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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 16, April 15, 2001, Article 7

VOTE THE LAND FREE 

   Dave Bowers submitted the following excerpt from his research 
   notes relating to the "Vote the Land Free" counterstamp 
   discussed last week.   He links this and another counterstamp 
   ("Land Limitation") to the National Reform Association. 
   The phrase “Vote yourself a farm,” is said to have originated with 
   the association in 1844.  For more information on the National 
   Reform Association (not to be confused with the modern 
   National Reform Party of Ross Perot and Gov. Jesse Ventura), 
   see this web page: 
   http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/dir/844nra.html 

   LAND LIMITATION • 1844 cent • Counterstamped by: 
   National Reform Association advocates. • Location: NY, New 
   York City • Category: Political statement. • Stamped: LAND 
   and LIMITATION, each in a curved logotype punch. • F-15 
   Land Limitation 

   {Commentary} Issued by advocates of the National Reform 
   Association (NRA), formed by George Henry Evans from the 
   membership of the Locofocos, National Trades Union, and 
   the Workingmen’s Party. On March 13, 1844, a meeting of 
   working people, under the name of National Reform Party, 
   was held in New York City at Chatham and Mulberry streets. 
   A committee was appointed to investigate “a depression of 
   labor, and a social  degradation of the laborer.” 

   The committee filed a report which was accepted at the next 
   meeting. The National Reform Association resolved to use the 
   “land question” as the prime element in its political statements, 
   and laid out three objectives: 

   1. Homestead legislation by the federal government to allow 
       workers and others to acquire public lands free of charge. 

   2. Legislation to be enacted by various states to exempt land 
       such as farms from seizure in debt collection. 

   3. Land limitation (precise wording) to restrict the ownership 
       of large amounts of land by wealthy individuals and other 
       entities, so that land would become more easily available 
       to the general population. 

   In the following year, 1845, the NRG joined with advocates 
   of the Fourierist movement to schedule the first of a series 
   on annual National Industrial Congresses. • It is likely that the 
   National Reform Association was also involved in 1844 with 
   the issuance of the VOTE THE LAND / FREE counterstamps 
   (see listing, which reiterates much of the present commentary 
   and adds more). Similar to the LAND LIMITATION 
   counterstamp, it is known on at least one cent (listed below) 
   and on Spanish-American silver two-reales coins (1797 and 
   1812 in the present instance). 

   VOTE THE LAND FREE  {Commentary} 
   Per conventional wisdom as reiterated in many numismatic 
   texts, the VOTE THE LAND FREE stamp was applied in 
   1848 by advocates of the Free Soil Party, which advocated 
   free soil; that is, the admission of new states to the Union 
   under the proviso that all should be free, and no slavery 
   would be allowed. 

   However, in long-term research relating to the Free Soil 
   Party I have never been able to match the VOTE THE 
   LAND FREE  slogan with any slogan used by that group, 
   although the sentiment is correct. Also, in studying the 
   availability of coins with this counterstamp, I have never 
   personally seen any piece dated after 1844.  Russ Rulau 
   and Gregory Brunk list several stray pieces dated 1845- 
   1848, but upon queries to them, March 2001, each replied 
   that he had neither seen an actual example with a 
   post-1844 date nor a photograph of one. 

   After noticing in my own collection the large cluster of cents 
   dated 1843 and earlier, and a solitary 1844, I thought it 
   worthwhile to investigate if an issuer could be found for early 
   in the year 1844, by which time 1844 cents would not have 
   been widely distributed, but 1843 and earlier cents would be 
   in great abundance. 

   As these words are being written, the National Reform Party, 
   discussed earlier under the Land Limitation heading and 
   repeated below, seems to be a strong possibility. 

   My own cluster of 1843 and earlier coins (see inventory 
   below)  is reinforced by the latest listing supplied by Dr. 
   Brunk (including the “stray” post-1845 pieces which, as 
   noted, he has not personally verified): Cents: 1812 (2 
   examples), 1816, 1817 (2), 1818 (2), 1819, 1824, 1825, 
   1827, 1829 (2), 1833, 1834, 1835 (2), 1836 (3), 1837 
   (4), 1838 (2), 1839, 1840 (2), 1841 (8), 1842 (3), 1843 
   (8), 1844 (3), 1845, 1846, 1848, and 5 of unknown dates 
   (presumably, worn smooth); 1843 quarter dollar; 1826 
   English halfpenny; Spanish-American two-reales: 1811, 
   1813, 1819. 

