USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume III > Part 2
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Trumbull, Lyman Facing p. 374
Wheeler, Nathaniel Facing p. 266
Whitney, Eli
Facing p. 312
Wolcott, Oliver
Facing p. 108
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CHAPTER I THE POLITICAL STATUS AT THE OPENING OF THE NINE- TEENTH CENTURY
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T HE opening of the nineteenth century found the conservative commonwealth still recogniz- ing, as the norm of existence, the Royal Char- ter. The other members of the American Union, with the exception of Rhode Island, had adopted new constitutions. The Federalist party had never commanded a majority of the people. It was essen- tially an upper-class and therefore minority party; but in its earlier years it was reinforced by a great number of per- sons who were Democrats at heart, because it was the only organization bent on forming the strong government indis- pensible for national security and order, just as in 1896 a vast number of Democrats reinforced the Republican party as the only method of saving sound finances. In both cases the temporary alliance fell apart as soon as the immediate peril was over. The classes headed by Jefferson had joined that headed by Hamilton with great reluctance; and by 1794 it was evident that they were fast melting away into their nat- ural party. The dissensions between the Federalist leaders after 1796 are usually credited with ruining the party and bringing in Jefferson in 1800; but in fact, if Hamilton and Adams had loved each other like brothers, the result in all probability would have been just the same.
The Federalists used the obviously judicious plan of bal- ancing their New England candidate for President, Adams, with a South Carolina candidate for Vice-President, Pinck- ney; but most of the growth in the country had been in sec- tions and of elements opposed to them, and they went out of power not to return. The slovenly provision of the Con- stitution for electoral voting very nearly enabled them, how- ever, to come back by intrigue, putting Burr in as President over Jefferson. Perhaps it was not so indefensible a measure
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as usually represented. The Connecticut electors clung to Burr up to the last; and they were men of character, not act- ing for mere spite or partisanship. The plain fact was, that they regarded Burr, from his being a Northern man, as safe to intrust with the interests of New England commerce; and Jefferson as a Southerner as likely to be hostile to them. And the crowning argument in their favor is, that they were right. Jefferson did nearly destroy New England commerce: it is very unlikely that Burr would have forced through an Embargo Act.
To return to the State constitutions :- The reason Connec- ticut and Rhode Island did not adopt new instruments of government was because their own represented their own wishes and gave them the fullest powers. These instruments were not forced upon them from without, but framed from within as entirely as new constitutions could have been; it would be time to make a change when one was called for. The only alteration needed was the transfer of allegiance from the British Crown to the new independent nation. This was done by the declaration "that the form of Civil Gov- ernment in this State shall continue to be as established by charter received from Charles the Second, King of Eng- land, so far as an adherence to the same will be con- sistent with an absolute Independence of this State from the Crown of Great Britain," etc.
The Royal Charter was reaffirmed in the revision of the laws in 1784; prior to this, a number of the legal minds of the State had attacked the validity of the document on the ground that as the charter had been vacated by King, Lords, and Commons, and independence declared by Congress, and ratified by the Legislature of the State, therefore, strictly speaking, the commonwealth was destitute of any civil con-
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stitution. These ultra views gained but few adherents until about 1800; when a considerable minority of the people, adopting the principles of the Democratic-Republicans, be- came strong enough in numbers and influence to seriously embarrass the party which two years previously was abso- lutely dominant in the State. Among the leaders of this opposition were William Williams of Lebanon (a signer of the Declaration of Independence), General James Wads- worth of Durham, General Erastus Wolcott of East Wind- sor, Dr. Benjamin Gale of Killingworth, Joseph Hopkins of Waterbury, Colonel Peter Bulkley of Colchester, Colonel William Worthington of Saybrook, and Captain Abraham Granger of Suffield.
In the organization of the first Democratic presidential administration, Connecticut was honored by the selection of native sons, representing sister States, to preside as Presi- dents pro tempore over the Senate of the seventh Congress.
