USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Independence Hall : from the earliest period to the present time : embracing biographies of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Independence, with historical sketches of the sacred relics preserved in that sanctuary of American freedom > Part 17
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
When the British ministry became convinced that the Ameri- cans would never submit to be taxed without their consent, they repealed several acts which were most obnoxious to the Colonies, but retained a duty upon tea. This, it was well un- derstood in Parliment, was intended as a salvo for British honor, 22*
258
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
the strong sympathy of the people of the commercial cities, Mr. Clymer was placed at the head of a large and responsible Committee of Vigilance in Philadel- phia, to act as circumstances should require. He was also placed upon the first Council of Safety that was organized in Philadelphia ; and early in 1775 he was appointed by Congress one of the Continental treasur- ers. In 1776, after two of the Pennsylvania delegates in the General Congress declined voting for the Decla- ration of Independence, and withdrew from their seats, Mr. Clymer and Dr. Rush were appointed to succeed them, and they both joyfully affixed their signatures to that instrument. Mr. Clymer was soon afterward appointed one of a committee to visit the northern army at Ticonderoga; and when the British ap- proached Philadelphia at the close of 1776, and Con- gress retired to Baltimore, he was put upon a commit- tee with Robert Morris and others, to remain as a Com- mittee of Vigilance in that city. He was again elected to Congress in 1779, and was one of a committee sent by that body to Washington's head-quarters at Valley
for the government had declared its right to tax the Colonies ; and it was urged, that if it should, because of the opposition of the Americans, relinquish that right, it would be a virtual abdi- cation of government in the Colonies. On the other hand, al- though the duty was but little more than nominal, the Ameri- cans saw involved in it a principle they could not sacrifice, and therefore they manfully resisted the exercise of the assumed right. The duty being so light, the East India Company believ- ing the Colonists would not complain, at once sent large cargoes of tea to America. In Boston the people would not allow it to be landed, and ordered the vessel out of port. Refusing to com- ply, a party (some disguised as Indians) went on board on the night of the sixteenth of December, 1773, and broke open, and cast into the harbor, more than three hundred chests of tea.
250
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
Forge, to inquire into the alleged abuses of the com- missary department. Mr. Clymer was peculiarly ob- noxious to the British,* an evidence of his patriotic zeal and unwavering attachment to the Republican cause. While the enemy were in possession of Phil- adelphia in the winter of 1778, they surrounded a house which they thought was Mr. Clymer's, with the intention of demolishing it, but they discovered it to belong to a relative of his of the same name, and they spared the edifice. In 1778, Mr. Clymer was sent by Congress to Pittsburg to endeavor by negotiation to quiet the savages, who, influenced by British emissa- ries, were committing dreadful ravages on the frontier. In this he was successful, and for his arduous services he received the thanks of Congress. In the autumn of 1780 he was elected to Congress for the third time, and he continued an attentive and active member until 1782. During that year, he joined with Robert Morris and others in the establishment of a bank in Philadel- phia, designed for the public good. Mr. Clymer was a considerable subscriber, and was made one of its first directors.t In 1782, Mr. Clymer and Edward Rut- lege were appointed by Congress to visit the Southern States, and urge the necessity of a prompt contribu-
* After the defeat of the Americans at the Brandywine, and the British were marching triumphantly toward Philadelphia, Mr. Clymer moved his family into the country for safety. But their retreat was discovered, and the British soldiers sacked the house, destroyed the furniture, and wasted every sort of prop- erty which they could find.
t Two years before, he with Mr. Morris and others, establish- ed a private bank, which was designed for the public good, and was of great utility. The bank established in 1782 was of a na- tional character.
