USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. I > Part 52
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461
CONGRESS OF 1774.
But the people of America had been taught the efficacy of con- gresses ; and, in 1734, a third was convened, of governours of colo- nies and commissioners, who met at Albany, as we have seen, for the protection of the frontiers. But a fourth, and more memorable congress, consisting of commissioners from seven colonies, was called together by the lords commissioners of trade and plantations in England, to devise means for defence, in case of war with France. They, too, met at Albany ; and having more extensive views of future benefit than those who congregated them, they proposed arti- cles of confederation for the colonies in peace and war; they re- solved that union was necessary for their preservation ; proposed a plan of federal government, by a council of delegates, to meet every three years, with a president chosen by England, who, and the king, eventually decided by a veto on peace or war with the Indians. This council was to have power over new settlements purchased of the natives, build forts, equip vessels, make laws, and raise taxes for necessary purposes. This congress laid the foun- dation of our liberties, although the plan was rejected, not only by England, but by all the colonial legislatures. The men who formed this congress, were before their age. The people were jealous of the power to be given to the king ; and the government of Eng- land saw that such a confederacy would show the people their power. The plan was Benjamin Franklin's. He said, in 1671, that a union of the colonies could only be effected by the most grievous tyranny on the part of England. But a great lesson had been taught by the congress of 1754; and another, the fifth, met in 1765. It had now become habitual with the Americans. The attempt to raise a revenue by the stamp act, assembled this congress at the City of New York, in October ; and they promulgated a bill of rights, declaring the sole power of taxation resided in the colo- nial legislatures. England had asserted an unqualified right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.
We have seen that the colonies generally resisted or evaded by every indirect means, the operation of the British navigation acts ; but the congress of 1774 were willing to submit to these trammels, provided they could free their country-free the bonds which Lord Chatham and all the English politicians declared they had a right to and would enforce upon America. This congress declared, that as the people of the colonies could not be represented in the British parliament, they were entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures in all cases of tax- ation and internal policy, subject only to the negative of the sove- reign.
Grievances, as we have seen, multiplied ; and in September, 1774, that congress of delegates from twelve colonies met in Phila- delphia, which established the mode of attaining future liberty.
462
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.
They were directed " to meet and consult together, for the com- mon welfare." The noble stand they took-their declaratory resolutions-their call upon the country to resist the pretensions of
Britain, and renounce all commerce with her until secured 1775 in their rights, we have seen, as far as our history will allow ; and in May, 1775, the congress met in Philadelphia which, by the junction of Georgia, constituted thirteen united colonies, soon to become independent states.
1776 The articles of confederation, which are the objects of my present consideration, were taken into consideration on the 11th of June, 1776, almost a month before the declaration of independence; but they were not fully completed, for some years. However, congress was guided by them ; and with all their faults, they were found, aided by the pressure of invasive war, to keep the states together, until peace gave an opportunity to remedy their defects.
Most of the states ratified the articles of confederation proposed by Congress, with promptitude ; but Delaware did not accede to them until 1779, and Maryland rejected them, instructing her dele- gates to withhold their assent until it was agreed to appropriate the unpatented lands in the western parts of the union, as a common fund for the expense of the war. The Legislature of New York consented to a release of the unsettled lands in the western part of the state, for the use and benefit of such of the United States as should be members of the federal alliance, and to resign the juris- diction as well as the pre-emption over hier waste and uncultivated territory. The articles of confederation were promulgated in 1778, and Maryland at length acceded to them on the 1st of 177S March, 17SL. They were but, says Kent, a digest, and even a limitation, in the shape of a written compact, of , those undefined and discretionary sovereign powers which were delegated by the people of the colonies to Congress in 1775. It was not the mere results founded on the declaration of indepen- dence.
