Hate mail offers insight into founding father's legacy.

The article cites an incident in August 1822 only weeks after Denmark Vesey had been executed for planning a slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina when Rufus King received an anonymous letter that would go down in history. Inside the envelope was a strongly worded newspaper editorial criticizing abolitionists like himself for encouraging Vesey, but the most frightening message belonged to the sender, who had drawn King's name hanging from the gallows.