USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 10
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GIVEN under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Fort-George, in the City of New- York, the Eighth Day of June, One Thousand S en Hundred and Fifty Seven, in the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the second, by the Grace of GOD, of Great-Britain, Franc cand Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and fo for b. By His Honour's Command, JAMES DE LANCEY. Gw. Bangar, Dep. Seoly
GOD Save the KING.
Fac-simile of proclamation warning rioters of Livingston Manor; issued by T- ernor de Lancey. From the
Aldwin Brockholst Livingston, Esq., of Lon- of "The Livingstons of Callendar, and al Cadets," London, 1890. EDITOR
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acrimonious in opposition, the latter going into the Biblical argument in support of slavery which became so familiar at a later day. Scott of Pennsylvania said that if he were a federal judge in the South he would go as far as he could to emancipate them. Jackson retorted that "perhaps even the existence of such a judge would be of short duration." This memorable debate ended, on March 23, in the asser- tion of congressional power over the subject, but postponing action,- the ultimate action being little foreseen by the first Congress.
New-York was anxious to remain the national capital. On March 25, 1790, Trinity Church, rebuilt, was consecrated, and a canopied pew set apart for the president. On March 10 the State assembly provided for greater cleanliness and sanitary care about the city wharves. On March 16 it was enacted "that all that part of Fort George, in the City of New York, and the lands adjoining there- abouts, belonging to the people of this State [limits here defined], shall be and hereby are declared to be forever reserved for the pur- pose of erecting public buildings, and such works of defence as the Legislature shall from time to time direct; and further, that the same shall not at any time or times hereafter be sold or appropriated to or for any private use or purpose whatever." It was further ordered that the mayor and corporation demolish Fort George and level the grounds, and erect a new bulkhead at the Battery. It is then in- trusted to Gerard Bancker, Richard Varick, and John Watts (the last royal mayor of New-York) to cause new buildings to be erected for the State government, "and to be applied to the temporary use of the President of the United States of America, during such time as the Congress of the United States shall hold their session in the City of New-York." For these purposes the commission may draw on the State treasurer for eight thousand pounds. Further provisions were made for improving the road to Harlem, where Lewis Morris is authorized (March 31) to bridge Harlem River, without suffering any competition from ferries.
The work of clearing away Fort George was begun, and the presi- dential mansion was rapidly rising, when New-York's famous citizen, Alexander Hamilton, was bargaining away for a national object the city's chances of remaining the capital. There had been from the first a keen competition among various sections for this advantage, and the contest had gradually become one between New-York, Pennsyl- vania, and the banks of the Potomac. The Southern States were vehement for the Potomac location, and the name of the president was freely used in promoting this project. Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, regarded it as a financial necessity that the national govern- ment should assume the debts of the several States to England. This, however, was naturally opposed by the States which had paid a por-
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tion of their debts, but which, by "assumption," would be compelled to share the burden of States that had not so paid. The quarrel in Congress on these two points-assumption, and the location of the national capital-became extreme, and menaces of disunion had already become familiar in Federal Hall. When the discord was at its height, Hamilton met Jefferson on his way to the president's house, and the two walked up and down before that house for a half- hour conversing about the situation. This talk ended with the arrange- ment of a small dinner company at Jefferson's house on the following day, at which Alexander White, of North Carolina, and Richard Bland Lee, of Virginia, agreed to vote for assumption, though before they had voted against it, on condition that Hamilton would secure votes enough to locate the capital where it now stands. At one time (June 28) the senatorial vote had gone in favor of New-York as the permanent residence by 13 to 12. On July 16, the act for the re- moval to Philadelphia, and afterward to the Potomac, was signed by the president. But the work on the mansion in New-York continued with unabated vigor.1
An act of assembly of March 31, "for the further encouragement of literature," set apart Governor's Island, and some lands in Clinton County, for the benefit of Columbia College, and one thousand pounds in money. The general paving of streets, ordered in the spring of 1789, was coming to something like completeness. Little "Oister Pasty Street" was altered (Exchange Alley, now called Tin- pot Alley); Barclay, Little Dock, Front, William, George, Water, Chatham, Greenwich, Murray, Beekman streets, began to be paved in whole or in part. The Bowling Green, which had been a sort of lumber place, and had held the wrecked federal ship "Hamilton," had been cleared away and fenced in July of the previous year. The common lands had been industriously sold, and new houses and gardens appeared in the suburbs.
