USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 3 > Part 13
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A few days afterwards the British fleet sailed for New-York.
Washington, after the evacuation of Boston, having left a small detachment at that place, under General Ward, hastened to New-York, where the main body of the American army was then assembling.
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The difficulty which had been experienced in expelling the enemy from Boston, induced him to adopt every measure in his power to prevent them from establishing themselves in New-York. 'For this purpose the city, and all the avenues leading to it, were fortified in the best manner the time and means would allow.
The army in New-York was to be strengthened by requisi- tions of militia. A resolution was accordingly passed, to aug- ment it with thirteen thousand men, to be drawn from Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, New-York, and New-Jersey. Whilst the main army was engaged in the fortifications in and about New-York, where it was apprehended the enemy might make an attack, Congress resolved to form, in the middle states, a camp, to be composed of ten thousand men, taken from the militia of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The militia com- posing this camp, and those detached to augment and strengthen the army at New- York, were to serve to the first of December.
Hitherto, the war bad been carried on with the avowed wish of obtaining a redress of grievances. The utmost horror at the idea of attempting independence had been expressed, and the most anxious desire of establishing, on its ancient principles, the union which had so long subsisted between the two coun- tries, was openly declared. But, however sincere the wish to retain a political connexion with Great Britain might have been at the commencement of the conflict, the operation on that sen-
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timent was infallible. To profess allegiance and respect for a . sovereign, who was endeavouring by force of arms to wrest from them all that rendered life valuable ; whilst every possible etort was making by arms to repel the attempt ; began to be felt as an absurdity, and to maintain such a system was impos- sible. When the appeal was first made to arms, and the battle of Lexington was fought, a great majority of those who guided the councils and led the battalions of America, wished only for a repeal of the obnoxious acts of Parliament, and would have been unwilling to venture upon self-government .- Having im- bibed from education, strong prejudices in favour of the British nation, and of the British constitution, they wished only to en- joy its substantial benefits. These, however, wore away rapid- ly, and were succeeded by republican principles and wishes for independence. Many essays appeared in the papers calcul- ated to extend these opinions; and a pamphlet, under the signature of common sense, written by Thomas Paine, an Eu- glishman, who had lately come over to America, had particular influence. It was universally read, and among those who were zealous in the war, obtained every where friends to the doctrine of independence. New strength was every day add- ed to the opinion, that a reconciliation with Great Britain had become impossible ; that mutual confidence could never be restored ; that reciprocal jealousy, suspicion and hate would take and hold the place of that affection which could alone ren- der such a connexion happy and beneficial ; that even the com- mercial dependence of America upon Britain was greatly inju- rious to the former, and that incalculable benefits must be de- rived from opening to themselves the markets of the world ; that to be governed by a nation or sovereign, distant from them three thousand miles, unacquainted with and unmindful of their interests, would, even if reinstated in their former situation, oc- casion infinite injary ; and in the present state of America, was an evil too great to be voluntarily borne. But victory alone could restore them to that situation, and victory would give them independence.
It was also urged, and with great reason, that foreign aid
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could more certainly be obtained, if the effect of that aid would be the dismemberment of the British empire.
American independence became the more general theme of conversation ; and more and more the general wish. This sentiment was increased, by learning that they were declared to be in a state of rebellion ; that foreign mercenaries were to be employed against them ; and that the tommahawk and scalping knife were to be used.
The measures of Congress took their complexion from the temper of the people. General letters of marque and reprisal were granted, and the American ports were opened to all na- tions except the British.
At length a measure was adopted, which was considered by Congress, and by America in general, as decisive of the ques- tion of independence. Mr. John Adams, since President of the United States, Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Richard Henry Lee were appointed a committee to prepare a preamble to the reso- lution. This was on the fifteenth of May, 1776. The pream- ble drawn up by these gentlemen, is in the words following. " Whereas his Britannic Majesty, in conjunction with the lords and commons of Great Britain, has, by a late act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the pro- tection of his crown; and whereas, no answer whatever to the humble petitions of the colonies for the redress of grievances and reconciliation of Great Britain, has been, or is likely to be given ; but the whole force of that kingdom, aided by for- eign mercenaries, is to be exerted for the destruction of the good people of these colonies; and whereas, it appears abso- lutely irreconcileable to reason and good conscience, for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths and affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain ; and it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown, should be totally suppressed ; and all the powers of government exerted under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue and good order, as well as for the de- fence of their lives, liberties and properties, against the hostile
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invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies ; therefore resolved, that it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient for the exigencies of their affairs, hath been already established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happi- ness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America. in general."
The provincial assemblies and conventions acted on this re- commendation, and governments were generally established.
