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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


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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


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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.


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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


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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.


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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


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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


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"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


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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.


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"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


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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 :


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State tax

County tax

Road tax

Township tax

School tax

Total

$106,668.87

187,562.80

31,846.30

22,231.01

18,613.29

$366,922.27




The publication of these figures was the occasion of editorial approval of the new law, as being equitable and as accomplishing the result desired—the contribution to an ample public revenue in accordance with the ability of each property owner to pay.


A financial report was also made concerning the first year's operation of the new "Lunatic Asylum." This disclosed that the total expense of maintaining it during the twelve-month had been $764.38, and the amount received on account of maintenance of individual insane patients was $636, leaving a deficit of $128.38, to be made up by the state. The figures were very modest indeed, judged by modern standards, but it was regarded as a highly important state establishment in 1826.


In the Cincinnati Gazette of April 7, 1826, an account appeared of the formation of a "New Association," in Belmont County, to bring about a reform in carrying on elections—or, rather, of naming candi-dates for election—to public office. There was no regular system of naming candidates in Ohio, nor, apparently, anywhere in the United States. A few citizens would gather, generally at a private house, appoint a chairman and secretary, decide on a ticket, and send a report of their proceedings to the local paper. Other meetings of the same kind would name other tickets. Very often requests were sent to the editors to announce the names of candidates which had not been con-sidered at any meeting at all. A week or two before the election the papers would list all the names which they had received, and voters would consult these lists in casting their ballots. It was easy for any man to be put forward as a candidate, regardless of his qualifications or reputation. There were no conventions, no party endorsements, and, of course, no primaries. The plan of the "New Association" of Belmont County appears to have been the first suggestion of a conven-tion system in Ohio. Its members pledged themselves to promote a plan of sending delegates to a county assembly to nominate one best man for each office. The Gazette, in commenting upon this plan, expressed grave doubts as to its constitutionality on the ground that it would tend to encourage bribery. In view of the later development of the convention system and the modern return to a system somewhat similar to the old first method, this incident of 1826 forms an interesting bit of political history.


News of the death, on July Fourth of this year 1826, of Thomas Jefferson was the occasion of demonstrations of respect all over Ohio. The United States Court at Columbus adjourned. The members of the bar everywhere adopted appropriate resolutions and wore crape on their left arms for a month. The editors made Mr. Jefferson the theme of much writing, and printed many anecdotes and sketches concerning him. Services were held in churches, and eulogies were pronounced. Several days later intelligence came of the death of John Adams on the same day that had marked the end of Mr. Jefferson's life ; and while the courts again adjourned in respect to his memory, his passing was not so generally noted in the public press.


Only two months before Jefferson's demise much sympathy was expressed in the Ohio newspapers over the fact that he was in great financial embarrassment, and that the general assembly of Virginia had authorized a public lottery to sell his estate at Monticello in order to enable him to pay his debts. James Monroe was also known to be in the same reduced condition, according to reports in the papers. The


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Cincinnati Gazette of April 25 referred to both of these ex-presidents as being "left to endure all the humiliations of penury and want." Upon the same subject the editor turned upon Congress in this fashion: "It would be more for the credit, and more for the interest of the nation, too, that the money expended by Congress in unnecessary and outrageous speech making should be paid to these faithful servants, than wasted, as it now is, in cabals and contentions discreditable to all concerned."


BERNHARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, VISITS OHIO


TRIBUTES TO GOVERNORS MORROW AND WORTHINGTON


In the years 1825 and 1826 America was visited by Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, a nobleman in the service of "his majesty, the King of the Netherlands." He left Ghent April 4, 1825, and returned to that city July 28, 1826. After a stay in England and an uneventful voyage across the Atlantic, he landed in Boston, Massachusetts, July 26, 1825. Following is the duke's statement of his impressions when he stepped on the American shore :


"It was ten o'clock, on the morning of the 26th of July when I first placed my foot in America, upon a broad piece of granite ! It is impossible to describe what I felt at that instant. Heretofore, but two moments of my life had left a delightful remembrance ; the first was, when at seventeen years of age, I received the Cross of the Legion of Honour, after the battle of Wagram—the second, when my son William was born. My landing in America, that country which, from my early youth, had been the object of my warmest wishes, will, throughout life, remain a subject of pleasing recollections."


