USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
There were two sessions of this convention, the first in the latter part of 1861, the second beginning February 12, 1863. The constitution was completed at the first session, as was supposed, but when the question of admitting the State into the Union was before Congress that body required a change of one section regarding slavery, and the convention was re-con- vened and made the necessary change.
When the convention assembled November 15, 1861, it set about its task. The first intention was to name the new State Kanawha, but there being objections to this, the name of Augusta was suggested; then Alle- ghany, Western Virginia, and finally the name West Virginia was chosen. Selecting a name for the new State was not the most difficult matter before the convention. Very soon the question of slavery came up. The senti- ment against that institution was not strong enough to exclude it from the State. No doubt a majority of the people would have voted to exclude it, but there was a strong element not yet ready to dispense with slavery, and a division on that question was undesirable at that time. Accordingly, the
100
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
constitution dismissed the slavery question with the provision that no slave should be brought into the State nor free negroes come into the State after the adoption of the constitution. Before the constitution was submitted to a vote of the people it was changed to provide for the emancipation of slaves.
The new constitution had a provision which was never contained in the constitutions of Virginia; it affirmed that West Virginia shall remain a mem- ber of the United States. When this constitution was framed it did not regard Hampshire, Hardy, Pendleton and Morgan as parts of the State, but provided that they might become parts of West Virginia if they voted in favor of adopting the constitution. They so voted and thus came into the State. The same provision was made in regard to Frederick County, but it chose to remain a portion of Virginia. It was declared that there should be freedom of the press and of speech, and the law of libel was given a lib- eral interpretation and was rendered powerless to curtail the freedom of the press. It was provided that in suits of libel the truth could be given in evidence, and if it appeared that the matter charged as libelous was true, and was published with good intentions, the judgement should be for the defendant in the suit. The days of viva voce voting were past. The con- stitution provided that all voting should be by ballot. The Legislature was required to meet every year.
A clause was inserted declaring that no person who had aided or abet- ted the Southern Confederacy should become citizens of the State unless such persons had subsequently volunteered in the army or the navy of the United States. This measure seems harsh when viewed from after years, when the passions kindled by the Civil War have cooled and the prejudice and hatred have become things of the past. It must be remembered that the constitution came into existence during the war. The better judgment of the people at a later day struck out that clause. But at the worst the measure was only one of retaliation, in remembrance of the tyranny recently shown within this State toward loyal citizens and office-holders by sympa thizers of the Southern Confederacy. The overbearing spirit of the politi- cians of Richmond found its echo west of the Alleghanies. Horace Greeley had been deterred from delivering a lecture in Wheeling on the issues of the day, because his lecture contained references to the slavery question. In Ohio County, at that time, those who opposed slavery were in the ma- jority, but not in power. There were not fifty slave holders in the county. Horace Greeley was indieted in Harrison County because he had caused the Tribune, his newspaper, to be circulated there. The agent of the Tribune fled from the State to escape arrest. Postmasters, acting, as they claimed, under the laws of Virginia, refused to deliver to subscribers such papers as the New York Tribune and the New York Christian Advocate. A Baptist minister who had taught colored children in Sunday school was for that act ostracized and he left Wheeling. Newsdealers in Wheeling were afraid to keep on their shelves a statistical book written by a North Carolinian, be- cause it treated of slavery in its economic aspect. Dealers were threatened with indictment if they handled the book. Cassius Clay, of Kentucky, was threatened with violence for coming to Wheeling to deliver a lecture which he had delivered in his own State. The newspapers of Richmond reproached Wheeling for permitting such a paper as the Intelligencer to be published there.
These instances of tyranny from Southern sympathizers are given, not so much for their value as simple history as to show the circumstances un-
101
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
der which West Virginia's first constitution was made, and to give an in- sight into the partisan feeling which led to the insertion of the clause dis- franchising those who took part against the United States. Those who upheld the Union had in the meantime come into power, and in turn had become the oppressors. Retaliation is never right as an abstract proposi tion and seldom best as a political measure. An act of injustice should not be made a precedent or an excuse for a wrong perpetrated upon the authors of the unjust act. Time has done its part in committing to oblivion the hatred and the wrong which grew out of the Civil War. Under West Virginia's present constitution no man has lesser or greater political powers because he wore the blue or the grey.
