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THl kHOD! I\LA-';D HISTORIC AL

HISTORY

The Rhode IdlJnd HHlorlcal Socie ty "m urnes no Te.;po ns l b llllY lor o pinIOn, 0/ COn!ribuwI~_

~II TY

52 P(Hnll'TIlH T PROVlm -.;n RHOOf ISLA:"D

Issue d Quarterly at Provid en ce, Rh od e Island , Februa ry, ,\ b y, August, and Nov ember. Secon d class post age pa id at Providen ce . Rhode Island

Jo'>Cph K. Ou . pressdetu Ba yard Ewing. vrce president Mr s, Ceorge E. Downing, vrce pres iden t Fran k L Hinckley, lr., secte tatv M rs N orm an T Bolles , assssram sec reta ry Tow nes ,\ t Har n e, Jr.• Iu'u surer Du ncan Hu nt er Ma uran , a.•si,tan! tUll.'UTer Alben T Klybcrg , director

Table of Come m s

Re-en tranchrsem eru of Rhode Island Negroes by /. Sftm/e y Lemo ns an d M ichd cl A. McKennd

PU81KA n O " , CO M \ I ITTH

O ratory and Lca m m g : Ho race Mann at Brown

by Ka lhl et'n Edgsnon Kendall

Stua rt C. She rman , ch airman Henry L P. Beckw ith , [r . M rs. Phil ip Dav is Wend ell G arrett N orman W , Sm ith

dnd fonarhan

Director's N ew sletter

Joel A. Cohen, Ph .D ., edito r N oel P , Con lon , mOflllgin g e d i ror M ildr ed C. T illey , pi c lUre editor

Th t _'can dd/ rho l ended EW }' Porter's

VOL UM E .llJ, N U MBER 1

e ffeclJ\'ene~~ a ~ an ano nymou~

anflsli/\'o\' a;;:t'nl m Rhnde istond msmred an

au rhor ro wme rhe dwlo1o:,ue of thIS lille.

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Anti slav ery Agents in Rh od e Island, 1835-1837 by fohn L M yer.~ 21

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Th. RhoJ, lu.."d HWOflCQI Socwy

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Amold

Ff8R U A RY 1911

3

fuJl"fu:k Doux/a ..., wa> out' 01 ,evl"fallt'adlnl( ab(JllllOni5f 'r.'aKa\ w h" cam.. InrlJ rhe ,rar.. In 1842 10 hold raIljl'_~ a,l:46. 2 I- D. S. Deg o w . SILl lJ and Ill, 1141. Peter J. Colema n. The TTlln'/ormUlmn ", Rhode "land. 1790-

1RhO Il'rondence Brown Uni" crslty Press, 196.l1.17-l

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Rl ·lr-;FRA:" CJH ~ EM ENT

O f NEGROES

Sutfra,i:e Party and In the People's Co nve nt io n . At a meeung or th e Su tfra,i!;e Party In September IK·U , the execunv e commutee pre sented nominations for t rea..ure r A mam nt v rep ort supported Alired Niger, and a. minority report favor ed Thomas G reen . when so meo ne objected sa. yi n,i!; that Niger was a Negro, the mee ting was rhrown Into coniusio n and the maioruy report rejected The very person rcspon ssblc for nommanng Nige r turned nut to be a well -known opponent of Negro suNrage , and he expla ine d that he had done this to ter ce the Party to decide finally upon th e issue oi N egr o ..utf ra):e. His mtennon was sim ply to "s mo ke out" pro-N egro sc n nme n t in the Pany .H The People's Co nvcn uo n co n ve ned in early O ctober, and o n the c ru ci al questi on of su tfra.xe it proposed to liberalize th e Iran chrsc ior all white males, incl uding the torcign-bom. but e xclu ded the Ncg rn. Before thc provision wa s vot ed upon, Alexander C ru m me ll ied a. comm m ce o f Negro spo kesm en to present a remonstrance 10 t he Convention , urging t hem not to igno re th e black community . The petition wa s signed by lam es Hazard, Ransom Parke r, lchabod Northup, a la bo rer , Samuel Rod ma n , aIabnrcr, and George 1. Smi t h, a coac h rna n. I'; They prote..ted that e xclusion on aCCOUD! oi colo r was unwar ranted , a nt i-rc puhlica n . an d de..trucuve in c rlc ct They decla red , " We have long, an d .....it h but li ttle aid, been working our way up to respecrabihtv and competence." Despite di scrimination and discntranchr scment . " w 1,' have, nevertheless, been enabled to pos sess o ur..elves o f the means and advanrages of rel igion , intelligence, and property ... we unhesitatingly assert th at we ..... iII not sutle r by a. comparison wit h our more priv ileged fellow-citizens of the same rank, in either reli gion , virtue, o r in d ust ry ." The petition argu ed tha t rhe United States ha d been founded on the principle th at all m en we rt' created free ..nd equal an d t ha t exclusion would viola te tha t princi ple . Fm ally. they said that dise ni ranchisemen t begat a sense of mtenuntv an d les..encd the se nse of in d ividua l wo rt h . "S urel y, it must sicken t he so ul, an d

