USA > Pennsylvania > The making of Pennsylvania; an analysis of the elements of the population and the formative influences that created one of the greatest of the American states > Part 24
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A civilization peculiar in itself formed on one side of it, and another civilization peculiar in itself formed on the other. It almost seems, as we look back at its his- tory, as if there must have been some instinctive feelings guiding the long struggle for its position, and inspiring the determined, violent, and sometimes extraordinary contentions which never rested until the exact point of difference was found.
The feelings of the rough border population that lived along its course were, however, slow to be satisfied. Astronomy was not enough to determine the limits of their civic pride. They had grown accustomed to the temporary line, which was a quarter of a mile above the true one, and they became as much excited over that
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Boundary Disputes with Maryland and Virginia
narrow strip as they had been when they hoped to pene- trate miles into Pennsylvania.
The government of Pennsylvania was determined to push its jurisdiction home. Preparations were made to assert authority within that quarter of a mile, and quiet the disturbances, and to this end a proclamation was issued in 1774, which has generally been considered the final act which ended the controversy forever. But the Baltimores had one shot left, and, though a feeble one, they fired it. Frederick Calvert had died, and his heir was under age. An application was made to the king to stop the proclamation, because the guardians could not assent to it during the minority of the heir. It was the last hopeless effort of eighty years of opposition.
The boundary on Maryland being settled, another question arose as to our boundary on the lands claimed by Virginia, which lay west of Maryland. The charter of Pennsylvania extended the province westward from the Delaware through five degrees of longitude, or about two hundred and sixty-seven miles. The circle round Delaware, and Mason and Dixon's line on Maryland, consumed all of this distance, except about fifty-four miles, which ran through the region which Virginia said was hers. In fact, she claimed upward into Pennsyl- vania above the present site of Pittsburg.
By her original charter, Virginia's northern boundary was supposed to be at the end of the fortieth degree, which was as far north as Philadelphia. The dissolution of this charter, in 1624, instead of narrowing, apparently increased her limits, and in becoming a royal province without any definite boundaries, she considered herself as a keeper or trustee for the king of all contiguous ter-
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ritory not lawfully granted to any other colony. The Maryland grant was taken out of her domain, and she acquiesced in it. But west of Maryland she insisted that her ownership extended for an indefinite distance north- ward and westward, and she had made it good by occu- pation as far as Pittsburg. This was certainly a broad claim of title, and the only remnant of it now is that curi- ous narrow strip of land, called the Pan-Handle, which extends northward between Pennsylvania and Ohio for some distance above the end of the fortieth degree.
The Indian trade at Fort Pitt had always been an ob- ject of Virginia's desire. The situation of that place at the point where the Alleghany and the Monongahela unite to form the Ohio was an evident strategic position, and the natural seat of empire. It had the command of three valleys stretching north, south, and west, and the nation or the colony that held it would be given a great advantage. In 1752 the governor of Virginia announced his intention of erecting a fort there, and the governor of Pennsylvania, equally well aware of the place's impor- tance, told him he was willing he should erect a fort to stop the French, their common enemy, but he must re- member that the land belonged to Pennsylvania.
The French were also fully alive to the importance of the locality, and before Virginia had well established herself they took possession of it. The expedition against them under command of young Colonel Wash- ington and his surrender at Fort Necessity are familiar history. The French called the place Du Quesne, and held it till 1758. It was abandoned by the English in 1771, and in 1773 Virginia again took possession of it, calling it Fort Dunmore, after her governor.
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Virginia now deliberately formulated her claim, and said that her right to the country was secured by her charter and by exploration and settlement not only, but that when the French conquered that part of the country, and afterwards the British government conquered it from the French, all rights that the Penns may have had under their charter were extinguished. Under this belief many Virginians began to enter and settle the region in 1773, just as the disputes with Maryland were drawing to a close. Both Pennsylvania and Virginia attempted to divide the country into counties and govern it. The conflict of jurisdiction brought on fierce disputes among the frontiersmen, who were nearly all hot-headed Scotch- Irishmen, and the two colonies attempted to negotiate a settlement.
