Springfield, 1636-1886 : history of town and city, including an account of the quarter-millennial celebration at Springfield, Mass., May 25 and 26, 1886, Part 27

Author: Green, Mason Arnold; Springfield (Mass.)
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: [Springfield, Mass.] : C.A. Nichols & Co.
Number of Pages: 740


USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Springfield, 1636-1886 : history of town and city, including an account of the quarter-millennial celebration at Springfield, Mass., May 25 and 26, 1886 > Part 27


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A citizen of western Massachusetts asks soberly in a Springfield paper : " If any or all the States in the Union should pay no atten- tion to the resolves and recommendations of Congress, of what consequence is Congress to them?" And adds : " I seldom converse with a judicious, well-disposed man, but supposes there is a dreadful storm gathering."


The obligations of Massachusetts at the close of the Revolution were in round numbers as follows : -


Regular or private debt


£1,300,000


Due to soldiers .


250,000


Share of federal debt


1,500,000


£3.050.000


One-third of the amount was to be paid by ratable polls, which did not reach one hundred thousand. Exports were reduced to compara- tively nothing, and agriculture was at a distressingly low ebb. Writs of creditors almost confounded the courts and made the legal profes-


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sion and the sheriffs a by-word and a hissing. The passing of the tender act of 1782, by which neat cattle and other specified property could be offered to satisfy executions for debt, opened the door for greater irregularities. A war between rich and poor was precipitated, and the judgment debtor and the judgment creditor crossed swords. More people were in debt than out of debt, and a good authority says that from 1784 to 1786 every fourth, if not every third, man was a defendant in writs of execution in Massachusetts.


The great object of the insurgents was, at first, to stop the courts, in order to prevent the entering of judgments. In May, 1783, a mob of debtors attempted, with clubs, to prevent the judges, headed by the sheriff, from entering the Springfield court-house, but were re- pulsed and several arrested. Many were clubbed, and it is said that one offensive insurgent was thrown into the town brook. Conven- tions were held at Deerfield in September, 1783, and at Hatfield the following October, but no violent measures were recommended. As lawyers were considered instruments of oppression to the debt- ridden people, a general agitation against the profession followed. At the Deerfield convention the town committees of Hampshire county voted : " It appears to us absolutely impossible that the people should be able to grapple with the burdens lying on them, and that nothing but a general bankruptcy must soon inevitably be our por- tion."


The Springfield representatives to the General Court for 1783, Thomas Williston and Gideon Burt, were given sundry instructions in view of the popular commotions. These instructions are lost, but certain it is that they both declined to serve, and Thomas Stebbins and Nathaniel Ely went in their stead. We would infer that the lat- ter were more in sympathy with the debtor class than the former. On October 17 the town-meeting was presided over by James Sikes, and the delegates to the Hatfield convention of October 20 were Luke Bliss and Thomas Williston, for which service they received £3, showing that these conventions were recognized by the towns. It was claimed


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that the conventions of these days were not legal ; but it would seem that a convention composed of delegates chosen by the various towns, and supported by the town treasury, was quite as legal as a constitutional convention assembled at the invitation of the Massa- chusetts committee of safety to the various town committees of safety.


The town of Springfield maintained an even course during these troublous times, so far as overt acts go. The debtor elass was more numerous up the river and on the hills. Springfield had several money-lenders who were widely known, and, of course, not a little unpopular in the rural districts. Here are the principal officers elected in March, 1784: Moderator, John Worthington ; clerk and treasurer, William Pynchon ; selectmen, William Pynchon, Moses Bliss, E. Chapin, Thomas Williston, and Reuben Bliss. Here is also the result of the elections of 1784, so far as Springfield is concerned : Governor - total, 65; James Bowdoin, 51 ; John Hancock, 7; John Worthington, 7. Lieutenant-Governor - total, 68; Thomas Cush- ing, 13; John Worthington, 46; James Bowdoin, 4. Senator - total, 49 ; John Worthington, 3; Caleb Strong, 47 ; Moses Bliss, 38 ; John Bliss, 6; Timothy Danielson, 40; John Hastings, 3; Noah Goodman, 1; Luke Bliss, 1 ; John Ingersoll, 1 ; A. Burbank, 18; Samuel Mathew, 1; Simeon Strong, 37. Thomas Dwight was representative, and was reelected in 1785. In the March meeting of 1784, above referred to, over which Colonel Worthington presided, it was proposed to create the office of collector of taxes ; but the motion failed.


