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 41
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It was an era in which clubs were formed. There were the Hone Club, which held its weekly feasts at the homes of its different mem- bers, usually Whigs, and at which both Webster and Clay, upon dif-
1 In his " American Notes," Dickens was more just to New-York. "The tone of the best society in this city is like that of Boston ; here and there. it may be, with a greater infusion of the mercan- tile spirit, but generally polished and refined, and
always most hospitable. . The ladies are singularly beautiful."
2 This appointment, which was universally ap- proved, was made at the instance of Webster, then secretary of state. EDITOR
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ferent occasions, were honored guests; the Kent Club, so called in honor of ex-Chancellor Kent, comprising some of the most eminent lawyers of the city, as Samuel Jones, John Duer (afterward a judge of the Superior Court, and brother of William A. Duer, then president of Columbia College), John Anthon, Ogden Hoffman, Peter A. Jay, the then rising Charles O'Conor, and Francis B. Cutting. The Union Club was formed in 1836. "It was," says Lossing, "the repre- sentative organization of members of old families, the remnants of the Knickerbocker race, who clung with tenacity to the idea and the traditions of family aristocracy they had so long enjoyed." "Their names appear in the list of membership," says Fairfield, whom Lossing quotes, "with a sort of aristo- cratic monotony of that Knickerbocker- ism which earned for them the epithet of the Bourbons of New-York." There were still extant the Sketch Club, formed by Morse and other artists in 1827, the mem- bers of which used to meet fortnightly at the old Washington Hotel, corner of Broadway and Chambers street, and the famous Bread and Cheese Club, whose membership was more distinctively liter- 1. Jones Jun ary and scientific, and at whose meetings might be seen Dr. Francis, author and physician, the naturalist De- Kay, and his friend the author of "Alnwick Castle" and "Marco Bozzaris," the Duer brothers, Gulian C. Verplanck, the legislator and writer, Professor Renwick, and Charles King,' afterward the able president of Columbia College.
The "Augustan age of American literature" existed here in the period now under notice. New England literature was yet in its in- fancy. Emerson, Longfellow, and Hawthorne were just rising into prominence. Hawthorne's " Twice-Told Tales" were first published in New-York, and were welcomed by Lewis Gaylord Clark in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." "Morton's Hope " was brought out anonymously by the Harpers, and to many gave little promise of such splendid compositions as "The Dutch Republic" or "The United Netherlands." The "Knickerbocker," like the "Mirror," was in the meridian of its splendor, with a roll of illustrious contributors, both foreign and American. Southey, Bulwer, Guizot, Longfellow, Haw-
1 Charles and James G. King were sons of the Federalist Rufus King, who represented New-York in the United States Senate, contemporaneously
with Burr, in the latter part of the past century. King also served in the same body between the years 1813 and 1825. EDITOR
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thorne, Whittier, Bryant, Cooper, Irving, Percival, Paulding, William L. Stone, Charles Fenno Hoffman, Halleck, N. P. Willis, Theodore S. Fay, John Inman, and Park Benjamin contributed to its columns. The Harpers, the veteran publishers of the city, were then issuing Bulwer's tales, Lockhart's Life of the lately deceased Sir Walter Scott, Mrs. Shelley's "Faulkner," Matthew Davis's " Life of Burr," and Sergeant Talfourd's "Life and Letters" of the inimitable Charles Lamb. In the same era came Poe's " Narrative of A. Gordon Pym," peerless of its kind after "Gulliver's Travels"; Longfellow's " Hy- perion "; "The Pathfinder," "The Water-Witch," and "The Deer- slayer," by Cooper; "The Adventures of Cap- 0, 4, my ves and tain Bonneville" and "Astoria" by the veteran Irving; Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," and the works of Dumas, D'Is- raeli, Dickens, and Humboldt.' There was indeed admirable read- ing to be had in those days, nor was the lyceum much behind, with lectures by Jared Sparks, Verplanck, President Duer, and the author of the " Yellowplush Papers."