The Penns maintained that, instead of Virginia running up into Pennsylvania at this point, the true boundaries would take Pennsylvania down into Virginia for a dis- tance of about fifty miles. The Pennsylvania charter made the beginning of the fortieth degree the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and although, in the case of Maryland, this boundary had been changed by com- promise and brought farther north until it was nearer to the end of the fortieth degree than to the beginning of it, yet, Maryland being passed in marking the line westward, the line immediately went south again to its charter limit, at the beginning of the degree.
To this Virginia replied that the western extent of Pennsylvania was to be measured from the Delaware five degrees of longitude, not on the southern, but on the northern boundary, which was the end of the forty- second degree, and from the end of this a meridian line
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was to be drawn south for the western boundary, which, the Pennsylvanians were assured, would pass at least fifty miles east of Pittsburg. The Delaware was at that time supposed to trend so far east at the northern boun- dary of Pennsylvania that five degrees of longitude meas- ured westward from that point would easily save Pitts- burg for Virginia.
The claims of each side were so violent and far-reach- ing that no settlement could be made. The Penns, however, suggested one of those sensible and moderate compromises at which they were so skilful, and with which, in the end, they usually won. They offered to extend Mason and Dixon's line westward to the Monon- gahela, and follow that river to the Ohio as a temporary line. But as this cut off Pittsburg from Virginia, it was rejected.
In this condition of affairs the Revolution came on, and nothing could be accomplished for four or five years. Both governments attempted to maintain jurisdiction in the disputed territory, and Virginia offered temporary lines which were always refused.
But in 1779 a joint commission peaceably settled the question and agreed on the boundaries as they now are. Mason and Dixon's line was extended westward from the Delaware through five degrees of longitude, and for the western boundary a meridian was drawn from the western extremity of Mason and Dixon's line to the northern limit of the State. The credit of this very wise and fair settlement of a difficulty, which seems to have given much uneasiness to the public men of that time, is said to have been due to David Rittenhouse, one of the commissioners, whose good sense and moderation
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in boundary disputes had now succeeded to the skill the Penns had so long exhibited. This agreement was finally ratified in 1780, but, as in the other boundary disputes, the disorders and quarreling among the border population continued for some time, and caused serious difficulties.
In 1784 the lines were surveyed and the western ter- minus of Mason and Dixon's line, exactly five degrees of longitude from the Delaware, was definitely fixed, a delicate piece of astronomical work, never before at- tempted in any country, and in which David Ritten- house distinguished himself.
This was the end of all serious difficulty with our boundaries. The eastern boundary on the Delaware was never questioned. The northern boundary, de- scribed in the charter as the beginning of the forty-third degree, was easily agreed upon with New York, and - marked out by Rittenhouse in the years 1785-87. The break in the west end of this northern border, which gives us a long frontage on Lake Erie, was accomplished by purchase. Our charter borders just barely enabled us to touch Lake Erie without giving a suitable harbor on it. The Erie triangle, as it is called, belonged to New York and Massachusetts, was ceded by them to the United States, and bought from the United States by Pennsylvania in 1792 for one hundred and fifty-one thou- sand six hundred and forty dollars.
It should enable us to draw the great traffic of the lakes through Pennsylvania to tide-water at Philadelphia, but unfortunate circumstances have prevented this result. It was a purchase, however, that would have pleased Penn and harmonized with his plan of buying enough
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The Making of Pennsylvania
land from Lord Baltimore to give a good harbor on the Chesapeake. With a harbor on Lake Erie and a canal connecting it with the Delaware and the Chesapeake, it would certainly be our own fault if we were not a great commercial as well as a great manufacturing State.