The old rule was that the constables should collect the town rates. It was difficult to get men to serve in that capacity. Those elected that year at an adjourned meeting included Luther Van Horn and Rufus Sikes, who accepted ; but Judah Chapin and Gerald Warner seem to have declined the honor, as did also Dr. Joel Marble at a still later meeting. The town records during these weeks are as defective as the popular feeling was disturbed. Warrants of dis-


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tress were ordered against some of the constables in April, and in May stray bits of town lands were looked to for financial relief. In November, 1784, £213 19s. 6d. was voted for town expenses. At the spring meeting (1785) the constables selected were William Cooley, Charles Sheldon, Seth Chapin, JJr., Calvin Stebbins, Calvin Bliss, Justin Lumbard, and William Smith ; but only Sheldon, Chapin, and Lumbard agreed to serve ; but subsequently they de- clined, and Aaron Morgan and Lient. John Colton substituted. Morgan was an experienced hand at the business, and Lieutenant Colton's name added dignity to what was ordinarily a perfunctory and ministerial service, but had now become solemn exploits in finance.


0


A committee, headed by Colonel Worthington, gave Representa- tive Dwight the following instructions as to matters and things in general in November, 1785 : -


Sir this Town placing great Trust & Confidence in your Integrity & abilities & which they trust will be sufficient to direct your General conduct as a member of the Representative branch of the Legislature, nevertheless have thought fit to Instruct you in some few matters that pertienlarly respect this Town. We desire your perticular attention to the General valuation, we suppose this County in General is taxed beyond their due proportion, with other Counties and that this Town in perticular is taxed beyond their due proportion, Compared with the Towns in the Country


It is manifest the same Estates pay more in this Town than in any other Town we are acquainted with which has brought upon us great arrearages of past Taxes and if not remedied soon must effectually discourage all attempts & Efforts to discharge them and render the burthen quite Intolerable, we therefore Instruet you, to use your utmost Endeavor, in Union with other County mem- bers, in the first place, that a due proportion, be laid on the trading part of the Community, the want of which is one principal source, of the present Inequality, and then that only a due proportion be set on this Town, Compared with others in this County, and also that you Endeavour a Remedy, for the great Inequality of the past Taxes, another matter tho' indeed of a more General & public, con- cern to which we desire to recall your perticular attention, is the act passed by the last General assembly granting certain duties upon Vellum Parchment &


.


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Paper and commonly called the Stamp act. This we do Instruct you to use your utmost Endeavor to obtain a repeal of, if it be possible, and if that cannot be obtained, that you Endeavor to procure such alterations and amendments both in the articles dutied and in the mode of Collection as will render it less burthensome to Individuals as well as more beneficial to the Community the perticular dutied articles. which we would mention as most burthensome, are notes of Hand & publish News papers, the former is such an Intolerable burthen as has never been attempted, even in great Brittain. And the other being about 1% of the value which is indeed a very high duty, must greatly discourage the Circulation of those Useful vehicles of public knowledge, if not cause them wholly to be laid aside, or perhaps throw the business of printers, into the neighbouring States.


As to the mode of Collection, if the act were to Continue, most of the duties might be collected and paid by the several publiek Officers, Issuing the dutied articles so as to prevent the burthen Expenses of Stamps & Stamp officers, as for Instance, the Clerks of Courts may receive the duties upon writs & Execu- tions &c, Registers of deeds the Duty on deeds. the Naval Officers such duties as are appointed on ye Papers, used in their respective Offices, by which means there would of Consequence be a great saving of Expence, and we believe, more money, neated to the Treasury as well as great Trouble and Inconvenience pre- vented.


