USA > Vermont > A history of Vermont : with geological and geographical notes, bibliography, chronology, maps, and illustrations > Part 5
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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
For the most part, men were still farmers, and the greater portion of the state lay unreclaimed. So the work of settlement went on, along the high lands first, then creeping down little by little toward the river bottoms. On the higher slopes grew the hard wood, the stumps of which decayed quickly, covering the earth with rich, mellow soil which would yield sure crops the first year with no fertilizing. Lumber had but little value, but ashes of hard wood were everywhere salable for potash and pearlash, and yielded the settlers what little ready money they had. A double purpose was
64
HISTORY OF VERMONT
thus served by clearing the hills first. Roads, too, were easily made on the drier uplands ; while along the river bottoms, wetter then than now, they would have been impassable. So the old villages were perched upon the hills, and the old stage roads, some of which now are but bush-lined lanes, were put through them, running from hilltop to hilltop, up hill and down dale, in lines as straight as the crow takes in his flight.
Do not think that the life of those days was barren, dull, or meaningless. There were people who could develop a states- manship second to none, win and main- tain independence, without the help of railroad, highway, or steamboat, with- out newspaper, telegraph, or tele- A TYPICAL OLD-TIME COACH AND TAVERN phone. Their strength and power were bred in them, not acquired from outside. Such life was the training school of character. The men who gave their lives to toil knew how to make the toil a pleasure by the cooperation of the neighborly hand, in changing work, in raisings, logging bees, stone-pulling bees, husk- ing becs, and many a homely frolic touched with service. If salted bear's meat was sometimes a necessary substi- tute for beef and pork, there was also the toothsome haunch of venison that was as sure to come as the autumn snows that gave the first sign for the fall hunt.
65
THE WIDENING TRAIL
The streams yielded trout in abundance, and many a log cabin furnished fare that the sporting epicure of to-day would have to go far to equal.
The settlers had their politics, too, although it was no longer the French in Canada who disturbed their peace. Have you never thought how remarkably short the time was after the English government helped the colonists drive the French out of Canada before the French gov- ernment turned about and helped the colonists drive the English government out of the colonies? That is, the war of the Revolution followed close upon the conquest of Canada. The American colonies still had their national politics. The settlers in the New Hamp- shire Grants, as our state was then called, shared in the national politics ; not only that, but they first had a very exciting issue of their own in local politics, which demands a separate chapter.
CHAPTER IV
. THE DEBATABLE LAND
AT A COURT AT ST. JAMES, the 24th. day of July, 1767.
His Majesty, taking the said report 1 into consideration, was pleased, with the advice of his private council, to approve thereof, and doth hereby strictly charge, require and command, that the Governor or Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Province of New York, for the time being, do not, upon pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure, pre- sume to make any grant whatsoever, of any part of the lands described in the said report, until his Majesty's further pleasure shall be known, concerning the same. - Order of the King in Council.
A SUBJECT OF DISPUTE : THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS
When the king of England appointed royal governors in his American colonies he gave them certain powers, such as the right to grant land which remained unsettled within their jurisdiction. It is apparent that in exercis- ing this right the governors were in every case acting as officers or agents of the king, since it was under the king's authority that they acted at all. It would further- more appear that this right to make grants of land would hold good for any portion of the province or colony over which the governor was appointed.
It happened that in the year 1741 Benning Went- worth had been appointed governor of New Hamp- shire under the king. He was given this right of
1 Report of the Board of Trade on the disputed claims in the New Hampshire Grants,
66
67
THE DEBATABLE LAND
making grants of land within his province. The western boundary of the province had never been very definitely described. The province simply ran westward till it met his majesty's other lands. Now since New Hamp- shire came from territory which had previously been a part of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts was supposed to extend westward until it reached a line twenty miles east of the Hud- son River, Governor Wentworth reasoned that New Hampshire would also extend west- ward the same distance. He accordingly began to make grants of town- ships west of the Con- necticut River, the first one thus granted being the township of Ben- nington, the settlement of which has already been described.
