Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: When did Julius Caesar Chappelle enter politics?
Julius Caesar Chappelle (1852–1904) was an African-American politician born into slavery in South Carolina. After the American Civil War, he lived for a time with his family in LaVilla, Florida, helping develop the new town. In 1870, he was one of numerous Southern black migrants to Boston, Massachusetts, which had a thriving black community and strong abolitionist history. He later joined the Republican Party that was founded by abolitionists, and Chappelle was elected to two terms in the Massachusetts state legislature, serving 1883-1886.[1][2] Julius Caesar Chappelle was also the first African-American to serve on the Massachusetts State Senate Committee where he served three terms.[3] Chappelle was active in supporting civil rights, trying to reduce discrimination, and consumer affairs. His speeches were frequently covered by newspapers.[4] Throughout his life and political career, he held secondary supervisory government positions in maintenance, such as at the United States Post Office and US Boston Custom House. Although Julius Caesar Chappelle may have graced the same pages in newspapers as Frederick Douglass, Chappelle is not as well known because he is not known to have left much of a literary footprint such as writing manuscripts or for pamphlets.
In the early 1880s, when Chappelle was nominated to the Massachusetts General Court, he was opposed by other African-American candidates. An elected African-American secretary in his own party said that he had been elected by fraud.[28] The charges against Chappelle were proven untrue with a recount of two times. The New York Globe wrote in its Boston politics section, "Chappelle will, in the opinion of many white and colored voters, be elected in spite of such mean tricks." [29]
Chappelle is overlooked for Washington, D.C. appointment
Julius C. Chappelle, after serving in political office in Massachusetts for several years including the four terms as legislator and several terms on the State Senate Committee, tried to receive a promotion and further the civil rights and consumer rights cause by obtaining an appointed position in Washington, D.C., but he was not considered or mentioned for a position, and two white Massachusetts Republican senators, Henry L. Dawes and George Frisbie Hoar, were particularly criticized for not doing more for the several African-American office holders in Massachusetts that wanted to work in Washington, D.C. It was said that the white Republican senators did not mention any African-Americans politicians in Massachusetts to the Republican president Benjamin Harrison even though they all successfully campaigned for Harrison to become president, and the African-American politicians in Massachusetts noted that the previous Democratic president Grover Cleveland had appointed two African-Americans from Massachusetts.[43] Chappelle must have been surprised by being overlooked, as the white Republican senators of Boston, Massachusetts helped support the Civil Rights Bill and other civil rights issues.
Chappelle was nominated for three terms to the State Senate Committee and in his third term, he served as president of the State Senate Committee. The Boston Daily Globe reported in its discussion of the activities of the different Wards "Hon. Henry H. Sprague has been renominated for State Senator and Mr. Julius C. Chappelle has been reappointed a member of the Republican State Committee. The action was taken by the Republican Convention for the Fifth Suffolk Senatorial District, which was held yesterday afternoon at 375 Washington Street, with Mr. Charles G. Wood of Ward 11 as chairman and Mr. Chappelle as Secretary." A "unamimous" vote "gave Mr. Chappelle a third term as member of the Republican State Committee although the district usually gives its representatives there two years only.",[41][42]
The Chappelle's were split on the prohibition issue, Lewis Chappelle, Julius C. Chappelle's brother and a prominent construction contractor in Florida, was for prohibition but belonged to a non-politically based anti-alcohol group. Lewis Chappelle's son, music prodigy Pat H. Chappelle known as the "Pioneer of Negro Vaudeville," who owned traveling The Rabbit's Foot Company was also in the theater and saloon business, and would visit his uncle Julius Caesar Chappelle in Boston, Massachusetts. Julius Caesar Chappelle and his constituents, colleagues, and friends took a stand against prohibition.
Chappelle was seen as having tough contenders by the newspapers that followed the elections to the extent that sometimes they thought he would not win. "Mr. Julius C. Chappelle, the colored man on the Ward 9 Republican representative ticket, is evidently to be sacrificed by his friends of his white associate. The Journal significantly hints that 'the Republicans of Ward 9 should see to it that Henry Parkman is elected to the house by a good majority.'" [35] Yet, Chappelle was reelected, defeating Robert Hooper, the son of Hon. Samuel Hooper.[13][23]
In the early 1880s, Hayden helped bring Julius Caesar Chappelle into republican politics. Chappelle was a popular Republican legislator from 1883 to 1886 of Ward 9 that included the Beacon Hill area of Boston, MA. According to the "Boston Daily Globe" obituary of Julius C. Chappelle who died in 1904, when Chappelle lived in the "West End, he attracted the attention of the late Lewis Hayden, who brought him (Julius Caesar Chappelle) into the republican ranks of old ward 9, as a registrar for the colored voters in that ward." Chappelle was very successful in registering voters, and Chappelle later won several elections to the Boston legislature. Chappelle was also an alternate to the Republican National Convention that nominated James G. Blaine, and Chappelle was the only African-American on the Republican Senate Committee. During the Crispus Attucks monument unveiling in 1888, when Hayden could not attend due to frail health, Chappelle was president of the senate and along with others at the event gave homage to Hayden. .
