Although public opinion in a democratic republic like that of the United States is intended to be expressed chiefly through peaceful speech, petition, assembly and peaceable assembly consistent with the First Amendment and the ballot box, there are times when mobs have substituted violence for peaceful protest and rhetoric.
Mob Violence and First Amendment Freedoms
The issue of slavery was provocative in the years leading up to the Civil War. The rhetoric of William Lloyd Garrison, who criticized the U.S. Constitution for accommodating slavery and called for immediate uncompensated emancipation, was particularly provocative.
Mobs destroyed the abolitionist press of James G. Birney in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1836, and the abolitionist publisher Elijah Lovejoy died in a mob attack on his press in 1837.
Pennsylvania Hall built to host anti-slavery speakers, gatherings
Another shocking incident took place the following year in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution had been signed, and where the Liberty Bell was located.
After the men who founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in that city barred women from membership, the women launched their own Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS). Like other abolitionist groups, they often found it difficult to secure meeting places for the promulgation of their provocative ideas.
They subsequently joined others in commissioning a commodious building costing $40,000, called Pennsylvania Hall. It was designed to serve as a gathering place and platform for ideas whose speakers might not otherwise be able to find a platform.
Mob burned down hall a few days after it opened
Although he was unable to attend the opening ceremonies on Monday, May 14, 1838, abolitionist Theodore Weld expressed joy in “the erection of your ‘Temple of Freedom’” and its commitment to “free Discussion and Equal Rights” (Brown 1976, 138). In a keynote address by attorney David Paul Brown on the opening day, he referred to the structure as “this temple to liberty” (Brown 1976, 129). The Hall was opened to various groups and included “addresses on freedom of speech, the right of petition, and the antislavery movement” (Brown 1976, 129), some by women as well as men.
Men and women, whites and blacks attended speeches there, and reports widely circulated that black men and white women could be seen arm-in-arm at proceeding in what many believed was a prelude to interracial marriages. Some blacks were physically assaulted as they left the building.
On the 17th, a mob formed. Despite half-hearted efforts to dissuade them, the mob met with little law enforcement resistance. Members entered the building and burned it down, interfering with fire trucks that sought to quench the flames.
Later, abolitionists gained sympathy for their cause
In the days that followed, mobs continue to threaten the homes of abolitionists, and William Lloyd Garrison, who had spoken in the Hall, left town rather than take the chance of being lynched.
The public cast much of the blame upon the victims. A committee appointed to investigate blamed the abolitionists and noted that they had encouraged practices “viewed by some as repugnant to that separation and distinction which it has pleased the great Author of nature to establish among the various races of man” while a St. Louis newspaper described the building not as a “Temple of Freedom” but a “Temple of Amalgamation” (Brown 1976, 133, 135).
Over time, however, abolitionists gained sympathy for their cause and that of freedom of speech. A scholar notes that The Public Ledger of Philadelphia expressed the view that “it would have been better to shoot down members of the mob than to surrender the First Amendment rights” (Brown 1976, 136). In time, the city provided compensation for the destruction of the hall, which William Lloyd Garrison had referred to as a “legal lynching” (Turner 2014, 178).
Over time, the nearby Liberty Bell became a potent symbol, not only of American independence but also of abolitionism (Vile 2020, 1-3).
John R. Vile is a political science professor and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University.