USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the commonwealth period. 1775-1820 v. III > Part 42
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2 Short Account, &c., 4; Bradford, iii. 218; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 533. The National Intelligencer stigmatized the federal leaders in New
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CHARACTER OF THE MEMBERS.
CHAP. from Massachusetts, however, as well as from the other states, IX. were gentlemen of the highest respectability and talent; and,
1814. " as far as their professions can be considered as sincere, - as far as their votes and proceedings afford evidence of their designs," - so far their conduct has been adjudged to be defensible. As has been well observed, "It is not to be sup- posed, without proof, that their object was treason or dis- union ; and their proceedings unite with their declarations and the sentiments entertained by those who appointed them to show that they neither purposed nor meditated any other means of defence than such as were perfectly justifiable, pacific, and constitutional."1 Indeed, such men as George Cabot, of Boston, the president of the convention, not a politician by profession, yet "a man of so enlightened a mind, of such wis- dom, virtue, and piety, that one must travel far, very far, to find his equal ; "2 Nathan Dane, of Beverly, the father of the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the north-west ter- ritory, and the author of a Digest of the Common Law, still
England as " a nest of reptiles, brood- ing dismemberment in the breast of a virtuous people ; whose menaces could do no more than to encourage the foe, and protract the war." And even Mr. Ingersoll sneeringly speaks of the legislature of Massachusetts as a body " of five hundred small farmers, plain mechanics, and village lawyers, in the multitudinous legislature called the General Court of Massachusetts."
1 Bradford, iii. 219. " Let any man," says Otis, Letters, 51, "figure to his mind the scene to be anticipated in the legislatures of the different states, on the presentation of a report recommending a temporary or per- petual suspension of our relation to the Union, by a committee distinctly inhibited from treading on that sacred and dangerous ground. And let him, if he can, settle down in the belief that any person of a sound and sober in- tellect would have felt any conceivable inducement to provoke, and meet,
the consequences of such an insult. Where, then, can the incurably jeal- ous look for evidence of the imputed machinations of the convention, which could never have been encouraged by a prospect of success ? All they are known to have done wears a very different complexion. In their pub- lished report is embodied the result of all their proceedings. Their private journal, since published, also, is a faithful diary of all that was moved in that assembly. The fact has been so certified by the lamented president. What more can be offered, or is ever required, than the natural, intrinsic, irrefragable evidence arising from the original, genuine records and papers of an organized assembly ? What evi- dence can be so conclusive, unless it be supposed that these men, with George Cabot at their head, agreed to drop a plot, and hide their shame by forgery? "
2 Pickering's Review, 35.
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CHARACTER OF THE MEMBERS.
held in high repute, eminent for his services in the state and CHAP. national legislatures, and possessing the esteem and respect of IX. all who knew him ; William Prescott, of Boston, father of the 1814. historian of that name, a councillor, a senator, and a repre- sentative from that town, subsequently a member of the con- vention for the revision of the constitution, and the president of the Common Council of Boston as a city ; Harrison Gray Otis, for two years succeeding this convention a member of the legislature, and afterwards a senator in the Congress of the United States, a gentleman of fine talents, fascinating manners, and great legislative experience ; Timothy Bigelow, of Medford, a member and the speaker of the House, and after- wards a councillor ; Joshua Thomas, of Plymouth, an upright, popular, and honored judge of probate to the time of his death ; Joseph Lyman, of Northampton, the sheriff of Hamp- shire county, and a member of the convention for revising the constitution ; Daniel Waldo, of Worcester, a member of the Senate, respected by his townsmen, as by all others who knew him ; Hodijah Baylies, of Taunton, aide-de-camp to a distinguished officer during the revolution, and long judge of probate for the county of Bristol ; George Bliss, of Spring-' field, a member of the state government and of the convention for revising the constitution ; Samuel S. Wilde, of Newbury- port, also a member of the state convention, and a judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, beloved and respected by a wide circle of acquaintances, and possessing the confidence and attachment of the people ; Stephen Longfellow, Jun., father of the distinguished professor and poet, - such men, by the most violent partisan, could hardly be suspected of deliberately " plotting a conspiracy against the national government, of exciting a civil war, of favoring a dissolution of the Union, of submitting to an allegiance to George III." Their charac- ter and standing, at the period of their choice and to the day of their death, are a sufficient refutation of all such charges, even if made; and if they were unworthy the confidence
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION.
