USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 37
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None but freeholders-men in possession of property of a prescribed character and value-were then allowed to vote. There were about 36,000 freeholders in the State. Of these, 25,373 cast their votes at that election. The western portion of the State had rapidly increased in population. New counties had been organized. Forty-four senators had to be chosen-a score more than in 1777. Seventeen of the new senators were chosen from the western district.
At the first session in Governor Jay's administration a bill was intro- duced for the gradual abolition of slavery in the State of New York, a measure in which the governor felt deeply interested. After a long debate the bill was rejected in the Assembly by the casting vote of the chairman of the Committee of the Whole. The vote stood 32 to 31.
The Federalists continued to increase in numerical strength, but in the presidential canvass in 1796 (Washington having declined to be a candi- date) there was a division in the Federal Party as to their candidate. John Adams and Thomas Pinckney were nominated by the Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson by the Republicans. The State of New York gave Adams its twelve votes in the Electoral College. He was elected President, with Mr. Jefferson as Vice-President .*
The twentieth session of the Legislature convened at New York on November 1st, and sat till November 11th. A second meeting began at Albany on January 2d, 1797, and from that time until now that city has been the political capital of the State. During this session the office of comptroller was first created. The law made him the highest financial
* Under the Constitution as originally adopted the candidates for President and Vice- President were voted for in the Electoral College of each State, without designating which the elector intended for the first and which for the second office. Lists of these were transmitted to the seat of Government, and the candidate having the greatest number of votes (of a majority of the whole) became President, and the one having the next greatest number Vice-President. The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution changed the mode of voting for the two officers, the electors being required to vote by separate ballots for President and Vice-President.
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officer of the State, and the treasurer merely a clerk to him. Samuel Jones, a member of the Senate, was appointed by the Council of Appointment the first comptroller of the State of New York.
On February 6th, 1796, there was a notable celebration at New York by the Republicans and the many French temporary residents of that city, of the nineteenth anniversary of the treaty of alliance between France and the United States. There were a banquet, speeches, and toasts. Chancellor Livingston offered the sentiment :
" May the present coolness between France and America produce, like the quarrels of lovers, a renewal of love."
The chancellor had been an ardent Federalist, but, with others of the Livingston family, had become an Anti-Federalist in 1790, because, it was said, of his opposition to the views of Colonel Hamilton contained in the famous report of the latter as Secretary of the Treasury, and es- pecially those in relation to the funding of the national debt. The change was attributed also by his political antagonists to his disappoint- ment in not having been made Chief Justice of the United States.
The coolness between France and the United States alluded to by Livingston continued to increase until, during the administration of John Adams, both nations prepared for war, and hostilities upon the ocean actually occurred ; yet neither party made a declaration of war. Bona- parte overturned the republican government of France in 1799, and in the earlier portion of the opening year of the nineteenth century there was peace and friendship between France and the United States.
The Republican Party had been making desperate efforts to maintain its ascendeney. A wide breach in the Federal Party promised it success in the spring of 1799, but a dishonorable transaction of Colonel Aaron Burr, who was at the head of the Republican ticket in New York City, caused its defeat. The stock of the Bank of New York, chartered in 1791 -- the first bank established in the State-happened to be chiefly owned by Federalists. After the election of Adams to the presidency, in 1797, party spirit was nowhere so violent as in the State of New York. Suspicion was on the alert. The Republicans suspected the Federalists of using the funds of the bank for partisan purposes, and they deter- mined to procure a charter for another bank that should be under Republican control. As the majority of the members of the Legislature were Federalists, they saw the necessity of adroit management to obtain a charter. This was left to Colonel Burr, who was equal to the occasion .*
* Aaron Burr was born at Newark, N. J., February 6th, 1756 ; died on Staten Island, N. Y., September 14th, 1836. At the age of nineteen years he entered the Continental army at Cambridge as a private soldier, and accompanied Arnold in his expedition
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365
THE MANHATTAN WATER COMPANY.
