PARTY POLITICS IN OHIO, 1840-1850*
BY EDGAR ALLAN HOLT, B. A., M. A.,
PH. D.
PREFACE
It has been my purpose in this study to
trace the po-
litical history of Ohio during the
'forties in relation to
state and national problems. The period
under investi-
gation affords an interesting cross
section of American
political history, revealing appeals to
party prejudice,
conflicting economic and social
interests, political ma-
nipulations and
"log-rollings," and the emergence of the
Northwest as a powerful section
demanding in vigorous
terms a new consideration in the
councils of the Na-
tional Government. The period also
marks the growing
divergence of northern and southern
interests which
ended in the Civil War, for the
Northwest, like the
South, was developing a peculiar
sectionalism which
threatened the integrity of the Union.
Ohio's economic
interests and the personal ambitions of
her political lead-
ers seemed to be menaced by southern combinations.
The press of both parties breathed open
defiance to the
slaveholder, although the wealthier
classes of southern
Ohio deprecated the agitation of a
question which threat-
ened their commercial connections in
the South. Prob-
ably of greater importance was the
growing conflict be-
* Dissertation presented in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
the Graduate School of the Ohio
State University.
(439)
440
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tween the masses of the people and the
privileged classes.
Although Ohio had lost many of the
characteristics of
a frontier state, the followers of
Jackson still dominated
this commonwealth at the opening of the
decade. This
control was only temporarily challenged
by the fantastic
Whig Log Cabin campaign of 1840 and the
Democracy
reasserted its power within a year
after that episode.
But the growing conservatism among the
professional
classes and men of wealth during this
decade prevented
the Democratic party from advocating
extreme meas-
ures and transformed the Whig party
into a still more
reactionary organization. Throughout
the decade the
struggle of the radicals and conservatives
furnished the
underlying motive on state issues. If
the Liberty and
Free Soil parties aided the forces of
liberalism, this was
not because a majority of those parties
favored a greater
degree of democracy, but because these
minor parties
tended to break up the conservative
Whig party, and thus
enabled the radical elements to realize
their program.
My materials have been drawn from the
Ohio State
University Library, the Library of the
Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio, the
Library of the Archae-
ological and Historical Society of
Ohio, the Library of
Congress, and the Library of the
Pennsylvania Histori-
cal Society. The officials of these
institutions have been
most helpful in placing their materials
at my disposal.
I wish to acknowledge my obligations
and express
my deep appreciation for those who have
directed my
studies either in the way of helpful
advice or formal in-
struction. I owe especial obligations
to Professor Carl
Wittke, of the Ohio State University,
who directed the
course of my researches, for his kindly
advice on the
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications 441
gathering of the materials for this
study and for his
helpful and penetrating criticisms of
the dissertation it-
self.
EDGAR ALLAN HOLT,
Ohio State University,
June, 1928.
CHAPTER I
THE ELECTION OF 1840 IN OHIO
Ohio, the first fruit of the Ordinance
of 1787, en-
tered the Union in 1803. By that
Ordinance, it was de-
termined that Ohio's economic growth
should be based
on free rather than slave labour. This
factor became
the basis of the later alignment of the
State in opposi-
tion to the South. However, the
proximity of Ohio to
slave-holding States forced it to adopt
a conciliatory pol-
icy toward the slave system in order to
retain close com-
mercial relations with the South.
Throughout the early
history of the State, southern Ohio and
particularly Cin-
cinnati, the commercial metropolis of
the State, were
anxious to ally the economic and
political interests of
Ohio with those of the South.
Richly endowed with a fertile soil and
numerous
streams suitable for navigation, Ohio
experienced a
rapid growth in wealth and in
population. Although
this economic development was primarily
agricultural,
thriving factories soon grew up at such
points as Cin-
cinnati, Zanesville, Chillicothe, and
Steubenville. After
the completion of the Erie Canal in
1825, Cleveland
became the entrepot of raw farm
products from north-
ern Ohio destined for New York and the
distribution
point of eastern manufactured products
bound for the
Northwest.
The expansion of the factory system in
Ohio, which
resulted from the federal tariffs of
1816, 1824, and 1828,
led to a demand for an extended market.
The commer-
(442)
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 443
cial needs of southern Ohio were met by
the southern
slave system which afforded a market
for the food sup-
plies and manufactured products of the
Ohio Valley.
This situation produced an economic
alliance between
southern Ohio and the slave states
which explains much
of the political differences between
the former and
northern Ohio which was bound to New
York by com-
mercial ties.
Up to 1850 the tremendous development
of the
wealth of Ohio was due largely to the
construction of
a network of one thousand miles of
canals through
thirty-seven counties, connecting Lake
Erie and the
Ohio River by two continuous routes,
one with termi-
nals at Cleveland on the Lake and
Portsmouth on the
Ohio and the other joining Toledo and
Cincinnati. By
1850, Ohio ranked third among the
states in the cash
value of her farms, Cincinnati was the
chief packing
center in the West, the annual value of
the products of
the gristmills and sawmills of Ohio was
more than
$9,000,000, and the total capital
investment of the State
in banking institutions and in the
manufacturing of such
articles as hardware, iron, crockery;
and in the packing
of meats, had grown from $4,000,000 in
1822 to $28,-
000,000. At the same time the
population had increased
to 2,000,000, most of whom were located
in counties
served by Lake Erie, the Ohio River,
and the canals.
In 1850, Cincinnati had a population of
115,000 drawn
from all parts of the United States and
Europe, and
Hamilton County held almost one-third
of all the Euro-
pean immigrants who came to the State.
The source of Ohio's population
determined the
political history of the State,
producing sectional lines
444
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
almost as marked as those dividing the
sections from
which each of the elements came. One of
the largest
single elements entering into the
racial composition of
the State's population was the
Scotch-Irish frontiersmen
of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
Kentucky. The Scotch-
Irish from Pennsylvania overflowed into
central and
eastern Ohio in quest of fertile lands
as soon as the
region was opened to settlement, while
those from Ken-
tucky settled in the southern portion
of the State. The
latter were composed largely of the
poorer, more demo-
cratic and non-slave-holding classes of
the South, many
of whom were opposed to slavery and all
of whom were
anxious to better their economic
situation. Chaddock
asserts that "The influence of
this Scotch-Irish stock in
southern Ohio was very marked. They
brought with
them their religion; they asserted
their ideas of indi-
vidual freedom and economic
independence, and they
supported the political principles of
Jefferson and the
rising democracy."1 Another
element was the Germans,
who came in large numbers both from
Pennsylvania as
a part of the frontier class, and,
during the 'forties, di-
rectly from Germany. Although scattered
over the
State in respectable numbers, a large
proportion of the
Germans settled in Cincinnati. Most of
them formed a
close political alliance with the
Scotch-Irish followers of
Jefferson and Jackson, opposing
corporate interests and
a high protective tariff during the
later 'thirties.
Another, but smaller element, was the
Quakers who
came to Ohio from Virginia and North
Carolina as a
result of their lack of sympathy with
the slave system.
1 Robert E. Chaddock, "Ohio Before
1850," in Columbia University
Studies in History, Economics and
Public Law, v. XXXI, p. 33.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 445
Probably the most distinctive
contribution in this mix-
ture of Ohio's population was the
settlement of New
Englanders on the Western Reserve. As a
result, the
Reserve became the backbone of
opposition to Jeffer-
sonian and Jacksonian Democracy until
1848 when the
voters of that section became convinced
that the Whig
party was the tool of the "slave
power."
From the earliest days of its
organization as a State,
Ohio was dominated by the followers of
Jefferson. This
unanimity of sentiment tended to
disappear after 1812,
and crystallized into definite
political parties after 1824,
when the economic needs of the West
enabled Clay and
Adams to unite the East and West in
behalf of a pro-
gram calling for a high protective
tariff and internal im-
provements.2 This coalition
threatened to dominate the
political situation, but the frontier
character of Ohio
made its conquest by the Jacksonian
Democracy a com-
paratively easy task. The masses of the
people, filled
with the frontier dislike for banking
institutions, rallied
behind Jackson in his war on the United
States Bank.
But as Ohio increased in wealth, the
conservative forces
gathered strength and began to oppose
the levelling ten-
dencies of the Democracy with some
degree of success.
Moreover, Jackson's popularity did not
descend to Van
Buren, his designated successor, and
the Panic of 1837
prepared the way for a general debacle
in the ranks of
the Democracy.3 To the Whigs, it
appeared that the
2 Eugene
H. Roseboom, "Ohio in the Presidential Election of 1824,"
in Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Publications, v. XXVI, pp. 153-224.
3 For a resume of the political
situation in Ohio before 1840, I have
relied upon Eugene H. Roseboom's
"Ohio Politics in the 1850's," a doctoral
dissertation in the course of
preparation at Harvard University. See also
Chaddock, op. cit., in Columbia
University Studies in History, Economics
446 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
widespread distress which resulted from
that panic was
caused by the Democratic program of a
"war on the cur-
rency." The Whigs therefore hoped
to appeal for sup-
port to an increasingly large number of
laborers thrown
out of work by the effects of the
financial depression
which continued throughout the
remainder of Van
Buren's term.
The Van Buren administration had
scarcely begun
in 1837 when the opposition party began
to lay plans for
the next campaign.4 The problem for the
Whigs was to
unite under one leader the discontented
Democrats, the
land tenants of New York who were
dissatisfied with
the old patroon system, the
abolitionists, the friends of
Harrison, Clay and Webster; and those
along the north-
ern border who felt that Van Buren was
a tool of the
British because he had not avenged the
burning of the
Caroline.5
This incident grew out of the efforts
of Canadian
revolutionaries in 1837 to obtain
American aid. The
Caroline, an American vessel, which had been engaged
in carrying supplies from Fort
Schlosser, New York, to
the Canadian rebels on Navy Island, was
boarded and
burned on the American side of the
Niagara River by
Canadian military authorities.6 There
was intense ex-
and Public Law, v. XXXI; Homer J. Webster, "History of the Demo-
cratic Party Organization in the
Northwest," in Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Publications, v. XXIV, pp. 1-120; Homer C. Hockett, Western
Influences on Political Parties to
1825.
4 A
convention of the Ohio Whigs as early as 1837 suggested a national
convention for the following year to
select candidates for the campaign of
1840. Niles' Register, v. LII, p.
329.
5 McMaster, John Bach, A History of
the People of the United States,
v. VI, p. 550.
6 Ibid., v. VI, pp. 440-441.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 447
citement all along the northern border
over this incident
and because of the arrival of Canadian
political refugees
in the border towns, and the Whigs
seized the oppor-
tunity to charge the Democrats with
being pro-British.
A war with England was happily averted
by Van Buren
who pursued the wise policy of
enforcing strict neutral-
ity along the border. To these
discontented elements
whom the Whigs sought to unite, must be
added large
numbers of voters who blamed the Panic
of 1837 upon
the Van Buren administration. Although
the first po-
litical effects of the panic naturally
were disastrous to
the party in power, a distinct reaction
set in in favor of
the administration as the years passed.
In New York
a Whig majority of 15,000 in 1837 fell
to 10,000 in 1838
and to 5,000 in 1839.7 In Ohio, the
political current was
running in the same direction and the
Democrats won
the state elections of October 1838 and
1839 on a policy
of bank reform.8
Early in 1838, the Ohio Whigs began to
put their
faith in William Henry Harrison as the
one candidate
who could unite under his banner all
the forces in oppo-
sition to the Van Buren administration.
In January,
1839, the Belmont Chronicle put
the slogan, "For Presi-
dent: William H. Harrison, Subject to a
National Con-
vention," at the head of its
editorial column.9 The
Whig State Convention of 1838 also
endorsed Harrison,
subject to the action of a national
convention, but prom-
ised that the Whigs of Ohio would be
satisfied also with
7 Greeley,
Horace, Recollections of a Busy Life, p. 129.
8 Ohio Statesman, October to November, 1838; Ibid., October to
November, 1839.
9 January 1, 1839.
448 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Clay or Webster.10 The
Cincinnati Republican, a for-
mer Jackson paper edited by James
Allen, came out so
uncompromisingly for Harrison that it
was warned by
the Whig organ of the State to be more
circumspect in
order not to antagonize the Clay Whigs
of the State.11
The Whig program in Ohio was primarily
one of
unification. Availability, not
principle, was the essen-
tial quality sought in prospective
candidates. James
Allen,12 in control of the Ohio State
Journal since April,
1839, deplored the "unfortunate
centrifugal tendency"
in the Whig party. "To be
successful" in 1840, Allen
declared, "nothing must be
hazarded that shall tend,
however remotely, to increase the
dissonance and disaf-
fection that, just now, disturb our
ranks."13 On April
19th, the Ohio State Journal announced
that it would
support William Henry Harrison. The
Whigs were
agreed that it would be wise to
concentrate early on one
candidate, and thus prevent trouble
between the follow-
ers of various rivals.
The friends of Webster were not without
some hope
of securing support in Ohio for their
favorite, but Wil-
liam Greene, a prominent Whig leader of
Cincinnati,
assured them that western sentiment
demanded a west-
ern candidate. In reply to queries as
to what pledges
10 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly),
May 10, 1839.
11 Ibid., April 26, 1839.
12 Allen stated that when he was
editor of the Cincinnati Republican
he endorsed Jackson's vetoes and abused
Hammond of the Gazette "with
a political unction that must have been
truly edifying to the enemies of
poor Nick Biddle." When Jackson
removed the deposits from the United
States Bank in 1834, Allen resigned as
editor of the Republican because he
disapproved of the removal. He then
raised Harrison's name over the
editorial columns of the Cincinnati Courier,
the first Harrison paper in
Ohio. Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly),
April 26, 1839.
13 Ohio State Journal, (Semi-weekly), April 12, 1839.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 449
Harrison would make concerning Webster,
Greene skil-
fully replied that "He does not
choose to pledge himself
to any human being . . . nor will he say what he
would probably do. But there are
delicate modes of
intimation which have, if possible, more
than the au-
thority of express terms--and my
opinion is (and I be-
lieve no human has better means of
forming a correct
one upon this particular) that if the
General be elected
to the Presidency, he would not only prefer,
but rely
upon it, that Mr. Webster should hold
the first place in
his cabinet relations."14
Although the Whig State Central
Committee, on
May 21, 1839, in an official call for
delegates to a Na-
tional Convention in Harrisburg six
months later, gave
its support to Harrison,15 the
Clay forces of Ohio, led
by Charles Hammond, were not ready
before October
to admit the defeat of their hero.16 The Cincinnati
Daily Gazette refused to join in the hue and cry for
Harrison, and during Clay's tour in the
Northeast
printed daily accounts of his speeches
and triumphal re-
ceptions.17 Clay's candidacy seemed to gather strength
until he reached Saratoga. Here he met
Thurlow Weed,
who informed him that he could not
carry New York
and that for the good of the party he
should withdraw
from the contest.18 It was impossible
to stem the Har-
14 Greene to
Lovering, May 28, 1839, Greene MSS.
15 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), May 21, 1839. The members of
the State Central Committee were Alfred
Kelley, chairman; Joseph Ridg-
way, Warren Jenkins, Lewis Heyl, and
Samuel Douglass.
16 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October 4, 1839.
17 Ibid., August 16, September 3, 1839.
18 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI, p.
555.
Vol. XXXVII--29.
450 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
rison current.19 Clay was not deserted
on account of a
lack of faith in his program but on
grounds of political
expediency. Union was necessary and it
seemed un-
likely that Clay could unite all the
fragments of the
opposition. The Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, moreover,
frankly acknowledged that "Clay is
not popular with the
people, a fact demonstrated twice, in
direct appeals to
their suffrage. Then, as now, his friends
stood stiff in
pertinacity--ought they now after two
signal defeats,
to press their favorite again, without
some tangible, in-
disputable change of position,
favorable to his success."
As a fatal objection to Clay,
especially for the Jackson
men whom it was necessary to
conciliate, was the per-
sistent charge of "the corrupt
bargain" of 1824, when
Clay had turned his strength to Adams
and helped to
defeat Jackson for the presidency.20 Harrison
leaders
paid fulsome compliments to Clay in
order to take away
the sting of defeat and obtain the
support of his follow-
ers.21 The middle ground
taken by the Ohio State Jour-
nal in the interest of a perfect reconciliation of all
fac-
tions was somewhat distasteful to the
Clay papers in
northern Ohio and to the rabid Harrison
papers in the
southern portion of the State;22 but as the
summer wore
on, the former fell into line for
Harrison.23
There was some sentiment in the State
for Winfield
19 The Carroll Free Press in
May declared that Harrison was more
popular with the "bone and
sinew" than any other man whom the Whigs
could name. Carroll Free Press quoted
in Ohio State Journal (Semi-
weekly), May 14, 1839.
20 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October
4, 1839.
21 Chillicothe Gazette quoted in Ohio
State Journal (Semi-weekly),
May 14, 1839; Circleville Herald quoted
in Ohio State Journal (Semi-
weekly), May 10, 1839.
22 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly),
May 31, 1839.
23 Ibid., June 4, 1839.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 451
Scott, but the Ohio State Journal shared
the view of the
Baltimore Chronicle that it was
too late to introduce new
and untried champions into the field.24 Oran Follett,25
a Clay Whig, considered Scott a good
candidate to at-
tract former Jackson Democrats, after
he saw that there
was no enthusiasm among the Whigs of Ohio for his
favorite. In September, as a delegate
to a district con-
vention to name representatives to the
Harrisburg Con-
vention, Follett had announced his
preference for Clay
as the most politically available
candidate.26 Hardly
two weeks later, Follett was urging
George H. Flood of
Virginia, a Democrat, and James T.
Morehead, a for-
mer Whig governor of Kentucky, to
support General
Scott, apparently on the ground that
Clay could not win
for the party in 1840, because the
anti-Administration
Democrats would not rally to his
support.27 The Scott
candidacy was never very significant in
this State, and
by November only two papers in Ohio,
the Conneaut
Gazette and the Sandusky Whig (edited by Follett)
were openly in favor of Scott's
nomination.28 The se-
lection of delegates to the Harrisburg
Convention re-
vealed an overwhelming sentiment for
Harrison in Ohio.
By November, 1839, of the one hundred
Whig papers
24 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), April 12, 1839.
25 Follett was a staunch Whig leader in
Ohio throughout the decade.
Originally from New York, he became,
upon removal to Ohio, editor, first
of the Sandusky Whig and then of
the Ohio State Journal, and later a
leader of the Corwin movement for the
presidency.
26 Follett and Camp to the chairman of
the District Whig Convention,
September 30, 1839, quoted in
"Selections from the Follett Papers, IV" in
Quarterly Publications of the
Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio,
1916, v. XI, No. 1, pp. 15-16.
27 Follett to Morehead, October 18,
1839, quoted in "Selections from
the Follett Papers, IV," loc.
cit., v. XI, No. 1, pp. 18-20.
28 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), November 13, 1839.
452 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
in the State, five supported Clay, two
clung to Scott,
and the rest favored "Harrison and
Reform."29
The defeat of the Whigs on the banking
and currency
issue in the fall elections of 1839
created havoc in the
party in Ohio, and led Follett to
comment bitterly on the
"state of the public morals, the
heresies in government,
and the ignorant prejudices of the
multitude in relation
to the Treasury . . ."30 The chief issue between the two
parties in 1839 had been one of the
extent to which the
government should go in regulating the
banks of the
State, which had undergone a succession
of failures
since 1837. The Democrats favored a
vigorous program
of reform but the Whigs were inclined
to defend the
banks, asserting that their opponents
really intended to
destroy the currency.31 The
defeat of the Whigs was
attributed to various forces. The St.
Clairsville Chron-
icle blamed the supineness of the Whigs,32 and
the Cin-
cinnati Gazette refused to close
its eyes to the fact that
the party was prostrate, and suggested
that the Harris-
burg Convention fold up the Whig
banners forever.33
In spite of such pessimistic
conclusions, delegates
were appointed to the Whig National
Convention at
Harrisburg. Foremost among the
representatives from
Ohio were Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati;
Reasin Beall,
of Wooster; the sturdy John Johnson, of
Piqua, who
29 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), November 20, 1839.
30 Follett to Morehead, October 18,
1839, quoted in "Selections from
the Follett Papers, IV," loc.
cit., 1916, v. XI., No. 1, p. 19. The Ohio State
Journal exclaimed in despair that "It seems like madness
to contend against
an overwhelming fate--against a force
that is sure to crush us." Ohio
State Journal (Weekly), October 16, 1839.
31 See Chapter II.
32 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), October 16, 1839.
33 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, November
7, 9, 1839.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 453
rode to Harrisburg on horseback; and N.
G. Pendleton,
of Cincinnati, who served on the
committee to select
the officials of the Convention. When
the Convention
assembled, Clay had the greatest number
of pledged
delegates, but there were indications
that the political
managers were not willing to have him
lead the party
again in 1840. On the second day of the
balloting,
New York, Michigan, and Vermont
transferred their
support from Scott to Harrison and thus
brought about
his nomination, much to the
satisfaction of the Ohio
delegates, who had voted steadily for
their favorite son.
The Convention then nominated John
Tyler of Virginia
for vice-president.34 The
Convention recommended a
rally of the Whig young men of the
nation at Balti-
more and then adjourned, without
drawing up an
address to the people or framing a
platform.35 This
proved to be good political strategy,
because any pro-
gram would have divided the Whigs and
made defeat
certain. Party leaders in each section
of the country
thus were left free to stress those
political considera-
tions which most appealed to the voters
of their partic-
ular section. To the Whigs of Ohio, the
election of
1840 was a referendum on
"Executive usurpation."
They condemned the frequency with which
Jackson and
Van Buren had resorted to the veto as a
usurpation of
power which belonged only to Congress.
The nomination of Harrison and Tyler
was received
with great enthusiasm in Ohio.
"Now is the winter of
34 Niles' Register, v. LXI, p. 232; Tyler, Lyon G., The Letters and
Times of the Tylers, v. I, p. 595.
35 Proceedings in Weekly Ohio State
Journal, December 14, 1839; Mc-
Master, op. cit., v. VI, pp. 556-559.
454
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
our discontent made glorious summer by
the nomina-
tion of this son of a Revolutionary
sire," the Belmont
Chronicle declared. "Now do we breathe freer and
deeper than we have for the last three
years."36 The
Cincinnati Daily Gazette saw in
Harrison's nomination
certain defeat for the "fell
disorganizing spirit" of
"locofocoism" and the
"certain restoration of sound
republican doctrines; the security of
our institutions."37
Spontaneous and enthusiastic gatherings
were held all
over the State to respond to the
nomination. At a
convention in Cincinnati on December
16, speakers
who had supported Clay pledged their
support of the
nominees.38 The earlier
despondency of the Whigs now
turned into confidence and all elements
of the opposition
found it easy to support a candidate
whose principles
no one knew. Reform of the
"aristocratic" government
of Van Buren became the catch-phrase of
the hour, and
in this program State Rights men, led
by John G.
Miller in the Ohio Confederate and
Old School Repub-
lican, as well as Jacksonians, discontented for various
reasons with the Van Buren
administration, and Nation
alist Whigs could join heartily in the
great attempt to
oust the Democrats. The Ohio
Statesman, chief Demo-
cratic organ of the State, pointed out
quite correctly,
that "The Federal party has no
policy of its own--no
principles--no cohesion--no unity of
sentiment upon
which to found a campaign, or
concentrate their forces
for action,"39 and attributed
the nomination of Harrison
36 December 17, 1839.
37 December 14, 1839.
38 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, December
16, 1839.
39 December 10, 1839.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 455
to a combination of abolitionism,
"Bankery" and anti-
masonry.40
The Democrats, of course, could do
nothing but re-
nominate Van Buren. Their nominee had
reached the
White House because of the spell of
Jackson's popu-
larity, but he gradually had acquired
an effective fol-
lowing of his own, while his policies
were gradually
accepted by the masses of Democratic
voters in the
North. In Ohio, resolutions of county
and district con-
ventions forecast the renomination of
the Democratic
president.41 The
radical anti-bank faction of the party
was in control of the party machinery
in the State and
was completely satisfied by Van Buren's
policy toward
the banks. The recommendation of an Independent
Treasury, in the president's third
annual message, had
given Ohio Democrats their issue. Van
Buren had
attacked the suspension of specie
payments, and had
charged that it was not due to a lack
of confidence in
the banks, but that it had been brought
about merely
for the convenience of the banks. The
President pointed
to the widely expanded system of bank
credit as evidence
of the unsoundness of those
institutions, and expressed
the fear that capitalists were using
the banking system,
then in vogue, to exert powerful and
insidious influence
over the entire country. As a remedy
for these evils,
Van Buren, as is well known, urged the
creation of
public depositories for the revenues of
the nation in
order to "divorce" the funds
of the government from
the intrigues of bankers and
politicians.42
40 December 11, 1839.
41 Ohio Statesman, August,
December, 1839; January, May, 1840.
42 Richardson, James D., A
Compilation of the Messages and Papers
of the Presidents, 1789-1897, v. III, pp. 540-547.
456 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The Whig press of Ohio greeted Van
Buren's mes-
sage as another Locofoco attack on
credit and com-
merce. The Cincinnati Daily Gazette (W)
believed that
the President intended to turn over his
party to the
radicals after he saw the burst of
enthusiasm for Har-
rison. "Perish credit, perish
commerce! Down with the
checks and balances, the restraints
imposed and the
rights secured by the
Constitution," commented the
Gazette. "The tyrant
locofocos with the Executive
their instrument, are to administer the
government
under the guidance of party impulse and
party intri-
gue."43 Wilson Shannon
(D), elected governor of Ohio
in 1838 on a policy of bank reform,
had, however, re-
ceded somewhat from his former position;
and his mes-
sage to the General Assembly, in
December, 1839, dif-
fered considerably from the views set
forth in the Presi-
dent's message. The Ohio governor
recommended a
system of independent banks under state
regulation.44
The Whig press commended Shannon's
message, the
Cincinnati Daily Gazette declaring
that there was not
one "Jacobinical feature in the
whole document."45 As
a result of Shannon's new position some
Whigs actually
planned, for a time, to support him for
re-election in
1840. But these plans were abandoned
when the Dem-
ocratic State Convention of January 8,
1840, named
Shannon as candidate for governor on a
platform of
bank reform.46
The same Convention endorsed Van Buren
for the
43 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, January 6, 1840.
44 See chapter on "Banking and
Currency in Ohio Politics, 1840-1850."
45 December 6, 1839.
46 Ohio Statesman, January 8, 9,
10, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 457
presidency, praising his proposal for
an Independent
Treasury. It also declared its
opposition to a high pro-
tective tariff and a system of internal
improvements.
Van Buren was represented as a follower
of Jefferson
and an advocate of a simple and
economical govern-
ment.47 There were no more
ardent supporters in the
country, of Van Buren's proposal to
separate the public
money from banking corporations, than
Moses Dawson
of the Cincinnati Advertiser; Samuel
Medary of the
Ohio Statesman; John Brough, auditor of state; or
Benjamin Tappan and William Allen, the
two senators
from Ohio. Nearly every Democratic
local convention
in Ohio adopted resolutions commending
Van Buren's
policies and approving the candidacy of
the "Little
Magician."48 Ohio senators and
representatives were
instructed by the Democratic General
Assembly to sup-
port the Independent Treasury Law.49
Its passage was
hailed by the Democrats as a second
declaration of
independence50 and the Ohio
Statesman praised it as the
only constitutional plan ever devised
to care for the
public money. The clause providing for
the payment
of government dues in specie found
especial favor with
Medary, the editor of the Statesman,
because it would
take from the monopolies of the country
much of their
"ill-gotten power of
oppression."51
The Democratic National Convention of
1840 organ-
ized with Governor William Carroll, of
Tennessee, as
47 Proceedings
of the Democratic State Convention in Ohio Statesman,
January 8, 9, 10, 1840.
48 Ohio Statesman, January 8, May 5, 1840.
49 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, January 16, 1840.
50 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI, p.
547.
51 Ohio Statesman, June 24, July 7, 1840.
458
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
chairman. Among the prominent Ohio
delegates were
Samuel Medary, John B. Weller
(afterwards candidate
for governor and at this time a
representative in Con-
gress), James J. Faran, of Cincinnati,
S. A. Barker,
Peter Kauffman, a prominent German from
Akron, and
C. J. McNulty. In contrast to the
action of the Whig
Convention, the Democrats drew up a
platform, which,
among other things, approved a strict
construction of
the Constitution, to the extent of
condemning a "general
system of internal improvements,"
or the assumption by
the General Government of state debts
"contracted for
local internal improvements or other
State purposes
. . ." Other features included a
declaration against the
fostering of one branch of industry at
the expense of
another, a statement denying the power
of the Federal
Government to establish a national
bank, and a condem-
nation of the efforts of abolitionists
"to induce Congress
to interfere with questions of slavery,
or to take incipient
steps in relation thereto" as
"calculated to lead [to] the
most alarming and dangerous
consequences . . ."
During the latter part of the
'thirties, an increasing
number of abolition petitions asking
the Federal Gov-
ernment to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia
led to the adoption of a rule in the
House by which such
petitions were laid on the table
without being read or
printed.52
A resolution professing sympathy for
the immi-
grants was adopted in order to catch
the foreign vote.
Van Buren was nominated for president,
but no one
52 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI, pp. 295-296. The Ohio Democracy de-
nounced abolition petitions as attempts
to disrupt the Union.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 459
was named for the vice-presidency,
since the local con-
ventions had not indicated an
outstanding favorite.53
The Democratic national organ described
the contest of
1840 as one "between privileged
orders and the great
mass of the people." "It is,
in fact," the Globe contin-
ued, "only a new, more invidious,
and dangerous modi-
fication of the old feudal system of
the middle ages.
