Patriotic solicitude must have been reinforced by religious intolerance. The Episcopal Church had always been an alien in Connecticut. Its founders had broken away from the Established or Congregational Church; their success had diminished the resources of the latter ; their ministers had to cross the ocean to be ordained, and to take a special oath of allegiance to the crown ; they were his majesty's opposition in a colony which liked neither majesty nor opposition; and they were strongly suspected of a design to reduce this, with the other colonies, to some form of episcopacy. The latter belief, which had a special weight in bringing about the final revolution, was increased in Connecticut by the fact that, whenever the Episcopal Church had come into collision with the colonial authorities, its first and most effective weapon had always been a threat of appeal to the home government. There was probably hardly a man in Connecticut who, being a Whig and a Congregationalist, did not believe that every Episcopalian was either an open or a secret Tory, and that the Episcopalian ministers were their leaders and guides. The Episcopal churches in the colony were shut, and the ministers were silenced, except Rev, John Beach, an Episcopalian missionary at Reading and Newtown, who persisted in praying for the king as usual, in spite of rough. treatment at the hands of the Whigs. For the time, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut was sus-
303
pended, and its members were almost outlawed, for the colonial authorities would give them only a grudging protection. The reestablishment of peace brought the reestablishment of the Church ; and, thirty years later, the sons of its members had the pious satisfaction of disestablishing the Church which had persecuted their fathers.
The connection between the Episcopalians of Connecticut and of New York city had always been close, and it cannot be supposed that the sufferings of the Connecticut Tories had been looked at with indifference in New York. As the tide of war rolled off through the Jerseys toward Philadelphia, stripping Connecticut of a large portion of its able-bodied men, the time seemed to have come for a blow that should teach the Congregational colony that its enemies had still some of the terrors of war at their command, Tryon, the royalist governor of New York, with a force of two thousand men and twenty-five vessels, sailed eastward through Long Island Sound, and landed at Saugatuck, about twenty miles from Danbury, where a considerable amount of Continental and State stores had been gathered. A hasty march overland brought them to Danbury, April 26, 1777, where they destroyed not only the stores, but the bulk of the town, carefully sparing Tory property. There were some Continental soldiers in the neighborhood, and two officers of rank, Wooster and Arnold. The latter rallied all the
304
men available, regulars and militia, and headed Tryon on his retreat, at Ridgefield. In the battle, Wooster was mortally wounded, and Tryon broke through and resumed his way to the Sound. Arnold kept up the pursuit until the British took refuge on the shipping and sailed away. The expedition was followed by one from New Haven in retaliation. Colonel Meigs crossed the Sound with nearly two hundred men in whaleboats to Sag Harbor, attacked the place a little after midnight, captured it, and burned twelve vessels, with a large amount of stores. He then recrossed the Sound with ninety prisoners, and without losing a man.
In the mean time Connecticut had become a State. In May, 1776, the people had been formally released from their allegiance to the crown; and in October the general assembly passed an act assuming the functions of a State. The Important section of the act was the first, as follows : " That the ancient form of civil government, contained in the charter from Charles the Second, King of England, and adopted by the people of this State, shall be and remain the civil Constitution of this State, under the sole authority of the people thereof, independent of any King or Prince whatever. And that this Republic is, and shall forever be and remain, a free, sovereign, and independent State, by the name of the State of Connecticut." The form of the act speaks what was doubtless always the
305
belief of the people, that their charter derived its validity, not from the will of the crown, but from the assent of the people. And the curious language of the last sentence, in which " this Republic " declares itself to be " a free, sovereign, and independent State," may serve to indicate something cf the appearance which state sovereignty doubtless presented to the American of 1776-89. It is not safe to take "the United States" of 1887 as exactly equivalent, in the eyes of the people, to "the United States" of 1776-89. The "nation was born ; but its constituent units were often painfully unconscious of the birth.
