Ohio History Journal

RECENT ADDRESSES OF

JAMES EDWIN CAMPBELL

 

HOW AND WHEN (?) OHIO BECAME A STATE*

 

On the third day of September, 1783, a treaty of

peace was concluded at Paris, between Great Britain

and the United States of America. The commission-

ers on behalf of the United States were Benjamin

Franklin, John Jay and John Adams who had ne-

gotiated it, and Henry Laurens who arrived from cap-

tivity in the Tower of London just in time to sign it.

There had been nearly two years of vexatious wrang-

ling over the details of the treaty. The bitterest con-

tention was over the location of the boundary line be-

tween the United States and Canada. In transmitting

the treaty to America, the commissioners made a re-

port which contained the following statement: "The

Court of Great Britain claimed all of the land of the

Western Country and of the Mississippi which was not

expressly included in our charters and governments."

This "Western Country" was that immense, unsettled

tract which now comprises the states of Ohio, Indiana,

Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and a small part of Min-

nesota, with a present population of twenty-four mil-

lions -- a great and fertile empire well worth contend-

ing for.

The American commissioners demanded that the

 

* Last formal address of Governor James E. Campbell, read before the

Kit Kat Club, November 25, 1924.

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30       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

boundary should be the line of the Great Lakes (where

it now is) but the British Commissioners refused to

yield and insisted that the boundary line should be the

Ohio River. Franklin, although undoubtedly the most

astute man of his day, and very anxious to secure this

boundary was, nevertheless, so much more anxious to

end the negotiations and secure peace, that he did not

press the American claim with his customary vigor;

Jay, who was a great lawyer and the first Chief Jus-

tice of the United States Supreme Court, held out man-

fully against the British; but the most unflinching com-

missioner, and the one to whom we owe the state of

Ohio, was that hard-headed Puritan John Adams of

whom one of his biographers says that he was "com-

bative, dogmatic and opinionated," and another de-

scribes him as a man who had "an earnest, unconquer-

able spirit and an intrepidity which shrank from no

danger." His disposition may be illustrated by an in-

cident which occurred one hundred and sixty years ago

when he was courting Abigail Smith. Her father was

a minister and, in that day, the minister was the Czar

of the community. Of them, as a body, Adams' bio-

grapher says, "They were a dictatorial, militant, po-

lemical not to say quarrelsome and harsh-tongued race,

not addicted to loving kindness toward one another nor,

indeed, toward anyone else." Father Smith was of this

type and very able, but he did not wish his daughter to

marry John.   Therefore, on a public occasion, he

preached a sermon from the text, "My daughter is tor-

mented by a devil." It cannot be denied that, upon suf-

ficient provocation, John Adams did have some of the

devil in him, and I thank God for it, because it was that

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  31

which prompted him to shake his fist at the British com-

missioners and snap out this ultimatum, "If this bound-

ary is not fixed at the Great Lakes, we will go back to

America and carry on the war forever." But for this

there would not have been any Ohio; and he, who un-

dertakes to tell how Ohio became a state, must begin

his story there.

In 1787 Congress designated this "Western Country"

as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio and, for

the first time in history, a great empire was dedicated

to freedom and public education. General Arthur St.

Clair was appointed Governor and, for fourteen years,

was the outstanding figure in its history. Prior to that

he not only had a long and brilliant career as an officer

in the British army in early life and as Major General

in the revolution, but he had been President of the Con-

tinental Congress (which was the sole g o v e r n i n g

power) and, thereby, occupied the highest civil office in

the country. Also, he was one of Washington's dear-

est personal friends. During the early days of his ad-

ministration he was busy fighting the Indians until his

disastrous defeat in 1791, when he was out-generaled

by Little Turtle, a Miami Chief. He had been repeat-

edly warned by Washington to look out for a surprise

but he let himself be caught unprepared, and two-thirds

of his army were killed or wounded. The battle has

gone into history by the very pertinent name of "St.

Clair's Massacre." Although very ill, he exhibited the

personal bravery which was his well-known attribute

and eight bullets passed through his clothing, but he

never recovered his military prestige.

