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NOTES-CHAPTER XIX
1 Percy Wells Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nine- teenth Century," Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. XX, April, 1916, pp. 268-69; Edward H. Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. II, pp. 348-50.
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2 Ibid., p. 346; Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 218-19.
3 Ibid., p. 219.
4 Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., History of Conn., Vol. II, pp. 347-50; Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England," pp. 354-61.
5 Ibid., pp. 331-33; Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., Hist. of Conn., PP. 385-88.
6 Ibid., pp. 414-18; Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England," pp. 333-34.
7 Ibid., pp. 340-42; Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. II, pp. 400-402.
8 Ibid., pp. 391-98; Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England," pp. 336-38.
9 Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. II, PP. 412-13.
10 Ibid., pp. 406-407.
11 Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England," p. 334.
12 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 220, 230.
13 Ibid., pp. 229-30; Jenkins, "Connecticut Agriculture," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. II, pp. 365, 372.
14 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 223-25.
15 Ibid., pp. 223-27.
16 Ibid., p. 228.
17 Ibid., pp. 227-29.
18 Ibid., p. 230.
19 Grace Pierpont Fuller, An Introduction to the History of Connecticut as a Manufac- turing State (Smith College Studies, Vol. I) (Northampton, 1915), pp. 3-25, 44-50.
20 Constance McL. Green, History of Naugatuck (New Haven, 1948), pp. 49-61.
21 Constance Green, Naugatuck, p. 51; Felicia Johnson Deyrup, Arms Makers of the Connecticut Valley, A Regional Study of the Small Arms Industry, 1798-1870, (Smith College Studies in History, Vol. XXXIII), (Northampton, 1948), pp. 71-81; George B. Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, p. 403; Herbert C. Keith and Charles Rufus Harte, "The Early Iron In- dustry of Connecticut," Fifty-first Annual Report of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, (New Haven, 1935), pp. 3-69.
22 Jeannette Mirsky and Allan Nevins, The World of Eli Whitney (New York, 1952), pp. 128-46, 186; Constance McL. Green, Eli Whitney and the Birth of American Technology (Boston, 1956), pp. 63-118.
23 Mirsky and Nevins, World of Eli Whitney, p. 202.
24 Ibid., p. 201.
25 Constance Green, Whitney, p. 139.
26 Mirsky and Nevins, World of Eli Whitney, p. 177.
27 Constance Green, Whitney, p. 123.
28 Ibid., pp. 137-39; Mirsky and Nevins, World of Eli Whitney, pp. 177-89. 29 Ibid., p. 177.
30 Ibid.
31 Charles H. Fitch, "Report on the Manufacturing of Interchangeable Mechanisms," Tenth Census of the United States, Vol. II, pp. 2-3.
32 Ibid., p. 3.
33 Ibid.
34 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, p. 29. 35 Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, pp. 135-36.
36 Deyrup, Arms Makers, pp. 47-48.
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THE INGENIOUS YANKEE
37 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 19-23; Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, pp. 135-36.
38 Clark, History of Manufactures, Vol. I, pp. 296-97.
39 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, p. 95. 40 Constance Green, Naugatuck, pp. 52-53; Fuller, Connecticut as a Manufacturing State, p. 12.
41 Deyrup, Arms Makers, p. 49; Constance Green, Naugatuck, pp. 49-54.
42 Ibid., pp. 51-55; Shephard, Pedlars Progress, pp. 46-72; Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 92-97.
43 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 251-53; Shephard, Pedlars Progress, p. 63.
44 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 260-61.
45 Ibid., pp. 60-65.
46 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 237.
47 Deyrup, Arms Makers, pp. 146-59.
48 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 60-65.
49 Ibid., pp. 33-38.
50 Deyrup, Arms Makers, p. 55.
51 Clark, History of Manufactures, Vol. I, pp. 466-67.
52 Constance Green, Eli Whitney, p. 99; Deyrup, Arms Makers, pp. 45-54.
53 Ibid., p. 47.
54 Ibid.
55 Morse, Neglected Period, p. 242.
56 Deyrup, Arms Makers, p. 99.
57 Clark, History of Manufactures, Vol. I, p. 429; Fuller, Connecticut as a Manufacturing State, p. 13.
58 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, p. 205.
