Senate Report
Calvin Coolidge
A few days after Governor Hartness’s inaugural address, Vice President-elect Calvin Coolidge addressed the Vermont General Assembly. A native of Plymouth Notch, Coolidge had made his mark in Massachusetts politics and had gained national recognition during the Boston police strike of 1919, when he made the famous pronouncement that, “There is no...
Women Gain the Right to Vote
Edna Beard, the first woman to serve in the Vermont General Assembly. Beard represented the Town of Orange, and was later elected to the Senate from Orange County. The General Assembly of 1915, which enacted the direct primary, was considered a “progressive” group. Progressive legislation included Vermont’s initial workmen’s compensat...
Abraham Lincoln and the Rise of the Republican Party
The time was ripe for the rise of a new party that would gather under one stand the disaffected members of the various established parties. The Republican party in Vermont was organized on July 13, 1854, when about 600 to 800 people gathered at the State House in Montpelier. A person who played an important role in the creation of the new pa...
Stephen Douglas
The Democratic party in Vermont lost any abolitionist support it still had in 1854, when Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas (a native of Brandon) proposed the Nebraska Act, which allowed new states in the Nebraska territory to decide for themselves whether they wanted to allow slavery. Douglas was described as a “steam engine in breeches” and...
The Election of 1840
by Sen. Bill Doyle The campaign of 1840 was one of the most spectacular ever waged in Vermont. More people voted (56,117) than in any previous Vermont election. Not until 1868 would the vote be exceeded (57,978). The 1840 Whig State Convention was held in Burlington on June 25. It was reported to be the largest ever held in New Englan...
Anti-Slavery Sentiment
CAPTION: Quaker woman protects Reverend Samuel J. May at an anti-slavery meeting in Montpelier in 1835. by Sen. Bill Doyle The Whigs occupied the statehouse for almost twenty years beginning with Silas Jenison in 1835, with the Democrats winning only one election, in 1853. In addition to the Whigs, Democrats and Anti-Masons, a...
Whigs and Anti-Masons
Whigs and Anti-Masons by Sen. Bill Doyle On the national level, the “Era of Good Feeling” came to a close with the election of 1824. Four men ran for president that year – John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and William Crawford – and none gained a majority. The election was thrown into the House of...
The Issue of Slavery
by Sen. Bill Doyle The Federalists had been torn apart and eventually destroyed by the politics of the War of 1812. The Jeffersonians capitalized on the British bullying of the young republic and used the war as a political tool against the Federalists. This strategy proved effective, and because the Federalists had few positio...
The War of 1812
Our Nation Drifted Toward War as a Result of Jefferson’s Embargo on Trade with Great Britain by Sen. Bill Doyle The Jeffersonian and Federalist parties pumped the war issue for all its worth, with the Jeffersonians using an offensive posture to cow the Federalists. Vermont Supreme Court Justice Royall Tyler – ju-rist, playwright, poet and n...
Why Battle of Bennington Matters
Why Battle of Bennington Matters By Sen. Bill Doyle On August 16th, Vermont will celebrate the Battle of Bennington. Edward Conant in his History of Vermont said the battle was “the first of a series that led to the surrender of Burgoyne’s army. It was the turning point of the Revolutionary War, as it led to the recognition of the ind...
