USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume III > Part 5
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A native of Durham, William Wadsworth, ranking as a brigadier-general in the New York militia, was in command of the American forces at the assault on Queenstown Heights.
The country's second difficulty with England, which the far-seeing Franklin had predicted would be our war of in- dependence, established the United States as a first-class naval maritime power. Since that day, no foreign nation has block- aded our coast, nor have hostile fleets invaded our harbors ; our commercial relations abroad have not been interrupted; the American seaman has been protected in all climes, his rights respected on all seas and in all foreign lands.
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CHAPTER V THE HARTFORD CONVENTION
T HE growing dissatisfaction with Madison's ad- ministration, in carrying on the second war with England; the refusal of several of the governors of the New England States to order out the militia on receipt of the Pres- ident's proclamation asking for troops; and the general gov- ernment's declining to pay these soldiers, when called out by the State executives, basing their refusal on the ground that the forces had not been placed under the command of the United States general in charge of that department,-gave rise to the feeling that New England was given over to the enemy by the national government. This feeling became universal, and was strengthened by the differences between the people of New England and those of the South, on the question of slave representation in Congress. The admin- istration in power was largely dominated by Southern influ- ences, and engendered in the inhabitants of the Eastern States a revolutionary spirit against a government which they felt would rather sacrifice their interests than not. New England was the manufacturing centre of the country. The embargo laid on shipping by Congress had diminished her wealth and prostrated the business community; her people were largely adherents of the doctrines of Washington and Hamilton; and as Federalists were opponents of France, the opening of the nineteenth century had placed the control of the national government in the hands of their opponents, whose tendencies and sympathies were in accord with the supporters of the French Revolution, and antagonistic to England's dictatorial acts, especially on the sea.
It is not likely that the anti-war spirit would have gained such headway had the war been waged with decent energy and skill. Great victories would perhaps not have been
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needed; but there should have been some evidence of a com- petent directing brain, of a coherent plan and the preparation of means for it, and of common-sense precautions. So far from this, there was evidence of little but incapacity, resulting in disaster and threatening worse. New England could have borne with the annihilation of her business life, had there been a prospect of a speedy and honorable end; but it seemed likely to be a long agony ending in loss of half the country's future. It is fair to say that part of this was the fault of New England herself in tying the hands of the administra- tion.
Massachusetts through her legislature took the initiatory steps toward a convention to safeguard New England inter- ests. She made overtures to her sister States to join with her in remonstrance against the rule and the usurpations of the general government. A committee of her legislature made a report which contained a covert threat of independent action on the part of her people, and recommended the appropriation of the national revenue derived from her con- stituency for her own defense.
The primary object of the resolution was to adopt some mode of defense suited to the emergencies of the New Eng- land States; the ultimate one was to advise with each other for radical reforms of the Constitution. The opponents of the report denounced it as a preparation for a dissolution of the Union. Their efforts to defeat the measure were unavail- ing, owing to the cessation of hostilities on the Continent of Europe, and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of France; leaving England in position to blockade more effectually the ports of our Atlantic coast, while her land forces occupied a large area of the territory of Maine, thus
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completing the demolition of New England shipping inter- ests, and menacing the safety of the Northwest.
A rumor spread that plans were on foot to restore New England to the British. Like much other nonsense in a heated time, this was widely credited. It was actually believed that the section which opened the Revolu- tion, which was foremost in fighting British authority and had to drag the South into the fray, and foremost in advo- cating entire independence, was about to relinquish that inde- pendence out of party spite, and go back to colonial subjec- tion.
Some of her people, it was said, had declared for neutral- ity, and placed themselves under the protection of that nation. If so it was a move to force the hand of the govern- ment. In response to a communication from the executive of Massachusetts, the authorities of Connecticut and Rhode Island appointed delegates to the convention. Their coasts had been ravaged by the enemy; the majority of their citi- zens were in bitter opposition to the war. The situation was different in New Hampshire, with but a few miles of sea- coast. That State itself as a sovereignty took no action, though delegates were selected from some of her minor divis- ions.
The people of Vermont were purely agriculturalists, and strong partisans of the national government. That State had been the only one which did not support Burr in the imbroglio of 1800. The previous year they censured their Governor, a candidate for re-election, and his defeat was due to his refusal to obey the requisitions of the President calling for the services of the State militia. Therefore the com- monwealth did not act as a unit in sending delegates; one
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of the counties adjoining Massachusetts chose a representa- tive to the convention.
On Dec. 15, 1814, the convention assembled at Hartford; its meetings were held in the alderman's chamber of the pres- ent City Hall; the public were excluded. The roll being called, there were found to be present twelve delegates from Massachusetts, seven from Connecticut, three from Rhode Island, and two representing counties in New Hampshire.