At that period, the great instrument of
oppression was
the sword; now it is the purse. By the
former, the
feudal baron carved out his fortunes;
by the latter, the
rag baron acquires power and influence
through means
of exclusive privileges, from which the
great mass of
the people are forever barred."54
This idea of a class
conflict was mirrored in the Democratic
press of Ohio,
which also represented the issue, as
one between the
rights of the masses, and the
privileges of the few, as
a second contest for first principles
in government, and
as an avowal that the people's money
would never again
be placed at the disposal of a few
swindling bankers.55
The Harrisburg nominations, in
December, 1839,
were followed by enthusiastic
preparations by the Whigs
throughout the State. Victory seemed
imminent since
the campaign for unity had succeeded in
drawing many
of the Jacksonians, who were
dissatisfied with Van
Buren as a party leader, into the ranks
of the Whigs.56
On February 21 and 22, 1840, one of the
most
important and enthusiastic Whig
gatherings ever held
53 Proceedings
of the Convention are taken from the Washington Daily
Globe, May 7, 1840.
54 Washington Daily Globe, May
12, 1840.
55 Ohio Statesman, March 2, 1840.
56 Ohio Whig Standard and Cincinnati Daily Gazette quoted in Ohio
State Journal (Semi-weekly), January 8, 11, 1840.
460 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
in the State assembled at Columbus. The
proposal for
such a mass convention had been opposed
by the staid
Cincinnati Gazette, a reform
paper which opposed horse-
racing and coffee-houses, on the
grounds that a conven-
tion was not conducive to cool
deliberation.57 But the
enthusiasm of the hour was
irresistible, and the Gazette
soon joined the chorus in praise of
Harrison. The Ohio
State Journal claimed that "Men who claimed member-
ship with all the political parties
into which the country
was divided, are around us, resolved to
merge their
differences of opinion on minor topics,
in the one all-
absorbing, paramount question of
Reform; determined
that the reins of government shall no
longer remain
within the grasp of those who are
driving to destruction
every interest and doctrine upon which
the Confederacy
was based and upheld."58 During these
convention days,
glorious for Ohio Whiggery, a
continuous stream of
cheering thousands poured into Columbus
undeterred
by muddy roads and intermittent rain.
"Banners, in-
genious in device, and splendid in
execution," an eye-
witness wrote, "loomed in the air;
flags were streaming,
and all the insignia of Freedom swept
along in glory
and in triumph--canoes planted on
wheels and manned
by the brave and generous friends of
Harrison and
Tyler--square-rigged brigs--log
cabins--even a minia-
ture of old Fort Meigs--all these and
more, made up
the grand sum of excitement and
surprise." The same
eye-witness estimated the crowd at
20,000.
By February, 1840, the Whigs were
thoroughly
intoxicated with their hard cider
campaign, and in a
57 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, December, 1839; February, 1840.
58 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), February 21, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 461
frenzy over the rather dubious military
glamour which
had grown up around Harrison with the
passing of the
years since Tippecanoe and the War of
1812. Hard
cider and log cabins became the emblems
of the Whig
cause, following an unfortunate remark
of a corre-
spondent of a Baltimore paper to the
effect that if
Harrison were given a pension of two
thousand dollars
a year, plenty of hard cider, and a log
cabin, he would
not concern himself with the
presidency.59 Instantly,
the phrase was seized by Whig
campaigners and turned
to the advantage of the old General.
Through these
emblems of western democracy, Harrison
was identified
with the cause of the common man, and
the campaign
became a kind of frenzied crusade to
render justice to
the old Hero who had long suffered from
popular
neglect. Democratic sneers, that
Harrison was an old
granny, albeit a deserving old
gentleman, who should
remain quietly in his cabin at North
Bend, only served
to stimulate the popular imagination
and to make Har-
rison the hero of the masses. Drunk
with hard cider
and hero worship, the assembled
thousands at the
famous February Convention indulged in
all the fan-
tastic orgies of a revival.
The throng was called to order by Judge
James
Wilson, of Steubenville. Reasin Beall, of Wayne
County, a senatorial delegate to the
National Con-
vention, became permanent chairman.
Amid great en-
thusiasm, Thomas Corwin, the
"Wagon Boy," was
nominated for governor. At the time, he
was a repre-
sentative in Congress where he had
achieved something
59 McMaster,
op. cit., v. VI, p. 562.
462
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
of a national reputation by his
sparkling defense of the
military record of General Harrison.
Previously, he
had served in the General Assembly of
Ohio. The nom-
ination conformed to the specifications
laid down by the
Cincinnati Gazette previous to
the Convention; namely,
that no one should be selected who had
taken a promi-
nent part in the abolition movement.
For this reason,
Charles Anthony, President of the Colonization
Society
of Ohio, and an opponent of
abolitionism, and Judge
James Wilson, identified with the
anti-slavery interests,
had proved unavailable.60
The keynote of the resolutions of the
Convention
was opposition to "executive"
usurpation. It was de-
clared that the power of the president
to appoint
and remove officers should be
restricted within the
"narrowest limits allowed by the
Constitution." Other
resolutions favored a single term for
the president,
condemned the use of the veto
"except to preserve the
Constitution from manifest
violation," and denounced
the "spoils system" as well
as official interference in
elections and the assessment of
office-holders for elec-
tioneering purposes. It is particularly
important to
notice the Whig declaration concerning
a national bank,
because that question became the great
issue during
Tyler's administration. The Columbus
Convention re-
solved "That it is the duty of the
General and State
Governments to secure a safe and
uniform currency, as
well for the use of the people, as for
the use of the
Government, so far as the same can be
done without
transcending the constitutional limits
of their authority
60 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February
4, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 463
--and that all laws, calculated to
provide for the office-
holders a more safe or valuable
currency than is pro-
vided for the people, tend to invert
the natural order
of things--making the servant superior
to the master,
--and are both oppressive and
unjust." This declara-
tion was at once an effort to salve the
feelings of State
Rights Whigs, like John G. Miller, and
to satisfy the
Nationalist Whigs who wanted something
done to sta-
bilize the currency. It aimed,
moreover, to unite all
elements of the party in behalf of a
system of currency
for all classes of the people. The resolution was a
clever reference to the Democratic
scheme for an Inde-
pendent Treasury which was portrayed as
a plan to pay
the officers of the Government in gold
and silver while
the people were forced to rely upon a
depreciated paper
currency.61 The Convention concluded
its labors by
urging the organization of
"Harrison Reform Clubs"
all over the State, to be composed of
former Jackson and
Van Buren followers.62 The
Democrats described this
enthusiastic assemblage of Whigs as a
"Federal Con-
vention of Abolitionists, Bankers,
Officeholders, Mer-
chants, Lawyers and Doctors," and
a list of delegates
most of whom were bank directors, bank
stock-holders
and lawyers, was drawn up to expose the
nature of the
party.63 Whig pretensions to
love for the common peo-
ple, moreover, were derided by the
Democrats as mere
mockery.
61 Ohio Statesman, January
8, 9, 1840.
62 Proceedings
of the Convention are taken from the Ohio State Journal
(Semi-weekly), February 26, 1840. The
State Central Committee for the
ensuing year was to be composed of
Alfred Kelley, Joseph Ridgway, John
W. Andrews, Robert Neil, John L. Miner,
Francis Stewart, Lewis Heyl, Dr.
John G. Miller and Lyne Starling, Jr.
63 Ohio Statesman, February 22, 1840.
464 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Both parties, in 1840, threw the issues
and principles
to the winds. The lack of a Whig
platform and the am-
biguous character of their candidate
made such cam-
paign strategy easy. The Democrats
challenged both
Harrison's bravery and his genius as a
commander. "If
a great General," wrote the Globe,
"such was the equiv-
ocal character of his exploits that,
whenever a victory
had been gained, it was difficult to tell
whether it was
owing to his fortunate blunders, or won
by others, in
spite of his imbecility."64
As the Democratic Globe
pointed out, Harrison was, without
doubt, "preferred to
his distinguished competitors, on the
score of that ex-
emplary mediocrity for which he is so
singularly illus-
trious." Corwin set out to rebut
these reflections on
Harrison's military successes, in the
halls of Congress,65
and so withering was his reply to
General Isaac Crary,
of Michigan, who had attacked
Harrison's record, that
the venerable John Quincy Adams's
reference to the
"late General Crary" on the
following day convulsed the
House with laughter.66
Giant rallies and conventions, at which
the Whig
emblems of the log cabin and hard cider
were much in
64 Washington Daily Globe, March
16, 1840.
65 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March
26, 1840; Eaton Register, April 9,
1840.
66 Greeley, op. cit., p. 132; In
the course of his defense of Harrison,
Corwin ridiculed the military qualifications
of Crary declaring that "we all,
in fancy, now see the gentleman from
Michigan in that most dangerous and
glorious event in the life of a militia
general on the peace establishment--
a parade day! The day for which all
other days of his life seem to have
been made. We can see the troops in
motion; umbrellas, hoe- and ax-
handles and other like deadly implements
of war overshadowing all the
field, when lo! the leader of the host
approaches . . . his plume, white, after
the fashion of the great Bourbon, is of
ample length, and reads its doleful
history in the bereaved necks and bosoms
of forty neighboring hen-roosts!"
Josiah Morrow, Life and Speeches of
Thomas Corwin, p. 250.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 465
evidence, marked the campaign. One of
the most
notable was at Fort Meigs, a spot
almost sacred to the
Whigs because of the exploits of
Harrison in that vi-
cinity. The old General himself
promised to attend and
for days excited crowds from all over
the State streamed
to that point. Alfred Kelley, one of
the most prominent
Whigs in Ohio, who accompanied Harrison
to the scene
of his earlier triumphs, described the
journey as a "tri-
umphal procession" made so by large
assemblages who
gathered at all the stopping places,
and mingled their
shouts with the booming salutes fired
in honor of "Old
Tip."67 At Fort Meigs,
40,000 milled around endlessly
to get a close view of their Hero.
There was a sham
attack on the old fort by a band of
Indians, a speech by
Thomas Ewing, as chairman of the
Convention, and
some remarks by the old General
himself. An eye-wit-
ness described the appearance of the
mob after Harri-
son came out to speak, as follows:
"What now shall we
say of that multitude? Could the
presence of Van Buren
inspire such a feeling as at that
moment animated every
bosom? Here was no selfish feeling--the
merchant--
the farmer--the mechanic--the rich and
the poor--all
were here united in one thought. They
were here in
their might--and in the venerable form
before them,
they recognized a connecting link in
that great chain of
patriotism, which had bound a Republic
together, from
its birth to the present day. A
chieftain was there who
led their armies on from victory to
victory--one who
had been clothed with trust without
abusing it--whose
fame was written in the crumbling
breastworks, bastions,
batteries and traverses, which
everywhere surrounded
67 Alfred Kelley to Follett, June 14, 1840,
quoted in "Selections from
the Follett Papers, IV," 1916; loc. cit., v. XI, No. 1, p. 21.
Vol. XXXVII--30.
466
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
them. . . And well did they appreciate
his services
--for sure never before, was enthusiasm
greater--never
before was a loftier shout borne upon
the breezes of
heaven."68 The state was
filled with stories of General
Harrison's devotion to the welfare of
the poor.
Conventions of a similar nature were
held at Cin-
cinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton
and at many other
points. At Cincinnati, the attendance
was estimated at
25,000. Numerous banners proclaimed the
issues of
the campaign and bore inscriptions like
"Farmers, Me-
chanics, Manufacturers, Merchants,
Laborers, against
Locofocism," "Van Caught in a
Whig Trap," (showing
Van Buren caught in a log cabin baited
with hard cider),
"For Jackson we did but for Van we
can't," and "No
Standing Army; Resistance to Tyrants is
Obedience to
God."69 The last evidently referred to the proposal of
the Secretary of War, Joel R. Poinsett,
for a standing
army of two hundred thousand men to be
distributed
over the United States in eight
military districts.70 In
point of numbers, however, the greatest
rally of the
whole campaign was held at Dayton, on
September 1.
The estimate of 100,000 people was
undoubtedly an
over-statement. Thousands gathered
around the Gen-
eral's stand to hear him deny the many
charges which
the Democrats had made against him.
Harrison de-
clared that he was opposed to the use
of the veto except
in extreme cases and that he favored a
single term for
the president. He firmly denied that he
had ever been
68 Perrysburg Whig quoted
in Ohio State Journal (Weekly), June 24,
1840; an account is also given in
Randall and Ryan, History of Ohio,
v. IV, pp. 37-39.
69 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, October 3, 1840.
70 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July
22, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 467
a Federalist, but would not commit
himself on the ques-
tion of a national bank. Apparently,
there was no spe-
cific power in the Constitution to
create a bank. Harri-
son asserted that he thought that he
would favor a bank
if the powers granted to Congress could
not be carried
into effect without such an
institution, and if the wishes
of the people were made manifest in
favor of a bank.
The remainder of his speech consisted
of typically dem-
agogic appeals to the provincialism of
the frontiers-
man.71 The Ohio delegation to the Whig
convention of
young men in Baltimore carried the
banner of the State
with the inscription "She offers
her Cincinnatus to re-
deem the Republic."72
Another characteristic feature of the
campaign of
1840 was the effective use that was
made of the "Buck-
eye Blacksmith," a man who, by his
character and meth-
ods, typified the Whig appeal to the
country in 1840.
The "Buckeye Blacksmith,"
John W. Bear of Zanes-
ville, first attracted public attention
by his oratorical
efforts at the Whig State Convention of
February 21-22,
1840. Without the least pretense to an
education, this
natural-born orator appealed to the prejudices
of the
71 Harrison's speech and the account of
the meeting is given in Ohio
State Journal (Weekly), September 23, 1840; account of meeting given
in Cincinnati Daily Gazette, September
12, 1840, and in Randall and Ryan,
op. cit., v. IV, pp. 39-40.
72 The Cincinnati Daily Gazette appealed
to the Whigs of the State,
and particularly of Cincinnati to send a
large delegation to a meeting held
in Nashville, August 17, because of the
close commercial relations existing
between Cincinnati and the South and
West. Bellamy Storer and S. S.
L'Hommedieu of Cincinnati took prominent
parts in the Nashville meeting,
and Senator Hugh L. White of Tennessee
was lauded for his refusal to
follow the Van Buren administration and
for his resignation from the senate
when instructed by the Tennessee
Legislature to support the Independent
Treasury scheme. Daily Gazette, August
8, 1840.
468
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
poor against the rich, and soon won the
name of "rab-
ble-rouser." His mere support of
the Whigs was an
effective argument against the
Democratic claim that
their party represented the "bone
and sinew" of the
land. Bear's fame spread throughout the
State and mul-
titudes flocked to hear him. From Ohio
he was taken to
other states where he continued his
phenomenal suc-
cesses. For his services he later was
appointed by Pres-
iden Harrison to the Wyandot Indian
Agency, only to
be removed by Tyler.73
As an aid in the contest to end
"executive usurpa-
tion" the Whigs started many
campaign papers. One
of these, the Harrison Flag, announced
itself as a volun-
teer in the cause of the people in
order to furnish an
"anti-dote" for the
"poisons" spread abroad by Demo-
cratic papers like the Globes and
Statesmans.74 The
Daily Political Tornado declared that its chief purpose
was to expose the greatest liar of the
age, Samuel Med-
ary, editor of the Ohio Statesman.75
Other new Harrison
papers were the Investigator and
Expositor of Troy, the
Calumet and the War-Club of Springfield, the Harrison
Democrat of Hamilton, the Log Cabin Herald of Chilli-
cothe, the Straight-Out Harrisonian of
Columbus, and
the Axe of Cleveland.76 These
new papers, adept as
they were in broadcasting the homely
virtues of their
own candidates and in repeating the
stories of the aristo-
cratic tendencies of Van Buren,
exercised a tremendous
influence over the voters of Ohio.
Their appeals were
the essence of the log cabin arguments.
73 Randall and Ryan, op. cit., v.
IV, pp. 34-37.
74 The Harrison Flag, (Delaware,
Ohio), April 28, 1840.
75 Daily Political Tornado, October 6, 1840.
76 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, May
14, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 469
In Ohio, the Independent Treasury
constituted a con-
venient point of attack for the Whigs
and upon this
measure they poured all the venom of
their denuncia-
tions. It became a definite issue in
Ohio politics when
the General Assembly (D), in January,
1840, adopted
resolutions instructing the Ohio
senators and requesting
the Ohio representatives to vote for
the Independent
Treasury.77 The Ohio Whigs considered it
as little
short of "national suicide to add
the weight of the public
treasury to a power so fearfully vast,
and consign the
entire charge of the National purse to
a band of trained
partisans, who have never been
remarkable for honesty.
. . ."78 They declared that the
Independent Treas-
ury Bill contained no provision for the
benefit of the
people, nothing to restore healthy
exchanges, nothing to
place the people's and the Government's
money on a par,
and nothing to correct a disordered
currency or encour-
age the laboring class. "The money
goes from its iron
cages to pay office-holders and great
contractors, who
are enriching themselves from the
national funds."79
The Eaton Register described the
passage of the Inde-
pendent Treasury as the triumph of
"Vandals" and the
"minions of a contemptuous
Executive."80 The Whigs
argued, furthermore, that the measure
would reduce the
price of labor and lands, and enhance
the value of slave
labor, and predicted the direst
consequences.81 The
77 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, January
16, 1840.
78 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), August 21, 1839.
79 Ibid., September 10, 1839.
80 Eaton Register, July 16, 1840.
81 An editorial in the Albany Daily
Advertiser described the Independ-
ent Treasury as "a moneyed
despotism in its most odious form--the despot-
ism of a central consolidated
government, strengthened by a monster bank,
owned and controlled by the
officeholders . . ." quoted in Eaton Register,
January 16, 1840.
470 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
measure was designed, according to the
Ohio Whigs, to
depress the commercial, industrial, and
agricultural in-
terests of the North in favor of the
"grasping avarice
of the pampered South."82 Most
of all, it involved a
union of the purse and the sword and
endangered the
liberties of the people. In developing
this last point, the
Whigs made a great deal of the
proposals of Van
Buren's Secretary of War, Joel R.
Poinsett, to increase
the size of the army. "The whole
shows plainly, to our
mind," declared the Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, "that the
great thing which Martin Van Buren's
administration
contemplates, and which it is
endeavoring by all means
to bring about, is a full and effective
union of the purse
and sword;"83 and the
Eaton Register saw in this scheme
real danger to the liberties of
citizens and a violation of
the Constitution.84 Samuel Medary
recognized that
Democratic strength was crumbling under
these attacks,
and complained to Van Buren that it was
remarkable
what a "humbug" had been made
out of Poinsett's pro-
posal. "The standing army of
200,000 men is wrung
on every change," he wrote,
"and every attempt to ex-
plain only seemed to give force to
their declarations."85
One of the most damaging charges of the
Democrats
against Harrison was that his ignorance
of public af-
fairs made it necessary that he be
guarded by a com-
mittee from making indiscreet
utterances during the
82 Eaton Register, April 23,
1840.
83 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April
29, 1840.
84 Eaton Register, April 30,
1840.
85 Medary to Van Buren, August 18, 1840,
Van Buren MSS., v. XL.
The Columbiana County Democrats defended
the Poinsett plan on the
grounds that it was the true English
policy of resistance to tyranny, and
pointed out that in 1817, while a member
of the House, Harrison had urged
a system of general military
instruction. Ohio Statesman, April 17, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 471
campaign. A letter of inquiry from
Niles Hotchkiss of
the Union Association of Oswego, New
York, addressed
to Harrison, seemed to give some
support to this charge.
The reply to Hotchkiss's letter came
from David
Gwynne, John C. Wright, and 0. M.
Spencer of Cincin-
nati, who described themselves as
Harrison's "confiden-
tial committee." This triumvirate,
referred to by the
Democrats as the keepers of the
General's conscience or
the muzzling committee, announced that
it was the pol-
icy of the General to make no more
public declarations
of principles because his views on
present policies might
be judged by his past actions and
utterances.86 The
Globe described the committee as the "mysterious con-
clave that presides over his conscience
and opinions" and
declared that Harrison's public
utterances convicted him
of "Abolitionism, Bankism,
Latitudinarianism,"87 and
the Ohio Statesman ridiculed
Harrison and his commit-
tee of politicians.88 Whig orators
and Harrison him-
self denied these charges vigorously,
declaring that
there was no attempt to conceal the
candidate's views,
but that so many letters of inquiry had
arrived that it
was necessary to establish a committee
to answer them.89
In an effort to counteract the growing
wave of de-
mocracy behind Harrison's candidacy,
the Democrats
dug up a charge that he had voted in
favor of selling
86 Letters
from Hotchkiss to Harrison and from the committee to
Hotchkiss are taken from Washington Daily
Globe, March 25, 1840. The
Globe reprinted them from the Oswego Palladium. Wright
became editor
of the Cincinnati Gazette upon
the death of Hammond in 1840. In 1840,
he ran for the Ohio Senate but was
defeated by Holmes (D) after a
contest which stretched out over a large
part of the legislative session of
1840-1841.
87 Washington Daily Globe, March
25, 1840.
88 Ohio Statesman, June 9, 1840.
89 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, April 6, June 30, 1840.
472 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
poor white men into slavery.90 So
damaging was this
accusation that the Whigs found it
advisable to conduct
a minute investigation into the records
of the General
Assembly of Ohio. This brought to light
that Harrison,
in 1820-1821, had voted against an
amendment to abol-
ish that feature of a law authorizing
the sheriff to
sell offenders to those persons who
would pay the fine
and costs of his prisoners. The Whigs defended
Har-
rison's position by pointing out that
the prisoner, dur-
ing his period of service, was
protected from abuse in
the same manner as apprentices; that if
the offender
were willing, he could work out his
fine on the public
highways; that if he were unable to pay
the fine and
physically unable to work he might be
discharged from
prison; and that only convicted
offenders of the penal
laws of the State could be sold into
service.91 Repre-
sentative Mason of Ohio undertook to
defend Harrison
from this charge in Congress.92
In spite of the efforts of the leaders
of both parties
to keep it out, the anti-slavery
question was injected into
the campaign of 1840. Chiefly as the
result of a strug-
gle in Congress over the right of
petition in which Cal-
houn and Adams represented the extreme
viewpoints of
the South and the North on the slavery
question, the
one favoring the right, the other
opposing it, the right
of petition had become a burning issue
all over the coun-
try after 1837. In reality, the
Congressional contest
was a struggle for the constitutional
right of petition
which was assailed by the friends of
slavery because it
endangered the security of slave
property and even the
90 Ohio Statesman, April 7, 1840.
91 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), April 22, 1840.
92 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April
30, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 473
existence of the Union. Calhoun had
stated his position
in the form of six resolutions designed
to protect slavery
against further attack from
abolitionist petitions. He
was answered by Thomas Morris of Ohio
in a set of
resolutions asserting that slavery was
sinful and im-
moral, and that Congress had a
constitutional right to
abolish slavery in the District of
Columbia and in the
Territories.93 The result of this debate was the passage,
by the House of Representatives, of the
Patton "gag"
resolutions by which that body refused
to print or read
abolition petitions.94 The immediate
effect of this ef-
fort at repression was an increase in
the number of such
petitions. Protests against the gag
resolution as a vio-
lation of the Constitution poured into
Congress, Ohio
alone sending thirty,95 but the House
adhered to its res-
olution.96 Anti-slavery sentiment increased as a conse-
quence throughout the free states. The
issue now in-
volved a struggle for the right of
petition. Many who
scorned connections with the
abolitionists, were alarmed
by the constitutional issues raised by
the struggle in
Congress.
The Ohio Whigs insisted that the gag
resolutions
were violations of the sacred right of
petition, and
pointed out that the six Ohio votes
cast in its favor were
the votes of Democrats.97 The Ohio
Statesman, how-
ever, declared that the controversy
over the reception
of abolition petitions was merely a
"humbug branch of
93 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI, pp.
482-484.
94 Ibid., op. cit., v. VI, p. 489.
95 Ibid., v. VI, p. 490.
96 Ibid., v. VI, pp. 510-511.
97 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February
13, 1840. The Ohio Democrats
who voted for the gag resolution were
John B. Weller, Isaac Parrish,
D. P. Leadbetter, William Medill,
Jonathan Taylor, and George Sweeney.
474
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Harrison Whiggery," and maintained
that by "putting
this federal firebrand to rest Congress
[had] saved the
nation a million a year."98 All the
rioting over the slav-
ery issue during the past few years,
was attributed by
the St. Clairsville Gazette (D),
to abolitionists whose
"spurious" martyrdom failed
to aid the slave and only
served to alienate one portion of the
country from
another.99 Clay's opposition to the
abolitionist petitions
was strongly condemned by the
Cincinnati Daily Ga-
zette, a Clay paper. On the 25th of May, 1839, Clay
wrote a letter to a Whig county
committee in Kentucky
justifying his position. He argued that
"In the Consti-
tution of the Union there is not a
solitary provision,
fairly interpreted and fairly
administered, which au-
thorizes any interference of Congress
with Domestic
Slavery, as it exists in the United
States." To this as-
sertion the Gazette took
exception, and pointed to in-
stances where the Government had aided
in the return
of slaves.100 Partly
in consequence of this issue, the
abolition press hailed the selection of
Harrison over Clay
as a victory for their cause. This was
especially true of
the Emancipator, the Liberator
and the Philanthropist,
which chose to interpret the nomination
of Harrison as
a concession to the anti-slavery
sentiment of the coun-
try; and the Oberlin Evangelist argued
that no slave-
holder could ever again be president of
the United
States.101 The Democratic Ohio
Statesman, anxious to
fasten the taint of abolitionism on the
Whigs, told its
readers that Harrison, if elected,
would use the surplus
98 Ohio Statesman, February
3, 1840.
99 St. Clairsville Gazette quoted
in Ohio Statesman, February 6, 1840.
100 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, August
26, 1839.
101 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI, pp. 560-561.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 475
revenue of the Government to buy
negroes "to be set
free to overrun our country,"102 and the
Democrats ap-
pealed to the economic interests of
northern white la-
bourers by the argument that the
abolitionists would fill
the towns and villages of the North
with blacks, thus
"degrading labor where they could
get it, and stealing
and robbing where they could not."103
The position of the anti-slavery men in
Ohio was not
as yet sharply defined. To 1839, they
had generally
repudiated separate political action
and had resorted
to questioning the candidates of both
parties on the
slavery issue in order to throw their
votes to those who
gave the most favorable replies. In this
manner, for
example, they had aided in the election
of Joshua R.
Giddings to Congress in 1838. But this
method proved
disappointing in 1839 when several men
supported by
the Anti-Slavery Society voted for a
Fugitive Slave
Law at the request of Kentucky
slaveholders. As a
result, the anti-slavery men in the
Western Reserve
forced the Whigs to repudiate some of
the men who had
voted for the Fugitive Slave Law, and
to accept other
candidates, notably Benjamin F. Wade.
But Wade was
defeated because of Whig antipathy to
his strong anti-
slavery position.104 Although
the American Anti-
Slavery Society in July, 1839, resolved
to support no
one who was not an abolitionist, the
Ohio branch, meet-
ing at Massillon, June 10, 1840,
decided that it was
102
Ohio Statesman quoted in Washington Daily Globe, January 13,
1840.
103 Ohio Statesman, January
17, 1840.
104 T. C. Smith, Liberty and Free
Soil Parties in the Northwest (Har-
vard Historical Studies, v. VI, pp.
30-32.) I have relied upon this study
to a large extent for the history of the
Liberty party but I have supple-
mented it in some particulars, such as
the attitude of the old parties toward
the Liberty and Free Soil parties.
476 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
strictly a "moral" society
and each member should de-
termine his own political course.105 Both major
parties
naturally were unfriendly to all
proposals to have the
Society resort to separate political
action. The Cin-
cinnati Daily Gazette declared
that "A resort to the
ballot-box. . . [was] a resort to means
illy in ac-
cordance with the kindly influences
upon the judgments
and Christian feeling of the
community."106 The Whig
state organ condemned, in vigorous
terms, the sending
of abolition petitions to Congress,
although it upheld
their constitutionality, and explained
that it seemed "to
follow that no attempt should be made
on the part of
those not directly interested, to
lessen the security by
which this species of property is held,
or to diminish its
value in the hands of its
holders." Anti-slavery organi-
zations should not send publications
"into the slave-
holding states for the purpose of
creating disaffection in
the minds of their citizens in regard
to their municipal
regulations; much less to foment a
spirit of insubordi-
nation among the slaves."107
The leaders of the Anti-Slavery Society
in Ohio pre-
vented the American Anti-Slavery
Society, meeting at
Cleveland in October, 1839, from taking
action looking
toward the organization of an
independent political
party,108 but anti-slavery men who
favored the forma-
tion of a separate political party met
in April, 1840, and
formed the National Liberty Party,
nominating James
G. Birney for president and Thomas
Earle of Pennsyl-
vania for vice-president. For many
years, Birney, a
105
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 10, 1840.
106 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, August 22, 1840.
107 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
July 22, 1840.
108 T. C. Smith, op. cit., pp.
36-37.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 477
former Kentucky slave-holder, had been
active in the
anti-slavery crusade, and, by his work
as editor of the
Philanthropist, he had become the recognized leader of
the anti-slavery forces in the United
States. The Lib-
erty party had only one idea, to
prevent the extension
of slavery and to abolish that
institution in the District
of Columbia. The Ohio Anti-Slavery men
thus were
faced with a dilemma, but the split of
the National or-
ganization of the American Anti-Slavery
Society on this
issue in 1840 made it easy for the Whig
and Democratic
elements to remain in their old
parties. The Ohio Anti-
Slavery Society, on May 27, 1840,
refused to take inde-
pendent action as an organization.
However, those who
favored separate political action met
in September and
formed the Ohio Liberty Party, whose
prime movers
were Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, editor of the
Philanthropist,
a mild advocate of separate political
action, and ex-
Senator Thomas Morris, who had just
been discarded by
the Democrats on account of his
attitude on the recep-
tion of anti-slavery petitions.109
The Whigs were anxious to secure the
support of the
abolitionists, but feared the effect of
such a coalition on
the party in the South.110 The praise
bestowed on Har-
rison by the abolition press led the
Democrats to charge
109
T. C. Smith, op. cit., pp. 41-42.
110 The Belmont Chronicle, September
17, 1839, reproved an ardent anti-
slavery correspondent with the assertion
that "The men of the Southern
states, having been accustomed to the
system or institution of slavery from
their infancy, are so familiarized to it
that they cannot view it in the same
light that most men in the free states
do, and though even slaveholders
themselves might and did admit that it
would be morally wrong if the
immediate abolition of it were at all
practicable, immediately to abolish, but
also that they do no wrong in holding
them to service; since it is in accord-
ance with law and recognized by the
constitutions of the slave states;
while they are well used--humanly
treated."
