USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 19
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On February Ioth the committee informed the Assembly, then sitting at Windsor, that "the convention of the New Hampshire towns was desirous of being united with Vermont, in one separate independent government, upon such principles as should be mutually thought the most equitable and beneficial to the whole." In consequence of this application, the legislature resolved, on February 14th, that "in order to quiet the present disturbances on the two sides the river (Connecticut) and the better to enable the inhabitants on the two sides of said river to defend their frontier, the legislature of this state delay a jurisdictional claim, to all the lands whatever east of Connecti- cut river, north of Massachusetts, west of Mason line, and south of latitude 45°; and that they do not exercise jurisdiction for the time being."
The convention of New Hampshire towns was then sitting at Cornish, on the opposite side of the river : and on February 22d, the Articles of Union were agreed upon and confirmed ; nevertheless the right of dissolving the union of the district was retained by the State of Vermont.
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It is difficult to understand how the members of the con- vention representing the United Towns, the leaders of the College party could bring themselves to trust the assurances of Allen in view of their treatment by him and those associated with him in the Union of 1778, but they did so, and by their action forever ruined whatever prospects they might have had of securing a Connecticut Valley state. The insincerity of Allen is seen by a reading between the lines of his account just quoted, and after the final settlement of the whole matter he openly boasted that his sole object was to deceive them, and to throw them overboard at the first opportunity.
Of the New Hampshire towns in the convention Cheshire County furnished more than twenty, and Grafton but fifteen, but eight of the Cheshire County towns-Winchester, Keene, Walpole, Charlestown, Richmond, Alstead, Claremont and Newport, with their eleven members led by Gen. Bellows, pro- tested, and withdrew on the ground that while they were ready to join New Hampshire, or to set up a new state between the heights of land on both sides, they were unwilling to join Vermont.
The Vermont Assembly and the Convention met as agreed upon February 8, 1781 at Windsor and Cornish respectively and the second union was agreed upon subject to the approval of the majority of the towns in Vermont and two-thirds of those in New Hampshire lying eastward to about twenty miles from the river. This union was also practically a reunion of the towns east of the Green Mountains with those on the west, since for some months there had been but little left of Vermont but the western towns. The terms of the union which was completed February 22d were in brief, the continuance of the Windsor Constitution or the organic law, subject only to revision as was therein provided : that application should be made to Congress for admission to the Confederation, with this provision "that no member of the legislature should ever give his vote for, or in any way consent to, the submission of the question of the state's independence to the arbitrament of Congress or of any other power :" Questions of disputed boundary might be submitted to Congress, but only after the admission of the state into the Confederation. Expenses and losses of the several towns occa-
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sioned by the war should be equitably adjusted : general acts of amnesty and oblivion should be passed for all offenses commit- ted during the disturbed state of affairs, and all suits, prose- cutions and judgments against persons offending by trespass should be discharged and annulled. The two bodies then adjourned to the 5th of April pending action by their constiu- encies on the subject of the Union.
There was no adverse report from any of the towns east of the river. Thirty-four assented. Of these, fifteen were Grafton County towns: Gunthwaite (Lisbon), Lyman, Morristown (Franconia), Bath, Landaff, Haverhill, Piermont, Orford, Lyme, Hanover, Dresden, Lebanon, Enfield, Cardigan (Orange), and Grafton. Nineteen were Cheshire County towns : Plainfield, New Grantham, Cornish, Croyden, Claremont, Newport, Saville (Sunapee), Charlestown, Acworth, Lempster, Alstead, Walpole, Marlow, Westmoreland, Surry, Gilsum, Chesterfield, Hinsdale and Richmond.
