INTRODUCTION. THE first volume in manuscript of the records of the Council of Safety, and of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, has the following statement prefixed: The first 20 pages in this Book is left blank for the purpose of Entering the Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of Vermont from January 1776 [to] the 15th August 1777, during which time Colo Ira Allen was Secretary and has the Minutes of sd Council in his possession. March 18th, 1788. Certified by JOSEPH FAY, Sec'y. It is evident, therefore, that the official record is imperfect, in that it contains no entry for the period indicated in the above certificate. Following the record for Dec. 20, 1777, is the following: The end of the Proceedings of Council as recorded in Book No. 1, entered in this book this 224 day of March 1788. By order of the Governor and Council, JOSEPH FAY, Sec'y. From the number of pages in the copy, “Book No. 1” must have contained about one quire of paper, and it is most probable that it was unbound except by stitching. Books of that sort were probably used for several years. Other evidence is found that the early records of the Council of Safety, of the Conventions, of the Governor and Council, and of the General Assembly, had been loosely kept and were not in a fit state for preservation; and chief is the following record of a vote of the Governor and Council, June 18, 1778: Voted that Doctr. Jonas Fay, Colo. Moses Robinson and Captain Ira Allen, Esqrs. be and they are hereby appointed a committee to Inspect into the votes or doings of the several Conventions from [blank for the insertion of dates] Together with the doings of the Council of Safety, the present Council and house of Representatives, and put them in Regular order, and Record them in Books for that purpose. It will be seen that the official record of the Council of Safety is not a regular journal of daily proceedings, but simply a record of "votes or doings," in resolves, orders, letters, &c., the preservation of which was deemed desirable. It would be impossible to recast the record in the form of a journal; but the various proceedings recorded may be presented in chronological order, [they are not so in the official record,] and such acts or letters of the Council as are not recorded, and can be gathered from other sources, may be inserted in the proper places. This has been done, care being taken to note the various papers thus recovered, either by inserting them as notes, or in the appendix, and indicating the source from which they were obtained if inserted in the body of recorded proceedings. The doings of the Council previous to Aug. 15, 1777, of course precede the official record. POWERS OF THE COUNCIL. The Council of Safety was appointed July 8, 1777, as a temporary substitute for a state government in time of war. For that purpose its power was, like that of every other State Council, limited only by the exigencies of the times. It was also specifically vested, by the Convention which created it, with all the powers of that constitutional body which consisted of the "Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Council," though of course without the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.1 Its acts and orders for the time being had the force of laws; it was itself the executor of them, or it appointed executors; it exercised judicial powers; it served as a board of war; it punished public enemies, or reprieved them; it transacted business civil and military with other States and with Congress; it prepared business for the first General Assembly; it was THE STATE. The special powers conferred upon the Council of Safety by the Constitution of July 8, 1777, are as follows: The Council [of Safety] that shall act in the recess of this Convention, shall supply the place of a Council for the next General Assembly, until the new Council be declared chosen. The Council' shall meet annually, at the same time and place with the General Assembly; and every member of the Council shall be a Justice of the Peace for the whole State, by virtue of his office. SECTION XVIII. The Governor, and in his absence, the Lieutenant or Deputy Governor, with the Council-seven of whom shall be a quorum-shall have power to appoint and commissionate all officers, (except those who are appointed by the General Assembly,) agreeable to this frame of government, and the laws that may be made hereafter; and shall supply every The President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Council were its executive officers, and, so far as necessary, they performed the same functions as did the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State, after the organization of the State government under the constitution. 'Meaning the Supreme Executive Council created by the first clause of section seventeen of the Plan or Frame of Government. |
