USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 23
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III.
MOBS.
In the month of April, 1782, Ely succeeded in raising a mob at Northampton of sufficient force to disturb the holding of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Court of Common Pleas there. For his complicity in this disturbance Ely was arrested, indicted, and, pleading guilty upon trial, was sen- tenced to imprisonment at Springfield. Soon after, at a time when the people of the town were mostly absent, a mob as- sembled and set him at liberty. Capt. Densmore, Lieut. Paul King, and Lieut. P. Bardwell were arrested as ringleaders of the rescue, and put in jail at Northampton. Another mob of three hundred men gathered in Hatfield for the release of the ringleaders. The sheriff of the county, Gen. Elihu Porter, ealled ont twelve hundred militia to protect the jail. The rioters sent a committee to Gen. Porter with a demand for the release of the three prisoners. Gen. Porter so far com- plied with their demand as to release the three men on parole, conditioned for the delivery of their bodies or that of Samuel Ely on demand of the General Court.
The General Court treated this matter with a leniency that seemed to intensify rather than pacify the excited feelings of the populace.
The next overt act of rebellion of much importance occurred the year following, at Springfield.
In the month of May, on the last day of the session of the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of the General Sessions of the Peace, in Springfield, a mob of sixty persons assembled from different parts of the county to prevent the session.
The Massachusetts Gazette or General Advertizer, of Spring- field, of the date of May 27, gives the following account of this affair :
"On Tuesday last, being the day on which the General Sessions of the Peace and the Court of Common Pleas opened in this town, a banditti, collected from the obscure corners of the county, composed of men of the most infamous char- acter, to the amount of about sixty in number, met in this town to prevent the sitting of the court. . . . They showed no disposition to attack the courts in the forenoon; at two o'clock they met at a public-house in the town, and re- solved themselves to be a convention of the county, met together for the purpose of redressing grievances; after having passed several important resolves they adjourned their convention to the elm-tree near the court-house ; when the bell rang for the court, they, in hostile parade, armed with white bludgeons, cut for that purpose, marched before the door of the court-house, and when the court, headed by the sheriff, came to the door, with insolence opposed their entrance; the sheriff, in the mild terms of persuasion, addressing them as gentlemen, de- sired them to make way. His civility was repaid with outrage, and an action soon commenced ; happily, there was a collection of people friendly to the gov- erament present, and the mob was repulsed with broken heads. A number of them were instantly taken and committed to prison; after which, by a regular
procedure, they were brought before the Court of Sessions for examination, and were bound to appear before the Supreme Court."
IV.
THE TENDER ACT.
On the 3d day of July, 1782, the " Tender Act" was passed for the benefit of private debtors. By this act it was provided that executions issued for private demands might be satisfied by neat cattle and other articles enumerated therein, at an ap- praisement of impartial men under oath. By its retrospective action it tended to suspend lawsuits, and this increased the very evils it was intended to remedy. Its action was limited to one year, at the end of which it was suffered to expire. But its consequences were more lasting. It was the first signal for hostilities between creditors and debtors,-the rich and the poor, tbe few and the many. From opposing and defying creditors, the discontented were fast led, under the evil in- fluences of this law, to opposing and defying the courts themselves.
And so matters went on from bad to worse through the weary years, with now a convention and then a mob. " Be- tween the conventions and the mobs everything," says Dr. Holland, " became a grievance. Lawyers assisted in the ad- ministration of justice ; therefore lawyers were never excluded by the popular voice from the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives. Money was scarce; therefore there was a loud call for the issue of paper currency. The Legislature re- fused ; a cry then arose against the Legislature.
