USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 22
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* The people of Albany County were anxious to send Colonel Philip Schuyler as their deputy, but he was too severely afflicted with rheumatism and hereditary gout to allow him to serve them. Toward the close of July his friend, Councillor William Smith, wrote to him from New York : "The colonies are preparing for the grand Wittena- gemote [Great Assembly] with great spirit. At Philadelphia a plan is digesting for an American Constitution. I know not the outlines of it. I hope it is for a Parliament to meet annually. Our people will be the last of all in the appointment of delegates. I wish your county would assist in the choice. Expresses will be sent through the whole colony to call upon the counties for the purpose. . . . The people of England begin to call out for an American Parliament."
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
CHAPTER XV.
COMMITTEES of Correspondence, which had been formed in every colony in 1773, had been busy in the interchange of sentiments and opinions, and throughout the entire community of British-Americans from Maine to Georgia there was evidently a consonance of feeling favorable to united efforts in opposing the augmenting oppression of the mother country. And yet they hesitated, and resolved to deliber- ate in solemn council before they should appeal to arms-" the last argument of kings."
To this end deputies represent- ing twelve British-American colo- nies met in Carpenter's Hall, at Philadelphia, on September 5th, 1774, and chose Peyton Randolph* president and Charles Thomson secretary of that body. There were forty-four delegates present on that day. Those from the province of New York were James PEYTON RANDOLPH. Duane, John Jay, Philip Living- ston, Isaac Low and William Floyd. That first Continental Congress remained in session until October 26th, during which time they matured measures for future action. One of the most important of these measures was the formation of a league
* Peyton Randolph was born in 1723, in Virginia, and, like other young men of wealthy parents in the colonies, was educated in England. He became a lawyer, and at the age of twenty-seven years was appointed attorney-general of the province. He went with a band of volunteers against the Indians on the Virginia frontier in 1756. A. member of the House of Burgesses several years, he was its Speaker at one time. He was chairman of a committee to revise the laws of Virginia ; went to England to seek redress of grievances ; framed the remonstrance of the House of Burgesses against the Stamp Act ; presided over the Virginia Provincial Convention at Williamsburg in 1774, and the first Continental Congress the same year ; presided over the second Virginia Convention in March, 1775 ; was in the Continental Congress a short time that year, and died of apoplexy at Philadelphia, October 22d, 1775. His portrait here given was copied from a miniature by Charles Willson Beale.
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THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
for a general commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain and her West India possessions. It was named the American Association. In addition to its non-intercourse provisions, it recommended the abandon- ment of the slave-trade, the improvement in the breed of sheep, absten- tion from all extravagance in living, indulgence in horse-racing, etc., and the appointment of a sort of vigilance committee in every town to promote conformity to the requirements of the Association. It was signed by the fifty-two members who were present at its adoption.
This first Continental Congress put forth several able State papers-a Bill of Rights ; an Address to the People of Great Britain ; another to the several British-American colonies ; another to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, and a petition to the king. One of the most sig- nificant acts of the Congress, the most offensive to Great Britain, and which constituted the whole business of the day, was the passage of the following resolution on October 8th :
"Resolved, That this Congress approve the opposition of the inhab- itants of Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Parliament ; and if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, Peyton Randolph SIGNATURE OF PEYTON RANDOLPH. in such case all America ought to support them in their opposition."
Thus defiantly was the gauntlet cast down at the feet of the king and Parliament. The Congress adjourned eighteen days afterward to meet at the same place on May 10th following, unless the desired redress of grievances should be obtained.
The public press in the colonies almost unanimously supported the attitude assumed by the Congress. There were only four newspapers then published in the province of New York, and these were sent forth from the city. They were Hugh Gaines's New York Mercury, John Holt's New York Journal, John Anderson's Constitutional Gazette, and James Rivington's New York Gazette. The first three named were in sympathy with the patriots. The latter favored the royal side in political discussions .* The Whig papers everywhere abounded in
* Holt's Journal was the most outspoken of any of the Whig newspapers. Before the meeting of the first Continental Congress it contained at its head the device of a snake disjointed, each piece having the initials of one of the English-American colonies. He pleaded for its union. In December, after the session of that Congress was ended, it contained another significant device. It represented a column, its base resting upon Magna Charta and upheld by thirteen strong arms reaching out of elouds. The column
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
pointed epigrams, squibs, keen satirical sonnets, and sententious argu- ments and logic, like the following :
THE QUARREL WITH AMERICA FAIRLY STATED.
