Ciii 



LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 



85 



FRKNCH REVOLUTION. 



RISE OF PARTIES. 



of the other state offices, were such as to 

 render them objects of general contest or 

 ambition. Tlie legislature met annually 

 in the beginning of October, and during 

 the first week of the session they usually 

 proceeded to make the appointments of 

 the civil officers for the succeeding year, 

 and this was done for several seasons 

 without any considerable electioneering 

 or management. After this business was 

 disposed of, tiiey proceeded to enact such 

 laws, as were required by the exigencies 

 of the people ; and they usually completed 

 the whole business of legislation in three 

 or four weeks, affording to artful dema- 

 gogues but little opportunity to acquire 

 power, influence, or popularity. 



Dhring this period of tranquillity and 

 union, the legislature of Vermont adopted 

 a digested and judicious code of laws ; 

 and for a while nothing seemed to mar 

 the general harmony. But subsequent 

 events proved this tran(iuillity to be like 

 those calms which precede the convul- 

 sions of nature. Causes were then in 

 operation, which were destined to produce 

 fearful divisions and animosities among 

 the people of the United States. The 

 French nation, urged onward by their in- 

 fidel philosophy, and b}' the e.vample of 

 America, had overthrown their establish- 

 ed government, abolished the ancient re- 

 straints of law and religion; and they 

 vainly imagined that they were on the 

 high road to a state of perfectibility, such 

 as the world have never yet seen. 



The American people, grateful for the 

 aid which they had received from France, 

 and anxious that the blessings of liberty 

 should be more generally diffused, had 

 watched the progress of the French revo- 

 lution with deep interest, and for a while 

 it vvas generally believed, that France 

 would become a republic with a govern- 

 ment much more perfect than that of the 

 United States. But when she abandoned 

 the principles of common sense, and dis- 

 carded morality and virtue, many of the 

 people of the United States became con- 

 vinced that, instead of promoting rational 

 liberty, they had opened the flood-gates 

 of anarchy, to be closed only by a despo- 

 tism more severe than that under which 

 they had previously groaned. Thus, while 

 a part of the people wished to go forward 

 and follow the French in pursuit of their 

 chimerical scheme of perfectibility, anoth- 

 er party was fearful of the consequences, 

 and chose rather to remain within the 

 bounds of reason and experience. 



In this manner the people of the United 

 States, and of Vermont as a portion of the 

 union, gradually became divided into two 

 distinct parties, both of which avowed 



their attachment to the constitution of the 

 country, and yet both desired alterationy 

 in that instrument. While one party 

 wished to improve the constitution by 

 increasing the powers of the government, 

 the other wished to do it by rendering the 

 government more democratic, and thus 

 increasing the power of the people. These 

 parties by degrees increased in strength 

 and violence, but were for several years 

 much restrained in their proceedings by 

 the virtue and influence of Washington, 

 and, in Vermont, by the judicious admin- 

 istration of Governor Chittenden. 



The extreme simplicity which charac- 

 terized the legislative proceedings of Ver- 

 mont, during the administration of Gov- 

 ernor Chittenden, left but little room for 

 the intrigues of politicians, or for the pro- 

 gress of party and faction. It was not 

 then the custom of the governor to make 

 a speech at the opening of the legislature, 

 and consequently the dlfterent parties had 

 not then a bone of contention about which 

 to wrangle, as they hpd, during subse- 

 quent administrations ; and, previous to 

 the resicrnation and death of Governor 

 Chittenden, in 1797, party spirit in Ver- 

 mont cannot be said to have assumed a 

 very serious aspect. As through the in- 

 strumentality of Governor Chittenden, 

 Vermont was chiefly enabled to establish 

 her independence as a state, and as he for 

 many years held the first office in the gift 

 of the people, we siiall close this section 

 with a short sketch of his biography. 



It has so happened, that almost every 

 age of the world has produced individuals, 

 who seem to have been moulded, by na- 

 ture, particularly for the exigencies of the 

 times in which they lived. There have 

 always been some master spirits, who 

 were peculiarly fitted to control the agi- 

 tated elements of public opinion, and 

 either to soothe them into a calm, or else 

 to mount upon the wind and direct the 

 storm ; and the results attained under 

 their guidance have usually been happy to 

 the community, or otherwise, according as 

 the ruling motives of the leaders have 

 been patriotic or selfish. These results, 

 it is true, are materially affected by the 

 amount of virtue and intelligence among- 

 the people ; but virtue and intelligence 

 do not, alone, fit an individual for becom- 

 ing a popular and successful leader in 

 troublesome times. There is necessary, 

 in addition to these, a certain indescriba- 

 ble tact and native energy, which few in- 

 dividuals have possessed, and which, per- 

 haps, no one in our state has manifested 

 in a more eminent degree than Governor 

 Chittenden. 



Governor Thomas Chittenden was born. 