   The National Reform Association (NRA), formed by 
   George Henry Evans  from the membership of the 
   Locofocos, National Trades Union, and the Workingmen’s 
   Party.  On March 13, 1844, a meeting of working people, 
   under the name of National Reform  Party, was held in New 
   York City at Chatham and Mulberry streets.  A committee 
   was appointed to investigate “a depression of labor, and a 
   social degradation of the laborer.”  The committee filed a 
   report which was accepted at the next meeting. 

   The National Reform Association resolved to use the “land 
   question” as the prime element in its political statements, and 
   laid out three objectives (quoted under “Land Limitation” 
   above).  The NRA newspaper, the Working Man’s Advocate, 
   July 6, 1844, included this (a sample from a much larger 
   amount of material in print): “In this Republic, all that the 
   Creator designed   for man’s use is ours—belongs, not to the 
   aristocracy, but to the people. The deep and interminable forest, 
   the fertile and boundless  prairie, the rich and inexhaustible mine.? 

   We regard the public lands as a capital stock, which belongs not 
   to us only, but to posterity.?  The first great object, then, is to 
   assert and establish the right of the people to the soil; to be used 
   by them in their own day, and transmitted — an inalienable 
   heritage — to their posterity.? This fundamental principle shall 
   be established as the paramount law, with the least possible 
   delay.?”   The slogan, “Vote yourself a farm,” is said to have 
   originated with Evans in 1844, after which it caught on and was 
   used by others, including in the 1860 presidential campaign. 
   However, I have not come across the specific slogan, 
   “Vote the land free,” in this or any other context of the era 
   save for the counterstamped cents. In the 1844 election, both 
   political parties included the disposition and proceeds of public 
   land in their platforms. The Whigs, who met in convention in 
   Baltimore on May 1, 1844, nominated Henry Clay as their 
   candidate.  The Democratic Party met in Baltimore on May 27, 
   and after three days of tumult and in-fighting the delegates named 
   James Knox Polk, a “dark horse,” after better-known contenders, 
   including Martin Van Buren (who was the odds-on favorite early 
   in the convention), Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, John C. 
   Calhoun, Levi Woodbury, and two others had been considered. 

    In 1845, the National Reform Association joined with advocates 
   of the Fourierist movement  to schedule the first of a series on 
   annual National Industrial Congresses. By 1848, the member 
   of the NRA had been absorbed into other political movements, 
   especially those broadly advocating abolition, including the Free 
   Soil Party and Free Democratic Party. 

   Counterstamp theory: I suggest that VOTE THE LAND / 
   FREE counterstamp was applied by members the National 
   Reform Association in spring 1844, soon after its March 
   meeting, thus accounting for the date distribution of the cents 
   involved. By the end of May 1844, other parties had come to 
   the fore in the public eye, with the November presidential 
   election in the offing. 

   A fertile area for study might be New York City newspapers 
   of the March-May 1844 period.  If any later coins can be 
   found with this stamp,  I suggest that these are stray pieces 
   either produced casually or in 1848 when someone sensed 
   that the Free Soil Party had what seemed to be similar 
   sentiments (actually, a study of the two groups reveals many 
   differences). However, one might think that if the Free Soil 
   Party had engendered these counterstamps they would not 
   have changed key words, and instead of VOTE THE LAND 
   / FREE the stamp would have read VOTE THE SOIL / 
   FREE. Moreover, the LAND / LIMITATION counterstamp 
   (described earlier) has the exact wording of a resolution of 
   the National Reform Association, uses the word land, and 
   indicates that counterstamping coins was practiced by the 
   NRA in 1844, providing a reasonable segue to the issuance 
   of VOTE THE LAND / FREE pieces at the same time." 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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