Scharf, J. Thomas, ed. History of Westchester County, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I. Philadelphia: L.E. Preston & Co., 1886.
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During the entire period extending from the first settlement which was made by Europeans, within that portion of New Netherland which, subsequent to the first of November, 1683, was known as the "County "of Westchester," in New York, until within the memory of living men, the inhabitants of that portion of the country, with rare exceptions, were either cultivators of its soil …
Dawson's consent, to omit from his chapter a few details which, we think, belong more properly to the history of the City and State of New York than to the County of Westchester. As it is, the reader will find that the entire subject is clearly unfolded before bim in a new and original manner from the store-house of history at the command of this able writer. -- Editor. 3 " …
The Blacksmiths and the Wheelwrights, the Masons and the Carpenters, the Tailors and the Shoemakers, the Storekeepers on the roadside and the Tavernkeepers on the corners, all of them reasonably regarded as peculiarly necessary portions of every rural community, were, very often, in this, also farmers on a smaller scale.' The Market-sloops which, then, made their periodical …
tors of certain Leasehold Estates and their Tenants, presented to the Assembly of New York, in 1846, and reproduced, withan introductory Note, in The Writings and Speeches of Samuel J. Tilden, edited by Jolin Bigelow i., 186. 1 The notorious Captain Cornelius Steenrod was the proprietor of more than one Fulling-mill, in Cortlandt Manor, at the opening of the War of the …
* The personal recollections of members of our own family, extending further back than our own, afford ample authority for this statement. 6 " Even in Towns everyone has a plott of at least ten acres, which short, as was said in the beginning, there were few, among the residents of that portion of the country, during the later Colonial period, who were not either actual …
With a more than usually productive Soil, not yet exhausted by a vicious system of cultivation ; with a temperate Climate, which was not only conducive to healthfulness, in the inhabitants, but promotive of the best interests of the farmers, in the ripening and harvesting of their crops; with moderate Rentals for the properties held by those of them who were not Freeholders …
With rare exceptions, these Westchester-county farmers were intelligent men, sufficiently educated for all the purposes of their business and of their recreation-- even among the earli.er of the several Towns, those farmers included, in their AVestchcster-county homes, men and women of culture, whose names, and characters, and abilities, as scholars and statesmen, in several …
There Avere very few among them, during the latter days of the Colony, who were not temperate, industrious, and prudent in the management of their farms and their business affairs; they were commonly very mindful of their duties to their families and of those to their neighbors ; and they were generally diligent in the discharge of at least their outward duties to God. During …
noted for their open-handed hospitality ; but, among the older and more wealthy families, whose fields, and barnyards, and granaries, and storerooms were generally teeming with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, the sturdy farmer and his tidy wife, his healthful children and his faithful negroes, vied in their efforts to secure to the acceptable guests of the …
There was not, therefore, nor could there have been, any central coterie or clique, with lofty pretentions and extended ambition, to prompt the County, in what should be said or done by its inhabitants, in support of or in opposition to any proposition, whether moral, or ecclesiastical, or political ; nor was there any influence, in any one or in any number, sufficient to …
' A personal exaniiuatioii of the Records of the County, preserved iu the office of the Clerk of the County, at tlie While Plains, has revealed, to us, the significant fact that, although the Records of Ciiil Actions iu the Court of Conmiou Pleas, the Records of Roads, and other similar Records, from a very early period, have been carefully made in books provided for the …
If the rough Minutes of flie Courts, in Cciniinn? .\ctions, prior to 17S7, were preserved, at all, they have all disai)peared ; and we feel justified in saying, as we have said, in the text, that where Pauperism and Intemperance were as uncommon as they were in Westchestei'-county, during the later Colonial period, there was, in consequence, a minimum of Crime. - It is …
There is not, indeed, any known evidence of the existence, at any time, within the County, of any material excitement, among the great body of those farmers, on any subject;* and, consequently, there is very little, if any, evidence that the excitement of the earlier opposition to the Home Government, which had so seriously disturbed the peace of the neighboring City, as well …
" Except wherein our authorities for particular statements have been already given, we have depended, for what we have stated, in this and in the two other jtaragraphs which immediately i)recede this, on the knowledge which wo have acquired, concerning Westchestercoimty, its inhabitants, and its history, from the nnnierous books and manuscripts and newspapers, bearing on those …
It possessed no political significance whatever -- it was grimly said of it, by a contemporary, "Sons of Liberty great opposers to these Rioters as they are cif opinion " no one is entitled to Riot but themselves "--and it was prcmiptly suppressed, without loss of either juoperty or life. Those who are curious to know more of this outbreak of early ".\ntircntei-s," are …
Indeed, there had been no good reason for those farm, ers, comfortably situated on their inland homesteads, to take any particular interest in those struggles which, from an early period, the Boston, the Salem, the New York, or any other Ship masters and Merchants had been waging, for the ))rotection of that long-continued and profitable " illicit trade," from which no benefit …
Now and then, it is true, those of these farmers who were Freeholders, had been engaged, among themselves, in a political contest between the friends of the De Lanceys and those of the Morrises, or between the supporters of the Van Cortlandts and those of the Philipses, all of them Westchester-county Landlords, for seats in the General Assembly of the Colony ^ or for some …
1 Doctor Sparlcs, in his Life of Gouvemeur Morris, i., 20, told lis of an " important cause in which that gentlemen was engaged," before the Courts, during the Colonial era -- " that of a contested Election, in West- " chester-county, where he had 5Ir. Jay for an opponent." We are not told who tlie contending parties, in that action, were ; but it is said, "it involved …
