ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 475 with our wives and children about us in the evening, instead of calcu- lating our gains and cheering our boys and girls by promising Bill and Bob a hat, and Molly and Katey a new dress after harvest and sale of our crops, we have only to amuse ourselves and them with the story of hard times. I f we go to town, although we are invited to try a little corn as usual, and meet with the same feeling enquiries from our friends, the store keepers, as formerly, about our 'concerns at home’; be fore we leave their store we are sure to be winked aside and called on for 'a small balance of some time standing which ought to be paid.' "Well, it is true the times are hard enough. Two or three years ago we could get a dollar a bushel for our wheat, and for our pork and beef four or five dollars per hundred. Then our farms were worth something, and we could always, by some means or other, raise a little money to meet 'a balance of some time standing which ought to be paid.' Now we can get little or nothing for our wheat, our pork and our cattle. And as for our farms, we could hardly give them away. In fact, it is so difficult to get money that all 'balances,' whether for or against us, bid fair to remain 'outstanding' for a long time yet to come." He complains about the money of "a host of swindling institutions throughout our state that has been shoved on to us by the merchants, contractors for the general government, and almost all the officers and agents who have money to pay out for the government." "The general government, if I have been rightly informed, have nothing to do with the depreciated paper that has been among us, but pay into the hands of their agents and contractors, specie or that that is as good. Yet these contractors and agents have been and sold the good money for a great premium, as it is called, and with the bad money they have purchased up our flour, pork and whisky. This bad money we, who are not always able to know how the world is going, have received of them and the merchants who have bought produce at par. But when we go to settle our 'outstanding balances' or purchase an article at their stores, our money is worth little or nothing. They can take it only at twenty-five, thirty or forty per cent discount. 'We can do no better,' they say. If we tell them they ask too high a price for their goods, the answer is 'the money in the country is bad, we are obliged to charge high,' and yet when we pay them down on the nail, we are shaved from twenty-five to fifty per cent on the dollar. In this way the enormous depreciation in one or two million dollars of paper trash put afloat by numerous chartered swindling institutions called banks in Ohio, has fallen upon us farmers. "The truth is, we farmers have been and still are in the way of buying too much tea, too much coffee, too much foreign cloth, too much foreign finery at the stores—and of drinking too much corn both at home and when we are from home. There are a great many farmers as well as others in our country who are becoming, as one might say, habitual drunkards, and who are in a fair way of destroying themselves, wasting their property, and leaving their families as poor and naked as when they came into the world." The editors of many newspapers of the state "pointed with pride" to an event which occurred at this time. The finest ship of the United States Navy, a "74," so designated because it carried seventy-four guns, was launched at the Navy Yard, opposite New York City on the Long Island shore. The ship was christened The Ohio. The account is copied from an eastern paper in the Supporter of June 14, 1820. "The Ohio," declares the writer, "is considered by competent judges to be superior to any vessel of her class. Her dimensions are stated to be one hundred and thirty-six feet in length, and [she is] of twenty-five hundred tons burthen. * * * It is supposed that one hundred thousand persons witnessed the interesting sight of her launching." It was emphasized in the report that the figure-head of the ship was "a 476 - HISTORY OF OHIO Hercules in a Lion's Skin." A long article, copied from an Albany (N. Y.) paper, described the trip of a party of ladies and gentlemen of the city to attend the launching. They made the trip in a steamboat, a distance of 320 miles down and back, with a three hours' stay in New York, in the unheard-of time of only two days ! "A friend of the Navy" wrote a letter to the Salem (Mass.) Gazette, which was copied in the Ohio newspapers. In this he essayed a rather novel definition of the name of our state. "As one of the finest ships of our navy," said he, "bears the name 'Ohio,' it may be gratifying to some of our gallant officers to know the definition of the word." He then described the terrible wars between the early Indians on the Ohio River and explained that "owing to the immense slaughter so repeatedly made, they gave it the name of Ohio, which signifies the War River, or as some of the chiefs explain it the Bloody River ; the others the Stream of War. This is the tradition handed down by the chiefs to the first settlers, and is as given by them; and if correct The Ohio bears the only warlike name of any ship in the navy." Conditions in the state were now rapidly changing. The formative period had about come to an end. Purely pioneering days were disappearing. A population of 581,295 people placed Ohio fifth in the ranks of the twenty-seven states of which the Union was now composed. She was surpassed only by New York (1,372,812), Virginia (1,065,366), Pennsylvania (1,049,458), and North Carolina (638,829). Interests which had been peculiar to backwoodsmen were now being superseded by those of a more advanced state of society. Nevertheless, the newspapers still occasionally contained news matter which would have fitted well in the pictures ten or fifteen years before. One of these was the following in the Chillicothe Supporter of June 21 (1820), announcing a "hunt" in Ross County, one of the oldest and most thickly settled in the state : "Wolf and Deer Hunt.