USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 13
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and abroad, all the States, before or during the year 1786, com- plied with this part of the system, New York being the only exception, who reserved the right to itself of levying duties within its own borders, agreeably to a law passed in 1784; they also refused to make the collectors amenable to and removable by Congress. The concurrence of all the States was necessary to put this plan in operation.
In January, 1786, the Assembly of Virginia appointed Com- missioners, who were instructed to consider the state of the trade of the United States, and to digest and report to the several States such measures as would enable Congress effectually to provide for the same. This meeting was held at Annapolis in September of the same year, when two Commissioners from New York, three from New Jersey, one from Pennsylvania, three from Del- aware, and three from Virginia, constituted the whole number of this convention. Nothing was, however, done with reference to the special object of the meeting; yet their deliberations resulted in a report to their respective States ; and recommended a second convention of delegates to which all the States should be invited to appoint Commissioners, to meet at Philadelphia in the following May ; and urged a revisal of the Constitution of the Federal Government, to render it adequate to the exigencies of the Union. This recommendation was not received with unanimity in the different States ; Congress at first opposed it, but afterwards passed a resolution recommending the different States to appoint Commissioners to meet in Convention at Phil- adelphia on the second Monday in May. Virginia at the first entered heartily into the proposal, and in October, 1786, selected seven of her most eminent citizens to meet the delegates from the other States at Philadelphia.
Acting under the authority of Congress, the several States, except Rhode Island, proceeded to the appointment of delegates to the Federal Convention.
The Convention met on the 14th of May, 1787, in the State House at Philadelphia. A majority of the States not being repre- sented, they adjourned from day to day, until towards the latter part of July, when all the States were represented except Rhode Island. Washington was chosen President of the Convention,
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and they sat with closed doors to deliberate upon their mo- mentous work.
The delegates from New Jersey were William Livingston, David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, William Paterson, John Neilson, Abraham Clark, and Jonathan Dayton. Messrs. Houston, Neilson and Clark did not sign the Constitution.
Several different sets of resolutions were offered as a basis of a new Constitution, one by Mr. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, one by Mr. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, and another by William Paterson, of New Jersey.
The first was known as the " Virginia Plan," and the last as the " Jersey Plan." The latter was submitted on the 15th of June, as amendments to the Articles of Confederation. They were debated for several days, but were finally rejected by seven States against three, and one divided.
The Convention adopted the Constitution on the 17th of September, 1787, and it was ratified by Delaware, December 7th, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12th; New Jersey, December . 18th; Georgia, January 7th, 1788; Connecticut, January 9th .; Massachusetts, February 6th ; Maryland, April 28th; South Carolina, May 23d ; New Hampshire, June 2Ist ; Virginia, June 26th ; New York, July 26th; North Carolina, November 21st, 1789 ; Rhode Island, May 29th, 1790-the latter between two and three years after New Jersey had ratified it.
At a session of Congress begun and held at the City of New York on Wednesday, the 4th of March, 1789, twelve articles of amendments were proposed by Congress, of which but ten were ratified by the States ; the first and second in order not having been ratified by the requisite number of States. Georgia, Con- necticut, and Massachusetts refused to ratify. Of the eleven States that ratified these amendments, New Jersey was the first that approved them, on the 20th of November, 1789, and the last was Virginia, December 15th, 1791, more than two years after.
It will be observed that at the adoption of the Constitution there were but thirteen States, but when these amendments were approved by the States there were fourteen, Vermont having been formed from part of the territory of New York, and received
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and admitted into the Union March 4th, 1791, and on the 3d of November of the same year, they ratified the ten amendments to the Constitution.
We find from the proceedings of the first Convention, held at Annapolis September 11th, 1786, the following minute: "That the State of New Jersey had enlarged the object of their appoint- ment, empowering their Commissioners 'to consider how far an uniform system in their commercial regulations and other im- portant matters might be necessary to the common interest and permanent harmony of the several States;' and to report such an act on the subject as, when ratified by them, 'would enable the United States in Congress assembled effectually to provide for the exigencies of the Union.'"*
It was these enlarged powers that caused the Convention to be called which formed the Constitution, and New Jersey was the first to propose such action in the Annapolis Convention.