2 It is proper for us to say that that opposition to the Colonial policy of the Home Government, as it was developed within the City of Xew York, overpowered every difference of family or of sect or of party which had been previously known ; and that the De Lanceys and the Livingstons, the Churchman and the Dissenter, the Jacobin ami the Georgian, for the purposes of that …
By the Act of May 8, 1099, it was provided that Representatives to the General Assembly "shall be chosen in every City, and County, and "Manor of this Province, who have Right to chuse, by People dwelling "anil resident in the same Cities, Counties, and Manors; whereof, "every one of them shall have Land or Tenements improved to the "valne of Fortij Pounds in Free-hold, free …
By the Charter of the City of Xew-York, granted by Governor Dongan, in 1686, the Mayor and three or more of the Aldermen were authorized to make Freemen of the City from among certain specified classes, on the payment, in each instance, of Five Pounds, not an insignificant sum, at that early period.* Xo person could do busine,^« of any kind, within the City, unless he were a …
In Westchester-county, the heirs and assigns of Stephanus Van Cortlandt having failed to exercise the privilege which had been given to the latter, as the Lord of the Manor of Cortlandt, of electing a Representative for that Manor in the General Assembly, that privilege was transferred, by the Act of June 22, 1734, to the body of the Freeholders resi- * A complete lift of …
New-York : 1774, 183, 184.) It will be seen, therefore, that none, except those who were Freeliolders holding improved and nnencun>bered Keal Estate worth Forty Pounds, agreeably to the Act of Jlay 8, 1G99, could vote, in Colonial Westchester-connty ; but, on the other hand, the Freeliolders on the Cortlandt Manor possessed and, undoubtedly, exercised the Right to vote twice …
Freeholders, were cast. -- (The oritjinal Itelitrns of the Iiixpertors, in manuscript, owned by us.) In the Election for Representatives for the City of New-York, held on the seventh, eighth, and ninth of March, 17G8, when an intense excitement prevailed and all known means for increasing its strength were resorted to, by each of the antagonistic parties, nineteen hundred and …
We have found only one Return of an Election in Westchesterconnty, during the period of which we write ; but that very completely illustrates our subject. In the Election for the first Governor of the new-formed State, in 1777, the aggregate of the votes cast in .Vlbany, Cumberland, Tryon, Duchess, I'lster, and Westchcster-counties, including those of the Freemen of the City …
♦Rivingtou said the aggregate vote was a thousand and seventy-two. were required to respect) constituting, also, another and entirely independent factor in the political elements of that period, in each of the several Colonies, which, in its very important relations with the politics and the politicians of its day, must, also, be generally disregarded, in this place, because …
To other hands, therefore, must be left the labor of describing, in detail, the bold and persistent opposition of the Merchants "and Tradere" to those long-established Navigation and Revenue Laws, which, by reason of a more honest administration of them, by those whom the commercial classes had not succeeded in corrupting with their accustomed bribes, had so seriously …
' "Tlie dispute In-'tween Great Britain and America commenced in the "year 1764, with an attempt to jirevent smuggling in America." -- A Collection of Inlrresling, Aulhentic Papers relative to the Dispute between Great Britain and America. 17G4 to 1775. London: 1777 -- commonly known as Alnion"s Prior Documents -- 3. See, also, the following official announcement, which was …
That this has been the Case, and is like to be the Case "again, is notoriously known ; and all for the Sitke of enriching a few "Smugglers; which together with that of supplying our Enemies with "Provisions,* will be an eternal Reproach to our Countrj-. No gixxi " Slaii therefore, nor good Citizen, it is to be hoped, w ill hesitate in "giving all the Discouragement in his …
ployed it, to resist the execution of the Stamp-Act, to prevent the lauding of the East India Company's Tea, and to make other demonstrations of seeming popular approval or disapproval, on other subjects of public polity or of governmental policy, whenever the political or the pecuniary interests of those "Gentlemen in Trade" who had employed it, seemed to warrant the outlay …
The urgent appeals with which the newspapers had been filled, year by year, and the inflammatory handbills which had been posted throughout the City, whenever the purposes of " the Merchants and " Tradei-s " of the City of New York had required their powerful, but, sometimes, questionable, co operation in opposing the Colonial policy of the Home Government, had gradually …
Little by little, therefore, under the leadership of, probably, not more than half a dozen shrewd and able and ambitious men, generally of higher social and political standing than themselves, these " In- " habitants " began to grow uneasy and insubordinate, if not radically revolutionary ; and the confederated " Merchants and Traders " and the more aristocratic portion of the …
At the same time, it was clearly seen by those careful observers of the signs of the times, that any attempt to abridge the existing power of the unfranchised " Inhabitants" of the City, and, especially, that of those who were less scrupulous in the selection of their means, by open and direct measures, would, probably, induce the latter to employ, in their own behalf, that …
An evident danger silenced those who, under other circumstances, would, probably, have favored the employment of other and more direct means: wise counsels prevailed among those who were thus considering in what manner the evidently rising power and audacity of the unfranchised and revolutionary masses could be controlled, without disturbing the peace of the City and the …
ItS^i, Kew-Yobk, Thursday, April 21, and Xo. 1G34, Xew-Youk, Thui-sday, April 28, ITTl; Gaine's Neiv-Ynrk Gazette mid Mercury, No. 1174, NEW-YoitK, Monday, April 25, 1774 ; Lieuteimnt-ffovfnior CoUlen to the Earl of iHtrtmouth, *'New York, 4th '* May, 1774," and the eitdomre therein ; the same to Governor Tnjon, "New " Y'oRK, 4th May, 1774 ; " Dunlap's Historij of the Seio …
Notwithstanding the greater significance of the cpposition of Xew York to tlio Tea-tax, wjiich was seen in the resolute refusal to allow the storm-shattered .Vmicj to enter the harbor; in the examination of the cargo of the London, and the open destruction of her concealed Tea, in the light of day, by known men who saw no reason for disguising themselves ; and in the return of …
Thus, Mercy AVarren {Hinlonj of American lievohilion ;) "Paul Allen" {Hittory of American Rerohdion ;) Thacher {MilUarij Journal ;) Morse (AnnnU of the American RetoMion ;) Pitkin (Hitlonj of the United Stales ;) Frothingham (Rise of the Republic;) Lodge (Short Hitlnrij of English Colonies ;) and a multitude of othei's, make no mention whatever of the subject of the opposition …
