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 6
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
the former act, which had been hanging fire since its passage in April, 1783, Congress would have been able to pay the interest on the public debt. New-York alone of all the States refused to approve it. Sentiment in the city favored the measure. On March 14 the Chamber of Commerce came forward with another and a more for- mal petition to the legislature, signed by its president, John Alsop, In.Walter calling attention to the failure of the individual 1 States to regulate trade for the common benefit. They could not possibly so regulate it, because, in the words of the petition or memorial,-" 1st, not being enabled to form treaties, trade cannot in their hands be made the basis of commercial compacts; 2d, because no regular sys- tem can be adopted by thirteen different Legislatures pursuing differ- ent objects, and seeing the same object in different lights; and 3d, be- cause if it even were to be presumed that they would at all times and in every circumstance sacrifice partial interests to the general good, yet the want of harmony in their measures and a common force, would forever defeat their best intentions." In consequence of this loose system, the merchants observed with concern that trade, "the great spring of agriculture and manufactures," was languishing "under fatal obstructions" and daily on the decline. The legislature made no recommendations on these petitions ; but public opinion continued to assert itself. In the following May, Boston voted, in town meeting, that, as peace had not brought plenty, and foreign merchants were monopolizing commerce by crushing out the American carrying- trade, Congress should be invested with power competent to the wants of the country. In Philadelphia a committee of thirteen merchants was appointed to stir up the State authorities to the same end. The Boston people went further, as in early war days, and invited the cooperation of the New-York merchants; whereupon the Chamber of Commerce and "many other citizens," following up their March memorials, called a meeting of merchants and "other inhabitants" at the Exchange, June 15, at which Alderman John Broome presided. Their former sentiments and views were reiterated in a body of res- olutions, and a committee was appointed to correspond with the sev- eral counties in the State and with committees in other States, in the hope that "a free and reciprocal communication of opinions " would rouse the country to action. The committee was composed of the most prominent merchants in the city. To the committees in other States it was proposed that they should severally take measures to induce their respective legislatures to confer the necessary powers 1 The autographs of John Watts, Sr., and Anne Watts, his wife, are exceedingly rare. They were only to be obtained by tracing their signatures 88 found on the valuable documents recently pre- sented by their great-grandson, General John' Watts De Peyster, to the New-York Historical So- ciety. By his courtesy permission was granted to trace them. EDITOR.
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NEW-YORK CITY UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL
on Congress. "Our Union," said the New-York committee, "is the basis of our grandeur and our power." To the counties of the State the committee represented that if commerce languished, agriculture would feel a corresponding effect. "By the Union of the farmer, the merchant and mechanic," they wrote, "we have, in the most danger- ous crisis, been able to withstand the open force of our enemies; and if this spirit still actuates us, we shall soon convince them that their insidious politics in peace are of as little effect." The farmer was accordingly urged to send assemblymen with federal views to the next legislature.
What effect these appeals produced at large it would be difficult to determine, but they kept the subject uppermost in popular discus- sions and clearly strengthened sentiment in New-York. The papers in the city, notably the "Packet" and the "Journal," published the effusions of correspondents at intervals, which indicated the inter- est felt. "What is to be done ?" inquires "Consideration" in March, 1785; and answers, " All the States must give Congress ample powers to regulate trade, . . . likewise all other powers necessary for an active and firm Continental government." But "Rough Hewer, Jr.," who was known to be Abraham Yates, a pithy writer on the other side, declared that history had established the fact that republicanism can flourish in small states only, and expressed a dread of " a mighty Continental Legislature," which in time would merge and swallow up the rights of the States. "Unitas" called for assemblymen who could discern with precision "in what particular a local must give way to a more general advan- Anne Watts tage,"and could appreciate the benefits of a gen-
eral union. "The chain," he exclaims, "should be of adamant, indis- soluble, eternal ! Should this chain ever be broken, good God ! what scenes of death and misery lurk under the dreadful event." "Sydney," on the other hand, saw nothing but despotism and an oligarchy in a congress which could control a revenue exacted from the States by its own agents: " If you put the sword and the purse into the hands of the supreme power, be the Constitution of that power what it may, you render it absolute. Congress already have the sword vested in them; the single power wanting to make them absolute is that of levying money themselves. When this is compassed, Adieu to Lib- erty !" Such contributions to the press, however, appeared too infre- quently to enable us to judge of the strength of parties at this date. The discussion went on in the coffee-houses and clubs, and two years later the fruits will be seen in test elections.
