History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
There can be no good reason for supposing that that Caucus failed to employ the best means which it could control, to secure the attendance, at the appointed place, on the appointed day, and at the designated hour, of all those of the farmers of the County of Westchester, whom it supj)osed to have been friendly to the Morris family, and who were willing or who could be induced to accept the head of that wealthy and aristocratic, but really unpopular, family, as their political leader -- to that family, the slake was a very important one ; and, to secure that stake, it played desperately. On the other hand, those of the inhabitants of the County who were conservative in their political opinions, and those who were not favorers of the new-born, but selfish, zeal of the Lord of
' Tliis narrative of the organization and doings of that notable Caucus, including the copy of the " Stitifli-ulioii " \vhii:li w as issued, by ita authority, is based on the elaborate paper, signed by "Lewis Morris, " tVioiniKKi," which served as the Credentials of those who appeared in the Provincial Convention, as Deputies from Westchester-county, and winch is preserved in the Crftlmtiah t>f ] h'Utjttten^ UiMnrifnl MmuifirrljitH rfliiliinj III llii- H'.ii- or' llii- ItrioliiliMi -- Volume xxiv., Page 23-- in the Ollice of the Secretary of State, at Alt any.
The "Siitifimlim," as printed in the text, was copied from the original Manuscript.
the Manor of Morrisania, were aroused ; and, especially in the Borough Town of Westchester, within which the ancestral home of the Morrises was situated, the ambitious purjjoscs of that geutleman and of his family were empathically snubbed, by a Meeting of his townsmen, duly summoned to take into consideration " whether or not they should choose Deputies " to represent them at a Provincial Convention." Besides that local and evidently personal rebuke, by the townsmen of the Morrises, the great body of "the " Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of West- " Chester," or such of them as were " friends of Gov- " ernment and our hapjjy Constitution," was earnestly appealed to, in the circulation of the following stirring Address :