USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 10
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18 See Address of Judge Edgar Aldrich in Proceedings of the New Hampshire Hist. Society, Vol. III., pp. 194-231.
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ward to the call of Lexington and Bunker Hill. The province already had in active service more than three thousand men. The committee of safety determined to respond to General Sullivan's call on the second of December, and two thousand and fifty-eight volunteers marched at once to aid in the siege of Boston, where they remained until the British evacuated that city. Thus New Hampshire had in the field, in December, 1775, more than five thousand men, or one for about every sixteen of her population. General Sullivan thus wrote to the committee of safety, "General Washington and all the other officers are extremely pleased and bestow the highest encomiums on you and your troops, freely acknowledging that the New Hampshire forces, for bravery and resolution far surpass the other Colonies and that no province discovers so much zeal in the common cause."19
19 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII., 685.
Chapter V INDEPENDENCE
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Chapter V
INDEPENDENCE.
Tentative Government-Political Views of General Sullivan-No Desire for Independence at first-Forced to it at last-Plan of Representation Un- satisfactory to Some-Census of 1775-The Provincial Congress Takes up Civil Government-Were Two houses necessary ?- Opposition of Portsmouth and Other Towns-Popular Feeling as Expressed by Bel- knap-Adoption of Report on Independence in New Hampshire- Declaration at Philadelphia-Association Test-Treatment of Tories- Proscription and Confiscation-Benjamin Thompson, or Count Rum- ford-William Stark.
D URING the latter part of 1775 New Hampshire was vir- tually without a government. The old laws and customs prevailed by force of habit. The Provincial Congresses were voluntary associations and they could give only advice. With the departure of Governor Wentworth the province was left without an executive, and the commissions of many officials had been withdrawn. The necessity was everywhere recognized of coming to some mutual agreement, and the Provincial Congress, made up of delegates from nearly all the towns, was the body to take the initiative in the movement towards independence. On the thirteenth of November, 1775, the assembly chose a "committee to frame and bring in a plan for the future represen- tation of the people of this colony."
The most thoughtful men were inquiring of one another, what shall we do? There was a continual correspondence be- tween the leading men of the colonies. Statesmen were seek- ing to formulate the best kind of government. They wanted to avoid the errors of the old world and to make its oppressions impossible, and yet they had not learned to trust the whole people. Aristocracy was still in the ascendency. The opinion of General Sullivan was sought, who already, in the Continental Congress, had urged independence of Great Britain. His views are set forth in a letter to Meshech Weare. The controlling aim of government should be the good of the people. The
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British government was imperfect and unstable, because its branches often clashed. The Commons and the Lords each sought to overrule the other. A third power, vested in the king, only sought to keep the other two in awe, till it was able to destroy them both. Men boasted of the English Consti- tution who knew little or nothing about it. It would work its own downfall. "No danger can arise to a State from giving the people a free and full voice in their own government." The checks of designing and ambitious men upon the power of the people are unnecessary. It is the misconduct of rulers that has sometimes awakened the rage of the people, to the overthrow of the State in blood. If the people had more power and the rulers less, it would be to the advantage of all. The dictators of ancient Rome had too much power and this must always lead to either slavery or revolution. The tyrant must be slain, even if in doing so anarchy and riot are brought in for a little time. Sometimes the people will submit to another tyrant in order to expel anarchy. "I would advise to such a form of gov- ernment as would admit of but one object to be kept in view, both by the governor and governed, viz., the good of the whole, that one interest should unite the several governing branches, and that the frequent choice of the rulers, by the people, should operate as a check upon their conduct and remind them that a new election would soon honor them for their good conduct, or disgrace them for betraying the trust reposed in them." The governor should be chosen by the people for a term not longer than three years, chosen directly by the votes of the people and not by the votes of their representatives, who might some- times combine to defeat the wishes of the people, who can never be supposed to have anything else in view but the true end of government, viz., their own highest good, unless we suppose them idiots or self-murderers. He also favored a Council and a House of Representatives, both to be chosen directly by the people, and not removable by the governor, who should have no power of negativing the Speaker of the House. The bribing of voters by treating or in other ways should incapicitate a person for holding office. The check list should be used in voting and every precaution to prevent fraud. The governor's veto should be set aside by a renewed decision of the Council
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and House, and he should be answerable to the people for every act of government. Altogether it is a remarkable letter, and it shows that John Sullivan was as much a statesman as a soldier. Many of his opinions, as here expressed, had been derived from a study of the laws of Pennsylvania and conference with mem- bers of the Continental Congress.1
The connection with Great Britain was broken with great reluctance, and many could not tolerate such an idea. Ports- mouth, in public town meeting, instructed its delegates to the Provincial Congress to totally disavow the charge that "we are aiming at independency," and they affirmed that the present oppressive measures are not countenanced by the British nation in general. "Rather they are the schemes of a set of men lost to every sentiment of true honor, and sunk into a state of dissi- pation and luxury, which they are endeavoring to support by subjugating the most loyal subjects their master could boast of."
