Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 88

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 88

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(n) Niles Register. (o) Niles Register, September 11, 1824.

(p) Act of January 24, 1824.

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HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

powers; that the independence and security of the country were materially con- nected with the prosperity of manufactures, and that their establishment, by the adoption of a sound tariff, would improve labor, render secure the domestic market and promote the general prosperity. Mr. Baldwin, in his speech in Congress in support of the tariff of 1824, had said:

"It would be going too much in detail to trace the various rates of ad valorem duties from 1789 to 1804. In that year they were permanently fixed at 123, 15 and 20 per cent .; with the addition of the Mediterranean fund they were 15, 172 and 223 per cent., and continued so during the most prosperous period of our commerce and revenue till in 1812, when the permanent duties were doubled, making 273, 323 and 423 per cent. They continued so until 1815, after the peace, when the Mediterranean fund ceased, and the duties remained until July, 1816, at the rates of 25, 30 and 40 per cent. ad valorem. Had they remained so you would not have been assailed by gencral cries of distress from all parts of the nation. We should have enjoyed not a nominal but a real inde- pendence. Our resources would not have been sent abroad to protect and reward the industry of others, to the ruin of our own merchants, manufacturers and farmers. . . If it was right in 1816 to impose a duty of 25 per cent. on woolens and cottons, principally with a view to revenue, there will be found a strong reason for its increase in the duties now imposed by the British Government of sixpence sterling on every pound of wool and six per cent. ad valorem on cotton imported after the 5th of January, 1820. Wool has been an article of export from this country to England. The new duty excludes it; the ports are now shut against your provisions. In France a duty of four dollars per 100 pounds on cotton, equal to 20 per cent. ad valorem on the raw material, is aimed at this country. Thus we find the two nations pursuing the same policy toward our products; both are enriched in the manufacture. I beg the House not to lose sight of one fact, which is admitted by all to be true, that coarse domestic cottons are now made cheaper than they were ever imported. The remark is equally true of nails and every other article of which this country commands the consumption. . This has been called a Pittsburg, a cut-glass bill, local, partial in its operations, and framed through interested motives. Gentlemen had better be cautious how they use the word Pittsburg as a name of reproach; it may be like the term 'Whig,' one of pride and not of disgrace. I will tell the House frankly that I have not lost sight of the interests of Pittsburg, and would never perjure myself if I had. If you are not convinced that the interests of that place are identified with the nation, that cut glass can be defended on national grounds, then I agree that Pittsburg, its representative, its favorite manufactures (iron and glass) and the tariff may go together. I will rest the whole bill on this item (glass), and freely admit that the increase of duty on glass, plain not cut, is among the greatest proposed. . In the days of our prosperity we have made to the amount of a quarter of a million dollars' worth in a year. It was so much money extracted from the bowels of the earth-a raw material of no value for exportation converted into articles of the greatest usefulness and beauty. The present duty is a mere tax on the consumer; it operates as no discrimination between ours and the industry of other nations, but leaves it to struggle against the effects of a positive premium on importa- tions. The proposed increase will not, as a protecting duty, amount to more that twenty per cent. ad valorem on cut glass; it is only proposed to add five per cent., the duty being now thirty. I am aware of objections to the duty on plain glass, and am sorry to find them come from manufacturers, glasscutters, not makers, but importers of plain glass who are not satisfied with thirty-five on cut glass, and represent plain as a raw material which ought to be duty free.

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In Pittsburg it is both made and cut, and the House will judge who is most actuated by national principles. . Gentlemen are mistaken in suppos- ing mine an iron-making district; it is iron buying and iron consuming. The time was when 6,000 tons were purchased annually, not one of which was made in the district. It is a matter of most perfect astonishment that so important an article should have been not only so perfectly and wantonly abandoned by the present tariff, but pointedly selected for reprobation by a strange policy, which, while it raised the duties on most other articles, reduced that on iron nearly 100 per cent. From 1804 until 1815 it was seventeen and a half per cent., and until 1816 at fifteen per cent., a duty which might have saved these interesting establishments thus apparently destroyed by design. Pigs and castings in 1815 paid fifteen per cent. ad valorem; bar-iron nine dollars a ton, equal to (say) nine per cent. ad valorem. In 1818 the duties were increased to fifty cents a hundred on pigs, seventy-five on castings and bar-iron. In this House it was raised to $20 a ton by a majority of forty-seven, but reduced in the Senate to $15. Had the duty been a proportionate one in 1816 a rate lower than the one proposed would have been sufficient to have insured a domestic supply, but the reports of the treasury present us with facts which call for immediate and efficient interference. In 1818 the importation of bar-iron exceeded 16,000 tons; in 1819 it amounted to near 20,000 tons."

