50 - HISTORY OF OHIO by the Legislature in determining these matters. It would be in the interest of economy and prudence to restrict the Legislature in granting these acts of incorporation. Simeon Nash, legal writer and delegate from Gallia County, opposed the proposed change on the ground that under general laws corporations would multiply in the state. He said in part : Are gentlemen prepared to pass general laws for the organization of railroads whenever and wherever individuals may see fit ? By such legislation the state would divest itself of all authority over the location of these improvements, and railroad corporations would start up like mushrooms all over the state just as emulation between the different routes or the caprice and cupidity of the individuals might suggest. Such a course would jeopardize the income of all our public works, works which have cost the people millions, and would thus recklessly be exposed to destruction at the cravings of private cupidity. Is it right thus to surrender to individuals the power to thread our state with railroads, regardless of the public interests and wants ? Are you prepared to authorize the construction of railroads along the lines of the canals ? In this connection it is well to remember that our great manufacturing interests have developed since the adoption of our present constitution. In other lines the demands for corporate power have multiplied. It was fortunate that our constitution anticipated the needs of the future and prevented the continued extension of special chartered privileges to corporations. It was folly to expect, however, that the limitations prescribed would prove a panacea for existing ills or eliminate "log-rolling" and the activity of corporation agents about the halls of the General Assembly. Regulation by general laws has led to united action on the part of corporate interests, and it would be idle to expect this to be less effective than separate effort ; but uniform laws have promoted the general welfare by maintaining between the corporations themselves a degree of equality not otherwise possible. THE VETO POWER There was a spirited discussion of the proposal to give the governor the veto power. Rufus P. Ranney, one of the ablest delegates, recalled the experience with the veto under the ordinance of 1787 : "The people of the State of Ohio in their territorial government had a short experience of the veto power. Our fathers when they assembled and framed the constitution under which we have lived and prospered for upwards of fifty years, refused, to insert in that instrument the veto. They were nearly unanimous in the opinion that it ought not to be incorporated. This refusal to insert there such a provision met with the approbation of the people then, and from that time to the present it has met with the approbation of the people and I believe that the settled convictions of the people are against the incorporation of the veto power into the constitution." In stating his own attitude Mr. Ranney was direct and emphatic : "I shall vote against all vetoes, everywhere, in every form, and upon all occasions." Daniel A. Robertson, a delegate from Fairfield County argued ably for the veto. Reverting to the omission of this power from the constitution of 1802, he said : "Prior to the adoption of the present constitution, the governor of the territory was not elected by the people. He was appointed by a higher power in Washington, and his authority had frequently conflicted with that exercised by the territorial representatives of the people. The contest was protracted and waged with much bitterness of feeling, and this was the reason why the veto was omitted in the existing constitution ; and in Michigan, where the same feeling for the same cause existed, the veto power was also omitted in the constitution of that state. But CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 51 shall we continue to be governed by this feeling now, when the occasion for it has passed away; and when we have been enlightened upon the subject by the experience of half a century ?" The venerable Judge Peter Hitchcock, delegate from Geauga County, opposed the proposed grant of power. Among other things he said : "It seems to me that the idea of giving to the governor a veto is inconsistent with our professions. It looks as though we distrusted the capabilities of the people for self-government. In fact, it is based upon the assumption that the people are incapable of self government. It implies also another fact, that we distrust our own qualifications to elect such men to do the business of the state as are worthy of being trusted. We are afraid to trust the legislative department of the government and therefore we put it under the care of the governor. * * * "They say the governor is the representative of the whole people, because the whole people have voted for him. He is the representative of the masses, and therefore he may with propriety interfere with the proceedings of the Legislature. But why not carry the reasoning out? If the governor be the representative of the whole people, and he alone knows the sentiments and wants of the people and can best provide for them, why not dispense with the Legislature and give the governor the power to make the laws ?" After much discussion, the effort to give the governor the veto power failed in the convention. LICENSE QUESTION The temperance question, although apparently but little discussed in the contest for delegates, loomed up prominently in the convention. Petitions were presented with thousands of signatures. Speeches on the subject occupy many pages of the