USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 24
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10. The whole number of school districts in the State, as ap- peared from the annual report of the acting Superintendent, was 10,886, and the number of children under instruction over six hundred thousand. The whole amount of money ex- pended during the preceding year for the payment of the wages of teachers was upwards of one million of dollars, of which about one half was contributed by parents on rate bills, and the residue from the public funds. There were upwards of six hundred and thirty thousand volumes in the several district- school libraries of the State.
11. The Acting Superintendent of Common Schools (S. S. RAN- DALL) recommended such a modification of the system of public education in New York City as would combine the acknowledged excellency of that system, as administered by the Public-School Society, with its extension to that large class of children now virtually excluded from its benefits, thus fully carrying out the enlightened views of the Governor in this respect, while preserv- ing the system from the perils of sectarian influences. AZARIAH
Colleges, academies, and common schools. - Revenue of the canals. - State debt. - Cost of internal improvements. - Taxable valuation of the State. - Condition of the schools. - Report of Superintendent.
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252
SEVENTH PERIOD.
C. FLAGG was, on the 7th of February, elected Comptroller : SAMUEL YOUNG, Secretary of State and Superintendent of Com mon Schools ; and GEORGE P. BARKER, of Erie, Attorney-Genera !.
12. The financial condition of the State at this time was such as to excite general apprehension and alarm. Heavy loans had become necessary in order to discharge the pressing claims upon the treasury for the payment of contractors and laborers on the numerous public works in progress ; and a temporary suspension of those works, and the imposition of a State tax of one mil! on the dollar, were recommended by the Comptroller as the only means of extrication from these embarrassments. Bills were accordingly reported, in accordance with these views, in both: branches of the Legislature ; and, after full discussion, an act embodying these provisions became a law on the 29th of March.
13. On the 11th of April the two Houses adopted a joint resolution in reference to the Virginia controversy, declaring that stealing a slave, contrary to the laws of Virginia, was a crime within the meaning of the Constitution, and directing the Governor to transmit such resolution to the Executive of that State. Governor SEWARD, on the ensuing day, transmitted a message, in which, after reiterating his previous views on the subject, he declined a compliance with the directions of the Legislature, accompanied by the suggestion that some other agent than himself should be selected as the organ of com- munication. The Legislature, without taking further action in the matter, adjourned to the 16th of August for the division of the State into congressional districts.
14. Previous to the adjournment, however, an act was passed, authorizing the election of two commissioners in each of the wards of the city of New York, constituting a Board of Education in that city, with authority to establish schools, and, in conjunction with the Public School Society, to pro- vide the requisite facilities for the instruction of the children therein. Under this act, several additional schools were organ- ized, and two independent systems of public schools were in operation.
State officers. - Financial condition of the State. - Suspension of public - works. - State tax. - The Virginia controversy. - Joint resolution of the Legislature. - Message of the Governor.
253
ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM C. BOUCK.
15. During the summer and fall of this year, WILLIAM C. BOUCK, of Schoharie, was renominated by the Democratic State Convention as a candidate for Governor, and DANIEL S. DICK- INSON, of Broome, for Lieutenant-Governor. LUTHER BRADISH, of Franklin, received the Whig nomination for Governor, and GABRIEL FURMAN, of New York, for Lieutenant-Governor. On the 4th of July the celebration of the. completion of the Croton Aqueduct, for the supply of water to the city of New York, took place in that city with imposing ceremonies.
16. The November elections resulted in the complete triumph of the Democratic party, by a majority of nearly twenty-two thousand for Colonel Bouck and Mr. DICKINSON over the Whig candidates, and the return of a large Democratic majority in both branches of the Legislature. ALVAN STEWART, of Oneida, received about seven thousand votes as the candidate of the Abolitionists for Governor.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM C. BOUCK. - GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. - STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. - ENLARGEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL. - ANTI-RENT DISTURBANCES.
1. GOVERNOR BOUCK's first message, in January, 1843, 1843. took strong grounds in favor of the legislative interpre- tation of the principles involved in the Virginia controversy, and of the policy of a gradual resumption of the public works of internal improvement, including the Erie Canal enlargement. LYMAN SANFORD, of Schoharie, was appointed Adjutant-General ; HENRY STORMS, of New York, Commissary-General ; and EDWIN CROSWELL was reappointed State Printer. SILAS WRIGHT Was, on the 7th of February, re-elected United States Senator for the ensuing six years.
