USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 8
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In this condition of strength and self-support were the inhabitants of the American Colonies when George, Lord Grenville, conceived the bril- liant idea of imposing on these inhabitants a tax, expecting therewith to assist in paying the national debt.
Then began a turmoil such as the Colonists had never before wit- nessed, and such as would have made a minister with ordinary wit take pause. It was not the amount of the tax that stirred men's souls. What did the successful farmer of Orange County care for a penny or so of stamp duty. What impression would such a demand make on the wealth of a prosperous merchant in New York. It was the principle on which that tax was based. Humanity is so constituted, that it fails to recognize
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the advance of age. Till the physical infirmities of senility fall sorely upon men, they cannot realize that their work is ending and that another, younger, generation is pressing into their paths. But yesterday that young man, now so strong and self-confident was a boy to whom we never turned for advice, whom we put off with the idle fables and treated with the fondling tenderness which we use toward children. Now he refuses to be so set aside and demands the rights of his manhood respectfully but firmly. Astounded and with a mighty sense of outraged dignity we turn from the encounter, believing that an exhibition of our displeasure will be amply sufficient to cause at first meditation and then humble apology. But the next meeting only finds the young man firmer in his idea and more determined to explain his action. From this point men differ. Some gracefully submit and later fully acquiesce in the inevitable. Others attempt coercion and sooner or later come off worsted.
The Colonists protested against the imposition of a tax unless granted by their own consent through their own representatives. They attempted to explain to the parent country, the ground on which they based their actions ; to show her how little she had done for them, how much they had done for her as well as themselves and thus to demonstrate the injus- tice of the Stamp Act.
Wise men in his own council chambers showed to the King the un- righteous nature of the proposition. Charles Townshend said of the Colonies that they were " children planted by our care, and nourished by our indulgence." "They planted by your care!"-exclaimed Barre- "No! your oppressions planted them in America; they fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated wilderness, exposed to all the hardships to which human nature is liable! They nourished by your indulgence! -No! they grew by your neglect; your care of them was displayed in sending persons to govern them who were the deputies of deputies of ministers-men whose behavior, on many occasions, has caused the blood of those SONS OF LIBERTY to recoil within them; men who have been promoted to the highest seats of justice in a foreign country, in order to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own."
Yet, the respectful appeal for a hearing, was treated with scorn by a king, who expected the colonists to grovel at his feet, humbly suing for royal clemency ; and the advice of his counselors fell on unheeding ears. The Stamp Act was repealed, but the right to impose taxation on the colonies was adhered to; and two years after the tax on stamps was removed, in 1767, a duty was placed on glass, paper, lead and painters' colors, not so much for the purpose of raising revenues as to express the right to lay impost.
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I have said that the plan of self-government adopted by the colonists was of spontaneous growth. In hours of danger theretofore, representa- tives from each of the colonies had met together for consultation. By 1774, the need of concerted action seems to have been universally felt. On May 17th a general congress was recommended at a town meeting in Providence, R. I. May 21st a town meeting in Philadelphia, and on May 23d one in New York advised a consultation of delegates from each colony. May 27th the House of Burgesses in Williamsburgh, Va., and on May 31st a county meeting at Baltimore called for a general assembly and these were followed in the demand for a council of representatives, by a town meeting in Norwich, Conn., June 6th ; a county meeting at Newark, N. J., on the same date; the Massachusetts Assembly and a town meeting in Boston on June 17th; a county mecting at Newcastle, Del., on June 29th; the Committee of Correspondence of Portsmouth, N. H., on July 6th ; the General Province meeting at Charlestown, S. C., on July 8th, and a district meeting at Wilmington, N. C., on July 21st.
Pursuant to these demands, the delegates from the different colonies met and organized the Continental Congress, which began its sessions on September 5, 1774. In this Province all the active patriots combined in sending deputies to a Provincial Convention, which concurred in the nomination and election of Philip Livingston, John Jay, James Duane, John Alsop, Isaac Low, Henry Wisner of Orange County, and William Floyd of Suffolk. We have already seen that the people of this County were as yet so uncertain of their wishes, that but twenty votes were cast at the election ; while the Colonial Assembly, either through loyalty or timidity, refrained from any action.
