COMMUNITY, HONOR, AND SECESSION IN THE DEEP SOUTH: MISSISSIPPI’S POLITICAL CULTURE, 1840s-1861 By CHRISTOPHER JOHN OLSEN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to acknowledge the assistance and support of many people during the completion of this project. In Jackson I owe a great debt to the staff of the Department of Archives and History who patiently found large boxes of manuscript election returns, sometimes more than once, and helped me with innumerable strange requests. In particular I would like to thank Victor and Tina Bailey for all their hospitality during my several trips to their city. Thanks also to those in the microfilm department and interlibrary loan office at the University of Florida. Their professionalism and diligence helped make a lengthy process less stressful. Several people have read earlier versions of one or more chapters and I appreciate their willingness to sacrifice the time and energy to do so. Jeffrey Adler and Jeffrey Needed read every chapter and offered both shrewd criticism and encouragement; their eagerness to wade through rough drafts was especially helpful. Also to Richard K. Scher, whose insight and congenial interest helped guide me through the waters of political theory. Thanks to Christopher Morris of the University of Texas-Arlington, whose comments often helped me to take a step back and see the big picture more clearly. Thank you to Kenneth Winkle of the University of Nebraska, who taught me how to exploit the computer and made some of the analysis in chapter 4 possible. My wife Jennifer also read every chapter and tried to sort out the worst of my grammatical problems. Thanks also to Daniel Stowell who helped edit, particularly the tables, and organize the 11 dissertation for printing. I owe a tremendous debt to my fellow graduate students, whose friendship and encouragement made this process not only possible but at times even fun. In particular Dutch, Mark, Snuggles, Brains, and Grandad—you know who you are. Certainly my greatest academic debts are to Ronald Formisano and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Since my first days in Gainesville they both offered inspiration and motivation. They read countless drafts and re-drafts of each chapter, as well as several other articles; their criticism and reassurance made the work much better, and convinced me that it might say something meaningful. That they have found my work competent is the greatest compliment I could receive. I will always appreciate not only their intellectual stimulation, but also their personal concern and generosity. Financial support came from the Department of History at the University of Florida. I also received several generous fellowships from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School. Thanks also to Bertram Wyatt-Brown who helped support several research trips to Mississippi. The entire faculty with whom I worked should receive my thanks for a challenging, yet supportive atmosphere. In particular Murdo MacLeod and Robert McMahon. Finally, I want to thank my family. My in-laws Robert and Janet Ross who have helped us for more than two years. And my wife Jennifer, whose love and friendship makes this all worthwhile. I hope she is as happy with her decision to spend our life together as I am with mine. Lastly, my parents. They have supported me in so many ways over the course of graduate school, and since they realized how long a process this would be, always encouraged me "to live a little" as well. I love them and I owe them everything. TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES viii ABSTRACT x INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTERS 1 MISSISSIPPI IN THE 1830s AND 1840s 19 2 THE CRISIS AND POLITICAL ALIGNMENT OF 1849-51 35 3 THE POLITICS OF ANTIPARTYISM 67 4 PARTISAN CONTINUUM: PATTERNS OF STATE AND LOCAL VOTING 105 5 POLITICS AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD 157 6 LOCAL POLITICS: MOBILITY, HIERARCHY, AND DEFERENCE . 207 7 KNOW NOTHINGS AND THE PARTY PERIOD IN ANTEBELLUM MISSISSIPPI 249 8 VIOLENCE, HONOR, AND THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF SECESSION 296 APPENDIX 332 IV BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 376 v LIST OF TABLES Table page 4-1 Estimated Turnout, 1848-1860 141 4-2 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1851 Governor and 1852 President 142 4-3 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1852 President and 1855 Governor 143 4-4 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1855 Governor and 1856 President 144 4-5 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1856 President and 1857 Governor 145 4-6 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1855 Governor and 1857 Governor 146 4-7 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1857 Governor and 1859 Governor 147 4-8 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1859 Governor and 1860 President 148 4-9 Estimated Relationships Between Voters: 