The Rt\'l' u nd AJu anda Crummtll

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W..,ld y, Apn l 14. 1_

ca t out th e hea rt of a ny people." T he y wa rned that disc rim in a tion on the bas is of co lor might be the wa rrant for future ex clusions o n cqually irrelevant di stincti on s. "ITl he an n als of nation s clearl y tea ch t h at the re is a lwa ys da nge r in de pa rti ng from cle a rly defi ned a nd u nive rsa l t ru t hs, an d resorting to untusriflable a nd in vidiou s pania.li ties." 16

Jo U.S. Congress, Rl'plJrl No. 546.1 11 ·1 13.

14 T he en tire episode is reponed in the Prov iden ce toumat . September 27,184 1.

17 N ew A,\:e and ConH ifUfiml Mann, the best stu de nt in h is class and va led ictorian hi s se n ior year. t ho ug ht o rato ry the supre me art: " ... the po wer of the o rator verges

one hundred students and many of them, like Horace Mann 01 Franklin , Massachusetts. came from Iiu le farm towns nc a r Provid en ce. T hese yo u ng sc ho la rs faced a stre n uous, broad, classical curric ul um The

La ws 01the Co llege lor IK23, fur example, sho w that t he freshman class rev iewed " a pa n of Vir,itil . Cicero, and the Gree k Testame nt ," a nd t he n st ud ied "Craec a M ino ra, Xenophon's Cyropoedia , Sall US! . Cicero de Arrucma and de SCneCIUtl:, Horace, Roman Antiquities,

Sheridan 's Lectures. Aruhmenc and English Grammar "I The stu de n ts found a serious weakness in this CUrricu lum, des pite its breadth and dep th . As th ey look pan In rote recitation s, memorizing and reproducin g the te xt boo k contents a nd the protesvors' lectures, th ey cha fed at the Lick of up pn rt urritv lor ori ginal rhm kin g ! O n ly in Engl i' h cotnposmon an d in undergraduate debating sociencs could t hey le arn to express t he ir own ideas T he ora l a nd wrrnc n expres'IOn o f ideas we re 10 plav .I vual role in Horace M a n n 's career as a lawvcr, legislator and secretary of the ,\ \a ssa ch U">('lt s Board Ilt Educanon 1I&37-IK-IRI, a nd m any of his classmates also pursued ca reers dem anding muc h speaking a nd writing Wha t th en was th e na tu re o i thei r rh cmncal pr epar ati o n fo r th is work a t Brown U ni versity, 1816· 1H191 Brow n University took its na me from Ni cholas Brown, wh ose donation of S5,0Cl0 endowed a Pro fesso r. ship of Ora wry and Belles Len rcs. T rtsram Burges held rhrs professorsh ip w hen M an n was at Bro....-n. T he

"Mrs. Kendall is acting chairman, Department of Rhetoric and Pu blic Address. State Umversiev of New York at

Alban y. Professor Messerli is dean of th e School of Edu cati on, Hofstra Unive rsity.

walter C. Bronson. HUf01Y 01 BlOwn Un;vtuuy [Providence, 191.11, p. 167. 1 Alv.llh Hovey, Barn.:ls SuJts [New York, 19011, pp. 13- 14,

3 Bronson. 4 ludgc Burtun, in a lett er til Mary Peabody Mann, quoted in ufe 0 / Horace M lII1/l. by Mar y Peabody Mann , cent enn ial edit ion (W;lIshi nRlOn, D , c., 19.17). pp. 16-17 . :'i Horace Mann, " lecture Delivered before the United Brothers Society." March 10, 1819, Ho race Man n Papers. M;lIss.;lICh usctl s Hist o ric al Society, Boston [h erea fter referred to as MHSI.

6 Cicero 's Oraror, f rom O rau ons of .\1arcu.~ Tullius Cicero . translated by C. D. Younge , IV (London , 18511, pp. 409-410.

16

ORA TORY AND UARNINC

T Il Ham Bl.lr"t s. PlO' t 5S0f 0 / Or....t "'~- 1""01'1.. to pi....." , lind g rind the (aeca of t ho poor ' lI3.ith the Lord God of hosts." 1141." .

