GREATNESS OF OHIO.
[Address delivered at the Centennial
Celebration of the Admission of
Ohio into the Federal Union, held under
the Auspices of the Ohio
Republican Association of Washington
City, May 23, 1903.]
BY HON. D. K. WATSON, PRESIDENT OF THE
ASSOCIATION.
One hundred years ago a portion of what
was known as the
Northwest Territory was admitted as a
State into the Federal
Union. By an act of Congress the people
of the future state were
to give it a name. Subsequently the name
Ohio was selected.
It was the fourth state admitted into
the Union since the
establishment of the Federal Government
on the 4th of March,
1789.
During the present week the people of
Ohio have duly
celebrated this event, and it is
eminently proper for this Associa-
tion, in this formal way and in the
capital of the nation, to recog-
nize the centennial of the admission of
its state into the Federal
Union. It is the only time in a
hundredyears such a celebration
would have been appropriate, and it will
be another hundred years
before it will be appropriate again.
In area the state is not large, being
less than the average area
of the states which constitute the Union
and embracing about
twenty-six million acres of land or
forty-four thousand square
miles of territory, which is subdivided
into eighty-eight counties.
Geographically, the location was
exceedingly favorable for
future development. The great Northwest
Territory a hundred
years ago was attracting the attention
of the nation and the
world. Ohio, bounded on the south by the
Ohio river and on the
north by Lake Erie, constituted the
gateway through which the
mighty tide of population passed on its
western march, and in
addition to those who moved there for
the purpose of establishing
homes, many who had determined to locate
farther west were in-
duced by the fertility of her soil, her
favorable location, and her
bright prospects, to settle and remain
within her boundary. From
the day when she was admitted as a state
she has been a most
conspicuous part of the Federal Union.
(310)
Greatness of Ohio. 311
Her first capital was Chillicothe; her
first United States
Senators, Thomas Worthington and John
Smith; her first repre-
sentative in Congress, Jeremiah Morrow.
Her first constitution was adopted in 1802, which she was
required to adopt before she could be
admitted into the Union.
Her present constitution was adopted in
1851.
So marvelous had been the progress of
the state to the year
1825, that General Lafayette who visited
it in that year, said it was
"the eighth wonder of the
world."
It was not within the wisdom of man at
the time Ohio was ad-
mitted into the Union to foresee how
wonderful was to be her
progress and how marvelous was to be her
social, religious, edu-
cational, political and military
influence upon the Republic. Plant-
ing herself upon the principles of
religious liberty and political
freedom, as enunciated in the ordinance
for the government
of the Northwest Territory, the Bill of
Rights in the first consti-
tution provided:
1st. All men are born equally free and
independent, and have certain
natural, inherent and unalienable
rights; amongst which the enjoying and
defending life and liberty, acquiring,
possessing and protecting property,
and pursuing and obtaining happiness and
safety.
2d. There shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude in this
State, otherwise than for the punishment
of crimes, whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted.
3d. All men have a natural and
indefeasible right to worship Al-
mighty God, according to the dictates of
conscience; that no human au-
thority can, in any case whatever,
control or interfere with the rights of
conscience; that no man shall be
compelled to attend, erect or support any
place of worship, or to maintain any
ministry, against his consent; and
that no preference shall ever be given,
by law, to any religious society
or mode of worship, and no religious
test shall be required, as a qualifi-
cation, to any office of trust or profit.
But religion, morality and knowl-
edge, being essentially necessary to
good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of
instruction shall forever be encour-
aged by legislative provision, not
inconsistent with the rights of con-
science.
Concerning the freedom of the press, the
constitution con-
tained the following:
The printing presses shall be open and
free to every citizen who
wishes to examine the proceedings of any
branch of government, or the
312 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
conduct of any public officer; and no
law shall ever restrain the right
thereof. Every citizen has an
indisputable right to speak, write or print,
upon any subject, as he thinks proper,
being liable for the abuse of that
liberty. In prosecutions for any
publication respecting the official con-
duct of men in a public capacity, or
where the matter published is proper
for public information, the truth thereof
may always be given in evidence.