" The Legislature of 1786 was elected," says William L. Smith,* "at a time of great excitement. Demagogism was in its glory, and the distresses of the people were used for the accomplishment of personal and political ends. Many of the men who had been intrusted with the responsibilities of legis- lation, and were prominent in the service of the State, were superseded by inexperienced, and in many cases by utterly unfit, persons. Patriots of the Revolution, whose elegant ap- peals had aroused the spirit that carried the country tri- umphantly through the war of independence, were defeated as candidates merely because they happened to be lawyers. When the Legislature assembled various visionary schemes were brought forward, among them a proposition that the State should go into the business of manufacturing paper- money. The 'Greenback' party of the day was active and noisy. The very men who had lived through a period of great inflation and consequent depreciation wanted to travel over the same wretched road again. We should wonder at this if we had not seen recently history repeating itself in this particular. After reading the discussions of that time one is brought to the conclusion that the advocates of rag- money have not materially strengthened their arguments during the last ninety years. The Legislature proceeded deliberately, influenced no doubt by the conservative senti- ment of Boston, and finally rejected the proposition ; and the Senate stood firmly in the way of other dangerous schemes. Thereupon there arose a new clamor. It was declared that the Senate should be abolished, and that the Legislature should not continue to hold its sessions at Boston ; and the agitators proceeded to supplement their boisterous deelamations by a formal organization."
The Legislature adjourned on the 8th day of July, and the excitement increased. It spent its violence again in conven- tions and mobs.
V.
MORE CONVENTIONS,
Conventions and mobs seem to have constituted the ma- chinery by which the discontented songht to relieve their dis- tresses. The conventions were at first respectable, but soon became the abettors of violence. The first object of the mobs
* Address before Conn. Val. Hist. Society at Springfield.
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seems to have been the stoppage of the inferior courts, so that debts could not be collected, and the next object was the de- struction of the superior courts, so that themselves might not be in danger of trial for their crimes .*
Convention at Worcester .- On the 15th of August, 1786, a convention was held at Worcester, composed of delegates from thirty-seven towns of Worcester County. It first voted that it was "a lawful and constitutional body." It then voted that the following were the causes of discontent among the people, to wit :
" Ist. The sitting of the General Court in Boston.
" 2d. The want of a circulating medium.
" 3d. The abuses in the practice of the law, and the exorbi- tanee of the fee-table.
"4th. The existence of the Courts of Common Pleas in their present mode of administration.
" 5th. The appropriating the revennes arising from the im- post and excise duties to the payment of the State securities.
"6th. The unreasonable and unnecessary grants made by our General Court to the attorney-general and others.
" 7th. The servants of the government being too numerous, and having too great salaries.
" 8th. This Commonwealth granting aid or paying moneys to Congress while our public accounts remain unsettled. But this convention proposed that relief should be sought only by lawful. and constitutional means, and deprecated all riots and mob violence."t
It should be stated that the war, like all others, had engen- dered luxury and expensive living. It greatly stimulated the importation, and consequently the consumption, of foreign goods. This, of course, added in the end to the other burdens. The publie prints of the day were full of comments, suggested by the confusion of the times. One says, " How much soever we may be oppressed, yet this much is certain : we cannot he oppressed without justice. Why, then, should we wish to stop its execution ? If we have honestly involved ourselves in public or private debts, let us honestly discharge the obli- gations we have contracted. We have nohly bled for our liberty, and finally obtained the victory. But at the rate we are about to use it, God knows it cannot be much preferable to slavery."#
Convention at Hatfield .- On the 22d day of August, 1786, a convention met at Hatfield, in Hampshire County. This con- vention was called at the recommendation of a minor con- vention previously held at Pelham.
This convention was constituted of delegates from fifty towns in Hampshire County. After a deliberation of three days, it decided upon and put forth the following body of grievances, to wit :
" At a meeting of delegates from fifty towns in the county of Hampshire, in convention held at Hatfield, in said county, on Tuesday, the 221 day of August instant, and continued by adjournments until the twenty-fifth ult., voted that this meeting is constitutional.
" The convention, from a thorough conviction of great uneasiness subsisting among the people of this county and Commonwealth, then went into an inquiry for the cause ; and, upon mature consideration, deliberation, and debate, were of opinion that many grievances and unnecessary burdens now lying upon the people are the sources of that discontent so evidently discoverable throughout this Commonwealth, Among which the following articles were voted as such, viz. :
"Ist. The existence of the Senate.