BENNING WENTWORTH
The governor of New York, when informed that grants were thus being made in this unsettled territory, raised objections on the grounds that land west of the Connecticut really belonged to the province of New York and therefore was under his jurisdiction, and that he was the one to
68
HISTORY OF VERMONT
make grants if any were to be made. He based his claim on the boundary of the province of New York and on his commission and instructions.
We find, therefore, that two royal governors, acting for the same king, were in a dispute over the right to grant his territory. We can understand why it made some difference to them; because out of every town- ship which Governor Wentworth granted he reserved a good portion for himself, and for every grant which Governor Clinton made he charged right good fees. It was for the interest of cach to possess this right to make the grants, but we cannot understand why it should make any real difference with the validity of a settler's title whether it came through Clinton or Went- worth. They were both agents of the same authority ; the grants made by either came really from the king, and a grant from the king of his own lands ought to have been good, no matter through whose hands it came.
Of course this question whether Governor Clinton or Governor Wentworth was correct in the matter was a question for the king to decide. The matter was referred to him for that purpose; the case was inves- tigated by the proper officers; they reported it to be their opinion that the Connecticut River was the bound- ary between the two provinces. An Order in Council was accordingly issued declaring the Connecticut River to be the boundary between the provinces of New York and New Hampshire. This of course brought the grants which Governor Wentworth had made into the territory of New York.
A
I. Montreal
La
BNAKI
Prairie
E
S
The Extent of the
Settlements before their late Encroachmenton Crown P.S.
BOUQUETS OR CHAMPLAIN
E
OF
N
THE
White
OF
Mountains
H
A
M.
P
rown Point
River
Lake,
Woods
S
H
Connecticut
T
Kings
Portsmouth
Fort DummerD
1
sellled
not
MASSACHUSSETS
nnej
EARLY MAP OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, INCLUDING THE TERRITORY FROM WINCH GOVERNOR WENTWORTH MADE THE NEW HAMPSIHRE GRANTS
French Conquests and
HAMPLAL
PROVINCE
MAI
70
HISTORY OF VERMONT
But this was in 1764, a number of years after Governor Wentworth commenced to make grants. During the dispute he continued to make a few grants ; after 1760 he made them with a diligence that was truly remarkable. You will remember that settlers in increasing num- bers began to pour into the state in that year. The land which these settlers took had been granted in this way by the governor of New Hampshire. The coun- try became known in consequence of this as the New Hampshire Grants.
When the order of the king reached New York the lieutenant governor published a proclamation announcing the fact and telling the settlers on the grants to govern themselves accordingly. Although the Order in Council and the proclamation came as something of a surprise to people who received their titles from New Hampshire and had become accustomed to regard that state as their parent and superior, the documents did not cause alarm. The settlers did not anticipate with pleasure the change in authority which the order involved, but they felt inclined to accept it without making trouble, for to them it appeared to be simply a change in jurisdiction which did not affect the validity of their titles.
It could hardly be expected that the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants would like the jurisdiction of New York as well as that of New Hampshire. These settlers were mostly New England men, and New Eng- land people had their own ways of doing things, which differed from the New York methods. For example, the New York lands had been granted in old Dutch times, before the English took possession, and were held under
71
THE DEBATABLE LAND
what was known as the patroon system. This gave large tracts to a few men instead of small farms to a great many men. One man might possess thousands of acres ; but the men who worked on this land would be nothing but tenants of his, instead of independent owners of farms of their own. It was quite different from the New England method. However, so far as tenure of their farms was concerned, the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants did not anticipate trouble, for they already owned them.
In the matter of government, too, the settlers could not expect much voice, for in administering affairs the New York way was not at all like their own. In New York the government was more aristocratic, and we have seen that the settlers were very democratic. In New York even the local officers were appointed either directly or indirectly by the central authority. The settlers had become accustomed to appointing for themselves what- ever local officers they needed. Their town meetings had come to be a sort of foundation of government, a political nursery and training school. The two systems were essentially different, and the settlers would have to accustom themselves to the change; but after all they were under the same king, and a mere transfer of juris- diction was not worth revolting against, if that were all.