59 Fuller, Connecticut as a Manufacturing State, p. 44.
60 Daniel F. Tyler, Statistics of the Condition and Products of Certain Branches of In- dustry in Connecticut for the Year Ending October 1845 (Hartford, 1846), pp. 193-230.
61 Ibid., pp. 193-99.
62 Fifty per cent of the total production in an industry has been arbitrarily chosen as the point indicating that concentration existed, i.e., if a county or any two counties pro- duced materials valued at at least 50 per cent of the total production of that class of products, this manufacture is said to have been concentrated there.
63 Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, p. 199; Chandler, "Industrial History," in Os- born, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 241-52.
64 Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, pp. 198, 207-208.
65 Ibid., pp. 198, 207.
66 Clark, History of Manufactures, Vol. I, p. 524.
67 Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, pp. 202-203.
68 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 97-102.
69 Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, pp. 200-203.
70 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, p. 64. 71 Ibid., pp. 295-302; Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, p. 210.
72 Ibid., p. 211; Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 203-205.
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73 Ibid., pp. 171-78; Deyrup, Arms Makers, pp. 43-45; Tyler, Industry in Connecticut, 1845, p. 213.
74 Chandler, "Industrial History," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 154-61.
75 Ibid., pp. 224-29.
76 Ibid., pp. 224-33.
77 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 245-56.
78 Ibid., p. 247.
79 Ibid., pp. 248-51.
80 Ibid., pp. 257-58.
81 Deyrup, Arms Makers, p. 68.
82 William A. Countryman, "Transportation," in Osborn, ed., History of Connecticut, Vol. IV, pp. 457-59.
83 Ibid., pp. 463-67.
84 In addition to the canal proposed at Farmington, the Quinebaug, Ousatonic, Sharon, Saugatuck, New Milford, and Enfield canals were suggested. Only the last, which was important as a passage around rapids, was completed. Curtis Rufus Harte, "Connecticut Canals," Fifty-fourth Annual Report of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, Inc., pp. 53-64.
85 Ibid., pp. 3-13.
86 Ibid., pp. 13-35.
87 Ibid.
88 Sidney Withington, "The First Twenty Years of Railroads in Connecticut," Tercen- tenary Commission of the State of Connecticut (New Haven, n.d.), p. 2.
89 Ibid., pp. 2-4; Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 270-71; Alvin F. Harlow, Steelways of New England (New York, 1946), pp. 170-72.
90 Ibid., pp. 173-80; Withington, "The First Twenty Years of Railroads in Connecticut," PP. 5-6.
91 Ibid., pp. 6-12.
92 Ibid., pp. 21-22; Harlow, Steelways of New England, pp. 180-81.
93 George Pierce Baker, The Formation of the New England Railroad Systems (Cam- bridge, 1937), p. 70.
94 Ibid., pp. 71-76; Harlow, Steelways of New England, pp. 181-82.
95 Ibid., pp. 186-89; Baker, The Formation of the New England Railroad Systems, pp. 75-80.
96 Ibid., pp. 45-70; Withington, "The First Twenty Years of Railroads in Connecticut," pp. 25-28.
97 Ibid., pp. 27-29; Harlow, Steelways of New England, pp. 184-86.
98 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 274-79.
99 Ibid., p. 280.
100 Parsons, "Banking in Connecticut," pp. 15-16.
101 Morse, Neglected Period, pp. 78-79.
102 Ibid., pp. 280-81.
103 Ibid., p. 281; Parsons, "Banking in Connecticut," pp. 6-8.
Chapter XX Social Changes, Early Nineteenth Century
T HE POLITICAL and intellectual changes of the first half of the nineteenth century reflected the need for social improve- ments and provided a basis for the furthering of limited hu- manitarian reforms. These emanated in part from the emerging indus- trialization and urbanization; in part from a qualified belief in the per- fectibility of man; in part from the enthusiasm engendered by evangeli- cal protestantism, for which a basis had been laid by the moral crusade which characterized the Second Great Awakening.
