History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 50

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

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The Democratic State Convention of 1838 assembled at the Columbus Theatre on January 8. The attendance was described as "immense." Judge Eber W. Hubbard, of Lorain, was appointed chairman, and Hon. Wilson Shannon, of Bel- mont, was nominated for Governor. Hon. A. G. Thurman was one of the dele- gates. An address to the people was prepared and reported by the following conunittee appointed for the purpose; William Wall, Carter B. Harlan, Allen G. Thurman, Edward Jones and John Bigler. In the evening a banquet in honor of Jackson and New Orleans took place at the National Hotel. The day was further signalized by a parade of the Columbus Guards.

The attendance at the Whig State Convention which met at Columbus May 31 and June 1, 1838, was thus described by the local party organ :7

They [the people] came from ever direction, multitude upon multitude, enlivened amid the cheering sounds of music and marshaled under the "star spangled banner " of our coun try. By Thursday [May 31] the city was literally filled. Every avenue to its approach was blocked with the moving mass. The canal was freighted with hundreds upon hundreds. . . . We shall never forget the moments which we spent in gazing on such hosts of freemen. They were variously computed at from three to six thousand! So immense was the concourse that it was impossible to procure the names of all present. The list which we publish falls many hundred short.

The crowd " paraded on High Street to the southern part of the city, thence on Friend Street to Third and thence on Third to the Public Square." The con- vention was address by Judge Burnett, Thomas Ewing, Governor Joseph Vance and General Murphy. Joseph Vance was chairman.

The Whig State Central Committeemen in 1839 were Alfred Kelley, Joseph Ridgway, Senior, Warren Jenkins, Lewis Heyl and Samuel Douglas.

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

A meeting to ratify the nominations of Harrison and Tyler for the Presidency and Vice Presidency was held December 18, 1839, in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church. Alfred Kelley presided, and Moses B. Corwin, Thomas Ewing and Bellamy Storer delivered addresses. On motion of James L. Bates a committee of five was appointed to prepare resolutions.

The Van Buren (Democratie) State Convention was held in Columbus Jannary 8, 1840. The members of the Democratic State Central Committee in that year were Carter B. Harlan, Bela Latham, Samuel Medary, A. G. Hibbs, Peter Kauf- man, John Patterson and John McElvain. Alfred Kelley, who was suggested as the Whig candidate for Governor, publicly stated that he did not desire to be con- sidered in that connection. The Whig County Convention held January 25, 1840, was thus mentioned under date of January 28: " Pursuant to notice given a large and respectable meeting of the friends of Harrison and Tyler was held in the basement of the Presbyterian Church."

The memorable political campaign of 1840 was opened for the Whig party in Ohio by a great convention of that party held at Columbus on Friday and Satur- day February 21 and 22. The most extended account of it given by the local press was that contained in the Ohio Confederate, a weekly paper then edited by John G. Miller. In that account the attendance at the convention was estimated at twenty thousand, representing all parts of the State. The Bulletin, expressing the Democratic view, acknowledged that the " Whigs had effected a great turnout . . . probably four or five thousand." The "gathering of the clans" was thus described by the Confederate :

For several days previous to Thursday, the twentieth, delegates from all parts of the State had reached the city, so that on the morning of that day the hotels were already filled to overflowing ; and throughout the day they continued to arrive in rapid succession, though without organization and parade. The weather was uncomfortable, the day was rainy; the roads were known to be in bad condition ; some who had failed to discern the true state of the popular mind began to fear least the people should not come ; the apprehension was of short duration; rain and storm and obstacles had nothing to do in this matter; and hour after hour the tide rolled in and the multitude accumulated. The evening [twentieth] brought with it the accession of many thousands to the throng that now filled the streets of the city as the setting sun shone out upon the animating scene his brightest and cheerfulest rays. At this period the united delegations from many of the eastern counties approached the city. ... On the same evening there arrived twentyseven CANAL BOATS bearing delegations from the southern counties. . . . The morning of Friday opened upon the multitude with a clear sky and a delightful temperature. Had a stranger entered the city on that beautiful morning, his eye would have fallen on a variegated scene of surpassing interest which his tongue or his pen might have striven in vain to describe. Among the numerous ensigns, colors, decorations and banners with their pithy sentences and heartstirring mottoes as they waved from the windows of the houses and floated on the standards borne by individuals of the living mass before him, his eye would have rested for a moment on two extended ban- ners stretching from roof to roof of the lofty tenements on either side of the street, bearing the impressive words of truth, CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE, NOT OF OFFICEHOLDERS ! HAR- RISON AND TYLER - THE PILLARS OF REFORM. UNION OF THE WHIGS FOR THE SAKE OF THE UNION.

