USA > Kentucky > 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 American Union > Part 7
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which he was master. It seems likely that Miro was im- pressed with the belief that he was still the chief military officer of the United States in the western country."
It can not be positively charged that the success of Wil- kinson's trading voyage of 1787 was promoted by bribery of Spanish officials. The suspicion, however, is warranted and fortified by the proved relations that in after years existed between him and Miro.
One of the most intelligent observers then at New Or- leans confirms the fact as to the tobacco brought to that port in 1789, from the words of the Governor himself. "Gov. Miro told me," says he, "that if the business for supplying the king's stores with tobacco by Gen. Wilkinson had been better conducted, or more fortunately conducted, he should have made a great deal of money by it (or words to that effect) as well as Gen. Wilkinson, by which I understood that he (Gov. Miro) was to have a certain portion of the profit in the nature of a commercial transaction, and I was told the same by Mr. Conway, the brother-in-law of Gov. Miro." 2
And at a later date (1796) Philip Nolan and Guilberto
I Wilkinson, after the close of the Revolutionary War, continued in civil life until December, 1791. His commercial enterprises of 1787 and later are undeserving of much ignorant criticism that has been leveled at them on the score of official impro- priety.
2 Oliver Pollock's Deposition, Answer No. 2.
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Leonard stated the accounts between Wilkinson and Miro, then lately dead.'
It must, in justice to Wilkinson, be admitted that these accounts concern only the cargoes of tobacco shipped by him in 1790 and 1791, while he was yet a civilian, and while he was forbidden by no law or rule of propriety to engage in commerce. They establish the fact that Miro (as to those shipments) corruptly shared the profits, but they do not prove that Wilkinson was a pensioner of Spain. That charge was not established for many years. Its proof is from another source, and was not accessible until long after Wilkinson's death.
The conduct of Miro in sharing Wilkinson's gains, inde- fensible as it clearly is, was not perhaps the chief reason that procured his countenance of trade from the upper waters. The policy of attracting immigration and developing the colonial resources had been favored by Navarro, the Intend- ant, in many despatches, and Miro had distinctly adopted it
I The letter of advice from Nolan, together with the itemized account, is to be seen in Wilkinson's Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 117, 118, 119. Wilkinson introduced this proof of personal money accounts between himself and Miro, as evidence before a court-martial, for the purpose of repelling Dr. Clark's charge that he was a pensioner of Spain, and to show whence this money came that was sent to Kentucky in charge of Owens. An examination of the account shows that the transaction that brought Miro in debt to Wilkinson lay in tobacco shipments made by the latter in 1790 and 1791. Remittances were tardily made, and at Miro's death, in 1795, there was a balance due from him to Wilkinson of $2,095. It is but fair and right to admit that Nolan's letter, Pollock's deposition, and the stated account do not suggest any pension at that time, but they do go to prove bribery of the Spanish Governor. .
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in his administration. Galvez had gone to his viceroyalty, and was busying himself with the construction of his for- tress of Chapultepec, intended, as many suspected, for the palace of an independent empire that he meditated. But the traditions of his administrative policy remained and prompted his successor. Miro had already relaxed the strin- gent regulations of settlement and commerce.
He had given permission to a number of American Cath- olic families to settle in Louisiana, had encouraged immigra- tion from the western settlements to the Spanish possessions on the Mississippi and in Florida, and had reduced the duties on utensils, provisions, and personal effects. But however large and wise may have been his general views of policy, he soon encountered an obstacle in the direct opposition of Gardoqui, the Spanish Minister, resident at Philadelphia. Gardoqui, as has been charged (but not clearly proved)," had himself corrupt participation in the trade from Philadelphia to New Orleans, and he contemplated the establishment of Morgan and his colony of New Jersey settlers at New Madrid, on the Mississippi. The conflict of ambition and interest antagonized the governor and minister.
The various and often antagonistic motives that thus swayed the opinions and ruled the actions of the Spanish authorities were all skillfully drawn to his own advantage by
I Gayarre, History Louisiana, Spanish Domination, 185.