260
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
tion of their assessed quota of funds for the public Treasury. The individual States were slow to respond to the calls of Congress, and this tardiness very much embarrassed the operations of government. On his return, Mr. Clymer moved his family to Princeton, New Jersey, for the purpose of having his children educated there. Public interest soon called him back to Penn- sylvania, and he took a seat in its Legislature. It was while he was a member of that body, that the crimi- nal code of that State was modified, and the peniten- tiary system introduced. It is conceded that the credit of maturing this wiser system of punishment, is chiefly due to Mr. Clymer, and for this alone he is entitled to the veneration due to a public benefactor. Mr. Clymer was a member of the Convention that framed the Fed- eral Constitution, and was elected one of the first members of Congress, convened under that instrument. He declined a re-election, and was appointed, by Pres- ident Washington, supervisor of the revenue for the State of Pennsylvania. This was an office in which great firmness and decision of character were requisite, in consequence of the spirit of resistance to the collec- tion of revenue which was then abroad. In fact, open rebellion at length appeared, and the movement known as the " Whisky Insurrection"* in Pennsylvania at
* A portion of the people of the interior of Pennsylvania, violently opposed the excise law, it being a region where much whisky was distilled, and hence the tax or duty amounted to a considerable resource. This excise law was adopted by Congress in 1790. In 1792, so insurrectionary had the people become in relation to the duty on distilled liquor, that Congress passed au act authorizing the President of the United States to call out the militia of the State, if necessary, to enforce the laws. He with-
261
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
one time threatened serious consequences to the whole framework of our government. But Mr. Clymer was unawed, and amid many personal dangers he pressed forward in the performance of his duty. At length, when things became quiet, he resigned. In 1796 he was appointed, with Colonels Hawkins and Pickens, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek tribes of Indians in Georgia. This they effected to the mutual satisfaction of the contending parties. This mission closed the public life of Mr. Clymer, and the remainder of his days were spent in acts of private usefulness,* and a personal preparation for another world. He died on the twenty-fourth day of January, 1813, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His long life was an active and useful one, and not a single moral stain marked its manifested purity.
held his power for nearly two years, but at length the " Whisky Insurrection" assumed such a formidable aspect, that an army of fifteen thousand men were placed in the field. The rebellion ceased without a conflict.
* Mr. Clymer was one of the projectors of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Philadelphia, and was its first President, which office he held until his decease. He was also one of the founders of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society ; and his name appears conspicuous in many of the benevolent movements of his day.
-
262
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
CHAPTER XXXI.
JAMES SMITH-GEORGE TAYLOR-JAMES WILSON- GEORGE ROSS.
These men were bold, and brave as bold : They curbed the tyrant's progress.
JAMES SMITH was born in Ireland, and was quite a small child when brought by his father to this coun- try. The date of his birth is not recorded, and Mr. Smith himself could never be induced to tell it. It is supposed to be somewhere about 1720. His father, who had a numerous family of children, settled upon the Susquehanna River, in Pennsylvania, and died there in 1761. James Smith was his second son, and discovering a strong intellect at an early age, his father determined to give him a liberal education. For this purpose he placed him under the charge of Reverend Doctor Allison, provost of the College of Philadelphia. He there acquired a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and, what proved more useful to him, practical survey- ing. After completing his tuition, he began the study of law in Lancaster, and when admitted to the bar, he removed westward, and practiced both law and sur- veying. The place where he located was very sparsedly populated, and indeed was almost a wilderness. The flourishing town of Shippensburg has since sprung up
263
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
there. After a short continuance in his wilderness home, Mr. Smith moved to the village of York, where he found no business competition for many years. He married Miss Eleanor Amor, of Newcastle, Delaware, and became a permanent resident of York, where he stood at the head of the bar until the opening of the Revolution. Mr. Smith early perceived the gathering storm which British oppressions were elaborating here; and when men began to speak out fearlessly, he was among the first in Pennsylvania to take sides with the patriots of Massachusetts and Virginia. He heartily seconded the proposition for non-importation agreements, and for a General Congress. He was a delegate from the County of York to the Pennsylvania Convention, whose duty it was to ascertain the senti- ments of the people, and publish an address. Mr. Smith was a member of the sub-committee chosen to prepare the address, which was in the form of instruc- tions to the representatives of the people in the General Assembly of the State. He was earnest in endeavoring to arouse the people to positive resistance, and as early as 1774 he was in favor of cutting the bond that held the Colonies to the British throne .*
* He was convinced that reconciliation was out of the ques- tion, and that war was inevitable. He accordingly raised and drilled a volunteer corps at York, (the first ever raised in the State, ) which was the commencement of a general organization of the militia in that Province. Other companies were formed, and when a sufficient number were organized to form a regiment, Mr. Smith was elected colonel. His age, however, precluded his entering upon active service, and he held the office as an hon- orary boon. According to the testimony of Mr. Penn before Parliament, the body of military "Associators" thus founded by Mr. Smith amounted in number, before the Declaration of Independence, to twenty thousand, whose services were pledged to the State.