"2d. The present mode of representation.
"3d. The officers of government not being annually dependent on the repre- suntatives of the people, in General Court assembled, for their salaries.
"4th. All the civil officers of government not being annually elected by the Representatives of the people in General Court assembled.
"5th. The existence of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace.
"6th. The Fee-Table, as it now stands.
"7th. The present mode of appropriating the impost and excise.
"8th. The unreasonable grauts made to some of the officers of government. "Oth. The supplementary aid.
* Holland's list. of Western Muss., Vol. I., p. 235.
+ Ibid., p. 236.
Į Ibid., p. 237.
"10th. The present mode of paying the governmental securities.
" 11th. The present mode adopted for the payment and collection of the last tax.
"12th. The present mode of taxation, as it operates unequally between the polls and estates, and between landed and inereantile interests.
"13th. The present method of practice of the attornies-at-law.
"14th. The want of a sufficient medium of trade to remedy the mischiefs auising from a scarcity of money.
"15th. The General Court sitting in the town of Boston.
" 16th. The present embarrassments on the press.
"17th. The neglect of the settlement of important matters depending between the Commonwealth and Congress relating to monies and averages.
" 18th. Voted, This convention recommend to the several towns in this county that they instruct their representatives to use their influence in the next Gen- eral Court to have emitted a bank of paper-money, subject to a depreciation ; making it a tender in all payments, equal to silver and gold, to be issued in order to call in the Commonwealth's securities.
"19th, Voted, That whereas several of the above articles of grievances arise from defects in the constitution, therefore a revision of the same ought to take place.
"20th. Voted, That it be recommended by this convention to the several towns in this county that they petition the Governor to call the General Court to- gether, in order that the other grievances complained of may, by the Legislature, be redressed.
"21st. Voted, That this convention recommend it to the inhabitants of this county that they abstain from all mobs and unlawful assemblies until n consti- tutional method of redress can be obtained.
" 22d. Voted, That Mr. Calch West be desired to transmit a copy of the pro- eeudings of this convention to the convention of the county of Worcester.
" 23:1. Voted, That the chairman of this convention be desired to transmit it copy of the proceedings of this convention to the county of Berkshire.
"24th. Voted, That the chairman of this convention he directed to notify a county convention, upon any motion made to him for that purpose, if he judge the reasons offered be sufficient, giving such notice, together with the reasons therefor, in the publick papers of the county.
"25th. Voted, That a copy of the proceedings of this convention be sent to the press in Springbeld for publication."
As the natural result of such deliberations mob violence was again the order of the day.
On the last Tuesday of August following, a mob numbering fifteen hundred persons assembled under arms at Northamp- ton .¿ It was on the day appointed by law for the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas and the General Sessions of the Peace. The mob took possession of the ground adjoining the court-house. The result was that no court was held. Mob violence was again triumphant. Those who did not wish to pay their debts accomplished their object.
The clerk of the court at Northampton made the following minute in his records, to wit:
" Early on the morning of this day there was collected a considerable number of persons under arms, who paraded near the court-house, with a proposed de- sign to prevent this eouit from sitting; a committee from whom presented a petition, requesting the court would not proceed to any business. The court having considered thereof, thought proper to open the same at the house of Capt. Samuel Clark, innhohler, in Northampton ; and having continued all matters now pending in said court to the term of this court next to be holden in Spring- field, in and for the county of Hampshire, on the second Tuesday of November next, adjourned without day."
But no November term of the court was held. The court was continued by legislative action till the May following.
After being informed of the action of the Northampton mob, Governor Bowdoin at once issued his proclamation call- ing upon all "judges, justices, sheriff's, grand jurors, consta- bles, and other officers, civil and military, to suppress all such riotous proceedings." The proclamation, after appealing to the State pride, personal honor, and patriotism of the people, enjoined upon the attorney-general the duty of prosecuting and bringing to condign punishment not only the ringleaders and abettors of the Northampton mob, but also all subsequent offenders against law and order.