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Wilkinson. He gained every point of his plans. Permis- sion was given him to unload his cargo. The King of Spain himself became its purchaser. The tobacco bought in Ken- tucky at $2.00 per hundred weight brought him $9.50 deliv- ered into the king's warehouses. A free permit to carry his money beyond the port was granted.
And, more important than all, there followed Wilkinson to his home a permit for trade, invaluable to himself and the people of Kentucky. It ran thus:1
"I, Don Stephen Miro, Colonel of the Royal Armies, Political and Military Governor and Intendent General of the Provinces of Louisiana and West Florida, and Inspector of the - Troops, &c., &c., Grant free and full permission to the American Brigadier Don James Wilkinson, settled in Kentucky, to direct or cause to be brought into this country, by inhabitants of Kentucky, one or more launches belonging to him, with cargoes of the productions of that country. Therefore, I command all officers belonging to this government not to offer any hindrance to his voyage; on the contrary they are to render him every assistance that may be necessary. The pres- ent is given signed with my hand, sealed with the seal of my arms, and countersigned by his Majesty's Secretary for this Government, in the City of New Orleans, the 8th August, 1788.
"ANDRES ARMESTO, "Secretary."
"ESTEVAN MIRO.
The news of Wilkinson's splendid success had preceded his return. In February, 1788, he reached his home in what
" The English version here given is that furnished by the translator of the State Department for the use of the court-martial before which Wilkinson was arraigned. The original Spanish text of the permit can not be found,
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is now Woodford County, hailed by the entire community as one whose energy and capacity had opened the Missis- sippi to his countrymen on terms more honorable and toler- able than had been hoped by even the most hopeful. True, his permit for trade was but a personal privilege, and the expected further permit was to be no broader ; but it was soon explained that the cover of its protection could be extended to Wilkinson's friends, who might ship produce in what were nominally his barges, or join their boats to the fleet which he began to prepare against the next season." Again his agents were abroad, and for the first time in the history of the West there was a market and specie payment for pro- duce.
The importance of the long desired State organization became apparently greater than ever. It was justly and soundly argued, how much surer and firmer would be the commercial comity if a constituted political community were
I Wilkinson is entitled to the praise of much public spirit in his commercial enter- prises. He made no secret of the advantageous privilege granted him by Miro, and he offered the benefit of it to the planters of Kentucky on terms that were liberal. Peyton Short became his partner, and they circulated a printed proposition to carry to New Orleans all tobacco that might be intrusted to them, stipulating as their compen- sation for two thirds of such price as might be realized over 15 shillings per hundred pounds. The charges for transporting were advertised as being 6 shillings from the Kentucky River (Frankfort), and 4 shillings and 6 pence from Louisville. These charges they were willing to advance if desired. This plan was plainly a most advan- tageous one for the farmers of Kentucky District. A copy of this proposal, addressed "To the Planters of the District of Kentucky," has been preserved, along with a letter addressed to Isaac Shelby, who was desired to consider and give his approval to the project. (See " Shelby MSS.," in the collection of R. T. Durrett.)
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party to the agreed reciprocity, instead of having the trade of the entire West hang upon the capricious favor shown a single citizen. The right of the new State, when estab- lished, to deal practically with arrangements for navigation of the Mississippi seemed clear, for as yet the States had only the bond of the Articles of Confederation.
The right of each State to lay imposts and duties was but slightly restricted by the Articles of Confederation of 1777, and still existed. While the treaty-making power was, by the first section of Article VI, prohibited to the several States, the third section of the same article left open a way that might be utilized without violence to the letter of the Articles or the spirit of the Compact. By this section it was provided that "no State shall lay imposts or duties which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in Congress assembled with any king, prince, or State in pursuance of any treaties already pro- posed by Congress to the Courts of France and Spain."
And by Article IX it was specifically "provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained from im- posing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities what- soever."
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Article II stipulated, as the foundation of the confedera- tion, that "each State retains its own sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled."