264
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
When Congress passed a resolution recommending the several Colonies to "adopt such governments as in the opinion of the representatives of the people might best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents," the Pennsylvania Assembly was slow to act accordingly. In fact its instructions to its dele- gates in Congress were not favorable to independence ; and it was not until the people of that State spoke out their sentiments in a general convention, that Penn- sylvania was truly represented there. The seats of her delegates, who refused to vote for the Declaration of Independence, and withdrew from Congress, were filled with bold men, and one of these was James Smith, who, with George Clymer and Benjamin Rush, took his seat some days after that glorious instrument was adopted. He was there in time, however, to place his signature to the parchment on the second day of August ensuing. Mr. Smith was a member of the convention of Pennsylvania convened to form a con- stitution for the State after the Declaration of Inde- pendence. There he was very active, and it was not until October, 1776, that he was a regular attendant in the General Congress. He was soon after appointed one of a most important committee, whose business was to aid Washington in opposing the progress of General Howe's army .* In the spring of 1777, Mr. Smith declined a re-election to Congress, and resumed his professional business at York ; but the unfortunate defeats of the Americans at the Brandywine and at Germantown, and the capture of Philadelphia by the.
* His .associates were James Wilson, Samuel Chew, George Clymer, and Richard Stockton.
265
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
. British, called for his valuable presence in the national council, and he obeyed the voice of duty. Congress adjourned to Lancaster when Howe's army took Phil- adelphia, and afterward it adjourned to York, the place of Mr. Smith's residence. When the battle of Mon- mouth in 1778 made the hope of American triumph beam brightly, Mr. Smith retired again from Congress, and resumed his professional business. In 1779 he was called to a seat in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, where he served one term, and then withdrew. This closed his public career, and he lived in the enjoyment of domestic happiness until his death, which occurred on the eleventh day of July, 1806. He is supposed to have been nearly ninety years of age.
GEORGE TAYLOR .- The subject of this sketch was born in Ireland, in the year 1716, and came to this country when he was about twenty years of age. He was the son of a clergyman, but whether Roman Cath- olic or Protestant is not known. He was well edu- cated, but was poor on his arrival, and performed menial service for a livelihood. He afterward became aclerk in the iron establishment of Mr. Savage, at . Durham, in Pennsylvania; and some time after the death of his employer, he married that gentleman's widow, by which he came into possession of consider- able property and a thriving business. After pur- suing the business for some time at Durham, and acquiring a handsome fortune, Mr. Taylor purchased an estate on the Lehigh, in Northumberland County, and erected iron works there. His wealth, education, and business talents, and his urbanity of manner, soon gained for him the esteem and confidence of the people, and he was elected by them a member of the Colonial
23
266
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
Assembly in 1764. In that body he soon became a distinguished actor, and was placed upon its most im- portant committees. It was during Mr. Taylor's mem- bership in the Colonial Assembly of Pennsylvania that that body received the circular letter from Massachu- setts proposing a General Colonial Congress at New York in 1765. The Assembly accepted the invitation, and Mr. Taylor was one of the committee to whom was assigned the duty of drawing up instructions for the delegates from that Province. Mr. Taylor was a member of the Provincial Assembly five consecutive years, when, finding his private interests suffering in consequence of his absence, he declined a re-election, and for some time withdrew from public life. He was elected to the Provincial Congress in 1775, and was one of the committee appointed to draw up instruc- tions for the delegates to the General Congress, which convened in May of that year. These instructions, which were not sanctioned by the Assembly until November, contained a clause strictly prohibiting the delegates from concurring in any proposition for po- litical independence, a reconciliation being still hoped for. But public feeling very materially changed on . this point during the spring of 1776, and in June that prohibition was removed, and the delegates were left to act according to their own discretion. Still, a por- tion of the delegates remained firm in their opposition to the measure, and Mr. Taylor was one of those ap- pointed to fill their places. He was therefore not present in Congress when the Declaration of Independ- ence was adopted, but was there in time to sign it on the second day of August. Mr. Taylor remained in Congress one year, and then withdrew from public
267
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
tife and settled in Easton. He died on the twenty- third day of February, 1781, aged sixty-five years.
