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 GOVERNOR JOSEPH RITNER 
 
 Historical Address 
 Edward Wl^Biddle 
 
 Read before the Hamilton Library Association, Carlisle, Pa., 
 on Friday Evening, October 17, 1919 
 
 1919 
 

^ 
 
 
GOVERNOR JOSEPH RITNER 
 
 Historical Address 
 
 -By- 
 Edward W. Biddle 
 
 Read before the Hamilton Library Association, Carlisle, Pa., 
 on Friday Evening, October 17, 1919 
 
 On July 18, 1901, the leg- 
 islature of Pennsylvania 
 appropriated the sum of 
 three thousand dollars "for 
 the purpose of erecting a 
 marker for the grave of 
 Governor Joseph Ritner in 
 the churchyard of Mount 
 Rock, Cumberland County." 
 A commission consisting of 
 the Governor of the State, 
 the Judge of this county 
 and the Senator from this 
 district, was appointed to 
 carry out the terms of the 
 act, with the result that in 
 the fall of the following 
 year a handsome granite 
 monument adorned with a 
 bronze bust and inscribed 
 tablet was erected at the 
 proper spot. The dedica- 
 tion took place on the after- 
 noon of October 15, 1902, and on that occasion it was my 
 privilege to make an address which with some modifications 
 constitutes the present paper. 
 
 MONUMENT AT THE GRAVE OF 
 
 GOVERNOR JOSEPH RITNER 
 
 SEVEN MILES WEST OF CARLISLE 
 
Born of an humble German family in Berks county on 
 March 25, 1780, while this country was in the throes of rev- 
 olution, Joseph Ritner never had the advantage of school 
 training except for a few months when he was a stripling 
 six years old. As his parents were comparatively unfa- 
 miliar with the English tongue he was first taught to speak 
 and read in German, and to the day of his death his pro- 
 nunciation had a decided foreign accent. After partially 
 learning the trade of weaver which was the vocation of his 
 father, he came to this county at the age of sixteen and ob- 
 tained employment as a laborer on the farm of Jacob Myers, 
 near Newville, receiving the first year for his services the 
 sum of $80 and in subsequent years $120, the lattei' being 
 the highest wages paid at that time. 
 
 In 1802 he was married to Susannah Alter, daughter of 
 a well-to-do farmer in the neighborhood, and by laboring in 
 the field when occupation could be had there, and at other 
 times working at the loom, he saved money enough to enable 
 him to buy a pair of horses and a wagon . In the fall of 
 1805 he placed upon the wagon his wife and two children 
 and his household goods and migrated across the mountains 
 to the farm of his wife's brother, David Alter, situated in 
 Plum township, Allegheny county. Fortunately this broth- 
 er owned a number of books, mainly in the German lan- 
 guage, and into these the young man delved with persistent 
 purpose, thus laying the foundation of his future promi- 
 nence. In 1809 he remo ed to a tract of land in Buffalo 
 township, Washington county, containing 150 acres, which 
 he had purchased for $1300 payable in five installments. 
 When he acquired possession of the tract only 25 acres were 
 ready for the plough, the log cabin of the former owner was 
 too small for occupancy by his family, and there was no 
 barn and but little fencing on the property. 
 
 Before taking his wife and children there he built a log- 
 house for their accommodation, and in later years erected a 
 substantial residence with front of cut stone, also a spacious 
 barn, planted orchards and otherwise highly improved the 
 premises. Upon this homestead, which had been carved 
 by his own toil out of the wilderness, he and his family con- 
 tinued to reside until after his election to the highest office 
 in the Commonwealth . By the sweat of his brow he earned 
 his daily bread, personally cultivating the land and harvest- 
 ing the crops, and in dull seasons using his teams to haul 
 merchandise to the eastern cities and to bring back goods 
 which were needed on the farm. The scythe and the flail 
 were but as toys in his muscular grasp, and many of the na- 
 tive giants of the forest fell before the powerful strokes of 
 
 Gift 
 
 fiuthor 
 OCT 2Q mu 
 
his axe. The flock of sheep which browsed through the 
 clearings furnished the wool for the family's homespun 
 clothing, the silk worms in the cocoonery yielded a finer 
 thread, the neighboring maple trees gave up in the spring 
 an ample supply of sugar, and the good housewife and chil- 
 dren were industrious, all contributing in their respective 
 spheres to the common weal. 
 
 Did not happiness dwell at his fireside? May we not 
 apply to his home life the sentiment which appears in a 
 beautiful verse of Tom Moore, written after his visit to 
 America? 
 
