USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 19
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1783.
and on the 2d of November orders were issued to disband the army. A small force was still retained, and this had the honour, on the 25th of November, 1783, to take possession of New York, evacuated by the British.
CHAPTER XIX.
Treason trials-Benedict Arnold-President Reed-Difficulties of his position-Philadelphia benevolence-The Wilson riot-Extinguishment of the Penn titles-Gradual abolition of slavery-Articles of confederation-Difficulties of govern- ment-State of the public mind-Discontent in the army- Noble conduct of the disbanded troops-Emeute in Phila- delphia - Military - heroes - Franklin - Morris -Bank of North America-Indian difficulties
THE state government of Pennsylvania and the Continental Congress returned to Philadel- phia when the British evacuated that city. Most of those persons notoriously in the British in- terest retired with the army. Among them was Galloway, prominent in the provincial history of Pennsylvania, who had joined the British in New Jersey, and came with them on their en- trance into the city. He went shortly afterward to England, and remained there until his death in 1803. Others not so wise, or not so far com- mitted, remained, and some thirty bills of in- dictment were found against them under the law
329
TREASON TRIALS.
1778.]
of the state against treason. Twenty-three were tried and acquitted ; two, John Roberts and Abraham Carlisle, were convicted and executed. Party feeling ran to a bitter pitch of exaspera- tion, which was greatly increased by this stern- ness and rigour, and the effects of it undoubtedly embarrassed the government of Pennsylvania for many years. Every effort was made to save these men from the extreme sentence of the law. Joseph Reed, who had been employed to assist the attorney-general in the prosecution, used his influence, but in vain. The executive council refused to interfere; and the two men suffered the extreme penalty on the commons, near Phila- delphia, on the 4th of November, 1778. These were the only executions for treason which ever took place in Pennsylvania. One other person had been executed by the civil authorities as a spy.
When Benedict Arnold was appointed to the military command in Philadelphia, his peculations and evident Tory predilections subjected him to suspicion and complaint. Joseph Reed, who had now succeeded to the office of president of the executive council, was among those who de- tected and exposed his mal-practices, though no one supposed, as was the fact, that the traitor was even then engaged in correspondence with the enemy. His conduct was represented to Congress, and a court-martial was ordered.
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1779.
Acquitted of the more serious charges, he was found guilty on two minor points, and repri- manded. While he remained in Philadelphia he was a source of great annoyance to the authori- ties, and when at length he was removed to West Point his conduct there more than vindicated the suspicions of Governor Reed and his friends. Governor Reed held his troublesome office for three years. During a portion of that time he was invested with dictatorial powers by the legis- lature, a departure from the constitution which the exigencies of the times only could warrant. He performed the delicate trust with firmness and energy, and yet with discretion. The friend and correspondent of Washington, he continually pressed upon the legislature the necessities of the continental forces, and enforced upon the people the need of co-operation, himself taking the field at the head of the militia when danger menaced. The absolute authority conferred upon him was at the instance of Washington and of Lafayette, whose letters Governor Reed commu- nicated to the assembly.
Pennsylvania was strongly appealed to, and her Whigs nobly re- sponded. Her legislature was ever prompt, and well seconded by the executive; and the thanks of Congress were formally tendered. But though better able to give assistance to the common cause than any other state, the Pennsylvania government had to contend with a large party
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1779.] PHILADELPHIA BENEVOLENCE.
of the cold, the non-combatant, and the disaffect- ed ; and the peculiar and heterogeneous character of the population of the state made strong mea- sures necessary to wring from the unwilling their share of the public burden. The contests in which the province had always been engaged with the proprietaries had educated the people in all the manœuvres of party tactics, an experi- ence which rendered them troublesome citizens under the new order of things. We find,
nevertheless, that of the continental troops en- gaged during the war, Pennsylvania furnished nearly twenty-six thousand, only three states furnishing more ; and the Pennsylvania troops were second to none, and superior to most, in the comfort of their clothing and equipments. The liberality of the Whigs of Pennsylvania was further shown in voluntary contributions at various times, and particularly in that period of great distress and darkness, the spring of 1780, when the ladies of Philadelphia city and county contributed three hundred thousand dollars in paper currency, equivalent to about eight thou- sand dollars in specie, for the purchase of clothing for the destitute troops. New Jersey and Mary- land contributed generously at the instance of the same benevolent individuals; and to make the purchase more available, a good proportion of the materials procured were made up by the ladies themselves, to save the expenditure of
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1779.
