USA > Kentucky > Boyle County > Danville > The Political Club, Danville, Kentucky, 1786-1790. Being an account of an early Kentucky society from the original papers recently found > Part 10
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THE POLITICAL CLUB. 149
the amendment, expressing his fears in calling in a military force. That the civil power was sufficient; that militia when employed are under military gov- ernment, and therefore dangerous to freedom. That the case is unprecedented. He was seconded by Mr. Speed.
Mr. Innes and others thoughit the military force necessary to enforce the collection of taxes, and instanced the case of Massachusetts. The word enforce was agreed to. This nice distinction in the use of words was well taken. The regular execution of the laws of the United States is the work of civil officers. There is no need to call out the militia to "execute" the laws. That is done in regular course. It is only in cases of emergency that the militia can ever be needed, and then it is more proper to use the word "enforce" than the word "execute."
The notes show that Mr. Innes "wished that there might be a clause in the second article which should make the President of the United States ineligible for a certain term of years. Mr. Greenup seconded this motion, and it was agreed to. The constitution as revised by the club provides that the President "shall hold his office during the term of four years, after which period he shall be ineligible for the four succeeding years."
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It also provides that "no member of the Senate shall be eligible for three years after the vacation of his seat."
The clanse that the Chief Justice shall preside over the Senate in cases of impeachments is left out.
But while the club seemed to think the Senate could provide its own presiding officer withont calling on the Supreme Court for one, it showed its great respect for that court by the adoption of the clause to the effect that every bill, except money bills, should be submitted to the Supreme Court before it became a law.
Consideration of the Constitution ended May 17, 1788. Subsequent to that date the notes of meetings are frag- mentary. They are sufficient to show that the club con- tinued its work. Christopher Greenup presided at a meeting May 31, 1788. At the meeting June 14, 1788, Mr. Dougherty was granted leave of absence until No- vember 1, 17SS.
It appears from a note of a meeting February 7, 1789, that Mr. Allin was President; that the question was, "Are the present existing laws concerning citizen- ship founded on principles of sound policy?"
For some reason which does not appear, it seems the club had recurred to the subject of the Constitution of the United States, as there is this memorandum of a resolution at this meeting: "Subject of the Federal
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Constitution postponed until January next." While there are no minutes of the meetings, yet it appears the dis- cussions were continued.
VIEWS OF THE CLUB AS TO SLAVERY.
There is but one thing in the records of the club to indicate the views of the members on the slavery ques- tion. The Constitution of the United States contained a clause providing that Congress should pass no law prohibiting the importation of slaves prior to the year 1808. This clause permitted the slave trade to continue as it was for twenty years from the time the Constitu- tion was made. The resolution of The Political Club expunged this clause. The members were willing to allow Congress to deal with the odious business at any time, and as soon as it saw fit to do so.
OTHER QUESTIONS.
It appears that the club continued its regular Satur- day sessions, but there are such slight memoranda that they can not be mentioned definitely. Resolutions and questions on small pieces of paper are all that can be found. The following are some of the questions :
"Whether the admission of tobacco as a commutable for the discharge of taxes in the District of Kentucky will not prove a
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real injury to the inhabitants at large, provided no other com- mutable is admitted?"
"Whether, in a political view, polygamy ought to be tolerated in a free State?"
"Are the present existing laws concerning citizenship founded on principles of sound policy?"*
The following resolution, found among the papers of the club without date, shows the desire of the mem- bers to have the benefit of the best talent in the State, and it also illustrates what has been said concerning the peculiar advantages possessed in that day by the town of Danville, by reason of its situation on the great highway of travel:
"Whereas, this society was instituted for the purpose of acquir- ing political knowledge, and it hath been suggested to this club that some gentlemen of abilities are desirous of becoming members thereof, who are not residents of the neighborhood, whose busi- ness will frequently call them to this place, and therefore render their attendance convenient; Resolved, that the admitting of gen- tlemen of merit non-residents of the neighborhood to become mem- bers of this club will tend to the promoting of political knowledge; that hereafter, if any gentleman shall become a member hereof he shall incur no fine for his non-attendance except for defaults aris- ing during his stay in the neighborhood."
