Sherman Miller Booth (September 25, 1812 – August 10, 1904) was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, editor and politician in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and was instrumental in forming the Liberty Party, the

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...

and the Republican Party. He became known nationally after helping instigate a jailbreak for a runaway slave in violation of the

Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also kno ...

Early life and education

Born in

Davenport, New York Davenport is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Delaware County, New York, Delaware County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 2,965 at the 2010 census. The town is in the northeastern part of the county ...

, he was raised in an area of western New York known for various religious and reform movements. His father was against slavery. He attended and later taught at nearby Jefferson Academy for several years, alternating between teaching and farming. By 1837 he was a traveling speaker and organizer for the New York Temperance Society. He earned a reputation as a persuasive and booming orator. In 1838 he began attending

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and proved an exceptional student. He repeatedly declined financial aid, choosing instead to support himself with his continued teaching. In 1839 he was hired with other Yale students to teach English to the imprisoned Africans who had taken over the slave ship '' Amistad''. He continued to teach the Africans after they were successfully freed by the U.S. Supreme Court. His involvement in the case led him to join the wider abolition movement.

Party organizer and editor

While still in college, in 1840 Booth helped organize the Liberty Party, an abolitionist party born from the evangelical

American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society split off from the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840 over a number of issues, including the increasing influence of anarchism (and an unwillingness to participate in the government's political proce ...

. He sought to expand the abolition fight from the churches to the statehouses, and became the party's main organizer for

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. After he graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from Yale in 1841, he moved to

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.Waukesha to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

and renaming it the ''Wisconsin Freeman''. As chief secretary to the Liberty Party's convention that year in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, he helped shape the new

and expand its platform beyond abolition to build a larger coalition. In this spirit he renamed his paper the ''Wisconsin Free Democrat''. In 1850 Booth denounced the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, and with other Wisconsin Free Soilers pressured the state legislature to provide a writ of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

and trial for accused fugitive slaves. In 1851 he persuaded Whig Leonard J. Farwell to run for governor, resulting in his election and the interruption of control of the state by the Democratic Party. The year 1854 began with the emergence in Congress of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which would allow

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...

to decide the issue of slavery in the territories. Echoing other Wisconsin newspapers Booth denounced the bill, and on January 30 he suggested a statewide convention at the capitol in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska bill. At a Milwaukee meeting on February 13 Booth headed a committee that passed resolutions that were then adapted and adopted by many other anti-Nebraska meetings held throughout the state, including the March 20 meeting in

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

that resulted in the birth of the Republican Party.

The Glover liberation

On the night of March 10, 1854

Joshua Glover __NOTOC__ Joshua Glover was a fugitive slave from St. Louis, Missouri, who sought asylum in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1852. Upon learning his whereabouts in 1854, slave owner Bennami Garland attempted to use the Fugitive Slave Act to recover him. Glov ...

, an escaped slave from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, was seized in his shack in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

, by five men headed by his former master Bennami Garland and a federal marshal. Without any explanation Glover was forced into the back of a wagon and taken to jail in Milwaukee. Word of the capture quickly spread and the next morning Booth was informed by telegram. Booth learned the warrant was issued by a federal judge, and went to the jail to apprise the situation. He then rallied on horseback "all freemen who are opposed to being made slaves or slave catchers" to meet in courthouse square at 2 p.m. in protest. Before a crowd nearing 5,000, with some coming from Racine, Booth made clear the dangers of breaking the law, but nevertheless encouraged the mob to show its outrage. After the mob had gathered at the jail, over a hundred Racine men and their sheriff attempted to arrest the federal marshal for assault and

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

. The federal judge refused the demands of the mob. After repeated refusals, the restless mob broke through the jail door, and Glover safely escaped to Waukesha. Later, he made his way to Canada via

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. Booth did not participate in the rescue himself, but three days later decreed in his paper that the Fugitive Slave Law had been effectively repealed in Wisconsin.

Legal battling and party organizing

Two days later Booth was arrested for aiding and abetting the release of a fugitive slave in violation of the

. Rather than deny his role in inciting the mob action, Booth charged that the law was unconstitutional, and rather than see the rights of a trial by jury nullified he said he would "prefer to see every federal officer in Wisconsin hanged on a gallows." After such inflammatory rhetoric U.S. Commissioner Winfield Smith set Booth's bail at $2000, which his supporters paid immediately, freeing Booth to not only continue his battle against the slave law, but to again editorialize in favor of a statewide anti-slavery convention. Other state newspapers concurred, and on June 9 Booth called for a mass meeting on July 13 at the

Wisconsin State Capitol The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wi ...

. Booth had surrendered himself back into federal custody so his lawyer

Byron Paine Byron Paine (October 10, 1827January 13, 1871) was an American lawyer and justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His successful representation of Ezekiel Gillespie in the 1866 case of ''Gillespie v. Palmer'' resulted in the legal recognition of ...

could appeal for a writ of

from the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

. The court, under Associate Justice Abram D. Smith, freed Booth, declaring that the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was not only

unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

, but "a wicked and cruel enactment." The federal courts responded by calling a grand jury in Madison that resulted in a warrant for Booth's arrest. Nevertheless, Booth worked behind the scenes in organizing the anti-slavery convention, naming officers and determining the platform of what would become Wisconsin's Republican Party. He also made several public speeches despite the risk of arrest. The new party was extraordinarily successful on state ballots that November, netting not only a congressman, but also the state legislature, which in turn elected the country's first Republican senator,

Charles Durkee Charles H. Durkee (December 10, 1805January 14, 1870) was an American pioneer, Congressman, and United States Senator from Wisconsin. He was one of the founders of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and was a Governor of the Utah Territory in the last five ye ...