The imbecility of the confederation, was owing mainly to the want of a judicial and executive power. Congress had exclusive rights of peace and war; to make unlimited requisitions of men and mo- ney ; but the decrees of congress were carried to the states in their sovereign capacities. This defect overthrew, as it had overthrown all confederacies which had adopted the same principle. Disobe- dience to the requisition could only be enforced by arms. To submit to the non-compliance, cast congress into contempt ; to enforce, dissolved the confederacy. The histories of Greece, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, show us civil war as the result of such powers remaining in the separate members of the confederated body. Congress consisting of but one body of men,
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463
' THEIR INEFFICIENCY.
or one house, was an unfit depositary for greater powers than those they possessed, however inadequate they were to the purposes in- tended. The state legislatures refused the power to Congress to levy and collect a general impost, and however unfortunate this appeared at the time, it is considered now to have been exceed- ingly fortunate ; as the denial of that right in its consequences pro- duced the necessity of a more competent compact. Congress was restricted from any constructive assumption of power. The con- federation was likewise defective, inasmuch as power was not given to Congress to interfere in contests between the states, and to pro- tect each state from internal violence and rebellion. It was an un- skilful and incompetent fabrick, and almost as soon as it was formed the states began to fail in obedience to its laws and requisitions; and as peace appeared near, the neglect increased, and the inhe- rent imbecility of the general government became rapidly and alarmingly apparent. In vain did thie skilful and able financier, Robert Morris, strive to infuse energy into the powers of the lan- guishing government : requisitions from the states were found to be delusive, and liis appeal to the honour of the separate sovereigns, was found as unavailing, as they were just and eloquent. Claims to territory, and the profits of trade, were daily interfering : attach- ments were becoming enmities-distress and humiliation were rapidly advancing ; and Great Britain looked on and exulted. In short, says the Federalist, " Each state, yielding to the voice of immediate interest or convenience, successively withdrew its sup- port from the confederation, till the frail and tottering edifice was ready to fall upon our heads, and to crush us beneath its ruins."
John C. Hamilton, in the life of his father,* claims for Col. Alex- ander Hamilton, in the year 1780, and at the early age of twenty- three, while actively engaged as an aid to General Washington, a just conception of the defects of the articles of coufederation, and a proposition for a national government, clothied in powers requisite to the exigencies of the country. In 1786, Virginia proposed a convention to rescue America from ruin and disgrace. In the meantime, the war with Great Britain had been triumphantly ter- minated by the virtues of individuals struggling against a feeble government-a powerful adversary without, and treason covert and open within.
Chancellor Kent remarks, that the resistance kept pace with the parliamentary impositions, and was constantly growing in strength, activity, and determined purpose, until it was consummated by the permanent union of the colonies, in 1774. But this congress, in the spirit of conciliation, notwithstanding its firmness in opposition
* Vol. 1, pp. 284-305.
464
CONTROVERSY WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE.
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to aggression, declared that from the necessity of the case, and in regard to the mutual interests of both countries, they cheerfully consented to the operation of such acts of the British parliament as were bona fide restrained to the regulation of their external com- merce for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial be- nefits of its respective members : excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for the purpose of raising a revenue on the subjects of America without their consent .*
It must be remembered that the articles were a confederation of states, and were penned by Dickenson, who declined the declara- tion of independence. The articles were presented to congress a few days after the declaration of independance. At the same time the affair of New Hampshire grants, occupied the legislature of New York.
It will be necessary to take up the subject of the disputes be- tween the settlers under the New Hampshire grants, which we . have already considered in their commencement. Actions of ejectinent were commenced in the courts of New York, against such settlers under the authority of Wentworth, as did not com- ply with the requisition to take out new grants under the province to which the territory belonged. The governour, says Mr. Wil- liams, in his History of Vermont, and some of the leading men in New York, availed themselves of this state of things, and carried on a profitable trade in grants, deriving much more enormous pro- fits by renewing grants, than the governour of New Hampshire had acquired by making the first.
Lieutenant-governour Colden called out the militia to support the sheriff in his endeavours to enforce the laws : but their assis- tance was unwillingly given, as many men knew that it was, in part at least, a dispute for the benefit of land speculators-the she- riff's power was resisted, and the settlers were encouraged in their defiance to legal process. Ethan Allen and Seth Warner were leaders of the opposition : men of very opposite characters of whom I shall have particularly to speak in the sequel.