In the following year (1786) the situation improved so far as agita- tion led to action. Virginia came forward with her proposition for a convention at Annapolis, Maryland, "to consider how far a uniform
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The fenators and representatives beforementioned, and the members of the feveral fate legif- latures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the feveral States. fhall be bound by oath or affirmation, to fupport this conftitution; but no religious teft fhall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public truft under the United States.
VII. The ratification of the conventions of nine States, fhall be fufficient for the eftablifhment of this conftitution between the States fo ratifying the fame:
Done in Convention, by the unanimous confent of the States prefent, the feventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thoufand feved hundred and eighty.feyen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witnefs whereof we have hereunto fubfcribed our Names.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, Prefident, And Deputy from VIRGINIA.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE, S John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman.
Gunning Bedford, Junior,
MASSACHUSETTS.
Rufus King.
Richard Baffett,
CONNECTICUT
Roger Sherman.
James M.Henry,
NEW-YORK.
Alexander Hamilton.
MARYLAND.
Daniel of St. Tho Jenifer.
William Livingfton,
Daniet Carrol.
NEW-JERSEY.
William Paterfon,
James Madison. Junior.
Jonathan Dayton.
William Blount,
Benjamin Franklin,
NORTH-CAROLINA
Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Thomas M. fin, Robert Morris,
Jobn Rutledge,
George Clymer,
SOUTH-CAROLINA.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Thomas Fitzfimons,
Charles Pinckney.
Jared Inger foll,
Pierce Butler. .
Fames Wilfon,
William Few,
Gouverneur Morris.
& Abrabam Baldwin.
Atten, William Jackson, SECRETARY.
IN CONVENTION, Monday September 17th, 1787. PRESENT
The States of New-Hampfhire, Maffachufetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New-York, New-Jerfey, Pennfylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia :
RESOLVED,
THAT the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress afembled, and that it is the opinion of this Convention, that it Should afterwards be Submitted to a Convention of Delegates, thofen in each State by the People thereof, under the recommendation of its Legislature, for their affent and ratification ; and that each Convention affenting to, and ratifying the fame, Should give Notice there- of. to the United States in Congress afembled.
Refolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention, that as Soon as the Conventions of nine States fall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress affembled Shouldfix a day of which Electors Should be appointed by the States which Shall have ratified the fame, and a day on which the Electors Should afemble to vote for the President, and the time and place for commencing proceedings under this Constitution. That after fuch publication the Electors Should be appointed, and the Senaters and Representatives elected : That the Electors Would meet on the day fixed for the Election of the Prefi- dent, and Should tranfait their votes certified, Signed, Sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress afembled, that the Senators and Representatives Should convene at the time and place alligned; that the Senators Should appoint a President of the Senate, for the Sole purpose of receiving, opening and counting the votes for President ; and, tout after he Shall be chefen, the Congress, together with the President, Should, without delay, proceed to execute this Constitution.
By the unanimous Order of the Convention, GEORGE ,WASHINGTON, Prefident.
William Jackfon, Secretary
Nathaniel Gorbam,
DELAWARE.
Jobn Dickinfon,
William Samuel Johnfon,
Jacob Broom.
David Brearley,
VIRGINIA.
S Jobn Blair,
Hugh Williamson.
PENNSYLVANIA.
GEORGIA.