After an extended tour, he sailed from New York City on his return voyage June 16, 1826. The following entry in his journal expresses briefly his feeling as he bade the new world farewell :


"To my great and sincere regret, the hour at length arrived when I was constrained to leave this happy and prosperous land in which I had seen and learned so much and in which much more still remained to be seen and learned."


The journal of his "Travels Through North America," published in two volumes in 1828, gives a faithful picture of the America of that time as seen by a sympathetic, scholarly and impartial observer. He came to our shores shortly before LaFayette departed. He was practically unknown in the United States and the newspapers scarcely noted his presence here. He came simply to gratify a long cherished desire to see the "new world" and especially that portion of it the fame of which had filled Europe and was attracting the teeming populations of the "old world" to the new Republic of the West.


Leaving Louisville, Kentucky, April 30, 1826, after a tour through that state, he proceeded up the Ohio on the steamboat Atlanta to Cincinnati. His description of what occurred on this trip is interesting and possibly explains the origin of casualties in these early days of river transportation. We quote again from the duke's journal :


“Shortly after leaving Louisville, we were followed by another steamboat called the General Marion ; towards evening it reached and wanted to pass us. A race took place which discomposed us considerably and became dangerous to a high degree. The boilers, being soon over-heated, might have burst and occasioned a great disaster ; during this time we were so close together, that the railing, as well as the roofs of the wheels knocked against each other. The danger increased as night drew on, and particularly so as there were a great number of ladies on board, who were crying in a most piteous manner. One of them conducted herself most distractedly ; she fell into hysteric fits, wanted to throw herself in the water on the opposite side of the boat, and could scarcely be prevented by three strong men. The heating


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of the boilers of the General Marion had been so violent, that they ran short of wood, and to their great confusion, and our extreme satis-faction, they were not only left behind, but were overtaken by the slow steamboat Ohio ; thus the Atlanta obtained a brilliant victory.


After a visit to Cincinnati the duke proceeded to the interior of the state. We cannot do better than to let him relate some of his experiences in his own language :


"I had resolved on traveling in the interior of the State of Ohio, in order to convince myself of the condition of this country, which has been inhabited but thirty years by a white population. I therefore renounced the comfortable traveling on the Ohio for the inconvenient passage by land. To be enabled to travel at my leisure, I hired a carriage with four horses, at six dollars per day, and left Cincinnati on the 3rd of May, at eleven o'clock A. M. We rode that day twenty-one miles to the lodgings of the governor, Mr. Morrow, to whom I had letters from Governor Johnson of New Orleans. The road led through a hilly and well cultivated country. The fields separated by worm fences adjoin each other and contain good dwelling houses and barns. Their extensive orchards mostly contain apple and peach trees. I had not seen before any place in the United States in so high a state of cultivation. But alas! the rain had made the roads so muddy that it was with difficulty we proceeded. * * *


"The dwelling of the Governor consists of a plain frame house, situated on a little elevation not far from the shore of the Little Miami, and is entirely surrounded by fields. The business of the state calls him once a month to Columbus, the seat of government, and the remainder of his time he passes at his country-seat, occupied with farm-ing, a faithful copy of an ancient Cincinnatus; he was engaged at our arrival in cutting a wagon pole, but he immediately stopped his work to give us a hearty welcome. He appeared to be about fifty years of age ; is not tall, but thin and strong, and has an expressive physiognomy, with dark and animated eyes. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and was one of the first settlers in the state of Ohio. He offered us a night's lodging at his house, which invitation we accepted very thank-fully. When seated round the chimney fire in the evening, he related to us a great many of the dangers and difficulties the first settlers had to contend with. * * * We spent our evening with the governor and his lady. Their children are settled and they have with them only a couple of grandchildren. When we took our seats at supper, the governor made a prayer. There was a Bible and several religious books lying on the table."