When we consider all these boundary disputes, includ- ing the 'one with Connecticut, the long years through which they extended, the violence and bitterness with which they were maintained against us, the largeness of their demands, cutting us down from greatness to little- ness, and depriving us of our two important cities and points of advantage, it is hard to restrain a feeling, not merely of satisfaction at our success in resisting these attacks, but of gratitude for the skill and persistence of the Penns who accomplished this result.
For nearly a century they followed every doubling and turning of the enemy with perfect good temper, per- fect fairness, and inexhaustible patience. They never resorted to violence and they never retaliated for injuries. They were always ready to compromise, and yet they were always dignified. They secured the ablest and most astute counsellors, and their arguments were always well prepared and fortified, but always reasonable and never strained the truth or justice. The dignity, the peace, and the honor of the commonwealth, during those eighty years of contest, could hardly have been in better hands.
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CHAPTER XII.
RESULTS.
IT was fortunate for the interests of peace and quiet that the incongruous elements of population, which have been described in the preceding pages, had plenty of room, and spread themselves out far and wide in the forests of Pennsylvania. If they had been forced to live close together, it would, perhaps, be more to the interest of the historian, for he would have some savage contests to describe. The passive determination of the Quaker and the fiery aggressiveness of the Scotch-Irish, if confined in close quarters, might have been that irre- sistible force meeting an immovable object from which so much may be expected.
But we need not follow out the speculation, for the fact is that they spread out. The Scotch-Irish got as far away from the others as possible. The Connecticut people, in the fastness of their valley, held aloof from all association and intercourse with the rest of the province. The Germans congregated by themselves in the fertile valleys of the Schuylkill and the Lehigh, and the Welsh were at first isolated on their barony. Only two of the elements were brought in close contact,-the Quakers and Episcopalians who occupied Philadelphia; and the bitterness of their quarrels shows what might have been the result if there had been less room for the others. ·
While the province was geographically divided in this
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manner, with the Quakers and Episcopalians in Phila- delphia, and each of the other elements in a little section by itself, the political power came in time to be divided between two of the elements in a most curious way, the like of which has seldom been seen in history. At first the Quakers held all the political power, and ruled the province in their own way. But after the death of Wil- liam Penn, as his sons gradually left the Quaker faith and became members of the Church of England, these sons gave as much of the political power as they could to the Episcopalians. Under the charter they had a right to appoint the executive officers of the govern- ment, the deputy governor, the judges, and other offi- cials, and these positions were all turned over to Epis- copalians. But the Quakers had the legislature, and retained control of it down to the time of the Revolu- tion.
Philadelphia, as well as the province, was accordingly ruled by two classes,-the Quakers and the Episcopa- lians ; and it would be difficult to say which was the more important and which did more for the city. The Quakers were, of course, the more numerous, and had a strong social life of their own which held aloof from the equally strong social life of the Episcopalians. As time went on there came to be two sources of respectability, two tests for entrance into good society; in fact, there were two "societies ;" or, perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that there was one society with two very distinct branches ; and this state of affairs still in a measure exists.
The isolation of the Scotch-Irish led to serious results which are also acting in almost full force. They occupied the western frontier and kept moving westward with it
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until the western half of the commonwealth came under their influence, as it still is. In colonial times they lived very much to themselves, with customs of their own, and felt more and more that they were a separate commu- nity. When the French and Indian Wars came on in 1755, large numbers of them were massacred, and the contempt which they had for the Quaker government at Philadelphia ripened into a bitter hatred, for they be- lieved that the Quakers could have protected them. At the close of Pontiac's conspiracy, they marched to attack the Quakers and revolutionize the government, and were deterred only by the preparations for their reception which they found had been made at Philadelphia.
At the outbreak of the Revolution they joined with others of the patriot party in completely overthrowing the Quaker power, and, together with the other Pres- byterians, they may be said to have controlled the State during the whole of the Revolutionary period. Their feelings of self-confidence and independence were now fully developed; and when the National government was formed under the Constitution, and Congress laid a tax on whiskey, they broke out in open rebellion, which was finally suppressed by Washington at the head of an army. At this time they hoped to separate from Pennsylvania and form themselves into a new State.