Washington having at the end of the war spurned the idea advanced to him to become the king of this country, now that. the Constitution as adopted provided for the election of a Presi- dent, every eye naturally turned upon him as the most fitting person for the first executive of the new-born nation.
The electors met in the several States on the first Monday in February, 1789, and in accordance with the provisions of the second article of the Constitution, gave in their ballots. These having been opened by Congress on the 6th of April, f it was found that the whole number of votes was sixty-nine. Washing- ton received them all, without a single exception; and John Adams received thirty-four. This, although not a majority of the whole, designated him, as " after the choice of the President, the person having the greater number of votes of the electors ;" and consequently John Adams became the first Vice-President. John Jay, of New York, received nine votes ; R. U. Harrison, of Maryland, six ; John Rutledge, of South Carolina, six ; John Hancock, of Massachusetts, four ; George Clinton, of New York,
* "The Constitution," published by W. Hickey, page 162.
t Wednesday, the 4th of March, was the day appointed for the meeting of Congress ; but bad roads and culpable want of punctuality prevented the com- mencement of the session for more than a month.
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three; Samuel Huntington, of Connecticut, two; John Milton, of Georgia, two; John Armstrong, of Georgia, one; Edward Telfair, of Georgia, one ; and Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachu- setts, one.
Washington took the oath of office, and entered upon its duties on the 30th of April, 1789, and John Adams was elected Vice- President, entered upon his duties in the Senate April 21st, and took the oath of office June 3d, 1789.
Having received official notice of his election on the 14th of April, Washington on the 16th set out for New York to be inaugurated the first President of the infant Republic.
His whole journey was like one continued triumphal proces- sion. In all the towns and villages on his route the enthusiasm and love of his countrymen led them to take every step in their power to show their grateful sense of his devotion to their best interests. The people gathered by the roadside, and cheers of hearty congratulation were uttered. Addresses were presented to him; the citizen soldiery paraded in his honor ; triumphal arches were erected ; and every description of respect and vene- ration was bestowed upon him. Gray's bridge over the Schuyl- kill, which he had to pass, was highly decorated with laurels and evergreens. At each end of it were erected magnificent arches, composed of laurels, emblematical of the ancient Roman tri- umphal arches, and on each side of the bridge was a laurel shrubbery. As Washington passed the bridge, a youth orna- mented with sprigs of laurel, assisted by machinery, let drop above his head, though unperceived by him, a civic crown of laurel. Many thousands of the people accompanied him into the city, and at night Philadelphia was illuminated.
When Washington crossed the Delaware and landed on the Jersey shore, he was saluted with three cheers by the inhabitants of the vicinity. When he came to the brow of the hill dividing Trenton from the adjoining township, a triumphal arch was erected on the bridge across the Assanpink, in the southern part of the town, by the direction of the ladies of the place. The crown of the arch was highly ornamented with laurels and flowers, and on it was displayed in large figures, "December 26th, 1776," the date of the capture of the Hessians at Trenton.
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" At Trenton," says Chief-Justice Marshall, "he was wel- comed in a manner as new as it was pleasing. In addition to the usual demonstrations of respect and attachment, which were given by the discharge of cannon by military corps, and by private persons of distinction, the gentler sex prepared, in their own taste, a tribute of applause indicative of the grateful recollection in which they held their deliverance twelve years before from a formidable enemy. On the bridge over the creek which passes through the town, was erected a triumphal arch, highly ornamented with laurel and flowers, and supported by thirteen pillars, each entwined with wreaths of evergreen. On the front arch was inscribed, in large gilt letters :
THE DEFENDER OF THE MOTHERS
WILL PE THE PROTECTOR OF THE DAUGHTERS.
" On the centre of the arch above the inscription was a dome or cupola of flowers and evergreens, encircling the dates of two memorable events, which were peculiarly interesting to New Jersey. The first was the battle of Trenton, and the second the bold and judicious stand made by the American troops at the same creek, by which the progress of the British army was arrested on the evening preceding the battle of Princeton."*
On the north side of the creek were ranged six young girls, dressed in white, and beside these stood thirteen young women representing the thirteen States, also dressed in white, with garlands of flowers on their heads and baskets of flowers on their arms, and again behind these stood twenty-two matrons of the neighborhood. The moment Washington was passing the arch, the six little girls began to sing with their sweet voices the following ode, composed by Governor Richard Howell, of this State :
Welcome mighty Chief once more- Welcome to this grateful shore: Now no mercenary foe Aims again the fatal blow Aims at thee the fatal blow.
