1 ONLINE MODERN HISTORY REVIEW, December 1992
2 -------------------------------------------
3
4
5 Erving, E. Beauregard
6
7
8 ROBERT HANNA--THEORETICAL TERRORIST
9 IN ABOLITIONISM AND ANTIMASONRY
10
11
12 --------------------------------------
13
14
15 The United States of America in the nineteenth century
16 harboured movements filled with passion and arousing counterrage;
17 at one end of the political stage stood the antislavery advocates
18 William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, whose thunderous
19 orations moved men and women to the cause; at the other end stood
20 the antimasons, William H. Seward and Thaddeus Stevens, who waged
21 a more ephemeral, but yet momentarily effective, onslaught
22 against the secrecy and presumed power of the Freemasons. In the
23 charged and passionate atmosphere of the time, combining fervent
24 abolitionism and uncompromising antimasonry was an uncommon
25 occurrence, yet one extraordinary crusader--Robert Hanna--joined
26 combat for both on the local, state, and national scenes.
27
28
29 Historiography, sadly, has neglected Hanna. This is true of
30 works on abolitionism by such writers as Gilbert H. Barnes,
31 Dwight Lowell Dumond and Louis Filler.+1+ Hanna also has escaped
32 recognition by scholars of antimasonry, including Charles
33 McCarthy, William Preston Vaughn, and George Hubbard
34 Blakeslee.+2+
35
36
37 Robert Hanna was born in 1800 at Green Township, Harrison
38 County, Ohio. For several years he laboured on the family farm,
39 but in 1819 his father concluded that Robert should receive an
40 education in preparation for a professional career. Thus he was
41 enrolled at newly founded Alma Academy, New Athens, Harrison
42 County, Ohio.+3+ Under the guidance of the Reverend John Walker,
43 the Academy's founder and pioneer Associate Presbyterian
44 missionary in eastern Ohio, Hanna was immersed in the Bible and
45 the Declaration of Independence, immortal masterpieces which,
46 Walker impressed on his charge, faced "critical onslaughts from
47 the minions of the Evil One," i.e., slaveowners and
48 Freemasons.+4+
49
50
51 In 1821, Hanna enrolled at Jefferson College, Canonsburg,
52 Pennsylvania. Very soon double disappointment gripped him; his
53 encounters with the sons of slaveowners and Freemasons scarred
54 his freshman year. In letters to his brother, he described the
55 sons of slaveowners "as strutting peacocks who delighted in
56 praising that heinous institution, slavery."+5+ The sons of the
57 Freemasons he labelled "terrible poseurs" and acidly remarked
58 they "hypocritically asserted that their fathers and relatives
59 belonged to that most human order, Freemasonry, which most self-
60 sacrificingly advances the cause of mankind."+6+ At the end of
61 his unhappy freshman year Hanna decided to abandon Jefferson
62 College. However, his father prevailed upon him to remain one
63 more year. When that expired, Hanna gladly left.+7+
64
65
66 In 1822, Hanna enrolled at Greeneville College; affiliated
67 with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the institution was located
68 in eastern Tennessee, an area unfriendly to slavery. At
69 Greeneville Hanna felt much more at home. He thought well of the
70 Greeneville faculty, but none had the fascination for him as had
71 the Reverend John Walker at Alma Academy.+8+ Many of his
72 classmates shared his antislavery ideas; however, some were
73 indifferent on the issue and, characteristically, Hanna attempted
74 to bring them over to his side. Inevitably, Hanna also broached
75 his antimasonic outlook to fellow students, but this matter drew
76 less response for few were cognizant of Freemasonry or secret
77 orders in general.
