USA > New York > New York : the planting and the growth of the Empire state, Vol. II > Part 2
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Homespun in place of British cloth in gar- ments was adopted by zealous patriots; and because licenses for marriage required stamps, that ceremony was proclaimed in church with- out license.
The "Sons of Liberty," January 7, declared that " there was safety for the colonies only in the firm union of the whole ; " and that they " would venture their lives and fortunes effectu- ally to prevent the stamp aet." Connecticut
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and Massachusetts followed promptly in like utterances. In the latter colony Governor Bernard declared that, if resistance was made, "a forcible subjection is unavoidable, let it cost what it will ; " and he expressed the " hope that New York, as well upon account of its superior rank and greater professions of resistance, and of its being the headquarters, will have the honor of being subdued first."
When the repeal of the stamp tax, March 13, 1766, was known, New York gave way to exu- berant expressions of joy. A statue was or- dered by the assembly, June 23, to William Pitt, to be erected in Wall street, as "a public testimony of the many eminent services he ren- dered to America, particularly in promoting the repeal of the stamp act." An equestrian statue was also ordered to George III., and a piece of plate to John Sargent, agent of the colony in London. The king's statue was not erected until August 21, 1770, when it was set up with much display on the Battery, and re- mained until 1776, when it was cast by the patriots into musket-balls for defense.
Without waiting for such permanent tokens, the citizens erected, June 4, 1766, the king's birthday, a mast or liberty pole "to his most gracious Majesty, George III., Mr. Pitt and liberty." The governor, the council, the civil
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and military officers joined with the people in festivities, at which, the chronicles testify, "an ox was roasted on each side of the com- mon ; a large stage was built up, on which were placed twenty-five barrels of strong beer, a hogs- head of rum, with sugar and other materials to make punch. At another part of the field were preparations for a bonfire ; twenty-five cords of wood surrounded a pole, on the top of which were affixed twelve tar-barrels. At the upper end of the field were placed five-and-twenty pieces of cannon : a flag displayed the colors of England, and a band of music played 'God save the King.' " 'Speeches were at that era no part of such a celebration. But these were the acts of people who wanted to be loyal, and whose hearts went out to rulers who had seemed dis- posed simply to cease from oppression.
The joy did not last long. The home govern- ment had, in December preceding, called on the assembly to provide, according to the require- ments of the mutiny act. quarters, firewood, bedding, drink, soap and candles for as many British troops as the ministers might choose to send. On the report of a committee, of which Robert R. Livingston was chairman, the as- sembly declared that when the troops were quartered in barracks they were provided for without charge to the counties where the bar-
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racks were, and if any provision was necessary for quarters for troops on the march, the House would consider the matter after the cost was in- curred.
This controversy was the incitement to some of the British soldiers, who, August 10, cut down the liberty pole erected to the king and Mr. Pitt. The next evening, while the citizens were getting ready to put up the pole again, soldiers with drawn bayonets assailed them, and wounded Isaac Sears and some others ; but the "mast" was raised in spite of the violence. The soldiers continued to harass the people, and indulged in such petty meanness as breaking into houses and hamstringing the horse of a cartman.
When, therefore, Governor Moore asked the assembly in November to grant the requisitions, and conveyed notice of the king's displeasure, the members still held to the limit of provision for soldiers on the march. The governor twice prorogued the assembly, and twice his demands were refused. In the mean time the home gov- ernment gave manifest signs of its purpose, by directing General Gage to place forts George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point on a war foot- ing, while at Quebec like preparations were in progress. Lieutenant Governor Carleton wrote from Quebec to General Gage, that these meas-
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ures would "facilitate the transfer of ten or fifteen thousand men" from one province to the other ; and New York, remembering the French war, foresaw that in case of conflict, in- vading armies from the north would trample upon its soil.
Albany was touched by acts like these ; and although not so much within the field of ac- tion as the seaport, when its members returned from the assembly this autumn, popular feel- ing rose to such a height that soldiers were called upon to put down the disturbance aris- ing from expressions of popular patriotism.
