History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 20

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. fmo; Huntington Free Library. fmo
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Printing House of Matthews & Warren
Number of Pages: 948

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 20

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We have now come to the origin of the first two political parties: one in favor of a union of sovereign, independent states; or, as it has sometimes been called, a union of states as states; the other, in favor of what is called in the preamble to the constitution, " a more perfect union "-a union of " the people of the United States." It is proper to here correct a prevailing error. It is generally supposed that, from the beginning, those who were in favor of the constitution, were called federalists. This is a mistake. Those who, in the convention, advocated the continuance of the confederation, were, as the word itself imports, federalists, and were distinguished by that name to the close of the convention, and for some time afterwards ; and the friends of the constitution were termed anti-federalists. But while the constitution was be- fore the people for ratification, its friends came to be called federalists. Al- though the contemplated government was national, it was also still in some sense, or to some extent, a confederacy. And as the articles of confederation were too weak to preserve the union, the anti-federalists, believing the only way to perpetuate the confederacy or federal union, was to adopt the consti- tution, took the name of federalists. And by this name they and their fol- lowers and successors were called until the party disbanded, soon after the first election of President Monroe.

Among the earliest federalists whose names are familiar to the American people, were George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, John Marshall, and others. Mr. Madison, however, soon after the new government went into effect, joined the opposite party, though not on account of any change of views in relation to the constitution.

Notwithstanding this early division of sentiment Gen. Washington was

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unanimously chosen president by the presidential electors ; and although the leading measures of his administration were opposed from its commence- ment, there seems to have been for several years no organized opposition party. His second election, like the first, was unanimous.

The earliest measures of his administration which received material oppo- sition were his financial measures. One of these was the funding of the public debt, including the debts of the states contracted during the war. Another was the incorporation of a national bank, in 1791. His foreign policy also encountered much opposition. France was in the midst of a revolution. In the war of Europe, then existing, Great Britain and France were the principal belligerents. Some of our people were in favor of taking part with France against Great Britain ; but Washington, though friendly to France, determined to maintain a strict neutrality. The opponents of the federalists at length took the name of the republican party, and obtained con- trol of the government after the expiration of the presidential term of John Adams, having elected their leader, Thomas Jefferson, over Mr. Adams, who was a candidate for reelection.

These were the two national parties when the settlement of this county commenced. Thomas Jefferson had taken his seat in the presidential chair, March 4, 1801, for whom not a vote had been cast within the bounds of the present county of Chautauqua ; the electors by whom he was chosen hav- ing been elected in the fall of 1800. Probably there was not a vote given for his reelection in 1804, by any settler within these bounds. The town of Chautauqua had been formed by the legislature of that year, but no election was held in it until 1805. This town was then a part of Genesee county : and it is not likely that any one of the few settlers then here made a journey of eighty or ninety miles to vote. Besides, there was not among them one who had the required qualifications of property and term of residence to vote for president, if the election had been at his own door.

One of the causes-perhaps the principal cause-of the unpopularity and decline of the federal party, was the passage of two acts during Mr. Adams' administration, called the alien and sedition laws. The alien law, entitled, " An act concerning aliens," authorized the president to order out of the country any alien suspected of any treasonable purpose, or deemed danger- ous to the safety of the country, unless satisfactory proof should be given that no injury or danger should arise from his residing here. The other law was entitled, " An act in addition to 'an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States'"; but it was generally called the " sedi- tion law." It provided for punishing persons for conspiring to oppose any measure of the government, or for hindering any public officer in discharging his duties ; also for punishing any person for slandering or libeling the government, congress, or the president. Although these acts were well- intentioned, and approved by wise and good men, among whom were Wash- ington and Patrick Henry, as being necessary to check the influence of numerous meddlesome foreigners then in the country, who were active in

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exciting opposition to the administration, and were combined in organized associations which were considered dangerous to the peace of the United States ; they were, nevertheless, disapproved by a majority of the people, who regarded them as infringements upon popular rights, especially upon the freedom of speech and of the press. Hence, to render the act against sedi- tion the more odious, its opponents gave it the title of " gag law."

