USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 23
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In those early days a careful supervision was maintained over all new-comers, partly, no doubt, for the purpose of meeting any unlawful claims that might be made, in case of need, for public support, and partly as a safeguard against immorality, vice, and crime. On the first of March, 1773, it was "Voted that the Clerk make a record of all persons that come to reside in town, the time when, and place from whence they last came." In the line of the same prudent policy was the requirement, unwritten perhaps, as it is not found in the records, that all householders receiving into their homes children or others from abroad should report the fact to the town authorities at an early date. Hence such papers as the following :
" WESTMINSTER, Dec. 25, 1766.
" This is to inform the Selectmen that I have taken into my family a boy named Joel Jinkins from Groton the 18th of March last past- 9 1-2 years old.
"JOHN WOODWARD."
"TO THE SELECTMEN OF WESTMINSTER :
"Gentlemen. This Certifies that on the Sixth day of December 1787 Mr. James Barker then of Stow in the County of Middlesex brought his daughter Susanna Barker, being then about eight years old to live with me the subscriber and she yet remains at my house.
"ELISHA BIGELOW."
Relations to the Province and State. Although the right of representation in the provincial legislature had been granted to the inhabitants of Westminster in the year 1770, upon their own request, yet for four years they neglected to exercise that right and were regularly fined for such neglect. But the growing difficulties with the mother country, and the continued usurpations of the royal governor, seemed to bring them to a sense of their duty in this respect, and to prompt them to active participation in public affairs. When General Gage, who had arbitrarily dissolved the general court at its regular May session in 1774, because he could not make it subservient to his oppressive designs, issued his writ for a special session to convene at Salem on the 5th of October in the same year, Dea. Nathan Wood was chosen the first Repre- sentative to that body. And though the governor recalled the order previous to the date named, with a view of preventing the assembling of a company of men whom he learned, as the elections went on, he could not intimidate and use to the fur- therance of his own purpose, yet Mr. Wood was one of the immortal ninety who met at the place and time designated, and who, in the exercise of their own indefeasible rights, and
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
in the absence of the governor and without royal sanction, resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress for the manage- ment of public affairs on a new and independent basis, in the name and behalf of the people whom they represented. This, as heretofore indicated, was the founding of a new dynasty on these shores-the first step towards the establishing of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This body, called the first Provincial Congress, continued its sitting at Salem but one day, when it adjourned to meet at Concord on the following Tuesday. In its session there, Abner Holden appeared as special delegate from Westminster. From that place it was removed to Cambridge, where it remained till December 10th, when it was prorogued. A second Congress came together at Cambridge on the first day of February, 1775, holding sessions there and at Concord and Watertown till May 29th, when it was dissolved. A third Congress met at Watertown on the 3Ist of May and continued its sessions till July 19th, at which date it gave place to a new Provincial Legislature estab- lished at the suggestion and by the authority of the General Congress of all the colonies, which had been sitting at Phila- delphia since the previous September. Mr. Wood, who had been a delegate to the second and third as well as to the first Provincial Congress, was, on July 10, 1775, elected Representa- tive to the General Assembly in the new government, which at once assumed all the prerogatives and powers, and exercised all the functions of a legislative body, subject only to the decrees of the Continental Congress, whose supremacy it recognized, and the will of the people, from whom it derived existence. So it was that the Provincial Congress, which was only provisional and temporary in its nature and character, yielded without opposition or jar to that more permanent form of administration, out of which came in due time, by a process of natural develop- ment, the constitution and government of the Commonwealth.
The great crisis in the affairs of the country had now fully come. The bond uniting the English government and its dependent colonies had been broken, never to be united more. The people everywhere were alive to the issues that had been forced upon them, and vigilant and active in behalf of their own rights and the principles of civil and religious liberty. "Straws show which way the wind blows." On May 26, 1775, the last warrant for a town meeting in Westminster was issued "In His Majesty's name." For a year, a simple notice posted at the usual places by a constable, pursuant to an order from the select- men, summoned the voting population together for the transac- tion of public business. On the 13th of May, 1776, the first call was made for such a gathering "In the Name of the Gov- ernment and People of the Massachusetts Bay." A new regime had been inaugurated. In less than two months from this date the "Declaration of Independence " was made to the world.
