USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
This is a brave document, and shows how much real statesman- ship existed among the people at this crisis. The citizens of Newton were also ready to march to the field in defence of the constituted government. For in January, 1787, two meetings were held with reference to the existing exigency, at which a bounty was offered by the town to every soldier enlisting for the
393
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS.
requisite term of duty,- the bounty to be paid to the volunteers before they should be required to march.
The patriotic spirit of Newton did not die out, when the occa- sion which had called it forth was withdrawn. It was an ever living impulse, ready, as soon as any new emergency arose, to flame forth afresh. Thus we find under date of May 14, 1798, the following action of the town :
At a general meeting of the freeholders, after the envoys of the United States had been denied a hearing by the government of France, the following resolutions were adopted :
1. That the wisdom and justice of our National Government, in their past efforts to preserve the neutrality and independence of the United States of America meet our warmest approbation.
2. That, whereas the citizens of this town did at the memorable era when the great question of independence was decided by the American people, unanimously pledge their lives and fortunes to support the absolute sovereignty thereof, they now respect the solemn pledge, and will exert every power they possess to support the Constitution and the Government against the claims and aggressions of any foreign power, and all open and secret enemies to the Government and people of these United States.
CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The people of Newton, before the termination of the Revolu- tionary war, interested themselves, as constituent members of a free Commonwealth, in the forming of a Constitution for the State. A State Convention, assembled for this purpose, agreed upon a form of a Constitution on the 28th of February, 1778. It is interest- ing to see what was the fate of this Constitution, when submitted to the critical examination of the citizens of Newton. On the 18th of May, 1778, a Committee of Nine was appointed " to report to the town their opinion of said Constitution." An adjourned meeting was held June 1st, and under this date we find the follow- ing record :
On the adjournment from May 18th, at a meeting of the male inhabitants of the town of Newton who are free, and twenty-one years of age, on the first day of June, 1778, the Plan of the Constitution and Form of Government for the Massachusetts Bay, as proposed by the Convention February 28, 1778, having been read, was fully debated; and, the number of voters pres- ent being eighty,- five (5) approved of said Constitution and seventy-five (75) disapproved of it.
394
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
The subject, however, was not finally dismissed ; for a year later, May 17, 1779, the Representative to the General Court was in- structed to vote in favor of " calling a State Convention for the sole purpose of forming a New Constitution."
August 2, 1779, this action of the town on the same subject is recorded :
After the proceedings of the late Convention at Concord were read by paragraphs to the town, the question was put for their approbation; and the vote passed in the affirmative.
The Constitution, after still further emendation, having been accepted as the basis of government of the State, the citizens of Newton held their first meeting under it for the election of Gov- ernor and Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and five Senators for the county of Middlesex. The importance of this meeting and election, as the first after the framing of the Constitution, justifies the copying of the entire record.
. At a town meeting of the inhabitants of Newton, duly warned and regu- larly assembled on Monday, the 4th day of September, A. D. 1780, qualified according to the new frame of government or Constitution to vote for a Gov- ernor for the Massachusetts State, Lieut .- Governor for said State, and five Senators for the county of Middlesex,- after receiving, sorting and count- ing the votes of the said inhabitants for the several officers aforesaid,- the number of votes for said officers are as follows, viz. :
Hon. John Hancock, Esq., had 86 votes to be Governor of said State.
Hon. Benjamin Lincoln, Esq., had 26 votes } Hon. Azor Orne, Esq., had 25 votes
To be Lieutenant-Governor for said State.
Hon. Josiah Stone, Esq., had 41 votes,
Abraham Fuller, Esq., 40
Nathaniel Gorham, Esq., 40
Oliver Prescott, Esq., 30
William Stickney, Esq., 23
Loammi Baldwin, Esq., 15
Mr. Thomas Parker, 7
Hon. Eleazer Brooks, Esq., 2
Thomas Plymton, Esq., 2
Samuel Thatcher, Esq., 2
Jonas Dix, Esq.,
1
John Woodward, Esq.,
1
For Senators for
the County
of Middlesex.
NEWTON'S FIRST ELECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.
December 18, 1788, Newton cast its first vote for two Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, as follows :
U.S. CONANT.
CITY HALL.
