Ohio History Journal

Samuel Finley Vinton.                 231

 

 

SAMUEL FINLEY VINTON.*

 

BY MADELENE VINTON DAHLGREN.

 

It was peculiarly characteristic of the patriotic unselfishness

that was the dominating principle of the public career of Samuel

F. Vinton that he never paused, while laboring with unremitting

zeal for his country, to prepare any journal, or written notes of

any kind, that might assist the biographer to give the story of his

own life.

Unaided, therefore, by that light which he himself could

best have thrown upon the record of a service that was singu-

larly useful to the nation, one must look elsewhere for the

desired information.

In so far as the facts that meet the common eye are con-

cerned, the Congressional records give the official history, but

back of this, and forever screened by his reticence regarding

himself, stands after all the real man, the impelling motives, the

essential qualities, that moulded all his acts into one consistent

whole.

It may seem startling to say so, but his absolute lack of

personal ambition, which repeated the severest types of the

ancients, was to my apprehension unfortunate in its conse-

quences. For, had Mr. Vinton grasped as most men do the

opportunities of the power that high station gives, of the occa-

sions which were offered to him, and from which he turned

aside, it is safe to say, that an influence that was never exerted

but for the right would have vastly broadened.

Ambition properly regulated is for the American citizen a

divine right of sovereignty! In this connection I desire to quote

from some remarks made by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop at a

 

*This interesting and valuable sketch of Mr. Vinton was written by

his daughter, Mrs. Dahlgren, of New York City. It was prepared at the

request of the Secretary of this Society for publication in this volume.

Mr. Vinton's argument on the boundary line between Ohio and Virginia

appears elsewhere in this volume and is one of the ablest legal pleas ever

made before an American court.- E. 0. R.

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232       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held in October,

1890, when Mr. Winthrop said of Mr. Vinton:

"He was a man of eminent ability, of great political expe-

rience and wisdom, and of the highest integrity and personal

excellence. He might at one time have been Secretary of the

Treasury had he been willing to accept that office. He might

have been Speaker of the House of Representatives of the

United States in 1847 had he not positively declined the nomi-

nation."

Are these not offices which, as Mr. Webster said of the

Presidency, "should be neither sought for nor declined"?

Reverting to the "Vinton Memorial," compiled by the Rev.

John Adams Vinton, I find that the subject of this sketch was

the direct descendant in the sixth generation of John Vinton, of

Lynn, Massachusetts, who emigrated to America in 1648. The

traditions of the race all confirm the idea that the founder of the

family in this country was a descendant of the de Vintonnes who

were exiled from France in the seventeenth century, on account

of being Huguenot.

Samuel Finley was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts,

September 25, 1792, and called after his great uncle, Dr. Samuel

Finley Vinton, whose name appears, as also that of his grand-

father, in the Massachusetts archives as one of the "minute

men," that marched on the "Lexington alarm" in 1775.

Abiathan Vinton, the father of Samuel Finley, was an

adopted son of Dr. Vinton, who bequeathed to him most of his

estate. He is spoken of in the -"Vinton Memorial" as "a sub-

stantial farmer in easy circumstances."  He married in 1791,

Sarah Day. The progenitor of the Day family emigrated from

England to New England in 1634. In the Day genealogy occur

the names of a President of Yale and a Secretary of State of the

State of Connecticut, and this honorable record continues to be

sustained. We would especially mention a first cousin to whom

Mr. Vinton was greatly attached, Mr. Henry Day, of New York

City, who is conspicuous as an able jurist.

Samuel Finley being the oldest of seven children, it was the

intention of his father to train him as a farmer, so that he might

be of assistance in the labors of the farm. But from an early

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Samuel Finley Vinton.               233

 

age the thoughtful, studious boy ardently desired to receive a

liberal education, and his wise father soon became convinced

that it was his duty to aid the wishes of his son. A younger

sister used to relate with great glee the conversation at a family

council at the time it was finally decided to send "Finley" (as

he was always called at home) to college, when each member

had to suggest something they were willing to give up, so as to

make a common contribution towards the desired end. A

charming picture of a united family, in which the advantages

of a liberal education were properly appreciated.

Mr. Vinton graduated at Williams College in 1814. He

studied law with the Hon. Stephen Titus Hosmer, afterwards

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut; and while

he was a law student he gave lessons in Latin. In 1816 he was

admitted to the Connecticut bar. Finding that the profession

in New England was somewhat crowded, he soon decided to

seek the wider scope of the West, and went to Ohio, fortified

with some excellent letters of introduction.  After visiting

several of the then principal towns of the State, he finally went

to Gallipolis, a village of French emigres, on the Ohio River.

He had a letter for Mr. Bureau, one of the most influential men

of the place, and seeking on his arrival to present it, he was

directed to the Court House, where that gentleman was found

by him, engaged in the management of some case in his own

behalf. Mr. Vinton at once perceived that Mr. Bureau was

letting some nice points escape him, and quietly taking a place

beside him, he gave him the needed help--soto voce. At first

Mr. Bureau glanced with surprise at this stranger, who gave his

uninvited aid, but he at once recognized the valuable assistance

with quick intelligence. When the short trial was over, Mr.

Bureau said to Mr. Vinton, "You have won my case, what is

your fee?" Of course a fee was declined, and the letter pre-

sented. Mr. Bureau then took Mr. Vinton home to dinner,

introducing him to his two charming and very carefully educated

daughters, who had just returned from their French pensionneal

at Philadelphia. Mr. Bureau urged his young friend to locate in

Gallipolis, and doubtless the beauty and grace of the younger

daughter, Romaine Madelene, whom he married in 1824, aided

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his decision. He established himself in the practice of the law

at Gallipolis.

The "Vinton Memorial" says:   "His first efforts at the

bar attracted much attention, and by the end of the first year he

was in the enjoyment of an extensive and prosperous business.

During six years he continued to achieve the most flattering

success; rising constantly in public estimation, his income

steadily increasing, and having apparently no inclination for

public life, and no taste for party politics. Without any agency

or wish of his own, he unexpectedly found himself, in the

autumn of 1822, nominated for a seat in Congress, by a large

meeting of the people of his district.  His election over two

formidable competitors was a decisive token of the public

esteem."

The astonishment this immediate success created in his New

England home is pleasantly depicted in an anecdote told me not

many years ago by an aged relative. He said that he happened

to be at the Vinton farm one day, when a letter was received

from Mr. Vinton by his father, in which he mentioned having

selected Gallipolis as a residence, and asked his father the loan

of eight hundred dollars for one year, to enable him to purchase

the needed law books, as there was no law library and no books

at hand to refer to in the prosecution of his cases. The old

gentleman looked serious, for this was a heavy and an unex-

pected drain upon a New England farmer situated as he was,

but presently he said: "Finley must have the tools to work

with, but I expect to have to make it a gift, not a loan."

Evidently he never supposed his son could earn that sum in

one year, or indeed in any definite time, and his surprise was

great when some months later, and long before the expiration of

the year, "the loan" was refunded. But the grateful recollec-

tion of an affectionate child did not end there, for to the day of

their death the filial devotion of a good son comforted his excel-

lent parents.