second volume of the "Debates," but action was involved in parliamentary tangles and is at times difficult to trace, while the indexes are so inadequate that one must labor through many pages of the discussions and then feel that he has probably missed some important item in the record. The resolution embracing this subject was presented at all stages in practically the form in which it finally became a part of the constitution : "No license to traffic in intoxicating liquors shall hereafter be granted in this state ; but the General Assembly may by law provide against the evils resulting therefrom." It is practically impossible to learn the views of the many delegates, especially of the very large number that did not participate in the discussion. Charles Reemelin, an able delegate from Hamilton County, who seems to have opposed the resolution at all stages, but who nevertheless generally stated matters of fact with care, described the situation as follows : "The committee which drafted this report have reported it manifestly with the design to catch votes. The gentleman from Logan and the gentleman from Trumbull know that the temperance men in this body are as such in a miserable minority and that they could not obtain, directly and fairly, more than forty votes upon this floor. Many votes were, however, obtained for this report with the direct understanding that it proposed nothing more than to repeal all laws licensing the traffic and that hereafter it should be free. I myself know of as many as five members who voted for it with this understanding ; whilst at the same time, my friend from Logan and my friend from Guernsey voted for it for the purpose of preparing the way for future legislation on this subject and for declaring the selling of liquor to be a crime." The argument in favor of the resolution is here briefly presented by Benjamin Stanton, delegate from Logan County : "If two boys upon the streets raffle for a penny, they are liable to a 52 - HISTORY OF OHIO fine ; not on account of the enormity of the transaction, but because of its tendency to evil. So you fine an unlicensed person who sells a gill of whisky and for the same reason. But traffic in ardent spirits is the one indictable offense which has been authorized and sanctioned by statute. It is the only offense against public morals which particular individuals have been authorized to commit for a consideration. This is a monstrosity which ought not to be tolerated for a moment. The effect of it is to interpose a shield between the licensed rum seller and the efforts of the temperance reformer who is seeking to fix infamy and ignomy upon it. The friends of temperance ask that this may be taken away and that they may have an open field and a fair fight." The argument on the other side is thus presented by Henry Stanberry, delegate from Franklin and Delaware counties : "Gentlemen say that a license is a legal sanction, that it dignifies and gives respectability to the business of retailing and that the friends of the temperance reform are constantly met and confronted with the legal sanction of the evil which they are combating. That is putting the matter in a very plausible light. If indeed the evil only existed by reason of the license—if the license authorized that which would otherwise be unlawful, I could see the force of the objection. Hereafter when the license system is abolished, the business of retailing is to be a lawful business. It is still to have the sanction of law, a universal sanction instead of a partial and regulative sanction. "And then, sir, it is said under this free system the business will lose some of its respectability. No doubt of that. Under a system of free competition with no restraint, no local supervision, the business will, in a measure, fall into hands to which it would never be intrusted even under the worst administration of the license system." The votes on the resolution were close and there was much wavering and fence climbing. On February 24, 1851, it passed the convention by a vote of forty-five to thirty-nine and was ordered to be included as a part of the constitution. On the day following a wobbling member who had voted with the majority announced that he had received new light, that he was now sure that if this resolution were included the constitution would be defeated by the people at the polls. To avert that calamity he would move a reconsideration of the vote by which the resolution had been adopted. The motion was carried through the aid of new arrivals and one or two additional brethren who followed the author of the motion over the fence. The vote stood forty-seven to forty-five in favor of reconsideration. The resolution was then defeated, yeas, forty-three, nays, forty-nine, a complete reversal of the previous vote. This sudden change of front called forth from a delegate the following observation : We are pursuing in this matter about the usual course—at least the course the papers of the state say is the usual and every-day order of business here. They say that there is no telling when this convention will get through its business, for what it does one day it regularly undoes the next. This subject afterward came up as section 18 in the schedule and was adopted as a part of the constitution in the following form : “At the time when the votes of the electors shall be taken for the adoption or rejection of this constitution the additional section in the words following, to-wit : 'No license to traffic in intoxicating liquors shall hereafter be granted in this state ; but the General Assembly may by law provide against the evils resulting