Strange to say, Lossing, a Xew York writer, with all the original material within his reach and perfectly accessible, in his Seventeen hundred and sfcenlij sif (jiage 111,1 stated that the .Vniic;/ was returned to Europe, only "because no one could be found that would venture to receive the "tea," without an allusion to her having been stopped at Sandy-hook, and returned …
' On the fifth of March, 1770, while the motion of Lord Xorth for " leave to bring in a Bill to repeal the Tax Act, as far as related to the "tax on Paper, Glass, and Painters" Colours," was under consideration, before the House of Commons, Governor Pownall, than whom noono was, then, better informed on every subject connected with .Vmerica and the Americans, replied to the …
But "this is not material to the point ; for it does not operate as a bounty, "at all, because whatever duty the East India Coniiiany pays, originally, "at the Custom-house, on the importing of Teas from Asia, that sum is "added to the price of their Tea, in their sales ; so that, although the "exporter to .\merica may be allowed a drawback, yet he draws back " that sum only …
the confederated party of the Opposition -- the Government and those who favored it having no part in that matter of division among those who were opposing its policy -- were evidently seniil)le, however, as has been .said, that that unseemly confederation of radically antagonistic elements, entirely for the promotion of the interests of one of those elements without securing …
Just at thut critical period, in May, 1774, advices were received from Europe,' of the Government's proposal to close the Port of Boston, with a possibility that that of Xew York would shortly share the same fate ; and it was also said that the Home Government also intended to remove the principal offenders against Ihe Laws, within the Colonies, that they might be tried and …
For the purposes of the promoters of the proposed change in the leadership of the politicians of the City, to which reference has been made, " an Advertisement" was posted at the Cotfee-house, in Wall-street, a noted place of resort for Shipmasters and ^Merchants, reciting " the late extraordinary and very alarming advices " from England ; " and " inviting the Merchants to " …
Francis's Long-room ; - and that the published purpose was only "to consult on measures proper to " be pursued on the present critical and important "occasion," in neither of which features of the " Ad- " vertisement," prima facie, can it be reasonably said that any stretch of authority had been attempted by those who had called the proposed Caucus -- surely, it will not be …
^ Minutesof the Netv York Committee of Correspondence. IMonday, 5Iay 19, 1774 ; Lieutenant-governor Colden to Gorernor Tryon, " Sprino Hill, "31st May, 1774 ; " the same lo the Earl of Dartmouth, " New York, 1st "June, 1774;" Gonveni'-vr Morris to Mr. Penn, " New York, May 20, " 1774;" Joneses Histori/ of Xew York dtirimj the lierolutionart/ War, i., 34 ; etc. - "Sam …
" Francis's Long-room," in which this Caucus was held, subsequently became more famous than it had previously beeTi, Ijecause it was the room iu which the Officers of the Army of the Revolution assembled, on Thursday, the fourth of December, 1783, after the enemy had evacuated the City and the Peace had been entirely established, to take their final leave of their illustrious …
There was no appearance of deception in the "Advertisement" through which the Caucus had been invited, in the instance under consideration ; and, subsequently, when the Caucus assembled, no attempt appears to have been made to do anything more than the "Advertisement'' had authorized, notwithstanding those who had been specifically invited and were present, so largely …
But those who had hitherto assumed to be the leaders of the unfranchised masses -- the leaders, in fact, however, of only the radically revolutionary portions of those masses, -- saw, or assumed to have seen, in that proposed Caucus, a movement which promised to break the hold on the unfranchised element which, since the era of the Stamp Act, they had unceasingly claimed to …
The consequences of that proposed intrusion and the ill success of that scheme to oust those who had invited the Caucus and to turn into other channels than those which the latter had proposed, the action and influence of the Caucus itself, will be seen in the published narrative of the proceedings of that notable assemblage -- meanwhile, it will be evident to every careful …
])olitical conglomerate in which had been combined, for ])urely selfish purposes, the fragmentarj' opposition, in tlie Colony of New York, to the Home Government wliich was then in authority (each of those antagonistic elements being, in pretension, if not in fact, equally zealous in its loyalty to their common Sovereign) was produced by less of respect for righteousness in …
Francis's Tavern,-' was crowded with anxious and determined men, evidently not entirely of one mind, and not indisposed, in some instances, at least, to enforce whatever differences of opinion and purpose might arise, with something more tangible than words, should such an enforcement, in their opinion, become necessary. Those whom the " Advertisement " had invited were …
Samuel Francis;" in none of the contemporary descriptions of the Caucus which we have seen, was it said or intimated that the assemblage left the Tavern, for any purpose, before the formal adjournment of the Caucus ; and in the second " ^<(- " lerdneiiifiif," published on the day after the Caucus, by its officers and under its authority, inviting the body of the inhabitants of …
With these as our authorities, we prefer to differ from those who have preceded us; and to insist, as we do insist, that the Caucus was held, without interruption or removal, in Sam. Francis's Long-room. For the reasons stated, we prefer to differ, also, from our friend, Edward F. de Lancey, who lia-s stated, in his carefully prepared S'olet to Jones's Hislonj of .Vfic York …
As the matter in dispute, between the two antagonistic factions, related only to the designation of those who should control the local politics of the day and what should be realized from those politics, it is not probable that any material opposition was made to the first and second of the three Resolutions which were adopted by the Caucus -- none has been mentioned by any …
* \ small broadside, containing a list of twenty-five names of persons who were " nominated by a N umber of respectable merchants and the " Body of Mechanics of this City, to be a Committee of Correspondence "for it, with the Xeighboring Colonies," may be seen in the Library of the New York Historical Society. It was evidently the result of a consultation of those who assumed …
Sir. Low, subseiiuently, became a Loyalist ; was stripped of his property, by confiscation ; was attainted ; and retired to England, where he died in 1791. -- (Sabine's Biographical Sketches of Loyal isls of the American lievotuli .n, original edition, 430 ;-- (Ac »(i»ie, second edition, ii., 32, 33.) I'roceedinrit of the Caucus, printed on a broadside, for general …