 "I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled 
 Above the green elms, that a cottage was near, 
 
 And I said, 'If there's peace to be found In the world, 
 A heart that was humble/hone for it here.' " 
 
 A school house was early^located on the farm, in which 
 most of his ten children received their education and some 
 of his sons oificiated as teachers. In September, 1812, h^^ 
 enlisted in the army as a private and served for seven 
 month through the ensuing winter campaign, his health be- 
 ing considerably impaired by its hardships. 
 
 His ability and excellent character having gradually 
 been recognized by the people, he was elected a member of 
 the house of representatives for six successive terms begin- 
 ning December, 1820, and during the last two terms of said 
 period he occupied the position of Speaker . In 1829 and in 
 1832 he was nominated by the Anti-masons for Governor 
 against George Wolf, a Democrat, but was defeated in the 
 former year by 16,443 votes and in the latter by 3,170. 
 Prior to 1829 he had been a steadfast Democrat and as such 
 had been sent to the legislature, but upon the formation of 
 the new party which selected him as its original standard 
 bearer he allied himself with it and afterwards became a 
 Whig and then a Republican . It is worthy of note that hiij 
 first nomination was entirely unexpected and that he was 
 working in the harvest field when informed of it . This re- 
 calls the legend of Cincinnatus, who is said to have been 
 plowing on his small farm at the time swift messengers 
 brought to him the intelligence that he had been chosen 
 dictator of Rome. In 183^5 Mr, Ritner was again placed 
 at the head of the Anti-mason ticket, and by reason of a de- 
 fection in the opposite party which resulted in the nomina- 
 tion of two Democratic candidates was elected by a plural- 
 ity of 28,219 and took his seat as Governor on December 
 15th of that year. The silk gloves and stockings which he 
 
wore at the inauguration were wrought by the skilled handi- 
 work of his wife from the product of his own silk worms and 
 mulberry trees . 
 
 His annual message to the general assembly on De- 
 cember 6, 1836, contained such a pointed reference to slav- 
 ery that it made him famous throughout the land, and drew 
 forth from Whittier the ringing lyric entitled "Ritner". 
 After historically reviewing the advanced policy which 
 Pennsylvania had pursued since 1780 in favor of abolishing 
 the cruel traffic in human beings, he said : 
 
 "These tenets, then, viz: Opposition to slavery at home, 
 viThich by the blessing of Providence has been rendered effectu- 
 al; opposition to the admission into the Union of new slave- 
 holding states; and opposition to slavery in the District of Col- 
 umbia, the very hearth and domestic abode of the national 
 honor, have ever been and are the cherished doctrines of our 
 State. Let us. Fellow Citizens, stand by and maintain them 
 unshrinkingly and fearlessly.'" 
 
 The following is the first stanza of the Quaker poet's 
 lyric which commemorated Ritner's brave words: 
 
 "Thank God for the token! one lip is still free, 
 
 One spirit untrammelled, unbending one knee! 
 Like the oak of the mountain, deep-rooted and firm. 
 Erect, when the multitude bends to the storm; 
 When traitors to Freedom, and Honor, and God, 
 
 Are bowed at an Idol polluted with blood; 
 When the recreant >'^rth has forgotten her trust, 
 
 And the lip of her honor is low in the dust, — 
 Thank God, that one arm from the shackle has broken! 
 
 Thank God, that one man as a freeman has spoken!" 
 
 In the month of January, 1837, Whittier had gone to 
 Harrisburg to attend an anti-slavery convention and while 
 there met Governor Ritner. The above poem was writ- 
 ten immediately after his return to Boston and in the later 
 editions of his works is preceded by this explanatory note 
 prepared by himself: 
 
 ■'Written on reading the message of Governor Ritner, of 
 Pennsylvania, 1836. The fact redounds to the credit and 
 serves to perpetuate the memory of the independent farmer 
 and high-souled statesman, that he alone of all the Governors 
 of the Union in 1836 met the insulting demands and menaces 
 of the South in a manner becoming a freeman and hater of 
 slavery, in his message to the legislature of Pennsylvania." 
 
 Whittier and a companion were appointed by the Amer- 
 ican Anti-Slavery Society in the summer of 1839 to travel 
 through Pennsylvania and employ speakers to awaken the 
 conscience of the nation in regard to slavery. It is to us 
 
a matter of interest that on the afternoon of July 8, 1839, 
 they came to Carlisle from Harrisburg, stayed all night at 
 the house of a man named McKim, and on the next morning 
 drove out to Ritner's farm near Mount Rock and spent an 
 hour and a half with him . They then returned to Carlisle 
 and later in the day continued on their journey to other 
 points . 
 
