USA > Vermont > Vermont in quandary, 1763-1825 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
مدرسـ
جنيه
ا صير بـ
ـح
به مجرور بان الكمية
محمد سجر
٣٨٨
البحرية الدولية في
٢-٨W
فتراجـ
البركة
ج الرضايفلح
بمصير
ـليت
جم بريج الكية
+للجملة نصار
المجلة بأمره
بالمـ
إسلامية كبارـ
ـكم متسارعالبوك.
العد
الح ساء الخباله فوزجم على الجلية بصوي
سرداب
٢ ٧
تخصص
سسلامة:
سيه بواج ـ
اليد على
ـة العلالضياء .
السعر
الى
باني هيطالب أبيه
جنيه
بيج+ر
٢٠١-
ارسـ
ـيوي
بالكلية M.R VS
ـ 0 3-نظرة الولد باستا بازيد
ـرجيلبون
ـقد
المصبطرد
رائبو شباكـ
جاب
ترويم
اليوم
الطيور
الودية
سريع تمر
عها ..
٢٠١٣٩ ٢٥٠MA الليلةبالبار
النوعية
معالج
أجلجمة السؤال
جم مبر
بطريق والباقون مصرية
عطرقو
أداة
جميعمع
الخ تايم مايكبن
١٠٠٢٠/١٠٤١٥٦
لتهريبه
ملعقة جابرسيد
نهم
M
MATT
مح٣
سكواليا
المباشرة بم النار
الر الساحة
عواملهيات
بدعة
ـهم مرضيوم ٩ــ
قدييم سيد
الكجورنجلاء
٢ ج بونيصف
باكربة
إبيالي
بهوالهرشبراصد
الحص يدوم
ـريمومـ
ـلوبية
يحان ساع الفريد
ج :- غرف الـهم البا اليوم١
/٨٠٣٠١٧
حججهم
يوجهرسالة مكتوبالية
رأسيهى
سوطنه
ابالابـ
بالمكاتب
ـمالـ
ــ اركـ
الصحية
جرمبناء .
معواد:
لمعى
البيان
وجيـ
جحمسيرة
وحي
ربي
بريس
الطلاسم
Gc 974.3 W68V 1774513
M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01085 9426
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/vermontinquandar00will
-
VERMONT
in Quandary:
1763-1825
bv CHILTON WILLIAMSON
Assistant Professor of History BARNARD COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
MONTPELIER VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1949
1774513
TO
ST.
FRANCIS
AWRINSS R
RICKELICO! 1642
ST.
16615
1612
FICHAMBLYS
1665
FT. STETHERELA
FT. ST.JEAN
.
XXXXXX
-
ASLE LA MOTTE
THOIAN VILLAGE
CAN
LAKE CHAM
WBLS
4
FT. ST. FREDERICK (CROWN POINT)
· CHIMNEY FT.
1756 FT. CARILLON CTICONDEROGA
OTTER
POINT
3
AKE CEDACE)
GREEK
NYMCAP
BLACK
RIVER
1609
5
FOUR
FT.EDWARD
RIVER
. FL. DUMMER
· ALBANY
DEERFIELD
Reproduced from "The Vermont Story"; cartography by Earle Newton; drawing by Edward Sanborn
·
Kolonial A Vermont
PORTACEI
Forts
1731
NOOSKI RIVER
PASSUMPFIC
E A
MONTREAL
4
COPYRIGHT 1949 BY THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
F #34 ;: .374
.
Volume four of the series GROWTH of VERMONT EARLE WILLIAMS NEWTON, Editor
To the memory of my Mother, MARY PARSONS WILLIAMSON
-
Growth of Vermont
IN TEN VOLUMES EARLE WILLIAMS NEWTON, Editor
I. THE FRENCH IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY
II. THE NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND FRONTIER
III. GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS
IV. VERMONT IN QUANDARY by Chilton Williamson
V. MIGRATION FROM VERMONT by Lewis D. Stilwell
VI. SOCIAL FERMENT IN VERMONT by David M. Ludlum
VII. TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION
VIII. RISE OF VERMONT INDUSTRY
IX. POLITICS OF AN AGRICULTURAL STATE
x. HILL COUNTY OF NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND by Harold Fisher Wilson
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
EDITOR'S FOREWORD
For over a century the story of Vermont has been written in terms of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. Ethan ap- pears prominently in Dr. Williamson's narrative, it is true. But the author has taken a new tack, reaching behind the colorful scenes played upon the Green Mountain stage, to plumb the geographic and economic forces which moulded the character and activities of the principal actors.
