USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Four > Part 2
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10
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
if collected, was to be subject to the order of the Treas- urer of State for the payment of the canal debt, if the Legislature saw fit to apply it to that purpose. The income of the loans was appropriated to the common schools and was to be apportioned among the townships or school districts in proportion to the number of children between four and twenty-one years of age. If the United States should call for any part of its deposit the Treasurer of State was to notify each county of the proportionate amount it was required to refund. It was finally provided that in the year 1839, and every enumeration thereafter, the Auditor of State was to reapportion the fund among the counties of the State proportionably to the number of white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years by the latest enumera- tion. Under the first and only reapportionment a redistribution was made in 1840.
Under this plan Ohio proceeded to distribute the money of the Government. This amounted to $2,007,- 260.34. For that day and for a young State it was a vast sum. Many of the states, yielding to the temp- tation which such a great fund naturally created, dissipated it by paying current expenses, squandered it in banking, or invested it in unworthy and valueless stocks. The manner in which Ohio treated this trust reflects credit upon the business management of her State officials. The character of its investment is a tribute to the integrity and sagacity of the men who had this work in charge.
The statement which follows, taken from the Annual Report of the Auditor of State for 1841, shows how
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
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much each county received, first, under the act of March 28, 1837, and second, under the reapportionment provided for by that act. The counties in the first column not charged with any amount, either were not organized or did not comply with the conditions required to share in the funds.
Counties
Amount re- ceived by each county under act of March, 1837.
Amount held by each county subsequent to reapportionment of 1840.
Adams
$19,682.32
$19,682.32
Allen .
8,422.03
10,707.44
Ashtabula
33,797.67
33,384.01
Athens.
17,728.4I
30,322.78
Belmont
48,030.94
40,471.74
Brown
25,687.24
25,687.24
Butler
43,095.61
40,251.12
Carroll.
26,689.47
26,642.II
Champaign
25,266.13
24,296.83
Clark.
27,093.72
25,351.72
Clermont.
35,667.37
30,922.61
Clinton.
19,926.55
19,926.55
Columbiana
57,438.37
52,220.27
Coshocton.
24,306.03
27,730.38
Crawford
13,332.09
15,974.96
Cuyahoga
49,866.94
39,044.54
Darke.
14,073.24
15,974.96
Delaware.
25,678.81
24,545.04
Erie .
15,492.35
Fairfield.
41,470.17
43,346.82
Fayette
14,485.92
14,485.92
Franklin.
34,623.03
36,838.24
Gallia.
14,173.79
14,173.79
Geauga
44,384.19
28,626.36
Greene.
28,028.58
28,028.58
Guernsey
35,119.93
32,977.24
Hamilton
89,282.14
101, 165.56
Hancock.
8,523.10
11,707.17
Hardin.
4,2II.OI
4,950.38
3 1833 02324 120 8
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Counties
Amount re- ceived by each county under act of March, 1837.
Amount held by each county subsequent to reapportionment of 1840.
Harrison.
$31,144.72
$26,723.76
Henry
4,2II.OI
4,2II.OI
Highland.
28,516.38
Hocking
8,422.03
8,422.03
Holmes
20,768.76
18,960.35
Jackson
42,135.5I
35,748.89
Knox
30,572.02
35,100.79
Lake.
54,970.71
56,812.08
Logan
17,475.75
18,525.99
Lorain
20,684.55
25,489.62
Lucas.
8,422.03
8,422.03
Madison
14,II5.34
11,900.2I
Marion.
20,760.34
18,436.37
Medina
29,039.22
24,076.2I
Meigs.
12,750.97
14,609.81
Mercer
5,000.00
Miami.
32,669.1I
32,669.II
Monroe.
20,970.90
20,970.90
Montgomery
45,756.99
43,422.66
Morgan.
23,876.50
24,924.25
Muskingum.
53,193.66
53,193.66
Ottawa.
2,875.00
Paulding.
4,207.00
4,207.00
Perry .
25,788.30
25,788.30
Pickaway ..
27,801.18
26,882.33
Pike.
9,289.51
9,659.44
Portage
53,833.74
34,859.48
Preble
30,445.69
26,241.14
Putnam
4,2II.OI
6,474.10
Richland.
53,252.6I
54,874.71
Ross.
39,280.42
39,280.42
Sandusky
15,959.77
12,879,17
Scioto
11,580.00
15,768.13
Seneca
23,817.55
21,607.91
Shelby
12,237.22
17,222.90
Stark.