therefrom,' shall be separately submitted to the electors for adoption or rejection in the form following, to-wit : A separate ballot may be given by every elector and deposited in a separate box. Upon the ballots given for said separate amendment shall be written, or partly written and partly printed, the words, 'license to sell intoxicating liquors, yes ;' and upon the ballots given against said amendment in like manner the words, 'license to sell intoxicating liquors, no. If at the said election a majority of all the votes given for and CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 53 against said amendments shall contain the words, 'license to sell intoxicating liquors, no,' then the said amendment shall be a separate section of Article IV of the constitution." The question of license was therefore submitted as a separate proposition. LIMITATION AND PAYMENT OF STATE DEBT One of the very important achievements of the convention was the approval of the provisions for the limitation of indebtedness that could be incurred by the state and the payment of the existing state debt that had been contracted chiefly in the construction of a system of canals. The working out of a plan to accomplish this fell to the committee on public debt and public works, of which William Hawkins of Morgan County was chairman. In submitting the report of the committee he explained that it was the purpose to fix the maximum beyond which the state could never hereafter contract any indebtedness at $750,000 and to create a sinking fund for the payment each year of the interest on the public debt and such part of the principle as would liquidate the existing indebtedness at the end of thirty years. In presenting the section for the payment of the state debt he said in part : "The great object of this plan is, without imposing any additional burden upon the people, to limit the time beyond which this debt shall not exist. The interest upon the debt of the state' for thirty years—which is the time fixed for its continuance—will amount to the sum of $28,800,000. Add together the interest and the principle, and it swells to $40,800,000—an immense sum to be drained from the industry of the people. By this process we save the sum of $10,300,000. Is this not an object worth attending to ? Public sentiment dictates that we shall fix a period when this debt shall be extinguished, and I want to bind the state against its perpetuation beyond a given period." The $10,300,000 referred to by the speaker was the amount that would be saved by the payment of interest and a part of the principal each year over what the state would pay at the end of thirty years if no payment had been made in the meantime. The plan presented by the chairman was adopted in principle. The state indebtedness was not liquidated at the end of thirty years, but the limitation for incurring additional indebtedness stood and still stands in the constitution. The state debt under the general plan proposed was gradually reduced and paid. This was really a beneficent and major achievement of the convention. If the people of Ohio had been able in the years following to devise a plan equally effective for tire payment and limitation of municipal indebtedness, it would have been most fortunate and salutary for the fiscal condition of the cities of the state. They would not now be burdened with debts, the interest charges on which requires the larger part of their revenues and in some instances threatens the municipality with bankruptcy. One is tempted to present a summary of the interesting discussions on taxation, especially the arguments on the taxation of church property, but space will not permit. Provision was made for biennial sessions of the General Assembly, but this provision was for years practically neutralized by biennial regular sessions and adjourned sessions, a practice which only in recent years has been abandoned. In the convention a number of able lawyers led in the reconstruction of the judicial system of the state, the chief reform originally demanded in the new constitution. It substituted for "a Supreme Court on wheels" a Supreme Court to sit at the state capital, as originally proposed in the constitutional convention of 1802, and provided that the judges should be chosen by popular vote. Provision was also made for the election of a number of state officers previously chosen by the General Assembly. 54 - HISTORY OF OHIO The dominant party in the convention gerrymandered the state in framing the legislative districts, and this led some of the minority to vote against adopting the constitution in the convention. The method of amending the constitution was materially changed. Under the constitution of 1802 this could be done only in a convention called for that purpose. Under the constitution of 1851 the General Assembly was authorized to submit amendments directly to the people for approval. This was intended to facilitate amendment of the constitution. It will be seen later why this change failed in large measure to accomplish its purpose. On July 9, 1850, the convention adjourned, because of the cholera epidemic, and met in Cincinnati, December 2, where it continued its labors until March 10, 1851. The new constitution was submitted to the people at special election June 17, 1851, and was adopted by a vote of 125,564 to 109,276, a majority of 16,288. The proposition to prohibit the license of the sale of intoxicating liquors carried by a vote of 113,237 to 104,255, a majority of 8,982. If the license proposal had not been thus submitted, it is more than probable, for very obvious reasons, that the constitution would have