Representation in the State Senate and House of Delegates was in pro- portion to the number of people. The question of the "white basis" or the "mixed basis," as contained in the Virginia constitution of 1850, no longer troubled West Virginia. Suffrage was extended until the people elected their officers, State, County and District, including all judges.
The constitution provided for free schools, and authorized the setting apart of an irreduceable fund for that purpose. The fund is derived from the sale of delinquent lands; from grants and devises, the proceeds of estates of persons who die without will or heirs; money paid for exemption from military duty; such sums as the Legislature may appropriate, and from other sources. This is invested in United States or State securities, and the interest is annually appropriated to the support of the schools. The principal must not be expended.
The constitution was submitted to the people for ratification in April, 1863, and the vote in favor of it was 18,862, and against it 514. Jefferson and Berkeley Counties did not vote. They had not been represented in the convention which formed the constitution. With the close of the war Vir- ginia claimed them and West Virginia claimed them. The matter was finally settled by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1870, in favor of West Virginia. It was at one time considered that the counties of North- ampton and Accomack on the eastern shore of Virginia belonged to the new State of West Virginia, because they had sent delegates to the Wheeling Convention for the reorganization of the State government. It was once proposed that these two counties be traded to Maryland in exchange for the two western counties in that State which were to be added to West Virginia, but the trade was not consummated.
Under the constitution of 1863 the State of West Virginia was governed nine years, and there was general prosperity. But experience demonstra- ted that many of the provisions of the constitution were not perfect. Amendments and improvements were suggested from time to time, and there gradually grew up a strong sentiment in favor of a new constitution. On February 23, 1871, a call was issued for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention. The election was held in August of that year, and in January, 1872, the delegates met in Charleston and began the work. They completed it in a little less than three months.
The following delegates were elected by the various senatorial and assembly districts of the State: Brooke County, Alexander Campbell, William K. Pendleton; Boone, William D. Pate; Braxton, Homer A. Holt; Berkeley, Andrew W. McCleary, C. J. Faulkner, John Blair Hoge; Barbour, Samuel Woods, J. N. B. Crim; Clay, B. W. Byrne; Calhoun, Lemuel Stump; Cabell, Evermont Ward, Thomas Thornburg; Doddridge, Jeptha F .. Ran-
102
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
dolph; Fayette, Hudson M. Dickinson; Greenbrier, Henry M. Mathews, Samuel Price; Harrison, Bejamin Wilson, Beverly H. Lurty, John Bassel; Hampshire, J. D. Armstrong, Alexander Monroe; Hardy, Thomas Maslin; Hancock, John H. Atkinson; Jefferson, William H. Travers, Logan Osburn, William A. Morgan; Jackson, Thomas R. Park; Kanawha, John A. Warth, Edward B. Knight, Nicholas Fitzhugh; Lewis, Mathew Edmiston, Black- well Jackson; Logan, M. A. Staton; Morgan, Lewis Allen; Monongalia, Waitman T. Willey, Joseph Snider, J, Marshall Hagans; Marion, U. N. Ar- nett, Alpheus F. Haymond, Fountain Smith; Mason, Charles B. Waggener, Alonzo Cushing; Mercer, Isaiah Bee, James Calfee; Mineral, John A. Rob- inson, John T. Pearce; Monroe, James M. Byrnsides, William Haynes; Mar- shall, James M. Pipes, J. W. Gallaher, Hanson Criswell; Ohio, George O. Davenport, William W. Miller, A. J. Pawnell, James S. Wheat; Putnam, John J. Thompson; Pendleton, Charles D. Boggs; Pocahontas, George H. Moffett; Preston, William G. Brown, Charles Kantner; Pleasants, W. G. H. Care; Roane, Thomas Ferrell; Ritchie, Jacob P. Strickler; Randolph, J. F. Harding; Raleigh, William Price, William McCreery; Taylor, A. H. Thayer, Benjamin F. Martin; Tyler, Daniel D. Johnson, David S. Pugh; Upshur, D. D. T. Farnsworth; Wirt, D. A. Roberts, David H. Leonard; Wayne, Charles W. Ferguson; Wetzel, Septimus Hall; Wood, James M. Jackson, Okey Johnson.
