USA > New York > Organization of the Revolutionary movement in New York State, 1775-77 > Part 8
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exertions." 3 William Smith remarked that the news "greatly inflamed
1. Becker, op. cit., pp. 244-45. When the Tories surrendered their weapons, they took an oath to support the Provincial Congress and not to aid the British. Force, op. cit., 4th Ser., IV, 858; N.Y.G., 29 January 1776.
2. The inability of the Tories to win a majority in the assembly under the conditions of restricted suffrage is striking testimony to their loss of influence among the electorate. This is all the more astonishing in the countryside where the great landholders could sway the votes of their lessees.
3. Ibid., 8 January 1776.
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the multitude, upon the certain prospect of a new campaign." When the council met before the election on January 29 to lay plans for the coming legislative session the members were gloomy concerning the administration's prospects. 2
They divided over the question of how long to postpone the opening of the assembly; one faction favored a month's delay, the other a fortnight. They resolved the difference by agreeing to permit the meeting on February 14 as stipulated in the writa of election, if good news came from Britain to soothe the "popular ferments." Otherwise, the governor would prorogue the
legislature for a month. 3 Not only did expectations of good news from Britain provo illusory, but the threat of war increased with the arrival of General Charles Lee to erect defenses against an expected British assault. 4 Consequently, the council approved the prorogation of the legislature which never again sat in the colony.
Although the Whig leaders had wavered and hesitated in the latter half of 1775, they had consolidated support among the people for the revolutionary cause and had consolidated the revolutionary organizations throughout the province. The February prorogation of the assembly signalled the end of Tory efforts, without the employment of an army, to regain supremacy in the province. Their defeats within and without the Provincial Congress underlined the fact they were a minority.
1. Smith, Memoirs, V, 6 January 1776.
2. Ibid., V, 29 January 1776
3. Ibid.
4. Hettols, Washington, pp. 209-13.
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CHAPTER IV
THE TIDE SETS FOR INDEPENDENCE
The irresolution of the First and Second Provincial Congresses often tends to obscure the hardening of the opposition to Britain and the growth of sentiment for independence. Even in the dismal days of November when the First Congress collapsed, the press carried letters expressing determined resistance to British measures. "Philo Patriee," lecturing his readers on patriotism, beaped scorn on those who sold 1
their talents to the ministry and on those who drew back in fear. Although "The Monitor" confidently asserted that Britain would weary of fruitless endeavors and ultimately would concede, he also warned his countrymen that they must prepare to die in defense of their lib- 2 erties. "An Occasional Remerker" warned against the increasing bold- ness of the Tories and said that he was prepared to make the final 3 sacrifice in defense of American rights. "A Poor Man" remonstrated with those of the "industrious" poor who favored the government. Con- trasting the condition of the American farmer and laborer with his European counterpart, he wrote:
Here, a poor man, can get his bread, and eat it in comfort and peace. There, the greatest part of his earnings are taken from him, to fatten and feed the
1. N. Y. J., 2 November 1775.
2. Ibid., 9 November 1775.
3. Ibid., 16 November 1775.
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pride of the rich and lagy; who instead of thanking him for it, only insult and despise him. He hardly dares to say his soul is his own .... I would rather die ten thousand deaths, than to see this country enslaved, and ruined by a venal wicked, blundering parliament.]
When news of Governor Dunmore's depredations in Virginia reached New 2
York, "Minos" proposed that he be tried and hanged for his crimes.
Among those who sought to counteract the effect on public opinion of the Whig leadership's timidity was "The Monitor." When the Tories attempted to beguile the Second Congress into calling for a meeting of the assembly to act on Lord North's proposition, "The Monitor" wrote a detailed dissection of the offer which exposed its
damaging consequences. 3 This same writer drove home two sharp attacks on the frightened congressmen and on those who had opposed Britain in
4 1774, but now sided with the ministry. In his seventh number "The Monitor" differentiated nicely between timicity and prudence:
When the former qualities prevail in the conduct of af- fairs, we see none but weak and irresolute councils, productive of plans and measures, slow in their execu- tion, and insignificant in their consequences. Every proposal, whether trivial or important, is perplexed with endless debates; however obvious its propriety, still it must be examined in every light, mist undergo
1. Const. Gaz., 25 November 1775.
2. N. Y. J., 7 December 1775.
3. "The Monitor," no. 6, ibid., 14 December 1775. He concluded on a note of open hostility: "The resolution in question is at such an infinite distance from anything we can embrace, and is clothed in such a menacing garb, that it clearly evinces the most unfriendly disposition, and claims nothing from us, but the most contemptuous inattention."
