USA > New Jersey > New Jersey as a colony and as a state; one of the original thirteen > Part 6
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Buch Stockton
It was in Trenton upon the 3d of October that a further session of the Provincial Congress was
Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of In- dependence ; son of John ; great-grandson of Richard, who came from England to Long Island before 1670 and about 1680 purchased 6,400 acres at Princeton, N. J. ; b. near Princeton, Oct. 1, 1730 ; grad. at Prince- ton 1748; admitted to the bar 1754; member of Coun- cil 1768 ; justice of the Supreme Court 1774 ; elected to Congress 1776 ; prisoner of war ; d. in Princeton, Feb. 28, 1781.
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held. Six of the counties availed themselves of the power given to choose five delegates each, such action being taken by Essex, Morris, Sussex, Hun- terdon, Burlington, and Gloucester. Salem re- turned four, Somerset and Monmouth three, Ber- gen, Middlesex, and Cumberland two, and Cape May one-in all forty-seven. Of the Convention Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon, was elected presi- dent; Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset, vice-presi- dent; and John Mehelm, of Hunterdon, secretary.
The organization of the militia, particularly the adjustment of rank, occupied much of the time of the Congress, although it is noticeable that the preparations for war, which were now conducted with activity, aroused not only a military but a political spirit. From Sussex came two numer- ously signed petitions praying that all who paid taxes might be permitted to vote for congressional deputies-a bold step when suffrage was limited by property qualifications. Sussex also requested that all law suits for the recovery of debts, com- menced or to be commenced, might be suspended upon certain conditions until the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies be settled. To the general Sussex petitions for the extension of the suffrage came similar requests from the Town- ships of Kingwood and Alexandria in the County of Hunterdon and from the Townships of Green- wich and Mansfield-Woodhouse in Sussex.
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Until the Provincial Congress should again meet in New Brunswick the colony of New Jer- sey was without de facto government except for a committee of safety appointed by the Congress from among its members. To the existence of this committee of safety, which met in Princeton upon January 9, 1776, is due the establishment of mili- tary posts and the erection of beacons, a plan recommended to New Jersey by the Continental Congress and the Congress of New York. In pur- suance of the scheme a man and horse were di- rected to be kept in constant readiness by the com- mittees of Newark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, whose duties were the carrying of expresses to the Continental Congress and notifying neighboring town committees " in case of invasion or alarm."
The presence of the British in Staten Island and the Tory sentiment prevailing in Perth Amboy caused the Provincial Congress which met in New Brunswick early in February to order the removal of the treasury of the eastern division to the house of Peter Schenck, in Somerset, while the books of the secretary of the province were forwarded to Burlington. The illicit lumber trade with the West Indies caused the passage of stringent rules regulating the granting of licenses to vessel mas- ters, tending to effectually prohibit the practice.
During the month of February the " Asia " and
ONY AND AS A STATE
111
" Phoenix," British men-of-war, lay in New York Bay and off Sandy Hook, capturing provision boats coming from New Jersey. This caused the Provincial Congress during the month of Febru- ary to pass a resolution prohibiting the shipment of provisions to New York or other ports, and di- recting all county and township committees in the eastern division to be vigilant and active in carry- ing the resolution into effect.
Upon the 14th of February, 1776, William Liv- ingston, John de Hart, Richard Smith, John Cooper, and Jonathan Dickinson, sergeant, were elected to the position of delegates to the Conti- nental Congress for the space of one year, or until their successors be chosen.
The attitude of the members of the Society of Friends, those " of tender consciences," proved a further source of political perplexity. In the atti- tude of the Congress there was a touch of concili- ation in an evident desire not to alienate an influ- ential class of citizens from a movement whose outcome was most uncertain. Yet any hope of success lay in uniformity of action and sameness of purpose, and to this end an ordinance was passed during this session of the Congress which sought to reconcile the matters in dispute. The intent of the ordinance was to permit all persons " whose religious principles would not suffer them
THE LIBERTY BELL.
