USA > Vermont > The story of Vermont (1926) > Part 4
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THE STORY OF VERMONT
which the wise and the honest can repair, the event is in the hand of God."
The convention followed the advice of its great chairman and the result, after weeks of hard labor, was the Constitution of the United States. But the work of these men was only begun. The people of the States were preju- diced, selfish, disappointed at the results of the war, embittered against their neighbors. They had to be persuaded to put all that aside. No general in any war fought with more skill, vigor and courage than did Wash- ington, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, Ames, Mar- shall and others in behalf of the Constitution.
As a result of the work of these men a better and more friendly sentiment prevailed with the people. A striking example of this was the settlement between New York and Ver- mont. For years the legislature of New York had been threatening the people of Vermont, and this had helped to keep alive the hatred between the two States. As a result there were frequently small, rather disgraceful fights between the Vermonters and New Yorkers, and sometimes the quarrels ended in actual killing. But, influenced by the appeals that were being made to man's better nature, the
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New York legislature decided that it would far rather be a friend to Vermont than a foe.
The legislature of Vermont was as prompt to meet New York's offer of friendship as it had been in years gone by to meet its threats. Four commissioners were appointed from each State. They discussed the differences between them and finally reached a satisfactory agree- ment. The quarrel that had separated these people for more than a quarter of a century was settled by eight men around a table.
The Constitution of the United States, after a long, hard struggle, had been adopted. The old Continental Congress was no more. In its place was a Federal Congress and at the head of the government, George Washington, the first President of the United States. Ver- mont, under the wise rule of Governor Thomas Chittenden, had been successful as an inde- pendent State but when its people read the new Constitution and saw Washington at the head of the new government their old desire to enter the Union became active again.
So, again delegates went from Vermont to ask for admission. This time there was no delay, no excuses. New York, its former foe, was the first to approve Vermont's request,
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and without one dissenting vote Vermont was made a part of the new great nation. The long struggle of the hardy Green Mountain Boys was crowned with success.
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CHAPTER VII
THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES
The same year that Vermont became a part of the United States, 1791, an official count was made of the number of people in the State. It was found that, although thirty years be- fore there had been scarcely 100 people in Vermont, the population, at that date, was 85,425. When the first pioneers entered the State they found that the river valleys were damp and often swampy, and also that the hardwood trees, the ashes of which were valuable for potash, grew upon the sides of the mountains. So the first homes were es- tablished along the mountain sides.
As a rule these early arrivals were content to live pretty much alone. They were brave, honest hard workers, lovers of freedom, al- though perhaps rather narrow, rough and ig- norant of things that were not necessary to their daily work. All the education they cared for was enough to enable them to read and write and figure.
A few years later Vermont attracted people
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who cared more for the things that make life beautiful, such things as higher education, music and art. These later arrivals preferred to settle in the valleys where it was easier to go from one place to another. They wanted beautiful churches, attractive schools. The pioneers on the mountains had little use for such things.
If, in the year 1793, you had stopped at a tavern in Williston, you might have been served a glass of rum or cider by the governor of the State. Governor Chittenden owned a large farm and kept a tavern where he fre- quently served those who called. If you had stayed the evening in the public room of the tavern you might have heard Vermonters talk about Ira Allen's offer of land and money to found the University of Vermont at Burling- ton. Or perhaps they would talk over the recommendation of the Board of Censors that there be a State Senate as well as a House of Representatives. Some would argue that with only one body of men many foolish laws had been passed that would have been prevented by a second body. Others would reply with the time-honored argument that what was, was good enough.
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Vermont did not have a senate until more than forty years later. In the early govern- ment there was the governor and his council and the House of Representatives. In addition there was a Council of Censors that was elected every seven years, whose duty it was to see that all the State officials did their work properly and to recommend such amendments to the Constitution as seemed wise.
Most of the people were farmers. They raised sheep and made their clothes from the sheep's wool, they grew flax and made their linen from that. In those days very few people used cotton goods. Along Lake Cham- plain and the rivers there was a good deal of lumbering. In the middle-western part of the State marble had been found. Near Lake Champlain there were some iron mines.
Until about 1796 there was not much talk of politics, for almost every one in Vermont was satisfied with George Washington as Pres- ident and Thomas Chittenden as Governor.
Vermonters had good reason to be satisfied with Governor Chittenden. In 1778, when Vermont set up an independent government, he had been elected as the first Governor and, with the exception of one year, he continued
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to be Governor until 1797, when he resigned because of old age. In those early days of Ver- mont, when her government was not recog- nized by the other States, a good many lawless people had entered the State. One of Governor Chittenden's first jobs was to make these peo- ple understand that they would have to obey the law in Vermont just as anywhere else. Under his wise leadership Vermont had become a prosperous, peaceful State of the Union.