The President called to his aid, to fill the position of Post- master-General, Gideon Granger, a native of Suffield, who had served in the State Legislature; and also gained celebrity through his efforts to promote education by the establish- ment of a school fund.
Though in the National Senate the Democrats were largely in the ascendency, there was a distinguished and conservative minority. Connecticut's adherence to her early political affiliations was ably defended by Uriah Tracy and James Hillhouse, who led the opposition in connection with Gouver- neur Morris of New York, Jeremiah Mason of Massachu- setts (a native of Lebanon, Connecticut), and James Ross of Pennsylvania. At the head of the State delegation in the lower house were Roger Griswold, Samuel W. Dana, Calvin Goddard, and John Cotton Smith; all aggressive opponents
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of any governmental measures not emanating from their own political party.
One of the first acts of President Jefferson was the removal of the so-called "midnight appointees," made by his prede- cessor. Adams did not devise this scheme for retaining the control of the administration with the Federalists after the electors had ousted them, nor did he approve it; but as he let himself be made the instrument of it, he must share the responsibility. Among the appointments was that of Elizur Goodrich to the collectorship of New Haven. This gentle- man was a member of Congress and a strong Federalist par- tisan; he resigned his seat for the residue of his term, to secure a permanent position. His qualifications for the office were indisputable; but Jefferson naturally treated all these appointments as nullities, and removed Mr. Goodrich from office, naming as his successor Judge Samuel Bishop. This aroused great Federalist indignation throughout Connecti- cut; the combined press of the State asserted that the liberties of the people were being endangered, and they assailed the principles of the administration. Technically, Jefferson had in truth violated the law as to appointments, and the Federal- ists had kept to its letter ; but their indecent violation of good faith had itself to thank for their enemies' disregard of law. A memorial was addressed to the President, by a committee consisting of merchants of New Haven, in which they alleged that Judge Bishop was incompetent to perform the duties of the office, and unfitted for the position on account of his age; lamenting that a change of administration should interfere with subordinate offices under the government, and alleging that the President's action was a negation of the tolerant views professed by him in his inaugural address. This was an unwise step for the memoralists, as it gave the President the
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opportunity to contrast his toleration with that of his prede- cessors.
In justification of the qualifications of Judge Bishop, he referred them to the action of their Legislature at the pre- vious May session, when the judge was chosen chief judge of the Court of Common Pleas of New Haven County, also as sole judge of the Court of Probate. This seems to have settled the particular controversy, but the general tone of Connecticut's influential classes towards the new Democratic régime was incredibly bitter. As a climax and a curiosity, we give the following, said to be a passage from an oration delivered by Theodore Dwight before the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati. The authority is Randall's "Life of Jef- ferson." Randall admits that he cannot prove its authen- ticity, but is positive of its genuineness; possibly he was more positive than if he had not been a Democrat. Mr. Dwight said: "We have now reached the consummation of Demo- cratic blessedness. We have a country governed by block- heads and knaves; the ties of marriage, with all its felicities, are severed and destroyed: our wives and daughters are thrown into the stews; our children are cast into the world, from the breast, forgotten; filial piety is extinguished, and our surnames, the only mark of distinction among families, are abolished. Can the imagination paint anything more dreadful this side of hell? Some parts of the subject are indeed fit only for horrid contemplation."
The national defeat of the Federalist party in the fall of 1 800 solidified the ranks of the Connecticut section; but even in New England, the growth of population tended to weaken the Federalists. Apart from defections caused by ambition and selfishness, "old families" did not increase nearly so fast as the new-comers whom the Democracy represented. The
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Federalists had done a good and indispensable work; but they were opposed to the spirit of the vast emancipated mul- titude. For the present, however, Connecticut's Federalist basis was broad enough to withstand their influences; her interests still needed the Federalist policy.
