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1831 Charleston, SC stampless NULLIFICATION CRISIS THREATENS Civil War - WOW
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1831 Charleston, SC stampless NULLIFICATION CRISIS THREATENS Civil War - WOW
Price: US $618.00
Postal History 1831 Charleston, South Carolina stampless folded letter - Nullification Crisis Threatens Civil War !!
Grave of Harriott Pinckney — she was born on the 17th of Dec. in the year 1776, in the dawn of the National Glory and died 15th March 1866, at the close of a new Revolution. It had been for the blessing of many God accorded her length of days. In the prosperity of her long and beautiful life she would have included all her friends. They loved her for her warm heart, her sunny temper, her unfailing sympathy. They loved her for her happy nature in which there was much of heaven.

This terrific and historic 1831 Charleston, South Carolina stampless folded letter was written by Harriott Pinckney (1776-1866), the daughter ofGen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney(1746-1825) and Sarah Middleton (1756-1784). [Note: This isnotthe same Harriott Pinckney (1748-1830) who married Daniel Horry in 1768; that was her aunt — the daughter ofHon. Charles Pinckney.]

Harriott wrote the letter to her nephew, Charles] Cotesworth Pinckney, Jr. (1812-1898), the son of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney — a Charleston planter who served as lieutenant governor of South Carolina, 1832-1834. Charles C. Pinckney, Jr. graduated from South Carolina College in 1831 and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1836. He served St. James, Santee (near McClellanville, S.C.); Christ Church (Greenville, S.C.); and Grace Episcopal Church (Charleston, S.C.).

The letter speaks of the excitement in Charleston caused by the Nullification Crisis that threatened civil war. Harriott and her sister Maria shared the sentiments of those who objected to the Tariff of 1828, believing it to be unconstitutional, and promoted the idea of “nullifying” the tariff in South Carolina. They organized into what would become the States’ Rights and Free Trade Party. Others, who feared the crisis would lead to civil war, were called Unionists by most but derisivelycalled “submissives” by the ardent “nullifiers.” Andrew Jackson took office, the nullifiers felt certain that he would overturn the tariff. When he did not, an open rift erupted between Jackson and his Vice President, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

The letter also refers to the patriotic banner described in the footnote below.

TRANSCRIPT


Addressed to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Jr., Esq., Pendleton, S.C.Postmarked Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston [South Carolina]
August 1st 1831

We were very happy to find that it was your intention to have paid us a visit as we were really disappointed at not seeing you at Palmetto Lodge, my dear Cotesworth, & it was through you we intended thanking your father for the trouble he took in giving directions &c. When we found you had left Beaufort, we determined on writing our thanks, but the irresistible Governor [James Hamilton] — the Banner — & poor Richard’s illness & deathjust at the time must plead my excuse (as you recollect I am secretary( & since we have recovered from the bustle, the heat has prevented my doing anything but read the newspapers except writing to Tom from whom I received four letters before I could persuade myself to give him an account of the 4th [of July celebration]. ¹ The moment the proceedings were published, he sent for three dozen to distribute among our friends & two copies were dispatched to Pendleton for your Father & you.

If you have not been already informed, you may be anxious to know why the Banner is presented from this house. The day after our arrival, the Governor [Hamilton] called who, after some flattering speeches to Maria ² said, the States Rights Party wished a Banner delivered by her on the 4th [of July]. To this my sister immediately objected saying it would render her too conspicuous for that she had been much more so than she ever intended. He still urged it saying he would take care that there should be nothing of the kind & that she must recollect that she was now identified with the party. His solicitations were expressed with so much eloquence, grace, & enthusiasm that Maria said she would compromise the matter so far that the standard should be presented from this house in the name of the State Rights Ladies & that it must not be mentioned when the account was given at our house, but at the late residence of a distinguished patriot. To this the Governor agreed when he found her so determined not to deliver it herself.

