Ohio History Journal

GREATNESS OF OHIO.

[Address delivered at the Centennial Celebration of the Admission of

Ohio into the Federal Union, held under the Auspices of the Ohio

Republican Association of Washington City, May 23, 1903.]

 

BY HON. D. K. WATSON, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION.

One hundred years ago a portion of what was known as the

Northwest Territory was admitted as a State into the Federal

Union. By an act of Congress the people of the future state were

to give it a name. Subsequently the name Ohio was selected.

It was the fourth state admitted into the Union since the

establishment of the Federal Government on the 4th of March,

1789.

During the present week the people of Ohio have duly

celebrated this event, and it is eminently proper for this Associa-

tion, in this formal way and in the capital of the nation, to recog-

nize the centennial of the admission of its state into the Federal

Union. It is the only time in a hundredyears such a celebration

would have been appropriate, and it will be another hundred years

before it will be appropriate again.

In area the state is not large, being less than the average area

of the states which constitute the Union and embracing about

twenty-six million acres of land or forty-four thousand square

miles of territory, which is subdivided into eighty-eight counties.

Geographically, the location was exceedingly favorable for

future development. The great Northwest Territory a hundred

years ago was attracting the attention of the nation and the

world. Ohio, bounded on the south by the Ohio river and on the

north by Lake Erie, constituted the gateway through which the

mighty tide of population passed on its western march, and in

addition to those who moved there for the purpose of establishing

homes, many who had determined to locate farther west were in-

duced by the fertility of her soil, her favorable location, and her

bright prospects, to settle and remain within her boundary. From

the day when she was admitted as a state she has been a most

conspicuous part of the Federal Union.

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Greatness of Ohio.                      311

 

Her first capital was Chillicothe; her first United States

Senators, Thomas Worthington and John Smith; her first repre-

sentative in Congress, Jeremiah Morrow.

Her first constitution was adopted in 1802, which she was

required to adopt before she could be admitted into the Union.

Her present constitution was adopted in 1851.

So marvelous had been the progress of the state to the year

1825, that General Lafayette who visited it in that year, said it was

"the eighth wonder of the world."

It was not within the wisdom of man at the time Ohio was ad-

mitted into the Union to foresee how wonderful was to be her

progress and how marvelous was to be her social, religious, edu-

cational, political and military influence upon the Republic. Plant-

ing herself upon the principles of religious liberty and political

freedom, as enunciated in the ordinance for the government

of the Northwest Territory, the Bill of Rights in the first consti-

tution provided:

1st. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain

natural, inherent and unalienable rights; amongst which the enjoying and

defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property,

and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

2d. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this

State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party

shall have been duly convicted.

3d. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Al-

mighty God, according to the dictates of conscience; that no human au-

thority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of

conscience; that no man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any

place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent; and

that no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious society

or mode of worship, and no religious test shall be required, as a qualifi-

cation, to any office of trust or profit. But religion, morality and knowl-

edge, being essentially necessary to good government and the happiness of

mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encour-

aged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of con-

science.

Concerning the freedom of the press, the constitution con-

tained the following:

The printing presses shall be open and free to every citizen who

wishes to examine the proceedings of any branch of government, or the

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312         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

conduct of any public officer; and no law shall ever restrain the right

thereof. Every citizen has an indisputable right to speak, write or print,

upon any subject, as he thinks proper, being liable for the abuse of that

liberty. In prosecutions for any publication respecting the official con-

duct of men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper

for public information, the truth thereof may always be given in evidence.

On the subject of education, it provided:

That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor in the several coun-

ties and townships within this State from an equal participation in the

schools, academies, colleges and universities, which are endowed, in whole

or in part, from the revenue arising from donations made by the United

States, for the support of schools and colleges; and the doors of the said

schools, academies and universities, shall be open for the reception of

scholars, students and teachers, of every grade, without any distinction or

preference whatever, contrary to the intent for which said donations were

made.

The result of her wise and liberal course in reference to

education may be seen when we recognize that there are to-day

in Ohio more colleges than in any state in the Union, and that

of her population which numbers more than four millions of

people, more than ninety per cent can read and write.

Some conception of her commercial progress may be had

when we realize that there are almost twelve thousand miles of

railroad within her borders, that each of her eighty-eight counties

is traversed by railroads; and that her five largest cities con-

sidered in their numerical order are larger than any five cities in

their numerical order in any state in the country.

Conspicuous as Ohio has been in every attribute which con-

tributes to the dignity and worth of statehood, her preeminence

is more marked by reason of the world-wide fame and influence

attained by so many of her distinguished citizens than from any

other cause. I have always thought that the union of the thirteen

original states into one republic was the world's greatest achieve-

ment in the domain of civil or political government, and that it

was a great thing for a single state to be a member of the Federal

Union. It brings it strength and solidity, and safety in time of

war; but while it is a great thing for a state to be an integral

part of the Union, it is a far greater thing to be a presidential

state of the Union, -a state to which the other states look for

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Greatness of Ohio.                 313

presidents, to have one of her citizens, or one who had been born

within her borders, and had become a citizen elsewhere, selected

as the representative citizen of the nation. Such is the highest

honor a state can achieve. Such a state is Ohio. Counted by this

test, she has furnished six presidents of the Republic, or more

than one-fourth the whole number of presidents who were elected.

By the same test, she has also furnished one-tenth of the present

United States Senators, one-twelfth of the members of the present

House of Representatives, one-fourth of the Chief Justices of the

Supreme Court of the United States, five Associate Justices of

that court, sixteen cabinet officers, one chief justice and two asso-

ciate justices of the Court of Claims, and two chief justices and

one associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Co-

lumbia, and one Speaker of the House of Representatives. A

little more than fifty years ago five native boys were living in

Ohio each of whom became president of the United States.