On June 2, 1790, occurred the first funeral of a member of Con- gress - the Hon. Theodoric Bland, of Virginia, who died June 1, in his forty-ninth year. It was attended by Congress and by the State and city authorities, also by the Cincinnati. The occasion was espe- cially memorable for the manifestation of friendliness between the Protestant Episcopal and the Dutch Reformed churches. After Trinity Church was burned the Dutch Reformed Church invited the congregation to use its edifice. At the funeral of Theodoric Bland, which was held in Trinity Church, Bishop Provoost conducted the
1 "We then walked to view the demolition of Fort George; the leaden coffin and remains of Lord and Lady Bellamont, now exposed to the sun after an interment of about ninety years. They and many more have been deposited in
vaults in a chapel which once stood in the fort. The chapel was burned down about fifty years ago and never re-built. The leveling of the fort and digging away the foundations have uncovered the vaults." Maclay's Diary, June 19, 1790.
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services, the sermon being delivered by the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Rev. Dr. William Linn, who enjoyed celebrity as an orator.
Independence Day, 1790, was celebrated on Monday, July 5. Con- gress, the Cincinnati, and the State and municipal authorities waited on the president, after they had all listened to an oration in St. Paul's Church by Brockholst Livingston. "The Grand Sachem," says a paper, "and Fathers of the St. Tammany Society were honored with an invitation to dinner by the members of the Cincinnati, and the evening was spent with that mutual good humor and joy which it is hoped will ever be the concomitants of a day so remark- able in the an- CITY AND MANHATTAN BANKS AND THE MCEVERS HOUSE.
nals of America." Tammany had thus rapidly become a power to be reckoned with. Probably Jefferson, who had assumed his duties as secretary of state on March 21, had something to do with the rapid development of the society. The sagamore was a vigorous Jeffersonian. This was John Pintard, the Tammanyite of highest social position; also a scholar. Pintard was editor of the "Daily Advertiser," assistant assessor of the city council, and assemblyman. Under his leadership the society could lose no opportunity, and one presently offered, for making a fine impression on the public mind. Colonel Marinus Willett had gone in March, 1790, on a mission to the Creek Indians in the South, and early in July news came that he was on his way to New-York with the chief (McGillvray) of the hostile tribe, and twenty-eight warriors, who would make a treaty of peace. This important company traveled northward at the public expense, greeted at every stage by vast crowds, and were met by the Sons of St. Tammany dressed in aboriginal style. The Sons of St. Tammany had charge of them, conducted them to the houses of the president and secretary of war, and showed them the sights of New-York. At a grand entertainment (August 3) Grand Sachem Hoffman addressed the Indians in glowing terms, which were duly translated for them. "The Spirits," he said, "of two great Chiefs are supposed to walk backwards and forwards in this Great Wigwam,-Tammany and Columbus. Tradition has brought us the memory of the first. He
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was a great and good Indian Chief, a strong warrior, a swift hunter, but, what is greater than all, he loved his country. We call ourselves his Sons." The sagamore Pintard produced the richly ornamented calumet, which was smoked by all in turns. The Indian chief .con- ferred on the grand sachem of Tammany a title which did not seem to be included in the society's general hatred of titles-"Taliva Mico" (Chief of the White Town). The President of the United States was toasted as "The Beloved Chieftain of the Thirteen Fires."
The president was deeply interested in all this; for the Indians in the Carolinas, Florida, and Georgia, instigated, it was thought, by the Spaniards, had given much trouble to the whites, and probably received as much. Chief McGillvray was made a member of the St. Andrew Society. On July 27 the chiefs were present with Washing- ton at a grand military review, and on another occasion he gave them a dinner. The president's last visit to Federal Hall was to sign a treaty with these Indians. He rode in his coach-and-six, with all pomp-even the horses' hoofs painted. Addresses were interchanged between the president and Chief McGillvray, who received a present of wampum and a symbolical package of tobacco-Washington's substitute for the calumet. The ceremony ended with a song of peace, in which all, including the president, joined. The Sons of St. Tammany, in costume, managed the business, and the society had made its mark.