A permanent organization was effected by the choice of George Cabot of Boston as president, and Theodore Dwight of Hartford as secretary. The latter was not an accredited delegate; he was a ready and brilliant writer, connected with the editorial staff of the Connecticut Mirror, a newspaper thoroughly opposed to the Democratic policy of war. At the head of the Massachusetts delegation was George Cabot, the gentleman to whom was given by his colleagues the honor of presiding over their deliberations. He had been a confidential co-laborer of Washington and Hamilton in the councils of the Federalist party; he had represented his native State in the upper house, and by his strenuous advocacy of the adoption of the Constitution, was instrumental in securing its ratification by Massachusetts. A pure-hearted, lofty- minded citizen, a sound statesmen, and universally beloved, his presidency of the convention was his last political act.
President Cabot and one of his associates were engaged in mercantile trade. The others of the Massachusetts dele- gation were members of the legal fraternity of that State. Nathan Dane had served as a member of the Continental Congress, and during his term of office ardently advocated the exclusion of slavery from the Northwest Territory. He was highly esteemed for his wisdom and rectitude. William Prescott, a son of the commander of the American forces at
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Bunker Hill, had represented his fellow-citizens in both houses of the Massachusetts legislature. Harrison Gray Otis, a noted debater and eloquent orator, had served in Con- gress from the Suffolk district, through President Adams' administration. Timothy Bigelow had presided over the Massachusetts House of Representatives; John Thomas was the presiding judge of probate of Plymouth County; Joseph Lyman was elected for several years sheriff of his residence county.
George Bliss, endowed with learning, industry, and integ- rity, was noted for his eminence as a lawyer, and for several terms was a member of the legislature. David Waldo, a merchant of Worcester, repeatedly refused political honors, but was a member of the State Senate. Samuel Sumner Wilde, in recognition of his legal ability, was raised to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Hodi- jah Bayliss served as an officer in the Continental Army, and for many years was probate judge of his native county; he was distinguished for sound understanding, fine talents, and unimpeachable probity. Stephen Longfellow, Jr., was at the head of the bar of Portland, his residential city; he was a leading politician, and afterwards represented that district in Congress. He was the father of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. At the time of his death in 1849, he was the only surviving member of the Massachusetts delegation to the Hartford Convention.
Connecticut's representatives compared favorably with their Massachusetts confreres, in legal acumen and scholarly abilities. They were lawyers who reflected credit on them- selves and the commonwealth.
Chauncey Goodrich, Deputy-Governor of the State, served in both branches of Congress. He was noted
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for the purity of his statesmanship, and his useful- ness as a public citizen. John Treadwell had filled the executive chair of the State. He was a politician of the Washington school, and since attaining his major- ity had been prominent in public life. The best known member of the delegation was James Hillhouse, a Rev- olutionary soldier, who for a score of years was identi- fied with Congress; his ability and worth received universal commendation. Zephaniah Swift, Chief Justice of the Con- necticut Supreme Court, was the recipient of Congressional honors. He was a deep and thorough legal scholar. The prom- inence of Nathaniel Smith in the Connecticut bar is indisput- able; he was a member of the Supreme Bench. His life was marked by chastity of morals and love of country. Calvin Goddard, the only one of the delegation not a native of the State, had held judicial and legislative positions, and also risen to great eminence in his profession. Roger Minot Sher- man was the possessor of qualities of the highest order, both as a lawyer and citizen.
The most prominent one of the Rhode Island delegation was Daniel Lyman, a major in the Continental Army. At the close of the war he distinguished himself as a lawyer, and became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Samuel Ward, son of Governor Samuel, was not present at the first roll-call, but the following day took his seat in the body. The age of eighteen found him a captain in the American army. He was taken prisoner of war while sharing in Arnold's expedition against Quebec. At the close of the war he retired from military service with the rank of colonel, and became a mer- chant in New York City. Benjamin Hazard and Edward Manton were natives of the State. The former was eminent as a lawyer and legislator; the latter, though of sterling
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worth, had never become identified with the political discus- sions of the day.
Cheshire, a New Hampshire county contiguous to Mas- sachusetts, sent as a delegate Benjamin West, who bore a good reputation as a lawyer. His colleague, Miles Olcott, a member of the legal fraternity, represented several towns in Grafton and Coos, the northwest counties of the State.
It was not until the 28th of December that Vermont took any part in the deliberations of the convention; William Hall, Jr., having presented credentials from towns in Wind- ham County, was introduced and took his seat as a member of the body. He had frequently been elected to the State Legis- lature, and was a merchant universally esteemed and re- spected by his fellow-citizens.
