USA > Ohio > Ross County > Chillicothe > Ohio centennial anniversary celebration at Chillicothe, May 20-21, 1903 : under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society : complete proceedings > Part 26
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Most of the men who have held the office of senator from Ohio also held other offices and places of honor and distinction in the public service.
Two of them, Harrison and Garfield, reached the presidency, and it is a noteworthy coincidence that both died while holding that office.
Morrow, Corwin, Sherman, Thurman, Pendleton and Payne each served one or more terms in the House of Representatives.
Meigs was postmaster-general in the cabinet of President Monroe, and Ewing, Corwin, Chase and Sherman each, in turn, held the office of secretary of the treasury.
Ewing served also as secretary of the interior, and the last office held by Sherman was that of secretary of state.
Chase and Matthews gained seats on the bench of the Su- preme Court of the United States, one as chief justice and the other as an associate justice.
Tappan won distinction as judge of the United States Court for the District of Ohio, and Griswold filled with honor the office of judge of the United States Court for the Northwest Territory, to which he was appointed by President Madison.
By the act of Congress of July 2, 1864, the president was authorized "to invite each state to provide and furnish statutes in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each state, of deceased persons who have been citizens thereof and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civil or military services, such as each state may deem to be worthy of this national commemoration," to be placed in the old hall of the House of Representatives in the capitol of the United States,
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which is set apart as a national statuary hall. Ohio is repre- sented in that hall by marble statues of Garfield and Allen.
Meigs, Brown, Burnet, Morris, and Thurman served as judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and Brown, Corwin, Pen- dleton and Harrison all held high rank in the diplomatic service.
Worthington, Meigs, Trimble, Harrison, Pugh, Matthews,. Brice, Garfield, Hanna and Foraker all served in the army.
Harrison and Garfield were so conspicuous as soldiers that all are familiar with their achievements in that respect, while Trimble was noted among the men of his time for his chivalric deportment and dauntless bravery. He died, when he had only fairly entered on what promised to be a most brilliant and dis- tinguished career in the Senate, from the effects of a wound received in action at Fort Erie. He was the only one of all Ohio's senators who died while holding office. He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington, and his untimely death was mourned universally by the people of Ohio and all his colleagues in public life.
All but five were lawyers and successful practitioners, but of Burnet, Ewing, Tappan, Chase, Pugh, Thurman, and Mat- thews it can be truthfully said that they stood pre-eminent in their profession, without any superiors at the American bar.
Few of the earlier senators served more than one full term and some of them less; but Ruggles and Allen were notable exceptions, the first named served three, and the second two full terms in succession.
Afterward came Wade with three terms, Thurman with two and Sherman with six elections to six full terms, aggregating 36 years, out of which, however, he gave 5 years to service in the cabinets of President Hayes and President Mckinley.
Of the earlier senators, all were Democrats except Harrison, Burnet, Ewing, Corwin and Chase, who were Federalists and Whigs.
Of their successors, Wade, Sherman, Matthews, Garfield, Foraker and Hanna were elected as Republicans, and Pugh, Thurman, Pendleton, Payne and Brice as Democrats.
Of the whole number, only Pugh, Matthews, Pendleton, Sherman, Garfield, Brice, Hanna and Foraker - eight in all -
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were born in Ohio; but it may be remarked with pardonable pride that sons of Ohio, born in our state, have in large number been chosen to represent in the Senate other states of which they had become citizens. There are now in the Senate seven such senators; making, with the two accredited to Ohio, a total ·of nine, or one-tenth of the whole membership of the body.
Turning now to their work in the Senate, we find it as in- teresting and instructive as it was serious and important. It does not seem to us, looking back through all the light that has since been shed, that it should have been a difficult question to determine that it was wise policy and within the constitutional power of the National Government to acquire the Louisiana Purchase and from it create new states of the Union. But even the men who framed our constitution and established our insti- tutions and who were then largely administering our Govern- ment, differed widely and earnestly among themselves as to the proper construction of their work, and it was only after exhaust- ive and, in many instances, the most acrimonious debate that each step was finally taken.