In 1767, upon a representation made by the court of Great Bri- - tain, the king sent his order to the Lieutenant-governour of New York, then, Sir Henry Moore, to cease making grants in this dis- puted territory, until his majesty's further pleasure should be known.
Tryon having been appointed governour of New York in 1772, wrote to the Reverend Mr. Dewy, and the inhabitants of Benning- ton, May 19th, inviting them to lay before him the causes of their
· Journals of Congress.
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465
CONTROVERSY WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE.
illegal proceedings, and assuring them of his favourable considera- tion. He invited them to send any persons as deputies to him, that had their confidence, except Allen and Warner.
Captain Stephen Fay, and Mr. Jonas Fay, were the deputies sent to Governour Tryon, and on their return, they reported that the governour and council would cause the suspension of all pro- secutions, and recommend to the owners of all contested lands - under the grants from New York, to put a stop to all civil suits, until his majesty's pleasure should be known.
1774 Notwithstanding the apparently conciliatory measures suggested by Governour Tryon in 1772, respecting the dispute with the New Hampshire grants, so virulent had the ani- mosity between the contending parties become at the commence -. ment of 1774, that in March, the government of New York passed an act making it a capital offence in any of the persons, then in a state of insurrection, against the laws of New York, not to surrender himself to the order of the governour and council within seventy days from the publication of said order. All crimes committed within the grants, were by this act subject to be tried by the courts at Albany. The governour of New York, by proclamation, offered . a reward of fifty pounds for apprehending Ethan Allen, Seth War- , ner, and six others.
By reference to the proclamation issued by Governour Tryon on the 11th of December, 1771, it will be seen, that in 1750, the go- vernour of New Hampshire declined entering into a dispute with New York respecting this territory, when the foundation of the rights of this province were stated to him, but proposed a reference to the king ; that although the said governour had then granted one township due north of the Massachusetts line, and twenty-four miles east of Albany, and could vacate the grant he had made, yet, if it should fall by his majesty's determination, within the government of New York, it would be void of course. Notwith- standing this proposal, accepted by New York, and the reference, New Hampshire continued the encroachments-New York warned the intruders by proclamation-the king decided in favour of New York, the 20th day of July, 1764-the decision was published and the king's order made known. Still New Hampshire continued the aggression ; and by this proclamation of 1771, Tryon notified all persons on this territory to demean themselves accordingly, or take the legal consequences. The act of 1774, above mentioned, is only the natural consequence of the foregoing. .
At a general meeting of the committee for the townships on the west side of the Green Mountains, April 14th, 1774, it was re- solved, to oppose force to the execution of the laws of New York, and to hold themselves in readiness so to do, but to act on the de- fensive. The persons proscribed gave notice, that they would VOL. I. 59
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466
CONTROVERSY WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE.
kill and destroy any person that should presume to aid or assist in the apprehension of any of them.
A plan was formed by the leaders to have the New Hampshire grants formed into a royal government, distinct from that of New York; and Philip Skeene, a colonel in the British army, who owned large tracts near Lake Champlain, and from whom the settlement at the head of the lake, (now Whitehall) was long called Skeenesborough, was sent to England, and procured him- self to be appointed governour of Crown Point and Ticonderoga ; he proposed to call upon the inhabitants of the grants for an address -he probably anticipating the dignity of a king's governour over an American province. But the time had arrived when even those who held such authoritative offices were trembling on their seats of state.
In September, 1774, the congress of representatives from the colonies, advised the people of America to maintain their liberties, and the courts of justice, held under the royal authority were in many instances shut up.
1775 On the 13th of March, 1775, a court was to have been held at Westminster, in Cumberland county ; but at an early hour some of the inhabitants of that, and the neighbouring counties, took possession of the court-house and refused admittance to the judges and other officers. That night, the sheriff with armed force attemped to gain possession of the seat of justice : they were re- fused admittance : some of the party fired into the house ; one man was killed and others wounded. A coroner's inquest pro- nounced the act, murder, and some of the sheriff's officers were seized and conveyed to Northampton, and there confined. The chief justice of New York demanded these men and they were liberated.
