No More Learning

116, n. 16.
2 The notice of the meeting declared, by way of reassurance, that
"the gentlemen appointed are of the body of merchants; men of
property, probity, and understanding, whose zeal for the public good
cannot be doubted, their own several private interests being so inti-
mately connected with that of the whole community . . . " 4 Am. Arch. ,
vol. i, p. 293 n.
1 Sparks, Gouverneur Morris, vol. i, pp. 23-26.
'4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 204-295. For names of the original fifty,
vide ibid. , p. 293.
5 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 295.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
331
Gouverneur Morris, who himself possessed strong mod-
erate sympathies, reflected upon the election of the Fifty-
One in this wise:
The spirit of the English Constitution has yet a little influence
left, and but a little. . . . The mob begin to think and to
reason. Poor reptiles! it is with them a vernal morning; they
are struggling to cast off their winter's slough, they bask in
the sunshine, and ere noon they will bite, depend upon it. The
gentry begin to fear this. Their Committee will , . . deceive
the people, and again forfeit a share of their confidence. And
if these instances of what with one side is policy, and with
the other perfidy, shall continue to increase, and become more
frequent, farewell aristocracy. 1
At their very first meeting on May 23, the Committee of
Fifty-One, thus constituted and controlled, drew up a . reply
to the Boston cjrc11lar lettgr of May 13. Phrased with ex-
cessive caution, this answer expressed deep concem_aL. the
dilemma of Boston, but dfirl"TM"*-"1 faw>r
active measures until an iptfrprpvinrial congress should be
held? On June 3, they sent a letter to the supervisors of all
the counties, proposing the appointment of committees of
1 Sparks, op. <<'/. , vol. i, pp. 23-26.
* 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 297-298. No course could have been more
unsatisfactory to the leaders of the popular party at Boston, as they at
once made clear. The Boston Committee responded fhat, even if the
congress assembled with the greatest possible expedition, it would be
many months before a non-intercourse could become effective, whereas
an immediate suspension of trade would have "a speedy and irresis-
table operation" upon the British government. Bos. Com. Cor. Papers,
vol. x, pp. 807-808. Furthermore, the Bostonians were aware, even if
they were silent on the point, that the postponement opened a wide
door for the importation of British goods at New York in anticipation
of a possible non-intercourse later. The New York Committee remained
unmoved. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 303-304; N. Y. Journ. , June a, 1774
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? 332
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
correspondence in the various towns. 1 The motive of the
Fifty-One seems to have been to adapt the Massachusetts
plan of radical agitation to the sterling purposes of con-
servative indoctrination. They took this step with the
greater assurance, because the rural towns, except Albany,
had been notoriously apathetic, if not unsympathetic, dur-
ing the troubles over the Stamp Act and the Townshend
duties. The instinctive conservatism of the great land-
owners, and the natural intellectual torpidity of the small
farmers, undisturbed by the yeast of a constant exercise in
local government or by the machinations of a group of city
politicians (as in Massachusetts), seemed in this instance
to make the rural population the natural allies of the great
merchants. The latter failed to perceive, however, that the
mass of inland people, engaged in the pressing task of mak-
ing a livelihood, would be inclined to be unresponsive to any
approaches from outside, whether from the one side or the
other; either that, or, as the canny Colden feared, "the
Business in the Counties will be left to a few forward in-
temperate Men, who will undertake to speak for the whole
>>a
Both eventualities seem to have occurred. The invita-
tion of the Fifty-One met with little response, only four
towns, it would appear, appointing committees of corres-
pondence in the subsequent two months; and three of these
towns belonged to Suffolk County at the eastern end of
Long Island, which had been founded by natives of Con-
necticut. The resolutions of these towns were more ex-
treme than the Fifty-One wished, all of them favoring
some form of non-intercourse along the lines proposed by
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 300-301.
1" Could their sentiments be fairly known I make no doubt a large
Majority would be for the most Moderate & Prudent Measures. " Col-
den to Tryon, June a, 1774; Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 345.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
333
Boston. 1 In Cumberland County, the supervisors deliber-
ately withheld the letters from the towns; but when in Sep-
tember the existence of the letters became known, delega-
tions from two towns insisted that the instructions of the
Fifty-One be carried out, and in October a county conven-
tion was held at Westminster, which adopted vigorous reso-
lutions of a radical character. 2
Defeated in their original fight for a friendly committee
of correspondence, the radical jeaders at New York City
now undertook to turn the tables on the moderates by de-
vising a method of selecting delegates to_ the impending
congress, who would go pledged to carry out radical ideas.
