers alike,
but it will now be necessary to show how borrowing becomes
a much greater evil to certain classes of farmers than to
others. It is a fact often commented upon that the small entre-
pi^eneur who is out of debt takes pride in his condition and
usually avoids investments or speculations which would make
the use of credit necessary to him, while one who has once
become heavily encumbered becomes callous to the incon-
veniences caused by his indebtedness, and often does not
hesitate to plunge deeper if possible; moreover, the latter will
become reckless in his speculations, because if he is successful
the gain is his, and if he loses, much of tlie loss falls on his
363] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 85
creditors. Now, as has before been pointed out, an excep-
tionally energetic man can sometimes attain prosperity even
though he starts out with a heavy debt incurred for purchase
money, and if he meets with good fortune he can gradually
free himself from his burden. But under the prevailing con-
ditions, the man of just ordinary ability, who is owing a heavy
debt, will be more likely than not to allow it to grow contin-
ually larger; and not only will the efifect of the debt be seen
in making more grievous the ill effects of losses or misfor-
tunes, but when a man's credit is exhausted or badly strained
he will often be unable to avail himself of opportunities
which he would otherwise have had to make profits, as for
instance when he is forced to sell his grain at a low price
when, had he been able to wait on the markets, he could have
realized a much larger sum.
Perhaps the efifect of his debt on a heavily mortgaged man
may be summed up by saying that in order to use the money
profitably, the borrower must be a man of normal ability; if
his qualities are exceptionally good he may profit greatly by
his loan; but if they are under 'the average, or if fortune
should go against him, his debt will almost surely operate to
increase his troubles. Any man who undertakes farming in
Nebraska at the present day requires, in order to be as-
sured of success, at least three things, — ^first, that he have
some little capital, second, that he possess good business
qualifications, and third, that he escape any extraordinary
misfortunes. If he lack any one of these, or is seriously defi-
cient in it, his success will be much retarded, if not rendered
entirely impossible. And though the same statement would
probably be true of almost any business enterprise, yet it
seems clear from the facts that it applies with especial
emphasis to the western agriculturalists of the present time.
Thus far what has been said in discussing the various
economic influences at work has been said mainly from the
point of view of the unsuccessful farmers. The term unsuc-
cessful must not only be taken to include those who have
failed completely owing to causes of a general nature or of
86 Tlie Condition of the Western Fanner. [364
nature not clearly personal (for these latter causes have been
excluded from our consideration), but it also includes the
many who are still strug-gling for success, though badly
embarrassed by debt. In brief, it comprises all those who have
to a greater or less extent fallen short of the measure of suc-
cess which their efforts seemed to deserve. Nor should it be
forgotten that to the men classed as successful the same con-
ditions have applied as to the unsuccessful, though not with
equal results; for the successful ones are those whose energy
or business ability or external advantages have been so great
as to enable them to overcome in some degree, at least, all
the unfavorable influences.
And now let us see what this measure of success is which
the more successful in the township have attained. The
largest landowner among them has 480 acres of land, while
only four or five, all told, own over 240 acres apiece. Of
those who have more than one quarter section of land, the
great majority have had some exceptional advantage, such
as a capital greater than the average, when they first came to
the country, or external help of some kind, as land or money
received by inheritance, or they have been men of excep-
tional thrift. In no case can the improvements be called
more than comfortable, and it is rare to find an exception-
ally good house without noticing that the outbuildings have
to some extent been sacrificed to it, or ■vice versa. In few
cases will the income from his farm support the owner after
he has retired from active life. To the writer it seems that
the condition of the successful farmers more strongly indi-
cates the disadvantages under which they have labored than
the condition of the more or less unsuccessful ones. For
here we see good business men who have carefully labored
for many years, and who come now toward the close
of their active careers, feeling fortunate if their farms are
unencumbered and their property sufficient to support them
in their old age, while they live with their descendants who
have taken their places in the active operations of agricul-
ture. It is true these men have had little inherited wealth
365] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 87
behind them, but they are among the men who have helped to
build up a new country, and who, it would seem, should have
as much share in the prosperity of the new territory they
have helped to open, as those who cast their lot with the
towns and cities.
The farmer who has once become fairly well equipped,
and who is not burdened with a heavy debt, has, it is true,
certain advantages which make his lot in some ways quite
desirable. If not in debt, he feels sure of a comfortable living
even in poor years, and a small deficit is easily tided over.
Moreover, he is in a position to make advantageous use from
time to time of a small line of credit for temporary purposes;
and, being able to get money at very low rates, may some-
times be able to make very profitable investments.
As compared with the pioneer farmer of twenty years ago,
the farmer of to-day requires a much larger capital, and in
consequence the cost of production of the grain that he raises
is higher. Not only is it found necessary to give the land
slightly more cultivating, but also there must be figured into
the cost the interest on the investment in the land, which was
ver\^ small in the early days, but is of considerable importance
now. Then the standard of living, by which each family
gauges its expenditure, is much higher than formerly, and
the enforced economies of the pioneer period cannot be prac-
ticed, and indeed ought not to be demanded or expected.
The markets are no better to-day than before. In short, if
the farmer of to-day expects to achieve the same success as
the pioneer achieved, he must, except where good fortune
and the possession of unusual personal qualities are com-
bined, have capital in sufficient amount to offset the free land
and the low cost of living of the pioneer period.
v.— APPENDICES.
A. Land Laws and Technical Expressions.
In order to avoid the necessity of frequent digressions
throughout the text to explain the ownership of the land at
the time settlement began, and the ways in which the settler
could acquire title' to farming lands, it has been thought best
to gather all those matters, together with some related ones,
into an appendix, to which reference could be made from the
body of the paper.
When the lands now included within the borders of the
state of Nebraska passed out of the hands of the Indians and
into the possession of the Federal government, the latter
proceeded to have land surveyed as fast as tlie rate of settle-
ment seemed to warrant. Without going into the details of
this survey, it may be said that the main subdivisions created
were townships, each six miles square; that the townships
were divided into sections of approximately one square mile
each ; and these in their turn into quarter and quarter-quarter
sections. The disposition of the land by the government
was on the basis of these last subdivisions. The survey was
completed in Hall county in July and August, 1866, and in
1869 a U. S. land ofhice was established at Grand Island, the
county seat.^
The federal government gave to the state of Nebraska
sections sixteen and thirty-six in every township for a school
endowment; it also gave to the Union Pacific Railroad, as to
the other roads built in the earlier days, a land grant consist-
ing of all the alternate sections for ten miles on each side of
the railroad track. As Harrison township lies within this
" ten mile limit," all of the odd-numbered sections within the
^ For a concise account of tliis and the following matters, see
Sato's History of the Land Question in the U. S., Johns Hopkins
University Studies, Vol. IV., Nos. 7-9.
367] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 89
town were the property of the railroad at the time our inter-
est in the land begins, and since the two sections sixteen and
thirty-six belonged to the state, there were only sixteen
square miles in the township subject to entry under the fed-
eral laws. We have so frequently to make use of this class-
ification of the lands that the classes are referred to respec-
tively as " railroad land," " school land," and " government
land."
There were various ways in which the settler could acquire
lands on w^hich to begin his farming operations. If he desired
to take government land, he had during most of the time
choice of pre-emption, homestead, or timber-claim The pre-
emptor had to improve his land and actually reside upon it;
he was allowed thirty-three months in which to make final
proof in compliance \vith the law, and pay the $2.50 an acre
which the government charged him for the land. The
" homesteader " had to reside on his land for five years
before he could make final proof and gain full title. But he
was allowed, if he so desired, to " commute his entry " after
six months residence, by paying the full legal price for the
land. This latter provision meant practically that his home-
stead was changed into a pre-emption. A timber-culture
entry gave the claimant title to the land after eight years, on
condition that he plant on it and keep in good condition a
certain number of acres in timber.
In 1872 one could pre-empt one hundred and sixty acres
of land within the township, or could homestead eighty acres.
By the act of March 3, 1873, he could take in addition one
hundred and sixty acres as a timber claim. Two years later,
the soldiers' additional homestead act of March 3, 1875, gave
former soldiers the right to homestead one hundred and
sixty acres, which right was extended to all persons capable
of taking land at all, on July i, 1879.
If, owing to arrival in later years or for any other reason,
the settler wished to purchase railroad land, he had to pay for
it in most cases from four to six dollars an acre, but was
given long time, usually ten years, the principal to be paid
up in yearly instalments.
90 The Condition of the Western Fanner. [368
School land was for a long time leased by the state, but
has in comparatively recent years been sold to lessees on the
appraisement of residents of the county, most of it at seven
dollars an acre.
The state still holds unsold one quarter section within the
township. The general government retains the title to three
pieces of land, containing in all three hundred and twenty
acres; this fact being due to the delay of the occupants in
complying with the conditions required as a preliminary to
the transfer of the legal title.
Certain technical terms that are used in this connection
throughout the paper perhaps stand in need of explanation.
An " entry " is the settlement upon government land in one
of the three methods described above. " Proving up " is the
expression commonly used for completing the proof that the
government requirements have been fulfilled. It is a neces-
sary preliminary to the transfer of title to the settler. A
" soldiers' declaratory statement " is a paper stating that the
signer had been a soldier and intends to make a regular
entry for a designated piece of land. It is one of the few
entries that can be made by proxy, and serves as a bar to other
entries upon the land for six months after it has been filed.
In early years settlers now and then abandoned their
claims; the land would then simply lie open for a new entry
by the first person who chose to take it. If an occupant sold
his claim before having acquired full title, he would enter a
formal "relinquishment" on the records of the land office,
and the purchaser would then make a new entry for the land.
In order to avoid taxation, or sometimes for other reasons,
it was not uncommon w^hen the time for " proving up " had
almost expired, for a settler to have his own claim canceled
by relinquishment. His right as to the kind of entry which
he had before made was now exhausted, but he could imme-
diately make a new entry of some other kind, and thus retain
his interest in the land. He could thus continue till he had
exhausted his rights under the land laws, which up to '79
allowed the settler to take in the aggregate 400 acres, and
3G9] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 91
after that date 480 acres. One or more of these causes will
explain the fact, frequently observed, of several successive
entries upon the same tract of land.
The progress of the paper shows the importance of
classifying- all the settlers into those who took land from the
government, those who purchased of the railroad company,
and those who purchased of other former owners. It has
not been found necessary to make further classification of
those who took government land, according to the kind of
claim which they chose, because no pre-emptions taken by
resident farmers were paid up, and whether a home-
stead or a timber claim was taken the land was equally a gift
from the government to the taker. The reason why a dis-
tinction is drawn between purchasers from the railroad com-
pany and other purchasers is because of the difference of the
terms of sale in the two cases. For the sake of simplicity
the few purchasers of school land are, except when given a
special heading, included under the third class above, z. e.,
the purchasers from other than the railroad company.
There are included under the name of takers of govern-
ment land all those who made entries direct from the govern-
ment, even though they had paid former holders to relinquish
claim upon the lands in order that they, the newcomers,
might take it; and this plan is adopted because the newcomer
had to carry out all the government requirements just as if
he were one of the earliest settlers. On the other hand, those
who bought from other settlers contracts for the sale of rail-
road land are included wath the purchasers from fonner
owners rather than with the purchasers from the railroad
company, because the burden to which they subjected them-
selves was exactly the same as it would have been if they had
purchased lands to which the title was already complete.
B. Comparison of the Figures of this Paper with
THOSE SHOWN BY THE CeNSUS OF 189O.
The United States Census figures for the state of Nebraska
show that of all taxed acres, 58.13 per cent were mortgaged;
92 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [370
that the average amount of debt in force per assessed acre
was $3.74, and per mortgaged acre was $6.43 ; that the aver-
age value of an acre (estimated) was $14.45, ^^^ that the
total amount of the mortgages represented 44.47 per cent of
the total value of the acres mortgaged ; also that the average
amount of debt to each mortgage in force against acres was
$844. Now these figures formed the average of the mort-
gages in both the older settled and the very recently settled
portions of the state. Since the average value of an acre is
as low as it is, we may conclude that the number of mort-
gages from newer parts of the state was comparatively very
large.
The figures brought out in this paper showing the per-
centage of acres which are mortgaged and the percentage of
the value of mortgaged acres represented by the debt in force
against them, are very nearly the same as those shown by
the census, but corresponding to the fact that in the present
study the value of the land per acre is much higher than in
the census figures, we find that the average debt per farm
and the average debt per acre are in almost the same propor-
tion higher. These facts help to show the relationship which
exists between the facts shown in this paper and the average
facts for the state as a whole.
IX-X
JOHNS HOPKINS DNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History. — Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
IX-X
HISIOEI OF SUfil II COIECIICIIT
BY
BERNARD C. STEINER, Ph. D.
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
September-October, 1893
COPTKIGHT, 1R93, BY The Johns Hopkins Pkess.
THE FKIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMOEE.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction 7
PeriodI.— 1636-1774.— Indian Slavery 9
Colonial Legislation on Slavery 11
Trials Concerning Slaves in Colonial Days 17
Social Condition of Slaves in Colonial Times 20
Period II.— 1774-1869.— Slaves in the Revolution 24
Opinions of the Forefathers on Slavery 28
State Legislation on Slavery 30
Cases Adjudicated in the Higher Courts with Reference to
Slavery 37
Miss Prudence Crandall and her School 45
Nancy Jackson vs. Bulloch 52
The Negroes on the '• Amistad " 56
Growth of the Anti-Slavery Spirit 68
Social Condition of Slaves 78
Appendix 83
HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN CONNECTICUT.
INTRODUCTION.
Few questions have been more interesting to the American
people than slavery, and the number of works which have
appeared upon the subject has been proportional to tlie
interest aroused. The slavery of negroes has been discussed
from almost every point of view, and yet the influence of
slavery upon individual States of the Union and its different
history and characteristics in the several States have not
received the attention they deserve. There have been two
able works dealing with this branch of the subject, tracing
thoroughly the coiu*se of the institution of slavery in the two
States of Massachusetts and Maryland.'' As Massachusetts
was the first State of the original number to free her slaves,
and as Maryland was a typical Border State, these mono-
graphs, apart from their accuracy and completeness, have
been valuable contributions to the study of slaver}^ in the
separate States, but they stand almost alone.
It has been the intention of the writer to take up the history
of slavery in his native State — Connecticut. The develop-
ment of slavery and the conditions surrounding it there were
not greatly different from those existing in the larger State
immediately to the north, yet there were certain phases of
the " peculiar institution " in Connecticut which yield a
^ I allude to Dr. Geo. Moore's " Notes on Slavery in Massachu-
setts " and Dr. J. R. Brackett's ''Negro in Maryland." Tremain's
" Slavery in the Distiict of Columbia," in Univ. of Neb. Studies, and
Ingle's "Negro in the District of Columbia, "in J. H. U. Studies, are
noteworthy. See also Morgan's brief account of '' Slavery in New-
York " in the Am. Hist. Ass. Papers. I might add Ed. Bettle,
" Notices of Negro Slavery as Connected with Pennsylvania," Vol.
I., p. 365 fC., Penn. Hist. Soc. Memou-s.
8 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [378
noteworthy return to the student/ Though the formal aboli-
tion of slavery in Connecticut did not take place until 1848,
there had been practically very few slaves in the State since
1800, and the treatment of the slave had been always compar-
atively mild and lenient. In the history of the opinion of the
people in regard to slavery, we shall find two fairly well
marked-ofif periods, under each of which we shall treat separ-
ately the legal, political, and social aspects of slavery. The
first of these periods extends from the settlement of the col-
ony until the passage of the Non-importation Act of 1774,
and is characterized by a general acquiescence in the exist-
ence of slavery and a somewhat harsh slave code.
The second period, extending from 1774 to 1 861, is marked
by the diminution and extinction of slavery. It might be
divided into two subdivisions. The first subdivision extends
from October, 1774, to the rise of the Abolitionists, about
1830, and is characterized by the gradual emancipation of the
slaves and amelioration of their condition.
In the second subdivision, lasting from about 1830 till the
Civil War, we find the formal abolition of slavery and the
rise of the slavery question as a political issue, culminating in
the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act, and ending in the
Act of 1857. The period closes with the acceptance of the
Fifteenth Amendment in 1869.
^ The autlioi* regrets that he was unable to consult Dr. Wm. C.
Fowler's "Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut" until
these pages were passing through the press. Any new matter
therein contained has been embodied in foot-notes, as far as possi-
ble. The labor and research Dr. Fowler bestowed on his paper
make it very valuable. It appeared in Dawson's Historical Maga-
zine for 1874. Vol. XXHI... pp. 13-18, 81-85, 148-153, 360-266.
PERIOD L— 1636-1774.
Indian Slavery.
In Connecticut, as in many other States, the first slaves
were not of African race, but were aborigines, taken in battle
and sold as slaves, in the same manner as the Anglo-
Saxon forefathers of the early settlers had sold the captives
of their spear, over a millennium before. After the fierce and
bloody Pequod War, the colonists found on their hands a
number of captive Indians, whose disposition formed a press-
ing question. It did not take long to decide it. To the
shame of the conquerors, " Ye prisoners were devided, some
to those of tlie River [Connecticut] and the rest to us" of
Massachusetts." Of those taken by the latter, they sent " the
male children to Bermudas, by Mr. William Pierce, and the
women and maid children are disposed about in the towns.
There have now been slain and taken, in all, about 700."
Connecticut's disposition of her share was, doubtless, much
the same as that described above. In the same spirit, the
Articles of Confederation of the United New England Colo-
nies, in which both Connecticut and New Haven were
included, when drawn up on May 19, 1643, provided that
" the whole advantage of the warr (if it please God to bless
their Endeavours), whether it be in lands, goods, or persons,
shall be proportionally divided among the said Confederates."'
The Articles of Confederation also provided "that, if any
servant run away from his master into any of these confed-
erated jurisdictions, that, in such case, upon certificate of one
magistrate in the jurisdiction of which tlie said servant fled,
or upon other due proof, the said servant shall be delivered,
either to his master or any other, that pursues and brings
such certificate or proof." This was the first fugitive slave
law in force in Connecticut.
^ Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Series IV.. Vol. in., p. 360.
■^Plymouth Col. Rec, Vol. IX., p. 4.
10 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [380
Since it was found that certain Indian villages harbored
fugitive Indians, the Confederation, on Sept. 5, 1646, decided
that such villages might be raided and the inhabitants carried
off, women and children being spared as much as possible,
and added, to its eternal shame, that "because it will be
chargeable keeping Indians in prison and, if they should
escape, they are liable to prove more insolent and dangerous
after, it was thought fit that upon such seizure . . . the magis-
trates of the jurisdiction deliver up the Indians seized to the
party or parties endamaged, either to serve or to be shipped
out and exchanged for negroes, as the cause will justly bear."^
The Connecticut Code of 1646, following this resolve in its
language, recognizes Indian and negro slavery."
The Confederation, in 1646, took active part in endeavor-
ing to make Gov. Kieft of New Netherlands return " an
Tndian captive liable to publicke punishment fled from her
master at Hartford " and " entertained in your house at Hart-
ford and, though required by the magistrate," she was " under
the hands of your agent there denyed, and was said to have
been either marryed or abused by one of your men." " Such
a servant," they say, " is parte of her master's estate and a
more considerable part than a beast; our children will not
longe be secure if this be suffered." This last sentence clearly
shows the outcropping of the patriarchal idea. Kieft refused
to give her up, and said, "as concerns the Barbarian hand-
made," it is " apprehended by some, that she is no slave, but
a freewoman, because she w^as neither taken in war, nor
bought with price, but was in former time placed with me by
her parents for education."' By the Inter-Colonial Treaty of
Sept. 19, 1650, the provision of the Articles of Confederation,
in regard to fugitives, was extended to include the intercourse
of the New Englanders and the Dutch.* King Philip's War
again threw many Indian captives into the settlers' hands and,
1 Hazard, II., p. 63.
^ Title " Indians." Conn. Rec, I., 531. Not in Revision of 1715.
■^ Plymouth Records, IX., 6, 64, 190.
^Hurd. " Law of Treedom and Bondage in the IT. S.," I., 269.
381] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 11
on May lo, 1677/ the General Court decreed, " for the
prevention of those Indians running away, tliat are disposed
in service by the Authority, that are of the enemie and
have , submitted to mercy, such Indians, if they be taken,
shall be in the power of his master to dispose of him, as a
captive by transportation out of the country." The syntax
of the enactment is confused, its cruelty is clear.
The number of Indian slaves seems to have gradually de-
creased from death, intermarriage with negroes, and emanci-
pation, though as late as May i, 1690, Gov. Leisler of New
York met with the Commissioners of Massachusetts, Plym-
outh, and Connecticut, and they all covenanted that in the
contemplated Indian war, " all plunder and captives (if any
happen) shall be divided to the officers and soldiers, accord-
ing to the custom of War."'
Though the colonists entertained no doubt of their right to
sell Indian captives, better Puritan nature revolted against the
idea of perpetual hereditary slavery, and, as early as 1722,
we find doubts expressed as to the status of the child of an
Indian slave.*
Dr. Fowler states that Indian slaves were not considered
as valuable as negroes.
Further remarks as to legislation in regard to Indian
slaves wall be found in a subsequent section.
Colonial Legislation on Slavery.
The earliest law on any of Connecticut's statute-books in
regard to slavery is a quotation from Exodus xxi. 16, placed
tenth among the Capital Laws of Connecticut, on Dec. i,
1642, " If any man stealeth a man or mankind, he shall be
put to death." This, however, was understood, of course,
only to include in its protection persons of white race.
When or how negro slavery was introduced into Connecti-
cut, we have no records to show. " It was never directly
' Conn. Col. Rec, 11., 308.
2N. Y. Doc. Hist, n., pp. 134, 157.
3 Ti-umbull's " Connecticut," Vol. I., p. 417. Fowler, p. 152.
12 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [382
established by statute," says the editor of the Revision of the
State's Laws in 1821/ "but has been indirectly sanctioned
by various statutes and frequently recognized by courts, so
that it may be said to have been established by law."^ Few
slaves were imported at first, and, on May 17, 1660, we find
the first reference to negroes in the Connecticut Records/"
Then the distrust of bondmen and the fear of treachery in
slaves, nearly always shown by masters, is revealed in the
General Court's order " that neither Indian nor negar servants
shall be required to train, watch, or ward in the Colony."*
The number of negroes was " few," not above thirty, only
two of whom were christened, in 1680,° and not until ten
years later had they sufficiently increased so as to call the atten-
tion of the legislators to their regulation. Connecticut began
her black code in October, 1690,° by passing several meas-
ures, providing that a " negro, mulatto, or Indian servant "
found wandering out of the bounds of the town to which
he belonged, without a ticket or pass from an Assistant,
or Justice of the Peace, or his owner, shall be accounted
a runaway and may be seized by any one finding him,
brought before the next authority and returned to his master,
who must pay the charges. Even a ferryman, transporting
a slave without a pass, was liable to a penalty of twenty shil-
lings for each ofifense.^ A free negro without a pass must
pay the costs if stopped and brought before a magistrate.
The last two laws were repealed in October, 1797.^
The next statute, save one, referring to slaves was passed
^ Probably Swift, author of the well-known " System."
2 Revision of 1821, Title 93, See. 7, note.
^ Dr. Fowler ("Hist. Status," p. 12) says negro slaves were in
New Haven Colony in 1644.
*Conn. Col. Rec, I., 349.
5 They came sometimes three and four a year from Barbadoes.
Conn. Col. Rec, in., p. 298. Answer to Queiles.
« Conn. Col. Rec, IV., p. 40. Revision of 1808, Title CL., Ch. I.,
Sees. 1-4.
' This amount was later changed to $3.34.
sHurd. II., p. 42.
383] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 13
in 1703/ This shows clearly the survival in colonial days of
the potestas of the pater familias coming down from the
absolute dominion of the house-father in ancient times. It
prohibits any " licensed innkeeper, victualler, taverner, or
retailer of strong drink " from " suffering any one's sons,
apprentices, servants, or negroes to sit drinking in his house,
or have any manner of drink there, without special order from
parents or masters."
Slaves seem now, for some time, to be repressed by laws
continually growing harsher. In May, 1708/ the General
Court, taking into consideration that " divers rude and evil-
minded persons, for the sake of filthy lucre, do receive prop-
erty stolen by slaves," and desiring to prevent this and to better
govern the slaves, decreed that any one buying or receiving
from slaves property without an order from their masters, must
return the property and double its value in addition, or, if he
has disposed of tlie original property, treble its value, and,
if he will not do this, he is to be whipped with not over twenty
stripes. The slaves caught in theft were to be whipped with
not over thirty stripes, whether the receivers of the goods
from them were found or not. Further, " whereas negro and
mulatto servants or slaves' are become nurnerous in some
parts of this Colonic and are ver}^ apt to be turbulent and
often quarrelling with white people to the great disturbance
of the peace," it is enacted that a negro disturbing the
peace or offering to strike a white person, is to be subject
to a penalty of not over thirty stripes.
In spite of these harsher laws, emancipation was becoming
somewhat common, and the Colony feared that it Avould have
to support negroes whose years of usefulness had been spent
in work for their masters, and who were manumitted by them,
^ Conn. Col. Rec., IV., 438. A penalty of 10 shillings was to be
imposed for a breacli of this act. It does not seem to have been
included in any of the revisions of the statutes.
-Conn. Col. Rec, v., p. 52. This was in force in 1808. Title CL.,
Ch. I., Sec. 5.
^ Revision of 1750, p. 229.
14 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [384
when old and helpless. To prevent this, in May, 1702/ the
legislature provided that slaves, set free and coming to want,
must be relieved by the owners, their heirs, executors, or
administrators. To this act a second one was added in 171 1,
providing that if the owners or their representatives refused
to maintain such emancipated slaves, it should be the duty
of the selectmen of the various towns to do so, and then to
sue the owners, or their representatives, for the expense'
incurred.
The terrible war between the South Carolinians and the
Tuscaroras, ending with the overthrow of the latter, left a
large number of Indian prisoners in the hands of the Caro-
linians, who shipped them as slaves to the other colonies.
This importation of vengeful, warlike savages alarmed the
people of Connecticut and led to the first steps towards pro-
hibition of the slave trade. The Governor and Council met
on July 8, 171 5, and considering the fact that several have
brought into the colony Carolina Indians, " which have
committed many cruel and bloody outrages " there, and may
draw off " our Indians," if their importation be continued, and
so " much mischief " may follow, they decided to prohibit
importation of Indian slaves, until the meeting of the As-
sembly, and to require each ship entering port with Indians
on board to give bond of £50 to transport them from the
colony in twenty days. Further, Indians brought into the
colony hereafter are to be " kept in strictest custody," con-
fined and "prevented from communicating with other In-
dians," unless owner give the same bond as above to remove
them from Connecticut in twenty days.^
The next October, the General Court, copying a Massa-
chusetts Act of 1 712, made the prohibition of bringing in
Indian slaves permanent, since " divers conspiracies, out-
rages, barbarities, murders, burglaries, thefts, and other no-
^ Conn. Col. Rec, IV., 375. A similar act to the same purpose was
passed in May, 1703. Conn. Col. Rec, IV., 408. See p. 32.
2 Conn. Col. Rec, V., 233. The whole was in the reyision of 1S08,
Title CL., Ch. I., Sec. 11.
3 Conn. Col. Rec, V., 516.
385] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 15
torious crimes at sundry times and, especially of late, have
been perpetrated by Indians and other slaves, . . . being of
a malicious and vengeful spirit, rude and insolent in their
behaviour, and very ungovernable, the overgreat number of
which, considering the different circumstances in this Colony
from the plantations in the islands and our having consider-
able numbers of Indians, natives of our countr}', . . . may
be of pernicious consequence."^ The legislature decreed the
forfeiture of all Indians hereafter imported, and the payment
of a fine of £50 by shipmaster or other persons bringing
Indians.
The preamble quoted above shows that this measure was
not prompted by affection for the slaves, but by fear of them ;
but it was the beginning of the end — the first law restricting
slaveholders' rights in Connecticut, to be followed by one and
another of the same restrictive kind, until all men who trod
the soil of the State were free.
The next law on the records was passed in May, 1723, and
provided that a slave out of doors after 9 P. M., without
order from master or mistress, might be secured and brought
before a Justice of the Peace by any citizen and, if found
guilty, should receive not over ten stripes, unless the master
were willing to pay a fine of ten shillings^ to release him.
Any one who should receive such a slave must, on conviction,
pay a like fine, half to the town and half to the informer.
The black code was completed by the act of May, 1730,
declaring that a slave speaking such words as would be
actionable in a free person, should be whipped, on conviction,
with not over forty stripes and sold for the costs, unless the
master were willing to pay them. However, there was a ray
of justice in the provision of the law that the slave might
make the same pleas and oflfer the same evidence as a free
person.^
^ Conn. Col. Rec, V., 534. Fee of 2s. 6d. for registering slave,
which must he done in twenty-four bovirs after arrival. The slave
must be taken away within a month.
^Amoimt to be paid later changed to .$1.67. Conn. Col. Rec, VI.,
391. Repealed by Ch. IV., Oct. 1797.
3 Conn. Col. Rec. VII., 290. In Revision of 1750. p. 40.
16 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [386
From this time on, the more engrossing subjects of the
struggle between the French and the colonists, and the
growth of material prosperity seem to have thrust aside the
topic of slavery from the legislative halls. For forty-four
years we find few more laws.' It is true, however, that at
the General Assembly in 1738, "it was inquired — ^whether
the infant slaves of Christian masters may be baptized in
the right of their masters, they solemnly promising to train
them in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord; and
whether it is the duty of such masters to offer such children
and thus religiously to promise," To the great credit of
the colonists, both these questions were answered affirma-
tively, and thus the devout Christians of Connecticut, pre-
serving the solidarity of the family, unconsciously went back
to the early Aryan custom, that the God of the house-father
should be worshiped by all under his sway. The growth
of free ideas,^ the coming of the Revolution, the increase of
the slaves, " injurious," it was thought, to the poor and " in-
convenient" — for the best motives are apt to be mixed of
good and evil — led, in October, 1774, to the (^nactment of the
law that " no Indian, negro, or mulatto slave shall at any time
hereafter^ be brought or imported into this State," by sea
or land, from any place or places whatsoever, to be disposed
of, left, or sold within the State," and any offender against
this law should pay iioo.° So the State set herself as reso-
lutely against the slave trade, as she was destined to do later
against slavery itself.
^ In 1727 it was enacted that masters and mistresses of Indian
chUdren were to use their utmost endeavors to teach them to read
Eughsh, and to instruct them in the Clrristian faith. Reprint of
1737, p. 339. Hurd, I., p. 272.
* Conn. Col. Kec, XIV., 155. May, 1773, " Negro's memorial post-
poned to October." Nothing more of it.
sConn. Col. Rec, XIV., 329.
•*Note the early use of the word.
^ Later the sum was fixed at $334. By act of October, 1798, such
prosecutions must be begun in three years. Revision of 1808, Title
CI., Ch. in. By Revision of 1821, Title 93, Sec. 5, fine put at $350.
387] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 17
A good review of the legal condition of the slave in these
days is given by Judge Reeves,^ who, " lest the slavery, which
prevailed in this State, be forgotten," mentioned " some
things that show that slavery here was very far from being
of the absolute rigid kind. The master had no control over
the life of his slave. If he killed him, he was liable to the
same ptmishment, as if he killed a freeman. The master
was as liable to be sued by the slave, in an action for beating,
and wounding, or for immoderate chastisement, as he would
be if he had thus treated an apprentice. A slave was capa-
ble of holding property in character of devisee or legatee.
If the master should take away such property, his slave
would be entitled to an action against him by his prochmi
ami. From the whole, we see that slaves had the same right
of life and property as apprentices, and that the diflference
betwixt them was this, an apprentice is a servant for time
and the slave is a servant for life."^
Trials concerning Slaves in Colonial Days.
I have been able to obtain but few recorded cases in which
the question of freedom or slavery came up in the courts
^ Law of Baron and Femme, pp. 340-1. Reeves says, " If a slave
married a free woman, with the consent of his master, he was eman-
cipated ; for his master had suffered him to contract a relation
inconsistent with a state of slavery." Dane's Abridgment, II., p.