Warrants of distress were once more ordered that month (Novem- ber, 1785) against tax delinquents prior to 1783. In March, 1786, we find Colonel Worthington moderator and Moses Bliss on the select board. There was more difficulty about constables ; a list was finally made out, but Charles Sheldon had had his share of trouble, and retired, in spite of the general desire to have him serve. Evi- dence of the popular distress in money matters is seen in the fact that over ninety per cent. of the Springfield inhabitants for several years had worked out their highway tax instead of paying money. The con- stables were given two and a half per cent. specie for their common- wealth tax collections, but finally JJohn Pynchon came to the rescue in May by acting as constable for the first parish for £20, and two and a half per cent. on the commonwealth tax. A little earlier the pro- posal to make Northampton the shire town had created some concern,


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and John Worthington, backed by Moses Bliss and Thomas Dwight, were set at the gates of Springfield to oppose such a disastrous transfer.


The popular upheavals induced Springfield to send Thomas Dwight and Luke Bliss to the May convention at Hatfield, 1786. The selec- tion of Dwight is proof positive that the majority felt that these conventions would serve an important public service. The unhappy town was frequently battling with poverty in legal meetings, but to little purpose. An important appeal for relief was sent to the General Court in June, 1786 ; Thomas Dwight refusing the offer of reelection to the Legislature in 1786, Samnel Lyman was chosen in his place. Moses Bliss was moderator in August, 1786, when William Pynchon and Capt. James Sikes were sent to the Hatfield convention that month, and at an adjourned meeting Bliss and Worthington refused to serve on an advisory committee on the state of affairs. William Pynchon was the moving spirit of this com- mittee, and the following report, adopted September 25, 1786, is added as expressing an heroic faith and admirable self-control amid deplorable commotions, hungry men, swarming debtors, exacting creditors, obstructed courts, dismembered families, and the plots of sundry seditious spirits ready for adventure on general principles : -


To Sam" Lyman Esqr Sir as the approaching Session of the General Court, at which you are to attend as the Representative of this town will be peculiarly important, we think it our duty to Communicate to you our sentiments on sundry matters which may probably then be subjects of deliberation and debate.


While we disapprove the late voilent proceedings which have obstructed the Course of public Justice in this & some other Conntys, we are constrained to say, we feel in Common with others, the pressure of public burthens, and fully persuaded that some measures, perfectly consistent with Justice, and the honour of Government, might be adopted, which would afford sensible relief, and restore general tranquility.


The late appropriations of revenue, arising from liscences and Impost, and liscences from Inholder and retailers of Spiritous liquors to the payment of interest on our state securities has given us as well as others, great Uneasiness.


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SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1SSC.


You will use your influence, that this revenue be in future applied to purchase this states share of the final settlement Certificates, which may now be obtained at a low rate, for this purpose Agents may be employed, nor do we see why the impost and excise may not be payable in the Certificates made themselves, or solid Coin at the option of the debtors, with such difference as obtains in private dealings. Thus we shall be able to answer the requisitions of Congress without a future tax, for probably this State which has all along distinguished not to say distressed herself by her forward exertions in the common Cause, will appear to have a ballance due to her from the United States whenever her accounts with them are adjusted, which we wish may be soon as possible.


Let the interest on our State securities no more be paid in Coin, which was not the original promise, nor expectation nor ean Justice require it, as these securities have been generally transferred, and are now negotiated at a low rate, and the possessors have in various ways received peculiar advantages already ; but let it be paid in new Certificates or in orders on the taxes that have been or shall be granted for the redemption of said securities, as is praetised in other States.


When a tax is issued for the redemption of securities already due, let it fall a little below their full amount, as has been wisely practised heretofore, to prevent an appreciation ; and, to facilitate the payment of the tax, we would advise, that the possessors of securities be notified to bring them to the treasurer and receive for as much as is due on them Certificates of smaller denominations, which may more conveniently circulate, and let them that have been or shall be granted for the redemption of said securities, as is practised in other States.


When a tax is issued for the redemption of securities already due, let it fall a little below their full amount, as has been wisely practised heretofore to prevent an appreciation, and to facilitate the payment of the tax we would advise, that the possessors of securities be notified to bring them to the treasurer and receive for as much as is due on them Certificates of smaller denominations, which may more Conveniently circulate, and let them be received in payment of the tax. Those which remain after the first collection is finished may be transferred to the succeeding tax, thus we apprehend, Justice may be done, and the people relieved and all the advantages of a paper Currency may be obtained, and the Common Mischief of it avoided.