* Writings of Washington, by Jared Sparks, Volume XII., page 148.
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Virgins fair and matrons grave- Those thy conquering arms did save; Build for thee triumphal bowers, Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers- Strew your hero's way with flowers.
At the end of the last line the flowers were strewn before him.
In passing the arch, and as the choir began their song, Wash- ington turned his horse's head towards them, took off his hat, and listened evidently with deepest emotion.
The names of the ladies and children who received General Washington at the arch on the Assanpink bridge, April 21st, 1789, were as follows :
Mrs. Mary Cadwalader, wife of General Dickinson.
Mrs. Colonel John Cox, of Bloomsbury, now the Fourth Ward, Trenton.
Mrs. Judge Isaac Smith.
Mrs. Judge James Ewing, his second wife.
Mrs. Alexander Chambers.
. Mrs. Colonel Thomas Lowry.
Mrs. Doctor Tate, of Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Susanna, wife of Rev. James Francis Armstrong ..
Mrs. Ann Richmond.
Mrs. Micajah Howe.
Mrs. Rev. John Hanna.
Mrs. Alexander Calhoun.
Mrs. J. Sexton.
Mrs. Moore Furman.
Mrs. Captain Joseph Borden, Jr., of Bordentown.
Mrs. Doctor Burnet.
. Mrs. Benjamin Vancleve.
Mrs. Joseph Milnor.
Mrs. R. Stevens.
Mrs. Colonel Berry.
Mrs. Peter Gordon.
Mrs. Mary Howell.
The following were the names of the thirteen young ladies dressed in white:
Miss Mary Dagworthy.
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Miss Elizabeth and Miss Rebecca Cadwalader, of Philadelphia.
Miss Meredith, sister of Mrs. Samuel Dickinson.
Miss Rose Chambers.
Two daughters of Colonel John Cox.
Miss Borden, daughter of Captain Joseph Borden.
Miss Maria Furman, daughter of Moore Furman.
Miss Margaretta Tate, niece of Mrs. Judge Ewing.
Miss Kitty Calhoun. .
Miss Mary Stevens.
Miss Eleanor Armstrong, daughter of Rev. James Francis Armstrong, married Chief-Justice Charles Ewing.
Those that sang and had baskets on their arms, and strewed the flowers, were the following six girls, dressed in white :
Miss Sally Howe, daughter of Micajah Howe, Sheriff; died unmarried, near Trenton, and buried in the Pearson graveyard.
Miss Mary Cox, daughter of Colonel John Cox; married James Chestnut, Sr., of Camden, South Carolina, and mother of James Chestnut, late United States Senator from that State.
Miss Sally Airy, niece of Benjamin Smith, removed to Eliza- bethtown (died unmarried).
Miss Betsey Milnor, daughter of Joseph Milnor (Merchant), married Lucius Horatio Stockton, Esq .; died in Trenton, has a daughter living there (1877).
Miss Margaret Lowry, granddaughter of the Rev. Elihu Spencer, D.D .; married and removed to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Miss Sally Collins, daughter of Mr. Isaac Collins; married in New York ; died in that city (no issue living).
Mrs. Chestnut wrote to a citizen of this State, " that only six girls strewed the flowers, and that number only learned the song." Rev. Mr. Armstrong was their instructor in teaching them to sing. She also said : " The baskets were made of paste- board and trimmed with artificial flowers, and were filled with the same, which they strewed before General Washington, who was on horseback."
Governor Howell, General Dickinson, and a number of gentlemen on horseback, went to meet Washington and suite at the lower ferry, kept by one Colvin, and his boats received the General and his escort, and ferried them over the river.
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Captains Abraham Claypoole and Clunn ; Major Albemarle Collins (Mrs. Richmond's brother), with their companions, and Captain Bernard Hanlon, with his artillery, escorted General Washington and suite to Mr. George Henry's tavern, corner Second and King streets, now State and Warren, where a dinner was prepared for them. The tavern was on the spot where the Mechanics' National Bank now stands.
