USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Hardwick > History of Hardwick, Massachusetts, with a genealogical register > Part 13
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1 General Court Records, xxxviii. 111. Laws of Massachusetts from July, 1775, to October, 1780, p. 142.
113
CIVIL HISTORY.
of Joseph Allen, William Paige, and David Allen, reported a remonstrance, which was adopted : -
" State of Massachusetts Bay. To the honorable the Council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled. A remonstrance and petition of the town of Hardwick, regularly assembled. Taking into consideration the late Act made for calling in all the bills of public credit of this State not on interest, so sudden, and putting them on interest (excepting those that are under a dollar), this town look upon said Act to be attended with many grievances, considering the circumstances of the pub- lic affairs at this day, which necessarily raises the public charges exceeding high, had there been no vile oppressors risen up, whose covetous and sordid measures have almost doubled the same, by which multitudes of the poorer sort of people have been and will : be reduced to poverty. (1.) To us it appears the manner of call- ing in said bills puts another great advantage into the hands of men, who of all others should be guarded against ; for these very men have taken advantage of the times, and engrossed by cruel oppression great estates, and many of them from little or nothing ; and instead of suffering by this sore expensive war, rise upon the ruins of their fellow-men. (2.) It appears to us very extraor- dinary, when the bills are emitted for various sums, promising to receive them into the treasury for the sums specified, and now declare they will not receive them, unless to the amount of ten pounds. Where then is the public faith ? (3.) We look upon it cruel and oppressive, when compared with former acts which made the money a lawful tender till the last instant, and the next day a fine to offer it ; and the possessor who is then obliged to take it is exposed to have it die in his hands. Therefore, for these and other reasons which may be given, we see no way how the greater part of the poorer sort of people will ever be able to pay their public charges. We well remember what cruel and oppressive acts has been endeavored to be enforced on the good people of these United States, by the King and Parliament of Great Britain ; but we hope and trust we never shall be oppressed in like kind by our own Legislature. Therefore we bear our tes- timony against said Act, and desire a speedy repeal thereof. As in duty bound shall ever pray."
Similar remonstrances from other towns were presented ; and the General Court yielded so far to the public demand as to. postpone the time at which bills of credit should be repudiated, if not offered in exchange for treasury notes, to April 1, and
8
114
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
again to June 1, and a third time to December 1, 1778.1 Still, the value of paper-money continued to depreciate. Once more an effort was made to check the evil, by a general establishment of prices. A convention for that purpose assembled at Concord in October, 1779, at which Timothy Paige was a delegate from Hardwick. A scale of prices was adopted, and the people were exhorted to conform to it in all their pecuniary transactions. But this experiment, like all others of the kind, proved ineffect- ual ; all whose income was a fixed sum, like the clergy, and the officers and soldiers in the army, suffered severely ; and the whole community shared in the suffering. No man knew, when he re- ceived paper-money, whether he could dispose of it at half its present rate. It depreciated so rapidly 2 that it was almost im- possible for even the imagination to keep pace with it. Some idea of the magnitude of this evil may be formed from a vote of the town, July 28, 1780: " Voted, to give to each soldier, one thousand pounds, which is esteemed equal to twelve pounds in silver money." One dollar in silver was equal in value to eighty- three dollars and thirty-three cents in paper.
During this period of sore financial distress, in addition to the unavoidable anxieties and calamities of war, an attempt was made to establish a firm and stable government, in place of that which had been violently overturned. The delegates of the sev- eral colonies agreed on articles of confederation and union, the more effectually to protect themselves against the common enemy, and submitted the same to their constituents for approval. At
1 Laws of Mass., 1775 to 1780, pp. 149, July, 169, 183.
2 The rate of depreciation is exhibited in Felt's Massachusetts Currency, p. 196.
" Massachusetts Scale of Depreciation agreeably to a Law of the State for the settling of contracts, both public and pri- vate, made on and since the first day of January, 1777 ; one hundred dollars in gold and silver in January, 1777, being equal to one hundred and five dollars in the bills of credit of the United States.
125
425
1,477
August,
150
450
1,630
September,
175
475 1,800
October,
275
500 2,030
November,
300 543 2,308
December,
310
634
2,593
" From April 1, 1780, to April 20, one Spanish milled dollar was equal to forty of the old emission.