In 1796 Washington was to finish his second term as President and it was well known that Governor Chittenden would not consent to be Governor again. With these two leaders out of the question two parties began to be formed in Vermont. They had been forming for some time in the rest of the nation. These parties differed with each other on the question of how much power the national government should have and how much should be left to the different States.
Before the Constitution was accepted each State had claimed to have almost all the pow- ers of an independent nation and the national government had practically no power at all. The Constitution created a strong national or federal government. Those who favored
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THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES 83
the Constitution were known as Federalists, those who opposed it Anti-Federalists.
Under the wise leadership of Washington, the people of Vermont generally became Feder- alists; that is, in favor of the Constitution. But when the question came up, as it often did, of whether on a certain question the authority should be given to the State or to the national government, some people said: "When in doubt decide in favor of the na- tional government"; others said: "When in doubt decide in favor of the State govern- ment."
In George Washington's cabinet were two men who were generally recognized as the leaders on these two sides. For the national government was Alexander Hamilton, Secre- tary of the Treasury, and on the States side Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. Both were great men; America to-day is justly proud of both.
After President Washington withdrew the Federalists won the election and elected John Adams for President. This was in 1796, the year when Vermonters began to talk politics.
If you had visited one of the taverns at that time and had heard the people talk, you would
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have found that most of them were on the Federalist side because it was the party of Washington, but some were on the Jefferson side, or the Republican-Democrat, as their party was called. The Republican-Demo- crats claimed that if the States kept giving up their authority to the federal government in a few years the people would find that they had no more rights than they had had under the government of England.
When people differ on politics they are quite likely to get angry with each other. In those days most of the people of the colonies were rougher in their speech than now and when they became excited over politics they were not careful to choose polite words. Even Washington had been called all kinds of names over matters connected with "Citizen" Genêt of France and the Jay Treaty. But Washing- ton had been wise enough to take no official notice of it.
President Adams was not so patient as Washington. He thought that some of the things that were written in the papers were an insult not only to him but to the office of President and a danger to the country. There- fore after he had been President about two
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years he had Congress pass a law forbidding the writing and publishing of attacks that made fun of the Government or would in- fluence people not to respect it. This was called the Sedition Act.
This act was the great mistake of an other- wise able President. Up in the taverns of Vermont and all over the States the Republi- can-Democrats said: "I told you that in a few years the federal government would take away our rights. Now it is worse than I thought; England never passed a law forbid- ding people to say and write what they thought that was as bad as this one."
In Vermont this law caused more trouble than anywhere else because a Vermonter, Mathew Lyon, although not a man to be espe- cially proud of, was a member of Congress for Vermont and was arrested for making insulting references to the President. His ar- rest made him seem a martyr for freedom of speech.
The one thing Vermonters always demanded was freedom. This law and the arrest of Lyon caused a large number not only in Ver- mont but all over the country to go over to the Republican-Democrat party. Thomas
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Jefferson, the head of this party, was not slow to take advantage of this protest. As a result when the Presidential election of 1800 came around Adams was defeated and Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States. In Vermont, as a result of this, there were two parties pretty evenly di- vided, with the party of Jefferson, or, as it was called later, the Democratic party, gradually winning.
The eight years from 1800 to 1808 were years of prosperous growth for Vermont. Her popu- lation increased rapidly. In addition to the common schools the larger towns built acade- mies that took the place of high schools. For those who wanted to go to college there were Dartmouth just across the river in New Hamp- shire for the east side and the University of Vermont and Middlebury College on the western side of the State.
Up to this time the State had not had a capital city, but the legislature had met in dif- ferent places and the governor's office was at his home. The people of Montpelier offered to build a home for the government officers if they would make Montpelier the capital. This offer was accepted. In 1808 the new build-
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Old capitol, first capitol building, Montpelier, Vermont. From Crockett's "History of Vermont," by courtesy of the author.
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ing was completed and the legislature, with Governor Galusha at its head, moved into its new quarters. This building was later re- placed by the beautiful granite capitol build- ing which is the pride of all Vermonters.
But while the people in the United States were getting excited over politics and building better homes, better churches and schools and getting along quite well, across the ocean affairs were very dark. In those days of no telegraph and few papers, when it took a long time to go any distance, most people knew or cared but little about the troubles in Europe. Because England had been our enemy and France our friend in the Revolutionary War, most of the people decided that whatever France did was right and whatever England did was wrong.
France had gone through a terribly bloody revolution during which the people had killed the king and queen and most of their followers. After years of murder and famine the country had come under the control of a new ruler, Napoleon. He had conquered most of the countries of Europe and was now trying to conquer England.
