Daily stories of Pennsylvania

by Frederic Antes Godcharles

The attention of the Legislature having been called to the neglected and suffering condition of the insane poor of the State, in 1844, there was provision made for the establishment of an asylum to be located within ten miles of the seat of Government. The citizens of Harrisburg, with the aid of a liberal appropriation by Dauphin County, purchased a farm adjoining that city, and in 1848, the commissioners appointed by the State began the construction of the first building erected by the Commonwealth for the reception and care of the indigent insane.

The Fugitive Slave Law was passed by Congress during Governor Johnston’s administration, and the excitement incident to the return of fugitives under it, soon became a subject of heated discussion. In 1851 a serious riot occurred at Christiana, Lancaster County, and in other localities the arrest of fugitive slaves led to bloodshed.

Under the administration of Governor Johnston, the records of the Provincial and State Government, which had remained in single manuscript copy in a very confused condition, were preserved.

In compliance with the Governor’s recommendation, an act was passed authorizing the appointment of a suitable agent to select and superintend their publication. Samuel Hazard, of Philadelphia, was delegated, and under his supervision twenty-eight volumes of colonial records and Pennsylvania archives, containing a vast amount of original papers of incalculable value and interest were published.

They form almost complete details of the transactions of Government from 1682 to 1790, invaluable in their importance to a full comprehension of the early history of Pennsylvania. The work has been continued and only recently the seventh series of the Archives appeared.

In 1849 considerable excitement existed in Pittsburgh and in the western part of the State, occasioned by the erection of a bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, W. Va., which obstructed the river to navigation in time of high water. Appeals for relief were made to the Legislature, and to Congress, and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States. Measures, however, were adopted which removed all objections.

Governor Johnston was renominated for a second term. His Democratic opponent was William Bigler, of Clearfield. The campaign was unusually spirited and was carried on vigorously from midsummer until the day of the election in October. State questions were forgotten, the Fugitive Slave law and slavery in the Territories now demanded universal attention. Bigler was elected by a good majority, and was inaugurated January 20, 1852.

By a remarkable coincidence his own election as Governor of Pennsylvania was simultaneous with the election of his elder brother, John, also a native of Pennsylvania, to the same dignity in the new State of California.

Governor Bigler’s Administration is marked with stronger features than any one of his immediate predecessors. Several very important measures were adopted by the Legislature, the principle of which were the establishing of the office of the County Superintendent of Common Schools and the founding of the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children.

The completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh in February, 1854, added a powerful impulse to the development of the resources of the State.