In the campaigning of 1884-1885, Chappelle narrowly defeated Charles Albert Prince, son of ex-Mayor Prince. In the heated election where Julius C. Chappelle ran against top contender Charles A. Prince for the Massachusetts General Court, The Boston Daily Globe reported, "The House committee on elections took up yesterday the petition of Julius C. Chappelle for the seat now held by Charles A. Prince from the ninth Suffolk district." The original count was for 831 votes for Julius C. Chappelle and 800 for that Charles A. Prince. However, a recount was "done in a "hurried manner by the Board of Alderman" and not asked for by Chappelle, and the recount was done supposedly without Chappelle's knowledge or presence, and it that showed 730 votes for Chappelle and 815 votes for Prince. Chappelle afterward upon hearing the recount tally, declared the recount illegal and made a petition stating that votes for him "were given to Prince," that the "board" refused to recount 51 votes for Chappelle that were "effaced" by stickers in the area where "for Representative" was located, and that the original vote tally should remain. The Boston Daily Globe watching the political scene reported, "it looks very much as if Chappelle were the evening man." Prince later conceded the election to Chappelle in a letter that was printed in at least one newspaper. Prince stated that the stickers affected both candidates, and Prince no longer wanted the senate seat as it seemed that the sticker issue caused Prince the dismay of not wanting to partake in politics mentioning in his resignation letter that ". . .the stickers for one of the candidates for senator were either so broad or so carelessly pasted upon the ballot that it covered the title of the vote for representative printed beneath thereon. Both Mr. Chappelle and myself were sufferers by reason thereof . . . "[30][31]
Later that year, the Boston Daily Globe reported "Julius C. Chappelle, who enjoys immensely that distinction of being the first colored man to sit for so long a period on Beacon Hill" where the staunch Republican Chappelle was mentioned within a column devoted mainly to Democrats.[34]
Starting out in politics and promoting civil rights
Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of Caesarism, a form of political rule led by a charismatic strongman whose rule is based upon a cult of personality, whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent social order, and being a regime involving prominence of the military in the government.[156] Other people in history, such as the French Napoleon Bonaparte and the Italian Benito Mussolini, have defined themselves as Caesarists.[157][158] Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to populism.[159] The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule.
The next day, the Republican Party at the General Court tried to issue an explanation of the incident to the Boston Daily Globe stating, "No assaults were made on the sanctity of Quality Corner yesterday, but a dweller therein took incident to say: 'The Globe was not fair this morning. No disposition was shown to bar out Mr. Chappelle, and knowing that, custom allowed Mr. Prince to give his seat to whoever he pleased. We asked him to let Mr. Rantoul come in. It was not a question of Chappelle or Rantoul, because it was not likely that Mr. Prince would have saved his chair for his political opponent . . . . ." [33] There was no explanation reported by the newspaper of why the Republican Party tried to do that when Chappelle had won when the original vote tally had Chappelle ahead of Prince.
Chappelle serves State Senate Committee for three terms
The Boston Daily Globe wrote in the 1904 obituary of Chappelle that "Julius Caesar Chappelle was a unique political character in the Republican party of the state. Outside of Lewis Hayden, John J. Smith, and Edward G. Walker, he was one of the best-known colored men in Massachusetts." [2]
Lewis Hayden helped bring Julius C. Chappelle into the Republican Party and started Chappelle out giving him the task to register people to vote. Chappelle was quite successful at it, and was known for his neat appearance as he also learned the barber's trade when in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The newspapers described Chappelle as having a brisk walk and as being well spoken. Boston's Sunday Herald in 1886 described that Chappelle was thought of as an "Adonis" by the African-American community.[14][15] Getting involved in politics, Chappelle was appointed as an Inspector at Elections.[1] In the early 1880s, he was nominated as the Republican candidate for the state legislature from Ward 9; he defeated the other candidates in this mainly all-white district that included the Beacon Hill area, and was elected to the Massachusetts General Court for two terms from 1883 to 1886. He served three terms on the state committee of the Republican Party, and was in this third term the president of the state committee in Boston, Massachusetts and was the first African-American in this position. He was active in the Massachusetts State House politics of that time.[3] In the state legislature he served on committees for the "Federal relations and engrossed bill," and "Public Land and State House."[4] 'He became one of the early prominent African-American legislators (1883–1886),[16][17][18]
The Julii Caesares were the most illustrious family of the patrician "gens Julia". The family first appears in history during the Second Punic War, when Sextus Julius Caesar was praetor in Sicily. His son, Sextus Julius Caesar, obtained the consulship in 157 BC; but the most famous descendant of this stirps is Gaius Julius Caesar, a general who conquered Gaul and became the undisputed master of Rome following the Civil War. Having been granted dictatorial power by the Roman Senate and instituting a number of political and social reforms, he was assassinated in 44 BC. After overcoming several rivals, Caesar's adopted son and heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was proclaimed Augustus by the senate, inaugurating what became the Julio-Claudian line of Roman emperors.
