USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 37
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" 3d. That a late act of the General Court, called and considered to be an act of oblivion respecting the county of Berkshire, be an object of your attention, and that you exert yourselves that the same may be repealed, as it was undesired by the county, and is fraught with reproach, discrimination, and such severe reflections upon the county, as they utterly disclaim, and are not chargeable with; not to mention the manifest injustice contained in it."
When the question of a convention to frame a constitution was sub- mitted to the people, Pittsfield voted unanimously that it wished not only a constitution but a bill of rights. "And that as soon as might be." Colonel William Williams was chosen the delegate to this convention. and the following were the committee of instruction: Valentine Rathbun. Thomas Allen, Eli Root, James Noble, and Lebbeus Backus. The fol- lowing was their report prepared by Mr. Allen:
" TO COLONEL WILLIAMS:
" Sir, -- As you have been duly elected by the town of Pittsfield their representa- tive to meet in a convention of this State at Cambridge, the Ist of September next, for the purpose of forming a new Constitution for the people of this State, which we view as a matter of the greatest importance to the present and future generations, it will doubtless be agreeable to you to understand their sentiments for the government of your deportment. You are therefore hereby instructed to unite with said conven- tion in drawing up a Bill of Rights and in forming a new Constitution for the people of this State. We wish you to oppose all unnecessary delay in this great work, and to proceed in it with the utmost wisdom and caution.
" In the Bill of Rights, you will endeavor that all those unalienable and import- ant rights which are essential to true liberty, and form the basis of government in a free State, shall be inserted; particularly, that this people have a right to adopt that form of government which appears to us most eligible, and best calculated to pro- mote the happiness of ourselves and posterity; that as all men by nature are free, and have no dominion one over another, and all power originates in the people, so, in a state of civil society, all power is founded in compact; that every man has an unalienable right to enjoy his own opinion in matters of religion, and to worship God in that manner that is agreeable to his own sentiments without any control whatso- ever, and that no particular mode or sect of religion ought to be established, but that every one be protected in the peaceable enjoyment of his religious persuasion and way of worship; that no min can be deprived of liberty, and subjected to per- petual bondage and servitude, unless he has forfeited his liberty as a malefactor;
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
that the people have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition for redress; that, as civil rulers derive their authority from the people, so they are accountable to them for the use of it; that elections olight to be free, equal and annual; that, as all men are equal by nature, so, when they enter into a state of civil government, they are entitled precisely to the sante rights and privileges, or to an equal degree of political happiness; that the right of trial by jury ought to be per- petual; that no man's property of right can be taken from him withon: his consent. given either in person or by his representative; that no laws are obligatory on the people, but those that have obtained a like consent, nor are such laws of any force, if, proceeding from a corrupt majority of the Legislature, they are incompatible with the fundamental principles of government, and tend to subvert it; that the freedom of speech and debates and proceedings in the House of Representatives ought not to be questioned or impeached in any court, or place out of the General Court; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and un- just punishment inflicted; that jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and all jurors ought to be freeholders. These, and all other liberties which you find essential to true liberty, you will claim, demand, and insist upon, as the birthrights of this people.
"In respect to the Constitution, you will use your best endeavors that the fol- lowing things may be inserted in it amongst others: That the election of the repre- sentative body be annual; that no representative on any occasion shall absent hin- self from said House without leave first had from said body, but shall constantly attend on the business during the sessions. All taxes shall be levied with the utmost equality on polls, faculty, and property. You may consent to government by a Gov. ernor, Council and House of Representatives. The Governor and Council shall have no negative voice upon the House of Representatives; but all disputed points shall be settled by the majority of the whole legislative body. The supreme judges of the executive courts shall be elected by the suffrages of the people at large, and be commissioned by the Governor. That all grants of money shall originate in the House of Representatives. The judges of the inaritiene courts, the attorney general. and high sheriffs of each county, are to be appointed by the suffrages of the people at large, and commissioned by the Governor. The justices of the Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the Peace in each county be elected by the suffrages of the people of said counties. That no person, unless of the Protestant religion, shall be Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or member of the Council or the House of Repre- sentatives.