2. Several years previous the Governor had, by law, been directed to cause a geological survey of the State to be made. and the results of such survey, under the direction of eminent
Election of Governor Bouck. - Governor's message. - Adjutant-General. - State Printer. - United States Senator. - Geological survey of the State.
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SEVENTH PERIOD.
State geologists appointed for that purpose, to be published. During the preceding session, the geologists, including Professors BECK, JAMES HALL, and EBENEZER EMMONS, of Albany, had for- warded elaborate reports of their proceedings, in ten volumes, accompanied with suitable illustrations and engravings, to the Legislature ; and three thousand copies of each were ordered to be printed, and deposited with the Secretary of State for distri- bution to the State officers and members of the Legislature.
3. Colonel YOUNG, Secretary of State, on the 13th of March of the present year transmitted a communication to the Sen- ate, declining to carry out the provisions of this act, decming it unconstitutional on the ground that it had failed to receive the assent of two thirds of all the members elected to each House. He also commented, with great asperity, upon similar
- violations of the Constitution by the Legislature in the creation of State stocks and the grants of public money. "Millions of outstanding stocks," he observed, "are now impending over the State, which were created by laws in clear and direct hostility with the plain provisions of the Constitution ; null and void in their inception, and imposing not even the shadow of a moral obligation for the fulfilment of their ostensible demands."
4. On the reception of this communication an excited debate sprung up, followed by the offer of several resolutions, declar- atory of the obligations of the State sacredly to fulfil all its contracts, without regard to any technical informality in their inception. Lieutenant-Governor DICKINSON, in giving his cast- ing vote on these resolutions, reviewed with great severity and ability the positions assumed by the Secretary of State, and an angry newspaper controversy was for some time kept up between these two officers. The Secretary, however, during the continu- ance of his official term, steadfastly maintained his determination to decline a compliance with the law.
5. Mr. CALVIN T. HULBURD, of St. Lawrence, Chairman of the Committee on Colleges, Academies, and Common Schools, sub- mitted to the Assembly an able report, recommending various improvements and modifications of the common-school system, in accordance with the suggestions of Superintendent Youxe in
Communication of Colonel Young. - Controversy between the Lieutenant- Governor and Secretary. - Report on common schools.
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255
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
his annual report, all of which, with the exception of one for the establishment of a State Normal School for the education of teachers, were, on the 16th of April, approved by the Legis- lature, and incorporated into the law; after which the Legis- lature adjourned.
6. During the spring of this year, the death of SMITH THOMP- sox, of the United States Supreme Court, occurred at his resi- dence in Poughkeepsie, and suitable testimonials of his high character and eminent services, both to the State and Union, were offered. The Hon. SAMUEL NELSON, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, was appointed by the President as his successor. The November elections resulted in a renewed triumph of the Democratic party in both branches of the Legis- lature.
7. On the reassembling of the Legislature in January, 1844. 1844, Governor BoucK stated the public debt of the State at $ 23,847,162, requiring an annual interest of $ 1,377,261. The revenue from the canals during the preceding year was about two millions of dollars. A cautious and economical pro- gress in the public works was recommended ; and a gratifying exhibit submitted of the prosperity and advancement of the common schools and other literary and charitable institutions of the State. SAMUEL BEARDSLEY, of Oneida, was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, in the place of ESEK COWEN, deceased.
8. Mr. HULBURD, from the Committee on Colleges, Academies and Common Schools, on the 22d of March submitted a report recommending the establishment and organization of a State Normal School at Albany for the education and proper prepa- ration of teachers ; on the 7th of May thereafter, an act was passed in accordance with the report ; and on the 1st of June, the Superintendent of Common Schools, SAMUEL YOUNG, ALONZO POTTER, WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL, GIDEON HAWLEY, and FRANCIS DWIGHT, were appointed an Executive Committee,
Amendments of the school-law. - Death of Judge Thompson. - Appoint- ment of Chief-Justice Nelson as Judge of the United States Supreme Court - Legislature of 1844. - Governor's message. - Public debt. - Canal rev- enues. - Common schools. - Judge of Supreme Court. - State Normal School.
