A memoir of Thomas Chittenden, the first governor of Vermont

Chapter I

His Birtli —His ScltleHieTitin Salisbury.--The Governors of New" York and New Hampshire both make grants of lands in the territory bow included m the State ot Vermont --Col. Chittenden removes to the iSew Hampshire Grants.— Driven from his farm m 1676 9

CHAPTER 11.

The first Constitution of Vermont -a copy of the first Constittition of Pennsylvania, with some alterations ^^

and additions

Chapter III

Congress recommends to the several States to form governments for themselves.-Pormatioii of he first Con= stitutions of New Hampshire and Perinsylvania.-The first Constitutions of the different States wied as the'r Colonial Governfiients had yaried,--Extiacts from fhe charter of Gov. Penn.-History of the first Constitution of Pennsylvania and the formation of a new Constitution

Chapter IV

The first section in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of Pennsylvania so amended as to abolish siavery.— Act to prevent the transportation of negroes and raulattoes out of the State.-Second section m the Bill of Rights amended.-MiHisterial acts.-Eifteenth section

amended • •

Chapter V

Ratification of the first Constitution of Vermont.-Actg of the Legislature making the Constitution a law of the State.-Extracts from Vt. State Papers.-Addrcss of the Council of Safety to the people -"^

Vlll. CONTENTS.

Chapter VI

The last section of the Constitution, providing for a CoutJcil of Censors, originated in a want of confidence in the Government Avhich they had instituted.— Expensive mode of amending the Constitution.— Mode of amending the Constitution in Kentucky and Missouri. Extract from Chipman's Principles of 'Government. . . 114

CHAPTER Vn.

Little regard paid to the Constitution in the first Septenary.— Address of the Council of Censors to the people, at the close of their deliberations 142

Chapter VIII

Amendment of the 4th section in the Bill of Rights, and of the 16th section in the Frame of Government.— The Assembly denied the right of the Council to originate bills.— They pass suspendsd bills without sending them to the Governor and Council.— Vermont acceded to the Union.— Council of Censors elected at the end of the second Septenary.— They proposed amendments and called a Convention.— Resignation and death of Gov. Chittenden 171

Chapter IX

Origin of Civil .Government.— The powers of Government necessarily vested in individuals, until the people are capable of Self-Government.— The people of the British American Colonies organized the first Civil Government founded on the sovereignty of the people, the natural government of civilized man, and it will be extended through the world 194

Appendix

NO. I.

Note to Page '118 207

NO. II, .Jt

Letter of Gov. Chittenden to Gen. Washington 208

NO. III.

Representation in the several States 215

Preface

The biography of Governor Chittenden is not so full as the reader may have expected to find it ; but he will consider that his occupalion was that of a farmer, and that although he was an enterprising, industrious, economical, and, of course, a successful and wealthy farmer, yet as agriculture had not during; his life been raised to the rank of a science, or attracted any public attention, his occupation could afford but lit- " tie matter for biography. Had he lived in these days of agricultural improvement, he would have been conspicuous amonff those individuals, who have devoted their time and their talents to the improvement of agriculture, and would have furnished much useful and interesting matter for history and

biography.

His government, too, being rather patriarchal than constitutional, afforded little matter for an extended biography. In portraying his public character, therefore, I have been compelled to rely principally on the difficult task he had to perform, in organizing and administering the government, and the manner in vs^hich he performed it ; stating, as far as recollection and the traditionary account of those times would enable me to do it, the peculiar traits of his character, which fitted him to perform it so well.

Until after the work was copied for the press, the charge of criminality against Gov. Chittenden and his compatriots, in th'iir secret negotiation with the British authorities in Cana-

VI. PREFACE.

da. escaped my notice. This was natuiral, as I knew the charge to be unfounded. When I wrote the life of Judge Chipman, I noticed the charge, making a concise statement of the facts in the case, but afterwards finding that Col. Stone had, in his life of Brant, made the charge at length, with a detail of the evidence in support of it, I felt it to be my duty to insert a refutation of the charge, which occupied a number of pages. I cannot think of swelling this work by inserting that refutation, but I insert in the Appendix a letter from Gov. Chittenden to Gen. Washington, by which the reader <will be satisfied that Gov. Chittenden kept Washington informed of that negotiation during its progr>ess.

Eijpton, T7., December 17, 1849.

MEMOIR OF CHITTENDEN, &C.

Chapter I

His Birth— His Settlement in Salisbury— The Governors of New York and New Hampshire both make grants of lands in the territory now included in the State of Vermont- Col. Chittenden removes to the New Hampshire Grants- Driven from his farm in 1776.

