126 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



COUNCIL OF CENSORS 



FROM THE FIFTH TO THE EIGHTH. 



legislature. These and all the other amend- 

 ments proposed were rejected by the con- 

 vention called to consider them, by a vast 

 majority. On the article providing for a 

 senate in place of the council, the vote 

 stood, yeas 20, nays 188. 



In their review of the legislative pro- 

 ceedings, this council of censors say, 

 " that, in general, the various depart- 

 ments and officers of government have, 

 during the last septenary, in the exercise 

 of their various functions, kept within the 

 pale of the constitution." They then pro- 

 ceed to specify three acts passed the pre- 

 ceding year, which they deem exceptions 

 to their general remark, and recommend 

 their repeal. These were, first, " an act 

 directing ' the deed of Job and Theoda 

 Wood to be given in evidence," passed 

 October 20, 1812 ; secondly, " an act to 

 prevent intercourse with the enemies of 

 this and the United States on the north- 

 ern frontier," passed November 6, 1812 ; 

 and thirdly, " an act suspending civil pro- 

 cess against the persons and property of 

 the officers and soldiers of this state while 

 in service," passed November G, 1812.* 



The sixth council of censors, elected in 

 1820, held three sessions: the first in June, 

 the second in October, 1820, and the third 

 in March, 1821, all at Montpelier. This 

 council of censors proposed so to alter the 

 constitution as to make the council of the 

 state consist of one member from each 

 county, to be elected by the freemen of 

 the county, and to make that council a 

 co-ordinate branch of the legislature, hav- 

 ing a negative upon the house of repre- 

 sentatives. They also proposed so to ap- 

 portion and reduce the number of repre- 

 sentatives that they should never exceed 

 150. The judges of the supreme court 

 were to be elected for seven years, but to 

 be removable by a vote of two thirds of 

 both houses in joint meeting. The con- 

 vention called by this council met at 

 Montpelier on the 21 st of February, 1822, 

 rejected all the proposed amendments by 

 a vote of about tC7i to one, and dissolved 

 February 23d, by adjourning without day. 



In their review of the legislative pro- 

 ceedings, the subject upon which this 

 council of censors animadverted with 

 most severity, was the passage of private 

 acts of suspension and insolvency, and 

 acts granting new trials. This they re- 

 garded as an assumption of powers con- 

 fided by the constitution to the judiciary 

 department of the government and calcu- 

 lated to impair the obligation of contracts. 



The seventh council of censors, elected 

 in 1827, held three sessions; the first in 



* See part second, page 94. 



June, the second in October and the third 

 in November, the two first at Montpelier 

 and the last at Burlington. In their re- 

 view of the legislative proceedings, they 

 advert to the passage of acts of suspen- 

 sion and granting new trials as a violation 

 of the constitution, and also express their 

 conviction that the constitution is violated 

 bjr permitting persons, holding offices un- 

 der the United States, to hold offices at 

 the same time under the authority of this 

 state. This council proposed several 

 amendments to the constitution, the most 

 important of which was the creation of a 

 senate, to consist of 28 members, to be 

 chosen by counties, which should act with 

 the house of representatives as a co-ordi- 

 nate branch of the legislature. They 

 called a convention, which met at Mont- 

 pelier on the 26th of June, 1828, and, the 

 next day, rejected by a large major^ity the 

 articles proposed, (with the exception of 

 one relating to the naturalization of for- 

 eigners, and which now constitutes the 

 first article of amendment on page 115) 

 and adjourned without day at 5 o'clock in 

 the morning of the 28th. 



The eighth council of censors, elected 

 in 1834, held three sessions ; the first in 

 June, the second in October, 1834, and 

 the third in January, 1835, the two first 

 at Montpelier and the last at Middlebury. 

 This council proposed nineteen articles of 

 amendment to the constitution, chiefly 

 relating to the establishment of a senate 

 as a co-ordinate branch of the legislature. 

 They called a convention, which met at 

 Montpelier on the 6th of January, 1836, 

 and, after mature deliberation, adopted 

 twelve of the amendments proposed, 

 which may be found in the first section of 

 this chapter, beginning with the second 

 article of amendment on page 115. 



The amendments adopted were similar 

 in principle to those proposed by several 

 former councils and which were rejected 

 by very large majorities, which shows 

 that a very great change had taken place 

 in public sentiment. The reasons of this 

 change are undoubtedly to be found in 

 the recent disputes between the execu- 

 tive council and house of representatives 

 with regard to the extent of their respec- 

 tive powers. For a long time after the 

 organization of the government, the ex- 

 ecutive council was composed of men 

 who were regarded as fathers of the state, 

 and for forty-five years after the adoption 

 of the first constitution, they did practi- 

 cally exercise the powers of a co-ordinate 

 branch of the legislature, and so long as 

 the framers of the constitution, or their 

 cotemporaries, continued to take part in 

 the councils of the state, their constitu- 



