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 3
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The transformation thus produced during the war was to be suc- ceeded by another at its close. The passions excited by the protracted · struggle became responsible for the loss to America of a large and valuable element among her people. Neighbors who had sought to destroy each other for seven years could not remain neighbors. The victorious party was bound to indulge its triumph in a demand for justice or retribution upon those who had so long been the "unnat- ural" enemies of the country, and the latter dared not remain. Thou- sands of loyalists, as stated in the previous volume, exaggerating
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To his Excellency George Washington Esquire, General and Commander in Chief of the Armes of the United States of America ~ The address of the Citizens of New York, who have retin + from Exile on behalf of themselves and their Suffering Brethren .
@fta moment when the arm of Tyranny is Efelding up to fondest coupations; we hope the fallations of long suffering Speler, but now happy freemen, will not be dem i'd an unworthy trebite . fri this place , and at this moment of rultation and trungh, while the Energno of Slavery stil linger in our fight , we look up to you our deliverer with un = usual transports of Gratitude and Joy .~ Comet us to Welcome you to this City , long torn from us by the hand how of Oprefrion , but now , by your Wisdom and energy , under . the guidance of Providence , once more the seat of Dance come freedom , we forthear to speak our gratitude or your Orice . we shout hat scho the voice of Opleiding Millions; But the Citizens of New York are comenently indeter to your vitus and we Who have now the honour to addref your Excellency . have boon often companions of your Sufferinge , and witrefres of your exertions. Sommet as therefore to approach your Eyel. Iency with the dignity and Sincerity of freemen , and to
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NEW-YORK CITY UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL
Afrase you , that eve shall preserve with our latest breath. our Gratitude for your fenice , and Veneration for your tha. . meter ; and acept of our fincare and earnest wishes that you may long enjoy that calm domestic felicity which you have as generously onorificed ; that the Gories of riju . : red Liberty may never more intercept your repose, and that your haping may be caqual to your Virtues ~ Signed at request of the Meeting- Thomas Randall Dan! Phoenix - Same Broome Tho! Tucker- Henry Kipp - Ont. Dennis W? Gilbert Jen? won Gilbert Jen!" Francis Van Dyck Jeremiah Wool_ Geo: Janeway Alma:" O: Lott Ephraim Brachie.
New York Now: 26: 1783-
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
HIS EXCELLENCY'S ANSWER.
gentlemen. thank You sincerely for youne of fechonale ladrofs , and entreat You to be persuaded that nothing could be more agreeable to me than your polita Congratulations : Pormet one , in Turn. to fluctuate You on the happy Leprofes four of your bity . Great as your joy must be on this pleasing Bucasions , it can scarcely exceed that which I feel . arousing You , Gentlemen , who from the noblest Matures have suffered a ochentary hocks of many Years , roturas again in Kace of Jumphs to enjoy the Fruits of your virtuous Conduct
the Fortitude and knowerances which Now and your foffering Buthiers have aptebild in the Course of the Mar , have not only endeared You to Your foundrymen , but well be remembered with hedemoration and Applause to the latest
Porlenty Strony the Lanquality of your bely be perpetual - May the Mins soon be repaired . Sommeren floresh Sience be folered , lind all · The civil and social Noitues be cherished , in the same Illustrious Maronen wheel formerly rfid so much budet on the Shabitants of hus York In fine , may vary fines of Selecting attend You Canllamen of your worthy fellow figone. Graphingten
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their alarms and fears, left their old homes or their refuge in New- York and went "beyond sea," wherever they could find shelter, pro- tection, and the promise of an opportunity to recover themselves. They dispersed in families and companies, and were furnished with transportation by Sir Guy Carleton, the last British commander-in- chief in New-York, who assured them of lands and temporary support by the home government. They settled at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, at St. John's, Halifax, Montreal, Quebec, and other points in the Dominion. Some went to the Ber- mudas and Bahamas, some to the West Indies, and many more to the mother- country. Numerous descendants of these old colonial Americans, who opposed the Revolution and went into exile, may be found to-day at these distant points. In Nova Scotia they appeared in the role of settlers, building up new communities for that province, which so impressed Carle- ton that in an unpublished letter to Lord North, dated at New-York, October 5, THE ROYAL SAVAGE.1 1783, he trusts that "liberal measures of sound policy will be im- mediately adopted and steadily pursued" in their interest. Above all, he believed that they should be granted an "explicit exemption from all taxation, except by their own legislature"-a clear recogni- tion on his part of the effect our Revolution would inevitably work on England's restrictive colonial system.
