USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the commonwealth period. 1775-1820 v. III > Part 20
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192
CONVENTION AT PORTLAND.
CHAP. vention was held in Falmouth, now Portland, to discuss the V. propriety of forming into a separate state the District of
1785. Oct. 5. Maine. The want of a separate government had long been felt in those parts ; and, as a number of persons of probity and wealth were desirous of a separation, they had prevailed with others to meet and consider the expediency of the meas- ure.1 But their proceedings were believed to be "irregular ; " Oct. 20. and the governor, in his speech to the General Court, referred to the call of the convention, and represented the course taken by its friends as having "an evil tendency towards dismem- bering the commonwealth." The House, in their reply, con- curred in these views, censured the " attempts by individuals or bodies of men to dismember the state," which, in their esti- mation, were " fraught with improprieties and danger," and, in conclusion, observed that the " social compact, solemnly entered into by the people of this commonwealth, ought to be guarded with the utmost care ; and it will," they added, " ever be the aim of the legislature to prevent all infractions of it, and to preserve the constitution entire."
1786.
Jan. 4.
Yet, notwithstanding these declarations, the convention met a second time, and chose a committee of nine to prepare a statement of evils and grievances, and an estimate of the ex- pense of a separate government.2 Their report was presented Jan. 5. on the following day ; and, after it had been ordered to be signed by the president, and sent to every town in the district,3 a third convention was appointed to be holden on
1 The Falmouth Gazette, the only paper then published in Maine, was crowded with addresses to the people on this subject; and clergymen, phy- sicians, lawyers, and farmers seemed engaged in accelerating the event. " They all employed both their pens and their private influence in convin- cing their fellow-citizens of the pro- priety and advantages of becoming a distinct member of the Union." The notification for a meeting was published in the Gazettes for Sept. 17 and Oct.
1, 1785 ; but only thirty persons were present, from different towns in the district. Comp. 1 M. H. Coll. iv. 27, 35. 2 This convention consisted of thir- ty-three members from twenty of the towns in the district, and was organ- ized by the choice of Hon. William Gorham as president, and Stephen Longfellow, Jun., as secretary. 1 M. H. Coll. iv. 27, 28.
3 For this report, see 1 M. H. Coll iv. 36-38.
193
PROJECT OF A SEPARATE GOVERNMENT.
the first Wednesday in September. This convention, which CHAP. consisted of thirty-one persons, from the counties of York, V. Cumberland, and Lincoln, renewed the complaints of the 1786. Sept. 6.
former assembly, and appointed a committee to petition the General Court for a separation, after which it was adjourned Sept. 8. to the following January.1 In the mean time, the opposition began to be formidable, and remonstrances were sent in against the petition. But this did not discourage the friends of the measure ; and, on the reassembling of the convention, Jan. 31. though only about a third of the towns were represented, it was found that, of the whole number of votes cast, amounting to nine hundred and seventy, six hundred and eighteen were in favor of a separation, and three hundred and fifty-two were opposed ; or, reckoning by towns, of the thirty-two out of ninety-three which were represented, twenty-four voted in the affirmative, and eight in the negative.2 The motion, however, that the petition for a separation should be sent to the legisla- ture, was unexpectedly negatived ; and, though the vote was reconsidered by a majority of two, and the subject was kept alive by adjournment for more than a year, in the end it was dropped, or " rocked into a slumber," from which it was not aroused for several years.3
In the midst of these difficulties, the General Court, "always disposed to administer justice towards the eastern people in a spirit of conciliatory generosity and affection," devised meas- ures to " cool and abate the high separation fever." To this end, wild lands were exempted from taxation for the period
1 There were two conventions as- sembled at this time, but a " coales- cence " was effected, and they acted in conjunction. 1 M. H. Coll. iv. 30. The petition to the General Court, with the accompanying address, is in ibid. 38-40.
2 1 M. H. Coll. iv. 32. William- son, Hist. Me. ii. 531, says there were 994 votes cast, of which 645 were in VOL. III. 13
the affirmative. He also says that this meeting was held on the 3d of January, whereas, from the statement in 1 M. H. Coll. iv. 32, it appears that the former convention was adjourned to the last Wednesday in January, which was the 31st of the month.
1 M. H. Coll. iv. 25; Bradford, ii. 249; Williamson's Maine, ii. 521- 532.
194
RE-ELECTION OF GOVERNOR BOWDOIN.