—A grand hunt will take place on Thursday next, at nine o'clock, on the headwaters of Indian and Crooked creeks ; to comprise an area of six miles square. Those who are disposed to join in the hunt from this town and its vicinity will rendezvous at James Stinson's Tavern, over Paint Creek, well armed with shooting irons, horns, drums, timbrels, &c. As the whole safety as well as pleasure of the hunt will depend upon a strict adherence to discipline, every person arriving at Stinson's will report himself to an officer, under whose orders he will subject himself during the day. "N. B. Dogs, upon no account whatever, will be admitted upon the grounds." Another item of a similar nature appeared in the Gazette, of Hamilton, September 26. "Eighteen married gentlemen of this place killed and brought in the scalps of twelve hundred and three squirrels in one day. Notwithstanding this large number killed there appears to be no scarcity of these animals." Some of the other less important news items are interesting : The first appropriation was made for the addition of more books to the new state library ; it was for $1,000 which was to be expended under direction of the governor.—The question of abolishing imprisonment for debt was pressing, but the general assembly rejected a bill introduced to accomplish that purpose.—A medical college was established in Cincinnati, as was also a college for general higher education, and both met with gratifying encouragement.—The commissioners laying out the route of the National Road were very active, and notes were made of their arrival at Columbus, and later at Dayton.—A new stage coach line was established between Cincinnati and Chillicothe, going by way of Lebanon, making one round trip per week.—Considerable excitement was created by an alleged discovery of silver in Indiana, but the experts at Cincinnati quieted it by analyzing the metal and finding it nothing more precious than sulphuret of lead, which put an end to a ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 477 company organizing for its exploitation.—The deepest snow ever known in the country occurred December 2.—The state militia this year numbered 75,890, and there were 647 pensioners of the United States Government in Ohio.—The largest mileage of new roads ever authorized in one year was ordered by the Legislature.—"Mr. Ewing, of Lancaster," was engaged by the House of Representatives to prosecute its case in an impeachment trial of George Brown, associate judge of Columbiana County. This was the first mention in the press of the famous Thomas Ewing, then a young man, but later one of the great figures in Ohio's history. The storm over the United States bank situation in Ohio still rumbled, but had somewhat quieted down in 1820, only to break forth with renewed fury in the assembly session of 1820-21. It was heard during the 1819-20 sitting chiefly in a measure submitted by the general assembly of Pennsylvania asking the endorsement by Ohio of a resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution of the United States upon the subject. Its tenor was that Congress should not be permitted to make a law establishing a bank except for operation within the District of Columbia alone—there should be no branches in any state. Upon this proposal there were long and sometimes brilliant debates in the Ohio assembly. Gen. William Henry Harrison, who was conspicuous as a member of the Senate, made a speech which filled six closely printed columns in the newspapers. His position was that the law establishing the branches was unconstitutional, but that the Ohio law for the collection of the tax was unprecedented in the history of jurisprudence—an unknown stretch of power ; and that no such proceedings as had been taken by the state auditor under it had been sanctioned by law anywhere. There was much said in support of the tax law, and the newspapers published many pages covering the addresses on the subject. The state auditor made a full report to the general assembly of his collection of the $100,000 tax during the preceding September. His agents, Harper and Orr, were still in prison for their part in the affair, but were released on January 4, 1820, by the United States Court, for a technical reason only—that the United States marshal had not himself made the arrest, but merely had given a memorandum to an unofficial special bailiff to make it. A rule was asked for that the United States Court hold Auditor Osborn in contempt for having ordered his agents to carry out the tax