256
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SEVENTH PERIOD.
for the organization and management of such school. DAVID P. PAGE, of Massachusetts, was appointed Principal, and the school was opened on the 18th of December.
9. On the 23d of April, HORATIO SEYMOUR, of Oneida, from the Assembly Committee on Canals and Internal Improvements. made an able report, concluding with the introduction of a bill authorizing and directing the Canal Commissioners to proceed with the enlargement of the Erie Canal, to such extent as the interests of the State might require, and the means at its dis- posal justify. This bill, after mature consideration, received the sanction of both branches of the Legislature, and became a law. A loan of nine hundred thousand dollars was also authorized for the payment of canal damages, and the fulfilment of contracts.
10. Joint resolutions of both Houses were adopted, providing for such amendments of the Constitution as should provide that no expenditures for internal improvements, or other public pur- poses, should thereafter be made, without the appropriation of specific funds, by State tax or otherwise, for defraying their cost, and the assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the Legislature ; to prohibit the removal of judi- cial officers, except for cause ; for the abolition of property qualifications for any elective office ; and for the appointment of additional chancellors and justices of the Supreme Court. An act was also passed, restricting the number of Canal Commis- sioners to four, and making them elective by the people.
11. On the 27th of May the national Democratic conven- tion at Baltimore placed in nomination JAMES K. POLK of Tennessee for President, and GEORGE M. DALLAS of Pennsyl- vania for Vice- President. HENRY CLAY of Kentucky and THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN of New Jersey were the candidates of the Whig party. President VAN BUREN's refusal to commit himself in favor of the annexation of Texas to the United States was supposed to have prevented his renomination. JAMES G. BIRNEY was the candidate of the Abolitionists.
12. During the winter of this year, serious disturbances had occurred in consequence of the refusal of the tenants of the late patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, to fulfil the obligations
Enlargement of the Erie Canal. - Proposed amendments of the Consti- tution. - Nomination for the presidency.
257
ANTI-RENT DISTURBANCES.
of their respective leases. In many instances the interference of the military became necessary for the enforcement of legal process for this purpose, and numerous outrages upon the officers of the laws were committed. In the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Delaware, Columbia, and Greene, an organized re- sistance to these demands was made, and legal process was openly set at defiance.
13. Independently, however, of those citizens who thus ar- rayed themselves in open opposition to the enforcement of the laws, a very large proportion of the residents on the Van Rens- selaer manor felt themselves seriously aggrieved by the de- mands of their present landlords, under the provisions of ancient leases, which for more than a century had been suffered to lie in abeyance, and the revival and enforcement of which, after so long a period, threatened them with inevitable ruin. They demanded legislative relief from this state of things, and carried their grievances to the polls.
14. In addition to this political organization, whose increas- ing numbers gave to it a prominent influence, the Native- American party suddenly sprang into existence at about this period, and from a local importance, occasioned by the great influx of foreigners to the city of New York, and their weight in the election of city officers, soon diffused itself over the State and nation. Its political aim was the exclusion from public office of all persons of foreign birth.
15. At the November elections, SILAS WRIGHT, of St. Law- rence, was elected Governor, and ADDISON GARDINER of Mon- roe, late Judge of the Eighth Circuit, Lieutenant-Governor, by a large majority, over MILLARD FILLMORE of Erie and SAMUEL J. WILKIN of Orange, together with a decided Democratic ma- jority in both Houses of the Legislature. JAMES K. POLK and GEORGE M. DALLAS, after an animated and exciting political campaign, were elected President and Vice-President of the United States, by electoral majorities of sixty-five, over HENRY CLAY and Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN.
16. In consequence of the resignation of Senators WRIGHT
Anti-Rent disturbances - Anti-Rent and Native-American parties. - Election of Silas Wright as Governor, and Addison Gardiner, Lieutenant- Governor. - Presidential election.
