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 Joseph
Ritner became a symbol of the common man, rising from poverty to
governor. He was portrayed in campaign literature working with a
plow. Born March 25, 1780, in Alsace Township, now Reading, Berks
County, he was the second of nine children of John Ritner of German
Palatinate heritage. The family could only afford six months of
primary school for Ritner at age six. With little encouragement
from his parents, Ritner continually read books on his own, learned
to write and speak English, and developed a working knowledge of
his native German language. His father, a weaver, knowing that young
Ritner wanted to become a farmer, sent his son at age thirteen to
work for Jacob Myers on a new farm near Newville, Cumberland County,
earning $120 per year. After his mother died, Ritner sent half of
his salary to his father to help support the family.
In 1801, Ritner married Susan Alter, daughter of a well-known Democratic
member of the state legislature and granddaughter of Henry Landis,
a highly respected Mennonite preacher and settler of Lancaster County.
To the Ritner family were born ten children, but they lost two,
including a son who died of disease while fighting in the Black
Hawk Indian War of 1832. The Ritners first moved to Westmoreland
County, and then to Washington County. Ritner had earned enough
money through his labors to settle on land that had been owned by
his wife's uncle, David Alter. Alter, a farmer, was also well educated
and owned an extensive library that Ritner took advantage of to
continue his self-education. Ritner continued to farm in southwestern
Pennsylvania, briefly interrupting to serve six-months of military
duty as a private during the War of 1812.
In 1820 Ritner was elected to the General Assembly, serving five
terms. During this time, there was growing public fear of secret
societies such as the Free Masons and Odd Fellows. Public
prejudice was fanned by a group of ex-Masons and supported by various
religious leaders who preached the "evils" of fraternal
organizations with secret oaths and initiations, despite the fact
that founding fathers such as George Washington had been Free Masons.
On June 23, 1829, the Anti-Masonic Party held a convention in Harrisburg
and selected Joseph Ritner as their candidate for governor and would
again in 1932. Ritner lost both elections to George Wolf, but Ritner
defeated Wolf in a third try, taking advantage of a divided Democratic
Party and continuing public hysteria over Freemasonry.
State action against "secret societies" increased in 1833
when a new law made it illegal for anyone to administer "unlawful
oaths" and required societies to disclose full membership.
With the election of Ritner, Assemblyman Thaddeus Stevens of Lancaster,
a leader in the impeachment movement against President Andrew Johnson,
led the attack on Free Masons. Stevens brought the Ritner administration
into disrepute when Stevens used funds intended for the state rail
and canal system as a source of political funds and patronage. Stevens
also orchestrated statewide gerrymandering for the benefit of the
Anti-Masonic Party. During the 1838 gubernatorial campaign, there
was widespread distribution of a booklet disguised as objective
biographies of Ritner and opponent David R. Porter from "authentic
sources," but was in reality highly distorted campaign literature
in favor of Ritner. After six years, the public tired of the tirade
against Freemasonry and Porter defeated Ritner by less than 5,500
votes. Ritner partisans challenged the election result in what became
known as the "Buckshot War." Governor Ritner was forced
to call up the state militia to prevent violent revolutionary conflict
between the losing Anti-Masonics and the winning Jacksonian Democrats.
Ritner did have very positive accomplishments. He spoke out against
slavery while governor and, with the assistance of Stevens, defeated
General Assembly attempts to repeal the new free public school law.
During his single-term administration, education remained a top
priority and common schools in Pennsylvania grew from 762 to 5,000
while academies, not including private schools, grew from sixteen
to thirty eight. He also signed a bill for Pennsylvania to issue
a state charter to the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia
to prevent the bank's destruction after President Jackson had vetoed
a renewal of their federal charter. The institution held critical
loans to fund major state canal and railroad projects.
Although Ritner, the last governor under Pennsylvania's Constitution
of 1790, was nominated in 1848 for director of the U.S. Mint in
Philadelphia, he was not confirmed because of President Zachary
Taylor's death. He joined the infant Republican Party in 1856, but
he never reentered politics. He purchased a farm in 1836 at Mount
Rock, south of Newville, Cumberland County, and continued to promote
public schools. In 1839, he suffered blindness from cataracts. Surgery
restored sight to his right eye, but he remained blind in the left
eye until his death at age eighty-nine on October 16, 1869. The Ritner
Highway was named after the former governor and runs directly past
the Mount Rock Methodist Churchyard where he is buried.
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