The new constitution of West Virginia enters much more fully into the ways and means of government than any other constitution Virginia or West Virginia had known. It leaves less for the courts to interpret and decide than any of the former constitutions. The details are elaborately worked out, and the powers and duties of the three departments of State government, the Legislative, Judicial and Executive, are stated in so pre- cise terms that there can be little ground for controversy as to what the constitution means. The terms of the State officers were increased to four years, and the Legislature's sessions were changed from yearly to once in two years. A marked change in the tone of the constitution regarding per- sons who took part in the Civil War against the government is noticeable. Not only is the clause in the former constitution disfranchising those who took part in the Rebellion not found in the new constitution, but in its stead is a clause which repudiates, in express terms, the sentiment on this sub- ject in the former constitution. It is stated that "political tests requiring persons, as a pre-requisite to the enjoyment of their civil and political rights, to purge themselves, by their own oaths, of past alleged offenses, are repugnant to the principles of free government, and are cruel and op- pressive." The ex-Confederates and those who sympathized with and assisted them in their war against the United States could have been as effectively restored to their rights by a simple clause to that effect as by the one employed, which passes judgment upon a part of the former constitu- tion. The language on this subject in the new constitution may, therefore, be taken as the matured judgment and as an expression of the purer con- ception of justice by the people of West Virginia when the passions of the war had subsided, and when years had given time for reflection. It is pro- vided, also, that no person who aided or participated in the Rebellion shall be liable to any proceedings, civil or criminal, for any act done by him in accordance with the rules of civilized warfare. It was provided in the con- stitution of Virginia that ministers and priests should not be eligible to seats in the Legislature. West Virginia's new constitution broke down the bar-
103
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
rier against a worthy and law-abiding class of citizens. It is provided that "all men shall be free to profess, and, by argument, to maintain their opin- ions in matters of religion, and the same shall in no wise affect, diminish or enlarge their civil capacities."
A change was made in the matter of investing the State School Fund. The first constitution authorized its investment in United States or West Virginia State securities only. The new constitution provided that it might be invested in other solvent securities, provided United States or this State's securities cannot be had. The provision for courts did not meet general approval as left by the constitution, and this dissatisfaction at length led to an amendment which was voted upon October 12, 1880, and was ratified by a vote of 57,941 for, to 34,270 against. It provides that the Supreme Court of Appeals shall consist of four judges who shall hold office twelve years, and they and all other judges and justices in the State shall be elected by the people. There shall be thirteen circuit judges, and they must hold at least three terms of court in every county of the State each year. Their tenure of office is eight years. The county court was remod- eled. It uo longer consists of justices of the peace, nor is its power as large as formerly. It is composed of three commissioners whose term of office is six years. Four regular terms of court are held yearly. The pow- ers and duties of the justices of the peace are clearly defined. No county shall have fewer than three justices nor more than twenty. Each county is divided into districts, not fewer than three nor more than ten in number. Each district has one justice, and if its population is more than twelve hun- dred it is entitled to two. They hold office four years.
There is a provision in the constitution that any county may change its county court if a majority of the electors vote to do so, after the forms laid down by law have been complied with. It is left to the people, in such a case, to decide what shall be the nature of the tribunal which takes the place of the court of commissioners.
