USA > Vermont > Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the records of the General Conventions from July 1775 to December 1777, Vol. I > Part 45
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JAMES CLAY.I
1 If there is not an error in the date of the order of the Vermont Council of Safety (August 29, 1777.) Capt. Clay was brought before the Council twice, and there is no record of what transpired at the second arraignment. The quotation from B. H. Hall's Eastern Vermont, on p. 137 of this volume, evidently refers to Capt. Clay's first arraignment as above given.
APPENDIX E.
REMARKS ON ARTICLE THREE OF THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.
By Hon. DANIEL CHIPMAN.
[From Memoir of Thomas Chittenden, by D. Chipman, pp. 86-93.]
The framers of our Constitution, having, as suggested, founded it on the equal rights of the citizens, and having pretty correct notions of reli- gious liberty, had no idea of authorizing the Legislature to fax the mi- nor sects for the benefit of the standing order, yet they considered that as all classes of the community had a common interest in the support of public worship, as they had in the support of common schools, they ought to contribute in like manner for its support. And they author- ized the Legislature to pass Laws to enforce the observation of the Sab- bath, and to tax the people for the support of public worship, trusting that they would do it in such manner as to afford no just ground of com- plaint. They accordingly made the following addition to the Section [as the third section stood in the Constitution of Pennsylvania:] " Ner- ertheless every sect or denomination of people ought to observe the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, and keep up, and support, some sort of religious wor- ship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God."
The Legislature at their first session in March. 1778, passed an act to enforce a due observation of the Sabbath; and at the October session in 1781, an act was passed authorizing towns to lay taxes on the lands within their limits, for the purpose of building meeting-houses, school- houses, and bridges, but they passed no act authorizing towns to lay taxes upon their lists for the building of meeting-houses and the support of ministers, until October 1783, when they passed an act entitled " an act enabling towns and parishes to erect proper houses for public worship, and support ministers of the gospel." The following is the preamble and extracts from the enacting part:
"AN ACT to enable Towns and Parishes, to erect proper Houses for pub- lic Worship, and support Ministers of the Gospel.
" Whereas, it is of the greatest importance to the community at large, as well as to individuals, that the precepts of christianity and rules of morality be publicly and statedly inculcated on the minds of the inhab- itants:
" Therefore, Be it enacted, &c. that whenever any town or parish shall think themselves sufficiently able to build a meeting-house, or settle a
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minister, it shall be the duty of the town or parish clerk, on application of seven freeholders of such town or parish, to warn a town or society meeting, mentioning the time, place, and matter to be debated; giving twelve days notice, by posting the same at the most public place, or pla- ces, in said town or parish: and that two thirds of the inhabitants of such town or parish, who shall meet agreeable to such warrant, being legal voters, and of similar sentiments with respect to the mode of worship, shall be hereby authorized to appoint a place or places for the public worship of GOD, and fix on a place or places for building a house or houses of worship, and vote a tax or taxes sufficient to defray the expense of such building or buildings; and also to hire, or otherwise agree with, a minister or ministers to preach in such town or parish, either to supply such town or parish with preaching, or on probation for settlement; and further to vote sueh minister or ministers such settlement or settlements in money, or otherwise, as to them shall seem equal; and to vote such minister or ministers such annual support in money, or otherwise, (to be agreed on between such minister or ministers and people) as shall be found necessary; to be assessed on the polls and rateable estates of per- sons living, or estates lying within the limits of such town or parish. Provided, no person shall be obliged to pay such tax or taxes, or any part thereof, or his estate taken therefor, who shall be hereafter described and exempted by this act. Provided also, that no vote shall be deemed legal and binding on such inhabitants as are not by law exempted as aforesaid, unless there shall be twenty-five legal voters in the affirma- tive. And if the inhabitants of any town or parish shall agree to build a meeting-house or houses, agreeable to the tenor of this aet, but shall not agree on the place or places to build the same; in that case it shall be the duty of the county court, at their sessions within the county where such difficulty may arise, at the request of not less than seven members, inhabitants of sneh town or parish, to appoint an indifferent committee at the discretion of the court, and cost of such town or par- ish, to view attentively such town or parish, and find out the most con- venient place or places for such houses, and there set up a stake or stakes, and acquaint the clerk of such town or parish therewith, who shall make a record thereof; and such committee shall report their do- ings to the court that appointed them ; which court shall examine said report, and if found to be just and equal, shall establish the same.