The pioneer of the penny press, and the first newspaper to substi- tute steam-presses for the old machines turned by crank, was the New-York "Sun," which first appeared in 1835. Steam-presses and cheap journalism revolutionized the press of the city. The "Herald " was also begun in 1835, but the "Times," the "Tribune," and the " World " were of later origin. The "World " was the offspring of the "Courier and Enquirer," which, edited by James Watson Webb, was the Whig organ of this period. Before the days of ocean steamers or telegraphs, Webb initiated the "pony express," main- taining a fleet of small vessels outside of Sandy Hook to hail each incoming packet for the latest news from abroad. Webb's transient monopoly was soon contested by the "Journal of Commerce" and other papers of the day, but with the advent of the steamships Sirius and Great Western this method of preempting the latest information speedily became obsolete. In 1840, Horace Greeley, un- der the auspices of Thurlow Weed, started a campaign sheet known as the "Log Cabin," the embryo from which the "Tribune" was after- ward developed. The "Log Cabin" was devoted to the cause of Har- rison and Tyler. Log cabins, typical of the early home of the Whig candidate, were erected all over the city, and hard cider flowed in abundant streams, in rhythmic unison with the cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Little more than a month after his inauguration the log-cabin hero was summoned from the White House to the grave, when the people of New-York, without distinction of party, united in expressions of profound grief. It was the first time that such a calamity as the death of its chief magistrate in office had befallen 1 " Cosmos" was written in 1842 and 1843. when Humboldt was upward of seventy-two years of age.
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TATTERSALLS
BROADWAY, EAST SIDE, BETWEEN GRAND AND HOWARD STREETS, 1840.
remains), one of the notable suburban resorts ; and Pros- pect Hall, upon its summit, was in its day a place as attractive as the Murray Hill or the Park Avenue of to-day. The road was first opened through the tunnel on October 26, 1837, and like all the new enterprises its completion was cele- brated with éclat. The "Mirror" of the following week, speaking of the work, remarks: "Philadel- phia and Boston are both famous for their lions, their Fairmount Water-works, and their Mount Auburn Cemetery, but they must now hide their diminished heads for a while until they can get up something to beat the tunnel on Fourth Avenue. . . . Certes, we know of nothing in any city of the Union to compare with the magnificent view that opens upon you, when emerging from the upper end of the artificial ravine that has been cloven down some seventy feet through the solid rocks of Mount Prospect." The cars at this time ran at intervals of fif- teen minutes; the fare was twenty-five cents. Subse- quently the road was ex- tended down the Bowery to its present terminus at the City Hall Park.
To the Dutch of New Am- sterdam had succeeded the
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Whigs in nearly all the city and State elections, and this led to what was termed the "Native American" movement. Cornelius W. Lawrence, the first elected mayor of the city, was a Democrat. He was elected in 1834, and twice reelected, with the aid of the Irish vote. After the panic of 1837, owing to the reaction
Jaad J. Tarian - against Van Buren and the defection of the
Locofocos from Tammany Hall, the Whigs experienced a temporary success, electing their candidate, Aaron Clark, for two successive terms; but in 1839 the Democrats regained control, electing Isaac L. Varian mayor. In 1841, Robert H. Morris, the Tam- many candidate, was reelected, by a meager ma-
jority (less than 400 out of a vote of over 36,000). He was reelected in 1842 by a majority of 2,000.
In April, 1843, Morris, who was again the Democratic candidate, received 25,398 votes, while Smith, the Whig candidate, received only 19,517. That the great majority of the Democrats was evidently se- cured by the assistance of the whole foreign vote was at once proven by the action of the successful party in giving a large proportion of the local offices to foreign-born citizens. This date emphatically marks a turning-point in the city's political existence, the native and intelli-
1 The Democrats were successful in the charter election of 1839, and their candidate, Isaac L. Varian, became mayor. They also elected a ma- jority of the aldermen and assistant aldermen. Varian was a member of a family of note in New- York city. The Varian farm, well known to all lawyers, covered several acres, fronting on the Bloomingdale Road between Twenty-sixth and Twenty-ninth streets, and the present Gilsey House stands.upon a portion of the farm. In the old farm-house both the mayor and his brother George W. were born. Varian was a member of the Volunteer Fire Department in the days when the companies enrolled some of the most con- spicuous personages in the metropolis. "Seven mayors of the city - Walter Bowne, Cornelius W. Lawrence, Stephen Allen, Isaac L. Varian, Daniel F. Tiemann, C. Godfrey Gunther, and Wil- liam H. Wickham - were 'fire-laddies,' and prob- ably owed their election to that circumstance," says Sheldon, in his "History of the Volunteer Fire Department of New-York City." Varian was twice elected, even so bitter an opponent of De- mocracy as Hone admitting that he was an excel- lent man. The vote for mayor was as follows: Varian, 21,050; Clark, 20,027 ; scattering, 36. In the spring of 1840, Varian was reelected, and the Dem- ocrats again obtained a majority in the city council. The vote was, Varian. 21.242; J. Phillips Phoenix, 19,622; scattering. 39. The mayor's salary was three thousand dollars a year.