CHAP. of the public, upon whom could reliance be more safely IX. placed ? 1
Dec. 15.
1815. Jan. 5.
1814. Dec. 16.
1814. On the appointed day, twenty-four delegates took their seats, and the convention was organized by the choice of George Cabot as president, and Theodore Dwight as secre- tary.2 Each session of this body was opened with prayer ; and, after its sessions had continued for three weeks, it was adjourned. The report of the committee, appointed at an early stage, suggested the following topics for the considera- tion of the convention : "The powers claimed by the executive of the United States to determine conclusively in respect to calling out the militia of the states into the service of the United States, and the dividing the United States into mili- tary districts, with an officer of the army in each thereof, with discretionary authority from the executive of the United States to call for the militia, to be under the command of such offi- cer ; the refusal of the executive of the United States to supply
1 Short Account, &c., 19-21. Mr. Ingersoll's Sketch of the Hartford Convention, Hist. of the War, Events of 1814, chap. x., is marked by the partisan spirit which pervades his whole work, and which, in the esti- mation of the prudent, detracts from its reliableness. The hypothesis of this gentleman, that the history of any period, "if not developed by some contemporary annalist, but left to posterior speculation, must be mere theory and fable ; less historical, philosophical, or veritable than the narrative of even a biased contempo- rary," seems to mẹ open to the gravest objections, and, indeed, quite untena- ble. Contemporary annals, it is true, are indispensable, and often valuable ; but impartial history can rarely be based upon the statements of any one who was an active participant in the scenes he describes, and who writes as an advocate or special pleader. In such cases, his work must be closely a full account of this convention is scrutinized, compared carefully with given.
other documents, and viewed through a clearer medium than that of politi- cal expediency.
2 All the Massachusetts delegates -twelve in number - were present ; of the Rhode Island delegation, Dan- iel Lyman, Benjamin Hazard, and Edward Manton appeared; of the Con- necticut delegation, Chauncy Good- rich, James Hillhouse, John Tread- well, Zephaniah Swift, Nathaniel Smith, Calvin Goddard, and Roger M. Sherman ; and from New Hamp- shire, Benjamin West and Miles Ol- cutt. Secret Jour. in the published account of the convention ; Short Account, &c., 22. Mr. Dwight, the secretary, afterwards published a his- tory of this convention, in which he defended its members from the charge of seeking a dismemberment of the Union. Comp. also Noah Webster's Essays, and Goodrich's Recollections of a Lifetime, Letter 31, in which
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION.
or pay the militia of certain states, called out for their de- CHAP. fence, on the ground of their not having been, by the executive IX. of the state, put under the command of the commander over 1814. the military district ; the failure of the government of the United States to supply and pay the militia of the states, by them admitted to have been in the United States service ; the report of the secretary of war to Congress on filling the ranks of the army, together with a bill or act on that subject ; the bill before Congress providing for classing and draughting the militia ; the expenditure of the revenue of the nation in offensive operations on the neighboring provinces of the ene- my ; the failure of the government of the United States to provide for the common defence, and the consequent obliga- tions, necessity, and burdens devolved on the several states to defend themselves ; together with the mode, the ways, and the means in their power for accomplishing the object." 1
The report thus made was accepted and approved ; and, at a subsequent date, upon the report of a new committee which Dec. 24. had been appointed, several amendments to the federal consti- Dec. 21. tution were proposed, to be recommended to the several state legislatures for approval or rejection. These amendments, as in the published report, were, "1. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respec- tive number of free persons, including those bound to serve for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed and all others. 2. No new state shall be admitted into the Union by Congress, in virtue of the power granted by the constitu- tion, without the concurrence of two thirds of both Houses.
1 Secret Jour. in Proceedings of the Convention, Hartford, 1815 ; Short Account, &c., 25, 26. The remark of Ingersoll, though otherwise intended, perhaps, is worthy of notice -- that ' they asked for no secret or segre- gated convention. The popular voice
was for delegates from all the com- mercial states, to devise measures of peaceable reform, not dismember- ment ; involving no new New England confederacy, or anti-federal, unconsti- tutional, or clandestine transaction."
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AMENDMENTS PROPOSED.
