This dissertation h u been microfilmed exactly as received 67—16,273 DOYLE, James Thomas, 1935- JAMES EDWIN CAMPBELL: CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN, GOVERNOR AND STATESMAN, The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1967 History, modem University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan JAMES EDWIN CAMPBELL: CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN, GOVERNOR AND STATESMAN DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By James Thomas Doyle, B.Sc., M.A, ****** The Ohio State University 1967 Approved by Adviser Department of History VITA August 27, 19 3 5 ........... Born— Chicago, Illinois 1957 ..................... B.Sc., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1 9 5 8 ..................... M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1 9 5 8 -1 9 6... 3 .............. Assistant State Archivist, State of Ohio, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio 1963-1964... .............. Instructor, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 1964-1965... .............. Instructor, University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania 1965-present ............ Assistant Professor, University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania Fields of Study United States, I8 50-1900. < Professor Francis P. Veisenburger United States, 1789-1850. Professor Eugene H. Roseboom Slavery Controversy, Civil War, Reconstruc­ tion, and New South . , Professor Henry H. Simms Middle Eastern History . , Professor Sydney N. Fisher Europe, 1870-Present . , Professor Charles Morley American Political Parties and Pressure Groups . , Professor E. Allen Helms ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE VITA ..................................................... Ill INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1 CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS .................................... 3 II. THE START OF A C A R E E R .......................... 2h III. CONGRESSIONAL YEARS ............................ 70 IV. VICTORY AND H O P E ................................... 159 V. A TURBULENT Y E A R ................................... 224 VI. DEFEAT WITH H O N O R .................................278 VII. A PUBLIC SERVANT AND PRIVATE CITIZEN ........... 353 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................448 ill INTRODUCTION By the early l8M-0's, the United States was well on the road to its irrepressible conflict. The slavery controversy had split the nation into two separate and distinct camps. One advocated that slavery should no longer be allowed to spread its ugly venom into the emerging West, while the other strongly championed the right of private property, ra­ cial superiority, and constitution legality. Thus, an age of anxiety and frustration was enveloping the nation. The future was faced with an intense awareness that no land could exist with such an open fissure; or, as the Great Emancipator would vividly state, "half slave and half free". Anxious parents could justifiably be concerned about what type of world their young children had entered. They could ponder whether such a setting would permit their off­ spring to grow and develop with the intense optimism and en­ thusiasm so typically characteristic of the expanding na­ tion. How would the children of the time be able to adjust to the fomenting crisis? With the advantage of hindsight, we know that the crisis reached a climax during the i860's. Because of these strife torn years, a young man born in those earlier years of the debate, would grow up with a dis­ tinct set of traits and beliefs which would leave indelible marks on his character. As the war ended, America was on 2 the threshold of an economic and industrial growth unparal­ leled in its history. Could a young man, nurtured with an intense belief in individualism, equality, and freedom, a- dapt himself to the ensuing business consolidations, trust combinations, and labor organizations? After having lived during such intensely emotional times and having developed and held a set of beliefs with a firmness and steadfastness that so often marks and holds captive an advocate of a mor­ al cause, could one ever completely lose such an experience? It is the purpose of this study to look at one such man and to examine how he was able to adapt himself to this sit­ uation. It would be far too presumptuous to state that James Edwin Campbell was typical of all men born under sim­ ilar circumstances. Yet, it can be stated that he was re­ presentative of a certain group of men who early in life faced the slavery controversy and were filled with a deep love of individual liberty, freedom, and equality. They tenaciously held to these early values and never felt that they could or should compromise, alter, or change such bas­ ic principles. As the world changed about them, they talked, wrote, and acted as if the nation were still predom­ inately the simple agrarian land they experienced in their early years. Possibly they recognized the changing politi­ cal, social, and economic