The committee appointed to report a method for represen- tation made its report on the fourteenth of November, 1775. It was, that every legal inhabitant paying taxes shall be a voter ; that every person elected shall have real estate in the colony to the value of two hundred pounds; that no person should be allowed a seat in Congress who should obtain election by means of treating with liquors either before or after his election ; that there should be eighty-nine representatives chosen, of which number Rockingham county was to have thirty-eight, Strafford thirteen, Hillsborough seventeen, Cheshire fifteen and Grafton six. The smaller towns, having a population of less than one hundred freeholders, were classed with similar towns to send a single representative, while Portsmouth had three represen- tatives, and several other towns had two.
This last provision did not suit at all some of the smaller towns on the Connecticut river. In the State of Connecticut, whence many of their settlers came, each town had comparative independence, its own registry of deeds and probate records, and so it is unto this day in that State and in Rhode Island. They contended that every town, however small, ought to be
1 N. H. Prov. Papers, VII., 685.
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represented in the State Legislature, and the persistence of this idea may account somewhat for the unusually large number in the New Hampshire House of Representatives today. The towns also claimed later that a person qualified to vote should thereby be qualified to hold office, regardless of the amount of property he possessed.
The delegates were chosen for a year and had the power on recommendation of the Continental Congress to resolve themselves into a House of Representatives for stable govern- ment. Each town was to pay the expenses of its delegate, and the expense for travel was to come out of the treasury of the colony. The plan as here outlined was adopted, and the Fifth Provincial Congress assembled at Exeter, December 21, 1775. Matthew Thornton was chosen president, Ebenezer Thompson secretary, with Noah Emery for his assistant.
In order to get a proper basis for representation a census of the colony had been taken in 1775, when it was found that the population of Rockingham county was 37,850, of Strafford 12,713, of Hillsborough 16,447, of Cheshire 11,089, and of Grafton 4,10I, making a total of 82,200. Portsmouth then had a popula- tion of 4,590, Londonderry 2,590, and then followed in numeri- cal order Exeter, Dover, Barrington, Charlestown, Epping, Rochester and Amherst.
The Continental Congress had resolved, November 3, 1775, "That it be recommended to the Provincial Convention of New Hampshire to call a full and free Representation of the People, and that the Representatives, if they think it necessary, estab- lish such a form of Government as in their Judgment will best produce the Happiness of the People and most effectually secure peace and good order in the Province during the continuance of the present Dispute between Great Britain and the Colonies."