313, says, "In Connecticut the slave was, by statute, specially for-
bidden to contract." Vide Hurd, II., p. 42.
2 In the Code of 1650, under the title, " Masters, Sojourners, Ser-
vants," the last named are forbidden, under penalty, to trade with-
out permission of their masters, and provision is made for their
recapture by pubUc authority if they run away. Refractory ser-
vants are to be pimished by extension of their tune of service.
The lawmakers, probably, had in mind the class known as Indented
servants, or redemptioners, in formulating this act. (Conn. Rec, I.,
539.) In the Revision of 1715, title " Debts," it was provided that a
debtor without estate " shall satisfy the debt by service, if the
creditor shaU require it, in which case he shall not be disposed in
service to any but of the English nation," to prevent the sale of
the debtor to the French in Canada. Delinquents tmder a penal
law were, by an act of 1725, to be disposed of at service to any
inhabitant of the Colony " to defray the Costs." (Reprint 1737, p.
314.)
18 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [388
during this first period. In the end of 1702 or beginning
of 1703, a slave, Abda, belonging to Capt. Thomas Richards
of Hartford, escaped from his master and was succored by
Capt Joseph Wadsworth of Hartford, who, on Feb. 12th,
1703, opposed the constable in executing a writ of arrest on
Abda. This early fugitive slave case was brought before the
Governor and Council on Feb. 25.^ They recommended
the County Court to examine the case. Apparently Abda
brought an action on the case against Mr. Richards, as a
counter suit, claiming damages of £20 from his master, " for
his unjust holding and detaining the said Abda in his service
as his bondsman, for the space of one year past." The ver-
dict was for ii2 damages, "thereby virtually establishing
Abda's right to freedom," which he, a mulatto, seems to have
claimed largely on account of his white blood.^
Mr. Richards pressed the case further and, in May, 1704,
obtained from the General Court an order to have a hearing
before it in October, on his petition concerning Abda.^ At
that time the case was brought up and the fugitive was re-
turned to his master, as Gov. Saltonstall said, " according to
the laws and constant practice of this Colony and all other
plantations (as well as by the civil law) such persons as are
born of negro bondwomen are themselves in like condition,
i. e. born in servitude.^ Nor can there be any precedent in
this Government, or any of Her Majesty's plantations, pro-
duced to the contrary and, though the law of this Colony
doth not say that such persons as are born of negro woman
and supposed to be mulattoes shall be slaves (which was
needless, because of the constant practice by which they are
held as such), yet it saith expressly that no man shall put
away or make free his negro or mulatto slave, etc., which
^ Conn. Ck)l. Rec, XV., 548.
^ Moore's " Notes on Slavery," p. 112, quoting J. H. I'rumbiill in
Conn. Courant, Nov. 9, 1850. Fowler, " Hist. Status," pp. 14-16.
3 Conn. Col. Rec, rv., 478. Papers in Miscellaneous, n., pp. 10-21.
* This f oUovdng as a precedent the Roman Law maxim, " Partus
sequitur ventrem," at this early day in New England is noteworthy.
389] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 19
undeniably shows and declares an approbation of such ser-
vitude, and that mulattoes may be held as slaves within this
government."'
A later fugitive slave' we find advertised for in the
New York Mercury on July 28, 1760, and the adver-
tisement has many little touches which go to show how
slaves lived and were treated. " Run away from Abraham
Davenport of Stamford in Conn., the 4th of June instant, a
]\Iulatto Man Slave named Vanhall, aged 31 years, about
5 feet 4 or 5 inches high, very swarthy; has a small Head
and Face, a large Mouth, and has an odd Action with his
Head, when talking with any Person ; has very long Arms
and large Hands for a Person of his size and has an old
Countenance for one of his Age; his Hair, like others of
his kind was but lately cut off; was brought up to the Farm-
ing business, is a lively active Fellow and pretends to under-
stand the Violin. Had on, when he went away, a Felt Hat,
a Grey Cut Wig, a light homespun Flannel lappelled Vest,
which had been lined with fine old Cotton and Linnen
Ticken, Doeskin Breeches, he took several pairs of Stock-
ings and one or two pairs of Shoes, a Violin and a small
Hatchet, &c., and 'tis probable he might change his Cloaths.
Whoever takes up and secures said Alulatto, so that his
Master may have him again, shall receive £5. Reward, and
reasonable charges paid."
Late in Colonial times,' we find Hagar, a New London
negress, appearing before the Governor and Council and
pleading that she and her children were lawfully freed by
her former master, James Rogers, and so her refusal to yield
herself as a slave to James Rogers, Jr., his grandson, was
justified. The decision was that she should give bond to
prove her freedom at the next County Court and be secured
from molestation in the meanwhile.
^ Moore. Notes on Slavery, pp. 24-25, quoting J. H. Trumbull's
" Hist. Notes," etc., No. VI.
"Am. Hist. Mag., XIII., p. 498. Vide Fowler, " Hist. Status," p. 148.
3 Conn. Col. Rec., XV., p. 582.
20 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [390
Social Condition of Slaves in Colonial Times.
On this topic comparatively little can be found. Each
large^ village had its negro corner in the Meeting House
gallery and in the graveyard. In the larger towns, such
as Norwich, New Haven, Hartford, and New London, there
were several hundred negroes. They were for the most
part indulgently treated and admitted, at least in many places,
into the local churches as fellow-members with the white
population.^ They must, however, occupy their allotted
gallery seats, which in Torrington were boarded up so that
the .negroes could see no one and be seen by none. If
they attempted to sit elsewhere, or refused to go to church
if made to sit there, excommunication was apt to follow.^
Among early negro slaves recorded in Connecticut are
some belonging to John Pantry of Hartford in 1653, and one
Cyrus, belonging to Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor, and
rated at £30 in his inventory.* Miss Caulkins states that
early in the eighteenth century slaves were worth from 60 shill-
ings to £30, and that later the best were valued as high as ii 00.
She instances the purchase of a negro boy by Rev. William
Hart of Saybrook in 1749 for £290, Old Tenor, about equal
to £60 in coin." In 1708, and probably the same state of
things continued later, we learn the negroes mostly came
from " neighboring governments, save some times half a
dozen a year from the West Indies " ; but " none ever im-
ported by the Royal African Company or separate traders.""
^ In 1726 Suffield voted Rev. Mr. Devotion £20 towards purchas-
ing negroes. Trumbull's "Hartford Coimty," 11., p. 406.
"^E. g. Phebe, colored sei-vant of Joel Thrall, joined Torrington
Church, 1756. Orcutt's " Torrington,'.' p. 211.
3 Jacob Prince, a free negro, was so excommunicated in Goshen.
Orcutt's " Torrington," p. 218.
4 1680, slaves sold at £22. Conn. Col. Rec, in., 298.
Stiles, "Ancient Windsor," p. 489, notices an early deed of sale,
dated 1694, from a Eostonian to a Windsor man, for a negro.
Twenty-one negroes died in. South Windsor from 1736 to 1768, of
which number eleven belonged to the Wolcott family,
5 Hist, of Norwich, p. 328. Vide Fowler, " Hist. Status," p. 148.
6 Conn. Col. Rec, XV., 557.
391] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 21
For the most part, only one or two negroes were owned by
any person. In some parts of the State, as at Waterbury,"
we find it customary for the clergymen to have two slaves,
a man and a woman. Occasionally, however, more were
owned by a wealthy man, as in the case of Capt. John Per-
kins of Hanover Society,* Norwich, who lefc fifteen slaves
by his will in 1761. The slaves were generally kindly treated
and were docile, though we hear of tlie death of a man in
1773 from lockjaw, caused by a bite in the thumb by a young
slave he was chastising.' The majority, however, could show
much more amicable relations. For example, Mingo,* in
Waterbury, who, about 1730, when a boy, was hired out by
his master to drive a plow, later to work with a team and,
1764, at his master's death, was allowed to choose which son
he would live with. He chose to live with the one who kept
the old homestead and remained there until he began keep-
ing a tavern, when he left and went to another son's. He
had a family, and left considerable property at his death in
1800. Indeed, as early as 1707, we have evidence of the
possession of property by a negro, for, in October of that
year, Lieut. John Hawley, administrator to the estate of
John Negro, was granted power by the General Court to
sell iio worth of his land, it appearing from the Fairfield
County Probate Records that he owed that amount more
than his moveables would pay.°
Towards the close of tliis period, the reasonableness and
justice of holding slaves began to be questioned and eman-
' Bronson's " Waterbiiry," 321. ^CanlMns' " Norwicli," p. 328.
' Caul kins' "Norwich," p. 329. Godfrey Malbone of Brooklyn
owned 50 or 60 slaves. Fowler, p. 16.
^The first negro there. Bronson's " Waterbury," p. 321. He also
refers to Parson Scovil's Dick, brought from Africa when a boy
and sold several times, with the understanding he could return
when he pleased. He left some property at his death in 1835, aged
90. Also to I. "Woodruff of Westbury, who owned an Indian woman
till her death in 1774. In Wintonbury (Bloomfleld) there were
probably not over a dozen slaves in all in colonial times. In Bristol
a few of the farms were cultivated by slave labor, and one family
owned three negroes. Trumbull's " Plartford Coimty," H., pp. 35, 51.
5 Conn. Col. Rec, VI., 35.
22 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [392
cipations, " from a conscientious regard to justice," begin to
appear. One man in Norwich not only freed three slaves,
but, " as a compensation for their services, leased them a
very valuable farm on very moderate rate."^ That section
of the State seems to have been considerably stirred on
this question, and in the Norwich Packet^ July 7, 1774, we
find an anti-slavery appeal of sufficient vigor to warrant quo-
tation in full:
" To all you who call yourselves Sons of Liberty in
America, Greeting:
" My Friends, We know in some good measure the in-
estimable value of liberty, But were we once deprived of
her she would then appear much more valuable than she
now appears. We also see her, standing as it were, tiptoe
on the highest bough ready for flight. Why is she depart-
ing? What is it disturbs her repose? Surely, some foul
monster of hideous shape and hateful, kind, opposite in its
nature to hers, with all its frightful appearances and proper-
ties, iron hands and leaden feet, formed to gripe and crush,
hath intruded itself into her peaceful habitation and ejected
her. Surely this must be the case, for we know oppositions
can not dwell together. Is it not time, high time to search
for this Achan? this disturber of Israel? High time, I say,
to examine for the cause of those dark and gloomy appear-
ances that cast a shade over our glory, and is not this it?
Are we not guilty of the same crime we impute to others?
Of the same facts, that we say are unjust, cruel, arbitrary,
despotic, and without law in others? Paul argued in this
manner — ' Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not
thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost
thou steal? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through
breaking the law dishonorest thou God?' And may we
not use the same mode of argument and say — ^We that de-
clare, and that with much warmth and zeal, it is unjust, cruel,
barbarous, unconstitutional, and without law to enslave, do
tve enslave? Yes, verily we do! A black cloud witncsseth
^ CauUdns' " Norwich," p. 329.
393] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 23
against us and our ozvn moiitJis condemn ns! How prepos-
terous our conduct ! How vain and hypocritical our pre-
tences! Can we expect to be free, so long as we are deter-
mined to enslave? (Signed) Honesty."^
Before we turn from Colonial times," the fact is worthy
of note that, though " redemptioners " were not common
in Connecticut, white men were often bound out to service
for a term of years, as in other colonies. We find
in 1670 a man sold to the Barbadoes for four years as a
slave, for " notorious stealing," " breaking up and robbing
of " two mills and living " in a renegade manner in the wil-
derness." In 1756, a town pauper in Waterbury,^ for steal-
ing, was whipped and bound out to the plaintiff, as a ser-
vant, till the sum stolen and the costs be paid by his work,
and the law on the statute-books was that " all single per-
sons, who lived an idle and riotous life," might be bound out
to service to pay the costs of prosecution.
' The emancipation of slaves is not looked on by Dr. Fowler as
greatly contributing to their welfare. He quotes an essay published
in 1793 by Noah "Webster, Jr. : "• Nor does the restoration to freedom
correct the depravity of their hearts. Born and bred beneath the
frowns of power, neglected and despised in youth, they abandon
themselves to ill company and low vicious pleasures, till tbeir habits
are formed ; when manumission, instead of destroying their habits
and repressing their corrupt inclinations, serves to afford the more
numerous opportunities of indulging both. Thus an act of strict
justice to the slave, very often, renders him a more worthless mem-
ber of society." " Hist. Status of the Negro," p. 149.
^ Dr. Fowler, "Hist. Status," pp. 12-13, calls attention to the fact
that Louis Berbice, from Dutch Guiana, killed by his master, Gys-
bert Opdyck, commissary at the Dutch fort in Hartford, in Nov.,
1639, was probably the first negro in Conn. He gives a list of the
early owners of negroes and notes that in 1717, the Lower House
passed a bill prohibiting negroes purchasing land, or living in fam-
ilies of their own. without liberty from the town.
^ Bronson's Waterbury, p. 831.
PERIOD IL— 1 774-1869.
Slaves in the Revolution.'
The subject of using negi-oes in the army first came be-
fore the General Assembly in May, 1777, when a committee
was appointed "to take^ into consideration the state and
condition of the negro and mulatto slaves in this State, and
what may be done for their emancipation." I would hazard
a guess that this committee was appointed in consequence
of a resolution of the town of Enfield, on March 31, 1777,
appointing a committee of tliree to prefer a memorial to
the Assembly, to "pray' that the Negroes in this State be
released from tlieir Slavery and Bondage." The Assembly's
committee, of which Hon. Matthew Griswold was chairman,
reported a recommendation that the effective negro and
mulatto slaves be allowed to enlist with the Continental bat-
' Connecticut Committee of Safety.
Monday, September 4, 1775.
At a meeting of the committee On information, by letter, from
Major Latimer, " that one of the Vessels lately taken by Captain
Wallace, of the Rose, man-of-war, &c., at Stonington, was by stress
of weather drove back to New-London, with one white man, a petty
officer, and three negroes on board, and were in his custody, and
asking directions how to dispose of them, &c. And by other infor-
mation it appears that two of the negroes belong to Deputy Gov-
ernour Cooke, of Rhode-Island, and were lately seized and robbed
from htm, with and on board a vessel, by said Wallace, and that the
other belonged to one Captain Collins. And, on consideration,
Voted and Ordered, That the Major give information to the owner
of the vessel, and, on his request, deUver her up to htm, and send
the white man to the jail at Windham, and the three negroes to the
care of. and to be employed for the present by, Captain Niles, at Nor-
wich, who is fixing out a small Armed Vessel, &c.. until the Gov-
emour shall advise Deputy Govemour Cooke of the matter, that
they may, on proper notice, be returned to their owners."— Am.
Arch., IV., III., p. 672.
'■' Livermore, " Historical Research," p. 11.3.
^Trumbull's "Hartford County," II., p. 151.
395] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 25
talions now raising in this State, under tlie following regu-
lations and restrictions: viz., that all such negro and mulatto
slaves as can procure, either by bounty, hire, or in any other
way, such a sum to be paid to their masters, as such negro
and mulatto shall be judged to be reasonably worth by the
selectman of the town where such negro or mulatto be-
longs, shall be allowed to enlist into eitlier of said battalions,
and shall thereupon be, de facto ^ free and emancipated ; and
that the master of such negro or mulatto shall be exempted
from the support and maintenance of such negro or mulatto,
in case " he " shall hereafter become unable to support and
maintain himself." Further, if a slave desire to enlist for
the war, he may be appraised by the selectmen and his mas-
ter may receive the bounty and half the slave's annual wages
until the appraised sum be equaled. The Upper House
rejected this report.
At that session, however, an act was passed that any two
men, "who should procure an able bodied soldier," should
be exempted from the draft, during the continuance of the
substitute's enlistment. " Of recruits," writes Dr. J. H.
Trumbull, " and draughted men thus furnished, neither the
selectmen nor commanding officers questioned the color,
or the civil status; white and black, bond and free, if able
bodied, went on the roll together, accepted as the represen-
tatives or substitutes of their employers."
In October, 1777,^ the Assembly passed an act similar to
the one proposed in May. It authorized the selectmen, on
application from a master of a slave, to inquire "into tlie
age, abilities, circumstances, and character" of the slave,
and, being satisfied " that it was likely to be consistent with
his real advantage, and that it was probable that he would
be able to support himself, and is of good and peaceable
life and conversation," they could free the master from all
liability for support of his freedman. This offered an addi-
tional inducement to masters to free slaves to make up the
' Revision of 1808, Title CL., Ch. I., Sec. 12. Vide Stiles' "Anc.
Windsor," I., p. 491.
26 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [396
town's quota of men, and Dr. Trumbull says " some hun-
dreds of black slaves and free men enlisted." The rolls of
the companies show no distinction of color. The surnames
Liberty, Freeman, Freedom are frequently found.^ In Weth-
ersfield, on the blank leaves of the book of town votes,
among records of emancipation from motives of humanity,
or for money, we find record of John Wright and Luke
Fortune freeing their slave Abner Andrew, on May 20, 1777,
to be their substitute in the army. Other certificates free
slaves on condition of " enlisting in the Continental Army
in Col. Wallis' Regiment" and "and after the customary
three years service," and, as late as 1780, Caesar was manu-
mitted by David Griswold there, on " condition of enlistment
and faithfully serving out the time of enlistment," which was
three years.^
David Humphreys commanded a company entirely com-
posed of negroes, their roster shoving fifty-six names,' first
of which is Jack Arabas, of whom we shall hear again. It
was said Humphreys nobly volunteered to command tlie
company, when others refused, and continued its captain
until peace was declared. The company was in Meigs'
(later Butler's) regiment of the Connecticut Line.
At Fort Griswold, when Col. Ledyard was murdered, a
negro soldier named Lambert avenged his death by thrust-
ing a bayonet through the British officer who slew his
superior, and then fell a martyr, pierced by thirty-three bay-
onet wounds.*
"As to the ef^.ciency of the service they rendered," says
Dr. J. H. Trumbull," " I can say nothing from the records,
^ Livermore's " Historical Researcli," p. 115.
2Am. Hist. Mag., XXI., 422. Tiaimbiai's " Hartford County," II.,
475.
^ WUliams' " Hist, of Negro Race ia America," I., 361.
•' Wilson, " Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," I., p. 19.
5 Livermore's " Historical Research," p. 115. Lib Quy, native
Afilcan, was a trusty Continental soldier from Norwich in 17S0
and '81 (Caiilkins' "Norwich," p. 331). Oliver Mitchell, a negro
Revolutionary soldier, died of a fit in his boat, March, 1840, in
which he had been to Haitford to draw his pension (Stiles' "Ancient
Wmdsor," I., p. 489).
397] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 27
save what is to be gleaned from scattered files. ... So far
as my acquaintance extends, almost every family has its
traditions of the good and faithful service of a black servant
or slave, who was killed in battle or served through the war
and came home to tell stories of hard fighting and draw his
pension. In my own town — not a large one — I remember
five such pensioners, three of whom I believe had been slaves,
and were in fact slaves to the day of tlieir death; for (and
this explains the uniform action of the General Assembly
on petitions for emancipation) neither the towns nor the
State were inclined to exonerate the master, at a time when
slavery was becoming unprofitable, from the obligation to
provide for the old age of his slave."
An interesting Revolutionary case is that of the slaves of
Col. William Browne of Salem, A'lass., a Tory, whose large
farm in Lyme was confiscated. It was leased for a term
of years with nine slaves, who petitioned for liberty in 1779,
through Benjamin Huntington, administrator on confiscated
estates. The lessee offered to consent to their freedom
without requiring a diminution in the rent. Mr. Huntington
drew up their petition to the Assembly,^ stating that they,
" all friends to America, but slaves lately belonging to Col.
Wm. Browne," who " fled from his native country to his
master. King George, where he now lives like a poor slave,"
" though they have flat noses, crooked shins, and other
queemess of make, peculiar to Africans, are yet of the human
race, free-bom in our country, taken from thence by man-
stealers, and sold in this country, as cattle in the market,
without the least act of our own to forfeit liberty; but we
hope our good mistress, t/ie free State of Connecticut, en-
gaged in a war with tyranny, will not sell honest Whigs
and friends of the freedom and independence of America,
as we are, to raise cash to support the war: because the
Whigs ought to be free and the Tories should be sold."
They offer, if set free, to get security to indemnify the State
' Great Prince, Little Prince, Luke, Caesar, Prue and lier three
children. LiveiTaore, " Historical Research," p. 116.
28 History of Slavery in Connecticut [398
in case of their coming to want ; but, though the Lower
House was favorable, the Upper one refused to grant the
petition.
Opinions of the Forefathers on Slavery.
One of the earHest in Connecticut to come out boldly
against slavery was Rev. Levi Hart of Preston, who, on
Sept. 20, 1774, at Famiington, preached a sermon at the
meeting of "the Corporation of Freemen," in which he
condemned the slave trade and severely criticized slave-
holding."
Dr. William Gordon of Roxbury, Mass., though living
out of Connecticut, became interested in the abolition of
slavery there and sent a plan for its gradual extermination
to the "Independent Chronicle" of Nov. 14, 1776, which is
very severe on slaveholders and paints the deathbed of one
of them.^
In the Constitutional Convention' of 1787 we have full
expression of the views of Roger Sherman and Oliver Ells-
worth, two of Connecticut's three delegates. The former
said "that the abolition of slavery seemed to be going on
in the United States and that the good sense of the several
States would probably by degrees complete it."^ He re-
garded the slave trade as iniquitous; but, the point of rep-
resentation having been settled after much difffculty and
deliberation,' he did not think himself bound to make oppo-
sition." He objected, however, to the tax on imported slaves,
as implying that slaves were property, and that the tax im-
posed was too small to prevent importation.^ He thouglit
that, " as the States were now possessed of the right to im-
port slaves, as the public good did not require it to be taken
^ Trumbull's " Memorial History of Hartford Co.," H., p. 192.
2 Moore, "Notes on Slavery in Mass.," p. 177.
3 Connecticut voted for Jefferson's ordinance of 1784.
^Livermore, "Historic Research," p. 51.
6 Madison Papers, V., 391 (EUiot).
«Wilson, "Rise and Fall," p. 51.
399] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 29
from them, and as it was expedient to have as few objections
as possible to the proposed scheme of government, it would
be best to leave the matter as we find it.'" He said, when
Baldwin of Georgia, a man of Connecticut birth, stated his
State would not confederate unless allowed to import, that
it was better to let the Southern States import slaves' than
to lose those States, if they made that a sine qua no?i. He
thought it would be the duty of the General Government'
to exercise the power of prohibiting importation, if it were
given it. He preferred not to use the word slaves in the
Constitution, and saw no' more propriety in the public reiz-
ing and surrendering a slave than a horse. Ellsworth said,
" Let every State import what it pleases. The morality or
wisdom of slavery are considerations belonging to the States.
What enriches a part enriches the whole, and the States are
the best judges of their particular interests. The old Con-
federation had not meddled with this point, and he did not
see any greater necessity for bringing it into the policy of the
new one." He had* "never owned a slave and could not
judge of the effects of slavery on character." He said, how-
ever, that, if it was " to be considered in a moral light, we
ought to go further and free those already in the country.
As slaves also multiply so fast in Virginia and Maryland, it is
cheaper to raise than import them, whilst in the sickly rice
swamps, foreign supplies are necessary. If we go no fur-
ther than is urged, we shall be unjust towards South Caro-
lina and Georgia. Let us not intermeddle. As population
increases, poor laborers will be so plenty as to render slaves
useless. Provision is already made in Connecticut for abol-
ishing it, and the abolition has already taken place in Massa-
chusetts. As to the dangers of insurrections from foreign
influence, that will become a motive to kind treatment of
the slaves.'"
^ livermore, p. 56. ^ Livermore, p. 60.
2 Elliot, v., pp. 457-461 and 471. Connecticut voted to extend
the open period from 1800 to 1808.
■» Livermore, p. 57.
6 In 17S7, Connecticut voted in the Constitutional Convention for
tlie three-fiftlis compromise.
30 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [400
Mistaken in many respects as these men were, they un-
doubtedly represented the current opinion of their time.
We find a contrary opinion in the resolves of the Danburj^
Town Meeting on December 12, 1774, that, " It is with singu-
lar pleasure, we notice the second article of the Association,
in which it is agreed to import no more Negro slaves, as we
cannot but think it a palpable absurdity, so loudly to com-
plain of attempts to enslave us, while we are actually enslaving
others, and that we have great reason to apprehend the en-
slaving the Africans is one of the crying sins of our land, for
which Heaven is now chastising us. We notice also with
pleasure the late Act of our General Assembly, imposing a
fine of i 1 00 on any one, who shall import a Negro Slave into
this Colony. We could also wish that something further
might be done for the relief of such, as are now in a state of
slavery in the Colony," and such as may hereafter be bom of
parents in that unhappy condition."
State Legislation on Slavery.
The growth of free ideas went on apace, after tlie State
became independent. In 1780, a bill for gradual emanci-
pation passed the Upper House, was continued until the
next session and then, apparently, set aside. It provided
that no Indian or colored child, then living and under seven
years of age, nor any bom afterwards, should be held as a
slave beyond the age of twenty-eight.^ In 1784, however,
the measure was passed and emancipation was begun. The
Legislature enacted that, " Whereas sound public policy re-
quires tliat the abolition of slavery should be effected, as
soon as may be consistent with the rights of individuals
and the public safety and welfare," no negro or mulatto,
bom after March i, 1784, should be held as a slave after
reaching the age of twenty-five." This regard for the exist-
^ Am. Arcli., IV., I., pp. 1038.
-Jameson, "Essays in Const. Hist.," p. 296 (Brackett, " Status of
the Slave, 1775-1789 ").
^Revision of 1808, Title CL., Ch. I., Sec. 13. Fowler, "Hist.
Status," p. 85, shows that this really made slaves in the same con-
401] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 31
ing rights of property was shown by the gradual aboHtion
of slavery in Connecticut/ the holding of slaves not being
absolutely forbidden until 1848, when any one to be a slave
must have been sixty-four years old.
In October, 1788, a bill was passed, forbidding any inhabi-
tant of Connecticut to receive on his vessel " any inhabitants
of Africa as slaves," under penalty of $1,667 ^^^ the use of the
vessel and $167 additional for each slave carried.' Half of
this fine was to go to the plaintiff and half to the State; but,
by the act of October, 1798,'' prosecutions must begin in three
years. Furthermore, insurance on ships used in the slave
trade, or on slaves carried, is to be void. We have seen the
importation of slaves forbidden in this act: the exportation
" of any free negro, Indian, or mulatto, or person entitled to
freedom at twenty-five," inhabitants of Connecticut, was to be
punished by a fine of $334 levied on any who should, as prin-
cipal or accessor}^ " kidnap, decoy, or forcibly carr}^ away "
such persons from the State. "Any friend of the inhabitant "
carried off may prosecute and receive " fit damages," and must
give bond to use such rightly for " the injured inhabitant,"*
or family. This prohibition was not to prevent persons remov-
ing from the State from taking their slaves with them, nor
to prevent persons living in Connecticut from sending their
slaves out of tlie State, on ordinary and necessary business.
This sale of slaves out of the State was soon stopped, for,
in May, 1792, the law was so changed that the taking a slave
from the State, or assistance therein, was punishable with a
dition as apprentices, and claims the law was passed partly through
economical reasons, as there were more laborers than employment.
^ In October, 17SS, owners must tile certificate of birth of each
slave within six months thereof, or pay $7 for each month's delay,
half to complainant and half to poor of town. October, 1789, the
latter half was to go to the State. Revision of ISOS, Title CL., Ch.
v., Sec. 5, and Ch. VI.
« Revision of ISOS, Title CL., Ch. V., Sec. 1. Penalty changed to
$170 and $1700 by Revision of 1821, Title 93. Sec. 7. Penalty was
originally £1000. Root's Reports, I., xsxi.
3 Revision of 1808, Title CI., Ch. in.
4 Revision of 1808, Title CL., Ch. V., Sees. 3-4. Penalty changed
to $350 in Revision of 1821, Sec. 6.
32 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [402
like fine of $334, half of which should go to the plaintiff and
half to the State. Notes, bonds, or mortgages given in
payment for slaves thus sold out of the State were to be
void. The same exemptions as to persons removing from
the State or sending their slaves out temporarily, were made
as in the former law.^
At the same session of the Assembly, the age of the slave
at manumission was limited to the period between twenty-
five and forty-five years, and the certificate given at eman-
cipation by the selectmen was ordered to be recorded in the
Town Records,^ This somewhat reactionary act, modifying
the law of 1702, designed to regulate the giving of freedom,
was followed in five years by one still further limiting the
bounds of slavery; for in May, 1797, it was enacted that no
negro or mulatto bom after August, 1797, should be a slave,
after reaching the age of twenty-one.^
Here the laws with regard to slavery remained without
essential change for many years. Not until 1833 do we find
another important act passed in regard to slavery, and then,
under the influence of the outcry against Miss Prudence
Crandall, the Legislature put on the statute-book the most
shameful law we meet in our study.* It stated that, " whereas
attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in
this State, for the instruction of colored persons belonging
to other States and countries, which would tend to the great
increase of the colored population of the State and thereby
to the injury of the people," any person establishing such a
school without the consent in writing of the selectmen and
civil authority of the town, should pay a fine of $100 to
the State Treasurer for the first ofifense and double for each
^ Revision of ISOS, Title CL., Ch. VI.. Sees. 1, 2, 8.
2 Revision of ISOS, Title CL., Ch. II. Free negroes could vote
untU the Constitution of 1S18 restricted the suffrage to white males.
^Revision of 1808. Title CL., Ch. HL
"May 24, 1833. Act of 1S33, Ch. Sec. 1. Sec. 2 provided that
a colored person not an inhabitant of Connecticut, residing in a
town for education, might be removed as any other alien. Sec. 3
provided that the evidence of such colored person is both admissi-
ble and compulsory against the teacher.
403] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 33
succeeding one, the fines increasing in geometrical pro-
gression. The law was not destined to be a blot upon any of
the States' codes, but was repealed in 1838 by tlie Legislature,
under tlie leadership of Francis Gillette,^ a young represen-
tative from Hartford, who was afterwards United States
Senator. That same Legislature passed resolutions against
the annexation of Texas, the slave trade in the District of
Columbia, and in favor of the right of petition. Nay more,
that same year was passed the " Act for the Fulfilment of
the Obligations of this State imposed by the Constitution
of the United States in regard to persons held to service or
labor in one State and escaping into another, and to secure
the right of trial by jury in the cases herein mentioned."'
Prof. W. C. Fowler called this law a " nullification "' of the
United States Act of 1793, which provided that the owner
or his attorney could take the fugitive slave before any
magistrate of the county, city, or town wherein the arrest
might be made, and, on proof by oral testimony or affidavit,
taken before and certified to by a magistrate of any State
or Territory, the magistrate must give a certificate, which
should be sufficient warrant for removing the slave from the
State.
Let us see now how Connecticut fulfilled her obligations,
in this early personal liberty law. Instead of following the
provisions of the United States law, she enacted that the
captured fugitive should be brought before the county or
cit}^ court on a writ of habeas corpus^ and no magistrate not
having the power to issue that writ should give the claimant
any warrant or certificate, under penalty of $500. When
he arrived at court, the claimant must pay all fees in advance
and must, "by affidavit, set forth minutely" the ground of
' Wilson, " Else and Fall of the Slave Power," I., 372. The Legis-
lature, however, by a vote of 165 to 33, rejected a constitutional
amendment allowing negroes the suffrage. Niles' Reg., Vol. 54, p.
193. In 1842 the State again protested against the annexation of
Texas. Niles' Reg., Vol. 62, p. 140.
2 Revision of 1838, Title 97, Ch. II.
3 Local Law in Mass. and Conn., p. 98.
34 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [404
his claim to the slave's services, the time of the slave's es-
cape, and the place where the slave then was, or was be-
lieved to be. The judge was next to allow necessary time
for further proof and, meantime, commit the fugitive to the
custody of the sheriff. The questions of fact were to be tried
by a jury, on which no one was to sit " who believes there
is not, constitutionally or legally, a slave in the land," in
this showing the early distrust of the Abolitionists. If the
claimant does not prove the claim, he is liable to the pay-
ment of costs and damages; if he does prove it, he may
take the slave from the State, but must, "without unneces-
sary delay," take him by the " direct route " to his home.