53,421.06
48,028.3I
Summit
29,330.02
11,914.00
Jefferson.
18,144.83
Licking
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Counties
Amount re- ceived by each county under act of March, 1837.
Amount held by each county subsequent to reapportionment of 1840.
Trumbull
$57,438.37
$51,454.95
Tuscarawas.
29,022.37
30,088.37
Union.
8,733.66
9,383.65
Warren.
36,898.05
32,949.62
Washington
21,787.83
26,248.02
Wayne
43,499.88
43,499.88
Williams
4,214.02
4,214.02
Wood.
10,872.85
10,872.85
Total
$1,945,575.36
$1,989,482.04
Pursuing further this legislative history, we find that the State, by an act passed March 13, 1843 (Ohio Laws, 41, page 80), authorized the Commissioners of the Canal Fund to borrow not exceeding $1,500,000 to pay the amounts due the contractors of the public works, and for this purpose to issue bonds or certificates bearing a rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent. For the redemption of these bonds, which were payable January 1, 1852, there was set apart and specifically pledged and appropriated the surplus revenue received from the United States, and from the first day of Jan- uary, 1850, that fund was to be held for such redemption.
Preparing to draw in the money loaned in the coun- ties, the county fund commissioners were authorized to receive these bonds in payment from those who had borrowed the surplus fund, and no new loans were to be made.
The common school fund was protected and provided for in this law by requiring that upon all payments into the State Treasury of the principal of the surplus
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
revenue prior to 1850, the commissioners of the canal fund should set apart a fund upon which the Treasurer of State should annually pay interest at the rate of five per cent. to the common school fund, and one per cent. to each county on the amount paid in by such county.
By the law of February 27, 1846 (Ohio Laws 44, page 68), the Auditor and Treasurer of each county supplanted the county fund commissioners in the collection of the surplus revenue loans.
The counties commenced paying their proportion into the State Treasury in 1846. Up to November 15, 1849, $839,012.68 had been paid in, and by Novem- ber 15, 1855, about $1,700,000 had been returned. In 1862, all but twenty-five counties had paid their loans to the State. In order to hasten payment these coun- ties were authorized to levy a tax to raise what was unpaid. By an act passed April 7, 1869 (Ohio Laws, 66, page 69), the auditors and treasurers of the coun- ties which had paid or would pay their portions, were authorized to collect by suit any amounts that remained unpaid to these counties by the borrowers, and the county commissioners were authorized to retain what was collected and to place it to the credit of any fund they might think best for the county.
In 1871, all of the counties had returned their pro- portion except Highland, but in 1875, after making yearly payments, this county paid its entire account into the State Treasury. Thus the financial faith was kept, and the full sum of the surplus revenue fund which was loaned to the counties was returned with interest to the State. It was a striking instance of civic integrity as well as of prudent financial management.
15
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
The last act of this narrative of legislation related to furnishing certain relief to individual borrowers and their successors in title. When the county fund commissioners made loans to individuals, and when the loan was paid into the county treasury, no one had authority to cancel the mortgage securing these loans. These mortgages remained uncancelled until the act of March 30, 1896 (Ohio Laws 92, page 10I) was passed; by this act the Governor was authorized and directed to execute and deliver a release of such mort- gages.
Two summaries will conclude the financial history of this subject. The first is a statement from the books of the Auditor of State, showing the original disposition of the surplus revenue, as follows:
Total amount received from the United States. . .... $2,007,260.34 Amount originally received by counties $1,945,575-36 Loaned to canal fund commissioners. . 61,683.02 Balance in Treasury undistributed. . . 1.96
Total $2,007,260.34 The second summary, from the same source, shows the appropriations made by the State up to and includ- ing 1850 out of the fund at different times, and for the following purposes:
Redemption of turnpike bonds. $337,369.85 Redemption or purchase of State bonds (7 per cent. stock). 650,763.87 Payment of faith and credit bonds, to be refunded out of sinking fund. 92,742.00 Total amount of interest received by the State. $1,423,216.37
Of this interest $1,245,891.79 was paid to the common school fund and a small portion to the counties. The balance, $177,324.58, was paid into the sinking fund.
16
RISE AND PROGRESS OF AN AMERICAN STATE
To sum up the use that Ohio made of the surplus, it can be said that the principal was first loaned to the counties and when returned to the State that it was afterwards gradually used to pay the debts contracted for internal improvements. All this time the interest was used for the maintenance of the school system.
