PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE
Political revolutions are the opportunity of youth. In England, Pitt and
Fox; in America, Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris; in Europe, Napoleon and
Pozzo di Borgo, before they reached their thirtieth year, helped to
shape the political destiny of nations. The early maturity of Gallatin
was no less remarkable. In his voluminous correspondence there is no
trace of youth. At nineteen his habits of thought were already formed,
and his moral and intellectual tendencies were clearly marked in his
character, and understood by himself. His tastes also were already
developed. His life, thereafter, was in every sense a growth. The germs
of every excellence, which came to full fruition in his subsequent
career, may be traced in the preferences of his academic days. From
youth to age he was consistent with himself. His mind was of that rare
and original order which, reasoning out its own conclusions, seldom has
cause to change.
His political opinions were early formed. A letter written by him in
October, 1783, before he had completed his twenty-third year, shows the
maturity of his intellect, and his analytic habit of thought. An extract
gives the nature of the reasons which finally determined him to make his
home in America:--
"This is what by degrees greatly influenced my judgment. After my
arrival in this country I was early convinced, upon a comparison of
American governments with that of Geneva, that the latter is
founded on false principles; that the judicial power, in civil as
well as criminal cases, the executive power wholly, and two thirds
of the legislative power being lodged in two bodies which are
almost self-made, and the members of which are chosen for life,--it
is hardly possible but that this formidable aristocracy should,
sooner or later, destroy the equilibrium which it was supposed
could be maintained at Geneva."
The period from the peace of 1783 to the adoption of the federal
Constitution in 1787 was one of political excitement. The utter failure
of the old Confederation to serve the purposes of national defense and
safety for which it was framed had been painfully felt during the war.
Independence had been achieved under it rather than by it, the patriotic
action of some of the States supplying the deficiencies of others less
able or less willing. By the radical inefficiency of the Confederation
the war had been protracted, its success repeatedly imperiled, and, at
its close, the results gained by it were constantly menaced. The more
perfect union which was the outcome of the deliberations of the federal
convention was therefore joyfully accepted by the people at large.
Indeed, it was popular pressure, and not the arguments of its advocates,
that finally overcame the formidable opposition in and out of the
convention to the Constitution. No written record remains of Mr.
Gallatin's course during the sessions of the federal convention. He was
not a member of the body, nor is his name connected with any public act
having any bearing upon its deliberations. Of the direction of his
influence, however, there can be no doubt. He had an abiding distrust of
strong government,--a dread of the ambitions of men. Precisely what form
he would have substituted for the legislative and executive system
adopted nowhere appears in his writings, but certainly neither president
nor senate would have been included. They bore too close a resemblance
to king and lords to win his approval, no matter how restricted their
powers. He would evidently have leaned to a single house, with a
temporary executive directly appointed by itself; or, if elected by the
people, then for a short term of office, without renewal; and he would
have reduced its legislative powers to the narrowest possible limit. The
best government he held to be that which governs least; and many of the
ablest of that incomparable body of men who welded this Union held these
views. But the yearning of the people was in the other direction. They
felt the need of government. They wanted the protection of a strong arm.
It must not be forgotten that the thirteen colonies which declared
their independence in 1776 were all seaboard communities, each with its
port. They were all trading communities. The East, with its fisheries
and timber; the Middle States, with their agricultural products and
peltries; the South, with its tobacco; each saw, in that freedom from
the restrictions of the English navigation laws which the treaty of
peace secured, the promise of a boundless commerce. To protect commerce
there must be a national power somewhere. Since the peace the government
had gained neither the affection of its own citizens nor the respect of
foreign powers.
The federal Constitution was adopted September 17, 1787. The first State
to summon a convention of ratification was Pennsylvania. No one of the
thirteen original States was more directly interested than herself. The
centre of population lay somewhere in her limits, and there was
reasonable ground for hope that Philadelphia would become once more the
seat of government. The delegates met at Philadelphia on November 2. An
opposition declared itself at the beginning of the proceedings.