The British parliament, June 29, 1767, for- bade the New York assembly to pass any act before it made provision for British troops. At the same time the right to tax the colonies was declared anew, duties were imposed on paper, glass, tea, and painters colors, and commissioners of customs were established for America, while indemnity was required for the losses by the stamp-act riots. The prohibition put upon the New York assembly had the effect to suspend legislation for two years, inasmuch as during that period the members, and no less the people, stood firm against providing for British soldiers. The term of the assembly expired by limita- tion, and upon a new election the popular party retained its control, or even strengthened itself.
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George Clinton appeared as a member from Ulster, and Philip Schuyler from Albany, and at once arrayed themselves with the foremost of the opponents of British aggression. The latter was probably the author of petitions to the king and parliament adopted by the assem- bly, December 31, pronouncing the act of sus- pension dangerous and alarming, while the im- position of duties without the consent of the colony was subversive of the constitutional rights of the people, and asserting the right, which had been questioned, to correspond and consult with other colonies. "This colony," the resolution went on to declare, " lawfully and constitutionally has and enjoys an internal legislature of its own, in which the crown and the people of this colony are constitutionally represented, and the power and authority of the said legislature can not lawfully or constitu- tionally be suspended, abridged, abrogated, or annulled by any power, authority, or preroga- tive whatsoever; the prerogative of the crown ordinarily exercised for prorogations and disso- lutions only excepted." The position was too bold, and in the eyes of the governor looked too much towards independence, and he dis- solved the assembly, January 2, 1769.
The chronie troubles with the Six Nations on account of the seizure of their lands, or
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alleged frauds in purchase and survey, broke out with fresh bitterness in 1764. The great patent of Kayaderosseras, covering about seven hundred thousand acres lying between the Hudson and the Mohawk, obtained by grant in 1703, was brought into controversy, and the boundaries of Indian lands on the south and west were unsettled. To adjust these and other matters, Sir William Johnson was authorized to confer with the Six Nations and with the gov- ernors of the neighboring colonies, and to that end he invited a congress to meet at Fort Stan- wix September 20, 1768. New Jersey, Vir- ginia, and Pennsylvania were represented ; but it was October 4 before the congress opened, with thirty-two hundred red men in attendance, including, besides the Six Nations, the Dela- wares and Shawanese. Negotiations were kept up until November 5, when the Six Nations were paid £2.000 in money and goods, for land sold and concessions granted to the British crown. The boundary fixed began at the north of the Tennessee River, following the Ohio and Alleghany rivers, thence from Kittaning to the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susque- hanna, and along that stream to its east branch and the Delaware, terminating at the confluence of Canada and Wood creeks. This was the substantial part of the treaty of Fort Stanwix.
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The political strain had been intense and continuous, and signs were apparent of a ten- dency towards reaction. In the election or- dered on account of the dissolution of the assembly, the government interests won allies among persons who yielded to the pressure of the policy of non-importation, to the influence of patronage, and of the Church of England. Some prejudice was aroused against lawyers, and as the leaders of the popular party in- cluded many Presbyterians, other denomina- tions were appealed to against them. The as- sembly met April 4, 1769 ; and the DeLancey interest, favoring the church and seeking to restore friendly relations with the crown, was in the ascendant. The assembly was unwill- ing yet to go farther than to make appropri- ations for garrisons of five hundred soldiers at New York and Albany, respectively. An ad- dress written by Schuyler was adopted, April 10, reiterating the claims of the colony, but yielding to the requests of the crown; while a resolution from the pen of Philip Livingston thanked those who had proved true to the pledge not to import goods from Great Britain, and urged them to adhere to that course until such acts of parliament as the assembly had declared unconstitutional and subversive of the rights of the people, should be repealed.
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At a session convened in November, as Gov- ernor Moore had died September 11, Lieuten- ant Governor Colden resumed the executive chair, and gave assurance of the " greatest prob- ability that the late duties imposed by parlia- ment so much to the dissatisfaction of the colonies would be taken off in the ensuing ses- sion." The assembly adopted the patriotic res- olutions moved by Patrick Henry in Virginia, and then appropriated £2,000 for the troops by a majority of one.