The yellow-fever had devastated the city of New York in 1798. Its general prevalence was attributed to the use of unwholesome water. Colonel Burr originated a scheme ostensibly for the cure of the evil. He drew up and presented to the Legislature a bill for the chartering of a company for " supplying the city of New York with pure and whole- some water." As the amonnt of the capital which might be needed was uncertain, he asked for authority to raise $2,000,000. As that snm would probably not be absorbed in the construction of the water-works, he asked for a provision that the " surplus capital might be employ- ed in any way not inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States or of the State of New York." This request ap- peared reasonable. Under the authority of these few words the Manhattan Company, as the cor- poration was called, was given banking privileges -- really the chief object to be attained by the charter. The bill was rushed through the Legislature at near the close of the AARON BURR. session, the greater number of the members having no suspicion that they were chartering a powerful banking institution under the control of Burr and other Republican leaders. Such was the origin of the Manhattan Bank in the city of New York, which still exists. Water-works were established by the corporation, but were inadequate for the promised service. This trick
through the Wilderness to Quebec. On the way he was sent with despatches to General Montgomery, and joined Arnold at the siege of Quebec. In the spring of 1776 Burr joined Washington's military family, but soon left it, and in 1779 retired from military life and became a lawyer and an active politician. He was twice a member of the New York Legislature (1784, 1798). He was adjutant-general of the State in 1789, and United States senator from 1791 to 1797. In 1801 he was chosen Vice-President of the United States. In 1804 he was ruined politically and socially by his slaying of Alexander Ham- ilton in a duel. In 1805-1806 Burr was engaged in a supposed treasonable scheme in the Mississippi Valley, and was tried and acquitted-" not proven." He lived abroad several years, returning to New York in 1812, where he resumed the practice of the law, living in obscurity and comparative poverty. In 1834 he married a wealthy widow of a Frenchman, but they soon parted.
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produced widespread indignation, and, as we have observed, caused the defeat of the Republicans in the city and throughout the States.
A young man, notable for the dignity of his personal presence, appeared on the stage of political action as a member of the Assembly in 1797, who afterward became a leading figure in the history of New York. He was De Witt Clinton, son of General James Clinton, a graduate of Columbia College, and having the reputation of high scho- lastic attainments, and then twenty-eight years of age. He had been the private secretary of his uncle, the governor, and had already engaged, with his pen, in political discussions. It was hoped that he would join the Federal Party ; but he did not. He was a conspicuous Republican leader until the " era of good feeling"-the period of the dissolution of the two great parties-during Monroe's administration. We shall meet him very frequently hereafter. He took an active part in New York in the presidential canvass of 1800, which resulted in the triumph of the Republicans in the State and nation. Jefferson and Burr were rival candidates nominated by the Republicans, and John Adams was the Fed- eralist candidate for re-election. Jefferson and Burr having an equal number of votes, the choice was made by the House of Representatives. It was given to Jefferson, and Burr became Vice-President. A jubilant Democratic rhymer of the day wrote :
" The Federalists are down at last ! The Monarchists completely cast ! The Autocrats are stripped of power- Storms o'er the British factions lower. Soon we Republicans shall see Columbia's sons from bondage free. Lord ! how the Federalists will stare At JEFFERSON in ADAMS' chair !"
From that time the Republicans were generally called " Democrats," and so we will designate them hereafter.
Washington had died at near the close of the previous year (December 14th, 1799). The event cast a gloom over the whole country, for he was beloved by the nation. The asperity with which he had been assailed by political antagonists had already been transformed into pro- found respect and reverence. His death was felt as a national calamity -an irreparable loss. It was especially so to the Federalists, with whom he was identified, for his name was a tower of strength. After his death the party was weakened by factions. The most imposing funeral honors were paid to the memory of Washington everywhere. In the city of New York particularly all parties joined in expressions of pro- found and tender regard.
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NEW YORK IN THE YEAR 1800.
CHAPTER XXVI.
AT the beginning of this century the population of the State of New York was 589,000, and of the city of New York, its commercial metrop- olis, it was 60,000. The decidedly Dutch aspect of the city in architec- ture and social manners had almost disappeared. The houses, the furni- ture, the amusements, and the dress of the people were imitations of English life. To London the ladies and gentlemen looked for fashions, and even in the Dutch Reformed churches the language of Holland was now seldom heard in the pulpit. New York was a complete trans- formation of New Amsterdam.
