USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Two > Part 10
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Before the close of the year Governor Mifflin had a clash with the federal government. Several persons had been indicted in Washington county for forcibly carrying off a free negro into another State with the intention of selling him as a slave, which action was a plain violation of law. Governor Mifflin learned that the offenders had fled to Virginia, and he applied to the Gov- ernor of that State for their delivery as fugitives from justice. The application was refused, upon which the demand was repeated with more emphasis and formality, but still the Governor of Virginia refused to comply. In a message to the legislature, Governor Mifflin stated that if the negro was not lawfully eman- cipated, he could have been restored to his master on peaceable application to a competent tribunal ; but if by the benevolent oper- ation of an act of the General Assembly ( which had long been es- teemed an honor and an ornament to our code) he had obtained his freedom, the honor that had bestowed that blessing on him should protect him in the enjoyment of it. The Governor of
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Virginia sought to justify his action, but Mifflin continued to press the matter. Finally Congress enacted that fugitives from justice and persons escaping service to which they were held, were alike within the constitutional intent. During Mifflin's term as gov- ernor other questions than those of a political character and those relating to the system of internal improvements proposed for the general welfare, came up for discussion and adjust- ment. One at least of these had its origin in a period long ante- dating that of which we write, hence, to lay the foundation for that which was accomplished during Mifflin's term a brief sum- mary of those earlier events is necessary.
From the beginning of the white man's occupancy of the coun- try around the headwaters of the Ohio, that region had been a strange scene of dissension and strife. The title to the majestic gateway of the valley of the Mississippi was not settled till 1779; and a vague, undefined belief existed as to the extent and fertility of the valley lying beyond. If, therefore, the discovery of the fertility of western Pennsylvania in the last quarter of the eighteenth century began to draw many westward, the discover- ing that it was the portal to the largest and richest valley await- ing settlement then known, was ere long to draw far more. Stretching toward the setting sun for more than two thousand miles, the area of every eastern valley was, in comparison, dwarfed into insignificance. A few persons, not many, had crept over the mountains before the time of Braddock's ill-fated expedition. They had crossed at various places, the most frequented route be- ing the northerly path leading to Fort Duquesne. After the peace of 1763, the wonders of the west began to draw settlement more strongly. At first, the people from Virginia and Maryland traveled in the largest number, and so great was the exodus that the English government was alarmed, for it made a strong pre- tence of protecting the rights of the Indians against the invasion of their domain. In 1763 the King issued a proclamation regu- lating the bounds and affairs of his new possessions, declaring
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among other things that the Indians must not be molested in their hunting-grounds, and forbidding every Governor from granting lands beyond the heads of the rivers that fell into the Atlantic. Nevertheless, as there were no penalties for violating the King's decree, the people continued to move westward, and as the gov- ernments of Pennsylvania and Virginia had nothing to gain by the movement they adopted a policy to restrain unlawful settle- ments, whether temporary or permanent, on the territory to which the Indian title had not been extinguished. So deter- mined was General Gage, who was then at Fort Pitt, that he in- formed the Governor that if he wished to "take proper and legal methods to remove those who were then at Redstone Creek, which was within the province of Pennsylvania, the garrison of Fort Pitt would assist in the operation." Nor were these idle words. Action was taken to compel the newcomers to retire. They were informed that the commander-in-chief had ordered that if they remained their goods should be seized. The Indians, it was urged, would be encouraged by such an act of injustice, "and if accidents should happen," said that officer, "you lawless people must look upon yourselves as the cause of whatever may be the consequence hurtful to your persons and estates, and if this should not be sufficient to make you return to your several provinces, his excellency, the commander-in-chief, will order an armed force to drive you from the lands you have taken possession of, to the westward of the Alleghany mountains, the property of the In- dians, till such time as his majesty may be pleased to fix a further boundary." Some of the settlers who had gone over the moun- tains believed this action was merely a ruse to pacify the Indians.
Not stopping with these measures, a law was enacted in 1768, visiting the death penalty, without the benefit of clergy, on all who settled on lands not purchased from the Indians. To obviate its force some purchasers hunted with the Indians and bought settle- ment rights from them; but squatter sovereignty still ruled in many places and was a source of discontent. The running of the
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southern boundary line in 1767 proved that the settlements around the head of the Ohio were in Pennsylvania. Governor Penn lost no time after this in securing a cession of the Indian rights to the western portion of the province. The result of these purchases from the Indians was to lessen the tension with them, but the diffi- culties arising from squatter settlement were not ended. Besides the continued tendency to take up lands without paying for them,
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Howe's Headquarters
Battle of Brandywine, 1777. Engraved espe- cially for this work from a negative by D. E. Brinton
the settlers did not know in what province they lived, and owing to the condition of things they were strongly inclined to maintain the position that they were under allegiance to no authority. This was quite in keeping with all their bold, adventurous ways.