The Ohio State Journal's account, of February 22, 1840, contained the following passages :

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POLITICAL EVENTS ; 1797-1840.

The rain is pouring in torrents while we write ; the mud is kneedeep in the roads ; all the wintry elements except frost are busy ; but the people are here. The streets of Colum- bus present, despite the weeping clouds, one solid mass of animated, joyous Republicans, all clamorous for the Hero of Tippecanoe and the Thames. We watched the ingathering of the people on Thursday and Friday with a view to write a description of it. But we cannot describe it. From the east, the west, the north and the south the people poured in in dense and continuous streams. On they came, rending the blue welkin with their shouts ... . Banners ingenious in device and splendid in execution loomed in the air; flags were streaming, and all the insignia of freedom swept along in glory and in triumph. Canoes planted on wheels; . .. square-rigged brigs, log cabins, even a minature of old Fort Meigs; all these and more made up the grand scene of excitement and surprise.

The number of persons in attendance as members of the convention, is variously esti- mated at from twelve to twenty thousand. It is impossible to judge of the number with accuracy, as but a very few of the delegations have reported full lists of their members. Numerous, however, as has been and is the crowd, all have been fed and sheltered, and cher- ished. Not a single cheerless or disappointed face can be seen amid the vast assemblage. . . . Just as our paper is going to press we have the pleasure to state that the immense throng, though wading in mud and exposed to the "pitiless peltings" of the rain, still exhibits the best of spirits. AH its joyous enthusiasm.

Concerning the parade of Saturday, twentysecond, we have in the same paper of later date the following account :

On the twentysecond the windows of heaven were opened and torrents fell as if to show us that clouds and adversity, as well as sunshine and prosperity, are the lot of those who do their duty. At an early hour the immense multitude, filling the streets, the pavements, the houses, began under the direction of skillful marshals to do what seemed the most hopeless task, to form from such confusion, into the most perfect order. To accomplish this the dif- ferent vehicles filled and followed by the various delegations wheeled into line from the various cross streets of the city. Twenty full bands of music, in large cars drawn by four horses each sent up their music. Immense canoes, each carrying from fifty to eighty men- one bearing the emblem of our Western Empire State, the Buckeye tree -rising full forty feet from the stern and carrying a large and beautifully executed portrait of General Harrison (executed by that accomplished artist, Mr. Wilson, of this city) and all drawn by eight beau- tiful white horses most skillfully driven8. A throng of hundreds followed in close column. Another large canoe, drawn by six horses, and bearing flags and inscriptions, was followed by hundreds in the same order. Numerous log cabins, the peculiar emblem of the Young West. ... Numbers of these iude structures with all their usual accompaniments - the smoke rising from the chimney of mud and sticks, the horns and skins of animals, the " coon" and the deer, were seen fastened to the walls - within, and on the roof, sat many of those who, if they do now inhabit more costly and modern structures, yet have in earlier times made such dwellings as these their homes, eating the neverfailing "corncakes" of the West. These were on wheels, and drawn by four and six horses each, and followed by the thous- ands of wortby delegates who came with them. The skill of the artist had multiplied the portraits of the " Hero of the Thames and the Farmer of North Bend, " and paintings of log cabins, as well as the cabins themselves, were borne aloft. The " Mad River trappers, " with their cabins, were not bebind. . .. Licking with her steamboat under a full head of steam, black smoke rising from her chimney, and wheels in motion, drawn by a tandem team of five or six horses driven with unparalleled skill. The men of Guernsey followed with their beantiful skiff drawn by four horses. . .. Fort Meigs was there, decorated with flags and arms and strongly garrisoned. The gallant brig from Cuyahoga with canvas spread, her flag and ensign all in holiday trim, her manly officers and crew returning the cheers of the crowd while the voice of a hardy mariner mounted in the chains throwing the lead, told the