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to bear arms " to affix their signatures to the fol- lowing proviso:
" I agree to the above Association, as far as the same is consistent with my religious principles." In case of refusal the offender was directed to be disarmed and to give security for future peaceable behavior. Appeals lay from the township com- mittee to the county committee and thence to the Provincial Congress. Those who refused to at- tend general musters and reviews, being re- strained on account of adherence to a particular religious society, were directed to pay the sum of ten shillings proclamation money, " it being high- ly equitable and just that at this time of public danger all such inhabitants of this Colony should bear an equal proportion of the public expense, as an equivalent for an exemption from bearing arms."
Turning to the subject of taxation, an ordinance was passed, during the February-March session of the Congress, which presents clearly the classes of citizens and personal and real property in New Jersey upon which the burden of taxation fell. In the enumeration under the ordinance there were merchants and storekeepers, single men who worked for hire, both those who kept " a horse, mare, or gelding " and those who did not. Ferries, coasting sloops, schooners, shallops, flats, passage boats, wood boats and pettiaugers, riding chairs
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or kittereens, horse chaises or curricles, four- wheel chaises or phaetons, coaches or chariots, wagons, cattle, horses, mares, and geldings above the age of two years were to be included in the assessment. Added to this were " all profitable tracts of land " and " all unimproved tracts of land " held by deed, patent, or survey, mortgages, bonds, bills, and notes at interest. Male and fe- male hawkers and peddlers, either on foot or with horses and carriages, " exposing goods for sale (except such goods as are manufactured in the united colonies)," were required to obtain a certifi- cate in each county where such goods were offered for sale.
John Hart
The Provincial Congress which met in Burling- ton upon the 10th of June, 1776, elected for its president Samuel Tucker, of Burlington, and for its secretary William Paterson, of Somerset. In this Provincial Congress the government of the colony of New Jersey was virtually lodged. Dur- ing these hours of storm and stress a State was born, while in the nearby city of Philadelphia a nation came into existence. A change, vast, in- comprehensible, overwhelming, shook human so- ciety, paving the way for the French Revolution, and for that later freedom of thought which has given the world new art, music, literature, applied science, economics, legislation, and theology.
Aside from the organization of the militia every [Vol. 2]
John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence ; son of Edward ; b. in Hopewell Township, N. J., 1708 ; d. there 1780 ; farmer ; member Provincial Legislature for several years; member of Congress 1774-76 ; chairman of the New Jersey council of safety 1777-78 ; popularly known as " Honest John Hart."
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Mich Shocklow Ins Wickenpode Tra! Hopkinson
John Hart Abra Clark
effort of the Congress was directed toward prepa- rations for the inevitable conflict. As early as October, 1775, a bounty of one shilling per pound had been offered by the colony for merchantable saltpetre, while in 1776 a bounty of sixpence per bushel was offered for merchantable salt- two articles of prime necessity for use in the army. Arrangements were at once made to remove grain and meal from places liable to be attacked, while a diligent search was prosecuted for any lead mines that might exist in the colony. But as lead mines remained undiscovered, the Con-' gress, upon July 16th, recommended the township committees to collect all the "leaden weights from windows and clocks and all leaden weights of shops, stores, and mills," the collections thus made to be forwarded to the commissioners ap- pointed for purchasing arms.
The 22d of June, 1776, was made memorable in the history of New Jersey by the election of dele- gates to Congress. Those chosen were Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, and John Witherspoon. To the Dec- NATURES OF THE NEW JERSEYlaration of Independence their names are signed, CLEGATES TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. acting in accordance with their instructions from the New Jersey Congress of that day, when as the Congress said: "We empower you to join with them [the delegates of the other colonies] in de- claring the United Colonies independent of Great
FRANCIS HOPKINSON
Born Philadelphia, Sept. 21, 1737; grad. Princeton College. 1763; admitted to bar 1765; collector of customs at New Castle, Del., 1772; resided at Bordentown, N. J. Signer of the Declaration of Independ- ence; member of Congress 1776-77; treas- urer Continental loan office; judge of ad- miralty for Pennsylvania 1779-89; judge U. S. District Court 1790-91./
. Died Philadelphia, May 9, 1791.
Ero a .. Hopkinser
.