George Read,
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NEW-YORK CITY UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL
system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to the com- mon interest and permanent harmony " of the States. The convention met on September 11, with commissioners present from but five States -Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New-York. Their action resulted in the assemblage of the famous constitutional convention at Philadelphia in the following year. In each of these bodies New-York city found its representation in the person of Alex- ander Hamilton; or, while being a representative of the State, he more nearly reflected the sentiment of the city, which was largely coincident with, and influenced by, his own. The possibilities that lay in the Virginia call immediately absorbed his attention. His own proposition for a convention, broached as early as 1780, was a sufficient assurance that all his sympathies would be aroused by any movement that might be utilized for national ends; and the present opportunity was not to be lost. The Annapolis proposition came in January, 1786. Hamilton then determined to make one more effort to induce the State to accede to the impost act of Congress, which would be an entering wedge toward granting general powers to the government; or failing in this he hoped to secure the appointment of commissioners to the Annapolis convention. One of his intimate friends was Colonel Robert Troup, formerly aid to General Gates, at this date a rising lawyer in the city, and later judge of the United States district court of New-York. He seconded Hamilton's efforts. "In pursuance of the latter's plan," says Troup at a subsequent date, " the late Mr. Duer, the late Colonel Malcolm and myself were sent to the State Legislature as part of the City delegation, and we were to make every possible effort to accomplish Hamilton's objects. Duer was a man of com- manding eloquence. We went to the Legislature and pressed totis viribus the grant of the impost agreeably to the requisition of Con- gress. We failed in obtaining it. The resolutions of Virginia were . communicated by Governor Clinton the 14th of March. We went all our strength in the appointment of commissioners to attend the Com- mercial Convention, in which we were successful. The commissioners were instructed to report their proceedings to the next Legislature. Hamilton was appointed one of them. Thus it was that he was the principal instrument to turn this State to a course of policy that saved our Country from incalculable mischiefs, if not from total ruin."1 The other commissioner was Egbert Benson, then attorney-general of the State, who was in perfect sympathy with the objects of the proposed convention, and who turned his business before the Supreme Court at Albany over to a friend, to hurry on with Hamilton to Annapolis. The outcome of the brief convention at Annapolis was an urgent recommendation for the meeting of a more representative body at 1 John C. Hamilton's "Life of Hamilton."
1
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
Philadelphia in the following spring. Hamilton, as Benson tells us, was the author of the address to this effect sent to Congress and the individual States. The work of the Philadelphia convention is a matter of history. The delegates to that body from New-York State were Judge Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and, again, Hamilton. By the withdrawal of the two former from the convention, on the ground that it was proposed to formulate a new constitution instead of revising the existing one, Hamilton remained alone as the State's representative. The measure of his influence in the convention may be seen in the national character of the constitution.
There yet remained the problem of the adoption of the new instru- ment by the States; and here, so far as New-York is concerned, the value of the labors of distinguished men of the city appears to highest advantage. The struggle for the constitution in the State convention was not less earnest and critical than the effort at its framing. What- ever the situation might have been elsewhere, it was well known that in New-York ratification could not be secured without a close and determined contest. "True it is," wrote Gouverneur Morris to Jay, October 30, 1786, "that this city and its neighborhood are enthusiastic in the [federal] cause, but I dread the cold and sour temper of the back counties." This sour temper was in reality the Clintonian dis- position to resist centralization in the general government. There still survived what Morris called the old "Colonial oppositions of opinion," the strong, inherited local feeling, which it was necessary to overcome; and the men of the new order of things set to work to overcome it. The first work in hand was to parry the adverse criti- cisms upon the proposed constitution, which appeared soon after the adjournment of the Philadelphia convention. The anti-federalist "Journal " for a while abounded with them, over the signatures of "Cato," "Brutus," "Old Whig," "Centinel," "Cincinnatus," and the like. A "Son of Liberty," writing from Orange County, denounced the Philadelphia outcome as "a preposterous and new fangled sys- tem." Some saw in it the loss of State independence, others the ascendancy and control of a government class, others a menace to privileges and personal liberty in the absence of a bill of rights.
