cates, debts owing for horses and army supplies, and also a balance due for interest on new loan certificates. The sources of revenue at the time were less varied, consisting chiefly of marriage and tavern licenses, taxes on writs, fines and forfeitures, auction duties, carriage taxes, excise taxes, lands and land office fees and militia fines. The amount contributed by the people from all sources from the beginning of the Revolution to August, 1791, in Continental money, was as follows: The direct taxes at specie value from October, 1781, to August 1, 1791, amounted to £1,240,049; other sources of revenue before October, 1781, £84,718; from October, 1781, to August 1, 1791, £980,275. The early financial reports were elaborate, and also were necessarily complicated in consequence of the existence of so many kinds of money and money equivalents and such a variety of indebtedness. These reports, however, were carefully prepared and disclose the faithfulness of the financial authorities of the State. With the new order of things established under the constitution, the financial system was reorganized and systematized, and thereafter became an important element of the history of the State. This system is treated at length in another part of this work, hence further allusion to it in this place is unnecessary. The later years of Governor Mifflin's administration were in themselves uneventful except that about the close of his last term of office party lines had become strengthened and politics seemed to engage public attention more strongly than ever before. National political affairs then were in a fevered condition, and as the capital was at Philadelphia, that city was the center of political excitement, and naturally the feelings there engendered spread throughout the entire State and divided its people on all questions, whether general to the United States or confined to our own Commonwealth. At intersection of Concord, West Chester and From the time of founding the colony by Penn until after the adoption of the constitution of 1790 the seat of government of the province and subsequent Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had been maintained in Philadelphia, but soon after the year mentioned a strong feeling was aroused in favor of removal to some less populous locality, the chief argument therefor being based on the assumption that legislation would be less influenced by the interests of the great municipality. In February, 1795, the House passed a resolution providing for the location of the State buildings and capital at Carlisle, but the measure failed in the Senate. In 1796 the subject was again under consideration and both Carlisle and Reading put forth strong but unsuccessful claims for the coveted designation, but Lancaster was selected by the House, while the Senate again failed to approve the action. In 1798 Wright's Ferry, on the Susquehanna river, was proposed, as also was Harrisburg, but an act was not passed, owing to the nonconcurrence of the two branches of the legislature. In 1799 Lancaster was selected, and was the capital of the Commonwealth from the first Monday in November, 1799, to February, 1810, when the seat of government was removed to Harrisburg. In the same year in which Philadelphia ceased to be the capital of the State, the seat of the national government also was removed. During Washington's administration national issues formed rapidly, the cabinet dividing into two wings, Hamilton and Knox forming and leading one and Jefferson and Randolph the other. As Hamilton favored the enforcement of the excise act, and the employment of troops, if necessary, for that purpose, Jefferson and Randolph urged State action solely in suppressing the rioters and enforcing the law. On other questions they differed, such as those relating to the national bank, funding and payment of the public debt, and in fact on all matters pertaining to the exercise of national power. While Washington was at the head of the government he preserved unity and enforced all national measures; on his retirement the division was distinct and final, and two parties emerged with totally different aims. Mifflin was re-elected in 1793 and 1796 without difficulty, but in 1798 the voters of Pennsylvania re-formed on the existing lines of the national parties that had been established two years before. The old anti-Constitutionalists who were opposed to the constitution of 1776 and were powerful enough to call a convention in 1789 and secure the adoption of the constitution of 1790, secured a decisive victory in the State election of 1798. Many of the Constitutionalists who favored the amendment of the constitution of 1776, but had been defeated by the censors, joined with them, and thus strengthened at last, secured an easy triumph. Thus Mifflin, who had been one of the leaders of his party in the beginning, was its pre-eminent leader at its close. Of his nine years as Governor it is not difficult to form a fairly intelligent judgment; the whiskey insurrection was the most difficult affair to settle during his entire term in office. He loved and at times seemed to court popularity and was singularly successful in winning and holding the confidence of the people. Yet Mifflin's public life was subject to criticism and in certain respects he undoubtedly deserved censure, although none of his political opponents charged that he profited by the measures adopted and which were made the subject of scandal during his gubernatorial career. As the first chief executive of the Commonwealth his was a hard and often unpleasant duty and he was constantly besieged with applications in behalf of measures for the advancement of both public and private enterprises. So far as lay within his power he is said to have examined into the merits and justice of each of these claims upon the executive favor, and some of them received his approval, while others were rejected by him. He did not originate the laws; the enacting power lay solely with the legislature, and if unwise measures were adopted by a fair majority of the legislature it certainly was not the fault of the Governor if he approved them after the direct representatives of the people had placed them before him for that purpose. During this formative period of history Mifflin demeaned himself well under trying circumstances; were this not so he could not have retained his hold upon the voting power, twice secure re-election and eventually retire from public office still retaining not only the esteem, but also the leadership of his political party. Toward the close of his third term the opposing party gained numerical ascendency in the State, and at the next election its candidate waged a successful contest. It was not his political mis-alliances that overthrew Mifflin's power in the State, but the natural current of political events where two great parties are ever struggling for the supremacy which one only can secure, and having maintained for a time, is sure to be lost to the other. T CHAPTER VIII. MCKEAN'S ADMINISTRATION-1799 1808 HE Republican candidate in 1799 was Thomas McKean, who for many years had been one of the most prominent figures in the State. No other man then living had such a picturesque record. Born in Chester county, the son of Irish parents, he inherited the strong qualities of the Irish race. He was educated by Francis Alison, one of the most distinguished teachers of his day, and afterward studied law in the office of his relative, David Finney, of Newcastle, Delaware, a lawyer of considerable prominence. At the age of twenty-two years he was appointed, by the Attorney-General, deputy to prosecute the pleas of the crown in the county of Sussex. In 1756 he was elected clerk of the Assembly and was re-elected the following year. For four years he was chosen, with Caesar Rodney, to revise and print the laws enacted after 1752. In 1756, also, he was elected a member of Assembly from the county of Newcastle and was annually returned for seventeen successive years. During the last six years of this period he resided in Philadelphia and frequently informed his constituents that he wished to retire. In October, 1779, on the day of the general election in Delaware, he attended at Newcastle, where he addressed his friends, describing the prospects of the country and declining to serve longer as a member of the legislature. On his retirement a committee of six waited on him in behalf of the electors, and requested of him that if he would no longer serve, that he designate seven men whom they might choose to represent |