Regardless of the popular impatience, the majority allowed full scope to
adverse argument, and it was not until December 12 that the final vote
was taken and the Constitution ratified, without recommendations, by a
majority of two to one. In this body Fayette County was represented by
Nicholas Breading and John Smilie. The latter gentleman, of Scotch-Irish
birth, an adroit debater, led the opposition. In the course of his
criticisms he enunciated the doctrines which were soon to become a party
cry; the danger of the Constitution "in inviting rather than guarding
against the approaches of tyranny;" "its tendency to a consolidation,
not a confederation, of the States." Mr. Gallatin does not appear to
have sought to be a delegate to this body, but his hand may be traced
through the speeches of Smilie in the precision with which the
principles of the opposition were formulated and declared; and his
subsequent course plainly indicates that his influence was exerted in
the interest of the dissatisfied minority. The ratification was received
by the people with intense satisfaction, but the delay in debate lost
the State the honor of precedence in the honorable vote of
acquiescence,--the Delaware convention having taken the lead by a
unanimous vote. For the moment the Pennsylvania Anti-Federalists clung
to the hope that the Constitution might yet fail to receive the assent
of the required number of States, but as one after another fell into
line, this hope vanished.
One bold expedient remained. The ratification of some of the States was
coupled with the recommendation of certain amendments. Massachusetts led
the way in this, Virginia followed, and New York, which, in the language
of the day, became the eleventh pillar of the federal edifice, on July
26, 1788, accompanied her ratification with a circular letter to the
governors of all the States, recommending that a general convention be
called.[1]
The argument taken in this letter was the only one which had any chance
of commending itself to popular favor. It was in these words: "that the
apprehension and discontents which the articles occasion cannot be
removed or allayed unless an act to provide for the calling of a new
convention be among the first that shall be passed by the next
Congress." This document, made public at once, encouraged the
Pennsylvania Anti-Federalists to a last effort to bring about a new
convention, to undo or radically alter the work of the old. A conference
held at Harrisburg, on September 3, 1788, was participated in by
thirty-three gentlemen, from various sections of the State, who
assembled in response to the call of a circular letter which originated
in the county of Cumberland in the month of August. The city of
Philadelphia and thirteen counties were represented; six of the
dissenting members of the late convention were present, among whom was
Smilie. He and Gallatin represented the county of Fayette.
Smilie, Gallatin's earliest political friend, was born in 1742, and was
therefore about twenty years his senior. He came to the United States in
youth, and had grown up in the section he now represented. His
popularity is shown by his service in the state legislature, and during
twelve years in Congress as representative or as senator. In any
estimate of Mr. Gallatin, this early influence must be taken into
account. The friendship thus formed continued until Smilie's death in
1816. From the adviser he became the ardent supporter of Mr. Gallatin.
Blair McClanachan, of Philadelphia County, was elected chairman of the
conference. The result of this deliberation was a report in the form of
a series of resolutions, of which two drafts, both in Mr. Gallatin's
handwriting, are among his papers now in the keeping of the New York
Historical Society. The original resolutions were broad in scope, and
suggested a plan of action of a dual nature; the one of which failing,
resort could be had to the other without compromising the movement by
delay. In a word, it proposed an opposition by a party organization. The
first resolution was adroitly framed to avoid the censure with which the
people at large, whose satisfaction with the new Constitution had grown
with the fresh adhesions of State after State to positive enthusiasm,
would surely condemn any attempt to dissolve the Union formed under its
provisions. This resolution declared that it was in order to _prevent_ a
dissolution of the Union and to secure liberty, that a revision was
necessary. The second expressed the opinion of the conference to be,
that the safest manner to obtain such revision was to conform to the
request of the State of New York, and to urge the calling of a new
convention, and recommended that the Pennsylvania legislature be
petitioned to apply for that purpose to the new Congress. These were
declaratory. The third and fourth provided, first, for an organization
of committees in the several counties to correspond with each other and
with similar committees in other States; secondly, invited the friends
to amendments in the several States to meet in conference at a fixed
time and place. This plan of committees of correspondence and of a
meeting of delegates was simply a revival of the methods of the Sons of
Liberty, from whose action sprung the first Continental Congress of
1774.