This visit evidently made a lasting impression upon the duke. Twenty years afterward Charles Anderson, brother to Robert Anderson of Fort Sumpter fame, and himself later acting governor of Ohio, was traveling in Europe and met the grand duke in a vessel on the River Elbe. Josiah Morrow thus relates the substance of what the duke said in regard to his visit to the chief executive of Ohio :


"The Duke spoke of his travels in republican America and described the great interest with which he had looked upon the scenes of that country, so different from anything he had ever seen in the old world. He spoke particularly of his visit to Governor Morrow, whom he found in the garb of a farmer, wearing a red flannel shirt, his hands and face smeared with charcoal from burning brush in a clearing. The Duke, accustomed to the splendors of a palace, must have gazed with astonish-ment on the spectacle. Although he expressed much admiration for the republican chief magistrate, he had no wish to imitate his example ; but he told young Anderson, as they descended the river, that of all the public men he had met in his extensive travels in America, he had taken the greatest liking to Henry Clay and Governor Morrow."


After proceeding in his journey by way of Union Village, Bellbrook, Xenia, Springfield, Columbus and Circleville, all of which places he


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describes in a very interesting manner, he arrived in Chillicothe, May 10. Here he was entertained by former Governor Thomas Worthington in his delightful home at Adena. The duke thus describes the building and its surroundings :


"The.governor's house is surrounded with Lombardy poplars ; it is constructed in the style of an Italian villa, of free stone, with stone steps on the exterior, is two stories high, and has two wings, having a court in front of the centre building, containing honeysuckles and roses : on one side of the house is a terrace with flowers and kitchen vegetables ; this garden was arranged by German gardeners who keep it in very good order : behind the house are large clover fields, and to the right the farm buildings. Governor Worthington occupies himself with the raising of cattle, particularly sheep; he had a flock of one hundred and fifty merinos.' I understood that they were numerous in the state of Ohio. Colonel King and his highly accomplished lady came to meet us ; the governor and his lady soon appeared : he has travelled a great deal, has been a long time in public offices, and was for several years a member of the United States' senate ; his eldest son was travelling in Europe, another son was in the military academy at West Point. He has ten children, on whom he expended a great deal for their education ; the evening passed rapidly in instructive and interesting conversation, the hospitable governor insisted on our passing the night at his house ; the house is very commodious, the furniture plain, but testifies the good taste and easy circumstances of the owner. I arose early next morning and took a walk in the governor's garden, I ascended to a platform on the roof to take a view of the surrounding lands, but there is as yet nothing but woods covering the greater part of the country. Fires, which were burning in some places, were proofs, that new settlers were clearing the woods ; from this platform the governor can overlook the greater part of his property, containing twenty-five thousand acres of land. * * * I took breakfast with the worthy governor and his family, and found here, as at Governor Morrow's, that the father of the family, observed the laudable custom of making a prayer before sitting down. After breakfast we took leave of this respectable family, whose acquaintance I consider as one of the most interesting I made in the United States, and returned to town."


ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR ALLEN TRIMBLE


TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION


December 4, 1826, to January 31, 1827


Abraham Shepherd, of Brown County, who had been speaker of the Senate ten years before, was again in the upper house and was now elected to the same position. Edward King, of Ross County, was the new speaker of the House of Representatives.


Governor Morrow, in his fourth and final annual message, submitted many documents evidencing great progress in the construction of the canal. He felicitated the people of the state upon the great activities in domestic improvements and upon the favorable condition of both public and private interests.


Allen Trimble, after two attempts, was successful in his ambition to be governor of the state, having received 74,475 of the 84,646 ballots cast. In his inaugural address he stressed the need of free schools for the practical education of the people.


The canal fund commissioners reported that they had contracted with John Jacob Astor, of New York (then famed as the richest man in America), for a loan of $1,000,000, payable at the option of the state after 1850. The credit of Ohio had become so high that the bonds on which this loan was made were sold at a premium.