In the same act, the law against transporting slaves from
the State, save as above, is made universal and the penalty
for its violation fixed at $500, to go to any one prosecuting.
Any fugitive arrested, contrary to the act, may have a writ
of habeas corpus sued out by his next friend ; and, as an after-
thought, at the very end, we read that nothing in this act
shall extend to the United States Courts.
As the feeling grew more bitter, even this law was felt to
be too much of a yielding in principle and, in 1844,^ the
Legislature decided that no Judge, Justice of the Peace, or
other officer should issue a warrant " for the arrest or de-
tention of any person escaping into this State, claimed to
be fugitive from labor or service as a slave," or grant a
certificate to the claimant. Such papers, if issued, are to be
void, but, as before, the people soothed their consciences
with the belief they were fulfilling their obligations, by say-
ing " nothing herein shall interfere with United States offi-
cers.""
In 1847,^ ^y ^ great majority, the State rejected a proposal
^ Compilation of 1854, Title 51, Sec. 5. The preamble stated that
" it has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States
since " 1838 " that both the duty and the power of legislation on
that subject pertains exclusively to the National government."
2 In 1845 the Legislature of Connecticut protested against the
admission of Texas as a Slave State. Niles' Reg., Vol. 69, p. 246.
^ The vote was, for. 5.353 ; against, 19.148. Over half the legal
voters did not vote. Niles' Reg., Vol. 73, Nov. 6, 1847. Fowler, p. 152.
405] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 35
to allow colored men the ballot, but the next year' it decreed,
what was already almost accomplished by tlie action of
former laws, " that no person shall hereafter be held in
slavery in this State," that emancipated slaves must be sup-
ported by their masters," and that no slave shall be brought
into Connecticut. Thus Connecticut became in law a Free
State, as she long had been in fact. When the fugitive slave
law of 1850 was passed, the rising tide of indignation swept
over Connecticut. Here and there some resisted the tor-
rent and organized Union Saving Meetings, like the one
the famous Rev. N. W. Taylor addressed at New Haven,
deprecating agitation, counseling obedience, declaring tliat
he had not been able to discover that the article in the Con-
stitution for the rendition of fugitives was " contrary to the
law of nature, to the law of nations, or the law of God," and
claiming that it was " lawful to deliver up fugitives for the
high, the great, the momentous interests of the Southern
States."^ But the majority sympathized rather with Gov. H.
B. Harrison, when he introduced his " personal liberty bill "
in the Senate of 1854," and " avowed his belief that it would
render the fugitive slave law inoperative in Connecticut."
The Hon. Henry C. Deming, in opposing the bill, said,
though it was "nicely drawn," he thought it conflicted in
spirit with the United States Constitution, as it undoubtedly
did, and that "it was not in equity and justice deserved by
our Southern brethren, if they behave pretty well." The
advocates of the bill used no such mild terms. The Hon.
John Boyd, late Secretary of State, said " desperate diseases
require desperate remedies." He had "some faith in the
homoeopathic remedy that like requires like," and, as he be-
lieved " the exigencies of the time " demanded it, he thanked
Mr. Harrison for introducing the bill. He added, " if Shy-
^ CompHation of 1854, Title 51, Sees. 1 and 2. Vide Conn. Repts.,
n., 355.
- Remember all such must have been over sixty-four years of age.
^Wilson, " Rise and FaU of the Slave Power," II., 318.
■•Fowler, " Local Law in Mass. and Conn.," pp. 98-99. It was
introduced about June 25.
36 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [406
lock claims his pound of flesh, he must be careful not to
take any of the blood." Judge Sanford saw in the bill " new
and important principles, which he believed were entirely
constitutional and would be so decided by the Supreme
Court." Ex-Gov. Wm. S. Miner could not find a " single
line, sentence, or word " unconstitutional in the bill. Judge
Sanford spoke again and again, using such language as this :
that he thought the South had driven this matter so fast that
it had " driven us back to our reserved rights, if we had any."
He would occupy the last inch the Constitution left them,
come square up to the line, but not one step over. He
would oppose the fugitive slave law by any means in his
power within the limits of the Constitution. He said, with
great clearness, dignity, and force, that the bill was consti-
tutional, that the emergencies of the times demanded such
a law; he portrayed the odious features of the fugitive slave
law and said the slave-catcher was the most despicable of
men. At the same time a bill was introduced, which, how-
ever, did not pass, prohibiting the use of any court-house,
jail, or other public building for the trial or confinement
of fugitive slaves. To this, Mr. Boyd proposed an amend-
ment that a building used for such a purpose should " be
rased to the foundation and remain a perpetual ruin." Even
the excited Senate had good sense enough to vote this frantic
proposition down.
The law as passed, entitled "An Act for the Defense of
Liberty in this State," provided that " any person, who shall
falsely and maliciously pretend that any free person is a
slave, intending to remove him from Connecticut, shall pay
a fine of $5000 and be imprisoned five years in the State
Prison." In trials, two credible persons, or equivalent evi-
dence, were required to prove the defendant a slave, and
depositions were not to be received as evidence. Witnesses
falsely representing free persons as slaves are to receive the
pimishment mentioned above, and, with the intention to sat-
isfy their consciences that they were not violating United
States law, the legislators added that any person hindering
407] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 37
an officer from the arrest of a fugitive, or aiding an accused
person to escape, was to be imprisoned one year in State's
prison. The last section of the bill contained an interesting
reminder of colonial customs, in providing that the act
should not cover the case of apprentices.
Though slavery is still found as a title in the Revision^ of
1866, the last act on the subject was passed in 1857, ^^^
with that the statutor}^ history of slavery in Connecticut may
well be ended. At that time it was enacted that " any person
held to service as a slave in any other State or country," and
not being a fugitive from another of the United States, " com-
ing into this State, or being therein, shall forthwith become
and be free."
Cases Adjudicated in the Higher Courts with
Reference to Slavery.
The question as to the manumission of slaves by service
in the Continental Army with the master's consent, was de-
cided in the case of Jack Arabas versus Ivers? Ivers, the
master, permitted Arabas to enlist in the army. He served
through the war and was discharged at its end, when Ivers
again claimed him. He fled to the eastward, was overtaken
and brought back to New Haven, where he was put in the
jail for safekeeping. He sued out a " habeas corpus " and
the c urt granted it, " upon the ground that he was a free
man, absolutely manumitted from his master by enlisting
and serving in the army." It was a fine idea, that he who
helped to free his country could not be a slave.
The only other case in the Connecticut reports as to manu-
mission is Geer versus Himtingtofi^ where the plaintiff
claimed a negro as his slave by a bill of sale from his former
mistress, while the defendant claimed that the mistress had
told him he should be servant to no one but her and should
be free at the age of twenty-five. As he had passed that
* Title LVIII., Sees. 1-6. -Root's Reports, I., p. 92, 1784.
3 Root's Reports, II., 364.
38 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [408
age before he left her service, the court held him to have been
freed, by a liberal interpretation of her promise.
The only case I have found tried in Connecticut in regard
to the Slave Trade, save the famous Amistad case, to be
treated later, is that of the United States versus Jolm Smith.'
It was an action to recover double tlie value of Smith's
interest in over one hundred negro slaves, transported
in the brig Heroine, of which he was sole owner and
master, from Africa to Havana, and there sold, contrary to
the Act of Congress of May lo, 1800. The Heroine was
in Africa between Dec. i, 1805 and April i, 1806, and, arriv-
ing at Havana before June i. Smith sold the slaves before
the end of that month for not less than $10,000, so action
was brought for $20,000. One of the crew was offered
as a witness by the government; but Smith's attorney ob-
jected to this testimony on the ground that it would incrimi-
nate the man and subject him to a fine of not over $2000 and
two years imprisonment, according to the above-mentioned
Act of Congress. The government said they had entered a
nolle prosequi in his case and it was too late to institute
another proceeding against him. The defense pleaded that
the witness had fled from justice and that in such case the
statute of limitations would not hold. Further, he might be
excused from testifying, as he was unwilling; but the judge
ruled that a witness could not plead his wrong-doing as a
defense and must testify. However, there was a verdict for
the defendant, as the judge charged the jury that the offense
was completed when the vessel arrived at Havana, not when
the slaves were sold, and the prosecution, though begun
within the prescribed period, two years, of the latter date,
was not within two years of the former.
The most frequent cause of negroes appearing in cases
before the Supreme Court was the law of settlement. When
negroes became infirm and were penniless, it was an import-
ant question who should support them, and from this several
^ Day's Reports, IV., p. 121. U. S. Circuit Court, Hartford, Sept.,
1809. Fowler's ''Hist. Status," i^p. 16-18, has interesting facts on
slave trade in Conn.
409] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 39
cases arose. The first of these/ Wilson ct al. vs. Hinkley et
al., in the Tolland County Court, was a case of an appeal from
a judgment of a Justice of the Peace. In this court, Hinkley
and others, selectmen of the town of Tolland, sued the
selectmen of the town of Coventry for support of Amy
Caesar and her children. This Amy, daughter of an Indian
woman, was bom in Tolland, and lived with a citizen of that
town as servant till eighteen years of age. Then she was set
at liberty and, after four years more in Tolland, married Tim-
othy Caesar, also a child of an Indian woman and slave to a
citizen of Mansfield, where they lived nine months. Thence
they removed to Coventry, Timothy being granted permission
to do so by his master. There they lived eighteen months,
since which time Amy and her children had apparently lived
in Tolland. Tolland's claim for reimbursement was resisted
by Coventry, which said the former masters of Amy and
Timothy should support them. The court decided that
Timothy, " being bom of a free woman, a native of the land,
was not a slave," applying apparently the old civil law
maxim. " Nor " was he " a servant bound for time, nor an
apprentice under age, nor under disability to g"ain settlement
by commorancy " ; therefore, by residence in Coventry over a
year he had gained settlement for himself and wife, and, as
she was never a " slave or servant bought for time," Coventry
must pay the expense of her support.
The next case was also one in which the same town of
Tolland was interested; Ebenezer Kingsbury vs. Tolland^'
Joseph Kingsbury, of Norwich, bought two native Africans,
Cufif and Phyllis, as " servants for life," and gave them to his
wife. She died, December, 1773, freeing them. In 1776,
with the consent of Ebenezer Kingsbury, their former m.is-
tress's sole executor, they removed to Tolland and, after liv-
ing there nine years, came to want and were supported by the
town. The town brought suit against Kingsbury and won
in the County Court; but in the Court of Appeals lost its
case, on the technicality that he was sued personally and not
^ Kirby Eeports, 202. « Root's Reports, February, 1796.
40 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [410
as executor. The court, however, in an obiter dictum, inti-
mated the personal representatives and next of kin were liable,
if sued as such, for the support of freed slaves, if there were
sufficient assets.
A third case was Bolton vs. Haddam^ by which was deter-
mined that a slave was domiciled with his master and, if manu-
mitted in any way, continued an inhabitant of the same town
as before, unless he became legally settled elsewhere.
Twenty years now pass before we find another such case;
then, November, 1817, was decided the case of Windsor vs.
Hartford^ This rather important case regarded the resi-
dence of a negress, Fanny Libbet, and her two illegitimate
children. Fanny, herself illegitimate, was born in Hartford
in 1785 and, at the age of three, was given by her master to
his son in Wethersfield. There she lived until twenty-five
years of age, when her term of service by law expired. Her
mother had been sold to a citizen of Windsor in 1795 and
was emancipated by him in 1801. Fanny went to her mother
as soon as she could, and there her two children were born.
Windsor supported them for a while and then sued Hartford,
on the ground that Fanny, born after March i, 1784, was
never a slave and so took her settlement from her birthplace,
Hartford. The court so decided, stating that " she is to be
considered as a free person and never was a slave," an im-
portant interpretation of the act of 1784. Her residence in
Wethersfield was that of an apprentice, and she had never
gained settlement in Windsor. As she never had been a
slave, her former master was not liable to her support.
Soon after was tried tlie case of the Town of Columbia vs.
Williams et alium. A citizen of Groton had left a slave,
Adam, who had, after his master's decease, removed to
Columbia and there became a town charge. The town sued
the heirs of Williams, and they claimed that the suit was
improperly brought, that Groton ought have been sued, as
Adam had a settlement with his master there, which town
^ Root's Reports, II., p. 517. February, 1797. Tolland County.
2 Conn. Reports, II., p. 355.
^'Conn. Reports, III., 467, October 28, 1820.
411] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 41
could then have recovered from them. As it was admitted
that Adam had never been manumitted, the court sustained
the claims of the defendants, and the town, on this point,
lost its case and a new trial was ordered, which seems never
to have come off.
Flora,' slave of Elisha Pitkin, gave rise to two cases. Ptt-
kin ct al. vs. Pitkin et al., the first, was brought by the exec-
utors of Elisha Pitkin against certain of his heirs. He exe-
cuted a deed of gift of all his real estate to the plaintiffs and
defendants in 1816, but kept it in his possession until his
death, three years later. When he died, he bequeathed his'
remaining property by testament to the plaintiffs and certain
of the defendants, to be equally divided among them, they
being enjoined to take care of Flora and bear the expense
equally, or to have the executors reserve sufficient estate for
her support. The executors claimed they paid " large sums "
for her support, supposing there was sufficient estate; but, at
final settlement, found not enough was left outside of the real
estate conveyed by deed. This they ask the court to order
sold, sufficiently to provide for Flora's support. The defend-
ants demurred, and their demurrer being sustained, tlie plain-
tiffs carry the case to the higher court. The plaintiffs con-
tended that, " where there is service for life there must be
support for life," and, therefore, the support of the slave was
a charge upon the estate, that Mr. Pitkin's intention was to
have her supported, that it was the duty of the executors to
support her, and they were consequently not volunteers and
had a superior equit}" to that of the defendants, and that the
court should decide the case according to its equities. The
defendants said ]\Ir. Pitkin did not charge Flora's support on
the real estate, that the executors were volunteers, having
nothing to do with the real estate, and that, if the land should
be liable, it should be so decided in a probate, not in a chan-
cery court. The court decided in favor of the defendants,
^Conn. Reports, VH., p. 315, June, 1829, and VIH., 392, June,
1831.
2 Probably not all, though of this I am not absolutely sure.
42 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [412
on this last contention, and on the ground that it could not
foresee what sums mig-hf be needed for her support, and
hence could not determine on the quantity of land to be sold.
Having lost their case, the executors seem to have given
up trying to support Flora and to have endeavored to throw
the expense on the town of East Hartford, which sued them in
1 83 1, alleging that it had supported Flora three years. The
defendants demurred that the selectmen were not obliged to
support her, and as volunteers they cannot recover, for " the
duty of support rests on the master alone," and he is only
liable to the town for the support of emancipated slaves.
" Slavery is not founded in reason and justice, like the rela-
tions of husband and wife." Thirdly, as the supplies were
not furnished in Elisha Pitkin's lifetime, the defendants
should be sued as owners, not executors. The prosecution,
on the other hand, asserted that the relation of master and
slave is recognized by statute law ; during the continuance of
this relation the master is liable for support of slave, which
slave if unemancipated remains part of the estate; that a needy
slave must be relieved by the town in which is his settlement,
for which relief recovery is to be had at law. Judge Daggett,
in his majority opinion, confined himself to the obligation of
the selectinen for her support. He said the only cases where
the town would have to support a slave were when both
master and slave were paupers, or a slave emancipated in
accordance with the act of 1792 should become such. In this
suit neither was the fact, and the town was a volunteer and
could no more recover than if it had supported a wife or child
of a man of means. Chief Justice Hosmer agreed with this
reasoning, from which Judge Peters dissented, though he
agreed with the decision. He said, " The relation of master
and servant, or qualified slavery, has existed in Connecticut
from time immemorial and has been tolerated (not sanc-
tioned) by the legislature. But absolute slavery, where the
master has unlimited power over the life of the slave, has
never been permitted in this State." He continued. Flora
at Mr. Pitkin's death, not being specially devised, vested as a
413] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 43
chattel in the executors. "They alone could sell her; they
became her masters and she their slave, and they alone were
to maintain her." He thought, however, she ought to be
maintained by the town as a vagrant, when the town could
recover by implied promise'; basing his decision for the
defendants, on the technicality that, " when an executor cov-
enants or promises, he binds himself personally and not the
heirs or estate of the testator, tlierefore they should not have
been sued as executors, but as persons."
Judge Williams filed a dissenting opinion, in which Judge
Bissell concurred. He placed the chief importance on the
implied promise, stating, " that slavery has existed in this
State cannot be denied, and a few solitary cases still exist, to
attest to tlie melancholy truth. . .The man who had a right
to all the time and services and even offspring of his un-
happy slave, must, of course, be bound to maintain him."
Executors are liable for debts arising after death of the tes-
tator, " where the demand arises from an obligation existing
upon the testator in his life." Such an obligation was the
support of this slave, which, as personal property, vested in
the executors. He thought that it was not necessary to sue
them personally, that the omis probandi rested on them, that
there were no assets. The town was not a volunteer, for
" the woman must be relieved by the town where she was, or
starve." He quoted a statute providing that " all poor and
impotent persons," without estate or relatives, " shall be pro-
vided for and supported by the town." The town cannot
wait to hunt up the persons legally liable, before rendering
aid. " The owner of the slave is primarily liable, and it is
only his neglect of duty which makes the defendants liable
at all, and it is admitted that, in consequence of that neglect,
the defendants would be responsible to any individtial -who
supplied the necessities of the slave," and the judge then said
he saw no reason why the town also should not recover.
His opinion, leaving the interpretation of the statutes and
basing itself on abstract considerations, stated that, " by the
principles of natural justice they are bound to refund, and I
44 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [414
am not satisfied that any technical rule of law can be inter-
posed to prevent it."
The opinions in this case seemed important enough to
devote some space to it. The next case' we note is that of
Colchester vs. Lyme, for support of Jenny. She had be-
longed to a citizen of Lyme until fifty-six years of age, when
she was emancipated and went to live in Colchester. Com-
ing to want, the town sued her old residence for her support,
claiming that, as she was over forty-five when emancipated,
the liability of her master to support her continued, and,
" while the liability of the master to support the slave remains,
the incapacity of the slave to acquire a new settlement re-
mains also." This the defense denied, and the court decided
in their favor. The opinion stated : " If she had been white,
or never a slave, she would have had a settlement in Col-
chester. Does the fact she was once a slave alter matters?
There was nothing in the statute (of 1777) which in the least
impaired the right of the master to give entire freedom to his
slave at any time." The want of a certificate only continued
the master's liability to support the slave. " By relinquish-
ing all claims to service and obedience," he " efifectually
emancipated her, and thus she became std juris and entitled
to all the rights and privileges of other free citizens of the
State, among which the right of acquiring a new place
of settlement was the most important. . . . The town where
the eamancipated slave belongs or has a settlement, is the
town empowered by statute to recover from the master or
his heirs,... and if Colchester is such a town, then Col-
chester only can recover from the former master or his
representatives."^
The last case of the kind is Nezv Haven vs. Huntington,
decided as late as 1852, in which it was adjudged that the
settlement of a free woman in Connecticut is not superseded
by marriage with a slave of another State, nor by his subse-
quent emancipation, imless the laws of the other State (which
^ Conn. Reports, Xin., p. 274, July, 1839.
'Guilford vs. Oxford, Conn. Eeports, IX., 321, is a siiit for the
support of an illegitimate free mulatto.
415] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 45
in this case was New York) so provide, and her settlement is
communicated both to legitimate and illegitimate children
boni in Connecticut after the marriage/
Considerable attention has been given to these cases, as
they illustrate important principles of the laws of the State and
show how the judges interpreted those laws.
Miss Prudence Crandall and her School.
In the autumn of 1831/ Miss Crandall, a Quakeress, resid-
ing in the southern part of Canterbury, opened a girls' school
in that town. She had taught at Plainfield successfully, and
moved to Canterbury, at the request of some prominent
citizens, buying a house on the Green. Her school was a
success from the outset, until she received as pupil a colored
girl, Sarah Harris, about seventeen years of age, the daugh-
ter of a respectable man who owned a small farm near the
centre. The girl was a member of the village church, and
had been at the district school, in the same class as some of
Miss Crandall's pupils. She now wished "to get a little
more learning — enough to teach colored children." Pre-
vious to this admission to the school, Miss Crandall had
employed as a servant a " nice colored girl," Marcia, who
was afterward married to Charles Harris, the brother of
Sarah. Young Harris took Garrison's " Liberator " and
loaned it to Marcia, who used frequently to show the paper
to Miss Crandall. " Having been taught from early child-
hood the sin of slavery," as she wrote in 1869, "my sympa-
thies were greatly aroused," and so Miss Crandall agreed to
receive Sarah Harris as a day scholar. " By this act," she
continued, in the same letter, " I gave great offense. The
wife of an Episcopalian clergyman, who lived in the village,
told me that, if I continued that colored girl in my school, it
^ Conn. Reports, XXII.
1 The cMef authorities are Lamed's " Hist. Windham Co.," "Vol.
II., Book IX., Chap. HI., pp. 491 sq.; S. J. May. "Recollections of
the Antl-slaveiy Conflict," pp. 47-71, which Wilson, "Rise and
FaU," I., pp. 240-245, and Wimams, " Hist. Negro Race," 11., pp. 149-
156, almost entirely followed; Crandall vs. Conn., Conn. Reports.
46 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [416
could not be sustained. I replied to her ' that it might sifik,
then, for I should not turn her out: I very soon found that
some of my school would not return, if the colored girl was
retained. Under the circumstances, I made up my mind
that, if it were possible, I would teach colored girls exclu-
sively." Now, though Miss Crandall was undoubtedly
shamefully treated by the people of the town, they neverthe-
less had just ground of complaint from the course she pur-
sued. Because some of her patrons were offended at the
entrance of one colored girl into her school, she determined
to give up teaching white girls entirely, and to bring a
number of colored children into the most aristocratic part of
the town, while the people who had received her most kindly
and had consented to act as visitors to her school were not
regarded. She consulted leading Abolitionists in New
York and Boston, but no one in the town, whose interests
were most immediately concerned in the opening of such a
school. Some irritation might therefore have been expected,
but the conduct of the townspeople went beyond all bounds
and was thoroughly disgraceful. Miss Crandall's conduct,
on the other hand, apart from her initial lack of consideration
for the judgment of those around her, was consistent, cour-
ageous, and praiseworthy.
When she announced her purpose to open a school for
•' young ladies and little misses of color," dismay seized all. A
committee of four of the chief men of the village visited her
to remonstrate with her, and, on her proving obdurate, a
town meeting was called for March 9, 1833, ^o meet in tlie
Congregational Meeting-house. Miss Crandall had not
shown a conciliating spirit. When Esquire Frost had
labored to convince her of the impropriety of her step " in a
most kind and affecting inanner," and "hinted at danger
from these leveling opinions " and from intermarriage of
whites and blacks, Miss Crandall at once replied, " Moses
had a black wife." She asked Rev. Samuel J. May, pastor of
the Unitarian Church in Brooklyn, George W. Benson, the
President, and Arnold Buffum, Agent of the New England
417] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 47
Anti-Slavery Society, to present her cause at the town
meeting. Judge Rufus Adams offered the following reso-
lutions : " Whereas, it hath been publicly announced that a
school is to be opened in this town on the first Monday of
April next, using the language of the advertisement, ' for
young ladies and little misses of color,' or in other words
for the people of color, the obvious tendency of which would
be to collect, within tlie town of Canterbury, large numbers
of persons from other States, whose characters and habits
might be various and unknown to us, thereby rendering
insecure the persons, property, and reputations of our citi-
zens. Under such circumstances, our silence might be con-
strued into an approbation of the project. Thereupon:
" Resolved, that the locality of a school for the people of
color, at any place within the limits of this town, for tlie
admission of persons of foreign jurisdiction, meets with our
unqualified disapprobation, and it is to be understood that
the inhabitants of Canterbury protest against it in the most
earnest manner.
" Resolved, that a committee be now appointed, to be com-
posed of the civil authority and selectmen, who shall make
known to the person contemplating the establishment of said
school, the sentiments and objections entertained by this
meeting, in reference to said school, pointing out to her the
injurious eflfects and incalculable evils resulting from such
an establishment within this town, and persuade her to aban-
don the project."
The Hon. Andrew T. Judson, a Democratic politician, later
Congressman and United States District Judge, who resided
next to Miss Crandall, and who had been horrified at the
prospect of having a school of negro girls as his neighbor,
addressed the meeting " in a tone of bitter and relentless
hostility " to Miss Crandall. After him, Rev. Mr. May and
Mr. Buffum presented a letter from Miss Crandall to the
Moderator, asking that they might be heard in her behalf.
Judson and others at once interposed and prevented their
speaking. They had intended to propose that, if the town
48 History of Slavery in Connecticut [418
would repay Miss Crandall the cost of her house and give
her time to remove, she would open her school in some more
retired part of the town or vicinity. Doubtless this would
not have been satisfactory to the people, but that does not
excuse the lack of courtesy on the part of the people in
refusing to hear what Miss Crandall's agents had to propose.
The resolutions were passed, but nothing deterred the fear-
less woman. She opened her school with from ten to twenty
girls as pupils.^ This still more enraged the townspeople,
and, at a second town meeting, it was resolved: "That the
establishment or re7idezvous, falsely denominated a school,
was designed by its projectors, as the theatre, as the place to
promulgate their disgusting doctrines of amalgamation and
their pernicious sentiments of subverting the Union. Their
pupils were to have been congregated here from all quarters,
under the false pretense of educating them; but really to
SCATTER FIREBRANDS, arrozus, and death among brethren of
our own blood." A committee of ten was appointed to draw
up and circulate a petition to the General Assembly, " depre-
cating the evil consequences of bringing from other States
and other towns, people of color for any purpose, and more
especially for the purpose of disseminating the principles and
doctrines opposed to the benevolent colonizing system."
Other towns were asked to prefer "petitions for the same
laudable object." The people had completely lost their
heads and were mad with rage and fear. As a result of this
petition, the shameful act of May 24, 1833, before referred to,
was passed.
The conduct of the people of Canterbury was even more
indefensible than their words. They hunted up an obsolete
vagrant law, providing that the selectmen might warn any
non-inhabitant of the State to depart, demanding $1.67 for
each week they should thereafter stay, and, if the fine were
not paid, or the person were still in the town after ten days,
he should be whipped on the bare body, with not over ten
^ Pupils came from PliiladelpMa, New York, Providence, and
Boston, says May.
419] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 49
stripes. An endeavor was made to put this law in force
against Miss Crandall's pupils, and one of tliem, Ann Eliza
Hammond, a girl of seventeen, from Providence, was arrested.
Rev. Mr. May and other residents of Brooklyn gave bonds
for $10,000, so the attempt was given up.
The lawless treatment of the school and scholars was
worse than the legal one. The stage-driver refused to carry
the pupils to the school, the neighbors refused to give Miss
Crandall a pail of water, though they knew their sons had
filled her well with stable refuse the night before. Boys fol-
lowed the school with horns and hootings on the streets, and
stones and rotten eggs were tlirown at Miss Crandall's win-
dows. A systematic policy of boycotting and intimidation
was carried out. The village stores were closed against the
school. Men went to Miss Crandall's father, a mild and
peaceable Quaker living in the southern part of the town,
and told him, "when lawyers, courts and jurors are leagued
against you, it will be easy to raise a mob and tear down your
house." He was terrified and wished his daughter to yield,
but she boldly refused. He petitioned the Legislature against
the passage of the act of May 24, 1833, but in vain. The
sentiment of men from other towns w^as that they would not
want a negro school on their common.
After the passage of the act, two leading citizens told him
" your daughter will be taken up the same way as for steal-
ing a horse or for burglary. Her property will not be taken,
but she will be put in jail, not having the liberty of the yard.
There is no mercy to be shown about it."
A few days later, IMessrs. May and George W. Benson
visited I\Iiss Crandall, to advise wth her as to the fine and
imprisonment provided by the act as penalty for teaching
colored children not residing in the State. As Wilson puts
it. the result of their conference was a determination to leave
her in the hands " of those with whom the hideous act orig-
inated."
On June 27, 1833, Miss Crandall \\^s arrested, brought
before a Justice of the Peace and committed for trial before
50 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [420
the County Court in August. Mr. May and her friends were
told that she was in the sheriff's hands and would be put in
jail unless bonds were given. They resolved not to do so,
but to force the framers of the statute to give bonds them-
selves or commit her to jail. The sheriff and jailer saw this
would be a disgrace and lingered; but her friends were firni,
and Miss Crandall spent the night in a cell which had last
been occupied by a condemned murderer. The next morn-
ing bonds were given, by whom it does not appear; but the
fact of her incarceration caused a revulsion of popular feel-
ing in her favor. Mr. Arthur Tappan wrote at once to Mr.
May, indorsing his conduct, authorizing him to spare no
reasonable cost in defense at his expense and to employ the
ablest counsel.
The Hon. Wm. W. Ellsworth, Calvin Goddard, and Henry
Strong were retained and prepared to argue that the laws
were unconstitutional. Mr. Tappan took such interest in the
case that he left his business to have a personal interview
with Miss Crandall and Mr. May. To the latter he said,
" The cause of the whole oppressed race of our country is to
be much affected by the decision of this question. You are
almost helpless without the press. You must issue a paper,
publish it largely, send it to all persons whom you know in
the country and State, and to all the principal newspapers of
the country. Many will subscribe for it and contribute
largely to its support, and I will pay whatever it may cost."
Mr. May took the advice and started the " Unionist," with
Charles C. Burleigh, of Plainfield, as editor.
On August 23, the case of T/ie State versus Crandall was
tried at Brooklyn, before Judge Joseph Eaton; Messrs. A. T.
Judson, Jonathan Welch, Esq., and J. Bulkley appearing as
counsel for the State. Mr. Judson denied that negroes were
citizens in States where they were not enfranchised, and
asked why men should be educated who could not be free-
men. The defense claimed that the law conflicted with the
clause of the United States Constitution allov^ng to citizens
of one State equal rights in others. The judge charged
421] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 51
the jury that the law was constitutional, but the jury disa-
greed, standing- seven for conviction and five for acquittal.
The prosecution did not wait for a new trial in December,
but went before the Connecticut Superior Court. Judge
Daggett presided over the October Session. According to
Mr. JMay, he was known to be an advocate of the new law, and
in the course of an elaborate opinion said, " it would be a
perversion of the terms and the well known rule of construc-
tion to say that slaves, free-blacks, or Indians were citizens
within the meaning of the Constitution." The jury gave a
verdict against Miss Crandall and her counsel appealed to
the Court of Errors. It heard the case on July 22,' 1834,
and reversed the previous decision, on the ground of " in-
sufificiency of information, "and that there was no allegation
that the school was set up without a license, and so left the
constitutional question unsettled.
Meantime the school had been continued, W. H. Burleigh
and his sister and Miss Crandall's sister Almira assisting in
the work.' They even had at times a sort of exhibition of the
pupils' progress. The opposition to the school in Canter-
bury did not diminish; the trustees of the Congregational
church refused to let Miss Crandall and her pupils worship
there. The Friends Meeting at Black Hill and the Baptist
church at Packerville, both a few miles off, received them,
but were almost the only ones to show kindness. Even the
physicians of the place refused to attend Miss Crandall's
household. After the opponents failed in the courts, they
resorted more than before to violent means. Early in Sep-
tember an attempt was made to bum her house, and her
enemies went so far as to arrest a colored man she had
employed to do some work for her, and to claim she had
the fire started to excite sympathy. A still more dastardly
attack was made on the building on September 9, by a body
of men, who at night broke all the windows and doers with
\1. T. .Tudson and C. F. Cleaveland for State, W. W. Ellsworth
and Calvin Goddard for Miss Crandall.
Larned, II., p. 499.