This action aroused intense indignation among the people. A " Son of Liberty " issued a handbill, December 16, addressed "to the Betrayed Inhabitants of New York," in fiery language denouncing the assembly, and charg- ing its action to " some corrupt source," and especially to a coalition between Governor Col- den and the Delancey family. The handbill closed with a call for a public meeting to ap- point a committee " to draw up the whole mat- ter, and send the statement far and wide." The meeting was held the next day, when fourteen hundred citizens gathered, and adopted resolu- tions reported by John Lamb. to express to the assembly disapproval of its course. That body retorted by denouncing the handbill as a " false, seditious, and infamous libel." Schuyler alone dissenting, and Governor Colden offered a re-
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ward for the discovery of the author. The printer under duress exposed him in the person of Alexander McDougall, and he was arraigned at the bar, where George Clinton appeared in his defense, but failed to prevent his imprison- ment, and he was held until February, 1771, and then released without trial. Lamb also was called before the assembly for his part in the affair of the meeting, but his seven col- leagues on the committee stood by him man- fully, and his case was dropped; but Isaac Sears, one of the committee, was for punish- ment accused of neglecting his duty as inspec- tor of potash, and then was refused a hearing, although Schuyler, Clinton, and Nathaniel Woodhull pleaded for him.
New York still adhered to the policy of non- importation, in which it led, and even the lieu- tenant governor was in favor of the repeal of the offensive revenue impositions of parliament. October, 1769, committees again invited co- operation for still more vigorous exclusion of imports until all the duties should be removed. This colony, with the largest interests in com- merce, adhered most strictly to its pledges, losing five-sixths of its trade in consequence, and the party of reaction derived advantages from the failure of its neighbors to exclude im- ports with equal rigor. When the duties were
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repealed on all articles except tea, New York was glad, and canceled its rules against impor- tation, renewing its pledges relative to the one commodity still dutiable.
The presence of the soldiers was a source of vexation all the more because of the payments for their support, and they by disorder and brutality added fuel to the popular flames. The people regarded the pole erected to the king and Pitt on the repeal of the stamp act as a symbol of liberty, while the soldiers were in- tent on destroying it. January 13, 1770, men of the Sixteenth regiment sawed the pole and tried to blow it up with powder, and when they failed turned upon a body of citizens and drove them into Montague's tavern near by, where they broke windows and furniture, and cut and bruised two of the patriots, before their officers were able to send them to their barracks. After three attempts on successive nights, the soldiers for defiance sawed the pole into billets and piled them before the tavern door. The people were stirred to wrath, and, summoned by hand- bills, met in the park the next evening, January 17, and declared that soldiers off duty appear- ing in the streets should be treated as enemies of the city. The Sixteenth regiment retorted with a scurrilons handbill, and three of its mem- bers in trying to post copies were next day
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seized by Isaac Sears and a companion and marched to the mayor's office.
An attempt at rescue was made by a band of twenty soldiers with swords and bayonets, but the citizens with stakes and clubs guarded the prisoners. The soldiers, under the mayor's order, were retiring towards their barracks, pur- sued by the citizens. On Golden Hill, in John street, between Cliff and William streets, an- other band of soldiers reinforced their retir- ing companions, and they halted and charged upon their pursuers. They wounded a Quaker standing in his doorway, and three other citi- zens, and cut down a sailor, and thrust one man through with a bayonet. Of the soldiers sev- eral received blows and bruises, and more were disarmed. The collision was checked by offi- cers, who sent the soldiers to their barracks.
The soldiers showed their rage the next morn- ing, January 19, by piercing with a bayonet the garments of a woman returning from market, and engaged in a riot with sailors who took the popular side, and one sailor was pierced through the body. and afterwards died. They refused to obey the mayor, who ordered them to their barracks, but they were driven back by a party of Sons of Liberty. In the afternoon. soldiers assaulted a group of citizens who bore stout canes, and tried to take these away. Sons of
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Liberty again appeared on the scene, and once more drove the soldiers before them. One soldier was badly wounded in the shoulder, another was put in prison, and several were dis- armed.