478
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
a coalition between the Whigs and
Abolitionists and to
claim that Harrison was an
abolitionist. Indeed, in a
speech at Vincennes, Indiana, three or
four years pre-
viously, Harrison had apparently
favored the use of the
surplus revenue of the General
Government for the
emancipation of slaves.111 Moreover, a
statement by
Bailey, the abolitionist leader, that
Harrison was a warm
friend of the abolition cause was
circulated widely over
Ohio. This report, Bailey took occasion
to deny in a
letter to the Cincinnati Gazette, although
he weakened
the effect of his letter by the
statement that from con-
versations with Harrison he judged him
to be a "very
good anti-slavery man."112 The
Globe saw proof in this
tone of the Philanthropist of a
coalition of Abolitionism
and Federalism.113 In view of
the fact that the anti-
slavery forces were divided on the
advisability of inde-
pendent political action, and that such
abolition papers
as the Elyria Atlas, the New
Lisbon Aurora, and the
Xenia Free Press openly
supported Harrison,114 it was
plain that most of the abolition votes
would go to the old
General. Moreover, the Liberty party in
1840 did not
yet include such able strategists as
Salmon P. Chase,
Benjamin F. Wade, Edward Wade,
Leicester King, and
Samuel Lewis.115
In the interests of national success
the Ohio Whigs
were anxious to disavow any connection
with abolition-
ism because of the effects on the party
in the South.
Professor A. C. Cole has clearly shown
that the Whig
111 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly),
January 18, 1840.
112 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July
9, 1840.
113 Washington Daily Globe, March
7, May 8, 1840.
114 Ibid., June 9, 1840.
115 T. C. Smith, op. cit., p. 40.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 479
party in the South was preeminently the
party of the
slaveholder,116 and that the southern Whigs consciously
modified their position on slavery
questions in order to
conciliate the northern wing of the
party.117 The north-
ern Whigs were anxious to meet their
southern allies at
least half-way. The Political
Tornado, a campaign
sheet, assured the Whigs of the South
that the rumors
of Harrison's abolitionism were
unfounded, and pointed
to one of Harrison's speeches in
Indiana condemning
"measures of emancipation" as
"weak, presumptuous,
and unconstitutional."118 Harrison,
himself, specifically
denied the abolitionist connection, in
a speech at Colum-
bus, by pointing to his vote, while a
member of Congress,
against restrictions on the admission
of Missouri.119
These charges and denials continued to
the close of the
campaign.120
In an effort to distract public
attention from Harri-
son's connection with the anti-slavery
movement, the
Whigs charged that Benjamin Tappan, the
Democratic
United States Senator, was not only an
abolitionist but
an "amalgamationist." He was
accused of having said,
in a court decision in 1818, that he
knew of no principle
of ethics or law "which would
forbid a descendant of
the fair-haired and ruddy Teuton from
marrying the
swarthy native of Africa; good taste
and refinement, but
neither law nor morals forbid such
connections."121 The
116 A. C. Cole, The Whig Party in the
South, p. 104.
117 Ibid., pp.
106-108.
118 Daily Political Tornado, October 17., 1840.
119 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June
30, 1840; Eaton Register, July 9, 1840.
120 Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, October 28, 1840.
121 Steubenville Herald quoted in Belmont Chronicle,
March 17, 1840.
The reference is to Judge Tappan's
decision in the case of Barrett vs.
Jarvis, Tappan's Reports, v. I,
p. 211.
480
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Democrats hastened to protect Tappan,
who had been
sent to the Senate by the Democrats of
Ohio after they
had discarded Morris because of his
ardent support of
the anti-slavery movement from such
charges. Tappan
refused to present abolition petitions
to the Senate, al-
though he informed the Senate that he
held them, and
he was commended highly by the Globe
for his action.122
The Ohio Statesman declared that
"At this moment,
while abolitionism is rearing its
haggard head anew
under the auspices of General
Harrison"--Tappan's
action "comes at this time upon
the enemy like an ava-
lanche, burying the puny intrigues of
Harrison and in-
cendiarism in one common grave together."123 Tap-
pan's action, moreover, was applauded
even by such a
staunch Whig organ as the Cincinnati Daily
Gazette,
always eager to remain in harmony with
its southern
neighbors and to preserve its economic
connections with
the South.124
The vote of newly-arrived immigrants
also became
important in Ohio in the election of
1840. Between
1830 and 1850 large numbers of
foreigners had come to
Ohio. Most of the newcomers were
Germans, Irish,
and English. Although both parties
angled for the sup-
port of the newcomers, the Germans and
Irish drifted
into the ranks of the Democrats,125
due partly to the
sound of the party name; partly to the
hard money
tendencies of the Democrats; and partly
to the effective-
ness of the Democratic campaign to
convince them that
the Whigs retained the Federalist
enmity toward for-
122
Washington Daily Globe, February
13, 1840.
123 Ohio Statesman, February 10,
1840.
124
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February
15, 1840.
125 Ibid., March 7, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-18 481
eigners. In an effort to detach the
foreigners from their
democratic connections, fulsome
compliments were paid
to the Germans by the Whig press, the Ohio
State Jour-
nal declaring that there was not a "more honest,
indus-
trious and patriotic class of citizens
than the Germans."
The Journal did not fear the
effects of the foreign vote
although many foreigners had been led
astray by "skil-
ful and corrupt demagogues."126
The Cincinnati Daily
Gazette deplored the fact that there were 1200 German
voters in Cincinnati in 1840 with no
means to introduce
them to sound Whig doctrines.127 The Democrats
had
the advantage of German language
newspapers like the
Westbote in Cincinnati, and the Ohio Staats-Zeitung
und Volks-Advokat in Columbus.128 Charged by the
Cincinnati Volksblatt with
hostility to foreigners, John
C. Wright, editor of the Daily
Gazette, protested his
sympathy for the foreign-born, and
announced that he
favored a short residence requirement
for naturaliza-
tion.129 The Democrats accused Harrison of favoring
a naturalization period of twenty
years, and Harrison
found it necessary to deny this report
and to assert his
sympathy with the foreigners in their efforts
to become
citizens.130 The Whigs also directed
attention to Harri-
son's efforts to amend the Land Law of
1800 to provide
for the sale of smaller tracts of land.
"The effects of
General Harrison's exertions at that
time," declared the
Cincinnati Republican, "was
to give every industrious
German--every honest Irishman--who
would receive it,
126 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
September 11, 1839.
127 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 3, 1840.
128 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), June 7, 1839.
129 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October
6, 1840.
130 Ibid., July 28, 1840.
Vol. XXXVII--31.
482 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the right to be a landholder and a land
owner."131 The
only danger of the defection of the
foreign vote from
the Democratic party came from Van
Buren's policy in
regard to American neutrality during
the Canadian re-
volt of 1837.132 When William Lyon
Mackenzie, one
of the Canadian revolutionaries, was
arrested and im-
prisoned by New York authorities
because of his viola-
tion of American neutrality,133 William Dunbar,
a Dem-
ocratic leader of Canton, Ohio, warned
Bela Latham, a
state leader of the Ohio Democracy,
that if Van Buren
did not pardon Mackenzie the Irish and
Germans of the
Canton district would turn against the
party. The
Whigs apparently were taking full
advantage of the
strong anti-British feeling aroused by
the Canadian re-
bellion and consequent border troubles,
and the Demo-
cratic State Central Committee found it
advisable to
send an address to Van Buren urging the
release of
Mackenzie.134 According to Whig
accounts most of the
foreign born voters remained in the
ranks of the Demo-
crats.
The Cincinnati Daily Gazette charged Demo-
cratic leaders with inciting foreigners
to vote before
they were naturalized, and denounced
such as "revolu-
tionary" and
"disorganizing" tactics. The Whigs were
advised to secure proper constitutional
limitations upon
voting privileges to prevent such
abuses in the future.135
131 Cincinnati Republican quoted
in Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October
9, 1840.
132 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI,
pp. 434-442.
133 Ibid., v. VI, p. 442.
134 William Dunbar to Bela Latham,
February 10, 1840, Van Buren
MSS., v. XXXVIII.
135 In spite of predictions of trouble
by the foreigners the election passed
off in an orderly manner, a fact
attributed by the Gazette to the activities
of the influential men in both parties.
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October
12, 14, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 483
After the election was over, the native
American spirit
again manifested itself in the Whig
party press, the Cin-
cinnati Daily Gazette quoting
with approval an editorial
from the Troy Mail to the effect
that Americans were
under obligations to maintain their
political and social
institutions undefiled and that
foreigners should not set
up arrogant claims or reveal a spirit
of officiousness or
dictation, but should be modest in
their demands.136
The outcome of the campaign of 1840 in
Ohio de-
pended on the ability of the Whigs to
attract large num-
bers of former Jackson Democrats. It
was this consid-
eration that had led to the rejection
of their real leader,
Henry Clay, in favor of Harrison. The
old Jackson
group never could have been induced to
support Clay
whom they accused of betraying their
hero in the elec-
tion of 1824. Conscious of this
veneration for Jackson
among the masses, Whig papers referred
to Jackson
with the utmost respect and emphasized
Van Buren's,
alleged desertion of Jacksonian
principles. A state
rights element in Ohio led by John G.
Miller, editor of
the Ohio Confederate and Old School
Republican, and
his associate, Robert Ware, vaguely
emphasized the need
for reform in the Government,137 and it
was around this
active organization of state rights men
that the Whigs
hoped to unite all who were
discontented with Van Bur-
en and once had been followers of
Jackson. At a meet-
ing of the State Rights Association of
Columbus, in
January, 1840, D. W. Deshler was chosen
president,
Isaac Taylor, vice-president, and
George Jeffries, secre-
tary. A resolutions committee, composed
of N. M. Mil-
136 Troy Mail quoted in
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, December 5, 1840.
137 Ohio Confederate and Old School Republican, August 6, 1840.
484 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications ler, Robert Ware, and Robert Neil pledged their support of Harrison as a representative of the Old School Re- publicans. The Van Buren administration was charged with violating "every principle that Republicans of the |
|
State Rights School have held to be fundamental to our system and conservative of our liberties. . . ."138 Jackson Reform Clubs, also sponsored by the Whigs, were organized. Columbus had a "Jackson Reform 138 Ohio Confederate and Old School Republican, quoted in Belmont Chronicle, February 11, 1840. |
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 485
True American Association" with
John McElvain, a
former follower of Jackson, as
chairman. At the sug-
gestion of the "Jackson Reform
Club" of Newark, a
State Convention of discontented
Jacksonians was held
on September 25th.139 In July, 1840, the State Rights
organization and the defection movement
of old Jack-
sonians were merged in a meeting held
at the State Capi-
tol, and an address was drawn up
commending the Jack-
sonian principles of 1828 and declaring
that Harrison
rather than Van Buren now was the true
exponent of
these views.140 The Ohio
Confederate and Old School
Republican called upon the Jacksonians who had been
deceived by Van Buren to redeem the
Government from
the spoilers.141 The State
Convention of former Jack-
sonians and States Rights men, on the
25th of Septem-
ber, attracted about 7,000. Resolutions
were adopted
condemning the Van Buren
administration.142 The
Democrats, of course, attempted to
minimize the extent
of the defection in their ranks and
labelled the deserters
as disappointed office-seekers.143
More important than the organized State
Rights-
Jackson movement, was the claim of the
Whigs that they
represented the ideals of Jefferson and
were the real
"bone and sinew" of the land.
Democratic conventions
were denounced as conventions of
pampered office-hold-
ers, and the campaign became a crusade
to rid the Gov-
ernment of the spoilers. "The
Spoilers are in the temple
of Liberty, and foul corruption has
polluted the sacred
altar of Freedom,"144 declared
the chairman at a con-
139 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
September 9, 1840.
140 Ibid., July 8,
1840.
141
Ohio Confederate and Old School
Republican, September 3, 1840.
142 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), October 7, 1840.
143 Ohio Statesman, March 6, 1840.
144 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June
12, 1840.
486 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
vention of the Whigs on the Tippecanoe
Battle-ground.
In order to win the masses, and rid the
party of any
odious connection with Federalism, Whig
leaders even
denied the right of the Democrats to
use the party name.
"What odious cant is it,"
exclaimed the Cincinnati Ga-
zette, "for the Locofocos to arrogate the title of the
'democracy' of the United States!
. .
. What evi-
dence have they given of their sympathies
with the
masses of the people? . .
. Has not their opposi-
tion to internal improvements of the
country, by canals,
turnpikes, and railroads, with their
malignant attack on
the credit of the States, thrown the
class first named
[laborers] out of employment, by
hundreds and thou-
sands? . . . Has not their incessant war upon the
currency of the country depreciated the
value of lands,
reduced the price of proceeds
two-thirds and rendered
the farmer's occupation, hitherto one
of independence
and profit, a life of hardships and
half-recompensing
toil?"145 Van Buren, on account of his aristocratic
tastes, was declared to be the real
Federalist.146
The suffering which followed in the
Panic of 1837
and led to a deranged currency and
falling prices, also
proved a powerful argument for the
Whigs in the cam-
paign of 1840.147 The Whigs promised to
better the
economic status of the common people,148 and spread
145 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, May
1, 1840.
146 Ohio State Journal (for the period of the campaign).
147 The "pampered
office-holders," they said, were making no efforts
to better these conditions, but were
only interested in collecting gold and
silver for their own use. The Whig press
declared that all classes of people,
impelled by the palpable ruin which
faced them, were ready to join the
cause of Harrison and reform. Belmont Chronicle,
March 24, 1840; Ohio
State Journal (Semi-weekly), February 8, 1840.
148 Ohio State Journal stressed this note throughout the campaign.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 487
broadcast over the State information
about the high sal-
aries paid to useless Government
officials.149 Harrison,
the plain man, mingled with farmers and
mechanics,
and was interested in their welfare;
Van Buren, the
aristocrat, enjoyed the "fat of
the land" and spent most
of his time "shut up in glittering
halls, with a few
friends about him, of tastes, habits
and character sim-
ilar to his own."150 Whig journals
contrasted the low
wages of workingmen with the salary of
the President,
who "lived in a splendid palace
supplied and furnished
at the nation's expense" and rode
"in an English coach,
accompanied by liveried outriders and
drawn by six
blooded horses."151 In creating
this impression of pres-
idential aristocracy, nothing was more
effective than the
famous speech of Representative Ogle of
Pennsylvania
on the civil and diplomatic
Appropriation Bill (April
14, 1840). It disclosed alleged
executive extravagances
and was circulated throughout the State
by the Whig
papers under the caption, "On the
Regal Splendor of
the President's Palace."152 Medary
confessed to Van
Buren that the furore over the
standing army and the
Ogle "omnibus of lies" were
the most potent arguments
of the Whigs.153 One Whig paper explained that in the
event of a re-election of Van Buren,
twenty thousand
dollars would be required to
"replenish the Turkish car-
pets, re-polish the plate, candelabras
and mirrors and
enlarge the means of luxurious
indulgence generally,
which already exist in oriental
profusion and magnifi-
149 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June
11, 1840.
150 Ibid., April 20, 1840.
151 Ibid., March 5, 1840.
152 Eaton Register, October 1,
1840; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, August
5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 31, and September 1,
18, 1840.
153 Medary to
Van Buren, August 18, 1840, Van Buren MSS., v. XL.
488 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
cence around the walks and apartments
of our grand
Loco Foco President."154 An Ohio Whig leader frankly
admitted that as long as the prices of
farm products
were high farmers were content to vote
the Democratic
ticket, but with prices reduced by
one-half and debts and
lawsuits accumulating the rural
population was begin-
ning to think about other things
besides bank reform.155
Therefore, the Whig emphasis upon the
extravagances
of the administration and their promise
to restore pros-
perity proved most timely and
effective.156
Each party tried to the fasten the
taint of Federalism
upon the other. The Democrats charged
that Harrison
had been a Federalist in his younger
days, and the Whigs
had to publish long lists of
testimonials from men who
had been Harrison's neighbors in those
early years to
prove that he had never worn the black
cockade, and had
always been a Jeffersonian
Republican.157 The Whigs
in turn described the Democratic
leaders as the "rank-
est old blue-light
Federalists."158 Van Buren was accused
154 Harrison Flag (Delaware), April 28, 1840.
155 E. Howe to William Greene, January
27, 1840. Greene MSS.
156 This mode of appeal is typified in a
letter published in a Cincinnati
paper from one who signed himself
"A Workingman of Old Town." "We
have," he said, "been imposed
upon by a man who in 1836 received our
votes, and made us promises of reform
and improvement in our condition
which have never been realized. Yes,
fellow-workmen! he promised us
that the blessing of government, like
the dew of heaven, should shower
alike on the rich and poor . . .
Fellow-workmen! what has he given us?
Nothing but disaster and ruin. Our wives
and children are in want and
we are penniless." Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, January 29, 1840.
157 In proof of the latter assertion
they pointed out that he had been
elected delegate to Congress from the
Northwest Territory against Arthur
St. Clair, supported by the Federalists.
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July
15, 1840.
158
Under the caption of "Choose
Ye," comparisons of Harrison and
Van Buren were made in the following
vein: "General Harrison is the
disciple of the immortal Jefferson, and
the admired supporter of those prin-
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 489
of sympathy with the Hartford
Conventionists during
the War of 1812, and it was charged
that he had offered
a resolution to the effect that the war
was "impolitic"
and the use of the militia in an
offensive war uncon-
stitutional.159 Old
Jacksonians, moreover, found
it
difficult to reconcile the suavity of
Van Buren, the
accomplished politician, with the
brusqueness and direct-
ness of their former leader. To stop
the drift toward
Harrison, Jackson, himself, issued a
public letter sup-
porting Van Buren's policies and
reiterating his confi-
dence in his protege. "Old
Hickory" professed to see
in the Whig party and its candidate
dangerous tenden-
cies toward centralization, and he had
never admired
General Harrison as a military man.160
But Jackson's
reassurance was not sufficient to stem
the tide. Leaders
like John McElvain, of Columbus, Andrew
Palmer, of
Toledo, and Caleb Atwater, of
Circleville, renounced
Van Buren. The Democrats explained
McElvain's de-
fection by charging that he was under
obligations to
the banks, and had been bought by the
corporate inter-
ests; but McElvain insisted that he was
opposed to the
"bank destruction" policy of
the Ohio Democrats and
to the "monarchical"
tendencies of the President,161
Andrew Palmer, of Toledo, "a
merchant of the first
respectability," refused to be a
delegate to a Democratic
district convention because the Van
Buren administra-
ciples which genuine Democracy has ever
sustained. Van Buren is both
practically and theoretically the
advocate and exponent of principles directly
the adverse." Belmont Chronicle,
February 4, 1840; Daily Political Tornado,
October 23, 1840.
159 Evening Star quoted in the
Eaton Register, February 6, 1840.
160 Jackson's letter printed in
Nashville Union and reprinted in Cincin-
nati Daily Gazette, July 1, 1840.
161 Ohio Confederate and Old School Republican quoted in Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, May 21, 1840.
490 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tion had attempted to "unite the
purse and the sword"
and had attempted to reduce the
circulating medium
below the needs of the country.162
Atwater stumped
the State for Harrison, promising that
no member of
Congress would be appointed to office;
that no political
speaker would receive official reward
for his services;
that neither Webster nor Ewing would be
members of
the cabinet; that removals from office
would be decided
by the wishes of the people in the
locality affected; that
Harrison would not run for re-election;
and that the
use of the veto would be strictly
limited.163 The Whigs
also claimed that most of the old
soldiers were flocking
to Harrison,164 although
Vice-President R. M. Johnson,
an officer in the War of 1812, toured
the State in an
attempt to hold them for Van Buren.165
Both parties appealed to the growing
class of labor-
ers and wage-earners, the Whigs by
accusing the Dem-
ocrats of responsibility for the
financial depression of
the period,166 and the
Democrats by appealing to the
class consciousness of the workers and
charging a coali-
tion between the corporations and the
Whig Party.
Therefore, the Whigs accused the Democrats
of favor-
ing agrarianism and the Belmont Chronicle
(W) de-
tected in the Democratic appeal
"designs as fatal to the
existence of our free institutions and
to the interests of
162 Letter of renunciation in Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, June 2, 1840.
163
Caleb Atwater to McLean, September 24, 1841, McLean MSS., v. X.
164 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, April
23, 1840.
165 Ohio Confederate and Old School Republican, August 20, 1840.
166 Referring
to the bank policies of the Democrats and their proposals
for an Independent Treasury, the Ohio
State Journal declared that "in the
meantime, the blighting effects of the
war on credit and currency of the
country, are everywhere felt with
increasing force. Labor is sinking in
value, the price of produce has fallen
so low that it can get but little lower,
business is at a standstill, canals and
railroads whether constructed by the
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 491
the people at large as arsenic is to
animal life."167 Many
Whigs viewed the contest as a struggle
for the preserva-
tion of our social institutions. The
Cincinnati Daily
Gazette appealed to the voters "to come out, and stay
the onward march of the infidel and
scoffer." The same
organ (a paper dedicated to moral
reform by its own
admission) denounced the Democratic
program as an
attack on property by trying to abolish
inheritance.168
Conservation of the status quo was
the rational
position for the Whigs to assume when
we remember
the origins and traditions of the
party. Their expres-
sions of sympathy with the people in
opposition to the
aristocracy was obviously intended to
appeal to the
masses and to get votes. It is doubtful
whether it rep-
resented their real attitude. This fear
of change be-
came a potent factor in the campaign. A
Whig journal,
in describing the Democratic program,
predicted that
"when that millenium of infidel
radicalism169 shall arrive,
States or companies have mostly
suspended--all, every interest is on the
verge of ruin, apparently waiting some
great coming event, some measure
of reform that will meet expectation.
They will wait in vain until the fall
elections . . . The Government is
severed from the people; it has all it can
do to take care of itself, without
stopping to provide for the suffering
mechanic, the merchant, the farmer, and
the day laborer." Weekly Ohio
State Journal, March 11, 1840. To the cry of the Whigs that they were
making war on the credit of the State
the Democrats answered that Ohio
stocks were, at that time, higher in the
London market than the stock of
any other State and that this was to be
attributed to the Democratic legis-
lation compelling the Ohio banks to
resume specie payments. Ohio States-
man, March 31, 1840.
167 Belmont Chronicle, February
26, 1839.
168 Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, September 1, 1840.
169 The Whigs asserted that most of the
clergy were Whigs and in
favor of a United States Bank. The Ohio Statesman admitted
that most
of the clergy favored monopolies and
declared that "it is a little remarkable
that there never was a despotism of any
kind that did not find a large
portion of the clergy in its
support." Ohio Statesman, October
20, 1840.
492
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
all the civil and religious
institutions shall be swept
away--there shall be no more labor, nor
wages, nor
schools, nor sanctuaries, nor sound of
the church-going
bell, during life; and when death
comes, your prop-
erty, if you shall have been lucky
enough to have
preserved any in such a community,
shall be taken from
your wife and children, and divided
among the pub-
lic."170 Senator
William Allen (Democrat), who en-
tered the Ohio campaign with great
vigor, denounced
the Whigs as allies of the banks and
declared that the
purpose of this coalition was to make
the "masses of the
people" the slaves of the
"rich and well-born." Accord-
ing to Ohio's Democratic Senator, the
legal profession
was bank controlled.171 One
of Allen's speeches at
Carthage was described by the Whigs as
"openly and
undisguisedly disorganizing and
Jacobinical. Its whole
purpose was to array the poor against
the rich, the
trades against the professions, and to
persuade the
farmers and mechanics that they were
suffering grievous
oppression at the hands of the
professional men."172
Late in September, 1840, Buchanan wrote
Van Buren
that it seemed as if the whole
population of Ohio had
"abandoned their ordinary business
for the purpose of
electioneering."173 Even Medary, a seasoned cam-
paigner, testified that he had never
witnessed anything
like the log cabin campaign,
"every man, woman, and
child preferred politics to anything
else," and he found
it impossible to predict the result.174
When the August
170 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, August 7, 1840.
171 Ibid., August
18, 1840.
172 Ibid., August 29, 1840.
173 Buchanan to Van Buren, September 5,
1840, Van Buren MSS., v. XL.
174 Medary
to Van Buren, August 18, 1840, Van Buren MSS., v. XL.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 493
elections began to register Whig
victories all over the
country, Ohio became important as a
State where the
disorganized Democrats would make a
last stand.175
But here, too, the fall elections for
state offices blasted
the hopes of the Democrats by placing
Corwin in the
governor's chair by a large majority,
and giving the
Whigs control of the Ohio House of
Representatives.176
After the State election, the Whigs redoubled
their
efforts and, in November, Harrison
carried the State by
an even larger majority than Corwin had
done a month
before.
An analysis of the vote shows that the
Democrats
polled 27,864 more votes than they did
in 1836. The
Whig campaign was so effective,
however, that it swept
into the Harrison ranks 42,724 more
votes than the
party polled in 1836.177 The
Whig success in Ohio may
be explained by the distress of the
people, coupled with
a general disposition to charge the
Democrats with the
responsibility for the trouble, and by
the effectiveness
with which all differences in the Whig
ranks had been
harmonized. The result was a
manifestation of the
frontier spirit of Democracy, and a
tribute to the effi-
cacy of campaign slogans, campaign songs,
and political
rallies. According to a contemporary,
"the administra-
tion was sung and stung to death."178 The Democrats
attributed the defeat to shameless and
open fraud. If
we may believe their charges, the
practice of coloniza-
tion, by means of which large numbers
of persons were
175 New
York Express quoted in Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly),
October 28, 1840.
176 Eaton Register, November 26, 1840.
177 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), November 18, 1840.
178 A. G. Riddle, "Recollections of
the 47th General Assembly of Ohio,
1847-1848," in Magazine of
Western History, v. VI, p. 153.
494
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
transferred from one precinct to
another and voted by
the connivance of Whig judges of
election, was resorted
to by the Whigs.179 Others
explained the Democratic
defeat by a "foul coalition"
between bankers, aboli-
tionists, and the Whigs.180
The Whig victory was complete.18l
It remained for
the victorious party to cleanse the
Augean stables,
always a congenial task to the
politicians, and to develop
a constructive policy, a much more
difficult procedure.
The campaign had been won with no
direct reference
to real issues, like the national bank,
a protective tariff,
and internal improvements. To have
emphasized these
questions would have driven from the
Whig ranks cer-
tain elements of the party both in the
South and North
and endangered the Whig cause. Whig
leaders had
informed the South that the protective
tariff was no
longer an issue, that Clay would abide
by the Compro-
mise Tariff of 1833, that since the
states had taken up
the problem of internal improvements it
was no longer
necessary for the Federal Government to
concern itself
with that matter, and that a national
bank would not be
urged if the people wanted state banks.182
In Ohio, as
elsewhere, the Whigs had avoided all
issues on which
there might be disagreement. But
victory in the elec-
tions forced the party to assume
responsibilities and
evolve a constructive program--tasks
fraught with the
greatest difficulties and full of
dangers for the hetero-
geneous Whig organization.
179 Ohio Statesman, October 16, 27,
1840.
180 Ibid., October 20, 1840.
181 The
Whigs also won twelve out of nineteen seats in Congress. Ohio
Statesman, October 20, 1840.
182 A. C. Cole, The Whig Party in the South, p.
54.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 495
CHAPTER II
BANKING AND CURRENCY IN OHIO POLITICS,
1840-1850
Questions relating to banking and
currency became
a live, and at times an absorbing topic
of political action
in Ohio during the 'forties. These
issues arose because
of a period of financial stringency
following the Panic
of 1837, which was manifested all over
the United States
in the failure of banking and other
corporations, and in
the suspension of specie payments. The
result was great
loss to all concerned in banking
operations, but the small
note holder suffered most. The
inevitable result of the
distress was a popular demand for the
control, and in
some cases for the actual destruction
of banks of issue.
The present chapter is concerned with
the effect of these
questions on the political parties of
the time and with
the programs which they devised to deal
with the situ-
ation.1
There was no general banking law in
Ohio before
1842 2 and even under this law no banks
were incorpo-
rated.3 Consequently banks
were chartered by the Legis-
lature under a variety of special acts
of incorporation.
This led to confusion in the manner of
operation, and
corruption in the granting of acts of
incorporation.
1 The financial and economic phases of
Ohio banking have been well
treated by C. C. Huntington, "A
History of Banking and Currency in Ohio
Before the Civil War," Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society Publica-
tions, v. XXIV, pp. 235-539; and by E. L. Bogart's
"Financial History of
Ohio," in University of Illinois
Studies in the Social Sciences, v. I. I have
relied on these two studies to a large
extent for explanations of the financial
and economic problems of Ohio during the
decade under discussion.
2 Laws of Ohio, v.
XLI, pp. 28-35.
3 Laws of Ohio, v. XLIII, pp. 24-54.
496
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Moreover, banks had come to look upon
these acts of
incorporation as contracts enforceable
in the courts and
beyond the power of the General
Assembly to change.
Governor Thomas Corwin (Whig), in his
annual
message to the General Assembly in
December, 1841,
doubted whether the General Assembly
could enforce
regulations upon private corporations
where provisions
had not been made in their charters for
such regulation.