78
79
80 After receiving the Bachelor of Arts in 1824 Hanna set on a
81 legal career under the critical eye of Chauncey Dewey at Cadiz,
82 Harrison County, Ohio. A graduate of Union College,
83 Schenecdtady, New York, Dewey was a distinguished lawyer whose
84 learning and activity impressed Hanna. Nevertheless, the latter
85 did not kowtow to his mentor on one issue--slavery. Dewey upheld
86 the gradual abolition of slavery and compensation to the
87 slaveowners whereas Hanna demanded immediate abolition and no
88 reparation to slaveowners; indeed, Hanna insisted that the
89 slaves, once freed, should be indemnified for their bondage
90 through fines levied on their ex-masters. Hanna's zeal
91 occasionally irritated the gentlemanly Dewey, but he continued to
92 tutor his promising student.+9+
93
94
95 Hanna entered the legal profession to further the
96 destruction of slavery and Freemasonry.+10+ He longed to defend
97 indigent clients in their just causes; yet he had the sense to
98 take affluent clients to augment his income from the farm he
99 inherited from his father.
100
101
102 Slavery, he considered, an utterly atrocious abomination
103 that must be eradicated tooth and branch and he proposed
104 atrocious means to this end. "The slaves must rise. They must
105 revolt," he wrote,
106
107
108 They must kill their masters who will try to suppress their
109 just uprising. The good white people must join in smashing
110 the odious slavocracy. There cannot be, indeed must never
111 be, any compromise with that most obnoxious of human
112 inventions, slavery. Practically every means, every
113 device, every way must be employed to eradicate it.+11+
114
115
116 Similarly, Hanna advocated violence against the Masons.
117 Echoing the Reverend John Walker, he declared:
118
119
120 Freemasonry is Satanism incarnate. It exists for
121 Satan's minions to overthrow the agencies of decency
122 and inaugurate a regime of unholy orders. It is
123 controlled by impious wretches whose blasphemous rites-
124 -oaths, handshakes, candles, jewels--bind them to
125 further their obscene scheme to manipulate the
126 world.+12+
127
128
129 "Burn the lodges of utterly wicked Freemasonry," was his solution
130 to the Freemason blight.+13+
131
132
133 However, the firebrand Hanna shifted to moderation in
134 action. He concluded that it was wise and, truly, proper to
135 defer to the cautionary counsel coming from three sources: his
136 wife, Sara, the Reverend John Walker, and Thaddeus Stevens. Mrs.
137 Hanna, a Quaker, abhorred violence. Ordinarily reticent, she
138 would wax eloquent on the appropriate course against slavery and
139 Masonry. "My beloved spouse," he wrote, "a gentle and kind
140 person, would severely remonstrate with me when I sought her
141 attention for my opinions. She would invoke the time-long
142 admonitions of her faith on conflict in the world. Ultimately, I
143 would bow to her sageness."+14+
144
145
146 The advice of his teacher and good friend, the Reverend
147 John Walker, was highly valued.+15+ The latter vehemently
148 assailed and actively worked against slavery and Freemasonry.+16+
149 Hanna was convinced by Walker's argument that the "Deity's
150 Design" meant that perceptive persons who discerned the inequity
151 of both slavery and Masonry would ultimately persuade the
152 electorate to abolish those "unholy entities." Hanna acceded to
153 that belief because "John Walker embodied Biblical and secular
154 rationale that was flawless."+17+
155
156
157 Counselled by wife and mentor to rein in his violent
158 proclivities, Hanna eventually concentrated on civil devices at
159 the local, state and national level.
160
161
162 In 1834, he became a founding father of the Cadiz Anti-
163 Slavery Society and often served as an officer. In collaboration
164 with his brother, A. F. Hanna, he advanced the abolition cause.
165 Hanna participated frequently in the operation of the
166 "Underground Railroad," taking particular pride in frustrating
167 the efforts of a notorious bounty hunter of escaped slaves, James
168 McCaskey of Wheeling.+18+
169
170
171 Hanna's immersion in abolitionism involved participation in
172 the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society. In 1835, he served as one of its
173 organizers. At its first convention, held in 1836 at Granville,
174 the 192 delegates elected him a "manager" for the coming
175 year.+19+ He was also named a member of the Ohio delegation to
176 the meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York in
177 1836.+20+ In three subsequent conventions of the Ohio Anti-
178 Slavery Society he played a leading role.+21+ There Hanna felt
179 the need to advocate violence, but demurred because of the
180 Reverend John Walker's counsel.+22+ As an officer of the Ohio
181 Anti-Slavery Society Hanna devoted considerable effort to
182 organizing branches. Therein he had considerable success.+23+
183 Indeed, Ohio ranked only second to New York in state antislavery
184 society membership.+24+
185
186
187 Hanna also shone in the Harrison County Historical Society.
188 As one of its officers he played an important role in the
189 creation of abolitionist cells throughout the country.