The formation of such an organization would surely have led to
disturbance, perhaps to civil war. During the progress of the New York
convention swords and bayonets had been drawn, and blood had been shed
in the streets of Albany, where the Anti-Federalists excited popular
rage by burning the new Constitution. But the thirty-three gentlemen who
met at Harrisburg wisely tempered these resolutions to a moderate tone.
Thus modified, they recommended, first, that the people of the State
should acquiesce in the organization of the government, while holding in
view the necessity of very considerable amendments and alterations
essential to preserve the peace and harmony of the Union. Secondly, that
a revision by general convention was necessary. Thirdly, that the
legislature should be requested to apply to Congress for that purpose.
The petition recommended twelve amendments, selected from those already
proposed by other States. These were of course restrictive. The report
was made public in the "Pennsylvania Packet" of September 15. With this
the agitation appears to have ceased. On September 13 Congress notified
the States by resolution to appoint electors under the provisions of the
Constitution. The unanimous choice of Washington as president hushed all
opposition, and for a time the Anti-Federalists sunk into
insignificance.
The persistent labors of the friends of revision were not without
result. The amendments proposed by Virginia and New York were laid
before the House of Representatives. Seventeen received the two thirds
vote of the House. After conference with the Senate, in which Mr.
Madison appeared as manager for the House, these, reduced in number to
twelve by elimination and compression, were adopted by the requisite two
thirds vote, and transmitted to the legislatures of the States for
approval. Ratified by a sufficient number of States, they became a part
of the Constitution. They were general, and declaratory of personal
rights, and in no instance restrictive of the power of the general
government.
In 1789, the Assembly of Pennsylvania calling a convention to revise the
Constitution of the State, Mr. Gallatin was sent as a delegate from
Fayette County. To the purposes of this convention he was opposed, as a
dangerous precedent. He had endeavored to organize an opposition to it
in the western counties, by correspondence with his political friends.
His objections were the dangers of alterations in government, and the
absurdity of the idea that the Constitution ever contemplated a change
by the will of a mere majority. Such a doctrine, once admitted, would
enable not only the legislature, but a majority of the more popular
house, were two established, to make another appeal to the people on the
first occasion, and, instead of establishing on solid foundations a new
government, would open the door to perpetual change, and destroy that
stability which is essential to the welfare of a nation; since no
constitution acquires the permanent affection of the people, save in
proportion to its duration and age. Finally, such changes would sooner
or later conclude in an appeal to arms,--the true meaning of the popular
and dangerous words, "an appeal to the people." The opposition was begun
too late, however, to admit of combined effort, and was not persisted
in; and Mr. Gallatin himself, with practical good sense, consented to
serve as a delegate. Throughout his political course the pride of
mastery never controlled his actions. When debarred from leadership he
did not sulk in his tent, but threw his weight in the direction of his
principles. The convention met at Philadelphia on November 24, 1789, and
closed its labors on September 2, 1790. This was Gallatin's
apprenticeship in the public service. Among his papers are a number of
memoranda, some of them indicating much elaboration of speeches made, or
intended to be made, in this body. One is an argument in favor of
enlarging the representation in the House; another is against a plan of
choosing senators by electors; another concerns the liberty of the
press. There is, further, a memorandum of his motion in regard to the
right of suffrage, by virtue of which "every freeman who has attained
the age of twenty-one years, and been a resident and inhabitant during
one year next before the day of election, every naturalized freeholder,
every naturalized citizen who had been assessed for state or county
taxes for two years before election day, or who had resided ten years
successively in the State, should be entitled to the suffrage, paupers
and vagabonds only being excluded." Certainly, in his conservative
limitations upon suffrage, he did not consult his own interest as a
large landholder inviting settlement, nor pander to the natural desires
of his constituency.
In an account of this convention, written at a later period, Mr.
