USA > New York > Military minutes of the Council of appointment of the state of New York, 1783-1821 > Part 5
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When requested years later to prepare his personal recollections of the Revolutionary War, he replied: " I have no notes or mem- orandum of what passed during the war. I led the most laborious life which can be imagined. I would not trouble you, my dear sir, with this abstract of my situation if it did not appear necessary to show you why, having so many near relations of my own blood in our armies, I kept no note of their services. Nay, I
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could not furnish any tolerable memorandum of my own existence during that eventful period of American history."
The draft of the Constitution was submitted to the convention March 12, 1777. April 20th the formal adoption took place. Jay, whose industry and ability were stamped all over the instrument. failed to vote for it, for he had been summoned to the bedside of his dying mother at Fishkill. Inexperience and prejudice unmistak- ably entered largely into the draft of the original constitution of this State. In tone it was decidedly aristocratic and in sentiment decidedly English. It discredited the office of governor and it dis- trusted the people. The disinclination to invest the Governor with unlimited powers was, in view of the history of England and of the colony, perfectly natural. In the judiciary, however, the most abid- ing confidence was reposed; for despite the disgraceful brawls that occurred between the Governor and the Assembly in times past, and the bitter recriminations that were exchanged, there never was a time when the integrity of the judiciary was questioned. The Con- stitution was liberal in its religious sentiments in that it permitted "the free exercise of religious profession and worship without dis- crimination or preference to all mankind." Slavery was still toler- ated, despite the efforts of Gouverneur Morris and Jay to provide for its gradual abolition.
The conservatism of the founders of the Constitution was dis- played in their reluctance to abandon the old system of viva voce voting instead of casting a ballot, an innovation which was urged on the ground of better protecting the purity and independence of the system, and better preserving the liberty and equality of the people. The Constitution clearly defined the duties of the execu- tive, the legislative and judicial branches of government. While tentatively maintaining the English distinction that the Governor
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STATE HISTORIAN.
corresponded to the King, the Senate to the House of Lords, and the Assembly to the House of Commons, it repudiated the English theory that the legislative branch should be recognized as the supreme power of the land, and established the special American feature of an absolutely independent authority between the legisla- tive and executive departments.
Under the Virginia constitution the Governor was chosen by both branches of the Legislature for a term of four years, and, follow- ing the English idea, was assisted by a privy council of eight per- sons selected by the Assembly. New York adopted another course. The Governor's term of office was fixed at three years, but he was elected, as were the Lieutenant Governor and the Senators, by free- holders, actual residents possessed of freeholds of the value of £100, over and above all debts charged thereon. In a double sense, how- ever, he was shackled-in the distribution of patronage and in his relations with the Legislature. A sinister expedient called the Council of Appointment, a creature of John Jay, who in the years to come lived to regret it, controlled all the political patronage of the State, and another cumbrous and absurd piece of machinery, devised by Robert R. Livingston, termed the Council of Revision, regulated all legislation. Of the councils of appointment and of revision the Governor was a member and president, but in both his influence was no greater than that of any other member. In the Council of Appointment he had only a casting vote. He was invested with a few individual responsibilities. He acted as gen- eral and commander-in-chief of all the militia and admiral of the navy; had power, on extraordinary occasions, to convene the Leg- islature and to prorogue it from time to time, but not to exceed sixty days in any one year; to grant reprieves and pardons under certain legislative restrictions; to report the condition of the State
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to the Legislature at every session; to submit recommendations which in his judgment concerned the good government, welfare and prosperity of the State; to correspond with the Continental Con- gress and other States; to transact all necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military; to see that the laws were properly executed and to expedite all measures the Legislature might resolve upon.