A wise man, a Talleyrand, would have hesitated at this juncture, would have temporized and conciliated, and would have withdrawn from the contest with credit to himself and honor to his nation. A weak man, a Bute, would have shrunk aghast from the storm he had raised, and re- signed the reins of government. Lord North was neither wiser than Bute nor weaker than Grenville; he faced the impending conflict with the stub- born obstinacy of ignorance, and was sustained by a purblind king, who determined to coerce the young colonies into that respect for his royal functions which he regarded as due them.
"SONS OF LIBERTY," Barre had called those colonists who opposed the Stamp Act, and when his speech was read in America, those organiza- tions which had grown out of the many conferences of the citizens on the questions at issue, adopted the name of Sons of Liberty as their designa- tion. The residents of this County have often met together in the past,
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and may again assemble in the future, for the discussion of matters involv- ing their welfare. In those conventions of the past, as in collections of people at present, the first proceeding of the gathering was to organize by the selection of a leader and assistants. This was all that occurred when the colonists denied and defied the authority of Great Britain, and dashed away the monarchial government.
The Sons of Liberty in New York city, taking the lead in the Revo- lution, advised the people of each county to meet and form committees of safety. Pursuant to that advice, the citizens of this County met, and after passing the resolutions given in the preceding chapter, selected Abraham Lent, John Haring, Thomas Outwater, Gardner Jones, and Peter T. Haring as a Committee of Correspondence and Safety. On the adoption by the Continental Congress of the articles of the American Association, the patriots in New York chose a Committee of Sixty to en- force the provisions of that act, and to exercise leadership in all political matters. At the recommendation of this Committee, the people of the various counties elected delegates for a Provincial Congress, which was to meet in New York on May 22d, 1775. The election in this County took place on April 17th, and resulted in the choice of :
John Coe, Benjamin Tusteen, Abraham Lent, Israel Seely,
David Pye,
Peter Clowes,
John llaring, Jesse Woodhull,
Michael Jackson, William Allison,
Jeremiah Clarke.
This Congress was in session from May 22nd, till July 8th ; from July 26th, to September 2nd; and from October 4th, to November 4th, 1775. Mean- time, the General Assembly of the Colony still held a nominal existence, but its last session was held on April 3rd, 1775, when it was adjourned to May 3rd, of the same year, from which time it was prorogued again and again till February Ist, 1776, when it passed from existence.
The members of the Committee of Safety in the present Rockland County at different periods during the war for Independence were :
John Coe, John Coleman, Johannes Vanderbilt, James Kant,
John Smith, Derck Vanderbilt, Theodorus Polhemus,
Johannes I. Blauvelt. David Pye,
The duties of these men were multifarious. The selection of officers for the local militia; the oversight of the election of delegates to the Provincial Congress ; the general care of property and persons in their pre- cincts ; the prevention of treasonable correspondence with the enemy, and the preservation of the law. In theexecution of these duties, the commit- tee in this County was in constant communication, at first with the com- mittee in New York City and later with the Provincial Congress. In no
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instance was complaint made against the justice of its acts by unbiased parties, and it stands in history as the connecting link between the royal government of the past and the constitutional government of the present.
On July 31, 1775, David Pye, notified the Provincial Congress, that Captain Robert Johnson had completed the enlistment of a company for the Continental Army and was ready for arms.
On Nov. 17th, 1775, the Orangetown Committee of Safety met at the house of John Van Dolsa, Jr., in Haverstraw Precinct, to join with the com- mittee from Haverstraw in the selection of field officers. Disappointed by the non-appearance of the Haverstraw Committee, the deputation pro- ceeded to select officers for their own township.
Local jealousy, the curse of every military and civil movement from the creation of the Continental Congress till the adoption of the Federal Con- stitution, obtained in this section in the early days of the Revolution, and at length grew so strong as to draw letters of complaint from David Pye and Major E. W. Kiers as early as Feb. 24, 1776.
In the second and third Provincial Congresses, from Nov. 14th, 1775, till June 30th, 1776, John Haring of this County was President pro tem ; A. Hawks Hay was appointed chairman of the committee for the appor- tionment of the different quotas of men and officers in the Colony ; Messrs. Allison and Pye were created a committee to inquire into the reasons why Capt. Blauvelt's company had not drafted its quota of men to reinforce the Continental Army ;* and John Haring was appointed a member of the committee to consider the resolutions passed by the Continental Congress.