" And whereas, there are in many towns and parishes within this State, men of different sentiments in religious duties, which lead peaceable and moral lives, the rights of whose conscience is not to control; and likewise some, perhaps, who pretend to differ from the majority with a design to escape taxation:
" Therefore, Be it enacted, that every person or persons, being of adult age, shall be considered as being of opinion with the major part of the inhabitants within such town or parish where he, she, or they shall dwell, until he, she, or they shall bring a certificate, signed by some min- ister of the gospel, deacon or elder, or the moderator in the church or congregation to which he, she, or they pretend to belong, being of a dif- ferent persuasion; which certificate shall set forth the party to be of their persuasion; and until such certificate shall be shewn to the clerk of such town or parish, (who shall record the same,) such party shall be subject to pay all such charges with the major part, as by law shall be assessed on his, her, or their polls or rateable estate."
Many towns taxed the inhabitants to raise money for building meet- ing-houses, settling and supporting ministers, agreeably to the provis- ions of the act. It was productive of great good; the people in the dif-
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ferent towns, collected from various parts of New England, more readily united for the support of public worship, in a mode to which they had been accustomed, than they would have done in any new mode. But in most of the towns there was a greater proportion of those belonging to the minor sects, than there were in the other New England States, and an opposition to the [above quoted] Ministerial act was at once mani- fested. And this opposition naturally increased from year to year, until the year 1801, when the Legislature repealed the clause in the Ministe- rial Act, enabling any individual to obtain a certificate to exempt him from the payment of taxes, and enacted the following as a substitute:
-" That every person of adult age. being a legal voter in any town or parish. shall be considered as of the religious opinion and sentiment of such society, as is mentioned in said act, and be liable to be taxed for the purposes mentioned in said act, unless he shall, previous to any vote, authorized in and by said act, deliver to the clerk of said town or parish, a declaration in writing, with his name thereto subscribed, in the follow- ing words, to wit : I do not agree in religious opinion, with a majority of the inhabitants of this town."
This, it was supposed, would remove all objections and silence all complaints against the Ministerial aet, but it was soon found that the number of those opposed to the act was increasing. At every session of the Legislature, efforts were made to repeal the act, until the year 1807, when the Legislature repealed the offensive parts of it, divesting the towns of all power to act or pass any vote for the building of meet- ing-houses or the support of ministers, leaving every individual to de- cide for himself whether he would contribute anything for the promo- tion of those objects. It was well that this act was continued so long under various modifications. It has taught us a valuable lesson, that all laws must be made in the spirit of our free institutions, or they will be neither satisfactory, useful, or permanent.
It was for some time supposed that the dissatisfaction of the people with the Ministerial act arose from their objections to its details, and they were modified, but this appeared to have no other effect than to in- crease the opposition to the act. And at length the people spoke to the Legislature in a language which could not be misunderstood, -we will not permit the Legislature to interfere in any manner with our religious concerns. When this act was repealed, great fears were entertained that the cause of religion would suffer, that public worship could not be supported without the aid of the law, that ministers would be driven from their profession for want of a support, but the condition of the clergy was improved by the repeal of the act. And now [1849] after the experience of more than forty years, it is evident that the time had ar- rived for setting aside that system of supporting public worship by taxa- tion, which was adopted by our puritan fathers, and which was so neces- sary in that age for the support of a pions and learned clergy, and which had been so beneficial in the first settlement of this State. But useful as that system had been, while those in the minor sects were few in num- ber, it proved otherwise when their numbers had greatly increased. As none but the Congregationalists taxed them for the support of the gos- pel, they naturally imbibed a strong prejudice against that order, but since the cause has been removed, since all the christian sects have been placed on an equal footing, that prejudice is wearing off, and there is a fair prospect that all the christian sects will treat each other in a true christian spirit.