In 1798 the territory became entitled to a legislature,

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32       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

which was accordingly elected. Judge Jacob Burnet of

Cincinnati was the dominating figure in that body and

practically shaped its legislation. Out of thirty-nine

laws enacted, he originated fourteen. He was subse-

quently a judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio and

United States Senator, and author of valuable Notes on

the Northwestern Territory. Scarcely had the legisla-

ture assembled before friction arose between it and the

Governor -- a situation which has not been wholly un-

known to this state in recent years. St. Clair, although

unquestionably honest, intelligent and patriotic, was one

of the most stubborn men who ever lived. Prior to the

election of the legislature he had ruled the territory

with a high hand, paying little attention to the judges

who were associated with him in its government, and

was embroiled in endless controversies with the leading

citizens -- especially as to the creation of counties and

the location of county seats. He now undertook to ride

roughshod over the legislature and incurred the enmity

of many members, even of those who belonged to the

Federalist party to which he strenuously adhered. He

made himself especially obnoxious by vetoing more

than one-third of their enactments and refusing to re-

turn others to them when requested so to do.

In the year 1800 the territory was divided by a line

running substantially along the present western bound-

ary of the state. This portended the early creation of

a state and a bitter controversy broke out between St.

Clair and the Jeffersonians, who were mainly from

Virginia and constituted a majority of the legislature.

They wished to divide the territory so that the west-

ern line would be as it now is, but St. Clair and his

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  33

friends insisted upon making the Scioto River the west-

ern boundary because, if so done, it would be many

years before that small area could have sufficient pop-

ulation for statehood, while the larger state might come

in soon and would then be represented adversely to

them politically in the next electoral college. There

were shrewd politicians in that day and, apparently,

the breed is not yet wholly extinct. D. M. Massie of

Chillicothe, well known here, in his life of Nathaniel

Massie his grandfather, has accurately depicted the sit-

uation at that time. He says "Any one who studies the

early history of Ohio will soon discover that its birth

as a state was due to a conflict between General Arthur

St. Clair, the territorial Governor, and certain citizens

of Chillicothe: that St. Clair was overthrown and that

the Chillicotheans founded a state government."

On the thirtieth of April, 1802, the President ap-

proved an act to Congress providing that "the inhabi-

tants of the eastern division of the Territory northwest

of the River Ohio be, and they are hereby, authorized

to form for themselves a constitution and state gov-

ernment." Delegates were elected to a Constitutional

Convention which assembled at Chillicothe on Novem-

ber first and organized by electing Edward Tiffin Presi-

dent. There were thirty-five members and they sat un-

til November twenty-ninth when the constitution was

adopted in the following words "We the people of the

eastern division of the territory of the United States

northwest of the River Ohio, * * do ordain and

establish the following constitution or form of govern-

ment, and do mutually agree with each other to form

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34       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ourselves into a free and independent state by the name

of the State of Ohio."

