USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, from its discovery, in 1614, to the passage of the Toleration act, in 1819 > Part 19
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CHAP. States, in congress assembled, effectually to pro- X. vide for the same."' By subsequent agreement, this convention was holden at Annapolis, in Mary- land, in September of the same year. Delegates attended from five states only-Virginia, Pennsyl- vania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York- and in consequence of the small number of states represented, deemed it improper to proceed with the important business with which they had been intrusted. Sensible, however, of the necessity of a re-organization of the government, they drafted an address to the people, expressing their views on that subject, detailing the defects of the arti- cles of confederation, and recommending a general convention of the states, to be holden at Phila- delphia, on the second Monday of May, 1787. Congress having seconded this recommendation, delegates from all the states, except Rhode Island, assembled at the appointed time in Philadelphia, and on the seventeenth day of the following Sep- tember, agreed upon a Federal Constitution. This instrument was soon after, by the votes of eleven states, in congress assembled, submitted to the several states for their ratification.
However unanimous the people might have been in the sentiment, that a national government, rest- ing upon some more substantial basis than the old articles of confederation, was essential to the pub- lic welfare, the convention of the states was divided by many conflicting opinions in relation to the principles upon which that government should be founded. A small portion of its mem- bers, permitting their partiality for a strong gov- ernment to lead them beyond those restraints
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which a regard for the great principle of equal CHAP. rights would seem to have dictated, favored as a X. matter of sound policy the establishment of a president and senate, to hold office during life, as the only means of protecting the government from those ruinous fluctuations of sentiment, which they contended would be the effect of a more re- publican form. On the other hand, a portion of its members were unwilling to invest the govern- ment which was to be the result of their delibera- tions, with the powers which are now universally conceded to be indispensably necessary to the common welfare in peace and the common de- fence in war. A vast variety of questions, all of them important, and some of them involving the peculiar interests of large sections of the country, successively claimed the attention of the conven- tion. At times almost despairing of being able to effect the purposes for which they were assembled, it was only by mutual concessions that its mem- bers were able to agree upon a constitution, which with slight amendments, now forms the connect- ing bond of twenty-six independent and prosperous states-a constitution which is at once venerated by our citizens and regarded with admiration by the world.
When the question of ratification was submitted to the states, the same objections which had embarrassed the deliberations of the convention which framed the constitution, were urged to pre- vent its adoption. The result was doubtful, and the whole community watched the deliberations of the state conventions with intense anxiety. The convention for the state of New Hampshire,
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CHAP. assembled at Exeter, on the second Wednesday X. of February, 1788. Eight states, some of them by small majorities, had given their assent to the constitution. The ninth only was necessary to its ratification. At this crisis, therefore, all eyes were directed to New Hampshire, as the state upon whose decision the fate of the constitution seemed in a great measure to depend. Its assent, on the one hand, would settle the question in its favor ; and its dissent, on the other, in the then divided state of public opinion, might create a popular impulse against it, fatal to its final success.
The convention was composed, to a great extent, of men of the first talents and respectability ; men whose services, during the trying times of the rev- olution, had afforded them the advantages of expe- rience, and gained them the respect and confidence of the people. General John Sullivan was chosen its President, and such men as John Langdon, Josiah Bartlett, John Taylor Gilman, John Pick- ering, Samuel Livermore, Joshua Atherton and Joseph Badger were numbered among its members. In the disputes which followed the organization of the convention, Sullivan, Langdon, Pickering and Livermore took the lead in favor of the ratifica- tion, and Joshua Atherton, of Amherst, was the principal speaker against it. Among other objec- tions raised against the constitution, and urged with great earnestness, was that clause permitting the abolition of the slave trade after 1SOS,* and prohibiting any action on the subject, beyond a trifling tax on their importation, before that time.
* Journal of the Convention which adopted the federal constitution, 1788, and which revised the constitution of New Hampshire, 1799.
