CONVENTION AT DORSET. should be required, as inhabitants of that province. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. as soon as may be, to declare the New Hampshire grants a free and separate district." This was the first petition of the inhabitants of the Grants to Congress, and the On the 15th of January, 1777, the concommittee to whom it was referred re-vention met again at Westminster.* The ported, that it be recommended to the pe- sentiments of their constituents were now titioners to submit for the present to the well ascertained, and, being convinced government of New York, and assist their that there was now no other way of safety countrymen in the contest with Great left, they on the 16th of that month pubBritain; but that such submission ought lished the following declaration: "This not to prejudice their right to any lands convention, whose members are duly in controversy, or be construed to affirm, chosen by the free voice of their constituor admit, the jurisdiction of New York ents, in the several towns on the New over the country, when the present Hampshire grants, in public meeting astroubles should be ended. Mr. Heman sembled, in our own names, and in behalf Allen, the agent by whom this petition of our constituents, do hereby proclaim was forwarded, considering the report of and publicly declare, that the district of terthe committee unfavorable to the Grants, ritory comprehending, and usually known obtained leave to withdraw the petition, by the name and description of the New and thus prevented Congress from com- Hampshire grants, of right ought to be, ing to any decision upon the subject. and is hereby declared forever hereafter to This took place on the 4th of June, 1776, | be, a free and independent jurisdiction, or and on the 4th of July following, Congress published to the world the memorable declaration of American Independence. state; to be forever hereafter called, known, and distinguished by the name of New Connecticut, alias VERMONT." And this declaration of independence furthermore asserts," that the inhabitants who at present are, or who may hereafter become residents, either by birth or emigration, within said territory, shall be entitled to the same privileges, immunities and enfranchisements as are allowed, or may hereafter at any time be allowed, to the inhabitants of any of the free and independent states of America: And that such privileges and immunities shall be regulated in a bill of rights, and by a form of government to be established at the next session of this convention." By this declaration of Independence, the people on the New Hampshire grants were placed in a situation more difficult and embarrassing than before, and there were various opinions with regard to the course which should be pursued. Some thought it best to place themselves under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire some considered the submission of the Grants to the authority of New York, the only course of safety; but the more resolute and influential were for assuming the powers of government and hazarding the consequences. To ascertain the state of The foregoing declaration was unanipublic opinion on this subject, it was de- mously adopted by the convention; after termined that a general convention should which they drew up a declaration and pebe called, and circulars were accordingly tition to Congress, in which they anaddressed to the different towns, request-nounced to that body, as the grand reping them to appoint delegates. resentative of the United States, that they There was a general compliance with had declared the territory, commonly this request, and delegates from thirty-known by the name of the New Hampfive towns assembled at Dorset on the shire grants, a free and independent state, 24th of July, 1776.* At this session it possessing the right to regulate their own was agreed by the delegates to enter into internal policy in any manner which an association among themselves for the should not be repugnant to the resolves defence of the liberties of their country. of Congress. They moreover declared But at the same time they resolved that their attachment to the common cause they would not associate with, or submit and expressed their willingness to conto, the provincial government of New tribute their fyll proportion towards mainYork, and that all such inhabitants of the taining the war with Great Britain. They Grants as should thus associate, or sub-closed by praying that their declaration mit, should be regarded as enemies to the might be acknowledged by Congress and common cause. This convention met that delegates from Vermont might be adagain by adjournment at the same place on the 25th of September, and resolved unanimously, “to take suitable measures, The proceedings of this convention may be seen in Slade's State Papers, page 66. *The proceedings at Westminster may be found in Slade's State Papers, page 70, and in Williams' History, Vol. II. page 450. For the Bill of Rights and Form of Government, see Chapter VII. VIEWS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF VERMONT. DR. YOUNG'S LETTER. renounce their allegiance to the authority of New York. mitted to seats in that body. This declaration and petition was signed, and was presented to Congress by Jonas Fay, Thomas They complained of the injuries done Chittenden, Heman Allen and Reuben them by Congress in the appointment of ofJones, four of the most respectable mem-ficers in the disaffected portion of their state bers of the convention. without their consent, and intimated their apprehensions that it was the design of Congress to countenance the insurgents in their rebellion. They urged upon Congress the necessity of immediately recall and the officers under him, as an act of justice to New York, and as the