New York Provincial Congress

New York Provincial Congress
New York Provincial Congress
Type
Type	Unicameral Provisional Revolutionary Government of Province of New York
History
Founded	May 22, 1775
Disbanded	April 20, 1777
Preceded by	New York General Assembly; Committee of Sixty
Succeeded by	New York State Legislature
Leadership
President	Peter Van Brugh Livingston (first)
	Leonard Gansevoort (final)
Chairmen of the Committee of Safety	Nathaniel Woodhull (first); Leonard Gansevoort (final)
President of the Council of Safety	Pierre Van Cortlandt (1777)
Meeting place
	1st and 2nd Congress: New York City; 3rd Congress: White Plains; 4th Congress: Fishkill

The New York Provincial Congress (1775–1777) was a revolutionary provisional government formed by colonists in 1775, during the American Revolution, as a pro-American alternative to the more conservative New York General Assembly, and as a replacement for the Committee of One Hundred. The Fourth Provincial Congress, resolving itself as the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, adopted the first Constitution of the State of New York on April 20, 1777.

Background

Committees of correspondence

The Committee of Fifty-one was a committee of correspondence in the City and County of New York that first met on May 16, 1774.^[1] On May 30, the Committee formed a subcommittee to write a letter to the supervisors of the counties of New York to exhort them to also form similar committees of correspondence, which letter was adopted on a meeting of the Committee on May 31.^[2] In response to the letters from Boston, on July 4, 1774 resolutions were approved to appoint five delegates, Isaac Low, John Alsop, James Duane, Philip Livingston, and John Jay, to the "Congress of Deputies from the Colonies" (the First Continental Congress), and request that the other counties also send delegates.^[3] Three counties (Westchester, Duchess, and Albany) acquiesced to the five delegates, while three counties (Kings, Suffolk, and Orange) sent delegates of their own.^[4] The First Continental Congress met from September 5 to October 26, 1774.

New York General Assembly

In January and February 1775, the New York General Assembly voted down successive resolutions approving the proceedings of the First Continental Congress and refused to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress.^[6] New York was the only colonial assembly which did not approve the proceeds of the First Continental Congress. Opposition to the Congress revolved around the opinion that the provincial houses of assembly were the proper agencies to solicit redress for grievances. In March, the Assembly broke with the rest of the colonies and wrote a petition to London, but London rejected the petition because it contained claims about a lack of authority of the "parent state" to tax colonists, "which made it impossible" to accept. The Assembly last met on April 3, 1775.^[7]

Provincial Convention (Second Continental Congress)

A Provincial Convention assembled in New York City on April 20, 1775 where delegates were elected to the Second Continental Congress. On March 15, 1775 the Committee of Sixty had issued a call to the counties of New York to send delegates to a Provincial Convention.^[8]

Philip Livingston was its chairman. It included the delegates to the first congress and also five new members. All counties other than Tryon, Gloucester, and Cumberland were represented. The scope of the Provincial Convention did not extend beyond electing delegates, and they dispersed on April 22.^[9] On April 23, news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord arrived.

First Provincial Congress

The First Provincial Congress was convened in New York City on May 22, 1775 with Peter Van Brugh Livingston as president. The first resolution adopted was obedience to recommendations made by the Continental Congress.

The congress adapted a "plan of Accommodation between Great Britain and America", which it sent to its delegates to the Continental Congress urging extreme caution in the quarrel with England. The plan demanded the English authorities repeal of all unconstitutional laws affecting the colonies and an acknowledgement of the right of the colonies to self-taxation. In return New York promised to contribute to the costs of defence, the maintenance of civil government, and to recognize England's right to regulate imperial trade.^[10]

In May, they ordered the militia to stockpile arms, undertake the removal of cannon from Fort Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga, and the erection of fortifications and defences on Manhattan Island. All loyalists in the province were disarmed. In May, the raising of 3,000 militia to serve until December 31 was authorized, and in early June they authorized the payment of five pounds sterling for each hundredweight of gunpowder delivered to county military stockpiles.