The "Connecticut policy" was stigmatized by the Demo- cratic-Republican press as pure stagnation. It was asserted that in the stubborn conservatism of her tenets the State bid defiance to truths flowing from the revolution in political science, which had caused no alteration either in her constitu- tion or the thoughts of her citizens; the latter being the dupes and victims of a pampered anti-christian priesthood, to whom they were subservient through superstition, which resulted in their own debasement and the personal exaltation of their rulers.
Connecticut's representation in the national legislative halls was not changed by the census of 1800. Her population of 251,002 gave her the rank of eighth among the States, and on the basis of one representative for every 33,000 inhab- itants entitled her to seven members.
The second session of the Seventh and the first session of the Eighth Congress were enlivened by measures pertaining to the maintenance of navigation on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and the purchase of Louisiana. The latter, though resulting immediately from Napoleon's needs and bad faith, was the natural sequel to a long history of Southwestern dis- content, for years threatening outright secession or even annexation to Spain, and breeding some active traitors like Wilkinson, besides more than once coming close to war with Spain. It was only a question of time when the United States would have it; though had not the English barred the way to Napoleon's colonizing it, years more would have
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elapsed and possibly much larger French settlement would have been found there.
The issuing of a proclamation by the Spanish intendant, forbidding Americans the use of New Orleans as a port of entry, was one of the later complications; and on President Jefferson's notification to Congress that the Mississippi was virtually closed to American trade, he was empowered to call out the militia for the purpose of occupying New Orleans.
These administration measures were met with opposition by Connecticut's representatives in the Senate. Mr. Hillhouse, while in favor of maintaining American rights in the Mis- sissippi valley, deemed it proper that the President should confine his call for troops to the States west of the Potomac or Hudson; the others being considered too far distant from the contemplated field of battle. In the lower house, Roger Griswold, as an opposer of the purchase of Louisiana with- out the unanimous consent of the States, was ably combated by John Randolph, the leader of the administration forces. Griswold's resolution for the production of all papers cov- ering the transactions was bitterly opposed by the supporters of the government; and the purchase of the province, and its erection into a territory, were consummated by a large major- ity.
Mr. Griswold made an unsuccessful party movement to bring suspicion on the management of the United States Treasury, alleging that appropriations for discharging the public debt had not been devoted to that purpose. This charge was proved so unworthy of credence that it reacted on its proposers, and was a triumph for the administration.
The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, relating to balloting for President and Vice-President, was ratified in
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1804 by the required three-fourths of the States; Massachu- setts, Connecticut, and Delaware refused their assent. The opposition is not creditable to the Federalists of these States : the Jefferson-Burr imbroglio had proved the grave and immediate necessity for some such amendment, whose neglect might result in a civil war or the usurpation of the Presi- dency by virtual fraud.
Leading Republicans from time to time urged the neces- sity and importance of forming a new constitution to be rati- fied by the people. No concerted action was taken until Aug. 29, 1804, when delegates from ninety-seven towns assembled at the State House in New Haven, for the purpose of formulating a plan for a new constitution, "which shall separate the legislative, executive, and judicial powers; shall define the qualifications of freemen, so that legislators shall not tamper with election laws; and shall district the State so that freemen may judge of the candidates for their suffrages."
This was a direct blow to Connecticut's Federalism; as it was believed by Republicans and by some of the Federalist leaders that a new constitution, in connection with the loss of Hamilton as a national leader, would remove all causes of hostility to the general government. On the assembling of the Republican delegates, Major William Judd of Farming- ton, was chosen chairman. The meeting was held with closed doors; an address to the people was formulated, advising preparatory measures for a new constitution. This was fol- lowed by a pamphlet war. In one pamphlet the address of the New Haven Convention was burlesqued; another, under the pseudonym of Jonathan Steadfast, was entitled "Count the Cost." These, in connection with denunciations from the Federalists, to the purport that the acts of the convention were revolutionary toward the law, order, and steady habits
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of the State, resulted in an increased Federalist majority at the October election; thus showing that the popular mind was not yet prepared for any radical change in the Charter as a constitution.