The meetings of the club were sometimes at the house of Samuel McDowell, sometimes at the house of
* It is reasonably certain that the discussion of this question occupied more evenings than one. The subject was of the most vital importance, and brought under review the suitability of the Virginia laws to the new condi-
THE POLITICAL CLUB. 153
Joshua Barbee, and sometimes at the tavern kept by Benjamin Grayson. In May, 1787, it was resolved that the meetings be held in the court-house, and that the hour of meeting be half past three o'clock P. M. This is a significant minute. It was a little after this date Major Beatty heard the debate on the question as to the power of the courts to adjudge an act of the legis- lature unconstitutional. He noted in his journal that the debate lasted until after midnight. The Treas- urer's accounts show that the members took their sup- per at Grayson's tavern. From these facts it appears that the meetings of the club began in the middle of the afternoon and lasted until midnight.
The Treasurer of the club kept account of all moneys received from fines and dues and special assessments. He paid it out for the supplies at Grayson's tavern and for the regular evening's supply of the staple article of refreshment which Kentuckians of that day regarded as essential to health. The Treasurer was Thomas Allin, though it appears that Mr. Overton also served in that capacity at one time.
The minutes show that a committee was regularly
tions and necessities which had arisen among the inhabitants of Kentucky. The new community had many phases of society which did not exist in the parent State. The views of the club upon many subjects differed, as we have seen, from the established usages of the day.
21
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appointed to audit the Treasurer's accounts. The re- port of one of these committees is worthy of preserva- tion, as showing the orderly manner in which the busi- ness of the club was conducted :
"Your committee have examined the accounts of the Treasurer to them referred, and find that there has been paid into the Treasury. on the 30th of December last, the sum of <3.6.0, being the deposit of eleven members at six shillings each, and on the 13th day of January last, the further sum of {2.14.0, being the deposit of nine members, amounting on the whole to 56.0.0.
"Your committee also find that there has been disbursed for the use of the club, on the 30th day of December and on the 6th day of January last, the sum of 63.6.6, in one account, and on the 13th day of the same month the further sum of £1.17.6, amounting in the whole to 55.2.0, which leaves a balance in the Treasurer's hands of eighteen shillings to be appropriated to the further use of the club, as will more fully appear by the annexed statement."*
*The inevitable humors which must have been a feature of the club are uot recorded, but on stray scraps of paper are found indications of other interests beside those of the debates. A letter from Christopher Greenup, dated December 29, 1787, addressed to the President, begs leave to inform the club of his safe arrival and his desire to continue a member. He says : "When the motives are considered which drew me from home in March last, and delays which generally attend that business, of which the club are sufficiently informed, I can but flatter myself that my absence will be deemed excusable, and that they will be pleased to re-admit me as a member without paying the fines incurred by the constitution." It would not be hard to guess the character of the "business" which caused this member to journey back over the Wilderness Road to his old home in Virginia and remain from March until December, but on a fragment of paper, upon which he had written a reso- lution, chanced to have been torn from a letter he had written but had not
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The minutes also show that several amendments were made to the constitution and rules of the club, and that all their regulations were strictly observed. A fact worthy of consideration further illustrates the singular earnestness of the members and the sense of duty and responsibility they evidently felt. While some of the members resided in the town of Danville, the greater number had their homes in the "neighborhood," that is, in the country around, at distances varying from a mile or two to ten miles. The minutes show attendance of the most creditable regularity, and fines for non- attendance were only remitted by resolution of the club.
The consideration of all the various subjects nec- essarily broadened and enlightened the minds of the members, as the natural range that discussion takes brought under view those things which either intimately sent, and on the opposite side, are found in fragments of lines and words, "idea of my attachment" "so fine a young lady " " heart" "love " "will you take" "wife". These are unmistakable.
Upon a small piece of paper is found this poetical conceit :
had both lent my asked my lost my
[ and a to my
-
1 saw my got my had my may have 'll keep my.
money with my from my but my and a ( and my of my and my
friend
by whom I set great store ; and took his word therefor; and nought but words I got, but sue him I would not. which pleased me very well, but sad it is to tell : quite away from me fell; as I had heretofore, [ and play the fool no more.