" The said Bill of Rights and Constitution you will move may be printed, and sent abroad for the approbation of the people of this State at large, and that each town be requested by said convention to show their approbation or disapprobation of every paragraph in said Bill of Rights and Constitution, and that it be not sent abroad for their approbation or disapprobation in the lump; and that the objection- able parts, if any such shall be, shall be pointed out by each town.
"You are not to dissolve the convention, but to adjourn from time to time, as you shall find necessary, till said form of government is approved by the majority of the people.
"On the whole, we empower you to act agreeable to the dictates of your own judgment, after you have heard all the reasonings upon the various subjects of dis- quisition, having an invariable respect to the true liberty and real happiness of this
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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
State throughout all generations, any instructions herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
" THOMAS ALLEN, ELI ROOT, 1 Committee.
JAMES NOBLE. LEBBEUS BACKUS,
"Accepted. Attest: "ELI ROOT, Moderator."
The bill of rights and constitution prepared by this convention were established by the people in May, 1780, and the vote of Pittsfield was unanimous in its favor. It is worthy of remark that during all this con- test the tories of Pittsfield, withont exception, were in favor of abiding by the old charter, and that the ablest papers in opposition to the sup- pression of the courts were prepared by Woodbridge Little.
During the interregnum of the courts the local authorities adminis- tered justice, not perfectly, but the want of civil courts was not so se- verely felt here as it would have been if larger and more complicated mercantile interests had existed.
The committees which had been authorized and recommended by the Provincial Congress continued to exercise the functions which devolved on them prior to the interruption of the administration of justice by the courts. In addition to these many of the functions of the Court of General Sessions fell to them and, to a less extent. they interfered in civil cases which in ordinary times would have been adjudicated by the Court of Common Pleas.
In its oversight of misdemeanors and minor morals the Pittsfield Committee rule does not seem to have fallen at all short of the General Sessions and magistracy of earlier times. The town. indeed. through this and other agencies, kept rather a more stringent watch and ward than ever. both over its own citizens and the stranger that dwelt within its gates. In March, 1777. it ordered that " persons sixteen years old and over. who profaned the Sabbath day by behaving indecently in the house of God in time of public worship, or otherwise ont of doors, should be. by the tithing man, or any other informing officer finding them so doing. convented before proper authority for trial, and punishment if found guilty." Children under sixteen, offending in the same way, were to be brought into the " broad alley." and there kept until the close of divine service. In addition to this. Rev Mr. Allen was " desired by the town to speak aloud to such persons as should be found disorderly or asleep in the time of divine service on the Sabbath day, and reprimand them for the same."
The soldiers of Burgoyne's army who, when taken prisoners, were hired as laborers by the citizens, were also objects of the town's solicitude ; and in August of 1778 it was "ordered that if any of the foreign sol- diers that are among us shall, after sunset, be seen sixty rods from the houses in which they respectively dwell they shall be whipped at the discretion of the committee, and upon a repetition of the offense, be
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
committed to the common jail :" and "all innkeepers were forbidden to permit the said people to tipple in their houses, upon pain of the dis- pleasure of the town." And the displeasure of the town, as then visited upon the offender, was not lightly to be challenged.
In October, 1778, when the courts had been a second time rejected by the town, a more formal tribunal, with better defined rules of practice, was established. It had all the powers of the suspended Court of General Sessions, and Chief Justice Williams, of the old Court of Common Pleas, was placed at its head. The following is the action of the town establish- ing this provincial judiciary :
" Ist. That the Selectmen and Constables, tithingmen, and all town .officers annually chosen by towns in the month of March, shall be upheld, supported, and protected by this town in the due execution of their respective trusts as by law pre- scribed and enjoined then.