190 Furthermore, he led the Society against the local branch of the
191 American Colonization Society which he described as an "Augean
192 stable in the march against slavery."+25+ Inclined to the
193 "proper use of tar and feathers" against "the minions" of the
194 Colonization Society, he harkened to his spouse's advice, on this
195 occasion, to use less drastic measures. However, at times he
196 almost repudiated her counsel.+26+
197
198
199 In his capacity as trustee of Franklin College at New
200 Athens, Hanna, in league with fellow trustee and friend, the
201 Reverend John Walker, succeeded in forcing the resignations of
202 two successive presidents, the Reverend Joseph Smith and the
203 Reverend William Burnett; both men refused to advocate immediate
204 emancipation. Eventually, 1840, Walker and Hanna found a kindred
205 soul in the form of the Reverend Edwin H. Nevin. Thereupon,
206 Walker, Hanna and Nevin made Franklin College a bastion of
207 immediate abolitionism and directed administration, faculty and
208 students in a crusade for the immediate abolition of the
209 slaves.+27+
210
211
212 For the next three years Hanna and Walker lobbied college
213 presidents throughout Ohio. The Reverend William McGuffy,
214 president of Ohio University and the famous author of the
215 <Readers>, and the Reverend George Junkin, president of Miami
216 University, were polled for support; McGuffy would only concede
217 that slavery should not be allowed to spread farther than the
218 present states in the south while Junkin refused to bend to their
219 cause.+28+ One measure of their success against the foes of
220 immediate emancipation was the demise of Providence College of
221 New Athens in 1843.+29+
222
223
224 On the national scene of abolitionism Robert Hanna preached
225 what he promoted in eastern Ohio, immediate, uncompensated
226 abolition, resistance to the slavocracy, integration of the
227 blacks, and full American citizenship for all races. While he
228 approved of the American Anti-Slavery Society's campaign to flood
229 Congress with antislavery remonstrances, he disagreed with the
230 content of the petitions: ending slavery in the District of
231 Columbia, repealing the Three-Fifths Compromise in the
232 Constitution, and opposing the admission of new slave states to
233 the Union. Thus Hanna stood in company with William Lloyd
234 Garrison in demanding immediatism+30+ and "No Union with
235 Slaveholders."+31+
236
237
238 However, Hanna would not enter Garrison's camp because of
239 the stringent theological barrier. By 1837 Garrison's
240 mouthpiece, <The Liberator,> had essays questioning the literal
241 truth of Scripture, condemning denominationally organized
242 religion, denying the authority of ministers, and attacking the
243 sanctity of the Sabbath ("that pernicious and superstitious
244 notion.")+32+ For Hanna such views were those of "Anti-
245 Christ."+33+ In May 1840, Hanna attended the convention of the
246 Anti-Slavery Society in New York City, determined to meet with
247 Garrison to wean the latter from his religious views. However,
248 Garrison would not change.+34+
249
250
251 When the American Anti-Slavery Society split in 1840, Hanna
252 went his own way.+35+ While he agreed with the radicals'
253 immediatism platform, he could not stomach their anticlericalism.
254 The conservatives, while pro-clerical, were committed to a
255 gradualist approach. Thus Hanna found himself with a foot in
256 each camp, but ideologically isolated in both.
257
258
259 At the root of Hanna's antimasonry campaign was the
260 sentiment that Freemasonry, like slavery, constituted a monster
261 that had corrupted humanity and undermined the God-designed
262 order. Throughout his career, Hanna maintained that Freemasonry
263 had corrupted the political systems and that its agents were
264 found at every level of society.+36+
265
266
267 As a leader in the Antimasonic Party, Hanna laboured
268 assiduously in Ohio's Jefferson, Belmont and Harrison Counties.
