Delving into Northern newspapers of the
1860s, I found the actual discussion about slavery to be very
different from what I had imagined. My old high school, pablum-filled
history texts must have colored and toned down the rhetoric to
convince students like me that liberty and justice were loudly
trumpeted in most Union papers. The truth is that trumpet was heavily
muted, if dared to be sounded at all.
I knew that conflicting beliefs about
the institution of slavery and its abolition divided the country at
the time; however, I did not suspect that such strong pro-slavery
emotions permeated the press in a free state like Ohio. I discovered
that anti-Abolition belief was so widely distributed in editorials
and articles that it was commonplace. As for the blacks, they were
commonly referred to as “property” and “brutes” or “thugs,”
especially after staging rebellious uprisings.
Reading actual articles from the
Portsmouth Times revealed an understanding of how this most
important national issue of slavery personally affected locals. While
reading, I felt as if I had been transported back to the homes of
these 19th century Scioto Countians reading with them the
publications most likely to influence their opinions.
I purposely limited my research to the
Portsmouth Times because, to
me, local history is of primary interest to citizens seeking
information about the development of thought and culture in this
small Appalachian community. I found some passages I would
like to share with you.
I write this entry to employ historical
records that bolster facts. As a realist, I believe a thorough
examination of history can reveal the climate, knowledge, and beliefs
of a particular time. I do not wish to denigrate those who lived
then. Nor do I wish to bemoan the actions and thoughts of others. I
do, however, believe in the importance of change and in the need to
“look back” to evaluate the progress and/or the declines we have
made.
Background
In his book, The Press and Slavery
in America (2017), Professor of Journalism Brian Gabrial gives an
overview of the newspaper coverage of significant rebellions against
slavery from 1791 to 1859. Gabrial contends ...
“Between 1751 and 1859, a
shifting 70-year conversation about free and slave black Americans,
the press, and the nation took place in the pages of American
newspapers, with these conversations erupting during significant
slave troubles. Media coverage of five such events—Haiti’s 1791
slave revolt, Gabriel Prosser’s 1800 slave conspiracy, Louisiana’s
1811 slave revolt, Denmark Vesey’s 1822 slave conspiracy, Nat
Turner’s 1831 slave revolt, and John Brown’s 1859 Harper’s
Ferry raid—shows how the nation’s once unifying 'Spirit of ’76'
crumbled as white America was increasingly pressed to confront
slavery’s injustice.”
Even from its first days of its
existence, America took two views of slavery: (1) a conservative view
that it was right and constitutionally protected, and (2) a
progressive view that it was evil and had to be abolished. One must
remember that, for the most part, black Americans were not a part of
the conversation, yet events caused current journals to record
article after article about slavery.
So, when slave troubles erupted, white
America were widely exposed to writings about slavery and, therefore,
they became better informed about black America. To say the Northern
press of the time was not sympathetic to the system and to the “legal
property” employed in the South to is an terrific understatement.
For example, the powerful New York Herald editor James Gordon
Bennett wrote after John Brown’s raid: “The whole history of
negro insurrection proves that there is no race of men so brutal and
bloody-minded as the negro. The negro (sic), once roused to
bloodshed, and in possession of arms, is as uncontrollable and
irrational as a wild beast ...”
In the early days of the Republic,
slave society had tacit support from those in non-slave holding
areas. In the 1822 essay “North and South,” a writer suggested,
that Americans should “view the different states as forming but
different parts of one great and happy nation, that will ever rejoice
in the suppression of internal commotion (slave revolts), and repel
hostile invasion.” In other words, slavery was not a Southern, but
a National interest: one handed down from generation to generation.
This idea propagated the view that slavery should not be considered a
serious moral dilemma.
How could the immortality of bondage be
accepted? Cotton – southern, slave-picked cotton – was the
mainstay of Northern antebellum economy. There was a direct and
critical linkage of Northern industrialization and Southern slavery.
Besides the economical reason for accepting slavery, the North was
still widely prejudice against blacks.
Free blacks in the North were
increasingly ill-treated. Oppressive laws tightly controlled the
lives and employment of free blacks, and black families were being
driven out of northern towns by being deemed poor or disorderly. Even
as the North began to erase responsibility for two centuries of
slave-owning from its collective memory, an ideology of black racial
inferiority arose to justify the impoverished conditions and harsh
treatment of a free black population.
