VERMONT AN INDEPENDENT COMMONWEALTH.
At the beginning of the Revolution, the people of the New Hampshire
Grants were without a regular form of government, for the greater part
of them had long refused to submit to the jurisdiction of the royal
government of New York, and were now as little disposed to compromise
their asserted rights by acknowledging the authority of that province
when it had taken its place among the United Colonies in revolt against
Great Britain. Such government as existed was vested in Committees of
Safety, but these, whether of greater or lesser scope, were without
recognized power to enforce their decrees upon the respectable minority
which still adhered to New York.
Under these circumstances a convention, warned by the Committee of
Safety of Arlington, met at Dorset, January 16, 1776, at the "house of
Cephas Kent, innholder." Persons were appointed to represent the case of
the Grants before Congress by a "Remonstrance and Petition." This stated
that inhabitants of the Grants were willing, as heretofore, to do all in
their power for the common cause, but were not willing to act under the
authority of New York, lest it might be deemed an acknowledgment of its
claims and prejudicial to their own, and desired to perform military
service as inhabitants of the Grants instead of New York.
Upon the return of Heman Allen, who duly presented the memorial to
Congress, a second convention was held in July at the same place,
thirty-two towns being represented by forty-nine delegates. Allen
reported that Congress, after hearing their petition, ordered it to lie
upon the table for further consideration, but that he withdrew it, lest
the opposing New York delegates should bring the matter to final
decision when no delegate from the Grants was present. Several members
of Congress and other gentlemen, in private conversation, advised the
people of the Grants to do their utmost to repel invasions of the enemy,
but by no means to act under the authority of New York; while the
committee of Congress to whom the matter was referred, while urging them
to the same exertions, advised them, for the present, to submit to New
York, saying this submission ought not to prejudice their right to the
lands in question.
The convention resolved at once "That Application be made to the
Inhabitants of said Grants, to form the same into a separate District."
The convention laconically declared that "the Spirited Conflict," which
had so long continued between the Grants and New York, rendered it
"inconvenient in many respects to associate with that province." But, to
prove their readiness to join in the common defense of America, they,
with one exception only, subscribed to the following association: "We
the subscribers inhabitants of that District of Land, commonly called
and known by the name of the New Hampshire Grants, do voluntarily and
Solemnly Engage under all the ties held sacred amongst Mankind at the
Risque of our Lives and fortunes to Defend, by arms, the United American
States against the Hostile attempts of the British Fleets and Armies,
until the present unhappy Controversy between the two Countries shall be
settled."
The convention invited all the inhabitants to subscribe to this
"Association," and resolved that any who should unite with a similar one
under the authority of New York should be deemed an enemy to the cause
of the Grants. Persons were appointed to procure the signature of every
male inhabitant of sixteen years upwards, both on the east and west
sides of the Green Mountains. Thus the convention took the first formal
steps toward severing the connection with New York, and uniting all the
towns within the Grants in a common league.
Only one town on the east side of the mountains was represented in this
meeting; but pains were taken to confer with those inhabitants, and at
the adjourned session, in September, ten eastern towns were represented.
At this session it was voted that the inhabitants should be governed by
the resolves of this or a similar convention "not repugnant to the
resolves of Congress," and that in future no law or direction received
from New York should be accepted or obeyed. The power was assumed of
regulating the militia, and furnishing troops for the common defense.
For the especial safe-keeping of Tories, a jail was ordered to be built
at Manchester. It was to be constructed with double walls of logs,
eighteen inches apart, the space to be filled with earth to the height
of seven feet, "floored with logs double." The convention appointed a
"Committee of War," vested with power to call out the militia for the
defense of the Grants or any part of the continent. Fines were exacted
from every officer and private who should not comply with the orders of
the convention; and each non-commissioned officer and private was
required to "provide himself with a suitable gun and one pound of
powder, four pounds of bullets fit for his gun, six flints, a powder
horn, cartouch box or bullet pouch, a sword, bayonet, or tomahawk."
The convention adjourned to meet at Westminster on the 30th of October.