been voted down. CHAPTER V MEN OF THE SECOND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF OHIO To the student of the development of state institutions the membership of state constitutional conventions is increasingly interesting with the passing of the years. On succeeding pages are presented brief biographical sketches of the delegates to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio who rendered conspicuous public service in other fields. In order that the name of no delegate shall be omitted in this brief survey, there is included at the close of this chapter the tabulated information in regard to each as published in the records of the convention. William Medill, president of the convention, was a man of ability and wide experience in the public service, who deserved well of his party and the state, who was in every way worthy of the honor conferred upon him by his fellow delegates. The convention created the office of lieutenant governor to which William Medill was chosen in the October election of 1851. He was not, as stated again and again by able writers and public speakers, "elected the first governor" under "the constitution that he had helped to frame." Reuben Wood was the first governor elected under the Second Constitution of Ohio. On July 13, 1853, he resigned to accept the post of United States Consul at Valparaiso, Chile, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Medill, who was elected to succeed himself as governor at the October election of 1853. He served to January 14, 1856. Joseph Vance, delegate from Champaign County, had previously served as state legislator, congressman and governor. Henry Stanberry was attorney-general of the United States in the cabinet of Andrew Johnson. Samuel J. Kirkwood became governor of Iowa and represented that state in the United States Senate and the cabinet of James A. Garfield. Of the delegates to this convention twenty-two had been or afterward became members of Congress ; more than fifty previously or subsequently were members of the General Assembly of Ohio. Joseph R. Swan, Rufus P. Ranney, William Kennon, Sr., Josiah Scott and the venerable Peter Hitchcock were judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio. A goodly number served as judges of the lower courts and almost all of the delegates had been chosen to local positions of trust and responsibility. The roll of the convention with the nativity, residence, age and occupation of each delegate is suggestive of the varied talent and representative character of the men who revised and reconstructed the basic law of the state so well that it stood without material change for sixty years. When it is remembered that these years embraced the period of the Civil war and the social and industrial changes that followed it ; the rapid increase in population, the growth of large cities, the extension of commerce, the development and transforming influence of diversified manufacturing industries and the new problems that this material progress inevitably brought, high praise must be accorded to the ability, foresight, courage and fidelity of the delegates who submitted to the people of Ohio the constitution of 1851. Their achievement entitles them to an - 55 - 56 - HISTORY OF OHIO honored place in the annals of the state, whose progressive course they charted and prescribed in the basic law through more than half a century. MEMBERS OF THE SECOND OHIO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WHO HAD BEEN OR BECAME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SHERLOCK J. ANDREWS Sherlock J. Andrews was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1801 ; was graduated from Union College in 1821 ; studied law and was admitted to the bar ; came to Cleveland, Ohio, and began the practice of law in 1825 ; elected as a whig to the twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841—March 3, 1843) ; declined renomination because of poor health ; judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland, 1848; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; delegate to the Third Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; first president of Cleveland Bar Association, 1873 ; first president of Cleveland Library Board, 1878; died February 11, 1880. DAVID CHAMBERS David Chambers was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1780 ; in the whiskey insurrection was a confidential rider for President Washington ; learned the art of printing ; moved to Zanesville, Ohio, where he established a newspaper and was elected state printer ; secretary of the Ohio Senate ; volunteer aid-de-camp to Gen. Lewis Cass in the War of 1812; served as recorder and mayor of Zanesville ; elected to the Seventeenth Congress (March 4, 1821—March 3, 1823) ; member of the Ohio House of Representatives, 1814, 1828, 1836-1838, 18411842 ; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died in Zanesville, Ohio, August 8, 1864. JOHN CHANEY John Chaney was born in Washington County, Maryland, January 12, 1790 ; attended the common schools ; moved to Ohio ; Jackson Presidential elector in 1832 ; state representative, 1828-1830, 1842 ; elected as a Jackson democrat to the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1833—March 3, 1839) ; returned to Canal Winchester, Ohio ; was a member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio, serving in place of Daniel A. Robertson, resigned ; member of village council ; died in Canal Winchester, Ohio, April 10, 1881. WILLIAM P. CUTLER William P. Cutler was born in Marietta, Ohio, July 12, 1812 ; attended public school and Ohio University ; state representative, 