philosophies which they unknowing­ ly helped bring about. However, they also recalled vividly their earlier lives which so strongly affected their values. CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS President William Henry Harrison's sudden death within a month of his inauguration in l84l had amply demonstrated to the nation the sometimes strange workings of the American political system. His successor, John Tyler of Virginia, true to his Southern tradition, failed to represent the views of the majority of the Whig Party as its titular lead­ er. The party was at best a loose coalition, and Tyler championed a states' rights philosophy of a low tariff, slavery, and expansion held by a minority In the party. Additionally, he was opposed to internal improvements at federal expense, free lands, and a national bank. Other Whigs, and particularly Henry Clay, were sadly disillusioned with these views and his actions and looked forward to the next presidential election with hopes of victory and a change in fundamental policies. In Ohio, the home of the late president, the jubilation of victory had been quickly dimmed by the actions of the Virginia. Thomas Ewing of Lancaster, Ohio, who had proudly accepted the position of Secretary of the Treasury, and who thus became the first cabinet officer from the state, was equally disillusioned. Ewing joined his cabinet colleagues. 4 with the exception of Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State, in submitting their protesting resignations. Shortly there­ after, another Buckeye, John McLean received a proffered ap­ pointment as Secretary of War by Tyler but refused, deciding 1 to remain as Justice of the Supreme Court. On the state level, the Whigs in Ohio generally repre­ sented the propertied Interests. Thomas Corwin had gained the governorship for them at the time of the Harrison vic­ tory. Because of the rupture within the Whig ranks on the national scene, the Democrats were able to win back the top executive post of the state in 1842. The new victor, Wilson Shannon, who many believed was supported by the Tyler Whigs, declared a belief in a "well-guarded and well- restricted system of local banks," a material concession to 2 the Whig program. Later, the state legislature, with a Democratic majority, enacted a law granting special banking privileges to the Bank of Wooster. Thereafter, the local Democrats were faced wlth an internal split similar to that of their rivals. Each of the political parties failed to represent all its members; rather, they usually were the ve­ hicle of expression for an interest group which by no means was indicative of the policies or beliefs of all their Eugene H. Roseboom and Francis P. Weisenburger, A His­ tory of Ohio (Columbus, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 19^8), p. 158. ^Ibid.. p. 161. 5 associates. During these years of political division, James Edwin Campbell was born in Middletown, Ohio, July 7, 184], to Laura Reynolds Campbell and Andrew Campbell, a successful surgeon.^ He was to be the only son of these proud parents, both of whom came from a sturdy, pioneer stock that gave to the Miami Valley at an early date a characteristic distinc­ tion that its children have ever cherished and enjoyed. Later, when Campbell was Governor of Ohio he boasted that his parents were also born in the Buckeye state. In a con­ versation with Governor Loundsbury of Connecticut, Campbell related that his father and mother were born in Ohio and "that the proudest thing in my life was that I was the first Governor whose parents were born in Ohio . In a more poetic vain upon numerous occasions he would aver that Ophia D. Smith, "James E. Campbell, I890-I892," The Governors of Ohio (Columbus, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 195^), p. 12^; Charles B. Galbreath, James Edwin Campbell. In Memoriam With Biographical Sketch (Columbus, The F. J, Heer Printing Co., 1926), p. 13. Lowry F. Sater, James Edwin Campbell: A Contemporary Political Study (Columbus, The Spahr and Glenn Company, 1932), p. 9 . ^James E . Campbell, ms,, notes for speeches, n.d., in James Edwin Campbell Papers (Ohio Archaeological and Histor­ ical Society Library, Columbus, Ohio). 6 he was "the first specimen of the second growth of timber.”^ The future statesman's father, Andrew Campbell, was a descendant of Alexander Campbell who was born in Argyllshire, Scotland, about 17^5, and who eight years later journeyed to Virginia and prepared to build a new home in the colony. His son Samuel, the grandfather of James Edwin, was born in 1781 and subsequently moved to Ohio in 1795* He was a sol­ dier in the War of 1812. Samuel's wife, Mary Small, born in 1736, was the daughter of Andrew Small, who had moved to Ohio in 1796 after having completed three and a half years of service and attained the rank of ensign in the Revolu- 7 tionary War. Thus, Andrew Campbell was the product of two fairly well established and honorable families which had aided the young nation in gaining and preserving its inde­ pendence . Andrew Campbell spent his entire life in Butler County, Ohio.