On the 11th of April following, a body of people met at Westminster, and resolved, that it was the duty of the inhabitants to renounce and resist the government of New York, until their lives and pro- perty could be secured by it, or until the interference of his majes- ty's government could be obtained for their redress : they expressed their desire to be annexed to some other government, or erected into a new one. So stood affairs when the news of hostilities at Lex- ington arrived, and the pugnacious propensities of the Green Mountain boys found another vent.
There was a strange confusion in the government of the city. The continental congress in Philadelphia had appointed generals, and directed the raising of troops. Their armies were pressing upon the king's forces in Boston, and invading Canada ; while in other provinces, the king's authority was acknowledged, and de- pendence on England professed. In no place was this appearance of mingled authority and "half-faced fellowship" more conspicuous
467
PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
than in the city of New York. The Connecticut troops, under Ge- neral Wooster, encamped on the island. The governour of the pro- vince dissolved the general assembly, by orders issued from ships . of war in the harbour, " with the advice of his majesty's council." He likewise gave notice to the inhabitants that the ships of war were ordered to treat them as rebels, if any violence were offered to his majesty's officers, or any bodies of men raised and armed, or any fortifications erected, &c. The provincial congress re- solved, that every person, not an inhabitant, should show a certifi- cate that he was friendly to the liberties of America, or in default thereof, be treated as an enemy. The committee announced that the city " has become a scene of confusion and distress, occasioned by an apprehension of unmerited hostilities that will shortly be commenced by the ships of war lying in this harbour ;" that the poor are abandoning their habitations, flying the town, and taking refuge where they can find it. They call upon the neighbouring people to receive them, and afford them relief. About this time, the British being forced to abandon Boston, were expected here in force. American troops were pouring in ; and on the same day, Major-general Charles Lee, of the continental army, arrived in the city, and Sir Henry Clinton sailed into the harbour in an English ship of war, attended by some transports with soldiers, and other armed vessels.
1776 In March, 1776, some of the manœuvres of the gover- nour convinced the provincial congress in New York that he had intelligence, from a spy, of their debates and transactions ; and Mr. James Duane, a member of that body, suspected that his ralet, who had formerly been a servant with Tryon, might have taken his minutes of the congressional proceedings from his pocket at night, when he went to bed, copied them, and sent the copy to his late master, on board the English fleet. Mr. Duane informed the pro- vincial congress of his suspicions, and proposed to put fictitious minutes in his pocket. This was done : and 'T'ryon being misled, 'acted accordingly ; but he soon found that he had been imposed upon by the servant, or that his spy had been outwitted, and he gave him notice accordingly. The traitor finding that he was dis- covered, fled, and found means to put himself under the protection of the governour, who sent him off to England.
In the meantime, General Washington, having freed Boston from the enemy, sent Charles Lee to New York, and prepared to follow. Lee found that some of the people of the city seeined to have great dread of the guns of the Asia man-of-war, at the same time that others committed acts of hostility when- ever her boats were beyond protection of her guns. On one occasion, they destroyed the ship's barge ; but the magistrates had another built to replace it. This, when finished, was likewise de-
468
THE ASIA FIRES ON THE CITY.