1844- 1847 ; served as speaker of the House of Representatives during his last term ; member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; president of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, 1850-1860; elected as a republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861—March 3, 1863) ; died in Marietta, Ohio, April 11, 1889. ELIAS FLORENCE Elias Florence was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, February 15, 1797 ; attended the public schools ; engaged in agricultural pursuits ; moved to Ohio, locating in Circleville, Pickaway County ; state representative in 1829, 1830, 1834 and 1840 ; state senator, 1835-1836 ; elected as a whig to Twenty-eighth Congress ( March 4, 1843—March 3, 1845) ; CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 57 member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died in Muhlenberg Township, Pickaway County, Ohio, November 21, 1880. WILLIAM S. GROESBECK William S. Groesbeck was born in New York City, July 24, 1816 ; was graduated from Miami University in 1835 ; was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Cincinnati, Ohio ; member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; commissioner to codify the laws of Ohio in 1862; elected as a democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857—March 3, 1859) ; member of the peace conference in 1851 ; served in the State Senate 1862-1864; delegate to the Union National Convention in Philadelphia in 1866 ; one of President Johnson's counsel in his impeachment trial in 1868 ; delegate to the international monetary conference in Paris, France, in 1878; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 7, 1897. CORNELIUS S. HAMILTON Cornelius S. Hamilton was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, January 2, 1821 ; attended the common school and Granville (Ohio) College; moved to Union County in 1839 ; studied law and was admitted to the bar ; engaged in farming and banking in connection with the practice of law ; appointed land appraiser and assessor in 1845 ; member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio; member of the State Senate, 1856-1857; editor and proprietor of the Marysville Tribune ; appointed by President Lincoln assessor of the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio ; elected as a republican to the Fortieth Congress, and served from March 4, 1867, to December 22, when his promising career ended in a tragedy. He lost his life at the hands of a son who had become violently insane. AARON HARLAN Aaron Harlan was born in Warren County, Ohio, September 8, 1802 ; attended the public schools ; studied law, was admitted to the bar and began practice in Xenia, Ohio, in 1825 ; state representative, 18321833, 1860 ; member of the State Senate, 1838-1839 and 1849 ; moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1841 ; Presidential elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1844; member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected as a whig to the Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1853—March 3, 1859) ; moved to San Francisco, California, in 1864 ; died in San Francisco, California, January 8, 1868. PETER HITCHCOCK Peter Hitchcock was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, October 19, 1781 ; pursued classical studies and was graduated from Yale College in 1801 ; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1804, and began practice in Cheshire ; moved to Geauga County, Ohio, in 1806 ; state representative in 1810 and state senator, 1812-1816, one term he served as president of the Senate; elected to the Fifteenth Congress (March 4, 1817—March 3, 1819) ; judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, 1824-1852; a portion of that time he was chief justice ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died in Painesville, Ohio, March 4, 1854 ; buried at Burton, Ohio. VALENTINE BAXTER HORTON Valentine Baxter Horton was born in Windsor, Vermont, January 29, 1802; attended the Partridge Military School and afterwards became 58 - HISTORY OF OHIO one of its tutors ; studied law in Middletown, Connecticut, and in 1830 was admitted to the bar; moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began practice; moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1833, and in 1835 moved to Pomeroy, Ohio, where he engaged in manufacturing; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1859) ; reelected to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863) ; died in Pomeroy, Ohio, January 14, 1888. JOHN JOHNSON John Johnson was born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland, in 1808; attended the public schools ; came to Coshocton, Ohio, in 1824 and engaged in agricultural pursuits ; elected to the State Senate, 1842-1843 ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected as an independent to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853) ; engaged in banking until his death in Coshocton, Ohio, February 5, 1867. WILLIAM KENNON, SR. William Kennon, Sr., was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1793 ; attended the common schools ; moved to a farm near Barnesville, Ohio, in 1804 ; attended Franklin College two years ; studied law with William B. Hubbard in St. Clairsville and was admitted to the bar in 1824; elected as a democrat to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses (March 4, 1829-March 3, 1833) ; reelected to the Twenty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1837) ; elected common pleas judge, 1840; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; appointed by Governor Medill in 1854 to fill