USA > Maryland > Governors of Maryland : from the Revolution to the year 1908 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
8
GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND
with the world on my own account; it has done me more than justice in estimating my abilities, and more justice than common in conjecturing my motives. I feel nothing of fear, either, in hazarding again the little reputation I may have acquired, for I am not conscious of having sought or despised applause; but, without affectation, I do not think I could do credit to the office of secretary. I cannot persuade myself that I possess the necessary qualifications for it, and I am sure I am too old to expect improvement. My strength declines, and so too, probably, will my mental powers soon. My views in this world have been some time bounded to my children. They yet, for a little while, may have me to lean on. Being constantly with them adds to their happiness and makes my chief comfort."
That Mr. Johnson was altogether sincere in his profession of no concern about his fame, is certified beyond question by the confession of his granddaughter some years later that "We have a few of General Washington's letters to grandpa, but he purposely destroyed all confidential letters before his death." American history contains no parallel of such indifference to that common desire of mankind for fame. In his later years Governor Johnson lived in retire- ment at Rose Hill, in Frederick. And here on October 26, 1819, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, Governor John- son died. A more fitting comment on his life at large can- not be found than that recorded by Esmeralda Boyle: "No man did more for the advancement of liberty's cause, yet among the recorded names of American heroes how seldom do we find his name! Few men of Maryland's struggling days did so much toward furnishing material for the history of Maryland, yet how has history forgotten him!"
COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ.
TI THOMAS SIM LEE
It when things younu after the adoption by Maryland ot a wolldai before anything approaching republi C .20 to the government. During the first year of Demiry the people, ag if by common content, sub- mitted to w . ww Areicnicy. Although in time advo. mies of & indy i. joe alte government arose and ulti- thately defcola las crodocrabs, aud a political history of Maryland's mirtimi duy: jund am a history of her earliest state governor, must Die coverpel ly with those who supported politics looking to the pumping of the many pa, the best governor by a few Aithough Hoowasa
came for selecting dus sucressee the political leaders of the state did not seem to desire to place the reins of government in the hands of one entertaining republican principles. There was at this time au uncertainty in the public mind as to the form of government which would be best adapted for the peo- pla of Maryland, and that wavering is reflected in the choice of a varcorsor to Johnson. Two undidates for governor were before /bm pointure in 1779: Col. Edward Lloyd, of Talbot county, Tomas Sim Lee. On November 8, the two houses estuleb Ballots, and Lee was chosen. As governor Mr. Lee ation A great popularity, due largely to the fact that his views umumided to a remarkable degree with these of the people of his day, especially the leaders. By his life, therefore, are tevmod the general sentiments of his contem- poraries upon mutters of government, and those senti- ments are far from republican, Governor Lee was a patriot;
.
NEEDWOOD, FREDERICK COUNTY HOME OF THOMAS SIM LEE 1779-1782 : 1792-1794
II THOMAS SIM LEE
It was many years after the adoption by Maryland of a state constitution before anything approaching republi- canism was infused into the government. During the first years of liberty the people, as if by common consent, sub- mitted to a reign of aristocracy. Although in time advo- cates of a truly democratic government arose and ulti- mately defeated the aristocrats, still a political history of Maryland's earliest days, just as a history of her earliest state governors, must be concerned largely with those who supported policies looking to the governing of the many by a few. Although Thomas Johnson, the first governor, may be regarded as a democratic statesman, when the time came for selecting his successor the political leaders of the state did not seem to desire to place the reins of government in the hands of one entertaining republican principles. There was at this time an uncertainty in the public mind as to the form of government which would be best adapted for the peo- ple of Maryland, and that wavering is reflected in the choice of a successor to Johnson. Two candidates for governor were before the legislature in 1779: Col. Edward Lloyd, of Talbot county, and Thomas Sim Lee. On November 8, the two houses cast their ballots, and Lee was chosen. As governor, Mr. Lee attained great popularity, due largely to the fact that his views coincided to a remarkable degree with those of the people of his day, especially the leaders. By his life, therefore, are revealed the general sentiments of his contem- poraries upon matters of government, and those senti- ments are far from republican. Governor Lee was a patriot ;
IO
GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND
he labored cheerfully and untiringly for the success of the Revolutionary forces; but the characteristic that attracts the greatest notice is not his patriotism, but his strong leaning toward aristocracy.
