AMERICAN GGMMONWEALTHS 

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3tmerican CommontDcaltl)^ 
NEW YORK 

THE PLANTING AND THE GROWTH OF 
THE EMPIRE STATE 

BY 

ELLIS H. ROBERTS 

IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOL. 11. 




Tieparimenh 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

1887 



Copyright, 1887, 
Bt ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 

AU rights reserved. 



^7 Trangftr 
JUN 6 ])f^, 






The Riverside Press, Camhridgef 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co. 



^^' 




CONTENTS OF VOLUME 11. 



III. THE REVOLUTION. 
CHAPTER XXII. 

PAGE 
BE8ISTANCE. — THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 

1765-1770. — Prediction of Revolt. — Appeals from the 
Verdicts of Juries. — Congress of 1765. — The Stamp 
Act. — Arrival of Stamps. — Action of New York Mer- 
chants. — Non-Importation Pledge. — Popular Protests. 
— Effigies Hanged and Burned. — Colden and James As- 
sailed. — The Stamps given up to the People. — Influ- 
ence of New York. — Sir Henry Moore Governor. — 
The Sofls of Liberty for Union — Rejoicings over Re- 
peal of the Stamp Act. — Quarters for British Soldiers. 

Liberty Pole cut down. — The Assembly refuses 

Quarters. — Twice.Dissolved. — Forbidden to act until 
Soldiers were provided for. — George Clinton. — Philip 
Schuyler. — Protests by the Assembly. — Treaty of Fort 
Stanwix. — The Assembly provides for Quarters. — 
Indignation. — Alexander McDougall. — Lawlessness 
of the Soldiers. — Collisions with the People. —Battle 
of Golden Hill 359 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

HESITATION. — DECISION FOR THE UNION. 

1770-1775. — British Ministers forbid a Congress. — New 
Yorkfaithful to Non-Importation.— The Pledge Lim- 



VI CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. 

ited to Tea alone. — Earl of Dunmore Governor. — 
Salary {jaid from the Royal Treasury. — William Tryon 
Governor. — Harmony. — Shipments of Tea. — Its 
Landing Forbidden. — Committee of Correspondence. 

— Tea Confiscated and thrown into the Kiver. — Pro- 
posals for a General Congress. — Divisions. — John 
Jay. — Alexander Hamilton. — The Congress — The 
New York Assembly in its last Session. — Committees 
Organized. — Provincial Congress. — Political Revolu- 
tion 380 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE CONFLICT. — NEW YORK BEARS THE BRUNT. 

1775-1780. — Ticonderoga and Crown Point Seized. — 
Vermont — British Troops land in New York. — Sons 
of Liberty stop the Shipment of Arms. — Provincial 
Congress. — Gouverneur Morris. — Jav in the Conti- 
nental Congress. — Expedition against Quebec. — Tory 
Movements. — Committees of Safety and Correspond- 
ence. — Defense of New York City. — Battle of Long 
Island. — The City Abandoned. — Battle of White 
Plains. — St. Leger invades the Mohawk Valley. — 
Battle of Oriskauy. — Operations of Burgoyne. — First 
and Second Battles of Bemus Heights. — Surrender at 
Saratoga. — Indian Ravages. — Johnson, Brant, and 
Butler. — Sullivan's Expedition. — Battle at Stone 
Arabia. — At Sc. Johnsville. — Prisoners in New York. 400 

CHAPTER XXV. 

WAITING FOR VICTORlf. ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 

1777-1788. — The Representatives of the State. — Form 
of Constitution. — Organization. — George Clinton, 
Governor. — Limits Circumscribed. — Articles of Con- 
federation Ratified. — Stony Point Lost and Recovered. 

— Ravages of Brant. — Death of Walter Butler. — 
Nathan Hale. — Major Andre. — Arnold's Treason, — 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME IT. Vli 

Execution of Huddy. — Conspiracy at Newburg. — 
New York first to cede its Lands to the Union. — Inde- 
pendence the only Condition of Peace. — The Treaty of 
Peace. — Hamilton proposes a Federal Constitution. — 
Convention in Hartford. — In Annapolis. — Congress 
asked to call a Constitutional Convention. — Reserva- 
tions. — The New Constitution. — Amendments Pro- 
posed. — Ratification Carried 434 



IV. A STATE IN THE UNION. 
CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 

1783-1795. — Evacuation of New York. — Return of the 
Tories. — Extension of Settlements. — Sale of State 
Lands. — Relative Rank of New York. — Mingling of 
Races. — Commerce. — Agriculture. — Manufactures. 

— Roads. — Education. — Holland Land Company. — 
Immigration from New England. — The Professions. — 
Close of the Fur Trade. — Albany. — New York City. 

— The State and the National Capital. — The Theatre. 

— Newspapers 448 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

PARTIES, THEIR LEADERS AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 

1789-1 SOL — Governor Clinton. — Hamilton. — First 
Representatives in Congress. — Reelection of George 
Clinton as Governor. — First United States Senators. 

— Philip Schuyler. — Rufus King. — Aaron Burr. — 
Contest between Clinton and Jay. — John Jay chosen 
Governor. — The Livingston Family. — Senators and 
Representatives in Congress. — Excitement against 
France. — DeWitt Clinton. — Charter of the Manhat- 
tan Company. — Rivalry of Hamilton and Burr. — 
Burr and the Presidency. — Is chosen Vice-President. 



viii CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. 

— New York's Succession of Vice-Presidents. — Cabinet 
Officers. — Strife over Federal and State Appointments. 

— Abolition of Slavery 465 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A TRAGEDY. — LOSS OF THE PRESIDENCY. 

1801-1813. — Diversity of Population. — The Shakers. — 
Material Prosperity. — Constitutional Convention. — 
Council of Appointment. — Rivalry between Aaron 
Burr and De Witt Clinton. — Charter of the State Bank 
at Albany. — Merchants' Bank. — Bank of America. — 
Legislative Investigation. — Hamilton in a Libel Suit. 

— Morgan Lewis elected Governor over Burr. — Burr's 
Rage. — Burr kills Hamilton. — James Kent. — Daniel 
D. Tompkins. — Controversies over Offices. — Tomp- 
kins elected Governor. — DeWitt Clinton Lieutenant 
Governor. — Candidate for President. — Defeated . . 485 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

1810-1815. — Embargo of 1807. — Non-Intercourse of 
1809. — Impressment of Seamen. — Outrages at Sea. 

— New York Delegation in Congress. — Popular Senti- 
ment. — Activity in the State. — Operations on Lake 
Champlain and the St. Lawrence. — At Sackets Har- 
bor. — On the Niagara River. — Lack of Success in 
1812. — Attack on Brockville. — Ogdensburg Captured. 

— Americans take Toronto. — Prevost Repulsed at 
Sackets Harbor. — British Activity. — Wilkinson's In- 
vasion of Canada a Failure. — Close of 1813. — Vic- 
tories at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. — Adventures 
on Lake Ontario. — Victory on Lake Champlain. — A 
Levy en masse. — Alarm and Preparation in New York 
City. — Treaty of Peace 505 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. ix 

CHAPTER XXX. 

WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 

1810-1862. — Early Suggestions of Inland Navigation. — 
Christopher Colles. — Surveys Ordered. — Inland Nav- 
igation Companies. — Canals at Little Falls, German 
Flats and Wood Creek. — Navigation in 1807. — Steam 
on the Hudson. — Original Invention of the Erie Route. 

— Gouverneur Morris. — Joshua Forman. — Simeon 
DeWitt. — James Geddes. — First Commissioners. — 
DeWitt Clinton. — Aid asked from Congress. — Grants 
of Land. — Exploration Ordered. — Estimates. — Act 
for the Construction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. 

— Governor Tompkins becomes Vice-President. — De- 
Witt Clinton Governor. — Ground broken at Rome for 
the Erie Canal. — Canal opened to Utica. — To the 
Seneca River. — Struggle between Governor Clinton 
and the Senate. — Clinton removed from the Office of 
Canal Commissioner. — Is again chosen Governor. — 
The Erie Canal open from Albany to Buffalo. — Jubi- 
lations. — Plans of Enlargement. — Conflicts. — En- 
largement begun. — Cost. — Tonnage. — Tolls. — Value 
of Merchandise. — Cost of Transportation. — Lateral 
Canals Built. — Several are Abandoned. — All Tolls 
Abolished. — The Canals in Politics. — Scandals. — 
Railroads. — Effects of the Canal Policy 524 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

■y^ PROGRESS OF EDUCATION. 

Number of Colleges, Academies and Schools. — Cost and 
Annual Expenditure. — Attendance. — Common Schools 
in 188.5. — Dutch Beginnings. — Early Appropriations 
by the State. — Lotteries. — Free School in New York. 

— State Plan. — Lotteries. — Schools in 1818. — Secre- 
tary of State. — System of 1854. — District School Li- 



X CONTENTS OF VOLUME IT. 

braries. — Religious Instruction. — Governor Seward's 
Suggestions. — Remission of Tuition. — Popular Vote 
for Free Schools. — Legislation Modified. — Character 
of the Schools. — The System Symmetrical. — State 
Library. — Missionaries and Churches as Educators. — 
Rev. Charles G. Finney. — The Oneida Community. — 
The Pulpit \ . 550 

CHAPTER XXXIL 

CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 

1821-1874. —First Constitution.— Convention of 1801. 

— Convention of 1821. — Executive and Legislative 
Powers. — The Suffrage. — The Judiciary. — Special 
Charters for Banks. — Free Banking. — Convention of 
1846. — Tenure of Land. — The Judicial System. — 
Sinking Funds. — Restriction on the Creation of Debts. 

— Constitution of 1846. — Convention of 1867. — 
Amendments Adopted. — Constitutional Commission of 
1872. — Amendments. — The Constitution a Growth. — 
Statutes Revised. — Character of the Courts and the 
Bar 562 

CHAPTER XXXni. 

POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND CHIEFS IN THEM. 

1825-1846. — Martin Van Buren. — Chaos of Parties. — 
Rise of the Anti-Masons. — Disappearance of Morgan. 

— Death of DeWitt Clinton. — Mr. Van Buren in the 
Cabinet. — The Albany Regency. — Edwin Croswell. 

— Thurlow Weed. — Van Buren Vice-President. — 
William L. Marcy Governor. — Van Buren Pn sident. 

— New York in Congress. — Political Revolution of 
1840. — Opposition to the Extension of Slavery. — Dis- 
turbances on the Canadian Frontier. — Burning of the 
Caroline. — Trial of Alexander McLeod. — Hunter 
Lodges. — Acts of Violence. — Affair of Windmill 
Point. — The Disaster. — Fate of the Prisoners. — Wil- 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. xi 

liam H. Seward Governor. — William C. Bouck Gov- 
ernor. — Silas Wright. — Millard Fillmore .... 578 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

LITERARY ACTIVITY. 

French Writers on New York. — Literature of the Dutch 
Period. — Information for Immigrants. — Writings of 
the English Governors. — Smith's History. — Early 
Poets. — Mrs. Bleecker. — William Livingston. — The 
Newspapers. — Statement of the American Case. — Al- 
exander Hamilton. — John Jay. — Gouverneur Morris. 

— The Livingstons. — Philip Freneau. — Ballads of 
the Revolution. — William Dnulap. — Lindley Murray. 

— Charles Anthon. — Writings of Missionaries. — 
Washington Irving. — James K, Paulding. — James 
Fenimore Cooper. — History and Biography. — Wil- 
liam L. Stone. — Henry R. Schoolcraft. — Lewis H. 
Morgan. — John R. Brodhead. — Henry C. Murphy. — 
William W. Campbell. — County and Local Histories. 

— Benson J. Lossing. — Henry B. Dawson. — Mrs. 
Martha J. Lamb. — F. B. Hough. — Joseph Rodman 
Drake. — Fitz-Greene Halleck. — James Lawson. — 
William C. Bryant. — Female Writers. — Later Au- 
thors. — Alfred B. Street. — Editors. — The Pulpit. — 
The Book of Mormon. — Scientists. — S. F. B. Morse. 

— New York Historical Society 600 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

LAND AND RENT. 

1839-1846. — The Patroons. — Royal Grants. — Public 
Domain 7,000,000 Acres. — Long Leases. — Holland 
Land Company. — Dissatisfaction. — Feudal Tenures. 

— Agrarian Disturbances. — Estate of the Van Rens- 
selaers. — Restraints on Alienation. — Riots of 1839. — 
Appeal to the Military. — Riots of 1845. — Suppressed 



xn CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. 

by Troops. — Constitution of 1846. — Decision of the 
Court of Appeals. — Riots of 1866. — Division of Es- 
tates. — Farms and their Product. — Richest Counties. 

— Agriculture of the State 623 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 

1847-1858. — Differences of Principle. — Position of the 
Legislature. — Nomination of Lewis Cass. — Revolt of 
Van Buren and his Followers. — Buftalo Convention. — 
Millard Fillmore Vice-President — The Liberty Party. 

— Fillmore President. — Washington Hunt Governor. 

— Divisions among the Whigs. — Fillmore's Candidacy 
for President. — Horatio Seymour Governor. — Consol- 
idation of Raih-oads. — Carrying Trade of 1885. — 
Crystal Palace. — Prohibitory Law Vetoed. — Myron 
H. Clark Governor. — Prohibitory Law declared Un- 
constitutional. — Election of 1856. — John A. King 
Governor. — Popular Sentiment. — Protests against 
the Extension of Slavery. — Edwin D. Morgan Gover- 
nor. — New York in Congress 633 

CHAPTER XXX VII. 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

1860-1865. — William H. Seward. — Opposition to him. 

— Charters for Street Railroads. — Democratic Divis- 
ions. — Mr. Seward in the National Convention. — In 
Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. — Efforts for Peace. — Tender 
of Men and Money. — Meeting at Cooper Institute. — 
At Tweddle Hall. — Resolutions. — Declarations of Ex- 
Governor Seymour. — First Levy of Volunteers. — Ad- 
vances of Money. — Uprising of the People. — Union 
of Parties. — Reaction. — Horatio Seymour chosen 
Governor. — Criticises the National Administration. — 
The Draft. — Riots in New York. — They are Sup- 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. xiii 

pressed. — Revisal of the Enrollment. — New York's 
Quota Reduced. — The Draft continued. — The Sani- 
tary Commission. — Care of New York Soldiers. — 
Election of 1864. — Apprehensions of Violence. — Prep- 
arations. — Votes of Soldiers. — Incendiarism in New 
York. — Services of New York Men. — Delegation in 
Congress. — New York's Contributions in Men and 
Money 651 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

1866-1875. — Fenian Invasion of Canada. — Reuben E. 
Fenton Governor. — Nomination of Horatio Seymour 
for President. — His Services as a Citizen. — John T. 
Hoffman Governor. — Government of New York City. 

— Supervisors. — Rise of William M. Tweed. — His 
Career. — His Allies. — Exposure. — Arrests. — Trials. 

— Escape of Tweed. — Captured, convicted, dies in 
Prison. — Impeachment of Judges. — Collision between 
Irish Orangemen and Catholics. — Horace Greeley nom- 
inated for President. — His Career and Death. — John 
A. Dix Governor. — His Services. — Samuel J. Tilden 
Governor. — Canal Contracts. — The Canal Ring. — 
Demands for Reform. — Advanced Standards. — Need 
of Vigilance on the part of Citizens. — Efficiency of the 
Popular Will. — New York in Congress 678 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

IN THE nation's SECOND CENTURY. 

1876-1885. — Samuel J. Tilden Governor. — Candidate 
for President. — New York and the Republican Nomi- 
nation. — Mr. Tilden's Contest. — His Career. — Lu- 
cius Robinson Governor. — Republican State Conven- 
tion of 1877. — Election of 1878.— The Court of Ap- 
peals and the " Civil Damages " Act. — The New 



XIV CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. 

Capitol. — Election of 1879. — General Condition of the 
People. — Political Divisions of 1880. — Appointment 
of William H. Robertson Collector. — Resignation of 
United States Senators. — Election of Senators. — 
Charles J. Eolger Candidate for Governor. — His Char- 
acter and Services. — Grover Cleveland Governor. — 
The Commonwealth and the Presidency in 1884. — Da- 
vid B. Hill Governor 700 

CHAPTER XL. 

MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 

1880. — Occupations of the People. — Value of Annual 
Manufactures. — Banks of Discount.— Their Growth 
and Business. — Savings Banks and their Growth. — 
Transactions at the New York Stock Exchange. — At 
the Clearing House. — Earnings of Railroads. — Pas- 
sengers Carried. —Water Power and Steam. — Growth 
of Manufactures. — New York City Foremost. — Dis- 
tribution of Industries. — Their Diversity. — Local 
Specialties. — Products of Various Counties. — Ratio 
of New York's Manufactures to the whole Union. — 
Industrial Completeness 716 

CHAPTER XLI. 

THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 

Growth of Population. — Compared with Principal Na- 
tions. — New^ York and Belgium. — Ratios of the Com- 
monwealth to the Union. — Diversity of the People and 
of their Occupations. — The New Yorker as he is. — 
William H. Seward on Political Divisions. — Causes of 
Differences. — Lack of Domination of Individuals. — 
Hospitality to Thought and Inventions. — Leadership 
of the Many. — Waterways and Commerce. — Absence 
of State Jealousy. — Devotion to the Union. — Devel- 
opment since Van Twiller and Stuyvesant. — Guar- 
anties for the Future 727 



JAN 13 1838 



III. THE EEVOLUTION, 



CHAPTER XXII. 

EESISTANCE. — THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 

1765-1770. 

The assembly of New York was in accord 
with popular sentiment in the colony, but not 
in advance of it. John Morin Scott, in a pub- 
lished article in May, 1765, over the signature 
" Freeman," argued that " if the interest of the 
mother country and her colonies can not be 
made to coincide, if the same constitution can 
not take place in both, if the welfare of the 
mother country necessarily requires a sacrifice 
of the most valuable natural rights of the colo- 
nies, their right of making their own laws and 
disposing of their own property by representa- 
tives of their own choosing, then the connection 
between them ought to cease, and sooner or 
later it must inevitably cease. The English 
government cannot long act towards a part of 
its dominions upon principles diametrically op- 



360 NEW YORK. 

posed to its own, without losing itself in the 
slavery it would impose upon the colonies, or 
teaching them to throw it off and assert their 
freedom." The prophecy was bold, and was 
among the very earliest harbingers of separa- 
tion. 

Another series of petitions and addresses, re- 
ported by Philip Livingston, in December, 
1765, from the grand committee for courts of 
justice, in behalf of the chairman John Cruger, 
was adopted by the assembly, repeating the 
arguments against " internal taxations and du- 
ties by authority of parliament," and enlarg- 
ing on the wrong of the " extension of admi- 
ralty jurisdiction to causes only cognizable at 
common law, and the granting of appeals from 
the verdicts of juries." Lieutenant Governor 
Golden had tried to enforce such an appeal, 
while the judges of the supreme court had re- 
sisted his interference, and they had been sus- 
tained by the council. This incident was the 
incentive to these petitions^ which were fol- 
lowed by resolutions adopted December 18, 
1765, nemine eontradicenU, as the official journal 
records, and closing with the declaration " that 
the duties lately imposed by act of parliament 
on the trade of this colony are very grievous 
and burdensome ; and in the apprehension of 
this house, impossible to be paid." 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 361 

The burdens of the navigation act, as it be- 
gan to be enforced, were keenly felt, and the 
attitude of parliament in imposing certain 
duties, followed by the stamp act, aroused all 
the colonies, and the proposal of New York for 
mutual correspondence was supplemented by 
an invitation from Massachusetts for a colonial 
congress. Seventy-eight delegates assembled, 
October 7, 1765, in New York, representing all 
the colonies but Virginia, North Carolina, and 
Georgia, while New York chose no delegates ; 
but its committee of correspondence took an 
important share in the proceedings. Philip 
Livingston wrote a petition to the king, and 
John Cruger a " declaration of rights and griev- 
ances " to the people of England and America, 
claiming for the colonists " the right of taxing 
themselves either personally or by representa- 
tives of their own choosing, the right of trial by 
jury, and the right of petition." Of the ad- 
dress to parliament James Otis of Massachu- 
setts was the author. 

The stamp act passed March 22, 1765, was 
to go into effect in the colonies November 1 of 
that year. A vessel bearing stamps arrived in 
New York while the first colonial congress was 
in session. Out of doors as well as in that body 
the excitement became intense. Some of the 
delegates pronounced resistance treason, as it 



362 NEW YORK. 

doubtless was, and they pleaded in behalf of 
the supreme authority of parliament. But the 
congress adopted the addresses, and brought 
the colonies upon common ground, although the 
delegates from New York, while earnestly ap- 
proving the action and wielding large influence 
in directing it, did not feel empowered to attach 
their signatures. The assembly, however, No- 
vember 20, approved of the proceedings of the 
congress, and renewed its declaration that " all 
necessary aids to the crown, raised in the col- 
ony," must be " free gifts of the people." 

The merchants of New York were not at all 
disposed to submit to the stamp act. Isaac 
Sears, John Lamb, Gershom Mott, William 
Wiley, and Thomas Robinson were appointed, 
October 31, 1765, a committee of correspon- 
dence on their behalf, to agree with residents 
of other colonies on a general policy. They 
determined in public meetings to cease impor- 
tation of all goods, and to prevent the use of 
stamps in any case. Handbills had been issued 
when the stamps first arrived, indicating the 
popular purpose in these words : — 

"PRO PATRIA. 

"The first man that either distributes or makes 
use of stamped paper, let him take care of his house, 
person and effects. 

"We Dare." 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 863 

The stamp act was printed under the title of 
" The Folly of England and the Ruin of Amer- 
ica." November 1, a considerable crowd put 
up a gallows in the present City Hall park, and 
hung an effigy to represent Governor Golden, 
and another, called " the devil," with a boot in 
his hand, to represent Lord Bute, the British 
minister. Another band carried Golden in ef- 
figy to the gate of Fort George, where soldiers 
were drawn up on the ramparts. There a de- 
mand was made for the stamps ; as it was re- 
fused, his carriage was captured and his efiigy 
set upon it. Both bands* marched to the Bat- 
tery, where they spiked the cannon, and burned 
carriage and gallows and effigies to ashes. The 
mob spirit grew strong by exercise, and the 
rougher element rushed to the house of Major 
James, the commander of the royal artillery, 
and its contents of every kind were destroyed 
by fire ; the colors of his regiment were car- 
ried off by the crowd. 

This was the popular punishment wreaked 
on James for blustering — "I will cram the 
stamps down the throats of the people with the 
end of my sword ; " " if they attempt to rise, 
I will drive them all out of town for a pack of 
rascals with four-and-twent}^ men." He was the 
first to learn that the atmosphere was stirred 
by something more than a summer breeze. 



364 NEW YORK. 

The next day an address was read at the 
coffee-house in Wall street, calling all to sup- 
press riots ; but Isaac Sears denounced it as a 
device to prevent the capture of the stamps, and 
the people gave him their cheers and their sup- 
port. The " Sons of Liberty," of whom Sears, 
John Lamb, Alexander iMcDougall, and Mari- 
nus Willett were at this time leaders, took the 
direction of the popular movement, which some- 
times broke beyond their control. John Cruger, 
the author of patriotic addresses adopted by 
the assembly and the congress, was mayor of 
New York, and, with Robert R. Livingston, 
Beverly Robinson, and John Stevens, called on 
Lieutenant Governor Golden to prevent the use 
of the stamps. The collector appointed to sell 
them had resigned, and the stamps were in the 
fort. Golden sought to shirk responsibility by 
a pledge that he would do nothing with the 
stamps until the arrival of the new governor, 
Sir Henry Moore, who was soon expected from 
England. The mayor's committee repeated his 
pledge, that " he would not issue nor suffer to 
be issued any of the stamps now in Fort 
George." The people were not satisfied. An 
effort was mnde for placing the obnoxious pa- 
pers on a British ship lying in port, but the 
captain refused to receive them. Thereupon, 
November 5, the common council demanded 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 365 

the stamps from the lieutenant governor, and 
he delivered them up to " the mayor and corpo- 
ration," on a guarantee to make good all losses, 
and, as he wrote, " in consequence of the unani- 
mous advice of his Majesty's council, and the 
concurrence of the commander-in-chief of the 
king's forces, and to prevent the effusion of 
blood and the calamities of civil war." The 
common council acknowledged the concession 
by an address to '' Thomas Gage, Esq., major- 
general and commander-in-chief of all his Ma- 
jesty's forces in North America," congratulating 
him *' upon the restoration of this citys tran- 
quillity and freedom from the impending evils 
of a civil war." So easy did it appear then to 
settle the controversy between the colonies and 
the home government. 

Lieutenant Governor Golden wrote to the 
British ministers : " Whatever happens in this 
place has the greatest influence in the other 
colonies ; they have their eyes perpetually on 
it, and they govern themselves accordingly." 
Like causes were producing kindred effects in 
various localities. New York certainly did not 
wait for inspiration or leadership from other 
quarters in these critical days. Important as 
its commerce was, it sacrificed all for liberty. 
In the presence of the commander-in-chief of 
the British forces in America, with men-of-war 



366 NEW YORK. 

in the harbor and the army which he was ready 
to let loose, the colony did not hesitate in its 
demands and in its acts against involuntary 
tpiixation. Sir Henry Moore came out as gov- 
ernor, November 13, 1765, in the midst of the 
popular revolt, and he made no effort to en- 
force the law. The collector for Maryland was 
seized and compelled to resign the place. Ten 
boxes of stamps on a brig just arrived were 
captured by citizens and carried on shore, 
thrust into tar-barrels, and burned. OflBcers 
who held any of the obnoxious papers were 
diligently hunted out, and surrender compelled. 
In Albany several persons, to repel intimations, 
made affidavits that they had never asked to 
be collectors of stamps and would not accept 
the office, while Mr. Cuyler admitted he had 
made an application for it, but swore he would 
not take it. 

Homespun in place of British cloth in gar- 
ments was adopted by zealous patriots; and 
because licenses for marriage required stamps, 
that ceremony was proclaimed in church with- 
out license. 

The " Sons of Liberty," January 7, declared 
that " there was safety for the colonies only in 
the firm union of the whole ; " and that they 
*' would venture their lives and fortunes effectu- 
ally to prevent the stamp act." Connecticut 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 367 

and Massacliusetts followed promptly in like 
utterances. In the latter colony Governor 
Bernard declared that, if resistance was made, 
" a forcible subjection is unavoidable, let it cost 
what it will ; " and he expressed the " hope that 
New York, as well upon account of its superior 
rank and greater professions of resistance, and 
of its being the headquarters, will have the 
honor of being subdued first." 

When the repeal of the stamp tax, March 13, 
1766, was known. New York gave way to exu- 
berant expressions of joy. A statue was or- 
dered by the assembl}^, June 23, to William 
Pitt, to be erected in Wall street, as " a public 
testimony of the many eminent services he ren- 
dered to America, particularly in promoting 
the repeal of the stamp act." An equestrian 
statue was also ordered to George III., and a 
piece of plate to John Sargent, agent of the 
colony in London. The king's statue was not 
erected until August 21, 1770, when it was set 
up with much display on the Battery, and re- 
mained until 1776, when it was cast by the 
patriots into musket-balls for defense. 

Without waiting for such permanent tokens, 
the citizens erected, June 4, 1766, the king's 
birthday, a mast or liberty pole '' to his most 
gracious Majesty, George III., Mr. Pitt and 
liberty." The governor, the council, the civil 



368 NEW YORK. 

and military officers joined with the people 
in festivities, at which, the chronicles testify, 
"an ox was roasted on each side of the com- 
mon ; a large stage was built up, on which were 
placed twenty-five barrels of strong beer, a hogs- 
head of rum, with sugar and other materials to 
make punch. At another part of the field were 
preparations for a bonfire ; twenty-five cords of 
wood surrounded a pole, on the top of which 
were affixed twelve tar-barrels. At the upper 
end of the field were placed five-and-twenty 
pieces of cannon ; a flag displayed the colors of 
England, and a band of music played ' God save 
the King.' " Speeches were at that era no part 
of such a celebration. But these were the acts 
of people who wanted to be loyal, and whose 
hearts went out to rulers who had seemed dis- 
posed simply to cease from oppression. 

The joy did not last long. The home govern- 
ment had, in December preceding, called on the 
assembly to provide, according to the require- 
ments of the mutiny act, quarters, firewood, 
bedding, drink, soap and candles for as many 
British troops as the ministers might choose to 
send. On the report of a committee, of which 
Robert R. Livingston was chairman, the as- 
sembly declared that when the troops were 
quartered in barracks they were provided for 
without charge to the counties where the bar- 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 369 

racks were, and if any provision was necessary 
for quarters for troops on the march, the House 
would consider the matter after the cost was in- 
curred. 

This controversy was the incitement to some 
of the British soldiers, who, August 10, cut 
down the liberty pole erected to the king and 
Mr. Pitt. The next evening, while the citizens 
were getting ready to put up the pole again, 
soldiers with drawn bayonets assailed them, and 
wounded Isaac Sears and some others ; but the 
" mast " was raised in spite of the violence. 
The soldiers continued to harass the people, and 
indulged in such petty meanness as breaking 
into houses and hamstringing the horse of a 
cart man. 

When, therefore. Governor Moore asked the 
assembly in November to grant the requisitions, 
and conveyed notice of the king's displeasure, 
the members still held to the limit of provision 
for soldiers on the march. The governor twice 
prorogued the assembly, and twice his demands 
Avere refused. In the mean time the home gov- 
ernment gave manifest signs of its purpose, by 
directing General Gage to place forts George, 
Ticonderoga, and Crown Point on a war foot- 
ing, while at Quebec like preparations were in 
progress. Lieutenant Governor Carleton wrote 
from Quebec to General Gage, that these meas- 



370 NEW YORK. 

ures would " facilitate the transfer of ten or 
fifteen thousand men" from one province to 
the other ; and New York, remembering the 
French war, foresaw that in case of conflict, in- 
vading armies from the north would trample 
upon its soil. 

Albany was touched by acts like these ; and 
although not so much within the field of ac- 
tion as the seaport, when its members returned 
from the assembly this autumn, popular feel- 
ing rose to such a height that soldiers were 
called upon to put down the disturbance aris- 
ing from expressions of popular patriotism. 

The British parliament, June 29, 1767, for- 
bade the New York assembly to pass any act 
before it made provision for British troops. At 
the same time the right to tax the colonies was 
declared anew, duties were imposed on paper, 
glass, tea, and painters' colors, and commissioners 
of customs were established for America, while 
indemnity was required for the losses by the 
stamp-act riots. The prohibition put upon the 
New York assembly had the effect to suspend 
legislation for two years, inasmuch as during 
that period the members, and no less the people, 
stood firm against providing for British soldiers. 
The term of the assembly expired by limita- 
tion, and upon a new election the popular party 
retained its control, or even strengthened itself. 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 371 

George Clinton appeared as a member from 
Ulster, and Philip Scliuyler from Albany, and 
at once arrayed themselves with the foremost 
of the opponents of British aggression. The 
latter was probably the author of petitions to 
the king and parliament adopted by the assem- 
bly, December 31, pronouncing the act of sus- 
pension dangerous and alarming, while the im- 
position of duties without the consent of the 
colony was subversive of the constitutional 
rights of the people, and asserting the right, 
which had been questioned, to correspond and 
consult with other colonies. " This colony," 
the resolution went on to declare, " lawfully 
and constitutionally has and enjoys an internal 
legislature of its own, in which the crown and 
the people of this colony are constitutionally 
represented, and the power and authority of 
the said legislature can not lawfully or constitu- 
tionally be suspended, abridged, abrogated, or 
annulled by any power, authority, or preroga- 
tive whatsoever ; the prerogative of the crown 
ordinaril}^ exercised for prorogations and disso- 
lutions only excepted." The position was too 
bold, and in the eyes of the governor looked 
too much towards independence, and he dis- 
solved the assembly, January 2, 1769. 

The chronic troubles with the Six Nations 
on account of the seizure of their lands, or 



372 NEW YORK. 

alleged frauds in purchase and survey, broke 
out with fresh bitterness in 1764. The great 
patent of Kayaderosseras, covering about seven 
hundred thousand acres lying between the 
Hudson and the Mohawk, obtained by grant in 
1703, was brought into controversy, and the 
boundaries of Indian lands on the south and 
west were unsettled. To adjust these and other 
matters. Sir William Johnson was authorized to 
confer with the Six Nations and with the gov- 
ernors of the neighboring colonies, and to that 
end he invited a congress to meet at Fort Stan- 
wix September 20, 1768. New Jersej^ Vir- 
ginia, and Pennsylvania were represented ; but 
it was October 4 before the congress opened, 
with thirty-two hundred red men in attendance, 
including, besides the Six Nations, the Dela- 
wares and Shawanese. Negotiations were kept 
up until November 5, when the Six Nations 
were paid ^2,000 in money and goods, for land 
sold and concessions granted to the British 
crown. The boundary fixed began at the north 
of the Tennessee River, following the Ohio and 
Alleghany rivers, thence from Kittaning to the 
nearest fork of the west branch of the Susque- 
hanna, and along that stream to its east branch 
and the Delaware, terminating at the confluence 
of Canada and Wood creeks. This was the 
substantial part of the treaty of Fort Stanwix. 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 373 

The political strain had been intense and 
continuous, and signs were apparent of a ten- 
dency towards reaction. In the election or- 
dered on account of the dissolution of the 
assembly, the government interests won allies 
among persons who yielded to the pressure of 
the policy of non-importation, to the influence 
of patronage, and of the Church of England. 
Some prejudice was aroused against lawyers, 
and as the leaders of the popular party in- 
cluded many Presbyterians, other denomina- 
tions were appealed to against them. The as- 
sembly met April 4, 1769 ; and the DeLancey 
interest, favoring the church and seeking to 
restore friendly relations with the crown, was 
in the ascendant. The assembly was unwill- 
ing yet to go farther than to make appropri- 
ations for garrisons of five hundred soldiers at 
New York and Albany, respectively. An ad- 
dress written by Schuyler was adopted, April 
10, reiterating the claims of the colony, but 
yielding to the requests of the crown ; while a 
resolution from the pen of Philip Livingston 
thanked those who had proved true to the 
pledge not to import goods from Great Britain, 
and urged them to adhere to that course until 
such acts of parliament as the assembly had 
declared unconstitutional and subversive of the 
rights of the people, should be repealed. 

j MN 13 1888 \ 

W']:\n /«';!N'i''" 



374 NEW YORK. 

At a session convened in November, as Gov- 
ernor Moore had died September 11, Lieuten- 
ant Governor Golden resumed the executive 
chair, and gave assurance of the " greatest prob- 
ability that the late duties imposed by parlia- 
ment so much to the dissatisfaction of the 
colonies would be taken off in the ensuing ses- 
sion.'' The assembly adopted the patriotic res- 
olutions moved by Patrick Henry in Virginia, 
and then appropriated «£ 2,000 for the troops 
by a majority of one. 

This action aroused intense indignation 
among the people. A " Son of Liberty " issued 
a handbill, December 16, addressed " to the 
Betrayed Inhabitants of New York," in fiery 
language denouncing the assembly, and charg- 
ing its action to "some corrupt source," and 
especially to a coalition between Governor Col- 
den and the DeLancey family. The handbill 
closed with a call for a public meeting to ap- 
point a committee " to draw up the whole mat- 
ter, and send the statement far and wide." The 
meeting was held the next day, when fourteen 
hundred citizens gathered, and adopted resolu- 
tions reported by John Lamb, to exj^ress to the 
assembly disapproval of its course. That body 
retorted by denouncing the handbill as a '' false, 
seditious, and infamous libel," Schuyler alone 
dissenting, and Governor Golden offered a re- 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 375 

ward for the discovery of the author. The 
printer under duress exposed him in the person 
of Alexander McDougall, and he was arraigned 
at the bar, where George Clinton appeared in 
his defense, but failed to prevent his imprison- 
ment, and he was held until February, 1771, 
and then released without trial. Lamb also 
was called before the assembly for his part in 
the affair of the meeting, but his seven col- 
leagues on the committee stood by him man- 
full}^, and his case was dropped ; but Isaac 
Sears, one of the committee, was for punish- 
ment accused of neglecting his duty as inspec- 
tor of potash, and then was refused a hearing, 
although Schuyler, Clinton, and Nathaniel 
WoodhuU pleaded for him. 

New York still adhered to the policy of non- 
importation, in which it led, and even the lieu- 
tenant governor was in favor of the repeal of 
the offensive revenue impositions of parliament. 
October, 1769, committees again invited co- 
operation for still more vigorous exclusion of 
imports until all the duties should be removed. 
This colony, with the largest interests in com- 
merce, adhered most strictly to its pledges, 
losing five-sixths of its trade in consequence, 
and the party of reaction derived advantages 
from the failure of its neighbors to exclude im- 
ports with equal rigor. When the duties were 



376 NEW YORK. 

repealed on all articles except tea, New York 
was glad, and canceled its rules against impor- 
tation, renewing its pledges relative to the one 
commodity still dutiable. 

The presence of the soldiers was a source of 
vexation all the more because of the payments 
for their support, and they by disorder and 
brutality added fuel to the popular flames. 
The people regarded the pole erected to the 
king and Pitt on the repeal of the stamp act as 
a symbol of liberty, while the soldiers were in- 
tent on destroying it. January 13, 1770, men 
of the Sixteenth regiment sawed the pole and 
tried to blow it up with powder, and when they 
failed turned upon a body of citizens and drove 
them into Montague's tavern near by, where 
they broke windows and furniture, and cut and 
bruised two of the patriots, before their officers 
were able to send them to their barracks. After 
three attempts on successive nights, the soldiers 
for defiance sawed the pole into billets and 
piled them before the tavern door. The people 
were stirred to wrath, and, summoned by hand- 
bills, met in the park the next evening, January 
17, and declared that soldiers off duty appear- 
ing in the streets should be treated as enemies 
of the city. The Sixteenth regiment retorted 
with a scurrilous handbill, and three of its mem- 
bers in trying to post copies were next day 



TUB FIRST BLOOD SHED. 377 

seized by Isaac Sears and a companion and 
marched to the mayor's office. 

An attempt at rescue was made by a band of 
twenty soldiers with swords and bayonets, but 
the citizens with stakes and clubs guarded the 
prisoners. The soldiers, under the mayor's 
order, were retiring towards their barracks, pur- 
sued by the citizens. On Golden Hill, in John 
street, between Cliff and William streets, an- 
other band of soldiers reinforced their retir- 
ing companions, and they halted and charged 
upon their pursuers. They wounded a Quaker 
standing in his doorway, and three other citi- 
zens, and cut down a sailor, and thrust one man 
through with a bayonet. Of the soldiers sev- 
eral received blows and bruises, and more were 
disarmed. The collision was checked by offi- 
cers, who sent the soldiers to their barracks. 

The soldiers showed their rage the next morn- 
ing, January 19, by piercing with a bayonet the 
garments of a woman returning from market, 
and engaged in a riot with sailors who took the 
popular side, and one sailor was pierced through 
the body, and afterwards died. They refused 
to obey the mayor, who ordered them to their 
barracks, but thej^ were driven back by a party 
of Sons of Liberty. In the afternoon, soldiers 
assaulted a group of citizens who bore stout 
canes, and tried to take these away. Sons of 



378 NEW YORK. 

Liberty again appeared on the scene, and once 
more drove the soldiers before them. One 
soldier was badly wounded in the shoulder, 
another was put in prison, and several were dis- 
armed. 

In this battle of Golden Hill, the people were 
for the first time arrayed against the British 
soldiers. The latter were not under officers 
and in battle array, nor were the former mar- 
shaled for regular fighting. The elements of 
the coming strife came into prophetic conflict. 
The Sons of Liberty gained their advantage by 
the organization which they had for some time 
maintained. This incident stirred the people 
of Boston to the spirit of resistance which two 
months later led to the massacre of citizens by 
British troops. The irregular fighting in New 
York was the beginning of the shedding of 
blood for the independence of America. 

In New York, the people took courage and 
determination from the start. The corporation 
refused to allow another liberty pole to be set 
up to vindicate the rights of the citizens ; but 
John Lamb and his associates, on ground bought 
for the purpose, erected to " liberty and prop- 
erty," a pole, bound with iron. Soon after, the 
Sons of Liberty consecrated Hampden Hall to 
their cause, and March 19 joined in an ovation 
to McDougall, still in prison for his criticisms 



THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 379 

of the assembly. Ten days later the soldiers 
attacked the new pole, and sixty of them 
charged on citizens who rallied in its defense. 
The bells rang an alarm, whereupon the officers 
recalled their men to the barracks. The pole 
stood until after the capture of the city by the 
British. It was the emblem of the first advan- 
tage gained by the colonies over British sol- 
diers. 



^eparkrmrcU 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HESITATION. — DECISION FOR THE UNION. 

1770-1775. 

The British ministry placed its veto on a 
plan proposed by the assembly of New York, 
and approved by Lieutenant Governor Golden 
in November, 1769, for a general congress of 
all the colonies, ostensibly to provide uniform 
regulations for trade with the Indians. The 
home authorities saw the design of the New 
York patriots, which was, as Mr. Bancroft testi- 
fies, that such a union of the colonies would pro- 
mote " the security and development of colonial 
liberty through an American constitution," and, 
as most of them hoped, " without dissolving 
the connection with Great Britain ; " and to 
that end an invitation was extended to all the 
colonies to elect representatives to a congress 
which should exercise legislative power for 
them all. The ministerial veto postponed the 
project, which this middle province had so much 
at heart. The agreements for non-importation 
were also the device of New York, and were 



HESITATION— DECISION. 381 

faithfully observed by the colony. While it had 
lost all but one-sixth of its imports, New Eng- 
land and Pennsylvania kept one full half, and 
Canada and the northern colonies increased their 
trade. The temper of New York was shown by 
the welcome accorded in May, 1770, to Nathan 
Kogers, a Boston merchant, posted for violating 
the non-importation agreement, who came or 
was suspected of coming as an emissary to in- 
duce the merchants of the city to open the port 
to importers. Some of the merchants, with a 
multitude said to number four thousand per- 
sons, bore his coffin on a gallows, and hunted 
for him with a view to personal chastisement. 
He learned their purpose, and returned to Bos- 
ton. 

The repeal by parliament of all the duties ex- 
cept those on tea started the question whether 
all other commodities might not be imported. 
By a personal canvass in July, 1770, eleven 
hundred and eight}^ persons in New York de- 
clared in favor of limiting the restriction to tea 
alone, while those who insisted on continuing 
total non -importation, although led by Sears 
and McDougall, numbered only three hundred. 
Philadelphia and Bostcm and Carolina were 
very indignant because New York would not 
keep on with its sacrifice for non-importation ; 
but the action of this colony limited the con- 
test over duties to the single commodity, tea. 



382 NEW YORK. 

This difference with its neighbors gave a 
gracious introduction, October 19, 1770, to 
the new governor (John Murray, Earl of Dun- 
more), who in his address to the assembly 
in December, welcomed '' the salutary recon- 
ciliation effected by the people in this prov- 
ince," while the assembly, by a vote of eleven 
to five, expressed the hope that " the disposi- 
tion of the inhabitants of the colony to re- 
new commercial intercourse with the mother 
country " would lead to a " cordial reconcilia- 
tion." The home government, however, re- 
laxed nothing of its claims to control the 
revenue of the colonies. Governor Dunmore 
notified the assembly, January 18, 1771, that 
his instructions would not permit him to accept 
salary from the colony, but it would be paid 
from the king's treasury ; for which, however, 
as he did not state, parliament would collect 
duties in New York. Then, as little more than 
a passing shadow here, Dunmore was trans- 
ferred to Virginia, and William Tryon came 
from North Carolina to be governor of New 
York, July 9, 1771. He was received with 
feasts and addresses, and brought the reputation 
of a vigorous and able executive. By receipt 
of salary from the king's treasury, he was inde- 
pendent of the assembly, which did not criti- 
cise the arrangement. He evidently possessed 



HESITATION— DECISION. 383 

qualities which in less troublous times would 
have secured success in administration ; and he 
began to identify himself with the colony, as 
was the rule with his predecessors, by buying 
land for speculation, choosing a location north 
of the lower Mohawk. By repeated proroga- 
tions, the assembly was kept from meeting after 
his arrival until January 7, 1772. His address 
at the opening overflowed with the "ardent 
desire to cooperate in every measure that will 
best promote the honor and dignity of his Ma- 
jesty's government, and advance the real felic- 
ity of a people eminently distinguished by their 
loyalty to the best of sovereigns and affectionate 
disposition to their mother country." The re- 
sponse was full of the like compliments, and of 
confidence in the wisdom of the new governor. 
Appearances certainly indicated that New York 
was weary of the contest with the home govern- 
ment, in which many of its people felt that it 
was bearing an undue share of the burdens. 
While the men of Rhode Island were burning 
the British cruiser Gaspee on the shores of 
Narragansett Bay, June 10, 1772, Governor 
Tryon and the assembly were attending to the 
internal affairs of the colony. The New York 
hospital was founded ; Tryon county was set off 
from Albany, covering the settlements on the 
Mohawk west of Schenectady, and the militia 



384 NEW YORK. 

of the colony was placed on a better footing 
than before. 

In the summer Governor Tryon reviewed 
three regiments of militia at Johnstown, Bur- 
net's Fields (now Herkimer), and German Flats 
respectively, and was so well pleased with their 
array that he appointed Sir William Johnson 
major-general of the northern department. At 
the first election Guy Johnson, nephew, son-in- 
law, and supposed heir of the general, and 
Hendrick Frey, were chosen to represent the 
new county in the assembly, and took their 
seats with the supporters of the government. 
In that body the most stirring division arose 
over the appointment of commissioners to settle 
the boundaries with Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut. The commissioners were appointed, 
and the controversies, after leading to hand-to- 
hand fighting between the settlers, on the dis- 
puted territory were happily, although only 
temporarily, adjusted. 

But the British government would not let 
New York pui^sue the paths of peace and inter- 
nal development. The device of parliament to 
relieve the East India Company from the export 
duty on tea, and thus enable it to sell in Amer- 
ica at a lower price, even including an im- 
port tax in the colonies, was proof that Britain 
was more intent on control over taxation in 



HESITATION — DECISION. 385 

America than on getting money from it. The 
attempt was cunning to ship tea at the same time 
to the four chief ports of the colonies, in the 
iiope that one at least would fail to adhere to 
its pledge of non-importation. The shipments 
aroused Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston ; 
but nowhere was vigilance greater and decision 
more outspoken than in New York. The Sons 
of Liberty relaxed no whit in their assertion of 
colonial rights, and knew each other and were 
ready to act together ; they forbade pilots to 
bring tea -ships inside of Sandy Hook ; and 
" the Mohawks " were organized to watch the 
tea -ships and prevent the landing of the ob- 
noxious article. 

A New York merchant named Kelly, who 
had declared in London that the soldier at the 
head of the government of the province would 
reduce the rebels and land the tea, was for his 
words burned in effigy, November 5, 1773, by 
his indignant fellow-citizens. On the same day 
a public meeting made formal declaration that 
tea should not be brought in at all, duty or 
no duty. New York was again leading in the 
assertion of the most pronounced patriotism. 
Commissioners appointed to receive the tea 
on its arrival resigned the dangerous position 
November 10. The Mohawks were notified, 
November 25, that the tea-ships might soon be 



386 NEW YORK. 

expected, and guards were set to intercept them. 
On the same day the Sons of Liberty resolved 
that any person aiding or abetting the introduc- 
tion of tea, or buying it, or carting it, should "be 
deemed an enemy of the liberties of America." 
They were fully ready for the vessel bearing 
tea for New York ; but it was driven out of its 
course by a storm, and put into Antigua for re- 
pairs, and did not arrive until April. In Bos- 
ton, therefore, the Mohawks had the first tea- 
party, such as they had prepared for each of the 
ports. Governor Try on, if bis words may be 
relied on, would have been prepared to assert 
the royal power ; for he declared that " the tea 
should be delivered to the consignees, even if it 
was sprinkled with blood." He thought it best, 
however, to try stratagem. December 16, the 
very day on which the tea was thrown over- 
board in Boston harbor, a meeting was held in 
" the Fields" (afterwards the City Hall park), 
to stir up the popular patriotism, when the gov- 
ernor proposed that on the arrival of the ship, 
all packages of tea should be placed in the 
fort, and held subject to the order of the king 
or the council. John Lamb, who had secured 
the appointment of a vigilance committee of 
fifteen to answer letters from Philadelphia and 
Boston, inviting union " to resist the insidious 
designs of Great Britain," exposed the gover- 



HESITATION — DECISION. 387 

nor's subterfuge, showing that if the tea were 
landed at all, the duty must first be paid. The 
meeting unanimously rejected the proposal, 
and significantly adjourned " till the arrival of 
the tea-ship." 

Before it arrived, Governor Tryon sailed for 
England, April 7, 1774, for consultation nomi- 
nally relative to difficulties over the boundaries 
in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, really doubt- 
less relative to the general situation of affairs. 
On his departure a public dinner, a ball, and 
addresses from many societies testified to his 
popularity, and the degree of doctor of laws 
from King's College to esteem for his learning. 
The assembly of the colony joined in the gen- 
eral praises and courtesies, and eulogized the up- 
rightness of a "governor who had so eminently 
distinguished himself by his constant attention 
to the care and prosperity of a free and happy 
people." Governor Tryon had reason for bear- 
ing to London testimony that New York was a 
loyal colony, if the assembly, and not the meet- 
ings in the city, fairly represented it. He de- 
livered to the board of trade an elaborate report 
on its resources, industries, and trade, which 
remains as an instructive portraiture of the do- 
main and its people. He returned to his post 
June 28, 1775, Lieutenant Governor Golden 
meanwhile exercising the executive functions. 



388 NEW YORK. 

While tlie New York assembly has been 
severely criticised for its lack of spirit in the 
years succeeding 1769, and for failing to keep 
pace with the political sentiments of its con- 
stituents, it added, January 20, 1774, another to 
the decisive steps which the colony had taken 
in the lead for continental union. The appoint- 
ment of the speaker, John Cruger, and twelve 
other members, including George Clinton, as a 
standing committee on correspondence, proved 
to be of vital importance in subsequent events. 
The committee was directed to obtain early in- 
formation of the proceedings of parliament and 
of action " which might affect the liberties and 
privileges of his Majesty's subjects in America," 
and to maintain correspondence with the sister 
colonies on these matters. The Palatine dis- 
trict of Tryon county showed the spirit of the 
rural people by a meeting held in July, 1774, 
at which eight resolutions were adopted on the 
state of the country, and a committee of cor- 
respondence was appointed. 

In spite of some signs of apathy and of occa- 
sional hesitation, New York was at heart not 
only devoted to the union of the colonies against 
involuntary taxation, but was fertile in sugges- 
tions to that end, and prompt whenever the 
crisis arose for patriotic action. When the 
Nancy arrived, April 18, 1774, with its long 



EESITA TION — DECISION. 389 

delayed cargo of tea, pilots detained it in the 
lower bay, and the vigilance committee took 
possession, until the captain agreed to return to 
England with packages undisturbed. On his 
departure a public demonstration was given, so 
that *' he might see with his own eyes the de- 
testation of the citizens of the measures pursued 
to enslave this country." The next day the 
London arrived with tea brought as a private 
venture by the captain. The vigilance com- 
mittee declared it confiscated ; and, while the 
Mohawks were getting ready to destroy it, the 
people seized the chests, eighteen in number, 
and cast their contents into the river. The 
captain was sent back to England. 

The Sons of Liberty were greatly incensed 
at the severe measures adopted by parliament 
and ministry towards Massachusetts in particu- 
lar and the colonies generally. They sent to 
Boston, May 14, 1774, a recommendation signed 
by Sears and McDougall for a general con- 
gress. Some rivalry arose over the composition 
of the vigilance committee, and May 16 a com- 
mittee of fifty-one was nominated to conduct 
correspondence with the other colonies. Three 
days later the nominations were confirmed, and 
large powers delegated to a sub - committee, 
consisting of Alexander McDougall, Isaac Low, 
James Duane, and Jobn Jay. This committee 



390 NEW YORK. 

recommended a general congress, and McDou- 
gall, who wanted first a stoppage of all trade, 
withdrew. 

In order to secure more decided action, a 
meeting was held, July 6, in " the Fields," 
where McDougall presided over an immense 
assemblage ; the act of parliament closing the 
port of Boston was denounced by resolution, 
and the people of that city were commended, 
while total non-importation was pledged and 
the call for a congress was approved. At this 
meeting Alexander Hamilton, a boy of seven- 
teen, won applause for his first speech. The 
committee of fifty-one formally disavowed the 
proceedings of the meeting, and eleven of its 
members withdrew, and issued an address jus- 
tifying their position. They included Francis 
Lewis, Alexander McDougall, Isaac Sears, Leon- 
ard Lispenard, and Peter V. B. Livingston, 
men who were then and afterwards conspicuous 
for ardent patriotism. When deputies to the 
congress were to be chosen, the committee of 
fifty-one nominated Philip Livingston, John 
Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay, 
who were chosen in spite of an attempt to sub- 
stitute McDougall for Jay. Suffolk, Orange, 
and Kings also chose delegates to the congress, 
while the towns on the Hudson, including Al- 
bany, invited the New York delegates to act 
for them. 



HESITATION— DECISION. 391 

This local contest was a sign of the divis- 
ions which existed in the colony. McDougall, 
Sears, Lamb, and John Morin Scott, and their 
organization, the Sons of Liberty, represented 
the most ardent patriotism, but not the mer- 
chants and the wealth. They were really for 
independence, and insisted on total non-impor- 
tation, and on prompt cooperation with Boston 
in resistance to the measures of parliament. 
The tories, on the other hand, were disposed 
to submit to Great Britain on the best terms 
practicable. Between these wings stood most 
of the merchants, the landed proprietors, and 
the so-called gentry, who insisted strongly on 
the rights of the colonists, and protested against 
involuntary taxation, but looked confidently 
for reconciliation with the home government. 
They lost faith, some rapidly, some by slower 
degrees, in the prospect of adjustment. They 
furnished their full share of the leaders in the 
events which were to create the new republic. 
They moved more deliberately than the Sons 
of Liberty, but in the same direction, as the 
declaration of the candidates for congress, ex- 
cept Duane, in favor of the stoppage of trade, 
proved. On one side John Jay, Huguenot by 
blood, a son-in-law of William Livingston, be- 
gan that career which bore him to the very 
highest diplomatic and judicial rank ; while on 



392 NEW YORK. 

the other Alexander Hamilton, by the impetu- 
osity of boyhood and West-Indian birth, took 
the radical position, devoting himself to the 
union for which he labored so ably and de- 
votedly, in such eminent stations, with a wis- 
dom and a foresight unsurpassed. They were to 
take their place among the foremost architects 
of the new republic ; and it is no disparagement 
to others to allege that as jurists and statesmen 
they were not second to any men of their time. 
In the congress suggested by New York, and 
assembled in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, 
the colony exercised its full weight. Jay took 
active and influential part in the debates, and 
placed himself on the doctrine of natural rights, 
but held that " the measure of arbitrary power 
was not full, and it must run over before we 
undertake to form a constitution." Duane was 
willing to recognize the acts of navigation, and 
on motion of John Adams the suggestion was 
adopted. On the sub-committee on the Declara- 
tion of Rights, Jay and Livingston acted with 
Richard Henry Lee, and the authorship of that 
bold and stirring document is attributed to Jay. 
He wrote and reported the address of congress 
to the people of Great Britain, which remains 
a model of patriotic argument and appeal. " If 
you are determined," the address said, " that 
your ministers shall wantonly sport with the 



HESITATION— DECISION. 393 

rights of mankind ; if neither the voice of jus- 
tice, the dictates of law, the principles of the 
constitution, nor the suggestions of humanity 
can restrain your hands from shedding human 
blood in such an impious cause, we must then 
tell you that we will never submit to be hewers 
of wood or drawers of water for any ministry 
or nation in the world." The American asso- 
ciation recommended by this congress agreed 
upon a pledge to import no goods from Great 
Britain or the West Indies, until the offensive 
acts of parliament were repealed, and thus car- 
ried out the suggestions of the Sons of Liberty 
and New York's great meeting in " the Fields." 
The New York assembly became the scene 
of a sharp and prolonged contest between the 
patriots and the tories. By a vote of eleven to 
twelve, the assembly refused to consider the 
proceedings of the congress. Philip Schuyler 
failed to secure an order to publish the corre- 
spondence of the New York committees with 
Connecticut and with Edmund Burke, now 
agent of the colony in London. Nathaniel 
Woodhull proposed to give thanks to the pro- 
vincial delegates in the congress, but the ma- 
jority refused ; and Philip Livingston met with 
a like rebuff on a motion to thank the mer- 
chants for adhering to the non-importation 
agreement. The tories also secured a majority 



394 NEW YORK. 

to refuse to consider the propriety of electing 
delegates to the session of the general congress 
appointed for May, although Schuyler and 
Clinton pressed the proposition "with all their 
zeal and energy. On several divisions between 
the tories and patriots, the vote was fifteen in 
the negative and ten in the affirmative. The 
latter were Ten Broeck, Thomas, Dewitt, Van 
Cortlandt, Boerum, Seaman, and their leaders, 
Schuyler, Clinton, Woodhull, and Philip Liv- 
ingston. 

The assembly had ceased to be in any sense 
a representative of the sentiments of the colony, 
and, April 3, 1775, it adjourned to May 3 ; but 
it was prorogued from time to time, and never 
met again. One of its last acts, however, was to 
adopt, March 25, memorials to parliament recit- 
ing the grievances and asking for redress, with 
obvious desire for reconciliation. Even from a 
body which had showed such anxiety to be loyal, 
parliament refused to receive such a memorial, 
when offered by Edmund Burke. Such evi- 
dences were, perhaps, required to prove that 
only one path lay open to America, — the path 
through war to independence. 

Alexander Hamilton in December, 1774, put 
forth perhaps the first of his series of essays in 
behalf of American liberty, at the same time 
expressing the " most ardent wish for a speedy 



HESITATION — DECISION. 395 

reconciliation, a perpetual and mutually bene- 
ficial union." The press was enlisted actively 
on both sides. Rivington's " Gazetteer " was 
so violent in its toryism that Captain Sears, 
December 4, 1775, led a party which destroyed 
its office. If the tories had been as bold or 
felt as secure of popular support, they might 
have made like answer to the arguments of 
Holt's " Journal," which spoke on the patriot 
side. 

The Philadelphia congress had recommended 
the formation of committees to " carry into exe- 
cution the association" to prevent importations. 
In New York a committee of sixty was organ- 
ized for that purpose. When the assembly re- 
fused to provide for the election of delegates to 
the next general congress, this committee sent 
out calls to the several counties to elect mem- 
bers to a provincial convention, to sit in New 
York April 20. Only nine counties responded ; 
but the convention met, and elected delegates 
for the province to the continental congress, 
adding George Clinton, Francis Lewis, Lewis 
Morris, Robert R. Livingston, and Philip Schuy- 
ler to the previous list. 

The force of public opinion was set in motion 
by the local committee by requiring signatures 
to a declaration in favor of colonial rights. 
The lines were thus sharply drawn, the timid 



396 NEW YORK. 

were enlisted, and the doubtful made to choose 
sides. Other colonies soon adopted the same 
policy. Albany responded to the suggestion to 
form local committees. In April, after the 
battle of Lexington was known, a committee 
of safety, protection, and correspondence was 
organized, and an address was sent to Boston 
pledging cooperation " in this arduous struggle 
for liberty." May 4, four companies of volun- 
teers were formed in the city, and the inhabi- 
tants of other parts of the colony were urged 
to follow the example. 

In New York city a committee of one hun- 
dred was organized. This committee issued a 
call for a provincial congress, to assemble May 
22, "to direct such measures as may be expe- 
dient for our common safety." Afterwards, 
April 19 was officially determined as the day 
on which royal rule ceased in New York, and 
on which the new government began. The 
provincial convention took the first action for 
the independent colony. 

This was the beginning of actual political rev- 
olution. The provincial convention, and after 
it the provincial congress, thrust aside the gen- 
eral assembly, and assumed the authority of a 
representative body, exercising the functions of 
government. The committee of one hundred 
took charge of municipal affairs, and sent ad- 



HESITA TION— DECISION. 397 

dresses to the corporation of London and to 
Lieutenant Governor Golden in tones of courtesy 
and loyalty. To London the committee said : 
" We cheerfully submit to a regulation of com- 
merce by the parent state, excluding in its na- 
ture every idea of taxation. This city is as 
one man in the cause of liberty ; our inhabitants 
are resolutely bent on supporting their commit- 
tee and the intended provincial and continental 
congresses. All the horrors of civil war will 
never compel America to submit to taxation by 
authority of parliament." 

This formal, deliberate action of New York 
was a surer sign of positive, unswerving de- 
cision than popular outbreaks ; and yet both 
failed to awaken the British ministers from the 
delusion that the colony would submit to the 
crown and parliament. The Sons of Liberty 
prevented the shipment of lumber or provisions 
for the British troops in Boston. Isaac Sears 
at a public meeting urged the people to get 
twenty-four rounds of ammunition for each 
man, and when arrested and sent to prison was 
rescued by the crowd. April 24, when the 
battle of Lexington was first reported, the Sons 
of Liberty closed the custom house, and forbade 
the departure of vessels for ports held by the 
royal authority. A party under John Lamb 
seized a lot of military stores at Turtle Bay, and 



398 NEW YORK. 

devoted them to the use of the colonial forces. 
The committee of one hundred took control of 
all arms and ammunition, and forbade the sale 
to any persons not of the patriot party. 

New York was thus ranged unequivocally 
with its sister colonies. The tories, though nu- 
merous, were stunned by the popular demon- 
strations. The party divisions tended to array 
the Episcopal Church, under President Cooper 
of King's College, with many of the large land- 
proprietors, and the later English immigrants, 
on the side of the crown. Governor Tryon 
and Lieutenant Governor Colden had used 
their power adroitly to win support. The 
headquarters of the army gathered, by contracts 
and social influence, a peculiar following. The 
Dutch population and the Huguenots, the 
Scotch, the Irish, and the Welsh had no par- 
tiality for Great Britain, and were intense in 
their love for liberty. Englishmen from New 
England, the dissenters from the Established 
Church, the artisans, the young men generally, 
fell naturally into the patriotic party. The 
Sons of Liberty furnished an organization al- 
ways ready for adventure, for bold and decisive 
action, with leaders whose courage never wa- 
vered, whose place was always in advance of 
public sentiment, who were from the outset 
fertile in suggestion, looking to union, and at 



HESITATION — DECISION. 399 

an early day to independence. The British 
ministry and the representatives of the crown 
counted on the influences which controlled the 
assembly, and failed to see the popular move- 
ment which overwhelmed governor and legis- 
lators. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE COISTLICT. — NEW YOEK BEAES THE 
BEUNT. 

1775-1780. 

TiCONDEEOGA was already a historic point 
on the soil of New York ; it held more than a 
hundred cannon, with stores, small arms, and a 
thirteen-inch mortar, guarded by a British gar- 
rison of about fifty. Its value as protecting the 
route to Quebec prompted the bold attempt to 
seize it, and, May 9, 1775, a party of eighty- 
three Green Mountain boys and men from 
Massachusetts crossed Lake Champlain, and 
under Ethan Allen the next day presented 
themselves at the stronghold. They rushed 
into the fort with the Indian war-whoop, and 
met with hardly a show of resistance. The 
adventure is one of the most striking of the 
war. " Deliver to me the fort instantly ! " de- 
manded Allen. " By what authority? " asked 
Delaplace, the commander, aroused from bed, 
and, as a report by Allen says, ''with his 
breeches in his hand." " In the name of the 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 401 

great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," 
was the startlmg response of Allen; and the 
first of the few forts captured from British sol- 
diers in the struggle was surrendered, with its 
garrison and contents, to the improvised troops 
of the republic yet unborn. Crown Point was 
given up, with its garrison of twelve men, as soon 
as Seth Warner led a detachment against it. 
Benedict Arnold, afterwards notorious, made a 
dash on Lake Champlain, and May 18 captured 
a garrison of twelve, with its artillery, at St. 
John's. The first forts were taken, the first 
British garrisons were made prisoners, on the 
soil of New York, by the forces of the united 
colonies. 

In addition to the quarrel with the Brit- 
ish government, the controversy over the so- 
called New Hampshire grants culminated in the 
spring of this year. Land on both sides of Lake 
Champlain was claimed under title from New 
York and from New Hampshire, and Lieutenant 
Governor Colden called out the militia to en- 
force the title of the former. Resistance was 
organized, and the Green Mountain boys set 
up for themselves. For Allen and Warner, the 
heroes of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, with 
six others, the governor of New York had of- 
fered a reward of XoO for insurrection. The 
larger conflict postponed the decision of the 



402 NEW YORK. 

strife, which was finally adjusted by the crea- 
tion of the State of Vermont. A popular con- 
vention framed a separate government, January 
16, 1777 ; but owing to opposition from New 
York, the new State was not recognized by 
congress until March, 1791. 

When the continental congress met again, 
May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, its members 
were not aware of the capture made the same 
morning in its name. Other affairs in New 
York, however, called for a large share of its 
attention. Among the delegates from this col- 
ony and their accepted leaders were George 
Clinton, Robert R. Livingston, and John Jay. 
British troops had presented themselves in the 
harbor of New York, and advice was asked from 
congress how to treat them. Congress gave 
instructions that the landing of the troops 
should not be opposed, but that they should not 
be allowed to erect fortifications, and that the 
inhabitants should protect their persons and 
property and repel force by force. At the same 
time a Connecticut regiment under General 
Wooster was invited to encamp at Harlem for 
the defense of the city. The British troops 
came in, but were soon ordered to Boston, and 
were forbidden by the committee of one hun- 
dred to take any arms or stores with them other 
than their own weapons and accoutrements. 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 403 

In spite of this order, an attempt was made to 
carry away all the arms that could be reached. 
Marinas Willett, afterwards a colonel in the 
patriot army, headed a small party of Sons of 
Liberty that stopped five loaded carts ; and, en- 
couraged by John Morin Scott, seized the arms, 
which were afterwards used by the first troops 
raised in New York for the continental army. 

Guy Johnson was busy stirring up the Six 
Nations, according to the king's orders, " to take 
up the hatchet against his Majesty's rebellious 
subjects." Philip Schuyler was at the head of 
a committee to prevent their alliance with the 
king. Both sides used their best efforts, and 
protection was offered to Johnson if he would 
keep the red men neutral. 

