The Fourth of July, and $15,000

In 1835, the events in Canaan presented its citizens with a choice. They could do what they knew was right, and support the abolition of slavery. Or they could do what they knew was right and hold the country together.

Seeing as how they were both right, they both felt free to use the symbolism of our very new country to bolster their cases.

Untitled, Gary Hamel

At the opening of his chapter on Noyes. Wallace lays out the story of Noyes Academy much as the founders presented it. They, good-hearted men with wonderful intentions, were overcome, on the Fourth of July with the Spirit of the Declaration of Independence. All Men Are Created Equal! Swept away by patriotic emotions, they decided that Noyes would be integrated.

Page 253

In the early part of 1834 several energetic citizens of Canaan, and prominent among them was the lawyer, George Kimball, procured subscriptions sufficient to build a house, and to buy half an acre of land, for grounds. […]

Application was made to the legislature for a charter which was granted July 4, 1834, to Samuel Noyes, George Kimball. Nathaniel Currier, George Walworth and John H. Harris, as incorporators of Noyes Academy.

The charter provided for the “education of youth.” That the corporation could hold estate not to exceed $15,000, […]

On the 4th of July it occurred to some of the enthusiastic and philanthropic donors of the institution, to propose having it established, as they said, “upon the principles of the Declaration of Independence,” whereby its privileges and blessings should be open to all pupils without distinction of color, coming with suitable moral and intellectual recommendations.

That’s a nice story that contains an obvious fiction and Wallace goes on to point it out as the chapter progresses.

It did not simply “occur” to some of the founders that Noyes should be an integrated school. Noyes was planned as an integrated school from its inception.

We can be confident of this in a number of ways. The first is that in addition to the Canaan abolitionists, the trustees of the school consisted of a Black man and several leaders of the new abolitionist movement. It would be unusual for that collection of people to come together to form a school and then just happen on the notion of educating Blacks.

The second hint that the founders knew what they were doing from the jump is that bit about the corporation being able to hold estate valued at $15,000. There was an established prize of $15,000 published before the founding of Noyes that was to be awarded to the first integrated school in the country.

This was a fabulous sum of money, over half a million dollars in today’s terms. That sum was one of the reasons that the school’s founders allowed themselves to dream so grandly about the institution they were establishing.

Wallace himself discusses the prize later in the chapter:

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It is possible, that the action of the trustees, inviting “colored youth,” to partake of the benefits of the Academy, might have had its origin in a desire to secure to itself the benefits of the fund which several philanthropic gentlemen had set apart for the education of “colored youth,” but certain it is, that some two years before the establishment of “Noyes Academy” efforts were commenced for the establishment of a Manual Labor School, somewhere in New England, to promote the improvement of the free people of color. Several thousand dollars, the sum was stated as high as $15,000, were subscribed and several places were recommended as suitable for such an undertaking. […]

When this decision [to admit black pupils] was announced, as it was by the trustees in their circular of the 11th of September, it was decided that the subscription with all its patronage, should be bestowed upon Noyes Academy, thus securing to it a permanent fund and placing its success beyond a doubt.

The funders backed out after the Academy was destroyed in August of 1835.

Noyes Academy was always going to be an integrated school. And everyone alive at the time knew it. They knew the politics of the founders. But the founders created a fiction that, on July 4, 1834 they were moved by the spirit of the Declaration of Independence to integrate the school.

They created the fiction because it provided more favorable ground from which to mount a defense. By citing the Declaration of Independence, they were citing specifically those five words that have defined our country from that moment to this:

All men are created equal.

Americans believe this. We’re proud of it. It’s probably the only thing we all agree on. All men are created equal. Where we argue is about who to include in the category All men.

The men who originally wrote the words owned slaves, or at least most of them did. When they wrote All men are created equal, they meant all white men. They just forgot to write that down. It was assumed. They also never thought that women would be included in that All men thing.

We don’t think about the Fourth of July as being a celebration of all men being equal. But the citizens of New England in 1834 thought about it a lot. Take a moment to imagine yourself alive in those days. Your parents’ generation saw the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Oh, they also fought the Revolutionary War. We still revere that generation.

If you were old enough to fight in 1776 (say 15?), in 1834, you would be 72. Those guys were still around. And you were still filled with pride over what they accomplished. Your parents fought for and founded a country! And one based on the grandest notion imaginable. All men are created equal.

The abolitionists put their arms around All men and never let go. This was their rallying cry and has been the rallying cry of every marginalized group since. Those words have made America bearable through some very trying times. If everyone really believes that we’re all equal, then everyone has a chance to make their case. Those words open vast possibilities.

So the founders of Noyes Academy wrapped themselves in the spirit of The Fourth when they announced to the world that this school would be the place where they proved that indeed, ALL men were created equal.

But there is another meaning of July 4th. July 4th was when the United States of America pledged fealty to one another and declared themselves a new country, independent of England.

