by Michiana Covenant | Jun 25, 2013 | Breckinridge
April 22, 2010
I overheard an interesting remark today at the Capitol City Brewing Company (it’s fun to sit at the bar and work on naming all my pictures from the day’s photography — I can be busy doing mindless work and listening to the rather noisy conversations around me!). One woman was telling another woman that when she was in business, “everyone was devoted to building something, making something, doing something productive. But here in Washington all people care about is how they look — all they want is power.”
Not that things have changed much…
In fact, if anything, the politics of power were far more pervasive in the antebellum period. For one thing, all government jobs were patronage jobs. Today, only the top government jobs are appointed. In those days every government job was appointed. Even postmasters were appointed by the president, and when the opposition party took control of the government, the old postmaster (with all his friends) would be shown the door, and a new postmaster would have to train a new staff of nephews and cousins of party workers. Obviously, no president could possibly know who the most qualified person was — so he would rely on his supporters from that region to nominate a candidate. This meant that cabinet members, leading members of Congress (from the president’s party), and other prominent figures were eagerly sought out to assist in urging the case of office-seekers. RJ was frequently targeted by office seekers (especially Presbyterians) because he was related by marriage to Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, William C. Preston of South Carolina, and was personal friends with several other prominent politicians. (In fact, the first person to write a letter of condolence to RJ after the death of his wife Sophy in 1844, was John J. Crittenden.)
But RJ frequently told such office seekers that he would not participate in the game. If he knew the man personally, he might consider recommending him, but only if he was convinced that the person was in fact the best qualified person for the job.
But he preferred to remain above the whole mess:
“I hardly care to be any way indebted to Mr Crittenden for anything: and I am not without feelings of contempt & bitterness – for the whole race of dispensers of patronage – and the whole race of seekers of it: and would infinitely prefer to have an effectual opportunity to scourge them all – rather than receive anything from their selfish & polluted hands – much less be counted amongst the recipients of their favours. Personally – God be praised – I owe no man anything.” (RJB to John C. Breckinridge, December 31, 1852)
Of course, the object of RJ’s letter was to ask his nephew (a member of Congress) to intercede for RJB Jr., and get him a position in the Coast Guard survey team. The irony was not lost on John C., who remarked calmly two weeks later. “I have some hope of obtaining a place for Robert in the coast survey….Your letter contained some bitter expressions, and was almost abrupt, but I feel quite sure that those parts of it were not intended for me.”
And the background of RJ’s hard feelings toward Crittenden, was the Senator’s failure to get RJB a place at West Point in 1851. For 15 years RJ had received fawning letters, with dozens of people telling him such things as, “no one in Baltimore has so much influence with the president as you,” or “I cannot doubt that you possess a prevailing influence with the Secretary of the Navy [his wife’s cousin, William B. Preston], with Col. Wm. C. Preston and with Gov. Crittenden…” I think RJ had actually started to believe them, and so when Crittenden did not come through for his son, RJB blew his stack. (Never mind that there were only ten “at large” openings for West Point, and the President had determined only to appoint the sons of officers who had died in the Mexican War. I’m Robert Jefferson Breckinridge! If I want my son to go to West Point, it must be through the betrayal of Crittenden that he failed to get in!)
RJ cooled down and later apologized to Crittenden, who gracious forgave him, saying, “Not expecting or caring to make many new friends while I live, I do not wish to lose any of those old ones whose ‘adoption’ has been ‘tried.’ And it is, therefore, that with more than ordinary gratification, I subscribe myself as heretofore & always yr friend, JJ Crittenden.” (June 3, 1851)
But an interesting trend was beginning to be seen amongst the younger generation. On August 17, 1852, a young Irish Catholic named Ignatius Donnelly wrote to John C. Breckinridge (RJ’s nephew — the Congressman) that he was “troubled at the wish you express that, ‘the intimacy thus begun may ripen into friendship.’ You are a distinguished man in a distinguished position: I, a nonentity – a nobody. You are walking a path illumined by Fame & History; while I, a minor, a mere student, almost “unhatched i’ the womb of Time” am little more than creeping into the world. Friendship between a superior and an inferior, carries too much of patronage on the one side and reverence on the other, to suit my taste.” (Donnelly would later go to become a Congressman from Minnesota and a leader of the Populist Party that would successfully eliminate the patronage system and institute the modern civil service system. He may be more famous, however, for his theories that Atlantis was destroyed by the Flood — and that Francis Bacon was the actual author of the plays of William Shakespeare)
In a very real way, these two episodes demonstrate the changing world of antebellum America. R. J. Breckinridge’s America was still a world of patronage, deference, and honor. But a generation was rising that would level the playing field for everyone — or, at least for themselves.