52 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [422
clubs and crowbars. The house was left nearly uninhabit-
able. Miss Crandall's friends all advised her to give up the
school, and she did so, sending the twenty girls then compos-
ing it to their homes. Mr. May said when he gave the
advice to yield, the words blistered his lips and his bosom
glowed with indignation. " I felt ashamed of Connecticut,"
he wrote in his Memoirs, " ashamed of my State, ashamed of
my country, ashamed of my color."
Miss Crandall was soon after married to Mr. Calvin
Philleo and left Canterbury. The town, feeling obliged to
justify its conduct, spread upon its records the following
resolve: "That the Government of the United States, the
nation with all its institutions, of right belong to the white
men, who now possess them, . . .tliat our appeal to the
Legislature of our own State, in a case of such peculiar
mischief, was not only due to ourselves, but to the obliga-
tions devolving upon us under the Constitution. To have
been silent would have been participating in the wrongs
intended We rejoice that the appeal was not in vain."
Here ends the wretched story. But its results were far-
reaching. As Lamed, the historian of Windham County, well
writes, if Miss Crandall did not succeed in educating negro
girls, she did in altering the opinions of that part of Con-
necticut, which became the strongest anti-slavery part of the
State.
Nancy Jackson vs. Bulloch.
This celebrated case, interpreting the acts of 1774 and 1784
and practically ending slavery in Connecticut, deserves
especial notice. In this case, the Supreme Court of the State,
by a bare majority, decided that the statutes just mentioned
" were designed to terminate slavery in Connecticut and that
they are sufficient for that purpose. The act of 1774 aimed a
blow at the increase of slaves, that of 1784 struck at the
existence of slavery. The former was intended to weaken
the system ; the latter to destroy it. The former lopped ofif a
limb from the trunk; the latter struck a deadly blow at the
423] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 53
root, and ever since it has withered and decayed, and, with
the exception of here and there a dying Hnib, slavery has
disappeared from our State and will in a short time be known
only in our history, unless indeed it is to revive and flourish,
by the construction we shall now give to the statutes. To us
it appears as if there was nothing in the intent of the Legisla-
ture, or in the words of the act, which requires such a con-
struction.'"
The facts of the case were as follows: J. S. Bulloch, a
citizen of Georgia, owned a slave, Nancy Jackson, bom in
Georgia in 1813. In June, 1835, he came to Connecticut and
settled at Hartford, to live there temporarily while his children
were being educated.
Since that time Naincy had been residing with Bulloch's
family in Hartford, while he had only spent the summer in
Connecticut, returning to Georgia for the winter. Nancy,
through her next friend, brought an action for unjust confine-
ment against Bulloch, and, a writ of Habeas Corpus being
sued out, the case was heard in June, 1837. Chief Justice
Williams, in giving the opinion of the Court, went over the
whole law of slavery, and this makes the decision more val-
uable. He took the broad ground " that every human being
has a right to liberty, as well as to life and property, and to
enjoy the fruit of his own labor; that slavery is contrary to
the principles of natural right and to the great law of love;
that it is founded on injustice and fraud and can be supported
only by the provisions of positive law, are positions which it
is not necessary to prove." The defendant admitted that
slavery w^as local and must be governed by State law, and
that neither the fugitive slave clause nor any other clause
of the United States Constitution applies to this case; there-
fore he can have no higher claims than an inhabitant of a
foreign State. " It cannot be denied that in this State we
have not been entirely free from the evil of slavery.... A
small remnant still remains to remind us of the fact...
How or when it was introduced into this State we are not
' Coim. Reports, XII., p. 38.
54 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [424
informed. ... It probably crept in silently, until it became
sanctioned by custom or usage." He went on to state that
if it depended entirely on that fact, it might be enquired
whether the custom was " reasonable," but for a century
slavery has been somewhat recognized by statute and thus has
received the implied sanction of the Legislature. He then
takes up the claims of the plaintiff's counsel that the slaves
are freed by the first article of the Bill of Rights, which states
that all men are equal in rights "when they form a social
compact." This, says the Judge, does not apply, as slaves
would not be parties to a social corhpact, and the article is not
as broad as the famous Massachusetts one. Another article
of the Bill of Rights states, "the people shall be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and possessions from unreason-
able searches and seizures"; but the usage of "people" in
the United States Constitution proved, according to the
court, that the word here need not include slaves. A third
article in the Bill of Rights provided that " no person shall be
arrested, detained, or punished, except in cases clearly war-
ranted by law." But was this detention warranted by the
law? This is to be answered by examination of the statutes;
that of 1774 prohibited the importation of slaves into Con-
necticut, that of 1784 provided that all born "in the State"
after March i of that year should be free at the age of twenty-
five. This last law, Swift thought,' " has laid the foundation
for the gradual abolition of slavery; for, as the children of
slaves are born free, being servants only until twenty-five
years of age, the consequence is that as soon as the slaves
now in being shall have become extinct, slavery will cease,
as the importation of slaves in future is prohibited ... As
slavery is gradually diminishing and will in a short time
be extinguished, there being but few slaves in the State, it
will be unnecessar}^, in this place, to make any remarks upon
a subject that has so long engrossed the attention of tlie
humane and benevolent part of mankind in the present age."
These words are quoted approvingly and the statement is
' Swift's System, I., 220.
425] History of SJavery in Connecticut. 55
made that, unless there is some defect in the acts, there has
been no real slavery in Connecticut since 1784. The acts
were passed, not to interfere with vested rights, but to prevent
the increase of evils which would result from the competi-
tion of slave labor " with the labor of poor whites, tending to
reduce the price of their work and prevent their employment,
and to bring the free laborer, in some measure, into the
ranks with slaves." The Court decided that, though the law
of 1 774 did not prevent a master transporting a slave through
the State, it did prevent him from keeping her there, and that
a slave may be " left," " although the owner does not intend
to reside permanently himself, or to suffer such slave perma-
nently to remain here." On the construction of this word
"left," and on tht post-nati argument from the act of 1784,
the Court declared Nancy free. As to the words " bom
within this State," in the act of 1784, the Court held "within
this State " surplusage, stating, as a reason, that the Legisla-
ture could not legislate for any other State. At any rate it is
certain that foreigners could claim no more rights than
natives, and as natives can only hold persons as slaves under
twenty-five years of age, citizens of other States could do no
more.
The dissenting judges laid stress on the words "in this
State" in the act of 1784, and claimed that "left," in the act
of 1774, meant to desert, abandon, withdraw, or depart from,
that mere length of stay does not matter, as long as the animus
revertendi remains. They state, however, they are glad their
interpretation does not consign the woman to slavery ; though
they " maintain that the State of Connecticut, from time
immemorial, has been, and to a certain extent now is, a slave-
holding State."
This case showed clearly that the judiciary of the State
would lean to the side of freedom whenever possible, and
virtually made Connecticut a free State by its liberal con-
struction of the laws, though the formal removal of the State
from the slaveholding column was not to take place for
some ten years more.
56 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [426
The Negroes on the "Amistad."
In August, 1839,^ the people of Connecticut, New York
and Rhode Island were excited by tidings of a suspicious
craft, thought to be a pirate. It was a long, low, black
schooner, manned by negroes, and orders were issued to the
United States steamer Fulton and several revenue cutters to
chase her. On August 26, 1839, the United States brig
Washington was sounding off Culloden Point, lying between
Gardner's and Montauk Points. While there, a vessel was
noticed lying off the shore and a boat passing between her
and the shore, where a number of persons were with carts and
horses. Lieut. Gedney, commanding the Washington, sent
a boat to investigate, and when the vessel was boarded she
proved to be manned by negroes, of whom about twenty
were on board, together with two white men, who came for-
ward and claimed protection.^ The story was soon told.
The vessel was a slaver, the Amistad, which had brought
African slaves kidnapped in April, from Lemboko, in the
Mendi country, near Liberia. Jose Ruiz bought forty-nine
of them and Pedro Montes took four more. These they
re-embarked on the Amistad at Havana on June 27, 1839,
and sailed for Guanajah, Porto Principe. It will be remem-
bered that the slave trade was prohibited by Spain and the
Africans so introduced ought still to be free. The trade was,
however, carried on surreptitiously to a large extent, and
those thus taken to Cuba were called " Bozals," in distinc-
tion from the " Ladrinos,"' or native slaves. The ship's
^ This account is chiefly drawn from WUson, " Rise and Fall of
the Slave Power," Vol. I., pp. 456-466; J. Q. Adams' Diaiy; Niles'
Register; WUliams, "Bist. of Negro Race," n., p. 93; Barber,
Jno. W., "A History of the Amistad Captives. . .with Biograph-
ical Sketches of each of the sm'viving Africans, also an account of
the trials had on their case, etc.," New Haven, 1840; S. E. Bald-
win, "The Captives of the Amistad," N. H. Col. Hist. Papers, IV.,
pp. 397-404.
2 Niles' Reg.. Vol. 57. pp. 1. 28. 29.
3A false translation of this word in a pubhc document caused
great trouble. NUes' Reg., Vol. 59, p. 301.
427] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 57
papers falsely referred to them as " ladrinos," legal slaves.
The captain of the ship was Ramon Ferrers, and the crew
seems to have consisted of t\vo men and a cook, besides a
negro cabin-boy. On the fifth night out from Havana the
slaves rose, under the leadership of Joseph Cinquez or
Cingue, attacked and slew the captain and cook with knives
such as were used to cut sugar-cane, and, according to one
story, slew the two men in the crew. The cabin-boy,
Antonio, however, said in court tliat the men lowered a
small boat and escaped. Ruiz and Montes were bound and
kept alive to navigate the ship. The negroes tried to return to
Africa and had the vessel steered eastward by the sun during
the day, while by night the white men steered to the north-
west, hoping to fall in with a man-of-war or to reach some
country. After boxing for four days in Bahamas Channel,
they steered for St. Andrew Island, near New Providence;
thence to Green Key, where the blacks laid in a supply of
water; thence for New Providence, where the negroes would
not suffer the vessel to enter port, but anchored off the coast
every night. The whites were treated with some severity,
and with the constant fear of death staring them in the face,
tlieir lot must have been most unenviable. Montes, too, was
suflfering from two wounds in the head and arm. The ship was
three days off Long Island, to the eastward of New Provi-
dence, and then two months on the ocean, during which time
they were boarded several times by vessels, once by an
American schooner from Kingston, which remained along-
side for twenty-four hours and traded with the negroes, find-
ing they had plenty of money. This was the Spaniards'
story, to which they added that they were always sent below
in such cases. Our admiration for Cinquez rises when we
consider that, for this long period, he managed to continue
his ascendancy over his comrades, especially considering how
difficult were the circumstances of the case. On August 20,
near New York harbor, a pilot-boat met the Amistad and
furnished the negroes apples, and when, shortly after, a second
one met them, they suspected the whites had taken them to a
58 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [428
strange land and refused to let the pilot board her, while they
exhibited such anger towards the Spaniards that they feared
for their lives more than ever. On the 24th, off Montauk
Light, the Spaniards tried to run the vessel aground, but
failed, and the tide drifted it on, until they anchored where
they were found. After anchoring, about twenty of the
negroes went on shore for water and three of them bought
dogs from some of the inhabitants. The news quickly
spread. Capt. Green, who came up, according to his report,
induced the negroes to promise to give him the ship. They
desired him to take them to Sierra Leone. Just then
appeared Lieut. Gedney and took possession of the vessel and
of the negroes. Before Cinquez would suffer himself to be
taken he leapt overboard and loosed from his waist into the
water 300 doubloons which he had taken from the captain.
The Africans taken were forty-four in number,^ the rest hav-
ing died. Of this number, three were girls, the rest men.
Cinquez, the leader, was described as about twenty-five or
twenty-six years of age, five feet eight inches in height, erect
in figure, well built, and very active. His countenance was
unusually intelligent; he possessed uncommon decision and
coolness, and a composure indicative of much courage. Lieut.
Gedney took the Amistad with all on board to New London,
where a judicial investigation was held on August 29, on
board the Washington, before the United States District
Judge A. T. Judson, whom we have already seen in the Cran-
dall trouble. As a result of this examination the Africans
were taken to the New Haven jail on Sept. i, and on the 14th
were removed to Hartford, save one left behind on account of
sickness. The case now became very complicated. Ruiz and
Montes claimed the Africans as their slaves and preferred
charges of murder against them. The Africans claimed free-
dom and, through their friends, preferred charges of assault
and battery and of false imprisonment against Ruiz and
^ Niles' Reg., Vol. 57, p. 48 and 50. They were shown in Hai-tford
at 1214 cents admission. Wild stories were spread that one of them
was a cannibal.
429] History of Slaveri/ in Connecticut. 59
Montes. Lieut. Gedney claimed salvage on vessel, cargo and
slaves. Capt. Green and the Long Islanders had a counter
claim for the same. The owners of the cargo in Havana
claimed it, and the Spanish minister, " forgetful of his country's
laws," demanded not only that it, but also that tlie blacks be
given up under the treaty of 1795, that the negroes might be
tried in Cuba, and maintained that if they should be tried, con-
victed and executed in Connecticut, the effect would not be as
good as if done in Cuba. The District Attorney, Holabird,
claimed that the Africans should be held subject to the Pres-
ident's orders, to be taken back to Africa, according to the
Act of 18 1 9, and that, as the Government of Spain had
claimed them, they should be kept until the pleasure of the
United States be known. Holabird was thoroughly subser-
vient to the slavery interest and wrote to the Secretary of
State asking if there were not treaty stipulations which would
authorize " our government " to deliver them up to Spain, and
if so, " whether it would be done before our court sits," as he
did not wish them tried there. The Secretan^ of State knew
there was no such treaty, and if there were, as Wilson well
says, the President could not supersede criminal warrants, but
he instructed the District Attorney " to take care that no
proceedings of your Circuit Court, or any other judicial
tribunal, place the vessel, cargo, or slaves (' a gratuitous
assumption,' remarks Wilson) beyond the control of the Fed-
eral Executive." While the demands of Calderon, the Span-
ish minister, were supported by the pro-slavery press, the
anti-slavery men in New York City appointed a committee,
composed of S. S. Jocelyn, Joshua Leavitt, and Lewis Tappan,
to solicit funds, employ counsel, and see that the interests of
the Africans were carefully cared for. As a result, Seth P.
Staples and Theodore Sedgwick, Jr., of New York, were
employed as counsel and wrote to President Van Buren
denying that these Africans were slaves, contending that, in
rising against the whites, they only obeyed the dictates of
self-defense, and praying that their case should not be
decided "in the recesses of the Cabinet, where these un-
60 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [430
friended men can have no counsel and can produce no proof;
but in the halls of Justice, with the safeguards she throws
around the unfriended and oppressed." The letter was turned
over to Felix Grundy, the Attorney General, a violent oppo-
nent of emancipation, and one who favored surrender to Spain.
He replied he could see no " legal principle upon which the
government would be justified in going into an investigation
for the purpose of ascertaining the facts set forth in the
papers clearing the vessel from one Spanish port to another "
as evidence as to whether the negroes were slaves or not.
He thought, as the Africans were charged with violation of
Spain's laws, they should be surrendered; so that, if guilty,
" they might not escape punishment," and that, to fulfil treaty
obligations, the President should issue an order, directing
the marshal to deliver the vessel and cargo to such persons
as Calderon should designate. This Van Buren could not do,
as there was no extradition treaty with Spain, which fact
Grundy ought to have known. On Sept. 17th, the United
States Circuit Court met in Hartford, Judge Thompson pre-
siding, and on the i8th a writ of Habeas Corpus was applied
for by the two lawyers mentioned and Roger S. Baldwin of
New Haven, in behalf of the three girls, who were only de-
tained as witnesses. On the 21st instant, the same writ was
applied for in behalf of the rest of the Africans. Judge Thomp-
son overruled the claim of Lieut. Gedney and Capt. Green for
salvage, but refused to grant habeas corpus to any, though
ample security were offered, on the ground that the case
would first come regularly before the District Court, and the
District Court having jurisdiction is bound to provide neces-
saries for the Africans, until their status is determined. ]\Ir.
Staples claimed the case should be tried in New York; but
the judge decided that, as the ship was taken on the high
seas, i. e., beyond low water-mark, the suit should be tried
where the vessel was first brought to land. He also decided
the Africans should not be held for murder on the high seas.*
On Oct. 19th, the District Court met, heard testimony, and
' Full text of decision in Niles' Reg., Vol. 57, pp. 73-75.
431] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 61
adjourned to meet in New Haven, Jan. 7th, 1840/ On Nov.
26th, 1839, De Argaiz, the new Spanish minister, wrote to tlie
Secretary of State, denying tlie right of the United States
courts to take cognizance of the case, and complained that
til rough their delay, public vengeance had not been satisfied,
for Spain " does not demand the delivery of slaves but of
assassins." From this high moral tone, he descended in
another letter to ask tliat, on the release of the negroes by the
court, the President should order the transportation of the
negroes to Cuba in a government vessel. The assurance of
this request was not resented by the President. On the con-
trary, he ordered such a vessel to be ready to take the negroes,
if released, to Cuba and deliver them to the Captain General
of the island. This vessel, the Grampus, was stationed ofi
New Haven, three days after the court assembled, ostensibly
to give the negroes " opportunity to prove their freedom."
Before the court even assembled, Lieuts. Gedney and Meade
of the Washington were ordered to be ready to go to Cuba
with the negroes at the United Sta^-es' expense, " for the pur-
pose of affording their testimony in any proceedings that may
be ordered by the authorities of Cuba in the matter." This
shameful pre-judgment of the case and eager desire to be sub-
servient to the slavery interest is most disgraceful to Van
Buren's administration. On Jan. 7th, 1840, the District
Court met, and the counsel for tlie Africans offered such con-
clusive testimony that the negroes were native Africans and
not Spanish subjects, that Judge Judson said the point was
clearly proved. Gedney° claimed one-third of the vessel and
cargo as salvage, which was given him by the Court; but his
claim for salvage on the negroes was refused by the Court,
as the negroes could not be sold, there being no law to per-
mit this to be done. Green said he did not wish salvage on
flesh, but, if the negroes were slaves, he wanted his share.
^ FuU text of proceedings in Niles' Reg., Vol. 57, pp. 222. 22.3.
2 The Spanish owners unsuccessfully tried to prevent his getting
salvage, on the gi'ound that, as a United States officer, what he did
was in the line of his duty and should have no pay.
62 History of Slavery in Comecticut. [432
The Court speedily dismissed his claini and decided that only
Antonio, the cabin-^boy, should be given up to Spain, and that
the rest should be transported to Africa. This decision was
made by a strong Democrat and a man in nowise friendly to
negroes, as was shown in the Canterbury affair, and is so the
more notewortliy/ The District Attorney, by order of the
Secretary of State, appealed the case and, in his zeal, sent a
messenger to Washington to have a clerical mistake in the
President's warrant corrected, that the negroes might be held.
In returning the warrant, Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State,
wrote, " I have to state, by direction of the President, that if
the decision of the court is such as is anticipated, the order
of the President is to be carried into execution, unless an
appeal shall actually have been interposed. You are not to
take it for granted that it will be interposed." That is, if the
counsel for the Africans did not at once appeal, these were to
be hurried on the Grampus and taken to Cuba. On the very
day* the court assembled, Van Buren sent directions to tlie
Marshal for this purpose, and so " flagitious and barefaced
was deemed this order," says Wilson, that some of Van
Buren's friends said later that it was issued without his
knowledge, by his " sanguine and not over-scrupulous Sec-
retary." Justice Thompson affirmed the decision of the
District Court pro forma, and left the whole matter to be
decided by the United States Supreme Court on an appeal.
The committee appointed to care for the Africans now pre-
pared for the last appeal, without stint of time or money,
and to the four' lawyers already employed added John
Quincy Adams, with " his great learning and forensic ability,
his commanding position and well-earned reputation." As
early as Sept. 23d, 1839, we read in the diary of the " old
man eloquent," " Mr. Francis Jackson brought me a letter
from Mr. Ellis Gray Loring, requesting my opinion upon the
knotty questions involved in the case of the Spanish ship
^ NUes' Reg., Vol. 57, pp. 336, 3.52, 384.
^April 29, 1840, at New Haven. Mies' Reg., Vol. 58, p. 160.
3 Mr. Kimberley made the fourth.
4:33] Histonj of Slavery in Connecticut. 03
Amistacl. . . . I desired Mr. J. to say that I felt some deli-
cacy about answering his letter, until Judge Thompson's
opinion shall be published and until the final decision of the
Government in the whole case." Meantime he asked Jack-
son to look up the records. Soon after, on Oct. ist, we read/
" that which now absorbs a great part of my time and all my
good feelings is the case of fifty-three African negroes, taken
at sea off JNIontauk Point by Lieut. Gedney."' He gives a
summary of tlie case up to that date and, on the next day,
having thrown himself into the case with all his accustomed
zeal and energy, he writes that he has examined all the
authorities. " Here is an enormous consumption of time,
only to perplex myself with a multitude of questions upon
which I cannot yet make up opinions, for which I am willing
to be responsible."^ We hear no more of the case for some
time. On Feb. loth, 1840, he offered a resolution calling
upon the President* for papers concerning the Amistad and,
on May 25th, offered a resolution denouncing the detention
and imprisonment of tlie Africans, which was read but not
received." His interest in the case continued, and on Oct.
27th, Ellis Gray Loring and Lewis Tappan called on this
dauntless advocate of the right of petition and entreated him°
to act as assistant counsel for the Africans at the January
term of the Supreme Court. He writes : " I endeavored to
excuse myself upon the plea of my age and inefficiency, of
tlie excessive burden of my duties.. . .But they urged me
so much and represented the case of those unfortunate men
as so critical, it being a case of life and death, that I yielded
and told them that, if by the blessing of God my health and
strength should permit, I would argue the case before the
Supreme Court, and I implore the mercy of Almighty God
so to control my temper, to enlighten my soul, and to give
me utterance, that I may prove myself in every respect equal
to the task."'
^ Diary, X., 132. ^ Diary, X., 133. -Diaiy, X., 135.
^Diaiy, X., 215. Niles' Reg., Vol. 58, p. 59.
5 Diary, X., 296. « Diary, X., 358.
1 Diary, X., 360. Niles' 'Reg., Vol. 57, pp. 99, 105, 176.
64 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [434
A month later, Nov. 17th, he visited Gov. Baldwin in New
Haven and saw the prisoners, thirty-six of whom were con-
fined in one chamber, in size about 30 by 20 feet. All but
one of the men seemed under thirty. Three of them tried to
read to him from the New Testament, and one wrote a tol-
erable hand. The chiefs, Cinquez and Grabow, had remark-
able countenances, he thought. The people of New Haven,
and especially the students in the Yale Divinity School, did
not neglect the temporal or spiritual interests of the captives ;
they fed and clothed them, studied their language, taught
them to read and write, and instructed them in the truths of
Christianity.
During the following months' Mr. Adams busily prepared
for the case, being assisted by Mr. Stephen Fox, the British
minister. On Feb. 22d, the Amistad case came up before
the august tribunal. On that day, Attorney-General Henry
D. Gilpin spoke for the government and Gov. Baldwin for
the captives, in a " sound and eloquent, but exceedingly mild
and moderate argument,"' which he continued on the next
day.
On the 24th, John Quincy Adams rose' to speak before an
audience that filled, but did not crowd, the court-room, and
in which he remarked there were not many ladies. He wrote
in his diary: "I had been deeply distressed and agitated till
the moment when I rose, and then my spirit did not sink
within me. With grateful heart for aid from above, though
in humiliation for the weakness incident to the limits of my
powers, I spoke for four hours and a half. . .The struc-
ture of my argument. . .is perfectly simple and comprehen-
sive ... admitting the steady and undeviating pursuit of
one fundamental principle." Against him " an immense
array of power — the Executive Administration, instigated by
the minister of a foreign nation, has been brought to bear in
^ Diarjr, X., 396, 399, 401. Niles' Reg., Vol. 57, p. 417, Vol. tS, p. 3.
Calhoiin animadverts on Biitish interference on IMarcli 13, 1S40.
Niles' Reg., Vol. 58, p. 140.
2 Diary, X., 429. sDiaiy, X., 431.
435] History of Slavery in Connecticut 65
this case on tlie side of injustice I did not, I could not
answer public expectation; but I have not yet utterly failed.
God speed me to the end." On the 25th, he spoke for four
and a half hours more, and on Alarcli ist, the Court having
meantime been in adjournment on account of the sudden
death of Mr. Justice Barbour, he spoke four hours more and
finished his argument. On the next day Mr. Gilpin closed
tlie case for the United States. Mr. Adams, in his argument,
sternly condemned the National Government from tlie Presi-
dent down.' He maintained that these Africans were torn
from home and shipped against the laws of the United States
and the laws of nations, that their passage on the Amistad
was in law and fact a continuance of the original voyage, and
that sixteen of the number had perished through the cruelty
of Ruiz and Montes, on whose souls the ghosts of these slain
must sit heavy through the closing hours of life. He anim-
adverted severely on the conduct of the Secretary of State,
saying that he ought instantly to have answered the Spanish
minister that his demands were inadmissible and that the
President had no power to do what w^as requested. He
should have said that he could not deliver up the ship to the
owner, for he was dead ; that the question depended upon the
courts; that a declaration to the President that the courts had
no power to try the case involved an offensive demand, and
that the delivering the negroes by the President and sending
them beyond the seas for trial was making the President " a
constable, a catchpole." The Secretary of State had not
asserted the rights of the nation against these extraordinary
demands. " He has degraded the country in the face of the
civilized world, not only by allowing these demands to
remain unanswered, but by proceeding, I am obliged to say,
throughout the whole transaction, as if the Executive were
earnestly desirous to comply with every one of these
demands." He said the Spanish minister persisted in his
requests because "he was not told instantly, without the
delay of an hour, that this government could never admit
1 Diary, X., 435.
66 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [436
such claims, and would be offended if they were repeated, or
any portion of them. Yet all these claims, monstrous,
absurd, and inadmissible as they are, have been urged and
repeated for eighteen months on our government, and an
American Secretary of State evades answering them — evades
it to such an extent that the Spanish minister reproaches
him for not answering his arguments." In his scathing and
relentless manner he next proceeded to attack Grundy's
order, mentioned previously, and asking why it was not acted
upon, he cried jut, " Why did not the President send an order
at once to the marshal to seize these men and ship them
beyond the seas, or deliver them to the Spanish minister?
I am ashamed — I am ashamed of my country, that such an
opinion should have been delivered by any public officer,
especially by the legal counsellor of the Executive. I am
ashamed to stand up before the nations of the earth with
such an opinion recorded before us as official, and still more,
adopted by a Cabinet which did not dare to do the deed."
Such is a brief outline of his forcible address.
A week later, March 9, Justice Stor};- gave the opinion of
the court' that the Africans were kidnapped and unlawfully
transported to Cuba, purchased by Ruiz and Montes with
knowledge of the fact that they were free, and did not become
pirates and robbers in taking the Amistad and trying to
regain their country; that there was nothing in the treaty
with Spain which justified a surrender, and that the United
States had to respect the Africans' rights as much as those of
the Spaniards. " Our opinion is that the decree of the
Circuit Court affirming that of the District Court ought to
be affirmed, except so far as it directs the negroes to be deliv-
ered to the President to be transported to Africa, in pursuance
of the Act of the 3d of March, 181 9, and as to this it ought
to be reversed, and that the said negroes be declared to be free
and be dismissed from the custody of the court and go with-
' Text of decision in Niles' Reg., Vol. 60, p. 40 ff., vide Vol. 60, p.
32. The influence of Great Britain was continuously thrown on the
side of freedom. Niles' Reg., Vol. 59, p. 402.
437] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 67
out day." The battle was won. John Quincy Adams* wrote
to LeAvis Tappan, "The captives are free. The part of the
decree of the District Court which placed them at the dis-
posal of the President of the United States to be sent to
Africa, is removed. They are to be discharged from the
custody of the marshal, free."
A week later," on March 17, Mr. Adams asked Webster,
the new Secretary of State, for a public ship to take the
Africans home, as the court had taken from them " the vessel
found in tlieir possession . . . and her cargo, their lawful
prize of war." Webster, Adams writes in his diary, appeared
startled at the idea that the Amistad and her cargo were the
property of the Africans, but afterwards said he saw no
objection to furnish them with a passage in a public ship and
would speak of it to the Secretaiy of the Navy. He, how-
ever, finally refused to grant the request.^
Lewis Tappan had been largely instrumental in their
release. He left his business and traveled for weeks in their
behalf, counseling with friends, getting money, and making
arrangements to send them to Africa. He exhibited them
throughout the North for an admission fee to raise money for
their passage. After their release,* they were sent to Farm-
ington, Connecticut, for instruction, and many of them learned
to speak English and became Christians. Religious people
throughout the country became interested in them, and when
they went back to Africa on November 25, 1841, five mis-
sionaries went with the thirty-five that survived." They
landed at Sierra Leone on January 15, 1842, whence the
^ Adams wrote on March 17, 1841, strenuously opposing many of
the incidental positions taken by the lower courts. Text in full in
NUes' Reg., Vol. 60, p. 116.
''Diary, X., 446. The vessel was sold at New London in October,
1840. The cargo was also sold, the whole bringing about $6000.
NUes' Reg., Vol. 59, pp. 144, 318, 347.
sNiles' Reg., Vol. 62, p. 144.
^ Diary, X., 450. Niles' Reg., Vol. 60, p. 64; Vol. 62, pp. 17, 128,
311.
6 NUes' Reg., Vol. 62, pp. 96, 224.
68 Histoty of Slavery in Connecticut. [438
British Government assisted them home, and from this band
of negroes in the Amistad sprung the Mendi Mission.^
In i8z^4, C. J. Ingersoll," Chairman of the Committee of
Foreign Afifairs of the House of Representatives, reported a
bill to pay $70,000 to the pretended owners of the Africans;
but the burning words of Giddings and Adams secured the
passage of a motion to lay on the table and prevented that
national disgrace. As late as 1847, however, Polk, in his
message, recommended an appropriation to the Spanish Gov-
ernment to be distributed among the claimants/
Of the fift}'-three Africans on the Amistad when it left
Cuba, nine died on the way, eight at New Haven, and one at
Farmington, while Cinque and thirty-four others lived to
return home.*
Growth of the Anti-Slavery Spirit.
The coming of the Revolution caused men to question the
rightfulness of holding one's fellow-man in bondage, and the
article in the Norwicli Packet and the resolutions of the
Danbury town meeting, already quoted, clearly show this.
The feeling spread. In 1778, the Wethersfield town records
show a slave. Prince, manumitted, on his master's "being
convinced' of the injustice of the general practice of the
country in holding negro slaves, during life, without their
consent."
Many other such instances are doubtless hidden away
in the manuscripts of the Town Clerks' offices, but the only
other one I have come across is that of Abijah Holbrook,
* On February 27, 1843, President Tyler recommended Congress,
by a special message, to refund the salvage on the Amistad to the
Spanish Government. Niles' Reg., Vol. 64, p. 66.
* Adams issued an address to his constituents on this subject- con-
cerning this. The text is in Niles' Reg., Vol. 68, p. 85.
3NUes' Reg., Vol. 73, Dec. 11, 1847.
*Niles' Reg., Vol. 60, pp. 206, 208, 400. The cabin-boy Antonio
was to have been retm-ned to Cuba, but escaped. NUes' Reg., Vol.
60, p. 96.
5 Mag. of Am. Hist., XXI., 422.
439] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 69
who came from Massachusetts to Torrington in 1787, and
in 1798 freed his slave, "then about 28 years old" and
" desirous of being free, . . . being influenced by motives of
humanity and benevolence, believing that all mankind by
nature are entitled to equal liberty and freedom." His ne-
groes, he said, " have served me with faithfulness and fidelity,
and tliey being now in the prime and vigor of life, and appear
to be well qualified, as to understanding and economy, to
maintain and support themselves by their own industry, and
they manifesting a great desire to be delivered from slavery
and bondage,"* he grants their desire. Before that, however,
an organized anti-slavery sentiment had arisen. In Feb-
ruary, 1789, the Rhode Island'^ Anti-Slavery Society was
founded, witli Jonathan Edwards the younger, pastor of a
New Haven church, as one of the members. In Connecticut
there were less than 30CXD slaves, yet " the strong pro-slavery
feeling and conservative interest which obtained there opened
a wide and important field for an Abolition Society," So, in
1790, the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society' was formed, with
President Ezra Stiles, of Yale College, as its president, and
Simeon Baldwin as its secretary.
