USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 26
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In the autumn of 1797, that immediately succeeding the inauguration of John Adams as President of the United States, at a time when the only newspaper published in Franklin County was the organ of the Federalists, with its columns strictly closed against the Republicans, Mr. Findlay was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, which then sat in Philadelphia. He was then in the thirtieth year of his age, and found himself, if not the youngest, among the most youthful in a body where it was the custom to send men more advanced in years than at present.
He was again elected to the House in 1803. Mr. Jefferson had succeeded Mr. Adams in the Presidency, and the Re- publicans were in the ascendant in both National and State Governments. The capital had, by the Act of April 3d, 1799, been temporarily established at Lancaster. Mr. Find- lay at this session proposed that it should be permanently established at Harrisburg. The proposition then failed; but it was eventually carried, and in 1812 the removal was effected. He proved himself a leading member, and one of
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the most useful in the House, being placed in the most responsible positions. He was a member of the Committee of Ways and Means; of a committee to define by bill con- tempt of court; chairman of a committee to draft an address to the Governor asking the removal of an associate judge; member of a committee to revise the laws relating to insol- vent debtors ; and of a committee to inquire what alterations in the penal laws were necessary to prevent kidnapping.
At the session of 1802-3 the petition of Thomas Passmore had been presented to the House praying for the impeach- ment of Edward Shippen, Jasper Yates, and Thomas Smith, judges of the Supreme Court, who had committed Passmore for contempt of court. It was not acted upon at that session ; but was taken up as an item of unfinished business at the session of the following year, and was referred to the com- mittee of grievances, who, on the 13th of March, reported the following resolution : " That a committee be appointed to draft articles of impeachment against the said Edward Shippen, Esq., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania, and Jasper Yates and Thomas Smith, Esqs., judges of the said court, for a high misdemeanor in their official capacity, by arbitrarily and unconstitutionally fining and im- prisoning Thomas Passmore," which was agreed to by a large majority. Articles of impeachment were accordingly adopted, and on the 23d a committee was appointed to exhibit them to . the Senate, and to manage the trial on behalf of the House. At the next session the trial was proceeded with, but resulted in the acquittal of the accused. Mr. Findlay voted against the proposition ordering the preferment of articles of im- peachment, from a conviction, doubtless, that the judges had not exceeded their common law powers, and that they had acted conscientiously and with no intention to oppress. Judge Breckenridge, one of the judges of the court, but who hap- pened to be absent from the bench when his brethren had committed Passmore, addressed a letter to the House, after Passmore's petition had been presented, requesting to be im- peached, not for any act of his own, but for his approbation
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of the official conduct in the case. The letter was considered disrespectful to the House, and was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Findlay was chairman, with power to send for Ipersons and papers. The committee decided against indulg- ing the judge in his magnanimous desire to share the fate of the accused. But although they declined to accuse him of a crime which he had not committed, they determined so far to gratify him, as to go into a general investigation of his official conduct, and recommended the appointment of a committee to prepare an address to the Governor asking for his removal from office. This was accordingly done, and the measure was carried through both Houses by the requisite constitutional majority ; but it failed to unseat the meddle- some Judge, Governor Mckean, who was then in the chair of State, deciding that the action of the Legislature was not mandatory, but simply empowered him to act or not at his discretion, and he deemed the offence proven insufficient to warrant removal.
When the act to revise the judiciary system was before the House, Mr. Findlay offered additional sections, providing that a plaintiff might file a statement of his cause of action instead of a declaration; for reference of matters in dispute to arbitration; that proceedings should not be set aside for informality; that pleadings might be amended, and amicable actions and judgments entered without the agency of an attorney.
These provisions were not then adopted, but they after- wards became and still are a part of the statute law. The object aimed at by their mover was doubtless to enable parties to conduct their own cases in court without professional assist- ance. This the enactments have failed to accomplish; but they have been of great advantage to attorneys themselves, enabling them to cure their own errors and omissions, to which they as well as the unlearned are liable.
On the 13th of January, 1807, Mr. Findlay was elected State Treasurer, whereupon he resigned his seat in the House. From that date until the 2d of December, 1817,
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when he resigned to assume the duties of chief magistrate, a period of nearly eleven years, he was annually re-elected by the Legislature to that office, in several instances unanimously, and always by a strong majority, not uncommonly being supported by members politically opposed to him. During nearly four years of this time the United States were at war with England, and the resources of the country were severely taxed. In addition to this, the Legislature had chartered the Forty Banks over the veto of Governor Snyder, about which a violent contest had occurred, and the State was flooded with depreciated paper currency. Notwithstanding the con- stant vigilance and scrutiny of the careful and reliable chief clerk of the Treasury, Alexander Wilson, about seven hun- dred dollars of uncurrent money had been taken at its counter. Determined that the State should not suffer loss by this misfortune, Mr. Findlay paid the amount out of his private funds. This action coming to the knowledge of the Legislature, a bill was promptly passed for refunding to him the money, thus consummating a measure of simple justice, and bearing testimony to the integrity and worth of the officer.