4. "The Monitor, " nos. 7 and 8, 1bid., 21, 28 December 1775.
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the nicest dissection, and each member of it be viewed with the most scrupulous precision .... In a word, nothing wise, provident, manly or decisive is to be expected; a scandalous remissness, imbecility and inaction, characterise the general current of affairs .... When the latter ingredi- ents preponderate, we see bold designe concerted with be- coming resolution, and executed with answerable firmness and success .... Deliberation is indulged within proper bounds .... Activity and fortitude are the very life of great exploits, and can alone produce security in perilous and stormy times.
As the assembly election campaign approached its climax, "The Monitor" called for the rejection of "those whose conduct has been ambiguous and wavering," and urged the electors to extract a promise from every 1
candidate to espouse legislative reform. He concluded with proposals for triennial assemblies and lawe against "every species" of bribery and corruption.
Correspondents defended vigorously the colonial position on the political and constitutional issues of the day. In a special plea "To the Inhabitants of Queen's County, Long Island," "A plain man" re- viewed the major irritants in imperial relations. Emphasizing no taxa- tion without representation and quoting Locke on the right to possess property, the writer observed;
That representation should accompany taxation is an eternal law of nature, and inseperable from the very idea of property, so that no property can exist without it: whatever is a man's own, no other person can have & right to take from him, without his consent, expressed by himself, or his representative.2
1. Ibid., 11 January 1776.
2. He specified the other grievances in this order: the prohibition on making steel; the importation of Spanish and Portuguese wines through England; restrictions on the marketing of hats; the prohibition on build- ing plating and slitting mills and tilt hammers; limitations on the marketing of wool and woolen textiles; trial of causes in admiralty courts. Const. Caz., 29 November, 2, 6 December 1775.
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Although "The Monitor" essayed a comprehensive analysis of the .dis- putes, be devoted more argument to the tax question than to any other single subject. 1 The changing tone of these articles may connote the stiffening of public opinion. Writing in November, the author dis- cermed the intent of the ministry to be the "subjugation" of the By January "The Monitor" saw colonies to parliamentary supremacy.
the chains of America." 2
in the government's policies a consistent effort "to impose and rivet
Notwithstanding the frequent recurrence of the taxation theme, this author also touched upon home rule and claimed 3 the "exclusive right to regulate our internal police." Moreover, "the power of legislation," he argued, "is so necessary to preserve that of taxation, that the one cannot long exist without the other." The se ideas, appearing in November and December, preceded the publication of Paine's Common Sense and suggest that they had obtained considerable currency .
Until September, 1775 the Whigs focused their criticism on the North ministry and Parliament but in that month they broadened their attacks to include the king. The Whigs proclaimed themselves the champions of constitutional monarchy as opposed to Parliament whom they accused of enacting illegal statutes. Since George III reigned as a
1. N.Y.J., 23, 30 November 1775, 4, 18 January 1776. There is some ground for suspecting "The Monitor" to be Alexander Hamilton. Professor Broadus Mitchell subscribes to this viewpoint of Hamilton. The known Hamilton pamphlets of this period provide a basis for comparison. The similarity of style, method of argument and references to Hume are suggestive. Perhaps most persuasive of all is the similarity of content in "The Monitor" no. 4 on the tea tax and the Hamilton pamphlet, The Farmer Refuted.
2. N.Y. J., 30 November 1775. 18 Jamery 1776.
3. Ibid., 8 February 1776.
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constitutional sovereign, be must reject unconstitutional laws. When the king sought to enforce these unlawful statutes, he acted uncon- stitutionally and in "very iniquitous" fashion. By opposing the royal measures, with force if necessary, the Whigs defended the Hanoverian crown, while the Tories sought to alter the constitutional basis of monarchy and to restore absolutism. 1 "Amicus Constitutionis" went so far as to assert that the king had deposed himself constitutionally by his conduct and could not be deemed lawful ruler until he stopped 2 the war and repealed the "cruel" acts against the colonies. Although "The Monitor" wrote in similar vein about king and constitution in his - second number, his twelfth production presented powerful reasons for 3 breaking the tie to George III. This last philippic set out to destroy "superstitious veneration for dignified names, " but in the process attacked the institution of monarchy. He wrote:
the black catalogue of royal malignities would rather stimulate their [i.e., the people's] disgust than feed their admiration. They would discover that the ambi- tion and avarice, the pride, caprice and cruelty of monarchs have been the most fruitful sources of havoc, devastation and ruin among men. They would be sensible,
that those attributes of perfection they are wont to ascribe to the British sovereign, as they have no suf- ficient foundation in his own particular character, are altogether fancies and visions.