law by going to the bank and taking the money. He was held in contempt, and seemed in a fair way to be sent to prison. Whereupon the Cincinnati Gazette (October 25, 1820), which was rabid against the bank branches, broke forth : "It is a subject at this time peculiarly interesting to the citizens of this state, and will form the most important topic that will come before the general assembly at their approaching session. The legislature will have to determine whether they will permit their auditor to suffer imprisonment for the faithful discharge of his official duties ; for carrying into force a law of their own enacting ; or in other words, whether they are prepared to surrender the sovereignty of the state to the tribunals of the general government." Meanwhile, at the instance of the bank branches, an injunction was issued by the United States Court against collection of the tax in September of this year, and the matter awaited the next development, which came early in the 1820-21 session of the assembly. NINETEENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 7, 1820, to February 3, 1821 The same men who had presided during the preceding session of the general assembly were continued in their respective chairs—Allen Trimble in the Senate and Joseph Richardson in the House of Representatives. 478 - HISTORY OF OHIO The burden of Governor Brown's message was upon the embarrassed condition of the treasury, caused by the depreciated value of much of the currency there. He stated that from $16,000 to $18,000 of the bank notes in the state vault was practically worthless. Canvass of the October vote for governor showed the following result : Ethan Allen Brown received 34,836 votes ; Jeremiah Morrow, 9,426, and William Henry Harrison, 4,348. Harrison had received this number of votes notwithstanding it had been widely published that he was not a candidate. Congressmen announced as elected were : Thomas R. Ross, John W. Campbell, Levi Barber, John C. Wright, Joseph Vance and John Sloane. Practically all of these were reelections. Benjamin Ruggles, of Trumbull County, was returned to the United States Senate, and Ralph Osborn was continued as state auditor. This session saw the culmination of the war by the assembly on the United States branch banks. The special committee which had the matter in charge, of which General Harrison was chairman, made a report that in its opinion the general government had no right to interfere, by arresting Auditor Osborn and his agents, with the execution of the state laws requiring them to take $100,000 taxed against the banks, and it recommended that under the circumstances the state refuse the bank all protection of its laws. Upon this the assembly passed a law which completely outlawed the bank. It was of date January 29, 1821, and bore the perfectly frank title of "An act to withdraw from the Bank of the United States the protection and aid of the laws of this state, in certain cases." This law went to the utmost possible limit in its opposition to the bank. It made it unlawful, with a penalty of $200 fine, for any sheriff or keeper of a jail in the state to receive as a prisoner any person taken into custody in a suit or action of the bank on any charge whatever. It made it unlawful, under a penalty of $500 fine, for any judge or justice of the peace to receive acknowledgment of any deed of conveyance of any kind in which the bank was a party. It made it unlawful, with a fine of $500, for any county recorder to receive into his office or to record any such deed ; and no notary public could lawfully make a protest of any promissory note or bill of exchange made in favor of the bank, under penalty of removal from office. But the act left a loop-hole for the bank—a means by which these drastic provisions might be avoided by it. Section five of the law allowed it, if and when it had actually discontinued the suits against the state officers who had applied the tax law, to notify the governor of that fact ; also that it could do the same when it was willing to submit to the law taxing it 4 per cent on its dividends ; or that, having discontinued the suits, it would withdraw from the state. It provided further that when the governor should receive such notification from the bank he was to issue his proclamation that the law would be suspended and cease to have effect. This permission was accepted by the bank, and the warfare ceased so far as activities in the state itself were concerned, but the whole question was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States. A great legal battle was fought there. The attorneys for the bank included the famous Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Sargent, as well as Attorney-General William Wirt ; and Ohio was represented by Charles Hammond and John C. Wright. The hearing came on in the February term, 1824. The main question was whether the bank was exempt from the taxing power of the state. The opinion of the court was delivered by the chief justice, John Marshall, and it was against the state on all points. The officers refunded $90,000 of the $100,000 taken by Osborn's agents. Thus ended the most spectacular gesture of the State of Ohio in its early days. In his annual message, Governor Brown had strongly recommended ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 