1840: Meeting of Democratic Electors in Candor, NY

The following article documents the results of a meeting of Democratic electors in the village of Candor, Tioga County, New York during the Presidential Campaign of 1840. The meeting was chaired by Daniel Bacon, a civil engineer and millwright in Candor, who also held a colonel’s commission in the state militia.

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TRANSCRIPTION

Town of Candor.

At a Meeting of the Democratic electors of the Town of Candor, convened at the House of Daniel Hart, on Tuesday the 17th ult. DANIEL BACON was appointed chairman, and W.H. SACKETT, Secretary:

On motion of the following were appointed a Central Town Committee: John H. Sackett, Allen Woodard, and James Sturges.

REsolved, That we appoint the following persons as a Committee of vigilence for this TOwn, to wit: — W. W. Hunt, R. H. Sackett, Robert Joslyn, B. Handy, Romanta Woodford, John B. Dean, Salmon Mead, Charles Ross, Ephraim Comstock, Aaron Baird, Whitcomb Phelps, W. C. Preston, Henry Armstrong, Nelson Brink, Levi B. Truman, James Parke, Josiah Pierce, Aaron Pierce, Levi Taylor, Simeon Cortright, Daniel Lownesbery, George Tuttle, Jesse Rosecrance, Abel Hart, Jr., Daniel Andrews, Johnson Anderson, Charles J. Bell, Elisha Mead, Peter Rockwell, Charles Patridge, Daniel Bacon, Sanford Robinson, Isaac Hoyt, Stephen Hoyt, Russel Mead, James Gilpin, Levi Lane, Joseph Van Vleck, W. H. Sackett, Joseph Hover, John Leach, Robert Marvin, E. Martin, M. V. Holley, Richard Baker, John Harling.

Resolved, That we appoint the following named persons to represent us in County Convention, to be held at the Tioga County House in the village of Owego on Thursday, the 26th inst: —
Daniel Bacon, Charles J. Bell, Allen Woodard, Joseph Van Vleck, Nelson Brink, and Plin Phelps.

Resolved, That each delegate have the privilege to appoint his own substitute, in case of inability to attend.

Resolved, That Daniel Bacon, Joseph Van Vleck, Robert E. Josslyn, Levi Taylor, and W. H. Sackett, be a Committee to draft Resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting; who reported the following, which were unanimously adopted.

Resolved, That we consider the approaching election of great importance to the American People, and that every honorable effort should be made to sustain the principles of Democracy.

Resolved, That we have undiminished confidence in the honesty, integrity, ability and patriotism of the present Chief Magistrate of the United States.

Resolved, That we believe the New York and Erie Rail Road, should be made a State work.

Resolved, That the assertions of the leading federalists, that the present disorders of the currency and stagnation of business are to be charged to the action of the general government are false, and that they know them to be so; for it is quite plain that these evils grow out of the abuse of the paper money system, and the action of the State governments, in spite of the warnings, expostulations and exertions of the general government and the often expressed opinions of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren and the Democratic party generally.

Resolved, That when the present Federal Governor of this state came into office, he declared the finances of the state to be in a flourishing condition and the country prosperous; — and yet within the short space of less than two years, money has become more scarce, the price of labor & property lower and more depressed, than has been experienced for twenty years past.

Resolved, That it is the duty of every individual, who has the interest of his Country at heart, and wishes to see the political creed of Thomas Jefferson fully carried out and acted upon, to exert himself in a crisis like the present, to assist in raising the Empire State from her existing political degradation, and place her on the high ground she ought to occupy in this great Confederacy, and relieve her from the misrule of a party composed of all party names; and who agree only in opposing democratic principles, and in dividing the spoils.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman and Secretary and published in the Owego Gazette.

DANIEL BACON, Chairman
W. H. SACKETT, Secretary

Published in the Owego Gazette, March 19, 1840