The solid foundations for popular governments were now established. The materials in their possession, as well as their habits of thinking, were adapted only to governments in all respects representative, and such governments were every where adopted. In general, the executive, legislative and ju- dicial departments were rendered distinct with the intent of making them independent of each other in a very considerable degree. The legislature was divided into two branches, and all persons holding offices of profit or trust excluded from it. The executive too was constituted by election, and a strong jealousy of its powers was every where manifested. The judges "received their appointments from the legislature or executive, 'and in most instances held their offices during good behaviour.
These leading principles formed the common basis of the American republics. There were, however, some exceptions to them. In some of the states the legislature consisted of a single branch.
Various too were the qualifications required to confer the privilege of an elector, or of being elected. In constructing the executive too, great varieties appeared. In some instances the governor was elected, and was eligible for a longer, and in others, for a shorter term-in some states he was invested with a negative on the laws, which in others was refused him, and with power to make appointments, which more generally was exercised by the legislature. In some instances he acted ac- cording to his own judgment, and in others, was divested of
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all responsibility, by being placed under the absolute control of an exective council.
In general, however, the ancient institutions were preserved so far as was compatible with the abolition of regal authority.
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The provincial assemblies, under the influence of Congress, took up the question of independence; and in some instances authorized their representatives in the national council to en- ter into alliances. Measures were taken to ascertain the sense of the people respecting it, which was expressed in instruc- tions to their representatives in the state assemblies.
The public opinion having manifested itself in favour of in- dependence, the great and decisive step was determined on, and the following resolution was moved by Richard Henry Lee, seconded by John Adams, afterwards President of the United States : " resolved that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; and that all political connexion between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
This resolution was made on the seventh day of June, 1776.
The resolution was referred to a committee of the whole Congress, where it was daily debated. All the States, except Pennsylvania and Maryland, had expressed their approbation of the measure, and no doubt remained of its adoption ; but it was deemed prudent to postpone a decision on it until those . states should acquiese, so as to render its adoption unanim- ous. At length, instructions were received, on the twenty- eighth day of June, from the conventions of those states to assent. =
The resolution was on the second day of July, unanimously ' agreed to, and the declaration, which had been already prepar- ed by a committee, was taken into consideration, and after some amendments, received the sanction of Congress on the fourth of the same month. The committee consisted of Mr. John Adams, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Sherman and Mr. R. R. Livingston.
Here follows the declaration .- " When, in the course of hu- man events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
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the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal stations to which the laws of nature, and of nature's God, entitle them-a decent respect to the opinions of mankind, re- quires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
" We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, go- vernments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new govern- ment, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dic- tate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future safety. Such bas been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter ther former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great britain, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
" He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
" He has forbidden bis governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation VOL. III. 18
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till his assent should be obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of repre- sentation in the legislature ; a right, inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
" He has called together legislative bodies, at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatigueing them into a compli- ance with his measures.
" He has dissolved representative houses, repeatedly for op- posing, with manly firmness, his invasions of the rights of the people.
" He has refused, for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, in- capable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large, for their exercise, the state remaining, in the mean time, expos- ed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. ·
" He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these states ; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of for- eigners ; refusing to pass others, to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
" He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
," He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
" He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harrass our people, and eat out their sub- sistence.
" He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
" He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior of the civil power.
" He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction,
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foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.
" For quartering large bodies of troops among us.
" For protecting them by a mock trial from punishment, for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states.
" For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.
" For imposing taxes on us without our consent.
" For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury.
" For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences.
" For abolishing the free system of English laws, in a neigh- bouring province, establishing therein an arbitrary govern- ment, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example, and fit instrument for introducing the same abso- Jute rule into these colonies.
" For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally, the forms of our govern- ments.
" For suspending our legislatures and declaring himself in- vested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
" He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.
" He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
" He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mer- cinaries, to complete the works of death, desolation and tyran- ny, already began, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally un- worthy the head of a civilized nation.
" He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their countrymen, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall them- selves by their hands.
" He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has en- deavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the mer-
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ciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is, an undis- tinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
" In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms : our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose cha- racter is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
" Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpa- tions, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of jus- tice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind-enemies in war, in peace friends.
" We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- merce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour."
This declaration was immediately communicated to the ar-
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mies, where it was received with enthusiasm. It was also pro- claimed throughout the United States, and gave to the people very general joy.
The English, on the accession of King William and Queen Mary, in 16SS, published a paper similar to the preceding de- claration, called the Bill of Rights. The Dutch had, previous, to that time, published a manifesto. Our declaration of inde- pendence is similar to that of the English, as the latter is of the Dutch. . The instrument is an admirable paper, and was well calculated for the times.
