Slavery, Interracial Marriage, and the Election of 1836

Abstract

He was born into a wealthy slaveholding family. He was a nationally known politician. His face adorns the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. And he fathered children with one of his slaves. She was a light-skinned, literate woman who lived with him as his common-law wife and died in slavery. Can you guess their names? The answer might seem obvious—Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. But this is not their story. The man in question is Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky, Democratic U.S. Representative (1806–19 and 1829–37), U.S. Senator (1819–29), and Vice President under President Martin Van Buren (1837–41). The woman is Julia Chinn, an enslaved African American woman who had once belonged to Johnson's father Robert (1). The two documents that this article examines—a political cartoon entitled “An Affecting Scene in Kentucky” and the election ticket entitled “Carrying the War into Africa”—both use images of Julia Chinn to make a political point during a heated election season. With historical background on the personalities portrayed, the nature of the relationship between Johnson and Chinn, the election of 1836, and the production of these documents, teachers and students can learn much about the world of antebellum America.