USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 48
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mittee appears to have been composed of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Edward Rutledge, James Wilson, and Robert R. Livingston ; ' but the character of those who framed the Resolution only increases our surprise, and, more clearly than before, indicates the desperate straits into which, even at that early date, the Continental Congress had been crowded, unless the "spies " against whom the Committee ful- minated its Report were those Commissioners whom the Ministry had authorized to treat for Reconcilation and Peace, and who were, at that time, nearing and not distant from New York ; and unless, also, the Con- tinental Congress, by these Resolutions, proposed to naturalize Admiral Howe, and General Howe, and the forces which were respectively under their com- mand; and to transform ail these, on their arrival within the harbor of New York, into " members of " the Colony" of New York, "owing allegiance to "the Laws of the United Colonies," and subject to be tried on a charge of "Treason against such Colony" of New York, should they become prisoners of war.
Whatever the purposes of the Continental Congress may have been, in the adoption and promulgation of these Resolutions, no one cau attribute to the learned lawyers who reported tl:em the slightest sincerity, since none knew better than they, that "allegiance," under any possible circumstances, was not and could not become due to what was nothing else than a mere "Law," and that the "Law" of a mere "Colony," which might be enacted on one day and be repealed on the next; that "allegiance " was, then, and would always be, due to nothing else than to the Sovereign of whom the person was or should become, legiti- mately, a subject ; that an avowed sojourner, "pass- "ing through " a Colony or merely "visiting " it or "making a temporary stay" within it, at the same time owing "allegiance " to the Sovereign of another country, while he would certainly owe obedience to the local Law, during the entire period of his journey through or of his visit to or of his temporary stay within that Colony, by no Law nor by any possible interpretation of a Law which would have been en- titled to the slightest respect, only by reason of that journey or visit or temporary stay, could have been said to have surrendered his " allegiance " due only to his own Sovereign, and, instead, only for the same reason, to have become a subject of, owing "alle- "giance " to, the authority which controlled the place of his journey or visit or temporary stay, and espe- cially so while that place was or should continue to be only an acknowledged dependency of a foreign Prince, to whom it was or should be, itself, avowedly subject, and by whom uo such enactment or order had
1 Journal of the Continental Congress, " Wednesday, June 5, 1176." ! " Arconting To the noble Lord's explanation, Lord Howe and his " brother are to be sent as Spies, but as Commissioners ; that if they can- " not go on shore, they are to sound upout the coast."-{path of Charles Jan . For ent the Main for Lord Howe's Instructions, " House of CON- " yoss, Weduenloy, May 22, 1776.")
been made; that no more Colony, depend .of another and superior political power, usa ! have been said, sincerely, by such a Committee, to have possessed a political Sovereignty, nor that, in the absence of such a Sovereignty, there could possibly have been a respectable and competent charge of Treason against it, in any instance whatever; and, more than all, that such a pretense and threat of charges of Treason against a Colony, made by the Committee, in its Resolutions, was simply a harmless thunderbolt. before the Law, since the King of Great Britain, against whom and against whose authority the Resolutions were specifically directed, was, at the time of the adoption and promulgation of these Rs- olutions, actually the Sovereign of all those Colonics and of all those who were thus denouncing him, openly and generally recognized, throughout the for- mer, as the source of all their legitimate political authority and as their King; and, by the members of that Committee and the authors of those Resolutions, themselves, specifically recognized as the Sovereign to whom each and every of them was himself proud to owe allegiance.3
" Allegiance" and "Treason " presupposed Sor- ereignty existing in the Colonies, without which Sov- ereignty there could. not have possibly been any "Allegiance" due to either of them: nor "Treason " committed against them or either of them; but it would require a bold man, possessed of a very vivid imagination, to maintain, seriously and honestly, that any such Sovereignty existed in the Colonies, or in auy or either of them, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1776, when the Continental Congress adopted these Resolutions, whatever there might have been or not have been, in the several States, a fortnight after- wards.
What the result of this action of the Continental Congress was, will be seen, hereafter.