It was at this juncture that Hamilton and his associates appeared in the field with their great defense and exposition of the constitution in the "Federalist " papers. It is to the local controversy in the city and State that we owe that lucid and authoritative commentary on our fundamental law. Of the eighty-five numbers of the work that were published, all of them over the signature "Publius," Hamilton wrote sixty-three, Jay five, Madison (then a member of Congress in New-York) thirteen, and three were the joint production of Hamilton and Madison. The first number was printed in the "Independent
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NEW-YORK CITY UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL
Journal, or Weekly Advertiser" on October 27, 1787, and thereafter the articles appeared, sometimes two in the same issue, in the " Packet" and other papers, continuing through the summer of 1788.1
The New-York State convention had been called to meet at Pough- keepsie on June 17, 1788. Delegates were nominated in the counties early in April, and representative men were put forward. All felt the im- portance of the discussion and the decision. It was at about this time that John Jay reinforced the "Feder- alist " papers with "An Address to the People of the State of New York," which he issued anonymously in pamphlet form. It had its effect in strengthening federal views, and, according to a contemporary letter, would doubtless have converted many an honest anti-federalist in the upper counties had it appeared earlier. "The proposed government is to be the gov- ernment of the people," he wrote; and Gowo morris in 1793 he reiterated this sentiment as chief justice of the United States, in his opinion on the suability of the State: "The people, in their collective and national capacity, established the present Constitution." Two sets of delegates for the State convention were nominated for the city and county of New- York. Jay and Hamilton appeared on both tickets. Who the candi- dates were, how they were put in nomination, and on what platform, appears from the announcement of the ticket itself, issued in the city papers, in the following form :
THE FEDERAL TICKET. TO THE CITIZENS OF NEW YORK.
A number of your Fellow Citizens, deeply impressed with the importance of the Crisis, and convinced that it is your and their interest at the present juncture, by men unequivocally attached to the establishment of a firm national Government, beg leave respectfully to recommend to your support and choice, the following persons as dele- gates to the Convention.
JOHN JAY, JOHN SLOSS HOBART,
RICHARD HARRISON, ISAAC ROOSEVELT,
RICHARD MORRIS, ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON,
JAMES DUANE, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, NICHOLAS LOW.
1 The heading of the first number read as follows : For the "Independent Journal." THE FEDERALIST, No. 1. To the People of the State of New York.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
We flatter ourselves the characters proposed will unite the suffrages of all those who sincerely have at heart "That which appears to be the greatest interest of every true American-the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, feli- city, safety, perhaps our national existence." . . . Those who have in view the same object with ourselves, cannot but be sensible of the great importance of una- nimity on the present occasion, and will consequently be on their guard against the artifices which already begin to be practised for the purpose of dividing them. In supporting the present nomination let One and All be our Motto. It is not only of consequence that men of proper characters and sentiments should be chosen, but that the sense of the citizens should also appear in the choice. This will give weight to
HAMILTON
PROCESSION IN HONOR OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
the exertions of your representatives, and manifest to the world that no considerations of State influence and State interest can induce the Patriotic and Independent Electors of the City to betray the cause of the Union.
By Order of the Meeting.
THOMAS RANDALL, Chairman.
New York, April 8, 1788.
This ticket was elected with a clean sweep. Jay received the high- est number of votes, or only one hundred and one less than the total cast,-2735 out of 2836. Hamilton, Morris, Hobart, and Livingston were less than thirty votes behind. The highest anti-federal vote was but 134. But the upper counties were overwhelmingly anti-federalist; and when the convention met, their majority out of fifty-seven mem- bers was found to range from twenty-five to thirty. When the con- vention adjourned, July 26, after deliberating forty days, this majority
1.
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NEW-YORK CITY UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL
had been reduced to a minority. The convention adopted the consti- tution by a majority of three votes-a result due almost wholly to the abilities, character, personal force, and effective appeal of the dele- gates from New-York city. Hamilton, Jay, and Livingston bore the honors of the debate.1 In dealing with this whole question of a stronger government, from the Annapolis to the Poughkeepsie con- vention, Hamilton's services were the most conspicuous.
