uthor Talk Josh Cutler

001[Music] Welcome to the state library. Um, so happy to see so many faces. My name is April Pascuji and I'm one of the reference librarians here. Um, before we get started, I'd just like to thank the Bureau of the State House and House Broadcast Services for their help in setting up for today's event. I'd also like to note this event is being livereamed and recorded to be made available on our YouTube channel. Today I'm excited to introduce our very own Representative Josh Cutler. Representative Cutler. Yes. [Applause] A local author. Yes. Representative Cutler serves the sixth Plymouth District. He is also the house chair on the joint committee on the labor uh on the joint committee on labor and workforce development. In addition to being an author and state legislator, Cutler is also an attorney with

002a master's degree in environmental policy. Representative Cutler will be speaking on his second book, The Boston Gentleman's Mob, Maria Chapman and the Abolition Riot of 1835. On October 21st, a riot broke out in the streets of Boston. Enga enraged businessmen, merchants and bankers disrupted a woman's abolitionist meeting and a angry mob soon formed. Cutler recounts this day in history from four different perspectives. Maria Chapman, an abolitionist, Susan Paul, a school teacher, Theodore Lyman, Boston's mayor, and Wendell Philillips, an attorney and spectator of the day's events. The Boston Gentleman's Mob is an exciting read that highlights the early days of the abolitionist movement. At the end of the presentation, we invite you to ask any questions you may have for the author. Just raise your hand and we'll hand you a mic. The author has also

003brought copies of the book to sign and sell after the event. Um, Representative Cutler has graciously offered to donate the proceeds to the state library. Um, so thank you. And without further ado, I'll leave it to Rep. Cutler. [Applause] Good afternoon everybody. Thanks so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Uh my name is Josh Cutler. I think I I see a lot of friendly faces in the crowd. For anybody who who doesn't know me and for the folks tuning in, uh I'm grateful for your attention uh this afternoon. Uh I'm here to talk about uh a book that I've written. Um the basic programming is going to kind of give you a little introduction. And then I have a a presentation that we're going to run through that's that's fairly brief talking about some

004of the events of that happened back in 1835. And then I want to definitely save some time for some Q&A and hopefully you'll have some good questions to ask me. And I see pretty smart audience here. So I expect some really uh probing questions. So uh that's sort of plan. I do have some books in the back, a limited number that I'm happy to to uh to sign for anybody who wants one. And again, we're donating all the proceeds back to the state house library. So your your gift is a is a is a a charitable donation to the library. So we're grateful for all the the great work they do. And speaking of the library, I did want to to thank all the team here at the library for helping to put together this

005event. Uh, including Dava, April, Jessica, Judy, Emily, Elizabeth, and Alyssa. Did I miss anybody from the library? Could maybe you guys could just all just raise your hand so we can see you and acknowledge you. Thank you. Also want to thank as we do and we appreciate them and uh every day the House Broadcast Services is doing all the the great video work here today. Uh also the Bureau of the State House which helped with all the event planning. I want to thank Carl Richardson uh who's um uh helped with the assisted uh listening for uh uh for that service for the the broadcast. Um I think I've got everybody here. If I missed anyone, my apologies. Um again, so what I wanted to do is uh kind of give you a little bit of

006an introduction how this ended up uh coming to pass that uh your local state rep decided to write a book and um it actually began I have a copy here. So, a funny quick story. I wrote another book uh that was published in 2019 called uh Mobtown Massacre, and it's about tells a story about Alexander Hansen and the War of 1812. And he was a newspaper publisher who was attacked by a mob and he fought back violently and almost was killed during a mob attack. And it was uh one of the first incidents of of an attack on the freedom of of the press in the United States history. And it just so happens that my little town of Hansen that I represent in the legislature was named after Alexander Hansen. And so I had

007always sort of knew that in the back of my mind and always wondered what the story was because here we have this he was from Baltimore, Maryland. And here we have this federalist newspaper editor during the 19th century from Maryland and my you know quaint little town of Hansen that I've been representing uh was named after him. And how did that come to pass? And so I decided that I was going to find out and so I did and uh did a lot of research and and had a lot of fun writing this book. Um I have a newspaper background before I was in the legislature and uh so uh did the book came out and was scheduled to actually come here to the state house library to do an author talk in March of

