July 4, 1833: Drinking Toasts of the Nullifiers

["Political Fanaticism." Poughkeepsie, New York, Independence. Volume II, Number 78, page [2]. Via the Richmond Enquirer. Additional paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

Thanks to newspaper exchange programs in the first half of the nineteenth century, articles that originally appeared in one newspaper were often duplicated or adapted in another. This is particularly helpful in conducting research when the original source is not easily available. 

More sophisticated news pools came along with the development of railroads and telegraph lines. The New York Associated Press (now the Associated Press), for instance, was formed to economize and broaden coverage of the Mexican-American War starting in 1846. United Press International (UPI) was formed in the early 20th century. 

To set this particular newspaper article in perspective, here's a snippet from Robert M. Hughes, General Johnston (Great Commanders). New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1893, page 17:

In the fall of this same year [1832] the nullification troubles in South Carolina were at their height, and [Lieutenant Joseph Eggleston] Johnston was with the small body of United States troops stationed at Charleston by President Jackson for the purpose of preserving order. Here the contingencies of civil war were forcibly impressed upon his mind, for three of his brothers resided in Columbia and belonged to the South Carolina minutemen then drilling for the conflict with the United States which every one expected, and they would have been the first to come into collision with the national forces if matters had proceeded to extremities. Fortunately, events took a turn which prevented them from being confronted in fratricidal strife.

Here is the full text of the article cited at top:

Political fanaticism.--The following were among the toasts drank at Columbia, the seat of government of South Carolina, on the 4th July, at a dinner given "by the Richland Whigs and Richland Light Dragoons."

"The President of the United States." Received in silence.

A member rose and proposed the following amendment, which was warmly adopted and drank with applause: "Whose power and profligacy has been such as to disgrace the Hero of New Orleans."

Andrew Jackson -- A political lunatic, exempt from responsibility for his acts, and dependent for their propriety or folly entirely upon the sanctity of his keepers!!

Virginia -- She has rejected the mantle of Liberty bequeathed to her by the great political prophet, Thomas Jefferson. South Carolina has gladly appreciated the gift, and will preserve it unsullied!!

Regular Toasts.

The following toast was sent by Dr. Cooper (as an invited guest:)

The Richland Light Dragoons and Richland Whigs. Always prepared to encountre the enemies of our independence, whether from the north or the south.

By Capt. T. Stark (of the Cavalry.) The proclamation -- Written by a slave, signed by a knave, and approved of only by sycophants and parasites!

By Dr. Edward Fisher. The triumphal entry of General Blowbladder and his Kitchen Cabinet, among the lick-spittles of the North -- a sorry scene of mutual degradation!!

By J. W. Geiger, (a guest.) The Compromise. The line is drawn, we have advanced to it, we rest upon our arms.

By Sergea[n]t W. Stanley. Benedict Arnold and Andrew Jackson. History has consigned one already to infamy. Prosperity [posterity] will add the additional appellation of the Tyrant to the Traitor!!

By Ed. W. Johnston, (of the Whigs.) The three parricides, Drayton, Mitchell, and Blair. One drivelller and two drunkards. Let their names in this state be held forever infamous! [N]or uttered by the honourable and brace, except with curses and scorn!!

By Mr. B. H. Johnson. President Jackson --
Let slaves bow down and kiss his toes,
Freemen defy -- and pull his nose!!!

By Wm. A. Brickell. The Presidency of the United States. Degraded by Andrew Jackson; may it never be disgraced by the elevation of Martin Van Buren.

Why, this is nullification run mad; but is it not melancholy to think, that the talented and eloquent W. C. Preston would have lent his countenance to such a celebration? Richmond Enquirer. 

[Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891)

Robert M. Hughes = Robert Morton Hughes (1855-1940)

Three brothers among the Nullifiers = Edward William Johnston (1799-1867), Algernon Sidney Johnston (who had published Memoirs of a Nullifer in 1832) and Benjamin Franklin Johnston (1808-1834). 
Their father, Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831), had been pro-Jackson, as had been their brother Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832), who was serving in the US Congress at the time of his death. Their uncle Charles Johnston (1769-1833) was also a Jacksonian.

Thomas Cooper (1759-1839), President of South Carolina College. 

Drayton = William Drayton (1776-1846), who moved his family to Philadelphia.

Mitchell = probably Thomas Rothmaler Mitchell, a Jacksonian and former Congressman from South Carolina.

Blair = probably Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876)

W. C. Preston = William Campbell Preston (1794-1860)]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]

James T. Royall, Executor: Sale of Charles Johnston's Estate, 1833

[James T. Royall, "EXECUTOR'S SALE," Richmond Enquirer, Volume XXX, Issue 49 (October 25, 1833), page 1. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.]

EXECUTOR'S SALE of Valuable Property. real and personal.---

The subscriber will offer, at public auction, at the Botetourt Springs, on Wednesday, the 18th day of December next, (if fair, if not, the next fair day thereafter,) all the personal and real estate of the late Mr. [Charles] Johnston.