We can scarcely realize that it required a long, hard, fierce battle of the giants of those days to establish the right of the National Government to aid and make internal improvements.
We are apt to think of the National Road only as a great 'broad highway over which the lumbering stage coaches of that early time went rattling and clattering with their loads of mail and passengers.
But its construction involved vastly more than engineering skill and the expenditure of labor and money; for there, too, was raised again the question of governmental power so to apply public revenues, and over that men differed and debated and con- tended for years before the doctrine was finally established.
Our early senators gave unfaltering support to the affirm- ative of all these questions, and Worthington especially distin- guished himself, particularly in connection with the National Road, as one of the most conspicuous champions of the policy of internal improvements, rivaling in the credit that has been ascribed to him for what he did in that behalf, the work done by Henry Clay when, in later years, he challenged the attention
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and excited the admiration of the whole nation by the brilliant arguments with which he overthrew all its opponents, no matter whether they appeared in the debates of Congress or in the mes- sages from the White House.
Tiffin and Ruggles, notwithstanding the attitude of their party, were efficient supporters of this policy. They did their full share to gain the ultimate acknowledgment, which was not to come until after their time, of the right, now unquestioned, of Congress to make appropriations for such purposes.
In thus contributing to the right settlement of these questions of constitutional power, they were building far more wisely than they knew. They were working for our day as well as theirs. They were not only preparing for new states and providing for the construction of new roads and canals, but they were laying the foundations, broad and deep, for that greater America which is to-day our pride and the world's greatest light and greatest power.
They were developing the constitution and, step by step, successfully asserting, what must now be conceded - that we are the equal in sovereign as well as physical power of any of our sisters in the family of nations.
The contest thus commenced and waged, as to the power of our Government to acquire additional territory, and create new states, and admit them as such into the Union, or hold and govern such territory as a dependent possession at the will of Congress, was all asserted, in principle, by what was involved in our acquisition and treatment of the Louisiana Purchase.
The purchase of Florida, the annexation of Texas, the ces -. sions from Mexico, and the acquisitions of Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines and our government of them, have been only successive unfoldings of that same irresistible power and its. all-comprehensive scope.
And so, too, in the establishment of the power of Congress to build roads and canals to facilitate commerce, the transporta- tion of the mails, and the national defense, the way was prepared, unwittingly perhaps, but most carefully, for that governmental help without which the great transcontinental lines of railroad
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that unite the oceans could not have been built for years to come, if at all.
Without the settlement thus made of those questions, the Congress would be to-day without power to enact appropriate legislation to restrain and prevent the abuses and evils of unlaw- ful conspiracies and combinations in restraint of trade and com- merce among the states and with foreign nations, of which power and its beneficence we have recently had, in the various suits brought by the attorney general, such striking proof and demonstration.
What Edward Tiffin and Thomas Worthington and their associates did for Ohio in securing for us almost premature ad- mission to statehood, in framing our first constitution, and in enacting the wise legislation that set state government in motion, was so well and worthily done that the millions who have come after them owe them a debt of gratitude they never can repay ; but great and beneficent as was their work in that particular, infinitely greater and more beneficent still was the work done, largely by their help, when, in those early years of the Republic, at the hands of the Jeffersonian, states' rights, strict construction- ists, who were then at the helm, our organic law was rightfully given a construction, and our National Government was properly invested with powers as broad as were ever claimed, or even dreamed of, by Alexander Hamilton.
The same may be said of their action in promulgating, as adopted, the constitution they framed for Ohio, without first sub -. mitting it to ratification by a vote of the people, and thus, to that extent, inaugurating government without the people's consent.