Thomas Chittenden was born in East Guilford, in the then Colony of Connecticut, on the 6th of January, 1730. Of his ancestors, nothing is known, except that his parents were respectable, but moved in the ordinary walks of life. His father was a farmer, and the subject of this memoir labored on the farm, being allowed only the advantages of a common school education.

In the 18th year of his age, being too full of enterprise and resolution to be confined within the narrow circle within which he seemed to be destined by his education and fortune to move, he engaged ia a voyage to the West IndieSo In this

10 MEMOIK OF

enterprise, he was unfortunate. The mother country being at war with France, he was captured by a French vessel of war, and landed on a West India island, without money, and without friends. In this condition, he was left to find his way home, which, after a series of suiFering and fatigue, he accomplished. After this unfortunate voyage, a sailor's hfe had no charms for him, and he deter- « mined "never again to leave his plough, to go ploughing on the deep." He accordingly continued on the farm with his father, until the 4th of October, 1749. About this time, he married Elizabein Ivleigs, and soon after removed to SaUsbury, in Connecticut. He thus made a Yankee settlement, married early, and began to move. The first settlement in the town, by the English, commenced £ibout the year 1738, and the town was organized in November, 1741. This northwestern part of Connecticut, watered by the Housatonic river, and lying west of the Green Mountain range, remained a wilderness many years after the other parts of the colony had been settled. A fear of the Indians had prevented a settlement in this quarter, until the population in the older p^Tts of the Colony had become somewhat crowded, and notwithstanding it was considered

THOMAS CHITTENDEN. H

a perilous undertaking to move a family into the remote wilderness of Salisbury, yet, there were in the older settlements so many men of enterprise and resolution, anxiously seeking a wider range for their exertions, that the town settled rapidly. And as the inhabitants displayed all that energy peculiar to new settlers, retaining their Puritan habits of economy, they soon became independent farmers. Coming as they did from different parts of New England, where customs and habits of thinking somewhat different had prevailed, and uniting in the formation of a new society out of these different materials, their minds were invigorated, and they naturally obtained a more enlarged and just view of men and things.

During the first half century, there were but few men of public education in the town, but there were a number of self made, well-educated men, who were distinguished as public men in the county and in the Colony.

Judge Church, in his address delivered at the centennial anniversary of the organization of the town, in November, 1841, remarks: "It is a just occasion of pride in any community, that it has sent forth from its members to other regions men of eminence and usefulness, and perhaps the town of Salisbury, retired and obscured as it is, has furnished other sections of the confederacy her full proportion of distinguished men." And in designating the individuals of this class, "with great propriety, he places Thomas Chittenenden at the head of the list. That the inhabitants of the town placed him among their first citizens, is evident from the fact, that he represented the town in the Legislature, in the years 1765, '6Q, '67, '68, '69 and '72. He was also Colonel of a regiment of militia, and a Justice of the Peace, until he removed from the town. This last was, at that time, an office of distinction, for, during the whole century, after the organization of the town, thirty-five individuals only were in the commission of the peace.

The French province of Canada having been ceded to Great Britian by the treaty of 1763, all danger from the Indians was removed, and the New Hampshire Grants were open for settlement. The Governor of New Hampshire, claiming jurisdiction as far west as the present west line of Vermont, granted a great number of townships 'west of Connecticut river. Col. Chittenden and some of his sons were grantees in several of

TUOMAS CHTTTENDEX. I'i

tliese townships. The Governor of New York claimed jurisdiction over the same territory, and granted a considerable portion of the same lands, treating the New Hampshire grants as utterly void.

The grantees under New Hampshire made settlements in many of the townships, on both sides of the Green Mountains. In the year 1764, the King decided the controversy between the two Governors, so far as to give jurisdiction of the territory in question to New York.

By this decision, the Governor of New Y'ork considered that the grants which had been made by the Governor of New Hampshire were null and void, and he required the grantees under New Hampshire to surrender their charters, and take Confirmation charters under New York, on payment of granting fees, to a large amount.

