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The Edward Shippen Family: a Search for Stability in Revolutionary Pennsylvania

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The Edward Shippen Family: a Search for Stability in Revolutionary Pennsylvania The Edward Shippen family: a search for stability in revolutionary Pennsylvania Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Kimsey, Kenneth Roeland, 1934- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 21:49:19 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565282 THE EDWARD SHIPPEN FAMILY: A SEARCH FOR STABILITY IN REVOLUTIONARY PENNSYLVANIA by /' Kenneth Roeland Kimsey A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA i 1 9 7 3 I THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by _________ Kenneth Roeland Kimsey______________ entitled THE EDWARD SHIPPEN FAMILY: A SEARCH FOR_______ STABILITY IN REVOLUTIONARY PENNSYLVANIA_______ be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree o f DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY_________________ Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* _ ^ //S'/1 3 / -__________ -z/g./zj- This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. statement by author This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. © 1973 KENNETH ROELAND KIMSEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS ! Page ABSTRACT o o o o e o o o o e e o o o o.o o o o e o o e CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION , . = . .' = . » . , , » 1 2. PROVINCIAL POLITICS 8 3. STAMP A C T ............... ^ 43 4. RESISTANCE 72 5. WAR AND INDEPENDENCE .... ..... 98 6. WITHDRAWAL .................. 125 7. BENEDICT ARNOLD AND THE SHIPPEN FAMILY . 160 8. RETURN TO THE BENCH . 183 9. STABILITY ACHIEVED .............. 209 10, FINAL ASSAULT ................. 230 APPENDIX A. SUMMARY OF THE SHIPPEN FAMILY, 1639—1848 . 254 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . ....... „ . 256 ABSTRACT Edward Shippen's great grandfather moved from Boston to Pennsylvania in 1693 after his Quaker principles came into conflict with Puritan authorities» He became a close friend of William Penn, the province's proprietor, who appointed Shippen to various colonial offices. Because of his diligence and support of the Penn family, Shippen died one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania. The family continued to prosper, in part because of their loyalty to the proprietors. In the 17701s Edward Shippen, Sr., was proprietary agent in Lancaster and occupied important appointive offices, His sons, Edward and Joseph, sat on the governor's council and the latter served as council secretary and secretary of the province. - Edward Shippen, Jr. developed a reputation for legal excellence that was.rewarded when the Penn family in 1752 appointed him judge of the vice-admiralty court. Before the American Revolution, the government divided between a Quaker-led Assembly and friends of the proprietors. Benjamin Franklin, at first a supporter of the governor, threw his influence to the Assembly and began campaigning for a royal charter. Thomas Penn.and his allies successfully defeated the attempt. After 1763 the struggle v over taxation and American rights reinforced arguments against a royal provincial government. During the British-American controversy over taxa­ tion, the governor's supporter^ often led challenges on the alleged ministerial encroachments. When radicals changed / protests into a movement for independence, both Assembly members and proprietary officials despaired. Radicals turned against the provincial officers when they realized their reluctance to support independence. Authorities faced the dilemma of defending their government without appearing favorable to British dominance. The Shippens reacted to the Revolution in diverse ways. Edward Shippen, Sr. and his grandson by marriage, Jasper Yeates, objected to independence but led Lancaster County in organizing defense measures. For a time the older Shippen's son-in-law, James Burd, and his grandson, Edward Burd, commanded militia units. A bourgeois, desire for position, stability, and security kept Joseph and Edward Shippen, Jr. from participating in the war. The brothers tried to avoid military hostilities by moving from the war theater, Of the family, the younger Edward's allegiance to America appeared the most tenuous, but few questioned his loyalty. Prominent friends accepted his political sincerity even after authorities revealed the attempt of Benedict vii Arnold, Shippen*s son-in-law, to surrender the command at West Point. Shippen's refusal to participate in the war effort had little effect on his legal career, largely because in­ fluential friends trusted his loyalty. In 1778 he joined conservative members of the bar to sign, under pressure, an oath of allegiance to the state's radical constitution of 177 6. Six years later he renewed his judicial career when the Supreme Executive Council appointed him judge of the court of common pleas. Shippen advanced to the bench of the state supreme court in 17 90 and nine years later became its chief justice. Shippen's legal ability and his non-partisanism enabled him for a time to ignore controversy. After Jefferson's election to the presidency, however, radical Republicans accelerated an attack on the conservative judiciary. The Pennsylvania House voted impeachment charges against Shippen and two associate judges, Jasper Yeates and Thomas Smith. The Senate affirmed the concept of an in­ dependent judiciary and acquitted the judges. The victory correctly forecast the"result of another impeachment trial, that of Samuel Chase, a conservative member of the federal supreme court, Shippen's trial proved physically taxing for the old jurist and in January, 1806, he retired from the bench. His death four months later ended the prominence of the Shippen viii family and severed the last link with the proprietary government„ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION By the time of the Revolutionary War the Shippen family had been in Pennsylvania four generations. Beginning with the arrival in 1693 of the first Edward Shippen, a Quaker refugee from Bostonian Puritanism, the family benefited by its close alliance with the Penn proprietors. The family reached a high point in its political fortunes in 177 0 when Governor John Penn appointed Edward Shippen, Jr., grandson of his namesake, to.the provincial council. In addition to being a councillor Shippen was judge of the vice­ admiralty court, prothonotary of the supreme court, and a leading member of the Pennsylvania bar. Governor Penn had earlier commissioned Shippen1s younger brother, Joseph, provincial secretary. At Lancaster, Edward Shippen, Sr. held several county judicial offices and had acted as agent for the Penn family since moving from Philadelphia in the 1750’s. The family had prospered. The first Edward Shippen amassed enough wealth to afford the largest coach and house in Philadelphia. Over the years other members profited from public offices, the western fur trade, land investments, and occasional trading ventures. In the provincial property tax for 1774 Edward Shippen, Jr. paid £432.12.12 for an estate of £10,800 and ranked in the upper ten per cent of taxpayers paying over £100."*" Much of Shippenf s wealth was the result of rents and investments from lands he and his brother warranted and patented before the Revolution. During the crisis-ridden years of the 1770's and 1780's the value of these invest­ ments decreased substantially when Shippen's tenants and debtors could not pay him while prices and taxes continued to spiral. For a family accustomed to wealth and affluence, the change in finances was demoralizing, though hardly dis­ astrous. In the spring of 1776, the political situation for Edward Shippen, Jr., like that of all proprietary officials, was not enviable. Whereas most Americans faced only the question of their allegiance to the Crown, provincial officials in Pennsylvania also owed loyalty to the Penn family, a fact that greatly affected their future. Before 1776 Shippen had few qualms against protesting the policies of Great Britain, but when radicals urged independence and 1, Edward Shippen's estate of £10,800 is estimated by assuming a tax of £160 was equal to an estate of £4,000. Pennsylvania Archives (.9 Series, 160 Vols, ? Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; various publishers, 1852-1935), Ser, 3, XIV, 228, 229, 266; Main concludes that the typical wealthy upperclass American family possessed assets of at least £5,000, He estimates the wealthy upperclass to consist
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