He held the view that the question
could only be decided
by the courts.4 The
Democratic view was expressed in
the Ohio Statesman, the state
organ of the Democracy,5
and in resolutions by the Democrats of
Sandusky County
urging that those banks which had
suspended specie
payments "should unconditionally
be put in a state of
liquidation," and "that
legislative bodies have a right to
appeal or amend all acts of their
predecessors, that are
unconstitutional or in any manner
subversive of the
interests of the people. . ."6
There is evident in these views a
fundamental
difference of opinion as to the ability
of the General
Assembly to deal with a problem which
both Whigs and
Democrats admitted to be pressing. In
the late 'thirties,
the Democrats had revealed their
attitude on the cur-
rency by legislative enactments to
check the indiscrim-
inate issuing of paper money, by
prohibiting banks from
issuing notes in smaller denominations
than five dollars.7
It was maintained that bank profits
came largely from
small notes, and that bank failures
thus resulted in
losses to those portions of the
community which could
4 Ohio Executive Documents, 1841, v. VI, No. 1.
5 Ohio Statesman, December 10, 1841.
6 Ibid., December 14, 1841.
7 Laws of Ohio, v. XXXIV, p. 42.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 497
least afford them. The movement to
check the issue of
paper currency of small denominations
had by no means
been confined to Ohio. By October,
1836, fourteen
states had taken similar action.8
Although the amount of capital in Ohio
banks in-
creased in 1837, the amount of
circulation noticeably
decreased.9 This decrease in
the circulating medium
coincided with a great increase in the
volume of trade.
Under these conditions a demand arose
for the repeal
of the small note law of 1836. In his
annual message
of December 5, 1837, Governor
Joseph Vance (Whig)
urged action by the General Assembly,
declaring that
"our commercial and agricultural
wants require a circu-
lation capable of expansion today and
contraction to-
morrow."10 In March, 1838, the
Legislature carried out
the Governor's recommendation and
repealed the small
note law.1l An analysis of
the vote shows that in the
Senate every Whig voted for repeal and
every Demo-
crat but one voted against repeal. In
the House also the
measure was carried by a strict party
vote.12 Governor
Vance's ideas on an elastic currency
were in marked
contrast with those of Wilson Shannon,
his Democratic
successor in 1838. Shannon had been
elected on a policy
of "Bank Reform," and in his
annual message of Decem-
ber, 1839, he pointed out "the
injurious consequences to
the community of a currency capable of
great and
sudden expansion."13 The
Democratic majority of the
General Assembly, in agreement with the
Governor, in
8 Niles' Register, v. LI, p. 80.
9 Ohio Executive Documents, 1837,
No. 30.
10 Ibid., 1838-1839, No. 1.
11 Laws of Ohio, v. XXXVI, p. 56.
12 Ohio Statesman, June 27, 1838.
13 Ohio Executive Documents, 1839-1840, v. IV, part 1, No. 1, p. 7.
Vol. XXXVII--32.
498
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
March, 1840, re-enacted the small note
law, prohibiting
anew the issue by Ohio banking
corporations of notes
less than five dollars, post notes, and
notes not payable in
specie.14
C. C. Huntington has shown that the
increase in
land speculation which was one of the
fundamental
causes of the Panic of 1837, had been
caused largely by
a great increase in bank-note
circulation. Loans of the
Ohio banks doubled in the short period
from January,
1835, to May, 1837.15 This bubble of
inflation was sud-
denly pricked in 1836 by the famous
"Specie Circular"
of President Jackson, directing land
agents of the gov-
ernment to receive nothing but gold or
silver in payment
for public lands. Huntington attributes
the panic mainly
to the pyramiding of bank notes in
feverish land specu-
lation, but gives, as contributing
causes, the sudden drop
in western land sales, the bank
entanglements caused by
the federal act of June, 1836,
distributing the proceeds
from the sale of public lands, and a
financial crisis in
England which forced English creditors
to call in many
of their foreign loans.16 The
suspension of specie pay-
ments by the Ohio banks, if we may
believe their own
statements, was caused by suspensions
in neighboring
states, a condition which made it
impossible for the
banks to convert their investments into
coin.17 Because
of a general suspension, the banks
called a convention
in Columbus in June, 1837, in order to
devise some
means of resuming specie payments.18
But because re-
14 Laws of Ohio, v. XXXVIII, p. 113.
15 C. C. Huntington, op. cit., p.
157.
16 Ibid., p. 159.
17 Ibid., p. 157.
18 Dayton Journal, June 13, 1837.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 499
sumption was dependent upon the action
of neighboring
states, the banks of Ohio could arrive
at no solution of
the question. In the fall elections of
1837, the Demo-
crats obtained control of the General
Assembly and in
March, 1838, a law was passed requiring
all banks of
the State to resume specie payments by
July 4th of that
year, provided the banks of New York,
Philadelphia,
and Baltimore had done likewise by that
time.19 The
bankers of these cities met in July and
agreed to resume
specie payments by August 13, 1838,20 and the banks
of
Ohio were in a fair way toward
resumption when the
banks of Pennsylvania in 1839 again
suspended specie
payments. By November, 1839, the banks
of Dayton,
Xenia, Urbana, Wooster, and Cincinnati
(with the ex-
ception of the Commercial and the
Hamilton banks) had
again suspended payments.21
The Democratic press of Ohio attacked
the banks
unsparingly because of this suspension
of specie pay-
ments. The Whig press, in the main,
defended the
banks. The Ohio State Journal, chief
Whig organ in
the State, declared that a
"fictitious" and "senseless"
war had been waged against banks by a
group incapable
of understanding the operations of
financial corpora-
tions.22 Although James
Allen, the editor of the Journal,
and a former Jackson Democrat, made
these criticisms,
he was especially careful to disclaim
any especial solici-
tude for the welfare of the bankers.23
This was
obviously the strategic position to
take because the hos-
19 Laws of Ohio, v. XXXVI, p. 55.
20 Huntington, op. cit., p.
162.
21 Niles' Register, November 9, 1839.
22 (Weekly) October 23,
1839. All citations to the Ohio State Journal
are taken from the
daily numbers unless otherwise stated in
the footnote.
23 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), May 24, 1839.
500
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tility of the masses, who had suffered
severely from
bank suspensions, had been aroused and
the voters were
not disposed to deal leniently with the
owners of banking
capital.
The Democrats, already on record as
favoring reg-
ulation by the state, became more
insistent upon this
remedy as the number of suspensions
rapidly increased
in 1837 and 1838. As a result of this
agitation, the
Banking Commissioner Law of February
25, 1839, was
passed,24 providing that no
bank could at any time circu-
late an amount of notes exceeding three
times the specie
actually belonging to the bank; that in
case of the issu-
ance of an excess the directors and
stockholders were
liable to the amount of stock owned;
that all banks
must pay their own notes on demand
either in gold or
silver or in the current notes of other
banks; and that
in case of failure to carry out the
latter provision they
were to be closed. The law also created
a Board of
Bank Commissioners composed of three
persons charged
with the duty of examining the banks
and making reg-
ular reports on their condition.
The fall election of 1839 was virtually
a popular
referendum on the policies of the
Democrats on banking
and currency. The Whigs considered the
Bank Com-
missioner Law unconstitutional, and an
infraction of
the charter rights of corporations. It
was charged that
the main purpose of the Commission was
not to correct
abuses but to undermine confidence in
the banks of the
State, and to enable an unfriendly
board, under cover of
the law, to condemn the banks by
official reports. The
Whigs also insisted that the small note
law, prohibiting
24 Ohio
Executive Documents, 1839, No. 22.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 501
Ohio bankers from issuing small notes,
had filled the
State with the unregulated small notes
of other states
with the result that the people of Ohio
were victimized
and the bankers of Ohio ruined.25 But
in spite of a
vigorous assault on the Democratic
position, the Whigs
failed to regain control of the
Legislature. The Ohio
State Journal pessimistically exclaimed that all was lost
in Ohio and that "Bank Reform
[was] destined to reign
in terrorem, for another year."26
The newly created Bank Commission,
composed of
two Democrats, Eber W. Hubbard and
George Mony-
penny, and one Whig, William S. Hatch,
rendered its
first report December 16, 1839.27 It
was at once an
explanation of the financial condition
of the State and
an indication of future Democratic
policy concerning the
regulation of banks. The tone of the
report had been
anticipated by the fiery attacks of
Samuel Medary in
the editorial columns of the Ohio
Statesman. Medary
led the Ohio Democrats of the 'forties,
and his declara-
tion of war on the banks is
significant: "Created by the
laws of your country . . . they [the banks] pre-
sent every inducement to attract the
confidence of the
unwary and seduce into their grasp the
most watchful
and shrewd, by the convenience and
safety they hold out
to the public through a thousand
pretenses of being the
exclusive friends and engines of trade
and commerce.
They have even made the bold and daring
avowal that
they were the only safekeepers of the
public treasury--
that they were the true exponents of
the Constitution, the
conservators of liberty--and under the
broad term of
25 Ohio State Journal, (Semi-weekly), June 4, 1839.
26 Ibid., October 11, 1839.
27 Ohio Executive Documents, 1839, No. 22.
502
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Whig they have attempted to seize upon
the government
of the Union and of the States, and
make use of the
revenues and loans upon the people's
credit to uphold
their villainy and grind the people to
earth with oppres-
sion. In these attempts these
corporations have been
supported by the powerful array of
mercantile wealth--
by city and county court lawyers
largely in their pay--
by the benighted and mercenary portion
of the priest-
hood--by village doctors who love the
shade of an awn-
ing better than the golden fields of
the husbandman or
workshop of the mechanic. . ."28
Thus the radical
leader of the Democracy appealed to
class consciousness
at the opening of a decade when labor
was beginning to
feel the need of better organization.
The oppression
of the people by corporations was the
note stressed by
radical Democratic leaders throughout
the decade.
The Democrats thus seemed to be
determined on a
definite program of reform. But the
position taken by
Governor Shannon, in his annual message
of Decem-
ber, 1839, produced indecision in the
ranks and courage
in the opposite camp. Shannon did not
neglect to attack
the banking system then in existence;
it perhaps would
not have been defended without
qualifications by a con-
servative Whig. But the Governor failed
to give the
proper direction to the Democratic
offensive. He pointed
out that the stringency in the
circulating medium was
brought about by specie exportation and
by bank con-
traction; and contended that the
"present banking sys-
tem [had] filled the country with a
fluctuating, un-
steady, and at times, a depreciated
currency"; and that
a "perpetration of these wrongs by
irresponsible cor-
28 Ohio Statesman, July 30, 1839.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 503
porations" made the question of
permitting them to con-
tinue, a doubtful one. Since it was
conceded that some
sort of banking institutions were
necessary, and since
the charters of most of the banks would
expire January
1, 1843, he advised that the General
Assembly take
action. Using a typical Whig argument,
the Governor
asserted that it would be better for
Ohio to regulate her
own currency rather than to allow the
State to be flooded
by the notes of foreign banks over
which the General
Assembly could exercise no control. The
Governor con-
cluded with the statement that "a
system of independent
banks properly restricted and limited
in their powers,
placed under the supervision of bank
commissioners, and
being at all times under the control of
the Legislature, if
not the best system that could be
adopted, is perhaps the
best within our reach, for the present,
or for some time
to come."29 Such a banking system
should include lia-
bility of the stockholder up to the
amount of the stock
owned, limitation of the note issues to
an amount not
greater than three times the amount of
specie on hand,
and compulsory specie payment.
Shannon's message was greeted without
enthusiasm
by the Democratic press, and to the
Whigs it came as
a real surprise. The Ohio State
Journal reacted favor-
ably to the Governor's proposal for a
system of inde-
pendent banks.30 To ardent
bank reform Democrats,
like the venerable Moses Dawson of the
Cincinnati
Advertiser, the Governor seemed to have deserted the
principles of his party. The attacks of
the Advertiser
were answered somewhat by John A. Bryan
in the Ohio
29 Ohio Executive Documents, 1839-1840, v. IV, part 1, No. 1, p.
13.
30 Ohio
State Journal (Semi-weekly), December
7, 1839.
504 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
State Bulletin (Columbus).31 The Ohio State Bulletin
had been founded as a central organ for
the conservative
Democrats who wished to displace Medary
as a party
leader, perhaps partly because of the
disappointment of
Bryan who had been prevented by the
radical Demo-
crats from becoming a state employee in
1839, because
of his position as a bank official.32
The attitude of the
Governor, moreover, was not in accord with
the prin-
ciples of John Brough, of Fairfield
County, a Democrat
who served as joint editor, with his
brother Charles, of
the Cincinnati Enquirer. Brough
had been elected
auditor of state partially because of
his advocacy of
radical measures of bank reform. The
Ohio Democratic
delegation in Congress also represented
the more ad-
vanced views of the party on banking
and currency.
William Allen, in the Senate, had
opposed a charter for
the banks of the District of Columbia,
declaring that
they only wanted charters in order to
legalize their vio-
lation of the law, and pleading for a
provision to make
the District banks responsible for
their issues of paper
money.33 Benjamin Tappan,
who took his seat in the
Senate in December, 1839,34 opposed the
same measure
on the ground that it contained no
provision for the
individual liability of stockholders
for the debts of the
banks.35 In the House, Alexander Duncan
(D) of the
First Ohio Congressional District
believed with his col-
leagues from Ohio that the "poor
man had been robbed
31 Ohio State Bulletin, December 17, 1839, quoted in Ohio State
Journal
(Semi-weekly), December 21, 1839.
32 Belmont Chronicle, April 30,
1839.
33 Congressional Globe, 26th
Cong., 1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 506.
34 Ibid., 26th Cong., 1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 1.
35 Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 468.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 505
of the fruits of his industry by the
associated bank
shavers."36
The attitude of the Democrats on
banking and cur-
rency was further revealed in the first
annual report of
the Board of Bank Commissioners. That
body, which
began its work on May 4, 1839, incurred
hostility from
the banks until the refusal of the
State Supreme Court
to grant an injunction against the
examination, by the
board, of the Lafayette Bank of
Cincinnati led to a
general acquiescence in the law. The
Commission re-
ported that "among the causes
which have increased the
drain of specie from the banks of this
state and driven
them to a rapid curtailment of their
circulation [was]
the hostile attitude they [had] assumed
toward each
other. This cause has operated to
strengthen the dis-
trust with which those institutions
were viewed, by leav-
ing the impression on the public mind
that they placed
no confidence in each other."37
The Commission found that in addition
to the paper
currency issued by authorized banks, a
considerable
amount had been put into circulation by
the following
firms: the Maumee Insurance Company,
the Ohio Rail-
road Company, Mechanics and Traders
Association, the
Orphan's Institute, the Washington
Social Library
36 Congressional Globe, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 492.
37 In the opinion of the commissioners
there had been no ground for the
previous suspension of specie payments.
The report concluded that sudden
expansions and contractions "has
been the cause with the institutions fur-
nishing our paper currency, and such
will be their future history, until the
strong arm of public opinion shall
enforce and maintain the same degree of
responsibility, which attaches itself to
the transaction of private business.
The report also urged the General
Assembly to take action to prevent unreg-
ulated foreign bank notes from flooding
the State in order to "prevent the
ruinous consequences of bankruptcy in a
foreign institution from falling on
our own citizens." Ohio
Executive Documents, v. IV, part 1, No. 22.
506
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Society, the Franklin Silk Company, and
the Monroe
Falls Manufacturing Company. Over the
paper issued
by these banks the Commission had no
authority, except
insofar as that paper entered into the
transactions of
other banks. For example, the Bank of
Cleveland had
purchased $50,000.00 of the Ohio
Railroad Company
Stock and was receiving and redeeming
the paper of
that company.
Financial depression continued to grip
Ohio in the
period from 1839 to 1842, and low
prices for farm
products and "hard times" for
the whole community pre-
vailed. The Bank Commissioners in 1840
attributed the
low price level to overproduction in
Ohio and in the
neighboring states.38 The
amount of specie in the banks
continued to decline, in the face of a
great increase in
the volume of trade. The specie in Ohio
banks fell from
$3,153,334.00 in 1837 to $1,052,767.00
in 1841 and in
the same years bank circulation
decreased from $9,247,-
296.00 to $3,584,341.00.39 This
unsatisfactory condi-
tion of the currency, the succession of
bank failures
with corresponding financial
depressions, and the expi-
ration of the charters of thirteen of
the solvent banks
on January 1, 1843, brought the matter
of bank regula-
tion forcibly to the attention of the
political parties, and
made this issue of major importance
throughout the
decade.
Banking and currency as an issue in
party politics
in the decade under consideration may
be divided into
four periods. The first marks the
political supremacy
of the Democrats when, after much
division within its
own ranks, that party worked out its
solution of the
38 Ohio Executive Documents, 1840,
No. 21, p. 7.
39 Report of the Comptroller of the
Currency, 1876, v. CXVI, p. 116.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 507
problem in the form of the Latham
Banking Law of
1842. The second period is marked by
the failure of
the banks to incorporate under this
law; the efforts of
the Whigs to make the new law
unpopular; and the pas-
sage by the Democrats of the slightly
amended act of
February, 1843. The third period is
characterized by
a bitter controversy over the efficacy
of the Democratic
banking scheme; by the partial defeat
of the Democrats
in the fall elections of 1843; and their
more decisive
defeat in 1844. Thus the way was open
for the Whigs
to exercise their ingenuity on the
problems of banking
and currency and to provide an
"adequate" and "safe"
currency for the State. The fourth and
final period
tested the popularity of the Whig
banking measure
passed in February, 1845, and ended in
the incorpora-
tion of the Democratic ideas on banking
and currency
in the Constitution of 1851.
The history of party politics in the
period from 1840
to 1850 opens with the Democrats in
control of both
branches of the General Assembly and
the governorship,
although the latter office under the
first Constitution of
Ohio really carried little power so far
as legislation was
concerned, since the executive was
denied the veto. The
Whigs, on the offensive throughout the
United States,
were able to take advantage of all
vulnerable points in
the armor of the Democrats, for the
latter, due to the
financial depression of the later
'thirties, were open to
attack on many issues. The Democrats
had been given
power in Ohio in order to reform the
banks and to
provide a safe currency. But the
promises of Demo-
cratic orators had not been fulfilled
and a succession of
508 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
bank failures lent support to the Whig
contention that
the Democrats were ignorant of the
intricacies of finance
and were only crude meddlers and
demagogues. If to
this overwhelming advantage be added
the fact that the
Whigs, at last, were finding it
possible to unite their
various factions nationally, and to
rally behind the
Harrison banner, it becomes clear that
the prospects for
Whig success were promising indeed.
Many of the
political malcontents and large numbers
of those who
had been ruined by the panic of 1837
deserted the party
of Van Buren and flocked to the
standard of William
Henry Harrison. The Whigs looked
forward to their
state campaign in Ohio with unusual
zest.
The Democrats, on the other hand, were
divided on
the question of bank regulation.
Governor Shannon led
the conservative wing of the party,
and, by his annual
message of December, 1839, had lost
favor among his
more radical supporters. The party
awaited with un-
usual interest President Van Buren's
annual message
of December, 1839. Van Buren proposed
an Independ-
ent Treasury system and argued that his
plan would re-
move the evils of overbanking and end
speculation with
the money of the people. He declared
that the system
then in use induced the corporations to
meddle in legis-
lation, and to have their champions in
Congress.40
The Whig press of Ohio saw in this
message a frank
and bold avowal of
"Locofocoism" and wondered how
the "soft" money Democrats of
Ohio could reconcile the
recommendations of their national
spokesman with those
found in Governor Shannon's message of
December
4th.41 In spite of discontent
among the more radical
40 McMaster, op. cit., v. VI.,
pp. 541-542.
41 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), January 4, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 509
portions of the party on banking and
currency questions,
the Democratic county conventions of
December, 1839,
generally instructed their delegates to
support him for
re-election.42 The more
radical Democrats made some
effort to secure the nomination of John
Brough, audi-
tor of state from Fairfield County and
later from Ham-
ilton County, but it was found that he
could not meet the
age qualification fixed in the
Constitution. The Demo-
cratic State Convention of January,
1840, restated its
policy of bank reform and again chose
Shannon as its
standard bearer.43 The
radicals, in the language of
Brough, threatened that "if we
cannot reform, improve,
and better these soulless banks, we
will annihilate and
exterminate them." Any court which
stood in the way
of bank reform would have to bow to the
will of the
people.44
The Whigs acted with great caution. The
Journal
advised against calling a State
Convention until after
the candidate and principles of the
Democrats had been
announced.45 Indeed, there
was some discussion of
drafting Shannon as the Whig candidate
in case of a
split among the Democrats, so favorably
was his annual
message of December, 1839, received in
Whig circles.
Shannon's renomination by the Democrats
and the union
of the bank and anti-bank factions
under his banner of
course blocked this proposal. From
January to Febru-
ary 22, 1840, the date fixed for the
Whig State Con-
vention, feverish preparations were
made for a whirl-
wind campaign. Among possible Whig
candidates for
42 Ohio Statesman, December
11, 1839; January 8, 1840.
43 Ibid., January 8, 9, 1840.
44 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), January 11, 1840.
45 Ibid., (Weekly) December 11, 1839.
510
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
governor were Thomas Corwin, of Warren;
Moses H.
Kirby, of Marion; Elisha Whittlesey, of
Trumbull;
Jacob Burnet, of Hamilton; Joseph
Vance, of Cham-
paign; and James Wilson, of Jefferson
County.46
Most delegates to the State Convention
were unin-
structed, a policy quite in harmony
with the Whig
desire to compromise in order to heal
all breaches in the
party. The Preble County Whig
Convention met at
Eaton, February 1, 1840, and declared,
in most general
terms, for a properly restricted
banking system which
would afford at all times a circulating
medium convert-
ible into gold or silver at the will of
the holder.47 The
platform of the Whig Convention for the
Second Con-
gressional District was equally
equivocal, and simply
favored "the restoration of a
sound currency. . ."48
The Whig newspapers of the State were
content to
accuse the Democrats of intending to
destroy, rather
than reform the banks.
On February 21, 1840, there assembled
at Columbus
one of the most unique political
gatherings ever wit-
nessed in the State. It was
significantly described as a
"Great Convention of the People of
Ohio, favorable to
the election of Harrison and
Tyler." The widespread
desire for unity resulted in the evasion
of principles as
far as national questions were
concerned, and it was
only on state matters that the Whigs
were able to formu-
late anything like a definite program.49
Judge James
Wilson, of Steubenville, called the
Convention to order
46 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), January 15, 1840.
47 Eaton Register, July 6, 1840.
48 Ibid., February 6, 1840.
49 The national phase of this Convention
is treated in the chapter on
"The Election of 1840 in
Ohio."
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 511
and Reasin Beall, of Wayne County, was
named chair-
man. A committee of ten delegates from
each congres-
sional district submitted the name of
Thomas Corwin
as the choice of the party for
governor, and he was
enthusiastically approved. The
candidate was favor-
ably known as a representative in
Congress and as an
orator of great ability. He was
eulogized as "Corwin,
the Wagon Boy," because as a youth
he had conveyed
supplies to the troops.50 After
drawing up a long list
of reforms for the National Government,
the Conven-
tion turned its attention to state
matters. Its resolu-
tions promised a "safe and uniform
currency" equally
serviceable to the officeholder and the
people, insofar as
this could be done "without
transcending the constitu-
tional limits" of the government.
This phrase obviously
was placed in the platform in order to
please the State
Rights men of Ohio who objected to a
loose construc-
tion of the Constitution. The reference
to a currency
to be used by both office-holders and
people was a direct
thrust at the Democratic plea for the
payment of taxes
in gold or silver.51
50 Thomas Corwin was born in Bourbon
County, Kentucky, July 29,
1794; elected to the Ohio General
Assembly in 1822 and again in 1829;
member of Congress 1831-1841. Randall
and Ryan, op. cit., v. IV, pp.
26, 42-43.
51 W.
B. Tizzard, editor of the Eaton Register, in referring to the ora-
torical effects of the Whig leaders,
commented--"Especially did the fre-
quent allusions to the public life and
noble services of General Harrison
awaken the most holy emotions in the
generous bosoms of the listening
thousands. When they heard the simple story
of their benefactor, their
proud hearts melted under the influence
of its exalted pathos, and the tender
tear of gratitude started forth from the
temple of its home, a sacred offer-
ing to long neglected worth. Few indeed
were they, who in that numerous
throng, refused the Hero-Sage the
'tribute of a sigh.'" Describing
the
throngs at night, the same observer says
"Around the respective Log Cabins
in the several streets, were collected
groups of perhaps five thousand per-
512
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Although the campaign of 1840 in Ohio
was over-
shadowed to a large extent by national
considerations,
the newspapers and batteries of local
orators carried
on an energetic battle over the banking
and currency
question. In the beginning of the
campaign, radical
Democrats were inclined to stress the
pronunciamento
of Van Buren on banks and currency and
to neglect
Shannon's message; while conservative
Democrats, led
by John A. Bryan and Thomas L. Hamer,
preferred the
Shannon platform,52 but as
the campaign progressed and
Whig victory became more certain the
Democracy tended
to draw together in the face of
impending disaster. The
Whigs were decidedly on the offensive.
They charged
that the State Government had been as
extravagantly
managed as the National Government.
Samuel Medary,
the Democratic State Printer, was the
object of special
criticism. It was charged that he had
received, during
the years 1837-1840, a total of
$59,320.38, some $17,000
more than his predecessor had received
for the same
length of time.53 The
failure of the Democrats to cure
the financial ills of the State was
constantly kept before
the voters. The Troy Times, referring
to the small note
law, asked, "What has been
effected by this great Re-
forming Machine? All the small bills on
good Ohio
banks are being withdrawn from
circulation, and in their
place the country is flooded with
Michigan paper. . . .
We have before us a full
exemplification of the beauties
of Reform. . . . Every honest man will
acknowledge
sons to each place, listening to the
lively and spirited songs of the merry
cottagers, as they chanted the
rhapsodies of their Ploughman Bard, and
hymned the doleful requiem of the
departed Tin Pan." Ohio State Journal
( Semi-weekly), February 26, 1840; Eaton
Register, March 5, 1840.
52 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), February 8, 1840.
53 Ibid., (Weekly) July 29, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-I850 513
that the currency in our State is now
much worse than
it was two years ago. Produce bears no
proportion in
price, whilst all our foreign goods,
groceries, etc., have
risen, and a universal pressure
prevails."54 The plea
of the Democrats for bank reform was
described as a
war on the credit of the State, which
would result in
a fall in the price of labor and farm
products and the
cessation of all public construction.55
The Democrats
replied with the counter-charge that
the stringency of
the currency was due to the
machinations of the "soul-
less" bankers who hoped thereby to
make the Democratic
regime unpopular. This was
accomplished, the Demo-
crats contended, by the failure of the
banks to issue as
much paper as they were legally allowed
to issue under
the Banking Commissioner Law. Governor
Shannon,
on an earlier occasion, had directed
attention to the
failure of the banks to put into
circulation as much
paper as they were allowed under the
Bank Commis-
sioner Law,56 and a check of
the report of the Bank
Commissioners shows that the Governor's
charges were
correct. In some cases, banks refused
to abide by the
provisions of the law, while in other
cases they might
have issued far more paper money than
they did.57
The Whigs claimed that the Democratic
party was
agrarian in its aims and Jacobinical in
its methods,58
and the Bank Commissioner Law was
denounced as a
repudiation of contractual relations
between the banks
and the state. The whole Democratic
movement sym-
bolized, to many Whig minds, danger to
the stability of
54 Troy Times quoted in Ohio
State Journal (Weekly), August 12, 1840.
55 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), March 13, 1840.
56 Ohio Executive Documents, 1839, v. II, No. 1.
57 Ibid., v. V,
No. 21, p. 45.
58 Belmont Chronicle, February
26, 1839.
Vol. XXXVII--33.
514
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
society and property rights, and a
denial of the Deity.
The Ohio State Journal charged
that the followers of
Fanny Wright were high in the
confidence of the Dem-
ocratic party, which aimed at nothing
less than "an
entire subversion of the principles
upon which society
is now organized in all enlightened
countries." For
many opponents of Democracy it followed
that a dis-
belief in all forms of religion must be
a part of this
levelling movement. The war of the
Democrats on
"Credit, Commerce, and Property,
and Manufacturers"
seemed prima facie evidence of
collusion between the
worst of the agrarians and the
Democrats.59 Moreover,
the Whigs construed the Democratic
"war" on credit
as a direct thrust at the poor, who,
they pointed out,
would be helpless in the hands of the
wealthy if they
were denied credit.60
It is difficult to make a satisfactory
analysis of the
results of the fall elections of 1840,
so far as state issues
are concerned, because the whole
campaign was domi-
nated by the national candidates and
national considera-
tions. Both parties conducted a
well-organized cam-
paign, and, although the number of
Democratic votes
was larger than ever before, that party
lost the govern-
orship by a majority of over 16,000. It
retained con-
trol of the Senate, however. In the
House, control
passed to the Whigs by a considerable
margin.61 The
returns showed the extreme
effectiveness of the "Log
Cabin" campaign and it is
impossible to say that the
election represents a reaction against
the Democratic
scheme of bank reform, for large masses
of voters were
59 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), September 23, 1840.
60 Ibid., October 7, 1840.
61 Ibid., October
28, 1840.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 515
drawn into the Whig ranks by the
momentum of the
"Hard Cider" appeal and the
fine promises of the Whigs
that the admittedly bad conditions soon
would be im-
proved. The Whigs also demanded a more
economical
administration of the State government
and a diminu-
tion of expenditures on public works.
Corwin carried
such consistently Democratic counties
as Hamilton, Bel-
mont, and Jefferson. A Whig voter's
analysis of his
own vote may throw some light on the
heterogeneous
character of the party at the time.
This particular Whig
announced that he would place in the
ballot-box a
"Native American, Democratic,
Republican, Whig, Anti-
Despotic, Anti-Dictatorial,
Anti-Cubean, Anti-Sub-
Treasury, Anti-Destructive, Anti-Van
Buren, Conser-
vative, Harrison and Tyler vote."62 To the Ohio Whigs,
the election was above all else, a
rebuke for the Demo-
cratic policy of bank reform.63 The
party press de-
manded a sound and stable currency
which would not
suffer from the inroads of unregulated
paper from
other states.
With the Democrats in control of the
Senate, the
Whigs were prevented from carrying out
any construc-
tive program in regard to the banks.
