94 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Tart II. 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



MR. RICH 9 RESOLUTION- 



declared that any citizen, who should ac- 

 cept any title of nobility or honor, or any 

 pension or emolument, from any foreign 

 power, without the consent of Congress, 

 should cease to be a citizen of the Uni- 

 ted States. This amendment the assem- 

 bly agreed to recommend by a unanim- 

 ous vote. The year 181'2 is memorable 

 on account of the declaration of war by 

 the United States against Great Britain. 

 We shall not attempt to give the particu- 

 lars of this war, and still it will probably 

 be expected that we should at least give 

 a sketch of the transactions within our 

 own borders, and in which our own citi- 

 zens were more particularly concerned ; 

 and this we shall endeavor to do in the 

 following section. 



Section III. 

 Legislative proceedings from 1812 to 1815 



— War willi Great Britain — Events on 



Lake Cliamplain — Battle at Plattsburgh. 



Our limits will by no means permit us 

 to investigate the causes by which the 

 United States were led to engage in the 

 second war with Great Britain, nor to 

 mention any of the events of that war, ex- 

 cepting such as transpired in our immedi- 

 ate vicinity. Causes of complaint had ex- 

 isted for several years, which, as early as 

 1801^), led to the passage of a law by Con- 

 gress, interdicting all commercial inter- 

 course with Great Britain. On the 3d of 

 April, 1812, Congress laid an embargo 

 upon all the shipping within the jurisdic- 

 tion of tiie United States for 90 days, and 

 on the 18th of June following, an act was 

 passed declaring war with Great Britain. 

 On the passage of this act tlie vote stood 

 as follows ; in the house of representa- 

 tives yeas 79, nays 40, and in the senate 

 yeas 19, nays 13. The principal causes 

 which led to tlie adoption of this measure 

 were declared to be "the impressment of 

 American seamen by the British — the 

 plundering of American commerce, and 

 tl^e British orders in council." 



In October, 1812, the legislature of 

 Vermont assembled at IMontpolior. In 

 his speech. Governor Galusha urged the 

 assembly to second the measures of the 

 general government — provide the means 

 for the defence of our own citizens, and 

 for sustaining our national rights and 

 honor. The assembly returned an answer 

 fully concurring in the sentiments of the 

 trovernor; but thinking the exigencies of 

 tlie times demanded a more explicit avow- 

 al, Mr. Rich introduced the following 

 resolution : 



" Resolved, That the constituted author- 



ities of our country having declared war 

 between the United States and Great 

 Britain and her dependencies, it is our 

 duty, as citizens, to support the measure, 

 othcricise tee shall identify ourselves icitk 

 the enemy, with no other distinction tlian 

 that of locality. We, therefore, pledge 

 ourselves to each other, and to our gov- 

 ernment, that with our individual exer- 

 tions, our examples, and influence, we 

 will support our government and country 

 in the present contest; and rely on the 

 Great Arbiter of events for a favorable 

 result." 



This resolution was discussed for sev- 

 eral days, and with much warmth, and 

 various attempts were made by the feder- 

 alists to modify it, by striking out or al- 

 tering the part in italic, but without suc- 

 cess, and it was finally passed in its origi- 

 nal fortn, by a vote of 128 to 79. But the 

 minority were not silent. They entered 

 their protest upon the journals of the 

 house, in which they acknowledge them- 

 selves under tlie most sacred obligation 

 to yield a prompt and faithful obedience 

 to every law of Congress, and to support 

 with their lives all that is dear to free- 

 men, the independence of their country; 

 yet they declare the resolution to be sub- 

 versive of the true principles of a repub- 

 lican government. They likewise ex- 

 pressed their disapprobation of the leading 

 measures of the national administi'ation, 

 and pronounced the declaration of war to 

 be premature and impolitic. The major- 

 ity, however, proceeded to act nj) to the 

 spirit of their resolve, and passed a law 

 prohibiting all intercourse between the 

 people of Vermont and Canada, without 

 a permit from the governor, under a pen- 

 alty of .-^lOOO fine, and seven years con- 

 finement at hard labor in the state's pris- 

 on. They also passed an act exempting 

 the persons and property of the militia, 

 while in actual service, from attachment; 

 an act, laying a tax of one cent j)er acre 

 on the lands in the state, in addition to 

 the usual assessments, and other acts re- 

 lating to the detaching and paying of the 

 militia. 



These leo-islative regulations proving 

 oppressive to the people, many of the suj)- 

 porters of the war abandoned the republi- 

 can ranks, and went over to the opposi- 

 tion. As the elections in 1813 approach- 

 ed, both parties exerted to the utmost 

 everj' means in their power, the one to 

 gain and the other to ]ireserve the ascen- 

 dancy. When tlie assembly came togeth- 

 er in October, it was found that neither 

 candidate for governor had been elected 

 by the people. On attempting a choice 

 by the assembly, they were found to be 