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or remotely connected themselves with the questions. While the subjects before the club were those which had an immediate bearing on the circumstances and condition of the inhabitants of Kentucky, it is easy to see how the arguments would be laden with every illustration that could be adduced from history. In- deed, the very fact that the discussions revolved so continuously upon kindred topics would afford the most prolonged mental excitation, and encourage research and reflection. The extended duration of the club, running through four consecutive years, must have led to the acquisition of such published writings upon the subjects considered as were obtainable. It is not probable that the "packs" which were first carried over the mountains to the "Land of Kentucke" were burdened with books, nor would there be a demand for them if the sole occu- pation of the settlers had been physical encounter with the roughness of wilderness living. There was needed that which would stimulate a desire to bring out the law books and histories and other publications. That this was done there is sufficient evidence, and nothing could have had a stronger influence in this particular than the debates in The Political Club .*
* Mr. W. J. McConathy, a member of the Filson Club, states that his grandfather brought out two mules' burden of books, and the fact that two pack animals were only loaded with books created considerable comment.
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The high type of the men constituting The Political Club is evident from the sketches which have been given. They were all well educated, and many of them possessed the peculiar accomplishments characteristic of the statesmen of that period whose fame and achieve- ments are linked with the founding of the American Republic. That so many men of this class were found in and near the little town of Danville is very sug- gestive of the character of the material which immi- grated to Kentucky in the early days. Associated with the more unlettered but courageous and enterprising movers was a large element of the best culture and talent that could be found in the Atlantic States. Young men of the best families, who had enjoyed the advantages of schools, had been trained in law offices and clerks' offices, and under the veteran surveyors whose occupation in that day was one of the greatest activity and importance, were numerous among them.
Other evidences of the enlightened character of the first settlers of Kentucky are abundant. Family tradi-
There is now before the writer an invoice of books sent out by the old Philadelphia publisher and bookseller, Mathew Cary. It shows more than a hundred different works. Among them are six "American Constitutions," De Lolme's British Constitution, Blackstone's Commentaries, Vesey's Reports, Blackstone's Reports, Harrison's Chancery Practice, Hinde's Chancery, Leach's Crown Law.
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tions and private records are numerous throughout the boundaries just mentioned, within which, as we have seen, the settlers first located. Within the same bound- aries, and with a membership co-extensive with the same, there existed the "Kentucky Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge," the object of which is shown by its name. While very little is recorded of it in history, yet the existence of such a society as early as 1786 can but be regarded as the outgrowth of a genuinely intelligent public sentiment .* In these first days of Kentucky a newspaper was published at Lex- ington, printed on a press brought out on pack animals. At the Royal Spring, Georgetown, a paper -mill was established, and books were printed upon the paper there made, and bound in leather tanned in a Kentucky
*See Collins' History, where the names of the members are given. The whole number of members was thirty-eight, and their residence was not confined to any special locality, yet fifteen of the thirty-eight were members of the club. The account in Collins' History simply shows the existence of the society, and that the members were requested by a published advertisement to send their ballots for officers to the Secretary, Mr. Thomas Speed. The present writer is able to supplement the account in Collins by giving the responses, they being in excellent preservation in the papers of the Secretary.
The committeemen elected were George Muter, Caleb Wallace, Harry Innes, James Garrard, Robert Johnson, Humphrey Marshall, and Levi Todd. The curator elected was Christopher Greenup. The Treasurer, John Coburn.
Those who received votes, but not enough to elect, were James Parker,
THE POLITICAL CLUB. 159
tan-yard. The rapid progress of the new community is strikingly shown by the fact it began the publication of the decisions of the courts almost as soon as any of the Atlantic States, and even in advance of some of them. Manufacturing also started,* and the services of the school- teacher were invoked from the beginning. No more noted teacher than Joshua Fry ever trained young men in Kentucky, and he began his work in the pioneer days. At Danville, before 1790, the first law school in Kentucky was taught by George Nicholas. At the same place Doctor Ephraim McDowell achieved his world- wide fame. The church and school - house were side by side. The observances of religion in constituted ' churches was one of the earliest features of Kentucky. In the great immigration of 1781 the "traveling church"
Joseph Crockett, James Speed, Isaac Shelby, Thomas Todd, Samuel McDowell, James Brown, Willis Green, Stephen Ormsby, William McDowell, Thomas Allen, Joshua Barbee, Robert Todd, and John Brown.