The Society speedily showed great activity. On January
7, 1 791, it issued a petition^ to Congress, which was referred
to a special committee and never more heard of.
In the petition,^ the Society, though "lately established,"
claims it has " become generally extensive through the State,
and we fully believe embraces on this subject the sentiments of
a large majority of the citizens. From a sober conviction of
the unrighteousness of slavery, your petitioners have long
beheld with grief a considerable number of our fellow-men
^ Orcutt's " nut. of Tori-ington," p. 212.
•^Wilson, " Rise and Fall," I., p. 26.
sPoole, " Anti-Slavery Opinions before ISOO," p. 50.
^Presented to Congress, Dec. 8, 1791. Wilson, " Rise and Fall,"
L, p. 67.
5 Foimd in •' Memorials presented to Congress by Different So-
cieties instituted for promoting the Abolition of Slavery." Thila.,
1792, pp. 7-11.
70 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [440
doomed to perpetual bondage, in a country which boasts of
her freedom. . .The whole system of African slavery is
unjust in its nature, impolitic in its principles, and in its con-
sequences ruinous to the industry and enterprise of the
citizens of these States." They pray that Congress should,
by constitutional means, " prevent, as much as possible, the
horrors of the slave-trade, . . . prohibit the citizens of the
United States from carrying on the trade, . . . prohibit for-
eigners from fitting out vessels.', .in the United States for
transporting persons from Africa, . . . and alleviate the suflfer-
ings of tiiose who are now in slavery, and check the further
progress of this inhuman commerce."
The same year^ in which this temperate appeal was written,
Jonathan Edwards, Jr., speaking before the Connecticut
Society, said, " Every man who cannot show that his negro
hath by his voluntary conduct forfeited his liberty, is obliged
immediately to manumit him." " To hold a man in a state of
slavery who has a right to his liberty, is to be every day
guilty of robbing him of his liberty, or of man-stealing, and
is a greater sin in the sight of God than concubinage or for-
nication." In these trenchant words, as Wilson truly
remarks,^ "was clearly promulgated the duty of immediate
emancipation, as distinctly as it has ever been enunciated. . .
before or since."
Though not so extreme as this, when a proposition for a
duty on slaves was before the Congress of the United States,
at about the same time, Roger Sherman objected to this
being included in the general import bill, saying,^ " He could
not reconcile himself to the insertion of human beings as a
subject of import, among goods, wares, and merchandise."
On this same subject, some years later, Roger Griswold spoke
^ " Injustice .ind Impclicy of the Slave Trade and of the Slavery
of the Africans, illustrated in a sermon before the Connecticut
Society for the promotion of freedom and for the relief of persons
tmlawfully holden in Bondage, at their annual meeting." By Jon-
athan Edwards, D. D., New Haven, Sept. 15, 1791.
^Wilson, "Rise and Fall," I., 27.
2 Wilson, "Rise and FaU," I., p. 56.
441] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 71
against laying a tax on imported slaves,' though he was
opposed to the slave-trade, lest it should seem the United
States raised mone}' from commerce in slaves. The mass
of the citizens of Connecticut at this time were evidently abo-
litionists of a moderate type, believing, as did the Fathers of
the Republic, that emancipation would come gradually.
Meantime the movement towards liberty was growing, and
\vhen the Anti-Slaver^' Societies became strong enough to
hold their first Convention at Philadelphia, on January i,
1794, the Connecticut Society was represented by Uriah
Tracy. On the 8th of May of the same year," the day of the
inauguration of the Governor, the Society' was entertained
by an address at the Nortli (now Centre) Meeting House,
delivered by Theodore Dwight, its secretary. His address
was published, and it was probably from having seen or
heard of it that Bishop Gregoire mentioned Dwight in the list
of fifteen to whom he dedicated his " Literature of Negroes."
In this list, it may be remarked, were the names of two other
Connecticut men: Joel Barlow and Col. Humphreys.
At the time of Dwight's address, there were Committees of
Correspondence at Hartford,' and in New London, Windham
and Tolland Counties. When the second Anti-Slavery Con-
vention met at Philadelphia in 1795, Connecticut was repre-
sented by Jonathan Edwards, Uriah Tracy, and Zephaniah
Swift The first of these was made chairman of the com-
mittee on business, and prepared an address to South Caro-
lina,* appealing for " a numerous class of men, existing among
^ In 1804. Wilson, " Rise and FaU," I., p. 87.
=Poole, "Anti-Slavery Opinions before 1800," pp. 50. 80. "Ora-
tion Spoken before tbe Conn. Society for tlie Promotion of Free-
dom and the Relief of Persons imlawfnlly Held in Bondage, Con-
vened at Hartford on the Sth Day of May. 1794, by Theodore
Dwight." Hai-tford, 1794, pp. 24, Svo. At that time Chauucey
Goodrich was vice-president and Ezekiel Williams assistant
secretaiy.
3 At Hartford the Committee consisted of Dr. Lemuel Hopkins,
Theodore Dwight. Thomas Y. Seymour, and Ezekiel WilUams, Jr.
Trumbull's " Memorial Hist, of Hartford Co.," Vol. I.
^ Poole, "Anti-Slavery Opinions," pp. 28. 77.
72 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [442
you, deprived of their natural rights and forcibly held in bond-
age." He called on the State to improve their condition and
to educate them, and stated that by the slave-trade, of neces-
sity, " the minds of our citizens are debased and their hearts
hardened, by contemplating tliese people only through the
medium of avarice or prejudice."
The early anti-slavery feeling,^ however, gradually died
away in Connecticut, as elsewhere, and was succeeded by the
colonization idea, as advanced by the American Colonization
Society, of which Dr. Leonard Bacon wrote, " It is not a
missionary society, nor a society for the suppression of the
slave-trade, nor a society for the improvement of the blacks,
nor a society for the abolition of slavery; it is simply a society
for the establishment of a colony on the coast of Africa."
In the same line of thought, the New Haven Religions Intel-
ligencer condemned measures calculated to bind the colored
people to this country, by seeking to raise them to a level with
the whites, whether by founding colleges or in any other
way, " because it would divert attention and counteract and
thwart the whole plan of colonization." It was this same
spirit that aroused the opposition to Miss Crandall, and
which opposed the attempt of a convention of free colored
people in Philadelphia in 1831 to establish a collegiate school
on the manual labor plan at New Haven. The idea of this
convention was to raise $20,000 for this school, of which
they stated $1000 was already offered, provided the rest
should be subscribed. The reasons for their selecting New
Haven were these: the site of the town was healthy and
beautiful; the inhabitants friendly, pious, generous, and
humane; the laws of Connecticut salutary and protected all
without regard to complexion; the boarding there was cheap
and the provisions good; the situation was as central as any
that could be obtained with the same advantages ; the exten-
sive West India trade of New Haven might induce many
wealthy colored inhabitants of the West Indies to send their
' Wilson, " Rise and Fall," I., p. 215.
443] History of Slavcri/ in Connecticut. 73
sons there for an education; and lastly, the literary and
scientific character of New Haven renders it a desirable place
to locate their college/
The plan was not looked upon with any pleasure in New
Haven, and " created the most profound excitement and called
forth the most determined resistance." The Mayor called
a public meeting " to take into consideration a scheme said to
be in progress for the establishment in this city of a college
for the education of colored youth." At the meeting held
September 8, 1831, resolutions were passed "that we will
resist the establishment of the proposed college in this place
by every lawful means," and, in the preamble, the citizens
expressed their conviction that immediate emancipation and
the founding of colleges for colored persons were unwar-
rantable and dangerous interference with the internal con-
cerns of the State, which ought to be discouraged. To these
sentiments only one man, the Rev. Simeon S. Jocelyn,
entered a protest. This opposition of the residents of New
Haven rendered any attempt to carry out the convention's
scheme futile. The party of the status quo ante was triumph-
ant throughout the State ; but, as often when the hour is the
darkest, the daylight was at hand.
However, there had never been lack of men to protest
against human slavery, and the halls of Congress had often
heard bold sentiments from Connecticut men. In Novem-
ber, 1797, when the Pennsylvania Quakers complained to
Congress that slaves emancipated by Friends in North Car-
olina had again been made slaves, Allen of Connecticut said
he trusted the petition would not be rejected, as that would
be disrespectful to a society revered by every man who sets
value on virtue. In December, 1799, when the Southerners
were raging on account of a petition from the negroes of
Philadelphia for gradual emancipation, Edmond of Connec-
ticut said they were acting with "inattention that passion
alone could dictate." In the session of 1806-7, when South-
' Williams, " Negro Race, "11. pp. 63.64. Fowler. '• Hist. Status."'
p. 151.
74 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [444
erners sneered at the North's opposition to the slave-trade,
Moseley of Connecticut said if any of his section were con-
victed of being- in the slave trade, his constituents would thank
the South for hanging them/ In January, 1818, when a bill
to enforce the fugitive slave law was under debate, Williams
of Connecticut opposed a clause permitting freemen to be
dragged to another part of the country, saying, " In attempt-
ing to guard the rights of property to one class of citizens, it
was unjust that the rights of another class should be put in
jeopardy."
In 1833, however, the influence of those in favor of imme-
diate abolition of slavery began to be felt in Connecticut, con-
tending with the pro-slavery and colonization influences. In
that year, the New Haven Anti-Slavery Society was founded,
being one of the first societies'" based on the principle of imme-
diate, unconditional abolition. It sent its greetings to the old
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and received from it a cordial
response. Among the leading spirits of tlie Connecticut
Society were two clergymen,^ Samuel J. May and Simeon S.
Jocelyn, both of whom were prominent at the organization of
the American Anti-Slavery Society in December, 1833.
The feeling of the learned and powerful city of New Haven
was further shown in the public meeting called by the Mayor
and Council of the city to consider the report and resolutions
of Charleston, S. C, held August 10, 1835, and sent to each
incorporated city and town in the United States. Charles-
ton's resolves were concerning " societies and individuals v/ho
have circulated incendiary publications through some of the
Southern States," and were violently against anti-slavery pub-
lications. Henry S. Edwards acted as president of the New
Haven meeting, and Noah Webster and David Daggett as
vice-presidents. It passed resolutions condemning aboli-
tionist publications, denouncing their being sent by mail,
^ Wilson, " Rise and Fall," I., pp. 73, 77, 82, 96.
^Wilson, " Rise and Fall," I., p. 25.
''May was Vice-President. Wilson, " Rise and Fall," I., 250 and
260.
445] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 75
quoting a report of a committee of Congress in 1790 that tliat
body " have no authority to interfere in the emancipation of
slaves, or in the treatment of them in the different States, it
remaining with the several States alone to provide any regu-
lations therein which humane and true policy may require."
To this utterance of non-interference, they coupled anotlier
quotation from a letter of Oliver Wolcott, Sr., to his son of
the same name. " I wish that Congress would prefer the
white people of this country to the black. After they have
taken care of the former, they may amuse themselves with the
other people."'
Hartford held a similar meeting on Sept. 26, 1835, and,
with Isaac Toucey as president and Elisha Phelps and Joseph
Piatt as vice-presidents, affimied that '^ certain persons in the
Middle and Eastern States have formed associations for the
avowed purpose of effecting the abolition of slaver}^ in the
other States, and in pursuance of said design, have established
a press from which they issued several newspapers and peri-
odicals devoted to the aforesaid objects and filled with the
most inflammatory matter, whereby the confederacy is endan-
gered."
In that same year a negro woman,' who had fled from her
master and lived in Hartford as a servant for several years,
met a nephew of her former master on the streets of the city.
He spoke kindly to her and told her his family had ceased to
count her as their property, and that he had only friendly
feelings for her. He continued that he had some clothing for
her at the hotel where he was stopping, which he asked her to
^Another resolution favored colonization in Africa. Fowler,
" Local Law," pp. 96, 97. Full text in NUes' Reg., Vol. 49, p. 73.
R. S. Baldwin opposed these resolutions. On the same page in
NOes' Reg. is a letter copied from the IVIiddletown Admcafe. and
written by Rev. Wilbur Fisli, first President of Wesley an Univer-
sity, stating that though he wished "freedom to the slave," he
would sign no petitions for aboUtion of slaveiy. as " the ultra-
abohtionists, by their imprudent movements and ill-timed and iU-
managed system of agitation have, as I think, removed all hope of
success in any measure of this kind at the present time."
^TrumbuU's " Hartford County," I., 609.
76 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [446
go with him and get. She incautiously went to his room on
the third floor, when he locked the door to hold her prisoner.
She rushed to the front window and leapt out, and, falling on
an awning, escaped alive. Mr. Elisha Colt, in whose family-
she served, raised a purse and bought her, that he might set
her free.
Another fugitive slave in Hartford was Rev. James Pen-
nington, D. D., who, escaping when a boy, was educated abroad
at Heidelberg. He became pastor of the Talcott St. Church
in Hartford, and being fearful of capture after the passage of
the fugitive slave law of 1850, induced Gen. Joseph R. Haw-
ley, then a young lawyer in the office of John Hooker, Esq.,
to visit his former owner and buy him for Mr. Hooker. Mr.
Hooker held the deed for a day, to erjoy the sensation of
owning a doctor of divinity, and then emancipated him.
In 1836' the Connecticut Society, urged on by the Crandall
case, started the CJiristian Freeman at Hartford, with Wm.
H. Burleigh as editor. In 1845, that paper was merged in
the Charter Oak, whose office was mobbed by a Democratic
mob during the Mexican War, on account of the outspoken
character of its sentiments. The Charter Oak was merged in
the Republican in later years, that in the Evening Press, and
that in the well known Hartford Conrant^
Under the stimulus of the zeal of the leaders of this
new movement, violent discussion and debate sprang up
throughout the State.^ Amos A, Phelps, a brilliant and able
speaker, a native of Farmington, took the matter up in that
town, and the church in the town was nearly rent in twain
from the violence of the parties.* What nearly happened in
Farmington came to pass in Guilford, where the pastor
^ The increased interest in the subject is shown by the number of
pamphlets issued upon slavery in Connecticut about this time.
2 Trumbull's " Hartford County," I., p. 609.
3NUes' Reg., Vol. 56, p. 410, has a long letter from Roger M.
Sherman, dated June 26, 1838, written to the National Anti-Slavery
Society, in which, in dignified language, he states his opposition
both to slavery and the methods of the aboUtionists.
•'Trumbull's " Hartford County," II., p. 192.
447] History of ISlavery in Connecticut. 77
changed from the advocacy of colonization to that of aboli-
tion, and caused such a bitter dissension that, though he
eventually resigned and left the town, his followers, who con-
stituted a minority in the old church, left and established an-
otlier one, which remains separate to this day. In that town
the use of the church was refused the local Anti-Slavery
Society for its meetings, and in Norwich, which, on Oct. 14,
1800, had directed its selectmen to instruct the town's repre-
sentatives " to use their influence in obtaining a resolve . . .
prohibiting the migration of negroes . . . from other States
into this State," now the inhabitants in town meeting
" Resolved that, as it is the duty of every good citizen to dis-
countenance seditious or incendiary doctrines of every sort,
we do deny entirely the use of the Town Hall, or of any other
building belonging to the town, for any purpose connected
in any way with the abolition of slavery.'"'
Miss Abbey Kelley,' a Quakeress, who spoke against
slavery, was denounced from the pulpits in Litchfield County
as " that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess to
teach and seduce my servants " ; but she and others gathered
so many adherents that in January, 1837, a meeting was held
at Wolcottville to organize an anti-slavery societ)'-. The
gathering had to be in a barn, as churches and other public
places were closed. Even there a mob broke up the meeting,
which adjourned to Torrington Church, where it continued
two days. The Litchfield County Sociey^ so formed soon
began holding monthly meetings in barns, sheds, and groves,
and propagating its tenets by lectures, tracts, etc.
^ CaiilMns, " Norwlcli," p. 568.
^Orcutt's "Torrington," pp. 212, 218. For tlie opposition an
early anti-slavery advocate received in Washington, Litchfield
County, see " The blaster of the Gunneiy," a memorial volmne to
F. W. Gmm.
s Roger S. MiUs of New Hai-tford was made president, Erastus
Lyman of Goshen vice-president, with Gen. Daniel B. Brinsmade
of Washington, Gen. Uriel Tuttle of Torrmgford, and Jonathan
Coe of Winsted. Rev. R. M. Chipman of Harwinton was made
secretary, and Dr. E. D. Hudson of Toningford treasurer. Tor-
rington was the birthplace of John Brown of Ossawattomie and
Harper's FeiTy fame.
78 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [448
From 1840 onward, the progress of anti-slavery sentiments
in Connecticut was gradual.' In 1840 she cast 174 votes for
Birney; in 1844 she gave him 1943; in 1848 Van Buren
received 5005; in 1852 Hale obtained 3160. Then under the
influence of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill the State rapidly moved
towards abolitionism. In 1854 the Anti-Nebraska candidate
for Governor polled 19,465 votes; in 1856 Fremont carried
the State and received 42,715 votes, and Connecticut was
placed' in the ranks of the Republican States for many years.
Social Condition of Slaves.
The slave showed the usual imitation of his white masters.
We read of negro balls, negro governors, and negro training
days. In religious afifairs they, for the most part, were of the
Congregational faith; few became Baptists or Methodists,
as at the South. The annual election of a negro Gov-
ernor^ was a great event, and one, as far as I know, unique to
Connecticut. It occurred as recently as 1820, and came off
generally on the Saturday after election day. It was partici-
pated in by all the negroes in the capital, and not only a
governor, but also minor officers were chosen. They bor-
rowed their masters' horses and trappings and had a grand
parade after the election. " Provisions, decorations, fruits,
and liquors were liberally " given them. " Great electioneer-
ing prevailed, parties often ran high, stump harangues were
made, and a vast deal of ceremony expended in counting the
votes, proclaiming the result, and inducting the candidate
into office, the whole too often terminating in a drunken
frolic, if not a free fight," says one writer. Scaeva, in his
" Sketches of Hartford in the Olden Time," adds other
^ On Dec. 26, 1843, J. Q. Adams notes in his Diary that he pre-
sented a petition from Connecticut for the abolition of slavery and
the slave trade in the District of Colmnbia. Diary, XI.. 461. In
1845 the AboUtion or Liberty nominated full State and Congres-
sional tickets. Niles' Reg., Vol. 68, p. 23. 1841 is the earliest year
in which I find an AboUtion State ticket. Niles, Reg., Vol. 62, p. 80.
^CauUdns, "Norwich," pp. 330. Stiles, "Windsor," I., 490.
449] History of Slavery in Connecticut. 79
touches. The negroes, " of course, made their election to a
large extent deputatively, as all could not be present, but
uniformly yielded to it their assent The person they
selected for the office was usually one of much note among
themselves, of imposing presence, strength, firmness, and
volubility, vyho was quick to decide, ready to command, and
able to flog. If he was inclined to be arbitrary, belonged to a
master of distinction, and was ready to pay freely for diver-
sions — these were circumstances in his favor. Still it was
necessary he should be an honest negro, and be, or appear to
be, wise above his fellows." What his powers were was
probably not well defined, but he most likely " settled all grave
disputes in the last resort, questioned conduct, and imposed
penalties and punishments sometimes for vice and miscon-
duct." Such an officer is a remarkable instance of the
negro's power of mimicry. In his election parade " a troop
of blacks, sometimes one hundred in number, marching
sometimes two and two on foot, sometimes mounted in true
military style and dress on horseback, escorted him through
the streets with drums beating, colors flying, and fifes, fiddles,
clarionets, and every ' sonorous metal ' that could be found,
' uttering martial sound.' After marching to their content,
they would retire to some large room, which they would
engage for the purpose of refreshments and deliberation."
In Norwich," it would seem there was a special Governor
for the negroes ; for the graveyard contains a stone : " In
memory of Boston Trowtrow, Governor of the African tribe
in this Town, who died 1772." After him ruled Sam Hunt-
ingdon, slave of the Governor of the same name, and he is
described as, " after his election, riding through the Town on
one of his master's horses, adorned with painted gear, his
aids on each side, a /a 7Uilitatn% himself puff\ng and swelling
with pomposity, sitting bolt upright and moving with a slow
majestic pace, as if the universe was looking on. When he
mounted or dismounted his aids flew to his assistance, hold-
' Caulkins, "Norwich," p. 330. Vide Fowler, "Hist. Status," p.
81.
80 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [450
ing" his bridle, putting his feet into the stirrup, and bowing to
the ground before him. The Great Mogul in a triumphal
procession never assumed an air of more perfect self-import-
ance than the negro Governor."
Of negro trainings, Stiles in his " Ancient Windsor " tells
amusing tales, and doubtless such occurred in many other
towns where there were sufficient blacks.
The Connecticut negroes, when freed, often left the State,
and we have record that, when Massachusetts passed an act
on March 26, 1788, that "Africans, not subjects of Morocco
or citizens of one of the United States, are to be sent out of
the State," there w'ere found nine negroes and twelve mulat-
toes from Connecticut, though apparently not citizens of that
State, as they were ordered to leave Massachusetts by a given
day.^ We hear but little of fugitive slaves. Occasionally we
come across advertisements in the old Connecticut papers
for runaways, but these are but few and disappear as the
years pass by.' Generally slaves were " most tenderly cared
for" in the families of their masters until death, and were
sold but seldom.^ Emancipations, beginning to be common
just before the Revolution, increased more as time went on,
and we frequently find applications on record to the select-
men to free the masters from responsibility in case of eman-
cipating slaves.
It is said that at Torrington, when three men, joint owners
of a female slave, in her old age hired her out to be cared for
by a colored man, some indignation was raised.
When emancipated, it is noticeable that the negroes, with
their gregarious tendencies, left the country places and con-
gregated in the larger towns.* For example, in Sufifield,
where slaves were found as early as 1672, when Harry and
Roco, Major Pynchon's negroes, helped build the first saw-
^ Moore, " Notes on Slavery in Mass.," pp. 232-235.
^Vide Mag. of Am. Hist., XV., 614.
3 Mag. of Am. Hist., XV., 614. N. H. Gazette, 1787.
4 Mag. of Am. Hist., XXI., 422. Caulkins, " Norwich," p. 330.
Trumbull's " Hartford Coimty," II., p. 199.
451] History of Slaceri/ in Connecticut. 81
mill, and where before 1740 there were but few slaves, mostly
owned by magistrates, parsons, and tavern-keepers, the num-
ber of negroes was twenty-four in 1 756 ; thirty-seven in 1 774 ;
fifty-three in 1782; twenty-eight in 1790; four in 1800. The
last of these was manumitted in 181 2, and after a few years
none were left in the town. They had been a social, happy
race, some of whom had married there, and all of whom had
been well cared for by their masters," but when freed they all
drifted away to the cities, where they could have the society
of others of their race. In the cities, special effort was made
for the spiritual welfare of the negroes. In 181 5" the Second
Church of Norwich, under the leadership of Chas. F. Har-
rington, began a Sunday School for blacks, and later the Yale
students in New Haven took up the same work in the Temple
Street and Dixwell Avenue Schools, the latter of which is
still maintained.
In general, Connecticut has little to be ashamed of in her
treatment of the negroes. She treated them kindly as slaves
and freed them gradually, thus avoiding any violent convul-
sion. Though opposed to abolitionism and interference with
slavery in another State, until the aggressive character of the
slaveholding power was clearly manifested, she then swimg
into line with the rest of the Northern States to do away with
it from the soil of the whole country.
There is a steady and progressive development of the con-
duct of the State towards slavery. Beginning with a survival
of the idea that captives in war were slaves, as shown in the
conduct towards the Pequods, Connecticut acquiesced thor-
oughly in the principles of slaver}^ through all the Colonial
period. Her treatment of the slaves was almost always kind
and generous. A master, in true patriarchal style, regarded
them as in truth a part of his family.' With the coming of die
' Trumbull's "Hartford County," II., p. 406. Fowler, "Hist.
Status," p. 149, says in Durham in 1774 there were 44 negroes, in
1868 only 3.
= Caulkins, "Norwich," p. 556. Fowler, "Hist. Status," p. 150,
speaks of eight negro churches in the State in 1873.
=5 Fowler, "Hist. Status," pp. 81-88, gives many interesting in-
stances of this.
82 History of Slavery in Connecticut. [452
Revolution and the struggle of the Colonists for freedom, a
feeling arose that it was not just to hold other men in bond-
age, and as a result, importation of slaves was forbidden in
1774. Negroes were allowed to fight side by side with the
whites, and gradual emancipation was begun in 1784. The
claims of the masters were, however, respected by saving their
right to those they then held as slaves, and though manumis-
sion was encouraged, the law put wise restrictions on the
cruelty which would employ a man's best years in labor for
another and leave him 'to be supported by public alms at last
The case of Miss Prudence Crandall and of the Amistad
proved effective reinforcements to the arguments of the
Abolitionists, and the case of Jackson versus Bulloch showed
that the courts were inclined towards the support of liberal
interpretations of the anti-slavery laws. So when the formal
abolition of slavery came in 1848, it found few to be afifected
by its provisions. The movement against slavery went on.
From abolishing slavery within its borders, the State went on
to foilaid the seizure of a slave on its soil, and then gladly
joined with the other Northern States in the great struggle
which ended in the destruction of slavery throughout the
United States.''
' In 1865, the question of negro suffrage was submitted to the
voters and decided adversely by a vote of 27,217 to 33,489. In May,
1869,' the legislature, by a party vote, adopted the Fifteenth Amend-
ment to the United States Constitution. The vote in the Senate
stood 12 to 5, in the House 126 to 104. Fowler, p. 266.
APPENDIX.
In addition to the works quoted in the body of the
monograph, the following may be mentioned as a part of
the bibliography of this subject:
Bacon, Leonard. " Slavery discussed in Occasional Essays
from 1833 to 1846." New York, 1846.
Beecher, Catharine E. "An Essay on Slavery and Aboli-
tionism." Philadelphia, 1837.
Bozune, Rev. George. " Picture of Slavery in the United
States." Middletown, 1834.
Dickinson, James T. " Sermon delivered in the Second
Congregational Church, Norwich, July 4, 1834, at the
Request of the Anti-Slavery Society of Norwich and
Vicinity." Norwich, 1834.
Fisk, Wilbur. " Substance of an Address delivered before
the Middletown Colonization Society at the Annual
Meeting, July 4, 1835." Middletown, 1835.
Porter, Jacob, translator. " The Well-spent Sou, or Bibles
for the Poor Negro." New Haven, 1830.
Stuart, Charles. " The West India Question, reprinted from
the English Quarterly Magazine and Review of April,
1832." New Haven, 1833.
Tyler, E. R. " Slaveholding a Malum in Se or Incurably
Sinful." (2 editions.) Hartford, 1839.
" Fruits of Colonization — the Canterbury Persecution."
1833-
May, Samuel J. " The Right of Colored People to Educa-
tion vindicated — Letters to Andrew T. Judson, Esq.,
and others in Canterbury, relative to Miss Crandall and
her School for Colored Females." 1833.
Van Bnren, Martin. Message, 1840 (Amistad).
Baldwin, Roger S., and Adams, John Q. "Arguments before
the United States Supreme Court in the Case of the
African, Cinquez or Jinque."
84
History of Slavery in Connecticut.
[454
Slaves and Free
Negroes in Connecticut.
Slaves. Free Negroes
1680,
30, (Answers to Board of Trade),
...
1715,
1,500, (Niles' Register, vol. 68, p. 310),
1730,
700, (Answers to Board of Trade),
1756,
3,634, (Fowler, " Hist. Status," p. 150),
1762,
4,590, (Stiles MSS.),
1774,
6,562, (Fowler, " Hist. Status," p. 150)
1782,
6,281,
1790,
2,759. (U. S. Census),
2,801
1800,
951,
5,330
1810,
310,
6,453
1820,
97.
7,844
1830,
25.
8,047
1840,
17.
8,105
1850,
7,693
i860,
8,627
1870,
9,668
1880,
11,547
1890,
12,302
N. B. Ne
groes on the A
mistad not counted in 1840.
XI-XII
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
IN THE
SOUTH AND THE SOUTHWEST
POPULAR ELECTION
OF
UNITED STATES SENATORS
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
Historical and Political Science
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History.— Freeman
ELEVENTH SERIES
XI-XII
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE SOUTH AND
THE SOUTHWEST
By Prof. Edward W. Bemis, Ph. D. (J. H. U.),
AND
Students in Vanderhilt University
POPULAR ELECTION OF U. S. SENATORS
By John Haynes,
Graduate Student in Johns HopMns University
baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Press
PUBLISHED MONTHLV
November-December, 1893
COPTKIGHT, 1893, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS.
THE FBIEDENWALD CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMORE.
CONTENTS.
Introduction 7
North Carolina 12
Tennessee 24
Louisiana 28
Alabama 29
Georgia 38
Mississippi 47
South Carolina 49
Florida 50
Texas 53
Arkansas 64
Kentucky 69
Missouri 80
Popular Election of U. S. Senators 95
Index to Eleventh Volume 109
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE SOUTH AND
THE SOUTHWEST.
• INTRODUCTION.
The following papers on local government in the South
were undertaken by the writers when seniors or graduate
students in my classes at Vanderbilt University, 1891-2. In
all cases, save Missouri, it was possible for the investigator to
take his own State or the State in which he had recently
resided.
It is believed that tlie recent growth here shown of local
government in Kentucky, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, South
Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, and Arkansas, will appear sig-
nificant of greater changes in the future. There is confirma-
tion of my statement of ten years ago : "As the New England
town was built up about the church, so the Western and
Southern town is centering its political activity about the
school."'
Wherever there is in any Southern State any consideration
at all by the voters of local taxes for any local purpose, the
purpose is almost sure to be the improvement of the public
school. The rapid growth of the public school system in the
South will certainly strengthen this beginning of local gov-
ernment. Then we must observe the great number of small
incorporated towns or villages in this section, where as few
as 500 inhabitants in a hamlet often secure considerable rights
of government in a municipal organization.
It will be of great interest to the general reader or the
student of political science to note the proof in North Caro-
' Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
Science, Vol. L, No. 5.
8 Local Government in South and Southwest. [460
lina that it is impossible to force upon a State institutions of
a higher type than the intelHgence, habits and prejudices of the
average voter have prepared him to use. The failure of the
town-meeting in North Carolina when introduced by a carpet-
bag government teaches a valuable lesson. Even in that
State, however, especially in its western part, where the per-
centage of whites, and probably of intelligence, is higher than
in the eastern part, there is, as I have discovered in traveling
through it, a growing desire for a gradual abandonment of
what is now the most complete system of State control and
centralization of local government in this country.
Whatever may have been the influence of early geographi-
cal, religious and social conditions in diverting the South
from a development of local government such as Jefiferson
praised in New England and wanted in the South, I am con-
vinced that its rapid growth now is prevented only by the
presence of a large colored population that is considered as
yet incapable of making wise use of democratic institutions.
In Kentucky in 1890 there were only 14.4 colored to every
85.6 white, and not a county in which the colored were in the
majority. In Missouri there were only 5.7 colored persons
to 94.3 white. In Tennessee there were 24.4 colored to 75.6
white, and three counties had more colored than white. In
Arkansas there were 27.4 colored to 72.6 white, and in the
fourteen counties possessing a majority of colored out of
seventy-eight counties of the State there were 72,104 white to
154,618 colored.
Texas, thanks in part to a systematic and determined effort
in some portions of the State to keep out all colored people,
had only 21.9 colored to 78.1 white, and in only fifteen coun-
ties out of two hundred and forty do the colored predominate,
with 126,368 to 82,310 whites. In twenty-nine counties, with
8,848 whites, no colored are reported in the census. In eleven
others, with 5,291 whites, there is only one colored person to
a county. In one of these, as a resident informs me, there are
numerous signboards with the inscription, " Mr. Darkey, don't
let sundown find you in this county!" In twenty-seven other
461] Local (jovernment in South and Southwest. 9
counties of Texas there are 66,487 whites oiid oiil}' 2,462
colored. In no one of these counties are there more than ten
colored, while there are thirty-nine other counties in no one
of which are there one hundred colored, but only an average
of thirty-eight, while there are 149,702 whites, or an average
of 1,465. Penally, in the forty-four remaining counties of
Texas there are 572,684 whites to only 44,061 colored, a ratio
of thirteen to one.