JAMES WILSON .- This distinguished patriot was born in Scotland in 1742, and emigrated to this coun- try in 1766. He had received his education under some of the best teachers in Edinburgh, and he brought with him such strong recommendations to eminent citizens of Philadelphia, that he soon obtained a situa- tion as an assistant teacher in the Philadelphia Col- lege, then under the supervision of the Reverend Doctor Peters. In the course of a few months he commenced the study of law in the office of the emi- nent John Dickenson ; and, after two years' close ap- plication, he established himself in business, first in Reading and afterward in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He finally fixed his permanent residence in Philadelphia. He rapidly rose to eminence in his profession, and became distinguished as an ardent supporter of the Republican cause whenever an oppportunity presented itself. Having adopted America as his home, Mr. Wilson espoused her cause with all the ardor of a native-born citizen. This gave him great popularity, . and in 1774 he was elected a member of the Provin- cial Assembly of Pennsylvania. In May, 1775, he was chosen a delegate to the General Congress, to- gether with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Willing. He was again elected for the session of 1776, and warmly supported the motion of Richard Henry Lee for absolute independence. He voted for and signed the Declaration of Disenthralment, and remained an active member of Congress until 1777, when he and Mr. Clymer were not re-elected in consequence of the operations of a strong party spirit which at that time
1
268
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
existed in the Pennsylvania Assembly. He had been an indefatigable coadjutor with Mr. Smith in the or- ganization of volunteer military corps, and was elected colonel of a regiment in 1774. The energy he there displayed was now again exerted in raising recruits for the Continental army, and through his influence the Pennsylvania line was much strengthened. In 1778 difficulties having arisen with the Indians within the bounds of the State, Mr. Wilson was sent as a com- missioner to treat with them, and he was successful in his undertaking. Soon after the arrival of M. Gerard, the French minister, Mr. Wilson formed an acquaint- ance with him, which ripened into friendship ; and M. Gerard was so struck with the versatility of his talents, that in 1780 he appointed him the Advocate-General of the French nation in the United States, an office which required a thorough knowledge of international and commercial laws. The appointment was confirmed by the French king in 1781. Toward the close of 1782 Mr. Wilson was again elected a delegate to the General Congress, and took his seat in January, 1783. During that year the executive council of Pennsylva- nia appointed him an agent and counselor in the con- troversy of that State with Connecticut respecting the Wyoming domain. In this important service he was very successful, and the matter was brought to an amicable settlement. He was again elected to Con- gress toward the close of 1785, and took his seat in March following. He was an active member of the convention that framed the Federal Constitution in 1787, and was chairman of the committee that reported the first draft. He was also a member of the State con- vention that ratified it, and was chosen to deliver an
1
269
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
oration on the occasion of a celebration of the event in Philadelphia. He was also a member of the con- vention that framed a new constitution for Pennsyl- vania in 1788. In the arrangement of the judiciary under the Federal Constitution, President Washington appointed Mr. Wilson one of the judges of the Su- preme Court of the United States. He was appointed the first Professor of Law in the College of Philadel- phia in 1790, and when in 1792 that institution and the University of Pennsylvania were united, he was chosen to the same professorship there, which office, as well as that of judge of the Supreme Court, he held until his death. In his official capacity as judge of the United States Supreme Circuit Court, he fre- quently made long journeys into other States. It was while on a judicial circuit in North Carolina that his death occurred on the twenty-eighth day of August, 1798, at the house of his friend, Judge Iredell, of Edenton. He was in the fifty sixth year of his age.