VOTES FOR GOVERNOR.
395
Hon. Francis Dana, Esq., had 9 votes.|
Duncan Ingraham, Esq., had 1 vote.
Nathaniel Gorham, Esq , " 18 John Brooks, Esq., 1
Elbridge Gerry, Esq., 4 " William Hull, Esq., 1
Ebenezer Bridge, Esq., 1
- Abraham Fuller, Esq., “18 "
At the same meeting, the citizens brought in their votes for a representative for the District of Middlesex, to serve in the Fed- eral Government,- as follows :
Nathaniel Gorham, Esq., had 20 votes. John Brooks, Esq.,
had 11 votes.
Elbridge Gerry, Esq., " 11 William Hull, Esq., 66
1
Some curious revelations as to the politics of the town of New- ton, and the interest, or lack of interest, shown by the townsmen, in the early periods of the Government of Massachusetts, are in- dicated by the annual vote in Newton for chief magistrate of the Commonwealth.
The first town meeting under the Constitution of Massachusetts for the choice of the first Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and five Senators for the county of Middlesex was held, as stated above, September 4, 1780. The vote for this and twenty successive years, excepting 1792, of which the record is wanting, is as follows :
DATE.
CANDIDATE.
No. of
Votes.
OPPOSING CANDIDATE.
No. of
Votes.
REMARKS.
Whole
No. of Votes.
Sept. 1780 April 1781
John Hancock,
86
86
66
1782
do.
51
-
66
1783
do.
69
66
1784
do.
56
-
56
it
1785
do.
4
40
66
1786
James Bowdoin, John Hancock,
117
23
140
66
1788
do.
90
2
92
66
1789
do.
79
21
100 -
66
1790
do.
50
18
Scattering, 1
69
66
1791
do.
33
do. do.
7
40
66
1793
do.
38
41
66
1795
do.
16
1796
do.
23
Elbridge Gerry, Increase Sumner, James Sullivan,
31 67 12
Scattering, 8 8 do.
63
66
1799
do.
118 89
Elbridge Gerry,
33
do.
2
124
-
All the votes. Mr. Cushing, 12
59
1797
Increase Sumner, do.
55
-
do.
12
130
1800
Caleb Strong,
48
3
51
60
1787
1794
Samuel Adams,
40
40
90
70
90
1798
do.
59
All the votes. Scattering, 4 All the votes. Scattering, 1 All the votes.
63
51
70
John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Elbridge Gerry, James Bowdoin, do.
3
The spirit of politics sometimes ran high ; sometimes it waxed lukewarm. Only four times, in these twenty years, was the vote for Governor unanimous. In 1785 few cared to vote at all, and
-
396
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
their old favorite, John Hancock, received only four votes out of the forty that were cast. But in 1787,-the year of the adoption of the Federal Constitution,-the interest of the people revived again, and John Hancock returned to his place in the affections of the people. From this time, again, for several years, the towns- men gradually showed less and less interest in their privilege as freemen to express their opinions at the ballot-box, till 1799 and 1800, when the general excitement again drew out a strong vote. Perhaps as many of the citizens attended the town meeting in proportion to the population in those days, as is ordinarily the case in later times. But there were fewer excitements at that period, and the town meeting was a relief from the monotony of common life. The people had few topics of common interest to discuss, above the range of their ordinary pursuits ; and it would be strange if they did not discuss the more earnestly the claims of candidates for high offices of government. It is strange that the nomination of that grand patriot, Samuel Adams, in 1794, did not call out a more enthusiastic vote of the people of Newton; and when the name of Elbridge Gerry was on the tickets, it is equally strange that all but sixteen voters should desert Mr. Adams for the new candidate.
The contesting parties in those days were Federalists and Republicans.
CHAPTER XXXII.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY .- NEWTON'S REMONSTRANCE .- PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S REPLY TO THE PROTEST OF CAMBRIDGE .- WAR DECLARED .- GEN. HULL'S SURRENDER .- NAVAL BATTLES .- REV. MR. GRAFTON'S PRAYER .- TOWN ACTION.