It is a pathetic circumstance that this estimable couple died

within a few days of each other, the loving wife being ill at the

time of her venerable husband's decease and unable to survive

the shock of his loss.

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Samuel Finley Vinton.             235

 

Shortly before his death, Mr. Vinton's father had the grati-

fication of seeing for himself the esteem his gifted son had so

quickly won in the place of his adoption, as he visited him at his

home in Gallipolis. The old gentleman was of genial and

pleasant manners, very suave and of much intelligence and

refinement. The fact is, the Massachusetts farmer of the class

to which he belonged was of a superior type of men such as few

countries have ever possessed. If you found them during the

day like Cincinnatus at the plow, the evening was given to

books, and to a mental activity that kept pace with the progress

of the age. Besides, Mr. Vinton's father had been carefully

trained in the home of his uncle, Dr. Vinton, an accomplished

physician, who had adopted him as his son and heir. * * *

On the threshold of Mr. Vinton's political career, we pause

to insert verbatim a communication received some years ago

from one who knew him well and whose opinion is entitled to

the highest respect. They are the recollections of Mr. John T.

Brasee, himself an excellent lawyer, of Mr. Vinton. Mr. Brasee

says:

"My acquaintance with Mr. Vinton commenced in the

autumn of 1819, and continued during his life. From 1819 to

1826, I resided at Athens, where he regularly attended the courts.

In 1826, I commenced the practice of law at Gallipolis, where he

resided, and until 1835 we rode the same circuit together and

practiced in the same counties. So I may say, I knew him well.

"Mr. Vinton's mind was remarkably well balanced; all its

powers worked together harmoniously, giving him the clearest

conceptions of all subjects he investigated, and in debate he

imparted those conceptions to his adversaries and auditors, not

only clearly and fully, but in the purest and simplest language.

" Mr. Vinton was a very accomplished lawyer, learned in all

the departments of his profession, and very skillful in the appli-

cation of his knowledge to cases as they arose on the circuit. In

his cases in the higher courts, he came to his work well pre-

pared; unlike most other lawyers, he studied both sides of such

cases and was therefore never taken by surprise by anything

developed during the trial on argument. * * *

"From his peculiar habits of investigation, Mr. Vinton was

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a remarkably safe lawyer. His professional engagements, how-

ever small the case, were never neglected. If circumstances

prevented him, as they sometimes did, from giving his personal

attention to a case, he provided in some way for it, so that the

interest of his client should not suffer.

"Mr. Vinton was a fine advocate.  He seldom met his equal

at the Ohio bar, and never except when he met the late Thomas

Ewing. The people in his circuit would assemble at each county

seat in great numbers on the first day of each term of the court.

Some came to hear him speak, some to employ him as counsel,

and others to post themselves as to current political events. On

these occasions his room was almost like a levee, except that the

men were neither learned nor fashionable, but the sturdy yeo-

manry of the country. * * *

"The physical labor, incident to the practice of law in

Southern Ohio, at the time Mr. Vinton practiced there, was

great. He traveled over his large circuit four times a year,

generally on horseback, as that was the only mode of traveling

at that period. * * *   As often as I have thought on the

subject, I have been surprised that his fragile frame, unadapted

and unaccustomed to anything like manual labor, could endure

so much bodily inconvenience, with all the mental strain he was

subject to, without any apparent over-work or fatigue. * * *

"One spring, without Mr. Vinton's knowledge, and in his

absence, he was elected supervisor of the Gallipolis road district.

This was brought about by reason of his complaints of the

neglect of the supervisor of the previous year in not keeping the

roads and bridges in order. Those who elected him did not

expect him to qualify or serve, but supposed he would decline

and pay his fine, which was small. But he promptly qualified,

and in due time called out his hands, and accompanied them on

the road daily, supervising their work from day to day, until

every man had worked out his two days' labor. The hands did

not re-elect him. They said he exacted full work of them, and

that there was no fun in the thing, as they had supposed. Such

was his devotion to duty.

"Mr. Vinton was a man of great moral courage. I never

knew his equal in that respect. In every exigency of life this

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Samuel Finley Vinton.              237

 

trait of character was predominant. It was perhaps the more

noticeable because of his delicate physical organization. * * *

"Mr. Vinton was an exceedingly companionable gentleman.

He met the court, the bar, and his personal friends upon a plane

of equality. He made every one around him feel pleasantly,

while by his wise thoughts and words he was delighting them.

He was always especially kind in manner to the young men at

the bar, and always disposed to give them aid and counsel in

their professional difficulties. He was sagacious about all the

affairs of human life. He perfectly understood the motives that

impelled to action, and was a consummate judge of all classes of

men. I have frequently thought he could elicit the truth from

the nature of the falsehoods of a lying witness. * * *

"Mr. Vinton never was a politician, but a statesman in the

best sense of the term. He told me while in Congress, that as

often as any new measure came up there, the question at once

arose with many members, 'How will this affect my popularity

at home?' 'As to myself,' said he, 'I never spend my thoughts

upon such questions. How will the measure affect the country?

occupies all my thoughts.'

"The late Mr. Thomas Ewing told me, shortly after Mr.

Vinton's death, 'That when he died the wisest statesman in

Washington died.'

"When Mr. Vinton was first started to Congress, Jackson

county was in his district, and continued so for many years, until

a new districting took place, when it was placed in Ross district.

The autumn when this change took effect, I think in 1832, Mr.

Vinton attended the Jackson Court of Common Pleas, and after

it was about over, he made a speech at the Court House to his

former constituency of that county. It was a great speech,

equally creditable to the head and heart. He called to mind his

first election, the generous manner in which they turned out to

secure it, when he was young and wholly unknown in the

political arena, and for this generous confidence he had ever

been grateful. He considered in detail the leading measures

that had passed Congress during his service, that he regarded as

beneficial to the Western people. He pointed out questions that

were to arise in the future that would be freighted, some with

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good and others with great evil and mischief to the country.

From these texts he spoke expansively, boldly and manfully;

sometimes bringing tears from most of his large audience. * * *

"Mr. Vinton's constituency were more than usually intelli-

gent, having a large mixture of New England people and their

descendants.  The most intelligent men among them were

always proud of him as their Representative and controlled

matters so as to keep him in Congress about as long as he would

serve." * * *

Mr. Brasee, in these interesting reminiscences, has spoken

of the "moral courage" of Mr. Vinton. He had also extraordi-

nary physical fearlessness, as was evidenced on various occasions.

It is related of him, that once when riding along a lonely

highway, he was accosted by a notorious desperado, who he

had been warned intended to do him harm, when he said to the

fellow: "Whenever you are ready, by day or night, come on,

I am ready. Good-day," and he rode on unmolested.

* * * Reverting to expressed opinions of Mr. Vinton as

a lawyer, Mr. Winthrop says, "That he practiced his profession

with great success and 'distinction,' of which numerous cases

could be cited before the Circuit Courts, the Supreme Court of

Ohio and the Supreme Court of the United States. There was

one case that I mention as being of public and enduring import-

ance that Mr. Vinton was appointed by the Governor of Ohio to

go to Richmond and argue. The argument was delivered before

the General Court of Virginia at its December term in 1845.