means of opening the eyes of the "deluded people" on the Grants, who had set up for a separate jurisdiction, and were now desiring Congress to sanction their illegal proceedings. They represented the influence of Warner as very inconsiderable, even in the disaffected district, and that his services were a matter of no consequence to the country. These prompt and decisive measures of the convention evinced the wisdom and boldness of the statesmen, who at this period directed the affairs of Vermont, and placed the community in a conditioning the commissions given to Col. Warner to adopt an efficient organization of its own. Vermont, in justification of the course of policy she was pursuing, contended that she had the same right to assume the powers of government, which was possessed by the continental Congress, and that every consideration, which could justify the proceedings of that body, might be urged as a reason why the people of Vermont should embrace the present opportunity, effectually to secure themselves against the oppression under While New York was thus laying her which they had so long suffered. Happy grievances before Congress, and using all was it for the new state, that these meas-her influence to prevent that body from ures were adopted and supported with that firmness and temperance, which were alone adequate to secure a happy result. SECTION II. recognizing the independence of the Grants, the internal affairs of Vermont were rapidly assuming that form and regularity, which was calculated to insure a permanent and efficient organization of the government. In April, Thos. Young, a distinguished citizen of Philadelphia, addressed a communication to the in Establishment of the Government of Ver- habitants of Vermont, in which he repmont from the Declaration of Indepen-resented it as the opinion of several of the dence, January 15, 1777, to the meeting leading members of Congress, that Verof the General Assembly on the 12th of mont should proceed in her organization, March, 1778. form a constitution, and appoint delegates to Congress; and he declared it to be his own individual opinion that Congress would not hesitate to sanction their proceedings, or to admit their delegates to a seat in that honorable body.* These proceedings of Vermont, by which she had declared herself to be a separate and independent jurisdiction, were regarded with very different feelings by the neighboring states. While New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut were ready to admit Vermont as a new member of the federal union, and applauded the spirit and boldness with which she asserted and maintained her rights, New York regarded these transactions as open acts of treason and rebellion against the lawful authority of that state. With these views, the convention of New York, on the 20th of January, 1777, and again on the 1st of March, of the same year, addressed communications to Congress, in which they represented the proceedings of Vermont as resulting from the arts and instigations of designing men, and not, as had been represented, from a general desire of the inhabitants of that district to *Slade's State Papers, page 70-Williams' History Vol. II. page 453. For these documents see Slade's S. P., page 73. This communication was prefixed to a resolution, which Congress had passed on the 15th of May, 1776, which recommended to the assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government, sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs, had already been established, to adopt such government as, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, should best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents. This resolution was regarded by the author of the communication, as a full license from Congress to the Grants, to assume the powers of gov ernment, and he recommended that no time be lost in availing themselves of the present opportunity to establish a separate dominion. * An extract from this communication may be seen in Slade's State Papers, page 76. PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. CONVENTION TO FORM A CONSTITUTION* and appointed a committee to make a draft of a constitution for the state. They also adopted a resolution, recommending that the several towns appoint delegates to meet in convention at Windsor, on the 2d day of July following, for the purpose of discussing and adopting said constitution. In compliance with the foregoing resolution, the convention assembled at Windsor, on the 2d day of July, and a draft of a constitution was presented and read. While the convention were deliberating upon, and adopting the several articles of this important instrument, they received the news of the evacuation, on the 6th of July, of Ticonderoga by the American troops. This event left the whole west Alarmed at the suggestions in the foregoing communication of Thomas Young, the council of safety of New York proceeded, on the 28th of May, to make a further effort to arrest the progress of Vermont. With this view they addressed a letter to the president of Congress, in which they say that, "as a report prevails and daily gains credit, that the revolters are privately countenanced in their designs by certain members of Congress, we esteem it our duty to give this information, that by a proper resolution on the subject, the reputation of Congress may cease to be injured by imputations so disgraceful and dishonorable. However unwilling we may be to entertain suspicions so disreputable to any member of Congress, yet the truth is, that no inconsid-ern border of Vermont exposed to the eneerable numbers of the people of this state do believe the report to be well founded." With a view of bringing Congress to a decision on the subject of this controversy, on the 23d of June, one of the New