In adjusting the powers and authority of the Governor of the state of New York, the constitution makers failed to discriminate between a governor who was appointed by a king and a governor who was elected by the people, between an officer who served a master and one who served his peers, between one who would degrade those he governed to mere puppets and one who would treat them as sovereigns, between a foreigner who had no sympathy for his constituents and a native-born citizen whose sympathies and interests must of necessity be identical with those of the state and the people he represented. In depriving the Governor of preroga- tives that of right should have belonged to his office, and in mak- ing the office a mere figurehead, the convention unconsciously cre- ated in the Council of Appointment an irresponsible, powerful and offensive political machine. The section of the Constitution that brought the Council of Appointment into existence reads :
"XXIII. That all officers, other than those who by this consti- tution are directed to be otherwise appointed, shall be appointed in the manner following, to wit, The Assembly shall, once in every year, openly nominate and appoint one of the senators from each great district, which senators shall form a council for the appoint- ment of said officers, of which the Governor for the time being, or the Lieutenant-Governor, or the President of the Senate, when they shall respectively administer the government, shall be President,
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STATE HISTORIAN.
and have a casting voice, but no other vote; and with the advice and consent of the said council be a quorum. And further, the said senators shall not be eligible to the said council for two years suc- cessively."
The state at this time consisted of four great districts, and the manner! of selecting the Council clearly indicates the powerful lever placed within the hands of its members to abase and prostitute the civil service of the state, each succeeding year, by removing from office every individual whose politics differed from theirs or a major- ity of them. If the Governor and the Council agreed politically, the opportunities for a disturbance at their meetings were nil; but when the Governor and a majority of the Council disagreed in poli- tics, a conflict was inevitable. John Jay, when elected Governor, claimed the sole power of appointment. This claim was resisted by the Council. One of the two questions which the Constitutional Convention of 1801 was called upon to determine related to the line of jurisdiction between the Governor and the Council in disposing of patronage. The Council won, the convention bestowing a con- current power of nomination upon the several members.
For twenty years longer this obnoxious machine continued, demoralizing the public service more and more as years went on, until the Convention of 1821 wiped it and its twin sister of iniquity, the Council of Revision, from the constitution of the State.
Since the experimental days of 1777, New York has been gov- erned by six different constitutions. In view of all the 'remarkable changes, transformations, developments and innovations, in the arts and sciences, and in education, but little improvement has been made over the first instrument if we except the two Councils-of Appoint- ment and of Revision. Many of the so-called new features or prin- ciples that had been engrafted into the constitution from time to
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE HISTORIAN.
time are, after all, but expedients, consequent not so much upon the necessity of changing or improving the basic law, as to meet some sporadic public agitation or to overcome some flagrant abuse that has followed the practices of a political party which has long been entrenched in power.
The framers of our first constitution are entitled to more credit than is usually given them, for the thoroughness and the ability with which they performed their duties. Their responsibilities were of an anomalous character. The absence of political parties and the natural agitation and controversies that are unavoidable during a campaign of partisan politics simplified their work, no doubt, in some respects. The magnitude of the undertaking cannot be appre- ciated unless an effort is made to imagine their environments at the time.
HUGH HASTINGS,
STATE CAPITOL, ALBANY, April 22, 1901.
State Historian.
MILITARY MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL OF APPOINTMENT.
(1783-1821.)
T HE Council of Appointment minutes are deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany, and cover fourteen volumes of manuscript. The first, second and third volumes are composed of civil and military matters; volumes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14, civil appointments, and volumes 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, military.
During the forty-four years of the existence of the first consti- tution, frequent demands were made for the publication of these records, but the Council invariably refused to comply. The consti- tution of 1777 failed to make provision for a new constitutional convention, 'as it failed to specify the time when the governor should begin his official duties. Governor Clinton was declared elected, July 9, 1777. He took his oath of office the same day. It was not until the act of February, 1787, was passed for regulating elections, that a specific date was established for the governor and the lieutenant governor to enter on the duties of their respective offices-the Ist of July, after their election.
When the first constitution was adopted, New York State was divided into fourteen counties: Albany, Cumberland, Dutchess, Gloucester, Kings, Montgomery, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster, Washington, Westchester. When this constitution went out of existence, the state was divided into fifty-three counties-the original counties of Cumberland and
5?