APPENDIX F.
THE NAME "VERMONT."
[ From Zadock Thompson's Vermont, Part First, p. 4, note. ]
This name is said to have been adopted upon the recommendation of Dr. THOMAS YOUNG. The following account of the christening of the Green Mountains is given by the Rev. SAMUEL PETERS, in his life of the Rev. HUGH PETERS, published at New York in 1807:
" Verd-Mont was a name given to the Green Mountains in October, 1763, by the Rev. Dr. Peters, the first clergyman who paid a visit to the 30.000 settlers in that country,1 in the presence of Col. Taplin, Col. Welles. Col. Peters. Judge Peters and many others, who were proprie- tors of a large number of townships in that colony. The ceremony was performed on the top of a rock standing on a high mountain, then named Mount Pisgah because it provided to the company a clear sight of Lake Champlain at the west, and of Connecticut river at the east, and overlooked all the trees and hills in the vast wilderness at the north and south.2 The baptism was performed in the following manner : Priest Peters stood on the pinnacle of the rock, when he received a bot- tle of spirits from Col. Taplin ; then haranguing the company with a short history of the infant settlement, and the prospect of its becoming an impregnable barrier between the British colonies on the south and the late colonies of the French on the north, which might be returned to their late owners for the sake of governing America by the different powers of Europe, he continued, 'we have here met upon the rock Etam, standing on Mount Pisgah, which makes a part of the everlasting hill, the spine of Asia, Africa and America, holding together the terres- trial ball, and dividing the Atlantic from the Pacific ocean-to dedicate and consecrate this extensive wilderness to God manifested in the flesh, and to give it a new name worthy of the Athenians and ancient Spar- tans,-which new name is Verd Mont, in token that her mountains and hills shall be ever green and shall never die.' He then poured out the spirits and cast the bottle upon the rock Etam.
1 The population of Cumberland and Gloucester counties, as taken by the authority of New York, was 4669 in 1771 -eight years after Dr. Peters' visit. Dr. Williams said: "These two Counties, at that time, contained about two thirds of the people in the whole district. The whole number of inhabitants therefore in 1771 must have been about seven thousand."-Williams's Vermont, second edition, vol. 2, p. 478.
2 The editor of this volume is ignorant of any mountain in Vermont which answers precisely to this description. Mansfield and Camel's Hump come the nearest to it, as from the rocks on their crests Lake Champlain can be clearly seen; Connecticut river, however, cannot be seen. Each of these mountains gives a view beyond the deep valley through which that river runs.
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There is no doubt (added ZADOCK THOMPSON,) that the name Verd Mont had been applied to this range of mountains long previous to the above transaction, (if, indeed, it ever took place;) but we do not find that the name Verd Mont, or Vermont, was ever applied to the territory gen- erally known as the New Hampshire Grants, previous to the declaration of the independence of the territory in January 1777.
