104 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



POLITICAL CONFLICT. 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



national administration, wiiich has been 

 witnessed since tlie organization of the 

 o-Qverninent. The election of president 

 of the United States drawing nigh, a 

 convention of delegates, from the several 

 states, assembled at Harrisburgh, in Penn- 

 sylvania, December 4, l'?39, and nomin- 

 ated General William H. Harrison, and 

 the Honorable John Tyler, candidates for 

 president, and vice-president, in opposi- 

 tion to the incumbents, who were candi- 

 dates for re-election, by the administra- 

 tion party, and the din of preparation 

 for the combat was immediately sounded, 

 from one e.xtremity of the union to the 

 other. Sta'e, county, town, and school- 

 district committees, were every where 

 organised,. to further the object of the 

 respective parties ; conventions of the 

 people, were assembled in various places, 

 which were no longer reckoned by hun- 

 dreds, but by thousands, and tens of 

 thousands ; inflammatory speeches were 

 delivered, patriotic songs were composed 

 and sung, and flags and mottos, and de- 

 vices, were every wiiere displayed. Ev- 

 ery nook and corner of the land was 

 ransacked, the indiflT?rent were aroused, 

 the wavering made to take a decided 

 stand, the sick, and the superanuated were 

 drajTcred from their beds, and all were 

 marshalled for the great battle, at the bal- 

 lot b'j.x ; and, favored by a general im- 

 pression that the derangement of the cur- 

 rency and tiie hardness of tlie times were 

 in some way the result of a mal-adminis- 

 tration of the general government, and 

 that any change of the administration 

 could not make matters worse, the result 

 of the conflict was the election of Har- 

 rison and Tyler, by an overwhelming 

 majority. 



The aggregate vote cast in Vermont, 

 this year, for governor, was 56,117, which 

 exceeded the aggregate of any previous 

 vote, for governor, ;321.5 ; and governor 

 Jenison's majority, over the administra- 

 tion candidate, was 10, 71)8." In his mes- 

 sage, at the opening of the session of the 

 general assembly, the governor called 

 the attention of the two houses to the 

 proceedings of Congress, in relation to 

 the representatives from New Jersey, and 

 the matter was referred to a select com- 

 mittee. From this committee, were re- 

 ceived two elaborate re])orts, both on 

 party grounds, the majority report con- 

 demnmg, and the minority report justify- 

 ing, tlie proceedings alluded to.1 A re- 

 solution was, however, passed by a large 

 majority of tlie general assembly, in 



* Journal Ilou^eof Rep. lor 1840, App. p. 1. 

 t Journal of House of Repre?entatives, for 1340, 

 Appendix, p. 53. 



which they say, that the exclusion of the 

 representatives, duly commissioned by 

 the governor of New Jerse}', and the sub- 

 stitution of five others riot so commision- 

 ed, " without a trial of the election, was 

 a violation of established usage — was an 

 indignity to the authorities of New Jer- 

 sey — was unjust, unconstitutional, and 

 subversive of the liberties of this repub- 

 lic." Tiie most elaborate act of this ses- 

 sion was a general law on the subject of 

 banking. 



Although the people of this state had, 

 through their representatives, repeatedly 

 given a public manifestation of their dis- 

 approbation of slaver)', by resolutions, 

 and instructions to their delegation in 

 Congress, there had been, for several 

 years, an increasing number, who were 

 desirous of manifesting a more decided 

 hostility to the institution of slavery, and 

 of adopting more efficient measures for 

 its abolition. These views had led to the 

 formation of an anti-slavery society in 

 this state, but no measures were taken, 

 by this class of our citizens, to organize 

 as a separate political party, till the sum- 

 mer of 1841. 



Governor Jenison, having signified his 

 desire, no longer to be a candidate for 

 re-election, Charles Paine was, this 

 year, put in nomination, by the whigs, 

 Nathan Smilie, by the democrats, and 

 just upon the eve of the election, Titus 

 Hutchinson, formerly chief judge of the 

 supreme court, was brought forward as 

 the candidate of the anti-slavery party. 

 The consequence of these several move- 

 ments, was the failure of a choice of gov- 

 ernor by the people. The election thus 

 devolving upon the general assembly, 

 Mr. Paine was elected, at the first ballot- 

 ing, by a majority of 42 votes. 



The subject of a geological survey of 

 the state, was first brought before the 

 legislature, in 1836. From that time to 

 the present, the measure had been annu- 

 ally recommended by the governor, had 

 been discussed by the general assembly, 

 had been reported upon favorably, by all 

 the committees to wliich it had been re- 

 ferred, and still no bill making provision 

 for such a survey, could be carried 

 through the house of representatives. 

 At the session in 1840, the bill had been 

 lost by a very small majority, and, this 

 year, coming before the general assembly, 

 strongly recommended by the new gover- 

 nor, the friends of the measure were 

 now very sanguine in their expectations 

 of success. In the senate, a bill making 

 provision for a survey, was passed with 

 but little opposition, but, while a large 

 majority of the house of representatives, 