The real point at issue being the protection of the "rights of

sovereignty and of soil," on a boundary question between the

States of Virginia and Ohio, involved in the locality of the recap-

ture of certain slaves, alleged to have been abducted.

The opening of this defense is a master-piece of dispas-

sionate reply. Mr. Vinton in few, calm, yet forceful words,

covers the whole field with logical precision, and shows the true

subject at issue. The good taste, the dignity of the defense are

consummate.

Is it irrelevant in this matter, and as illustrating Mr. Vin-

ton's calm, personal bravery, to mention, that at the time he

went to Richmond to argue this case, there existed an intensely

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Samuel Finley Vinton.              239

 

excited state of public feeling there on the subject, which he had

fully measured, for when the writer of this sketch, then a young

girl, begged to be permitted to accompany her father to the

Capital of Virginia, he said that he "did not deem it safe for her

to go with him at that time." * * *

Colonel Charles Whittlesey, in his pamphlet, "Western

Reserve-Origin of Title," written for the Historical Society of

northern Ohio in 1876, says of this argument: "Its style is

unusually interesting, the diction clear, and the investigation

exhaustive. Mr. Vinton exhibits the acuteness of a good lawyer,

the broad perceptions of a statesman and the eloquence of a

practiced historian."

And here let me state that I prefer, whenever I can do so,

rather to quote from other sources than to give my own conclu-

sions, so that it may not be supposed that partiality for a parent

has influenced judgment.

A memoir of my father that appeared in the American

Review of September, 1848, says: " It was with more of surprise

than pleasure that in the year 1822, he suddenly found himself,

without any agency or wish of his own, nominated for a seat in

Congress by a large meeting of the people of his electoral

district.

"He had two formidable competitors, over whom he was

elected, and for fourteen years, by a merited confidence from his

constituency, he continued to be returned with increasing ma-

jorities, until in 1836, he voluntarily withdrew from public life.

" From the first, that power of labor and that prompt instinct

of the useful, of the substance of things, which had so quickly

made Mr. Vinton a leading lawyer, rendered him an efficient

representative.

"He applied to each question as it arose, his strong powers

of investigation, and as he was never the man to waste his time

or that of the House on attempts at display, on efforts to shine,

he soon mastered the main business of legislation, contributed

to perfecting it, where the young member can best serve as he

learns, in committees, and early began to make himself felt in

the origination of substantive measures of importance."

Mr. Vinton entered Congress as a Representative in 1823,

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and was placed for several successive sessions on the Committee

of the Public Land. He was from the outset on the alert to

suppress fraudulent practices at the public sales, and he greatly

desired that these sales should be used for great purposes of

acknowledged utility for some national object or objects. The

result of his labors in this direction is admirably given in the

American Review, which says:

"In 1826 he brought forward and carried through the

House of Representatives a modification of the Land Laws as

to whatever, by the original ordinance of May 20, 1785, was set

apart in order to found, in all the future States to be formed out

of the National Domain, a great system of popular instruction.

By this ordinance (see Laws of the United States, Vol. 1, p. 565),

was reserved from sale in each township, for purposes of educa-

tion, one section of land (six hundred and forty acres), that is,

one thirty-sixth of the whole surface.

"But this endowment and its beneficent purposes was prov-

ing a sad failure from the waste of local management, or the

spoil of local combinations. A wretched system of leases and

tenantry had in particular arisen under it.

"The correction which Mr. Vinton brought about began,

prudently, with an experimental change in his own State: his

law empowered the Legislature of Ohio to sell the school lands

within her borders, and to invest the proceeds in some perma-

nent, productive fund, the income to be forever applied to the

support of schools within the township for whose use the land

was originally reserved. Becoming at first the law of Ohio only,

the benefits of this bill have been extended in succession to the

rest of the United States. * * * Few of our legislators have

had the good fortune to achieve a public service greater than

this, or which will be more felt by posterity in that which will

forever make its dearest part, its moral and intellectual being."

Speaking on this subject, Mr. Robert C. Winthrop+ says of

Mr. Vinton: "It was to him that Ohio owed the passage of a

 

*For the debate on this bill, Gales & Seaton's Register, Vol. 2,

part 1, p. 839, 1st Session, 19th Congress.

+Remarks of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop at a meeting of the Massa-

chusetts Historical Society, October 9), 1890.



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Samuel Finley Vinton.             241

 

law authorizing and empowering her Legislature to sell the

school lands which had been granted her by Congress in 1803,

and which covered a full thirty-sixth part of her whole terri-

tory, and to invest the proceeds in a permanent fund, of which

the income should be forever applied to the support of schools.

The benefits of this law have since been extended to all the new

States. Mr. Vinton is thus most honorably associated with the

first great measure of national aid for education."

In the course of his remarks about Mr. Vinton, Mr. Win-

throp adds: "It was my privilege to enjoy his friendship and

confidence during all my congressional career. We were in

sympathy and accord as members of the old Whig party during

that whole period of eleven or twelve years, without the slightest

disagreement on any important question of public interest. Our

friendship and confidential correspondence ended only with his

death. *   *   *  I look back with pleasure and with pride to

an intimate association in Washington with not a few of the

most eminent men of Ohio. * * *     But there are none of

them whom I recall with greater respect, or with a warmer or

more affectionate regard, than Samuel Finley Vinton."

The recognized distinguished public service of Mr. Win-

throp is such that I have transcribed his generous words regard-

ing his friend literally, being fully aware of the weight his

words carry.

* * * But not only as regarded the placing of her public

schools upon a sure and enduring foundation, so as permanently

to increase the means of education in Ohio, was his public ser-

vice inestimable, but also in relation to defining the boundary

lines as between Virginia on the South, and her northern bound-

ary with the then territory of Michigan; and was likewise watch-

ful to promote a system of internal improvements for her roads,

rivers and canals.

In these and other measures of importance to Ohio as they

arose, his untiring and efficient services were of great value.

Like a loving son, he was ever ready to protect her name from

even the shadow of aspersion.

How often did he take occasion on the floor of the House

to point out the superior advantages which she possessed. With

Vol. IV-16

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what affectionate pride did he speak of the people of Ohio, f

" their cheerful submission to the general government, their

firmness and resolution in maintaining their own rights," attrib-

uting "the sources of her prosperity not solely to the salubrity

of her climate, the richness of her soil, but more than all to the

moral worth, the enterprise and industry of her people." * * *

As early as the first session of the nineteenth Congress,

1825-26, Mr. Vinton became deeply interested in the legislative

provisions necessary to carry into execution our treaties with the

various tribes of Indians, and concerning measures needed for

their relief. His first solicitude was for the Florida Indians,

later on for the Choctaw Nation. In some remarks made in 1827

in their behalf he dwelt upon the evident duty of the House to

see that our negotiations with this poor and oppressed race were

fairly and properly conducted.

On May 24, 1830, he addressed the House in a speech of two

hours against the removal of the Indians beyond the Mississippi.