183
INSTRUCTIONS TO REPRESENTATIVE.
During the first years of the conflict between the colonics and the mother country, little business of a public nature was transacted in town, save what related more or less directly to the prosecution of the strife at arms-the raising of men for military service, providing for soldiers' families, furnishing sup- plies for troops, etc. But as time went on, other matters began to claim and to receive attention -matters pertaining not only to the then existing conditions of social and political life, but to the final adjustment of affairs and the permanent policy of the state and nation. It was deemed proper and advisable in those stirring, perilous times for constituencies to give their representatives in the General Assembly such definite and formal instructions upon questions of public concern likely to come before them for consideration and action, as they might deem conducive to the common welfare. Accordingly, at a meeting held June 12, 1777, after having elected Dea. Joseph Miller to the Legislature, a committee, consisting of Dr. Zach- ariah Harvey, Abner Holden, Col. Nicholas Dike, John Fosket, and Josiah Jackson, was chosen to prepare an address embody- ing the convictions and wishes of the citizens concerning im- portant matters of public policy, to be presented to him for his guidance in the discharge of the duties assigned him. The committee at an adjourned meeting reported an address which was approved by the town and duly delivered to him for whom it was designed. It is too long for a full insertion here, but its several important particulars may be briefly mentioned. It directed him
I. "To Joyne with the Councile and General Assembly in forming a Constitution of Government as soone as possable.
2. "If a Motion should be made for Repealing the Act called the Regu- lation Act, we Direct you to oppose it vemenlly. [vehemently.]
3. "We Direct you to Exert all your Influince that application may be made to Congress that all the State money may be redeemed with Conte- nental Courency and each State charged proportionably, but not with Loan Sertificates on interest; if that cannot be obtained that then you Indever the Repeal of the late Act making the Government Courency no tender in this State.
4. "We direct you to youse your Indeaver to obtaine a Repeal of a Late act Called an act to make the Representation of this State more equail; if that cannot be obtained we Direct you to youse your utmost Indeaver that the Representation be paid out of the publick Chist.
" These things Sr with all others that may come before you we leave to your wisdom Trusting to your Uprightness and Steady attachment to the Cause you are Ingaged in and hope your Conduct will Evidence that you are a firme friend to the Liberties of your Country."
This address shows very conclusively that the Revolutionary sires in Westminster did some very earnest thinking in their day and had some very decided opinions upon public affairs, though their thoughts and opinions were not always expressed in ac- cordance with the most approved rules of grammar and rhetoric. The same thing appears in a "Remonstrance" setting forth
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
"the minds of the Town with Regard to an act Newly passed by the General Assembly Calling in all the State Courency and sinking of it by Loane Sertificates on Interest," approved Nov. 25, 1777, and sent to the Legislature. It reads as follows :
"To the Honble Councile for the State of the Massachusetts Bay and Honble House of Representitives &c. The Humble petition and Remon- strance of the Inhabitants of The Town of Westminster Humbly Sheweth, That your petitioners are Greately alarmed att the Greate Distresses to which the Contenant att Large and this State more perticulerly is brought into and still Dailey Increasing by Reason of the Extravigant Demand which is Dailey made by every Denomination of men for the articles of Commarse and Trade both forrin and Domestick. The unbounded Length to which it has already arrisen must not only be opressive but surprising to Every beholder who is a friend to his Countrey and to what Length it will arise God only knows. Since the Barrior Not Long Since Established to prevent it is broken Down, we mean the Repeal of the Regulation Act which in our opinion would have effectually prevented it .- Your petitioners are also Greately alarmed att an act Lately passed by the General Assembly to Call in four Hundred Thousand pounds of our State Currency and Sink- ing it with Loane Sertificates on Intrest payable att four and five years Distance theirby in our opinion Greately and very oppressively Increasing our burthens: Theirby Insted of Lessening only Increasing our Debts to our Greate uneasieness; Theirby Lessening our Circulateing Courency att a time when the Demand theirfor is Exeeding Greate; and that only upon a bare presumption of Increasing the Value of the Remainder of our medium of Trade ; which we have Reason from past Experience to suppose will not have that Efect .- and further Calling in those bills of Creadit Emitted by this State payable att a Distant Day and afixing a fine for offer- ing said Bills for payment of Debts, before the Expiration of Said Time is an amazeing Violation of the publick faith and in our opinion Tends to bring authority into Contempt-and againe so Suddenly Calling in Said State money puts it into the power of those that have oppressed the people already by Extortionate prices to putt the same on Interest and also by Re- fusing to Receive any Some less than Ten pounds may be a meanes to oblige many poorer Sort of people to Loose what Little Cash They Have or putt them to Greate Difficulty,-
"We therefore your Honours petitioners Humbly move that the above Receighted Act with Every Clause and article of it may be Emeadietly Repealed and made Null and Void by the authority of this Honourable Assembly."