The deduction from these provisions of the Articles of Confederation was easy. Inasmuch as no treaty of com- merce and navigation had been concluded with Spain by the States through their Congress, there existed no impediment to the levy of imposts and duties upon Spanish imports by any State, and the Spanish intercourse might be absolutely prohibited by the mere action of the particular State, or fos- tered by its legislation.
Massachusetts Bay or New York could exchange courte- sies with Spain by refraining from imposts or prohibitions, and, by indirection, gain advantages at the Havana. Vir- ginia could, without the form of a treaty, accept Spanish commerce on favored terms and secure a European market for her tobacco. In like manner could Kentucky, once sev- ered from the parent State, and organized as an independ- ent and co-equal State, relieve the imposts that Virginia still collected at the Falls of the Ohio and at Limestone,"
" By Virginia statute of 1784 (11 Hening, Statutes at Large, 398, sec. 4), provision was made for collecting customs at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville) and Limestone (Maysville). Naval officers, as the collectors of customs were called, were provided for those points, clothed with the same powers as "the other naval officers or collectors in
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and enjoy the abolition by Spain of her prohibition against navigation and the ruinous custom charges at New Orleans.
Discussion and Adoption of the Federal Constitution.
While these important local considerations of trade and access to the outer world occupied the minds of the people of Kentucky, and the prospect of their establishment as one of the family of States seemed assured, another measure of overshadowing magnitude had been launched. The Con- vention of Delegates, presided over by Washington, and intrusted with that gravest of all political duties, had, in September, 1787, promulgated a draft of the Constitution, under which the States of the feeble confederation were to be welded into the more perfect union of the Republic.
The promulgation of the "New Plan," as it was termed by American statesmen as well as by the agents of foreign courts, excited debate throughout the land. The division of sentiment was as grave as the subject was momentous. The struggle of opinion lasted in Virginia until nine States had already given in their adhesion. In her convention specially
the Commonwealth." Duties were payable on rum, brandy, and other distilled spirits, as also on sugar and coffee at specific rates. On all other importations the tariff was ad valorem. (11 Hening, Statutes at Large, 121, 122.) Many papers concerning such im- portations from Spanish territory, through the naval office at the Falls of the Ohio, are still preserved.
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assembled to consider the Federal Constitution, the District of Kentucky was represented by fourteen delegates-two from each of the then seven counties of Jefferson, Lincoln, Fayette, Nelson, Mercer, Madison, and Bourbon. Of these, three voted for adoption of the instrument, nine against it, and two did not vote."
It is beyond dispute that the question of the navigation of the Mississippi entered largely into the formation of opin- ion, and apprehensions were entertained lest the rumored treaty negotiated between Jay and Gardoqui, surrendering for a term of twenty-five years all right to navigate the Mis- sissippi, might be ratified by the Eastern States. The argu- ments of Henry, Grayson, and Mason were repeated by Monroe, each in different phrase, predicting the loss of the Mississippi and the overthrow of the West and South if the proposed plan of government prevailed.
The Political Club.
The progress of discussion in Kentucky developed some features of opinion that are an interesting episode in the story of the time.
I Robert Breckinridge, Rice Bullock, and Humphrey Marshall voted for ratifica- tion. John Fowler, John Logan, Henry Pawling, John Steele, Matthew Walton, Thomas Allen, Alexander Robertson, G. Clay, and Henry Lee, followed Patrick Henry in oppo- sition. William Irvine and John Edwards did not vote. (Elliot's Debates, ed. 1836. Vol. III, pp. 604-655.)
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Allusion has already been made to the "Political Club" that held its Saturday-night meetings in Danville. Its de- bates were formal and parliamentary, and a careful secretary made minutes of the arguments and preserved the papers.
The form and substance of the new Constitution was minutely considered by this body of frontier statesmen. They were, with scarce an exception, men of liberal educa- tion and practical experience in affairs. Their political bias can hardly be better estimated than by noting some of their comments and suggestions of amendments to the proposed Constitution.