In this battle of Golden Hill, the people were for the first time arrayed against the British soldiers. The latter were not under officers and in battle array, nor were the former mar- shaled for regular fighting. The elements of the coming strife came into prophetic conflict. The Sons of Liberty gained their advantage by the organization which they had for some time maintained. This incident stirred the people of Boston to the spirit of resistance which two months later led to the massacre of citizens by British troops. The irregular fighting in New York was the beginning of the shedding of blood for the independence of America.
In New York, the people took courage and determination from the start. The corporation refused to allow another liberty pole to be set up to vindicate the rights of the citizens ; but John Lamb and his associates, on ground bought for the purpose, erected to " liberty and prop- erty," a pole, bound with iron. Soon after. the Sons of Liberty consecrated Hampden Hall to their cause, and March 19 joined in an ovation to MeDougall, still in prison for his criticisms
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of the assembly. Ten days later the soldiers attacked the new pole, and sixty of them charged on citizens who rallied in its defense. The bells rang an alarm, whereupon the officers recalled their men to the barracks. The pole stood until after the capture of the city by the British. It was the emblem of the first advan- tage gained by the colonies over British sol- diers.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
HESITATION. - DECISION FOR THE UNION.
1770-1775.
THE British ministry placed its veto on a plan proposed by the assembly of New York, and approved by Lieutenant Governor Colden in November, 1769, for a general congress of all the colonies, ostensibly to provide uniform regulations for trade with the Indians. The home authorities saw the design of the New York patriots, which was. as Mr. Bancroft testi- fies, that such a union of the colonies would pro- mote "the security and development of colonial liberty through an American constitution," and, as most of them hoped, " without dissolving the connection with Great Britain; " and to that end an invitation was extended to all the colonies to elect representatives to a congress which should exercise legislative power for them all. The ministerial veto postponed the project, which this middle province had so much at heart. The agreements for non-importation were also the device of New York, and were
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faithfully observed by the colony. While it had lost all but one-sixth of its imports, New Eng- land and Pennsylvania kept one full half, and Canada and the northern colonies increased their trade. The temper of New York was shown by the welcome accorded in May, 1770, to Nathan Rogers, a Boston merchant, posted for violating the non-importation agreement, who came or was suspected of coming as an emissary to in- duce the merchants of the city to open the port to importers. Some of the merchants, with a multitude said to number four thousand per- sons, bore his coffin on a gallows, and hunted for him with a view to personal chastisement. He learned their purpose, and returned to Bos- ton.
The repeal by parliament of all the duties ex- cept those on tea started the question whether all other commodities might not be imported. By a personal canvass in July, 1770, eleven hundred and eighty persons in New York de- clared in favor of limiting the restriction to tea alone, while those who insisted on continuing total non-importation, although led by Sears and MeDougall. numbered only three hundred. Philadelphia and Boston and Carolina were very indignant because New York would not keep on with its sacrifice for non-importation ; but the action of this colony limited the con- test over duties to the single commodity, tea.
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This difference with its neighbors gave a gracious introduction, October 19, 1770, to the new governor (John Murray, Earl of Dun- more), who in his address to the assembly in December, welcomed " the salutary recon- ciliation effected by the people in this prov- ince," while the assembly, by a vote of eleven to five, expressed the hope that " the disposi- tion of the inhabitants of the colony to re- new commercial intercourse with the mother country " would lead to a " cordial reconcilia- tion." The home government. however, re- laxed nothing of its claims to control the revenue of the colonies. Governor Dunmore notified the assembly, January 18, 1771, that his instructions would not permit him to accept salary from the colony, but it would be paid from the king's treasury ; for which, however, as he did not state, parliament would collect duties in New York. Then, as little more than a passing shadow here, Dunmore was trans- ferred to Virginia, and William Tryon came from North Carolina to be governor of New York, July 9, 1771. He was received with feasts and addresses, and brought the reputation of a vigorous and able executive. By receipt of salary from the king's treasury, he was inde- pendent of the assembly, which did not criti- cise the arrangement. He evidently possessed
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qualities which in less troublous times would have secured success in administration ; and he began to identify himself with the colony, as was the rule with his predecessors, by buying land for speculation, choosing a location north of the lower Mohawk. By repeated proroga- tions, the assembly was kept from meeting after his arrival until January 7, 1772. His address at the opening overflowed with the "ardent desire to cooperate in every measure that will best promote the honor and dignity of his Ma- jesty's government, and advance the real felic- ity of a people eminently distinguished by their loyalty to the best of sovereigns and affectionate disposition to their mother country." The re-
sponse was full of the like compliments, and of confidence in the wisdom of the new governor. Appearances certainly indicated that New York was weary of the contest with the home govern- ment, in which many of its people felt that it was bearing an undue share of the burdens. While the men of Rhode Island were burning the British cruiser Gaspee on the shores of Narragansett Bay, June 10, 1772, Governor Tryon and the assembly were attending to the internal affairs of the colony. The New York hospital was founded ; Tryon county was set off from Albany, covering the settlements on the Mohawk west of Schenectady, and the militia
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of the colony was placed on a better footing than before.