CHAPTER II. THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN OF 1840
T HE political campaigns in Ohio at certain periods form not only an instructive historical lesson, but also an interesting psychological study. For twenty years after the State was organized Ohio was a part of that untroubled political sea dominated by the Democratic-Republican party, which, after the election of Jefferson, spread unopposed over the Western country. For Ohio it was the political era of "good feeling," when party spirit was unnecessary and unknown, and little feeling was aroused outside of local contests in which person- ality and local measures alone disturbed the monotony. In 1820 the Federalist party had, indeed, become so moribund nationally that Monroe was chosen President for a second term by but one dissenting electoral vote.
Though there was a lack of organization, there was plenty of spirit and vituperation expended over party politics and personalities, due to the disappointed ambitions of some of the most distinguished leaders in the dominant party. These dissatisfied elements read- ily took form in determined opposition. This opposi- tion in the presidential campaign of 1824 crystallized about the prominent leaders of the Democratic-Repub- lican party. In 1824 the party caucus refused to meet in the usual way for the selection of a presidential candidate. So the four great leaders, Jackson, Adams, Clay and Crawford were each announced as candidates by their friends. No others entered the field. In the electoral college Jackson received the highest vote; n then Adams; then Crawford, and finally Clay the lowest, but none received the necessary majority, so the election was thrown into the House of Represent-
20
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
atives. Here Clay, finding his election impossible, threw his strength to Adams and secured his election, whereupon Clay was made Secretary of State. This combination was cynically alluded to as "the bargain" by the Jackson faction, and the claim, whether true or not, proved a potent factor in the election of Jackson in 1828. The Clay following, however, grew apace and in the course of the next ten years crystallized into the Whig party, which after Jackson's second term became a dangerous rival to the Democracy.
In Ohio from the start the Clay following was very strong, and in the presidential election of 1824 he received a slight plurality of the popular vote of this State. In the elections of 1828 and 1832 Ohio gave Jackson a majority. The State at this time displayed that political independence which has since become characteristic, and in 1836 elected Joseph Vance, a Whig, Governor, and gave William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate for President, a respectable major- ity over Van Buren, Democrat. Ohio, indeed, never yielded completely to the masterful organization that Jackson had introduced into his party, but remained essentially Whig until that party's vitality began to wane, because it became indifferent to the great principles of liberty and anti-slavery, which, as events demonstrated, lay at the foundation of Ohio's character. The spirit of Calhoun, the Nullifier, and that of Clay, the Compromiser, drove the Whig party at last into an apathy towards slavery and it. extension that made it repugnant to the conscience of Ohio, and ultimately brought that party to its destruction.
21
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
In the height of its power, however, Ohio furnished the Whig party with a presidential candidate, with whom it registered a national victory. In the elec- tion of William Henry Harrison, in 1840, Ohio cast 148,157 Whig votes, a very considerable majority. The decided anti-slavery views of Harrison, so far as Ohio was concerned, drew over 20,000 votes from the Democratic party.
The nomination for the second time of General Harrison for the presidency was the result of the condition and temper of the times, rather than a consummation of a logical and thoughtful movement. Martin Van Buren, as General Jackson's successor, inherited all the weakness of the latter's administration, with none of its personal and patriotic strength. So that when Van Buren reached the end of his term he headed an administration that rivalled Tyler's and Buchanan's in weakness and inefficiency. Cor- ruption was rampant, and the prostitution of public office to political ends was shameless. Defalcation in high places was common, and Clay cried out, "When before were sixty-three out of sixty-seven receivers of public money defaulters?"
To the political demoralization may be added the disastrous results of the panic of 1837, from the violent and sudden convulsions of which the people were still suffering. Trade was prostrate, industry para- lyzed, money scarce and idleness reigned supreme. It was this condition that the people were seeking to remedy. "The time has come," said Daniel Webster, "when the cry is 'change.' Every breeze says 'change.' Every interest of the country demands it." "This
22
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
s no time to argue," said Henry Clay. "The time for discussion has passed, the Nation has already pro- nounced its sentence. "
The Whig National Convention met at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1839. Three names were presented for the presidential nomination : Henry Clay of Kentucky, General W. H. Harrison of Ohio, and General Winfield Scott of New York. The Convention on December 6 expressed its choice by the following vote: Scott 16, Clay 90 and Harrison 148. On the following day General Harrison was unanimously declared the nominee for President and John Tyler of Virginia the nominee for Vice-President.