In 1817, Mr. Findlay was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate for Governor. General Joseph Hiester was selected by a disaffected branch of the Republican party, styled Old School Men, to oppose him, who was supported also by the Federalists. The result was a triumph for Find- lay, who was elected by a majority of over seven thousand votes. During the canvass party spirit ran high, and it did not subside when the result of the contest was known. The Governor elect had no sooner resigned the office of State Treasurer, than a party in the Legislature, instigated by his political opponents, moved the appointment of a committee to inquire into his conduct in the office which he had just va- cated. The confidence of friends and foes alike in his capac- ity during the long period of eleven years, and the regular scrutiny and approval of his accounts by the auditing depart- ment of the Government and of the Legislature itself, were
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regarded as of little weight compared with the gratification of party rancor and personal spite. The investigation lasted nearly the entire session. The Treasurer offered no witnesses in his behalf, nor was he present in person or by attorney at the sittings of the committee. A report was finally made that "the conduct of the State Treasurer in his official capacity has been not only faithful, but meritorious and beneficial to the State, and entitles him to the thanks and gratitude of his fellow-citizens."
At the same session a petition was presented to contest his election as Governor; but this was abandoned, when it was found that the postponement of his inauguration, which was doubtless its real object, had failed. Again at the session of 1819-20 the Governor's official conduct was the subject of inquiry ; but, like that of his management of the Treasury, resulted in his triumphant vindication. It was thus that party warfare was waged. One at least of the active opponents of Governor Findlay, then a young man and rising lawyer, who afterwards attained eminence at the Philadelphia Bar, acknowledged with a frankness and cordiality which did him credit, that injustice had been done the Governor in these proceedings.
In 1820, Governor Findlay again received the unanimous nomination of the Republicans for re-election, and Joseph Hiester was nominated as before by the Republicans of the Old School, and was supported by the Federalists en masse. Under the Constitution of 1790, the patronage of the Executive was immense. To him was given the power of appointing, with few exceptions, every State and County officer. This power, considered so dangerous that, by the Constitution of 1838 and subsequent amendments, the Executive has been stripped of it almost entirely, was, in fact, dangerous only to the Gov- ernor himself. For while he might attach one person to him by making an appointment, the score or two who were disappointed became, if not active political opponents, at least lukewarm friends. Many trained and skilful politicians had been alienated from the support of Governor Findlay by
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their inability to share or control patronage. The result was the election of his opponent.
At the general elections of 1821, the Republicans regained ascendancy in the Legislature. At the session of 1821-22, while Governor Findlay was quietly spending the winter with a friend and relative in Franklin County, he received notice that he had been elected to the Senate of the United States for the full term of six years from the preceding 4th of March. He immediately set out for the capital, where he took his seat and served the entire term with distinguished ability. While he was in the Senate, two of his brothers, Colonel John Findlay, of Chambersburg, and General James Findlay, of Cincinnati, Ohio, were members of the National House of Representatives. We are reminded by the follow- ing paragraph from the Harrisburg Intelligencer, of 1824, that travel to and from the capital then, even from contiguous States, was by no means so rapid and convenient as now : "Mr. Findlay, of the United States Senate, also, left this place for Washington yesterday, by way of Baltimore, in a gig."
After the expiration of his senatorial term he was ap- pointed by President Jackson Treasurer of the United States Mint at Philadelphia. This office he held until the accession of General Harrison to the Presidency, when, unwilling at his advanced age to be longer burdened with its cares and responsibilities, he resigned. The remainder of his life was spent in retirement with the family of his son-in-law, Gov- ernor Shunk, at whose residence, in Harrisburg, he died on the 12th of November, 1846, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
The building of the State capitol was commenced during his administration. He was one of the Commissioners named in the Act which authorized its erection, and the corner-stone at the south-west corner of the building was laid by his hand. During his entire term of office the Legislature sat in the old Court-House of Dauphin County. There was no Governor's mansion provided by the State, nor even an Executive Cham-
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ber. In one of the most convenient houses that could then be rented in Harrisburg, since greatly enlarged and improved by its present owner, the Rev. T. H. Robinson, D.D., he re- ceived all visits, whether of business or courtesy. His back parlor was his office, and here, too, weekly, during the ses- sion of the Legislature, he entertained the members and dis- tinguished visitors to Harrisburg at dinner.