11.4 NEW JERSEY AS A COL
efort of warmffected toward prepa-
and of bettifine .com TotAAN.Garly as
De to solini wife uool Inguegittoof the army. mage Jo -remove
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at avarch was prosecuted for any
De supl migle erist in the colony. But Fax mines remained undiscovered, the Con- was upon July 16th, mommended the to vnship nonmatices to collect all the sienta weights from windows and plocks and all leaden weights of shops, stores, and mills," the collections thus made to be forwarded to the commissioners ap- painted for purchasing arms
The 2nd of June, 1776, was made memorable in Hoe None of New Jersey by the election of dele- Those : hosen were Richard h.m Ghwyk John Nach Francis . 199 Witherspoon, fo toe Dec- Hor dhel: jaunes are signed, with their instructions from of that jay, Then as the .. w -WA empower you to join with te ffi erber counter] in de- Garage Hrabst Bowsare independent of Great
.
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(Engraved by J. B. Longacre from a painting by Pine.)
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Britain, entering into a confederacy for union and common defense, making treaties with foreign na- tions for commerce and assistance, and to take such other measures as to them and you may ap- pear necessary for these great ends, promising to support them with the whole force of this Prov- ince; always observing that, whatever plan of con- federacy you enter into, the regulating the inter- nal police of this Province is to be reserved to the Colony Legislature."
In instructing its delegates in the Continental Congress the Provincial Congress followed a prec- edent already well established in the colony. Cumberland County's committee, as early as Sep- tember 30, 1775, represented "to the Honorable the delegates of the thirteen United Colonies in General Congress Assembled " that Cumberland had ever shown itself forward in the cause of liberty, being the first in that part of the province to take up arms in support of the common cause. Though diligently engaged in learning the mili- tary art, its inhabitants were ill-provided with ammunition, particularly powder, a " circum- stance truly alarming " when it is considered that the residents of the county would be " open, de- fenceless, and exposed to the depredations of Ministerial robbers, should they think proper to. enter our Bay.". Fearing that General Gage would " try every method and ransack every place
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* to furnish his Troops with fresh pro- visions," the committee urged the New Jersey delegates to secure a proper supply of ammuni- tion, none of it to be used " but in support of the right and privileges of our countrymen."
From time to time other counties and commit- tees of correspondence also instructed their dele- gates in the Provincial Congress, Essex County, upon one occasion, in a plea that the burden of the quota bill be equalized throughout the prov- ince, presenting the axiom later more philosophi- cally, but no less clearly, expressed by Alexander Hamilton that money is " the anima that enlivens, that braces, that gives firmness to the nerves of our Constitution."
To the common jails of the county capitals, as well as to the Trenton jail, were committed dis- affected Tories, not only those who openly bore arms, but those who secretly aided and abetted the King's troops or the officers of the King's ministry. During the months of June and July, 1776, the Provincial Congress acted with dispatch, arrests being made not only by the local com- mittees, but by commissioned militia officers. To further this plan the Provincial Congress, upon July third, appointed a committee consisting of Stephen Crane, Lewis Ogden, and Caleb Camp, of Essex County, to cooperate with the secret com- mittee of the Provincial Congress of New York
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"to issue warrants and apprehend and confine such person or persons as they may think neces- sary for the publick good." Upon the following day, "to prevent the failure of justice," all the officers of the " late government " were directed to proceed in the execution of their offices " under the authority of the people " until the " new gov- ernment be settled and perfected."
There is a bit of intense human interest in the case of Dr. John Lawrence, of Monmouth County, who, having been arrested, paroled, and kept un- der surveillance as a disaffected person, was the subject of a petition from sundry women of Perth Amboy which reached Congress upon July 17th. Dr. Lawrence had practiced his profession among the most conspicuous Tory families, and deprived of his services, with no other doctor of medicine in the town, "fatal and melancholy conse- quences " were apprehended, " as his attendance is hourly necessary to several patients now much indisposed, who will be helpless if he be re- moved." Congress was obdurate and directed its president to send a letter to Mrs. William Frank- lin, one of the subscribers. In reply it was said that could any application have procured greater indulgence for Dr. Lawrence, that of the women of Perth Amboy could not have failed of success. However, motives of commiseration to individ- uals must give place to public safety, for which
TABLE UPON WHICH THE DECLARATION OF INDE- PENDENCE WAS SIGNED, AND CHAIRS OF THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
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reason the Congress must abide by the steps which had been taken.