The author clearly has a thesis-which he states frankly-that the geographic orientation of western Vermont was toward Lake Champlain, and consequently toward Canada and the St. Law- rence River-into which Champlain empties. Consequently he feels that the leaders of the new republic-almost all drawn from this side of the mountains-were inevitably drawn toward a Cana- dian connection. Moreover, almost all of them were involved in land speculations in the Champlain Valley.
We need not concede that the new state was organized solely to promote the land interests of the Allens and their associates, to . appreciate the role of geography and the land business in the cal- culations of the "new staters." Furthermore, Professor Williamson has done great service in making clear the distinction between the devious course pursued by the Allens, and the undeviating loyalty of the vast majority of Vermonters to the Continental cause.
This book has been drawn from known sources, reinterpreted on a broader stage. The author has shown conclusively that it is impossible to judge the motives of the Vermont leaders solely in terms of what we know of their actions during the Revolution. A flood of new light is thrown upon this period by careful research in the great mass of hitherto untouched documentary material re- lating to the period from 1783 to 1820. The painstaking effort with which Professor Williamson has combed Canadian and American archives is a model of thoroughness. Because of wartime restric- tions he was unable to utilize the great mass of related material which is buried in the papers of George Washington and the Con-
vii
-------
..
...-- -
tinental Congress, as well as the Force Transcripts in the Library of Congress. The editor has spent considerable time drawing out the Vermont material from these since the submission of this book for inclusion in the series. The secret intelligence reports to Wash- ington, as well as his own judgments, are in line with Dr. Wil- liamson's conclusions.
Neither the author nor the editor will pretend that even this thorough probing of vast quantities of new and old material has provided us with a final answer to all the quandaries of this puz- zling period. Scholars will object to a tendency to lump several people of varying motives under the phrase "the Allens." They will argue the author's evaluation of these motives-to the profit of scholarship generally. Any study of a period so formative, of peo- ple so unpredictable, can hardly be classed as anything but ex- ploratory-despite the fact that it is the first new assessment based on original source material in nearly a hundred years. If we were to wait for an absolutely "definitive" volume, this niche in the series Growth of Vermont might well remain empty for another hundred years. Vermont historians can be grateful to Professor Williamson for a thoughtful, thorough book.
EWN
viii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE NEW DEPARTURE 1
II. REVOLUTIONARY ANTECEDENTS 7
III. THE COMING OF THE ALLENS 24
IV. BACKCOUNTRY VERSUS SEABOARD 35
V. WAR AND INDEPENDENCE 51
VI. REVOLUTIONARY VERMONT 68
VII. HALDIMAND NEGOTIATIONS: First Phase 90
VIII. HALDIMAND NEGOTIATIONS: Second Phase 110
IX. QUEBEC'S COMMERCIAL DEPENDENCY 127
X. THE SWISS POLICY OF VERMONT 145
XI. THE FOURTEENTH STATE 165
XII. THE AFTERMATH OF UNION 185
XIII. THE ALLURE OF CANADIAN LANDS 195
XIV. CONFLICTING STRATEGIES 206
XV. THE FRUSTRATION OF THE ALLENS 223
XVI. THE GOOD NEIGHBORS 242
XVII. EMBARGO, NON-INTERCOURSE AND WAR 258
XVIII. WITHDRAWAL FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE 277 XIX. RECAPITULATION 290
BIBLIOGRAPHY 298
INDEX 307
---- --
----
ILLUSTRATIONS
Colonial Vermont New Hampshire Grants in 1771
Thomas Jeffery's Map of 1774
frontispiece facing page 38 between pages 38 and 39
Chorographical Map of the Province of New York, 1779
facing page 39
President Eleazar Wheelock
facing page 82
The New Hampshire Grants: 1777-1778
facing page 83
Gen. Frederick Haldimand
facing page 90
Thomas Chittenden
facing page 91
Ira Allen
facing page 94
"Greater" Vermont: 1781
facing page 95
Isaac Tichenor
facing page 110
George Clinton
facing page 111
