USA > Connecticut > Tercentenary pamphlet series, v. 3 The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Connecticut > Part 46
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In 1801, to instance one of their blunders, the Con- necticut Federalists passed the Stand-up Act, requiring a voter to stand while declaring his choice in nominating assistants. To the person whose job or credit might de- pend upon his voting according to his employer's or creditor's preference, this seemed unfair and un-Ameri- can. Again, during the War of 1812 the tactics of the Federalist party and of their supporters among the clergy of the established church caused their prestige to sink rapidly. The stigma that attached to the Hartford Convention could not be explained away.7
In the same year that the Federalists called the Hart- ford Convention, the assembly refused to grant the Episcopalians funds which they believed rightfully be- longed to them as a result of the incorporation of the Phoenix Bank of Hartford.8 The Episcopalians, who had 7See W. E. Buckley, The Hartford Convention (no. XXIV in this series).
8 See O. S. Seymour, Beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (no. XXX in this series), pp. 21 ff., and F. Parsons, History of banking in Con- necticut (no. XLII in this series), pp. 9-II.
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hitherto continued to be supporters of the Federalist party, in spite of the legislature's refusal on four oc- casions since 1802 to charter Cheshire Academy as a college, now threw their strength on the side of the Repub- licans. To weld together such diverse groups as Episcopa- lians and dissenters of all descriptions into the Toleration party was thus made the easier by Federalist blunders.
Democratic liberalism edged its way into conservative Connecticut in the face of bitter opposition, but by 1815 there were signs that Jeffersonianism was distinctly stronger than it had been a decade earlier. The movement for religious liberty strengthened the Republicans even as the surge of democracy carried the ideal of religious liberty forward. In holding forth the promise of an ex- tension of the suffrage the Toleration party posed as the champion of the common man. It could hardly be expected that a party, already suffering from its stand during the War of 1812, could hold the good will of the masses by maintaining that a voter should possess "a free-hold estate to the value of seven dollars per annum, or one hundred and thirty-four dollars personal estate in the general list," when the Republicans declared that all who paid taxes, worked on the highways, or served in the militia were entitled to the vote.
Closely tied up with political liberalism were economic conditions, the significance of which the Federalists ap- peared not to recognize. The War of 1812 and other cir- cumstances had fostered the growth of mills and factories. A considerable portion of the population of the state was becoming urban and industrial, and the laborers-poor, taxed, and without the vote-cried for tax relief and an extension of the suffrage. The Federalists did nothing; but the Republicans, the Toleration party, promised much in both respects.
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It was difficult to hope for substantial reform under the Charter of 1662, with the Federalists dominating the government and its ally, the state church. Conse- quently, the reformers, during the opening decades of the century, directed their efforts largely toward securing a new constitution for the state. In so doing they crystal- lized a sentiment widespread ever since the Revolution that the colonial charter granted by the king had outlived its usefulness, and that the state had fallen behind con- stitutional progress elsewhere throughout the country. The fiery Republican, Abraham Bishop of New Haven, had used the second election of Jefferson in 1804 as an occasion to sound the cry for a new constitution, and the Republican gains in the election of that fall, particularly in Windham county, indicated the drift of sentiment in favor of such a move. More than ten years passed before the matter again became a live issue. Then, in 1815, the attack on the charter by Judge Zephaniah Swift, hereto- fore a staunch Federalist, revived the movement. Many, like Judge Swift and Oliver Wolcott, Jr., the latter also a Federalist, felt that there was need for a clear definition of the respective powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and, finding the bulk of the Federalists hostile to change, joined the ranks of the Republicans.
The enemies of the church establishment thus had a rare opportunity to press their cause. Their votes would go to extension of the suffrage, tax reduction, and a new constitution. In return they were in a position to insist that the new order should provide for complete religious liberty. Their activities from 1800 onward had gained them the respect and loyalty of an increasing proportion of the population, thereby laying the groundwork for change. Neither the magistrates nor the people had been allowed to forget that the state-church system was a
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violation of personal liberty and a crying injustice. Every year since 1802 the Baptists had sent to the assembly a petition bearing three thousand signatures in protest against the certificate law, but it had not been received by both houses of the general assembly until 1815. The Reverend John Leland, returning from Virginia shortly after disestablishment there in 1785, had for years made his voice heard in favor of separation of church and state, and in favor of securing a new constitution. In 1803, he spoke out as the representative of forty-two Baptist clergymen, twenty licensed ministers, four thousand communicants, and twenty thousand church attendants. Two newspapers, the True republican of Norwich and the Windham herald, carried the cry for reform weekly to the doors of hundreds of homes.
