The Pen Makes a Good Sword: John Forsyth of the Mobile Register
248
The Pen Makes a Good Sword: John Forsyth of the Mobile Register
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780817381745 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Alabama Press |
| Publication date: | 06/15/2009 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 248 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Pen Makes a Good Sword
John Forsyth of the Mobile Register
By Lonnie A. Burnett
The University of Alabama Press
Copyright © 2006 The University of Alabama PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-8174-5
CHAPTER 1
"The Great Son of a Noble Sire"
By the time John Forsyth Jr. penned his first editorial, five generations of his ancestors had already lived in America. Members of the Forsyth family first crossed the Atlantic in the late seventeenth century. James Forsyth, the first of the clan to immigrate to America, arrived from Scotland in 1680. In 1688 he received a land grant in Amelia County, Virginia. Scant evidence remains of the next two generations. However, James had at least one son (also named James) who, in turn, had a son named Matthew. Matthew's youngest son Robert (the grandfather of John Forsyth Jr.) began the more "distinctive" line of the Forsyth family. Born in Scotland in 1754, Robert came with his family to New England and, sometime before 1774, relocated to Fredericksburg, Virginia. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Robert joined the Continental Army, serving briefly as a captain in Colonel Henry ("Light-Horse Harry") Lee's Battalion of Light Dragoons. He eventually attained the rank of major and assumed responsibility for purchasing food for the Revolutionary Southern Army.
One of the more interesting notes to Robert Forsyth's Revolutionary War career involved a court martial proceeding against Lee. In September of 1779, Lee faced charges relating to his conduct during a march to Powles Hook. The eight specific counts ranged from "disorder and confusion" to "behaving in a manner unbecoming an officer and a Gentleman." In charge four, Lee was accused of placing Robert Forsyth in charge of a column instead of another office of senior rank. The court found that Lee acted properly as his action was "in consequence of Captain Forsythe's [sic] being well acquainted with the situation of the enemy." Forsyth soon resigned from Lee's battalion to take his place in the Virginia Militia. He received a personal letter from General Washington stating that he was "always sorry to lose a good officer."
After the war, Robert Forsyth returned to Fredericksburg. Around this time he married Fanny Johnston Houston (an aunt of Joseph E. Johnston of later Civil War fame). On 22 October 1780, Mrs. Forsyth gave birth to her second son — John, the father of John Forsyth Jr. In 1784 the family moved to Charleston and, the following year, claiming a land grant given in appreciation for his Revolutionary War service, Robert relocated to Augusta, Georgia. In 1786 local authorities named Robert to the board of commissioners for Augusta. After the formation of the new federal government, President George Washington, in the same communication in which he nominated John Jay as the nation's first chief justice, submitted Forsyth's name to the United States Senate for the position of marshal for the District of Georgia. Some of the responsibilities of this position included the apprehension of criminals, the conduct of public sales of seized property (including slaves), the direction of the first state census in the District of Georgia, and process serving. While performing the supposedly mundane latter duty, one Beverly Allen — a Methodist minister — on 11 January 1794, murdered Robert Forsyth. Convicted of the crime, Allen, while awaiting his punishment in jail, gained his freedom thanks to a group of armed men. The party fled to Texas, with Allen escaping justice. Congress, in another appreciative gesture, passed a bill entitled "An act to make provision for the widow and orphan children of Robert Forsyth, who was killed in the service of the United States." This legislation appropriated two thousand dollars for the education and support of the Forsyth family.
Only thirteen years of age when his father died, John Forsyth Sr. rose to be one of the most notable figures in the early history of the state of Georgia. The first known schooling of the future career-politician took place at Springer Academy in Wilkes County. Forsyth studied under John Springer, a Presbyterian minister. One of his classmates was William Harris Crawford, a future U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury under President James Monroe, and one of the four candidates in the presidential election of 1824. In 1799 Forsyth graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Forsyth returned to Georgia, where, after being admitted to the bar in 1802, he married Clara Meigs. Miss Meigs was the oldest daughter of Josiah Meigs, the first president of Franklin College (now the University of Georgia). The marriage produced eight children: Julia (1802), Mary (1807), Clara (1810), John Jr. (1812), Virginia (1818), Rosa and Anna (twins — 1823), and Robert (1826).
John Forsyth Sr.'s first public office came in 1808 when both houses of the state legislature elected him attorney general. By 1810, the senior Forsyth's ambitions led him to seek higher office. He launched an unsuccessful bid for election to the United States House of Representatives. In the campaign, his political opponents questioned Forsyth's loyalty to Jeffersonian republicanism. Apparently, Forsyth at one time had given the impression that he supported the Federalist policies of John Adams. This accusation, a curse in much of the antebellum South, resurfaced from time to time throughout Forsyth's career. When Howell Cobb resigned his seat in Congress, Forsyth tried once more (unsuccessfully) to enter the national body. After the 1810 census increased Georgia's representation from four to six members, Forsyth Sr. eventually won election to the body in October 1812. His national career actually began a few months earlier than planned because of a special session of Congress called for the purpose of addressing problems associated with international relations.
