Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/657

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
599
*

HARTFORD. 599 HARTFORD CONVENTION. ting track; also Keney, Elizabeth, South, River- side, Pope, and other parks. In 18S7 Hartford was made a port of entry. It has considerable eonuucrcial iniporlauce, but is most widely known as the centre of vast in- surance interests and for its manufacturing con- cerns. Tile principal manufactures are bicycles, firearms. Catling guns, woven wire, mattresses, screws, nails, pins, envelopes, steam boilers and engines, machiitery, car -wheels, hosiery, knit goods, furniture, carriages, and electric vehicles. The city also controls an extensive trade in Con- necticut tobacco. The government, as provided by the charter of 1850, revised in 18S0, is vested in a mayor, elected biennially, a bicameral coun- cil, and subordinate administrative officials, as follows: Fire, street, health, charity, police, and water commissioners, building inspector, and city attorney, appointed bj- the executive with the consent of the board of aldermen, and citj- clerk, collector, auditor, treasurer, marshal, and school board, chosen by popular election. The park commissioners make appointments to fill va- cancies on their own board. The annual income and expenditures of the city amount to about .«2.390,000 and .$2,215,000 respeetivel.y, the prin- cipal items of expense being $55,000 for street- lighting. $95,000 for charitable institutions, $100,000 for tlie fire department. $125,000 for the police department, and $315,000 for schools. The city owns its water-works, which are operated at a vearlv cost of $55,000. Population, in 1800. 5347: in 1850, 17,966: in 1870, 37,180:' in 1880, 42,015: in 1890, 53,230; in 1900. 79,850, includ- ing 23,800 persons of foreign birth, and 1900 of negro descent. In 1633 the Dutch built on what is still known as Dutch Point a fort which they called the 'House of Hope.' A number of Massachusetts colonists, mostly from Newtowni (Cambridge), left their homes in 1635 and 1636, partly be- cause of a dispute over the civil rights of non- church members, and, led by their pastors, Thomas Hooker (q.v. ) and Samuel Stone, settled at Hartford. The name Newtow-n was at first adopted, but in 1637 it was discarded for Hart- ford — Hertford. England, being the birthplace of Stone. On .January 14, 1639, the freemen of Windsor. Hartford, and Wethersfield met at Hartford and, influenced by Hooker, adopted the famous 'Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,' the first written constitution adopted by a people that ever organized a government. For this reason Hartford is frequently called the 'birth- place of American democracy.' On September 19, 1650, Peter StuvTesant and commissioners from the 'United Colonies' signed a treaty a,t Hartford by which Iioundary disputes were ad- justed, and the Dutch confirmed in possession of their fort. In 1654. however, this fort was seized, and the Dutch expelled from Connecticut. In 1687 Governor Andros came to Hartford and made an attempt to seize the Connecticut char- ter. (See Charter Oak.) Washington and Rochambeau met here in 1780 to plan the York- tovn campaign, and in 1814-15 the Hartford Convention (q.v.) was in session here. Until 1701 Hartford was the capital of Connecticut; from 1701 to 1873 it shared that honor with Kew Haven : and since 1875 it has been sole capi- tal. Noah Webster. Henry Barnard. .Tohn Fiske. Richard Burton, and Frederick Law Olmsted were born in Hartford, and among the notable w Titers who have made it their home are Harriet Beecher Stowe, Whittier, Lydia Huntley Sigour- ney, John Trumbull, Joel Barlow, Horace Bush- nell, Charles Dudley Warner, and Samuel L. Clemens. Consult: Trumbull, Tkc Memorial History of Hartford County (Boston, 1880) ; and sketches in Powell, Historic Toiviis of the Xcio Englaml Utatcn (New York, 1898), and Connecti- cut lldf/azine, vol. v. (Hartford, 1899). HARTFORD, The. The fiagship in which Ad- miral Farragut made his attack on New Orleans, in April. 1802. She was also his fl.agship in the attack on Mobile. HARTFORD CITY. A city and the county- seat of Blackford Comity, Ind., 72 miles north- east of Indianapolis; on the Lake Erie and West- ern and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis railroads (Map: Indiana, D 2). It is supplied with natural gas, and oil interests are being developed ; there are manufactures of paper and pulp, strawboard, glass, iron, flour, hubs and spokes, etc. The water-works are owned by the municipality. Population, in 1890, 2287; in 1900, 5912.' HARTFORD CONVENTION. In American history, a political assembly representing the Fed- eralists of New England States, which met at Hartford, Conn., December 15, 1814, and ad- journed sine die, January S, 1815. Its mem- bers numbered twenty-six, twelve coming from Massachusetts, seven from Connecticut, four from Rhode Island (all appointed by the Leg- islatures of their respective States), two from counties in New Hampshire, and one from Windham County, Vt. The convention grew out of the opposition of the Federalists in New England to the War of 1812, and its mem- bers all belonged to that party. George Cabot, of Massachusetts, was elected president, and Theodore Dwight, of Connecticut, secretary. The members were as intelligent and as high-minded men as could have been found in the country, but Federalism was exceedingly unpopular, and the fact that the sessions vvere held with closed doors, and that the members were pledged to secrecy, gave rise to a report that the secession of the New England States was contemplated. The ex- treme stand thus attributed to the leading Fed- eralists (q.v.), as well as their pronounced opposi- tion to the war, hastened the movement which resulted in the complete overthrow of the Federal- ist Party. The object of the convention was to devise means not only of security and defense against foreign nations, but also for safegiarding tjie privileges of the separate States against the alleged encroachments of the Federal Govern- ment ; and no treasonable intention could be proved. The act of Massachusetts calling the convention stated that the steps taken by the consulting body were to be "not repugnant to their obligations as members of the Union;" and the resolutions of Connecticut and Rliode Island were to the same effect. The main propositions were stated in the form of amendments to the Federal Constitution, which the convention rec- ommended to the several States. The suggested changes were that direct taxes and representa- tives be apportioned among the States according to the number of free persons therein; that no new State should be admitted to the Union except upon a two-thirds vote in each House of Con-