The main theatre of war continued to be outside of the State ; but her troops shared in all its dangers and hardships. The one great business of the State authorities was to fill up the State's quota of men and provide for their maintenance ; that of the towns was to fill up their quotas, and to follow the ever-shifting continental currency by changing the necessary salaries as it changed. No one can follow the town records without receiving an increased respect for the persistent devotion of the people to the common cause. There seems to have been little attempt to shift burdens to the shoulders of others ; but each town accepted its share as a necessary fact, and strained every en-ergy to meet it. It would have been hardly possible that such devotion should have been purely unselfish; the fact was that, safe as the State was
306
in general, there was hardly a moment when It was not exposed to the possibility of harassing partisan warfare. The British headquarters in New York city were so near, and transportation by ship was so easy, that the whole coast of the State was exposed. In addition to the services of her regular levies, the purely State troops were compelled to serve tours of duty on the coast; and detachments were posted in the various exposed towns. Putnam had been in command of the American forces, and his headquarters had been at Peekskill, within supporting distance of the new post at West Point, whose importance he had been the first to see and secure. He removed his headquarters to Reading in 1778, and from that place fulfilled his old duty, while aiding in the defense of the exposed portions of his own State. It was during this period of service that he met with the adventure at Horse Neck, which is one of the best known of his eventful life, though it was probably one of which he thought the least. One of the most urgent needs of the " rebels" was salt. It was made roughly at various places on the coast, and, with all its inevitable impurities, was gratefol enough to the people. One of these salt-works was at Horse Neck, and a British force came up from New York to destroy it, Putnam delayed so long in providing for his men's retreat that his only way of escape was to plunge on horseback down a long flight of stone steps, his baffled pursuers reining in at the top and contenting
307
themselves with firing ineffectually at him as he went.
Early in the winter of 1779-80, Putnam undertook a visit to his home in Pomfret, but was struck with partial paralysis on Ills journey. He never recovered from it, but was disabled until his death in 1790, Washington thus lost the services of one on whom he had always leaned largely, he was perhaps the most uneducated officer in the army; his name was synonymous in the British view with bad manners and coarseness ; his portrait is that of a gross, heavy man, as far removed as possible from the popular notion of the Connecticut Yankee; but his prompt decision, natural intelligence, and unswerving determination were just the qualities that would recommend him equally to his men and to the com-mander-in-chief. They are shown in his letter of the. previous year to Tryon, in a ease in which the latter had threatened retaliation. If it is not genuine, it is a most skillful forgery, for it speaks the voice of Putnam in every line. It Is as follows : -
" sir : Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your King's service, was taken in ray camp as a spy. He was tried as a spy; he was condemned as a spy ; and you may rest assured, sir, he shall be hanged as a spy. I have the honor to be, &c.
israel putnam.
His Excellency, governor tryon.
P. S. Afternoon. He is hanged."
308
The Fourth of July in 1779 fell on Sunday, and the people of New Haven had made arrangements to celebrate the Declaration of American Independence on the day after. Before the exercises had fairly begun, the town was thrown into consternation by the news that Tryon's fleet and forces, numbering 3,000 men in some forty-eight vessels, had dropped anchor near West Haven at five o'clock that morning, and were on the march for New Haven. They came in two detachments, of 1,500 men each, one marching from West Haven, the other attacking and capturing a small fort at Black Rock on its way. The first detachment met some resistance, and entered the town by the Derby Road, By one o'clock in the after-noon all resistance had been overcome, and the invaders had met at the green, then an unsightly common. The town was given up to plunder until the following morning, when the British retired as suddenly as they had come. They had been guilty of many acts of the most barbarous cruelty, the accounts of which are preserved in tradition or print; they had inflicted a money loss of some £25,000, but the buildings of the college and the other public edifices were undamaged.
Sailing along the coast, Tryon landed at Fair-field, July 8, and destroyed that place. Here public and private buildings alike were fired, The same was the case at the village of Green's Farms the next morning; and then the British
309
commander called off his dogs for a little space. They crossed the Sound to Huntington Bay, and remained there until July 11. Recrossing the Sound to Norwalk, they spent the day in the work of destruction. When they took their departure, the quiet little town had disappeared but for the smoke of its torment, which hung over the spot where it had been. By this time the population of the interior was mustering to meet Tryon at his next landing, and he prudently retired to headquarters. He had inflicted upon Connecticut a loss of about £250,000, as appeared by the proven claims for which the general assembly, as before stated, allotted 500,000 acres of northwestern lands in 1792. But he had not broken the spirit of the people ; and his own loss in men, nearly three hundred, was enough to convince him that such attacks were no longer to take rank as purely plundering expeditions, but were to be attended with some danger to life and limb. Such knowledge was sufficient to appease his martial ardor, and he vexed Connecticut very little more.