479 that provision be made for establishing public schools, and this bore fruit in the first law passed on that subject in the state, dated January 22, 1821. It was not very effective, but it was at least a beginning. Under its township trustees were to call for a vote of the people to decide whether they would establish school districts. If the vote were favorable such school districts were to be laid off—to contain not less than twelve nor more than forty house-holders—and these were to elect district school committees to have charge of school affairs. A schoolhouse was then to be erected in each district, teachers employed, and all persons of suitable age were to be admitted to instruction. The expense was to be assessed on the parents or guardians, proportionate to their children in attendance. But the assessments were to be remitted in cases where the parents were unable to pay them, and the deficit was to be made up by general taxation. Another law of. importance established in Cincinnati "The Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum for the State of Ohio." Ten thousand dollars was appropriated by the assembly for its erection. It was to be in charge of the trustees of Cincinnati Township, and free medical service was to be provided by the new medical college just established there under state charter. The only remuneration for this service was that the students at the college were to have the privilege of "witnessing the treatment" of the sick and insane patients. This was the modest beginning of that series of wonderful philanthropies which have since made the State of Ohio so notable. During the year 1821 the financial conditions continued to be unsatisfactory. Prices of products were declining and the market for them was small. The Cincinnati Inquisitor of January 16 contained a letter from Natchez, Mississippi, where there were then more than sixty unloaded boats, stating that flour was selling at $2 a barrel, whisky at 25 cents a gallon, corn at 25 cents a bushel, butter at 10 cents a pound, cheese at 5 cents a pound, and other articles at correspondingly meager prices. "I was offered today," said the writer, "as good flour as I ever saw, from Kentucky, for one dollar and seventy-five cents a barrel. It will be as low as one dollar per barrel in a week more." In Cincinnati, `prices in August were quoted in the same paper as follows : Apples, 25 cents per bushel ; beef, choice pieces, 4 cents per pound ; butter, 12% cents per pound ; beans, 25 cents per bushel ; best chickens, 12% cents per pair ; cheese, 6 cents per pound ; eggs, 61A cents per dozen ; lard, 6 cents per pound ; mutton, choice pieces, 3 cents per pound. Of course. at such prices on market the farmers could not save much. Abundant crops, however, furnished them a bountiful supply of food. ACTING GOVERNOR ALLEN TRIMBLE'S ADMINISTRATION TWENTIETH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 3, 1821, to February 4, 1822 Allen Trimble remained speaker of the Senate, and John Bigger was made speaker of the lower house. The latter had no previous or subsequent career of any importance. Thomas Worthington reappeared in the assembly, representing Ross County in the House of Representatives. It would appear a little strange that a man who had been governor and United States Senator should accept this humble political position, except for the explanation, made long afterwards by his daughter in her memoirs of the times, that his desire to be returned to the House was prompted by his intense interest in the canals and his wish to further the enterprise. Thomas Corwin, afterwards so famous in Ohio annals, was a new member of this assembly, sent by the constituency of Warren County. 480 - HISTORY OF OHIO He was only twenty-five, the earliest age at which, under the constitution, any man was eligible to membership in the body. Governor Brown, on December 29, announced officially the death at Washington of Senator William A. Trimble, and the governor himself was elected to fill the vacancy thus caused. For the third time since the state was formed, a speaker of the Senate became acting governor, Allen Trimble holding that office during the year which followed. No noteworthy measures were taken by the assembly during this session. The law was revived and amended authorizing the payment of bounties for the killing of wolves and steamboats on Lake Erie which belonged to the old company formed in 1811 by Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton were forbidden to stop at Ohio ports because the owners of those boats claimed to have exclusive rights to stop at Buffalo and other New York ports on Lake Erie, which monopoly was frowned upon and discountenanced by the people in the lake regions of Ohio. At the date of adjournment of the assembly Congress had not yet adopted a basis for apportionment of congressmen under the new census. An act was therefore passed by the Legislature appointing an extra session for May 20 following, so that the state might be redistricted before the election of congressmen the following October. TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATIVE SESSION May 20 to May 23, 1822 Under the apportionment by Congress of one member of the national House of Representatives for every 42,000 