 The message of December, 1836, also embodied the 
 Governor's views on other public questions which were then 
 being much discussed . In it he called upon the legislature 
 to repress secret societies because of their evil tendencies 
 and demoralizing effect upon the people; also to check the 
 growing spirit of speculation in stocks and land by refusing 
 to create any new corporations except upon the most certain 
 proof of their necessity, and of the accomplishment of the 
 proposed object beyond the power of individual enterprise. 
 He gave it as his opinion that the unnecessary formation of 
 artificial bodies serves to foster and perpetuate the thirst 
 for gain without labor; unduly increases profit and de- 
 creases risk, thereby paralyzing individual effort; takes 
 away responsibility, both moral and pecuniary, except to the 
 small extent of actual investment; multiplies influence and 
 aids deception ; and finally, begets confusion and panic in so- 
 ciety . 
 
 On June 13, 1836, an act of assembly had been passed 
 consolidating and amending the common schools laws . This 
 matter was near to the Covenior's heart; hence in his mes- 
 sage he drew attention to the condition of the schools and 
 recommended the permanent annual addition of $100,000 to 
 the ordinary appropriation of $200,000. 'The best inter- 
 ests of the Commonwealth", he said, "are at stake upon the 
 experiment of common schools. All the energies of the 
 State should be applied to it until success be achieved, or 
 until the system be clearly proved contrary to the public will 
 and incapable of producing the desired result . " 
 
 In his last annual message bearing date December 27, 
 1838, he joyously furnished the following data indicating 
 the very flourishing condition of general education under the 
 recently enacted laws : 
 
 "Instead of 762 common schools in operation at the end of 
 the year 1835, and about 17 academies (the latter in a state of 
 almost doubtful existence), with no female seminaries fostered 
 by the State, she has now 5,000 common schools, 38 academies 
 and 7 female seminaries in active and permanent operation, 
 disseminating the principles of literature, science and virtue 
 over the land. In addition to these, there are many schools, 
 academies and female seminaries of a private character, 
 equally useful and deserving in their proper sphere." 
 
It is well known that subsequently he regarded the 
 development of the common school system as the most im- 
 portant work of his administration. Thomas H. Burrowes, 
 ex officio superintendent of common schools, in a report to 
 the legislature in December, 1838, spoke thus concerning the 
 value of his efforts: 
 
 "When the agitatmg divisions of the day shall have sunk 
 into comparative insignificance, and names be only repeated 
 in connection with some great act of public benefaction, those 
 of George Wolf and Joseph Ritner will be classed by Pennsyl- 
 vania among the noblest on her long list; the one for his early 
 and manly advocacy, and the other for his well-timed and de- 
 termined support, of the free school." 
 
 In the summer of 1838 he had been nominated by the 
 Anti-masons a fourth consecutive time for Governor, thus 
 breaking all records before or since except that of Governor 
 Simon Snyder, but David R. Porter defeated him by a ma- 
 jority of 5,504. Whilst the movement which carried him 
 into office three years before was still strong, yet his ex- 
 tremely hostile attitude toward slavery had aroused a bitter 
 feeling against him among the slaveholders of the South and 
 their northern sympathizers, and no effort was spared to se- 
 cure his downfall. National issues were injected into the 
 exciting campaign, and by this method sufficient votes were 
 changed to secure his opponent's election . The returns 
 upon their face gave to Mr. Porter a majority of several 
 thousand votes, but the ^^-"ends of Governor Ritner claimed 
 that a number of the returns were fraudulent and that a 
 correct count would insure his election, wherefore they ad- 
 vised that the figures be ignored until they had been investi- 
 gated. On October 15th the Anti-mason state-chairman 
 issued a manifesto to his adherents in which he said : 
 
 "The opponent for the office of Governor appears to be 
 elected by at least 5,000 of a majority. This is an event to 
 which, if it had been fairly produced, we as good citizens would 
 quietly, if not cheerfully, submit. But there is such a strong 
 probat)ly of malpractice and fraud in the whole transaction 
 that it is our duty peacefully to resist it and fully to expose 
 it." And again: "IJntil this investigation be fully made and 
 fairly determined, let us treat the election of the 9th instant as 
 if we had not been defeated and in that attitude abide the re- 
 sult." 
 