In North Carolina there are 62.2 whites to 34.8 colored, and
fifteen of the ninety-six counties have a majority of colored,
the figures being 116,599 white to 170,113 colored.
The western half of North Carolina, the eastern half of
Kentucky, the eastern third of Tennessee, three-fourths of
Texas, and nearly all of Missouri are undisturbed by the race
question. As a result local government is advancing steadily
in Missouri, Kentucky, and Texas, and seems to be kept back
in North Carolina, and possibly Tennessee, by the different
race conditions in the larger part of those States. The situa-
tion has been more difficult in the other Southern States.
In Florida there are only 57.5 whites to every 42.5 colored,
and ten of the forty-five counties, embracing 43.8 per cent, of
the entire population of the State, have 62,310 whites to
104,654 colored. In Alabama, where there are 55.1 whites
to 44.1 colored, there are twenty counties of the sixty-six in
the State which have 157,655 whites to 406,087 colored; and
in Georgia, with 46.7 per cent, colored, there are thirty-five of
the eighty-four counties that have 199,006 white to 235,339
colored. In making these latter computations, beginning
wdth Florida, no county in any State is included where a ma-
jority is not colored.
In Louisiana 50.1 per cent, were colored. In thirty-three
of the fifty-nine parishes, corresponding to the counties of
other States, there were in 1890 only 174,349 whites to 376,-
668 colored; while in Mississippi, with 57.6 per cent, colored,
forty of the seventy-five counties had 258,096 whites to 606.-
310 colored. These forty counties embrace sixty-seven per
cent., or two-thirds of the population of the State.
10 Local Government in South and Southwest. [462
In South Carolina 60.7 per cent, were colored. In twenty-
seven of the thirty-five counties the colored exceeded the
whites, and in each of thirteen counties the colored were more
than twice as numerous as the whites.
Democratic institutions cannot be based upon an ignorant
suffrage, as the fifteenth amendment vainly attempted. An
unwritten chapter of American history will some time reveal
the efifort of the late President Hayes and a majority of the
dominant party in Congress, shortly after the war, to prevent
the passage of the fifteenth amendment. Instead, there was
desired a limitation of the suffrage among the blacks to those
who could pass some educational test. Such a result of the
war had been anticipated without ill-feeling by General Wade
Hampton in his parting addresses to his soldiers, and would
have been satisfactory to most of his fellow-officers of the
Confederacy. Mr. Hayes, then just elected from Ohio to the
lower house, secured the adoption of his views by nearly all
the caucuses of the Republican Congressmen held by States.
Then, if his account to the writer, in August, 1892, of his
struggle was not wholly mistaken, he was forced to witness
a complete overpowering of his wishes and those of the ma-
jority by the impetuous eloquence and bitter partisanship of
the older party leaders in the general congressional caucus
that followed. Nowhere, as he put it, is a newly-elected
member so unable, even when he is in a small majority, to
successfully oppose older leadership, as in Congress. It
seems that all the facts on this grave matter do not appear in
Blaine's Tzventy Years in Congress. Out of the defeat of that
liberal policy of Mr. Hayes have come sad results in all phases
of Southern life; but with the gradual education of the South-
ern youth in the rapidly rising schools, and the recent ten-
dency to restrict the suffrage by direct or indirect educational
tests, a growth of local government becomes more and more
attractive to the Southern educators and leaders of public
opinion. The result will be somewhat evident in the follow-
ing pages, but much more so as time goes on.
Some who have written short chapters in this monograph
have not been able to investigate as fully as others ; though it
463] Local Government in South and Southwest. 11
has not been the object to write in such detail upon any
State as was done in the earlier volumes of the Studies, when
it was deemed wise to devote an entire monograph to a single
State. Only salient features have here been touched upon.
The papers are printed almost verbatim as written by their
autliors, except as omission of details has been found neces-
sar}^ Unfortunately the students who were to take Missis-
sippi and Louisiana were forced to abandon the work when
too late for substitutes to be found, while no one was secured
for Florida; but the editor has written one or two brief para-
graphs on each of these three States, merely to prevent their
entire omission and to give a few such characteristics as
appear in their latest legislation. South Carolina and Vir-
ginia have been already treated in the Studies {South Carolina
in Vol. I., No. 12, 1883, and Virginia in Vol. III., Nos. 2-3).
But the interesting growth of local government in South
Carolina since the appearance of Volume I. of the above
Studies in 1883 has been briefly described.
North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia,
and ]\Iississippi are first treated and in the above order, which
roughly represents the present development of the power of
local taxation, North Carolina having the least. None as yet
possesses the power of local taxation save in incorporated
towns, cities and special school districts. Then follow South
Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, and IMissouri,
in all of which all the school districts, and in the last two all
of the townships, have powers of local taxation whose exercise
is steadily increasing.
This series of papers is published in the hope that the
accounts here given of the development in so many Southern
States, since 1880, of such local institutions as have long pre-
vailed in the North and West, will serve to further knit to-
gether all sections of our common country, and will stimulate
the friends of local government in the South to persevere in
a work already so well begim and so well calculated to secure
better schools and better political institutions of every kind.
Edward W. Bemis.
University of Chicago,
September. 1893.
LOCAL GOVERNAIENT IN NORTH CAROLLNA.
The old buccaneers are said to have buried, on the long, low
sandy beaches of Carolina's coast, rich booty from many a
gallant ship. On stormy nights, when the winds howl and the
waves roll high, the dim outline of the treasure-hunter may be
seen against the darkling clouds, as he searches for the
hidden gold. But the sea and the moon are loyal to the
buccaneers, and the treasure-hunter toils in vain. But while
Carolina refuses to give up her mythical treasures of Spanish
gold, there are hidden treasures within her bounds that are
only awaiting the search-light of history to reveal their beauty
and their worth. To the student of histor\^ she opens an
inviting field.
Perhaps no one trait of the early settlers of America was
more prominent than their adaptability to their surroundings.
In New England, the first inhabitants settled in tiny commu-
nities around their favorite ministers, and were closely bound
together by the ties of church and b}^ the necessity of present-
ing a united front to their enemies, the Indians. Quite natur-
ally the town became the unit of government, and the town-
meeting became the center around which was developed that
spirit of independence and love of self-government which has
ever characterized the New Englanders. In the South, how-
ever, especially in Virginia and the Carolinas, the early inhabi-
tants came not so much for religious reasons as on account
of a roving disposition and a desire of adventure and fortune.
Instead of settling close together, they built their homes upon
large plantations, oftentimes many miles apart, and connected
only by the intricate channels of the streams that intersect
this portion of the coast. These large estates, tilled by in-
dentured white persons and by negro slaves, resembled in a
465] xSortli Carolina. 13
measure the manorial estates in England after the Nonnan
Conquest, and we shall find that in the development of local
self-government these lords followed very largely in the foot-
steps of their generation in England, and did not go back to
the town-meeting 6i their older ancestry, as did the inhabi-
tants of New England. These large estates were not con-
ducive to the development of mutual dependence. The mas-
ter of each estate, surrounded by his broad acres, his tenants
and his slaves, took scant time to think of, much less discuss,
the petty subjects that were interesting the town-meetings of
the North. As for himself, his opinions were convictions, and
he gave little thought to the political education of the poorer
classes of whites. Says Thomas Nelson Page : " He believed
in a democracy, but understood that the absence of a titled
aristocracy had to be supplied by a class more virtuous than
he believed them to be. This class was, of course, that to
which he belonged." Such a system was peculiarly adapted
to the development of leaders, and the history of the Revolu-
tion and the first half-century of our country- will show " such
a group of consummate leaders as the world has seldom seen
equaled."
In the charter granted by Charles II. to Edward, Earl of
Clarendon, and others, as true and absolute Lords Proprietors
of Carolina, provision was made for the division of the terri-
tory into counties, and for enacting laws and constitutions for
the people of that province by and with the consent of the
freemen or their delegates. While this charter contained the
germ of representative government, it also contained an tgg
that was soon to hatch out a brood of constitutional farces
such as the world had never before seen. Under that pro-
vision of the charter which granted the Lords Proprietors the
right of making " laws and constitutions," the Earl of Shaftes-
bury, the learned but visionary statesman, and John Locke,
the profound philosopher, drew up that stupendous travesty
on constitutional government, "The Fundamental Constitu-
tions of Carolina." On Carolina's soil was the only continued
attempt made to connect political power with hereditary
14 Local Government m South and Southwest. [466
wealth and to introduce into the wilds of America the effete
system of feudalism as it existed in the England of the sev-
enteenth century. While many of its provisions might appeal
to the traditions and sentiments of the past, many of them
were not only distasteful but absolutely detrimental to every
interest of free government, and could only have originated
in the brain of a visionary statesman or of a philosopher who
had failed to bring his philosophy home to men's business
and bosoms. Neither of these men had grasped tliat funda-
mental principle of government that political institutions must
be growths. They cannot spring, Minerva-like, full-armed
from Jove's brain. Their development must be gradual and
their growth steady.
Under " The Fundamental Constitutions " the government
of the province was vested in the hands of the eight Lords
Proprietors, which body became not only an hereditary cor-
poration but also a close corporation. The whole province
was divided into counties, each county to consist of eight
signiories, eight baronies, and four precincts.^ By this, divi-
sion of the province into counties the process of making a
nation by uniting the shires was reversed. The county, how-
ever, resembled in some respects our modem circuit court
district. The precinct was the real unit of division and cor-
responded more nearly to the county in England. In fact, by
act of the General Assembly in 1738, the precincts were altered
to counties.^ Provision was made for a court in each pre-
cinct, presided over by a steward and four justices of the pre-
cinct. This court had jurisdiction over all criminal cases,
except those punishable with death and those pertaining to
the nobility, and over all civil cases whatsoever. From this
precinct court appeal could be made to the county court,
which consisted of one sheriff and four justices, one for each
precinct. Besides these two courts, "in every signiory,
barony, and manor, the respective lord shall have power, in his
' Fundamental Constitutions, §3.
2 Laws of N. C, 1738, c. 21, s. 1.
467] North Carolina. 15
own name, to hold leet-court there.'" Here we have the
transition from the old English township with its "reeve,"
" beadle," and " tithing-man," to the " manor," with its lord's
steward and bailiff; and as the manor had not entirely lost its
self-government, so the " grand model " provided for a court-
leet, an interesting though fragmentary survival of the town-
meeting. In the county court and precinct court mentioned
above we recognize the form of the old English county court
or Court of Quarter Sessions, though the resemblance can be
more readily traced later when the functions of both courts
were united into one. And this '' Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions," as it was afterwards called, remained in force until
the Civil War, a mighty bulwark of the people's liberties.
While a few of the provisions of the " grand model " might
appeal to the traditions and sentiments of the past, the great
majority of them were not only distasteful but absolutely det-
rimental to every interest of free government. " Two-fifths
of the land was to be perpetually annexed, one-fifth to the
proprietors, the other to the hereditary nobility, leaving the
remaining three-fifths among the people."' " There shall be
just as many landgraves as there are counties, and twice as
many caziques, and no more. These shall be the hereditary
nobility of the province, and by right of their dignity be mem-
bers of parliament."'' " In every signiory, barony, and manor,
all the leet-men shall be under the jurisdiction of the respec-
tive lords of the said signiory, barony, or manor, without
appeal from him. Nor shall any leet-man or leet-woman
have liberty to go off from the land of their particular lord
and live anywhere else, without license obtained from their
said lord, under hand and seal."* "All the children of leet-
men shall be leet-men, and so to all generations."' In con-
sequence of provisions like these we are not surprised to learn
that this " grand model " was never put into practical opera-
tion and that it finally died a natural death. Thus the first
'Fundamental Constitutions, §16. ^ Ibid., §4. 'Ibid., §9.
"Ibid., §22. 5 Ibid. ,§23.
16 Local Government in South and iSouthicest. [468
attempt to force ready-made institutions upon Carolina soil
failed, presaging the fate of a similar attempt in her later
histor}'.
As we have intimated above, the first constitution con-
tained the germ of representative government, but, unfortu-
nately, what the course of proprietary legislation for the
first fifty years after the settlement of the colony was, there
are no accessible means of ascertaining." Consequently we
can judge of this period only by the development the institu-
tions had attained in 171 5, the date from which the records
have been preserved; resting assured, however, that those
sturdy planters along the Chowan were not slow to realize the
powers and possibilities that lay in the court of Pleas and
Quarter Sessions. It became the unit of local government
in North Carolina and the center around which moved all
that pertained directly to the people in the administration of
government. Besides its administrative and civil duties it
performed the following functions, which, in Massachusetts,
would have been attended to by the people assembled in the
annual town-meeting, or by their officers elected in town-
meetings. It provided standard weights and measures, ap-
pointed constables,' and levied taxes for all county purposes.
It had the power of purchasing land and erecting houses
thereon for county purposes. It established and discontinued
ferries, roads, and bridges, and had complete supervision over
them, regulating tolls of ferries, appointing overseers of the
roads, and erecting bridges at the expense of the county.
While in some respects this county court government may
not compare favorably with the township government of the
North, still we must not judge it too harshly. While the
people of North Carolina did not have the privilege of meet-
ing together annually and, in town-meeting, assembled, of leg-
^ Laws of N. C, 1821, vol. I., preface v.
''After 1833 the constables were elected in each Captain's district,
a military division of the county that must contain a population of
thirty -six men liable to perform military duty. Laws of N. C, 1831,
c. VIII.
469] :S^orth CaroUiia. 17
islating upon all the minor points of interest in their several
districts, still they had their familiar court days, on which it
was a rare occasion when every community in the county was
not represented. Here, under the kindly shade of the court-
yard trees, the yeomanry and the landed proprietors niet on
common ground and discussed politics, the price of cotton or
perchance of turpentine, and various other questions of peren-
nial interest. This was the forum of the farmers, the thought
exchange of the people; and he would have been a poor jus-
tice of the peace who could not have found out the prevailing
sentiments of his fellow-citizens on local affairs, and a worse
one, knowing that sentiment, had he failed to act accordingly.
Again, the county court flourished before the days of the
cheap politician. Then a public ofilice was a public trust, and
then politics itself was reckoned a noble profession. The
honor and integrity of the well-to-do farmers who, in most
cases, constituted the county court, were unimpeached and
unimpeachable. The system not only developed a self-
respect in the members of the court, but, what was of more
importance, it fostered and nurtured a spirit of confidence in
the administration of the government among all classes of the
people.
The silent shifting of authority from King to Congress
made but slight change in this institution. The disturbance
occasioned by the transition was hardly perceptible. By the
constitution of 1776 the Governor was vested with authority to
appoint the justices of the peace for the several counties, on
recommendation of the Representatives in the General As-
sembly.' Some new duties devolved upon them, and their
powers were somewhat increased from time to time. After
1777 the county court was empowered to elect annually a
trustee for the county, whose duty it should be to collect all
moneys due the county. However, a majority of the jus-
tices of the peace in any county might abolish the office of
trustee, in which case the sherifif should perform all duties of
' Constitution N. C, 1776. XXXIII.
18 Local Government in South and Southwest. [470
that officer. In 1846 the justices of tlie peace were authorized
to elect wardens of the poor, who, heretofore, had been elected
by the freeholders. Another duty that devolved upon the
county court was the appointing of a patrol committee of
three, whenever such precaution was deemed necessary, in
each Captain's district in the county."
But what of public schools? Unfortunately they play a
nominal part in local afifairs prior to the years immediately
preceding the Civil War. Although the constitution of 1777
had resolved that schools should be established by the Legis-
lature, " for the convenient instruction of youth," very little
progress was made for many years. It was not until 1844
that the counties were divided into school districts. The
voters of these several school districts elected annually a
school committee of three, who had power to purchase land
for school purposes, to build school-houses, and to administer
the meager appropriations received from the State " Literary
Fund." This fund was distributed annually among the sev-
eral counties of the State, and was supplemented by a tax
levied by the court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, which was
not to be less than one-half of the estimated amount to be
received by the county from the " Literary Fund." However,
"no county court shall tax any free person of color for the
support and maintenance of common schools, and no person
descended from negro ancestors to the fourth generation
inclusive shall be taught in said schools."'
Such in brief is a sketch of local government in North
Carolina prior to the Civil War. Up to this time the growth
and development of county government had progressed
smoothly and quietly. But the shock of civil strife left the
internal organs of government in a fearfully deranged condi-
' Among other duties, the patrol was to visit the negro houses in
their respective districts, as often as was deemed necessary, and to
" inflict a punishment, not exceeding fifteen lashes, on all slaves
they may find off their owner's plantations, without a proper permit
or pass." Revised Code N. C, 1855, c. 83, s. 3.
* Revised Code, 1855, c. 66, s. 33.
471] Morth Carolina. 19
tion. With the proud prestige of statehood gone, with her
hopes bHghted and her prospects blackened, torn, mangled
and bleeding, she lay an easy prey to the political vultures
that swarmed upon her. Under the Reconstruction acts of
Congress, a constitutional convention was called, and a con-
stitution was framed and adopted in 1868. Again was the
experiment tried of forcing a ready-made form of government
on the people, and again was illustrated the principle that
institutions must be growths. In this constitution, provision
was made for the introduction of a system of local govern-
ment resembling that which exists in Pennsylvania. Each
county should elect biennially five commissioners. These
commissioners had general supervision and control of the
penal and charitable institutions, schools, roads, bridges, and
levying of taxes, and were empowered to divide their respec-
tive counties into districts. In each of these townships there
were, biennially, to be elected a clerk and two justices of the
peace, who, under the supervision of the county commis-
sioners, were to have control of the taxes, roads and bridges
of the township. Furthermore, the township was empowered
to elect a township school committee of three persons. Theo-
reticall}' these changes were along the right lines. It divided
the counties into townships and gave them a species of local
government much superior in theory, at least, to anything
they had before. It gave the masses of voters privileges
which hitherto they had not enjoyed. Again, it was no new,
untried scheme of government; it had been in successful oper-
ation in many of the Northern and Western States. Yet we
shall not have to go far to find the reason that made it repug-
nant to a majority of that class of people who had ruled the
State for a hundred years. Besides bearing the odium of
being fathered by the hated carpet-bag government, it struck,
as they thought, at the foundation of free government, when
it placed the property-owners of the whole eastern section of
the State at the mercy of the recently enfranchised slaves, by
turning over to them the whole machinery of county govern-
ment.
20 Local Government in South and Southwest. [472
In 1875 th^ State government passed into the hands of the
opposite political party, and the so-called " negro rule of the
Reconstruction era " was over. Immediately a constitutional
convention was called and a constitution was framed whose
points of difference from the one it superseded were few but
far-reaching. This constitution left the thirteen sections of
Article VII., which pertained to municipal corporations, in-
cluding county and township governments, intact, but added
a fourteenth which gave the General Assembly " full power
by statute to modify, change or abrogate any and all of the
provisions of this section, and substitute others in their place,
except sections seven, nine, and thirteen " (these sections
limiting taxing and debt-making powers of municipal cor-
porations).^
This section virtually threw the whole question of local
government into the hands of the General Assembly elected
soon after the ratification of the constitution. This leg-
islature promptly availed itself of this section to do
away with the existing local government by repealing all
sections of Article VII. (save seven, nine, and thirteen).
While the township itself was not destroyed, all its functions
were taken from it. The right of electing the five commis-
sioners and the school committee was taken away from the
people. Under the new system the legislature appoints five
justices of the peace in each township (but if there is an incor-
porated town in a township it has six justices, and one addi-
tional for every 1000 inhabitants) who hold office for six
years. On the first Monday in June of every other year, they
meet at the court-house and elect not more than five nor less
than three commissioners. The board of county commis-
sioners holds regular meetings on the first Monday in Decem-
ber and June. Upon their shoulders rest the internal afifairs
of the county; they look after the paupers of the county;
they have supervision of jails, court-houses and other property
of the county ; they hear and determine all petitions for open-
" Constitution of 1876, Art. VII.. s. 14.
473] North Carolina. 21
ing or changing public roads; they build all bridges, provided
said bridges do not cost over $500 each;' they establish poll-
ing places and appoint judges of election for each precinct;
they make out the jury list, and they have complete super-
vision of the taxing machinery of the county. Annually the
board of commissioners meets in session with the justices of
the peace, and they perform such duties as devolve upon them
jointly, e. g. they levy the necessary taxes for the county
purposes; they purchase sites for and erect all county build-
ings that require an appropriation of over $500, and they
elect, every other year, the county board of education.
Thus the people of the State, acting through a majority of
their representatives, voluntarily surrendered their rights of
local self-goveninient and inaugurated a plan that approaches
dangerously near an oligarchical form of government. This
overthrow of local self-government was acquiesced in by a
majority of the dominant political party, to save the people of
the eastern section of the State from negro domination. As
the question is now an open one in politics, it does not come
within the scope of this paper to say whether the sacrifice has
been worth the ends aimed at or not.
In the public school system, inaugurated in 1868 and modi-
fied in 1876, we find the most pernicious effects of this cen-
tralization of prwer in the hands of the dominant political
party and the emasculation of local self-government. In the
management of the public schools of the Northern and North-
western States the people have taken a lively interest. Each
county or township manages its own aflfairs, and has the right
of increasing the regular appropriation for school purposes by
local taxation, a most efifective bond in uniting the people to
ti le schools. Unfortunately both of these features are lacking
in the system in operation in North Carolina. In the revolt
against the form of government instituted in 1868, the men
who formed tlie Constitutional Convention of 1876 allowed
' The county commissioners cannot appropriate over 8500 for any
purpose without the concurrence of a majority of the justices of the
peace of the countj'.
22 Local Government in South and Southivest. [474
the pendulum of local government to swing too far in the
other direction. The school affairs of each county are in the
hands of a county superintendent and a board of education.
The board of education is elected by the board of county
commissioners and the justices of the peace in joint session,
and this board of education, in joint session with the board of
county commissioners and justices of the peace, elects the
county superintendent. This is the system, the wheel wdthin
a wheel, by which the dominant political party keeps control
of the management of the public schools in every county in
the State. Every vestige of local self-government has been
removed. The school districts do not even have the privilege
of electing their committees; they are appointed for them
by the county board of education.^ But as the public schools
have suffered most from this system of centralization, it is
more than probable that they will be the means by which the
system will be entirely done away with or at least greatly
modified. In 1889 ^^i effort was made to amend the code
so as to allow the voters of any tOAvnship to vote a local
tax upon themselves for the purpose of increasing their
school fund; but unfortunately the law was so hampered
and restricted that it has proved of no advantage to the rural
districts. The State superintendent is still pressing upon the
General Assembly the necessity of allowing any county or
township to vote upon the question of taxing its citizens for
school purposes.' These are straws which indicate the drift
of opinion among the thinking classes. A change must
come sooner or later. If it does not come in a political revo-
lution — and we must remember that a single hostile legisla-
' Other duties of the board are to lay off their respective counties
into two sets of school districts, the one for the white childi'en and
the other for the colored children. As the convenience of the two
classes of residents must be consulted in laying off these districts,
the two sets may or may not coincide. They apportion the county
school fund among the districts, without discrimination in favor
of or to the advantage of either race.
"Report for 1889 and 1890. pp. xii and xlix.
475] Islorth Carol hi a. 23
ture can do away with the whole present mode of local gov-
ernment — it will come when the people shall have acquired
the right of increasing their school funds by local taxation.
When once the barrier is broken citizens will not be slow to
demand the other rights and privileges which they voluntarily
surrendered in 1876.
W. A. Webb.
Note on North Carolina.'
The Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Caro-
lina, in his report for 1892, states that only fifteen cities in the
State levy any special tax for schools. These cities embrace
only 75,598 souls, or 4.6 per cent, of the population of the
State. One reason given is that no vote can be had in any
town relative to a special school tax without a petition of one-
third of the freeholders ; and the tax, if voted, allows only ten
cents on one hundred dollars of property and thirty cents on
polls. Even this must be approved by special act of the leg-
islature.
The Superintendent strongly urges that the right to vote
three times as much local tax as this be had in any township,
city, town, or school district, on petition of any respectable
number of freeholders. This entering wedge of local gov-
ernment is thus urged in the Superintendent's report:
" I know of no subject of taxation to which the people can
be more safely trusted. If they vote taxes for schools, that
fact means better schools, and consequently more safety to
property and person as well as to our republican form of gov-
ernment. If communities have an opportunity to vote taxes
for schools, and fail to do it, and so have poor schools as
compared with other communities that have voted taxes, they
will readily see the reason. Under such a provision, the dif-
ferent communities and neighborhoods would stimulate each
other to better efforts, and much good would result."
' By the Editor.
11.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN TENNESSEE.
Tennessee was originally a part of North Carolina, and the
laws and local institutions were changed very little when the
people west of the Alleghanies set up a government for them-
selves. In fact, there has been very little change since then/
The county and not the township system prevails. Every
county is divided into civil districts, in each of which, unless it
contain an incorporated town or city, there are elected two jus-
tices of the peace and a constable, besides the three school
commissioners mentioned below. The justices of the peace,
in addition to the judicial functions usually attaching to their
office, compose the county court. This court, which controls
the affairs of the county, meets on the first Monday of each
month. When so meeting it is called the Quorum Court, but
is of little importance when compared with the Quarterly
Court, which meets on the first Monday of January, April,
July, and October. These four sessions of the county court
are of the greatest importance and require the presence of the
majority of the magistrates. The county court, at both its
quarterly and monthly sessions, is presided over by the county
judge, or, if there be no such officer elected in the county, the
chairman of the county couil:. This officer is also the finan-
cial agent of the county.
The county court levies taxes, appropriates funds, controls
public roads, looks after the poor of the county, builds
bridges, jails, court-houses, and in other ways looks out for the
welfare of the county. Within the limits fixed by statute tlie
powers of this court are absolute.
At the January tenn the Quarterly Court hears the reports
of the county judge or chairman of the county court, also of
' In consideration of the above fact this chapter is made very brief.
477] Tennessee. 25
the turnpike inspectors, jail inspectors, and the superintendent
of pubHc schools. The commissioners of the poor also make
their report and submit estimates for support of the poor,
which the court appropriates in full or in part. This court
elects the jail and turnpike inspectors, the commissioners of
the poor, coroners, county surveyors, notaries public, and
superintendent of public instruction. Road commissioners
for each civil district are also appointed.
Special questions frequently are brought before this court,
such as the building of bridges, court-houses, or any other
buildings for the use of the county.
The powers of this court are restricted by die statutes.
There are certain questions pertaining to the welfare of the
people locally, concerning which the county court has no
power to act, except by submitting the question to the people.
For example, if a railroad were to ask for a subsidy the appli-
cation would first come to the county court, which body
would submit the question to the popular vote. Such ques-
tions as this are the only ones that ever come before the
people.
The civil districts into which ever}' county is divided have
no significance whatever so far as local government is con-
cerned. They are convenient as voting districts. Each dis-
trict has two magistrates and a constable.
The civil district is also the school district. Three com-
missioners are elected in each district who have charge of the
schools in that district. They build school-houses and employ
teachers. The length of the school term is determined by the
amount of money on hand. The people have no voice what-
ever in the control of the schools, except the influence of pub-
lic sentiment. It must be said to the credit of the school
commissioners — and not of the system — that the Avish of the
majority of the people is in most cases followed by the com-
missioners. It can be seen, though, at a glance that the people
are helpless. The taxes levied for school purposes and the
State fund are paid to the county treasurer, who prorates it to
the several districts according to the scholastic population.
26 Local Government in South and Southwest. [478
The superintendent of public instruction is elected biennially
by the county court, and the State superintendent of public
instruction is appointed by the Governor. The school com-
missioners manage the schools of the district.
Where the people of a civil district so desire, they may con-
tribute money to the school fund so as to continue the school
throug'hout the year. This is frequently done. And in this
we have some approach to local government, but no local
tax can be voted.
The county court controls the roads. A road commis-
sioner is appointed by the court for each civil district in the
county. This commissioner appoints the road overseers, and
assigns those citizens subject to road duty to the several over-
seers.
In many Southern States there were introduced changes in
the forms of local government just after the war, — in the days
of the " carpet-bag rule." Such was not the case in Tennes-
see. The people, having never known anything else, believe
in the existing system. As a rule the men in office have per-
formed faithfully the duties imposed on them and for the best
interests of the people whom they have represented. And
thus they have made in a measure successful a system which
imder other circumstances might have been very burdensome.
F. P. Turner.
Note on Tennessee.'
When another constitutional convention assembles in Ten-
nessee (and the sentiment in favor of it is rapidly growing),
it is very likely that the power of local taxation will be largely
extended. The following quotation, especially the closing
sentence, taken from the report for 1891 of the State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction, Hon. W. R. Garrett, will prove
interesting:
" Each county exercises county supervision through its
superintendent, and is empowered through its county court
' By the Editor.
479] Tennessee. 27
to supplement the revenues by a levy on polls, property and
privileges, not to exceed the entire State tax for all purposes.
" Each district exercises supervision and control through
its directors, who are invested with large discretionary powers
in the use of the school fund and in the management of the
schools. In the law as originally enacted, the district was
empowered to levy an additional tax either to increase the
length of the school term or to extend the course of study.
This portion of the law was pronounced unconstitutional by
the courts and was subsequently repealed. The constitution
of the State does not permit a subordinate civil district to
levy a tax. This power is limited to the General Assembly,
the county court, and the authorities of the municipal cor-
poration. Thus one important link in the general plan of the
school system was broken, and the power of providing for
the introduction of the higher branches was lost to the dis-
tricts.
"In 1885 the General Assembly, at its extra session, re-
paired this broken link as far as the constitution would permit,
and took the only step in its power to provide for local taxa-
tion. A law was passed empowering municipal corporations
to levy additional taxes and to establish ' graded high schools.*
This enactment was eminently wise and has led to important
results. Graded high schools are now in efficient operation
in all of the cities and in many of the towns . . . The successful
operation of the corporation schools has produced the effect
to make the country districts feel still more keenly the lack of
the power of local taxation."
The county taxes for schools 1890-91 were $1,375,563.01,
the city taxes in the fourteen cities reporting were $279,-
649.51, and the receipts from all other sources, chiefly from
State taxes, amounted to $329,582.92.
28 Local Government in South and Southwest. [480
Note on Louisiana.'
The material is not at hand for an account of the local gov-
ernment of Louisiana, but the great and perhaps necessary
centralization of power in the State government there is illus-
trated in the school system. The parish boards of education,
which correspond to the county boards of other States, are
chosen by the board of education, and the latter, consisting of
one member from each congressional district, is appointed by
the Governor. The parish police jurors, corresponding to
county commissioners elsewhere, may levy a parish tax, and
incorporated towns have the powers, usual in this country, of
town taxation.
The Legislature in 1891 gave expression to the growing
demand for self-government in Louisiana by submitting to
the vote of the people a constitutional amendment giving to
every school district as well as to every parish the power to
levy a school tax on vote of a majority of the taxpayers.
Unfortunately, however, the proposed amendment was so
worded, apparently by mistake, as to limit the amount that the
parishes might raise even more than it increased the oppor-
tunities for a more local tax, and so was voted down by the
friends of the schools. A more carefully worded amendment
may, in good time, be submitted to the people. The State
Superintendent, in his report for 1890-91, strongly urges
local taxation for schools.
' By the Editor.
III.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN ALABAMA.
The State is divided into 68 counties, varying from four
hundred to sixteen hundred square miles. The county is a
body corporate, of which the county commissioners are trus-
tees, and as such body corporate it can sue or be sued, buy, sell
and own property and issue bonds. The county officers con-
sist of a Judge of Probate, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Sheriff,
Tax Collector, Tax Assessor, Treasurer, Coroner, County
Superintendent of Education, and four Commissioners. All
of these are elected by popular vote, except that in forty-five
counties the County Superintendent of Education is appointed
by the State Superintendent. In some counties the commis-
sioners are elected from districts, in others from the county at
large.
