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John Quincy Adams and the Dorcas Allen Case, Washington, DC University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 2010 Slavery exacts an impossible price: John Quincy Adams and the Dorcas Allen case, Washington, DC Alison T. Mann University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Mann, Alison T., "Slavery exacts an impossible price: John Quincy Adams and the Dorcas Allen case, Washington, DC" (2010). Doctoral Dissertations. 531. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/531 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SLAVERY EXACTS AN IMPOSSIBLE PRICE: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE DORCAS ALLEN CASE, WASHINGTON, D.C. BY ALISON T. MANN Bachelor of Arts, Rutgers University, 1991 Master of Arts, University of New Hampshire, 2003 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University ofNew Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History September, 2010 UMI Number: 3430785 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3430785 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 1 7, United States Code. ProQuest® ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2010 Alison T. Mann This dissertation has been examined and approved. —DissertationQi^Director, ^J. William Harris, Professor of History UM W. Jeffrey E(pLster, AssociateTfofessor of History ^_ Lucy E. Salter, Associate ProfessoK^p History Jessica M. Lepler, Assistant Professor of History ^ ^ -7X John Ernest, Professor of English, West Virginia University Date /¡jld^-t 2-2-; Z^Qc For Tony IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As a Masters student in late April, 2002, 1 had just finished presenting a seminar paper before fellow students and the instructor of the course, Professor J. William Harris. The paper's topic was John Quincy Adams and his lifelong views on slavery. I had included in the paper a brief run-down of the 1837 Dorcas Allen affair and Adams's involvement in it, not giving it particular attention or making any serious attempt to analyze it. As a junior scholar, I explained to the class, I thought that since all the multitudes of Adams biographers had neglected to include it in their works it couldn't possibly be that important in the big scheme of the topic and that I had decided to put it in the paper because I found the event rather interesting. Bill Harris looked me square in the eye and said, "That's the most important part of your paper." And so it began. Without the steadfast encouragement from my advisor and mentor, Bill Harris, this dissertation would never have come to fruition. I have benefitted from his sage advice and expert editing skills throughout the scope of this project, and I cannot find adequate words to describe how much his support, patience, kindness, and gracious demeanor has meant to me. Bill's steady confidence in my abilities never wavered, and for that I will be forever grateful. Jeff Bolster has been equally supportive of my work, and his knowledge of the early Republic has been invaluable. I must also thank him for his sense of humor when I faltered; it was often his handwritten notes on chapter drafts— such as "Good Job! ! Give us more! !" that gave me the boost I needed to carry on to the next chapter. I also wish to thank Lucy Salyer for her advice regarding legal history, Jessica Lepler for sharing her incredible expertise on the Panic of 1837, and John Ernest, ? who taught me to read deeply when working with African American primary sources. Eliga Gould has also supported my efforts in graduate school, and I am indebted to him for all he has taught me. Thanks, too, to Lu Yan, Kurk Dorsey, Molly Girard, Jeff Diefendorf, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Nicky Gullace, and Greg McMahon for lending moral support throughout the ponderous writing years. A special thank you goes to Ted Andrews, who read Chapter Three and supplied me with helpful comments. Fellow graduate students Jen Mandel, Venetia Guerrasio, Mary Sheehan, Keri Lewis, and Mandy Chalou listened to my various rants on several occasions, and I will always treasure their friendship. I also wish to thank my friends Bernadette and Gokhan Yucel for generously opening their Williamsburg, Virginia home to me when I needed to escape the hustle and bustle of Washington, D. C, and use it as a base of operations for my Richmond research. Tim Evans, too, has helped me enormously by pushing me to continue working throughout the years, and his jovial spirit and congenial company made many a long research day less tiresome. Major financial support for this project has come from the University of New Hampshire, and I wish to thank the Graduate School for awarding me a summer Teaching Assistant Fellowship and a Dissertation Fellowship. The History Department at UNH has lent financial support as well, through teaching fellowships and a year of work as a part-time lecturer. I thank the department for having faith in me, as both a student and an instructor. Outside of UNH, this work has benefitted incalculably from the advice of several scholars and researchers. Jane Donovan generously shared her research notes on Gideon vi Davis and the Ormes with me, patiently explained the ins-and-outs of Methodism in the District of Columbia, read Chapter Four scrupulously, and gave me extensive feedback. This work could not have been accomplished without her help or unflagging support. Thanks to Paul Finkelman, who listened with great interest to my topic and connected me with the United States Capitol Historical Society. That institution provided me with a summer research fellowship for a USCHS project on women in the Capitol, which enabled me to live in D. C. for three months to compile the research for this dissertation. Thank you to Don Kennon, Felicia Bell, and Lauren Borchard at the Society, for their support and ideas. I presented chapters of this dissertation at the New England Historical Association fall conference, the Southern Historians of New England conference at Yale, and an informal seminar at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Thank you to all who listened to and/or read these chapters for your time and comments. The manuscript as a whole is a much better work due to your feedback. Special thanks to Conrad Wright, Director of Research at the MHS for scheduling my talk, Sara Sikes, Assistant Editor of the Adams Papers, for helping me translate some of John Quincy Adams's shakier writing, and Judith Graham, Series Editor of the Louisa Catherine Adams Diary, who dug up Louisa Catherine Adams's provocative description of servants' household duties. At the Library of Virginia in Richmond, Gregg Kimball and Brent Tarter graciously provided me with early statues of Virginia and slave law, and offered helpful topical suggestions. For information on Mt. Zion church, I am indebted to Mr. Carter Bowman, historian of the church, and Mary Kay Ricks, who advised me on Mt. Zion members and the slave trade vii in the District. Additionally, the staff and librarians at the Historical Society of Washington, The Alexandria Public Library, the National Archives in Washington, D.C, the Library of Congress, Decatur House, and the Architect of the Capitol have all contributed to the success of this work—I thank them all. My only regret is that my mother-in-law, Eve Hanke, did not live to see the completion of this dissertation. A woman who yearned to, but never finished her Associates degree, she loved to brag to her friends about her "smarty" daughter-in-law, and spent hours on the phone with me listening to the evolution of the story. In many ways, the manuscript is a testimonial to her positive attitude and tenacious spirit. To my husband, Tony Mann, possibly the most patient and understanding person I have ever known, your boundless enthusiasm over the years has navigated me through many a dark storm. I love you with all my heart. Vili TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ? ABSTRACT x CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. THEPRECIPICEOFSLAVERY 17 II. NOT THE SLIGHTEST EVIDENCE OF INSANITY AT THE TIME 50 III. AN EVOLUTION OF CONSCIENCE 96 IV. A DEATHBED PROMISE 136 V. MORAL LABRYNTHS AND LEGALITIES 176 AFTERWORD 230 APPENDIXI. GRAND JURY PROFILE 239 APPENDIX II. TRIAL JURY PROFILE 240 BIBLIOGRAPHY 241 ix ABSTRACT SLAVERY EXACTS AN IMPOSSIBLE PRICE: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE DORCAS ALLEN CASE, WASHINGTON, D.C. by Alison T. Mann University ofNew Hampshire, September, 2010 On August 22, 1837, a Georgetown resident sold Dorcas Allen and her four children to James H. Birch, a District of Columbia slave trader. He transported them across the Potomac to Alexandria, Virginia to hold them in the largest slave pen in the District. They faced, most likely, passage on a slave coffle to Natchez or New Orleans. That same evening Allen, who had married and been living unofficially in the District as a "free Negro" for a number of years, killed the two youngest children and was restrained from harming the others, after their terrified shrieks alerted someone nearby.
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