Chap. 4. 



CIVIL POLICY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 



51 



VIEWS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF VERMONT. 



DR. YOUNG S LETTER. 



mitted to seats in that body. This declara- 

 tion and petition was signed, and was pre- 

 sented to Congress by Jonas Fay, Thomas 

 Chittenden, Henian Allen and Reuben 

 Jones, four of the most respectable mem- 

 bers. of the convention. * 



These prompt and decisive measures of 

 the convention evinced the wisdom and 

 boldness of the statesmen, who at this 

 period directed the affairs of Vermont, 

 and placed the community in a condition 

 to adopt an efficient organization of its 

 own. Vermont, in justification of the 

 course of policy she was pursuing, con- 

 tended that slie had the same right to as- 

 sume the powers of government, which 

 was possessed by the continental Con- 

 gress, and that every consideration, which 

 could justify the proceedings of that body, 

 might be urged as a reason why the peo- 

 ple of Vermont should embrace the pres- 

 ent opportunity, effectually to secure 

 themselves against the oppression under 

 which they had so long suffered. Happy 

 was it for the now state, that these ineas- 

 ,ures were adopted and supported with 

 that firmness and temperance, which were 

 alone adequate to secure a happjr result. 



Section II. 



Establishment of the Government of Ver- 

 mont—from the Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence, January 15, 1777, to the meeting 

 of the General Jlsscmbly on the VZtli of 

 March, J 778. 



These proceedings of Vermont, by which 

 she had declared lierself to be a separate 

 and independent jurisdiction, were re- 

 garded with very different feelings by the 

 neighboring states. While New Hamp- 

 shire, Massachusetts and Connecticut 

 were ready to admit Vermont as a new 

 member of the federal union, and ap- 

 plauded the spirit and boldness with which 

 she asserted and maintained her rights. 

 New York regarded these transactions as 

 open acts of treason and rebellion against 

 the lawful authoritj^ of that state. With 

 these views, the convention of New York, 

 on the 20th of January, 1777, and again 

 on the 1st of March, of the same year, ad- 

 dressed communications to Congress,! in 

 which they represented (he proceedings 

 of Vermont as resulting from the arts and 

 instigations of designing men, and not, as 

 had been represented, from a general de- 

 sire of the inhabitants of that district to 



* Blade's State Papers, page 70 — Williams' History 

 Vol. II. page 453. 

 f For tliese documents see Sliide's S. P. , page 73. 



renounce their allegiance to the authority 

 of New York. 



They complained of the injuries done 

 them byCongress in the appointment of of- 

 ficers in the disaffected portion of iheir state 

 witliout their consent, and intimated their 

 apprehensions that it was the design of 

 Congress to countenance the insurgents 

 in their rebellion. They urged upon Con- 

 gress the necessity of immediately recall- 

 ing the commissions given to Col. Warner 

 and the officers under him, as an act of 

 justice to New York, and as the means of 

 opening the eyes of the " deluded peo- 

 ple" on the Grants, who had set up for a 

 separate jurisdiction, and were now de- 

 siring Congress to sanction tlielr illegal 

 proceedings. They represented the intlu- 

 ence of Warner as very inconsiderable, 

 even in the disaffected district, and that 

 his services were a matter of no conse- 

 quence to the country. 



While New York was thus laying her 

 grievances before Congress, and using all 

 her influence to prevent that body from 

 recognizing the independence of the 

 Grants, the internal affairs of Vermont 

 were rapidly assuming that form and reg- 

 ularity, which was calculated to insure a 

 permanent and efficient organization of 

 the government. In April, Thos. Young, 

 a distinguished citizen of Philadelphia, 

 addressed a communication to the in- 

 habitants of Vermont, in which he rep- 

 resented it as the opinion of several of the 

 leading members of Congress, that Ver- 

 mont should proceed in her organization, 

 form a constitution, and appoint delegates 

 to Congress; and he declared it to be his 

 own individual opinion tliat Congress 

 would not hesitate to sanction their pro- 

 ceedings, or to admit their delegates to a 

 seat in that honorable body.* 



This communication was prefixed to a 

 resolution, which Congress had passed on 

 the l.'ith of May, 1776, which recom- 

 mended to the assemblies and conventions 

 of the United Colonies, where no govern- 

 ment, sufficient to the exigencies of their 

 affairs, had already been established, to 

 adopt such government as, in the opinion 

 of the representatives of the people, should 

 best conduce to the happiness and safety 

 of their constituents. This resolution was 

 regarded by the author of the communi- 

 cation, as a full license from Congress to 

 the Grants, to assume the powers of gov- 

 ernment, and he recommended that no 

 time be lost in availing themselves of the 

 present opportunity to establish a separate 

 dominion. 



*Aii extract from this communication may ba 

 seen in Slade's State Papers, page 7G. 



