Dr. Leib's Patriotic Speech: Addressed to the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, February 24, 1796 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Dr. Leib's Patriotic Speech: Addressed to th...)
Excerpt from Dr. Leib's Patriotic Speech: Addressed to the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, February 24, 1796
In confirmation of there opinions, permit me to cite the authority of Godwin, an author of high po litical eminence.
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A Portrait of the Evils of Democracy: Submitted to the Consideration of the People of Maryland (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A Portrait of the Evils of Democracy: Submit...)
Excerpt from A Portrait of the Evils of Democracy: Submitted to the Consideration of the People of Maryland
While this bloody scene was acting before the house (if Ma Hanson, many well disposed citizens, alarmed for the peace of: the city, and anxious for the preservation of the persons in the house, gathered at Brigad1or General Stricker' 3; who, irritated by Mr. Hanson' 3 return to the city, which might be the innocent cause of a requisition being made upon him by the civil authority.
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.
Michael Leib was an American physician and politician. He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1799-1806 and United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1809-1814.
Background
Michael Leib, the son of Johann George Leib and Margaretha Dorothea Liebheit, was born in Philadelphia. His father, said to have been a native of Strasbourg, came to Philadelphia from Rotterdam in 1753 and served in the Philadelphia militia during the Revolution.
Education
Michael attended the common schools and studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush.
Career
For the next fifteen years Leib was active in medical affairs, serving on the staffs of the Philadelphia Dispensary (1786 - 1793), the Philadelphia Almshouse and Hospital (1788 - 1790), and Bush Hill Hospital (1793). He was also a corporator of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and a member of the Pennsylvania prison society.
His activities in the Democratic Society and the German Republican Society and in the Assembly (1795 - 1798), launched him on a political career. A rousing democratic speech of his in the legislature in 1796 moved Jefferson to predict a great future for him. In 1798 he was elected to Congress.
While in Congress he opposed (1806) the non-importation resolution of his colleague, Andrew Gregg, convinced that the country would incur "more loss than profit by it". Leib collaborated with William Duane as political dictator of Philadelphia. For supporting Gov. Thomas McKean in 1799 he was rewarded with the post of physician to the Lazaretto Hospital (1800). His violence and avarice, however, soon wrecked the Republican party in Pennsylvania. Disappointed in McKean and exasperated by opposition to his candidacy for Congress in 1802 and 1804, he threw his influence with the radicals and against the Governor in 1805.
The next year he resigned from Congress, reëntered the legislature (1806 - 1808), determined to overthrow McKean, and as "the Magnus Apollo" of "the Catilinian faction" blocked the administration at every step and led the unsuccessful impeachment proceedings against the Governor. He was also a Democratic presidential elector (1808) and brigadier-general of militia (1807 - 1811). From 1809 to 1814 Leib was United States senator. He opposed Gallatin's taxation schemes and the recharter of the United States Bank (1811), demanded drastic measures against England (1810), but in 1812 tried to delay war, and was one of the "malcontents" whose tactics embarrassed the administration.
On February 14, 1814, he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia, but hostile sentiment in Pennsylvania forced his removal early in 1815. His criticisms of Madison now became open denunciations. Speaking, May 13, 1816, before the St. Tammany Society, of which he formerly had been grand sachem, he asserted that the Republican party was controlled by men who had sacrificed the nation's prosperity to make war "a chess board for political gamblers to play upon". Meanwhile his influence in state politics declined. As an old-school Democrat, he attacked the caucus nominating system, advocated a more virtuous democracy, and, curiously, by courting support from moderate Republicans and Federalists whom he earlier had abominated, was returned to the Assembly (1817 - 1818) and to the state Senate (1818 - 1821).
From November 15, 1822, to his death he was prothonotary of the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia. Keen in retort, but not a close reasoner, Leib "produced effect rather by the velocity of his missiles, than the weight of his metal". He left an estate valued at $32, 000.