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258
SEVENTH PERIOD.
and TALLMADGE, Governor Bouck, in December, appointed HENRY A. FOSTER of Oneida, and Lieutenant-Governor DANIEL S. DICKINSON, of Broome, as United States Senators, for the unexpired terms respectively. The proposed amendments to the Constitution in reference to the prosecution of the public works, and the finances of the State, and other objects, having received the approval of a majority of the people at the recent election, were again remitted to the ensuing Legislature for final adoption.
CHAPTER IX.
ADMINISTR .: TION OF SILAS WRIGHT. - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. - CANAL ENLARGEMENT. - COMMON SCHOOLS. - ANTI-RENT OUT- RAGES. - PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW. - TRIAL AND CONVIC- TION OF THE INSURGENT LEADERS. - RAILROADS AND MAGNETIC- TELEGRAPH WIRES.
1. AT the meeting of the Legislature in January, 1845, Governor WRIGHT recommended a steady adherence to 1845. the legislative policy of 1842, in reference to the prose- cution of the public works, and the incorporation of that policy as a permanent part of the State Constitution. After presenting a clear exhibit of the financial condition of the State, and its vari- ous literary and charitable institutions, he thus adverts specially to the funds set apart for the benefit of the common schools : -
2. "Few if any instances are upon record," he observes, " in which a fund of this description has been administered and its bounties dispensed, through a period of forty years, with so few suspicions, accusations, or complaints of the interference of either political or religions biases to disturb the equal balance by which its benefits should be extended to our whole population. This should continue as it has been.
3. "Our school fund is not instituted to make our children and youth either partisans in politics or sectarians in religion, but to give them education, intelligence, sound principles, good moral habits, and a free and independent spirit ; in short, to
Appointments of United States senators. - Proposal for amendment to the Constitution. - Governor Wright's message. - Prosecution of the public works. -- Common schools.
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259
ANTI-RENT OUTRAGES.
make them American freemen and American citizens, and to qualify them to judge and choose for themselves in matters of politics, religion, and government.
4. " Such an administration of the fund as shall be calculated to render this qualification the most perfect for the mature minds, with the fewest influences tending to bias the judgment er incline the choice, will be the most consonant with our duties and with the best interests of our constituents. Under such an administration, education will flourish most, and the peace and harmony of society be best preserved.
5. " No public fund of the State is so unpretending, yet so all-pervading ; so little seen, yet so universally felt ; so mild in its exactions, yet so bountiful in its benefits ; so little feared or courted, and yet so powerful, as this fund for the support of common schools. The other funds act upon the secular inter- ests of society, its business, its pleasures, its pride, its passions, its vices, its misfortunes. This acts upon its mind and its morals.
6. " Education is to free institutions what bread is to human life, - the staff of their existence. The office of this fund is to open aud warm the soil, and sow the seed which the element of freedom must grow and ripen into maturity ; and the health or sickliness of the growth will measure the extent and security of our liberties. The thankfulness we owe to those who have gone before us for the institution of this fund, for its constitutional protection, and for its safe and prudent administration hitherto, we can best repay by imitating their example, and improving upon their work as the increased means placed in our hands shall give us ability."
7. The Governor informed the Legislature that resistance to the law and its officers in the anti-rent districts had been re- newed, in forms and under circumstances of the deepest aggra- vation ; and that organized bands of men, disguised as savages, with arms in their hands, had bidden defiance to the law, its process, and its officers, and in repeated instances rendered its mandates unavailing, while in some cases the lives of unoffend- ing citizens had been taken.
Common-School Fund. - Anti-rent outrages.
260
SEVENTH PERIOD.
8. " While the question between the proprietors and the tenants," he observes, "was whether the leasehold tenures should be perpetuated, or the rents should be commuted upon fair and reasonable terms, and fee-simple titles given upon the payment of a capital in money, which, invested at a stipulated rate, would reproduce the rents to the landlord, the controversy was one in which the feelings and sympathies of our people were deeply enlisted, and strongly inclining in favor of the tenants.
9. " Then the question was not whether rights of property are to be trampled upon, the obligations of contracts violently resisted, the laws of the State set at defiance, the peace of society disturbed, and human life sacrificed ; but in what way contracts onerous in their exactions and tenures, in their nature and char- acter uncongenial with the habits and opinions of our people, could be peaccably and justly and constitutionally modified to meet the changed circumstances of the times.
