Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook Vol 046 1961

Year Dutchess County Historical S ciety Volume +6

19 6 1

Copyright 1962 by the Dutchess County Historical Society

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated under the laws of the State of New York December 21, 1918 Certificate of Incorporation filed in the office of the Clerk of Dutchess County Book 10 of Corporations page 153

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MEETINGS — MEMBERSHIP — DUES ANNUAL MEETING, THIRD FRIDAY IN MAY SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING, THIRD FRIDAY IN OCTOBER

MEMBERSHIP Membership in the Dutchess County Historical Society may be had by the election of the applicant at the May or October meeting or at a meeting of the Board of Trustees and the payment of the dues.

Annual dues $3.00 Joint membership (two members of one family) $5.00 Life membership $75.00 Annual dues are payable on January 1 of each year.

These payments carry with them the right to hold office, to vote and to take part in the proceedings of the society.

Payment of three dollars at date of election entitles a new member to a copy of the year book for that current year. Next payment falls due the succeeding January and covers a copy of the year book issued in the year ensuing.

Copies of the year book are mailed only to those members whose dues are paid to date. Only one copy of the year book is mailed to a joint membership.

FORM OF BEQUEST I give and bequeath to the DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dollars

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OFFICERS

1961 President: HENRY NOBLE MACCRAC KEN, PH.D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Vice President at Large: BALTUS B. VAN KLEECK, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Secretary: MRS. AMY PEARCE VER NOOY, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Treasurer: MISS ALBERTINA T. B. TRAVER, Rhinebeck, N. Y. Curator:

VICE-PRESIDENTS FOR TOWNS Town of Amenia City of Beacon Town of Beekman Town of Clinton Town of Dover Town of East Fishkill Town of Fishkill Town of Hyde Park Town of LaGrange Town of Milan Town of North East Town of Pawling Town of Pine Plains Town of Pleasant Valley Town of Poughkeepsie City of Poughkeepsie Town of Red Hook Town of Rhinebeck Town of Stanford Town of Union Vale Town of Wappingers Town of Washington

Mrs. J. E. Spingarn Robert W. Doughty Mrs. F. Philip Hoag James Budd Rymph Thomas J. Boyce Mrs. Charles Boos Miss Edith Van Wyck Mrs. John Mulford Hackett Mrs. F. Jay Skidmore Henry R. Billings Egbert Green Mrs. William B. Jordan Miss Agnes K. Bower Miss Annette Young Mrs. A. N. Mahoney Mrs. Donald E. Norton Miss Rachel Rynders Mrs. Harrie D. Knickerbocker Mrs. Theodore Coe 1Vlartense H. Cornell John 0. Tyldsley

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The President, ex-officio The Vice-President at Large, ex-officio The Secretary, ex-officio The Treasurer, ex-officio The Curator, ex-officio CLASS OF 1962 Joseph W. Emsley R. Watson Pomeroy

Miss Margaret L. Suckley George E. Whalen

CLASS OF 1963 Harris N. Cookingham Mrs. Harry H. Hill

Frank V. Mylod Edmund Van Wyck

CLASS OF 1964 Mrs. Stuart R. Anderson Mrs. Fred C. Daniels

Clifford M. Buck John R. Schwartz

CLASS OF 1965 Joseph B. Bisbee Chester 0. Davison, M.D.

Newton D. Deuel Mrs. T. Van Kleeck Swift

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CONTENTS

Secretary's Minutes

9

Treasurer's Report

18

Our President Says:

20

Henry Noble MacCracken The Annual Pilgrimage

23

Matthew Vassar, Founder

29

Theodore Henry Erck Sharpe Reservation

48

Frederick H. Lewis The Public Career of James Tallmadge, Part 11

52

John D. Gindele Bible Records of Dutchess County Families

94

ILLUSTRATION Scenes at Sharpe Reservation

facing page

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Edited by AMY PEARCE VER NOOY The Year Book is published in December. Copies of the Year Book are mailed to those members whose dues are paid for the current year. Single issues are sold for $3.00 each and may be obtained through the secretary or the treasurer. Address: The Dutchess County Historical Society, Poughkeepsie, New York.

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OCCASIONAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1916—PAMPHLET, Troutbeck, 1 Dutchess County Homestead; by Charles E. Benton. Out of print.

1924—CoLLEcTioNs,VoL. 1; Poughkeepsie, The Origin and Meaning of the Word; by Helen Wilkinson Reynolds. (Price: $5.00) 1924—CoLLEcnoNs, VOL. II; Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York; collected and edited by J. Wilson Poucher, M. D., and Helen Wilkinson Reynolds. (Price: $20.00) 1928—COLLECTIONS, VOL. III; Records of the Town of Hyde Park, Dutchess County, New York; edited by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Edition exhausted.

Notices of Marriages and Deaths in Newspapers printed at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1778-1825; compiled and edited by Helen Wilkinson Reynolds. (Price: $5.00)

1930-COLLECTIONS, VOL. IV;

1932—COLLECTIONS, VOL. V; Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Hackensack, Dutchess County, New York; edited by Maria Bockee Carpenter Tower. (Price: $10.00) 1938—COLLECTIONS, VOL. VI; Eighteenth Century Records of the portion of Dutchess County, New York that was included in Rombout Precinct and the original Town of Fishkill. Collected

by William -Willis Reese. Edited by Helen Wilkinson Reynolds.

(Price: $10.00) 1940—COLLECTIONS, VOL. VII; Records of Crum Elbow Precinct, Dutchess County. Edited by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

(Price: $15.00) 1958—CoLLEcnoNs, VoL. VIII; Family Vista, the Memoirs of Margaret Chanler illdrich. (Price: $4.50) A few copies of some of the above publications are available at the prices listed. For information address: Mrs. Amy Ver Nooy, Secretary, Dutchess County Historical Society, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

SECRETARY'S MINUTES ANNUAL MEETING May 13, 1961 The annual meeting of the Dutchess County Historical Society was held on Saturday morning, May 13, 1961, at the Nelson House, Poughkeepsie. The meeting was called to order at 11:30 a. m., President MacCracken presiding.

The minutes of the semi-annual meeting, held October 21, 1960, were read and approved.

The treasurer's report was given by Miss Traver and was approved as read.

The secretary reported that the society had lost some members by resignation and the following members by death: Mr. John K. Benedict, Mr. Roland S. Child, Mrs. A. Allendorph Schoonmaker and a vice-president, representing the Town of Pine Plains, Mr. George E. Schryver.

Dr. MacCracken announced that Miss Ruth A. Halstead had resigned as chairman of the Glebe House committee and that Mrs. Theodore Van Kleeck Swift had been appointed to that office. Mrs. Swift read a report which she had prepared and which was accepted as read. She suggested that the society join with the Junior League and the Poughkeepsie Garden Club in plans for an open house day in June at the Glebe House. She said an inventory of the furnishings of the house was in preparation and suggested a ten-year plan for the restoration and pointed out the responsibility of the society in the plan. She asked that a sum of money be assigned to the committee for the purchase of supplies and minor furnishings. After discussion, the president suggested that expenditures to the amount of $50.00 be approved and that bills or vouchers for amounts spent be sent to the treasurer. This was approved.

The secretary stated that it had been reported by the local philatelic society that there was still a possibility that a commemorative stamp honoring the centennial of Vassar College might be issued. She said that a second letter had been sent by the society to the Postmaster General urging that the recently appointed Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee reconsider the request made for a Vassar commemorative.

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Mr. John A. Wolf gave a report, sent by Mr. Frank Mylod, concerning the present status of the Caroline Thorn Wells residence.

There were questions and some discussion and the president said he would appoint a committee of five members to look over the property to discover if it would be feasible for this society to take action to obtain possession of the estate. This committee would report its findings to the Board of Trustees.

The president stated that the trustees had under consideration the opportunity of sharing the Vassar Institute building. Mr. Herbert Gindele reported on the condition of the building as he had gone over it. Following discussion, it was moved and seconded that no decision be made on the Vassar Institute plan until the Board of Trustees had made a decision with regard to the Wells property.

Mr. Cookingham reported that he had recently returned from Greece, where he had spent the winter, and that he had received no information concerning the present whereabouts of the Cookingham family Bible. He repeated his offer to pay $100 for the Bible, which he wished to present to the society, or he would pay $25.00 for information as to its location.

There was some discussion with reference to the "Pink House," but there seemed to be no definite information concerning its possible preservation.

The secretary told that Mr. Stott Anderson had reported that the twenty-first and the twenty-third milestones on the Dutchess Turnpike had been reset and encased. He had also reported that the stone marking four miles from the court house had been damaged by the weather and was in need of repair. Miss Traver reported that two of the milestones on Route 9 and the 25th marker on the Dutchess Turnpike needed to be reset on the highways. The secretary was asked to write the New York State Department of Public Works, thanking the department for the care already taken to preserve the milestones and asking that attention be given to those still in need of repair.

Dr. MacCracken mentioned that dedication ceremonies would take place at the mansion, Boscobel, on Sunday, May 21, at Garrison, New York. He told of the tremendous amount of labor involved in the restoration of the building which had been removed to its present location from the site of the veterans' hospital near Yonkers. He recommended that the members visit the restoration which will be open to the public after the first of June.

The president read an invitation from the Historical Society of 10

Quaker Hill and Vicinity, extended to the members of this society, to attend the opening of the Quaker Hill Natural History Museum on July 27, 1961.

Dr. MacCracken announced that the society had received as a gift, from Mr. Almon Beneway, a ten dollar bank note, dated May 21, 1861, drawn on the Dutchess Bank and signed by Alexander Forbus. It was also announced that Mrs. Fred C. Daniels had presented to the society a typed list of death notices which had probably been copied from Poughkeepsie newspapers. Most of the deaths had occurred in the 1840's and had originally been pasted in an old account book.

They had been put in alphabetical order and copied.

Mr. Van Wyck, for the nominating committee, offered a slate of officers which would include, for a term of two years, the re-election of Dr. MacCracken for president, ]\/Ir. Baltus B. Van Kleeck, vicepresident, Miss Traver, treasurer, Mrs. Ver Nooy, secretary; four trustees, for a term of four years: Mr. Joseph B. Bisbee, Dr. C. 0.

Davison, Mr. Newton D. Deuel and Mrs. Theodore Van Kleeck Swift; and Mrs. William B. Jordan as a vice-president, representing the Town of Pine Plains. It was moved and seconded that the secretary cast one ballot for the election of the officers.

The following names were submitted and were elected: life members: Mr. George M. Gill and Mrs. Spraker Francke ; annual members: Mr. Raymond G. Baumbusch, Mrs. Martin Berry, Mr. Ben Brown, Miss Bernice Dodge, Miss Dorothy L. Flint, Dr. Milton Grover, Mrs. E. Stuart Hubbard, Jr., Mrs. Martha Innes, Mr. Leon L. Jaminet, Mrs. George W. Krieger, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Opperman, Mrs. Pamela B. Pechmann, Miss Marguerite -W. Strehlau and Mr. Theodore Van Kleeck Swift.

At the conclusion of the business meeting, the guests assembled in the dining room where an excellent luncheon was enjoyed.

Following the luncheon, the president introduced Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence B. Holdridge and told of their interest in locating portraits which had been painted in the middle years of the nineteenth century

by Ammi Phillips. Mr. and 1VIrs. Holdridge showed a large collection of slides and Mrs. Holdridge gave a lively and interesting talk in which she described the outstanding characteristics of the work of Phillips. A number of members and friends were pleased to report that they had portraits painted by the artist. Mrs. Joseph A. Butler brought to the meeting a portrait of Caroline Jane Opie which she had inherited from her mother and which was the work of Ammi 11

Phillips.

The meeting was closed with a rising vote of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Holdridge.

Amy Ver Nooy, Secretary MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES October 2, 1961 A meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Dutchess County Historical Society was held in the office of i\/Ir. Baltus B. Van Kleeck at the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank on Monday afternoon, October 2, 1961.

Present: The President, the Vice-President, Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bisbee, Mr. Buck, Judge Schwartz, Miss Suckley, Mr. Van Wyck, the treasurer and the secretary.

The President stated that the meeting had been called to consider the possible gift (subject to prior sale) of the house in the town of Rhinebeck, known as "The Grove." He read a letter from Mr. Malcolm E. Smith, offering to the society, in the names of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. William W. Hoffman, a part of the estate and the house which was built, about 1795, by Philip J. Schuyler. The offer also included the gift of $25,000, an amount which could be used to put the house in such repair that it could serve as a museum and as a home for the society.

There was much discussion of the proposal and a consideration of the assets of the society, which include the permanent fund of $8,794 and the Helen Wilkinson Reynolds Memorial Fund of about $2,500. It was estimated that the proper maintenance of the property could require an annual income from a half-million dollars in endowment. Mr. Van Kleeck and the other trustees cited the costs of operating and maintaining other museums which they had visited in this state. After long discussion and with much regret, it was finally decided that the officers could not at this time see their way to accepting the kind offer and pledging their successors to the maintenance of the project. It was moved and seconded that the society extend its thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Smith and to Mrs. Hoffman and express its deep regret that it did not deem it advisable to accept the offer because of a lack of funds.

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Mrs. Swift, chairman of the Glebe House committee, told of the open house day, held Sunday, September 24, at the Glebe House, under the auspices of the Junior League of Poughkeepsie and this society. She reported a very successful and pleasant occasion. She also reported that she had talked with the Mayor and the City Manager with reference to the removal of the small shed attached to the east wall of the Glebe House. It was moved and seconded that this society in conjunction with the Junior League and the Poughkeepsie Garden Club, make a request of the Common Council that the city remove the shed, which was an addition to the original house and could become a fire hazard. It was suggested that a small brick building could be erected in the northeast corner of the garden plot to house the garden tools, etc., now in the shed.

A brief report of the recent pilgrimage was made and the secretary was requested to write the officers of the East Fishkill Historical Society, Mrs. Finkel, Mr. Wright W. Jackson, Mr. Smith Townsend, Mr. Frederick H. Lewis, Executive Director of the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. Victor E. Nelson, thanking all of them for their kindnesses extended on the occasion of the trip.

There was some discussion of the possible acquisition of the Caroline Thorn Wells property in Rhinebeck and it was reported that a strip of land, 15 by 200 feet, had been sold to the owner of adjoining property. Judge Schwartz and Mr. Van Wyck were asked to make further inquiries concerning the present status of the estate.

There was no further business to be discussed and, on motion, the meeting adjourned.

Amy Ver Nooy, Secretary SEMI - ANNUAL MEETING October 27, 1961 The semi-annual meeting of the Dutchess County Historical Society was held on Friday, October 27, at the Nelson House, Poughkeepsie. In the absence of the president, the meeting was called to order at 11:30 a. m. by the vice president, Mr. Van Kleeck.

The minutes of the annual meeting, held May 13, and of a meeting of the Board of Trustees, held October 2, were read and approved.

The treasurer gave a report covering the first half of the year, 13

through June 30, and a brief statement of receipts and expenditures since that date. They were accepted as read.

The secretary reported that the society had lost six members by death: Mrs. Jean H. Bower, Mrs. E. Sterling Carter, Mr. Victor J. McQuade, Miss Margaret M. Reese, Mrs. Agnes McGlynn Schultz and Mrs. Robert E. Wunderly.