stroyed ; upon which the provincial congress published the follow- ing : "Resolved, whereas the barge ordered to be built to replace the one belonging to his majesty's ship Asia, lately destroyed, was, when finished, sawed to pieces in the night by some disorderly persons," the magistrates are required to procure another " to be built in this city," and all persons are enjoined to forbear from injuring it. Whether this was complied with, does not appear ; but soon after the above resolve, something like open hostilities commenced between the man-of-war and the citizens. The pro- vincial congress having directed that the cannon should be removed from the Battery, Captain Lamb with his company, and a number of the people, armed and unarmed, proceeded thither on the night of the 23d of August, and while part remained under arms, others were busy in accomplishing the work intended. The redoubted Asia lay off with her broadside presented to the town, and her barge was perceived nearer in shore, as if watching the motions of those on the Battery. It will be recollected that Tryon was per- mitted to remain on shore, and had been received with honours and compliments on his arrival. From his agents, the captain of the man-of-war knew all that passed. A musket was discharged from the English barge, which drew a volley upon her from the shore, and killed one of her crew. The barge pushed for the ship, and on her arrival, a cannonading with eighteen and twenty-four pounders commenced ; first, as stated, three guns, and then a broadside. The houses near the Battery were riddled, but little further damage done ; and the citizens finished the work of remo- ving all the guns. The drums beat to arms ; the men turned out, many supposing the expected forces of the enemy were landing. The women and children fled for safety, some that night, and many more next day. On the 24th, the day after this cannonade, Cap- tain Vandeput, commander of the Asia, sent a letter to Whitehead Hicks, Esquire, the mayor of the city, and the magistrates, saying, that having information of the intention to remove the guns, he sent a boat to lie near shore and watch; that the officer having command, seeing the movements on shore, left his station to give notice according to orders, and had been fired upon, and one of the men shot dead. " My duty, he proceeds, called upon me to repel an attack of this sort, as well as to defend the guns, which occasioned me to fire upon the battery." He says, he does not wish to do hurt; but if the people persist in behaving in such a manner, the mischief must be at their doors. On the same day, Captain Vandeput (not considering that the mayor must call to- gether the corporation, have his letter read to them, and take their sense on it, before returning an answer,) despatched another manifesto to the city authorities, repeating the complaints of the first, requiring "due satisfaction for these high misdemeanors : and
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469
TRYON'S PROCEEDINGS.
threatening, that if an answer to this second warning is not returned as soon as may reasonably be expected, he shall take such mea- sures as may seem necessary." The mayor, that afternoon, by letter, promises him an answer next morning ; but before he has time so to do, receives a third epistle from Vandeput, dated the 25th, requiring an answer "on the receipt of this." Mr. Hicks, in return, complains of the shot fired from the boat, and states that the firing from the shore was only in return. The cap- tain immediately replies, that the shot from his boat, was a signal. gun to the ship ; that it was his duty to defend every part of the king's stores ; and to the mayor's assertion that he could not see how it was the captain's duty to fire upon the city, nor account for his inducement " half an hour after the return of his boat, and the removal of the cannon, for firing a broadside on the town at large," Vandeput, in reply, says the broadside was fired because he heard huzzas, and to prevent the removal of the guns, and not to injure the city. He, however, says he shall persist in his duty ; but, if possible, avoid doing hurt to any one.
On the 29th of August, the provincial congress issued an order saying, that in consequence of the Asia's firing upon the town and wounding three of his majesty's subjects, and doing other inju- ries, Mr. Abraham Lott, the contractor supplying his majesty's navy, do send said supplies to Governour's Island, to be taken from thence by the ship's crew. And no person is to interrupt such supplies ; and congress will pursue every prudent and proper measure to obtain redress and prevent further injury.
Still, however, the king's governour remained in New York, or the neighbourhood, and the common council seemed to wish his continuance, although it was known that he was encouraging resist- ance to the American cause. On the 13th of October, Tryon, in consequence of some notification, or suspicion, wrote to the mayor, saying that the continental congress had recommended to the pro- vincial congress of New York to seize him; and he places himself under the protection of the mayor and corporation. At the same time he threatens that if he is made prisoner, Captain Vandeput, of the Asia, would demand him and enforce the demand. To avoid this, he says, if it is the wish of the citizens, he will embark ; and requests that any interruption to his embarkation, or the removal of his property, may be prevented. He was answered, that upon his letter being read, the members of the corporation expressed themselves in terms of the strongest affection to him, and are disin- clined to his removal from the capital of the province; that the city committee desires the continuance of his residence ; and the mayor adds, " I have not the least doubt of your enjoying the most ample protection."
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