USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 35
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That when they came more maturely to reflect on the nature of the present contest and the spirit and obstinacy of administration, - what an amazing expense the United Colonies had incurred, and how many of our towns had been burnt or otherwise damaged, what multitudes had been turned out to beg, and how many of our valiant heroes had been slain in
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the defence of their country, - and the impossibility of our being ever again dependent on Great Britain, or in any measure subject to her authority ; when they further considered that the revolution in England afforded the nation but a very imperfect redress of grievances, - the nation, being trans- ported with extravagant joy in getting rid of one tyrant, forgot to provide against another, - and how every man by nature has the seeds of tyranny deeply implanted within him, so that nothing short of Omnipotence can eradicate them ; when they attended to the advice given this Colony by the Continental Congress respecting the assumption of our ancient Constitution, low early that advice was given, the reason of it, and the principles upon which it was given, which no longer exist ; what a great change of circum- stances there has been in the views and designs of this whole Continent since the giving said advice ; that when they considered that now is the only time we have reason ever to expect for securing our liberties and the liberties of future posterity upon a permanent foundation that no length of time can undermine, - though they were filled with pain and anxiety at so much as seeming to oppose public councils, yet, with all these con- siderations in our view, love of virtue, freedom, and posterity prevailed upon us a second time to suspend the courts of justice in this county, after the judges of the Quarter Sessions had, in a precipitate and clandestine manner, held one court, and granted out a number of licenses to innholders at the rate of six shillings or more each, and divided the money amongst themselves with this boast, that " now it was going to be like former times," and had discovered a spirit of independence of the people, and a disposition tri- umphantly to ride over their heads, and worse than renew all our former oppressions.
We further beg leave to represent that we are deeply affected at the misrepresentations that have been made of us and the county in the General Court as men deeply in debt, dishonest, ungovernable, heady, intractable, without principle and good conduct, and ever ready to oppose lawful au- thority, as mobbers, disturbers of peace, order, and union, unwilling to submit to any government, or even to pay our debts ; so that, we have been told, a former House of Representatives had it actually in contemplation to send an armed force, to effect that by violence which reason only ought to effect at the present day. We beg leave, therefore, to lay before your Honors our principles, real views, and designs in what we have hitherto done, and what object we are reaching after; with this assurance, that, if we have erred, it is through ignorance, and not bad intention.
We beg leave, therefore, to represent that we have always been persuaded that the people are the fountain of power; that, since the dissolution of the power of Great Britain over these Colonies, they have fallen into a state of nature.
That the first step to be taken by a people in such a state for the enjoy- ment or restoration of civil government among them is the formation of a fundamental constitution as the basis and ground-work of legislation ;
353
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
that the approbation, by the majority of the people, of this fundamental constitution is absolutely necessary to give life and being to it; that then, and not till then, is the foundation laid for legislation.
We often hear of the fundamental constitution of Great Britain, which all political writers (except ministerial ones) set above the king, Lords, and Commons, which they cannot change; nothing short of the great rational majority of the people being sufficient for this.
A representative body may form, but cannot impose said fundamental constitution upon a people, as they, being but servants of the people, cannot be greater than their masters, and must be responsible to them; that, if this fundamental constitution is above the whole legislature, the legislature cer- tainly cannot make it; it must be the approbation of the majority which gives life and being to it; that said fundamental constitution has not been formed for this Province; the corner-stone is not yet laid, and whatever building is reared without a foundation must fall to ruins ;
That this can be instantly effected with the approbation of the Conti- nental Congress ; and law, subordination, and good government flow in better than their aneient channels in a few months' time; that, till this is done, we are but beating the air, and doing what will and must be undone afterwards, and all our labor is lost, and on divers reasons worse than lost ;
That a doctrine newly broached in this county by several of the jus- tices newly created without the voice of the people, that the representatives of the people may form just what fundamental constitution they please, and impose it upon the people, and, however obnoxious to them, they can obtain no relief from it but by a new election; and, if our representatives should never see fit to give the people one that pleases them, there is no help for it, - appears to us to be the rankest kind of Toryism, the self-same monster we are now fighting against.
These are some of the truths we firmly believe, and are countenanced in believing them by the most respectable politieal writers of the last and present eentury, especially by Mr. Burgh in his political disquisitions, for the publication of which one-half of the Continental Congress were sub- scribers.
We beg leave further to represent, that we by no means object to the most speedy institution of legal government through this Province, and that we are as earnestly desirous as any others of this great blessing.
That, knowing the strong bias of human nature to tyranny and despot- ism, we have nothing else in view but to provide for posterity against the wanton exercise of power, which cannot otherwise be done than by the formation of a fundamental constitution.