This brief summary of their history reveals the origin and cause of that strong feeling of jealousy for Phila- delphia which has always been shown by the rest of the State. The city has been regarded by the country not as a metropolis to be proud of, but as a distinct com- munity to be disliked and suspected, a condition of things which has often seemed strange and inexplicable
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to those who were not familiar with the history of the State.
The only important element in the country districts which in colonial times was inclined to be in sympathy with the city was that part of the German population which was composed of what were called the sects. These sects, as already shown, were of almost the same religious belief as the Quakers, and the Quakers had encouraged them to come to the province. They always voted on the Quaker side, and kept the Quakers in con- trol of the Legislature down to the Revolution. Many of the Lutherans and Reformed-the church people, as they were called-appear to have been more or less in- clined to vote with the Quakers, but as a class the Quakers had not the control over them that they had over the sects. As the church people Increased more rapidly in numbers than the sects, the Quaker power was slowly undermined.
Although the sharpness of all these old colonial divi- sions and contests has worn off, the original feelings and the results and habits still exist and seem likely to continue descending from father to son for many genera- tions. The people of the western half of the State, with Pittsburg for their capital, feel that they are a separate division, almost a separate State, and sometimes speak of themselves as Western Pennsylvanians. The people of the northern half of the State, which was permeated by the Connecticut influence, have much the same sort of feeling, and they also had at one time the thought of creating a new State. We are really three States in one. In addition to this, the Germans still retain their feeling of isolation, and believe themselves to be the typical
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Results
Pennsylvanians; the Quakers have very much the same feeling ; so have the Scotch-Irish, and there is a trace of it among some of the Episcopalians. The only ele- ments that seem to have been completely absorbed are the Swedes and the Welsh.
A State so constituted necessarily lacks the civic pride and united action which have given commonwealths of inferior situation and resources, like Massachusetts, such an ascendency in the Union. Massachusetts, with a pop- ulation homogeneous from the beginning in race, thought, and religion, and with no feeling for dismemberment, has built up out of her rocks and barrenness a name and fame which communities with greater resources but less unity can only envy.
The results of our lack of unity might be traced in many channels. If we were more united and homo- geneous, we might be the first instead of the second State in the Union ; and those who are familiar with our vast resources of iron, petroleum, coal and lumber, tem- perate climate, fertile soil, railroad and water facilities, and the skill of our people in the mechanic arts and manufacturing, often wonder why we are not.
Our State once contained the metropolis of the coun- try ; the most important events in the Revolution and in the framing of the Constitution happened within our borders; and these, with our own conflicts, were of the sort that bring into prominence strong characters and high intellect. There has been no lack of good ability among our people. Bright and able men have appeared at all times, and from pretty much all the cliques into which we are dissipated. But almost every one of them has been neglected and forgotten, or his reputation de-
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liberately attacked and ruined. It is really extraordinary the vindictiveness with which the Pennsylvanians have assailed any one of their own people who has shown striking or supreme ability.
Mediocrity they can endure well enough, and the mediocrity that can sink its individuality far out of sight and balance among the divisions is the best of all. But distinct opinions are fatal. The man who holds them may be mildly supported by his own small division, but he is sure to have all the others against him.
The Abbé Correa, who was Portugese Minister to the United States and a well-known wit in Philadelphia at the beginning of the present century, used to say that the Pennsylvanians reminded him of the little boys in the streets. When they saw a comrade getting a ride at the back of a wagon they always called out to the driver, "Cut behind !" Other States were proud when one of their citizens achieved distinction or secured an appointment from the government. They supported his fame as part of their own good name, and when he was dead carefully guarded his reputation.