The 4th Provincial Congress was to meet in New York City on July 8th, 1776, but before that date a British fleet appeared in the lower bay, and instead of New York, the Congress met at White Plains. The dele- gates from this, Orange County, elected to that Congress were :
William Allison, David Pye, Thomas Outwater, Joshua H. Smith,
Isaac Sherwood, Archibald Little,
John Haring,
Jeremiah Clarke,
At the moment the Congress met, it received intelligence of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress, a measure it approved by unanimous vote. On the second day of the session, July Ioth, the name of the Assembly was changed from the " Provincial Con- gress of the Colony" to that of the " Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York," and its first act was to appoint a committee for the purpose of drafting a State Constitution. Thirteen members were placed on this committee, among whom was Henry Wisner of Orange County.
*See Page 78.
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The changing scenes of war compelled the convention to migrate from place to place, and it held brief sessions at Harlem, King's Bridge, Yon- kers, White Plains, Fishkill, and finally Kingston, where it continued in ses- sion from March 6th, till May 13th, 1777. At Kingston, the committee on the Constitution pursued its labors in peace and at last on March 12, 1777, reported the result of its work. The committee's draft was under consideration for more than a month, and was finally adopted April 20th. The first Constitution was printed at Fishkill, by Samuel Loudon, on the only patriot press in the State, and was the first book ever printed in the Commonwealth. Leaving the Constitution for a moment, let us look at local events.
While these greater deeds of statesmanship were being enacted by the Provincial Assembly, the Committee of Safety in this County was by no means idle. Busied at first in enlisting troops and selecting officers, it soon found occasion for active duty in watching the enemy and protecting the property of patriots from the depredations of the Tories. On July 29th, 1776, an order was issued from Clarkstown, notifying Dennis Sny- den, Jesse Snyden, William Snyden and Samuel Snyden, not to run, nor employ any one to run, nor even to keep a boat as a ferry, and all people were warned to hold no communication with them as they were notori- ously disloyal. At the same time the printer was directed to correct an error by which the name of John Snyder, a firm patriot, was given instead of that of Robert Snyden, as a pilot of the British ships in their voyages up the river.
Early in the struggle, Col. Allison had been ordered by the Provincial Congress to obtain all the saltpetre possible and have it manufactured into gunpowder, and later, Col. Benjamin Tusteen and Theunis Cuyper were directed to buy all the woolen cloth, linsey woolsey, blankets, woolen hose, mittens, coarse linen, felt hats and shoes obtainable, and to have the linen made up into sheets. For the perfection of this object the Assembly advanced £100 to each of the committee.
On November 9th, 1776, Joshua Hett Smith made a motion in the Convention that Thomas Outwater and others attend to their duties as deputies, or show cause on pain of punishment for contempt. Evidently this motion was adopted and a committee appointed to call the attention of the delinquents to its force, for on December 11th, Henry Wisner in- formed the Convention, that Messrs. Outwater and Sherwood declined to act as members of their body.
When the first Provincial Congress adjourned on July 8th, 1775, it left a Committee of Safety, composed of members from its body, to exercise the
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executive duties of the Colony. The existence of this committee ceased at Kingston, March 5, 1777. On May 3d, of the same year. a Council of Safety, composed of thirteen members, was appointed to administer the government of the State till a Governor could be elected and the Legisla- ture meet. This committee exercised the power of government till Sep- tember 10th, 1777, and again from October 8th, of that year, till January 7th, 1778, when it was superceded by a Legislative Convention, that was in session from that date till the assembling of the Legislature on January 28th, 1778.
It is now necessary to view briefly the State Constitution. According to its provisions, the elective franchise for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Senators was granted to resident frecholders possessed of real estate of the value of £100 over and above all debts charged thereon. All male inhabitants, who had resided in the County for six months preceding the elec- tion and who owned real estate in the County valued at £20, or paid a yearly rent of forty shillings, and actually paid taxes, were entitled to vote for Members of Assembly. No discrimination was made against race or color, except that negroes were required to produce authenticated certifi- cates of freemen. Elective officers were limited to the Governor, Lieu- tenant Governor, Senators, Assemblymen, Town Clerks, Supervisors, Assessors, Constables and Collectors. Loan officers, County Treasurers, and Clerks of Boards of Supervisors were to be appointed by the direction of the Legislature. One clause of this Constitution shows more clearly than anything ever written or spoken, the ignorance of the people con- cerning the completeness of the revolution they had accomplished. So long had they been accustomed to an executive who was irresponsible to them, who was an appointee of the crown, that they failed to realize that the ruler they had created was as much a creature of their making as the Assembly; that the executive as well as the legislative power was granted by their franchise.