In this ringing speech, which reads in its eloquent appeal like a

chapter of "A Century of Dishonor," he recapitulates the injus-

tices, the perfidies, inflicted on the Florida, the Quapaeo, the

Delawares and other tribes of Indians whom we had reduced to

distress by removal. In this speech he advocated "giving them

the right of individuality of property," and " also to place them

under the influence of schools," characterizing their removal as

a work of desolation and cruelty," and he also pointed out the

fact that many of the southern Indians had negro slaves with

them, whom they carried beyond the latitude of 36^° 30', emi-

grating with them, and he commented on our treaty with the

Cherokees as a direct and gross violation of all justice. If the

country, he asserted, was charged with any violation of public

faith which bore with particular force upon its national character,

it was this, of its obligations to and contract with the Aborigines.

Mr. Vinton's deep interest in the welfare of the Indian, and

the consequent careful investigation of legislation regarding

them, led him in a very unexpected direction. But in the recital

of this matter, I prefer again to quote from the American Review,

which says:

"Mr. Vinton's next great public service consisted in not an

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Samuel Finley Vinton.               248

 

act of Congress brought about, but in a cunningly devised

scheme of legislation foiled and defeated.

" Mr. Calhoun set forth his project in a somewhat elaborate

paper from the war office, dated January 24, 1825. *  *  *  *

The ensuing administration of the War Department, under Gov-

ernor Barbour, found this policy actively organized, and in the

process of silent and sure execution. He adopted it and urged

the scheme in a project for the preservation and civilization of

the Indian, communicated on February 3, 1826, to the Com-

mittee on Indian Affairs. Mr. Vinton soon penetrated the con-

sequences and was able finally to defeat them by making them

apparent to others.

"It was, it seems, intended that under the plea of the

impossibility of carrying out this great work of benevolence,

otherwise than by uniting the Indians in a single region, that

region was to be drawn on the west and north of the line of the

Missouri compromise, so as to cut off the formation of any

further States in that direction, while the tribes of the south

translated almost entirely north of the parallel of 36^° 30', should

leave the slave States an open frontier across which to extend

themselves indefinitely west. This astute plan would, one may

now readily see, if executed, have secured to the South a perma-

nent political ascendancy. * * *   Except in that part of

Michigan, then a territory, no free State could ever have been

formed in the West this side the Rocky Mountains. * * *

"Mr. Vinton's attention became directed thither, and he

discovered the reach of the scheme, as well as its bearing upon

the interests and power of the West. He determined at once to

apply himself to its defeat.

"The Committee of Indian Affairs had, for two of three

successive sessions, reported bills for carrying this policy into

effect, but those bills had, through the pressure of business,

either never reached or not been acted on by the House.

"In this state of things, at the first session of the Twentieth

Congress (1827-28), Mr. McDuffie, then Chairman of the Com-

mittee of Ways and Means, moved as an amendment to the

* See Document 64, second session of Eighteenth Congress, H. R.

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Indian Appropriation Bill, the appropriation of $50,000 towards

removing beyond the Mississippi the Cherokees and such other

Indians as might consent to emigrate. The real object of the

measure was not the appropriation itself, but something more

important; to commit the country and draw it into this policy.

To counteract and expose the movement, Mr. Vinton offered an

amendment to Mr. McDuffie's proposition, attaching to it the

following conditions: That no Indian or Indians living north

of latitude 36° 30' shall be aided in removing south of that line,

nor any living south of it be aided in removing north of it.

"Upon this amendment Mr. Vinton made a speech, in which

he examined and developed the whole plan, its effects upon the

Western States and its relation to the balance of political power,

as between the slave-holding and the non-slave-holding States.

His discourse,* full of weight and sense, but marked with the

firmness and moderation which have always distinguished him,

told at once upon the public attention, and although his amend-

ment was voted down, yet the debate and the subsequent oppo-

sition which it formed to the scheme of transferring the Southern

Indians North, under such territorial guarantees, ultimately

compelled the abandonment of the plan, and ever after the

aborigines, of whatever latitude when removed West, have been

carried forward as Mr. Vinton proposed, upon the parallels of

latitude to which they belonged. To him, then, the West owes

the subsequent admission of both Wisconsin and Iowa."

As regards my father's own estimation of the ultimate

consequence of thus being able to thwart these machinations for

the supremacy of the South, I have a private letter of his, in

which he alludes to this result as probably the most important

public service he had accomplished at that time. Although he

was modest in the appreciation of his own efforts, yet his mental

perceptions were invariably so clear as to enable him accurately

to measure the scope of that which he performed.

Mr. Vinton was placed, in the Twenty-first and Twenty-

second Congress of 1829, 1830 and 1831, on a select committee

relating to internal improvements and the distribution of the

 

*See Gales & Seaton Register of Debates, volume 4, part 2, page 1568.

• 14
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.              245

 

surplus revenue among the several States after payment of the

public debt. And in 1832, 1833, 1834, 1835 and 1836 on a Com-

mittee on Roads and Canals; and public lands for school lands

also claimed his attention.

It was characteristic of Mr. Vinton's mind to investigate

any subject placed before him with the most patient diligence,

and during these years of untiring committee work, he made

himself the master of the questions relating to the public domain,

with their cognate branches. He inquired into the effect of the

existing pre-emption laws upon the sales of public lands and

upon that portion of the public revenue.

In 1826 a debate arose concerning an appropriation to in-

crease the amount for surveying the public lands of the United

States. Mr. Vinton was opposed to this increase, as he was

satisfied that too much land was thrown into the market at once,

in consequence of too rapid a survey of the public lands, and

thus pressing the market in excess of the demand, thereby

fostering a system of speculation.

This question of increased surveys was repeatedly intro-

duced, and whenever it arose Mr. Vinton debated it and ob-

jected to bringing more land into market than there was a

demand for.

When on the Committee of Internal Improvements, he was

always in favor of liberal appropriations in their behalf. In

defining his views he said: "I would keep up the military,

naval and civil establishments of the country, and, if there was

any surplus remaining, I would devote it to internal improve-

ments, and I mean harbors on the seaboard as well as on the

lakes, improvements on the exterior as well as the interior. I

would devote it to those purposes that would facilitate inter-

communication, that would build up the trade of the country;

not merely among ourselves, but with foreign nations."

In pursuance of this line of policy, he introduced a bill

December 11, 1848, granting public lands to certain States

therein named, to aid them in the construction of roads and

canals, and the improvement of their rivers, making the appeal

for public economy, and in order to meet the necessities of pub-

lic business.

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246       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

In a speech January 17, 1844, in behalf of the improvement

of Western waters, he said, that during all the time he had held

a seat in Congress, when appropriations were proposed for public

improvements, he had never stopped to inquire in what partic-

ular section of the Union those improvements were to be made;

but that he had voted for all improvements of the utility of

which he was satisfied, without regard to their location.

Concerning the constantly disputed question of appropria-

tions for the District of Columbia, Mr. Vinton said in a speech

on the subject, that " in contemplation of law and of the Con-

stitution, this entire district was nothing but a seat of govern-

ment, and when it was provided that such a district should be

set apart as the seat of the general government, no other idea

had ever been entertained but that large appropriations would

be requisite for it as such, *  *  *  and as the city increased

in size they must of course increase in amount."

Constantly endeavoring to protect the government from a

waste of expenditure, and to guard the revenue of the public

domain, he opposed the bill for land bounties to the troops who

served in Indian wars in the Western country under Wayne and

others in the last war with Great Britain, in the Florida war, etc.