Another very important subject which was intro- duced to the notice of the third Provincial Congress, during its very brief existence, was that of supplant- ing the existing Colonial Government by the estab- lishment of a new form of Goverment which woukl more nearly represent the current spirit of those who were leaders in the Rebellion, and which, more than anything else, would indicate a determination to sever the political connection of the Colony with the Mother Country.
On the tenth of May, 1776, the Continental Con - gress, after a very severe and very protracted consil- eration of the subject, had adopted a Resolution; ' and on the fifteenth of the same month, it had pre-
3 See, in the Address to the King, by the same Continental Congress and signed by each of its members, individually. (Journal of the Confinestil Congress, "Saturday, July 8, 1775,") what, at the date of theze Ke - In- tions, contained, unaltered, all which had been said, formally. of the disposition, toward the King, of either the Congress or of its individual members.
A Journal of the Confiavut il Congress, " Friday, May 10, 1770."
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fixed to that Resolution,. a Preamble,1 which, together, were in these words :
"WHEREAS his Britannic Majesty. in conjunction " with the Lords and Common- of Great Britain, has, " by a late Act of Parliament, excluded the inhabi- "tants of these United Colonies from the protection "of his Crown ;
" AND WHEREAS no answer whatever to the humble " Petition of the Colonies, for redress of grievances and "reconciliation with Great Britain, has been or is " likely to be given, but the whole force of that King- "dom, aided by foreign mercenaries, is to be exerted " for the destruction of the good people of these Col- "onies ;
" AND WHEREAS it appears absolutely irreconcilable " 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 defence of their lives, liberties, and properties, "against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations "of their enemies, therefore
: " RESOLVED, That it be recommended to the re- "spective Assemblies and Conventions of the United "Colonies, where no Government sufficient to the "exigencies of their affairs hath been hitherto estab- " lished, to adopt such Goverment as shall, in the "opinion of the representatives of the people, best " conduce to the happiness and safety of their constit- "uents, in particular, and America, in general.'
The careful reader of that Preambleand Resolution will not fail to see, in every portion of them, only In- dependence very thinly disguised ; 2 and he will not be surprised to learn that those, within the Conti- nental Congress, who were most desirous of effeeting a Reconciliation with the Mother Country, were most resolute in opposing the adoption of them ; 3 nor
1 Journal of the Continental Congress, " Wednesday, May 15, 1776."
2 " Great Britain has at last driven America to the last step : & com- " plete separation from her, a total, absolute Independence, not only " of her Parliament, but of her Crown, for such is the amount of the " Resolve of the 15th. Confederation among ourselves or Alliances " with foreign nations are not necessary to a perfect separation from " Britain ; That is effectedl by extinguishing all authority under the " Crown, Parliament, and Nation, as the Resolution for instituting " Coveruments has done, to ulf inteuts and purposes. Confederation " will be necessary for out internal conword, and Alliances may be " so for our external defense." (Joka Idoms to Mes. . Idans, " Pan- " pririta, May 17, 1776.")
As the writer of this paragraph was the Chairman of the Committre who framed the Preamble, and as he probably wrote it, there herd be no better authority concerning the intent of him who franel it, as well as concerning his understanding of the meaning and of the consequences of it.
Ser, also, Noplen Hopkins to footerner Cooke, of Rhode Island, " J'aiIs- " DELPHIA, May 16, 1776."