Early in the year 1778 a draft of a State Constitution, pre- pared by a committee of the Legislature appointed for the pur- pose and approved by that body, of which Dea. Joseph Miller was a member, was submitted to the people of the several towns for consideration and action. At a meeting of the citi- zens of Westminster, held May 25th and by adjournment on the eighth day of June, that instrument was discussed at much length and acted upon, the result being as the records state, "forty-nine against said Constitution and not one in favour theirof." Among the reasons given why it should not be adopted, only the principal ones can be presented here, as indi- cative of the spirit and convictions of the inhabitants of the town at that time :
185
PROPOSED STATE CONSTITUTION CONSIDERED.
"No Constitution whatsoever ought to be Established till preveious theirto the bill of Rights be set forth and the Constitution formed their- from -that so the lowest Capacity may be able to Determine his Natural Rights and Judge of the aquatibleness of the Constitution theirby. "Article 5th Deprives a part of the humane Race of their Natural Rights mearly on account of their color which in our opinion no power on Earth has a Just Right to Doe." "The Ninth article which Respects the method of chusing the Councile or Sennet appears to us to be Justly Exceptionable in as much as the greatest part of the Sennitt must be appointed without the perticular Knolidge of the Electers as to their fitness or Qualification for their high and Important office."
The nineteenth article was especially objectionable,
" Because it Deprives the people att Large of appointing their own Rulers and officers and places the power where it may and no Doubt will be greately abused for once Establish a power in the hands of a Selected Num- ber of Men and authorize them to establish officers over the people is a Daring Step to Depotism." "The oftener power Returns into the hands of the people the Better, and when for the good of the whole the power is Dilligated it ought to be done by the whole and no officer whatsoever from the Highest to the Lowest ought to be put in trust but by the sufferings of the people. A Neglect hear will Inevitably prove fatal to the Liberties of America." "Where can the power be loged so Safe as in the Hands of the people and who can Delligate it So well as they, or who has the bold- ness without Blushing to Say that the people are not Suitable to putt in their own officers-if so why do we wast our blood and Treasure to obtaine that which when obtained we are not fitt to Enjoy, or if but a Selected few only are fitt to appoint our Rulers, why were we uneasie under George. Againe if the General Court must be authorized to elect all officers will they Not monopolize all places of Honour and profitt to themselves to Exclusion of many others perhapps as Capeable as themselves. And further when they have made a band of officers perhaps verry Disagreeable to the people, no power is Left in the people to Disband them, saving only a long worry to obtaine an Impeachment which when obtained is brought before those verry beings who gave them Existence who always may and we bleave will have to greate a Degree of mercy on the work of their own hands and Leave the people to swet under their heavie Burthens.
" The above Reasons being repetedly Read to the Town, Voted to Except [accept] thereof and ordered to be sent to our Representative."