maintained its own ground and voted down every attempt to oust it, which was made by the latter; and in making the nomination of the fifty whom it proposed for the Committee of Correspondence, it did no more than to drop the names of three of those whom the minority had already selected, as its proposed Committee of Twenty-five, and to slip into the list of the twenty-two who …
It appears to have been a part of the plan of those who had called and controlled the Caucus, to submit the result of its deliberations to the body of the inhabitants of the City, for its consideration and approval ; and nothing had occurred, within the Caucus, to make any change in that plan necessary. Accordingly, on the day after the meeting of the Caucus [Tuesda;/, May 17] …
See, also, the same Advertisement and an editorial note thereon, in Holt's Setc-York Journal, No. Ifi37, New-York, Thursday, May 19, 1774 ; and HiiiiniloHs New-York Gazetteer, Xo. 57, New-York, Thursday, May 19, 1774; Gaine's Sew York Gazette and i1J«rr«ry, No. 1178, New- York, Monday, May 23, 1774 ; Lieulenaul-gorernor Cohten to Governor Tryon, " Si'RiX(i-HiLi., 31st May …
3 ]\Tin%ttes of the Committee of Correspondence ; Holt's New-York Journal, No. 1G38, New- York, Thursday, May 26, 1774; Gaine's .Veir - I'ort Gazette and Merain/, No. 1178, New-Y''ork, Jlonday, May 23. 1774 ; Lietitenant governor Colden to Governor Tryon, " Spri.ng-Hili., 31st May " 1774 ; " the same to the Ear! of Dartmouth, '' New-York, 1st June 1774 ; " History of the H'ar …
Francis's; and made no allusion to the Meeting at the Coffee-house, where it " was chosen." Doctor Gordon, ( KiA(o/-y o/ American Revohttion, London : 178S, i., 3C1, 362,) said the Caucus was called by Sears, McDougal, and others of the popularparty, so called ; that " the Tories," or governmental party, opposed them, in the Caucus ; that Sears secured the appointment of a …
"Paul .Mien," {History of the American Revolution, i., 186) said, " At New York, there was a considerable struggle between the friends " of .\dministration and the friends of Liberty ; but the latter at length " prevailed, by the influence and management of two individuals, who "had, on several occasions, manifested great activity and zeal, in their " opposition to the …
Hildreth {Histoni of the Vnited States, Fii-st Series, iii., .35) said that the old Committee of the " Sons of Liberty " "was dissolved and a new one elected," withcuit alluding to either the Caucus or the Meeting at the Coffee-house ; although, in fact, the Committee of Correspondence of an early date had ceased to exist when the Stamp-Act was repealed ; and neither that nor …
By the direct action of the body of the inhabitants of the City, thus duly called, and assembled at the Coffee-house, for that specific purjiose, all the discordant elements of the party of the Opposition to the Home Government, in New York, were seemingly consolidated and placed under the leadership of the Committee of Fifty-one, which was, then and there, appointed for that …
Ho said, also, " tlie Motion prevailed to supersede the " old Committee of Corrcppondence by a new one of fifty ;" although neither of the three Resolutions of the Caucus contained the slightest allusion to any such supersedure, nor to any other Comnu'ttee or body or person whatever than to the proposed Committee of fifty, which it nominated. lie said of the Meeting at the …
Doctor Sparks, {Life of Gouvenietir itorrit, i., 22,) merged the doings of the Caucus and the Meeting at the Coffee-house, into one mass ; made Isaac Scars the master spirit of all that was done ; and said " the Committee consisted of "a nearly equal number of both parties, but with a preponderance on " the liberal side ; " although the truth wa.s, the friends the Home …
Indeed, as Judge .lones, whose opportunities for ascertaining the exact truth and whose integrity and fearlessness in uttering it no one will seriously question, ,has emphatically stated, "all parties, denominations, and religions, apprehended, at that time, " that the Colonies laboured under grievances which wanted redressing ;" and no one, tlicrefore, opposed any reasonable …
With a complete knowledge of the small number of those who had ])reviously assumed to represent the masses of the unfranchised inhabitants, and with as complete a knowledge of the general harmlessness of those masses, in the absence of their self-constituted leaders, the high-toned promoters of the uni)ublished scheme of abridging the political power of the great body of the …
Of the fifty-one members of the Committee, a very great majority were of the aristocratic, conservative, anti revolutionary portions of the inhabitants. On the fourth of July, when a test question was before it, thirtyeight niemliei-s being present, only thirteen votes were cast by those who assumed to represent the unfranchised inhabitants ; and in the greater contest, three …
It may also be stated, in this place, that, notwithstanding none of th& fifty-one, at that time, were of the Governmental party, but, on the contrary, that every one was earnestly opposed to the Colonial policy of the Home Government, twenty-one of the number, at a subsequent period, became acknowledged Loyalists ; that a considerable number took no active part in the …
- For the purptxse of providing an additional authority, concerning much that has been stated, in this work, concerning the relations which existed between the confederated " Men-bants anil Trailers " and other high-toned citi/.ens, and the more numerous, but unfranchised, " Inhabi- " tauts of the City and County ; " concerning the desire of the former to abridge the influence …
The Committee which was thus created by the aristocratic, anti-revolutionary portion of those who, at that time, were opposing the Colonial policy of the Home Government, was largely intended, as we have shown, to serve as a check on the rising power, in political affairs, of the unfranchised Mechanics and Workingmen of the City of New York, especially of the revolutionary …
"You have heard, and you will hear, a E;reat doiil about politics ; ■" and in the heap of ChafT you may find some grains of good sense. Be- " lieve me. Sir, Freedoui and Rfligion are only watchwords. We have "appointed a Ciimmittee, or, rather, we have nominated one. Let me " give you the histoi'y of it. "It is needless to premise, that the lower orders of Mankind are more " …
The Bellwethers jingled merrily, and roared " out, ' Liberty,' and 'Property," and 'Religion,' and a multitude of " cant terms, which every one thought he understood, and was egregi- " onsly mistaken ; for you must know the Shepherdskept the Dictionary "of the Day ; and, like the Mysteries of the ancient Mythology, it was " not for profane eyes and ears. This answered many …
"While they correspond with the other Colonies, call and dismiss "popular ,\ssemblies, make Resolves to bind the Conscit-nces of the rest "of Mankind, bully poor Printers, and exert with full force all their "other tribunitial powers, it is impossible to cnrb them. But .\rt some- " times goes farther than Force ; and, therefore, to trick them hand- "soniely, a Committee of …