Realizing their inability to attain their ends through the aid
of the moderate majority of the Fifty-One, the radicals
now began to claim for the Committee of Mechanics a co-
ordinate authority in nominating a ticket of delegates to the
congress. 8 On June 2g, McDougall made a motion that a
ticket of five names should be proposed by the Fifty-One,
sent to the Committee of Mechanics for their concurrence,
and then submitted to the freeholders and freemen of city
and county for their ratification. When the discussion be-
came protracted, a vote on the question was postponed until
the next meeting on July 4, when the radical plan was
swamped by a vote of 24 to 13. 4 A motion providing for
1 Southhaven, Easthampton and Huntington in Suffolk County;
Orange Town in Orange County. Becker, op. cit. , pp. 136-138 and
references. Other towns may have acted.
14 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 218-219, 1064-1066.
1 It will be recalled that the election of the Fifty-One had been for-
mally assented to by the Committee of Mechanics, though this action
came without any solicitation from the moderates.
* This vote reveals the personnel of the radical minority, as follows:
Abraham Brasher, John Broome, Peter T. Curtenius, Joseph Hallett,
Francis Lewis, Leonard Lispenard, P. V. B. Livingston, Abraham P.
Lott, Alexander McDougall, John Moore, Thomas Randall, Isaac Sears,
Jacobus Van Zandt. However, on later votes Moore sided with the
majority. Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 307-308.
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? 334
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
exclusive nomination by the Fifty-One and later ratification
by the freeholders and freemen was at once adopted b/
nearly the same numbers. Sears immediately placed in
nomination the names of Isaac Low, James Duane, Philip
Livingston, John Morin Scott and Alexander McDougall
for the coveted positions. This list was offered by the
radicals with a genuine hope of its adoption, for it was
composed of two confirmed moderates, Low and Duane,
merchant and lawyer; the merchant, Livingston, who pos-
sessed inclinations both ways; * and the two out-and-out
radicals. But the majority failed to see any occasion for
compromise; and they substituted the moderates, John Jay
and John Alsop, lawyer and merchant, for the two radical
nominees. They then passed a motion calling a public meet-
ing for Thursday, July 7, to concur in their nominations or
tochoose others in their stead. 2
VT. he radicals had an interval of two days before the meet-
ing of the seventh in which to retrieve the disaster which
had again been visited upon them, and they set to work to
accomplish this through the agency of the Committee of
Mechanicsj On Tuesday, July 5, that body took under
consideration the nominations made by the " Committee of
Merchants," as they preferred to style the Fifty-One, and
placed a negative on Duane and Alsop, substituting Mc-
Dougall and Lispenard in their stead. They issued an ap-
peal to the public, explaining that " the Committee of Mer-
chants did refuse the Mechanics a representation on their
body, or to consult with their committee, or offer the names
of the persons nominated to them for their concurrence,"
and they exhorted " the mechanics . . . and every other
friend to the liberty of his country " to rally to the support
1 Vide Becker's note on Livingston, op. cit. , p. 122, n. 29.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 308-309.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
335
of the new ticket at the Thursday's meeting. 1 The radicals
next arranged a public demonstration in the Fields on the
following evening, July 6, the night before the meeting
called by the Fifty-One. Naturally no moderates attended;
and the "numerous meeting" under the chairmanship of
the energetic McDougall adopted unanimous resolutions in
support of Boston, and forthwith "instructed, empowered
and directed" the New York delegates to the congress to
agree for the city to a non-importation and to "all such
other measures" as Congress should deem necessary for a
redress of American grievances. 2 The radicals expected to
accomplish a coup d'etat; obviously the giving of instruc-
tions properly belonged to the public meeting regularly
called by the Fifty-One.
The labors of the radicals were not without effect, al-
though the results fell short of what they desired to accom-
plish. When the public meeting assembled Thursday noon,
it was unanimously voted that a canvass of the freeholders,
freemen and taxpayers of the city should be made on the
two tickets, under the joint supervision of the Fifty-One
and the Committee of Mechanics. 8 The moderate majority
had thus been forced to recognize the Committee of Me-
j'hpnicj; and tqjiXteH +h. f f^^KJgn. beyond the freeholders
and freemen; indeed, all later canvasses of the city, with a
single unimportant exception, were on the basis of this ex-
1 Advertisement of July 6; Broadsides (N. Y. Hist. Soc. ), vol. i.
*N. Y. Gas. , July 11, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 312-313.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 309-310. Freemen were those who had purchased
the privilege of engaging in certain occupations within the corporations
of New York and Albany.
The electoral freeholders were those who
possessed, free of incumbrance, an estate in fee, for life, or by cour-
tesy, of the value of ? 40. The proportion of electors to the total popu-
lation was about 12 per cent in 1790, and no doubt smaller in the earlier
years. Becker, op. cit. , pp. 10-11.