As the Tories withdrew from New-York, the newly baptized Amer- ican, the man of the Revolution, who had been patiently anticipating the occasion, proudly marched in to reoccupy and possess the old city. In reality the transfer had been going on by mutual agreement for some months before the formal evacuation of November 25. Permission was granted by the British authorities to Americans to enter the place for business purposes, or to prove title to property belonging to them before the war. There was accordingly much going back and forth during 1783. But not all the old American population could return. It had suffered from the experiences of the war no less than the loyalists. With the abandonment of the city in 1776, the "rebel" inhabitants had dispersed in every direction. Many retired to the upper counties of New-York, and scattered through the towns and villages. The families of the men who entered the service were cared for by local committees, while others attempted self-sup-
1 Among the papers of General Philip Schuyler there was preserved a water-color sketch of the American sloop-of war of the above name. It is of importance as settling the mooted question re- city.
specting the device of the continental flag raised at the camp opposite Boston, in January, 1776, while the American forces were besieging that
EDITOR
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port as they could. Not a few found their way into New England, especially into western and central Connecticut, or into New Jersey among the hills. The exodus entailed ruin of fortunes, loss of occu- pation, separation of families, and seven years of distress. "You can have no idea," writes an elderly lady, in 1782, "of the sufferings of many who from affluence are reduced to the most abject poverty, and others who die in obscurity." Obviously, now that New-York was again open to them, comparatively few could return immediately, if at all. The limited number who owned lands and houses in the city went back, and others who possessed the ready means followed; but the mass of those who had formerly paid rents and carried on the minor trades found it impossible to change their situation again. Their places were eventually taken by strangers. When New-York, accordingly, passed into American hands, toward the close of 1783, we find its population greatly diminished and changed as compared with that of 1775. For the six months following it could not have exceeded twelve thousand. Three years later it had risen to twenty-four thousand. The twelve thousand represented that portion of the Tory, British, mercan- Charles Inglis - tile, and lukewarm element that had resolved to remain, and the incoming Americans. At first the former out- numbered the latter. "The loyalists are more numerous and much wealthier than the poor, despicable Whigs," says a Tory writer in December, 1783, not a month after the evacuation. But the Whigs were masters. Altogether it was a changed and sorry representa- tion of ante-war New-York. Old and well-known families were missing and missed on both sides. "Ah!" wrote Jay to his former friend, Van Schaack, at this time, "if I ever see New York again I expect to meet with the shade of many a departed joy; my heart bleeds to think of it." Among prominent expatriated royalists, for- mer residents of the city, were such men as William Smith, the his- torian and chief justice of the province ; Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis,
1 The Rev. Charles Inglis was a native of Ire- land. He came to America as a missionary in 1759, and in 1765 he became assistant minister of Trinity Church, this city. He was in violent opposition to the revolutionary sentiments of the colonists, and a pamphlet written against Paine's "Common Sense" was burned by the Sons of Liberty. He
persisted in retaining the clauses in the prayers which mentioned the king and royal family. He left New-York in 1776, but was rector of Trinity during the British occupation. At the evacuation he retired to Halifax, became Bishop of Nova Sco- tia in 1787, and died in 1816. He was succeeded as bishop by his son John. EDITOR.
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rector of Trinity Church; Thomas Barclay and William Axtell, mer- chants; Colonel Edmund Fanning, and others, who found new homes in Nova Scotia. The Hon. Andrew Elliot, Judge Thomas Jones, William Bayard, George Ludlow, Colonel Roger Morris, and the Hon. James De Lancey were among those whose estates were confiscated by the legislature of New-York during the war, and who ended their days in the mother-country. Bayard, on leaving New-York, com- plained bitterly that "the rebels" had confiscated every shilling of his valuable property.1 The immense De Lancey estate, lying on the east side of the city along the general line of Grand street, and which was sold under forfeiture after the war, accommodates to-day three hun- dred thousand inhabitants of the city with homes. Among the Whigs whom New-York was not to see again the most distinguished was Philip Livingston, member of Congress and a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, who died at York, Pennsylvania, in 1778. Gen- eral John Morin Scott, secretary of state for New-York, one of the active patriots representing the city both in the field and in the legislature during the memorable contest, died about three months after the evacuation.