269 On one occasion he advocated "torching" Masonic lodges.+37+
270 However, at the conclusion of those remarks the Reverend John
271 Walker rushed to urge moderation and the audience went along with
272 that persuasive minister-academician-physician.+38+ At
273 Barnesville in Belmont County Hanna allied with Quakers in
274 successful efforts in 1837 to stymie an attempt to revive
275 Friendship Lodge No. 89, F. & A.M. which had been disbanded in
276 1833.+39+ In Harrison County Hanna became a pillar of the
277 Antimasonic Party at Cadiz and New Athens. At the former his
278 activity helped to prevent the organization of a Masonic lodge
279 until 1852.+40+ At New Athens he spread the antimasonic message
280 to the Franklin College student body.+41+
281
282
283 At the state level Hanna helped organize the first Ohio
284 Anti-Masonic State Convention held at Canton on July 21-22,
285 1830.+42+ At that meeting he advised the Reverend John Walker,
286 delegate from Harrison County. He served as delegate during the
287 second Ohio Anti-Masonic Convention held at Columbus on January
288 11, 1831 and participated on the Committee to Nominate Delegates
289 to the National Convention and on the Committee to Report
290 Resolutions. He immediately rose when a delegate proposed that
291 the Ohio delegation to the forthcoming national convention
292 support Henry Clay for the presidential nomination on the basis,
293 among others, that Clay, Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge
294 of Kentucky 1820-21, had demitted (resigned) from his Lexington
295 lodge in 1824. Hanna contended that Clay was "completely
296 unworthy" because he was a slaveholder. However, he gave his
297 support to the ex-Mason Richard Rush and his running mate, ex-
298 President John Quincy Adams.+43+
299
300
301 On June 12, 1832, Hanna attended the third Ohio Anti-
302 Masonic State Convention at Columbus. He applauded the
303 Convention's support of William Wirt for president and Amos
304 Ellmaker for vice-president. Enthusiastically he backed the
305 nomination of Darius Lyman, an able state senator, for governor
306 of Ohio.+44+ His stumping on Lyman's behalf drew favorable
307 comments and contributed definitely to Lyman's creditable showing
308 in Belmont County where he won 1,905 votes against "the odious
309 Freemason," the Democrat Robert Lucas's 2,095; in Harrison County
310 similar results were obtained, Lyman drew 1,288 votes against
311 Lucas's 1,441. Lucas carried the state 71,251 to 63,185 despite
312 Hanna's efforts in the Antimasonic-National Republican
313 coalition.+45+
314
315
316 On February 21-22, 1834, Hanna was one of Harrison County's
317 two delegates to the fourth Ohio Anti-Masonic State Convention
318 which convened at Columbus. He was elected president of the
319 Convention and named to the committee to nominate persons to sit
320 on the party's Central Committee of Ohio. He fully supported the
321 meeting's main objective: passage of a law to suppress all extra-
322 judicial oaths.+46+ In March 1838, at Columbus Hanna presided at
323 the fifth and last Ohio Anti-Masonic State Convention. The
324 Convention appointed him to a delegation for the party's national
325 convention destined for Philadelphia in November 1838. The
326 delegation was pledged to a presidential ticket of the presumed
327 antimasons William Henry Harrison and Daniel Webster.+47+
328
329
330 Overall, the efforts of Hanna and allies can be measured in
331 the closing of subordinate lodges. In the ten years that Hanna
332 was active their number in the Grand Lodge of Ohio fell from
333 fifty-six in 1827 to seventeen in 1837.+48+
334
335
336 Hanna's participation as delegate to the United States
337 Anti-Masonic Convention at Philadelphia and Baltimore brought him
338 to national attention.+49+ At the former, the first national
339 meeting held by any political party in the United States, Hanna
340 was elected third vice-president.+50+
341
342
343 In 1832 in Ohio, Hanna played a leading role in the
344 presidential race. He was a leader in opposing a deal wherein
345 the Antimasonic Party would support Henry Clay. Hanna campaigned
346 vigorously for the radical Antimasonic slate of William Wirt and
347 Amos Ellmaker. Their defeat chagrined Hanna.+51+
348
349
350 Hanna became a delegate to the National Anti-Masonic
351 Convention on May 4, 1836, in Philadelphia. There he seized the
352 opportunity to garner support for a party ticket for 1836.
