Vermont: A Study of Independence

by Rowland Evans Robinson

Until 1808, the legislature of Vermont wandered from town to town, like a homeless vagrant, having held its sessions in fifteen different towns, one of which, Charlestown, was outside the present limits of the commonwealth, though then in its Eastern Union. This year, as if partially fulfilling the threat of Ethan Allen, it gathered among the fastnesses of the mountains, and established a permanent seat at Montpelier, which town was chosen as the capital for being situated near the geographical centre of the State. A large wooden structure, three stories in height and of quaint fashion, was erected for a state house. The seats of the representatives' hall were of unpainted pine plank, which so invited the jackknives of the true-born Yankee legislators that in a quarter of a century they were literally whittled into uselessness. A handsome new state house of Vermont granite was built in 1835 on nearly the same ground. Twenty-two years later this was destroyed by fire, and replaced by a larger one of the same style and material.

Commercial intercourse with Canada had been established soon after the close of the war, principally by the people of western Vermont, to whom the gate of the country now opened the easiest exit for their products, the most of which were the lumber and potash that the slain forest yielded to axe and fire.

As early as 1784, steps were taken by the independent commonwealth to open free trade with the Province of Quebec, and a channel through it for such trade with Europe. Ira Allen, Joseph and Jonas Fay were appointed agents to negotiate this business. Only Ira Allen acted in this capacity, and in the following year he reported having succeeded so far as to procure a free exchange of produce and manufactures, except peltry and a few articles of foreign production.

These negotiations, occurring with the arrival of English troops in Nova Scotia, gave rise to alarming rumors that Vermont was taking measures to become a British dependency; but this freedom of commerce through Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, and exclusively confined thereto, was accorded by the Canadian government to the States already in the Union as well as to the independent republic of Vermont, though the latter derived the greater benefit from it. To further promote this commerce, Ira Allen proposed the cutting of a ship canal to navigably connect the waters of Lake Champlain with those of the St. Lawrence, and made a voyage to England with the object of engaging the British government in this work. He offered, under certain conditions, to cut the canal at his own expense, and continued, though unsuccessfully, to urge the government of his own State to aid him in the enterprise so late as 1809.

The great pines, that fifty years before had been reserved for the "masting of His Majesty's navy," were felled now by hardy yeomen who owed allegiance to no earthly king, and, gathered into enormous rafts, voyaged slowly down the lake, impelled by sail and sweep. They bore as their burden barrels of potash that had been condensed from the ashes of their slain brethren, whose giant trunks had burned away in grand conflagrations that made midnight hills and vales and skies bright with lurid flame. The crew of the raft lived on board, and the voyage, though always slow, was pleasant and easy when the south wind filled the bellying sail, wafting the ponderous craft past the shifting scene of level shore, rocky headland, and green islands. In calms or adverse winds, it was hard work to keep headway with the heavy sweeps, and the voyage grew dangerous when storms arose, and the leviathan heaved and surged on angry waves that threatened to sever its huge vertebræ and cast it piecemeal to the savage rocks.

Sloops, schooners, and square-sailed Canada boats plied to and fro, bearing that way cargoes of wheat and potash; this way, salt and merchandise from over-seas. After midwinter, the turbulent lake became a plain of ice, affording a highway for traffic in sleighs, long trains of which fared to Montreal with loads of produce to exchange for goods or coin.

The declaration of what was commonly called the land embargo in 1808, cutting off this busy commerce, and barring western Vermont from its most accessible market, caused great distress and dissatisfaction, and gave rise to an extensive contraband trade.

The Collector of the District of Vermont wrote to Mr. Gallatin, United States Secretary of the Treasury, that the law could not be enforced without military aid. Upon this, President Jefferson issued a proclamation, calling on the insurgents to disperse, and on all civil and military officers to aid in quelling all disturbances.

There is nothing in the newspapers of the day or in official documents to show any combination to oppose the law, and at a regularly called town meeting the citizens of St. Albans, through their selectmen, formally protested to the President "that no cause for such a proclamation existed." Nevertheless, the militia of Franklin County were called out by Governor Smith, a Republican, who had that year been elected over Tichenor. The troops were assigned to duty at Windmill Point in Alburgh, to prevent the passage of certain timber rafts, which, however, got safely past the post in the night. For this the Franklin County troops were unjustly blamed, and, to their great indignation, were sent to their homes, while militia from Rutland County and a small force of regulars were brought up to take their place.

The smugglers grew bold, plying their nefarious traffic by night in armed bands of such strength that the revenue officers seldom ventured to attack them. A notorious craft named the Black Snake had crept a few miles up the Winooski with a cargo of contraband goods, when she was seized by a party of militia. Twelve soldiers, under command of Lieutenant Farrington, were detailed to take her to the lake. The smugglers ambuscaded them, firing on them repeatedly from the willow-screened bank with a wall-piece charged with bullets, slugs, and buckshot, killing three of the party and wounding the lieutenant. The remainder of the militia hurried to the rescue of their comrades, and succeeded in taking eight of the smugglers, while two escaped who were afterwards captured. At a special term of the Supreme Court one of them was sentenced to death,[94] and three to ten years' imprisonment, after first standing in the pillory, and two of the smugglers to receive fifty lashes each.