These laws gave rise to the famed " Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798," which were for more than half a century referred to as expressing the principles of the old republican party. Those passed by the Virginia legis- lature were drawn up by Mr. Madison, then a member. They declared that the constitution was a compact. to which the states were parties, granting limited powers ; that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exer- cise of other powers not granted, it was the right and duty of the states to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining the rights of the states within their respective limits; and that the alien and sedition laws were palpable and alarming infractions of the constitution.

The resolutions of the Kentucky legislature were drafted by Mr. Jefferson. They declared the Union to be "a compact between the states as states ; that, as parties to this compact have no common judge or superior, each party has an equal right to judge for itself," of the constitutionality of a law, "as well as of the mode and measure of redress."

The reader who recollects the action of the convention of the framers of the constitution, as given on preceding pages, will be surprised at the declar- ation of sentiments like those expressed in the above resolutions. The idea of a confederation of states as states was rejected by the convention. Yet, after the lapse of only ten years, the most eminent statesmen assert that the Union is a compact between the states as states. Mr. Madison, the head or leader of the party in favor of a national government to supersede the con- federation, which was a union of states as states, can hardly be supposed to have intended to convey the impression that the Union was a compact between the states as such. He calls it "a compact to which the states are parties." He may have meant simply, that, in the ratification of the con- stitution, the people of each state acted separately by state conventions.

The Kentucky resolutions do not admit of so favorable a construction. It is expressly declared that there is no higher authority than that of a state, to judge what is a violation or "infraction " of the constitution-thus denying the right of the supreme court of the United States to decide questions of constitutionality; and claiming the right to nullify any act of Congress which the highest state court shall decide unconstitutional. It must seem strange. especially to the younger class of our citizens, that doctrines like the above should ever have been so explicitly asserted, and so extensively accepted. Yet, for more than thirty years, "the principles of 1798" were regarded as the test of political orthodoxy ; and that man's chance of an election to an important office was small, indeed, who could not avow his adherence to the doctrine enunciated in the resolutions above referred to. In the series

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of resolutions adopted by the legislatures of these states, were some that are unexceptionable. Declaring the opinion that the alien and sedition laws were unconstitutional was the right of any man or body of men. But a doctrine that a law is null and void before it has been so pronounced by the highest judicial authority, is dangerous and disorganizing in its tendency.

The doctrine of state sovereignty, to the extent asserted by the Kentucky resolutions, never received the unanimous assent of republican statesmen. According to Mr. Madison's own exposition of the constitution, not the states, as states, but the people of the several states, were parties to the com- pact ; and in 1830 he expressly repudiated "nullification as a right remedy." So also President Jackson, in his proclamation against South Carolina in December, 1832, denied such right, and maintained the doctrine now held by American statesmen generally, that, instead of there being no common judge, it is the prerogative of the supreme court of the United States to judge of the validity of the acts of Congress. If every state might disobey any law which its authorities should pronounce unconstitutional, no general gov- ernment could be maintained ; secession would be constitutional.

The transfer of power, however, from the federal to the republican party, was not followed by any great changes of policy. The alien and sedition laws were designed only to have a temporary effect ; and no act of the new administration was necessary for their repeal. The alien law expired by its own limitation, June 25, 1800; the sedition act, on the 4th of March, 1801, the day of Mr. Jefferson's induction into office.

During our commercial controversy with France and Great Britain, prior to and during the war between the latter and the United States, the hostility of the two parties toward each other was probably more marked than at any other period. The federalists were generally opposed to the declaration of war, the causes being in their view insufficient to justify a war. The repub- licans maintained the justice and propriety of the war, and charged their opponents with hostility to their own country, and sympathy with the enemy.

Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, it will be recollected, were, for several years from the time of their formation, united, for judicial and other purposes, with Niagara, which then comprised the present counties of Niagara and Erie. And after they had become fully organized with the requisite population, [Chautauqua in 1811,] they formed but one assembly district until 1822. It will be recollected, too, that until after the adoption of the constitution of 1821, the general elections for the election of other than town officers, were held on the last Tuesday in April.