THE WAR OF 1812 .- At the commencement of the present century, the country was the victim of political disturbances, traceable more or less to the disorganizing influence of the French revolution and the events resulting therefrom. These disturb- ances interfered with the commercial prosperity of the country. Besides this, the embargo proclaimed in December, 1807, followed by other hostile measures, culminating in a declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812, threw the people out of busi- ness, and reduced many to absolute want. Real estate depreciated in value. Capitalists feared to invest their money in the building of houses or stores, and ship-owners, dreading to trust their prop- erty to the chances of spoliations on the sea, allowed their vessels to rot at the wharves. The mutual dependence of men in social and civil life is such that the calamity of one is the calamity of all, and the whole community was reduced to extremity. In common with other towns in Massachusetts, Newton was solicited to send a petition to the President of the United States, protesting against the embargo, and soliciting its removal. It was hoped that a united appeal from the commercial and manufacturing centres of the country would result in the annulling of laws whose applica- tion led only to the discouragement of enterprise and the crippling of the most important industries of the nation. A good govern- ment is bound to listen to the complaints of its citizens, and, so far as possible, to afford relief. Mr. Jefferson was then President of the United States, and it is perhaps not unnatural that French
397
398
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
politics should have exercised a preponderating influence in the councils of the country.
As the period connected with the war of 1812 with Great Brit- ain drew on, the Town Records show that the citizens of Newton were not blind to the state of civil affairs ; and though the war was always unpopular with the people of New England, they understood, nevertheless, the exigencies of the times, and were alive to their duties as patriots and as men. They were ready, as occasion demanded, to act by themselves or to co-operate with others for the welfare of the country. Nothing escaped their notice, and they carefully watched every measure which seemed likely to interfere with the rights of individuals or the prosperity of the State. At a town meeting held September 19, 1808, we find the following record :
VOTED, that a paper now in the hands of the Selectmen, containing Gen- eral Eaton's address to the inhabitants of the town of Brimfield, be read at this meeting.
Upon the receipt of a letter from the Selectmen of the town of Boston respecting the sending a Petition to the President of the United States, requesting that the embargo now existing on commerce might be raised,- taking into consideration that, an answer having been received from the President, a Petition would prove useless,-
VOTED, that General Ebenezer Cheney, George W. Coffin, Charles Cool- idge, Dr. Ebenezer Starr and John Kenrick, Esq., be appointed a committee to draw a Remonstrance, to be forwarded to Congress at their next meeting, disapproving of the embargo, and lay the same before the town for their acceptance at the adjournment of this meeting on the first Monday of November next.
The Selectmen were directed to publish the proceedings of the above meeting in one of the Boston newspapers.
The Remonstrance contemplated in the preceding item was pre- sented to the town at the meeting November 7, 1808, and accepted, and ordered to be recorded in the Town Book, as follows :
The inhabitants of the Town of Newton, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, deeply affected by, and sensible of the. evils, resulting, not only to themselves, but to the Commonwealth at large and all the Northern States, from the present existing laws interdicting the commerce of the United States, at a period also when discontent is manifest in every countenance, caused by this obnoxious, impolitic and, we think, unjustifiable law, passed at the first session of the present Congress, - deem. it a duty they owe to themselves and their posterity, at this alarming crisis,.
399
REMONSTRANCE.
to express their disapprobation of the measure, and most earnestly request its immediate repeal. Entertaining fears that a continuance of these laws must inevitably bring on dissension and breed civil war within our country, we have judged it a duty incumbent on us, as citizens of a free and enlightened republic, to remonstrate against this measure, the constitutionality of which is questionable; for, if to regulate commerce is to abolish it, then may it be called constitutional. But we cannot conceive that an annihilation of com- merce can be a regulation of it; for if it be abolished, it requires no regula- tion. The only powers delegated to Congress on this subject are contained in the eighth and ninth sections of the Constitution, viz., "To regulate com- merce with foreign nations and among the several States, and with Indian tribes,- No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State; no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another." By the fore- going articles, Congress have assumed the power to lay a perpetual or unlim- ited restriction on commerce. We are confident that the Framers of the Constitution did not intend sucli a construction of these articles. But we find constructions can be put on all things to answer political purposes. We were zealous advocates for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and have been its warm supporters, by uniformly voting for men to administer it, who, we had reason to think, would discharge their duty with fidelity and impartiality, and with pious care transmit the Constitution, uninfringed, to their successors ; and it is with serious alarm we find the spirit of our Con- stitution so far violated that intercourse between the States is in any degree debarred, and the inhabitants of one State are denied the privilege of sup- plying their hungry neighbors of another State with bread, without a permit from a favorite of the President, or being shot by soldiers, who, it appears, are not raised to defend the country from foreign insults and aggressions, but to teach real Americans submission to poverty and distress by the power of lead and the point of the bayonet.