" Rudely forced to drink tea, Massachusetts, in anger, Spilt the tea on John Bull-Jolin fell on to bang her ; Massachusetts, enraged, calls her neighbors to aid, And give Master John a severe bastinade.
Now, good men of the law, pray who is at fault, The one who begins or resists the assault ?"
The proceedings of the Continental Congress produced a most pro- found sensation in Great Britain. When Parliament reassembled after the holidays (January 20th, 1775) the king denounced the American colonists as " rebels," and prom- ised ample means to bring them NC NY into subjection. William Pitt Sc V NE (now become Earl of Chatham) made a powerful speech in the House of Lords in favor of the U M Americans, which drew from that UNITE OR DIE ITouse a severe reprimand by a decided majority. Thus sup- SNAKE DEVICE. ported by the king and lords, the ministry proceeded to put the engine of coercion into swift operation. Restrictive and other oppressive acts were passed, and war was virtually declared against the British- American colonists.
Meanwhile the several colonies had expressed their approval of the proceedings of the Continental Congress. New York alone refused to do so, but finally yielded. In November, 1774, the Committee of Fifty- One was dissolved, and at a meeting of " freeholders and freemen," held at the City Hall on the 22d of that month, a committee of sixty persons were chosen " for carrying into execution the Association entered into by the Continental Congress."
So soon as the Congress adjourned the Loyalists and the High Church party in New York undertook to weaken the force of the American
was surmounted by the cap of Liberty. The whole was encircled by a snake in two coils, upon which were the words :
" United now, alone and free, Firm on this basis Liberty shall stand, And thus supported, ever bless onr land, Till Time becomes Eternity." .
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THEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS.
Association by inducing violations of its requirements. To this end scholars and divines who had been engaged in the controversy concern- ing an American episcopate now resumed their pens. Among the most eminent of these writers on the Tory side were Rev. Myles Cooper, D.D., President of King's College, and Drs. Inglis, Seabury and Chandler, of the Anglican Church. They were ably answered by William Livingston, John Jay, young Alexander Hamilton, and others. It was at this time that the last named entered the list of political writers, and soon became their peer and leader.
The first session of the New York Assembly after the adjournment of the Continental Congress began on January 10th, 1775. In it was a
Hiver Delancey
SIGNATURE OF OLIVER DE LANCEY.
clear working majority of Tories. Colonel Philip Schuyler was the acknowledged leader of the opposition. He was ably supported by George Clinton and others, and they resolved to have the political issues between the people and the Government distinctly drawn and specifically considered.
The venerable Colden, now at the head of the provincial government, called the attention of the Legislature, in his message, to the " alarming crisis," and admonished them that the country looked to them for wise counsel. He was a Loyalist, but was now conservative in feeling. He exhorted the Assembly to discontinue all measures calculated to increase the public distress, and promised them his aid. The response to the message was drawn by Oliver de Lancey," and took conservative ground.
* Oliver de Lancey, a brother of Lieutenant-Governor James de Lancey, was born in 1717 ; died in England in 1785. He possessed large wealth and great influence. He adhered to the crown when the war for independence began ; was commissioned a brigadier-general, and raised and commanded three battalions of Loyalists. His son, Oliver, became a captain of cavalry, and succeeded Major André as adjutant-general under General Clinton. The De Lanceys performed efficient service for the royal cause in Westchester County, N. Y. At the close of the war the general, accompanied by his son, went to England, where the latter rose to the rank of major-general, and at the time of his death was almost at the head of the British army list. The elder General De Lancey became a member of Parliament. His nephew, James de Lancey, commanded a battalion of horse in Westchester County, and because of his zeal in supplying the British army with cattle from the farms of that county, his troopers were called cow-boys. Confis- cation acts swept away the larger portion of the De Lancey estate in America.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
At length a question came up (January 26th, 1775) which tested the political character of the Assembly. Abraham Tenbroeck moved that the House should " take into consideration the proceedings of the Con- tinental Congress," etc. The motion was negatived by a majority of only one. Notwithstanding the meagreness of this majority, the result gave great joy to the Tories. One of them wrote to a gentleman in Boston : " Worthy old Silver Locks (Lieutenant-Governor Colden), when he heard that the Assembly had acted right, cried out, 'Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace.' "
Soon after these efforts were made in the Assembly to bring it into sym- pathetie action with those of the other colonies, Colonel Schuyler moved that certain letters which had passed between the Committees of Corre- spondenee of New York and Connecticut, and a certain letter to Edmund Burke (the agent in England of the colony of New York), in June, 1774, on the subject of a general Congress, " be forthwith entered upon the journals of the House and supplied to the newspapers for publica- tion." It was rejected by a vote of 16 to 9. Colonel Nathaniel Wood- hull moved that the thanks of the House should be given to the dele- gates in the late Continental Congress "for their faithful discharge of the trust reposed in them." This was negatived-15 to 9. By the same vote a motion to thank the merchants and others who had adhered to the non-importation and non-intercourse league was negatived. A motion to appoint delegates to the proposed second Continental Congress was lost by a vote of 17 to 9.