At this time the Whig candidate for President was sixty-seven years of age, and was quietly living on a little farm at North Bend, Ohio, a few miles below Cincinnati. He was occupying the humble public office of the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, from which he received annually about fifteen hundred dollars. This had been his sole support since 1834. What little fortune he had ac- quired had been lost in security debts and by his generous treatment of others. His life had been spent in the service of his country, and at no period had he the time or inclination to consecrate himself to money- making. After the War of 1812 his neighbors of the Cincinnati district sent him to Congress; after serving a term he declined further nomination, preferring to go to the State Senate, which he did in 1819. In 1824 he was elected to the United States Senate, from which he resigned in 1828 to accept the position of Minister to Colombia tendered him by President John Quincy
23
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Adams. He was recalled at the beginning of President Jackson's administration and returned to his farm at North Bend.
From this time to his nomination, in addition to his official duties as clerk of the court, he acted as president of the Hamilton County Agricultural Society. His life was that of a modest country gentleman, and what leisure time he had he devoted to historical study. His "Discourse on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio" (Cincinnati, 1838) is regarded to-day as the work of a profound student and scholar, and ranks as one of the most authoritative discussions on the American Indian.
Notwithstanding his comparative retirement, he had always occupied in the eyes of his countrymen a conspicuous place. They viewed him as the great historic character of the West. And while they never placed him beside Webster, Clay, Calhoun or Benton in statesmanship, they gave him a loyal admiration peculiarly his own. To the "plain people" he was the typical American citizen. His simplicity charmed them and his integrity won their confidence. They knew his life had afforded the most alluring opportuni- ties for accumulating wealth during his long govern- ment of Indiana and his superintendence of Indian affairs, but they knew too that his scrupulous integrity had been proof against all these golden temptations. When, therefore, he retired, he did so without the riches or spoils of office, to repose in the honor and confidence of his fellow citizens.
His life became one of the romances of the West, and the literature growing out of it was in many a
24
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
household of the land. No character of his time was more widely read about or more favorably known among Americans. "A Historical Narrative of the Civil and Military Services of Major General William Henry Harrison," by Moses Dawson (Cincinnati, 1834), is the most extensive history of the man and his times. This was written while General Harrison was in private life and had a wide circulation in its day. Other biographies were written by James Hall (Phila- delphia, 1836), by Richard Hildreth (Boston, 1839), and by numerous other authors, some of whom wrote in German and Welsh. So that it can be seen that the farmer of North Bend, even if not in the first rank of statesmen, was prominent as a great American.
Nevertheless, when Harrison's nomination was an- nounced, it was received by the Van Buren adminis- tration, its orators and organs, with one loud guffaw. The party that had selected the farmer of North Bend in preference to Henry Clay or Daniel Webster, its two greatest characters, had certainly lost its senses. Its candidate's poverty was sneered at, and his abilities and qualifications ridiculed. In The Baltimore Ameri- can appeared these words, intended to be of crushing disparagement: "Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year upon him, and, our word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days content in a log cabin."
This sneer, which was fated to become historical, was seized by the Whigs as their battle cry against the opposition. It was first adopted in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and on January 20, 1840, a transparency with a log cabin painted upon it was
25
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
carried through the streets of that place. It spread like wildfire. The log cabin and hard cider became the emblems of the Whig party. In song and display they were constantly kept before the people. Log cabins were built in every village and carried in every Whig procession. Thus originated the effort to ridicule General Harrison on account of his plain method of living, and thus were the words of contempt turned into a campaign shibboleth, which swept from power Van Buren and his party.
The campaign in Ohio opened in the dead of winter at Columbus, where, on February 21, twenty-five thousand people, after traveling through snow, rain and mud, assembled to ratify the nomination. The meeting lasted two days, and on the 22d a procession, composed of delegations from every county in the State, marched in a drenching rain with a spirit of enthusiasm created by devotion to their candidate and hundreds of barrels of hard cider. Some of these delegations had started from their homes a week before. Cuyahoga county and the Western Reserve were in the parade with a full sized brig on wheels completely rigged and manned, with colors flying, and Harrison's portrait at the masthead, with one hand holding a plow and his hat in the other, and beneath was the legend, "The Farmer of North Bend." From Toledo and the northwest came a delegation with a model of Fort Meigs, mounted with brass cannon, and drawn by six horses. From Miami county was a delegation led by Lewis Bow- yer, over eighty years of age, riding on a white horse, with a banner inscribed, "The Last of the Life Guards of General Washington." Following was another white
26
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
horse bearing a standard fastened to the saddle with the inscription, "The Saddle on which the Illustrious Father of his Country Rode when Leading his Country- men to Battle." After this came a number of Revo- lutionary soldiers.