Gallatin said that it was the first public body to which he was elected,
and that he took but a subordinate share in the debates; that it was one
of the ablest bodies of which he was ever a member, and with which he
was acquainted, and, excepting Madison and Marshall, that it embraced as
much talent and knowledge as any Congress from 1795 to 1812, beyond
which his personal knowledge did not extend. Among its members were
Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence and president
of the Continental Congress, Thomas Mifflin and Timothy Pickering, of
the Revolutionary army, and Smilie and Findley, Gallatin's political
friends. General Mifflin was its president.
But mental distraction brought Mr. Gallatin no peace of heart at this
period, and when the excitement of the winter was over he fell into a
state of almost morbid melancholy. To his friend Badollet he wrote from
Philadelphia, early in March, that life in Fayette County had no more
charms for him, and that he would gladly leave America. But his lands
were unsalable at any price, and he saw no means of support at Geneva.
Some one has said, with a profound knowledge of human nature, that no
man is sure of happiness who has not the capacity for continuous labor
of a disagreeable kind. The occasional glimpses into Mr. Gallatin's
inner nature, which his correspondence affords, show that up to this
period he was not supposed by his friends or by himself to have this
capacity. In the letter which his guardian wrote to him after his flight
from home, he was reproached with his "natural indolence." His good
friend, Mademoiselle Pictet, accused him of being hard to please, and
disposed to _ennui_; and again, as late as 1787, repeats to him, in a
tone of sorrow, the reports brought to her of his "continuance in his
old habit of indolence," his indifference to society, his neglect of
his dress, and general indifference to everything but study and reading,
tastes which, she added, he might as well have cultivated at Geneva as
in the new world; and he himself, in the letter to Badollet just
mentioned, considers that his habits and his laziness would prove
insuperable bars to his success in any profession in Europe. In
estimation of this self-condemnation, it must be borne in mind that the
Genevans were intellectual Spartans. Gallatin must be measured by that
high standard. But if the charge of indolence could have ever justly
lain against Gallatin,--a charge which his intellectual vigor at
twenty-seven seems to challenge,--it certainly could never have been
sustained after he fairly entered on his political and public career. In
October, 1790, he was elected by a two thirds majority to represent
Fayette County in the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania; James
Findley was his colleague, John Smilie being advanced to the state
Senate. Mr. Gallatin was reëlected to the Assembly in 1791 and 1792,
without opposition.
Among his papers there is a memorandum of his legislative service during
these three years, and a manuscript volume of extracts from the Journals
of the House, from January 14, 1791, to December 17, 1794. They form
part of the extensive mass of documents and letters which were collected
and partially arranged by himself, with a view to posthumous
publication. Here is an extract from the memorandum:--
"I acquired an extraordinary influence in that body [the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives]; the more remarkable as I
was always in a party minority. I was indebted for it to my great
industry and to the facility with which I could understand and
carry on the current business. The laboring oar was left almost
exclusively to me. In the session of 1791-1792, I was put on
thirty-five committees, prepared all their reports, and drew all
their bills. Absorbed by those details, my attention was turned
exclusively to administrative laws, and not to legislation properly
so called.... I failed, though the bill I had introduced passed the
House, in my efforts to lay the foundation for a better system of
education. Primary education was almost universal in Pennsylvania,
but very bad, and the bulk of schoolmasters incompetent, miserably
paid, and held in no consideration. It appeared to me that in order
to create a sufficient number of competent teachers, and to raise
the standard of general education, intermediate academical
education was an indispensable preliminary step, and the object of
the bill was to establish in each county an academy, allowing to
each out of the treasury a sum equal to that raised by taxation in
the county for its support. But there was at that time in
Pennsylvania a Quaker and a German opposition to every plan of
general education.
"The spirit of internal improvements had not yet been awakened.
Still, the first turnpike-road in the United States was that from
Philadelphia to Lancaster, which met with considerable opposition.
This, as well as every temporary improvement in our communications
(roads and rivers) and preliminary surveys, met, of course, with my
warm support. But it was in the fiscal department that I was
particularly employed, and the circumstances of the times favored
the restoration of the finances of the State.
