In Berkshire, indeed, the
offices of the revolutionary committees had been even more
multifarious and extensive than in the other counties, for owing to
the course of Berkshire in refusing to acknowledge the authority of
the state government from 1775 to 1780, and the consequent suppression
of courts during that period, even judicial functions had often
devolved upon the committees, and suits at law had been heard and
determined, and the verdicts enforced by them. To the town meeting
alone did the revolutionary committees hold themselves responsible.
The effect of the outbreak of the revolutionary war had been, indeed,
to reduce democracy to its simplest terms. The Continental Congress
had no power, and only pretended to recommend and advise. The state
government, by sundering its relations with the crown, lost its legal
title, and for some time after the war began, and as regards
Berkshire, until the county voted to accept the new state constitution
in 1780, its authority was not recognized. During that period it may
be properly said that, while the Continental Congress advised and the
state convention recommended, the town meeting was the only body of
actual legislative powers in the Commonwealth.
Pages:
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329