USA > New York > A history of the state of New York, from the first discovery of the country to the present time: with a geographical account of the country, and a view of its original inhabitants > Part 14
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SEC. IV. To check the proceedings of New Hampshire, lieutenant-governor Colden issued a proclamation, reciting the grants of the duke of York, asserting their validity, claiming the juris- diction as far east as Connecticut river, and commanding the sheriff of Albany county to make return of all persons, who, under the New Hampshire grants, had taken possession of lands west of the river.
A proclamation was soon after issued by the governor of New Hampshire, declaring the grant of the duke of York to be ob- solete ; that New Hampshire extended as far west as Massachu- fetts and Connecticut ; and that the grants made by New Hamp-
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shire would be confirmed if the jurisdiction should be altered He exhorted the settlers not to be intimidated, but to proceed in the cultivation of their lands ; and required the civil officers to exercise jurisdiction as far west as grants had been made, and to punish all disturbers of the peace .*
SEC. V. Application was made to the crown, and a decision obtained in 1764, by which the western bank of Connecticut river was declared to be the boundary line between the provinces of New Hampshire and New York. The gov- ernment of New York proceeded to organize the new territory, and to exercise jurisdiction.
The new district was divided into four counties. The south- western part was annexed to the county of Albany, and the north-western part formed into a county by the name of Char- lotte. East of the Green mountains, two counties were formed- Gloucester on the north, and Cumberland on the south. In each of these counties courts were regularly held. The grants of land under New Hampshire were declared illegal, and the settlers required to take out new charters from New York, at- tended with extravagant fees.
Some of the towns complied with the requisition, and pur- chased their lands the second time ; but the greater part refus- ed. Where it was not complied with on the part of the gran- tees, new grants were made of their lands to such petitioners as would advance the fees which were demanded. Actions of ejectment were commenced in the courts at Albany against several of the ancient settlers. The decisions of the courts were in favor of the New York titles; but, when the executive officers came to eject the inhabitants, they generally met with an avowed opposition from the possessors, and were not allowed to proceed in the execution of their offices.
When it was found that there was a combination for the avowed purpose of resisting the execution of the judgments of the courts, the militia were called out to support the sheriff; but they were rather in sentiment with the settlers, and dis-
* Williams.
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banded themselves on the appearance of an armed opposition. The actions of ejectment still went on in the courts of Albany No attention was, however, paid to them, nor any defence made by the settlers. But, when attempts were made to carry these decisions into effect, a mob was assembled to oppose their exe- cution. As the efforts of the government were continued, the opposition of the settlers became more bold and daring, and was frequently characterized by acts of outrage and violence.
After the decision by the crown, assigning this territory to the province of New York, had the government, as prudence would have dictated, allowed those already in possession to have quietly held their lands, no controversy would ever have arisen. The inhabitants were by no means disposed to question the jurisdiction of New York ; but, considering their lands hon- estly purchased, they felt that they could not be called upon, on any principle of justice, to relinquish them. They had acquir- ed their possessions by a hard and laborious course of life, and had suffered many privations in the settlement of the country. That, under these circumstances, they should quietly give up their estates to greedy speculators, or pay four times the origi- nal sum which they had advanced for them, was more than could have been reasonably expected.
SEC. VI. 1765. Much excitement was pro- duced by the stamp act, which was passed by the British parliament, early in the present year, for the purpose of raising a revenue from their American colonies.
This act ordained that all instruments of writing, such as deeds, bonds, notes, &c., among the colonies, should be null and void, unless executed on stamped paper, for which a duty should be paid to the crown.
The stamp act, though highly popular with the ministry, was not suffered to pass without a spirited opposition. When the bill was brought in, the ministers, and particularly George Grenville, exclaimed, "These Americans, our own children,
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planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they are grown to a good degree of strength and opulence-will they now turn their backs upon us, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms us ?"