What is the fundamental constitution of this Province ? What are the inalienable rights of the people ? the power of the rulers ? how often to be elected by the people, &c. ? Have any of these things been as yet ascer- tained ? Let it not be said by future posterity, that, in this great, this noble, this glorious contest, we made no provision against tyranny among ourselves.
23
354
IIISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
We beg leave to assure your Honors, that the purest and most disinter- ested love of posterity, and the fervent desire of transmitting to them a fun- damental constitution, securing to them social rights and immunities against all tyrants that may spring up after us, has moved us in what we have done. We have not been influenced by hope of gain, or expectation of preferment and honor; we are no discontented faction ; we have no fellowship with Tories ; we are the stanch friends of the union of these Colonies, and will support and maintain your Honors in opposing Great Britain with our lives and treasure. But even if commissions be recalled, and the king's name struck off them; if the fee-table be reduced never so low, and multitudes of other things be done to still the people, - all is to us nothing while the foun- dation is unfixed, the corner-stone of government unlaid. We have heard much of government being founded in compact : what compact has been formed as the foundation of government in this Province ? We beg leave further to represent, that we have undergone many grievous oppressions in this county, and that now we wish a barrier might be set up against such oppressions, against which we can have no security long till the foundation of government be well established.
We beg leave further to represent these as the sentiments of by far the majority of the people of this county, as far as we can judge ; and being so agreeable to reason, scripture, and common sense, as soon as the attention of the people of this Province is awakened we doubt not the majority will be with us.
We beg leave further to observe, that, if this honorable body shall find that we have embraced errors dangerous to the safety of these Colonies, it is our petition that our errors may be detected, and you shall be put to no further trouble from us; but, without an alteration in our judgment, the ter- rors of this world will not daunt us. We are determined to resist Great Britain to the last extremity, and all others who may claim a similar power over us. Yet we hold not to an imperium imperio; we will be determined by the majority.
Your petitioners, therefore, beg leave to request that this honorable body would form a fundamental constitution for this Province, after leave is asked and obtained from the Honorable Continental Congress, and that said con- stitution be sent abroad for the approbation of the majority of the people of this Colony ; that, in this way, we may emerge from a state of nature, and enjoy again the blessings of civil government. In this way the rights and blessings of civil government will be secured, the glory of the present Revo- lution remain untarnished, and future posterity rise up and call the Honora- ble Council and House of Representatives blessed ; and, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
Attest : ISRAEL DICKINSON, Town Clerk.
This paper, like the first memorial of the town, was from the pen of Mr. Allen; and the growth in his mind, and that of his fellow-
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citizens, of democratic ideas, and a desire for constitutional guar- anties of free government, will be observed without a specific recapitulation of the points of the address. A nobler defence of the course pursued by the constitutionalists could hardly have been framed, or one based upon sounder political maxims.
It proved sufficiently explicit to forestall the proposed inquiry into the causes of complaint in Berkshire; and the General Court seems to have been so far satisfied, that no further action with regard to affairs in that county was had that year. The necessity of a more satisfactory basis of government, indeed, forced itself upon attention, and would not be put aside, even in that era of military disaster and extraordinary calls for exertion in. the field ; so that, for a time, the extreme measures adopting in the western counties attracted less notice.
Those who favored the retention of the baseless fabric of gov- ernment, under which Massachusetts was neither Province, Colony, nor State, - maid, wife, nor widow, - were indeed puzzled to find a pretext for its longer continuance. The corner-stone of Congres- sional advice had, as we have seen, been sadly impaired by the ad- verse recommendations given to other Colonies ; and the last frag- ment of support in that quarter had crumbled under the passage of the famous resolutions of May, 1776, declaring that " the exer- cise of every kind of authority under the king ought to be sup- pressed." At home, the legislature had previously entered upon measures to eradicate the king's name from all legal and official processes, and to replace all commissions under the regal authority with others under that of the Colony. But the use of the royal name and style, irritating to the masses, who had been taught by George III. heartily to detest them, was abhorrent to the constitu- tionalist thinkers chiefly as the symbol and the evidence of a de- termination by those in power at Boston to cling to a form of government which ought long before to have passed away. And, now that the symbol of royal authority would no longer be en- dured, the disposition to stop at mere superficial and palliatory reforms was so manifest as to excite the alarm of the advocates of a constitution, and to call for those paragraphs in the Pittsfield address which asserted the utter insufficiency of any thing short of a frame of government submitted to, and established by, a vote of the people. Statesmen of the highest ability and purest char- acter, throughout the State, sympathized with the zeal of the men
356
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of Berkshire, although, perhaps, not generally with the measures by which they re-enforced their not excessively humble petitions.
