History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1779.] REVOLUTION—CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 425
quired to recruit the armies and pay expenses, now increasing
at an enormous rate, was gradually fading out. Under
these adverse circumstances the glorious cause of Independence
was put to a severe test, the most exacting of any
during the struggle. Emboldened by the difficulties which
were accumulating about their opponents, the tories became
active and insistent everywhere. They obstructed as much
as they were able the action of the towns in meeting the
requirements of the government, and in many cases they
met with altogether too much success. This town under
the influence of Major Hawley, Caleb Strong, Robert
Breck, and other equally patriotic statesmen, had never
a strong tory element. Whatever the obstructionists may
have attempted, failed to impede the efforts of the patriots,
, and every obligation imposed hj the exigencies of the
times was fully met and discharged.
Various Matters. Major Hawley, in 1779, was excused from
serving on the board of selectmen, on account
of ill health. He had been a member of that body
for a quarter of a century, acting for sixteen years as its
chairman, and his declination was accepted with great
reluctance. The next year, however, he resumed his accustomed
position on the board, retaining it several years
longer. The town refused to pay Ezra Clark £30 which he
advanced to Jonathan Pomeroy to engage him to enlist in
the Continental army ; voted not to supply the family of
Joseph Phelps, a Continental soldier, with provisions ; refused
to take up more seats in the meeting-house to make
pews, but voted rather to repair the roof of the edifice, as
decided to
well as the floor and ground sills of the belfry ;
allow 48s. (S8) per pair for each pair of shoes that had been
provided for the army ; again appointed a committee
to prevent ''monopoly and forestalling"; and offered a
bounty of £30 for every wolf's head presented.
The people having rejected the constitution
The Constitutional
Convention. prepared by the Legislature, and at the
same time manifested by a decided majority
a desire that a convention for the purpose of forming a
new system of government should be assembled, the Legis-