Oh, and that conversation I overheard? The woman who was complaining that everyone was just into power? Within fifteen minutes she had very successfully cajoled her friend into seeing things her way…
by Michiana Covenant | Jun 15, 2013 | Breckinridge
March 18, 2010
In 1836 R. J. Breckinridge took a sabbatical. He had been appointed the Presbyterian Church’s fraternal delegate to the Congregational Union of England and Wales. As soon as word got out that RJB was going to Britain, he received appointments from the American Colonization Society (devoted to ending slavery and sending the freed slaves to Liberia in west Africa), the Western Foreign Missions Society (at this point the Presbyterian church had no foreign missions board – this was the foreign missions organization of the Synod of Pittsburgh, and supported by Old School Presbyterians) and the American Protestant Association (devoted to maintaining and defending the truths of the Reformation against the Roman Catholic Church).
In those days such an appointment required several months: three weeks each way for the packet to Liverpool, another several weeks to attend the annual meetings of the various organizations to which he had been commissioned. He also visited the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly – at which point he got roped into a debate over slavery with George Thompson, a British Abolitionist. Breckinridge was devoted to ending slavery (only a year before he had signed a deed of emancipation that would set his own 20 slaves free after they had worked off their purchase price), but he did not believe that the immediate abolition of slavery would work – and he knew that any attempt to abolish slavery immediately would result in war (it didn’t take a genius to figure this out!).
So RJB and his wife, Ann Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (“Sophy”), went together on this jaunt – leaving behind their three children, Mary (8), Sally (4), and Robert (2) with her mother in Abingdon, Virginia. Both RJB and Sophy had battled various illnesses, and they expected that the travel would improve their health. Sophy hoped that after spending some weeks in England, they would then return home – but since she was pregnant they decided to go to Paris, where she birth to Marie. They also toured Switzerland and southern France before returning home in the spring of 1837 (just in time for RJB to go to the famous General Assembly of 1837). Sophy told various people that she greatly preferred the Scots to the English, while RJB made some very good friends among the French Reformed churches of his day.
by Michiana Covenant | Jun 7, 2013 | Breckinridge
June 6, 2012
Last week I told you about the troubles that Kentucky faced with insufficient surveys that resulted in multiple claimants for many properties.
This week I have spent a lot of time in the Breckinridge (and Preston and Hart and Shelby) family estates. Robert Jefferson Breckinridge had a good patrimonial estate. If you look up the “Kentucky Horse Park” in Lexington on a map, and look for a creek straight east from there, you will be at the center of “Braedalbane” (RJB’s estate), and “Cabell’s Dale” (his father’s estate – inherited by one of RJB’s sons) is at the junction of Iron Works Pike and Mt. Horeb Pike (where the Mt Horeb Presbyterian Church is located — the church that RJB’s older brother founded, and where RJB was ordained as a ruling elder). You actually get a better map when you search for “Mt. Horeb Presbyterian Church.” (RJB’s house is no longer standing, but it was located on Huffman Mill Pike on the northwest side of the stream). This is prime bluegrass real estate!