Pretexts were, however, found to delay action until September, when the General Court appointed a committee "to prepare a new frame of government." But the body which had made no hesita- tion in taking up civil government upon the hint given by Con- gress was now struck with a sudden qualm, which forbade them to proceed further towards laying it down without the express con- sent of their constituents. Even the preparation of the ground- work of a constitution was therefore suspended; and a circular asking authority for that purpose was sent to the towns, who promptly returned a favorable response. Pittsfield voted, "That this town highly approves the handbill sent out on the 17th of September, relative to the present General Assembly forming a constitution, and to be sent to the several towns for their approbation." 1
The decision of the people was ascertained at the May session of the legislature ; and the ensuing summer and fall were spent in preparing a draft which was submitted to the people in March, 1778, with a proviso requiring the assent of two-thirds of the voters to give it validity. It is strange, that, upon a matter of such fundamental importance as this, only twelve thousand voters registered themselves, and one hundred and twenty towns made no return at all. Of those who took the trouble to vote, five- sixths, " under the lead of an almost unanimous public sentiment in Boston," declared against the instrument submitted to them.
What the special objections to it were is matter of conjecture. Hon. Charles Francis Adams, in a carefully-prepared sketch of the reconstruction of government in Massachusetts, speaks of it as " a very imperfect instrument, largely partaking of the haste and con- fusion of the time in which it was made, but yet very much better than none at all, or than the temporary system which necessity had created ; " and expresses surprise that " interests had already grown up in the period of interregnum adverse to the establish- ment of any more permanent government."
1 The town showed its deep interest in the task imposed upon the legislature of 1777, by sending to it an unprecedented number of representatives, choosing for that purpose three of its most trusted citizens, - Valentine Rathbun, Josiah Wright, and Eli Root. The committee of instruction was also of unusual ability, consisting of Cols. Williams and Easton, Capts. Isarel Diekinson, William Francis, and James Noble, Lieuts. William Barber and Amos Root.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
The truth is, that those interests were as old as the Colonial magistracy; had sought shelter, in Province times, under the gubernatorial wing; had dictated the government of the interreg- num, and now desired to retain it with only such modifications as should not make it less subservient to small ambitions. It may be shrewdly suspected that there were those engaged in framing the abortive ship of state who had no earnest desire that it should survive the launching. To frail construction, by ill-designing workmen, may be probably ascribed, in part at least, the ill-starred fate of the Constitution of 1778.
The people of Pittsfield, however, held the same opinion which Mr. Adams expresses of the proposed instrument; and although it denied their darling desire, - a bill of rights, -and in other respects fell far short of the standard which they had set up, their vote was unanimous for accepting it, save the 19th, 24th, and 26th articles.
The 19th article provided that all civil officers annually chosen, with salaries annually granted, should be elected by the General Court; all others appointed by the Governor and Senate. Articles 24th and 26th provided that the judges, justices of the peace, attorney-general, treasurer, &c., should hold office during good behavior.
The voters of Pittsfield were strenuous in their desire that all officers, civil, judicial, and military, should be elected by the people for a term of years.
By voting to accept a constitution which, in many respects, differed widely from its own notions, Pittsfield now gave evidence that it desired neither anarchy nor the rule of local committees; but only insisted upon a foundation of government created in such a way as to recognize the right of the people to model their own institutions, and remodel them whenever they should see cause.
A consistent earnestness in the same direction continued to be manifest in all the town action. It having been demonstrated that an ordinary legislative body was ill adapted to the work, Pitts- field united with the other towns in the county in a petition that a convention of delegates might be called, for the express purpose of framing a constitution and bill of rights; and, on the 17th of December, Col. John Brown, having in the previous May been chosen representative, was instructed to press it upon the House that the convention should be called as soon as possible.
35S
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
In the mean time, the town, both by its separate action and by several votes in conjunction with the rest of the county, inflex- ibly maintained its determination "not to permit the holding of the Courts of Common Pleas or General Sessions."
On the 3d of June, 1776, shortly after the presentation of the second Pittsfield address, the House of Representatives received from Joseph Woodbridge of Stockbridge, Joseph Fairfield, Dan Cadwell, Jacob Ensign, Erastus Sackett, and Jacob Ward, of Pittsfield, and Ebenezer Doane, probably of Richmond, "a state- ment of the unhappy circumstances of this distracted county," in which they say, 1-
"Numbers of these enthusiastic people 2 having got themselves into the office of committees of inspection and correspondence, inoeulate the minds of their votaries, both by their example and doctrines, that they ought to pay no more obedience to the acts and doings of the General Court than they themselves think proper ; and notwithstanding the General Court, by authority from the Grand American Congress, have adopted a free and salu- tary form of government, and have appointed suitable offieers in this eounty to preserve peace and good order, by punishing the guilty and thereby pro- tecting the innocent, yet the committees above mentioned, disregarding the authority of the whole continent, whilst they themselves are despising, defaming, assaulting, and abusing the eivil officers your Honors have ap- pointed in this eounty, they assume to themselves judicial authority, and in a most arbitrary manner execute the same, both in eivil as well as eriminal matters; and this presumption of the committees, your petitioners humbly conceive, will be attended with very pernieions consequences, if a very speedy stop should not be put to their illegal proceedings, as they will inev- itably lay the foundation for a multiplicity of law-suits whenever order and legal government shall be restored in this connty."