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

fathoms of water (and mud) beneath the gallant bark. . . . One delegation of noble fellows bore aloft, perched on a pole, the magnificent "bird of Jove," the American Eagle . .. Who shall portray the deep emotions of the crowd when the empty saddle with the housings and trappings of General Washington - of scarlet velvet and silver fringe, borne on a wbite horse led by one of the Light Guards of the Father of his Country,9 passed along . . . The precious and well preserved relic was sent from Marietta by a nieee of Washington

After the procession, accompanied by a most splendid escort of the military of Zanes- ville, Putnam, and of this eity, had swept along through the various streets, stretehing miles in length and cheered by shouts from the crowd, and by the waving of flags from almost every window by the ladies who filled them - then, at noon, the great convention reassembled. . . . The first orators of the State were listened to and cheered for hours, amid the falling rain, as they uttered words of eloquence and patriotism. The close of the evening witnessed the still busy and earnest movements of the excited and determined multitude. Night came, and still the soul stirring words of talented and eloquent men were pouring out to groups of thousands, even in the marketplace and wherever the multitude could find space whereon to rest their feet.

The Convention assembled in the open air, at the corner of High and Broad streets, called General Resin Beall to preside, and appointed nineteen vice presi- dents, as follows: Charles S. Clarkson, Hamilton ; William Carr, Butler ; Aurora Spofford, Wood ; Isaiah Morris, Clinton ; Thomas L. Shields, Clermont; John C. Bestow, Meigs; John Crouse, Ross; Forrest Meeker, Delaware; George Saunder- son, Fairfield ; Charles Anthony, Clark ; Solomon Bently, Belmont; David Chambers, Muskingum ; Daniel S. Norton, Knox; Eleutheros Cooke, Erie; Frederick Wadsworth, Portage; Storin Ross, Geanga ; Joseph Manse, Columbiana ; Solomon Markham, Stark ; Hugh Downing, Jefferson. One delegate for every ten from each congressional district was chosen to serve on a committee to pro- pose a suitable person for nomination for Governor, and a committee to propose Presidential Electors - two at large and one from each distriet - was made up in the same manner. These committees met, respectively, in the basements of the First Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. The convention was addressed by General Beall, Hon. Thomas Ewing, Charles Anthony, Esq., Hon. John C. Wright, O. P. Baldwin, Esq., and General W. S. Murphy. Thomas Corwin, of Warren County, was nominated for Governor, and William R. Putnam of Washington, and Resin Beall of Wayne, for electors-at-large. A long platform was reported by Judge Wright from the Committee on Presidential Electors, and was adopted. From the same committee Alfred Kelley reported a series of reasons for opposing the reelection of Van Buren. These reasons were also adopted, as were resolutions reported by H. Griswold, of Stark, condemning the secret cancus and machine rule ; the creation of offices to make places for favorites, and the penitentiary system of contract labor. Messrs. Alfred Kelley, Joseph Ridgway, Senior, John W. Andrews, Robert Neil, John L. Miner, Francis Stewart, Lewis Heyl, N. M. Miller and Lyne Starling, Junior, were appointed members of a State Central Committee. "The whole of this day's sitting of the convention, as well as the formation of the procession of the delegations " stated one of the reports, " was under a heavy and continual torrent of rain."

This phenomenal convention signalizes an epoch in Ohio politics. It was the most unique political event in the history of Columbus. Standing in the rain on

four Very July

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POLITICAL EVENTS; 1797-1840.

a midwinter day this body of enthusiastic citizens adopted the following remark- able declaration of principles :

Resolved, That the permanency of our republican institutions depends upon preserving, unimpaired, to the several States and to each branch of the General Government, the full and free exercise of their constitutional rights.