Ross, Pike, Jackson and Scioto counties sent a thou- sand men by canal boats, horseback and on foot. The National Road had been crowded for days with cheering pilgrims from Madison, Clark, Greene, Montgomery and Preble on the west, and from Licking, Muskingum, Guernsey, Belmont and Jefferson on the east. The "Mad River Trappers" were there with a real log cabin, with the raccoon skins hanging upon its sides, and upon the door was written "Hard Cider." The cabin was filled with men in hunting shirts, eating corn bread and singing the songs of the hour. And the crowd cheered lustily as they sang:
"The times are bad and want curing, They are getting past all enduring, So let's turn out Martin Van Buren, And put in Old Tippecanoe."
The formal convention of ratification assembled in the open and inclement air at the corner of High and Broad streets. It was presided over by General Reasin Beall of Wayne county one of General Anthony Wayne's companions in the Indian wars. Every congressional district in the State was repre- sented by a vice-president. All day long the conven- tion listened to orators advocating Harrison's election; among these were Thomas Ewing of Fairfield and Richard Douglas of Ross. The whole spirit and tem- per of the day was that of the wildest enthusiasm;
THOMAS CORWIN
Born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 29, 1794; served as a wagon-boy in the War of 1812; elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1822 and again in 1829; member of Congress, 1831-41; Governor, 1841-43; became United States Senator, 1845; Secretary of the Treasury under President Fillmore, 1850-52; again member of Congress, 1859-61; Minister to Mexico from March, 1861, to May, 1864; died in Washington, D. C., December 18, 1865.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
ing a standard fastened to the sudchle with WIWЯОЭ РАМОНТ ddle on which the Linstrious Father oft ot betools ; s18i fo TsW shf mil vod-nogewig aslbeviseuntry- 10 19dm9m ;0581 ni nisgs bas ss81 ni smutsleigo I oidO Revo-
. . . thou- YSM of . 1081 doisM mort opixeM of 19tainiM : 10-0281 The Nogal Road had been crowded days with cheering Gott Madison, Clark: Ormene, Montgomery mud I'm ble on the west, and from Lacking, Muskingum, Gurmaey, Belmont and Jeffers on the cult. The ·Mad River Trappers" were there with a real log cabina with the raccoon allins hunging upon its sides, and upon the door was writen "Hard Cider." The cabin was filled with men In hunting shirts, cating corn bread and winmy the songs of the hour: And the crowd cheerol " dily as they sung:
"The tes win bed and want curing, They are getting past all enduring, So let's tam bot Martin Van Buren And put: le Oh! Tippecanoe. "
The formal convention of ratification amembled In the open and inelemmem air at the corner of High wut Thaad streets. It was presided orm Ly General Reais Boall of Wayne county one of General Anthony Wayne's companlow in the Indian wars. Every congressional distri in the State wak repre- Lentad by A vice-president. Ati day line the conven- tion listened to drators advocating Darmod'y election; among these were Thomas Ewios / Fairfield and Richant Douglas of Ross. The stal -rif and tem- per of the day was that of the andes enthusiasm,
27
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
although part of the time during the meeting the rain came down in torrents, it did not dampen the ardor of the assembled multitudes. On the second day of the conven- tion Thomas Corwin of Warren was unanimously nomi- nated for Governor, and Harrison electors were selected.
The platform, which was framed by John C. Wright of Hamilton county, Alfred Kelley of Franklin county, and Hiram Griswold of Stark county, was a bitter arraignment of the Democracy, or, as they expressed it, "the British party in power," and the corruption and profligacy of its officeholders. They declared in favor of a change of administration and of governmental policy. They were opposed to one man power, and in favor of the people ruling. They were for protecting the mechanical and manufacturing and laboring interest of America, and the poor people, wherever they might be in the country. General Harrison, the log cabin candidate, was the representative of the hardy yeo- manry, and they would rally around his standard. They declared for him as the representative of the one- term principle, because no one man should be elected President of the United States for two terms in suc- cession, and Martin Van Buren least of all.
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