The Assembly agreed, by a majority vote, that Parliament had a right to tax the colonies withont their consent. Late in February a petition to the king was presented for consideration. It was so cringing in tone -speaking of the monarch as " an indulgent father" and the colonists as "infants" who had "submitted hitherto without repining" to the authority of " the parent"-that the manliness, the patriotism, and the indignation of Schnyler and his friends were thoroughly aroused to most vigorous opposition. Schuyler offered several amendments ; but these, with resolutions presented by him, were voted down. Amendments offered to a memorial to the House of Lords met with similar treatment. Finally the several papers adopted by the Assembly, though they did not express the sentiments of the people of the province, were ordered to be sent to Mr. Burke. The Assembly had been induced to send a remonstranee to Parliament against its harsh treatment of the colonists. Its terms, though mild, were so distasteful that it was not received by Parliament.
On April 3d, 1775, the Provincial Assembly of New York-a legisla-
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THE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE AROUSED.
tive body which had existed more than one hundred years-was adjourned never to meet again. The people now took public matters into their own hands. The whole continent was moving rapidly toward an attitude of rebellion and self-government. The newspapers, as we have observed, were filled with exciting matter, and warlike preparations were observed on every side. General Gage, in command of troops at Boston, became alarmed, and began fortifying Boston Neck. He seized and conveyed to that town quantities of gunpowder found in neighbor- ing villages, and he adopted stringent measures to prevent intercourse between citizens of the town and the country.
Fierce exasperation followed these impolitic measures, and it was not long before hundreds of armed men assembled at Cambridge. At Charlestown, near Boston, the people took possession of the Arsenal after Gage had carried off the powder. The people also captured the fort at Portsmouth, N. H., and carried off the powder. The people of Rhode Island seized the powder and forty cannons at the entrance of Newport Harbor. Similar defensive measures were taken at Philadel- phia, Annapolis, Williamsburg, Charleston, and Savannah.
The Republicans of New York having failed in their efforts in the Assembly to procure the appointment of delegates to the second Con- tinental Congress, which was to convene on May 10th, nothing was left for them but to appeal to the people. The new general Committee of Sixty, temporarily exercising governmental functions and yielding to the pressure of popular sentiment, took measures for assembling a conven -. tion of representatives of the several counties in the province for the purpose of choosing deputies to the General Congress. The Loyalists opposed the measure as disrespectful to the Assembly, which had refused to appoint delegates.
The people, wearied of the Legislature, were now driven to a point where respect for authorities whose views were not in consonance with the spirit of liberty and free discussion was almost wholly un- known.
They first rallied around the Liberty Pole (April 6th, 1775), beneath a banner inscribed "Constitutional Liberty," and marching to the Exchange, were met there by large numbers of Loyalists, led by members of the Council and the Assembly, with officers of the army and navy, who came to overawe the people. They failed. A Provincial Conven- tion was called, and assembled at the Exchange, forty-two in number, on April 20th, and chose Philip Livingston, James Duane, John Alsop, John Jay, Simon Boerum, William Floyd, Henry Wisner, Philip Schuyler, George Clinton, Lewis Morris, Francis Lewis, and Robert R.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
Livingston deputies to represent the province of New York in the Con- tinental Congress.
On May 22d (1775) deputies from the several counties assembled in New York and organized a Provincial Congress, with Peter van Brugh Livingston, president ; Volkert P. Douw, vice-president ; and John Mckesson and Robert Benson, secretaries." That body assumed the functions of a provincial government, and utterly ignored the royal governor and his Council.