353 However, his plan failed because of the opposition of Thaddeus
354 Stevens. Eventually Hanna favored the Whig slate of William
355 Henry Harrison and Francis Granger, both antimasons; the latter
356 also appealed to Hanna because he was an antislavery
357 stalwart.+52+
358
359
360 Hanna continued his participation in the Antimasonic Party.
361 In September 1837, he attended a national meeting of antimasons
362 in Washington, D.C. They voted to hold a presidential nominating
363 convention in 1838.+53+ At that gathering on November 13-14,
364 1838, in Philadelphia, Hanna was present. He supported the
365 unanimous nomination of William Henry Harrison for president and
366 Daniel Webster for vice-president. When the Whig Party chose the
367 William Henry Harrison-John Tyler slate, the Antimasonic Party
368 replaced Webster with Tyler on its ticket. Hanna energetically
369 campaigned for the eventually triumphant Harrison-Tyler ticket in
370 1840.+54+
371
372
373 While at Philadelphia in November, Hanna privately broached
374 to his fellow antimason, Thaddeus Stevens, the need to use
375 violence to uproot Freemasonry. However, Stevens replied that
376 the proper method was to use "the ballot box."+55+
377
378
379 Hanna did endeavor to promote antimasonry under another
380 political guise. This involved the submission of citizens'
381 petitions to the Ohio legislature. These requested that the
382 latter investigate the "character and operations" of Freemasonry.
383 Hanna and others brought many petitions to the legislature.
384 Nonetheless, the results were nil. For example, a House select
385 committee reported that it had discovered that "Masonry is the
386 same everywhere that it is here, and here as it is everywhere
387 else." The Committee concluded that it was best to remit the
388 entire question "to the salutary action of enlightened public
389 opinion. . . ."+56+
390
391
392 Hanna, nevertheless, continued his interest in politics.
393 In the 1844 presidential election he blasted the Democrat, James
394 G. Polk, as both a Freemason and pro-slavery advocate, and
395 attacked the Whig, Henry Clay, as an unrepentant ex-Mason and
396 servant of the slavocracy; thus, Hanna campaigned for the Liberty
397 Party candidate, James G. Birney. That organization's demise
398 greatly upset Hanna.+57+ The 1848 presidential election
399 presented him with a dilemma; he could not support the Whig,
400 Zachary Taylor, because of his being, allegedly, a slaveholder;
401 Hanna detested the Democrat, Lewis Cass, as a Freemason and a
402 puppet of the slavocracy; Hanna regarded the Free Soiler, Martin
403 Van Buren, as too moderate on the slavery issue. Ultimately,
404 Hanna concluded that the least evil was Van Buren.+58+ Again in
405 1852 the growingly disillusioned Hanna backed the Free Soilers
406 for he regarded the Whig, Winfield Scott, as vacillating on the
407 slavery issue; Hanna stigmatized the Democrat, Franklin Pierce,
408 as "another pea in the Democratic hodgepodge of feeding the slave
409 masters."+59+ The advent of the Republican Party buoyed Hanna's
410 faint hopes for eradicating slavery by means of the ballot
411 box.+60+ However, soon, 1856, death appeared.
412
413
414 Robert Hanna symbolized reform in nineteenth century
415 America. Relentlessly he used talent and tenacity against
416 forces, slavery and Freemasonry, he equated with subversion of
417 the United States Republic. In his mind he conjured up terror in
418 assailing his two institutional foes. In reality, acceding to
419 moderate voices, he set aside violence. Thus Robert Hanna also
420 embodied nineteenth century American adhesion to common sense
421 sensitivity.
422
423
424
425 <NOTES>
426
427
428 +1+Gilbert H. Barnes, <The Antislavery Impulse, 1830-1844>
429 (Gloucester: Peter Smith, 1967); Dwight Lowell Dumond,
430 <Antislavery: The Crusade for Freedom in America> (Ann Arbor:
431 University of Michigan Press, 1961); Louis Filler, <The Crusade
432 Against Slavery, 1830-1860> (New York: Harper and Brothers,
433 1960).