On the subject of education, it
provided:
That no law shall be passed to prevent
the poor in the several coun-
ties and townships within this State
from an equal participation in the
schools, academies, colleges and
universities, which are endowed, in whole
or in part, from the revenue arising
from donations made by the United
States, for the support of schools and
colleges; and the doors of the said
schools, academies and universities,
shall be open for the reception of
scholars, students and teachers, of
every grade, without any distinction or
preference whatever, contrary to the
intent for which said donations were
made.
The result of her wise and liberal
course in reference to
education may be seen when we recognize
that there are to-day
in Ohio more colleges than in any state
in the Union, and that
of her population which numbers more
than four millions of
people, more than ninety per cent can
read and write.
Some conception of her commercial
progress may be had
when we realize that there are almost
twelve thousand miles of
railroad within her borders, that each
of her eighty-eight counties
is traversed by railroads; and that her
five largest cities con-
sidered in their numerical order are
larger than any five cities in
their numerical order in any state in
the country.
Conspicuous as Ohio has been in every
attribute which con-
tributes to the dignity and worth of
statehood, her preeminence
is more marked by reason of the
world-wide fame and influence
attained by so many of her distinguished
citizens than from any
other cause. I have always thought that
the union of the thirteen
original states into one republic was
the world's greatest achieve-
ment in the domain of civil or political
government, and that it
was a great thing for a single state to
be a member of the Federal
Union. It brings it strength and
solidity, and safety in time of
war; but while it is a great thing for a
state to be an integral
part of the Union, it is a far greater
thing to be a presidential
state of the Union, -a state to which
the other states look for
Greatness of Ohio. 313
presidents, to have one of her citizens,
or one who had been born
within her borders, and had become a
citizen elsewhere, selected
as the representative citizen of the
nation. Such is the highest
honor a state can achieve. Such a state
is Ohio. Counted by this
test, she has furnished six presidents
of the Republic, or more
than one-fourth the whole number of
presidents who were elected.
By the same test, she has also furnished
one-tenth of the present
United States Senators, one-twelfth of
the members of the present
House of Representatives, one-fourth of
the Chief Justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States, five
Associate Justices of
that court, sixteen cabinet officers,
one chief justice and two asso-
ciate justices of the Court of Claims,
and two chief justices and
one associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the District of Co-
lumbia, and one Speaker of the House of
Representatives. A
little more than fifty years ago five
native boys were living in
Ohio each of whom became president of
the United States.
In addition to this array of genius our
state has sent forth sons
who have become eminent as leaders in
other states; for forty
years the State of Indiana has been
represented and is still being
represented in the United States Senate
by men born in Ohio,
and almost every state in the mighty
West is represented in official
life by men native of our own state.
But our State has made other conquests
in the domain of
civil affairs. The history of her
judiciary is the history of a long
line of eminent judges, many of whom
acquired national fame
as jurists, while her representatives in
Congress have been prom-
inent as orators, financiers and
statesmen. Thomas Corwin was
probably unsurpassed as a popular orator
by any American, while
as great debaters in the National House
of Representatives,
Schenck, Shellabarger, Bingham,
Garfield, McKinley, and others
I might name, were hardly equaled, and
Simpson, a native of the
state, was the most eloquent bishop of
the republic, and Gun-
saulus, another native, is the ablest
pulpit orator of the country.
Yet more distinguished have been her
sons in the camp,
on the march, and in the field of
battle. In the War of 1812,
though she was young and weak in
numbers, she furnished her
just proportion of troops, who fought
valiently for their flag
and country. In the war with Mexico her
soldiers were brave
314 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
and gallant and the brilliant Hamer,
whose eloquence as an orator
had won him national fame and who as a
member of Congress
had appointed Grant to West Point, met
his death in the storming
of Monterey. But it was in the great
civil war between the states
in which she received her greatest
renown because of the radiant
glory which her sons won in that
immortal struggle. The greatest
generals of that war were from Ohio. The
three who, by the
common consent of the world, displayed
the greatest military
genius and led the armies to the
greatest success in that awful
struggle, and whose names fill the
universe with glory, were her
sons. In addition to this, she furnished
nineteen major-generals
and fifty three brigadier-generals.