money for labour. The subsistence of a large army among a people, all of whom were not dis- posed to aid, made the burden still heavier upon the patriotic ; and we need not wonder that this support required in some cases to be almost forced from reluctant farmers. Nor need we be surprised that the exasperation of parties, and the arts of the designing, fomented occasional disturbance. Of this nature was an attack by the militia upon the house of James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration, in October, 1779. He was an able lawyer, and as such had defended those indicted for treason, and was therefore accused of friendship for the Tories. The house was assaulted by an armed mob. Se- veral of Mr. Wilson's friends were with him, and resisted the attack. Two persons were killed, and several wounded in the affray. President Reed, seconded by the citizens, suppressed the tumult; but it was several days before peace , was restored, and then only by conciliatory mea- sures. At its next session the legislature passed an act of oblivion, at the instance of the execu- tive council, and the actions commenced against the parties were dropped.
Among the most important acts of the legisla- ture during President Reed's administration was the passage of an act, in 1779, divesting the Penns of all the proprietary rights except such as could be considered private property. Their
333
SLAVERY ABOLISHED.
1780.]
manors were secured to them, but the quit-rents and pre-emption rights were abolished, and in compensation therefor, one hundred and thirty thousand pounds was promised and paid. Great Britain also conferred an annuity of four thou- sand pounds upon the Penns. These were rather better terms than the founder proposed to the British government, and was prevented by his failing health from consummating.
In 1780, an act was passed forbidding the further introduction of slaves into Pennsylvania, and declaring all persons free, born in the state after the date of the act. The number of slaves at that time in the commonwealth was estimated at six thousand, and of these there are not now probably more than six representatives, and those are aged pensioners on charity. The ori- ginator of the measure was George Bryan, a prominent actor in Revolutionary scenes, who died in 1791, and whose tombstone in the Arch street Presbyterian burial-ground, Philadelphia, bears the record of the fact. He was the author of the bill substantially as it now stands on the statute book. The German settlers in Pennsyl- vania were the first to put on record their disap- proval of slavery at a very early date. The Friends followed them with their public testi- mony, and few members of this Society held slaves. While under the government of Great Britain, more than one attempt of the provincial
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1781.
legislature to get rid of the system was frus- trated by the predominant selfish mercantile interest which ruled the councils of Great Bri- tain in her provincial affairs.
In 1781, the articles of confederation, having been five years under debate in Congress and the state legislatures, were finally ratified. The terms of this confederation belong rather to the history of the United States than to that of Penn- sylvania ; and it is sufficient here to say, that the confederation compact proved rather a clog upon the operations of government than a benefit. The spur of danger was now over; for in this year, on a fine night in October, the good people of Philadelphia were awakened by the watch- man's proclamation of clearer skies than the
desponding had dared to hope for. " Past twelve o'clock, and Cornwallis is taken !" was the formula in which the happy night custodians announced to the sleeping city the intelligence of which they had become first possessed by rea- son of their vigils. The war was virtually at an end.