He considered these bounties as a pure gratuity the country was

not in position to grant, and he thought that speculators in these

warrants would doubtless pocket nearly the whole amount. This

was in 1850, and Mr. Vinton deemed that the financial condition

of the country, with its registered debt of $65,000,000, which

was then deemed a vast sum, would not justify the loss of rev-

enue derived from the sale of the public lands. This bill was

passed to meet the popular clamor, but the result, as usual,

proved the wisdom of Mr. Vinton's views. But he was always

opposed to demagogues and demagogism.

The general estimate as to the value of his labors to pre-

serve the public domain from waste was voiced by The American

Review of 1848, when it said: "Upon one great branch of legis-

lation, the care and disposal of the public lands, Mr. Vinton has

long made himself to be looked to as the leader in the House of

Representatives, we might safely add in Congress, of the party

who have watched over their right administration or averted

• 16
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.             247

 

their waste. During all the period over which we have pro-

ceeded (of Mr. Vinton's public service), and especially after the

accession of General Jackson, unceasing efforts were made; now

by speculators, now by demagogues, next by a natural coalition

of the two, and lastly by the auxiliary influence of the adminis-

tration itself, which was largely made up both of speculators

and demagogues, to incorporate into the public land system such

changes as would, without any compensating increase of our

population, have ruined that branch of the national revenue and

broken up entire the great machinery. * * * Mr Vinton

made himself master of the history of the public domain and of

the policy which has governed its disposal, its management as a

great branch of the national revenue, its relation to other high

questions, the progress of our population, the enlargement of

internal commerce, and the connection of all these subjects with

the social development of that vast central region, destined prob-

ably in the end to control the fortunes of this Republic."

"It is not going too far to say that but for his able and

vigilant resistance of every new scheme for the purpose, but

especially of that which calls itself 'graduation and deduction,'

laws would have been passed as far back as 1828 which would

have resulted in the extinction of that source of public income;

have flung open the whole of these wide territories as the scene

of a general scramble for plunder; have corrupted still more our

Government, and have brought about the almost equal evil of

wild, and wide, and long continued land speculations." * * *

Questions of tariff, which may change as to detail, but are

always the same as to the underlying principle, were as hotly

contested in former Congresses as now. But being then compli-

cated with the slavery issue, which entered as a disturbing force

in all our legislation, these discussions were of the most serious

import.

As far back as 1828, when a proposed increase of duty on

molasses imported from the West Indies was debated, Mr. Vinton

said he "was a firm believer in the American system in its fullest

extent; that system being based upon a single and simple prin-

ciple that the producer, whether farmer or manufacturer, must

have a market for the fruits of his labors. Protect him in the

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248       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

possession of the market and against ruinous competition, and

he will take care of himself."

In this and other speeches on the tariff, Mr. Vinton showed

great accuracy of financial detail, so that his opinions were fully

supported by facts, and were especially convincing.

In 1833, there grew out of the nullification movement a pro-

longed debate on the cotton duties proposed in the tariff bill, in

which Mr. Vinton took a leading part, disproving by carefully

prepared statistics the accusation made, that the commercial

policy of the country imposed too onerous a taxation on the

South.

In the course of his remarks, he said that he had at all times

voted to protect and encourage southern industry, but he had

done, and would do, the same for northern capital and industry.

At that time, South Carolina threatened secession and Georgia

disunion. Mr. Vinton made an impressive appeal in behalf of

the Union, in which he said:

"The Constitution of the United States is the consumma-

tion of that liberty and union which our fathers purchased with

blood, with suffering, and with treasure. It is a perpetual cove-

nant between them and us, and our posterity. They have trans-

mitted the precious inheritance to us, and we are bound at every

cost to hand it down to those who shall come after us. * * *

When force shall triumph over the Constitution, the government

is at an end."

Upon this and other occasions, Mr. Vinton sustained the

protective principle, pointing out that the doctrines of free trade

must necessarily end in direct taxation; and declaring that he

"was not a free trade man, and would never agree to impose a

direct tax, while a system of indirect taxation would answer the

purposes of government."

He asserted that if they gave up a tariff, it must necessarily

end in direct taxation; and that "the protection of the home

labor of the country was the only sure foundation of public

prosperity and of abundant supply of revenue."

As we are now nearing the close of Mr. Vinton's first period

of service, it may be well to note several other of his motions

brought before the House, which have more or less general in-

• 18
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.                249

 

terest. On May 9, 1834, he reported a bill from the Select Com-

mittee on Patents, "to erect a fire-proof building for the Patent

office and for other purposes." On June 9, 1834, he proposed to

extend square west of the Capitol to the foot of the slope and to

extend the botanical garden to the canal; but these motions did

not succeed at that time.

Yet Mr. Vinton foresaw the advisability. He wished in

1835 to carry the graduation of reduction of postage. This, he

said, would increase instead of reducing the revenue. A fact

since proved.

He objected to members of the House who were absent, ex-

cept on the business of the House, being paid.

He was always the friend of scientific investigation, and de-

sired liberal appropriations for the coast survey and for the

advancement of science.

He never lost an opportunity to show his affection for his

constituents, or his interest in the State of Ohio and the western

country. I notice among a host of petitions presented by him,

one from citizens of Washington and Athens counties where he

takes occasion to add: "There is not beyond the Allegheny

mountains a people more eminent for sobriety of habits, social

order and general intelligence."

Although Mr. Vinton had been re-elected to Congress for

fourteen successive years by constantly increasing majorities,

yet he voluntarily withdrew to private life in 1837.

At that time it was his intention never again to take any

part in public affairs. His private business had long been neg-

lected for the public service. He considered it a duty to amass

a suitable competence for his family, and he said that he had

never been able to do more than make temporary provisions out

of the Congressional salary for the necessities of his position.

During an interval of six years he was engaged in various

business projects, as well as in a lucrative and rapidly enlarging

practice of his profession, and it was with unfeigned reluctance

that he was again in 1843 drawn back into the House of Repre-

sentatives. At that time several highly respectable men in his

district were candidates, and there seemed to be no other way to

adjust their differences but to select one who, by his conspicuous

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250       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 4

 

former service, had gained the general esteem and confidence.

Mr. Vinton was accordingly nominated and elected.

It may be readily supposed that when Mr. Vinton re-entered

Congress, his ripe experience and undoubted ability were at once

recognized, and that he was given a leading place in the councils

of the Nation. The Committee of Elections during that Congress

had the most weighty issues placed before them, and he was

assigned to that committee, where his experience and talent

would prove of greatest value to the country. But he begged to

be excused from serving on that committee on account of the

state of his health, which was at that time two much impaired to

admit of so severe a strain. He was then placed on the Judiciary

Committee, where he at once directed his attention with the

closest scrutiny to questions of constitutional law.

His labors in this direction culminated in 1850, in the prepa-

ration of a most important organic law, which, later on, I shall

speak of.

A proposition of his, soon after he became a member of the

Judiciary, was that an article should be proposed to the legisla-

tures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution

of the United States, to take effect from and after 1860, regu-

lating the mode of election of the President and the Vice Presi-

dent, and in the first session of the Twenty-ninth Congress,

1845, he re-introduced this amendment as a joint resolution.