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Mr. Atherton opposed this clause with great CHAP. warmth; and the following extracts from his re- X. ~ marks are believed to be the only relic of the debates of the convention, which has descended to the present time.
" The idea that strikes those who oppose this clause, so disagreeably and forcibly, is that if we ratify the constitution, we become consenters to and partakers in the sin and guilt of this abom- inable traffic in slaves, at least for a certain period, without any positive stipulation that it shall even then be brought to an end. We do not behold in it any assurance that ' an end is then to be put to slavery.' Congress may be as much puzzled to put a stop to it then as we are now. This clause has not secured its abolition.
" We do not think we are under any obligation to perform works of supererogation in the refor- mation of mankind ; we do not esteem ourselves under any necessity to go to Spain or Italy to suppress the Inquisition of those countries ; or of making a journey to the Carolinas to abolish the detestable custom of enslaving the Africans ; but, sir, we will not lend the aid of our ratifica- tion to this cruel and inhuman merchandise, not even for a day. There is a great distinction between refusing to take any part in a barbarous violation of the laws of God and humanity, and guarantying its existence for a term of years. Yes, sir, it is our full purpose to wash our hands clear of it; and however unconcernedly we may remain spectators of such predatory infractions of the laws of our nation-however unfeelingly we may subscribe to the ratification of man-stealing,
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CHAP. with all its baneful consequences ; yet I cannot but X. believe, in justice to human nature, that if we reverse the consideration, and bring the effects of this claimed power somewhat nearer to our own doors, we shall form a more equitable opinion of its claim to ratification.
" Let us figure to ourselves a company of these man-stealers, well equipped for the enterprise, arriving on our coast. They seize and carry off the whole or a part of the town of Exeter ; parents are taken and children left; or, possibly, they may be so fortunate as to have a whole family taken and carried off together by these relentless robbers. What must be their feelings in the hands of their new and arbitrary masters ! Drag- ged at once from everything dear to them; stripped of every comfort of life, like beasts of prey, they are hurried on a loathsome and distressing voyage to the coast of Africa, or some other quarter of the globe, where the greatest price may waft them ; and here, if anything can be added to their mis- eries, comes on the heart-breaking scene ! a parent is sold to one-a son to another, and a daughter to a third. Brother is cleft from brother -sister from sister-and parents from their dar- ling offspring. Broken down with every distress that human nature can feel, and bedewed with tears of anguish, they are dragged into the last stage of depression and slavery, never, never to behold the faces of one another again."
As the discussion of the provisions of the con- stitution progressed in the convention, the result became so doubtful that its friends were unwilling to hazard an immediate decision. At their request,
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the convention adjourned, to re-assemble at Con- CHAP. cord in the month of June following .* In the X. meantime the subject was fully discussed among the people. Objections which had existed to a few features of the constitution, were, in many instances, gradually overcome by a candid con- sideration of the benefits which would result from its adoption ; in many cases, instructions adverse to the constitution were withdrawn; and when the convention again assembled, it was with a brighter prospect, and a greater harmony of sentiment among its members. A session of four days was found sufficient to complete the deliberations of that body. On the last day of its session, the opponents of the constitution having in turn become anxious for the result, and made an unsuc- cessful attempt to procure a second adjournment, the main question was taken. The result was the ratification of the constitution, fifty-seven mem- bers voting in its favor and forty-six against it.t The convention, however, proposed a series of amendments to the constitution, providing, among other things, that no standing army should be kept up in time of peace without the consent of three fourths of the members of both houses-that the general government should make no laws touching religion, or infringing the rights of conscience- nor disarm any citizen, on any other ground than actual rebellion.
The convention excited an interest, with which the proceedings of no other deliberative body in this state have ever been regarded. The galleries of the church, where it assembled, were thronged
* Journal of the Convention. + Ibid.