Notwithstanding the establishing of the line between Pennsyl- vania and Maryland, Virginia was not disposed to accede to it, and in 1774 the strained feelings nearly resulted in open strife. In
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1774 Dr. John Connelly, by authority of Virginia, took possession of Fort Pitt, changed its name to Fort Dunmore, and issued a proclamation to the militia. These demonstrations led Arthur St. Clair, a magistrate of Hannahstown, to issue a warrant for his arrest. Connelly was forthwith taken into custody and impris- oned, but was soon released on bail. He returned to Augusta county, Virginia, which adjoined Pennsylvania, was made justice of the peace, then returned to Hannahstown in April following, and with a company of men marched to the court house, gar- risoned it and forbade even the magistrates to pass without his permission. A meeting was then held by the contending parties and it was agreed to leave the question of the boundary to the de- cision of commissioners. Three days afterward, when three of the magistrates returned to Pittsburg, they were arrested by Con- nelly and sent under guard to Staunton, Virginia. Governor Dunmore, however, released them and they returned home. Ne- gotiations having failed, Connelly continued to exercise authority over Fort Pitt. In the autumn Lord Dunmore appeared on the scene and issued a proclamation calling on all persons west of Laurel Hill to disregard the authority of Pennsylvania and give heed to that of Virginia. Governor Penn then issued a counter proclamation, but for more than a year Fort Dunmore was held by Dunmore and Connelly, and during that period many question- able acts characterized their course.
Congress at length took action in the matter. A circular was issued by the delegations from Virginia and Pennsylvania, asking for mutual forbearance and a peaceful solution of the difficulty ; but the Virginia authorities were not moved by such mild advice, and another armed force, commanded by Captain John Neville, was sent to take possession of the fort. Soon after the coming of Connelly, in 1774, Lord Dunmore opened several offices for the sale of land and warrants were granted on payment of small fees. Penn had opened a land-office in April, 1769, and there were several thousand applicants the first day, the drawings being
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by lot in order to determine the question of preference. The lands most sought were those lying north of the Monongahela in Westmoreland county, to which locality Virginia had never made any claim. Favorable as were the proprietary terms, those of- fered by Dunmore were more attractive to settlers, hence many persons applied to him for land. In a short time he had estab- lished two county courts south of the Monongahela and one north of it. at Redstone, all within the Province of Pennsylvania.
The establishing of courts possessing conflicting jurisdiction in the same territory was the occasion of strange results. As judicial officers held commissions under both States, the laws they executed depended on the election by the people to whom they were applied. Many submitted alternately to the laws first of one State and then of the other, as they were moved by interest or caprice, while others refused to submit to any lawful authority. As soon as the proprietary land-office was opened, a proclama- tion was issued and the surveyors were instructed to respect the lands of actual settlers who had improved them to the value of £5 and not to survey them on warrants or locations of a date previous to the settlements, except to those by whom the settlements were made. Favored by this indulgence, which was usual in both Provinces, few of those who lived adjacent to the Monongahela, and had already occupied the lands, applied to the office for loca- tions or warrants. They were not certain to which Province the soil belonged, and probably had a secret wish that it should belong to Virginia, because in that case it would cost them about one- fourteenth part of the price for which land was sold in Pennsyl- vania. When the boundary line was at last settled in 1779, many persons who were prejudiced against the laws of Pennsylvania, with others who had always adhered to the government of that State and were obliged to pay for their land, projected a plan for erecting a new State. By the terms of settling the boundary every person was to hold his land on the conditions under which he had first settled. As the new scheme was regarded as treason-
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able by a law of Pennsylvania, nothing further was attempted, but many of those who had strong prejudices against the government of that State sold their plantations and gave place to others.
The troubles with the Indians and Virginia were drowned in the fiercer strife of the Revolution. Then the people who had dis- played so much energy in contending with their old foes, concen- trated all their strength in the cause of American independence. Two regiments, known as the Seventh and Thirteenth Virginia, besides eight full companies of the Pennsylvania line, were raised in this region and gave excellent service during the war. Some of these troops served east of the mountains and others in the several expeditions against the Indians.
When the war closed, three counties were existing west of the mountains and new settlers were rapidly locating along the beauti- ful valleys of the Youghiogheny, Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, while many more were going farther westward toward the great Mississippi valley. In 1789 more than twenty thousand persons had descended the Ohio in boats and were laying the foundation of settlement in that western region of country.