CHAP. of ten years from the date of the execution of the state's deed V. to grantees ; the fee bill was revised ; the law for the relief 1787. of poor debtors was amended; roads were laid out at the public expense ; a term of the Supreme Court, and an addi- tional term of the Common Pleas and Sessions, were estab- lished at Pownalborough ; the laws of the state were ordered to be published in the Falmouth Gazette ; permanent inhabit- ants, settled upon the public lands prior to 1784, were quieted by a deed of one hundred acres, on the payment of five dol- lars ; a college was established and patronized in the District ; and every thing was done that could be to evince a willing- ness to treat the people with suitable liberality.1
Upon his reëlection to the chief magistracy, in 1786, by the vote of three fourths of the people of the state, Governor June 2. Bowdoin, in his annual message, took occasion to refer to the interests of education, and urged upon the legislature special attention to the wants of the time-honored college at Cam- bridge. Alluding to the article in the constitution which required the General Court to provide for its support and prosperity, and to the difficulties under which it had labored, he proposed that the grants of land which had been made for its benefit should be fully secured, and, in addition, that a portion in the new township should be reserved for its use. He reminded them that this institution had been dear to their fathers, and had been held in esteem by the English gov- ernment, and expressed his confidence that a republican legis- lature could not neglect the interests of science. Nor was this appeal without effect ; and the action of the General Court furnishes satisfactory proof that a liberal spirit still guided its counsels, and that piety and learning were still esteemed by the people of New England.2
1 Address to Inhabitants of Maine, 2 Worcester Mag. No. 11, for June, Portland, 1791 ; Williamson's Maine, 1786; Bradford, ii. 254, 255. ii. 532, 533.
1786. .
195
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES.
Domestic manufactures, amidst the bustle of war, had fallen CHAP. into decay ; and the people, unable to attend to their improve-
V. ment, had become accustomed to depend for their supplies 1786. upon imports from Europe. A heavy debt was thus incurred, of the burden of which all classes complained. Hence, to remedy this evil, and at the same time to give a new stimulus to industry in the state, an agreement was entered into by a number of the wealthiest and most respectable citizens, to dis- courage the use and importation of foreign goods by wearing homespun clothes. The governor himself subscribed to this agreement, with Lieutenant Governor Cushing, and a number of members of the Council and Senate ; and, influenced by their example, in the most fashionable circles it was the pride of those who wished to be thought patriotic to appear in gar- ments of American fabrics ; and the spinning wheel and loom were busily plied in all parts of the state.1
It was, however, at a later date, and after Governor Han- cock had resumed the chair, that the legislature of Massachu- setts acted officially, and, by special enactments, gave public encouragement to such branches of industry as promised to be
1 Bradford, ii. 270. Comp. Wil- liamson's Maine, ii. 533. President Washington, it is said, on delivering his speech to Congress, in January, 1790, was dressed in a suit of broad- cloth from the woollen factory of Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, recent- ly established in Hartford, Connecti- cut. Pitkin's Statistics of the U. S. 469. For an account of the " spin- ning match" in Newbury, April 4, 1787, see Coffin's Newbury, 261, and the Essex Journal for April 4, 1787. The Rev. Mr. Murray, at whose house the " match " took place, delivered a discourse upon the occasion, selecting as his text the words recorded in Ex- odus xxxv. 25 : " And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands." Doubtless similar scenes were witnessed in many parts of the state. For valuable information upon
the state of manufactures in Massa- chusetts, see the Messages. of Gov. Bowdoin, and comp. Winthrop's Ad- dress on the Life and Services of James Bowdoin, in Addresses and Speeches, 119-122, and the Mem. of Slater. On the 20th of August, 1788, the tradesmen and manufacturers of Boston issued a circular letter to "their brethren in the several sea- ports in the Union," which was pub- lished in Carey's American Museum, iv. 347. The same work also con- tains several valuable articles on Amer- ican manufactures, especially of cot- ton, and on the introduction of the culture of cotton into the United States, which had not then been com- menced, but which has since revolu- tionized the history of the Southern States, and proved one of the strong- est bulwarks of slavery.
196
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES.