10. " Then I might have invited your careful attention to the considerations growing out of these issues ; but I feel precluded from discussions of this character by the extravagant and inde- fensible position given to the controversy by the unlawful and violent proceedings of those who assume the charge of the rights and interests of the tenants involved in this litigation." He accordingly recommended the enactment of stringent penal laws for the prevention and punishment of all outrages of this nature, which was promptly complied with by the Legislature at an early period of the session.
11. On the first Tuesday in February, AZARIAH C. FLAGG Was reappointed Comptroller ; NATHANIEL S. BENTON, of Herkimer, appointed Secretary of State and Superintendent of Common Schools, in place of Colonel Young ; and JOHN VAN BUREN, of Albany, Attorney-General, in place of Mr. Barker. GREENE C. BRONSON. of Oneida, was appointed Chief-Justice of the Su- preme Court. On the 25th of February, General JOHN A. DIx was chosen United States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of Governor WRIGHT, and Lieutenant-Governor DANIEL S. DICK- INSON for the residue of the term of Senator Tallmadge and
State officers. - United States senators.
261
NEW CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
for the full term succeeding. Governor MARCY was soon after- wards appointed, by the President, Secretary of War of the United States.
12. The various constitutional amendments proposed by the last Legislature and ratified by the popular vote, with the ex- ception of those providing for the abolition of property qualifi- cations for elective officers and prohibiting the removal of judicial officers without just cause, failed to secure the requisite constitutional majorities in both Houses. A bill was accord- ingly, on the 13th of March, introduced in the Assembly by Mr. CRAIN, of Herkimer, providing for the call of a STATE CON- VENTION for the formation of a new Constitution, which, after a series of animated discussions and debates in both Houses, finally became a law, subject to the approval of the people at the ensuing election.
13. At a late period in the session, an act was passed in both Houses appropriating one hundred and ninety-seven thousand dollars from the revenues of the canals for the completion of such portions of the enlarged Eric, Black River, and Genesee Valley Canals, and such repairs to other public works as may be required by the interests of the State. This bill encountered a veto from Governor WRIGHT, chiefly upon the ground of the in- compatibility of some of its details with the legislative policy of the act of 1842, which had received the sanction of the popular vote, and failed to obtain the requisite constitutional majority.
14. Notwithstanding the severe penalties of the act recently passed for the prevention of anti-rent outrages, great excitement and alarm still prevailed in the manor counties. In Columbia, during the summer of this year, several outrages were commit- ted by members of the Anti-Rent associations disguised as In- dians. One of the most active agents, Dr. Boughton, was arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. In Delaware and Schoharie, frequent sanguinary riots took place ; and in August, Mr. Steel, a deputy-sheriff, while in the discharge of his official
Constitutional amendments. - Bill for a State Constitutional Convention. - Act in relation to the canals. - Governor's veto. - Further anti-rent out- rages. - Imprisonment of Dr. Boughton. - Murder of Deputy-Sheriff Steel.
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SEVENTH PERIOD.
duties, was attacked by an armed party and inhumanly mur- dered.
15. So numerous and daring were the acts of lawless violence perpetrated by these men in Delaware County, that application was made to Governor WRIGHT to declare the county in a state of insurrection. A spirited proclamation was immediately issued by the Governor, commanding the restoration of order under severe penalties, and ordering out a sufficient military force for the protection of the inhabitants. A special court of oyer and terminer was convened by Judge AMASA J. PARKER, several con- victions obtained by Attorney-General VAN BUREN, including two of a capital nature, the punishment for which was com- muted by the Governor to imprisonment for life.
16. In December, official information of the suppression of the insurrection was received, and the proclamation of martial law by the Governor revoked. The ability and firmness with which the executive duties were performed at this alarming and difficult crisis commanded the general approbation and admi- ration of the people of the State. The fall elections, in the mean time, had resulted in the usual Democratic majorities in both branches of the Legislature, and the approval of the call for a State Constitutional Convention, by a majority of upwards of one hundred and eighty thousand votes.
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