In the provincial congress which assembled 
May 22, 1775, and approved the " American 
association," Gouverneur Morris, only twenty- 
three years old, gave token of the eminent 
ability which he inherited, and which he was 
to exhibit in a long and illustrious career. He 
carried against Sears and McDougall a recom- 
mendation for a plan of conciliation, admitting 
the right of the mother country to regulate 
trade, and the duty of the colonies to contribute 
to the royal treasury by grants made by the 
separate assemblies or by a general congress. 
Mr. Morris in this body also proposed the issue 



404 NEW YORK. 

of paper money, of which each colony should 
be responsible for its share, and the whole 
should be guaranteed by the general congress. 
This was the beginning of the continental cur- 
rency. The provincial congress showed its 
temper when on the third day of its session it 
condemned the prosecution of hostilities against 
the people of Canada as " infamous." 

Preparations for war, however, were going 
on, although Jay in the continental congress 
moved for a second petition to the king, and 
Duane moved the " opening of negotiations to 
accommodate the unhappy disputes," as a part 
of the petition, and both were sustained by a 
majority. Congress forbade movements initi- 
ated in New York for the invasion of Canada, 
while an address written by Jay to the peo- 
ple of that province invited their cooperation 
with the other colonies. With these efforts for 
peace, congress, May 25, directed New York to 
fortify the upper end of Manhattan Island and 
both sides of the Hudson, with a post near 
Lake George. Events moved rapidly. When 
George Washington passed through New York, 
June 25, to take command of the continental 
army at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was ten- 
dered an address by the provincial congress, not 
altogether warlike in tone. Governor Tryon 
returned to his post June 30, 1775, and three 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 405 

days later received the congratulations of the 
mayor and aldermen. Lieutenant Governor 
Colden's last acts were efforts at conciliation 
and the transmission of a request to General 
Gage not to send soldiers into the city. He 
retired to a farm on Long Island, and there 
died, September 28, 1776. Governor Tryon re- 
mained to represent the king in his schemes 
for crushing the liberties of the colony. 

The patriot leaders were in training for the 
large events at hand. Isaac Sears, now cap- 
tain, was sent, August 22, to remove the guns 
on the Battery. A broadside from the war 
vessel Asia in the bay killed three of his party, 
in which Alexander Hamilton was active and 
efficient. When soon afterward the populace 
threatened personal injury to President Cooper 
of King's College, young Hamilton checked the 
violence to the surprise of his tory instructor. 

On the call of the continental congress, the 
colony soon raised its quota of three thousand 
men, and they were divided into four regiments, 
with Alexander McDougall as the first colonel. 
Philip Schuyler was the third of four major 
generals appointed by the general congress, 
and Richard Montgomery, a brother-in-law of 
Robert R. Livingston, was the second in a 
list of eight brigadier generals. Schuyler was 
placed in command of the northern department, 



406 NEW YORK. 

and an expedition against Quebec was planned. 
On account of his serious illness the command 
fell on Montgomery, who showed great zeal and 
courage. His force of eight hundred men was 
too small for the capture of the city, and his 
death, December 31, from a cannon shot added 
to the disasters of the campaign. 

This expedition against Canada took from 
New York city its continental troops, and con- 
gress ordered a force from Connecticut under 
General Charles Lee, and from New Jersey un- 
der Lord Sterling, to assert its power in that 
vicinity. The tories on Long Island were dis- 
armed, and efforts were put forth to prevent 
British ships in the bay from control on land. 
Sir William Johnson had died July 11, 1774, 
and his son, Sir John, and his nephew and son- 
in-law, Guy Johnson, who were staunch sup- 
porters of the crown, were arming the Scotch 
Highlanders. To the committee of Tryon 
county who called upon Sir John to avow him- 
self, he declared himself for the king, and signs 
were many that he did not mean to act alone. 
General Schuyler, in May, 1776, directed a 
regiment returning from Canada, under Colonel 
Dayton, to arrest him on the charge of violating 
his parole to abstain from hostile acts ; but 
both Johnsons escaped into Canada with many 
followers, and entered into the military ser- 



THE BRUNT OF TEE CONFLICT. 407 

vice of Great Britain, and came back to bear 
slaughter and ruin. 

A committee of safety in the recess of con- 
gress wielded the power of government, and 
committees in the counties supplemented its 
authority. Together they went forward with- 
out written laws, and exercised military con- 
trol. In the Mohawk Valley such organization 
was formed in the summer of 1774. Nicholas 
Herkimer, soon to be brigadier general by ap- 
pointment of congress, a descendant of a Pala- 
tine immigrant, was chairman of the Try on 
county committee, and became the commander 
of the local forces raised for the war. These 
organizations stirred up the patriotism of the 
people and circumvented tory intrigues. 

Two efforts were made to get together a 
quorum of the second provincial congress. The 
first, for a session in October, failed ; and when 
the body met, December 6, Queens and Rich- 
mond refused to send delegates, because they 
were under tory control. Governor Tryon was 
held responsible for the course of these coun- 
ties, and, hearing that his person was to be 
seized, he asked pledges that he should not be 
arrested. The chairman of the city committee 
assured him of " all protection from the citi- 
zens consistent with their own safety and pres- 
ervation." Knowing his own plans, he took 



408 NEW YORK. 

refuge on the sloop of war Halifax Id the bay, 
October 19, 1775, and there and on another 
vessel, the Duchess of Gordon, exercised his ex- 
ecutive functions. His eyes pierced the future ; 
for he told Lord Dartmouth, in an official letter, 
July 4, 1775 (prophetic day ! ) : " Oceans of 
blood may be spilled, but in my opinion Amer- 
ica will never receive parliamentary taxation." 

The test was at hand. Before he fled to the 
war-vessel, he declared that "the Americans, 
from politicians, are now becoming soldiers." 
The tories and patriots were arming in the Mo- 
hawk Valley, but the latter held the ground. 
In Schoharie, a patriot band put to flight a tory 
body with red cockades, and slew Neckus, an 
Indian chief, and thus exasperated the Iroquois. 
General Schuyler did not favor using the red 
men in the war, although Johnson was mar- 
shaling them on the side of the tories. James 
Dean secured from the Iroquois chiefs, March 
28, 1776, the renewal of a pledge of neutrality ; 
but his efforts and those of Samuel Kirkland 
held only a part of the Oneidas to their faith. 

In New York city, colonial forces had been 
concentrated, although some patriots were un- 
willing to draw to that point the force of Brit- 
ish attack. While it was not possible perma- 
nently to hold the city for the colonies, it was 
wise to check the British movements at every 



THE BRUNT OF fHE CONFLICT. 409 

point. General Washington was therefore right 
in ordering General Lee to occupy the city, as 
he did on the very day when Sir Henry Clin- 
ton's squadron sailed into the harbor. Perhaps 
it was Lee's presence which induced Clinton 
simply to pay " a visit to his friend Tryon," 
and to sail to the south. The danger was only 
postponed ; and Washington, with such an 
army as he could gather, came himself, April 
14, 1776, to direct affairs. While congress was 
preparing the Declaration of Independence, re- 
ported by a committee of which Robert R. 
Livingston was a member, New York city was 
the centre of stirring war movements. Fortifi- 
cations were built. Great activity was exhib- 
ited in making implements of war. Brass field 
pieces, fourteen pounders, and iron twenty-four 
pounders were cast, as also their shot. Powder 
was made, and small arms were manufactured, 
although some trouble was met with about the 
locks. A fleet was gathered of such boats as 
were at hand, to prevent communication be- 
tween the British war vessels and the shore, 
and to watch the tory movements. 

A committee, of which John Jay was chair- 
man, arrested Oliver DeLancey and other tory 
leaders for conspiring with Tryon, and seeking 
to enlist men for the king's army ; but when 
the populace rode other offensive persons on 



410 NEW YORK. 

rails, a formal censure was voted by the pro- 
vincial congress. That body was intent on ob- 
serving all the forms of law, and May 31, on 
account of the " dissolution of the former gov- 
ernment," it called for a new election to organ- 
ize institutions " to secure the rights, liberties, 
and happiness of tlie good people of the col- 
ony." The election was held June 19, and was 
strongly in favor of union and independence. 
The records of the colony were removed to 
Kingston, to preserve them from the British 
forces, and the new provincial congress met at 
White Plains, where, July 9, on motion of John 
Jay, who had been summoned from Philadel- 
phia for counsel, it approved of the Declaration 
of Independence, which was publicly read in 
New York and Albany, with every manifesta- 
tion of popular jo}^ Meanwhile the colony had 
organized its militia, and added it to the army, 
numbering all told 10,514, finally raised to 
17,000, which Washington had rallied, and 
with it, undiscipHned, and with such arms as 
could be found, he was to confront a force of 
24,000 British veterans with hosts of tory al- 
lies. General Howe landed on Staten Island 
early in July, and his brother. Admiral Howe, 
was already in the bay with his fleet. On 
Long Island, General Israel Putnam was in 
command of the patriots. Over that island 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 411 

General Howe chose his route to the city. In 
his preliminary movements, a patriot detach- 
ment under General Sullivan was captured. 
Lord Stirling, when attacked, made a gallant 
stand, but was beaten and captured ; Oliver 
DeLancey, who had been appointed a general, 
led a party which captured his former associate, 
General Nathaniel Woodhull, and the latter 
was so stabbed with a cutlass that he died of 
his wounds. 

General Washington gave his direct atten- 
tion to the general movements, but in the bat- 
tle of Long Island, fought August 27, the im- 
mediate commander was, on the patriot side, 
General Putnam, while General Howe con- 
trolled the British movements. The disparity 
"between the forces in numbers and all accesso- 
ries was too great to render the result doubtful. 
Washington estimated the American loss in 
prisoners at 1,000, and 200 were killed and 
wounded. The British reported a loss of 367 
killed, wounded, and prisoners. By this battle 
the British secured the chief seaport, and the 
political and military centre of the royal power 
in the colonies. Their victory was inevitable, 
but it produced at first almost a panic, espe- 
cially in New York. Distrust of the fighting 
ability of the colonists was fostered, and the 
ranks of tory reginnents in this colony received 
large additions. 



412 NEW YORK. 

Washington met the emergenc}^ in the only 
way open for saving the remaining force, so 
poorly disciplined and worse equipped and 
armed. By deceiving the enemy, he withdrew 
it safely from before the victorious thousands 
of General Howe. Tarrying in the city until 
September 12, he then, on the advice of a coun- 
cil of war, abandoned that position and en- 
camped his army on Harlem Heights. Howe 
took easy possession of New York, and, by send- 
ing frigates up the Hudson to cut off supplies, 
soon compelled Washington to fall back to 
White Plains. There, October 28, a battle oc- 
curred, where the American loss was nearly 400. 
Fort Washington was captured by the British, 
November 16, and Fort Lee two days later. 
Washington was compelled to leave New York 
to its fate, and started on his retreat through 
New Jersey. The British boasted nearly 3,000 
prisoners, and were able to make the city the 
base of their operations until the treaty of 
peace was signed. 

They were not so fortunate in the interior 
of New York. General Gates had been placed 
in command of the patriot forces that were re- 
tiring from the ill-fated Canadian expedition. 
General Arnold attempted a movement on 
Lake Champlain, but lost his boats, although 
winning credit for daring and skill. Crown 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 413 

Point was given up to the British, October, 
1776, under pressure of movements directed 
by General Carleton from Quebec ; and June 
16, 1777, General Burgoyne occupied that po- 
sition. The phm of the campaign was compre- 
hensive. Howe was to ascend the Hudson, 
breaking down all opposition before him. From 
the west, St. Leger was to descend by way of 
the Mohawk Valley. They were both to join 
Burgoyne, and the united armies in the vicin- 
ity of Albany would divide the colonies, and be 
ready to strike in any direction. With New 
York thus won, independence and nationality, 
the British ministry believed, would not be 
possible for the Americans. 

Lord Germaine, at Whitehall, neglected to 
give the necessary orders to Howe, and that 
factor in the strategy failed. The movement 
by St. Leger was regarded as an essential fea- 
ture in the operations. He was not only spe- 
cially selected, but his troops and equipments 
were carefully designated by the war oflSce. 
The headquarters of the northern department 
of the American forces were at Albany, and 
General Schuyler, who was in command, well 
understood that Burgoyne must be fought in 
his right wing on the upper Mohawk, as well 
as in front along the route by Lake Cham- 
plain. For the first purpose. Fort Stanwix was 



414 NEW YORK, 

strengthened, and the garrison, under Colonel 
Peter Gansevoort, was warned of the advance 
of St. Leger. That commander, skilled in bor- 
der warfare, brought with him a force of 1,700 
fighting men, including, as he reports, " artil- 
lery, the thirty-fourth and the king's regiment, 
with the Hessian riflemen, and the whole corps 
of Indians," with Sir John Johnson's regiment 
of Royal Greens, and John Butler's Rangers, 
both recruited from the tories of Tryon and 
Schoharie counties. Joseph Brant led the Iro- 
quois, who sent four tribes, the Oneidas and 
Tuscaroras alone standing aloof. The advance 
from Montreal was by way of Buck Island and 
the eastern mouth of Lake Ontario. The in- 
vaders pressed forward without meeting an ob- 
stacle, and August 3 invested Fort Stanwix, 
which the leaders had promised the Indians 
would " fall without a single shot." They ex- 
pected, when the fort was won, to sweep down 
the valley with rapine and destruction, and 
unite with the forces of Burgojme. 

Colonel Gansevoort held the fort with the 
third New York regiment ; and the very day 
before the enemy appeared, Lieutenant Colonel 
Mellon, of the Massachusetts line, arrived with 
two hundred men and a convoy of boats loaded 
with supplies. This force withstood the siege, 
and arranged to cooperate with the army that 
was hastening forward to check the invaders. 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 415 

For the invasion had roused the patriots, and 
General Nicholas Herkimer rallied the farmers 
of the valley for the defense of their homes 
and the relief of the garrison. He summoned 
all the male inhabitants between sixteen and 
sixty years of age, and eight hundred responded 
to the call. They were nearly all by blood 
Germans and Low Dutch, although the roster 
shows the presence of a few persons of English, 
Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and French origin. The 
little army reached Oriskany, six miles from 
the fort, August 6. Taunted for slowness in 
his movements, Herkimer hastened his advance, 
without taking necessary precautions against 
an ambuscade, of which he had received notice. 
This had been set on the western banks of a 
ravine, a mile from the Mohawk. From the 
woods the British forces greeted the advancing 
patriots with a deadly fire. Lines of battle 
were not maintained. The British regulars 
and the German chasseurs were not equal here 
to the sturdy farmers of the Mohawk Valley, 
and to the red warriors. On the patriot side, 
a few Oneidas only confronted the four tribes 
of their confederacy, and tradition represents 
an Oneida maiden beside a chief, her father, 
using her rifle in the thickest of the fight. 
Checked at the first fire, the patriots rallied, 
took shelter behind trees, or, standing back to 



416 NEW YORK. 

back, aimed at the foes who seemed to surround 
them. Often the combat became close and 
personal. The Indians rushed on with their 
tomahawks, and the patriots met them with 
knives and the butts of their guns. In lack of 
arms, some of the patriots fought with spears. 
Old neighbors, tories on the one side and patri- 
ots on the other, fought hand to hand. Eye- 
witnesses have related how by spear-thrust and 
bayonet, by rifle-butt as well as by bullets, in- 
vaders were killed. The slaughter became so 
terrible that the red men suspected that they 
were betrayed, and for a while turned their 
weapons against their allies, and then with- 
drew. The fighting began at ten o'clock in 
the morning, and lasted for five hours. While 
the battle was raging and the patriots were 
holding their own. Colonel Marinus Willett, 
according to the plan agreed upon, made a 
sortie from Fort Stanwix against the British 
camp, and thus forced the recall of the columns 
that had marched to Oriskany. The fort and 
the garrison were saved, and the invaders 
checked and compelled to turn back. 

The battle of Oriskany was, for the numbers 
engaged, the bloodiest, as it was perhaps the 
most picturesque battle of the Revolution. The 
patriots lost, besides wounded and prisoners, 
two hundred killed, one-fourth of their whole 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 417 

army ; while the British suffered a loss of one 
hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and the 
Iroquois were discouraged by the sacrifice of 
sixty or seventy of their chiefs and warriors. 
General Benedict Arnold was ordered by Gen- 
eral Schuyler to organize and lead an expedition 
to relieve the beleaguered fort ; and rumors of 
this movement went long before it, for he did 
not reach Fort Stanwix until August 24. Two 
days before, St. Leger fled. He left his tents 
with most of his artillery and stores, and his 
men threw away their packs as spoils for the 
patriots. The flight became a disgraceful rout. 
The Indians butchered alike prisoners and 
British, who could not keep up with their swift 
retreat. St. Leger quarreled with Johnson, and 
the collapse of his expedition was utter, and the 
victory of the yeomen of the Mohawk Valley 
was for the time complete. 

The battle broke up the plan of the grand 
campaign, and it proved that the colonists would 
fight, and fight well, against the veterans of the 
British armies and their allies. It turned the 
tide of defeat and of despondency which the 
events of the preceding year had raised. It not 
only prevented cooperation by St. Leger with 
Burgoyne, but enabled the militia of Tryon and 
Schoharie counties to join the army at Saratoga. 
Every available element of strength was impera- 
tively needed there. 



418 NEW YORK. 

General Burgoyne was slow in gathering his 
army of invasion, but he massed it at Crown 
Point June 27. As it appeared on Lake Cham- 
plain, it is described as '' forming the most com- 
plete and splendid regatta ever beheld." Its 
commander was full of confidence. In his order 
he announced, " The services required of this 
particular expedition are critical and conspicu- 
ous," and declared, " This army must not re- 
treat." The forces comprised 3,724 British 
rank and file ; 3,016 German auxiliaries ; In- 
dians, 400 ; artillerymen, 473 ; Canadians, 250 ; 
showing a total of 7,863. From Canada a 
column of 2,000 militia was expected, but that 
province took no zealous part in fighting the 
battles of the crown. 

General Schuyler arranged for the defense of 
Ticonderoga, although many officers regarded it 
as untenable. His decision was wise, even if 
no other result could be attained than to delay 
the invaders. General St. Clair, however, per- 
mitted the British to secure command of neigh- 
boring eminences, to one of which cannon were 
hoisted from tree to tree, and found himself 
compelled to evacuate the post, July 5. A part 
of the retreating flotilla was captured by the 
British ; some batteaux were fired to keep them 
out of the hands of the enemy ; and the Ameri- 
cans on their retreat destroyed the fort and 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 419 

mills at Skenesborough (the present White- 
hall), where Burgoyne soon established his 
headquarters. At Hubbardton the invaders 
fell upon twelve hundred Americans, and over- 
powered and scattered them. On reports of 
these disasters. General Schuyler hastened from 
Albany to Fort Edward, where, when St. Clair's 
forces came in, and with all efforts at recruit- 
ing, he was able to rally only 4,467 men, poor 
in equipments, ammunition, and supplies. But 
Burgoyne had already blundered. An inves- 
tigation before the house of commons after- 
wards held that he should have proceeded by 
way of Lake George southward, and should 
have made haste to reach Albany. General 
Schuyler, from Fort Edward, blocked Wood 
Creek and the road for fifteen miles to the 
north, and removed the bridges. So formidable 
were the obstructions that the British army 
spent twenty-four days in advancing twenty-six 
miles. 

The American commander was thus active 
and was full of courage. He wrote that the 
enemy would not see Albany in this campaign. 
As Fort Edward was in ruins, and was not re- 
garded by military engineers as defensible, it 
was abandoned by Schuyler July 27, and three 
days later, General Burgoyne took up his posi- 
tion there. After a council of war, the Amer- 



420 NEW YORK. 

ican army was withdrawn gradually with all 
its artillery to Stillwater, and soon to Van 
Schaick's Island, nine miles north of Albany, 
while renewed efforts were put forth to collect 
reinforcements. Burgoyne showed no haste. 
He spent the time until the middle of August 
in bringing his provisions and ammunition to 
Fort Edward. 

The position was not unfavorable for the 
Americans. St. Leger's defeat and retreat were 
the ruin of the British right wing. No imme- 
diate danger was apparent from the lower Hud- 
son. Schu^der had checked the movements of 
the vastly superior force of Burgoyne, which 
was growing weaker as it advanced to diffi- 
culties constantly increasing. On the other 
hand, the patriots of the Mohawk Valley and 
the column which Arnold had led to Fort Stan- 
wix were coming into the American camp ; but 
the militia of New England, earnestly looked for, 
did not respond to the summons, and their ab- 
sence threw shadows over Schuyler's hopes. Not 
onl}^ now, but at that time, an impartial judge 
should concede that this general had consum- 
mated the plans and prepared the means for 
the overthrow of the British army of invasion. 
But congress yielded to criticism of the loss of 
Ticonderoga and of the tactics of the American 
commander, and, August 4, although General 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 421 

Washington declined to comply with a request 
to name an officer to relieve General Schuyler, 
that body aj^pointed General Horatio Gates to 
the head of the northern army. I'he battle of 
Bennington, August 15, taught Burgoyne that 
he could not get sufficient supplies from the 
country, and that the regular soldiers of the 
Old World met with dangerous enemies in the 
farmers of the frontiers. When General Gates 
assumed command of the northern army, Au- 
gust 19, he was received with courtesy by 
Schuyler, and made no change in the plans of 
the campaign. The troops that were coming 
in were subjected to strict discipline, and the 
preparations for meeting Burgoyne were care- 
fully perfected. 

The British general could not secure from 
Canada before September 12, a supply of pro- 
visions for thirty days, which he deemed neces- 
sary for his advance. The next day his army 
crossed the Hudson, and, September 14, en- 
camped at Saratoga, where the harvests on 
the homestead of General Schuyler were 
reaped to feed the troops. In the mean time, 
September 8, the American army moved north- 
ward to Stillwater, and, on a review of the 
ground, to Bemus Heights, overlooking the 
river, where General Kosciusko, the engineer- 
in-chief, erected fortifications. Here Gates took 



422 NEW YORK. 

up his position on the day that Burgoyne de- 
cided to advance. 

A movement in the rear of Burgoyne's forces 
was begun September 13 by Colonel Brown, 
who swept over all the outposts from Fort Ed- 
ward to Fort George and Ticonderoga, destroy- 
ing for the time all the communications, and 
exposing the weakness of the British situation. 

General Stark arrived in the American camp 
with the New Hampshire militia, September 
18, and they were welcomed for their recent 
victory at Bennington ; but, as their term of 
enlistment expired that day, the men refused 
to unpack their baggage, and, although a battle 
was known to be imminent, they marched away 
home. 

Burgoyne was actually in motion for an at- 
tack which his necessities forbade him to delay 
longer. Starting September 17, his columns 
were not ready for action until the 19th. His 
plan of battle was elaborate, and his forces well 
arranged, and were admirably directed. He 
led the centre in person, and the battle was 
severe and bloody, and was pronounced one of 
the longest and most obstinate of the war. 
On the British side, 3,500 men were brought 
into the field, and they were met by 3,000 
Americans. Attack and counter-attack were 
repeated ; the American rifle was opposed to 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 423 

British discipline and the British bayonet. The 
advantage changed from side to side, as the 
superior generalship of the British struggled 
with the soldierly qualities of the Americans. 
In Burgoyne's army the loss in killed, wounded, 
and missing was six hundred ; in that of Gates, 
three hundred and twenty-one. Victory was 
claimed by both armies. An invading expedi- 
tion could not afford many such victories, count- 
ing numbers only, and still less could it hope to 
conquer so sturdy and determined a foe. Bur- 
goyne, at all events, was not able at once to 
renew the assault. 

The American army was all the while receiv- 
ing reinforcements. The influence of Schuyler 
brought in a band of the Oneidas and Tusca- 
roras. The British commander grew uneasy be- 
cause he heard of no supporting movement up 
the Hudson, while he was compelled, October 
3, to reduce the rations of his soldiers, failing 
to levy supplies from the country, and suffer- 
ing from the severing of his communications. 

Burgoyne himself led out a force of fifteen 
hundred men and ten pieces of artillery, Octo- 
ber 7, to test the American position, and to 
cover a foraging party. Suddenly attacked on 
his left and then on his right, he was compelled 
to retreat with the loss of six hundred killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, leaving eight guns. 



424 NEW YORK. 

Among those mortally wounded were General 
Fraser, one of the most competent field officers, 
and Sir Francis Clark, principal aide, while 
others of high rank were killed or prisoners. 
The American loss did not exceed one hundred 
and fifty killed and wounded. The battle closed 
with a successful attack by General Learned 
on the intrenched camp of the Germans and 
Canadians, but darkness put an end to opera- 
tions. 

The same night General Gates sent a col- 
umn to hold the crossing of the Hudson at Sar- 
atoga. This movement in his rear alarmed 
Burgoyne, and he retreated, reaching Saratoga 
on the night of the 9th, and on the 10th he 
encamped on the height above the Fishkill. 
Thither Gates followed, and took position on 
Saratoga Heights. In the midst of a heavy 
fog, October 11, an attack was ordered by 
Gates, in the belief that the British were still 
retreating, but they were found in line of battle. 
The American artillery was turned upon the 
passages of the river, and on the boats as well 
as on the camp and the army. Bui^goyne 
stated afterwards that the guns commanded 
every part of his position. No way of retreat 
was left open. The invasion was a confessed 
failure, and capitulation only remained for the 
army that started with the order that it " must 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 425 

not retreat." The two battles which shattered 
the strength of the invaders were for a while 
named after Saratoga, as the more prominent 
place ; but the centennial celebration has taught 
us to call them the first and second battles of 
Bemus Heights, the spot where they were 
fought. 

Saratoo^a retains the distinction of the final 
acts in the invasion. There negotiations were 
begun, October 14, between Gates and Bur- 
goyne, which resulted in a convention, three 
days later, for the surrender of the British 
army. That army laid down its arms, October 
17, on the north bank of the Fishkill, and Bur- 
goyne, with his generals of division, Riedesel 
and Phillips, was received at the American 
headquarters by Gates and Schuyler, the latter 
coming from Albany to witness the British 
commander give up his sword. The troops in- 
cluded in the surrender numbered 5,791, of 
whom 3,379 were English regulars and pro- 
vincial militia, and 2,412 Germans, and the 
artillery consisted of twenty-seven cannon. 
The Americans had rallied at this time a force 
of 11,098, counting 7,716 men of the continen- 
tal army and 3,382 militia. Burgoyne had no 
possible alternative but surrender. Beaten in 
fight, with his lines of communication cut ojff, 
he was overpowered and practically surrounded 



426 NEW YORK. 

by columns against which further struggle was 
hopeless. 

Ticonderoga and Crown Point fell at once 
into the hands of the Americans. Sir Henry 
Clinton had in the meanwhile ascended the 
Hudson River to West Point, capturing two 
forts and burning Kingston. But O risk any and 
Saratoga shattered the plans of a grand cam- 
paign. The attempt to cut the colonies into 
two parts with .the British army between them 
had failed. The brave fighting of the colonial 
army had given pledges that independence 
would be won. France saw that its alliance 
would insure the creation of a new nation in 
America. Victory was not assured for the 
united colonies, but these events on the soil of 
New York rendered it possible. 

New York was to suffer still more from 
bloody conflict. Its chief city was hopelessly 
held by the British army as its ofiicial head- 
quarters. The Six Nations were stirred to hos- 
tility by Sir John Johnson and the Mohawk 
chief Joseph Brant, with Walter Butler, of in- 
famous name. Their tory partisans were more 
cruel than the red men. At Cobleskill, Scho- 
harie county, June 1, 1778, Brant won a savage 
triumph with a mixed force, and burned and 
plundered the settlement. Springfield was also 
destroyed, and the assailants retired. A month 



TME BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 427 

later tlie Indians were again at Cobleskill, and, 
burning where they went, beat off a force that 
attempted to check them. The valley of the 
Schoharie-kill was in the succeeding year sub- 
jected to invasions from the Senecas, and suf- 
fered severely. About Fort Stanwix the tories 
and red men were continually hovering, and 
more than once persons were pounced upon 
and scalped in sight of the works. In 1778, in 
the early autumn, German Flats was visited by 
Brant and his followers, and was entirely de- 
stroyed, although all the inhabitants but two 
were warned in season to escape with their 
lives. An expedition was sent after the In- 
dians, but failed to bring the warriors to battle, 
and was rewarded only by laying waste the In- 
dian villages of Unadilla and Oquaga, and cap- 
turing a large supply of cattle and provisions. 

At Cherry Valley a fort had been built, and 
the village was occupied by a band of colonial 
troops under Colonel Ichabod Alden. He rested 
in security, and the settlers were scattered in 
their habitations, regardless of warnings of ap- 
proaching foes. Under cover of a severe storm 
of snow and rain, November 11, Brant and 
Butler, with eight hundred Indians and tories, 
swooped upon the homes, and forty-three per- 
sons, including women and children, were butcli- 
ered, forty taken prisoners, all the buildings 



428 NEW FORK. 

were burned, and the domestic animals seized. 
So brutal was the massacre that Brant charged 
Butler and the tories with acting against his 
protests. Brant himself was content, July 19, 
1779, with destroying the church, mills, houses, 
and barns at Minnisink, Orange county, with- 
out sacrificing lives, but turned upon a party 
sent in pursuit, and, after capturing a detach- 
ment, butchered the wounded, and slew forty- 
five who tried to escape. 

Such deeds produced a terror in the colony. 
No one knew where the red men and tories 
would strike next. To check and counteract 
them, excursions were made against the tribes 
in their homes. One of these was led by 
Colonels Van Schaick and Willett from Fort 
Stanwix in April, 1779. Proceeding by "Wood 
Creek and Oneida Lake, they penetrated the 
villages of the Onondagas, which they de- 
stroyed, and seized the provisions and even the 
weapons of the red men, who fled into the wil- 
derness. In the same year, General Washing- 
ton ordered an expedition into the Seneca and 
Cayuga country, to break the power of the 
tribes, as well as to punish tbem for their out- 
rages. General Sullivan led the main army 
from the south, while General James Clinton 
conducted a column by way of Otsego Lake and 
the Susquehanna Valley. They destroyed the 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 429 

crops of the Senecas, and ravaged their country 
wherever they marched. At Newtown, near 
Elmira, they assembled their army August 29, 
and found Brant and Johnson and Butler, with 
a following numbered at eight hundred tories 
and Indians. The American forces won an 
easy victory, and their foes scattered and fled. 

The victors marched northward, destroying 
orchards, cornfields, frame houses, and villages 
hidicating progress in civilization, in all the 
region about Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, in- 
cluding the castle near Geneva and the old 
town of Genesee. September 16, the destroy- 
ing army recrossed the Genesee River, and car- 
ried devastation to the Cayugas and Onondagas. 
With a loss of only forty lives, eighteen In- 
dian villages had been annihilated, and one 
hundred and fifty thousand bushels of corn and 
immense quantities of other provisions were 
destroyed. The tribes were stripped of their 
homes, and, for the purposes of the Revolution, 
the Six Nations ceased to be organized allies of 
the British crown. They were reduced to wan- 
dering pillagers, to revengeful, uncompromis- 
ing warriors, who struck where they could, and 
sought to wreak vengeance on all the settle- 
ments, while they no longer had homes to be 
assailed. The Oneidas suffered no less from 
the forces of the king. Their castle was de- 



430 NEW YORK. 

stroyed, and the tribe was so completely im- 
poverished that support by the American gov- 
ernment was a necessity until the close of the 
war. 

Local raids upon the white settlements fell 
now upon Little Falls, on the Mohawk, burning 
mills, and now along the base of the Catskills, 
where the tory inhabitants pointed the way 
for the marauders. Individuals, families, were 
murdered. All the incidents of border warfare 
can be found in the personal narratives which 
have been preserved. In the interior of the 
State, all the waters, and all the paths blazed 
in the woods, have their stories of heroism and 
suffering. They rival the pages of romance in 
the daring, in the ingenuity, in the diversity of 
experience, exhibited on both sides, and in the 
persistence with which the settlers held to their 
homes, often assailed, and more than once de- 
stroyed. 

Sir John Johnson and Brant were the leaders 
in a bold and sweeping raid by the tories and 
their allies. May 21, 1780, the Mohawks and 
the tories came down from Canada, by way 
of Lake Champlain, to Johnson's old home 
at Johnstown. Dividing his force of five hun- 
dred, consisting of British regulars, and his 
own Royal Greens, with Indians and tories, he 
burned Tribe's Hill and Caughnawaga, mur- 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 431 

dering as be went. He made his headquarters 
in his own homestead, collected his prisoners, 
carried away the silver plate of his family 
which had been hidden, and, although a force 
was sent to stop him, he was able to get away 
without loss. In October of the same year, he 
led a force of six hundred men by way of Os- 
wego across the country to the Susquehanna 
Valley, where it was joined by Brant and Corn- 
planter with a body of red men. They rav- 
aged the Schoharie Valley, laid siege unsuc- 
cessfully to a fort at Middleburg, and, turning 
to the north, harassed the patriots and laid the 
country desolate. From Fort Hunter, in the 
same month, he let his forces loose into the 
Mohawk Valley, and burned and plundered as 
he marched. At Stone Arabia, a small gar- 
rison under Colonel John Brown occupied a 
stockade called Fort Paris, and, expecting co- 
operation from a column under General Van 
Rensselaer, it came out from the works to fight 
Johnson, when the commander and forty men 
were killed, October 19, and the few survivors 
fled. When General Van Rensselaer arrived 
at Klock's Field, St. Johnsville, he had an 
army of fifteen hundred men. He was slow 
in attack, and when he gained an advantage 
he failed to press forward upon the enemy. 
Johnson fled from the field, and the next day 



432 NEW YORK. 

Van Rensselaer pursued as far as Fort Her- 
kimer. On his retreat, the tory chief captured 
a detachment sent to seize his boats at Fort 
Stanwix, and then made his way safely to 
Oswego. 

When the British troops took possession of 
New York city, the continental congress met 
the disaster with a strong and hopeful address, 
written by John Jay, appealing for fortitude 
for. a cause which was admirably stated. The 
patriots of the city were put under martial 
supervision. The tories, headed by Judge 
Horsmanden and Oliver DeLaucey, welcomed 
Governor Tryon and the British general and 
admiral, while Queens and Suffolk counties 
showed a majority for the king. Tryon exerted 
himself to the utmost for the royal cause, and 
earned the hatred of the patriots for his sever- 
ity. He was attainted by the legislature Octo- 
ber 22, 1779 ; but when he went to England 
he was honored by the crown, and raised to 
the rank of lieutenant general, dying in 1788. 
He was the last royal governor, for his suc- 
cessor, General James Robertson, came in 1780, 
when the colony had ceased to look to London 
for authority, and was already a State in the 
Union. 

The treatment of the prisoners captured by 
the British during the war is one of the darkest 



THE BRUNT OF THE CONFLICT. 433 

chapters in the history of the occupation of 
New York city. Prisons were prepared in 
churches, in public buildings, in the old sugar- 
house, in the ships in the bay. They were 
crowTled with patriot officers and privates, whose 
treatment was a scandal and a shame. The pro- 
vost marshal was Cunningham, appointed in 
1775, and serving through the war ; severe, un- 
yielding, and bitterly hated by the patriots. 
The new jail under his own charge was the most 
infamous of the dungeons. The horrors of the 
prison ships have passed into tradition. The 
sufferings, the indignities, the deaths, were a 
part of the price paid for independence. The 
measure of cruelty is suggested by the state- 
ment that, of three thousand prisoners taken at 
Fort Washington November, 1776, only eight 
hundred survived for exchange May 6, 1778. 

Thus New York was made to endure every 
evil of war. The colony was a series of camps. 
Battles and marauding expeditions, massacres 
and the burning of towns, extended over all 
its inland portions, while the chief city felt the 
burdens of the headquarters of the royal forces, 
and the horrors of a multitude of prisons. Yet 
the colony did not waver, although suffering 
beyond any of its sisters. In the face of hos- 
tile armies, it was first to start a movement for 
state organization, and it held steadily on the 
path to independence. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

"WAITING FOR VICTORY. — ADOPTION OF CON- 
STITUTIONS. 

1777-1788. 

Political organization in New York went 
on in spite of war and its horrors. The 
provincial congress which met July 9, 1776, 
assumed the name of the Convention of Repre- 
sentatives of the State of New York. As soon 
as it had given its pledges to sustain the De- 
claration of Independence, it appointed a com- 
mittee, with John Jay as chairman, to prepare 
a form of government. The military opera- 
tions in the colony postponed a report until 
March 12, 1777, and the adoption of the 
constitution did not take place until April 
20. Authority was derived from the people, 
but property qualification was required for 
electors and for members of the senate, although 
not for the assembly ; and a council of revision 
and appointment designated many local offices, 
and exercised a power of review over acts of 
legislation. The governor was the head of this 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 435 

council, and with him were associated four 
senators chosen by the assembly. So curiously 
constituted and clothed with such powers, and 
finally treating the governor as only a member 
on an equal footing, the council became in time 
the subject and the field of sharp controversy. 

" In the name of the good people," the con- 
stitution declared "the free exercise of reli- 
gious profession and worship, without discrimi- 
nation or preference, to all mankind ; " and no 
distinction of rights was based on color, al- 
though slavery was recognized, in spite of 
Gouverneur Morris' labors to provide for its 
gradual abolition. Comparison proves that no 
other State exhibited so much liberality in its 
constitution, or produced at that period a docu- 
ment of so much merit, as New York, far as 
that fell below the standard which the State has 
since attained in its jurisprudence. 

The convention appointed John Jay chief 
justice, Robert R. Livingston chancellor, with 
other judges, and designated a committee of 
safety, with John Morin Scott as chairman, to 
exercise all powers until the state government 
could be organized. Owing to the British pos- 
session, the convention appointed the first sena- 
tors from the southern district, and members of 
assembly for New York, Kings, Queens, and Suf- 
folk. The returns of the election for governor 



436 N£W YORK. 

were made to the committee of safety. Votes 
were cast for John Morin Scott, John Jay, 
Philip Schujder, and others, but George Clinton 
was chosen by a plurality, with Pierre van 
Cortlandt lieutenant governor. The governor 
was in active command of troops in the field, 
and did not enter upon his civic duties until 
after the surrender of Burgoyne. His execu- 
tive responsibilities were, indeed, in no small 
degree, military for several years. Of Irish de- 
scent and good education, he was trained as a 
lawyer. He was now thirty-seven years of age, 
and had been acting in politics for nine years. 
A leader on the patriot side in the assembly, 
he sat also in the continental congress and voted 
for the Declaration of Independence. In the 
field he was brave and energetic, if not always 
successful. A radical in his patriotism, he had 
less scholarship and statecraft than Hamilton 
and Jay and Scott and Livingston, and more 
of the qualities which win popularity than any 
of his contemporaries in the State, as was proved 
by his election seven times, six in direct suc- 
cession, to the office of governor, which he held 
for twenty-one years, and by his elevation to 
the vice-presidency. 

With the British in possession of the Hudson 
and its adjacent territory up to the Highlands, 
except a part of the counties of Westchester 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 437 

and Orange, and holding the fortified posts on 
the north, and with the Indians on the western 
borders of settlement and pouring into the 
Mohawk Valley, the new State was practically 
concentrated in the region from the Highlands 
of the Hudson to Lake George, and from Al- 
bany not far west of Oneida Lake. It exercised 
all the functions of government, and main- 
tained its position in the Union with unswerv- 
ing fortitude. The legislature accepted, Feb- 
ruary 6, 1778, the Articles of Confederation 
adopted by congress. In the cabals against 
General Washington, instigated in behalf of 
Gates, and sustained by leaders who complained 
of the slowness of the armies, the representa- 
tives of New York were zealous in favor of the 
commander-in-chief, and their attitude went far 
to check the conspiracy against him. 

The chief operations of the war were in the 
later years transferred to the South. Washing- 
ton sought to occupy the British forces in New 
.York, so that they might not give aid espe- 
cially to Cornwallis in his campaigns. After 
the Sullivan expedition, no large movements 
were attempted here. Stony Point, a projec- 
tion into the Hudson below the Highlands, was 
the scene of a gallant but unfruitful exploit. It 
had been taken by the British general Clinton, 
May 30, 1779, from a garrison which sur- 



438 NEW YORK. 

rendered somewhat inglorioasly ; but " Mad " 
Anthony Wayne recovered it, July 16, from 
the British, by an attack with the bayonet 
alone. With a loss of only fifteen killed, he 
captured the works, killing sixty-three and tak- 
ing five hundred and forty-three prisoners ; but 
men could not be spared to hold the position, 
and the fort was destroyed. This was one of 
the most brilliant operations of the war, and 
was the only one of any magnitude in New 
York at this period. Brant swept into the 
Mohawk Valley at intervals in 1781. Another 
company of red men and tories was met in 
fight by the troops under Colonel Willett at 
Darlagh, in Schoharie county. In October, 
Major Ross and Walter Butler, with a mixed 
force of one thousand men, struck Johnstown, 
where a brisk battle was fought by Colonel 
Willett with a small army. The British fought 
and retired, and Willett pursued them as far as 
Fort Dayton. The dead body of Walter Butler, 
who had so long harassed Tryon and Schoharie 
counties, was found on the field. 

Two of the personal tragedies which add 
romance to war happened on the soil of New 
York. During the dark days of 1776, when 
Washington was in stress to learn the move- 
ments of the victorious British army, Nathan 
Hale, a young captain in a Massachusetts regi- 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 439 

ment, and a recent graduate of Yale College, 
volunteered to undertake a secret mission to 
Long Island, and on his return was captured. 
He was taken to the headquarters of General 
Howe, and after trial sentenced to be hanged as 
a spy at daybreak the next morning. The pro- 
vost marshal, Cunningham, executed the sen- 
tence with cruel indignities, while Hale died re- 
gretting that he had " but one life to lose for his 
country." The second tragedy was connected 
with the treason of Benedict Arnold, who had 
fought bravely in New York and in the expedi- 
tion against Canada, and was in 1780 in com- 
mand of West Point. Major Andr^ was sent 
by Sir Henry Clinton to communicate with 
the traitor, but on his return he fell into the 
hands of American partisans. He was con- 
victed as a spy and sentenced to death. Hale's 
mission was a soldier's search for information ; 
Andre's was an act of aid for damnable treason, 
looking to the base sale of an important military 
station. If a hero is to be chosen, the former, 
and not the latter, deserves the distinction. 

The close of the war in New York was stained 
by acts of partisan barbarity on the part of the 
tories. April 16, 1782, three Americans were 
publicly executed by order of Colonel James 
DeLancey, in retaliation, as he claimed, for the 
murder of refugees. In the same month Joshua 



440 NEW YORK. 

Huddy, a prisoner of war, was taken under 
pretense of exchange, and hanged by a party of 
loyalists, because a tory prisoner had been shot 
while trying to escape. If New York was not 
tender of loyalists when peace came, it was be- 
cause its people were human. 

All the influence of Washington was required 
in March, 1783, at the headquarters of the army, 
Newburg on the Hudson, to check a movement 
which involved many of the officers. Captain 
Armstrong, an aide-de-camp of General Gates, 
put forth an anonymous address approving a call 
for a meeting with reference to the pay of the 
officers, and appealing to their passions. At the 
meeting, the commander-in-chief advised reli- 
ance on the justice of congress, and resolutions 
reported by General Knox were passed denounc- 
ing " with abhorrence and disdain " the " infa- 
mous proposals" which had been circulated. 
The attempt to use the army for mischief was 
rebuked. Gouverneur Morris has been sharply 
criticised on the theory that he advised the move- 
ment in order to force a stronger government, 
and he certainly wrote to Jay in the preceding 
January : " The army have swords in their hands. 
Good will arise from the situation to which we 
are hastening. Much of convulsion will prob- 
ably ensue, yet it must terminate in giving to 
government that power without which govern- 
ment is but a name." 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 441 

To the consolidation of the Union New York 
rendered a service not easily to be overrated, in 
its generosity relative to lands in the North- 
west. No State had better title to more vast 
domains, for it claimed from surrender by the 
British, from royal grant, and from purchase 
from the Iroquois. These claims extended to 
the peninsula of Michigan, and to the mouth of 
the Ohio. Other States hesitated to yield their 
public lands to the nation. New York, by for- 
mal act of its legislature, April 19, 1780, was 
first to transfer its vast domain, and to set the 
example which sister States slowly followed. 
The claims of this State had not been fully rec- 
ognized to these western lands, but a committee 
appointed by congress reported in its favor on 
all points ; and October 31, 1782, the transfer 
was formally accepted, with Virginia and Mas- 
sachusetts alone voting against it, and the Caro- 
linas divided. The States in the negative op- 
posed the acceptance of the gift, because they 
were unwilling to follow the generous exam- 
ple which finally compelled similar cessions on 
their part. 

When, in 1779, Spain presented claims which 
threatened to complicate negotiations for peace, 
Gouverneur Morris was made chairman of a 
committee in congress to consider the subject. 
Sustained by Jay and the unanimous delegation 



442 NEW YORK. 

from New York, lie moved that, in view of " the 
exhausted situation of the United States, the 
derangement of their finances, and the defect 
of theii- resources," independence onl}^ should 
be insisted upon ; but New England was able 
to gather strength enough to induce congress 
to declare that " by no treaty of peace should 
the common right of fishing be given up." 
This attitude of New York caused the defeat 
of Jay, and the selection of John Adams as 
minister to treat with Britain for peace, while 
Jay was assigned to the less important rank of 
minister to Spain. When, however, actual ne- 
gotiations were entered upon in Paris, Jay was 
present, and distinguished himself for the zeal 
with which he insisted upon direct and posi- 
tive, and not implied, recognition of American 
independence. At Franklin's request, he drew 
lip the articles of peace. When Adams joined 
in the final negotiations. Jay was not the least 
of the statesmen whose names were subscribed 
to the definite treaty of peace. 

The war was far from ended when Alexan- 
der Hamilton, from the tent where he was serv- 
ing on the staff of Washington, began his labors 
for a more perfect union, and a constitution be- 
fitting a great nation. September 3, 1780, he 
addressed to James Duane, a representative in 
congress from New York, an appeal foreshad- 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS, 443 

owing the arguments which finally secured the 
adoption of the federal constitution, and a gov- 
ernment whose strength a century has tested. 
In July and August, 1781, he published a series 
of papers, under the name of the " Continental- 
ist," to advocate the same views. Hamilton 
had married a daughter of General Philip 
Schuyler, and thus at once connected himself 
with the society of New York, and with allies 
who were to be of great use to him in his polit- 
ical career. When Cornwallis surrendered at 
Yorktown, Hamilton became a law student in 
Albany, and was appointed a receiver of taxes, 
the beginning of his connection with the na- 
tional treasury. His mind, however, was upon 
the construction of a federal constitution. 

In 1780, Governor Clinton had presented to 
the legislature the "defect of power" in the 
confederation, and John Sloss Hobart and Eg- 
bert Benson were sent to a convention in Hart- 
ford to confer on the subject. They were the 
leaders in that body in urging the recommenda- 
tions which were adopted for empowering con- 
gress to apportion taxes on the States in the 
ratio of their total population. The matter had 
thus' entered into discussion, and the senators 
and assemblymen were therefore in a receptive 
mood when Hamilton visited them in Pough- 
keepsie in July, 1782, and they unanimously 



444 NEW YORK. 

adopted resolutions written by him, and moved 
in the senate by his father-in-law, General 
Schuyler, declaring that the powers of the cen- 
tral government should be extended, and that 
it should be authorized to provide revenue for 
itself, and to that end " it would be advisable 
to propose to congress to recommend, and to 
each State to adopt, the measure of assembling 
a general convention of the States, specially au- 
thorized to revise and amend the constitution." 
Naturally, the author of the resolutions was 
chosen a member of the continental congress. 
He sought to impress this project on that body, 
and was so grievously disappointed at his fail- 
ure that, with " ill-bodings for his country," he 
abandoned the attempt, and turned to devote 
himself to his profession. He resumed his task 
in a different field. 

To Washington's farewell letter, appealing 
for increased powers to the central government, 
Governor Clinton sent a cordial response sus- 
taining its views ; and to the legislature, in 
transmitting the letter, he advised attention 
" to every measure which has a tendency to ce- 
ment the Union, and to give to the national 
councils that energy which may be neces&ary 
for the general welfare." But the recommen- 
dation for a constitutional convention remained 
unfruitful for years ; and March 3, 1786, con- 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 445 

gress ventured to call only a convention to con- 
sider the trade and commerce of the United 
States, and to suggest measures for the action 
of congress. Hamilton and Benson attended 
the convention in Annapolis in September, and 
urged the policy originally recommended by 
New York; but when they asked the legisla- 
ture to approve of those recommendations, it 
declined, by the influence of Governor Clinton, 
to give approval. In 1787, however, the legis- 
lature adopted a joint resolution instructing 
the members of congress from the State to 
move that a convention be held to amend the 
articles of confederation ; and, when the call 
was issued, Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., 
and Alexander Hamilton were appointed del- 
egates " for the sole purpose of revising the 
articles of confederation, and reporting to con- 
gress and the several legislatures such altera- 
tions as shall, when agreed to by congress and 
confirmed by the several States, render the 
federal constitution adequate to the exigencies 
of government and the preservation of the 
Union." 

These reservations were due in large part to 
the growth of the commerce of New York. It 
maintained its court of admiralty, with juris- 
diction over maritime cases ; it exercised, as 
of old, its sovereign relations towards the red 



446 NEW YORK. 

men, and in 1783 it claimed for itself the col- 
lection of duties on imports in its ports, which 
had two years before been conceded to con- 
gress. In 1786 the legislature formally insisted 
on retaining the sole right of collection ; while 
Governor Clinton, when appealed to by con- 
gress to call a special session to yield that 
right, refused to do so. 

In the federal convention, Hamilton took a 
foremost part in the deliberations, and became 
the champion of the plan adopted. Yates and 
Lansing were strenuous opponents of equality 
of the votes of States in the senate ; and when 
that provision was adopted, they retired, on the 
plea that the convention was exceeding its 
powers. On these lines parties were to divide 
in New York. Governor Clinton transmitted 
the new constitution to the legislature without 
a word of remark ; and although Hamilton and 
Jay were affecting the public mind through 
the *' Federalist," ratification by this State was 
doubtful until the convention took the actual 
vote upon it. 

That convention met in Poughkeepsie, June 
17, 1788, with Governor Clinton as its presi- 
dent. Hamilton and Jay, Chief Justice Rich- 
ard Morris, John Sloss Hobart, Chancellor R. 
R. Livingston, and James Duane, then mayor 
of New York, were the champions of the con- 



ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS. 447 

stitution. Governor Clinton, Yates, Lansing, 
Samuel Jones, and Melancthon Smith led the 
debate against it. The arguments of the ma- 
jority have been embodied in the history of the 
nation. Governor Clinton himself was in favor 
of a federal government, while he charged 
that Hamilton wished for a consolidated gov- 
ernment. The opposition dreaded tlie power 
of the central authority ; proposed tliat no per- 
son should be eligible as senator more than six 
years in twelve, and asked for a more numer- 
ous representation in the popular branch. Af- 
ter proposing a conditional adoption in case 
amendments suggested should not be embodied, 
the opposition yielded, but only after a suffi- 
cient number of other States had approved the 
document. When the vote was taken, Gover- 
nor Clinton, as president, was not recorded ; 
but Jones and Smith joined to make tlie major- 
ity of thirty against twenty-seven in the minor- 
ity. Except Yates and Lansing, who became 
successively chief justices, the minority con- 
tains hardly a name afterwards eminent, while 
the majority is resplendent in the persons who 
compose it. 

The amendments suggested by New York 
became embodit^d in the national constitution, 
and have been accepted as proper safeguards to 
the liberties of the people. 



IV. A STATE IN THE UNION. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE FIEST TASKS OF PEACE. 

1783-1795. 

While New York was the only State which 
had met in full every requisition upon it for 
the preservation of the Union, not one of the 
other States had felt in any such degree as she 
suffered the burdens of hostilities from the 
British troops, from tory marauders, and from 
their red allies. Nowhere, therefore, was the 
treaty of peace more welcome. The British 
armies were gathered into its chief city, and 
upon Long Island and Staten Island, for em- 
barkation for their homes ; and November 25, 
1783, the day when they evacuated the city, is 
deservedly commemorated. The streets changed 
their aspect at once. Americans sought their 
homes. The vocations of peace began, and the 
impetus was started which has brought its mar- 
velous growth to the metropolis. When the 
stars and stripes were carried up the flagstaff 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 449 

by a youth, who thus offset the spite of the re- 
tiring British in cutting the halliards, a new 
life began. Washington and his troops were 
welcomed for their services and hardships and 
the victories they had won, and, not least, be- 
cause they were to cease to be soldiers and to 
become citizens ; and the farewell of the com- 
mander-in-chief, December 4, to his companions 
in arms, was a touching sign that peace was not 
only assured, but was to be enduring. 

The population of the city was not large 
enough to divert attention from these events, 
so important to the whole country, so doubly 
impressive on the soil where for seven years 
hostile armies had been dominant. In New 
York city, the inhabitants in this year num- 
bered 23,614, and on Long Island 30,863, while 
in the entire State they were 233,896. The 
patriots who had been banished by the British 
possession were glad to return to their homes, 
and many of the loyalists sought to enter again 
in the interior upon the estates which they had 
abandoned. A strong policy of confiscation had 
been enforced against the latter during the war, 
but it was checked by the terms of the treaty 
of peace ; and, in the territory which had been 
held by the British, the returning patriots, after 
recovering their lands and houses, were unable 
to get pay for their use. In the Mohawk 



450 NEW YORK. 

Valley, it was estimated that one-third of the 
population at the beginning of the war had 
lost their lives in the struggle, while one-thiid 
had gone or been driven away, so that only 
one-third remained when peace was declared. 
The losses may be exaggerated, but the figures 
were taken to justify the action of a meeting 
held in Fort Plain, May 9, 1783, which repre- 
sented the prevailing feeling throughout the 
State. The resolutions formally declared that 
the persons who went away or were banished 
because of their tory sympathies " shall not live 
in this district on any pretense whatever." 
Other rural districts took similar action ; and, 
March 25, 1784, the Sons of Liberty called -a 
meeting in *' the Fields " in New York, and ad- 
vised all tories to leave town before the first of 
May, insisting that they should not be permitted 
to remain in the State. In that year the legisla- 
ture passed an act disfranchising all who liad 
adhered to the British government during the 
war; it was repealed in 1787, largely through 
the influence of Hamilton and Schuyler. 

Thus many of the tories were able to stay 
where the British had protected them, and grad- 
ually some penetrated into the interior. Soldiers 
from the British army, and especially from its 
German allies, in numbers not inconsiderable, 
remained as settlers in the country which they 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 451 

failed to conquer. The soldiers of the State in 
the continental army, by taking up their land 
bounties, pushed out the lines of settlement. 
Baron Steuben, who had served with distinction 
as inspector of the army, received a quarter 
township as a grant from the legislature, and it 
was located in the tract purchased from the 
Oneidas. He ilhistrated the career of many 
privates by making his home on the hills north 
of the upper Mohawk, where a town bears his 
name and a monument preserves his well-earned 
fame. Other settlers followed such lead, and 
some purchasers of large tracts began to adopt 
the plan of selling farms to hardy pioneers who 
would break roads, and, by starting homesteads, 
add value to the adjacent wilderness, although 
the rule was only to grant leases. 

The commonwealth treated its vast domain 
with reckless prodigality. In 1791, a law was 
passed, with a view to draw in settlers, authoriz- 
ing the commissioners of the land office to sell 
any of the public lands at their discretion. 
These commissioners were Governor Clinton, 
Lewis A. Scott, Aaron Burr, Girard Bancker, 
and Peter T. Curtenius, and they sold 5,542,173 
acres of land for -f 1,030,433 ; and of this vast 
domain Alexander McComb secured 3,635,200 
acres, for much of which only eight pence an acre 
was paid. The governor was charged with an in- 



452 NEW YORK. 

terest in some of these purchases, but McComb 
made an affidavit that that officer had no pecu- 
niary share in them. A legislative investigation 
was ordered, on motion of Mr. Talbot, of Mont- 
gomery county, who knew the value of the 
lands ; but Melancthon Smith led the move- 
ment approving the conduct of the commis- 
sioners, and was sustained by a vote of thirty- 
five to twenty. While it may be true that no 
higher price could then be obtained, the folly 
must be admitted of forcing so many acres upon 
the market at once, and of throwing into the 
hands of speculators a territory which, if of- 
fered to actual settlers only at a nominal price, 
would have enriched the commonwealth, while 
adding the best elements to its vitality and 
productive energy. 

New York was at this time fifth of the States 
in population. Virginia had more than double 
its number of inhabitants ; Pennsylvania had 
nearly one-fourth more ; North Carolina ex- 
ceeded it by the total census of New York city 
and Long Island ; Massachusetts surpassed it 
in nearly equal degree. When the war closed, 
Maryland was its peer in population ; and Con- 
necticut, and even Tennessee, followed it very 
closely. Its share in the inception, the organi- 
zation, and the prosecution of the war for in- 
dependence, and its services in framing the 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 453 

constitution and in its ratification, must be 
judged by these figures. Critics bave paid 
the State the compliment of comparing its 
record with that of Virginia on the one hand, 
and of New England as a w^hole on the other. 
History justifies the comparison, and must 
render its verdict, with due regard to the popu- 
lation engaged, and to the difiiculties of situa- 
tion and of military pressure. 

These difficulties can best be measured by 
the effect of their removal. New York grew in 
population, in seven years preceding 1790, by 
nearly one-half, mounting up to 340,120, reached 
589,051 in 1800, and in 1810 with 959,049 at- 
tained the second rank, very nearly equaling 
Virginia, and surpassed it by one-third in 1820. 

The centre and the west of the State, which 
had been the scene of contest, became in this in- 
terval the chosen field of immigration. Try on 
county, named Montgomery in 1784, had fur- 
nished territory for more than a score of coun- 
ties, and, while New York had risen to the lead 
in population, Albany stood in 1820 thirteenth 
in rank ; while Ontario, Genesee, and Oneida 
were respectively second, third, and fourth in 
number of inhabitants. The incoming mul- 
titudes, as early as 1796, made necessary the 
opening of a State road from Whitestown to 
Geneva, from the Mohawk to the interior lakes ; 



454 NEW YORK. 

and in 1798 roads were cut from Genesee to 
Buffalo and Lewiston, while the water routes 
from the south as well as from the east were 
very much used. Before the eighteenth century 
closed, a regular postrider connected Albany and 
the Genesee Valley by trips every fortnight, a 
grand road was opened from the capital to 
Clinton county, and a regular line of stages be- 
side the Hudson prophesied the swifter travel 
of later days. 

But, if in the Revolution the population of the 
State was so inferior, discipline and trial had 
given it character. If New England was Puri- 
tan and Virginia Cavalier, and both positively 
English, New York was the first to become dis- 
tinctively American. In spite of its strong loyal 
element, its separation from the crown severed 
fewer ties of blood and nature, because of the 
diverse races which mingled on its soil. The 
original Dutch current has run by intermar- 
riage into the veins of many families whose 
names bear no testimony of it. Other races 
also have joined hands. In the framing of the 
nation, many streams of race mingled. To the 
Declaration of Independence, Philip Livingston 
subscribed with the vigor of Scotch blood ; 
Francis Lewis, with the ardor of a Welshman ; 
William Floyd and Lewis Morris, with the pru- 
dence of mingled Welsh and English descent. 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 455 

Philip Schuyler, the major general, was of pure 
Dutch blood. Nicholas Herkimer, the hero of 
Oriskany, was the son of a German from the 
Palatinate. Alexander Hamilton, born in the 
West Indies, was Scotch and Huguenot in or- 
igin ; and John Jay, the first chief justice of the 
United States, was of clear Huguenot strain. 
George Clinton, the first governor of the State, 
was the son of an Irish immigrant, as was Gen- 
eral Montgomery, who fell at Quebec. English- 
men there were who then and afterwards added 
lustre to the service of the commonwealth ; but 
it is the distinction of New York that its early 
history was molded in the furnace, and from the 
varied elements, which have given to the nation 
its character and its name as American. 

In the first decade after the treaty of peace, 
the features which have marked the State 
may be traced in their early development or in 
their origin. It began at once to struggle for 
a foothold on the ocean in commerce, as it 
reached out for domestic trade. The exports, 
which were nothing during the war, became 
$2,505,465 in value in 1791, and $14,045,079 
in 1800. This value rose to $17,242,330 in 
1820, of which $10,000,000 worth was composed 
of the products of the soil. Agriculture received 
an immediate and rapid extension ; and, in 
wheat and other grains, the quality and quan- 



456 NEW YORK. 

tity of the crops of the State were for the time 
what those of the far Northwest have been in 
later 3^ears, and the primacy was won in value 
of products, which the census of 1880 still ac- 
cords to New York. 

Manufactures, repressed in their beginning 
by British legislation, having escaped from that 
restriction, put to use the natural resources, 
the water-power, the climatic advantages, which 
have made the State master in diversit}^, vol- 
ume, and wealth in this department. Iron was 
worked from the ore, and by bloomeries and 
trip-hammers and rolling mills, and for ma- 
chinery and domestic and mechanical uses. 
Woolen and linen, cotton, and some silk cloth 
were weaved. Leather was tanned, paper and 
glass made ; while clocks, copper, brass and 
tin wares, hats, oils, beer, spirits, and other 
diversified industries, employed capital and 
labor. The value of specified manufactures in 
1811 is stated at 830,000,000, and of this sum 
household labor is credited with $12,000,000. 
Such production and such traffic required all 
the facilities of the waterways which nature 
had surveyed, which had afforded paths for 
war, and which enterprise now sought to im- 
prove and connect, and to supplement by high- 
ways and bridges. 

The Dutch had laid the foundation of 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 457 

schools, and the English colony had estab- 
lished a college. In 1784 a board of regents 
of the university was established to extend and 
elevate Columbia College, but it soon was broad- 
ened for the oversight of all academies and 
colleges, and, with a gift of public lands, en- 
tered on the tasks still committed to it, with 
projects higher than have been yet attained. 
Union College was the first institution of that 
rank to receive a charter from the board, in 
1795, although in 1793 Samuel Kirkland, with 
the encouragement of Alexander Hamilton, had 
founded Hamilton Oneida Academy, " for the 
mutual benefit of the young and flourishing set- 
tlements and the various tribes of confederate 
Indians," and time has ripened the seed he 
planted into Hamilton College. In 1795 also, on 
the recommendation of Governor Clinton, an 
appropriation of $50,000 was made by the legis- 
lature, of which the interest was to be applied 
in the ratio of population, with like sums 
raised by local tax, to the payment of wages of 
teachers in common schools. In 1800 a lottery 
was authorized to raise $100,000 for colleges 
and schools. On such foundations grew the 
school system for which now nearly $14,000,000 
is annually expended from taxation alone. 

By the settlement of a long-standing con- 
troversy between the two States, Massachu- 



468 NEW YORK. 

setts, in 1786, received the preemption right to 
230,000 acres between the Oswego and Che- 
nango, and to 6,000,000 acres near Seneca Lake 
and in the Genesee Valley and west of it. 
These lands passed into the hands of Oliver 
Phelps, who held also a treaty with the Sene- 
cas, and he, with his associates, opened the 
vast tracts to settlers. Failing in his specu- 
lation, he lost his title, which passed, through 
Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, 
to Dutch capitalists, who organized the Holland 
Land Company, which divided its estates into 
small farms, and sold them to actual settlers on 
long credit. The speculation of Phelps brought 
in many immigrants from New England, par- 
ticularly into the Genesee Valley and west- 
ward. From Connecticut came also into the 
upper part of the Mohawk many families plant- 
ing homes. Samuel Kirkland, who began his 
labors among the Iroquois in 1764, chose finally 
the Oneidas as the field of his mission, and, 
receiving a patent for land in 1789, built a 
house as its centre in the town which bears his 
name. This New England movement included 
frequently a missionary element. The settlers 
planted homes for themselves, and they carried 
schools and churches into every neighborliood, 
which they intended should be for a blessing to 
red men as well as whites. Religious activity 



TEE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 459 

was indeed general among the several denom- 
inations, and organizations were established, 
church edifices erected, and work planned for 
extending their borders. In jurisprudence, the 
constitutions one after another, and the stat- 
utes, as they came to be passed, attracted the 
newer States to look to New York for their 
models. In the law, disthiguished ability and 
wide acquirements were manifest, as the names 
prominent in political positions give assurance ; 
and in the medical profession science was assert- 
ing itself more and more. 

The fur trade had been the source of wealth 
to Albany, and afterwards to Oswego in smaller 
measure. The war and the alienation of the 
Iroquois put an end to it. In violation of the 
treaty of peace, the British for a while held 
possession of Oswegatchie, Oswego and Niagara, 
and thus forced whatever trafiic remained in 
furs to Buffalo as its centre ; and in 1811 a 
single cargo received there bv lake was valued 
at $150,000. The peltries were gathered in 
the West, and shipped in bulk, and Buffalo 
therefore lacked the picturesque features of the 
original trade, when Indians in vast numbers 
brought their trophies to the market on the 
Hudson. The change was great to Albany. 
Tlie effect upon the State was to direct enterprise 
to the clearing of the forests, to agriculture, to 



460 NEW YORK. 

the beginnings of manufactures, and to general 
traffic. Albany became thus the centre of a 
trade in grain, and of supplies for the settlers. 
It was in 1786 the sixth city in the Union in 
population, with 3,050 inhabitants, and in 
wealth and culture and hospitality it held at 
least equal rank. Its growth gave it, in 1810, 
10,762 inhabitants. 

But New York was easily at the head after 
peace wrought its effects. The legislature, which 
since the State was organized had been meeting 
at Kingston and Poughkeepsie, and once in Al- 
bany in 1784 and thereafter until 1788, held its 
sessions in New York, then, after two sessions 
in Poughkeepsie, chose its home definitely in 
Albany. Congress also, December 23, 1784, re- 
moved its meetings to New York. The City 
Hall on Wall Street was, by private subscrip- 
tions amounting to $32,500, remodeled for its 
occupancy, and was renamed Federal Hall. The 
coming of the representatives of the nation was 
very welcome after the British possession. 
The first session under the constitution was 
fixed for March 4, 1789 ; but, owing to bad 
roads, to delays in the elections, and in some 
degree to a lack of attention to public affairs, a 
quorum did not appear in the house of repre- 
sentatives until March 30, nor in the senate 
until April 6. Then Washington was declared 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 461 

unanimously chosen President of the Republic, 
and here he was welcomed by Governor Clin- 
ton when he came to enter upon his high 
office. Very brilliant was the scene when, 
under the bright sun of April 30, the first Presi- 
dent took the oath of office, on the balcony of 
Federal Hall ; and at night illuminations and 
fireworks testified to the popular joy. 