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Gloucester having become a part of the new state of Vermont-as follows, with the date of erection of the forty-one new counties:
Columbia, erected in 1786; Clinton, Ontario, in 1788; Herkimer, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Tioga, in 1791; Onondaga, 1794; Schoharie, 1795; Steuben, 1796; Delaware, 1797; Chenango, Oneida, Rockland, 1798; Cayuga, Essex, 1799; Greene, 1800; Genesee, St. Lawrence, 1802; Seneca, 1804; Jefferson, Lewis, 1805; Allegany, Broome, Madison, 1806; Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Cortland, Franklin, Niagara, 1808: Schenectady, Sullivan, 1809; Putnam, 1812; Warren, 1813; Hamilton, Oswego, 1816; Tompkins, 1817; Erie, Livingston, Monroe, 1821.
The subject matter contained in these volumes comprises the mili- tary appointments made by the Council of Appointment, beginning after the last name mentioned in "New York in the Revolution " to the adoption of the second constitution in 1821. In the thousands of names here presented will be found those of men who have been prominently identified with the history of the State in the arts, sciences and the law. Several governors and United States senators performed duty as militiamen during the good old times when the "training day " was one of the features of the year. Instances out of mind could be cited, but the following will suffice as to the character of the men and the service performed:
John E. Wool appears as adjutant and ensign in Major William Parker's battalion of Riflemen from Rensselaer County, June 5, 1811; William C. Bouck of Schoharie, afterwards governor, acted as adjutant of the Eighteenth Regiment. Theodoric Romeyn Beck acted as a surgeon in the Rensselaer Cavalry, February 29, 1812; William L. Marcy, Ogden Hoffman and Charles E. Dudley figured as ardent soldiers.
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STATE HISTORIAN.
Chaplains were first appointed by the Council, June 8, 1808; horse artillery first appears on the records of date February 4, 1809, as " company " in contradistinction to " battery."
In the preparation of this material, it has been a source of unend- ing regret that the State should have surrendered to the authorities at Washington all its records relating to the Second War with Great Britain. The few names now within the control of the State repre- sent a very small fraction of the total number on file in the , War Department at Washington.
The governors who served during the forty-four years of the first constitution, with their residences and the date of election, are as follows:
Names.
Residence.
Elected.
George Clinton
Ulster Co.
July 9, 1777
John Jay
New York city
April, 1795
George Clinton
Ulster Co.
180I
Morgan Lewis
Dutchess Co.
1804
Daniel D. Tompkins
Richmond Co.
.. 1807
John Tayler*
Albany, Albany Co.
March, 1817
DeWitt Clinton
New York city
1817
(*Lieutenant governor, acting governor in place of Daniel D. Tompkins, elected vice.president of the United States.)
COUNCIL OF APPOINTMENT.
Southern District.
Middle District.
Eastern District.
Western District.
Appointed,
John Morin Scott Jonathan Lawrence Isaac Roosevelt Stephen Ward
Jesse Woodhull
Alexander Webster
Ahraham Yates, Jr.
Sept. 16, 1777
Zephanlah Platt
Ebenezer Russell
D. Wessel Ten Broeck
Oct. 17, 1778
Levi Pawiing
Alexander Webster
Rinier Mynderse
Sept. 11, 1779
Ephraim Paine*
Ebenezer Russell
Abraham Ten Broeck
Sept. 11, 1780
Isaac Stoutenburgh
Zephaniah Platt
Alexander Webster
Henry Oothoudt
Oct. 25, 1781
John Haring
Elkanab Day
William B. Whiting
July 22, 1782
Jacobus Swartwout
Alexander Webster
Abraham Yates, Jr.