When that day arrived, the country was in great alarm from the disaster
to the American fleet on Lake Champlain, and Carleton's advance toward
Ticonderoga. The militia was hurrying to the defense of that fortress,
and many delegates were kept at home by the impending need of protection
for their families. Owing to these circumstances, the few who met could
not be informed of the minds of the people, and it adjourned to the 15th
of January, 1777. During this interim, the popular sentiment had so
rapidly ripened for the proposed separation that, when the convention
met, little time was spent in debate before the adoption of a
Declaration of the Independence of the New Hampshire Grants. As revised
for publication it is as follows: "We will at all times hereafter,
consider ourselves as a free and independent state, capable of
regulating our internal police in all and every respect whatsoever, and
that the people on said Grants have the sole and exclusive and inherent
right of ruling and governing themselves in such manner and form as in
their own wisdom they shall think proper, not inconsistent or repugnant
to any resolve of the Honorable Continental Congress.
"Furthermore, we declare by all the ties which are held sacred among
men, that we will firmly stand by and support one another in this our
declaration of a State, and in endeavoring as much as in us lies to
suppress all unlawful routs and disturbances whatever. Also we will
endeavor to secure to every individual his life, peace, and property
against all unlawful invaders of the same.
"Lastly, we hereby declare, that we are at all times ready, in
conjunction with our brethren in the United States of America, to do our
full proportion in maintaining and supporting the just war against the
tyrannical invasions of the ministerial fleets and armies, as well as
any other foreign enemies, sent with express purpose to murder our
fellow brethren and with fire and sword to ravage our defenseless
country.
"The said State hereafter to be called by the name of New Connecticut."
This bold and decisive act, by which a free and independent commonwealth
was erected, was with eminent fitness consummated in the court-house at
Westminster, a place already consecrated to the cause of liberty by the
blood of William French, who, less than two years before, had fallen
there in defense of the people's rights.
A "Declaration and Petition," announcing the step taken and asking that
the new State might be "ranked among the free and independent American
States," was prepared and sent to Congress. The action of the people of
the Grants was received in a not unfriendly spirit by the New England
States; but New York at once made an earnest protest to Congress against
it, and demanded the recall of the commission of Colonel Warner
authorizing him to raise a continental regiment in the disaffected
district, emphasizing the demand by reminding Congress of Warner's
outlawry by the "late government." Considering the attitude of Congress
and all the colonies toward the royal source of the "late government" of
New York, this seems an absurd argument for the recall of Warner's
commission. Fortunately for the cause which that brave officer so
faithfully and efficiently served, the insolent demand was not complied
with.
The adjourned convention met at Windsor in June with seventy-two
delegates from fifty towns. One of their earliest transactions was to
relieve the young State from the ridiculous name which was first
bestowed upon it. It was discovered that a district lying on the
Susquehanna was already known as New Connecticut, whereupon the
convention rechristened the infant State "Vermont." This most befitting
name was suggested by Dr. Thomas Young of Philadelphia, a firm friend of
the defenders of the Grants. In the previous April he had addressed a
circular letter to them, advising them to act in accordance with a
resolution of Congress passed in May, 1776, which recommended to the
respective assemblies of the United Colonies, where no sufficient
government had been established, to adopt such government as should
appear to the representatives of the people most conducive to the
happiness and safety of their constituents. He advised a general
convention of delegates from all the towns to form a Constitution for
the State, to choose a Committee of Safety, and also delegates to
Congress, declaring Congress could not refuse to admit their delegates.
"You have," said he, "as good a right to say how you will be governed,
and by whom, as they had." Dr. Young's letter called forth another
earnest protest from New York to Congress, and that body declared that
the action of the people of the Grants was not countenanced by any of
its acts. The petition of Vermont was dismissed, the commission of
Warner apologized for, and Dr. Young censured for a "gross
misrepresentation of the resolution of Congress" referred to in his
letter. Dr. Young recommended to the new commonwealth, as a model for a
Constitution, that of Pennsylvania, an instrument whose essential
features originated in Penn's "Frame of Government" of that province.
His advice was followed, and a very similar Constitution was adopted
early in July, 1777.