Mrs. Swift reported, for the Glebe House committee, that the open house day had proved a pleasant and gratifying occasion. She told of the work which had been done, inside and out, to further the restoration of the house. She reported that a handsome bird-cage table had been received as a gift from Miss Annette Young, one of the vicepresidents of the society, and had been placed in the parlor. She also said that the license issued by the Dutchess County Medical Society, in May of 1808, to Dr. Henry Sleght and presented by his greatgranddaughter, Miss Mary L. Overocker, had been hung in the rector's study. Mrs. Swift said that a complete list of the furnishings, with the names of the persons who had either given or loaned the articles, was in preparation and that a detailed floor plan had been made. Both of these should prove useful in obtaining appropriate furniture and furnishings in the future. She also reported that the Poughkeepsie Garden Club had done much to renovate and improve the appearance of the yard and hoped for a ten-year plan which would gradually bring the garden to a state of perfection. She mentioned the possibility of entering the Glebe House in a civic beautification contest sponsored by the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State.

Mr. Frank H. Lacy, who had already published in the newspaper editorial comment on the pilgrimage, gave an enthusiastic report of the day.

In the absence of a curator, the secretary reported that the society had received several gifts of importance: miscellaneous records, papers and deeds pertaining to Dutchess County, the gift of Mr. E. Morse Merrihew ; a Cookingham Family Bible, printed in 1755, presented by the late Mrs. C. Jonathan Slocum; $100 in memory of Mr. Harry T. Briggs, the gift of his daughter, Mrs. Robert F. Ridgeway; a family chart of a branch of the descendants of Phillipus Moor, the gift of Mr. W. Allan Moore of Charleston, S. C. and, from the Sharon Historical Society, a prospectus of the Poughkeepsie Female Academy, 1839, and clippings from the New York Daily Graphic, June 12, 1876, with part of a descriptive and illustrated article on Poughkeepsie.

Mr. Van Kleeck told of the offer made to the society by Mr. 14

and Mrs. Malcolm E. Smith and Mrs. William W. Hoffman, of a part of the estate called "The Grove," located east of Rhinebeck. He said that the trustees had considered the matter from all points of view and had most regretfully decided that the financial state of the society would not justify them in accepting the gift and imposing an obligation on their successors. He emphasized the historical value of the property and the beauty of the surroundings and the house, built about 1795 by Philip J. Schuyler, and expressed his own regret and that of the other trustees in declining the offer.

Mrs. Hackett was asked to tell about the Quaker Hill Natural History Museum and the visit of the members of this society to the Akin Library and the opening of the museum on July 27. She described the vast collection, the gift of Mrs. Raymond M. Gunnison, who conducted a tour of the museum. She felt that the museum was a great asset to the county and would be invaluable for the use of students. She advised those members who had not yet visited the museum to do so.

The secretary reported that, after publication of the request of Mr. Harris N. Cookingham for information concerning the whereabouts of the Cookingham Family Bible, the late Mrs. C. Jonathan Slocum of Beacon had presented to the historical society a German Bible, printed in 1755, which contains records of the family of Michael Cookingham. (These records are printed in another part of this issue of the year book.)

Mr. Van Kleeck said that he had hoped to be able to report something definite about the possibility of the acquisition of the Caroline T. Wells house at Rhinebeck. He quoted from the will of Miss Wells and said that the committee had conferred with the executor of the estate and that an inspection of the property would be permitted in the near future.

The secretary read a request of Supervisor Thomas D. Mahar, of the Town of Poughkeepsie, that a marker be placed on North Grand Avenue, indicating that this road was used at the time of the Revolutionary War and was an old established stage coach route.

She said that she had written Mr. Mahar explaining the policy of the office of the State Historian with reference to highway markers.

She also reported that a request had been received from Sleepy Hollow Restorations for graphic materials, drawings, prints, maps or surveys which would illustrate the seventeenth and eighteenth century appearance of the Philipsburg Manor site.

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A request was made for information concerning David H. Snyder, a young man who had gone from Dutchess County to the gold fields of California in 1850 to make his fortune. It was explained that a correspondent in Baltimore would like to know something about the young man, where his home had been in the county, if he had made his fortune and if he had come back to Dutchess.

It was announced that Mr. Harold L. Dunn, superintendent of education at the Green Haven Prison, had sent an invitation to the members of the society to view the fourth annual exhibit of the work of the art classes of Green Haven, which would be on display at the IBM Country Club daily from 9 a. m. to 9 p. m., from November 8 through November 22.

It was reported that the society had sent to the library of the Cardinal Farley Military Academy a copy of the 1932 issue of the year book which contained a descriptive article on "Ellerslie," then the home of the Morton family and now the site of the military school.

The gift had been gratefully acknowledged by the Reverend Brother S. A. Ryan.

It was noted that Mrs. Frank Van Kleeck, the oldest member of the society, had recently celebrated her one hundredth birthday.

Mr. Van Kleeck and Mrs. Swift were asked to carry the congratulations and kind wishes of the society to their mother.

Mr. Lacy asked if there were any records of the burial sites of slaves. He told that Mr. Stephen Bulmer had shown him such a ground some years ago on a former Van Benschoten farm west of New Hackensack. He said that the markers were field stones and had no inscriptions. Mr. Halstead reported that slaves, as well as an Indian family, had been buried in the churchyard of the West Branch Meeting House in the town of LaGrange. He mentioned the stone of Helecy McCord, who died in 1799 and said there were other stones without inscriptions.

The names of the following new members were proposed and they were elected: Mrs. Vera Austin, Mrs. Ben Brown, Mrs. Harry Ethal, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert F. Hart, Mr. Wright W. Jackson, Mrs. G. Stuart Mansfield, Miss Mary V. Mylod, Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Pearce, Mrs. Keene Richards, Miss Hazel Skidmore and Mr. and Mrs. James F. Smathers.

There was no further business to bring before the meeting and members adjourned to the dining room where they enjoyed the usual excellent luncheon for which the hotel is noted.

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Following the luncheon, Mr. Van Kleeck introduced Mr. Enoch Squires, Research Associate with the New York State Civil War Centennial Commission, who told of Thomas O'Dea, who served as a drummer boy in the Civil War and later drew a remarkable pictorial map of the Andersonville Prison where he had been confined.

Mr. Squires showed slides which revealed details of the map and told of the overcrowded and shocking conditions in prisons at the time, explaining that those an Andersonville were typical, whether the prison were located in the north or south. After the war Thomas O'Dea had lived at Cohoes, New York, where his daughters still make their home.

Mr. Van Kleeck expressed the hope that Mr. Squires would come again to tell the society some of the fascinating tales which he has gathered in his travels about the state and the meeting adjourned with a rising vote of thanks to the speaker.

Amy Ver Nooy, Secretary

Musical Concert. — The members of the Poughkeepsie Instrumental Music Association will give a Concert on Thursday evening next, at the Village Hall. We have not seen a programme of the performance but, counting upon the good taste displayed at the rehearsals, we have no hesitation in hazarding our opinion that those who attend will be richly rewarded for their time and money. And who will not lend their aid to an enterprise so laudable, where admittance may be obtained at the moderate price of twenty-five cents?

The Poughkeepsie Casket, March 26, 1836

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REPORT OF THE TREASURER January 1, 1961 - June 30, 1961 PERMANENT ACCOUNT — Poughkeepsie Savings Bank Balance on hand, January 1, 1961 $8,709.90 Life membership 25.00 Interest 153.15 $8,888.05 Balance on hand, June 30, 1961 CHECKING ACCOUNT—DUtCheSS Bank and Trust Company Receipts Balance on hand, January 1, 1961 $ 104.23 Received from dues 855.00 Received from sale of books 153.00 $1,112.23 Disbursements Editing year book (1959) Rhinebeck Gazette, printing year book Lansing-Broas Printing Co., binding year book Mailing year book Postage on year book Copyright on year book Envelopes Secretary Treasurer Office supplies Guest luncheons Hyde Park Historical Association, membership

8 200.00 575.00 25.40 15.00 40.50 4.15 18.35 50.00 50.00 38.50 4.50 1.00 1,022.40

Balance on hand, June 30, 1961 $ 89.83 THE HELEN WILKINSON REYNOLDS MEMORIAL FUND POUGHKEEPSIE SAVINGS BANK Balance on hand, January 1, 1961 $2,508.14 Received from sale of books (Family Vista) 9.00 Gift 20.00 Interest 44.20 Balance on hand, June 30, 1961 $2,581.34 Respectfully submitted Albertina T. B. Traver, Treasurer 18

REPORT OF THE TREASURER July 1, 1961 - December 31, 1961 PERMANENT ACCOUNT — Poughkeepsie Savings Bank Balance on hand, July 1, 1961 $8,888.05 Gift, in memory of Mr. Harry T. Briggs 100.00 Interest 156.56 $9,144.61 350.00

Withdrawn for checking account

Balance on hand, December 31, 1961 $8,794.61 CHECKING ACCOUNT — Dutchess Bank and Trust Company Receipts Balance on hand, July 1, 1961 $ 89.83 Transferred from Permanent Account 350.00 Received from dues 94.00 Received from sale of books 50.16 $ 583.99 Disbursements Copyright for year book Editing year book Mailing year book Treasurer Secretary Speaker at spring meeting Guest luncheon Glebe House expenses Office supplies

$

4.15 200.00 15.00 50.00 50.00 66.40 2.25 141.99 51.53 $ 581.32

Balance on hand, December 31, 1961 $ THE HELEN WILKINSON REYNOLDS MEMORIAL FUND Poughkeepsie Savings Bank $2,581.34 Balance on hand, July 1, 1961 19.00 Gifts 47.09 Interest

2.67

Balance on hand, December 31, 1961 $2,647.43 Respectfully submitted Albertina T. B. Traver, Treasurer 19

OUR PRESIDENT SAYS: The two regular meetings of our society were well attended and provided our members with two entirely different but interesting and attractive programs. At the spring meeting, on May 13, Mr. and Mrs. Holdridge who had made several visits to the county, told of their search for portraits painted by Ammi Phillips and showed a number of slides. Several of our members were able to locate for them some few portraits, the work of Phillips. At the fall meeting, October 27, we were happy to have Mr. Enoch Squires with us to tell about the drawing of Andersonville Prison, made by Thomas O'Dea, and to show us detailed sections of the map with a description of conditions prevailing in prisons, both north and south, at the time of the Civil War. We were also pleased to have with us Mr. Harry Rigby, an authority on Hudson valley history, whose broadcasts many of us have enjoyed.

On June 3, a number of our members were privileged to attend the ceremonies held in connection with the unveiling of the statue of Sybil Ludington, at Carmel, by the Enoch Crosby Chapter of the D.A.R. The life-size bronze statue was made by Anna Hyatt Huntington of Bethel, Connecticut, and has been placed in an attractive setting with Lake Gleneida in the background. The road, over which Sybil Ludington made her famous ride on the night of April 26, 1777, when Putnam County was still a part of Dutchess, passes in front of the statue. * * Some of our officers report a very pleasant occasion attending the dedication of the Boscobel Restoration. The site is ideal and the restoration has been wonderfully well done. It is a monument to the purposeful manner in which a dedicated group has worked on its project. One of our trustees, Mrs. Steeholm, is there on Saturdays and Sundays giving historical talks and conducting guided tours through the building.

Our society was well represented at the several programs conducted by the New York State Historical Association: the annual seminars on American Culture, at Cooperstown, July 2-15; the annual meeting of the association, July 14; and the Local History Workshop, Septem20

ber 8-10, at the State University College of Education, Potsdam, New York. The latter included a visit to the Upper Canada Village, Ontario's new outdoor museum on the shores of the St. Lawrence, near Morrisburg, and a tour of the Seaway Development, Eisenhower Lock and Moses Power Plant. All of the programs scheduled by the New York State Historical Association have grown in popularity over the years and we recommend membership in the organization and frequent visits to Fenimore House and the Farmers' Museum. There's always something new and always a hearty welcome.

Through the generosity of Mrs. Raymond M. Gunnison, there is now housed at the Akin Memorial Library, Quaker Hill, a marvellous collection of items relating to natural history. The members of our society were invited to the opening of the Quaker Hill Natural History Museum on July 27 and a large assemblage visited the museum on that day and were much impressed with the displays. The collection will prove most helpful to students, especially. We are fortunate to have this museum in Dutchess County.

A delightful late summer day, on September 24, was granted for the occasion of the open house day at the Glebe House, held in conjunction with the Junior League and the Poughkeepsie Garden Club. Much admired was the transformation of the garden, the work of the Garden Club, and lamented was the loss of the large willow tree which had shadowed the yard for many, many years. The Glebe House Committee promises still greater accomplishments in 1962. * We are pleased to know that "The Grove" has been presented

by Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. Smith and Mrs. William W. Hoffman to Bard College. It was a matter of great regret that the lack of financial resources of our society prohibited the acceptance of the estate with its responsibilities. We are happy that it will become a part of the Bard campus and that its preservation is thus assured.

A day of real enjoyment was afforded the large group which took advantage of the arrangements made by the East Fishkill Historical Society for the annual pilgrimage of our society, on September 30. The plans were well made and carried out to the last detail, ensuring an excellent opportunity for those present to get a comprehen21

sive view of that part of the county.

During the year several of our members have shared their interests by giving talks on various subjects of historical record and many of us have taken the opportunity to broaden our knowledge of area history by attending the programs arranged by neighboring societies, in and outside the county. Visits were made to the modest stone houses at Hurley and at New Paltz and to the larger, and entirely different, homes in the vicinity of Litchfield, Connecticut. Many of our members have become museum-conscious, and have visited the smaller museums as well as the larger and more distant enterprises, such as those at Williamsburg, Winterthur, Sturbridge, Shelbourne and the new North Canada Village, in addition to those in New York City, Albany, Smith's Clove and Cooperstown. We believe, with interests tending in these directions, home owners will think twice before casting away furnishings, gadgets and tools of other days. It may be that the day will come when we have a Dutchess County Museum.

For the Civil War Centennial issue of the New York Folklore Quarterly (Volume XVII, Number 1) your president contributed an article with Dutchess County associations, "The Lore of the Monitor."

Much of the material for the article was kindly furnished by Mr. Joseph B. Bisbee, our popular trustee.

Your president was one of a team of New York historians at the State University College of Education at Plattsburgh last summer, in a summer seminar on state history. He gave two lectures on the first half-century of the republic.

Two periods of ill-health have persuaded him that it is time to give place to some younger and more worthy member. He has therefore written to the trustees that he will not be a candidate for re-election at the annual meeting next spring. He is most grateful for the friendly support that has been given him during his term of office.

Henry Noble MacCracken *

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THE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE The 1961 pilgrimage was an unusual experience and a revelation to many members of the Dutchess County Historical Society. It was arranged by the members and officers of the East Fishkill Historical Society and led through parts of the township which had been unknown to many from other sections of the county.

On a handsome fall day the pilgrims gathered at the Wiccopee Community Church and more than fifty cars were escorted through a land of contrasts: along improved county roads, over straight concrete state highways, up and down the steep and rough country roads which wound around the boulders and hollows, and at one spot were led across a super highway, the Taconic State Parkway.