CHAP. 3. Congress shall not have power to lay any embargo on the IX. ships or vessels of the citizens of the United States, in the 1814. ports and harbors thereof, for more than sixty days. 4. Con- gress shall not have power, without the concurrence of two thirds of both Houses, to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and any foreign nation, or the dependencies thereof. 5. Congress shall not make or declare war, or authorize acts of hostility against any foreign nation, without the concurrence of two thirds of both Houses, except such acts of hostility be in defence of the territories of the United States when actually invaded. 6. No person who shall hereafter be naturalized shall be eligible as a member of the Senate or House of Representatives of the United States, nor capable of holding any civil office under the authority of the United States. 7. The same person shall not be elected president of the United States a second time ; nor shall the president be elected from the same state two terms in suc- cession." 1
Such was the "treason" of the Hartford convention - a " treason " with which anti-federalists had once largely sympa- thized ; for the very amendments proposed by this convention were substantially such as had been agitated at the time of the adoption of the constitution, and deemed necessary by its opponents to prevent the encroachments of the federal gov- ernment. But time often changes the opinions of men, or, at least, induces forgetfulness of once favorite measures.2
1 Secret Journal, in Proceedings of the Convention, 26; Bradford, iii. 220; Short Account of Hartford Convention, 30.
Short Account, &c., 12; Hil- dreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 549-552. Mr. Ingersoll has renewed these once popular charges. " The Hartford Convention," says he, " was one of those sectional and distant combi- nations to which this wide-spread, confederated Union is liable-justly
suspicious, and unquestionably unwar- rantable, whether criminal or lawful, or excusable ; provoked by no intol- erable sufferings - neither famine, pestilence, nor the ordinary calami- ties of war; whose severest infliction was privation of commerce, enterprise, and gain; not afflicting New England alone, but common, in great measure, to all the United States ; not deprived of subsistence, raiment, or habitation, while, by turning the versatile genius
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ACTION OF CONGRESS.
Only about three weeks after the adjournment of this con- CHAP. vention, and as if to demonstrate the justice of its complaints, IX. the General Congress passed a law covering the point which 1815. Jan. 27. had been most in dispute. The language of this act was, " That the president of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized and required to receive into the service of the United States any corps of troops which may have been, or may be, raised, organized, and officered under the authority of any of the states, whose term of service shall not be less than twelve months ; which corps, when received into the service of the United States, shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and be employed in the state raising the same, or in an adjoining state, and not elsewhere, except with the assent of the executive of the state so raising the same." 1
Nor was this all ; for, only about a week later, on motion of Feb. 6. Mr. Varnum, a senator from Massachusetts, it was “resolved, that the committee to whom was referred that part of the president's message of the twentieth of September last which relates to the military establishment, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making provision by law for the pay-
of the eastern people to manufactures, the hotbed of war fomented what has proved as profitable as their commerce. That convention, without treasonable act or hostile collision, contemplated the separate govern- ment of one or more states, which was dissolution of the Union; - lead- ing to partial peace and ultimate alliance with the enemy, which, Mr. Otis confessed, would have prostrated public credit and private property, real and personal, annihilated the pub- lic funds, and increased every calamity complained of."
Laws of the U. S., iv. 778 ; Otis's Letters, 38; Short Account, &c., 10, 11; Bradford, iii. 221; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. Mr. Ingersoll ob- jects to this view of the law, and says that " the state troops, authorized VOL. III. 27
by that act of Congress, were to serve the nation under its commander-in- chief, the president ; not to defy both him and them. South Carolina, Vir- ginia, Maryland, and New York, tendered their state troops to the na- national executive, for national hostili- ties. Massachusetts expressly with- held her troops, under the exclusive command of her disloyal governor. The difference is a contrast between acts of patriotic state devotion, and an act of state defiance, which, in all the typographical attraction of Italics, capitals, and rhetorical language, Mr. Otis displays as what he calls the egg laid in the Hartford Convention, hatched by daylight under the wing and incubation of the national eagle. Still more discordant was the spirit than the letter of that hostile act."
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MASSACHUSETTS APPROVES THE ACTION OF THE CONVENTION.