2 Robert Hunter Morris was born in New-York city, February 15, 1802. He came of Revolution- ary ancestry, his family having been long settled in Morrisania, Westchester County. His father, Robert Morris, a New-York merchant, was the
son of Richard Morris, the second chief justice of the Supreme Court of this State. Soon after his birth his father retired from business, and removed to a farm at Claverack, Columbia County, where young Morris was educated. He subsequently entered the office of Elisha Williams, then leader of the Columbia County bar. He commenced the practice of law at Johnstown in that county, but in 1827 removed to New-York. Shortly after- ward he held the post of assistant to James A. Hamilton, then U. S. district attorney in the southern district of New York, and he also served as member of the Assembly in 1833 and 1834. In 1838 Governor Marcy appointed him recorder of the city of New-York, which office he held until his removal by Governor Seward in 1841. caused by the famous Glentworth conspiracy. Just prior to the presidential election of 1840, Glentworth organized a plot to send a number of workmen from Pennsylvania to New-York, ostensibly for the purpose of laying Croton pipes in the city, but in reality to vote for Harrison. The recorder and the district attorney, fearing that documentary evidence of the plot might be destroyed before it could be laid before the grand jury, went in per- son, with Mayor Varian, to the house of the cus- todian of the documents, and demanded their surrender, when they were given up. The papers appeared to implicate many prominent Whigs, but no trial was ever had. Governor Seward removed the recorder for his participation in the seizure, and his removal undoubtedly led to his election to the mayoralty. for which office he was the candi- date of the Democratic party in the election held April 13, 1841. his Whig opponent being J. Phillips Phoenix. The Native Americans this year first
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
abolitionist agitators and their followers, preferred to vote for their candidate, James G. Birney. In consequence of their defection, the Whigs deserted the Native Americans in the local elections held in the ensuing spring. Harper, a candidate for re- election, received 17,485 votes, while William F. Havemeyer,1 the Democratic candidate, polled 24,307, and the Whig candidate, Selden, 7032, or nearly 2000 more votes than the Whigs had cast for their mayoral can- didate of the preceding year. Efforts to lengthen the term of naturali- zation proving unsuccessful, the opposition to foreign-born citizens gradually died out. The riots which had attended the development of the Native American sentiment had re- acted upon their followers, and in a few Armichle years the party had no existence. In the spring of 1846 the Demo- crats were again successful, electing their candidate, Andrew H. Mickle ;? but in 1847 the Whigs gained the ascendancy, and placed William V. Brady in the mayor's chair.
As we have just seen, the mayor's office had recently been made elective. Under the Montgomerie Charter the governor, with the ad- vice of the provincial council, annually, on the feast-day of St. Michael, appointed the mayor, the sheriff, and the coroner of the corporation.
1 William F. Havemeyer was thrice elected mayor of the city - in 1845, 1848, and 1872. He was born of German parentage in New-York city, Feb- ruary 12, 1804, exactly five years before Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, who were born Feb- ruary 12, 1809. He was a graduate of Columbia College, as was also Abram S. Hewitt, one of his successors in the mayor's chair. Mr. Havemeyer entered his father's sugar-refinery, after gradua- tion, but severed his active connection with the business in 1842 and became interested in political affairs. In the spring of 1845, there were five mayoral candidates in the field, but the Democrats were successful, electing their candidate and fif- teen aldermen and assistants. The vote was as follows: Havemeyer (Democratic), 24,307; James Harper (Native American), 17,485; Dudley Selden (Whig), 7032; Ransom Smith (National Reform), 124; Arthur Tappan (Abolition), 74; and scatter- ing, 28.