The great crisis was now approaching. When, just after the adjourn- ment of the Provincial Convention (April 24th), news came of the tragedy at Lexington and Concord the public mind at New York was fearfully excited by that intelligence, and by the arrest of Captain Isaac Sears, the bold leader of the Sons of Liberty, on a charge of seditious utter- ances. On his way to jail he was taken from the officers by his friends and borne in triumph through the streets, preceded by a band of music and a banner. That night Sears addressed the people in " The Fields,"
* Members of the first Provincial Congress of New York, which met in the city of New York on May 23d, 1775 :
For the City and County of New York .- Isaac Low, L. Lispenard, Abraham Walton, Isaac Roosevelt, Abraham Brasher, Alexander McDougal, P. van Brugh Livingston, James Beekman, John Morin Scott, Thomas Smith, Benjamin Kissam, Samuel Verplanck, David Clarkson, George Folliot, Joseph Hallet, John van Cortlandt, John de Lancey, Richard Yates, John Marston, Walter Franklin, Jacobus van Zandt.
For the City and County of Albany .- Volkert P. Douw, Abraham Yates, Robert Yates, Jacob Cuyler, Peter Sylvester, Direk Swart, Walter Livingston, Robert van Rensselaer, Henry Glenn, Abraham Tenbroeck, Francis Nicoll.
For Duchess County .- Dirck Brinkerhoff, Andrew Hoffman, Zephaniah Platt, Richard Montgomery, Ephraim Paine, Gilbert Livingston, Jonathan Langdon, Gysbert Schenck, Melancton Smith, Nathaniel Sackett.
For Ulster County .- Colonel John Hardenburg, Egbert Dumond, Christopher Tap- pan, James Clinton, Dr. Charles Clinton, John Nicholson, Jacob Hornbeck.
For Orange County .- John Coe, David Pye, Michael Jackson, Benjamin Tustin, Peter Clowes, William Allison, Abraham Lent, John Haring.
For Suffolk County .- Nathaniel Woodhull, John Sloss Hobart, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Thomas Wickham, Thomas Treadwell, John Foster, James Haven, Selah Strong.
For Richmond County .- Paul Micheau, John Journey, Richard Conner, Richard Law- rence, Aaron Cortelyou.
For Westchester County .- Gouverneur Morris, Lewis Graham, James van Cortlandt, Stephen Ward, Joseph Drake, Philip van Cortlandt, John Thomas, Jr., Robert Graham, William Paulding.
For Kings County .- John E. Lott, Henry Williams, J. Remsen, Richard Stillwill, Theodore Polhemus, John Lefferts, Nicholas Covenhoven, John Vanderbilt.
For Queens County .- Jacob Blackwell, Joseph Lawrence, Daniel Rapelje, Zebulon Williams, Samuel Townsend, Joseph Trench, Joseph Robinson, Nathaniel Tom, Thomas Hicks, Richard Thone,,
For Charlotte .- Dr. John Williams, William Marston.
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COMMITTEES IN NEW YORK CITY.
and a few days afterward he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress.
The aroused Sons of Liberty embargoed all vessels in the harbor laden with provisions for the British troops in Boston. They did more ; they demanded and received the keys of the Custom House, dismissed the employés, and closed it. They also seized public arms, and placed a guard at the arsenal. Then they boldly proclaimed this overt act of treason to their brethren in other cities. General aların prevailed, espe- cially among the Tories. A Grand Committee of Safety, consisting of one hundred of the most respectable citizens," was organized, and a military association for practice in the use of fire-arms was formed. The Committee of One Hundred assumed the functions of municipal government.