Bereft of more than half its original inhabitants, the remaining half divided into two distinct elements, in part bitterly hostile, and with trade relations and present resources precarious and meager,- the old town for the time being little resembled its former prosperous and hospitable self. As the immediate result of the war, we have a sifting process and a lull. Six years more, and the population will be thirty thousand. Apart from the natural increase, there will be in- crease by immigration both home and foreign. The home immigrant will be principally the rural New-Yorker, the New-Englander, and the Jerseyman. It was in those early years that the city began to attract and absorb that native American material which has continued to flow from other places ever since. It was then, in 1783, that Alex- ander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, among the first, settled here in the practice of the law; a little later, James Kent, the future chancellor ; Rufus King, of Massachusetts, and James Watson, of Connecticut, two of the city's early United States senators; William Samuel John- son, president of Columbia; Francis Childs and Thomas Greenleaf, editors and printers; Drs. McKnight and Cogswell, and many others, including Revolutionary officers, whose numerous descendants are counted to-day among our old New-Yorkers. As to the foreign im- migrant, he was always with us. Before the Revolution, the Scotch,2
1 His New-York and Hoboken estates were sold under the confiscation act. The latter was pur- chased in 1804 by Captain John Stevens, and in due time passed to his son, Edwin A. Stevens. He married for his second wife a member of the Del-
aware branch of the Bayard family, and at his death, in 1868, left her the estate, worth many millions. EDITOR.
2 Deserving of conspicuous notice among the Scotch immigrants is Robert Lenox. He was born
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Irish, French, and German elements were broadly recognized. After the war the immigration appears to have been mainly Irish, and a considerable number arrived during this period, though more went to Pennsylvania. Two hundred foreigners were naturalized in this city as early as May, 1784. A letter from Belfast of this date says: "The passengers now going, and who have since the conclusion of the American War sailed from this port in such pro-
digious numbers, are not the refuse of the country. No, they are those that form the yeomanry of the land." From Ger- many came, in 1783, young John Jacob Astor, who was to lay the foundation of that enormous private wealth with which the family name is associated.
Passing to the municipal government of New-York for this period, we shall find the old colonial forms preserved and continued. There was simply a transfer of authority from English to American hands; and this was effected without friction or disorder. The original charter under which the city had been governed since 1686, or, in its amended form, since 1730, had been disturbed by neither party during the war, except so far as British military rule prevailed, and it was still operative in all its parts. Its revision upon the basis of the advanced political theories of the colonists was yet to be agitated, and upon the entry of the Americans it only remained to rehabilitate the corporation through some authorized agency. The occasion had been provided for. As early as October 23, 1779, by act of the State legislature, a body was created, known as the council for the southern district of New-York, which was charged with the duty of assuming control of the city and neighboring counties immediately upon the withdrawal of the enemy. It was empowered to preserve order; to prevent the monopoly of the necessaries of life; to impress fuel, forage, horses, teams, and drivers into its service; to supply the markets with provisions and regulate prices; and to superintend the election of members of the legislature and city officers, at which dis- affected persons were not to be allowed to vote or stand as candidates. The members consisted of the governor, George Clinton; the lieuten-
in Kirkcudbright, a seaport town on the south- What hunder of Scotland. in 1759, and during the Revolution was placed in the charge of an uncle, a muumissary in the British service, who came to this country in 1776. At the close of the war. Robert Lanos settled in New-York and engaged in the East India trade, soon amassing a large for- tune for those days. His business transactions surjword fur many years those of any merchant in this city uf that period. In 1818 be purchased about thirty ans between Fourth and Fifth ave- mues and Sixty -eighth and Seventy-fourth streets. which became what was known as the Lenox farm. The prive juhl was much For a portion of this
property his only son James, who inherited it when his father died in 1839, received some three mil- lions of dollars between 18.0 and 1880, and at his death in the latter year possessed several acres of the old farm, the value of which, together with what he had given to the Lenox Library and the Presbyterian Hospital, was fully four mil- lions. Mr. Robert Lenor was, like his son, a great benefactor to the Presbyterian Church, and for fifteen years was president of the St. Andrew So- ciety .- his immediate predececoors being Chan- cellor Livingston and Walter Rutherford. His portrait is preserved in the Lemex Library.