Governor Corwin,
in his annual message of December,
1840, urged the
General Assembly to establish a
permanent system of
banking, and suggested two plans. The
first proposed
a State bank with branches in the
principal cities, and
state ownership of a portion of the
stock; the second
provided for a re-chartering of the
safest of the existing
banks. As further safeguards, he
proposed to limit the
dividends which might accrue to
stockholders, the state
62 Eaton
Register, July 16, 1840.
63 hio State Journal (Weekly), November 25, 1840.
516 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
to retain any surplus above the amount
permitted by
law. The circulation of a bank,
according to the Gov-
ernor's views, should be limited by the
amount of capital
possessed by each bank.64 The
Cincinnati Daily Chron-
icle (Whig) warned the Legislature not to make the
banking and currency question a
"football" between
contending political parties, and urged
the Whigs to
provide adequate safeguards in any
banking scheme
which they might propose.65
Somewhat later, the same
organ declared that "the duty of
the Legislature
is to recharter the banks, with such
restrictions as shall
make the non-performance of their
duties (not the mere
forfeiture of a charter) but the
forfeiture of money
enough to be felt by all its
stockholders; then by some
system bind them together so that they
shall answer for
their circulation to each other and to
the public."66
In January, 1841, a bank bill was
introduced into
the House, but the Whigs were unable to
obtain its pas-
sage.67 The chief difficulty
in the lower House seemed
to turn around the question of what
banking system was
preferable. The majority of the Whigs
leaned toward
the New York safety fund system, which
provided for
a deposit by each bank to a fund under
the direction of
state officials, with provision for a
somewhat larger
amount of specie than New York
required.68 The Demo-
64 Ohio Executive Documents, 1840,
v. III, No. 1.
65 Cincinnati Daily Chronicle, December
5, 1840.
66 Ibid., January 5, 1841.
67 Cincinnati Daily Chronicle, January
27, 1841.
68 Ohio State Journal quoted in Niles' Register, v. LIX, p.
342.
The Cincinnati Chronicle pointed
out that only two of the ten specie
paying banks in the State had any
appreciable circulation. "The circulating
medium is literally destroyed, the
people discontented and looking with
anxiety to the Legislature for
relief." The Ohio State Journal declared
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 517
crats proposed to engraft on the Whig
banking pro-
posals a provision for individual
liability of stockholders
and directors. To this, the Whigs
objected on the
ground that it would prevent the
investment of banking
capital and prevent any except the most
wealthy from
entering the banking business.69 Charles
Brough and
Thomas W. Bartley in the House opposed
the program
of the Whigs and the Democratic
majority of the Senate
blocked it.70 But there were signs that the Demo-
crats would not be able to hold such an
uncompromising
position on the banking and currency
problem. In
Brown County, Thomas L. Hamer,
president of the last
Democratic State Convention which
nominated Shan-
non, publicly declared in favor of the
passage of some
kind of banking law at this session of
the General
Assembly, and it became apparent that
both parties
would probably be forced to
compromise.71
Political conditions in the national
arena, on the
other hand, by this time seemed to
favor the Democrats.
A nationwide reaction had set in
against the Whigs be-
cause of their failure to bring
prosperity. Their inability
to carry out the promises of 1840 hastened
the "sober
second thought" of the electorate
and threatened to
sweep "Captain" Tyler's
divided party from power.
Fifteen of those states carried by
Harrison in 1840 had
changed to the Democratic column.72
The political re-
that for two years the people of the
State had struggled against the in-
troduction of foreign bank paper and
that the Whigs of the House must
take some action and leave the result
with the Democrats. Cincinnati
Daily Chronicle, January 18, 1841; Ohio State Journal (Semi-Weekly),
Jan-
uary 16, 1841.
69 Ohio State Journal (Semi-weekly), February 13, 1841.
70 Ibid., March 31, 1841.
71 Ibid., February
20, 1841.
72 McMaster, op. cit., Vol.
VII, p. 1.
518 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
action was apparent everywhere and the
Whig machine
suffered further from the lack of an
intelligent distri-
bution of patronage. The Whigs of Ohio
generally
supported Clay and his program in the
impending battle
with President Tyler, but prospects of
victory three years
hence seemed gloomy indeed. The
bitterness of an over-
whelming victory turned into defeat by
the "traitorous"
vetoes of the man chance had placed in
the president's
office, had a paralyzing effect among
large groups in
the Whig party.
Although there were vigorous attempts
made to lash
the party into action in time for the
fall elections of
1841, the Whigs seemed to realize their
impending de-
feat in the State. The repetition of
old charges against
the Democrats lost its effectiveness.
The condition of
the currency, moreover, favored the
Democrats, for
specie in the Ohio banks had fallen
from $1,752,000.00
in 1840 to $827,000.00 in 1842.73 In 1841,
the prejudice
against them greatly increased, when
the banks refused
to make a report. In the October, 1841,
elections, the
Democrats gained control of both
branches of the Gen-
eral Assembly.74
Throughout the State the exultant
Democrats met
in county conventions and prepared for
a State Conven-
tion to be held at Columbus on Jackson
day. Triumph-
antly, the party took possession of the
Legislature and
prepared to give effect to its ideas on
banking and
currency. The Democratic resolutions
became more
belligerent. Sandusky County Democrats,
in formal
resolutions, asserted "That banks,
even when regulated
by the most restricted and perfect
system known in the
73 Ohio Executive Documents, 1843, No. 38, p. 8.
74 Ohio Statesman, December
28, 1841.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 519
United States, are fraught with
incalculable mischief
and evil" and "That the
system of banking in practical
operation in Ohio, is a system of fraud
and plunder,
without a solitary mitigating
circumstance or redeeming
feature to recommend it to the mercy of
the people."
The General Assembly was urged
immediately to place
those banks which had suspended specie
payments during
the past year in a state of
liquidation. The right of the
General Assembly to repeal any act of
its predecessors
was upheld, and the delegates to the
State Convention
were instructed to oppose any candidate
for governor
who was either a bank director or a
bank stockholder.75
The resolutions of the Clermont County
Democrats were
not so strongly anti-bank, but urged
that if the General
Assembly should recharter any of the
existing banks,
provision should be made for individual
liability of both
stockholders and directors, and the
revocation of
charters in case the banks suspended
specie payments.76
The Richland County Convention, a
stronghold of the
Democracy throughout the decade, on
December 18,
1841, adopted resolutions urging
legislative action to
secure the resumption of specie
payments "instanter"
and ridiculing Governor Corwin's fear
that unfavorable
legislation would mean the withdrawal
of foreign bank-
ing capital from the State.77
75 Ohio Statesman, December 14, 1841.
76 Ibid., December 24, 1841.
77 Ohio Statesman, December 24, 1841; the Greene County Democrats
urged the farmers to accept nothing but
specie in payment of their produce,
an idea which was probably borrowed from
the action of the merchants of
Macon, Georgia, who resolved to take the
notes of specie paying banks at
par and all others at a heavy discount.
The "Macon Specific" spread rapidly
and the farmers of Wisconsin decided not
to take depreciated notes for
their grain. Similar action was taken by
the farmers of Michigan. Mc-
Master, op. cit., v. VII, p. 6.
520 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
The condition of the currency became
alarming and
fear was felt in financial circles that
the success of the
Democrats in Ohio would mean the
repudiation of state
debts.78 The Whig press
emphasized the danger to pros-
perity which would result from the
expiration of the
bank charters, and suggested their
renewal or extension
in order to allow them to conclude
their business without
demoralization.79 Corwin
believed that the situation
demanded an increase in the tariff
rates, arguing that
specie was being drained out of the
country under the
existing law. His interpretation was
immediately rid-
iculed by the Democratic press.80 It
is evident from the
action of county conventions and the
tone of the party
press that the Jacksonian Democrats
were in control of
the party in Ohio.
During December, 1841, a number of
banks applied
to the General Assembly for new
charters. Their peti-
tions were refused, evidently with the
full approval of
Democratic leaders like the editor of
the Ohio States-
man who were becoming increasingly hostile toward the
banks.81 A Senate resolution
to repeal that section of the
charter of the Dayton Watervliet and
Xenia Turnpike
Company which had been chartered by the
General
Assembly to build a road from Dayton to
Xenia, which
allowed the General Assembly to
"alter, amend, or re-
peal" the charter, was introduced
by Joseph Barnet (W).
All the Whigs but one voted for the
Barnet resolution
78 Ives to Greene, December 27, 1841,
Greene MSS.
79 Ohio State Journal, quoted in Niles' Register, October 23, 1841.
80 Ohio Statesman, December 10,
1841. The Dayton Transcript held
that the financial ills of the time were
brought about by the suspension of
specie payments and that the General
Assembly had full power to compel
resumption. Ohio Statesman, December
10, 1841.
81 Ibid., December 20, 1841.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 521
on the ground that the Assembly had no
right to alter
any charter which had been granted by
them. The
Democrats voted against the Barnet
resolution, contend-
ing that the Assembly had the right to
repeal any of the
acts of its predecessors.82 This
party alignment was
shown even more strikingly in the vote
on another reso-
lution. Byram Leonard (W) moved to
strike out the
phrase "fairly and lawfully
contracted" in a committee
report which "Resolved, that it is
the duty and deter-
mination, without exception, of the
good people of this
State, to make ample provision for the
payment of all
debts due by this State, fairly and
lawfully con-
tracted."83 The amendment was
lost by a strict party
vote. The Whigs argued that the phrase
"fairly and
lawfully contracted" tended to
raise doubts as to the
intention of the State to pay its debts
and that it was
therefore a step in the direction of
repudiation.84 It is
a well-known fact that many states were
deeply in debt
during this period of financial
confusion. Many of
them were unable to meet even the
interest on their
indebtedness, and Mississippi had
repudiated her debt.85
The action of Mississippi led to a fall
in the price of
State stocks all over the country. Even
Democrats like
82 Ohio Senate Journals, 1841-1842, v. XL, Part 1, p. 73.
83 Ibid., 1841-1842,
v. XL, Part I, p. 106.
84 Ohio Statesman, January 3,
1842.
85 In that State, the issue of
repudiation had been placed fairly before
the people in the fall elections of
1841, with a victory for those who fa-
vored repudiation. The Legislature
accordingly repudiated a debt of five
million dollars in bonds which had been
sold by the Union Bank to Nicholas
Biddle in August, 1838, on the ground
that the sale of the bonds was
"illegal, fraudulent, and
unconstitutional." The Whig press of the country
held Mississippi up to scorn, but the
Democrats defended her action on the
ground that the sale of the bonds had
not been carried out in conformity
with the State Constitution. McMaster, op.
cit., Vol. VII, pp. 19-20.
522 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
Judge Frederick Grimke of the Ohio
Supreme Court
feared that Ohio would repudiate the
State debt, because
of extraordinarily hard times.86 In
the House of Rep-
resentatives, a resolution, to the
effect that that portion
of the State debt which had been
"arrogantly and unlaw-
fully pledged to certain
corporations" of Ohio should be
repudiated, was defeated by a vote of
41-29, several
Democrats voting with the Whigs to
defeat the meas-
ure.87 In 1843, when John
Brough was attempting to
sell Ohio State stock in the New York
market, he found
it advisable to issue a circular to
show how completely
the efforts of those who favored
repudiation had failed.88
The bankruptcy of the German Bank of
Wooster in
September, 1841, precipitated another
bitter fight be-
tween the pro- and anti-bank parties.
When the Legis-
lature met in December, a committee was
appointed to
investigate the failure. It found that
the German Bank
of Wooster had "exploded" in
March, 1818, and that,
until 1838, it was "defacto
defunct." In the latter year
it had been resuscitated by Benjamin
Bentley, of Wooster,
who had been cashier at the time of the
first failure
twenty years earlier. The bank had existed
to Septem-
ber, 1831, without any state control
over its operations.
The investigating committee recommended
that the Gen-
eral Assembly repeal the charter and
put the assets of
the bank into the hands of
commissioners to be liquidated
for the benefit of its creditors.89
On January 14, 1842,
the House repealed the bank's charter90
and six days
86 Frederick
Grimke to William Greene, March 28, 1842, William
Greene MSS.
87
Ohio House Journals, 1841-1842, v. XL, Part I, p. 95.
88 Ohio State Journal, April 18, 1843.
89 Ohio House Journals, 1841-1842,
v. XL, Part I, pp. 155-156.
90 Ibid., 1841-1842, v. XL, Part I, pp. 250-251.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 523
later the Senate concurred.91
In both Houses, some of
the Whigs refused to vote, but the
Democrats were
unanimously for repeal.
Hostility toward banking corporations
was shown in
a more striking manner in the
Cincinnati bank riot of
January, 1842. Public indignation was
aroused when
the Miami Exporting Bank suspended
payments and
closed its doors. When its paper and
the paper of the
Cincinnati Bank were refused in the
market, a run on
the latter institution resulted, and
its officials posted a
notice of suspension. This so
infuriated the people that
a mob broke into the bank, tore up the
furnishings, and
scattered the contents of the offices
over the street. The
Exchange Bank was looted and
$224,000.00 was taken
from the vaults of the Miami Exporting
Bank.92 When
the Germans were accused of
responsibility for this out-
break, they held a meeting of protest,
and adopted reso-
lutions denying their complicity, but at
the same time
opposing the granting of banking powers
to corpora-
tions.93 The riot won the
open sympathy of the Ohio
Statesman which declared that "for the last five years
laws have been set at open defiance by
these bankrob-
bers--the morals of the community have
been outraged
--and the Legislative power of the
country, in all its
exertions to enforce honesty on these
rag barons, has
received but the contempt of
magistrates and attorneys,
who denounced them as the mere vagaries
of the Dem-
ocratic party--party measures and party
legislation. By
this means the whole Whig party has
been made to play
91 Ohio Senate Journals, 1841-1842,
v. XL, Part I, p. 204.
92 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, January
12, 1842; Ohio Statesman, Jan-
uary 14, 1842.
93 Ohio Statesman, January 21, 1842.
524 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
a most iniquitous part in sustaining
these swindling
shops, and bringing upon the country
these dire afflic-
tions. We do hope that the people--a
robbed, swindled
and ruined people--will restrain their
feelings under the
outrages of these shin-plaster
gamblers."94
It was under these trying financial
conditions that
the Democratic State Convention met on
January 8,
1842. The temper of the Convention was
shown at the
outset by the election of Dowty Utter,
a radical from
Clermont County, as president. Wilson
Shannon, the
first official enunciator of the
Democratic banking pro-
gram, was chosen as the candidate for
governor.95 By
an appropriate set of resolutions the
party endorsed Van
Buren for president in 1844. The
position of the party
on state issues was set forth in two
resolutions. One
called upon the General Assembly to
force the resump-
tion of specie payments; the other
cautioned that body
"to guard with jealous care
against making inconsid-
erate grants of exclusive corporate
privileges, and where
such grants have been heretofore made,
to promptly
provide efficient remedies for the
protection of the pub-
lic." Another resolution, intended
to silence charges of
repudiation, declared it to be the duty
of the state "to
make adequate provisions to fulfill her
engagements."
Significantly, the thanks of the
Democracy were ten-
dered to Samuel Medary,96 the
vigorous militant anti-
94 Ohio Statesman, January 13,
1842.
95 His nomination was described by the Ohio
State Journal in the fol-
lowing declaration: "The agony is
over. Wilson Shannon and Bank Reform
are formally entered for the October
races. One more attempt is to be
made under false and specious pretexts,
to cheat the people out of their
senses, and inflict a fatal stab upon
the public and private welfare of the
State." Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
January 12, 1842.
96 To the query of the Old School
Republican (Tyler organ) as to
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 525
bank editor of the Ohio Statesman.97
With such anti-
bank expressions the
"unterrified" Democracy of Ohio
entered the campaign of 1842, a year
marked by the
impotence of the Whigs in national
affairs, and by in-
creasing hard times and distress in
financial circles. In
the words of McMaster, "The fine
promises of Whig
journals and Whig orators had not been
fulfilled.
Wages had not increased; times had not
grown better;
the currency was still in disorder;
most of the banks re-
fused to pay in specie; the debts of
the States were still
increasing; mills and factories were
closing down; and
in place of the promised 'two dollars a
day and roast
beef' we have, said the Democrats 'ten
cents a day and
bean soup.'".98
The Whigs prepared for the campaign of
1842 by
having county conventions select
delegates to the State
Convention of February 22, 1842, in the
usual manner.
Most of the county resolutions
pertained to banks and
the tariff. Democratic methods of
"Bank Reform" were
denounced as crude and dangerous, and a
"safe" bank-
ing system was endorsed to protect the
bill holder and to
encourage the capitalist to invest his
savings. Corwin
seemed to be the most promising
candidate99 and the
State Convention, presided over by
Joseph Vance of
Champaign County, unanimously and by
acclamation
whether he was in favor of an
exclusively hard money currency, Medary
declared that he was in favor of a
constitutional currency and pointed to
Article I, section 10 of the United
States Constitution which provides that
"No state shall ...coin money, emit
bills of credit, or make anything but
gold and silver a legal tender in
payment of debts..." Ohio Statesman,
January 7, 1842.
97 Proceedings of the convention are
taken from the Ohio Statesman,
January 8, 9, 1842.
98 McMaster, op. cit., Vol. VII,
p. 1.
99 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
February 23, 1842.
526 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
chose him as its candidate for
governor. A resounding
address to the people of Ohio again
charged the Demo-
crats with the responsibility for the
collapse of credit
and the consequent suspension of specie
payments. The
Convention also denied the right of the
General Assem-
bly to repeal a charter, declaring that
"The doctrine is
revolutionary in its nature," and
predicting that if it
were carried out it would "in the end
uproot the very
foundations of our social system, cause
us to become a
by-word and a reproach" and cause
civilized countries to
avoid contact with the State.100 In
spite of these vigor-
ous resolutions there was a great deal
of indecision
among the Whigs as to the kind of
banking system to
endorse. Corwin preferred a state bank,
as he had made
clear in a previous message to the
General Assembly, but
he would not permit any "childish
egotism" to cause him
to reject any plan which would utilize
the total amount
of banking capital in the State and at
the same time
afford reasonable protection to the
bill holder.101 On the
other hand, Oran Follett, prominent
leader of the Whig
party, editor for a time of the Ohio
State Journal and
manager of Corwin's campaign for the
presidential nom-
ination in 1844, thought that it would
be impossible to
win in Ohio if the party openly
advocated a state bank-
ing system.102
Before 1842, when certain specific laws
were passed
100 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
March 2, 1842. The following men
were appointed as the State Central
Committee for the ensuing year:
Joseph Ridgway, Samuel Seltzer, John A.
Lazell, John Greenwood, Lewis
Heyl, A. F. Perry and C. H. Wing.
101 Corwin to Follett, November 12,
1842, quoted in "Selections from the
Follett Papers, II," in loc.
cit., v. IX, No. 3, p. 17.
102
Follett to Corwin, November 4, 1842,
quoted in "Selections from the
Follett Papers, II," in loc. cit.,
v. IX, No. 3, p. 74.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 527
by the Democrats, the chief difference
between the two
parties in Ohio was in their general
attitude toward
banking corporations. To the
conservative banker, the
Democracy seemed to favor "social
revolution." Ac-
cording to The Cincinnati Gazette, "If
locofocoism such
as we have seen and heard it, is to
stand in this country,
it must succeed only by a social
revolution. It is essen-
tially equalizing, levelling, and
agrarian. It is but a
thin and flimsy veil which separates a
Benton or a Ken-
dall from a Danton or a
Condorcet."103 The Dorr Revo-
lution, it will be recalled, was
contemporaneous with the
bank struggles in Ohio, and the result
of an attempt to
lower the suffrage qualifications in
Rhode Island by
means of a constitutional convention
called without the
acquiescence of the legally constituted
authorities. The
movement ended rather ignominiously for
the revision-
ists under the leadership of Thomas
Dorr, but it did se-
cure, finally, a more liberal suffrage
qualification.104 The
Whig papers of Ohio constantly referred
to the Dorr
Revolution to prove that the Ohio
Democrats were rev-
olutionaries and the Democratic press
countered with
the statement that the Dorrites were
struggling for con-
stitutional rights, jeopardized by the
oppression of the
wealthier classes.
During the summer of 1842, an act of
the Whigs
enabled the Democrats to bring the same
charge of
revolution against their opponents in
the General As-
sembly. At the end of the session, in
the spring of 1842,
Congress had passed an apportionment
law making it
obligatory on the states to adopt the
single member dis-
103 Cincinnati Daily Gazette, March 19, 1841.
104 McMaster, op. cit., v. VII,
pp. 164-178.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 529
trict plan in apportioning
representatives to Congress.105
The General Assembly of Ohio, in a
special adjourned
session tried to carry out the
provisions of the new fed-
eral law. A law proposed by the
Democrats, who were
in control of both branches of the
Legislature, was de-
nounced by the Whigs as a brazen
attempt to gerry-
mander the State in the interest of the
Democratic
party.106 When it became apparent that the law
would
pass, the Whig members of both houses
resigned in or-
der to prevent a quorum and insure the
defeat of the
bill.107 Their action was
denounced as "absquatulation"
by the Democratic press, and the party
was accused of
harboring revolutionary designs against
the govern-
ment. The natural result of this
incident was to stress
the "absquatulation" of the
Whigs rather than the ques-
tion of banking and currency as a
campaign issue. Eli
T. Tappan, editor of the Ohio Press (D)
specifically
charged Medary with responsibility for
shifting the em-
phasis of the Democrats from the
"hard money" issue
to "absquatulation." 108 Some
interpreted the Demo-
cratic victory in the fall of 1842 as a
verdict against the
105 McMaster, op. cit., v.
VII, pp. 67-68.
106
The Ohio State Journal complained that it laid out six congressional
districts in which the Whig majorities
would be very high, at the same
time providing for from six to ten
districts in which the Democrats would
have a slight majority. Weekly Ohio
State Journal, August 10, 1842.
107 Ohio Senate Journals, 1842, v. XL, part 2, pp. 417-419.
108 Medary, however, denied this charge
and printed a letter from B. B.
Taylor, chairman of the Senate Committee
on Banks and Currency, to
support his statement. In this the
writer denied that Medary was re-
sponsible for the new issue, or that a
majority of the Democrats favored
"hard money," and that he
(Taylor) and Caleb G. McNulty had drawn up
the address issued by the Democratic
members of the General Assembly
when that body was broken up by the
Whigs. Ohio Statesman, June 18,
1842; June 18, 1847.
530
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
"absquatulation" of the
Whigs. But whatever may have
been the more important issue in the
fall of 1842, the
Democrats, in February of that year,
expressed their
ideas on banking and currency in two
enactments.
These laws reflected the views of the
more radical
wing of the party. The first was
"an act to regulate
banking in Ohio."109 Its
passage marked the end of the
first phase of banking and currency as
a political issue
in the decade of the 'forties. This
general banking law,
the first of its kind in Ohio, provided
that all banks
hereafter incorporated were to come
under its provi-
sions. No bank was to begin operations
until all of its
capital stock had been paid in gold or
silver and this
payment certified by a register
provided for in the act.
Dividends could be declared only on
profits arising from
the bank's business; capital stock
could not be with-
drawn except by the consent of the
General Assembly;
no portion of the funds or property of
any bank was to
be applied to the purchase of shares of
its own stock or
the stock of any other bank,
corporation, or company;
no loans or discounts were to be made
upon the pledge
of its own stock as security or upon
the pledge of the
stock of any other company or
corporation; and no
stockholder or director was allowed to
become liable in
any form to the bank to an amount
greater than one
half the capital stock actually
possessed by such officer
or stockholder. This provision, and
another limiting
the amount which could be loaned to any
person, was,
designed to stop favoritism by the
banks, a charge con-
stantly made by the Democrats. The most
important
109 Laws of Ohio (General), v. XL, pp. 39-48.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 531
sections provided for the individual
liability of stock-
holders and officers of the banks for
losses to notehold-
ers, and prescribed fines and
imprisonment for officials
of any bank who violated the provisions
of the act.
The second act of the same year was
passed in March.
It prohibited any corporation not
expressly authorized
to conduct banking business from
issuing paper in-
tended to circulate as money. This law
was directed
against those concerns, described
above,1l0 which had
been issuing paper currency over which
the Bank Com-
missioners had no control.111 The
insistent Democratic
demand for an enforced resumption of
specie payment
was also satisfied in a Specie Resumption
Act, an
amendment to the Bank Commissioner Law
of Febru-
ary 25, 1839, which provided that the
charters and fran-
chises of all banks which refused to
redeem their notes
should be forfeited. A portion of the
same act held the
president, directors and stockholders
of the banks
"jointly and severally liable in
their individual and
natural capacities" for any
refusal to redeem the bank's
notes. Other sections enabled the
State, through the
Bank Commissioners, to proceed in a
legal manner
against banks which refused to resume.ll2
These enactments were bitterly assailed
by the
Whigs. The general banking law,
fathered by Bela
Latham, soon became known over the
State as "La-
tham's Humbug," for the Whigs
charged that it was
made purposely so severe that bankers
would not incor-
porate under it. Although it tended to
satisfy the con-
110 Laws of Ohio (General),
v. XL., p. 68.
111 Ibid., v. XL, pp. 67-72.
112 Ibid., v. XL,
pp. 13-25.
532
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
servative Democrats who wanted some
kind of banks,
the Whig press promptly appealed for
the support of
this group, pointing out that the
radicals really were not
in favor of any kind of banking.113 In
spite of these
assaults of the Whigs, the Democratic
position on en-
forced resumption of specie payments
proved popular
and Oran Follett could write with much
truth that the
Whigs made a tactical error in opposing
resumption.114
To the Democrats, the Whigs were the
scheming friends
of "swindling" bankers, who
made use of credit given
them by special acts of incorporation
in order to tax
the labor of the State.115
The expiration, on January 1, 1843, of
the charters
of thirteen of the twenty-three solvent
banks of the
State added to the importance of the
elections of 1842.116
Should these banks refuse to avail
themselves of the
opportunity to incorporate under the
Democratic bank-
ing law of February, 1842, there would
be only ten
banks left in the State. Most of the
capital thus with-
drawn from circulation would be taken
outside the
State, since it was owned to a large
extent by foreign
capitalists. Corwin had emphasized the
dangerous effect
of this withdrawal of capital upon the
prosperity of the
State,117 and Whig leaders
predicted the disruption of
finances with consequent distress for
the debtor classes.118
As a matter of fact, State stock quoted
in 1841 in the
113 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
March 2, 1842; October, 1842.
114 Oran Follett to V. W. Smith,
February 3, 1842, quoted in "Selec-
tions from the Follett Papers, III"
in loc. cit., v. X, No. 1, pp. 5-6.
115 Ohio
Statesman, March 2, 1842; October 17,
1842.
116 Huntington, op. cit., pp. 180-181.
117 Ohio Executive Documents, v. VI, Part I, No. 1.
118 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), March 2, 1842.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 533
New York market at ninety cents on the
dollar, had
fallen to sixty cents, a condition
which the Whigs attrib-
uted to general distrust of the
"Locofoco" majority of
the General Assembly.119 The
bankers, either by collu-
tion or otherwise, did not incorporate
under the Demo-
cratic banking law. According to
Huntington their
refusal to incorporate was due to their
dislike of the
individual liability clause and to
their belief that the
Whigs would soon provide a more
favorable banking
scheme.120 To the Ohio
Statesman their failure to act
indicated a widespread conspiracy of
the corporations
to defeat the Latham Act by
intimidating the debtor
classes.121
The position taken by the Democratic
party on bank-
ing and currency at the January 8th
Convention and the
nature of the Latham Law and the
Resumption Act led
to a defection in the ranks of the
party which had some
effect in the elections of 1842. Thomas
L. Hamer was
one who refused to accept the dictation
of the radical
Democrats. He announced his position in
a series of
resolutions adopted by the malcontents
at West Union,
and in a letter addressed to Samuel
Medary. The
West Union resolutions favored a less
severe banking
law than the Latham Act. When the
radical press, led
by Medary, tried to turn Hamer out of
the party, the
latter charged Medary with wielding
despotic power
at the Capitol and playing on the
sectional differences of
the State in order to gain his point
and to silence oppo-
sition. Hamer declared that the
Democratic policy of
119 Ohio State
Journal, (Weekly), March 2, 1842.
120 Huntington, op. cit., p. 178.
121 Ohio
Statesman, October 21, 1842.
534
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
"Bank Reform" had been
changed to one of "bank de-
struction" because of the
influence of the "hard money"
clique at the capitol, led by Medary of
the Statesman
and John Brough, auditor of state. This
extraordi-
nary letter closed with a personal
attack and an open
defiance of Medary's leadership.122
In 1842, the Democrats were successful
throughout
the nation, and Ohio was no exception,
in spite of a
rather serious defection in the
Democratic ranks in that
State. Ten Democrats and twelve Whigs
were returned
to the Senate, but six of the twelve
Whigs came from
normally Whig counties whose
representatives had re-
signed, during the summer, in order to
prevent the
passage of a Democratic congressional
apportionment
law. There were ten Democrats and two
Whigs held
over from the last Senate; consequently
there were
twenty Democrats and fourteen Whigs in
the Senate
of 1843-1844. In the House of
Representatives the
Democrats won forty seats and the Whigs
thirty-two.123
Shannon defeated Corwin by a majority
of 3,443; Cor-
win's majority over Shannon in 1840 had
been 16,130.124
The vote showed a remarkable turn of
the tide in favor
of the Democrats. The latter had
regained control of
such counties as Hamilton, Jefferson,
Lorain, Erie,
Medina, Harrison, Belmont, and Henry,
which were
carried by the Whigs in 1840.
This popular verdict was variously
construed. The
Lower Sandusky Whig declared
that "it is by the com-
bined action of Loco Focoism,
Abolitionism and Tyler-
122 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
July 20, 1842.