That the practical tendency of our government as at present administered is to concen- trate all political power and influence in the National Government, and to throw the power thus concentrated into the hands of the President.

That to prevent the attainment of absolute power by the National Executive, and to restore to the legislative and judicial branches of the General Government, and to the several States, the free and unbiased exercise of their constitutional rights, the following principles should be adopted and enforced :

First. That the power of the President to appoint and remove officers at his pleasure, which is the great source of his overwhelming influence, should be restricted within the nar- rowest limits allowed by the Constitution.

Second. That as all offices are created for the benefit of the people, the advancement of the public good should be the sole motive of official action.

Third. That no person should serve as President for more than one term, so that he can have no motive to administer the government with reference to his own reelection.

Fourth. That any law which will place the public moneys of the nation in the hands of the President or in the hands of officers appointed by him, removable at his pleasure, and therefore subservient to his will, is obviously calculated to increase his power and influence ; is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, and is dangerous to the liberties of the people.

Fifth. That the practice of appointing members of Congress to offices in the gift of the President, is calculated to corrupt the members of that body and give the executive a danger- ous influence over the legislative branch of the government.

Sixth. That the immediate representatives of the people are most competent to decide questions relating to the general welfare of the nation, and that the veto power of the Execu- tive should seldom or never be exercised except to preserve the Constitution from manifest violation.

Seventh. That no offices should be created except such as are required by the public good ; and that the creation of any office, trust or place for the purpose of rewarding partisan services or gratifying political favorites, is a flagrant abuse that calls loudly for correction.

Eighth. That the practice of considering offices " the spoils of political victory," bestow- ing them as rewards for partisan services or taking them away as punishment for political independence, tends to make men mercenary in their motives, corrupt in the exercise of their privileges, and to vest in the President despotic power.

Ninth. That the use of official power or the facilities afforded by official station to influ- ence elections is an improper interference with the rights and dangerous to the liberties of the people.

Resolved, That all salaries or official compensation, of whatever kind, should be a fair equivalent for the services rendered, taking into view the skill and talents required, and nothing more; so that pecuniary emolument can never form a leading inducement to seek for or accept office.

Resolved, That if it be the interest of officeholders to appropriate any portion of their salaries to electioneering purposes, with a view to sustaining those from whom they hold their appointments, and themselves in office (as proved to be the case with the custom house officers in New York), it is conclusive evidence that those salaries are too high and should be reduced.

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

Resolved, That all officers should be held to a rigid accountability for the manner in which they discharge their official duties, and especially for all public moneys that may come into their hands.

Resolved, That a careful appropriation of the public money to specific objects-its scrupulous application to the specific objects only to which it is appropriated, with rigid economy in its expenditure, are necessary in order to prevent its use for electioneering pur- poses, as well as to preserve the people from oppressive taxation.

Resolved, That it is the duty of the General and State Governments to secure a safe and uniform currency, as well for the use of the people as for the use of the government, so far as the same can be done without transcending the constitutional limits of their authority ; and that all laws calculated to provide for the officeholders a more safe or valuable currency than is provided for the people, tend to invert the natural order of things, making the servant supe- rior to the master, and are both oppressive and unjust.

Here follow the reasons for opposing the reelection of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency. Among these reasons are the following :

Because he practices upon the abominable doctrine that " offices are the spoils of politi- cal victory," bestowing them as rewards of party subserviency, regardless of the unfitness of the persons selected, and removing the most faithful and competent public officers for the sole crime of thinking and acting as free men.

Because he permits and encourages officers holding appointments under him improperly to interfere in political contests, thus " bringing the patronage of the General Government into conflict with the freedom of the elections."

Following these " reasons " were some declarations condemnatory of alleged abuses in State politics, as for example :

The practice of requiring candidates for judicial appointments to pledge themselves as a condition on which they are to receive such appointments, to decide the most important and difficult questions which can come before a court of justice in accordance with the political views of those who hold such appointments in their hands; a practice so abhorrent to all correct notions of judicial integrity, and so utterly at war with the safety of our dearest rights that no legislature previous to the present has had the hardihood to think of its adop- tion.