Tryon had been so injudicious as to give special protection to the property of Tories in his work ; and the Tories bad been so imprudent as not only to receive the protection but to exult in it. A few of them had taken the inevitable next step, by retiring with Tryon's fleet; but others had the weakness or folly to remain. In May, 1778, the
310
general assembly had begun the process of confis-cation against avowed or absconding Tories, under the euphomism of "settling their estates;" the Tryon episode naturally had the effect of stlmu-lating the energy of the State authorities in en-forcing the process, and of provoking even a more bitter fooling of the Whigs against those Tories who retained their former dwelling-places. Some of the names which had. been most influential in the history of the colony disappeared at this time from the records of the State, and their property passed into other hands. But some of. the former holders remained, and their influence in subsequent politics Is a fair witness to the clemency of Connecticut. Dr. Peters himself returned to Ms former parish in 1806, for a visit, and found that even his " History " had been condoned. He died at New York in 1826; and his nephew was governor of Connecticut in 1831-32.
The Connecticut authorities had been indefatigable In raising and provisioning troops, and her people had been equally earnest in offering their services. In the number of men contributed she stood second of the States with 31,939 men, Massachusetts being first with 67,907. Considering differences of population, and more especially differences In immediate danger, Connecticut's quota stands out well beside the 25,678 of Pennsylvania, the 17,781 of New York, the 6,417 of South Carolina, or the 2,679 of Georgia. in general
311
orders of June 16, 1782, Washington spoke of the Connecticut Brigade as " composed of as fine a body of men as any in the army ; " and he expressed a wish for a general review of the men, to decide the relative proficiency of the Connecticut men. In another order, issued two clays afterward, he thus expressed Ms high opinion of the State's line: "The General informs the Array he had great occasion to be satisfied at the review of the Second Connecticut Brigade yesterday, especially with the soldier-like and veteran appearance of the men, and the exactness with which the firings were performed. He felt particular pleasure in observing the cleanliness and steadiness of the second Regiment under arms." And the historian of the commonwealth may be pardoned for taking a " particular pleasure " in noting the fact, that, with the exception of a briefer compliment to a Massachusetts brigade, this is the only instance in Washington's Revolutionary orders of such public commendation of any State's quota. In almost all cases Connecticut men were drafted into service outside of the State, to make good the deficiencies of less zealous States. She had, in addition, to maintain almost all the defense of her own borders, and that while Long Island Sound was under complete control of the enemy's ships. Her success in. so doing almost stopped civilized life around the Sound. The Connecticut Tories were driven to Long Island, while the Long Island Whigs
312
crossed into Connecticut ; and the waters of the Sound were harassed by almost continual skirmishing. When the French forces were quartered within the State, her people enjoyed a season of comparative tranquillity. When they were withdrawn for the march on Yorktown, which was planned by Washington and the French leaders in a meeting at Wethersfield, Arnold, now in the British service, made his raid on New London, and the State, as usual, was compelled to meet the shock almost unsupported.
Arnold, a native of Norwich, knew the country around New London well, and its defenseless condition was no secret to him. Two small works had been thrown up, forts Trumbull and Gris-wold; but the former was open at the rear, and had a garrison of but twenty-three men, who were ordered to retreat to the other fort at the approach of danger. Colonel William Ledyard was in command of both forts, Arnold's landing on the morning of September 6, 1781, seerns to have been a surprise to every one in the town; and his 1,700 men were at work on both sides of the river before any effective preparations could be made to meet him. Indeed, no such preparations could have been made, even with a day's notice ; there were no troops to draw upon. Fort Trumbull was taken with a rush : Ledyard drew in his men to Fort Griswold; and while Arnold reserved to himself the congenial task of burning the town,
313
its dwellings, warehouses, and shipping, the next in command, on the other side of the river, was directed to storm Fort Griswold.