*As early as 1789 a society for promoting manufactures was organized at Danville, and resulted in the establishment of a cotton factory at that place, the machinery being brought from Philadelphia, landed at Limestone, and carried from thence to Danville.
. The promoters of this enterprise deserve to be all named, and in the list it will be noticed how many were members of The Political Club-thirteen of the twenty-nine. The list of names entire is as follows: James Dunlop, John Cochran, John Warren, Christopher Greenup, Benjamin Field, Peyton Short, James Wilkinson, Thomas Lewis, Abraham Buford, George Nicholas, John Brown, William McDowell, Joshua Barbee, B. Tardeveau, P. Tardeveau, W. Nagle, Baker Ewing, Thomas Barbee, Walter E. Strong, William Reed,
7
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came out from Virginia, being an entire church-mem- bership and minister-moving in a body like the Israel- ites of old .*
Among the landmarks in Kentucky at the present day are numerous fine old brick and stone residences built more than a hundred years ago by the first occu- pants of the soil.
The records of the club are not full enough to fur- nish an answer to all the questions which naturally arise. Although the men who are charged with complicity in the Spanish conspiracy were prominent members, there is not a word in the minutes or on any fragment of paper to suggest Spanish interests or influences. Gen- eral James Wilkinson was about Danville more or less during the four years the club flourished, but his name and his schemes are as unknown in these records as if he had never lived.
The thorough study which the Constitution of the United States received indicates a lively and sincere interest in the Union. The numerous questions dis- cussed all point to statehood like that east of the
Thomas Todd, Harry Innes, William Hughes, Robert Craddock, Samuel McDowell, George Caldwell, S. Fisher, James Speed, R. Mosby.
* See "Wilderness Road," by the present writer. Professor Ranck, of Lexington, Kentucky, has also written a most interesting account of this · event, entitled "The Traveling Church."
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mountains. The direction of thought was all toward a government that would secure freedom. The greater number of the members had served in freedom's cause against the tyranny of a foreign power. Every indi- cation is that they were studious to build a purely American commonwealth. Such a spirit was incompat- ible with intriguing with Spaniards, and is circumstan- tial evidence against such aspersions .*
When we remember that the club was organized for the study of those political questions which were urgent in Kentucky at the time, and that it existed through the years of the early conventions at the town of Dan- ville, where they were all held, and recall how numerously the club was represented in each one, it is easy to believe it was the source of a powerful influence in the work of those conventions. And when we recall that the first Constitution of the State was made at Danville in 1792, and signed by Samuel McDowell, President, and Thomas Todd, Secretary of the Convention, and that other members of the club were members of that con- vention, and that the same questions which came before
*Judge Humphrey, in his address, says: "Of one thing we have the strongest evidence, that these men with one exception, Sebastian, were intent only on following that path which would lead to the good of the whole people. There is an absence of self-seeking, a presence of devoted patriotism which can not be too highly commended."
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the convention had been faithfully studied in The Polit- ical Club, it is easy still to trace its influence.
The credit of making the first constitution is usually given to George Nicholas. Butler calls him the author of the constitution. Colonel Brown, in his Political Beginnings, says it may be fairly regarded as his pro- duction .* Such expressions state the case too strongly. The constitution was the work of a convention, not of one man. In that convention sat Harry Innes, Benja- min Logan, Alexander S. Bullitt, Matthew Walton, Caleb Wallace, Robert Breckinridge, David Rice, Isaac Shelby, and thirty-five others, all chosen for their ability and thorough knowledge of the needs of the Kentucky people. The greater portion of them had been in Ken- tucky from eight to twelve years. Logan had been a tower of strength to the settlements from their begin- ning in 1775, a period of seventeen years. Nicholas came out in 1788, four years before the convention. It would seem unlikely that the wisdom and experience of the convention should go for nothing. It has been already shown that The Political Club appointed a committee to draft a form of government adapted to the needs of Kentucky as early as February 17, 1787.
* Humphrey Marshall, in his History of Kentucky, says: "If the Consti- tution of Kentucky could be ascribed to any one man, it should doubtless be to Colonel George Nicholas."