0082020. And if anybody knows what happened then u uh unfortunately we're had to this I think this is one of the first events that got cancelled because of COVID. So never got to do that. Um but uh grateful to be back here today during the that inter in internam during that time I actually wrote a second book you know having the pandemic uh does give you if you're a local state rep as I see a number of my colleagues here you have you know used to going to meetings every night and you're not able to do that as much during the pandemic so I had some extra time on my hands and I decided to write another book and so you know the idea you know of this newspaper editor getting attacked by the mob

009and defending that led me to uh led me to this other book which we're here to talk about today um because it was some similar themes that really interested me and it's about uh this one is centered in you know literally right here in Boston steps from where we are today and so uh that's sort of the background of how I ended up writing about uh this event which I'm going to talk to you about. So uh again that's uh the program for today is going to kind of walk you through this presentation that I have and then hopefully kind of wet your appetite for what was going on back then. It's um history, you know, really these kind of historical events, you know, it's I look at as a a window in time and

010we're looking back and um I think there's a lot of things we can learn from history that may have some parallels to today. So again, we're going to do the presentation. Uh glad to answer questions after that and then I'm happy to sign some books uh in the back and again all the proceeds go back to the state house library. So sound good? All right. And I think I got everybody that I was supposed to thank. All right. So I want you to just bear with me for a moment and close your eyes. Okay, you're now parishioners at the Unitarian Church on Federal Street in Boston. It's the fall of 1835. Outside, church horse carriages creek along Federal Street, which is still made of compressed dirt. Gas street lights remain a novelty. Most streets are

011still illuminated illuminated with oil lamps. Our president is Andrew Jackson. Daniel Webster is our US senator. The mayor of Boston is a man named Theodore Lyman. And Boston is dominated by the Wig Party. Our governor is John Davis of Worcester and the speaker of the house is a man named Julius Rockwell from Pittsfield and uh who later became a Republican and uh served as a speaker for the second time in 1858. So we had a Republican speaker. So that tells you this is going back a bit in time. No offense to my Republican friends in the audience. Uh but it was a tense time in the nation. uh a time of political unrest, racial division, and mob violence were commonplace. So, I want to introduce you to Mariah Weston Chapman. Hopefully, you can see folks

012in the back. There's a couple seats here still. Uh so, Mariah is one of your fellow parishioners. Uh her father-in-law is a prosperous ship Chandler and his family pew is probably down front in a prominent spot. Mariah comes from more modest means. She grew up in the town of Weimoth in the Southshore as the oldest of eight siblings. Her father is a sailor turned farmer who struggled with alcohol. You may not have noticed Mariah at first. She had slight features and could come across as quiet yet intense. She was also self-confident, determined, and whipsmart. One friend praised her morals and intellect, but acknowledged that her charms were not always immediately apparent. He said, quote, "It takes time to thaw the ice of her exterior. Then you are carried away by the torrent." Mariah was now

01328 years old. She had recently joined a women's anti-slavery society and had quickly become a growing force behind the scenes. This is Mariah here, and this is a letter that she wrote. A growing influence was William Lloyd Garrison, the radical publisher of the Liberator newspaper that you see here. His paper was launched January 1st of 1831. And Garrison made clear that when it came to speaking out against slavery, he would pull no punches. He said, quote, "I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice on this subject. I do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation. No, no, I am in earnest. I will not equivocate. I will not excuse. I will not retreat a single inch and I will be heard. With those words, he launched the Liberator

014newspaper. Uh Garrison was a proponent of what was known as immediate emancipation of all enslaved persons. Mariah also believed strongly in immediate emancip emancipation, but her progressive views were not widely shared in Boston at that time, even in a relatively progressive Unitarian church. While most of the city's establishment frowned on the practice of slavery, many still benefited from its practice, whether directly or indirectly. The city's prosperous cotton textile industry in particular relied on raw cotton cultivated with the labor of enslaved persons in the south. For many, the preservation of the Union was more important than any than any measured distaste they may have for the institution of slavery. The growing abolitionist movement and especially the unyielding and uncompromising approach of anti-slavery advocates like William Lloyd Garrison did not sit well with much of establishment Boston.