The printed copy that reached Danville was scanned line by line, and the concurrence or dissent of the club noted section by section in marginal memoranda that are yet legi- ble. Having closed their deliberations, after many meetings, the secretary, under the club's instruction, reduced to form what the title of the yellowed MS. declares to be
" The Constitution of the United States " of America as amended and approved by the "Political Club." ยท
The separate consideration of the articles and sections was preceded by what is significantly labeled as the "Primary Resolution A."
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Club : That the Federal Con- stitution ought to be preceded by a Declaration of Rights, in which it should
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be clearly expressed that the Congress of the United States shall not have power by law to alter, repeal, or change any part of the Constitution; and that all laws contrary to the true spirit, intent, and meaning of the same shall be void."
It was the opinion of the Political Club that senators should be chosen for three years, and be ineligible for three full years after serving a term, and that the presiding officer of the Senate should be of its own choosing. (Art. I, Sec. 3.)
The time, place, and manner of holding elections for sen- ators and representatives, it was resolved, should be pre- scribed only by the State legislature. (Art. I, Sec. 4.)
As to the subject of veto upon legislation (Art. I, Sec. 7), it was considered that bills having passed both houses should be presented to the President, and by him laid before an Executive Council and the Judges of the Supreme Court for their opinion, and by him, with their advice and consent, signed as a law or returned with their objections. With a foresight, as it were, of the verbal quibbles that became so current in 1832 and 1861, it was proposed, and the club re- solved, that power should be given to call forth the militia "to enforce obedience to the laws of the Union " in preference to the phrase " to execute the laws." (Article I, Sec. 8.)
That clause of the seventh section of Article I, which gives Federal jurisdiction over a contemplated District of Columbia and the sites of forts, arsenals, and docks, was voted inadmissible.
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The first clause of Section 9, Article I, preventing legis- lation against the slave trade sooner than 1808, was by a unanimous vote expunged-a significant indication of the general favor with which emancipation of the blacks was regarded in the West.
The President, it was thought, should be ineligible to re-election until a full term of four years should first inter- vene. And the provision giving the office of Vice-President to the candidate next in number of votes to the President, was, on motion, stricken out. (Art. XI, Sec. I.) The office of Vice-President was in fact thought useless.
To succeed a President removed or deceased the "eldest counsellor " was indicated.
The bent of educated opinion in Kentucky was evidently in favor of the Federal Constitution, but insisted upon cer- tain necessary amendments. Thomas Allin and Matthew Walton, the two members of the "Political Club" who had seats in the Virginia Convention called to ratify or reject the Federal Constitution, shared the fears of Patrick Henry, and united in his opposition to the unamended instrument. The other members seem to have been, without exception, zealous supporters of the new plan for union and constitu- tional government."
" The list of names of the members of the Political Club will suggest to every one familiar with the early story of Kentucky a just idea of the usefulness of that body. Its members were Harry Innes, Samuel McDowell, Christopher Greenup, John Brown,
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The delegate to the Continental Congress chosen by Vir- ginia, as especially representing the District of Kentucky, was John Brown." It has been observed that he was already Senator from his district in the legislature of Virginia. He repaired to New York and took his seat in Congress, fresh from that patient discussion of the new Constitution in
Thomas Todd, George Muter, Peyton Short, Thomas Speed, James Speed, Willis Green, James Brown, Baker Ewing, Robert Craddock, B. Tardiveau, Penjamin Sebas- tian, William Kennedy, John Belli, William McClung, Stephen Ormsby, William McDowell, John Overton, Thomas Allin, Robert Dougherty, John Barbee, and Abra- ham Buford. It would not have been been possible to assemble another body within the district equal to these men in accomplishments, experience, and possession of pub- lic confidence. Their names appear on every page of Kentucky's earlier history. One only of the twenty-five deceived the people's confidence. In 1797 (and the weight of proof shows not till then) Sebastian, Chief Justice of the State, accepted from the Spanish authorities an annual pension of two thousand dollars, in recognition of his personal efforts to arrange a modus vivendi as to the import duties at New Orleans. He collected this through ordinary commercial channels, drawing drafts, and apparently making no effort at concealment. His moral obliquity was a curious one. He would not lie, but told the truth, to his own ruin, exactly and fully when taxed with the fact. His case seems to have been one of moral blindness, coupled with much intelligence, learning, and amiability. Sebastian was ordained a minister of the Episcopal Church by the Bishop of London in 1766, and was rector of a church in Northumberland County, Virginia, from 1767 to the close of the Revolution. Having studied law dur- ing his pastorate, he came to Kentucky in 1784, succeeded Walker Daniel as Common- wealth's Attorney for Jefferson County. He was a member of the convention called to procure the separation of Kentucky from Virginia, and of the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1792. From 1792 to December, 18c6, he was a Judge of the Court of Appeals. He resigned under legislative charges that he had since 1795 been the recipient of an annual pension of two thousand dollars from Spain. His admission of the fact exists in his own handwriting ; but he totally failed to appreciate the criminality of the act. He even attempted to justify his course. He lived until 1834.