The close of the War of 1812 saw the beginning of the end of the Federalist régime. In 1815, the Republicans tripled their vote of the previous year and gained twenty seats in the lower house of the general assembly. The Federalists decided that a concession was due. They promptly passed a law to do away with fines for absence from church.
The following year, the Toleration party nominated Oliver Wolcott, Jr., and Jonathan Ingersoll for governor and lieutenant-governor, respectively. Both were Feder- alists of long standing, the latter an Episcopalian. The election seated Ingersoll; Wolcott's vote was 10,170 to 11,589 for the Federalist, John Cotton Smith. Again, the Federalists thought a concession appropriate. The act of 1816 for the support of literature and religion provided that the money owed Connecticut by the federal gov- ernment for war expenses should be divided among the churches. The Congregationalists were to receive $68,000, the Episcopalians $20,000, the Baptists $18,000, and the
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Methodists $12,000. The Quakers, Universalists, and other insignificant groups were not mentioned in the distribution. If the Federalists thought that their enemies could be silenced by grants of money, they were bitterly disappointed. In 1817, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists joined in denouncing the act as a political trick to buy their approval of an unjust church establish- ment and of forced support of religion.
The pendulum swung still farther in the election of 1817, when the Republicans seated Wolcott in the gov- ernor's chair, reëlected Ingersoll, and carried the vote for members of the lower house by a majority of two to one. Forthwith, the odious Stand-up Act was repealed, though the Federalist upper house blocked all other reform measures introduced during the year. It was a battle of despair that the defenders of the Standing Order waged. It seemed that even fate was arrayed against them, for during the year death came to their leader, Timothy Dwight, who had done more than any other during the past two decades to rally together those who believed that dire social and moral consequences would follow the separation of church and state.
VII
IN the election of 1818, the Toleration party swept all before them. On August 26, the constitutional convention met at Hartford. Fearing that the Federalist delegates, who numbered ninety-five to one hundred and five Republicans, might sidetrack the issue of religious liberty, the Baptists and Methodists resolved that no proposed constitution would receive their approval unless it pro- vided unequivocally for separation of church and state. The Episcopalians were prompt to sanction their move.
The guarantees of religious liberty which the constitu-
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tion, as submitted to the voters for ratification, contained, are well known. The first article declared:
The exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever be free to all persons in this state; provided, that the right hereby declared and established shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or to justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state.
No preference shall be given by law to any christian sect or mode of worship.
Article seven amplified these provisions by stating that
... no person shall by law be compelled to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated to, any congregation, church, or religious association. ... And each and every society or de- nomination of christians in this state, shall have and enjoy the same and equal powers, rights and privileges. . . .
The vote in the convention on September 15 on the constitution as a whole was interesting in showing that a goodly proportion of the Federalists had decided to line up for its ratification. It was one hundred and thirty-four to sixty-one. The popular vote was far closer. Of the towns only fifty-nine out of one hundred and twenty voted for ratification, while the individual votes stood 13,918 in favor, to 12,364 opposed. If it had not been for the magnanimity of many Federalist members of the convention, it seems probable that the issue would have been defeated.
The fact that the strongholds of Toleration and Re- publican sentiment had been in the eastern, southern, and western portions of the state is worth comment, for it indicates the close relationship between church affilia- tions and political allegiance. Generally speaking, the towns where the Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists were strong were to be found in the column for ratifica-
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tion. Episcopalian strength lay mainly in the counties of Fairfield, New Haven, and Middlesex-the three which had the closest commercial and cultural ties with New York, where the Episcopalians were numerous. Windham and New London counties, adjacent to Baptist and Quaker Rhode Island, had long since been the scene of the Separate movement. It was there that the agitation for religious liberty under the leadership of the Baptists had made great headway. Only in Hartford, Litchfield, and Tolland counties were the Federalists able to muster sufficient Congregational votes to assure majorities against ratification. Just where the Methodists exerted the most influence it is hard to say, for their societies were scattered throughout the state.