In February, 1824, the Monroe Doctrine was affirmed by resolution of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.

Pursuant to public notice, the Democratic delegates of Allegheny County met at the Courthouse on June 7, 1825, and nominated the following ticket to be supported by the Democratic Republican party at the ensuing general elec- tion: Senator, James M. Riddle; Assembly, John Brown (of Ross), James C. Gilleland, Dr. James Powers; sheriff, William Leckey; commissioner, Henry Strome; coroner, Hugh Hazleton; auditor, Samuel E. Marks. William Marks and David Lynch were requested to attend as delegates to meet the delegates from Beaver and Butler counties to form a ticket for the senatorial district, and the Assembly ticket to be formed for Butler and Allegheny, at such time and place as might be agreed on. The following persons were appointed a com- mittee or correspondence for the ensuing year: Charles Shaler, Charles Craig, Ross Wilkins, John Sampson, Robert Hilands, James Patterson (of Birming- ham), David Coon, Francis McClure, Thomas Brown (of Moon), Samuel Hainil- ton, J. H. Sewell, Thomas Gibson and John Spear.

In 1825 the vote for Congressman was as follows: Robert Orr, Jr., 2,660; Abner Lacock, 1,496; and for State Senator, Gilmore 1,779, Sullivan 1,598, Riddle 893.

In 1825 General William Marks, of Allegheny County, was elected United States Senator for six years, after a contest lasting several months. On the 24th of August, 1826, William Wilkins, who had been selected for the pur- pose, delivered an able and eloquent eulogy on the characters of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who had recently died, to a large and respectable audience in the First Presbyterian church. The following is the result of the election held in Allegheny County on October 10, 1826: Governor, Shulze, 2,297. Congress, James S. Stevenson, 2,531; Robert Orr, 2,534. Assembly, Foster, 2,006; Brown, 1,987; Denny, 1,973; Beatty, 1,639; Power, 1,454; Neel, 1,337; Murray, 694; Patterson, 569. Commissioner, Fletcher, 1,324; A. McFarland, 646; T. Chalfant, 789; Hulbey, 406. Auditor, McFarland, 1,624; Scully, 1,371.

CHAPTER XXVII.

POLITICS-THE AMERICAN SYSTEM-RECEPTION OF HENRY CLAY-JACKSON'S GROW- ING POPULARITY-BEWILDERMENT OF THE PARTISANS-RISE OF ANTI-MASONRY-THE COFFIN HANDBILLS-THE GREAT CAMPAIGN OF 1828-WILLIAM WILKINS-WAR ON THE MASONS-PROCEEDINGS OF THE MANUFACTURERS-ELECTION RETURNS-ANI- MOSITY OF THE PARTISANS-THE MAYORALTY CONTESTS-STRENGTH OF THE JACKSONIANS-OPPOSITION OF THE ADMINISTRATION TO THE UNITED STATES BANK-SECESSION FROM THE JACKSON RANKS-REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT DEPOSITS-RESOLUTIONS AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS-THE SOUTH PACIFIED- DANIEL WEBSTER ENTERTAINED-INTRIGUES OF LOCAL POLITICIANS-NEWS- PAPER LIBELS-FORMATION OF THE WHIG PARTY-THE JUBILEE CONVEN- TION- RISE OF THE VAN BURENITES-THE MUHLENBERG DEFECTION-THE CHAOTIC CONVENTION-LIBELOUS HANDBILLS-PROTECTION THREATENED - THE FIRST GOLD PARTY -GROWTH OF THE WHIG PARTY-"THE FAMILY"-THE HARD TIMES ASCRIBED TO "TINKERING WITH THE TARIFF"-HARRISON'S POPULARITY-MR. WILKINS CRITICISED-THE HARD-CIDER CAMPAIGN-RECEPTION OF GENERAL HARRISON-THE TARIFFS OF 1842 AND 1846 - INCIDENTAL PROTECTION-RES- OLUTIONS ADOPTED-VIEWS OF THE FREE TRADERS - WAR WITH MEXICO SUSTAINED - CAMPAIGN OF 1848 - JOSEPH BARKER - SCOTT MEETINGS - THE CUBAN QUESTION - NA- TIONAL FREE SOIL CONVENTION - DISRUPTION OF OLD PARTIES - RAILWAY BOND REPUDIATION - INCIDENTS.