a people, at such a time, and under such circumstances as then existed, and which would probably continue to exist, might, also, sensibly or insensibly, weaken if where existed, that such an organization, among such it should not destroy all those bonds of recognized dependence, and loyalty, and love, which, hitherto, had so firmly bound the Colony to the Mother Country. But …
"The remains of it, however, will give the wealthy people a superiority, "this time ; but, would they secure it, they must banish all Scboolnias- " tere and confine all Knowledge to themselves. This cannot be. The "Mob begin to think and to reason. Poor Reptiles ! it is, with them, a " vernal Morning ; they are struggling to cast off their Winter's Slotigh ; "they bask in the …
" It is the interest of all men, therefore, to seek for re-union with the "parent .State. A safe Compact seems, in my poor opinion, to be now "tendered. Internal taxation to he left with ourselves. The right of "regulating Trade to be vested in Britain, where alone is found the "power of protecting it. 1 trust you will agree with me, that this is " the only possible mode of …
The power over our crowd is no "longer in the hands of Sears, Ijamb, and such unimportant persons, " who have for six yeai's past, been the demagogues of a very turbulent "faction in this City; but their power and mischievous capacity ex- " piled in.^tantly uison the election of the Committee of Fifty-one, in "which there is a majority of inflexibly honest, loyal, and prudent …
In opposition to the purposes and the demands of the small revolutionary element, in New York -- in opposition, also, to the leaders and the revolutionary populace, in Boston, with whom the revolutionary leaders in New York were in constant corres})ondence and in entire harmony -- the Committee which the conservative, anti-revolutionary aristocracy of New York had thus created …
Such a notable instance of the thing which had been created for a specific purpose, having been turned, in the progress of events, by the tact of a small proportion of its members, without violence and by some of those who had favored and assisted in the construction of it, against the greater number of those who had created it and for the overthrow of their purposes in having …
While the consolidated Opposition, in the City of New York, was thus actively employed in making preparations for a vigorous opposition to the latest measures of the Home Government and, in order to make that opposition more effective, in transferring the leadership of the confederated party of the Opposition from the few who had previously a.ssumed to lead the revolutionary …
On the following day, Wednesday, the eleventh of May, the Committees of Correspondence from eight of the adjacent Towns were invited to meet the Boston Committee, for consultation;'^ and on Thursday, the twelfth of May, those Committees assembled at Faneuil Hall, with Samuel Adams in the Chair and Joseph Warren acting as the leader, on the floor, and determined to send " …
1 The MassuchmelUi GtizeUe of Thursday, May 12, 1774, printed the text of the ISostoii Port-bill, in full, with the following heading : " Tues- " day arrived here Captain Shayler, in a Brig from London, who brought "the most interesting and important Advices that ever was received at "the Port of Boston."' See, also, Bancroft's Hiftory of the I'niled Stales, original edition …
It will be seen, in these faithful statements of the •doings of the leaders of the revolutionary party and of the doings of the revolutionary party, itself, in Boston, in May, 177-1, that Massachusetts-men, there and at that time, recognized the existence of no orievance whatever, in any of the Colonies, except that which had been inflicted on Boston, in the passage of the …
See, also, Letter from Thomas Young to John Lamb, " Boston, May 13, " 1774 ;" Holt's Sew-York Journal, Xo. 1037, New-York, Tliursday, May 19, 1774 ; Itirimjlon's New-York Gazetteer, No. 57, New-Yokk, Thursday, May 1!), 1774; G&ine's Xcic- York Gazette and Mercury, No. 1178, New- York, Monday, May 23, 1774 ; Lieutenanl-gooernor Colden to Governor I^ j^on, " SrRi.NO Hill 31st …
New York: 122; Lo-ising's Field-book of the lievolulion. New Y'ork : 1851, i., 51)7; Bancroft's History of the United States, original edition, Boston : 1858, vii., 37 ; the same, centi-nary edition, Boston : 1870, iv., 323 ; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, Boston : 1872, 321, 322 ; Lodge's History of the English Colonies, New York : 1881, 489; etc. Lendrum, (History of …
Happiness, and Freedom.' In short, the principles and " patriotic " impulses of those men of Boston began and ended in the proposed promotion of nothing else than their own individual and local interests, at the expense of the entire prostration of business, internal as well as external, except that of Smuggling, from one extremity to the other of the Atlantic seaboard -- the …
'^It will not be out of place, in this connection, to state the fact that Boston could have averted all the evils ascribed to the Boston Port-Bill, by paying for what some of her lawless inhabitants had destroyed-- as property destroyed by mobs, in o»r day, must be paid for by the County in which it is destroj'ed, as .\lleghany-county, Pennsylvania, sorrowfully knows, as one …
deprived of their usual means of support, were diverted from the particuhir purposes for which they had been contributed, and employed, instead, for the particular benefit of Boston's tax-payers, in relieving them from the neces-ity of levying an unusual Poortax for the relief of the more than usually large number of those who were willing to live on charity ; and in " …
One of "the '' chief concerns of the principal inhabitants " was for those Tradesmen, whose small funds, though " sufficient for the small purjioses of life, yet would "soon be exhausted, if their resources were cutoff"" -- in other words, for the payment of debts, due by those Tradesmen to those " principal Inhabitants," which, otherwise, would have been worthless -- and …
' .\ paper, dated " Hoston Augu»t 20, 1774," responsive to "a report "industriously propagated in New York" -- but witliout any indication by whom written or wliere published -- wliicli was printed in Force's Anierimn Archiiet, Fourth Series, i., 743, 744. See, also, a Letter from Willinm Cnopi-r -- the well-known Town-Clerk of Boston -- U> a Geiillenian in Kew Yurk, dated " …
On Tuesday evening, the seventeenth of May, Paul Revere, bearing letters from the Committee of Correspondence, in Boston, in which were inclosed copies of the Vote of that Town, to which reference has been made, arrived in the City of New York* -- there was, also, in his saddlebags, a very interesting letter from one of the master spirits in that Town, to his correspondent in …
^Alexander McDougal and all those of the former revolutionary leaders who were included in that Committee, as will be seen in the course of this narrative, on the twenty-third of May, by a formal vote, concurred with their aristocratic, anti-revolutionary associates in condemning the proposition of the Town of Boston and in offering another, in its stead ; it remained only for …