Thomas Sim Lee was born in Prince George's county, October 29, 1745. He was a son of Thomas and Christiana (Sim) Lee and great-grandson of Richard Lee, the cavalier of Shropshire, who came to America during the reign of Charles I, and settled in Virginia. There was this difference. between Governor Lee and his predecessor in office: Mr. Johnson had won fame before he became governor, and he gave to the executive office more honor than he took from it, while Lee entered upon the duties of governor with- out previously having accomplished a great deal, and it was his administration of that office almost entirely that won him a place among the state's celebrities. At the opening of the Revolution Mr. Lee was a moderately ardent advo- cate of armed opposition, but he had not attracted wide attention. In 1777 he began his career in public service as a member of the provincial council of Maryland. His first position of importance, however, was that of governor, and he performed the duties devolving upon that office with sig- nal success, as is certified by the frequency with which he was reëlected.
In the opening years of Maryland's existence as a state, the executive was granted but comparatively small author- ity. The position then was far less influential than the growth of the republican spirit made it in later years, for the executive was, in a way, the social head of the state rather than its governmental head. The social requirements of the executive office were so much emphasized in the latter part of the eighteenth century, that Governor's Lee's popularity must be credited to a great extent to his social performances. At the same time the social aspects of his
Iİ
THOMAS SIM LEE
governorship should not be permitted to hide his intrinsic worth as a patriot.
Governor Lee began his first term of office at a time when the nation was facing a crisis. The army was in a precarious condition; the ranks were being reduced by desertion and there was little to arrest the discouraging process of decrease. Governor Lee's first official act practically was the issuance of a proclamation for the collection of provisions for the ragged army. The governor received a letter from General Washington early in the year 1780 regarding a call that had been made on "the several states for specific quantities of provisions, rum and forage for the army." And Governor Lee left no stone unturned in his labors to secure the required supplies. Later there came from Washington an appeal for additional troops, and the general assembly, encouraged by the governor, responded: "We purpose to exert our utmost efforts to raise 2000 regulars to serve during the war." These utmost efforts sent 2065 fighting men to the Continental army. In the early months of 1781 Governor Lee rendered considerable aid-and with it encourage- ment-to Lafayette and the forces under him then journey- ing southward through the state.
Maryland was frequently called upon by the Continental government for much needed assistance. In reply to such a plea Governor Lee wrote Robert Morris, in August, 1781: "Every thing that is within our power and within the exhausted abilities of this state shall be done cheerfully and immediately to promote and render effectual the expe- dition which his Excellency General Washington has formed against the British in Virginia, in which we are fully sensi- ble the care and safety of this state in particular is deeply interested." And proof of the fulfillment of that promise is given by Washington's letter to Lee: "Give me leave to return to you my sincerest thanks for your exertions on the
12
GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND
present occasion. The supplies granted by the state are so liberal that they remove any apprehension of want." And a short while later (in October) General Washington again wrote the chief magistrate of Maryland: "My present engagements will not allow me to add more than my congrat- ulations on the happy event [alluding to the surrender of the British army at Yorktown] and to express the high sense I have of the powerful aid which I have derived from the state of Maryland in complying with my every request to the executive of it." These signal services of Governor Lee to the cause of liberty entitle him to a high place among the patriots of the nation.
