porated in 1796, with authority to build a road from Bennington to Wilmington, and to place gates upon it and to collect toll of travelers. A craze for turnpike building followed and fifty turnpike companies were incorporated within a few years. The roads built by them were very useful. But public roads were multiplied, and for this and other reasons the turnpikes ceased to be profitable, the companies surrendered their charters and the roads became public highways. Only one turnpike now exists in the State. It is between Manchester and Peru and has one gate on it.

10. Mails.-The carrying of the mails was transferred to the United States when Vermont entered the Union. For several years no new mail routes were added, and when they were added the business was very small.

In 1798 the mail was carried once a week each way between Windsor and Burlington, passing through Woodstock, Randolph and Montpelier. The whole number of letters received at the Post Office in Woodstock during the year was one hundred eighty, the number sent out was one hundred twenty. The mail of July 19 brought ten letters, a very large number. The whole number of letters brought to Woodstock by mail that year, from Boston, was eighteen; from New York, twenty-eight; from Windsor, nine. Two years later the population of the Vermont towns named was, of Windsor, 2, 211; of Woodstock, 2,132; of Randolph, 1,841; of Montpelier, 890; of Burlington, 815. Woodstock had been ten years a shire town and was bristling with politicians and professional men.

11. The Legislature.-In 1792, 1796, 1800, the legislature chose four, in 1804 and 1808 six, and in 1812 eight, presidential electors. In January, 1804, an adjourned session of the legislature was held at

Windsor to act on the twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which was adopted on the part of Vermont. In 1805 an act of the legislature provided that on certain conditions Montpelier should become "the permanent seat of the legislature." The conditions were complied with and Montpelier became the capital of the State in 1808.

In 1806, after refusing to authorize private banks, the legislature enacted a law establishing a State bank with branches at Woodstock and at Middlebury. Later, branches were established at Burlington and at Westminster. The State did not succeed in banking, and in 1811 the process of closing the business had already begun.

12. State Prison.-Punishments.--In 1807 the legislature provided for the erection of a State prison, which was located at Windsor and was in use within two years.

In consequence of building the State prison, new modes of punishing many crimes were adopted. Cutting off the ears, branding, whipping, putting in the stocks and pillory had previously been well-known punishments. A law of 1779 required “that every town in this State shall make and maintain at their own charge, a good pair of stocks, with a lock and key sufficient to hold and secure such offenders as shall be sentenced to sit therein." In Monkton a Quaker was condemned to stand a certain number of hours in the pillory for getting in hay on the Sabbath. While he stood there his wife sat by, knitting-work in hand.

In Manchester a convict was brought to the signpost near a large hotel. He was placed on a horseblock and his head was bound fast to the sign-post. The officer cut off the lower portion of the culprit's ears and trod the pieces under his feet. Then taking

a branding iron which an assistant had been heating over a kettle of coals he applied it to the convict's forehead. To imitate the operation was a favorite play with the boys the following winter.

High on a hill near the center of Newfane may be seen the foundations of a few buildings long since removed or gone to decay. A busy village was once there with its dwellings and shops and court house and academy and church. In an open space just below the academy and church stood the whippingpost in the form of a cross. About three months prior to the passage of the act providing for a State prison, a woman convicted of passing counterfeit money was brought. She was stripped naked down to her waist, her arms were tied to the arms of the cross, and thirtynine lashes were applied to her back, partly by the sheriff and partly by an assistant. Her back became raw from the infliction and she writhed and screamed in her agony. Meanwhile multitudes were looking on from the windows of the church and academy.

The State prison did not come too soon; and it is well that such scenes were viewed through the windows of the meeting house and school house, else they might have continued to this day.

13. No Slavery.--After the adoption of the Vermont Constitution in July, 1777, and before the distribution of it, near the beginning of the next year, Capt. Ebenezer Allen of Tinmouth was sent on a raid with forty men into the neighborhood of Ticonderoga. He took several prisoners, among whom was Dinah Mattis, a negro slave. To her, Allen gave a certificate of emancipation, being "conscientious that it is not right in the sight of God to keep slaves," and had the same recorded in the town clerk's office in Bennington. The first Constitution of Vermont. contained in its first article the distinct prohibition of

This is a

Under
As

slavery, which article is now found there. Vermont addition to the Pennsylvania model. it a slave could not be legally held in Vermont. slavery was rejected for high reasons before the promulgation of the constitution, so it was afterward. Theophilus Harrington of Clarendon, who was an associate judge of the Supreme Court for ten years, beginning with 1803, very well expressed the verdict of the people in a case that came before him of one person claiming another as his property. The claimant presented evidence that he owned the other perThe judge asked if he had any other evidence. "What other evidence do you want?" inquired the counsel for the claimant. "A bill of sale from Almighty God," responded the judge. The slave was released.

son.

CHAPTER VII.

1.

WAR. BUSINESS. SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

Our Work so Far.-We have traced the history of Vermont from its discovery in 1609 for two hundred years. We have studied its early settlements, the struggles by which it became a State, its period of independence, its admission to the Union of States and its progress for twenty years within the Union. We have reached a period at which the settlement of the State may be regarded as substantially complete; for, though a few towns were still not inhabited, they were within easy reach of the conveniences of civilized life. No marked transition occurs in the subsequent history, but there is constant progress. The agency most effective of change since the date we have

reached is the railroad. So we will include in the present chapter the chief events to 1852, before which time several important railroads had been opened for traffic.

2. Political Parties.-Vermont entered the Union at the beginning of the second Congress. The organization of the government and the provision for its support led to questions relating to the interpretation of the federal constitution and the extent of the powers of the federal government. The friends of the new constitution, who secured its adoption and who elected a president and a majority in both branches of Congress, sought to establish a strong national government. They naturally inclined to a liberal interpretation of the clauses granting powers to the federal government. Others, who feared lest the federal government should become an instrument of oppression, sought by a strict interpretation of the same. clauses to maintain in their integrity the powers of the States and of the people. The former party were called Federalists, and the latter before the close of this Congress were named Democratic Republicans, or Republicans. About 1828, the term Republicans was dropped and the term Democrats was used instead. At this period the Federal party disappeared, and a new party called Whigs took its place. About the same time the Anti-masonic party appeared, opposed to the election of Free Masons to office. This party was of short duration. The Liberty, or Anti-slavery party, made their first presidential nomination in 1839, and in 1841 they made their first nomination for governor in Vermont. In 1848 the Free Soil party was organized, and the Liberty party was merged in it. In 1856, the opponents of slavery assumed the name Republicans. Since that date the great political parties of the country have been the Democratic and the Republican parties.