Colonel Barre caught the words, and, with a vehemence be- coming in a soldier, said ; " Planted by your care ? No! your oppression planted them in America : they fled from your tyran- ny into a then uncultivated land, where they were exposed to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and, among others, to the savage cruelty of the enemy of the coun- try, a people the most subtle, and, I take upon me to say, the most truly terrible, of any people that ever inhabited any part · of God's earth ; and yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all these hardships with pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country, from the hands of those that should have been their friends. They nourished . by your indulgence ? They grew by your neglect. As soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in send- ing persons to rule over them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of the deputies of some mem- bers of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them; men, whose behavior, on many occasions, has caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them ; men, promoted to the highest seats of jus- tice, some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to foreign countries, to escape the vengeance of the laws in their own. They protected by your arms ? They have nobly taken up arms in your defence ; have exerted their valor amidst their constant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country, whose frontiers, while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded for. your enlargement the little savings of their frugali- ty, and the fruits of their toils. And believe me, remember I this day told you so, that the same spirit which actuated that people at first will continue with them still : but prudence for- bids me to explain myself further. God knows, I do not, at this time, speak from motives of party heat ; what I assert pro- ceeds from the sentiments of my heart. However superior to me, in general knowledge and experience, any one here may be,
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yet I claim to know more of America, having seen, and been more conversant in that country. The people there are as truly loyal as any subjects the king has; but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them, if they should be violat- ed : but the subject is delicate ; I will say no more."*
The very night the act was passed, doctor Franklin, in Lon- don, wrote to Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of con- gress, " The sun of liberty is set ; the Americans must light the lamps of industry and economy." To which Mr. Thompson answered; " Be assured, we shall light torches of quite another sort"-thus predicting the convulsions that were about to follow.
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SEC. VII. In October, a congress, consisting of twenty-eight delegates, from the assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jer- sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina, was held at New York, to con- sult on the common interest. They made a declaration of the rights and grievances of the colonies, petitioned the king for redress, and presented memorials to both houses of parlia- ment.
SEC. VIII. When the stamp act arrived in New York, it was contemptuously cried about the streets, under the title of " The Folly of England, and Ruin of America.". Serious dis- turbances took place, soon after, on the arrival of the stamped papers. Mr. Colden, the lieu tenant-governor, was hanged and burnt in effigy. The merchants formed an association, and re solved to direct their correspondents in Europe
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* Botta.
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to ship no more goods until the stamp act should be repealed. .
The stamp papers arrived in New York about the last of Oc- tober. Mr. M'Euers, the stamp distributor, having resigned, to avoid the popular odium, the lieutenant-governor took them into fort George, and made great exertions to secure them. On the first of November, the day on which the stamp act was to go into effect, many of the inhabitants, offended at the conduct, and disliking the political sentiments, of Mr. Colden, having as- sembled in the evening, proceeded to the fort walls, broke open his stable, and took out his coach ; and, after carrying it through the principal streets of the city, marched to the com- mon, where a gallows was erected, on one end of which they suspended his effigy, with a stamped bill of lading in one hand, and a figure of the devil in the other.
When the effigy had hung a considerable time, they carried it in procession, with the gallows entire, the coach preceding, to the gate of the fort, whence it was removed to the bowling- green, under the muzzles of the guns, where a bonfire was made, and the whole pageantry, including the coach, was con- suined, amidst the acclamations of several thousand spectators. They next proceeded to the house of major James, who was a friend to the stamp act, and, after plundering it, consumed every article of the furniture in a bonfire.
The next morning, a paper was drawn up, and read from the balcony of a coffee-house, which was much frequented by the citizens, setting forth the necessity of being peaceable, and ealling upon the inhabitants to turn out with their arms upon any alarm, and quell all riotous proceedings. To prevent the effect of this proclamation, captain Sears, a violent opposer of the stamp act, addressed the populace. He assured them, that the intention of the proposal that had been read was to pre- vent their obtaining possession of the stamped papers, and added, " But we will have them within four-and-twenty hours." The address was answered by loud shouts of applause.
In the evening, the mob again assembled, and insisted on the governor's delivering the stamps into their hands. Mr. Colden attempted to pacify them, by declaring, that he had
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nothing to do in relation to the stamps, but should leave it to sir Henry Moore to do as he pleased on his arrival. Not sat- isfied with this, the people made an attempt to obtain the stamps by force. After much negotiation, it was, however, 'agreed, that they should be delivered to the corporation ; which was accordingly done, and they were deposited in the city hall. 'T'en boxes of stamps, arriving some time after, were committed to the flames.
On the 6th of November, the people again assembled in the fields, and it was proposed, that a committee be appointed to open a correspondence with the other colonies. This was a measure of so serious and important a nature, as to endan- ger the property and lives of the committee, especially should the stamp act be enforced, and, for some time, no one would venture to accept the appointment. At length captain Sears and four others offered themselves, and were approved. They agreed among themselves to sign all the letters with their several names, and open a correspondence with all the colo- nies. The Philadelphians were requested to forward their enclosed letters to the Southern States, and the Bostonians to forward those for New Hampshire .*
On the 25th of December, mutual agreements, concessions and associations were concluded between the sons of liberty of the colony of New York on the one part, and the sons of liberty of the colony of Connecticut on the other part ; in which, after professions of allegiance to the king, and attach- ment to the royal person and family, and agreeing to protect and defend each other in the peaceable, full and just enjoy- ment of their inherent and accustomed rights as subjects of their respective colonies, they proceed to take notice of the obnoxious act, which they treat as not promulgated, and not to be regarded but for resistance. "Whereas a certain pamphlet has appeared in America, in the form of an act of parliament, called and known by the naine of the Stamp Act, but has never been legally published or introduced, neither can it, as it would immediately deprive them of the most in- valuable part of the British constitution, namely, the trial by juries, and the most just mode of taxation in the world, that
* Gordon.