Samuel Peters' Map of the Champlain and Upper St. Lawrence Valleys between pages 150 and 151
INTRODUCTION
The point of departure for this study was provided by an article published some years ago in the Canadian Historical Review by the historian, W. A. Mackintosh.1 In this article Professor Mac- kintosh demonstrated that many of the puzzling and controversial aspects of Vermont's early history, including the Haldimand Nego- tiations, could be understood only against the background of its geography. He showed that the Champlain Valley section of the state had been tributary to the St. Lawrence River by the north- ward flowing Richelieu or Chambly River until man built a canal connecting Lake Champlain and the Hudson. Until the opening of this canal in 1822, Vermonters living in the valley found it more convenient, if not necessary, to trade with Canadians instead of with Yorkers or Yankees. Their isolation from American markets and sources of supply and their reliance upon Canadian trade greatly affected their attitude towards the outside world. They were determined, as Professor Mackintosh demonstrated, to main- tain the Canadian ties, come what may. Indeed, it is not an exag- geration to say that economic geography was a determining factor in the pre-canal era of Vermont's history. Here was an highly original interpretation to which the author takes this opportunity to acknowledge his debt.
In the beginning, the author planned to write an economic history in which the political and other kinds of implications would be barely mentioned or briefly sketched. Yet the more this work advanced, the more evident it became that the lack of sys- tematic studies of other aspects of Vermont history invited the broadening of his research and, consequently, the scope of his work. Eventually, it was decided to write a comprehensive rather than an economic history. It then became necessary to place Ver- mont's history in its political, social and cultural setting and to show how it was affected by and related to the main stream of American history.
It soon became clear that this new setting embraced all the 1. Mackintosh, W. A., "Canada and Vermont: A Study in Historical Geography," Canadian Historical Review (VII, 1, March, 1927); 9-30.
xiii -c/
-
major events in American history extending from about 1760 to 1825. These included the Vermont counterparts of the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War for Independ- ence, the Critical Period, the various crises in our relations with France and Great Britain between 1790 and 1815 and lastly, the Era of Good Feeling. The author has endeavoured to keep before him the geographic and time settings of Vermont's early history and to show how they affected the relations between Vermonters living in the different sections of the little state and between the state and other American states on the one hand, and Canada and Britain on the other.
My thanks are extended to all who have been of aid to me in unearthing the manuscript material upon which this study is largely based. At the Public Archives of Canada, Mr. A. J. H. Richardson and Miss Norah Story gave unstintingly of their time. At the New York State Library, Miss Edna L. Jacobsen did likewise. In Ver- mont, the staffs of the Vermont Historical Society, the Office of the Secretary of State, the Vermont State Library and the Library of the University of Vermont extended me every cour- tesy. My debt to the staffs of the Manuscript Division of the New . York Public Library, the Library of Dartmouth College, the New Hampshire Historical Society and the William L. Clements Library is also great.
In closing, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Professor John Bartlet Brebner and Professor John Allen Krout of Colum- bia University. Their aid was indispensable.
CHILTON WILLIAMSON
Barnard College New York Nov. 7, 1947
xiv
CHAPTER ONE
The New Departure
The physical geography of Vermont has had a profound influ- ence on its history. On occasion, man tries to combat his physical environment; but more often he adapts himself to it. A clear pic- ture of the physical features of the state, therefore, is indispens- able to an understanding of its history.