The people were never permitted to ratify or reject

the constitution. In fact the Convention decided, by a

vote of twenty-seven to seven, to deny them that privi-

lege. I can imagine what the people would do if a Con-

stitutional Convention today should ignore them in

that contemptuous manner. So, looking back one hun-

dred years, we must say to ourselves that we have done

a great deal in the direction of the "Reign of the Com-

mon People." Sometimes I wonder if we have not gone

a little too far in that direction when I think of the

hordes of ignorant and unassimilated emigrants from

eastern and southern Europe upon whom we have con-

ferred suffrage, and the enormous electorate created

out of women and negroes. I confess to have voted, in

1867, to confer suffrage upon the negroes who, how-

ever, did not achieve it until the amendment to the fed-

eral constitution about two years later. It cannot be

denied that thereby the average intelligence of the elec-

torate was lowered. It may be that, like all other peo-

ple, I have unconscious prejudices and would have a

higher opinion of the colored voter if, when he depos-

ited his ballot, he occasionally exhibited a little more

discrimination in his political affiliations. I also voted

twice for woman suffrage but, sometimes, I have doubts

whether the dear things, much as we love them, are not

a trifle too temperamental to be trusted with the gov-

ernment of anybody except their own husbands, chil-

dren and sweethearts -- all of whom ought to be de-

lighted for an opportunity to submit to such gentle and

affectionate authority. Also I am not enamored with

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  35

the direct primary whereby an elector who can get

hold of twenty-five dollars is liable to become Gover-

nor, United States Senator or Chief Justice of the Su-

preme Court; and I particularly detest the misnamed

non-partisan judiciary law by which a judge who, be-

fore its enactment, was usually a dignified gentleman

who kept his ermine unsullied, is now compelled to get

down in the gutter of dirty politics and buttonhole vot-

ers like a candidate for constable.

One of the most remarkable actions of the Conven-

tion was the denial of the veto power to the Governor.

This is an anomaly under our political system and no-

body pretends now to uphold it. This was corrected a

hundred years later. You must not infer from this

that these exceptionally able men did not understand

the checks and balances which should exist in a repub-

lican government; but they were so completely blinded

by the bitter personal animosities growing out of their

long quarrel with St. Clair, and so exasperated by his

flagrant abuse of the veto power, that they were de-

termined no other Governor should have a chance to

become such a tyrant. The Governor was empowered

to fill vacancies in state and judicial offices but only un-

til the next meeting of the General Assembly. The

Convention also had an exaggerated idea of the powers

and duties of the General Assembly. They gave it the

exclusive right to appoint all state offices, except Gov-

ernor, and all the judges of all the courts. Thus the

Governor, deprived of the veto power and practically

of the appointing power, was a mere figurehead. This

was the basis of one of Tom Corwin's most famous

witticisms. While in office as a Whig Governor, he

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36       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

was asked what were his official duties, to which he re-

plied, "They are confined to the appointment of notaries

and pardoning of Democrats." Being a great admirer

of Corwin, I tried, when I occupied that office, to repay

his courtesy by pardoning a few Republicans.

The question of the negro population was one which

occasioned much debate.  They limited suffrage to

white males but, at one time by a vote of nineteen to

fourteen, approved of a clause which read "all male

negroes and mulattoes now residing in this territory

shall be entitled to the right of suffrage if they shall,

within six months, make record of their citizenship."

Upon final adoption of the constitution this clause was

stricken out -- the vote standing seventeen to seventeen.

President Tiffin then cast the deciding vote against it,

although he had brought his own slaves into the terri-

tory and had set them free. There was some senti-

ment for a temporary form of slavery in the convention.

The federalists claimed that, in a committee meeting,

the Virginians had tried to insert a clause which read

"no person should be held in slavery, if he is a male,

after he is thirty-five years of age; or a female, after

twenty-five years of age." This was defeated in the

committee because Cutler persuaded Milligan to change

his vote. Randall and Ryan express the opinion that

there was no such action because the minutes of the

Convention do not mention it. They evidently over-

looked the fact that no minutes of committee meetings

get into the record of the Convention. Even if the Con-

vention should have undertaken to fasten this modified

form of slavery upon the state, it would have been null

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  37

and void for being in contravention of the Ordinance

of 1787.

The long controversy between John Marshall and

Thomas Jefferson had developed some hostility to the

judiciary on the part of the Jeffersonians. They didn't

go quite so far as Senator LaFollette who wishes to

emasculate the courts, but they thought that judges

would bear a little judicious watching. As they were

in control of the Convention, they provided that the

Supreme Court should sit once a year in each county

with a view, as they expressed it, "of bringing justice

nearer to the people." This resulted in great confusion

(as many of the sparsely settled counties were without

law books) and conflicting decisions were the natural

result. Besides, owing to local jealousies, no county

could be agreed upon as a permanent seat of that court.

This latter defect was corrected by legislative enact-

ment in 1821; and judges were made elective by the peo-

ple under the constitution of 1851.

The Bill-of-Rights was reported by Ephraim Cut-

ler and bears the marks of his high intellectual powers.

