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102. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Southeast District
103. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Southwest District
104. Vermont 1809 Council
105. Vermont 1809 Governor
106. Vermont 1809 Lieutenant Governor
107. Vermont 1810 Council
108. Vermont 1810 Governor
109. Vermont 1810 House of Representatives, Rutland
110. Vermont 1810 Lieutenant Governor
111. Vermont 1810 Treasurer
112. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
113. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
114. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
115. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
116. Vermont 1811 Council
117. Vermont 1811 Governor
118. Vermont 1811 Lieutenant Governor
119. Vermont 1812 Council
120. Vermont 1812 Governor
121. Vermont 1812 House of Representatives, Bennington
122. Vermont 1812 Lieutenant Governor
123. Vermont 1812 Treasurer
124. Vermont 1812 U.S. House of Representatives
125. Vermont 1813 Council
126. Vermont 1813 Council of Censors
127. Vermont 1813 Governor
128. Vermont 1813 House of Representatives, Colchester and Milton
129. Vermont 1813 Lieutenant Governor
130. Vermont 1813 Treasurer
131. Vermont 1814 Constitutional Convention, Windsor
132. Vermont 1814 Council
133. Vermont 1814 Governor
134. Vermont 1814 Lieutenant Governor
135. Vermont 1814 U.S. House of Representatives
136. Vermont 1815 Council
137. Vermont 1815 Governor
138. Vermont 1815 Lieutenant Governor
139. Vermont 1815 Treasurer
140. Vermont 1816 Council
141. Vermont 1816 Governor
142. Vermont 1816 Lieutenant Governor
143. Vermont 1816 Treasurer
144. Vermont 1816 U.S. House of Representatives
145. Vermont 1817 Council
146. Vermont 1817 Governor
147. Vermont 1817 Lieutenant Governor
148. Vermont 1817 Treasurer
149. Vermont 1818 Council
150. Vermont 1818 Governor
151. Vermont 1818 Lieutenant Governor
152. Vermont 1818 Treasurer
153. Vermont 1818 U.S. House of Representatives
154. Vermont 1819 Council
155. Vermont 1819 Governor
156. Vermont 1819 Lieutenant Governor
157. Vermont 1819 Treasurer
158. Vermont 1820 Council
159. Vermont 1820 Council of Censors
160. Vermont 1820 Governor
161. Vermont 1820 Lieutenant Governor
162. Vermont 1820 Treasurer
163. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
164. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
165. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 2
166. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
167. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3, Ballot 2
168. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
169. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
170. Vermont 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
171. Vermont 1821 Council
172. Vermont 1821 Governor
173. Vermont 1821 Lieutenant Governor
174. Vermont 1821 Treasurer
175. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 3
176. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 4
177. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 5
178. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 6
179. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 7
180. Vermont 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3, Ballot 3
181. Vermont 1822 Council
182. Vermont 1822 Governor
183. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph
184. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 2
185. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 3
186. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 4
187. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 5
188. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 6
189. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 7
190. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 8
191. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Randolph, Ballot 9
192. Vermont 1822 House of Representatives, Shelburne
193. Vermont 1822 Lieutenant Governor
194. Vermont 1822 Treasurer
195. Vermont 1822 U.S. House of Representatives
196. Vermont 1823 Council
197. Vermont 1823 Governor
198. Vermont 1823 House of Representatives, Shelburne
199. Vermont 1823 Lieutenant Governor
200. Vermont 1823 Treasurer
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Vermont became the fourteenth state in 1791, fourteen years after declaring itself independent from the claims of New York. Vermont adopted its first constitution in 1777. Patterning its constitution after the radical document created by Pennsylvania, Vermont went even further, granting universal male suffrage and prohibiting slavery. Wary of power, the framers denied the veto to the governor and forced him to share executive duties with a twelve-man council. A unicameral assembly held legislative power.