New York continued to be the seat of the fed- 
eral government until December, 1790. Gov- 
ernment and city impressed each other, and the 
social festivities were doubtless more numerous 
and on a larger scale than they were for a long 
period after the capital was located on the Poto- 
mac. European styles and manners were in- 
troduced, not only by immigrants and mer- 
chants, but by John Adams especially, and in 
less degree by Jay and others who were sent 
to represent the young republic abroad, and 
brought home some of the display of foreign 
courts and society. The growing town was, in 
its inhabitants and in its spirit, cosmopolitan. 
Looked upon somewhat askance by Puritan 
New England, it yet "showed much greater at- 
tention to good morals than has been supposed," 
as a worthy Connecticut matron testified. The- 
atrical representations, which had been discon- 
tinued throughout the country during the war 
on the recommendation of the continental con- 



462 y£W YORK. 

gress, were resumed in New York : while not 
only Xew England, but Pennsylvania and South 
Carolina as well, interdicted them. In 1786 the 
first American play erer produced was enacted 
here ; it w^s a comedy entitled '* The Con- 
trast," by Royal Tyler, afterward chief justice 
of Vermont, and its story turned on American 
captives in Algeria, and first introduced " Yan- 
kee '* speech and manners on the stage. The 
erection in 1795 of the edifice for the New York 
Society hbrary testified to the public spirit and 
love for learning which the people were foster- 
ing. The signs of intellectual activity were 
many and varied. Lectures were fashionable, 
and scientific themes were in especial favor. 
Art was the ^arification of the few, who were 
to wait some years to organize associations to 
promote it. 

The newspapers were not yet numerous, and 
each on that account wielded a distinct power. 
They were generally, in city and country, par- 
tisan oi^ans, and indulged in personal attacks 
and vimlence of language, due to outside con- 
tributors, who, however, could not shirk responsi- 
biiirv. The leaders of parties used this medium 
for reachincr the people. Sometimes the news- 
paper office was assailed by a mob. as when the 
office of Greenleafs •• Patriotic Register " was 
destroyed by a federal mob, July, 1788, for sat- 



THE FIRST TASKS OF PEACE. 463 

ii'izing too freely the celebration of the ratifica- 
tion of the constitution. Quite as frequently the 
authors whose personality was discovered were 
held to account. A sad incident of this kind in 
1798 exhibits the aggravation of the writers, 
and the passions of the subjects of their assaults. 
Brockholst Livingston, in ridiculing the organ- 
izers of a federal m'^eting, exasperated Mr. 
Jones, who was one of them, to such rage that 
he assailed the writer with a cane, and a duel 
followed, in which Jones became a victim to 
this style of partisan warfare. 

In New York city, in 1795, the federalists had 
two papers, — the "Advertiser," of which Noah 
Webster, afterwards famous as a lexicographer, 
was editor, and the " Packet " of Samuel Lou- 
don. Greenfield's " Journal " stood for the re- 
publicans. The " Price Current " represented 
the commercial interests. Albany in that year 
maintained three newspapers. Orange and Ul- 
ster had each two. In Columbia, Dutchess, Suf- 
folk, and Rensselaer, respectively, one served the 
wants of the inhabitants. They were generally 
political journals, even when the title suggested 
devotion to the interests of the farmers. West 
of Albany only two newspapers were printed at 
this period, the " Herald " at Otsego, and the 
" Gazette " at Whites town ; but, with the in- 
crease of population, papers soon began to 
multiply. 



464 NEW YORK. 

Growth and enterprise, and manifest im- 
provement in intellectual and moral, as well as 
material, respects, in this period, were marked 
in city and country. The settlements begun, 
the capital invested, the industries established, 
the projects proposed, in the closing years of 
the eighteenth century, gave assurance that 
New York was to make good use of its natural 
advantages, and to move on towards imperial 
greatness. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

PAKTIES, THEIR LEADERS AND THEIR 
DIVISIONS. 

1789-1801. 

In New York, parties were arrayed on na- 
tional lines as soon as the constitution was 
adopted, and tlie strife ran so high that the 
vote of the State was not cast at the first elec- 
tion for president ; nor did its senators appear in 
their seats until the first session of the federal 
congress was well advanced. In the legislature 
of 1788, Governor Clinton and his friends held 
a majority in the assembly, while the federal- 
ists, with Hamilton for their leader, controlled 
the senate. The former claimed that United 
States senators and presidential electors should 
be chosen by joint ballot of the two houses, as 
is the practice now ; while the upper house in- 
sisted that a concurrent vote of the bodies act- 
ing separately was required for an election. 
They came to no agreement until July 1, 1789, 
and thus the commonwealth had no share in 
the election of Washington for his first term, 



466 NEW YORK. 

nor in senatorial action on his cabinet nomina- 
tions. The congressional districts chose as their 
first representatives Egbert Benson, admirable 
in many qualities ; William Floyd, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence ; 
John Hathorn and Jeremiah van Rensselaer, 
of the family of the patroons ; and Peter Syl- 
vester. 

The first test of parties before the people 
occurred in April, 1789, in the election for gov- 
ernor. Governor Clinton was a candidate to 
succeed himself, while the federalists nominated 
Robert Yates, at the time chief justice, and the 
same who had withdrawn from the constitu- 
tional convention on account of his hostility to 
its action. Mr. Jay had declined to enter the 
contest, and devoted himself to national affairs. 
At the meeting in New York which presented 
the nomination, Hamilton was a leading spirit, 
and with Aaron Burr was designated a member 
of a committee to promote the election of Yates. 
Burr, after his graduation from the College of 
New Jersey, entered the army and served with 
moderate distinction, and became a student of 
law in Albany. Going thence to New York, 
he was chosen to the assembly in 1784, and in 
his second session was active in debate and leg- 
islation on important measures. He had not 
been an ardent friend of the national constitu- 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 467 

tion, although his first active part in politics 
Tvas with its friends. The natural candidate 
against Clinton in this canvass would have been 
Schuyler, the father-in-law of Hamilton, but 
he was reserving himself for the senate ; while 
it may have been assumed that Yates would 
avoid the rivalries between, and the prejudices 
ao^ainst " the ejreat families." He had ren- 
dered himself acceptable to the federalists by 
declaring, in a charge to a grand jury, that it 
was "every man's duty to support" the con- 
stitution, since it had been ratified. Governor 
Clinton was reelected by a majority of four 
hundred and twenty-nine, which was secured 
for him by an unexpectedly large vote in his 
home county of Ulster. The legislature chosen 
at the same time was federal in both branches ; 
it was summoned in extra session, when it chose 
State officers, and in Jul}^, by joint resolution, 
elected Philip Schuyler and Rufus King senators 
in congress. The former was, in military and 
civil life, one of the foremost citizens of the 
State, and he was at this time a State senator, 
and a member of the council of appointment. 
The choice of King whs a remarkable honor to 
award, in a State so rich in able men, to a re- 
cent immigrant from Massachusetts, as lie was. 
Graduated at Harvard College, and serving in 
the legislature of his State, he was sent in 



468 NEW YORK. 

1784 to the continental congress, where he 
moved that slavery should not be suffered to 
exist in the northwest territory. He was a 
member of the convention which adopted the 
national constitution, and in 1788 he took up 
his home in New York, where he had married 
a daughter of John Alsop, himself prominent 
in the events which led to independence. Mr. 
King became eminent in the senate, and was 
for a generation a prominent figure in national 
affairs. General Schuyler, in drawing lots, ob- 
tained the short term of two j^ears, and at its 
close was beaten for reelection by Aaron Burr, 
who had already become attorney general. Burr 
was known to be opposed to some of the plans 
of Hamilton, now greatly discussed, and was 
developing the remarkable qualities of intrigue 
and popularity which marked his later career. 
Although he opposed Clinton for governor, he 
now secured the support of that gentleman's 
friends in the legislature, with enough federal- 
ists to secure a majority, and so won a place on 
the stage of national politics. 

At the election of April, 1792, Governor 
Clinton and John Jay were the opposing candi- 
dates ; and the returns as canvassed gave the 
former 8,440 votes to 8,332 for the latter, while 
the ballots cast in the counties of Clinton, Ot- 
sego, and Tioga were not counted for either. 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 469 

These counties cast a majority of about four 
hundred in favor of Jay. The canvassers ruled 
out the returns on the ground of irregularities. 
The controversy was referred to the senators 
from the State in congress, whereupon Senator 
King decided that the ballots cast should be 
counted, although the law had not been tech- 
nically observed in the returns ; while Sena- 
tor Burr justified the course of the canvassers 
on the plea that the irregularities were fatal. 
Clinton was inaugurated amidst a storm of ob- 
loquy and denunciation as a "usurper," and, 
as a public meeting in New York declared, 
"in contempt of the sacred voice of the people, 
in defiance of the constitution, and in viola- 
tion of the uniform practice and settled prin- 
ciples of law." By the clear intent of the elec- 
tion, the popular majority was cast for Jay; 
and the technical irregularities neither obscured 
that fact, nor afforded reasonable suspicion that 
the figures had been tampered with. By pre- 
cedents since established, if the like case were 
now to arise, a decision in behalf of Clinton 
could not be rendered, and certainly would not 
be sustained. Mr. Jay, however, promptly and 
decidedly checked the protests of his zealous 
friends, and urged submission to the constituted 
authorities, and in a response to the New York 
meeting, appealed to " that natural good-hu- 



470 NEW YORK. 

mor which harmonizes society, and softens the 
asperities incidental to human affairs." Gov- 
ernor Clinton bore himself calmly under the 
excitement of the people, and was sustained by 
the party of which he was at this moment the 
unchallenged leader. 

Certainly, when, in November, the legisla- 
ture was called to choose presidential electors, 
his friends received a majority in each house 
on the first ballot. In the electoral college, 
while Washington was elected president unan- 
imously, George Clinton received fifty votes, 
and Aaron Burr one vote for vice-president; 
Thomas Jefferson four votes ; and the success- 
ful candidate, John Adams, seventy-seven votes. 
Clinton's support was that of all the electors 
from New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and 
Georgia. 

A change in the political tendencies of the 
State began at this time. The aggravating con- 
duct of Genet, the minister from France, and 
the growing disapproval of the management of 
affairs in that country, weakened the republi- 
cans, who in general sympathized with it ; while 
the administration of Washington, triumphing 
over the difficulties of starting the new govern- 
ment, commanded increased confidence, and 
gave strength to the party of which leading 
members of his cabinet were the chiefs. In 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 471 

New York, the dispute over the election for 
governor, and sharp controversies in the council 
of appointment over offices, gave advantages to 
the federalists, and led Mr. Clinton to decline 
to be a candidate for reelection. Both Ham- 
ilton and Burr were considered for the position 
by the opposing parties ; but John Jay was 
selected as tbeir candidate by the federalists, 
although he was absent in England, engaged 
in negotiating the treat}^, which it was foreseen 
would be the subject of severe criticism ; and 
Robert Yates, then chief justice, was taken up 
by the party which he had opposed, as candidate 
for the same office, only six years before. The 
federalists had been masters in the leglslatute 
since 1793, and Mr. Jay's election in 1795 was 
no surprise. 

The election occurred in April, and the newly 
chosen governor arrived home from England 
with his treaty May 28, and became at once 
the object of virulent assault, which, however, 
soon spent its force. For the moment, it threat- 
ened to carry all before it. His brother-in-law, 
Brockholst Livingston, joined Aaron Burr, in 
opposition to the treaty, at a public meeting in 
Wall Street, New York, where Alexander Ham- 
ilton was its champion, and the contest degen- 
erated into a mob. Hamilton, seeking to speak, 
was personally maltreated. The opponents of 



472 NEW YORK. 

the treaty withdrew to the Bowling Green, to 
burn the offensive paper, and to exhibit their 
sympathy with France. The chamber of com- 
merce more formally declared its support of the 
measure, and after it was ratified by the senate, 
popular passion lost its virulence. 

This was the first open diversion of the Liv- 
ingston family from the federal party, against 
which, with individual exceptions, it thereafter 
acted. The chancellor had not approved of 
Hamilton's financial recommendations, and cer- 
tainly had not received the consideration to 
which his abilities and following entitled him. 
He was credited with an ambition for the posi- 
tion of chief justice of the United States, and 
he was worthy of the position. Probably min- 
gled influences contributed to the turning of 
this one of the " great families " from the party 
in power to the opposition. 

When Governor Jay met the legislature, in 
1796, he was welcomed with profuse expres- 
sions of esteem and confidence, and the elec- 
tion in the ensuing April showed his party 
still in the ascendant. The legislature chose 
federal presidential electors, who in the col- 
lege cast their votes for John Adams for presi- 
dent, and Thomas Pinckney for vice-president. 
Yet in that body Aaron Burr received thirty 
votes, and George Clinton four votes. The 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 473 

federalists were able also, in place of Rufus 
King, who was sent as minister to Great Brit- 
ain, to elect John Lawrence as senator in con- 
gress. He was an Englishman by birth, a law- 
yer by vocation, and had served in the Revolu- 
tionary war, when he conducted the court martial 
in the case of Major Andr^. He had served in 
the State senate, and was for three terms a rep- 
resentative in congress, and, when chosen senator, 
was judge of the United States district court for 
New York. When the term of Aaron Burr ex- 
pired, in 1797, the friends of General Schuyler, 
who had been supplanted, determined to return 
the latter to the senate, and he was chosen by 
a strong majority. He did not care to serve, 
however, and the next year his seat was filled 
by John Sloss Hobart, who resigned very soon 
to become United States district judge ; and 
then, by appointment of the governor, William 
North became senator, who had been speaker 
of the assembly, and for whom the legislature 
substituted James Watson, also an ex-speaker ; 
so that four senators followed Burr within a 
year and seven months. In 1800, Gouverneur 
Morris was chosen to the position, and in the 
same year John Armstrong, afterward secretary 
of war, succeeded Lawrence. 

Of the representatives in congress from the 
State, Egbert Benson is first named in the origi- 



474 NEW YORK. 

nal lists as member from the first district. He 
belongs at the head also as a scholar and stu- 
dent of political philosophy. He had served in 
the continental congress, and under the con- 
stitution represented his district for two terms. 
He became attorney-general of the State, and 
justice of the supreme court, and was called 
again to congress in 1813. Theodorus Bailey, 
as well as John Lawrence, earned a reputation 
which led to his transfer to the senate. Oth- 
ers, like William Floyd, Philip van Cortlandt, 
and Edw^ard Livingston, were eminent at home 
and in national affairs, while several of their 
colleagues in these years exerted their full share 
of influence in committee and in debate. 

The relations of the United States with 
France were nowhere more discussed, and no- 
where gave rise to more intense controversy, 
than in New York. French vessels came into 
port, and their officers were received with excess 
of courtesy by the anti-federalists. Taunted 
to imprudence. Captain Courtney, of the Brit- 
ish ship Boston, challenged the French frigate 
L'Ambuscade to single combat ; and the pop- 
ular sympathy went out upon the waters, where 
the French won a victory and the British cap- 
tain was killed. Genet, the French minister, 
was the hero of the hour in social circles, and 
with republican politicians. The insolence of 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 475 

the government in Paris aroused hostility even 
among those whose sympathies were naturally 
with it ; while the federalists, who always pre- 
ferred the British side of questions, found com- 
plete justification for their criticisms against 
*' the Galilean party." War seemed imminent, 
because our country could not put up with the 
positions assumed by France ; and preparations 
for the defense of our ports, and for the reor- 
ganization of the army, were promoted b}'' the 
wisest of our statesmen. New York was prompt 
in the provisions which her position demanded 
at her hands. In 1798 her legislature appro- 
priated $1,200,000 for the defense of the har- 
bor, to be paid out of the balance found to be 
due in adjustment of the accounts of the Revo- 
lution. In the designation of major generals, 
Washington, who had been placed in chief 
command, nominated Hamilton, three years 
since retired from the treasury, as the first on 
the list. President Adams tried to give the 
precedence to General Knox, contrary to the 
understanding with Washington, and only upon 
the positive demand of the general-in-cliief did 
he assent that Hamilton should stand first in 
rank. Hamilton devoted lumself with energy 
to the tasks which the position imposed upon 
him, and for which he was preeminently fitted, 
and he gave direction to the fortifications of New 



476 NEW YORK. 

York harbor. The hostility of Adams, and his 
injustice in this case, were the immediate oc- 
casion for Hamilton's hostility to him in the 
ensuing canvass for the presidency, and intro- 
duced, or at least aggravated and perpetuated, 
disastrous feuds in the federal party, not only 
in New York, but in the nation. 

When the candidacy of Robert R. Livings- 
ton, the chancellor, against Jay for governor, 
in 1798, resulted in a majority for the latter of 
nearly one-twelfth of the total vote cast, the 
result was accepted quite as much as a personal 
as a political triumph ; for the choice of mem- 
bers of the legislature showed considerable 
gains, although not a majority for the anti-fed- 
eralists. Aaron Burr returned in 1798 from 
the United States senate to the assembly of 
New York ; and DeWitt Clinton appeared in 
that body twelve years after graduation from 
Columbia College. He had served as private 
secretary to his uncle, Governor Clinton, whose 
viewa he shared, without sympathy with the 
feverish admiration for France which carried 
away some anti-federalists. His scholarship, 
his social graces, his power as an orator, his 
zeal for public improvements, and his high per- 
sonal character, gave and held in public affairs 
a position which was, in the first quarter of the 
new century, not second to that of any other 
citizen of the commonwealth. 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 477 

The position of the legislature was tested 
upon the resolutions drawn by Mr. Madison, 
and adopted by Kentucky and Virginia, which 
denounced as unconstitutional the alien and se- 
dition laws, and were aimed at the administra- 
tion of President Adams. Upon a motion dis- 
charging the committee of the whole, because 
the right of deciding upon the constitutionality 
of laws belongs to the courts, the assembly dis- 
missed the matter, and the senate followed its 
example. But the attempt to enforce those laws 
by arresting Judge Peck of Otsego, a member of 
assembly, for circulating a petition for their re- 
peal, stirred up popular hostility, and assisted in 
the impending change of parties. 

Aaron Burr was defeated for the assembly in 
1799, largely on account of the scandal con- 
nected with getting a charter for the Manhat- 
tan Company, ostensibly to furnish New York 
city with pure water, but really for banking 
purposes, which were hidden in the act. The 
federalists controlled the banks of the city, — 
the Bank of New York, chartered in 1791 
through the influence of Hamilton, and the 
branch of the United States Bank. Burr 
sought to break the power wielded through 
these institutions, and, as he knew the federal 
majority in the legislature would obstruct his 
scheme, he c^/rried out his plan by this strat- 



478 NEW YORK. 

agem. While it cost him defeat at one election, 
it did not repress his vaulting ambition. 

The year 1800 was full of excitement 
throughout the country, and in largest measure 
in New York. Hamilton was, while standing 
at the summit of the bar in a very lucrative 
practice, the active and recognized leader of 
the federahsts. Aaron Burr, his superior in 
the arts of politics, as he was inferior in the 
higher qualities of the statesman, was the real 
leader of the opposition, moulding to his own 
designs its elements, not always voluntarily obe- 
dient. On these two men hung the election of 
the next president and the decision of national 
policy ; for New York then, as so often since, 
was looked upon as holding the balance of pow- 
er : and the legislature, which was to choose the 
electors, would depend, for its majority for one 
party or the other, on the members of assem- 
bly from New York city. Burr succeeded in 
inducing ex-Governor Clinton, Brockholst Liv- 
ingston, and General Horatio Gates, who super- 
seded General Schuyler at Saratoga, to head 
the ticket, which was advocated in the name of 
Jefferson for president, and Burr for vice-presi- 
dent, and against John Adams. The canvass 
was conducted with great vigor, and Hamilton 
and Burr appeared on the same platform in 
discussion. The combination effected by Burr 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 479 

was successful, and insured a unanimous dele- 
gation from New York in the assembly. Ham- 
ilton appealed to Jay to call the legislature in 
extra session, to provide for the choice of elec- 
tors by districts, and thus secure for the fed- 
eralists a share of the number before the new 
legislature could be organized. The governor 
refused, and republican electors were chosen on 
joint ballot by a majority of twenty-two. 

New Yorli became at once, in the election of 
president, a factor more significant than was 
expected. Under the provisions then existing, 
the candidate receivino: the hio-hest vote in the 
electoral college was to be president, and the 
next in order vice-president ; but Jefferson and 
Burr received each seventy-three votes, and no 
choice was effected. The house of representa- 
tives was, under the constitution, to decide the 
tie. Burr remained in Albany during the con- 
test, willing to accept the office for which he 
was not nominated, and over the head of the 
person clearly designated by the popular and 
electoral votes. His confidential friend, Van 
Ness, in constant intercourse with him, wrote 
that " it was the sense of the republicans in 
this State that, after some trials in the house, 
Mr. Jefferson should be given up for Mr. Burr." 
The counsel was not justified by republican 
sentiment, but it may justly be taken to pro- 
ceed from Burr himself. 



480 NEW YORK. 

His election as president was possible, and 
thirty-six ballots, occupying seven days, were 
taken before a majority was recorded. Some 
federalists were inclined to favor Burr over 
Jefferson ; but Hamilton, with zeal and energy, 
opposed the former with bitter language and 
convincing arguments. Jefferson pronounced 
Burr's conduct during the crisis *' honorable 
and decisive, and greatly embarrassing" to 
those who tried to "debauch him from his 
good faith." The federalists concluded that he 
would not accept their principles even if they 
gave him their votes. Subsequent events have 
colored the judgment pronounced on this inci- 
dent. While Burr took no steps to prevent his 
promotion over the head of Jefferson, he did 
not enter into any bargain to secure that end. 

New York was to furnish the vice-president. 
The number of leaders or aspirants for leader- 
ship, the sharp personal rivalries, and the divi- 
sions within parties, in the commonwealth, have 
become a striking feature in its politics. Ham- 
ilton, as he had bitterly denounced John 
Adams, alienated men who should, by their 
genera] tendencies, have cooperated with his 
party. He was a philosophical statesman, lack- 
ing the tact and temper of a political leader. 
The federalists were not a compact body, and 
they lost, one after another, elements essential 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 481 

to their strength, — the Livingstons, Ambrose 
Spencer, a man of note, and in 1800 a large 
body of its former adherents in the interior 
districts. Aaron Burr, with all his suavity and 
seductive arts, and his skill in using men on 
single occasions, managed a party for selfish 
schemes, and treated all its prominent mem- 
bers as rivals to be checked. They were both 
men aloof from their followers, and Burr was a 
character such as in modern phrase would be 
styled a " boss," relying on stratagem and in- 
trigue for success. He thrust aside the Clin- 
tons and the Livingstons, to find in them re- 
morseless antagonists. If he had been wise 
enough to make them his allies and friends, he 
would have been irresistible. If Hamilton, on 
the other hand, had possessed the faculty of 
combination and the arts of popularity, his 
career would not have closed as secretary of 
the treasury. 

Burr became vice-president, and his State 
was to elect his successors to that office for thirty- 
two out of eighty-four years to follow. The 
commonwealth grew soon to a magnitude such 
that its parties were divided within themselves,' 
and their leaders indulged in rivalries so in- 
tense that each would not permit the other to 
attain to the first eminence ; while the vice- 
presidency has been conceded by national con- 



482 NEW YORK. 

ventions, with a desire to heal the local dissen- 
sions, sometimes with the effect to intensify 
them. 

It was not due to a lack of men of ability or 
desert, but to the conflicts at home, that, after 
the retirement of Hamilton, New York had no 
cabinet minister, appointed at the beginning of 
an administration, until Martin Van Buren be- 
came secretary of state, in 1829, and none at all 
until John Armstrong was called to fill a vacancy 
as secretary of war in January, 1813, and served 
until September, 1814. In foreign appoint- 
ments, the commonwealth was treated with 
more consideration at this period. John Jay, 
who had been minister to Spain and one of the 
signers of the treaty of peace with Britain, re- 
signed the office of chief justice of the United 
States to go to England to settle grave difficul- 
ties, and he was succeeded at that court by Ru- 
fus King, who, in the trying years from 1796 to 
1803, sustained the honor of the young nation. 
Gouverneur Morris, in France, exposed the 
venality of Talleyrand, and the bad faith of the 
greedy government ; and Robert R. Livingston, 
nine years later, represented our country during 
the sway of Napoleon as consul, and negotiated 
with him the purchase of Louisiana. John Arm- 
strong, a brother-in-law by marriage, succeeded 
Livingston in this desirable mission. Brockholst 



PARTIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 483 

Livingston, appointed November, 1806, to be 
associate justice of the supreme court of the 
United States, completes the list of New York's 
contributions to the federal service at this pe- 
riod in places of high rank. 

Within the State, the complaints were loud 
that the federalists monopolized all the offices 
while Washington and Adams were at the head 
of the national administration. It is equally 
true that Governor Clinton took good care of 
his friends, although he was checked, at some 
times, by the council of appointment, whose 
members claimed that the governor had but a 
single vote in a board of five in making nomi- 
nations. Governor Jay, as his biographer de- 
clares, during the six years of his administra- 
tion never dismissed a single individual from 
office on account of his politics ; and when a 
candidate was once pressed upon him because 
he was a federalist, the governor responded : 
" That is not the question. Is he fit for the 
office?" Mr. Jay was certainly nice in his 
sense of honor and purity in the civil service, 
and in his unwillingness to swerve from the 
strictest integrity for party purposes. 

To him the State owes the abolition of slavery 
within its borders. Although a slaveholder, 
manumitting the faithful and deserving of his 
own slaves, he had long been enlisted in a move- 



484 NEW YORK. 

ment for abolition, and in his third attempt be- 
fore the legislature secured the passage of an 
act, April, 1799, providing that all children born 
of slave parents after July 4, ensuing, should be 
free, subject to apprenticeship in the case of 
males until the age of twenty-eight, and of fe- 
males until the age of twenty-five, while the ex- 
portation of slaves was forbidden. Slavery had 
gradually been mitigated in its severity, and 
the number of slaves, 21,908, was so small in 
its ratio to the total population, now nearly a 
million, that the institution had lost much of 
its commercial and social significance. Thence- 
forth the statutes gave guaranty that birth on 
the soil of New York was a charter of freedom. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A TKAGEDY. — LOSS OF THE PRESIDENCY. 
1801-1813. 

The material prosperity of New York was di- 
versified and rapid, and, although suffering from 
the threats of foreign complications, when those 
ceased it rose to its full current. The exten- 
sion of agriculture on its soil was never equaled 
in the older States of the Union, and its devel- 
opment of manufactures surpassed at that pe- 
riod that of any neighbor. With wealth, social 
graces, especially in the cities and on the man- 
ors, became more general, although they could 
hardly be more conspicuous than they were 
among a few. when the state and national capi- 
tals were in New York city. The people were 
full of energy and enterprise, and immigrants 
from New England as well as from Europe 
added to industry and production and thrift. 
The diversified elements in the population were 
observed by travelers and visitors. The Dutch 
retained their hold in. their original seats. The 
Palatines in the Mohawk Valley stood aloof, in 



486 NEW YORK. 

manners and tastes, from the Scotch and Irish 
who surrounded them. The Huguenots did 
not lose their ground in Westchester. Towns 
in Oneida county became as distinctively Welsh 
as any in the principality. Parts of Otsego 
were what they were made by the original 
Scotch preemption. Pennsylvania furnished 
emigrants to Tioga, and by way of Pittsburgh 
to Allegany and Chautauqua. Connecticut and 
Massachusetts contributed families and influ- 
ences to the western counties and along the 
route to them, as Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire did to the Valley of the St. Lawrence. 
The French crossed the river and the lake from 
Canada ; and later, companies came into north- 
ern New York direct from France. 

All religious sects were represented. The 
Shakers, who settled in the borders of Albany 
county in 1776, were prospering. President 
Timothy D wight, in his visit " to the Whites- 
town country," at the close of the last century, 
was shocked by the prevalence of horse-racing 
in the Mohawk Valley, and found the people 
"destitute both of knowledge and morals." 
His observation was scanty and his generaliza- 
tion very broad. The Presbyterians and Con- 
gregation alists of New England before 1800 sent 
into central New York at least thirty-seven 
ministers, either for missionary exploration, or 



A TRAGEDY. — THE PRESIDENCY. 487 

for clerical labors more or less prolonged, and 
they were welcomed by the inhabitants. Rev. 
John Taylor, who traveled by stage in 1802 
along the valley, and passed into the Black 
River country, met with little difficulty in se- 
curing congregations to hear his sermons on 
week days as well as Sundays, and he reports 
Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Congrega- 
tionalists, and Universallsts, with their socie- 
ties. He "seldom found a family without a 
Bible," and was everywhere encouraged in his 
labors. Of Western, still a small town, he 
wrote : '' It is incredible how thick this part 
of the world is settled." 

The mingling of peoples was, however, the 
striking feature. In Utica, with only ninety 
houses, " ten or twelve different nations were 
represented at this time." While between the 
various settlements a certain division prevailed 
in manners and tastes and sympathies, and to 
some extent also between families of different 
origin on the same soil, gradually the lines of 
demarcation .grew more faint, and crossed each 
other. The intermingling proceeded with suc- 
cessive generations, but more or less various 
locations retain to this day the impress of their 
original settlement. The Empire State, from 
before the Revolution, liad this distinction, and 
the waters of the growing river, although they 



488 NEW YORK, 

spread more widely and rose to flood, were col- 
ored with the soil and vegetation of their 
sources. This was the explanation of that 
growth which in its volume, and still more 
in its varied phases, is wellnigh unique. The 
story of that growth in its curious details, in 
farms laid out, in factories built, in roads ex- 
tended, in the broadening culture of the people, 
will repay examination and can never lose its 
novelty. The aggregate results remain, for 
monument to the generations passed, for ex- 
ample to their descendants. 

In the midst of this development, political 
problems occupied a large share of attention. 
Governor Jay had been invited, December, 1800, 
to return to the position of chief justice of the 
United States, but declined, as he declined also 
to be a candidate for governor for a third term 
at the election of 1801, when George Clinton 
was again chosen to that position. Governor 
Jay, near the close of his administration, when 
the republicans were mounting to power, found 
the inconvenience of the system which the coun- 
cil of appointment enforced. Three members, 
constituting a majority, claimed the right of 
nomination over the head of the governor, who 
insisted on his own right to nominate without 
submission of the names to the council. The 
controversy culminated in the refusal of the 



A TRAGEDY. — THE PRESIDENCY. 489 

members to vote on nominations presented by 
the governor ; and thereupon he called them to- 
gether no more, and appealed to the assembly, 
as did the majority of the council. That body 
asked the opinion of the chancellor and the 
supreme court, who declined to enter into the 
matter as extra-judicial. In order to settle the 
question, a convention was recommended, to 
consider the constitution in this provision and 
in the number of senators and assemblymen. 
The convention, which met October 13, chose 
Aaron Burr president ; and on its rolls were 
DeWitt Clinton and Daniel D. Tompkins, both 
to become governors. Yet, by a vote reported 
to be unanimous, although Governor Tomp- 
kins subsequently claimed that he opposed it, 
the declaration was recorded that the council 
possessed equal powers of nomination with the 
governor. This limitation of executive author- 
ity, after full discussion by a convention chosen 
especially to consider the subject, is one of the 
striking features in the constitutional history 
of New York. The same body fixed the num- 
ber of state senators at thirty-two, at which it 
has always remained, notwithstanding the mul- 
tiplication of the population nearly sixfold. 
The members of the assembly were to be one 
hundred, to be increased at each census at the 
rate of two yearly, until the total should reach 
one hundred and fifty. 



490 NEW YORK. 

DeWitt Clinton had been chosen United 
States senator in 1802, and was abeady over- 
shadowing his uncle, George Clinton, the gov- 
ernor, and was credited with the highest aspi- 
rations. Between DeWitt Clinton and Aaron 
Burr, who was not only vice-president, but re- 
garded as a candidate for succession to the pres- 
idency, a personal rivalry arose, which was car- 
ried to great lengths, and affected seriously the 
fortunes of both. The charge was urged that 
the federal offices in the State were given by 
President Jefferson to Burr's enemies, while the 
representatives, who were during the choice for 
president suspected of favoring the New York 
candidate, received consideration which it was 
alleged showed that promises had been made to 
secure their votes for Jefferson. The designa- 
tion of Chancellor Livingston as minister to 
France, and of his brother Edward to be United 
States attorney for New York, was cited on the 
first charge, with a full list of specifications 
under the second charge. At Albany the Clin- 
ton influence was supreme, and taking the Liv- 
ingstons into alliance it completely ostracized 
the friends of the vice-president. The rela- 
tions of Burr with the presidential election of 
1800 were the theme of repeated and detailed 
attacks in the "Citizen," published in New 
York. The " Chronicle " carried on an ag- 



A TRAGEDY.— THE PRESIDENCY. 491 

gressive warfare against the Clintons and Liv- 
ingstons. The " Evening Post " was just started 
as the organ of Hamilton. The strife was car- 
ried into private life. Burr and his friend 
Swartwout were turned out of the direction of 
the Manhattan Bank, and the latter was called 
by DeWitt Clinton " a liar, a scoundrel, and a 
villain." A duel was the consequence, but for- 
tunately, after five shots were exchanged and 
Swartwout was twice wounded, Clinton re- 
fused to fire again, and a political murder was 
averted. 

The legislature in 1803 gave another illus- 
tration of the extension of politics into busi- 
ness by chartering the State Bank at Albany, 
and distributing the stock among the friends of 
Clinton in the two houses; while at the same 
time a charter was refused to the Merchants' 
Bank, controlled by Burr's supporters. The 
defense was that federalists owned the only 
three banks then existing outside of New York 
city, — at Hudson, at Albany, and near Troy re- 
spectivel3^ In New York city, the first bank in 
the State established by charter from the legis- 
lature was the Bank of New York, organized 
under the auspices of Alexander Hamilton, and 
it was for years a power in politics. All bank 
franchises were then monopolies, and they were 
awarded notoriously to political favorites, and 



492 NEW YORK. 

the step was not very great to give profit, as 
in the case of the State Bank, directly, in large 
part, to those who voted for the charter. Gross 
as the practice seems to modern morality, both 
parties acted upon it, and only when charges 
of direct purchase were made did the scandal 
arouse pronounced opposition. In 1805 two 
senators accepted stock in the Merchants' Bank, 
with the promise that it should be taken off their 
hands at twenty-five per cent, advance, and the 
agent in this transaction was also a senator. A 
committee of investigation was ordered, where- 
upon one senator resigned to avoid expulsion ; 
but the charter, although for the benefit of fed- 
eralists, was granted. Governor Lewis and his 
friends favored the measure, while the sup- 
porters of DeWitt Clinton, led by Ambrose 
Spencer, opposed it. The difference was to 
fester, and the issue was to attain importance. 

In 1812, at the closing up of the United 
States Bank, a proposal was strongly advocated 
to establish the Bank of America in New York, 
with a capital of $6,000,000, and for the charter 
of which the stockholders of the institution that 
had been closed might subscribe for $5,000,000, 
while as a bonus $600,000 was to be paid to 
the State, with privileges as to public loans. 
Governor Tompkins took strong grounds against 
the project in a message, reciting charges of cor- 



A TRAGEDY. — THE PRESIDENCY. 493 

riiption that should be sifted, and enlarging on 
the dangers of the growing powers of corpora- 
tions and the extension of bank credits ; he 
went so far as to prorogue the legislature from 
March 27 to May 21, under authority then 
granted by the constitution, but used only in 
this case. A lobby agent was convicted, bribery 
was brought close home to some legislators, 
and although in the senate Erastus Root, of 
Delaware, fought with dilatory measures, in 
the end a charter was granted. For this result 
DeWitt Clinton was in large degree responsi- 
ble, for he was to have and did get the support 
of the bank ring in his candidacy then pend- 
ing for president. These graspings for bank 
charters as political prizes, or as conditions of 
bargains in politics, continued until the free 
banking law was enacted, allowing equal priv- 
ileges to all under statutory regulations. 

The scandal relative to both these banks, or 
certainly the form which it took, was due to 
the practical disappearance of the federal party. 
After the flurry of a possible war with France, 
Hamilton contented himself with his profes- 
sion, in which his splendid abilities lifted him 
above rivalry ; and in the course of a suit for 
libel brought against Harry Croswell, for words 
spoken of Jefferson in the " Balance," a news- 
paper published at Hudson, he delivered an ar- 



494 XFW YORK. 

giiment for allowing the triitli to be presented 
in evideuoe, and permitting the jury to judge 
of the law and the facts. The impression was 
so strong that the statutes were amended ac- 
cordincf to his views, and new security was 
given to the liberty of the press. 

The successful kiwyer did not forget his hos- 
tility to Burr, of whom he spoke with intense 
hatred and with utter condemnation of his per- 
sonal and political character. In 1S04, George 
Clinton was nominated for vice-president on 
the ticket with Jefferson, and was in due time 
elected. Burr felt keenly his own rejection, 
and resolved to become a candidate for gover- 
nor, and to that end secured a nomination from 
a few friends in the legislature, and from public 
meetings here and there. The democrats nomi- 
nated Morgan Lewis, the chief justice, who was 
connected with the Livinsrstons bv marrias^e. 
An attempt to induce the federalists to support 
Burr was opposed and in large measure checked 
bT Hamilton. Burr carried Xew York citv, but 
in the Stat^, in a poll of 52,698 votes, the ma- 
jority against him was 8,690. Even his auda- 
city accepted the defeat as crushing and final, 
and it stirred his rage for vengeance. Hamil- 
ton had been during his entire career his oppo- 
nent, had thwarted his ambitions, had in the 
State and the nation thrust from him the grand- 



A TRAGEDY.— THE PRESIDENCY. 495 

est prizes. They belonged to opposite parties, 
it is true, and Hamilton was always frank and 
open in his action. The Clintons and the Liv- 
ingstons in his own party had overcome him 
and driven him out. But Hamilton was the 
foremost of his adversaries, and at him he was 
determined to strike. 

The fashion of the times prompted resort to 
the duel. Hamilton's son had been killed in 
a semi-political affair, and in society and poli- 
tics a challenofe was a recoo^nized device for 
getting satisfaction. Burr adopted it, in the 
passion following his defeat. The correspond- 
ence is matter of record. The rivals, each so 
gifted and each so commanding in his own 
way, met at Weehawken, July 11, and the 
single shot which proved fatal to Hamilton, 
who refused to fire at his adversary, set an im- 
perishable brand on the brow of Burr. The 
killing was justifiable under the code, but was 
murder under the law. Hiding, fleeing to es- 
cape arrest, as soon as he was outside of the 
State, Burr's audacity returned. Gay in Phila- 
delphia, in Washington he resumed his chair 
as vice-president, and invited the storm of ob- 
loquy and execration which he defied. The 
popular mind tolerated no apology. The of- 
fenses of years were emblazoned by the blood 
of his victim. Hamilton was the theme of 



496 NEW YORK. 

eulogy in press and pulpit and forum. The 
practice of dueling, tolerated up to that time, 
was proclaimed to be murder ; and he who so 
lately was honored as vice-president, and only 
a little while before barely escaped election to 
the presidency, was in church and society, on 
the streets and in public assemblies, denounced 
as a murderer. Our annals are not stained 
with another tragedy so dramatic. The fate of 
the victim has added pathos and zeal to many 
a eulogy on his political principles and his ser- 
vices to the republic. 

Burr passed out of the politics of New York. 
An invitation was extended to him to enter 
politics at the South, where the duel would not 
condemn him. He chose to pursue a romantic 
adventure in the Southwest, as a result of which 
he was put on trial for treason against the 
United States. Ruined in fortune he sought 
refuge in Europe, but returned to New York, 
where he resumed the practice of the law ; but 
he was soured and disgraced and died, with 
few friends and little consideration, September 
14, 1836. 

Morgan Lewis as governor bridged over the 
interval for the new men who were rising to 
favor. DeWitt Clinton in 1802 took a strange 
step by resigning his seat in the national senate 
to become mayor of New York, and Theodorus 



A TRAGEDY. — THE PRESIDENCY. 497 

Bailey followed his example to accept the post- 
mastership of that city. The local oflSces af- 
forded the larger emoluments, and Clinton 
doubtless regarded the mayoralty as a surer 
lever for political promotion. His future was 
to justify his ambitions, for even the highest 
prize was to be proffered by devoted friends. 
Other men were rising into prominence. James 
Kent, now forty -one years of age, was appointed 
chief justice in 1804 to succeed Governor Lewis, 
and, after ten years of service on that bench, 
was made chancellor. His pure character and 
his eminent learning, and brilliant as well as 
solid abilit}^, commanded admiration in his own 
day ; and as the author of " Commentaries on 
American Law" he was the pioneer and the 
master of our jurisprudence. A younger man, 
only thirty years of age, who took Judge Kent's 
place on the bench of the supreme court when 
the latter became chief justice, was destined to 
occupy a broad and commanding position. This 
was Daniel D. Tompkins, who had already 
served in the assembly and the constitutional 
convention, and was chosen to congress in this 
same year. 

Mr. Clinton in his political zeal soon came 
into collision with Governor Lewis, and the 
warfare between them grew virulent. Clinton 
was charged with intriguing with those who 



498 NEW YORK. 

still clung to the name of Burr ; the federalists 
generally adhered to Lewis, as was alleged, in 
return for his favors in chartering the Mer- 
chants' Bank. It is not necessary to attribute 
base motives to either for an alliance that was 
natural. Lewis was the candidate of the Liv- 
ingstons, while Clinton was already organizing 
a party that was to be in many respects per- 
sonal, and which he drilled and disciplined to 
follow him. 

It is difficult to discover grounds of princi- 
ple to explain the divisions of this period. All 
parties accepted the federal constitution, and 
in New York there was little or no organized 
opposition to Jefferson's administration. The 
questions which led to the second war with 
Great Britain were arising, but parties and 
factions were not yet arrayed upon them. The 
controversy was one very largely of men and 
offices merely. The Clintons and Livingstons, 
once allies, were the leaders of the hostile 
forces. The former controlled at this time the 
federal patronage, while the Livingstons, who 
had enjoyed their full share, were no longer in- 
fluential at Washington, although personally 
honored. At Albany, however, they had the 
ear of the governor and inspired the administra- 
tion. They showed their temper by removing 
Clinton from the mayoralty of New York, and 



A TRAGEDY.— THE PRESIDENCY. 499 

his friends from such state offices as they held. 
Clinton and Livingston nominally agreed on the 
matter of bank charters, but the former as- 
sented to grants for which some of liis friends 
voted, as the Albany *' Register " pleaded, and 
out of which scandals grew. DeWitt Clinton 
was ah'eady an aspirant for the presidency, and 
was anxious to win favor and popularity in his 
own State. The Livingstons had ambitions, 
but they did not soar so high, and their efforts 
were directed primarily to the crippling of their 
chief rival. 

George Clinton was still serving his first 
term as vice-president when his nephew was 
busy in seeking the nomination for the chief 
magistracy. The uncle was in the natural line 
of promotion, and less hostility was felt towards 
him. On the change of president, up to this 
time, the vice-president had been promoted t6 
the executive cbair. To continue that policy, 
as well as to promote the more remote aspira- 
tions of DeWitt Clinton, it was of the first 
importance to carry New York. The first step 
in the movement was the election of governor. 
If DeWitt Clinton could have been chosen to 
that place in 1807, since his uncle was not to 
follow Jefferson as president, he might rea- 
sonably hope, as he did hope without that elec- 
tion, to sit in the seat of Washington. He did 



500 NEW YORK. 

not deem it wise, however, to enter the can- 
vass. He recognized the bitterness of the Liv- 
ingstons towards himself, and fully reciprocated 
it. He deemed it necessary, in order to secure 
the show of strength for his own party, to flank 
this difficulty, and to present a candidate with 
whom he could appeal to the prejudices against 
the Livingston family represented by Governor 
Lewis, while, by keeping himself in the back- 
ground and holding his brother-in-law, Ambrose 
Spencer, also in reserve, he could avoid arous- 
ing the hostility against his own family. He 
hit upon Daniel D. Tompkins for the candidate, 
and after a sharp contest, in which Governor 
Lewis used all the State patronage in his own 
behalf, Tompkins was elected, and DeWitt 
Clinton's plans were thus far successful. The 
new State administration was prompt to change 
Governor Lewis' recent appointments, and to 
restore DeWitt Clinton to the mayoralty of 
New York, although he was at the same time 
State senator and member of the council of 
appointment, as he was assuredly the most im- 
portant factor in the politics of the common- 
wealth. At home the Clintons were for the 
moment supreme. 

The congressional caucus of 1808, which then 
nominated the national candidates, was under 
different influences. George Clinton complained 



A TRAGEDY.— THE PRESIDENCY. 501 

that he was not consulted about the nomina- 
tions, and did not even know of the caucus 
until the day on which it was held, but he con- 
sented to continue as vice-president, with Mr. 
Madison as chief magistrate. The Albany 
" Register " pointed out the grasping policy of 
Virginia, and the " New York Post " quoted 
from Virginia papers denunciations of the enor- 
mous power wielded by DeWitt Clinton in New 
York. When the electoral college met, six 
votes were cast for Clinton for president, and his 
opponents tried on that ground to put the vice- 
president and his party in his own State in an- 
tagonism to the national administration. The 
attacks on DeWitt Clinton were so personal 
and direct that he met them by resolutions in 
the senate, and an elaborate speech eulogizing 
Mr. Madison, and sustaining the embargo and 
non - intercourse laws. Governor Tompkins 
joined with Clinton in this policy, while the 
opposition to the war now plainly threatened 
fell into the hands of the federalists, who re- 
vived tlieir organization, and in the election of 
1810 nominated Jonas Piatt for governor. The 
republicans, however, carried everything before 
them, and Governor Tompkins was supported 
by ex-Governor Lewis, and by a large part of 
the Livingston following. 

By the death of John Broome, elected lieu- 



502 NEW YORK. 

tenant governor, DeWitt Clinton found occa- 
sion for another of the strange steps which 
marked his career. He accepted the nomina- 
tion for the vacancy, and amid a storm of as- 
sault and denunciation was elected, and went 
to Albany, not so much to preside over the 
senate as to conduct his canvass for the pres- 
idency. President Madison was using the fed- 
eral patronage to cripple Clinton. The vice- 
president, George Clinton, having died in Wash- 
ington April 20, 1812, his nephew inherited 
whatever strength he had to bequeath, and 
needed all of it ; for he met with obstacles in 
an unexpected quarter. Governor Tompkins 
was aspiring to the presidency in the early fu- 
ture, and was charged with delaying action by 
the legislative caucus until Madison could be 
renominated at Washington. In spite of all 
'complications, Clinton secured a nomination 
for president from the republican members of 
the legislature, although two absented them- 
selves, and others gave only formal assent. 
Ambrose Spencer and John W. Taylor, after- 
wards to be speaker of the lower house of con- 
gress, wrote that " no event would exalt Mr. 
Clinton higher than a surrender of his preten- 
sions to the presidential chair ; " and other 
friends pointed more directly to an arrange- 
ment for conceding a second term to Mr. Mad- 



A TRAGEDY.— THE PRESIDENCY. 503 

ison, with the succession, in 1816, to the can- 
didate from New York. The proposition was 
declined, and by a combination with the fed- 
eralists, Clintonian electors were secured from 
the State. The federalists in other States 
adopted Clinton as their candidate, not because 
he accepted their position relative to the war, 
but as a protest against Madison's policy. In 
the national college, all the States south and 
west of the Potomac voted for Madison, with 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and six electors 
from Maryland — 128 in all. For Clinton w^ere 
recorded five electors from Maryland, and all 
from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and 
New England except Vermont — a total of 89. 
The vice-presidency was taken from New York 
and given to Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. 
The presidency was lost to New York not 
only for 1812, but until the reconstruction of 
parties. The self-seeking of DeWitt Clinton, 
the personal virulence of the canvass, the am- 
bitions of rivals and especially of Governor 
Tompkins, and the readiness to enter into un- 
natural alliances, were unfortunately to be pro- 
phetic of the politics of the commonwealth in 
subsequent years. The haste to reach the su- 
preme goal, the failure to recognize the difficul- 
ties of concentrating the opposition to Madison 
upon himself, are now obvious in the canvass 



504 NEW YORK. 

of Clinton. But his supporters were not un- 
reasonable in hoping to secure Vermont and 
North Carolina, with some single elector else- 
where, in addition to the electoral votes actually 
cast for him. If they had done so, who shall 
say what effects would have been wrought in 
the affairs of the commonwealth as well as of 
the nation ? 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

1810-1815. 

The situation and topography of New York, 
at all stages so determinative of its history, 
subjected it once more to tlie burdens and haz- 
ards of conflict, in large part along the lines 
which in the preceding century had been 
marked by fire and slaughter. The common- 
wealth had become the chief producer, on this 
continent, of wheat and other grains, while its 
chief city was the centre of American com- 
merce. The embargo act of 1807, forbidding 
the departure of any merchant vessels from our 
ports, was a staggering blow to the State, al- 
though, as the people were thrown back upon 
themselves, they gave additional attention to 
manufactures. 

DeWitt Clinton, who at first opposed the 
measure, was led by popular pressure to change 
his position, and not only his State, but New 
York city with its ships shut up in the harbor, 
sustained the embargo. Lake Champlain and 



606 NEW YORK. 

the St. Lawrence opened routes for evasions, 
and they were many, and the enforcing act for 
employing state militia to prevent them was 
rigorously applied there. Public meetings in 
New York and Albany gave expression to the 
protests against this policy, and Jefferson was 
compelled to bow before the " unaccountable 
revolution of opinion and kind of panic, chiefly 
among the New England and New York mem- 
bers." Nowhere was the sense of relief greater 
than in New York when the ill-considered law 
was repealed, and this feeling secured a hearty 
welcome for the non-intercourse act of 1809, 
restricting commerce with France and Britain 
only. The project of a treaty for the repeal 
of the British " orders in council," and Presi- 
dent Madison's proclamation, November, 1810, 
for the consequent suspension of non-inter- 
course, gave great joy to all engaged in foreign 
trade, and Great Britain's repudiation of the 
act of its minister produced equal disappoint- 
ment and indignation. The course of Napoleon 
with reference to the Berlin and Milan decrees, 
and the confiscation of American vessels, went 
far to cure the Galilean fever, while the revo- 
cation of those decrees concentrated the quarrel 
with Britain, and afforded occasion for the war 
to which events had been for some time lead- 
ing. The impressment of American seamen 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 507 

was keenly felt in New York. Outrages at sea 
were promptly reported here by incoming ves- 
sels, and many sailors shipped from the chief 
port, even when their homes were elsewhere. 

The State was not as strongly represented in 
either house of the national legislature, in the 
eleventh and twelfth congresses, as it was be- 
fore and afterward. The senators were John 
Smith and Obadiah German, politicians of lo- 
cal influence. Among the representatives were 
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, who had sat in the 
senate to fill a vacancy, Thomas R. Gold, Eras- 
tus Root, and Peter B. Porter. 

New York had a right to special considera- 
tion in deciding the proposition for war. It 
had material interests second to none, not only 
threatened and in peril, but in large degree 
sacrificed. Yet its people submitted gracefully 
to the embargo, contented themselves with tem- 
perate protests against the enforcing act, and 
sustained with vigor the policy of non-inter- 
course. They gave no toleration to the British 
efforts to arouse hostility to the government, 
and had no sympathy with the passionate pro- 
tests heard in New England against the policy 
of the administration. If war should come, its 
seaport was liable to blockade, as its commerce 
would be destroyed, and the enemy would pass 
readily by Lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence, 



608 NEW YORK. 

and Lake Ontario with destructive fleets to 
throw invading armies upon its frontiers. Many 
wise men in New York favored the continuance 
of non-intercourse, from which Great Britain 
suffered as well as the United States, and ad- 
vised the prolongation of efforts to avoid actual 
conflict, sure to bring, at least at the outset, 
serious disasters. We were not read}^, on sea 
or land, was the argument of not a few. Why 
should we take the initiative without adequate 
preparation ? Great Britain had offended 
grievously, but so had France. Why should 
we be patient under the insolence and wrong 
of one, become its practical ally, and rush into 
hostilities against the other? The resources 
of commercial restrictions and of adroit and 
brave diplomacy were not exhausted. Great 
Britain, in fact, canceled the orders in coun- 
cil, on definite proof that the Berlin and Milan 
decrees were repealed. For the wrongs of im- 
pressment the war brought little satisfaction, 
nor did the treaty of Ghent, in 1814, give satis- 
faction or concession of principle for the future. 
For the time, the war party ruled the coun- 
try. When Congress, in 1811, voted to raise 
the regular army to 35,000 men, and author- 
ized summons for 50,000 volunteers, with the 
preparation of the navy and the building of 
new ships. New York did not hesitate. On 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 509 

the contrary, after war was declared, June 18, 
1812, the sentiment of the State was strongly 
in favor of its vigorous prosecution. Because 
Mr. Madison was regarded as timid and slow, 
DeWitt Clinton was urged for the presidency, 
as more able, more vigorous, and as a New 
Yorker nearer the scene where actual conflict 
would occur. When this movement failed, the 
State relaxed no effort, neglected no precaution, 
refused no sacrifice, for the national defense. 
Individuals risked their fortunes, not only in 
privateers to damage British commerce, but in 
securing supplies for the army and navy, and 
helping the government with money. Governor 
Tompkins, reelected in 1813 as he was again in 
1816, devoted every energy and every resource 
to the war, and probably in part from negli- 
gence in his accounts, ruined himself pecunia- 
rily, and subjected himself to scandals and as- 
persions which time was required to controvert. 
Among the brigadier generals appointed was 
John Armstrong, who had been active about the 
Newburg addresses, an ex-senator of the United 
States, and late minister to France ; he was to 
become secretary of war, and to resign after 
severe censure for failure. Morgan Lewis, the 
quartermaster general of the army, was also 
made a brigadier, and was afterward to have 
command of the defenses of New York city. 



510 N^W YORK. 

The defeat and surrender of Hull at Detroit, 
August 16, 1812, turned the whole hopes of an 
invasion of Canada upon the paths from New 
York. General Dearborn was at the head of 
3,000 regulars and 2,000 railitia on Lake Cham- 
plain, and it is noteworthy that no operations 
were attempted further eastward. Along the 
St. Lawrence, with the left at Sackets Harbor, 
2,000 militia were arrayed. Buffalo was the 
western limit, where a force of 6,000 volunteers 
and militia was stretched out as far as Fort 
Niagara. At Ogdensburg, Jacob Brown was 
in command of a small force, and worried the 
British by intercepting their supplies on the 
St. Lawrence. Boats on the river came into 
frequent conflict. October 4, 1812, a British 
force of 700 men attacked Brown's position, 
but was repulsed, and the American com- 
mander began a military career which step by 
step raised him to the command of the na- 
tional army. 

Gunboats were in process of construction at 
Sackets Harbor, although 'everything except 
timber had to be brought from Albany. One 
of 'these, the Oneida, was attacked, July 19, 
1812, by five British vessels, but by planting 
a part of her guns on shore, she repulsed the 
enemy. Commodore Chauncey was soon sent 
to direct operations on Lake Ontario. With 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 511 

the Oneida and six trading schooners he drove 
the British ships into Kingston harbor. 

Early in October Lieutenant Elliott cut out 
two vessels from under the guns of Fort Erie 
on the Canada side. On the Niagara River, 
October 13, Colonel Van Rensselaer crossed 
and captured a British fort at Queenstown ; 
reinforcements came to the British, but the 
Americans refused to go to the relief of their 
companions, who were attacked and defeated. 
Among the prisoners was Lieutenant Winfield 
Scott, who was with the advance as a volunteer. 
At the close of November an effort to retrieve 
this disaster, by throwing a column from Black 
Rock across into Canada, with a sign of suc- 
cess at the outset, resulted in failure, and a 
dispute concerning the responsibility for the 
failure led to a duel between Smyth and 
Porter, the first two in command. 

On Lake Champlain, General Dearborn had 
advanced from Plattsburg to the frontier. A 
blockhouse was burned ; the first prisoners of 
the war were taken at the Indian village of 
St. Regis ; and a flag was captured by William 
L. Marcy, afterwards eminent as a statesman. 
November 20, an attack was made on a block- 
house on the River La CoUe, from which the 
garrison escaped. Two American detachments 
mistook each other for foes, and after firing, 
both retreated, leaving their dead on the field. 



512 NEW YORK. 

All the gallant exploits of the navy were 
needed to counteract the bad effect of the fail- 
ures on land in the autumn of 1812, and the 
disappointment of those who believed that 
Dearborn could with courage and energy have 
pressed forward to Montreal. The sailors at 
sea, and in less degree on Lake Ontario, sus- 
tained the spirit of the people. The campaign 
of 1813 was identical in plan with that of the 
preceding year. General Harrison fortunately 
recovered the Michigan territory. General 
Dearborn took command of the land forces on 
Lake Ontario and its confluents, while General 
Hampton directed movements on Lake Cham- 
plain. American prisoners, seized in sudden 
raids on 'our shores, were imprisoned in Brock- 
ville ; and rumors coming that they were ill 
treated, Captain Forsyth, February 6, 1813, 
led a rifle company and about two hundred 
volunteers, captured the jail and rescued the 
prisoners. He brought away a number of citi- 
zens as prisoners, and also a quantit}^ of military 
stores, but no private property. The British, 
much aroused by this affair, projected plans of 
retaliation ; and February 22, a force of regu- 
lars, militia, and Indians attacked Ogdensburg, 
where Captain Forsyth was in command with 
a much inferior number of men, and after an 
action of an hour and a half, the town was 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 513 

taken with its stores, and the barracks and 
shipping were destroyed. The British ojSicial 
reports show one hundred and one killed and 
wounded, while the Americans lost only 
twenty. Captain Forsyth retreated and many 
citizens fled, while others were paroled for ex- 
change for the inhabitants of Brockville. Some 
of the houses were plundered before the British 
retired the next day. 

In April, Commodore Chauncey conveyed a 
column of sixteen hundred men across the lake 
to York, now Toronto, which was taken by as- 
sault April 27, when General Pike, who led the 
attack, was killed. Valuable military stores 
were seized, two ships were burned, and either 
by the victors or retreating Canadians the par- 
liament house was set on fire, and served as a 
pretext for the burning of the capitol at Wash- 
ington. The Americans reembarked and pro- 
ceeded to the Niagara River, where. May 27, 
they compelled the British commander to blow 
up Fort George, and to abandon all the posts 
on that line. Sachets Harbor was well-nigh 
stripped of its defenders by these operations, and 
was attacked. May 29, by General Prevost with 
one thousand men, two ships, four schooners and 
thirty open boats. His defeat was signal, and 
cost one hundred and fifty killed and wounded ; 
while the Americans lost twenty-one killed and 

33 



514 NEW YORK. 

ninety-one wounded, besides some who fell into 
the hands of the retreating army. For this 
victory, Brown, who was in command of the 
Americans, was appointed a brigadier general 
in the regular army. 

In June the British kept up their activity on 
Lake Ontario. They threatened Oswego, they 
burned houses at Sodus Bay, they appeared at 
the mouth of the Genesee. On Lake Cham- 
plain also the British were defiant and active. 
Early in the same month they captured two 
American sloops that were a little too venture- 
some, and so held control of those waters for the 
season. July 31, they burned the barracks at 
Plattsbarg, with the military stores ; and ap- 
pearing before Burlington, captured trading 
vessels in sight of the town. 

To direct the movements for the invasion of 
Canada, General V/ilkinson was put in com- 
mand at Sackets Harbor; and, September 5, 
General Armstrong, secretary of war, came for 
consultation. The American force was at Fort 
George and Niagara 3,500, at Oswego 100, at 
Sackets Harbor 2,000, and on Lake Champlain 
4,000. On Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, 
the American flotilla was superior to the British 
in number of vessels, but not quite equal in 
guns. Chauncey tried often and adroitly to 
lure Sir James Yeo, commander of the British 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 515 

fleet, to a decisive battle, but the latter avoided 
the fight. Perry had won his victor}^ and earned 
his fame on Lake Erie before Wilkinson's plans 
were put into operation. October 16, General 
Hampton was ordered to advance to the mouth 
of the Chateaugay. Grenadier Island was the 
place of rendezvous for the main expedition, and 
there a large paut of the force was gathered 
October 20. Six days later, the artillery em- 
barked at Sackets Harbor. A storm arose, fif- 
teen large boats were wrecked, supplies and 
clothing were damaged and some lost. General 
Brown was stationed at French Creek (now 
Clayton), whence detachments were ordered to 
proceed down the St. Lawrence. There he 
was attacked by the enemy by land and water, 
and for two days fighting was maintained. 
The British were, however, repulsed, and the 
passage was kept open by Brown and by 
Chauncey off Carlton Island, so that the Amer- 
ican army was concentrated at Morristown. 
Brown then covered the descent of the rapids, 
when Hampton's expedition moved without 
order under a general who lacked the quali- 
ties needed for compact and effective action. 
Hampton blundered in a demonstration toward 
the Canada line, and fell back when he might 
have advanced. He refused to cooperate with 
Wilkins'^n, on the plea that the season was 



516 NEW YORK. 

too far advanced, and he returned to Lake 
Champlain. At Chrysler's farm, November 
11, Wilkinson came upon the British, and a 
sharp battle cost the latter two hundred men, 
and the Americans three hundred. The offi- 
cial reports claim a " splendid victory " for the 
British, but they hardly held their ground, and 
the superior forces of the Americans under effi- 
cient leadership could have renewed operations 
with good prospects of success. 

Montreal lay now within striking distance, 
with a garrison of only six hundred men, and 
American generals and American soldiers have 
achieved greater victories than its capture would 
have been. But Hampton would not cooperate, 
while Wilkinson was sick and feeble, if not in- 
competent, and found reason for abandoning 
the expedition. The flotilla went into Salmon 
River, and the army into winter quarters at 
French Mills, now Covington. In February 
the camp was broken up, and the men were 
divided into two columns, one at Sackets Har- 
bor, and the other at Plattsburg. 

In December, General McClure, on the Niag- 
ara River, without troops to hold Fort George, 
burned the adjacent village of Newark, and re- 
tired to Buffalo. The British, under General 
Prevost, turned upon him, captured Fort Ni- 
agara, put the garrison to the sword, and 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 517 

burned Black Rock and Buffalo, with wealth 
of provisions and stores and three vessels of 
Perry's fleet. 

The campaign was not creditable to the na- 
tion : it brought disaster and suffering to the 
frontiers of New York. In February, 1814, the 
British penetrated to French Mills, on a raid of 
destruction. March 30, Wilkinson ended his 
career by a campaign up the shore of Lake 
Champlain to the River La Colle, where he 
was so unsuccessful that he resigned his com- 
mand, and asked for a court of inquiry, which 
in due time declared him free from blame. 
Other leaders were wanted and they were at 
hand. Brown, now a major general, was in 
command at Sackets Harbor ; and to Winfield 
Scott, now a brigadier general, was given con- 
trol on the Niagara frontier. Both set to work 
to prepare an army disciplined, compact and 
confident. Brown joined Scott, and on July 3 
occupied Fort Erie without a shot. The Battle 
of Chippewa was fought July 5, when Scott 
won a victory. 

After securing reinforcements, the British, 
on the 25th of the same month, took position 
at Lundy's Lane for new operations. Scott at- 
tacked them with his advanced column. Brown 
brought up the main army, and with a loss of 
eight hundred men on each side, victory again 



518 NEW YORK. 

rested with the Americans over troops many 
of whom had served under Wellington in the 
wars against France. Once more, on August 
15, before Fort Erie, General Brown won ad- 
vantages, which were in October thrown away 
by General Izard, who blew up the fort and 
abandoned the line of the Niagara. 

On Lake Ontario the fleets on both sides had 
been increased. Vessels were rapidly con- 
structed at Sachets Harbor in the spring of 
1814. The frigate Mohawk, carrying forty- 
four guns, was built in thirty-four days, and 
other vessels in only a little longer time. The 
cannon was brought by way of Oswego, so that 
the transports had to run the gauntlet of the 
British cruisers. This was the incitement to 
activity on both sides. At Oswego the British 
destroyed the fort, and carried away guns de- 
signed for the ships. They pursued transports 
loaded with stores into Sand}^ Creek, but lost 
their boats and crews in the venture, with con- 
siderable loss also in killed and wounded. The 
chronicles of these waters at this time furnish 
incidents abundant and full of adventure. By 
August, Admiral Yeo was blockaded in King- 
ston, where he had a ship of one hundred guns 
in process of building, and the British were 
compelled to direct their movements other- 
where. 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 519 

Veterans from Europe, with local accessions 
making an army 12,000 strong, invaded New 
York and took up position on the Saranac ; 
while a British fleet of four vessels and twelve 
gunboats, carrying ninety-five guns and one 
thousand men, was displayed on Lake Cham- 
plain. In Plattsburg bay, Commodore Mc- 
Donough had an American squadron at anchor, 
four vessels besides ten gunboats, carrying al- 
together eighty-six guns and eight hundred 
and fifty men. General Macomb marshaled 
only three thousand regulars, but the militia 
of New York and Vermont added as many 
more. On land and water the British were 
the stronger in numbers and in cannon. The 
British fleet made a skillful and gallant attack 
September 11, but was outmanoeuvered and out- 
fought ; and with a loss of one hundred and 
twelve killed and wounded, the Americans were 
victorious, the British gunboats running away 
after striking their flags. Under cover of a 
storm the veterans of Europe retreated from the 
Saranac, which they could not cross, from the 
presence of an undisciplined foe only half their 
number, leaving their sick and wounded, and 
even a part of their baggage and stores, behind 
them. 

New York was a vast encampment in the 
early autumn of 1814. Governor Tompkins, 



620 NEW YORK. 

now in command of the third military district, 
put nearly 40,000 militia into the field for the 
defense of New York city, of Plattsburg, Sack- 
ets Harbor and Buffalo. In October, Yeo's ship 
of one hundred guns was ready for the water, 
and Chauncey in turn was driven to cover ; 
while an alarm was raised that Sackets Har- 
bor, with its dockyards and a ship for one hun- 
dred guns on the stocks, would be attacked by 
an army and a fleet. To prepare for such a 
movement, a levy en masse was made on the 
militia of Herkimer, Oneida, Lewis, and Jeffer- 
son counties, bringing in promptly men of all 
ages and all vocations ; but invasions from Can- 
ada were at an end. The plans of invasion of 
Canada, either for occupation or permanent mil- 
itary effect, were the dreams of the morning of 
the war, and had long since been dispelled. 