The British soldier is a noble animal; but the notion that he will not strike an enemy who is " down " should be relegated to the ante-Buffon-ian period of natural history. Badajos was neither the first; nor the last witness to the contrary ; and too many British officers have put on record their impressions of the British soldier in the moment of victory for us to be surprised at such a little matter as happened at Fort Griswold. The unusual circumstance in this case was that the officer in command was the greatest brute, apparently, of the storming party. After an obstinate resistance, in which Ledyard exhausted every means of defense, and all the British officers of high rank had been carried off dead or dying, the storming party, of which a Major Bromfield was now left in command, poured in. " Who commands this fort? " called Bromfield. "I did, sir; but yon. do now," said Ledyard, offering his sword. Bromfield, infuriated by the unexpected slaughter, seized the sword and plunged it into Led-yard's breast. With such an example from one in authority, the soldiers' instincts came out at their worst; the defenders were bayoneted where-ever they sought refuge, until all but about twenty-five of the one hundred and fifty men in the fort were killed or desperately wounded. The fire of rage dying out for want of sound material, was
314
revived by the collection of the wounded ; and thirty-five of these were placed in a cart and rolled clown the slope, among rocks and stumps, to be dashed to pieces at the bottom for the amusement of the soldiers. The plea has been offered that the laws of war allowed military execution of the sort upon a fort which persisted in a hopeless defense; but this point of the laws of war has probably never been so strained before as in this case, and, in any event, the wounded have commonly been held exempt.
As Arnold passed out of New London harbor, the Revolutionary struggle passed away with him. It had been a time of sudden and tremendous growth, this transformation of the colony into a State, of the disappearance of old ideas and of old loyalty, of burnings and plunderings, of life-long separations through the fortune of war, of family and social disintegration, of heavy taxation amid stringent poverty, of great burdens manfully borne ; but the fancy is almost forced to picture, as the crowning episode of the war, the old. commonwealth sitting among the ruins which her recreant son had wrought, and watching him as he sailed away to be worse and less than a foreigner to her forevermore. It may be only a natural shrinking from an unnatural crime, or it may be a remnant of ancient controversies, which has made the historians of Connecticut so careful to note the that Arnold was by blood a Rhode Island
CHAPTER XVII.
THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
the relations of Connecticut to the articles of confederation were peculiar. For a century and a half, the full energy of the commonwealth had been at work to maintain the autonomy secured by the charter, and to exclude from the soil of Connecticut every vestige of authority not owning the people of Connecticut as its legitimate source. From this standpoint, the articles, with their express and tacit attempts to reserve and strengthen state sovereignty, were the exact representatives of Connecticut feeling. The vote in favor of them would have been practically unanimous in 1781, the year in which they went into effect.
Other considerations soon compelled attention. One of the first results of the adoption of the articles, as has been stated, was the ousting of Connecticut from her western claims, with the exception of a reservation which seemed pitiful alongside of Virginia's royal reservation for the satisfaction of her debts and obligations. Instead of the maintenance of vast claims in the Northwest, her business was now to secure her independence of her
316
nearer neighbors : and this was difficult enough. The desolation wrought by the Revolutionary conflict, with the features peculiar to it in this quarter of America, was of continuing effect: the towns of the Connecticut coast were poverty - stricken, their merchants were bankrupt; there was no energy to spare among the people for the revival of foreign commerce, and the imports of the State were of necessity made through Boston or New York. Here they found no amicable treatment, under the provisions of the articles of confederation which allowed each State to levy taxes on imports. Something like one third of the expenses of the New York government were paid by taxation levied so as to be borne by imports into Connecticut ; even this burden was not enough to develop a domestic commerce in the subordinate State; and the only resource available was the poor one of turning to pay, in like manner, one third of the expenses of the Massachusetts government. State sovereignty was very fine in theory; but a state sovereignty bottomed on the sole power of the State was found by Connecticut to be a very poor resource for her. It was not long before the leading minds of Connecticut were ready to give up this naked and deceptive state sovereignty for state rights, bottomed on the guaranty of a national power.