2 Andrew Hutchins Mickle came of an ancient Scotch family, the name as formerly spelled being Muckle, Meikle, or, in its Saxon form, Mucel or Micel, meaning great, powerful, or mighty. The family of the poet William Julius Mickle, whose ballad "Cumnor Hall" suggested to Scott the ro- mance of "Kenilworth," was descended from the same original stock. Andrew H. was born October 25, 1805, being the second son of James Mickle and Janet Campbell of the Campbells of Ardentenny, one of whose immediate kin was the John Camp- bell who in 1704, at Boston, founded the "News Letter," the first newspaper published in the coun- try, and who was also postmaster of the town of Boston. Early in life he associated himself with
the firm of George B. Miller & Co., tobacco-mer- chants, well known in this city half a century ago. Through his business ability he eventually became a partner, and married the daughter of Mr. Miller. While in the midst of a prosperous business career he was tendered the Democratic.nomination for mayor, his chief opponents being Robert Taylor (Whig) and William B. Cozzens (Reform). Mr. Mickle's vote was nearly as large as the combined votes of his opponents, the total ballots cast (April 14, 1846) being 46,719, of which Mickle received 22,328; Robert Taylor (Whig), 15,256; William B. Cozzens (Native American), 8372; Ransom Smith (National Reform), 712; scattering, 51. The Demo- crats carried fifteen of the eighteen wards, and had a large majority in the city council. He was offered a renomination, which he declined. He was not a professional politician ; to him public office was a public trust. Retiring from the mayoralty, he again assumed charge of his busi- ness, which in his later years was conducted under the firm name of A. H. Mickle & Co. His position in the mercantile world was very high, and he possessed the esteem and confidence of the mer- chants and financial men of the city. He died January 25, 1863, leaving a widow ; one son, George B. Mickle, now deceased ; three daughters, chil- dren of his first wife, and three daughters, issue of his second marriage. One of his grandsons, a son of George B., bears his grandfather's name. Mr. Mickle's second wife was Mary N., daughter of Judge Effingham Lawrence ; she was a cousin and sister-in-law of Cornelius W. Lawrence, mayor of the city from 1834 to 1837. EDITOR.
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The "freemen of the city" and freeholders or landholders voted annually for aldermen, assistant aldermen, assessors, and constables in their respective wards. When the State government was formed in 1777, the powers exercised by the royal governor, in conjunction with the provincial council, passed to the council of appointment, which consisted of the governor of the State and four senators selected by the assembly from each of the four great senatorial districts into which the State was divided un- der the first con- stitution. This
council pos- sessed as ample powers of re- moval as of ap- THE FOULKE RESIDENCE.1 pointment. So far as concerned the election of its chief municipal officer, New-York city, from 1777 to 1822, was ruled at Albany. In all the history of the State there has never been another appointing body possessed of such vast prerogatives, and this small junto of politicians controlled all appointments throughout the State.
The council of appointment having been abolished by the consti- tution of 1822, a part of its functions devolved upon the governor and senate; but instead of giving to the executive and the upper house the right to appoint the mayors of cities, the new constitution provided for their appointment by the common councils of their re- spective cities. From 1822 to 1834 the board of aldermen and assis- tant aldermen of the city of New-York appointed its mayors. In the latter year, by an amendment to the State constitution, limited in its operation to the metropolis, the mayoralty was made an elective office. But while, in 1826, by amendment to the constitution, the suffrage had been extended in State and national elections so as to amount, except in case of colored citizens, to manhood suffrage, only such citizens as were qualified to vote for other charter offices at
1 Joseph Foulke's former residence is at the foot of Eighty-ninth street, on an eminence overlook- ing the East River, adjoining the estate of John Jacob Astor. In the immediate neighborhood were the summer residences of the Bayards, Rhine- landers, Schermerhorns, and other old families.
Mr. Foulke, who was born in 1769, was an extensive ship-owner; he married. in Curaçoa, Charlotte Brion, whose brother Admiral Brion was General Bolivar's chief naval commander in obtaining Colombia's independence in 1810-11. Mr. Foulke died in New-York in 1852. EDITOR.
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charter elections were allowed to vote for mayor,-in other words, a restriction upon the suffrage still prevailed at city elections. This limitation dates back to colonial times. Under the Montgomerie Charter only persons enjoying the freedom of the city and free- holders could vote. The qualifications of voters at charter elections were not changed at the formation of the State government.
In 1804 the legislature enlarged the suffrage, in accordance with the demands of democracy. Property qualifications were still re- tained, but all male citizens of full age who had resided in the city for the space of six months before election, renting a tenement of the yearly value of twenty-five dol- lars, and paying taxes, were given the right to vote at general elections. No further removal of restric- tions was made until 1842, when all property quali- fications for city voters were swept away. As a consequence of this change, the Whigs, as we have seen, united with the Native Americans to regain CAIS. BIEN their control over the city. With the modification as to suffrage made in 1804, the Montgomerie Charter continued unaltered until 1830. In 1829 a city convention was chosen by the city electors, for the purpose of revising and proposing amendments to the city charter. Five dele- gates were selected in each of the thirteen wards, and the conven- tion, representing the intelligence of the old town, met in June, 1829.