The governor, lieutenant governor, and treasurer were chosen annually in general elections; they needed a majority to gain office. If there was no majority, the winner was chosen by the Joint Assembly (the House, or General Assembly, and the Executive Council). Freemen of each town selected their representative to the General Assembly annually. Members of the Executive Council were elected statewide. United States congressmen were voted on by district, with the exception of the years 1812–1820, when they were chosen statewide. United States senators were chosen by the Joint Assembly. The Council of Censors were the caretakers of the state constitution. Thirteen men, each elected statewide every seven years to a one-year term, were charged with examining legislation for constitutionality and with proposing appropriate amendments. The early years of statehood saw the old political factions of the Arlington Junto (Thomas Chittenden, the Allen brothers, and their followers) and their opponents fade as the Federalist and Democratic-Republican divisions took center stage. Voter participation was initially sparse but inched upward. It took Jefferson's embargo to jolt Vermonters out of their political inertia. Fifty percent more voters cast ballots for governor in 1808 than in 1807. Madison's declaration of war precipitated a similar rise in 1812. The war years contributed the highest voter turnout of the period. The two parties were evenly matched. In the years of 1813 and 1814, their candidates for governor were separated by less than 300 votes, and the parties in the General Assembly were separated by a handful of votes. Vermont's congressmen were elected by the same narrow margins.
Despite such intense party competition, very few men held statewide office. Straying from its Pennsylvania model, Vermont allowed unlimited reelection to state office and multiple office holding. From 1787 to 1825, only eight men sat in the governor's chair. Only seven men served as lieutenant governor. Just two had been elected treasurer. From 1778 to 1825, only 114 different men sat on the Executive Council, out of a possible 588 seats. Because of this, and because of their ability to hold other offices, a small group were able to wield immense influence in the state.
After the end of the war, the Federalist Party slowly dissolved, and with it voter participation. The last Federalist candidate for governor ran in 1817. The two-party system being defunct, Republican statewide candidates were chosen by caucus in the legislature and ran virtually unopposed. With no issues to divide the populace, by 1825 the number of votes for governor had dwindled to its lowest level since 1800.
Bibliography
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"Making the Vermont Constitution, 1777–1824." In Michael Sherman, ed. A More Perfect Union: Vermont Becomes a State, 1777–1816. Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1991, pp. 2–37. - Bellesilses, Michael.
Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993. - Brynn, Edward.
"Patterns of Dissent: Vermont's Opposition to the War of 1812." Vermont History, 40 (Winter 1972): 10–27. - Carroll, Daniel P.
"Development of the Unicameral Legislature of Vermont." Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, III (1932): 12–31. - Crockett, Walter Hill.
Vermont, The Green Mountain State. 5 vols. New York: The Century History Company, 1921–1923. - Gilles, Paul S. and D. Gregory Sanford, eds.
Records of the Council of Censors of the State of Vermont. Montpelier: Secretary of State, 1991. - Graffagnino, J. Kevin.
"’I saw ruin all around’ and ‘A comical spot you may depend’: Orcamus C. Merrill, Rollin C. Mallory, and the Disputed Congressional Election of 1818." Vermont History, 49 (Summer 1981): 159–168. - Muller, H. Nicholas III.
"Early Vermont State Government: Oligarchy or Democracy? 1778–1815." In Reginald L. Cook, ed., Growth and Development of Government in Vermont. The Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences, Occasional Paper 5 (1970): 5–10. - ________.
"Smuggling into Canada: How the Champlain Valley Defied Jefferson's Embargo." Vermont History, 38 (Winter 1970): 5–21. - Potash, P. Jeffrey.
Vermont's Burned-Over District: Patterns of Community Development and Religious Activity, 1761–1850. Brooklyn: Carlson Publishing, 1991. - Roth, Randolph A.
The Democratic Dilemma: Religion, Reform and the Social Order in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont, 1791–1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. - Shaeffer, John N.
"A Comparison of the First Constitutions of Vermont and Pennsylvania." Vermont History, 43 (Winter 1975): 33–43. - Shalhope, Robert E.
Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys: The Emergence of Liberal Democracy in Vermont, 1760–1850. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). - Sherman, Michael, Gene Sessions, and P. Jeffrey Potash.
Freedom and Unity: A History of Vermont. Barre, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 2004. - Smith, Donald Allen.
"Green Mountain Insurgency: Transformation of New York's Forty-Year Land War." Vermont History, 64 (Fall 1996): 197–235. - Walton, Eliakim P., ed.
Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont. 8 vols. Montpelier: J. and J. M. Poland, 1873–1880). - Williamson, Chilton.
Vermont in Quandary: 1763–1825. Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1949.