The only slave that he ever owned he manumitted in 1817, with this emphatic declaration : " The principles of slavery are repugnant to those of justice, and are totally irreconcil- able with that rule which requires us to do unto others as we would wish to be done by." Upon the subject of slavery, and its natural concomitant, kidnapping, which at this period was becoming vexatious, Governor Findlay, in his message of 1819, says: " The punishment of kidnapping is not propor- tioned to the offence, and requires to be increased. In con- nection with this subject I have to observe, that it is usual to take colored persons in numbers chained together through our State, and especially through the south-western parts of it, with- out inquiry being made into the cause, or object of the proced- ure. This practice affords inducements to the commission of crime, and facilities in escaping from detection." And again in his message of the following year, he says : "I cannot for- bear to urge upon your attention the necessity for some provi- sions for the punishment of the crime of kidnapping, more adequate to the prevention of the offence, as well as more pro- portioned to other punishments for crimes of inferior grade. It is a melancholy fact, that our laws regard the stealing of a horse a more heinous offence than the stealing of a man."
In person, Governor Findlay was tall, with fair com- plexion and dark-brown hair. He had a vigorous constitu- tion and a cheerful disposition. He was affable and cour- teous in his address, fond of conversation, but did not monopolize it. He understood and practiced the habits of a good listener. He exhibited great tact in drawing out the reserved and taciturn, and enabling them to figure well in conversation by giving rein to their hobbies. He possessed
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a remarkably tenacious memory of names and faces. After a long separation, he could recognize and call by name a per- son with whom he had had but a short and casual interview. His acquaintance was probably more extensive, and his per- sonal friends more numerous, than those of almost any other public man of his day
In his domestic relations he was most exemplary, an affec- tionate husband and the best of fathers. He was pre-emi- nently an unselfish man. He was charitable in the largest sense. Thinking no evil himself, his unsuspecting benevo- lence was often imposed upon. He was a Christian in faith and practice. Baptized and brought up in the Presbyterian Church, he accepted its standards, and respected and hospitably entertained its ministers. In his inaugural address as Gov- ernor, in enumerating the duties which should be required of public servants, he included that of cherishing " by their ex- ample, the purity and beauty of the religion of the Redeemer."
On the 27th of July, 1824, he sustained a great domestic affliction in the death of his wife, for whose excellent sense and judgment he had a profound respect, and who for more than thirty years had been the object of his constant and confiding affection. She died at Pittsburg, where he was re- siding during the recess of Congress. She was an humble, devoted Christian, and in her last hours looked unmoved upon the approach of death. She managed her husband's household with admirable prudence and judgment, relieved him from domestic cares, presided at his table and dispensed his hospitality with dignity and case, and cheered him amid the labors and responsibilities of official life with her sym- pathy and counsel. One daughter and five sons were the issue of this marriage.
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JOSEPH HIESTER,
GOVERNOR UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1790,
December 19, 1820, to December 16, 1823.
MTHE remote ancestors of the Hiester family in this country were of Silesian origin, and in process of time the de- scendants spread through the countries bordering on the Rhine. Three brothers of that name, Daniel, John, and Joseph, emigrated to America in the year 1737, and settled at Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia County, now Mont- gomery. They soon afterwards purchased of the Proprietary Government a tract of several thousand acres in Bern town- ship, now Berks County. Here John and Joseph settled, and on the 18th of November, 1752, the subject of this sketch was born. He was the son of John Hiester, and at an early age was put to the lighter labors of the farm with his father. Subduing the forest, and bringing the soil under cultivation with the imperfect farm implements then in use was a her- culean task, and required a strong will and stout hands. He was himself accustomed to relate, that he was put to the plough so young that when it struck a stump or stone and was thrown from the furrow, he had not strength sufficient to right it till it had run a considerable distance, and when caught in a root the rebound would sometimes throw him prostrate.
The father often recounted to the son the considerations which induced him to leave the old country, and to contrast the freedom and independence that was here enjoyed with the vassalage in which the peasantry were there held. They were kept perpetually poor and dependent by the burdens and
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taxation imposed by the government and the nobility, with no prospect of any means of improvement. The accounts which reached them of prosperous settlements in the New World, where the hand of power was scarcely felt, gave them hope; and thither the brothers turned their faces, seeking in the then wilds of Pennsylvania a habitation, where in process of time one of their offspring came to rule a State more power- ful, prosperous, and happy than the ancient dynasty which they left behind.