" 2d. That Colonel William Williams, Deacon Josiah Wright, Captain Eli Root, Captain William Francis and William Barber, be a committee, under oath to be administered by the town clerk, to hear and determine all breaches of peace and misdemeanors which, by the laws of this State now enacted and made cognizable by a justice of the peace, or two justices (quorum unus), or by the Court of General Ses- sions, in all those cases where an appeal was by said laws the right of the defendant in the manner hereafter mentioned, to wit: In all cases where a justice of the peace by the law had the sole and final determination of the cause, the said committee to have the same power; and, in all cases where an appeal by law was grantable, the second and final trial to be by a jury of six men, if requested by the defendant. The de- termination of said jury shall be final and conclusive; which jury shall be formed and impanelled in this manner :---
" The committee to nominate twelve men, being freeholders in this town, and the defendant twelve more; out of which number, six are to be drawn by the con- stable if present, or, in his absence, by such persons as the committee shall ap- point for the purpose. And, in case any person so nominated and drawn shall neglect or not be able to serve, the constable, or such person as shall be appointed by the committee, shall return a sufficient number of the bystanders to make up such deficiency.
" 3d. That any one of the committee be empowered to administer oaths to all witnesses who shall be called before them, in the usual form, and also to administer the following oath to the jurors who may attend upon any trial as afore mentioned, to wit :- You shall well and truly try, and true deliverance make between the people and prisoner now upon trial. So help you God.
"4th. Whereas, the case of bastardy may be considered by the committee as cognizable by them by virtue of the second resolve, and as this case is exempt and distinct from all the cases which may come before them, it is voted, that the commit - tee use their best discretion in all matters of this sort as the circumstances of the case may require.
"5th. That, in all cases where by law fines and muicts are to be inflicted for any offence, the said committee impose and order such fines to be paid, making the com- mon and usual discount betwixt money as it now passes, and as it formerly passed, or as it may be at the time of trial; and that, in all cases where imprisonment is by law the punishment to be inflicted for any offence, the committee be empowered to
1
305
TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
inflict corporeal punishment according to the nature of the offence, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes for any offence.
" 6th. That the constable or constables for the time being shall serve and ex- ecute all warrants and processes of said committee or of either of them, and make due return thereof, and observe and obey all such orders as from time to time they shall receive from the said committee.
" 7th. That the said committee have power to appoint a clerk to attend them, and keep fair records of all their proceedings.
"Sth. That all retailers of spaitous liquors and all inn-holders be approbated by the selectmen of the town and licensed by the committee, and that no persons be authorized or qualified to be retailers or inn-holder, unless so approbated and licensed.
" gth. That all fines arising in consequence of the foregoing resolves hall be paid into the treasury of the town for the use of the town.
" roth. That this town will support and uphold the committee above named in the due execution of the trust committed to them by the foregoing articles and resolves.
"11th. That when any person shall be found guilty of any offence, and shall not forthwith, after the conviction and sentence, pay the charges and costs arising upon his trial such as shall be taxed by the committee agreeable to the rule hereafter given, the constable, by virtue of a warrant from the committee for that purpose, shall take and sell at a public vendue so much of his personal effects as shall be sufi- cient to defray said costs, and costs of sale, returning the overplus, if any there be. to the defendant; and, in case the defendant hath not estate w herewith to pay and defray such costs, he shall be disposed of in service for the payment of the same.
"12th. That when it shall appear to the committee that any person commences a vexatious and malicious prosecution against another, and shall fail in supporting the same, he shall be liable to pay costs as aforesaid, and to be recovered in the manner above described.
" 13th. That the committee above named exercise the power and authority wherewith they are hereby invested until the next March meeting, or until others shall be chosen in their room.
" 14th. That three of the foregoing committee shall be a quorum, and that no defendant shall in his bill of charge, be feed for the attendance of any greater number.
"A table of costs to be taxed by the committee in such cases as may come before them :-
£.
S.
The committee each per day.