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Wha t me an ),1' that ye bru ise an ti bind :'t ly people, sait h the Lord, And .tar ~ e your c r.vi ng br oth .. r'. mi nd , Tha t Ilsk. to he ar my wortl ~

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'''·h n.1 mun ye th n.t ye mllae 'l'lLem to il T hr ou gh lon g lind dr .. uy _feu. , A nd shed Hill' rain u pon YOllr .oil T iIc;r blood lind bitter tl,'lIrl f

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''''hat mean ve that ye dllfe to reud 1' 10... Il"lld"i ",,,th.-r ' . ht'll.rt i Beothees from siHtl'r. , friend from frie nd, H ow dar e y ou bid th em pn.r'"

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' Vlttlt m..an ye, when God '. bcunteou a han d T o J Ou 80 mu ch ho.I giv en, Th llt fro m the .lue who till. y on r Iend Y011 keep both ear th alld I,ca v..n ~ W hen at the judgm ent G O
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1l7' All . r licl ... design ed fur ilUf'rtioR in tile A lm.nlle fvr I be w nt to III bt'tHICd Of I h t' ProVIdence'.' tuvemie Feow l... An ll ·SllIvcry SOC/t'IY, O n n .•lu r nnmnerc-d .l.l.

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Slavery Soc iety , claimed he foll ow ed this policy because he regarded an tislavery objectives as im practical but did not intend to m ake m artyrs of t he lead e rs of the movement. He asse rted this had been partly res po nsi ble fur the slow growth of the movemen t in the city _He may have been right. but this pol icy certainly leaves the historian without necessary in form atio n about major events transpirmg in the state. Kno wing that Sta nton was chronicled to h ave accomplish ed so much , I wo ndered at th e begin n in g of th is s tu dy it the lack of evidence co nce rn ing hi s acuviues m eant that this credit to him was no more than an effective propaganda device of the abolitionists. Soon, however , the occas ional references to h is a ttainm ents in a ntislavery letters and newspape rs began to be supported by e nough political and neutral sources to confirm his success. T he stillness about his se rvices is especi.1l1y remarkable whe n one reme mbers th at th e sum m e r and autumn o i 1835 was perhaps the mos t ditfi cult time jar the fledgling antislavery movement. Georg e Thompson wa s virruallv drive n ou t of the co un try an d even mi ld speakers like Sam ue l J. May or the pocr loh n Greenleaf Wh ittier we re subje c ted to pe rsonal violence in Vermont an d Massac h usetts, states in .....h ic h the antislavery message h ad been procla imed jar jour years From mid-June 1&35to feb ruary

I ~J(; Stanton lab or ed , generally alone, to convert the people of Rhode Island to aboli tion principles an d to crea te a state antisl avery society . Antislavery letters and newspape rs ma rk Rhode Island an d Ne w York as th e major o bjec ts of the year's ex ert ions. Employing th e sa me ta ct ics wh ich Theod ore weld wa s unlicing in the V'le!>!, Stanton began " a t th e outskirts" and worked " h ,~ wa y as quiet lv as possible to the ce ntre."l n doi ng that, he avoided Provide nce and Ne wpo rt .! Stan IOn's initial a ppea rances were w ith James G. Birney, for me r Al abama sla vehold e r a nd subsequently Liberty Party candidate for the pres idency ; Will iam Goodell , temperance and anuslavcry editor and lecrurmg agent ; and Theodore S. Wright , Negro cle rgyman of New York Cily , ill Providence on Ma y 21 an d in Pawtucke t on M ay 22 . He also lect ured in the Phe ni x mecnng house in Wa rwick. H e spo ke on Ju ne 30 and July 4 in Pawtucket, th e latte r a morning address in th e Bapust church. In the evening he lectured at the Richmond Stree t meeting home in Pro..o dcnce, and on the Srh in the Baptist m eeting house in Wou nsocket . By some wh at over a month la te r he had organized five new societies , a me n 's, a ladies', an d a young men 's in Natick, and comrnunny groups of 220 m em bers in No rth Scitua te and ot seven ty members in V3.11ey f alls. He Aroused so much turmoil in Woumocket th at a

LOn to be found In late September the agent W;l.S served a warrant by a constable at his lodgmgs with Iudge Brown in East Greenwich He was charged wit h being a vagrant without vrsrble means 01 s u ppo rt and was ordered out of town , A public meeting W,1S called on Sep tember 24 to devise means for supp ressing Stanton's activities. Given ba il by the Iudge, he held his meeting, a nd at its conclusion acquired the constable's signatu re as one of the first additions to th e antislavery rolJ.S By the e nd oi Octobe r t he editor of th e Providence lourn,,1 was co nce rned , Noting tha t Th e Emancipiltor , weekly pub lication oi the American Anti-Slavery Society, had ma de It S firs t public annou nce me nt a bout Sranron's acuv tues in the st ate , t he Prov idence editor printed a letter. signed " U n io n," co nce ding th a t Stanton was making progress a nd that abol it ionists in the c ity were prudrcnng that the a nsmcmcv oi the state woul d be ast o nis hed at the ch ange of senti men t towa rds slavery in t he co u ntry to wns , The wr iter urged t hose wh o were an n-aboliuon to aw ak en and sa ve the nati on and ca lled lor a tte ndance at an a nti-a bo litio n meeting th e ne xt week .6 T he AntJ-SJdwry AllluJn/le re por ted an attempt to di sperse a la dies ' soci e ty m eeting o n November 26,

