Studies in American History 
67 
County, a cotton mill. In a letter dated July, 1820, he ap- 
pealed to a customer to remit his account as soon as possible. 
He said: 
I have had and still have many engagements to meet for others 
who are unable to refund me for advances made. This together with 
the difficulties of the time presses grievously at this moment and 
threatens serious consequences if I am unable to meet my own engage- 
ments. You will therefore see the necessity of exerting yourself to 
place me in funds for what advances I have made which would be to 
me at present extremely desirable.®- 
With the wealthier elements in distress and pressing their 
debtors, it is not surprising that loud and frequent cries for 
relief came to the legislature. The encroachments of the 
banks, the note-shaving establishments, the continual shrink- 
age of paper money, the pitiless forced sales, and daily dis- 
possession of small farmers not only by debt but thru the 
operation of the occupying-claimant laws made relief a chief 
issue in the annual elections.®^ In 1819 all questions except 
relief were ignored. The relief party wanted help to escape 
the consequences of its debts, some unavoidable and legit- 
imate, others the results of unbridled speculation ; the anti- 
relief faction, comprising largely the creditor class, wanted 
nothing done that would imperil its securities.®^ The relief 
party won by a large majority. 
The legislature of Kentucky in December, 1819, passed over 
the veto of the Governor a law to suspend sales under execu- 
tion for sixty days if the defendant would give bonds that the 
goods levied on should be ready for release at the end of 
that time.®® This was but a gentle beginning of relief legisla- 
tion and intended as such.®® Bills affording every sort of aid 
for persons in financial trouble came before the legislature 
during 1820 and a number became laws, some of the more im- 
portant of which will be noted here. With thousands of debt- 
ors eligible for jail, it does not appear that the old laws were 
rigorously enforced; in fact, it seems that the very situation, 
except in a few instances, appalled the authorities, and a 
sentiment arose that imprisonment for debt should be abol- 
ished.®^ First a law was passed forbidding the imprisonment 
Draper MSS., 22CC85, in the University of Wisconsin Library. 
Kentucky Gazette, December 3, 1819. 
®<Doolan, in The Green Bag, XI, 179 (1899). 
The National Intelligencer, January 1, 1820. 
Kentucky Gazette, quoted by National Intelligencer, January 1, 1820, 
Kentucky Gazette, January 3, 1820. 