That metropolis, now (1887) numbering, with its suburban munici- palities, fully 2,500,000 inhabitants, was then only a large village in com- parison. Its northern boundary on the west was Harrison Street, some distance below Canal Street ; on the east, Rutgers Street, and at the centre by Anthony (now Worth) Street. North of there, and extending from river to river over a hilly country, were fields and orchards, farm- houses and pretty country-seats. Broadway, which crossed by a stone arched bridge the little sluggish stream that passed between the Fresh Water Pond (where the Tombs, or Halls of Justice, now stands) and the Hudson River, through Lispenard's oozy meadows on the line of Canal Street, was terminated by a picket-fence across the road at Astor Place. That was the southern boundary of the farm of Captain Randall, the founder of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, who gave it for an endowment for that institution. From near this point the Boston Road led, by a crooked way, to Harlem, which had been founded by the early Dutch settlers. There Dutch farmers were seated, and on Harlem Plains they raised vegetables for the traders at New Amsterdam. The Middle Road, beginning at the Randall farm, also extended to Harlem by a devious way, to avoid rocks and morasses, and the King's Bridge, or Bloomingdale Road, extended by present Central Park and Manhat- tanville to the famous bridge which spanned Spuyten Duyvil Creek. It was the beginning of the post road to Albany.
On the site of Washington Square, a portion of which was a swamp, was the new Potter's Field, a burial-place for paupers and strangers. The Jews' burial-ground was near Chatham Square, and the negro burial- ground was at the north-east corner of Broadway and Chambers Street.
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Burial-grounds were also attached to the several churches. Burials below Canal Street were prohibited in 1813.
There were two little villages on the Hudson River (Greenwich and
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NEW YORK COSTUMES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Chelsea), not far north of the city proper. At Greenwich was the States Prison, a strong stone building. It was the second States prison built in the United States. At the foot of Park Place was Columbia
369
BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK CITY.
College ; and on Broadway, between Pearl and Duane streets, was the New York Hospital, chartered in 1771. The only medical school in the city was the Medical Faculty of Columbia College.
The benevolent institutions were the Chamber of Commerce : * the Marine Society, for the benefit of the families of seamen ; the Humane Society, for the relief of distressed debtors and of the poor in general ; the Manumission Society, composed chiefly of Friends, or Quakers, de- signed for the amelioration of the condition of the slaves and the ac- complishment of their freedom ulti- mately ; the Sailors' Snug Harbor, for the comfort of decrepit and worn- out seamen ; the General Society of JOHN CRUGER.+ Mechanics and Tradesmen, for the benefit and relief of the families of necessitous members ; the Society of the Cincinnati ; the Tammany Society, already mentioned ; a Dispensary,
* This most useful organization was formed in 1768 at the Queen's Head Tavern, afterward Fraunce's Tavern, where Washington parted with his officers, and yet stand- ing, at the corner of Pearl and Broad streets. It was founded by twenty leading mer- chants, some of whom afterward appeared conspicuous in public affairs. They avowed the purpose of the association to be "promoting and extending all just and lawful commerce, and for affording relief to decayed members, their widows and children." It was incorporated in March, 1770. The following are the names of the original members : John Cruger, Elias Desbrosses, James Jauncey, Jacob Walton, Robert Murray, Hugh Wallace, George Folliot, William Walton, Samuel Verplanck, Theophylact Bache, Thomas White, Miles Sherbrook, Walter Franklin, Robert Ross Waddel, Acheron Thompson, Laurence Kortright, Thomas Randell, William McAdam, Isaac Low, and Anthony van Dam. John Cruger was the first president. Robert Murray and Walter Franklin represented the Quaker element in the commercial features of New York. Its sittings were interrupted when the British took possession of the city in 1776, but in 1779 the Tory members who remained in the city met at the Merchants' Coffee-House, corner of Wall and Water streets, and renewed the sessions. It was rechartered by the State Legislature in 1784, and its first president was John Alsop. The Waltons were among the most eminent and opulent merchants of the city. The Walton House, on Franklin Square, was long the most magnificent dwelling in the city of New York. It is now devoted to the uses of various kinds of business. It is opposite the publishing house of Harper & Brothers.