It is, of course, the backbone of the constitution. There

is not time to go into its details. It is sufficient to say

that it has scrupulously and safely guarded and main-

tained all the rights and liberties of the people for a

hundred and twenty-two years, and is a model of wis-

dom and statesmanship.

The work of this convention and the character of its

membership have been thus eloquently stated by the

late Daniel J. Ryan:

The first Constitutional Convention, from an intellectual

standpoint, is the greatest, as well as the most picturesque episode

in the history of our state, and the events which led up to it

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38        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

read like a romance. The conversion of the wilderness into a

garden; the invasion of the Virginians; the overthrow of the great

Arthur St. Clair; the struggle for statehood; the victory of the

people over the aristocracy; the framing of the constitution for

a people without their consultation or consent, are all events that

form a background for a picture that has no parallel in American

history. And all these scenes wereenacted in a theater of in-

tellect; the only weapons were tongues and pens, but they were

directed by men who for brains and bravery are worthy of every

tribute of admiration and respect that the people of Ohio today

can bestow upon them.

Time will not permit especial mention of all of the

eminent members of the first Constitutional Convention.

Many of them were scholars with the courtly manners

usually known to the hardy race of empire-building

pioneers, but those not schooled in books were schooled

in honor and manhood. When they assembled in Chil-

licothe, every delegate had endured the hardships and

faced the dangers of frontier life and Indian warfare

with a stout heart. A few of the leaders may be briefly

sketched.

Edward Tiffin was probably the ablest and most in-

fluential member. He had been unanimously elected to

both Territorial legislatures, unanimously e 1 e c t e d

speaker thereof and was now unanimously elected pres-

ident of the Convention. Later he was unanimously

elected to be the first Governor and unanimously re-

elected. This office he resigned to accept the United

States senatorship. It is safe to say that this record

of universal popularity, and the confidence of a constit-

uency, has never been equaled. This confidence was

not misplaced. He came to the territory from Virginia.

Having very deep religious convictions and detesting

slavery, he manumitted his slaves and settled them com-

fortably near Chillicothe. There is not space to go into

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  39

details of his interesting life except to add that after

he resigned from the senate he became Commissioner

of the General Land Office and was the only public of-

ficer in Washington who saved his records when the

British burned the city in August, 1814. Dolly Madi-

son cut Washington's portrait out of the frame in the

White House and, with it and the household silver,

also eluded the British. It is a humiliating confession,

but these two seem to have been the only wide-awake

patriots there.

When Tiffin resigned the office of Governor, Thomas

Kirker who had been a member of the Constitutional

Convention from Adams County was speaker of the

senate and, by virtue of that office, stepped into the

governorship just as the Lieutenant Governor would do

under the present constitution.

Thomas Worthington, a brother-in-law of Tiffin,

was one of the first United States senators from the

new state. After leaving the senate, he served two

terms as Governor. His residence is still pointed out

as one of the show places at Chillicothe. Worthington

and Tiffin, as young men emigrating from Virginia,

rode over the mountains on horseback accompanied by

another young Virginian, Allen Trimble, who was also

elected governor several years later. If three young

men were to come into Ohio together today and all of

them became Governor, we would probably accuse them

of organizing an unlawful trust.

Samuel Huntington was another delegate who be-

came Governor. He was a nephew of the famous

Samuel Huntington who was a signer of the Declara-

tion of Independence and President of the Continental

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40       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Congress. Governor Huntington was a graduate of

Yale and a thoroughly polished and accomplished gen-

tleman. Being a federalist, he usually voted with the

federalist delegation from Marietta. Trumbull County,

which he and David Abbott represented, was the only

county in the northern half of the state except Wayne

County, which was too sparsely settled to be entitled

to representation.

The fifth member of the Convention to become Gov-

ernor was Jeremiah Morrow who was sole represen-

tative of the state in Congress for many years, and

subsequently United States senator and Governor.