The growth of the idea of liberty and civil government in a century, as expressed in the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and as embodied in the subsequent constitutions of 1830, 1850, 1863 and 1872, shows that the most sanguine expectations of the statesmen of 1776 have been realized and surpassed in the present time. The right of suffrage has been extended beyond anything dreamed of a century ago, and it has been demonstrated that the people are capable of understanding and enjoying their enlarged liberty. The authors of Virginia's first constitution believed that it was unwise to entrust the masses with the powers of government. Therefore the chief part taken by the people in their own government was in the selection of their Legislature. All other State, County and District offices were filled by appointments or by elections by the Legislature. Limited as was the exercise of suffrage, it was still further restricted by a property qualification which disfranchised a large portion of the people. Yet this liberty was so great in comparison with that enjoyed while under England's colonial government that the people were satisfied for a long time. But finally they demanded enlarged rights and obtained them. When they at length realized that they governed themselves, and were not gov- erned by others, they speedily advanced in the science of government. The property qualification was abolished. The doctrine that wealth is the true source of political power was relegated to the past. From that it was but a step for the people to exercise a right which they had long suffered
104
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
others to hold-that of electing all their officers. At first they did not elect their own governor, and as late as 1850 they acquiesced, though somewhat reluctantly, in the doctrine that they could not be trusted to elect their own judges. But they have thrown all this aside now, and their officers are of their own selection; and no man, because he is poor, if capable of self-sup- port, is denied an equal voice in government with that exercised by the most wealthy. Men, not wealth; intelligence, not force, are the true sources of our political power.
CHAPTER XI.
:0:
JOHN BROWN'S RAID.
The attempt of John Brown to free the slaves; his seizure of the United States Armory at Harper's Ferry; his capture, trial and execution, form a page in West Virginia's history in which the whole country, and in a lesser degree the whole civilized world, felt an interest at the time of its occur- rence; and that interest will long continue. The seizure of the Govern- ment property at that place by an ordinary mob would have created a stir; but the incident would have lost its interest in a short time, and at a short distance from the scene of disturbance. But Brown's accomplices were no ordinary mob; and the purpose in view gave his attempt its great impor- tance. In fact, much more importance was attached to the raid than it deserved. Viewed in the light of history, it is plain that Brown could not have freed many slaves, nor could he have caused any wide-spread uprising among them. The military resources of the Government, or even of the State of Virginia, were sufficient to stamp out in short order any attempted insurrection at that time. There were not enough people willing and ready to assist the attempt. There were too many willing and ready to put it down. Brown achieved about as much success as he could reasonably expect, and his attempt at emancipating slaves ran its logical course. But the extreme sensitiveness of the slave holders and their fears that aboli- tionists would incite an uprising, caused Brown's bold dash to be given an importance at the time far beyond what it deserved.
John Brown was a man of great courage; not easily excited; cool and calculating; not bloodthirsty, but willing to take the life of any one who stood between him and the accomplishment of his purpose. He has been very generally regarded as a fanatic, who had followed an idea until he became a monomaniac. It is difficult to prove this view of him to be incor- rect; yet, without doubt, his fanaticism was of a superior and unusual kind. The dividing line between fanatics and the highest order of reformers, those who live before their time, who can see the light touching the peaks beyond the valleys and shadows in which other men are walking, is not always clearly marked. It is not for us to say to which class of men Brown belonged; and certainly it is not given us to set him among the blind fanatics. If he must be classified, we run less risk of error if we place him with those whose prophetic vision outstrips their physical strength; with the sentinel on the watch tower of Sier, of whom Isaiah speaks.
What he hoped to accomplish, and died in an attempt to accomplish, was brought about in less than five years from his death. If he failed to free the slaves, they were speedily freed by that sentiment of which he was an extreme representative. It cannot be said that Brown's efforts were the
10€
JOHN BROWN'S RAID.