Henry Clay became known as the father of the American system. He had advocated it in Congress from the commencement of his career there, and had sustained it with great ability and unwavering fidelity until the system fell into serious disfavor and encountered violent opposition from the Southern members of Congress about 1820. He was greatly assisted by Mr. Baldwin in formulating and upholding the measures of protective legislation. It is not the province of this work to tell the reason for Mr. Clay's defection from his previous unwavering support of the system. He fell into disfavor in this vicinity, and accordingly, in September, 1825, was burned in effigy in Pitts- burg. It was well known that Mr. Clay did not deserve from Pittsburgers treatment of this character, and the better class of citizens took no part in this disgraceful affair. The grand jury found a true bill of rioting against John McFarland, Robert McFarland, Jonathan McCurdy, John Murphy, George Cochran, Edward Pachell and William Wright for that offense. They were tried by jury, but the jury failed to agree, owing to the sickness of one juror during the time of deliberation. William Wilkins and Richard Biddle were counsel for the Commonwealth, A. S. T. Mountain for General Pachell, and Messrs. Snowden, Pius, Kingston, Burke, E. J. Roberts and J. M. Riddle for the defendants generally. This case attracted intense interest.

On the 20th of June, 1827, the citizens of Pittsburg and vicinity, to the num- ber of nearly 700, entertained Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, with a public banquet and an enthusiastic welcome, as an acknowledgment of his services in behalf of the American system of protection. The meeting was held at the Anchor Paper Mill of Henry Holdship, and was presided over by Gen- eral William Marks, with John Darragh, James Riddle, Michael Allen, Mark

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Stackhouse and William McCandless vice-presidents, and Samuel Gormly and Edward D. Gazzam secretaries. Among the guests present were George Rapp and Frederick Rapp, of Economy, and Major Churchill, commander at the Arsenal. The meeting had been projected some time before, when a committee of arrangements had been appointed. This committee consisted of the fol- lowing persons: Charles Shaler, Walter Forward, Charles H. Israel, Henry Holdship, John Robinson, Christopher Magee, Alexander Brackenridge, A. S. T. Mountain, George G. Wright, Edward Quigley, Samuel Roseburg, George Evans, James Reeder, Neville B. Craig, William Robinson, Jr., Dennis S. Scully, William McCandless, George Darsie, Alexander Miller, James Shaw, James Irwin, David Logan, James Wilson, Florence Cotter, George Dawson, Carter Curtis, Joseph Barclay and Ephraim Pentland. On this occasion Mr. Clay delivered an eloquent, conciliatory address, affirniing his well-known views

on the subject of protection. The Gazette said: "Upward of 600 persons dined. The toasts were drunk by this large company with an enthusiasm that showed that their hearts were with their illustrious guest. When Mr. Clay was toasted he rose amidst the acclamations of all to address this great multitude. Perhaps a scene more imposing could not be presented to the human mind. Four hundred of the party at least were manufacturers; before them stood the advocate of that great system upon the success or failure of which had depended the fortune of their lives, nay, life itself and its blessings. As the silver tones of his voice first began to fall upon the ear, breathless silence succeeded to the acclamations which his rising had created. But when sentiments of exalted patriotism, wrought to the highest coloring by the strength of his genius, rolled with all the modulations of intense feeling upon the auditory, the excitement could not be restrained; reiterated applause broke from all parts of the assembly, and the orator was obliged again and again to stop until the desire to hear produced silence and calmness." At the conclusion of his address Mr. Clay offered the following toast: "The city of Pittsburg; the abundance, variety and excellence of its fabrics attest the wisdom of the policy which fosters them." Among the toasts were these: "Alexander Hamilton-The first advo- cate of protective duties;" "The Woolen Bill-Let us feed, clothe and protect ourselves;" "The Anchor Paper Mill-The only American factory ever stopped through Henry Clay. It stopped one day to honor him who prevented it from stopping altogether."

It was in 1824-5 that the strength of General Jackson in the political field was first presented to the citizens of this cominunity. Already he had a powerful following here. At the electoral college in 1825 he had received 99 votes, but the election having been thrown into the House of Representatives, Mr. Adams was chosen President. It was at this time also that Harmar Denny became first prominent in political affairs. In 1827, so great had become the strength of General Jackson in this vicinity that political lines were sharply drawn and immense crowds assembled almost at the mention of his name. His friends and supporters became aggressive in the extreme, and conducted a campaign on a scale of magnitude and magnificence never before witnessed here.