In this war between England and France
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State Capitol, Montpelier, Vermont. From Crockett's "History of Vermont," by courtesy of the author,
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THE STORY OF VERMONT
both sides often captured American ships and stole the goods on board. Probably France stole more than England, but the English often stole American sailors from the captured ships under the claim that they were deserters from the English navy. Some of the men were deserters, but some were not.
What was the United States to do? We made protests to both sides without getting any result. If we were going to protect Ameri- can ships and American sailors it seemed as if we must fight somebody, but we could not fight both.
President Jefferson thought that if the United States would refuse to send any sup- plies to the countries of Europe they would be forced to heed our protests without the need of going to war. So he persuaded Congress to pass what was called an Embargo Act. This law forbade the people of the United States to have any trade with any other country.
This act went into effect in 1808. It hurt our own country and particularly New Eng- land more than any other country. ~ New England had developed a big ship-building industry. Because of the war in Europe her ships were busy carrying goods all over the
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THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES 91
world. By this act the shipyards were idle and the ships rotted at the wharves.
In Vermont there had been an active trade with Canada. When this was stopped a great many people were without work. There were so many people out of work everywhere that these people could not find any other jobs and so many of them began smuggling goods to and from Canada. This smuggling became so widespread that troops had to be sent to Ver- mont to stop it. There were a number of fights between smugglers and troops.
Thomas Jefferson hated war and he tried in every way to avoid it, but both England and France thought his efforts for peace were made because we were afraid to fight. Both nations played disgraceful tricks on America. When people are thrown out of work and then are insulted they are ready to fight. This was the situation in the United States when President Madison followed Jefferson.
But there was the question: Shall we fight France or England ? Some said that Napoleon was a danger to the freedom of Europe and that if he succeeded in conquering England he would try to conquer America next. But most of the people thought France was our friend
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and England our enemy. Besides, Napoleon was more clever in his manner of robbing our people than the English.
So finally, when America became thoroughly angry, it was decided to declare war on Eng- land, although many good Americans felt war should have been declared on France. Thus in 1812 Vermont found herself again at war with her northern neighbor.
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CHAPTER VIII THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER
When the writer of this story was in school he read an interesting account of the biggest fight in the War of 1812, the battle of New Orleans. After reading how the British sol- diers charged on the Americans' fortress again and again and were driven back each time and how on both sides brave and good men were killed, he was shocked to read at the end of the account that if there had been a tele- graph in those days the battle never would have been fought. Peace had been made a few days before. Of course the men at New Orleans had no way of knowing this until weeks after when a sailing vessel reached America from Europe.
In reading history for this part of our story of Vermont, the author has been shocked again to learn that, if there had been a telegraph, probably there would have been no War of 1812 at all. The reasons why this is true do not form a part of our story of Vermont, but they indicate that war was not absolutely necessary and therefore why it was that many
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people were opposed to the war and why some usually loyal Americans in the northern New England States and in northern New York traded with the enemy.
In the first years of the nineteenth century a large number of families moved into northern Vermont. They bought a piece of land, cut off the trees, built their cabins, and planted crops a good deal as the early pioneers in other parts of Vermont. By 1808 these people were just beginning to be prosperous. In Canada were the large cities of Montreal and Quebec, and these cities bought milk products, meat, wool, lumber, and potash from the farmers in northern Vermont.
Suddenly without any good reason, as these Vermonters thought, they were told they could not sell anything more to people in Canada. This was the Embargo Act. Many of these farmers had borrowed money to buy cows and sheep, and now they could not sell their cows, their milk products, their wool, nor any other things. There were no large cities in Vermont, there were no railroads to take these things to cities like Boston and New York, so the farmers simply could not sell them at all.
Soon these farmers had more cows and sheep
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THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER
than they could feed, more milk and wool than they could use, but no money to pay their debts or to buy the things they needed. Just across the line in Canada were men who would pay them good money for their farm products. As a result these farmers began driving cattle and sheep over into Canada at night along un- frequented paths where no guards would see them. That was smuggling.
When in 1812 war was declared against England, to smuggle became a more serious crime because Canada was a part of England. If any one was caught he might be put to death for trading with the enemy. So the Ver- mont farmers stopped going into Canada with their goods. But Canada now had a lot of new soldiers to feed, and it needed the farm prod- ucts of Vermont more than before and was willing to pay big money for them.
The result was that there came to be a class of bold men who made a business of smuggling. They would come to a farmer and say: "How many cows have you to sell?" Perhaps the farmer would say: "Ten." The visitor would say to the farmer: "Here is a good price for the ten cows. Before you go to bed to-night leave them outside in the barnyard."