Of the forty-three Vermont towns making returns thirty-six favored the union, and seven opposed it. Of the seven, five including Bennington, were west of the mountains, while but two Woodstock and Hartford were near the river. Hartford through the influence of Col. Joseph Marsh made no return. April 6th the representatives from the thirty-five New Hamp- shire towns, who had been elected when the vote was taken on the union, were admitted to their seats in the assembly, and the second union was formally accomplished. Among these were men of marked ability and influence, who had been active in the attempt to form a new state, and in opposition to the govern- mental policy of New Hampshire. The more prominent of these were: Nathaniel S. Prentice of Alstead, Dr. William Page of Charlestown, Bezaleel Woodward of Dresden, Capt. Oliver Ashley of Claremont, William Ripley of Cornish, Bela Turner of Enfield, John Young of Lisbon, Jonathan Freeman of Han- over, Col. Timothy Bedel of Haverhill, Col. Elisha Payne of Lebanon, Jonathan Child of Lyme, Benjamin Giles of Newport, Davenport Phelps of Oxford, and Thomas Russell of Piermont.
Measures were at once taken to place the affairs of the new state in working order. The counties of Cumberland and Glou- cester were divided into Windham, Windsor and Orange,
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beginning on the south, Cheshire was erected into a new county, named Washington, and the lines of Windsor and Orange were extended across the river to take in the towns on the east side, which were divided into four probate districts, Keene, Clare- mont, Dresden and Haverhill.
The Bennington party was in a hopeless minority. Col. Payne was made chief justice of the Windsor County court with Bezaleel Woodward and Thomas Marsh as assistants. Pro- fessor Woodward was also made judge of probate for the Dresden district, and was also chosen secretary pro tem of the Council. Col. Bedel was made a member of the Board of War, and Col. Olcott was placed in command of the Second Brigade. Bennington however was biding her time. At the very begin- ning she gained a vital advantage. The eastern towns were not admitted on equal terms with Vermont. The independence of the latter was to be maintained at all hazards, but her jurisdic- tion east of the river was merely set up as a claim not to be exercised if disapproved by Congress. To make such disap- approval certain, a feature of the plan of union was to extend the new state westward, as far as its extension eastward, to the Hudson river, this latter territory without question belong- ing to New York, and under this agreement eleven towns in the Hudson river section were admitted at the June session at Bennington on the same basis as the New Hampshire towns in spite of strenuous opposition of the river towns. At the same session Jonas Fay, Bezaleel Woodward and Ira Allen were chosen to attend upon Congress and apply for admission as a state with authority to take seats as delegates if admitted. That Fay and Allen, two of the three were of the Bennington party was significant. New Hampshire in the meantime was not idle. She awoke to the danger that confronted her. On the 3Ist of March the Assembly instructed the delegates in Congress to urge for a speedy decision, and to diligently and attentively support the claim of the state to the Grants, and to exert their utmost power to secure the confirmation of the claim. President Weare under date of June 20 wrote the delegates: "New Hamp- shire is brought into such a dilemma, and the government thrown into such confusion by the delay in Congress, that it is impossible for her to comply with the requisitions of Congress,
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to any great degree, while this dispute remains unsettled : and . it is in vain for them to expect it of her, as no supplies of men, money or provisions can be collected from more than two-thirds of that part of the state which lies east of Connecticut river, and unless Congress brings matters to an immediate issue one cannot tell how far the contagion may run, but very much fear that the state will very soon be ruined in a great measure, and not able to contribute farther towards the war." This letter was referred on the 9th of July to a committee of Congress consisting of Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Thomas Mckean of Delaware, Daniel Carroll of Maryland, and James M. Varnum of Rhode Island.
