Pennsylvania

“ How is it our independent friends cannot realize, that the average man in public affairs, is the same as the average man outside?
I have been acquainted with every governor of Pennsylvania since 1860. I have had a reasonable intimacy with the political intrigues of their administration, and their achievements, and I say, challenging contradiction, that yours, for its exclusion of politics and for things done, stands out in bold relief compared with them all. May the world come to know you as some of your friends do. ”

“ Much as I had heard of the fertile regions of Pennsylvania, the vast scale and the uniform luxuriance of this region astonished me. The grazing pastures were so green, the fields were under such perfect culture, the cattle looked so sleek, the houses were so comfortable, the barns so ample, the fences so well kept, that I did not wonder, when I was told that this region was called the England of Pennsylvania. ”

“ Unhappy Pennsylvania! thou, as a part of the Union, must share in its unfortunate fate; for when this system, after being laid before thy citizens, comes before the delegates selected by them for its consideration, there are found but three of the numerous members that have virtue enough to raise their voices in support of the rights of mankind!" America, particularly Pennsylvania, must be ill-starred, indeed, if this is a true state of the case. I trust we may address our country in far other language. ”

“ Multitudes flocked to Pennsylvania, and sat down happy under Penn's gentle laws and government. His own example of benevolence, frugality and temperance, endeared him to every inhabitant; and a general simplicity of manners for several years prevailed in the settlement. It remained for the future ages of pride, luxury and ambition, to defeat the wise maxims of this legislator. ”

“ The particular condition of Pennsylvania deserves the attention of all the other States. Her military strength must not be estimated by the number of inhabitants. Here are men of all nations, characters, professions and interests. Here are the firmest Whigs, surviving, like sparks in the ocean, unquenched and uncooled in the midst of discouragement and disaffection. Here are men losing their all with cheerfulness, and collecting fire and fortitude from the flames of their own estates. ”

“ In deciding the issue of this struggle, as in every other issue that concerned the Union, the voice which spoke in most potent tones was that of Pennsylvania. This great State, considering its political importance, was treated with little respect by its neighbors; and yet had New England, New York, and Virginia been swept out of existence in 1800, democracy could have better spared them all than have lost Pennsylvania. The only true democratic community then existing in the eastern States, Pennsylvania was neither picturesque nor troublesome. ”

“ Several years ago more than one thousand persons from every section of Pennsylvania, and not a few from Southern New York State, journeyed to a most out-of-the-way place up in the wilds of Potter County to do homage to the memory of a great man, and to view the scene of one of the saddest failures in the history of the settlement of our great Commonwealth. ”

“ We, the representatives of the freemen of Pennsylvania, in general convention met, for the express purpose of framing such a government, confessing the goodness of the great Governor of the universe (who alone knows to what degree of earthly happiness mankind may attain, by perfecting the arts of government) in permitting the people of this State, by common consent, and without violence, deliberately to form for themselves such just rules as they shall think best, for governing their future society ”

“ There is no post where you can render greater services, without going out of your State. Let but this block stand firm on its basis, and Pennsylvania do the same, our Union will be perpetual, and our General Government kept within the bounds and form of the Constitution. Adieu affectionately. ”

“ The State of Pennsylvania was a great commonwealth of over seven millions of people, twice as many as those presided over by Queen Elizabeth, William of Orange and George Washington. I approached the duties of governor with certain well-defined convictions to be regarded and certain lines of policy to be pursued. The governorship was a climax of a career attained, and not a stepping stone to something beyond. The efforts of men are always weakened when they have some other end in view apart from the object they are called upon to accomplish. ”

“ A century and a half have now nearly elapsed since the great sage and lawgiver of Pennsylvania landed on her shores, and gave the first impulse to that spirit of Christian philanthropy which has ever since continued, amid the wars and miseries of the old world, to shed its light and diffuse its warmth from the sanctuary of our native soil ”

“ Now, sir, Pennsylvania is in full possession, and reaps all the prosperities and happy consequences of that great national union, of those special institutions, which by offering in a self-governed people the most perfect example of social order that ever existed have reduced to absurdity and ridicule the anti-popular arguments of pretended statesmen in other countries. ”

“ It was the most complete collection of the early literature relating to Pennsylvania which any individual had ever possessed. It is impossible that any man shall ever again have one of like importance. To part with it was to tear up forty years of my life by the roots. I had made a secret covenant with the commonwealth, unknown to the commonwealth, that if my future were provided for by a return to the Bench or otherwise, this record of its life should be preserved intact. ”

“ Passing the State line or boundary between New York and Pennsylvania, a little beyond Dunkirk, an unusually large assemblage of citizens and soldiers, with bouquets and a great profusion of flowers, at nearly every station, betokened the earnest patriotism of the old Keystone State. Pennsylvania will never be behind her sister States in doing honor to the brave men who gave up their lives while fighting her battles; and the demonstrations of each Decoration Day are evidences that she will not soon forget their deeds, or their claim upon her deepest gratitude. ”

“ The Governor of Pennsylvania was also directed to urge the Assembly to contribute liberally, until a union of the northern colonies for general defense could be effected. At this late day it would appear that the mother country depended more on Pennsylvania and Virginia than on all her other possessions in North America; and more on Pennsylvania than on Virginia for men and provisions. ”