3 The Delegation fromn Pennsylvania, subsequently such determined
that, after they had been adopted, those of the Dele- gation from the Colony of New York who had been among those who had opposed that favorable action, Very soon retired from their seats in the Continental Congress and occupied seats in the Provincial Con- gress of New York,' where, by means of a similar line of action, adverse to the adoption of a new form of local Government and to the evidently approaching question of Independence, both those radical meas- ures might be successfully opposed, at least until the Royal Commissioners whom the Home Government had sent to effect a Reconciliation, should have arrived and presented their proposals, and until those who were anxious to figure, in New York and at London, as diplomatists and as peace-makers, rather than as friends or promoters of Independence, should have had an opportunity to dispense with Independence ; to restore the old order of the Colonial Government, with here and there a revision which would be favor- able to themselves or to their faction ; and to establish for themselves, at least, such a substantial elaim on the gratitude of the Crown and of the Nation, as would ensure to them the control of the restored Col- onial Governments, at home, if not something more acceptable, abroad.5
opponents of Independence, were resolute opposers of this Preamble and Resolution, and declined to vote on it, "as fir as was in their "power, withdrawing the Province from this union of the Colonies, " both in council and action."-(The Philadelphia Committee to the Com- mittees of the rural Counties of Pennsylvania, " PHILADELPHIA, May 21, "1776.") The majority of the Delegates from New York subsequently repeated their opposition to the measure, in the Provincial Congress of that Colony, where, also, their opposition to the Resolution of Independence was so peculiarly conspicuous. Although we have found no record of the action of the Delegations from New Jersey and Mary- laud, ou that particular question, the subsequent action of the local revolutionary bodies, in those Colonies, couerruing those Delegations, leaves no roour for doubt concerning what the action of their respective Delegativus had been.
4 John Absop and Francis Lewis took sente in the Provincial Congress, on the twentieth of May ; John Jay appeared on the twenty-fifth of that month ; lames Duane, who had some other place in the Conti- neutal service, showed himself on the second of June; and Philip Livingston lingered until the eighth of Jutie-all of them were there in season to accomplish, as far as the Provincial Congress of New York could be employed in such a work, all they had set out to do, in the work of procrastination, of reconciliation with the Mother Country, and of continued Colonial dependence.
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6 " Things have come to such a pass, now, os to convince ns that we " have nothing more to expect from the justice of Great Britain ; also, " that she ie capsible of the inost delusive arts ; for lam satisfied thut " Au Commissioners ever were designed, except lessians and other " forciguers ; and that the idea was only to deceive and throw us off "our guard. The first has been too effectually accomplished, as many " members of Congress, in short, the representation of whole Provinces, "are still feeding themselves upon the dainty food of reconciliation ; "and, though they will not allow t at the expectation of it hits any "iutfuetice upon their judgment with respect to their preparations for "defence, it is but too obvious that it has an operation mon every part " of their conduct, and is a clue to their proceedings. It is not in "the nafuto of things t. be otherwise; for no mau that entertains "a hope of seeing this dispute sprudily and epintably adjusted by " Commissioners will go to the ramis expense and run the same hishands "to prepare for the worst event, as his who believes that he must " conquer, or submit to uncotelitional terus and the like concomitante, " such as conti-cation, hanging, and the like." (General Wochengoing to his brother, Augustine Wishingto, " PurtatFuture, SI May, lite.")
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Although an official copy of that Preamble and Resolution was evidently sent to the Provincial C'on- gress of New York, no mention was made of the re- ceipt of it, on the Journal of that body ; but, on the twenty-fourth of May, " the order of the day being " read, the Congress proceeded to take into considera- "tion " the Resolution and the general subject to which it particularly related.' *
*
* * +
The Provincial Congress having "eon-idered " the Report, it also adopted it, evidently without debate or a division of the house,-Westchester-county was unrepresented in that exceedingly important vote, owing to the absence of a quorum of its Deputation ; -and, after the Congress had ordered the Resolutions to be published in all the newspapers in the Colony and in handbills, the latter for distribution in the rural Counties,2 it appears to have dismissed the entire subject from its further attention.