They viewed the richly productive farms with their substantial homes and outbuildings, the smaller, stony farms of the mountain area and the untilled acres which had reverted to thickets and brush, though the houses had been modernized and were occupied by rural residents who pursued their vocations miles away. They visited the attractive and thriving churches and passed some which were temporarily closed, the quiet, well-kept cemeteries and the abandoned family grounds. And, more than one hundred visitors gathered for lunch in the large dining hall of a most modern facility maintained in a group of camps which in the summer season would be teeming with children of all ages.

Mrs. Finkel had arranged a detailed program, indicating the points of interest along the tour. With the cooperation of the officers and members of the East Fishkill Historical Society, the local residents and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the plans for the visit were well carried out. From the start at the Wiccopee Community Church, then the visits to the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Camps and to the Bethel Baptist Church at Shenandoah, to the "high spot" of the occasion, "Looking Rock," far above the parkway, it all added up to a delightful day, long to be remembered.

Because the program was so informative, it is appended in full: The Forty-first Annual Pilgrimage of THE DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Saturday, September 30, 1961 During the pilgrimage we will explore three ways of country life prior to the corning of the automobile and electricity: the big, fertile farms (example, General Abraham Van Wyck's) ; 23

the stony farms of the Fishkill Mountains; the hamlets where farmers and mountain families traded, often bartering farm produce, fence posts, etc., for clothing, tea and other items they couldn't make (Wiccopee, Shenandoah, Stormville).

Points of interest along the route will be marked by yellow signs with red numbers which will correspond to the paragraphs below. Whether a sign is to be found on the left or right of the route is shown - L or R. 1 Wiccopee Community Church, formerly Johnsville M.E. Church.

Organized before 1826. Church built 1825-26 by Gould Smith and Abraham Pulling of Shenandoah. Steeple and entry added 1860. Interior panelled by the Reverend J. P. Carley, 1902-08. Note cross in ceiling, the gloved hand holding the iron chandelier, the early library in the entry. Hear West Hook School bell.

2 Wiccopee Grange, No. 876, P. of H. Founded 1899. First Grange Hall burned February 1, 1929; present hall built the same year.

3-R The house far back in lane was built by Judge Theodore Van Wyck in 1740 on 1,000-acre tract purchased from Madam Catharyna Brett in 1736.

The family of John Jay lived here during the first two years of the Revolutionary War and this house is known locally as the John Jay House. It was remodeled by Judge Theodorus' great-grandson, James Van Wyck, in 1870.

(See DCHS Year Book, 1924, p. 32) 4--R The General Abraham Van Wyck House. Built by him in 1802.

Occupied by his descendants until 1951. General Abraham Van Wyck (1774-1864), served in War of 1812 and in New York State Militia. The DCHS has a large collection of his business papers (some 640 pieces) concerned with the management of this and neighboring farms. (See DCHS Year Book, 1957, p. 22).

In 1865 the property included the John Jay Farm, next door, 500 acres of land under cultivation, 100 acres unimproved, and was valued at $47,000, (N. Y. Census, 1865). It was the most valuable and productive farm in the neighborhood. The stock was worth $9,000 and included 12 working oxen, 25 much cows, 72 cows, 10 horses, 3 mules, 26 pigs, etc., 250 fruit trees.

Most of the barns and outbuildings are now removed but the beauty of the open fields and meadows is still to be seen.

The house is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Roger Rawson, also apple orchard. The John Jay House and fields to the west are owned by Stephen Blodgett and the fields to the east and south by Peter Kahn.

5-R Site of the first Johnsville School, 1794-1847. The second Johnsville school was built in 1847 directly across the road from the first. After the Rombout Presbyterian Church in Brinckerhoff burned in 1866, monthly services were held in this school until the church was dissolved, 1885.

We are now entering the hamlet of Wiccopee from the west end.

Wiccopee is the original Indian name though all through the 19th century the hamlet was known as Johnsville. In 1904 the name Wiccopee was resumed.

6-L Blacksmith shop located here for over 100 years. Also said to have been a stage stop. In 1865, the shop was operated by William Corbin and his son-in-law, Cyrus Wiltsie. Both families lived in adjoining house.

7-L Small general store and tailor shop. In 1865 the tailor was Henry Phillips.

8-L Shoe shop. In 1865 operated by William R. Travis; he lived in house adjoining on right.

9-L Site of Methodist parsonage since 1836. Many weddings took place here.

10-L Wiccopee General Store. Built by John Bailey about 1800. In continuous operation since. The library of the New York State Historical Association, at Cooperstown, owns the 1859-60 journal of this store. It shows accounts 24

with 174 people—mountain families as well as those living nearby. Each account has a debit and credit column, credit being for produce brought in for barter or for services, such as cartage and blacksmith work. Isaac Pierce, the proprietor, even paid his pew rent in trade with the minister.

11-L Birthplace of Nathan Bailey, author of Johnsville in the Olden Times; also of his brother, Henry D. B. Bailey, author of Local Tales and Historical Sketches, who stated that some of the framing timbers in this house came from the Revolutionary War barracks south of Fishkill.

12-L Former location of Johnsville Creamery.

13-R Mt. Honness. Considerable effort has been made to discover for whom this beautiful little mountain was named. With some dismay we record that apparently it is Dutch for Dog's Nose! Dog in Dutch is hond and nose is nests. "Dog's Nose" is written hondenneus. Perhaps you can see a crouching dog with his nose pointing south to Long Island from whence the first Dutch settlers came. Or, what do you see? It's open season for guessing.

14-L This farm bought from Francis Rombout Brett by Peter I. Montfort in 1772. Passed by inheritance to his son Adrian; then to Adrian M. Waldron. Bought by Floyd Quick in 1872; by ex-Supervisor John Anderson, the present owner, in 1910.

15-L Camp Meeting Woods. Site of early church revival meetings; school and Sunday school picnics; political rallies and clam bakes. Once, almost 1,000 people were served at a clam bake here. The woods are now owned

by Mr. Henry Morgenthau, Jr. This is an optional stop for anyone who attended picnics here years ago and who would like to see it again.

16 We now turn right on the West Hook Road. On the left is the Wiccopee Fire Company. With the exception of the foundations, it was built entirely by the local men, volunteer. Inspection is invited. It is also the Wiccopee Boy Scout Troop headquarters.

17-R West Hook School House. You heard the bell from this school ringing as we left the church, it being temporarily in the church belfry. Our honorary member, Ai G. Hickman, who passed away this summer, attended school here. Also Charles Ross and many others who remember it affectionately.

18 We now turn right onto Van Wyck Lake Road. Here on the left is the William S. Ladue home. Ladues have lived here since 1740.

19-L The Sharpe Reservation, Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund. The reservation includes 2,000 acres but we will mainly visit the Thomas Cary-John Ross farm of 300 acres.

As we enter the reservation, according to Charles Ross of Hopewell who grew up here, the field on the left was known as the Rye Lot. Other field crops were sometimes planted here, too, but that was always its name.

Further on the left was an extensive apple orchard; on the right, corn and a grape vineyard. As we make a left turn to the parking area, we pass the site of the 16-room farmhouse and a complex of barns and outbuildings.

Down in the ravine, where a small dam may still be seen, was a fruit box factory built by Thomas Cary's son, William, in 1884. At first it was powered by a water wheel but the supply of water was insufficient so a steam engine was installed whose whistle could be heard in Johnsville.

In 1865 (New York census), the farm was valued at $9,450; the stock at $1,272 and included 4 working oxen, 11 much cows, 9 cows, 4 horses, 17 pigs, 32 sheep, 26 lambs. Crops included apples, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, corn and potatoes. No grapes. However, in the 1875 census, 3,500 lbs. of grapes were harvested.

There was a pasture where the lake is now and, as a boy, it was Charles Ross' daily chore to bring the cows home to the barn. He would call them from the rock extending into the lake and we hope he will do 25

so today as he did then.

We will lunch in the Bliss Dining Hall and Mr. Frederick H. Lewis, Executive Director •of the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund, will tell us of the splendid way the property is being used today. As we leave the reservation we will pass the new camp, Hidden Valley, for handicapped children.

We now leave the Sharpe Reservation and return down Van Wyck Lake Road (you may wish to go in low gear briefly), the West Hook Road to East Hook Road and a right turn onto East Hook. No markers for 1.17 miles.

20-R Home of former Secretary of the Treasury and Mrs. Henry Morgenthau, Jr. House built by Adolph Hupfel in 1884, redesigned by Mr. Morgenthau in 1929. Notice Mr. Morgenthau's beautiful apple orchards as we pass through a portion of them.

21-R Charlock - Stout Family Burying Ground.

22 Early deeds and maps indicate that the chief wigwams, orchards and "feilds" of the last of the Wappinger Indians to live as a tribe in Dutchess County were here in the East Hook. The village, where Dr. Henry MacCracken believes Chief Daniel Nimham was born about 1700, was probably located along the stream below Bill Wright's greenhouses as many artifacts have been found there.

We now leave East Hook and go up Long Hill Road. No markers until we reach the top. The Wiccopee Boy Scouts are stopping cars from coming down the hill until we are up, so don't worry.

23-R Joseph Ketcham's homestead, stage stop and tavern. Joseph Ketcham is said to have acquired this land after the Revolutionary War as land bounty.

24-L Cemetery at top of Long Hill. Members of the Ketcham, Odell and Travis families buried here. Many field-stone markers, others stolen. We are briefly in Putnam County.

As we go down the hill, road becomes known as Shaw Hill Road because the Shaw family were original settlers. Go in low gear at the Consolidated Edison power towers. Best stay in low gear to foot of hill. No markers for 114/ miles.

25-L Horton Shop. Here wood-shod sleds, ox yokes and ox-cart bodies were made during the winter months by the grandfather of the late Mrs. Milton Van Tassell.

26-R Turn left on Hortontown Road. Hortontown was once a busy hamlet; now only the Calvary Methodist Church is to be seen and it is closed.

27-L Site of David Horton's grist and saw mill, as shown on 1868 map.

Turn left onto Shenandoah Road.

28-R Peddler's Rock. Tradition is that a peddler was killed on or by this rock years ago when his horse ran away.

29-L Former Shenandoah School House. One of the last one-room schoolhouses in Dutchess County. Closed June 1957. The first Shenandoah school was a little further north on right.

30-L Site of Rickey's tavern and store; there during Revolutionary War. 31-R Bethel Baptist Church and cemetery. Founded 1835 and built shortly thereafter. Recently redecorated. Note horse sheds.

We will stop briefly in Shenandoah and hear Wright Jackson and Smith Townsend tell about the area. On 18th century maps and deeds it is shown as "Shanadore," apparently an Indian word. As we leave Shenandoah, continue on Shenandoah Road briefly, then make a right turn onto Jackson Road. Then another right turn, though you are still on Jackson Road. Note the stake and rider fences. We are now passing through the Wright Jackson and Sons farm. Contoured fields, crop rotation practiced, owner operated.

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Cross Taconic Parkway, up Jackson Road and a right turn onto Hosner Mountain Road. There is a silver ledge here ( shown on 1868 map) but it is not rich enough to be worked. On Henry Livingston's 1798 map of the Town of Fishkill this area is designated "Shuffle Hook." Why? No markers for next two miles. Elton Bailey and Son farms.

32-L There are many dirt, or root, cellars on Hosner Mountain in which the mountain families stored provisions against the winter months. One is to be seen here. Just beyond is a pile of rocks where once there was a tollgate. Turn right on Rushmore Road 100 yards to 33-R Entrance to Mr. and Mrs. Victor Nelson's property and the "Looking Rock." Mr. Nelson requests, "please drive slowly, low gear."

34-L Thomas Wright farm. Here he raised ten children early in the 19th century. Note dirt cellar on right. The Fishkill Plains Boy Scouts will direct parking just beyond the barn. Fresh cider from Mr. Morgenthau's orchards will be served at "Looking Rock," also cookies made by the Fishkill Plains Girl Scouts and EFHS members.

When we leave "Looking Rock," we will return to Hosner Mountain Road and turn right. At Cherry Lane we turn left. Note the fields enclosed by stone walls. The many mountain farms through which we have passed must have looked this way before they reverted to woods.

35-L There are a number of small, old mountain farm houses along here but most of them have been modernized. This 200-year old dwelling has been marked because, with the exception of dormer windows, no major changes have been made. Many of the original shrubs are around the house, such as a moss rose, cinnamon rose and a Hiawatha rose. Owned by Miss Marie Hughes and Miss Gladys Sheridan since 1927.

At fork (in road, keep straight ahead on Leetown Road, left again onto Route 52, and left down Stormville Mountain.

36-R Van Anden white oak. No one knows how old this tree is; it measures 19 1/2 feet in circumference three feet above the ground. It was, no doubt, a healthy young tree when General George Washington and Sybil Luddington passed this way during the Revolutionary War, this being the main road between Fishkill and Fredericksburgh (now Patterson).

Take the first black-topped road to the right into Stormville.

37-R Stormville Fire Company. Fire house built almost entirely by volunteers. Started 194-9, interior completed 1951.

Stormville. The history of this town is long and interesting but the hour is growing late and only a small bit of its history can be told. Originally the area was homesteaded by great-grandsons of the immigrant Storm ancestor, Dirck Storm. Until fairly recently it was a busy place with a busy hotel, a two-story school, railroad station, blacksmith shop, cobbler's shop, a chapel, cooperage, a creamery, as well as the stores and postoffice we see today. Several original Storm homes are still to be seen, two marked.

38-R Wooley House. Local legend says that Mary, of Mary-had-a-LittleLamb fame, lived in this house, although it has been refuted. Too bad! It is a nice story. Raymond Storm, in Old Dirck's Book, 1949, says the poem was written by the great-grandaunt of a former resident of this house and that the aunt lived in New Hampshire.

39-R Homestead Farm. This property was bought from Madam Brett by Isaac Storm in 174-3. The original deed, signed by Madam Brett, hangs in the parlor. Isaac Storm built the house shortly after the property was acquired and, although some changes have been made, most of the original house remains. Ten generations of Storms have lived here. Residence of Mrs. Diana Adriana Tucker.

40-R Storm n Lake Farm. Built about the same time as the Homestead Farm.

Renovated 1908-10. Childhood home of Raymond Storm, author of Old Dirck's 27

Book, 1949. Now the home of Tremaine Jackson, also a descendant of Dirck Storm. Note the many locust trees. They are always found around the homes of the early Dutch settlers.

And now the Pilgrimage ends. Pilgrims going north could rejoin Route 52 here, with a right turn, and take the next right (Carpenter Road) into Old Hopewell and the beautiful old Hopewell Reformed Church, then into Route 82.

Or, you could take the second right, Route 376, and go through East Fishkill's largest town, Hopewell Junction, and Fishkill Plains.

Thank you for coming. Come back soon!

BLUE DYING, The Subscriber informs the public, that he has spent a number of years in the states of New-York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, to obtain the art of dying Cloth, and is now ready to dye all kinds of colours; but particularly deep blue, both patent and English, being skilled in that much admired colour, and nothing will be refused for pay that can be eat, drank or burned — even Cash will be accepted.