434
435
436 +2+Charles McCarthy, "The Antimasonic Party: A Study of
437 Political Antimasonry in the United States, 1827-1840," <Annual
438 Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902>
439 (2 vols., Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903); William
440 Preston Vaughn, <The Antimasonic Party in the United States
441 1826-1843> (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky,
442 1983); George Hubbard Blakeslee, "The History of the Anti-Masonic
443 Party" (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1903).
444
445
446 +3+A. F. Hanna, "Memoir" (manuscript, n.d.), p. 28, Lloyd E.
447 Martin Collection, Portsmouth, Ohio. A. F. and Robert Hanna were
448 brothers. Alma Academy was originally named Alma Mater Academy.
449
450
451 +4+Robert Hanna, letter to A. F. Hanna, New Athens, Ohio,
452 October 7, 1820, Martin Collection.
453
454
455 +5+Robert Hanna, letter to A. F. Hanna, Canonsburg,
456 Pennsylvania, November 10, 1821, Martin Collection.
457
458
459 +6+Robert Hanna, letter to A. F. Hanna, Canonsburg,
460 Pennsylvania, December 8, 1821, Martin Collection.
461
462
463 +7+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Canonsburg,
464 Pennsylvania, May 4, 1821, John S. Campbell Collection, Cadiz,
465 Ohio.
466
467
468 +8+Robert Hanna, letter to A. F. Hanna, Greeneville,
469 Tennessee, February 8, 1823, Martin Collection.
470
471
472 +9+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Cadiz, Ohio,
473 July 5, 1828, Campbell Collection.
474
475
476 +10+Hanna, "Memoir," p. 31.
477
478
479 +11+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Cadiz, Ohio,
480 July 5, 1828, Campbell Collection.
481
482
483 +12+Robert Hanna, letter to Richard Miller, Cadiz, Ohio, May
484 9, 1829, Martin Collection. Hanna and Miller had been classmates
485 at Greeneville College.
486
487
488 +13+Ibid.
489
490
491 +14+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Cadiz, Ohio,
492 October 17, 1829, Campbell Collection.
493
494
495 +15+The Reverend John Walker was pastor of Unity
496 congregation of the Associate Presbyterian Church near New
497 Athens, Ohio, and guiding genius of Franklin College, New Athens,
498 Ohio.
499
500
501 +16+Erving E. Beauregard, <Reverend John Walker: Renaissance
502 Man> (New York, Bern, Frankfurt am Main, Paris: Peter Lang,
503 1990), pp. 87-127.
504
505
506 +17+Robert Hanna, letter to Richard Miller, Cadiz, Ohio,
507 March 6, 1830, Martin Collection.
508
509
510 +18+Hanna's "line" of the "Underground Railroad" ran from
511 Wheeling (then in Virginia) through Flushing and New Athens to
512 Cadiz, Ohio. <Cadiz Sentinel and Harrison County Farmer> (Cadiz,
513 Ohio), June 16, 1842; <Proceedings of the Cadiz Anti-Slavery
514 Society> (Cadiz, Ohio: Cadiz Anti-Slavery Society, 1835), p. 10.
515
516
517 +19+Robert Price, "The Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention of
518 1836," <The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly>,
519 Vol. XLV, 1936, p. 183.
520
521
522 +20+Ibid., p. 181.