The next day Gen. Sullivan wrote President Weare, show- ing that both Mr. Livermore and himself were doing all in their power to secure a final settlement, and indicating very clearly that he at least appreciated the gravity of the situation: "I am every day more and more convinced of the danger and impolicy of suffering the question of the independence of Vermont to come upon the tapis. * I scarcely dare trust my thoughts on paper : but be assured, sir, that the policy of Ver- mont has induced them to make enormous grants to men of influence in several states, and even to members of Congress. * * The only plausible argument in favor of determining the question of independency, is, that this is not simply a dispute between New York and New Hampshire: but between them and a people claiming to be independent of both. The answer to this is simple and plain, viz., that New Hampshire and New York both by ancient and modern determinations join upon each other. Of course, no independent state can possibly exist between them, and their claims of independence can no more operate to alter the mode of trial pointed out in the Confedera- tion, than if Massachusetts and New Hampshire both laid claim to the County of Essex, and the inhabitants were to declare themselves independent of both: Here the first step should be to settle the dispute between the states : and if it was determined to appertain to Massachusetts, no other question would be necessary. Besides, if we admit for a moment the possibility of its being independent, we declare it out of the union, and oust ourselves of any jurisdiction, as we have nothing to do
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with more than thirteen states: a fourteenth would have a right to deny the jurisdiction of Congress, which it seems Vermont has already done. The safest ground therefore for New Hamp- shire is to insist that there is no intermediate spot between New York and New Hampshire: and that as Congress have included Vermont within the limits of the thirteen United States, it must belong to some one of them; and, therefore Congress ought to determine to which,-agreeable to the rules laid down in the Confederation. I confess myself astonished at the pro- ceedings of Vermont, and more so at the conduct of the inhab- itants in our own counties. I am unwilling to believe them influenced by the British; but a variety of circumstances have almost confirmed me in this opinion."
The committee Jonas Fay, Bezaleel Woodward and Ira Allen who were appointed by the Vermont legislature in June to wait upon Congress and apply for the admission of Vermont were received in Philadelphia August 18, by a committee of Congress, who reported August 20 a resolve which was adopted by Congress that an indispensable condition of admission would be a relinquishment by Vermont of all territory in New York west of the Massachusetts line, and all east of Connecticut river in New Hampshire. Fay and Allen naturally announced a will- ingness to accept that condition, only they stipulated that Vermont should be first admitted. The committee returned home for instructions.
The Vermont legislature met again at Charlestown October II, for the first and only time east of the river. There were mem- bers present from 102 towns. 66 west of the river and 36 east. The membership, was much the same as in the previous legis- lature after the union. Governor Chittenden had been re-elected, but there being no choice for deputy governor Col. Payne of Lebanon was elected by the legislature October 12, and by virtue of this office became Major-General of the State Militia. He was also chosen Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and Professor Woodward was chosen one of the four judges of the Superior Court, but declined the office, remaining however as clerk of the joint assembly.
The committee who have been appointed to wait upon Congress, Fay, Woodward and Allen submitted copies of the
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papers and documents which had been submitted to Congress, with the resolutions of Congress of August 17 and August, 20, and these were considered in the committee of the whole on the 16th, 17th and 18th of October, when it was resolved that the legislature of Vermont could not comply with the resolutions adopted by Congress August 20 "without destroying the founda- tion of the present universal harmony and agreement, that subsists in this state, and a violation of solemn compact, entered into by articles of Union and Confederation." It was also voted that whenever the State of Vermont as then constituted should be admitted to the union, disputes with New Hampshire and Vermont concerning boundary lines should be submitted to Congress for decision or to five or more judicious unprejudiced persons, and that such decision should be held sacredly binding on each of the states, parties to the disputes. Still further, nine commissioners, three from each of the three sections of Vermont were also elected to treat with commissioners to be elected on the part of New Hampshire and New York respectively for adjusting jurisdictional boundary lines, but neither New Hamp- shire nor New York assented to this plan.
While these resolves were being adopted at Charlestown, and the assembly was assuming almost a defiant attitude toward New Hampshire, New York and Congress, there were indica- tions that Congress was at last to take action. A committee of that body, which had held the matter under advisement for some weeks, at last on the 17th of October reported a series of resolves, declaring that all the territory east of Connecticut river should be guaranteed to New Hampshire, and that Vermont's claim to the territory it had recently sought to annex from New York should be abandoned ; that upon the relinquishment of her claim to this territory both on the east and west Vermont should be immediately recognized and admitted into the Confederation, and that in case of refusal after thirty days, "Congress will con- sider such neglect or refusal as a manifest indication of designs hostile to these United States, and that all the pretensions and applications of the said inhabitants, heretofore made for admis- sion into the Federal Union, were fallacious and delusive; and that thereupon the arms of these states shall be employed against the said inhabitants within the district aforesaid accord-
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ingly. And Congress will consider all the lands within said territory to the eastward of a line drawn along the summit of a ridge of mountains or height of land extending from south to north throughout the said territory between Connecticut river on the east and Hudson river and Lake Champlain on the west, as guaranteed to New Hampshire under the Articles of Confed- eration ; and all the lands within said territory, to the westward of said line as guaranteed to New York under the Articles of Confederation, provided always, that Congress will consider any other petition which shall hereafter by an agreement between the legislatures of New Hampshire and New York, be made between their respective states concerning the territory afore- said, as guaranteed to them according to such agreement." These resolves were debated at different times for some weeks without coming to a vote, but as indicating the attitude of Con- gress they were not without large influence.