On the week succeeding the Northampton demonstration the sittings of the courts were also stopped at Worcester, and on the 11th of September a mob at Concord stopped the sit- tings of the courts of Middlesex County. But the mob of Berkshire County seemed so far to be the most violent of any. They assembled, at the opening of the Court of Common I'leas at Great Barrington, to the number of eight hundred, and
¿ Minot's Hist. Insurrections in Mass., p. 37.
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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
not only stopped the sitting of the court, hut broke open the jail and liberated the prisoners.
UNIVERSAL DISORDER.
The whole State was now aflame with excitement; from one end of it to the other rebellion and anarchy stared the people in the face.
VI.
DANIEL SHAYS.
And now appear upon the scene two strong and turbulent spirits who soon brought the rebellion to a head, but not until they had stirred the troubled waters to their profoundest depths,-Daniel Shays and Luke Day.
Daniel Shays, who about this time came to the front as the acknowledged leader of the insurrection, seems to have been a soldier of fortune. His parents had been extremely poor, and his early education was neglected. Yet he was a man of good ad- dress and not unpleasing manner. He was courageous, ambi- tious, strong-minded, and sagacious, but unscrupulous in ac- complishing his ends. lle was born in Hopkinton in the year 1747. When young he worked some time on a farm in Fra- mingh:un. He removed to Great Barrington before the Revolu- tionary war, and at the breaking out of the violent phase of the rehellion resided at Pelham. At the age of twenty-eight he entered into the service of his country, with the rank of ensign, and was conspicuous for his bravery at Bunker Hill. In the year 1776 he was appointed a lieutenant in Col. Varnam's regiment, and was soon detached on recruiting service. TIe enlisted a company, which he took to West Point, whose engagement to serve was on the condition of his being the captain. This condition was not fulfilled, and the men were apportioned to different corps. He was at the surrender of Burgoyne, and at the storming of Stony Point. In 1779 he received a captain's commission, and was with Col. Putnam's regiment at Newark, N. J., in October, 1780, when he resigned and left the service. ITe possessed few qualifications for a high command. After the suppression of the insurrection he re- moved to Sparta, N. Y., where he lived in utter poverty, dying in the year 1825.
VIT. LUKE DAY
was born at West Springfield, July 25, 1743. His father was a wealthy land-owner, but the land, for some reason, fell to a younger brother. At the opening of the war of the Revo- lution he was commissioned as a captain. Ile served honor- ably in the Continental army for several years, and at the close of the war returned home poor and a major by brevet. He seems to have been a somewhat rough, boisterous man, but brave, and influential among his fellows. Of the two, he was perhaps stronger-minded and more sagacious than Shays, but less plausible and gentlemanly. He raised his own men, drilled, and commanded them. He was a most inveterate speech-maker, and often met the turbulent spirits of his neighborhood at the old Stebbins tavern in West Springfield, and harangued them for hours together. A few days before the attack of Shays upon the arsenal at Springfield, Day, in talking to his men, said, " My boys, you are going to fight for liberty. If you wish to know what liberty is, I will tell you. It is for every man to do what he pleases, to make other folks do as you please to have them, and to keep folks from serving the devil." After the defeat of Shays, Day fled to New York. He afterward returned, under the conditions of a general pardon, to his native town, and died there, miserably poor, at an advanced age. While drilling his men on West Springfield Common, they wore in their hats a sprig of hemlock, which afterward became the symbol of the in- surgents.
Such were the two men who, on the breaking out of the more violent phase of the rebellion, assumed its leadership.
VIII.
THE ATTACK UPON THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT AT SPRINGFIELD.
Thus far, as the reader has seen, the attacks of the mob had been made upon the inferior courts,-the Courts of Common Pleas and of General Sessions of the Peace. But the grand jury met also with the Supreme Judicial Court, and unless the sittings of that court could also be prevented, the rioters could all be indicted and punished.
