Governor Israel Smith

Governor Israel Smith was buried at the West Street Cemetery. Smith served in the state legislature and as a delegate to the Vermont Constitutional Convention, which ratified the US Constitution. When Vermont became a state in 1791, he was elected for the first time to Congress. Smith was named Chief Judge of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1797. In 1803, he served in the US Senate, serving until he was elected Vermont's 4th governor in 1807. At his inaugural, he said, “Our duty as legislators is to provide wholesome laws for the promotion of virtue, happiness, and prosperity among the people over whom the laws are to operate. The end of all government is to teach each individual of the community the necessity of self-government.”

Rutland, Vermont · United States