About the period of his re-entrance into Congress, Mr.

Vinton was appointed one of a committee of nine to revise

certain standing rules and orders of the House. This was a

work he was well fitted to perform, having always been a close

student of parliamentary law. Having added to his investiga-

tions in this direction a valuable experience, he had gained a

familiarity with all the rules regulating debate and the laws of

the House. This knowledge gave him great advantages as a

party leader, enabling him to seize and avail himself of each

occasion as it arose and gain any opportunity to be derived by

a skillful tactician. Thus when he became Chairman of the

Committee of Ways and Means, during the period of the war

with Mexico, he evinced a special faculty at this most critical

juncture for the systematic expedition of business.

• 20
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.              251

 

Mr. Vinton also possessed one absolute qualification that

enabled him to exert a dominating influence over others, in

never losing command over himself. This remarkable and firm

self-control must have resulted from the continued exercise of a

severe mental discipline and unconquerable will power, inas-

much as Mr. Vinton was naturally of a very sensitive, highly

strung, nervous temperament, being a man of deep feeling and

slight bodily frame.

To a close observer and analyst his appearance indicated

very fairly what manner of man he was. His mild, but pene-

trating, clear blue-gray eye meant a kindly, but well-balanced

intellectual light, while his thin, compressed lips evinced the

singular determination of his character, and the high and ample

brow heralded a domain of thought that inspired respect.

Soon after the terrible affliction in 1831, of the death of his

dearly beloved wife, whose loss he never ceased to deplore till

the day of his death, an affliction made all the more crushing by

the sudden decease a few months later of his only son, a bright

child of rare promise, his profusion of brown hair turned gray,

and from gray soon softened into a silvery white that added a

serious dignity to his appearance, while comparatively a young

man.

Mr. Vinton's manner was calm and composed amidst the

excitements of the political arena, but in social circles he was

conversational, affable and suave, giving more than glimpses of

the real tenderness of his nature.

I pause midway in the recital of his life's history, affection-

ately to transcribe this pen-portrait, from the ineffaceable im-

pressions, the vivid coloring of his dear and honored presence

stamped upon my heart and fixed in my mind's eye. Thrice

happy those whose virtues cause their children to " rise up and

call them blessed!"

But to revert from the personality of the man to the crowded

events of his busy life.

On February 12, 1844, there arose a very acrimonious debate,

involving the jurisdiction of the States, on the contested elec-

tions of the members of the House of Representatives, elected

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252       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 4

 

by the general ticket system in the States of New Hampshire,

Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi.

Mr. Vinton made a speech that day in which he opposed the

nullification of a solemn law of the land by the four States that

had thought proper to refuse to comply with the law of Congress

declaring that elections should be by single districts throughout

the United States. He argued that if the law of Congress should

be considered the valid law of the land, as a valid law, it puts

aside State legislation. In the absence of any legislation by

Congress, Mr. Vinton held that the States had unqualified juris-

diction. Congress might interpose to alter, to frame another

body of legislation. The duty was mandatory upon the States

but discretionary with Congress. This is a provision of the Con-

stitution of the United States, made in pursuance to the Consti-

tution, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the

contrary notwithstanding. At the close of his remarks Mr.

Vinton made an eloquent plea in behalf of sustaining the Con-

stitution.

On February 14, 1845, (second session twenty-eighth Con-

gress), Mr. Vinton made a speech on the admission of Iowa and

Florida into the Union, in which he forcibly exposed the danger

arising from the policy of giving to the new States laid out in

the West a greater extent of territory than they ought to have

had, thus depriving the West of the political power to which she

should be entitled. He pointed out that these States of sufficient

area to contain a population equal to two or three Atlantic States

have, in this way, no more representation in the Senate than any

of them, adding, regarding the admission of Iowa, that he be-

lieved the great Western Valley would become the conservative

power of the Union.

Mr. Vinton entered Congress in 1823, under the second

administration of that model statesman, James Monroe, who had

held the ship of State amidst threatening breakers taut and safe,

and who left her, to all appearance, calmly anchored in tranquil

seas. We were at peace and the country prosperous, while the

public and those who served the public alike felt the ennobling

influence of so wise and conservative a chief.

It was a fortunate moment in which to enter Congress, and

• 22
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.             253

 

the lessons of patriotism then taught sank deep into the heart of

the earnest young member, and formed a controlling influence

during his long and arduous career.

During the succeeding administration of John Quincy Adams

this pleasing period of good feeling was swept away, and the strife

of political clashing was heard throughout the land. Calhoun's

baneful sectional ambition and Jackson's angry star had risen,

while Adams, as pure a patriot as the country has ever had,

lacked the conciliatory dexterity and, possibly, the administrative

ability of Monroe.

Mr. Vinton at once applied himself to the questions of mo-

ment as they arose, and when, in 1829, Andrew Jackson was

inaugurated he found that he was of necessity in conflict with

the entire policy of this popular autocrat. With that peculiar

sagacity which was always his from the first, he foresaw with an

almost prophetic ken the disastrous result of Jackson's reckless

and tyrannical policy. He was placed in strict opposition to the

spirit that dominated the measures that prevailed during this

prolonged administration of eight years of high-handed democ-

racy that ended in the financial distress of the country.

When Mr. Vinton re-entered Congress in 1843, the Whig

party was enduring the humiliation of their mistake in the elec-

tion of John Tyler, and were forced to look on while the iniquity

of Texan annexation was being exacted. Their situation as a

party was less painful when in open opposition to James K. Polk

than it had been under the unexpected and unprepared for be-

trayal of Tyler.

During the odious war of Mexican Conquest forced upon

the American people by Polk, Mr. Vinton was Chairman of the

Committee of Ways and Means, with all its responsibilities at

such a time. He had served on this committee since 1845 and

was fully conversant with the situation, so that when, in 1847, he

was named chairman he knew how to guide the helm in this

perilous time.

Of this appointment Schouler says, in his history of the

United States*: "Samuel F. Vinton, of Ohio, a member of ripe

*Vol. V, p. 76.

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years and experience in the House, who had declined to contend

with Winthrop for the first prize, received with party approba-

tion the distinction of Winthrop's selection for Chairman of the

Ways and Means and leader upon the floor."

Mr. Winthrop himself generously says* of Mr. Vinton:

"Now, the truth is that we never disagreed about anything, and

that I was nominated and elected speaker after he had declined

the nomination on account of his age and health, and with his

earnest advocacy and support."

Subsequently, during the long period of time that intervened

in 1849, when Mr. Winthrop, after sixty-three ballotings, failed

to be re-elected speaker, it was resolved, that the order of the

House might be preserved, "that Linn Boyd and Samuel F.

Vinton act as chairmen of this House, each sitting alternately

one day at a time, until a speaker is elected."

Finally, however, this most obstinate partisan contest for the

election of speaker, which had lasted until December 24 without

the House having been able to effect an organization, was finally

ended by the adoption of a resolution by the House, that the

largest number of votes cast for any one member should elect

the speaker. Accordingly Howell Cobb was declared duly elected,

having received 102 votes against Robert C. Winthrop's 100.