During the entire period of the Revolution and for some time afterward, the western portion of Pennsylvania was subject to fre- quent invasion by hostile Indian warriors, allies of the British, and nearly the entire counties of Westmoreland and Allegheny were actually laid waste, and the inhabitants were obliged to shelter themselves in forts. Westmoreland was attacked while the court was in session and though the records were preserved, the town with most of the property it contained was burned, and a number of persons were killed or taken prisoners. Though the northern frontier of this country was continually harassed, those in the more southwardly settlements were by no means exempted from their share of the general distress. The previous ill feeling be- tween. the two rival governments weakened their exertions in the common defense, and it was not until about the close of the war that arrangements were made for an adjustment of the boundary.
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The earliest settlers in the locality referred to were as a rule more orderly and industrious than was usual among the pioneers of a new region. Many of them were farmers or their sons, with growing families, and they devoted themselves earnestly to the improvement of their condition ; but in the rapid increase of popu- lation toward the close of the Revolution, there was found a num-
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Remains of interior of rifle boring mill of Revolutionary times
In the Tulpehocken Valley. Photo by J. F. Sachse
ber of doubtful characters in the locality, who were not holding their lands under lawful titles, but were squatters and were much inclined to foment trouble in the region, for they seemed banded together under a leader. The four western counties at the time of the "Western Insurrection" contained about seventy thousand inhabitants, scattered over a considerable extent of country. Ex- cept Pittsburg, which contained about twelve hundred inhabitants,
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there were no towns other than the few places appointed for holding the courts of justice in each county. There were scarcely any roads, and the mountains formed a barrier which could only be passed on foot or on horseback. The only trade with the east was by pack-horses, while the navigation of the Ohio was unsafe owing to Indian troubles.
In this section of the Union, where two States had long been contending for the mastery, where the people for many years did not know to which colony or State they belonged, where rival courts weakened still more their allegiance to any authority, the first test of the federal constitution was destined to be made. As the colonial Assemblies had no authority to levy duties on imports, the Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1756 imposed an excise on im- ported spirits. The law was enacted for a temporary purpose, and the revenue arising from it was appropriated to the redemp- tion of the provincial paper money. In 1772 the excise law was revised and the law included besides wine, rum and brandy, spirits distilled from the natural products of the province, except those for the private use of the owner. Though its terms were plain, the tax on domestic production was never enforced.
During the Revolutionary war, when neither foreign rum nor molasses could be imported, the demand for domestic distilled spirits was very great and its manufacture was profitable. In this way was consumed a great quantity of rye, wheat and other grains. In March, 1779, the Assembly sought to prevent by law the distillation of all kinds of grain or meal, but six months after- ward the act was repealed with respect to rye and barley. The large number of persons employed in the militia and standing army had lessened the number of laboring hands and the low price of grain at the beginning of the Revolution discouraged the farmers from continuing to raise as much as before. Others, who were opposed to war on principle, failed to raise their annual crops of grain and thereby sought to reduce the usual supply for the needs of the army. This led to a prohibition against the
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exportation of grain and flour at Philadelphia and the passage of an excise law for the double purpose of checking evils growing out of the distilling of grain into spirits and for creating a public revenue for the maintenance of the army.
In 1780 Congress resolved that an allowance should be made to the army to compensate the depreciated value of the currency and required the States to discharge their respective por- tions. Pennsylvania issued certificates for the liquidated depre- ciation and in addition thereto a considerable area of land west of the Allegheny river and some confiscated property were appro- priated for the discharge of this debt. But the confiscated prop- erty was not salable or productive, and the land, which was of- fered at auction, was sold for a low price. Then the legislature on the application of the officers of the Pennsylvania line, appro- priated the revenue arising from the excise to the payment of the interest and the final discharge of the debt. The several attempts to enforce the provisions of the excise laws, and to restrain the evil practices growing out of the distillation of spirituous liquors, led to serious consequences and resulted in personal encounters between the officers and violators of the law. This period of his- tory has been known as the Whiskey Insurrection and it involved the peace and prosperity of the southwestern portion of our State for many years. The various acts of violation and the attempts to suppress them are matters of local rather than general history ; hence they need not be referred to more than incidentally in this place. Indeed, this troublous period had its beginning long an- terior to Governor Mifflin's time, yet continued into his term and then reached its final culmination.
Soon after the adoption of the federal constitution, an excise tax was imposed by act of Congress. There was great need of in- creasing the federal revenue to pay the ordinary expenditures of the government, besides the payment of the revolutionary indebt- edness that Congress had assumed. An act was passed taxing whiskey according to its quality. It was then worth about fifty
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cents a gallon on the west side of the mountains and twice as much on the east side. A tax therefore of seven cents a gallon operated most unequally on the people of the two sections. The tax in the west was in effect twice as heavy as in the east. From this fact, coupled with the divided allegiance of the western peo- ple between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and from their need of depending upon themselves for protection against the Indians, sprung their opposition to the enforcement of the federal law, and the uprising against the constituted authority which is known in Pennsylvania history as the Whiskey Insurrection.
