HOME       About Us

1803 Pamphlet Defending Standing Order by David Daggett (Simon Hold-Fast)
"Facts are Stubborn Things or Nine Plain Questions"

    This pamphlet was written by David Daggett who after he wrote the pamphlet was a United States Senator, Mayor of New Haven, founder of Yale Law School and Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. In this pamphlet Daggett uses the appropriate pseudonym "Simon Holdfast" to argue that the government of Connecticut, ruled by an oligarchy of church and state but with some strong democratic elements (e.g., yearly elections), was a wonderful system of government that should be continued indefinitely.  David Daggett was a smart member of the Federalist establishment and his arguments won the day in Connecticut elections until 1816-1818 when the revolution against the Standing Order of Federalists and Congregational Church was brought down by Connecticut's voters.

Below is the introductory paragraph of the argument in the pamphlet and the last page.

    This nice piece of Connecticut history is mentioned in Richard Purcell's influential book, "Connecticut in Transition 1775-1818" and gives the best arguments for Connecticut's early form of government.

Price: $75

Pay securely with credit card through PayPal by clicking the button below