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? 336 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tended suffrage. But in a session the same evening, the
Fifty-One formally disavowed, by the usual majority, the
proceedings of the irregular meeting of the night before on
the ground that they were intended to reflect on the Fifty-
One and create divisions among the citizens; and they ap-
pointed a committee of their own to draw up proper in-
structions. 1 While a motion was being made to depart
from the usual custom of secrecy maintained by the Fifty-
One and to publish this vote of disavowal, a number of the
radicals withdrew in a rage, ordering their names to be
struck from the committee roster and shouting along the
streets, " The Committee is dissolved, the Committee is dis-
solved. " 2
On the next day matters between the radicals and the
moderates came to a head. The conference between the
sub-committees of the Fifty-One and the Committee of Me-
chanics reached an absolute deadlock over the manner of
conducting the canvass of the city; * arrangements for a
vote thus came to a halt. Later in the day eleven j^Jical
m TMl-. i . . f n>> PUiy-nt,. . >>nnfflinmuhrir resignation in a
public statement, alleging as their chief reason the vote of
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 310-312.
1"One of the Committee" in ibid. , vol. i, pp. 314-315; also N. Y.
Gasetteer, July 14, 1774.
1 The former insisted that the voters must make a blanket choice
between the two lists. The latter held that the voters should select any
five of the seven candidates. (It will be recalled that, although the two
tickets contained ten names, the names of Low, Livingston and Jay
appeared on both tickets. ) As the real contest lay between Duane and
Alsop of the moderate slate and McDougall and Lispenard of the
radical slate, the voting of a split ticket, it was believed, would work
to the benefit of McDougall, who was a man of considerable popularity;
while it was not thought that many voters would be willing to sacrifice
both Duane and Alsop in order to vote for him. McDougall withdrew
his candidacy, alleging the unfairness of the plan of the Fifty-One.
McDougall to the Freeholders, July 9, 1774; Broadsides, vol. i.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 337
disavowal and censure passed by the committee on the pre-
vious evening. 1 Until July 13, matters remained at a
deadlock, each side apparently awaiting some move of the
other. On the evening of July 13, the "Fifty-One"
adopted a set of resolutions, which defined their platform
of public policy in sharp contrast with that of the radicals.
They called a public meeting at the Coffee House for Tues-
day, July 19, in order to act on these resolutions and to
ratify the committee's nominations for Congress. As a
matter of fact, these resolutions marked little or no ad-
vance beyond the non-committal letter written by the Fifty-
One on May 23 in answer to the Boston circular letter.
On the issues of primary concern, they asserted that, while
all delegates ought to go to Congress empowered to bind
the provinces they represented, it would be premature for
any one province to anticipate Congress's conduct by giving
instructions; that only dire necessity would justify commer-
cial opposition; and that a non-importation, only partially
observed like the last one, would be worse than none at all. 2
Of the public meeting of July 19 no satisfactory account
remains; but it is clear that the generalship of the moder-
ates proved temporarily inadequate. The resolutions pro-
posed by the "Fifty-One" were rejected as "void of
vigour, sense and integrity;" and the meeting, determined
to decentralize the power of the "Fifty-One," entrusted
the formulation of new resolutions to a specially-created
committee, consisting of ten radicals and five moderates.
As for the ticket of delegates submitted to the meeting, it
would appear that three of the nominations (Low, Alsop
and Jay) were ratified and two "unexceptionable friends
1 Brasher, Broome, Hallett, Lewis, Lispenard, P. V. B. Livingston,
Lott, McDougall, Randall, Sears and Van Zandt. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i,
PP. 313-314.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 315; Broadsides, vol. i.
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? 338 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
of liberty" were added. 1 The moderates at once bent
every energy to discredit completely the doings of the public
gathering. At a session in the evening the "Fifty-One"
wrote into their minutes their opinion that " as only a small
proportion of the citizens attended the meeting" at noon
and "the sentiments of the majority" continued "uncer-
tain," a canvass of the town should be made to ascertain
the opinion of the people on this matter and also on the
ticket of delegates nominated by the Fifty-One. 2 In other
words, they repudiated entirely the public meeting which
they themselves had called. Their action gained moral
weight the next day when Low, Alsop and Jay declared
that they could not deem themselves or any others as prop-
erly nominated as delegates until the sentiments of the town
had been ascertained with greater precision. Likewise, four
of the five moderates, appointed on the new committee of
fifteen for drawing up resolutions, resigned their appoint-
ments. 8 This committee, however, with depleted member-
ship, went ahead with its work and prepared resolutions
for public ratification which, in substance if not in spirit,
resembled the radical platform of July 6. 4 But the mod-
erates were again in control of the situation; and when the
1 N. Y. Gas. , July 25, 1774; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 315, 317-318.
2/Wd. , vol. i, pp. 315-317. For this purpose the resolutions of the
"Fifty-One" were slightly modified but in no important respect. Vide
summary in Becker, op. cit. , p. 133, n. 57.
* Duane, the fifth moderate, was not in town. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i,
pp. 3I7-3I8.