April 25,
42
1777.
1778.
1779.
1780.
January,
105
325
742
2,934
February,
107
350
868
3,322
March,
109
375
1,000
3,736
May 27,
60
April,
112
400
1,104
4,000 May 30,
62
1781.
May,
115
400
1,125
June 10,
64
February 27, 75"
June,
1.20
400
1,342
June 15,
68
June 20, 69
April 30,
44
August 15, 70
May 5,
46
September 10,
71
---
May 10,
47
October 15,
72
May 15,
49
November 10,
73
May 20,
54
November 30,
74
115
CIVIL HISTORY.
a town-meeting, January 12, 1778, "after reading the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union of the United States of America, the town voted, unanimously, to give their Representa- tives of the Great and General Court instructions to vote to con- firm the same."
At about the same time the General Court resolved itself into a Constitutional Convention, and prepared a Constitution for Massachusetts ; this, however, did not meet the popular ap- proval, but was rejected by a decisive vote. In this town, the inhabitants met, April 6, 1778, " to hear a Constitution and Form of Government read, for the State of Massachusetts Bay, agreed upon by the Convention of the State, Feb. 28, 1778, to be laid before the several towns and plantations in said State for their approbation or disapprobation." At an adjournment of this meeting, April 20, 1778, the proposed Constitution was referred to a committee, and it was "voted to adjourn this meeting to Monday the 11th day of May next at 2 o'clock afternoon, and met accordingly, and proceeded as follows. (1.) Accepted the report of the committee by a great majority. (2.) A motion was made to have the whole Constitution put to vote, all at a lump ; 1 it was accordingly done, and passed in the negative. (3.) Voted, that the report of the Committee should be sent to the General Assembly by the Town Clerk. Nº of voters at said meet- ing, 156; Nº of voters for said Constitution, 16; Nº of voters against it, 140."
This first effort having failed, the General Court passed a Re- solve, February 19, 1779, requiring the several towns to deter- mine " whether they choose, at this time, to have a new Consti- tution or form of Government made," and " whether they will empower their Representatives for the next year to vote for the calling a State Convention, for the sole purpose of forming a new Constitution." At a town-meeting, May 11, 1779, to act on these
1 The town clerk, Sylvanus Wash- burn, often used great latitude of ex- pression in his records, of which this is one instance. Another occurs under date of March 6, 1780, when the town met " to see in what manner the town will consider a request to us presented by a respectable number of the inhabitants of this town concerning a late Tax Act of the 13th of December, 1779." " Voted to choose a Committee to draught a petition to send to the General Court, praying that the time of payment might be lengthened,
. .. and to make report to the town as soon as may be, for their acceptance." On the next day, " the above committee laid before the town a scandalous peti- tion, and it was put to vote to see if the town would accept of said petition, and it passed in the negative." To this record the clerk added a marginal note: "a ri- diculous article in the warrant, that cost the town a whole day to act upon it." Other specimens of Mr. Washburn's offi- cial humor may be found under dates of June 14, 1780, and March 5, 1787.
116
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
questions, the record is, " Nº of voters at said meeting 81, and all voted in the affirmative." A large majority of voters in the State expressed the same desire, and the General Court directed that delegates should be elected in the several towns to meet in Con- vention. This town elected William Paige, Jonathan Warner, and John Hastings. The Convention met at Cambridge, Septem- ber 1, 1779, and continued in session, by several adjournments, until March 2, 1780, when having agreed on a Constitution, it was " Resolved that this Convention be adjourned to the first Wednesday in June next, to meet at Boston." It was ordered that printed " copies of the Form of Government" be sent to every town and plantation, and " if the major part of the inhabit- ants of the said towns and plantations disapprove of any particu- lar part of the same, that they be desired to state their objections distinctly, and the reasons therefor." The selectmen were re- quested to make return of the result on the first Wednesday in June ; and it was " Resolved, that the towns and plantations through this State have a right to choose other delegates, instead of the present members, to meet in Convention on the first Wednesday in June next, if they see fit."1 The Convention re- assembled June 7, 1780, and remained in session until the 16th of the same month, when it was finally dissolved.