In November, 1789, Colonel John Trumbull, who had been study- ing with Benjamin West in Europe, returned to America, and soon after became the artistic "lion" in New-York. On February 10, 1790, he began his studies of Washington for his battle-pieces of Trenton and Princeton. On March 1 the president's diary says :. "Exercised on horseback this afternoon, attended by Mr. John Trumbull, who wanted to see me mounted." The sittings ended on March 4. In November, 1789, and January, 1790, Washington also sat to Edward Savage for the portrait now at Harvard College. On July 19, 1790, the common council requested the president to per- mit Trumbull to paint his portrait, "to be placed in the City Hall as a Monument of the Respect which the inhabitants of this City bear towards him." To this the president responded favorably, and the work is now in the City Hall. A similar request was made of Gov- ernor Clinton, August 16, and consented to. For the president's portrait Trumbull was paid, in September, 1790, £186 13s. 4d., and in May of the following year the same amount for Governor Clinton's portrait-thought by some his finest work. While Trumbull was engaged on the president's portrait, Washington brought some of the Creek chiefs to see it. One of them looked behind, and was amazed to find the surface flat. "I had been desirous," says Trumbull, " of
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obtaining portraits of some of their principal men, who possessed a dignity of manner, form, countenance, and expression worthy of the Roman senators; but after this I found it impracticable; they had received the impression that there must be magic in an art which could render a smooth flat surface so like to a real man. I, however, succeeded in obtaining drawings of several by stealth." These draw- ings are given in Trumbull's autobiography, with the various signifi- cant names of the chieftains.
Congress adjourned August 12, to meet in Philadelphia for a ten years' residence. Senator Maclay writes in his diary: "The citizens of Philadelphia (such is the strange infatuation of self-love) believe that ten years is eternity to them with respect to the residence, and that Congress will in that time be so enamored of them as never to leave them; and all this with the recent example of New-York before their eyes, whose allurements are more than ten to two compared with Philadelphia." There is no doubt that, when it came to the point, the members of Congress felt rather gloomy in leaving the only large city which at that time had a good theater or anything in the way of fashionable life.
Toward the latter part of their residence in New-York the presi- dent and his family had enjoyed life more freely than before. The president had a pleasant outing of a week on Long Island, revisiting the old battle-field, and Mrs. Washington made a pleasant excursion with her grandchildren, accompanied by Mrs. Jay, to Morrisania, where they breakfasted with General Lewis Morris. On another occasion, in July, there was a sort of picnic to Fort Washington. The party consisted of the president and his wife, the vice-president and his wife, their son, and Mrs. Smith, Secretaries Hamilton and Knox and their wives, Secretary Jefferson, Tobias Lear, Robert Lewis, and one or two others. Washington surveyed the old grounds with keen interest. A dinner was prepared and brought out to them by Mr. Mariner, a farmer occupying the Roger Morris mansion (now better known as Jumel House, near 161st street), where they alighted on their return drive. The repast was enjoyed in the open air.
On August 28 the president gave his last state dinner, the guests being Governor Clinton and the mayor and corporation. On this occasion he expressed his great reluctance at leaving New-York, and Mrs. Washington uttered expressions of the same kind. They told their guests that they would leave on the 30th, but desired that it should not be made known. Such, at any rate, is the traditional explanation of the comparative smallness of the crowd that witnessed his departure. A procession of the State and municipal officers con- ducted the president and his family to McComb's Wharf, North River. They stepped on the same barge that had brought them; a
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0
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CHIEFS OF THE CREEK INDIANS.
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salute of thirteen guns was fired. The president, in response to the cheers of the people, waved his hat, and said, "Farewell." He never saw New-York again.