The Constitution, thus criticised and condemned, did not re- ceive the sanction of the citizens of the state, and a year later a call was issued by authority of the Legislature, and in accord- ance with the voice of the people at large upon the subject (although Westminster voted 47 to I against the proposition), for a Constitutional Convention to be held in Cambridge on the first day of September, following. To this Convention, Abner Holden was sent as delegate. After many sittings, continuing at intervals through the fall and winter, a form of Constitution was adopted by the convention, printed and sent out to the towns for their verdict upon it.
At a meeting of the voters of Westminster held May 13, 1780, a committee was chosen, with Lieut. Samuel Gerrish chairman, to consider and make report upon this proposed basis of a permanent state government. The committee sub-
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
mitted the result of their deliberations on the 26th of the same month in the form herewith presented, to wit :
" The Report of the Committee as follows viz : - That the Constitution of Government proposed be acceptable making only the following altera- tions therein,-
" In the 12th Article, Immediately after the words, by himself, be added 'or any other person or Persons he shall appoint whether he or they so appointed be sworn attorneys or not.'
" In ye 29th Art. provision is made for the Judges of the Supreme Court to have honorable Salaries ascertained and Established by Standing Laws in the Room of which we think it ought to be granted by the Legislature annually.
" In ye 3d art. after the words other Courts be added 'such as have been used or Practised in this State.'
"In the Ist Art. Section 2d., we are are of opinion therein ought to be no Councill & that the Number of Senators be Reduced to 31. We apprehend a Number of Senators may be as proper for advising the Governor as a Councill may be.
" In the 3d Section upon Representation in the 2d Art. we Judge an altera- tion is Necessary and in particular with Regard to the Increasing Number of Voters to Send a Second Representative in a town, we Conceive that 500 Rateable poles ought at least to be the mean Increasing Number to send a Second Representative in any Town. We Judge allso that from the Time that this Constitution shall take place [all towns] which may be Incorpo- rated and taxed to the Charge of Government ought to be allowed to send one Representative, Let their Numbers be more or less, Observing the above Rule for an additional Representative.
"Accepted the Eleventh Art. only that Part that Respects a Privey Councill.
" In the Eighth Art. we are of opinion that the power of Pardoning should lie with the Govnr and Sennate.
" In the Ninth Art. we are of opinion that the House of Representatives ought in the Room of the Governor to make the nomination of all Civill and Judicial Officers and to be Complied with or Rejected by the Governor and Sennate and Commissioned by them.
" In the 13th Art. we are of opinion that the Governor and Supream Judges Sallerys should be annually granted by the Legislature as the particular Exegency of the Times may Require.
"Section 3d Chap. 2d Voted to Expunge the whole of this Section."
This report, with its several recommendations, was accepted and adopted by the town by a vote of 30 to 5, the latter being in favor of the form presented without alteration. It was also voted that the instrument ought to be revised in seven years after it should be put in operation.
This Constitution received the sanction of the people and became by formal official proclamation the fundamental law of the state, the last Wednesday of October being assigned as the date when it should go into effect by the organization of the government for the establishment of which it made all needful provision. The election of the principal required officers was ordered to take place in September, and that of representatives in October, ten days at least before the date specified.
At a meeting held Sept. 4, 1780, the legal voters of West- minster cast their first ballot for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Senators under the Constitution. The result was,
187
FIRST VOTE UNDER STATE GOVERNMENT.
For Governor-John Hancock, 52; James Bowdoin, 5.
For Lieutenant-Governor-James Bowdoin, 43; John Han- cock, 2.
For Senators-Judge Baker, 25; Edward Davis, 20; Judge Dorr, 16; Colonel Clapp, II; Esq. Rawson, 9; Joseph Wheeler, 9; William Dinsmore, 8; Abner Holden, 7; Col. Asa Whit- comb, 6; Judge Michael Gill, 5; Major Washburn, 5; Seth Reed, 2.