It was upon the 17th of July that the delegates to the Provincial Congress declared "That we will support the freedom and independence of the States with our lives and fortunes and with the whole force of New Jersey," the following day adopting in place of the name "The Provincial Congress of New Jersey "-the style and title " The Convention of the State of New Jersey."
The need for military stores became more and more pressing. In August, upon the application of Dr. Samuel Bard, the Congress resolved to loan him five hundred pounds, for two years, to assist and encourage the erection of a salt works, while Thomas Hutton, who had been especially ap- pointed, made a report that in search for lead mines he had "found symptoms thereof " about four miles from Newton, Sussex County, that he had discovered black lead at Port Chuck near the " drowned lands " of that county, as well as sul- phur in the Township of Mendham, Morris County, not to mention a supply of flint, " exceeding prom- ising," " on a hill near Colonel Martin's and the brook called Beaver Run, in Sussex."
Of the ordinances passed by the Provincial Con- gress that "for punishing treason and counter- feiting," adopted July 18, 1776, is of especial in- terest. Under its provisions high treason, pun-
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ishable by death, consisted in levying war against the State, within the same, adhering to the King of Great Britain or others, the enemies of this State within the same, or to the enemies of the United States, or " giving to them aid or comfort." The punishment of death was also inflicted upon those who counterfeited, altered, or uttered the bills of credit of the Continental Congress, the New Jersey Provincial Congress, or the assem- blies, conventions, or congresses of any of the United States, but in all cases the offender should be charged, accused, and condemned or acquitted by verdict of a jury.
Upon the 21st day of August, 1776, the Provincial Congress of New Jersey " adjourned without day." Upon the 27th of the same month, in Princeton, with the meeting of the House of Assembly and Council proceeding to the election of a governor, and various county and State offi- cials, the new government of the State was per- fected. From the first meeting of the Congress upon the 23d of May, 1775, until its dissolution, a period of fifteen months, this remarkable assem- blage of remarkable men had passed through a complete metamorphosis. Designed as an ad- visory board, it burst through its limitations, be- came declaratory, then directory, and finally ten- tatively assumed all governmental functions. For a few brief months during 1776 it was the Legis-
ARMS OF NEW JERSEY.
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lature, the courts, and the executive of the State; its power was supreme, its ordinances the final ex- pression of the will of the people. In its hands were life and death; in its meetings at New Bruns- wick, Trenton, and Burlington it wove the fabric of the State constitution, gave vigor to the first breathings of a national life, and shaped more than any other representative body of Jerseymen, the destinies of the State.
Under the provisional government the work of the committee of safety had been conducted with- out expressly conferred powers. But so success- fully had the plan operated that the Legislature, upon March 15, 1777, reorganized the committee as a "Council of Safety," charging it with not only ample but extraordinary executive functions. The new council, which was continued from time to time until the 8th of October, 1778, was com- posed of twelve members, with Governor Living- ston as president. Superficially it would appear that the Legislature robbed itself to grant to the council of safety a jurisdiction of marvelous com- prehensiveness. As a court the council acted as a board of justices in criminal matters, appre- hended disaffected persons and committed them to jail without bail; caused offenders to be tried in any county of the State; committed disaffected persons to jail until citizens kidnapped by the enemy were released; and committed to jail those
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who refused to take the oaths of abjuration and allegiance, orto send these disaffected persons over to the enemy's lines. In its executive capacity the council could call out the militia to put its orders into effect or to act as a guard for the duly constituted officers of the State, and could send the families of fugitive Tories into the lines of the enemy. As a military board it was empowered to fill vacant military offices, to negotiate the ex- change of prisoners, to erect beacons, disarm the disaffected, relieve wounded soldiers, and provide food for prisoners. Among its legislative func- tions the council could declare any room or house a legal jail.
During its almost daily sessions the council first met at Haddonfield upon the 18th of March, 1777, and in Burlington, Princeton, Pittstown, Trenton, and Ringoes during the same year. Dur- ing 1778 the council met at Morristown, Trenton, Princeton, Hillsborough, and Kingston.