The papers of the Political Club were recently discovered by Capt. Thomas Speed, grandson of its secretary, and are in his possession. It is expected that they will be published with notes and illustrative comments as a paper of the Filson Club, under Capt. Speed's editorship.
1 October 31, 1787, Cyrus Griffin. John Brown, James Madison, John Dawson, Mann Page chosen delegates. (Virginia Calendar State Papers, Vol. IV, p. 504.) Brown suc- ceeded Monroe in the delegation,
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which the Political Club at Danville had been engaged, and in which he was one of the principal debatants, and earnestly impressed with the wisdom and necessity of immediately adopting it. The convictions which he entertained were undoubtedly fortified by the concurrent opinion of those whose intimacy he had shared for years, and who by com- mon consent contributed largely to the formation of political thought. His Revolutionary service had been that of a youth, quitting his college (Princeton) at the age of nine- teen, upon John Witherspoon's certificate of leave and approbation, to serve as volunteer aide to Lafayette. His reading had been chiefly directed by Jefferson, whose per- sonal friendship he enjoyed, and a constant correspondence continued between them. With Madison, six years his sen- ior, an even closer intimacy subsisted, for their academic associations were the same, and their personal contact fre- quent. Jefferson was at Paris, yet losing no point of the condition of affairs at home. Madison was busy in the great effort to ratify the Constitution he had helped to frame. With each of them Brown was in cordial agreement, and with Madison in constant and intimate consultation. There is a picture of the times and of the hopes and fears then entertained in their correspondence, rescued after an hun- dred years from the oblivion into which it had passed.
Brown promptly wrote to Jefferson concerning the pro-
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posed Federal Constitution, and his selection as a delegate to Congress. He imparted very freely his anxieties con- cerning the occlusion of the Mississippi, his hopes for a stable union of the States, and his intent to aid all efforts in that direction.
The tenor of Jefferson's replies may be illustrated by a single letter :
"PARIS, May 28, 1788.
"Dear Sir :
" It was with great pleasure I saw your name on the roll of Delegates, but I did not know you had actually come on to New York till Mr. Para- dise informed me of it. Your removal from Carolina to Kentucky was not an indifferent event to me. I wish to see that country in the hands of peo- ple well-disposed, who know the value of the connection between that & Maritime States, and who wish to cultivate it. I consider their happiness as bound up together, and that every measure should be taken which may draw the bands of Union tighter ; it will be an efficacious one to receive them into Congress, as I perceive they are about to desire, if to this be added an honest and disinterested conduct in Congress as to everything relating to them we may hope for a perfect harmony-the navigation of the Missis- sippi was perhaps the strongest trial to which the justice of the federal gov- ernment could be put. if ever they thought wrong about it, I trust they have got to rights. I should think it proper for the Western Country to defer pushing their right to that navigation to extremity as long as they can do without it tolerably; but that the moment it becomes absolutely necessary for them, it will become the duty of the maritime states to push it to every extremity to which they would their own right of navigating the Chesapeak, the Delaware, the Hudson, or any other water; a time of peace will not be the surest for obtaining this object. Those, therefore, who have influence in the new country would act wisely to endeavor to keep things quiet till
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