Among the leading supporters of Adams were William McCandless, Francis McClure, John Darragh, B. R. Evans, Thomas Gibson, Joseph Patterson, Charles H. Israel, Alexander Johnston, Charles Shaler, David Logan, Robert Christy, William Howard, James Hanson, Ephraim Pentland, Jamcs Fulton, Joseph Barclay, Dr. John S. Irwin, James Thomson, Alexander Miller, David Maclean, Solomon Light, Captain Robert Burke, Neville B. Craig, John Butler, Patrick McKenna, Richard Robinson, John Caldwell, W. W. Fetterman, Michael Allen, Alexander Brackenridge, Charles L. Volz, Joseph Long, James Wilson, John Sheriff, Martin Rahm and James Riddle.

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In February, 1827, a large meeting was held in Pittsburg to take action to aid the Greeks in their struggle for liberty. William Wilkins was chosen chairman, and N. B. Craig and A. S. T. Mountain secretaries. B. R. Evans offered a set of resolutions, which was seconded by Charles Shaler, warmly supporting the cause of the Greeks in their struggle for independence, and appointing a com- mittee to solicit subscriptions and forward the same to the Greek committee at Philadelphia, to be transmitted thence to Greece. Michael Allen was appointed treasurer to receive the subscriptions. Meetings were also held by various churches to raise funds. By the following autumn a total amount of $1,756.43 was raised. The churches, presided over by Reverends McGuire, Cook, Black, Kerr, Hopkins, Swift and Herron, raised $361.71 for the Greek cause.

On the 4th of July, 1827, the friends of General Jackson and the opposi- tion to a high protective tariff held a large meeting here and enjoyed a dinner, to which, it was claimed by the Mercury and the Democrat, about 1,600 persons sat down. It was said there were three tables, each 252 feet long. Ex-Governor William Findley was president of the occasion. Mr. Baldwin, who had lately espoused the cause of Jackson, read the Declaration of Independence, while standing on a pile of cannon captured by Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. There were present James S. Stevenson, William Wilkins, John M. Snowden and others already prominent as recent supporters of General Jackson for the Presidency, and opposers of a high protective system. Mr. Baldwin delivered the principal oration of the day. His views on protection had undergone great change, but not to the extent of opposing the system generally.

Pursuant to notice, a public meeting was held at the Courthouse, March 22, 1828, by the "friends of General Jackson and the American system." Robert T. Stewart was chosen chairman, and John M. Snowden and Thomas Hazleton were appointed secretaries. Benjamin Bakewell offered resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, declaring that it was the duty of every gov- ernment to protect its industries; that no excessive encouragement should be offered to any particular branch of industry to the injury of all the rest, and that the meeting reposed undiminished confidence in the representative of this dis- trict in Congress. One resolution was as follows: "Resolved, That the articles of wool, iron, hemp and flax, and the manufactures thereof, as well as the finer fabrics of cotton, are not sufficiently protected." It will thus be seen that this meeting took middle ground. It was called together by "the friends of General Jackson and the American system," thus linking the cause of protection to the Democratic car, as it was thought, in this vicinity at least. It was a recognition of the importance to Pittsburg of protection by a faction of the local democracy. The Jacksonians here were somewhat at sea yet, but were swiftly formulating their policy and concentrating their strength.

In 1827 John Brown was elected State senator; Harmar Denny, William B. Foster, Ross Wilkins and William Beatty representatives. There were but two tickets, those of the Adams administration and of Jacksonism. On November 10, 1827, the friends of the administration held a large meeting in Pittsburg, on which occasion William McCandless presided. Francis B. McClure and John Darragh were appointed vice-presidents, and John Scott and B. R. Evans secretaries. Charles Shaler was the principal speaker, and at the con- clusion of his address he introduced resolutions declaring that the administra- tion party favored protection to manufactures; advocated a suitable diffusion of the public finances for the purpose of aiding in the facility of inter-communica- tion; declared that Southern statesmen placed a wrong construction on the Constitution concerning manufactures; asserted that the South was jealous of the prosperity of the North; and ended by recommending the renomination of Adams to the Presidency, and the selection of John A. Shulze as the candidate

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for the Vice-Presidency. William McCandless, Thomas Gibson, Joseph Pat- terson, Charles H. Israel and Alexander Johnston were appointed a committee to attend a State Administration meeting to be held at Harrisburg, July 4, 1828.