Benjamin Ruggles was again elected United States senator, and


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Ralph Osborn was reelected state auditor for the eleventh successive year.


Two amendments were made to the tax law : (1) the assessors were to be elected by the people instead of being appointed by the common pleas courts ; and (2) the office of tax collector was abolished and the duties assigned to the county treasurers.


The public school law was also changed, and very much for the better. The school funds were placed under control of the state instead of the various counties, and provision was made by which the state government was thereafter to handle all receipts and expenditures for the education of the common people.


On January 30, 1827, "An act to establish an asylum for the education of deaf and dumb persons" was passed by the assembly. It provided that trustees of the asylum should be appointed and it was made their duty to report to the legislatures where the institution ought to be located, what kind of buildings should be erected, what they would cost, and what should be the plan of internal organization.


It is worthy of note that the first daily newspaper published in Ohio made its appearance this year. The Cincinnati Gazette, which was established as a weekly some years before, had for more than a year been issuing two papers a week. From the first week in June of 1827, for many years, it was published every day except Sunday. All the papers of the state had immensely improved in appearance. Many of them were of very respectable size and they bore evidence of prosperity. Their type, ink and paper were of excellent quality—comparing very favorably, indeed, with the papers of today in those respects. It would be a long while, of course, before they would be able to publish news from the East, which they clipped from the papers of that section, until it was almost two weeks old, but they were beginning to have better news service. Some of them had special correspondence from Columbus during the sessions of the Legislature, and the Gazette had its own Washington correspondent to report in detail the proceedings of Congress. The tone in the writings in all the papers was much less violent than formerly, and, although the editors held contentious arguments with one another in their columns, they were not couched in such lurid language. Generally speaking, it was only with reference to politics that they differed at all.


The Cleveland Herald of July 6, 1827, contained a two-column account (copied by the Cincinnati Gazette of the 14th) of the first voyage on the Ohio and Erie canal, which important event had occurred on the 3d of that month. The canal boat State of Ohio, drawn by a horse walking on the tow-path, had left the Portage Summit, near Akron, and proceeded to Cleveland, thirty-eight miles distant. This was the section of the canal first completed.


At the town of Boston she had been joined by the Allen Trimble, and further on by the Pioneer. The governor of the state, the canal commissioners, and many other dignitaries were aboard the State of Ohio, which was gayly decorated, and the other boats were crowded with passengers. The fleet was received in Cleveland with salutes of cannon and other noisy demonstrations. A procession was formed and all marched to "an arbor on the public square of the village," where speeches were made. Then they repaired to Belden's Tavern, had a sumptuous dinner, drank a large number of regular and volunteer toasts, and listened to speeches by Governor Trimble and Canal Commissioner Alfred Kelley. In the evening there was a "splendid ball in Belden's Assembly Room." It was a very grand occasion.


Meanwhile, a very few years before experiments had been made in pulling carriages over metal tracks in England. Some meager reports of this had reached Ohio, and on April 30, only a little more than two months before the first trip on the canal, the Cincinnati Gazette had contained this item : "The Baltimoreans are in high spirits on the


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subject of their railroad to Ohio. The stock has been very rapidly subscribed, and no doubts seem to be entertained of ultimate success."


But no one in Ohio knew anything about railroads. Who could conceive that they would ever dim the glory of the wonderful canal ?


TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION


December 3, 1827, to February 12, 1828


The Senate elected Samuel Wheeler, of Geauga County, speaker. the House of Representatives conferred the same honor upon Edward King, of Ross. Neither man attained later prominence.


The trustees of the new asylum for deaf mutes, previously appointed, reported that they had organized and were ready to proceed with the project. The assembly voted them a balance in the treasury of $376.60 in the "literary fund," to pay their preliminary expenses. It also adopted a resolution asking the general government to make a grant of public lands to be placed at the disposal of the trustees to aid in establishing the institution.


The number of free white electors in the state was reported at 145,745, an increase of 21,110 over the number four years before, from which an estimate was made that the total population of the state now approximated 800,000.


