USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Municipal government history and politics, Vol. V > Part 7
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In drafting the first State constitution, which was adopted in 1780, it did not, apparently, occur to anybody that the time would ever come when, through the increase of popu- lation, it would be impossible to manage municipal affairs in the larger towns in general meetings of all the qualified voters. The constitution established on a permanent basis the town system just as it then existed. The "freeholders
1 Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. Bay, I. 175, note.
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and other inhabitants" assembled in town meeting were not merely electors ; they constituted a deliberative body on all questions of town government. They discussed, amended, adopted or rejected orders and by-laws; determined the pur- poses for which the public money should be expended, down even to the smallest details, and they fixed the exact amount to be raised by taxation.
All this, under the constitution, was required to be done in town meeting, without regard to the number of voters entitled to take part in the meeting. Boston contained at this time some three thousand voters ; and when exciting questions were under discussion in town meeting "the fierce democratie shook the peninsula" and "fulmined " over the young republic.
In 1784, after a stormy discussion in town meeting, a com- mittee was appointed to report what changes were needed to secure greater efficiency in the administration of local affairs. The committee reported two distinct plans : One to vest the government in a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen and twenty-four councilmen ;1 and the other to vest the govern- ment in a board of nineteen aldermen, the president and six aldermen to be chosen by the citizens at large, and the other twelve aldermen by the several wards, one from each. Both plans were summarily rejected, not because they were con- trary to the provisions of the new constitution, for no such objection appears to have been raised, but because a majority of the people clung to the old town system as the stronghold of their liberties.
In 1815 the population of the town had reached about 36,000, and the votes numbered nearly 6,000. The constitu- tional restriction had then become known to the inhabitants, and those who were dissatisfied with the old system exercised their ingenuity in devising a compromise measure which it
1 This is substantially the same as the form of government provided in the charter granted by George II. to New York in 1730.
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would be competent for the general court to adopt. A com- mittee of prominent citizens reported a bill which provided that the selectmen of the town, annually chosen according to law, together with twenty-four delegates and one intendant, should be a body corporate and politic, under the title of " The Intendant and Municipality of the Town and City of Bos- ton."
There were to be two delegates from each ward, freeholders in the town, and residents in the wards for which they were severally chosen. The selectmen and delegates, together with overseers of the poor and members of the board of health, also chosen by popular vote, were to assemble annually and elect by joint ballot one person, to be called " Intendant," who, ex officio, was to be chairman of the selectmen and of the school committee; and who, with the concurrence of the selectmen, was to have the general superintendence of the police. The intendant and municipality were to make by-laws and ordinances. The municipality was to elect all officers except those chosen by popular vote; and also to make appropriations for the maintenance of the government ; but all expenditures were to be made under the direction of the selectmen, the overseers of the poor, and the board of health. Among other details, the scheme contained this remarkable provision :
" That the municipality shall have power to grant to any association of artists, artificers or mechanics such power of regulating themselves in their several occupations, and of possessing such immunities and imposing such restrictions as the said municipality shall consider for the benefit of the community and for the encouragement of industry."
The intendant and municipality were also required, once in every quarter, to select from the justices of the peace in the county three persons to sit as justices of the police court. In reporting their plan the committee stated that the contin- uance of the board of selectmen was rendered necessary by the letter of the constitution ; that they did not deem it advis-
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able to give the chief officer of the town judicial power, because then he would have to be appointed by the executive of the State ; that the title they proposed for this officer- " The Intendant "-was borne by the officer in the same sta- tion in the city of Charleston, S. C., and " implied the duties which he was to execute "; that the title " Town and City of Boston " was suggested as " expressing truly and distinctly the nature of the corporation, which will be, in effect, the union of town and city authorities in one general government or municipality ; that the name city was used because the del- egation of powers and the organization of the government would be that of a city, with the names of officers accommo- dated to the circumstances and habits of the people, and also because, in the opinion of many persons, that name had an effect to 'raise the rank of a place in the estimation of for- eigners.'" The committee concluded their report with this fine bit of self-glorification, from which it appears that the good opinion of themselves and their city held by Bostonians of the present day, was no less firmly and ostentatiously held by their grandfathers :
" The learning, intelligence, wealth, numbers, enterprise and public spirit of Boston entitle it, in the opinion of your committee, to the highest discriminating appellation univer- - sally given to their most distinguished places by the practice of all European nations." The appeal was seductive, and the compromise measure proposed was an ingenious one, but it failed to secure the approval of the majority of the voters.
