By Julie McCay Turner
For several summers, the Friends of the Job Lane House have offered popular week-long history programs for kids, in collaboration with the Bedford Recreation Department. In prior years, the group has focused on archaeology and geology. This year’s program brought colonial history into focus with daily activities, culminating in Friday’s Town Meeting on the lawn in front of the barn at the Job Lane House.
As Bedford celebrates the 241st birthday of the United States — the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776 — The Bedford Citizen looks to the Town of Bedford’s clearest, ongoing celebration of democracy and independence, our Open Town Meeting where all residents are invited to participate directly in town government.
According to former Town Moderator (now current Deputy Moderator) Betsey Anderson, Bedford archives hold hand-written Town Meeting records from the first meeting held in 1729, the yearBedford was founded, through 1932, the year when the Town’s first typewriter was purchased.
Anderson met with the Colonial History participants on the lawn beside the barn at the Job Lane House last week,and led them through a mock Town Meeting.Each took a role – Moderator, Selectmen, Constable, Fence Viewer, Hog Reeve (or Reave), Tithingman, Sealer of Weights – in the meeting.
The Warrant, printed in Old English type, included just five questions. Because the meeting was ostensibly held before women were granted suffrage, the first article held that all citizens could vote at the meeting. There were also questions about regulating swine, whether Bedford should purchase goods from Great Britain, pay their 25 Minutemen a shilling per week for four hours of training exercises, and if there should be a central school or “quarter schools” held in different locations in Bedford.
Robust discussion preceded the vote on each of the questions.
On Question One, the boys spoke in favor of limiting the girls’ participation, and not allowing them to vote. “We came here to be free,” said one of the girls, advocating for everyone to vote. Another of the kids said, “It’s just right, everyone should vote,” and another chimed in, “It’s just sexist if they can’t.” In the end, Question One passed with 8 Yeas and 2 Nays
Whether swine should be allowed freedom to roam within colonial Bedford generated another spirited conversation. “They’re harmless,” and “It’s a free country, so the pigs should be free too,” was countered by, “They cause damage and destroy property” and “They shouldn’t feed at other family’s farms.” With a vote of 4 Yeas and 5 Nays, Question Two failed.
A unanimous vote supported Bedford refusing to purchase goods or merchandise from Great Britain. “We have what we need, and with seeds we can grow more.” Another participant noted, “With the way Great Britain is treating us, we shouldn’t support them.”
Paying Bedford’s Minutemen 25 shillings per week received a nearly unanimous vote of confidence. “They risk their lives for our safety,” said one participant, although the dissenting voter said, “This is their country too, and we’re wasting the Town’s money.” Question Four passed on a vote of 10 Yeas and 1 Nay.
The vote was split down the middle on the question of a single school, or one in each quadrant of the town. After Town Historian Sharon McDonald explained that with either plan, there would only be a single teacher to travel among the buildings, the arguments for convenience and shorter travel times lost favor.
Do you practice local democracy by attending Bedford’s Town Meetings?
For further reading about Bedford’s early Town Meetings
Deputy Moderator Betsey Anderson suggestsFreeholders and other Votable Inhabitants, Bedford’s Town Meetings During the American Revolution. Published by the Bedford Historical Society in 1976, the book included the actual minutes from early Town Meetings followed by commentary by former Town Historians Louise K. Brown and Ina Mansur along with others.
Handwritten copies of the minutes from all of the Town Meetings dating back to 1729 areavailable on microfilm, but they are hard to read. Freeholders and other Votable Inhabitants includes printed, easy to read extracts. There is a reference copy in the Library’s Bedford collection.
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