The town held four meetings, May 1, 8, 22, and 25, 1780, to act on the proposed Constitution. At the second meeting, it was " voted that there be no Governor appointed, by a majority of 27 against 15." At the third meeting, it was " voted, that if there be a Governor, that he be of the Christian Protestant Religion," instead of " the Christian Religion." At the fourth meeting, a committee, consisting of Joseph Allen, William Paige, Aaron Barlow, Thomas Robinson, and John Sellon, submitted a report, embracing several amendments to objectionable articles, with the reasons therefor ; which report, with the proposed amendments, was accepted by a vote of 40 against 2. Some of the objections and amendments were as follows : -
" In the Bill of Rights, Article I, page 7, objected to and amended ; it reads thus, -' All men are born free and equal, &c., amended, -' All men, whites and blacks, are born free and equal,' &c .; Reason : lest it should be misconstrued hereafter, in such a manner as to exclude blacks." 2 Article III. " Voted, That a person that does not attend the public worship of God at any
1 Journal of Convention, pp. 168, 169.
2 This question was decided by 68 yeas against 10 nays.
117
CIVIL HISTORY.
place ought not to be taxed in the place where he lives. Every other article in the Declaration of Rights approved."
Article 1, page 15, objected to, because the two branches have a negative on each other; whereas it ought to be but for a given time, and at the expiration of said time, if non-agreed, that both houses meet, and by a majority decide the controversy."
" Article 2, objected to, because the majority of the court can't make a law, without being exposed to a negative by the Gov- ernor."
The qualification of voters was objected to, " because every male, being twenty-one years of age, must have an annual in- come of three pounds, or an estate worth sixty pounds, to be qualified to vote for a senator. Reason : That every male, being twenty-one years of age, ought to vote in all cases."
The mode of filling vacancies in the senate objected to : " Rea- son : The persons having the highest number of votes in the Dis- trict ought to be the men."
The office of Governor was disapproved : " Provided, neverthe- less, that if the inhabitants of this State shall see meet to choose a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Council, they should by no means have power over the militia; but the militia shall be under the order and direction of the General Court ; and that they or either of them shall not prorogue, adjourn, nor dissolve the General Court without their request ; and that they by no means appoint any officers, either civil, judicial, or military."
It was further recommended by the committee, and the town voted its approval, to wit : --
" That the power of pardon always be in the hands of the Leg- islature :
" That the Justices of the Superior Court be appointed by the General Court :
" That the Justices of the Inferior Court be chosen by the peo- ple of their county, as the Registers now are :
" That all Justices of the Peace shall be chosen annually by the people in each town in which they dwell, by ballot :
" That the Register of Deeds for each town in this State be annually chosen by ballot :
" That the Judges of Probate for each town in this State be ' annually chosen by the people of each town, by ballot, to serve in that town only : 1
1 June 5, 1780. The town proposed a should be divided into proper districts . . . different amendment, " that each county because some counties are so large that by
118
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
" That the captains and subalterns of the militia shall be elected by written votes of the alarm list and training band of their re- spective companies, of twenty-one years of age and upwards :
" That the colonels and majors be chosen by their respective regiments, the brigadiers and brigade majors by their respective brigades, the adjutants and quarter-masters by their respective regiments, by ballot."
Acting upon the suggestion of the Convention before mentioned, the town now " voted to dismiss the former delegates to the Con- vention, and dismissed them accordingly ; and voted to choose one man to attend said Convention on the first Wednesday in June next, to be held in Boston, and made choice of Deac. Wil- liam Paige for said delegate." 1
Some of these proposed amendments were subsequently adopted, - such as universal suffrage, and election by plurality of votes. In the Declaration of Rights, the first article was interpreted to secure the freedom of the " blacks " in this State, nearly a century before universal emancipation resulted from a desperate attempt to extend and perpetuate the institution of slavery ; and the proposed amendment of the Third Article was adopted in 1833, since which time the maintenance of public worship has been voluntary, not compulsory. So far, the inhab- itants of Hardwick were somewhat in advance of the age. In some other respects, they exhibited that excessive love of liberty which is unwilling to submit to any restraint, or to give the government sufficient power to execute its proper functions. The same spirit was manifested by a majority of the people here, as in almost all the towns in the western counties of the State, during the stormy period which followed ; and in 1788 it nearly prevented the adoption by Massachusetts of the Constitution of the United States, because it was supposed to invest the general government with too much power.2
reason of time and cost in travelling and attendance in the settling of estates, wid- ows and orphans are put to great expense which might be lessened by the proposed amendment."