Nearly two hundred ladies were invited & I imagine from the number assembled most of them came. But e’er this you have seen Mrs. Prislean who was here & has no doubt given you an account of everything that passed, & all the disputes relating to the comparative merits of the ____ about or Pavilion, & the Cowpen alias Union Bower, from lady subs [submissives] who were invited. They had no idea of giving their sanction to disunion & civil war. S. R. & H. H. were both very determined, tho’ very different. The former all mildness — at least when she converses with us, the other even more violent than usual. It was curious to hear their different recounts ofCol. [William] Drayton‘s Oration. S. R. (who has always been very partial to her friends husband) said there were a few sentences that were eloquent — every word of it. We send you a copy that you may be the umpire. Last night here before your grandmother & [ ] Lownes she said on our making some remarks, she thought out p[ ] wouldn’t like it — it was too refined — too pure — the English too good for a party who talked of raw-heads& bloody bones, tho submissionists are so proud of Col. Drayton’s desertion to them that Maria received three copies of the Oration before Mr. Drayton or her evenknew that it was published & one of the notes was so amusing that S. R. laid violent hands on it to read it to them. We have not seen a single gentleman who has read it, or at least who will own it. Ladies, you know, are not so much afraid of venturing their opinion.³

I wish your father who is not averse to calculation would answer that part. There would be speeches of how little the planters lose by the protecting duty [tariff]. He gives neither blankets, summer clothes, pots, locks or carpenters tools which are necessary or they must eat their food undressed & live in dirt houses. There is also a duty on sugar. Molasses was only reduced last year which is most fortunate for us as we are to give it instead of rum. I wish your father could have seen the long faces & have heard all the comments on the subject. He would have been amused. I wish he — Col. [William] Drayton, I mean — had a plantation to worry him a little & know all their wants. If he had one, the old & young who did not work in the field would be sans culte & sans petticoat. Besides his desertion, I cannot forgive his want of candor & seeking to blind the people for he must know that if Caroline was to interpose her state of sovereignty, the President would be powerless in spite of his two frigates, standing army & militia.

As you take the[Charleston] Mercury, you must have observed the formation of this new society which has been like the death blow to the subs [submissionists]. You can judge from the alarm expressed in theCourierwe exchanged papers with Dr. Manning, every day is nearly as violent as Herriott, tho he does not express himself exactly the same. She calls our excellent[Governor James] Hamiltonan agitator & does not spare any of our great men — not even[George] McDuffie. I wish we could see a little more of the Vice President [John C. Calhoun]. How shamefully Maria’s old favorite hides.

I have scarcely left room to beg remembrance to all your family. In particular, I shall not be grieved if your mother becomes tired of Pendleton though I cannot wish her another fit of the fever to make her So. Carolina. I am convinced will not like it very long. I think my two young favorites will enjoy it more than any of the family. Why didn’t you write them & I wish you had said something of poor Mr. Thomas & Miss Drayton.

Eliza has a grandson &…

In affection. Adieu & believe yours very affectionately, — H. P.

1790’s coat worn by Harriott’s father, Gen. C. C. Pinckney

¹ The 4th of July celebration in Charleston in 1831 began with a long procession for the States Rights and Free Trade (nullifiers). The procession stopped in front of the East Bay mansion of the late Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825), “a revolutionary war hero who had coined the phrase so enthusiastically adopted by the nullifiers as their motto: ‘Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute.’ From the bacony a banner was presented, in the names of Pinckney’s three daughters, with the motto inscribed in gold. One of the Pinckney daughters, Maria, became such a raoffer nullifier that she christened the house, ‘Nullification Castle.\'” [The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston, by Maurie D. McInnis, page 80]

³ Maria Henrietta Pinckney (1782-1836) was Harriott’s sister, and the oldest daughter of Gen. CharlesCoatesworth Pinckney. Maria published a pamphlet entitled “A Political Catechism” in Charleston in 1830 in which she explored the question of State Sovereignty and the Nullification Question.

³ Former South Carolina Governor George McDuffie spoke out against the Unionists who feared civil war with the following speech, ddelivered on 19 May 1831: “The Union, such as the majority have made it is a foul monster, which those who worship, after seeing its deformity, are worthy of their chains.” Revolution involved danger. But “shall we be frightened by mere phantoms of blood, when our ancestors, for less cause, encountered the dreadful reality? Great God! are we the descendants of those ancestors; are we freemen; are we men — grown men — to be frightened from the discharge of our most sacred duty, and the vindication of our most sacred rights, by the mere nursery tales ofrawheads and bloody bones, which even the women of our country laugh to scorn?”

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