When the Provincial Congress assembled its complexion disappointed the people. Toryism and timidity prevailed in that body, and schemes for conciliation instead of measures for defence occupied the majority. Family influence was very powerful in the colony in every department of social life, and through it the Provincial Assembly and the Provincial Congress were loyally inclined. The masses of the people were chiefly Republican in feeling, and Toryism in the Provincial Congress, hard pressed by popular sentiment and the influence of important events daily occurring, was soon compelled to yield. When it was finally crushed ont, no province or State was more patriotic and more active in the canse of liberty than New York. With a population of only 164,000 in 1780,
* The following are the names of the Committee of One Hundred : Isaac Low, chair- man ; John Jay, Francis Lewis, John Alsop, Philip Livingston, James Duane, Evert Duyckman, William Seton, William W. Ludlow, Cornelius Clopper, Abraham Brinker- hoff, Henry Remsen, Robert Ray, Evert Bancker, Joseph Totten, Abraham P. Lott, David Beekman, Isaac Roosevelt, Gabriel H. Ludlow, William Walton, Daniel Phoenix, Frederick Jay, Samuel Broome, John de Lancey, Augustus van Horne, Abraham Duryée, Samuel Verplanck, Rudolphus Ritzema, John Morton, Joseph Hallet, Robert Benson, Abraham Brasher, Leonard Lispenard, Nicholas Hoffman, Peter van Brugh Livingston, Thomas Marsten, Lewis Pintard, John Imlay, Eleazer Miller, Jr., John Broome, John B. Moore, Nicholas Bogart, John Anthony, Victor Bicker, William Goforth, Hercules Mulligan, Alexander McDougal, John Reade, Joseph Ball, George Janeway, John White, Gabriel W. Ludlow, John Lasher, Theophilus Anthony, Thomas Smith, Richard Yates, Oliver Templeton, Jacobus van Landby, Jeremiah Platt, Peter S. Curtenius, Thomas Randall, Lancaster Burling, Benjamin Kissam, Jacob Lefferts, Anthony van Dam, Abraham Walton, Hamilton Young, Nicholas Roosevelt, Cornelius P. Low, Francis Bassett, James Beekman, Thomas Ivers, William Dunning, John Berrien, Benjamin Helme, William W. Gilbert, Daniel Dunscombe, John Lamb, Richard Sharp, John Morin Scott, Jacob van Voorhis, Comfort Sands, Edward Flemming, Peter Goelet, Gerrit Kettletas, Thomas Buchanan, James Desbrosses, Petrus Byvanck, and Lott Embree.
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
of whom 32,500 were liable to military duty, New York had furnished 17,780 soldiers for the Continental Army, or over 3000 more than Con- gress required. Even at the juncture we are considering, the Provincial Congress authorized the raising and furnishing of four regiments, the construction of fortifications at the northern end of Manhattan Island, and fortifications in the Hudson Highlands.
Already the first military conquest made by the Americans in the old war for independence had been achieved within the province of New York. It was done chiefly by the prowess of Green Mountain Boys, who had so long and so successfully defied the authorities and the land speculators of New York. Benedict Arnold, of Connecticut, who had hastened to Cambridge with a military company on hearing of the affrays at Lexington and Concord, proposed to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress the seizure of the stronghold of Ticonderoga, on Lake Cham- plain. He was commissioned a colonel, and anthorized to raise men for the enterprise. Meanwhile some Connecticut people, bent on a similar enterprise, had repaired to Pittsfield, in Western Massachusetts, where they were joined by Colonels Eaton and Brown and some of their followers. They all went to Bennington, where Colonel Ethan Allen and a considerable force of Green Mountain Boys joined them. The whole force rendezvoused at Castleton, where they chose Allen as com- mander-in-chief of the expedition. There Arnold joined the little host with a few followers, and, by virtue of his commission, claimed the right to supreme command. The Green Mountain Boys objected. Arnold yielded. On the night of May 9th (1775) most of the little army crossed Lake Champlain near Ticonderoga, and at early dawn on the 10th Allen and Arnold, with a considerable force, having seized the sentinel at the sallyport, passed through a covered way, and before they were discovered were on the parade within the fort. They had taken the garrison by surprise. Allen proceeded to the quarters of the commandant, who had just been awakened from his slumbers, and demanded the surrender of the fort.
" By what authority do you make such a demand ?" asked the com- mandant, who knew Allen.
" By the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress !'' said Allen, in a loud voice. Dubious about Allen's divine authority, the commandant nevertheless yielded, although the Con- tinental Congress did not exist until some hours later on that day. The spoils of victory comprised 120 iron cannons, 50 swivels, 2 mortars, and a large amount of ammunition and stores, which were used in the siege of Boston a few months afterward. Two days later Colonel Seth
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FUNCTIONS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
Warner and some Green Mountain Boys took possession of Crown Point, a few miles from Ticonderoga. Thus, at the outset of the war, the Republicans gained possession of Lake Champlain and the key to Canada.
On the day of the capture of Ticonderoga (May 10th, 1775) the second Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, and chose Peyton Ran- dolph president and Charles Thomson secretary. The grave questions arose, What are we here for ? and What are our powers ? They simply composed a large Committee of Conference like the Congress of 1774,
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