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Slavery Petitions

In 1835 president Andrew Jackson suggested that the Federal Government should have the right to withhold certain types of "slanderous" mail. He sent this bill to Congress.

John C. Calhoun, however, argued that the states should have the rights to withhold certain mail, not the Federal government. The two powerhouses were already still smoking from the nullification argument a couple of years before, and it’s fair to say they didn’t like each other.

This argument went on and on… into the public newspapers. The public finally decided they really didn’t want either group opening the mail and deciding what was appropriate – something we would likely agree with today. Neither bill passed.

Was it a classic state’s right argument? Actually it was, at the core, just as much about slavery.

Calhoun was incredibly offended at the slavery petitions coming into congress. He was afraid they would find their way into southern mail systems. Many of these petitions were political cartoons showing blacks being beaten by slave-owners. These petitions were being printed in mass by the newly invented steam press during a period where people hadn’t seen a great number of political illustrations or cartoons. It was highly effective propaganda for the abolitionist, and these visuals would eventually sink into the northern psyche if not the southern.

After Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, southern congressmen were rightly frightened at these political cartoons – which did not require literacy to understand their meaning. It was highly volatile. Both Jackson and Calhoun were against the petitions finding their way to the south, but they couldn’t agree on which branch of government should be charged with checking the mail. The public decided neither should (although most southern post offices did this on their own with no retribution).