The day was cloudy and the ground was covered with snow and slush. A carpet was spread from Judge Ewing's door* to the arch, on the opposite side of the street. Rev. Mr. Arm- strong procured boards to be lain for persons to observe the procession. He, with Maskell Ewing, Esq., Dr. Tate, Judge Stevens, William B. Ewing, and other gentlemen, waited with the ladies at the house of Judge Ewing, until the procession arrived.
Mrs. Pearson, daughter of Captain J. Borden, was one of the girls dressed in white, but not one of those that sang the ode, as she said there were only six little girls that sang and strewed the flowers before General Washington, and that she went with her mother and other ladies to the house of Judge Smith, to hear him read the letter General Washington sent to them.
Judge Smith lived on Queen street (now Greene), in a frame house that stood upon the site of the Trenton Savings' Fund Society. The arch presented a splendid appearance on the occasion, as did also the hero on his white horse, as with un- covered head he bowed with graceful dignity to the young ladies arranged in double file, strewing the flowers as he advanced.
Even the horse seemed to have a sense of the grandeur of the occasion, as with measured tread he stepped most reverently, advancing so slowly that his feet seemed to be set on the same spot at each successive step, and his progress scarcely perceptible. The majestic appearance of the beautiful horse and his illustrious rider made a vivid impression upon all present on that inter- esting occasion.
* Klein's large hall now occupies the spot where the Judge resided, on the corner of Greene and Washington streets.
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Captain Benjamin Yard, of Trenton, assisted in the erection and decoration of the arch, and in 1824, upon its reërection in front of the State House, upon the occasion of the reception. of General Lafayette, he superintended the reërection and decora- tion of the same arch. It had been kept at the house of Miss Barnes, in Warren street, where the Third Presbyterian Church now stands, from the time of General Washington's reception until it was again erected at the reception of Lafayette.
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After dining at the hotel, General Washington proceeded to Princeton, accompanied by a number of gentlemen, among whom was the Rev. James Francis Armstrong, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, who was an intimate and personal friend of the General throughout the war.
While in Princeton, Washington gave Mr. Armstrong the following note :
"General Washington cannot leave this place without express- ing his acknowledgment to the matrons and young ladies who received him in so novel and grateful a manner, at the triumphal arch in Trenton, for the exquisite sensation he experienced in that affecting moment.
"The astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the spot, the elegant taste with which it was adorned for the present occasion, and the innocent appearance of the white-robed choir, who met him with a gratulatory song, have made such impressions upon his remembrance as he assures them will never be effaced. G. WASHINGTON.
"TRENTON, April 21st, 1789."
"This note," says a late writer, "brief, but graceful and elegant, depicting most vividly the whole scene and its impres- sions, was read to the ladies of Trenton, called together for the purpose, at the house of Judge Isaac Smith. It was then deposited in the hands of Mrs. Smith. At the death of the Judge, it passed into the hands of his adopted daughter, Miss Lydia Imlay, who preserved it with the care due to its origin and associations, until shortly before her death, when she gave it, as a valued legacy, to the late Chief-Justice Charles Ewing. By his care it was placed in a handsome frame, and is now preserved by his family as a sacred relic.
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The arch was preserved on the premises of the Misses Barnes, on Warren street, near St. Michael's Episcopal Church, until 1824, when it was placed in front of the State Capitol, at the gate entrance, to grace the reception of General Lafayette, when on his way to the assembly room, where he was addressed by the Mayor, Robert McNeely, Esq., and exchanged congratula- tions with the citizens, and was received in like manner as was his illustrious chieftain in 1789, by a white-robed choir repre- senting the different States of the Union, at that time twenty- four in number.
At New Brunswick General Washington was joined by Wil- liam Livingston, Governor of the State, who accompanied him to Elizabethtown Point. A committee of Congress received him at that place with every mark of honor, and on the 23d of April he embarked from the Point in an elegant barge of thirteen oars, and manned by thirteen pilots in white uniforms.