But a mere change of jurisdiction was not all, as presently appeared. First, rumors began to float about that the governor of New York was taking the king's order not only to establish future jurisdiction over the grants, but to annul present titles. He was going to make the Order in Council retroactive in its effects. This meant that the settlers must abandon their homes
1
72
HISTORY OF VERMONT
-- the homes which they had bought, cleared, and paid for -- or pay for them again in fees and exorbitant charges to the New York officials. A very different matter this from submitting to a mere change in jurisdiction.
Presently, in confirmation of the rumors, men began to appear from New York, bringing surveyors with them ; and in the summer and fall of 1765 they busied them- selves by running lines, setting up stakes in the fields, and marking trees in the woods. They were preparing to claim lands under New York patents. The settlers became alarmed for the security of their property and sought redress. But redress was hard to get. They were under the jurisdiction of the power which was robbing them. It was hopeless to appeal to the party that was taking away their rights, yet they did appeal. They did all they could decently and in good form, -appointed agents to represent their case, sent to New York asking the governor's protection since they were under his authority, sought legal redress. But it was of no avail. City speculators had already bought up grants of their best lands, and for the remainder, if they chose to retain them, fees were demanded which were said to be as much as the land itself was worth. In other words, they must pay for the labor which they had themselves expended on their own estates.
It is apparent that, although this controversy actually began in one town, the issue was really not a local issue at all. If the settlers were beaten in one town, the same thing would happen in every town of the New Hampshire Grants. The cause was a general one, and the settlers had the sagacity to see that organized and concerted
73
THE DEBATABLE LAND
action was necessary. We shall presently study the form which that action took.
That they were right in assuming that change of juris- diction was all that the king's Order in Council contem- plated was shown conclusively in 1767. The king had been informed of the trouble which the action of the governor of New York was making in the grants; and in order to settle that controversy and forestall any further conflicts he issued in 1767 a second Order in Council on the subject of dispute. It positively forbade the gov- ernor of New York to make any further grants of dis- puted territory. This showed that the settlers' titles were valid, and that the Order in Council of 1764 was not intended to give the governor of New York any authority to grant over again to some one else lands which had been granted once by the governor of New Hampshire to purchasers in good faith.
But the governors of New York had been emulating the example of Benning Wentworth and had already made enough grants of just this kind to give the settlers a lively fight to retain their homes. Not only this, but the king's second order was treated as a nullity and grants were made continuously by the governor of New York and his successors with one exception to the days of the American Revolution.1
THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS
The people of the New Hampshire Grants had been living plain, simple lives, without getting into quarrels and without making much noise in the world. They had
1 See Appendix, Part I11, Table A, for the amount of the grants and the fees.
74
HISTORY OF VERMONT
little money, slight legal counsel, no influence. They were under the necessity of conducting their own defense. They did it ; and if ever an inherent Anglo-Saxon sense of
LAKE CHAMPLAIN
GLOUCESTER COUNTY
BATH
HAVERHILL
ORFORD
(RIVER
LYME.
3
NORWICH
SDARTMOUTH COLL.
ENFIELD
LEBANON
PLAINFIELD
ORANGE
L
"T.J.EDWARD
PRESENT\. BOUNDARY LINE)
CUMBERLAND COUNTY
CHESHIRE COUNTY
NEW
Es
SCHUYLERSHIT
NTY
HAMPSHIRE
COU
BENNINGTON
ALBANY
HOOSICK.
ALBANY
VERMONT DIVIDED INTO FOUR COUNTIES UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF NEW YORK
constitutional procedure was shown, it was when they sub- mitted their cause to be tried at Albany, in the regular way, in the courts of the power that was overriding them,
GRAFTON COUNTY
HANOVER
CASTLETON
LAKE GEORGE
CONNECTICUT
75
THE DEBATABLE LAND
after that power had shown indubitable signs of what its policy would be, by sending home their agents from New York with answers that showed the hopelessness of further appeal.