Thus failing in the power of conception, the people confined the power of the Governor to the smallest possible limit, and extended the power of the Assembly. The Governor could not make an appointment, nor had he the sole power of nomination for appointment. This function was performed by a Council of Appointment chosen from the Senate, and in that Council the Governor was to have "a casting voice, but no other vote."
The new Constitution was immediately enforced and the election of officers under it begun. The result of that election was the choice of George Clinton for Governor. He took the oath of office at Kingston on
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July 30th, 1777, but being in active command of the militia at the time, did not assume its duties till after the surrender of Burgoyne on October 17th ; and Pierre Van Cortlandt for Lieutenant Governor. From the Mid- dle Senatorial District, composed of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster Coun- ties, six Senators were chosen, among whom was Henry Wisner of this County ; and from Orange County four members of Assembly were elected, among whom were Theunis Cuyper and Roeloff Van Houten.
Among the officers appointed were County Judges John Haring, Thomas Cuyper, Elihu Marvin and John Wheeler; Isaac Nicoll was made Sheriff; Benjamin Tusteen, Jr., Surrogate, and Thomas Moffat, County Clerk.
Let me now briefly recapitulate the various steps in the progress of the revolution in the civil government in this State. By a spontaneous call from twelve of the colonies, a Continental Congress was determined on in 1774. For the nomination and election of deputies to that Con- gress, the Sons of Liberty in New York recommended the several counties in the Province to elect delegates to a Provincial Convention, to be held in New York city on April 20th, 1775. To this recommendation nine of the sixteen counties responded. The next step was the choosing by the patriots in New York city of a Committee of One Hundred as a Commit- tee of Resistance, or a War Committee, and from the members composing it a Committee of Sixty was created for greater activity. At the sugges- tion of this Committee, each county elected a local Committee of Safety, to preserve law and order. At the further request of the Committee of One Hundred, each county proceeded to elect delegates to a Provincial Congress, which met first on May 22d, 1775-a little over a month before the General Assembly of the Colony adjourned never to meet again. The Provincial Congress selected a Committee of Safety from its body, to exercise the executive duties of the Province when the Congress was not in session, which remained in existence from July 8th, 1775, till March 6th, 1777. On the 3d of May, 1777, a Council of Safety was formed, from the members of the Congress, to exercise authority till a Governor was elected and the Legislature could meet, and existed till September 10th, 1777; and on the adjournment of the Legislature in October, a second Council of Safety was appointed, with the same powers as the first, which remained in control till the State Government was fully organized in January, 1778. Meantime, at the recommendation of the Continental Congress, the Provincial Congress had appointed a committee to draft a State Constitution in 1776, a work which was successfully completed and the result adopted on April 20th, 1777.
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I have been thus prolix on the civil history of the Revolution, because it is by far the most important of the events of that or any subsequent time. The battle of Lexington and the siege of Boston were a resistance to a government. The battles preceding the adoption of State Constitutions were for the overthrow of a government. But governments had been over- turned before and have been overturned since, only to eventually re-obtain power. The colonists' task was not only to demolish a form of govern- ment, but to erect a new form and a better one in its stead.
Carefully, thoughtfully, they set to the self-appointed task ; maintained order in the midst of the license of war; continued steadfastly at the work, though often compelled to rapidly change the place of their sittings by reason of the proximity of the enemy, and at length produced a form of rule in which the people were absolute, in which self-government was the only power that could control the State. And at the very time of its adoption, the myrmidons of the government they had thrown off were preparing to invade this State in overwhelming numbers.
That in many respects that first Constitution, judged by the light of the experience we stand in, was crude and incorrect, cannot be gainsaid ; and, doubtless, were its framers with us to-day, they would see the defects and vote for their change as readily as we. But the advance from king rule to self-rule was as absolute, as in the untried experiment, men could see.
As a vital factor in the demolition of the old, and the creation and erection of the new form of government, this County stands well to the fore. She was one of the nine that responded to the call for a Provincial Convention and a deputy from her was sent to the Continental Congress. She sent her delegates to every Provincial Congress that met; and from those delegates one was chosen a member of the committee that framed the new rules of government. We are to turn now and view her actions in another sphere-the struggle to render the new rules of government pos- sible.