015The issue came to a head in 1835. In the spring, the abolitionists launched a campaign to turn public opinion against slavery. They flooded the southern states with anti-slavery literature. This became known as the Great Postal Campaign. Unfortunately, the effort mostly backfired and led to violence in the South, as you see here. This is a depiction of the post office in Charleston, South Carolina, and they actually burned uh an effigy of William Lloyd Garrison while they were taking and stealing the mail. In Boston, the city leaders were worried. They called a citywide meeting in August at Faniel Hall to reject the abolitionist aims and express support for their southern brethren. The meeting was chaired by Mayor Theodore Lyman, and 1,500 of Boston's most respectable citizens attended. They included Harrison Gray Otis, one of Boston's wealthiest and

016best known political leaders. Others included uh Francis Katel, Lemuuel Shadock, and Amos Lawrence, all common well-known names to us today. The organizers tried to frame their effort as anti-abolitionist rather than pro-slavery. They hoped the meeting would quell the poisonous influence of abolitionism in Boston and calm southern fears. One of the men who is there on right, this is uh on the left is Mayor Mayor Lyman. On the right here is a gentleman named Pelleig Sprag who is actually from my hometown of Ducks, Massachusetts. And he served as a US senator from Maine had recently returned back to resettle in Boston. And he also signed the petition and spoke out at the meeting against the abolitionists. He considered slavery an evil but also spoke of the evils that would come with the interference of northern states

017in southern affairs. Why did they not go to the south and preach their doctrine? He argued. He said, quote, I've heard of individuals who practiced a thousand winning ways to make folks hate them, and abolitionists had employed all these acts with wonderful success. Mariah Chapman did not heed their warning. She and a group of influential women had been meeting regularly to promote the cause of abolition. Their group was known as the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. One of the members was Susan Paul, a seamstress and school teacher. She was one of a handful of black women active in the group. Susan Paul was the granddaughter of an enslaved person and hailed from a prominent and pioneering black family with strong ties strong ties to Garrison. Her father, Thomas Paul, was an accomplished order, a Baptist minister,

018and he led the effort to build a church on Beacon Hill, which came to be known as the African Meeting House. There we go. African Meeting House, sometimes called Black Fanual Hall, and it remained a spiritual, cultural, and political center in Boston even after his death in 1831. Susan, now we don't have any photos of Susan. We don't there's no known photos of Susan. Um, we have two images here. One is of her sister Anne Paul Smith and the woman on the right is her uh niece Susan Paul Smith. Um and that's Mariah Chapman on on the left. Uh Susan took up her family's social reform mantle and she was active with the local temperance society and women's rights movement along with the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society here and you can see the constitution of

019their society on the screen. So the women's society was was uh supposed to have their annual meeting in October, but the women could not find a venue to host them. All the local merchants, none of the local merchants appreciated the women's anti-slavery efforts, and they objected to any association with the group. The owner of one prominent meeting hall forbid the women from meeting there. And just in case there was any doubt, he even took out an ad in a local newspaper to make his position clear. Not a place can be had for love or money, Mariah's sister complained. One local paper summed up the views of the women's society thusly. Quote, "Has it come to this that the women of our country, not content with their proper sphere, the domestic fireside, must have public meetings

020to encourage a foreign emissary to destroy our peace? Are there not sufficient diluted men already engaged with the work of abolition that the interference of females may be dispensed with? The women finally made arrangements to host their meeting on the third floor of a commercial building on Washington Street, right around the corner from the old state house, just uh steps from here. On the day of the meeting, October 21st, 1835, this handbill, you can see uh on the left, was circulated around the city and in local newspapers. The rumor was that a British abolitionist named George Thompson, who's pictured here on the right, would be the woman's special guest. He was one of the few abolitionists more despised than William Lloyd Garrison. The hand bill offered $100 bounty for Thompson and it was paid for

021by a group of local businessmen. Now, it didn't seem to matter that the newspaper and the hand bills were false. Thompson would not be at the women's meeting and he was not even in the city at the time. As Garrison himself would later write, quote, "The whole city was now rot up to a pitch of insanity. I don't know if you can hear that. Try to add some sound effects. Nobody falls asleep. Uh, the handbill had its intended effect and a crowd gathered outside the building. It grew in size, quickly grew in size and intensity. The leaders of the mob were among the city's leading residents, bankers, merchants, tradesmen, some militia members. They wore fine broadcloth, camellet coats, casamemirs, and beaver hats. Quote, "I have kept the hat store 30 years and never saw so