The legislature elected a successor to Governor Lee on November 22, 1782, and at the same time adopted a series of resolutions commending the retiring executive. Upon relinquishing the gubernatorial office Mr. Lee was elected delegate to the Continental congress, in which he served in 1783 and 1784. He was chosen a delegate to the constitu- tional convention of 1787, but declined to serve; in 1788, however, he was chosen a member of the state convention which ratified the constitution. Mr. Lee was again elected governor of Maryland in 1792, following George Plater in office. His second administration covered two years, from 1792 to 1794, and witnessed as one of its most important issues the so-called "whiskey insurrection." In 1794 the residents of Western Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland opposed the government in its endeavors to collect revenue from the distillers of domestic alcoholic drinks. The insur- rection assumed serious proportions, and the governors of several states, including Maryland, were called upon to supply troops to war against the revolters. By prompt action the enemies of the federal government were defeated before the spirit of revolt against the central government had been permitted to spread. During Governor Lee's
I3
THOMAS SIM LEE
second term he was active in reorganizing the state militia. At the close of his service as governor, in 1794, Mr. Lee established a winter home in Georgetown, D. C. His house became the headquarters for members of the federal party, an organization which Lee heartily supported. He was elected to the United States senate in 1794, and in November, 1798, was unanimously chosen governor of Maryland for what would have made his third administra- tion as the state's executive, but he declined both honors.
Governor Lee was married on October 27, 1771, to Miss Mary Digges, whose father-Ignatius Digges-was a rich landowner of Prince George's county. The young couple soon after took up their residence in Frederick county, where Lee purchased an estate of more than 1500 acres and turned farmer on a large scale. The wife of the governor- known to history as Mrs. Mary Lee-was active during the years of the Revolution in making clothing for the troops and in performing other patriotic services. There were four sons and six daughters in the Lee family. Governor Lee died at his Frederick county home, Needwood, on November 9, 1819, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. Posterity is forced to draw its own conclusions as to the personal appearance of Thomas Sim Lee. He is reputed to have been a very handsome man, but left no portrait of himself. Word pictures, therefore, are the only ones of Maryland's second governor left to the reader, and these, in addition to writing him down as a handsome man, relate that he was six and a third feet high, and that every inch of him was "magnificently proportioned."
III WILLIAM PACA
When the historian attempts to price the services of a war politician, his folly leads him into a labyrinth of uncer- tainties from which he will find it very difficult to extricate himself. The average statesman may be measured ac- cording to accepted standards, his labors all labeled and their value correctly calculated. The military leader is also easily disposed of. Data concerning his army and the opposing troops are available; the exact positions of the contending forces may be finely worked out, and all his conflicts reduced to mathematical proportions. But with the war politician the order of things is altogether reversed; nothing is tangible, everything is vague. What has been accomplished, so much is certain; but how it was accom- plished must always remain a quantity of unknown value. The people-that is, the masses-may have been full charged for action long before the leader came, needing only an oratorical spark from him to ignite their concealed passion ; on the other hand, at his coming they may have been altogether opposed to the things he advocated, making it necessary for him to prepare them for his doctrine before attempting to impart it, or his lot may have been cast where existing conditions were any one of a hundred varieties between these two extremes. It is essential that cognizance be taken of this futility of attempting to weigh accurately the influence of war politicians, in order to be safeguarded from wrongly estimating the worth to his state of Maryland's third governor, and with that cognizance there may come a disinclination to form any estimate at all.
WILLIAM PACA 1782-1785
CIP:MIG . 9 ATH. E. BUCHHOLZ
.
WILLIAM DAGA
mi puntorp, las folly leads bito intors labranth & son er- Attes war which Jie wel dado very difficult to extiicate
ADAT MAIILIT
2851-5851
lo ile thong sosfrosted, making it nyhet pay for the doctrine before
this stateof Maria's thứ coreniengnisage: there rug cute
COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ.