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Some farmers took the money, left the cows in the barnyard, and went to bed. In the morning the cows were gone. Sometimes the American soldiers would catch the smugglers with their cows before they were able to get into Canada and sometimes there would be real fights. If the soldiers won, the cattle were used by the Americans and the smugglers, if caught, were put in jail. Smugglers' Notch was one of the places where cattle and other goods were hidden.
Near Lake Champlain, farmers and mer- chants in cities like Burlington and St. Albans would deliver goods, that had been secretly bought, to some hidden place near the lake. At night the smugglers would come to these places in boats and take the goods away. The Americans had patrol boats on Lake Cham- plain to capture these smugglers' boats.
It must have been very exciting work. No lights were lit on the smugglers' boats be- cause the patrol-boats would see the lights. Neither were there any lights on the patrol- boats because then the smugglers would know where they were. Think of sailing on a dark night on the lake and never knowing when you would run ashore or, worse yet, find yourself
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THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER
beside a government patrol-boat. One smug- glers' boat, the Black Snake, was captured by a government patrol-boat after a pretty hard fight. The smugglers were taken to jail at Burlington and one was hung. The rest were kept in jail for a long time.
During the first two years of the War of 1812 a good deal of smuggling was going on in Vermont. But in 1814 Vermonters realized that the war was coming to their own homes. England had defeated the armies of Napoleon in Europe and sent over to Canada several thousand of her veteran soldiers. They in- tended to do what Burgoyne had failed to do in the Revolutionary War-go through Lake Champlain and then down the Hudson River to Albany and New York. This would cut the New England States off from the rest of the country.
Vermonters met this new danger with the spirit of 1776. Volunteers poured into Burling- ton and other places along the lake and were sent across to Plattsburg, where preparations were being made to meet the British. All the winter and summer Commodore MacDonough was busy making and arming ships at Ver- gennes, on the Otter Creek.
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Early in the morning of September 11, 1814, a British war fleet of sixteen ships appeared on the lake before Plattsburg and at the same time British troops attacked the town. The British ships were never able to help their land forces, for immediately Commodore Mac- Donough's fleet of fourteen ships, that had been made at Vergennes, sailed out to meet them.
The ships began to fire upon each other at once. For more than two hours the lake was covered with smoke and the mountains on either side echoed back and forth the roar of guns. At last the firing stopped. This meant one side had surrendered. The crowds on the shore waited breathlessly for the smoke to clear away. Then all at once there went up a mighty cheer, for, floating from the mast of Commodore MacDonough's flagship was the Stars and Stripes. The British ships had fought until they were almost shot to pieces and they now floated helplessly around the lake. As soon as the British soldiers attacking Plattsburg saw that their fleet was destroyed they gave up the fight and retreated back into Canada. England made no further effort to capture Lake Champlain.
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THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER
While the Vermont soldiers were at Platts- burg some Canadians entered Derby Line and burned a few buildings. Aside from this, the
Commodore MacDonough had been very busy making and arming a ship at Vergennes.
War of 1812 did not come again near Ver- mont.
Up until the time of the Embargo Act, 1808, the people of the United States bought most of their manufactured goods from Europe. When trade with Europe was stopped a num-
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ber of small factories started up all over America. After the War of 1812 the European manufacturers tried to force all our factories into bankruptcy by selling goods cheaper than they could be made here. This finally resulted in our government putting a tariff on manu- factured articles which were imported into this country. When you grow older you will hear a great deal about the tariff. Some people to-day believe there should be no tariff, they are called free traders; others believe in a tariff based on careful study and still others believe that the more tariff the better.
During the War of 1812 the New England States, although fortunately Vermont did not officially take part, made a serious mistake. They practically declared that if a group of States did not agree with the national govern- ment they could set up a new country of their own. John Adams, the last President elected by the Federalist party, was from New Eng- land, and this part of the country alone re- mained in favor of the Federalist party. The Federalists did not like the Republican-Demo- crat party; the Embargo Act hurt New Eng- land more than any other part of the country because most of its trade was either by ships
All crops failed in 1816. Many Vermonters sold their farms and joined the ever-increasing caravan.
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with other countries or by land with its neigh- bor Canada; New England did not favor war with England and criticised the way the war was fought. For all this there was good reason. But there was not reason enough for a conven- tion of New Englanders to declare they could separate from other States. This the Hartford Convention did.
Forty years later, when another section of the country did not like what the national government was doing about slaves, the sons of these New Englanders fought to prove that what their fathers had declared was false. They offered their lives to establish the fact that no State could separate from the Union. Vermont was so evenly divided between Fed- eralists and Republican-Democrats that no official representatives were sent to this unfor- tunate Hartford Convention.
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