In February, 1781, just before the articles actually went into effect, congress notified the States
317
that it would be absolutely necessary for them to surrender to congress a limited power to levy taxes on imports, in order to satisfy the public debt. It was essential that every state legislature should agree to this, and the assent of Connecticut, with all but one of the other States, was balked by the veto of the smallest of the States, Rhode Island. Before Rhode Island could be reasoned with, Virginia repealed her assenting act, and the veto was made more positive. For the next half-dozen years the position of Connecticut was unchanged : her people, instinctively willing for national taxation, were moved by what may seem an unreasonable jealousy of the Society of the Cincinnati, and were unwilling to see a national taxing power under its control or in" its interest. For this, bow-ever, there was some excuse. The feeling of the military authorities toward the privates of the Revolutionary armies would seem odd to men of the present day. To Washington, for example, it was always the officers who were the " gentlemen of the army ; " the privates were food for powder, well enough off with rations, clothes, and glory. When " half-pay for the army " was proposed by congress in 1778, it was only for the commissioned officers; $80 apiece in continental money at the end of the war was thought a quite liberal provision for the insignificant privates. It may very easily be seen that such notions as these were not likely to be popular in an ultra-democratic State
318
like Connecticut; and it is probable that her Revolutionary privates were as bitter in their opposition to the Society of the Cincinnati as those who had not entered the army at all. It was not " the old leaven of Silas Deane," as Hamilton thought, but the instincts of democracy, that fought against caste distinctions in the army, as elsewhere.
In April, 1783, a still more limited proposition to grant taxing powers to congress, with a recommendation to change the basis of contribution from land to number of inhabitants, was sent out to the States. Connecticut assented at once, with New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, North and South Carolina ; but the other States assented so slowly or so grudgingly that the proposition hung fire. When New York gave it the coup de grace in 1786, Connecticut had been on the side of the proposed reformation in every vote. She sent no representatives to the Annapolis Convention of 1786; and Knox attributes her neglect or refusal to " jealousy," With all respect to his judgment, it must be rioted that the meeting of that body took place in the height of the anti-Cincinnati excitement ; that this seed of discontent was removed before the Philadelphia Convention met; and that Connecticut's delegates to that body showed that her previous "jealousy" had been of a nature to which neither Knox nor any other typical Revolutionary officer could do substantial justice, much less deal kindly with it.
319
In May, 1787, the general assembly of Connecticut appointed William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellswortl delegates to the federal convention at Philadelphia, with instructions to meet the delegates of the other States, and " to discuss upon such alterations and provisions, agreeably to the general principles of republican government, as they shall think proper to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union." The convention met May 14; a majority of the States were ready for business May 25 ; and Ellswortli attended May 28, Sherman May 30, and Johnson June 2. From the first appearance of Ellswortli. the Connecticut delegation was in the thick of every struggle. It has been said that Its members *' aspired to act as mediators" in the convention.; if so, the aspiration was justified by its fruits, for the ability of the delegates was reinforced by the peculiar position of their State, Sherman, though of Massachusetts by birth, was of that family which has always been strong in the Connecticut Valley, and has since blossomed into new power in Ohio. Johnson, of the Stratford blood which had introduced Episcopacy into Connecticut, was yet a devoted and trusted Whig throughout the Revolution. Ellsworth, subsequently chief justice of the United States and of his State, was of a Windsor family. The three were probably the ablest lawyers in the State, represented all
320
shades of opinion in it, and all its territorial divisions, and were united only in the desire for a good national government. No Interest in the State could claim more than one of them ; they belonged to the whole State and to the Onion.
The attitude of Connecticut has been represented as that of a " small State," intent only on obtaining every possible reservation of state sovereignty. Such a representation is grossly unfair. There was no reason for it a priori. The State had nothing to gain by it. Her territorial limits were distinctly closed for the future ; and she was wisely and justly determined that the new government should not take the form proposed by Virginia, a congress of two houses, both chosen by the States in direct proportion to population, with a president and judiciary appointed by this congress, so that a caucus, or " deal," by a few large States would give them absolute control of the government in all its branches. This latter proposition would In reality have been the greatest of calamities for a real development of national spirit and power. Connecticut desired a sound and practical national government, and the path to it was marked out for her delegates by their own commonwealth's development and history for one hundred and fifty years.