RJB married Ann Sophonisba Preston. Her father, General Francis Preston of Virginia, did rather well for himself — investing in Louisville, Kentucky, when the city was just forming. He picked up a piece of real estate along the Ohio River — later called Preston’s Enlargement — which yielded some good land rent at first, but as the city grew, it was right in the path of Main and Market streets. And when I say “in the path of” — I don’t mean twenty blocks away. “First Street” is two blocks away! In other words, he owned the land on which Louisville Slugger Field now sits. And he gave a sizeable chunk of that land to his daughter, Sophy, for her children’s inheritance. (Not surprisingly, the cross-streets are titled, Floyd [another son-in-law], Preston, Jackson, Hancock, Clay, Shelby, Campbell [his wife’s maiden name], and, a few blocks down, “Breckinridge”). In 1856, RJB parceled out the Preston lands to his wife’s eight surviving children. Each received a few lots, worth $10,000 each.
Both his father, John Breckinridge, and his father-in-law, Francis Preston, had much larger estates, but with all the legal battles involved in establishing a clear title to land, and since they both had at least nine children, the portion received by their grandchildren was far more modest than what they themselves owned. While there was some squabbling and hard feelings in both families, it was nothing like what some other families faced (RJB’s second wife, Virginia Hart Shelby, who was Sophy’s first cousin, had a much uglier family squabble over the Hart estate).
Francis Preston married Sarah Campbell (who was a niece of Patrick Henry). Together they had 15 children. I’ll just mention the ones who play a role in the story of RJB:
William Campbell Preston (1794-1860) — U.S. Senator from South Carolina (1833-1842) — which put him in Washington D.C. for much of the time that RJB was a pastor in Baltimore
Eliza Henry Preston (1796-1877) — married General Edward Carrington (his business went up in smoke in the fires that produced the panic of 1837 and he fell into depression — she opened a school for girls, and taught several of RJB’s daughters after the death of their mother, her sister).
Susanna Smith Preston (1800-1847) — married Governor James McDowell of Virginia (their daughter, Sally, married the infamous Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland — and later divorced him in a notorious scandal — RJB helped rescue her from the abusive Governor Thomas. She later married John Miller — son of Samuel Miller of Princeton Seminary. As noted below, John’s sister had previously married RJB’s brother; now he married RJB’s niece!).
Sarah Buchanan Preston (1802-1879) — married Governor John B. Floyd of Virginia
Ann Sophonisba Preston (1803-1844) — married RJB!!
John Smith Preston (1809-1881) — married Caroline Hampton (sister of Wade Hampton) of South Carolina and settled on a large plantation in Louisiana
Thomas Lewis Preston (1812-1903) — professor at the University of Virginia (executor of the family estate — which meant that most of the hard feelings in the Preston family oriented around him!)
Margaret Buchanan Preston (1818-1852) — married General Wade Hampton of South Carolina
The standard practice was for sons to inherit the “family estate” (in order to keep the family name associated with the family estate) while other property or cash would be given to daughters. But when wealthy patriarchs had large families, the children invariably wound up with a smaller piece of the pie. The 10 Preston children to reach adulthood produced 38 grandchildren. Likewise, 7 of John Breckinridge’s 9 children reached adulthood, producing over 40 grandchildren.
But while most of John Breckinridge’s children reached adulthood — only two outlived their mother! Mary Hopkins Cabell Breckinridge died in 1858 at the age of 89. The siblings of RJB were:
Laetitia Preston Breckinridge (1786-1831) — died at age 45 (her first husband is always referred to as “the unfortunate Mr. Grayson” — he ruined himself, his family, and his promising political career through his gambling debts; her second husband, General Peter B. Porter, was a business colleague of Martin Van Buren, and served as secretary of war under John Quincy Adams).
Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1788-1823) — died at age 35 (he married Mary Clay Smith, daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, the president of Princeton College; he served as secretary of state for Kentucky, and was known as the only lawyer in Lexington to become a communicant member of a church).
[two children, Mary and Robert, died in infancy in the 1790s]
Mary Ann Breckinridge (1794-1816) — died at age 22 (she married a neighbor, David Castleman, and died shortly after giving birth to their daughter; David Castleman then served as guardian for RJB while he was in college).