EDITOR
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ant-governor, Pierre Van Cortlandt; the chancellor, Robert R. Living- ston; Judges Robert Yates and John Sloss Hobart, of the State Supreme Court; John Morin Scott, secretary of state; Egbert Benson, attorney- general; the State senators of the southern counties, Stephen Ward, Isaac Stoutenburgh, James Duane, and William Smith, and the assemblymen of the same district. The judges of the district were also to serve, but none had been appointed. Seven members of the council, of whom the governor was always to be one, constituted a quorum. For the city's guardianship, temporary or permanent, the most punctilious community could not have made a more noteworthy selection. On Evacuation Day they rode into the city four abreast, and next in order after Washington and the governor at the head of the procession.
Pierre Van Cortland
Occupying the council-chamber in the old City Hall in Wall street, this provisional body, with James M. Hughes as secretary, entered at once upon its duties. The original records of its proceedings have dis- appeared, but from certain of its published ordinances, and from ref- erences in the papers of the day, the features of its administration can be outlined. Protection and re- lief for the daily increasing population were the first care. With the aid of the light infantry battalion of the continental army, which re- mained in the city under General Knox and Major Sumner for some weeks after the evacuation, order was maintained and the necessary regulations enforced. The first ordinance, issued November 27, re- lated to great abuses "in the sale of bread." Thereafter a loaf was to weigh two pounds, eight ounces, avoirdupois, made of good mer- chantable flour, and each loaf marked with the initial letters of the baker, price "eight coppers." All new-comers were to register their names and places of abode, be they housekeepers or boarders. Li- censes were granted, weighers, measurers, firemen, and watchmen ap- pointed, thieves and robbers confined, and all the hundred other requirements of city oversight fulfilled.
The first steps toward the restoration of the regular city govern- ment were taken early in December, when the council authorized an election of ward officers or board of aldermen. The election occurred on the 15th of the month, under the old viva voce method,- the ballot
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not being introduced until 1804,- and seven aldermen, one from each ward, were chosen, whose names, with those of the assistant alder- men, who were doubtless elected at the same time, appear in the list of corporation officers given below. This incomplete body - incom- plete so far as no mayor had been appointed - organized with John Broome as president, and assumed the government of the city under the title of the aldermen and common council. The provisional council still continued its functions, as, by the terms of the act of 1779, it was required to do for sixty days after the evacuation, but the details of city management were clearly left to the new body. Seven weeks later the organization of the government was completed. The com- mon council and many citizens petitioned the governor to appoint James Duane mayor of the city, and on February 7 the appointment was made -the governor and board of appointment, authorized by the State constitution, exercising in this case the right of nomination vested in the colonial governors and their councils. On February 9 Duane was formally installed as mayor, at a special meeting of the city council held at the house of "Mr. Simmons,"-John Simmons, innkeeper, in Wall street, near the City Hall-where he took the oath of office in the presence of that body, and of the governor and lieu- tenant-governor of the State, representing the State provisional coun- cil, whose duties now ceased. The city corporation was thus restored in all its forms and offices, as follows :
First American city government of New-York, 1784 : Mayor, James Duane; Recorder, Richard Varick; Chamberlain or City Treasurer, Daniel Phoenix; Sheriff, Marinus Willett; Coroner, Jeremiah Wool; Clerk of the Common Council, Robert Benson.
Aldermen : Benjamin Blagge, Thomas Randall, John Broome, Wil- liam W. Gilbert, William Neilson, Thomas Ivers, Abraham P. Lott.