inhabitants, Ohio was now entitled to fourteen members of that House. This placed her fourth in point of number of members among the states of the Union. North Carolina was next above her in point of population, but as a great majority of the people of that state were slaves, only three-fifths of whom could be counted in apportioning the representation, Ohio had congressmen fewer than only New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. At the special session, therefore, the state was newly divided into fourteen congressional districts. As this was the sole cause for the session, it adjourned after sitting only three days. An attempt had been made during the first session of this year to revive the whipping post for those convicted of larceny where the amount stolen was less than $50, but it failed. Young Thomas Corwin made his maiden speech in the debate upon that subject, and thus early exhibited unusual powers as a speaker, for his address in opposition to the measure attracted more attention than any other delivered, and was the only one reported in any detail by the press. He took occasion to flay conditions in the Cincinnati jail, and the Gazette of that city replied sharply to him in its editorial column, but concluded its article in this way : "We regret the occasion of this notice of Mr. Corwin, who, we understand, is a young man of considerable promise." The proposed act to renew "stripes on the naked back" was lost in the Senate by a tie vote-16 to 16. A bill to abolish imprisonment for debt was also lost, after long debate. The political campaign of 1822 was a warm one, and the newspapers devoted much space to it. The mechanics of Cincinnati were now strong enough to offer a labor candidate for the Legislature. They very systematically campaigned in behalf of William Disney, a workingman, and he was triumphantly elected. General Harrison was a candidate for Congress, and met with bitter opposition because he had, while in Congress before, seemed to favor the admission of Missouri as a slave state, although he had not really voted upon the question. He defended himself very vigorously during the campaign, but was defeated by James W. Gazley, a man unknown to history except for his occupancy ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 481 of a seat in Congress for that one term. He was defeated when a candidate the following year. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR JEREMIAH MORROW TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 2, 1822, to January 28, 1823 Acting Governor Trimble was again elected speaker of the Senate, as was Joseph Richardson speaker of the House, after an interim of one year. Trimble had been a candidate for election as governor, but had been defeated by a small plurality, by Jeremiah Morrow. There had been four candidates. The total number of votes cast had been 60,008, of which Morrow received only 26,059. The project of the canal across the state was coming into better form, and a canal commission was created, with Thomas Worthington at its head. One member was Alfred Kelley, who now for the first time became connected with that great enterprise, but whose name was in later years closely identified with it ; he was the "Father of the Ohio canals." Other members of the commission were Benjamin Tappan, Isaac Minor and Micajah T. Williams. The last named was appointed after Jeremiah Morrow, who was at first appointed, declined to serve. The assembly authorized the commission to employ a competent engineer and assistants, and appropriated $4,000 to meet the first year's expense. James Geddes, who had a high reputation in New York as a skilled and experienced engineer, was secured, at $1,500 a year, and expenses, to make the survey to determine the route of the canal, and the newspapers reported his travels and operations with much detail. Calvin Pease was reelected judge of the Supreme Court. At the same time a new man—Charles R. Sherman—was elected to a judgeship in the same court. He had moved into the state from Connecticut less than two years before and settled in Lancaster. He had already, in that short time, won great prominence as an advocate. When he died in 1829, at the age of forty-one, he left two sons who were to contribute undying fame to the State of Ohio—the great statesman, John Sherman, and the great general, William Tecumseh Sherman. Business conditions appear to have been improving at the beginning of the year 1823. The newspapers of the state, especially those in Cincinnati, made occasional references to this. An unusual amount of new building operations were noted in the Queen City, including several brick tenement houses three stories high, which indicated a more than usual demand for living quarters. Sheriff's sales, advertisements of which had for a long time occupied many columns in every issue of the papers, grew very noticeably less in numbers. Almost all references to complications over bank note values disappeared, and occasional note was made of greater manufacturing activities. A new postmaster general was appointed. Return Jonathan Meigs had been removed in the early summer, and John McLean, another Ohioan, who had achieved distinction as a jurist on the Supreme bench of the state and had for some months been secretary of the general land office