Appearing fifteen days after Paine's Common Sense, this piece by "Monitor" reflected perhaps a growing sentiment in its disillusionment with monarchy.
1. "Obadiah, " ibid., 21 September 1775; "Lucius, " Const. Gaz., 27 September 1775.
2. N. Y. J., 19 October 1775. ..
3. Ibid., 23 November 1775, 25 January 1776.
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Letters opposing surrender to the British continued to appear in the press throughout the spring of 1776. Writers, warning against the "insidious wiles" of the North government, denounced the peace commissioners' mission as an attempt to divide and conquer. One anonymous penman, refusing to accept a British offer to repeal the "detestable" acts, questioned the faith of the ministry. He recalled to his readers the fate of those Dutch provinces that had submitted to the Spanish. Having disarmed the rebels, the Duke of Alva hanged "up- 1 wards of 15000 of their principal gentlemen."
While the newspapers reflect one facet of revolutionary thought, they are not the only guides. Other observers testified more directly to the popular enthusiasm for the American cause. In spite of the backwardness of the Whig leaders in fortifying the port against the probable British attack, William Thompson could still write
I am happy to find the Inhabitants of the place so far exceed the character I had of them. I never knew people so willing to assist in every military manoevre, and every thing that can be set on foot for the defence of the City is carried on with the greatest attention and spirit.2
1. "An Observer" and "The Monitor" no. 15, ibid., 22 February 1776, anon. on the British commissioners, 25 April 1776; anon. on arbitrary rule and laying down arms, Const. Gaz., 24, 28 February 1776; "American Patriot" and anon. on British commissioners, N. Y. P., 11, 25 April 1776; "H. Y.," N. Y. G., 29 April 1776; "Americanus, " 30 March 1776, Force, op. cit., 4th Ser., V, 548.
2. Thompson to Schuyler, 28 March 1776, Misc. Papers (Philip Schuyler), NYPL. For similar comments, see General Charles Lee to Washington, 14 February 1776, quoted in Nettels, Washington, pp. 211-12; R. H. Lee to General Charles Lee, 1 April 1776, NYHS Coll., IV, 367-68; Hugh Hughes to Samuel and John Adams, 4 February 1776, Samuel Adams Papers, NYPL.
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Eliphalet Dyer attributed "pannick" to "Mr Duane &c &c, " but praised 1 Isaac Sears for his role in the defensive preparations. So confident was Jay of the popular strength throughout the colony of the revolu- tionary party that he exhorted McDougall to have the Provincial Congress 2
levy taxes.
During the first four months of 1776 the thinking of the moderate Whigs moved perceptibly closer to that of the radicals. Men like Jay And Robert R. Livingston, driven by the current of events, slowly shifted 3 position. Jay acknowledged that
from the present Appearance of Things it is natural to suppose that the Sword must decide the Controversy - and with a View to that object our Measures should in a great Degree be taken.4
Livingston predicted "that another year of war And devastation will con- 5 firm me a republican ..* While accepting the inevitability of war,
1. "I trust that City is now pretty well secured & can assure you it is ' much owing to that crazy Capt Sears which Y -- k Delegates would affect to call him." Dyer to Samuel Adams, 27 February 1776, ibid.
2. Jay to McDougall, 27 March 1776, McDougall Papers, NYHS.
3. Jay placed himself among the moderate group which included McDougall. He frowned on those who "observe no medium and are either all Flame or all Frost." Ibid.
Tryon's March proclamation offering forgiveness to the penitent and promising armed support for the Tories did nothing to reverse the trend; "It is generally a matter of laughter and surprize, that he could do anything so weak and ill-judged. The friends of government were pro- voked at being so distinguished, and the friends to liberty hung him in effigy and printed a dying speech for him." Quoted in Flick, Loyalism, p. 51 from a Letter from New York, 12 April 1776, The Remembrancer, p. 86. 4. Jay to McDougall, 11 April 1776, McDougall Papers, NYES.