The Probate Judge is, ex officio, president of the Court of
County Commissioners, but has no vote except in case of a
tie, which is very frequent on account of the number of the
commissioners (4). This court has complete control of the
affairs of the county, and its powers are specified in the code.
It has original jurisdiction over the change, discontinuance, or
establishment of (public) roads, bridges, causeways and
ferries within the county.' Bridges are kept up by a special
tax, or by moneys appropriated from the general fund.
Roads are kept up in the following manner: Apportioners
are appointed who class the roads and divide them into sec-
tions, appoint overseers for each section, and assign to each a
quota of hands. Every male over 18 and under 45 who is
free from physical deformity is subject to not more than 10
days' duty on the public roads each year. In the municipal
' Code. S825.
30 Local Government in South and Southwest. [482
corporations a street tax is generally substituted for this ser-
vice. When a new road is to be established, the court ap-
points surveyors to select the route, whereupon the land is
condemned, assessed, and paid for by the county.
The county court has authority —
1. To control the property of the county.
2. To levy a general tax for general, and a special tax for
special county purposes.
3. To examine, settle and allow all accounts and claims
chargeable against the county.
4. To examine and audit the accounts of all officers hav-
ing the care, management, collection or disbursement of
county funds.
5. To provide for the support of the poor.
6. To punish for contempt.
7. To exercise such other powers as are given to it.
The State tax is the same all over the State, but the county
tax varies in the different counties and in the same county
from year to year, but the State and county tax together
rarely exceed one per cent., and often fall below three-fifths
of one per cent. Special taxes are not often levied, except to
keep up bridges and pay interest on county bonds.
In almost every county a poor-house has been provided. It
is generally in charge of some person who receives a certain
amount per month per capita for supporting and taking care
of the poor. The house is often inferior and not always well
kept, but is generally situated in the country, where fuel costs
nothing and pure air is plentiful.
This county court also has control of all stock-law ques-
tions. A large portion of the State is woodland, and it is
often found preferable to inclose the land devoted to agricul-
ture and let stock run at large on the rest. The stock-law
provides that the landowners of any section shall decide by
ballot, voting by acres, whether they want to be compelled to
fence their arable land or not. If the majority of acres are
cast for stock-law, which means no fences, then, at the discre-
tion of the commissioners, it is declared that stock cannot run
483] Alabama. 31
at large in that region except during certain months. In
some sections of the State the stock-law obtains entirely, in
others not at all, and between these two extremes bitter con-
tests often occur.
The county is subdivided by the commissioners' court into
precincts or voting districts. These are merely divisions for
political purposes and are not corporations at all. Each pre-
cinct is allowed to elect two justices of the peace and a con-
stable, who is the executive officer. Beyond this the pre-
cincts can do nothing. They can tax themselves for nothing.
Only the county commissioners can impose a tax, and that
equally over the whole county, and only for county puqioses.
Precincts are merely election districts, and the county com-
missioners may provide one or two voting places in each as
they think the convenience of the electors requires. The
constitution gives the Governor power to appoint one notary
public in each beat, who shall be ex officio justice of the
peace. This was done in order that every beat, especially
where the negroes predominate, might have at least one white
justice.
The classification of municipal corporations into city, town,
and village is merely a distinction in name, there being
no diflference at all in the government of the three. Every
municipal corporation within the State is governed either by
a special charter or by the general charter provided in the
code. Only the smaller municipal corporations are governed
by the charter provided by the code, the larger ones and a
great many of the smaller ones having obtained special char-
ters. We shall not attempt to discuss the latter class, but will
consider only the former. In the charter provided by the
code, the executive ofBcer is called the Intendant; in some of
the special charters he is still called Intendant, in others.
Mayor.
The incorporation of towns of more than one hundred
inhabitants is provided for by the code. If a petition signed
by more than twenty adults be filed with the judge of probate,
asking for the incorporation of a certain place, he must at
32 Local Government in i:iouth and Southwest. [484
once give notice and order an election to determine whether
the majority wish the place incorporated or not. The vote is
■* Corporation " or " No Corporation." If " Corporation "
wins, the place is incorporated under the general charter pro-
vided by the code. The executive of the corporation is the
marshal, and the other officers are the intendant and five
councilmen, who have power —
To pass such laws and regulations as may be necessan,'- for
their own government not contrary to law.
To prevent and remove nuisances.
To tax, license, regulate and restrain shows and amuse-
ments.
To restrain and prohibit disorderly houses, disorderly con-
duct, gaming, and breaches of the peace.
To establish watches and patrols.
To license, regulate and restrain the selling of spirituous,
malt and vinous liquors within the corporate limits.
To establish and regulate markets.
To license and regulate drays.
To purchase, sell, and own real and personal property.
To exercise such other powers as may be given them by
law.
The constitution provides that the State tax shall not
exceed three-fourths of one per cent, and also prohibits coun-
ties from levying a tax greater than one-half of one per cent.,
except for some special reason, as the erection of a court-
house; and municipal corporations also have their tax rate
limited to one-half of one per cent, (except Mobile, three-
fourths of one per cent.) This applies to all municipal cor-
porations, whether under the general or a special charter.
A license on bar-rooms not exceeding $500 may be im-
posed by municipal corporations, and a small license on other
businesses, which money is to be expended in keeping up the
corporation, and may be spent for schools, if the council so
prefer. We do not attempt to say how many city councils
expend this tax for the support of schools; our personal
knowledge extends to only one; there may be others. Of
485] Alahama. 33
course in those towns tliat have public schools supported
by the town funds, these licenses are expended for schools
indirectly, since they go into the general fund from which the
school fund is appropriated.
The public school system of Alabama is under the con-
trol of the State Superintendent, assisted by a county super-
intendent in each county, township superintendents or trus-
tees in each township, and the superintendents of the special
school districts.
Every township and every incorporated town or cit}-
having 3000 inhabitants constitutes a separate school district,
and each of them in all matters connected with public
schools is under a township superintendent or trustees. Each
township or other school district in its corporate capacity
may hold real and personal property, and the business of cor-
porations, in relation to public schools and school lands, is
managed by the township or district superintendent.
Under tliis provision townships may hold propert}^ but no
special tax can be levied for the support of schools. In the
Cullman (special) school districts as first organized an attempt
was made to lev}^ a special tax for the support of schools, but
the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.
The money, then, for the support of schools (except in
special school districts) must come from the State and from
voluntar}^ contributions, usually in the form of tuition. The
general school fund is, in round numbers, $650,000 per
annum, — $350,000 from special legislative appropriation,
$150,000 from interest on the sixteenth section fund and
other sources, and $150,000 from a poll tax. Every male
between 21 and 45 pays a poll tax of $1.50, w^iich is applied
to the support of schools in the district and for the race to
which he belongs. The remaining $500,000 is distributed
over the State per capita, the distribution being based on a
school census taken every two years by the district superin-
tendents. In taking the census the superintendents count all
the school children (between seven and twenty-one), whether
they are enrolled on a school register or not, or whether the
district has a school or not.
34 Local Government in South and Southwest. [480
The State Superintendent is general overseer of all the
schools in the State, and is required to visit each county once
a year if practicable. He apportions the State funds and
keeps accounts with those who disburse them. He is re-
quired to study the school systems of other States, and make
such suggestions to the Governor or Legislature as he thinks
best. He makes an annual report to the Governor. The
county superintendent is elected in twenty-three counties and
appointed by the State Superintendent in forty-five. He has
general oversight of the public schools in the county. He
disburses all the funds, except in special districts, and is
responsible to the State Superintendent for all moneys sent to
himself. His pay is $75 and two per cent, of all moneys paid
out.
The township superintendent is appointed by the county
superintendent. Each township has a superintendent (except
those counties which, by special act, have three trustees
instead of a superintendent for each township, with identically
the same powers and duties as a township superintendent),
and he has immediate control of the public schools in his
township. He receives no compensation, and his duties and
powers as laid down in the code are as follows :
He may establish one or more schools in each township for
each race, the co-education of the races being prohibited by
the constitution. He is required to call annually a meeting
of the parents and guardians in his township and consult with
them as to the number and location of schools, " with a view
to subserve tlieir wishes, interests and convenience." In this
way he is to determine the number and duration of schools,
their location, and what per cent, of the public funds each is to
receive. The township superintendent is not merely the
executive officer of this meeting, but he has power to disre-
gard its instructions altogether. Should the people dislike
what he does, they have the right to appeal to the county
superintendent. Such a meeting must be advertised for ten
days by posted notices in at least three places, setting forth
the business to be discussed at said meeting. If the parents
487] Alabama. 35
and gfiiardiaiis fail to attend such a meeting, as is gener-
ally the case, the township superintendent performs such
duties as, in such cases, are required of him. In locating
public schools, township superintendents "■ shall have due
regard to such communities as will supplement the general
district fund," and as will provide houses. There are, out-
side of the special school districts, very few schools sup-
ported entirely by public funds, and the township having no
power to tax itself, the " supplement " must come from pri-
vate sources. The public fund is about $1.40 per capita per
annum. This would not sustain the public schools more
than a month if all of the children were to attend. But half of
them rarely attend, and in a good many districts, especially
where the negroes are numerous, svmimer schools, entirely
public, are maintained at least three montlis. All the
schools that amount to anything are private (except in spe-
cial school districts). A community will employ a teacher
and allow him to charge tuition, which varies from one to
five dollars per month. The township superintendent will
locate that school as one of the supplemented public schools,
and set aside for it such amount of the public funds as is
equal to the pro rata share of all the children who live near
and are likely to attend that school. This money the teacher
prorates among the children who attend school, and deducts
each one's share from his tuition bill. It is generally the case
that not more than one-half, frequently less than one-fourth,
of the children of the commimity attend the school, and these
funds reduce the tuition bills considerably. It is an unde-
cided point whether a child who refuses to pay tuition can
attend such a school. INTany think that he can. The ques-
tion often comes up, but has never been decided, so far as I
know. In small towns and villages little attention is paid to
the public funds. In most places one, frequently two, good
schools are kept for nine or ten months a year, and the public
funds are so small that little is said of them. It is only in the
countr\^ districts (and this is most of the State, over 75 per
cent, of the people living there) that these funds are of much
36 Local Government in South and Southwest. [488
benefit. Then in the suminer and winter, rarely spring and
autumn, schools of three months' duration depend entirely
upon public funds. The teachers receive from twenty to
tliirty-five dollars a month, and are generally young men or
girls from eighteen to twenty-one who have nothing else to
do during the summer or winter. In most rural districts the
people are generally too poor to pay tuition, and this little
schooling is all that their children receive. This is especially
the case among the negroes. Many who are able to do so
educate their children at tlie neighboring village school.
This is expensive, as both board and tuition must be paid. It
will be a long time yet before Alabama has a system of public
schools that will meet all her wants. The chief drawback to
the establishment of such a system is the presence of the
negro and his legal equality with the whites. The nearest
approach which we have to an adequate system is in the case
of special school districts.
Eighteen special school districts have been created by spe-
cial act of the legislature. Most of these are co-extensive
with the corporate limits of the towns or cities which they
embrace. Mobile county and the Cullman districts, embrac-
ing a large part of Cullman county, are the chief exceptions.
Mobile county had a system of public schools at the time of
the adoption of the present constitution, and in it this county
is excepted from the control of the general school laws.
While all these special districts are created by different acts
of the legislature, they somewhat resemble each other. Each
receives its share of the general school fimd, and is given
power to set aside a fund from the general revenue of the
town, which is identical v^ath the special school district, for the
support of schools. In each district, separate schools for
each race must be maintained. In some, a board of school
commissioners is created; in others, the city council is made
such a board. Schools, when co-extensive with the cit}'', are
generally supported by moneys from the general fund, which
is made up of taxes, licenses, and fines; in other districts, by
special tax. The entire tax for all purposes in no city can
489] Alabama. 37
exceed one-half of one per cent., except in Mobile and Bir-
mingham; in Mobile by permission of the constitution, in
Birmingham by amendment to the constitution. The city
public schools are very good and give general satisfaction. It
is by the creation of special school districts that an improve-
ment in the school system is most likely to come, and it will
come first in districts having few negroes.
W. F. Nix.
Note on Alabama.'
In " History of Education in Alabama "' it is estimated
that the patrons of the public schools supplement the public
funds by about one-third in order to secure better schools.
This valuable monograph also shows that the constitution
has greatly interfered, even in special school districts, with the
growing efforts to supplement State school funds by local
taxes. Probably this will be changed when Alabama holds
another constitutional convention.
Ten special school districts made returns to the State
Superintendent of Public Education for 189 1-2. The returns
for Mobile were incomplete. The other nine districts, with
a total school enrolment of 3,718, and an average attendance
of 2,576, appropriated $43,811.87 from local revenues to sup-
plement State aid, tuition fees and other receipts of $11,553.40.
Local government and taxation are less developed in Ala-
bama than in most of the Southern States.
' By the Editor.
* Published by U. S. Bureau of Education, 1889.
IV.
THE LOCAL INSTITUTIONS OF GEORGIA.
The peculiar considerations which led to the establishment
of Georgia, the unprecedented charter under which it was
founded, and the character of the people invited to its borders,
all give to it a unique place among the original thirteen
colonies. While the troubles of the early settlers with the
Indians, by which the colony was well-nigh depopulated, the
changes wrought by the Revolutionary and Civil wars, com-
bined with the influence of her sister States, have done much
to efface some deep marks of distinction, still we can trace
with more or less certainty the influence of the early days
upon her later history, literature and institutions. The
threads of this influence are tangled, broken and sometimes
lost, and yet a glance at Georgia's colonial government may
not prove unprofitable in a study of her present local insti-
tutions.
The history of Georgia as a ward of the Trustees covers
the twenty years between 1732 and 1752. Three motives led
to the foundation of the colony:
1. To afford an asylum for the indigent of Europe.
2. To aid in the conversion of the Indians.
3. To serve as a bulwark to South Carolina against the
threatened invasion of the Spaniards from Florida.
It was the first and second considerations which were most
prominent in the minds of the Trustees. They allowed them-
selves no salary, and carefully arranged the charter so that
neither they nor their heirs could derive any benefit from the
scheme. The historian Dr. Stevens says: "It was the first
colony ever founded by charity. New England had been
settled by Puritans who fled thither for conscience sake. New
York by a company of merchants and adventurers in search
of gain, Maryland by Papists retiring from Protestant intol-
491] Georgia. 39
erance, Virginia by ambitious cavaliers, Carolina by the
scheming and visionary Shaftesbury, but Georgia was planted
by the hand of benevolence and reared into being by the
hands of disinterested charity."
The primary scheme of government was simple enough.
The following officers were appointed from among the emi-
grants for the new town, Savannah: Three bailififs, two tithing-
men, a recorder, two constables, and eight conservators of the
peace. A court of judicature known as the "Town Court"
was erected, in which all things happening or arising in the
province were to be tried according to the laws of England
and those established in Georgia. This court was composed
of the three bailiffs and the recorder acting as clerk. Only
freeholders were allowed to serve on the jury. The Town
Court of Savannah had no connection with a higher, but was
itself supreme. While Oglethorpe was in Savannah, the
power of the bailififs was merged in him, but his residence was
an intermittent one. The result which might have been
expected to flow from the folly of conferring such civil and
judicial powers upon the bailififs was not slow to appeal".
Referring to this, one writer says: "Having never before
held the stafif of ofifice, they became intoxicated with their
elevation, and used their little brief authority like so many
autocrats in miniature."
This plan of government proving unsatisfactory, a com-
mittee was appointed by the Trustees for remodeling the gov-
ernment and establishing a constittftion to be administered by
a president and several assistants. The province was accord-
ingly divided into two counties. Savannah and Frederica.
Over each was to be a president and four assistants, who were
to constitute the civil and judicial tribunal of their respective
departments. Oglethorpe was to exercise civil and military
control over the entire colony, thus obviating the rivalries,
jealousies and collisions which would have arisen between the
two counties. Both counties united under one executive, the
president and his assistants, to hold four courts each year in
Savannah,
40 Local Government in South and Soutkwest. [492
An annual representative Assembly, to be held in Savannah,
was provided for. This Assembly was to meet in Savannah
at the most convenient time of the year, the meeting not to
continue over a month. Every town, village or district
where ten families were settled in the province was to be
allowed one deputy, and where there were thirty families, two
deputies; Savannah was to have four. The power to make
laws being entirely in the hands of the Trustees, the Assembly
could only act as an advisory body. Besides other informa-
tion demanded of the deputy, was the unique requirement
that " he deliver in writing an account of the mulberry trees
(properly fenced) standing on each plantation in his district."
The failure of Georgia to make a silk-raising State was cer-
tainly not due to the lack of encouragement and even pres-
sure on the part of both the Assembly and Trustees. After
June, 1 75 1, no person was to be chosen as deputy who had
not one hundred mulberry trees planted and properly fenced
on every fifty acres of land he possessed, and after June 24,
1753, no person who had not also at least one female in his
family instructed in the art of reeling silk.
There are four clearly defined periods in the development
of the local institutions of Georgia, which might be con-
sidered :
1. As a ward of the Trustees.
2. As a Royal Province.
3. As a slave State from 1777 to the emancipation of the
negro.
4. From the adoption of the constitution of 1868 until the
present time.
Resisting the temptation of glancing at the institutions of
each period as we have at those of the first, we shall hasten to
the local government of to-day.
The county is the unit of local government. Each county
is divided into militia districts according to its territory and
population. The largest counties have six representatives in
the lower house, and the smallest counties, one.
493] Georgia. 41
The officers of the county are Ordinary, Treasurer, Sheriff,
Tax Collector, Tax Receiver, Surveyor, and Clerk. These
officers are elected by vote of the qualified voters of the
county, and, with the exception of the ordinary, who is
elected for four years, hold office for two years. According
to the constitution of 1877 the county officers were made
uniform throughout the State.
The chief officer is the Ordinary. His position is one of
much power and responsibility. Courts of Ordinary have
the right to exercise original, exclusive, and general jurisdic-
tion of the following nature :
1 . Probate of wills.
2. Granting and relieving letters testamentarv' and of ad-
ministration.
3. Controversies of executorship and administration.
4. Sale and disposition of property of deceased persons.
5. The appointment and removal of guardians, and in all
controversies as to the right of guardians.
6. All matters relating to deceased persons, idiots, and
lunatics.
When sitting for county purposes the Ordinary has origi-
nal and exclusive jurisdiction over the following:
1. In directing and controlling all the property of the
county.
2. In levying a tax for county purposes.
3. In establishing, altering or abolishing all roads, bridges,
or ferries.
4. In estabhshing and changing election and militia dis-
tricts.
5. In supplying vacancies in county offices and in ordering
elections to fill them.
6. In settling all claims against the county.
7. In auditing all accounts of officers having county
moneys in charge.
8. In making such rules and regulations for the support of
the county poor, and for county police as are in accordance
with the laws of the county.
42 Local Government in Souih and Southwest. [494
The above, though far from including all the powers of the
Ordinary, will serve to give some idea of the extent of his
authority. This concentration of power in the Ordinary
forms the most distinctive and unique feature in the local
government of the State. It is interesting to trace his title,
so to speak, and see when so much authority was placed
in his hands. The constitution of 1821 provided for the elec-
tion in each county of five justices of the Inferior Court. In
the code we find this provision, which is the first intimation
of an Ordinary : " When the inferior court is sitting for ordi-
nary purposes it shall be known only as sitting for ordinary
purposes, and the clerk shall be known as clerk of the Ordi-
nary."
The court established according to the constitution of 1851
is styled the Court of Ordinary and the incumbent as Ordi-
nary.
According to the constitution of 1865 the powers of the
Court of Ordinary and Probate were invested in the Ordi-
nary elected every four years and commissioned by the Gov-
ernor. He was empowered to issue citations, grant tempor-
ary letters of administration, and to grant marriage license.
His powers were still, however, but a tithe of what they were
to become.
According to the constitution of 1868 the Inferior Court
was abolished and most of the powers of the five justices
were given to the Ordina^\^ Almost every legislature con-
ferred new powers upon the Ordinary. He became more
and more the center of all authority in the county.
The Ordinar}^, we thus see, is an outgrow^th of the old coun-
try justices, but a plant of very different kind. Several safe-
guards have been thrown around the officer. After his elec-
tion the Ordinary must be qualified by the judge of the Su-
perior Court, he must give a bond of not less than one thou-
sand dollars, and all his acts are open to the scrutiny of the
grand jury.
There is nothing about the other county offices that needs
special mention.
495] Georgia. 43
The censors of the county are the grand jurors. All males
above 21 and under 60, who are deemed upright and intelli-
gent citizens, are qualified to act as grand jurors. It is the
duty of the Ordinary, together with the clerk of tiie Superior
Court and three commissioners appointed by the judge of the
Superior Court, to meet at the court-house the first Monday
in June biennially, to select jurors from the books of the tax
collector and make out tickets with the names, thus selected,
on them. These tickets are placed in a box with two separate
departments numbered " one " and " two." This box is
locked up and sealed by the judge, given over to the clerk,
and the key is entrusted to the sheriff. The judge of the
Superior Court, at the end of each term, causes to be drawn
from number " one " in open court not less than eighteen nor
more than thirty names to serve as grand jurors at the next
term of court. All of these names are deposited in number
"two." When all the names have been withdrawn from
" one," the process is reversed. No name can be thrown
out of the box unless the juror is dead, removed out of the
county or otherwise disqualified by law. As the judge is
appointed by the Governor, and the jury commissioners by the
judge, it is possible for the jury to be confined to one politi-
cal party, viz., tlie one represented by the Governor. The
result has been to exclude the negro largely from jury ser-
vice. The following are some of the duties of the men so
carefully selected :
From term to term of the Superior Court they are to in-
spect and examine the offices, papers, books, and records of
the Clerk of the Superior Court, Ordinary, and Treasurer.
They are to examine the list of voters and to present any
illegal voter for violation of the law. They are to inquire
into and report on the financial condition of the county, to
correct mistakes in Tax Receivers' returns, to present the
Road Commissioners for neglect of duty, to select the County
Board of Education, to inquire into the record of the pris-
oners, and to examine and approve the reports of the county
officers.
44 Local Government in South and Southwest. [496
There has been recently much legislation upon public
roads. Whatever may be the perfection secured in the laws,
the effect is not yet visible in the roads themselves.
According to an act of 1818, the Ordinary is required to
lay his county off into road districts and apportion the roads
and hands so that the burden of road duties shall fall equally
upon all. He is also to appoint biennially three commis-
sioners for each district. It is the duty of these commis-
sioners to appoint overseers for road hands in their district, to
properly apportion the various roads and hands, and to fur-
nish each overseer with a list of the roads and hands under
his charge. They are to hold a court after the road-working
to hear all cases of default or other violation of the road laws.
It is their duty to inspect the public roads, bridges, and ferries
within their districts, and to exercise a general supervision
over the overseers in their district and to fine them for neglect
of duty. A person appointed road commissioner is required
to serve, and if he neglects his business he may be reported by
a member of the grand jury and fined not less than fifty dol-
lars. The only compensation is exemption from jury, patrol,
militia and other road duties.
When application is made for a new road or the alteration
of an old one, the Ordinary appoints three commissioners to
investigate the advisability of granting the request. If they
recommend that it be granted, the Ordinary posts a notice of
the application for 30 days, at the end of which time the road
is granted, provided no objection is made. The code has
provided since 181 8 that the public roads must be laid out the
nearest and best way, but there is no way of enforcing the
law and it has always remained a dead letter.
All male inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and fifty
are subject to road duty; exemptions are made in the case of
licensed ministers, teachers and pupils in schools and colleges,
public mills, ferries, etc, white persons in charge of railroad
trains, officers of the county, State or United States, members
of the County Board of Education and others. Tools or
horses may be substituted for the labor of persons. The
497] Georgia. 45
result of so many exemptions is that road duties are rarely
performed by the wealtliy or influential planters.
The public schools of tlie State are in the hands of a State
Board of Education composed of the Governor, Attorney-
General, Secretary of State, Comptroller-General, and State
School Commissioner. The latter olBcer is appointed by the
Governor.
Each county forms a school district, and is placed in charge
of a County Board of Education. This county board is com-
posed of five freeholders, appointed usually by the grand
jury, but in some few counties secured by popular election.
This board elects one of its own members as County School
Commissioner. The compensation allowed the other mem-
bers of the board is exemption from road, jury, and militia
duties, but the commissioner may be given in addition such
salary as the board may vote him, provided he is never paid
more tlian $3.00 per day for time employed in the discharge
of his official duties.
The County School Commissioner must examine all appli-
cants for license to teach. He is to serve as the medium of
communication between the State School Commissioner and
his subordinates. He is expected to visit each school in his
county t\vice during the year, an expectation which, it may be
remarked, is seldom, if ever, realized. The code also provides
that he shall every four years take a complete census of the
youths of his county, noting the number of white and colored
children. He is also required to report annually to the grand
jury, and to place his books before them for examination.
Admission to tlie public schools of the State is gratuitous
to all children between the ages of six and eighteen. White
and colored children cannot attend the same school.
The code still contains the somewhat curious provision
that the school revenue shall be apportioned to each county
upon the basis of the aggregate of youths between six and
eighteen and all Confederate soldiers under thirty years old.
The school fund consists of the poll tax; tax on liquors,
shows and exhibitions; dividends upon railroad stocks
46 Local Government in South and Southwest. [498
owned by the State; all moneys received by the agricultural
department for the inspection of fertilizers in excess of what
is needed to defray the expenses of that department; the net
amount arising from the hire of convicts, and such other
funds as may be appropriated from tim.e to time by the legis-
lature.
It is provided that equal advantages shall be given so far
as possible to both races, a provision which has been carefully
observed, notwithstanding the fact that the whole management
of educational matters has been almost entirely in the hands of
the whites.
According to an act of 1890, teachers' institutes have been
established in eveiy county in the State. Every teacher is
required to attend an institute for at least one week during
the year.
An act of Sept. 16, 1891, provides that a local tax to sup-
plement the State school tax may be levied in any county
where a county school system is not already in existence.
After two successive juries have recommended this supple-
mentary tax, the Ordinary orders an election, which is to be
held under the same rules as the usual elections of the
county. If two-thirds of the voters qualified to vote at this
election declare for local taxation, the Ordinary notifies the
County Board of Education, who in turn fix the rate of taxa-
tion, which is not to exceed one-fourth of one per cent, of the
taxable property of the county.
Any county in which a county school system is already in
existence, but where the funds, in the opinion of the County
Board of Education, are insufficient, may obtain the benefits
of this act by complying with the provisions. An incor-
porated town or city in the county having a school system of
its own sustained by local taxation is not allowed to vote in
this election, and the property in the town, of course, is not
subject to the county school tax. In counties where there is a
registration law, two-thirds of the voters on the last registra-
tion list must be secured, and in counties where there is no
such law the same proportion of the citizens whose names
499] Mississippi. 47
appear upon tlie books of the Tax Collector as having paid
their tax must vote for the local tax to carry the law.
This provision that two-thirds of the qualified voters, in-
stead of two-thirds of the qualified votes cast, should be neces-
sary, the requiring the recommendation of two successive
grand juries, most if not all of whom are freeholders, and
finally giving the County Board of Education, all of whom
are landowners, the right of fixing the rate, all show that local
taxation for county schools is still in the hands of the prop-
erty owners. This act of 1891 is, however, an important step
forward in local government.
F. S. Brockman.
Note on Georgia.'
A steadily increasing number of cities and incorporated
towns are possessed of the right of local taxation for school
purposes. Thirteen cities, three counties and ten incorpor-
ated towns are thus reported by the State Superintendent in
his report for 1890, while in another part of the same report
he mentions the names of three other counties and eleven
towms that have lately received from the legislature this privi-
lege of local taxation for school purposes. During 1886-
1890 inclusive this privilege was granted to twenty-two
towns and three counties and has been acted upon by nearly
all.
Note on Mississippi.-
The county governing body is composed of a member
called a supervisor, chosen for four years from each one of
five districts. In thirty-two enumerated counties where in
1890 there were 512,276 blacks and only 207,323 whites, or
71 blacks to every 29 whites, each supervisor must possess
real estate worth $250. In the remaining fort}'-three counties
which have 337,518 whites and 232,473 colored, or 59 whites
to every 41 colored, the supervisor must possess $ioo worth
' By the Editor. "By the Editor.
48 Local Government in South and Southwest. [500
of real estate. Each supervisor must also give bond equal to
five per cent, of the previous year's taxes raised in the county
for State and county purposes. The board of supervisors
levies and disburses the county revenue and manages nearly
all of the county affairs.
There are only two important kinds of government within
the county, — the special school district, and the incorporated
municipality. Of the latter type are 19 cities of from 2,000
to 13,500 inhabitants each, or a total of 85,490, and some of
the 187 small cities and villages, of which the 116 making
returns to the last census, and supposably the largest, had
63,741 inhabitants, or an average of 550. Villages of under
300 inhabitants can levy only a four-mill tax on the dollar.
Those over 300 and under 5,000 can levy a six-mill tax for
general expenses and as much more for general improve-
ments. Places over 5,000 inhabitants can levy a twenty-mill
tax for the tv^^o objects stated above, or for schools. There
are four places in the State over 6,000 and with a total popu-
lation of 40,756.
The other type of local government below the county is the
special school district. In these districts, of which there were
43 in 1 891, 35 having been organized since 1888, there was an
average attendance of 14,963 pupils in 1891, or 7.6 per cent,
of the attendance of the entire State.
Any place of over 750 inhabitants can become a special
school district, in which case the mayor and aldermen select
the trustees. These trustees control the school and must
keep it open seven months a year, or three months more than
is required in other parts of the State, but they cannot levy a
tax exceeding three mills without the consent of a majority of
the taxpayers of the municipality.
In the rest of the State the County Superintendent of Edu-
cation, who is appointed in most counties by the State Board
of Education, but elected in a few instances, fixes the salaries
of teachers and appoints them, following any recommenda-
tions, if given, of the district trustees. The latter are elected
annually by the school patrons, and must be able to read and
501] South Carolina. 49
write. The county school board, consisting of one from each
of the five supervisors' districts, is appointed by the county
superintendent, subject to the approval of the board of super-
visors. This Board of Education, among other duties, defines
boundaries and locates school-houses.
Note on South Carolina.'
As stated in the introduction, local government in Soutli
Carolina was treated in another monograph in these His-
torical Studies (Vol. L, No. 12), prepared in 1883 by Dr. B.
J. Ramage. At that time, save in a few towns and cities,
there was no important political subdivision of the county,
and even the amount of tax for various purposes that the
elective county commissioners could raise was fixed by the
legislature. In school matters, the Governor appointed the
State Board of Examiners. The latter appointed the county
board of examiners, who in turn divided the county into
school districts and appointed three trustees for each, but had
no power of county taxation for schools. The nearest ap-
proach to the town-meeting or referendum was in the power
of these trustees to " call meetings of the people of the dis-
trict for consultation in regard to the school interests thereof."
On December 24, 1888, a great extension of local govern-
ment in South Carolina was made by a law providing for
local taxation for school purposes in. any school district so
desiring. The conditions are, first, that a majority of the resi-
dent freeholders must petition for it. Then the school trus-
tees call a meeting of all who return $100 worth of real or
personal property for taxation. This meeting elects a chair-
man and secretary, and can levy a tax not exceeding two
mills on the dollar and appropriate it "to such school pur-
poses as a majority present shall see fit." The county treas-
urer collects the tax, which is expended in the district; but
"each taxpayer, when he pays any tax for school purposes
voted under the provisions of this act, shall have the right to
' By the Editor.
50 Local Government in South and Southwest. [502
designate to which school in his district he wishes the money
paid by him to go," and the money must be so expended. If
there is no such designation of the tax, the money is spent
like the other funds of the district.
I suppose the school meeting merely appropriates the tax
levy for a certain class of expenses, such as teachers' salaries,
school buildings, apparatus, etc., and then the taxpayer can
designate further the school. This power would probably be
much appreciated by the whites in a county like Beaufort,
where there were in 1890 only 2,695 whites to 31,424 colored,
or Berkely, where there were 7,687 whites to 47,741 colored
persons, who were presumably much smaller taxpayers.