This precedent, so important to us one hundred years later, in dealing with our recently acquired possessions, was largely due to the fact that in the Electoral College of 1800 the vote had been a tie between Jefferson and Burr, and thus was created a politi- cal situation that made it seem imperative not only that there should be a new state, but also, and especially, that there should be three additional electoral votes that could be depended upon to support Jefferson's re-election. Such a situation did not admit of any delay in procedure or any chance of defeat for the pro- gram through regard for academic theories about popular consent.
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The hard-headed Virginia pioneers who had the matter in charge were devout believers in the Declaration of Independence, but they recognized that it was "a condition and not a theory that confronted them," and that the way to do the work they had in hand was to do it, without wasting time or taking chances.
However, no matter what the cause that led to the national policies that were adopted and pursued, the fact remains that, with these early steps rightly taken, the premises were laid for all that was to come afterward; for the interpretation thus given to the constitution made nullification a heresy and secession a crime - Jackson a hero, and Lincoln immortal.
But while the way in which we were to go was thus deter- mined, it was not made easy. Men still differed, and great battles remained to be fought over the tariff, the United States Bank, the removal of its deposits, the establishment of sub-treas- uries, concerning slavery, its aggressions and demands, its status in the territories, the Missouri Compromise, the Fugitive Slave Law, States' rights, and the doctrine of secession - all finally culminating in the great Civil War, by the fires of which the nation was purified and by the blood of which the states were cemented into indissoluble union.
The march of progress through all the years of these fierce combats was constantly and irresistibly onward in the same gen- eral direction, but every foot of the way was stubbornly contested.
It cannot be said that on all these questions Ohio's voice in the Senate was always on the right side, for that is not true; but it can be truthfully said that in all these struggles she was repre- sented by able and faithful men who fearlessly strove to discharge their duty according to the dictates of patriotism as interpreted by conscientious convictions.
John Smith, whose name stands at the head of the list, is the only one of the whole number over whom there was ever any cloud.
According to the most reliable accounts, he was a man of unusual ability, of the highest character, frank, open-hearted, sincere, faithful in his friendships and in all the relations of life. He and Thomas Worthington were chosen at the first senatorial election, and to him was allotted the long term of six years.
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The record shows that in the Senate he was a hard-working, able and capable senator and statesman.
During a part of the time he sat in the Senate, Aaron Burr presided. With the acquaintance and friendship that followed, it was only natural that when Burr visited Cincinnati Smith should invite him to his house and entertain him as his guest. There was but little, if anything, more than this, except the fact that Smith, unwilling to believe in Burr's guilt, expressed belief in his innocence, on which to found the charge that he was a con- spirator with Burr and Blennerhasset. A resolution to expel him on that account was defeated by a majority of only one vote, but added to this was a request from the Legislature of Ohio, that he resign his seat. All this so humiliated him that, with broken spirit, he surrendered his commission and retired to private life. An indictment was nollied for the want of proof, but he sank into his grave before there was any apparent change of public sentiment.
In his Notes on the Northwestern Territory, Judge Burnet says :
John Smith, of Hamilton County, was scarcely excelled by any member in either house, in native talent and mental energy. Though he felt, very sensibly, the want of an early education, yet the vigor of his intellect was such as enabled him, measurably to overcome that diffi- culty. His ambition to excel, urged him to constant application, and soon raised him to a fair standing among the talented and influential leaders of the day. In 1803, he represented the state in the Senate of the United States, and stood high in the confidence of Mr. Jefferson. Subsequently, however, his intimacy with Colonel Burr, put an end to all intercourse between him and Mr. Jefferson. When the Colonel was on his tour through the Western country, in 1806, he spent a week or two in Cincinnati. Mr. Smith was then a senator, and had been a member of that body when Colonel Burr presided in it, as vice-president of the United States. He, therefore, very naturally invited him to his house and tendered to him its hospitality during his stay in the place. This act of respect and kind- ness, dictated by a generous feeling, was relied on as evidence that he was a partisan of the Colonel, and engaged in his project. A number of persons then residing in Cincinnati, who were in constant and intimate intercourse with Colonel Burr, and who were universally believed to be engaged in his undertaking, whatever it might have been, deserted him as the storm began to gather. Some of them figured in the trial at Richmond, in 1807, as patriots of spotless purity.