In 1818 the Georgia legislature promoted the young congressman to the U.S. Senate. Forsyth's first stint in the upper chamber lasted only a few months. Having served as the chairman of the House Committee of Foreign Relations, and being an unwavering supporter of the administration, President James Monroe named Forsyth as United States minister to Spain. Under the best of circumstances, this appointment was probably not a well-suited assignment for the Georgian. As one diplomatic historian noted, "His temperament and prejudices unfitted him for this mission." As a member of Congress, Forsyth had been a bitter critic of Spain and, like many Southerners, advocated military occupation of Florida. The domestic situation in Spain further complicated the nature of the mission. King Ferdinand VII faced a struggle with liberal factions in his nation and had to deal with increasing revolutions in the Spanish colonies. Obviously both sides lacked patience. On one occasion, Forsyth sent a written rebuke to the king, lecturing the monarch regarding duty to his own nation and to the world. This communication evoked a strong denunciation from Spain's foreign office and prompted demands for Forsyth's recall. In perhaps the senior Forsyth's only achievement of note during this period, the U.S. minister secured ratification of the Adams-Onis Treaty, which ceded Florida to the United States (1819). In an understatement, one historian noted that Forsyth "had not yet developed the suavity and tact for which he was later known." His biographer referred to this period as the "nadir of his career."
John Forsyth Sr.'s foreign assignment mercifully came to a close with his resignation — tendered after receiving the news that his state had returned him to Congress. From 1823 through 1827, Forsyth served in the lower chamber. In 1827, his legislative career was again interrupted — this time by his election as governor of Georgia. When Governor George M. Troup chose not to run for a third term in 1827, his party selected Forsyth as its candidate. His opponent in this race was Matthew Talbot, who died just days before Election Day. Probably the most significant issue during his tenure in the state capitol concerned relations with the Native Americans of the region. Forsyth, in his 1828 message to the state legislature protested the federal government's failure to remove them from Georgia. He urged the legislators to extend the state's authority over the Cherokee nation. The governor also found time to work on improvements in prisons, transportation, and education.
After one uneventful two-year term in the statehouse, the public servant returned to the Senate. Serving here continuously from 9 November 1829 to 27 June 1834, Forsyth played an active role in the most important debates of the "Age of Jackson." Much like his son years later, the senior Forsyth appeared, to his critics, to waiver on certain important issues. He was first sent to Congress as a strong champion of states' rights. For example, he had openly denounced the "tariff of abominations" in 1828 and had supported a challenge to the federal government in connection with removal of Native Americans from Georgia. Much to the dismay of many of his constituents, however, Forsyth took a strong unionist stance during the nullification crisis of 1832. One of the more notable debates in Georgia history took place at a tariff convention held in Milledgeville in 1832. One hundred and thirty-one delegates from sixty of the state's eighty counties met to discuss the tariff and nullification. Leading the nullifiers were prominent Georgians such as John M. Berrien and William H. Crawford. Fearing such a move would lead to a bloody civil war, Forsyth led the antinullification forces. For three days the two men — both known as fluent debaters — locked horns. After Forsyth's resolutions were rejected, he and fifty likeminded supporters walked out of the meeting. The remaining delegates passed resolutions against the tariff but stopped short of nullification. While Forsyth did vote against the Tariff Act of 1832 — feeling that it did not bring needed relief to the South — he led the opposition to nullification in Georgia and voted in favor of the compromise tariff of 1833 and was one of only two Southern senators to vote aye on the subsequent Force Bill. For these latter actions, he was denounced frequently and, on at least one occasion, burned in effigy. Forsyth defended his votes by stating, "I gave my aid to a great evil to avert the greatest of all evils — civil war."
Louis McLane resigned as President Jackson's secretary of state in 1834. Most likely as a reward for Forsyth's faithful support, Jackson appointed the Georgian to fill the post. Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren, kept Forsyth on board for his full four-year term. Several events and issues highlighted Forsyth's relatively uneventful cabinet years. The first of these involved the settlement of American claims against France. In an 1831 agreement, France had agreed to pay five million dollars to the United States as payment for damages sustained by American vessels during the Napoleonic wars. In return, the United States agreed to lower the import duties on French wines. The French leadership reneged on their obligation — feeling that the United States was too weak to press its grievance. Forsyth was instrumental in insisting on and securing the promised payments.