While he was Governor, being a real "dirt farmer," he

lived upon his farm in Warren County. The Duke of

Saxe-Weimar was then traveling in America and one

of his missions was to visit the Governor. At the farm

he found some men rolling logs under the direction of

a little chap in a red flannel shirt. Whereupon they re-

tired to the Governor's modest cottage and the night

was spent by the Duke in extracting wisdom from the

storehouse of Morrow's intellect and experience. Upon

his return to Germany, he published far and wide that,

in the wilds of Ohio, he had found a veritable counter-

part of the ancient Cincinnatus.

One of the most active and influential members of

the Convention was Nathanial Massie, who had a more

notable career in accelerating the settlement of the state

than any other pioneer. He was a famous surveyor

and laid out several towns including Chillicothe. Many

of the settlers moved there from Kentucky to which

they had emigrated earlier only to find out that they

would rather live in a state where slavery did not exist.

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  41

Indeed this was the cause of much emigration to Ohio,

even from Virginia and other slave states. Massie was

a Virginian of the cavalier type, noted for his refine-

ment, graceful manners and highbred courtesy. Later

he was the first speaker of the House of Representa-

tives. In 1807 he ran against Return Jonathan Meigs,

Junior, for Governor. Meigs had a majority of the

votes but the legislature held that he was not a resident

of the state. This would have made Massie Governor,

but he was too much of a gentleman to accept the of-

fice in that manner. Prior to coming to the Northwest

Territory, he had been a soldier in the Revolutionary

War and, afterwards served with distinction in the In-

dian Wars and the War of 1812.

The early history of Ohio could not be written with-

out thumbnail sketches of Ephraim Cutler and General

Rufus Putnam, delegates from Marietta. Cutler was

son of Manasseh Cutler, who had been one of the

chief factors in organizing the Ohio Company which

first settled the state at Marietta. He was a man of the

highest personal character and of great influence in the

Convention, although he was the only delegate who

voted against the motion to create a state and usually

stood out against the majority on other propositions.

Upon all constructive measures and especially upon the

Bill - of - Rights, Cutler's intellect and pure charac-

ter made their distinctive marks. One of his obsessions

was an intensive hatred of Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Be-

man Dawes, of this city, is a great-great-grandson of

Cutler and I infer, from some fluent remarks made by

his brother Charles during the recent campaign, that

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42       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

all of the family have not yet been fully converted to

the doctrines advocated by the party of Jefferson.

Perhaps General Rufus Putnam was the great out-

standing figure in the very earliest settlement of the

Northwest Territory -- having led the party from Con-

necticut which came to Marietta in 1788. Prior to that

he had made a splendid record in the Revolution -- ris-

ing by fine service and hard fighting to the rank of Brig-

adier General.

John Smith, a delegate from Cincinnati, was one of

the first two United States senators. He was the first

pastor of the first Baptist church of the Northwest Ter-

ritory and a fine orator. In the senate he was a close

friend of Aaron Burr and later, on that account, was

unjustly charged with complicity in Burr's alleged trea-

son. An unsuccessful attempt was made to expel him

from the senate. Randall and Ryan's History states

that "his relations with Aaron Burr were much misin-

terpreted and, in his subsequent persecution, he was

undoubtedly the victim of partisan intrigue." Judge

Jacob Burnet, a near neighbor of Senator Smith, and

one of his strongest political antagonists, praised him

highly and defended him from any improper designs in

connection with Burr.

Charles Willing Byrd, a delegate from Hamilton

County and scion of an ultra-aristocratic Virginia fam-

ily was a brother-in-law of Nathaniel Massie and a man

of great ability as well as a learned lawyer. He was

acting governor of the territory (as has been heretofore

stated in this paper). When the state began to func-

tion he was appointed the first United States Judge for

the District of Ohio, and sat upon that bench for more

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  43

than twenty years, retiring with a high reputation for

learning and ability.