In 1819, the first of a series of revivals was stimulated by fear that the separation of church and state would have a deleterious effect upon the religious life of Connecticut citizens.1 Lyman Beecher traveled throughout the state exhorting his audiences to stand fast by religion. The response was extraordinary, and, in the minds of some, it revived memories of the Great Awakening of the former century.2 Lyman Beecher likened it to a flood and asserted that a new day was breaking upon Connecticut.3 The hostility against Congregationalists subsided after they were stripped of their worldly privileges and political in- fluence by the Constitution of 1818. The clergymen, shortly thereafter, withdrew from politics and devoted themselves to a greater extent to the relation of God and man.4 This was reflected in the Sunday service, where increased emphasis was given to the social aspects of society. Min- isters tended to exhibit a broader and more sympathetic outlook upon life. Their sermons dealt more frequently with everyday problems and less often constituted long discourses on theology. Also, the ministers directed more attention to young people.5
A schism developed when one of the evangelical preachers,
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
Nathaniel Taylor, a student of Timothy Dwight and a Professor of Didactic Philosophy at the Yale Divinity School, found the theology of his day too narrow. He believed that freedom of will was more than an illusion: that it was a power to choose between motives. He believed that one might lose his guarantee of future happi- ness through a lapse of righteousness, even after his election.6 This, Bennet Tyler maintained, was a surrender of the Christian posi- tion. Tyler, a representative of the "Old School Calvinists," met with forty ministers at East Windsor on September 10, 1833. Here plans were drawn for the establishment of a theological seminary to counter the forces of liberalism which the group believed to be under- mining the church. The cornerstone of the Connecticut Theological Seminary, later known as the Hartford Theological Seminary, was laid in May 1834, and later Bennet Tyler was inducted as President and Professor of Christian Theology. Leonard Bacon sought to minimize the differences and to retain the prestige of Congregationalism through a vigorous appeal to heal the schism. However great the differences seemed to the disputants, both groups were dedicated to a defense of Calvinism and were seeking to strengthen the Congregational Church.7
The religion which subsequently most successfully challenged Con- gregationalism established its first church in Hartford in 1829. Until then, the Catholics of Connecticut had received their ministrations through visitations of missionaries or church officials from Boston or New York. Concurrent with the establishment of the first Catholic Church in Hartford, the Catholic Press was also established.8 These events stimulated opposition to "the Papists" by the religious papers of the state spearheaded by The Protestant.ยบ Sister Maria Renata Daily, in a study of "The Connecticut Mind and Catholicism," concludes that anti-catholic feeling was increased by the news of the Catholic emanci- pation in England in 1829, the burning of the Ursuline Convent in Boston in 1834, and the circulation in that year of Samuel B. Smith's "The Downfall of Babylon, or the Triumph of Truth over Popery," and that the religious disturbances occasioned by the coming of the Catholics did not cease during the period before 1850.10 The same source indicates, however, that the state remained comparatively aloof from foreigners and Catholicism as political issues. Only in 1844, ap-
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(Courtesy New Haven Chamber of Commerce)
NEW HAVEN
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
parently, was nativism a significant issue in an election.11 During this period Catholicism spread through the state, establishing a church in New Haven in 1833, in Bridgeport in 1843, and erecting a separate diocese for Connecticut and Rhode Island in the latter year.12 During the first half of the century, the Church was concerned primarily with defining parishes, erecting chapels, organizing churches, and initiating a school system.13
The Congregationalists were concentrating their efforts against the Unitarians, whose belief in the essential dignity and worth of man was contrary to the orthodox Congregational opinion that man was naturally depraved and necessarily sinful unless regenerated by the holy spirit.14 Lyman Beecher travelled throughout the state denouncing the heretical view that man is capable of indefinite good and deserves to be honored. The Unitarians, never strong in the state, were checked within a short time.15
Other sects, which differed from the Congregationalists on church polity, were in accord in their basic social attitudes and did little to dis- turb the conservative course of society. After the Episcopalians achieved status through the constitution of 1818, they did little for the improve- ment of society other than establish Washington College. They, with the Presbyterians, were content to enjoy their own security and joined with the Congregationalists as the guardians of respectability.16 These conservatives regarded the other sects as radical religious groups. Yet, if these were judged as social forces, there was little to justify the fear.17 The rituals of other sects and their ministers' lack of training had led to the assumption that radicalism would exist. When they had at first come into the state, the Baptists and Methodists were generally identi- fied as dissenters with "loose and ungodly deportment," and this view persisted into the nineteenth century.18 The camp meetings of the Methodists, the public emersions of the Baptists, and the emotionalism accompanying both aroused the suspicions of the more sedate Calvin- ists. The Baptists did not appear to be very concerned about the educa- tion of their ministers. They did not establish any institution com- parable to Wesleyan, but they did establish, in 1835, the Connecticut Literary Society which was intended as a school for students too poor to attend college. As institutions, both of the sects were poor and their
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SOCIAL CHANGES, EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY
membership was generally from the less affluent of society, but both groups were pillars against immorality.19
Congregationalism remained the dominant religion throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Their 35,000 communicants, it is estimated, equalled the numbers of Baptists and Methodists combined. The Congregationalists were not only dominant in number, but also in the influence they exercised. They set the tone for Connecticut society. As they countered the influences of other sects, they not only remained stalwart defenders of Calvinism, but established the permissible limits of social reform.