GEORGE Ross was born in Newcastle, Delaware, in the year 1730. His father was a highly-esteemed minister of the Episcopal church in that town, and he educated his son with much care, having himself ex- perienced the great advantage of a liberal education. He soon became very proficient in Latin and Greek, and at the age of eighteen years entered, as a student, the law office of his brother, then a respectable mem- ber of the Philadelphia bar. He was admitted to prac- tice at the age of twenty-one years, and fixed his residence in Lancaster, where he married a highly- respectable young woman named Lawler. Mr. Ross first appeared in public life in 1768, when he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly for 23*
270
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
Lancaster. He was much respected in that body, and was re-elected several successive years. And when the enactments of the British Cabinet for enslaving the Colonies were causing the public men of America to define their positions, Mr. Ross very readily took side with the patriots, and heartily commended the proposed measure of calling a General Congress. He was chosen one of the seven delegates which repre- sented Pennsylvania in that august convention, and was present at the opening in September, 1774; and, strange as it may appear, Mr. Ross was directed by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to draw up the instruc- tions which were to govern himself and his colleagues in the Continental Congress. And so highly was he esteemed by his fellow-citizens, that during the whole time that he was in Congress, from 1774 to 1777, he was regularly elected a member of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, as a representative for Lancaster Nearly his whole time was consumed by attention to public duties in one or the other of these legislative councils, yet he freely gave it "without money and without price."* He was a warm supporter of the resolution of Mr. Lee proposing independence, and joyfully signed the Declaration thereof on the second of August, 1766. The benevolent attributes of Mr. Ross's character led him early to exercise an active sympathy for the remnants of the Indian tribes in his vicinity, and through his influence their condition was
* As a testimony of their appreciation of his services in the General Congress, it was voted that the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling should be sent to him as a free gift from the treasury of Lancaster County. But his stern patriotism made him courteously refuse the proffered donation.
271
ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS.
ameliorated, and justice meted out to them, and their just wrath was frequently appeased by his exertions, when it threatened to burst like a consuming fire upon the frontier settlements. Both his own State Legisla- ture and the National Council made him a mediator in difficulties which arose with the Indians, and he acted the noble part of a pacificator and a true philanthro- pist. Nor did his humane sentiments flow out toward the oppressed Red man alone, but wherever weakness was trodden down by strength he fearlessly lent his aid. Thus, when Tories or adherents to the Crown were persecuted and imprisoned, and it was esteemed next to treason to defend their cause, Mr. Ross, Mr. Wilson, and a few others, were ever ready to plead in their behalf .* In April, 1799, Mr. Ross was appointed a judge of the Court of Admiralty for Pennsylvania, in which office he would undoubtedly have greatly dis- tinguished himself, had not death suddenly closed his active and highly useful life in July, 1780, in the fiftieth year of his age.
* The Tories of the Revolution were far more despised (and justly so) by the patriots than the mercenary troops of Great Britain. They not only lifted their hands against their own brethren, but in many cases their treachery and cruelty ex- ceeded the worst acts of the British soldiery. During the win- ter, when the American army was suffering every thing but death at Valley Forge, the interior of Pennsylvania swarmed with Tories ; and when Washington, by order of Congress, pro- ceeded to take, by force, the grain and other food which the Tory farmers refused to sell to the army, they, in some in- stances, burnt their produce, rather than have it feed the starving Americans !
272
INDEPENDENCE HALL :
CHAPTER XXXII.
CÆSAR RODNEY-GEORGE READ-THOMAS M'KEAN- SAMUEL CHASE-THOMAS STONE-WM. PACA.
"Auxilia humilia firma consensus facit."
Union gives firmness and solidity to the humblest means.
CESAR RODNEY was born at Dover, in the Province of Delaware, in the year 1730. He was descended from English ancestry. His grandfather came from England soon after William Penn commenced the set- tlement of Pennsylvania. After remaining a short time in Philadelphia, and forming acquaintances with some of its most esteemed citizens, he went into the County of Kent, on the Delaware, and settled upon a plantation. He was an active man, and becoming very popular, he held many posts of honor and distinction in that Province. He had several sons, but lost them all except his youngest, Cæsar, the father of the sub- ject of this memoir. Unambitious of public honors, and preferring the quiet of domestic life to the bustle and turmoil of the political field, he declined all offices .- that were tendered to him; and in the midst of agri- cultural pursuits he enriched his mind by study, and prepared his children for the duties of life. He mar- ried the daughter of an esteemed clergyman, and Cæsar- being the first born, received their special at-
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.