Francis Rawn Shunk was born on August 7, 1788 at Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth (Rawn) and John Shunk, a farmer. His two grandfathers, Francis Shunk and Caspar Rawn, had emigrated to America early in the eighteenth century from the Palatinate of the Rhine.
Because of the poverty of his parents the boy's formal education was limited to the country school. He also studied law in the office of Thomas Elder of Harrisburg.
At the age of fifteen he became a teacher. Soon afterward he was placed in charge of the village school at Trappe, a position he continued to fill for nine years. When the school was not in session he worked on the neighboring farms and studied as much as he could.
In 1812 he was appointed by Andrew Porter, the surveyor-general of the state, as a clerk. In 1816 was admitted to the bar.
In 1814 he marched as a private in a local company of the state militia to the defense of Baltimore against the invasion of the British. Soon after his return he became assistant and then principal clerk of the House of Representatives.
He was appointed clerk to the canal commissioners and in 1839 became secretary of the commonwealth. In 1842 he began the practice of law in Pittsburgh, but in 1844 he was elected as a Democrat governor of the state.
In 1847 he was reëlected by an increased majority. He was essentially a self-made man.
During his administration the Mexican War made many demands upon the resources of the state as did also a variety of complicated domestic problems of major importance, some of which had been inherited from the preceding decade.
Especially troublesome was the serious plight of the public treasury on his accession to office. Not only had the debt of the state reached the then staggering sum of approximately $40, 000, 000, much of which had been accumulated in the construction of canals and other public works, but also the revenues were insufficient to meet the regular obligations of the government.
Indeed, for a period of two years the interest on the state debt had not been paid, and the credit of the state was otherwise seriously impaired.
On July 9, 1848, however, on account of the failure of his health he resigned his office in a simple farewell message. He died of tuberculosis three weeks later.
To the question of balancing the budget and restoring the credit of the state he gave his constant attention throughout his entire administration with the result that he improved conditions measurably. He vetoed many acts of the legislature granting concessions to corporate business enterprises. Among other measures which he commended to the legislature for favorable consideration were: state control of inheritance by laws preventing entailed estates, a more careful scrutiny on the part of the legislature of the increasingly large numbers of pleas for divorce presented to that body annually, and the extension and improvement of the system of public education.
His early labors gave him a hearty sympathy with the poor and unfortunate, and he steadfastly opposed all measures tending to the aggregation of property in the hands of the few or to the extension of special privileges and concessions to vested interests by legislative action.
Though not brilliant, he was honest, industrious, and devoted.
In 1820, he married Jane Findlay, daughter of Pennsylvania Governor and Senator, William Findlay, and Pennsylvania First Lady Nancy Irwin Findlay.