The difficulties of government were, however, greater than ever. In the beginning of the war, when patriotism and excitement nerved the na- tional arm and the credit of the Congress and of the states was good, when hope pointed to a speedy termination of the contest, and enthusiasm magnified the fruits of victory, to conduct these
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1781.] DIFFICULTIES OF GOVERNMENT.
vigorous moral and physical forces was compara- tively easy. Now the country was wasted by a long struggle, and the fruits of the victory seem- ed insignificant because, as yet, hardly appreci- able. The men who appeared the most prosperous in the community were those whose patriotism had lain silent till the issue became tolerably certain; and who, having husbanded their strength in the contest, or spared exertion alto- gether, now came in fresh to aid in sharing the benefits, whatever they might be. Large · fortunes were amassed by some of these quasi patriots, while others of them preserved their estates entire. Those who had impoverished themselves and expended time and health in the cause of their country, could but look with na- tural disgust upon the suddenly developed zeal of such fair-weather patriots ; and at no time in the history of the struggle were want of union, abundance of party bitterness, and a lamentable lack of public spirit so apparent as at this time, to which jubilant anniversary orations so fre- quently refer as the "bright dawn of morning." It was a gray dawn after a dreadful night; and the nation awoke, not as a giant refreshed, but as one after frightful and terrible dreams suffers the weary day to grow upon him, uncertain what
new labour or calamity it may impose. Those who have studied the correspondence of this period, can appreciate the doubts and fears of
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1783.
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even the most sanguine ; while others, less hope- ful, (and who can wonder ?) declared openly their disbelief in the capacity of a people to govern themselves.
The army was in arrear of its pay, and actu- ally suffering inconvenience if not absolute dis- tress. The prospect of peace opened little hope for them, for rank and file saw nothing but po- verty before them at the close of the war; and, it was plausibly argued, if, while in arms, and necessary for the protection of the country, justice was denied them, what could they expect when the need for soldiers against a foreign enemy was past, and the army was disbanded ? They imagined that they saw already in the public mind a hostility to their interests ; and there was undoubtedly a strong public sentiment against even the semblance of a standing army. The promise of half-pay to the officers which Congress had reluctantly given added to the popular discontent; and the officers who perceived it memorialized Congress with a proposition to commute the half-pay for a gross sum. Pending these proceedings the tidings of the signing of the treaty of peace reached the country, and the uneasiness of the officers of the army at their position was increased. An eloquently written address was circulated among them, inviting a meeting to consider grievances. General Wash- ington, with characteristic wisdom, set aside this
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1783.]. ARMY DISBANDED. 337
irregular proceeding by calling, in General Or- ders, a meeting under his own sanction, at which he was present, and in a judicious address ap- pealed to the patriotism of the gentlemen as- sembled. It was enough. They had been the dupes to a certain degree of selfish men, who would profit by extreme measures without sharing with the army the odium or the responsibility. They flung away the impeachment of their honour, and in a series of resolutions, unani- mously adopted, declared unshaken confidence in Congress and their country, and denounced the "infamous proposals" of the anonymous ap- peal. In the same resolutions they recognised the correctness of an opinion which Washington had expressed, by requesting the speedy action of Congress, that "any further machinations of designing men to sow discord between the civil and military powers of the United States" might be prevented. Congress complied, so far as promises could go; and during the year the army was disbanded, the officers with five years' pay, the soldiers with their arms and accoutrements as a bounty. But the pay was in treasury notes and certificates ; and, for the first time in the history of the world, a victorious force was dis- banded with their arms in their hands and their arrears of pay unsettled-and no serious out- break, outrage, or damage occurred. This was
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1783.
a moral triumph far exceeding all the victories of the Revolution.
There was, it is true, an emeute in Philadel- phia. Some eighty mutineers, new levies from Lancaster, marched to Philadelphia without their officers, and being joined by some of the troops in barracks, surrounded the State House, in which Congress and the Pennsylvania council were in session. They demanded of the execu- tive council immediate payment of their dues, and threatened, if their demands were not com- plied with in twenty minutes, to inflict the ven- geance of an enraged soldiery. After consulta- tion with the executive council, Congress sepa- rated, adjourning to meet in Princeton. John Dickinson was at this time president of Penn- sylvania, and lacked the nerve necessary for such an emergency. Probably it was as well that no violent measures were attempted. Wash- ington despatched fifteen hundred men to Phila- delphia. . The revolt was quieted before the de- tachment arrived, but the troops proceeded to arrest several of the ringleaders, who were tried by court-martial and sentenced to be executed -a sentence which was never carried into effect. General Washington, in a letter to the president of congress, while strongly reprehending the conduct of these mutineers, says : "It cannot be imputed to or reflect dishonour on the army at large; but, on the contrary, it will, by the
339
MILITARY HEROES.
