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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1948 Lucian Minor, Cosmopolitan Virginia Gentleman of the Old School James Norman McKean College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation McKean, James Norman, "Lucian Minor, Cosmopolitan Virginia Gentleman of the Old School" (1948). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539624474. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-a5m5-sw85 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Caai«a Mta«ri mm/un a«lB*lt%«<s t* P artial m flilM irtt WWy■■ Akibi^;Wrni^m- ' ■ 'JW^^pB»'4PWI^F'tt Vfr^fc1.. aL’1 <*■ TUa Oallag* ' of VflUui aat Kary for tha aagraa «f K*atar af Aria Luolan Minor I Cosmopolitan Virginia Gentleman of the Old School Table of Contents I Prefatory 1 II The Minor Family in Virginia 9 III Fro® Birth to Manhood 15 IV The Early Thirties 50 V The Southern Literary Messenger 59 VI Journeys to the Vest 88 A ppendix MS Introduction to A Peep at Mew England A -l MS A Journey to the Vest in 1836 A -7 Bibliography V it a 1 I Prefatory Lucian Minor, a Virginia gentleman, changed a s c o m p le te ly during the decade of the eighteen-thirties as did th e n a tio n o f w hich he was a citizen* For over forty years the United S t a t e s had functioned as a fairly harmonious u n i t . Differences of opinion between sections had usually dissolved into agree­ ment, however grudgingly had been the granting and a c c e p ta n c e of concessions. The sun had arisen each m orning in the East and set in the Vest* Sporadic storm clouds had often threatened various regions of the young republic, but had crossed the sky and faded from view without releasing an engulfing deluge of s t r i f e . In Washington, the nation1© capital, the era of the "Virginia dynasty" was rapidly approaching its demise* Marking its death spasms was an unusual phenomenon. The newly r i s i n g sun of political strength was crossing the horizon from Vest t o E a s t. I t was a harbinger of the future. That which had b een sublimated in the placid past was soon to be ru d e ly uprooted, and altered. Mew storm clouds were to threaten th e e x is t e n c e o f th e expandingHew Vo rId democracy. A counterpart of this violent upheaval was the period of social reform, accentuating the newly revived "belief in the common man." Anti-slavery s o c i e t i e s , , tem perance s o c i e t i e s , and, many other reform organi­ z a tio n s were to afford each potential re fo rm e r a f i e l d of activity, w h ich i n broad enough scope might a f f e c t many segm ents o f th e population, I f not all of it. Virginia was affected as were all the states,, but many of the movements which became Important in other areas left the 2 Old Dominion untouched. Anti-sms onto elements were never strong. Anti-slavery forces were generally formed as colonisation societies, the impractical products of visionaries who were desperately seeking an alternative to the economic and social problems created by involuntary servitude. These movements at least faced active opposition. They were not forced to combat apathy, the problem which so beset the crusade so close to Klnorfs heart, the temperance movement. To many men,, as to Lucian Minor, this crusade took the form of a sem i-religious enterprise. Born in 1826 through the efforts of Abner Clopton, a rural Baptist minister, the temperance movement evolved into a statewide organisation within a decade. At first its advocates were drawn almost entirely from the clergy, but gradually teachers, lawyers, merchants, laborers, and others of all classes Joined the battle against intoxicating beverages.*^ In 1829 most of the Independant societies which had burgeoned forth were advocating a moderate use of hard liquor, the abolition of the Hsideboard decanter** from Its place In Virginia custom, and a voluntary opposition to candidates for public office who used alcohol In election campaigns. These attempts lacked the rallying point about which a crusade could be formed so it was necessary for the societies to adopt a total abstinence policy in order to remedy this weakness in their organisation. Half­ hearted attempts were doomed to failure. Total abstinence pro- 1 Lucian Minor, wThe Temperance Reformation in Virginia,** The Southern Literary Messenger. XVI (July 1850), 426- 4 3 8 . .................. 3 vided the only alternative to failure# By 1830 there were fifty-tw o total abstinence groups in Virginia, then © till lacking a statewide temperance organization. Very little but nmingled apathy, contempt, and derision1* greeted these early reformers, newspapers and prominent citizens, with but few exception®, chose to Ignore temperance. Too many people thought that these societies were combating a custom instead of crusading against an evil. Then too, there was the question of personal liberty. The freedom loving Virginians did. not car© to surrender their rights without Just cause. It was Indeed fortunate for the temperance leaders that the n e c e s s a r y c a u se was d is c o v e r e d , 11 s t a t i s t i c s.** Many p e r so n s became interested in temperance when they learned that the people of their state were ©pending five m illion dollar® a year for liquor, that fifteen of every sixteen pauper© bad rtbeen reduced1* by alcohol, and that over three thousand five hundred deaths annually could be traoed to the effects of intoxicants# Those figures applied only to Virginia. Obviously there was a need for action#^ Temperance then became a topic of conversation, the old custom of the sfsideboard decanter’* became a rarity, and a demand was heard for a statewide union of all temperance group® in the Old Dominion. Traditional usage and custom has thus giv©n way to the pressure of reform. In 1834 the first statewide assembly of temperance men and women was held in C harlottesville. 4 three 2 Minor, **Temperance Reformation,’1 the Southern Literary Messenger, XVI (July 1850), 429 ff* 4 day p itln g r it narked th e f i r s t m ajor m m ® in Virginia to establish a u n iv e r s a l temperance society. L ucian Minor was there when the session began October 30, 1834, and watched his good friend, John Hartwell Cocke,th e presiding officer, skillfully parry the attacks upon total abstinence" made by th e adherents of alcoholic “moderation.” This Charlottesville Convention of 1834,. ending har­ moniously,. became known in later years a s th e turning point in th e h is to r y of the Virginia temperance movement* It also had an immediateeffect on the delegates, for Cocke, also the president of th* national AmericanTemperance Union, had persuaded the Hew* Dr* du s t i n Edwards of Massachusetts and ISdward a. Del&van of Mew York C ity t o address the audience* The 180 delegates,, of whom but 37 were clergymen,, received a new view of the cause for which they were laboring.3 , The movement, despite the organisation this meeting had e f f e c t e d , languished in the later years cf th e decade,, being r e v iv e d in a d i f f e r e n t form when the hashingIonianmovement swept through Virginia. It was not the fault of the leaders t h a t th e y w ere u n a b le to develop a successful crusade i n 1 8 3 4 , but their neighbors were slow t o a c c e p t such a reform as tem­ perance. The religious fanaticism which had pervaded them had not yet been channeled into other movements such as that of temperance. When they were ready t© accept temperance,, organ­ isations for that already existed, the product of the zeal 3 Minor, “Temperance Reformation," The Southern Literary Messenger*. XVI (July 1850},. 431 5 of th© loaders of the eighteen-thirties* As such, the temperance movement was an important phase of the Jacksonian Era in V i r g in ia , Another crusade in which Minor was interested was that of public education. While this praiseworthy movement did not face apathy, it did face Ignorance and th© opposition of every A class of people. It was left to a few farseeing men, most of whom had observed the school Aystems of New England, to plead th© cause of wpopular education,* Th® opposition they faced was varied,. extending from th© farmer who did not wish to lose the physical services of his youth to th© rich landowner who did not wished to be taxed to educate the sons of poorer men. Many men, even well educated ones, believed that a free education would destroy the student*s initiative and make him less receptive to hard mental labor,5 Prison reform,, car® of paupers, and modern management of institutions for the handicapped were other causes in which Minor was Interested,.

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