Jan. 21, 1784
Joseph Gasherie
Ebenezer Russell
William B. Whiting
Oct. 19, 1784
Lewis Morris
Jacobus Swartwout
David Hopkins
Philip Schuyler
Jan. 19, 1786
Williamn Floyd
John Hathorn
Ebenezer Russell
Peter Sehuyler
Jan. 18, 1787
John Vanderbilt
Anthony Hoffman
John Williams David Hopkins
Peter Van Ness
Jan. 2, 1789
Philip Livingston
John Cantine
Peter Schuyler
Jan.
14, 1791
Philip Van Cortlandt
David Pye
William Powers
Stephen Van Rensselaer
Jan. 14. 1792
David Gelston
Joseph Hasbrouck
Robert Woodworth
John Frey
Jan. 14. 1793
Selah Strong
Reuben Hopkins
Zina Hitchcock
Philip Schuyler
Jan.
7, 1794
Richard Hatfield
Joseph Hasbrouck
William Powers
J. Van Schoonhoven
Jan,
6, 1795
Joshua Sands
Abraham Schenck
Ebenezer Russell
Michael Myers
Jan.
7, 1796
Andrew Onderdonk Ezra L'Hommedien
Moses Vall
Joseph White
Jan.
3, 1798
William Denning
Robert Sands
James Gordon
Thomas K. Gold
Jan, 28, 1800
Samuel Haight DeWitt Clinton
Ambrose Spencer
John Sanders
Robert Roseboom
Nov. 7, 1800
Benjamin Huntting
John C. Hogeboom
J. Van Schoonhoven
Jacob Snell
Feb. 3, 1803
Ebenezer Purdy John Broome
Abraham Adriance
Thomas Tredwell
Caleb Hyde
Feb. 7, 1804
John Schenck
Joshua II. Brett
Stephen Thorn
Jedediah Peck
Jan. 29, 1805
De Witt Clinton
Robert Johnson
Adam Comstock
Henry Huntington
Jan.
31, 1806
Thomas Thomas
James Burt
Edward Savage
John Nicholas
Jan. 28, 1807
Benjamin Coe Jonathan Ward
James G. Graham
Isaac Kellogg
Alexander Rea
Jan. 27, 1800
Isaac Carll Benjamin Coe
James W. Wilkin
John McLean
Philetus Swift
Jan. 30, 181#
William W. Gilbert
Johannes Bruyn
Henry Yates
Francis A. Bloodgood Jonas Platt
Jan. 12, 1813
Peter W. Radcliff
James W. Wilkin
John Stearns
Henry A Townsend
Jan. 25, 18:4
Egbert H. Jones Jonathan Dayton
Lucas Elmendorf
Ruggles Hubbard
Farrand Stranahan
Feb.
1, 1815
Darius Crosby Walter Bowne
William Ross John Noyes
John I. Prendergast
Henry Bloom
Feb. 2, 1817
Peter R. Livingston
Jabez D. Hammond
Henry Yates, Jr.
Henry Seymour
Jan. 31, 1818
William Ross
George Rosecrantz
Stephen Bates
Feb, 3, 1819
John Lounsbery
Levi Adams
Ephraim Ilart
Jan. 11, 1820
John T. More
Roger Skinner
David E. Evans
Nov. 8, 1820
Charles E. Dudley
Benjamin Mooers
Perry G. Childs
Jan. 10, 1822
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
Samuel Townsend
John Hathorn
Edward Savage
Philip Schuyler
Jan. 15, 1790
Isaac Roosevelt
Thomas Tillotson
Alexander Webster
Thomas Morris
Jan. 9, 1797
William Thompson Ebenezer Foote
Ebenezer Clark
John Frey
Jan. 4: 1799
James W. Wilkin
Edward Savage
Lemuel Chipman
Jan. 30, 1802
Peter C. Adams
John Veeder
Nathan Smith
Jan. 99, 1808
Robert Williams
Daniel Paris
Amos Hall
Jan.