As the contest went on it looked as though the New York authorities regarded it as one of the instances in which might makes right. The attorney general plainly intimated this. Ethan Allen responded in scriptural phrase that "the gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." On being questioned by the official as to the interpretation thereof, Allen replied that if he would come to Bennington the meaning would be made plain to him. It was made plain, and at Bennington, although the attorney general was not there.
When the test cases were called at Albany the court refused to allow the charters of the town and the deeds of the settlers to be presented as evidence. There could be, therefore, no defense. The settlers were stripped of legal recourse, and verdicts were rendered for the New York grantees. The result of these ejectment suits at Albany in June, 1770, conclusively demonstrated one thing : there was no means of legal redress, and further appeal to New York was useless. It was well for the settlers that the decision was not equivocal. No pos- sible doubt could be left in their minds now as to what they must do.
Since the New York claimants, supported by the decision of the courts, would surely attempt to eject the settlers, it remained for the latter to provide means to retain their homes and defend them. The conditions under which the settlers were placed were such as they
L
76
HISTORY OF VERMONT
had never before been called on to face. There was nothing, therefore, in their experience to provide for such an emergency, nothing in their town govern- ments to handle such cases as those now in hand, no organization existing which could act for them.
It might be a very simple matter to repel the sheriff who came . to serve the writs of ejectment upon the settlers whose titles had been condemned in the New York courts ; it would be a far different matter to deal with the full force of royal authority in the province which stood behind this officer, if that should be called into requisition. It was with a full understanding of the remoter consequences which their action involved that the settlers prepared for defense.
The issue came first to the town of Bennington when the defendants in the ejectment suits came back from Albany beaten in the courts. The town of Bennington met the issue by calling a meeting to determine the sentiments of the inhabitants and voting to take the defendants under the protection of the town. It was no non-committal step ; but really the town could do no less, for the result of this issue would determine the strength of New York laws and the fate of the settlers in the grants. The action of the town, therefore, was not merely heroic or self-sacrificing; it was necessary to self-preservation. Everything was at stake. If these writs were executed, it would be the turn of some one else next, and so on to the end. The time to face the issue was at the start.
The sheriff was not able to execute the writs without assistance. Gathering a large posse, he approached the
77
THE DEBATABLE LAND
farm of one of the defendants, Breakenridge by name. But warning of his project had spread, and when he arrived the settlers were prepared to receive him. The sheriff was no coward, but circumstances were unfavor- able for the performance of his duty. The settlers had posted a hundred well-armed men in the woods which ran along the ridge of the slope where the farm- house stood ; across the tilled field to the southeast, but within gunshot, was a smaller force; the house itself was barricaded and garrisoned.
The settlers met sheriff Ten Eyck with the warning that they should hold their own at all costs, and when he seized an ax and threatened to smash in the door, he found the points of too many muskets leveled at him to make it a prudent undertaking. These men rarely missed their aim. He retired with discretion, and not a shot was fired on either side. The posse dispersed, as one writer says, "with commendable speed to their own homes," and the gods of the hills were left in peaceful possession of their own.
While this was a bloodless victory, its importance should not be underestimated. It turned the tide of events in favor of the settlers and against the New York claimants at just the critical moment, and by so doing it gave the defenders of the grants a premonition of the success which was to be theirs in spite of the adverse rulings of the Albany court, if they only stood stanchly together. It also showed their opponents the temper of these people, and that it would be no small power that could dispossess them of their homes. Fur- thermore, it made the town of Bennington the leader
78
HISTORY OF VERMONT
and the headquarters of the opposition to New York claimants.
But the issue was not settled. Defense could not stop where it had begun. It yet remained to establish a more systematic and definite form of resistance through the western townships. Town meetings and conferences were held, and the organization of military companies began under an association which took its name from a threat
THE OLD CATAMOUNT TAVERN
which the governor of New York had made to drive the opponents of his authority into the green mountains, - the name of the Green Mountain Boys.
