William Lowndes Yancey - Early Career

Early Career

Yancey returned to the South, relocating to Greenville, South Carolina. He originally lived on his uncle’s plantation, where he served as a bookkeeper. The uncle, Robert Cunningham, was a strong unionist, as were most of Yancey’s family, including his birth father. On July 4, 1834, at a Fourth of July celebration, Yancey made a stirring nationalistic address in which he openly attacked the radicals of the state who were still talking secession from the repercussions of the Nullification Crisis:

Listen, not then, my countrymen, to the voice which whispers (for as yet, it does not raise itself above a whisper) that Americans, who have been knit together by so many cords of affection, can no longer be mutual worshippers at the Shrine of Freedom — no longer can exist together, citizens of the same Republic …

As a result of Yancey’s political activities, he was appointed editor of the Greenville (South Carolina) Mountaineer in November 1834. As editor, he attacked both nullification and the chief architect of nullification, John C. Calhoun. Yancey compared Calhoun to Aaron Burr and referred to them as "two fallen arch angels — who have made efforts to tear down the battlements and safeguards of our country, that they might rule, the Demons of the Storm."

Yancey resigned from the newspaper on May 14, 1835. On August 13, married Sarah Caroline Earl. As his dowry, Yancey received 35 slaves and a quick entry into the planter class. In the winter of 1836–1837, Yancey removed to her plantation in Alabama, near Cahaba (Dallas County). It was an inopportune time to relocate. As a result of the Panic of 1837, Yancey's financial position was seriously damaged by cotton prices that fell from fifteen cents a pound in 1835 to as low as five cents a pound in 1837.

In early 1838, Yancey took over the Cahaba Southern Democrat, and his first editorial was a strong defense of slavery. From his current economic perspective, Yancey began to identify the anti-slavery movement negatively with issues such as the establishment of a national bank, internal improvements, and expanding federal power. As the former nationalist moved to a states’ rights position, Yancey also changed his attitude toward Calhoun — applauding Calhoun’s role in the Gag rule Debates. Yancey also began to attack Henry Clay for his support of the American Colonization Society, which Yancey equated with attacks on Southern slavery.

Yancey, like most members of the planter class, was a strong believer in a personal code of honor. In September 1838, Yancey returned for a brief return visit to Greenville. A political slur by Yancey in a private conversation was overheard by a teenage relative of the aggrieved party. Yancey was confronted by another relative (and his wife’s uncle), Dr. Robinson Earle. Conversation turned to violence, and the always-armed Yancey ended up killing the doctor in a street brawl. Yancey was tried and sentenced to a year in jail for manslaughter. An unrepentant Yancey was pardoned after only a few months, but while incarcerated Yancey wrote for his newspaper, "Reared with the spirit of a man in my bosom — and taught to preserve inviolate my honor — my character, and my person, I have acted as such a spirit dictated."

Yancey returned to his paper in March 1839, but sold it a couple of months later when he moved to Wetumpka in Elmore County, Alabama. While his intent was to resume his life as a planter, Yancey suffered a huge financial reversal when his slaves were poisoned as a result of a feud between Yancey’s overseer and a neighboring overseer. Two slaves were killed, and most of the others were incapacitated for months. Unable to afford replacements and burdened with other debts from his newspaper, Yancey was forced to sell most of the slaves as they recovered. Yancey did open in Wetumpka the Argus and Commercial Advertiser.