of the government, was appointed to the place. The reason for Colonel Meigs' removal was not hinted at in the papers, but one can easily believe that it was with the hope of improving the mail service, which had all the time continued bad in every part of the country. At any rate, Postmaster General McLean sent out frequent orders on various features of the service, all of which were published in the news sheets of Ohio. Predictions were made by the editors that the next general assembly of the state would be required by its constituency to do something definite as to the public school system, the Erie and Ohio Canal, and the ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 483 "ad valorem" tax. Up to that time practically all taxes had come from that early law which divided all the lands into three grades, and levied one and half dollar, one dollar, or fifty cents, respectively, oh every hundred acres. But now there was a demand that taxes should be levied on all property, of whatever kind, according to its value. Precisely the same objections were made to this that have been put forward by the single-tax disciples of Henry George in modern times—that it would discourage individual initiative and industry in acquiring wealth by individual effort. There was a rapidly growing demand that a practical and successful system of common schools should be established immediately. Many editors were unsparing in their criticism of the laxity of past legislatures in this regard. The editor of the Cincinnati Gazette, who was a leader in this campaign, presented a picture of the state quite different from that in the eyes of most Ohioans who were proud of their commonwealth. "In contemplating the exalted station claimed by Ohio," he wrote, "we cannot but enquire, what great or good thing has she ever performed ? She is happily situated and possesses a population of more than half a million. But notwithstanding all this, she is almost destitute of schools of any sort—she has never endowed a college, built a bridge, dug a canal, made a decent road, or done any other thing over and above the ordinary business of legislation. She remains in her feelings and policies an infantile state. She has not advanced a single step toward pre-eminence save in the cultivation of her soil and the increase of her population." All this, and much more, he said in urging that Ohio must provide a good public school system. TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 1, 1823, to February 26, 1824 Allen Trimble and Joseph Richardson again presided over the Senate and House, respectively. The subject of educating the deaf had been occupying much attention throughout the country for the few years past.. The assembly of Ohio, at a previous session, had ordered a careful enumeration of such persons in the state, and the report of this count was now presented. It showed a total of 428 deaf mutes, of whom 279 were listed as "poor," sixty-six as "in middling circumstances," seventy-two as "in good circumstances," and eleven unclassified as to their worldly condition. This was the first step taken toward the establishment of a school for the deaf in Ohio, which materialized within the next few years. Connecticut had provided such an institution, and it had become an object of great interest and curiosity in the public mind. Men who desired to devote their lives to the instruction of deaf-mutes went to Hartford to learn the methods of doing so. Ralph Osborn was again elected state auditor by the assembly, and as the library had now become a place of some importance, a regular librarian was appointed—Zachariah Mills. His salary was $200 a year, and he was under bond of $2,000. An appropriation for books and maps for the library was made at this session, to extend over the four following years—$350 to be expended each year. That the Legislature was proud of the name "Ohio" on the new United States naval vessel launched May 30, 1820, was shown in a resolution adopted authorizing Governor Morrow to procure and present a suitable stand of colors to that battleship. The extension of the Cumberland Road into Ohio was now about to begin, the necessary surveying and routing having been completed, and the assembly formally "authorized and empowered" the national government to so extend it. The work progressed rapidly. It was by far the finest highway yet planned for the state. The newspaper reports 484 - HISTORY OF OHIO of the time describe it is being thirty feet wide, of which twenty feet was covered with "pounded stone." Its construction gave employment to very large numbers of men—there was no scarcity of laborers even at the small wage of $6 per month paid (in addition to board and lodging in camps). The road entered Ohio from Wheeling and ran directly west in the central part of the state, passing through Zanesville, Columbus and Springfield, to Richmond. Indiana, and beyond. The canal was still the matter of first importance before the legislators, and they appropriated $6,000 to defray the expense of a continuance of the surveys to determine the best route for it. The middle, or Sandusky and Scioto route, as it was called, seemed to be the one most favored, and it was particularly mentioned in the act that it should have the careful consideration of the engineers. Interest