5. Livingston to Duane, 16 February 1776, Bancroft Transcripts: Livingston Papers, NYPL. A month previously he had written Schuyler, "it is time we shid act decisively, heaven & our own vigor must support us." 16 January 1776, Schuyler Papers, box 27, NYPL.
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the moderates were also disturbed by the lack of "good and well ordered Governments" to counteract " that Anarchy which already too much pre-
vails." 1 Hugh Hughes had prodded Jay and McDougall in January on the "absolute necessity ... for adopting some rational system of government" 2 but it took three months for the latter to accept that necessity. The
moderates' and conservatives' reaction to Lord North's plan to send commissioners to negotiate with the colonies delineated the growing divergence in their views. Jay doubted that they would have any ef- fective power to treat and therefore acquiesced in the requirement of more vigorous armed resistance. 3 Conservative James Duane, who dis- agreed with Jay, wrote Livingston:
I am unwilling that while Commissioners are daily looked for, we should by any irrevocable measure tie up our hands, and put it out of our power to terminate this destructive war.4
When the election of the Third Provincial Congress in April, 1776 is contrasted with the election of the Second in November, 1775, the scope of the changing political mood becomes readily apparent. As
1. Jay to McDougall, 11 April 1776, McDougall Papers. See also McDougall to Schuyler, 7 March 1776, Schuyler to McDougall, 14 March 1776, ibid.
2. Hughes to Samuel Adams, 8 January 1776, Samuel Adams Papers, NYPL.
3. Jay to McDougall, 11 April 1776, Mcdougall Papers. See also William Floyd to John Mckesson, 9 May 1776, Force, op. cit., 4th Ser., V, 395: speech of Gouverneur Morris, 24 May 1776, Gouverneur Morris Papers, CUL and Jared Sparks, Life of Gouverneur Morris with Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, I, 106-07 (hereafter cited as Morris).
4. DuAne to R. R. Livingston, 20 March 1776, Bancroft Transcripts: Livingston Papers, NYPL.
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compared with 80 delegates chosen to the Second Congress, the people sent 101 to the Third.
1 Most of the counties had fully established a network of district committees, each district having a proportionate 2 share of the county congressional representation. The numerical in- crease, therefore, indicates in part widespread voting within the dis-
tricts. 3 In part also it signifies the participation of all fourteen counties, whereas two, Queens and Gloucester, did not have representa- tion in the preceding Congress. The sterner treatment of the Queens Tories in January and February enabled the Whigs there to put together a county committee and several district committees. Finally, even though all the congressicen did not attend the session, enough did so to satisfy the quorum needs; the lack of a quorum bad operated as a 5
constant obstacle in the work of the Second Congress. Thus one might expect that the Third Congress would be amenable to the adoption of more bellicose policies when it convened in May.
Although the Second Congress and its Committee of Safety pur- sued a general course of temporization, it did adopt some aggressive measures. Alarmed by General Lee's endeavors to interdict communi- cation with Governor Tryon and the men-of-war, the Congress did consent
1. Becker, op. cit., pp. 232, 238, places the deputies for ten counties at 76, but two other counties chose four men. See above pp. 73-76.
2. Queens and Richmond lacked the district committees.
3. Becker, op. cit., p. 258.
4. Ibid., p. 259, n. 33; Provincial Congress to Queens County Committee, 7 March 1776, Jour. Prov. Cong, I, 345.
5. Becker, op. cit., p. 260.
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reluctantly to a stricter regulation of the traffic after March 8. Resumption of the intercourse depended upon British non-molestation 1 of the city's supplies coming from Jersey. Furthermore, the Com- mittee of Safety strove to check on the quantities of supplies de- livered to the British vessels in order to prevent them from accumu- 2
lating reserve stores. Taking advantage of congressional heat tancy, Tryon and the naval officers planned a partial blockade of the port. They fitted out two armed ships to prey on merchantmen plying the waters between the Delaware River and Sandy Hook and stopped shipping from sailing out of the harbor. £ The congressional reaction commingled
new resoluteness with past fear. Congress ordered the arming of a . vessel to protect the trade lanes to Philadelphia, but it did not pro- 3 test the interference with departures.