The venom of political strife was exhibited in the action taken by the Federalists, at the convening of the next General Assembly. Five justices of the peace, who had attended the Republican convention at New Haven, were cited to appear before that body, "to show reasons why their com- missions should not be revoked," since "it is improper," as the preamble of the resolutions set forth, "to trust the administration of the laws to persons who hold and teach that the government is an usurpation." The culprits had but slight show for justice, before their predisposed judges; the Governor and Council, after a hearing, unanimously passed a bill revoking their commissions. The House concurred by a large majority.
The question of a new constitution was one of the main issues in the spring election of 1805; but although it held a prominent place in the Republican platform for several suc- ceeding years, there was no probability of its attainment, and the introduction of more weighty and immediate matters caused it gradually to be lost sight of during the next decade.
The presidential election of 1804 was void of any exciting interest. The electoral college of Connecticut consisted of Jonathan Trumbull, Lewis B. Sturges, John Treadwell, David Smith, Oliver Ellsworth, Asher Miller, David Dag- gett, Sylvester Gilbert, and Joshua Huntington, who cast the vote of the State for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for Presi- dent and Rufus King for Vice-President. This, with three votes from Delaware and two from Maryland, was the total received for the Federalist nominees.
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CHAPTER II CONNECTICUT UNDER THE EMBARGO
W ITH the growing prosperity of the country in the first part of Jefferson's second administration, there seemed every prob- ability of the Federalist party even in New England being soon extinguished. New lands were being rapidly taken up by the swelling tide of stal- wart sons of the Eastern settlers, which was already surging impatiently against the vast Indian holdings in the South. In commerce, the great European war was throwing nearly all the carrying trade of the world into the hands of America, the one civilized neutral nation. But this very fact bred its own counteraction : the administration which had begun so favor- ably closed in disgrace and wild apprehension, and the dying Federalist party gained a new lease of life. Great Britain would not allow America to sit in quiet and reap all the har- vest, while she was draining her life-blood to save Europe from a huge Napoleonic monarchy; especially she would not see her seamen desert her naval service to enter the safe and lucrative American merchant marine. America must bear her share of the common burdens and perils of civilization. Hence impressments, the bloody affair of the Leopard and the Chesapeake, and the Embargo. Hence also the kidnap- ping of hundreds of native Americans into the English navy : while impressments were going on, English officers were not disposed to be too particular.
Hence too the secret hounding on of the Barbary pirates against us. Connecticut's most intimate share in this branch of the Federal warfare was through one of her ablest and most picturesque sons, William Eaton of Woodstock. Eaton was a high-spirited, keen-witted, clear-sighted man, full of a passionate patriotism, and stung to the soul by the insults to his country, and the manner in which Christendom allowed
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itself to be ravaged by the wretched Barbary corsair states, or buy them off by blackmail which even so secured nothing. Why this was so, is outside our province : enough to say that the larger Christian powers, to their shame, subsidized them for the very purpose of having them ravage the smaller ones. The United States paid blackmail like the rest: up to 1800 it had paid about $2,000,000, largely in the shape of armed vessels to ravage its own commerce. Eaton was made dip- lomatic agent at Tunis; and by a mixture of iron firmness and judicious coloring of the truth, succeeded in greatly reducing the American payments. But he was deeply incensed at the whole degrading business, and urged on the government the plan of supporting the cause of the rightful sovereign of Tripoli, Hamet Caramelli (who had been deposed by his brother Joseph), on consideration of his agree- ing to release this country from all future payments.
