Esq. commissioners to attend Congress, 

 and negotiate the admission of Vermont 

 into the Union. These commissioners 

 immediately repaired to Piiiladelphia, and 

 laid before the president tlie proceedings 

 of tlie convention and legislature of Ver- 

 mont ; and on tlie lf;tli of Februar}^ 1791, 

 Congress passed an act which declared, 

 "that on the 4th day of March, l/Ul, the 



said state, by the name and style of " the 

 state of Vermont," shall be received and 

 admitted into their union, as a new and 

 entire member of the United States of 

 America." This act was passed without 

 debate, and without a dissenting vote, and 

 by it were terminated all the controver- 

 sies with regard to Vermont. 



CHAPTER VI. 



LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDLNGS OF VERMONT AFTER HER ADMIS- 

 SlOxN IjNTO THE UNION. 



Section I. 

 Extending from the tidmission of Vermont 



into the Union in 17!)l,<o the resignation 



and death of Gov. Chittenden in 17! 17. 



We have now traced the history of 

 Vermont from the earliest settlements 

 down to the time of Jier admission into 

 the federal union. Thus far her history 

 has been peculiar to herself, and has 

 been filled with incidents of uncom- 

 mon interest; the more so on account of 

 their unlikeness to what happened in any 

 other individual state. Previous to the 

 jevolution, all the original states of the 

 union were provinces under the crown of 

 England, each having an organized pro- 

 vincial government. But not so with 

 Vermont. She had never been recognized 

 by the crown as a separate jurisdiction ; 

 nor had she herself, after the royal decis- 

 ion in 17(34, by which she was placed un- 

 der New York, ever recognized the au- 

 thority of that province, or of any other 

 external power. Regarding herself as 

 placed by that decision in a state of na- 

 ture, her citizens had formed themselves 

 into a body politic — into a little indepen- 

 dent republic, for their mutual benefit and 

 defence, and by the boldness, the wisdom, 

 and the prudence of her statesmen, she 

 had succeeded in organizing an efficient 

 government for the regulation of her in- 

 ternal affairs, and had adopted a system 

 of jurisprudence fully adequate to the 

 necessities of the people. 



But from the time of the admission of 

 Vermont into the federal union her his- 

 tory loses in a great measure, its separate 

 and peculiar character, and becomes, 

 either a part of the history of the United 



States, or resembles, in its leading fea- 

 tures, that of the other individual states. 

 Wc shall, therefore, from this period, in 

 pursuing the chronological order of events 

 in ^'ermont, confine ourselves, principal-" 

 1}', to a rapid sketch of her legislative pro- 

 ceedings, reserving for separate consid- 

 eration the history of our literary insti- 

 tutions, religious denominations and sev- 

 eral other topics. 



At the time Vermont became a member 

 of the confederacy, her own government 

 iiad become S3'stematic and stable b}' the 

 practical experience of thirteen years, and 

 that of the United States had been placed 

 upon the foundation of its present consti- 

 tution. At the head of these governments 

 were two men, who w'erc endeared to the 

 people by their long and disinterested 

 public services, and in whose abilities and 

 virtues the fullest confidence was reposed. 

 These men were Thomas Chittenden, 

 governor of Vermont, and George Wash- 

 ington, president of the United States. 



From this era in the history of Vermont 

 and in that of the United States, the two 

 governments, though occasionally slight- . 

 ly agitated by the bickerings of party, 

 have gone steadily onward in their career 

 of prosperity, diffusing their blessings 

 through every portion of the community. 

 The tranquillity of Vermont was, for sev- 

 eral years, scarcely affected by the policy 

 and intrigues of demagogues and aspirants 

 after office. The attachment of the peo- 

 ple to their old governor was so general, 

 that the politicians scarcely attempted to 

 bring forward any other candidate for the 

 first office in the gift of the people, and 

 neither the honors, nor the emoluments 