Although the Poughkeepsie convention had adopted the constitu- tion in a certain sense provisionally, and called for its amendment by a new national convention, the final ratification was binding, and the State joined the circle as the "eleventh pillar" of the Union. This result was in itself a triumph for the federalists, and when the news reached the city, on Saturday evening, July 26, great was the rejoicing. Men cheered, bells were rung, and impromptu proces- sions were formed which marched to the houses of the several delegates GRAND FEDERAL BANQUET.2 to cheer again. When the delegates themselves returned to town, they were personally complimented in the same way, with the ad- dition of a salute of eleven guns for each member. "In short," says the " Packet," "a general joy ran through the whole City, and sev- eral of those who were of different sentiments drank freely of the Federal Bowl and declared that they were now perfectly reconciled to the new Constitution." The result was received in Philadelphia with "a glorious peal from Christ Church bells."
A feature and expression of the intense interest felt throughout the country in the fate of the constitution were the popular federal pro-
1 Reporting the proceedings at Poughkeepsie, the " Packet" of July 13, 1788, says: "We are in- formed that on Saturday last the Hon. Mr. Jay, Chancellor Livingston and Colonel Hamilton, sev- erally addressed themselves to our State conven- tion in a masterly, animated and pathetic manner; which, it is said, made sensible impressions on the minds of such anti-federal members who have not yet rendered their conception entirely callous by preconceived prejudices to the voice of truth." " One feature of the celebration, as mentioned in the text, was a grand banquet, at the Bayard country-house, in the vicinity of Grand street and the Bowery. Covers were laid for no less than five thousand persons. At a table somewhat raised
above the others, sat the President and members of Congress. The pavilion under which this great company were seated terminated in a dome over this table, and here stood Fame sounding upon her trumpet the beginning of a new era. Around the dais upon which these seats of honor were placed, ten tables were arranged like radii of a semicircle. representing the ten States which had adopted the Constitution. Each table bore an
escutcheon inscribed with the arms and names of a State; while the colors of the French Monarchy and of the Dutch Republic, and of whatever other nations had aided or sympathized with the Ameri- can cause, were liberally blended with the brilliant "Stars and Stripes." EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
cessions held at different places, notably Philadelphia, Boston, Charles- ton, and New-York. The New-York procession was the last and grandest. It was held July 23, in honor of the adoption of the constitution by ten States, and exceeded all previous demonstrations in the country. There were over six thousand men in the line, repre- senting all degrees, professions, trades, and interests. Each one of the ten divisions included representations, flags, designs, and emblems of commerce and labor. There were foresters, plowmen, farmers, gardeners, millers, bakers, brewers, distillers; coopers, butchers, tan- ners, cordwainers; carpenters, farriers, peruke-makers and hair-dress- ers; whitesmiths, blacksmiths, cutlers, masons, bricklayers, painters, glaziers, cabinet-makers, upholsterers, civil engineers; shipwrights, joiners, boat-builders, sailmakers, riggers; printers, binders, cartmen, coachmakers, pewterers, goldsmiths and silversmiths, tobacconists, chocolate-makers; saddlers, harness-makers, founders; lawyers, phy- sicians, professors, students, societies, the Cincinnati, merchants and clergymen. Near the center of the procession the full-rigged man-of- war or "federal ship" Hamilton, carrying thirty-two guns, with a crew of thirty men, complete in all its appointments, and drawn by twelve horses, attracted a continuous gaze of admiration from the throngs along the streets. Commodore Nicholson commanded. The costumes, dress, implements, and general paraphernalia of the exhibitors and participants made the whole immensely pleasing and imposing. The entire day was given up to the festivities; for, after the parade had passed from the common down Broadway and around through the streets on the east side, it moved out into the Bowery to Bayard's grounds, where a temporary building, consisting of three grand pavil- ions, had been erected for a civic and popular feast. Tables were set for five thousand persons. We are told, in the carefully prepared account of the procession published later, that, "as this splendid, novel and interesting exhibition moved along, an unexpected silence reigned throughout the City, which gave a solemnity to the whole transaction suited to the singular importance of the cause. No noise was heard but the deep rumbling of carriage-wheels, with the neces- sary salutes and signals. A glad serenity enlivened every counte- nance, while the joyous expectation of national prosperity triumphed in every bosom."
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