With this requisition the settlers on the east side of the Mountain generally complied ; paid the granting fees ; took out Confirmation charters ; and were quieted in their possessions ; but the settlers on the west side of the Mountain called a convention, by which it was made penal for any one to take a Confirmation charter under New York. Actions of ejectment Tvere brought against the New Hampshire settlers bj the grantees under New York, before the Courts at Albany, in which judgments were rendered in favor of the plaintiffB, who took out writs of possession, and at- ^tempted to execute them ; but in every instance, the settlers made forcible and successful resistance, and remained in possession of their farms. This state of things continuing, the settlements under New Hampshire, on the west side of the Mountain, rapidly increased, and the settlements under the Confirmation charters, on the east side of the Mountain, increased as rapidly. Great numbers emigrated from Salisbury to the New Hampshire Grants on the west side of the Moun- ^ tain. They were perfectly prepared for another remove into a new country. They were in the prime of life ; they had brought their farms into a high state of cultivation for those times ; had acquired most of the conveniences which they desired ; and seeing little room for the improvement of their condition, they felt a want of that peculiar excitement which had rendered them so happy in their new settlement, and a strong desire to live their lives over again, in another new settlement, on the New Hampshire Grants. Col. Chittenden, having procured all the con-

THOMAS CHITTENDEJT. 15

venlences of life, and having no taste for luxuries, became, with his neighbors, dissatisfied with Jiis condition, and determined to remove to the New Hampshire Grants. Accordingly, he joined with his neighbor, Jonathan Spafford, in the purchase of a large tract of land in Willis ton, on Onion River, which they divided in such a manner as to make each a most valuable farm.

In the month of May, 1774, Col. Chittenden removed his family onto the land which he had purchased in WilHston, without having prepared any shelter for them. But, by his native energy, his untiring industry, and ample means, he soon placed them in a comfortable situation, and rapidly cleared his rich alluvial land, which produced Indian corn and other grain in such abundance, that, at the end of two years, he had an ample supply of provisions for his family, and a surplus for others, and nothing seemed wanting to yield liim, in full measure, the pecuhar happiness of a new settler. But, on the retreat of the American army from Canada, in the spring of 1776, by which the settlers on Onion River were exposed to the incursions of the enemy, his bright prospects of peace and happiness were suddenly changed. He was forced to "leave the reaping of

AViieat fur tlie reaping of foes," — but his native energy did not forsake him for a moment. He, ^vith two of his neighbors, immediately repaired to Philadelphia, to ascertain "what were the desiscns of Congress in relation to the defence of the jS^orthern frontier. The result was, that Congress could provide no protection for the inhabitants in that quarter, and hard as it was for him to leave his farm, which was so dear to him, yet, the idea never entered his mind to submit to the enemy to save his property, but he at once prepared to remove to the south part of the Grants, The whole family, including women and children, went on foot, by marked trees, through Middlebury to Castleton, their provisions and clothing being carried on two horses. They arrived safely at Castleton, and proceeded thence to Danby, where Col. Chittenden purchased or rented a farm, in the south part of the town, near the foot of the Mountain. He resided on this farm until Ticonderoga was evacuated, in July, 1777, when he removed to Pownal, where he resided at the time of Bennington battle. Soon after this, he removed to Williamstown, Mass.

The Council of Safety, of which Col. Chittenden was President, held a perpetual session in Benning-

THOMAS CHITTENDEN". IT

ton, from about the middle of July until after the capture of Burgoyne, when he purchased a farm in Arlington, on which he resided until 178T.

It has been justly remarked that, in every important crisis in human affairs. Providence raises up men peculiarly fitted for the exigences of the times. This is strikingly verified in the early history of Vermont. When a people are assailed, and compelled to take arms in defence of their rights, the public and individual interest become identical. Thus, when New York claimed not only jurisdiction over the New Hampshire Grants, but the right of soil — the farms on which the settlers lived — the whole people united, and selected their most able and efficient men for their leaders, Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and Kemember Baker, for their military leaders, and Samuel Robinson, Jonas Fay, and others, to act in concert with them, and they were successful, as a brave and united people ever are, in defence of their rightful possessions. Mankind have ever considered their domicils, their firesides, as sacred, and worthy the protection of the gods, hence the Penates, the household gods of the ancients.

When the Green Mountain Boys had achieved 3 their independence, they had a far mare difficult task to perform. It was necessary for the people to estabhsh civil government, and become submis-' sive to the laws. This was considered at the time^ by all intelligent men, as a difficult and hazardous undertaking. The people had, for so long a time^ successfujly resisted the authority of New York^ the only authority attempted to be exercised over them, that they had, in some measure, lost their Puritan habits of submission to lawful authority^ and respect for the magistrates.

In this state of things, to form a constitution adapted to the situation, temper, and habits of the people, and to establish a code of laws, shackling them with no more regulations than they would bear, and at the same time calculated to bring them into a habit of submission to lawful authority, required for a leader, not only a wise patriot, but a man having a peculiar tact in exerting an influence on the minds of men, and inducing them to follow his lead.