in the Legislature centered in three main subjects—the public schools, the canal, and the newly proposed system of producing a revenue by taxing property according to its value. There was much "log-rolling," and it became evident to the editors of the state that neither of the three proposed acts, against all of which there was organized opposition, could pass without application of the policy "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." The delay in the determination of a route by the canal commission carried all three proposals over to the next session. Through most of the year 1823 and all of the year 1824 until November, the chief—almost the exclusive—subject of discussion in Ohio was, "Who shall be the next president ?" Nothing was plainer than that "the era of good feeling" was over. Presidential candidates were energetically assailed and vigorously defended. Five of these occupied the attention of the people—John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts ; Henry Clay, of Kentucky ; John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina ; Gen. Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee ; and William H. Crawford, of Georgia, then Secretary of the Treasury. The intensity of this contest, begun more than eighteen months before the election was to occur, was astonishing. All the candidates were "confessedly republicans" (the name democrat was not yet often applied to the party), and the controversy was taken as an evidence that the party was far from united. The vote in Ohio was : Clay, 19,255 ; Jackson, 18,489 ; Adams, 12,280. After the election, and it became known that the choice of a president would have to be made by Congress, the acrimonious disputation continued with even great& fury than before. John Quincy Adams' election by Congress was followed by the formation of a determined opposition to all his policies and acts, which was fostered by the adherents of General Jackson. Their efforts to make their idol president at the next election were never for a moment abated. TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 6, 1824, to February 8, 1825 The head of the Senate was once more Allen Trimble ; of the House, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, whose public career was undistinguished except by this one elevation to office and service on the canal commission. The election for governor had attracted little attention in the press, but there had been a total vote of 76,634, the greatest yet recorded in the state. There had been but two candidates ; Morrow received 39,526, and Trimble, 37,108. Secretary of State Jeremiah McLene was again elected to that office, and Gen. William Henry Harrison was sent to the United States Senate to succeed Ethan Allen Brown, whose term had expired. This session of the general assembly was a notable one, for it witnessed the passage of the three laws which had been uppermost in the minds of the people and which materially promoted progress of the state. They were passed on three successive days. 486 - HISTORY OF OHIO "An act to provide for the support and betterment of the common schools," which bore date of February 5, 1825, for the first time in the state's history really provided a system which gave promise of success. It no longer left it optional with voters in the townships to establish schools, but made them a state institution. The object of the act was simply stated—"the instruction of youth of every class and grade, without distinction, in reading, writing and arithmetic, and other necessary branches of common school education." It appropriated one-half of one mill on all taxable property to be used for school purposes, required township trustees to lay off school districts, provided for election of school committees in these districts, for appointment of examiners to test the qualifications of teachers and issue certificates to those who were approved, and it charged the common pleas courts and county auditors with the details of administration and financing. The canal commissioners had decided upon the best route for the new waterway connecting Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and on February 4, 1825, the act establishing it was passed by the assembly. It was the "Muskingum and Scioto route, so called," from Cleveland to Portsmouth. It also provided for a canal from Cincinnati to the Mad River at or near Dayton. "An act establishing an equitable mode of levying the taxes of this state" was passed on February 3, 1825. It had been written by a finance committee of which Thomas Worthington was chairman, and was another evidence of that man's great usefulness to the State of Ohio. It provided for county assessors who should determine the values of all lands, lots, buildings; dwelling houses worth $200 and over, horses, neat cattle of three years old and upward, capital of merchants and brokers, and pleasure carriages of a value of more than $100; and for the levying of taxes upon the values thus assessed. Rates of taxations should be determined by the counties. It provided for county boards of equalization to hear appeals and complaints as to valuations made by assessors, and established also a state board of equalization. The system inaugurated in this law, although amended many times, is, in its fundamentals, exactly the same as has been in effect continuously since that time. This assembly made one concession in the application of the law of imprisonment for debt ; it passed an act that Revolutionary soldiers should be exempt from its provisions.