User:Jengod/Buckshot War

Title: An illustrated history of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901. Publication Info: Harrisburg,: De W. C. Goodrich & co., 1876. Collection: Making of America Books

250 HJS TOB Y OF PENNS YL VANIA. reason of fraud, and the Democratic delegation returned. The Anti-masonic return judges refused to sign the certificates, " and both parties made out returns each for a different delegation, and sent them to the Secretary of the Commonwealth." The Democratic returns were correct, and should have been promptly received " without question." When the Legislature met, the Senate organized by tne choice of Anti-masonic officers. In the House a fierce struggle ensued, both delegations claiming seats. The consequence was that each party went into an election for speaker, each appointing tellers. Two speakers were elected and took their seat upon the platform-William Hopkins being the choice of the Democrats, and Thomas S. Cunningham of the opposition. The Democrats believing they were in the right, left out of view the rejection of the votes of the Philadelphia district. However, when the returns from the secretary's office were opened, the certificate of I// | v the minority had been sent in, thus giving the DAVID R. PORTER.* advantage to the Anti-masons. It was then a question which of the two Houses would be recognized by the Senate and the Governor. At this stage of the proceedings, a number of men (from Philadelphia especially), collected in the lobby, and when the Senate after organization proceeded to business, interrupted it by their disgraceful and menacing conduct. The other branch of the Legislature was in like manner disturbed, and thus both Houses were compelled to disperse. The crowd having taken possession of the halls proceeded to the Court House, where impassioned harangues were indulged in and a committee of safety appointed. For several days all business was suspended, and the Governor, alarmed for his own personal safety, ordered out the militia, and fearing this might prove insufficient, called on the United States authorities for help. The latter refused, but the militia under Major-Generals Patterson and Alexander, came promptly in response. For two or three days during this contest, the danger of a collision was imminent, but wiser counsels 1839. prevailed, and the Senate having voted to recognize the section of the House presided over by Mr. Hopkins, the so-called' Insurrection at Harrisburg" was virtually ended. This was what is commonly known as the " Buck-shot War." * DAVID RITTENHOUSE PORTER, the son of General Andrew Porter, of the Revolution, was born near Norristown, Montgomery county, October 31, 1788. He received a good classical education. When his father was appointed surveyor-general, young Porter went as his assistant. During this period he studied law, but his health becoming impaired, he removed to Huntingdon county, where he engaged in the manufacture of iron. In 1819 he was elected member of the Assembly, serving two years. In 1821 Governor Hiester appointed him prothonotary of Huntingdon county. In 1836 he was chosen State senator, and from 1838 to 1845 filled the office of Governor of the Commonwealth. He died at Harrisburg, August 6, 1867.

CHAPTER XVII. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.' BUCKSHOT WAR." ADMINISTRATIONS OF GOVER. NORS PORTER, SHUNK, JOHNSTON, POLLOCK, AND PACKER. 1837-1861. N the 2d of May, 1837, the convention, of which John Sergeant was elected president, assembled at Harrisburg for the purpose of revising the constitution of the Commonwealth. Adjourning in July, the convention met again at Harrisburg in October, and removed in December to Philadelphia, where their labors were closed 1838. on the 22d February, 1838. The amendments were adopted by the people at the subsequent annual election. In conformity with the more important amendments, the political year commenced in January; rotation in office was secured by allowing the Governor but two terms of three years each, in any term of nine years; the senatorial term was reduced to three years; the power of the Legislature to grant banking privileges was abridged and regulated; private property could not be taken for public use without compensation previously secured; the Governor's patronage was nearly all taken away, and the election of many officers heretofore appointed by him was vested in the people or their representatives; the Governor's nomination of judicial officers was to be confirmed in the Senate with open doors; all life offices were abolished; judges of the Supreme Court were to be commissioned for fifteen years-presidents of the common pleas, and other law judges, for ten years-and associate judges for five years-if they so long behaved themselves well; the right of suffrage was extended to all white freemen twenty-one years old, one year resident in the State, having within two years paid a tax assessed ten days before the election, and having resided ten days immediately preceding in the district; white freemen between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-two, citizens of the United States, having resided a year in the State and ten days in the district, could vote without paying any tax; two successive Legislatures, with the approbation of the people at a subsequent election, once in five years, could add to the Constitution whatever other amendments experience may have required. The amendments proposed were ratified at the general election in October by a vote of 113,971 to 112,759. At the October election (1838) David R. Porter, of Huntingdon, was chosen Governor, in a hotly contested political canvass over Governor Ritner. The defeated party issued an ill-timed and ill-advised address, advising their friends "to treat the election as if it had not been held." It was determined therefore to investigate the election, and to do this the political complexion of the Legislature would be decisive. The majority of the Senate was Anti-masonic, but the control of the House of Representatives hinged upon the admission of certain members from Philadelphia whose seats were contested. The votes of one of the districts in that city were thrown out by 249

In 1838 and the first day January 1839 there was a bitter political contest in the State and both Democrats and Whigs organized the House and the Senate and each claimed control. It prevented the election of a United States Senator in 1838. It was called the Buckshot War. The Democrats finally gained control. http://www5.familytreemaker.com/users/b/e/a/Loretta-M-Beasley/GENE5-0012.html

