1844 – Minutes of a Vermont Whig Convention supporting Henry Clay over James Polk and asserting opposition to increased federal expenditures and the annexation of Texas and support for restricting presidential vetoes and patronage, while encouraging regulation of currency, distribution of public lands, and a protective tariff

Royalton, Vermont. Unbound. Very good. A four-page set of minutes taken at the Whig convention held for the “2nd District [that] met at Royalton, Vermont on the 13th day of August inst. . ..”

They were forwarded to the convention president, Norman Williams, by its secretary, D. F. Weymouth “Per Hon. Julius Converse” as shown on an included one-page cover letter. In nice shape.

The minutes, which were intended for publication in The Vermont Mercury, include a list of all convention officers and read in part:

“Resolved, That the cardinal measures of the Democratic Whigs commend themselves to all classes of the people, (truncated) especially the thinking and industrious: because they are not only adapted to give us present relief from the disastrous effects of the reckless policies of the justly cast off race of experimenting politicians; but also to extend permanence and reliability to all our institutions and advance the interests of all portions of the country. . ..

“Resolved, That we are opposed to the subtreasury, and all of its kindred measures, which propose a cruel reduction in the price of labor, and a crippling curtailment of the enterprise of the nation: and we are in favor of some well guarded Regulation of the Currency which shall divorce – not the People from the government, but the purse from the sword. . ..

“Resolved, That we need no greater proof that a Protective tariff is a measure called for by the soundest policy, than the undisputable fact of the prosperity of our Country under the operations of every protective tariff, which has existed. . .."

“Resolved, That the brazen-faced attempt of a portion of our political opponents to pass of James K. Polk and his “peculiar” friends as equally, & even more favourable to a protective tariff than Henry Clay [is] vilely concerted fraud, a net to fish for votes [that shows] contempt for the intelligence of the people. . ..

“Resolved, That the plain issue is tendered to all . . . whether they will contribute to the success of a party to be that maintain[s] Slavery to be “essential to true liberty” [or] prevent the extension and final triumph of slavery [through opposition of] the immediate annexation of a large number of foreign slave states. . ..

“Resolved, That we have beheld the malignant attacks of the impotent, and abandoned . . . their arguments and the riches of their scurvability and [express] our confidence in Henry Clay. . ..

“Resolved, That [we oppose] the dictation of a haughty and domineering minority – that branch of the present party which now boldly proclaims, “Texas or Disunion” . . . a spirit as barren of liberty as it is pregnant of slavery – a voluntary submission to tyrants, and a base exhibition to the chains that bind them. . ..” . An exceptional document. One of the most concisely forceful annunciations of the Whigs opposition to the positions of the Democrats that we have handled. . (Inventory #: 010421)