4 The tenth resolution promised obedience to the conclusions of the
Continental Congress, and the twelfth declared that it was "highly
necessary" that Congress should adopt a non-importation with Great
Britain. An innovation was the eleventh resolution, which proposed a
provincial convention as the proper mode of electing delegates. N. Y,
Gas. , July 25, 1774.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 339
meeting, called to endorse the radical resolutions, assembled
on July 25, " nothing decisive was resolved upon. " *
The subsequent events leading to the election of delegates
can be explained only on the theory that the radicals real-
ized that the moderates were the dominant factor in mold-
ing public opinion, and that therefore they felt, in order to
save any part of their platform, they must resort to oppor-
tunism. 2 The "Fifty-One" at their meeting of July 25
voted that a poll be opened on Thursday, July 28, at the
usual places of election in each ward to elect delegates to
Congress; and the Committee of Mechanics were invited to
co-operate with them in helping to superintend the election. 8
On the following day a group of radicals sent a communi-
cation to the delegates nominated by the Fifty-One, prom-
ising their support in case the candidates pledged their
"utmost endeavours " at the congress in support of a non-
importation agreement; that otherwise a rival ticket would
be nominated. The candidates responded that they would
use their " utmost endeavours" to promote every measure
at the congress that might " then " be thought conducive to
the general welfare, and that "at present" they believed
that a "general non-importation faithfully observed"
would prove the best means of procuring redress. 4 This
reply clearly failed to make the concession which the inter-
rogators had demanded and which had been the sine qua non
of the radical position all along. Indeed the only detail in
which the reply differed from the resolutions proposed by
1 N. Y. Gas. , Aug. 1, 1774.
* As late as Oct. 5 Colden believed that "in the City a large Majority
of the People" were against a nc-n-importation agreement. Letter
Books, vol. ii, pp. 366-368.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 318.
4 Only four of the candidates replied, as Dunne was still absent from
the city. Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 310-320; also N, Y. Gasetteer, Aug. 4, 1774.
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? 340 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
the "Fifty-One" was that the delegates entertained a
present opinion that a non-importation faithfully observed
would prove the most effective measure. This slight con-
cession was apparently sufficient to save the self-respect of
the radicals, and they acquiesced in the moderate ticket.
Accordingly, at the Thursday's poll, Low, Jay, Livingston,
Alsop and Duane were unanimously chosen for the city and
county of New York.
The " Fifty-One" lost no time in informing the rural
counties of the action of New York and requested them
either to appoint delegates of their own or to give express
authorization to the New York delegates to act for them. 1
This appeal brought somewhat better results than the earlier
request for the formation of committees of correspondence,
although it is clear that, as before, affairs were carried
through "by a very few Persons, who took upon them-
selves to act for the Freeholders. " 2 Nevertheless, the pro-
posal went to the counties with the seal of approval of the
wholly moderate committee at New York and thus elicited
interest from the large landholders as well as the more
volatile elements in the population. Only three counties
elected delegates of their own--the New-England-infected
county of Suffolk and the nearby counties of Kings and
Orange. Colden was informed by a person present at the
Orange County meeting that not twenty men were present
for the election, though the county contained more than
one thousand freeholders. 8 In Kings, it would appear that
two congenial souls gathered; one was chosen chairman,
the other clerk; and the latter certified to Congress that the
former, Simon Boerum, was unanimously elected to repre-
1July 29, 1774. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 322. For the action of the
counties, vide Becker, op. cit. , pp. 130-141, and references.
1 Golden, Letter Books, vol. ii, pp. 366-368.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
341
sent the county. 1 Four counties -- Albany, Dutchess, Ulster
and Westchester -- adopted the alternative plan proposed by
the "Fifty-One," and in a more or less regular fashion
authorized the city delegates to act for them. Thus, includ-
ing New York County, eight counties in all, " representing
a great majority of this Colony, whether this is determined
by Counties, inhabitants, wealth or the number of members
they send to the General Assembly," took action favorable
to the congress, of a more or less representative character. 2
Six counties remained unresponsive to the appeal of the
"Fifty-One. "
The progress of gvffltS f^ PhiLa(1p1Phia whpn n(>ws of ****
Boston Port Act jtrriyflfl thnr, r<Mf<<>"1HH . that which had
occurred, at Npw York The moderate element, which had
always had a stronghold on the city and province, was
composed chiefly of the great importers of JBritish goods
and the generality of the Quaker sect to which most of
them belonged. This party, V1part1'ly rn^^rpping the? de-
struction of the tea at Postnn and likewise disapproving of
the punitive measures. of Parliament, believedjhat the only
proper metho^l nf opposition was a memorial or rernon-
strance drawn up by the Assembly; a~Iew of them were
willing to favor an interprovincial congress if its activities
were limited to the single function of presenting a petition
of grievances.