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CHIAP. with spectators, and its members were surrounded, X. not only by large numbers of their own constitu- ents, but by individuals from distant states- engaged, some of them, in watching their deliber- ations, and some of them, no doubt, in efforts to influence the result. Even at this early period, purified as the moral atmosphere of the country had been by the storms of a revolution, the most opposite motives might very probably have influ- enced our citizens to labor for the same result. Of the multitudes who thronged around the meet- ings of the convention, many, doubtless, supported the constitution from a selfish regard to private interests of their own; while many opposed it from sentiments of the purest patriotism. Specu- lators, who had bought, at a ruinous discount, from the officers and soldiers of the revolution, a large amount of continental certificates, natu- rally looked to the establishment of an energetic general government as the only chance for their redemption. This class of men, therefore, regarded the constitution with favor, rather as the sun which was to bring their own golden harvests to matu- rity, than the means of dispensing the blessings of equal rights and free institutions upon a great nation. So true it is, that the best and wisest measures are sometimes sustained from venal and unworthy motives, while the most discreet and vir- tuous men in the community, from mistaken views, may be found temporarily arrayed in the support of erroneous principles.
The result of the convention was received with general satisfaction by our citizens. Even where the constitution had met with the strongest oppo-
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sition, public opinion seemed gradually to have CHAP. inclined in its favor, and, in many sections of the X. state, the news of its adoption was received with demonstrations of joy, second only to those with which the people received the Declaration of Inde- pendence itself.
In 1788, John Langdon succeeded General Sullivan in the presidency of the state. During the same year, in anticipation of the organization of the general government, John Langdon and Paine Wingate were elected members of the United States senate by the legislature, and Samuel Livermore, Abiel Foster and Nicholas Gilman were elected representatives to congress, by the people.
George Washington having been called to the presidency by the unanimous vote of the electoral colleges throughout the Union, the first congress, on the fourth of March, 1789, assembled at the city of New York. The wheels of the general government having now been put in motion, the credit of the country revived; commerce received a new impulse from its legislation, and a perma- nent revenue was provided, sufficient not only to defray the expenses of the government itself, but also gradually to extinguish the national debt which the war had imposed upon the country. Such, indeed, was the favorable change, produced by the early action of the government, in the affairs of the country and the people, as gradually to reconcile most of those persons to the constitu- tion who had been the most honest and zealous in opposing it. The excitement which had at one time prevailed in relation to it, subsided almost
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CHAP. immediately upon its adoption, and a difference of X. opinion as to the construction of the constitution took the place of that which had prevailed upon the question of its ratification. Those persons who had opposed the constitution, on the ground of its impairing in too great a degree the power of the states, naturally favored a rigid construction of the powers conferred upon the general govern- ment. Those, on the other hand, who desired a strong government, favored a liberal construction of the constitution, and sought to gain from it, by implication, powers for the general government which had not been conferred by its letter. To these causes may be traced, to a great extent, the party divisions which have so long existed in this country.
In 1789 John Sullivan was again elected to the presidency of the state. During the year he had the pleasure of welcoming to the state the illustri- ous Washington, who, having visited New Eng- land on a tour of observation, extended his visit to New Hampshire. His approach was hailed with demonstrations of joy, both from the state authori- ties and the people. He arrived at Portsmouth on the thirtieth of October, having been met at the state line by the principal state officers, a regi- ment of cavalry, and a large number of citizens. His entrance into town was announced by the ringing of bells and the roar of cannon, and during his stay he received all those tokens of respect which are due from a free and grateful people to a distinguished public benefactor. His visit gathered new interest from the fact, that scarcely seven years had then elapsed since the closing
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scenes of the revolution. His companions in arms CHAP. were, most of them, still in active life. Hundreds X. of patriots, who with him had relinquished the comforts of their quiet firesides, and hazarded their lives to secure, by a long and arduous contest, the blessings of an independent government and a free constitution, gathered eagerly around the man, whose paternal affection for his troops, and inesti- mable services to the public, had entitled him to be deemed at once the father of the country he had saved and the armies he had commanded.