022many good hats before in my life." One local hat seller later remarked, "Some of the observers and perhaps participants had walked down from this building, from the state house, which was supposed to be in session at 2:00 that afternoon. But word was spreading fast that quote, "A multitude had assembled and were going to mob Garrison and also Thompson." So rather than take their seats, some legislators like John Demick, a state representative from Boston, left the state house chamber and walked down to Beacon Hill toward the anti-slavery office. Another state rep, state rep. Ellis Ames from the small town of West Bridgewater was also among the spectators. [Music] Now, one of the spectators was a gentleman named Wendell Phillips. He was a young attorney who had recently opened up his practice in Boston. He worked near

023other young attorneys trying to make a name for themselves, including one gentleman named Charles Sumner. Phillips was a graduate of Boston Latin School, Harvard College, Harvard Law School. He was the son of Boston's first mayor, John Phillips. He came from a wealthy family, was once called, quote, the proud leader of the aristocracy. He was not known to be a reformer. There were few hints that Phillips would do anything other than continue along his expected trajectory towards further success, wealth, and prestige. Now, Phillips heard the commotion and walked outside of his office. He saw the crowd. Quote, "Why does not the mayor call out the regiment? We would cheerfully take arms in such a case as this," he said. It is a very shameful business. Why does he stand there arguing? Why does he not call

024for the guns? Philip said of Mayor Lyman. His friend gestured to the crowd, advising his colleague that the mob and the militia were one and the same. It was a chilling realization for Phillips, and the memory would stick with him long after that day. I don't we done? Yes. I don't know how well you can see that. This is a cartoon uh depicting the scene outside of the anti-slavery office. It's undated, but we believe it was done contemporaneously with the event. Uh, and it sarcastically depicts the anti-abolitionist dressed in top hats, if you can see, attacking the sign and throwing Bibles out of the window. Down with a damned abolitionist. The peace of this city is destroyed. Lynch them. Lynch them. It read. So, for this, I need a little bit of audience participation. And

025I have a couple of volunteers who I believe have graciously agreed to step forward. Representative Lenatra and Representative Miratori I saw as well. If you two could come down here. So I should say we have Mariah Chapman and Mayor Lyman. So Mariah, if you could be on the left here and Representative Murator as uh Mr. Mayor, you don't have a you don't have a choice. So um maybe not stand in front of the screen though, Matt. Maybe over here. Yeah, >> you can stand in front of me. We didn't have a chance to rehearse this guys. Sorry. So >> I thought there was a picture. >> So hold on. So inside the lecture hall, the women were still trying to host their meeting. They started with an opening prayer and a scripture reading. The crowd

026of angry men had filled the hallway and the staircase leading up to the room. They yelled and shouted obscenities and some hurled orange peels at the women. At one point, a floorboard was sent flying into the room, but it landed harmlessly. William Lloyd Garrison was one of the only male guests inside the women's meeting. At one point, he turned and addressed the crowd gathered in back. He said, "Gentlemen, perhaps you are not aware that this is a meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society called and intended exclusively for ladies. Understanding this fact, you will not be so rude or into chorus as to thrust your presence upon this meeting. If gentlemen any of you are ladies in disguise, why only apprise me of the fact? Give me your names and I will introduce you to

027the rest of your sex and you can take seats among them accordingly. He needled. The crowd did not take kindly to Garrison's mocking remarks, and he quickly realized that his presence was making things worse, so he tried to escape. In any case, the women were determined to continue their meeting and proceed with the society's annual business. Mayor Lyman soon arrived and Mayor Lyman said, "Ladies, do you wish to see a scene of bloodshed and confusion? If you do not, go home." Mariah Chapman responded, >> "Mr. Lyman, your personal friends are the instigators of this mob. Have you ever used your personal influence with them? >> I know. No personal friends. I'm merely an official. Indeed. Ladies, you must retire. It is dangerous to remain. >> If this is the last bull work of freedom, we