After Prince bowed out of the election, and Chappelle's original count had him leading Prince, adding Prince's votes to his own would have definitely further solidified the victory. However, according to news reports, there was a more hidden agenda against Chappelle and the Boston Daily Globe that sometimes wrote about the Republicans' mistreatment of African-Americans did report it.
His older brothers Louis and Mitchell Chappelle settled in LaVilla, Florida becoming active in business and politics. They were each elected to local public offices during the Reconstruction era.[4] Mitchell was appointed as LaVilla Tax Collector (1873–1874 and 1876–1877), and served as Duval County Justice of the Peace from 1874–1877. He was elected as mayor, serving 1874–1876, and as city Councilman (1877-1878).[11] Julius' brother Louis Chappelle was a LaVilla councilman, serving from 1875–1877.[11] He became known as an astute businessman and professional carpenter. He also fathered several children in Florida including Lewis Chappelle, 2nd., James Jr., and Pat H. Chappelle of The Rabbit's Foot Company, and Pat was known as a traveling "Pioneer of African-American Vaudeville." Julius C. Chappelle helped Pat (also known a musical prodigy) with his early career by introducing him to entertainment promoters in Boston, MA, and Pat was able to play some of the museum circuits in Boston, and New York City before starting his traveling vaudeville show. Pat and his brothers Lewis, 2nd., and James Chappelle later moved to Tampa, Florida where they helped run the Buckingham Theatre and Saloon until the early 1900s.[12] Together, the brothers also became Funny Folks and Chappelle Bros., under the help of their cousin Mitchell P. Chappelle, who helped run a restaurant and printing press in Tampa, Florida, and who later became a minister in the A.M.E. Church and was active in civil rights organizations.
As a youth, Julius C. Chappelle moved to Florida in 1869/1870 with two brothers, other relatives and freedmen from South Carolina to help build LaVilla.[4][10] The town was later annexed by Jacksonville, Florida.
Chappelle spoke at a memorial held for ex-governor Roger Wolcott (Massachusetts) and lawyer Edward G. Walker at the Kirk Literary Club in January 1901, according to The Boston Herald that had excerpts of Julius C. Chappelle's speech that included his referral to Wolcott as "the most democratic of aristocratic Boston" and that he had worked with him for a year while a Legislator.[51]
Julius Caesar Chappelle was born into slavery in 1852 at Chappelle's Landing, a plantation near Edgefield, Newberry County, South Carolina, to an enslaved mother. He was classified as a "mulatto," visibly of mixed race, with African-European ancestry.[5] Among his siblings were brothers Lewis and Mitchell. This upland area was developed for cotton cultivation in antebellum era after the invention of the cotton gin made short-staple cotton profitable. Edgefield also was known for its potteries. South Carolina has been documented as having some of the worst conditions for slaves during the time period of slavery in America, and its population was majority black from before the American Revolution into the early 20th century. During slavery, it was often common for plantation owners to break up families and move them to different plantations of the same owner in order to stop possible uprisings. There is evidence that during very early childhood Julius C. Chappelle and at least one of his brothers may have been moved from South Carolina to two other plantations in different states before being brought back to the South Carolina plantations in Newberry County, South Carolina.[6]
Julius Caesar Chappelle often accompanied by his wife, attended many social gatherings with wide-ranging appeals. According to a Cleveland Gazette 1886 report, Julius C. Chappelle was also the only African-American member of the "Massachusetts Club."[46]
Julius C. Chappelle faced many political candidates as many wanted the political positions he ran for. His Democratic opponents were well-organized and strategic. At least two elections that he won were recounted with Chappelle proven to be the winner.
When Julius Caesar returned to Rome from his governorship in Hispania towards the end of 60 BC, Pompey and Caesar made an informal political alliance. Julius Caesar was a prominent popularis politician who favoured land redistributions and was a resolute man. He stood for election for one of the two consulships for 59 BC, and could provide the kind of support needed for the land bill to be passed. Caesar also pursued a policy of conciliating Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey, who had been at variance politically.