From the close of the revolution, an increased regard for schools and institutions of learning began to be cherished among our citizens. During the present year, an academy was incorporated at New Ipswich, being the second institution of the kind in the state. The burthens occasioned by the war having been in some measure removed from the people, their attention was more generally directed to the importance of common schools, and more liberal provision was made for their support.
Towards the close of the year, printing was first introduced, on rather a limited scale, at Concord. George Hough, who was during his life engaged more than fifty years in the typographic art, came to Concord from Windsor, Vermont, where he had been engaged, in company with Alden Spooner, in the publication of the Vermont Journal. His printing-press, the first established in this state north of Exeter, was set up in a small building in front of the ground now occupied by the state- house ; and the first work issued from it was "Doddsley's Christian Economy," which was pub- lished in October. On the 5th of January, of the
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CHAP, following year, he commenced the publication of X. a weekly paper, called the "Concord Herald," which, with several changes in its title, was con- tinued till 1805. Such was the first small begin- ning of printing in Concord, where it has since increased to such an extent, as to entitle that place to a high rank among the principal publishing towns in the country.
1790.
The election of president, in 1790, was warmly contested, though upon personal and local grounds, rather than the prevalence of any divisions of polit- ical sentiment among the people. No choice having been made by the people, the duty of elect- ing a chief magistrate devolved upon the legisla- ture; and Josiah Bartlett was elected, though two of his competitors, John Pickering and Joshua Wentworth, had each received a larger number of popular votes than himself. The election, how- ever, was approved by the people, and President Bartlett was, for nearly four years, the chief mag- istrate of the state. Having been honored, a short time previous, by an appointment to the office of chief justice of the superior court,-an appoint- ment doubly complimentary to him, as the only instance in our history in which a member of the medical profession had been elevated to a station requiring such high legal attainments,-that office became vacant upon his election to the presidency of the state. At the commencement of his admin- istration, John Pickering, who had been his com- petitor for the chief magistracy, received, at his hands, an appointment to that important station, which he filled, with honor to himself and advan- tage to the state, for several years.
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From the census which was taken this year, it CHAP. appeared that the population of the United States X. had increased, since the commencement of the rev- olution, from less than three to nearly four mil- lions. New Hampshire had more than kept pace, in the growth of her population, with the country at large. At this period she had one hundred and forty-two thousand inhabitants ; having increased, notwithstanding the dangers and discouragements incident to a seven years' war, nearly sixty thou- sand in the fifteen preceding years. Not only were her towns on the seaboard and in the inte- rior strengthened by the natural growth of their population, but multitudes of adventurers from the northern section of Massachusetts, invited by the cheapness of her lands and the extent and fertility of her unoccupied domains, had found their way along the valley of the Connecticut, nearly to its sources, and, after occupying its intervales, grad- ually extended their settlements among the hills and valleys of the back country. Points, at an earlier period apparently inaccessible, were reach- ed by the advancing tide of emigration; and neither the want of roads, the absence of schools and reli- gious privileges, or the other innumerable priva- tions incident to a settlement in the wilderness, were sufficient obstacles to stay its progress. Even the recesses of the White Mountains, whose snow-clad summits the Indians looked upon, during their early conflicts with the white men, as an eternal barrier against their intrusion, were reach- ed at this early period.
