Belchertown in 1776: Two Documents from the Archives
by Allegra Giovine
In the summer of 1776, Belchertown produced two documents recording its support for American independence. Both documents grew out of directives from above earlier that year: the Tory Act of the Second Continental Congress, and an act of the Massachusetts General Court on May 1st that prescribed the “test oath” printed at Watertown. Together they show how the move toward independence played out in Belchertown—a call to meet, a collective vote, and individual signatures—in the weeks before the Declaration of Independence. Below are digital reproductions and transcriptions of both documents held at the Stone House Museum Archives.
Document 1: Record of a town meeting in June 1776 (1 page, front and back)
The first document is a record of the town meeting held on June 25, 1776, at which Belchertown residents voted unanimously to support independence, and to pledge their lives and fortunes to it should the Continental Congress declare the colonies independent. The public notice posted to call the meeting (issued June 21st) and the return of the meeting (on June 25th) are recorded on the front and back of a single sheet of paper:
Record of town meeting to support independence from Great Britain
Front: Public notice by Selectmen, June 21, 1776
Transcription: “This may serve to warn the Inhabitants of Belchertown to meet at the Meetinghouse in Sd. Town on Tuesday the 25th Day of June at 3 o’clock afternoon to Consider and Determine —- Whether Should the Hon’ble Congress for the Safety of the American Colonies Declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain they the Inhabitants will Solomly Ingage with their Lives & Estates to Support them in the Measure. This Meeting is warned in Obedience to a Resolve of the Gen’l Court. Belcherstown, June 21, 1776”
Signed by: Nathaniel Dwight, Zachariah Eddy, Daniel Smith, Benjamin Morgan (the Selectmen of Belchertown)
Record of town meeting to support independence from Great Britain
Back: Return of the meeting, attested by Town Clerk Nathaniel Dwight, June 25, 1776
Transcription: “At full meeting of the Inhabitants of Belcherstown Held at the Meetinghouse in Sd. Town on the 25th Day of June 1776 the Question was put by the Moderator whether should the Hon’ble Continental Congress for the Safety of the Colonies declare their Independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain whether they the Sd. Inhabitants will firmly Ingage with their Lives & Fortunes to support them in the Measure and it passed in the affirmative by a universal vote.”
Attested by: Nathaniel Dwight, Town Clerk
Document 2: The “Test Oath” signed by Belchertown residents (broadside, signed c. June 1776)
The second document is a printed loyalty oath, the colony’s “test,” signed individually by 24 townsmen, beginning with Town Clerk Nathaniel Dwight, in which each man promised to defend the United American Colonies by arms and to give no aid to British forces:
“Test Oath” signed by Belchertown citizens in support of the Massachusetts Bay Colonial government against Great Britain, 1776
Transcription: “WE the Subscribers, Do each of us severally for ourselves, profess, testify and declare, before GOD and the World, that we verily believe that the War, Resistance and Opposition in which the United American Colonies are now engaged, against the Fleets and Armies of Great-Britain, is on the Part of the said Colonies, just and necessary. And we do hereby severally promise, covenant and engage, to and with every Person of this Colony, who has or shall subscribe this Declaration, or another of the same Tenor and Words, that we will not, during the said War, directly or indirectly, in any Ways, aid, abet or assist, any of the Naval or Land Forces of the King of Great-Britain, or any employ’d by him; or supply them with any Kind of Provisions, Military or Naval Stores, or hold any Correspondence with, or communicate any Intelligence to any of the Officers, Soldiers or Mariners belonging to the said Army or Navy, or inlist, or procure any others to inlist into the Land or Sea-Service of Great-Britain, or take up or bear Arms against this or either of the United Colonies, or undertake to pilot any of the Vessels belonging to the said Navy, or in any other Way aid or assist them: But on the contrary, according to our best Power and Abilities, will defend by Arms, the United American Colonies, and every Part thereof, against every hostile Attempt of the Fleets and Armies in the Service of Great-Britain, or any of them, according to the Requirements and Directions of the Laws of this Colony that now are or may hereafter be provided, for the for the Regulation of the Militia thereof.”
Signed by: Nathaniel Dwight, Josiah Warner, Elijah Dwight, Eliakim Phelps, Pliny Dwight, Estes Howe, Joseph Smith, Israel Cowls. Silvanus Howe, Edward Smith, David Conkey, Jonathan Warner, Phinehas Lee, Joseph Smith Jr., Orlando Root, Reuben Barton, Asa Shumway, Samuel Jacobson(?), Thomas Thurston, James Cartney, Samuel Worthington, Aaron Phelps, Nathan Barton, Elisha Warner.
