Speech of James M'Dowell, Jr. (of Rockbridge, ) in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the Slave Question
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James McDowell was an American governor of Virginia and congressman.
Background
James McDowell was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, Col. James McDowell, was the great-grandson of Ephraim McDowell who, coming from Ulster, was a pioneer settler of Rockbridge County, Va. , in 1738. His mother, Sarah Preston, was the grand-daughter of John Preston, who that same year emigrated from Londonderry to Augusta County, Va. His sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of Thomas H. Benton. In the character of James McDowell the pioneer spirit and the Presbyterian faith were dominant, though he had no taste for agricultural pursuits.
Education
Born at the ancestral home, "Cherry Grove, " Rockbridge County, he was educated in private schools, attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) for one year, and in 1813 was sent to Yale. After a year here, he entered the College of New Jersey and graduated in 1816, delivering the Latin salutatory for his class. He was considered the most talented writer in college and had early developed a gift for public speaking, which led him into the study of law.
Career
McDowell's father burdened him with the gift of two thousand acres of land near Lexington, Ky. , where he tried to give himself to the farm as well as to the law, with the result that he soon abandoned both. Returning to Virginia, he established himself at "Colalto, " an estate about a mile from Lexington. Following the course of the Virginia gentleman of the day, he entered the legislature in 1830, and was concerned with local matters, mostly road building, until the Nat Turner Insurrection of 1831. When the legislature was asked by Gov. John Floyd, McDowell's uncle, to turn its deliberations "to the melancholy subject which has filled the country with affliction", McDowell prepared and delivered one of his greatest speeches.
His address at the College of New Jersey in 1838 (Address Delivered before the Alumni Association of the College of New Jersey, 1839) was ranked by many with Patrick Henry's orations. In 1842 he was elected governor and served for the three-year term beginning January 1, 1843. During his administration he gave himself largely to the problems of internal improvement, especially the James River and Kanawha Canal. He anticipated later developments by thirty years in recommending that the canal be abandoned above Lynchburg and a railroad be built at once to the Ohio. A few weeks after the expiration of his term as governor, his brother-in-law, William Taylor, died, and McDowell was elected in his place as representative in the Twenty-ninth Congress; he also served through the Thirtieth and Thirty-first congresses (1846 - 51). He supported the bill to create a lieutenant-general for the prosecution of the Mexican War, with the understanding that his brother-in-law, Thomas H. Benton, would receive the appointment. This act probably contributed to his defeat for the Senate in 1847 by a combination of Whigs and Calhoun Democrats.
The remaining four years of his congressional service were marked by failing health, but three of his speeches during this period are considered among his best--his memorial tribute to John Quincy Adams, and two speeches on the Wilmot Proviso, February 23, 1849, and September 3, 1850. In speaking against the Proviso, he reconciled his position with that which he had taken in 1831 by the argument that Virginia had the right to abolish slavery within the limits of the state, but that Congress in adopting the proposed act would create the very conditions which he had tried to avert in Virginia. His death occurred at his home near Lexington and he was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
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Views
He maintained that slavery was a cause of national dissension, that separation could not be peaceful, and that the separate existence of the slave states would be disastrous to their own welfare. He also advocated, in this session, a state-controlled canal connecting the tide-water of the James with the Ohio River. In 1832, owing to a division in the ranks of the Jackson Democrats, McDowell was defeated for the United States Senate by John Tyler. He strongly opposed Nullification and stated in 1833 that the doctrine "that each state had the right 'peaceably to secede' is wholly unwarranted by the Constitution". He canvassed southwestern Virginia in the interests of Van Buren's election as president, but in 1838 was defeated for reelection to the legislature.
Personality
A sidelight on his character is the fact that he was the first governor of Virginia to ban wine at official entertainments.
Connections
On September 7, 1818, he was married to his cousin, Susanna Smith Preston, grand-daughter of Gen. William Campbell and Elizabeth Henry, sister of Patrick Henry. He had ten children, three sons and seven daughters.