Benjamin Miner Poughkeepsie Journal, October 19, 1802

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MATTHEW VASSAR, FOUNDER* On January 18, 1861, the New York State Legislature granted a charter to Vassar Female College in Poughkeepsie. With this act there was inaugurated a new chapter in the history of higher education in this country, education for women equal in kind and quality to that available for men in the great university colleges of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. To effect this a whole new institution was planned and built in one great operation, made all the more costly, difficult and prolonged by the hardships of the Civil War. Yet it opened its doors in the fall of 1865 a college complete in plant facilities the most modern of their day, in superb educational equipment from art collection to zoology laboratory, and in endowment sufficient to insure its future.

All of this was the work of one far-seeing philanthropically minded, dedicated individual, a resident and businessman of Poughkeepsie. In his life we can see mirrored the life of Poughkeepsie from 150 to 100 years ago and can catch the flavor of what it was like in those early days. * * * Matthew Vassar was born in England April 29, 1792, on the family homestead at East Dereham, Parish of Tudenham, County of Norfolk. He was the fourth of five children born in England to James and Ann Vassar. (Sophia, 1782; Maria, 1787; John Guy, 1789; Matthew, 1792; Jemima, 1794). James Vassar was a successful Norfolk farmer and wool grower as his father and French emigrant grandfather (LeVasseur) had been before him.

Matthew's parents were Baptists and, in common with other late eighteenth century dissenters, so strongly felt the oppressions of the state church that in 1796 they decided to bring their family to the United States. "It was liberty of thought and speech which they sought, and not solely to better their condition, for with the exception of oppressive laws, they were very well off in old Norfolk." Thomas Vassar, James' bachelor brothei, accompanied them to this country.

Matthew was four years old at the time of the move to America, but he never forgot one experience of the voyage—"Sea sickness, the

An account prepared in observance of the one hundredth anniversary of Vassar College, the "magnificient enterprise" of Matthew Vassar, by Theodore Henry Erck, Ph.D., Professor of Classics on the Matthew Vassar, Jr. Chair, and Secretary of the College.

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waves breaking over the vessel, sweeping me from the companion-way to the Lardboard side of the Ship, loosing my new London bought Hat, and just escaping a watery grave."2 After seventy days' passage on the ship Criterion the Vassar family arrived at New York in October, 1796. New York at that time had a population of about 50,000.

In later years Matthew Vassar recalled that they were greeted by New York's English residents who loaded them with gifts of fruit and hospitably provided them with rooms, notably with an English family named Withington, "a large Brewer in the upper part of the eastern bounds of the City."3 Matthew, his mother, brothers and sisters, including new brother Charles born in January, 1797, stayed in New York for the winter while his father and Uncle Thomas traveled during December 1796 and January 1797 to up-state New York as far as Utica searching for a desirable place to settle.

They returned discouraged early in 1797, having seen "nothing to fill their ideas of farmland or culture . . . dissattisfyed with the Country . . . about to re-embark to their native homes, but meeting with some English family going up the River to Po'keepsie . . . they were persuaded to wait, and finaly came with them, and ultimately purchased a farm lying on 'Wappingers Creek' now Manchester . .

The property selected — about 150 acres — lay in the rich and beautiful creek valley about three miles east of Poughkeepsie.

Shortly after buying the farm in the early spring of 1797, James Vassar moved his family to Poughkeepsie, probably by packet sloop, then the only mode of travel on the river. There they occupied a temporary dwelling one mile east of the village of Poughkeepsie while their house was being built on the farm. When the farmhouse was finished, at the close of the summer of 1797, James and Ann moved into their new Dutchess County home with their six children and Thomas. The brothers were no doubt influenced in their final choice of the farm they selected by "its natural growth of a plant they loved full well — the hop vine, for at that period no respectable English farmer ever thought of doing without his own home-brewed ale."5 "To the eyes of the English settlers nothing was more pleasing than a score of saplings along the borders of their farm, draped with the spiral vines of the wild hop ( humu/us /upu/us), from whose clustering blossoms they might distill the lupuline for home-brewed ale, without which an English family would experience a real privation. But barley for the malt was lacking. It was not long a want; for when the farm-work was over in the Autumn, Thomas went to England for a 30

supply of that grain and other cereals, and of good sheep. He brought back with him some fine seed rath, the most profitable kind of barley for brewing; and in the Summer of 1798, the first field of that grain ever seen in Dutchess County ripened and yielded bountifully on the Vassar farm."6 In September 1798 the Vassar family once again rejoiced to have home-brewed ale in the house. "The fame of it soon spread abroad among thirsty neighbors. The thrifty family made it for sale; and it was not long before little Matthew and his mother might occasionally be seen on the road to Poughkeepsie, in the farm wagon, with a barrel of home-brewed ale, the freshest eggs, and the yellowest butter, for all of which an ever-ready market was found."7 "I was going with Mother to Town on a pleasant Satturday with waggon & horses to Market Butter, Eggs, and a Barrel of homebrewed Beer, when all of a sudden by the carelessness of the Driver was upset landing Mother and waggon contents in the ditch, no bones being Broken, gathered up the fragments adjusted Matters and pushed on to Po'."8 In the two years 1799-1800, as its good reputation spread, the demand for the "Vassar ale," as it was called, grew by leaps and bounds. No longer could the customers be supplied by the small home brew operation on the farm. In the year 1801 the brothers decided to quit farming; they sold their farm and moved to town. James began the business of brewing in the newly incorporated village of Poughkeepsie; Thomas went into brick manufacture.

James bought property on Main Street, just west of Washington Street, and built the area's first brewery. "On January 4th, 1803, he inserted an advertisement in the Political Barometer stating that he had completed his brewery and was ready to supply the people of Poughkeepsie with ale, etc."9 There he produced about fifteen gallons of ale daily, which he peddled through the streets to the farmers and neighbors. He did his own malting. Thus was started the Vassar brewing business in which Matthew was to malce his fortune.

In town the family lived for a time in two different houses near their Main Street brewing property and later occupied living quarters in their new brewery building until their Poughkeepsie residence was built. The family now numbered ten as Matthew's younger sister, Keziah, was born in 1799 and James, Jr., was born in 1801.

During the five years of his boyhood in Poughkeepsie, from the time he was nine until he was fourteen, Matthew continued his usual 31

chores such as tending the family cows, and enjoyed playing with his friends, particularly "in the old Brewery Malt Kiln room, warming ourselves by the Kiln Fires."1° Meanwhile, he received practically no formal education. "Recollect going to Night School . . . to old Gabriel Ellison, had a fracas with him, because he struck me over the head with a round heavy Ruler, flooring me, how I got up and sent an ink Stand at his Yellow Breeches, besmeering his White Cotton Stockings to a pepper and Salt color. — — Left School under L. B. Van Kleecks Great Coat when School was dismissed at Noon. Quite a Rumpus was made by this event, complaints prefered to the family, how Father insisted my returning to School, how Mother interceeded for me and finally sent me to John Harbottles Night School . . . To sum it all up between my own temper, and Fathers severity & indifference to giving me an Education I got none — scarcely to read & write."11 James' brewing business was successful and he wished to make his two eldest sons his assistants. John Guy, who was almost three years older than Matthew, willingly helped his father from the beginning.

But when Matthew was old enough at fifteen for his father to take him into the business, he rebelled and would have no part of it. His father thereupon arranged for Matthew to be apprenticed for seven years to a tanner in Poughkeepsie. "This was a business still more distasteful to the boy than brewing."12 "I told Mother that I would never be bound to such a trade, it was disgusting to me & would run away from home to avoid the contracts — I did so, and Started privately on my Journey and on Monday May 8th [1807] set off to seek my fortune with 6/ in my pockett, two corse East India Muslin Shirts, a pair of woolen Socks, Scow Skin Shoes, all tied up in a Cotton Bandana Handkerchief. This exit I say was unknown to Father, but my Mother being privy to it & seeing my determination fur'd and rather aided the plan, and on the Morning above stated accompanied me on foot 9 Miles on my Journey to Hamburgh Ferry — here we parted and never shall I forget that Memmoral day, both weptd tears abundantly . . . ." 13 Except for one brief visit home, Matthew Vassar did not see his family again for three years. During his absence he worked in a country store near Newburgh, first as a boy of all work, his job "to Measure Wood Weight Iron, measure Salt, &c in fact do all kinds of drudging even to taking care of the Old Gentleman's horse . . .

Begining with Labour for a living . . . . "14 He quickly rose to the position of clerk and salesman because "he was quick, appreciative, learnt values quickly, was civil and obliging, and the customers liked 32

to deal with him."I-5 He learned to keep the accounts and was earning a salary of $300 a year by the time he was seventeen. He then accepted a better-paying position as clerk with another merchant in the neighborhood. Between jobs he went to Poughkeepsie for a visit home, walking the fourteen miles each way.

In 1810, having reached the age of eighteen, Matthew Vassar returned home for good — with the experience of three years on his own behind him and $150 in savings as proof that he could earn his own living. Coming to terms with his father, he entered James Vassar's brewing business and began work as bookkeeper and collector.

During Matthew's absence his father's business had continued to grow. Indeed, it had prospered to such an extent that in 1809 he had built a new and larger brewery in Vassar Street. ". . . my Father . . . wanted me to take charge of his Books & attend to Collections of ales and Beers Moneys which at that time was quite considerable having all or most part of the River-towns-trade, from NewBurgh to Hudson, — How we Sold Chancellor Livington Red Hook Fall & Spring large Quantity of Ale & deliv'd it by Sloops, . . . my going to NewBurgh to collect Ale Moneys For about a year after Matthew's return home all went well.

Then, in May 1811, misfortune overtook the family when the brewery burnt down, uninsured. ". . . the fire was reported . . . in the Journal of Wednesday, 1VIay15 : FIRE — About one o'clock on Saturday last the Brewery of Mess.

Vassar in this village was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was immediately given and the citizens assembled with great alacrity.

The buildings were already so completely enveloped in flames as to render in a measure unavailing the utmost exertions of the citizens to save them. A considerable quantity of ale and some other property was saved, but the buildings were entirely consumed. The loss is estimated at 13 or $14,000 . . . .17

A day later tragedy struck. John Guy, Matthew's elder brother, was suffocated by carbonic gases when he descended into one of the half-burned vats to salvage some hops. John Guy left his wife and two sons, Matthew, Jr., born 1809, and John Guy, born 1811. Their uncle Matthew brought the boys up and both later became greatly interested in M. Vassar & Co., and in Vassar College, as well as outstanding community benefactors on their own. "The Spring following while my Father was absent in New York May 10th 1811 his Brewery took fire & burt down and having no Insurance thereon this Calamity ruined him, besides which the loss was attended by the death of my Brother the Elder John Guy Vassar . . . whom the day after the fire 33

lost his life by descending into a vat charged with Carbonic Acid Gass . . . . "18 James Vassar, totally ruined financially and grieving the loss of his son, gave up in despair and retired to a farm just north of Poughkeepsie where he spent the remaining twenty-nine years of his long life. Nineteen-year-old Matthew Vassar then made the decision which was to earn him fortune and fame. Undaunted by lack of cash, sufficient equipment and experience, he decided to make a new and independent start in the brewing business. His sister Maria's husband, George Booth, who was a successful woolen manufacturer, gave him a little needed capital as well as the temporary use of an empty dye-house where he set up the few kettles and tubs he had salvaged from the fire ruins. "Here the young man, not yet twenty years old, brewed ale, a barrel or two at a time, which he bottled and peddled through the village."19 "His apparatus was so limited, that he could only make a few barrels at a time and these he sold in small quantities, serving his customers personally. But what he made was thoroughly well made, and gave great satisfaction."2° In less than a year Matthew's business was advertised under the firm name of "M. Vassar & Co." and had outgrown the limited quarters of the dye-house. Once again Matthew made a particularly imaginative decision and rented part of the basement of the "elegant" three-year-old county court house.21 There, in the fall of 1812, he opened an ale and oyster bar. He is said to have been the first to introduce oysters to Poughkeepsie.22 The oyster bar was opened on a small scale but its great novelty drew the customers immediately. ". . . it soon became the rendezvous of the lawyers, the politicians, and all the habitues of the court-house, transient travellers, and farmers who came to town took the opportunity to visit the 'new saloon' Apparently Matthew was also adding to his income by supplying his customers with more than ale and oysters. The Republican Herald of June 17, 1812, carried an advertisement for M. Vassar & Co. listing for sale not only ale but stout, porter, cider and wines, Spanish Segars, crackers by the bbl., lime juice. In addition, Matthew apparently had a monopoly of the barley trade.24 His family had been first to introduce the grain in the Hudson Valley section of the country and his father once again raised it on the farm. After the grains had gone through the vat, Matthew sold them to farmers for feed.

In the period 1812-1813, "Poughkeepsie was growing; it was one of the most thriving towns on the Hudson; and as the population in34

creased, Matthew Vassar's business extended. Still, it had only 3,000 inhabitants but, so far as appears, Mr. Vassar had no formidable rivals to compete with; the field was his own."25 After each day of brewing, selling and delivering, Matthew went in the evening to his oyster saloon and there personally served his growing clientele until midnight. This place of business "had grown from a plain 'oyster cellar' into quite a respectable 'clubhouse;' and occupied three rooms in the basement of the Court-house and one on the floor above. There judges and jurors, lawyers and clients, dined and supped during the sessions of the courts."26 By 1813, Matthew found his business so promising of further success that he married Catharine Valentine on March 7, the month before he became twentyone. "In the following summer . . . began the world, — that is the business world for myself by getting married and begining house-keeping, Renting part of a tenement at $40 per year, and was severely rebuked by my Father for my extravagance — $25 pr year was as much as he thot I ought to pay . .

In these early days of building his own business, Matthew found himself full of ideas for greatly furthering his profits. But to carry out his ideas he badly needed more capital. He "had now struggled on in business about two years, alone, unaided by influential or wealthy friends, and relying solely upon his own resources . . . for final success.

It had often been a most severe struggle . . . Ambitious of excelling in whatever he undertook, he spared no pains or expense in the manufacture of his ale, but for want of capital to enlarge his facilities, it was made in quantity too limited to give him much profit. Capital was his great need, and in due time it came to help him."28 "Fortunately help came at the right time; a gentleman named Thomas Purser, who was somewhat of a connoisseur in ales, and had often enjoyed his mug in Vassar's saloon, proposed of his own accord to go into partnership with our young brewer. This was precisely what he needed, as Mr. Purser had capital, the only thing which Matthew Vassar lacked."2° "July 14, 1813, Thomas Purser and Matthew Vassar informed the public that they had entered into partnership 'and that they are now rebuilding the Brewery in this village . . which they intend to have in operation the ensuing Fall.' "3° Mr. Purser, a well-to-do Englishman, furnished $15,000 and, continuing under the firm-name M. Vassar and Co., they set about erecting an extensive brewery and malt house. The new brewery had "a capacity of 40 barrels. The building extended from Vassar to Bridge Streets on land now occupied by Vassar Institute."31 35

The business really began at this time to be profitable, and Matthew "soon extricated the family from the unfortunate position to which the fire had reduced them."32 " The business at the club-rooms in the Court-house was abandoned by its founder, and his whole time and attention were given to the manufacture of ale. That vocation was successful . . . . " 33 The partnership with Purser "was the real foundation of the wholesale business, and was every way satisfactory while it continued; but Mr. Purser's health failing at the end of two years, he withdrew from the business . . . . " 34 "On June 10th, 1813, the Poughkeepsie papers contained a notice that he [Purser] had sold his interest to J. M. and N. Conklin, jun. The Vassar brewery was not yet making any fortunes, but it was on the road to prosperity."35 A man of many words when it came to college education for women, Matthew Vassar had little to say in his autobiography of his productive business years, summing them up in one sentence: ". . . but I will not pursue my narrative down any further, as most part of my life from this time till some 18 years ago [about 1847] was filled up with the ordinary buisness relations with its various phases, ups and downs."36 Matthew Vassar's life from 1815 to 1845 reveals a man who quietly and steadily built an ever more successful business but who also found time for increasing civic responsibilities and for promoting a variety of exciting new enterprises, all of which were important and necessary to the expansion of commerce and industry in the area.