Congregational ministers, at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury, had sought to combat indifference to religion through organiza- tions established to combat immorality. The Moral Society of Yale Col- lege lasted from 1797 until 1828, when it became the Moral and Theo- logical Society. Until 1828, it concerned itself with the morality of the university students and at its monthly meetings, disputed such ques- tions as: "Ought Infidels be excluded from public office," "Whether Theaters are beneficial," "Is dancing an innocent amusement," and "Is it expedient to form a national society for the suppression of in- temperance."20 The Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Good Morals, established in May, 1813, attracted some of the leading citizens of the state and grew to include 2,000 members in 30 auxiliary branches. By 1818, there were only the remnants of the once flourishing society. During its existence, it attempted to discourage profane swear- ing, the abuse of the sabbath and intemperance.21
The religious minorities, to varying degrees, joined the Congrega- tionalists in the crusade against immorality, and as militant defenders of supernatural religion. All had deplored the decline of an interest in religion and had raised their voices in protest against infidels, deists, and rationalists. The purpose of their revivals and camp meetings paralleled that of the Congregational Awakening. The Methodists and Episcopalians did not join in the missionary effort as did the Baptists. The Episcopalians directed their energies toward the establishment of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire and Washington College. The Methodists, too, devoted some of their effort to the establishment of a college. As has been suggested, they were evangelical by nature, and
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
there was no clear demarcation between missions and evangelism. The Baptists matched the Congregationalists in their zeal to establish mis- sions, although their success was limited by their finances and their numbers. It is estimated that there were 9,200 Baptists in the state by 1830, while the Episcopalians were reported to number 4,000 in 1824, and the Methodists, who had a membership of 5,000 in 1821, were gaining in strength by 1830.22 The Episcopalians appear to have re- mained aloof or to be divided upon the question of temperance, but the Baptists and Methodists joined with the Congregationalists in the campaign against ardent spirits.23
The use of spirits was universally considered a panacea in the early years of the nineteenth century: "Good in heat and cold, in weari- ness and painfulness, when sick and when exposed to sickness. . . . It helped the lawyer plead, the minister preach, and the physician go his rounds of duty."24 The convivial cup was in evidence at business, social, and religious occasions alike. The wearisome traveler was offered a potion as a matter of courtesy. Even among those who accepted the custom, there were those who deplored the practice. A minister of East Hartford offered refreshments by the invitation: "Brethren, here is rum, gin, brandy, laudanum,-all poison. Help yourself!"25 The move for reform was begun by religious leaders.26
The General Association of Congregational Churches made the first organized effort in 1812 to discourage intemperance. Previously, individual ministers, such as, Heman Humphrey of Fairfield, Roswell Swan of Norwalk, Calvin Chapin of Rocky Hill, and Lyman Beecher of Litchfield had preached against the use of strong spirits.27 At a meeting of the General Association of the Congregational Churches in Sharon in 1812, a committee reported that "intemperance had been increasing . . . in a most alarming manner; but that after the most faithful and prayerful inquiry, they were obliged to confess they did not perceive that anything could be done." The Association would not dismiss the subject so handily and endorsed calling upon church members, farmers, mechanics, and manufacturers to abstain from the use of strong drink, upon parents to inform children of its injurious effects, upon ministers to preach against the evil, and for the distribution of literature on its harmful effects.28 Although Timothy Dwight was apprehensive about
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SOCIAL CHANGES, EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY
the success of the appeal, county associations quickly adopted the pro- posals and, in 1813, the Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Good Morals adopted the fight against intemperance as one of its objectives.29
In the next decade, there was progress made toward changing the
ABINGTON 1885 PUBLIC LIBRARY
(Courtesy Conn. State Lib.)