At this critical period of our affairs. Col. Chittenden, who, as we have seen, came into the Grants a short time before, just in season to become generally known, was at once selected as a leader in all civil affairs. He was a member of the convention liolden at Dorset in September, 1776, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expediency of declaring Vermont an independent State. And at a subsequent meeting of the convention, at Westminster, he was a member of the committee who drafted the declaration of independence, and also a member of the committee appointed to petition Congress to acknowledge the independence of the State. He was also a leading member of the convention holden at Windsor, on the 2d of July, 1777, which formed the first Constitution of Vermont ; and, as we have seen, he was President of the Council of Safety, which was vested with all the powers of Government — ■ executive, legislative and judicial — to be exercised until the government should be organized under the Constitution. Those who personally knew Col. Chittenden perceive that he was the master spirit in that body. His sagacity, humanity, and sound discretion, are conspicuous especially in the disposition of the Tories, their estates, and their families.

He was elected the first Governor, and was continued in that office, with the exception of one year, until 1797. During the whole course of his public Hfe in Vermont, it appeared that he had been formed, by nature, and by education, purposely for the different stations in -which he was placed.

He seldonj took one step in reasoning on any subject, but his perceptions were so keen, and his mind so comprehensive, that he took a clear and full view of any subject, however complex, and made a correct decision, intuitively. Ethan Allen, who published a book entitled " Reason the only oracle of Man ", and who subjected everything to the test of his own reasoning, both in the visible and invisible world, used to say of Governor Chittenden, that he was the only man he ever knew, who was sure to be right in all even the most difficult and complex cases, and yet could not tell or seem to know why he was so. Governor Chittenden being thus entirely practical, pursuing a course dictated by a clear view of the existing state of things, was never misled by any theories in the science of government and law adapted to a people differing in every way from the Green Mountain Boys. Hence he devised the quieting act, an act to secure the settlers in theu' possessions, and supported the tender acts, judging correctly, that they were absolutely necessary to prevent the dissolution of government. He had a peculiar tact in discovering the disposition of those with whom he conversed, by which he acquired an influence that enabled him to carry into effect any measures which he proposed.

Gentlemen from the other states who transacted business with him, expressed their astonishment that he was able to penetrate their designs, and obtain as clear a knowledge of them as they had themselves. One gentleman remarked that he was enabled to do this by his familiar, rapid, and apparently unpremeditated conversation, by which they were thrown off their guard. Gov. Chittenden, observing that the people, from their peculiar situation, had imbibed a high degree of personal independence, and that each individual considered that his own opinion was deserving of great weight in all pubHc affairs, seldom attempted to induce any one to support any proposed measure by giving his own opinion, and supporting it by arguments, but by asking advice, and putting questions so adroitly as to elicit the desired answer. And thus each individual with whom he conversed had the vanity to believe that the Governor was following his advice, that his opinion had prevailed, and he would support it with great earnestness.

Seldom has any man in public life acquired so commancllng an influence, and no one ever exert ed his influence as he did without impairing it ; indeed he exerted his influence on certain occasions, in such a manner as no other man could Lave done, without putting an end to his influence at once.

"When presiding as chairman in a joint meeting of the two Houses, for the appointment of county officers, he would oppose the appointment of any one nominated, if he considered him unfit for the office. He, of course, occasionally gave ofience, and excited angry feelings against him, but he had a peculiar faculty to allay those feelings. The following is an instance of this. He and General Spafford had ever been attached friends, and Spafford, being a Representative from the town of Williston, procured in the county convention a nomination of Daniel Stannard, of Jericho, for Justice of the Peace. Governor Chittenden very strenuously opposed his appointment, but his influence failed him on this occasion, and Stannard received the appointment. Governor Chittenden knowing that Spafford was strongly attached to Stannard, who was his brother-in-law, and fearing that he had oftended Spafford by opposing this appointment, took the first opportunity to speak with

(rSOMAS CHWTENDE^. ^3

Spatford, and said : " Well, you have appointed Stannard a Justice of the Peace, after all.'^ *« Yes/' said Spaflford, " and I think we have done right." "Well, well," says the Governor, "I don't know but you have— he is a strange creature/ I really believe he will make a better Justice of the Peace than I think he will." So in all cases where he had given offence and made an enemy^ he never treated him as an enemy, seeking revenge,' and obtaining what is falsely called satisfaction^ but he treated him with the same familiarity and kindness as before.

His own kind feelings and good sense had taught him that the beneficent Creator has so constituted man that he is not necessarily rendered unhappy because others have become his enemies ; that if he were thus exposed, his happiness would not depend on himself, or his own good disposition and virtuous course of life, but on the good pleasure, or rather, ill-nature of others ; that if any one becomes an enemy to others, actuated by a spirit of revenge instead of kindness, he is necessarily unhappy ; and that, therefore, to cherish feelings of kindness to all, doing good to those who hate us, is acting agreeably to the laws of nature.