The canal fund commissioners reported another loan, made upon security of 6 per cent bonds, of $1,200,000; so active had the demand been in financial circles that the premium on this loan amounted to $71,506.67.


State Treasurer Brown asked the general assembly to investigate his responsibility in connection with a robbery of the vault at his office which had occurred May 6, 1827. The thief had secured $12,657.98, but by the efforts of the treasurer he had been caught and all but $1,030.33 of the money recovered. A committee of the assembly exonerated the treasurer of all blame and reimbursed him for the expense incurred in catching the thief. An appropriation of $200 was made to rebuild the vault "to be fire-proof, of cut stone fastened with iron bolts." At the same time the state auditor was authorized to cause to be erected a fire-proof building 20x24 feet in the clear, in which to keep the state records.


There had grown up at that time "The American Colonization Society," and its activities were widespread throughout the country. The object it wished to attain was the transportation of all free negroes to Liberia, in Africa. A large convention of the society was held in Columbus this winter. At its request the general assembly adopted resolutions favorable to the plan, and petitioned the general government to aid the society in accomplishing its aim. The newspapers all over the North, including those of Ohio, devoted much space for the next few years to this movement.


By resolution the general assembly appointed Alexander Bourne, of Ross County, a member of the canal commission, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas Worthington, which had occurred in New York City the prevoius summer. The last few years of that great man's life had been rendered very unhappy by financial reverses which reduced him from wealth to a state approaching poverty. His friend, General Finley, had secured his name on his bond as commissioner of the land office in Ohio, and his obligation to make this good was the cause of his undoing.


The State of South Carolina submitted for approval to the assemblies of Ohio and the other states resolutions declaring that the general government had no constitutional right to levy a tariff duty on goods imported into the United States. The Ohio assembly adopted resolutions declaring that "to the doctrines therein contained this general assembly express their most solemn dissent." This effort on the part


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of South Carolina foreshadowed the "nullification" controversy which aroused much excitement in Ohio and the entire nation in those days.


The work of this session of the Legislature was confined almost entirely to matters of a special, local and personal character.


The Ohio newspapers of the year 1828 devoted some attention to news of the development of railroads which had begun in England, and to proposed railway projects in some of the eastern states. There was no mention whatever of any motive power except "animals," and no fear was expressed that railroads would ever compete with the canals, the construction of which continued steadily and held a large share of the attention of the editors and of the reading public.


But the approaching presidential election was the topic of paramount interest. The contest was entirely between the administration and the anti-administration parties. Those opposed to President Adams were solidly for General Jackson, and were now universally called democrats. Conventions came into general favor, and new political methods were introduced. Mass meetings, state central committees for conducting the campaign, nominations for office by conventions, stump speeches (a new phrase then, always surrounded by quotation marks in the papers)—all came into vogue. Electoral tickets on both sides were named at state conventions held in Columbus. Ohio was carried by Jackson, his vote being 67,597, while Adams received 63,396.


TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION


December 1, 1828, to February 12, 1829


No change was made in the organization of this assembly, the same men presiding over both houses who had occupied the respective chairs at the previous session.


An incident which aroused much interest was an action taken by the Senate on account of the absence of Andrew Mack, a senator from Hamilton County, because he was held in prison at Cincinnati as a debtor. The Senate promptly adopted a resolution declaring his detention a violation of legislative privilege, and sent one of its members to Cincinnati for the purpose of securing his release and returning with him to Columbus. The order confining Senator Mack was promptly annulled by the court upon this order from the Senate, and he went to the capital immediately after his release.


The official canvass of the vote for governor disclosed that Governor Allen Trimble had been reelected by a vote of 53,971 over John W. Campbell, who received 51,951. The total vote cast in the state had been 106,034. Campbell had just finished ten years' service in Congress. Shortly after General Jackson was inaugurated president he was appointed judge of the United States District Court of Ohio.