Jefferson gave Eaton a vague commission to undertake the plan, but privately instructed Commodore Barron of the Mediterranean fleet to use it only as a club to extract a treaty from Joseph, and drop Eaton and Hamet as soon as this was done. Eaton, by one of the most marvelous feats of daring, generalship, and management of men, recorded in American history, released Hamet from great danger, collected in Alex- andria a motley rabble of some five hundred men of various nationalities, marched them six hundred miles across the desert to the seaport of Derne, the head of the richest prov- ince of Tripoli, captured it, and with Barron's help could easily have carried out his plan. But Barron was sick, and even when in health was not a man to go beyond his instruc- tions or sympathize with audacious policies ; and those instruc- tions we have just noted. Joseph, threatened with this revolt in his rear and bombardment from other United States ves-
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sels in front, hastily consented to a treaty by which he relin- quished claim on this country for tribute (till he saw fit to break it), but still held a mass of American prisoners to ran- som. The agent of the United States, Tobias Lear, paid him $60,000 for them, on the excuse that he feared Joseph would murder them otherwise. More disgracefully, Hamet's wife and children were left in Joseph's hands by a secret article. Hamet had to fly; some years later the United States pro- cured him a position in Tripoli.
Eaton was furious. He came home to be feted and lauded as a hero, which he was, and a great general, which in our sober judgment he might have been on broader fields; and denounced the government's policy to all who would lis- ten. But the political issues of the country were too extended to have this minor one affect the general public action. Eaton only succeeded in cutting himself off from further public employment and spoiling a more enduring career which lay before him. Burr attempted to enlist him in his Southwestern conspiracy, thinking his sore and inflamed state of mind was a favorable one on which to operate. But Eaton was a patriot before all else : he informed the government of Burr's proposition, and testified at his trial. He finally located at. Brimfield, Massachusetts, and there fretted and drank him- self into an early grave, in 1811, only a year before the war which would have given him a new opportunity to win lau- rels, and might have had a different course had he been given an important command. It was one of the great opportu- nities lost by impatience and lack of balance. So far, Eaton earned his semi-oblivion with posterity; yet he had a spark of true genius, and that is too rare and precious not to regret its waste. And he was not the mere adventurer he is com- monly and half-sneeringly represented in history. It would
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be easy to show that his impetuosity had more genuine states- manship than the truckling tameness of those who suppressed him ; and he was a true patriot.
The Ninth Congress was decidedly Democratic. The majority, however, was divided in its choice for Speaker; this encouraged a hope among the Federalists that they could secure the position for John Cotton Smith, but on the third ballot Nathaniel Macon was elected.
The larger issues of the Embargo which began in 1806, and which with some mitigations practically continued until it was merged in the stoppage of commerce involved in the War of 1812, cannot be discussed here. The general outline of English policy we have already given. The American coun- ter-policy might be one of three things. One was to fight. But this both parties were agreed was impossible, until the scheme of Canadian invasion was broached some years later than the time we are now considering. The speculatively and tempera- mentally unwarlike Jefferson, the coldly philosophic Madison, were not more convinced on this point than the fiery Eaton. It was taken for granted that the immediate result of such a move would be to have our entire navy "Copenhagenized," as the phrase went; in other words, seized and confiscated bodily by the British and added to their own. The second alternative was to submit to the English claims. This the Federalists as a body were willing to do, asserting that
they were essentially righteous. The Democrats would not hear of this; but they proposed no remedy any more than the Federalists. At length Jefferson evolved one which must have given him peculiar pleasure, as a hater of war, as a member of a purely agricultural community, and as a Southerner. This was to cease commerce altogether till we could resume it without getting into international trouble
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by it. If it was going to call for military protection, it should simply be withdrawn. This country should live on its own products until the rest of the world stopped cutting each oth- er's throats. The man of peace found this solution in har- mony with his principles; the farmers' representative was in no fear of losing favor with his own district; and the South- erner could bear up with great fortitude under the necessity of crippling New England. The Federalist vote for Burr, mentioned in the last chapter, will be significantly remem- bered. It would be unfair not to add that as a statesman, Jefferson sincerely believed that it would bring England to her knees, by raising the prices of her necessaries of life so high that she would abandon her policy.
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