A geographer examining a map of Vermont would be unable to suggest reasons for the boundaries of the state unless he knew its history. He would readily see that Vermont is composed of three major sections, each based upon a major drainage system. East of the Green Mountains he would see the drainage system of the upper Connecticut River and its western tributaries whose waters flow southward into Long Island Sound. West of the Green Mountains he would note the southwestern drainage system whose waters flow into the Hudson by the Battenkill and Hoosick Rivers. To the north he would see the third drainage system whose waters flow northward by Otter Creek, the Winooski, the Lamoille and the Missisquoi Rivers into Lake Champlain. The waters of this lake, approximately 130 miles long, drain northward through the Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence at a point about forty miles below Montreal. In the following pages these three major sections will be referred to as the Connecticut Valley, the Southwest and the Champlain Valley.1
Even before the French and Indian War, these sections gave promise of becoming the meeting grounds of the peoples of the New England colonies, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu- setts and New Hampshire; the middle colony of New York; and the French province of Canada.
From the east, fur trappers, lumbermen and even a few hardy
1. See Baulig, Henri, Amérique Septentrionale (Paris, 1935-1936), 2 vols .; Perkins, G. H., "Physiography of Vermont," Report of the State Geologist on the Mineral Industry and Geology of Vermont ( Bellows Falls, 1918); Tarr, R. S., The Physical Geology of New York State (New York, 1912); Fenneman, N. M., The Physiography of Eastern United States ( New York, 1938); Palmer, Peter S., History of Lake Champlain ( Albany, 1866); Lamson, G. L., "Geographic Influences in the Early History of Vermont," Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society for the Years 1921, 1922 and 1923, 79-13S.
2
THE NEW DEPARTURE
and daring settlers had entered the Connecticut Valley before the war. Each contributed to the establishment here of institutions which were chiefly of Connecticut, "the land of steady habits." The Southwest could be reached from the Connecticut River by going up the valleys of its western tributaries and overland to the headwaters of the rivers flowing into the Hudson. The Champlain Valley could be reached by going to the headwaters of the Winoo- ski River which rises east of the Green Mountains and flows through a gap in these mountains into Lake Champlain.2
At about the same time Yorkers entered the Southwest by pushing eastward into the valleys of the Battenkill and Hoosick Rivers. North of these rivers, the frontier threatened to pass over the low height of land separating the watershed of the Hudson from that of Lake Champlain.3
From the north, French Canadian trappers, lumbermen and settlers entered the Champlain Valley by the Richelieu River many decades before the French and Indian War.4 The French claimed this section on the basis of geography in the manner de- scribed by Cadwallader Colden in 1749:
A Notion is entertained in this place [New York] that the French insist the Bounds of the French & English colonies are to be regulated according to the Rivers which empty themselves into the Sea or ports possess'd by the English or which empty themselves into the St. Laurence or into the ports possess'd by the French and it is thought there was formerly some kind of agreement enter'd into to that purpose.5
As the eighteenth century progressed, Yankees and Yorkers were less and less disposed to accept these territorial claims; consequently, the struggle between French and British mercan- tilisms was bound to involve the Champlain Valley. Its geography made it one of the strategic arcas in the great Anglo-French con- flict waged along the common frontier of the French and British