CHAP. ment of the militia which have been called out by the author- IX. ity of any state for the defence of any part of the United 1815. States against invasion, since the commencement of the present war, and not taken into the pay of the United States, and for reimbursing any state for any moneys . advanced for pay, rations, camp equipage, and all other expenses necessarily in- curred in calling out such militia, according to the rules and regulations prescribed by law for defraying the expense of calling out the militia by authority of the United States." 1 Feb. 10. Fourteen days later, a bill in conformity with this resolve was introduced by Mr. Giles, a senator from Virginia, and passed Feb. 18. to be engrossed ; but before the House could concur, the news of peace arrived.2
Already had the legislature of Massachusetts approved of the action of the convention, by adopting a report presented by a committee of which Daniel A. White - now Judge Jan. 24. White, of Salem - was chairman. " The expediency," says this document, " of having invited a convention of delegates from the New England States is fully proved by the result of their labors, communicated with his excellency's message. The committee entertain a high sense of the wisdom and abil- ity with which this convention have discharged their arduous trust ; and, while they maintain the principle of state sover- eignty, and of the duties which citizens owe to their respective state governments, they give the most satisfactory proofs of attachment to the constitution of the United States and to the national Union." 3 The resolution accompanying this report, and embodying its sentiments, was passed in the House by a vote of one hundred and fifty-nine to forty-eight; and the Jan. 27. governor was empowered to appoint three commissioners to proceed immediately to the seat of the national government,
1 Jour. Senate for Feb. 6, 1815 ; Hist. Cong .; Short Account, 11, 12.
2 Hist. Cong. ; Short Account, &c.
3 Otis's Letters, 11 ; Short Account, &c., 13. On the adoption of this re- port, the vote stood 159 to 48.
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PEACE CONCLUDED.
requesting the consent of the General Congress to the CHAP. measures recommended by the convention.1 Harrison Gray IX. Otis, Thomas H. Perkins, and William Sullivan, "all of Bos- 1815. ton," were the persons selected to proceed to Washington, Jan. 31. where they arrived "one day after the news of peace had reached that city." 2
It will be perceived, from this sketch of the proceedings of the Hartford convention, - which has been made the more full from a desire to do justice to the men who were concerned in that body, and to the state which suggested and approved its meeting, - that nothing whatever appears in those pro- ceedings to justify the charge, once so widely disseminated, that the design of its friends was to dissolve the Union, even at the expense of a civil war. So far from this being the case, the report sent out by that body is a temperate document, protesting against injustice, indeed, but breathing a spirit of loyalty to the Union ; and, at this day, it is presumed few who have investigated the subject calmly and dispassionately will refuse to concede the honesty of the men, whatever may be thought of the propriety of their measures.3
The news that a peace had been negotiated with England reached Boston in February, while the legislature was in ses- Feb. sion ; and it " gave great joy to every patriot." Both branches of the General Court joined in celebrating the event ; a pro-
Short Account, &c., 13, 14.
Otis's Letters, 38; Short Account, &c., 14-16; Bradford, iii. 227. Of the treatment which these messengers experienced, it is unnecessary to speak. It was such as might have been expected, however, from a triumph- ant majority, confident of their own strength, and rejoicing in the appar- ent discomfiture of their opponents.
3 That some persons in Massachu- setts were in favor of a division of the states, it is presumed, will not be de- nied ; for the step was advocated in a pamphlet entitled "Thoughts, in a Series of Letters, in Answer to the
Question respecting the Division of the States, by a Massachusetts Farm- er," as well as in some of the papers of the day. Yet justice, after all, re- quires the concession, that the spirit of disunion was never extensive; and to charge the whole people, or even a majority of them, with a design to subvert the national government, evinces a lack of candor and charity which can only be imputed to the influence of those feelings which so often bias the judgment of even good men, and which are the offspring of a too zealous adhesion to party.
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PROCEEDINGS IN BOSTON.