1856 President and 1860 President 149 4-10 Variability of Partisanship in Selected Counties, 1847-1860 150 4-1 ' 1 1853 Seventh District Judge 151 4-12 Carroll County, 1853: Governor and County Treasurer 152 4-13 Claiborne County, 1853: Governor and County Treasurer 153 vi 4-14 Hinds County, 1849 and 1853: Governor and Sheriff 154 4- 4-15 5- Rates of Turnout, 1857-1860 155 16 Carroll County, 1851: Assessor and Probate Clerk 156 1 Amite County, 1855: Police District Four 202 5-2 Amite County, 1855: Police District Two 202 5-3 Carroll County, 1855: Police District One 203 5-4 Carroll County, 1855: Police District Two 203 5-5 Hinds County, 1849: Utica and Auburn Beat 204 5-6 Hinds County, 1855: Raymond and McManus' Store Beat 204 5-7 Hinds County, 1860 205 5-8 Bolivar County, 1860: County Treasurer 206 7-1 Marshall County, 1855 294 7-2 Carroll County, 1855 295 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 4-1 Carroll County, 1853: Governor and Treasurer 125 4-2 Claiborne County, 1853: Governor and Treasurer 126 4-3 Hinds County, 1849: Governor, Sheriff, Circuit Clerk 127 4-4 Hinds County, 1853: Governor and Sheriff 128 4-5 Madison County, 1843: Governor and Sheriff 129 6- 4-6 Carroll County, 1851: Governor, Assessor, Probate Clerk 137 7- 6-1 Jasper County, Precinct Candidates 230 6-2 Carroll County, Precinct Candidates 231 6-3 Hinds County, Precinct Candidates 232 6-4 Harrison County, Precinct Candidates 233 6-5 Claiborne County, Precinct Candidates 234 6 Amite County, Precinct Candidates 235 1 Carroll County, 1855: Governor, Circuit Clerk, Treasurer 273 7-2 Yazoo County, 1855: Governor, Probate Judge, Circuit Clerk 274 7-3 Hinds County, 1855: Governor and Sheriff 276 7-4 Madison County, 1851: Governor, Sheriff, Circuit Clerk 282 7-5 Madison County, 1855: Governor, Sheriff, Probate Clerk 283 viii 7-6 Madison County, 1858: Sheriff, Treasurer, Probate Clerk 284 7-7 Madison County, 1858: Sheriff and Circuit Clerk 285 7-8 Madison County, 1860: Sheriff and Surveyor 286 7-9 Tippah County, 1855: Governor, Sheriff, Circuit Clerk 287 IX Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy COMMUNITY, HONOR, AND SECESSION IN THE DEEP SOUTH: MISSISSIPPI'S POLITICAL CULTURE, 1840s-1861 By Christopher John Olsen May 1996 Chairman: Ronald P. Formisano Major Department: History In treating Mississippi secessionism, I argue that it was a popular crusade to vindicate the slaveholding South against northern "insults." Southerners were reacting, as they saw it, to years of northern moral and political condemnation that culminated in the establishment of an antislavery party, and worst of all the election of its candidate in 1860. Bound by the regional ethic of honor—the lingua franca of sectionalism— Mississippi voters challenged one another to defend their communities as they believed men were required by nature and God to do. Leaders invoked cultural values of masculinity and honor with unself-conscious conviction to unite one another for the safeguarding of their families, neighborhoods and ultimately their regional way of life. This set of deeply held convictions led to the fracturing of the Republic because of the state's localized political culture, centered in networks of "friends and neighbors." x These community bonds were driven by face-to-face transactions in which one's reputation and honor determined success. When community leaders defined the sectional controversy in terms of "craven submission" or "manly resistance," the charge of docile acquiescence was meant to be personally humiliating. Not to defy northern aggression signified disgrace before one's family, friends and neighbors, and ultimately political and personal ruin. Secession, then, was not engineered by planters fearful of slave incendiarism or crafty politicians but rather represented the natural interaction of southern honor, visceral anger, and Mississippi's antiparty, community-based political culture. Political parties of a modern tenor, with their bureaucratic machinery and set of candidates whom the voters personally did not know or trust, were alien to the language and style of manliness and honor. In Mississippi, neither Whigs nor Democrats ever achieved a widespread following or captured the emotional allegiance of more than a tiny fraction of white men. Thus, I take issue with historians who consider the "second party system" a coherent, stable structure defined by ideology or consistent partisans. Rather the than well-traveled ground of partisan ideology and national or state issues, I place new emphasis on the purely local nature of political conflict and discover "what politics meant” to ordinary Mississippians, that is, their direct appreciation of neighborliness and blood relations in making political choices. xi INTRODUCTION Since the 1970s southern historians have generally suggested that divisions within the South, rather than a clash between two oppositional cultures, contributed significantly to the drive toward secession and Civil War.