 The stormy scenes which followed are without parallel 
 in the official life of this State. Upon the convening of 
 the general assembly on the first Tuesday of December, a 
 fierce struggle for control ensued when the contesting 
 claimants to membership appeared. In the house of rep- 
 resentatives each party elected a speaker and both of these 
 
officers took seats upon the platform . The upshot of the 
 contention was that a crowd of poUticians and their backers, 
 coming principally from Philadelphia, forced themselves in- 
 to the legislative chambers and became so noisy and violent 
 that both branches of the assembly hastily adjourned, some 
 of the members escaping through the windows . The busi- 
 ness of the Commonwealth was absolutely suspended for 
 several days, and the Governor ordered out a portion of the 
 militia with instructions to march at once to Harrisburg 
 and likewise called upon the federal government for assist- 
 ance. Major Generals Robert Patterson and Samuel Alex- 
 ander, the latter a practicing lawyer of Carlisle, proceeded 
 to the seat of war with about a thousand militiamen, but 
 President Van Buren refused to interfere . The real cause 
 of this refusal was that the intrepid Chief Executive of the 
 Keystone State did not stand in favor with the Democratic 
 officials at the national capital, and they foresaw that the 
 protecting presence of the United States soldiers at Harris- 
 burg might result in his continuance in office for another 
 term . He subsequently complained bitterly of the partisan 
 and insulting reception which had been accorded to his re- 
 quest for aid, his feelings in the matter having been intensi- 
 fied by the incessant attacks of a hostile press . 
 
 After the turbulence had continued for nearly three 
 weeks the senate voted to recognize the Democratic organi- 
 zation of the house, and what has since been famous as the 
 "Buekshot War" came to a termination. Said appellation 
 owed its origin to the circumstance that a number of the 
 cartridges supplied to the troops from the arsenal contained 
 buckshot instead of bullets. Governor Ritner in his mes- 
 sage later in the month ascribed the whole difficulty to the 
 assumption of power by some of the return judges to reject 
 the vote of a district, or part of a district, instead of confin- 
 ing themselves to the merely clerical duty of adding up and 
 certifying the number of votes which were actually cast . 
 
 On January 15, 1839, the Governor returned to private 
 life, and in the spring took up his residence on a farm in 
 West Pennsboro township, the deed for which was executed 
 to him by the Carlisle Bank on April 8th . The tract con- 
 tained 278 acres and the consideration mentioned in the in- 
 strument was $12,510, of which he paid $7,000 in cash and 
 gave a mortgage to the bank for the remaining $5,510, the 
 cash payment doubtless being realized from the sale of his 
 Washington county property. This inference is supported 
 by the averment in a friendly political pamphlet, issued in 
 1838, that the Washington county farm with its stor^k when 
 he left it to assume the governorship was worth $7,000 and 
 constituted the whole of his fortune . 
 
In the following year he was afflicted with cataracts 
 in both eyes which for a time made him totally blind . An 
 operation on his right eye entirely restored its sight and en- 
 abled him to read without difficulty, yet the cutting caused 
 so much pain that he refused to have it repeated on the oth- 
 er one which consequently remained sightless thereafter. 
 In 1848 he served for a short time as director of the Phila- 
 delphia mint under an appointment by President Taylor; 
 but the President died before the appointment was con- 
 firmed by the senate and his successor named another person 
 for the place . He was a delegate in 1856 to the convention 
 of the newly formed Republican party which nominated 
 John C. Fremont for President, and always continued to 
 manifest an active interest in politics . He also remained 
 a warmi friend of the common schools, which he had fos- 
 tered in their infancy, and for many years his venerable 
 form was a familiar sight at the annual meetings of the 
 teachers' institute in this county. 
 
 After enjoying a peaceful and honored old age he died 
 at the home of his son Jacob in South Middleton township 
 on October 16, 1869, bowed down by the infirmities of near- 
 ly fourscore years and ten . No other Governor of Penn- 
 sylvania has ever reached such an advanced age, no other 
 has shown throughout his life more individuality and ear- 
 nestness of character . 
 
 It is hard to speak too highly of Joseph Ritner. Despite 
 the early drawbacks of po-^erty and lack of education he rose 
 because nature had implanted in him the seeds of suc- 
 cess — consisting in his case of a superior and well-balanced 
 mind, an upright moral character, powerful convictions 
 coupled with firm resolve, industry, perseverance and cour- 
 age . In person he was stout and somewhat above the me- 
 dium height, with a large head and broad chest, dark eyes 
 and swarthy complexion . Many years of manual labor 
 had developed a naturally strong physique, and had invested 
 him with a stock of surplus health which was never drawn 
 upon to repair the ravages of dissipation . It was but an 
 incident of his temperate habits and powder of self control 
 that he did not indulge in either spirituous drink or tobacco, 
 and was not diverted at any time into a luxurious style of 
 living. 
 