On the 14th of April, 1812, the federalists of this assembly district met at Buffalo ; and on the next day they nominated for the assembly, Abel M. Grosvenor, of Buffalo. The committees of the two towns then composing this county, were the following :

Pomfret-Jacob Houghton, John E. Howard, Ozias Hart, Orsamus Holmes, James Hale, Daniel Warren; Samuel Sinclear, Foster Young, Isaac Barnes.

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Chautauqua-James McMahan, Anselm Potter, Dennis Brackett, Wm. Berry, Thomas Prendergast, Thomas McClintock.

Having no account of any nominating republican convention, we can only give the name of the candidate of that party, Jonas Williams, who had a majority in the district.

In the same year, [1812,] Messrs. Hopkins and Howell, federal candidates for Congress, received in this county a majority of 47 votes.

On the 3d of November, 1812, a meeting of the "Friends of Liberty, Peace, and Commerce," as the anti-war men called themselves, held a meet- ing at David Joy's, in Buffalo. (?) JACOB HOUGHTON, chairman ; ANSELM POT- TER, secretary. Resolutions were adopted disapproving the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. A committee of correspondence was appointed, consisting of Orsamus Holmes, Samuel Sinclear, Anselm Potter, James Mont- gomery, Jacob Houghton, James McMahan, and Foster Young. The meet- ing concurred in recommendations previously made in other places, for a state convention to be held at Albany.

On the 23d of December, 1812, a county meeting of the republicans was held at John Scott's, in Mayville; MATTHEW PRENDERGAST, chairman ; JOHN DEXTER, secretary. Resolutions were adopted declaring the justice of the war and the purpose to sustain it. Names of delegates, and of the mem- bers of a committee, if appointed, are not given.

On the 17th of March, 1813, another county meeting of delegates of the friends of " Liberty, Peace, and Commerce" was held in Pomfret ; THOMAS MARTIN, chairman ; ISAAC PIERCE, secretary. Jacob Houghton was nomi- nated for the assembly. Committees to promote the election :

Chautauqua-Thomas Prendergast, Jabez Hurlbut, Elisha Wallis, James Montgomery, David Eaton, Asa Hall, Henry Sartwell. Ellicott-James Prendergast. Gerry-Samuel Sinclear, Robert W. Seaver, Wm. Devine, Abm. Windsor. Pomfret-Orsamus Holmes, Elijah Risley, Jr., Ozias Hart, Isaac Pierce, Thomas Martin, Andrew Bates, Rodolphus Loomis. Hanover -John E. Howard, John Mack, Bethel Willoughby, Guy Webster, Cushing Brownell, Abel Flint.

The republicans of the assembly district met at St. John's, in Buffalo, pre- vious to the April election in 1813 ; David Eddy, chairman ; John Root, secretary. Jonas Williams was nominated for the assembly. Committee in Chautauqua county :

Pomfret-Zattu Cushing, Philo Orton, Jehiel Moore, Eliphalet Day. Chau- tauqua-David Eason, Wm. Peacock, M. Prendergast, John E. Marshall, John Scott.

The majority for Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins in this county was 57 ; for Jonas Williams, -. It was said many votes were admitted for governor and senators from persons only holding articles for land ; whereas, by the old con- stitution, none but freeholders to the value of $250, could vote for those. offices.

April 4, 1814, at a republican convention held at Buffalo, Joseph McCluer,.

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of Cattaraugus Co., was nominated for the assembly. Philetus Swift, of On- tario Co .; Bennett Bicknell, of Madison Co .; and John J. Prendergast, of Herkimer Co., were candidates in the western district for the senate. Peter B. Porter, of Niagara, and Micah Brooks, of Ontario, were candidates for Congress.

The federalists nominated this year for the assembly, Elijah Holt, of Buf- falo. This nomination was confirmed at a meeting in this county held in Pomfret, April 11th. Samuel Sinclear, chairman; D. Sterne Houghton, secretary.