In 1820 a State convention was called for the purpose of revising the constitution ; and, among other matters sub- mitted to it, was a proposition to authorize the Legislature to grant to towns charters of incorporation with the usual forms of city government. When the question came up for discus- sion, Lemuel Shaw, afterward chief justice, found it neces- sary, in urging the adoption of the amendment, to assure members of the convention that it was not the intention to grant special powers and privileges to one class of citizens.
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The towns were already in possession of the corporate powers held by the cities in other States of the Union and in Great Britain. They had the power of choosing their own officers, of sending representatives to the general court, and they had jurisdiction over all their local affairs. The purpose of the amendment was simply to authorize such an organization as would permit the people to meet in sections, instead of in one body, and to choose representatives to act for them in the management of town business. Some of the country mem- bers feared that a city government might make laws which, not being known to the inhabitants of other parts of the com- monwealth, would be " liable to ensnare and entrap " the pagani. But they were assured that the city, when incorporated, would have no more power in the making of by-laws and ordinances than the smallest towns already had.
John Adams, formerly President of the United States, and the author of the first State constitution, was a member of the convention, and spoke in support of the amendment. The inconvenience, he said, attending elections in the large seaport towns was so great that he did not suppose any one would have questioned the expediency of giving the Legislature the power proposed. But he was opposed to giving unlimited power ; he loved the present system of town organization, and would not have it altered so long as the people could con- veniently transact their business in the old way.
In Connecticut, he went on to say, when the Legislature opened the door to all the towns to secure city charters, they were inundated with applications. Even " a little clump of Indians, in that State, took it into their heads to apply for city powers and privileges. This convinced the Legislature of the impolicy of granting charters with so much liberality, and there they stopped." As adopted by the convention, and subsequently ratified by the people,1 the amendment provided that the general court, subject to the consent of the people
1 This amendment was adopted by a majority of only 62 votes in a total vote of 28,674.
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concerned (as expressed in town meeting), should have full power and authority to erect or constitute municipal or city governments in any of the corporate towns of the Common- wealth containing not less than twelve thousand inhabitants, and to grant to the inhabitants such powers, privileges and immunities, not repugnant to the constitution, as might be deemed necessary or expedient.
The constitutional barrier to the reorganization of the local government having been removed, the question of applying to the Legislature for a city charter was brought before a special meeting of the inhabitants in Faneuil Hall in Jan- uary, 1822. A committee appointed to report a plan recom- mended that there should be an executive board of seven per- sons, called the "Selectmen," elected by the legal voters on a general ticket ; that there should be one chief executive, called the " Intendant," elected by the selectmen ; that there should be a body with mixed legislative and executive powers, called a " Board of Assistants," consisting of four persons elected from each of the twelve wards. After a long discussion, extending over three days, the report was amended by giving the title of " Mayor" to the chief executive, and by substi- tuting for " Selectmen " the term "Aldermen," and for " Board of Assistants " the term " Common Council."
The report was then adopted-not, however, by a large majority-and on the 14th of January, 1822, a petition for a city charter was presented to the Legislature. The petition recited that the size of the town made it impossible to carry on the government in the old form; that there was no hall large enough to contain all the legal voters, and if such a room existed the attendance would be too large to admit of proper deliberation ; that in consequence many of the people stayed away from the meetings, and the business was transacted by a small minority of all the voters; that there was want of unity, regularity, and responsibility in the management of the prudential affairs of the town ; that while the evils of such a state of things had been diminished by the intelligence, pru-
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dence, and integrity of the different boards entrusted with the management of various branches of town affairs, yet no skill nor integrity could long supply the deficiencies of the present system.
Among those prominent in opposing the application for a charter was Josiah Quincy, who was afterward, as mayor, to win something more than local fame in putting the new sys- tem into operation.1 " He believed," says his son, " the pure democracy of a town meeting more suited to the character of the people of New England, and less liable to abuse and cor- ruption, than a more compact government."2 But, whatever his belief may have been, it was simply impracticable to carry on the affairs of the town by a legislative and executive body composed of over seven thousand persons.
Some years afterward, in describing the condition of the government when the change was made, he said : " When a town meeting was held on any exciting subject, those only who obtained places near the moderator could even hear the discussion. A few busy or interested individuals easily obtained the management of the most important affairs in an assembly in which the greater number could have neither voice nor hearing. When the subject was not generally ex- citing, town meetings were usually composed of the select- men, the town officers and thirty or forty inhabitants. Those who thus came were, for the most part, drawn to it from some official duty or private interest, which, when performed or attained, they generally troubled themselves but little, or not at all, about the other business of the meeting."3
Before proceeding to describe the new system of govern- ment which was to be introduced, it may be interesting to
1 John Phillips, the father of Wendell Phillips, was the first mayor, but he held the office only a year, and his influence was not felt in the admin- istration. Josiah Quincy succeeded him, holding the office for six years, and really introducing and establishing the new system.
