man JOSHUA REED GIDDINGS. REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, 1838-1859.* GEORGE GIDDINGS, early ancestor of Joshua R., was a "husbandin Great St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He sailed for New England with his wife Jane Tuttle and three servants, April 2, 1635, and established himself at Ipswich, Massachusetts. He served eleven years in the General Court; was long a Ruling Elder in the First Church; and his estate was valued at £1021 12s. 6d. Joshua Giddings, grandfather of Joshua R., born in 1719, resided first in Lyme, Connecticut, afterwards in Hartland, and lived to the age of eighty-eight. He was a member of the Con. gregational Church of Hartland; married Jane Reed, by whom he had ten children, four sons and six daughters. Joshua Giddings, son of the preceding, was born in 1756 and lived to the age of seventy-seven. He emigrated from Hartland to Athens, Pa., thence to Canandaigua, N. Y., thence to Ashtabula County, O., settling in Williamsfield in 1812, where he remained during life. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was twice married, and had ten children. Joshua Reed Giddings, youngest child of Joshua, was born at Tioga-Point, now Athens, Bradford County, Penn., October 6, 1795; died at Montreal, British America, May 27, 1864. He was ten years of age when his parents removed to Ohio. His early opportunities for education were confined to the intervals of labor on his father's farm. When seventeen years of age, 'Giddings Family," by M. S. Giddings; Felt's "History of Ipswich," 1834; Buell's "J. R. Giddings;" "Speeches in Congress, by Giddings." war with Great Britain was declared, and he served a few months as a soldier in protecting the northwestern frontier. When nineteen years of age, he taught school, and enjoyed the instruction of a neighboring clergyman. In 1817, he commenced the study of law with Elisha Whittlesey. Admitted to the Bar in 1820, he entered upon the practice of his profession at Jefferson, the county seat of Ashtabula. In 1826, he was chosen a Representative to the State Legislature; after serving one term devoted himself to his profession till 1838; was then elected a Representative in Congress as successor of Mr. Whittlesey, and received re-election ten times in succession. "On going to Washington his capital was clearness of brain, strength of body, honesty of purpose, and a solemn sense of responsibility to his God and to his constituency. His huge frame, ponderous fists and feet, gigantic shoulders, set off by plain clothes of rustic cut, and topped by his good-natured countenance, misled the Southern members into the notion that he would serve them best as a butt for their jokes." The following quotations bearing upon the slavery agitation are drawn from "Speeches in Congress, by Joshua R. Giddings." "Biblical history informs us, that 'God gave to man dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.' These are property and we derive our title from Him who created them. But I have yet to learn that any man holds title to his fellow-man from that high source." "Sir, man may be scourged until he surrenders his independence, his will, his intellect, until the only apparent evidence of his manhood shall be his external form, but you cannot transform him into a brute. Low down in the recesses of the heart, the fire of immortality will continue to burn. When he sees an opportunity, he will assert his right to freedom and by the power of his own arm, will vindicate the dignity of his nature. The case before us is an illustration. These Africans were seized, placed in irons, sold. Montez and Ruiz purchased them, took bills of sale, as they would in the purchase of mules or sheep. They JOSHUA REEd giddings. 243 vainly thought the immortal intellect had been blotted out, and the image of God reduced to a level with swine. They called them property. But when upon the mighty deep, where no aid could be obtained to hold them in that condition, the hidden fire of their natures bursts forth into a flame; their chains were cast from them, their arms were nerved, they struck for freedom. . . . Those who had purchased and claimed them as property, turned pale and plead for mercy at their hands." ... . . . . These hucksterers in human flesh, critically examined the bodies and limbs, and judged of the age, the qualities and marketable value of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and children. I doubt whether any slave market in Africa was ever attended by more expert dealers in human chattels than was the market of this city which profanes the name of Washington. But, sir, their victims were born and bred under our laws for this very purpose. This city and the surrounding country, had been familiar to them from their earliest recollection; here they had formed their associations; in our churches they had listened to the preaching of the Gospel, and there they had been admitted to church fellowship. Such were the people whose bodies were made merchandise under our laws. Such were the people purchased by those slave dealers, who now ask us to aid them in carrying out their speculations in the bodies of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Episcopalians." [Of the Fugitive Slave Law.] "If a fugitive from oppression reaches my door amid the ragings of the storm, half clad, and benumbed with cold, and asks to warm himself by my fire, this law interferes. . . . Sir, our people will continue to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to relieve the oppressed; and no interference of this fugitive law will prevent this compliance with the dictates of our religion, with the law which came from God himself. . . . I speak for no one but myself and constituents; others will choose whether to obey God or the oppressors of mankind." ... [Referring to Mr. Venable of North Carolina.] "I wish to appeal to the conscience of that gentleman. I understand that he belongs to the Methodist Church. Now, the great and good founder of that denomination, John Wesley, has declared slavery to be the sum of all villanies.'" [Mr. Venable said the gentleman was mistaken, that he was a Presbyterian.] Mr. Giddings resumed: "Can it be that the gentleman is a Presbyterian, and yet holds slaves, and regards slavery a blessing? Would he sit down on the Sabbath with his slave, who is also a brother in Christ, of the Presbyterian faith, at the sacramental board; . . . . partake with him of the bread and the wine, of the body and the blood of a crucified Redeemer, and on Monday sell that brother, bearing the image of his God, for paltry lucre, and yet claim to be a Presbyterian ?" "I am one of those who solemnly believe that transgression and punishment are inseparably connected. I feel as confident that chastisement for the offences which we have committed against the down-trodden sons of Africa, await this people, as I do that justice controls the destinies of nations." Mr. Giddings was once challenged to fight a duel by a representative from the South. The challenge was promptly accepted, and the friend of the party, in tendering the challenge, requested Mr. Giddings to name the time and place. The latter said, "I suppose I have the right, according to the 'code,' to choose the weapons." "Yes," was the answer. "I will then choose horse whips, and they shall be used till one or the other cries for quarter; and I wish a strong cord, about three feet long, tied to the left wrist of each. I want him fixed so that I can haul him up and keep him within reach." The challenger dropped the subject. On his retirement from the Thirty-fifth Congress, he was presented with a silver service and a gold-headed cane. On the cane and on several of the silver pieces was inscribed: “Presented by 104 members of the Thirty-fifth Congress to Joshua R. Giddings, as a token of their respect for his moral worth and personal integrity." Each member subscribed five dollars, regardless of political sentiment. Charles Sumner writes to Mr. Giddings: "I cannot disguise the deep regard and reverence with which your unselfish devotion to high principles has filled me." William H. Seward writes: "You have overcome sentiments the most prejudiced and violent, and have established for your JOSHUA REEd giddings. 245 self a name that the friends of humanity will never suffer to perish." John Quincy Adams, in an autograph album, kept by Mr. Giddings during the year 1844, writes: To JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS, Of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio. When first together here we meet, I sought, and found at last-in thee. Be ours the blessing to restore H. R., U. S., WASHINGTON, June 17, 1844. Anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. of Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1861, Mr. Giddings was appointed by President Lincoln Consul General to British North America. In a letter to a relative in Gt. Barrington, Mass., dated Jefferson, Ohio, March 27, 1864, just two months before his decease, he says, "I am in my sixty-ninth year, and my wife is sixty-seven. I have been subject to disease of the heart, and was twice stricken down while speaking in Congress. I expect to die in the next attack, .... |