After Nat Turner, there were no
Southern apologies for slavery. and slave states entered into an era
of denial and repression. The defense of the system reached a zenith
in a November 1859 Richmond Enquirer headline, “Slavery –
the bond of union throughout the world.”
Over time, newspaper accounts of slave
troubles found a major contingent of antebellum white readers largely
unsympathetic because of deeply held racist beliefs about black
people. These Northerners remaining blind to the impending crisis
over slavery. While its social, economic, and political complexities
affected both black and white Americans, black Americans, of course,
most bore slavery’s heavy weight of suffering. And, eventually, the
nation would, too, as a bloody Civil War was looming.
Despite a general indifference in the
North, opposition to slavery started as a moral and religious
movement centered on the belief that everyone was equal in the eyes
of God. Not confined to a single church, early antislavery sentiment
was common among Mennonites, Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptists, Amish,
and other practitioners of Protestant denominations.
From its religious roots in the
eighteenth century, abolitionist sentiment, or the belief slavery
should be completely eradicated, evolved into the formation of
antislavery societies in the early nineteenth century. These
societies aimed to raise awareness about the moral evils of slavery.
The moral character of the abolitionist appeals were a common
rhetorical feature of the Second Great Awakening, a bubbling social
movement of the first half of the nineteenth century.
One must understand that before the
Civil War, running a newspaper could be pretty dangerous. Bad things
could happen to a white editor who ran pieces against slavery. There
are accounts of more than 100 mob attacks against abolitionist
newspapers, including one 1837 riot in Alton, Illinois, that killed
editor Elijah Lovejoy – Presbyterian minister, journalist,
newspaper editor and abolitionist. He was soon hailed as a martyr by
abolitionists across the country.
Some free black writers risked writing
articles … some very inflammatory. David Walker of Boston wrote An
Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, arguably the most
radical of all anti-slavery documents. It caused a great stir when it
was published in September of 1829 with its call for slaves to revolt
against their masters. David Walker wrote, ". . .they want us
for their slaves, and think nothing of murdering us. . . therefore,
if there is an attempt made by us, kill or be killed. . . and believe
this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man who is trying to
kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty."
After Walker published the pamphlet
urging enslaved people to fight for their freedom, there was a price
on his head: $1,000 to kill him, $10,000 to capture him alive.
Historical Note – African
Americans did have their own press. They founded anti-slavery
newspapers, such as the Mirror of Liberty, Freedom's Journal, the
National Watchman, and the North Star. They sparred with
the defenders of slavery in the pages of newspapers and magazines and
posted broadsides on city streets.
In
additional to traditional news stories about the politics and court
cases related to slavery, early newspapers contained editorials,
advertisements for slave auctions, and reward notices for runaway
slaves. In many instances, reward notices provide detailed biographic
information, including the names and relatives runaway slaves,
physical descriptions, and geographic details of where they may have
traveled.
The Portsmouth Times
The following excerpts were taken from
several issues of the Portsmouth Times. They reflect print
from stories and editorials of the time concerning slavery,
abolition, and even President Abraham Lincoln. The editions used in
this entry are the following:
Portsmouth Times; June 2, 1860,
Portsmouth Times, March 1, 1862,
Portsmouth Times, March 7, 1863,
Portsmouth Times, October 17,
1863
June 2, 1860
“Lincoln's Record in Congress”
in the Times from the Logan County Gazette of
Bellefontaine, Ohio
“He (Abraham Lincoln) originated no
measure, save the fugitive nigger (racial slur from context) bill
referred to; made no speech; and, in one word, demonstrated his utter
lack of all the qualities of a statesman. Having said and done
nothing worth of remembrance, it was forgotten by the public that he
had ever been a member.
“What a contrast with Clay or
Webster, Doublas or Buchanan, Seward or Chase! Is such a man fit for
President?”
“A Northern Minister's View of
Slavery”
“In the late Methodist Conference at
New York, Rev. Mr. Settel was one of those who opposed the measures
of the anti-slaveryites. We have the following brief report of his
effective remarks:
“Slavery was called sinful because
evils grew out of it. He denied it was necessarily a sin. There were
many evils growing out of the marriage relation in the present
imperfect state of society, but marriage was not sinful per se ...