It is hardly just to the many able and patriotic men

in that Convention to confine this sketch to the ten who

have been mentioned, although they were the most con-

spicuous. Benjamin Ives Gilman, the colleague of Put-

nam and Cutler from Marietta, and their peer, Michael

Baldwin, acknowledged to be the most brilliant lawyer in

the territory and Speaker of the House of Representa-

tives; John Browne and Philip Gatch, thrilling evan-

gelists; General Joseph Darlinton, the great leader of

Adams County; Henry Adams and Emanuel Carpenter,

learned judges in FairfieldCounty; Bezaleel Wells, the

founder of the industries of Steubenville -- famed for

his baronial mansion and princely hospitality, and Na-

than Updegraff of the same county, the first of a fam-

ily famous in Ohio history; William Goforth, the most

skillful and widely known physician of his day; John

Reily and Francis Dunlavy, who established the first

classical academy in the new state; John McIntyre, the

joint owner with Jonathan Zane of the land upon which

Zanesville was laid out, and such an enterprising and

successful business man that he left an estate for poor

children which annually yields eight thousand dollars;

and many other deserve mention in an account of suf-

ficient length to give a real picture of early Ohio. Truly

there were great men in that day and we owe them an

inestimable debt of gratitude for laying the foundation

of this great commonwealth so broad and so deep. To

them I say "All Hail, Men of Eighteen Hundred and

Two! Let us hope and believe that our posterity for-

ever will keep your memory green."

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44       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

As soon as the state was organized, a flood of emi-

gration set in of which the vast majority were Revolu-

tionary soldiers. They were a sturdy race and virile,

God-fearing men who had conquered the British and

came out here to conquer the wilderness. It was a mar-

velous stream of happily mixed elements. There were

the Puritan from New England; the Knickerbocker

from New York; the Quaker, German and Swede from

Pennsylvania and New Jersey; the Catholic English

from Maryland and Delaware; the cavalier English

from Virginia; the Scotch-Irish from North Carolina;

the French Huguenots from South Carolina and the

Methodist English from Georgia. They came here and

intermarried and a new race of men, the like of which

the world never knew, was born from this intermix-

ture of those splendid strains of blood. This was why,

in 1861, when the country seemed to be in the throes

of dissolution, and government of the people, for the

people and by the people was about to perish from the

earth, that the male children of these early settlers,

born between 1810 and 1830, bounded instantly to the

front, carried off nearly all of the honors in the field,

the cabinet and Congress; and, by the common con-

sent of all of the states, put Ohio at the undisputed

head of the nation at the close of the war, where, for

sixty years, she has stood in triumph. The evidence

of this is that, in all these years, the people of the United

States have elected ten Presidents, seven of whom

were born in Ohio, of that good old pioneer stock; and,

of five Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the

United States, three were appointed from Ohio.

The title of this paper, as it appears upon the pro-

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  45

gramme, is "How and When(?) Ohio Became a State."

The interrogation mark after the word "when" indi-

cates the uncertainty of that proposition which should

be briefly explained.

Congress never admitted the State of Ohio into the

Union. This fact need not alarm you for the state un-

doubtedly is in the Union although nobody knows ex-

actly when it got in. It is the only state about whose

admission there is a controversy. For some time after

the Constitutional Convention adjourned on Novem-

ber twenty-ninth, 1802, it seems to have been understood

that this was the date when the state was born or, in

the usual parlance, "admitted into the Union." That

was an obvious error for Congress has no power to

create a state; it has merely the right to admit one

after it has been lawfully organized. To illustrate, I

happened to be in Congress when in one day all records

were broken and four territories (North and South

Dakota, Montana and Washington) were empowered

to hold constitutional conventions with a view to state-

hood. This was done in February but these states were

not admitted until November when the President, by

public proclamation, gave legal notice of that fact. On

the succeeding fourth day of July, in accordance with

law, four stars representing these states were added

to the flag of the Union. That is the proper pro-

cedure.