The members from Orange County to the General Assembly of the Colony, beginning with the Eighth Assembly in 1701, were :
EIGHTH ASSEMBLY. August 19th, 1701, to May 3d, 1702. Peter Haring. NINTH AND TENTH ASSEMBLIES. From October 20th, 1702, till May 5th, 1707. Floris Crom.
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ELEVENTH ASSEMBLY. From August 18th, 1708, till January 5th, 1709. Michael Hawdon. TWELFTH ASSEMBLY. From April 6th till November 12th, 1709. Peter Haring.
THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH ASSEMBLIES. From September Ist, 1710, till March 3d, 1713. Hendrick Ten Eyck.
FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH ASSEMBLIES. From May 27th, 1713, till August 11th, 1715. Cornelius Haring.
SEVENTEENTH ASSEMBLY. From June 5th, 1716, till Angust 10th, 1726. Peter Haring. Cornelius Cnyper.
EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH ASSEMBLIES. From September 27th, 1726, till November 25th, 1727. Lancaster Symes. Cornelins Haring. TWENTIETH ASSEMBLY. From July 23d, 1728, till May 3d, 1737. Lancaster Symes. Cornelius Haring. Vincent Matthews.
TWENTY-FIRST ASSEMBLY. From June 15th, 1737, till October 20th, 1738. Vincent Matthews. Cornelius Cuyper.
TWENTY-SECOND AND TWENTY-THIRD ASSEMBLIES. From March 27th, 1739, till May 14th. 1745. Gabriel Ludlow. Thomas Gale. TWENTY-FOURTH ASSEMBLY. From June 25th, 1745, till November 25th, 1747. Thomas Gale. Abraham Haring. TWENTY-FIFTH ASSEMBLY. From February 12th, 1748, till July 21st, 1750. Thomas Gale. Theodorus Snedeker.
TWENTY-SIXTH AND TWENTY-SEVENTH ASSEMBLIES. From July 24th, 1750, till December 17th, 1758.
Theodorus Snedeker. Samuel Gale, who died in 1757, then Vincent Matthews.
TWENTY-EIGHTH AND TWENTY-NINTH ASSEMBLIES. From January 31st, 1759, till February 6th, 1768. Abraham Haring. Henry Wisner. THIRTIETH ASSEMBLY. From October 27th, 1768, till Jannary 2d, 1769. Henry Wisner. Selah Strong.
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THIRTY-FIRST ASSEMBLY. From April 4th, 1769, till April 3d, 1775, and forever. Samuel Gale. John De Noyelles, who died and was succeeded by John Coe.
DEPUTIES TO PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
FIRST CONGRESS. From May 22d, 1775, till November 4th, 1775.
John Coe, Peter Clowes, Jeremiah Clarke,
David Pye, William Allison, Israel Seely,
Michael Jackson,
Abraham Lent,
Jesse Woodhull,
Benjamin Tusteen, John Haring.
SECOND CONGRESS.
From November 14th. 1775, till May 13th, 1776.
John Haring, President pro tem.
Peter Clowes, Jeremiah Clarke, John Haring,
William Allison,
Theunis Cuyper, A. Hawks Hay,
THIRD CONGRESS.
From May 14th, till June 30th, 1776. John Haring, President pro tem.
Henry Wisner,
Joshua H. Smith, Peter Clowes, David Pye,
William Allison,
Thomas Outwater, Roeloff Van Houten, John Haring.
Archibald Little,
Isaac Sherwood,
FOURTH CONGRESS.
William Allison, John Haring,
From July 9th, 1776, till May 13th, 1777. David Pye, Isaac Sherwood, Archibald Little,
Thomas Outwater, Joshua H. Smith, Jeremiah Clarke.
STATE LEGISLATURE. COUNCIL OF APPOINTMENT.
John Haring, appointed July 22d, 1782.
FIRST SESSION. SENATE.
Henry Wisner. ASSEMBLY.
Jeremiah Clarke, John Hathorn,
Theunis Cuyper, Roeloff Van Houten.
SECOND SESSION. SENATE.
Henry Wisner.
ASSEMBLY.
Jeremiah Clarke, Benjamin Coe,
John Coe, Roeloff Van Houten,
Peter Ogilvie.
THIRD SESSION. SENATE.
Henry Wisner.
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ASSEMBLY.
John Coe, John Hathorn,
Thomas Moffat, Bezaleel Seely, Jr.
FOURTH SESSION. SENATE.
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