I 5
WILLIAM PACA
When the time arrived for electing a successor to Gov- ernor Lee, the general assembly nominated, in November, 1782, St. John Jenifer and William Paca as candidates for state executive. Mr. Paca was elected, and the legislature thus put the administrative affairs of the commonwealth in the hands of a war politician. William Paca was born at Wye Hall, the country seat of the Pacas in Harford county, on October 31, 1740. The governor's father, John Paca, who had early settled in Maryland, held office under the pro- prietary governors. His independent fortune enabled him to give William, who was his second son, a more thorough educa- tion than was enjoyed by most youths of pre-Revolutionary days. At home the boy received careful guidance in the cus- tomary branches of classical instruction, and he was afterward sent to Philadelphia to complete his academic studies. At the Philadelphia College-the nucleus of the University of Pennsylvania-Mr. Paca took his bachelor's degree on June 8, 1759. In the same year he began to read law under Stephen Bordley, of Annapolis, and in 1761 was admitted to practice in the mayor's court. Later he went abroad to finish his legal studies, entering Middle Temple, London, as a student, and, upon his return to America, settled in An- napolis and was admitted to practice in the provincial court.
It was during the years of study at Annapolis that Paca made the acquaintance of Samuel Chase, and these two men, vastly different in many respects but both passionate in speech and fond of debate, formed a lasting friendship. At this time also Mr. Paca made his first matrimonial ven- ture, marrying, in 1761, Miss Mary Lloyd, the daughter of Benjamin Chew Lloyd, of Anne Arundel county. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Paca made his first public appearance as a politician, and almost simultaneously with that appearance began his career upon the side of England's most outspoken opponents in America. The stamp act in 1765 and every
I6
GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND
subsequent endeavor to impose upon England's colonies unjust taxation brought wrathful denunciation from him. He was a member of the Maryland provincial assembly from 1771 to 1774, and throughout that time was loud in his opposition to the domination of England over the American colonies. In 1774 Mr. Paca became a member of the committee of correspondence, and a year later served in the council of safety. When the port of Boston was closed he was appointed one of the five Maryland delegates to the congress "for the relief of Boston and the preservation of American liberty." He represented Maryland in the Con- tinental congress from 1774 to 1779. Although serving as representative for a people who repeatedly disavowed any hostile intentions toward England, he still labored untir- ingly for the war party. In 1775 he and Samuel Chase supplied from their own purses funds for providing a volun- teer corps with rifles.
A few months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted, a rumor reached the Maryland assembly that some rash people desired congress to declare independence of England, and the members of the assembly became anxious for fear that the representatives from Maryland would join in such an unwise course. Accordingly, a resolu- tion was adopted which declared that Maryland did not entertain views or desires for separation, and "would not be bound by the vote of a majority of congress to declare independence." This attitude continued to the very eve of the passing of the Declaration of Independence. But William Paca, burning with the fire of youth and thirsting for warfare, would deliver a passionate address, appealing to the congress to visit summary punishment upon England for her inconsiderate domination, and then turn to receive a fresh reminder from his constituents that nothing was farther from their desire than a severance of that peace-
I7
WILLIAM PACA
giving, happy relationship which bound England and Maryland. Whether Paca's passion roused Marylanders finally to action, or whether the very excess of his fire was responsible for their apparent hesitancy, is one of those doubtful points that must be encountered in the life of the war politician. At last, on June 28, 1776, the Maryland convention withdrew the restrictions it had placed upon the delegates in congress and Mr. Paca and his associates were advised that they might vote as their judgment dictated. Passion had already dictated, and, with startling prompt- ness, they voted for a declaration of independence. The name of William Paca has been accorded a prominence in the minds of Marylanders somewhat out of proportion to the intrinsic worth of his services as compared with those of other leaders of his time, solely because his signature was attached to the Declaration of Independence. And yet it was not through the labors of Paca himself, so much as through those of the larger statesmen, such as Thomas Johnson and Charles Carroll, that he was at last privileged to sign the Declaration as Maryland's representative in congress.