Through this long period, Connecticut had been the only colony, with the exception of Rhode Island (unrepresented in this convention), which
321
had had a governor and council, chosen by majority vote and by almost universal suffrage ; her delegates were therefore quite prepared for the proposition that at least a part of the new federal government should be chosen in much the same way. On the other hand, in the development of new towns, Connecticut had always been careful to maintain the substantial equality of each township in at least one branch of her government; her delegates were therefore quite prepared for the proposition that at least a part of the new federal government should similarly recognize the equality of the States. Her combination of commonwealth and town lights had worked so simply and naturally that her delegates were quite prepared to suggest a similar combination of national and state rights as the foundation of the new government. The circumstances were enough to clear their mental vision, to enable them to look calmly and judiciously at every new proposition, and to make them real " mediators." This is the crowning glory of the system which Hooker inaugurated in the wilderness, and of the commonwealth of Connecticut. For a century and a half, she had been maintaining the rudimentary form of that mixture of the national and federal elements which are now united in our federal government and give it its strength. This system had red up a race of public men who were accustomed to it. Their chosen men went as delegates to the convention,
322
and were urged at every step in the line which Hooker had marked out for them, and which their commonwealth had been making straight for them for a hundred and fifty years. It is hardly too much to say that the birth of the constitution was merely the grafting of the Connecticut system on the stock of the old confederation, where ithas grown into richer luxuriance than Hooker could ever have dreamed of.
The proceedings of the convention, in dealing with the legislative, executive, and judicial elements of the constitution, are so voluminous and complicated, and Sherrnan, Ellswortil, and Johnson made up so large a part of almost every debate, that the reader of the convention's proceedings may easily become confused, and will be apt to conclude that, able as these men were, they simply contributed detached portions of the work; and thus the essential service of the Connecticut commonwealth may be altogether lost sight of. It is far better to fix the attention on one point of time, the most critical, perhaps, of the convention, and thus to see how the whole force which had been accumulating for one hundred and fifty years came in at the right time to turn the convention into the exact track which made permanent success possible, against the desires of the mass of the members. It should be remembered, also, that Connecticut delegates had strong grounds of appeal to the confidence of their fellows through the course
323
of the commonwealth in the public affairs of the previous half-dozen years. She was evidently disinterested, with no selfish schemes to work for and no selfish object to gain. Her population gave her respect in the eyes of the large States. Her democracy gave the small States confidence in her. Her position was one of unusual advantage ; but it would have been worth less but for the long years of preparation which had been begun in the three little towns on the banks of the Connecticut.
The two plans which came to the front in the opening hours of the convention - the " Virginia Plan," presented by Randolph, and the " Jersey Plan," presented by Patterson - are usually described as respectively the " National " and the " State Sovereignty " plans, Nothing could be more misleading than such a classification ; neither had anything of the spirit of nationality in it. The Virginia plan, giving control of both houses of congress to numbers, and control of the executive and judiciary to the two houses, was merely a scheme to secure the bulk of the spoils to the combination of a few large States; the Jersey plan, continuing the articles of confederation, with the power of coercing insubordinate States, was a counter-scheme to insure the safety of the small States against the large ones. The futility of the appellation " national " may be seen in the disgust with which the large-State men looked at their own plan when Connecticut had forced a really national
324
element into it. They no longer loved their off-spring.