John Breckinridge (1797-1841) — died at age 44 (he married Margaret Miller, daughter of Samuel Miller, professor at Princeton Theological Seminary; he went on to serve as pastor of 2nd Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, and then as a professor at PTS with his father-in-law; their son, Samuel Miller Breckinridge married a daughter of David Castleman’s second wife [though he had been interested in RJB’s daughter, Mary, for a time], and became a federal judge in St. Louis, and an influential ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. He died at the General Assembly of 1891, immediately after completing an impassioned speech arguing that the General Assembly should disapprove of the teaching of Charles Briggs and forbid his teaching in Union Theological Seminary. As stated in the Minutes, “The Hon. Samuel Miller Breckinridge, LL.D., took the floor, and after speaking twenty minutes in favor of the Report of the Committee, closed his speech with the words, ‘I have discharged my duty,’ and turning to leave the platform, fell dead.” Needless to say, the debate was suspended for the day, and the Assembly spent the rest of the day in a service of “prayer and solemn commemoration” [Minutes, p92]).
RJB (1800-1871) — died at age 71. But, as you can see, although he was the seventh child, by the time he was 41, he was the oldest of the Breckinridge children!
William Lewis Breckinridge (1803-1876) — died at age 73 (he married Frances Prevost — a granddaughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith — and therefore, a niece of Cabell’s wife, Mary — he served as pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church in Louisville for more than twenty years, and later as president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky).
James Monroe Breckinridge (1806-1819) — died at age 13.
I had intended to say a little more about the sin and misery involved in the estate conflicts — but that will have to await another day.
by Michiana Covenant | Jun 4, 2013 | Breckinridge
March 12, 2012
R. J. Breckinridge once said that he felt as though there were two different RJB’s — “one that was all tenderness; and one that was all sternness.” Which RJB you experienced depended upon whether you offended his sense of honor and duty. If he discerned any subtle disrespect or innuendo against his character or honor…well, let’s just say he was from Kentucky in a generation which lost dozens of its leading young men to duels…
RJB never fought in a duel — but he was challenged to one once! There is a contemporary account from a female cousin of his who regaled her brother with a juicy “tell-all” letter. The story was published (in slightly different versions) during a pamphlet war 20 years later between RJB and his arch-nemesis (and formerly his patron) Robert Wickliffe. And then there is an account fully 35 years later from a neighbor, who recounted the story for an interviewer who was collecting stories about Kentucky.
RJB was around 22 years old when it happened. He was in Louisville attending the theatre when a young Dr. Flournoy arrived with a certain Miss Preston and her sister (who was their chaperone). Apparently RJB — or Bob, as he was called then, was considered quite a catch in those days and the chaperone Miss Preston took one of Bob’s arms. Not to be outdone, the other Miss Preston took Bob’s other arm. Bob, who had a quick wit, made some crack about how Dr. Flournoy’s ladies preferred him (the exact statement has not been preserved). Flournoy did not think this was funny at all, and the next morning he wrote a statement to Bob demanding an explanation. The details are contested at this point, but it appears that Bob did offer a brief written explanation (which according to his cousin was quite polite). Flournoy refused to accept this and demanded an apology. Bob refused and Flournoy challenged him to a duel. When Bob ignored this challenge (on the grounds that the incident was trivial and unworthy of such measures), Flournoy “posted” him a coward.
(In those days, one was “posted” a coward by the challenger printing a card which advertised the refusal, and posting it in a key place in the town — in this case outside the main tavern in Lexington.)
Bob claims that he then went out and obtained a pair of pistols — but before he had a chance to do anything about it, a note came from the local Masonic lodge (RJB, who kept every piece of correspondence, published it later to demonstrate the veracity of his claims) ordering both Flournoy and Breckinridge to appear before the committee. After examining the claims in the case, the Masons declared that there was no reason for a duel and ordered Flournoy to accept Bob’s explanation and remove his card.