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Mr. Smith was a firm, consistent man, not easily alarmed; he solemnly affirmed his belief that Colonel Burr was not engaged in any project injurious to the country, and refused to join in the outcry against him, or to aid in the measures that were taken to procure his arrest. The consequence was, he was denounced himself, and a bill of indictment. found against him, which was, however, abandoned without an attempt to bring him to trial.
Worthington and Tiffin were men of rare qualities. They were educated, refined, cultivated gentlemen, yet strong, robust and aggressive pioneers. They had a vigorous spirit of Ameri- canism and were ambitious for statehood and participation in national affairs. Both did good work for Ohio and the whole country in the Senate and outside of it.
Morrow and Campbell were plain, unassuming men, noted for their integrity, sound common sense, and good judgment as to all public questions. They were faithful and unselfish in their devotion to public interests and commanded and merited univer- sal esteem.
Jacob Burnet and Benjamin Ruggles had opposing party affiliations. They were men of great intellectual power and long experience in public affairs. They were both imbued with the loftiest spirit of patriotism and the finest sense of honor with respect to official duty.
We forget their differences in the tribute we pay to their memory and the appreciation we entertain for the great honor they reflected on their commonwealth.
Thomas Ewing and Thomas Morris were colleagues ; one a Whig and the other a Democrat. They were both strong, self- made men. They were both lawyers of the highest standing in their profession. They were both men of positive convictions, . and both were ready and able in debate.
They differed about the great questions they were called upon to discuss. They were not both right, but they were both honest. They stood for that in which they and their parties, respectively, believed, and by their powers of logic and eloquence aided in the development of the truth that ultimately found ex- pression in the laws and policies of the nation.
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It was Mr. Ewing's fortune to live to and through the Civil War. His great abilities, high character and well-merited repu- tation for calm judgment and unselfish devotion to the public good made him a conspicuous figure in the political controversies of that turbulent period.
There was much disappointment among Republicans because he did not ally himself with their party when it organized and made its first contest for the presidency, but his conservative course made him all the more powerful to help when in 1860 he threw the weight of his great name in favor of the election of Mr. Lincoln and afterward zealously supported the Union cause.
He had the satisfaction of seeing all he predicted of Mr. Lincoln fully vindicated, the cause he so earnestly espoused tri- umphantly successful, and with it all his own family most un- commonly honored. Three sons became distinguished general officers of the Union army, and his son-in-law was the second of that immortal trio of the nation's defenders - Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.
It was the lot of William Allen and Thomas Corwin to serve together for a time. They had dissimilar qualities and character- istics. Both were able men and intense partisans, who proclaimed without fear or qualification their respective views on all ques- tions of their day. They could not agree with each other, and we cannot agree even yet, perhaps, with either that he was right, but we do agree that both of them thought they were right, and that whether either was or was not wholly right, yet both won honor and distinction for their state by the ability they displayed and the respect they commanded.
Corwin was such a unique character that more should be said about him. He was a natural orator of inimitable style. He had a never failing fund of genial humor and pleasing anecdotes with which to entertain and illustrate.
When engaged in campaign work thousands flocked to hear him. His progress was like a triumphal march, and every speech was the occasion for an ovation. The mere announcement that he was to argue a case was sufficient to uncomfortably crowd the court room.
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To listen to him was to be instructed as well as entertained. He did not have a collegiate education but he seemed to be famil- iar with all fields of knowledge. Art, science, literature - espe- cially the Bible and the Classics - were all equally at his com- mand and he made liberal drafts upon them to elucidate and embellish his arguments.
He interrupted and well nigh ended his public career by a speech in the Senate in opposition to the Mexican War in which he made the famous declaration that if he were a Mexican as he was an American he would welcome our soldiers with bloody hands to hospitable graves.