New York city had not been quiet or idle all 
this while. Although it had not favored the 
declaration of war, it never hesitated in its 
prosecution. Within four months after the 
declaration, it sent out by individual enterprise 
26 privateers, carrying 212 guns, and 2,239 
men. Great efforts were put forth to fortify 
the islands and the approaches. Operations at 
sea were watched with apprehensions lest a 
British fleet might enter the bay ; and the vic- 
tories of our seamen were hailed with wild de- 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 521 

light, and the heroes welcomed with the high- 
est honors. In 1813, Long Island was threat- 
ened by the blockading vessels, which even 
made requisitions for produce ; while on Gardi- 
ner's Island Commodore Decatur captured a 
party of British officers, so daring and confident 
were they in their operations. The alarm in 
the city reached its height at the beginning of 
August, 1814, when rumors of attack were cir- 
culated, and a formidable fleet in the Chesa- 
peake was supposed to be ready for the move- 
ment. The great army of Prevost and the fleet 
on Lake Cham plain were believed to have in 
view the forcing of a passiige by that route 
down the valley of the Hudson. DeWitt Clin- 
ton, who was mayor, appealed to the people to 
work on the fortifications ; a committee of de- 
fense was appointed at a large public meeting; 
and the popular zeal was so aroused that soci- 
eties and trades and manufacturing companies, 
and even scholars and their teachers, in bodies 
took up pickaxes and shovels, and work went 
on night and day. From Brookljm to Harlem, 
the heights were crowded with those whom a 
poem of the day styled " patriotic diggers." 
The corporation raised funds to maintain 20,- 
000 militia summoned to hold the defenses. 
Governor Tompkins gave impetus and inspired 
confidence. The national treasury had ex- 



522 NEW YORK. 

hausted its borrowing capacity at the banks, 
whereupon he endorsed the treasury notes, by 
which -f 500,000 were raised, not for use in New 
York alone, but also to sustain the recruiting 
service in Connecticut, and the manufacture of 
arms in Springfield. 

Drilling went on everywhere, and citizens, 
without distinction of age or vocation, quar- 
tered at home, bore arms four hours each day. 
Generals Morgan Lewis and Ebenezer Stevens 
were in command on land, with General Cad- 
wallader David Golden, grandson of the former 
lieutenant governor, over the ununiformed mi- 
litia. Commodore Decatur directed the move- 
ments on the waters. The recent bombard- 
ment of Stonington, and tlie burning of Wash- 
ington, prompted to diligence and to vigilant 
preparation. The fortifications grew to strength 
and some measure of completeness, but fortu- 
nately the British did not attack the city. 

Elsewhere, on sea and land, the war went on. 
The cries for peace were loud, especially in 
New England, and were increasing in other 
parts of the country, while the progress of 
negotiations at Ghent was carefully studied. 
Great Britain proposed terms which the legis- 
lature of New York, notwithstanding the suf- 
ferings and burdens of the State, denounced as 
*' extravagant and disgraceful." But when. 



SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 523 

February 11, 1815, the British sloop of war 
Favorite brought official notice that a treaty 
of peace was signed, the joyous citizens did not 
complain because " sailors' rights " and the 
rights of neutrals were not guaranteed in 
terms, although history has proved that they 
were so in fact. The celebration took every 
form of the expression of gladness, and the 
extemporized armies at once returned home, 
and the city in common with the country put 
on the garbs of peace. 

So intense was the suffering on the Niagara 
frontier that contributions were raised for the 
relief of the inhabitants. All along the north- 
ern borders and the line of Lake Champlain, 
the settlements were well-nigh ruined. On 
Long Island the disturbance was less serious. 
In New York city, the interruption to industry 
and business was felt in every branch. In the 
interior, manufactories were started to supply 
the deficiencies of importation ; a woolen fac- 
tory chartered at Oriskany in 1809, under the 
auspices of DeWitt Clinton, Stephen van Rens- 
selaer, and other eminent men, being the initia- 
tion of the policy. 

Once more the cessation of conflict gave to 
the commonwealth free course for the growth 
and development for which it possessed, in such 
large measure, the elements in its gifts from 
nature and in its population. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
WATEEWAYS AND THEIB DEVELOPIMENT. 

1810-1862. 

The red men knew the waterways of New 
York, and used them for expeditions of peace 
and war. The earl}^ settlers followed them in 
search for homes. The French found them 
easy paths for their invasions, as the Iroquois 
and the colonists used them in their excursions. 
In the Revolution their shores were stained with 
the blood of conflict. In 1812 the border wa- 
ters were fought over more than once. The 
many navigable streams and the interior lakes 
impressed the earliest visitors, and the valleys 
cut by nature suggested to all acute observers 
how the gaps might be supplied with canals, 
to take the place of the " carries " familiar to 
the Indians and boatmen. Cadwallader Col- 
den, when surveyor general, glancing to the 
Mississippi, saw in 1724 " opened to view such 
a scene of inland navigation as can not be par- 
alleled in any other part of the world." In 
1776 Captain Joseph Carver explored the 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 525 

country to Green Bay, and thence to the Missis- 
sippi, and suggested that the Northwest might 
be connected with the sea " by canals or shorter 
cuts, and a communication opened by water to 
New York, Canada, etc., by way of the lakes." 
The prediction is remarkable for the extent of 
the scheme which it foreshadowed. Local con- 
siderations were to prompt the first action. 

Governor Sir Henry Moore suggested canals 
for the portages on the Mohawk, when, August 
17, 1768, he described a journey during which 
he " went up as far as the Canajoharie (now 
Little) Falls on the Mohawk River, with the 
intention to project a canal on the side of the 
falls with sluices, on the same plan as those in 
Languedoc." Perhaps George Washington's 
vision reached farther, when, after accompany- 
ing Governor George Clinton on the ascent of 
the Mohawk to Wood Creek and Oneida Lake, 
and visiting the sources of the Susquehanna, he 
wrote in 1783 to the Marquis of Chastellux 
of the immense diffusion of the vast inland nav- 
igation of the United States, and favored con- 
nections by these routes to the West. In 1781 
Christopher Colles, having submitted to the 
legislature plans for removing obstructions in 
the Mohawk, was tendered, in perpetuity for 
himself and his associates, the profits on the 
navigation of the river, if improved by them, 



526 NEW YORK. 

and at the next session an appropriation of $125 
was made to enable him to complete his exam- 
inations. He proved to be only a prophet. In 
1791, on the recommendation of Governor Clin- 
ton, a committee of the legislature was appointed 
to inquire what obstructions to navigation in 
the Hudson and Mohawk needed to be re- 
moved ; and a survey was ordered between Fort 
Stanwix and Wood Creek, then in Herkimer 
county, and the Hudson and Wood Creek in 
Washington county. From these surveys fol- 
lowed the incorporation of two companies, — 
one to open lock navigation from the Hudson to 
Lake Ontario and Seneca Lake, and the other 
to make a like connection between the Hudson 
and Lake Champlain. The directors included 
the foremost men in the State, and the legisla- 
ture, as the work flagged, voted loans and sub- 
scriptions to the stock. A canal nearly three 
miles long, with five locks, was built around 
Little Falls on the Mohawk ; another, of a mile 
and a quarter, at German Flats ; and a third, of 
a mile and three -fourths, from the Mohawk 
to Wood Creek, with several wooden locks on 
the latter stream. The cost was $400,000 for 
a structure which called for frequent repairs, 
and after all did not prevent freight and pas- 
sengers from seeking more rapid conveyance by 
land. The Champlain project came to nothing, 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 527 

and of various other companies chartered, only 
that for connecting the Oswego River with tlie 
Cayuga and Seneca Lakes accomplished any 
part of their designs for improving navigation. 
The journey from New York to Albany, ac- 
cording to the narrative of Christopher Schultz, 
took in 1807 from two to five days, at a cost 
of from f 6 to S 10 for each passenger, including 
board ; while the charge for bulky freight was 
forty cents a hundred, and for heavier articles 
from twenty-five to fifty per cent. less. From Al- 
bany to Schenectady, a good turnpike road con- 
nected the two rivers. From the latter town 
to Utica, the windings of the Mohawk made a 
distance of one hundred and four miles, and 
freight by land or water was conveyed for sev- 
enty-five cents a hundred. On this river the 
favorite boats were from forty to fifty feet in 
length, steered by a large swing oar, and carry- 
ing a movable mast in the middle, with a square 
sail and topsail. With a fair wind they would 
make six miles an hour against the stream. In 
the absence of this help they were pushed for- 
ward by long poles, set against the bank or bot- 
tom of the river. Four men on each side were 
able to make from eighteen to twenty miles a 
day up the stream, and considerably more with 
the current. Other styles of boats were used, 
including those of flat bottoms for low water. 



528 NEW TORE. 

The tolls on the lower canals were 12.25 a ton, 
besides charges of from $1.50 to §2.62 on each 
boat. At Wood Creek the tolls were 13.00 a 
ton, and as much more on the boat, and the 
freight charge $1.25 a hundred. From Utica 
to Oswego, by this route 114 miles, the journey 
took nine days. Our garrulous traveler reports 
the "cost of travel about $2 for a hundred 
miles, if any charge is made," and modern de- 
vices have hardly lowered that rate ; but he 
adds, " if you furnish a good table, no passage 
money will be received, and these open-hearted 
fellows," the boatmen, " always seem much 
pleased to have gentlemen for passengers," in 
return, doubtless, for liberal hospitality. The 
farmers preferred to take their products to mar- 
ket in their own wagons, rather than stand the 
cost of water transportation, and they secured 
freight on their return, so that, for example, in 
Utica, which was besides " overstocked with 
shopkeepers," foreign goods were " nearly as 
cheap as in New York." 

With the increase of traffic and population, 
and still more the confident predictions of 
growth in all directions, the slow and uncer- 
tain navigation of the inland rivers, valuable as 
it had been, particularly in the wars, was no 
longer satisfactory. Steam was in use on the 
Hudson. Since John Stevens in 1791 began 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 529 

experiments for steam navigation, inventors 
and thinkers were busy with the problem. In 
1797 Chancellor Livingston, who had seen 
John Fitch's experiments the preceding year, 
built a steamboat on the Hudson, and received 
a grant of exclusive rights within the State, 
on condition that within twelve months he 
could secure a speed of three miles an hour. 
He failed to secure this speed, but continued 
interest in the subject, and afterward found an 
ally in Robert Fulton. Both Fulton and Ste- 
vens built boats that were successful, but Ful- 
ton's Clermont, making the trip from New 
York to Albany at the average rate of five 
miles an hour, August 7, 1807, secured for Liv- 
ingston and himself a monopoly on New York 
waters. On the Hudson, trips soon became 
regular, and gradually other boats were added. 
Schemes of a great system dawned on many 
minds. DeWitt Clinton attributes the " orig- 
inal invention of the Erie route " to Judge 
Francis A. van der Kemp, who, in August, 
1792, proposed the route from Wood Creek by 
the Mohawk and Hudson, through the Seneca 
River to the Genesee lands, and through the 
Onondaga and Oswego Rivers to Lake Ontario. 
He, however, still relied on the slack water of 
the rivers. Gouverneur Morris, as early as 
1777, declared that '' at no distant day the 



530 NEW YORK. 

waters of the great inland seas would, by the 
aid of man, break through their barriers and 
mingle with those of the Hudson ; " and in 1800, 
after a visit to Lake Ontario, skirting the south- 
ern shore and going to Niagara and Lake Erie, 
he drew a glowing picture of " ships to sail 
from London through the Hudson River to 
Lake Erie." He devoted his splendid abilities, 
his enthusiasm, and his great influence, to open- 
ing our waterways for the fulfillment of his 
prophecy. He urged the construction of that 
which became the Erie Canal, but believed 
that it should be built with a uniform declivity 
from west to east. The general project was 
taken up and discussed in private and in public, 
and in the newspapers. 

After Albert Gallatin, in 1807, had reported 
favorably on President Jefferson's plan for ap- 
plying the surplus revenues of the national 
government for the construction of canals and 
railroads, Joshua Forman, of Onondaga county, 
presented a preamble and resolutions in the as- 
sembly in 1808 for the appointment of a joint 
committee to consider the project of a canal be- 
tween the tide-waters of the Hudson River and 
Lake Erie, " to the end that congress may be 
enabled to appropriate such sums as may be 
necessary to the accomplishment of that great 
national object." Thomas R. Gold, of Oneida 



.WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 531 

county, presented an eloquent report, declaring 
that " while this State would forbear to dero- 
gate from the claim of others, she felt war- 
ranted in presenting to the government of the 
Union her own territory as preeminently dis- 
tinguished for commercial advantages." On 
the recommendation of the committee, the 
legislature unanimously directed the surveyor 
general, Simeon DeWitt, to cause the various 
routes proposed to be accurately surveyed, 
and i600 were appropriated to defray the ex- 
penses. The survey was conducted by James 
Geddes, of Onondaga, who reported that a ca- 
nal from Lake Erie to the Hudson could be 
made without serious difficulty. The newspa- 
pers and magazines welcomed the enterprise 
and discussed its details. 

In 1810 a commission, consisting of Gouver- 
neur Morris, DeWitt Clinton, Stephen van 
Rensselaer, Simeon DeWitt, William North, 
Thomas Eddy, and Peter B. Porter, was ap- 
pointed to explore the whole route, and they 
personally passed over the line. In iNIarch, 
1811, they submitted their report favoring a 
canal, with an estimated cost of f5, 000,000, 
on which, within a century, products worth 
$100,000,000 would be annually transported. 
The author, Gouverneur Morris, put it as a 
privilege to the nation to build the canal, and 



532 NEW YORK. 

insisted that the conditions " must be the sub- 
ject of treaty." DeWitt Clinton introduced 
a bill, passed April 8, 1811, to carry out the 
project ; and Robert R. Livingston and Rob- 
ert Fulton were added to the commission al- 
ready named, and now clothed with full powers. 
Morris and Clinton were sent to Washington 
to secure action on the part of congress. The 
republic was drifting into war, and needed its 
surplus for preparation, while Mr. Jefferson's 
plan of internal improvements by the national 
government was losing favor, and other projects, 
including a canal around the falls of Niagara, 
arose as rivals. It became evident that no help 
could be secured at Washington. 

The commissioners, the next year, submitted 
a florid report from the pen of Mr. Morris, that, 
as the national government virtually declined 
to go on with the enterprise, the State was at 
liberty to build the canal, adding : " When the 
records of history shall have been obliterated, 
and the tongue of tradition have converted (as 
in China) the shadowy remembrance of ancient 
events into childish tales of miracles, this na- 
tional work shall remain, bearing testimony to 
the genius, the learning, and intelligence of the 
present age." Surely the magnitude and be- 
neficence of the plan were fully appreciated. 

June 19, 1812, the term of the commissioners 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 533 

was extended, and they were authorized to bor- 
row money and deposit it in the treasury, and 
to take cessions of land, but not to proceed with 
measures for constructing the canal. In 1814 
the commission reported that grants of land 
were offered by the Holland Land Company, 
whose vast estate was traversed by the route, of 
100,682 acres ; by Bayard and McEvers, of 
2,500 acres ; by Governor Hornby, of 8,500 
acres ; by Gideon Granger, of 1,000 acres ; and 
these gifts were in due time in fact received, 
while there were landowners who struggled to 
secure heavy damages for the right of way. 

For a while, legislature and people were called 
upon to devote all their energies to the war, first 
for the invasion of Canada, afterward, by strong 
and liberal, almost wasteful measures, for the 
defense of the commonwealth. The defeat of 
DeWitt Clinton for the presidency kept him 
at home, and gave him opportunity to devote 
his zeal and talents to internal improvements. 
He was am oner the foremost in 1816 in re vi vino* 
the canal project. Governor Tompkins, in his 
message, submitted the subject to the legisla- 
ture. The popular voice expressed, from New 
York and Albany and along the whole route, 
intense interest for the immediate prosecution 
of the work. A memorial from New York, 
written by DeWitt Clinton, stated the case 



534 NEW YORK. 

with great clearness and force and elaboration, 
advocating a route to Lake Erie rather than to 
Lake Ontario and around Niagara. The legis- 
lature appointed a new commission, consisting 
of Stephen van Rensselaer, DeWitt Clinton, 
Samuel Young, Joseph Ellicott, and Myron 
HoUey, to explore and examine routes, to in- 
vite aid from sister States and from land pro- 
prietors. In 1817 the commission, of which De- 
Witt Clinton had been chosen president, esti- 
mated the cost of the Erie Canal, 353 miles in 
length, forty feet wide at the surface, twenty- 
eight feet at the bottom, with seventy-seven 
locks, at 14,571,813. The Champlain Canal 
was estimated at 1871,000. For both works it 
was believed money could be secured by loan, 
and both principal and interest could be paid 
without taxation. An act for the construction 
of these canals was passed on the last day of 
the session, April 15, 1817, by a vote of sixty- 
four to thirty-six in the assembly and eighteen 
to nine in the senate. A canal fund was con- 
stituted, and placed under the control of a board 
composed of certain state oflBcers, and this 
board was authorized to borrow money not ex- 
ceeding f400,000 a year. The former com- 
missioners were reappointed, and authorized to 
build the canals and fix and collect tolls. 

The canals were already a political question. 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 535 

DeWitt Clinton had become their most con- 
spicuous advocate. In his hist message, Gover- 
nor Tompkins made no reference to them, and 
his supporters were not inclined to favor them. 
He was reelected governor by a vote of 45,412 
to 38,647 for Rufus King. Both candidates 
had aspirations, and both were regarded by their 
partisans as qualified for the presidency. Mr. 
King in fact received in the electoral college 
such few votes as the federalists had to give, 
thirty-four in number. The republicans were 
not so favorable towards a New York candidate, 
for the " Virginia dynasty " had chosen James 
Monroe for the succession, but Governor Tomp- 
kins was named for vice-president. When, in 
November, 1816, the legislature met, it chose 
electors for Monroe and Tompkins, and the 
governor resigned just in time to proceed to the 
national capital. 

This change in governor was vital in its 
bearings upon the canals. The members of the 
legislature who supported the act for their con- 
struction were designated as Clintonians, with 
the federalists, who were not numerous. Tomp- 
kins' jealousy of Clinton may explain his cool- 
ness to the enterprise ; it is certain that he was 
an obstacle rather than an aid. His transfer to 
Washington made necessary a special election 
for governor ; and, not altogether with the ap- 



636 NEW YORK. 

proval of the managing politicians, for the first 
tinie a State convention was called, instead of 
a legislative caucus, to select the candidate, and 
DeWitt Clinton was nominated. Prominent 
in opposition to Mr. Clinton, although in 1812 
he had managed his canvass, was Martin Van 
Buren, at this time attorney general, marvel- 
ously adroit in stratagem and manipulation, and 
already aspiring to personal leadership. He 
had separated from those with whom he gener- 
ally acted, in favoring the canal policy, doubt- 
less because he recognized the growing power 
of the northeastern, the central and western 
counties, which were intensely enlisted, and be- 
cause he foresaw the lasting advantages of the 
work. The southern district was less favorably 
inclined to the canals. But the general senti- 
ment was overwhelming, and at the election 
Clinton received 43,310 votes to only 1,479 for 
Peter B. Porter. The governor-elect was thus 
restored to the primacy which his defeat for the 
presidency seemed to have taken away from 
him, and the administration of the State became 
devoted and unreserved in pressing the con- 
struction of the canals. 

Governor Clinton assumed his executive 
duties July 1, 1817, and on the national anni- 
versary, three days later, he was present when 
ground was broken at Rome for the under- 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 537 

taking which for ten years he bad vigorously 
pressed. His messages in succeeding years pre- 
sent the progress of the work. In 1819, the 
same year in which the first steamship to cross 
the ocean was built in New York, he looked for- 
ward to the improvement of the navigation of 
the Susquehanna, the Allegany, the Genesee, 
and the St. Lawrence ; to a plan for connecting 
the lakes with the Mississippi ; to a route from 
the Erie Canal by the Oswego River to Lake 
Ontario ; and to a scheme, in union with Penn- 
sylvania, to connect Seneca Lake with the Sus- 
quehanna. October 23, 1819, the canal between 
Utica and Rome was open to navigation, and 
November 24 boats passed through the Cham- 
plain Canal. In 1820 Governor Clinton noti- 
fied the legislature that the navigation between 
Utica and the Seneca River had been in prog- 
ress for four months, and he urged that meas- 
ures be taken for completing the Erie Canal 
within three years. 

In the preceding State election, Vice-Presi- 
dent Tompkins, although a candidate and sub- 
sequently chosen for a second term to that 
position, became also a candidate for governor. 
The opponents of Governor Clinton were intent 
on his defeat, not on personal grounds only, but 
on the plea that he was an ally of the federal- 
ists, and still more that his canal policy was 



638 NEW YORK, 

carrying the State forward to bankruptcy and 
ruin, and Tompkins' name was regarded as the 
strongest that could be presented. The oppo- 
sition to Governor Clinton was led by Martin 
Van Buren and Tammany Hall, already a pow- 
erful organization ; and as some of its members 
wore on certain occasions the tail of a deer 
in their hats, those who joined in this move- 
ment were styled " Bucktails." The contest 
was very bitter and close, Clinton receiving 
47,447 votes to 45,990 for Tompkins, and ani- 
mosities did not cease with the closing of the 
polls, while the legislature was favorable to 
Tompkins, and still had the choice of presiden- 
tial electors. 

In his message, Governor Clinton urged a 
change in the constitution, giving that choice 
to the people, while he referred to the charge 
current and hardly denied of the free use of the 
patronage of the national government to affect 
the recent election. His language was hypo- 
thetical, and as it gave rise to one of the most 
noted controversies in the State, it has become 
historic. He said : '* The power of the general 
government has increased with the extension of 
its patronage. And if the officers under its 
appointment shall see fit, as an organized and 
disciplined corps, to interfere in the State elec- 
tions, I trust there will be found a becoming 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 539 

disposition in the people to resist these alarm- 
ing attempts upon the purity and independence 
of the local government. I have considered it 
my solemn duty to protest against these un- 
warrantable intrusions of extraneous influence, 
and I hope the national legislature will not be 
regardless of its duty on this occasion." Elec- 
tors favorable to Monroe and Tompkins were 
chosen by the legislature, and they were duly 
elected for a second term. In the house of 
representatives, the New York rivalries were 
brought out in the organization in November, 
1820, when, against the vigorous hostility of the 
party of the vice-president, John W. Taylor, 
of Saratoga county, was chosen speaker. At 
home the senate by resolution challenged the 
governor to produce proof of the interference of 
the officers of the national government in the 
recent election, " as an organized and disci- 
plined corps," which Mr. Clinton promised at 
the next session. Peter R. Livingston, Samuel 
Young and Roger Skinner distinguished them- 
selves by the acrimony of their assaults on 
Governor Clinton ; and the first charged that 
" the ambitious executive of the State of New 
York, in his pride and arrogance, has brought 
himself to the very verge of treason against the 
government of the United States. He has at- 
tempted, in support of his deep-laid political 



640 NEW YORK. 

plans, to sever the relations of allegiance and 
good feeling between the general government 
and the State of New York. He has insidiously 
attempted to separate one of the great States of 
the nation from the Union of States. And for 
what? Because many of the officials of the 
general government are opposed to his bound- 
less schemes of personal ambition." 

In January, 1821, the governor submitted in- 
cidents of the activity of State officers, v;ith a 
mass of documents and a letter from Van 
Buren asking for the removal of postmasters, 
to " alarm " the Clintonians in office, and some 
changes were made on his demand. A joint- 
committee did not find the proof sufficient to 
sustain his charges, and reported, in strange 
disregard of facts, "that the existence of any 
extraneous influence has never been observed 
in any of our elections." 

The legislature chose Martin Van Buren 
United States senator ; the council of appoint- 
ment made haste to remove the friends of the 
governor from positions that could be reached ; 
a majority of the canal commissioners was made 
up of his enemies ; and so overwhelming was 
the adverse current that his intimate advisers 
notified him that he could not be reelected in 
1822, and he accordingly declined to be a candi- 
date ; whereupon Joseph C. Yates was chosen, 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 541 

with only scattering votes in favor of Solomon 
South wick. Mr. Clinton's executive career 
seemed to be ended when, April 12, 1824, he 
was removed from the office of canal commis- 
sioner by a vote of twenty-one to three in the 
senate, and sixty-four to thirty-four in the 
assembly. The partisan trick was a surprise 
to the legislature, and it aroused a storm of in- 
dignation which produced a political revolution, 
and at the election the same year carried the 
intended victim back into the executive chair 
by 16,359 majority over Samuel Young, one of 
his most virulent assailants. He was there- 
fore governor when, October 26, 1825, the 
waters of Lake Erie were let into the canal, 
and navigation was open from the lake to the 
Hudson. The popular jubilation extended 
from New York to Albany and along the route 
to Buffalo ; cannon, banners, fetes, balls, ad- 
dresses, medals, gave expression to the joy, in 
which party strife was foigotten, and the dawn 
of a new era was greeted. 

Work properly chargeable to construction 
was continued on the Erie Canal until 1836, 
and the entire cost proved to be $f7,143,789. 
In the completed canal, boats could be used a 
little more than seventy-eight feet long by four- 
teen and a half feet wide, with a draft of 
three and a half feet, and of seventy-five tons 



642 NEW YORK. 

burden. The great benefits accruing led to a 
movement for enlargement, which was success- 
ful in securing legislation for beginning opera- 
tions, in the act of May 11, 1835. 

For years the policy of enlargement was the 
occasion of conflict. Plans were proposed for 
the expenditure of 840,000,000. In 1842, so 
general was the charge of extravagance and 
waste, that the work was stopped and the 
settlement of all contracts ordered ; and by the 
constitution of 1846, pa3'ments were required 
from the canal revenues for a general sinking 
fund and the support of the government, in ad- 
dition to obligations incurred for the public 
works, while the legislature was limited in the 
creation of any new debt. In 1847 the enlarge- 
ment was begun again and pressed, not without 
opposition, to completion in 1862. The en- 
largement cost more than six times as much as 
the original work, and brought the outlay for 
the Erie Canal up to $52,491,915.74. Vast as 
this sum is, it is claimed that it has been repaid 
to the State by the canal, with an excess of 
#42,000,000 in addition to cost of superintend- 
ence and repairs. 

The engineers, by the enlargement, reduced 
the lockage on the whole canal by twenty-one 
feet, and the number of locks by eleven, while 
their length was increased by twenty feet. The 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 543 

prism was widened to seventy feet at the top 
and fifty-six feet at the bottom, with a depth of 
seven feet ; and the boats were allowed a length 
of ninety-eight feet, with a width of seventeen 
and a half feet, and a draft of six and a half 
feet. The greatest amount of tolls collected 
on all the canals of the State was in 1862, 
$5,188,943, and the maximum value of all 
merchandise carried was $305,301,920 in 1868, 
and the maximum tonnage was 6,673,370 in 
1872. 

The average tolls per ton, which were in 
1839 §1.12, were reduced to fl.06 in 1850, to 
64 cents in 1860, to 42 cents in 1870, to 24 
cents in 1880, and in 1882, the last year before 
they were abolished, they were only 12 cents. 
In the mean time the boats on the Erie Canal 
were increased in size. They averaged 64 tons 
burden in 1844, and first passed 100 tons in 
1854, when they measured 105 tons. In 1866 
they averaged 154 tons, and in 1880 reached 
212 tons, falling to 166 tons in 1884. The cost 
of transportation between New York and Buf- 
falo has been reduced in a geometrical ratio. 
From Albany to Buffalo, before the canal was 
built, the charge for freight was, along the 
Mohawk, 15 cents a ton per mile, and where 
rivers offered no competition to land carriage, 
50 cents, making an average of more than 25 



544 NEW YORK. 

cents a ton per mile, or for 852 miles $88. 
In 1824, with the canal only in part in use, 
it fell to 6.1 cents a ton per mile, or 121.47 
for the whole distance. By 1833 the rate per 
ton per mile was reduced to 3.84 cents, and in 
1835 to 1.83 cents. By 1850 it was 1.7 cents, 
and by 1860, 1 cent a ton per mile, or 83.52 per 
ton between Albany and Buffalo. The rates 
fell to 74 mills per ton per mile in 1870, to 
42.9 mills in 1880, and in 1884 to 27.7 mills. 
The rates in 1850 are those fairly to be cred- 
ited to the Erie Canal, for the full effects of 
railroad competition had not then come into 
play. The reduction in twenty-six years, from 
before the opening of that great waterway to 
that date, was, between Buffalo and Albany, 
from f 88 to $5.98 per ton ; and on the tonnage 
of 1850, which was 3,076,617, the saving on 
the canal alone, assuming that so much freight 
could possibly have been moved under the old 
methods, was over $252,000,000 for the single 
year. Since that period the competition of the 
canal and the railroads has been reflex. Com- 
paring 1860 with subsequent years, the cost of 
transporting wheat per ton from Buffalo to New 
York by w'ater has fallen from $4.98 at that 
date to^$3.74 in 1870, to $2.17 in 1882, and 
since tolls have been abolished, to $1.57 in 
1885. The influence of the Erie Canal in bring- 



WATERWAYS AND THE IE DEVELOPMENT. 645 

ing about this change Tvas at the outset control- 
ling, and it has been great at all times. 

In his message in January, 1825, Governor 
Clinton, announcing the approaching comple- 
tion of the Erie Canal, marked out a compre- 
hensive system of additional internal improve- 
ments, including not only lateral canals, but a 
road through the southern tier of counties. 
The State after some years adopted his policy, 
and built the Oswego, the Cayuga and Seneca, 
the Crooked Lake, the Chemung, the Chenango, 
the Black River, the Genesee Valley Canals, and 
the Oneida Lake Canal, with feeders essential 
to the system of navigation, while State aid 
was given to the Delaware and Hudson Canal. 
These were completed at various dates from 
1831 to 1850. The total cost was 127,554,422. 
The Delaware and Hudson continues to be op- 
erated by a private corporation ; and the Black 
River, the Oswego, and the Cayuga and Seneca 
Lake Canals remain in use by the State, with 
the Erie and the Champlain Canals. The other 
laterals, after serving a temporary purpose, gave 
way before the competition of railroads and have 
been abandoned. Under like competition, the 
people in 1882 voted, 486,105 to 163,151, for 
the abolition of all tolls ; and since that time 
the canals of the commonwealth have been 
wholly free, and serve as a regulator of the rates 



546 NEW YORK. 

of transportation, although the tonnage has 
fallen to about 5,000,000 a 3'ear. 

The canals became an important factor in 
politics. At various periods they divided par- 
ties, and made and marred reputations. The 
controversy of 1842, and for a few subsequent 
years, serves as an illustration. Michael Hoff- 
man, in the assembly, and Azariah C. Flagg as 
comptroller, took strong grounds against the 
expenditure incurred, and opposed the creation 
of any debts. Horatio Seymour, in 1844, as 
chairman of the committee on canals, insisted 
on the prosecution of the enlargement of the 
Erie and the construction of the Black River 
and Genesee Valley Canals, and glowingly por- 
trayed the benefits. He found his predictions 
more than verified when he came, forty years 
later, to advocate the abolition of all tolls. In 
1851, so intense was the hostility of one wing 
of the democratic party to the measures pro- 
posed for prosecuting the canal enlargement, 
that fourteen senators resigned to break the 
quorum necessary for their passage, but the 
people at a special election sustained the canal 
policy by large majorities. 

Grave scandals grew out of the letting of 
contracts under various administrations to spec- 
ulators and politicians who had no knowledge 
of such work, and at wasteful prices, under 



WATERWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 5i7 

circumstances prompting suspicion of collusion 
and corruption. With reference to the repairs, 
which on such vast works honestly involved 
large outlay and were easily exaggerated im- 
mensely, conspiracy has been charged with cir- 
cumstance and detail, and the "canal ring " has 
earned odium and led to repeated investigation. 
But the legislature was in the habit of legaliz- 
ing the heavy expenditures, and the sole pun- 
ishment meted out for the offenses has been 
that of public opinion. In September, 1885^ a 
debt of $8,339,100 remained from the outlay 
for the canal, against which stood a sinking 
fund of $4,663,188.61, so that the whole amount 
will be easily paid when it matures in 1893. 

The objection to the heavy expenditures on 
the Erie Canal, and afterwards on the laterals, 
was strong from the counties remote from their 
line. To meet this objection a project for a 
State highway in the southern counties was 
proposed, which gave way to a plan for State 
aid to the New York and Erie Railroad ; and in 
1836 $3,000,000 was loaned to that company, 
which has never been repaid. To the Canajo- 
harie and Catskill Railroad, and to the Hudson 
and Berkshire Railroad, smaller sums were also 
loaned and lost ; and of 8500,000 so loaned to 
the Ithaca and Oswego Railroad, 8315,700 was 
never repaid. Moneys were lent to five other 



648 NEW YORK. 

railroads to aid in their construction, and in 
due time returned to the State treasury. In 
later years, raih'oads have been aided by ex- 
emption of their bonds from taxation for a pe- 
riod, and by subscriptions by towns and cities 
to their stock. 

Sanguine as were the hopes of the projectors 
of the canal policy, the}'' were exceeded by the 
reality. Immigrants at once chose homes where 
access was rendered so easy. Farm products 
increased in value, so that wheat in the Seneca 
country, where it was the chief crop, advanced 
fifty per cent, in price in 1825. Factories were 
built where water-power could be found, be- 
cause the cost of transportation was so much 
reduced. Land, therefore, became more valu- 
able in the remote districts, while to Albany 
and to New York especially the advantages of 
increased trade outran the most liberal calcula- 
tions. The canals, which so many threatened 
would be sources of disaster, actually added in 
the eai'ly years to the revenues of the common- 
wealth, while they enriched the people. The 
population, already in 1820 the largest of any 
State, became, in 1830, 1,918,608, fifty per cent, 
more than Virginia, three times that of Mas- 
sachusetts, and forty-two per cent, more than 
Pennsylvania. In numbers the primacy was 
undoubted and permanent. In wealth the in- 



WATEEWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 549 

crease was no less, was doubtless greater, al- 
though definite statistics for that period were 
not accurately recorded. That this growth was 
due in very large part to the canals, is proved 
from the fact that villages sprang up along their 
lines, and industry became there much diversi- 
fied, while in the outlying counties such devel- 
opment was much less rapid. Far beyond the 
lines of the commonwealth the benefits were 
extended. The facilities for travel afforded, 
gave new attractions to the rich lands of Ohio 
and the Northwest; and immigrants and traffic 
turned along the pathways where, by the addi- 
tion of all modern devices and machinery, so 
much of the wealth and activity, not only of the 
Union, but of the world as well, now moves to 
and fro. 

For years packets were run on the Erie Canal 
with comfortable accommodations, making such 
speed as three or four horses driven tandem 
could give, sometimes six miles an hour, carry- 
ing travelers for pleasure as well as for busi- 
ness. Freight was transported less rapidly, but 
at rates steadily falling. A trip by packet sur- 
vives in the memory of many as a pleasurable 
gliding between banks of beauty, sometimes ro- 
mantic, presenting constant change of scene, 
with berths at night enclosed in curtains in the 
single cabin, and quite as comfortable as, if less 
swift, than a journey in the modern palace cars. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

PKOGRESS OF EDUCATION. 

The ease of access to Yale College and the 
College of New Jersey in the earliest days gave 
to them a large number of students frorti New 
York, and to that extent diminished the dispo- 
sition to establish higher institutions within 
this State. The liberal and patriotic teachings 
of Yale were especially in accord with the views 
of the patriots, and that college became the 
nursery of many of our early statesmen while 
King's College was under tory control. New 
Haven has continued to draw pupils from the 
State beyond any local college, while Princeton 
has depended very largely for benefactions, and 
in only less degree for students, on the chief 
city, and in later years the younger colleges of 
New England have rarely been without New 
York names on their catalogues. Advantages 
doubtless accrue, but the practice checked the 
planting and the growth of local institutions of 
the highest order. The State now contains 
eighteen colleges for young men, six for young 
women, and four to which both sexes are ad- 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION. 551 

mitted. One of the youngest, and the largest 
and richest, is Cornell University, founded in 
1868. Of schools of science there are seven, of 
theology thirteen, of law four, and of medicine 
fourteen. In these institutions in 1885 the in- 
structors numbered 785, their property was 
valued at $23,164,602, and the annual expendi- 
ture was $1,787,391. The number of pupils in 
the colleges was 8,592, in the law schools 487, 
and in the medical schools 2,566. 

Incorporated academies were not of rapid 
growth ; from eight in 1800 they were multi- 
plied to thirty in 1820, to fifty-five in 1830, and 
to one hundred and twenty-seven in 1840. In 
the latter year the attendance was 10,881, and 
37,043 in 1885, while, including the academic 
departments of union schools, the number of 
institutions was two hundred and eighty-three. 

Normal schools, designed primarily to train 
teachers for the common schools, have trenched 
upon the field of the academies. The first Nor- 
mal school was opened in Albany in 1844, and 
others have followed, at Oswego in 1861 ; at 
Brockport in 1867 ; at Cortland, Fredonia, and 
Potsdam in 1869 ; and at Geneseo and Buffalo 
in 1871. The attendance in them in 1885 
reached 5,039 ; while teachers' classes, includ- 
ing 2,348 pupils, were taught in one hundred 
and forty-three other institutions. In the pri- 



652 NEW YORK. 

vate schools of the State, in the same year, the 
number of pupils of all grades was 124,816. 

Reformatories, and industrial and mission 
schools, are maintained in various parts of the 
State, the former in part by appropriations by 
the legislature, and in nearly all the cities much 
care and labor and liberality are turned in this 
direction. 

The great work of education depends upon 
the common schools, in which, in 1885, 31,399 
teachers gave instruction in 11,912 school- 
houses to 1,024,845 pupils, for an average of 
thirty-three and one-half weeks. 

The system dates back in a crude form to 
1633, during the early Dutch sway. In 1789 
two lots were set apart in each township by the 
legislature for educational purposes. In 1795 
the sum of 850,000 annually for five years was 
appropriated to maintain schools for such 
branches as are most necessary to complete a 
good English education, while the boards of su- 
pervisors were required to raise by tax one-half 
of the local share of this sum for like purposes. 
Onl}'^ sixteen of the twentj^-three counties took 
the benefit of the law, and in 1798 1,352 schools 
were in operation with 59,660 pupils. Tlie 
law expired by its terms in 1800, and in that 
year four successive lotteries were authorized 
to raise $100,000, of which one-eighth was to 



PEOGRESS OF EDUCATION. 553 

be distributed by the regents of the univer- 
sity among the academies, and seven-eighths 
used for the common schools. These measures 
■were fitful and without enlarged system. 

In 1805 two steps, which led to great and 
permanent improvement, were taken. The first 
was the foundation, with DeWitt Clinton for 
president, of " The Society for Establishing a 
Free School in the City of New York," upon the 
basis of individual subscriptions, to which the 
legislature added moderate help ; and the sec- 
ond was an appeal from Governor Lewis for the 
gift of the lands of the State, then amounting 
to 1,500,000 acres, for schools, resulting in the 
passage of an act, April 2, 1805, for the sale of 
500,000 acres and the assignment of the pro- 
ceeds for a fund, of which the interest, when 
reaching $50,000, should be distributed among 
the common schools. To this beginning the 
legislature, in 1811, gave more definite value 
by appointing a commission of five, with Jede- 
diah Peck of Otsego at its head, to report a 
plan of organization, under which, in 1813, 
Gideon Hawley of Albany was appointed State 
superintendent of common schools. The next 
year an act was passed, less commendable in 
its methods than its ends, attributed to the ef- 
forts of Rev. Dr. Nott, president of Union Col- 
lege, for giving to that institution $200,000, to 



554 NEW YORK. 

be raised by lotteries ; and in order to gain 
votes in the legislature, smaller sums were ap- 
propriated to Columbia and Hamilton Colleges, 
to an African church, to the Historical Society, 
to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 
the western district, and to the Medical Col- 
lege in New York. It was the first of a series 
of " log-rolling " operations by which money 
was for a number of years voted to colleges and 
to academies. 

More useful and more moral was the remod- 
eling of the common-school system, according to 
the recommendations of Superintendent Haw- 
ley, with a provision allowing the remission of 
tuition in deserving cases by the trustees, on 
consent of the voters of the school district con- 
cerned. Mr. Hawley's report in 1818 claimed 
over 5,000 schools organized, with more than 
200,000 pupils in attendance for a period of 
from four to six months, and other authorities 
commend the efficiency of his administration. 
His advice was followed in the succeeding year 
in legislation for improving the school system ; 
but in 1821 the politicians wanted his office, 
and he was removed by the council to make 
room for his clerk, who had no fitness for the 
superintendent's place ; whereupon the legisla- 
ture, to rebuke the outrage, transferred the 
schools to the care of the secretary of state, 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION. 555 

under whom, after 1841, general deputies were 
designated to look after them. In 1854 the 
legislature recognized the need of a separate 
department of public instruction ; and since 
that date its superintendent has been practi- 
cally the executive head of our common-school 
system, and of our Indian schools, while he has 
had important duties in relation to other edu- 
cational institutions. 

Much was hoped, more than has been at- 
tained, from a plan adopted by the legislature, 
April 13, 1835, for the establishment of libraries 
in the several school districts. In some of the 
cities, libraries have to some extent been en- 
couraged, but in the rural districts not much 
was ever achieved, and of late years the money 
has been more and more diverted from the pur- 
chase of books to the payment of teachers' 
wages. The sum appropriated by the State 
was for a great while $55,000 annually ; it is 
now f 50,000. The number of volumes in all 
the district libraries, which was 1,604,210 in 
1853, fell to 732,876 in 1885, and the loss shows 
how little care is given for the books possessed, 
while less desire is indicated for the extension 
of the libraries. 

The question of religious instruction in the 
common schools became the subject of active 
discussion in 1838 and the following years. 



556 NEW YORK. 

John A. Dix as secretary of state, charged with 
supervision of the schools, advocated such in- 
struction based on the Bible without note or 
comment. William H. Seward, in his message 
as governor, in January, 1841, urged the " edu- 
cation of all the children of the commonwealth 
in morality and virtue, leaving matters of con- 
science where, according to the principles of 
civil and religious liberty established by our 
constitution and laws, they rightfully belong ; " 
and John C. Spencer, as secretary of state, in a 
report on petitions asking for more full provi- 
sion in New York city for the children of for- 
eigners and Catholics, recommended the elec- 
tion of a board of commissioners to cooperate 
with existing authorities to that end, but his 
suggestions were not followed ; neither did the 
legislature accept Governor Seward's elaborate 
argument submitted in his next message, in fa- 
vor of a distribution of school moneys in New 
York city between Protestants and Catholics. 

Except the establishment of the Normal 
school in Albany, little change was made in the 
educational policy of the State until 1849. In 
1848, Nathaniel S. Benton reported that many 
cities and villages, by voting to remit tuition, 
had made their schools free, and he urged that 
the State should render the system uniform. 
His successor, Christopher Morgan, argued the 



PBOGRESS OF EDUCATION. 557 

imperative duty of the State to educate all its 
children as a preventive of crime and pauperism ; 
and March 26, 1849, an act was passed sub- 
mitting to the people at the ensuing election a 
proposition for free schools, supported by the 
existing funds and by taxation, to be kept for 
at least four months in each year, for all chil- 
dren between the ages of five and twenty-one. 
Every county except Tompkins, Chenango, Cort- 
land and Otsego, gave for the policy majorities 
aggregating 158,000. Difficulties in the admin- 
istration of the law caused demand for its re- 
peal ; and when that question was submitted to 
the people in November, 1850, forty-two coun- 
ties voted for repeal, and seventeen counties 
voted for sustaining free schools, and showed a 
majority in their favor of about 25,000. Under 
pledges made during the canvass, the details 
of the law were modified by the legislature, 
especially those which related to the raising 
and distribution of school moneys and to the 
retaining of rate bills ; but legislation soon fol- 
lowed providing for free and union schools in 
the cities and villages and chief towns, and in 
1867 all the common and normal schools, and 
the departments in academies for the instruc- 
tion of common-school teachers, were declared 
absolutely free. The total expenditure for the 
common schools of the State was, in 1885, 
113,466,367.97. 



558 NEW YORK. 

The efficiency of these schools varies. In 
the cities they generally are liberally supported, 
in commodious structures, with teachers of fair 
and often of eminent qualifications. The union 
schools in many of the towns are weH equipped, 
and provide thorough education in the branches 
which they take up. In the rural districts, 
much room for improvement exists. Commis- 
sioners are chosen, numbering one hundred and 
six, who have each oversight of several towns 
or of the smaller counties, and much depends 
on their knowledge and fidelity. Only con- 
stant care and watchfulness can keep the school- 
houses in condition, or render them suitable 
for their uses. The teachers are frequently 
changed, often coming from the normal school 
or academy, as an episode before marriage or 
entering a profession. Teachers' institutes are 
enlisted for training the inexperienced, and de- 
veloping interest in education and in the best 
methods. The State can hardly be blamed if 
the schools fail fully to meet the demands upon 
them, for its system is in theory admirable. 
With the regents of the university as a superior 
power, with a State superintendent, commis- 
sioners in districts of several towns, and in cities, 
and with vast expenditure of money, any lack 
must be in the zeal and fidelity and persistence 
of these officers, and in the attention of the 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION, 559 

people to a matter so vital to the individual 
and to society. 

A State library was founded at the capital 
by act of April 21, 1818, and it has, under the 
fostering care of the regents and the liberality 
of the legislature, grown to creditable propor- 
tions. In New York city the libraries estab- 
lished and maintained by private munificence 
are among its chief adornments. Elsewhere in 
the State the foundations of libraries have been 
laid ; and the several colleges, notably Cornell 
University, are gathering collections from which 
scholars may derive much hope. 

In the earlier days, the incoming missiona- 
ries and the churches gave an impetus to schools 
and to educational influences. The interior of 
New York became noted for its zeal in revivals 
and its religious activity. If there was less of 
extravagance than in some other parts of the 
country, the orderliness was due to the charac- 
ter of the people. The growth of churches kept 
equal pace with the increase in the population. 
By reason of the surprising advance of the set- 
tlements, the State was, in the first third of this 
century, an attractive field to the most prom- 
ising graduates of the Eastern colleges, and to 
the strong minds that in various branches of 
the church were planning for their extension. 
Every new method in religion, every new sug- 



660 NEW YORK. 

gestion in theology, found hospitable reception. 
Some remarkable men were developed by this 
religious activity, and contributed to it. A 
prominent figure in central New York, in the 
years succeeding 1824, was Rev. Charles G. 
Finney, born in Connecticut, but brought at 
the age of two years to Oneida county, and 
thence to Jefferson county. He was of strong 
natural talents, without thorough education, but 
with the zeal and aggressive force which com- 
mand attention. He became a Presbyterian 
clergyman, and strenuousl37- insisted on the 
*' voluntary total depravity of the unregen- 
erate, " and invited converts to the "anxious 
seat." His " revivals " stirred up society, and 
led to discussion within his own denomination, 
for his language and theology and methods were 
not approved by many conservative clergymen. 
He and other revivalists who followed him 
were, however, a power in awakening thought 
and marking their era. 

A vagary not born of the soil, but imported 
from Connecticut, was developed by John Hum- 
phrey Noyes, who in 1847 established the Oneida 
Community, near Oneida, and gave it a world- 
wide reputation. He claimed to restore the 
communism of the Bible in property and be- 
tween tlie sexes, and maintained an institution 
in which its members were thrifty and orderly 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION. 561 

after their way, but shocked their neighbors by- 
open advocacy and practice of their peculiar 
morality. The association in 1881 abandoned 
its practices relative to the sexes, and became 
simply a corporation for business purposes. 

The pulpit of New York, not of its chief 
cities only, but of the interior in remarkable de- 
gree, has in all denominations been a type of the 
progress and education of the people. The rec- 
ord of the State's religious activity, of its cul- 
ture and development, of its charities at home 
and abroad, of its benevolent institutions, and 
its private gifts for public uses, has never been 
fully written, while these labors are expanding 
constantly in their dimensions and in their ef- 
ficiency. 

36 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPEUDENCE. 

1821-1874 

The first constitution of New York was in 
many respects a remarkable document, and was 
found to serve its purposes for forty-four years. 
The provision relative to a council of revision 
and appointment w^as the subject of criticism, 
but was deliberately sustained by the conven- 
tion of 1801. In the ensuing twenty years this 
council became the arena of sharp faction fights, 
and removals and appointments were made in 
accordance with or over the wishes of the gov- 
ernor, as the balance of power happened to turn. 
The members were chosen from the senate by 
the assembly upon the nomination of the assem- 
blymen of the dominant party' in each sena- 
torial district. The body, as the source of pat- 
ronage remorselessly used for partisan advan- 
tage, was a machine of vast power, and with 
only a divided responsibility. Governor Clin- 
ton had used this power while he commanded 
the majority, but before 1820 it was turned 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 563 

against him. This feature, and a desire to 
reconstruct the judiciar}^ led to a movement, 
for some time under discussion, for a consti- 
tutional convention ; and at a special election 
in April, 1821, 109,346 votes were cast for 
holding a convention to 34,901 against it. 
This convention, which sat from August 28 to 
November 10 of that year, had Daniel D. 
Tompkins for its chairman, and included a 
goodly representation of the men of experience 
in politics, and of ability and standing in the 
professions and civil life. Martin Van Buren, 
who represented Otsego county in part, was 
diligent and influential ; Ambrose Spencer, of 
Albany, took large share in the proceedings, 
but finally did not sign the constitution, nor did 
Chancellor James Kent. Peter A. Jay, of West- 
chester, and Ezekiel Bacon and Nathan Wil- 
liams, of Oneida, impressed themselves on the 
convention ; and not a few others earned repu- 
tation for prudence and practical understand- 
ing. 

The right of suffrage, the judiciary system, 
the council, and the powers of the governor, 
were the chief topics of consideration. The 
agreement was general that a council to revise 
acts passed by both houses should no longer ex- 
ist, and instead the veto was given to the gover- 
nor only after considerable debate. A council 



564 NEW YORK. 

for appointment had no advocates ; the choice 
of certain oflBcers was given to the legislature 
on separate nomination in the two houses, with 
joint ballot in case of disagreement ; while 
others were to be appointed by the governor, by 
and with the advice and consent of the senate. 
Sheriffs and county clerks, who had been ap- 
pointed by the council at Albany and were thus 
chosen the chiefs of political action in their lo- 
calities, were made elective by the people, and 
ceased to be factors in State patronage. The 
policy then adopted has ever since been main- 
tained and extended, several State offices hav- 
ing since been filled by popular election instead 
of by the legislature. The abolition of the 
council and the enlargement of the executive 
authority were in the direction of simplicity and 
concentration of responsibility. The term of 
the governor was changed from three to two 
years, after full deliberation over motions for 
one year and three years respectively. After 
an experience of half a century, this term was 
changed to three years again by a constitutional 
amendment adopted by vote of the people No- 
vember, 1874. The senatorial districts were 
increased from four to eight, with four senators 
from each ; and the assembly was placed at one 
hundred and twenty - eight members. The 
number in each house of the legislature has 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 565 

not since been changed, much as the popula- 
tion has increased. 

Over the question of suffrage the debate was 
varied and prolonged. Slavery had been abol- 
ished by statutes, first, declaring all persons 
free born after July 4, 1799 ; and second, by a 
declaration adopted in 1817, on the recommenda- 
tion of Governor Tompkins, that all the inhab- 
itants of New York should be free after July 4, 
1827. The prejudice of color was still strong, 
and while, up to 1821, no distinction in suffrage 
was made on account of color, then the ballot, 
although given to all other males who were resi- 
dents and paid taxes or were legally exempt, or 
who served in the militia or as firemen, was de- 
nied to colored men who were not owners of 
land to the value of $250. In 1846 all prop- 
erty qualification was abolished for whites ; but 
only 85,306 voters declared for equal suffrage 
to colored men, while 223,834 pronounced 
against it. A negative was again rendered 
in 1860, 197,505 to 337,934, at the height of 
the anti-slavery agitation. In 1869, 282,403 
electors insisted on the property qualification 
for colored persons, while 249,802 cast their 
ballots against it. This vestige of prejudice dis- 
appeared only under the fifteenth amendment 
to the national constitution in 1870. Upon 
that amendment the action of the State was 



566 NEW YORK. 

contradictory. After giving the assent of New 
York in 1869, by a vote of seventeen to fifteen 
in the senate and seventy-two to forty-seven in 
the assembly, the legislature, by a change in 
the political majority in January, 1870, was 
induced to pass resolutions by which it " with- 
drew absolutely any expression of consent there- 
tofore given." President Grant and the sec- 
retary of state in Washington, however, did 
not recognize this recantation, and the former 
in a message to congress declared the amend- 
ment adopted, while the latter, in his pro- 
clamation of March 30, 1870, included New 
York among the States joining in the ratifica- 
tion. In 1872 the resolution "purporting to 
withdraw the assent of the people of the State, 
previously given, to the fifteenth amendment 
to the federal constitution,'* was formally re- 
scinded ; and that was the final declaration of 
New York in favor of equal rights at the polls, 
regardless of color. 

The convention of 1821 retained the curiously 
constructed court for the correction of errors ; 
reduced the supreme court to a chief justice and 
two assistant justices, with a right of appeal 
to the first-mentioned tribunal, and established 
circuit courts in eight districts, with judges 
in each ; gave the chancellor an assistant, and 
jurisdiction of equity cases, while the minor 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 567 

courts were left unchanged. The judicial offi- 
cers were appointed by the governor. 

The constitution as amended was adopted by 
the people in February, 1822. During the 
twenty-five years of its existence, ten different 
proposals for amendments were submitted to 
the electors, who decided against choosing pres- 
idential electors by districts, but in favor of 
extending the franchise, in favor of electing 
mayors by the people, and in 1846 for no li- 
cense except in the city of New York. 

The commonwealth grew not only in popula- 
tion, but in all the elements of progress and 
prosperity and power, and by the census of 
1845 was shown to contain 2,604,495 inhabi- 
tants. Legislation had tended to the substitu- 
tion of rights for privileges granted as favors. 
The tenure of land, especially under the claims 
of the patroons, had caused difficulties for which 
remedies were sought ; and the large expen- 
ditures for internal improvements, involving 
heavy indebtedness, prompted demands for safe- 
guards for the creditor and the taxpayer. The 
judiciary system had confessedly become inade- 
quate, and required radical reformation. When, 
therefore, in 1845, the electors were called upon 
to decide whether a convention should be held 
to amend the State constitution, 213,257 voted 
in the affirmative, against 33,860 in the nega- 



568 NEW YORK. 

tive. The convention met June 1, 1846, but 
soon adjourned until October 9, when it pro- 
ceeded with its task. John Tracy of Chenango 
presided ; and among the members were Ira 
Harris of Albany, George W. Patterson of 
Chautauqua, Michael Hoffman and Arphaxed 
Loomis of Herkimer, Samuel J. Tilden of New 
York, Samuel Nelson of Otsego, and others emi- 
nent at home and in State affairs. The conyen- 
tion dealt radically with the principles of gov- 
ernment. The new constitution gave to the 
people the election of many ofl&cers before ap- 
pointed at Albany. It provided for the election 
of members of both houses of the legislature 
by separate districts. Instead of the cumbrous 
court for the correction of errors, it established 
an independent court of appeals. It abolished 
the court of chancery and the circuit courts, 
and merged both into the supreme court, and 
defined the jurisdiction of county courts. All 
judges were to be elected by the people. Feu- 
dal tenures were abolished, and no leases on 
agricultural lands for a longer period than 
twelve years were to be valid, if any rent or 
service were reserved. The financial articles 
established sinking funds for both the canal 
and general fund debt, forbade the loan of the 
credit of the State, and limited rigidly the 
power of the legislature to create debts, except 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 569 

to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, and 
declared the school and literature funds invio- 
late. Provision was made for general laws for 
the formation of corporations. The constitu- 
tion required the submission to the people once 
every twenty years of the question whether a 
convention shall be called or not. 

The excellence of the work of the convention 
of 1846 is proved by the fact that, adopted by 
the people by a majority of more than two to 
one, it still stands as the basis of our fundamen- 
tal law. Amendments have been introduced 
by popular vote, but a proposition for a new 
convention was rejected in 1858; and although 
a convention was ordered in 1866, the constitu- 
tion recommended by it was rejected, 223,935 
to 290,456, and only its judiciary article was 
accepted. That convention assembled June 4, 
1867, and its sessions were not closed until 
February 28, 1868. William A. Wheeler, after- 
wards vice-president of the United States, pre- 
sided ; and it contained thirty -two delegates 
at large, chosen equally from the two parties, 
and including many of their most distinguished 
representatives, while the remaining members, 
elected by senatorial districts, were selected 
with a view to the best talent and experience. 
The judiciary article made changes in the com- 
position of the court of appeals, and established 



570 NEW YORK. 

for three years a commission of appeals ; it 
also gave the legislature authority to fix de- 
partments for the supreme court. The article 
was carried by only a small majority. Among 
amendments subsequently submitted, was a 
proposition in 1873 for the appointment of 
judges by the governor instead of their elec- 
tion by the people, and the voters pronounced 
in the negative by a majority exceeding a hun- 
dred thousand. 

In 1872 the legislature empowered Governor 
Hoffman to appoint four persons from each 
judicial district to form a commission to pro- 
pose amendments to the constitution. Robert 
H. Pruyn of Albany was chosen chairman, and 
the commission sat from December 4, 1872, to 
March 15, 1873. The legislature disapproved 
of a recommendation for the appointment by 
the governor and senate of certain State officers. 
Amendments were agreed upon, and submitted 
to the people in 1874, relating to suffrage and 
bribery, to official corruption, to the powers of 
the legislature and of the executive, and to 
finances and the canals. More rigid restric- 
tions were established relative to grants to cor- 
porations, and to the ability of local authorities 
to spend money and create obligations, while 
the principle of general legislation in the place 
of special legislation was further extended. In 



American Commontnealtl^sf. 



EDITED BY 



HORACE E. SCUDDER. 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 571 

1876 amendments were adopted by the people 
giving to the governor and senate the appoint- 
ment of the superintendents of public works 
and of State prisons. 

The constitution of New York has thus been 
a growth and a development. Male suffrage 
has become universal ; and the legislature, rep- 
resenting in both houses the entire people, is 
restricted in the bestowal of privileges and the 
creation of debts. The executive power is well 
defined, extending to a veto over legislation, 
and to the appointment, by and with the advice 
of the senate, of a limited number of officers. 
The judiciary system is graded from the justices 
of the peace and the county and. surrogate's 
courts to the supreme court in circuit and gen- 
eral term, and the final tribunal, the court of 
appeals. Town, city, and county authorities 
have spheres which are plainly bounded. All 
power is derived from the people, who act in 
the mode established by themselves in the con- 
stitution. 

The statutes of the commonwealth have gen- 
erally embodied, as did those of the colony, the 
spirit of toleration, of stability with progress, 
of liberty and security. A striking exception 
was the law passed July 31, 1700, while Eng- 
land was agitated over the plots of the Stuarts, 
by which " every Jesuit and seminary priest, 



572 NEW YORK. 

missionary, or other spiritual or ecclesiastical 
person," ordained by or deriving " any author- 
ity from the Pope of Rome," was required to 
depart from the colony ; and if he remained and 
acted as such he was to suffer perpetual im- 
prisonment, and in case of escape from prison 
and recapture he was to "suffer the pains of 
death." While this law was not formally re- 
pealed until July 20, 1784, although practically 
cancelled by the adoption of the State constitu- 
tion, it was certainly, after the earlier years, a 
nullity, for the people were hospitable to all 
creeds and churches. 

On the recommendation of congress, New 
York took steps to join with the other middle 
States and New England in a combination, by 
the acts of their legislatures, *' to regulate the 
wages of mechanics and laborers, the prices of 
goods and commodities, and the charges of inn- 
holders." The law of New York was passed 
April 3, 1778, and was a war measure. But 
the combination failed, and October 28 of the 
same j^ear the act was repealed, with the dec- 
laration that " it had not answered the salu- 
tary purposes for which it was intended, by 
reason of the neglect or refusal of some of the 
other United States to pass similar laws." 

The attempt to " carry into execution a gen- 
eral limitation of prices," by joint action of the 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 673 

several legislatures, was again recommended by 
congress, and New York loyally responded by 
an act passed February 26, 1780. The rates 
are all those of a war standard and of paper 
money, but even as such they may well be 
studied, as an index of the condition of the 
country, and of one phase of its legislation. 
Some of the prices are thus given : 

It is hereby enacted that all articles of domestic 
produce, farming and commou labor, the wages of 
tradesmen and mechanics, shall not exceed the fol- 
lowing rates, viz. : Good merchantable wheat, twenty 
dollars per bushel ; peas and white beans, twenty 
dollars per bushel ; good merchantable wheat flour, 
fifty-six dollars per hundred, gross weight ; good mer- 
chantable rye, thirteen dollars per bushel ; good mer- 
chantable Indian corn, eleven dollars per bushel ; 
good merchantable buckwheat, eight dollars per 
bushel ; good merchantable oats, seven dollars per 
bushel ; pork, well fatted, eighty-nine dollars per 
neat hundred weight, and in the same proportion 
for a greater or lesser quantity ; best grass-fed beef, 
six shillings per pound ; best stall-fed beef, in the 
month of January seven shillings per pound, in the 
month of February eight shillings per pound, in 
the month of March nine shillings per pound, in the 
month of April ten shillings per pound, in the month 
of May eleven shillings per pound, in the month of 
June twelve shillings per pound ; good butter, by the 
firkin or cask, eighteen shilhngs per pound; good 



574 NEW YORK. 

fresh butter by the small quantity, twenty-one shil- 
lings per pound ; Anierican cheese of the best qual- 
ity, twelve shillings per pound ; rendered tallow, six- 
teen shillings per pound ; rendered hog's lard, twelve 
shillings per pound ; raw hides, seven shillings per 
pound ; sole-leather, four dollars per pound, and all 
kinds of curried leather not to exceed twenty fold of 
the price thereof in the year one thousand seven hun- 
dred and seventy-four. 

The act also fixed the prices to be paid for manu- 
factured articles, for transportation, for labor of all 
kinds, and the rates which innkeepers might charge 
for entertainment and for liquors. 

This statute is hardly a type of the laws of 
New York. It was enacted in direct response 
to the* recommendation of congress, and serves 
to show the loyalty of the State rather than the 
judgment of its own people of the sphere of law 
even in time of war. The legislature took the 
precaution to provide that it should not take 
effect until the governor should issue his procla- 
mation, that Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
Pennsylvania had passed acts of the same pur- 
port. Those States never took such action, and 
this act therefore never went into effect. 

The progress of legislation may be traced in 
the treatment of banking. From the organiza- 
tion of the State until 1838, special charters 
were required for banks, and these were awarded 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 575 

as matter of favor to politicians. By the con- 
stitution of 1821, such charters could only be 
granted by the assent of two-thirds of the mem- 
bers of both branches of the legislature, instead 
of a simple majority, as before ; and the addi- 
tional restriction tended to aggravate the evils 
of the system. A safety-fund was established 
in 1829, and each bank contributed a percent- 
age to guarantee the payment of the debts of 
any of the banking institutions ; the plan, owing 
to defects of detail, was only partially success- 
ful. The stock of these banks was, as pre- 
viously, distributed as a matter of favoritism. 
The principle of restriction was rigidly enforced, 
and by restraining acts, associations other than 
those duly chartered were forbidden to receive 
deposits or transact a banking business ; and 
later, individuals were forbidden to engage in 
such transactions, and '•' currency in the simili- 
tude of bank-notes" was prohibited except 
such as was issued by the chartered banks. 
Their monopoly was complete until the free 
banking system was established, April 13, 1838, 
under which associations were authorized with 
provisions equal for all, and the business ceased 
to be the privilege of the few, and franchises 
were open for all citizens alike. The constitu- 
tion of 1846 embodied the principle that no 
special charter should be granted for banking 



676 NEW YORK. 

purposes, but that such corporations should be 
organized only under general laws. The same 
movement from favoritism by legislation to 
equal rights and privileges for all citizens, has 
taken place with reference to other classes of 
corporations, and may be taken as an expres- 
sion of the spirit of the jurisprudence of the 
commonwealth. 

That spirit well deserves to be studied in the 
general current and volume of the statutes, and 
in the progress which a century has recorded. 
The laws of New York, as they stand, are in 
large part the product of the jurists who have 
made its name illustrious. They were put into 
system and symmetry by the early revisers. 
James Kent and Jacob Radcliff began the work 
of revision, and published the result of their 
labors in 1802, and at not distant intervals the 
statutes have been repeatedly revised, often by 
some of the best minds at the bar. The decis- 
ions of the courts have expounded and harmon- 
ized the laws and their application, and some- 
times have led to important legislation. Thus 
our statute books embody whatever has else- 
where been developed as wise and efficacious in 
securing the rights of person and propert}^ with 
order and security, and liberal care for charities 
and education. 

The court of chancery in its palmy days, the 



CONSTITUTIONS AND JURISPRUDENCE. 577 

court of appeals and the supreme court, have 
been adorned by talent and character, inviting 
comparison with any tribunals known among 
men. Chancellors R. R. Livingston and James 
Kent, Chief Justices William Smith, Lewis 
Morris, John Ja}^ John Savage, Greene C. 
Bronson and Samuel Beardsley, and Associate 
Justices Hiram Denio, Alexander S. Johnson, 
also on the bench of the United States circuit 
court, and Ward Hunt, who became a judge of 
the supreme court of the United States, are 
authors of decisions that adorn legal literature; 
while justices of the general term and of the cir- 
cuits, in later years, do not suffer tlie dignity 
and learning and efficiency of the bench to fall 
from its high standard. Under such influences, 
the bar of the commonwealth ought to exem- 
plify, as it has always done, the highest qualities 
of intellect, discipline, and eloquence. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND CHIEFS IN THEM. 

1825-1846. 

