A Reflection on Plattsburgh Lyceums

Between 1830 and 1840, Clinton County had a population of less than 30,000 and Plattsburgh had approximately 1,000 families. Andrew Jackson was President, the area was humming with new businesses, and local men and women were discussing the news in lyceums. In Plattsburgh, the Academy provided a good place for the semi-monthly Wednesday evening discussions, lectures and debates organized by the Plattsburgh Lyceum.

Topics were current, most times relevant, sometimes historical, and sometimes just floating an opinion, like “is love a stronger passion than hate” or “should marriage be enforced after the age of 30?”  Each Wednesday night, every other week, men and women were invited to hear the pros and cons of an issue.

In August of 1833, the question was “would the immediate manumission of all slaves be a political measure?” Coincidentally, at the same time, there was a declaration in the Plattsburgh Republican on August 3rd by the Presbyterian Church concerning manumitted slaves. The church group under Benjamin Mooers resolved that since freed slaves had no rights, were fleeing the slave states and were “unsound and may become a dangerous portion of our community,” it was agreed that the American Colonization Society should continue to return freed blacks to Africa. Involved in the lyceum’s “immediate manumission” discussion were Dr. Edward Kane, John Blanchard and George Beckwith, all on the Clinton County Common School Association under Association President Benjamin Mooers. Further to the manumission issue and several years later, the same Plattsburgh Lyceum debated whether the American Colonization Society does in fact injure the African race?  Horace Boardman, an abolitionist, was a member of the ‘negative’ side of the debating team and in November of 1835, the Methodist Episcopal Church was on record as strongly supporting the work of the Society. Plattsburgh’s debate conclusion might well have been on the same side as Mooers’ in 1833 and Boardman’s in 1835.

September of 1833 would have marked 50 years since the end of the Revolution, and a lyceum debate was reflecting on whether our forefathers were “justified in taking possession of this country in the manner they did?” Here, local attorney I.W.R. Bromley was on the affirmative side and C.C. Severance, a judge from western New York State, was on the negative. This could have been an interesting question depending on who the debaters identified as originally having possession - the French, the British, and/or the Indians? And the topic of Indian lands continued to be relevant to lyceum members. Ladies and gentlemen were invited to attend an October 1833 lyceum debate on whether “Georgia was justifiable in treating the Cherokee Indians in the manner she did?” This debate would have been triggered by the 1832 Supreme Court case, which denied the State of George the right to expel the Cherokees from their lands. The lyceum debated the question as to whether Georgia was justified in trying. What would happen later was an intervention by President Andrew Jackson and the 1835 Treaty of New Echota, which did move the tribe out of Georgia and west of the Mississippi. The lyceum audience in 1833 was unaware that this issue was not over and that it was the prelude to the Trail of Tears.

President Jackson himself was occasionally the direct subject of the local lyceum debates. In November of 1833, the debate question posed was whether General Jackson justifiably executed Robert Ambristor in 1818?  This particular quandary would have been well known to the local lyceum members as, according to the Florida Historical Society, this incident plagued Jackson during his entire political career. Robert Ambristor was a British subject seen to have been supporting the Seminole War and was hung through a court-martial as ordered by Jackson. Congress condemned the incident then, but what did the lyceum debate conclude 15 years later? In any event, the issue was discussed in Plattsburgh.

Later, Jackson’s name may have appeared again. In 1835, there was a debate on whether dueling was justified. Lyceum members would have been aware of two major duels – Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in 1804 and President Jackson’s 1806 duel with Charles Dickinson. On the affirmative side were the Honorable Caleb Nichols and Lorenzo Brock, on the negative were L. C. Boynton and Mr. A. E. Edson. The Burr Hamilton duel was over Hamilton’s insults to Burr. The Jackson Dickinson duel was over an insult Dickinson made to Jackson’s wife. Historyfacts.com states Jackson was involved in ‘as many as 100 duels’, so it was a valid topic for a lyceum discussion, although New York state had outlawed dueling in 1804.

There were no recorded outcomes of these debates, but the topics remain a reflection on the era. For example, “Ought corporal punishment be inflicted for petit larcenies?” This question is interesting.  Corporal punishment was used in schools at the time and most probably against most criminals. It is curious why the question was dealing specifically with a small theft and not children.  Texas independence was a topic, as was the connection between the Roman Catholic church and the Republican party. Other topics offered the possibility for amusement and a discussion without the availability of actual facts. Do Ghosts appear? Should all Superstition be removed from the mind of mankind?  Does the pulpit afford a better field for eloquence than the Bar? Are not tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural convulsions the result of celestial management?

The lyceums did not escape criticism through letters to the editor, but the format persisted with twists and turns, providing what has been described as the ‘mental entertainment’ of the times. Lectures were also included in the lyceum program format, such as Judge Williams’ 1833 lecture on the iron mines in Clintonville and General St. John B. L. Skinner’s dissertation on the Battle of Plattsburgh. Not published was Dr. Kane’s lecture on the pseudoscience phrenology, a topic covered several times and a theory in the process of being discredited. The lyceums were managed by the major players of the Plattsburgh community and seemed well attended and appreciated.

-Written by Clinton County Historical Association Director Helen Allen Nerska