Governor Trimble announced to the assembly that Gen. 'William Henry Harrison had resigned as United States senator, having been appointed by President Adams to the post of minister to Colombia. Electing his successor developed an exciting contest in the assembly, which extended through two joint sessions convened for the purpose. Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati, was elected by a majority of only three votes, after many ballots. This was a straight-out fight between the Jackson and anti-Jackson men. Burnet was not a Jackson man, and he was, for a good while after his election, made the target of the Jackson papers, which denounced him as a "Federalist."


A law of January 28, 1829, definitely established the deaf and dumb asylum, the trustees being authorized to open it the following October. They secured a competent principal, from Hartford, Connecticut, for the instruction of the pupils, and the institution then inaugurated in a very modest way has now, for many decades, been one of the finest of its kind in the world.

A new measure was inaugurated by this Legislature; in face of the


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strenuous efforts of temperance people, greatly increasing facilities for buying spirituous liquors at retail. By the act of January 28 any person could retail them at a grocery, under license of from $5 to $50 a year, according to location, upon submitting an application signed by twelve householders living in the vicinity.


A law was enacted excluding all "black and mulatto" persons from the free white schools of Cincinnati and from all the common schools of the state. Another act instructed the keeper of the penitentiary "to prepare in the upper story of the old prison building a room in which to assemble the convicts for moral and religious instruction on the Sabbath," which edification they had never enjoyed up to that time.


Great indignation was expressed by the anti-Jackson papers of Ohio over the new president's policy of dismissing government employes who had not been favorable to him—a policy ever since known by his famous slogan, "To the victor belongs the spoils." The process of turning out such officials began immediately upon his assuming his office, and it was shortly afterwards published that several hundred postmasters had been dismissed—fifty-one of them in Ohio. "Under this administration," said the Ohio State Journal of July 23, 1829, "the highest character for official capacity, moral worth, and intellectual preeminence is considered as of no value. It is not enough that a public officer shall have faithfully discharged his duties. If he be suspected of having favored the election of the late president, or of having entertained views hostile to the elevation of his successor, he must be removed and his place filled by some time serving sycophant who possesses no other merit than his readiness to cooperate with his superiors in rewarding the friends and punishing the enemies of the present chief magistrate." 1


The papers for this year contained many references to the development of steam locomotives in England, and one of them was said to pull carriages on a railroad at the amazing speed of twenty miles an hour.


TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION


December 7, 1829, to February 23, 1830


Robert Lucas, of Pike County, was the new speaker of the Senate, and Thomas L. Hamer, of Brown, was made speaker of the lower house. Both of these men had careers of importance. Lucas had been a brigadier-general in the War of 1812, had been in the Legislature of 1814-15, and three years later he became governor of Ohio. He was the first territorial governor of Iowa, 1828 to 1841, and died in Iowa City in 1858. Hamer later became a brigadier-general. He served his district in Congress from 1833 to 1839. A soldier in the Mexican war, he died in service near Monterey in 1846. While in Congress he appointed Ulysses S. Grant to a cadetship at West Point.


Elijah Hayward and John H. Goodenow were made Supreme Court judges, and Auditor Ralph Osborn was again reelected.


The canals in Ohio were now in operation to a very considerable extent, and a long act (dated February 23, 1830) was passed regulating navigation upon them. The boats were prohibited from traveling more than four miles an hour. Complete regulations were made as to use of locks, the meeting and passing of boats, and other features of their movements, as well as to clearances, bills of lading on their cargoes, collections of tolls at toll houses established at regular intervals, and fares of passengers. The newspapers from this time forward contained


1 - Even Edward Tiffin. one of the stanchest of the founders and supporters of the party of Thomas Jefferson, did not escape decapitation at the hands of Jackson. While confined to his room by an illness, which proved to be his last, he was removed from the office of surveyor-general of the Northwest early in the administration of Jackson. This office he had held under Madison, Monroe and Adams.


ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 497


numerous items concerning the canal boats, their activities, the volume of business done by them, the values of merchandise shipped, and the profits accruing to the state from tolls.