1
4
O
Warrant.
o
0 O
Summons for witnesses
3 0
Summons for jurors .
4
Clerk's attendance per dav.
1
Writ or warrant of execution
(
Constables fees .
6 3
Service of a warrant.
Sumaions.
Travel from defendant's place of abode to the place of trial, per mile. Attendance on a trial per day.
18
Constable's necessary assistants per day Jurors each per day.
18
Witnesses' travel per mile.
1
15
1
C
Attendance per dav " Accepted, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, Per Order.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
"At a legal adjourned meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Pittsfield, qualified to vote in town affairs, at the meeting house in said town, on the nineteenth day of October, 1778, the foregoing resolves were read and accepted.
"Attest:
"JOSIAH WRIGHT, Moderator. "CALEB STANLEY, Town Clerk."
There are no records of cases adjudicated by this tribunal, but a long and perplexing litigation had previously taken place before the commit- tees, with Captain Charles Goodrich, arising out of his opposition to the policy of the town in the matter of the State government. This was finally terminated on the Sth of January, 1780, to the satisfaction of all parties ; and Captain Goodrich received honorable trusts from the next and following town meetings, and lived long a respected citizen of the town. From 1781 to 1788 he was a judge of the County Court of Common Pleas. Thirty-three years after the termination, in 1778, of his political vexations, he held the plough at the first cattle show of the Berkshire Agricultural Society. In 1815 he died, at the age of ninety-six. and he lies buried in the Pittsfield Cemetery.
The history of the disturbances known as the Shays rebellion, so far as relates to Berkshire county generally, is given elsewhere. It is only necessary to speak here of those events in that insurrection that were im- mediately connected with the town of Pittsfield. At that time ( 1786) the population of the town was about 1. 100, and o. that number about 200 were voters. It is said by tradition that a majority of the inhabitants were averse to the insurrection, and the fact that a small fraction of the voters. at the close of the rebellion, were found to have been seriously implicated in it sustains the truth of this statement. though it is true that the mal- contents more than once controlled the town meetings.
The oath of allegiance, which was the condition of reenfranchisement at the close of the rebellion, was taken by only thirty-one, and some of these denied any guilty connection with the rebellion, and only eight are recorded as having " turned in their arms." There were some who were known to have been active rebels who were not rehabilitated. Probably there were some who sympathized with the rebels, but who shrank from overt acts of rebellion. None of those implicated afterward acquired much political importance, and except Major Oliver Root and Deacon Daniel Hubbard, who, with a demagogue named Gold, were delegates to the county convention, none of them had been prominent patriots during the Revolution. Colonel Joshna Danforth. John Chandler Williams. Henry Van Schaack, and others, who had recently become citizens, and Rev. Mr. Allen, Oliver Wendell, Dr. Childs, and others of longer resi- dence, were prominently active in support of law and order.
Pittsfield, at that time, had flourishing material interests, and also a strong conservative clement in its population ; but there was a large class, especially among the farmers, who were embarrassed by the financial dif-
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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
ficulties of the time, and by a succession of failures in their crops. There were many who were Inkewarm in their conservatism because of existing evils under the constitution that the Legislature had not shown a proper disposition to remedy. By the absence of this class from town meetings the open insurrectionists were able, at times, to control these meetings.
At a town meeting in September, 1786, a committee was chosen to draft instructions for the representative of the town. Dr. Timothy Childs. This committee consisted of Woodbridge Little, Joseph Fairfield. Dani -! Hubbard, Major Simon Larned, and Eli Root-two malcontents and three who are supposed to have been of opposite views. Of the seven para- graphs which they reported the following were adopted by a majority of the meeting :
"Ist. That you endeavor to obtain a suspension of the collecting of the last State tax, so far as it respects the redemption or payment of the public securities of every description or denomination, or the interest due on said securities, until some more easy and equal method of paying the same can be found and adopted. And it is the sense of your constituents, that some medium at which public securities of every kind have been sold and transferred from time to time shall be considered as the true value of the same, and that they be paid both principal and interest accord- ingly; and that the present appropriation of the impost and excise revenue be sus- pended in the meantime, if not forever.