By 1815, when Matthew was twenty-three, the Poughkeepsie newspapers were noting that the M. Vassar & Co. brewery, established less than four years, was on the road to prosperity. At this time Matthew's interest in and potential contributions to municipal affairs began to be evident to his fellow citizens. In 1819, at the age of twenty-seven, he was serving his first term on the Board of Trustees of the Village of Poughkeepsie. Five years later he was again elected and this time served for four continuous years as a village trustee, from 1824 through 1827. At thirty-two, the young brewer was one of the outstanding citizens of the community, invited to be present when Lafayette paid his memorable return visit to Poughkeepsie September 16, 1824. Among the guests seated at Lafayette's table at the welcoming breakfast was Matthew Vassar.

During this period he was also keenly interested in seeing that proper banking facilities were established to serve the community. The area's first bank charter was obtained April 12, 1825, for the Dutchess County Bank; organization took place on July 12 and among the directors was Matthew Vassar.37 36

Between 1815 and 1837, "the river steamboat reached the highest point of its commercial usefulness, a fact which had much to do with the growth of Poughkeepsie . . . . March 30th, 1827, a Poughkeepsie Steamboat Company was incorporated [by fourteen men, among them Matthew Vassar] . . . but apparently they did not carry out their plans, for in 1835 the papers were advocating the establishment of a local company, and at a village meeting held December 2nd [a committee of seven men, including Matthew Vassar, was appointed] to see if they could not secure a line to the village. This must have been an effort for a fast passenger day line, for there were already towing barges . . . steamboats . . . regular lines of sloops in active freighting operation and passenger business."38 In 1829 Matthew Vassar, now thirty-eight and with eighteen years of experience as head of his brewery, found himself able to buy out his two partners, J. M. and N. Conklin, Jr. For three years, until 1832, he conducted the business alone, meanwhile continuing his outside activities on an ever-increasing scale. A letter written by Matthew Vassar on March 29, 1830, reveals his intense concern with the brewery business and also gives some clews to the scale of his company's operations. This communication to George P. Oakley strongly objected to the beer and ale gauging law about to be presented to the state legislature. This letter shows that M. Vassar and Co. made large shipments to all parts of the country, "to fartherest Southeran Ports in the United States," and owned about 10,000 casks — varying in capacity from ten to sixty-four gallons. At any given time about 3,000 of these casks were filled "at home" and ready for shipment; 3,000 were out in the market, filled and empty; and about 3,000 were empty on hand or on their way "home."

In 1829, the Safety Fund Act, which made New York bank notes the best in the country, was passed; and in 1830, the Poughkeepsie Bank was organized. Among the first directors, elected June 17, was Matthew Vassar. Later he became one of the first trustees of the Savings Bank which was chartered April 17, 1831, and began business in 1833.

As the village grew, Mr. Vassar was one of the forwardlooking businessmen who took responsibility for civic improvements.

Thus before the village began to require paved sidewalks, when many establishments were fronted by strips of gravel and mud, Matthew Vassar was one of nine property owners who agreed, in November 1830, to "engage to pave or flag the sidewalks before our said lots in such manner as the trustees of the village shall direct."39 37

In 1832, when Matthew Vassar was forty years old, he took his nephews, Matthew, Jr., (at age 23) and John Guy (at age 21) , into his brewery business as partners. These young men were the sons of his deceased brother, John Guy. From the time Matthew acquired sole interest in the brewery, in 1829, the firm remained in the family and continued under the name of M. Vassar & Co. One of the unusual and important enterprises in which Matthew Vassar took part was the organization of the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company. Strange as it may seem, whaling became one of the major mid-Hudson River industries during the 1830's; ". . . great ships were sent to sea from Poughkeepsie for whale oil . . . ; other towns equally remote from the ocean were doing the same thing."4° Matthew was among those named as organizers in the charter when the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company was incorporated April 20, 1832, "for the purpose of engaging in the whale fishery in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and elsewhere, and in the manufacture of oil and spermaceti candles."41 This whaling company had its ups and downs but, by 1835, "had two ships at sea and two in port refitting."

In spite of his brewing, banking, whaling and real estate interests, his church activities and civic service, Matthew Vassar found time during the period 1832 to 1837 to promote establishment of the Dutchess County Railroad. This proposed east-west railroad across the county was incorporated March 28, 1832, and Matthew Vassar was one of twelve men who gave their time and interest in the attempt to see the road built and in operation. Although the charter was renewed in 1836, the project was finally "put to sleep" by the general economic panic which followed in 1837.42 Another of Matthew Vassar's important contributions to his community was the advice and guidance he gave as a member of the village reservoir committee from 1833 to 1835. This group studied the expediency of "erecting a cistern or fountain sufficient to supply the village with water . . . and for the extinguishment of fires and leading the same over the village in pipes.43 The committee met with much difficulty over water rights but its efforts were finally successful. The reservoir was completed November 4, 1835, in time to be of great service during the great fire of 1836.

In 1834, Matthew Vassar for the fourth time was connected with the establishment of a new bank. When the Farmers and Manufacturers Bank, the second under the Safety Fund Act, was organized in May 1834, Matthew Vassar was elected to the first board of directors.

By February 1835, he had become the bank president.

38

By 1835, the village population of Poughkeepsie had reached 6,281. At the charter election of 1835, what was described as the "Moderate Improvement Party" offered candidates who ran against the "Ultra Improvement Party," with Edward C. Southwick and Matthew Vassar on both tickets.44 Elected with Southwick and one other "Moderate" and two "Ultras," Matthew Vassar was chosen president of the five-man board. He again served as a trustee of the village in 1836. Although the time he could devote to his brewing business was becoming much more limited, a letter written by Mr. Vassar on January 29, 1835, showed him to be working actively toward the development of a "Brewery Association," and making plans for the drafting of a constitution for such an association.

In the years immediately following upon their entrance into the business in 1832, Matthew's new partners, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, proved themselves to be pushing, enterprising young men.45 By 1836, the Vassars found it necessary to build a larger brewing establishment. The site selected was 400 feet of river frontage at the Main Street landing, extending to Water Street. This location made for convenient water shipping to all points of the country, as well as "to the West Indies in return for sugar and rum."46 The water supply, so important to successful brewing came from an artesian well, 940 feet deep, on the premises. "The water from it is pure, and supplies all the purposes of the brewery." From the beginning, the riverfront brewery was supplied with all the best of "modern improvements in appliances and machinery, and is pronounced by those who claim to know, a model establishment in every particular."47 An interesting letter written in 1837 effectively describes the enlarged brewery and the Vassar ale: The Brewery of Messrs. Vassar 8c Co. is now the largest establishment of the kind in the United States. The recent enlargement is of brick, 200 by 50 feet, three and four stories high, which, together with its fixtures, cost the proprietors, rising $40,000. It is calculated to turn out 50,000 barrels of ale per annum. The ale manufactured at this establishment is not surpassed by any in the country. It is used even in the city of Philadelphia, so famed for its excellent malt liquors.48

At this period, ". . . the concern did an immense export business, especially in supplying ale to the West Indies, and its own line of seagoing schooners was employed in the carrying. But the revolution in those islands put an end to this trade, . . . and the product [later was] . . . exclusively sold for domestic consumption."49 Matthew's twenty-five years of industry had been rewarded by outstanding success, 39

"and the tide of prosperity kept rising."50 During the 1830's business grew to such an extent that it became necessary to operate in addition to the two breweries in Poughkeepsie, one in New York and another in Lansingburg.

"The panic of 1837 followed a period of extraordinary real estate speculation throughout the country, stimulated by a great extension of credit from shaky banks. In Poughkeepsie, however, and in New York State generally the banks were able to weather the storm, though some of them had backed boomers to a dangerous extent."51 "Vassar brewery was making notwithstanding the hard times 20,000 barrels of ale worth $6 to $6.50 a barrel."52 "Matthew Vassar was one of the few men actively interested in the enterprises before 1837 who was not ruined by the panic. In fact, he was in a position to purchase at his own figures what others were compelled to part with, and a considerable part of his fortune was made by taking advantage of such opportunities. Though a hard-headed, shrewd bargainer, he was more than a mere money maker, and . . from the beginning of his prosperity became a liberal contributor to the Baptist Church and various local charitable enterprises."53 Some years before 1839, Mr. Vassar had "taken a deep interest in the secular or temporal affairs of the Baptist Church as one of the Bd Trustees & being an early advocate of erecting a new house of Worship I took an active part in raising by subscrition the necessary funds procuring Architecural plans &c, but the enterprise resulted in entailment of a debt (against the Society) by which I afterwards cancelled of some $25000 to $30,000 and subsequently gave to the Society by legal conveyance the whole property by Deed of the same, since followd from that date to the present time with a donation of 3 to $400 p Year . . ."54 "At ease in his circumstances, he made honorable efforts to remedy the defects of his early education. His father never learned to read and did not feel the necessity of giving his sons more than the mere rudiments of knowledge. Matthew Vassar now became a diligent reader, and was fond of conversing upon the usual topics of educated society . . . 55 He was president of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum of "Literature, Science, and Mechanic Arts."

By 1840, the Poughkeepsie village population had reached 7,710, more than double its size when young Matthew Vassar entered the brewing business, and by 1845, the town of Poughkeepsie reached a population of close to 12,000. During these years Mr. Vassar continued 40

his various interests in new industrial enterprises. In March 1842, he became chairman of a committee of men active in planning for the development of a Hudson River Railroad. They feared that the proposed extension of the New York and Albany Railroad through eastern Dutchess County would divert the county trade from Poughkeepsie to the eastern county towns. By May of 1846, this committee had overcome strenous objections and obtained a charter. "The enemies of the road, however, succeeded in the incorporation of a requirement that $3,000,000 must be subscribed before March 1st, 1847, with 10 per cent, paid in . . . during the last week or two of February 1847 . . . . The $3,000,000 necessary to 'save the charter' of the Hudson River Railroad was subscribed, and Mr. Vassar was given much of the credit for starting the enterprise and for the final successful financing."56 "At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of Poughkeepsie in favor of the speedy construction of the Hudson River Railroad, held at the Village Hall on . . . January 23rd (1847) Matthew Vassar, Esq., was chosen President."57 Trains were running from New York to Poughkeepsie by the end of 1849.

In 1845, Matthew Vassar, now fifty-three, decided to fulfill his long-time desire to visit England and the Continent, leaving his business to the management of his nephews. On Mr. Vassar's invitation, Cyrus Swan accompanied him and his wife on the Grand Tour.

Mr. Swan, a man of liberal education and a pleasant companion, was later to take an active part in the building and organization of Vassar College. The party left New York in April 1845 in a sailing vessel, "one of the largest sailing packets of that time," which was twenty days in making the voyage.58 Guy's Hospital in London was the sight which most impressed Matthew Vassar in his ten months of travel in England, Germany, Switzerland, the Mediterranean and France.59 This large and celebrated hospital had been founded by a distant relative of the Vassars, Thomas Guy. As Matthew looked at the bronze statue of Thomas Guy in the hospital quadrangle, he read the words which were to be so decisive in affecting the activities of the rest of his life: THOMAS GUY, SOLE FOUNDER OF THIS HOSPITAL IN HIS LIFETIME

A. D. M DCC XXI.60 The three words which caught and held Matthew Vassar's attention were "In His Lifetime." It is possible that, having no 41

children, he had begun "at a comparatively early age to consider plans for leaving most of his fortune to found some institution."61 Inspired

by Thomas Guy's example, he resolved at least to begin the founding of some charitable or useful institution while he was still living.

For ten or more years following the Vassars' return from Europe early in 1846, Matthew found himself absorbed, to the point of excluding most other interests, in deciding how he could best dispose of his fortune during his lifetime so as to benefit mankind in an enduring way. At first, he seriously considered the possibility of founding a hospital in Poughkeepsie, similar to Guy's Hospital. ". . . now the great problem of his life became the particular form in which his vision of fame should take shape. Mr. Vassar was wisely determined to be his own executor and carry out himself whatever plans he should make. Many persons were eager to direct his philanthropic zeal and various schemes, particularly one of a city hospital, were urged."62 Matthew Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, daughter of his sister Maria, was a teacher in Poughkeepsie of more than local reputation.

Mr. Vassar bought and transferred to her use a large house with several acres of ground, and Miss Booth opened the Cottage Hill Seminary. During the period from 1846 to 1854, when Miss Booth died, Matthew took a real interest in her success, visited the school frequently, often talked with her about her ideas for the higher education of women. She first fostered in his mind the idea of founding a model school for young women "of a higher order than any then existing."63 "Seeing this Institution [Guy's Hospital] first suggested the idea of devoting a portion of my Estate to some Charitable purpose, and about this period took quite an interest in a Niece of mine Lydia Booth who was then engaged in a small way in the tuition of Children resulting in after years in the opening of a female Seminary in Po'keepsie . . . The force of circumstances brought me occasionaly in buisness entercourse with my Niece, which will account for the early direction of my mind for the enlarged Education of Women and the subsequent drift of enquiries in my conversation & correspondence with gentlemen Educators in this Country and a few in Europe "64

". . . there is no doubt that it is to this lady's influence upon her uncle that Matthew Vassar finally determined to devote his fortune to that object. Still he did not hurry; he meant to take plenty of time for consideration and for consultation with those he deemed his wisest friends; and other objects of immediate public interest also occupied much of his time."66 After Lydia Booth's death, in 1854, 42

Matthew Vassar sold Cottage Hill Seminary to Professor Milo P. Jewett. The two men came to know each other quite well through their association in the Baptist Church, and Dr. Jewett furthered Lydia Booth's suggestions, going so far as to urge Mr. Vassar to found a real college for women, "an institution that should be to their sex what Yale and Harvard are to their own."66 During these years of planning his great philanthropy, Matthew Vassar continued to direct the brewing business and to carry on other interests. In 1850, he brought into partnership his remaining brother, James, and his nephews Alfred R. Booth, Oliver H. Booth and J. V. Harbottle." From 1850 to 1852, Mr. Vassar served on a village committee to "establish a public cemetery near the town. Mr. Vassar was one of the most zealous promoters of the enterprise. He was chairman of a committee appointed at a public meeting to select suitable grounds for that purpose.""