the unexpired term of William B. Caldwell as judge of the Supreme Court, and elected to succeed himself ; resigned in 1856 to resume the practice of law in St. Clairsville; at the outbreak of the Civil war Judge Kennon joined the republican party and was affiliated with it through his remaining years; died November 2, 1881. SAMUEL JORDAN KIRKWOOD Samuel Jordan Kirkwood was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20, 1813; attended the common schools and the academy of John McLeod in Washington, District of Columbia; moved to Richland County, Ohio, in 1835; studied law and was. admitted to the bar in 1843; prosecuting attorney of Richland County, 1845-1849 ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; moved to Johnson County, Iowa, in 1855 ; elected to the State Senate in 1856; elected governor of Iowa in 1859; reelected in 1861 ; appointed by President Lincoln minister to Denmark, March 7, 1863, but declined the appointment ; elected as a republican to the United States Senate to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of James Harlan and served from January 13, 1866, to March 3, 1867; reelected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1877, to March 7, 1881, when he resigned ; secretary of the interior in President Garfield's cabinet, March 5, 1881, and served until April 6, 1882, when he resigned; died in Iowa City, Iowa, February 1, 1894. WILLIAM LAWRENCE William Lawrence was born in Washington, Ohio, September 2, 1814; was graduated from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1835; farmer and merchant ; state representative in 1843 ; Presidential elector on the democratic ticket in 1848; delegate to the Second Constitutional CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 59 Convention of Ohio ; state senator, 1854-1857; elected as a democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857—March 3, 1859) ; again state senator in 1868-1869 and 1886-1887; member of board of directors of Ohio Penitentiary and president of the board ; died in Washington, Ohio, September 8, 1895. DANIEL PARKHURST LEADBETTER Daniel Parkhurst Leadbetter was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, September 10, 1797 ; moved to Ohio in 1816 ; first located in Jefferson. County, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1821; commissioned captain of militia in 1821; moved to Holmes County, where he was county recorder, 1831-1836; elected as a Van Buren democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1837—March 3, 1841); member of the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died in Millersburg, Ohio, February 26, 1870. SAMSON MASON Samson Mason was born in Fort Ann, New York, July 24, 1793 ; attended the common schools in Onondaga, New York; studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Springfield, Ohio, in 1819 ; prosecuting attorney for Clark County in 1822 ; member of the State Senate, 1829-1831; candidate for Presidential elector in 1832 ; elected as a whig to the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1835—March 3, 1843) ; state representative, 1823, 1845-1846; appointed by President Fillmore United States attorney for Ohio ; member of the State Senate, 1862- 1863 ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio; served as captain, brigadier general, and major general in the state militia; died in Springfield, Ohio, February 1, 1869. WILLIAM MEDILL William Medill was born in Newcastle County, Delaware, in 1805 ; was graduated from Delaware College in 1825 ; studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1832 ; state representative, 1835-1837, serving as speaker, 1836-1837; elected as a democrat to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839—March 3, 1843) ; appointed by President Polk second assistant postmaster general in 1845 ; commissioner of Indian affairs, October 28, 1845—May 29, 1849 ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio, and its president ; lieutenant governor of Ohio, 1852-1853; governor of Ohio, 1853-1856; defeated for reelection; first comptroller of the United States Treasury by appointment of President Buchanan, March 26, 1857—April 10, 1861; died in Lancaster, Ohio, September 2, 1865. WILLIAM SAWYER William Sawyer was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, August 5, 1803; when fifteen years old he was apprenticed to a blacksmith; worked at his trade at Dayton and at the Indian agency near Grand Rapids, Michigan ; in 1829 moved to Miamisburg, Ohio ; state representative, 1832-1835, speaker of the House in 1835; unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1838 and 1840 ; moved to Saint Mary's, Ohio, in 1843 ; elected to Congress in 1844 and 1846, serving March 4, 1845—March 3, 1849; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; state representative in 1856; receiver of land office of Otter Trail District, Minnesota, by Presidential appointment, 1855-1861; appointed by Governor Hayes trustee of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1869; mayor and justice of the peace of Saint Mary's during the last seven years of his life; died September 18, 1877. 