There are two postscripts to this:
1) Miss Ann Sophonisba Preston married RJB the following year
2) Dr Flournoy ran for the state legislature with RJB five years later
Which points to another side of RJB: you either loved him or you hated him — and the fact that you hated him at one time did not mean that you would hate him forever (and vice versa!).
by Michiana Covenant | Jun 4, 2013 | Breckinridge
May 31, 2012
I’ve spent the last couple days in the 1820s, reading and writing about the financial crisis precipitated by the real estate bubble that burst in 1819.
Many people had engaged in land speculation based on the supposition that since so many people were moving west, land prices would skyrocket. If everyone had refrained from going deep into debt in their land speculation, the whole thing might have worked — but, human nature being what it is, greed won out, and so the bubble burst (as bubbles are wont to do).
The result was that prices dropped dramatically (a house in Lexington that had received a $15,000 offer around 1818, was sold at auction for $1,300 in 1820). And when you looked at the money supply in Kentucky, there was not nearly enough cash in circulation for people to cover their debts (and the Bank of Kentucky only had 13 locations in the state).
So the legislature took prompt action: in 1818 they chartered 46 banks throughout the state, and permitted each bank to print their own money – up to $26 million in paper money. Just imagine the chaos! If I have a $5 bill from the Lexington bank, and I am in Bowling Green, a Bowling Green merchant might say, “but my local bank doesn’t take Lexington money — so it’s not worth anything here!” Banks and merchants had to quickly develop exchange rates for 46 different currencies! And since most people couldn’t figure out what the paper money was worth, it quickly lost its value. Two years later the legislature canceled the charters of the “Forty Thieves” (as the 46 independent banks had been nicknamed!).
Meanwhile even more people were now in debt! So in 1820 the legislature passed “replevin” laws. If you have never heard of replevy, I don’t blame you. They were declared unconstitutional in the 1820s, so no one has tried them since!
But the replevin laws in Kentucky permitted debtors to postpone repaying debts for a year (or two in some instances). The point of replevy was to modify the terms of the contract (against the will of the creditor) in order to enable the debtor to repay his or her debt.
(Does this sound familiar? The whole mortgage crisis of the last few years has been dealing with the exact same question. Have you ever wondered why Congress hasn’t “done” anything about it? It’s because Congress cannot force the banks to renegotiate contracts. They can only provide incentives to encourage them to do so).
Not surprisingly, at least one creditor in Kentucky objected to what he considered legislative interference with a valid contract! The case came before the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which determined that the replevin laws were unconstitutional ( the Kentucky Constitution stated: “no ex post facto law, nor any law impairing contracts shall be made,” and the U.S. Constitution has similar language).
The “Relief Party” in Kentucky was furious that “unelected judges” would seek to thwart the “will of the people” expressed through the legislature. Since they had a majority of the legislature, but could not muster a two-thirds vote to impeach the judges, they finally found another way: in January of 1825, they simply voted to eliminate the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and create a new state Supreme Court! (The Kentucky Constitution was silent on the manner of how the court was to be established).
Needless to say, the “Old Court” declared that this act was unconstitutional, and so refused to accept the new law, even as the “New Court” seized its records and began its work!
What does this have to do with Robert Jefferson Breckinridge?
Well, in August of 1824, RJB ran on the “Anti-Relief” ticket (what would soon be called the “Old Court” party) to represent Lexington in the state legislature. Temperatures ran hot that summer — and I don’t know what the weather was like!
On the third day of the elections in Lexington, as the various candidates gathered at the court house, electioneering was in full swig (and no, that is not a typo — candidates regularly offered alcoholic beverages to their supporters). Shouting led to fisticuffs, and fisticuffs led to brickbats. The streets of Lexington offered excellent weapons, as crews of men with picks and axes tore up the brick streets to provide missiles for their allies. Then someone shouted that he was going to get his gun.