On evacuating Boston, General Howe had retired to Halifax in Nova Scotia. But it seems that the situation of his army was so uncomfortable in that place, and the delays in the arri- val of troops and supplies were so great, that he resolved to sail to New-York, or some other place in its vicinity, and take a position where he might obtain necessaries for his army, until those should come from Europe. In pursuance of this resolu- tion he left Halifax, and arrived off Sandy Hook, with the first division of his fleet. The rear division soon followed, and hay- ing passed the Narrows, between Long Island and Staten Island, landed the troops on the latter island, where the Ameri- cans had at that time but a very small force. Here General Howe determined to wait till the expected reinforcements from England should come.
From the conduct of Howe it was very evident that his ob- ject was to seize the city of New-York. He was invited to do this, not only by the facility with which it could be taken and retained, but by the superior advantages it offered in the pro- secution of the war. He very well knew that if he could take New-York, that Long Island would fall into his hands as a matter of course. From this place it would be optional with him to carry the war Into New England on the one side, and into New-Jersey on the other, or if he chose, into the interior of the state of New-York.
On the twelfth of July, Lord Howe, the brother of the Gene- ral, arrived with a part of the reinforcements, and landed them
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on Staten Island. He was commissioned to treat with the Americans respecting an accommodation.
Notwithstanding the declaration of independence had now been made, Lord Howe determined, while the troops were ar- riving, to try the influence of the powers for pacification which had been committed to him. He sent on shore, by flag, a cir- cular letter, addressed to the late governors under the crown, inclosing a declaration, which he requested them to make pub- lic ; and which announced to the people his authority to grant pardons to any number or description of persons, who, during the tumults and disasters of the times, might have deviated from their just allegiance, and who might be willing, by a speedy return to their duty, to reap the benefits of the royal favour ; and to declare any colony, town, port, or place in the peace and under the protection of the crown, and excepted from the penal provisions of the act of Parliament, prohibiting all trade and intercourse with the colonies, &c.
These papers were transmitted by Washington to Congress, who resolved that they should be published in the several ga- zettes, that the people of the United States might be informed what the nature of the commissions were, and what the terms with which the court of Great Britain had sought to amuse and · · disarm them.
About the same time that these papers were put into circu- lation, Lord Howe sent, with a flag, a letter addressed to , George Washington, Esquire, which he refused to receive, as it did not acknowledge the public character with which he was invested by Congress, and giving the bearer to understand, that in no other character could he have any intercourse with his lordship.
On the twentieth of July, Colonel Patterson, Adjutant-gene- ral of the British army, was sent by General Howe, with a let- ter directed to George Washington, &c. &c. &c., but he still declined to receive it, because it was not addressed to him iu his official capacity. Some conversation then passed relative to the treatment of prisoners. The Colonel then opened the
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business concerning an accommodation ; but. Washington re- fused to enter into it, in as much as he had no authority from Congress. He, however, in reply to some facts stated by Colonel Patterson, said, that so far as he could judge from what had as yet transpired, Lord Howe and General Howe were only empowered to grant pardons; that those who had com- mitted no fault, wanted no pardon ; and that the Americans were only defending their unalienable rights.
About the first of August, the British army under Howe, amounted to twenty-four thousand men, and reinforcements were daily coming in.
The American army, about the same time, rather exceeded seventeen thousand men, but of this number nearly four thou- sand were unfit for duty. Besides the arms were very defec- tive, and the men not well disciplined, being mostly new levies. Serious apprehensions were entertained that it would not be able to cope with the very superior forces of the enemy.
Soon after the army was augmented by Smallwood's regi- ment, and by two regiments from Pennsylvania, and by large bodies of militia from New England, and the interior of New- York, to twenty-seven thousand men.
A part of this army was stationed on Long Island, under General Sullivan. The residue occupied different stations on the island of New-York, except three detachments, one on Go- vernors island, one at Powles Hook, in New-Jersey, opposite the city of New-York, and one under General Clinton on the Sound . towards New Rochelle, East and West Chester. The latter comprised a part of the New-York militia. 1
An attack from the enemy was daily expected; great exer- tions were therefore made to meet the enemy.
As the defence of Long Island was intimately connected with that of New-York, a brigade was posted at Brooklyn, opposite the city of New-York, and works of defence thrown up.
The movements of the enemy soon indicated an intention to make their first attack on Long Island, in consequence of which, General Sullivan was reinforced. Early in the morn. .
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ing of the twenty-second of August, the greater part of the British army, with Colonel Donop's corps of chasseurs and Hessian grenadiers, with forty pieces of cannon, landed without opposition under cover of the guns of the fleet, near Utrecht and Gravesend, not far from the Narrows, dividing Staten and Long Islands. They were commanded by Lieutenant-general Clinton. Colonel Hand, who guarded the coast, retired to the woody heights, commanding a pass leading to the works at Brooklyn. Lord Cornwallis was detached to seize the pass.
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