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The Signers of the Declaration of Independence: Biographies. L. Carroll Judson
Читать онлайн.Название The Signers of the Declaration of Independence: Biographies
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isbn 9788027241620
Автор произведения L. Carroll Judson
Жанр Документальная литература
Издательство Bookwire
In 1765, he was a member of the Congress of New York, sent from Delaware. He was one of the committee that drafted the memorable address to the House of Commons of Great Britain. His patriotism, love of liberty, and unbending firmness of purpose; were fully demonstrated in that instrument, as well as in the acts of his subsequent life. He was a republican to the core, and despised the chains of political slavery, the baubles of monarchy, and the trappings of a crown. He was for LIBERTY or death, and scorned to be a slave.
On his return, the same year, he was appointed judge of the court of common pleas, quarter sessions, and orphans’ court, of New Castle county. The stamp act was then in full life, but not in full force: Judge M’Kean directed the officers of the courts over which he presided not to use stamped paper, as had been ordered by the hirelings of the British ministers. He set their authority at utter defiance, and was the first Judge, in any of the colonies, who took this bold stand. That circumstance alone, trifling as it may now seem to some readers, was big with events, and was an important entering wedge to the revolution, and stamped his name, in bold relievo, on the tablet of enduring fame. He had talent to design and energy to execute. From that time forward, in all the leading measures of the struggle for liberty, he was among the leading patriots.
He was a prominent member of the congress of 1774, that convened at Philadelphia. From that time to the peace of 1783, he was a member of the continental congress, and the only one who served during the whole time. He was a strong advocate for the declaration of independence, and most willingly affixed his signature to that sacred instrument. When it came up for final action, so anxious was he that it should pass unanimously, that he sent an express after Cæsar Rodney, one of his colleagues, the other, Mr. Read, having manifested a disposition to vote against it. Mr. Rodney arrived on the 4th of July, just in time to give his vote in favour of the important measure, and thus secured its unanimous adoption. Notwithstanding the arduous duties that devolved on Mr. M’Kean, as member of congress, member of several committees, and chief justice of Pennsylvania, all of which he discharged satisfactorily — so ardent was his patriotism, so devoted was he to promote the cause he had nobly espoused, that he accepted a colonel’s commission, and was appointed to the command of a regiment of associators, raised in the city of Philadelphia, and marched to the support of Gen. Washington, with whom he remained until a supply of new recruits was raised. During his absence, his Delaware constituents had elected him a member of the convention to form a constitution. On his return he proceeded to New Castle, and, in a tavern, without premeditation or consulting men or books, he hastily penned the constitution that was adopted by the delegates. Understanding the wants and feelings of the people, well versed in law and the principles of republicanism, and a ready writer, he was enabled to perform, in a few hours, a work that, in modern times, requires the labours of an expensive assembly for nearly a year. How changed are men and things since the glorious era of ’76! How different the motives that now impel to action, and how different the amount of labour performed in the same time and for the same money. Then all were anxious to listen! now nearly all are anxious to speak. Then, legislators loved their country more, and the loaves and fishes less, than at the present day.
On the 10th of July, 1781, Judge M’Kean was elected president of congress, which honour he was compelled to decline, because his duties as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania would necessarily require his absence some part of the time during the session. He was then urged to occupy the chair until the first Monday of November, when the court was to commence. To this he assented, and presided until that time, with great credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the members of that august body. On his retiring from the chair, the following resolution was unanimously passed on the 7th of November, 1781:
“Resolved, That the thanks of congress be given to the Honourable Thomas M’Kean, late president of congress, in testimony of their approbation of his conduct in the chair, and in the execution of public business.”
His duties upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which commenced in 1777, were often of the most responsible and arduous character. He did not recognise the power of the crown, and held himself amenable, in the discharge of his official functions, only to his country and his God. An able jurist and an unyielding patriot, he punished, at the hazard of his own life, all who were brought before him and convicted of violating the laws of the new dynasty. No threats could intimidate or influence reach him, when designed to divert him from the independent discharge of his duty. His profound legal acquirements, his ardent zeal, his equal justice, his vigorous energy and his noble patriotism, enabled him to outride every storm, and calm the raging billows that often surrounded him. He marched on triumphantly to the goal of LIBERTY, and hailed with joy the star spangled banner, as it waved in grandeur from the lofty spires of the temple of FREEDOM. He beheld, with the eye of a sage, a philosopher, and a philanthropist, the rising glory of Columbia’s new world. He viewed, with emotions of pleasing confidence, the American eagle descend from etherial regions, beyond the altitude of a tyrant’s breath, and pounce upon the British lion. With increasing vigour and redoubled fury, the mighty bird continued the awful conflict, until the king of beasts retreated to his lair, and proclaimed to a gazing and admiring world, AMERICA IS FREE!! Angels rejoiced, monarchs trembled, and patriots shouted aloud — Amen!! The grand Rubicon was passed, the torch of England’s power over the colonies had expired in its socket, and the birth of a new nation was celebrated by happy millions, basking beneath the luminous rays and refulgent glories of LIBERTY and FREEDOM! The harvest was past, the summer ended, and our country saved. The mighty work of political regeneration was accomplished, the independence of the United States acknowledged, and an honourable peace consummated.
Judge M’Kean, in common with his fellow patriots, heroes and sages, then sat down under his own fig tree, to enjoy the full fruition of his long and faithful labours in the cause of equal rights. He continued to discharge the important duties of chief justice until 1799, illuminating his judicial path with profound learning, impartial decision, and sound discretion. His legal opinions, based as they generally are, upon the firm pillars of equal justice, strict equity, and correct law; given, as they were, when our form of government was changing, the laws unsettled, our state constitution but just formed, and the federal constitution bursting from embryo — are monuments of fame, enduring as social order, revered, respected, and canonized.
He was a member of the convention that formed the constitution of Pennsylvania adopted in 1790, and exercised an influence in that body that was of the most salutary kind. In 1799 he was elected governor of the key-stone state, and contributed largely in adding new strength and beauty to the grand arch of our union. For nine successive years he wielded the destinies of the land of Penn, commencing at a period when the mountain waves of party spirit were rolling over the United States with a fury before unknown. But amidst the foaming and conflicting elements, Governor M’Kean stood at the helm of state, calm as a summer morning, firm as a mountain of granite, and guided his noble ship through the raging storm, unscathed and unharmed. His annual messages to the legislature for elegance and force of language, correct and liberal views of policy, and a luminous exposition of law and rules of government, stand unrivalled and unsurpassed. The clamours of his political enemies he passed by as the idle wind; the suggestions of his friends he scanned with the most rigid scrutiny. Neither flattery or censure could drive him from the strong citadel of his own matured judgment. The good of his country and the glory of the American character, formed the grand basis of his actions.
The fawning sycophant and the brawling demagogue, he spurned with contempt. By honest means alone he desired the advancement of the party that had elevated him. Open and avowed principles, fully proclaimed and strictly carried out, were by him submitted to the people, frankly and cordially, without prevarication or disguise. He was a politician of the old school, when each party had plain and visible landmarks, distinctive names, and fixed principles. Political chemists had not then introduced the modern process of amalgamation, producing a heterogenous mass, that defies the power of analyzation, scientific arrangement, or classical separation.
Governor M’Kean respected those of his political opponents who opposed him from an honest