Accordingly on the twenty-eighth of December, 1775, the Provincial Congress voted to "take up Civil Government to continue during the present contest with Great Britain, and resolve themselves into a House of Representatives and then choose a Council to continue one year from the twenty-first day of December current." Agreeably to this, on the fifth of January, 1776,. it was voted to take up Civil Government for this Colony in manner and form following :-
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We the members of Congress of New Hampshire Chosen and Appointed by the free Suffrages of the People of said Colony, and Authorized and Impowered by them to meet together, and use such means and pursue such Measures as we Should judge best for the Public Good; And in Particular to establish some Form of Government, Provided that Measures should be recommended by the Continental Congress; And a Recommendation to that purpose having been Transmitted to us from the Said Congress; Have taken into our Serious Consideration the Unhappy Circumstances, into which this Colony is Involved by means of many Grievous and Oppressive Acts of the British Parliament, Depriving us of our Natural & Constitutional rights & Privileges ; To Enforce Obedience to which Acts, A Powerful Fleet and Army have been Sent into this Country by the ministry of Great Britain, who have Exercised a Wanton & Cruel Abuse of their Power in Destroying the Lives and Properties of the Colonists in many Places with Fire & Sword; Taking the Ships & Lading from many of the Honest and Industrious Inhabitants of this Colony Employed in Commerce, agreeable to the Laws & Customs a long time used here, The Sudden & Abrupt Departure of his Excellency John Wentworth, Esqr., our late Governor, and Several of the Council, Leaving us Destitute of Legislation, and no Executive Courts being open to Punish Criminal Offenders; whereby the Lives and Property of the Hon- est People of this Colony are Liable to the Machinations & Evil Designs of wicked men; THEREFORE for the Preservation of Peace and good order, and for the Security of the Lives and Properties of the Inhabitants of this Colony, We Conceive ourselves Reduced to the Necessity of establishing A FORM OF GOVERNMENT to Continue During the Present Unhappy and Unnatural Contest with Great Britain; PROTESTING & DECLARING that we Never Sought to throw off our Dependence upon Great Britain, but felt ourselves happy under her Protection, while we Could Enjoy our Con- stitutional Rights and Privileges,-And that we Shall Rejoice if Such a reconciliation between us and our Parent State can be Effected as shall be Approved by the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS in whose Prudence and Wisdom we confide. Accordingly Pursuant to the Trust reposed in us, WE DO RESOLVE That this Congress Assume the Name, Power & Authority of a house of Representatives or Assembly for the Colony of New Hamp- shire. And that Said House then Proceed to Choose Twelve Persons being Reputable Freeholders and Inhabitants within this Colony, in the following manner viz, Five in the County of Rockingham, Two in the County of Straf- ford, Two in the County of Hillsborough, Two in the County of Cheshire, and one in the County of Grafton, to be a Distinct and Separate Branch of the Legislature, by the Name of A COUNCIL for this Colony, to continue as Such untill the Third Wednesday in December next any Seven of whom to be a Quorum to do Business, That Such Council appoint their President ; and in his absence that the Senior Councellor Preside.
That a Secretary be appointed by both Branches, who may be Councel- lor, or otherwise as they shall Choose.
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That no act or resolve shall be valid & put into Execution unless agreed to and passed by Both Branches of the Legislature.
That all Public Offices for the Said Colony, and each County, for the Current Year, be appointed by the Council & Assembly, Except the Several Clerks of the Executive Courts, who shall be appointed by the Justices of the respective Courts.
That all Bills, Resolves, or votes for Raising, Levying & Collecting money Originate in the House of Representatives.
That at any Session of the Council and Assembly Neither Branch shall Adjourn for any Longer time than from Saturday till the next Monday without Consent of the other.
And it is further Resolved, That if the present unhappy Dispute with Great Britain Should Continue longer than this present year, & the Con- tinental Congress Give no Instruction or Direction to the Contrary-The Council be chosen by the People of Each respective County in such manner as the Council & House of Representatives shall order.
That General & field officers of the Militia, on any Vacancy, be appointed by the Two houses and all Inferior officers be chosen by the respective Companys.
That all officers of the Army be appointed by the Two houses, Except they should Direct otherwise in case of any Emergency.
That all Civil officers for the Colony & for each County be appointed and the time of their Continuance in office be determined by the Two houses, Excepts Clerks of Courts, & County Treasurers, & recorders of Deeds.
That a Treasurer and a recorder of Deeds for Each County be Annually chosen by the People of Each County Respectively the votes for Such officers to be returned to the respective Courts of General Sessions of the Peace in the County, there to be ascertained as the Council & Assembly Shall here- after Direct.