The personal estate consists of between 20 and 30 valuable Negroes, among them some first rate house servants, cooks, &c.--- a large stock of Horses, Hogs, Sheep, and Cattle of every description. Household and Kitchen Furniture, Plantation Utensils, Crop of Corn, Fodder, Oats, &c., &c.

At the same time and place, the Botetourt Springs will be publicly offered at auction. The buildings are spacious and in good order, equal to the comfortable accommodation of one hundred visitors. The plantation attached, containing about 500 acres of good quality, is of itself a valuable farm, and the surrounding neighborhood one of the wealthiest and most desirable in Virginia.

The company at the Springs during the last two seasons has greatly increased, and no doubt is entertained by the subscriber, that, in the hands of an active and enterprising owner, this property would soon be among the most valuable in upper Virginia.

Persons desirous of purchasing are invited to visit the subscriber before the sale, or to communicate with him by letter, directed to Cloverdale, Botetourt county. He would prefer making a private sale, but if not privately disposed of before, they will be offered publicly, as before stated. 

Will be opened also, a small tract of Land, lying about four miles from the springs, containing about 220 acres, mostly in woods.

Terms will be accommodating and made known at the day of sale.

                                                    JAMES T. ROYALL, Ex'or. of
October 25    [49-wtds]                          Charles Johnston, dec'd

[Charles Johnston (1769-January 21, 1833)
Dr. James Townes Royall (circa 1797-1860) had married Charles Johnston's daughter Frances Steptoe Johnston (circa 1807-after 1850), in Botetourt County on December 27, 1825. Dr. Royall graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1818. Charles' nephew John Warfield Johnston (1790-1818) graduated from there in 1814. Frances' mother was Charles' second wife, Elizabeth Prentiss Steptoe (1783-1820).]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Susan Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]  

James T. Royall: 1833 Advertisement for Botetourt Springs, Virginia

[James T. Royall, "BOTETOURT SPRINGS." Richmond Enquirer, Volume XXX, Issue 12 (June 18, 1833), page 3. Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading]

BOTETOURT SPRINGS.---The former owner and proprietor of these Springs having departed this life, in accord with a request expressed in his last illness, they will be opened the present season by the subscriber, his executor.

The Botetourt Springs are situated in Botetourt County, Virginia, in a healthy, populous and most desirable neighborhood -- about 50 miles above Lynchburg, from which an excellent line of stages runs regularly three times a week. 

A particular and detailed description of them has oft been given to the public, and the benefits arising from the use of the water are believed to be so generally known, that the subscriber does not deem it necessary to repeat the one, or offer renewed testimonials of the other.

The charges will be moderate to all, and to such as remain a month or longer, extremely low.

The will of Mr. Johnston authorizes his executor to sell these Springs, at such time as may be most beneficial to his estate.

The subscriber, therefore, being desirous of closing its concerns as speedily as possible, offers them for sale, and invites persons desirous of purchasing, to communicate with him, by letter, directed to Botetourt Springs, Va. The property is valuable, and will be worthy the attention of capitalists.

                                                                 JAMES T. ROYALL,
                                                                 Ex'or, of Charles Johnston, dec.
June 18                                                                       w1stJ

[Charles Johnston (1769-January 21, 1833)
Dr. James Townes Royall (circa 1797-1860) had married Charles Johnston's daughter Frances Steptoe Johnston (circa 1807-after 1850), in Botetourt County on December 27, 1825. Dr. Royall had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1818. Charles' nephew John Warfield Johnston (1790-1818) had graduated from there in 1814. Frances' mother was Charles' second wife, Elizabeth Prentiss Steptoe (1783-1820).
Image of Botetourt Springs, probably early 1840s but with essentially the same landscape design and architecture as in 1833. Link can be found here. See Chapter II.]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Susan Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]

Columbia, South Carolina: The Nullifiers

What is a Nullifier?  A proponent of States' Rights, one who believes that primary power should rest with each state government. Nullifiers assume the "right" of state government to void laws made at the local or federal level. Nullification is still being used as a tactic in the 21st century, even though its constitutionality is dubious at best (looking to the vague Tenth Amendment for support) and usually untenable in the long run. Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831), as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, took a more moderate position during the debates regarding the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.   

[Robert M. Hughes, General Johnston (Great Commanders). New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1897], page 17: 

In the fall of [1832] the nullification troubles in South Carolina were at their height, and Johnston [Joseph Eggleston Johnston, 1807-1891)] was with the small body of United States troops stationed at Charleston by President [Andrew] Jackson for the purpose of preserving order. Here the contingencies of civil war were forcibly impressed upon his mind, for three of his brothers [Edward William Johnston, Algernon Sidney Johnston and Benjamin Franklin Johnston] resided in Columbia and belonged to the South Carolina minutemen then drilling for the conflict with the United States which every one expected, and they would have been the first to come into collision with the national forces if matters had proceeded to extremities. Fortunately, events took a turn which prevented them from being confronted in fratricidal strife.

[Edwin J. Scott, Random Recollections of a Long Life, 1860-1876. Columbia: Charles A. Calvo, Jr., Printer, 1884].