The Congress condemned the planned invasion of Canada, since they had a plan of reconciliation. When in June the British troops in New York City left to board British ships, Marinus Willett intervened to prevent them taking carts loaded with arms back to the ships. The congress welcomed the return of Governor William Tryon, regarded as someone who could be reasoned with, while on the same day providing a more elaborate welcome for the Continental Army Commander-in-Chief General George Washington on his way to take command at the Siege of Boston. On June 28, 1775 they authorized the raising of the four regiments of the New York Line. On July 20, 1775, members of the Sons of Liberty and others surprised a guard and captured a British storehouse at Turtle Bay. In August, the congress ordered the removal of the cannon at the Battery and while doing so the British HMS Asia opened fire on the combined civilian and militia forces. In late 1775, the provincial militia was restructured.

It adjourned on November 4, 1775 and appointed a Committee of Safety to sit during its recess. This committee was dominated by Alexander McDougall and John Morin Scott.

Members:^[11]^[12]

Named individual	Representing	Details
Isaac Low	City & County of New York
Peter Van Brugh Livingston	City & County of New York	President
Alexander McDougall	City & County of New York
Leonard Lispenard	City & County of New York
Joseph Hallett	City & County of New York
Abraham Walton	City & County of New York
Abraham Brasier	City & County of New York
Isaac Roosevelt	City & County of New York
John De Lancey	City & County of New York
James Beekman	City & County of New York
Samuel Verplanck	City & County of New York
Richard Yates	City & County of New York
David Clarkson	City & County of New York
Thomas Smith	City & County of New York
Benjamin Kissam	City & County of New York
John Morin Scott	City & County of New York
John Van Cortlandt	City & County of New York
Jacobus Van Zandt	City & County of New York
John Marston	City & County of New York
George Folliot	City & County of New York
Walter Franklin	City & County of New York
Robert Yates	City & County of Albany
Abraham Yates Jr.	City & County of Albany
Volkert P. Douw	City & County of Albany	Vice-President
Jacob Cuyler	City & County of Albany
Peter Silvester	City & County of Albany
Dirck Swart	City & County of Albany
Walter Livingston	City & County of Albany
Robert Van Rensselaer	City & County of Albany
Henry Glen	City & County of Albany
Abraham Ten Broeck	City & County of Albany
Francis Nicoll	City & County of Albany
Dirck Brinckerhoff	Duchess County	Chairman
Anthony Hoffman	Duchess County
Zephaniah Platt	Duchess County
Richard Montgomery	Duchess County
Ephraim Paine	Duchess County
Gilbert Livingston	Duchess County
Jonathan Landon	Duchess County
Gysbert Schenck	Duchess County
Melancton Smith	Duchess County
Nathaniel Sackett	Duchess County
Johannes Hardenbergh	Ulster County
James Clinton	Ulster County
Christopher Tappan	Ulster County
John Nicholson	Ulster County
Jacob Hoornbeck	Ulster County
John Coe	Orange County
David Pye	Orange County
Michael Jackson	Goshen County
Benjamin Tusten	Goshen County
Peter Clowes	Goshen County
William Allison	Goshen County
Nathaniel Woodhull	Suffolk County
John Sloss Hobart	Suffolk County
Thomas Tredwell	Suffolk County
John Foster	Suffolk County
Ezra L'Hommedieu	Suffolk County
Thomas Wickham	Suffolk County
James Havens	Suffolk County
Selah Strong	Suffolk County
Gouverneur Morris	Westchester County
Lewis Graham	Westchester County
James Van Cortlandt	Westchester County
Stephen Ward	Westchester County
Joseph Drake	Westchester County
Philip Van Cortlandt	Westchester County
James Holmes	Westchester County
David Dayton	Westchester County
John Thomas, Jr.	Westchester County
Robert Graham	Westchester County
William Paulding	Westchester County
Henry Williams	Kings County
Jeremiah Remsen	Kings County
Paul Michean	Richmond County
John Journey	Richmond County
Aaron Cortelyou	Richmond County
Richard Conner	Richmond County
Richard Lawrence	Richmond County

Second Provincial Congress

The Second Provincial Congress was organized on December 6, 1775 and sat in New York City, and continued until adjournment on May 13, 1776. In January, 1776, George Washington ordered Major General Charles Lee to prepare New York City for the coming British attack. In February, the provincial congress initially refused Lee's entry, but then agreed and also decided to stop provisioning the British ships in New York Harbor.