When, for this purpose, after a short adjournment, the convention met at
the Windsor meeting-house, all Vermont was in alarm at the British
invasion which was sweeping upon its western border. Almost at first the
attention of the delegates was called to the impending peril of
Ticonderoga by an appeal for aid from Colonel Warner. This was at once
forwarded to the Assembly of New Hampshire, and such measures as seemed
best, which elicited the warm thanks of General St. Clair, were taken by
the convention for the relief of the threatened fortress. Some of the
members, among whom was the president, the patriotic Joseph Bowker of
Rutland, whose families were in exposed situations, were now anxious for
an adjournment; but a furious thunder-storm came roaring up the
Connecticut valley, and the storm-bound convention took up its appointed
work, reading and adopting, one by one, the articles of the Constitution
amid the turmoil of the tempest.
To the first section of the declaration of rights, which announced that
"glittering generality," the natural rights of man to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness, this specific clause was added: "Therefore no
male person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be
holden by law to serve any person as a servant, slave, or apprentice
after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years, nor female in like
manner after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are
bound by their own consent after they arrive to such age, or bound by
law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like."
"Vermont was thus the first of the States to prohibit slavery by
constitutional provision, a fact of which Vermonters may well be proud,"
says Hiland Hall in his "Early History."
Religious freedom, freedom of speech and of the press, were also
established. The form of government was thoroughly democratic. Every man
of the full age of twenty-one years, who had resided in the State for
one year, was given the elective franchise, and was eligible to any
office in the State. The legislative power was vested in a single
assembly of members chosen annually by ballot. Each town was to have one
representative, and towns having more than eighty taxable inhabitants
were entitled to two. The executive authority was in a governor,
lieutenant-governor, and twelve councillors, elected annually by all the
freemen in the State. They had no negative power, but it was provided
that "all bills of a public nature should be laid before them, for their
perusal and proposals of amendment," before they were finally debated in
the General Assembly. Such bills were to be printed for the information
of the people, and not to be enacted into laws until the next session
of the assembly. "Temporary acts" in cases of "sudden emergency" might,
however, be passed without this delay. Compliance with this article was
found so difficult that nearly all laws were treated as temporary, and
declared permanent at the next session. Bills could originate in the
council as well as in the house of assembly; and in cases of
disagreement between the two bodies upon any measure, it was usually
discussed in grand committee composed of both, the governor presiding.
The final disposition of a measure was according to the pleasure of the
house, but the advisory power of the governor and council was a strong
check upon hasty legislation. In 1786 the provision for printing and
postponing the passage of laws was expunged, and the governor and
council were authorized to suspend the operation of a bill until the
next session of the legislature, when, to become a law, it must again be
passed by the assembly. Judges of inferior courts, sheriffs, justices of
the peace, and judges of probate were elected by the freemen of the
respective counties, to hold office during good behavior, removable by
the assembly on proof of maladministration. The mode of choosing judges
of superior courts was left to the discretion of the legislature, and
they were elected annually by joint ballot of the council and assembly.
When the Constitution was revised in 1786, it was provided that county
officers should be annually chosen in the same manner.
The Constitution provided for an election, by the freemen of the State,
of a Council of Censors, consisting of thirteen members, first to be
chosen on the last Wednesday of March, 1785, and thereafter on the same
day in every seventh year. It was the duty of this body to inquire
whether the Constitution had been preserved inviolate, and whether the
legislature and executive branches of government had performed their
duty as guardians of the people, or had assumed greater powers than they
were constitutionally entitled to. They were to inquire whether public
taxes had been justly laid and collected, in what manner the public
moneys had been disposed of, and whether the laws had been duly
executed. The council was also empowered to call a convention, to meet
within two years after their sitting, if there appeared to them an
absolute necessity of any change in the Constitution, the proposed
changes to be promulgated at least six months before the election of
such convention, for the previous consideration of the people. This
provision of the Constitution, though useless if no worse, was
nevertheless a great favorite of the people of Vermont, and remained a
prominent and unique feature of that instrument till 1870, when it was
abrogated by the last convention called by a Council of Censors.
"This frame of government," writes Hiland Hall of the early
Constitution, "continued in operation long after the State had become a
member of the Federal Union, furnishing the people with as much
security for their persons and property as was enjoyed by those of
other States, and allowing to each individual citizen all the liberty
which was consistent with the welfare of others."
Such are the main features of the Vermont Constitution established by
the Windsor convention. An election of state officers was ordered to be
held in the ensuing December, to be followed by a meeting of the
legislature in January, and a Council of Safety was appointed to manage
the affairs of the State during the intervening time.