Assistants: Daniel Phoenix, Abraham Van Gelden, Thomas Ten Eyck, Henry Shute, Samuel Johnson, Jeremiah Wool.
These first "city fathers" of the new régime were representative citizens. James Duane, the mayor, was a man of wealth and high social and political standing. During the Revolutionary war he served as a member of the New-York provincial congress, of the Continental Congress, and of the State senate, and was elected a delegate to the New-York constitutional convention of 1788. He served as mayor until 1789, and was soon after appointed by Washington the first United States judge of the district of New-York. His city residence in Pine street had been practically destroyed during the British occu- pation, while his farm establishment on the general line of Twentieth street, east of Broadway, escaped injury. The latter was known as "Gramercy Seat" and included the present park of that name, this being a corruption of the Dutch name " Krom messie" (crooked little
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knife), given to a creek running through the land. In his letter of acceptance of the mayoralty, Duane requested that in view of the severity of the season and prevailing distress, the public entertain- ment usually given on the investiture of the office be dispensed with. He also presented twenty guineas for the relief of his "suffering fel- low-citizens." The recorder, Rich- ard Varick, who succeeded Duane as mayor, had been Washington's private secretary during the latter part of the war, and in later life was for many years president of the American Bible Society. The sheriff, Colonel Willett, had dis- tinguished himself in various ac- tions at the head of one of the New-York continental regiments, while Phoenix, Wool, Broome, Neilson, Lott, Ivers, and others of the common council, were old merchants and prominent mem- bers of the Chamber of Commerce. The first meeting of the common council, as completely organized, was held on February 10, 1784. Marinus Willett On March 16 it was voted to change the city seal by erasing the imperial crown and substituting the crest of the arms of the State of New-York, that is, "a repre- sentation of a semi-globe with a soaring eagle thereon."
In its outward forms the city government reflected its English derivation. The conditions of citizenship also remained the same for many years, and so far presented a contradiction. The citizen of the State of New-York was politically a freer man than the citizen of the city of New-York. Suffrage rights were not the same for each. Under the new State constitution of 1777, while the property qualification required of voters for State officers varied, for assemblymen it was moderate. The voter must pay assessments and a nominal house rent of five dollars. To enjoy municipal privileges, to be able to vote and to stand as a candidate for the office of alderman, it was neces- sary to be either a "freeholder" or a "freeman" in the ancient English sense. The "freeholder" was a real-estate owner; he must possess land of the annual value of at least forty shillings. Ordinary tenants, rent-payers, could not vote; and these restrictions limited the voters of this class to a small number. The census of 1790 shows that out of a population of thirty thousand there were but 1209 freeholders of
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£100 valuation or over; 1221 of £20, and 2661 "forty-shilling" hold- ers. Property interests-something like a landed aristocracy-con- trolled municipal elections. The inconsistency of this system with the general leveling principles on which the Revolution had been fought out, was occasionally referred to. As early as March 31, 1785, some one writes to the "New-York Packet": "If you look into the corpora- tion you will find men whom you both feed and clothe, that you have
James Duane, Efquire,
CITYof NEW-YORK, S MAYOR,
And the ALDERMEN of the City of NEW - YORK.
To all to whom thefe Presents ball come, fond GREETING :
K NOW YE. That Leonard Goetz- Bluchowith is admitted, received and allowed a F R E E M A N and C I T I Z E N of the faid City ; to Have, Hold, Ufe and Enjoy all the Benefits, Privileges, Franchifes and Immunities whatfoever, granted or belonging to the faid City. IN TESTIMONY whereof. the faid Mayor and Aldermen have caufed the Seal of the faid City to be hereunto affixed. WITNESS JAMES DUANE, Efquire, Mayor, the twenty fifth Day of May - in the Year of our Lord 3/04 and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the State the eighth
Byowner of the mayor & all umen Rut Benson 6th
JarDuanes
FAC-SIMILE OF A FREEMAN'S CERTIFICATE.
no power to elect. Is this right or wrong? Common sense gives the answer." The agitation will wax warm about 1800, and in 1804 the charter will be so amended that all New-Yorkers paying twenty-five dollars rent per year and taxes may vote for aldermen; but it will not be until 1833 that they secure the right to elect their own mayor.
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