Simon Snyder, 3rd Governor of Pennsylvania

Simon Snyder (5 November 1759 – 9 November 1819) was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, serving three terms from 1808 to 1817. A Jeffersonian Democrat, he served three terms as speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives before becoming governor.

He led the state through the War of 1812 and, following the conclusion of his term, was elected to the United States Senate, but he died in 1819 before he began to serve. He was the first governor of Pennsylvania to be of German descent.

Early life

Snyder was born on 5 November 1759 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Moravian parents, Anthony and Mary Elizabeth (née Knippenberg) Snyder. His father was a mechanic, and had emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1758. After his father's death in 1774, Snyder apprenticed himself to a tanner in York, Pennsylvania, and employed his leisure in study. In 1784, Snyder moved to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where he opened a gristmill, and was justice of the peace for twelve years. His residence still stands at 121 North Market Street.

Marriage and family

In 1790, Snyder married Elizabeth Michael. They had two children. Elizabeth died in 1794 and her widowed husband was left to raise the young children. Snyder quickly remarried, as was common in those days. With his second wife, Catherine Antes, he had five more children.

Early political career

Snyder began his political career as a Justice of the Peace. He was first elected in 1789 to serve as a delegate to help revise Pennsylvania’s state constitution in 1790. Following this, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1797 to 1807. During this time, he was elected three times as the speaker of the House: in 1804, in 1805, and in 1807.

While he was in the House, Snyder sought the governorship as a Jeffersonian Democrat in 1805, but he was defeated by the incumbent governor Thomas McKean, also a Jeffersonian Democrat. A lack of public recognition in comparison to the incumbent contributed to Snyder's losing the election.

Snyder sponsored the “Hundred-dollar Act,” which embodied the arbitration principle. It provided for the trial of cases only when the amount in question was more than one hundred dollars.

Governorship

In 1808, the Jeffersonians united behind Snyder and he won the election. Snyder ran again in subsequent elections (in 1811 and 1814) and easily won reelection against the Federalist candidates William Tilghman, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and Isaac Wayne, respectively. In 1812, Snyder suggested relocating the capital city of the commonwealth from Lancaster to its present, more central location in Harrisburg. The General Assembly approved this request.

War of 1812

Snyder supported the War of 1812 wholeheartedly despite Federalist cries of dissent. With the victory at the end of the war, this criticism subsided. After the war, John Binns supported elevating Snyder to consideration for the vice-presidential slot on President James Madison’s ticket, but later he was disregarded as a possible candidate.

Post governorship

Snyder was elected by the legislature in 1818 to serve in the United States Senate. He died on 9 November 1819, before taking office.

Legacy and honors

His gravesite at Sharon Lutheran Church in Selinsgrove is marked by a monument topped by his bust.

His house at Selinsgrove, known as the Gov. Simon Snyder Mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Sy Snyder is a pseudonym for the publishers of PoliticsPA, a website dedicated to Pennsylvania politics.

Snyder County, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.

A street in South Philadephia, Pennsylvania is named in his honor.
A residence hall at Penn State University is named in his honor.

GEDCOM Note

Governor Simon Snyder December 20, 1808 - December 16, 1917 New School Jeffersonian Democrat (also known as the Family Party)

Born November 5, 1759/Died November 9, 1819 The son of Anthony and Mary Elizabeth (Knippenberg) Snyder, an immigrant Moravian family, Simon Snyder was born November 5, 1759, in Lancaster. He was Pennsylvania's first governor of German descent. In 1776, two years after his father died, Snyder moved to York where he apprenticed as a leather worker for four years, while he received an education by attending night classes at a Society of Friends (Quakers) school. In 1784 he opened a store and gristmill in Selinsgrove, now Snyder County (the county so named in his honor when it was formed on March 2, 1855). In 1790 he married Elizabeth Michael, with whom he had two children. After Elizabeth died in 1794, Snyder married Catherine Antes and together they had five children. While governor, Catherine died in 1810 and in 1814 Snyder married Mary Slough Scott, a widow.

His career in politics began as a justice of the peace. In 1789, Snyder was elected a delegate to the state convention that revised Pennsylvania's constitution in 1790. He served in the state House of Representatives from 1797 to 1807 (except 1805 when he ran for governor) and was three times its speaker, in 1804, 1805, and 1807. By 1805, Snyder had risen to such regard among Jeffersonians that he was selected to oppose incumbent Governor McKean, who had lost the endorsement of the same party. McKean opposed attempts to limit the powers of the governor and offended legislators and other officials with charges of incompetence. Snyder, who personified common folk, led the Jeffersonians' campaign to limit executive and judicial powers and unseat McKean, portraying him as an elitist. McKean formed a coalition with the Federalist Party and, because Snyder was relatively unknown among voters, successfully defeated Snyder.

By 1808 the Jeffersonians were united behind Snyder, linking him to James Madison's presidential campaign. Snyder defeated John Ross of the declining Federalist Party and McKean's kind of Jeffersonian Democrats. Snyder's personal friend, newspaper editor John Binns, led his campaign and was labeled New School Democrats. They campaigned for government involvement in the economy and, although based in Philadelphia, a better future for the western counties. In 1811 and 1814 Snyder easily won reelections against Federalists William Tilghman and Isaac Wayne, respectively. Snyder became a strong governor who repudiated the power of the Old School Democrats led by Philadelphia's William Duane and Dr. Michael Leib. In the 1809 Gideon Umstead Case, Snyder at first resisted the power of a federal marshal to serve a writ that contradicted a Pennsylvania court decision. The governor ordered the state militia to uphold Pennsylvania's sovereignty against a federal force, but Snyder backed down at the last moment and decided to pay the federal government the money that was the subject of the dispute.

Snyder directed the state's full mobilization for the War of 1812, despite criticism from the Federalists who temporarily regained strength. The victorious conclusion of the War of 1812 dissolved criticism of President Madison's leadership and also vindicated Snyder. The nominating caucus in the Congress, however, squelched Binns' proposal of Snyder as a vice-presidential candidate on James Monroe's ticket. His nomination for a third term in 1814 came from a caucus within the General Assembly, but at the same time the legislature overrode his veto of an act chartering forty-one new banks. These wildcat banks pushed Pennsylvania into an unstable financial era.

During his final term the Federalist opposition disappeared, but Snyder's alliance with John Binns dissolved because the editor wanted too many patronage favors. Snyder's New School Democratic wing was tied to aggressive federal activities-the Tariff of 1816, the Second Bank of the United States, and spending for many internal improvements.

In 1812 the legislature approved Snyder's proposal to move the state capital from Lancaster to Harrisburg, which was effective with the administration of Snyder's preferred successor, William Findlay. Elected to the U.S. Senate by the General Assembly in 1818, Snyder died of typhoid fever in Selinsgrove on November 9, 1819, and is buried there in Old Lutheran Cemetery.

GEDCOM Note

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry.com OneWorldTree Name: Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA;;

GEDCOM Source

Database online. Record for Simon Snyder

• https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/SpeakerBios/SpeakerBio.c...
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Snyder
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10611522&ref=wvr

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• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 21 2023, 1:19:46 UTC