In 1815, the republicans nominated Daniel McCleary, of Buffalo, and Elias Osborn, of Clarence, for the assembly. The federalists nominated James Prendergast, of Chautauqua, and Daniel Chapin, of Buffalo. There was this year a small federal majority in this county. The district was republican.

PARTIES IN NEW YORK.

Next in the order of the birth of parties which divided the people of this county, were the Bucktails and the Clintonians. These, however, were not national parties, but were confined to the state of New York. Hostilities between the two old parties had ceased, if, indeed, they could be said to have an existence. The federalists had, by their opposition to the war, become quite unpopular. Their weakness may be imagined from the presi- dential election of 1816. Of the presidential electors chosen that year, Mr. Monroe received 183, and Rufus King, the federal candidate, but 34. Mr. Monroe received for reelection, 213 of the 214 votes cast by the electors, there being no longer any federal organization. In April, 1820, about the time of the election, forty-eight of the leading federalists published a mani- festo, in which they assigned their reasons for dissolving their connection with the party, and changing their party relations. Being gentlemen of high respectability, they were long spoken of as the " forty-eight high-minded." Most of them, if not all, joined the bucktails. The rank and file of the federalists, having been deserted by their leaders, felt at liberty to go where they pleased. Some of them followed their leaders ; others attached them- selves to the fortunes of De Witt Clinton.

Mr. Clinton was an early and ardent republican, and a man of great ability ; and, having taken an early and decided stand in favor of the construction of the canals, which made him popular, especially in the western part of the state, he had become the head and leader of a strong party, called Clintoni- ans. The origin of the name of the other party is not so well known. Hon. Samuel A. Brown, in a public lecture at Jamestown, in 1843, gave it as follows :

" In the city of New York, a political party had existed for many years, by the name of the Tammany Society, so called in honor of a noted Indian chief. These Tammanies erected Tammany Hall, or the wigwam, as they sometimes called it. This society had its auxiliaries throughout the state ; and its influence was felt even in Chautauqua. They called their officers by

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aboriginal names, and on festival days wore the Indian costume, and among other peculiarities, wore a real buck's tail on the hat."

We have in these local political conflicts a striking illustration of the mutability of party associations. In 1812, as has been stated, having been an unwavering republican, and a thorough-going friend and advocate of a war with Great Britain, Mr. Clinton was nominated as a candidate for presi- dent by the republican members of the legislature of this state, under the leadership of Martin Van Buren, Samuel Young, and others ; now [1820] we find two parties, composed alike of republicans and federalists, arrayed against each other, the one under the lead of Mr. Clinton ; the other under that of Mr. Van Buren.

Mr. Clinton, who had been elected governor in 1817, without any material opposition, in the place of Mr. Tompkins, elected vice-president of the United States, was nominated, in 1820, for reelection ; and Mr. Tompkins, whose official term as vice president was near its close, was nominated by the bucktails. A spirited contest ensued, which resulted in the election of Mr. Clinton. He received 47,447 votes in the state ; Mr. Tompkins, 45,990- majority for Clinton, 1,457. In this county, Clinton, 744; Tompkins, 455 -Clinton's majority, 289. The light vote is accounted for by the fact, that only freeholders were entitled to vote for governor and senators under the first constitution of the state. Mr. Clinton held the office but two years of the three years for which he was elected. His term commenced the Ist of January, 1821. A new constitution, made the same year, required the elec- tion of new officers the next year, when Joseph C. Yates was elected, who came into office the Ist of January, 1823.

In a review of the manifesto, or address of the "forty-eight high-minded " federalists, Mr. Hammond, in his Political History of New York, notices them substantially thus :

"They affirm that the federal party whose principles they approve, no longer exists. They approve the administration of the general government ; affirin that the federalists have now 'no ground of principle,' on which to stand ; and therefore declare their intention to unite with the great republican party of the state and Union. They do not object to the character or measures of Mr. Clinton, but allege that he is attempting to form 'a personal party.' The absurdity of the address appears from the fact, that Mr. Van Buren and his friends also approved his measures, and admitted his talents and virtues, but opposed him solely because the federal party did exist in the state, and that Mr. Clinton was secretly inclined to favor it; yet the high- minded gentlemen opposed him because, as they alleged, the federal party did not exist ; and they joined the party that held the contrary position. * * The anti-Clintonian party, which now fairly deserved to be called the repub- lican party, succeeded in electing a majority of the members of assembly, and in two of the senatorial districts; notwithstanding which, Mr. Clinton was reelected by a majority of 1,457 votes."