The convention was in session, with closed doors, twenty days. Wild rumors were circulated that the proceedings were of a treasonable nature. The excitement was aug- mented by the fact that the Massachusetts legislature, about this time, appropriated one million dollars towards the sup- port and equipment of ten thousand men, who were to be under the direct control of the State, to relieve their militia.
The United States government, disturbed by the prevailing reports, ordered a regiment of soldiers under the command of Major Thomas S. Jessup to Hartford. Their ostensible duty was to recruit it for the regular army, but their senior officer was cautioned to keep a watchful eye on what the administration considered an unpatriotic conclave. The military demonstrations, however, were limited to a squad of idlers occasionally marching around the building, their fifers playing the "Rogue's March."
The convention, undisturbed by these outside influences, proceeded on the even tenor of its way. The delegates con-
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vened twice a day, with a few exceptions. The meetings were opened with prayer, the clergy of Hartford generally officiat- ing; one Episcopalian rector, however, declined the honor, stating as his reason that he knew of no form of prayer for rebellion. Plenty of them were found forty years before. A committee submitted on Dec. 20 a general project of such measures as it might be proper for the convention to deliber- ate upon. Their report was adopted, and another commit- tee was appointed to prepare a statement of the unconstitu- tional infringement by the executive government of the United States upon the rights of individual States, for pre- sentation to the legislatures represented in the assembly.
It was not until the 30th of December that this committee reported to the convention. After an extended debate, last- ing until Jan. 4, it was voted that two copies of the resolu- tions, in connection with a printed copy pertaining to the militia, with an appendix to contain any documents and articles deemed proper, should be delivered by the Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut delegations to their Governors. Copies also were authorized by the president to be forwarded by mail to the executives of New Hampshire and Vermont, to be laid before the legislatures of their respective States.
The substance of the proposed amendments to the Con- stitution of the United States was, that representation and taxation should be based on the number of free persons. This was aimed at the Southern States, whose slaves counted in three-fifth ratio as representative people. The power of Congress was to be limited; a vote of two-thirds of its mem- bers being required to admit a new State, to declare war, or to interdict commerce, except in case of an actual invasion. The nativism of the convention was exhibited by their debar-
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ring any but already naturalized citizens from eligibility to Congress, or from holding any civil office under the authority of the United States. They recommended that the presiden- tial office should be restricted to one term, and that no State should furnish two Presidents in succession. This was an attack on Virginia, whose citizens had filled the executive chair of the nation for six out of seven administrations since the formation of the federal government. There were other minor propositions: the delegates were opposed to drafts and conscriptions by the general government, and wished the States to be empowered to defend their own terri- tory from a foreign foe.
The convention adjourned sine die Jan. 5, 1815. The unpublished journals, consisting of twenty-seven written pages, accompanied by the printed reports, was placed in the custody of the president, and by him some four years later deposited in the secretary's office of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, as permanent testimony to the world that the convention meditated no treason.
It was suggested by the convention, in the event of peace not being concluded between England and the United States, and the defenses of the Eastern States being neglected, that the legislatures again appoint delegates to another con- clave, to be held at Boston on the third Thursday of the fol- lowing June. The president, Chauncey Goodrich, and Daniel Lyman, or any two of them, were empowered to reassemble the delegates, if in their judgment the situation of the country demanded it, previous to that time. The resolutions, after being discussed by the legislatures of Massachusetts and Con- necticut, were made the subject of communications to Con- gress, by commissioners appointed by these States; but the consideration of the matter was retarded, and eventually
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closed, by the signing of a treaty of peace at Ghent, which was concluded before the adjournment of the convention.
By the treaty, the two nations were left essentially in the same position as before the beginning of hostilities. Henry Clay, one of the commissioners, on the day before the final signing, remarked "'Tis a damned bad treaty and I don't know whether I will sign it or not." But it was surprisingly good when considered in the light of the actual position of the United States at the time. The very sections which had forced on the war were sick of it, and making no serious exertions to carry it on, and the military operations were dropping into sheer nothingness. Had the British govern- ment persevered a few months, it would have left us in a dreadful position; had it even stuck to its original demands for the treaty, it is hard to see what we could have done.