The authorities which have held that the year 1802

marked the birth of Ohio are some of the census re-

ports, notably the ninth; a note to the eleventh volume

of the United States Statutes-at-Large; Hickey on the

Constitution; Townsend in his Analysis of Civil Gov-

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46       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ernment and W. H. Venable, a celebrated writer of

early Ohio history. So far as I know, it is now gener-

ally conceded that this date is in error but, to prove it,

I have here a photostat copy of an original document

in my possession, issued by the Acting Governor of the

Northwest Territory on the twenty-fourth day of Jan-

uary (1803). This is by way of an objectles-

son as one concrete fact is worth any number of

theories. Obviously the territorial and state govern-

ments could not exist simultaneously. Further, on the

thirty-first day of January, the House of Representa-

tives at Washington voted upon the question as to

whether Paul Fearing was still entitled to hold his seat

as a delegate from the Northwest Territory and decided

that he was. It has been contended that an act of Con-

gress passed February nineteenth did, by implication,

practically admit the state. This was the opinion ex-

pressed by E. D. Mansfield in his Political Manual, by

Caleb Atwater in his History of Ohio and by President

Andrews of Marietta College. This act provided for

the execution of the laws of the United States within

the state of Ohio but the federal authority did not have

jurisdiction over the state then, nor were the federal

officers for the judicial district of Ohio appointed until

March first. On that day, also, the state officers were

inaugurated and the state has functioned ever since.

This was the opinion of Rufus King in his history of

Ohio; and Randall and Ryan (in the best history of

Ohio ever written) dealt exhaustively with the question

of the birth of Ohio and pronounced final judgment as

follows: "In this inquiry it is well to bear in mind that

there was no formal admission by act of Congress.

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Recent Addresses of James Edwin Campbell  47

*  *  It may therefore be considered as settled from

a historical and authoritative standpoint that March

first, 1803, was the date when the territorial govern-

ment ceased and when Ohio became a state and, ipso

facto, a member of the United States." In spite of this,

two writers (one of them no less a person than Salmon

P. Chase) have fixed the date at March third. Thus

it appears (in each case by excellent authority) that the

state of Ohio has five different birthdays.

Nevertheless, in due time the star of Ohio took its

rightful place upon the flag of the Union. The first

thirteen represented the states which created the gov-

ernment, Vermont fourteenth, Kentucky fifteenth, Ten-

nessee sixteenth and then OHIO. One may perhaps

be pardoned for loving his native state a little better

than any other; and, as the scriptures tell us that "one

star differeth from another star in glory," he may even

be pardoned for feeling that the star which represents

his state is a little more glorious than any of the others

in that brilliant constellation on his country's flag. I

know that I love my state. I was born in Ohio; my

father and my mother were born in Ohio; my wife and

all of my children were born in Ohio; my only grand-

child was born in Ohio. Every thing which, in a long

life, has made that life worth living, I owe to Ohio.

Therefore, I love the star which represents her, but,

when I realize that, great as Ohio is, she is just a small

part of the proudest empire the world has ever known

-- my empire, your empire -- then I know that, much

as I love her star, infinitely more do I love that whole

blue field emblazoned with the forty-eight stars which

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48       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

represent the majesty, the dignity, the power and the

glory of this Great Republic.

 

THE GOSPEL OF BURNISHED STEEL

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE BROAD STREET PRESBY-

TERIAN CHURCH MAY 25, 1924.

Although the Honor Roll which we are dedicating

today contains names only of World War soldiers, it

is thought something should be said about the soldiers

of former wars and, perhaps, in this day of mistaken

pacificism, something about war in general.

As this service is conducted in a church, I shall speak

from a text but, not having been ordained, I will not

take it from the scriptures but from the inspiring Bat-

tle Hymn of the Republic, written by Julia Ward Howe

at the most desperate crisis of the Civil War. It is a

single line and reads thus "There is a fiery gospel writ

in burnished rows of steel." It is supplemented by an-

other line which recites that God "has loosed the fate-

ful lightnings of His terrible swift sword."  This

means (let it be said reverently here in the temple of

the Prince of Peace) that war, cruel, death-dealing and

abhorrent as it is, hath its uses and its good uses in the

hands of an overruling Providence. It means that the

Creator, in his flawless economy, purposely endowed

His image with war-waging instincts. It means that

the wrath of man has ever been the mighty engine

whereby godless and barbarous nations were leveled

one by one and better civilizations built upon their ruins.

It means that every prayer for the elevation of man-

kind has been accompanied by sacrifice upon the deep-

stained altar of Mars; and that every footstep in the

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