1 June 14, 1780. The town modified its action in regard to delegates, as quaint- ly expressed by the town clerk : " Voted, that the town does approve of Brig'r Jon- athan Warner as their delegate at the Convention ; also voted, that the Honble William Paige be considered as a member in full communion of said convention."
2 The town voted, August 21, 1820, "that it was expedient that Delegates should be chosen to meet in Convention for the purpose of revising or altering the Constitution of government of this Com- monwealth;" and on the 16th of the following October, Timothy Paige, Esq., and Dr. Joseph Stone were elected dele- gates. Four unsuccessful ballots were taken March 7, 1853, for the election of Delegates to the Constitutional Conven- tion which met in that year, and the town was not represented therein.
CHAPTER IX.
CIVIL HISTORY.
The Shays Insurrection. - Public and Private Debts Excessive. - Debtors become Desperate, and forcibly resist Payment. - Demagogues stimulate the Popular Discontent, which results in Open Rebellion. - The Town proposes a Convention at Worcester in 1782, and elects Delegates. - Con- ventions in 1786. - Grievances. - General Warner discharges one of his Aids, on Suspicion of Disloyalty : he promptly responds to the Governor's Order for the Protection of the Courts at Worcester, but is unable to rally a Sufficient Force. - The Courts prevented from sitting at Worcester and Springfield in September and again in December. - Troops raised by En- listment. - Hardwick Company. - Attack on the Arsenal at Springfield. - Defeat of Shays : he is pursued by Lincoln, in a Terrible Night's March from Hadley to Petersham, where the Insurgents are utterly routed. - Oath of Allegiance taken by many Hardwick Men. - Some of the More Active Partisans abscond. - One of the Most Prominent is arrested, con- victed of Treason, and sentenced to be hung ; but is fully pardoned, and receives Tokens of Public Approbation. - Other Pardons. - The Shays Cause Popular, having a Majority in Hardwick, and generally through- out the Western Counties ; even in the House of Representatives a Ma- jority favor it. - Its Advocates afterwards become Good Citizens, but never Friendly to a Strong Government.
THE Constitution was adopted by the requisite majority of citizens, but this did not relieve their financial distress ; on the contrary, it was aggravated by the legal machinery thus provided to enforce the payment of public and private debts which had long been held in abeyance. The result was a forcible resistance to the constituted government, which, from the name of a prom- inent leader, was called the "Shays Insurrection," or " Rebel- lion." . Its immediate cause is succinctly stated by its historian : -
" The citizens were then left free indeed, and in full possession of the valuable objects which they had fought to obtain. But the price of those objects was high, and could not but be attended with the usual consequences of great exertions, when founded on the anticipation of public resources. Their private state debt, when consolidated, amounted to upwards of 1,300,000£., besides 250,000 £., due to the officers and soldiers in their line of the
120
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
army. Their proportion of the federal debt was not less, by a moderate computation, than one million and a half of the same money.1 And in addition to this, every town was embarrassed by advances which they had made, to comply with repeated requisitions for men and supplies to support the army, and which had been done upon their own particular credit. The weight of this burden must strike us in a strong point of view, if we com- pare it with the debt before the war, which fell short of 100,000£., and with still more force, perhaps, if we consider that by the cus- tomary mode of taxation, one third part of the whole was to be paid by the ratable polls alone, which but little exceeded ninety thousand.2 True it is, that a recollection of the blessings which this debt had purchased must have operated, in the minds of a magnanimous people, to alleviate every inconvenience arising from such a cause ; but embarrassments followed which no con- siderations of that nature could be expected to obviate." 3
In this emergency, the people very naturally resorted to those agencies which proved so effectual in the Revolutionary period, - town-meetings, namely, and county conventions. These assem- blies, like those of the former period, found more and more grievances as they sought relief from the principal burden. The government removed some of these alleged grievances by legis- lative enactment, and uniformly manifested a forbearing and forgiving spirit. The public discontent, nevertheless, increased, being fomented and stimulated by political demagogues, until it culminated in absolute rebellion and resort to arms. After the rebellion was overpowered by superior military force, some of the persons who had been actively engaged in the field became fugi- tives from justice, and fled from the State ; the large majority of them received a full pardon, on surrendering their arms and taking the oath of allegiance; a small number were fined, or imprisoned, or both ; and a few of the leaders were convicted of treason and sentenced to be hung, but not one of the number was executed for the crime of treason only. I do not propose to recite all the details of this unhappy conflict ; but some of the
