74 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



VERMONT UNIONS DISSOLVED. 



PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. 



deference, and, after mature deliberation 

 upon the subject, the assembly on the 

 22d of February', 1782, resolved to comply 

 with the preliminary required by the res- 

 olution ofCongressof the 20th of August, 

 and relinquish all claims to jurisdiction 

 beyond the bounds therein mentioned.* 



Thus was dissolved a union which had 

 greatly increased the power and conse- 

 quence of Vermont, and which, it was 

 believed, had prevented the division of 

 Vermont between New Hampshire and 

 New York. But this union was not dis- 

 solved without a struggle and much dis- 

 eatisfaction in those parts which were cut 

 off from V^ermont, by the prescribed boun- 

 daries. The inhabitants of those parts 

 had eagerly sought the union witli V'er- 

 mont, and they were too well satisfied 

 with it, willingly to return to their alle- 

 giance to those states from which they had 

 withdrawn. 



Vermont, having complied with the 

 requirements of Congress, now confident- 

 ly expected an immediate recognition of 

 her independence, and an admission into 

 the federal union; and with it a termina- 

 tion of the disagreeable controversy with 

 New York. The legislature therefore 

 proceeded to clioose four agents to arrange 

 the terms of admission, and then take 

 their seats in Congress as representatives 

 of Vermont. But, in their expectations, 

 the people of Vermont were again doom- 

 ed to disappointment ; a disappointment, 

 the pain and mortification of which could 

 only be exceeded by the impolicy and 

 injustice of the neglect which occasioned 

 it. Congress still refused to admit Ver- 

 mont into the union, and again reverted 

 to her policy of evasion and delay. 



Section II. 

 Proceedings of Congress — Disturbances in 

 Vermont — from the Dissolutions of the 

 unions in Vermont, Feb. 22d, 1782, to 

 the Treaty of Peace beticeen the United 

 States and Great Britain, January 20th, 

 1783. 



The refusal of Vermont on the 18th of 

 October, 1781, to comply with the reso- 

 lution of the 20th of August, had been 

 communicated to Congress, and while 

 the assembly of Vermont, in February, 

 1782, was reconsidering the subject and 

 effecting a compliance with said resolu- 

 tion. Congress was engaged in warm de- 

 bate upon their preceding refusal. On 

 the first day of March, several spirited 

 resolutions were proposed and discussed 



* Williams' H. Val. II. p. ^7, Blade's S. P. p. 163. 



in Congress. These resolutions declared 

 that, if Vermont did not, within one 

 month from the time these resolutions 

 were communicated to Governor Chitten- 

 den, comply with the resolution of the 

 2rtth of August, and relinquish her juris- 

 diction beyond tlie bounds therein named, 

 such neglect and refusal would be regard- 

 ed as an indication of hostility to the 

 Uniled States. 



In tliat case Congress would regard the 

 pretensions of V'ermont for admission in- 

 to the union as fallacious and delusive, 

 and would, thereafter, consider the lands 

 in Vermont to the eastward of the ridge 

 of the Green Mountains, as granted to 

 New Hampshire, and the lands to the 

 westward of said line as granted to New 

 York ; and that the commander in chief 

 of the American armies be directed to 

 employ the military forces of the United 

 States to carry these resolutions into full 

 execution. After a long debate and sev- 

 eral trials, it was found that a vote could 

 not be obtained to pass these resolutions, 

 and a few days after, as the excitement 

 was beginning to subside, the agents from 

 Vermont arrived at Philadelphia 



These agents were Jonas Fay, Moses 

 Robinson, Paul Spooner, and Isaac Tich- 

 cnor, and they were instructed " to ne- 

 gotiate and complete, on tlie part of Ver- 

 mont, the admission tliereof into the fed- 

 eral union, and to subscribe articles of 

 perpetual confederation thereunto." On 

 the 31st of March, 1782, they officially 

 laid before Congress the proceedings of 

 the legislature of Vermont on the 22d of 

 February, by which they had fully com- 

 plied witli the requirement of the resolu- 

 tion of the 20th of August. Congress 

 now again took up the subject and refer- 

 red it to a committee of five members, 

 who, on the 17th of April, reported, * 

 ' That in the opinion of the committee, 

 Vermont had fully complied with the re- 

 solution of the 20th of August as prelim- 

 inary to the recognition of her sover- 

 eignty and independence, and admission 

 into the federal union ; and that the eon- 

 ditional promise of such recognition and 

 admission by Congress, is thereby become 

 absolute and necessary to be performed.' 



The committee then proposed a resolu- 

 tion declaring " That the district, or ter- 

 ritory called Vermont, as defined and lim- 

 itted in the resolution of Congress of 

 the 20th of August, 1781, be, and it 

 hereby is, recognised and acknowledged, 

 by the name of the state of Vermont, as 

 free, sovereign and independent ; and 

 that a rommittee be appointed to treat 



* For this Keport, seo Slnde's State Papers, page 