**The Minult'sof the Committeeof Con-esjiondence, " Nkw York, Monday, " Maij 23, 1774," contain a record of the reading ot " Lettei-s from the ** Committee of Correspondence of Boston, with a Vote of the Town of " Boston, of the 13th instant, and a Letter from the Connnittee of Phil- "adelpliia ; " and, in the absence of any allusion to any other letter whatever, there is no …
" Revere was at Philadeli)hia, on the twentieth of May, when the inhabitants of that City appointed its Committee of Corresiwndence ; and, on the following day, he left that City, on his return, carrying with him, to New York and Boston, if not to other Towns and Cities on his route, copies of a Circular Letter, probably from the pen of John Dickinson, containing the response …
Those who had been appointed to membership in the proposed Committee of Correspondence of the City of New York-- in the "Committee of Fifty- " one," as it was popularly called -- were duly assembled, at the Coffee-House, on Monday, the twenty-third of May, 1774, forty-three of the fifty-one being present; and the Committee was duly organized by the appointment of Isaac Low, as …
Immediately after the organization of the Committee had been completed, a letter was received from " the body of the Mechanics, signed by Jonathan "Blake, their Chairman," informingtheCommittee of the concurrence of the Mechanics with the other inhabitants of the City, in their nomination of it ; which clearly indicated the entire good faith of the great body of the …
Commillee -- both re-printed in Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, i., 340-342.) 1 The Committee of Correspondence of Philadelphia to the Committee of Correspondence to Boston, " Piiilapelpiiia, May 2\ft, 1774," copies of which " were transmitted to New-Toik and most of the Southern Colo- "nies." 2 Minutes of the Commillee, " Xkw-Tork, Mondor/, Mnij 23(/, 1774." 3 …
The letter from Philadelphia being only a reflex of what had been written to that Committee by those who had subsequently been confirmed as members of this, it received no official attention, at that time ; but those from Boston, which included the Vote of the Town of which mention has been made, were referred to a Sub-committee, composed of Alexander McDougal, Isaac Low …
The correspondence of Lieutenant-governor Golden with Governor Tryon and with the Earl of Dartmouth very clearly indicates that that remarkable old man was not deceived by the doings, in politics, of the " -Merchants and Traders" and Gentry of Now York ; that their social and commercial and professional standing did not warrant what he regarded, very reasonably, their tendency …
Besides these, tlie chief purpose of the Committee was to relegate the unfranchised masses of the City of New Y'ork, of all classes, to the obscurity and dependence of vassals ; and to place itself at the head of all the political elements of the Colony, as the autocratic, anti-revolutionary ruler of both the Colonists aud the Government -- in all of which, unquestionably …
At eight o'clock, in the evening, the Committee assembled in an adjourned Meeting, thirty-eight of the fifty-one members being present; and the Sub-committee, which had been appointed at the forenoon session, reported the following draft of a letter, as suitable for a response to the letters received from Boston : "New-Yoek, May 23, 1774. " Gextlemex : " The alarming Measures …
" While we think you justly entitled to the Thanks "of your sister Colonies, for asking their Advice on " a Case of such extensive Consequences, we lament " our Inability to relieve your Anxiety, by a decisive "Opinion. The Cnuse is general, and concerns a " whole Continent, who are equally interested with " you and us ; and we foresee that no Remedy can " be of avail, unless …
Such being our " Sentiments, it must be premature to pronounce any 1.3 " Judgment on the Expedient which you have sug- "gested. We beg, however, that you will do us the " Justice to believe that we shall continue to Act " with a firm and becoming Regard to American " Freedom, and to co-operate with our sister Colonies, " in every Measure which shall be thought salutary " and …
It will be seen that the Committee regarded the dispute with the Home Government as something more than a merely local matter, in which the Town of Bo-ton was the only sufferer ; and that it was not inclined, therefore, to confine its action, as the Vote of that Town had sought to confine it, to the particular subject of the Boston Port-Bill, nor to direct all its efforts, as …
- Because it was so entirely antagonistic to the known principles of the Boston-men with whom the minority of the Committee, in their individual relations, had been previously so entirely in acconl, this answer to the letters from Boston, approved by the unanimous vote of the Committee, affords additional evidence of the entire good faith of the great boily of the unfranchised …
It was the first, or among the first, to disregard the peculiar selfishness of the popular leaders in Boston, by whom the grievances of that particular Town had been thrust into an undue prominence, for the relief of which, especially, they insisted, the entire efforts of the entire Continent must be directed and it was the first to propose and to insist on the convention of a …
2 We are not insensible of the fact that the origin of tlie Congress of the Continent, which was assembled at I'hiladeliihia, in 17T4, has been variously stated, by many of those who have precedeil us : and we are equally sensible of the other fact, that imlividiuils, in different Colonies, without any connection with each other, had suggested, tlieufetirall!/, that Buch a …
The Town of Providence, in Town-meeting, May IT, 1774, was, probably, the first organized body which recommended a ' ongress of the several Colonies, for general purposes: but it only requested the Deputies of the Town, in the approaching General Assembly, to " use their influ- "ence," in that body, nni ijet iissi-uiUhil, "for promoting a Congi ess, as soon "as may be, of the …
Because the General Assemblies of the greater number of the Colonies, at that time, could not have elected Deputies to the proposed Congress, even if they had been willing to have done so -- the Governor having, in each case, the power of jiroroguiug or dissolving the Assembly, which, in the greater number of instances, he would have certainly done-- the action of the Town of …
The Committee of Correspondence of the Colony of Connecticut concurred in the recommendation which the Committee in New York had made, on the fourth of June, {The Comuiitlee of Correspondence of the General Assembly of Xew York to the Committer of Cnirespondence of the Colon:/ of Connecticut, " New Yokk, June 24, 1774 ; ") the General Assembly of Rhode Island did so, on the …