No other laws of importance were enacted. The United States Government was ceded a piece of land on which to place a lighthouse at Cleveland. Horse-racing on public roads and highways was prohibited under heavy penalties.—Lotteries of all kinds in the state were prohibited, and persons selling tickets for outside lotteries were to be fined.—Insurance companies, which had now had a very considerable development in the state, were taxed 4 per cent of their profits and required to pay $50 per year license. Very many local laws were passed, and the session was a busy one.


The papers of the year 1830 contained a number of news items worthy of record. "The Ohio State Temperance Society" was organized at Columbus early in the year, and elected Governor Trimble its president. It was very active and its operations were thereafter conspicuously "covered" by the editors.—The Grand Lodge of Masons of the state, and the Grand Royal Arch Chapter both held sessions in January, at Worthington, doubtless in the small Masonic temple which had been built in 1820, and which stands there still in good condition, bearing the Masonic insignia.—Six convicts escaped together from the penitentiary on February 24, 1830. An anti-Jackson paper described them as "deliberately parading the streets, armed with knives and other weapons, hurrahing for Jackson and Liberty before they took themselves off ! ! !" But this was probably overdrawn.—General Harrison, having resigned as minister to Colombia, returned to Cincinnati in April, and was received with honors.—Six river steamboats had exploded within a few weeks prior to May 18, when the facts were published. Thirty-two persons had been scalded and sixty-eight killed in these catastrophes.—Thomas Corwin was elected to his first term in Congress. —Congress enlarged its grant of land for extending the Miami Canal northward from Dayton, and provided that the money received for them might be used to construct a railroad if the canal should be found impracticable.


The Lebanon Star of April 27, 1830, contained an account of a "Terrible Hurricane" at Urbana :


"One of the severest and most destructive storms ever known in the western country passed through the town of Urbana on Monday last. It commenced about two o'clock P. M., and such was its resistless fury that it prostrated everything in its range. Permanent brick buildings, as well as the strongest frames, were torn away from their very foundations. * * * Mrs. Bell and a sister were much injured ; the first found fifty yards from the house, and an infant in her arms was carried fifty or sixty feet high and found near half a mile from the place, dashed to pieces. * * * The Presbyterian meeting house was totally demolished, and the Methodist meeting house ruined. In all fifty houses were destroyed, nine or ten being the best brick buildings."


A news account of unusual importance related an accident which befell Gen. Duncan McArthur on High Street in Columbus while he was serving as a senator from Ross County. The injuries which he then received, according to his biographer, McDonald, blighted his life inasmuch as it rendered one leg useless and made it necessary for him to have constant personal care from that time until his death in 1839. History seems to have forgotten that the last nine years of McArthur's life, in two of which he was governor of Ohio, were spent in intense suffering and finally in deep gloom. The following account of the calamity which disabled him, first appeared in the Ohio State Journal of February 10, 1830, and was copied in other papers all over the state :

"We regret to state that as General McArthur of the Senate was returning to his lodgings on Saturday evening last a shed attached to a


498 - HISTORY OF OHIO


building opposite the state house, under which he was passing, and which was covered with snow to the depth of several inches, suddenly gave way and, falling upon him, precipitated him to the pavement. A number of persons who witnessed the accident immediately ran to his relief, and succeeded in extricating him from the mass of timbers, etc., under which he was buried; when it was found that the cap of his right knee had been forced out of its place by the violence of the fall, and that he had also received two or three severe contusions about his head and body. He was promptly removed to his lodgings, where he received every attention which his situation required, and he has since been conveyed to his residence in Ross County. "


The decennial census of 1830 showed that Ohio had become the fourth state in the Union in point of population, being exceeded by New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia only. The residents of this state numbered 973,903, whereas in 1820 they had numbered 581,295-an increase of more than 60 per cent during the decade. There were now seventy-three counties, and the population was distributed among them as follows:



