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On April 28,  Jesse's reply to Garrison's  "Servile Homage to Henry Clay"  appeared in The Liberator.

Jesse ended his letter by asking that Garrison cheerfully publish his denial.  Jesse's correspondence was followed by Garrison's own reaction to it, which was written without a trace of cheerfulness.  Rather, Garrison's response was long, rambling, and unkind.  His lack of understanding of what Jesse had been elected to do, as well as what were Jesse's subsequent actions, did not deter Garrison from holding Jesse in profound contempt.

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Jesse was a lifelong Democrat.  Unlike Garrison, he was a regular voter.  And by 1848, Jesse had adopted some of the language of the political abolitionists and Free Soil forces, whereas Garrison was the leading advocate of the moral-suasion school.  Garrison made the doubtful claim that it was only incidentally he had mentioned, and found fault with, Jesse's part in a Democratic meeting in Lynn.  It seems far more likely that he had been generally unhappy with Jesse, and the Henry Clay incident gave him a welcome opportunity to express his broad displeasure.

On Tuesday morning, May 9, the American Antislavery Society met at the Broadway Tabernacle.  President Garrison sat on the platform with Francis Jackson, Wendell Phillips, and other leaders of the Society.  Henry C. Wright sat in front of the platform.  Just before adjournment, following Frederick Douglass' concluding address, the Hutchinson Family rose and sang one of their emancipation songs.

On Wednesday, toward the close of the morning session, the Hutchinsons rose again and sang a song containing the lines,  "If our constitution  Supports this horrid institution  We go for revolution  In the United States."  According to one account

"The usual method,"  said John,  "when criticisms were indulged in these meetings was for the criticized to reply, and Phillips was the last man to fear an answer of that sort.  When he paused, Brother Jesse started to rise to respond.  It did not seem to me that that was the best thing to do, and I pulled him down in his seat again, saying, 'Let us sing. . . . '"

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Henry Clapp, who was with the Hutchinsons at the time,  said that Phillips' terms of welcome to the singers  "amounted, officially, to just nothing at all."  He was right.  Neither Phillips nor anyone else had authority to set the conditions under which the Hutchinsons could be welcome to sing at an American Antislavery Society meeting.

Henry Clay backers in the crowd hissed Phillips.  Garrison spoke of disunion; and when he brought up Clay, he, too, was hissed.  Then the Hutchinsons rose and sang.

By the close of the antislavery anniversary, it seemed the Hutchinsons had sung their way out of their problems with the organization's leadership; and it might appear that this episode was over at last.   A week later, though, The Liberator carried an article by Henry C. Wright entitled,  "The Hutchinsons' Repentance,"  in which he spoke of Henry Clay as antislavery's  "deadliest enemy."  It was probably the stridency of his writing, as well as the very title of his article, that brought hard feelings back for an encore.

In The Liberator of June 9, William Lloyd Garrison published  "The Hutchinsons . . . Henry Clay."  It said that his earlier criticism  "merely gave utterance to the feelings of every sincere abolitionist."  And Garrison made this observation about the May 10 meeting: "[T]he Hutchinsons sprang to their feet and made what every one present understood to be the amende honorable, by singing in their loftiest and most thrilling strains."  Then he quoted Henry Clapp as saying,  "We have it from the Hutchinsons themselves, that the representation of Henry C. Wright, that they had taken the stool of repentance in New York, is not true."  This brought Garrison to a new level of righteous indignation.  He declared that the Hutchinsons  "extorted as hearty cheers as were ever given by a piece of low deception!"

The singing of songs of freedom by the Hutchinson Family at the antislavery anniversary certainly meant that they favored the emancipation of slaves and that they had a right to express themselves at antislavery meetings  -  and intended to exercise that right.  Opinions differed as to what more it meant, if it meant anything more.  That the Hutchinsons remained publicly silent, while this debate went on, seems to have been particularly vexing to Garrison.

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When the Hutchinsons accepted the invitation to sing to Henry Clay, it surely seems that they could have anticipated the harsh reactions of Garrison and Phillips.  Both men had railed against Clay on countless occasions.  Yet John's account portrays the brothers as innocent of any such expectation.  This is among the most puzzling aspects of this whole strange affair.

Jesse loved a spectacle; and when Henry Clay came to New York in March 1848, he provided one.  Probably it could have been foreseen that emotional, impulsive Jesse would find a way to express his excitement in writing.

When his song and its performance for Clay became a matter of controversy, Jesse asked The Liberator to publish a correction of the "Servile Homage" piece; and when the paper failed to do so, Jesse wrote a letter to the editor for publication.  When Wendell Phillips called on the Hutchinsons to signify whether they had repented, Jesse rose to answer him.  This was in marked contrast to Judson, John, and Asa, who followed a policy of not commenting publicly.  According to John,  "When we found the light in which the matter was regarded by Mr. Garrison and his friends, we felt it was far better to meet it by a continuation of our practice of attending and singing for anti-slavery gatherings, than by appearing in print."

Abby did not take part in the performance of  "Harry of the West."  It would be hard, then, to imagine on what grounds one might criticize her for singing antislavery and temperance to Henry Clay.

Ludlow Patton, speaking on behalf of the singers, wrote a letter to Frederick Douglass' paper.  It said, "Several Anti-Slavery friends were present, and we all felt as though a great work had been done for the slave, for 'Harry of the West' had never before listened to anti-slavery truth in such a soul-stirring form."  Ludlow wrote that the Hutchinsons'

The letter ended by saying,  "The Hutchinsons are still the same fearless and able advocates of freedom as ever,  and nightly at their concerts sing Anti-Slavery,  in its broadest terms."

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The passage in Ludlow's letter mentioning the presence of friends of the slave at the Clay dinner is of some importance, in that there was a whole world of antislavery sentiment outside the Garrison faction, as well as many shades of opinion about what was a proper course to take.  No doubt the Hutchinson Family thought they could do good by singing to Henry Clay.  The Hutchinsons were never known to underestimate the good produced by their songs and their singing.  And it is also true that the quartet argued the cause of the slave, in song and in between songs, night after night in their concerts, whether singing before friendly or hostile audiences.

Soon Garrison's attention was consumed by other matters.  "At this distance,"  said John,  "the affair may look like a tempest in a teapot; [ but ] it was a serious thing for the Hutchinsons and their critics. . . .   [T]he Hutchinsons had no thought of risking their abolition reputation in singing to Henry Clay.  He was the choice of Horace Greeley and other friends of freedom for the presidency.  We did not forget that he was a slaveholder, and much as we admired his ability, did not fail to sing our anti-slavery sentiments to him as we would have to a hissing mob in Baltimore or New York.  We also bore our testimony to temperance."  When they sang at the antislavery anniversary,

The great friendship between Frederick Douglass and the Hutchinson Family seems not to have been harmed for long, if at all, by the Henry Clay incident  -  judging by their frequent social visits and public appearances together.  One of Douglass' last acts in this life was to write a wonderful introduction for John's family history.