In the intervals of farm labor which the winter season af- forded, the son received the rudiments of an English and Ger- man education. In 1771, in his nineteenth year, he married Elizabeth Whitman, daughter of Adam Whitman, a highly respectable citizen of Reading, then an insignificant village. Thither shortly after his marriage he removed, and went into mercantile business in company with his father-in-law. In politics he was a Whig,-a party which had been formed in Pennsylvania to oppose the policy of the Proprietary Govern- ment, and which afterwards warmly espoused the cause of the Revolution. As a representative of that party he was chosen a member of the State Conference which met in Philadelphia on the 18th of June, 1776, and which in reality assumed the government of the Colony, called a convention to frame a new constitution, gave instructions for the guidance of its representatives in Congress, and authorized the calling out of troops for the Continental army. In all these proceedings he was a warm supporter of the popular cause.
He was then a captain of militia, and no sooner had the Conference in Philadelphia adjourned, than he hastened home to arouse the young men of his section to the import- ance of joining the national standard, at that time but feebly supported. A biographical sketch of this period of his life, published in the United States Gazette, furnishes the following graphic account of this summoning to arms : "It was in the twenty-third or twenty-fourth year of his age that General Joseph Hiester first rallied under the standard of his country, and took up arms in defence of her independence. It was a
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gloomy period, at which many hearts, that had beaten high, were sickened and sad in the bosoms of those who now had melancholy forebodings of the issue of the contest in which they had cheerfully embarked - at a time when the great, the good, the peerless Washington had much cause to complain of the want of men and means to meet the enemies of his country. It was late in the year 1775, or early in 1776, that he, then a vigorous, powerful, influential young man, called together by beat of drum his fellow-townsmen of Reading, to take into consideration the alarming state and gloomy prospects of their country. Reading was then an inconsiderable town with a small population. Having convened about twenty-five or thirty, he explained to them the necessity there was, that they also should be up and doing in the cause of their com- mon country. IIe stated that their beloved General was then believed to be in a most perilous situation in New Jersey ; that his friends and fellow-soldiers were but few, while his foes and the foes of America were thickening and multiplying on every side. Having, so far as in his power, embarked the sympathies and aroused the patriotism of his hearers, he expressed his anxious desire to raise a company of volunteers, and march to the assistance of Washington. He was heard with attention and respect, and his proposition was kindly received. He then laid forty dollars on the drum- head, and said: ' I will give this sum as a bounty, and the appointment of a sergeant to the first man who will subscribe to the articles of association to form a volunteer company to march forthwith and join the Commander-in-chief; and I also pledge myself to furnish the company with blankets and necessary funds for their equipment, and on the march!' This promise he honorably and faithfully fulfilled. After our young captain had thus addressed his neighbors, they consulted together, and Matthias Babb stepped forward from among them, signed the articles and took the money from the drum-head. This example, and further advancements of smaller sums of money, induced twenty men on that evening to subscribe to the articles of association. Notices and invi-
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tations were sent through the neighborhood; other meetings were held, and in ten days from the first meeting Captain Hiester had eighty men enrolled. They were promptly organized and ready to march to join the Commander-in- Chief."
The State authorities were engaged in forming what was known as a Flying Camp. The success which had attended the efforts of Captain Hiester in obtaining men made them desirous of inducing him to extend his efforts, and a regiment or battalion was shortly obtained. The men would have gladly made him their Colonel; but this he declined in favor of one who desired the position, as he did also that of Major, declar- ing that he would willingly serve in the ranks, if by such duty he could better aid their common country. He in good faith went among his men and urged the choice of the gentle- men who sought the positions, and by his magnanimous exer- tions in their behalf secured their election. Upon the arrival of the command at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, it was found that General Washington had moved to Long Island, where- upon considerable dissatisfaction was manifested, many of the men claiming that by the terms of enlistment they were not obliged to leave their own State. Hiester was determined to hasten forward to the support of Washington, whom he knew to be in sore need of help. "This," says the authority above cited, " was a critical and painful state of affairs. What was to be done ? What could be done to induce the men to go for- ward? They were drawn up in a compact body, and Captain Hiester addressed them in such honest, suitable, and impas- sioned language, that they warmed as he warmed, they soon felt as he felt, and their hearts beat in unison with his. One who was present on that trying occasion, said to me, 'I wish to God, I could tell you what the Captain said, and how the men looked and felt; " You have marched thus far," said he, " resolved to fight your country's foes, and defend your homes and families : and will you now prove cowards and desert your country, when your country most wants your help ? I would be ashamed to return home with you ? I will go for-
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ward, yes, if I go by myself, I will go and join General Washington as a volunteer, as a private. If you will not go 1 will go alone. But surely," said he, "you will not turn your backs upon the enemy, and leave your country at their mercy. I will try you once again - Fall in ! Fall into your ranks, men! and those who are ready to fight for freedom and America, will, when the drum beats, and the word is given, march to join George Washington." The men fell in. They shouldered their muskets. The drums were beaten, and on the word " March !" the whole line, except three men, moved forward. Those three soon sprang into the ranks, three cheers were given, and they were forthwith on their march to Long Island.'"
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