Abolition and the Birchard Brothers
In a letter to her brother Sardis, Sophia Hayes (Rutherford’s mother) relayed her displeasure that the local Methodist Church in Delaware, Ohio was presenting a series of “abolitionist lectures” that month (February, 1838). To her the subject of slavery elicited so much excitement that “the over zealous (sic) of all parties commit more errors than they are able to repair in the remainder of their lives well spent.” Instead, she hoped that all would be “kept quiet,” and presumably leave her in peace. This statement feels both appalling and familiar all at the same time. Of course ending slavery was a noble and just cause, yet in this political climate of 2021 hearing about Sophia not wanting to be bothered with political excitement feels understandable.
Yet her hope of hiding from politics, especially this subject, must have been frustrating. Widowed in 1822 shortly after moving from Vermont to Ohio, she relied on her younger brother Sardis, who also made the trip to the Old Northwest, to help raise her kids. Sardis, who was active within the Whig party and was an avid anti-abolitionist, had a huge impact on Rutherford to follow the same path. In fact, Sophia complained to Sardis about her 13-year old son for “think[ing] too much about politics for one so young.” Two years later, while Rutherford was enrolled at Isaac Webb’s Preparatory School in Middleton, Connecticut, he visited his family in Vermont and wrote back to Sardis that they “tried to make an Abolitionist of me, but that would not work.” It seems Sardis left an indelible mark on his young nephew. In fact, Rutherford felt so comfortable in the shared belief with Sardis that he felt no reservation to ridicule his other relatives: “They all thought that Mr. Webb’s [Preparatory School] would be a good place for [my cousin] George, but when I told them there was not an abolitionist in school, oh! horrible! They’d as soon send him to a lion’s den!!”
The politically charged subject of abolitionism was the primary political topic in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. While abolition simply meant ending slavery, the abolitionist movement contained different connotations. When abolitionists took a “radical” step in the early-nineteenth century and connected the ending of slavery to the logical next step of attacking racism itself, most Americans were unwilling to support the movement. In fact, abolitionists were often at odds with another anti-slavery organization called the American Colonization Society that believed a post-slavery America could only exist after all former slaves were sent to Africa. The divorcing of ending slavery from a need to end racism made this colonization movement more palatable to most.
Abolitionism was also associated with “mob violence.” Moderate anti-slavery advocates, like the preeminent Kentucky Congressman Henry Clay, resented their unruly behavior. He, instead, believed in a gradual emancipation of slaves that would not result in massive violence. Even Abraham Lincoln commented that Americans were caught up in “wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of the courts.”
This politically charged moment in American history produced individuals who were unable to “keep quiet,” much to the chagrin of Sophia Hayes. In fact, two of those individuals happened to be her brothers. While Sardis, who showed an aversion to abolitionism, was not shy with his views, Sophia’s older brother Austin, who remained in New England, proved to be just as vocal on the other side. And, while he did not have the direct impact on young Rutherford as Sardis, Rud still looked up to him as a source of inspiration. Hayes commented in his journal,
My uncle Austin Birchard is a most excellent man. His talents and industry with the aid of better advantages for education in early life would have given him a high rank in whatever pursuit he might have engaged. In fact, though deprived of early discipline and shut out by deafness from one great source of improvement, he has notwithstanding acquired a reputation for political information and sagacity, and energy and success in his business which belongs to few men in his section of the country. I enjoyed myself very much in his company. The reflection that constantly urged itself upon me while conversing with him was: 'If Uncle could accomplish so much with so little encouragement, and held back by his infirmity, what ought I not to accomplish with so great assistance and motive as I have always had?'
The diverging views from these two uncles provides a great context to explore how the topic of abolitionism was discussed in this family. And, coincidentally, at the time that Rutherford was visiting his family in Vermont, Sardis and Austin shared an interesting exchange on the subject. This interaction between Rutherford’s two uncles hints at how geography (Sardis in Ohio, and Austin in Vermont) helped mold opinions. It tells us a lot about America’s struggle with this subject in the moment of Hayes’s adolescence. And, it gives us insight into two men who had a direct impact on the eventual 19th president. (Click here for a transcription of the letter.)