1790 Turn: The Second Year

[Donerail]

A SPEECH!
By Gen. James WILKINSON in the Market Square of Pittsburgh, presently of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Westsylvanians!

Know that I do not fear the name. The laws of this present Commonwealth may exact a harsh punishment for daring to utter that word, may punish that word with death, but I do not fear that law. I obey the natural law, by which God has caused men to be born free and equal in rights, and to remain equals in rights, no matter the particular disposition of ephemeral States. Among these rights, perhaps the most precious among them, is the free communication of ideas and of opinions. The government in Philadelphia claims to recognize this right, as its Constitution states that all people have not merely a right to freedom of speech, but to writing, and to publishing their sentiments, without restriction.

And yet the present government in Philadelphia shows little regard for its own Constitution. As I speak, the editors and publishers of the Western Herald have been confined to their homes under the threat of force, simply for exercising those rights which Almighty God and the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantee to all men. Their sentiments, it appears, were offensive to a handful of men in positions of power -- these men, under the leadership of one Benjamin Franklin, have declared that the freedom of the press, one of the great bulwarks of liberty, does not apply to sentiments with which they disagree.

I invite the people of Pittsburgh, and of Pennsylvania and of the world, to listen closely to those sentiments, and judge for yourselves whether or not they are a grievous threat to established Law and Order, or merely the same feelings which animated our recent Revolution.

The people of Westsylvania presently find themselves under the rule of a government in Philadelphia which has proven itself apathetic at best to those peculiar necessities and local circumstances which prevail in the Western portion of the Commonwealth over which it rules. As a result of these circumstances of geography, the people have patiently and quietly agitated for a separate, distinct and independent state, west of the Allegheny Mountains. Their goal in doing so is merely to create a republican form of government, capable of speedily redressing the grievances of the public, without requiring an arduous journey or competition with numerous Eastern interests.

I personally raised these concerns with Benjamin Franklin himself, and the government in Philadelphia initially appeared receptive to these concerns. Mr. Franklin proposed a compromise, by which the capital would be moved westwards from Philadelphia. I believed this to be a just solution, and appreciated that the government appeared so responsive to the concerns of its western constituents. Yet, almost as soon as these terms were agreed to, Mr. Franklin published in the Pennsylvania Gazette an article claiming that the movement of the capital was only agreed to because of the "near-guarantee of armed conflict in our Western frontier." What had been negotiated as an honorable response to the yearning of the people for a republican government was, in Mr. Franklin's view, an unfortunate compromise to those savage people he had the unfortunate duty of governing!

If his own words are not enough to convince you of the contempt in which he holds the people of Westsylvania, let the recent actions of his legislature stand as testament. Immediately upon learning that certain inhabitants of this state were dissatisfied with the nature of his compromise, his legislature revoked the legislation — which never took full effect — and shifted the capital back to their seat of power in Philadelphia. Moreover, they even now endeavor to circulate propaganda, aimed to convince the people of the east that the people of Westsylvania are not their equals as men, but rather a savage and backward people, undeserving of the basic self-governance to which all men are entitled.

It is this government, which has so thoroughly and manifestly expressed its contempt for the people of Westsylvania, that now endeavors to imprison men in their own homes, merely for recounting the actions of said government, and expressing their wish for a republican government that would respect the liberty of the people. The freedom of all people to publish their sentiments, enshrined in the Constitution of Pennsylvania and guaranteed by God to all men, is of little concern to the present government in Philadelphia. My friends, there is a name for rulers who declare themselves unbound by their own constitutions, who declare themselves in opposition to those rights with which Almighty God has seen fit to endow us. The term for such men is TYRANT, and is now clear that the present King of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, has placed himself in that category.

It brings me no little grief to recognize that there are those among my countrymen, who wish to deprive the people of this land of the liberty for which they valiantly fought and honorably bled. Today, we face the greatest challenge our young nation has faced in its history: whether a government which tramples upon the fundamental right of the people to speak freely without fear, which aims to strike so grievously against the involable core of our Revolution, may be permitted to persist in its abuses of liberty -- or whether the fundamental right to liberty and self-determination may prevail, in Pennsylvania and on this Earth.

In closing, I seek only to remind the people of Pittsburgh and Westsylvania, of the fifth clause of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This Constitution restates a fundamental truth: that government ought to be instituted for the common benefit of the people, and not for the particular advantage of any sort of men. The community, moreover, hath an indubitable, unalienable and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish government, in such manner as it judges most conductive to the public weal.

My friends, it is clear through both word and action that the present government in Philadelphia exists for the particular advantage of the eastern portion of the Commonwealth. I urge the people of Westsylvania to exercise their right guaranteed by the Constitution and redouble their efforts to construct a government of Westsylvania that will finally guarantee the fundamental liberties enjoyed by all men, which until now have been so cruelly denied to the people of Westsylvania.