Of these candidates, John Hancock was elected Governor by popular vote. James Bowdoin, failing of an election by the peo- ple, was appointed Lieutenant-Governor, but declined the office, which was subsequently filled by Thomas Cushing. Of the can- didates for Senators voted for, Baker, Dorr, Gill, and Washburn were elected, and also Israel Nichols of Leominster, who appears to have received no votes here. The first Representative to the Legislature under the State Constitution was Abner Holden, elected Oct. 12, 1780, for the session beginning the 25th of the same month. He was undoubtedly present at the inaugura- tion of John Hancock, the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and participated in the ceremonies with which a constitutional government within its borders was originally established.
Other items of interest and importance illustrating the rela- tion of Westminster to the sovereign state, of which it is a constituent part, will be given in their proper place and connec- tion hereafter.
Relations to the Nation. The general interest taken by the people of this town in the cause of the united colonics of Great Britain in North America, and their readiness to main- tain the rights and stand fast by the principles of freedom which those colonies jointly represented and proclaimed to the world, have been sufficiently set forth in preceding chapters of this work. It is only needful at this point to refer briefly to the part they took in the initiation or adoption of those meas- ures which were calculated to bind the different parts of the country more firmly together for the successful prosecution of the conflict with the crown and court of England, wherein all were alike involved, and which rose to their destined con- summation in the adoption and establishment, as the supreme law of the land, of the Federal Constitution in 1787. No sooner had the colonies absolved themselves from all allegiance to Great Britain and declared themselves free and independent, than the wiser of their citizens began to see and feel the neces- sity of some bond of union that should hold them to a common purpose and inspire confidence on the part of the people look- ing for some recognized and properly constituted authority to guide them through the fearful crisis that had befallen them. The Continental Congress, which had been created by the exigencies of the times, seemed to command respect from the
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
beginning, and when it proposed a plan of confederation soon after the last links of loyalty to the mother country had been broken, general satisfaction thereat was manifested on every hand. Great difficulties were encountered, however, in arrang- ing the details of the plan, and it was not for more than a year, or until the autumn of 1777, that it was deemed sufficiently mature to warrant the submission of it to the different states for ratification. The Legislature of Massachusetts, before taking final action upon it, consulted the judgment of the people at large, through instructions given by the different towns to their respective representatives. Westminster expressed the feelings and convictions of its leading citizens upon the important mat- ter in an address to Dea. Joseph Miller, member of the General Court from the town, as follows :
"Sir, you being Representitive for this town, our Instructions to you are that Having considered the articles of Confederation for perpetual Union Government and Happyness of the Thirteen United States of America which we conceive as admirably well adapted to the various Circumstances of the Several States and as containing such Laws, Rules and Regulations for the Government Thereof as Justly call for our approbation and Consent, That you in Behalf of this Town in the General Assembly Do approve of and consent to The Articles of Confederation as proposed by the Honorable Contenental Congress and youse your Indever that it be Instructed to our Delegates att the Contenentall Congress that the Said Confederation be by them authentecated in order to our establishing perpetual Union and Gov- erment with the thirteen United States of America, which Union we appre- hend to be Escenceally Nessecesarry to the Support of that freedom we have hitherto Supported att the Loss of so much Treasure and Blood wherein our enemies have so frequently been defeated and Driven back from greate exertions when from their Diabolical Designes as Exhibited in some Instances we could Expect no other than Dessolation and Disstress."
The articles in question were ratified by a majority of the states and became the acknowledged law of the land. They served, as a Provisional Government, the country's needs for a time, but were found by experience to be "imperfect in detail and inadequate to the wants of a growing republic." The necessity of a more perfect bond of union and of a form of government clothed with larger and more authoritative powers, became evident to the wiser patriots of the country at an early day, and the rise of certain exigencies for which the "Articles of Confederation " proved wholly insufficient, tended to produce the same conviction in the minds of the people at large. The first public utterance, looking to a remedy for existing defects, came from James Bowdoin, Governor of Massachusetts, who, in his message to the General Court in May, 1785, recommended the appointment of delegates from the several states "to settle and define the powers of the National Congress," which was the acknowledged supreme authority in the land. Nearly two years transpired, however, before the proposition assumed a definite and practical shape. Early in 1787 a convention was called by act of Congress to meet in the May following, for the
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