Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-01-31
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thoir chief magistrate,t now appear before
YOU e lake the necessary oath Of office.
II seer,s 10 be required, in pursuance Of
es.ebiished custom thai should, on this
eecasiou, express sonre o ihe Views which
! deem of Importance TO the welfare and
srospsrity OF the State. Before doing this,
rsrmit me to present my acknowledge
lusllss to you, and through you 20 our COM
mon constituents, for the honor conferred
upon me, and TO express my abiding sense,
Of ths responsibilities which that honor
tr;ags with il.
Tho trainers Of cur constitution were
msn deeply imbued with the spirit Of liber.
~ snd jealous .of arbitrary power. They
felt that the will of the people as express
Cd through their immediate K representatives,
should prevail, uncontrolled by executive
iutsrference. They therefore conferred
lhs law.making power upon General
Asssmhly composed Of two branches. The
movers conferred upon the Governor were
extremely limited and almost exclusively
Of an executive character. They neither
entrusted hi,n with power directly to check
ths action Of the General Assembly by the
. veto, nor indirectly 10 influence il by the
distribusion Of official patronage This
caution of The convention was doubtless in-
ducad By previous experiences under the ter
sisorial government, during the existence
Of which the yeto power had been freely
exercised.
The wisdom Of the convention in this
dissribution Of powers has been proven by
more lhan forty years experience, and it
Il fondly hoped that whatever changes
may hereafter be made in that instrument,
In these particulars il may rorsain onaher-
ed. In one short paragraph in the pream.
bio TO our constitution, the object Of that
convention and the same object for which
all governments should be formed, is ex.
plici,ly set forth. That object as therein
declared was, ssto establish justice, promote
the welfare and secure the blessings Of lib.
erty 10 ourselves and our posterity." That
this object should be attained must be the
earnest desire OF every good citizen, and
when attained it is oil that can be required
ut the hands Of any governments To Sc
cure this result of highest importance, the
action of all the different branches of the
government must be confined within the
limits prescribed by the constitution; each
carefully guarding its own, neither inter.
fereing with the rights and duties of the
other, all faithfully and impartially per-
form cd, and when SO done, all cheerfuHy
and promptly complied with.
Il is the duty of the General Assembly
from time TO time to enact such laws as the
necessities ofthe people require and Of such
character as will secure The rights, and re.
dress the injuries OF all equally and alike.
And that these laws mag be we'll UNDER
stood and operate most benefcially they
should be generally permanent. Frequent
changes, or changes for slight causes,
should not be made.
Laws, whilst they remain in force, should
be implicitly obsyed, and he who knowing
ly violates them, disregards his first duty
n . good citizen and patriot. Without
law there is no rational liberty. Unre-
strained individual action is only anarchy,
and anarchy is despotism more to be
dreaded than the arbitrary rule Of single
despot Under its reign there Is no securi-
ty of life, person or property. 1t is our
bonst that our government is government
of law, and no one can, in any way more
effsctually show his attachment to our free
institutions, than by his cheerful obedince
to, and his faithful execution Of the law,
thus giving stability to individual rights
and interests, and permanency to our insti.
tutisns.
The people Of Ohio have been law a.
biiing people, and as consequence, our
prosperity has been almost, if not entirely
unexampled. 1t is now less than fifty years
since the formation of our constitution and
the admission Of this State into the Union
Atth time Of its formation the population
OF the state was less than fifty Thousand,
scattered sparsely over its surface, then al.
most unbroken wilderness, the production
Of the soil scarcely sufficient to supply the
wants ofthe people, together with the wants
Of those who were constantly coming with.
in our borders. Since that period our pop
ulation has increased to nearly or qnite two
millions, engaged in all the various employ
msnts OF life, furnishing annually from ths
productions Of Agriculture alone, above ths
wants OF home consumption, but little, i
any less than fifty millions Of dollars.
The natural result Of the increase Of pop
ulation. is a division Of labor, by the in
crease Of the different varieties Of business
TO which labor is applied, each benefttns
the other. But after all, the great source
ofwenlth to the people Of this state gener.
ally, is and will continue to be, its ngricul
,urai productions. 1t will therefore b.
readily seen that the promotion Of the in
terests of the farming class Of our commu
nifty enlists the particular attention of the
General Assembly. That interest is alway.
fully represented in this body, and will,
trust, receive full share of its considera
lion.
History and example teach, that re.
publican government, depending us it does
upon the will of the people, can only be
maintained where information and knowl
edge are generally diffused. Impressed
with this truth, the trainers of the constitu
tion declare in that instrument that
''Schools and the means Of instruction
shall forever be encouraged by legislative
provision.' y
Considering the age of our state, much
has already been done in obedience to thi.
requirement of the constitution. But much
more remains to be done before our system
of education will become as perfect as its
importance demands. In the administra.
tion Of our school law, greater number Of
persons are engaged than in the administra