HARTFORD CONVENTION 



2708 



HARVARD 



American School for the Deaf, the Retreat for 

 the Insane, Hartford and Saint Francis hospi- 

 tals, an orphan asylum, an Old People's Home 

 and Mrs. Colt's Home for Old Ladies. 



Industries. Hartford has been for many 

 years the insurance center of the United States. 

 Colt firearms, typewriters, Gatling guns, sewing 

 machines, automobiles, cigars, electric equip- 

 ment, wagons and carriages, machinists' tools, 

 drop forgings, car wheels, hosiery and knit 

 goods and steam engines are among the most 

 important manufactures. 



History. The first settlement on the site of 

 Hartford was a fort built by the Dutch in 1633. 

 The Dutch called the fort "The House of 

 Hope;" then later settlers called the place New- 

 town, and in 1637 the name was again changed 

 to Hartford, after Hertford, England. Hartford 

 was the capital of Connecticut until 1701, when 

 New Haven shared this honor, but since 1703 it 

 has been the sole capital; it was chartered in 

 1784 and again in 1856. 



Hartford was formerly the home of Samuel 

 L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Harriet Beecher 

 Stowe, Charles Dudley Warner and a number 

 of other famous men and women. W.L.M. 



Consult TwitchelPs Hartford in History. 



HARTFORD CONVENTION, an American 

 political convention called at the suggestion of 

 several Federalists (see FEDERALIST PARTY) at 

 Hartford, Conn., on December 15, 1814. The 

 convention was primarily called to discuss the 

 condition of the Eastern states, which had suf- 

 fered more severely than those south and west 

 in the War of 1812, then in progress. Twenty- 

 six delegates were present from Rhode Island, 

 Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New 

 Hampshire and Vermont. George Cabot, of 

 Massachusetts, was elected president, and Theo- 

 dore Dwight, of Connecticut, secretary. Secret 

 sessions were held for three weeks. A report 

 to the legislatures of New England was pre- 

 pared, and seven amendments to the Federal 

 Constitution were recommended, which it was 

 claimed were needed as a defense against for- 

 eign nations and for greater independence of 

 the various states. The convention adjourned 

 on January 5, 1815. 



The opponents of the Federalists made the 

 secret proceedings a basis for charging that the 

 convention had plotted secession, but the lead- 

 ers denied there had been such intention. A 

 committee was appointed to confer with the 

 government at Washington, but in those days 

 news traveled slowly, and peace was declared 



by the Treaty of Ghent, on December 24, 1814, 

 before the committee reached the capital. The 

 convention was a final blow to the Federalist 

 party, which had been very unpopular, and for 

 many years the term "Hartford Convention 

 Federalist" was one of reproach. 



HARTS 'HORN, a term that originally signi- 

 fied the liquid product obtained by the distilla- 

 tion of shavings of horn of the hart, or stag. 

 This product was called spirit of hartshorn, or 

 volatile salt of hartshorn, and was used in 

 medicine and as a basis for smelling salts for 

 headache, on account of its pungent odor. The 

 active ingredient of the salt of hartshorn is 

 ammonia (which see). 



HARUN-AL-RASHID, hah roon' ahl rah 

 sheed' ( ? -809), the fifth of the Abbasid ca- 

 liphs and a thorough Oriental despot, celebrated 

 in countless songs and stories, but known es- 

 pecially as the central figure in the tales of the 

 Arabian Nights. He became caliph, or head of 

 the Moslem state, in 786, speedily suppressed 

 all insurrections, intrusted the administration 

 of affairs to his Grand Vizier Yahya, and made 

 Bagdad, his capital, the resort of the most emi- 

 nent Mohammedans of the age. Harun loved 

 luxury and pleasure, but was a patron of learn- 

 ing, music and art. He was much given to 

 traveling about the city after nightfall, in dis- 

 guise, that he might acquaint himself at first 

 hand with the condition of the people in all 

 walks of life. See ARABIAN NIGHTS. 



HARVARD, JOHN (1607-1638), an American 

 clergyman, one of the founders of Harvard 

 University, was born in Southwark, London. 

 He was the son of a poor butcher, but his 

 mother, after the death of his father, gained 

 considerable property through two later mar- 

 riages. She was able, therefore, to educate him 

 at Cambridge University, where he received 

 both the bachelor's and the master's degrees. 

 In 1637 he emigrated to Charlestown, Mass., to 

 become clergyman for that settlement, but died 

 a year later. He had taken great interest in 

 the plan of the Massachusetts colonists to es- 

 tablish a college at "Newtowne," afterwards 

 known as Cambridge, and at his death left for 

 the founding of such a school 400 and his li- 

 brary of two hundred sixty volumes. In 1639 

 the trustees of the college, in recognition of 

 what the gift meant, gave the name Harvard 

 to the institution. In 1828 a monument to his 

 memory was erected in the graveyard at 

 Charlestown, and Edward Everett delivered an 

 eloquent address telling the details of the man's 

 brief life. Many pamphlets and sketches about 