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The Resolutions which were thus adopted and pub- lished, form the foundation of the entire structure of the Constitution of the State of New York, in all its varied forms; and, for that reason, we have not hesitated to find places, in this narrative, for all which concerned them. We are not insensible of the fact, however, that the fair words which they contain were deceptive; that the voice and the votes to which the election of the proposed founders of a State was thus referred, were not those of "the Inhabitants" who had figured so largely in the preliminary Report, but only those of the Frecholders and those of the tenantry who were of the wealthier class, to the ex- clusion of the tenantry of small properties and of the Mechanies and Working-men of the Colony, and certainly to the exelnsion of those who had been ofli- cially proscribed and officially outraged, and for whom, under subsequent action of the Congress, yet more atroeions proscription and persecution and outrage were held in reserve. We are not insensible, also, that, notwithstanding the seeming eagerness of its authors, at that time, to remove the "many and great "inconveniences," as well as that power of despotic oppression and tyranny which "attended the mode of " Government by Congress and Committees," of some of which "inconveniences" and despotism the reader has been already made acquainted, they were not subsequently so eager-they certainly loitered over their work until after the Royal Commissioners had exhausted their ingenuity as well as their authority in fruitless efforts to effect a Reconciliation and to restore harmony between the Colonies and the Mother Country ; and, even at that later day, John Morin Scott and Alexander MeDougal and others of the same elass having, meantime, obtained other places
which filb-I their expectations, the puny thing which was created and entitled The Constitution of the State oj New York, was introduced to the world, and fostered by political midwives and wetnurses who cared noth- ing for it beyond what they could severally make from it. Most of all, we are not insensible of the fact that, notwithstanding all the tine words, concern- ing the "People" and the "Inhabitants" and their unquestionable political anthority, which were in- cluded in the Revolutions, the oligarchie authors of those Resolutions carefully reserved to themselves, tlre sole authority to determine whether a Constitution should or should not be created; and to determine, also, if they should consider a Constitution were necessary and proper, in what words and with what provisions that Constitution should be composed; without the slightest recognition of any existing Right or author-' ity, in the constituent "People" or "Inhabitants," to consider all such action of those who pretended to be the "representatives" of that "People" or of those "Inhabitants," and to ratify and approve or to dis- allow and reject the same, or any portion thereof, at its or their pleasure, as might be done by the reeog- nized sovereign power; and as, in this instance, it cer- tainly should have been done.3. It will be sceu, here- after, in what manner the "oligarchy " who was seated in the Provincial Congress, controlling the affairs of the Colony in their own interest, aud who intended to be re-elected, betrayed both the "Inhabitants" and the "People," iu imposing upon both, a new form of Government, without their eonsent, but not until their own purposes to secure their own ends through the older Colonial form, had become unsuccessful.
The subject of a new form of Government was scarcely disposed of, when, on the fourth of June, the same "Society of Mechanics in Union," so ealled, whom the master-spirits of the Committee of Fifty- one had deceived and betrayed-the same who was composed of the fragments of that phantom which had been known by the general title of "The Sons of
3 This peculiarity of the Resolutions of the Provincial Congress did not escape the vigilant attention of the Working men and tenants of only small properties, within the City of \. w-York-of those very "poor "reptiles" of whom Gouverneur Morris had written to Mr. Penn. In May, 1771, tede page 12, anti-and only with whose very accepishle help, the Delegation to the Continental Congress of 1774 had managed to secure their seats in that body. Whatever miny have been their stand- ing in the surini scale of aristocracy, but for the co operation of those who constituted the so called. " Society of Mechanics in Union, " there would have been tio place for either James Duane or John Jay in the Continental Congress of 1771 or in that similar Congress which success!el il ; and wichont their assent and approval, corruptly secured, in every in- stanco except one, the metala rs of the Delegation to the first named of those Congresses, if not those to both, had lived in fretful of-curity, atvi have died as their respective ancestors had died, " unwept, unhonor I, ani "unsung." There was a fitness, therefore, in the alarm of these Working- men of the City of New York, because of the contemptuous disregard of their political Rights, by those, of the Provincial Congress, who were only the creatures of their plebeian will and the administrators of their inherent authority. The Address of the Society, which they working- men subsequently presented to the Provincial Congres, on that wilgot. a master-piece of political reasoning, has been preserved in the archives of the State, and will be referred to bewater.
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I Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Veneris, 9 ha., A. M., May ** 21, 1776."
