Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution

unite with that Committee in sending a Delegation to the proposed Congress of the Continent which had been called for the purpose of securing a proper and united opposition to the measures of the Ministry and, as far as possible, a redress of the grievances of the Colonies, the great body of the farmers in that County disregarded that invitation ; and that the very few who accepted it, either personally or by their local Committees, assembled at the Court-house, in the White Plains ; called one of the principal landholders of the County, who was, also, at that time a Representative of the County in the General Assembly of the Colony, Frederic Philipse by name, to the Chair ; and signified the opposition to the measures of the Home Government, of, at least, those who were present, by authorizing the Delegation who had been elected to represent the City and County of New York, to represent, at the same time, the County ot Westchester, in that general assemblage of Delegates. 8

It will be remembered, also, that the General Assembly of the Colony, which was convened in January, 1775, although there was not, within it, a single " friend of the Government," every member having been an avowed member of the party of the Opposition, had presented the lamentable spectacle of a great party divided into factions, each seeking to secure the same great result, but by distinct and radically different means. In the conflicts of factions, in that body, it will be remembered that no more consistent and no more steadfast opponents of the Home and Colonial Governments were seen than the two Representatives of the County of Westchester and the other two, who represented, respectively, the Manor of Cortlandt and the Borough Town of Westchester, although Frederic Philipse, representing the County, and Isaac Wilkins, representing the Borough, were of one faction, and John Thomas, also representing the County, and Pierre Van Cortlandt, representing the Manor of Cortlandt, were of the other and opposing faction. 4