The completion of the Erie Canal, and its 
early financial success, lifted DeWitt Clinton 
to the summit of power within the State. 
Daniel D. Tompkins retired from the vice- 
presidency in March, 1825, and died June 11 
next, broken in habits and clouded in reputa- 
tion on account of troubles growing out of his 
transactions for the State during the war, upon 
which the comptroller made him a debtor for 
$110,000, although long after, he was shown to 
be a creditor for $92,000. As his successor in 
leading the opposition to Clinton, Martin Van 
Buren had risen. He had served from 1812 to 
1820 in the State senate, and in the convention 
of 1821 he had been the champion of radical 
democracy ; he was chosen United States sen- 
ator the same year, serving by reelection until 
1829. His active supporters were the men who 
were known as the " Albany regency," and 
who long governed the democratic party. In 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 579 

1824 Mr. Van Buren was active in intrigues 
against William H. Crawford, the democratic 
candidate for president, and shrewd politicians 
then and afterward argued that the conduct of 
New York democrats led to his defeat. Mr. 
Crawford's friends were in the minority in the 
legislature, and an agreement was made by the 
majority to divide the electors between Adams 
and Clay. When the choice was made, how- 
ever, Adams secured thirty-two electors and 
Crawford four. By this breach of faith to- 
wards him, Clay failed to be among the high- 
est three candidates, and so his name could not 
be taken before the house of representatives, 
which, in consequence, elected John Quincy 
Adams president. 

Parties were in a chaotic condition in the 
State at this time. A " people's party " arose 
in 1824, that finally supported Clinton for gov- 
ernor ; but the Clintonians still maintained a 
separate existence, while the " bucktails " and 
" Albany regency " were organizing the demo- 
crats, and the iederalists remained at least as 
a ghost to conjure against. Opinions relative to 
the canals, and the benefits to be secured by lo- 
calities, affected political action. Clinton held 
that, since the public works increased the gen- 
eral wealth of the State, they were a good in- 
vestment; while others argued that, unless their 



680 NEW YORK. 

revenues met expenditures and interest on their 
account, they should be treated as burdens, or 
even as evils. The situation was still further 
aggravated by an episode in politics peculiar 
to New York. The society of free-masons in- 
chided a large number of the foremost citizens 
in all walks of life, and the belief existed that 
they used their secret ties to advance their am- 
bitions. So intelligent a writer as Jabez D. 
Hammond, in his " Political History," declares 
"that a majority of persons holding official po- 
sitions in the State were masons. Legislative, 
judicial, and executive officers — from presi- 
dents and governors to deputy marshals and 
constables ; from judges of the supreme court to 
justices of the peace ; and from the grave and 
reverend senator to the town-meeting orator — : 
were, I religiously believe, solemnly pledged to 
perform the obligations and keep the secrets of 
masonry." This belief was used to create pre- 
judice among those who were not members, 
and it added fuel to the fires of faction. 

At this juncture, September 11, 1826, Wil- 
liam Morgan, of Batavia, a free-mason, who had 
announced his intention to print a pamphlet 
exposing the secrets of masonry, was arrested 
on a charge of larceny, made by the master of 
a masonic lodge, but found not guilty, and then 
arrested for debt, and imprisoned in jail at 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 581 

Canandaigua. He was taken secretly from that 
jail and conveyed to Fort Niagara, where he 
was kept until September, when he disappeared. 
The masons were charged with his abduction, 
and a body found in the Niagara River was 
produced as proof that he was drowned to put 
him out of the way. Thurlow Weed, then an 
editor in Rochester, was aggressive in charging 
that Morgan was murdered by the masons, and 
as late as 1882 he published an affidavit re- 
hearsing a confession made to him by John 
Whitney, that the drowning was in fact perpe- 
trated by himself and four other persons whom 
he named, after a conference in a masonic 
lodge. In 1827 Weed, who was active in iden- 
tifying the drowned body, was charged with 
mutilating it to make it resemble Morgan, and 
the imputation was often repeated ; and the 
abduction and murder were in turn laid at the 
door of the anti-masons. The disappearance 
became the chief topic of partisan discussion. 
DeWitt Clinton was one of the highest officers 
in the masonic order, and it was alleged that 
he commanded that Morgan's book should be 
" suppressed at all hazards," thus instigating 
the murder ; but the slander was soon exposed. 
The State was flooded with volumes portraying 
masonry as a monstrous conspiracy, and the 
literature of the period was as harrowing as a 
series of sensational novels. 



582 iVi:iF YORK. 

Clinton was no longer to ask for the suffrages 
of the people. Still governor under the elec- 
tion of 1826, he was talked about as a candi- 
date for president, but refused to allow his 
name to be used, and to the surprise of the 
friends of President Adams, who had invited 
him to be his secretary of state, gave his influ- 
ence to the nomination of Andrew Jackson. 
By the death of DeWitt Clinton, February 11, 
1828, the most dominant personal power was 
removed from the State. The animosities 
against him had lost not a little of their bitter- 
ness ; his transcendent services were admitted 
even by his opponents, while his eulogists pro- 
nounced him the " Pericles of our common- 
wealth." He devoted his learning and his ora- 
tory, which was elegant and impressive al- 
though not magnetic, to the history and inter- 
ests of New York ; and if his contemporaries 
found him lacking in the arts and attractions 
that win popularity, subsequent generations 
concede to him the higher merits of a sincere 
and constructive statesman. 

By his death, Martin Van Buren became for 
the time the foremost figure in New York poli- 
tics. That adroit manager, with the Albany 
regency, had enlisted early in favor of General 
Jackson for president, and on that movement 
was elected governor in 1828, while a member of 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 583 

the United States senate ; the State in the same 
year casting twenty of its electoral votes for 
Andrew Jackson, and sixteen for John Qiiincy 
Adams, for president. Mr. Van Buren acted 
as governor only from January 1 to March 12, 
1829, when he resigned to become secretary of 
state in the cabinet of President Jackson, with 
whom he thereafter closely identified himself. 

When Mr. Van Buren went to Washington, 
Enos T. Throop, as lieutenant governor, suc- 
ceeded to the executive chair, and he was in 
1830 elected governor, over Francis Granger, 
the candidate of the anti-masons. Albany en- 
tered upon that long exercise of political con- 
trol which for years directed both parties in 
New York, and in no small degree affected the 
affairs of the nation. Edwin Croswell, editor 
of the "Argus," was the permanent member of 
the Albany regency, and was adroit as a man- 
ager and strong and audacious as a wa-iter. 
Thurlow Weed, editor of the *' Evening Jour- 
nal," was destined to a more prolonged career, 
as he had surely a more subtle power over men ; 
and in short paragraphs, condensing an argu- 
ment or hurling an epithet or fastening a dam- 
aging accusation, he had no equal among his 
contemporaries. From 1826 to 1833, Azariah 
C. Flagg was secretary of state, followed by A. 
Dix until 1839 ; William L. Marcy was comp- 



584 N-EW YORK. 

troller from 1823 to 1829, succeeded by Silas 
Wright until 1834 ; Greene C. Bronson was at- 
torney genera.1 from 1829 until 1836. All these 
the State honors among its most noted sons. 
In the senate, William H. Maynard, Nathaniel 
P. Tallmadge, Nathaniel S. Benton, Henry A. 
Foster, Albert H. Tracy sat in the years of 
Governor Throop's administration, and, to be- 
come more famous than any of them, William 
H. Seward entered that body in 1831. John C. 
Spencer was in the assembly, and in 1829 Mil- 
lard Fillmore entered ; and that body contained 
other members who, without subsequently at- 
taining to like eminence with him, at that time 
exercised equal or greater influence. The qua- 
drennium dating from the death of Clinton was 
marked in Albany by an array of men of abil- 
ity, and of continued influence on public affairs, 
rarely equaled and perhaps never surpassed. 

Mr. Van Buren was destined to be the occa- 
sion of conflict in national politics. He had 
contributed to break up the cabinet, from which 
he resigned in 1831, and was nominated soon 
after as minister to England, and sailed for his 
post in September. When the senate came to 
act on his confirmation, Henry Clay, the leader 
of the opposition to Jackson's administration, 
arraigned him for instructing Minister McLean 
to say to the British ministry that General 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 585 

Jackson was more favorable to it& party than 
was Mr. Adams ; the friends of Mr. Calhoun 
looked upon him as the instigator of mischief 
between the president and that gentleman ; and 
to ambitious senators he was offensive because 
he was already regarded as the ofl&cial candidate 
for the succession to President Jackson. He 
was therefore rejected, and was thus clothed 
with increased importance in the dominant 
party. 

In the canvass for president in 1832, the 
principle of protection to American industry 
was brouo:ht into the fore^xround. In New 
York, woolen manufactures and wool-growing 
had become important interests. In 1827 a 
State convention at Utica drew together many 
able men, who declared that congress ought to 
pass laws to protect home manufactures and to 
encourage wool-growing, and they sent dele- 
gates to a national convention at Harrisburg to 
advance the same views. The legislature, Jan- 
uary 5, 1828, unanimously called on the sena- 
tors and representatives to try to secure ''a 
suflBcient protection to the growers of wool, 
hemp and flax, and the manufacturers of iron, 
woolens and every other article." It was sup- 
posed therefore that on such grounds Henry 
Clay, the champion of the American system, 
would command strong support in New York. 



586 NEW YORK. 

Mr. Van Buven had the credit of inducing Gen- 
eral Jackson to modify his opinion that a presi- 
dent should hold that office but one term, and 
to consent to a renomination. Mr. Van Buren 
himself was nominated for vice-president, and 
he took active control of the canvass in the 
State, securing the support of the bankers in 
New York city opposed to the maintenance 
there of a branch of the United States Bank, 
and thus the Jackson party carried New York. 
Governor Throop gave way to William L. 
Marcy in the executive chair. The democratic 
party had become a compact organization. The 
opposition was a coalition of diverse elements, 
of admirers of the memory of Clinton and of 
the brilliant qualities of Clay, of masons and of 
anti-masons opposed to Van Buren and the Al- 
bany regency. Discipline and shrewd manage- 
ment held the democrats in power, reelecting 
Governor Marcy in 1834 and 1836, and giving 
to Mr. Van Buren such prestige at home that 
the democratic national convention at Balti- 
more in the latter year gave him the nomina- 
tion for president with absolute unanimity. 
The personal strength of General Jackson con- 
tributed not a little to this result, but the im- 
portance of New York as a State commanded 
consideration, now that for the only time the 
dominant party was without internal feuds and 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 587 

intense personal rivalries. The popular major- 
ity for Van Buren electors was nearly ten per 
cent, of the total vote cast. 

In that generation the delegation from New 
York, in both houses of Congress, was eminent 
in character and influence. Nathan Sanford 
served two terms in the senate, and between 
them was chancellor of New York. Charles E. 
Dudley, who succeeded Van Buren as senator, 
is better known as the founder of the Dudley 
Observatory at . Albany. William L. Marcy 
and Silas Wright were not surpassed by any of 
their colleagues as legislators. Nathaniel P. 
Tallmadge passed from state politics to the na- 
tional senate, and was among the foremost of 
the conservatives in the whig party. Henry A. 
Foster, in both houses of congress, exhibited the 
ability and force which even in a higher degree 
he illustrated afterwards on the supreme bench 
of the State. Daniel S. Dickinson, a leader in 
his own commonwealth among the conservative 
democrats, in the senate attained such standing, 
under the administration of President Polk, as 
to array it with his wing of the party in New 
York politics. In 1848 his name was suggested 
for the presidency. In 1861 lie threw all his 
influence for the war for the Union, and identi- 
fied himself with the republican party. Among 
the representatives at the same time were many 



588 NEW YORK. 

able jurists, efficient legislators, and recognized 
leaders of opinion in their respective parties. 
Foremost as a debater, and pronounced by 
Henry Clay the most eloquent speaker lie ever 
heard, was Henry R. Storrs, who served twelve 
years as representative from the Oneida dis- 
trict, but subsequently was in the forefront of 
the legal profession in New York city. Con- 
spicuous in their respective parties were also 
Peter B. Porter, John C. Spencer, Albert H. 
Tracy, and Churchill C. Cambreleng. Michael 
Hoffman took to Washington his radical views 
and his local reputation. Samuel Beardsley 
was welcomed for his learning in the law and 
his weight of personal character. Millard Fill- 
more established the relations which gave him 
the vice-presidency and the succession to the 
presidency ; while Francis Granger, of the same 
school of politics, was called from his seat as a 
representative to become postmaster general in 
the cabinet of President Harrison. 

The political revolution which swept the 
commonwealth as well as the nation in 1840 
was due to local as well as general causes. The 
financial distress which marked the year 1837 
was felt with intense severity in New York, 
and the banks of the State, compelled to sus- 
pend specie payments, became, as well as the 
United States Bank, factors in partisan divis- 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 589 

ions. Charters were still granted as matter of 
favor by the legislature, and were the occasion 
of conflict in each Iocalit3^ The suspension of 
the law forfeiting these charters for a failure to 
pay specie, necessary as it was, afforded ground 
for censure, and for assault on the friends of 
the banks. At the same time, Mr. Van Buren's 
plan for a sub-treasury arrayed the bank influ- 
ence against him and his party. 

Another influence began to work at this 
period. The people of New York were in- 
stinctively opposed to the extension and ag- 
grandizement of slavery, but political and com- 
mercial interests held them in check. When 
Missouri asked for admission as a State as long 
ago as 1819, James Tallmadge, Jr., a representa- 
tive from the Dutchess district, moved to strike 
out the permission to maintain slavery, and the 
legislature unanimousl}'^ called on senators and 
representatives to sustain his position. The 
Missouri compromise postponed the discussion, 
which, however, earnest thinkers were in vari- 
ous ways pressing, and which ambitious North- 
ern men and enterprising merchants were seek- 
ing to avert. So it happened that in 1834, 
during the controversy to petition congress 
against slavery, mobs broke up abolition meet- 
ings in New York city, and assailed eminent 
citizens like Arthur and Lewis Tappan because 



590 NEW YORK. 

they opposed slavery. October 21, 1835, an 
anti-slavery convention was held in Utica, ac- 
cording to previous notice. A citizens' meet- 
ing sent a committee to the six hundred dele- 
gates who assembled, to " warn them to abandon 
their pernicious movements," and under this 
instigation the mob broke up the convention 
and drove the delegates from the town. Alike 
spirit was shown elsewhere, and Southern lead- 
ers demanded that agitation about slavery 
should be put down. Mr. Van Buren agreed 
with them at this time, and in his first message 
declared positively against interference by con- 
gress with slavery in the District of Columbia. 
The close relations between Canada and New 
York produced intense excitement in 1837, and 
threatened international complications. Owing 
to discontent in both Upper and Lower Canada, 
William L. Mackenzie and Joseph J. Papineau 
were able to organize an insurrection of consid- 
erable proportions, and the}' appealed for sym- 
pathy, and to some extent commanded it, on our 
northern borders. In December, Navy Island, 
on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, was 
seized by a party of Americans accompanied by 
Mackenzie and led by Rensselaer van Rens- 
selaer of the patroon's family. They held the 
island with seven hundred men, twenty cannon, 
and abundant provisions, and kept up communi- 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 591 

cation with the American shore by a steamboat 
called the Caroline. On the night of December 
29, the Caroline lay at Schlosser's Landing, on 
the American side, with its crew sleeping 
quietly, when royalists from Canada under 
Colonel McNab cut it from its moorings, set it 
on fire, and let it loose to drift down the cat- 
aract, while the occupants were killed, wound- 
ed, or drowned. Four years later Alexander 
McLeod, who had boasted of complicity in the 
firing of the vessel and the murder of its crew, 
was put on trial in Utica for the crime. The 
British government assumed the responsibility 
of the destruction of the Caroline as an act of 
war, and demanded the release of the prisoner, 
which was denied by the United States, and he 
was tried under the authority of New York and 
discharged as innocent, on proof that his boast 
was only drunken swagger. 

The United States government met the dis- 
position to retaliate at once for the invasion of 
our soil, by proclamations, and by sending, to 
preserve our neutrality, General Scott to the 
Niagara River, General Macomb to Sackets 
Harbor, and other officers to other points. 
Congress deemed it necessary in 1838 to ap- 
propriate '^625, 000 for the protection of our 
northern frontiers. Secret " Hunter lodges " 
were organized in many villages along the Ni- 



592 NEW YORK. 

agara, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence for 
attack upon Canada. Arms were stolen from 
tlie State arsenal in Watertown, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1838, a considerable body of men gath- 
ered at Clayton, but Van Rensselaer and Mac- 
kenzie disagreed and their forces yanished. 
Rumors of assault from Canada led to the post- 
ing of militia at Cape Vincent and Clayton to 
protect our soil. May 29, at night, the British 
steamer Sir Robert Peel, while taking on wood 
off Wellesley Island, was entered by a band dis- 
guised as Indians, and the passengers and crew 
were driven off ; the vessel was set on fire, 
with cries, " Remember the Caroline ! " and 
money and clothing were carried away. Wil- 
liam Johnston, declaring himself " commander- 
in-chief of the naval forces and flotilla " in the 
patriot service of Canada, assumed responsi- 
bility for the act, but a proclamation by Gov- 
ernor Marcy offering a reward failed to secure 
his arrest, while others who were put on trial 
were acquitted. 

In November, the Quixotic plans of inva- 
sion culminated. A steamer and two schooners 
freighted at Oswego carried a large number of 
men, with arms concealed, down the St. Law- 
rence, and Sunday night, November 11, reached 
Prescott. The men were under command of 
General John W. Birge, of Cazenovia, Madison 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 593 

county, with Von Schoaltz, a Polish exile, sec- 
ond in rank. An order to attack was not 
obeyed. At Ogdensburg, on the opposite side 
of the river, the sjmpiithizers with the patriots 
seized the steamer United States, and armed 
and manned it, and made a demonstration to 
aid the invaders. A landing was effected at 
Windmill Point by one hundred and eighty 
patriots, where under Von Schoultz they pre- 
pared for defense, in the absence of the recog- 
nized leaders. They were attacked on Tuesday, 
and vigorously returned the fire and held their 
ground, at a cost of eighteen patriots killed and 
wounded and eighty-two on the British side. 
On Wednesday the dead were buried under a 
flag of truce. On Friday, the British appeared 
with reinforcements of men and artillery, while 
the provisions and ammunition of the patriots 
were exhausted. Flags sent by the patriots 
proposing terms were fired upon, and after 
some delay they surrendered unconditionally. 

The rising in Canada for which the demon- 
stration had been a signal had failed. The 
instigators of the enterprise had not shared 
in its dangers. Sympathy on the American 
shore was abundant, and all the efforts of the 
authorities were required to check overt acts ; 
while in the board of supervisors of St. Law- 
rence county a motion was made to adjourn to 

38 



694 NEW YORK. 

enable the members " to rescue that Spartan 
band of patriotic friends, and preserve their 
lives from the hands of their enemies, the 
tja-ants and advocates of the British Crown." 
The prisoners included boys of fifteen and 
seventeen, and were mostly from the northern 
counties of New York, with several foreigners, 
and only four Canadians. They were tried ; 
Von Schoultz, the leader, pleaded guilty and 
was hanged, as were seven privates or subordi- 
nates ; others sentenced to be hanged were 
transported to Van Diemens Land, but after- 
wards pardoned, and some of the youngest 
were sent to the penitentiary. Some were re- 
leased without trial, a few were acquitted, and 
pardons were after various periods accorded to 
such as survived. The attempt at organized 
operations by the patriots ended by the dis- 
grace and disaster of Windmill Point ; but, 
June 6, 1840, proof w^as given that Canadian 
refugees were still plotting mischief, for two of 
them put explosives on the British steamer 
Great Britain while it was lying at Oswego. 
An explosion took place, but no lives were lost, 
and the vessel was saved. 

The conduct of the United States govern- 
ment in the whole matter was sharply criti- 
cised, and there was much open and more secret 
sympathy with the Canadian " patriots," and 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 595 

some speculative schemes were devised contin- 
gent on their success. For years the northern 
counties expressed at the polls their condem- 
nation of the administration and its party. 

When the election occurred in 1837, the 
whigs carried the legislature and many of the 
counties, and in 1838 elected William H. Sew- 
ard governor over William L. Maicy. They 
were both able scholars and shrewd politicians, 
and both deserve to rank as statesmen. Ideas, 
sentiment, principle, controlled Mr. Seward. 
Mr. Marcy was more a practical statesman, 
whose standard is indicated by his declaration 
in the United States senate, that " to the victor 
belong the spoils " of office. Mr. Marcy had 
served on the bench of the supreme court be- 
fore his three terms as governor, and he was 
afterward secretary of war under President 
Polk, and secretary of state under President 
Pierce. Mr. Seward, beginning his public ca- 
reer as State senator in 1831, was to serve as 
governor for four ^^ears, to enter the United 
States senate in 1849, to become the eloquent 
and accepted advocate of constitutional opposi- 
tion to slavery, and, although disappointed in 
his ambition for the presidency, was as secre- 
tary of state under Mr. Lincoln to give to the 
republic services not second in value and dignity 
to those of any other occupant of that position, 



596 NEW YORK. 

and surpassed, if at all, by only two or three of 
our presidents. As governor of New York he 
exhibited the qualities of courage, of devotion 
to reform, of high principle. He met the anti- 
rent difficulties of 1839 with promptness and 
vigor ; he recommended modifications in the 
judicial system which were afterward embodied 
in the fundamental law ; and in declining to re- 
turn fugitive slaves demanded by the governor 
of Virginia, he asserted the rights of man and 
the limits of the comity of States. His views 
on the division of the school fund were not sus- 
tained, and he was sometimes criticised for 
favoring generous expenditures, not only for 
internal improvements, but for other purposes. 

New York went wild with the rest of the 
country in the political Saturnalia of 1840, and 
gave its electoral votes to Harrison, against its 
recent favorite Van Buren, and reelected Mr. 
Seward governor. In 1842, William C. Bouck, 
democrat, was chosen governor, in part because 
of the disfavor felt for Mr. Seward's proposition 
for dividing the school moneys between Protes- 
tants and Catholics, but chiefly owing to the 
divisions among the whigs caused by the policy 
of John Tyler, who had succeeded to the presi- 
dency. 

The project for the annexation of Texas af- 
fected parties in New York quite as seriously 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 597 

as anywhere else in the country. The wbigs 
were generally opposed to it, and many demo- 
crats took pronounced ground against it. For 
the canvass of 1844 it was necessary to appease 
them, and to that end Silas Wright was nomi- 
nated for governor, while the whigs designated 
for that oflBce Millard Fillmore. Mr. Wright 
was simple in his habits, sturdy in his morals, 
rigid in his views of public expenditures, and of 
solid rather than brilliant intellect. Entering 
the State senate in 1824, he had opposed the 
policy of DeWitt Clinton ; he served as a rep- 
resentative in congress from 1827 (resigning 
to become comptroller in 1829) ; and as United 
States senator from 1833 to 1844, he had sup- 
ported a protective tariff, the Jackson bank 
policy, and had been positive for the right of 
petition and the inviolability of the mails against 
slavery, and pronounced in opposition to the an- 
nexation of Texas. His influence was enlisted 
then to hold the democratic party together, — a 
service for which the administration which he 
thus brought into power, after offering him the 
post of secretary of the treasury, which he de- 
clined, treated him first with discourtesy and 
then with hostility. 

Mr. Fillmore began his career in the assem- 
bly in 1829. In congress he had in three terms 
earned a high position, and as chairman of the 



598 IFMW TOMK, 

etwuBhtee of wm js and m^ans bad taken adiTO 
part in framii^ liie tarifE of 1S42, He was 
cooiserrmiT^ in tempeiament and views ; and in 
Older to balAn^!>e bis tendeaicies. Alv^an Stewart, 
an aedTe aboiiiioQkt, was pat on tbe ticket 
with bim as lieatenant gOTemor. Tbe electoral 
voie of New York was confidently reckoned 
upon in 1S44 for Henry Clay, in part because 
the democzmtie national eonTentitm bad set 
a^de Martin Van Boren as a candidale, al- 
thoo^ he leceiT^d theTot^ ot more than a 
w. -"~-'x- qI Uig ddegales, hot not two-tbiids; 
,->? of the g^»ieTal oj^osadon to the 
:i Texa&. Bui the inflnenoe of Mr. 
Wiigbt held many dn^ODOcrats to the support 
of James K. Polk, in spite of these coaisideTa- 
ttons ; while Mr. Clay's Ala bama, letter served 
as a jostififcmtion for some, w^ had beat bis 
6i^poit»s» to join the ^ Hbeity paity," which 
avowed ho^dlitT to slaTery, and gave to its can- 
didste, James G. Bim^'y. in Xew York. louSliZ 
Tote& while P<^''s majoiitj over Clay was only 
^^1 Mr. Wr^bt's majority £«- govi^nor was 

l^i«^i^. This disfMirity was the occaision for 
czitiasBts and for dissewaon. 

"^ — ^' Mr. Wrisiiit declined the pcrtlidio of 
il jiy ui Mr. Polk's calMnet, he asked that 

IT . be eonfened on his friend A»mriadi C. 

7-2^g. Mr. Polk did not giant this request, 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS, AND LEADERS. 599 

but took instead William L. Marcy for secretary 
of war, wlio was hostile to the newly elected 
governor ; and other federal appointments in 
New York were bestowed on the faction soon 
known as " hunkers," while Governor Wright's 
friends, the " barnburners," were passed over. 
The feud grew in bitterness, and led to the de- 
feat of Governor Wright in a canvass for re- 
election in 1846, when John Young was chosen 
to the executive chair. Mr. Wright died Au- 
gust 27, 1847, and his memory has been ever 
since a rallying cry against the influences then 
dominant in the democratic party. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 
LITERARY ACTIVITY. 

The literature of the first half century of the 
commonwealth which became New York was 
in French and Dutch. The narratives of Car- 
tier and Cham plain, followed by the historical 
relations of Wassenaer and De Laet, intro- 
duced the domain to the Old World. They re- 
tain the flavor of adventure and romance, and 
of a region and experiences novel and exciting. 
Holland was, during the seventeenth century, 
not second in intellectual activity to any other 
portion of Europe, and its province, New Neth- 
erland, showed forth the qualities of the mother 
land. The controversies between the Dutch 
West India Company and the people called 
out discussions that have been preserved. The 
appeals to Holland and the answers to them 
were frequent, and they are documents that 
have not lost their interest by the lapse of time. 
The remonstrance against Stuyvesant, the re- 
quest to the government to cancel the charter 
of the company and to assume its authority, 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 601 

and the counter-arguments in behalf of the com- 
pany and the governor, throw light on the con- 
dition of the colony, and besides indicate the 
stage to which the demand for popular rights 
and the hostility to commercial monopolies had 
advanced. While the struggles of the other col- 
onies are read in the vernacular, and documents 
in London and here at home, the archives of 
New York are included in the records, not of 
Holland only, but of Canada and France as 
well. The correspondence of the governors of 
Canada with Louis XIV. furnishes some of the 
most graphic and most enduring chronicles of 
incident and development south of the St. 
Lawrence. The narratives of the French mis- 
sionaries constitute a rare and delightful treas- 
ury of personal labors and sufferings among 
the Iroquois, with sketches of the country as 
it came from the hand of nature, and of the 
red men when in their earliest intercourse with 
the whites. Charlevoix, La Potherie, Lafitau, 
Jogues, Bruyas, are authors whose names should 
be preserved for the merit of their productions 
as well as for their services on oar soil ; and 
the whole series of " Jesuit Relations " must 
be regarded as illustrating the trials and the 
sacrifices out of which our commonwealth has 
been developed. 

In the Dutch period the clergymen were men 



602 NEW YORK. 

of affairs, and Domine Megapolensis was, with 
Van der Donck and De Vries, skillful and influ- 
ential with his pen. Poets there were too, as 
critics tell us ; but while they give their names, 
their fame must be entrusted to their care. In 
the earliest English period, Daniel Denton 
(1670) published a description of New York, 
designed to invite immigrants ; and in the next 
year, Arnoldus Montanus essayed a like task, 
and doubtless for the same purpose. The soil 
of New York was not fruitful in theological 
controversy, but Daniel Leeds' " News of a 
Trumpet in a Wilderness" (1697), aimed at 
the Quakers, with whom he had quarreled in 
Pennsylvania, was one of the earliest tracts 
which at intervals broke the smooth current of 
religious thought. 

Some of the English governors adorned their 
positions by their literary abilities. Governor 
Dongan, General Hunter, and Governor Burnet 
were men of education and familiar with books. 
The reports and letters of the first named have 
lasting value. Of all who held the executive 
office in colonial days, Cadwallader Golden has 
left the fullest testimonv of intellectual train- 
ing and industry. His " History of the Six 
Nations " has been the source of a great deal 
of our information about the aborigines ; while 
his writings on scientific subjects, and especially 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 603 

on botany, would have earned him a reputation 
.independently of his political services. Sir 
William Johnson cannot be omitted from a list 
of those who wrote well, and have preserved in- 
structive details relative to the Iroquois and 
their institutions, gathered from personal in- 
vestigation. William Smith's " History of the 
Province " down to 1722 (first published 1757) 
has the life and movement, and some of the 
prejudices, of a personal narrative, for he deals 
with many men and many events with which 
he was intimately connected. 

In the quarter century before the Revolution, 
the minds and pens of the colonists ventured 
upon excursions into various departments. If 
the Muses were as zealously courted here as in 
other colonies, equal pains were hot taken to 
preserve the verses, for the number of aspirants 
for poetic laurels at this time is not large. 
Some of the writers deserve credit, not simply 
as residents of a country struggling with the 
hardest material difficulties, but for literary 
merit rising above unfavorable conditions. Two 
of these were Mrs. Bleecker and William Liv- 
ingston. 

Mrs. Ann Eliza Bleecker, daughter of Brandt 
Schuyler (1752), wrote poems for a magazine, 
and these, with stories and letters, were gath- 
ered into a volume, which is interesting rather 



604 NEW YORK. 

as a bud in our anthology than as a full flower. 
"William Livingston (born 1723, died 1790), 
was a native of Albany, a graduate of Yale 
College, and a resident of the colony until 
1772, when he removed to New Jersey, and in 
due time became its governor. His poem, 
" Philosophic Solitude" (1747), is an elaborate, 
scholarly production, in heroic measure, and 
may well rank with some of the productions of 
Dryden and Johnson. Livingston was a pro- 
lific writer for the newspapers on moral and 
political topics, and his " Review of the French 
War," from 1753 to 1756, was first published 
in London. 

These were, indeed, the topics best befitting 
the times. The newspapers, and the addresses 
of the governors, and the answers by the as- 
sembly, enlisted the best talent of the day, un- 
til the continental congress and the struggles 
with Great Britain furnished themes, and then 
the national constitution produced a mass of po- 
litical literature that can never die. The tories 
were not without voices to justify their posi- 
tion, among whom James Rivington, the pub- 
lisher of the " Gazetteer," was not least in skill 
of attack and cutting satire. Dr. Myles Cooper, 
president of King's College, joined in the dis- 
cussion, with the leaders in the royal council, 
and more than one of the clergymen. But not 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 605 

only the argument, but the mastery in debate, 
adroitness in the use of words, rugged force 
and often high eloquence, were on the side of 
the patriots. One needs not go outside of the 
chronicles of New York to find the American 
case stated, the plea for natural rights main- 
tained, and finally the cause of independence 
and of national unity asserted, with a power of 
logic, a wealth of fact and illustration, and a 
ripeness of scholarship and of far-seeing state- 
craft, that lack no element of completeness. 
Men of action there were, to perpetuate whose 
memories New York has done less than its 
neighbors for their benefactors. Among phil- 
osophic statesmen, Hamilton and Jay and Gou- 
verneur Morris and the Livingstons are not in 
a second rank in the services which they ren- 
dered to the infant republic. 

Tiie revolutionary period developed a school 
of political versification, in which Philip Fre- 
neau was by popular consent the master. Of 
Huguenot blood, he was born in New York in 
1752 (died 1832), was graduated at Princeton, 
and his genius as a poet, essayist, and satirist 
cannot be denied. Althouojli one of his manv 
periodical ventures was published in New York, 
much of his literary work was clone in Phila- 
delphia, where he was the editor of the " Na- 
tional Gazette," and engaged in a bitter quar- 



606 NEW YORK. 

rel with Hamilton. One of his eulogists reports 
that Jeffrey, the Scotch reviewer, predicted a 
time '• when his poetry, like that of Hudibras, 
would command a commentator like Gray." 
His writings are so largely controversial, and in 
partisan warfare he held so marked a place 
and dealt such hard and sometimes sinister 
blows, that less than justice has been done to 
the versatility of his talent, to his humor, his 
skill in description, and, with occasional marks 
of carelessness, his choice use of language. 
Freneau was the author of several ballads, 
which during the Revolution were adopted as 
utterances of the general patriotism ; and the 
incidents of the fights over the liberty pole in- 
spired other writers to verses which have the 
stir and movement of action and of courage ; 
while the tories enlivened Rivington's columns 
by pasquinades aimed at the patriot leaders. 
The fate of Major Andre has rendered mem- 
orable tlie verses which he wrote burlesquing 
the American armies, and a ballad from a pa- 
triot pen eulogizing his captors is preserved by 
the like cause. 

Poetry continued to attract no small num- 
ber of writers in the last two decades of the 
eighteenth century. Their verses show that 
aspiration and effort were not lacking, and that 
there were no little taste and promise in effu- 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 607 

sions which are now forgotten. William Dun- 
lap (born 1766, died 1839), son of an Irish 
officer who came out in 1759 with Wolfe to 
attack Quebec, was successful in producing a 
comedy, entitled " The Father," which was put 
on the stage in September, 1789, and was so 
well received that he wrote other plays, which 
were acted. He became a theatrical manager, 
painted portraits and more ambitious subjects, 
and wrote " A History of the Arts of Design in 
the United States," but he is best known by 
his *' History of New York," first published in 
1839. A type of an activity which has since 
been marvelously developed, in school-books, 
was presented by Lindley Murray (born 1745, 
died 1826), who published in 1795 an " Eng- 
lish Grammar," and some years after an " Eng- 
lish Reader," with selections from the best au- 
thors, so wisely made that it is doubtful if it 
has ever been surpassed. A higher standard 
of scholarship was illustrated by Charles An- 
thon (born 1797, died 1867), whose editions of 
the classics and " Dictionary of Greek and Ro- 
man Antiquities " were early contributions of 
our commonwealth for the use of students. 
Missionaries like Rev. David Brainei'd, Rev. 
Gideon Hawley, and Rev. John Taylor, and 
travelers, who, regarding the country as strange 
and interesting, mingled religious observation 



608 NEW YORK. 

with pleasure excursions, like President Timo- 
thy D wight of Yale College, have left, in their 
journals and letters, sketches of the country 
and the people, from which age will not detract. 
The years from 1783 to 1800 are not so much 
marked, outside of politics, by actual achieve- 
ment as by struggle and advance in various de- 
partments which proved to be preparation for 
a literature with distinct qualities and unques- 
tionable merit. 

With the new century intellectual activity 
became intense. The journals and periodicals 
multiplied, and, becoming the vehicles of liter- 
ar}^ miscellany, developed a school of humor, 
criticism and fiction. In New York city, the 
readers were in sufficient number and of taste 
lipened to the point of encouraging such au- 
thors. Washington Irving (born 1783, died 
1859) began in 1802 as a writer for the 
" Morning Chronicle " of his brother. Dr. Pe- 
ter Irving. In 1807 he projected, with his 
uncle by marriage, James K. Paulding (born 
1799, died 1860), a humorous serial under 
the title of " Salmagundi." Two years later 
appeared " Knickerbocker's History of New 
Y'ork," by Irving. Both writers were wel- 
comed as their successive and numerous publi- 
cations came from the press. They were racy 
of the soil, and were genuine in thought and 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 609 

treatment. Irving chose at a later period for- 
eign themes, which his grace and elegance and 
delicate humor adorned, and no one can take 
from him the laurels of the chief as well as the 
earliest of our belles-lettres authors. Paulding 
was a worthy colaborer, and at that time di- 
vided the laurels, and won some peculiarly his 
own in dramas. Both were creative and pro- 
lific and tried several departments of author- 
ship. Their best successes are in the sphere of 
the sketching of local events and characters, 
and in that of humorous narratives and essays. 
Irving especially was recognized at once as an 
author of American type, and has no more lost 
caste by the change of fashion than has Addi- 
son. Paulding added to his literary labors po- 
litical service as secretary of the navy in the 
cabinet of President Van Buren from 1838 to 
1841. 

Even more distinctively American, finding 
his incidents and characters still more lai'gely 
in this commonwealth, and the father of a 
school in which he has had no successful rivals, 
is James Fenimore Cooper. Born in New Jer- 
sey in 1789, he was taken the next year to Ot- 
sego county, where his father owned a large 
estate and gave name to a town wdiere the nov- 
elist died in 1851. He published " Precaution," 
a novel of the prevalent fashion, in 1809. It 

39 



610 NEW YORK. 

was not until 1821 that ''The Spy" appeared, 
a tale of the Revolution, and redolent with the 
atmosphere and stirring with the action of the 
scenes of the war. " The Pioneers," and the 
series of Leather-Stocking Tales, are original 
with the life of adventure and the flavor of the 
woods and the waters. They gave the Indian 
and the frontiersman a place in literature which 
they can never lose, and created characters that 
have become types of a class that civilization 
has banished. Cooper's novels of the sea have 
peculiar merits, and few rivals have equaled 
his success in this sphere. He was a fertile 
writer and prone to controversy, and over his 
treatment of the events and commanders of the 
war of 1812 disputes arose, in which he became 
plaintiff in libel suits which arrayed against 
him powerful interests, that for a time clouded 
his literary reputation. The freshness of his 
themes, the dashing romance of his incidents, 
the purity and vigor of his language, remain to 
insure for his American tales a duration linked 
with the Hudson and its shores, and the inland 
lakes and valleys, which he has peopled with 
his creations. 

While fiction reveled in these fields, investi- 
gation was diligent and fruitful in them. Wil- 
liam L. Stone (born 1792, died 1844), in addi- 
tion to his laborious tasks as editor of the " New 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 611 

York Commercial Advertiser," wrote biogra- 
phies of Joseph Brant, of Red Jacket, and of 
Uncas, dealing thoroughly with the character 
and acts of the Iroquois and their neighbors, 
and gathering materials vital to a knowledge of 
our early history. In the " Biography of Sir 
William Johnson," his own labors of study and 
preparation have been well supplemented by his 
son of the same name, and the result is a treas- 
ury of incident and fact admirably presented in 
connection with one of the chief figures in the 
history of New York. 

A similar work was prosecuted by Henry R. 
Schoolcraft (born 1793, died 1864), who de- 
voted much research to the red men in New 
York and in the far West, as well as to varioas 
branches of science. His writings are prolific, 
original, and occupy a field little cultivated. 
The Iroquois have also been studied closely and 
very thoroughly by Lewis H. Morgan (born 
1818, died 1881), who has become the latest 
and best recognized authority on the confeder- 
ated tribes whom the French and Dutch found 
masters in New York, and who has fulfilled 
admirably the task which was due from the 
heirs of their domain. 

For the Dutch period John R. Brodhead per- 
formed a like duty. Born in Albany, 1814 (died 
1873), the great-grandson of an English captain 



612 NEW YORK. 

in the expedition against New Netherland in 
1664, and the son of a daughter of John R. 
Bleecker, of Holland family, he represented the 
mixed population of the commonwealth in tlie 
diligent study of its history. As agent of the 
State he searched the archives of Holland, Eng- 
land, and France for documents relating to our 
colonial period, and brought back what Mr. Ban- 
croft pronounced " the richest freight of new 
materials for American history that ever crossed 
the Atlantic." These documents have been 
published by the State ; and Mr. B redhead has 
rendered their substance still more accessible 
by his " History of New York," a thorough and 
exhaustive work, which however he brought 
down only to 1691, the governorship of Slough- 
ter and the execution of Leisler. His researches 
and studies constitute him, for the period of 
which he treats, the foremost authority, and his 
volumes an enduring classic. In a related 
sphere, Henry C. Murphy (born 1810, died 
1882) has, in the intervals of his legal practice, 
and service in the State senate and in congress, 
thrown much light on the Dutch period; and 
his ''Anthology of New Netherland, translations 
from and memoirs of the early Dutch Poets of 
New York," is unique. Leading into more lim- 
ited fields, but all full of incident and attraction, 
William W. Campbell, in his "Annals of Tryon 



LITERARY ACTIVITY, 613 

County," brought out the significance of central 
New York in the early struggles ; and Jeptha 
R. Simms, in the " Frontiersmen of New York," 
has gathered a fund of personal anecdote and 
local adventure that have the zest of a new 
country and of unconventional experience. 
Benson J. Lossing has devoted himself to the 
latter generations of our history, and has con- 
nected great events with the localities where 
they occurred. The most elaborate of his works, 
the " Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution," 
and the " War of 1812," add the attraction of 
illustrations from drawings taken on the spot 
and of portraits to a sprightly and flowing nar- 
rative worthy of the old chronicles. Henry B. 
Dawson, born in England in 1821, but since 
1834 a resident of this State, has published an 
elaborate narrative of the '' Battles of the Uni- 
ted States," and has been diligent and success- 
ful in antiquarian researches, and by his books 
and the '' Historical Magazine " has deserved 
well of the commonwealth. Among the histories 
of the city of New York, that by Mrs. Martha J. 
Lamb is the most complete and satisfactory, as 
it is the most recent ; and in the " Magazine of 
American History " she is gathering abundant 
material, new and old, for historical students. 
Frankhn B. Hough (born 1822, died 1885) 
was a most diligent investigator and fruitful 



614 NEW YORK. 

writer on many subjects, and on statistics, for- 
estry, and the history of northern New York, 
he is a recognized authority. This devotion 
to themes born of its own soil has produced, if 
not the largest body, some of the most valuable 
of the contributions made by New York to lit- 
erature. 

The inspiration and influences which devel- 
oped Irving and Cooper produced also a poet 
who deserves to be remembered for the quality 
of his verses, not less than as a pioneer in his 
branch of literature. Joseph Rodman Drake 
(born 1795, died 1820) established fairyland 
in the highlands of the Hudson by his " Cul- 
prit Fay," published in 1819, affluent in the 
liquid melody of its rhyme, and in the splendors 
of its imagination. His miscellaneous poems 
might make a reputation for a less worthy 
writer. Drake was closely connected, in a se- 
ries of verses in the " Evening Post," with Fitz- 
Greene Halleck (born 1795, died 1867), who 
came to New York from Connecticut at the age 
of eighteen, and m stirring lyrics like " Marco 
Bozzaris," and in satire like "Fanny," exhib- 
ited rare elegance of versification and of taste. 
A name now forgotten, but once conspicuous, is 
that of James Lawson (born 1799), who came 
from Scotland to New York in 1815, and wrote 
tales, sketches, and a tragedy ("Giordano"), 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 615 

performed in 1828. More remarkable, with a 
genius to madness near allied, was McDonald 
Clarke (born 1798, died 1842-), who was a 
leader in the multitude of versifiers who belong 
to this period. Clement C. Moore (born 1779, 
died 1868), by his brief poem, " A Visit from 
St. Nicholas," has perpetuated a Dutch legend 
with local coloring, but deserves higher recog- 
nition for his Hebrew and English Lexicon, 
published in New York, 1809, and the first work 
of its class produced in this country. 

Easily foremost in the elevation of his mind, 
in the sustained excellence of his art, and in 
the reputation which has been conceded to him, 
among the flock of singers who began their 
melodies tosjether, is William Cullen Brvant 
(born 1794, died 1878). He began his career 
in Boston, but he came to New York in 1825, 
and enjoyed intercourse with the circle of ac- 
tive and cultivated minds who were then ren- 
dering the newspapers brilliant and attractive. 
Becoming permanently connected with the 
" Evening Post " in 1826, he identified himself 
with the city and the State, which have de- 
lighted to honor the individual, the scholar and 
the author, and to pronounce his poetic works 
among the first of our classics. 

The vast currents of song and fiction which 
have flowed from New York's hills and valleys 



616 NEW YORK. 

into the ocean of literature were already nu- 
merous and yavied. Lucretia Davidson (born 
1808, died 1825) attracted notice for the pre- 
cocious merit of her verses, and with her sister, 
Margaret Miller (born 1823, died 1837), was 
fortunate in finding Professor S. F. B. Morse 
and Washington Irving for editors. They were 
prophets of the era at hand when so many girls 
were to lisp in song, and so many women to 
attain distinction as writers. With an imagi- 
nation as glowing as her philanthropy, Lydia 
Maria Child (born 1802, died 1880) brought 
with her in 1841 a reputation, which for a long 
generation she maintained, as a writer in the 
" Anti-Slavery Standard," and in letters, tales, 
and romances. One of the earliest of women 
correspondents for the press, she was also one 
of the most brilliant ; and while her romances 
were much praised, her letters added more to 
her circle of readers, and not less to her fame. 
In fiction, Susan (in 1849) and Anna B. War- 
ner (in 1853) proved the hospitality of publish- 
ers and readers for American authors ; and Mrs. 
Caroline M. Kirkland in 1832r began a career 
which lasted for many years. In 1850 came to 
New York Alice Cary (born 1820, died 1870), 
and in 1851 Phoebe Cary (born 1824, died 
1871), natives of Ohio, who were busy with 
productive pens ; and here, by tales and letters 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 617 

and poems, they attracted the attention of crit- 
ics at home and abroad for the freshness of 
their sketches of nature and character, and the 
purity and depth of their emotions. 

Early types of writers who have since mul- 
tiplied in numbers, were Charles Fenno Hoff- 
man (born 1806), whose songs have the melody 
of music, and his literary sketches strong draw- 
ing and rich colors ; and Theodore S. Fay 
(born 1807), whose " Reveries of a Quiet Man," 
published in 1832, was the forerunner of novels 
some of them with scenes located in and about 
New York. T. S. Arthur (bom 1809) and 
Joel T. Headley (born 1814) are probably the 
most prolific authors native to the State ; the 
former deals with social and moral questions, 
often in mild fiction, while the latter ranges from 
travels and biography to historical sketches. 

William H. C. Hosmer (born 1814) pre- 
sented in verse Indian legends and songs, and 
portrayed the birds of our country, in a style 
which should secure for his writinojs more at- 
tention than has been given to them. Fore- 
most in his services in depicting the scenery of 
the commonwealth and its various beauties, is 
Alfred B. Street (born 1811, died 1881), who 
also caught the spirit of its formative period. In 
his " Burning of Schenectady " (1842), and still 
more in his *'Frontenac" (1849), he has im- 



618 NEW YORK. 

mortalized the heroism and suffering of our pio- 
neers. In " AVoods and Waters " he describes the 
Saranac and Racket Rivers, and the Adirondack 
Hills, with the art of a master and the glow of 
a lover. He also contributed a useful chapter 
to the history of the commonwealth in his 
" Council of Revision," in which he described 
the members and the proceedings of that pecu- 
liar body. If he does not as a poet add the 
excitement of high imagination to the perfec- 
tion of rhythm, he exhibits the qualities of 
Chaucer in wealth of detail, and, as Tucker- 
man observes, is " a true Flemish painter, seiz- 
ing upon objects in all their verisimilitude." 
His poems will, in the future, attract readers 
who seek to know the State in its youth, its 
landscapes in their beauty, and its early ad- 
ventures in their swift and varied and bloody 
movement. 

No phenomenon of our age is more remark- 
able than the production of the " Mormon Bi- 
ble," alleged by Joseph Smith to have been 
found in 1819 on Mormon Hill, in the town 
of Manchester, Ontario county. The develop- 
ment of Smith himst'lf into a clairvoyant, and 
then into the spiritual leader of a new revela- 
tion, and the father of a sect that more than 
once has threatened the peace of the republic, 
is one of the marvels of human experience. 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 619 

The " Book of Mormon " was first printed in 
Palmyra in 1830, and there and in the vicinity 
his first converts were made. Its real author, 
Rev. Solomon Spaulding, was before 1809 set- 
tled in Cherry Valley, and after seven years' 
residence in Ohio returned to New York, and 
lived in Amity until he died in 1827. He 
had written a romance, in the form of an an- 
cient manuscript, representing a colony of Is- 
raelites in America, and embodying his archae- 
ological lore. The manuscript, quaint, origi- 
nal, mystical, was left in the hantls of his 
widow, and was read by several pei'sons, and 
finally stolen or copied by a printer, Sidney 
Rigdon, who became one of Smith's apostles. 
AVith some changes, the romance of the clergy- 
man, written with purely literary aims, was 
adopted as the Bible of a propaganda. Within 
a few years the interior of New York was trav- 
ersed by preachers bearing its message. To 
Ohio, to Nauvoo, to Utah, the '' Latter Day 
Saints " advanced, gathering numbers and 
wealth, while persons still living remember the 
first converts in the church which is master of 
a territory, and defies the government of the 
United States. 

Samuel F. B. Morse (born 1791, died 1872), 
although a native of Massachusetts, became a 
resident of New York in 1815 as an artist, and 



620 NEW YORK. 

there he won his enduring laurels. He founded 
the National Academy of Design, and took in- 
telligent interest in science and literature, and 
his contributions to the press were many and 
varied. The electric telegraph, so promptly 
and so cordially accepted and developed in his 
adopted State, perpetuates his genius and his 
fame ; and many companies have followed the 
first, organized in 1845, the New York, Albany 
and Buffalo Telegraph Company, with its head- 
quarters in Utica. 

The growth of the press in New York has 
been due to its enlistment of talent of every 
sort from every quarter. Pennsylvania gave 
George P. Morris, and Maine Nathaniel P. Wil- 
lis, to address readers who sought light and 
graceful verses and letters, and the gossip of 
society. Mordecai Manuel Noah, whose name 
indicates his race, might figure as an editor of 
the modern era. Horace Greeley, James Gordon 
Bennett, James Watson Webb, Henry J. Ray- 
mond, James and Erastus Brooks, are striking 
types of diverse characters, who contributed to 
build up the journalism which is now dominant 
in the metropolis, and even more prominent 
and influential in the interior of the State. 
More versatile than most of his colleagues, and 
training himself to broad and generous scholar- 
ship in several branches, was Bayard Taylor, 



LITERARY ACTIVITY. 621 

born in Kennett Square, Philadelphia, in 1825, 
but coming to New York in 1847, where, al- 
though not always his home, he found the cen- 
tre of his labors. First winning note as a trav- 
eler, he wrote novels that were read and poetry 
that was admired, and as a translator of Goethe's 
" Faust " he took rank among American masters 
of German literature. When he died in Berlin 
in 1878, he was minister of the United States 
to the German empire. 

From the pulpit, literary talent has turned 
to labors in fields allied to religion, with note- 
worthy results ; and our jurists and teachers 
have added a full roster of recruits to the 
army of authors. 

Societies for the promotion of agriculture, of 
science and art, and of benevolence, have been 
from an early day numerous and active in the 
commonwealth, and their transactions have 
often added rich gifts to the literature of the 
interests to which they are devoted. Among 
the pioneers in this field, Dr. Samuel L. 
Mitchell (born 1764, died 1831) holds the first 
rank. He was distinguished in various branches 
of literature and sat in botli houses of congiess. 
His energy and versatility, as well as his learn- 
ing and prolific pen, were working capital for 
New York city. Dr. David Hosack (born 1769, 
died 1835) was a colaborer in many movements 
giving to the city tone and progress in litera- 



622 NEW YORK. 

ture, science, art, and charity. By the activity 
of such men, attractions and encouragement 
were offered to scientists, so that investigators 
and vriiters like John James Audubon chose 
homes in the city or its vicinity. 

An organization at once a sign of intellectual 
activity and a power in the sphere which it 
chose for itself, was the New York Historical 
Society, founded November 20, 1804, by some 
of the leading statesmen, clergymen, and schol- 
ars of the city. The addresses delivered before 
it and the collections published by it, down to 
the current year, have included studies and 
documents of great interest, and productions of 
high and varied eloquence. The society gave 
an impetus to investigation into the chronicles 
of the commonwealth, and to the preservation 
of its records. The legislature was enlisted in 
gathering, abroad as well as at home, documents 
that otherwise would have been lost, and print- 
ing them in form for study. Local societies 
with like objects have been devoted and efiS- 
cient, and monuments on the battlefields of 
Oriskany and Saratoga are due to their labors. 
Private enterprise has been busy with gazet- 
teers and county and town histories, whose 
number is already legion ; while recent centen- 
nial celebrations, and the bi-centennial jubila- 
tion of Albany, have caused a general revival, 
in historical studies. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 
LAND AND EENT. 

1839-1846. 

The imperial domain of New York was im- 
providently administered from the first. The 
vast estates secured by the patroons under the 
Dutch were so located as to become very valu- 
able as population grew. The grants by the 
English royal governors to themselves and their 
favorites took up much more of the choice lands. 
Speculation, by these large landowners and by 
others, seized, for small consideration but under 
the name of purchase, vast tracts, which the 
Indians gave up without knowing the conse- 
quences. B}^ grant from King George, Sir 
William Johnson added to his former posses- 
sions a domain which made him, next to Wil- 
liam Penn, the owner of the most extensive 
estate on the continent. Foreign capitalists, 
like the Holland Land Company, acquired title 
to thousands of acres in various parts of the 
commonwealth. At the close of the Revolution 
the commonwealth owned more than seven 



624 NEW YORK. 

million acres of its own soil. The waste and 
folly that had prevailed from the beginning 
culminated in the sale of 1791, when, in tracts 
so large as to exclude fair competition and in 
total quantity so much as to glut the demand, 
over five and a half million acres of these lands 
were given away, at prices merely nominal, to 
speculators who sought only their own gain. 

The evils of the concentration of lands in a 
few hands were many ; the benefits were to 
individuals, or if to the community they were 
transient. For a while there was a largeness 
of operations in clearing forests and making 
roads, and a courtly hospitalit}^ which had their 
value. These could not give to tenants, how- 
ever long their leases, the independence and 
enterprise of owners of the soil. The patroons 
insisted on their rights to feudal service and 
to permanent title to the farms which they per- 
mitted others to work. The lords of manors 
preferred to lease their lands, and sold grudg- 
ingly. Thus of vast tracts held and long occu- 
pied by industrious and thrifty farmers, in- 
creased in value by cultivation and improve- 
ment and by growth of population, the title 
for generations vested in the patroons, or the 
holders of the patents and their descendants. 
The Holland Land Company sold farms on long 
time to those who would improve them, at 



LAND AND RENT. 625 

prices that seemed low, but when a succession 
of bad crops came or domestic affliction used 
up the income, they proved to be onerous. 
The development of a vast region simultane- 
ously on like theories, with similar j)roducts, 
seeking the same markets, has its hazards. 

The inevitable result was that the purchasers 
often complained of any enforcement of their 
contracts to pay for their lands, and suspected, 
if they did not discover, designs to evict them 
and seize on the improvements which they had 
made. The tenants on long leases were in a 
worse condition. They found that they had no 
title to the houses they had built, or to the 
farms they had cultivated, and that they were 
bound by a feudal tenure, while on the merest 
technicality the landlord might enter into pos- 
session, and the laws would give to him the 
fruits of their labor. Acts were passed in 1779 
and 1789 abolishing feudal tenures between 
private citizens ; but the landlords embodied 
like services and conditions in leases in fee, and 
for many years such agreements were not con- 
tested. In 1812, effort was made in the legis- 
lature to limit the claims of the patroons and 
to define the rights of their tenants, but it came 
to nothing. The irritation continued and was 
aggravated from year to year, not simply with 
reference to lands held under feudal tenure, but 



626 NEW YORK. 

to leases and contracts and mortgages under 
allodial tenure. In 1836 the people of Chau- 
tauqua county were disturbed by rumors that 
the liens given by them to the Holland Land 
Company were to be enforced, and the land 
office, with its records, was destroyed by a mob. 
In Batavia, Genesee county, a threatened at- 
tack on the land office was prevented by the 
organization and arming of the citizens. Be- 
cause prominent whigs took the place of the 
company as proprietors, partisan prejudices 
added fuel and flame to the controversy, which 
was, however, adjusted without prolonged vio- 
lence, through the patience and tact and liber- 
ality of William H. Seward as agent. 

The difficulties were more grave in the coun- 
ties into which extended the estate of the Van 
Rensselaers. Just before 1839, the heirs of the 
patroon, besides seeking to collect long arrears 
of rent, tried to enforce their right to one-fourth 
of the sales of products of the land in case of 
alienation. Such a restriction would destroy 
much of the value of the leases, and practically 
gave the grantors a quarter title to the lands. 
Associations were formed to get rid of such 
I burdens and to resist payment of rent, which it 

was alleged had been waived. The landlords 
appealed to civil process, which the tenants re- 
sisted. A band of anti-renters in disguise killed 



LAND AND RENT. 627 

a person named Smith in Grafton, Rensselaer 
county, and a long investigation failed to dis- 
cover the persons engaged in the affray. In 
Albany county, resistance to like process was 
general ; and in December, 1839, Governor Sew- 
ard issued a proclamation of warning against 
tumultuous assemblages and warlike acts. The 
sheriff called upon six or seven hundred per- 
sons to assist him in serving papers, and at 
Reidsville was met by an armed body of fifteen 
hundred men, who stopped him and forbade him 
to perform his duty. By authority of Governor 
Seward, the military companies of Albany were 
summoned ; and December 9 an advance of one 
hundred and twenty men found over a thousand 
persons gathered to obstruct the sheriff, while 
the people generally sympathized with them. 
Three companies were ordered from Troy, and 
five hundred militia from Montgomery count}'', 
to proceed to Albany. By December 12 the 
sheriff was allowed to serve process and levy 
on property, and one person was arrested ; and 
four days later, the militia was discharged from 
further service. In his message of 1840 Gov- 
ernor Seward proposed a commission to adjust 
the grievances, and it was authorized by the 
legislature ; but while the tenants assented to 
its recommendations, the landlords refused to 
do so. 



628 NEW YORK. 

The controversy therefore continued, and 
acts of violence were perpetrated in several 
counties. Governor Wright made it a topic of 
discussion in his message in 1845, reciting that 
organized bands, disguised as savages and bear- 
ing arms, had defied the officers of the law, and 
interfered with its execution, and that lives of 
unoffending citizens had been sacrificed. He 
declared that the S3anpathies of the people fa- 
vored the commutation of rents and fee-simple 
titles, but that the present duty was the asser- 
tion of the power of the State to preserve or- 
der. He recommended the enactment of severe 
laws to prevent and punish agrarian outrages, 
and they were promptly enacted. In Columbia 
county, however, violence was repeated. In 
Delaware and Schoharie, riots occurred, and a 
deputy sheriff named Steel was murdered by 
an armed party while performing his duty. 
Governor Wright followed the example of Gov- 
ernor Seward by issuing a proclamation of warn- 
ing, and then calling out a military force ade- 
quate to put down the disturbances. They had 
lasted for months, and hundreds of men were 
ens^acred in them. Many arrests were made, 
and over fifty persons were convicted, including 
two who were sentenced to death, but the gov- 
ernor commuted their punishment to imprison- 
ment for life. He felt the more free to exer- 



LAND AND RENT. 629 

cise clemency because the insurrection was, in 
December, declared to be suppressed, and in bis 
message in 1846 he recommended the abolition 
of distress for rent, the taxation of incomes 
from rents, and the limitation of leases to five 
or ten years. 

The grievances of the tenants were carried 
into politics, and the legislature sought to cure 
them by statutes ; while the constitutional con- 
vention of 1846 set limits to leases, and defi- 
nitely abolished all feudal tenures. The anti- 
renters in 1846 gave their support to John 
Young for governor, and soon after his acces- 
sion in 1847 he issued a proclamation narrating 
the incidents in the land controversy, and pro- 
nouncing the offenses political in their nature ; 
wherefore, since the excitement had passed 
away, and the controversy itself had been 
closed, public policy would be subserved by 
mercy. He therefore gave full pardon to fifty- 
four prisoners, including the two persons who 
had originally been sentenced to death. Severe 
criticism was pronounced on this course, which 
was alleged to be in pursuance of a preelection 
bargain with the anti-renters. The insurrec- 
tions were not renewed, but Governor Young 
recommended that suits should be prosecuted 
by the State to test the validity of the title of 
the landlords. 



630 N£W YORK. 

Private litigation was abundant, and was at- 
tended with many aggravating incidents. Sev- 
eral cases were carried to the court of appeals. 
In October, 1852, that tribunal, in a thorough 
review of the laws as they stood even before 
the constitution of 1846, held that no agree- 
ment could make good restraints on alienation of 
titles held in fee, and therefore that all reser- 
vations of quarter-sales were illegal and void. 
This decision went far to sustain the position of 
the tenants, and practically ended the anti-rent 
movement as an organization to resist the laws. 
Sporadic obstructions, however, occurred to evic- 
tions for non-payment of rents or under con- 
tracts. In July, 1866, in Knox, Albany county, 
a battalion was sent to suppress agrarian trou- 
bles, but at its appearance seventy or eighty 
rioters scattered without violence, and nine 
prisoners were handed over to the courts. In 
the next month an agent of the landowners 
was fired upon in the town of Berne, and his 
horses were shot. Four persons were arrested 
and tried for the assault. Since the claims for 
service or payment in kind, or in shares of the 
products on alienation, have been abandoned, 
land tenure has become simple, and conflict over 
it has ceased to be threatening to society. 

As time has run on, the large estates have 
been divided, and small proprietors have been 



LAND AND RENT. 631 

multiplied. In 1880 the farms of the State 
averaged only 99 acres, and the tendency has 
been for years to smaller holdings. Reductions 
are yet possible and desirable, for there remained 
281 farms of over a thousand acres each, 1,315 
containing between 500 and 1,000 acres, and 
96,273 between 100 and 500 acres. The total 
number of farms was 241,058, being more than 
in any other State except Illinois, and they gave 
occupation to 377,460 persons. Their value was 
$1,056,176,741, the greatest in the Union ex- 
cept those of Ohio ; while the farming imple- 
ments and machinery used on them exceeded 
those of any other State, and were worth 
$42,592,741. According to the last census, four- 
teen counties in the United States produced 
from the soil in 1879 over $5,000,000 each. 
One of these was in California, two were in Illi- 
nois, three in Pennsylvania, and eight were in 
New York, to wit : Monroe, $6,382,976 ; Onei- 
da, $6,378,153 ; St. Lawrence, $6,046,906 ; 
Erie, $5,352,737; Otsego, $5,284,929; Jeffer- 
son, $5,199,352 ; Steuben, $5,171,054; and On- 
ondaga, $5,079,198. Three of these counties 
lead every county except one in Pennsylvania. 
The same census places the value of ;ill farm 
products in the State in 1879 at $178,025,695, 
exceeding those of any other commonwealth 
except Illinois; and experts insist that more 



632 NEW YORK. 

accurate and complete figures would place New 
York first in agriculture, as it is by ver}^ far first 
in tbe value of its manufactures, and the mag- 
nitude of its domestic and foreign trade. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 
STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 

1847-1858. 

Elements of personal rivalry undoubtedly 
entered into the political controversies in New 
York during the administration of President 
Polk, but they rested on radical differences of 
principle. The friends of Van Buren and of 
Wright were opposed to the annexation of 
Texas and to the extension of slavery, as were 
the whigs generally. The conservatives in 
both parties acquiesced in these policies, and 
denounced the popular protests against what 
were pointed out as the aggressions of the slave 
power, as improper interference with institu- 
tions recognized by the constitution. When, 
in 1847, Preston King, a representative from 
St. Lawrence county, renewed the motion for 
the proviso originally proposed the previous 
year by Mr. Wilmot, that slavery should not 
be allowed in the territory acquired from Mex- 
ico, the New York legislature sustained his 
position by a vote nearly unanimous, and in 



634 NEW YORK. 

congress all the representatives from the State 
but one were recorded for the proposition, as 
was Senator John A. Dix, while Senator Dick- 
inson voted in the negative. 

The supporters of Mr. Polk's administration 
controlled the State convention in 1847, but 
their candidates were beaten at the polls by- 
over thirty thousand majority. They held the 
party machinery, and in 1848 chose delegates 
to the national convention at Baltimore, and 
put electors in nomination. The other wing, 
the barnburners, took exception to this action 
of the hunkers, and issued a call, signed by a 
majority of the democratic members of the 
legislature, for a State convention, which also 
chose delegates to Baltimore. The national 
convention refused to admit either delegation 
to vote on* the nominations for president and 
vice-president. The choice of Lewis Cass for 
the presidential candidate was very offensive to 
the radicals of New York, and they met in 
State convention May 22, and put Martin Van 
Buren in nomination for president. The selec- 
tion of General Zachary Taylor by the whigs 
as their candidate for president was an offense 
to a large element among them, and the addi- 
tion of Millard Fillmore for vice-president con- 
tributed to the dissatisfaction of many of the 
freesoil wing. Since his unsuccessful canvass 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 635 

for governor, Mr. Fillmore had been elected 
comptroller, and attained prominence as a con- 
servative, showing no sympathy for the opposi- 
tion to slavery to which the people were giving 
expression, and insisting on the strict observance 
of the compromises of the constitution. When, 
therefore, a national convention was held in 
Buffalo, August 8, dissentients from both 
parties, representing nearly all the free States, 
were in attendance, and they adopted a plat- 
form opposing the extension of slavery to the 
territories, and nominated Martin Van Buren 
for president and Charles Francis Adams for 
vice-president. 

The canvass was able and vigorous through- 
out the free States upon the lines laid down in 
Buffalo ; but the freesoil movement became 
formidable only in New York, and its electoral 
votes decided the result. The canvass was in 
this sense a struggle in that commonwealth. 
General Taylor received in the State 13,899 
fewer votes than were given to Henry Clay in 
1844 ; and yet in the electoral college the full 
weight of the State was cast for him, and con- 
stituted the whole of his majority. This was 
due to the fact that 120,497 ballots were cast 
for Van Buren, and onlv 114,319 for Cass. 
For the time the democratic party of New 
York was rent in twain, and the whigs held 



636 NEW YORK. 

easy sway. They elected as governor Hamilton 
Fish, chosen the previous year to fill a vacancy 
in the ofiBce of lieutenant governor. He had 
served in both houses of the legislature, and for 
one term in congress. With a liberal education 
and popular though dignified manners, he pos- 
sessed solid qualities of prudence and decision 
and foresight. He was chosen in 1851 to the 
United States senate, and won honorable and 
enduring distinction in the cabinet of President 
Grant as secretary of state from 1869 to 1877. 
An incident in the canvass of 1848 was a 
liberty party convention held in Buffalo, in 
January of that year, which put Gerrit Smith 
in nomination for president. This party re- 
fused to recognize property in man, and asked 
the government to act immediately for the ex- 
tirpation of slavery. Beriah Green, a scholar 
and a preacher of remarkable logical force, was 
a leader in the movement, with William Good- 
ell, who was its candidate for governor ; but 
Gerrit Smith himself was the controlling figure, 
and notable in many ways. Inheriting vast 
tracts of land in central and northern New 
York, he gave away a large share in small par- 
cels to actual settlers. He was a pioneer in 
the anti-slavery movement, in which he took 
the most advanced position. In later years he 
gave freely to aid in making Kansas a free 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 637 

State, and John Brown had much of his money, 
although it was not given with a knowledge of 
the attack on Harper's Ferry. To the war for 
the Union his gifts were munificent, and at the 
close he signed with Horace Greeley the bail 
bond of Jefferson Davis. Esteemed and beloved 
by his neighbors, the only political position he 
ever occupied was that of representative in con- 
gress, to which he was elected in 1852, but re- 
signed because its duties were not congenial to 
him. 