When the Vermont legislature which met at Charlestown, and in which the Bennington party were in a minority, adjourned, it was to meet at Bennington on the last Thursday of January 1782. But there was trouble in Cheshire County even before the meeting of the Charlestown legislature, trouble which became more and more serious after adjournment. The towns in that county which had protested against the union with Vermont, had one after another, with the exception of Winchester joined themselves to Vermont, but the union was still in disfavor with an active and strong minority, who were held in check only by violence and threats. Gen. Bellows not only refused to take office under the new state but actively exerted himself to re- establish New Hampshire in control in the county. Complaints of persecution and outrages committed on a dissenting minority in Grafton County were made to the Exeter authorities, but the chief trouble was in Cheshire County, where the civil authorities of the two states came into open conflict, and jail commitments and attempted jail deliverances became the order of the day. The feeling aroused in many towns was vindictively bitter. In November and December armed collision seemed imminent. The Vermont County of Washington was comprised of towns lying within the New Hampshire County of Cheshire. It trans- pired that at the same time and in the same place, justices,
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sheriffs, constables, appointed by the authority of both states, were exercising, or attempting to exercise jurisdiction over the same persons. Courts were held under the authority of each state, and individuals according to their adherence to New Hampshire or Vermont sought justice at the tribunal of what he considered his own state. Conflict was inevitable. New Hampshire passed acts for the enforcement of its authority in Cheshire and Grafton counties. About the middle of December Major General Payne actually issued orders for the Vermont Militia to march to the scene of the troubles, but proposals for peaceable negotiations having been made they were counter- manded two days later. In January, however, New Hampshire ordered for a like service a draft of a thousand men from the eastern and southern regiments, and sent a circular proclamation throughout the Cheshire and Grafton County towns requiring all persons to subscribe a declaration of allegiance to New Hampshire or leave the state. Similar confusion and open con- flict of authority occurred in the eleven towns which had been annexed from New York.
As the time for the meeting of the Vermont legislature at Bennington drew near, it became evident that some action must be taken to settle the conflict of authority in Cheshire and Grafton. On the 14th of November, 1781 Governor Chittenden wrote to General Washington explaining the recently discov- ered secret correspondence between the Bennington party and the British enemy, and at the same time took occasion to allude to the controversy relative to the admission of Vermont then pending in Congress. Ira Allen had also about the same time visited Exeter and came to a secret understanding with some of the influential men in the administration of affairs there. In his letter to General Washington Governor Chitten- den frankly avowed that the union of Vermont with the New Hampshire and New York towns had not been entered into in good faith, that it was simply a political maneuvre by which "the Cabinet of Vermont projected the extension of their claim of jurisdiction upon the States of New Hampshire and New York: that it was in consequence of the difficult juncture of affairs, with which the course adopted by them in opposition to her interest and the interests of the country had brought her,
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and was as well to quiet some of her own internal divisions occasioned by the machinations of those two governments, as to make them experience the evils of intestine broils and strengthen Vermont against insult."