York delegates laid before that body the communication of Thomas Young to the inhabitants of Vermont. Congress now took up the matter, and the petitions and communications from New York and the New Hampshire grants, were referred to a committee of the whole. This committee, on the 30th day of June, among other things resolved, that Congress would not recommend or countenance any thing injurious to the rights and jurisdiction of the several communities herein represented, that the inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants cannot be justified in their declaration of independence, by the example of the United Colonies, nor by any act or resolution of Congress,-that the petition of Vermont, to be recognized as an independent state, and to have her delegates admitted to seats in Congress, be dismissed. They farther resolved that the communication of Thomas Young was derogatory to the honor of Congress, and contained a gross misrepresentation of the resolution of that body therein referred to, and was calculated to mislead the peo-sult with the council of Vermont with ple to whom it was addressed. While Congress were thus resolving to dismiss the petition of the inhabitants of Vermont, and utterly to discountenance their proceedings, the people of Vermont were engaged in forming a constitution for the regulation of their civil government, being fully persuaded that their independence must now be supported with the same firmness and spirit with which it had been declared. The same convention which had declared the independence of Vermont, met, by adjournment, at Windsor on the first Wednesday of June, my, and spread alarm and consternation through this and the neighboring states. "In this awful crisis," says Allen, in his History of Vermont, "the convention was for leaving Windsor; but a severe thunder storm came on and gave them time to reflect; while some members, less、 alarmed at the news, called the attention of the convention to finish the constitution, which was then reading, paragraph by paragraph, for the last time. This was done, and the convention appointed a council of safety to act during their recess, and adjourned." Immediately after the adjournment of the convention, the council of safety of Vermont wrote to the councils of safety of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, setting forth their exposed condition since the abandonment of Ticonderoga, and calling upon them in the most pressing terms for assistance. These communications were dated at Manchester, July 15th, 1777.* Upon this application, the council of safety of New Hampshire immediately convened the assembly of that state, who without delay placed a large body of their militia under the command of Gen. Stark, and ordered him to repair to Charlestown on Connecticut river; con regard to supplies and future operations; and act in conjunction with the troops of that or any other state, or of the United States, as in his opinion would tend most effectually to stop the progress of the enemy on the western frontier. These orders were promptly obeyed, and these troops, in conjunction with those of Vermont, at Bennington, gave the enemy the first effectual check, as related in the preceding chapter. *For the correspondence with New Hampshire see Slade's State Papers, page 79. VIEWS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NEW YORK. Previous to the adjournment of the convention, it had been ordered that the first election under the constitution should take place in December, 1777; and that the representatives then elected, should meet at Bennington in January following. Public attention was, however, so much engrossed by the advance of the enemy under Burgoyne, that the constitution was not printed in season to have the election take place at the time appointed. The convention was, therefore, again called together at Windsor by the council of safety, on the 24th of December, where they revised the constitution, and postponed the day of election to the first Tuesday of March, 1778, and the meeting of the assembly to the second Thursday of the same month. The manner in which these proceedings of Vermont were viewed by New Hampshire and New York, is obvious from the style of their communications during this period. In answer to the application of the council of safety of Vermont for assistance, Mr. Weare, president of the council of New Hampshire, addressed Vermont as a free and sovereign, but new state, and in such terms as to leave no doubt but that New Hampshire willingly acknowledged her independence. But not so with New York. The proceedings of Vermont, it is true, had changed her policy, but had by no means reconciled her to a relinquishment of her jurisdiction over the Grants. In his proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of the Grants, February 23d, 1778, the Governor of New York, after confirming their titles to their lands in particular cases, and making several concessions in their favor, expressly declares, that that government "will vigorously maintain its rightful supremacy over the persons and property of those disaffected subjects." ADDress ing now declared their independence and "You have experienced every species SECTION III. Controversy with New Hampshire in 1778 and 1779-Legislative proceedings of The overtures in the proclamation of Governor Clinton, from which the above extract is taken, have a semblance of fairness which might have misled a people less discerning, and less jealous of their rights than they to whom they were addressed. But the people of Vermont had been too long accustomed to a thorough investigation of every point in the conAfter the royal decision of the controtroversy not to perceive that these overtures held out no prospect of substantial relief. They perceived at once that