"The report of the Committee of Ways and Means of the session
1790-91 was entirely prepared by me, known to be so, and laid the
foundation of my reputation. I was quite astonished at the general
encomiums bestowed upon it, and was not at all aware that I had
done so well. It was perspicuous and comprehensive; but I am
confident that its true merit, and that which gained me the general
confidence, was its being founded in strict justice, without the
slightest regard to party feelings or popular prejudices. The
principles assumed, and which were carried into effect, were the
immediate reimbursement and extinction of the state paper-money,
the immediate payment in specie of all the current expenses, or
warrants on the treasury (the postponement and uncertainty of which
had given rise to shameful and corrupt speculations), and provision
for discharging without defalcation every debt and engagement
previously recognized by the State. In conformity with this, the
State paid to its creditors the difference between the nominal
amount of the state debt assumed by the United States and the rate
at which it was funded by the act of Congress.
"The proceeds of the public lands, together with the arrears, were
the fund which not only discharged all the public debts, but left a
large surplus. The apprehension that this would be squandered by
the legislature was the principal inducement for chartering the
Bank of Pennsylvania, with a capital of two millions of dollars, of
which the State subscribed one half. This, and similar subsequent
investments, enabled Pennsylvania to defray, out of the dividends,
all the expenses of government without any direct tax during the
forty ensuing years, and till the adoption of the system of
internal improvement, which required new resources.
"It was my constant assiduity to business, and the assistance
derived from it by many members, which enabled the Republican party
in the legislature, then a minority on a joint ballot, to elect me,
and no other but me of that party, senator of the United States."
Among the reports enumerated by Mr. Gallatin, as those of which he was
the author, is one made by a committee on March 22, 1793, that they ...
are of opinion slavery is inconsistent with every principle of humanity,
justice, and right, and repugnant to the spirit and express letter of
the Constitution of the Commonwealth. Added to this was a resolution for
its abolition in the Commonwealth.
The seat of government was changed from New York to Philadelphia in
1790, and the first Congress assembled there in the early days of
December for its final session. Philadelphia was in glee over the
transfer of the departments. The convention which framed the new state
Constitution met here in the fall, and the legislature was also holding
its sessions. The atmosphere was political. The national and local
representatives met each other at all times and in all places, and the
public affairs were the chief topic in and out of doors. In this busy
whirl Gallatin made many friends, but Philadelphia was no more to his
taste as a residence than Boston. He was disgusted with the
ostentatious display of wealth, the result not of industry but of
speculation, and not in the hands of the most deserving members of the
community. Later he became more reconciled to the tone of Pennsylvania
society, comparing it with that of New York; he was especially pleased
with its democratic spirit, and the absence of _family influence_. "In
Pennsylvania," he says, "not only we have neither Livingstons, nor
Rensselaers, but from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the banks of the
Ohio I do not know a single family that has any extensive influence. An
equal distribution of property has rendered every individual
independent, and there is amongst us true and real equality. In a word,
as I am lazy, I like a country where living is cheap; and as I am poor,
I like a country where no person is very rich."
Hamilton's excise bill was a bone of contention in the national and
state legislatures throughout the winter. Direct taxation upon anything
was unpopular, that on distilled spirits the most distasteful to
Pennsylvania, where whiskey stills were numerous in the Alleghanies. To
the bill introduced into Congress a reply was immediately made January
14, 1791, by the Pennsylvania Assembly in a series of resolutions which
are supposed to have been drafted by Mr. Gallatin, and to have been the
first legislative paper from his pen. They distinctly charged that the
obnoxious bill was "subversive of the peace, liberty, and rights of the
citizen."
Tax by excise has always been offensive to the American people, as it
was to their ancestors across the sea. It was characterized by the first
Continental Congress of 1774 as "the horror of all free States."
Notwithstanding their warmth, these resolutions passed the Assembly by a
vote of 40 to 16. The course of this excitement must be followed; as it
swept Mr. Gallatin in its mad current, and but for his self-control,
courage, and adroitness would have wrecked him on the breakers at the
outset of his political voyage. The excise law passed Congress on March
3, 1791. On June 22 the state legislature, by a vote of 36 to 11,
requested their senators and representatives in Congress to oppose every
part of the bill which "shall militate against the rights and liberties
of the people."