1783.]
striking contrast it exhibits, hold up to public view the other troops in the most advantageous point of light; the veterans who have patiently endured hunger, nakedness, and cold, who have suffered and bled without a murmur, and who, with perfect good order, have retired to their homes without a settlement of their accounts or a farthing of money in their pockets."
Even for these mutineers there is some apo- logy in the severity of their poverty, and the influences of interested persons who were not unwilling to terrify Congress. And there is much allowance to be made for men, the terms of whose enlistment were a denial of the fealty and subordination in which they were born. Revolutions seldom terminate so quietly as did that of America ; since the very act under which a "rebel" army is organized is a precedent for rebellions upon a smaller scale. Soldiers cannot be good casuists. And the Union owes enough to Pennsylvania to overlook much. Her Reed, as an energetic chief magistrate and self-sacri- ficing patriot, incurred contemporary obloquy in the cause he supported from which even Wash- ington might have shrunk, and descended to the grave at an early age, worn out in the conflict. The history of the gallant Wayne is the history of the war. Mifflin and Armstrong, the Cad- waladers, Irvine, St. Clair, Magaw, Tilghman,
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1783.
and many others, carried proudly the honours of their state through the martial struggle.
And when we turn to the civil department, we are met with the name of Franklin, her adopted son, whose services were second to very few, if to more than one. Others whose labours were prominent and serviceable we are compelled to omit, not from a lack of appreciation, but simply from want of space. But at the hazard of re- peating what has been in substance said before, we must remind the reader that the Pennsyl- vania patriots, more than any other, had to struggle with domestic opponents and interests as well as with the foreign foe. If in New York the British influence was greater, which admits of question, it was more successful also.
The history of Pennsylvania were incomplete if we should pass over the name of Robert Mor- ris. The principal financier of the Revolution, he conferred services upon his country as im- portant in their sphere as those rendered by any other of the men of those days. The Revolution found him a wealthy and prosperous merchant, the partner of Thomas Willing. He united in the acts of resistance prior to the Revolution, and was a member of Congress, and an active participant in public duties through the whole period of the war. With George Clymer and others he instituted a bank by subscription, in 1780, the main object of which was to supply
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341
ROBERT MORRIS.
1783.]
the army with provisions. In 1781, he was ap- pointed by Congress minister of finance, and retained this post until 1784, pledging his pri- vate credit to enormous amounts, and command- ing by his unshaken confidence in the issue of the contest the confidence of others. As one of the first acts of his financial administration, he procured the charter by Congress, in 1781, of the Bank of North America. Its notes were payable in specie .on demand, the first American bank with such a basis. This bank was afterward chartered by the state; then, by a change of parties in 1785, its charter was repealed, and again, by another change, re-enacted. The diffi- culties this servant of the public encountered, and the length to which he strained his credit, are almost incredible. He issued his own notes for the service of the army at one time to the amount of a million and a half ! The service he rendered in the relief of Congress and the army, in the restoration of public and private credit and confidence, and in the excellent contagion of a good example, is incalculable. Yet he, like others, suffered the penalty of distinguished public service in contemporary reproach : the necessary consequence of that decision of cha- racter which prompts to bold action, and refuses to give up individuality in obedience to popular clamour. Posterity renders him justice; and the modern reader cannot forbear a sigh as he 29*
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1784.
learns that the financier who carried a nation through such difficulties, fell under his own pri- vate speculations at last; and that he who con- quered the arms of Great Britain, by supplying the sinews of war, was himself a prisoner for debt in his old age. He was ruined by heavy land speculations, and died in 1806, a poverty- stricken old man amid the rising wealth of the Republic whose independence he had asserted, and whose institutions he aided to found.
