Chap. 4. 



CIVIL POLICY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 



Gl 



UNION WITH PART OF K£W HAMPSHIRE. 



USION WITH PART OF NEW YORK. 



oblivion he passed for all former offences 

 against Vermont by persons denying her 

 jurisdiction ; and that the towns in Ver- 

 mont, and also the Nev/ Hampshire towns, 

 should be called upon to express their 

 opinions of the proposed union; and if, 

 at tiie adjourned session of the assembly, 

 in April next, it should appear that two 

 thirds of each were in favor of the meas- 

 ure, the union should then be consum- 

 mated, and representatives should be ad- 

 mitted to the assembly from the New 

 Hampshire towns. These articles, agreed 

 upon by the committees, were confirmed 

 by the assembly, which pledged the faith 

 of the state that they should bo held sa- 

 cred. 



The assembly of Vermont met again at 

 Windsor agreeably to adjournment, on 

 the 4th of April, and the convention of 

 the New Hampshire towns also re-assem- 

 bled at CornisI). On the 5th of April, a 

 committee of the convention informed the 

 assembly tfiat tliirty-five towns on the 

 east side of Connecticut river had con- 

 sented to the union, being all the towns 

 from which returns had been received ; 

 and that the way was now clear on thetr 

 part for the union to take place. On ex- 

 amining the returns, which had been for- 

 warded from the towns in Vermont, it ap- 

 peared that thirty-six were in favor and 

 seven opposed to the union; whereupon 

 a committee was appointed to inform the 

 convention that a major part of the towns 

 in Vermont had agreed to the union, and 

 that the assembly would receive the mem- 

 bers returned from the New Hampshire 

 towns, on the morrow, at nine o'clock in 

 the morning. Accordingly, on the next 

 day, thirty-five representatives from towns 

 on the east side of Connecticut river, took 

 llieir seats in the General Assembly of 

 Vermont.* 



On account of the unjustifiable meas- 

 ures by which New York was endeavor- 

 ing to embarrass and overturn the gov- 

 ernment of Vermont, and in consequence 

 of repeated solicitations from several 

 towns in New York, which l)ordered on 

 Vermont, to be taken into union with this 

 state, the legislature of Vermont had, on 

 the 14th of Februnry, 1781, laid jurisdic- 

 tional claim to all tiie lands west of her 

 present territory, and east of Hudson riv- 

 er to the head thereof, and thence east of 

 a north line extending to the 45th degree 

 of north latitude ; with the proviso, that 

 this jurisdiction should not be exercised 

 for the time being. But Vermont, hav- 

 ing now completed her eastern union, 

 once more turned lier attention to tlvat on 



*Slade's State Papers, p. 137. 



the west. On the lltli of April, 1781, a 

 committee was appointed by the general 

 assembly to attend a convention of dele- 

 gates from the towns in New York which 

 desired a union with Vermont, and make 

 the necessary arrangement for effecting 

 it. This convention met at Cambridge, 

 and on the loth of May, the articles of 

 union were agreed to by the committee 

 from Vermont and the delegates from 

 twelve districts in New York ; and on the 

 16tli of June following, they were con- 

 firmed by the legislature of V'erraont, and 

 representatives from those districts were 

 admitted to seats in the general assembly.* 

 By these bold and decisive measures, 

 Vermont placed herself in an interesting 

 attitude, and evinced to the world the 

 abilities and the peculiar genius of her 

 statesmen. Than the measures which we 

 have just recorded, no course of policy 

 could be better calculated to enable her 

 to sustain her independence and tliwart 

 the designs of her enemies. By the 

 unions, tlius formed, she had doubled the 

 extent of territory within her jurisdiction 

 and added greatly to her numbers and re- 

 sources. She had quieted the disaffection 

 of her jieople at home, and restored con- 

 fidence to her friends abroad. She had 

 placed the territory in a condition to in- 

 vite immigration from the neighboring- 

 states, and had laid the foundation for a 

 large and powerful community. In short, 

 she had placed herself in a condition to 

 command the respect even of her enemies, 

 and to draw from them concessions which 

 justice alone had sought in vain. She 

 therefore wisely determined, so to man- 

 age her own affairs, as to secure her own 

 safety and independence, against the arms 

 of the Britisli on the north, and the wiles 

 of her enemies in other quarters. The 

 manner in which this was effected will be 

 related in the following section. 



Section VI. 



Negotiations with the BrUish in Canada 

 from 1780, to 1783.t 



From the commencement of hostilities 

 at Lexington, no people in America had 

 espoused the cause of liberty and of their 

 country with greater alacrit)', or sustain- 

 ed it witli more spirit and resolution, tlian 

 the people of Vermont. Yet, ai'tcr all 

 their efforts and sacrifices in the common 

 cause, they had the moi'tification to find 



*Slade's Veimoiit State Papfirs. p. ]38— 1)1. 

 t The fullest account of these negotiations is 

 coutained in Ira Allan's Hibfoiy of Vermont. 