immediate, nor even the remote, cause which emancipated the black race in the United States; but beyond doubt the affair at Harper's Ferry had a powerful influence in two directions, either of which worked toward eman- cipation. The one influence operated in the North upon those who desired emancipation, stimulating them to renewed efforts; the other influence had its effect among the Southern slave owners, kindling their anger and their fear, and urging them to acts by which they hoped to strengthen their grip upon the institution of slavery, but which led them to war against the Government, and their hold on slavery was shaken loose forever. John Brown was born in Connecticut, went to Kansas with his family and took part in the contention in that state which occurred between the slave fac- tion and those opposed to the spread of slavery. Brown affiliated with the latter and fought in more than one armed encounter. He was one of the boldest leaders, fearless in fight, stubborn in defense, and relentless in pursuit. He hated slavery with an inappeasable hatred. He belonged to the party in the North called Abolitionists, whose avowed object was to free the slaves. He was perhaps more radical than the majority of that radical party. They hoped to accomplish their purpose by creating a sen- timent in its favor. Brown appears to have been impatient at this slow process. He believed in uniting force and argument, and he soon became the leader of that wing of the Ultra Abolitionists. On May 8, 1858, a secret meeting was held in Chatham, Canada, which was attended by delegates from different states, and from Canada. The object was to devise means of freeing the slaves. It is not known exactly what the proceedings of the meeting were, except that a constitution was outlined for the United States, or for such states as might be taken possession of. Brown was comman- der-in-chief; one of his companions named Kagi was secretary of war. Brown issued several military commissions.
Harper's Ferry was selected as the point for the uprising. It was to be seized and held as a place of rendezvous for slaves from Maryland and Virginia, and when a sufficient number had assembled there they were to march under arms across Maryland into Pennsylvania and there disperse. The negroes were to be armed with tomahawks and spears, they not being sufficiently acquainted with firearms to use them. It was believed that the slaves would eagerly grasp the opportunity to gain their freedom, and that the movement, begun at one point, would spread and grow until slavery was stamped out. Brown no doubt incorrectly estimated the sentiment in the North in favor of emancipation by force of arms. In company with his two sons, Watson and Oliver, Brown rented a farm near Sharpsburg, in Maryland, from Dr. Kennedy. This was within a few miles of Harper's Ferry, and was used as a gathering point for Brown's followers, and as a place of concealment for arms. Brown represented that his name was Anderson. He never had more than twenty-two men about the farm. From some source in the East, never certainly ascertained, arms were shipped to Brown, under the name of J. Smith & Son. The boxes were double, so that no one could suspect their contents. In this manner he received two hundred and ninety Sharp's rifles, two hundred Maynard revolvers and one thousand spears and tomahawks. Brown expected from two thousand to five thousand men, exclusive of slaves, to rise at his word and come to his assistance. In this he was mistaken. He knew that twenty-two men could not hold Harper's Ferry, and without doubt he calcu- lated, and expected even to the last hour before capture, that his forces
1
107
JOHN BROWN'S RAID.
would rally to his assistance. When he found that they had not done so, he concluded that the blow had been struck too soon.
About ten o'clock on the night of October 16, 1859, with seventeen white men and five negroes, Brown proceeded to Harper's Ferry, over- powered the sentry on the bridge, seized the United States arsenal, in which were stored arms sufficient to equip an army, took several persons prisoner and confined them in the armory; visited during the night some of the farmers in the vicinity, took them prisoner and declared freedom to their slaves; cut the telegraph wires leading from Harper's Ferry; seized an eastbound train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but subsequently let it proceed, after announcing that no other train would be permitted to pass through Harper's Ferry.
The people in the town knew nothing of what was taking place until daybreak. At that time a negro porter at the railroad station was shot and killed because he refused to join the insurgents, and an employe at the armory was shot at when he refused to be taken prisoner. A merchant witnessed the shooting, and fired from his store at one of Brown's men. He missed, but was shot dead in return. When workmen belonging to the armory appeared at the hour for beginning their daily labors they were arrested and confined in one of the Government buildings as a prison. The village was now alarmed. The mayor of the town, Fontaine Beckham, and Captain George Turner, formerly of the United States Army, appeared on the scene, and were fired upon and killed. The wires, having been cut, news of the insurrection was slow in reaching the surrounding country; but during the forenoon telegrams were sent from the nearest offices. The excitement throughout the South was tremendous. The people there believed that a gigantic uprising of the slaves was at hand. The meagre information concerning the exact state of affairs at Harper's Ferry caused it to be greatly over estimated. At Washington the sensation amounted to a shock. General Robert E. Lee was ordered to the scene at once with one hundred marines.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.