028may as well die here as anywhere. >> Thank you to Mayor Lyman, Mariah Chapman. That was wonderfully done. I've done this a few times and you guys were exemplary. Thank you. I'll leave these words up for a moment because if this is the last bull work of freedom, we may as well die here as anywhere. These words from Mariah Chapman would later become an abolitionist rallying cry. Now, Chapman remained resolute. She didn't uh want to give in to this gentleman's mob. She didn't want to stop the meeting, but she reluctantly agreed. She helped lead the women down the flight of stairs. But in a show of defiance, she arranged for the women to march in a procession, walking next to their black members. The sight of the women boldly marching in pairs, black and white,

029arm in arm, drew hisses from the men in the crowd. Chapman marched south on Washington Street with her colleagues. She looked outward and was disgusted by what she saw. There were hundreds of men arrayed on both sides of the street. These were the wealthy and respectable of Boston, men of influence and standing. Quote, "We saw the faces of those we had till now thought friends, men whom he never met before without giving the hand in friendly salutation. Men whom till now we should have called upon for condemnation of ruffianism." Mariah walked back to her home on West Street, a short distance away. And at one point, a sheriff deputy arrived, offering a condescending comment about his brushes with the mob, as if to emphasize the potential peril they were facing. "I speak as a man,

030just from a mob," he reminded her. But Chapman would have none of that, she said. Quote, "And I listen as a woman just from a mob," she retorted. Mariah's younger sister summed up the events in her diary that day. She said, quote, "This is to be remembered as the day 5,000 men mobbed 45 women. As for Garrison, he left the meeting by climbing out a back window, but the crowd gave chase. "Catch them! Hang them! Damn to the death abolitionists!" the man yowed out in pursuit. Garrison fled to a local carpenter shop and tried to hide under a pile of lumber and wood chips, but he was soon discovered and dragged in front of the old state house. The mob had designs to drag him to the frog pond and then tar and feather him.

031What happens next is the subject of my book. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Are you jumping on the mic? >> Yes. I was going to say if anyone has any questions um please raise your hand and we'll hand you a mic. >> Yes. Sounds great. Thank you. Thank you for being good. Thanks to my uh uh volunteers for for being good sports. Um just want to say and I'm happy to take questions that you know the the this the reason I chose to focus on this event is it really had a remarkable impact a lasting impact on uh the anti-slavery movement on the cause of abolitionism here in Massachusetts uh and really rippled you know throughout history. Mariah Chapman uh went on to become uh to have a really an illustrious career as

032an abolitionist. She became William Lloyd Garrison's able lieutenant. One critic later called her Garrison's evil genius. Another called her as Joan of our ark or Captain Chapman. Um and uh I talked about Wendell Phillips. Some of you may know who Wendell Phillips is. He went from being, you know, one of the leaders of the aristocracy to one of the, you know, major social reformers of our of the the 19th century. There's a a statue of him on Boston Common. And it was all because of him walking out of his office that day and seeing what was happening. Um Susan Paul I talked about briefly. Unfortunately sometimes when you write books um the historical record isn't always what you would want it to be and she is one person who I think was really remarkable that

033there's was was more challenging to find information about her. Uh and I wish I had a chance to really dive into her uh life because I think she was really uh someone whose story deserves to be told. So, I try to to to tell this story of this gentleman's mob through the perspectives of some different folks rather than just focusing on William Lloyd Garrison, Mariah Chapman, Wendell Phillips, uh Mayor Lyman. Uh he's a bit of a the villain in this uh in this uh scenario, but he did do a lot of charitable things throughout his life and uh you know, if the the Lyman farm in Waltham uh some folks may be familiar with. So, um at any rate, I appreciate the chance to do this. I've really enjoyed uh writing about this event. Um

034um I have actually been working on another project uh that I've been doing that isn't quite done yet that uh hopefully we'll be able to come back to you and and talk about in the future. Um so at this point I happy to take questions. Uh as I said uh before um afterwards happy to I know it's a busy day and we have to vote I think at 1. Um happy to sign some books and again donate the funds to the state house library. So I saw a gentleman here with the microphone. Yeah I don't know if that microphone's working but I can hear you fine. I don't know if the folks at home can hear. Yeah, normally I'm so loud at that. Anyway, um this obviously is pretty early in the uh history of,