In addition to the dissolution of the union of church and state and the breaking of the political influence of the Congregational clergy, other immediate effects of dis- establishment are worth noting. The way to social, as well as legal equality for non-Congregationalists was opened. In the schools the teaching of the catechism now became optional and discrimination against the children of non- Congregationalists began to disappear. The organization of Washington (now Trinity) College in 1823 and of Wesleyan University in 1831, by the Episcopalians and Methodists respectively, was fruit of the new order that could hardly have been hoped for under the church- state system.9
The voluntary system, however, did not lead to the decay of religion and morality or to the host of social evils which the defenders of the Standing Order had confi- dently predicted would follow its establishment. On the
9For the developments under the new constitution, see J. M. Morse, Under the Constitution of 1818: the first decade (no. XVII in this series), and J. M. Morse, The rise of liberalism in Connecticut, 1828-1850 (no. XVI in this series).
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contrary, the new freedom had the immediate result of giving religion a new lease of life and power, and it was not long before the once ardent defenders of the old order became reconciled to the new. Since 1818, there has been no serious attempt to undo the work of the constitu- tional convention as far as its enactments with regard to religion are concerned.
Bibliographical Note
FOR further reading on this subject the following books are of special value: Isaac Backus, History of New Eng- land with particular reference to the . . . Baptists (2d edi- tion, 2 vols., Newton, Massachusetts, 1871); Eben E. Beardsley, History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (2 vols., New York, 1865-68); Silas L. Blake, The Sepa- rates or strict Congregationalists of New England (Boston, 1902); Maria Louise Greene, Development of religious liberty in Connecticut (Boston, 1905); Richard J. Purcell, Connecticut in transition, 1775-1818 (Washington, 1918).
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TERCENTENARY COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
QUI
SUSTINET
TRANSTULIT
COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS
The Tercentenary Pamphlet Series and its Contributors
PUBLISHED FOR THE TERCENTENARY COMMISSION BY THE YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1936
TERCENTENARY COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS
The Tercentenary Pamphlet Series and its Contributors
T HE Tercentenary Commission of the State of Connecticut was created by special act number 58 passed by the general assembly in 1929, and the original members of the Commission were then appointed by Governor Trum- bull. On January 27, 1931, the Commission submitted a report to the general assembly which contained a series of recommendations with regard to activities which should be undertaken in connection with the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the state. The first of the recommendations read as fol- lows:
That from time to time, beginning as soon as practicable and continuing until the time of celebration, a series of pamphlets be issued relating to important events in the history of colony and state, and to the contributions which have been made by Connecti- cut, in the three hundred years of its existence, toward the welfare and progress of all peoples: and that these pamphlets, in English and in other languages, be circulated throughout our state by means of the press, and in the schools, public and private.
The general assembly of that year accepted the report, continued the Commission in existence, and made an ap-
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propriation for its work during the ensuing biennium. Similar actions were taken by the general assembly in 1933 and again in 1935. Immediately following this ac- tion the Commission appointed a Committee on Histori- cal Publications which held its first meeting on June 2, 1931, and organized with Professor Charles M. Andrews of Yale University as chairman, and Mr. Albert C. Bates of the Connecticut Historical Society as secretary. The Committee set itself promptly to the task of working out a plan for a series of pamphlet publications and of secur- ing the cooperation of suitable contributors. Contracts were entered into with the Yale University Press for both the printing and publication of the series. The Commis- sion and the Committee wish to extend grateful acknowl- edgment to the officers and staff of the Press for their helpful cooperation. Pamphlets numbered I to XXI were completed and issued under the editorship of Professor Andrews in the spring and summer of 1933. In June, 1933, Professor Andrews retired from the chairmanship of the Committee and Professor George M. Dutcher of Wesleyan University was chosen to act in his stead. Un- der his editorship numbers XXII to XXXIII were pub- lished in 1934, numbers XXXIV to XLVII in 1935, and the series is being completed in the opening months of 1936 with the appearance of numbers XLVIII to LX.
The series as completed does not provide an entire his- tory of Connecticut but does include contributions to nearly every period and aspect of its history. It has been the purpose of the Committee to avoid purely local, biographical, or genealogical materials and to confine the series to topics of a general character illustrative of the development of the colony and state as a whole. In a few cases important historical documents have been re- printed or an earlier publication reissued. For most of the
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pamphlets, however, the Committee has been very for- tunate in securing the cooperation of competent individ- uals who have generously contributed their manuscripts without compensation. To each contributor and to others who have rendered assistance the Commission and the Committee express their grateful appreciation.