At the city election in January, 1828, the Administration majority over the Jackson ticket was about 138. At this time the most prominent politicians here were Henry Baldwin, William Wilkins, James S. Stevenson, Harmar Denny, John M. Snowden, William McCandless, Charles Shaler and William B. Foster. Mr. Stevenson was sent to Congress in 1827. While there he espoused the cause of Jackson and his supporters, and not only spoke, but voted, against the Woolen Bill, which the manufacturers of Pittsburg ardently desired to see become a law. It was at this time that both Henry Baldwin and William Wilkins became supporters of General Jackson. It was claimed that Henry Baldwin had been promised the appointment of Minister to Mexico, and James S. Stevenson the appointment of Sergeant-at-arms in the House in case of the election of General Jackson to the Presidency. In 1828 John M. Snow- den was the Jackson elector from the Sixteenth District. It was during the Presidential campaign of 1828 that the famous "Coffin Handbills" were issued, supposedly from the office of the Statesman, either by John B. Butler, or through his countenance and favor. They were designed to cast ridicule upon the career of General Jackson, and throw- his pretensions into public disfavor. They seem to have been in the form of a pamphlet, showing six executions of militiamen, alleged to have been ordered during the active military career of General Jackson. On page eight was a weeping willow, and Jackson was represented as a slave-trader in an illustration where two slaves were chained together. Jackson's encounter with the Bentons at Nashville, and his alleged connection with the conspiracy of Aaron Burr were also presented in strong colors. Intense excitement resulted.

In 1828 James S. Stevenson was the regularly nominated Jackson candidate for Congress, running in four counties, which gave Jackson a majority of 3,628, and was supported by six out of seven of the Jackson newspapers in the district. William Wilkins, late in the campaign, came out as an independent candidate for Congress, and although he received the support of but one newspaper (said to have been established to aid him) in the district and was a volunteer candidate, he was elected by a majority of 186. The candidacy of Mr. Wilkins was due to the hostility of a faction of the Democracy to Mr. Stevenson. His enemies for some time called Mr. Wilkins the "party disorganizcr."

The campaign of 1828 was in many respects the most remarkable that ever occurred in Allegheny County. The Jackson star was then in the ascendent, and the tide of popularity was turned almost wholly in his favor. The old party organizations were broken down, and the new candidate for national honor swept all before him. Many men, like William Wilkins and Henry Baldwin, who had previously been staunch supporters of the doctrines of Hamilton and the other Federalists, reversed their views and came out in support of General Jackson. Numerous meetings were held in all parts of the county, and it is declared that no buildings then in existence could contain the crowds that gathercd to hcar the orators speak in favor of the merits of Jackson and his elaims to be honored by election to the Presidency. Members of the old parties still fought against him, but it was like a struggle against the tides of the sea. Messrs. Wilkins and Gilmore, both Jackson men, were elected to Congress, and Ross Wilkins, James Patterson, Jamcs Powers and James McKec, all Demo- crats, or "Jackson men," as they were then terincd, were clected to the Gencral Assembly.

No doubt the success of Mr. Wilkins over Mr. Stevenson in his candidacy for Congress was due to the course pursued by the latter in working and voting

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against the Woolen Bill and against internal improvement, and to the support which Judge Wilkins promised would be given by him to those measures in case of his election. But it was to be learned later, much to the dismay of manufacturers and friends of internal improvement here, that Mr. Wilkins, as well as Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Baldwin, could be swept from his former allegiance and plunged into the quagmire which the South was persistently pre- paring for the industries of the North.

In 1828 a large meeting of young men who favored the reëlection of Mr. Adams, was called in Pittsburg, on which occasion Edward D. Gazzam reported resolutions against the election of Jackson and Calhoun, and in favor of the ticket, Adams and Rush. The resolutions declared that inasmuch as the Demo- cratic nominees opposed the American system and were likewise caucus can- didates, having been chosen by a Legislative caucus and by conventions not called by the people but by members of the Assembly, they should not be sup- ported at the ensuing election. The resolutions eulogized Clay as the "general, subaltern and sentinel of the tariff." At this meeting a number of the friends of General Jackson attempted to create a disturbance, but were frustrated in their design. This young men's meeting ended by appointing a committee of correspondence of twenty-five, and a committee of vigilance of 150-all young men of this vicinity. It must be observed, however, that before the Presidential campaign of this year ended several of the young men composing these com- mittees became the supporters of General Jackson, and voted for him at the November election.

During the campaign political recriminations were very severe, and the course pursued by local politicians cannot be said to have been of the fairest character. In October, 1828, James S. Stevenson began suit against David Maclean, editor of the Gazette, for libel. The case remaincd on the dockets until 1830, when it was settled by dismissal, the plaintiff paying the costs.

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 88

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192