Gallatin, Brackenridge and Findley had opposed the law, well knowing the sentiment of the people, their determined characters, and that they would resist its enforcement. Subsequent events proved the accuracy of their knowledge of the temper of the in- habitants, but it was not thought that almost the entire population in the disaffected region would join in the general uprising against the laws of the land or that the regularly chosen authorities would themselves countenance the measures which were adopted by some of the committees in the several counties. But notwithstanding the prevailing feelings the region was not without an element of population that quietly submitted to the law and conscientiously regarded its provisions despite the apparent hardships it imposed. It was an unfortunate era in the history of our Commonwealth, yet Pennsylvania was not the only State in which such events took place during the years preceding and following the Revolutionary war.
During the disturbed period various laws were passed by the legislature and also by Congress which aimed to correct the exist- ing evils, but which failed in their effect through lack of power to enforce them. However, in May, 1792, in order to provide both the necessary means and power, another act was passed which au- thorized the calling out of the militia forces to suppress insurrec- tions and repel invasions. At the same time the excise rates were reduced and other changes were made which were more favorable
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to the distiller. The measure met with some opposition, yet its justice was no less clearly seen. Hamilton wrote to Washington that the law was a good topic for discussion, and might prove a fruitful source of revenue in case its provisions could be enforced
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Tho Whar tony un Dres
Member Committee of Safety, 1775; president Council of Safety, 1776; president of Supreme Executive Council, 1777-1778
and were acceptable to the people. By this act the federal gov- ernment assumed control of the excise and all the revenues derived therefrom inured to the benefit of the nation. It must be under- stood that at the time of these troubles, whiskey was really the money of the region. This idea was developed in some resolu-
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tions adopted at a Pittsburg meeting, held in August, 1792. Thie preamble stated that the tax was unjust in itself and oppressive of the poor ; that internal taxes on consumption must, in the end, de- stroy the liberties of every country where they exist ; that the law would bring distress and ruin in the western counties, because in them there was little or no money, and trade was carried on by barter, and that chiefly in distilled spirits.
Not long after the Pittsburg meeting the President issued a proclamation admonishing all persons to refrain from unlawful action against those who were executing the excise laws. The supervisor of the revenue was sent from Philadelphia into the western counties to secureevidence against those who had commit- ted assaults, and who were at the Pittsburg meeting. Seventeen persons were indicted for an assault on Richmond, one of the wit- nesses in Wilson's case, and were tried in the State court at Pitts- burg in 1792, and most of them were convicted and fined. These were only a few of the many cases of violations of law and at- tempted punishment of offenders that took place during the later years of the Whiskey Insurrection and the other troubles which were the natural outgrowth of that period. For a long time the national government attempted the enforcement of the laws of Congress, but with no more success than attended the efforts of the State authorities in dealing with its rebellious subjects. This may be in part accounted for in the fact that the relations of the State and federal authorities were not of an entirely harmonious character, hence the officers of the State did little to assist the rep- resentatives of the general government.
For a long time there was a difference of opinion between Governor Mifflin and President Washington and his advisers concerning the use of the military for enforcing the law. Mifflin did not understand that the judicial power of the State had proved a failure as a means to enforce a compliance with the laws, as was intimated by the federal authorities. In Chester county a violator had been prosecuted and convicted in a State court, and
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a question arose over the fact that such a result could not be ac- complished in the regions west of the Alleghanies, the plain infer- ence being that the State authorities were derelict in co-operating with the efforts to suppress lawlessness by the federal govern- ment. President Washington therefore tried to establish with Mifflin a harmonious basis of action. A correspondence was opened and continued on both sides and the respective systems of national and State government were carefully considered. Fortunately, the law of 1792 provided a practicable method of procedure. It provided that if an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, after receiving evidence, should notify the President that the execution of the law was obstructed by com- binations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and the means at the disposal of the regu- lar officers of the law, then the militia could be called out. Fur- thermore, if the militia of the State where the disturbance pre- vailed should be incompetent to quell it, then the forces of the neighboring States might be called upon. Hamilton advised laying the evidence of the outrages described and of the inability of the federal officers to execute the law, before Justice Wilson. This was done, the certificate from the justice was given, and thereupon the President issued ( August 7) a proclamation calling on the people in the insurrectionary district to lay down their arms and return home by the Ist of September, and ordering out fifteen thousand men to march to the scene and put down the insurrection. Provision also was made for creating a commis- sion composed of five persons, three to be appointed by the Presi- dent and two by the State, whose duty was to adopt measures for quelling the insurrection. The apparent adjustment of existing difficulties by the action above indicated was a source of joy throughout the State, but the end of the main trouble was not yet in sight. On August 14, a convention of more than two hundred delegates was assembled at Parkinson's Ferry for the purpose of expressing the sentiment of those who were interested in or af-
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