The great majority of the Whig party to which he belonged and of the Republican party that succeeded the Whig party sym- pathized with the sentiment he expressed, but notwithstanding this sympathy and his great popularity the suggestion of possible hostility to the American army when engaged in an international war was so unpopular that it destroyed his availability as a leader until years had passed and his opportunity was gone.
Chase and Wade served together from 1851 to 1855. A greater contrast could hardly be suggested. They were in har- mony with each other on the great, all-absorbing question of that period, but their tastes, accomplishments and habits of thought and speech were so widely different that each had a dis- tinct personality that reflected his own particular influence and marked him as a great, strong, individual factor in the tempestu- ous strife of the hour.
The best services of Chase were rendered as secretary of the treasury; and in connection with that office and as chief justice he will be identified in history rather than with the sen- atorship or the governorship. He was not in harmony with any party on the slavery question while a member of the Senate, but so far in advance of all that he was powerless to accomplish any- thing on the lines where he was strongest and most interested. His opportunity was to come later.
George E. Pugh was one of the youngest but one of the most brilliant representatives Ohio has ever had in the Senate. He was not yet 32 years of age when elected but he had already
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distinguished himself at the Ohio bar and served a term as. attorney general of the state.
He was a Stephen A. Douglas, Squatter-Sovereignty Demo- crat, and second only to Mr. Douglas, if second to anyone, was the ablest advocate of that doctrine.
In the National Democratic Convention of 1860, at Charles- ton, he made the speech that divided his party into Douglas and Breckenridge Democrats and thus assured the election of Abra- ham Lincoln.
The Civil War marks the beginning of a new epoch in American politics. The advent of the Republican party to power meant, naturally, a change of policies; but the sudden outbreak of the rebellion made mere opportunity a commanding necessity, and, in addition to measures to raise armies and save the Union, precipitated legislation that might otherwise have been only grad- ually arrived at, affecting radically our economic system and gen- eral industrial and financial conditions.
New and untried paths were entered upon. They would have been difficult to tread under the most favorable circum- stances, but, attended as they were, by war, they were especially hazardous. Volumes have been written, and other volumes will be written without exhausting the story, of how, as the defenders of the nation marched forth to battle, the statesmen at Washing- ton with a full appreciation of their responsibilities, took up the herculean labors that devolved upon them and so legislated as. to make available the resources of the country, provide a cur- rency to meet the almost unmeasured demands upon the public treasury, reorganize our banking system, and, in the very midst of apparent national dissolution, multiply our industries, create business activity, and a greater prosperity and higher credit than we had ever before enjoyed.
The popular heroes of that struggle, as of all others, were the successful soldiers who won battles. But, equally, were they also heroes who, with an abiding faith in the nation's cause, and the nation's strength, and the nation's wealth, and the nation's patriotism, thus wisely and unflinchingly did their duty in the: civil service.
The Army saved the Union, but they saved the Army.
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It was a great work, and the lapse of time has only increased appreciation for it.
Ohio was foremost in it all. No state did more. Few did so much.
Senator Wade was then a senator of long experience. He had been a member of that body ten years. They were ten years of political strife, of fierce, ugly intellectual combat - at times, almost physical combat. Angry passions ruled the hour, and personal violence was constantly apprehended and occasionally witnessed.
Wade was a rugged, sturdy, uncompromising character who detested slavery and unsparingly condemned it and all measures proposed in its behalf. In consequence, he incurred the ill-will of the pro-slavery senators, and was almost constantly the object of their attack. He was aggressively defensive, and thus, natu- rally, became one of the leaders of his party. When the war com- menced, he was made chairman of the joint committee of the two houses on the conduct of the war, a position that gave him exceptional opportunity to utilize his experience and display his abilities. He improved his opportunity to the utmost, and, in doing so, proved a veritable pillar of strength to the Union cause. He labored in season and out, and always with the great- est efficiency. An adequate review of his services during this period would involve a review of almost the whole great struggle. He became a great national figure and thus brought our state into still greater prominence.
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