1835 Andrew Jackson - The Trial of Reuben Crandall: Prosecuting an Abolitionist for Sedition

In 1835, Francis Scott Key, Andrew Jackson's US Attorney for the District of Columbia prosecuted Reuben Crandall on the grounds of seditious libel for knowingly publishing and circulating anti-slavery material.  Crandall's arrest took part during what is known as the Snow Riot when a lynch mob attacked free blacks in Washington D.C during the summer months of 1835.  When Arthur Brown, an inebriated slave came into his mistress Anna Thornton's bedroom with an axe, it sent fears of slave rebellion throughout the city. Despite no harm to the mistress, mobs of whites wreaked havoc on anything affiliated with free blacks including Beverly Snow's Epicurean Eating House. After Arthur Brown was arrested, the pro-slavery forces turned their attention to Reuben Crandall the man they believed was leading the distribution of abolitionist materials in Washington. Francis Scott Key vigorously prosecuted Crandall under the standard of dangerous "tendency" defined in a set of penal codes in the District of Columbia that were never formally adopted. Penal codes, that Andrew Jackson seems to be endorsing in his 1835 State of the Union Address.

There is much literature describing the events of the Snow Riot in 1835, and the trial of Rueben Crandall, but much less attention is paid to the role the Jackson administration in it. Francis Scott Key was not only an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but he became a trusted advisor and a member of Jackson's "kitchen cabinet". As a reward for his support, Jackson appointed Key to the position of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1833.  Also in 1833, Congress considered the Code of laws for the District of Columbia that included a provision that made it criminal to knowingly publish and circulate written material "among the free black or slave population of this district, tending to excite a discontented or insurrectionary spirit".  Any such person accused of doing so, if proven would be arrested and jailed without bail until a trial is held.  If convicted, the individual "shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than two, not more than seven years". If the materials led to an actual rebellion, then the crime was considered a capital offense.  Though never adopted, the codes accurately represented the current legal practice in the District of Columbia in 1833, and the legal system under which Attorney Francis Scott Key prosecuted Reuben Crandall.

There is plenty of speculation why Key would prosecute a suspected abolitionist with so much zeal. One argument is that Key was just defending the district from materials that were putting the safety of its residents at risk. While there was no evidence that Crandall was a member of any abolitionist organization, he was in possession of several pamphlets that were endorsed with the words "please read and circulate". A second argument is that abolitionists organizations like the American Anti-Slavery Society founded in 1833 was pulling away members and contributions from the Colonization society of which Key was a member.  Finally, there were political motives at play. The 1836, presidential campaign had already begun, and Jackson's Democratic party feared the loss of southern voters who thought their candidate Martin Van Buren was soft on abolitionists. By vigorously prosecuting this case, Francis Scott Key could prove that the Jackson administration and the Democrats were tough on anti-slavery and ready to protect the South. Such actions would be right in line with those of Jackson’s Postmaster General, Amos Kendall who sided against abolitionists and refused to deliver publications from them in the South. Jackson, himself called these materials, "inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves".

This political argument seems to best explain Jackson's seemingly random comments in his 1835 State of the Union address. In one breath the President both recommends "the extension of every political right to the citizens" of the District of Columbia and the adoption of some modifications to the penal code.   At first glance, it seems to support more freedoms for free blacks, but ot does not take much stretch of the imagination to believe that the "uniformity" that Jackson was recommending was one that codified the informal laws that his US Attorney was basing his prosecution of Rueben Crandall on. Today, these words may seem out of context, but they were delivered just four months after the Snow Riot, and less than one month before a Grand Jury found a five-count true bill of charges against Crandall including an indictment that he published "false ,malicious, seditious, and inflammatory" libel among the slaves and free blacks of the District. These are words taken right out of the code of laws that were considered by Congress in 1833, but not yet approved. Thus, at the time Jackson's State of the Union address was being written, his trusted advisor and US Attorney for Washington was compiling his case against Crandall and would need uniform laws to prosecute Rueben Crandall.

From Jackson's 1835 State of the Union Address, Jackson was on hand calling for political rights of all citizens of Washington, but on the other hand caving in to the pro-slavery south.

"I earnestly recommend the extension of every political right to the citizens of this District which their true interests require, and which does not conflict with the provisions of the Constitution. It is believed that the laws for the government of the District require revisal and amendment, and that much good may be done by modifying the penal code so as to give uniformity to its provisions."

Francis Scott Key lost his case when a jury deliberated for less than one hour and reached a verdict of "Not Guilty" serving as an embarrassment not only for Key but for the Jackson administration. Rueben Crandall was set free, but during his incarceration in the District of Columbia, he contracted tuberculosis and died in early February 1838.

References

Seventh Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. Presidency.ucsb.edu. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seventh-annual-message-2. Published 2021.

Trial of Reuben Crandall. Mtsu.edu. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1606/trial-of-reuben-crandall. Published 2021. Accessed February 19, 2021.

Kramer, N. (1980). The Trial of Reuben Crandall. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 50, 123-139. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40067812