2 Life of Josiah Quincy (by Edmund Quincy), 393.
· 3 Quincy's Municipal History of Boston, 28.
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state a little more fully the condition of the town, and of its government at this time. By the census of 1820 the popula- tion was 43,298. On the first of May, 1822, it was something over 45,000. The qualified voters numbered between 7,000 and 8,000. With few exceptions the inhabitants were of American origin. Probably there were not a hundred voters who had been born in a foreign land. The men who ruled the town by virtue of their enterprise, public spirit and social standing were the lineal descendants, in many cases, of the original settlers. During the next thirty years there was a remarkable change in the character of the population, of which some account will be given further on. The town officers, elected annually in town meetings held in March or April, consisted of nine selectmen, whose chairman generally had charge of the police; twelve overseers of the poor ; thirty fire- wards; twelve school committeemen ; twelve members of a board of health-one chosen by each ward; twenty surveyors of boards ; six fence viewers ; six cullers of hoops and staves ; nine cullers of dry fish ; four field drivers ; three inspectors of lime; two surveyors of hemp; two surveyors of wheat; two assay masters ; a town treasurer, and a town clerk.1
"Each of these boards," says the local historian of the time,2 " performed its duties with alacrity and fidelity ; yet there was a universal complaint that every by-law was infringed with impunity; and the want of one efficient,
1 It appears from Freeman's " Town Officer," edition of 1794, that there were at that time 23 different town offices, the incumbents of which were elected annually in town meeting; that, in addition, there were ten dif- ferent offices filled by appointment of the selectmen (such as measurers and sealers of wood, sealers of weights and measures, enginemen, inspect- ors of nails, etc.) ; three different offices filled by appointment of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace (viz .: surveyors, gaugers and searchers of tar, pitch and turpentine, a measurer of salt, and a measurer of grain); and five different offices filled by appointment of the Governor and council (viz .: surveyors of flax seed, inspectors of pot and pearl-ashes, inspectors of tobacco, provers of butter in firkins, and inspectors of loaf sugar).
2 Snow's History of Boston, 365.
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responsible head to take the lead in the affairs of the town and maintain a general oversight was extensively felt."
The annual taxes were voted in town meeting; and these were assessed by a board composed of twenty-four members (two for each ward) called assistant assessors, and three others selected by the assistants to be "permanent assessors," i. e. to hold office during the year. The valuation of real and personal property in 1820 was $38,289,200, and the rate of taxation was only four dollars on one thousand. The debt transferred from the town to the city was about $100,000.
IV. THE FIRST CITY CHARTER, 1822.
On the 22d of February, 1822, the Governor of the State approved an Act passed by the general court, entitled " An Act establishing the City of Boston"; and on the 4th of March following, at "a legal meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston,"1 held in Faneuil
1 This was the old form of describing those qualified to vote :
By Chap. 28, Province Laws of 1692-93, the persons entitled to take part in town meetings are described as " the freeholders and other inhabit- ants ratable at twenty pounds estate to one single rate besides the poll." At the time of the Revolution the qualifications for voters in the election of representatives to the general court was an estate of forty shillings per annum in freehold within the province or territory, or other estate to the value of fifty pounds sterling. By the first constitution (1780), Chap. I., Sec. 2, Art. II., the persons entitled to vote are defined as "every male inhabitant of 21 years of age and upwards having a freehold estate within the commonwealth of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds." By the second article of amendment, adopted in 1821, every male citizen of 21 years of age and upwards, excepting paupers and persons under guardianship, who had resided in the State one year and in the town or district in which he desired to vote six months preceding an election, and who had within two years paid any State or county tax assessed upon him, was authorized to vote for State officers.
By Sec. 8 of the new charter, the qualifications for voters at municipal elections were made the same as at State elections.
It was then, and is now, competent for the general court to extend or restrict the suffrage in town and city elections.
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Hall, the question, " Will you accept the charter granted by the Legislature ?" was decided in the affirmative by a vote of 2,797 to 1,881.
It was merely a special Act of the Legislature, which could be altered or amended at any time, and which was without effect until accepted by a majority of the legal voters of the town. But, as authorizing the first departure from the system of local government which had been in operation nearly two centuries, it was regarded as a measure of the very highest importance. Not a few of the old residents who had fought under the eyes of Washington in the field, and under the eyes of Samuel Adams in the town meetings, looked upon the act which divided their great folk-mote into twelve separate and silent gatherings, where men delegated their rights to others, as the beginning of the end of democratic government. The whelp of 1709 had grown to be a lion.