60 - HISTORY OF OHIO BENJAMIN STANTON Benjamin Stanton was born in Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio, June 4, 1809 ; studied law, admitted to the bar and in 1834 began practice at Belief ontaine, Ohio ; member of the State Senate, 1841-1842; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected as a whig to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851—March 3, 1853) ; reelected to the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1855—March 3, 1861) ; lieutenant governor of Ohio in 1862 ; moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, and resumed the practice of law ; died in Wheeling, West Virginia, June 2, 1872. JOHN ARMSTRONG SMITH John Armstrong Smith was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, September 23, 1814; pursued classical studies and was graduated from Miami University in 1834 ; studied law and was admitted to the bar ; state representative, 1842 ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected as a republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses (March 4, 1869—March 3, 1873) ; resumed the practice of law ; delegate to the Third Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died in Hillsboro, Ohio, March 7, 1892. NORTON STRANGE TOWNSHEND Norton Strange Townshend was born in Clay-Coaton, Northamptonshire, England, December 25, 1815 ; came to the United States with his parents in 1830 and settled at Avon, Ohio ; educated himself by the use of his father's library; taught district school ; studied medicine and was graduated from the University of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1840 ; delegate to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, in 1840; studied in the hospitals of London, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin ; returned to Ohio and resumed the practice of medicine in Avon in 1841; moved to Elyria, Ohio ; state representative in 1848; state senator, 1854-1855; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected as democrat to Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851—March 3,1853) ; abandoned the medical profession and engaged in farming near Avon; member of state board of agriculture, 1858-1863, 1868-1869 ; medical inspector, United States Army, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 1863-1865 ; professor of agriculture in Iowa Agricultural College in 1869 ; prof essor of agriculture in Agricultural and Mechanical College of Ohio (now Ohio State University), 1873-1892, during which time he visited the agricultural and veterinary schools and botanical gardens of Great Britain and Ireland ; attended the national fairs at Shrewsbury, Edinburg and Ireland ; died in Columbus, Ohio, July 13, 1895 ; buried at Avon Center, Lorain County, Ohio. JOSEPH VANCE Joseph Vance was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1786 ; moved with his father to Kentucky in 1788 ; thence to Urbana, Ohio ; captain of a rifle company in 1809 ; state representative, 1812-1813, 1815-1816, 1819-1820 ; engaged in mercantile business in Urbana and Perrysburg, Ohio ; laid out the City of Findlay ; elected as a democrat to the Eighteenth and the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1823—March 3, 1835) ; governor of Ohio, 1836-1838 ; defeated for reelection ; reelected as a whig to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843—March 3, 1847) ; delegate to the whig national convention in 1848; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; died near Urbana, Ohio, August 24, 1852. CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 61 EMINENT JURISTS OF THE SECOND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF OHIO RUFUS P. RANNEY Rufus P. Ranney was born at Blanford, Hampden County, Massachusetts, October 30, 1813. In 1822 he came with his father's family to Portage County, Ohio ; attended Western Reserve College; at the age of twenty-two years entered the law office of Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade to study law ; admitted to the bar in 1836; entered into partnership with Wade when Giddings was elected to Congress ; in 1845 moved to Warren, Ohio, and practiced law ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; chosen judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio by the General Assembly March 17, 1851; elected by the people under the new constitution and succeeded himself, February 9, 1852, serving to February 15, 1857 ; nominated for governor in 1859, but defeated by Dennison; moved to Cleveland and resumed the practice of law; again elected judge of the Supreme Court and served from February 9, 1863, to February 23, 1865, when he resigned and returned to Cleveland, where he continued his law practice ; was chosen first president of the Ohio Bar Association in 1881; died in Cleveland, Ohio, December. 6, 1891. JOSIAH SCOTT Josiah Scott was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1803 ; was graduated with highest honors from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1823 ; taught classical school at Newton, Pennsylvania ; taught school in Richmond, Virginia ; returned to Pennsylvania and was tutor in Jefferson College ; studied law while he was teaching ; came to Mansfield, Ohio, in the spring of 1829 ; in June of that year began the practice of law in Bucyrus, Ohio ; state representative, ,1840 ; moved to Hamilton, Ohio ; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; judge of the Supreme Court, February 15, 1857—February 9, 1872 ; member of the Supreme Court Commission, 1876-1879; died June 15, 1879. HENRY STANBERY Henry Stanbery was born in New York City, February 20, 1803, the son of Joseph Stanbery, a physician, who moved to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1814. Henry was graduated from Washington College, Pennsylvania, in 1819, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1824 ; practiced with Thomas Ewing in Lancaster, Ohio ; attorney-general of Ohio, 18461850 ; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; moved to Cincinnati in 1853 ; appointed attorney-general of the United States by President Andrew Johnson in 1866 ; resigned to become