Background
Joseph Ritner was born on March 25, 1780 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the son of a German emigrant and ardent Revolutionary patriot, Michael Ritner.
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Vindication of General Washington From the Stigma of Adherence to Secret Societies (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Vindication of General Washington From the S...)
Excerpt from Vindication of General Washington From the Stigma of Adherence to Secret Societies It was accidentally discovered that a gentleman in Norfolk County, Mass, had a copy of a letter from the late Chief Justice of the United States to the Hon. Edward Everett, on the sub ject of Freemasonry. Being requested he furnished the one which follows, accompanying it, in his letter to the applicant, with these very appropriate remarks. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Joseph Ritner
Edit ProfileEducation
Six months' schooling and instruction in weaving constituted his formal education, but he taught himself English from books and explored her brother's library of German treatises.
Career
His annual wage at farm labor rose from $80 to $120; and then he sought the Washington County frontier, where he developed a prosperous farm.
In the War of 1812 he was a private. In his home community he became supervisor of roads, in building which he introduced the plow, and he participated in numerous Democratic caucuses. His thrifty habit of hauling freight and driving stock to Philadelphia in slack seasons made this stout countryman, with his massive head, strong face, and broad chest, a familiar sight along main-traveled roads; and his extensive family connections made him favorably known in ten German counties.
During service to the Assembly, 1821-26, the speakership came to him twice, 1825 and 1826, unanimously the second time. Aversion to secret societies made him the anti-Masonic gubernatorial candidate four times, 1829, 1832, 1835, 1838.
His modest initial vote increased in 1832 with National Republican support, in spite of Democratic broadsides averring that this "Deist" propagated the principles of Paine's Age of Reason and that "a respectable and well-known citizen saw Joseph Ritner on the Sabbath Morning, keep tally, while others were amusing themselves playing ball, in his meadow!".
The split in 1835 among the Democrats over Jackson and the schools gave him his one term as governor, just when Pennsylvania was exceptionally upset. The ill-assorted coalition of Whigs and anti-Masons behind his election was at one on nothing but opposition to Jacksonianism. Warfare over bank deposits and the antiquated constitution, financial panic, canal and railroad lobbying, anti-abolitionist rioting, and the fanatic genius of Thaddeus Stevens, together taxed Ritner beyond his ingenuity.
The hostile press incessantly abused his administration. Even nature opposed him, with a flood on the Juniata engulfing forty miles of costly canal construction, just when he was solicitous over canal appropriations. Yet he achieved something in the democratic movement. He obtained a large increase in the permanent school appropriation and the number of common schools. Into a "schoolhouse-fund" he directed the $500, 000 received from the federal government, to prevent the sacrifice of instruction to equipment.
But he lost his campaign for a separate office of state school superintendent and for an "immediate and efficient means for the preparation of common school teachers". More independent than most contemporary executives of northern states, he denounced the gag law, practised and preached temperance, and investigated the new "manufacture of iron with mineral coal. "
He opposed Jackson's bank policy on economic as well as political grounds, impatiently awaiting the safe resumption of specie payments, and finding the event, as he wrote Biddle, "to me, personally, truly gratifying". His real integrity of purpose was obscured by inability to limit canal appropriations, to prevent the chartering of banks wholesale, and to stop dictation to the state by "private companies and sectional jealousies. " He long distrusted Stevens and tried vainly to break his hold on the anti-Masonic party, but finally he named him canal commissioner and manager of his 1838 campaign.
His party lost that virulent contest and brought upon him the "Buckshot War" and much loss of dignity. Nevertheless, as ex-governor, prestige returned. Whigs chose him to cast an electoral vote for Harrison in 1840, Taylor nominated him for director of the Mint in 1849, Republicans sent him in Pennsylvania's delegation to the Frémont convention in 1856, and the Civil War found him serving as an enthusiastic, though elderly, inspector of the educational institutions so near his heart.
Achievements
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Governor Ritner has a residence hall named in his honor on the University Park campus of Penn State. Ritner Street in Philadelphia is also named in his honor. In 1938, the state of Pennsylvania dedicated the Governor Ritner Highway, which connects Carlisle and Shippensburg along Route 11 in Cumberland County.
Works
book
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Vindication of General Washington From the Stigma of Adherence to Secret Societies (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Vindication of General Washington From the S...)
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Vindication of General Washington From the Stigma of Adherence to Secret Societies (Classic Reprint)
Connections
He married to Susan Alter in 1802.
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Born
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Died
January 16, 1869 (aged 88) -
Resting place
Mount Rock Cemetery, Mount Rock, Pennsylvania, United States -
Nationality
American -
Political Party
Republican