Mr. Paca was named August 17, 1776, one of a committee to "prepare a declaration and charter of rights and a form of government for Maryland," and when that state govern- ment was inaugurated he was chosen as a senator in the first assembly. He was also active in the organization of the army that was to sustain the Declaration of Independ- ence, and was one of the committee from Maryland that assisted in planning a naval armament to defend the approach to Philadelphia. With the establishment of some form of government in the colonies Paca readily turned to the judi- ciary. His training had been strictly legal and his leaning was always toward law. In March, 1778, he was appointed chief judge of the general court of Maryland, in which
I8
GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND
office he continued for several years. Just before he was chosen state executive he served as chief judge of the court of appeals in prize and admiralty cases. Paca was elected governor in November, 1782, and the first year of his admin- istration witnessed the beginning of peace in America. Indeed, he was governor when the independence of the colonies became an established fact, for that independence was dependent upon the ability to sustain the declara- tion. During the three years that he was chief magis- trate of Maryland his administration was much concerned with the task of smoothing out the rough places of a hur- riedly contrived government and in seeking to lighten the burden of the home-coming warriors.
Late in the year 1783, Governor Paca invited congress to Annapolis and threw his own house open to the presi- dent of that body. It was here that Washington, on Decem- ber 23, 1783, surrendered his commission in the presence of the governor, the general assembly and the Continental congress; and while congress was sitting in Annapolis, the treaty of peace, which had been concluded and signed at Paris, was here ratified, on January 14, 1784. Among the noteworthy activities of Mr. Paca while governor was his labor on behalf of the returning soldiers, who had been promised fifty acres of land under Governor Lee's adminis- tration. On May 6, 1783, he informed the members of the assembly that a very considerable number of the troops of the Maryland Line "returned are not nor ever will be fit for service again. They are incapable of doing active duty and ought to be turned over to the invalid corps." And he worked faithfully to see that the men who had contracted sickness on the battlefield were provided for in their distress. After his gubernatorial administra- tion, Mr. Paca was chosen a member of the Maryland con- vention which ratified the constitution of the United States.
19
WILLIAM PACA
He was appointed by Washington in December, 1789, judge of the United States court of the District of Maryland, and served in this office until his death in 1799. He was vice-president of the Maryland branch of the Society of the Cincinnati from 1784 to 1799. Governor Paca was instrumental in establishing Washington College, at Chester- town, Md., and throughout his life was a strong advocate of higher education. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Paca was married, 1777, to Miss Anne Harrison, of Phila- delphia, by whose death, however, a few years later he again became a widower. A writer of earlier times is authority for the statement that "Mr. Paca was a man of remarkably graceful address, fine appearance and polished manner; he had mixed long in the best society and had improved his social powers to a very high degree of refinement. In the office of governor his superiority in these respects was very strikingly displayed, and the courtesies of the executive mansion have never been more elegantly sustained than during his tenure of office."
IV WILLIAM SMALLWOOD
During the years of America's struggle for independence the people of Maryland placed the administrative affairs of the commonwealth in the hands of men who were more at home in the legislative hall and in the courtroom than upon the battlefield. The first and third governors- Johnson and Paca-had been preeminently jurists, although Mr. Johnson at one time had a leaning toward the war department; Governor Lee, too, was unacquainted with the life of a warrior. But when the war ceased, although the people of the colonies heartily welcomed relief from the strain that had been imposed by the struggle to maintain independence, they felt foremost in their bosoms a passion for militarism. There were certainly men in the land who knew more about government than Washington, but there was none who was as completely enveloped in the glory of the soldier, and so it was Washington who was first chosen to hold the reins of the federal government. And as the leaning of the nation was toward the men who had worn uniforms, so in Maryland the people's eyes, when they sought a successor to Governor Paca, rested first upon one who, perhaps more than any other, had been accepted as the most famous military man of the state-General Smallwood.
William Smallwood was born in Kent county in 1732. His father, Bayne Smallwood, planter and merchant, had been presiding officer in the court of common pleas in colonial days and also a member of the house of burgesses. Priscilla Heberd Smallwood, the governor's mother was by birth a Virginian. The bringing up of William Smallwood
WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 1785- 1788
TIK BUE HOLZ.
WILLIAM SMALLWOOD
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.