After this election, Mr. Vinton continued to remain upon the

Committee of Ways and Means, but not as chairman. The

period of his greatest activity may, therefore, be fixed as within

the two years of his leadership in the House. But these were

years filled with the heavy burden of war, of legislative turmoil,

of sectional strife, of the accomplishment of iniquitous schemes

by the administration, and of financial strain.

About this time, Mr. Vinton made a series of very able

speeches. February 3, 1848, he addressed the House on the

project of direct taxation for the support of the war with Mexico.

Mr. Vinton said "he never would vote to lay a direct tax to sup-

port the war, so long as any other means remained by which the

revenues of the country could be replenished."

 

* Remarks at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society Octo-

ber 9, 1890, p. 5.

• 24
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.             255

 

"The war was begun in 1846, and the country then had a

revenue system which, had it been suffered to remain, would

have brought into the treasury many millions more than were

now to be found there. *  *  *  But the party in power had

established the sub-treasury and cut the government off at a

single blow, in a time of war, from all aid to be derived from the

banking institutions and from the use of the ordinary business

currency of the country. Having thus created a necessity of an

increased revenue to meet the war expenses, they proceeded at

the same session to abolish the then existing tariff of duties,

and substituted another in its place, by which at least one-

third of the duties were stricken off, and the revenue reduced

accordingly."

Mr. Vinton called upon the administration to revise its

tariff.  February 8, 1848, Mr. Vinton made a speech, showing

how far below the actual needs of the war with Mexico, were

the estimates made by the Executive.

The Executive had stated that if the war with Mexico

should be continued till July 1, 1848, a loan of twenty-three

millions of dollars was all that would be wanted to carry the

government forward to that date, and leave a surplus of four

millions in the treasury. * * *

The loan was granted by Congress, and the money obtained.

And now they are informed that an additional loan of sixteen

millions would be required.

Then Mr. Vinton showed, by carefully-prepared estimates,

that in reality the expenditures would far exceed that sum, and

he made a sad disclosure of the present and the prospective con-

dition of the financial affairs of the country.

Looking into the executive estimates of the year for the

prosecution of the war with Mexico, he showed how the income

of the government had been overestimated by the secretary

of the treasury, and its expenditures underestimated by the sec-

retary of war, and he then proceeded to discuss the various

methods of meeting these demands.

He deprecated any sacrifice of the public lands, and thought

we should look to the customs for the support of the govern-

ment. He called upon the government to abandon its mis-

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chievous free-trade policy and come back again to the protection

of the home labor of the country as the only sure foundation of

public prosperity, and of abundant supply of revenue.

February 16, 1848, Mr. Vinton, availing himself of the

privilege allowed him by the rules of the house to close the

debate, made the concluding speech on the loan bill, in which he

reviewed the discussion, taking up various points made by the

Democratic party, and reiterated his opinions as to the preferable

mode of raising revenue for the relief of the treasury. He

closed by saying that he felt assured that "no remedy short

of peace and protection to the American laborer could restore to

health and vigor a bleeding and sinking country."

Mr. Vinton opposed to the last, not only the annexation of

Texas, but its consequences. He thought that it was not the

policy of this country to acquire any territory beyond the Rio

Grande. He deemed the war with Mexico unnecessary and un-

constitutionally begun by the President of the United States.

He also objected to the duties levied upon American citizens,

and upon neutrals in those parts of Mexico which were in

possession of the American army, under a tariff enacted by the

President of the United States, as without warrant of law.

And as to the rights and powers of the executive in time of war,

he said the executive power was constantly increasing by impli-

cation, and whatever power was once permitted to be exercised

without being denied by the proper legislative authority, was

considered as established forever. It was the congress of the

United States that had the right to pass a tariff of duties. The

constitution gave to congress exclusive power to levy taxes and

raise armies.

It is evident that Mr. Vinton preferred a decrease rather

than an increase of executive power, for in his speech on the

Oregon bill, he said "that he was led by experience of the past

to oppose the veto altogether. In this bill he should vote for

striking it out."

It is to be supposed that had Mr. Vinton foreseen the speedy

extinction of the slave power, he would have modified his ob-

jections to an increase of territory beyond the Rio Grande.

• 26
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.               257

 

But this is merely the supposition of the writer, for Mr. Vinton

was very far-seeing.

Upon the death of the illustrious and venerable John

Quincy Adams, which sad event occurred February 23, 1848,

Mr. Vinton was appointed one of a committee of arrangements

for the funeral ceremonies; and February 24, when the house

met to offer public testimonials of their profound respect, Mr.

Vinton, among others, delivered an eulogium which might well

serve as a model for similar efforts. It is a masterpiece of

brevity, simplicity, just thought suited to the occasion, and

deep feeling.

On February 12, 1849, Mr. Vinton, from the committee of

ways and means, reported a bill to establish the Department

of the Interior, explaining at length the scope of this depart-

ment. This bill was passed February 15th, entitled "An Act to

Establish the Home Department."

The objections so strenuously urged against this bill at this

day read strangely, for there was a heated debate on the subject.

Schouler says: "One single act of legislation left the session

notable. This was the creation of a new executive department,

styled 'The Home Department,' but formally described in the

body of the act as 'The Department of the Interior.' * * *

Vinton, from the Ways and Means, reported accordingly a bill

in the House, which went through by a strong non-partisan

vote, and the Senate, on the last day of the session, concurred in

the measure."*

It was one of the distinctive excellencies of Mr. Vinton that

he had a remarkable faculty of making complex questions clear.

An analytical mind and great force and simplicity of expression

obtained this result.

April 30, 1850, he proposed a change in an organic law,

which of itself alone entitles him to the grateful recollection of

the country. It was proposed in the shape of two amendments

to the Census Bill.  Mr. Vinton said that the Constitution

enjoined an apportionment of the Representatives amongst the

several States, according to their respective federal numbers,

 

*Schouler, History of the United States, volume 5, page 121.

Vol. IV-17

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258       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

every ten years, and this law which directs the taking of the

census is by its nature and object an organic law. The amend-

ment guards against any contingency, or its consequences, by

providing that in case Congress shall omit at any future time to

pass a census act before the commencement of the year, when it

is required to be taken, then it shall be taken in conformity with

his act, which was as follows:

"Be it enacted, that this act shall continue in force until

altered or repealed; and if no other law be passed providing for

the taking of any subsequent census of the United States, on or

before January 1 of any year, when, by the Constitution of the

United States, any future enumeration of the inhabitants thereof

is required to be taken, such census shall, in all things, be taken

and completed according to the provisions of this act."

The second amendment established the permanent organiza-

tion of the House of Representatives.

The substance of this proposed new rule of apportionment

was, that after the completion of each census the aggregate

result was to be divided by a certain number, and the product

of such division made the ratio or rule of apportionment of

Representatives among the several States. Then in order to

ascertain the representative population of each State the whole

number of such representative population must be divided by a

ratio already determined on. Mr. Vinton explained, that this

would fix the number of the House on a permanent footing, as

heretofore the body became disorganized every ten years and

took the chance of reconstruction. Added to this were minor

propositions with regard to the adjustment of fractions.