CHAP. cession was formed of all classes of the citizens ; a sumptuous IX. feast was given in Faneuil Hall ; and, in the evening, the 1815. whole town was brilliantly illuminated.1 Whatever was the difference of opinion relative to the policy of the war, no one regretted that it had been brought to a close. The American character for patriotism and bravery had not, indeed, suffered on land or at sea ; and the series of victories of the army and of the navy reflected great credit upon the gallantry of the officers and the courage of the men. If the incidents of the war have been but partially detailed in this chapter, it is be- cause they did not legitimately fall within its limits. The Jan. 8. victory at New Orleans, the crowning event, was every where applauded ; and the legislature of Massachusetts, by a hand- Feb. 28. some majority, passed a vote of thanks to General Jackson and his brave associates for their defence of that place.2
With the recurrence of peace, and even before that date, the attention of the citizens of Massachusetts was called to their domestic affairs, and arrangements were made for in- creasing the industrial resources of the state. Already had woollen factories begun to be established ; and, by the encour- agement of the legislature, at least thirty-four companies were incorporated for the manufacture of woollen and cotton cloths.3
1814. June. to 1815. June.
1 Bradford, iii. 230; Statesman's Manual, i. 375. The treaty of peace was concluded at Ghent, December 24, 1814; and, as soon as communi- cated by the president, was ratified by the Senate. "It was the occasion of sincere and universal rejoicing, with the exception, perhaps, of contractors, office-holders, and others, who were making great gains by the war, and, of course, were interested in its con- tinuance. To the administration it was an incxpressible relief; for diffi- culties and embarrassments had been long gathering and thickening around it. And the people were happy to learn the restoration of pcace, the re- vival of commercial enterprise, and
the prospect of a diminution of taxes in the future. On the subject of im- pressment, the treaty was silent, and commercial regulations between Eng- land and America were referred to negotiations, proposed to be resumed at an early day.
2 Mass. Resolves for 1814-15 ; Bradford, iii. 228; Ingersoll's Hist. of the War.
3 Mass. Laws for 1814-15, passim; Bradford, iii. 331. The companies referred to in the text were the Haver- hill Cotton and Woollen Manufactory ; the Ashburnham Cotton Factory Com- pany; the Athol Manufacturing Com- pany ; the Dalton Cotton and Paper Manufactory; the Paris Manufactur-
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MANUFACTURING COMPANIES INCORPORATED.
The incorporations for the latter purpose have since greatly CHAP. multiplied, and have brought into existence a Lowell and a IX. Lawrence, besides giving a fresh impulse to a number of other 1815. towns.1 As a consequence of these changes, and of the devel- opment of the mechanical and agricultural resources of the state, railroads radiate in every direction ; the commerce of the state encircles the globe ; towns have become cities, and villages towns ; our people are eminently an industrial people ; with the increase of wealth and of the comforts of life, the arts and the sciences have been successfully cultivated ; the press, the great engine of civilization, is actively at work for the enlightenment of the public ; our manners and customs have been ameliorated and improved ; the interests of religion and morality are fostered ; and the progress of society, and its intellectual advancement, have kept pace with its secondary and temporal advancement. Boston, from a town of sixty thousand inhabitants, has become a city of one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants; and the population of the state, from five hundred thousand, has increased to over a million - notwithstanding the separation of the District of Maine,
ing Company; the Northbridge Cot- bottom Cotton and Woollen Factory; ton and Cloth Manufacturing Com- the Farmers Manufacturing Com- panies ; the Amherst Cotton Factory; pany, in Lenox; the Steep Brook the Holliston Cloth Manufactory ; the Cotton and Woollen, and the Lisbon 'Manufacturing Companies ; the Brim- field Cotton and Woollen Manufactur- ing Company; the Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company ; the Dean Cotton Manufacturing Company ; the Farmers Cotton and Woollen Fac- tory, in Union, and the Union Cot- ton Factory Company ; the Duxbury South River Manufacturing Company ; the Stratton Cotton Manufacturing Company; and the Phillipston Cot- ton and Woollen Manufacturing Com- pany. Wellington Cotton Mill Company ; the Springfield Manufacturing Com- pany; the Oxford Central Cotton and Woollen Manufacturing Company ; the Globe Manufacturing Company ; the Stoughton Cotton and Woollen Manufacturing Company ; the Cotton, Woollen, and Linen Company, in the West Precinct in Bridgewater; the Stow and Watertown Cotton Factory Companies; the Monson Woollen, and Foxboro' Cotton Manufacturing Com- panies; the Wellfleet, and Easton Manufacturing Companies ; the Oak- 1 For an account of the number of cotton mills within thirty miles of Providence, in 1812, see Niles's Weekly Register, ii. 125. ham Cotton and Woollen Factory Company; the Stockbridge Cotton and Woollen, and the Stockbridge Cotton Manufacturing Companies ; the Rock-
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