CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. I. AN ACT providing for the printing of the Journals of the Council of Safety and of the Governor and Council.... Commission to Hon. E. P. WALTON... . . . II. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND EXPLANATIONS.... III. GENERAL CONVENTIONS in the New Hampshire Grants, for the independence, organization, and defense of the State of Vermont, July 1775 to December, 1777.. 1793 to 1870, notes on.. The Preamble, notes on...... Origin of the Constitution and comparison with the Frame 86-89 Copy of the first Constitution 90-103 APPENDIX A, No. 1, Poceedings of the Congress and Com- APPENDIX A,No. 2, Gloucester County Committee of Safety, 371–375 APPENDIX B, Some Miscellaneous Remarks, and Short Arguments, on a Small Pamphlet, dated in the Conven- tion of the Representatives of the State of New York, October 2, 1776, and sent from said Convention to the County of Cumberland, and some Reasons given, why the District of the New Hampshire Grants had best be a State. By IRA ALLEN. Hartford, [Conn.,] printed by Ebenezer Watson, near the Great Bridge, M.DCCLXXVII. 376-389 APPENDIX C, Manifesto prepared and published by order of the Westminster Convention, October 30, 1776...... 390-393 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PRINTING OF THE JOURNALS OF THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY AND OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL. SEC. 1. The governor of the state is hereby authorized to appoint some suitable person or persons, and to contract with him or them to edit and publish the journals of the council of safety and the early journals of the governor and council to such extent as the governor shall judge necessary to preserve the history of the state. SEC. 2. Such person or persons so appointed are also authorized to publish, in the form of an appendix to such records, any cotemporary public documents that may be necessary to explain such records. SEC. 3. Such records shall not be printed faster than one volume of convenient size each year. SEC. 4. There shall be printed one thousand copies of each volume of said publication, and two hundred copies be given to the Vermont Historical Society, two hundred copies to the state library, and six hundred shall be deposited with the state librarian for sale on such terms as the governor shall prescribe. SEC. 5. The expenses and accounts for editing and printing said records shall be approved by the governor before they shall be audited by the state auditor. Approved, November 15, A. D. 1872. COMMISSION. UNDER and by virtue of the authority of the Act of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, approved November 15th, A. D. 1872, I hereby appoint and empower the Hon. E. P. WALTON of Montpelier, in said State of Vermont, to prepare and publish two volumes of convenient size, (octavo,) and in good style, of the Journals of the Council of Safety and of the Governor and Council of this State, with such additional matter as may be deemed necessary and proper by notes and appendix; and I do hereby commend him to the favor of all National and State authorities, Historical Societies and Librarians, and gentlemen having materials useful for the proposed work, assuring them that the courtesy rendered to him as the agent of the State will be deemed a courtesy to the State. L. S. Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at Woodstock, this thirteenth day of January, A. D. 1873. By the Governor: J. D. DENISON, JULIUS CONVERSE. Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND EXPLANATIONS. To His Excellency, JULIUS CONVERSE: IN issuing the first volume of the records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of Vermont, justice to others requires me first to acknowledge your own zeal in aiding the work by giving me ample powers and prompt responses to my requests for advice; and next to acknowledge the valuable materials gleaned from the labors of others in the field of Vermont hlstory; to wit: to Hon. HILAND HALL, for suggestions and criticisms, and for the aid derived from his Early History of Vermont; to B. H. HALL, author of the History of Eastern Vermont; to Miss ABBY MARIA HEMENWAY, for very numerous items of personal history in the Vermont Historical Magazine; to the Histories of Vermont, &c., by IRA ALLEN, Dr. JOHN A. GRAHAM, Dr. SAMUEL WILLIAMS, and Rev. ZADOCK THOMPSON; to Dr. JEREMY BELKNAP'S History of New Hampshire; to Hon. WILLIAM SLADE'S State Papers; to the Documentary History of New York; to the two volumes of Collections of the VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY; to Hon. DANIEL CHIPMAN'S Memoir of Governor Thomas Chittenden, &c.; to Hon. Wм. M. PINGRY, of Perkinsville, for the Pingry Papers; to Hon. JAMES H. PHELPS, of West Townshend, for new and valuable additions to the record of the General Conventions, &c. ; to HENRY S. DANA, Esq., of Woodstock, for papers contributed, and for criticisms; to Hon. SAMUEL SWIFT, for the History of Addison County; and to the town histories of Bennington by Rev. ISAAC JENNINGS, Fair Haven by ANDREW N. ADAMS, Pittsford by Dr. A. M. CAVERLY, Salisbury by JOHN M. WEEKS, and Shoreham, by Rev. JOSIAH F. GOODHUE. Many other town histories, contained in Miss HEMENWAY'S Historical Magazine, have been used and are cited in the notes. Special acknowledgments are due to Hon. DAVID READ of Burlington, and Hon. LUCIUS E. CHITTENDEN of New York city, for their labors in securing the portrait of Gov. Thomas Chittenden; and to Hon. ROSWELL MARSH of Steubenville, Ohio, for the portrait of Lieut. Gov. Joseph Marsh. And finally it is due to the people of Vermont that I should declare, that no portraits of Chittenden and Marsh were ever painted in their lifetime, and that the engraved portraits in this volume have been constructed from descriptions of the person, dress, and character of these |