The discussion of the two plans ran on through the month of June. Between the two parties, and belonging to neither, was Connecticut, and her unswerving position was first made public on the 11th of June. Here were two sets of States: one voting steadily for proportional representation in both of two houses, the other voting as steadily for a single house and absolute State equality in that. In the first class were usually Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; in the second, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. It is odd that great expectations of corning immigration kept the Southern States in the column of " large " States, while New York, without a thought of her coming western expansion, posed contentedly as a "small" State. The discussions of the successive items of the rival plans were conducted daily in committee of the whole house, and Connecticut seized the opportunity to declare her position, June 11. On motion of Sherman, slightly amended by King, it was voted that representation in the first branch of the national legislature should be proportional, not equal. This was a "large State" proposition, but Connecticut voted for it, placing herself in the large-State column, and making the vote seven in favor, three against, and one (Maryland) divided. Then Sherman, seconded by his
325
own colleague Ellsworth, as if to make the attitude of their State more pronounced, moved that each State have a vote in the second branch (the senate). This was a practical incorporation of the small-State proposition, and the large States voted it down, six to five. From this time on, the proposition of State equality in the upper, and proportionate representation in the lower house of congress was renewed again and again by the Connecticut delegates, was commonly cited as " the Connecticut proposal," and was regularly voted down by six to five until July 2. This steady vote of Connecticut with the small States made that a minority not to be disregarded; and, as passion rose higher until a public threat was made that the small States would confederate and find a foreign power which would take them by the hand for their protection, the cool, deliberate, and persistently offered compromise of Connecticut became harder to resist. On the 2d of July, the large-State delegates showed the first symptoms of breaking, by referring the Connecticut proposal to a committee of one from each State. We have no means of knowing the proceedings of the committee, but they must have been interesting. It is only known that Franklin's influence was cast for the Connecticut proposal; and that it was reported favorably, July 5. The report met a storm of opposition. Madison " only restrained himself from animadverting on the report from the re-
326
spect he bore to the members of the committee." Wilson angrily exclaimed that the committee "had exceeded their powers. On the 7th of July, North Carolina came over to the Connecticut proposal, and the report of the committee was at last adopted by a vote of six States for it, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina against it, and Massachusetts and Georgia divided. The great question was settled, and the Connecticut proposal went on the 26th of July to a committee of detail, which reported the constitution of the senate, much as it was finally adopted.
With this achievement, Connecticut's work in the convention was really finished. Her delegates constantly lent the great weight of their legal ability and strong common sense, reinforced by the general confidence in them, to the subsequent debates ; but their leadership, assumed unwillingly and only from a sense of duty, was dropped as soon as the occasion which called for it was over. The system of complete local liberty, with a limited but concentrated central power, under which the Connecticut river towns had filled out their boundaries and had struggled desperately but vainly for expansion abroad, had passed into a wider field, where it was to have a wider success. Governor Huntington was a hearty supporter of the proposed constitution; the assembly unanimously called a convention to consider it ; and that body met at Hartford, and ratified the consti-
327
tution, January 9, 1788, by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to forty. Ellswortli and Johnson received the deserved honor of being chosen as the State's first representatives in the senate of the United States; and the commonwealth of Connecticut became merged in the greater common-wealth of the United States, its own lineal suc-cessor
CHAPTER XVIII.
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
the development of Connecticut under the constitution has been a curious but natural consequence of her preceding history. All her institutions had tended to the development of an abounding individualism among her people. Thrown into any situation, a Connecticut party set at once about organizing civil government, and the individual began the promptest and most efficient preparations for taking care of himself. It was the institutions of the commonwealth, not any wonderful or elaborate system of common schools, that made the people of Connecticut what they were ; for the hopes of early years, for a thorough common-school system, have only been realized in recent times. Until the new era in popular education came in, the ordinary Connecticut citizen bad what would now be considered a very meagre education; but he had something much better in the thoroughly learned lesson of looking out for himself. Further, the constant application of this lesson, under the necessities of the people, had developed the class of what are often called " house-
329
hold industries " very considerably before the close of the last century. Farmers and their sons did not lose the evenings or rainy days: these were spent in making nails and other iron products, or anything which would sell. All this, continued through generations, took the place of the technical education which is now finding its way into our school systems. The consequence has been, during the last seventy years, the development of the modern Connecticut mechanic out of the Connecticut agriculturist of the last century, and the transformation of the commonwealth into a great industrial community.
The devastation of the Revolution had rather checked than stopped the internal development of the commonwealth. New towns were erected even during the heat of the war, and while so many of the old towns were wilder plunder and fire; and the attainment of peace was like the throwing down of a dam - the new towns numbering two in 1784, five in 1785, thirteen in 1786, and ten "between that year and the close of the century. It was estimated by the convention of 1787 that the State then had a population of 202,000, exceeded only by Virginia (600,000), Massachusetts (352,000), Pennsylvania (341,000), Maryland, (254,000), and New York (238,000). In the as-sigmnent of representatives in congress before the first census, ten were given to Virginia, eight each, to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, six to New