In answer to this outburst of feeling, typical of ignorance and prejudice, though it came from the lips of a prospective judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. May replied: "Mr. Judson, there never will be fewer colored people in this country than there are now. Of the vast majority of them, this is their native land as much as it is ours. It will be unjust, inhuman in us to drive them out, or to make them willing to go by our cruel treatment of them ... and the only question is whether we will recognize the rights which God gave them as men and encourage and assist them to become all he has made them capable of being, or whether we will continue wickedly to deny them the privileges we enjoy, condemn them to degradation, enslave and imbrute them; and so bring upon ourselves the condemnation of the Almighty, Impartial Father of all men and the terrible visitation of the God of the oppressed. I trust, sir, you well e're long come to see that we must accord to these men, their rights or incur justly the loss of our own. Education is one of the primal fundamental rights of all the children of men. Connecticut is the last place where this right should be denied."
These eloquent remarks truly portrayed the difference in the character of the two men. Encouraged by such noble characters as May and Garrison, Prudence Crandall was determined not to be deterred in her purpose by men like Judson. Her lofty ideals of service to humanity and to the humbler lot especially were evidenced in this extract from Garrison's letter to Isaac Knapp, April 11, 1833:
"She is a wonderful woman, as undaunted as if she had the whole world on her side. She has opened her school and is resolved to persevere. I wish brother Johnson to state this fact particularly in the next Liberator and urge all those who intend to send their children thither, to do so without delay."[5]
Despite all vicissitudes, Miss Crandall opened her school for girls of color early in April, with an enrollment of fifteen or twenty students. These for the most part came from Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Boston.
The townspeople, greatly incensed, resorted to every foul means possible to destroy the school. At first, they searched for some obsolete vagrancy law for the purpose of intimidating those who came from other cities to attend school. One Negro girl, Anna Eliza Hammond, seventeen years of age, from Providence, was arrested, but Samuel May and other residents of Brooklyn gave bonds for $10,000 and thus defeated this plan. Frustrated in their first efforts, the townspeople held an indignation meeting at which they expressed their sentiment in the following resolutions:
"Whereas, it hath been publicly announced that a school is to be opened in this town, on the first Monday of April next, using the language of the advertisement, 'for young ladies and little misses of color,' or in other words for the people of color, the obvious tendency of which would be to collect within the town of Canterbury large numbers of persons from other States whose characters and habits might be various and unknown to us, thereby rendering insecure the persons, property, and reputations of our citizens. Under such circumstances our silence might be construed into an approbation of the project: Thereupon, Resolved That the locality of a school for the people of color at any place within the limits of this town, for the admission of persons of foreign jurisdiction, meets with our unqualified disapprobation, and it is to be understood, that the inhabitants of Canterbury protest against it in the most earnest manner.
"Resolved, That a committee be now appointed to be composed of the Civil Authority and Selectmen, who shall make known to the persons contemplating the establishment of said school, the sentiments and objections entertained by this meeting in reference to said school—pointing out to her the injurious effects and incalculable evils resulting from such an establishment within this town, and persuade her to abandon the project."[6]
The people then influenced the Legislature to enact a disgraceful but well-named "Black Law,"[7] amid the ringing of church bells and great rejoicing. This act outlawed Miss Crandall's school. The people closed all shops and meeting houses to the teacher and her pupils. Stage drivers refused them transportation in the common carriers of the town. Physicians would not attend them. Miss Crandall's own family and friends were forbidden under penalty of heavy fines to visit her. The well near her house was filled with manure and water was denied her from other sources. The house itself was smeared with filth, assailed with rotten eggs, stormed with stones, and finally set afire.
Not only was Prudence Crandall herself assailed with threats of coming vengeance and ejection, but her father in the south part of the town was insulted and threatened. "When lawyers, courts and jurors are leagued against you," said one to him, "it will be easy to raise a mob and tear down your house." "Mr. Crandall, if you go to your daughter," they said, "you are to be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and double it every time; Mrs. Crandall, if you go there, you will be fined and your daughter Almira will be fined, and Mr. May and those gentlemen from Providence (Messrs. George and Henry Benson), if they come there, will be fined at the same rate. And your daughter, the one that established the school for colored females, will be taken up the same way as for stealing a horse or for burglary. Her property will not be taken but she will be put in jail, not having the liberty of the yard. There is no mercy to be shown about it!"[8]
Miss Crandall was arrested and cast into prison, where she spent the night in a cell previously occupied by a murderer. She was twice tried. The first trial was held before the county court on August 22, 1833. The attorneys for the prosecution were Jonathan A. Welch, Andrew T. Judson and Ichabod Bulkley, while those for the defense were Calvin Goddard, W. W. Ellsworth and Henry Strong. The latter were secured by Samuel May and paid by Arthur Tappan.
The counsel for the defense argued that the "Black Law" conflicted with that article of the Federal Constitution which granted to citizens of each State all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States. The counsel for the prosecution argued that people of color were not and could not ever be citizens of any State. The judge, Mr. Eaton, gave the decision that the law was constitutional and binding upon the people of that State. The jurors, however, could not agree and so the case went over to the October term. It was then tried before the Superior Court of Windham County and its constitutionality again pronounced by Judge Daggett, who expressed himself as follows: "It would be a perversion of terms and the well-known rule of construction to say that slaves, free blacks, or Indians were citizens within the meaning of that term as used in the constitution." The jurors thus influenced gave their verdict against the defendant. Prudence Crandall's counsel then appealed to the Court of Errors, where the decision was reversed, July 22, 1834, upon the ground of "insufficiency of the information," which omitted to allege that the school was opened without necessary license.[9]