123 Ohio Statesman, October 17, 1842.
124 Ibid., November 8, 1842.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 535
ism, together with a lethargy on the
part of the Whigs
that this unexpected result has been
brought about." 125
B. B. Taylor interpreted the Democratic
victory to the
mistaken policy of the Whig members who
had resigned
from the General Assembly in the
preceding summer.126
Whig journals in the East were inclined
to attribute the
defeat in Ohio to the same cause.
Indeed, the elections
in Ohio had been watched with a great
deal of interest,
because it was expected that the
results would show the
degree of Whig sentiment for Clay, who
was likely to
be the leader of the party in 1844. The
Ohio State
Journal, however, claimed that the resignation of the
absquatulators was the only means by
which the Whigs
could have prevented Ohio from becoming
permanently
Democratic.127 The
Springfield (Ohio) Republic (Whig)
attributed the Whig defeat to the
superior discipline of
the Democrats, to the foreign vote, and
to the inroads
of the Liberty party.128 The
Scioto Gazette (Whig)
explained the great increase of
Democratic votes in Ross
County by referring to the foreign
vote, and advised the
Whig leaders of Cincinnati to start a
German paper and
treat the foreigners more respectfully
in the future.l29
The Whigs, conscious of the necessity
of reaching the
Germans in Cincinnati, in December,
1842, started Der
Deutsche Republicaner, edited by J. H. Schroeder. The
125 Lower Sandusky Whig quoted in
Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
October 26, 1842.
126 Ohio Statesman, June 18, 1847.
127 New York Tribune, New
York Courier and Enquirer, and Philadel-
phia Forum quoted in Ohio
State Journal (Weekly), November 2, 1842.
128 Springfield Republic quoted
in Weekly Ohio State Journal, October
26, 1842.
129 Scioto Gazette quoted
in Ohio State Journal (Weekly), October 19,
1842.
536
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Ohio State Journal, in the hope that the Germans would
favor the Whig tariff policy on account
of their known
attachment to the ideas of the
Zollverein, advised the
Whigs to give liberal support to the
new paper.130 There
is no doubt that a large proportion of
the foreign voters
were members of the Democratic party
during the
'forties. This situation may be
explained by the sympa-
thy of the Democratic party of that day
with the eco-
nomic interests of the foreigners, by
the attraction of
the party name, by the popularity of
Jefferson and Jack-
son among such groups, and by the
unfriendliness of
the Whigs toward the foreigners.
Certain Whigs com-
plained that the Tyler vote of Ohio had
gone to the
Democrats, a liaison said to have been
effected at the
time of a State Democratic Young Men's
Convention,
and at the convention of Tyler's
followers held in Colum-
bus in August, 1842.131 Such a
combination does not
seem at all unlikely, since the Clay
Whigs and the de-
fenders of Tyler were engaged in a most
acrimonious
warfare. Another evidence pointing in
the same direc-
tion was the lavish praise of the Old
School Republican,
the Tyler organ, for Shannon's position
on banking and
currency, and the appointment of
Shannon as minister
to Mexico in April, 1844, adds further
evidence in
support of the Whig charge.132 Nevertheless,
this liaison
alone could not have brought about the
great change of
votes, since Tyler's party was very
weak in Ohio.
The vote may be interpreted as an
approval of the
130 Ohio State Journal (Weekly),
December, 1842.
131 Ibid., August 10,
1842.
132 Reeves, J. S., American Diplomacy
under Tyler and Polk, pp. 169,
170.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 537
Democratic position on banking and
currency. All dur-
ing the summer and fall, local
conventions of Democrats
had adopted resolutions fully approving
the Latham
banking law as well as the specie
resumption act while
the Whigs had as emphatically voiced
their disapproval.
Moreover, the national disaster to the
Whigs in Tyler's
administration had had a depressing
effect upon the
party in Ohio. There was little
enthusiasm in the ranks
of Ohio Whiggery.133 The
Hard Cider campaign of
1840 could not be repeated, and the
almost inevitable
reaction brought the Democrats back
into power.
In his annual message to the General
Assembly, Cor-
win called attention to the expiration
of the bank char-
ters in December, 1842, and urged the
General Assembly
to take some action, because the effect
of the expiration
of the bank charters would be "to
increase existing em-
barrassments, retard the payment of
debts, sink still
further the market value of property,
impoverish the
debtor class of the community, without
any benefit to
the creditor, and result only in
advantage to the capi-
talists, who will be enabled to
speculate upon the
wretched fortunes of debtors, who have
only property
wherewith to pay the demands against
them." Corwin,
of course, did not expect his
recommendations to bear
fruit and he advised the General
Assembly, if it were
determined to destroy the banks, to
provide against the
entrance into the State of the paper of
other banks.134
The gloomy predictions of Corwin were
not un-
founded. Neither Shannon's first
message to the Gen-
133 Corwin
to Follett, November 12, 1842 quoted in "Selections from the
Follett Papers, II" in loc.
cit., v. IX, No. 3, pp. 75-76.
134 Ohio Executive Documents, 1842-1843, v. VII, No. 1.
538
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
eral Assembly nor the report of the
Banking Commis-
sioners on December 17, 1842, gave the
banks any en-
couragement. On the other hand, neither
the Governor
nor the Commission openly favored a
hard money cur-
rency. After referring again to the
fact that thirteen
of the existing bank charters would
soon expire, the
Commission vaguely stated that
"whatever may be the
future policy of the State in regard to
supplying the
places of the expiring and broken
banks, it would seem
to be pretty clearly settled that
public opinion is averse
to the present unrestricted system of
banking."135 The
Democrats stood firm on the Latham Law,
and, on Jan-
uary 1, 1843, thirteen of the solvent
banks of Ohio went
out of business, thus bringing to a
close the second
period in the history of the banking
and currency prob-
lem in Ohio in this decade. The bankers
undoubtedly
hoped, by their refusal to incorporate
under the Latham
Law, to obtain a less stringent
enactment.
With the issue thus clearly drawn,
sentiment devel-
oped among the Democrats to revise the
Latham Law
in the direction of greater leniency
for the banks. In
February, 1843, the law was modified in
order to satisfy
the conservative Democrats and keep
their support. The
most important change in the law was
the clause pro-
viding for individual liability.136
The amendment pro-
tected those members of the bank's
directors who wanted
to abide by the law and yet might be
outvoted by a
possible majority. It will be seen that
this was not a
relaxation of the principles of the
Latham Law. It was
evident that the radical Democrats had
revised the law,
135
Ohio Executive Documents, 1842-1843, v. VII, No. 15, pp. 1-6.
136 Laws of Ohio, v. XLI, pp. 36-40.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 539
in the hope that a slight concession
would prevent fur-
ther relaxation. The Whigs denied that
the new law
constituted a relaxation or that it was
the intention of
the Democrats to have incorporations
under it, and
labeled the amendment another
"humbug." The Demo-
crats were assailed as "bank
destructionists" and the
people advised that there would be no
adequate currency
until the "demagogues" were
turned out of office and
replaced by men who understood the
mysteries of
finance.l37
The campaign of 1843 was waged on the
currency
issue, although it was somewhat
complicated by the plans
of friends of several candidates who
aspired to the pres-
idency in the following year.138 In
spite of the party
lash, a rather serious division
appeared in the ranks of
the Democracy, already apparent in the
division of senti-
ment in the Legislature during the
consideration of
T. W. Bartley's amendment to the Latham
Law. Edson
B. Olds, a conservative Democrat from Pickaway
County, introduced a new banking law in
1843 which
did not include the orthodox Democratic
principle of
individual liability for stockholders.
It brought down
on the head of its author the
maledictions of the party
press. The Columbus correspondent of
the Kalida Ven-
ture, a radical anti-bank paper, described Olds as a
"would be high priest of
Democracy, who is yet reeking
with the filth and slime of
Federalism," and declared
that his avowed plan to read Democrats
like Byington,
McNulty, and Medary out of the party
had failed
137 Ohio State Journal, March-October,
1843.
138 See
Chapter III.
540
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
utterly.139 Among the papers
representing a vigorous
anti-bank attitude were the Ohio
Statesman, the New
Lisbon Patriot, Steubenville Union,
Chillicothe Adver-
tiser, Kalida Venture, Mt. Vernon Democratic
Banner,
Newark Advocate, Ohio Democrat, Mansfield
Shield
and Banner, and the Stark County Democrat.140 The
Marion County Democrats charged that
certain mem-
bers of the party were in collusion
with the Whigs and
called upon the "real Democracy"
to stand firm on the
banking question.141 The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer
favored a well regulated banking system
and openly
accused Medary, of the Statesman, of
favoring an exclu-
sively metallic currency. To similar
attacks by the
Zanesville Aurora, Medary
replied that he never had
opposed the rechartering of any of the
sound banks of
the State, although he doubted whether
any sound ones
were in existence. Medary opposed the
rechartering of
any bank except with the most rigid
restrictions. If
the bankers opposed such restrictions,
he favored a re-
turn to a metallic currency. "We
have seen so much
bank swindling," he said, "so
much bank politics--for
in 1840 nearly every bank was a Whig
committee room
--that when the issue must be made
between unrestricted
and unpenitentiared banking and no
banking at all, we
should be found foremost in the fight
for no bank at
all." 142 In Hamilton County, David T. Disney, a bank
139 Ohio State Journal (Weekly), March 1, 1843.
140 Ohio Statesman, February 8,
1843.
141 Ibid., February 8, 1843.
142 The
Dayton Western Empire, in defense of Medary, declared that
the latter was accused of
"advocating bank destruction" because he was
opposed to the "rotten, corrupt and
swindling shops known by the name of
banks, which played upon the energies
and labor of the industrious classes."
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 541
director, actually was nominated for
the Legislature
by the regular Democratic nominating
convention. This
led to the calling of a protest by the
radicals. Disney
attended in order to defend himself
against charges of
unorthodoxy and pointed out that he
had, upon his nom-
ination, resigned his office as bank
director. Only the
strenuous efforts of Charles Brough
quieted the insur-
gents and prevented the nomination of
another candi-
date.143
In other sections the conservatives
were the insur-
gents. In Chillicothe the True
Democrat backed by Ed-
son B. Olds, was launched to oppose the
bank policy
of the regular and more radical
Democrats. The paper
was promptly labeled by the Ohio
Statesman as a "shin-
plaster organ."144 In
Knox County the "softs" were
charged with unorthodoxy by the Knox
County Demo-
cratic Banner when they adopted resolutions in favor of
a banking system without the individual
liability prin-
ciple.145 In the Seventh
Congressional District, com-
posed of Clermont, Brown and Highland
Counties, state
issues figured in the selection of a
Democratic candidate
for Congress. When the delegates from
Brown and
Highland agreed to support J. J.
McDowell for that
office, those from Clermont bolted the
convention because
McDowell had been associated with Hamer
in proposing
The Western Empire realized and
deplored that the division among the
Democrats of the General Assembly had
been transferred to the party
press of the State. Ohio Statesman, February
3, 1843. Dayton Western
Empire quoted in Ohio Statesman, February 3, 1843.
143 Ohio State Journal, August 23, 1843.
144 Ibid., August 15, 1843.
145 Knox
County Democratic Banner quoted in Ohio State Journal, June
15, 1843.
542
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the West Union resolutions of the
previous year. Cler-
mont was the home of Buchanan, the
radical Demo-
cratic speaker of the last House of
Representatives.146
The defection was not disastrous to the
Democrats, how-
ever, since McDowell carried the
district.147
Some of the Whigs were in favor of
making an
issue of the congressional
apportionment law passed by
the Democrats in the legislative
session of 1842-1843,
which the Ohio State Journal denounced
as a "villainous
fraud."148 It will be
recalled that the efforts of the
Democrats to pass an apportionment law
in the previous
summer had failed due to the
resignation of the Whig
members of the General Assembly and the
consequent
lack of a quorum. The Democrats carried
out in 1843
what they had been unable to do in the
extra session of
1842. The Whig press, although a unit
in condemning
the law, was divided as to the
expediency of demanding
its repeal and the Ohio State
Journal soon concluded
that the banking question was the real
issue. "The
question must be settled whether we are
to have banks
or not, and it must be settled now. The
Statesman and
its servile echoes, one and all,
declare that the Loco
Foco party have done all for the people
in the way of
providing a currency that they intend
to. Everybody
knows that they have destroyed the
whole system of
banking, and it devolves upon the Whigs
to repair the
destruction. Keep them to their own
issues. Banks or
no banks--that's the question--the
grand question in
146 Weekly Ohio State Journal, August 30, 1843.
147 Ibid., October 18, 1843.
148 Ibid.,
March 29, 1843.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 543
dispute, and it is only by the triumph
of the Whigs, that
it is ever to be brought to a
successful termination."149
At the end of the 1842-1843 session of
the Legisla-
ture, the Whig members met in conclave
in order to
formulate a policy.150 An
address to the people of Ohio
condemned the Democratic apportionment
law and the
banking laws, and the Whig legislators
endorsed the
nomination of Henry Clay and John Davis
for 1844.
The convention also called attention to
the importance
of carrying the next General Assembly,
for, in accord-
ance with the State Constitution, it
would become the
duty of the next session to apportion
the State for rep-
resentative purposes."151 Whig
county conventions fol-
lowed the lead of the Whig legislators,
stressing the
usual Whig arguments against the
Democrats and the
Democratic banking laws.152
The Democrats defended the bank
legislation of the
two previous winters which they
considered genuine re-
form legislation designed to correct
the evils of irre-
sponsible banking. The capitalists,
they insisted, were
not incorporating because they were
unwilling to deal
honestly with the people and their refusal
to incorporate
was proof positive of the swindling
character of these
"shinplaster" institutions.
At a meeting of Democrats
at Mount Vernon still more drastic
resolutions were
adopted, asserting that gold and silver
were the only
currency recognized by the constitution
and "that all
149 Ohio State Journal, April 8,
1843.
150
Members of the State Central Committee for 1843-1844 were Joseph
Ridgway, Robert Neil, John A. Lazell,
Lewis F. Heyl, O. W. Sherwood,
William Armstrong, and John Greenwood.
151 Proceedings in Weekly Ohio State
Journal, March 22, 1843.
152
Ohio State Journal, June 22, 1843.
544 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
substitutes therefor, hitherto invented
by the avarice
and cupidity of bank swindlers, have
proved a gross
fraud on the people, an enormous tax
upon the honest
industry of the country, a license and
encouragement
to unbounded rascality, and a fatal
enemy to the morals,
manliness, integrity and prosperity of
the nation." They
hailed "with inexpressible joy the
downfall of the cheat-
ing and thieving banking system, which
is the inevitable
result of the gradual restoration of
the Constitutional
currency."153
The early months of 1843 were marked by
a notice-
able financial depression with
consequent distress among
small property owners and the laborers.
The most
characteristic evidences of this
distress were the large
numbers of foreclosures and sheriff's
sales to meet the
demands of creditors.154 In
Cleveland, the workingmen
protested against the custom of their
employers of pay-
ing their wages in goods from their
stores but the con-
tractors declared that they were forced
to pay their
laborers in this manner on account of
the insufficient
currency. In certain parts of
Washington County the
debtors banded together to prevent the
sheriff from sell-
ing their property.155 The Whigs appealed to the
laborers for support on the grounds
that the "hard
money" policy of the Democrats was
the cause of the
scarcity of money.156 Early in the summer, conditions
improved, a change attributed at once
by the Democrats
153 Ohio State Journal, July 15, 1843.
154 Weekly Ohio State Journal (Supplement), January 25, February 1,
8, 15, 1843.
155 McConnellsville Whig Standard quoted
in Weekly Ohio State Journal,
156 Weekly Ohio State Journal, April 12, 1843.
April 12, 1843.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 545
to the benefits of their banking
measures. The Western
Empire (D) declared that the Whigs were "frightened
to desperation" by the return of
high prices for farm
products and by the soundness of the
currency,l57 and
these improved financial and economic
conditions were
hailed by the Ohio Statesman with
the following edito-
rial headline: "Prices of produce
going up while the
Banks are going down--Whig predictions
falsified by
facts and experience."158
The Zanesville Aurora even
argued that a thirty per cent rise in
the price of wheat
was caused by the expiration of the
bank charters.159
The Whigs could not ignore the
prosperity argu-
ment of the Democrats, but the Ohio
State Journal
attributed the turn in the tide to the
Whig tariff of
1842,160 and found additional reasons for
the new pros-
perity in the loans obtained by the
Canal Fund Commis-
sioners from New York and from the Ohio
banks.161
But for the most part, the Whig leaders
adhered to
the charge that the Democrats really
favored a "hard
money" currency and that the laws
of the last two
years were aimed at the destruction of
the banks.162
Despite a vigorous newspaper contest,
the Whigs were
unable to develop any great enthusiasm
in the fall cam-
paign.163 The Whigs remained
on the offensive against
the Democratic bank legislation and the
Democrats val-
157 Western Empire quoted in Ohio
State Journal, June 20, 1843.
158 Ohio Statesman, June 16, 1843.
159 Zanesville Aurora quoted in Ohio
State Journal, June 20, 1843.
160 Ohio State Journal, June 20, 1843.
161 Ibid., July 6, 1843.
162 Ibid., April
22, 1843.
163 McLean to Crittenden, September
22, 1843, Crittenden MSS., v. XI.
Vol. XXXVII--35.
546 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
iantly defended their admittedly severe
legislation in the
face of division within their own
ranks.164
Repudiation and the issue of law and
order also
figured in the election of 1843.
Indeed, these were often
inseparable from the banking issue. In
commenting on
the nomination of Joseph Ridgway,165
by the Whigs, to
represent the Tenth Congressional
District, the Ohio
State Journal declared that "though not a violent par-
tisan, he is no upstart bastard
Democrat--no brawling,
barn-burning, bank-destroying
Locofoco--but a plain,
honest Democrat of the ancient school
of Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John
Quincy Adams,"
and "one of the people."166
The Democratic contention
that the Legislature had no right to
bind the State
beyond the power of the popular will,
was denounced by
the Whigs as "the germ of
repealing charters and other
contracts and grants, and repudiating
public debts and
obligations. . ."167
The State election of October, 1843,
resulted in a
material gain for the Whigs. Although
the Democrats
retained control of the Senate by a
majority of four
votes, two of the four were independent
Democrats
elected in opposition to the radicals.168
The Whigs con-
164 See Chapter
III.
165 Ridgway had made a record as a consistent Whig in
1839-1840 when
he represented the Eighth Congressional
District in Congress. Cong. Globe,
26th Cong., 1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 43.
166 Ohio State Journal, June 17,
1843.
167 Robert
H. Ives, a prominent Whig outsider from Rhode Island,
feared that the checks and balances of
government were rapidly decaying
and that the government was sinking into
a pure democracy as a result of
immigration, and wondered how far the
Ohio "destructionists" were going.
Ives to Greene, March, 1843. Greene MSS.
168
Ohio State Journal, August 29, 1843; Weekly Ohio State Journal,
October 18, 1843.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850
547
trolled the House of Representatives by
a majority of
six.169 On joint ballot of
the two houses, the Whigs
thus were able to control the election
of state officers.
On the other hand, the Democrats were
in a position to
defeat any Whig banking measure if the
Democratic
insurgents could be persuaded to fall
in line. The Whig
State Central Committee declared that
the result was
satisfactory enough to stop
"corruption" and prophesied
victory in 1844. The Democrats,
however, obtained a
majority of the Ohio congressional
delegation, twelve
Democrats and nine Whigs being returned
to the Con-
gress of 1843-1844. This defeat, the
Whigs attributed
to the inequalities of the last
congressional apportion-
ment law. More specifically, when
Joseph Ridgway
was defeated by Heman A. Moore in the
Tenth Dis-
trict, which included the counties of
Franklin, Knox
and Licking, the Whigs charged that
Franklin had been
added to the other counties in order to
overcome a sub-
stantial Whig majority in the former.
The Ohio State
Journal, however, attributed Ridgway's defeat to the
Liberty Party vote.170 As in
1840, the Whigs declared
that the people of Ohio had spoken in
favor of a Whig
banking scheme. But their plans were
blocked by a
Democratic Senate unless conservative
Democrats
should vote with them. The Piqua Register
(W) urged
the Whigs to pass some kind of a
banking measure. If
the Democratic Senate chose to oppose
it, the blame for
disregarding the wish of the people
would rest squarely
upon them.l71
169 Weekly Ohio State Journal, October
25, 1843.
170 Ibid., October 18, 1843.
171 Piqua Register quoted in Ohio
State Journal, March 15, 1843.
548
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The situation was ominous for the
Democrats. The
election had returned to the Senate
certain Democrats
who were known to be in favor of a
system of banking
which did not differ greatly from the
plans proposed by
the Whigs. Moreover, the factions
within the party
were embittered by a fight to control
the State delega-
tion to the National Convention. At the
head of the
party was Wilson Shannon, a governor
who had lost
contact with his party entirely and who
was even ac-
cused of flirting with the despised
Tylerites for Federal
appointment.
In his annual message to the General
Assembly in
December, 1843, Shannon paved the way
for further
Democratic division by asserting that
he believed a
"well-guarded and well-restricted
system of local banks,
judiciously distributed in the State,
with a fixed amount
of capital, adequate to the business
wants of the country,
is the best and most practical system
of banking that
can, at this time, be adopted in this
state."172 Shan-
non's position was practically an
acceptance of the Whig
program. The Governor's message made no
mention
of the finality of the Latham and
Bartley Laws as
might have been expected from a
governor representing
the dominant element in the Democratic
party. The
effect of Shannon's message soon was
seen in an at-
tempt to modify the Latham Law so as to
exempt the
Bank of Wooster from its operation.
This was favored
by certain conservative Democrats in
spite of an urgent
warning from the Ohio Statesman that
there should be
no more "tinkering" with the
banking laws. Pointing
172 Ohio Executive Documents, 1843, v. VIII, No. 1, p. 7.
|
POLITICAL CARTOON Coon Dissector -- Issue of June 7, 1844. (549) |
550
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
to new evidences of prosperity, the Statesman
thought
there should be no more banks "to
again demoralize the
country, and spread ruin, robbery and
swindling broad-
cast over the land."173 Hazeltine (D), in the Senate,
opposed the plan to exempt the Bank of
Wooster and
asserted that had it not been for the
fact that a few
Democrats were connected with the Bank
no attempt
would have been made to disturb the
general acquies-
cence in the Latham and Bartley Laws.174 Samuel
Lahm (D) of Stark County, who favored
exemption,
declared that it would not mean an
abandonment of
the Latham Law. Lahm was connected with
the Bank
of Wooster in an official capacity, and
as a conservative
Democrat supported Cass for the Democratic
nomina-
tion in 1844.175
It was mainly through the efforts of
Joseph S. Lake
and Benjamin Jones, directors of the
Wooster Bank,
that four Democratic senators, among
them Samuel
Lahm, were induced to vote with the
Whigs to exempt
the Wooster Bank from the provisions of
the general
banking laws.176 On February
15, 1844, the charter of
the Bank of Wooster was extended to
January 1, 1850,
and that part of the Latham and Bartley
Laws which
applied to the Bank of Wooster
repealed. Other pro-
visions made the stockholders of the
bank individually
liable for the debts of the bank,
limited the power of
the directors to obtain loans to
one-half of the capital
173 Ohio Statesman, February 13, 1844.
174 Ibid., February 15, 1844.
175 H. C. Whitman to William Allen,
November 23, 1845. Alien MSS.,
v. VIII.
176 Charles Wolcott, J. M. Cooper, M. A.
Goodfellow, and others to
Allen, March 11, 1845, Allen MSS., v.
VIII.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850. 551
stock possessed by such persons,
compelled the Wooster
Bank to keep one dollar in gold and
silver for every
three dollars in circulation, and
applied the same privi-
leges and conditions to the Lafayette
Bank of Cincin-
nati and the Bank of Xenia.177 This
action marks the
first break in the hitherto solid front
of the Democrats
on banking questions and before the end
of the session
the same privileges were extended to the
Bank of San-
dusky and the Bank of Norwalk.178 The
Democrats
yielded in the face of a bitter fight
between the conserva-
tives, supporting Cass, and the
radicals, supporting Van
Buren.
The Whigs of the House were not content
with these
compromises, however, and, soon after
the organiza-
tion of the General Assembly,
introduced a bill to repeal
the Latham and Bartley Laws and to
extend the char-
ters of the Bank of Geauga and the
Commercial Bank
of Cincinnati. The party was eager to
secure a bank-
ing measure before the charters of two
other banks
would expire on January 1, 1844. By
uninterrupted
sessions, the bill was forced through
the house, Decem-
ber 22nd, by a strict party vote except
that Green, a con-
servative Democrat of Fairfield County,
joined the
Whigs.179 This bill was drafted as a
political manifesto,
for it was clear that the Democratic
Senate would not
support it. It was a bit of Whig
strategy to widen the
breach between the Shannon Democrats
and the defend-
ers of the Latham Law. It was clear
also, by this time,
that Tyler was irretrievably lost to
his party, and the
favorable comments on Shannon's policy
from the Ty-
177
Laws of Ohio, v. XLII, pp. 41-42.
178 Laws of Ohio, v. XLII, pp.
41-42.
179 Weekly Ohio State Journal, December 27, 1843.
552
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ler press showed an alliance between
the States Rights
men and the conservative Democrats. In
November,
1843, in a letter to a committee of
Tyler men in Cleve-
land, published in the Old School
Republican, Shannon
endorsed the Democracy of Tyler and
asserted that he
was worthy of the support of the
Democrats.180 The
Democratic schism became evident to all
when Shannon
was made minister co Mexico in 1844.181 Furthermore,
Shannon had mortally offended the
radicals of his party
by commending those Democratic senators
who had
joined the Whigs in giving special
concessions to the
Bank of Wooster.182 The attacks of radical Democrats
on Shannon became so sharp that in
February, 1844,
Shannon published a defense in the St.
Clairsville Ga-
zette. His views on banking were commended by the
Ohio State Journal as good Whig doctrine.183
The Democrats met in State Convention
January 8,
1844, and nominated David Tod for
governor on a
strong anti-bank platform.184 To
make his position per-
fectly clear, Tod, a few days after his
nomination, an-
nounced his support of the Bartley Law,
in a speech
in Columbus. There is some evidence to
show that
pressure was brought to bear on Tod by
the conserva-
tives to get him to modify his views on
banking and
currency. On January 27th, in a letter
to the Demo-
cratic Central Committee of Cuyahoga
County, the can-
didate admitted the necessity of banks
and declared
180 Old School Republican, a reprint of letter in Weekly
Ohio State
Journal, November 29, 1843.
181 Reeves, op. cit., pp. 169,
170.
182 Ohio
State Journal, June 7, 1843.
183
Weekly Ohio State Journal, February 28, 1844.
184 Ohio Statesman, January 8, 9, 1844.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 553
himself in favor of the old system with
some modifica-
tions,185 although these
modifications deviated but little
from the principles of the Bartley Law.
The Whigs
attempted to construe his new
pronunciamento as con-
trary to the platform of January 8th,186
but the Cincin-
nati Daily Enquirer (D) saw no
evidence, in the letter,
of Tod's abandonment of his former
principles. From
the comments of the Enquirer the
Ohio State Journal
concluded that the purpose of the
letter was to deceive
the bank Democrats and that Tod was
really a "destruc-
tive."187
Early in December, the Whig State
Central Com-
mittee issued a call for a State
Convention, on January
10, 1844, to select a candidate for
governor and to ap-
point delegates to the Whig National
Convention. Re-
form of the state government was the
main note sounded
in the official call.188 Thomas
Corwin, chairman of the
Whig State Convention, was lauded by
Henry Stan-
bery,189 of Lancaster, as
the first choice of the party for
governor, but he firmly declined
another nomination.
Jeremiah Morrow, of Warren, and Seabury
Ford,190 of
Geauga, were named as delegates to the
National Con.
185 Ohio
State Journal, June 6, 1844.
186 Weekly Ohio State Journal, March 13, 1844.
187 Ibid. March 27,
1844.
188 Weekly
Ohio State Journal, December 20, 1843.
189 Stanbery
attained prominence later as United States Attorney-Gen-
eral in Johnson's administration and as
counsel for Johnson in the impeach-
ment proceedings. John Spencer Bassett, A
Short History of the United
States, 1492-1920, p.
615.
190 Ford
represented Geauga County in the General Assembly as senator
in 1842-1844, Ohio Senate Journals, 1842-1843,
v. XLI, p. 4; represented
Fairfield County in same body as
representative in 1835-1836, Ohio House
Journals, 1835-1836, v. XXXIV, p. 1; was elected governor 1848
but did
not take office until early part of
1849.
554 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
vention. The Convention urged greater
economy in the
State government and an adequate
currency. For the
governorship the Whigs nominated David
Spangler of
Coshocton.191 The latter was
not present at the Conven-
tion, and when notified of his
nomination, promptly de-
clined on personal and private grounds.192
Spangler's
declination disrupted the Whig plans,
and a second
Whig Convention, which was much more
fully attended
and more enthusiastic than the first,
nominated Morde-
cai Bartley,193 of Richland
County, for governor.194
The state elections of 1844 were fought
out in the
midst of the national campaign between
Polk and Clay.
The Ohio Whigs united under the
leadership of Clay,
but the Ohio Democrats fought long and
valiantly in the
Baltimore Convention in behalf of Van
Buren and ac-
quiesced in the final selection of Polk
with bad grace.
The radicals, however, found solace in
the defeat of
Cass. Solidarity on national issues was
a distinct aid to
the Whigs of Ohio in the state
election. On the other
hand, the Democratic slogan for the
"Re-annexation of
Texas and the Re-occupation of
Oregon" appealed to
the naturally imperialistic and expansionist
Northwest.
In the course of the campaign personal
attacks were
191 Weekly Ohio State Journal, January 17, 1844.
192 Ibid., January
24, 1844.
193
Bartley was a native of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In 1809 he
settled in Jefferson County, Ohio, and
in the War of 1812 he joined the
army as captain. He later served under
Harrison on the Maumee. In 1814
he moved to Richland County. In 1818 he
was elected to the Senate and
four years later to Congress. He was in
Congress eight years and at the
end of that time declined renomination.