The second diplomatic issue centered on the admission of Texas into the union. This situation proved to be among the most controversial of the elder Forsyth's career. After the successful revolt against Mexico, representatives of the Lone Star Republic frequently sounded out the administration in Washington (including Secretary Forsyth) on the possibility of U.S. recognition and annexation. Much as he did in the aforementioned nullification controversy, Forsyth took a position contrary to the Southern mainstream. Although many in the South saw the acquisition of Texas as a chance to spread the slave economy, Forsyth consistently opposed both recognition and annexation. Due in part to his objections, the annexation issue was not resolved during his tenure as secretary of state.
A third issue related to sensitive negotiations with Spain over the resolution of the Amistad case. In June of 1839, while en route between two Cuban ports, the Spanish schooner Amistad was commandeered by its African slave passengers. The ship ended up off the shore of New York and eventually in New London, Connecticut. A controversy over possession of the ship and, more important, the status of the slave mutineers, soon ensued. John Forsyth Sr. found himself in the middle of competing interests — the Spanish officials who claimed the status of the ship and its passengers had not changed versus American factions (such as the abolitionists) who held that the slaves should now be freed. Forsyth, siding with the Spanish, felt that the United States had no legal authority over the disposition of the affair. A lengthy legal battle commenced, which would not be settled until after Forsyth left office. Forsyth had strong views regarding the institution of slavery. As a slaveholder, he saw a sinister plot in the abolition of the domestic slave trade. In his view, such a move would lead to three steps. First, Congress would prohibit slave transportation by land or sea from one state to another. The next step would involve a ban on the selling of slaves from one man to another within the same state, and finally, gradually usher in emancipation. The federal government would purchase the slave's freedom using money made from the sale of public lands or the surplus tax revenues.
With William Henry Harrison's defeat of Van Buren in 1840, John Forsyth's service in Washington came to a close. Ironically, criticisms of Forsyth helped the Whigs carry his native state. Forsyth's last public duty was to serve as an honorary pallbearer for Harrison, who died only a few weeks after his inauguration. Back home there was talk of a return to the Senate. Forsyth put out communications expressing his interest in such a course of action. All plans remained idle speculation as Forsyth himself became ill and died soon after on 21 October 1841 — one day short of his sixty-first birthday.
John Forsyth Jr. was born on 31 October 1812 — only three weeks after his father's first election to Congress. Quite literally, from the day he was born in Augusta, Forsyth found himself associated with public affairs — either through his father's or his own career. One can catch only small glimpses of his earliest years. The young Forsyth benefited from an education gained at the best schools of his home state, the North, as well as abroad. In 1828 he was enrolled in a prestigious boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts. In a foretaste of the future, Forsyth was selected to edit the school journal. After completion of his studies, he returned to Georgia to enroll in the state university. After a devastating fire in 1830 destroyed much of the small campus, Forsyth followed his father's path to Princeton, where he graduated (as class valedictorian) in 1832. One biographical sketch noted that Forsyth "enjoying unusual advantage, socially and scholastically ... turned them to great practical benefit." While this account might be somewhat overly romanticized, the writer is essentially correct. For example, at age eight, Forsyth joined his father in Spain, where he remained for two years. Certainly exposure to court life at such an impressionable age had a lasting impact on the young man.
After graduation, Forsyth returned once again to Georgia. He studied law in the office of Augustan Henry Cumming, gaining admittance to the Georgia bar in 1834. On 22 April of the same year, he married Margaret Hull, a native of South Carolina. The new couple moved to Columbus, Georgia, in 1834 and, in the following year, to Mobile, Alabama — there to establish his practice. The union produced two sons — John and Charles. Forsyth's first public position came in 1836 with the help of his influential father. Rumors circulating in the nation's capital held that the senior Forsyth was about to resign his post as secretary of state in protest over President Jackson's appointment of Amos Kendall as postmaster general. Forsyth Sr. flatly denied these reports. One Washington newspaper reported that Forsyth had been consulted before the appointment and had given his approval. Forsyth Sr.'s biographer noted that "a few months later, Jackson publicly showed his esteem for the secretary of state by appointing John Forsyth, Jr. to the office of United States attorney for the Southern District of Alabama."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Pen Makes a Good Sword by Lonnie A. Burnett. Copyright © 2006 The University of Alabama Press. Excerpted by permission of The University of Alabama Press.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments viiIntroduction: “The Pen Makes a Good Sword” 1
1. “The Great Son of a Noble Sire” 5
2. “What Rare Times We New Opposition Editors Will Have” 12
3. “We Are in a Fit of Disquiet” 31
4. “Cannot We Pause a Moment to Think of Our Country?” 57
5. “Sacrificed on the Altar of Duty” 75
6. The “Disturber” of the Democracy 97
7. “The Cause of the Union was Lost” 123
8. “The Zenith of Today Is the Nadir of Tomorrow” 145
Conclusion: “We Never Doubted Where John Forsyth Stood” 174
Notes 189
Bibliography 215
Index 229
Photographs follow page 117