2. Stilwell, Lewis D., Migration from Vermont (Montpelier, 1937), 75-78.
3. Higgins, Ruth L., Expansion in New York With Especial Reference to the Eighteenth Century ( Columbus, 1931), 1-90.
4. Coolidge, Guy O., The French Occupation of the Champlain Valley from 1609 to 1759 ( Montpelier, 1938).
5. New York Historical Society, Collections ( New York, 1866-1943), 75 vols., LXVIII, 54.
3
THE NEW DEPARTURE
possessions in North America. The British plan for the conquest of New France, first formulated by Samuel Vetch, made use of the Champlain Valley as a corridor through which an invasion from the south, in conjunction with an attack by sea, could force the surrender of the French.6
In time of peace, the geography of the Champlain Valley facili- tated furtive and illegal business relations between the British and the French." The illegal trade between the French fur traders of Montreal and the Dutch and British traders of Albany was a major scandal of the colonial period. During Lord Cornbury's governorship of New York between 1702 and 1710, the Albany traders entered into a commercial pact with French fur traders by which "they cultivated a private Trade with Montreal wch. by the scarcity of goods at Montreal & the dearness of Bever at New York was very Beneficial to some persons. . . . " 8
Beaver skins sold for a lower price in Montreal than in Albany because of the superior geographic situation of Montreal in rela- tion to the fur regions and also to transportation routes. The French had easier access than the English to the lower lakes by the St. Lawrence and to the upper lakes by the Ottawa. The lower price of French furs was due also to French techniques of fur trapping and trading with the Indians, which were superior to those of the English. The scarcity and resultant high price of manufactures at Montreal, compared with the abundant and lower priced manufactures of Albany was a consequence of the pattern of the French economy which was developed under Col- bert and his successors. French mercantilism stressed luxury and high-priced goods, whereas British mercantilism emphasized utilitarian and low-priced goods, notably rum, woolen goods and hardware, so much desired by the Indians. The French sacrificed the production of low-priced rum to high-priced brandy. The British did not produce any brandy, but they did distill large quantities of low-priced rum. As a result of these contrasting economies French traders had to pay higher prices for the manu-
6. Dictionary of American Biography ( New York, 1928-1944), 21 vols., XIX, 260-261. 7. Lunn, Jean, "The Illegal Fur. Trade out of New France, 1713-1760," Report of the Canadian Historical Association, 1939, 61-76.
8. N. Y. H. S., Collections, LXVIII, 412.
4
THE NEW DEPARTURE
factured goods and liquors they used in the fur trade than the Albany traders did, but the latter labored under the disadvantage of not being able to purchase furs directly from the Indians as cheaply as their competitors could. The lower prices of French furs at Montreal and British manufactures at Albany led to an · illegal exchange of French furs for British manufactures.9
From Albany, large quantities of strouds (a coarse woolen cloth ), copper kettles, cutlery and rum were transported to Mont- real to be exchanged for beaver skins brought from the west by French traders. In order to escape punishment by their govern- ments, both the French and the British traders employed the con- verted Iroquois Indians of the Jesuit Mission at Caughnawaga on the St. Lawrence to smuggle their goods. These Indians travelled inconspicuously between Albany and Montreal by way of the Champlain Valley.
The French and British administrators, in their attempt to for- ward the mercantilistic and imperialistic designs of their respec- tive nations, waged a long and relatively unsuccessful war against smugglers. In order to destroy the principal excuse for this trade, Burnett, who was Governor of New York from 1720 to 1728, at- tempted to force the Albany traders to send out their own fur- trapping expeditions into the interior. Burnett's attempt failed; the traders continued to live in Albany, purchasing their furs, for the most part, from the French traders in Montreal.
The exchange of lower-priced British manufactures for lower- priced French furs was contrary to the principles of British no less than French mercantilism. It was deprecated as well by the over- whelming majority of the colonists of the New England and Mid- dle provinces. They supported some of the principles of British mercantilism because they coveted exclusive possession of the North Atlantic fisheries; they desired to speculate and settle in western lands; and they sought to secure wholly for themselves the great beaver trade of the interior. All of these ambitions could be satisfied only by the ejection of the French from North Amer- ica. Near the close of the French and Indian War, Robert Living-
9. Lunn, op. cit; Gipson, Lawrence H., The British Empire before the American Revo- lution ( Caldwell, Id .; New York, 1936-1946), V, 35-63; Harrington, Virginia D., The New York Merchant on the Eve of the Revolution ( New York, 1935), 232-239.
