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102. Vermont 1807 Treasurer
103. Vermont 1808 Council
104. Vermont 1808 Electoral College
105. Vermont 1808 Governor
106. Vermont 1808 House of Representatives, Randolph
107. Vermont 1808 House of Representatives, Rutland
108. Vermont 1808 Lieutenant Governor
109. Vermont 1808 Superior Court Judge
110. Vermont 1808 Treasurer
111. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Ballot 2
112. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Northeast District
113. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Northeast District, Ballot 2
114. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Northwest District
115. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Southeast District
116. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Southwest District
117. Vermont 1808 U.S. House of Representatives, Southwest District, Special
118. Vermont 1808 U.S. Senate
119. Vermont 1809 Council
120. Vermont 1809 Governor
121. Vermont 1809 Lieutenant Governor
122. Vermont 1810 Council
123. Vermont 1810 Governor
124. Vermont 1810 House of Representatives, Rutland
125. Vermont 1810 Judge of the Supreme Court
126. Vermont 1810 Judge of the Supreme Court
127. Vermont 1810 Judge of the Supreme Court
128. Vermont 1810 Lieutenant Governor
129. Vermont 1810 Treasurer
130. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
131. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
132. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
133. Vermont 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
134. Vermont 1811 Council
135. Vermont 1811 Governor
136. Vermont 1811 Lieutenant Governor
137. Vermont 1811 Speaker of the House
138. Vermont 1812 Council
139. Vermont 1812 Electoral College
140. Vermont 1812 Governor
141. Vermont 1812 House of Representatives, Bennington
142. Vermont 1812 Lieutenant Governor
143. Vermont 1812 Speaker of the House
144. Vermont 1812 Treasurer
145. Vermont 1812 U.S. House of Representatives
146. Vermont 1812 U.S. Senate
147. Vermont 1813 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
148. Vermont 1813 Council
149. Vermont 1813 Council of Censors
150. Vermont 1813 Governor
151. Vermont 1813 Governor, Ballot 2
152. Vermont 1813 House of Representatives, Colchester and Milton
153. Vermont 1813 Judge of the Supreme Court
154. Vermont 1813 Judge of the Supreme Court
155. Vermont 1813 Lieutenant Governor
156. Vermont 1813 Lieutenant Governor, Ballot 2
157. Vermont 1813 Lieutenant Governor, Ballot 3
158. Vermont 1813 Secretary of State
159. Vermont 1813 Speaker of the House
160. Vermont 1813 Speaker of the House Pro Tempore
161. Vermont 1813 Treasurer
162. Vermont 1814 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
163. Vermont 1814 Constitutional Convention, Windsor
164. Vermont 1814 Council
165. Vermont 1814 Governor
166. Vermont 1814 Governor, Ballot 2
167. Vermont 1814 Judge of the Supreme Court
168. Vermont 1814 Judge of the Supreme Court
169. Vermont 1814 Lieutenant Governor
170. Vermont 1814 Lieutenant Governor, Ballot 2
171. Vermont 1814 Secretary of State
172. Vermont 1814 Speaker of the House
173. Vermont 1814 U.S. House of Representatives
174. Vermont 1814 U.S. Senate
175. Vermont 1815 Council
176. Vermont 1815 Governor
177. Vermont 1815 Lieutenant Governor
178. Vermont 1815 Speaker of the House
179. Vermont 1815 Treasurer
180. Vermont 1816 Council
181. Vermont 1816 Governor
182. Vermont 1816 Judge of the Supreme Court
183. Vermont 1816 Lieutenant Governor
184. Vermont 1816 Speaker of the House
185. Vermont 1816 Treasurer
186. Vermont 1816 U.S. House of Representatives
187. Vermont 1817 Council
188. Vermont 1817 Governor
189. Vermont 1817 Lieutenant Governor
190. Vermont 1817 Treasurer
191. Vermont 1818 Council
192. Vermont 1818 Governor
193. Vermont 1818 Lieutenant Governor
194. Vermont 1818 Treasurer
195. Vermont 1818 U.S. House of Representatives
196. Vermont 1818 U.S. Senate
197. Vermont 1818 U.S. Senate
198. Vermont 1819 Council
199. Vermont 1819 Governor
200. Vermont 1819 Lieutenant Governor
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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
- Aichele, Gary.
"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.