Governed by these Christian principles, and

24 MEMOIK OF

actuated by a disposition, naturally benevoleiit and kind, seeking the welfare of all, no wonder that he acquired a great and enduring popularity.

His situation, too, at the head of the new government, which required constant nursing, produced in him a strong attachment to it, and excited him to constant exertions for its support, for he knew that if the government should be overthrown, he should become a Governor Dorr.

From this view of his character and situation, We are able to account for the strong attachment of the people to Governor Chittenden, and for the lingular fact, that when, in the year 1786, a portion of the people rose in arms to overthrow the government which they had instituted, they all looked upon Governor Chittenden as their pecu. liar friend, which enabled him to steer the vessel of state through the storm.

I cannot but hope that I shall meet with the approbation of the reader, if I devote no further portion of the work exclusively to portraying the character of Gov. Chittenden. AYhat has been said will render the following history of the Constitution more clear, and more interesting, and that history in which he will so often appear as

*

THOiMAS CHITTENDEJ^. 25 tke principal actor will give the reader a raore full knowledge of his character.

The biography of Gov. Chittenden should have been written by one of his cotemporaries, who acted with him during his administration, and intimately knew all the traits of his mind and character, and wh-o could have given many personal anecdotes, so interesting in biography, and so important in portraying his character.

Perhaps Gov. Chittenden would not have been so distinguished in the administration of a government which had been long established. No man was ever blessed with such a versatihty of talent as to be equally useful in any station. But we always think more highly of a man who has constructed a compHcated machine, set it in motion by a propelling power of precisely that force which the machine would bear, and put it in successful operation, than we do of an operative who has been taught to tend a machine which has been long in use.

Chapter II

The first Constitution of Vermont — A copy of the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, with some alterations and additions.

It has been seen that the first Constitution of Vermont was framed by a convention holden at Windsor, on the 2d day of July, 1777. The convention had gone through -with the constitution, section by section, when the unexpected and startling intelhgence was received of the evacuation of Ticonderoga. The attention of all was instantly turned to the security of their families, and the convention broke up without making any provision for printing the Constitution. From this time, the attention of all was diverted from the Constitution to the defence of the country, until after the capture of Burgoyne. In December following, the convention met, revised the Constitution, and made preparation for organizing the government in March ^ 1778.

At that timd, it was generally known that the first Constitution of Vermont was, in substance, a copy of the first Constitution ofJPennsylvania, but this fact seiems to have esC!?J^ the notice of historians. The address of Dr. Young, of Philadelphia, to the people of Vermont, has been preserved, in which is the following : — " I have recommended to your committee the Constitution of Pennsylvania, as a model, which, with a very little alteration, will, in my opinion, come as near ' perfection as any thing yet concocted by mankind. This Constitution has been sifted with all the criticism that a band of despots was master of, and has bid defiance to their united powers. " No wonder there were some political enthusiasts in those piping times, and no wonder that the people of Vermont preferred the Constitution of Pemisylvania to any other, for it was supposed to be the work of Franklin.

As the Constitution of Vermont contained in Thompson's History is not the first Constitution of 1778, nor the Constitution as amended in 1786, but the Constitution as amended in 1793, and as it is believed that our first Constitution is no where to be found, except in the Vermont State Papers, I have thought the reader would be pleased to have it inserted in this work. And that he may see at a glance, how far it is a copy of the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, the additions to the latter, and the alterations in it, made in framing tlie Constitution of Vennont, are enclosed in brackets.

CHAPTER I.

A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABIT- ANTS OF THE STATE OF VERMONT.

I. That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, amongst Avhich are the enjoying and defending life and liberty ; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. [Therefore, no male person, born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person, as a servant, slave, or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years, nor female, in like manner, after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are bound by their own consent, after they arrive to such age, or bound by law, for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.

II. That private property ought to be subservient to public uses, when necessity requires it ; nevertheless, w^henever any particular man's property is taken for the use of the public, the owner ought to receive an equivalent in money.]

III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences and understanding, regulated by the word of God ; and that

THOMAS CIIITTENDExY. 29

no man ought, or of right can be compelled to attend any rehgious worship, or erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of his conscience ; [nor can any man who professes the protestant religion] be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right, as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiment, or peculiar mode of religious worship, and that no authority can, or ought to be vested in, or assumed by, any power whatsoever, that shall, in any case, interfere with, or in any manner control, the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship ; [nevertheless, 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 worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God.