"After his return [from Europe], Mr. Vassar enjoyed his wealth in another way, by purchasing a farm of about fifty acres threequarters of a mile south of Poughkeepsie and laying it out as a beautiful estate. `Springside,' as it was called, became his delight and pride."" Mr. Vassar lived there for several summers.70 By 1856, the idea of founding a college for young women was beginning to take concrete form in Matthew Vassar's mind. "Several 'Ladies Collegiate Institutes' had already been founded in various parts of the country, and Mr. Vassar soon perceived that the time was ripe for something better."71- "Mr. Jewett reiterated to him that there was not an endowed college for young women in the world although there were 'plenty of female colleges so-called' with 'no libraries, cabinets, museums, apparatus worth mentioning . . . .' It was under the persistence and persuasiveness of Mr. Jewett that Mr. Vassar was convinced of the dignity and glory of the plan proposed."72 "Mr. Vassar was neither selfish nor egotistical, and was not anxious to reap all the glory of this intended achievement; he invited his two nephews, Matthew and Guy Vassar, to join him in this undertaking, but they declined; their time for this kind of work had not yet come."73 "These words of the Founder: It occurred to me that woman, having received from her creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development. tell in phrase as direct and unadorned as Matthew Vassar's character 4-3

itself, the foundation principle of this generous act. He wished to help humanity with the results of his sagacious labor. He was led to see a way of helping which very few had seen or had desired to see. He did not care to be popular; surely, if he had, he would have selected another cause. He had had no share in intellectual training himself, but he did not underrate its value."74 "If his gift had contributed to . . . practical domains, had he built the hospital he had at first contemplated, or founded some other institution meeting directly the wants of physical mankind, his project would have lifted him at once into praise and honor. But this unasked for and unpopular thing, this `Vassar's Folly,' as it was named, this could bring him no distinction, except in the eyes of the few who could see its large and remote bearings."75 Mr. Vassar "sought the advice of some of the leading educators of the country, and . . . an eminent school architect was asked to prepare plans for buildings to accommodate 400 pupils . . . in 1856 . . . but it was not until the spring of 1860 that Mr. Vassar finally determined to proceed with the work. Dr. Jewett sold the Cottage Hill property at the close of the summer term, that he might give his whole time to the plans for the proposed College."76 "Mr. Swan drafted the bill to be presented to the Legislature incorporating 'Vassar Female College.' The act of incorporation was passed at Albany on the 18th of January, 1861, and was signed by the governor in advance of all other bills. The above name was changed and improved by act of a subsequent Legislature in 1867, by omitting the word female. The institution became simply 'Vassar College.' " 77 After the Act of Vassar College Incorporation became a law, the first Board of Trustees was organized at a meeting on February 26, 1861. After a remarkable and dignified address to the newly organized board, XL% Vassar "formally transferred from his own custody to that of the Trustees, more than four hundred thousand dollars of his wealth . . . represented by bonds and mortgages, certificates of stock, and a deed of conveyance of two hundred acres of land for a College site and farm."78 "Ground was broken for the building on the 4th of June, 1861,

by Mr. Vassar . . . . The work of raising this large building went on through the whole four years of the Civil War, and was opened for the reception of pupils in the fall of 1865. And thus, Matthew Vassar had the satisfaction like Guy, of London, of seeing his great work completed 'in his lifetime.' " 79 44

Professor Jewett was the first elected President of Vassar College.

"He retired from the Presidency before the fall of 1865, when the active life of the College began. But his interest in the new project, and his thorough belief in it were of great weight with Mr. Vassar, and were, beyond question, telling influences in its successful establishment."80 When the College opened in 1865 the new President was John Howard Raymond whose great ability and experience were largely responsible for the firm establishment of Matthew Vassar's cherished institution. Therefore, "Mr. Vassar, as ill health and years weighed upon him, resigned all direct control of college matters and while still living, entered into the reward of his labors, — the spontaneous devotion proffered to him by the early students of the college."

"His unfaltering business sense did not fail him when the time came to relinquish the helm to other hands."81But Mr. Vassar still devoted the largest part of his time to college matters. Four years earlier, in 1862, the old brewery buildings he had built in 1814 were destroyed by fire, but the large riverfront plant erected in 1836 continued to be one of the largest producers in the country. Matthew Vassar continued as head of the concern until May 1866, when he sold his interests and released himself entirely from the business.82 "The principle on which he conducted his business was as simple as it was sound. It was to make the best beer in the market. From an early period, Albany and other towns in that part of New York were noted for the brewing of beer, most of which was sold under the familiar name of 'Albany Ale.' Vassar's brewery, for thirty years, supplied the country with a large quantity of the best of it, and he became at length one of the richest brewers in the region of the Upper Hudson."83 "He never had children. His wife was now dead [1863]. It was fitting as it was dramatic that his life should end at the scene of his great work. On June 23, 1868, he expired at the college while making his address to the trustees. In the last part of the speech, which had not been delivered, he had written words typical of his whole attitude towards the college: 'If we only follow on in the old beaten paths we will make no progress. We do no more than others have done before us. We are only copyists and not progressionists.

My motto is progress., "84 "The great Vassar brewery after the death of Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, gradually lost its trade, partly owing to complications of ownership, and partly to Mr. Oliver H. Booth's interest in boat-building and other outside matters. About ten years 45

ago [1895] it ceased operations, and the buildings have remained idle, except for temporary occupation of the Water Street front as a county jail in 1902."85 NOTES 1Laura C. Holloway, Famous American Fortunes and the Men Who Have Made them (Philadelphia, 1885), p. 219.

2Elizabeth H. Haight, ed., The Autobiography and Letters of Matthew Vassar (New York, 1916), p. 21.

3/ bid., p. 22.

4Idem.

5Holloway, p. 219.

6Benson J. Lossing, Vassar College and its Founder (New York, 1867), pp. 18-19.

7/bid., pp. 19-20.

8Autobiography, p. 24-.

9Edmund Platt, The Eagle's History of Poughkeepsie, from the Earliest Settlements, 1683 to 1905 (Poughkeepsie, 1905), p. 85. loAutobiography, p. 31.

11/bid., pp. 26-7.

12Lossing, p. 23.

13Autobiography, p. 27.

14/ bid., p. 28.

15Holloway, p. 221.

18AutobiograPhy, pp. 29-30.

17Platt, p. 85.

18Autobiography, pp. 32-3.

19 The Poughkeepsie Eagle; Souvenir Number: The Bridge and Its Connections, October, 1889.

20Honoway, p. 222.

21Lossing, p. 27.

22Platt, p. 85.

231-10noway, p. 222.

24Idem.

25Idem.

26Lossing, p. 30.

27Autobiography, p. 33.

28Lossing, p. 33.

29Honoway, p. 223.

30Platt, p. 85.

31The Poughkeepsie Enterprise, November 11, 1909.

32James Parton, Triumphs of Enterprise, Ingenuity and Public Spirit (New York, 1871), p. 93.

38Lossing, p. 33.

84Honoway, p. 223.

85Platt, p. 86.

88AutobiograPhy, p. 33.

37Platt, p. 104. p. 117.

89/bid., p. 108 40/bid., p. 110.

41/bid., p. 112.

42/ bid., pp. 139-40.

43/ bid., p. 119.

44/ bid., p. 108.

45 Holloway, p. 223.

46Nancy Freeman, "A Life of Mr. Vassar," Vassar Alumnae Magazine, (December, 1938).

46

Eagle Souvenir, 1889.

48Freeman Hunt (Anonymous), Letters about the Hudson River and Its Vicinity, 3rd ed (New York, 1837), pp. 239-40.

49Poughkeepsie Eagle Souvenir, 1889.

50AutobiograPhy, p. 2.

51Platt, p. 128.

52The Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, August 11, 1929.

53Platt, pp. 166-7.

54Autobiography, p. 34.

55Parton, p. 93.

56Platt, pp. 140-1.

57/bid., p. 311.

58Lossing, p. 36.

59Holloway, p. 225.

60Lossing, p. 42.

61P1att, p. 167.

62AutobiograPhy, p. 2.

63Lossing, p. 59.

64Autobiography, p. 33.

65Holloway, p. 226.

66Platt, p. 167.

67Poughkeepsie Eagle Souvenir, 1889.

68Lossing, p. 60.

69AutobiograPhy, p. 2.

70Platt, p. 148.

71/bid., p. 167.

72Autobiography, p. 3.

73Holloway, p. 227.

74Mary M. Whitney, "The Founders of Vassar," The Vassar Miscellany, (May, 1895).

75Idem.

76Platt, p. 167.

77Holloway, p. 227.

78Lossing, p. 93.

79Holloway, p. 228.

80Whitney. sijutobiography, pp. 5, 12.

82Lossing, p. 34.

83Parton, p. 93.

84Autobiography, p. 5.

85P1att, p. 233.

47Poughkeefisie

The "Hog Back Guards" are getting themselves up in shape for their annual parade. They will be expected to present the grotesque feature of Thanksgiving Day. Their equipments will eclipse everything outre and their evolutions and drill throw the Chicago Zouaves in a deep shade.

The Poughkeepsie Telegraph, November 20, 1860

47

SHARPE RESERVATION* Sharpe Reservation, the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund s 3,000-acre camping area in southern Dutchess and northern Putnam Counties, has a long past but a short history. Its existence as a green oasis for the sidewalk children of New York City's tenements goes back only a decade or so, but its mountain fastnesses have looked down on nearly three centuries of colorful historical developments along the Fishkill Creek.

One might say that history was repeating itself when the noted brain surgeon, the late Dr. William Sharpe, donated to the Fresh Air Fund the first thousand acres of the reservation. After Washington's defeat at White Plains, October 28, 1776, numerous refugees from New York and White Plains described as "the poor and distressed," fled to Fishkill where they found asylum. There is no record as to exactly how many of these distressed persons received shelter and a sympathetic welcome one hundred and sixty years ago, —but it is doubtful if the number was as large as that of disadvantaged young Americans from the big city who have been receiving shelter and a sympathetic welcome since 1949 in the Fishkill mountains. Even by 1869, eight years before the founding of the Fresh Air Fund by the Reverend Willard Parsons, the population of Fishkill had not reached one thousand, despite steady growth since the Revolutionary War. Today, almost this number of persons inhabit Sharpe Reservation every summer.

The Fishkill Creek and the mountains south of it were known to the Indians as Matteawan, meaning the "country of good fur."

The country on the east bank of the Hudson at this point was noted for beaver streams and it is quite likely that the skins of beavers from Sharpe Reservation decked the heads of Londoners or Parisians during the beaver hat period which reached a peak during the early days of John Jacob Astor. High among the traditions that are developing among the present denizens of Sharpe Reservation is that of "Josephine and Napoleon," regarded as the forebears of all the beavers in the area.

*The substance of a talk given •in the Bliss Dining Hall of Sharpe Reservation by Mr. Frederick H. Lewis, Executive Director of the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund, on the occasion of the pilgrimage made by the Dutchess County Historical Society, September 30, 1961.

48

CLINIC, ADMINISTRATION, DINING HALL, CAMP HIDDEN VALLEY

LAKE FROM MARY LOUISE LODGE

INFIRMARY, CAMP ANITA

DINING HALL, CAMP HAYDEN

In addition to the great amount of American Revolutionary lore with which the Fishkill and Wiccopee area is steeped, there is social history which supports the democratic philosophy practiced by the Fresh Air Fund. One of these forms a precedent for the complete racial and religious integration observed at the Fund camps.

In the eighteenth century it was customary in the local churches to assign some of the gallery seats for the use of slaves, who were encouraged to attend services. Henry DuBois Bailey, in his Local Tales and Historical Sketches, published in 1874, tells of an incident which happened in the Rombout Presbyterian Church at Brinckerhoffville. One of the early residents, Henry Terbos, on a Sabbath morning brought all of his Negroes in a large lumber wagon to the church and, marching to one of the square pews, opened the door and ordered them to be seated. Then he seated himself among them, to the surprise of the assembled congregation.

The land acquired by Dr. Sharpe in 1933 had been the site of several abandoned farms whose first settlers supplied the village of Fishkill Landing with produce and firewood. Traces of several such farms are still to be seen and the miles of painstakingly built stone walls that crisscross the reservation stand as mute evidence of habitation in an earlier day. Even as late as two years ago the farmhouse where Charles Ross was brought up was still standing, as pictures shown by Mr. Ross to the pilgrims on the September 30, 1961, trip attest.

Several tracts of land were assembled into one tract by John M. Van Houten with the idea of selling it to the City of Beacon for its water supply. Civil engineers had surveyed the property, finding two large areas where dams creating deep artificial lakes could be built. The deal fell through and, after sixteen years of ownership, Dr. Sharpe decided that such a large piece of wild land should be used to bring inspiration, education and fun to children of all races and creeds trapped in the stone caverns of New York City. Since that time an additional and contiguous 2,000 acres have been acquired through the gifts enabling their purchase.

The Fresh Air Fund accepted Dr. Sharpe's grant with a deep sense of responsibility for preserving the natural beauty of the land and for maintaining its strategic importance to the Fishkill watershed over which it towers. Here was an opportunity that comes to few nongovernmental camping organizations interested in creating a new recreational area. Here one could start with virtually pristine forest, field and stream, lay out a long-range plan for land utilization and 49

improvement that could be fitted closely to the needs of a natureoriented camping program and to modern conservation practices.

Sought early was the advice and counsel of the Dutchess County Soil Conservation District whose interest and aid have been invaluable.

The district prepared a detailed plan of land use which, as funds become available, the Fund is carrying through to completion. Progress is reflected in the following excerpts from a recent report of the reservation's Superintendent of Maintenance: Planting 2,500 feet of wildlife hedge, consisting of multiflora rose, coralberry and tartarian honeysuckle. All of these shrubs provide food and shelter for wildlife. Several hundred willow shrubs have been planted around our lake and along our streams to prevent erosion. Some stream improvement has been accomplished, such as restoring an old dam and the building of several log dams to create pools for fish. The re-seeding of construction areas is moving along at a good pace.

Clearing a 10-acre brush field at the entrance of the property and building a 400-foot diversion ditch, as this field is poorly drained.

We have planted this area with 4,000 evergreens, spruce and Douglas fir. We have constructed a small farm pond on this 50-acre plantation for fi re control.

Acquiring equipment for fish management, such as net, boots and shocking devices. We still need additional equipment to keep the fishing in our lakes and ponds at a high level. Funds are also needed for management and restocking. There is a need on this 3,000-acre tract of land (including Huber Forest) for a network of foot trails to facilitate forest fi re control and prevention.

Twelve years ago, when plans for the reservation were in the dreaming stage and when (in the absence of an accurate survey) the Fund was not sure of its exact metes and bounds, it was thought that the complete "development" of the area could be accomplished in ten years. Since then, plans have been expanded and construction costs have risen and the reservation is still but two-thirds completed.

In order to interest people in contributing funds and for future recreational purposes it was felt necessary, as a first order of business, to create a lake and to build enough roads so prospective donors could see where their gifts would be applied. These roads, fourteen miles of them today, for the most part follow the old wood roads traveled many years ago by horse and ox-drawn wagons. A substantial start has been made on the creation of a second lake, much larger than the first. Both lake sites are in the paths of streams that are tributaries of Fishkill Creek and have now become a sylvan playground for children from the old Dutch island of Manhattan.