Page 104: 

The office of Tax Collector, if properly filled, is the best of all stepping stones to public favor. It brought me in direct contact with every property holder in the District, and enabled me, by diligence and courtesy, to secure their good will, so that any place in their gift was at my command, as was proven, after my re-election for a second term, by their making me twice Clerk of the Court and a delegate to the Nullification Convention of 1832 and 1833.

Pages 28-29: 

At “a great jollification . . . in October 1832 . . .,”  many Nullifier toasts were made, including one by William Campbell Preston after a fireworks rocket was shot at the sky, to “The State of South Carolina; may she rise like that rocket, not to descend like it in silence and darkness, but to remain a fixed star in the firmament.”

From Coleman's the crowd marched with military music to greet some of the leading Nullifiers, calling first on Colonel James Gregg, who went with us to the College, where old Dr. Cooper made a short speech, and then to Colonel J. J. Chappell's, on the corner now occupied by the Presbyterian printing office. After hearing him, F. C. Barber exclaimed, "if the church isn't with us, the chapel is." Finally we adjourned to Charley Dukes's saloon, near where Palmer's tin shop now is; and at n o'clock I left Barber and Colonel Preston engaged in an encounter of wits, while old Tom Baker was singing a smutty song to Colonel Gregg, probably the only one of the kind the Colonel ever heard.

Page 138:

NULLIFICATION.

The Nullification Convention that met at Columbia in November, 1832, brought together as great an array of talent and patriotism as ever was assembled in the State. James Hamilton, Jr., then Governor, presided, and among its members were William Harper, Robert Y. Hayne, George McDuffie, Robert J. Turnbull, Job Johnston, F. H. Wardlaw, Armistead Burt, Stephen D. Miller, John Lide Wilson, Daniel E. Huger, John B. O'Neall, C. J. Colcock, John S. Richardson, R. W. Barnwell, R. Barnwell Rhett, Benjamin F. Perry, ex- Governor Richard I. Manning, and F. H. Elmore. Its proceedings were also approved by Mr. Calhoun, Colonel Preston and Governor Hammond, the two last named attending and taking part in the caucus discussions of the Nullifiers as to the measures that were adopted. These were an ordinance declaring the tariff law of July, 1832, unconstitutional, null and void, and directing and authorizing the Legislature to provide the means for prohibit[ing] . . .

Page 139: 

. . . its enforcement within the State after the 1st of March, 1833; at the same time announcing that South Carolina would secede from the Union if any attempt should be made to use force in carrying out the law, but signifying her willingness to submit to the decision of a convention of all the States. The General Government was then practically out of debt, and a few years later distributed among the several States a surplus of many millions, collected, not for revenue, but mainly and avowedly for protection. As one of the original framers of the Constitution which gave the General Government all its powers and defined their limitations, the State claimed the right to decide when that instrument was violated, and, in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous infraction thereof, to interpose, in her sovereign capacity, for the correction of the evil and the protection of her citizens from its consequences, or to peaceably with draw from a Union that failed to observe the conditions and subserve the purposes for which it had been created. President Jackson, on the other hand, issued an address and proclamation denying that the States ever were separate or sovereign; asserting the supremacy of the Federal Government, and threatening to enforce the law by military power, if necessary; whilst Congress enacted the Force Bill, empowering him to coerce the State into submission. This proclamation he afterwards authorized the Richmond Enquirer to explain, modify or qualify so as to show that he meant not what he had said but something different.

In response, Governor Hayne's proclamation (one of the most eloquent and powerful State papers ever issued) defied him to execute his threats and commanded all good citizens to sustain the State, to whom their allegiance was due, on pain of the penalties for treason. The condition of affairs was for some time extremely critical. But the firm stand taken by the State effected the passage of Mr. Clay's com[promise]

Page 140: 

Act, reducing the duties on all imports in a course of years to the uniform rate of 20 per cent., which was regarded as a fair revenue standard. Before the expiration of the prescribed time this compromise was violated, and the tariff question has ever since been the subject of debate and dissension. Although the stern and irrevocable arbitrament of war has since annihilated State rights and established the paramount authority of the National Government, yet the reports and addresses of the convention deserve the careful perusal and study of young politicians, for they contain a fund of useful and instructive information on the tariff and on the origin and character of the General Government not to be found elsewhere, and not inapplicable to the condition of our country as it is now and may be in the future. They are perfect models of a style both pure and forcible. After all was over, Governor Hamilton declared that South Carolina had come out of the contest "armed cap a pie and not a feather quivering in her plume." On looking over a list of the delegates, I recognize but two besides myself as surviving, Rev. Peter J. Shand and ex-Governor B. F. Perry.

I was informed, confidentially, some years after, that Governor Hayne had made arrangements, if a blow had been struck at the State, to kidnap General Jackson at Washington and bring him a prisoner to South Carolina, where he was to be held as a hostage, in the belief that Vice-President Van Buren had neither the nerve nor the influence to carry on a war, and that a compromise would be made or the State be allowed to secede peaceably.