GABRIEL SLAUGHTER, 1767-1830 G•OVERNOR OF KENTUCKY ...

348 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 40
indispensable it is to di/Tuse information, and qualify those who are to succced
us, to understand the plan and principles of government, furnished us
by our revolutionary sages. Without intelligence the people never can
be safe against the delusions to which they me exposed from the violence
of party spkit, and the arts and intrigues of designing ambition.TM
Mindful of the Era of Good Feeling that was apparent in President
Monroe's administration, he again called for the cessation of party
spirit. TM And as before he was charged with seeking only to allay
criticism.
One of the first actions of the House of Representatives when it met
was to appoint a select committee to prepare a bill for a new election. 4
After a number of days of delaying tactics by the friends of the administration
the bill to amend the existing election laws to provide for a
gubernatorial election the following October passed. s But in the Senate
it was defeated on the question of a second reading.TM Thus the movement
collapsed and no further efforts were attempted to unseat Slaughter,
although he was never recognized by his foes as more than Lieutenant
Governor and Acting Governor, with which title he signed all official
papers.
IV
The governorship was not to become a position of ease, however.
The financial panic of 1818-20 was beginning and by the fall of 1818
it had reached the point of a considerable clamor for some sort of relief.
The Legislature which met in the winter of 1816-17 prohibit "d the circulation
of shinplasters and private notes, 7 but the next Legislature was
to succumb to the clamor for a less restricted supply of money.
On January 26, 1818, forty independent banks were chartered. They
were located throughout the state, some in communities of less than one
hundvM persons. The aggregate capital provided by law was
$8,720,000. TM These banks immediately began to issue paper redeemable
not in specie but in notes of the Bank of Kentucky (which had
resumed specie payments) or in United Statm Bank notes. °
The speculation which followed quickly brought distressed times.
Calls were made upon the public officials for relief. The feeling was
rather general that a special session of the Legislature would pass laws
giving relief. Those most seriously affected began to implore Governor
Slaughter to convene a special session,s° But Slaughter refused on the
grounds that the additional expense and drain on the treasury would be
improvident,sz Instead, he preferred to wait until December when the
regular session would meet.