Currently, there are six camps operating on the reservation—Anita, Bliss, Coler, Hayden, Hidden Valley and Pioneer. A seventh Fund camp, Marks Memorial, also in Dutchess County, is located at the 50

intersection of the Taconic Parkway and Route 199. The physical requirements of all of the camps are provided by an Operations Center and a Maintenance Center located on Sharpe Reservation. As the accompanying pictures show, the Fund has brought to the field of camping a freshness of architectural design in its new construction.

Not only have the buildings and camping areas been arranged so as to permit a decentralized or "small group" plan of camping, but the aesthetic has been expertly blended with the considerations of function and durability.

The long-range plan for the full development of the reservation includes a "living museum" to serve as a source of information about the natural and historical resources of the surrounding Dutchess County area. Like all the recent construction on the reservation, the museum and its supporting facilities will be designed for year-round use. It is anticipated that such a center could be of great value to the school children of Dutchess and neighboring counties during the fall, winter and spring. If and when this activity becomes a reality it is hoped that old maps, books, papers, pictures and other items of historical significance pertaining to the Sharpe Reservation area will be donated to the museum by residents of the county.

Even beyond the important role of Fishkill and environs in early American history, the land occupied by Sharpe Reservation has a most interesting and indeed unique place in the geological history ot the eastern seaboard. Geologists have given much attention to the area, and professors of geology have utilized it to interest their students in the earthly developments that occurred many thousands of years ago.

Regional planners and population experts flatly predict that a quarter of a century hence the eastern seaboard will be solid city and suburb all the way from Portland, Maine, to Richmond, Virginia.

In preserving an oasis of green amidst the urban sprawl caused by our population explosion, the Fresh Air Fund believes it is performing a broad civic role even beyond that of providing recreation and education for city-starved children. The Fund accepts willingly and eagerly the full public responsibilities as custodian of its present acreage and is prepared to exercise the same concern for contiguous land that may 'come to it in the future.

51

THE PUBLIC CAREER OF JAMES TALLMADGE4 PART II CHAPTER FIVE — AUTHOR OF RESTRICTION It would appear that the Tallmadge Amendment was political rather than moral in substance, but political insight has extended little further into the matter. The question immediately arises, what politician, or political faction, designed this restrictive amendment? The historian's closest link with a possible answer lies in James Tallmadge, the mover of the amendment, for evidence is spotty and only circumstantial.

Many southern contemporaries thought that Federalism was the cause of the political device, reappearing from its lethargy and drawing new hope from this sectional issue. Jefferson wrote, "that it has given resurrection to the Hartford convention men."1 The Missouri question is a mere party trick, The leaders of federalism, defeated in their schemes of obtaining power by rallying partisans to the principle of monarchism, . . . are taking advantage of the virtuous feelings of the people to effect a division of parties by a geographical line; they expect that this will ensure them, on local principles, the majority they could never obtain on principles of federalism. . . .2

Monroe felt that, The same men, in some instances, who were parties to the project in 1786, for closing the mouth of the Mississippi for 25 years, may be consider'd as the Authors of this. The dismemberment of the Union by the Allegheny Mountains, was then believ'd to be their object. . . . 3

Madison wrote that the leaders of restriction were "dividing the Republicans of the North from those of the South, and making the former instrumental in giving to the opponents [Federalists] of both an ascendancy over the whole."4 Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri, reiterated Madison's feelings, saying that it was a Federal movement which was "balked by the Northern democracy, who saw their own overthrow" and the ascendancy of their political adversaries.5 Naturally, neither Benton nor Madison took cognizance of the northern dissatisfaction within the Republican party as a cause of the controversy.

The fact that the strongest support of restriction came from New

*The second of two parts of a dissertation in the department of history submitted by John D. Gindele, April 30, 1954, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at New York University.

52

York and Pennsylvania, predominantly Republican states, would implicate Republicans rather than Federalists. Then too, Tallmadge was not a Federalist and he was opposed to them in his election to Congress.

However, there were spots of Federalism still existing, around which a new party could be formed, and "there were features of that agitation which gave it the appearance of a Federalist movement."

But when some New England Federalists learned that the South thought the TVlissouri issue was a Federal stratagem, they discontinued their support of restriction in fear of hostility from the South.7 One reason for the South to accuse the Federalists was because Rufus King, a Federalist, championed the cause of restriction. He was dubbed the leader of the whole political scheme. The Richmond Enquirer wrote on February 19, 1820: . . . We regarded him [King], though a Federalist, as a high and honorable patriot . . . now he stands exposed in the eyes of his countrymen, goaded by an unholy ambition, attempting to clutch the office [presidency] which we trust will forever elude his grasp.8

Even John Quincy Adams, who took an amazingly naive attitude toward the Tallmadge Amendment,9 suspected that King was trying to gain political office through his ardent support of restriction.10 At the same time, Adams could write, ". . . there is not a man in the Union of purer integrity than Rufus King."11 Although he was roundly abused by the South, "there is no evidence that King had any ulterior designs."12 He did not take part in the secessionist movement of the Hartford Convention; he was too much of a patriot. His motives concerning the Missouri question were just as noble. Besides the evil of slavery as an institution, King saw the political injustice of the extension of the three-fifths slavery representation. He fought it as a political menace to the just influence in politics of the free states; the South felt that he admitted his own guilt of political ambition at the price of the Union. Concerning the revival of Federalism in New York, King wrote in 1820, "it is in my view dissolved."13 Reports from the South placed Rufus King and De Witt Clinton as co-conspirators of the Missouri question,14 but King could have disliked no other man more than Clinton. In 1819, there were three candidates up for election to the United States Senate by the New York legislature. Governor Clinton's influence was exerted against the re-election of Rufus King who had the smallest number of votes in his favor. A deadlock resulted in no successful election. When the next Assembly was chosen, the Federalists gained a number of seats 53

which the Clintonians lost; to maintain his power, Clinton conciliated the Federalists. Then he recommended King for senator and the Bucktails followed suit, so that King was re-elected.15 Only three votes were registered against King," and they were given by anti-Clintonian assemblymen from New York City." When the election of governor occurred in 1820, King opposed Clinton, toward whom he had a "deep and strong aversion."18 He was indebted to Tompkins for his support "without which Mr. C. and his federal friends would have succeeded in degrading me."19 Thus, it is highly improbable that King and Clinton were working together on the Missouri question. King even refuted a rumor that the Missouri issue was part of " 'a plan devised by & for Mr. De Witt Clinton and intended to advance him to the presidency.' " 20 He said that accusations of this sort, whether against himself or Clinton, had "'no sort of Relation to the subject.' 21 Since Rufus King was not an architect of the Tallmadge Amendment, nor did he believe in the hidden political significance of the issue, he would naturally think that Clinton had no responsibility for it because King certainly did not intend to do Clinton's work. If Clinton, on the other hand, were the architect, it was logical for him not to support King for senator, because King, by the end of the Fifteenth Congress, had not come out in favor of slavery restriction and there was no assurance that he would.

From the nature of the political background and the support of the Tallmadge Amendment, it is certain that the New York politicians were the designers of the device. Both Tallmadge and Taylor, leaders of restriction in the House, were from New York. Their prominence in the issue is revealed by Missouri's hatred for them expressed in a toast given them at a celebration in 1819. " 'Messrs. Tallmadge and Taylor—Politically insane, may the next Congress appoint them a dark room, a straight waistcoat and a thin water gruel diet., ”22 Since the Federalists are ruled out, there remain only two political factions in New York State which could be responsible for the Tallmadge Amendment, the Clintonians and the anti-Clintonians, or Bucktails.

The Bucktails represented the orthodox Republican party in New York State. Daniel Tompkins, then vice-president to James Monroe, was one of their leading men. According to James Emott of Poughkeepsie, Tompkins "thought the office of President of right belonged to him in the election" of 1816 but, despite his disappointment, "his views of the throne are not given up altho' they are necessarily postponed."23 In 1820, Adams wrote that there was no opposition party 54

to Monroe's re-election, but Tompkins was in the market for the presidency.24 In the years immediately following the War of 1812, the national administration had sustained the Tammanyites (Bucktails) in their war upon Clinton, with Governor Tompkins secretly encouraging this course of procedure. But now that Tompkins "had become the strongest Republican in the State, he found the same policy exerted against himself."25 What easier way could the Virginia Dynasty find to dispose of Tompkins' political potentialities and yet preserve his support than by making him vice-president, but never president? It might appear that Tompkins was dissatisfied with Virginia control but he quietly acquiesced in its wishes. Because he did anticipate the presidency through the support of the whole Republican party, he never could risk defiance toward Virginia.

Besides endangering the political control of Virginia, the Tallmadge Amendment was designed so as to make precarious the position of any northern Republicans who were faithful followers of the Virginia Dynasty. Martin Van Buren, the leader of the Bucktail party, took no positive stand on the Missouri question. Having supported King for senator, Van Buren said that slavery restriction concealed no plot so far as King was concerned but that he, Van Buren, and his friends would give it a true direction.26 Just what Van Buren had in mind is not quite clear but he probably intended to prevent the Missouri question from creating a sectional split within the Republican party. Van Buren voted in the New York Senate to restrict slavery and joined in calling a meeting against slavery extension but was absent and refused to have his name placed on the anti-slavery resolutions which were drawn up at the meeting and sent to Washington.27 Thus, Van Buren was playing both ends of the fiddle, keeping in tune with popular sentiment in New York while not getting off-key with Virginia.

The New York Republican party was also innocent of any political plot, having followed the lead of Van Buren and Tompkins in its subserviency to Virginia. William Plumer wrote after the Missouri Compromise had been passed: "It since appears that the Bucktails or Tomkinites, were in general lukewarm on this subject, 8z.-, many of them opposed to the restriction."28 Seward perceived at the time of Missouri's admission, "the subserviency to southern influence and dictation which prevailed in the democratic party in the state of New York."29 In 182 0, King wrote: "There will be no opposition to Mr. Monroe that I have heard of; none is expected even from New York, whose Legislature in all probability will be anti-Clintonian."3° The 55

Republicans continued their southern leanings in the New York Constitutional Convention of 1821, where Seward observed that "the Clintonian minority were more liberal [concerning Negro suffrage] than the [Bucktail] majority of which I was a supporter."31 He had a suspicion "that the Republican party in the State, and its leaders, adopted the restraint upon negro suffrage from a motive of sympathy with slavery, or favor toward it, as that institution then existed in all the more Southern Atlantic States of the Union."32 In 1824, the New York Democrats [Republicans] wanted an alliance with Virginia."

They even supported the national presidential caucus and the South's William H. Crawford for president, both actions being in complete agreement with the Virginia Republicans. There is little doubt that the Bucktails were not the architects of the Tallmadge Amendment.

By deduction, the Clintonians were responsible for the Tallmadge Amendment. This conclusion, however, is not arrived at by a process of elimination. There is more than possibility and probability in this judgment. First, one must examine the political background of the draftsmen of restriction, the New York delegation in the House of Representatives. Of the twenty-seven representatives from New York in the Fifteenth Congress, four never voted in favor of restriction, two more were in favor of only part one of the Tallmadge Amendment, and the remaining twenty-one were for the amendment."

Of the twenty-one, those from the West were generally strong supporters of De Witt Clinton because of his advocacy of a western canal. Ellicott and Spencer were Clintonians,35 and Hasbrouck and Townsend were both lieutenant colonels in the New York militia in 1808,36 when the Clintonians had such complete control. John W. Taylor, also, held a militia appointment in 1808.37 He had seconded the Tallmadge Amendment and reproposed it in the Sixteenth Congress. Most important of all, James Tallmadge was a Clintonian.38 He was a family relation of Clinton, had received his military appointments through Clinton's influence, and had been elected to Congress as a Clintonian and by Clintonians. Even if all of New York's delegation were not Clintonians, some of the few Federalist members had allied themselves with Clinton.39 Adams wrote that "a majority of the New York delegation in [the Sixteenth] Congress are partisans of Clinton . . ."4° But, when Taylor was up for election as speaker of the House in November 1820, he told Adams that he was opposed by members of the New York delegation because they believed he was a Clintonian.41 He had previously been supported by all the Republicans in his election to 56

Congress,42 so the Bucktails now must have thought that his stand on slavery restriction was ground for thinking him to be a Clintonian.

Taylor was finally elected on the twenty-second ballot by a vote of 76 to 75,43 but only after he had specifically told the opposing members of the New York delegation that he was not a Clintonian. It appears from this that there were at least about six anti-Clintonians in Congress voing in favor of slavery restriction. This was not unusual, in that the political motives of restriction were hidden as much as possible, and New York congressmen risked their immediate political future by opposing restriction. The election of Speaker Taylor did not entail a moral question; it brought prestige to New York. But even so, J. A. King wrote that Taylor's election was a source of regret. "If Van Buren had been in Sanford's place, this would not have taken place."44 The elections of 1821 placed Van Buren's party in firm control of New York. This was carried over in Congress, for Taylor was defeated by the anti-Clintonians in his bid for re-election as speaker of the House.45 In his election to this Seventeenth Congress, Taylor had been nominated by the Clintonians.46 Again, in 1827, the Van Bill en Democrats were largely responsible for Taylor's defeat as speaker and, in 1832, they thwarted his re-election to Congress.47 In November, 1820, just after John Taylor had been elected speaker, he had a conversation with Adams, of which Adams recorded: He spoke to me this evening of Clinton very lightly, and said that the Southern people had ascribed to Clinton the origin of the Missouri question without a shadow of foundation; that so far from it, Clinton had in the first instance entirely discouraged, and never gave any countenance to it until he discovered its great popularity in the State.48

Taylor was forced to deny any connection with Clinton in order to obtain the election of speaker and this conversation with Adams was only supporting his denial. Since Taylor was one of the leaders in the fight for slavery restriction, he would naturally deny Clinton's authorship of the issue because, if Clinton were the author, Taylor would be implicated as a Clintonian and this is what he was trying to avoid.

Clinton, actually, had a long record in favor of Negro emancipation and, if he were reticent on the Missouri question, it could only be that he did not want to reveal himself as the author. In 1798, he became a state senator and shone particularly in the debate on the gradual abolition of slavery within the state.49 His own colored employees were free and drew wages for their work. "An Act to Prevent the Inhuman Treatment of Slaves" and "An Act to Prevent 57

the Farther Introduction of Slaves" were both from his pen.5° Their arguments suggest Clinton's authorship of the Tallmadge Amendment, which also allowed for gradual abolition and prohibition of slavery.