1 Amounting, exclusive of town and private debts, "to £3,050,000, equal to $10,166,666.
2 The whole was more than a hundred and thirteen dollars for each tax-payer, and one third was almost forty dollars for each ratable poll. In addition to this enormous public debt, a large por-
tion of the people were hopelessly in- debted to their fellow-citizens, who were becoming clamorous for payment and at- tempting to enforce it by legal process, involving heavy costs.
8 Minot's Hist. of Insurrections, etc., pp. 5, 6.
121
CIVIL HISTORY.
events, in which this town or its individual inhabitants had an active agency, should be mentioned.
The first trace of opposition to the due course of law, which appears on our records, is found under date of January 8, 1782, when, upon petition of sundry persons "with regard to the numerous law-suits that are or may be commenced,1 - fearing that the dangerous consequences thereof, unless some measures be speedily adopted to prevent it, will reduce us to poverty and distress," the town " Voted to address the General Assembly on the subject," and chose William Paige, Ebenezer Washburn, and Daniel Warner, to prepare the address. Two months later, what seems to be the initial movement for a county convention had its origin here, to wit: The town met March 4, 1782, under a warrant " to take into consideration a petition which is as fol- lows : the petitioners taking into consideration our public affairs, and the great demands from the public for money by taxation, and the multiplicity of law-suits, and a scarcity of money, which renders it entirely out of the power of the good people of this State to comply with the above demands, they therefore desire that a town-meeting be called, to consider the articles following : 1. To see if the town will choose a committee, to write circular letters to other towns in the county of Worcester, to meet in convention, in the town of Worcester, at the house of Mr. Brown, innholder in said Worcester, and choose a member or members for said convention. 2. To see if the town will petition the General Court for a redress of grievances." The town " voted to choose a committee to write circular letters to the other towns in this county, agreeable to the warrant, and made choice of Ichabod Dexter, Col. Winslow,2 and David Allen, for said com- mittee. Voted to adjourn to the 18th of March, at one o'clock afternoon, and then met and chose Capt. Ichabod Dexter, Capt. Daniel Egery, and Nathaniel Haskell, members to meet in con- vention at Worcester on the second Tuesday of April next."
Apparently in response to this invitation, " on the 14th of April of that year, the delegates of twenty-six towns of the county assembled in convention, and attributing the prevailing dissatisfaction of the people to want of confidence in the disburse-
1 This grievance increased rapidly. the general difficulties drove away pur- " In 1784, more than 2,000 actions were chasers." Lincoln's Hist. of Worcester, p. 131. entered in the County of Worcester, then having a population less than 50,000, and 2 I am unable to identify this person satisfactorily. in 1785, about 1,700. Lands and goods were seized and sacrificed on sale, when
*
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122
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
ment of the great sums of money annually assessed, recommended instructions to the representatives to require immediate settle- ment with all public officers entrusted with the funds of the Com- monwealth; and if the adjustment was delayed or refused, to withdraw from the General Court and return to their constitu- ents ; to reduce the compensation of the members of the House, and the fees of lawyers ; to procure sessions of the Court of Pro- bate in different places in the County ; the revival of confessions of debt; enlargement of the jurisdiction of justices of the peace to £20; contribution to the support of the continental army in specific articles instead of money ; and the settlement of ac- counts between the Commonwealth and Congress. At an ad- journed session, May 14, they further recommended, that account of the public expenditures should be annually rendered to the towns ; the removal of the General Court from Boston ; separa- tion of the business of the Common Pleas and Sessions, and in- quiry into the grants of lands in Maine in favor of Alexander Shepherd and others."1 The convention then adjourned until August ; and July 1, 1782, on the question " whether the town will join any further in the county convention, which now stands adjourned in the town of Worcester," it was "voted that they look upon it expedient that they join further in the abovesaid county convention." At the appointed time, however, very few delegates assembled, and the convention was dissolved without further action.
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