In the summer Governor Tryon reviewed three regiments of militia at Johnstown, Bur- net's Fields (now Herkimer), and German Flats respectively, and was so well pleased with their array that he appointed Sir William Johnson major-general of the northern department. At the first election Guy Johnson, nephew, son-in- law, and supposed heir of the general, and Hendrick Frey, were chosen to represent the new county in the assembly, and took their seats with the supporters of. the government. In that body the most stirring division arose over the appointment of commissioners to settle the boundaries with Massachusetts and Con- necticut. The commissioners were appointed, and the controversies, after leading to hand-to- hand fighting between the settlers, on the dis- puted territory were happily, although only temporarily, adjusted.
But the British government would not let New York pursue the paths of peace and inter- nal development. The device of parliament to relieve the East India Company from the export duty on tea, and thus enable it to sell in Amer- ica at a lower price, even including an im- port tax in the colonies, was proof that Britain was more intent on control over taxation in
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America than on getting money from it. The attempt was cunning to ship tea at the same time to the four chief ports of the colonies, in the hope that one at least would fail to adhere to its pledge of non-importation. The shipments aroused Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston ; but nowhere was vigilance greater and decision more outspoken than in New York. The Sons of Liberty relaxed no whit in their assertion of colonial rights, and knew each other and were ready to act together ; they forbade pilots to bring tea-ships inside of Sandy Hook; and " the Mohawks " were organized to watch the tea-ships and prevent the landing of the ob- noxious article.
A New York merchant named Kelly, who had declared in London that the soldier at the head of the government of the province would reduce the rebels and land the tea, was for his words burned in effigy, November 5, 1773, by his indignant fellow-citizens. On the same day a public meeting made formal declaration that tea should not be brought in at all, duty or no duty. New York was again leading in the assertion of the most pronounced patriotism. Commissioners appointed to receive the tea on its arrival resigned the dangerous position November 10. The Mohawks were notified, November 25, that the tea-ships might soon be
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expected, and guards were set to intercept them. On the same day the Sons of Liberty resolved that any person aiding or abetting the introduc- tion of tea, or buying it, or carting it, should "be deemed an enemy of the liberties of America." They were fully ready for the vessel bearing tea for New York ; but it was driven out of its course by a storm, and put into Antigua for re- pairs, and did not arrive until April. In Bos- ton, therefore, the Mohawks had the first tea-, party, such as they had prepared for each of the ports. Governor Tryon, if his words may be relied on, would have been prepared to assert the royal power ; for he declared that " the tea should be delivered to the consignees, even if it was sprinkled with blood." He thought it best, however, to try stratagem. December 16, the very day on which the tea was thrown over- board in Boston harbor, a meeting was held in " the Fields" (afterwards the City Hall park), to stir up the popular patriotism, when the gov- ernor proposed that on the arrival of the ship, all packages of tea should be placed in the fort, and held subject to the order of the king or the council. John Lamb, who had secured the appointment of a vigilance committee of fifteen to answer letters from Philadelphia and Boston, inviting union " to resist the insidious designs of Great Britain," exposed the gover-
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