the counsel for. President Johnson at his impeachment trial ; nominated by President Johnson as justice of the United States Supreme Court, but not confirmed by the United States Senate ; died in Cincinnati, June 26, 1881. JOSEPH ROCKWELL SWAN Joseph Rockwell Swan was born at Westernville, New York, December 28, 1802 ; moved with parents to Aurora, New York, where he received his early education ; entered law office of his uncle, Gustavus Swan, in Columbus, Ohio, where he studied until admitted to the bar ; elected prosecuting attorney of Franklin County in 1830 ; elected common pleas judge in 1843 and resigned in 1845 ; delegate to Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; elected judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1854 and served to 1860 ; rendered decision sustaining the United States fugitive slave law and was refused renomination by the republican party; many prominent men in that party, including Abraham Lincoln, 62 - HISTORY OF OHIO condemned this action of the party ; afterward tendered position on Supreme Bench, but twice declined ; interested in building of railroads and for a time president of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad ; author of a number of legal works, including "Swan's Pleadings and Practice"; died in Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1884. SOME WRITERS OF THE SECOND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF OHIO OTWAY CURRY Otway Curry was born March 26, 1804, on the site of what is now Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio ; son of Col. James Curry, an officer in the Revolution and state representative of Ohio in 1812 ; came to what is now Union County in 1811 ; received good common school education ; learned the carpenter trade and worked for a short time in Cincinnati, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan and Marion, Ohio ; built a canoe and with a friend went down the Scioto, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Port Gibson, where he spent a year ; developed a fondness for literature and early composed poems which were published in Cincinnati papers ; returned to his father's home in 1828 and married ; engaged in farming ; state representative, 1836-1837, 1842 ; moved to Xenia and published the Greene County Torchlight ; returned to Marysville, Ohio ; associated with William D. Gallagher in the publication of the Hesperian, a literary monthly magazine of high grade that ran through three volumes and suspended ; studied law and was admitted to the bar ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; purchased and edited for one year (1853) the Scioto Gazette at Chillicothe ; returned to Marysville and resumed the practice of the law ; died February 15, 1855. Otway Curry, in his contributions to the early literature of Ohio, easily surpassed any of his fellow members of the constitutional convention. His poem, "The Lost Pleiad," which was published in an edition of McGuffy's Sixth Reader in the later '60s, is sublime in conception, dignified in execution and ranks with the classics. He wrote other poems of merit and prose sketches that were much admired. JAMES W. TAYLOR James W. Taylor was born at Penn Yen, Yates County, New York, in 1819 ; was graduated from Hamilton College in 1839 ; practiced law; moved to Ohio in 1841 ; edited tile Cincinnati Signal in 1847 ; moved to Sandusky, Ohio, and edited the Democratic Mirror ; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio ; state librarian of Ohio, 1854-1856 ; moved to Minnesota ; in Civil war time and for years afterward was special agent of the United States Treasury charged with investigation of trade relations with Canada ; in 1870 appointed by President Grant United States Consul at Winnipeg, Canada. He was author of books, monographs and reports. Among these were : "History of the State of Ohio, First Period, 1620-1787" (1854) ; "Manual of the Ohio School System" (1857) ; "Alleghenia, or the Strength of the Union and the Weakness of Slavery in the High Lands of the South" (1862) ; "Forest and Fruit Culture in Manitoba" (1882). With John R. Brown he wrote "Mineral Resources of the United States" (1867). Among his other publications and reports were : "The Railroad System of Minnesota and Northwestern Connections" (1859) ; reports to the United States Treasury Department on "Commercial Relations With Canada" (1860, 1862, 1868). During his long services as consul at Winnipeg he greatly endeared himself to the people of that city and the entire Province of Manitoba. Though a citizen of the United States, he entered whole-heartedly and unselfishly into every movement for the upbuilding of the capital of the province and saw it rise from a mere CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 63 frontier post to a prosperous and flourishing municipality of the Dominion. In the City Hall a large oil portrait attracts the attention of the visitor and attests that Winnipeg holds in grateful memory the personality and services of James W. Taylor. He died in that city while still holding the office of consul, April 28, 1803. SIMEON NASH Simeon Nash was born in Massachusetts in 1800; came to Ohio in 1832; state senator, 1839-1842; delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention of Ohio; judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 1852-1862; resident of Gallia County, Ohio; author of “Nash’s Pleadings”; “Digest of Ohio Reports”; “Morality and the State”; “Crime and the Family.” MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE SECOND OHIO CONVENTION HON. WM. MEDILL, President - W. H. GILL, Secretary - J. V. SMITH, Reporter