5
THE NEW DEPARTURE
ston of New York expressed the popular desire. "In my opinion," he said, "if we do not take Canada we shall get very little by this war." A wave of relief, therefore, swept through these colonies after the fall of Quebec in 1759 and the capitulation of Montreal in 1760.10
The success of British and American arms was acknowledged by the French at the peace conference in Paris. There, the vic- torious British were forced to decide whether to accept the ces- sion by France of Canada or of the French West Indies, in par- ticular, Guadeloupe. In order to secure the Canadian fur trade, to quiet the fears of the continental colonists and to protect the British sugar islands from the competition of French sugar. pro- duced on the less exhausted soils of the French islands, the British made the historic decision to take Canada.11
This decision removed the last remaining obstacle to the ex- pansionist ambitions of the American colonials. The union of the valleys of the Connecticut, the St. Lawrence and the Hudson Rivers under the sovereignty of Great Britain released the pent- up energies of fur traders, land speculators and settlers. New York fur traders migrated to Montreal to take over, in conjunction with newly-arrived Scots, the fur trade.
The British government anticipated that many settlers as well as traders would move into the British province of Quebec. Its settlement by colonists from the seaboard might help to relieve the pressure upon the trans-Appalachian west where rivalries in the fur trade, the struggle between rival land promoters and the problem of pacifying the Indians, who had risen in rebellion under Pontiac, tested the mettle of statesmen. These problems and rivalries caused the British government to issue the famous Royal Proclamation of 1763, which established a licensing sys- tem for the fur trade with the Indians and drew a line down the crest of the Alleghenies, forbidding settlement west of that line. In recognition of the legitimate need of the American colonists for additional land for settlement, the Proclamation was designed
10. Savelle, Max. The Diplomatic History of the Canadian Boundary, 1749-1763 (New Haven, 1940), 1-20; New York Public Library, Manuscript Division, Robert Livingston, Jr. to Abram Yates, Jr., Aug. 30. 1759.
II. Graham. Gerald S., British Policy and Canada, 1774-1791 ;. a Study in Eighteenth Century Trade Policy ( London, 1930), 1-10.
từ de
4
6
THE NEW DEPARTURE
to attract colonists from the middle and northern colonies to Quebec by promising grants of land and the establishment of a provincial assembly.12
But these promises failed to attract these colonists to the prov- ince. Instead, Yankees and a few Yorkers moved up the valleys of the Hudson and Connecticut to occupy and settle the inter- vening lands of the New Hampshire Grants, later to be comprised within the state of Vermont. "At the happy period when Canada and New England became subject to one king," wrote Ira Allen, "this wilderness was rapidly settled, and soon changed into fruit- ful fields and pleasant gardens, as there were no longer any sav- ages to make the inhabitants afraid."13 Fear as a deterrent to settlement was removed, however, only to be replaced by a long and complex conflict between New York and New Hampshire over the spoils of victory in the Connecticut Valley, the Cham- plain Valley and the Southwest.
.
12. Burt, A. L., The Old Province of Quebec (Minneapolis, 1938), 76-86.
13. Vermont Historical Society, Collections (Montpelier, 1870-1871), 2 vols., I, 339. .
CHAPTER TWO
Revolutionary Antecedents
The origins of the conflict between New York and New Hamp- shire lay in land speculation and backcountry discontent. In time this conflict led to a part of New York being formed into a new state, Vermont.
The conflict involving land speculation arose because both New York and New Hampshire claimed the right to grant lands in what is now Vermont. As early as 1749, Governor Benning Went- worth of New Hampshire granted the first town west of the Con- necticut River upon the assumption, later challenged by New York, that these lands lay within the jurisdiction of New Hamp- shire. By 1764, he had granted approximately 3,000,000 acres of the finest lands in the Connecticut Valley, the Champlain Valley and the Southwest, chiefly to New England land speculators, of whom he was one. Of these lands, he retained title to 100,000 acres.1
Prior to 1700 towns were generally laid out solely for the pur- pose of facilitating settlement; but during the 18th century many towns were surveyed and sold to speculators.2 In the 17th century, persons desiring to secure land petitioned the legislatures of the New England colonies for grants of towns of which they would be the proprietors. After the grants had been made, these pro- prietors would lay out the towns and distribute the land among themselves. Afterwards, control of matters pertaining to the land would be vested in the Proprietors' Meeting in which each pro- prietor would cast one vote. This town proprietorship was the chief means by which the New England frontier was pushed west- ward from the seaboard.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.