035you know, pre- civil war. So, I was curious whether any of the anti- uh the people on the outside uh publicly changed their opinions as they got closer to the um actual conflict. >> They did. Yeah. No, absolutely. And and you know a lot of the names that I was reading off we think of you know as some of the pillars of the community in those early days of the abolition movement they you know they were not on on the on the the side of you know of the righteous uh but many of them did and uh you know in the book actually talked about is a is a flash forward to uh just before the civil war where many of the same folks including Wendell Phillips who became you know this passionate abolitionist because

036of these events spoke out. Uh there's a speech he gave at Faniel Hall that c is is very well known and many of those same men who had opposed these women back in 1835 were you know now committed abolitionists and that's why you know I tried to focus on Mariah Chapman and and it was really the women that had the courage in that day in the face of these gentlemen uh who probably didn't live up to the term but yes they did. Thank you. Hey sir, I I I think you need the microphone just so the folks uh back on the video can hear. Thank you. Um, in doing some background reading, I was struck by the fact there was a apparently wealthy slave owner at the church in downtown Boston. Uh, and his pastor

037didn't like what he did, but they continued to consort on God, I suppose. And the other was that Reverend Fallen who brought Christmas and athleticism and gymnasium and was an abolitionist when he died tragically couldn't they his supporters couldn't find a Unitarian church let alone anything else uh for his funeral or memorial. Uh where did the philosophy change in the unarian view that we today think is all progressive? Yeah, I know. It's funny. I went I did a book talk. So, my stepmom is a Unitarian minister. Actually, she just retired, but she was a Unitarian minister for 20 years. So, I did a book talk at her Unarian church. Um, and uh, you know, we think of the Unitarians as, you know, one of the most progressive uh, groups back then, you know, they they

038weren't uh, well, relative today at least. Uh, and many of the churches, so that was one of the ways that people would try to communicate, you know, at at the local pew on Sunday and to get the word out about these meetings. And so oftentimes uh the women would try to post their notices about their meetings and they were taken down or told or shushed or told not to do that at many of the the churches in the city at that time. Obviously things changed over time but yeah know thank you for that's a great point that you raised. >> Thank you. >> Uh any other um did I Yeah, the gentle lady from Fall River. >> Oh I didn't >> Sorry. >> No. Okay. I'm sorry. I thought I saw a hand. Was that

039K? >> Okay. >> Oh the gentle lady from Newton. My apologies. >> Uh, this is great. I couldn't get here at the very beginning, but um I just wanted to mention that what I've noticed in my district are many streets named after some of the men that you're talking about, the wealthy and those who were uh against the whole movement. So, I just wondered if you had any comments about that in terms of thinking about how we change names these days or think about changing names. Just wanted to >> Yeah. No, actually absolutely. I mean, I mentioned some of those names of, you know, number one of the folks who attended the anti-abolitionist meeting. You know, some of the most prominent residents uh of the city at the time and and today and um you

040know, many of his story remembers some of them and not others. Uh one of the points I make in the book, you know, there's a there's a wonderful statue of Wendell Phillips, you know, showing him breaking the chains, you know, of liberty to to free enslave people uh on Boston Common. Mariah Chapman, who I think, you know, that day was much more courageous. There's no statues of her anywhere in Boston. There's there's actually at the the Way Weaimoth Library, which is a beautiful library, uh they have a bust of her uh at the library itself, which is just a short distance from where she lived and where she she passed away. But um you know, she's someone may perhaps there's a a bill that could be filed uh to to to more properly recognize Mariah

041Chapman and also Susan Paul who was uh um you know, one of the most pioneering uh black activists at that time. She came from, you know, a long family of of activists and really had a major impact on the female anti-slavery society. So perhaps there's some some things we can work on. Thank you. Um I don't I want to be mindful of time. I don't see any more hands up. Um so I guess just as a reminder, we're going to uh we have some books we can sign if anyone would like them. Uh proceeds are to the state house library. Um I mentioned that I'm doing another book project. If anybody's interested, I'm looking for a couple beta readers to kind of uh help me uh with the next project. And I can't offer any

042renumeration, but I'll I'll give you certainly a credit in in the acknowledgement. So, wanted to mention that. And I think that is it. Um so, thank you all so much. Give yourself a round of applause. I appreciate it. [Music]