ALEXANDER RAMSEY

First Territorial Governor and Second State Governor, was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1815, and died in St. Paul, Minnesota, April 22, 1903. He was a Representative in Congress, from Pennsylvania, 1842-47; United States Senator, 1863-75; and Secretary of War in President Hayes' cabinet, 1879-81.

ALEXANDER RAMSEY

FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR

June 1, 1849, to May 15, 1853

SECOND STATE GOVERNOR

January 2, 1860, to July 10, 1863

HERE is a storied apartment in our new capitol,

TH

the governor's room, where hang the portraits of Minnesota's line of chief magistrates in silent array, from Ramsey to Johnson. It is a sort of a State Pantheon for our Minnesota gubernatorial gods. Eighteen intelligent faces gaze at you from lofty walls. In these illuminated countenances you can almost read the political history of our state. Each one seems to speak for his era, and recalls the events of his day and the battles of which he was the central figure.

Cicero once declared that death could not come to a man who had once been consul. Thus speaking within the limitations of our state, a citizen may close his career with satisfaction who has reached the highest honors of the commonwealth.

I desire to paint, as best I may in words, the portrait of Alexander Ramsey, the governor who organized the territory, to set his picture in the environment of his times, clothed in the characteristics of his marked individuality, and with notice of the more salient features

of his achievement. Forty-four years of unbroken intimacy and friendship salute me from his grave; and this I trust will not warp my judgment, but rather the better equip me for presenting a true analysis of his character. He has already received the affectionate praises of devoted friends, and the generous voices of political opponents have celebrated his lofty character. Eulogy has exhausted her votive offerings, and I come late to glean in a field so abundantly garnered.

The work he did, the influences he set in motion, are interwoven parts of the state itself. Out of chaos he organized the territory into official forms, and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life. You cannot recite the formative periods of our history without blending his life with the threads of the story. Like the confluence of two great streams, whose waters are lost in the commingling currents, so the state and the man were borne on together.

Alexander Ramsey appeared at the right time, and under the right conditions, for his usefulness and his fame. His education, his experience, his discipline, prior to his advent on this soil as an empire builder, were such that it would seem fate herself had prepared him for his destiny.

If characters are modified by physical scenery around them, then Ramsey was fortunate in the home of his youth. He came from the grand old state of Pennsylvania, settled by the English, the Scotch, and the German. He was from the Chestnut Ridges and Laurel