The death of President Taylor, July 9, 1850, 
elevated Millard Fillmore to the executive chair, 
and greatly affected the condition of parties in 
New York. William H. Seward had been 
chosen to the national senate with the accession 
of President Taylor. His friends, -the freesoil 
whigs, had been treated with consideration in 
the assignment of the federal offices in the 
State. ^Ir. Fillmore made haste to remove 
many of them, and to give preference to con- 
servatives, or, as they came to be called, " silver 
greys." The compromise measures of 1850 and 
the demand by the South for the rigid enforce- 
ment of the fugitive-slave law, afforded pro- 
nounced lines of division. The rescue of a 
fugitive slave from the federal officers by a mob 
in Syracuse gave local color and intensity to 
the popular excitement. The advocates of free 



638 NEW YORK. 

soil demanded positive restrictions on slavery in 
the territories, and the legislciture passed strong 
resolutions to that effect ; while the conserva- 
tives held, with Daniel Webster, that it was not 
necessary to reenact the laws of nature, which 
would prevent the establishment of slavery in 
the domain in controversy. The effects of the 
divisions were not fully felt in November, 1850, 
when Washington Hunt was elected governor 
by the whigs, by the scant majorit}^ of two hun- 
dred and sixty-two, over Horatio Seymour, for 
whom the democrats cast their united strength. 
But in 1852 the wreck of the whig party was 
utter and final, due to its failures to obey the 
positive injunctions of popular sentiment. Mr. 
Fillmore was a candidate for president before 
the national convention, but from all the free 
States he received less than twenty votes on 
any ballot. The contest was long and doubtful, 
and while on the first ballot he received one 
hundred and thirtv-three votes, which was more 
than was given to any competitor, on the fifty- 
third and final ballot his votes were one hun- 
dred and twelve ; while to General Winfield 
Scott one hundred and fifty-eight were given, 
conferrincr the nomination. On that ballot jNIr. 
Fillmore commanded only seven from his own 
State, and from all the other free States only 
three from Connecticut and three from Iowa. 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 639 

In larger measure than his predecessors in can- 
didacy, he was made to feel how little hold he 
had even on his own party at home, and how 
weak was State pride in the conflicts of parties. 
The platform, however, commended the dis- 
tinctive features of his administration. In the 
democratic party, William L. Marcy had hopes 
of the nomination for president, and received 
some votes in the convention. In his private 
correspondence he expressed the belief that he 
could have been successful but for the opposi- 
tion of Daniel S. Dickinson. Governor Marcy 
afforded another example of the fatal effects 
on candidates of the factional divisions in New 
York. The canvass of 1852 in this State was 
conducted on lines wholly different from those 
of 1848 and 1856. The overwhelming defeat 
of General Scott, notwithstanding his military 
record, indicated the condemnation of the com- 
23romise measures, and was in New York the 
end of any reasonable hope of conducting par- 
ties on that basis. The lesson taught to the 
democrats in 1848 was in 1852 impressed on 
the whigs, who thereafter disappeared from 
State and national politics. 

While Frnnklin Pierce received the electoral 
vote of the State, Horatio Seymour was chosen 
governor. He entered the assembly in 1841 as 
the pronounced friend and ally of William L. 



640 NEW YORK, 

Marcy, and in the session of 1844, in a report as 
chairman of the committee on canals, he argued 
with force and eloquence in favor of a liberal 
policy of enlargement, and constituted himself 
the champion of the Erie Canal, waging its 
battles in the press and on the platform until 
all tolls were abolished, largely in response to 
his appeals. As speaker of the assembly, in 
1845, he exhibited urbanity and grace, with 
promptness and vigor. He had taken no share 
in the faction fights within his party, and was 
chosen its candidate for governor in 1850, when 
defeated, and in 1852, when successful as the 
architect of harmony. 

The enlargement of the Erie Canal and the 
construction of the laterals were progressing in 
spite of opposition and obstacles. A new ele- 
ment, which had been for some time taking 
form and strength, was now organized to com- 
pete in carrying freight. The Erie Railway 
was built rather as an ally to the canal inter- 
ests, to secure popular support in the southern 
counties. Railroads had also been constructed 
in many parts of the State. It was in 1853 that 
a policy was adopted for enlisting railroads as 
an important factor in securing the trade of the 
West, and holding the chief currents of domestic 
commerce parallel with the Erie Canal. This 
was the union of separate lines, changing pas- 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 641 

sengers and freight at their termini, into a con- 
tinuous railroad, first from the Hudson to Lake 
Erie, and soon from the sea at New York to the 
great hikes. 

The charter granted in 1826 for a railroad 
between Albany and Schenectady was not 
fruitful of others until that road was opened 
in 1831. Then charters began to multiply. 
Utica and Schenectady were connected by char- 
ter in 1833 and by rails in 1836 ; Auburn and 
Syracuse, by charter in 1834, by rails in 1838 ; 
Schenectady and Troy, by charter in 1836 and 
by rails in 1842. In 1836 also charters were 
granted for a road from Syracuse to Utica, 
opened in 1839 ; from Auburn to Rochester, 
opened in 1841 ; and from Attica to Buffalo, 
opened in 1842. The Tonawanda road, char- 
tered in 1832, was also opened in 1842. A road 
from Lockport to Niagara Falls was chartered 
in 1834 and opened in 1838. These were all 
local enterprises, and, as separate organizations, 
could do through business only with frequent 
changes and at heavy cost. As travel and 
traffic increased, the inconveniences were found 
to be insufferable. The demand for consoli- 
dation came from the business community as 
well as from the railroad managers. Yet ap- 
prehensions of the vast power of the corporation 
were not concealed when, by act of April 2, 

41 



642 NEW YORK. 

1853, the New York Central Railroad Company 
was organized, and consolidated these local 
roads, and entered upon its career with vastly 
increased facilities for carrying through passen- 
gers and freight. A condition of the act was 
that the road should pay to the State, on the 
freight transported, the same tolls as were col- 
lected on the canal, but this requirement was 
soon repealed. The New York and Harlem 
road, chartered in 1831, and the Hudson River 
road, chartered in 1846 and opened in 1851, 
subsequently passed into the control of the 
same company. 

This process of consolidation led to the 
growth which has given to that company four 
tracks and manifold extensions ; and in 1885 
to its absorption of the New York, West Shore 
and Buffalo Railroad, with two tracks for a 
part of the route ; and to competition by other 
lines, all contributing to the develoj^ment of 
the commonwealth, and to the commerce of its 
chief city. The magnitude of the trade is coldly 
stated in the tons carried in 1885, which were, 
by the canals, 4,731,784 ; by the New York 
Central Railroad, 10,733,499 ; and by the New 
York, Lake Erie and Western, 14,959,970. 
These fimires exhibit the throug-h traffic to and 
from the West, of which the most sanguine 
projectors of the Erie Canal had but a dim 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 643 

conception, and they also include the move- 
ment of the products and the purchases of the 
thrifty millions of the commonwealth. 

Illustrating the progress especially of New 
York city and its grasp for relations with all 
the earth, was the World's Fair, which was or- 
ganized as soon as London in 1851 set the ex- 
ample of such exhibitions, and was the second 
in a list now including many. The New York 
Crystal Palace, with its display in 1853 and 
1854, was creditable to the private enterprise 
which projected and maintained it, and was a 
potent teacher to the thousands who visited it, 
while its contents showed both the achieve- 
ments and the deficiencies of American artisans. 

The commonwealth was considering also 
other subjects. Maine had enacted its first law 
of prohibition in 1851, and its example attract- 
ed much attention in New York. In the ses- 
sion of 1854, the legislature passed an act for 
the suppression of intemperance, which aimed 
to proliibit the sale of intoxicating drinks. To 
it Governor Seymour interposed his veto March 
30, 1854. He had in his annual message re- 
ferred to the discussion before the people on 
the subject, and said that care should be taken 
to adopt measures " not in conflict with well- 
settled principles of legislation, or with the 
rights of citizens." This act he pronounced un- 



644 NEW YORK. 

constitutional, unjust and oppressive, providing 
for " warrants obnoxious to all tlie objections 
urged against general warrants, and conflicting 
with our bill of rights." It proposed to take 
property and make arrests without due pro- 
cess of law, and established unusual and severe 
penalties. He said, if the act became a law, 
" it would render its advocates odious, as the 
supporters of unjust and arbitrary enactments ; 
its evils would only cease upon its repeal, or 
when it becomes a dead letter upon the statute 
book." The governor went beyond a veto of 
the particular act, and declared his belief " that 
habits of intemperance cannot be extirpated by 
prohibitory laws ; they are not consistent with 
sound principles of legislation ; like decrees to 
regulate religious creeds or forms of worship, 
they provoke resistance where they are designed 
to enforce obedience." Intense excitement arose 
over this veto, and its author was severely de- 
nounced from the pulpit, as well as in the press ; 
for the assumption was general that the act, 
at least in its principles, was the sure cure for 
the evils of intemperance. It became a lead- 
ing issue in the State election of that year. 

Parties were in a chaotic condition. In No- 
vember Governor Seymour was presented as a 
candidate for reelection, but nearly one-fifth of 
the democrats at the polls supported Greene 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 645 

C. Bronson. A party called the "American 
party," because it advocated the restriction of 
political honors to native citizens, and " know- 
nothings," from the answer given by its mem- 
bers to inquiries relative to their secret gath- 
erings, now arose to prominence, with Daniel 
Ullman as candidate for governor. The whigs 
were not represented in the canvass ; but My- 
ron H. Clark was presented by a fusion conven- 
tion, which put prohibition forward as a lead- 
ing measure. The returns show the divisions 
which existed. For Mr. Clark, who was elected, 
the votes were 156,804 ; for Mr. Seymour, 
156,495; for Mr. Ullman, 122,282; and for 
Mr. Bronson, 33,850. 

The legislature fulfilled the pledges on which 
a majority of its members were chosen, by the 
passage, April 9, 1855, of a rigid prohibitory 
law, under the title, " An Act for the preven- 
tion of intemperance, pauperism and crime." 
It permitted the sale of liquors for mechanical, 
chemical, or medicinal purposes, under strict 
regulations, but prohibited the traffic for other 
purposes. Its provisions for search, for pros- 
ecutions, and for the destruction of forfeited 
liquors, were very stringent. The statute gave 
rise to a great deal of litigation, and many cases 
were carried to the court of appeals, where it 
was declared unconstitutional in March, 1856. 



646 NEW YORK. 

The decision held that, in so far as the act re- 
lated to liquors owned within the State when it 
went into effect, it could not be sustained, while 
the legislature might establish restrictions for 
liquors subsequently manufactured or imported. 
The act was also pronounced defective in that 
it took away from offenders the right of trial 
by jury. The decision led to a revulsion of 
feeling, and the great controversy over slavery 
for the time overshadowed every other subject. 
The legislature in 1857 enacted stringent li- 
cense laws, regulating the sale of intoxicating 
liquors, and these have been subjected to suc- 
cessive amendments. They have been enforced 
with varying efficiency, according to tlie de- 
mands of public sentiment in the several locali- 
ties. 

The commonwealth was intensely stirred by 
the operations in Kansas and Nebraska, and by 
the attitude of Southern leaders relative to slav- 
ery. The republican party was organized with 
the avowed purpose of restricting that institu- 
tion to the States where it existed, and in New 
York as elsewhere the new party included 
many democrats, especially of the freesoil 
w^ing, with the larger part of the vrhigs. The 
American party maintained its organization. 
The latter in 1856 selected Millard Fillmore as 
its candidate for president, and he received at 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 647 

the polls in the State 124,604 votes ; while 
James Buchanan received 195,878, and John C. 
Fremont 276,007. John A. King was chosen 
governor by almost as great a plurality over 
Amasa J. Parker and Erastus Brooks. While 
twenty-five per cent, of the votes in the Union 
were cast for Mr. Fillmore, he received only two 
per cent, of the presidential electors, — eight 
from Maryland. New York had declared how 
intense was its disapproval of the course which 
the administration of Mr. Buchanan was sure 
to pursue. 

New York was in these years typical of the 
national sentiment. Its people were by a large 
majority disposed to let slavery alone in the 
States where it existed, but they would not 
consent to its extension to new soil, nor would 
they assist in returning fugitive slaves, nor per- 
mit them to be taken back to their masters. 
They believed that the Southern leaders were 
using the national government to promote the 
interests of slavery, and to deny to the free 
States their equal share of power in the Union. 
The inhabitants of New York were an emi- 
nently practical people, but a passionate love 
for liberty was fundamental with them. They 
had sacrificed at all times for the Union more 
than any other commonwealth, and they prized 
it on that account all the more highly. The 



648 NEW YORK. 

practice was common to denounce the aboli- 
tionists wlio sought to meddle with slavery in 
the States, and at the same time to reckon no 
sacrifice too great to make the republic the 
safeguard of freedom on the national domain. 

The panic of 1857 struck Kew York with 
quite as much severity as any other part of the 
country, but business went on, and there were 
marrying and giving in marriage, and progress, 
measured by long intervals in every direction, 
was nowhere more marked. The population, in 
1840 only 2,428,921, rose in 1850 to 3,097,394, 
and became in 1860 3,880,735. Wealth, pro- 
duction, culture, society in its graces and dis- 
play, marched with even greater strides. 

It was no mean commonwealth, therefore, 
which steadily, without passion, but with in- 
tense determination, at the polls, by the voice 
of its governor and legislature, by its press and 
its pulpit, always after 1854 protested that 
slavery must go no farther, that all new States 
must be free, and that the spirit of the national 
government must be led back to the Declara- 
tion of Independence and to the constitution. 
No other State held, by its trade, by its insur- 
ance companies and by its journals, such close 
relations with the South as did New York. No 
other State had such vast interests involved in 
maintaining friendship with the Southern peo- 



STRUGGLES IN THE COMMONWEALTH. 649 

pie. Yet no other State moved more steadily 
forward in obedience to principle ; and no other 
sacrificed so much at the outset, and through 
the whole continuance of the struggle, for a 
united republic uncontrolled by slavery. 

Events moved rapidly. While the adminis- 
tration in Washington was carrying out the 
policy of the Southern leaders, New York re- 
newed, at each election and on every occasion, 
its firm protests. In 1858 Edwin D. Morgan 
was elected governor, while the democrats, the 
Americans, and the abolitionists had candidates 
before the people. Governor Morgan had 
earned wealth as a merchant, and enlisted 
heartily in the duties of a citizen. He had 
served in the State senate from 1843 to 1853, 
where his prudence and solid worth gave him 
eminence. He was again to be elected gov- 
ernor in 1860, and his admirable powers of or- 
ganization and his devoted patriotism were of 
immeasurable advantage in giving to the Union 
at once the full resources in men and money of 
the greatest of the commonwealths. 

In the national senate Preston King, repre- 
senting the freesoil element in the republican 
party, sat with William H. Seward. In the 
house of representatives the New York delega- 
tion included Martin Grover, Elbridge G. 
Spaulding, Reuben E. Fenton, Francis E. Spin- 



650 NEW YORK. 

ner, Daniel E. Sickles and others, who were 
manifesting the ability and merits which gave 
them influence and distinction. 

The old era was drawing to its close ; a new 
era was dawning on the republic, and therefore 
upon the commonwealth. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE WAR FOE- THE UNION. 

1860-18G5. 

William H. Sewakd was the master ar- 
chitect of the republican party in New York. 
His voice had proclaimed its principles ; his 
counsel had been controlling in its affairs. In 
the details of politics he was aided by Thurlow 
Weed, editor of the " Albany Journal," full of 
resources, adroit, constructive and brave. Hor- 
ace Greeley, who since 1841, in the '* New York 
Tribune," had fought the battles of the whig 
party and then of the republican party, and 
had been especially vigorous against the exten- 
sion of slavery, had also been an intimate friend 
and supporter of Mr. Seward. But he had 
found cause to announce the dissolution of the 
political firm of Seward, Weed and Greeley, 
and was no longer disposed to advance the po- 
litical interests of Mr. Seward. While the 
State sent a united delegation to the republi- 
can convention in Chicago, to nominate Mr. 
Seward for president in 1860, Mr. Greeley ap- 



652 NEW YORK. 

peared by substitution as a delegate from Ore- 
gon, opposed to that selection. 

Personal rivalries, which afforded ground for 
adverse argument, and the conduct of the leg- 
islature of New York, largely composed of the 
friends of Mr. Seward, proved a source of 
weakness to his candidac3^ In New York city 
many street railroads were built with special 
charters. These, like the bank charters of 
earlier days, were granted as political favors ; 
and members of the legislature were charged 
with sharing in the stock, or even accepting 
bribes in money for their votes. The roads 
were then regarded, as they proved to be, 
sources of large profit, and the proposition was 
made to offer the franchises for sale, or to re- 
quire a percentage of the earnings to be paid 
into the city treasury. The scandals were 
grave and numerous, and an attempt to justify 
the granting of the charters, as a means of rais- 
ing funds for political purposes, gave new weap- 
ons to the opponents of Mr. Seward. While he 
had no share or lot in the matter, his friends 
were the chief promoters, and the deduction 
was forced home that like influences might sur- 
round a national administration with him at its 
head. 

The democrats in the national senate, with 
the exception only of Senator Pugh of Ohio, 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 653 

■who voted in the negative, and Senator Doug- 
las, who was absent on account of sickness, had 
dechired that " neither congress nor a territo- 
rial legislature possessed the power to impair 
the constitutional right of any citizen to take 
his slave property into the common territories, 
and there hold and enjoy the same while the 
territorial condition remains." The national 
convention had met in Charleston, and after a 
sharp struggle over the platform had adjourned 
to Baltimore, and there later nominated Ste- 
phen A. Douglas for president, while a con- 
vention of seceders from that body put John 
C. Breckenridge in nomination, and the consti- 
tutional Union or American party selected John 
Bell as its candidate. 

Such divisions in the opposition, already ap- 
parent, gave great confidence to the compact 
and earnest republican party that success 
would await it in the November election ; and 
the delegation from New York not only united 
in favor of Mr. Seward, but enthusiastic for his 
nomination, felt that he and the commonwealth 
were entitled to that distinction at the hand of 
the party which they had done so much to con- 
struct. The three ballots which overthrew 
their hopes, and placed Abraham Lincoln be- 
fore the people as the candidate, once more 
took away from New York the prize of the 



654 NEW YORK. 

presidency, whicli so many of its sons had tried 
to grasp. Mr. Seward threw tlie whole weight 
of his great influence for the election of Mr. 
Lincoln and the triumph of the principles which 
he represented, and then toiled most diligently 
in the continental conflict in their behalf, in a 
position only less distinguished and important 
than that of president. 

In New York, as elsewhere, a fusion electo- 
ral ticket was made up between the supporters 
of Douglas and Breckenridge, and the contest 
was for a time doubtful, but the returns showed 
for Lincoln a majority of 50,136, and Edwin D. 
Morgan was reelected governor by a majority 
of 63,460. Before the election, indications were 
not lacking that resistance would be made to 
the authority of the national government in 
case of the election of Mr. Lincoln, and the 
people voted with that contingency threatening 
them. 

When the election was over, far-seeing men 
in New York sought to calm the excitement of 
the Southern leaders, and to put them in the 
wrong if they should carry out their threats. 
Leading editors indulged in assurances meant 
to strengthen the hands of the Union men at 
the South. Friendly toleration was extended 
to the well-meant efforts of Senator Crittenden 
to frame a compromise. On the invitation of 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 655 

Virginia the legislature of New York, contain- 
ing in the senate twenty-three republicans to 
nine democrats, and in the assembly ninety- 
three republicans to thirty-five democrats, sent 
a strong delegation to a peace convention held 
in Washington, February 4, 1861, which sub- 
mitted a report to congress never to be acted 
on. Meetings were held in various parts of 
the State to express a desire to maintain peace 
in any honorable way. The commercial inter- 
ests were averse to civil war, and while many 
merchants were leaders in loyalty, some also 
were ready for adjustment at any cost. 

Promptly, January 11, the legislature passed 
resolutions, with only one dissentient vote in 
the senate and two in the assembly, tendering 
to the national government whatever aid in 
men and money might be requisite to uphold its 
authority. These resolutions beyond question 
expressed the overwhelming preponderance of 
sentiment in the State. They were met, how- 
ever, by memorials numerously signed, espe- 
cially in New York city, asking congress to adopt 
some measure of settlement, and by meetings, 
two of which were notable. Januarj^ 28, at 
Cooper Institute in New York, a large meeting, 
addressed by eminent men of both pnrtit\s, 
designated James T. Brady, Cornelius K. Garri- 
son, and Apple ton Oaksmith as commissioners 



656 NEW YORK. 

to visit South Carolinn, Georgia, Florida, Ala- 
bama, Louisiana, and ?vlississippi, " to confer in 
regard to the measures best calculated to restore 
the peace and integrity of the Union." The 
most significant protest was uttered by a gath- 
ering in Tweddle Hall, Albany, January 31, 
where Amasa J. Parker presided, and the chief 
speakers were Horatio Seymour, ex-Chancellor 
Reuben H. Walworth and James S. Thayer. 
The resolutions declared that " civil war will 
not restore the Union, but will defeat forever 
its reconstruction." Judge Parker pleaded for 
conciliation, concession, and compromise. Ex- 
Governor Seymour, referring to the national 
capitol, said ; "It has well been likened to the 
conflagration of an asylum for madmen : some 
look on with idiotic imbecility, some in sullen 
silence, and some scattering firebrands which 
consume the fabric above them, and bring upon 
all a common destruction. Is there one revolt- 
ing aspect in this scene which has not its paral- 
lel at the capital of your country ? Do not you 
see there the senseless imbecility, the garrulous 
idiocy, the maddened rage displayed with re- 
gard to petty personal passions and part}^ pur- 
poses, while the glory, the honor, and the safety 
of the country are all forgotten ? " Mr. Sey- 
mour also questioned " if successful coercion 
by the North is less revolutionary than success- 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 657 

ful secession by the South." Mr. Thayer pro- 
claimed : *' If a revolution of force is to begin, 
it shall be inaugurated at home." Such utter- 
ances were not generally commended then, but 
they were repeated in some quarters ; and at a 
meeting in Utica, in October of the same year, 
Mr. Seymour took the ground that, ''if it is true 
that slavery must be abolished to save the 
Union, then the people of the South should be 
allowed to withdraw themselves from that gov- 
ernment which can not give them the protection 
guaranteed by its terms." 

The authorities of the State did not hesitate, 
and the people ran before all the demands upon 
them. When Fort Sumter fell, and President 
Lincoln called for 13,000 volunteers as the 
quota of New York in the first levy of 75,000, 
the legislature at once conferred abundant 
powers on the governor, appropriated $^3,000,000 
for war purposes, and authorized the enlist- 
ment of 30,000 men for two years, instead of 
three months as proposed by the president's pro- 
clamation. By the first of July the common- 
wealth had 46,700 men in the field, of whom 
8,300 were enlisted for three months, 30,000 
for two years, and 8,400 for three years ; and 
this number was raised before January 1, 1862, 
to 120,361, already one out of six of the able- 
bodied men of the State. 

42 



658 NEW YORK. 

The State arsenals, which were empty wlien 
Sumter fell, were supplied with 19,000 Enfield 
rifles bought abroad with money voted by the 
legislature. Individuals, banks, insurance com- 
panies, placed their resources at the service 
of the government, and the secretary of the 
treasury reported that, of $260,000,000 in loans, 
New York advanced 1210,000,000. 

The uprising of this period was only less than 
universal. Women and children encouraged 
brothers and husbands and fathers. The strug- 
gle in families and in establishments was not 
who should enlist, but who should be compelled 
to stay at home. The officers of volunteer and 
militia companies became drill masters where 
the regular army could not furnish them. Old 
men and boys concealed their age so as to be 
mustered in as soldiers. Companies organized 
in a day went into camp before the end of the 
week. Recruits anxious for the support of 
their families received guarantees for their care 
from their neighbors, and gifts of side arms and 
horses and personal comforts were so profuse as 
to become burdens. The first flush of an era of 
heroism was upon the people, and the common- 
wealth connted neither cost nor sacrifice in its 
determination to save the Union. Nowhere else 
was zeal more fiery, nowhere else was there 
more profound recognition of the principles in- 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. t)59 

volved and of the immense duties resting on 
loyal citizens. A few incidents occurred of 
patriotic excesses. The offices of some news- 
papers in New York that hesitated in support 
of the government, were compelled to display 
the national flag, and there and everywhere the 
stars and stripes beautified the scene and added 
to the expressions of loyalty. 

While the republicans were in unquestioned 
majority in the State, they invited, at the elec- 
tion of 1861, a union of all who supported the 
war against the rebellion, and State officers were 
chosen by a majority of over one hundred thou- 
sand. Criticism on the conduct of the war led 
to reaction, and under the burdens, unusual and 
heavy, some restlessness was exhibited. The 
depression consequent on the defeat at Bull 
Run, the retreat of McClellan, and the delays 
and the disasters to the Union forces, shocked the 
confidence of the people, who looked for quick 
and decisive operations. Mr. Lincoln's procla- 
mation of September 22, promising emancipa- 
tion, also for the moment produced hesitation 
and doubt. The soldiers in the field were not 
counted at the ballot box, and in November, 
18G2, on a total vote 72,610 less than that cast 
in 1860, Horatio Seymour was elected governor 
over General James S. Wads worth by a ma- 
jority of 10,752. 



660 NEW YORK. 

This election was a protest against the con- 
duct of the war, not against the war itself, al- 
though Mr. Se3'moiir received the support of 
those who were anxious, in the phrase of the 
day, for " peace at any price." In accepting the 
nomination for governor he declared : '* This 
war can not be brought to a successful conclu- 
sion, or our country restored to an honorable 
peace, under the republican leaders." In the 
same speech he said : " The scheme for an im- 
mediate emancipation and general arming of 
the slaves throughout the South is a proposal 
for the butchery of women and children, for 
scenes of lust and rapine, of arson and murder, 
unparalleled in the history of the world. The 
horrors of the French revolution would be- 
come tame m comparison. Such malignity and 
cowardice would invoke the interference of 
civilized Europe." He protested against the 
arbitrary measures adopted by the national 
government, such as, in the opinion of the au- 
thorities, the exigencies of the struggle ren- 
dered imperative. Yet, with emphasis increas- 
ing as the canvass advanced, he proclaimed the 
duty of maintaining the Union and carrying on 
the war to that end ; while General Wadsworth 
was regarded as favoring the radical policy 
which very soon the government was com- 
pelled to adopt. 



Tn% WAR FOR THE UNION. 661 

Recruiting flagged in the autumn of 1862, 
and a draft was ordered on the eve of the elec- 
tion. It contributed to the political change 
which made Mr. Seymour governor, and a con- 
tinuance of the conscription imposed on him 
his most difficidt duties. He insisted that the 
State had not received proper credit for the 
men that it had sent into the field, and he 
intimated that undue quotas were assigned to 
democratic districts. The drawings were sev- 
eral times postponed for examination of such 
claims, but were begun July 11, 1863, in the 
ninth coiigressional district, New York city, 
and after a day's progress closed quietly. 

The next day was Sunday, and it was em- 
ployed for stirring up the turbulent elements 
and organizing violence. The city had before 
shown that it contained the elements out of 
which mobs arise. In 1788, when the skele- 
tons used by medical students in the city hos- 
pital and buried in its yard were unearthed, it 
was easy to arouse the passions of the ignorant 
to the point of mobbing all doctors who could 
be reached. The riots of 1831 against the abo- 
litionists, of the stone-cutters in the same year 
against prison labor, the Irish-American brawl 
of 1835, the bread riot of 1837, the disturb- 
ances between the friends of the actors Forrest 
and Macready in 1849, and the collision be- 



6G2 NEW YORK. 

tween the two police forces in 1857 in the 
mayoralty of Fernando Wood, might well sug- 
gest to desperate minds a means of breaking the 
power of the loyal North. Conspirators were 
doubtless busy in New York, and the friction 
and restlessness under a draft alleged to be un- 
just gave them their opportunity. An anony- 
mous handbill was circulated evidently meant to 
incite an insurrection on the fourth of July, but 
the jubilations over the victories at Vicksburg 
and Gettysburg called the loyal multitudes into 
the streets and prevented it. When the "Daily 
News" charged that "the evident design of 
those who have the conscription act in hand in 
this State is to lessen the number of democratic 
votes," and that " one out of about two and a 
half of our citizens are destined to be brought 
over into Messrs. Lincoln & Company's char- 
nel house," all the conditions were prepared for 
an explosion, in which the lawless classes should 
revel, and create a movement drawing to it men 
exasperated and therefore reckless. In various 
parts of the State, gatherings of disaffected 
persons took place, and mutterings were heard 
threatening the transfer of the war to Northern 
soil. The number of the disloyal was small, 
but they were active, and at this time were 
more free of speech than before or after. 

When, July 13, crowds gathered about the 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 663 

provost marshal's office, at the corner of Third 
avenue and Forty-sixth street, New York, they 
included such disloyalists and criminals, with 
many honest citizens who had been forced to 
move with the gathering multitude. The first 
violence was the throwing of a paving stone 
through the window into the office where the 
draft was in progress. The shattering of the 
glass was the signal for other stones thrown 
at the officers, and then for a rush of the mob, 
utterly wrecking the place and the desks and 
papers ; and one of the assistant marshals. Lieu- 
tenant Vanderpoel, was badly beaten. Turpen- 
tine was sprinkled over the floor, and the whole 
building, of which the upper part was used for 
tenements, was burned to the ground. The 
rioters had taken possession of the hydrants, 
and for some time prevented the fire depart- 
ment from using them, and they assaulted and 
maltreated the superintendent of police. 

From this scene of their triumph the rioters 
scattered in their work of rapine and arson. 
During the day and the night they sacked and 
burned houses, and robbed and murdered at 
will. They attacked an armory on Second av- 
enue to seize the weapons which it contained, 
and, with the loss of five or more killed, drove 
out the police, took the arms and burned the 
building. The office of the provost marshal at 



664 NEW YORK. 

Broadway and Twenty-eighth street was sacked, 
and the whole block destroyed by fire. The 
mob, gathermg numbers and fury, swept for- 
w^ard to the lower part of the city, and a de- 
tachment broke up the desks and counters in 
the business office of the " Tribune," but was 
scattered by a dashing movement of the police. 

The colored people were the particular vic- 
tims of the brutal crowds. Men, women, and 
children were beaten and abused, and instances 
occurred where a victim kicked and knocked 
to death was hung to a tree, and a fire kindled 
under the suspended body. The colored half- 
orphan asylum on Fifth avenue w^as entered, 
the nurses and children maltreated and driven 
out, and the edifice burned. Into hotels and 
restaurants, where colored waiters were em- 
ployed, the mob rushed with wrath and fury. 

The police fought gallantly against the mad 
thousands, with varying success, sometimes re- 
pulsed with loss of life or limb, but generally 
victorious in the bloody conflict. A company 
of fifty marines sent to quell the disturbance in 
the ninth district, firing with blank cartridges, 
was set upon by the rioters, and several killed, 
and nearly all the others badly bruised. 

While the draft was the occasion of these 
dreadful scenes, the evidence of plan and lead- 
ership was such as to indicate a broader pur- 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. QQ3 

pose than to check its progress ; the murder of 
the colored people sprang in part also out of 
the mad prejudice of the foreign-born inhab- 
ita,nts. The success of such a mob in the chief 
city of the North would have been a victory 
for Lee's army, then invading Pennsylvania. 
By noon, General John E. Wool, in command 
of the Department of the East, issued a call to 
veteran soldiers in the city to volunteer for the 
suppression of the riots. Governor Seymour, 
having reached the city on Tuesday, issued a 
proclamation declaring that " riotous proceed- 
ings must be put down," and reminding citi- 
zens that the " only opposition to the conscrip- 
tion which can be allowed is an appeal to the 
courts." On the same day he declared New 
York city in a state of insurrection, and gave 
notice " that the means provided by the law of 
this State for the maintenance of law and order 
would be employed to whatever degree may be 
necessary." 

But the mob was still in practical possession 
of the city. It kept on killing colored people 
and destroying property. The stores were 
closed and all business interrupted, and the 
stopping of the running of stages and street 
cars gave a funereal aspect to the town. The 
citizens were, however, defending their homes 
and establishments ; volunteers were organized, 



QQQ NEW YORK. 

and troops were beginning to arrive ; for the 
national government was aroused, and Secre- 
tary Stanton had ordered to the spot the New 
York mihtia regiments in service in Pennsyl- 
vania, sent thither on Lee's invasion. Tuesday 
afternoon the military began to make itself felt. 
Lieutenant Wood, with one hundred and fifty 
regulars from Fort Lafayette, dispersed a crowd 
of two thousand at Grand and Pitt streets, but 
not without killing at least twelve, and wound- 
ing many more. Colonel O'Brien dispersed a 
like body on Third avenue, but, spraining his 
ankle, let his command move on, when the 
crowd turned upon him, and after killing him 
dragged his body for hours along the street, 
and delivered it at his home with gross abuses. 
On Wednesday, large grain elevators at the 
Atlantic Docks were burned by the mob, and 
on First avenue, between Eighteenth and 
Nineteenth streets, a well-organized force con- 
fronted a body of infantry. Ten rounds from 
two howitzers were fired into the crowd, but 
the mob drove the military before it, and only 
after a sharp fight were the rioters overcome. 
In the mean time, the authorities were using 
all means to lead all the people back to reason, 
and among other methods Governor Seymour in 
a brief address to the rioters, appealed for the 
maintenance of the law. Archbishop Hughes 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 667 

called *' the men of New York " to his home by 
a circular, and on Friday addressed three thou- 
sand or more, asking: "Is there not some way 
by which you can stop these proceedings and 
support the laws, of which none have been en- 
acted against you, as Irishmen and Catholics ? " 
On Tluirsday, Mayor Opdyke announced that 
the riots, which had for three days disgraced 
the city, had been in good measure subjected 
to the control of the public authorities. The 
power of the city, the State, and the national 
government had restrained the lawlessness, and 
gradually affairs returned to their regular or- 
der. For some days cavalry patroled the dis- 
tricts where the violence had been most marked, 
and detachments from the militia regiments 
were on duty. In his next message Governor 
Seymour stated that the number of killed and 
wounded was estimated by the police to be at 
least one thousand. The destruction of prop- 
erty was not less than $2,000,000. In Brook- 
lyn, also, riotous manifestations occurred, and 
considerable property was destroyed. In Troy 
the office of the " Times " was ransacked and 
its materials ruined, and in Jamaica the like 
spirit was shown. 

The progress of the draft was interrupted in 
New York and Brooklyn by these mobs, while 
it went forward in the other districts. Gover- 



668 NEW YORK. 

nor Seymour's protest led to a revisal of the en- 
rollment, and President Lincoln ordered mod- 
ifications August 11, announcing his purpose 
" to proceed with the draft, at the same time 
employing infallible means to avoid any great 
wrong," and finally a deduction of 13,000 was 
made from the quota originally required of New 
York. General John A. Dix, then command- 
ing the Department of the East, in a communi- 
cation to Governor Seymour, expressed himself 
** very anxious that there should be perfect har- 
mony of action between the federal government 
and that of New York," and asked his cooper- 
ation to see the laws faithfully enforced while 
the draft was taking place. August 15 Gov- 
ernor Seymour responded that there " could be 
no disturbances of the public peace which would 
not be infractions of the laws of the State, and 
those laws," he said, " would be enforced under 
all circumstances." General Dix, not satisfied 
with local preparations for maintaining order, 
asked the secretary of war for aid, and he sent 
forty-four regiments and batteries to the city 
for that purpose. Governor Seymour, August 
18, issued a proclamation announcing that the 
draft was to be made in New York and Brook- 
lyn, admonishing citizens that " the spirit of 
disloyalty must be put down," and repeating 
his warning against riotous proceedings. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 669 

The results of the draft in the State were 
disappointing. Of 77,862 conscripts examined, 
53,109 were exempted for physical disability or 
other causes, 14,073 paid commutation, 6,619 
furnished substitutes, and 2,557 went person- 
ally into the service. Durino^ the vear 1863, 
however, nearly 50,000 volunteers were raised 
in the State and sent into the field. 

The discussion over the conduct of tlie war 
brought out in New York frank expressions of 
opinion. The arrests of disloyal persons, and 
especially of C. L. Vallandigliam in Ohio for 
utterances against the government and the war, 
prompted public meetings for protest ; and to 
one of these held in Albany, Governor Seymour 
wrote that '' the action of the national admin- 
istration will determine, in the minds of more 
than one-half of the people of the \oj2i\ States, 
whether this war is waged to put down rebel- 
lion at the South, or to destroy free institutions 
at the North." Other gatherings were held, in 
which the people gave unwavering support to 
the national administration, and while admit- 
ting errors and shortcomings, demanded the use 
of every resource and energy to preserve the 
Union. 

The legislature, adverse in politics, thanked 
Governor Seymour for securing a reduction in 
the quota under the draft, and provision was 



670 NEW YORK. 

made by generous bounties to meet the call of 
the national government for additional men, 
and the State fidfilled the requisitions of 1864, 
reaching 204,105 men, and closed the year with 
an excess to its credit of 5,301. 

While all the loyal States were prompt and 
vigorous in care for the soldiers in the field, to 
New York city, and especially to its women, 
belongs the credit of organizing on a hirge 
scale the popular munificence. Several soci- 
eties were established for supplementing the 
work of the government for the relief of the 
sick and wounded, and for the improvement of 
the sanitary condition of the camps and hospi- 
tals. On the suggestion of tliese societies, as 
early as June 9, 1861, was created the United 
States Sanitary Commission, with its leading 
officers in New York, but with members in all 
the loyal States and national in its scope, and 
reaching far and wide in its beneficent opera- 
tions. Liberal as were the gifts of the people 
to this body and to the United States Chris- 
tian Commission, the commonwealth officially 
watched over its soldiers in the field. John F. 
Seymour was appointed general agent, with 
necessary assistants for that purpose, and a 
complete system was adopted under his direc- 
tion. The employment of special surgeons and 
nurses, the distribution of comforts, and per- 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 671 

sonal attention and sympathy, were even more 
helpful than the money expended. 

The election of 1864, so critical in national 
affairs, and yet not doubtful in its main re- 
sult, caused intense excitement in New York. 
If President Lincoln should fail to be reelected 
and the executive authority should thus be laid 
on General McClellan, the belief was general 
that negotiations would take the place of war 
measures, with the result of the separation of 
the States, or the restoration of the relations ex- 
isting in 1860. Apprehensions were expressed 
of both fraud and violence at the polls in New 
York. General Dix issued an order from the 
headquarters of the Department of the East, in 
which he gave warning that rebel agents in 
Canada designed to " colonize at different points 
large numbers of refugees, deserters, and ene- 
mies of the government, with a view to vote 
at the approaching presidential election," and 
afterwards " shooting down peaceable citizens 
and plundering private property," and stringent 
precautions were recommended, while persons 
from the insurgent States were required to reg- 
ister their names, and detectives were set at 
work to watch suspected persons. The State 
authorities pronounced this action an interfer- 
ence with the privileges of citizens ; and a bri- 
gadier general of militia issued an order, which, 



672 NEW YORK, 

while directing the national guard to maintain 
a watch on the Canadian frontier, declared that 
" the national government is charged with no 
duty or lesponsibility whatsoever relating to an 
election to be held in the State of New York." 
General Dix felt it necessar}^ to send national 
forces to the northern frontier; and General 
Peck, from Buffalo, officially announced that 
'' the government was slow to believe that any 
considerable force of the rebels would assemble 
in Canada for the sole purpose of murdering 
and pillaging undefended towns along the fron- 
tier. Such is, however, the fact, and rumor 
says plans have been matured for the commis- 
sion of crimes of a blacker character than has 
marked an}^ former civilization." Governor 
Seymour issued, November 2, a proclamation 
appealing " to all men of all political parties 
to unite with those holding political positions 
in their efforts to allay undue excitement, 
soften the harshness of party prejudices and 
passions, and to avoid all measures tending to 
strife and disorder." Rumors of a conspiracy 
to burn the principal Northern cities on elec- 
tion day, and the experiences of the draft riots, 
led the national government to send General 
Benjamin F. Butler and General Joseph R. 
Hawley with an army of 7,000 men, that were 
kept on steamers ready for service at any point 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 673 

for election day, and the whole of the earlier 
part of that week. Fortunately peace was pre- 
served. 

By an amendment to the constitution adopt- 
ed in March, 1864, soldiers in the field were 
permitted to vote just as if they were at home. 
In order that freedom of choice might be af- 
forded to the men in the field, Governor Sey- 
mour sent out democratic tickets, and Secretary 
of State Chauncey M. Depew provided repub- 
lican tickets. The soldiers, identified before a 
provost marshal, enclosed their ballots, with a 
formal statement of their right to vote, to a cit- 
izen in their respective election districts, and 
the ballots were duly deposited and counted. 
Allegations were made of false personation, and 
of forgery of the signatures of the voters and 
of the provost marshals. The opportunity for 
manipulating the ballots and for undue influ- 
ence over the soldiers was great, and only the 
importance of the choice of the hosts in the 
field and their undoubted right to be counted 
in a matter vital to the government, could ex- 
cuse the adoption of a system which it was so 
difficult to guard. In the canvass for votes 
five assistant State agents were charged with 
conspiring to commit fraud, and were tried be- 
fore a military commission, against the protest 
of Governor Seymour and a committee ap- 



674 NEW YORK. 

pointed by him in the case of two. One of the 
five pleaded guilty, and was recommended to 
the clemency of the court, but he was sent to 
prison, although afterwards discharged ; an- 
other was found guilty, and imprisoned for five 
years. The others were, after long investiga- 
tion, discharged in 1866 as not guilty. 

Order prevailed over the commonwealth on 
election day. When the votes were counted the 
electors favoring President Lincoln were found 
to be chosen by a majority of only 6,749 in a 
total of 730,721, while Reuben E. Fenton was 
elected governor over Horatio Seymour by 
8,293 majority. Mr. Fenton first entered con- 
gress from the Chautauqua district in 1853, 
and was serving his fifth term when called to 
the executive chair of his State. Although not 
an orator, he was diligent and influential as a 
legislator, and had watched with devotion over 
the interests of the soldiers in camp and in the 
field. He was to serve two terms as governor, 
and in 1869 was to be elected to the United 
States Senate. He was for years a power in 
the politics of the State, by reason of his skill 
in organization, his affable address, and shrewd 
knowledge of men. He had somewhat retired 
from political activity before he died suddenly, 
August 25, 1885. 

The discovery of an incendiary plot in New 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 675 

York city, and the firing of a number of hotels 
on the night of November 25, 1864, confirmed 
the belief that the draft riots were part of a con- 
spiracy in behalf of the rebellion. Robert Ken- 
nedy, who was one of the persons arrested, and 
who was hanged, confessed that he was one of 
eight whose plan was to set thirty-two fires in 
retaliation for the acts of Union troops in the 
Shenandoah valley. They were sent by con- 
federates in Canada, and he was escaping to 
his '' command in the Confederacy " when ar- 
rested. The success of the Union armies put 
an end to these plots. 

The services of the officers and men fur- 
nished by New York adorn many of the chap- 
ters of the civil war. If no single person at- 
tained to the first rank, a large number filled 
positions of great importance with eminent 
credit. In zeal and devotion and gallantr}^ 
New York troops were not behind their fellows 
in any danger or any trial. Wherever the sac- 
rifices and triumphs of the national army or 
navy are told or sung, their deeds will be re- 
membered and honored. 

New York was represented during the war, 
in the United States senate, by Ira Harris, 
elected in 1861 to succeed William H. Seward, 
and Edwin D. Morgan, elected in 186B to suc- 
ceed Preston King. The new senators were 



676 NEW YORK. 

prudent and patriotic, and represented the loyal 
sentiments of tbeii* constituents. In tlie house 
of representatives the delegation contained 
many members of ability and influence. Be- 
sides those already in service, Charles H. Van 
Wyck, Roscoe Conkling, and Charles B. Sedg- 
wick entered in 1859; William A. Wheeler, 
Theodore M. Pomeroy, and Erastus Corning in 
1861; Fernando W^ood (a member in 1841), 
James Brooks (a member from 1849 to 1853), 
John V. L. Pruyn, John A. Griswold, Freeman 
Clarke, and Francis Kernan in 1863 ; Henry J. 
Raymond in 1865 ; and colleagues sat with 
them hardly less noteworthy as political lead- 
ers and as legislators. 

Before the war closed. New York sent into 
the field 448,850 men, for periods varying from 
three months to three years, and was credited 
with 18,197 men who paid commutation, or a 
total of 467,047, according to the records of the 
war department. The State authorities claimed 
in addition 6,000 recruits to the regular army 
more than were allowed in the accounts of the 
war department, besides 16,213 militia who 
served thirty daj's, and for whom no credit 
was given, as none was given for persons ap- 
pointed to positions in the regular army and 
on volunteer staff corps. These claims would 
raise the number of men to 490,000. The in- 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 677 

vestigation and allowance by the national gov- 
ernment were closed by the peace. On the 
credits granted by the war department, the 
adjustment of time makes 1,148,604 years of 
service, or the equivalent of 382,868 men for 
three years. At the end of 1865, only seven 
regiments of infantry and two of cavalry re- 
mained in the service. 

The strain on the commonwealth was such 
that the census taken in June, 1865, showed a 
decrease in population of 48,958 as compared 
with 1860. The amount of bounties paid by 
the State, counties, and towns, as stated in the 
official reports of the war department, was 
$86,629,228, — a munificence without parallel 
in human annals. At the same time, individ- 
ual gifts and benefactions flowed with un- 
stinted profusion. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH OF SELF-GOVERN- 
MENT. 

1866-1875. 

The suppression of the rebellion dismissed 
to civil life the soldiers of the Union. Among 
these, in larger measure than elsewhere, there 
were in New York men of Irish birth and Irish 
blood. They organized in 1866 a movement 
for the invasion of Canada. They shipped 
arms to Eastport, Maine, and to Rouse's Point, 
perhaps for strategic purposes, where custom- 
house officers seized upon them. A force of 
from 1,200 to 1,500 men crossed the Niagara 
River June 1, seized Fort Erie, and, in a stub- 
born fight with Canadian troops sent against 
them, held the field at Ridgeway. The en- 
suing night the whole force was withdrawn. 
Two prisoners taken were sentenced to death, 
but saved by the friendly offices of the United 
States government. The movement was ap- 
proved by only a part of the Fenian leaders in 
the State, and their disagreements hastened its 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 679 

disastrous termination. For a while the ex- 
citement on tlie northern frontiers was intense, 
hopeless, and ill-advised, as the invasion was re- 
garded from the outset. 

The people of New York gladly returned to 
the tasks of peace. Projects were presented 
for the leno-thenino^ of the locks on the Erie 
Canal, and for deepening its channel, and other 
plans were carried out for extending the facil- 
ities of transportation. The State tax for the 
support of common schools was increased from 
three fourths of a mill to a mill and one fourth 
on the dollar of assessed valuation. Governor 
Fenton was reelected in 1866, but in 1868 the 
power of the State passed into the hands of the 
democrats. In the democratic national conven- 
tion held that year Horatio Seymour presided, 
and favored the nomination for president of Sal- 
mon P. Chase, who, as a member of President 
Lincoln's cabinet, would not be subject to oppo- 
sition for failure to give loyal support to the 
government during the war. The convention, 
however, insisted on making Mr. Seymour its 
candidate, and in the w^hivl of excitement he 
accepted the nomination. The canvass was ac- 
tive, and turned, as Mr. Seymour had foreseen, 
largely on the relations of parties and persons 
to the war for the Union, and from these the 
recent services of General Grant, the republi- 



680 NEW YORK. 

can candidate, enabled him to derive irresist- 
ible strength. Mr. Seymour threw all his en- 
ergy and eloquence into a canvass which was 
hopeless from the outset ; and while New York 
gave him its support, he received all told only 
80 votes in the electoral college to 214 for 
Grant. The popular majority in the State for 
Mr. Seymour was 10,000, while John T. Hoff- 
man, democrat, for governor received 27,946. 

Mr. Seymour, who was never afterward a 
candidate for public office, although he ap- 
peared on the platform and in the press as the 
advocate of his part}^ devoted himself in larger 
measure to two departments in which he had 
already performed efficient labor. He became 
the zealous champion of the Erie Canal, and de- 
voted much time and effort to protect and pro- 
mote its interests, and to the day of his death 
exhibited in its behalf the same enthusiasm 
that gave him distinction more than forty years 
before. To the topography and history of the 
commonwealth he gave study; and in many 
occasional addresses, and hardly less in conver- 
sation with the many visitors who thronged to 
his home in Deerfield, he dilated on the impe- 
rial significance of the natural features of the 
domain, and on the distinct and strongly marked 
currents of the events which formed the Empire 
State. When he died, February 12, 1886, he 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 681 

was lamented, even more than as a politician, 
as an orator of signal charms and power, as a 
citizen beloved in private life, and as a New 
Yorker wlio loved his State and delighted to 
praise its beauties and to eulogize its greatness. 
The excess of the majority cast for Mr. Hoff- 
man for governor over that cast for Mr. Sey- 
mour for president, and especially the majorities 
returned in New York cit}^, prompted charges 
and inquiries concerning a new and dangerous 
power that ruled in elections and in municipal 
affairs. The government of the metropolis and 
of all large cities is a problem including at best 
many elements of radical difficulty. The vast 
expenditure and large force of officers, the in- 
attention of the citizens best qualified to rule, 
the conflicting interests, the numerous idle and 
vicious persons ready to serve any master, and 
the readiness to use municipal appropriations 
and offices for political purposes, afford a tempt- 
ing field to ambition and to greed. Appeal was 
made to the legislature to intervene to secure 
order and economy and good government, and 
statutes were passed for that purpose, which 
were seized upon by the rings as efficient in- 
struments for their designs. Many thoughtful 
citizens favored the attempt by non-partisan 
bodies to diminish the evils fiom which New 
York city and county suffered from partisan 
rule. 



682 NEW YORK. 

The first of these was the board of super- 
visors, divided in nunibers equally between the 
two great parties. In 1857, by act of the legis- 
lature devised by the rings, each voter was al- 
lowed to put only six names on his ballot, while 
twelve supervisors were chosen, and thus a 
nomination by either party was equivalent to 
an election, and the term of the members was 
lengthened to six years. The politicians who 
managed this board sought added power through 
the legislature, and soon had municipal affairs 
at their mercy. Whatever were the irregulari- 
ties at the polls in 1868, the despotism in the 
city acquired new scope and dominion by the 
legislation of the next session. The master 
spirit was William M. Tweed, a chair-maker, of 
little education, but with a liberal and social 
air, and a belief in Walpole's rule that every 
man has his price, which he was willing to pay. 
He was member of congress in 1853, but found 
local politics more profitable and more easily 
managed than national matters. He was a 
supervisor from 1857 as long as it suited his 
purpose, and was four times chosen president of 
the board. As deputy street commissioner in 
1863 he added vast sums to the expenditures 
of the department, and in 1867 he had himself 
elected State senator, to direct personally the 
legislation of his monstrous schemes. He was 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 688 

virtually in control of all the departments of 
the municipal government, and readily secured 
certificates that the people desired the measures 
for which he asked. Tammany Hall chose him 
for its chief sachem. He gave or refused nom- 
inations not only in the city, but in the State. 
He put his creatures on the bench of the courts 
in the metropolis, he advanced or crushed polit- 
ical aspirants, and from the taxpayers he drew 
plunder equal to the revenues of an empire. 

In 1868 a new court-house was ordered, with 
the limit of cost placed at §250,000. It was 
used as the cover for robberies exceeding 'f 10,- 
000,000, which the contractors drew, and of 
their drafts they were compelled to pay from 
fifteen per cent, to sixty-five per cent., and later 
as much as eighty-five per cent., to Tweed and 
his allies. The bills were audited by Watson, 
one of his tools, and were paid by another in- 
strument. Greed grew upon the plunderers ; 
and in 1870, on the plea that the citizens de- 
manded more concentrated responsibility, they 
secured a new charter, conferring practical con- 
trol on the mayor, the comptroller, the commis- 
sioner of parks, and the commissioner of public 
works. These were A. Oakey Hall, Richard B. 
Connolly, Peter B. Sweeney, and William M. 
Tweed, their real dictator, and they constituted 
a board of audit with control over all appropri- 



684 NEW YORK. 

ations and with unlimited discretion to borrow 
money. Fraudulent bills for $6,000,000 were 
allowed at the only meeting this board ever 
held, for its powers were at once delegated to 
the auditor, who acted for Tweed. 

With such resources the power of the ring 
was for the moment absolute. In 1870 it gave 
John T. Hoffman, for reelection as governor, 
62,277 majority in the city, and 33,116 in the 
State. It reached out for more complete mas- 
tery by purchase of senators and assemblymen. 
It gave sinecures on the municipal rolls to its 
creatures in the country as well as in the sev- 
eral wards ; and while it imposed tolls on every- 
thing on which it was called to act, it exhibited 
a princely liberality to those who served it in 
ofi&cial station or in controlling legislation. 

This despotism kept in the auditor's office in 
New York a record of its robberies, and of the 
division of its plunder, for it had reduced its 
business to a system and reckoned on a long 
lease of power. Under the heading of " county 
liabilities," Watson put down the shares of each 
of the robbers as carefully as if the proceedings 
were as regular and commendable as equity 
could dictate. 

This audacity of crime, the imperial airs of 
Tweed and his immediate colleagues, and the 
assumptions of Tammany Hall in State and 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 685 

national politics, invited scrutiny and led to ex- 
posure. The long patient taxpayers were stung 
by their burdens; the citizens grew weary of 
the rule of such coarse and brutal masters. 
Claims for credit for organizing the exposure 
and the resistance are put forth by press and 
politicians. The marvel is that a great city 
should suffer such crimes to go on before its 
eyes ; should allow its expenditures and its 
debt to run up by the scores of millions ; 
should continue to accept such persons as its 
representatives and its rulers ; should tolerate 
the display of their pleasures and expenditures, 
of their impudent dictation and audacious de- 
fiance of courts and statutes. The end came 
at last. Patience endured until scores of mil- 
lions were stolen, and the robbers had in- 
trenched themselves in position. 

The accident which always befalls criminals 
started the slow steps of justice. A clerk in the 
comptroller's office exposed the frauds, and the 
" Times " was glad to print the exposure. The 
aldermen and supervisors challenged investi- 
gation ; a committee of citizens responded to 
the challenge, and declared that " the condition 
of the city finances had served to destroy all 
confidence in the management of the present 
officials." September 4, 1871, an indignation 
meeting was held in Cooper Institute to con- 



686 NEW YORK. 

sider the frauds. The speeches and resolutions 
demanded the restoration of the stolen money, 
and the reformation of the city government. 
A committee of seventy, with Henry G. Steb- 
bins as chairman, was appointed to conduct in- 
vestigations and prosecutions, and devise neces- 
sary changes in the statutes. Charles O' Conor 
was deputed to act in behalf of the attorney 
general. Suits were brought against the comp- 
troller, Connolly, who resigned, and in default 
of bail for $500,000 he lay in jail for some 
weeks and then after bail went to Europe. 
Tweed was also arrested and promptly gave 
bail in $1,000,000, soon afterward resigning his 
post at the head of public works. Sweeney re- 
signed and fled. Mayor Hall was put on trial, 
and by the death of a juryman, and then by 
disagreement of the jury, escaped punishment. 
After many delays Tweed was twice tried in 
1873. On the first trial the jury disagreed ; on 
the second he was found guilty on fifty-one 
counts, and was sentenced to a heavy fine and 
twelve years' imprisonment on Blackwell's Is- 
land, but the court of appeals pronounced his 
sentence, which was cumulative, to be illegal. 
He was discharged in 1875, but was at once 
rearrested, and held in default of bail on a 
criminal charge, and also in a civil suit for re- 
covery of 16,537,117. On his way from Lud- 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 687 

low Street jail to his house he escaped, and 
was carried awa}^ in a yacht by confederates. 
Captured in 1876 in Vigo, Spain, he was re- 
turned to Blackwell's Island. In the civil suit 
a verdict was obtained for the full amount, but 
only a small part was ever collected. The great 
culprit died in prison April 12, 1878. 

The legislature elected in 1871 ordered the 
impeachment of two judges of the supreme 
court, George G. Barnard and Albert Cardozo, 
and of John H. McCunn, judge of the supe- 
rior court of the city, for corrupt conduct in 
their judicial capacity. The offenses extended 
far beyond the sphere of Tweed's operations, 
but indicated like greed and disregard of hon- 
orable obligations. Judge Barnard was con- 
victed and removed from office ; Judge Cardozo 
resigned to escape trial ; Judge McCunn aban- 
doned his defense, but was removed from the 
bench and soon after died, crushed by the dis- 
grace. 

The committee of seventy submitted a new 
charter for New York, designed to secure better 
government and to prevent frauds ; and it was 
passed by the legislature, but vetoed by Gov- 
ernor Hoffman, as was also another project de- 
vised for the same purpose. Some other acts 
aiming to protect the metropolis and its tax- 
payers became laws. The problem of municipal 



688 NEW YORK. 

government has in subsequent years commanded 
much consideration, and charges of peculation 
and conspiracy have been frequent against per- 
sons holding official position, and in 1886 two 
aldermen were sent to state prison for corrup- 
tion relative to the franchise of a street rail- 
road in Broadway. The prizes in the city are 
so many and so great, and the neglect by citi- 
zens of their public duties is so general, that 
the men who make local politics a business are 
able to maintain themselves in power and to 
amass wealth, under any system yet proposed. 
An incident occurred July 12, 1871, illustrat- 
ing the extent of foreign feeling, as well as 
foreign population, in New York. The Irish 
Orangemen proposed to celebrate on that day 
the battle of the Boyne, and the Irish Catholics 
took offense at the parade which was announced. 
Threats of violence induced the police to forbid 
the parade, but at Governor Hoffman's request 
it was permitted. The national guard as well 
as the police was invoked to protect the proces- 
sion, but an assault was made, which was re- 
pulsed at the cost of several lives lost and sev- 
eral persons wounded. The collision was such 
as might have taken place in Dublin or Belfast; 
the rarity of such incidents, rather than their 
occurrence, is notable, for by the census of 1875 
New York city contained 199,084 persons of 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 689 

Irish birth, and as immigrants most of them of 
mature years, and that number is greater than 
was the total population of Belfast, or any other 
city in Ireland except Dublin, and less than 
one-fifth below the census of that ancient Irish 
capital. 

While the movement against the Tweed des- 
potism was advancing, New York was brought 
again into national politics by the selection of 
one of its citizens as a candidate for president. 
Criticisms on the administration of President 
Grant caused in the republican party serious 
divisions, which in this State at one time threat- 
ened to carry away not only many leaders but 
a large body of electors. Movements began 
early either to prevent the renomination of 
General Grant, or, failing in that, to secure the 
election of an opposing candidate not identified 
with the democratic party. A national con- 
vention of the liberal party held in Cleveland 
in May, 1872, selected Horace Greeley as such 
a candidate, and in the subsequent July the 
democrats in national convention adopted the 
nomination. The result at the polls was over- 
whelmingly disappointing to the supporters of 
Mr. Greeley. In New York as elsewhere, the 
majority of the voters were unwilling to take 
the risks of a radical chauGje in the national 
administration. The State gave Grant 53,450 



690 NEW YORK. 

more votes than to Greeley, while in the elec- 
toral college Grant received 300 and all others 
only ^Q, Before that college met, Mr. Greeley, 
broken in mind as well as body, had gone to 
his grave, adding tragedy to the close of the 
canvass. 

Mr. Greeley is altogether a unique figure in 
our politics. Born in Vermont in 1811, he 
came to New York city in 1831 as a printer. 
He was soon a partner in starting the " Morn- 
ing Post," the first penny paper in the world, 
and it led him to bankruptcy. From various 
newspaper work he earned a livelihood, until in 
1841 he founded the New York " Tribune," to 
which he gave his life, with incidental writing 
of books on agriculture, on political economy, 
and the history of " The American Conflict." 
He served one term in congress, and was a 
member of the constitutional convention of 
1867 ; he had an ambition for other positions 
and for that of governor of the State, which, 
however, his party unwisely refused him. No 
man wrote more forcibly than he in favor of 
the tariff, against the extension of slavery, for 
the maintenance of the Union. Quaint in ap- 
pearance and manners, and lacking somewhat 
in worldly wisdom, he was honest beyond doubt, 
and brave to the last degree. His honesty and 
his independence stood in the way of the party 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 691 

managers, and there was sometimes an aggra- 
vation about the self-assertion of the man, con- 
scious of his genius, which was the secret of not 
a few personal estrangements. He was in pub- 
lic affairs naturally a censor, and thus he was 
strongest in opposition. He was free in his 
criticism of Mr. Lincoln, and he enlisted vigor- 
ously in the exposure of the abuses, incident to 
an immense war and to vast expenditures, which 
occurred under President Grant, while he had 
never taken kindly to the choice of military 
chiefs for president. Intense in his hostility to 
slaver}^ he had tried to avoid the war, and in 
1864 he was ready to have the government pay 
for the slaves to secure peace. His readiness 
in signing the bail bond of Jefferson Davis, 
after the capture of the rebel chief, was charac- 
teristic of him. His selection by the liberal 
convention as its candidate was natural ; his 
nomination by the democrats was a declaration 
that they were willing to support the most pro- 
nounced opponent of all their principles, for a 
generation their most formidable antagonist be- 
fore the people, on the single hope of securing 
a change in the national administration. What- 
ever error Mr. Greeley committed in supposing 
that he could impress his personality on the 
party that he had opposed so long, and could 
lead into alliance with it a sufficient number 



692 NEW YORK. 

of his former followers to control the election, 
was forgiven in the sad circumstances that at- 
tended his death, November 29, 1872. 

In 1872 General John A. Dix was elected 
governor by 53,451 majority over Francis Ker- 
nan. He was a soldier, a scholar, and a states- 
man. Born in New Hampshire' in 1798, he 
entered the army at an early age, and was a cap- 
tain when he resigned and studied law. Making 
his home in Cooperstown, he was elected secre- 
tary of state in 1833, and in that office he ex- 
hibited excellent administrative abilities, and 
especially advanced the interests of the common 
schools. Chosen to the United States senate in 
1845, he was faithful and far-sighted in the per- 
formance of his duties, while he took the side 
of liberty in the contests which were arising. 
Sent as minister to France, he was called, when 
Mr. Buchanan's cabinet broke up, December 
10, 1860, to the difficult position of secretary of 
the treasury, and electrified the country by an 
order to the lieutenant of a revenue cutter at 
New Orleans : " If any man attempts to haul 
down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." 
Appointed a major general of volunteers in 
May, 1861, he was entrusted with important 
duties in the field, and in positions calling for 
discretion and courage, as in New York during 
the riots. He had the gifts to win reputation 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 693 

as an author, and in business he administered 
large affairs with success. As governor he de- 
serves to rank with the best trained and most 
competent of the distinguished men who have 
occupied the executive chair. He met with con- 
siderable censure for vetoing in 1873 a bill for 
allowing towns to vote for the prohibition of 
the sale of liquors, because he held that, while 
the principle of " local option " was correct, a 
distinction should be made, as the act did not, 
between ardent spirits and the lighter bever- 
ages. He cast the whole weight of his office in 
favor of the movement for reform in municipal. 
State, and national politics, and was conscien- 
tious and upright in all his acts. Renominated 
in 1874, he failed to secure the hearty support 
of certain managers of his party, but carried 
with him into private life the esteem and re- 
spect of all parties, and in his death, April 21, 
1879, the commonwealth lost one of its most 
brilliant and versatile and honored citizens. 

The successful candidate for governor in 1874 
was Samuel J. Tilden, who, after the crimes 
of Tweed and his partners were exposed, had 
enlisted in their punishment. In his first mes- 
sage he called attention to the heavy expen- 
ditures for repairs on the canals, and recom- 
mended retrenchment. Objection had often 
been urged to the system of repairs by contract, 



694 NEW YORK. 

and to the lavish appropriations made in con- 
nection with them. A canal convention in 
1868 had demanded the abolition of the con- 
tracting board, the abrogation of all contracts 
for repairs, and the prosecution of all persons 
who had fraudulently obtained money on such 
contracts. A committee appointed by the legis- 
lature of 1867 followed up if it did not prompt 
these recommendations, and a canal commis- 
sioner was put on trial under impeachment for 
crimes relative to fraudulent contracts and pay- 
ments, but he was acquitted. The report of 
the legislative committee, however, showed the 
schemes by which contractors combined to con- 
trol prices of work, and to secure appropriations 
which gave the sanction of law to their opera- 
tions. Governor Tilden took up and extended 
the investigation, which he presented in a spe- 
cial message in March, 1875, and asked for a 
commission to prosecute further inquiries with 
a view to legal proceedings. Exposures were 
made by the reports of the commission, and the 
" canal ring " was vigorously denounced. By 
" unbalanced bids " on ten contracts, i 1,560,769 
was collected, by increase in quantities, where 
the apparent work offered amounted, at the 
same rate, to only tf 424,735. The annual ex- 
penditures, by a constitutional amendment 
adopted in 1874, had been limited to the net 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 695 

receipts from the canals in the previous year, 
and the resources for fraud were thus effectually 
crippled. Some new statutes were passed to 
protect the State. Governor Dix had com- 
menced a suit against a firm of contractors for 
recovery of excess of payments ; this was con- 
tinued, and another was begun, but the State 
was beaten in both cases. A canal commis- 
sioner, an appraiser, some minor officers on the 
canals, and three citizens were arrested, but the 
courts were not able to convict them. The 
canal auditor was suspended for speculation in 
canal certificates. 