On August 12 Mayor Varick presented to the city council a letter from Vice-President Adams conveying an order of the Senate that the furniture of their chamber should remain for the use of the cor- poration, with an expression of their thanks "for the elegant and convenient accommodation provided for Congress." An exactly sim- ilar note from Speaker Muhlenberg was presented on behalf of the House of Representatives. The letters seem to have been received in silence. Possibly the council expected more substantial reward, which, however, the youngest of them did not live to see. On Octo- ber 5 the mayor informed the council that the gentlemen who pro- vided the president's barge proposed to present it to the corporation. The mayor was "requested to thank the gentlemen for their inten- tion, and to inform them that as this Board can have no use for the said Barge, they decline the acceptance of her." The vacated rooms of the City Hall were eagerly sought for. On September 10, 1790, St. Tammany petitioned for and obtained the use of a room for an American museum. On October 14 the Medical Society was allowed to use the council-chamber; Dr. Nicholas Romaine gave medical lectures there a year or so later. The St. Cecilia Society, and the Uranian Society were assigned certain evenings. The city clerk's office was eventually removed to the building, for the better preser- vation of the public records, to which the common council was for- tunately wise enough to pay special attention.
On December 11, 1790, the aldermen and assessors who had charge of the census of "Electors and Inhabitants" were paid at the rate of 14s. per one hundred inhabitants in Harlem, 12s. in the Bowery, 10s. in other wards. The number of inhabitants given were: South ward, 1756; Dock ward, 1854; East ward, 3622; West ward, 6054; North ward, 4596; Montgomerie ward, 6702; Bowery ward, 4819; Harlem division, 503. The year 1790 had proved prosperous for the city. There had been 410 tavern licenses, bringing in £779, and the market fees had largely increased. So Mayor Varick, in addition to his modest salary (six hundred pounds, diminished by his consent from Duane's eight hundred pounds), had seven hundred pounds in fees.
The ball was over, the prince vanished; for a time it had seemed as if the city, like Cinderella, would return to its ashes. But this was not to be the case. For the remainder of the year 1790 it enjoyed the blessing of having no history; but early in January there were indica- tions that New-York was to be a center of political excitement. The State assembly met here on January 3. John Watts was elected speaker. The governor addressed the assembly in person. Straight-
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way a keen contest for the senatorship took place between Aaron Burr and Philip Schuyler. Burr was chosen by a majority of ten in the senate, and five in the house. General Schuyler's loss of the seat he had held in the first Congress was felt as a terrible blow to the federal party, the result having been partly brought about by the defection from that party of Chancellor Livingston and his brother- in-law Morgan Lewis. Morgan Lewis was elected State attorney- general in Burr's place. It very soon appeared that John Pintard, the Tammanyite radical, had become a popular leader in the legis- lature. Melancthon Smith, a Tammanyite of the same type, was also in the assembly. There are indications in the public press that in 1791 there was a good deal of agitation on the slavery question. Greenleaf's paper published several letters against emancipation, and one of these complains of the free negroes, -" the vices and promis- cuous number of these black republicans." On Washington's birth- day there was again cordiality between the Sons of Tammany (Grand Sachem Josiah Ogden Hoffman) and the Cincinnati, which had sent committees to congratulate each other. Nevertheless, this politeness preceded a duel between the federal and the democratic parties,- the latter name having come into use as a kind of epithet for enthu- siasts of the rising revolution in France. The newspaper combat, which had lasting effects, was caused by the publication of Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man." This work was printed in London, with a dedication to Washington. It was published in America with a pre- liminary note of high approval written by the secretary of state. Its publication raised a storm of replies from the federalists, in which Jefferson was severely handled. John Pintard published the whole of Paine's work in the "Daily Advertiser" (May 6-27), and also the celebrated letters in reply by "Publicola." These letters, written by young John Quincy Adams, were attributed to the vice-president.