During the session of the legislature in 1791, a 1791. law was passed, requiring the assessment of a tax
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CHAP. of seven thousand five hundred pounds sterling X. upon the several towns in the state, in proportion to their taxable property, for the support of com- mon schools. Hitherto the measures taken by the state, for the establishment of schools and institu- tions of learning, while they proved that its citi- zens were not unmindful of the advantages of education, had possessed too little energy for the general diffusion of those advantages through the community. A law had passed, as early as 1693, requiring each town to " provide a school- master." In this act Dover was expressly ex- cepted, being at that time too much impoverished, by the frequent incursions of Indian enemies, to sustain any considerable burthen for any other purpose than its own defence. In 1719, towns with fifty or more freeholders were required to be " constantly provided with a schoolmaster to teach reading and writing;" and towns containing one hundred or more freeholders were also enjoined to maintain a grammar-school, under the instruc- tion of " some discrete person, of good conversa- tion, well instructed in the tongues." Considerable advantage resulted from these laws, though the poverty and scanty population of some of the towns rendered them entirely inoperative, and the want of proper books and competent instructors everywhere united with the insecurity of the times in retarding the progress of popular education. Reading and writing were, in those early days, the only branches of instruction in our common schools. The Bible and Psalter, and the New England Primer, were the only reading books; and those who aspired to the more liberal art of chirog-
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raphy, instead of white paper, very generally made CHAP. use of white birch bark. The first spelling-book X. generally used was not introduced till 1770, and though very humble in its merits, when compared with those of the present day, it was considered, even then, a perfect epitome of all that was essen- tial to a common education.
Some idea of the scientific attainments of our ancient rulers may be formed from the circum- stance, that, in a proclamation for a fast in 1681, they assign as a reason for it, " that awful porten- tous blazing star, usually foreboding sore calam- ity to the beholders thereof." And some idea of the acquirements of the people, at about the same period, may be gathered from the fact, that, on a petition for protection against the Indians, ad- dressed to the general court of Massachusetts in 1690, signed by three hundred and seventy-four inhabitants of New Hampshire, about one fourth part of the whole number made their marks. The signatures of a large portion of the remainder, to use a favorite expression of Governor Andros, resembled " the scratch of a bear's paw," rather than the neat chirography of the present age. Very few of our leading men wrote a tolerable hand, and scarcely a schoolboy in the country, at the present day, would suffer by a comparison of the performances of his pen with those of our early secretaries of state.
The schools which had grown up in our princi- pal towns prior to the revolution, under the influ- ence of the early laws for their encouragement, to which I have referred, and which had been attend- ed with considerable advantages, had been almost
HISTORY OF
CHAP. universally prostrated by the turmoils and dangers X. of the war. The act of this year was the begin- ning of a series of decided measures, which have established the common school system, in New Hampshire, upon a firm and imperishable basis, and extended its advantages to the rich and the poor-the citizens of its most populous and flour- ishing towns, and the scattered dwellers among its mountains. Under the influences of a reviving interest in the cause of education, academies and public schools, generously endowed and liberally supported, sprung up at short intervals, and within a brief period of time, in the principal towns and villages of the state. During the year 1791, academies were incorporated at Atkinson and Amherst. The establishment of these invaluable institutions in different sections of the state, and in sufficient numbers to extend the advantages of an excellent elementary education in all direc- tions, and furnish an ample supply of well qualified instructors for our common schools, produced at once a decided and favorable change in the schools and the literary characteristics of the people. A taste for learning was suddenly diffused through every part of the community; habits of reading and investigation became general; schools revived; the patronage of the higher institutions of learning swelled with the rising tide of intellectual improve- ment, and the means of at least a tolerable edu- cation were gradually extended, not only to every town, but nearly to every family in the state.
While the legislature of 1791 was attending to the interests of education, it was not unmindful of the importance of facilitating the means of com-
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munication. At this time, nothing like an efficient CHAP. post-office establishment existed in the country. X. ~ Two or three weeks were generally necessary for the transmission of letters from Philadelphia to the borders of this state ; and all organised means of spreading intelligence stopped within a few miles of the sea-coast, leaving the inhabitants of the interior almost entirely dependent upon chance for those facilities for communication, which the present well organised post-office estab- lishment has since extended to every corner of our broad country. Even an ordinary stage-coach was an accommodation, which, at that time, was scarcely to be seen in our principal cities ; and a humble post-rider, journeying leisurely along the seaboard, and occasionally diverging a few miles into the country, for a considerable time performed the whole mail service of this state. To remedy these evils, the legislature of 1791 passed a law, establishing " four routes for posts, to be there- after appointed to ride in and through the interior of the state."
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