We consider it the duty of the Representatives of the people to watch over- and guard the affairs of the nation, and to provide laws for the protection of the citizens. The inhabitants of Newton do not conceive it conducive to public good or the perpetuation of a republican form of government, for a town or any corporate Society to meet, and approve or condemn public- measures, till they are generally understood; but as the embargo has so. many months been in the full tide of experiment, and its evils so sensibly felt, and its benefits never have been seen, silence in those who consider that. they are freemen would be criminal, and would no doubt be construed into a. blind acquiescence in Presidential infallibility. For many years past have we been blest witli unusual prosperity ; our endeavors have been crowned withi success, and our hearts gladdened. Even in the year seventeen hun- dred and ninety-eight, when the French made depredations upon our com- merce, we were threatened with the pestilence of war, and our commerce. was in the most critical state; yet a few ships of war and our merchant ships, allowed to arm, screened us from our enemies, and obtained a treaty which
.
400
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
three Envoys Extraordinary could not effect. The state of our affairs was equally dark at that period, as before the embargo was laid; yet commerce was not in any measure prevented, and our ships sailed with attendant risk or tarried at home by voluntary pleasure of the owners. Would not this kind of defence have proved more for our interest against the decrees of France than the measures adopted? With France we have a treaty,- and in open violation of that treaty, they have taken our ships and confiscated the property, burnt others under flimsy pretences upon the high seas, and by express orders of Bonaparte, and contrary to the laws of nations, have openly declared the dominions of Great Britain in a state of blockade, when they have no armed ships at liberty upon the ocean sufficient to effect the blockade of a single port. In defiance of all these and many other attacks, we seek revenge by keeping our shipping at home, and build gunboats to carry embargo laws into execution; and after all, we are equally liable to a war with France, with less means of protection. We contend that if France insists on this usage, we cannot finally avoid a war with her.
What are our causes of complaint against Britain? They have refused to make a treaty with us upon such terms as we demand. The attack on the Chesapeake frigate and the Orders of Council are our principal com- plaints. Can it be expected for a moment that Britain, who is always in want of her mariners, will suffer Americans to hold British sailors? We conceive not. Their very existence as a nation depends upon their mariners, to keep their Navy in use. We are confident that they will meet our Government in any measure that can be arranged for the protection of native Americans, and, we have reason to believe, have made proposals to our Government for the express purpose. The attack on the Chesapeake was made by an un- authorized Admiral, and has been disavowed by Great Britain. The Orders of Council, we consider, as intended as a retaliation upon France, and facili- tated by our cowardice or tame submission to the French decrees. In few instances, however, do we find any captures founded upon the Orders of Council. These Orders are removed, so far as relates to Spain and Portugal, which clearly proves that they were not intended to operate against the country. With France and her allies they are still in force; and will pro- bably continue so, until the Decrees of France are rescinded, or disauthorized by our Government. Yet, notwithstanding our marked hostilities to Eng- land by a non-importation Act and an inland embargo, they appear willing to treat us as if the old Treaty was still in existence.
.
In viewing the acts of our Government as they relate to belligerent nations, we are ready to avow our belief that it is the work of our Adminis- tration to wage war with England, in humble compliance with the mandates of Bonaparte, and wait only, for the purpose of rendering it popular by pro- claiming the crimes of Britain to effect their wishes. Whether the embargo was laid on, to avert the fierce anger of the Tyrant of Europe, the upstart who aspires at universal dominion, or to make Great Britain more complying, it does not appear to have had the desired effect, and its burthens seem to rest principally upon the shoulder of Americans. It is not in our power to discover the policy of cultivating the friendship of the Emperor of France,
+
401
PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S LETTER.
as those nations who have tamely submitted to his will, and those who have resisted his authority and been subdued have shared the same unhappy fate, and been deprived of liberty and property. And we cannot possibly con- ceive that it would be any real amusement to a President of the United States of America to hunt a stag in company with the old King of Spain in a forest in France, while his countrymen at home were bleeding for their dearest rights.