This law is a strong entering wedge for local government.
Many towns with limited powers of local government and
some cities are yearly incoq^orated.
Twenty-one of the thirty-five counties of the State report to
the State Superintendent of Education for 189 1-2 that spe-
cial, z. c. local, school taxes in their counties amounted to
$575329.64, or 15.2 per cent, of the total receipts for school
purposes. There have been created in the State since 1877,
by special acts of the legislature, eighty-six special school
districts, aside from the separate school districts provided for
by the general law of 1888. Of these eighty-six, twenty-one
have the right to levy a three-mill tax, four a four-mill tax,
and five a five-mill tax. Nearly all the rest, like the separate
districts, can levy a two-mill tax.
Note on Florida.'
The chief development of local government in Florida, as
elsewhere, is connected with schools. By virtue of a law of
June 8, 1889, it is provided that, on petition of one-fourth of
the voters in any election district or town, a vote must be
taken relative to the formation of a school district with three
elective trustees therein. In any school district thus created
the County Board of Education, when petitioned to do so,
' By the Editor.
503] Florida. :a
and when it deems the action advisable, has an election in the
district to determine the propriety of a special local tax for
school purposes. At this election a majority of all those pay-
ing real or personal taxes can vote a tax not exceeding three
mills for school purposes. In districts where the trustees are
not elected, tliose nominated by the patrons are usually ap-
pointed. The patrons of a school often hold an election for
the choice of a teacher when not appointed by the trustees.
The County Board of Education, consisting of three mem-
bers, who locate and maintain the schools and levy a tax of
three to five mills, are nominated by the State Superintendent
of Education and confimied by the State Board of Education,
which is an elective body.
The five county commissioners, who administer most of the
affairs of the county, are appointed by the Governor and
Senate, but the people elect the County Superintendent of
Education and the assessor. In the election districts assistant
assessors may be appointed by the county commissioners if
the legislature so orders.
Three hundred or more voters in a place are sufficient for
incorporation as a city, and twenty-five male inhabitants like-
wise are sufficient for an incorporated town. Both have a
mayor and council, who have the power to pass ordinances
and to levy a tax not exceeding one per cent, for schools,
streets, the poor, infirm, insane, and for many other purposes.
The tax for interest, water works and fire protection may
exceed one per cent. About 130,000, or one-third of the
population of the State, according to the census of 1890, lived
in cities and villages. There were three of these places with
from 11,750 to 18,080 inhabitants, twenty-three from 1,000 to
5,600. and seventy-five from 54 to 1,000. The number of
these small places enjoying local government — for a consid-
erable proportion are incorporated — must be taken into
account in considering the local government of the State.
V.
TEXAS.
In the latter part of the year 1684 La Salle established the
first European colony within the present limits of Texas.
This colony lived only a short time. In 1686 Mexico took
nominal military possession of the country, and five years
later Don Domingo Teran was appointed Governor of Coa-
huila and Texas, with instructions to establish agricultural
colonies in the southern and most fertile sections of the terri-
tory. This assumption of sovereignty by Mexico did not
cause France to relinquish her claim to Texas, nor did France
recognize the Spanish treaty of 1803 with the United States
as binding, but continued a spasmodic controversy until the
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848. The republic of
Mexico prescribed military government for the new settle-
ments as they were established, and this form of general and
local government, which was in course of time widened and
elaborated to suit the demands of the colonists, prevailed until
1821, when the Mexican nation was declared "free and inde-
pendent of the Spanish government and every other forever.''
Under the constitution of the United Mexican States, the
provinces of Coahuila and Texas were made a State co-
ordinate in internal administrative powers with the other con-
stituent States of the confederation. The form of the State
government was representative, popular and federal, and like
the government of the United States was divided into three
branches, namely, the legislative, executive, and the judicial.
The government of the confederation was similar to that of
the United States in that its powers were enumerated, giving
to the States all powers and rights not expressly granted to
the central government. The confederation was sovereign
505] Texas. 53
as to all proper international relations, while the States were
sovereign as to general police powers and local taxation. A
State constitution for Coahuila and Texas was framed at
Saltillo, and proclaimed March ii, 1827, and in this constitu-
tion it is declared that the " sovereignty of the State resides
originally and essentially in the mass of individuals who
compose it," the form and substance of such powers being
defined and desigiiated by the constitution of the State. At
the formation of this constitution the State was divided into
three departments, namely, Bexar, Monclova, and Parras, and
power was given Congress to alter and readjust this division
to suit the advantages of the different sections.
The State was divided into ayuntamientos, local subdivi-
sions of State government, somewhat like our county at pres-
ent, as to its functions of government. The ayuntamiento
district was divided into electoral municipal assemblies, like
our present election precinct, but more to suit the convenience
of the scattered communities than in accordance with geo-
graphical surveys. These primary juntas, or municipal as-
semblies, were composed of all qualified voters residing within
the specified limits. The elections \vere held on Sunday and
the following Monday, the session lasting four hours each
day. At these times electors were chosen to meet in con-
junction with electors from other municipal assemblies and
vote for members of Congress, the Governor, and other
high officers of State. The ayuntamiento was a board of
officers elected by means of electoral municipal assemblies to
establish and direct police powers and regulations and gen-
eral internal government for the towns and communities of
the State. Congress could, upon proper application and suffi-
cient demand shown, establish ayuntamientos, and in the
enabling act would designate the number of officers, alcaldes
or presidents, \vho had power to exercise both legislative and
judicial functions somewhat like the mayor of some of our
Southern cities. Syndics having powers similar to our mod-
em city councillors, and aldermen similar to the modern
Board of Public Works, were next in power to the alcaldes.
54 Local Government in South and Southwest. [506
The alcaldes were to be renewed 3^early, of the aldermen halt
were renewed every year, and also the syndics, if there were
more than two, but if only one, he was changed every year.
Each ayuntamiento would make out annually a full report
of its financial and industrial conditions and forward to the
Chief of Department, who would report to the Governor or
Congress, and the ayuntamiento would publish a copy of the
same in a public place. The ayuntamiento was the local unit
of taxation as well as of civil government. The tax lists were
made out by the ayuntamiento, and the assessments were
collected by agents of its own appointment. Ten per cent, of
the tax was applied to the current expenses of the ayunta-
miento, to pay the tax commissioners and other local func-
tionaries, and the remainder went to the State.
In 1836, we find the English and American colonists
tired of Spanish and Catholic rule. By strong exertion they
threw ofif Mexican allegiance, proclaimed their independence,
and established a provisional government, which was super-
seded, in a few months, by a permanent republic. The con-
stitution of the republic was, to a large extent, a copy of the
United States plan of individual statehood. The church was
cut loose from political government; religious qualifications
were no longer necessary for eligibility to the franchise and
ofifice. The electoral system of voting was supplanted by the
popular ballot. The Legislature was divided into two
branches, a House of Representatives and a Senate, the mem-
bers of both being elected by popular vote in districts deter-
mined by due apportionment of the full population. The
executive was elected by popular vote. The State was im-
perfectly divided into counties, and in each county was estab-
lished a county court and such justices' courts as Congress
thought proper. In this change the strict form of Conti-
nental government and the civil law sink beneath the greater
liberality of the United States government and the English
common law. In 1845 ^^^ Republic of Texas ceased to be
an independent sovereignty, by being admitted as a State into
the United States of America. The old constitution and
507] Texas. 55
laws of the republic needed only slight modifications to meet
the requirements of the constitution and laws of the United
States.
At present the county is the distinctive unit of local self-
g-ovemment. Some of the counties are still very large. The
counties organized since 1879 contain not less than seven nor
more than nine hundred square miles, and all counties that
shall hereafter be formed out of unorganized territory of the
State must conform to the same rule.
The county organization and form of self-government may
be outlined as follows: The county is divided into four pre-
cincts, in each of which a commissioner is elected by popular
vote every two years. These four commissioners, with the
county judge, who is elected every two years by the popular
vote of the county, constitute the county or commissioners'
court. This court bears the same relation to the county as
the Legislature does to the State, and for beneficial local insti-
tutions it is by far the wisest and most important body. The
county judge presides at the meetings and votes only in cases
of a tie. He fills a vacancy of a commissioner's of^ce by
appointment from the district left vacant. This court has
power to fill any other county office left vacant. This court
meets in regular session on the second Monday in February,
May, August, and November of each year, and the county
judge or any three commissioners may call a special session,
which may continue until the business for which it Avas called
is completed. A quorum — three commissioners and the
county judge — may transact any business except to levy the
county tax, when the full number must be present. To this
court all petitions for the establishment of schools, roads,
bridges, and other local public institutions must be addressed.
The general supervision of all property belonging to the
county, such as jails, court-houses, poor-houses and poor-
farms, is vested in this body. For the erection and mainte-
nance of any of these necessary count)' institutions, the com-
missioners' court may levy and collect a tax upon any prop-
erty within the county that is taxed by the State. The county
56 Local Government in South and Southwest. [508
tax cannot exceed one-half the State tax on any property,
except for the purpose of erecting public buildings, and this
right is continually subject to constitutional and legislative
limitations. An instance of this exception is in building
or completing a court-house, when a tax not exceeding fifty
cents on the one hundred dollars' valuation may be levied.
On the second Monday in June, the commissioners' court
meets as a board of equalization, to receive all the assessment
lists and books for inspection, equalization and approval.
Here the local grievances of the individual citizen are exam-
ined and redressed according to popular justice and law. The
commissioners' court of any organized county has the full
power of local legislation over any adjacent unorganized ter-
ritory.
The commissioners' court divides the county into eight pre-
cincts, and elects a justice of the peace for each. In cities of
eight thousand or more inhabitants two justices of the peace
are elected and qualified. This court also has power to elect
a County Superintendent of Education when necessary. It
is the duty of the superintendent to visit the public schools,
lecture to them, advise the teachers, and hold teachers' insti-
tutes monthly.
The court may elect a County Superintendent of Roads, or
a superintendent for each precinct, and also overseers under
each superintendent. The court in every case defines the
road districts and apportions the hands under the overseers.
The court must make a report of the financial condition of
the county at each and every regular session, and this report
must be published in some local newspaper or posted in four
public places in the county. The county clerk makes and
keeps a record of all proceedings of the commissioners' court.
The sheriff executes all legal and legislative processes. He
is collector of taxes in counties of less than ten thousand
inhabitants. He may appoint deputies, but he is personally
responsible for their official acts. In counties of less than
eight thousand population, one officer may be elected to fill
both offices of district and county clerk. A constable is
509] Texas. 57
elected for each justice precinct. He must execute and re-
turn all processes handed him by any legal officer. Other
county officers, whose duties are sufficiently defined by their
titles, are assessor of taxes, collector of taxes (in counties of
over ten thousand population), surveyor, animal and hide
inspector, county attorney, county jury commissioners, and
treasurer.
Towns.
A town or village containing two hundred inhabitants or
less than one thousand may be incorporated as a town by at
least twenty inhabitants of such town or village filing an appli-
cation for incorporation in the office of the county judge,
stating the name and the boundaries of the proposed town or
village. If all the requisites of incorporation are fulfilled, tlie
county judge orders an election, in which all qualified voters
who reside and have resided within the limits of the proposed
town or village for the six months next preceding may par-
ticipate. A majority of the votes polled is sufficient for incor-
poration. Within twenty days after the election the county
judge makes a record in the commissioners' court of the
incorporation. After this entry upon the county records the
town or village " is a corporation having power to sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded, and to hold and dispose of real
and personal property; provided such real property is situated
within the limits of the corporation." The county judge tlien
orders an election of a mayor, a marshal, and five aldermen.
The jurisdiction of the mayor in civil and criminal cases is the
same as that of a justice of the peace. He is the executive of
the town ordinances and by-laws. The council, composed of
the mayor and the five aldermen, may make by-laws not
inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the State; may
levy a tax not exceeding one-fourth of one per cent, on the
one hundred dollars valuation. The marshal has the same
official functions as a constable and, of course, other duties
made necessary from the town ordinances and by-laws. He
also assesses and collects the taxes.
58 Local Government in South and Southwest. [510
Cities of one thousand or more inhabitants may be chartered
by general laws. Such charter gives express power to levy,
assess and collect an annual tax to defray the current ex-
penses of the city government; but such tax can never exceed
for any one year one-fourth of one per cent. Cities may hold
and dispose of real and personal property situated within or
without the corporate limits. Cities of over ten thousand
inhabitants may have their charters granted by special acts of
the legislature, and may levy a tax on property taxed by the
State within the city limits not exceeding two and one-half
per cent. The cities having special charters must in all cases
provide a tax sufficient to pay interest on all outstanding
debts.
The municipal government of the city consists of a city
council composed of the mayor and two aldermen from each
ward, a majority of whom constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, except at called meetings for the
imposition of taxes, when two-thirds of a full board are
required, unless otherwise specified. The other officers of
the corporation are a treasurer, assessor and collector, a secre-
tary, a city attorney, a marshal, and a city engineer, and such
other officers and agents as the city council may from time to
time direct. The above-named officers are elected by the
qualified electors of the city, and hold their offices for two
years and until the election and qualification of their succes-
sors. It is so arranged that one alderman is to be elected
from each ward every year. The city usually has its powers
defined in its charter, and may generally exercise any needful
internal police power within its limits, subject only to the limi-
tations of the State constitution and laws.
Schools.
In 1829 provision was made for the establishment of a
*' school of mutual instruction " in the capital of each depart-
ment of State. The curriculum comprised " reading, writ-
ing, arithmetic, the dogma of the Catholic religion, and all of
Ackermann's catechisms of arts and sciences." Parents who
511] Texas. 59
were able to pay were charged fourteen and eighteen dollars
per annum, according to the advancement of the pupil. The
teachers were paid monthly fixed salaries, in advance. If the
tuition, legacies and private donations were not a sufficient
available fund, the municipal funds were subject to tlie delin-
quency. Special but limited arrangements were made for
educating some of tlie poor children at these schools. The
parents who could afiford to educate their children were re-
quired to do it, under moderate penalties.
The Congress of Texas, after it became a republic, appro-
priated seventeen tliousand seven hundred and twelve acres
of land to each county for public school purposes, and to each
new county the same amount was to be appropriated. This
law still obtains in Texas. The county commissioners may
rent the lands, adding the rental to the available county school
fund, or they may sell the lands and invest the proceeds in
United States bonds. State or county bonds, or in other secu-
rities subject to restrictions provided by law, and the income
from such investment is added to the available county school
fund. It has recently been recommended by the Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction that the proceeds from the
county school lands be loaned to the county for the erection
of school buildings, each district bonding its debt with reas-
onable interest.
The Perpetual School Fund consists of bonds, land, notes
and cash, as follows:
County bonds: $2,622,620; income, $170,000.
State bonds: $2,048,800; income, $130,000.
Railroad bonds: $1,763,317; income, $80,000.
Land notes: $12,743,000; income, $775,000.
Cash on hand: $500,000.
The total amount of permanent school fund in 1890 was
$19,600,000. The income from this fund is nominally about
$1,157,000, but as much of the interest on the land notes is
unpaid, the actual receipts in iSqo were about $885,000.
The State available school fund comprises this income from
the permanent school fund and one-fourth the revenue from
60 Local Government in South and Southioest. [512
the State occupation taxes, a poll tax of one dollar on every
male inhabitant between twenty and sixty years of age, and
an annual State tax not exceeding twenty cents on the one
hundred dollars valuation. Then the county available school
fund adds about half a million dollars, and local taxation adds
another half million dollars.
The State available fund is apportioned annually to the
several counties, according to the scholastic population of
each, for the maintenance of public free schools. The laws pur-
porting to govern the public free schools of Texas declare
that the available funds will be " sufficient to maintain and
support the public free schools of this State for a period of
not less than six months in each year." The reports of 1889-
90 show that in the " district school " counties the average
term per annum was only five months, and in the " com-
munity " counties only 4.83 months. In the cities the aver-
age term was 7.62 months. On the first Monday in October
of 1884 sll but seventy-five of the two hundred and forty-five
counties were divided into convenient school districts by the
county courts, and these districts cannot be changed, except
by a majority vote of the legal voters in all districts affected
by such change. In each district three trustees are elected by
the qualified State voters in such district, and these trustees
form a body corporate, that is, they may contract, sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded in any court of the State having
proper jurisdiction. Any district may, by a two-thirds ma-
jority of the qualified property, tax-paying voters of the dis-
trict, levy a tax not exceeding twenty cents on the one hun-
dred dollars valuation of the taxable property of the district.
Towns and cities constituting separate and distinct school
districts are not limited to this amount, but are subject to such
limitations as the respective municipal councils may prescribe.
There is a simpler and more rudimentary system of public
free schools for the thinly settled counties and unorganized
territory. This is called the " Community System." Any
number of bona fide residents in any one of these counties
may petition the county judge for their pro rata of the avail-
513] Tems. 61
able annual school fund of the county. As the teaclier's
salary' is based upon the number of pupils in the district or
community, a small community is able to have a school for a
few months in each year. If the attendance ever falls below
thirty-three and one-third per cent, of the enrolment, the trus-
tees must discontinue the school. The county judge appoints
the three " community " trustees, and they have all the ordi-
nary powers vested in the trustees of a regular school district,
save that they do not constitute a body corporate, and, hence,
have not the powers belonging to such a body. Districts,
however, may be formed in any of the community counties
by the citizens of any section of the county, but must not
exceed four square miles in area.
The State Board of Education is composed of the Gov-
ernor, who is chairman of the board, the Secretary of State,
the Comptroller, and the Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion, who is ex officio secretarv' of the board. This board
makes the apportionments to the several counties and to the
separate and distinct city and town school organizations.
County School Officers.
The County Commissioners' Court is the tribunal to which
all petitions and grievances are referred that do not come
within the jurisdiction of the board of trustees, such as peti-
tions for a local tax to be added to the available school fund,
or a special tax for the erection of school buildings. The
county superintendent is an officer chosen at the discretion of
the commissioners' court, and his duty^ is the general superin-
tendence of all public free schools in the county. This gen-
eral superintendence devolves upon the county judge when
no distinctive officer is elected.
In cities, or in towns that are constituted distinct school
organizations, six trustees, if a majority of the legal voters
consent, are elected, holding ofifice four years, three being
elected every two years. The mayor and county judge are
ex officio members of the board. If no trustees are elected
■or provided for, the town or city council or board of aldermen
62 Local (lOvernment hi ^outh and Southivest. [514
exercise the powers that would have been vested in the trus-
tees. The city school districts may issue bonds for the pur-
pose of erecting school buildings, but the county districts can-
not. In the districts or communities the " school fund may
be used for erecting, furnishing and repairing school-houses,"
provided the district or community contribute an amount
equal to one-third of the school fund for building, and pro-
vided a site be donated.
Villages and towns having two hundred inhabitants or
more, may incorporate for school purposes alone, by the con-
sent of a majority of the qualified voters living within the
proposed district limits. For such a school organization five
trustees are elected. It is a duty of the legislature to make
provision for a six months' school term. There is a two-mill
local tax allowed under the constitution which, if levied,
would maintain good schools in the greater number of dis-
tricts.
In 1889-90 there were 9,065 public schools taught in the
State. Of these, the number of graded schools, not including
cities, was 307, and the number of ungraded schools, not
including cities, was 8,649, ^^-d the number of high schools,
not including cities, was 109.
W. M. Sanderson.
Note on Texas.'
Twenty-six per cent, of the 2,235,523 inhabitants of Texas
in 1890 lived in incorporated towns and cities. Four places
contained from 23,000 to 38,067 each. Five had between
10,000 and 14,575, ^nd twenty-four had between 3000 and
8300 each, while 329 other places, some of them incorporated,
had an average population of 750.
The total receipts for school purposes in 1889-90 were
$3,208,965.16. Of this, $377,147.28, or 1 1.8 per cent., came
from local school taxes. The previous year it was 1 1.5 per cent.
The State superintendent of education makes, in his report
' By the Editor.
515] Texas. 63
for 1889 and 1890, a strong plea for more local taxation,
declaring that " not one-tenth of the area of the State is cov-
ered by local school tax," but adds that the area so taxing
itself is rapidly growing, and that " the law framed in pursu-
ance of the constitutional amendment of 1883, authorizing
local taxation, throws many obstacles in the way of the levy
of local taxes... The law, as it stands now on our statute
books, is distinctly behind public sentiment in this State and
ought to be amended."
VI.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN ARIOVNSAS.
Arkansas has the County System. The counties are di-
vided into townships. Each township elects one constable
and one justice of the peace for every two hundred electors,
but every township must have at least two justices of the
peace. These townships have no direct control over their
own local affairs, since there is no town-meeting- as in the
New England States.
The County Court has the real control of all the local
affairs of each township, excepting schools and certain mat-
ters under the control of the justices of the peace. Each
county court has exclusive and original jurisdiction in all
matters relating to roads, appointment of viewers and over-
seers, also in all matters relating to bridges, ferries, paupers
and vagrants; it fixes the place of holding elections, pur-
chases property for and sells property of the county, pays
out all money for county purposes, and has full control in all
other things that may be necessar}^ to the internal improve-
ment and local concerns of the county. This court, com-
posed of the county judge, with a majority of the justices of
the peace, meets annually on the first Monday in July, to levy
taxes and make appropriations for county purposes. This
court regularly meets four times a year, but the county judge,
on giving ten days' notice, may hold special sessions. The
people biennially elect a sheriff, who is ex officio tax collector,
unless the legislature appoints a collector. The people also
elect a tax assessor, coroner, treasurer, and sui-veyor, and in
each township a constable.
For roads the county court appoints overseers, who call
out to work the roads all men between eighteen and forty-five
years of age, for not more than five days a year. When a
517] Arka7isas. 65
bridge is to be built, the court appoints three viewers to locate
the same and report plans. After the completion of the
bridge by a contractor, the same three men, who are paid for
the service $1.50 a day, decide whether the bridge is built
according to the contract. Where there is a swamp, the
county court may allow the building of a turnpike and the
charging of such tolls by a private company as the court may
direct.
The result of all this is that Arkansas has bad roads, except
in dry weather. No real effort is put forth to make the roads
good. Their working is a sort of annual farce carried out
under the solemn sanction of the law. Who could expect
good roads from work of not more than five days in the year?
Who could expect competent men to be willing to go as
viewers and reviewers of bridges for the sum of one dollar
and fifty cents per day?
The county court provides for the poor and the criminal
class, and, on petition of a majority of the taxpayers, can pur-
chase a poor-farm and provide a house of correction.
In 1836 Congress offered the State of Arkansas, just ad-
mitted as a State, the i6th section of every township and
seventy-two sections of land known as the Saline lands.
These three land grants from the Federal government were
accepted and form the basis of the free school system.
In 1842 the legislature provided for the sale of the i6th
section and for the election of trustees in each township.
Schools were to be taught for at least four months in each
year, and money was also appropriated to buy text-books.
In 1867 the legislature levied a tax of twenty cents on the
hundred dollars, and provided for a superintendent of public
instruction, and also for a school commissioner in each county
to examine applicants and grant licenses to teachers. No
license had hitherto been required. The congressional town-
ship was made the unit of the school district. Unless a school
was taught at least three months, the district forfeited its por-
tion of the school revenue belonging to the county; but
schools were not free to all until 1868. At that time the
66 Local Government in South and Southwest. [518
State Board of Education was established, the school fund
was increased, and it was decreed that all districts failing to
have a school three months a year would forfeit their share
of this fund.
This was the beginning of the era of popular education in
Arkansas. The prejudice against free schools gave way, and
separate schools were provided for the whites and the blacks.
In 1874 another constitutional convention was held, and the
present system dates from that time. The State is divided
into school districts, numbering 4,448 in 1892.
In addition to a State levy for schools of two mills 'on
every dollar of valuation and a poll tax of one dollar per
capita, each of these districts may levy a tax not exceeding
five mills. In 1892 nearly sixty-five per cent, of the districts
levied this maximum tax, and over twenty per cent, levied
from two and one-half to four and one-half mills, and 590 dis-
tricts, or 13.3 per cent., levied no tax. When it is remem-
bered that in 1889, according to the United States Depart-
ment of Education, the average State and local tax levy for
schools in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey was only 4.39 mills, the total State and local tax of
seven mills in Arkansas in 1892 is very creditable, although it
only sufiEices to keep the country schools open about three
months in the year.
Of the entire school revenue of $1,096,269.51 in 1892,
the State two-mill tax produced $341,621.38, the district
tax $571,923.02, the poll tax $167,419.81, and other sources
$15,305.30. These items are equivalent to 6.1 mills on the
valuation. The State tax for normal and other schools, viz.,
the blind and deaf mute schools and the State University,
adds over half a mill to this.
In 1876, when the district tax was reported for the first
time, it amounted to $88,000. In 1884 this had grown to
$346,521.26, and in 1892, as stated above, to $571,923.02.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction calls for a reform
of the school district system, and suggests the township school
system as a substitute. This idea has been endorsed by a
519] Arkansas. 67
majority of tlie county superintendents, but as yet no chanj^e
has been made.
A school district must contain at least thirty-five persons
between tlie ages of six and twenty-one years. If a district
be divided by the county court, in accordance with a petition
from a majority of the citizens, both districts must contain
this number. In towns or cities, when twenty voters peti-
tion, an election is held, and the town or city, if it so votes,
may become a single district, with six directors. The school
directors, elected by the qualified voters of the district, hire
tlie teachers, sign orders on the county treasury, purchase a
site for the school-house and provide for the government
of the school.
The chief development of local government in the State is
the annual school-meeting, which resembles the Massachu-
setts town-meeting, though the powers are limited to school
affairs. The directors must give notice fifteen days before
tlie annual school-meeting, in which meeting all the qualified
electors in each school district can talk and vote on ques-
tions relating to the school. By vote they decide to levy or
not to levy an extra school tax, not exceeding four mills on
the dollar; whether or not there shall be a school, and how
long it shall be taught; select a site for a school-house where
necessary; decide whether a part of their school money shall
go to build a school-house, when one is needed. At the first
annual school-meeting they elect three directors, who are to
serve one, two and three years respectively, and at each sub-
sequent annual school-meeting they elect one director.
Here is a germ which may one day develop into real local
government. The people may be trained in this annual
school-meeting to take such interest in managing their own
local affairs, that in time each township may wish to control
all its own affairs in a similar manner. However, if the people
are moving in this direction, their progress is, like tliat of a
sluggish stream, scarcely perceptible.
B. W. DODSON.
68 Local Government in South and Southwest. [520
Note on Arkansas.'
There were in 1892 nine cities which taxed themselves
sufficiently to keep their schools open eight months, and sixty-
one towns which, in a similar manner, kept theirs open nearly
six months. A most interesting phase of local government
in the South is presented by statements in the report for 1892
of Mr. J. H. Shinn, State Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion. He says that though nine-tenths of the school tax is
paid by the whites, it is, in most cases, distributed so as to give
equal length of school to both races. " Colored men may be
elected directors of schools, and are so elected and control the
boards of twenty per cent, of the school districts in the State,,
this being nearly the whole territory occupied by them . . . The
following voluntary statement given by Jake Woods, a colored
man in District No. 2, Pulaski county, is a fair sample of what
the superintendent hears on all sides as he moves about over
the State : ' We have three directors in No. 2, two negroes and
one white man. We have no clashing whatever. There are
38 white children and 549 colored children. We have six
schools, each of which is kept open free for six months.
The negroes have five of these schools and the whites one,
The whites pay about all of the taxes, although our race is
beginning to gather some property. The white man selects
the white teacher and we select the colored teachers. We
pay the white teacher $40 per month, and the same to a col-
ored man who holds a first-grade license. My children are
improving, and I am satisfied with the schools.' "
' By the Editor.
VII.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN KENTUCKY.
The history of Kentucky has determined the character of
her local government, whether it should be of the County or
of the Township. Previous to the year 1776, what is now
Kentucky was a part of Fincastle Co., Va. In that year
Kentucky Co., embracing the present State of Kentucky, was
established, with Harrodsburg as the county seat. There, on
Kentucky soil, was reinstituted the Southern County, with its
Justices, Sheriiif, and Quarter Sessions, having the same
powers and practices as in the older part of Virginia. In the
year 1781 Kentucky County was divided into three, — Jeffer-
son, Lincoln, and Fayette, separated from each other by the
Kentucky and Green rivers. Again the Virginia county-
machinery was established in each division, with the addition
of an officer in charge of the county militia and having the
rank of colonel.^ The work thus fairly begun was carried on
to its legitimate end. Every division of the original counties
saw a set of officers established in the new county corres-
ponding in ever}^ particular to those in the old ones. More
recently there have been some irregularities in the names of
some of the officers, and in some few cases in the division of
work among them. But in general the development has been
very uniform, and the counties of Kentucky of the present,
as would be expected, are governed much like those of Vir-
ginia.
The character of the government of a State is determined
very largely by its constitution. Kentucky has had four
constitutions. The first was adopted in 1792, the second in
1799, the third in 1848, and the last in 1891. Under the
' Doubtless the origin of the Kentucky Colonel.
70 Local Government in South and Southwest. [522
first and second constitutions, all judges, justices, sheriffs,
constables, and clerks of courts were appointed by the Gov-
ernor. The revision of 1848 was effected to make these
officers elective. The new constitution of 1891 was necessary,
because that of 1848 provided for slavery. The State is at
present in a period of transition. The new constitution is in
force, but the General Assembly has not yet so revised the
statutes as to conform to the constitution. This discussion
describes, in the main, the government as it existed under the
constitution of 1848, and mentions the fact when the new con-
stitution provides for a change.
County Organization.
Each county of Kentucky has a Judge of the County Court,
a Clerk of the County Court, a Sheriff, a County Attorney, an
Assessor, a Surveyor, a Coroner, a Superintendent of Schools,
a Clerk of the Circuit Court, and a Jailer.
The County Judge is elected by the qualified voters of the
county for a term of four years. He is a very important
official. He is a magistrate, and has jurisdiction of both civil
and criminal causes. He is required to take and approve the
bonds of county officials, appoint guardians and adminis-
trators and make settlements with them. He establishes mag-
isterial districts and election precincts, appoints election offi-
cers, and presides over the Court of Claims.
The Clerk of the County Court is elected for the same
term and in the same manner as the county judge. His
duties are clerical: to record the proceedings of the county
court, to record all deeds and mortgages, to issue marriage
licenses, and to be the custodian of all important documents
and books.
The Sheriff is ineligible for a third consecutive term of two
years. His duties are those usually devolving upon that
time-honored officer, and, in addition, he is State and county
tax collector.
The County Attorney is elected for four years and has tlie
usual duties of his office.
523] Kentucky. 71
The Assessor is elected for a temi of four years, and re-
ceives as compensation a commission on the amount of prop-
erty assessed. In addition to returning a hst of all taxable
property, with a full and fair value affixed, he also returns
a list of all horses, mules, cattle, stores, pleasure carriages,
watches, pianos, gold and silverware, all legal voters, enrolled
militia, and children of school age. Upon failure to accept
the office after election, he is fined $500. His work is revised
by a board of five Supervisors.
The Coroner is in one respect the highest official in the
county. He is the only person who has power to arrest an
oflfending sheriff. He may also execute processes in other
criminal, penal and civil cases. When so doing, he is gov-
erned by the same laws as apply to the sheriff. His other
duties are common to all similar officers.
The County Superintendent is elected for four years and
receives a stated salary. He is not eligible for election till he
has obtained from the State Board of Examiners a certificate
of qualification. It is his duty to have general supervision of
the common schools, to lay off, alter or abolish districts, to
visit schools, to draw moneys due the county for schools, to
pay teachers, to make a settlement with the county judge,
and report to the State superintendent. This office is fre-
quently held by young law students who know and care very
little about schools. The small salary of $200 to $500 helps
to tide them over the starving time in a lawyer's life. Only
four counties in the State pay as much as $1,000 per year.
Incompetent men keep the schools in bad repute, while tlie
low wages have a tendency to keep competent men out of
the work.
All these officers must be at least twenty-four years of age,
except the clerks of the 