If a motion should be made for a paper medium to be substituted in the place of solid Coin, as a tender in discharge of private debts, you will oppose it with all your influence, such a medium is insignificant in itself, pregnant of innumer- able Evils, both political & moral, contrary to the Spirit of our Constitution, and


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inconsistent with the rights of Mankind; whatever orders government may see fit to make with respect to future contracts, no government can possibly have a right to alter private contracts, already made under her patronage, and the pro- tection and security of laws then existing. A Usurpation in such an instance might soon become a precedent for Usurpation still more dangerous, till the liberties of the people were Annihilated, not to add that the increase of our paper debt at a time when it is already a burthen, appears a preposterous and ridiculous remedy. You are not to favor any motion for a present revisal of our Constitu- tion, we are far from thinking it too perfeet to be amended, but as within a few years it is to be revised, of course if then found necessary, we cannot suppose, it would be prudent, to ineur the extraordinary expense and peculiar danger of attempting an alteration. in so burthensome & so critical a time as this, there are matters of greater & more immediate consequence which require your attention, and on which present relief more Especially depends the general perturbation of peoples spirits at this instant, will scarcely admit that ealm dispassionate deliber- ation which is necessary in laying the ground-work in government in so large and so commercial a state, and a state which has so many foreign as well as domestic connections, and probably would prevent a tolerable agreement in any amend- ments that could be proposed.


We would further observe that the tax granted in march last and the method proposed for the payment thereof. under our embarrissments we conceive cannot be complied with, nor does it appear to us that Justice requires it should, for if individuals are possessed of Certificates which the legislature has directed to be received in part of said tax. why should they be precluded from paying the same in discharge of? unless a certain sum be likewise paid in Coin; or rather why should we be obliged to pay any part which is to be applied to Congress, so long as the neighboring states are making no such provision? You will there- fore consider this as an object of your attention and use your endeavour that such an alteration take place with regard to the collection thereof as will be con- sistent with the abilities of the people, or that it be suspended to some future period, or until our Sister states adopt similar measures.


If the legislature could devise a more expeditious and less expensive method of administering Justice in future, and for that end some alteration be made in the Courts of Common pleas and general Sessions of the peace, we would most heartily acquiesee therein. It may perhaps deserve a thought whether certain Justices specially appointed, may not be empowered to go into one two or three Countries and try causes, such as are now tryed by the Common pleas and General Sessions of the peace, and by that means prevent the needless expence of so


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great a number of Justices giving their attendance at the general Sessions of the peace as before expressd but this you will consider as a mere suggestion not as a positive instruction. .


A long list of delegates to the Hadley convention of November 7 declined to serve, except Joseph Ferre. On what class of men, it may be asked, did the burdens rest the heaviest? Let us take speci- men cases. In 1783 Noah Copley, of Westfield, allows his note for £4 17s. 5d. to John Worthington to go to protest, and the latter se- cures judgment with £1 9s. 2d. in costs. That is to say, to use round numbers, a man owing $24 had to pay $7 for the privilege of having the sheriff sell $24 worth of his goods. There were hundreds of such cases in the Court of Common Pleas. At the February (1784) session of that court, one Daniel Shays, of Pelham, " Gent"," was defendant in a suit bronght by John Johnson " yoeman," for the enforcement of a promissory note for £12. Shays did not appear, and judgment and costs were recorded against him.


Shays was a hired man at Brookfield at the opening of the Revolu- tion. He entered the army as a sergeant, being under Washington near New York. He received one of the swords which Lafayette dis- tributed to American officers. It is said, with what truth we know not, that he was for a time ostracized by his associate officers, be- cause he sold this sword, and continued to use his old one. Shays eventually became captain in the 5th Massachusetts regiment, com- manded by Rufus Putnam, and his record at Bunker Hill, Stony Point, and Saratoga was creditable. Being a judgment debtor, and naturally a reckless character, he did not allow the sales of property under judgments in Pelham to pass without protest. The sale of the bedding of a sick woman gave him a good text for tavern harangues. The Conkey tavern at Pelham was made vocal with these " results " to self-government ; so was the Clapp tavern in East Amherst, as well as the West Springfield tavern, where Luke Day - legislator- at-large and captain in the 7th Massachusetts regiment - talked by the hour.