The western counties of Pennsylvania--Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington,
and Allegheny--lie around the head-waters of the Ohio in a radius of
more than a hundred miles. At this time they contained a population of
about seventy thousand souls. Pittsburgh, the seat of justice, had about
twelve hundred inhabitants. The Alleghany Mountains separate this wild
region from the eastern section of the State. There were few roads of
any kind, and these lay through woods. The mountain passes could be
traveled only on foot or horseback. The only trade with the East was by
pack-horses, while communication with the South was cut off by hostile
Indian tribes who held the banks of the Ohio. This isolation from the
older, denser, and more civilized settlements bred in the people a
spirit of self-reliance and independence. They were in great part
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, a religious and warlike race to whom the
hatred of an exciseman was a tradition of their forefathers. Having no
market for their grain, they were compelled to preserve it by converting
it into whiskey. The still was the necessary appendage of every farm.
The tax was light, but payable in money, of which there was little or
none. Its imposition, therefore, coupled with the declaration of its
oppressive nature by the Pennsylvania legislature, excited a spirit of
determined opposition near akin to revolution.
Unpopular in all the western part of the State, Hamilton's bill was
especially odious to the people of Washington County. The first meeting
in opposition to it was held at Red Stone Old Fort or Brownsville, the
site of one of those ancient remains of the mound-builders which abound
in the western valleys. It was easily reached by Braddock's Road, the
chief highway of the country. Here gathered on July 27, 1791, a number
of persons opposed to the law, when it was agreed that county committees
should be convened in the four counties at the respective seats of
justice. Brackenridge, in his "Incidents of the Western Insurrection,"
says that Albert Gallatin was clerk of the meeting. One of these
committees met in the town of Washington on August 23, when violent
resolutions were adopted. Gallatin, engaged at Philadelphia, was not
present at this assemblage, three of whose members were deputed to meet
delegates from the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, and Allegheny, at
Pittsburgh, on the first Tuesday in September following, to agree upon
an address to the legislature on the subject of excise and other
grievances. At the Pittsburgh meeting eleven delegates appeared for the
four counties. The resolutions adopted by them, general in character,
read more like a declaration of grievances as a basis for revolution
than a petition for special redress. No wonder that the secretary of the
treasury stigmatized them as "intemperate." They charge that in the laws
of the late Congress hasty strides had been made to all that was unjust
and oppressive. They complain of the increase in the salaries of
officials, of the unreasonable interest of the national debt, of the
non-discrimination between original holders and transferees of the
public securities, of the National Bank as a base offspring of the
funding system; finally, in detail, of the excise law of March 3, 1791.
At this meeting James Marshall and David Bradford represented Washington
County.
In August government offices of inspection were opened. The spirit of
resistance was now fully aroused, and in the early days of September the
collectors for Washington, Westmoreland, and Fayette were treated with
violence. Unwilling to proceed to excessive measures, and no doubt
swayed by the attitude of the Pennsylvania legislature, Congress in
October referred the law back to Hamilton for revision. He reported an
amended act on March 6, 1792, which was immediately passed, and became a
law March 8. It was to take effect on the last day of June succeeding.
By it the rate of duty was reduced, a privilege of time as to the
running of licenses of stills granted, and the tax ordered only for such
time as they were actually used.
But these modifications did not satisfy the malcontents of the four
western counties, and they met again on August 21, 1792, at Pittsburgh.
Of this second Pittsburgh meeting Albert Gallatin was chosen secretary.
Badollet went up with Gallatin. John Smilie, James Marshall, and James
Bradford of Washington County were present. Bradford, Marshall,
Gallatin, and others were appointed to draw up a remonstrance to
Congress. In order to carry out with regularity and concert the measures
agreed upon, a committee of correspondence was appointed, and the
meeting closed with the adoption of the violent resolutions passed at
the Washington meeting of 1791:--
"Whereas, some men may be found among us so far lost to every sense
of virtue and feeling for the distresses of this country as to
accept offices for the collection of the duty.