Beyond the fact that it established representative govern- ment in place of government by general town meeting, the act was not in any sense a radical measure. It did not dis- continue the old corporation and establish a new one. The act declared that the inhabitants of the town should " continue to be one body politic, in fact and in name," and as such should "have, exercise and enjoy, all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges," and be "subject to all the duties and obligations now incumbent upon, and appertaining to, said town as a municipal corporation." There was no substantial increase of powers or privileges, merely a change in the form of organization.
The charter provided that the citizens duly qualified to vote in city affairs should meet in their respective wards on the second Monday of April, annually (subsequently changed to the Tuesday after the second Monday in December), and choose by ballot a warden, clerk and five inspectors, whose duty it should be to preserve order at elections, and to receive, sort, count and declare all votes at all elections in the ward during the ensuing year ; that at the same meeting
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the citizens should be called upon to give their votes for " one able and discreet person, being an inhabitant of the city, to be mayor for the term of one year "; also for eight persons to constitute the board of aldermen for the ensuing year ; also for " four able and discreet men, being inhabitants of the ward," to be members of the common council; also for one person to be a member of the school committee-the twelve persons so chosen (i. e. one from each ward), together with the mayor and aldermen, to constitute the committee having control of all the public schools ; also for one person to be a member of the board of twelve overseers of the poor ; also for a number of persons (to be determined by the city council, but not less than three from each ward) to be fire- wards of the city.1
The mayor was declared to be the chief executive officer of the corporation, but he had no power to act independently of the aldermen. The mayor and aldermen constituted one board, of which the mayor was, ex officio, the presiding officer. He had a vote on all questions, but not the veto power. In all cases in which appointments to office were directed to be made by the mayor and aldermen, the mayor had the exclusive power of nomination ; but all important officers except those of the police were subject to annual election by the city council, some of them in convention of the two branches-e. g. the city clerk and the city treasurer- and others by concurrent vote. The mayor and the 8 aldermen formed the upper branch of the city council, and had substantially the powers formerly exercised by the board of nine selectmen. The common council of forty-eight mem- bers (four from each ward) formed the lower branch of the city council, presided over by one of its own members elected for that purpose at the beginning of the municipal year. Except in the election of certain officers, determining the
1 In 1825 the power to select fire-wards was transferred to the mayor and aldermen.
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number of representatives for the corporation to send to the general court,1 and fixing the mayor's salary, the two branches were required to sit and act separately, each board having a negative upon the proceedings of the other. In general terms, the city council had all the powers formerly exercised by the inhabitants in town meeting. "More especially," the charter said, "they shall have power to make all such need- ful and salutary by-laws as towns by the laws of this com- monwealth have power to make and establish, and to annex penalties, not exceeding twenty dollars, for the breach thereof, which by-laws shall take effect and be enforced .... without the sanction or confirmation of any court or other authority whatsoever, provided that such by-laws shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of the common- wealth, and that they shall be liable to be annulled by the Legislature."
The city council was also authorized "to lay and assess taxes for all purposes for which towns are by law required or authorized to assess and grant money "; also " to provide for the collection of such taxes," and "to make appropriations of all public moneys, and provide for the disbursement thereof, and take suitable measures to ensure a just and prompt account thereof"; also " to provide for the appoint- ment or election of all necessary officers for the good govern- ment of the city not otherwise provided for, and prescribe their duties and fix their compensation "; also "to act as a board of health in establishing a quarantine for vessels, and in providing for the health, cleanliness, comfort and order of the city." Under the provision relating to the appointment of
1 The State constitution of 1821 authorized every corporate town con- taining 150 ratable polls to elect one representative ; every such town containing 375 ratable polls to elect two; every such containing 600 ratable polls to elect three, and proceeding in that manner, making 225 ratable polls the mean increasing number for every additional representa- tive, the city council was authorized to determine the number for Boston " within the constitutional limits."
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· all necessary officers, the popular branch of the government (the common council) insisted on having an equal voice with the mayor and aldermen in the selection of all officers formerly chosen in town meeting, and also all new officers of any importance required in the reorganization of the govern- ment. It was therefore provided by ordinance that the auditor of accounts, the assessors of taxes, the engineers of the fire department, the superintendent of streets, and the heads of the charitable and reformatory institutions, and many of the minor officers, should be elected by concurrence of the two branches of the city council. This method of electing the heads of departments was retained for many years.
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