Chap. 5. 



ADMISSION INTO THE UNION. 



vy 



SHAY S INSURRECTION. 



QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO THE rEOPI.E. 



mencenient of the war, again resumed 

 their functions, and numerous suits for 

 tlie collection of debts were entered upon 

 their dockets. These attempts to enforce 

 collections, in the then exhausted and de- 

 pressed state of the country, produced 

 very extensive dissatisfaction among the 

 people, and conventions of the malcon- 

 tents were assenibled in various parts of 

 the country, at wliicii their grievances 

 %vere discussed, and resolutions passed, 

 breathing threatonings of opposition and 

 violence to the civil and judicial authori- 

 ties. As the shortest way to postpone the 

 payment of their debts, it was at length 

 determined to prevent, by force, the sit- 

 ting of the courts in which the suits were 

 pending ; and various attempts were made 

 in different parts of tlie country to carry 

 this determination into execution, which, 

 in the state of Massachusetts, resulted in 

 the memorable Shay's Insurrection, in the 

 latter part of the year 1786 and begin- 

 ning of 1787. 



The condition of Vermont at this pe- 

 riod, was much better than that of the 

 confederated states. She had managed 

 to pay her own troops during the war, by 

 the avails of her public lands and other 

 means, and having no connexion with 

 Congress, no part of the burden of the 

 public debt of the United States rested 

 on her. But she was not equally exempt 

 from the other causes of dissatisfaction, 

 which operated in the confederated states. 

 Many of the people, though possessed of 

 houses and lands, were, in other respects, 

 in low and straitened circumstances and 

 so much incumbered with debts, that tiieir 

 immediate payment in the present scar- 

 city of money, would require the sacrifice 

 of all they had, and reduce themselves 

 and families to a state of penury and star- 

 vation. Thus situated, it is not surpris- 

 ing, that the spirit of opposition to the 

 judicial authority, which had manifested 

 itself in the neighboring states, should 

 make its appearance in Vermont. 



So early as the spring of 1784, a con- 

 vention from several towns was assem- 

 bled at Wells, by which sundry reso- 

 lutions were passed in relation to the gen- 

 eral sufferings and embarrassments of the 

 people, and a liberal amount of execration 

 was meted out to the lawyers and sherifls, 

 but no disposition was manifested in this 

 state to oppose the collection of debts by 

 force till the year J78G. During the sum- 

 mer of this year, the sufferings of the peo- 

 ple becoming severe and their complaints 

 loud, on account of the extreme scarcity 

 of. money. Governor Chittenden in the 

 month of August published an addi-ess to 

 the inhabitants of the state, which was 



evidently dictated by a paternal regard to 

 tlicir welfare and happines;?'. In tliis ad- 

 dress he earnestly exhorts the peojtle to 

 be industrious and economical — to avoid 

 as much as possible the purchase of for- 

 eign ])roductions, and to give their atten- 

 tion to the raising of flax and wool, and 

 the various necessaries for food and cloth- 

 ing; and he expresses the anxious hope 

 that by their prudence and diligence — by 

 their mutual forbearance and kindness — 

 together with such assistance as the leg- 

 islature siiould, at its next session, be 

 able to afford, — their sufferings would be 

 brought to a speedy termination, and 

 themselves become a prosperous and hap- 

 py people. 



In October, the legislature met at Rut- 

 land, and measures, designed to relieve 

 tiic pecuniary embarrassments of the peo- 

 ple, occupied a large share of the session. 

 In pursuance of this object two acts were 

 passed ; one making all such articles a 

 tender upon execution, to the inhabitants 

 of either of the United States, as are made 

 a tender upon execution by their respect- 

 ive laws; and the other, compelling cred- 

 itors to receive specified articles in pay- 

 ment, after the expiration of the times' 

 limited in the contract.* A preamble and 

 sundry resolutions were also adopted, ex- 

 pr(?ssive of the extreme anxiety of the 

 assembly to gratify the wishes of the peo- 

 ple and relieve their embarrassments, and 

 requiring the people to assemble in their 

 resj)ective towns on the 1st Tuesday of 

 January, at the usual place of holding 

 freemen's meetings, and there express by 

 Yea, or JVay their approval or disapproval 

 of " emitting a small bank of paper money 

 on loan or otherwise," — of continuing the 

 acts above mentioned, and of a general 

 tender act. The yeas and nays on these 

 subjects were to be transmitted to the 

 speaker of the Assembly, to be a guide to 

 the Legislature at its next session. But 

 these several acts and resolutions did not 

 serve to quiet all the people ; for there 

 were many who did not intend to be com- 

 pelled to pay their debts in any way, and 

 the}^ judged it the shortest method of 

 avoiding payments to prevent the sitting 

 of the courts, in which judgments and 

 executions might be obtained against 

 them ; and two attempts of this kind were 

 made shortly after the session of the legis- 

 lature at which the above acts and resolu- 

 tions were passed, one in tiie county of 

 Windsor, and the other in the county of 

 Rutland. 



On the last day of October, 1786, the 



* These acts may be fouml in Pbiie's Vt. State 

 Papers ; the first on pigo 504, and tlie second on 

 page 508. 