“The question was whether they should
let loose 4,000,000 of paupers upon the world. He depicted the
natural degradation of the negro race, and insisted that they were
best off at present.
“The negro in the West Indies was
incapable of taking care of himself. Emancipation had blighted
one-half of the finest of the Antilles.”
Historical Note – The Haitian
Revolution (1791–1804) was a slave revolt in the French colony of
Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there
and established the Republic of Haiti. It was the only slave revolt
in the modern era that led to the founding of a state. It is
generally considered the most successful slave rebellion ever to have
occurred in the Americas.
(Continued) “Toussiant Overture (the
best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution) discerned the evils of
freedom to the blacks, and established the famout 'Rural Code,' with
the intent to finally enslave all his race. Go where you would in our
own North, and the negroes were an idle set. If slavery had degraded
the negro, why didn't freedom elevate him? He affirmed most
emphatically that, under God's providence, slavery in America had
been the very thing which had elevated the negro race and he was a
bold man who would d deny it!”
“What Would Follow the Election of
Lincoln” In the Times from the Southern Monitor
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Mr. Lincoln says the Southern people
have no title to their slave property, and he is pledged to prevent
its expansion. This is unconstitutional and Mr. Lincoln and his party
will be regarded as outlaws, who have usurped the control of the
government. For the Southern people may rebut the humanitarian
logicians with the Constitution itself, and with other official
documents.
“They can show that the word
'persons' was constructed to mean slaves by Washington, Adams,
and Jefferson, under whose administration for twenty years, the
Northern shippers were protected in the traffic. They can show that
on every slave thus imported, the National Government levied a duty
of ten dollars, which went into the National Treasury. And, they can
likewise show that the government in its treaties with England
demanded and received compensation for the loss of that kind of
property. Hence they will insist that slave property enjoys as the
sanctions of nationality as any other description of property, and
that the outlaws would perpetrate the authorship of treaties as well
as the destruction of the Constitution.
March 1, 1862
“A Good Sign”
“One of the best signs of the times
is the anger displayed by certain Republicans when addressed as
Abolitionists. They declare that the charge is a grose slander; that
they are not now, and never were Abolitionists; and furthermore, they
swear if the charge is repeated, that they will flog the person who
makes it. We are glad to notice this healthy change in public
sentiment, and hope that the wicked and traitorous Abolition party
will become so odious that no honest or honorable man will
acknowledge that he has ever had anything to do with it.”
“The Union-feeling South will melt as
snow before an April sun, if the abolition, emancipation measures
before Congress should pass. It would create a new revolution in
Western Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky, and involve the whole North
in inextricable dissensions, and loose (lose?) us the great portion
of our army, for brave as it is, it will not fight for the negro –
but for the Union.
“Where there is no slavery there is
no rebellion. Let this be remembered.” New York Tribune
“It may also be said, where there is
no money, no robberies take place. Would the Tribune,
therefore, make the possession of the article a crime. Besides when
there was no Abolitionism, there was no secession, nor any trouble
about negroes in the country; and when this -ism is thoroughly
crushed out, we will have some chance of regaining our former
prosperity.” Bridgeport Farmer; Bridgeport, Connecticut
October 17, 1863
“The Old Flag”
“With eleven or more states wiped out
and converted into territories, according to the Sumner Abolition
platform, the same number of states must be stricken from the old
flag. Here, Abolitionism and Secessionism again join hands to
desecrate and mutilate the banner of the Union.”
March 7, 1863
“An Oath-Bound Political Order”
“An oath-bound league, patterned
after the defunct and despised Know Nothing organization, is being
established by the Abolition “no party” patriots. The members are
bound by secret oaths to protect each other and to defend the order.
The ritual is published in the last number of the Crisis --- taken
from a pamphlet copy – and is a rich expose. This is the character
of the political organization that is attempting to control the
country. Their work requires darkness, and secrecy, and oaths.”
Sources
Brian Gabial. The Press and Slavery
in America. April 18, 2017.
James DeWolf Perry and Katrina Browne.
“The Civil War's dirty secret about slavery.” CNN. April 12,
2011.
Portsmouth Times, 1860-1863
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