. On July 19, 1854, the state supreme court officially reaffirmed Smith's decision to free Booth, but two days later he was arrested again by federal officers. Booth tried to appeal to the state court once again, but they refused the case now that it was in a U.S. district court. In January 1855 the jury, instructed to ignore the morality of the Fugitive Slave Law, pronounced Booth guilty and he was ordered to go back to prison. However, he would go on to appeal again and again to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On February 3, 1855, the court ruled again that the Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional, resulting again in Booth's release. Three months later the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, but the state court's refusal to transmit its decision to Washington delayed the case for four years. In July 1855 Glover's former owner launched a civil suit in federal court against Booth for the loss of his slave, and Booth was fined $1000.

Charged with rape

In April 1860 Booth was indicted on a morals charge. Fourteen-year-old babysitter Caroline Cook claimed that during an overnight stay caring for his children that Booth had "seduced" her, getting into her bed naked and fondling her, and later carrying her to his own bed and raping her. During the subsequent trial Booth did not testify but his lawyers described Cook as a "little gipsy" and "strumpet." Cook's father testified that Booth had admitted he had done a "great injury" to him and that he wished to settle out of court, but was refused. Ultimately, the jury could not come to an agreement, and seven voted for conviction and five for acquittal. As a result, Booth's second wife, poet Mary H. C. Booth, left him (his first wife Margaret Tufts had died in 1849). His reputation as a

moral authority Moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive, laws. As such, moral authority necessitates the existence of and adherence to truth. Because truth does not change, the princi ...

was diminished.

''Ableman v. Booth'' and imprisonment

A month before Booth's indictment in the morals case the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the state action in ''

Ableman v. Booth ''Ableman v. Booth'', 62 U.S. (21 How.) 506 (1859), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts,Hoiberg, Dale H. (2010) overt ...

'', ruling that Wisconsin could not trump federal law. Booth was forced to sell the ''Wisconsin Free Democrat'' so he could pay his mounting legals bills. He was rearrested on March 1, 1860, and imprisoned in the federal custom house in Milwaukee, where state officials would not be able to release him. Despite his imprisonment, Booth kept up his fight against the slave act through editorials sent to his former paper. He still retained a core of supporters, and planned to give a speech to them from his second story cell window on July 4, 1860, but was prevented by officials. Eight attempts were made to free Booth from jail before the ninth try was successful, and on August 1 ten sympathizers succeeded in transporting him to

Waupun, Wisconsin Waupun is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, Dodge and Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 11,344 at the 2020 census. Of this, 7,795 were in Dodge County, and 3,549 were in Fond du ...

. There he was sheltered by abolitionist and later Civil War hero

Hans Christian Heg Hans Christian Heg (December 21, 1829September 20, 1863) was a Norwegian American abolitionist, journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier, best known for leading the Scandinavian 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on the Union s ...

who, ironically, was the warden of the state penitentiary. Booth did not hide for long, and three days later was making a public speech in Ripon, WI where a friendly crowd prevented his rearrest by a deputy marshal. Other attempts to jail him were thwarted before his capture on October 8, when he was brought back to prison before cheering crowds. Booth was jailed principally for not paying his fines in the previous case, but the extra security needed to prevent another jailbreak proved expensive. As one of his last actions as U.S. president,

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

freed Booth not by pardoning him but by remitting his fines, on request of U.S. district court judge

Andrew G. Miller Andrew Galbraith Miller (September 18, 1801 – September 30, 1874) was an American lawyer and judge. He was the first United States district judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin after having served as the only Judge of the United States ...

. During the Civil War Booth founded the pro-Union newspaper ''The Daily Life,'' and delivered lectures in support of the cause. In 1865 his paper merged with ''The Evening Wisconsin,'' where he was associate editor until 1866. Two years later he moved to manage the Chicago office of the Wisconsin Cooperative Newspaper Association.

Enfranchising Wisconsin freedmen

In November 1865 Booth continued to champion the rights of African-Americans by accompanying freedman

Ezekiel Gillespie Ezekiel Gillespie (May 31, 1818 – March 31, 1892) was an African-American civil rights and community leader who won a landmark case securing voting rights in Wisconsin. Gillespie was born a slave in Canton, Mississippi or Greene County, Tenness ...

in two attempts to register and vote. After he was refused, Booth and Gillespie's lawyer Byron Paine then appealed the decision, seeking to test a provision in an 1849 referendum that could be construed as allowing nonwhites to vote. Four months later the state supreme court ruled unanimously in Gillespie's favor, enfranchising Wisconsin's black men.

Later life

In 1867 Booth married for the third time, to Augusta Smith. They moved to Chicago, where they raised five children while he worked for various newspapers. In 1876 he moved his family to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

where he represented the Newspaper Union at the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

. In 1879 the family returned to Chicago, and Booth resumed his journalism, writing primarily for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. He died on August 10, 1904, and was buried at

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed beer barons, politicians and social elite. Both the cemetery and ...

.Butler, pp. 194-196.

References

External links

In Re: Booth
(

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

)
Sherman Booth - a Wisconsin Radical
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Sherman 1812 births 1904 deaths American abolitionists People from Delaware County, New York Politicians from Milwaukee Underground Railroad in Wisconsin Wisconsin Free Soilers 19th-century American politicians Wisconsin Republicans Activists from New York (state) Connecticut Free Soilers Wisconsin Libertyites New York (state) Libertyites New York (state) Free Soilers American temperance activists Illinois Republicans Pennsylvania Republicans