The practice of members of the legislature discussing and determining, in secret con- clave, on the most important acts of legislation, so that neither the motives nor the advocates of such acts can be known to the people.

The creation of offices not required by the public good for the purpose of making places to be filled by hungry officeseekers, and especially by members of the legislature, thereby greatly increasing the heavy burden already imposed on the people.

The unnecessary consumption of the time of the legislature, and the enormous in- crease of expense, occasioned by legislating upon matters of a purely personal and local char- acter.

The adoption of improper and rejection of proper measures with the sole view of benefit- ing a political party, regardless of the injury inflicted on the public.

Resolved, That our Penitentiary system, as carried out in practice, operates injuriously on the interests of a numerous and respectable class of citizens, and should be so modified as not to come in competition with the free labor of the honest mechanic, so far as the same can be done without making that institution a burden upon the State Treasury.

A concluding resolution recommended that a cordial popular welcome be extended to Ex-President Jackson should he, as was then expected, visit Ohio on the next anniversary of National Independence.

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POLITICAL EVENTS; 1797-1840.

NOTES.

1. J. H. Kennedy in the Magazine of American History for December, 1886.

2. The War of 1812 was then in progress.

3. Near where the Exchange Hotel now stands.

4. Ohio State Journal.

5. Imprisonment for debt was abolished in Ohio by act of the General Assembly March 19, 1838, to take effect on July 4 of that year.

6. Ohio State Journal, July 29, 1830.

7. Ohio State Journal, June 1, 1838.

8. The driver was William Neil, of Columbus.

9. Lewis Bowyer, said to have been the sole survivor of Washington's Lifeguard.

CHAPTER XXIV.

POLITICAL EVENTS; 1840-1848.

The phenomenal campaign of 1840, was predominantly a popular revolt against caucus dictation, the abuse of patronage and official interference in par- tisan polities. Antagonism to these things is the keynote of the Columbus plat. form, and as such rings out with elearness and force which have never been sur- passed. It was reiterated and emphasized by the national leader of the Whigs. In his letter accepting their nomination' General Harrison had said : " I deem it . . proper at this time to renew the assurance heretofore frequently made . that should I be elected to the Presidency I will under no circumstances consent to be a candidate for a second term." In a letter of June 16, 1840, the Generalª repeated this declaration and further avowed that, if eleeted, he would never attempt to influence the elections either by the people or the state legislatures, nor suffer national officers under his control to take any other part in them than that of casting their own votes ; that he would never suffer the influence of his office to be used for purely partisan purposes ; and that in removals from office of those holding appointments at the pleasure of the Executive the cause of such removals should be stated, if requested, to the Senate. At the head of its editorial columns the Columbus organ of the Whigs kept these legends standing :

One Presidential term.

Executive power and patronage confined within the limits of the Constitution.

Economy in public expenditure.

Rigid accountability of public officers.

The partronage of the General Government not to be brought into conflict with the freedom of elections.

Such were the predominating ideas of this wonderful campaign They carried General Harrison into the Presidency. Their statement is necessary to a correct understanding of the local as well as of the State and National political history of the period.

One of the most striking features of the campaign was its songs, the most successful and widelyknown singer and composer of which was John Greiner, of Columbus.3 The origin of another picturesque peculiarity singularly appropriate to the polities of a pioneer generation, is thus explained :

[388]

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POLITICAL EVENTS ; 1840-1848.

The Baltimore American, a Democratic newspaper, after General Harrison's nomination sneeringly remarked concerning him that he was obscure and unimportant ; that for $2,000 a year he would be content to remain in his log cabin and drink hard cider for the balance of his days. This sneer was seized by the Whigs as their battlecry against the oppo- sition. It was first adopted in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. and on the twentieth of January, 1840, a transparency with a log cabin painted upon it was 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 kept constantly before the peo- ple. Log cabins were built in every village, and carried in every procession.4

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 50

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196