CHAP. useful, and for the prosecution of which the requisite materials V. could be procured. Hence a duck manufactory was estab-
1789. lished in "Frog Lane," in Boston, and a cotton manufactory in
1790. Beverly, both of which received pecuniary aid from the General Court - the former in the way of a bounty upon the duck manufactured, and the latter by a grant of eastern lands.1 The manufacture of pot and pearl ashes was likewise increased in the interior of the state, and the two hundred and forty establishments which sprang up supplied those who traded to England with a valuable article for exportation.2 Nails were also manufactured in large quantities ; and it is said that, in many dwellings, small forges were erected, at which even boys worked with their fathers, in the long winter evenings- thus contributing an appreciable quota to the income of the family.3
1 Mass. Laws for 1789, chap. xlii. ; old mill is yet standing. Mem. of 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 279; Bradford, ii. Slater; Pitkin's Statistics of the U. S. 468. On the factory in Beverly es- tablished in 1789 or 1790, see Stone's Beverly, Felt's Salem, ii. 162, and Pitkin's Statistics of the U. S. 468. On the manufacture of lace, of thread, and silk, in 1790, see Felt's Ipswich, 101. On the manufacture of wool cards in Boston, see 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 279, and Mass. Mag. for May, 1791. 329. Comp. Abbé Robin's New Travels, 16. So early as 1780, an as- sociation was formed in Worcester for the purpose of spinning and weaving cotton; a subscription was raised for defraying the expense of a jenny; on the 30th of April, it was announced in the Spy that "on Tuesday last the first piece of cor- duroy made in the manufactory in 2 Mass. Laws for June, 1791, chap. ix .; Bradford, ii. 329 ; Lincoln's Hist. Worcester, 321. For valuable hints on the manufactures of Massachusetts, see 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 276-286. On the general commerce of Massachu- setts before the year 1800, see Pit- kin's Statistics, passim ; Abbé Robin's New Travels, 15-17. this town was taken from the loom ; " and, in 1790, fustians, jeans, cordu- roys, and " federal rib and cotton" were advertised for sale by Samuel Brazier. The site of the first mill was on the stream below the Court Mills. Lincoln's Hist. Worcester, 321. For an account of the exertions of Mr. Orr, of Bridgewater, in introducing 3 Mass. Laws for 1790, 1791, and 1794; Bradford, ii. 329. The statis- ties of the iron manufacture in Massa- chusetts previous to 1790 are quite imperfeet. It is known, however, that a number of furnaces and forges had been established both in the Old Col- ony and in the Massachusetts Bay- tlic principal establishments being at Norton, Easton, Dighton, Weymouth, the cotton manufacture into the Old Colony, see Mitchell's Bridgewater, 59, and 1 M. H. Coll. ix. 266. The first cotton factory in America is said to have been established at North Providence, R. I., under the auspices of Almy and Brown, by Samuel Sla- ter, the father of this branch of busi- ness in the United States ; and his
197
SETTLEMENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW YORK CLAIM.
The settlement of the claim between Massachusetts and CHAP. New York was amicably effected during the administration v. of Governor Bowdoin. This claim was to a part of the ter- 1784. ritory to the west of the Hudson River ; but it was resisted by New York; and the subject was referred to the General Congress by the authorized agents of both the states, and commissioners were appointed to settle the controversy. These commissioners held several meetings, but without arriv- ing at a satisfactory conclusion ; and the agents of the two states met at Hartford, where it was agreed that Massachusetts 1786. Dec. should have the preemptive right to two large tracts of land, containing about five millions of acres, within the bounds claimed, a portion of which was situated near the centre of the state, and the rest to the westward, bordering on Lake Erie. The jurisdiction over these lands, however, was contin- ued in New York ; and Massachusetts, on her part, relinquished forever the residue of her claim, excepting the most western part, which had been previously granted and ceded to Con- gress, and which formed a part of the northern and western territory bordering upon the British possessions. The boun- dary line of the two states, which was likewise in dispute, was 1787 .. adjusted by skilful mathematicians and the geographer of the United States, who were employed with the consent of the General Congress.1
Hanover, Bridgewater, Lynn, &c. The opening of the revolution ; and, dur- "Federal Furnace," in Carver, was ing the war, the same gentleman was employed in casting cannon and balls. Hobart's Abington, 90. John Noyes is alluded to in the messages of Gov- ernor Bowdoin as a person interested in the iron manufacture, who, in con- junction with Paul Revere, his part- ner, offered to erect works in this state, if they could obtain sufficient encouragement from the legislature. The manufacture of axes, hoes, and other industrial implements, had also been introduced. 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 282. On the manufacture of glass, see Mass. Laws for 1793, chap. iii. established in 1794. Hugh Orr, Esq., a native of Scotland, was one of the earliest edge tool manufacturers in Massachusetts. He also manufactured firearms and cannon for the United States during the revolution. The shovel factory at Easton was estab- lished quite early, and, under the con- duct of the Messrs. Ames, is at pres- ent one of the most extensive manu- factories in the United States. 1 M. H. Coll. ix. 264; Mitchell's Bridge- water, 58. Meeting-house bells are said to have been cast in Abington, by Colonel Aaron Hobart, before the 1 Case of the Prov. of Mass. Bay