While in Congress he gave his
influence in behalf of river and harbor
appropriations for the lake region.
In 1842 he was admitted to the bar. Weekly
Ohio State Journal, Febru-
ary 28, 1844.
194 Ohio State Journal, February 22, 1844.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 555
made on David Tod. He was accused of
"Rank Infi-
delity" because of his alleged
association with men of
irreligious character and because he
had opposed a bill
in the General Assembly prohibiting the
sale of liquor
around Methodist camp meetings.195
Tod was also
charged with a lack of patriotic
sentiment. It was re-
ported that in connection with an
incident in Philadel-
phia, in which an Irish mob tore down
an American flag,
Tod had said that if he had been
present he would have
aided in trampling that flag into the
dust.196
In spite of these attempts to muddle
the issue, the
problem of banking and currency would
not down as the
chief issue of the state campaign. The
Xenia Torch-
Light (W) reminded the voters that the currency ques-
tion was unsettled, and argued that
"The cry of 'Bank
Reform' with which the Locofoco leaders
have so long
been deluding their followers, has been
fully proved to
be a shameless fraud. They are now
known to be Bank
destructionists. Their legislation has
kept us dependent
upon the scanty and unsafe circulating
medium which is
now in use in this State. It is
all-important that we
should have a Whig Legislature,
therefore, in order that
we may get a safe and sufficient
banking system."197
Thompson's Bank Note Reporter declared
that "The
people of Ohio care little about Clay
or Polk, and
less about Texas, and less still about
distribution. They
195 Xenia Torch-Light, August 8, 1844.
196 Ibid., August 15, 1844.
197 The Whig press of the State reported
the old charge that the Demo-
cratic plan to reform the
banks was only an excuse to demolish them.
Xenia
Torch-Light, September 19, 1844; Ohio State Journal, September
21, 1844.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 557
feel the want of a circulating medium,
in which they can
have confidence. . ."198
The refusal of the banks to incorporate
under the
general banking laws in existence
resulted in an invasion
of Ohio by foreign bank paper. By
December, 1844, ac-
cording to the report of the Bank
Commissioners, the
foreign bank paper in Ohio amounted to
$7,473,483.00,
much of which was not based upon good
security.199 The
natural result of this situation was a
reaction against
the Democrats. This was accentuated by
the indiffer-
ence of some of the Democratic voters
to the national
ticket led by Polk and by the division
within their ranks
over the matter of banking and
currency. Many radical
Democrats remained dissatisfied with
Tod's stand on the
currency. The Kalida Venture, a
radical paper through-
out the decade, declared that Tod had
shown the
"cloven foot" and that the
voters must choose "whether
they will have David Tod or Mordecai
Bartley to pro-
mulgate the monstrous bank heresies
from the chair of
State." The same organ actually
took down the name
of Tod from its editorial column on the
ground that he
had succumbed to a "time-serving
weakness."200 Tod
was caught between two forces in the
Democratic party.
On the one hand, were the conservatives
who would re-
fuse to support him if he took a
radical position on the
problems of banking and currency. On
the other hand,
there were the radical Democrats who
insisted upon
Tod's support of the Bartley Law as a
price of their
l98 Thompson's Bank Note Reporter quoted in Ohio
State Journal,
August 29, 1844.
199 Ohio Executive Documents, 1844,
No. 55.
200 Kalida Venture quoted in Weekly
Ohio State Journal, April 3, 1844.
558
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
votes. When he first announced himself
in favor of the
Bartley Law, Delazon Smith, a
conservative Democratic
leader of Dayton, rejected his
nomination and in a letter
published in the Dayton Miamian condemned
the "hard
money clique" at the Capitol. He
declared that Medary,
Allen, Brough, McNulty, Weller, and
Medill met in a
caucus in 1843 to determine the
succession to the higher
offices. If anyone were bold enough to
question their
decision he was promptly cast into
political oblivion.
Smith charged it was determined at this
conference to
elect Tod governor and send Medary to
the United
States Senate in case the Democrats won
control of the
Legislature in October, 1845.201
The result of all these complications
in the election
of 1844, was to give the Whigs control
of the General
Assembly and to elect Mordecai Bartley
governor of the
State.202 The incoming Whig
governor referred in gen-
eral terms to the need of an adequate
banking system
and left the working out of the details
of the Whig pro-
gram to the leaders of the party in the
Legislature.203
The Whigs, in control of both branches
of the General
Assembly, were free to carry out their
policies. In
evolving their plan no one was more
active than Alfred
Kelley, a member of the Canal Fund
Commission since
1841.204 Elected to the Ohio
Senate in the fall elections
of 1844, Kelley was appointed chairman
of the Senate
Committee on the Currency. On January
7, 1845, this
committee introduced a banking measure
known as a
201 Reprint of the letter in Weekly
Ohio State Journal, January 31, 1844.
202
Weekly Ohio State Journal, October 23, 1844.
203 Ohio Executive
Documents, 1844, v. IX, No. 2.
204 James L. Bates, Alfred Kelley,
His Life and Work, 1888, p. 102.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 559
bill "To incorporate the State
Bank of Ohio and other
banking companies."
The Kelley Bank Bill, as it was called,
expressed the
Whig notions of a proper banking system
and became
the central issue on banking and
currency matters for
the remainder of the decade. Its
passage in 1845 marks
the end of another period in the
history of banking and
currency in Ohio politics. It was the
Whig answer to a
series of Democratic laws. Because the
Whigs felt the
necessity of some safeguard for banking
operations,
they did not neglect to put into the
law numerous re-
strictions which had not been found
proper in the days
of unregulated banking. Thus the
Democratic plea for
the popular control of corporate wealth
bore some fruit
in the plan put forth by their
opponents.
An examination of the Kelley Banking
Law shows
that in addition to the old banks
already in existence,
it provided for two new classes, the
State Bank of Ohio,
and independent banks. Five or more
persons were au-
thorized to form a banking company, and
the total stock
of all banks, not including the stock
of banks already in
existence, was not to exceed
$6,150,000.00. In order to
prevent any section of Ohio from monopolizing
the
banking capital, the State was divided
into twelve dis-
tricts and a limitation was placed on
the number of banks
and the amount of capital in each
district. All applica-
tions for the establishment of a bank
were to be pre-
sented to a Board of Control,205 composed,
after one
year, of the Auditor of State, the
Treasurer, and the
Secretary of State. A maximum of
$500,000 and a
205 The first members of the Board of
Control were John W. Allen,
Joseph Olds, Daniel Kilgore, Alexander
Grimes, and Gustavus Swan.
560
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
minimum of $100,000 capital stock was
fixed for each
branch of the State Bank, while a
minimum of $50,000
was fixed for independent banks. The
State Bank
could be organized by the qualification
of seven branch
banks and the appointment by each of a
representative
to the Board of Control, whose function
was the general
supervision of the member banks.
The popular demand for specie payment
was met by
the provision that all notes were
payable on demand in
gold or silver. The Democratic clamor
for limitation of
note issue was answered in the
provision that the circu-
lation of each bank was dependent on
its capital
stock.206 Every branch bank
had to pay to the Board of
Control ten per cent of the amount of
notes it received to
be held by the Board of Control as a
circulating safety
fund which could be invested either in
State stock,
United States stock, or in first
mortgage real estate
bonds. Branch banks were to receive
interest on their
portion of the funds invested.
The Whigs did not meet the popular
demand for in-
dividual liability. By the new law, the
stockholders of
any bank were not liable as debtors or
sureties to the
bank for an amount exceeding one-third
of their paid-in
capital stock. This was a distinct
compromise on an im-
portant issue and was designed to
enable the capitalists
of the State to invest in banks without
so much danger
to their property as existed under the
Latham and Bart-
206 On the first $100,000.00 of capital
stock the bank was allowed to
issue twice as many notes; on the second
$100,000.00 one and one-fourth
times as many notes; while on the fourth
$100,000.00 or any amount beyond
the bank could issue only three-fourths
that amount in notes. It will be
observed that the Democratic plea to
limit the note issue by the amount of
specie actually in the bank was not a
feature of the Kelley Law.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 561
ley Laws. Director's liabilities were
limited to one-
fourth of their paid-in stock.207
Provisions were made also for
independent banks.
The chief difference between the two
systems consisted
in the means by which each was
safeguarded against
frauds. The independent banks were
protected from
failure by that portion of the Kelley
Law which forced
them to deposit state or United States
stock with the
Treasurer of Ohio to be used by that
official as a fund
to redeem the notes of the banks. The
responsibility of
stockholders and directors of
independent banks for loss
to noteholders was even less than the
liability of similar
officials of the State banks for such
occurrences.
Other clauses provided that any branch
of the State
Bank could be closed at any time with
the consent of the
Board of Control; that every bank was
to keep on hand
at all times gold or silver equal to
thirty per cent of its
circulation; that six per cent of the
bank dividends were
to be paid to the State as taxes, and
that the amount
which could be loaned to any one person
or firm be lim-
ited.208. Another provision,
whereby banks were taxed
only upon their profits, became a topic
of bitter political
controversy during the latter half of
the decade. A sup-
plementary act was passed by the Whigs
in March to
prohibit unauthorized banking and
unauthorized bank
paper.209 This was intended
to keep worthless foreign
bank paper out of Ohio.
207 Any
branch bank became insolvent when it refused to redeem its
notes in specie. In that case, a
receiver was to be appointed by the Board
of Control, and the stocks in the safety
fund offered for sale to enable the
insolvent bank to meet its payments.
208 Laws of Ohio, v. XLIII, pp. 24-55.
209 Ibid., v. XLIII, p. 121.
Vol. XXXVII--36.
562
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The Kelley Bank Law was attacked from
the first
by the Democrats as an invitation to
the "shinplaster"
institutions again to rob the people by
a wholesale issue
of worthless paper. It was defended by
the Whigs as
a piece of constructive legislation
necessary for the wel-
fare of the State.210 As a
matter of fact, the Kelley Law
did not satisfy all the Whigs, many of
whom wanted to
return to a system of unrestricted
banking.211 Fears that
the regulatory provisions of the new
law would prevent
the investment of capitalists in
banking proved un-
founded. By July, 1845, the seven
branch banks re-
quired for the organization of a State
Bank were in-
corporated and the banking machinery as
outlined by
the Kelley Law went into operation.212
At the same time
eight other corporations had organized
as independ-
ent banks.213 The number of
banks in the State grad-
ually increased throughout the period
under investiga-
tion. In 1845, Governor Mordecai
Bartley, in a message
to the Legislature, declared that
"already the people of
Ohio begin to feel the influence of
this system in the
restoration of confidence, the revival
of business, the in-
crease of the wages of labor, and the
rising prosperity
of the State."214
In the meantime, the radical Democrats
were making
plans to destroy the political
influence of the conserva-
tives in their party. The former were
led by the im-
petuous and "shaggy haired"
H. C. Whitman, of Lan-
caster, the adroit, fiery, and
energetic Samuel Medary,
210 Ohio
Statesman, April--October, 1845; Ohio State Journal, April--
October, 1845.
211 Xenia
Torch-Light, January 23, 1845.
212 Ibid., July 3, 1845.
213 Ibid., July 3, 1845.
214 Ohio Executive Documents, 1845, v. I, p. 5.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 563
of the Ohio Statesman, and
Thomas W. Bartley, author
of the last Democratic banking measure.
They accused
the conservatives of betraying the
party by yielding to
the bankers. Control of the Federal
patronage proved
a powerful weapon in this internal
party struggle, and
the radicals, who seemed to have the
confidence of the
Polk administration, proceeded to wield
this power for
their own ends. William Allen,
Democratic Senator
from Ohio, was chairman of the
important Senate Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs,215 and,
in March, 1845, ten of
the leading Democrats of Wayne County
urged him to
warn the Administration against the
appointments of
"softs" to Federal offices.
The defection and consequent
defeat of the Democrats in Wayne County
and through-
out the State were charged to the
"softs."216 Whitman
assured Allen that the
conservatives must be
"crushed."217
Chief among the conservatives or
"softs" was Gov-
ernor Shannon who had been instrumental
in the pas-
sage of the law exempting the Bank of
Wooster from
the Bartley Law. The radical Democrats,
through Allen,
defeated the appointment of Shannon to
the office of
district attorney for Ohio, and secured
this political plum
for T. W. Bartley, as a reward for his
services against
the banks.218 William Smith,
a "soft" money Democrat
endorsed by Cass and the Ohio
conservatives, lost the
collectorship of the port of Cleveland
to Dr. Smith In-
215 McGrane, Reginald C., William
Allen, A Study in Western
Democracy.
216 Wolcott, Cooper, Goodfellow, and others to Alien, March
11, 1845,
Allen MSS., v. VII.
217 Whitman to Allen, November 23, 1845, Allen MSS., v.
VIII.
218 Dunbar and Gotshall to Allen, March
11, 1845, Allen MSS., v. VII.
564 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
glehart.219 In the midst of
this division in the ranks of
the Ohio Democracy, Medary sold the Ohio
Statesman
to C. C. Hazewell, of Rhode Island.
This transaction
and the course subsequently pursued by
the new owner
tended to accentuate the bitterness
between the two fac-
tions of the Democrats.220 So
effective was the cam-
paign against the "softs"
that by December, 1845, T. J.
Morgan, editor of the Ohio Patriot (New
Lisbon,
Ohio), could write to Allen that
"The advance of radical
doctrines has never been so rapid in
Ohio as within the
last three months. Almost a score of
papers have taken
open hard money ground . . .
the avowed softs in
Ohio are evidently becoming alarmed and
cry out for
compromise."221
The campaign of 1845 was one of the
most important
in the history of the banking
controversy. The Demo-
crats met in Columbus July 4, 1845,
ostensibly to devise
means for the better organization of
the party. But the
Convention took a strong position on
banking. The res-
olution on the currency stated that the
Democracy of
219 Medary to Allen, April 29,
1845, Allen MSS., v. VIII.
220 Hazewell, a native of Rhode Island,
had begun his newspaper career
by writing for the Boston Post. Later,
he had taken charge of the Nan-
tucket Islander. It appeared from
the testimony of his enemies in Massa-
chusetts, including Marcus Morton, that
Hazewell had been none too
successful in this and other newspaper
ventures in that State. This infor-
mation concerning Hazewell was collected
by Tappan, in the hope of so
discrediting him among the radical
Democrats that they would support
Tappan in his proposal to start a
radical newspaper at the capitol to
counteract the influence of the Ohio
Statesman. Unsigned note of Marcus
Morton attached to letter of Tappan to
Allen, August 12, 1845, Allen MSS.,
v. VIII; Cong. Globe, 26th Cong.,
1st Sess., v. VIII, p. 1; Martin to
Allen, January 5, 1846, Allen MSS., v. X.
221 Morgan to Allen, December 2, 1845,
Allen MSS., v. VIII. During
Polk's administration, federal funds
were withdrawn from the Bank of
Wooster at the request of the radical
Democracy of Ohio--Ohio State
Journal, August 28, 1845.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 565
Ohio must endeavor "to maintain
the freedom and inde-
pendence of the State, and deliver it
from the bondage
of a corrupt, irresponsible, and
swindling system of mo-
nopolies, by the immediate repeal of
the act passed by
the Federalists in the last
Legislature" and also "provide
safe and efficient remedies for the
people against fraud-
ulent banking institutions, and other
corporations by re-
storing the laws repealed by the
Federalists, or by pass-
ing other efficient laws for the
purpose."222 These reso-
lution clearly meant the repeal of the
Kelley Banking
Law and the restoration of the Latham
Law or another
of its kind, should the Democrats be
returned to power.
In March, 1845, the Whig Legislature
passed a new
revenue law, taxing all property
according to its cash
valuation. This was attacked
immediately by the Dem-
ocrats, chiefly because it carried no
special provision for
taxing the banks.223 According
to the Kelley Banking
Law, banks were taxable at the rate of
six per cent upon
their net dividends.224 The
Democrats claimed that bank
stock should be taxed at the same rate
as all other prop-
erty, and denounced the law as
burdensome and oppres-
sive and as special legislation. The
Whigs countered
with the claim that a change in the
method of taxation
would be a violation of the bank
charters which were to
be considered as contracts. The
decisions of John Mar-
shall on the inviolabilities of charters
and contracts had
become almost as sacred as the
Constitution itself, in
the minds of conservative Whigs of the
'forties. They
claimed, furthermore, that banks were
paying more
revenue into the State treasury under
their charters than
222 Ohio Statesman, July
7, 1845.
223 Ohio Statesman, July 7, 1845.
224 Laws of Ohio, v. XLIII, pp. 24-55.
566 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
they would if they were on the regular
tax duplicate.225
The Democrats replied that if this were
true the banks
should petition to be placed on the
regular tax dupli-
cate.226 The Whigs eagerly
accepted the issue as out-
lined by the Democratic State
Convention.227 The Ohio
State Journal appealed to the voters of the State to pre-
serve the credit of the government, and
denounced the
Democrats as "experimenters"
and "disorganizers."228
The same organ charged that the
scarcity of banking
institutions in the eastern part of the
State was attrib-
utable to the destructive policy of the
Democrats which
forced the people of that section to
depend on foreign
bankers for their circulating medium.229
The Democratic press was equally
vigorous. The
Ohio Statesman condemned, as dangerous, the "powers
given the Board of Control, of making
money scarce
when they wish to buy, and plenty when
they wish to
sell--of contracting today and
expanding it tomorrow
. . ."230, and, a week
later, contrasted the privileges of
the people with the privileges of the
bankers under the
new Whig law. It was pointed out that
one dollar of
225 The whole question of
taxation in Ohio from the financial point of
view is well treated in E. L. Bogart's
"Financial History of Ohio," Uni-
versity of Illinois Studies in the
Social Sciences, v. I, pp. 181-256.
226
Ohio Statesman, April-May, 1845.
227
The Xenia Torch-Light declared that
"The State, if it is possible, is
again to become the plunder-ground of
the 'red-dog' and wild-cat institu-
tions of other States, over which the
people of Ohio have no control, and
from the circulation of whose paper they
derive no profit, while they are
liable to sustain great losses. .....
The season of prosperity which has
just commenced to dawn upon us is to be
darkened-the new Banks are
to be knocked in the head, and the
impracticable 'Latham-humbug' and
'Bartley amendments' are to take their
places." Xenia Torch-Light, July
17, 1845.
228 Xenia Torch-Light, July 8,
1845.
229
Ohio State Journal, July 12, 1845.
230 Ohio
Statesman, July 7, 1845.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 567
specie allowed the banker to issue
three dollars of notes
while the people had to conduct
business on the principle
of "dollar for dollar." Under
the Kelley Law, bankers
obtained interest on what they owed,
while the people
paid interest under the same
circumstances. A long list
of grievances concluded with the
statement that "The
people have been bound hand and foot. A
brainless
aristocracy of money is about riding
'booted and
spurred' over them, and their rights
filched from
them."231
Many radical Democrats, who resented
the leader-
ship of Hazewell, refused to accept
such anti-bank ex-
pressions as indicative of the new
editor's real position,
charging that he was too lenient toward
the Bank of
Wooster.232 The American
Union of Steubenville, Tap-
pan's organ, joined the attack on
Hazewell, asserting
that he was a conservative and that he
would not be
faithful to the party.233 Hazewell
defended himself vig-
orously in the Statesman but he
failed to receive the
confidence of his party which had begun
to feel the need
of Medary's guiding hand.
Although weakened by party dissensions,
the Dem-
ocrats carried on an energetic campaign
in their county
and district conventions. Marion County
Democrats
raised the "standard of
repeal" and charged that the
Kelley Banking Law benefited the
privileged aristocracy
only.234 The Medina County
Democrats demanded the
passage of a new banking law like the
Democratic bank-
ing laws of 1842 and 1843.235 The
Democratic Sena-
231
Ohio Statesman, July 14, 1845.
232 Ohio State Journal,
August 28, 1845.
233 Ohio Statesman, August
18, September 3, 1845.
234 Ohio Statesman, September 1, 1845.
235 Ibid., September 24, 1845.
568 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
torial Convention for the counties of
Allen, Williams,
Mercer, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van
Wert, and De-
fiance took an even more radical
position. In violent
language the Democracy of those
counties declared that
they had no compromise to offer to the
banks and that
they would "henceforth advocate
nothing short of the
total expiration of the entire system,
under whatever
form proposed."236 Such
opinions from the Ohio Dem-
ocrats led the Baltimore American to
comment, "The
principles of Locofocoism in Ohio are
set forth with a
naked ultraism which disdains all
reserve or conceal-
ment,"237 and the Ohio
State Journal accused the Demo-
crats of trying to "stir up the
baser passions, to array
one class against another, and to
awaken jealousies,
heartburnings and strife."238
The Ohio Statesman
turned the charge on the Whigs, and
accused them of
arraying one portion of society against
another "by giv-
ing to the few special privileges by
which they garner
up the greater portion of the results
of industry and
skill of the masses."239
Although, in the northeastern section
of the State,
greater emphasis was placed on national
issues like
slavery in the District of Columbia,
and the annexation
of Texas,240 most of the
Whig county conventions ap-
proved the new Whig banking law and
condemned the
proposals of the Democrats to repeal
it.241 The Cuya-
hoga County Whigs approved the Kelley
Law because
it was "well calculated to give us
a safe and sound paper
236 Ohio Statesman, September 24,
1845.
237 Baltimore American quoted in Ohio
State Journal, September 30, 1845.
238 Ohio State Journal, September 11, 1845.
239 Ohio
Statesman, September 12, 1845.
240 Ohio State Journal, October 4, 1845.
241 Ibid., September 23, 1845.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 569
currency, convertible into specie at
the will of the bill
holder, and while it gives security to
the public, at the
same time yields to the banker fair and
reasonable prof-
its."242 The orthodox
Whig argument for banks as a
necessity to modern civilization was
shown in the reso-
lutions of the Hamilton County Whigs,
which urged that
a hard money system was an adjunct of
monarchical
government, a characteristic of
savagery, and a burden
on the labouring classes.243 Other
considerations fig-
ured in the election of October, 1845.
The Democrats
appealed to the German vote by accusing
the Whigs of
an alliance with the native Americans,
who favored ex-
tending the period of naturalization t
o twenty-one
years.244 The Whigs appealed
to the ultra-religiously
minded by charging Benjamin Tappan,
former Demo-
cratic Senator from Ohio, as being a
"boasting infidel,"
and the Ohio State Journal questioned
whether men
"thus reckless of morality,
decency, and truth" are "fit
persons to legislate for a Christian
Nation."245
The election ended in a victory for the
Whigs. In
the Senate twelve Whigs and six
Democrats held over
and six Whigs and six Democrats were
returned. In
the House there were thirty-eight Whigs
and twenty-
two Democrats.246 Among the
most prominent members
of this General Assembly were Alfred
Kelley (W);
William L. Perkins (W), destined to be
more prominent
in the election of 1848; Seabury Ford
who later became
governor of the State; and Clement L.
Vallandigham,
242 Ohio State Journal, October 4, 1845.
243 Ibid., October
9, 1845.
244 Dayton Western Empire quoted
in Ohio State Journal, October 9,
1845.
245 October 13,
1845.
246 Ohio Statesman, October 20, 1845.
570 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
who became a recognized leader of the
Democratic party
in the State during the 'forties and
during the Civil War,
attained national prominence as a Peace
Democrat.247
The Whigs interpreted the results as an
endorsement of
their banking policies and the Ohio
State Journal de-
clared that "No issue has ever
been more distinctly pre-
sented to the people of this State at
an election, than that
of the Currency and Banks at that which
has just passed
. . . They, the Democrats, have been
most signally
rebuked by the people, and the truth
stands proclaimed
. . . that the property holders, the
business men of
the State--the Farmers, Merchants and
Mechanics, will
not suffer the produce of their toil,
the earnings of their
industry, to be depressed and carried
off under the
wasteful influence of a vitiated
currency furnished by
speculators and shavers from
abroad."248 It appears
that the Whig victory in 1845 was a
result of divisions
within the ranks of the Democrats; of a
systematic pro-
gram of intimidation on the part of the
Whigs; of the
conservative appeal to the fear of
change; and of an
unwillingness on the part of the electorate
to change a
system which promised to save them from
an invasion
of foreign bank paper over which they
had no control.
Undaunted by their serious reverses in
October, the
radical anti-bank Democrats laid plans
to capture the
next State Convention to be held at
Columbus, January
8, 1846,249 for it was clear
already that the election of
247 Personnel of the General Assembly
given in Ohio Statesman, Octo-
ber 22, 1845.
248 Ohio State Journal, October 28, 1845.
249
As a result of party pressure and the fear
of competition from
Tappan's proposed radical paper at the
Capitol, Hazewell of the Statesman
gradually came around to a more complete
anti-bank position. Ohio States-
man. December, 1845--January, 1846.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 571
1846 would be another referendum on the
bank ques-
tion. Throughout December, Democratic
county con-
ventions urged David Tod for governor
in 1846.250 As
early as November, 1845, H. C. Whitman,
the arch-
enemy of the banks, took pains to
ascertain the opinions
of Tod on banks and the currency. It
will be recalled
that Tod had attempted, in 1844, to
secure the votes of
both wings of his party and Whitman's
letter was writ-
ten to assure Tod that he could not get
the support of
the hard money Democrats without taking
a more ad-
vanced position. This letter throws a
flood of light on
Ohio politics in this period and
warrants extended quo-
tation. The letter was addressed to
Senator Allen to
be referred by him to Tod and is as
follows: "I write
to ask you a favor--which is--if you
feel authorized to
assure me on the point as to David
Tod's present views
on the currency question. He is
represented indirectly
by a late number of the Trumbull Democrat,
to be in
favor of banks still. If his views are
sound and for
the 'hard' and he is willing to avow
himself so, I shall
take measures to allow him to express
himself publicly
before the 8th Jany. At the present
time he could not
receive the nomination by the votes of
the Hards. It
will be a very great favor indeed if I
can learn from
you his present views, as, if they are
not sound, I do not
wish him to express himself publicly as
it would but aid
the conservatives. If he is not sound,
I am in favor of
[Edwin M.] Stanton . . .
I feel Col. More than
usual anxiety about Tod's views for the
following rea-
sons. The conservatives . . . care not a copper
for the currency question save as a
means to their po-
250 Ohio Statesman, December 10-31,
1845.
572 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
litical ends. They have conspired,
banded together to
crush the True Men in Ohio, to enable
them to lead the
party and obtain a Cass delegation in
1848. In my
opinion the election of President in
1848 depends ma-
terially on what the Ohio delegation in
the National
Convention will do. If that delegation
shall be made
of true and stern men, Lewis Cass may
be defeated if
the right man is nominated in
opposition to him before
the Con--If the true men fail and are
divided and the
Conservatives prevail on the 8, Ohio is
lost for Cass.
Some suspicion now exists against Tod
among the True
Men. Before that Con [vention] meets,
all must be ar-
ranged and understood. If Tod will come
out straight
for the Hards, we can ostracise any
d--d corrupt
rascal in the Conservative Ranks. The
hour has come.
Shannon must be crushed. They are well organized,
unscrupulous, desperate, playing as men
do the game of
Revolution for their very heads. Our men are not
roused, not organized, and the Ranks
must be filled up,
discipline and order restored before
the 8, or the Hards
there will appear a faction, Shannon
and Co., the party.
Tod's views we must know. I for one
will not vote for
any man who is in favor of monopolies
of any kind."251
251 Benjamin
Tappan and other radical Democrats were equally anxious
to know whether Tod would come out
boldly for the principles avowed in
Whitman's letter. According to Medary,
Tod's position had been miscon-
strued because his views on the currency
question had been misrepresented
by the Ohio Patriot. This paper,
edited by T. J. Morgan, who claimed to
have the confidence of both wings of the
party, had now "put itself right."
Medary thought that "softism since
the President message [was] the
poorest of God's creation, not worthy of
anyone's worship or even tamper-
ing with." Medary's confidence was
reflected in the tone of another letter
from Whitman to Allen on the 10th of
December informing Allen that he
need not reply to his former letter of
inquiry. Others were not so confi-
dent, however. Rufus E. Hart, State Democratic
senator and member of
the Senate Committee on Federal
Relations, wrote that "there seems to be
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 573
Thus political lines were being drawn
in 1845 and 1846
to determine the choice of Ohio for
president in 1848,
and, as in 1844, the conservative
Democrats were identi-
fied with the Cass movement while the
radical wing of
the party still clung to Van Buren as
the representative
of true Jacksonian anti-bank
principles.
There was a movement among the
conservative Dem-
ocrats to substitute Thomas L. Hamer
for Tod as the
candidate in 1846. It was claimed that
Tod's nomina-
tion was being manipulated in secret by
a clique of rad-
icals and that it lacked popular
approval. Tod's sup-
porters replied that their favorite was
the choice of
many county conventions, and that the
Hamer move-
the Devil to pay amongst the Ohio
Democrats on the subject of the cur-
rency." The division soon became so
evident that the Ohio Statesman was
forced to admit its existence, although
it contended that the difference was
not fundamental but merely one of means
and not of ends. That organ
furthermore pointed to the resolutions
of the Columbiana County Democrats
as the proper ground for the party to
assume at that time. These resolu-
tions, written by T. J. Morgan,
protested against "any effort . . . on the one
hand to drive the party forward with
impetuosity, or on the other hand,
to retard its steady progress by an
unworthy abandonment of the ground
already assumed." Hazewell's
position on the currency question is shown
by the fact that he selected for
publication only those parts of the Colum-
biana County resolutions which supported
a middle ground position. Mor-
gan, who was anxious not to ruin Tod's
candidacy by being interpreted as
a bank conservative, protested against
Hazewell's selection and pointed to
the remainder of the resolutions, as
more truly representative of the attitude
of the party. Other resolutions approved
a "discreet and persevering agita-
tion" of the currency question in
order to hasten the day when the Consti-
tution of Ohio would be remodeled and
the issue of paper money by
corporations or individuals forbidden by
the fundamental law of the State.