From the New York Daily Gazette of May 1, 1789, we extract the following interesting memento of the taste and patriotism of the ladies of Trenton, as shown in their reception of General Washington, when passing through that city on his way to New York to be inaugurated President of the United States. It said :
"Trenton has been twice memorable during the war : once by the capture of the Hessians, and again by the repulse of the whole British army, in their attempt to cross the bridge the evening before the battle of Princeton. Recollecting these memorable circumstances, the ladies of Trenton formed a design and carried it into execution solely under their direction, to testify to his Excellency by the celebration of these actions, the grateful sense they retained of the safety and protection afforded by him to the daughters of New Jersey.
" A triumphal arch was raised on the bridge twenty feet wide, supported by thirteen pillars. The centre of the arch from the ground was about twenty feet. Each pillar was entwined with wreaths of evergreen. The arch, which extended about twelve feet along the bridge, was covered with laurel, and decorated in the inside with evergreens and flowers. On the front of the arch, on that side to which his Excellency approached, was the following inscription in large gilt letters :
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HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
THE DEFENDER OF THE MOTHERS
WILL BE
THE PROTECTOR OF THE DAUGHTERS.
"The upper and lower sides of this inscription were orna- mented with wreaths of evergreens and artificial flowers of all kinds, made for the purpose, beautifully interspersed. On the centre of the arch, above the inscriptions, was a dome or cupola of flowers and evergreens, encircling the dates of those glorious actions, inscribed in large gilt letters. The summit of the dome displayed a large sunflower, which pointing to the sun, was de- signed to express the sentiment or motto :
To YOU ALONE.
As emblematic of the unparalleled unanimity of sentiment in the millions of the United States.
" A numerous train of ladies, leading their daughters by their hands, assembled at the arch, thus to thank their Defender and Protector."
In the rapid sketch we have given of the Revolutionary War, we have endeavored to place in full relief those events in which the State of New Jersey bore a distinguished part or claimed a peculiar interest. We have thus noticed the battles and skir- mishes which took place within and around her borders, and the injuries she sustained from the marauding parties of the enemy, and the requisitions of her friends. We have seen that the American grand army, except for a period of nine months, between September, 1777, and June, 778, when the British occupied Philadelphia, and for the two months of the autumn of 1781 employed against Cornwallis in Virginia, was during the whole war within, or on the confines of the State. Its presence necessarily drew upon her the perpetual observation and frequent inroads of the enemy; so that her citizens were at no time relieved from the evils of war. Had the American army been regularly and fully paid, some, though inadequate compensation, might have been derived from the sale of her products to addi- tional consumers. But unhappily those products were too fre- quently taken without payment, or were paid for in certificates, which for the time were worthless.
New Jersey, therefore, in the contest to which she was as dis-
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interested a party as any State in the Union, suffered more than her proportion; more than any other State, South Carolina excepted. Under these inflictions, the patriotism, patience, and fortitude of her people were merits of the highest order. Her Legislature shrunk from no effort which the general interest required, and was commonly among the first to act upon the suggestions of Congress. After the victories of Trenton and Princeton, her militia, though continually harassed by the cares of defending a long line of coast, turned out with promptness and energy at the frequent calls of the Commander-in-Chief ; and when actually invaded in force upon her eastern border, despatched considerable aid to her western sister, Pennsylvania. The Commander-in-Chief and his principal officers bear abun- dant testimony to the activity, courage, and patriotism of her regular troops. Still, it remains, in order to display the part borne by the State in the Revolution, that we enter somewhat more fully into the peculiar measures she pursued.
The subject of militia service was then, as now, one of much difficulty in all communities where the Quakers are numerous. The doctrine of non-resistance is more admirable in theory than admissible in practice. In West Jersey the Quakers were numerous, rich, and as in Pennsylvania, many were not un- friendly to British pretensions. Their influence was sufficient to enervate the militia system. The ordinances of the Conven- tion betrayed this; and system became one of the first subjects of attention for the Legislature of the new State.
There is much difficulty in giving a minute and accurate account of the military efforts of the State. Those of the militia were generally desultory and momentary, whilst those of the regular troops are involved in the operations of the Continental army. All officers of the militia above the grade of captain were appointed by the Council and Assembly in joint. meeting, who also nominated all the officers of the Continental brigade below the rank of brigadier. The militia officers of all ranks were frequently changed ; but the changes in the brigade were little more than such as were occasioned by death and promo- tion.
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