In addition to this array of genius our state has sent forth sons

who have become eminent as leaders in other states; for forty

years the State of Indiana has been represented and is still being

represented in the United States Senate by men born in Ohio,

and almost every state in the mighty West is represented in official

life by men native of our own state.

But our State has made other conquests in the domain of

civil affairs. The history of her judiciary is the history of a long

line of eminent judges, many of whom acquired national fame

as jurists, while her representatives in Congress have been prom-

inent as orators, financiers and statesmen. Thomas Corwin was

probably unsurpassed as a popular orator by any American, while

as great debaters in the National House of Representatives,

Schenck, Shellabarger, Bingham, Garfield, McKinley, and others

I might name, were hardly equaled, and Simpson, a native of the

state, was the most eloquent bishop of the republic, and Gun-

saulus, another native, is the ablest pulpit orator of the country.

Yet more distinguished have been her sons in the camp,

on the march, and in the field of battle. In the War of 1812,

though she was young and weak in numbers, she furnished her

just proportion of troops, who fought valiently for their flag

and country. In the war with Mexico her soldiers were brave

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314       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

and gallant and the brilliant Hamer, whose eloquence as an orator

had won him national fame and who as a member of Congress

had appointed Grant to West Point, met his death in the storming

of Monterey. But it was in the great civil war between the states

in which she received her greatest renown because of the radiant

glory which her sons won in that immortal struggle. The greatest

generals of that war were from Ohio. The three who, by the

common consent of the world, displayed the greatest military

genius and led the armies to the greatest success in that awful

struggle, and whose names fill the universe with glory, were her

sons. In addition to this, she furnished nineteen major-generals

and fifty three brigadier-generals.

Proud as we are of this wonderful record of the sons of

our noble state in the conflict for the preservation of the Union,

we are equally proud of the fact that her contribution to the

rank and file of the army was three hundred and forty thousand

men. Of this number it has been said six thousand five hun-

dred and thirty-six were killed outright in battle; four thousand

six hundred and seventy-four were mortally wounded and died

in hospitals; thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty-four

died of disease contracted in the service; and that eighty-four

out of every thousand enlisted men from Ohio lost their lives

in the war for the Union. With the exception of those who

were taken prisoners at Saratoga and Yorktown, the entire loss

in battle of every kind, in both the British and American armies

during the war of the Revolution was twenty-one thousand five

hundred and twenty-six, being four thousand less than Ohio's

loss in the War of the Rebellion.

No wonder it has been said that President Lincoln was

accustomed to ask, just before a great battle was to be fought,

"How many Ohio soldiers would take part;" and on one occa-

sion when some one inquired why he always asked that ques-

tion, replied, "Because I know that if there are many Ohio-

soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle,

for they can always be relied upon in such an emergency."

Flattering as this record is, it hardly surpasses the con-

tribution which Ohio made to the civil side of that great con-

test. So conspicuous were her sons in the administration of the

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Greatness of Ohio.                315

civil affairs of the Government during that crisis that a dis-

tinguished citizen of Ohio, who was an eminent member of

Congress, and a general in the Civil War, has said that "eight

Ohio men in civil life did as much or more probably to ensure

the success of the Union cause than any eight of the generals

whom the state sent to the field. Those were Edwin M. Stan-

ton, Salmon P. Chase, John Sherman, Benjamin F. Wade, Wil-

liam Dennison, David Tod, John Brough and Jay Cooke."

A single reference will illustrate the prominence of Ohio

men in the political affairs of the country. In the attempt to

impeach President Johnson, the Chief Justice who presided at

the trial was from Ohio. If the President had been convicted,

Senator Wade of Ohio would have succeeded to the Presidency.

The manager of the impeachment proceedings was the eloquent

John A. Bingham, of Ohio, one of the foremost members of

the House of Representatives. Among the eminent counsel for

the President were Henry Stanbery and William S. Groesbeck,

each from Ohio, and each among the most eminent lawyers of the

nation.

At the very beginning of the great Civil War, Governor

Dennison telegraphed this patriotic message to President Lin-

coln, which deserves to be engraved on the front door of our

State capitol: "Ohio must lead throughout this war." How

prophetic were those words, for Ohio did lead throughout the

war and she has led the nation ever since. Her ascendency

has universally been recognized, and her future promises to

be as glorious as her past.

The marvelous success of our State is not due to the wheel

of chance. Chance is fickle, but our State has maintained her

supremacy for a hundred years, not only in the distinction which

her sons have achieved in every avenue of life, but by the great

body of her people. Her sons have been honest, laborious,

frugal, and constant to the best instincts and purposes of life.

Her daughters have been noble, Christian, virtuous and beautiful

in every attribute of womanhood, while almost every home was

consecrated to education, patriotism and the refining influences

of Christianity. The people of Ohio believed in the schoolhouse

and the church. They educated in the one and worshipped in

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316        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

the other. It would, perhaps, be impossible to assign any special

cause for the remarkable success of our State as represented by

her sons in public estimation, but I have always felt that it

was largely the result of the different characteristics of the

early settlers of the State. There poured into northeastern Ohio

the shrewd, far-seeing, calculating, intellectual New Englander;

while into the southern portion of the State there went the

warm-blooded, impulsive, passionate, generous, brave, and elo-

quent Virginian. The representatives of these civilizations be-

came distinguished men. In the order of time their children

intermarried and produced the best combination of brain and

blood and heart the nation has seen, and to this cause I largely

attribute the ascendency of our State.

Daniel Webster once said, in speaking of Massachusetts:

"I have no encomium to pronounce upon Massachusetts. She

needs none. There she stands." I have an encomium to pro-

nounce upon Ohio, not because she needs it, but because she de-

serves it: There she stands, the foremost state in the American

Union.

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