This statement affords a fair view of the aspect which affairs in the county bore in the eyes of the minority which advocated submission to the State government. The reader is already pos- sessed of the different light in which it presented itself to those who regarded the necessity of a fundamental law as paramount to all considerations of immediate evils incident to a struggle for its attainment.
The legislature, whatever may have been its reasons, dismissed
1 It is to be observed that Cadwell, Fairfield, and Saekett were afterwards prom- inent " Shay's rebels ;" a faet which will be taken into consideration in estimat- ing their present devotion to law and order.
2 The constitutionalists.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
the Woodbridge memorial, and, so far as appears from the record, paid no further attention to the Berkshire troubles until the 1st of February, 1777.
On that day, the question of a new constitution having in the previous September been referred to the people, the following preamble and order passed both houses : -
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Feb. 1, 1777.
Whereas our ancestors, the venerable and virtuous settlers of this country, who were no less remarkable for their attachments to the rights of mankind than their zeal for religion, did, in the early ages of this State, enaet sundry laws for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and the preventing profane swear- ing, breaking of the sabbath, and other immoralities, for which the Supreme Being has usually punished a people ;
And many laws having lately been passed by this and the last General Court to detect and punish those persons who are trying to subvert the liberty of these free States, which laws cannot be carried into execution without holding executive courts within the several counties of this State ;
And whereas it is represented that the justices of the peace, in the coun- ties of Berkshire and Hampshire, have neglected to hold courts of General Sessions of the Peace as the law directs ; and grand jurors, who have al- ways been deemed an order of men upon whom the well-being of society much depended, have not, in those counties, been chosen as usual, and the justices there have been prevented from punishing small offences within their cognizance, by reason of there being no Court of General Sessions of the Peace to appeal to, by which delay of distributive justice there is great danger of immoralities increasing ; and as the power invested in civil magis- trates is absolutely necessary to the preservation of the people, more especially while an army is on foot in the country :
It is therefore -
Ordered, That the justices of the said counties be, and they hereby are, directed to hold their courts of General Sessions of the Peace at the times and in the places by law prefixed therefor; and it is also recommended to the good people of these counties to consider how much the happiness and weal of society depends upon the orderly and regular execution of the laws, and to do all in their power to aid and support the civil magistrates in the execution of their office.
The General Court seems to have expected much from this paper; for in December, finding that it had not been properly dis- tributed, it directed Daniel Hopkins, Esq., to send a copy to each town in Hampshire and Berkshire.
By this time, the Constitution, destined to be stillborn, had been
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
framed ; and, probably in anticipation of its early adoption rather than influenced by the document disseminated by Mr. Hopkins, the people of Hampshire permitted courts to be held at Spring- field.
The Berkshire constitutionalists too shrewdly appreciated the tactics by which the proposed Constitution was manipulated, to trust to its establishment before it became an accomplished fact. A respectful consideration was, however, given to the appeal of the General Court; and a convention was held at Pittsfield on the 12th of August, - Col. William Williams presiding, William Walker of Lenox clerk, -to determine whether the county would admit the courts of law. The convention desired the sev- eral towns to take a vote, by yeas and nays, whether they wished the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions, or either of them, to be holden in the county before a bill of rights and a constitution were framed and accepted by the people." The Pittsfield Committee of Correspondence was also requested to write to the committees of the different towns in Hampshire and Worcester for advice.
An adjournment was then had to the 26th of August, when the towns were expected to make their returns.1
At the adjourned meeting, the following result appeared ; the yeas representing those who favored the opening of the courts :-
TOWNS.
Courts of Sessions. Courts of Com. Pleas.
Yeas.
Nays.
Yeas.
Nays.
Richmond,
30
31
30
21
Alford,
18
0
0
18
Lenox,
1
69
0
63
Washington,
3
16
0
20
Hancock,
35
0
2
33
Lee,
9
12
9
12
Williamstown,
10
60
10
60
Carried forward,
106
188
51
227
1 Only one response to the request for advice is preserved. It was from the town of Worcester ; and was not written until December, - long after Berkshire had made its decision. It was a well-stated and temperately-worded argument against the position assumed in Berkshire, but was far from conclusive against the fixed idea of the western county, that government based on any thing but the express consent of the people was a dangerous usurpation. It was signed by Daniel Bige- low, Nathaniel Heywood, William Dana, Joseph Barbour, and Jonathan Price.
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