General Washington replied from Philadelphia under date of January I, 1782 earnestly appealing for an immediate sub- mission on the part of Vermont to the will of Congress, imply- ing that such submission was the only thing needed to secure the immediate admission of Vermont into the union. "I am apt to think," he wrote, "that your late extension of claim has rather diminished than increased your friends: and that, if such extension should be persisted in, it will be made a common cause and not considered as only affecting the rights of those states immediately interested in the loss of territory ;- a loss of too serious a nature not to claim the attention of any people. There is no calamity within the compass of my foresight, which is more to be dreaded than the necessity of coercion on the part of Congress; and consequently every endeavor should be used to prevent the execution of so disagreeable a measure. It must involve the ruin of that state against which the resentment of the others is pointed."
The legislature met at Bennington on the last Thursday in January, 1782. Owing to the condition of the roads many of the river towns were not represented. On the IIth of February the letter of General Washington, the receipt of which by Governor Chittenden had been kept secret was read to the Assembly, and on the 19th the General Assembly went into the Committee of the Whole with Governor Chittenden in the Chair to take into con- sideration the action of Congress the previous August. Letters and papers pertaining to the matter were read, particularly the letter from General Washington which evidently had great influ- ence with the whole body. The following resolution reported by the committee was adopted by the Assembly February 22: "Re- solved that Congress in their resolutions of the 7th and 20th of August last in guaranteeing to the respective States of New York and New Hampshire all territory without certain limits therein expressed, have eventually determined the boundaries of this State." An act was passed in conformity with this reso- lution relinquishing all claims to the disputed territory, and
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on the 23d it was resolved "that the west bank of Connecticut river and a line beginning at the northwest corner of the Massachusetts State, from thence northward twenty miles east of Hudson's river as specified in the resolution of August last, shall be considered as east and west boundaries of this State, and that this Assembly do hereby relinquish all claim and de- mand to and right of jurisdiction in and over any district of territory without said boundary lines, and that authenticated copies of this resolution be forthwith officially transmitted to Congress and the States of New Hampshire and New York respectively."
Thus ended the controversy between New Hampshire and Vermont so far as boundaries and jurisdiction were concerned. The long struggle for a union of the Connecticut Valley towns under one government was ended. The Bennington party was naturally jubilant and at once hurried off to Philadelphia four agents with secret instructions in expectation of receiving promptly the stipulated price of their violation of solemn and sacredly binding pledges to the eastern towns, admission to the union. Congress, however, refused at the time to even con- sider the matter, and nine years elapsed before Vermont obtained recognition of her Statehood and membership in the sisterhood of States.
When the members from Windsor County east of the river arrived at Bennington they found the union dissolved and themselves excluded from their seats in the legislature. They took the only course open to them, met, chose deputy governor and chief justice Payne chairman, and issued a call for the excluded towns to choose delegates to meet at Dresden on the third Tuesday of March, 1782, "in order to devise proper ways and measures to be taken under their present situation relative to settling the animosities subsisting, in order for an honorable union with New Hampshire." This convention was held in pursuance of the call, and it was voted to choose agents to apply to the New Hampshire Assembly for a union with that State upon certain terms which were stated in fifteen articles which were drafted with great care, presumably by Col. Payne and Professor Woodward. The agents waited on the Assembly, but found that body in no mood to listen to dictation. It would
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listen to nothing but unconditional surrender, and proceeded at once to exercise its power. The courts in Grafton County were re-established, and precepts were issued to sundry towns in Grafton and Cheshire for the election of representatives to the General Court. The name of Professor Woodward was omitted in the list of judicial appointments, and there was no attempt at conciliation of the college party. The disturbed condition of affairs was still a long time in settling. Even in Cheshire county which had been the stronghold of the New Hampshire party there was confusion and bitter dissension. General Bellows, who was a member of the New Hampshire Council reported in July that Richmond, Claremont, Cornish, Plainfield and Croyden refused to pay taxes, and that in nearly every town in the county there were some who declared openly for the British, but in September representatives from some of these towns appeared at Exeter and took their seats. Haverhill was the first town in Grafton County to be represented, sending Judge James Woodward in 1782, and Col. Timothy Bedel, who had been a member of the Vermont legislature under the union in 1783. Hanover held out for concessions until 1784.
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