The Men Behind the Declaration of Independence. L. Carroll Judson

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 difference of opinion, and numbered among them many personal friends. He was free from that narrow-minded policy, based upon self, that actuates too many of those of the present day, who assume the high responsibility of becoming the arbiters of the minds of their fellow men. His views were expansive and liberal, broad and charitable. He aimed at distributing equal justice to all, the rich and poor, the public officer and private citizen. He was free from that contracted selfishness that prefers present aggrandizement to future good. To lay deep the foundations of lasting and increasing prosperity for his own state and for our nation, was the object of this pure patriot, enlightened statesman, and able jurist. Her vast resources, her wide spread territory, her majestic rivers, her silvery lakes, her mineral mountains, her rich valleys, her rolling uplands, her beautiful prairies, her extensive seaboard, her enterprising sons and virtuous daughters, were arrayed before his gigantic mind, and passed him in grand review. He was firmly convinced that she had only to be wise and good to be great and happy. To this end he embraced every opportunity, both in public and private life, to inculcate, by precept and example, those great principles of moral rectitude, inflexible virtue, purity of motive, and nobleness of action, that alone can permanently preserve a nation. He cast a withering frown upon vice in all its borrowed and alluring forms, and exerted his strongest powers to arrest the bold career of crime and corruption. He was a terror to evil doers, and inspired confidence in those who did well. His administration was prosperous and enlightened, and when he closed his public duties, the bitterness of his political opponents was lost in the admiration of his patriotism, virtue, impartiality, consistency, and candour.

      In 1808 he retired from the ponderous weight of public business, that he had so long and honourably borne. He had devoted a long life to the faithful service of his country, and was covered with laurels of imperishable fame. СКАЧАТЬ