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It is a noticeable fact that the convention was engaged upon its work only eighteen days, from April 2d to April 19, 1792. This would indicate that some persons had hitherto been engaged upon that important work and had laid the foundations. There are indications of the work of the club. We have seen that the method of choosing State Senators and the Governor was by a College of Electors, which method was the one proposed by the club. Butler says, "The general character of this constitution evidently bears a strong similitude to that of the United States," and attributes that fact to the publication of the Federalist .*
The study of the Federal Constitution in The Polit- ical Club bore its natural fruits in the construction of the one of 1792 for Kentucky. That the Senate should choose its own speakers was according to ideas of the club. An extended bill of rights was also a feature which the club had deemed desirable.
* Judge Robertson, speaking in IS43, before the adoption of the third constitution, says of the first: "The adoption of a political constitution in the wilds of Kentucky by the free will of a majority of its free inhabitants was a novel and interesting spectacle. The first constitution, the production principally of George Nicholas, was a very good one, certainly equal if not superior to any other State constitution then existing. As it provided for another convention it the end of seven years, a new constitution was adopted
. in 1799. Both constitutions were alike - in outline the same. . . . There may be reason to doubt whether the last is altogether better than the first."
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As before stated, it was the constitution - making period in our country's history. Ten years before The Political Club was organized the Declaration of Inde- pendence caused the Colonies to frame, each for itself, a form of government adapted to the requirements of the new condition of freedom. Mr. Bryce says: "The colonial charters naturally became the State constitutions. In most cases they were remodeled with large altera- tions by the revolting Colony."
Each Colony, therefore, had something to build on. Her people were to a large extent coherent, made so by slow growth and by common suffering through a long period of time. But in 1786 the problem in Kentucky was unlike any before known. Between eighty and ninety thousand inhabitants were settled within her borders, drawn thither in large measure within the three or four years just preceding, and the numbers were rapidly increasing. How urgent was the need of a local State government imagination can readily picture and the records of the time fully attest.
At first Kentucky was a single county; then it was made into three, then nine; but all the time the govern- ment was at Williamsburg, Virginia, five hundred miles distant on an air line, and twice that far by way of the Wilderness Road through the desolate and dangerous regions intervening.
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Who would make for Kentucky a local government? How was it to be brought about? What sort of gov- ernment would be adapted to the wants of the multitude of people suddenly collected in the Kentucky settle- ments? Who would study the questions involved, and after forming conclusions be able to exert an influence? The demands of the hour were met in The Political Club. Its singular appositeness to these demands, in the quality of its membership, its location, and its dis- cussions, all point so directly to the first organic law of the new commonwealth, the conclusion is irresistible that its work entered into the construction of the first constitution.
A number of men in the club by official position, as well as by talents and character, were recognized leaders of public opinion. They were expected to guide the course of events. To do so intelligently and successfully they must study the problems and be prepared at every step to satisfy the expectations of friends and meet the objections of the querulous or unfriendly. They found in The Political Club the means of enlightenment and acquisition of knowledge which nothing else could have afforded. Week after week, for four years, these faithful students of political science, most of them heads of families and engrossed with personal duties, devoted
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their time and centered their thought in preparing the elemental material of a government for the maintenance of internal peace and the security of their liberties. Like the hewers of wood in the mountains and the stone squarers in the quarries they prepared the beams and the granite to be built into a new temple dedicated to freedom, which has been called "The Earliest Political Fabric after the Revolutionary War."
By their work they illustrated in the far West the great idea embodied in the legend placed on the seal of the United States by the Continental Congress during the struggle for liberty, and re-adopted under the Con- stitution of 1789: Novus ordo seclorum.
There was a tremendous meaning in the words, "A new order of the ages." It was a new thing for a people to provide their own government, according to their · own wishes, without let or hindrance of king or titled nobility. The same forces which led the Revolutionary fathers to break away from old ideas and establish our free republic moved the fathers of the Commonwealth of Kentucky when they laid her foundations.
NOTE.
It is stated on page 21 that the location of the court near Crow's Station gave rise to the laying out of Danville in 1784. It is also stated on page 25 that Danville was laid out in 1781. There is some confusion as to the date of the founding of Dan- ville. Collins says it was laid out by Walker Daniel in 17SI. He also says it was founded when the court was removed to the vicinity of Crow's Station, which was in 1783. Marshall says Dan- ville arose from the fact that the court was located at that place.