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is, of taxing themselves ; rights that every British subject be- comes heir to as soon as born ; for the preservation of which, and every part of the British constitution, they do reciprocally resolve and determine to march with the utmost despatch, at their own proper costs and expense, on the first proper notice, to the relief of those that shall, are or may be in danger from the stamp act, or its promoters and abettors, or any thing rel- ative to it, on account of any thing that may have been in opposition to its obtaining." After recommending mutual vigilance towards those who may be the most likely to intro- duce the use of stamped papers, to the total subversion of the British constitution and American liberty, and agreeing that they will, to the utmost of their power, by all just ways and means, endeavor to bring all such betrayers of their country to the most condign punishment,-they resolve, " to defend the liberty of the press, in their respective colonies, from all un- lawful violations and impediments whatever, on account of the said act, as the only means, under divine Providence, of preserving their lives, liberties and fortunes ; and finally, that they will, to the utmost of their power, endeavor to bring about, accomplish and perfect, the like association with all the colonies on the continent, for the like salutary purposes and no other."
The proposal of uniting with New York and Connecticut was accepted by the sons of liberty at Boston, who proposed to commence a continental union. This proposal was imme- diately encouraged by circular letters, sent by them into the New England colonies, and sent by those of New York as far as South Carolina.
Although, by the resignation of the stamp-officers, the col- onists were laid under legal inability for doing business accord- ing to parliamentary laws, yet they adventured to do it, and risked the consequences. Vessels sailed from ports as before; and the courts of justice, though suspended awhile in most of the colonies, at length proceeded to business without stamps.
SEC. IX. Sir Henry Moore, who had been appointed to supersede general Monckton in the
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government of the province, arrived in Novem ber, and commenced his administration.
Owing to the spirited opposition of the colo- nies, the stamp act was repealed in 1766. The repealing act was, however, accompanied by a declaratory act, asserting the power and right of parliament to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.
Among the most prominent supporters of the rights of the colonies were lord Camden in the house of peers, and Mr. Pitt in the house of commons. " My position is this," said lord Camden ; "I repeat it; I will maintain it to my last hour ; taxation and representation are inseparable. This position is founded on the laws of nature. It is more; it is, in itself, an eternal law of nature. For whatever is a man's own, it is absolutely his own. No man has a right to take it from him without his consent. Whoever attempts to do it attempts an injury ; whoever does it commits a robbery."
In the debate on a motion to address the king, Mr. Pitt rose to offer his sentiments on the present crisis of affairs. His speech was in his own bold, nervous and eloquent style. He pronounced every capital measure, taken by the late ministers, to have been entirely wrong. " It is a long time, Mr. Speaker, since I have attended in parliament. When the resolution was taken in this house to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it. It is my opinion that this kingdom has NO RIGHT to lay a tax upon the colonies.
" At the same time, I assert the authority of this kingdom over the colonies to be sovereign and supreme, in every cir- cumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. The colonists are the subjects of this kingdom, equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind, and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen ; equally bound by its laws, and equally participating of the constitution of this free coun-
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try. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the com- mons alone. In legislation, the three estates of the realm are alike concerned; but the concurrence of the peers and the crown to a tax is only necessary to close with the form of a law, The gift and grant is of the commons alone. Now this house represents the commons, as they virtually represent the rest of the inhabitants. . When, therefore, in this house, we give and grant, we give and grant what is our own. But in an American tax, what do we do ? We, your majesty's com- mons of Great Britain, give and grant to your majesty, what ? Our own property ? No. We give and grant to your majesty the property of the cominons of America. It is an absurdity in terins. It was just now affirmed, that no difference exists between internal and external taxes; and that taxation is an . essential part of legislation. Are not the crown and the peers equally legislative powers with the commons ? If taxation be n part of simple legislation, the crown, the peers, have rights in taxation as well as yourselves; rights which they will claim, which they will exercise, whenever the principle can be sup- ported by power.
" There is an idea in some, that the Americans are virtually represented in this house ; but I would fain know by what province, county, city or borough they are represented here ? No doubt by some province, county, city or borough never seen or known by them or their ancestors, and which they never will see or know.