It has suited the purposes of some to bring forward the doings of eighty-nine members of the dissolved House of Burgesses of Yirginia, assembled at the Raleigh Tavern, at Williamsburg, on the twenty seventh of May, as a contestant for the honors of New York, in this matter; but that Meeting was held four days after the proposition had been made in New York ; and what it did …
Without making the slightest allusion to what was done in New York, Burke's Annnal Register for 1775, G; Histori/ of the Il'nr m /fiiicricu, Dublin : 1779, i., 21; Andrews's Hitloi-y o f the War tcith .4»i(eric«, ^London : 1785,1., 135; Soule's /fwioire des Troubles deVAmeriijne Anglaise, Paris: 1787, i., 48; Chez et Lebrun's Hiit'dre pidHinue et philosophiqne de'la Rci …
Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, 322, ■323, ostentatiously presented what was done in Massachusetts and "the "other New England Colonies," and then siiid with questionable integrity, as he was acquainted with the facts, " the sentiment and determination " of the patriots south of New England were represented in thepro- " ceedings of the Virginia meeting, " which he …
respondenee in New York ; but, without tlio eliglitest sliadow of liutli, it stated tliat tlie Cumuiittee was coiitiDlIed by Isaac Sears, who was one of the minority of that body ; and tliat it was opposed hy "the To- "rics," not one of which party was then a member of the Committee. Ramsay's IlUtory of the United State', London : 1791, i., 114, correctly assigned the …
Bancroft's Jlistory of the United i<tat€s, original edition, vii., 40, correctly yii-Mf the honor of having originated the Congres-s, to New Y'ork ; but, unaccountably, it assigns it, in New Y'ork, sometimes to an imaginary " old committee," whicli had ceased to exist when the Stanip-,\ct, which had called it into existence and to which its operations had been limited, Wiis …
Leake, not only made no such claim, in their behalf, but expressly and in unmistakable words, gave that honor to the Committee of Corresiwndence w liich had been appointed by the body of the inhabitants, at the Coffee-house. (Meinoir of the Life and Times of General John Lamb, Albany: 1857, 88.) In the same author's centenary edition of that History of the United iitates …
Such are some of the evidences of the entire untrustworthiness of the greater number of those who, Siitisfied w ith that " discipline " to which the Classics have subjected them and without having otherwise qualified themselves for the proper discharge of their honorable duties as historians of their own Country, have contented themselves, instead, by repeating what othei-s …
The Committee of Correspondence, in New York, as it was known to the world, at that time, was created only as a local organization, for only special purposes, and with only a very limited and a very clearly defined authority.^ But it very soon became evident that some, at least, of those who had promoted the organization of that Committee, only for limited and welldefined …
For the purpose of extending its authority and of increasing its power, in whatever might arise, in its evident intent to control not only the great body of the unfranchised masses of every class, in the City of New York,^ but the Colonial and the Home Governcal writers, who has inclined to tell the exact truth, on tliis subject ; and what he said of it occupied less than two …
^ In all the political o]>erationsof that period, the several Counties of the Colonies were regarded as entirely independent bodies, each controlling itself to the extent, even, of semling independent Delegates to the Continental Congress -- the centralization of authority, indeed, was the fundamental grievance against which all the Colonies were, then, raising their …
Lewis was ordered to cause three hundred copies of that Circular Letter to be printed ; and it was also ordered that those printed copies of the letter should be transmitted, with all convenient speed, to the Treasurers of the several Counties, with a " line " to each Treasurer, signed by the Chairman of the Committee, requesting his care in the proper transmission of the …
Of those Circular Letters, inviting a correspondence with the Committee, in New York, it is recorded that thirty copies were sent to the Treasurer of Westchester-county, with a note from the Chairman of the Committee, requesting him "to direct and forward " them to the Supervisors of the several Districts," ^ the first attempt, which was made, by any one, to draw the farmers …
circumvent and secure the control of the entire Colony, under a mask of '■patriotism," as it had already circumvented and secured the control, in political affairs, of the County of Xew York. 1 3/iH«(es of the Committee, " NEW-TonK, May 30, 1774;" Lietiienanlgovernor Colden to Governor Tryon, "New York, June 2, 1774." ^Minutes of the Committee, Special Meeting, "New-Yoek, May …
Indeed, the Massachusettsmen did not appear to pay the slightest attention to the proposition which those of New York had made, to call a Congress of Deputies from all the Colonies, for the consideration of all the grievances, real or imaginary, of which all the Colonies were, then, respectively complaining, preferring, instead, and firmly insisting on, their own proposition …
The People in the Counties are noways disposed to become ac- " five or bear any part in what is proposed by the citizens. I am told " all the Counties but one have decliued an Invitation sent them from " Xew York to appoint Committees of Correspondence. This Province " is everywhere, except in the City of New York, perfectly quiet and in " good order ; and in Xew York a much …
In a Despatch written to the Earl of Dartmouth, dated "New York, " 2nd .\ugust, 1774," the veneralilc Lieutenant-governor stated, '■ Great Pains has been taken in the several Counties of this Province to induce "the People to enter into Kesolves, and to send Committees to join tho "Committee in the city ; but they have only prevailed in Suffolk County, " in the Eiist End of …
That, and " every other Kesolution, we have thought it most pru- " dent to leave for the discussion of the proposed gene- " ral Congress." It continued, in these very emphatic words : " Adhering, therefore, to that measure, as " most conducive to promote the grand system of " politics we all have in view, we have the pleasure " to acquaint you, that we shall be ready, on our …
Your letters to the south- " ward of us, we will forward, with great pleasure."^ Those of the revolutionary leaders, in Boston, who had assumed the role of a Committee of Correspondence, in that Town, could not long conceal from the world the reckless falsity of what they had written to the Committee in New York, when they stated to the latter that, " certainly all that can be …
- The Resolution of the Committee in New York, on whicli that reply was based, is in these words: "Orderei>, That the Committee of Boston " he re>|uested to give this Committee the Names of the Persons who " constitute the Committee of Correspondence at Boston ; that they have " made a mistake in answering this Committee's letter, which mentioned " not a word of a Suspension …