“ The extent of this state is very great, almost equal to that of any state in the Union; and our population will probably be in proportion. To the north of Pennsylvania, there are twenty-seven votes. To the south of Pennsylvania, there are thirty votes, leaving Pennsylvania out. Pennsylvania has eight votes. In the division of what is called the northern and southern interests, Pennsylvania does not appear to be decidedly in either scale. Though there may be a combination of the Northern States, it is not certain that the interests of Pennsylvania will coincide with theirs. ”

“ All the terrifying scenes in Virginia were reproduced in Pennsylvania; the savages poured through the mountain gaps and fell with unparalleled fury upon a hundred defenseless settlements. Pennsylvania had not expanded further at this time than to the Blue Mountains. Her frontier was not, therefore, nearly as broad as Virginia's, and the frontier firing-line was not so far removed from the populated districts. ”

“ I have never sought the office of Governor of Pennsylvania. I do not seek it now; I have asked no man in this state to vote for me. I do not ask you to vote for me. The responsibility of this election rests upon you. ”

“ The society was to send 200 servants to Pennsylvania the first year, “to build two or more general factories in Pennsylvania, one upon Chesapeake Bay, and the other upon Delaware River, or where else the committee shall see necessary for the more speedy conveyance of goods in the country and Maryland, but that the government of the whole be in the Capital City of Pennsylvania.” ”

“ When the effort was made to abolish the Proprietorship and make Pennsylvania a royal province, the Assembly passed resolutions rehearsing the tyranny of the Proprietary and a bitter factional struggle ensued among the people. In October, 1764, the Assembly passed the resolution for a change of government by a vote of 27 to 3. Rather than sign the document Isaac Norris resigned as speaker. ”

“ In every aspect, therefore, in which the case can be reviewed, it appears that the proceedings of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania have been just, prudent, patient and intelligent, as well as entirely consistent with the constitutions of the Union and the state. The government in all its branches has done its duty, and has done no more. ”

“ Public spirit was more active in Pennsylvania than in New York. More roads and canals were building; a new turnpike ran from Philadelphia to Lancaster, and the great highway to Pittsburg was a more important artery of national life than was controlled by any other State. The exports of Pennsylvania amounted to $12,000,000, and the custom-house produced $1,350,000. The State contained six hundred thousand inhabitants—a population somewhat larger than that of New York. ”

“ We trust we shall not indulge hopes too sanguine, if we should now anticipate, that by the united labors of our Society, Pennsylvania will receive that illustration of her annals, character, and resources, which has so long been due to a State whose history in many important features is unique, and whose moral conduct exhibits lessons the most instructive, and examples the most encouraging, of active practical benevolence, and the positive application of the principles of Christianity to the administration of human affairs. ”

“ The University of Pennsylvania should be cared for by the state as provided for in the Constitution of 1776.
11. Newspapers ought to be held responsible for the want of reasonable care in what they publish, and to be required to publish the names of their owners with each issue.
12. The state should aid Pittsburgh to unite, in one municipality, the populations at the head waters of the Ohio.
13. The state should aid Philadelphia in opening a way to the sea. ”

“ The state of Pennsylvania, though nearly of the same extent of territory as England, was then divided into only twelve counties. Each of those counties had elected a committee at the commencement of the dispute with the English government; and as the city of Philadelphia, which also had its committee, was the most central for intelligence, it became the center of communication to the several country committees. ”

“ The Founding of Pennsylvania.—William Penn’s interest in the colonization of West Jersey led to his taking a greater part in American affairs. In 1670 his father, an admiral in the English navy, died, and left him a claim against the government, in compensation for which he induced Charles II. to give him a charter for forty thousand square miles in America (1681) . This region was named Pennsylvania in honor of the admiral, against the modest wishes of the proprietor. ”

“ Notwithstanding the surrender to the Six Nations by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, in September, 1758, of “all the territory lying to the northward and westward of the Allegheny Mountains,” the white settlers continued to encroach on the hunting grounds of the Indians.
At the great treaty held at Albany, the Proprietaries purchased and received a deed dated July 6, 1754, for the land of the Province above Penn’s Creek, in what is now Snyder County. ”

“ Union; whereas Pennsylvania, on the other hand, has more towns of over 4,000 population than any other state, giving it the highest per cent, of urban population of any commonwealth in the Union with the exception of New York. ”

“ Wholly apart from the impossibility of being able to give the matter attention on account of lack of time, I seriously doubt the wisdom of a senator of the United States involving himself in responsibilities in respect to legislation in his state. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has all of the machinery of government, and all the brains and experience in the personnel of its government to deal wisely and with technical accuracy with its affairs. ”

“ Before 1758 the western part of Pennsylvania could be approached from the east only by the route of the Juniata and the Kiskiminitas. In that year Forbes finished as far as Loyalhanna the road previously begun from Fort Loudon by way of Bedford. Many Scotch-Irish settlers seated themselves in the Ligonier Valley at Hannastown, and about the forks of the Ohio, and, with settlers from Maryland and Virginia, they possessed the land in comparative quiet until Pontiac’s War. ”

“ Pennsylvania has always kept faith with the Union. She has always performed all her duties toward the Federal Government with cheerfulness and fidelity. Her three millions of people are true to all their obligations now to the Government as well as to her sister States. ”

“ The Governor of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Penna. My dear Governor:
The leases which have been signed with the farmers to secure to the United States the right to maneuver on their farms, contains the provision that the damages done to their crops and improvements will be adjusted by a board to consist of three members: A civilian to be appointed by the Secretary of War, a militia officer to be appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania, and an army officer to be appointed by me. ”