As RJB later recalled the incident, his own election was already certain, but other elections were in doubt. “Suddenly the storm burst; a thousand men rushed furiously on each other, and seizing such weapons as their frenzy supplied, dealt murderous blows upon all who stood before them. Fire-arms were called for and eagerly demanded; and the air was darkened by deadly missiles of every kind. Some of the most distinguished citizens – some of the ministers of God’s sanctuary, had tried in vain, at the hazard of their lives, to appease the tumult. At this dreadful moment, I saw the doors of the hall of Justice suddenly thrown open, and from them emerge two young men. They bore upon a staff a white flag, and rushing between the combatants, and into the thickest of the danger, they cried with loud voices – ‘Shame, shame upon ye — ye are all brethren!‘ The generous hearts of their countrymen melted under the intrepid appeal; and they who a moment before sought each other’s lives, literally rushed into each other’s arms. Sir, I will name one of those young men; it was the present General John M. McCalla of Lexington. The other is willing to be forgotten.” [Other accounts said it was RJB and Charlton Hunt.]
While the threat of violence continued (indeed there were rumors of outright civil war in Kentucky), by the summer of 1825 the Old Court party had regained the majority, and by 1826 the Old Court was restored to its function.
by Michiana Covenant | May 11, 2013 | Breckinridge, MCPC
The Cross of Christ and the Kingdom of Christ are at the heart of the Christian faith and life.
Jesus, like John the Baptist, came proclaiming, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Likewise, Paul said to the Corinthians, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
“The Cross and Kingdom of Jesus Christ” was one of the first titles written by Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871). It consisted of two sermons, the first, “The Cross of Christ,” was his sermon for licensure in the Presbytery of West Lexington in April of 1832. The second, “The Kingdom of Christ,” was his sermon for ordination in the Presbytery of Baltimore in November of 1832.
I have chosen this as the title for my blog because I think Breckinridge was right: the Cross and the Kingdom of Christ should be at the heart of every pastor’s ministry — indeed, at the heart of every Christian’s life.
[hr]
Cross
The cross, which is the focus of this design and the power of the new covenant, give our viewer a familiar symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.
Broken bread
In the new testament the worship of the early church is at times called “gathering together to break bread” (Acts 20:7), which included both the preaching of the word and the celebration of the covenant meal.
[hr]
Upside down kingdom
The crown, a symbol of worldly kingdoms, is turned upside down, thus referencing the upside down kingdom of our LORD.
Crown of Thorns
Our King wore a crown of thorns, representing his sacrifice and our call to die to self and live unto Christ.
Divided parts
Like the animal pieces and the broken bread, the LORD’S covenant is visualized by divided parts.
Upside down kingdom and Crown of Thorns
Separating the crown of thorns from the upside down crown represents the tension we feel living in this kingdom but looking towards the one to come.
[hr]
Mosaic
Our community aims to be all things to all people. The mosaic visualizes the bringing together of varied shapes, colors and sizes. We are one in brokenness. Our worship participates together with the church of all ages.
Out and up
This design moves out and up, symbolizing the resurrection of our Lord.
Texture
The texture represents the approachable, friendly and real nature of our church.
[hr]
I will conclude by quoting from Breckinridge’s sermons — which are as appropriate today as they were in 1832:
“Alas! How long has the universal dominion of this kingdom of righteousness been delayed; and what revolutions are yet to occur in all human affairs before this throne of glory shall be established in the affections of all the creatures of God! Generation sweeps after generation, all toiling as vigorously for the poor baubles of this world, as if the experience of every one did not teach all the rest that they perished in the using.” (35)
“And we, in our turn, and the dying worms around us…rush forward in the pursuit of the worthless vanities which surround us, with a zeal which seems to burn the more intensely, as the objects on which it is wasted, are valueless or hurtful in the judgment of the Most High.” (35-36)
Breckinridge concludes by stating well what we wish to remember in our day:
“Oh! that the day were come when every disciple of Jesus Christ would habitually remember that every impenitent sinner is indeed his brother according to the flesh, and has immeasurably higher claims on him than he has on God; and that every fellow disciple is a member of the same household of faith, and while he is a joint heir of the same inheritance in heaven, sustains also a joint obligation to labour for the conversion of the same ruined world. Then indeed would the light of Zion have risen upon her; then would she arise and shine.” (58)