From the mode in which Mr. THOMPSON introduced the foregoing note in his Vermont, the reader is liable to infer that the honor of giving the name Verd Mont was claimed for the Rev. Hugh Peters, from the history of whom the account was extracted: but that reverend gentle- man was convicted of treason in England, and executed Oct. 16, 1660- one hundred and three years previous to the event alleged above. The " Rev. Dr. Peters," who it is said performed the rite of baptism in a de- eidedly spiritual way, was no other than the author of the History of the Rev. Hugh Peters. In other words, SAMUEL A. PETERS, D. D .. LL.D., of Hebron, Connecticut. claimed that he himself was the officiating priest on the occasion described. In three biographical dictionaries, which have been examined, he is styled SAMUEL A. PETERS, D. D, LL. D., but in the preface to the American edition of the History of the Rev. Hugh Peters. (the first edition of which was printed in Eng- land,) the middle name is omitted. Rev. SAMUEL PETERS, LL. D., was born in Hebron, Conn. in 1717;1 while SAMUEL A. PETERS, D. D., LL. D. was born in the same town eighteen years later, to wit, Dec. 12. 1735.2 SAMUEL A. PETERS was the author of a History of Hugh Peters, and also of A General History of Connecticut, printed in London in 1781, and re-printed in New Haven, Conn., in 1826. He was once selected for the office of Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Vermont, but was never consecrated. It will be noticed that Mr. THOMPSON hints a doubt of the veracity of this historian; knowing, doubtless, that his history of Connecticut had been characterized as " the most unscru- pulons and malicious of lying narratives." It is in that volume, so broadly condemned, that the following other Vermont scene is described -Bellows Falls; and it is given here as a specimen of Mr. Peters's style of history:
" Here water is consolidated, without frost, by pressure, by swiftness, between the pinching, sturdy rocks, to such a degree of induration, that an iron crow floats smoothly down its current :- here iron, lead, and cork, have one common weight :- here, steady as time, and harder than marble, the stream presses irresistible, if not swift, as lightning :- the electric fire rends trees in pieces with no greater ease, than does this mighty water."-See General History of Connecticut, American edition, p. 110.
1 History of Hugh Peters, by Samuel A. Peters, p. 116.
2 Drake's Dictionary of American Biography, and Allibone's Dictionary of Authors.
APPENDIX G.
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THE UNION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWNS WITH VER- MONT, IN 1778-9.
[From Ira Allen's History of Vermont, in Vermont Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. I, pp. 394-400.]
Since the acquiescence of the late government of New Hampshire to the change of jurisdiction in 1764, a good understanding subsisted be- tween New Hampshire and the district of the New Hampshire Grants; indeed, that State had gone further towards the admission of Vermont to sovereignty and independence than any other, as will appear from President Weare's letter of July 1777, to Ira Allen, Secretary of the State of Vermont, announcing the assistance that State was sending, under the command of General Starks, for the defence of the frontiers; 1 the stile and expressions in his letter were addressed to Vermont as a new but sovereign free state. From these circumstances, it appeared that New Hampshire had virtually acknowledged the independence of Vermont, and it was expected that she would use her influence to have it acknowledged by Congress; but these prospects were soon clouded by the conduct of some people contiguous to Connecticut River, in New Hampshire, who attempting privately to concert measures to bring the seat of government to said river, called a Convention at Hanover to con- cert measures to unite all the New Hampshire Grants in one entire State; to effect which, a pamphlet was printed in 1778, in which it was stated, that New Hampshire was granted as a province to John Mason, and to extend sixty miles from the sea, which formed the line called and known by the name of the Mason line; that the lands to the west of that were annexed to New Hampshire by force of royal authority, and the lands were granted in pursuance of instructions from the King and Privy Council; that the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, west of the Mason line, ceased with the power of the crown, as it was held by force of royal commission only; that therefore the people were at liberty to chuse what form of government they would establish, and they thought proper to unite with the people of the New Hampshire grants, west of Connecticut River, who were about to establish a new State.2 These measures drew the attention of the people, so that a petition from six- teen towns, (including Hanover and others on the east side of Connecti- cut River,) was presented to the legislature of Vermont, at their first session, in March, 1778; in the course of said petition it was stated, that
1 See ante, p. 132.
2 The editor of this volume has tried, but in vain, to procure a copy of' the proceedings of the convention at Hanover, and of the pamphlet al- luded to by Allen .- See ante, pp. 275, 276, note, and 278.
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said sixteen towns were not connected with any State with respect to their internal police, and requested Vermont to receive them into union and confederation. The legislature was much perplexed with this peti- tion; the most discerning men were apprehensive of difficulty from New Hampshire if they interfered with her internal police: the dispute arose so high, that some members contiguous to Connecticut River threatened to withdraw from the legislature, and unite with the people east of the said river, and form a State. At length it was resolved, to refer said petition to the consideration of the freemen of the several towns, to ac- cept or reject said petition, and to instruct their representatives accord- ingly; a majority were in favor of said sixteen towns, consequently, at the next session of the legislature, an act was passed, authorizing said sixteen towns to elect and send members to the legislature of Vermont at their next session ; this also laid a foundation for more towns to unite as aforesaid.