Admitting that Great Britain has committed real aggressions,- can it be wise policy, at this critical period of the world, to revenge them, or attempt to weaken her power, when it is owing to the noble stand she has taken that any nation now retains its liberty ; and if the island of Great Britain is subdued, the Emperor Napoleon will be Emperor of the world, and every nation of the earth pay him tribute, or its subjects fall by the sword.
We are not immediately concerned in navigation; but as commerce is the great source through which we derive the means of our support, as the arti- cles of our growth and manufacture are mostly exported to a foreign market, we are equally concerned in its welfare with those whose resources are ship- ping; for, a diminution in value of cvery article of our growth, and an ad- vance in price of every kind of foreign produce and manufacture leave us a scanty reliance on the bountics of nature for the comforts of life. We al- ways have, and still deem it our duty [to yield obedience] to the laws of our country. But such is the uncqual and oppressive operation of the embargo, that we cannot believe that any real, true-hearted American can consider passive obedience and non-resistance a virtue. We therefore request that Congress will, without delay, remove this unwelcome and distressing measure.
The reply of President Jefferson to the protest of the citizens of the neighboring town of Cambridge will be read with interest. The original document is said to be, apparently, an autograph of the President, and is preserved in the office of the City Clerk of Cambridge.
To the inhabitants of the town of Cambridge, in legal town meeting assem- bled :
Your representation and request were received on the 8th inst., and have been considered with the attention due to every expression of the sentiments and feelings of so respectable a body of my fellow-citizens. No person has seen with more concern than myself the inconveniences brought on our country in general by the circumstances of the times in which we happen to live,- times to which the history of nations presents no parallel. For ycars we have been looking as spectators on our brethren of Europe, afflicted by all those evils which necessarily follow an abandonment of the moral rules which bind men and nations together. Connected with them in friendship and commerce, we have happily so far kept aloof from their calamitous con- flicts, by a steady observance of justice towards all, by much forbearance and multiplied sacrificcs. At length, however, all regard to the rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers have beset the highway of 26
402
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
commercial intercourse with edicts, which, taken together, expose our com- merce and mariners, under almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies. Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves, with the view of associating us in their war against the other. But we have wished war with neither. Under these circumstances were passed the laws of which you complain, by those delegated to exercise the powers of legislation. for you, with every sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faith- fully. In reviewing these measures, therefore, we should advert to the diffi- culties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made. To have sub- mitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and tributary exactions from others would have been to surrender our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without consulting the state of things or the choice of the na- tion. The alternative preferred by the Legislature, of suspending a com- merce placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our citizens their property and our mariners to their country, has the peculiar advantage of giving time to the belligerent nations to revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our rights. "In the event of such peace or suspension of hostilities between the belligerent Powers of Europe, or of such a change in their measures affecting neutral commerce as may render that of the United States sufficiently safe in the judgment of the President," he is authorized to suspend the embargo. But no peace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting neutral commerce, is known to- have taken place. The Orders of England and the Decrees of France and Spain, existing at the date of these laws, are still unrepealed, so far as we- know. In Spain, indeed, a contest for the Government appears to have arisen; but of its course or prospects, we have no information on which pru- dence would undertake a hasty change in our policy, even were the authority of the Executive competent to such a decision. You desire that, in defect of such power, Congress may be specially convened. It is unnecessary to examine the evidence or the character of the facts which are supposed to dictate such a call; because you will be sensible, on an attention to dates, that the legal period of their meeting is as carly as, in this extensive country, they could be fully convened by a special call. I should with great willing- ness have executed the wishes of the inhabitants of Cambridge, had peace, or a repeal of the obnoxious Edicts, or other changes, produced the case in which alone the laws have given me that authority ; and so many motives of justice and interest lead to such changes, that we ought continually to expect them. But while these Edicts remain, the Legislature alone can prescribe the course to be pursued.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.