The convention prepared and submitted to the people a series of amendments to the charter, all of which were duly ratified at a popular election. The legislature approved the work of the conven- tion and of the people, and the amendments became a part of the city's charter. One of these amendments fixed the date for charter elections as the second Tuesday of April. Charter elections con- tinued to take place upon this and succeeding days until 1840, in which year the legislature, at the instance of the Whigs, passed a registry law for the city. Besides providing a larger number of elec- tion districts in each ward, the act required the enrolment of voters before election in their different wards, somewhat as do our modern registration laws. It also removed the last property restrictions at charter elections, and confined an election to one day-the second Tuesday of April-in each year. When the bill embodying these pro- visions was before Governor Seward, he hesitated at approving it lest it might be unconstitutional in providing different qualifications for electors in the city from those which prevailed generally throughout the State. But at the instance of the leading Whigs of the capital and of the city, he concluded to sign the bill. The salutary nature of the legislation was evident. Polling-places had previously been so
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few that a full vote could not be polled in one day, and as a conse- quence elections extended over several days, and were sometimes accompanied with rioting, repeating, and other frauds. Two years later the wholesome provisions as to regis- tration were repealed.
No change was made in the date for charter elections until 1849, when, in pur- suance of the amended charter submitted to the people by the city convention held in the summer of that year, it was en- acted that charter elections should there- after take place on the same day as gen- eral elections. Of late years reformers of city government have shown a marked disposition to separate city from State and national elections. It is at least in- teresting to observe that the arguments which they employ in advocacy of this change are similar to those which con- Eben? Crosby trolled the city convention of 1830, and it is likewise interesting to observe that the city convention of 1846 re- ported that the separation had not accomplished the desired end. The best citizens were found apathetic in the spring, and the only method of securing a full vote upon an important municipal topic was by hold- ing the municipal election at the same time with the general election.
Under the second constitution of the State, which was then in operation, the commonwealth was divided into eight senatorial dis- tricts. New-York city contained but one district. Large senatorial districts have ordinarily been found certain to bring into the service of the community, in the State senate, men of prominence and char- acter; and so great of late years has been seen to be the advantage which former legislatures enjoyed in the personnel of their members, that an effort was made by the State convention of 1867 to return to the former system. Unhappily, the amendment adopted upon this subject, like all the proposed amendments of this convention, except that to the judiciary article, was defeated at the polls. County rep- resentation then prevailed in the assembly, and it brought to the front men recognized throughout the city for their equipment for legislative life. Even in municipal elections, although these were
1 Dr. Ebenezer Crosby was born September 30, 1753, and was the son of Judge Joseph Crosby, of Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., his birthplace. Educated at Harvard and the University of Penn- sylvania, he settled in New-York city after the war, and was elected, in 1785, Professor of Ob- stetrics in Columbia College, and, in 1787, one
of its trustees. He was previously surgeon to General Washington's body-guard. Dr. Crosby died July 16, 1788, at the residence of Colonel Henry Rutgers, in Wall street, whose niece he had mar- ried. He was the father of William B. Crosby of this city. EDITOR.
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conducted on ward lines, the spirit which regulated State nomina- tions also prevailed, at least until the period when the suffrage was enlarged. Aldermen, assistant aldermen, delegates to city conven- tions, and other municipal officers were men of distinction in mercan- tile or professional pursuits. The highest type of judges then sat in our courts. In the chancellorship there was Reuben H. Walworth, a worthy successor to Robert R. Livingston and James Kent; and as vice-chancellors, Murray Hoffman, Lewis Sandford, and MeCoun. Upon the Supreme Court bench were Samuel Nelson, afterward one of the justices of the Federal Supreme Court, Greene C. Bronson, and Esek Cowen, and in the Circuit Court, Ogden Edwards. In the re- cently created Superior Court the judges in the thirties and forties were Samuel Jones, Thomas J. Oakley, and John Duer; in the Common Pleas, a recent outgrowth of the old mayor's court, John T. Irving, a brother of Washington Irving, and an author of no mean pretensions, presided up to his death in 1838. The standard of the New-York judiciary has generally been high, but at no period in the history of the State has the ermine been worn by abler or purer men than those in the long and brilliant roll of judges who were appointed to the various courts from 1822 to 1847. The wisdom of the change wrought by the constitution of 1847 in providing for the elec- H& Crooly tion of judges for specified terms, although at times since debated, has never been successfully challenged at the polls; but it has been observed by writers upon State con- stitutions that other States which, after New-York's change in 1847, were induced to adopt the elective system, have since returned to the appointive plan, while few, if any, States which did not yield to the popular impulse of that time, have since adopted the elective system.
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