+ John Cruger was mayor of the city of New York when the Chamber of Commerce was founded, and the next year (1765) was speaker of the Assembly from 1769 to 1775. During the perilous time just preceding the outbreak of the Revolution his influence was
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on Tryon Row, not far from the site of the (present) City Hall ; the St. Andrew's Society, and several Masonic Lodges.
There were twenty-six churches in the city-namely, 3 Dutch Re- formed, 1 German Reformed, 7 Protestant Episcopal, 1 Lutheran, 5 Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, 3 Methodist, 1 Moravian, 1 Friends' Meet- ing-House, 1 Roman Catholic, and 1 Jews' Synagogue. The only public library in the city was the Society Library, founded in 1754. The Post-Office was kept in a room of the dwelling of the postmaster (Gen- eral Bailey), on the corner of William and Garden streets, and contained one hundred boxes. There was only one theatre in the city. The Manhattan Water Company had a distributing reservoir on Chambers Street, then quite " ont of town."
The most noted of the country-seats on Manhattan Island were those of Roger Morris, on Harlem Heights ; of Robert Murray, on the Inchberg (now Murray Hill) ; the Apthorp Mansion, on the Bloomingdale Road ; "The Grange," Hamilton's residence near Carmansville, yet (1887) standing, and of Richmond Hill, at the junction of Charlton and Varick streets, then the residence of Colonel Aaron Burr.
Such is an ontline picture of the city of New York less than one hundred years ago.
The State Constitution made no provisions for its own alteration or amendment. A necessity for an amendment appeared at the beginning of this century. In accordance with its provisions, the members of the Legislature, and particularly of the Senate, were inereasing in numbers to a degree that was already inconvenient. Governor Jay, in his speech at the opening of the session of the Legislature, in January, 1801, called the attention of that body to the subject. Having no legal power under the Constitution to order a convention, to consider amendments, they recommended such a convention, to consist of delegates from the several connties, equal in number to the members of the Assembly. It was done. The delegates were chosen in August, and assembled at Albany on October 13th. Aaron Burr was chosen President of the con- vention. It remained in session until the 27th, and adopted, by unani- mous vote, an amendment proposed by De Witt Clinton, which provided that the number of the members of the Assembly should never exceed one hundred and fifty, and of the Senate, thirty-two. At that time
powerful in maintaining public order among the citizens of New York. He was an active member of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, and prepared its famous Declaration of Rights. He was also a prominent member of the New York Provincial Congress, 1775. Mr. Cruger left the city before the British took possession of it in 1776. He died in New York City in 1791-92, at the age of eighty years.
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POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF TWO FAMILIES.
there were one hundred assemblymen. An amendment was adopted requiring an increase of assemblymen, at the rate of two each year- after the return of every census-until the whole number should amount to one hundred and fifty. The people ratified the amendments.
The Democrats now held the political ascendancy in the State and the nation. Ex-Governor George Clinton was elected Governor of New York, and in February, 1802, his nephew, De Witt Clinton, was chosen to fill the place of General Armstrong (who had resigned) in the Senate of the United States. Clinton was then about thirty-three years of age. He was also a member of the Council of Appointment, and was regarded as one of the ablest of the younger public men of the State.
Colonel Burr, the Clintons, and the Livingstons were then the ac- knowledged leaders of the Democratic Party in the State ; but Burr's popularity had already begun to wane. His ambition had impelled him to acts which rendered him an object of suspicion and the animadver- sions of leading members of his party. The Clintons and the Livingstons disowned him as a Democrat, and on the distribution of the great offices of the State by the Council of Appointment not one of Burr's friends received a place.