31, 1810
Feb. 1, 1812
Morgan Lewis
Samuel Stewart
Perley Keyes
Archibald S. Clark
Feb. 5, 1816
Stephen Barnum Jolin D. Ditmis Walter Bowne John Townsend
Ambrose Spencer
Leonard Gansevoort
Philip Schuyler
Jan. 18, 1788
Jonathan Lawrence Ezra L'Hommedien Isaac Roosevelt
From an old engraving.
THE SENATE HOUSE, KINGSTON, 1777.
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STATE HISTORIAN.
1784.
1784.
GEORGE CLINTON, GOVERNOR.
George. Clinton, first governor of New York state; born at Little Britain, Orange County, July 26, 1739; ran away from home in 1755 and sailed from New York on a privateer; served as a sub- altern in his brother's, James Clinton's company, of their father's regiment, during the French and Indian war; studied law and was admitted to the bar in the city of New York; served during the Colonial period as surrogate of Ulster County, 1765-1766; member of the Colonial Assembly, 1768-1775; during the transition period as a member of the Committee, of Correspondence, Provincial Con- vention; Provincial Congress; Continental Congress; brigadier general in the continental army; governor of New York 1777-1795; delegate to and president of the convention of 1788 called to ratify the Federal Constitution; first chancellor of the University of the State of New York; governor of New York 1801-1804; vice presi- dent of the United States 1804 to 1812; county clerk of Ulster county 1759-1812; died at Washington, D. C., April 20, 1812, in the seventy-third year of his age; buried in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington.
KINGS COUNTY.
Rutgert Van Brunt, lieutenant colonel .*
Daniel Rapalje, first major; John Covenhoven, second major.
* The rank of colonel in this state was abolished by act of the legislature, under the law passed April 4, 1782, entitled "An act to regulate the militia," section 4, which reads :
" That in case of the death, resignation or other inability, to serve of any colonel now commanding a regiment, no colonel shall thereafter be appointed thereto. That such regiment and all others not now commanded by a colonel sball henceforth be com- manded by a lieutenant-colonel."
Chapter 25, laws of 1786, provided: "That each regiment shall be commanded by three field officers, viz. : One lieutenant-colonel commandant and two majors."
1734. May 1.
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
1784.
Lambert Suydam, captain of the troop of horse; Hendrick H. Suydam, first lieutenant; John R. Covenhoven, second lieutenant; Rem Hageman, cornet, and John Nostrant, quartermaster of the said troop.
Nicholas Van Brunt, captain of a company in the township of New Utrecht; William Berry, first lieutenant; Arent Van Pelt, second lieutenant; Abraham Durye, ensign.
Samuel Garretson, captain of a company in the township of Gravesend; Hendrick Van Cleef, lieutenant; John Johnson, ensign.
Andrew Suydam, captain of a company for the township of Flat Bush; John C. Van de Veer, first lieutenant; Nicholas Wyckhoff, junior, second lieutenant; Daniel Bennum, ensign.
May 8, 1792, the Congress of the United States passed an act, " More effectually to provide for the national defence hy establishing a uniform militia thronghont the United States," in which the provision was made: "That the said militia shall be officered by the representative states as follows : ; to each regiment one lieutenant- colonel commandant." This act was re-enacted and put in force in New York state by chapter 45, passed March 9, 1793. All subsequent state militia legislation was based upon the United States act of 1792 for many years.
The lieutenant-colonel commandant continned as the ranking officer all through the war of 1812, and until May 1, 1816, when the Fourteenth Congress passed an act which is known as " chapter 64," in which it was provided : "That from and after the first day of May next instead of one lieutenant-colonel commandant to each regiment, * there shall be one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, and one major to each regiment of militia."
July 8, 1816, the Council of Appointment of New York adopted the following resolutions :
" Resolved, That the several persons now holding the commission of lieutenant- colonel in the several regiments of infantry, artillery, cavalry, horse artillery and rifle- men of this state be deemed and respected as colonels from and after the first day of May next and that their relative rank as colonels shall be the same as their present rank. That all first majors be deemed and respected as lieutenant-colonels and shall have the same relative rank as lieutenant-colonels which they now have as first majors, and the said lieutenant-colonels and first majors are hereby respectively appointed to said offices with such relative rank accordingly.