Proud as we are of this wonderful record
of the sons of
our noble state in the conflict for the
preservation of the Union,
we are equally proud of the fact that
her contribution to the
rank and file of the army was three
hundred and forty thousand
men. Of this number it has been said six
thousand five hun-
dred and thirty-six were killed outright
in battle; four thousand
six hundred and seventy-four were
mortally wounded and died
in hospitals; thirteen thousand three
hundred and fifty-four
died of disease contracted in the
service; and that eighty-four
out of every thousand enlisted men from
Ohio lost their lives
in the war for the Union. With the
exception of those who
were taken prisoners at Saratoga and
Yorktown, the entire loss
in battle of every kind, in both the
British and American armies
during the war of the Revolution was
twenty-one thousand five
hundred and twenty-six, being four
thousand less than Ohio's
loss in the War of the Rebellion.
No wonder it has been said that
President Lincoln was
accustomed to ask, just before a great
battle was to be fought,
"How many Ohio soldiers would take
part;" and on one occa-
sion when some one inquired why he
always asked that ques-
tion, replied, "Because I know that
if there are many Ohio-
soldiers to be engaged, it is probable
we will win the battle,
for they can always be relied upon in
such an emergency."
Flattering as this record is, it hardly
surpasses the con-
tribution which Ohio made to the civil
side of that great con-
test. So conspicuous were her sons in
the administration of the
Greatness of Ohio. 315
civil affairs of the Government during
that crisis that a dis-
tinguished citizen of Ohio, who was an
eminent member of
Congress, and a general in the Civil
War, has said that "eight
Ohio men in civil life did as much or
more probably to ensure
the success of the Union cause than any
eight of the generals
whom the state sent to the field. Those
were Edwin M. Stan-
ton, Salmon P. Chase, John Sherman,
Benjamin F. Wade, Wil-
liam Dennison, David Tod, John Brough
and Jay Cooke."
A single reference will illustrate the
prominence of Ohio
men in the political affairs of the
country. In the attempt to
impeach President Johnson, the Chief
Justice who presided at
the trial was from Ohio. If the President
had been convicted,
Senator Wade of Ohio would have
succeeded to the Presidency.
The manager of the impeachment
proceedings was the eloquent
John A. Bingham, of Ohio, one of the
foremost members of
the House of Representatives. Among the
eminent counsel for
the President were Henry Stanbery and
William S. Groesbeck,
each from Ohio, and each among the most
eminent lawyers of the
nation.
At the very beginning of the great Civil
War, Governor
Dennison telegraphed this patriotic
message to President Lin-
coln, which deserves to be engraved on
the front door of our
State capitol: "Ohio must lead
throughout this war." How
prophetic were those words, for Ohio did
lead throughout the
war and she has led the nation ever
since. Her ascendency
has universally been recognized, and her
future promises to
be as glorious as her past.
The marvelous success of our State is
not due to the wheel
of chance. Chance is fickle, but our
State has maintained her
supremacy for a hundred years, not only
in the distinction which
her sons have achieved in every avenue
of life, but by the great
body of her people. Her sons have been
honest, laborious,
frugal, and constant to the best
instincts and purposes of life.
Her daughters have been noble,
Christian, virtuous and beautiful
in every attribute of womanhood, while
almost every home was
consecrated to education, patriotism and
the refining influences
of Christianity. The people of Ohio
believed in the schoolhouse
and the church. They educated in the one
and worshipped in
9 Vol. XII-3
316 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
the other. It would, perhaps, be
impossible to assign any special
cause for the remarkable success of our
State as represented by
her sons in public estimation, but I
have always felt that it
was largely the result of the different
characteristics of the
early settlers of the State. There
poured into northeastern Ohio
the shrewd, far-seeing, calculating,
intellectual New Englander;
while into the southern portion of the
State there went the
warm-blooded, impulsive, passionate,
generous, brave, and elo-
quent Virginian. The representatives of
these civilizations be-
came distinguished men. In the order of
time their children
intermarried and produced the best
combination of brain and
blood and heart the nation has seen, and
to this cause I largely
attribute the ascendency of our State.
Daniel Webster once said, in speaking of
Massachusetts:
"I have no encomium to pronounce
upon Massachusetts. She
needs none. There she stands." I
have an encomium to pro-
nounce upon Ohio, not because she needs
it, but because she de-
serves it: There she stands, the
foremost state in the American
Union.