That Precepts in the name of the Council & Assembly signed by the President of the Council & Speaker of the House of Representatives shall Issue annually at or before the first day November for the choice of the Council and House of Representatives to be returned by the third Wednesday in December then next Ensuing in such manner as the Council & Assembly Shall hereafter Prescribe.
Belknap says that this convention "was composed chiefly of men who knew nothing of the theory of government, and had never before been concerned in public business." He must have been personally acquainted with many of the members of the convention, and his judgment has weight. Nevertheless, the public record of many men who composed this assembly proves that they were not ordinary men, and, moreover, they
2 N. H. Prov. Papers, VIII., 2-4.
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had the advice and counsel of the ablest men in the colony and indeed of other colonies. In every state legislature a few men of brains and education lead the rest, and it must have been so then. Meshech Weare and Matthew Thornton were a host in themselves, and they were aided by such men as John Sulli- van, John Langdon, Noah Emery, Wyseman Clagett, and a lot of hard-headed merchants and farmers, who had more good sense than book learning. Belknap adds, that "in the short term of six months they acquired so much knowledge by experi- ·ence, as to be convinced, that it was improper for a legislative assembly to consist of one house only." Here the historian only expresses the common opinion of his times, an opinion formed by the prevailing customs of European nations. That opinion still prevails largely, because it is so difficult to cast out an ancient error and to admit a new and revolutionary idea. It is beginning to be mistrusted that two branches of legislation are not a necessity, and that the form of govern- ment set up in the various States after the Revolution was dictated by the aristocracy to safeguard their own power. The Upper House was meant as a check upon the Lower. The Senate was given power to overrule the Representatives of the people. The people as a whole could not be trusted by those who wanted to hold the reins of authority. Hence an Upper House, and a governor or president with power of veto, and a supreme court to declare the wishes of the people to be unconstitutional, and the binding of future generations to an ancient form of words, that can be interpreted in many ways, to suit circumstances. If the whole people can not be trusted, would it not be better to limit the suffrage to those who can be trusted and then let their will, their growing wishes and convictions be the highest law? Let not the dead hand rule our thinking as well as our estates. The opinion is growing that the House of Lords has been a hindrance to the development of England. The Senate of the United States has sometimes blocked the wheels of prog- ress. The Upper Houses of the States are often controlled by the rich. Is it not getting to be about time to try the experiment of one house of legislation, that shall truly represent the voice of the entire people?
There was diversity of opinion about this new form of
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government. The assembly received petitions from Portsmouth, Dover, Newington, Rochester, Stratham, North Hampton, Rye, Newmarket, Kensington, Greenland and a part of Brentwood against the steps proposed. It is noticeable that the petitions came from the oldest towns, where the people had lived longest under British rule. None of the new towns sent such peti- tions. The progressive West was opposed to the conservative East then as now. The newly settled countries have made most of the advances in civil government, and it is so hard for the old States to take lessons from them. It is like the aged accepting the counsels of the young. "Just wait till you are as old as I am; you'll know more by-and-by." A protest signed by people of several towns was presented by Pierce Long and Samuel Sherburne. It objects to the way in which consent of the Continental Congress was obtained, by importunity of delegates there, and quite otherwise than unanimous. It was presumptuous for a small colony like New Hampshire to take the lead in such a grave matter, while New York and Virginia have not attempted nor desired anything of the kind. The aim of the Provincial Congress was meant by the electors to be, to set the judicial and executive wheels in motion, not to start a revolution. The Congress had assumed power which had not been conferred and thereby would add great expense to the colony. The great objection seems to have been the closing one, "It appears to us too much like Setting up an Independency on the Mother Country."