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We find that in the winter term of the Court of Common Pleas in 1784, Moses Bliss, William Pynchon, Luke Chapin, Isaac Morgan, Zenas Parsons, Abel Chapin, Jonathan Dwight, and many more were crowding on each other's heels to secure judgments against debtors, and Colonel Worthington and others foreclosed mortgages against the same unfortunate class.


The February term of the Common Pleas, 1786, was held at North- ampton, the justices present being Eleazer Porter, John Bliss, and Samuel Mather. No less than three hundred and thirty-three cases, mainly occasioned by the poverty of the unhappy debtors, were called up, and judgment obtained or action deferred. It is a monotonous record on the books, but was dramatic enough in results. There was a general wail of despair. Jonathan Dwight, " trader, " secured, for example, a judgment of £8 3s. 9d. and £1 15s. 10d. in costs against Ebenezer Rumrill, of Longmeadow, and Elihu Murray, of Deerfield. Their note was £7 15s. Their property was at once levied upon. We find John Worthington, Ephraim Chapin, Phineas Chapin, Josel Day, Luke Bliss, Moses Bliss were plaintiffs in similar actions. The Mays term was equally full, and the enraged army of debtors from all parts of western Massachusetts, would not let the judges proceed with busi- ness on the first Tuesday in August. Robert Breck, of Northampton, clerk of the court, says : " Early in the Morning of this Day, there was collected a considerable number of Persons under Arms, who paraded near the Court-House, with a professed Design to prevent this Court from sitting ; a Committee from whom presented a Petition requesting the Court would not proceed to do any Business. The Court being convinced thereof, thought propper to open the same at the House of Captain Samuel Clark, Innholder." An adjournment of the court was then made until November, but the insurgents inter- rupted all courts until May, 1787.


The elections of 1786 were hotly contested. Lawyers became special objects of contempt, on account of their agency in securing judgments, and the feeling was sufficient to exclude most of the pro-


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fession from the House. That body was found to be completely in the hands of the debtor element. They filled the vacancies in the Senate with men after their own ilk ; they passed a bill admitting to the bar all persons of good moral character ; they limited the fees of attorneys ; they imposed an oath on lawyers, to be taken before plead- ing, to provide against the cheating of clients ; and they attempted to issue more paper money. But the Senate was proof against these vagaries, and the session ended in smoke.


An angry county convention met at Worcester August 15, and an- other at Hatfield on the 22d, the latter body continuing for three days. Their demands included the abolition of the Senate, the Court of Com- mon Pleas, and General Sessions of the Peace, the lawyers' fee table, land grants to government officials, unequal taxation as between polls and estates and landed and mercantile interests, and the holding of sessions of the General Court at Boston. The convention also voted in favor of the election of civil officers by the General Court, the emission of paper money, and the calling of a State constitutional convention. Although this assembly recommended that the inhabi- tants of Hampshire county abstain from " mobs and unlawful assem- blies, until a constitutional method of redress can be obtained, " the judges at Northampton, four days later, were greeted with an ugly crowd armed with clubs and muskets. They surrounded the court- house, and demanded an adjournment sine die. After an informal session at a tavern, the court yielded, and adjourned to Springfield on the second Tuesday of November. The Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace at Worcester had been interrupted in a similar way, that same month, and a most alarming state of things existed, not only in the counties of Hampshire, Worcester, and Berkshire, but also Bristol, Middlesex, and other eastern counties. Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation calling upon all people to keep the peace. The Legislature was also assembled September 27.


At Concord, Great Barrington, and other places the same scenes were enacted, and the courts compelled to adjourn. General Shepard,


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of Westfield, was ordered to take possession of the Springfield court- house, which he did two days before the meeting of the Legislature. The Senate passed a joint resolution denouncing the interruption of the courts, approving the act of the governor in calling out the mili- tia, and providing for the suspension of the habeas corpus. The House refused to agree to the latter co- ercive measure, and hung up the report. A number of bills were passed by the House in the spirit of




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