The Act of the Virginia Legislature establishing the town of Danville was passed December 4, 1787. It recites that Walker Daniel had in his lifetime laid off a part of seventy-six acres for a town at that place. ( Walker Daniel was killed by Indians in August, 1784.) The trustees named in the Act were John Jouett, William McDowell. Harry Innes, Christopher Greenup, Samuel McDowell, senior, Abraham Irvine, George Muter, William Kennedy. It will be observed that of the eight trustees six were members of The Political Club.
Danville is mentioned as a town by John Filson, who wrote in 1784. It may be that Walker Daniel laid out the town in 1781, but the town itself began when the court was removed to that place in the latter part of 1783.
The growth of Danville must have been very rapid. A letter written to the Secretary of The Political Club, dated November 6, 1786, has been preserved, cautioning the young man against the gaiety of that place. The writer says: "How do you like the life you lead in Danville? Are you not drawn into excesses? Keep no bad hours or company. You deserve the character you have of a prudent man for your years, yet I fear the levity of that place may lead you astray."
It is difficult to think of Danville possessing the allurements of a city as early as 1786.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FILSON CLUB.
:. JOHN FILSON, the first historian of Kentucky. An account of his life and writings, prepared from original sources. By Reuben T. Durrett. Illustrated by a newly discovered portrait, a fac-simile of one of his letters, and a photo-lithographie reproduction of his original map of Kentucky, which was issued with his "History of Kentucke," in 1784. 4to, pp. 132. 1884. Out of print.
2. THE WILDERNESS ROAD. A description of the routes of travel by which the pioneers and early settlers first came to Kentucky. By Thomas Speed. Map. 4to, pp. 85. 18S6. $2.00
3. THE PIONEER PRESS OF KENTUCKY. From the printing of the first paper west of the Alleghanies, August 17, 1787. to the establishment of the " Daily Press." in IS30. By William Henry Perrin. Illustrated with a fac-simile of " The Farmer's Library" and "The Kentucke Gazette," a cut of the first printing-house, and portraits of John Brad- ford, Shadrach Penn, and George D. Prentice. 4to, pp. 93. 188S.
4. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE CALEB WALLACE. Some time a Jus- tice of the Court of Appeals of the State of Kentucky. By William H. Whitsitt. 4to, pp. 151. 188S. $2.00
$2.00
5. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, Louisville, Ky. Pre- pared for the semi-centennial celebration, October 6, ISS9. By Reuben T. Durrett. Illus- trated with two plates of the church and portraits of Rev. William .Jackson and Rev. Edmund T. Perkins, D. D. Sinall 4to, pp. 75. ISS9. $2.00
6. THE POLITICAL BEGINNINGS OF KENTUCKY. A narrative of public events bearing on the history of that State up to the time of its admission into the Amer- ican Union. By John Mason Brown. Portrait. 4to, pp. 263. 1889. $2.00
7. THE CENTENARY OF KENTUCKY. Proceedings at the celebration by the Filson Club, Wednesday, June 1. 1892. of the one hundreth anniversary of the admission of Kentucky as an independent State into the Federal Union. Containing the historical address of Reuben T. Durrett, the poem of Henry T. Stanton, with portrait of each, the general proceedings, a sketch of the Filson Club, and a list of its members. 4to, pp. 200. 1892. $2.00
8. THE CENTENARY OF LOUISVILLE. A paper read before the Southern Historical Association. May 1. 1880. in commemoration of the one hundreth anniversary of the birth of Louisville: giving a history of the origin of the city and its progress for an hundred years, with the names of its founders and rare manuscripts relating to its pioneers never before published. By Reuben T. Durrett. Illustrated with a likeness of the author and likenesses of Sieur La Salle, the discoverer, and Gen. Clark, the founder of the city of Louisville. 4to. pp. 200. 1893. $2.00
9. THE POLITICAL CLUB, being an account of a society which existed at Danville. Ky., from1 1786 to 1790. composed of leading citizens of that date in Kentucky. The Club was engaged in discussing the questions of that time, but no mention of it is found in any history prior to the discovery of the Club papers. This account is from the original records of the Club recently found. By Thomas Speed, Secretary of the Filson Club. 4to. pp. ISO. 1844 $2.00
FOR SALE BY
JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY, Louisville, Ky. ROBERT CLARKE & CO., Cincinnati, O.
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