ABINGTON-PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILT IN 1885. A TWO ROOM BUILDING, ONE USED FOR LIBRARY AND ONE FOR SCHOOL
drinking habits of Connecticut citizens, especially among the ministers and church members. Strong drink was abolished from ministerial meetings and church functions. The Reverend Joseph Harvey reported in 1815, that intemperance had "received a mortal wound." It was be- lieved by others that taverns were visited less frequently and that there were, perhaps, less habitual drunkards.30 There was a certain dichotomy between principle and practice, however, and Thomas Robbins, a Con-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
gregational divine who advocated temperance, recorded in his diary on January 23, 1821, that he received a barrel of cider brandy for which he paid thirty cents a gallon. That the Moral Societies reflected the thinking of only a small segment of the population is suggested by the fact that 230 distilleries were reported to exist in 1819 and over 380 in 1820. The General Assembly refused in 1821 and in 1823 to enact laws to remove the sale of liquor from strictly local control.31
The failure to gain legal controls and the failure of the plea for temperate drinking to attract large numbers of the population caused temperance leaders to take a more militant stand and to call for total abstinence. When the Morals Societies disintegrated, ecclesiastical or- ganizations kept the temperance idea alive and Congregational min- isters provided the transition from earlier efforts to the new attempts. Again, Lyman Beecher sounded the call for action in a series of six sermons delivered in Litchfield in 1826.32
"Talk not of habit, and of prudent use, and a little for the stomach's sake," Beecher pleaded and demanded immediate and entire absti- nence. Intemperance was portrayed as a sin, a disease, and a crime. "Of all the ways to Hell, which the feet of deluded mortals tread, that of the intemperate is the most dreary and terrific."33 The excessive use of drink, Beecher pointed out, not only impaired the health of the indi- vidual and well being of the community, but was a threat to the na- tional conscience, patriotism, and military prowess. In six persuasive sermons, Beecher outlined the nature, signs, evils, and remedy of in- temperance. Respect for property, however, dissuaded him from direct- ing his attack toward the distillers or those who trafficked in the spirits.34 "To insist that men, whose capital is embarked in the production, or vending of ardent spirits, shall manifest the entire magnanimity .. . is more than we have the right to expect or demand," asserted Beecher.35 Nor did Beecher believe that there was an immediate hope of curing the evil of drink through legislation. The core of his recom- mendation was the creation of "a correct and efficient public sentiment; such as has turned slavery out of half of our land, and will yet expel it from the world."
When Beecher went to Boston, the burden of keeping the temper- ance movement alive fell to the capable Calvin Chapin of Rocky Hill
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and to Nathaniel Hewitt of Fairfield. They were assisted by Samuel J. May of Windham County and by the personal influence of President Day of Yale.37 The American Society for Temperance was formed in Boston in February in 1826 and a year later Yale students followed the admonition of the Religious Intelligencier and agreed to do everything possible to further temperance. The Medical Society and the Mechanics Society of New Haven fell in line, and in September, 1827, a Young Men's Temperance Society was formed in Hartford. County and local temperance groups sprang into being and provided the enthusiasm out of which the Connecticut Temperance Society was formed in May, 1829. Within a year, 172 auxiliaries had been organized with an es- timated membership of 22,000. It was reported that the State Treasurer collected $1,000 less for licenses in 1829 than in the previous year. It was reported, too, that laborers in the stone quarries along the Connect- icut River and on the wharfs and fish piers were abstaining from the use of liquors. Each annual report of the Temperance Society listed an additional number of members.38
All the efforts of the increased number of members were insuffi- cient to achieve stringent liquor legislation until 1850. An act of 1823, which permitted town magistrates to instruct retailers to cease the sale of liquor to habitual imbibers in danger of pauperism was repealed in 1832. As a substitute, an attempt was made to prevent the sale of liquor in quantities of less than ten gallons, except on special license from town authorities. This attempt to force saloons to close and drinkers to imbibe at home was watered down in the next session of the legislature by permitting those who failed to get a license to petition the county court for relief. An attempt to permit individual towns to adopt their own restrictions, which would have resulted in stricter control in tem- perance centers, failed of passage in 1835. In 1836, a law prohibiting judges and justices of the peace from becoming tavern owners was re- pealed. Petitions for action and dissertations on the evils of drink con- tinued to pour upon the legislators.39
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