523
524
525 +21+<Report of the Second Anniversary of the Ohio Anti-
526 Slavery Society Held in Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio. On
527 the Twenty-seventh of April, 1837> (Cincinnati: Anti-Slavery
528 Society, 1837), p. 5; <Report of the Third Anniversary of the
529 Ohio Anti-Slavery Society Held in Granville, Licking County,
530 Ohio. On the Thirteenth of May 1838> (Cincinnati: Ohio Anti-
531 Slavery Society, 1838), p. 11; <Report of the Fourth Anniversary
532 of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society Held in Putnam, Muskingum
533 County, Ohio. On the Twenty-ninth of May 1839> (Cincinnati: Ohio
534 Anti-Slavery Society, 1839), p. 19.
535
536
537 +22+Robert Hanna, letters to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio,
538 May 6, 1837, June 8, 1838, June 14, 1839, Martin Collection.
539
540
541 +23+Rev. John Walker, letter to Titus Basfield, New Athens,
542 Ohio, March 13, 1840, Martin Collection.
543
544
545 +24+Leo Alilunas, "Fugitive Slave Cases in Ohio," <The Ohio
546 State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly>, Vol. LXIX, 1940,
547 p. 163.
548
549
550 +25+<Proceedings of the Harrison County Abolitionist
551 Society> (Cadiz, Ohio: Harrison County Abolitionist Society,
552 1836), p. 14.
553
554
555 +26+Robert Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio,
556 September 9, 1837, Martin Collection. Basfield was an ex-slave
557 who graduated at Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio.
558
559
560 +27+Rev. Edwin H. Nevin, letter to Rev. Alfred Nevin, New
561 Athens, Ohio, June 8, 1843, Martin Collection. The Nevins were
562 brothers.
563
564
565 +28+Rev. John Walker, letter to Titus Basfield, New Athens,
566 Ohio, June 2, 1843, Martin Collection.
567
568
569 +29+Rev. Lemuel Fordham Leake, letter to Rev. Moses Allen,
570 Waveland, Indiana, May 15, 1844, Campbell Collection. Leake was
571 the second and last president of Providence College, New Athens,
572 Ohio. Allen had been a supporter of that institution.
573
574
575 +30+The term can be traced to a pamphlet by Elizabeth
576 Heyrick, <Immediate, Not Gradual Emancipation> (London, 1824).
577
578
579 +31+Robert Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio, May
580 6, 1837, Martin Collection.
581
582
583 +32+James Brewer Stewart, "Abolitionists and Slavery," in
584 Ernest R. Sandeen, <The Bible and Social Reform> (Philadelphia:
585 Fortress Press, 1982), p. 44.
586
587
588 +33+Robert Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio,
589 May 6, 1837, Martin Collection.
590
591
592 +34+Robert Hanna, conversation with A. F. Hanna, Cadiz,
593 Ohio, May 27, 1840, in A. F. Hanna, "Memoir," p. 67.
594
595
596 +35+The conservatives, gradualists and proclericals seceded
597 to form the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Robert
598 Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio, November 21, 1840,
599 Martin Collection.
600
601
602 +36+It stood symbolized nationally by the "high Mason,"
603 President Andrew Jackson, Hanna trumpeted. In Ohio politics
604 Hanna pointed to the governorship being held by successive
605 Freemasons--Duncan McArthur, a National Republican, 1830-32;
606 Robert Lucas, a Democrat, 1832-36; Joseph Vance, a Whig, 1836-38;
607 Wilson Shannon, a Democrat, 1838-40 (actually he did not join
608 Freemasonry until 1846); Thomas Corwin, a Whig, 1840-42; and
609 Shannon again, 1842-44. In his own bailiwick, eastern Ohio,
610 Hanna maintained that Masonry's pernicious influence radiated
611 into county politics and remained a strong factor in the
612 compromising camp over slavery in Cadiz. Robert Hanna,
613 conversation with A. F. Hanna, Cadiz, Ohio, August 15, 1829, in
614 A. F. Hanna, "Memoir," p. 53; Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John
615 Walker, Cadiz, Ohio, September 12, 1834, Campbell Collection;
616 Robert Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio, November 16,
617 1844, Martin Collection.
618
619
620 +37+A. F. Hanna, letter to Rev. Richard Campbell, Cadiz,
621 Ohio, March 20, 1834, Campbell Collection. A. F. Hanna was
622 present at the occasion. Campbell was president of Franklin
623 College, New Athens, Ohio, 1833-35.
624
625
626 +38+Ibid.