By action of the general assembly of 1935 the Tercen- tenary Commission was continued in existence until June 30, 1936, at which date all activities under its direc- tion and all appropriations for its expenses will cease. In view of these circumstances the general assembly passed another act dealing specifically with the problem of the pamphlet series. In accordance with this act, after June 30, 1936, the State Library Committee will consider the proper methods for complying with the provisions of the act which reads as follows:
AN ACT CONCERNING CERTAIN CONTRACTS OF THE STATE TER- CENTENARY COMMISSION WITH THE YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
SECTION I. After the state tercentenary commission shall cease to exist, the contracts entered into by it with the Yale University Press for the printing, publication and distribution of a series of tercentenary historical publications shall be continued in force by the substitution of the state library committee for the state ter- centenary commission in each of said contracts, and the state library committee shall have all the powers and obligations theretofore pertaining to the state tercentenary commission under said con- tracts, which shall thenceforth be valid and binding as between the state library committee and the Yale University Press.
SEC. 2. The state library committee shall be empowered to re- ceive all royalties or other moneys payable under said contracts, and is directed and empowered to use and expend any moneys so received for carrying out the purposes of said contracts in printing, publishing and distributing the series of tercentenary historical publications, by issuing reprints or new editions of publications already issued or by issuing similar additional publications in the series. The state library committee is authorized to receive, use and
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disburse any moneys which may be appropriated to it for said pur- poses or to use for said purposes any moneys appropriated to it for "books, pamphlets and documents."
SEC. 3. The historian of the tercentenary commission shall, after said commission shall cease to exist, serve under direction of the state library committee as state historian for the purpose of carry- ing out the contracts with the Yale University Press and the pro- visions of this act. The state library committee may also request and authorize the state historian to furnish it with such advice, assistance or service as an historical expert as it may find necessary or expedient. In case of the death, resignation, removal or inca- pacity of the said historian, the state library committee is empowered and directed to appoint a competent historical scholar in his stead. The tenure of the said state historian shall be at the discretion of the state library committee, and he shall serve without salary or compensation from the state, except for necessary expenses ap- proved by the state library committee and payable out of funds at its disposal.
!
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THE PAMPHLET SERIES
I. Connecticut and the British Government, by C. M. ANDREWS. 36 pp. · 25c.
II. The Connecticut Intestacy Law, by C. M. AN- DREWS. 32 pp. . 25c.
III. The Charter of Connecticut, 1662, by C. M. AN- DREWS and A. C. BATES. 24 pp. . 25c.
IV. Thomas Hooker, by W. S. ARCHIBALD. 20 pp. 25c.
V. The Story of the War with the Pequots Re-Told, by H. BRADSTREET. 32 pp. Illustrated. . 25c.
VI. The Settlement of the Connecticut Towns, by D. DEMING. 80 pp. Illustrated. . 75c. ·
VII. The Settlement of Litchfield County, by D. DEM- ING. 16 pp. 25c.
VIII. George Washington and Connecticut in War and Peace, by G. M. DUTCHER. 36 pp. Illustrated. . 25c. IX. The Discoverer of Anaesthesia: Dr. Horace Wells of Hartford, by H. W. ERVING. 16 pp. Illus- trated.
25c.
X. Connecticut Taxation, 1750-1775, by L. H. GIP- SON. 44 pp. 25c.
XI. Boundaries of Connecticut, by R. M. HOOKER. 38 pp. Illustrated. 25c. XII. Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut, by J. F. KELLY. 32 pp. 25c.
XIII. Milford, Connecticut: The Early Development of a Town as Shown in Its Land Records, by L. W. LABAREE. 32 pp. Illustrated. .
25c.
XIV. Roads and Road-Making in Colonial Connecti- cut, by I. S. MITCHELL. 32 pp. Illustrated. . 25c. . XV. Hitchcock Chairs, by M. R. MOORE. 16 pp. Illus- trated. . 25c.
XVI. The Rise of Liberalism in Connecticut, 1828-1850, by J. M. MORSE. 48 pp. 50c.
XVII. Under the Constitution of 1818 : The First Decade, by J. M. MORSE. 24 pp. 25c.
XVIII. The New England Meeting House, by N. PORTER. XIX. The Indians of Connecticut, by M. SPIESS. 36 pp. 25c. 36 pp. . 25℃. . XX. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, by G. M. DUTCHER and A. C. BATES. 20 pp. Illus- trated. . 5ºc.