The census law, although organic, was heretofore so framed

that in case of an omission by Congress to direct it, there could

be no apportionment of Representatives, consequently no House

of Representatives, after the time when by the Constitution the

apportionment should be made.

And thus by such an omission the House would have been

dissolved and the Government in fact unhinged, without the pos-

sibility of reorganizing the House and putting the law-making

power in motion again by any constitutional mode.

• 28
 

Samuel Finley Vinton.              259

 

It will be seen that, failing to make this change, the Gov-

ernment remained only temporarily, not permanently, organized

under the plan of legislation heretofore pursued, which was

First, a law to take the census, and then a law to declare what

number of members shall constitute the body, and then to appor-

tion them among the several States. It may readily be seen that

if either be omitted the Government is unhinged.

But by this amendment of Mr. Vinton, the existence of the

Government is put beyond hazard from this cause. Thus Mr..

Vinton fittingly, as he drew near the close of his public career,

in providing a law for the self-preservation and perpetuity of the

Government, performed the highest function of statesmanship

by completing in this direction the organization of the Govern-

ment and placing it beyond the reach of accident or faction from

this cause.

And the simplicity of the arrangement brings it within the

general comprehension, for by a division of the whole represen-

tative population of all the States, by a number fixed upon, the

ratio is thus ascertained which would be entitled to a member.

Then by another division of the whole representative popu-

lation of each State by this ratio the number of members for

each State is arrived at. Mr. Vinton had proposed the number

200, but considered that as quite subordinate, although in his

own opinion the proposed number was too large.

A very able public man and jurist, the Hon. C. H. Grosvenor,

of Ohio, in a letter before me, in reference to this law of appor-

tionment, says: "The principle of the law of 1850, which Mr.

Vinton introduced, is still applied to the statutes relating to the

congressional apportionment." * * *

"So the estimate, following the law of 1850, is this: Con-

gress decides first how many shall constitute the House of Rep-

resentatives and this number is the divisor, and the entire popu-

lation is divided by those figures, and the result is the ratio of

representation. *  *  *  So you see that the principle upon

which that law proceeded has been perpetuated through all the

years since his time, Mr. Vinton having laid the foundation for

an equitable statute for all time to come."

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260       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

* * * "About this time a compliment received was the

naming* of Vinton County, which was formed March 23, 1850,

from Gallia, Athens, Hocking, Ross and Jackson counties, and

named in honor of Samuel Finley Vinton."

Mr. Vinton was a Representative in Congress twenty-two

years in all; from 1823 to 1837, and again from 1843 to 1851.

He then voluntarily withdrew from the turmoil of public life,

and most positively declined a re-election.

While Mr. Vinton was still in Congress, the venerable ex-

President, John Quincy Adams, said of him in 1846, that "he

knew him well; he was a man of decided ability; very few, if

any, in Congress were his superiors; when he spoke, it was to

good effect; he was a man, not only of talents, but of integrity."+

And this is no stinted praise from one colleague to another,

while both were actively engaged in the political arena.

On the accession of Mr. Fillmore to the Presidency, Mr.

Vinton was tendered the office of Secretary of the Interior,

which he felt compelled to decline on account of impaired

health, as he had previously declined, in 1847, and for the same

reason, the Speakership of the House.

In 1851, Mr. Vinton consented to accept the candidacy for

Governor of Ohio, and this at a time when, owing to a very

peculiar combination of unfavorable circumstances, defeat was

considered almost certain, although it was hoped that so strong a

nomination might possibly ensure success.

Mr. Vinton himself regarded the election of any Whig as

impossible, at the time he generously allowed his name to be

used, nor was he mistaken in his opinion, as to the result.

Of this election Schouler says: "Ohio remained with the

opposition as before, though the Whigs put up Vinton, one of

the ablest and purest of their party, as a candidate." (Vol. V,

page 226.)

In 1853, Mr. Vinton assumed the presidency of the Cleve-

land and Toledo Railroad, which he consented to retain for one

year, for the purpose of a thorough organization, when he re-

 

*Howe's Ohio, Vol. III., p. 421.

+Vinton Memorial, p. 197.

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Samuel Finley Vinton.              261

 

signed the post and returned to Washington City, where he con-

tinued to reside until the period of his death, May 11, 1862.

The Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, wrote of him upon

hearing of his death:

"I feel his loss deeply. Though for ten or fifteen years he

had more influence in the House of Representatives, much more

than any other man in it, yet the nation has never appreciated

him fully according to his merits. He was a wise, sagacious,

persevering statesman; almost unerring in his perception of the

right, bold in pursuing and skillful in sustaining it, he held

always a large control over the minds of men with whom he

acted. Within the range of my acquaintance, he has hardly left

his peer behind him."

And on March 3, 1880, Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia,

in a speech made in the House of Representatives, alludes to

Mr. Vinton as a Whig leader in these words: " Samuel F. Vinton,

of Ohio, whose acquaintance with the rules, great prudence, and

sound judgment, rendered him, perhaps, the most prominent

leader on the Whig side."

This is a dispassionate verdict, given nearly twenty years

after his death, and may thus well pass into history.

Mr. Vinton was always in his political affiliations a Whig of

the old school, and he regarded with dread the radicalism of the

ultra Republicans. Still, during the last years of his life, the

moderate Republicans regarded him as one of themselves; yet,

when urged by old Whigs to nominate him for the Presidency in

1860, as a man who would secure the conservative vote North

and South, they replied " that he was too good a man to secure

the nomination."

*" During the closing years of his life he lived in dignified

retirement, his home being a hospitable center, much frequented

by the best society of the country, where Mr. Vinton was con-

sulted by the public men of the day on all leading questions.

"When the dark days of civil war, during which his life

closed, threatened the nation, many and anxious were the delib-

erations held at his house as to the best means to avert the swift-

* Cyclopaedia of the State of Ohio, Vol. IV, page 219.

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262       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

 

coming calamity of secession, but his prescient mind foresaw

from the first the impending ruin.

" During his residence in Washington as a private citizen

he never opened a law office for the transaction of law business,

but would when desired argue a law case of importance before

the Supreme Court of the United States. He was remarked as

singularly successful in the prosecution of his cases, and this

success doubtless arose in great part from his habit of patient

investigation and clear analysis. He exhausted every subject he

discussed, and presented his thoughts without rhetorical flourish,

but with wonderful lucidity.

Mr. Vinton never associated himself with any of the relig-

ious denominations, although he reverently believed in God and

His revealed law, so far as he understood it. No purer or more

unselfish patriot ever served his country. His first and highest

thought was the national good, and in this ardent desire for the

common welfare he merged his own career and all personal con-

siderations.

His last public service of note was as a member of the cele-

brated Peace Convention, held in 1861. Some weeks previous to

his death he had yielded to the urgent solicitations of many, and

accepted a place as one of the three commissioners appointed by

President Lincoln to adjust the claims of slaveholders in the

District of Columbia at the time of the manumission of their

slaves.

Mr. Vinton died of traumatic erysipelas after a brief illness,

and it was his dying request to be buried in the cemetery of

Gallipolis, O., beside the dear wife whose memory he had so

faithfully cherished for over thirty years. His only surviving

child is the writer of this all too inadequate sketch.

• 32