" The commons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this their constitutional right of giving and granting their own money. They would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed it."
Upon the conclusion of the speech, a profound silence of some minutes ensued. At length, Mr. Grenville rose, and entered into a labored vindication of the measures of his administration. After declaring the tumult in America to border upon rebellion, and insisting upon the constitutional right of parliament to tax the colonies, he concluded as fol- Jowa . " Ungrateful people of America! The nation has run
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itself into an immense debt to give them protection ; bounties have been extended to them; in their favor the act of naviga- . tion, that palladium of the British commerce, has been relaxed : and now that they are called upon to contribute a small share towards the public expense, they renounce your authority, in sult your officers, and break out, I might almost say, into open rebellion."
Immediately after Mr. Grenville had taken his seat, Mr. Pitt rose to reply ; but, the rules of the house forbidding him to speak twice on the same motion, he was called to order, and, in obedience to the call, was resuming his seat, when the loud and repeated cry of "Go on," induced him once more to take the floor. In the course of his speech he said, " We are told America is obstinate-America is in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted ; 3,000,000 of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest. I am no courtier of America. I maintain that parliament has a right to bind, to restrain America. Our legislative power over the colonies is sovereign and supreme. ' When,' asks the honorable gentleman, 'were the colonies emancipated ?' At what time, say I in answer, were they made slaves ? I speak from accurate knowledge when I say that the profits to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies, through all its branches, is 2,000,000 per annum. This is the fund which carried you triumphantly through the war ; this is the price America pays you for her protection ; and shall a miserable financier come with a boast that he can fetch a pepper-corn into the exchequer, at the loss of millions to the nation ?
"I know the valor of your troops; I know the skill of your officers ; I know the force of this country; but, in such a cause, your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitution with her. Is this your boasted peace ? not to sheathe the sword in the scabbard, but to sheathe it in the bowels of your countrymen ? The Amer- icans have been wronged ; they have been driven to madness by injustice ! Will you punish them for the madness you
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hare occasioned ? No : let this country be the first to resume its prudence and temper. I will pledge myself for the colonies, that, on their part, animosity and resentment will cease. Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the house in few words what is really my opinion. It is, that the stamp act be repealed ab- solutely, totally and immediately."
SEC. X. 1767. The subject of the taxation was again resumed by the parliament, and the colonies were required to make provision for the support of the British troops in America. New York refused ; and an act was passed for restrain- ing the assembly of this colony, until they should comply with the requisition. The colonies, gen- erally, now began to be seriously alarmed at the oppressive measures pursued by the British gov- ernment.
During the present year, the controversy concerning the New Hampshire Grants became so serious and alarming as to require the inter- position of the crown. A royal order was given to the governor, directing him to suspend all proceedings relative to these grants, until his majesty's further pleasure be made known. The colony of New York contained, at this time, up- wards of 160,000 inhabitants.
This period was characterized by a rapid extension of the settlements. Establishments were, about this time, commenc- ed at Johnstown, fort Ann, Whitehall, and several other places. The exertions which were made for the opening and improve- ment of roads, with the liberal terms on which lands were obtained, tended very much to the promotion of these estab. lishments.
SEc. XI. In 1770, lord Dunmore was ap- pointed governor of the province. He was
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succeeded, the following year, by Mr. Tryon, who, in 1772, made an attempt to conciliate the minds of the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants. Some negotiations took place, but no conciliation was effected, and the controversy continued to rage with increasing animosity.
In 1774, the assembly passed an act, by which it was declared felony, punishable by death, for any of the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants to oppose the government by force. The govern- or, at the same time, made proclamation, offer- ing a reward of 50 pounds each, for the appre- hending and securing of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and six others of the most obnoxious of the settlers.
The inhabitants of New Hampshire Grants became still more violent in their opposition, and formed new associations for mutual support. At a general meeting of the committees for the townships, on the west side of the Green mountains, it was resolved, " That, for the future, every necessary prepara- tion be made, and that our inhabitants- hold themselves in readiness, at a minute's warning, to aid and defend such friends of ours, who, for their merit to the great and general cause, are falsely denominated rioters; but that we will not act any thing, more or less, but on the defensive, and always encourage due execution of the law, in civil cases, and also in criminal prosecutions, that are so indeed; and that we will assist, to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed for that purpose." The proscribed persons, in an address to the people of the county of Albany, made this public declaration : " We will kill and destroy any person or persons, whomsoever, who shall presume to be accessary, aiding or assisting in tak- ing any of us."
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