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XXI. The Litchfield Law School, 1775-1833, by S. H. FISHER. 32 pp. 25c. XXII. The Hartford Chest, by H. W. ERVING. 16 pp. Illustrated. 25c. XXIII. Early Clockmaking in Connecticut, by P. R. HOOPES. 32 pp.
25℃. XXIV. The Hartford Convention, by W. E. BUCKLEY. 32 pp. · 25c. XXV. The Spanish Ship Case: A Troublesome Episode for Connecticut, 1752-1758, by R. M. HOOKER. 34 pp. 25c.
XXVI. The Great Awakening and Other Revivals in the Religious Life of Connecticut, by M. H. MITCH- ELL. 64 pp. 50c.
XXVII. Music Vale Seminary, 1835-1876, by F. H. JOHNSON. 24 pp. Illustrated. · 25c.
XXVIII. Migrations from Connecticut Prior to 1800, by L. K. M. ROSENBERRY. 36 pp. · 25c.
. XXIX. Connecticut's Tercentenary: A Retrospect of Three Centuries of, Self-Government and Steady Habits, by G. M. DUTCHER. 32 pp. . . XXX. The Beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Con- necticut, by O. S. SEYMOUR. 32 pp. . .
25c.
25c. XXXI. The Loyalists of Connecticut, by EPAPHRODITUS PECK. 32 pp.
25c.
XXXII. The Beginnings of Connecticut, 1632-1662, by C. M. ANDREWS. 84 pp. . .
XXXIII. Connecticut Inventors, by J. W. ROE. 32 pp.
75c. 25c.
XXXIV. The Susquehannah Company: Connecticut's Ex- periment in Expansion, by J. P. BOYD. 48 pp. . 5ºc. XXXV. The Regicides in Connecticut, by L. A. WELLES. 32 pp. 25c.
XXXVI. Connecticut Newspapers in the Eighteenth Cen- tury, by J. M. MORSE. 32 pp. 25c. 25c.
XXXVII. Slavery in Connecticut, by R. F. WELD. 32 pp. XXXVIII. Farmington, One of the Mother Towns of Con- necticut, by QUINCY BLAKELY. 32 pp. Illus- trated. 25c.
XXXIX. Yale Law School: The Founders and the Founders' Collection, by F. C. HICKS. 48 pp. Illustrated. . 50c. XL. Agricultural Economy and the Population in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut, by A. L. OLSON. 32 pp. · 25c.
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XLI. The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Con- necticut, by A. F. MUNICH. 32 pp. 25c. XLII. A History of Banking in Connecticut, by FRANCIS PARSONS. 32 pp.
25c. XLIII. The History of Insurance in Connecticut, by A. A. WELCH. 36 pp. 25c.
XLIV. The Rise of Manufacturing in Connecticut, 1820-1850, by CLIVE DAY. 32 pp. 25c. XLV. The First Twenty Years of Railroads in Connecti- cut, by SIDNEY WITHINGTON. 32 pp. Illustrated. 25c. XLVI. Forty YearsofHighway Development in Connecti- cut, 1895-1935, by the STAFF OF THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT. 20 pp. Map. 25c. XLVII. A Lawyer of Kent: Barzillai Slosson and His Ac- count Books, 1794-1812, by MABEL SEYMOUR. 36 pp. 25c.
XLVIII. The Rise and Fall of the New Haven Colony, by C. M. ANDREWS. 56 pp. 50c.
XLIX. The Development of the Brass Industry in Con- necticut, by W. G. LATHROP. 32 pp. ·
25c.
. L. The Colonial Trade of Connecticut, by R. M. HOOKER. 44 pp. . 50c.
LI. The Literature of Connecticut, by S. T. WILLIAMS. 24 pp. 25c.
LII. The History of Tobacco Production in Connecti- cut, by A. F. McDONALD. 32 pp. 25c.
LIII. Connecticut's Contribution to the Development of the Steamboat, by P. R. HOOPES. 32 pp. . 25c. LIV. Migrations from Connecticut after 1800, by L. K. M. ROSENBERRY. 32 pp. 25 c.
LV. Educational Problems at Yale College in the Eight- eenth Century, by ALEXANDER COWIE. 32 pp. 25 c. LVI. The Clergy of Connecticut in Revolutionary Days, by A. M. BALDWIN. 32 pp. 25c. .
LVII. Charities and Corrections in Connecticut, by W. W. T. SQUIRE. 32 pp. 25c. LVIII. Connecticut Influences in Western Massachusetts and Vermont, by R. L. MORROW. 24.pp. 25c.
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