David R. Porter - Knowledge

402:"The public debt is substantially the same,—the public burdens only increased to meet obligations then incurred—the public improvements are more productive, and the public revenues essentially augmented. Our banking system, then tottering to its fall, has been examined with searching scrutiny by the public eye—its faults have been detected, its unsoundness exposed, and its dangers guarded against by the dissemination of correct information. The wild and headlong spirit of speculation has been checked. The undue multiplication of the public debt has been restrained, and improvident and wasteful expenditures of the public funds arrested. Experience has painfully demonstrated to the conviction of all, what the sagacious foresight of some apprehended—that nations, like individuals, when they make 'too great haste to get rich' are in danger of bankruptcy and ruin. We had not yet fortunately, reached the fatal point, from which there was no prospect of escape; but we were verging so near, as to render our rescue alike timely and perilous. Cases of individual hardship no doubt exist; patience, industry and enterprise will effect a cure in most of them; and for those that are remediless, we can but express our sympathy and sorrow.... The Commonwealth, herself, after a short struggle borne with fortitude characteristic of her citizens, and the integrity that they would scorn to tarnish, will overcome all her pecuniary difficulties—will faithfully fulfill her engagements and proudly maintain her honesty and her fame." 1858: 211: 2166: 33: 2176: 384:", Governor Ritner began making plans in Harrisburg to order military intervention to ensure the peaceful transition of government, but members of the legislature worked together to reach consensus and certified the election results before the situation could escalate further, bringing the conflict to an end a few days before Porter's inauguration. A large crowd attended his inaugural ceremonies on January 15, 1839. 388:

secured Pennsylvania's first capital stock share tax while reducing state spending and hiring. Despite these financial changes, his administration was able to continue the state's expansion of its canal and railroad systems, including efforts to connect those systems to the Mississippi River and St. Louis, Missouri, as well as state capitals in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

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Returning to the private sector, where he resumed his iron manufacturing business in 1844, he oversaw construction of the first anthracite coal furnace for iron in south central Pennsylvania and operated his own railroad, which linked his furnace to Pennsylvania's larger railroad and canal lines. He

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By the time Porter had begun that address in 1842, Pennsylvania's legislature had already begun what would become one of the longest sessions in state history, during which it took up the review and debate of a one-mill real estate and personal property tax increase that was pushed by Porter. Lasting

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After years of Anti-Masonic "witch hunts," however, many prospective voters had tired of the vitriol, giving Porter an opening to effect change. He won the election with a slim 5,500-voter margin. The election result was bitterly contested by Ritner's supporters to the point of violence. Known as the

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As his second term wound down, Porter decided to retire from politics because Pennsylvania's revised state constitution prohibited him from seeking a third term and because he had developed increasingly difficult relations with both his own party, which opposed his support of protective tariffs, and

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During Porter's two terms of executive leadership, Pennsylvania's total debt rose twenty-five percent, but the state was able to pay off the interest on that debt by using revenues that had been generated during his tenure. In addition, he was able to curtail efforts by some General Assembly members

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When he assumed office, Porter faced the difficulties of a statewide recession that had begun in 1837 and a state bureaucracy that had spent heavily during the previous years. He pushed for, and then obtained, a tax on persons in professions and the trades similar to the state's income tax, and also

398:, defeating John Banks, the first Whig gubernatorial candidate to run without having to form a coalition with the Anti-Masonic Party. During his Inaugural Address on January 18, 1842, Porter recalled the state's financial difficulties and presented an overview of his plan for his second term: 444:, first as a lieutenant colonel and then as a general. As aide-de-camp to General Grant, the younger Porter was present to witness the surrender of General Lee, and later wrote a book that has been described as the definitive account of the events at 456:

Falling ill after attending a church meeting in Harrisburg during the winter of 1866-1867, Porter's health continued to decline over a period of several months. He died on August 6, 1867, at the age of 78, and was buried in the

983:" (U.S. Senator Buchanan discusses David Porter and the 1838 gubernatorial election in Pennsylvania). Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, Archives & Special Collections, retrieved online December 30, 2022. 334:

In 1819, Porter became a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing Huntingdon County in 1819 and 1820. He then served in row offices in Huntingdon County and as a member of the

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of his lodge and Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic district in which his lodge was located, his candidacy received intense scrutiny from his opponents, many of whom were members of the

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Porter also subsequently helped to promote the extension of the transcontinental railroad through Texas, becoming an associate in the incorporation of the

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A resident of Huntingdon County in 1838, Porter was nominated for governor by the Jacksonian Democrats in order to mend the split between former Governor

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two hundred and four calendar days, that session ran from January 4 to July 26. After it was over, Porter signed the new tax increase into effect.

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Porter's second term also saw legislative action which abolished the practice of imprisoning people for not paying their debts, as well as the

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In 1840, Porter called a special session of the legislature "for consideration of certain financial matters of the Commonwealth."

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