Public sentiment was aroused against evil- 
doing in official station. Belief was accorded 
to charges which on examination were not sus- 
tained. The hue and cry wrought in some 
cases personal wrong, and the ostensible cham- 
pions of reform were not always the men of 
strictest conscience or cleanest hands. The 
general effect of the process of purification, 
which extended to national as well as to muni- 
cipal and State affairs, was to assert a more 
rigid accountability in office, and a more severe 
morality in public expenditures. In the midst 
of some cant, there was the blunt sense of the 
people pronouncing the use of their money, 
under whatever name, for political purposes or 
to advance personal ends, sheer robbery, and 



696 NEW YORK, 

many processes theretofore treated as legitimate 
were in these years brought to an end. 

Opportunities for fraud exist under any sys- 
tem in cities, where large sums are expended, 
and corrupt men combine while good citizens 
are unwary. Special acts in the legislature 
lead to like temptations and like dangers. 
Tweed fortified himself, in his schemes of rob- 
bery, behind statutes devised for his purposes, 
and in the same period railroad corporations 
sought benefits of doubtful propriety, or even of 
scandalous character, at the hands of the legis- 
lature. Charges of direct bribery were made 
in the assembly, the author in one case being 
expelled for failure to produce testimony re- 
garded as adequate, while in another case the 
proof was so direct as to brand the recipient of 
^100,000 with disgrace and ruin. When privi- 
leges of great pecuniary value are sought from 
the legislature, without due regard for the in- 
terests of the people, the promoters are tempted 
to offer money for that which will bring wealth 
to them, and legislators are sometimes found 
prone to grasp for a share of that which they 
treat as spoils upon the community. 

The odium attached to corrupt legislators 
and to those who speculate on public contracts 
and offices, and use the money of the taxpayers 
to advance partisan interests, is not yet suffi- 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 697 

cient always to deter men aspiring to be leaders 
in the State and nation, from seeking wealth 
and power by such means. As the frequency 
of exposure and of overthrow increases, some 
check to crimes of this class may be expected. 
But under a government by the people, the only 
security for honesty and efficiency and wise ad- 
ministration must be in the vigilance and zeal 
and determination of the citizens themselves. 
No statutes can make up for lack on their part. 
Their neglect presents the opportunity and 
therefore the incitement to frauds in municipal 
affairs, and to corruption in legislation. The 
ease with which fortunes are amassed, and the 
readiness with which money is spent in New 
York, and in less degree in other cities, lead the 
taxpayers to endure robbery and fraud, rather 
than perform the constant and close labor es- 
sential to secure good government. Temporary 
uprisings, like that which sent Tweed to prison 
to die, prove that whenever they choose to do 
so, the people of even our greatest city can 
administer their affairs on the highest level of 
honesty and efficiency. 

The standard of morality and honor for legis- 
lators is higher now than in the earlier clays, 
but it needs to be enforced with increasing vigor. 
The immense sums involved in such matters as 
the reorganization of the Erie Railroad, in fran- 



698 NEW YORK. 

chises in New York city, in contracts on the 
Erie Canal during their sway, and in other trans- 
actions incident to the vast affairs of six million 
people, multiply manifold the occasions for 
possible scandals. The steady efforts to sub- 
stitute general laws for special acts, rights open 
to all citizens for privileges bestowed on favor- 
ites, have been the expression of the sense and 
conscience of the people. The rebukes admin- 
istered to politicians who used their places as 
legislators or their control of offices, to raise 
funds for partisan purposes and to advance 
their own ambitions, have been nowhere more 
pronounced than in New York. Afar off, pos- 
sibly, but yet as the ideal of the legislator, the 
duty is proclaimed to separate personal interest 
in every form from public affairs, and to decide 
every question of law and every task of office 
by the bearing of that single question and that 
individual task on the welfare of the com- 
munity. 

The exposures of combinations in New York 
city in 1886 to exchange offices for contracts, 
and to put patronage into pawn to party man- 
agers, have led not only to investigations but 
to the prompt indictment of the accused as 
common criminals. When such conspiracies can 
be treated like burglary or highway robbery, 
the effect must be marked on the conduct of 



WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH. 699 

officials and political managers. Bargaining for 
control of offices may be delicate in phrase or 
bold in form ; if under any guise it can be held 
to be crime punishable by the courts, ambitious 
men, however greedy, will be careful to keep out 
of the prisoners' dock. Public sentiment and 
popular vigilance have done much to threaten 
if not to secure such results even in the metro- 
polis. 

The New York delegation in the United 
States senate in this decade consisted of Roscoe 
Conkling, elected in 1867 and again in 1873 
and 1879, and Francis Kernan, chosen for a 
single term in 1875. Among the representa- 
tives, Henry W. Slocum, Samuel S. Cox, Clark- 
son N. Potter, Noah Davis, Jr., Robert B. 
Roosevelt, Smith Ely, Jr., Clinton L. Merriam, 
Stewart L. Woodford, H. Boardman Smith, 
Clarkson N. Potter, and Walter L. Sessions 
were among the most active and influential, 
of those who entered congress at this period. 
Among their colleagues were also members 
who in private and public life have conferred 
honor on the commonwealth. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

IN THE nation's SECOND CENTUBY. 

1876-1885. 

When he was governor of New York, Mr. 
Tilden asserted himself with vigor as head of 
the democratic party in the State. After the 
exposure of Tweed he enlisted zealously in his 
overthrow and a change of control in the gov- 
ernment of New York city, and taking up in- 
vestigations that had let light upon canal con- 
tracts, he urged war on the " canal ring," and 
for both policies he claimed and received credit 
for the labors of others as well as for his own. 
The people everywhere were intent on reform 
in legislation and administration, and he placed 
himself forward as the aggressive champion of 
reform. The State democratic convention in 
1876 passed a resolution that " the nomination 
of Samuel J. Tilden to the office of president 
would secure the vote of New York," and place 
the canvass on the ground of *' national regen- 
eration and reform." Strong and bitter opposi- 
tion was made to him before the national con- 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. 701 

ventioii by the leaders of Tammany Hall, but 
the evil reputation of Tweed and his deeds was 
used to turn their attitude into a source of 
strength to Mr. Tilden, who received 404^ votes 
on the first ballot (492 being requisite to a 
choice), and 535 on the second ballot. He was 
presented as the democratic candidate for presi- 
dent less on the party platform than on his own 
record. He took personal charge of the canvass 
with a diligence and attention to details ex- 
ceeding even the adroitness and vigilance of 
Aaron Burr or Martin Van Buren. With a 
mass of political literature and of letters in fac- 
simile, and an organization unrivaled in its sys- 
tem and extent, he appealed to the electors, not 
on the old lines of his party, but almost exclu- 
sively on the pledge of reform. 

In the republican party in the State there 
was something of the same personal leadership. 
Roscoe Conkling, one of the representatives of 
the State in the national senate, had won dis- 
tinction for his support of the administration of 
President Grant, as well as for his qualities as 
a legislator and his force and eloquence as a 
political orator, and his friends urged that his 
own State should present his name as a candi- 
date for president. Resolutions were passed 
by the State convention to that effect, and prom- 
ising in case of his nomination the thirty-five 



702 NEW YORK. 

electoral votes of New York for the republican 
ticket. An amendment declaring that " the 
nomination should be the result of the untram- 
meled deliberation of the national convention," 
received 113 yeas to 250 nays from the dele- 
gates assembled at Utica, and the opposition 
was carried to the national convention. There 
Mr. Conk ling received ninety-nine votes on the 
first ballot, gradually running down to eighty- 
one on the sixth ballot, when his name was 
withdrawn. Three votes were cast on several 
ballots for president for William A. Wheeler, 
also of New York, and he was promptly selected 
for vice-president on the ticket with Rutherford 
B. Hayes. New York gave its electoral votes 
to Mr. Tilden by a majority of 32,742. 

The story of the contest over the choice of 
president belongs to national history rather 
than to that of a single commonwealth. In the 
dispute over Louisiana, Florida, and South 
Carolina, Mr. Tilden exhibited the secrecy, the 
diligence, and the persistence which had given 
him success in the reorganization of railroad 
corporations, and his direction of the scrutiny 
of returns left no point unchallenged. With 
the eye of a detective and the acumen of a spe- 
cial pleader, he sought out every flaw on the 
side of his adversaries, and he held to his own 
claims with a tenacity which never relaxed. 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. 703 

He never formally advised or approved of the 
electoral commission, although in conference 
with some friends he omitted to object to the 
bill establishing it, and left them to believe 
that it had his approval. His position on the 
subject has thus been matter of discussion 
among his intimate followers. He refused to 
take the counsel of those who called for protest 
by arms or in the courts, but he never recog- 
nized Mr. Hayes as president, notwithstanding 
the choice of the electors, the declaration of the 
returns, and the formal action of congress and 
the electoral commission. This contest gave to 
Mr. Tilden a peculiar position before the coun- 
try. About him was thrown some of the gla- 
mour with which devoted followers have in 
other lands enwrapped pretenders to the chief 
executive position, and visitors at his home in 
Gramerc}'' Park or at Grey stone sought him for 
counsel and influence, and with sincerity and 
affection gave him the title of *' sage." He was 
never again a candidate for office. His name 
was presented for president in 1880, but he 
wrote a letter of declination, and the suggestion 
and the declination were repeated in 1884. 

His career presents in larger measure than 
in most cases the features of his individual 
character. He sat in the constitutional con- 
ventions of 1846 and 1867, and was a member 



'^04 JfEJfr Y0JlJ^^ 



of assembly in 1846 and 1872. Indefatigable 
and successful as a lawyer in the class of cases 
to which he devoted himself, he was studious 
also in politics of details rather than of broad 
principles. A disciple of Van Buren and still 
more of Silas Wright, especially in stringent 
management of financial affairs, he adhered to 
the democratic party, and within it overthrew 
rivals, some of them chiefs in corruption, and 
asserted his individuality over the organization 
and its platform. Without the eloquence or 
popular graces of Horatio Seymour, a man of 
the closet rather than of the forum, his mastery 
of the politics of New York was superior to that 
of any other democrat in this generation, per- 
haps greater in its individual grasp and force 
than that of any other man since DeWitt Clin- 
ton flourished in the plenitude of his power 
At his death, Augnst 4, 1886, national and 
htate honors were paid to his services and his 
character, while his bequests for libraries and 
tree reading rooms will perpetuate his memory 
as a public benefactor. 

For governor in 1876 Horatio Seymour was 
nominated on the assurance of friends that he 
would accept the nomination, but he peremp- 
torily declined, and Lucius Robinson was nomi- 
nated and elected by .30,400 majority over Ed- 
win D. Morgan. Mr. Robinson was the first 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. 705 

governor to serve under the term of three years, 
fixed by constitutional amendment adopted by 
vote of the people. 

The inauguration of President Hayes did not 
bring peace in the politics of New York, al- 
though he chose William j\I. Evarts as his sec- 
retary of state. While Mr. Tilden and his 
friends were prosecuting the contest over the 
election, those in the republican party who held 
the organization disapproved of the course of 
the new national administration in its treat- 
ment of the southern States and in the declara- 
tion of its purpose to maintain the competitive 
system for appointments in the civil service. 
The republican State convention in 1877 was 
attended with unusual excitement. The chair- 
man indulged in sharp criticism of the policy of 
the national administration, while the resolu- 
tions adopted were hostile in spirit, and care- 
fully refrained from expressing the usual cour- 
tesies to the president chosen by the party. 
Upon an amendment declaring the title of Mr. 
Hayes " as clear and perfect as that of George 
Washington," and commending " his efforts for 
the permanent purification of the southern sec- 
tion of the Union, and for the correction of the 
evils and abuses in the civil service," the con- 
vention divided 109 to 295. The division ex- 
pressed in less degree any judgment upon the 



706 NEW YORK. 

points of the amendment, than the factional 
lines which started from the choice of the can- 
didate for president and the construction of his 
cabinet. The democrats carried the State in 
1877 on the minor State officers that were 
chosen. 

In 1878 the greenback party, which the pre- 
ceding year had cast only 20,282 votes, was 
able to give its candidate 75,133, and the re- 
publicans secured a plurality of 34,661 for jus- 
tice of the court of appeals, that being the only 
office to be filled on the State ticket. The 
court of appeals, more tlian once called to de- 
cide upon the constitutionalit}^ of laws rigidly 
restricting the sale of intoxicating liquors, sus- 
tained in 1878 the " civil damages act " of 
1873, which makes the landlord liable for dam- 
ages consequent upon the sale of liquors in 
buildings owned by him. The opinion was 
elaborate and full, and insisted on the principle 
that " all property is held subject to the power 
of the State, to regulate or control its use, to 
secure the general safety and the public wel- 
fare." 

The legislature in 1879 met in the new Capi- 
tol, and celebrated the event by addresses. 
The edifice was begun under a limit fixed in 
1867 that the cost should not exceed $1,000,000. 
The official statement to September 30, 1885, 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. T07 

showed expenditures of $17,310,720, while an 
additional sum equal to the original limit will 
yet be required to carry out the plans, and will 
render the capitol the most costly edifice on 
the continent. Discussion over its architec- 
tural merits, and its adaptation to the uses for 
which it was designed, has developed widely 
divergent opinions, while the cost has been pro- 
nounced excessive by many critics as well as 
by public economists. 

In the democratic State convention of 1879, 
a delegation, headed by Augustus Scliell and 
representing Tammany Hall, protested against 
the renomination of Governor Robinson, and 
withdrawing from the hall, organized a sepa- 
rate convention and put John Kelly in nomina- 
tion for governor. The republican candidate 
was Alonzo B. Cornell, who received at the 
polls 418,567 votes, while Lucius Robinson re- 
ceived 375,790, and John Kelly 77,566. 

The politics of the commonwealth continued 
to be as " peculiar " as the statesmen in Wash- 
ington pronounced the operations of New York 
leaders in the early years of the century. Its 
affairs, however, moved on healthfully and with 
general prosperity in social, and business, and 
miscellaneous interests. Time has not yet 
thrown into perspective the incidents and 
events upon which hereafter history will seize 



708 NEW YORK. 

as illustrating the life and progress of this par- 
ticular decade. The activity of industry and 
literature was remarkable. The progress in 
art and architecture and society was broad as 
well as rapid. Inquiry relative to the founda- 
tions of the State, the relations of capital and 
labor, the cure of the evils which attend civili- 
zation, the best methods to secure the elevation 
of the masses, has been radical, sometimes au- 
dacious, and yet on the whole suggestive and 
beneficent. As elsewhere, local disturbances 
have served to show the unrest of many, and 
the desire for some change ; yet the prevalent 
feeling has been one of generous effort to im- 
prove the condition of those who receive the 
least share in the wealth which modern produc- 
tion has so marvelously increased. The con- 
dition of those who labor with their hands has 
improved within the last generation in the limits 
of the day's work, in the comforts purchasable 
by a day's wages, in the facilities for education 
of children and for enjoyment for adults, while 
class distinctions in the State, if not in society, 
have suffered utter annihilation. Whatever 
mollification is possible for our common human- 
ity, has the fairest field and readiest opportu- 
nity in this commonwealth. 

The candidacy of General Grant for election 
a third time to the presidency, led, in 1880, to 



IN THE NATIONS SECOND CENTURY. 709 

discussion and controversy in New York. In 
the republican State convention, the right of 
the several districts was recognized to select 
delegates to the national convention as well as 
to nominate district presidential electors. That 
body, however, instructed the delegates from 
the several districts as well as those at large, 
'-<- to use their most earnest and united efforts to 
secure the nomination " of General Grant. An 
amendment to leave the delegates unpledged 
was lost, — 180 to 217. Before the national con- 
vention assembled, several of the delegates pub- 
licly announced that the principle had been es- 
tablished in the convention of 1876, that each 
delegate possessed the right to vote according 
to his individual preference, although a State 
convention might have imposed instructions. 
Accordingly the New York delegation at Chi- 
cago was divided in its choice for president. 
After the nomination of James A. Garfield, 
Chester A. Arthur was selected for vice-presi- 
dent, and the State gave its electoral vote to 
them. On the inauguration of President Gar- 
field, the controversy which arose over President 
Hayes' cabinet and appointments was renewed 
with aggravated bitterness. Thomas L. James 
was designated as postmaster general, while the 
State was represented in the national senate by 
Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt. When 



* ^^ NEW YORK. 



President Garfield sent to tbe senate the name 
of State Senator William H. Bobertson as col- 
lector of the port of New York, in place of Ed- 
wm A Merritt, nominated for consul general 
to trreat Britain, Vice-President Arthur Post 
waster General James, and the two senators 
joined in a request for the withdrawal of the 
nomination of Senator Robertson ; and wl,en 
tttat request was not complied with, Mr. Con- 
klmg and Mr. Piatt transmitted to Governor 
Cornell, May 14, 1881, their resignation of 
their seats m the senate. Both became can- 
didates before the legislature for reelection, and 
excitement and discussion arose not only in Al- 
bany but in all parts of the State. While the 
controversy was at its height President Garfield 
was shot by the assassin Guiteau. The leds 
lature after forty-eight ballots, extending from 
May 31 to July 17, chose Warner Miller to 
succeed Mr. Piatt, and Elbridge G. Lapham to 
succeed Mr. Conkling. In 1885 William M 
Evarts was elected in place of Mr. Lapham, and 
in 1887 Frank Hiscook to succeed Mr. Miller 

Charles J. Folger, soon after the accession of 
Vice-President Arthur to the presidential chair, 
resigned the position of chief justice of the court 
ot appeals to become secretary of the treasury, 
and ,n September, 1882, was nominated for 
governor of New York. The convention which 



IN THE NATIONS SECOND CENT [TRY. 711 

nominated him was remarkable for its divisions 
and the agitation which followed it. A mem- 
ber of the State committee was represented by 
a substitute who appeared on a proxy after- 
wards shown to be a forgery, and this substitu- 
tion affected the organization of the convention. 
The national administration was charged with 
throwing its influence against the renomination 
of Governor Cornell, and Judge Folger was de- 
nounced as its candidate forced upon an unwill- 
ing convention. The revolt at the polls was un- 
paralleled in the chronicles of the State. The 
eminent services, the high character, the unex- 
ceptionable attitude of Judge Folger as an indi- 
vidual, were acknowledged by many republicans 
who enlisted zealously for his defeat, as a rebuke 
to what they termed the " dictation of the ma- 
chine," and as a censure of the national admin- 
istration. He was defeated by a plurality of 
192,854, and the result had broad effect on the 
current of affairs. Judge Folger continued at 
his post at the head of the treasury, until his 
death, September 4, 1884, but he felt very keenly 
the defeat in his own State. He experienced in 
his own person how little often the popular vote 
turns on the ability or services or character of 
the candidate, and how the drift of parties and 
the course of events may whelm the innocent 
when condemnation is aimed at general abuses 



712 NEW YORK. 

or tendencies. While not ranking with the 
foremost statesmen, Judge Folger won honor- 
able rank in the State senate, of which he Avas 
a member for eight years subsequent to 1861, as 
well as in the constitutional convention of 1867, 
and in a still more eminent degree on the bench 
of the court of appeals, and for a while as its 
chief justice. His record as secretary of the 
treasury was creditable, and his sensitiveness 
to the result of the election expressed the deli- 
cacy of his feelings and his nice sense of honor. 
Paradoxical as it is, the immense majority 
against him taught the people to estimate his 
worth and character at a higher standard than 
before. 

In the democratic State convention in 1882, 
on the first ballot Henry W. Slocum received 
98 votes, Roswell P. Flower 97, and Grover 
Cleveland QQ^ while 125 were divided between 
five other candidates ; and on the third ballot 
Mr. Cleveland was nominated by 211 votes to 
156 for General Slocum and 15 for Mr. Flower. 
The greenback and prohibition parties presented 
candidates, but the disruption of the republi- 
cans gave to Mr. Cleveland his phenomenal 
plurality, and secured for the democrats a ma- 
jority in both branches of the legislature. They 
were also successful in the election of their 
State candidates in 1883. 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. 713 

In 1884 the State had candidates for the 
presidential nomination in each of the great 
parties. Chester A. Arthur sought the delega- 
tion from the State, and a combination was 
made by his friends with those of George F. 
Edmunds, by which delegates at large were 
chosen, while of the district delegates a major- 
ity favored the nomination of James G. Blaine. 
In the national convention Mr. Arthur received 
278 votes on the first ballot, falling to 207 on 
the fourth ballot, when the nomination was 
conferred on Mr. Blaine. 

While opposition was pronounced among 
democrats to the selection of Mr. Cleveland for 
president, the State convention chose delegates 
generally favorable to him, and instructed them 
to vote as a unit, in accordance with the will 
of a majority. The opposition was expressed 
in the national convention, and when the vote 
of New York was announced as a unit for Mr. 
Cleveland, the statement was made that forty- 
nine delegates only favored Mr. Cleveland, 
while twenty-three were divided among other 
candidates. Mr. Cleveland, however, received 
392 votes on the first ballot, and was nominated 
on the second. 

The election in the nation turned on the re- 
sult in New York, where the incidents in the 
canvass were many and peculiar. The prohi- 



714 NEW YORK. 

bitionists were active in behalf of their candi- 
date for president. General Benjamin F. But- 
ler made a tour of the State as the candidate of 
the national greenback labor party. The inde- 
pendents organized in favor of Mr. Cleveland, 
and in some localities some of those who styled 
themselves stalwarts took similar action. Mr. 
Blaine was greeted by great multitudes as he 
passed westward over the New York Central 
Railroad, and eastward, later, over the Erie 
Railroad, and receptions tendered to him at- 
tracted much attention. Just before the close 
of the canvass at a reception by clergymen, in 
New York city. Rev. Dr. Burchard denounced 
the democrats as supporting " Rum, Romanism, 
and Rebellion," and the phrase, it was believed, 
drove many Irish voters from Mr. Blaine. The 
result in the State, and therefore in the nation, 
was for several days in doubt, but the official 
returns showed a majority of 1,077 to 1,149 for 
the Cleveland electors. For the second time a 
citizen of New York was elected president of 
the United States^ 

Mr. Arthur was in ill health when he retired 
from the presidency March 4, 1885. The cir- 
cumstances which attended his accession to the 
executive office were trying, and they were met 
by him in the main with prudence and patriot- 
ism. He disappointed some of the partisans 



IN THE NATION'S SECOND CENTURY. 715 

with wliom he had formerly acted, and disarmed 
the criticism of those who had been his oppo- 
nents. His administration was marked by dig- 
nity and courtesy, while it closed for the time 
the control of his party in the national govern- 
ment. If he did not unite his party in his own 
State, the White House, while he was presi- 
dent, exhibited American society of the type 
of the richest circles of our largest cities. He 
retired with a broken constitution, and when 
he died, November 18, 1886, the judgment ex- 
pressed was in all quarters kindly ; and history, 
without ranking him with the strong masters 
of principles and events, will concede him a 
creditable rank with those who in times of 
peace have sat in the executive chair. 

In 1885, David B. Hill, who as lieutenant 
governor had succeeded to the executive chair 
when Mr. Cleveland entered upon his duties as 
president, was elected governor. Mr. Hill's 
plurality was 11,134 over Ira Davenport, the 
republican candidate. 



CHAPTER XL. 

MASTER IN MANUFACTUEES. 
1880. 

The inhabitants of New York are a busy 
people, and their industry is widely diversified. 
While 377,460 were in 1879 engaged in agri- 
culture, 537,897 were employed in professional 
and personal service, 339,419 in trade and 
transportation, and 629,869 in manufactures and 
mechanical and mining industries. The value 
of the products manufactured in the State in that 
year reached the vast sum of 11,080,696,596. 
Alabama and Georgia report more persons en- 
gaged in agriculture, but in the other occupa- 
tions New York naturally exceeds all the sister 
States. 

The growth of the banks of the State maybe 
expressed in figures, and marks the general pro- 
gress in all material elements. Previous to the 
declaration of the second war with Great Brit- 
ain, June 11, 1812, the authorized capital of 
twenty banks then existing was $19,165,000. 
The number of such institutions became 86 in 



MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 717 

the year 1836, and their capital was $31,300,000, 
their loans $72,500,000, their deposits $19,100,- 
000, and their circulation $21,100,000. Twenty 
years later, the number was 303, and their cap- 
ital $96,400,000, loans $183,900,000, deposits 
$96,900,000, and circulation $34,000,000. The 
increase continued after the establishment of 
national banks, a large part of the State banks 
entering the national system, and in 1876, 36r) 
banks had a capital of $128,100,000, with loans 
of $321,700,000, deposits $294,000,000, and 
circulation of $42,300,000. Ten years later, 
the reports of 1886 show 411 banks with a 
capital of $103,900,000 - a falling off durnig 
the decade, due to taxation and to a diminution 
of the rates of profit, and to the use of accrued 
profits as capital. The loans are much greater, 
amoanting to $469,000,000, while the deposits 
also reach a much higher figure, $488,800,000.1 
While banks of discount are measures of the 
general business, savings institutions indicate 
the thrift and material improvement of the 
working people and small capitalists. The first 

1 In his reports (notably for 1876) as comptroller of the cur- 
rency of the United States, Hon. John Jay Knox, now presi- 
dent of the National Bank of the Republic. New York, pre^ 
sents the banking laws of all the States, and the «tat.st,cs o 
all institutions of this class. To these and to his per ona 
courtesy for the latest figures, the reader is indebted for these 
statistics. 



718 NEW YORK. 

savings bank in the State, chartered in 1819, 
the third in the country, was the outgrowth of 
thoughtful and practical philanthropy, and the 
example was followed, though not at first with 
rapid pace, for in 1839 only twelve like institu- 
tions existed. An addition of thirty was made 
before the close of 1852. By 1863, the number 
was 71, and the maximum, 155, was attained in 
1873. While the number has fallen to 123 in 
1886, the deposits have increased, save only 
during the intervals of panic. The rate of in- 
crease has varied greatly, reaching the highest 
standard in 1871 and 1872, being 137,156,418 
in the latter year, and again mounting up to 
$34,371,156 in 1881. The grand total of de- 
posits in the savings institutions of the State 
was in 1863 $76,538,183, in 1873 $285,286,621, 
and in 1886 $469,622,557. The number of indi- 
vidual depositors is 1,234,241, more than one in 
five of all the inhabitants of the commonwealth 
— a proof of the general prudence and fore- 
thought, typical of the prevalent habits and 
character, and of a varied and remunerative 
production which is the basis of our wealth. 

New York city, as the financial center of the 
continent, performs professional services and 
acts in trade and transportation for the whole 
country in no little degree. The monstrous 
transactions in stocks at the New York Ex- 



MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 719 

Change, amounting in 1882 to 116,307 271 
shares and in 1881 to a vaUie of 18,197,506,403, 
include often dealings from all the States, bo 
also the volume of operations in the Clearmg 
House of that city, reaching in 1886 $33,676,- 
830,000, exceeding even those of London, but 
by reason of difference of methods adjustmg a 
business somewhat less than that of the British 
capital, is continental and not local. But as it 
is greater by two and one-fifth times than the 
clearings of all the other cities of the Union, it 
expresses the concentration of interests and ot 
activities. It is more than eleven times the 
total of our national debt at its maximum. 

The Stock Exchange and the Clearing House, 
like the chief port and the center of distribution 
of the country's commerce, have a special rela- 
tion to the general activity of the common- 
wealth. The sea offers harbors elsewhere, as 
•it Norfolk and Newport News, and efforts have 
been put forth to divert trade to some other 
point. Nature has found here ready and effi- 
cient allies, who have created trade, and estab- 
lished industries, and have built the chie city 
of America, which is still more intimately the 
metropolis of its own State. , , . ^i 

The vast earnings of the railroads of the 
State, which were in 1886 $125,160,289, repre- 
Bent through as well as local business. On 



720 NEW YORK. 

these roads, other than elevated, in 1885, 1,834,- 
580,425 passengers were carried one mile, and 
this movement is equivalent to carrying the 
whole population of the State a mile e very- 
secular day in the year. 

By such facility of communication access to 
markets has been rendered, both easy and cheap, 
and the effect has been felt in all brandies of 
industry. Without rich beds of coal providing 
fuel at hand for large establishments, the com- 
monwealth has multiplied the branches of its 
production, first where water-power was avail- 
able, and as steam was introduced, at points 
where other advantages were secured. In 1880 
steam furnished 51.70 per cent, of all the power 
used, and water 48.30 per cent. The produc- 
tion was therefore due more to the energies of 
the people than to the special advantages given 
by nature. 

The period succeeding the Revolution, and 
next the years of the embargo and non-inter- 
course and the second war with Great Britain, 
were marked by rapid growth in various 
branches of industry. With the building of 
the Erie Canal and the consequent increase of 
population, industry was further extended and 
diversified ; and the construction of railroads 
connecting the markets more closely with the 
food-producing districts, has wrought further in 
the same direction. 



MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 721 

The consequence is, that manufactures are 
confined to no locality, but are scattered over 
all the counties. New York city stands first m 
the country in the value of its annual production 
and probably first in the world. Twelve of the 
hundred cities of the Union most largely en- 
gaged in manufactures, are in this State. Along 
the lakes and the St. Lawrence, and from the 
Niao-ara River along the southern tier, as well 
as in the central counties and the valley of the 
Hudson and in the vicinity of the metropolis, 
the skill and energy of the people are employed 
in shop and mill. In value of annual products 
the commonwealth is first in the aggregate, but 
in the chief industries first only in chemicals, 
in ship-building, in flouring and grist mills, m 
hosiery and knit goods, and in slaughtering and 
packing of beeves. The features of manufac- 
tures in New York are the number of establish- 
ments, which were 42,739 in 1879, and still 
more the wide diversity of production. This 
diversity permits free exchange in the local 
markets, while it prevents the disasters which 
come from exclusive reliance on a single pro- 
duct, and affords occupation for persons of dif- 
ferent capacities, inclinations and acquirements. 
While New York city stands in some respects 
apart from the rural districts, as one of the 
money centers of the world, and by reason of its 



722 NEW YORK. 

devotion to domestic and foreign commerce, it 
is yet occupied in many of the same branches of 
production, and concentrates many of the in- 
dustrial features of the commonwealth. That 
city manufactures annually more men's cloth- 
ing than anything else, exceeding $60,000,000 
worth. Its second industry is slaughtering and 
meat-packing, not including the retail butchers, 
at 129,297,527. Third in value are malt and 
malt liquors, f 25,000,000. Then follow tobacco 
and cigars, exceeding 122,000,000. The vast 
work of its printers and publishers is only 
fourth in rank, at $21, 696, 354, and women's 
clothing is reported at '$18,930,553. Only four 
other manufactures produce over $10,000,000 a 
year, and these are foundries and machine work, 
lard, sugar and molasses, and furniture and up- 
holstering. Other branches in the order of their 
annual values, are boots and shoes, silks, musi- 
cal instruments, grease and tallow, flour and 
grist, shirts, coffee and spices, and 3ewelr3\ 
The wealth of the cit3^'s industries is derived in 
largest measure from multifarious branches, 
serving the uses of the individual and the fam- 
ily, for convenience and for luxury. The ratio 
of values of annual manufactures to population 
is greater in New York city than in New Eng- 
land as a whole, about equal to that in Massa- 
chusetts, but less than Rhode Island, and a trifle 



MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 723 

less than in Philadelphia. Adding commerce 
and professional services, the comparison is in 
all cases in favor of New York city. 

Local conditions direct the industry m sev- 
eral of the rural counties, so that Onondaga is 
noted for its salt, while Oneida, Herkimer, bt 
Lawrence, Delaware, and Cattaraugus send 
most butter and cheese to market from their 
factories. Early enterprise and devotion to a 
particular branch have secured control, so that 
the little county of Fulton sells nearly .|o,000,- 
000 worth a year of gloves and mittens, Rens- 
selaer $6,000,000 of shirts and men's furnisU- 
inc goods, while Saratoga and Jefferson make 
paper a specialty, and Dutchess, woolen hats. 
Westchester in like manner gives ^"ch atten- 
tion to carpets, and Erie produces over *3,000,- 
000 a year in glucose. Cattaraugus leads in 
lumber and in leather, with Lewis, Oswego, and 
Chemung close competitors in the latter, and 
Kinc^s is first in the value of its dressed skins. 

While forty counties are more or less engaged 
in making agricultural implements, Cayuga 
leads in annual sales, closely followed by Rens- 
selaer. Kings county produces from its foun^ 
dries and machine shops nearly twice as much 
in value as any other county after ^ew York, 
wkile Erie, Rensselaer, and Albany follow - 
order. Rensselaer is by far the greatest pio- 



724 NEW YORK. 

ducer of iron and steel, reaching in annual value 
$8,702,189, while Dutchess, Onondaga, Clinton, 
and Albany exceed fl, 000,000, respectively, 
and Oneida approximates that sum. Flouring 
and grist mills are maintained in all parts of 
the State, but their products exceed ^3,344,000 
in two counties only, Erie and Monroe, although 
Kings, Oswego and Niagara each turns out more 
than ti2,500,000 annually in these industries. 

In textile fabrics, cotton, woolen and mixed, 
Albany is the chief producer, Oneida second, 
and Columbia third. Monroe leads in quantity 
of boots and shoes, Albany follows second, with 
Westchester third, and Oneida fourth. The 
manufacture of men's clothing is widel}^ dis- 
tributed, but Monroe produces after New York 
the most in value, $4, 41 2,000, leading its near- 
est competitor, Kings, by fl, 273, 238, while 
Onondaga, Erie, and Oneida are next, respec- 
tively, in annual output. Kings county is the 
chief brewer, turning out annually over $5,000,- 
000 worth of malt and malt liquors ; Albany is 
second, with over $4,000,000 ; and Erie and 
Monroe are next in order. Kings county is also 
engaged more largely than any other county 
except New York in drugs and chemicals, paints 
and varnish. 

The commonwealth in 1850 produced about 
one-fourth in value of all the manufactures of 



MASTER IN MANUFACTURES. 725 

the Union ; and in 1860, and since that period, 
has held steadily to about one-fifth, notwith- 
standing the marvelous extension of population 
and of industries in the new States and terri- 
tories. The statistics are thus verified by re- 
peated experience, and the results are shown to 
be due to no feverish excitement, but to the 
normal and persistent habits of the people. 

This diversity and extent of manufactures, 
combined with agriculture, with trade in all its 
branches, with financial activity, with steady 
thrift, mark the industrial character of the com- 
monwealth. While specialties are fostered in 
a few communities, the State as a whole pro- 
duces almost every article needed by a civilized 
community; and while it receives all kmds of 
imports from foreign lands and seeks to return 
its share of merchandise to foreign markets it 
finds its best consumers on its own soil, adja- 
cent to its own farms and dairies, and near the 
doors of its own factories. 

This industrial completeness is the result of a 
symmetrical and natural development. Driven, 
like other colonies, by British restrictions to 
agriculture and its specialty, the fur trade, the 
commonwealth engaged in manufactures when 
it cast off its colonial shackles, and its leaduig 
citizens were the first in enterprises for develop- 
ing the gifts of nature and for making full use of 



726 NEW YORK. 

its water power. They were apt to take advan- 
tac]:e of changes in external relations as well as 
in national legislation. Many of them were in 
the early days large land-owners, and they 
planted shops and mills to draw in population 
and to add profit to agriculture. When, in 
later years, capital has sought investment, it 
has studied the demands of mankind as well as 
the apparent currents of trade, and has pro- 
vided for the homes, the apparel, the needs, 
the luxuries, the tastes, and the intellect of its 
people. Vast as is the volume of the manufac- 
tures of the State, the security for prosperity, 
the promises of progress, the guaranty against 
overwhelming disaster, is even more in the rich 
variety, the marvelous diversity of the articles 
which skill and taste and enterprise contribute 
constantly to the comfort, as well as to the 
wealth of the individual and of society. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 

The population of New York, which was 
4,382,759 in 1870, grew to 5,082,871 in 1880, 
and althoiigli no census was taken in 1885, was 
not less than 6,000,000 in that year. Of the 
nations of the world only fourteen have more 
inhabitants than this commonwealth, while 
twenty-two accounted considerable have a less 
population. England, up to the middle of the 
eighteenth century, boasted no larger number 

of people. ^ 

For its geographical relations as well as lor 
the battles fought on its soil, New York is in 
many respects the Belgium of America. The 
Flemish kingdom is the connecting link be- 
tween Germany and France on the one hand, 
and the British Isles on the other, just as the 
Empire State holds New England in close rela- 
tions with the South and the West. The pop- 
ulation of Belgium and New York is about 
equal, the American commonwealth having rap- 
idly gained on the workshop and hive of Eu- 



728 NEW YORK. 

rope. Belgium has the larger aggregate wealth, 
probably nearly double, although the compar- 
ison of statistics is difficult, on account of the 
different processes pursued in gathering them. 
In its agriculture New York is the larger pro- 
ducer, as its greater extent and fresher soil 
make it easy for it to be. In manufactures, 
also, New York is far in advance of Belgium 
in its annual production. '' Mulhall's Balance 
Sheet " places the manufactures of the latter 
country at 1425,000,000 in 1878, or about forty- 
two per cent, of the value of those of New York 
in 1879. The figures for New York are the 
careful compilations of the national census. 
The Belgian column is confirmed by estimates 
based on the exports and the ability of the 
inhabitants for consumption. The American 
commonwealth is far from the maximum of its 
production or of the ratio of its development. 
The share of the production that goes to those 
that toil with their hands is at least twice as 
large in New York as in Belgium. 

Since 1820 the commonwealth has held the 
first rank in the Union in number of inhabi- 
tants. Then they were almost exactly one- 
seventh, of the total of the Union, while in 1880 
they were one-tenth. In that year its valua- 
tion was one-seventh of that of the entire coun- 
try, almost exactly equal to that of all of New 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 729 

England, but that was a matter of fortune for 
which no credit can be claimed. Credit should 
be allowed for its industry as proved by a share 
of one-fifth in the total manufactured products 
of the year, at the same time that its share in 
agricultural production was nearly one-twelfth, 
measured by value. 

These plain figures prove that never have so 
many inhabitants been gathered in an equal 
period on 47,620 square miles elsewhere on 
earth ; and a population of six millions has no- 
where else developed a wider, more diversified, 
and more productive industry. These are ma- 
terial results that caln be tested and compared. 
They illustrate and are the fruits of the institu- 
tions and the people. 

No single industry is unduly dominant, be- 
cause the inhabitants constitute a society so di- 
verse, while so harmonious. The cosmopolitan 
population finds expression in various occupa- 
tions, and as it makes nearly everything that 
mechanism has devised or civilization calls for, 
it is in itself a union of nearly all the strains of 
blood and character that enter into the human 
race. Thus the history of the commonwealth 
is not a rippling stream flowing from a single 
source to one debouchure. It is rather the 
growth of a monarch of the forest, to which the 
chemistry of all rays and all winds contribute, 



730 NEW YORK. 

which thrusts its roots downwards and pushes 
its branches outwards and upwards, and strug- 
gles with storm and lightning. He who counts 
the lings upon its trunk, who measures its in- 
creasing stature, who rests beneath its shade, 
does not explain the mysteries of its develop- 
ment ; but he can point to all men that such is 
the soil, such have been the blasts of the north- 
wind and such the placid warmths of summer, 
such the storms and such the scathing lightning 
strokes which threatened death. Because its 
roots grew deep and broad, because it drew life 
from scores of sources and was dependent on all 
the gifts of nature, and not on one or few, it 
has become strong and it is full of health and 
vigor, and despair itself cannot fail to behold 
its majestic greatness. New York might lose 
any one of the branches of its industry, and 
yet not be crippled ; it might lose many, and 
bind up its wounds for fresh efforts. The di- 
verse currents that have run into its population, 
perhaps no longer give it a distinct and almost 
unique character, such as it showed in the era 
up to the Revolution, but they have produced a 
mosaic that, first exhibited in full degree in this 
commonwealth, is now everywhere recognized 
as American. 

New York never enjoyed the quiet and the 
repose of Arcadia. The charming creation of 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 731 

Rip Van Winkle is a portrait by contrast. 
Labor has kept romance in check. By the 
rhythm of the factory and the foundry the 
movements of life have been marked. The 
rush of production and of traffic has made 
changes rapid, continuous, pronounced. Even 
Diedrich Knickerbocker would not present a 
phlegmatic Dutchman as the typical New 
Yorker of to-day. In Wall street he is the 
most excitable and most audacious of specula- 
tors. In Fifth avenue he is the most courtly 
and self-contained of citizens. A merchant in 
Broadway, he is a mechanic in avenue A. In 
Troy he is the swarthy, muscular iron-worker. 
In Oneida county he is the thrifty, prudent 
dairyman or the skillful operative. On the 
Sauquoit and the lower falls of the Mohawk, 
his cottons excel those of Lancashire. In the 
valley of the Genesee he plants his gardens and 
fosters his orchards in the shadow of his mills. 
Beside the interior lakes, his vineyards rival 
those of the slopes of the Alps. On the Oswego 
and in Cattaraugus he cuts his lumber and tans 
his leather. The air is black on the shores of 
Lake Erie with the smoke of his foundries. 
Versatile in his work, the summer finds him in 
study or convention on Chautauqua Lake, or 
mingling religion with amusement amid the 
myrtad isles of the St. Lawrence, or courting 



732 NEW YORK. 

fashion at Saratoga or Richfield, or hunting for 
health and fish in the northern wilderness, or 
gaining inspiration from the mountains in the 
Adirondacks, the Catskills, or the Shawangnnk, 
or resting in quiet beside Lake George or 
Seneca or the many limpid rivers which he 
loves to trace to their sources, or mingling with 
the surging multitudes on the islands and the 
beaches where the sea bounds the beautiful bay 
of which he boasts. Neither Puritan nor Cava- 
lier, he deems nothing that touches humanity 
alien to him. His charities are munificent. If 
the State invests in its charitable institutions 
^49,000,000, private beneficence duplicates the 
liberality, and adds to outlays of money the 
more precious gifts of personal sympathy and 
unwearying care. 

He adopts all the amusements from all other 
nations, and devises others to supplement them. 
He opens six average farms to give the metro- 
polis Central Park. He establishes a State re- 
servation in the Adirondacks, and buys Niagara 
Falls for a pleasure resort for the people. He 
builds costly churches and museums, and founds 
art galleries and libraries, and opens broad and 
attractive avenues, and yet often neglects the 
simple duties of the citizen, until gross wrongs 
stir him to a wrath that secures justice. Busy, 
enterprising, thrifty, he contributes much more 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 733 

than his share to the workl's commodities ; and 
yet without stinginess, with a love of sunshine 
and a solid trust in the future, he consumes 
also more than his neighbors, and much more 
than his cousins in the Old World. 

In a philosophical disquisition such as made 
his private conversation often more attractive 
and brilliant than his pubUc addresses, William 
H. Seward once said that New York is so great 
a State that each of its parties is divided into 
conservatives and radicals, and so rivalries are 
engendered that cause contests in conventions 
and interfere with the promotion of its states- 
men in national politics. While the explana- 
tion fitted the era in which he was a leader, it 
does not cover the period when this common- 
wealth was only fifth in rank, in 1790, when 
George Clinton who had opposed the constitu- 
tion was the rival of Jay ; nor does it satisfy in- 
quiries into the obstacles placed, about 1800, 
when the rank of New York was third, in the 
way of Hamilton as well as of Burr; nor show 
why Tompkins and DeWitt Clinton between 
1810 and 1820, when the commonwealth was 
rising from the second rank in population to 
the first, found home opposition fatal to their 
ambitions. The statesmen of New York have 
not been inferior to those of other parts of the 
Union, some in aggressive criticism, some in 



734 NEW YORK. 

constructive genius, some in the details of state- 
craft and party management. At all periods 
there have been not one merely, but two or 
three or several, challenging the favor of their 
party and the people. New York has had 
groups of statesmen like those who from 1844 
forward adorned its annals, when Martin Van 
Buren and Silas Wright and William L. Marcy 
and Daniel S. Dickinson divided the democrats, 
and William H. Seward and Millard Fillmore 
and their associates represented the contro- 
versies and rivalries among the whigs. 

The intellectual as well as the political move- 
ment has had a breadth, a popular inclusiveness, 
which has possibly interfered with the domina- 
tion of individuals. As the population has 
been gathered from all races, potential leaders 
have arisen in various quarters. If anywhere 
in the United States the assumption of Anglo- 
Saxon control is historically justifiable, here the 
Teutons, the Celts, the Latins, contradict it in 
the seats of the Hollanders and the Palatines, 
the Huguenots, the Irish and the Welsh, and 
the later Italian comers. / Great names New 
York has given to politics, to literature, to the 
church, to education. It has given still more a 
people generally trained, a high level of popular 
intelligence and industry and discipline and 
action. The long trials of the French wars and 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 735 

tlie Revolution created a State enured to hard- 
ship, apt in emergency, confident in its future. 
The second war with Great Britain trained the 
sons in the virtues of the fathers. The genera- 
tion which constructed the Erie Canal, owed 
much to a few brave spirits, but more to the 
faith and the sacrifice and persistence of the 
majority. The diversity of industry testifies 
to the tendency to separate and independent 
action, to the refusal to run in single tracks, to 
the purpose to work out each in his own way 
the results best for the individual and the com- 
monwealth. 

Such qualities have made New York hospi- 
table to every new thought and idea and inven- 
tion, while there has been maintained a sturdy 
subs'tratum of conservatism. It welcomed under 
the rule of Holland the dissentients from New 
England; and if for a while it yielded to the 
anttcatholic frenzy of the contest with James 
Stuart, it yet in the main illustrated always a 
generous toleration. The attempt of the Eng- 
lish governors to connect church and state, gave 
energy to the movement for popular rights and 
finally for independence. Every voice crying 
in the wilderness has found here willing listen- 
ers. The claims of advanced thinkers have 
been nowhere more promptly challenged. Vis- 
itors from the Old World, whether missionaries, 



736 NEW YORK. 

or critics of our society and politics, or literary 
guests intent on pleasure and on profit, are re- 
ceived often with exuberant courtesy to be fol- 
lowed by searching criticism. Science makes 
no offers which are not greedily accepted. An 
interior city of New York by organizing the 
first magnetic telegraph company in the world, 
exhibited the expectant attitude of the enter- 
prise of the commonwealth, which has been rep- 
resented in ventures on every sea and in every 
land, while it has laid deep and broad the corner 
stones of domestic prosperity. 

New York has never had a single leader, but 
it has recognized the leadership of the many. 
Its prosperity is in its agriculture and its multi- 
form industry, the prosperity of the many. It 
has not on its own soil developed so rich and 
wide and high an education as New England 
has attained, but it has striven liberally and 
persistently for the education of the many, and 
at last is providing by private munificence for 
the most advanced students. 

Except for dates and convenience of group- 
ing, events in New York do not depend upon 
presidents or governors or leaders. Hamilton 
was our greatest statesman, but even he does 
not mark an era. Martin Van Buren was 
chosen to the presidency, but in his own party 
and in State and national politics, the influence 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 737 

of Silas Wright was in most respects at least 
equal and in some points greater and more en- 
during. William H. Seward was beyond most 
men a statesman of forethought and power ; he 
did not overshadow his contemporaries in New 
York. From the coming of Champlain on the 
lake which bears his name, and of Hudson on 
the river which tells his story, our waterways 
have been factors in our life and progress. The 
Erie Canal following the lines of Indian ex- 
cursions, is the central channel of our rapid and 
extensive growth, and later facilities for com- 
munication have strengthened the grasp of New 
York on the commerce of the continent. 

By its position and by its relations hardly 
more than by its sentiment and its patriotism. 
New York has been an integer in the nation, 
rather than a State disposed to assert^ sover- 
eignty. In the amendments which it insisted 
slfould be a part of the national constitution, 
the rights of the citizen are guaranteed before 
any reservation is made in behalf of the States. 
Complaint has sometimes arisen that sufficient 
attention has not been given by its own people 
to the history, to the services, to the greatness of 
the commonwealth. They have been living in 
tlie present and looking to the future, rather 
than the past, and been content to hold thefir^t 
place in the sisterhood of equal States. Its 



738 NEW YORK. 

rivers and its mountains bind it to the republic, 
and the convictions as well as the interests and 
the pride of New York reach out over every 
part of the united nation. 

Wouter van Twiller and Peter Stuyvesant 
would be strange visitors if they stood on the 
East River bridge, when the throngs go to their 
business in the morning or return to their homes 
in the evening, or gather to celebrate a public 
festivity. They would see amid the spires and 
towers and palatial structures, the homes of a 
population greater than that of all Holland in 
their day, and the seat of their executive author- 
ity grown so as to dwarf Amsterdam to a village, 
and to contain a number of inhabitants nearly 
threefold that they were familiar with in Lon- 
don. Trains running in the air, voices com- 
municating over miles of space and matter and 
hurly»burly, might well surprise them, less than 
the harvest of architecture and wealth, the 
busy multitudes engaged in vocations novel and 
wonderfully productive, the steady movement 
of the web and woof of trade and travel, the 
confidence and spirit of a free and intelligent 
and prosperous people. For these throngs are 
only a part of the commonwealth that has grown 
from the province over which they ruled — a 
commonwealth with a population one - half 
greater than that of the Netherlands to-day, 



THE PRIMACY OF NEW YORK. 739 

and with a strength and solidity that rest on 
the old Dutch foundations. 

In the century and a half past, the tender 
plant which those old governors nursed so care- 
fully, has grown to such proportions. Even their 
Dutch phlegm might gather inspiration from 
the scene, and their peering eyes might scan 
the future, and behold all possibilities inviting 
six million people with opportunities so multi- 
plied, with possessions so abundant, on a do- 
main so imperial, with civilization casting its 
gifts at their feet. They might gather cheer 
too from the record that the ancestors and pre- 
decessors of these millions in the main met the 
tasks and duties of their position with prudence, 
courage, forethought, and devotion to worthy 
ideals and purposes. They might weigh the 
character of the people who have made the 
commonwealth what it is, and discern in it the 
combination of elements, the resultant of di- 
vergent forces, the equipoise that comes from 
motion and genuine life, and thus from their 
elevation over the surging tides of the New 
World's metropolis, take heart of hope that the 
generations and the centuries to come will add 
to the development of the Empire State m all 
that constitutes the glory of a free common- 
wealth. 



INDEX. 



[Pages preceding 359 will be found in Volume I. ; those subsequent to 359 
will be found in Volume II.] 



Aberckombie, General, 325 ; neglects 
precautions, 330 ; is defeated on 
Lake George, 331. 
Acadia, expedition against, 101. _ 
Agriculture, products of Indians in, 
21, 22 ; of the colonists, 4G ; scat- 
tered, 51 ; extended, 54 ; prosper- 
mg, 95; after the Revolution, 
456 ; before the war of 1812, 505 ; 
in 1880, 631. 
Albany, early ruins at, 5 ; hrst 
settlers, 35 ; title to its site, 1 1 ; 
80 called, 97 ; accepts Dutch res- 
toration, 106 ; limit of population, 
109 ; receives British officers, 179 ; 
a new charter, 195 ; resists Leis- 
ler, 206 ; recognizes him as gov- 
ernor, 207 ; seat of fur trade, 346 ; 
loses the fur trade, 459 ; the capi- 
tal, 460. 
Albany regency, 583. 
Alexander, James, 259 ; counsel for 
Zsnger, 272 ; excluded from the 
bar,''272 ; restored, 272._^ 
Alien and sedition laws, 477. 
American association, 393. 
Amsterdam chamber, directs affairs 
of New Netherland, 33 ; opposes 
the provisional order, 75; pre- 
dicts expansion of commerce, 95. 
Andre, Majrfr, 439. 
Andros, Major Edmund, governor, 
178 ; arrests persons for sedition, 
ISO • asserts t\J;le to Connecticut 
and certain islands, 181; organizes 
an Indian commission, 181 ; gives 
help to Rhode Island, 182 ; sends 
an expedition to Pemaquid, 18Z ; 
kni'-bted, 183 ; reports condition 
of the colony, 183 ; orders an ordi- 



nation, 184 ; asserts claims to New 
Jersey, 185 ; called to account, 
186 ; sustained, 186 ; appointed 
governor general of all the col- 
onies, 186 ; extent of his iuri.5dic- 
tion, 198 ; in New York and 
Albany, 199 ; arrested in Boston, 
201. 
Anthon, Charles, 607. 
Appointments, federal, 482; in the 
election of 1800, 490; used to 
cripple Clinton, 502. 
Armstrong, John, at Newburg, 440 ; 
senator in congress, 473; secre- 
tary of war, 482 ; brigadier gen- 
eral, 509. 
Arnold, Benedict, on Lake Cham- 
plain, 401 ; in the Mohawk Valley, 
417 ; his treason, 439. 
Arthur, Chester A., vice-president, 
709 ; for president, 713 ; dies, 
714 ; career, 714. 
Arthur, T. S., 617. 
Assembly,provmcial, asked for, 18 , 
promised by the Duke of iork, 
188 ; summoned, 188 ; meets, 1^9; 
asserts rights of the people, 190 ; 
abolished, 193; summoned by 
Leisler, 207 ; by Sloughter, 21 d ; 
asserts control over taxation, 
231 ; denies authority of parlia- 
ment to tax, 243 ; claims right to 
establish courts, 244; to deter- 
mine qualifications of its niern- 
bers, 260 ; immunity for words 
and acts, 263; to fix salaries, 
264 • asks for triennial elections, 
264 ; takes bold attitude towards 
Clarke, 281 ; insists on specific 
appropriations, 287 ; secures aep- 



742 



INDEX. 



tennial elections, 301 ; gives men \ 
and money for use against the j 
French, 302 ; answers Governor 
Clinton, 310 ; claims control of 
appointments and of the militia, 
310 ; appropriates freely for tlie 
French war, 320 ; pleads for in- 
dependence of the judiciary, 349 ; 
opposes involuntary taxes, 352 ; 
demands exemption as a right, 
354 ; appoints a committee to 
secure union of the colonies, 35-7 ; 
protests against action of parlia- 
ment and of Governor Golden, 
359 ; approves of proceedings of 
the colonial congress, 362 ; re- 
fuses quarters to troops, 368 ; is 
suspended by parliament, 370 ; 
denounces the suspension, 371 ; 
makes concessions, 373 ; is criti- 
cised by a '* Son of Liberty," 
374 ; w'elcomes Governor Tryon, 
383 ; declares its loyalty, 387 ; 
appoints a committee on corre- 
spondence, 388 ; refuses to con- 
sider the proceedings of congress, 
393 ; ceases to represent the 
people, 394 ; its last acts, 394. 
Auriesville, Jogues killed at, 148. 

Banks, and their charters, 477 ; 
scandal over charters, 491 ; re- 
strictions, 574 ; safety fund, 575 ; 
free, 575 ; growth and business 
of, 716 ; for savings, 717 ; extent 
of business, 717. 

Bayard, Nicholas, covmcUor, 199 ; 
arrested by Leisler, 203 ; dis- 
charged by Bellamout, 223 ; 
charged with treason, 225 ; pro- 
ceedings nullified, 227. 

Bayard, William, reports addresses, 
3ol ; on committee for union, 358. 

Beardsley, Samuel, on the bench, 
577 ; in congress, 588. 

Belgium compared with New York, 
728. 

Bellamont, Earl of, governor, 216 ; 
character, 223 ; dismisses council- 
ors and selects friends of Leisler, 
223 ; accused of partnership with 
the pirate Kidd, 228. 

Benson, Egbert, in convention at 
Hartford, 443 ; at Annapolis, 445 ; 
in congress, 466 ; services, 473. 

Bleecker, Mrs. Ann Eliza, 603. 

Block, Adriaen, on the American 
coast, 25 ; active in the West 
India Company, 27. 

Bogardus, Everardus, first clergy- 



man, 43 ; denounces Van Twiller, 
50 ; and Kieft, 65 ; is drowned, 67. 

Boundaries, 97 ; controversy over, 
191 ; with Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, 384 ; with Vermont, 401. 

Bradford, William, public printer, 
255 ; establishes the " Gazette," 
256. 

Bradley, Robert, attorney general,^ 
against Zenger, 269 ; bis ai"gu-* 
ment, 273. 

Bradstreet, Colonel, carries sup- 
plies to Oswego, 326 ; services at 
Lake George, 332 ; captures Fort 
Frontenac, 332 ; at Rome, 347 ; 
among the Senecas, 348. 

Brant, Joseph, at Lake George, 322 ; 
at Oriskany, 414 ; in Schoharie, 
426; at Cherry Valley, 427; at 
Newtown, 429 ; in the Mohawk 
Valley, 430. 

Bressaui, Joseph, missionary, 148 ; 
captured by the Iroquois, 148 ; 
tortured, 149. 

Brockliolls, Anthony, lieutenant 
governor, 179 ; left in control, 
186 ; has trouble over the cus- 
toms, 186 ; is censured, 187. 

Brodhead, John R., 611. 

Bronson, Greene C, chief justice, 
577 ; attorney general, 584 ; can- 
didate for governor, 644. 

BrookljTi, site taken up, 54 ; has a 
municipal government, 65. 

Brown, Jacob, at Ogdensburg, 510 ; 
at French Creek, 515 ; along the 
rapids, 515 ; made brigadier for 
victory at Sacket's Harbor, 514 ; 
major general, 517 ; at Fort Erie 
and Lundy's Lane, 517. 

Bruyas, Jacques, missionary, 156 ; 
founds a mission among the Onei- 
das, 156. 

Bryant, William Cullen, 615. 

Buffalo, army at, 510 ; burned by 
the British, 516. 

Burgoyne's campaign, 413 ; blunders 
of, 419 ; at Bemus Heights, 422 ; 
failure, 424 ; surrender, 425. 

Burnet, William, governor, 251 ; 
seeks to prohibit trade ^nth Can- 
ada, 252 ; has trouble over the 
court of chancery, 257 ; trans- 
ferred to Massachusetts, 260. 

Burr, Aaron, enters politics, 466 ; 
senator in congress, 468 ; for vice- 
president, 470 ; opposes Jay, 471 ; 
for vice-president, 472 ; in the 
assembly, 476 ; and bank charters, 
477 ; rivalry with Hamilton, 478 ; 



INDEX. 



743 



in the election of 1800, 478 ; wil- 
ling to take the presidency from 
Jetferson, 479 ; elected vice-presi- 
dent, 480 ; president of constitu- 
tional convention, 489 ; rivalry 
with Clinton, 490 ; enraged at 
Hamilton, 494 ; challenges and 
kills him, 495 ; flees, but braves 
the storm, 495 ; dies in disgrace, 
496. 

Cabinet, New York, in the early, 
482. 

Cabor, Sabastian, discoveries of, 1. 

Campbell, Colonel Laughlin, brings 
Scotch Highlanders, 284 ; im- 
poverishes himself, 285. 

Campbell, William W., 612. 

Canada, movements against, 238 ; 
failure of, 239 ; throws burdens on 
New York, 240 ; invasion of, 299 ; 
captured, 336 ; expedition against, 
406 ; invasion of, 590 ; sympathy 
with the invasion, 501 : demon- 
stration at Windmill Point, 593 ; 
invasion by the Fenians, 678. 

Canals, suggested, 524 ; surveys for, 
526; built, 526; the Erie pro- 
posed by Judge Van der Kemp, 
529 ; Gouverneur Morris urges the 
construction of the Erie, 530 ; 
legislative committee appointed 
to consider, 530; surveys ordered, 
531 ; commission reports in favor, 
531 ; national aid not secured, 
532 ; gifts of land for, 533 ; new 
commission appointed, 534 ; esti- 
mates of cost, 534 ; act passed for 
constructing the Erie and the 
Champlaln, 534 ; in politics, 534 ; 
Erie opened from Rome to Utica, 
537 ; to the Seneca River, 537 ; 
from Lake Erie to the Hudson, 
541 ; cost and dimensions, 541 ; 
enlargement proposed , 542 ; com- 
pleted, 542 ; cost and dimensions, 
542 ; maximum business, 543 ; 
tolls and cost of transportation, 
543 ; lateral, 545; tolls abolished, 
545 ; controversies over, 546 ; 
debt, 547 ; attract immigrants and 
enrich the people, 548 ; travel by 
packets, 549 ; progress of enlarge- 
ment, 640 ; frauds in repairs, 693 ; 
exposed, 694; checked, 694. 

Capitol, new, 706 ; cost of, 707. 

Caroline, burning of steamboat, 
591. 

Carteret, governor of New .Terse}', 
185 ; arrested by AndroK, 185. 



Cartier, Jacques, voyages of, 6. 

Cary, Alice and Phoebe, 616. 

Castle Island, 5, 7. 

Catskill, visited by Hudson, 21. 

Cayugas, 132 ; oratory of the, 139. 

Cliambers, Colonel, gets certificate 
of character from the assembly, 
284. 

Champlain, Lake, named, 14 ; oper- 
ations on, 510, 511 ; McDonough's 
victory on, 519. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 8 ; appointed 
to found a colony on the St. Law- 
rence, 10 ; aids the Hurons in war, 
12 ; battle with the Iroquois at Ti- 
conderoga, 13 ; names Lake Cham- 
plain, 14 ; contest on the Sorel, 
15 ; discovers Lake Huron, 15 ; 
advances into the country of the 
Iroquois, 16 ; fails in siege of an 
Iroquois village, 17 ; is wounded 
and retreats, 17 ; dies, 18 ; his 
first chart, 120 ; second map, 121. 

Charlevoix on the Iroquois, 138 ; on 
their oratory, 139. 

Charter of liberties, 190 ; repudiated 
by King James, 192 ; reenacted, 
215. 

Charters for banks, 477, 491 ; for 
street railroads, 652. 

Cherry Valley, massacre at, 427. 

Child, Lydia Maria, 616. 

Church, first services, 37 ; first edi- 
fice, 48; of stone, 59; number of 
churches, 183 ; new edifice, 184 ; 
churches in 1695, 218. 

Civil damages act, 700. 

Claims of the English, 2 ; of the 
French, 34 ; of the Dutch, 34 ; 
extent of, 115 ; of the Swedes, 112 ; 
of the Iroquois to territory, 141 ; 
of New York over the Iroquois, 
165. 

Clarke, George, acting governor, 
279 ; character, 296 ; emoluments, 
297. 

Clarke, McDonald, 615. 

Clergyman, first, 43; for the inte- 
rior, 59 ; additional clergymen, 
77 ; in 1678, 183 ; a peculiar or- 
dination, 184 ; influence of, 345 ; 
on education, 561 ; in literature, 
621. 

Cleveland, Grover, governor, 712; 
X)resident, 713. 

Clinton, DeWitt, on the Iroquois, 
139 ; in the assembly, 476 ; in con- 
stitutional convention, 489 ; rival- 
ry with Burr, 490 ; figlits a duel, 
491 ; and bank charters, 493 ; 



744 



INDEX. 



United States senator, 490 ; re- 
signs to become mayor of New 
Yorlj, 496 ; removed, 499 ; his 
ambition, 499 ; restored as mayor, 
500 ; supports Madison's adminis- 
tration, 501 ; elected lieutenant 
governor, 502 ; nominated for 
president, 502 ; defeated, 503 ; 
and the embargo, 505 ; urged for 
the presidency, 509 ; mayor of 
New York, 521 ; on the canal 
commission, 531 ; seelts national 
aid, 532 ; devotes himself to the 
canals, 533 ; president of a new 
commission, 534 ; elected gover- 
nor, 536 ; at the breaking of 
ground for the canal, 536; en- 
larged plans, 537 ; reelected gov- 
ernor, 538 ; controversy with the 
legislature, 538 ; declines to be a 
candidate, 540 ; removed from 
canal commission, 541 ; elected 
governor again, 541 ; advocates 
lateral canals, 545 ; and free 
schools, 553 ; a free mason, 581 ; 
proposed for president, 582 ; dies, 
582. 
Clinton, Admiral George, governor, 
295 ; his character, 296 ; charges 
against, 302 ; proposes regulating 
the government, 310 ; transferred 
to Greenwich Hospital, 311. 
Clinton, George, member from Uls- 
ter, 371 ; defends McDougall, 375 ; 
on committee of correspondence, 
388 ; in congress, 402 ; in the field, 
436 ; elected governor, 436 ; his 
character, 436 ; points out defect 
of power in the confederation, 
443 ; urges a stronger union, 444 ; 
and the federal constitution, 446 ; 
on ratification, 446 ; and the pub- 
lic lands, 451 ; in the first election 
for president, 465 ; again chosen 
governor, 4G7 ; contest with John 
Jay, 468 ; for vice-president, 470 ; 
declines reelection as governor, 
471 ; for vice-president, 472 ; again 
chosen governor, 488 ; elected 
vice-president, 494 ; and the presi- 
dency, 500 ; dies, 502. 
Cobleskill destroyed, 426. 
Colden, Cadwallader, 307 ; acting 
governor, 340 ; grants appeals 
from verdicts of juries, 360 ; to- 
wards the stamp act, 364 ; favors 
a congress of the colonies, 380 ; 
influence, 397 ; dies, 405 ; predicts 
inland navigation, 524 ; History 
of the Six Nations, 602. 



College, Columbia, 312 ; in politics, 
338 ; influence, 344 ; has a medi- 
cal school, 345; under tory con- 
trol, 550. 

College graduates in 1752, 312 ; in- 
stitutions in 1885, 550. 

College, Hamilton, 313 ; chartered, 
457. 

College of New Jersey, 550. 

College, Union, chartered, 457. 

College, Yale, 550. 

Colonial congress, suggested by the 
Iroquois, 208 ; called by Leisler, 
208; meets in New York, 208; 
called by Holderness, 316 ; meets 
in Albany, 316 ; adopts a plan of 
union, 317 ; meets in 1765, 361 ; 
proposal for in 1769 vetoed by 
parliament, 380. 

Colonists, first, 34 ; additional, 54 ; 
seeking religious freedom, 58 ; 
French, 151. 

Colve, Captain Anthony, commands 
attacking army, 105 ; governor 
general, 106; issues instructions, 
108 ; levies a tax, 108 ; as a sol- 
dier, 108 ; suiTenders the colony, 
108 ; sets up a coach, 112 ; takes 
his farewell, 179. 

Commerce in 1614, 27 ; in 1624, 36 ; 
in 1629-30, 42; under Andros, 
183; under Dongan, 195 ; in 1717- 
20, 233 ; in 1720-30, 253 ; in 1770, 
343 ; lost by pledge of non-impor- 
tation, 375 ; in 1790-1820, 455 ; re- 
strictions upon, 505. 