The sixteen towns announced to the government of New Hampshire that they had withdrawn from their jurisdiction, and wished to have a boundary line settled between them, and a friendly intercourse con- tinued.
Meshak Weare, Esq., was then President of that State, who wrote to Thomas Chittenden, Esq., Governor of Vermont, reclaiming said six- teen towns, predicating on the established bounds of the late province of New Hampshire ; that said towns were represented in the provincial Congress in 1775 ; on their applying to that government for arms, &c., on their receiving commissions, and acting as a part of the State of New Hampshire ; that a minority claimed protection ; that the State felt it a duty to afford it. He also wrote to the delegates of that State in Con- gress, urging them to procure the interference of Congress ; therefore President Weare recommended to Governor Chittenden to use his influ- ence to dissolve so dangerous a connection.
On the receipt of these dispatches Governor Chittenden convened the Council, who appointed General Ethan Allen to repair to Congress in quality of agent to make such statements as might be consistent. and to learn how the conduct of Vermont was viewed by that body. General Ethan Allen reported to the legislature in October, 1778, that the men- bers of Congress were unanimously opposed to Vermont's extending jurisdiction across Connecticut River ; that if she dissolved her unions. they generally appeared in favour of her independence. At this time ten of said sixteen towns were represented in the legislature of Ver- mont, when it was proposed to form the towns that had united with that State into a county by themselves, which was rejected by this and some other votes. It appeared that the Assembly declined to do any thing more to extend their jurisdiction to the east of Connecticut River. The members from those towns withdrew from the Assembly, and were followed by the Lieutenant Governor, three members of the Council, and fifteen members of the Assembly, who lived near Connecticut River. The object was, to break up the Assembly, as the constitution required two-thirds of the members elected to form a house for business, but there remained a quorum who proceeded to business. They referred the mat- ter respecting said sixteen towns to the freemen to instruct their repre- sentatives ; as the union was formed by the voice of the people, the legislature chose to dissolve it in the same way. Ira Allen, Esq., was appointed and instructed to repair to the court of New Hampshire, in order to settle any difficulties that might subsist in consequence of said sixteen towns ; Mr. Allen attended the General Court of New Hamp- shire, stated the causes that had produced said union, and the embarrass- ments the legislature of Vermont laboured under ; that it would be
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dissolved at the adjourned term in February, which appeared satisfactory to the General Court of that State. The dissenting members of the leg- islature convened by themselves, and invited all the towns on the New Hampshire grants, on both sides of Connecticut River, to send mem- bers to form a convention at Cornish, on the 9th of December, 1778. When the convention met, they agreed to unite, without any regard to the boundary line established on the west bank of Connecticut River in 1764. The convention then proceeded to make the following proposals to the Government of New Hampshire, viz.
" Either to agree with them on a divisional line, or to submit the dis- pute to Congress, or to arbitrators mutually chosen." If neither of these proposals should be accepted, and they could agree with New Hamp- shire upon a plan of government, they resolved further, " We will consent that the whole of the grants connect with New Hampshire, and become with them one entire state, as it was limited and bounded, before the set- tling of the said line in 1764." Until one of these proposals should be complied with, they resolved to trust in Providence, and defend them- selves. There were but eight towns from Vermont which were repre- sented in this convention, and some of them declined to act in making any overtures to New Hampshire, to extend their jurisdiction over the state of Vermont. But the proceedings of the Convention served to dis- cover to the whole body of the people what had been the views of the leading men, in proposing the union of the sixteen towns from New Hampshire : It was now manifest, that their whole aim had been to form a government, the center and seat of which should be upon Con- necticut River. This would be effected either by connecting a consid- able part of New Hampshire with Vermont, or by breaking up the government of Vermont, and connecting the whole of it with New Hampshire ; the one or the other of these measures they were earnest to effect, and either of them would probably have formed a state, the metropolis of which must have been upon the river which divides the two states.
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