Buckshot War

. Governor Ritner of Pennsylvania asked President Van Buren for Federal troops to put down violence resulting from contested elections to the Pennsylvania legislature. The President replied that the intervention of Federal troops was justified only where "domestic violence . . . is of such a character that the State authorities, civil and military, after having been called upon, have proved inadequate to suppress it." The disorder was settled locally without the aid of Federal troops. http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/Vance-C/AppendixH.asp

1907
 * Most of the incidents listed in the Appendix are discussed in B. M. Rich, The Presidents and Civil Disorder (The Brookings Institution, 1941). Others are described in S. Doc. No. 263, 67th Cong., 2d Sess. (1922).
 * San Francisco Vigilance Committee (1856)
 * New Orleans Unrest (1873)
 * Political disturbances in Arkansas (Baxter-Brooks War) (1874)
 * South Carolina riots 1876
 * Railroad strike riots 1877 (WV, VA, MD)
 * Idaho's Coeur D'Alene 1892-1899
 * Coxey's March on Washington 1894
 * The Strike at Telluride, Colorado 1903

--

Labor Troubles at Goldfield, Nevada --	1914

--

Colorado coal strike

1919

--

Race riots in Washington, D.C. and Omaha, Nebraska; steel strike at Gary, Indiana

1921

--

Warfare in the coal fields of West Virginia

1932

--

The Bonus Army

1943

--

Detroit race riots

1967

--

Detroit riots

--

Editor: 	Lalor, John J. (?-1899) Title: 	Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States by the Best American and European Writers Published: New York: Maynard, Merrill, and Co., 1899. First published: 1881 For downloads and more, see the Card Catalog.

The Buckshot WarIn 1838 the control of the Pennsylvania house of representatives, on which depended the choice of a United States senator, turned upon the election in Philadelphia, Oct 9. Here the democratic candidates for senators and representatives were elected by average majorities of about 350; but the democratic candidate for congress was defeated. Ascribing his defeat to whig frauds in the Northern Liberties district, he induced the ten democratic return judges to cast out the entire 5,000 votes of that polling place, and thus obtained a certificate of election. Hereupon the seven whig judges met separately and gave certificates not only to their party candidate for congress, but also to the whig candidates for the state legislature, through these had no claim to a majority with or without the Northern Liberties vote. The whig certificates, sent by rail, came first to the secretary of state, who was also chairman of the whig state committee. He at once accepted them as the true ones and issued an address to his party, calling on them, until investigation could be made, "to treat the election as if they had not been defeated, and abide the result." This was a signal for both parties to muster strong bodies of armed partisans at Harrisburg before the meeting of the legislature, "to see fair play." I.162.1

—The legislature met Dec. 4, 1838, in the presence of riotous crowds. In both houses the secretary of state banded in the whig returns from Philadelphia, ignoring those of their opponents. The whig senate was organized without great difficulty, but adjourned because of the mob. In the house two organizations were formed in the same room, one (whig) recognizing the secretary's returns, the other (democratic) recognizing the election judges' returns. As speaker the former chose Thomas S. Cunningham, and the latter William Hopkins. The Hopkins house remained in session after the adjournment of the Cunningham house, and, having thus got possession of the hall, guarded it securely and compelled their opponents to meet elsewhere. I.162.2

—The whig governor, Ritner, issued a proclamation during the day, declaring the capital to be in the hands of a lawless mob. and calling on the militia throughout the state to prepare for action. Dec. 5, he called on the commandant at Carlisle barracks, Capt Sumner, for United States dragoons, but was refused. He then, Dec. 7, called on president Van Buren for troops to protect the state from domestic violence. (See INSURRECTION, II.) This request was also refused, Dec. 11, on the ground that the trouble arose from no opposition to the laws, but from a political contest for the organization of the house; and that it was indelicate and improper for the federal government to interfere for the support of either party. (See KANSAS) In the meantime about 1,000 militia had been brought to Harrisburg, but, after a two weeks' stay, departed, as the mob violence had ceased, and the senate and the dual house were holding regular and quiet sessions. I.162.3

—The senate stood 22 whigs to 11 democrats; but, when the excitement fell, it was found that many whigs disapproved the secretary's assumption of power to decide disputed returns. The feeling spread, and Dec. 17 three Cunningham members took seats in the Hopkins house, thus giving that body a majority of all the representatives. On motion of a whig senator, Dec. 23, the senate recognized the Hopkins house, and this ended the "Buckshot War." The other Cunningham members, during the next three weeks, took seats in the Hopkins house, with the single exception of their leader, Thaddeus Stevens, who absented himself during the rest of the session. May 7, 1839, at an extra session, he presented himself to take the oath, but the democratic majority, to punish him for his part in the struggle and for his strong and repeated expressions of contempt for the Hopkins house, declared his seat vacant. At the consequent special election he was again chosen, and took his seat in June. The popular name for the whole conflict was given from a reported threat of a whig member that the mob "should feel ball and buckshot before the day was over." The "Buckshot War" is interesting as throwing light upon the meaning of the term "domestic violence," and upon the power of the United States to protect the state governments therefrom.