627
628
629 +39+<Belmont Journal and Enquirer> (St. Clairsville, Ohio),
630 April 9, 1836.
631
632
633 +40+<Liberty Courier and Register of Facts> (Cadiz, Ohio),
634 January 13, 1853.
635
636
637 +41+<Cadiz Sentinel and Harrison County Farmer>, June 6,
638 1834.
639
640
641 +42+<Harrison Telegraph> (Cadiz, Ohio), July 17, 1830.
642
643
644 +43+Robert Hanna, conversation with A. F. Hanna, Cadiz,
645 Ohio, September 17, 1831, in A. F. Hanna, "Memoir," p. 56.
646
647
648 +44+<Harrison Telegraph>, June 22, 1832.
649
650
651 +45+<Columbus Sentinel> (Columbus, Ohio), October 18, 1832;
652 <National Historian> (St. Clairsville, Ohio), October 27, 1832).
653
654
655 +46+<Cadiz Sentinel and Harrison County Farmer>, February
656 28, 1834; <Ohio Star> (Ravenna, Ohio), March 27, 1834.
657
658
659 +47+<Harrison Telegraph>, March 31, 1838.
660
661
662 +48+<Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and
663 Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of
664 Ohio, At the General Grand Communications From 1808 to 1847,
665 Inclusive> (Cincinnati, Ohio: M. Review Office, 1857), pp. 174,
666 275.
667
668
669 +49+The Philadelphia convention met on September 11, 1830
670 while the Baltimore convention occurred September 26-28, 1831.
671
672
673 +50+<The Proceedings of the United States Anti-Masonic
674 Convention Held at Philadelphia, September 11, 1830>
675 (Philadelphia: J. P. Trimble, 1830), p. 1.
676
677
678 +51+Robert Hanna, letter to Richard Miller, Cadiz, Ohio,
679 October 12, 1832, Martin Collection; Rev. John Walker, <Life and
680 Writings> (Cadiz, Ohio: privately printed, 1848), p. 98;
681 <Columbus Sentinel>, October 25, 1832; <National Historian>,
682 October 13, 1832; <Niles' Register> (Baltimore, Maryland),
683 October 27, 1832; <Ohio Register and Anti-Masonic Review>
684 (Columbus, Ohio), October 27, 1832; <Ohio State Journal>
685 (Columbus, Ohio), June 23, 1832; <St. Clairsville Gazette> (St.
686 Clairsville, Ohio), October 27, 1832; Charles McCarthy, "The
687 Antimasonic Party: A Study of Political Antimasonry in the United
688 States, 1827-1840," Vol. I, pp. 548-49 n.h.
689
690
691 +52+Robert Hanna, letter to Richard Miller, Cadiz, Ohio,
692 July 16, 1836, Martin Collection.
693
694
695 +53+<Niles' Register>, September 30, 1837; Rev. Dr. Robert
696 Gowan Campbell, conversation with Robert Hanna, in Campbell,
697 "Diary" (manuscript, n.d.), p. 104, Campbell Collection.
698 Campbell was a student at Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio;
699 later he became its president.
700
701
702 +54+Rev. John Walker, letter to Titus Basfield, New Athens,
703 Ohio, September 11, 1840, Martin Collection.
704
705
706 +55+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Cadiz, Ohio,
707 November 21, 1838, Campbell Collection.
708
709
710 +56+<Ohio Statesman and Annals of Progress from the Year
711 1788 to the Year 1900> (2 vols., Columbus, Ohio: Westbote Co.,
712 1899), Vol. I, p. 166.
713
714
715 +57+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. John Walker, Cadiz, Ohio,
716 February 22, 1845, Campbell Collection.
717
718
719 +58+Robert Hanna, letter to Titus Basfield, Cadiz, Ohio,
720 October 7, 1848, Martin Collection.
721
722
723 +59+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. Titus Basfield, Cadiz,
724 Ohio, October 2, 1852, Martin Collection. Basfield became an
725 Associate Presbyterian minister in 1850.
726
727
728 +60+Robert Hanna, letter to Rev. Titus Basfield, Cadiz,
729 Ohio, August 5, 1854, Martin Collection.
730
731
732 <ONLINE MODERN HISTORY REVIEW,> ISSN 1181-1151