It is pleasant to find that amid this raging controversy Tammany had time to establish an American museum, the basis of our Histori- cal Society. In the "Daily Advertiser " for May 25, 1791, a full state- ment of the project, begun in September, was given. "The intention of the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, in establishing an American Museum being for the sole purpose of collecting and pre- serving whatever may relate to the history of our country, and serve to perpetuate the same, as also all American curiosities of nature and art." It is stated that the corporation had granted a room in the City Hall, which would be open at all times to the Sons of Tammany, and to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays. Any article for exhibition sent there, or to John Pintard, 57 King street, will be taken care of. The trustees are: William Pitt Smith, chairman ; James Tylee, John R. B. Rodgers, Jacob Morton, Effingham Embree; William W. Gil-
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Ido hereby certify that en a pursuit of the enemy in the bounty of Mont - gomery the latter and follower in the year you. Inorder to uternula = te a party of the Oneda Indians Then with me Ipromised in case. of exerting themselves to overlake The ericmy who were but to flight That They should each of thembaire a Blanket- That in consequence of this promise they began a vigo - rous pursuit and in a short. time overtook and filled a number of the enemy- Thatal my return it was not in my hower to comply with the promise I had made in behalf of the public . Nor have I vince the able have that engagements complied with .. New Gest January 26th 1792 11. Willett.
Gate there were sixty indians in the party m. willett
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bert, treasurer ; Gardner Baker, keeper. It seems that Pintard had moved eminent personages in Boston in the same direction, the result being the establishment of the Massachusetts Historical Society some- what earlier in 1791. "To Pintard is due the honor of originating both; indeed, he may with justice be pronounced the Father of His- torical Societies in this country."1
A number of acts interesting to the city were passed by the legis- lature in 1791. March 21, 1791, the Bank of New-York was incor- porated, under the temporary directors: Isaac Roosevelt, William Maxwell, Thomas Randall, Daniel McCormick, Nicholas Low, William Constable, Joshua Waddington, Samuel Franklin, Comfort Sands, Robert Bowne, Gulian Verplanck, John Murray, and William Edgar. There was to be a ballot for directors on the second Monday in May. The total amount of the debts of the said corporation must not exceed three times the sum of the capital stock subscribed,- for this the directors being held responsible in "their natural and private capaci- ties." On May 18 Verplanck was elected president, Rufus King being added to the directors, who were elected as previously appointed. On March 24 the regents of Columbia College were empowered to establish a College of Physicians and Surgeons. This new college was never to hold property of more than sixty thousand pounds value (New-York currency). The regents were to appoint professors and confer degrees. An act was passed for erecting a building for the preservation of the records and public papers of the State.
Despite severe newspaper attacks on the lottery system, the city continued to raise money in this way. At the same time it was severe on private citizens who engaged in similar enterprises. At the April term of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the State, William Thompson (city) was fined £94 14s. and costs, and Gabriel Leggett £510 and costs, for attempting to dispose of goods and wares by lottery. The common council also sometimes made mistakes. On May 20 it ordered all bow-windows, displays of goods, and trees, in front of houses, which impeded the view of the streets, to be re- moved; one week later, after an outcry from the city, the order was repealed as regarded trees.
The corporation had to deal with a riotous element. On February 17, 1791, Robert J. Livingston reported for the grand jury that they had inquired into a recent mob. Thirty foreign sailors had with bludgeons attacked Captain Culbertson and eight other watchmen, who, "though scarcely one-fourth of the number of the armed mob, not only faced them with intrepidity, but gallantly conducted six of the rioters to confinement and put the rest to flight." On February 25 the city council conferred the freedom of the city on the "Honor-
1 Mrs. Lamb's " History of the City of New-York," 2: 508.
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able Horatio Gates, Esq.," who had just become a resident, for which, May 2, General Gates returned thanks. On October 4 the seven city wards were more equally divided, and numbered. The winter was severe, and firewood was generously given to the poor. The year 1791 was prosperous. The exports of New-York amounted to $2,505,465. The city had raised seven thousand five hundred pounds by a lottery, and was start- ing another. Bedlow's Island was let for twenty-three years at ten pounds per annum. One hundred lots on and near Broadway, each one hundred feet THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE. by twenty-five, sold for twenty-five pounds each. The council ordered disbursement for the poor, the bridewell, and criminals, repairing roads and improving and cleaning streets, eight thousand pounds; for improvements at the Battery and in front of the Gov- ernment House, three thousand pounds; for the watch and lamp departments, four thousand pounds. In August the Bowery was taken in hand, and an order issued for its "regulation " from the head of Catherine street to St. Nicholas street.
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