4 John W. Alvo rd , Willi7, lv. (New York, 19381. I, 189-290. Execu uv e Comm ittee Minutes, meenngs of Joi}' 31 and November 3. llloJ5. Human RIghts , I [September 18.\51, .\. EmanclpalOr. June 2. 1&..'\5. Liberator . Iuly -I and 18, 18.\.'), PawlUclttf Chromcle . May 21 and 19 . June 26, HBS. ProVIden ce louTn, to de v o re part of his time to wrmng and pan to lectu ring , Stan to n reco m m en ded th at Goodell be assi gned to Rh od e Island and that co ntrol o ve r him he relinquished to the sta te soc iety. Goodell, h owever. accepted t he edito rshi p of th e proiececd ne wspa pe r of t he N ew York Sta te Ant iS!J v'ery Socie ty , the Friend of .\ 1 B,nnes and Dumond. I. .119n. Gl'neral C"wlo/i:u,:. And"ln, .\ 1"", 1880, .11. C amcon 10 Henrv E. Ben son , Decem be r :;, lin:;. G.nriSoO n Papers . Wf>er' Aut hori zati o n fo r t h e creation of a committee to hrre an d direct an agent io r rh... state W.1S one 01 the principal acti o ns of t he an n iversary meet ing . Voting to appoint an agen t wa s easy ; findmg one a nd fina ncing h rs ope rations was not The state exccunve com mittee even advertised in annsfavcry newspapers, an uncommon procedure. The American Anti-Slavery Society , forced to accept Pouer's resignation, assigned C. C. Burleigh in Decembe r 1&36 to Rhode Island as won as he completed his labors 10 Pennsylvania, but th e comrmnee in February reversed itself even befo re Burleigh's other wo rk was complete. Ins tead, it instructed Stanton and Amos Dresser 10 transfe r to Rhode Isla nd . Stanton m ay have complied tem porartlv, for rep ort s of hi s activities during Febru a ry ....-ere ske tchy, but he was spe aking in M assach usetts by t he first week in M ar ch . Amus Dresser w as w idely kn own in the nation While on a uip to visit a relat iv e in Mi ssb sipp i, Dresser had been seized in Nashville and fo und ,.;uilty by a ka nga roo court of being .1 mem ber of an abolitio n society a nd 01 selling anti-slcnry htetatu re He had been ta rred and fea the red a nd ousted iro m

11\.17 AlI:cncy C nmrmnee MmutCumdl , April 2 1, l8,l7 , L,/Jerulor, March.!..\ and .11, Apnl 7 and 211, Mav 5, lune 9, 1!lJ7. Amasa Walke r, Mernon o f Rev . Arno.' Dressel (no title pagel, 1m.

A/:ency Comm irree Min ut es, mee nngs of December 6, 1&16, February 8 and May 17, l8,l 7.

Oliver

/ohn'on./ecrurer, wnter llnd edno r.

f rom Oft',ll••• lJoJd Gunoon

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audiences were small. prejudice w as deep. In the latter two communities he also addressed the children in school. He characterized the abolitio n ists of rhe sta te as cold and macnve. By the t hird .....eek of M a rch he felt free to retu rn to M assachuse tts, repo rti ng th at ditfe rcnccs betw een the Amer ican an d Rh od e Isla nd An n-Sla very soci e ties were sufficiently placated. He spe nt the re ma inde r of t he year in Massachusetts u ntil hi s ret u rn as ge ne ral agent of the Slate society in the winter ,16 W illiam L. C ha p lin m ay also ha ve se rve d in Rhode Island when he fina ll y wa s able to en ter th e e m ploy of

15 A..:eno· Committee Minutes, meelln"s oi February 8 and 1..\, November 2. UU7. Oliver johnson, WJlliam Llo yd G"m ~(Jn an d lI i< Tr mes [Boston, 1!!!lOT, 251 es pa",m . johnson to Tappan. March 22, HH7. leWIS Tappan r apers . Ernest L BO~l1 PelJchr l\-fy ForemOSI Lllhograph Co.