Untitled, Gary Hamel

John Adams, wrote to his wife Abigail about the meaning of the Fourth. But he imagined the holiday would be celebrated on the 2nd, when the Declaration was approved by Congress rather than July 4th, the date printed on the document:

The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

In colonial New England, this was interpreted literally; the Fourth was celebrated with huge bonfires, cannons, and rifle salutes. This is a more martial celebration and one we continue today with fireworks, patriotic parades, and military flyovers.

The opponents of Noyes Academy were in no way prepared to cede the moral high ground of July 4th to abolitionists. The Fourth of July was when the citizens of America pledged themselves to one another as a new country. They were of the firm opinion that you didn’t celebrate the unity of America by pointing out the great glaring failure of All men that was chattel slavery.

The opponents of Noyes Academy knew what everyone else in the country knew; if the North pushed the issue of slavery, then that was the end of this new country which was at the time, 58 years old. The opponents of the school celebrated July 4th 1835, by trying to destroy Noyes Academy. Wallace writes:

Page 268

I will incorporate part of a letter dated July 15, 1835, relating to the movements of the allied forces of Canaan, Enfield, Dorchester and Hanover.

Can we pause for a moment and admire Wallace’s snark. Wallace was writing after the Civil War during which people became accustomed to the movements of genuine allied forces rather than the “Movements of the allied forces” of several inconsequential New Hampshire towns.

The letter says:

On the 4th of July the “Jacobins,” we call them “Jac’s” from old

Jacob, their leader, held a caucus in the hall of E. Martin, to concert measures for the ejectment of Kimball, Scales and the blacks from this town. In the meantime a large number of persons from this and adjoining towns had collected, and waited to hear the result of their deliberations. They thronged the street and fields of Canaan, clamorous and excited.

Jacob Trussell and his compatriots had announced a riot to be held in Canaan, July 4th, 1835. The leaders met on Canaan Street to discus the details of the plan while prospective rioters milled around town.

At last the hall door was thrown open, and out came old Campbell, Daniel Pattee and sons, old Kinney, &c, &c, who proceeded immediately to the Meeting House, where Joseph L. Richardson, a man of fame and years, harraugued them from the deacon’s seat.

He told them of his love for the whole human race, of his indefatigable exertions in the Legislature […] He spoke of rights and equity, of public nuisance and mobs, he deprecated any coercive measures on the part of any people.

In fine, the tender sympathies of the multitude were touched by the glowing imagery of this great and far famed man. May he live to a good old age and always imagine himself quelling mobs.

Emerging from their meeting, Trussell and Co. brought the prospective rioters to the Meeting House, where they were treated to a patriotic speech by an old and revered citizen in which he reminded them to exercise peaceful intent while tearing down the school. They were to remember that they acted in goodness and accord themselves as decent men. During the riot. On the Fourth.

The fact is, the people had met on the Fourth, as notice had been previously given for the purpose of tearing down the Academy. But they did not do it.

A procession was formed at the hotel headed by Ben Porter and marched to the academy; an attempt was made to enter, when several gentlemen who were, unexpectedly by the mob, inside, hoisted a window, and proceeded to take the names of the leaders.

The crowd dispersed as speedily as possible, muttering curses and menaces, and adjourned for one week.

So the Fourth was celebrated by each side in successive years. Eventually, they both won. Slavery ended and the Union held. And almost no care was given to what was to become of the former slaves.

Suffrage and Temperance

Each week, I visit Gary Hamel’s studio and we discuss what works might be included in the blog. This week, Gary showed me a painting of the mother of Lueulla Huse. I was immediately captured by the work, but couldn’t figure out how it might relate to the blog. As Gary told me about the painting, I learned that Lueulla Huse was a well-known suffragette whose mother was from Orange, New Hampshire. This image is of her mother, who Gary painted many years ago from an old photograph. So, it is connected to the blog! At least tangentially.

In reading about the era of Noyes Academy, I was surprised by the overlap between the abolitionist movement and the movement for women’s suffrage. The same people who were standing to end slavery were also standing for the rights of women. They stood as well for temperance.

The fight for the rights of Blacks and women were part of the larger expansion of the category All men. Women got the right to vote in 1920. Blacks, functionally, didn’t get the vote until Lyndon Johnson’s Voting Rights Act, but the Civil War did end slavery.

The temperance movement linked up through women’s rights. It is hard to fathom the amount of drunkenness considered absolutely fine in 1835. It was common for men in cities to drink their wages leaving their wives and children to fend for themselves. Drink has always inspired some men towards violence; women and children were the typical recipients.

We think of prohibition as a puritanical kill-joy spirit that was overcome in swanky night clubs by snazzy men with machine guns and great music. But in its origins, it was a movement of the descendants of real Puritans pushing for women’s rights. In this case, the right to safety and security.