In this controversy there appears for the first time in the public affairs of the state the figure of Ethan Allen. He came from Connecticut to Bennington in the time of the land-grant dispute as a proprietor under the New Hampshire charters. He was sturdy, self-reliant, and possessed of those commanding qualities which go to
79
THE DEBATABLE LAND
make natural leaders in such epochs. He threw him- self whole-heartedly into the struggle, helped the defend- ants prepare their cases for trial with as much skill as a trained lawyer, became a leader of the Green Mountain Boys when it was necessary to bid defiance to the pro- cess of the courts, and was a dominant figure in their councils held at the old Catamount Tavern of Landlord Stephen Fay.
The sign of this green mountain hos- telry was the stuffed skin of a catamount, reared aloft on a pole, facing with grinning teeth the New York border. In this tavern the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys ma- tured their plans, and in later days, during MONUMENT MARKING THE SITE OF THE CATAMOUNT TAVERN the troublous times of the Revolution, the Council of Safety met and pon- dered around the old fireplace across whose top were cut in rude letters the words COUSIL ROOM.
BEGINNINGS OF STATECRAFT
It is an interesting story and well worth looking into, this story of how the settlers on the New Hampshire
80
HISTORY OF VERMONT
Grants maintained their own. In spite of its unques- tioned seriousness, not only to those whose lives, liberty, and property were hazarded, but also for the future of the state, there is a certain grim humor about the whole situation which lends it a distinct and spicy flavor.
Here were two parties, like angry school children, call- ing each other all sorts of opprobrious names. The one faction was stigmatized as a crowd of "land jobbers," "land thieves," "land pirates," " specula- tors," "Yorkites"; the other side was known by such dire and dreadful names as "the Bennington mob," " wanton dis- turbers of the peace," " rioters," " conspira- tors," and the like. Here were the Green Mountain Boys occa- THE FIREPLACE IN THE COUNCIL ROOM OF THE CATAMOUNT TAVERN sionally chastising the more persistent of their enemies with "twigs of the wilderness, the growth of the land which they coveted," setting with the terrible solemnity of thirty-nine lashes an indelible impression of the "beech seal " upon both the mind and bared back of the recipient. It was tangible evidence that the Green Mountain Boys were acting under some authority or other. Here were the New York officials offering rewards for the capture of Ethan Allen, Remember
8 I
THE DEBATABLE LAND
Baker, and other leaders of this band of Robin Hoods, and they in like fashion returning the compliment, although at a significantly lower figure.
But we observed the really essential thing when we took notice of the manner in which the settlers began their determined resistance to encroachment. From that alone we could foresee that out of all this trouble, some of which looks more like rough horseplay than statesmanship, there would come in due time a training in the practical management of their own affairs, a rude but effective organization of executive machinery, con- servative legislation, and a sense of justice which would preserve to every man his own, and guarantee his rights to each one who fulfilled his duties : all of which things were to fit the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants for the task of building on these foundations a true and loyal state.
It may appear ill advised to apply the term conserva- tive to the actions of men who were doing what has been described. But it was simply this. They were not revolutionists seeking to overthrow and uproot an existing order of things; they stood for the preserva- tion of the existing order ; they were conservers of the public weal.
Let us review the really essential features of their work, in order to see how unfailingly constructive it was. Let us look now, not for the picturesque features, but for underlying principles.
From the time of their first settlement and organization the towns of the New Hampshire Grants had by the terms of their charters certain powers of self-government
82
HISTORY OF VERMONT
in March meeting through the election of town officers and the direction of town affairs. At a time when settle- ments were few and isolated and there was no general cause or public question this might well comprehend the government of the grants. But the courts of New York sought to annul these charters and by so doing destroy every right that was based thereon. That was a blow struck at the government of every town in the grants, and it created, therefore, an issue broader than that of the government of any single town.
The towns might keep on exercising, cach for itself, their prerogatives, but this would not be enough to meet the needs of a cause which was sure to become general. Some further organization was forced upon them collectively for the preservation of what they already possessed as individual towns. The adminis- trative needs were like those which confronted the American colonies on the eve of revolution, and it is instructive to note that in both cases these needs were met in exactly the same way, that is, by the work of committees.
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.