The petition of Portsmouth, the only one preserved, was of similar character. The people should have been first con- sulted on so important a step. "It is an open Declaration of Independency, which we can by no means countenance until we shall know the sentiments of the British nation in general." The contention of the colonies was with the British ministry, which did not fairly represent the will of the British people. The measure would have a tendency to disunite the lovers of liberty in America, who were seeking for justice and their rights as Englishmen, and had no desire to become usurpers. They pray that the assumption of government may be suspended for the present and that regulation be adopted for the protec- tion of property. This is the plea of comparatively wealthy
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and aristocratic Portsmouth, for which the back towns had a deaf ear.3
Although many of the leading men were averse to independ- ence on Great Britain, as time passed thickly crowded with acts of hostility and oppression, nearly all became convinced that reconciliation with the mother country was impossible. Nothing but unconditional surrender and complete subjection would satisfy the British ministry. The popular feeling was well ex- pressed by New Hampshire's historian of that time. "Had the British government, on the removal of their troops from Boston, treated with us, in answer to our last petition, upon the prin- ciple of reconciliation, and restored us to the state in which we were before the stamp-act was made, they might even then have preserved their connection with us. But in the course of a few months, we not only found our petitions disregarded, and our professions of attachment to the parent state treated as hypocritical, but their hostile intentions became so apparent, and our situation was so singular, that there could be no hope of safety for us, without dissolving our connection with them and assuming that equal rank among the powers of the earth for which nature had designed us, and to which the voice of reason and providence loudly called us. Britain had engaged foreign mercenaries to assist in subjugating us; justice required that we should in our turn court foreign aid; but this could not be had, whilst we acknowledged ourselves subjects of the crown against whose power we were struggling. The exer- tions which we had made and the blood which we had shed were deemed too great a price for reconciliation to a power which still claimed the right "to bind us in all cases whatsoever," and which held out to us unconditional submission as the only terms on which we were to expect even a pardon. Subjection to a prince who had thrown us out of his protection, who had ruined our commerce, destroyed our cities and spilled our blood, and who would not govern us at all without the interposition of a legislative body, in whose election we had no voice, was an idea too absurd to be any longer entertained. These senti- ments, being set in their just light by various publications and
3 N. H. Prov. Papers, VIII., 16-17.
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addresses, had such force as to produce a total change of the public opinion. Independence became the general voice of the same people who but a few months before had petitioned for reconciliation. When this could not be had, but on terms dis- graceful to the cause which we had undertaken to support, we were driven to that as our only refuge. The minds of the people at large in most of the colonies being thus influenced, they called upon their delegates in congress to execute the act which should sever us from foreign dominion and put us into a situation to govern ourselves."4
On the eleventh of June, 1776, the House of Representatives at Exeter appointed a committee, consisting of Samuel Cutts, Timothy Walker and John Dudley, with such as the Board of Councilors should join, to make a draft of a Declaration of the General Assembly for INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED COLONIES on Great Britain, in order that the same might be transmitted to the Continental Congress, and the Council added to the committee John Hurd, Wyseman Clagett and Ebenezer Thompson, the secretary. On the fifteenth of June the com- mittee made the following report :
INDEPENDENCE
Whereas it now appears an undoubted Fact, That Notwithstanding all the dutiful Petitions and Decent Remonstrances from the American Col- onies, and the utmost Exertions of their best Friends in England on their Behalf, The British Ministry, Arbitrary & Vindictive, are yet Determined to Reduce by Fire and Sword our Bleeding Country, to their absolute obedi- ence and for this Purpose, in addition to their own forces, have Engaged great Numbers of Foreign Mercenaries, who may now be on their passage here, accompanied by a Formidable Fleet to Ravage and Plunder the Sea- Coast; From all which we may reasonably Expect the most dismal Scenes of Distress the ensuing year, unless we Exert ourselves by every means & Precaution possible; And Whereas We of this Colony of New Hampshire have the Example of several of the most Respectable of our Sister Colo- nies before us for Entering upon that most Important Step of a DISUNION from Great Britain, and Declaring ourselves FREE and INDEPENDENT of the Crown thereof,-being impelled thereto by the most violent & Injuri- ous Treatment; and it appearing absolutely Necessary in this most Critical Juncture of our Public Affairs, that the Honble the Continental Congress, who have this Important Object under their Immediate Consideration, should be also informed of our Resolutions thereon without loss of Time:
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