 The massive head and strong face, so well shown by his 
 portrait in the capitol at Harrisburg, indicate that he was 
 possessed of much more than ordinary ability. His mes- 
 sages were well and clearly expressed, and conveyed the 
 views of a broad-gauge, thoughtful man upon matters that 
 were then deemed of paramount moment. In "Old Time 
 
Notes of Pennsylvania" by Colonel A. K. McClure, who had 
 an intimate acquaintance with Ritner for many years, the 
 author says of him : 
 
 "He was a man of very general intelligence, unusually 
 familiar with all public questions, and was a delightful conver- 
 sationalist. His rugged honesty and kind neighborly quali- 
 ties made him beloved by all who knew him, and even when he 
 had. reached the age of fourscore and ten his face would 
 brighten as he spoke of the progress of the common schools." 
 
 To persons of the present generation who have ob- 
 served that five-sixths of the highest civil offices in this 
 country are filled by lawyers, it probably appears exception- 
 al that Mr. Ritner, who had no legal training, should have 
 attained the governorship of a populous Commonwealth . In 
 former days, however, a different rule existed, for greater 
 consideration was then given to laymen in the distribution 
 of places carrying with them profit and honor. In illus- 
 . /^ __tration of this I call your attention to the fact that of our 
 l*-p^ earlies^Govemors after the adoption of the constitution of 
 1790, Joseph Ritner being the eighth, only one was a mem- 
 ber of the bar, namely, the meteoric Thomas McKean ; 
 while of the nine Goveraors from 1861 to 1907, only one 
 was not a member of the bar, namely, John W. Geary. 
 Strange to say the tide again changed in 1907 so far as it 
 relates to the office referred to, and of the four Governors 
 since that time, all of whom are still living, not one is a 
 lawyer. But this recent condition is very exceptional, and 
 it is an undoubted fact that formerly knowledge of the law 
 was not deemed as important a qualification for high public 
 position as it has appeared to be in later years, indeed it is 
 doubtful whether ordinarily it was considered a qualifica- 
 tion at all. Our government was then in the formative 
 stage, and sturdy common sense was relied on as affording 
 the surest foundation for a safe development. The three 
 immediate predecessors of Governor Ritner sprang from 
 German stock, one of them being an ordained minister of 
 the German Lutheran church, from which we may infer that 
 the Governor's Palatinate descent and inherited traits were 
 in a general way helpful to his political advancement. 
 
 Shoulder to shoulder with him during his administra- 
 tion stood the radical and eloquent Thaddeus Stevens, who 
 entered the house of representatives in 1833 and served 
 with little intermission until 1840. His wonderful speech in 
 favor of the common school system delivered to the mem- 
 bers of that body in April, 1835, most of the senators and 
 state officials being present, had electrified his audience, 
 rescued the school law from repeal and saved the State 
 
 
 
from the disgi-ace of a return to old conditions . Upon this 
 subject, as well as in relation to slavery and secret societies, 
 the views of the bold and patriotic Ritner and the brilliant 
 Commoner were in perfect accord, and together they worked 
 for the establishment of those cardinal doctrines which 
 would insure universal freedom and general education. 
 
 Stevens passed over into the great Unknown in August, 
 1868, only fourteen months prior to the death of his aged 
 friend, and upon his tombstone in an obscure cometery in 
 Lancaster is cut an inscription composed by himself, declar- 
 ing the principle which he had advocated through a long life 
 to be "Equality of Man before his Creator." The same 
 words might with propriety be carved above the remains of 
 Joseph Ritner, who likewise battled strenuously for a pro- 
 tracted period to break down the distinctions created by 
 wealth and color . He was endowed with unusual strength 
 of mind and body, was honest, industrious and earnest, and 
 his well spent life was productive of valuable results of 
 which we are now reaping the benefit. His ashes repose 
 in a quaint country churchyard at Mount Rock, seven miles 
 west of Carlisle, at the side of the turnpike road leading to 
 Chambersburg . Concerning the monument which has 
 been placed there by the State as a tribute to his public ser- 
 vices and worth, it is a pleasure to be able to say — that it is 
 of chaste and classic design, perfect in symmetry, construct- 
 ed by skilled workmen from materials of the finest quality, 
 and destined for ages to -^ome to suitably fulfill the purpose 
 of its erection. 
 
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