"Resolved, therefore, that in future we will consider such persons
as unworthy of our friendship; have no intercourse or dealings with
them; withdraw from them every assistance, and withhold all the
comforts of life which depend upon those duties that as men and
fellow citizens we owe to each other; and upon all occasions treat
them with that contempt they deserve; and that it be, and it is
hereby, most earnestly recommended to the people at large, to
follow the same line of conduct towards them."
If such an excommunication were to be meted out to an offending
neighbor, what measure would the excise man receive if he came from
abroad on his unwelcome errand?
These resolutions were signed by Mr. Gallatin as clerk, and made public
through the press. Resolutions of this character, if not criminal, reach
the utmost limit of indiscretion, and political indiscretion is quite as
dangerous as crime. The petition to Congress, subscribed by the
inhabitants of western Pennsylvania, was drawn by Gallatin; while
explicit in terms, it was moderate in tone. It represented the unequal
operation of the act. "A duty laid on the common drink of a nation,
instead of taxing the citizens in proportion to their property, falls as
heavy on the poorest class as on the rich;" and it ingeniously pointed
out that the distance of the inhabitants of the western counties from
market prevented their bringing the produce of their lands to sale,
either in grain or meal. "We are therefore distillers through necessity,
not choice; that we may comprehend the greatest value in the smallest
size and weight."
Hamilton, indignant, reported the proceedings to the President on
September 9, 1792, and demanded instant punishment. Washington, who was
at Mount Vernon, was unwilling to go to extremes, but consented to issue
a proclamation, which, drafted by Hamilton, and countersigned by
Jefferson, was published September 15, 1792. It earnestly admonished all
persons to desist from unlawful combinations to obstruct the operations
of the laws, and charged all courts, magistrates, and officers with
their enforcement. There was no mistaking Hamilton's intention to
enforce the law. Prosecutions in the Circuit Court, held at Yorktown in
October, were ordered against the Pittsburgh offenders, but no proof
could be had to sustain an indictment.
The President's proclamation startled the western people, and some
uneasiness was felt as to how such of their representatives as had taken
part in the Pittsburgh meeting would be received when they should go up
to the legislature in the winter. Bradford and Smilie accompanied
Gallatin; Smilie to take his seat in the state Senate, and Bradford to
represent Washington County in the House, where he "cut a poor figure."
Gallatin despised him, and characterized him as a "tenth-rate lawyer and
an empty drum." Gallatin found, however, that although the Pittsburgh
meeting had hurt the general interest of his party throughout the State,
and "rather defeated" the repeal of the excise law, his eastern friends
did not turn the cold shoulder to him. He said to every one whom he
knew that the resolutions were perhaps too violent and undoubtedly
highly impolitic, but, in his opinion, contained nothing illegal.
Meanwhile federal officers proceeded to enforce the law in Washington
County. A riot ensued, and the office was forcibly closed. Bills were
found against two of the offenders in the federal court, and warrants to
arrest and bring them to Philadelphia for trial were issued. Gallatin
believed the men innocent, and did not hesitate to advise Badollet to
keep them out of the way when the marshal should go to serve the writs,
but deprecated any insult to the officer. He thought "the precedent a
very dangerous one to drag people such a distance in order to be tried
on governmental prosecutions." Here the matter rested for a season.
At this session of the legislature Gallatin introduced a new system of
county taxation, proposed a clause providing for "trustees yearly
elected, one to each township, without whose consent no tax is to be
raised, nor any above one per cent. on the value of lands," which he
hoped would "tend to crush the aristocracy of every town in the State."
Also he proposed a plan to establish a school and library in each
county, with a sufficient immediate sum in money, and a yearly allowance
for a teacher in the English language.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: The drafting of this letter was, notwithstanding his
protest, intrusted to John Jay, one of the strongest of the Federal
leaders, and a warm supporter of the Constitution as it stood.]