"2d. That the courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace be abolished, and some other system instituted, calculated (if possible) to lessen the present expense of suits in law, and bring them to a more speedy decision.
"3d. That particular attention be paid to the fee-table, and that the fees of justices of the peace, attorneys-at-law, sheriffs, and all other civil officers, be so far reduced as that they shall receive merely an honest and equitable recompense for their services, and not have it in their power to evade the true meaning and intention of the legislature in their establishment of fees; and that it be an object whether a reduction of salaries in many instances is not as proper as an augmentation in any.
" 4th. That you use your influence to obtain a law that no debt shall be collected by law which shall be contracted after a certain period to be fixed by the court, and that a tender act be made to ease all debtors as much as possible without doing mani- fest injustice to creditors."
At another town meeting, held October 23d, in the same year. although malcontent delegates to a convention in Pittsfield, to be held the next month, were appointed, the resolutions adopted were more strongly conservative. In the latter part of January, 1787, when the armed rebellion was at its height, a stormy meeting was held ; but after- ward, at the town meetings, good order and sound policy were favored.
In the spring and summer of 1787 General Lincoln with a body of troops occupied Pittsfield, and the soldiers were quartiere! among the inhabitants in such manner as would cause the least inconvenience which the nature of the case admitted. The officers were assigned to the better class of houses, and were almost universally received with a cordial welcome, from which many enduring friendships arose : and
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
doubtless, although unrecorded, the same was true of intimacies formed in humbler quarters.
Commendable discipline was maintained among the military ; and the unavoidable wordy disputes between soldiers and citizens never re- sulted in serious disturbances. With a large number of young men congregated in a place which offered few legitimate channels for the relief of exuberant animal spirits, or means for dissipating the tedium of garrison life, the license of the camp sometimes assumed forms vexatious to the staid housekeeper. But the incidents related in illus- tration of these little annoyances betoken the roguish pranks of boy- ish men, and not the insolence of military hectoring.
After the close of the Shays rebellion. and the conciliation toward the State of the rebel spirit, the jealousies and divisions which had been engendered in the town continued to manifest themselves. The Rev. Mr. Allen, who had entered with his whole soul into the Revolution- ary struggle, and had taken an active part against the rebels in the Shays insurrection, had, of course, incurred the displeasure of the tories in the former struggle, and of the rebels (many of whom were the same people) in the latter. It must be remembered that at that time there was an unnatural union between church and State, and that whatever bicker- ings and contentions arose in the ecclesiastical body must necessarily affect the local politics of the town. In the case of Pittsfield the town was a single Congregational parish, that could only be divided by a spe- cial act of the Legislature. The ill feeling that had arisen in the church led, in 1788, to a proposal for a division of the parish, and at a town meet- ing in April of that year a committee was appointed to investigate the causes of the disunion, and to suggest measures for its remedy. The committee was composed of Woodbridge Little. Deacon Daniel Hubbard. Joseph Farr, Captain James Dn. Colt, Major Oliver Root. Deacon Joseph Clark, Captains David Bush, Joel Stevens, and William Francis, Enoch Haskins, and Stephen Fowler. The decisions of this committee were not satisfactory to all the discontented members of the parish, but as time wore on the discord gradually subsided, and an era of comparative good feeling was reached.
CHAPTER XIX.
TOWN OF PITTSFIELD (continued.
Pittsfield at the Beginning of the 19th Century .- War of 1512 .- Domestic and Social Life, Manners and Morals. - The Press. - Post Office.
N 1798 the Duke de la Rochefoucault de Liancourt. a French exile, 1 who had in 1795-7 traveled in the United States, spoke of Pittsfield as a small but neat town, containing several large and handsome houses of joiner's work. Of many of these houses it is proposed here to speak.
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