Morgan took occasion to regret that
Hazewell had not taken such a strong
ground on the currency question as his
predecessor, Medary. H. C. Whit-
man to Allen, November 23, 1845, Allen
MSS.; Tappan to Allen, November
30, 1845; T. J. Morgan to ?, December 2,
1845; Medary to Allen, Decem-
ber 9, 1845; Whitman to Allen, December
10, 1845; Hart to Allen, De-
cember 20, 1845, Allen MSS., vols. V,
VIII, IX. Ohio Statesman, No-
vember 26, 1845; Ohio Statesman, October
26, 1845; Ohio Patriot quoted
in Ohio State Journal, December
23, 1845.
574 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ment was the work of revengeful,
disgruntled traitors
who had been refused appointments under
the Polk ad-
ministration.252 There
probably was some truth in this
statement, for the radicals were in
control of the Fed-
eral patronage in Ohio and were using
it to force ad-
herence to their policies on state
matters.
The policy of the Whig majority in the
Legislature
helped, to some degree, to unify the
Democrats. The
Ohio State Journal had advised, at the beginning of
the session, against further
experimentation, and had
pronounced the Kelley banking plan the
best system in
operation anywhere in the United
States. "If the Loco-
focos," this paper continued,
"want to test it, let them.
The sooner the better. If they want
individual liability
when the public are already secured
beyond possible
hazard, let them propose it, and then
vote it down with-
out any talk or noise."253 But
the issue of banking and
currency would not down. When the lower
House pre-
pared to elect a speaker, Charles
Reemelin, a German
hard money Democrat from Cincinnati,
offered a reso-
lution that no bank officer would be
eligible to that office.
His proposal was rejected by a strict
party alignment.254
During the course of a debate in the
Senate on state
stocks, Alfred P. Edgerton (D) had
expressed a desire
to depreciate the value of the Ohio
state stocks if thereby
he might strike a blow at the banks.255
In spite of at-
tempts by conservative Democrats, like
Dowty Utter, a
252 Conclusion
taken from letters in Ohio Statesman, November 14,
24, 1844.
253 Ohio State Journal, December
9, 1845; Ohio Executive Documents,
1845, v. X, part 1, No. 1, pp. 5-6; Ohio
Statesman, December 3, 1845.
254 Ohio Statesman, December 1, 1845.
255 Ohio State Journal, December 11, 1845; Kalida Venture, December
23, 1845, quoted in Ohio State Journal, December
31, 1845.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 575
veteran political leader from Clermont
County, and
prominently mentioned for the
governorship, to suppress
the issue, the Democrats insisted on
making it the lead-
ing question in the next campaign.256
In the fall of 1845, the Democratic
State Central
Committee sounded the call for another
State
Convention, reminding the party that
"A system of un-
equal laws, extensive immunities, and
aristocratic privi-
leges [had been] established, through
the most magnifi-
cent and corrupting, if not the most
fraudulent scheme
of banking, for the benefit of one
class, while oppressive
taxes and its train of attendant evils
[had been] re-
served for another."257 Most
of the delegates selected
in the county conventions were
instructed for Tod, and
the resolutions adopted were
practically unanimous in
condemning the Kelley Banking Law.258
The control of
the State Convention by the radicals
was evidenced by
the choice of Samuel Medary as
president. At the psy-
chological moment, Medary introduced a
letter from
Tod, who had a majority of the
instructed delegates,
revealing Tod as an extreme anti-bank
man. Whitman
had done his work well. The
conservatives attempted to
prevent the reading of the letter, but
amid a great deal
of confusion, the "views" of
the already selected can-
didate were made known.259 After
dwelling upon the
iniquities of the Whig banking scheme,
Tod declared
that, although he had once thought
banks might "be so
guarded and restricted by legislative
provisions, as to be
of sufficient benefit to tolerate their
existence, subse-
256 Letter from Utter printed in
Georgetown Standard, January 8, 1846,
and reprinted in Ohio State Journal, January
13, 1846.
257 Ohio Statesman, November 24,
1845.
258 Ibid., December 1, 1845; January 8, 1846.
259 Xenia Torch-Light, January
15, 1846; Ohio Press, May 19, 1847.
576 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
quent reflection and experience"
had convinced him
that "any system of banking that
can be devised, must
be based upon unequal privileges by
which the few gain
wealth and power at the expense of the
many." Ac-
cordingly, past experience seemed to
indicate the neces-
sity of a State Convention to amend the
Constitution so
as to prohibit the "granting of
all charters and exclusive
privileges." Indeed, the restriction
of monopolies and
special privileges was a part of the
general reform
movement in Ohio which culminated in
the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1851.260
Radical Democrats like Samuel Medary,
H. C. Whit-
man, T. W. Bartley and Alfred P.
Edgerton welcomed
the Tod letter with grim joy, for it
meant the defeat of
their opponents and the triumph of Van
Buren princi-
ples in the State.261
In spite of opposition from the
conservatives, the
Convention resolved, "That the
Democracy of Ohio are
opposed to all paper currency, and are
resolved to return
to the constitutional currency of gold
and silver." Un-
compromising hostility was declared for
all chartered
and special privileges. At the same
time, the right of
the United States to all territory on
the Pacific Coast to
fifty-four degrees and forty minutes
was asserted in
260 See Chapter VII.
261 They had laid their plans well and
the Convention carried them out.
According to Matthias Martin, Benjamin
Tappan was as "uncompromising
upon hard money as the Rock of
Gibraltar" and wanted to make it the sole
issue. Martin differed because he felt
that the party could not unite on
this single issue, but that the
accumulation of Whig crimes since 1840
should be listed against them. Utter argued
that nine-tenths of the party
favored dropping the currency question
until the next or even a later cam-
paign. Martin to Allen, Columbus,
(Ohio), January 5, 1846, Allen MSS.,
v. X; Utter to the Georgetown Standard,
January 8, 1846, reprinted in Ohio
State Journal, January 13, 1846.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 577
vigorous terms and the Administration
was commended
for serving notice on England of the
termination of
joint occupancy of the Oregon country.262
Edwin M.
Stanton, a rising young lawyer and
ardent radical Dem-
ocrat of Steubenville, who had been
prominently men-
tioned by the radicals as a possible
candidate in 1846 in
case Tod should not take strong enough
grounds on the
currency question,263 regarded Tod's
nomination as a tri-
umph of principle.264 H. C. Whitman was jubilant. He
wrote Allen that the "work"
was finished "most glori-
ously." "A different
result," he boasted, "would have
obtained had not some hundred young men
like myself
gone up from the various quarters of
Ohio determined
to fight it out. We had a small fight
in the beginning.
Some five or six were choked and
dragged out of the
pulpit. We ended harmoniously and the
Democratic
party of Ohio is at last placed on the
high ground you
assumed . . . in 1837 in your Anti-Bank
speech."265
The Whig papers, however, denied that
the proceedings
ended so harmoniously, the Ohio
State Journal describ-
ing the Convention as a scene of
confusion unequalled
for its "utter regardlessness of
propriety, order, de-
cency" and "untamed
wildness," in any political assem-
blage ever seen.266 The Whig
press greeted the reso-
lutions of the Democratic Convention
with derision.
The Cincinnati Gazette saw in
them a "spirit of inno-
262
Full proceedings of the Convention are in
the Ohio Statesman, Jan-
uary 8, 9, 1846.
263 Whitman to Allen, November 23, 1845, Allen MSS., v. VIII.
264 Stanton to Chase, November 30, 1846, Chase MSS., v. II,
in Penn-
sylvania Historical Society Library.
Hereafter, when citations to the Chase
manuscripts are made, it is understood
that they are taken from the col-
lection in the Library of Congress
unless otherwise stated.
265 Whitman to Allen, January 26, 1846,
Allen MSS., v. X.
266 Ohio State Journal, January
9, 1846.
Vol. XXXVII-37.
578
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
vation--of unsteadiness--of bank
destruction" and
asked when the interests of the State
would cease to be
torn and divided for the sport of a
faction.267 The Ohio
State Journal foresaw a continued war on the currency
and the subjection of the prosperity of
the State to the
caprices of the
"destructives."268
A portion of the Democratic press of
the State also
received the platform with some
misgiving, but the
Ohio Statesman and the Sandusky Democrat gave it
ardent support. The Democrat saw in it a return to
constitutional currency. "The
people," it asserted, "have
been cursed and defrauded by banks long
enough, if
there were no other objections against
the system. They
have borne the wrong and injustice
originating from
the banking system, until forbearance
has ceased to be
a virtue."269 At first, it seemed as if the party
would
accept the platform and the candidate
with enthusiasm,
but a lack of enthusiasm among some of
the party lead-
ers of the State soon became
noticeable. Medary at-
tributed it to factional strife between
the leaders over
the question of the succession.270
In Richland County,
a Democratic meeting adopted
resolutions condemning
the nomination of Tod and the severe
anti-bank resolu-
tions of the State Convention.271 The
Wayne County
Standard tore Tod's name from its editorial columns,272
and the conservative Democrats of
Muskingum County
267 Cincinnati
Daily Gazette, January 13, 1846.
268 Ohio State Journal, January 10, 1846.
269 Editorial of Sandusky Democrat quoted
in Cincinnati Daily Gazette,
February 6, 1846.
270 Medary to Allen, January 26, 1846,
Allen MSS., v. X.
271 Ohio Statesman, January
19, 1846.
272 Wayne County Standard quoted in Xenia Torch-Light, January
29,
1846, and in Cincinnati Daily
Gazette, February 14, 1846.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 579
favored a proposal of the
"softs" for a state convention
to name another candidate for governor.273
In spite of
the fact that the conservative
insurgent movement
reached alarming proportions, the hard
money Demo-
crats did not abandon their radical
demands. The Mont-
gomery County Democrats wanted to
banish paper
money forever from the State.274 The
Hamilton County
Democrats approved of the "repeal
of the act to incor-
porate the state bank of Ohio, and
other banking com-
panies, thereby intending to destroy
every institution
now organized under it, and to prevent
any organiza-
tion in the future. The heads of the
hydra must be cut
off, and its blood staunched in order
to subdue the ven-
omous monster."275
In the meantime, the opposition
prepared to join
issue with the Democrats on the matter
of the Kelley
Law. In their county conventions the
Whigs adopted
resolutions upholding the Whig banking
measure. The
Muskingum County Whigs took the
orthodox party po-
sition on both the banks and the
tariff.276 The Licking
Whigs specifically favored a
"mixed currency, com-
posed of gold and silver, and paper,
convertible into
gold and silver."277 The
Medina County Whigs argued
that the Democratic policy on the banks
would make the
"rich richer, and the poor
poorer."278 Among those
mentioned for governor were Benjamin F.
Wade,279 of
273 Zanesville Aurora quoted in Ohio
State Journal, April 2, 1846.
274 Ohio Statesman, January 30, 1846.
275 Ohio State Journal, January 24, 1846.
276 Ibid., January 27, 1846.
277 Ibid., January 26, 1846.
278 Ibid., January 27, 1846.
279 Ibid., February 2, 1846.
580
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Ashtabula County, William Bebb,280
David Fisher,281
James Collier,282 of
Steubenville, and Calvary Morris,
of Athens County. William Bebb was
finally nominated
for governor by the Whig State
Convention. "Wm.
Bebb and a Home Currency against David
Tod and Pot
Metal" became the Whig campaign
slogan.283 The Con-
vention condemned, in vigorous terms, a
currency com-
posed entirely of gold and silver, and
Whig orators ar-
gued that the payment of taxes in
specie would work a
hardship on the labouring man, and
would tend to pro-
duce one kind of currency for the
office holder and
another for the people.284 A
Whig Young Men's Rati-
fying Convention under the leadership of
John Teesdale,
at one time editor of the Ohio State
Journal, also passed
resolutions throwing down the gauntlet
to the Demo-
crats.285
The tactics of the Democrats in the
General Assem-
bly in February, 1846, were designed to
bring the con-
servative insurgents into line and to
bring their position
forcefully before the voters of the
State in the coming
campaign. In the House, the Democrats
reported a bill
to repeal the Kelley Bank Law and to
prohibit the issue
of bank notes intended to circulate as
money.286 Two
Democrats voted with the Whigs on this
question, but
the adroit Edson B. Olds of Pickaway
felt it necessary
to support his party in spite of the
fact that he had ob-
tained Whig votes in the fall elections
of 1845 by prom-
280 Ohio State
Journal, February 2, 1846.
281 Ibid., January 29, 1846.
282 Ibid., January
26, 1846.
283 Ibid., February 4, 1846.
284 Proceedings in Ohio State
Journal, February 4, 5, 1846.
285 Ibid., February 4, 1846.
286 Xenia
Torch-Light, February 26, 1846.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 581
ises not to disturb the existing
situation.287 The vote on
this proposal was at once a challenge
to the Whigs and
an evidence that the Democrats intended
to abide by the
platform of their State Convention. As
the campaign
progressed, the Democrats felt it more
expedient to con-
centrate on the "iniquities"
of the new Whig taxation
law passed in the session of 1845-1846.
By this act the
principles of the general property tax
were applied to all
property and industry in the State,
with the exception
of the capital of banks, merchants,
manufacturers, and
other corporations.288 The
Democrats attacked this law
as a special privilege for the bankers
who already had an
overwhelming influence in the
government. Forceful
appeals were made, as has been pointed
out, to farmers
and laborers on the ground that the
banks were taxed
only on the profits they might make,
while the farmer
and mechanic were taxed on their
capital, whether they
made a profit or not. The Whigs
realized the force of
these attacks and the chief Whig organ
of the State
freely admitted that it did not wholly
approve of the law,
although it believed increased taxation
was necessary.
It was pointed out that since the new
enactment placed
a large amount of property hitherto
untaxed on the tax
duplicate, the taxes of the farmer
would be decreased.289
The Whigs represented the Democratic
attack on the tax
law as a subtle warfare of the
"destructives" on the
banks.290 When all other
arguments failed, the Whigs
returned to the principle of the
inviolability of contracts,
287 Xenia Torch-Light, February
26, 1846.
288. L. Bogart, op. cit., p. 281.
289 Ohio State Journal, February
20, 1846; speech of Benjamin S. Cowen
to the people of Belmont County in
August, 1846, in Xenia Torch-Light,
August 20, 1846.
290 Xenia Torch-Light, July 16,
1846.
582 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
and argued that, since the banks were
already taxed by
charters, any provision by the General
Assembly for
another method of taxation would be a
violation of their
charter rights.
The continuance of the Kelley Law and
the tax law
of 1846 depended on the outcome of the
fall elections
of 1846. The Ohio Statesman reminded
its readers just
before the election "That every
vote cast * * *
against Mr. Bebb * * * is a vote for
maintaining
the constitutional rights of the
people, and preserving
their best interests, from the
violation of federal power,
and the oppression of federal Whig
laws, that are made
to grind down the laboring and
producing classes of the
State, and to enrich, pamper and uphold
opulent bankers
and speculating capitalists."291
The election of 1846 was won by the
Whigs, although
they secured only a tie in the Senate.
The Whigs con-
trolled the House by a majority of
eight, and Bebb was
elected governor by a small majority.292 The party also
won a majority of the congressional
delegation from
Ohio. Medary was a candidate for
Congress from the
Tenth District, but he lost to Daniel
Duncan, a Tyler
Whig.293 Medary, who had failed to gain a Federal ap-
pointment as he had hoped,294 became
discontented with
the game of active politics after
losing the race for Con-
291 Ohio Statesman, October
12, 1846.
292 Ibid., October 19, 1846.
292 Ibid., October 23, 1846.
294 In 1863, when relations between Tod
and Medary became strained,
Medary asserted that Tod had promised
him the Brazilian mission if he
would take charge of the Ohio
Statesman again. Medary, in 1846, carried
out his part of the promise but when Tod
failed in the race for governor
in 1846, he took the mission himself.
The Crisis (Columbus), May 13,
1863.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 583
gress and in November, 1846, he was
back at the helm of
the Ohio Statesman.295
Encouraged by the check they could
exercise over
the power of the Whigs in the Senate,
the Democrats
renewed the fight against
"unequaled privileges," in the
1846-1847 session of the Legislature,
by demanding that
banks be taxed in the same manner as
other property.
A bill to this effect was introduced in
the Senate. It in-
cluded a tax on money invested in state
stocks and jew-
elry.296 The Whigs opposed
the bill, in the words of
Seabury Ford, Whig senator from Geauga,
because the
proposal was "a bill to alter and
amend, and in effect and
principle to repeal the charters of all
the banks in Ohio,"
because it would force upon the banks
"a different mode
of taxation than that provided for, and
guaranteed to
them in the law by which they were created. . ."
Ford denied the right of the General
Assembly to invali-
date a charter, and denounced the bill
as an attempt of
the Democrats under their old cry of
"Bank Reform"
to reduce the State to dependence on a
gold and silver
currency.297 The Ohio State Journal declared
the pro-
295 Ohio Statesman, November 9, 1846.
296 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, December
22, 1846.
297 Ohio State Journal, January
8, 1847. At the beginning of the session
the Auditor of State in his annual
report had stated that the banks paid
more revenue to the State by the charter
tax than they would if they were
taxed on their capital stock at the same
rate as other property. The Demo-
crats felt that the statement was made
for political effect and Charles
Reemelin introduced a resolution in the
Senate asking the Auditor for a
statement of the amount which would be
returned to the State under each
method. The report made by the Auditor
(given in Cincinnati Daily
Enquirer, January 16, 1847) did not bear out his previous
statement. The
Democrats then introduced a resolution
to print five thousand extra copies
for distribution. The resolution was
sent to the Committee on Public
Printing where it remained. A Democratic
motion asking for a report from
this committee was defeated by a strict
party vote. Cincinnati Daily
Enquirer, January 27, 1847.
584 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
posal was an "ultra measure of
repudiation and revolu-
tion."298
The Democratic strategy clearly was to
keep the
question before the people, for they
knew their proposal
could not pass. The newspapers of both
parties also kept
the issue alive. The Ohio Statesman,
again under the
control of the redoubtable Medary, kept
up a running fire
of stinging comments on the
"iniquities" of the banking
system, while the Cincinnati Daily
Enquirer made the
inequalities of the tax law its
specialty. The Ohio State
Journal defended the banks, claiming that the prosperity
of the State was due to the beneficent
effects of the
banking system. The Democrats claimed
the credit for
this new prosperity for the Walker
Tariff of 1846,299 and
to the increase of tolls from the
State's canals.300 In the
columns of the Western Empire (Dayton),
Clement L.
Vallandigham argued forcefully for
"taxation equally
and properly and justly
apportioned," the payment of all
the "just debts" and the
abolition of paper currency, and
special privileges.301
Although the relative importance of
banking and
currency as issues began to fade toward
the close of the
decade, because of the attacks of the
Whigs on the Mexi-
can War, the Democrats allowed no
opportunity to pass
without condemning the Kelley Banking
Law and the
revenue measure of 1846, and at State
meetings and
county conventions they issued the
usual resolutions con-
demning the banking and taxing system
of the State,
298 The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer upheld
the right of the General
Assembly to repeal any act of its
predecessor. Ohio State Journal, Janu-
ary 7, 1847.
299 Ohio Statesman, September 14,
1847.
300 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, September
15, 1847.
301 Western Empire quoted in Ohio Statesman, June 25, 1847.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 585
while the Whigs as eagerly defended the
systems they
had created.302 The new
issues over slavery in the ter-
ritories acquired from Mexico tended to
overshadow
other questions. Many political leaders
probably wel-
comed an opportunity to discuss slavery
and the rights
of the North as opposed to the Southern
Slavocracy, in
order to dodge embarrassing questions
relating to labour
and the rights of the common man. The
political ener-
gies of the people were directed to new
questions of
national importance.
The elections of October, 1847, gave
the Whigs a
majority of two in each branch of the
General Assem-
bly,303 apparently another
mandate that Ohio should "be
a faith-abiding, covenant-keeping
State."304 In his an-
nual message to the General Assembly,
Governor Bebb
interpreted the results as an approval
of Whig banking
principles, and he praised the Kelley
Law for affording
to the people a "convenient, sound
and convertible cur-
rency
. . ."305 In
the selection of candidates for
governor in 1848, both parties were
influenced largely
by national issues, which are to be
treated more at length
in another chapter.306 The
Whigs nominated Seabury
Ford for governor, and, although most
of their resolu-
tions dealt with the origin and conduct
of the Mexican
War, they also announced their
adherence to a protec-
tive tariff, a system of internal
improvements, and to "a
302 Ohio Statesman, January 11, August 16, September 16, 30, 1847;
Ohio State Journal, July--October, 1847.
303 Ohio Statesman, October 16, 1847.
304 Ohio State Journal, October 16, 1847.
305 Ohio Executive Documents, 1847, v. XII, part 1, pp. 10-11.
306
See Chapter V.
586
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
sound and uniform currency" and
their opposition to the
Sub-Treasury and "Executive
usurpations."307
Long before the meeting of the
Democratic State
Convention, in 1848, it was evident
that John B. Weller
was the choice of the party for
governor. He had been
active in his party and had rendered
meritorious service
in the army during the Mexican War. An
unpleasant
situation which had developed between
Weller and Tap-
pan before the Convention was
satisfactorily ironed out,
and Weller agreed to support the
anti-bank policies of
the Democrats, as well as the Wilmot
Proviso, which
forbade slavery in any territory which
might be ac-
quired from Mexico as a result of the
War.308 The se-
lection of Weller may be considered as
a victory for the
administration forces since he had
shown himself sub-
servient to the wishes of the powers at
Washington.309
The resolutions of the Convention
condemned the reve-
nue system because it did not tax bank
stock and the
Board of Control because it was alleged
to possess irre-
sponsible banking powers.310
There was a general tendency toward a
democratiza-
tion in 1848. It manifested itself in
Ohio in expressions
of sympathy by every county convention
with revolu-
tionary movements then in progress in
Europe. Ohio
felt this same movement in the 1840's
in the direction
of greater democracy. Although this
movement became
entangled in the slavery controversy at
the close of the
decade, it nevertheless helped to break
up conservative
control and enabled the radical
elements of the Free Soil
307 Ohio State Journal, January
20, 1848.
308 Ibid., January 6, 1847.
309
Ohio Statesman, January 11, 1848.
310 Ohio Statesman, January 11, 1848.
Party Politics in Ohio,
1840-1850 587
and Democratic parties to bring about
important re-
forms in the new Constitution of
1851.311 The reaction
in Ohio against special privileges was
nowhere shown
more clearly than in the struggle for a
new constitu-
tion. The Whigs at last were forced to
allow the people
to vote on the proposition of calling
for a constitutional
convention. This issue figured in the
fall elections of
1849, and the Whigs supported the
movement for a new
constitution rather half-heartedly. The
feeling en-
gendered against banking institutions
during these
struggles of the 1840's was an
important factor in the
demand for a new constitution. Reform
seemed to be
in the air. The conservative forces of
the State could
not resist the demand for a change in
the fundamental
law of the land and the people approved
the calling of
a constitutional convention by a
majority of nearly three
to one.312
In the fall of 1849 and to the
convening of the Con-
stituent assembly, the Democrats of
Ohio continued to
express their hatred of Whig banking
and revenue laws,
in much the same language as that used
in earlier cam-
paigns.313 The Whigs defended their bank
and tax
schemes314, and revived the
old charges of repudiation
and destruction in order to frighten
the timid. But
311 See
Chapters VI and VII.
312 Ohio
Statesman, October 27, 1849.
313 The Knox County Democrats, in
August, 1849, declared that banks of
circulation were not only
unconstitutional but were "aristocratic, oppres-
sive, and corrupting in their
influences, and diametrically opposed to the
principles of equality, upon which the
Democratic party is based." The
Democrats of Ross and Pickaway counties
were opposed to all forms of
circulating mediums except a
"constitutional currency" and avowed great
fear of "gigantic state
monopolies." Ohio Statesman, August 24, Septem-
ber 22, 1849.
314 Ohio State
Journal, September 10, 1849, February
17, 1850.
588 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
there were signs that the Whigs were no
longer united
in the defense of their system. Part of
the younger
Whigs felt that the Board of Control
exercised arbitrary
power over the banking system to
benefit the select
few,315 and others favored a
free system of banking and
equal taxation of all forms of
property, including bank
capital.316
The result of the election of delegates
was favorable
to the Democrats. The Second
Constitutional Conven-
tion of Ohio was organized by the
election of William
Medill (D) as president.317 The
Democrats, who were
in control, then proceeded to put into
effect their ideas
on banking and currency, although the
"Hard money"
Democrats did not secure the adoption
of their princi-
ples without modification or
compromise. Section I of
Article VIII prohibited the General
Assembly from
passing any special act of
incorporation. Section 2
of the same article set forth the
Democratic doctrine
that the General Assembly might alter
or repeal general
acts of incorporation which might be
chartered there-
after. The third section contained the
familiar Demo-
cratic principle of individual
liability for stock-holders.
The fourth section carried out the
principles of the De-
mocracy in regard to bank taxation, by
providing that
the property of corporations, then
existing or thereafter
created, should be subject to the same
taxation as the
315 Ohio Statesman, July 7, 1847.
316 Ohio State Journal, August 29, 1849.
317 Report
of the Debates and Proceedings of the Ohio State Convention,
called to Alter, Revise or Amend the
Constitution of the State, 1850-1851,
J. V. Smith, reporter to the Convention,
Columbus, 1851. Medary, printer,
2 vols. The reports of the Convention
contain a copy of the Constitution as
adopted.
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 589
property of individuals.318 In
order to guarantee equal
taxation for all forms of property,
Section 2 of Article
XII made it mandatory for the General
Assembly to
pass laws "taxing by a uniform
rule, all moneys, credits,
investments in banks, stocks, joint
stock companies, or
otherwise . . ."
Section 3 of the same article
provided that all property employed in
banking should
be taxed according to the uniform rule.319
The forces working for the Democratic
ideas of re-
form had at last won out, and had
incorporated in the
fundamental law of the State most of
their principles on
banking and currency. Indeed, in the
election of dele-
gates to the Convention, the Democrats
had reaped the
advantage of having for several years
advocated a
change in the Constitution, while the
Whigs were either
hostile or lukewarm toward the
proposal. The Free
Soilers were inclined to support the
Democrats on the
issue of constitutional reform, and the
Whigs were
still suffering from the breach in
their ranks which
had occurred during the national
campaign of 1848. But
not all members of the Whig party were
reactionary. A
318 Ibid., v. II, p. 863. The principle that all forms of wealth
should
be taxed in the same proportion has
formed a part of the Ohio revenue
system to the present day (1928), but
there is now a movement to discard
this principle on the ground that
intangible wealth should be taxed at a
lower rate than tangible wealth. Under
the present system such forms of
wealth as stocks and bonds, which the
framers of the Constitution of 1851
were anxious should be reached in the
same manner as other property,
largely escape taxation simply by reason
of the failure of the citizen to
place them on his tax return. Those who
demand a change insist that if
the tax on such wealth is lowered and
enforcement of the law made more
efficient there will be practically no evasion
of the revenue laws. The
result, they say, will be a higher
revenue from intangibles, which will
enable the State to lower the tax on
tangible property. Ohio State Journal,
January 26, 1928, editorial.
319 Ibid., v. II, p. 863.
590
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
large portion consisted of farmers and
day labourers,
and the party, in its appeal for
support throughout the
decade, had never lost sight of the
needs of the common
man. Nevertheless, the Whig program was
essentially
conservative. The Whig leaders were
generally men
of wealth and standing in their own
communities, who
imagined themselves and their property
menaced by the
radicalism of the common mechanic and
day labourer.
Agrarianism, repudiation, and
Jacobinism are terms that
adequately describe their ideas of the
significance of the
Democratic movement, and their fear is
comparable, to
a degree, to that prevailing in certain
circles today about
communism or socialism. Throughout the
decade the
Whig party generally favored the status
quo. The one
exception was their demand for the
repeal of the Black
Laws, but this involved no immediate
problem of eco-
nomics, and the Whig orator, with
perfect equanimity,
could appeal to the sympathies of his
constituency for
the wrongs of the negro, without in any
way raising the
issue of the economic relationship of
the masses of the
people.
After 1848, the Whig organization was
hopelessly
broken and the forces tending toward
democratization
were allowed to work themselves out in
the new Consti-
tution. Although there were
conservatives and reac-
tionaries as well as progressives in
the ranks of the
Democrats, as has been shown, the
leaders of the party
were devoted to the Jacksonian program,
as far as eco-
nomic issues were involved. Their
hostility to paper
currency was the result of sad
experiences with banking
institutions which they, themselves,
had set up. At times
they went further in their program of
reform than was
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 591 wise, but, in the main, their proposals were financially sound and their political principles those of the masses. In the last analysis the banking question in Ohio was the result of a lack of adequate state regulation of corpora- tions and the distrust of corporate and privileged inter- ests by the frontier democracy, still dominant in the State. (To be continued in the QUARTERLY for January, 1929) |
|
PARTY POLITICS IN OHIO, 1840-1850*
BY EDGAR ALLAN HOLT, B. A., M. A.,
PH. D.
PREFACE
It has been my purpose in this study to
trace the po-
litical history of Ohio during the
'forties in relation to
state and national problems. The period
under investi-
gation affords an interesting cross
section of American
political history, revealing appeals to
party prejudice,
conflicting economic and social
interests, political ma-
nipulations and
"log-rollings," and the emergence of the
Northwest as a powerful section
demanding in vigorous
terms a new consideration in the
councils of the Na-
tional Government. The period also
marks the growing
divergence of northern and southern
interests which
ended in the Civil War, for the
Northwest, like the
South, was developing a peculiar
sectionalism which
threatened the integrity of the Union.
Ohio's economic
interests and the personal ambitions of
her political lead-
ers seemed to be menaced by southern combinations.
The press of both parties breathed open
defiance to the
slaveholder, although the wealthier
classes of southern
Ohio deprecated the agitation of a
question which threat-
ened their commercial connections in
the South. Prob-
ably of greater importance was the
growing conflict be-
* Dissertation presented in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
the Graduate School of the Ohio
State University.
(439)