Adams

Allen

Ashtabula

Athens

Belmont

Brown

Butler

Champaign

Clark

Clermont

Clinton

Columbiana

Coshocton

Crawford

Cuyahoga

Darke

Delaware

Fairfield

Fayette

Franklin

Gallia

Geauga

Greene

Guernsey

Hamilton

Hancock

Hardin

Harrison

Henry

Highland

Hocking

Holmes

Huron

Jackson

Jefferson

Knox

Lawrence

Licking

12,281

578

14,584

9,787

28,627

17,867

27,142

12,131

13,114

20,466

11,436

35,592

11,161

4,791

10,373

6,204

11,504

24,786

8,182

14,741

9,733

15,813

14,801

18,036

52,317

813

210

20,916

262

16,345

4,008

9,135

13,341

5,941

22,489

17,085

5,367

20,869

Logan

Lorain

Madison

Marion

Medina

Meigs

Mercer

Miami

Monroe

Montgomery

Morgan

Muskingum

Paulding

Perry

Pickaway

Pike

Portage

Preble

Putnam

Richland

Ross

Sandusky

Scioto

Seneca

Shelby

Stark

Trumbull

Tuscarawas

Union

Van Wert

Warren

Washington

Wayne

Williams

Wyandot

6,440

5,696

6,190

6,551

7,500

6,158

1,110

12,807

8,768

24,362

11,809

29,334

161

13,970

16,001

6,024

18,826

16,291

230

24,006

24,068

2,851

8340

5,159

3,671

20,588

26,153

14,298

3,192 49

21,468

11,731

23,333

387

102

137,903




The counties which had been carved out of the old Indian lands in the northwestern part of the state were still very sparsely settled, as will be readily seen in the small numbers accredited to Allen, Hancock,


ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 499


Hardin, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Wood, Williams and Wyandot.


The ten most populous counties were now in order, Hamilton, Columbiana, Muskingum, Belmont, Butler, Stark, Trumbull, Fairfield, Montgomery and Ross.


In eleven of the counties there had been a gain in ten years of almost, or more than, 100 per cent. All of these (Monroe excepted) were in the northern and northeastern part of the state, as will be observed in the following list :



 

1820

1830

Ashtabula

Geauga

Huron

Knox

Logan

Medina

Monroe

Morrow

Richland

Stark

Wayne

7,375

7,791

6,675

8,326

3,181

3,082

4,645

5,297

9,169

12,046

11,933

14,84

15,13

13,41

17,085

6,440

7,560

8,768

11,800

24,006

26,588

23,333




ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR DUNCAN McARTHUR


TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION


December 6, 1830, to March 14, 1831


The Senate organized with Samuel R. Miller, of Hamilton County, as speaker, and the House honored James M. Bell, of Guernsey, in the same manner. Miller was never conspicuous, and Bell received no further distinction than that which came to him from one term served in Congress.


Governor Trimble, who, as noted before, was president of the Ohio State Temperance Society, devoted a large part of his final annual message to deploring the evils of the liquor traffic. He advocated legis-lation which would induce those engaged in the liquor traffic to enter into some other business.


During the fall campaign the candidates for governor had been General Duncan McArthur and Robert Lucas. The contest had not attracted as much editorial attention as usual, and the total vote cast was smaller than it had been two years before. McArthur received 49,668 votes, and Lucas, 49,186, a difference of only 482.


Railroads had been receiving more attention, and two applications were received at this session for the incorporation of companies to operate them. The first was to run from Sandusky to Dayton, with a branch to Columbus. A bill was introduced to incorporate it. The committee to whom it was referred made no recommendation, and it was not heard of again. Later a favorable report was made on a similar bill to incorporate one called the Lake Erie Railroad Company, but it did not materialize. Both of these projects contemplated the use of horses to move the cars.


Thomas Ewing, of Lancaster, was first elected to the United States Senate by this assembly, and remained there ten years, when he became secretary of the treasury of the United States. In 1849 he was appointed secretary of the interior, and a few years later was again returned to the United States Senate. He lived until 1871.


Jeremiah McLene, who had been secretary of state of Ohio for twenty-three years, was now succeeded by Moses H. Kirby, who defeated him on the sixth ballot. The following year McLene was sent