Committee of one hundred, 396 ; 
sends out addresses, 397. 

Committee of safety appointed by 
Leisler, 204 ; of 1775, 396 ; wields 
the power of government, 406 ; 
under the State, 435. 

Congress, continental, of 1774, 390 ; 
proceedings, 392 ; second, 395 ; of 
1775, 402 ; proceedings, 404. 
Congress, national, meets in New 
York, 460 ; delegation in, 507 ; in 
1825-1846, 587 ; m 1860, 649 ; dur- 
ing the civil war, 675 ; after the 
war, 699. 
Conkling, Roscoe, enters congress, 
676 ; in United States senate, 699 ; 
a party leader, 701 ; for president, 
701 ; resigns as senator, 710. 
Connecticut claimed by the Dutch, 
41 ; commended to the English, 
41 ; repulses the Dutch, 41 ; joins 
in a treat}', 75 ; seizes the Fort of 
Good Hope, 83 ; invited to pro- 
tect English colonists, 89; sends 



INDEX, 



745 



a commission to Long Island, 90 ; 
claimed by New York, 181. 

Consolers of the sick, first, 37 ; in 
1C50, 77. 

Conspiracy, of negroes, alleged, 288 ; 
against the draft, 602 ; to burn 
New York, 074. 

Constitutional convention of 1776-7, 
43-i ; of ISOl, 502 ; of 1821, 489 ; 
leading members, 503; of 1846, 
507 ; of 1807, 569; commission, 
570. 

Constitution, first, 562; of 1801, 
562; of 1821, 503; of 1846, 507; 
amendments adopted, 504, 570 ; 
a growth, 571. 

Convention (see Provincial conven- 
tion), to ratify the federal consti- 
tution, 446 ; divisions, 446 ; con- 
clusion, 447. 

Cooper, J. Fenimore, 009. 

Cooper, Dr. Myles, 004. 

Corlaer, 87 ; Father, 165. 

Cornbury, Lord, governor, 225 ; 
character, 228 ; relations to the 
church, 229 ; a spendthrift, 230 ; 
collision with the assembly, 231 ; 
removed and imprisoned, 231. 

Cornell, Alonzo B., governor, 70". 

Cornell University, 551 ; library, 
559. 

Cosby, Governor, 261 ; controversy 
with Van Dam, 261 ; strong will, 
264 ; dies, 265 ; recommendations, 
265 ; secures vast tracts of land, 
266. 

Council of appointment, 488, 562. 

Council of Dutch governors, un- 
der Minuit, 37 ; under Kieft, 57 ; 
more popular under Stuyvesant, 
70. 

Council of English governors, under 
Andros, 179 ; for all the colonies, 
199 ; under Sloughter, 215 ; sit- 
ting as upper house of legislature, 
280. 

Counties erected, 190. 

Court of chancery established, 243 ; 
treatment of Phillipse, 257. 

Courts, independence of the, 340; 
memorial for, 349 ; plea for, 352. 

Couture, Guillaume, missionary, 145. 

Croswell, Edwin, 583. 

Crown Point, French fort at, 280 ; 
in the French war, 318 ; aban- 
doned by the French, 335. 

Cniger, John, on connnittee for 
union, 358 ; chairman of commit- 
tee for courts of justice, 300 ; pre- 
pares declaration of rights, 361 ; 



on committee for correspondence, 

388. 

Crystal Palace, 041. 

Curler, Arendt van, at Schenectady, 
87 ; describes the Mohawk coun- 
try, 88. 

Dam, Rip van, acting governor, 261 ; 
controversy with Cosby, 261 ; sus- 
pended from the council, 265; 
claims to act as governor, 279. 

Davidson, Lucretia and Margaret 
Miller, 616. 

Dawson, Henry B., 613. 

Declaration of independence, 409 ; 
signers of, 454. 

DeLancey, James, chief justice, 
262 ; in case of Zenger, 270 ; his 
charge, 273 ; confidant of Gover- 
nor Clinton, 306 ; lieutenant gov- 
ernor, 312 ; character, 315 ; leads 
a party, 339 ; dies, 340. 

DeLancey, Stephen, 260. 

Delaware, beginnings of the State 
of, 36. 

Dellius, Rev. Godfrey, 219 ; com- 
missioner of Indian affairs, 224 ; 
charged with frauds, 224; sus- 
pended from the ministry, 225. 

Denominations, under Andros, 183 ; 
in 1695, 218 ; m 1710, 241 ; in 
1800, 486. 

Denonville, governor of Canada, 
164; tortures Iroquois, 165; leads 
an expedition against the Senecas, 
166. 

Dickinson, Daniel S., 587 ; on re- 
striction of slavery, 634 ; rivalry 
with Marcy, 039. 

Dincklagen, Van, schout-fiscal, 49; 
brings charges against Van Twil- 
ler, 49 ; censures Bogardus, 50 ; 
appointed director general, 68 ; 
vice-director, 69. 

Directors general, Maj', 34 ; Ver- 
hulst, 37 ; Minuit, 37 ; Van Twil- 
ler, 43 ; Kieft, 52 ; Stuyvesant, 68 ; 
Colve, 106. 

Dix, John A., on religion in schools, 
556; secretary of state, 583; fa- 
vors restriction of slavery, 634 ; 
commands Department of the 
East, 668 ; maintains order, 668 ; 
in the election of 1864, 071 ; gov- 
ernor, 692 ; career and character, 
692; dies, 693. 

Donck, Adriaen van der, keeps a 
journal of the council, 72 ; im- 
prisoned, 72 ; unseated, 72. 

Dongan, Thomas, governor, 188 ; 



746 



INDEX. 



summons an assembly, 188 ; in- 
structions to, 189 ; issues new pa- 
tents, 19nl; charges for charters, 
195 ; character, 195 ; report on 
the colony, 195 ; retires to his 
farm, 196 ; ia suspected as a 
Catholic, 197. 

Draft, ordered, 661 ; begun, 661 ; 
leads to riots, 662 ; enforced in 
New York city, 668 ; results mea- 
gre, 669. 

Drake, Joseph Rodman, 614. 

Duane, James, on committee for 
correspondence, 389 ; delegate to 
congress, 390 ; in the convention 
to ratify the constitution, 446. 

Dunlap, WiUiam, 607. 

Dupuys, Sieur, leads a colony to the 
Onondagas, 151 ; abandons it, 152. 

Dutch, discovery of New York, 20 ; 
East India Company, 20 ; begin 
trade in Manhattan, 21 ; West 
India Company, 31 ; colonization, 
34 ; trials of the, 52 ; culmina- 
tion of sway of the, 68 ; surren- 
der of the, 89 ; fleet before New 
York, 103 ; demands surrender, 
104 ; fires on the fort, 105 ; foice 
lands in the city, 105 ; occupies 
the fort, 106 ; end of the rule of 
the, 109 ; mtiuence of the, 111 ; 
literature on New York, 600, 601. 

East India Company, 19. 

Eelkens, Jacob, arrives, 26 ; com- 
missary at Fort Orange, 47 ; en- 
ters service of the English, 48 ; 
fails to establish trade, 48 ; excites 
the red men, 48. 

Eight chosen, 61 ; give advice, 61 ; 
appeal to Holland, 63; bring 
charges against Kieft, 63. 

Embargo act, 505. 

English title to New York, 2 ; Pil- 
grims repelled, 30 ; vessel arrives, 
47 ; sent away, 48 ; settlers 
welcomed, 54 ; colors hoisted, 
81 ; colonists, 84 ; arrayed against 
the Dutch, 89 ; appeal to Con- 
necticut, 89 ; squadron in the bay, 
92 ; government established, 96. 

Evarts, William M., secretary of 
state, 705 ; in the national senate, 
710. 

Fay, Theodore S., 617. 

Fenton, Reuben E., governor, 674 ; 

career and death, 674. 
Fillmore, Millard, in the assembly, 

684 ; in congress, 688 ; career, 



597 ; for vice president, 034 ; 
president, 037 ; defeated in na- 
tional convention, 638 ; for presi- 
dent, (540. 

Fimiey, Rev. Charles G., 560. 

Fioii, Hamilton, 636. 

Five Nations. See Iroquois. 

Flagg, Azariah C, and the canals, 
546 ; secretary of state, 583 ; not 
accepted for secretary of the 
treasury, 598. 

Fletcher, Benjamin, governor, 216 ; 
is welcomed, 217 ; salary, 217 ; 
zeal as a soldier, 221 ; claims au- 
thority to approve clergymen, 
222 ; arrested on charges of mal- 
feasance, 222. 

Floyd, William, 454. 

Folger, Charles J., secretary of the 
treasury, 710 ; nominated for 
governor, 711 ; dies, 711 ; career 
and character, 711. 

Fort Amsterdam built, 38. 

Fort Edward built, 321 ; defended, 
323. 

Fort Frontenac built, 160 ; captured 
by Iroquois, 168 ; restored, 175 ; 
captured by Bradstreet, 333. 

Fort Hunter built, 238. 

Fort Nassau on the Hudson, built, 
26 ; abandoned, 27 ; on the South 
River, 36. 

Fort Onondaga, 238. 

Fort Orange laid out, 35 ; first set- 
tlers, 35 ; attack the Mohawks, 
38 ; repulsed, 38 ; a garrison es- 
tablished, 38 ; improvements, 48 ; 
English rule at, 96 ; called Albany, 
97. 

Fort Schuyler built, 337. 

Fort Stanwix, treaty of, 142 ; works 
ordered, 301 ; operations at, 326 ; 
Indian congress at, 372 ; defended, 
414. 

Fort William Henry built, 325. 

Foster, Henry A., in State senate, 
584 ; in congress and on the su- 
preme bench, 587. 

Freedom of religion, 58, 80, 88, 94, 
98, 102 ; guaranteed by King 
James, 1^93 ; by the constitution, 
502. 

Freeman, Rev. Bernard, 219 : trans- 
lates Bible into Mohawk, 220. 

French, early immigrants, 7 ; de- 
scriptions of New York bay and 
the Hudson, 4 ; first to meet the 
Five Nations, 8; seek to take 
possession of Manhattan, 34 ; in- 
tercourse with the Iroquois, 138 ; 



INDEX. 



747 



rights in New York, 144 ; plans to 
control the Iroquois, 144: mis- 
sionaries captured, 145 ; colony 
among the Onondagas, 151 ; frame 
a treaty with the Iroquois, 153 ; 
attack the Mohawks. 153 ; second 
attack, 155 ; ravage their castles, 
155; missionaries sent to Inquois, 
156 ; their work, 158 ; designs on 
New York, 159 ; expedition aganist 
Iroquois fails, 164 ; war, 298 ; 
strategy, 316 ; operations in war, 
318 ; operations in 1756, 326 ; in 
1757, 328 ; penetrate to Palatine, 
330 ; victorious on Lake George, 
331 ; operations in 1759, 334 ; 
retreat, 335; lose Quebec, 336; 
give up Canada, 336 ; relitions 
after the Revolution, 474 ; litera- 
ture on New York, 600, 601. 

Freneau, Philip, 605. 

Fresh River, first settlers on, 35 ; 
commended to the Plymouth col- 
ony, 41 ; the Dutch build a fort, 
41 ; are repulsed, 41. 

Frontenac, Count, governor of Can- 
ada, 160 ; plans of, 160 ; builds a 
fort to control the Iroquois, 160 ; 
gains favor with them, 161 ; quar- 
rels with the Jesuits, 161 ; charged 
with debauching the red men 
with liquor, 162 ; is recalled, 162 ; 
sent back, 168 ; seeks alliance 
with the Iroquois, 168 ; organizes 
three expeditions, 169 ; burns 
Schenectady, 169 ; opinion of 
Schuyler's raid, 172 ; organizes a 
winter expedition, 173 ; destroys 
the Mohav/k castles, 174 ; with- 
draws, 174 ; gathers a large army, 
175 ; destroys castles of the Onon- 
dagas and Oneidas, 175 ; with- 
draws, 176 ; dies, 176 ; his charac- 
ter, 176. 

Fulton, Robert, builds a steamboat, 
529 ; on the canal commission, 
532. 

Fur trade attracts the Dutcli, 24 ; 
early cargo, 36 ; controlled by 
the Dutch, 46; affects treatment 
of the Indians, 47 ; also population 
and industry, 112 ; moves west- 
ward, 459. 

Gansevoort, ColoxeIj Peter, at 

Fort Stanwix, 414. 
Garangula, eloauence of, 164. 
Gates, General Horatio, in command 

of the northern array, 421 . 
German Flats destroyed, 4*27. 



Gomez, Esteban, enters the Hud- 
son, 5. 

Greeley, Horace, editor of the New 
York "Tribune," 651; opposes 
Seward for president, 651 ; is 
nominated for president, 689 ; 
career and character, 690 ; dies, 
692. 

Green, Rev. Beriah, 636. 

Goupil, Rene, missionary, 145. 

Governors of British colony, NicoUs, 
96 ; Lovelace, 101 ; Andros, 178 ; 
Brockholls, lieutenant, 179 ; Don- 
gan, ISS ; Nicholson, lieutennnt, 
216 ; Leisler, 204 ; Sloughter, 208 ; 
Ingoldsby, 216 ; Fletcher, 216 ; 
Bellamont, 216 ; Nanfan, lieuten- 
ant, 217 ; Cornbury, 217, 225 ; 
John Lovelace, 217 ; Beekman, 217; 
Hunter, 217 ; Burnet, 251 ; Mont- 
gomerie, 260 ; Cosby, 261 ; Clarke, 
279 ; Clinton, 295 ; Osborne, 311 ; 
DeLancey, lieutenant, 312 ; Har- 
dy, 325 ; Colden, acting, 340 ; 
Monckton, 342 ; Moore, 366 ; Dun- 
more, 382 ; Tryon, 382 ; Robert- 
son, 432. 

Governors of the State, George Clin- 
ton first elected, 436 ; John Jay, 
471 ; Morgan Lewis, 496 ; Tomp- 
khis, 500 ; DeWitt Clinton, 536 ; 
Yates, 540 ; Van Buren, 582 ; 
Throop, 583 ; Marcy, 586 ; Seward, 
595 ; Bouck, 596 ; Wright, 597 ; 
Young, 629; Fish, 636; Hunt, 
638 ; Seymour, 639 ; Clark, 645 ; 
King, 647 ; Morgan, 649 ; Seymour, 
659; Fenton, 674; Hoffman, 684; 
Dix, 692 ; Tilden, 693 ; Robinson, 
704 ; Cornell, 707 ; Cleveland, 
712 ; Hill, 715. 

Habits of the people, in 1674, 111 ; 
in 1701, 184; according to John 
Miller, 217 ; about 1760, 314 ; after 
the Revolution, 461 ; in 1800, 486 ; 
in 1885, 730. 

Hale, Nathan, hanged as a spy, 438. 

Halleck, Fitz Greene, 614. 

Hamilton, Alexander, at the meet- 
ing in " the Fields," 390 ; position 
of, 392 ; first essays of, 394 ; is 
active, 405 ; advocates a federal 
constitution, 442 ; at Albany, 443 ; 
visits the legislature, 443 ; in 
the continental congress, 444 ; 
at Annapolis, 445 ; in conven- 
tion which framed the consti- 
tution, 445; his influence, 446; 
opposes Clinton, 466 ; maltreated 



748 



INDEX. 



at a political meeting. 471 : major 
general, 475 ; in the election of 
1800, 478 ; and the liberty of the 
press, 493 ; opposes Burr, 494 ; is 
challenged by Burr, 495 ; is killed, 
495. 

Hamilton, Andrew, counsel for 
Zenger, 271 ; his argiiment, 272 ; 
honors to him, 274 ; his great 
success, 275. 

Hammond, Jabez D., and his Politi- 
cal History, 5S0. 

Hardy, Sir Charles, governor, 325. 

Hawley, Rev. Gideon, missionary, 
313. 

Headley, Joel T., 617. 

Hendrik, King, 304 ; reproaches the 
aiithorities. 311 ; gives warning of 
French activity, 317 ; at Lake 
George, 322 ; is killed, 323. 

Herkimer, Nicholas, in Tryon 
county, 407 ; at Oriskany, 415. 

" Historical Relation of Wasse- 
naer," 36. 

Historical Society of New York, 022. 

History of New York, key to, 127. 

Hobart, John Sloss, at Hartford con- 
vention, 443 ; in convention to 
ratify the constitution, 446 ; 
United States senator and district 
judge, 473. 

Hoffman, Charles Fenno, 617. 

Hoffman, John T., governor, 680 ; 
questions over liis majority, 681 ; 
reelected, 6S4 ; retaxes the re- 
form charter, 687. 

Hoffman, Michael, opposes canal 
debt, 546 ; in constitutional con- 
vention, 568; in congress, 588. 

Holland Land Company, 458 ; gives 
land for tlie canal, 533 ; and its 
debtors, 624. 

Horsmanden, Daniel, 291 ; narrative 
of the negro conspiracj% 292 ; ad- 
vocates the popular cause, 308 ; a 
tory leader, 432. 

Hosmer, William H. C, 617. 

Houeh, Frtiuklin B., 613. 

Hudson, Henry, sails on tlie Half 
Moon, 19 ; enters New York Bay, 
20 ; discovers the North River, 
21 ; relations with the red men, 
22 ; dies, 24. 

Hudson River, discovered by Ve- 
razzano, 3 ; by Gomez, 5 ; by 
Hudson, 21 ; navigation on, 527 ; 
steamer on, 528. 

Hulft, Peter Evertsen, 33 ; brings 
over cattle and farm implements, 
36. 



I Himt, Ward, on state and national 

j bench, 577. 
Hunter, General Robert, governor, 
217 ; brings in tlie Palatines, 235 ; 
has trouble with his immigrants, 
236 ; character, 241 ; sets up 
court of chancery, 243 ; is praised 
by the assembly, 245 ; dies gover- 
nor of Jamaica, 245. 

Indian conflicts, 21, 23 ; in 1643, 59 ; 
in 1045, 64 ; in 1655, 85 ; in 1603, 
88 ; in tlie French war, 144 ; in 
the Revolution, 400. 

Ingoldsby, Major Richard, arrives 
with troops, 208 ; prepares to 
seize the fort, 209 ; is resisted by 
Leisler, 209. 

Iroquois, described by the Hurons, 
11 ; attacked by Champlain, 13, 
15 ; defend a village against him, 
16 ; treat with the Dutch, 28 ; 
make a treaty at Fort Amsterdam, 
64 ; confederacy, 128 ; dominion 
of, 128 ; occupation, weapons, de- 
fenses, 129 ; language and name, 
130 ; legends, 131 ; tribes, 132 ; 
numbers of, 132 ; clans and 
organization, 133; power and 
eminence, 134-36 ; belief and 
practices, 136 ; diplomacj', 137 ; 
character, 138 ; oratory, 139 ; dom- 
ination, 140 ; territory, 141 ; in 
the Revolution, 142 ; influence on 
the colony, 143 ; dreaded by the 
French, 150 ; frame a treaty with 
the French, 153 ; favor Frontenac, 
161 ; turn against the French, 
102 ; conquer the Andastes and the 
Eries, 103 ; among the western 
tribes, 1G3 ; at the south, 103 ; 
threatened by the French, 163 ; 
assert their independence, 164 ; 
recognize English protection, 165 ; 
tortured by French, 165 ; save 
Lamberville, missionary, 166 ; 
make peace at Montreal, 166 ; cap- 
tives tortured and burned by 
French, 173 : threaten Montreal, 
173 ; dependence on British gov- 
ernment, 176 ; hold a conference 
with four colonies, 183 ; frame a 
treaty with Nev/ York and Vir- 
ginia, 191 ; submit to King 
Charles, 191 ; complain of French 
encroachments, 253 ; council at 
Albany, 304 ; attitude in French 
v>-ar, 316 ; complain about lands, 
371 ; in the Revolution, 408 ; at 
Oriskany, 414 ; at Bemus Heights, 



INDEX. 



749 



423 ; Sullivan's ext)edition against, 
428. 
Irving, Washington, and his Knick- 
erbocker History, 43; as an au- 
thor, 608. 

James, Major, visited by a mob, 
3G3. 

James, Thomas L., postmaster gen- 
eral, 709. 

Jay, John, on conimittee for corre- 
spondence, 389 ; delegate to con- 
gress, 390 ; as a leader, 391 ; au- 
thor of the declaration of rights, 
392 ; in congress, 402 ; orders ar- 
rest of tories, 409 ; in congress, 
432 ; chief justice of the State, 
435 ; signs the treaty of peace, 
442 ; chief justice of the United 
States, 455 : defeated for governor, 
409 ; advises against a contest, 409 ; 
minister to England, 471 ; elected 
governor, 471 ; a second time, 476 ; 
and the civil ser\ice, 483 ; secures 
gradual abolition of slavery, 483 ; 
declines offices, 488. 

" Jesuit Relations," 601. 

Jews, votes of, rejected, 283. 

Jogues, Isaac, 145 ; captured by the 
Iroquois, 145 ; tortured, 146 ; 
among the Mohawks, 147 ; founds 
the "Mission of the Martyrs," 
147 ; is killed, 148. 

Johnson, Guy, in the assembly, 384 ; 
stirs up the Iroquois, 403 ; arms 
the tories, 406 ; flees to Canada, 
406. 

Johnson, John, leads the tories, 
406 ; flees to Canada, 406 ; at Oris- 
kany, 414 ; leads in local raids, 
426. 

Johnson, William, 308 ; services, 
309 ; leads an army to Lake 
George, 322 ; fights a battle, 323 ; 
is wounded, 323 ; wins a decided 
victory, 324 ; receives surrender 
of Fort Niagara, 335 ; influence, 
347 ; activity, 348 ; major general, 
384 ; dies, 406 : as an author, 603 ; 
great landowner, 623. 

Judges, tenure of, 340 ; services 
and eminence of, 577 ; corrupt, 
punished, 687. 

Jurisprudence, 562 ; spirit of, 576. 

Kent, James, 497,577. 

Kernan, Francis, in congress, 676 ; 

for governor, 692 ; in United 

States senate, 699. 
Kidd, CapUin William, 227; a 



pirate, 228 ; connection with Bel- 
lamont, 228. 

Kieft, William, director general, 
52 ; character, 52 ; strengtliens 
monopoly in trade, 53 ; imposes 
excise, 53; buys land, 53; blun- 
ders, 55 ; demands tribute from 
the Indians, 55 ; seeks to collect 
it, 55 ; summons uihabitants for 
counsel, 56 ; intent on war, 57 ; 
dismisses the Twelve, 58 ; secures 
a treaty, 58 ; builds a hotel and 
church, 59 ; alarmed by the In- 
dians, 59 ; orders a general levy, 
60 ; proclaims a fast day, 61 ; ap- 
peals to the people, 61 ; denounced 
by De Vries, 62 ; his removal 
recommended by the company, 
63 ; makes treaties with the In- 
dians, 64 ; removed, 65 ; his un- 
popularity, 66 ; sails for Holland, 
66 ; appeals for forgiveness, 67 ; 
is drowned, 67. 

King, Preston, against slavery, 633 ; 
in the United States senate, 649. 

King, Rufus, senator in congress, 
467 ; minister to England, 473 ; 
defeated for governor, 535 ; re- 
ceives the federal votes for presi- 
dent, 535. 

Kirkland, Caroline M., 616. 

Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, missionary, 
313 ; founds Hamilton College, 
313 ; among tlie Iroquois, 408 ; 
settles among the Oueidas, 458. 

Knox, John Jay, comptroller of the 
currency, 717. 

KroJ, Sebastian Jansen, 37 ; com- 
mands at Fort Orange, 38 ; buys 
land for Van Rensselaer, 39. 

Laet, JoHJf DE, his " Description of 
the West Indies," 36. 

Lamb, John, against the stamp act, 
364 ; reports resolutions against 
the assembly, 374 ; called before 
that body, 375 ; leads in erecting 
a pole to liberty and property, 
378 ; against landing any tea, 
386 ; proposes union of the colo- 
nies, 386 ; seizes military stores, 
397. 

Lamb, Mrs. Martha J., 613. 

Lamberville, missionary among the 
Onondagas, 166. 

Land bought of the Indians, 37, 39, 
40, 53, 76, 99 ; by Lovr-loce, 102 ; 
speculation, 223 ; .speculators pros- 
ecuted, 225 ; Mohawks complain 
about, 304 ; general survey, 341 ; 



750 



INDEX. 



troubles concerning, 372 ; boun- 
daries fixed by treaty, 372 ; taken 
up by soldiers, 451 ; sold in vast 
tracts, 451 ; sold by Massachu- 
setts, 458 ; and rent, 623 ; held by 
few, 624 ; feudal tenure, 625 ; 
trouble over title and payments, 
626 ; feudal tenure abolished, 
629 ; decision of the court of 
appeals, 630 ; size of farms, 631 ; 
production, 631. 

liawrence, John, senator in con- 
gress, 473. 

" Laws, Duke's," 98. 

Liawson, James, 614. 

Legislature, accepts the articles of 
confederation, 437 ; moves for a 
convention to amend the articles of 
confederation, 445 ; asserts control 
over duties on imports, 446 ; dis- 
franchises the tories, 450 ; re- 
peals the act, 450 ; place of meet- 
ing, 460 ; conaposition of, 564 ; 
passes exceptional statutes, 572; 
leaders under Governor Throop, 
584 ; makes efforts for peace in 
1861, 655 ; offers aid to the gov- 
ernment, 655 ; charges of bribery 
in, 696. 

Leisler, Jacob, charges heresy, 184 ; 
captain of militia, 203 ; refuses 
to pay customs, 2()3 ; seizes the 
fort, 203 ; issues a proclamation, 

204 ; summons a convention, 204 ; 
is appointed commander-in-chief, 

205 ; sends a force against Albany, 
205 ; claims to act under the 
king's commission, 206 ; sum- 
mons an assembly, 207 ; calls a 
colonial congress, 207 ; holds the 
fort against British troops, 209 ; 
tries to make terms, 209 ; svirren- 
ders, 209 ; is tried for treason and 
murder, 209 ; is hanged, 211 ; 
character, 211 ; his dying speech, 
213 ; attainder reversed, 213 ; re- 
mains reburied, 225- 

Lewis, Morgan, governor, 496 ; 

brigadier general, 5C9 ; at defenses 

of New York, 522 ; recomniends 

a school fund, 553. 
Liberty pole erected, 367 ; cut 

down, 369 ; battle about, 376 ; 

another erected, 378. 
Libraries, school district, 555 ; state, 

college, and private, 559. 
Liquor, given to the Indians, 22 ; 

sale restricted, 53; distillery, 59 ; 

Indians protest against the sale, 

60 ; given for furs, 8& ; sale in 



New Amsterdam, 111 ; condemned 
by Jesuits, 152 ; given by Fron- 
tenac to Indians, 162 ; correspond- 
ence of governors about, 165 ; 
prohibitory statutes, 643, 645 ; 
civil damages, 706. 

Livingston, Brockholst, fights a 
duel, 463 ; opposes Jay, 472 ; asso- 
ciate justice of the supreme court, 
483. 

Livingston, Philip, opposes the 
sugar act, 350 ; on committee for 
union, 358 ; reports petitions and 
addi'esses, 300 ; in colonial con- 
gress, 361 ; reports in the assem- 
bly, 373 ; delegate to congress, 
390. 

Livingston, Robert, 248 ; descend- 
ants, 249 ; family in politics, 339. 

Livingston, Robert R., reports a 
memorial , 349 ; on committee for 
union, 358; against the stamp 
act, 364 ; reports against quarters 
for British troops, 368 ; in con- 
gress, 402 ; and the Declaration 
of Independence, 409 ; chancellor, 
435 ; opposes Hamilton, 472 ; dis- 
appointed, 472 ; joins the oppo- 
sition, 472 ; candidate for gov- 
ernor, 476 ; minister to France, 
482. 

Livingston, William, a Son of Liber- 
ty, 271 ; leads against Pratt, 341 ; 
governor of New Jersey and poet, 
604. 

Long Island, first settlers on, 35 ; 
English movement on, 81 ; called 
Yorkshire, 97 ; inclines to Con- 
necticut, 179 ; shows disaffection, 
187 ; battle of, 411. 

Lossing, Benson J., 613. 

Loudon, Earl of, 325. 

Lovelace, Francis, governor, 101 ; 
conduct, 102; buys land, 103; 
establishes post messengers, 103 ; 
absent when Dutch fleet arrives, 
104; is arrested, 107; dies, 107. 

Lovelace, John, governor, 217. 

McCoMB, Alexandee, buys public 

lands, 451. 

McDougall, Alexander, against the 
stamp act, 364 ; imprisoned for 
libel on the assembly, 375 ; re- 
ceives an ovation, 378 ; proposes 
a general congress, 389 ; on com- 
mittee for correspondence, 389 ; 
colonel, 405. 

McKemie, Francis, prosecuted for 
preaching without a license, 229. 



INDEX. 



751 



McLeod, Alexander, trial of, 591. 

Manhattan, visited by Hudson, 23 ; 
by Christiaensen and Block, 25 ; 
first commerce, 25 ; bought from 
the Indians, 37 ; the chief market, 
42 ; traffic, 42 ; imder Van Twiller, 
48 ; called New Amsterdam, 74. 

Manning, Captain, in command at 
Albany, 97 ; at New York, 104 ; 
appeals for aid, 104 ; surrenders 
the fort and town, lOG ; pleads 
guilty to neglect of duty, ISO ; 
cashiered, 180. 

Manufactures, under Andros, 183 ; 
growth of, 234 ; diversion recom- 
mended, 234 ; attempts at, 34C ; 
of war munitions, 409; in 1790- 
1811, 456 ; woolen factory at 
Oriskany, 523; ask for protec- 
tion, 585 ; production in 1880, 716 ; 
by water and steam, 720 ; extent 
and diversity, 721 ; in New York 
city, 721 ; by counties, 723 ; in 
the state and nation, 724. 

Marcy, William L., comptroller, 
583 ; governor, 586 ; in the United 
States senate, 587 ; secretary of 
war, 599 ; hopes for the presi- 
dency, G37. 

Martha's Vineyard, claimed by New 
York, 100 ; under Andros, 181 ; in 
Duke's county, 190. 

Masons in politics, 580. 

Massacre of Indians by the Dutch, 
55 ; at Pavonia and Corlaer's 
Hook, GO. 

Mauritius, the, 25. 

May, Cape, claimed hy New York, 
100. 

May, Comelis Jacobsen, discoveries 
of, 31 ; names a cape, 31 ; brings 
the first colonists, 34 ; hands over 
the direction, 37. 

Megapolensis, Domine Johannes, 
59 ; teachings, 78 ; befriends 
Jogues, 147. 

Meljm, Comelis, 54 ; indicted for 
rebellion, GO ; sentenced, G6. 

Mercator's map, 5. 

Milborne, Jacob, arrested for sedi- 
tion, 180 ; recovers a verdict 
against the governor, 181 ; charges 
heresy, 184 ; leads a force to Al- 
bany, 205 ; tried for treason and 
murder, 209 ; is hanged, 211 ; 
bearing on the gallows, 213 ; re- 
mains reburied, 225. 

Miller, Warner, in United States 
senate, 710. 

Millet, among the Oneidas, 169. 



Minuit, Peter, director general, 37 ; 
buys Manhattan, 37 ; recalled, 42 ; 
leads tlie Swedes, 115. 

" Mission of the Martyrs," 147; of 
St. Francis Xavier, 156. 

Missionaries, Dutch, 219, 313; Eng- 
lish, among the Iroquois, 312 ; 
from New England, 486 ; as au- 
thors, 601, 607 ; French, 145 ; 
among the Onondagas, 1;50, 151 ; 
Jesuits condemn the sale of liquor, 
152 ; among the Iroquois, 162. 

Mitchell, Samuel L. , senator in con- 
gress, 507 ; author, 621. 

Mitchell's map of domain of the 
Iroquois, 141. 

Mohawk River, proposed improve- 
ment, 52G ; navigation, 527. 

Mohawks, lead in peace with the 
Dutch, 28 ; pursue enemies to 
Lower Hudson, GO ; sign a treaty 
at Fort Orange, 64 ; are arbitra- 
tors at Fort Amsterdam, 64 ; again 
arbitrators, 86 ; name of, 132 ; 
home of, 132 ; five taken to Eng- 
land, 135 ; audacity of, 136 ; heads 
of Iroquois confederacy, 142 ; 
warriors, 142 ; seize Jogues and 
other French missionaries, 146 ; 
attacked by the French, 153 ; re- 
pulse Courcelles, 154 ; attack a 
hunting party, 154 ; their castles 
ravaged, 155 ; approached by the 
French, 170 ; advise the invasion 
of Canada, 171 ; attacked by Fron- 
tenac, 174 ; frauds in their lands, 
223. 

Montcalm, Marquis de, 326 ; cap- 
tures Oswego, 327 ; destroys Fort 
William Henry, 329 ; victorious 
on Lake George, 332 ; isTiilled at 
Quebec, 336. 

Montgomerie, John, governor, 260. 

Moore, Clement C, 615. 

Moore, Sir Henry, governor, 366 ; 
prorogues the assembly, 369 ; dies, 
374 ; projects a canal at Little 
Falls, 525. 

Morgan, Ed^vin D., governor, 649; 
character, 649 ; reelected, 654 ; in 
national senate, 675. 

Morgan, Lewis H., 611. 

Morgan, William, abducted, 580. 

Mormons, origin of, 618. 

Morris, Gouverneur, incident re- 
lated by, 136 ; in the provincial 
congress, 403 ; favors a strong 
government, 440 ; urges congress 
to declare independence the only 
condition of peace, 441 ; senator 



752 



INDEX. 



in congress, 473 ; minister to 
France, 482 ; predicts the Erie 
Canal, 530 ; advocates its con- 
struction, 530; at the head of a 
canal commission, 531 ; seeks na- 
tional aid, 532 ; reports in favor 
of the Erie Canal, 532. 

Morris, Lewis, 242 ; career, 249 ; 
signs the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, 454. 

Morse, Samuel F. B., 619. 

Moyne, Simon le, missionary, 150 ; 
among the Onondagas, 150 ; dis- 
covers the Salt Springs, 150 ; 
abandons the field, 152. 

Murphy, Henry C, 612. 

Murray, Lindley, 607. 

Nantucket, claimed by New York, 
181 ; sends justices to coin-t in 
New York, 185 ; included in 
Duke's county, 190. 

Netherlands, a foremost power, 44 ; 
influence on the colony, 45, 600. 

New Amsterdam, receives burgher 
government, 74 ; set in motion, 
80 ; asks for fuller powers, 82 ; 
chooses its own officers, 86 ; for- 
tified, 91 ; name changed to New 
York, 96 ; in 1671, 113. 

Nevvburg, action of army officers at, 
440. 

New Jersey, given away, 100 ; ta- 
ken by the English, 119 ; accepts 
Dutch rule, 119 ; a separate col- 
ony, 119 ; causes trouble, 185 ; 
granted a deed, 185 ; sends jus- 
tices to court in New York, 185. 

New Netherland company organ- 
ized, 27 ; charter expires, 31. 

New Netherland founded, 34. 

New Orange, 106; addresses States 
General, 107. 

New York city, discovered by Veraz- 
zano, 3 ; described by Secalart, 4 ; 
visited by Gomez, 5 ; so called, 
96 ; placed under mayor and al- 
dermen, 98 ; population of, 101 ; 
weakness of, 103 ; attacked by 
a Dutch fleet, 104 ; surrendered, 
106 ; burgher government re- 
stoi-ed, 106 ; receives a mayor and 
aldermen, 179 ; a new charter, 
195 ; the capital, 344 ; resists the 
stamp act, 361 ; trouble with Brit- 
ish soldiers, 376 ; fights the battle 
of Golden Hill, 377 ; holds a great 
meeting in " the Fields," 396 ; 
destroys tea, 389 ; admits British 
soldiers, 402 ; position in 1775, 



404 ; occupied by continental 
forces, 409 ; fortified, 409 ; aban- 
doned to the British, 412 ; evacu- 
ated by the British, 448 ; wel- 
comes the national congress, 460 ; 
and Wasliington as president, 461 ; 
social condition, 461 ; activity in 
tlie second war with Great Brit- 
ahi, 520 ; preparations for attack, 
521 ; rejoices at the peace, 523 ; 
draft riots in, 661 ; incendiary 
plot, 674 ; alleged frauds in elec- 
tions, 681 ; in municipal affairs, 
682 ; in the court-house, 683 ; 
records of frauds, 684 ; exposure 
and punishment, 686 ; attempts 
at reform, 687 ; corruption of 
aldermen, 688 ; Orange riot, 688 ; 
financial center, 718 ; in manu- 
factures, 721. 

Newspapers, first, 256 ; made free, 
268 ; in New York city, 344 ; in 
1795, 463 : in 1802, 490, 602 ; in- 
fluence, 604 ; growth, 620. 

Niagara, Fort, built by La Salle, 
162 ; abandoned, 167 ; rebuilt, 
253 ; surrendered to Jolmson, 335. 

Niagara River, operations on, 511, 
513 ; by General McClure, 516. 

Nicholson, Francis, lieutenant gov- 
ernor, 199 ; authority questioned, 
201 ; tries to collect customs, 203 ; 
charged with tlireats of massa- 
cre, 203 ; surrenders the fort to 
Leisler, 203 ; goes to England, 
204. 

Nicolls, Colonel Richard, command- 
er of English fleet, 92 ; takes pos- 
session of New Amsterdam, 96 ; 
calls a convention, 97 ; proclaims 
"The Duke's Laws." 98; ex- 
hausts his fortune, 100 ; resigns, 
100 ; is killed, 100 ; his rule, 101. 

Nine men, 70 ; refuse money to 
Stuyvesant, 70 ; regulate the sale 
of liquor, 71 ; protest against 
Stuyvesant's management, 71 ; 
propose a delegation to Holland, 

72 ; order a journal kept, 72 ; ad- 
dress demands to States General, 

73 ; send representatives to Hol- 
land, 73. 

North, William, 473. 

Northwest territory, New York first 

to transfer to the Union, 441. 
Norumberge, of the French writers, 

4. 
Noyes, John Humphrey. 560. 

Ogdensburg, mission at, 305 ; opera- 



INDEX. 



753 



tions at, 510 ; taken by the Brit- 
ish, 513. 

Oneida Community, 561. 

Oneida Lake, described by Cham- 
plain, 16. 

Oneidas, 132 ; conservative, 142 ; 
castles destroyed, 175; at Oris- 
kany, 415. 

Onondagas, 131 ; home of, 132 ; ora- 
tory, 137 ; yield to French in- 
fluence, 142 ; retire before Fron- 
tenac, 175 ; castles destroyed, 
175 ; operations against, 428, 
429. 

Ontario, Lake, operations on, 510 ; 
British activity on, 514 ; move- 
ments of fleets, 518. 

Orders in council, 506. 

Oriskany, battle of, 415. 

Oswego, fort built at, 252 ; captured 
by Montcalm, 327 ; destroyed by 
the British, 518. 

Palatine Bridge, 237. 

Palatine district appoints commit- 
tee for correspondence, 388 ; or- 
ganizes a local committee, 407. 

Palatines come over, 235 ; are lo- 
cated, 236 ; refuse to work, 236 ; 
some remove, 237 ; cause of their 
failure, 237. 

Paper money issued, 240 ; value, 
242 ; new issues, 282. 

Parties, organized, 338 ; divisions, 
391 ; in the assembly, 393 ; in 
1775, 398 ; their leaders and their 
divisions, 465 ; in 1804, 498 ; in 
1824, .579 ; in 1844, 597 ; in 1847, 
633 ; in 1852, 638 ; in 1854, 645 ; 
in 1861, 659; in 1877, 705; in 
1879, 707. 

Patroons, "Van Rensselaer, 39 ; their 
charter, 39 ; Pauw, 40 ; seek a 
share in the fur trade, 42 ; De 
Vries, 49 ; make trouble, 51 ; 
transfer title to the company, 49, 
88 ; influence, 346 ; land titles, 
026. 

Paulding, James K., 608. 

Pauw, Michael, 33 ; patroon, 40 ; 
buys Staten Island, 40 ; sells it to 
the company, 48. 

Pemaquid, claimed by New York, 
182 ; sends justices to New York, 
185 ; erected into a county, 190 ; 
separated, 190. 

People, first assemble, 56 ; choose 
eight men, 61 ; elect nine, 70 ; 

^ convoked by States G;nisr;vl, 74; 

iy ask for a legislature, 102 ; pjtition 



for an assembly, 187 ; assert con- 
trol of taxation, 190. 

" People of the Long House " (see 
Iroquois), 128. 

Phillipse, Frederick, reports a me- 
morial, 349. 

Pilgrims, English, rejected, 30 ; 
found anotlier colony, 30. 

Piracy, connived at, 220 ; of Cap- 
tain Kidd, 227. 

Pitt, William, orders conquest oi 
Canada, 331. 

Population, in 1625, 37 ; in 1646, 66 ; 
in 1664, 95 ; in 1673, 107 ; in 1674, 
109 ; of Iroquois confederacy, 
132 ; character of, in 1687, 19o ; 
in 1720, 232; in 1731, 262; in 
1756, 338 ; in 1771, 343 ; in 1783, 
449; in 1790-1820, 452, 453; di- 
versified, 485 ; in 1830, 548 ; in 
1840-1860, 648; in 1870-1885, 
727 ; compared with that of the 
Union, 728 ; cosmopolitan, 729. 

Poucet, Joseph, missionary, 149 ; 
captured and tortured, 149; 
among the Mohawks, 149 ; given 
up to the French, 150. 

Pratt, Benjamin, chief justice, 341. 

Presidential election, first, 465 ; 
second, 470 ; third, 472 ; fourth, 
478 ; fifth, 494 ; sixth, 500 ; 
seventh, 502 ; eighth, 535 ; ninth, 
537 ; tenth, 579; eleventh, 583 ; 
twelfth, 585 ; thirteenth, 586 ; 
fourteenth, 588, 595; fifteenth, 
598 ; sixteenth, 635 ; seventeenth, 
638 ; eighteenth, 647 ; nineteenth, 
653 ; twentieth, 671 ; twenty-first, 
679 ; twenty-second, 689 ; twenty- 
third, 700 ; twenty-fourth, 708 ; 
twenty-fifth, 713. 

Press, in New York, 256 ; made free, 
208 ; in New York, 344 ; before 
the Revolution, 395 ; in 1795, 
462, 463 ; in 1802, 490, 602 ; in 
this generation, 620. 

Prices in 1711, 239; fixed by law, 
572 ; in 1780, 573. 

Primacy of New York, 727. 

Prisoners abused by the British, 
432. 

Prohibitory act passed, C43 ; vetoed, 
643 ; second passed, 645 ; declared 
unconstitutional, 645. 

Provincial congress, called, 396 ; in 
1775, 403 ; addresses Washington, 
404 ; proceedings, 407 ; new elec- 
tion for, 410 ; approves of the 
Declaration of Independence, 410. 

Provincial convention, first, 66 ; for 



754 



INDEX. 



defense, 61 ; to confer, 70 ; of 
1653, 81 ; of 1663, 89 ; of 1664, 
91 ; of 1665, 98 ; called by Leisler, 
204 ; of 1775, 395. 

Quakers, persecuted, 79 ; under 
Dongan, 196 ; admitted to the 
as3embly, 263. 

Railroads, receive state aid, 547 ; 
charters for, 641 ; consolidation, 
641 ; freight carried in 1885, 642 ; 
charters for street, 652 ; earnings 
in 1886, 719. 
Rebellion, Melyn indicted for, 66 ; 
arrests for inciting, 180 ; of Leis- 
ler, 203 ; Bayard tried for, 225. 
Reform in politics, 695. 
Regents of the university, 457, 558. 
Religious services, 37 ; disputes, 78 ; 
restrictions, 78 ; toleration, 79 ; 
persecutions, 80 ; liberality, 88 : 
activity, 102 ; condition in 1074, 
110 ; freedom guaranteed, 193 ; 
condition in 1695, 218; in 1710, 
242 ; activity, 458 ; in ISOO, 480 ; 
in the next generation, 559 ; and 
literature, 621. 
Rensselaer, Kiliaen van, S3 ; a pa- 
troon, 39 ; buys land, 40 ; buys 
new tracts, 76. 
Rensselaer, Nicolaus van, charged 

with heresy, 183. 
Rensselaerwyck receives colonists, 

39 ; and a clergyman, 59. 
Revenue, amount and sources, in 
1692, 220 ; in 1700, 221. See Taxes. 
Revolution, military operations of, 
on Golden Hill, 377 ; at Ticon- 
deroga, 400 ; in Schoharie, 408 ; 
on Long Island, 410 ; at White 
Plains, 412 ; on Lake Champlain, 
412 ; at Fort Stanwix and Oris- 
kany, 413 ; against Burgoyne, 
418 ; at Bemus Heights, 421 ; on 
the Hudson, 426 ; against the 
Iroquois, 428 ; in the Mohawk 
Valley, 431 ; at Stony Point, 437 ; 
in the Mohawk Valley, 438 ; in 
Schoharie county, 438 ; departure 
of the British armies, 448. 
Riots, against abolitionists, 589 ; 
overland controversies, 626 ; anti- 
rent, 626 ; suppressed, 627, 628 ; 
against seizure of a fugitive slave, 
637 ; in New York city, 661 ; 
against the draft, 662 ; lives lost 
and property destroyed, 667 ; at 
other points, 667 ; preparations 
against, in 1SC4, 671 ; Orange, 688. 



Roman Catholics, excluded from 
charter of liberties, 215 ; charges 
against, 290 ; law against, 571. 

Rome, fort proposed at, 280 ; French 
operations at, 326 ; siege of, 413. 

Sackets Harbor, army at, 510 ; 
gunboats and ships constructed 
at, 510 ; battle at, 513 ; conference 
at, 514. 

St. Lawrence River, discovered by 
Verazzano, 3 ; by Cartier, 6 ; 
military operations on, 510. 

St. Leger's campaign, 413. 

Salle, Ren6 Robert la, missionary, 
157 ; among the Senecas, 158 ; 
with Frontenac, 160 ; builds Fort 
Niagara, 162. 

Saratoga destroyed , 299 ; scene of 
Burgoyne's surrender, 425, 

Schenectady, Van Curler at, 87 ; re- 
motest settlement, 109 ; Courcelles 
at, 153; burned by Frontenac, 
169. 

Schoolcraft, Henry R., 611, 

Schoolmaster, first, 43 : for a com- 
mon school, 77 ; for a Latin school, 
87 ; English, at Albany, 99. 

Schools, first, 43 ; common, 77 ; 
Latin, 87 ; wide reputation of, 87; 
maintained. 111 ; act for public 
school, 202 ; growth after the 
Revolution, 457 ; of science and 
the professions, 551 ; academies 
and normal, 551 ; industrial and 
mission, 551 ; common, number, 
552 ; by tax, 552 ; society for a 
free school in New York, 553 ; 
state appropriations, 553 ; in 1818, 
554 ; improved system, 554 ; reli- 
gion in, 555 ; normal, 556 ; tuition 
i remitted, 556 ; free, 557 ; expen- 
ditures, 557 ; present system, 

558 ; influence of churches on, 

559 ; increase of tax for, 679. 
Schuyler, John, leads an expedition 

to Ija Prairie, 172. 
Schuyler, Peter, 1710 ; takes Mo- 
hawks to England, 135 ; appeals 
I to Massachusetts, 170 ; leads an 
expedition, 172 ; effect of the ex- 
pedition, 173 ; opposes Frontenac, 
I 174 ; opposes Leisler, 206 ; with- 
i draws from land schemes, 224 ; 
career of, 245 ; effect of his visit 
to England, 246; acting governor, 
247 ; his descendants, 248 ; dis- 
n-.isted from the council, 258. 
Schuyler, Phihp, in the assembly, 
371 ; reports an address, 373 ; 



INDEX. 



755 



and the Iroquois. 403 ; major 
general, 405 ; in command of tiie 
nortliern army, 413 ; acts against 
Burgoyne, 418 ; his courage and 
activity, 419 ; is removed from 
command, 4'Jl ; senator in con- 
gress, 4G7, 472. 
Scotch Highlanders immigrate, 284 ; 

trials of, 2Sr>. 
Scott, John Morin, a Son of Liberty, 
271 ; derives all authority from 
the people, 341 ; predicts separa- 
tion, 359 ; chairman of committoe 
of safety, 435. 
Scott, John, sets up English rule on 

Long Island, 90. 
Scott, Winfield, a prisoner, 511 ; in 
command on the Niagara frontier, 
517 ; victor at Lundy's Lane, 
517 ; on the northern frontier, 
591 ; for president, 038. 
Sears, Isaac, leads against the 
stamp act, 3G2 ; accused before 
the assembly, 375; seizs three 
British soldiers, 377 : proposes a 
general congress, 389 ; patriotic 
action of, 397 ; removes guns on 
the Battery, 405. 
Sedition, arrests for, 180 ; of Judge 

Peck, 477. 
Senecas, name of, 131 ; home and 
numbers, 132 ; oratory, 139 ; till 
the soil, 142 ; attacked by the 
French, 166 ; by Sullivan, 428. 
Seward, William H., on religion in 
schools, 556 ; in the state senate, 
584 ; governor, 595 ; career, 595 ; 
agent of Holland company, 626 ; 
issues a proclamation against the 1 
anti-rent tumults, 627 ; in United 
States senate, 637 ; candidate for 
president, 651 ; grounds of oppo- 
sition to him, 652 ; set aside, G53 ; 
supports Mr. Lincoln, 654 ; on 
political divisions in New York, 
733. 
Seymour, Horatio, advocates en- 
largement of tlie canals, 540 ; and 
the abolition of tolls, 546 ; gover- 
nor, 639; position of, C40 ; agiin 
a candidate for governor, 644 ; 
on the war for the Union, 050 ; 
again elected governor, 6.59 ; on 
the conduct of the war, 660 ; pro- 
tests against the draft, 661 ; 
action on the riots, G65 ; declares 
the laws must be enforced, 668 ; 
secures a reduction of the quota 
of the State, 668; on arbitrary 
arrests, CG9 ; receives the thanks 



of the legislature, 669 ; appeals 
against strife and disorder, 672 ; 
nominated for president, G70 ; 
energy and eloquence, (SSO ; devo- 
tion to the canals, 680 ; and to 
the history of the State, 680 ; 
dies, 680 ; his character, 681. 
Seymour, John F. , cares for soldiers 

of the State, 670. 
Shipbuilding, the Restless, 26; the 
New Netherland, 42 ; the Griffin, 
162. 
Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, 
proposes an expedition, 305 ; com- 
mander-in-chief, 320 ; fails to 
reach Niagara, 321 ; is severely 
criticised, 321 ; proposes a winter 
campaign, 325 ; is censured and 
removed, 325. 
Simms, Jeptha R., 613. 
Six Nations (see Iroquois), 128. 
Slavery, abolished, 483, 5G5 ; opposi- 
tion to extension, 589 ; in territory 
acquired from Moxico, 633 ; de- 
mands for restriction, 638 ; resist- 
ance to, 647 ; struggle of 1860, 
653. 
Slaves, recommended, 64 ; importa- 
tion from Africa, 75 ; number of, 
232 ; insurrection, 233 ; alleged 
conspiracy, 288 ; execution of, 
294 ; children to be free, 484 ; all 
free. 565. 
Sloughter, Colonel Henry, gov- 
ernor, 208 ; arrives. 209 ; accepts 
surrender of Leisler, 209 ; his 
council, 215. 
Smith, Gerrit, 636. 
Smith, Joseph, 618. 
Smith, "William (son), writes a His- 
tory of New York, 259, 603; 
(father), coimsel for Zenger, 270 ; 
a Son of Liberty, 270 ; a popular 
leader, 341. 
Smits, Claes, murder of, 56. 
Soldiers, British, quarters demanded 
fot-. 368; cut down liberty pole, 
369; riot about the pole, 376; are 
driven back, 377 ; make another 
Pttack, 379; permitted to land in 
New York, 402 ; evacuate the city, 
448. 
Soldiers of New York, in the war 
1 for the Union, first levy, 657 ; by 
I draft, 669; in 18G3, 669; allowed 
to vote in the field, C73 ; services 
of, G75 ; total number, 676. 
Sons of Liberty, established, 270 ; 
declare for the union of the col- 
onies, 366; drive back British 



756 



INDEX. 



soldiers, 377; in the battle of 
Golden Hill, 377 ; oppose importa- 
tion of tea, 385; propose a gen- 
eral congress, 389 ; action of, 
397 ; value of the organization, 
398 ; seize British arms, 403 ; warn 
the tories, 450. 

South River, first colony on, 35; 
Swedes on, 75 ; double on, 84 ; 
sold by the Dutch, 118. 

" Spectator," the, on the Mohawks, 
135. 

Speculation in land, by Bayard, 
223 ; by Livingston, 224 ; by cler- 
gymen and councilors, 224 ; in the 
Mohawk country, 304 ; in 17G4, 
372 ; in state sales, 451 ; and Mas- 
sachusetts grants, 458. 

Stamp act, resistance to, 3G2 ; re- 
joicings at repeal of, 3G7. 

Staten Island, bought by Pauw, 
40 ; transferred to the company, 
49 ; De Vries establishes a colony 
on, 54 ; it is destroj'ed, 56 ; title 
confirmed to the West India Com- 
pany, 88 ; confiscated by the Duke 
of York, 100. 

States General, enterprise of the, 
19 ; charter the New Netherland 
Company, 27 ; refuse Eobinson 
permission to colonize, 30 ; char- 
ter the West India Company, 30 ; 
receive appeal from the Eight, 63 ; 
make a provisional order, 73 ; con- 
demn Kieft, 73 ; order the con- 
vocation of the commonalty, 73 ; 
answer appeals, 91 ; repudiated 
in the English towns, 92 ; neglect 
the colony, 94 ; surrender it to 
Great Britain, 109. 

Steuben, Baron, chooses a home, 
451. 

Stone, William L., 610. 

Storrs, Henry R., 588. 

Street, Alfred B., 617. 

Stuyvesant, Peter, director at Cu- 
ra^oa, 62 ; sends troops, 62 ; direc- 
tor general, 68 ; his character, 68 ; 
joy at his arrival, 69 ; orders an 
election, 70 ; asks for money, 70 ; 
visits Fort Orange, 70 ; acts for 
the company, 70 ; is blamed by 
the Nine, 73 ; sends his secretary 
to Holland, 73 ; ordered to Hol- 
land, 73 ; acts against the Swedes, 
75 ; makes a treaty at Hartford, 
75 ; disregards orders of States 
General, 76 ; buys Westchester 
for the company, 76 ; arrests Van 
Dincklagen, 7G ; controversy with 



the convention, 82 ; sustained by 
the States General, 84 ; goes to 
the West Indies, 84 ; his bravery 
93 ; seeks to defend New Amster 
dam, 93 ; is compelled to surren 
der, 93 ; welcomes Huguenots, 94 
pleads for religious freedom, 95 
sustained by States General, 90 
efforts for commerce, 96 ; dies, 96 
his activity on South River, 117. 

Sugar act, opposition to, 350. 

Sullivan's expedition, 428. 

Swedes on South River, 75 ; sur- 
prise Fort Cashnir, 84 ; claim 
land, 115 ; send an expedition, 

116 ; establish Fort Christina, 
116; command mouth of South 
River, 116; repulse the Dutch, 

117 ; distress of, 117 ; surrender 
Fort Christina, 118 ; are expelled, 
118. 



Tallmadge, James, Jr., opposes ex- 
tension of slavery, 589. 

" Tatler," the, on the Mohawks, 
135. 

Tawasentha, treaty of, 27. 

Taxes, imposed by Kieft, 63 ; on 
liquor-selling, 71 ; control con- 
ceded to commonalty, 74 ; pro- 
vided, 81 ; pavment refused, 84 ; 
under " Tlie Duke's Laws," 98 ; 
asked for, 102 ; levied by Colve, 
108 ; under instructions to Andros, 
178 ; payment refused, 187 ; re- 
pudiated by Leisler, 203 ; assem- 
bly asserts control over, 231 ; 
opposition to involuntary, 350 ; 
parUament asserts control of, 
370 ; except on tea, repealed, 381. 

Taylor, Bayard, 620. 

Tea, taxed, 370 ; sole commodity 
taxed, 381 ; relieved of export 
duty, 384 ; shipped to four ports 
at once, 385 ; importation of, 
forbidden, 385 ; seized and de- 
stroyed, 389. 

Thanksgiving day appointed, 65 ; by 
Colve, 112. 

Ticonderoga, 320 ; abandoned by 
the French, 335 ; captured by 
Ethan Allen, 400 ; by Burgoyne, 
418 ; recovered, 426. 

Tilden, Samuel J., in constitutional 
convention, 568 ; elected gover- 
nor, 693 ; opposes Tweed, 693 ; 
and the canal ring, 694 ; as a 
party leader, 700 ; for president, 
700 ; contests for the presidency, 
702 ; and the electoral commis- 



INDEX. 



Ibl 



Bion, 703 ; career and character, 
703 ; dies, 704 ; bequests, 704. 

" Times," New York, exposes 
Tweed's frauds, 685. 

Tompkins, Daniel D. , 489 ; opposes 
bank charters, 492 ; on the bench 
and in congress, 497 ; elected 
governor, 500 ; reelected, 501, 
509 ; activity in the war, 519 ; 
raises money, 521 ; shows little 
interest in the canals, 535 ; elected 
vice-president, 535 ; defeated for 
governor, 537 ; reelected vice- 
president, 537 ; in convention of 
1821, 503; dies, 578; a creditor 
of the State, 578. 

Topography of New York, 120; 
natural features of, 121 ; rivers 
and mountains, 123 ; militaiy ad- 
vantages of, 123 ; cause of growth 
and power, 125 ; form and area, 
126 ; makes the colony and State 
a battleiield, 127 ; the key to its 
history, 127. 

Tories, activity of, 406 ; put to 
flight, 408 ; in New York, 432 ; 
guilty of barbarity, 439 ; after the 
Revolution, 449. 

Trade, regulation of, 54 ; restric- 
tions on, 57 ; extension of, 233. 
See Commerce. 

Treaty, first, with the red men, 27 ; 
of Fort Stauwix, 142 ; of Albany, 
191. 

Tryon, William, governor, 382 ; ad- 
dresses the assembly, 383 ; attends 
to domestic affairs, 384 ; makes 
threats about tea, 386 ; is honored, 
387 ; reports on trade and re- 
sources of the colony, 387 ; uses 
his power for the crown, 398 ; his 
schemes, 405 ; flees to a war-ship, 
408; is active, 432; is attainted, 
432; dies, 432. 

Tuscaroras, 132. 

Tweed, William M. , career of, 682 ; 
dictator in affairs, 683 ; is ex- 
posed, 685 ; convicted, 686 ; es- 
capes, 687 ; captured, 687 ; dies 
in prison, 687. 

Twelve, for advice, 57 ; demand 
reconstruction of council, 57 ; and 
representation of the people, 57 ; 
dismissed by Kieft, 58. 

Twiller, Wouter van, director gen- 
eral, 43 ; his faith in the colony, 
48 ; makes improvements, 48 ; 
removed, 50 ; becomes execu- 
tor of Patroon Van Rensselaer, 
50. 



Underhill, Captain John, 54 ; as a 
fighter, 02 ; hoists the English flag, 
81 ; banished, 81. 

Union, colonial, invited, 357 ; com- 
mittee for, appointed, 380. 

Van Buren, Martin, secretary of 
state, 482 ; opposes Clinton, 536 ; 
chosen United States senator, 
540 ; in convention of 1821, 5C3 ; 
his rise, 578 ; intrigues against the 
candidate of his party, 579 ; elected 
governor, 582 ; secretary of state, 
583 ; rejected as minister to Eng- 
land, 584 ; for vice-president, 580 ; 
for president, 586 ; and slavery, 
590 ; in 1848, 634. 

Verazzano, Giovanni da, discovers 
the St. Lawrence and New York 
Bay, 3. 

Verhulst, William, director, 37. 

Vermont, controversy over, 401 ; be- 
comes a separate State, 402. 

Vries, Pietersen de, patroon, 49 ; on 
South River, 49 ; controversy with 
Van Twiller, 49 ; on Staten Island, 
54 ; president of the Twelve, 57 ; 
denounces Kieft, 62. 

Wages under Governor Hunter, 
237. 

Walloons, first colonists, 34. 

War, French, 315. 

War for the Union, 651 ; protests 
against, 655 ; action of the legisla- 
ture, 055 ; first levy of volunteers, 

657 ; money advanced to the gov- 
ernment, 658 ; general uprising, 

658 ; opposition to the conduct of 
the war, 660 ; men raised in the 
State, 609 ; care for soldiers, 670 ; 
strain of, 677 ; bounties paid, 677. 

War, second, with Great Britain, 
505. 

Warner, Susan and Anna B.,661. 

Washington visits the Mohawk and 
Susquehanna, 124 ; his opinion of 
the country, 124 ; and the Iro- 
quois, 140 ; in New York, 404 ; in 
command, 409 ; at Newburg, 440 ; 
bids farewell to the army, 449 ; 
visits the interior of the State, 525 ; 
proposes water connection with 
the West, 525. 

Wassenaer, Historical Relation of, 
36. 

Watson, James, 473, 

Wealth in the colony, ISIi ; of the 
State compared with Belgium, 
728 ; with the Union, 728. 



758 



INDEX. 



Webb, General, fails to reach Os- 
wego, 327 ; fails at Fort Edward, 
329. 

Weed, Thurlow, 583 ; editor of the 
Albany " Journal," G51. 

West India Company chartered, 31 ; 
its vast powers, 31 ; takes posses- 
sion of New Netherlaud, 33 ; sends 
out a colony, 34 ; investigated by 
the States General, 53 ; receives ap- 
peal from the Eight, 63 ; becomes 
bankrupt, 63 ; recommends 
changes, 64 ; removes Kieft, 65 ; 
its abdication demanded, 73 ; sus- 
tains the reformed religion, 78; 
its authority confirmed, 91 ; sells 
its interests on South River, 118. 

Wheeler, William A., president of 
convention of 1867, 569 ; in con- 
gress, 676 ; vice-president, 702, 

Wilkinson, General, in command, 
514 ; fails, 515 ; ends his cam- 
paign, 517. 

Willett, Marinus, against the stamp 
act, 364 ; seizes British arms, 
403 ; leads a sortie at Fort Stan- 
wix, 416 ; marches against the 
Onondagas, 428. 

Witchcraft, trial for, 99. 

WoUey, Rev. Charles, publishes a 
Journal of Two Years in New 
York, 184. 



Wool. General John E., in the riots, 

665. 
Wright, SUas, comptroller, 584; 

governor, 597 ; influence of, 597 ; 

declines to be secretary of the 

treasury, 598 ; dies, 599 ; in the 

anti-rent riots, 628. 

Yatss, Joseph C, gOTemor, 540. 

Yates, Robert, in constitutional 
convention, 445: retires from that 
body, 446 ; chief justice, 447 ; 
candidate for governor, 4G6 ; 
again defeated for governor, 
471. 

York, Duke of, colony named after, 
2 ; sends an expedition, 92 ; his 
treachery, 94 ; gives New Jersey 
av.ay, 100 ; sends an expedition to 
the South River, 119 ; gives deeds 
of New Jersey, 185 ; promises an 
assembly, 187 ; ascends the throne, 
192. 

Yorkshire, name given to Long 
Island, 97. 

Zenger, John Petee, establishes 
the " Journal," 256 ; proclaimed 
by Governor Cosby, 256 ; im- 
prisoned, 257 ; charged with li- 
bel, 268 ; is tried, 270 ; acquitted, 
273. 



'^rrf. 



;t 



^^mericatt Comnton\uealtt)3» 

EDITED BY 

HORACE E. SCUDDER, 



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(Richmond, Va.). 

" OREGON." 

The long and interesting story of the struggle of five nations 
for the possession of Oregon is told in the graphic and reliable 
narrative of William Barrows. ... A more fascinating record 
has seldom been written. . . . Careful research and pictorial skill 
of narrative commend this book of antecedent history to all in- 
terested in the rapid march and wonderful development of our 
American civilization upon the Pacific coast. — Sprijzgfield Re- 
publican. 

There is so much that is new and informing embodied in this 
little volume that we commend it with enthusiasm. It is written 
with great ability. — Magazine of American History (New York). 

"MARYLAND." 

With great care and labor he has sought out and studied origi- 
nal documents. By the aid of these he is able to give his work a 
value and interest that would have been impossible had he fol- 
lowed slavishly the commonly accepted authorities on his subject. 
His investigation in regard to toleration in Maryland is particu- 
larly noticeable. — Neiv York Evening Post. 

A substantial contribution to the history of America. — Maga- 
zine of American History. 

" KENTUCKY." 

Professor Shaler has made use of much valuable existing ma- 
terial, and by a patient, discriminating, and judicious choice has 
^iven us a complete and impartial record of the various stages 



through which this State has passed from its first settlement t( 
the present time. No one will read this story of the building o 
one of the great commonwealths of this Union without feelings o 
deep interest, and that the author has done his work well and ira 
partially will be the general verdict. — Christian at Work (Ne\ 
York). 

A capital example of what a short State history should be. - 
Hartford Co'urant. 

" KANSAS." 

In all respects one of the very best of the series. . . . His wor] 
exhibits diligent research, discrimination in the selection of ms 
terials, and skill in combining his chosen stuff into a narratio: 
that has unity, and order, and lucidity. It is an excellent preser 
tation of the important aspects and vital principles of the Kansa 
struggle. — Hartford Courant. 

" MICHIGAN." 

An ably written and charmingly interesting volume. . . . Fo 
variety of incident, for transitions in experience, for importano 
of events, and for brilliancy and ability in the service of the lead 
ing actors, the history of Michigan offers rare attractions ; anc 
the writer of it has brought to his task the most excellent gift 
and powers as a vigorous, impartial, and thoroughly accomplishe< 
historian. — Christian Register (Boston). 

"CALIFORNIA." 

Mr. Royce has made an admirable study. He has establishec 
his view and fortified his position with a wealth of illustratioi 
from incident and reminiscence. The story is made altogethe 
entertaining. ... Of the country and its productions, of pionee 
life and character, of social and political questions, of busines; 
and industrial enterprises, he has given us full and intelligent ac 
counts. — Boston Transcript. ♦ 

It is the most truthful and graphic description that has beei 
written of this wonderful history which has from time to tim( 
been written in scraps and sketches. — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., Publishers, 
Boston and New York.