New versy between New Hampshire and New York was now endeavoring to effect that York, in favor of the latter, in 1764, New tinue her jurisdiction over the disputed by policy, which she had heretofore vain-Hampshire had made no attempt to conly attempted by force. They had ever acted upon the conviction that the claims of New York were groundless; and, hay *See Slade's Vt. State Papers, page 82. Vermont. *The work from which this extract is taken, is itants of the State of Vermont, with Remarks on a entitled An Animadversory Address to the inhab Proclamation, under the hand of his Excellency, George Clinton, Esq. Governor of the State of New UNION WITH A PART OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, DIFFICULTY WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE. legislature voted, on the 18th of March, 1778, to refer the decision of the question to the people. The Legislature met again by adjournment on the 4th of June, at Bennington, when it appeared that a majority of the towns were in favor of the union with the sixteen towns from New Hampshire; and, June 11th, it was "voted that the union take place-thirty-seven in the affirmative and twelve in the negative." It was also voted that any other towns on the east side of Connecticut river might territory. Hence we have hitherto had occasion to consider the people of Vermont only in their relation to the government of New York; but the declaration of their independence and the organization of their government were, in their consequences, the occasion of new difficulties, not only with New York, but also with New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The original territory of New Hampshire was granted to John Mason, and was bounded on the west by a line sixty miles from the sea. The lands between this line and Connecticut river, were roy-be admitted to a union, on producing a al grants, and belonged to New Hampshire by virtue of the commissions of the governors of that province. Vermont had no sooner organized her government than the inhabitants on these lands manifested their desire to dissolve their connection with New Hampshire, and unite with Vermont. In their justification, they contended, that all the territory west of Mason's grant, had been held in subjection to New Hampshire by force of the royal commissions that when the royal authority ceased in the colonies, in consequence of the declaration of independence, their allegiance to New Hampshire ceased, and they were left at liberty to form a separate government, or to unite with such neighboring government as would con sent to a union. With these views of their relations to New Hampshire, the people on the territory between Mason's grant and Connecticut river, proceeded to make arrangements for proposing a connection with Vermont. The Legislature of Vermont met, for the first time, on the 12th of March, 1778, at Windsor, and the same day a petition was presented from sixteen towns on the east side of Connecticut river, praying to be admitted to a union with Vermont. The Legislature was much embarrassed by this application. Most of the members from the west side of the mountains regarded the union as a dangerous measure, and the majority of the assembly appeared to be against it; yet several of the towns in Vermont on Connecticut river were very desirous that the towns from New Hampshire should be received, and went so far as to propose withdrawing from their connection with Vermont, and setting up another state. In this state of things, and for the purpose of preserving its own union, the York. By Ethan Allen.' It was dated Bennington, August 9, 1778, and printed at Hartford, Ct. in a neat pamphlet of 24 pages, and is now in the pos session of the author. The substance of this pamphiet was afterwards incorporated into Allen's Vindication of Vermont,' and may also in part be found in Slade's Vt. State Papers, page 85. vote of the majority of the inhabitants, or on their sending a representative to the assembly of Vermont. Having thus effected their purpose, the sixteen towns informed the government of New Hampshire that they had withdrawn from their jurisdiction, and wished the division line to be established and a friendly intercourse to be kept up. Those who were anxious for this union had represented to the Legislature, that the inhabitants of the sixteen towns were nearly unanimous in their votes to join Vermont, and that New Hampshire, as a state, would not object to their withdrawing from her jurisdiction. But the event proved both these representations to be false. The government of New Hampshire was justly incensed at the proceedings. Mr. Weare, President of the Council of New Hampshire, wrote to Congress on the 19th of August, to procure advice, and, in case of necessity, the interference of that body.* On the 22d of August, he, in the name of the general assembly of that state, wrote to Mr. Chittenden, governor of Vermont, claiming the sixteen towns as a part of New Hampshire. stated that a large portion of the inhabitants of those towns were opposed to the union, that this minority had claimed the protection of the state, and that the gov ernment of New Hampshire considered itself bound to protect them. He urged Gov. Chittenden to exert his influence with the legislature, to dissolve a connection, which would endanger their peace and probably their political existence. He On the reception of this communication, Governor Chittenden convened the council, and it was agreed that Colonel Ethan Allen should repair to Philadelphia and ascertain how the proceedings of Vermont were regarded by Congress. On his return, he reported that Congress was unanimously opposed to the proceedings of Vermont in relation to the union with *For this letter, see Slade's State Papers, p. 90. Ibid. page 91. |