Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-04-20
HON. JOHN c. SHEPPARD.
sDemocracy" Nominates This
Gentleman for State Senator.


stated that he wilIresign the cffice
Of Senator this year, some of our
fellow-citizens have begun already
to discuss the question, "Who is
the man that should be elected to
succeed him?"
All agree that the Hon. John G.
Sheppard could easily be elected,
if he would become a candidate.
But not a few of them suggest that,
as he has been Governor of the
State, it would not lie proper for
him to accept the office of State
Senator; and they predict, there
fore, that he cannot be induced to
become a candidate for that posi-
ton.
We regard such ideas as repug-
nant to the genius of our institu-
tions and injurious to the public
service. The people of a republic
should not tolerate the idea that,
when a fellow citizen is elected to
a very high Office, he becomes too
grand to hold afterwards less
important one. Having been q
United States Senator or Gov
ernor, man is only the better
prepared to serve his fellow-citi-
zens as a member of the legisla-
ture of his State; and, when the
less important office is offered to
him without a scramble: ne ought
not to decline it, if his c.rcum-
stances are such that he can ac-
cept it without doing Injustice to
himself or his family. The prac-
tice Of our greatest statesmen has
been il accord with this view. A
glance at the polical careers of our
Presidents shows that many even
of them did not consider that the
holding of very important office
debarred them from holding a less
important one.
George Washington, after be was
President, was appointed Lieuten-
of the United States
army by President John Adams,
and accepted the office.
John Adams, after he was Presi-
dent, was a candidate for Presi-
dental elector, and was elected a
of Constitutional con-
vention of his State.
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson was
elected Governor of Virginia. At
the end of his term he retired to
private life, but was the same year
elected a member of the legisla-
ture of his State. He was after
wards President of the United
States.
James Madison was four times
elected representative in Con-
gress. During his fourth term, in
1897, he resigned. the office; and,
the next year, he accepted a seat
in the Legislature of his State. He
was afterwards President Of the
United States. After he retired
rom the Presidency he was elected
a member of a Constitutional con-
vention of his State.
In 1774, James Monroe was Uni
ted States Senator from Virginia.
Two years later, he was a member
of the Legislature of that State. In
1893, he was elected Governor, and
was afterwards President of the
United States. After retiring from
that exalted office, he was elected
member Of a Constitutional con-
uention of his State.
John Quincy Adams was inau-
purated as President IN 1926, and
retired from the Office in 1929.
Afterwards, in 1880, he was elected
representative i'll Congress, and
served in that body seventeen
years.
William Henry Harrison, after
serving in Congress, was elected to
the Senate of Ohio, and later a
Presidential eIector. He was after
wards President Of the United
States.
John Tyler, after serving several
terms in Congress, retired to pri-
vate life, but very soon thereafter
was elected to the Virginia legis-
lature. He was afterwards Gov
ernor and United States Senator.
He resigned his seat in the United
States Senate, and was again elect
ed 10 the Legislature of his State.
He was afterwards President of the
United States; and, after his term
as President expired, he was elect
ed a member of the Confederate
Congress.
We might cali attention to SINH
ar facts in the careers of Andrew
! Johnston and of other Presidents,
as we'll as in the careers of many
eminent statesmen who never oc-
enpied the White House. But we
have written enough to illustrate