198
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
CHAP. V. Of the manners and customs of the people it is proper that something should be said in this place, in order to show the 1781. state of society at the close of the revolution, and the prog- ress which had been made within a few years. It is to be regretted that our statistics are so imperfect, since the labor of collecting information is thus greatly increased. To be obliged to rely upon detached hints and occasional allusions is exceedingly annoying ; yet, as the field has never been fully explored, there is no alternative but to follow such guides, however inadequate, until better can be found. Boston is described by a French traveller, in 1781, as presenting "a magnificent prospect of houses, built on a curved line, and extending afterwards into a semicircle above half a league." " These edifices," he adds, " which were lofty and regular, with spires and cupolas intermixed at proper distances, did not seem to us a modern settlement so much as an ancient city, enjoying all the embellishments and population that never fail · to attend on commerce and the arts."
" The inside of the town," he continues, " does not at all lessen the idea that is formed by an exterior prospect. A superb wharf has been carried out above two thousand feet
and N. Y. fol. 1764 ; Bradford, ii. 283 -285, iii. 32, 33. A portion of these New York lands was sold in 1787, and brought into the treasury of the state the respectable sum of a million of dollars; and the balance was sold in 1791 for $100,000. The death of Governor Bowdoin, which took place on the 6th of November, 1790, less than seven months after the death of the illustrious Franklin, between whom and Bowdoin a long and genial friend- ship had existed, should not pass un- noticed here. "Great and respecta- ble," we are told, " was the concourse which attended his funeral ; every species of occupation was suspended ; all ranks and orders of men - the clergy and the laity, the magistrate and the citizen, men of leisure and
men of business - testified their af- fection and respect by joining in the solemn procession ; and crowds of spectators lined the streets through which it passed, whilst an uncommon silence and order every where marked the deepness of their sorrow." Win- throp's Addresses and Speeches, 130. " It may be said," observes Judge Lowell, in his Eulogy on Bowdoin, " that our country has produced many men of as much genius, many men of as much learning and knowledge, many of as much zeal for the liber- ties of their country, and many of as great piety and virtue ; but is it not rare indeed to find those in whom they have all been combined, and been adorned with his other accomplish- ments ? "
199
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
into the sea, and is broad enough for stores and workshops CHAP. through the whole of its extent.1 It communicates at right V. angles with the principal street of the town, which is both 1781. large and spacious, and bends in a curve parallel to the har- bor.2 This street is ornamented with elegant buildings, for the most part two or three stories high; and many other streets terminate in this, communicating with it on each side. The form and construction of the houses would surprise an European eye. They are built of brick and wood - not in the clumsy and melancholy taste of our ancient European towns, but regularly, and well provided with windows and doors. The woodwork, or frame, is light, covered on the outside with thin boards, well planed, and lapped over each other, as we do tiles on our roofs in France.3 These build- ings are generally painted with a pale white color, which renders the prospect much more pleasing than it would other- wise be. The roofs are set off with balconies, doubtless for
1 Long Wharf is here referred to, which was 1743 feet in length, and 144 feet in breadth. In 1794, it is said, there were eighty wharves and quays, chiefly on the east side of the town. For an account of these, see Description of Boston, in 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 248, 249.
2 Washington Street is doubtless meant, a portion of which was then called Marlborough Street. The enu- meration in 1794 gave 97 streets, 36 lanes, 26 alleys, 18 courts, a few squares, and some short passages from wharves, and from one street to another. These streets were paved with beach stones, and were " mostly irregular." See 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 248. Glass lamps were then placed in the principal streets, which were lighted at dark. The lamp lighters were ap- pointed by the selectmen; and the lamps, oil, and attendance were paid for by the town.