" Resolved, That the adjutant-general forthwith cause a list or roster of the lieuten- ant-colonels and first majors embraced in the preceding resolutions, with the dates of their respective commissions, to be made out, certified and filed in the office of the secretary of state and that the secretary issue new commissions to them as colonels and lientenant-colonels respectively with rank from the dates of their present commissions according to the act of Congress passed 20th April, 1816."-STATE HISTORIAN.
65 1784.
STATE HISTORIAN.
John Titus, captain of a company for the township of Bushwick; Peter Colyer, lieutenant; John Skillmore, ensign.
Barrent Lefferts, captain for the east division of Brooklyn; Jere- miah Van der Bilt, lieutenant; Christian Durye, ensign.
Jacob Sebring, captain for the west division of Brooklyn; Teunis Bergen, junior, lieutenant: Jeremiah Brewer, ensign.
Thomas Elseworth, captain of a company at Flat Lands; Elias Hubbert, lieutenant; John Voorhees, ensign.
Albert Voorhees, adjutant; Johannes Ditmoss, quartermaster of the said regiment.
RICHMOND COUNTY.
Jacob Mersereau, lieutenant colonel.
Cornelius Duseway, first major; Cornelius McLean, second major; John C. Dongan, adjutant; Lewis Ryersse, quartermaster.
Abraham Rolph, captain of a company in the north quarter; John Mersereau, lieutenant; Edward De Hart, ensign.
Jonathan Lewis, junior, captain of a company in the south quarter; , Anthony Fontaine, junior, lieutenant; Edward Betts, ensign.
Abraham Woglom, captain of a company in the west quarter; Peter Winant, son of Daniel Winant, lieutenant; Charles Dubois, ensign.
UNITED STATES SERVICE.
Resolved, That, in compliance with the act entitled, "An act to aise troops for the purposes and in the manner therein mentioned," passed the 22d instant, Nicholas Fish, esquire, be and he is hereby ppointed major of a regiment to be raised by the States mentioned h the resolutions of Congress of the first, seventh and twelfth istants, for the protection of the northwestern frontiers, etc .; that ohn F. Hamtramck and John Doughty, esquires, be captains;
1784. May 18.
1785. April 26.
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
1785.
Michael Connoly, James Bradford and John Smith, gentlemen, be lieutenants; Gerrit Lansingh and Dow F. Fonda be ensigns, and John Elliot surgeon's mate in the said regiment.
1785. September 29.
William Peters, ensign, and John Bleeker, junior, ensign, in the detachment of the troops of this State, in the service of the United States, whereof Nicholas Fish is major.
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
Resignation of Captain Samuel Lawrence accepted.
STATE MILITIA.
Nicholas Fish, adjutant general; Andrew Moodie, commissary of military stores of the State.
1786. April 14.
RICHMOND COUNTY.
Abraham Rolph, captain of a company for the north precinct; Anthony Fountain, junior, lieutenant; Charles Dubois, and Edward Beatty, ensigns, all of Colonel Jacob Mercereau's regiment in the county of Richmond, having requested permission to resign their commissions, Resolved, that their resignations be and they are hereby accepted accordingly-and that Bastian Ellis be and is hereby appointed captain of the company of the north quarter in the room of Abraham Rolph, Henry Cruse, lieutenant of Captain (Jonathan) Lewis, junior, company, and John Van Waggener ensign of the said company, Jacob Winants, ensign of Captain (Abraham) Waglom's company and Peter Winants adjutant of the said regiment-and also that John C. Dongan, esquire, be and hereby is appointed first major of the regiment.
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
1786. June 21.
David Peirson, lieutenant colonel commandant, No. I, of the regiment whereof Mulford, deceased, was colonel.
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