" Jearon of the Provincial Congress " Die Veneris, & ho., P. M., May "31, 1776."
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" Liberty," and from whom has proceeded that recol- closed door-before it would permit the Mechanics to brat body, still existing, which is distinguished by the title of "The General Society of Mechanics and "Tradesmen of the City of New York " - presented an Address to the Provincial Congress, on the subject of Independence.
The signers of that Address, the first movement concerning Independence in the Provincial Congress, stated that they were devoted friends to their bleed- ing country ; that they were afflicted by beholding her struggling under heavy loads of oppression and tyranny, and the more so, when they viewed the iron hand lifted up against her; that their Prince was deaf to Petitions for interposing his Royal author- ity for redressing their grievances; that one year had not sutliced to satisfy the rage of a eruel Ministry. in their bloody pursuits designed to reduce them to be slaves taxed by them, without their consent; that, therefore, they rather wished to separate from, than to continue connected with, such oppressors; and they declared that if the Provincial Congress should think proper to instruct their Delegates in the Con- tinental Congress to use their utmost endeavors, in that august assembly, to cause these Uuited Colonies to become independent of Great Britain, it would give them the highest satisfaction; and they sincerely promised to support the same with their lives and fortunes.1
A suow-storm in Summer would not have been more unwelcome to the cultivators of the soil, than that Address was to the Provincial Congress, since Independence and the much coveted Reconciliation with Great Britain were wholly irreconcilable; and, without even the usual courtesy of a consideration of either the Address or the very important subject to which it related, by a Committee of the Congress- why should "the poor reptiles" who had written and presented such an Address receive such attention and enjoy such consideration as a reference of their Address and of their plea to a Committee of the Congress, would have indicated, although such a reference was usual and nothing more than respectful in matters of so much importance ?- au _Inswer was made by the President of the Congress, orally; and a copy of it was evidently given to Lewis Thibou [Louis Tiebout, /] by whom the Address had been read, at the head of "a number of citizens who style "themselves a 'Committee of Mechanics,'" before the Provincial Congress itself.
As the "oligarchy" which constituted that Con- gress had resorted to the extraordinary precaution of requiring the proposed _Address to be delivered to it, for its "inspection," in order that that aristocratie body should "discover whether it is proper for this "Congress to receive the same" -- the bearers of it, meanwhile, dancing an attendance, outside, before a
enter the Chandler in which it was sitting, to prosent their Address and to read it, there had been ample time to prepare the Andrer, in season for the oral delivery of it, from the Chair; and there was one Deputy present, and only one, who was capable of writing that Answer, in the terms in which it was constituted.2
That Anicer was in these remarkable words : "IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, June 4, 1776. "SIR :
" We consider the Mechanics in Union as a volun- "tary Association of a number of the inhabitants of "this City, who are warmly attached to the cause of "Liberty. We flatter ourselves, however, that neither "that Association nor their Committee will claim any "authority, whatsoever, in the publie transactions of "the present times; but that, on the contrary, they "will ever be ready to submit to that constitutional "authority which, by a free election, has been vested "in Congress and Committees.
"This Congress is, at all times, ready and willing "to attend to every request of their constituents, or "of any part of them: we are of opinion that the "Continental Congress, alone, have that enlarged "view of our political eireumstanees which will ena- "ble them to decide upon those measures which are "necessary for the general welfare: we cannot pre- "sume, by any instructions, to make or deelare any "Resolutions or Declarations, upon a so general and "momentous coneern : but are determined patiently "to await and firmly to abide by whatever a majority "of that august body shall think needful. We, there- "fore, cannot presume to instruet the Delegates of "this Colony, upon the momentous question to wbich "your Address refers, until we are informed that it is "brought before the Continental Congress and the "sense of this Colony be required through this Con- "gress."3
To that contemptuous Answer, the Mechanics in Union, ten days afterwards, [June 14, 1770.] sent a second Address, in reply, in which, under cover of an inquiry concerning one of the Resolutions of the Provincial Congress relating to a proposed establish-
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