That the treaty was in fact a very beneficial one, despite the fact that it settled not one of the grievances for which the war was undertaken, is shown by the outburst of joy with which it was received all through the country. New Eng- land was of course the most relieved, for life could now go on again. After eight years of business prostration and wide- spread bankruptcy and distress, a new prosperity was to set in. But this very fact caused the Hartford Convention to be the political ruin of its members. Had the war continued, they would have been locally held as patriots and saviours; with the war ended, they were cast aside even by their own section as treason-mongers who had deserted their country in its sorest need. The worst interpretation was put upon their motives; and the very classes whose spokesmen they had been, would not or dared not honor them. As to the purpose of the convention, the one possible authority is its action. If any political body were judged by the wild proposals or foolish
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speeches made by its extremist members, none would have any reputation left, and most of them would seem only fit for a mad-house. The convention voiced a real grievance, which had brought its section to the brink of permanent industrial impoverishment-unfortunately the predominance of the un- commercial sections; it was one which could only be cured by dissolving the Union. That in its view a contingency was not far off when that step might be the one salvation from entire ruin, is evident enough; equally so, that it was still some distance off and things might change, and no hasty action was to be taken. That the members were as good patriots and as good citizens as those who rushed into the war and had not resolution to keep it up, is no very extravagant proposition. That the life of New England had come to seem incompatible with the life of the Union was not its fault; on the contrary, it was the fault of the very sections which were fighting it, and whose members in the early years of the Union fought and defeated its attempts to build up a strong navy, and so make the United States able to hold its own against the world.
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CHAPTER VI THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF 1817
T HE cessation of hostilities brought to Connecti- cut trials as well as blessings, while her finan- cial condition was comparatively superior to that of some of her sister States. To some classes of her community peace brought speedy ruin; with others, disaster was changed to prospective wealth. The commerce of the State sprang into active life ; on the ocean appeared the white sails of her mercantile marine service. Foreign commodities during the last year of the war had become scarce, and consequently dear; agricul- tural products, however, had reached a low point of value.
The manufacturing industries of the State, which at this period largely consisted of cotton goods, had benefited by the war, this article attracting capital on account of its remu- nerative returns; by the declaration of peace, however, they were brought into competition with English products, which was thought ruinous to these industries unless they received protection from the general government. The staple agricul- tural products on which Connecticut's prosperity largely depended were cotton and tobacco. The former rapidly advanced from ten to twenty cents a pound, thus debarring her manufacturers from competing with their foreign rivals. The latter commodity partly counteracted this misfortune, by advancing from two or three dollars to as high as twenty- five dollars per hundredweight; this increased the value of her landed property, and also advanced wages. A flow of wealth into the State, which engendered luxurious and indul- gent habits, was a resultant. Gold, silk, and wine took the place of silver, cotton, and common spirits. A desire was created for more elaborate homes, both in architecture and interior decoration and furnishings. Personal and social enjoyments become more numerous and expensive.
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In this era of prosperity, the attention of the people was recalled, by the leaders of the Republican or Democratic party to its political status. The commonwealth was desti- tute of a constitution adopted by the people. The Demo- crats, in their attack on the validity of the Royal Charter as an instrument of government, were to receive the support of a number of disaffected Federalists, who complained that the party they formerly affiliated with was dominated by leaders of the Congregational church. One of the causes of this disloyalty was the appropriating of a bonus of $50,000, received by the State for the granting of a charter to a bank in Hartford. The obtaining of the act of incorporation for this second financial institution in the capital city was bitterly opposed by the directorship of the Hartford Bank, which had enjoyed the sole privilege of carrying on the banking business in that locality for twenty-two years.
Among the petitioners for the new bank charter were some Episcopalians. The majority of the General Assembly being of the Congregationalist faith, in order to circumvent their opponents they proposed that $20,000 of the bonus should be devoted to the medical institution connected with Yale College. Of the balance, a portion was to be appropriated to the Bishop's Fund of the Episcopal Church, or used for any other purpose the General Assembly deemed best. The "Bishop's Fund" here alluded to was created in 1799, for the purpose of obtaining private subscriptions for the sup- port of the Bishop, the State having refused to appropriate any of the public funds for this purpose.
The same Assembly which granted the bank charter in 1814, while it set aside the $20,000 for Yale College, refused to make any disposition of the balance of the moneys. This enraged the Episcopalians, who claimed their portion of the
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bonus, basing this claim on the wording of the petition. These demands were disregarded by the Legislature, which did not recognize the right of petitioners to dictate the distri- bution of appropriations.
The Episcopalians, since the establishment of their academy in Cheshire, had at various times requested the Legislature to endow it; but they had been only partially suc- cessful. In 1802 a license was granted to raise $15,000 by lottery; they also desired that it should receive a charter as an Episcopal college. The General Assembly, with its Fed- eralist majority, most of whom were of the Congregational faith, with strong attachments for the institution at New Haven, did not wish to create an Episcopal rival for Yale, nor did they deem it just that money should be appropriated from the State Treasury for the maintenance of a Bishop. Thus vainly petitioning the legislature for that which they contended was their legal right, the members of the Episco- pal Church proposed to unite with the minority political party. They were joined by the Baptists and Methodists, whose numerous legislative applications for relief from the compulsory religious taxes had remained unanswered. They demanded that "legal religion" should be abolished, and "the adulterous union of Church and State forever dissolved."
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