Little of note remains for us to speak of under the " old constitution." Moore, John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Mifflin, were successively presidents after Reed, each holding office one year, except Franklin, who was three years in the office. The two great parties, " Con- stitutionalists" and "Anti-Constitutionalists," found no lack of matters for dispute, but in this undeveloped period of the state government there is nothing to detain the general reader. The unsatisfactory state of relations with the western Indians made that part of Pennsyl- vania west of the Alleghanies uninhabitable, until in 1795, before the victorious arms of Wayne, the Indians relinquished their claims to the greater part of Ohio and relieved Pennsyl- vania and Kentucky from further incursions. The British retained frontier posts within the north-western limits of the United States until that date, and relinquished them under the
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FEDERAL CONVENTION.
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1786.]
treaty of commerce negotiated by Jay. But they were retained long enough, further to im- bitter the American woodsmen against England, and nearly to compromise the two nations more than once.
CHAPTER XX.
Federal convention proposed-Adoption of a constitution for the United States-New constitution of Pennsylvania- Subsequent amendments-Political history of Pennsylvania -Democratic character of the people-Whisky insurrec- tion-House-tax difficulties-Common school law-Internal improvements-Financial embarrassments-Integrity of the Pennsylvania legislators-Financial condition of the state- Coal trade-Iron, and other manufactures-Philadelphia- Its original extent-Present dimensions-Seat of government removed to Harrisburg-Conclusion.
IN September, 1786, a convention of delegates met at Annapolis, at the invitation of the State of Virginia, to take into consideration the sub- ject of revenue from duties and commerce gene- rally. Only five States were represented and the convention perfected no business, except to recommend a convention of delegates from all the states to meet at Philadelphia in the month of May, to consider the Articles of Confedera- tion, and propose such changes in them as the exigencies of the Union required. This proposal was endorsed by Congress, and acceded to by all
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [17.86.
the States except Rhode Island and New Hamp- shire. The convention met accordingly. Rhode Island sent no delegates, and those from New Hampshire did not take their seats till the work of the convention, after many warm discussions was nearly done. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, ' Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzim- mons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, and Gou- verneur Morris were the Pennsylvania dele- gates. John Dickinson, prominent in Pennsyl- vania annals, was present from Delaware. No body of men ever assembled in this country has exceeded this in point of talent and high-toned political morality ; and if, as has been asserted, the conservative element was predominant, and the general sentiment of the members was less democratic than is now the popular tone, this was a benefit rather than a disadvantage. Con- struction and interpretation have given the in- strument which they framed latitude enough ; and no sincere patriot would desire now to change it in any of its essential features. If in some particulars it is open to censure, we can only wonder that those points are so few, and that a compromise of sectional interest and dif- fering opinions could produce so admirable a " frame of government." We are to remember, in our estimate of its character, the temper of the times and the facts of the era. The very authority under which it was prepared was a
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FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
1788.]
doubtful stretch of the powers of the delegates. Nothing but the personal esteem in which Wash- ington, who was its president, was held, and the weight and influence of the members as a body, could have prevailed upon the people to adopt and put in force a system which corrected the evils of a long war by a strong government, pur- chased future greatness at the expense of imme- diate sacrifices, and trenched upon the doctrine of state and popular sovereignty which the bat- tles of the Revolution had been fought to esta- blish. Revolutions unsettle commercial ethics- the Federal government brought order out of chaos, and its establishment was the last and greatest victory of the young republic. All honour to its founders ! And all honour to the people who endorsed their labours with just hesitation enough to show a due appreciation of the obligations they thereby assumed.
Little Delaware was the first State to adopt the constitution. Pennsylvania followed; and the other States came in, some unqualifiedly, others with proposed amendments, a portion of which were adopted. None of these amendments changed the character of the original instrument in any important particular, except that experi- ence having demonstrated the liability of a State to be summoned before the judiciary of the Union, an amendment was made to protect State sovereignty in this respect.
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