—A law provided, for the first time, for the appointment of prosecuting attorneys by courts of common pleas.—Another placed $100 fine upon bull-baiting and bear-baiting, and $20 fine upon cock-fighting.—A bill was again introduced abolishing punishment by death, but it failed of passage; as had the others previously proposed. The newspapers highly praised this Legislature. "It has been one of the most interesting sessions ever held in this state," said the Cincinnati Gazette of February 8. "The canal bill, the new system of finance, and the provision made for the establishment of public schools, will long be remembered to the honor of its members. It belongs now to the people to give these plans their countenance and support.” Many optimistic editorials were written about the canals, the national road, the schools and the new tax law. It was felt that a new era was opening, and the people were congratulated in enthusiastic language by the editors, some of whom had a few years before seemed greatly discouraged over conditions in the state. General LaFayette's visit to the United States in 1824 to 1825 was an event of general and enthusiastic interest in this state, which he entered at Cincinnati May 19 of the latter year. The newspapers described the event very fully. Details of the tour are found elsewhere in the pages of this history. On June 9, 1825, the Columbus Gazette made first announcement that ground would be broken for the construction of the canal near Newark on the Fourth of July following. The greatest crowd ever ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 487 known on any occasion in Ohio was expected. The event itself was very fully described by the papers. Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, the great advocate of canals in his own state and in Ohio, was the guest of honor. From 8,000 to 10,000 people were present and "signified their approbation by repeated shouts of applause." The whole ceremony was described as grand and imposing. An oration was pronounced by Thomas Ewing, the famous lawyer of Lancaster. He addressed part of his remarks directly to Governor Clinton, who responded eloquently. Governors Clinton and Morrow each threw out a shovel full of dirt. A dinner, "with one thousand covers," was served in a neighboring grove, where thirteen set toasts and eleven volunteer toasts were given and drunk. Governor Clinton visited many towns in Ohio before returning to New York, among them Chillicothe, Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati, and received a cordial welcome to each place. On July 21 he and Governor Morrow repeated their performance of digging the first earth on the Miami Canal at Middletown, on which occasion also there were large crowds of people present. A militia company from Cincinnati drilled and its band played. There were many speeches, a big dinner, and eloquent toasts. The canal was built by separate contracts in small sections, and the papers soon began to publish items about the rapid progress made all along the routes. TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 5, 1825, to February 6, 1826 Allen Trimble was once again made speaker of the Senate, and William W. Irwin, of Fairfield County, was speaker of the House. In his annual message Governor Morrow felicitated the public upon the progress of canal construction, dwelt at length upon the hopes of the state in the new common school system, and expressed the pleasure he had felt in officially receiving General LaFayette the previous summer. Report was made by the canal fund commissioners that they had sold $400,000 of 5 per cent bonds to meet the expense of construction for the time being. Acts were passed by the assembly authorizing the fund commissioners to secure in the same way $600,000 for each of the years 1827 and 1828. This was in addition to large amounts secured by taxation and other methods. The loans were made with no difficulty, and the progress of work on the canal was never embarrassed for want of ready cash. Henry Brown, of Franklin County, was elected state treasurer, and Peter Hitchcock was again made a judge of the Supreme Court, his first term having expired. Two notable laws which were no longer necessary were repealed. One was the famous act to withdraw from the United States Bank the protection of the state's laws the other was that old first tax law under which lands alone were assessed to meet the public need for money. The new revenue act had gone into effect, the assessors in all the counties had been busy, and reports of the first assessments were now made. The total valuation was found to be $58,924,720. Of this, $37,244,495 represented values of country lands, $1,549,889 values of country houses, $7,188,198 values of property in the towns, $5,517,810 values of horses, $274,689 values of cattle, $5,202,400 capital of merchants, $20,885 values of carriages worth more than $100 each. The number of acres of land taxed was 15,174,186. The division of the taxes for 1826, the first under the new law, was as follows : 488 - HISTORY OF OHIO