Massachusetts * and to the Committees of Correspondence in the several Colonies, since the rece|)tion ot the Boston Port-Bill, were not, as is now well known, really as unanimous, in favor of a " Suspension ot "Trade," as the Committee had unblushingly pretended-- indeed, with a few unimportant exceptions, the proi)osal to make Boston the only subject of consideration …
^The Committees who had been sent to Salem and Marblehead, " to communicate the Sentiments of this Metropolis to the Gentlemen, "there; to consult with them; and to report at the adjournment," (Mmutfs of the Toirn-Meetiug, of Boston, Mmj 13, 1774,) did, indeed, go to those Towns, and report the results of their visits, to the Town, at its Adjoiirned Meeting, five days …
The substance of the Reports from the Committees sent to the seaport Towns of the Province, all mention of which was thus suppressed by the Town-Clerk, was saved to the world, however, in a Detpatch from Gov ei nor Gat/e lolhe Enrl of Durtmoiith, dated " Boston : May 19, 1774," and laid before the Parliament, on the nineteenth of January, 177o, in which it was said the …
''The first resi>onses from other Colonies which the Committee received were those, carried by Paul Revere, from Philadelphia and New York, which were anytliing else than "encouraging" to such as composed th.1t Committee ; and there can l>e very little doubt, in the light of what was done, very soon afterwards, in Connecticut and Rhode Island, that Revere carried Imck, from …
Samuel Adams was the Chairman and master-spirit of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston : he was the Chairman of the Caucus of the nine Town- Committees, assembled in Faneuil-Hall, which had confirmed the line of action, concerning the Boston Port-Bill, which he and the men of Boston, had already contrived : he was the Moderator of the Town- Meeting, at Faneuil-Hall …
Besides all these, he was the Chairman and the master sjiirit of that Committee, in Boston, which, as lately as the eighth of June, sent Circular Letters from that Town to every Town in the Commonwealth, in which it was stated that " there is " but one way that we can conceive of, to. prevent " what is to be deprecated by all good men, and ought, " by all possible means, to be …
" sive hand " ' -- which the Committee proposed to do by means of an Association providing "that, hence- " forth, we will suspend all commercial intercourse " with the said Island of Great Britain, until the said " Act for blocking up the said Harbour" [0/ Boston} " be repealed, and a full restoration of our Charter " Rights be obtained."^ But we are told by that generally …
If this statement is well-founded, and the name ot its author affords a reasonable guaranty that it is so, the world of historical literature will be taught by it, how much the personal character of Samuel Adams has been unduly eulogized ; and every careful reader will also be taught by that new revelation, how much the Clerk of the House of Representatives, in Colonial …
The letters of disapproval and discouragement, 1 Address sent by the Boston Committee to every Town in the Province, dated "'Boston, June 8, 1774," re-printed in Force's American Archives, Fourtli Series, i., 397. - Funn of a C'wcnani, sent to every Town in j\[iissachusettt, by the Committee ill Boston, with tlie above-mentioned Address, Section let. 3 Richard Frothingham of …
Accordingly, on the seventeenth of June, the ilouse of Representatives, assembled at Salem, more or less under the guidance of its Clerk, adopted a Resolution declaring that "a Meeting of " Committees from the several Colonies on this Con- " tinent is highly expedient and necessary, to con- "sult upon the ])resent State of the Colonies and " the Miseries to which they are and …
At the same time that the House of Representatives, at Salem, was thus adding the weight of its official judgment against the line of action proposed and solicited by the Town of Boston and in support of that proposed and insisted on by the Committee in New York, the former, also, in a duly assembled Town-Meeting, John Adams occupying the Chair, in seeming forgetfulness of its …
the preceding month, willingly or unwillingly, formally wheeled into the line of the general opposition to the Home Government, under the guidance of that foreign Committee ; and, without making the slightest allusion to her ill-conceived and injudicious action, in her adoption of that Vote, the Town " en- " joined " the Committee of Correspondence, " forth- " with, to write …
The Committee of Correspondence in New York having, meanwhile, received assurances of their apjjroval of its proposition to invite a meeting of Deputies from the several Colonies, in a Continental Congress, from the Committee of Corresiwndence of Connecticut * aud. from that in Philadelphia^ -- with the knowledge, also, that the "Standing Committee ot "Correspondence," which …
"That Committee of the Assembly «a.s composed of John Cruger Frederick Philipse, Isaac Wilkins, Benjamin Seaman, James .Jauncey James De Lanccy, Jacob Walton, Simeon Boerum, John Dp Xoyelles, (ieorge Clinton, Daniel Kissam, Zebulon Williams, and John Rapalje, the names of ten of whom, including that of Frederick Philipse of AVestchester-county, are appended to a letter …
In submitting that Resolution, which had not received the imprimatur of those who represented the majority of the Committee, and, for that reason, was not received with any favor by that majority, it is evident that Alexander McDougal acted in behalf of the minority of that bod\' -- of those of its members who had been selected from the revolutionary faction of the Tradesmen …
The struggle between the two factions, within the Committee, was continued to an Adjourned Meeting of that body, on the evening of the twenty-ninth of June, when Alexander Mc- Dougal moved " that this Committee proceed, im- " mediately, to nominate five Deputies for the City "and County of New York, to represent them in a "Convention of this Colony,^ or in the general Con …
It is clear, as we understand the record, that Alexander McDougal offered it, for consideration, only at the Meeting on the twentyseventh of June. 2 This portion of the Resolution evidently looked for the establishment of a Provincial Congress or Convention, in which should be vested supreme and arbitrary power, without limitation, over the persons and properties and actions …
Immediately afterwards, without a division, on the motion of Theophilact Bache, seconded by John De Lancey, the Committee resolved "to nominate five persons, to " meet in a general Congress, at the time and place " which shall be agreed on by the other Colonies ; and " that the Freeholders and Freemen of the City and " County of New York be summoned to appear at a " convenient …
* It is proper to remind the reader, in this place, of two well-known facts, each of which had an important bearing on the political events of the period now under consideration. The first of these facts is, the ' friends of the Government " took no part whatever, in the formation of the Committee of Correspondence nor in its doings. That body was denounced by the Colonial …