3 Called " clapboards," or " weath- er boards," at the present day. Many
of the early-framed houses at the west had no other external covering than these " weather boards," sawed, or roughly split from the log, and nailed upon the studding. New England houses, however, were more substan- tially built, and had not only an out- ward covering of boards and clap- boards, but the walls were often lined with brick between the studding, which made the building warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. The small, lozenge-shaped panes of glass, once fashionable in the windows of country dwellings, are not alluded to by this author. Here and there one of these old-fashioned buildings may be found standing, off from the main road, in some by and neglected path, in a dilapidated condition, and with nearly all the glass broken, but with a few panes left in the gable win- dow, set in a leaden sash, which the stones thrown by mischievous boys have not succeeded in demolishing. Comp. Felt's Hist. Salem, i. 408-416
200
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
CHAP. the more ready extinguishing of fire. The whole is supported by a wall about a foot high. It is easy to see how great an 1781. advantage these houses have over ours in point of neatness and salubrity.1
" Their household furniture is simple, but made of choice wood, after the English fashion, which renders its appearance less gay. Their floors are covered with handsome carpets or painted cloths ; but others sprinkle them with fine sand. The city is supposed to contain about six thousand houses, and thirty thousand inhabitants.2 There are nineteen churches for the several sects here,3 all of them convenient, and several finished with taste and elegance- especially those of the Presbyterians and the Church of England. Their form is generally a long square, ornamented with a pulpit, and fur- nished with pews of a similar fabrication throughout. The poor as well as the rich hear the word of God in these places, in a convenient and decent posture of body.
1 " All the parts of these build- ings," he adds, " are so well joined, and their weight is so equally divided, and proportionate to their bulk, that they may be removed from place to place with little difficulty. I have seen one of two stories high removed a quarter of a mile, if not more, from its original situation; and the whole French army have seen the same thing done at Newport. What they tell us of the travelling habita- tions of the Scythians is far less won- derful." Many houses in the country were painted red, and many were un- painted, save by the storms, which had stained the walls of a dark, gray- ish hue.
" On the map of Boston published in 1769, the number of houses in the town is set down at about 4000, and the population at 20,000. Comp. Drake's Boston, 772. For an enu- meration of the buildings in Boston in 1789, see 2 M. H. Coll. ix. 204- 222. The number was 2639, in all,
both public and private. The census of 1791 gave 2376 dwelling houses, and 18,038 inhabitants. Comp. 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 249-254, for a fuller de- seription of the public and private buildings, in Boston.
3 For statistics of the churches of Boston, see 1 M. H. Coll. iii. 256 et seq. ; Snow's Hist. Boston, 337 et seq. ; Drake's Boston. The nineteen alluded to in the text were, probably, the First, which then stood on Wash- ington Street ; that in Brattle Street; the Old South ; the First and Second Baptist ; the church in Federal Street; the New Brick Church, with which the Old North had been recently unit- ed ; Christ Church ; King's Chapel ; Trinity Church; the Roman Catho- lic; the New North, and New South ; the Methodist Church ; the First Uni- versalist; that in Hollis Street ; the Sandemanian ; the Quaker or Friends' meeting house ; and the West Church. The Old North was destroyed by the British in 1775.
201
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
" Sunday is observed with the utmost strictness. All busi- CHAP. ness, how important soever, is then totally at a stand, and the V. most innocent recreations and pleasures are prohibited. Bos- 1781. ton, that populous town, where at other times there is such a hurry of business, is on this day a mere desert. You may walk the streets without meeting a single person ; or if, by chance, you meet one, you scarcely dare to stop and talk with him.1 Upon this day of melancholy, you cannot go into a house but you find the whole family employed in reading the Bible ; and, indeed, it is an affecting sight to see the father of a family, surrounded by his household, explaining to them the sublime truths of this sacred volume.
" Nobody fails here of going to the place of worship appro- priated to his sect. In these places there reigns a profound silence ; an order and respect are also observable which have not been seen for a long time in our Catholic churches. Their psalmody is grave and majestic ; and the harmony of the poetry, in their national tongue, adds a grace to the music, and contributes greatly towards keeping up the atten- tion of the worshippers.2
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