The next sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court was to be held in Springfield, on the 26th day of September. The in- surgents resolved to prevent its sitting. But the friends of law and order were also at this time profoundly conscious of the impending danger, and made up their minds that the court should be held at whatever cost.
The rebellion had now reached its height. Outrages had been committed in Middlesex and Bristol, as well as in the western counties of the State. Even the city of Boston was threatened, and the movement spread into the adjoining States. It is probable that at this time neither the insur- gents nor the State authorities knew its extent. After it was over, the Legislature passed a law disqualifying persons en- gaged in the rebellion from holding office. It was then found that in some towns there were not enough men untainted to fill the offices, and it became necessary to pass an enabling act. This was the state of things when the Supreme Court was first attacked at Springfield.
But it would seem that this high-handed outrage was the culmination of the insurrectionary movement.
The determined stand here taken by the friends of law and order opened the eyes of the thinking ones, and one after another they returned to their homes, leaving it to the more unscrupulous rabble to follow Shays in his mad attempt upon the arsenal in the following winter.
On the 27th day of September, the Governor issued his proc- lamation convening the Legislature. The command of the governmental forces at Springfield was intrusted to Gen. Wil- liams. We cannot do better here than to copy the account of this affair given in the able paper of William L. Smith, above referred to. Mr. Smith says :
" Gen. Shepard succeeded in collecting about six hundred militia and volunteers, and anticipated the plans of the insur- gents by taking possession of the court-house. On the ap- pointed day the court was opened, Chief-Justice Cushing and Justices Sargeant, Sewall, and Sumner being present, and Shays appeared at the head of a force largely superior in numbers to Gen. Shepard's, but his men were not as well armed as were the militia. The insurgent leaders were dis- concerted at finding the militia in possession of the court- house ; their followers were enraged, and insisted upon making an immediate attack. But the leaders were more prudent. They knew that the government troops were well armed, they had no artillery, and they were especially disgusted with the bark of a small cannon, which they styled the 'government's puppy.' They offered to withdraw if the judges would agree that no other than the ordinary criminal business of the term should be taken up. The judges replied in substance that they had a public duty to discharge, and would attend to such business as should properly come before them. But by the time this answer was received the insurgent leaders were indifferent as to the action of the court, for they were satisfied the grand jury could not be got together, and that there would be no trials. They saw their main purpose would be accom- plished without fighting. Shays had his headquarters on or near Ferry Lane (now Cypress Street), and a tavern that stood on the sontherly corner of the present Main and Sar- gent Streets was a favorite rendezvous of the insurgents.
" The inhabitants of Springfield were beginning to feel some relief from their anxiety, when a new commotion was seen in
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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
the camp of the insurgents. It was rumored among them that the militia had determined that they should not be per- mitted to march past the court-house. It is not likely that any person in authority on the government side threw down the gauntlet in that way. It is more probable that the rumor originated with some of the Shays men, who wanted a pre- text for a fight and consequent pillage. But the rumor, how- ever it originated, aroused the fighting-qualities of the insur- gents. Old soldiers were not to be told that they must not march over the highway. They notified Gen. Shepard that they would march past the court-house forthwith, and they did so in military order and with loaded muskets, and they countermarehed and again passed under the windows of the court-house. But no one came forward to knock the chip from their leader's shoulder. The experiment of the insur- gents proved a failure. The militia could not be tempted to accept a mere challenge or invite a battle. A taunt or a care- less word would have occasioned a collision, but the word was not spoken. But some of the militia were so impressed by the numbers and bearing of the insurgents that they deserted their colors and enlisted under Shays.
" The court was kept open three days, but the proceedings amounted to a mere ceremony. The grand jury did not assemble. Parties to canses, jurors, and witnesses were under arms, either on one side or the other. One defendant, who was out on bail, was defaulted, and that was the only business transacted at the term. The adjournment of the court under such circumstances was a victory for the insurgents, and their triumph was made complete when they learned that the judges had determined not to hold the October term at Great Bar- rington. The judges had been informed of the preparations made for their reception at that place, and knew it would be useless to attempt to hold the term.
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