Not only the council of safety but the Legisla- ture gave particular attention to the subject of confiscation of Tory estates. As early as August 2, 1776, the Provincial Congress recommended the county committees to make inventories and ap- praisements of the realty and personalty of those absconding from their homes and joining the enemy. Such estates, the perishable articles be- ing sold, were to be kept safe, or to be left with
County of ss. The Bearer hereof, aged about years, of a- complexion, rather of stature, with - eyes,
a traveller from - to -, has permission to pass to said
behaving h-self civilly. Dated at - the - - day of 1777.
FORM OF PASSPORT ISSUED TO TRAVELLERS BY ORDER OF THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
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representatives of the fugitives if security were given. The first estates thus inventoried of which record has been preserved were those of Anthony Woodward and William Guisebertson, of Mon- mouth County.
Of a number of acts bearing upon the subject those of the most importance were passed upon June 5, 1777, and subsequent enabling legislation upon April 18 and December 11, 1778. Under the statute of 1777 all offenders were allowed until August 1 of that year to return to their allegiance, taking the necessary oaths before judicial officers. Upon a certificate filed with the county clerk a free pardon was granted together with restoration of the repentant citizen's estate. In each county after August 1st commissioners, under a fee sys- tem, were permitted to sell the real and personal property of the refugee, giving necessary assur- ances in law for title, a method pursued through- out the Revolution.
The powers granted the council of safety were never abused-indeed, the existence of the State apparently depended upon some form of govern- ment by a highly centralized commission, whose movements were unrestrained, whose personnel was irreproachable, whose authority could be well nigh limitless. Such a commission New Jersey had in her council of safety-a body no less re- markable for its exalted and unwavering patriot-
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ism than for its discriminative use of power, which under less honest leadership than that of William Livingston could have turned it into an agency whose autocracy would have been unbear- able.
THE OLD JERSEY PRISON SHIP.
( One of terrible old hulks in which American prison- ers were confined by the British.)
CHAPTER VII THE TIMES THAT TRIED MEN'S SOULS
G ENERAL WASHINGTON remained in Cambridge, Boston, and their vicinage from July 3, 1775, until the early part of April, 1776. The evacuation of Boston had turned the eyes of the colonists upon New York. Toward this portion of the colonies Lord Howe was ev- idently hastening with the possible view of obtain- ing control of the Hudson, cooperating with the King's troops, marching southward from Canada, and thus separating New England from Phila- delphia and the South.
Although uncertain as to the British plan of campaign, Washington, with all possible speed, pushed forward to New York, where he arrived upon the 13th of April. With him were ten thousand men, fit for duty, to defend military works scattered around Manhattan Island for the distance of twenty miles. Upon Brooklyn Heights, at Kingsbridge, at Red Hook, and in New Jersey at Paulus Hook American redoubts and batteries were either in course of erection or be- ing hurried to completion, while abandoned ship- ping had been sunk between the Battery in New York City and Governor's Island as well as in the North River.
In the preparation for defense Washington took a direct personal interest. In pursuance of a resolution of Congress the commander-in-chief, to
VIEW OF KINGSBRIDGE.
4
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advise and consult with that body, departed for Philadelphia upon the 21st of May. On his journey across New Jersey he stopped at Perth Amboy, where, as he wrote to General Schuyler, his object was "to view the ground and such places on Staten Island contiguous to it as may be proper for works of defence." He returned to New York June 5th, leaving Mrs. Washington in Philadelphia, where she had been inoculated for the smallpox. Upon the 26th he reconnoitered both banks of the Hudson as far as Tarrytown for the purpose of arranging defenses.
While the Declaration of Independence was at the point of passage the fleet of Admiral Howe arrived at Sandy Hook with the King's veterans and eight thousand Hessians, and while the Declaration was being read to the American army upon the 12th of July, the British regulars were being landed on Staten Island. To General Mer- cer, who was then in Amboy, with a part of his " Flying Camp," Lord Howe sent, under flag, the declaration of the appointment of himself and his brother as the King's commissioners for granting free and general pardons. A letter was also for- warded to former Governor William Franklin " requesting that he give publicity to the declar- ation in New Jersey." In all the British forces in the vicinity of New York amounted to about twenty-five thousand men.
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