Third Provincial Congress

The Third Provincial Congress was organized on May 22, 1776. It continued in session until June 30, 1776. It took place in Fishkill. It instructed its delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress to oppose independence. On May 31, 1776, the Continental Congress recommended that each of the provinces establish themselves as states. In June, Howe's forces appeared in New York Harbor.

Notable members (partial list):^[13]

First Constitutional Convention

The Fourth Provincial Congress convened in White Plains on July 9, 1776 and became known as the First Constitutional Convention. It declared the independent state of New York on July 9, 1776. On the same day the Declaration of Independence was read by George Washington on the commons of New York City to the Continental Army and local citizens, who celebrated by tearing down the statue of George III in Bowling Green. On July 10, 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress changed its name to the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, and "acts as legislature without an executive." On August 1, the convention assigned the task of drafting a constitution to a committee of thirteen and ordered it to report a draft by August 27, but it did not do so until March 12, 1777.^[14] While adjourned it left a Committee of Safety in charge.

The Constitution of the State of New York was adopted on April 20, 1777 in Kingston. The governor would be elected and not appointed, voting qualifications were reduced, secret ballots were introduced, and civil rights were guaranteed. On July 9, 1778 the State of New York signed the Articles of Confederation and officially became part of the government of the United States of America, though it had been a part of the nation as representative were signatories to the Declaration in 1776.

List of presidents and chairmen

1st Provincial Congress

Peter Van Brugh Livingston May 23, 1775
Nathaniel Woodhull Aug 23, 1775 pro tem
Abraham Yates Nov 2, 1775 pro tem

2nd Provincial Congress

Nathaniel Woodhull Dec 6, 1775
John Haring Dec 16, 1775 pro tem
Nathaniel Woodhull Feb 12, 1776 pro tem

3rd Provincial Congress

Nathaniel Woodhull May 18, 1776
John Haring Jun 19, 1776

4th Provincial Congress and Representative Convention

Nathaniel Woodhull Jul 9, 1776
Abraham Yates Aug 10, 1776 pro tem
Abraham Yates Aug 28, 1776
Peter Van Brugh Livingston Sep 26, 1776
Abraham Ten Broeck Mar 6, 1777
Leonard Gansevoort Apr 18, 1777

Chairmen of the Committee of Safety

Nathaniel Woodhull July 10, 1776 to August 10, 1776
Abraham Yates August 10, 1776 to September 26, 1776
Peter Van Brugh Livingston September 26, 1776 to March 6, 1777
Abraham Ten Broeck March 6, 1777 to April 9, 1777
William Smith April 9, 1777 to April 11, 1777
Pierre Van Cortlandt April 11, 1777 to April 18, 1777
Leonard Gansevoort April 18, 1777 to May 14, 1777

President of the Council of Safety

Pierre Van Cortlandt May 14, 1777 to July 30, 1777

Footnotes

^ Dawson 1886, pp. 7–10.
^ Dawson 1886, p. 20.
^ Dawson 1886, p. 24.
^ Dawson 1886, p. 29.
^ "History of the National Flag of the United States of America". Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. 1853.
^ Dawson, Henry (1886). Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution. H.B. Dawson. p. 61.
^ Edward Countryman, "Consolidating Power in Revolutionary America: The Case of New York, 1775–1783." Journal of Interdisciplinary History 6.4 (1976): 645-677. in JSTOR
^ "Find Documents: Results". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
^ Google Books The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 47; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
^ Launitz-Schurer pg. 161
^ New York (State) Dept. of State (1868). Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, Relating to the War of the Revolution, in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N.Y. Weed, Parsons & Company, Printers. p. 86. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
^ Lamb, Martha Joanna (1880). History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress. A. S. Barnes. p. 31. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
^ Albany Institute (1873). Proceedings of the Albany Institute. J. Munsell. p. 321. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
^ Schechter, Stephen (1990). "The New York State Constitution, 1777". In Schechter, Stephen (ed.). Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted. p. 169. ISBN 1461642795. LCCN 90-6396.

References

Fernow, Berthold, New York in the Revolution, 1887
Launitz-Schurer, Leopold, Loyal Whigs and Revolutionaries, The making of the revolution in New York, 1765-1776, 1980, ISBN 0-8147-4994-1