The election of Mr. Clinton, while a majority of the legislature elected were his political opponents, was ascribed to the misfortune of Mr. Tompkins in having lost, or having never taken, vouchers for large sums of money

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which were disbursed by him while governor, during the war, and for which he was unable to account. Although it was generally believed he had appropriated no portion of the money fraudulently to his own use, his in- ability to account for all the moneys, was turned by his opponents to his disadvantage. But what probably contributed most to Mr. Clinton's own success, was his able, zealous, and uniform support of the canal policy. This gained for him a strong vote in the counties most directly interested in the completion of the canals.

, By the election of Gov. Yates, the party opposed to Gov. Clinton had ob- tained entire control of the state government, and doubtless anticipated a long and uninterrupted possession of it. They could, soon after their accession to power, have had no premonition of the political reverse which awaited them. The presidential election of 1824 was approaching. The federal party was defunct ; and there were no questions of national policy to divide the repub- licans. In the selection of candidates, they were simply divided upon men. Many were named as candidates ; but the number was diminished to four : John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William H. Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. It had been the practice front and including the year 1804, for the republican members of Congress to meet during the last session prior to the next presidential election, to nominate candidates for president and vice- president. These congressional caucuses had at length become unpopular with the party. The meeting in 1824 was held on the 14th of February. Of the 258 republican members, only 68 attended. Of the votes of these, William H. Crawford received 64.

The presidential electors were not chosen then as now, in this state, by a general ticket, and voted for by the people ; but they were chosen by the legislature. Mr. Van Buren was in favor of the election of Mr. Crawford ; and it was apprehended that he might influence a majority of the members to vote for electors in favor of Mr. Crawford. To prevent this, a bill was introduced in the legislature of 1824, proposing to give to the people the right to choose the electors of president and vice-president. And notwithstanding a large majority of the members of the assembly were republicans, the " electoral bill " passed that house, and was sent to the senate for concur- rence, where it was defeated by a vote of 17 to 14. It should be stated, that the question of changing the mode of choosing the electors was agitated before the election of the members of the legislature in the fall of 1823; and that a large portion of them were pledged to vote for the pro- posed change. The republicans who were opposed to Mr. Crawford, to a congressional caucus, and to Mr. Van Buren and the Albany Regency, assumed to themselves the name of the " People's Party." [Albany Regency was a name given to the leaders of the democratic party at Albany.]

The defeat of the electoral bill caused such a popular excitement as has rarely been witnessed in this state. The seventeen senators who voted against the bill were the particular objects of the displeasure of the friends of the bill; and to render them as odious as possible, their names were

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published in the newspapers, and surrounded by heavy black lines. They were for years spoken of as the "infamous seventeen."

The opposition to the electoral law was one of the acts of the dominant party which brought upon it the " reverses " before alluded to. Another act having a similar effect, soon followed. On the last day of the session, and within about an hour before the time fixed for the adjournment of both houses, a senator introduced a resolution for the removal of De Witt Clinton from the office of canal commissioner. The resolution was hurried to its passage, and received the votes of all the senators except three. It was forthwith sent to the assembly, where it was passed hastily by a vote of 64 to 34. Mr. Clinton had taken early ground in favor of the canal policy against a powerful opposition, and had aided in bringing the Erie canal near its com- pletion, and had served faithfully as commissioner from 1810, fourteen years, without any compensation. It was evident that the object was to degrade him, and to weaken or destroy his political influence. This act caused an excitement throughout the state more intense than did the defeat of the electoral law. Public meetings were held in many places, and resolutions passed denouncing the act in the most severe terms.

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