Our tendency in this respect has been commented on by others. Horace Binney thus described it as affecting Philadelphia :
" She does not take and she never has taken satisfaction in habitually honoring her distinguished men as her men, as men of her own family. It is the city that is referred to as distinguished, perhaps, from the rest of the State. She has never done it in the face of the world as Charleston has done it, as Richmond has done it, as Baltimore has done it, as New York has done it, or did it in former times, and as Boston has done it and would do it forever. She is more indifferent to her own sons than she is to strangers."
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In his essay on Chief Justice Gibson, Judge Porter described it for the State :
" For many years a disposition has prevailed in Pennsylvania to over- throw rather than to sustain men of distinguished ability. It has long been the subject of remark at home and abroad, that it seems only neces- sary for a man of more than ordinary capacity to appear in the politics of that State to be struck at by every other politician, great and small. . .. If the same feeling had prevailed in Virginia and South Carolina, Massa- chusetts and Kentucky, where then had been the great lights of our firmament ?"
The most effective injury the Pennsylvanians inflict on their distinguished men is neglect after they are dead. While living they fight their own battles, and usually have ability enough to hold their own in some degree. But dead, the cold indifference, though slow, is sure. No biographies of them appear; nothing is said; until as years roll by a generation appears that can sincerely ask, Who was he?
Sometimes a public man of supreme distinction and importance, like Dickinson, is commented on outside of the State, his character attacked, silly stories invented to his injury, and his reputation torn to shreds. The Penn- sylvanians say not a word, make no defence, until the destruction is complete, when they accept it all. "We were mistaken in him," they say; "he was a nobody, after all."
It might be supposed that within the last hundred years, while we were becoming a State of such wealth and power, some Pennsylvanian would have been found with an interest in history extending far enough beyond genealogies to enable him to write a good life of William Penn. But the founder of the State has not been so for-
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tunate. The best life of Penn was written by Samuel Janney, who was a Virginian and never lived in Penn- sylvania. The other biographies of value are those by Clarkson, Dixon, and Stoughton, all English. There is also a French life, by Marsillac. The life in Sparks's " American Biographies" was written by Dr. Ellis, of Massachusetts. There are a few essays and pamphlets by Pennsylvanians, like those by Howard Jenkins and J. Francis Fisher, but no regular biography.
The founder has, however, several times narrowly escaped having a complete biography by a Pennsyl- vanian. Mrs. Mary Hughes began a biography in England, which she finished in 1828 after she had emigrated to Philadelphia. She became famous for an academy she kept for young ladies, and for a work in ten volumes called " Aunt Mary's Library for Boys and Girls." In 1882, Robert Burdette, of the Burlington Hawkeye, wrote a comic life of Penn. Burdette was born at Greensborough, Pennsylvania, but migrated when a child to the West and lived in Illinois and Iowa. In 1888, William J. Buck, a thorough Pennsyl- vanian, wrote an account of Penn, but confined himself to describing minutely the two short visits which the founder paid to the province. At this rate it is possible that in the course of another one hundred and fifty years a complete biography written by a native of the State may appear.
Even if Penn was neglected, it might be supposed that Franklin, most of whose life was spent in Colonial public office, who was connected with every important interest in Pennsylvania, and whose world-wide fame rivals that of Washington, would arouse some interest and pride
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Results
among our people. But he has fared even worse than Penn. He is admired and studied in other States and everywhere in the world except in Pennsylvania. The two largest and best editions of his works, Sparks's and Bigelow's, come one from Boston and the other from New York. As his writings were translated into Latin, Italian, French, and German, so all nations have written biographies of him; and there are about fifty in exist- ence. The best, those by Parton and Bigelow, are by New Yorkers, and the rest are from every corner of the earth except that which knew him best.
Like Penn, he has had a narrow escape. In 1887, Mr. McMaster, a New Yorker at that time living in Phila- delphia, where he was a professor in the University of Pennsylvania, wrote an excellent sketch of the literary side of his career for a serial called " American Men of Letters," undertaken by a Boston publishing house. Boston has, indeed, always treated him as one of her sons, and in her public library has an alcove devoted entirely to the collection of books which relate to him.
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