The Democratic Council of Appointment divided the offices among the two leading families in the State-the Clintons and the Livingstons -and their immediate friends. Edward Livingston was created Mayor of New York City. The Secretary of State was removed in order to make a place for Dr. Tillottson, a brother-in-law of Chancellor Living- ston. Morgan Lewis, another brother-in-law, was made Chief-Justice of the State Supreme Court ; General Armstrong, another brother-in- law of the chancellor, was appointed United States Senator. Brockholst Livingston and Smith Thompson (the latter married a Livingston) were created Judges of the Supreme Court. These persons, connected with the Livingston family by marriage or otherwise, were all able men. Governor Clinton had declared, on taking office again, that the heads of State Departments especially and the incumbents of minor offices should be men in political accord with the majority of the voters who appeared at the poles. This was a mild expression of the political maximi enunciated long years afterward-" To the victors belong the spoils."
Chancellor Livingston having been disqualified by age to hold the office of chancellor longer, Judge John Lansing succeeded him, and Mr. Livingston was appointed by President Jefferson Minister at the Court of the First Consnl of France, where he negotiated the purchase from that power of the immense territory known as Louisiana, for $3,000,000.
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In the summer of 1802 a most bitter political and personal warfare was waged between Colonel Burr and his partisans, and the Clintons and Livingstons and their adherents. The latter established a newspaper, called the American Citizen, as the organ of the Democratic Party, which was under the control of De Witt Clinton. It bitterly charged Burr with treason to the Democratie cause, and also with intriguing with the Federalists to prevent the election of Jefferson, in order to secure for himself the presidential chair. An Englishman named Cheatham was the editor-in-chief. To meet this formidable opponent in battle, Colonel Burr and his friends established the Morning Chronicle, edited by Peter Irving, an elder brother of Washington Irving.
The Chronicle carried the war into the camp of the Clintons and Liv- ingstons with great vigor. It charged them with inordinate personal ambition ; with endeavoring to exercise dictatorial power over the Dem- ocratie Party, and appropriating to themselves the spoils of the political victories. It affirmed that they were jealous of Burr, and wished to get rid of him, because he was an obstacle in the way of their efforts to place a member of one of their families in the exalted position (Vice- President of the United States) then filled by the colonel, and ulti- mately in the principal chair. So heated did the controversy become, that the two sections of the Democratic Party became personally hostile.
Burr's opponents managed to gain control of the Manhattan Bank (already mentioned), and wielded its power against him and his friends. Colonel John Swartwout, one of Burr's most devoted partisans, was turned out of the direction of the bank. Though his private character was unimpeachable, De Witt Clinton-who was too apt to speak of every man who opposed him as a knave or a fool-spoke of Swartwout as a " liar, a swindler, and a villain." Swartwout challenged Clinton. A duel ensued. Five shots were exchanged. Nobody was hurt. Richard Riker, afterward the famous Recorder of the city of New York, was Clinton's second and warm personal friend. He so vigorously defended Clinton, through the press, that a brother of Swartwout challenged Riker.
In a duel that ensued, Riker was so severely wounded that he was lamed for life .*
* Richard Riker was long a conspicuous figure in official life in New York. He was born on Long Island in September, 1773, upon land ceded to his aneestor, Geysbert Riker, in 1630. His father was an active patriot of the Revolution of 1775-83. When quite a young man Richard was made Attorney-General of the State of New York. He was first chosen Recorder of the eity in 1815. He was again chosen in 1821 and 1824, serving fourteen years successively in his last term. He died in October, 1842. Mr.
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SCHISM IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Cheatham published a pamphlet against Burr, and William P. Van Ness (Burr's second in his duel with Hamilton) published in the same form, over the signature of " Aristides," a most violent attack upon the character of the whole Livingston family. He also attacked De Witt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer with special severity.
In forming a judgment concerning this virulent controversy, it may be well to remember the words of Lady Betty Germain-" I have lived long enough never wholly to believe any side or party against the other."
This schism in the Democratic Party in the State vexed the leaders a long time. Colonel Burr lost the confidence of his party not only at home, but at the national capital ; but the continually increasing majori- ties of the party at every election inspired his friends with hope. They resolved to bring out Burr as a Democratic candidate for Governor of New York against any regular nominee of the party. In February, 1804, his friends in the Legislature held a meeting at Albany, and formally nominated him. A meeting in New York City ratified it. There being no chance for the election of a Federalist, leaders of that party proposed to take up Burr as their candidate, so as to defeat the Democrats by the coalition.
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