When Washington's army commenced its transfer to New York in April, the Committee of Safety acknowledged that intercourse with the enemy would have to cease. The Committee told the New Jersey Congress: As the ships of war in our harbour are daily committing acts of piracy and depredation on vessels and property of the inhabitants of the United Colonies, ve apprehend orders will soon issue for stopping all farther supplies to them.
It would not assume, however, the responsibility of putting the ships
1. Ibid., p. 249. For the details see Jour, Prov. Cong., I, 346.
2. Ibid., 1, 372.
3. The New Yorkers asked the Continental Congress to provide a ship to patrol the southern half of the threatened area while thay guarded the northern sector. Ibid., 1, 354, 380.
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under a ban even though it charged the British with bad faith. The Committee preferred to await the commander-in-chief's orders. When Washington in mid-April prohibited the communication between ships and 1 shore, the Committee complied willingly.
Although the Continental Congress had authorized the colony to raise four regiments for the Continental Army in anticipation of a British attack upon the city, the Second Congress had neglected the task. Since the Continental Congress had not assigned these troops to the invasion of Canada, Schuyler had left them under the command of New York. When Washington arrived, a delicate question of jurisdiction
arose. The general's application for information on the status of the units, not only posed the problem of their command, but also embarrassed the Committee of Safety, since it revealed their negligence in recruit- ing and arming the units. The Committee admitted Washington's prior 2 authority and spurred the campaign to enlist and equip the troops.
The need for the formation of a general anti-loyalist policy grev in urgency as hostilities spread. Neglect of the loyalists would permit the growth of a party which might wreck the revolutionary organi- zation. The request in December, 1775 for Continental troops to disarm
1. Becker, ap, cit., p. 249; Nettels, Washington, pp. 284-85: Committee of Safety to New Jersey Provincial Congress, 2 April 1776, Jour Prov. Cong., I, 397.
2. Nettels, Washington, pp. 285-87; Jour, Prov. Cong., I, 420-21. Wash- ington also prodded the Committee on the organization of the militia for emergency mobilization. He asked the Committee how long it would take to gather 2,500 men in a "sudden emergency" and pressed them to co- operate with him in planning for such an eventuality. The Committee's state of mind may be seen in its comment that "we do not at present fore- see that emergency." Conceding the possibility of the contingency, however, the Committee readily set to work to fabricate the needed machiner Ibid., 1, 419-20.
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the Tories in Tryon, Queens and Richmond constituted a tacit admission of the critical nature of the problem; a task from which the moderates and conservatives shrank. On the other hand, if they adopted a stern policy of imprisoning those suspected of hostile intentions, they would burn another bridge behind them. They would take another long stride down the road to revolution. In March the Continental Congress thrust upon the New York Whigs the necessity of a decision on the Tory problem when it passed a resolution to disarm all non-associators. The Com- mittee of Safety first learned of Congress's action when General Lord Stirling passed on to it a copy of the resolve. Having read and filed
the copy, the Committee received its official transcript from the
Congress two days later. For five days nothing happened; then on March 26 the Committee appointed a committee "to report a plan" to give effect to Congress's decision. £ Having taken the first step, the committee the following day presented its proposal which the Committee of Safety unanimously approved. The resolution ordered the local com- mittees "forthwith" to disarm all known "disaffected" persons and those who refused to sign an association pledging them to defend the colonies by arms. If it is true that the Committee advocated the use of "pru- dence and moderation, " it is also true that it gave the district com- mittees a blank check to call out the militia and minute men to assist them in carrying out the resolution. The Committee of Safety required an inventory of the arms gathered since it contemplated equipping the four new regiments with them. 1
1. Ibid., I, 375, 379, 386, 389.
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Although a month later the Committee of Safety complained to the county committees about their failure to forward the arms inven- tories, the local organizations 'did carry out their instructions. For example, Washington acquired some of. the guns in Ulster. 1
The uncertainties of the communications system probably affected the Com- €
mittee's plans. The Committee had entrusted the Albany County Com- mittee's copy of its March 27 order to member Peter R. Livingston for delivery, but Albany never saw it. Instead the Albany Committee,
taking the initiative, wrote to New York that it had seen a Conti- mental resolution for disarming Tories and solicited instructions on 2 executing it. Meanwhile, Albany had lost more than a month. However halting, this step represented the first consistent effort to lay down 3
a general anti-Tory policy.
Beyond this, however, the Second Congress would not go.
Congress moved cautiously in two other Tory matters. The question of confiscation arose in connection with the case of Henry
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