Clinton's political career is a record of nearly continuous pursuit of the presidency and defiance of the Virginia Dynasty. When Jefferson retired from the presidency, and the claims of Vice-President George Cinton were overlooked, there were not a few members of the Republican party who even then desired De Witt Clinton to be the candidate for president.51- New York was represented by only one delegate in this congressional caucus of 1808. Although Madison was nominated, De Witt Clinton managed to secure six of New York's electoral votes for his uncle. Even then Virginia was jealous of the growing power of New York, "and particularly of the rising talents and influence of De Witt Clinton There were only twelve members from New York and all of New England at the caucus of Congress in 1812, which nominated Madison for a second term." In defiance of this nomination, the Republicans of New York nominated De Witt Clinton. The slogaa of the Clinton men was "No Virginia Control" and their plan denounced "King Caucus" and opposed regencies and perpetuation in office.54 Van Buren, then working for Clinton, effected a combination with the Federalists. Clinton took a middle-of-the-road position on the War of 1812, in an effort to gain this Federalist support without losing his Republican following. Clinton tried to secure the support of Gouverneur Morris, Jay and King, but the latter two would not patronize him.55 The dissatisfied Republicans, who objected to the caucus, hoped Clinton might break the caucus system and the Virginia Dynasty at the same time.5° Clinton's attempted coup d'etat nearly reached the mark. He won the electoral votes of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and five of Maryland's for a total of eighty-nine. Madison took six from Maryland, and all the votes of the western and other southern states, plus those of Pennsylvania and Vermont for a majority of 128.57 Running with Clinton, for the vice-presidency, was Jared Ingersoll of Pennsylvania. Had this political alignment been successful in winning the twenty-five electoral votes of Pennsylvania, De Witt Clinton would have been the fifth president of the United States.

By failing, he became an outcast of the Republican administration at -Washington, and was now subjected to the charge of Federalism.

Besides this, it created an anti-Clintonian faction.58 This faction ousted Clinton from the mayoralty of New York 58

in 1815. Despite this setback, he made another bid for the Republican presidential nomination, losing to Monroe in the caucus of 1816, by a vote of 65 to 54.59 After Clinton was elected governor in 1817, opposition in New York City continued unabated and "was speedily reenforced by the whole weight of the executive influence of the general government."" Clinton was far from being on amiable terms with President Monroe and an open breach nearly occurred. Through the number and value of the federal custom-house appointments in New York City, the general government possessed great political influence.

This corps, banded with the anti-Clintonians and Federalists, presented a sizeable opposition to Clinton in that area. The opposition became so strong that in his opening speech to the legislature in 1819, after being re-elected by a slim majority of 2,000 votes, Clinton referred to thc situation by saying he had "proved, in more than one instance, that votes were given under the influence of fear of loss of office."6' From the foregoing account, Clinto'n appears to have been the most dissatisfied and the most antagonized of any Republican toward the Virginia Dynasty. He had fought Virginia in the three previous presidential elections. Slavery restriction would be his fourth attempt to thwart the entrenched South. If anyone had cause to draw the plans of slavery restriction, it was Clinton.

It was on February 13, 1819, that James Tallmadge proposed his memorable amendment, signaling the end of the "Era of Good Feeling." Just over one month before this unexpected proposal caught the nation unaware, Governor De Witt Clinton addressed the opening session of the New York legislature. His words were: At no period within my recollection has the public mind been in a state of greater tranquility, more exempt from the impulses of ambition and the agitations of faction, and more accessible to the influence of reason and patriotism.

He continued, speaking of great future inland waterways and navigation improvements which would connect far regions. Then he turned his thoughts toward free elective government, asserting that liberty and union are inseparably connected.

A dismemberment of the republic into separate confederacies would necessarily produce the jealous circumspection and hostile preparations of bordering states . . . . A dissolution of the Union may therefore be considered the natural death of our free government.

And to avert this awful calamity all local prejudices and geographical distinctions should be discarded—the people should be habituated to frequent intercourse and beneficial 'intercommunication, and the whole republic ought to be bound together, by the golden ties of commerce and the adamantine chains of interest.

59

In attending to the general interest of the community, let us not overlook the concerns of two unfortunate races of men, who will be forever insulated from the great body of the people by uncomfortable circumstances, and who ought to receive our protection and benevolence. I refer to the Indian and African population.

After discussing Indian affairs at some length, Clinton cited the "black codes" which prohibited the separation of relatives of slaves, the conveying of them in a state of slavery by exportation and the precluding of the increase of population by importation. Then he added, "it may be proper to fortify the existing provisions, on account of the artful evasions which are practised to procure the exportation of servants."62 Granted that the Union was in a state of "tranquility," but why then did Clinton talk of "dismemberment," "confederacies," "dissolution of the union" and "the natural death of our free government?"

He did not stop there but assumed that this awful calamity was due to come and to be averted. Then he alluded to the Negroes "who ought to receive our protection and benevolence." The Negroes in New York had already received such action in legislation but Clinton referred to the "African population," which certainly was not confined within the borders of New York State. Again he did not stop short but said that further laws are necessary to terminate the violations of the black codes. This speech, delivered one month before an amendment was proposed in Congress, which set bounds to slavery and which precipitated a crisis that nearly led to secession, is too coincidental to be other than proof that De Witt Clinton had foreknowledge of the Tallmadge Amendment. Perhaps he treated these subjects in his speech to prove his patriotism and humanitarianism in the struggle to come but by doing so he only revealed his own share in it.

In 181 1, Clinton was one of a committee of men appointed by the New York legislature to solicit financial aid from the United States government for the construction of a cross-state canal. Subsidy was refused because of sectional jealousy; the doctrine that it was not in the delegated powers of Congress to grant such aid had not yet been formulated.63 Furthermore, the government possessed ample funds, because war preparation had been neglected." However, New York carried on with her project, mainly by the instigation of the tireless efforts of De Witt Clinton. It must have occurred to him that, since the Mississippi River was the best outlet for western produce, the Northwest was economically bound to the South, and therefore, politically bound also. If a waterway could be constructed to connect the Great Lakes with the Hudson River, and thence to the 60

Atlantic Ocean, the economic ties of the Northwest would be shifted from the South to New York and the East. A political alliance would follow. Clinton could not have been blind to such reasoning and it is probable that this was one consideration which prompted him in his efforts to build the Erie Canal. Construction had begun by the time the Missouri question arose but it would have been a greater advantage to the North to have had the canal completed by that date. The question having split the free from the slave states, an economic basis would probably have secured the votes of the Northwest to the North instead of losing them to the South. In Clinton's speech to the legislature on January 16, 1819, the only other topic which drew mention was that of "great future inland waterways." "The people should be habituated to frequent intercourse and beneficial intercommunication, and the whole republic ought to be bound together, by the golden ties of commerce and the adamantine chains of interest."

When the Missouri controversy engulfed the thoughts of the nation, De Witt Clinton was not restraining himself to see if it would prove to be a popular cause. He was the first in New York to propose a resolution in favor of slavery restriction. His attitude can best be observed in his own speech to the legislature in January, 1820. . . . Nor [could] I conceal on this occasion the deep anxiety which I feel on a subject now under the consideration of the general government; and which is unfortunately calculated to produce geographical distinctions . . . Morally and politically speaking, slavery is an evil of the first magnitude; & Whatever may be the consequences, it is our duty to prohibit its progress in all cases where such prohibition is allowed by the constitution.65

James Tallmadge undoubtedly knew who was the original planner of slavery restriction but he never named the person in writing.

If he had, he would only have implicated himself in a political plot.

Some further insight into the matter is provided, however, by a letter which Tallmadge wrote in 1825. Discussing the politics of New York, he stated: At Washington they seem to consider this state as divided into sections & that the hostile section can be conciliated by favours. This reasoning, tho impure in principle, might be correct in practice as to ordinary Divisions in other states, where the divisions are either local, or personal— & all looking to Washington as the common head.

But not so here. In this state there is a candidate for the Presidency.

—a Pretender to the throne. The divisions in this state are neither local nor personal, as Wstn state. The divisions here are—one party—The old Republican Party, disposed to support the Genl. administation—another party—the old Hartford Convention men & the body guard of an individual united as one band in support of the Pretender to the Throne—every act therefore of favour to this party, can not condiliate or gain friends to the Genl administration.

It strengthens the force & party of the Pretender— & dismays & 61

weakens the friends of the Present administration. That Clinton has entered for the Presidency no one can doubt. He intends to supplant Mr. Adams at the end of his present term.66

When Tallmadge wrote this letter he was lieutenant governor, serving under Clinton, who was governor. Even though their association was close, Tallmadge was greatly antagonistic toward Clinton at that time.

This, however, does not detract from the value of Tallmadge's appraisal of him.

Tallmadge was not the only one to accuse "the Pretender" of insatiable ambition. Clinton's most sympathetic biographer and personal friend, Dr. David Hosack, wrote that his friends had never denied he was ambitious. But his political foes spared no abuse in denouncing him. As early as 1808, Clinton "was said to be the greatest political intriguer in the United States."67 Adams wrote that Clinton was a man of great talents but used "the charlatanery of popular inticement" and "everything that smacks of combination and votemaking."68 At the height of the Missouri controversy, an editorial in the Richmond Enquirer slandered Clinton.

We say this firmly and frankly, though we are not ignorant of the pretensions of those who would fill the chair [the presidency].

Of De Witt Clinton we have never concealed our opinion. Ambitious, intriguing, grasping in his designs, careless of his means—such is one of those who aspire to 'lord it over Venice.'69

According to all accounts, Clinton was always in contention for the presidency. In 1818, the three main contenders were Clinton, Crawford and Clay,7° and the latter two were both hurt by the Missouri question. Even though Clinton was not one of the final four presidential candidates in the election of 1824, he was in the running in the early years; Bucktail dominance of New York after 1821 quelled his hopes. Clay accused Clinton of joining Jackson and Crawford in assailing him over his support of Adams in the House of Representatives in the presidential election of 1824.71 Dr. Hosack verified the central idea of these accusations when he wrote that Clinton, after his re-election as governor in 1826, "had gained such a complete victory over the party feelings of former times, that next to the two leading candidates for the Presidency, his prospect of eventually attaining to that elevated station, had become greater than that of any other citizen of the United States."72 However, Clinton's career was suddenly, brought to a halt by his unexpected death in February, 1828.

There is an interesting entry in President Adams' diary of September 9, 1826, which reads as follows: I received a letter from De Witt Clinton, Governor of New 62

York, with enclosures, complaining of an advertisement in the National Intelligencer for the sale of a colored man, whom they claim as a freeman and a citizen of New York.73

Adams then handed the papers to his secretary of state, Henry Clay, to have him act on the dispute according to law. Here was a freeman supposedly held as a slave after entering a slave state. Reverse the conditions, (i.e., a slave being declared free after being in a free state) , and it will be seen how similar the situation was to the Dred Scott affair. Was Clinton trying to create another slavery issue?

Looking back at James Tallmadge, one finds that he refused a renomination to Congress.74 For one who was to prove to be so ambitious within a few years, this action seems strange. Undoubtedly, he was more interested in the governorship of New York, or even a judgeship. This action leads one to think that Tallmadge did not originally desire to attend Congress. As it happened, he was elected as a "pinch hitter." This could mean that the Clintonians desired him to go, and to propose slavery restriction. After returning from Washington, he would naturally expect some reward through political spoils.

In the spring of 1819, two state senatorial seats from the southern district of New York had to be filled by election. In February, the Democratic county convention was held to nominate candidates for this coming election. The Clintonians and anti-Clintonians had no common points and so each made their own nominations. The Clintonians had delegates from twelve towns and nominated James Tallmadge.75 There were three tickets in all: the Federalists nominated Morris and Schuyler, the Clintonians chose Tallmadge and Van Cortlandt and the anti-Clintonians selected Livingston and Townsend.76 More than a month before the election, on March 16, 1819, the Clintonians in the state legislature tried to elect Tallmadge as a Regent of the University of the State of New York, but Stephen Van Rensselaer was made the choice from the four candidates.77 The election for state senators began April 27. The Federalists won in Dutchess County as was expected but Dutchess had been attached to the southern district since 1815, with New York City and and the Long Island counties, so the Federalist and Clintonian vote was overwhelmed by the Bucktail electorate.78 The anti-Clintonian victors amassed more votes than the other two tickets combined.

Tallmadge led his colleagues in the total vote for the southern district and in every town in Dutchess County. He also received more 63

total votes than the Federalist Morris; in Dutchess he was beaten only by the Federalists.79 With Tallmadge's failure to win this election, the Clintonians still had not rewarded him for his brilliant defense of slavery restriction in Congress.

Since Clinton had been elected governor in 1817, Van Buren, although antagonistic toward the Clinton administration, was not removed from the office of the state attorney general. However, in 1819, the situation became unbearable, and yet Clinton hesitated to dismiss Van Buren, mainly to avert the hostility of James Tallmadge and John C. Spencer, two ardent Clintonians, who both sought the office.8° Spencer was an influential politician who had assisted Clinton to raise his political stature after his low turn in 1815 and 1816.

To consider Tallmadge, who had been nothing more than a small town lawyer and politician before his term in Congress, as deserving an equal share of the political spoils as compared to Spencer, is significant. It is an indication that James Tallmadge had performed an important mission for De Witt Clinton. "Tallmadge had recently returned from Congress full of honours because of his brilliant part in the great debate on the Missouri Compromise," and he expected to receive the appointment as attorney genera1.81 A new Assembly was chosen in May and the Federalists gained seats which the Clintonians lost. For Clinton to maintain his control over the Bucktails he had to appease the Federalists. Thus, in July 1819, the claims of both Spencer and Tallmadge were overlooked, while Thomas J. Oakley, a Federalist, was appointed attorney genera1.82 Despite the political conciliation on the part of Clinton, Oakley said he was in a peculiar position, being appointed by a Clintonian council to "one of the most important, influential and, at that time, lucrative offices."83 At the same time, a Federalist was appointed district attorney of Dutchess County, while George Bloom, the former law partner of Tallmadge, was removed.84 Earlier, in April 1819, before his defeat in the senatorial election, Tallmadge wrote to John W. Taylor that he, Tallmadge, was "'suspected & squinted at by Clinton.' "85 The meaning of this is revealed in another letter from Tallmadge to Taylor, which he wrote some time after his failure to secure the attorney generalship. " 'I have not doubted, but little was to be expected by you or me from either state of Genl Government—The one hates us—the other is jealous of us—so we go.' " 86 All the South was determined to put down the aorthern leaders of the Missouri controversy, in their intense hatred Df restrictionists. Clinton grew jealous of the prestige attaching to its 64

proponent. Clinton's jealousy is understandable; Tallmadge had won the credit of his plot, yet here he was, demanding more rewards from the hand whose pen had wrought his fame.

Tallmadge's expectancy must have been very great, because his failure to receive the attorney generalship caused him to join Clinton's enemies,87 In 1821, he was one of five on the Dutchess County Bucktail ticket for the constitutional convention of that year.88 But Tallmadge had completely broken with Clinton in 1820. In March 1820, Tallmadge's father, who had been a Clintonian, attended a Bucktail meeting as one of their party." Two items concerning anonymous letters appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal on March 8, 1820, eight months after Tallmadge had been disappointed as an office-seeker.

The first item was an unsigned letter to the editor about an anonymous column printed in the last Dutchess Observer, which defamed Clinton. The anonymous writer had said: . . . When the gratification of any selfish propensity is the motive of public measures, the application of the means is a waste of treasure, and the accomplishment of the pretended is forever delayed and finally frustrated . . . Science and the arts are the objects of his encouragement, not he the object of their support . . . . Even his own base hirelings, will trust him no further than they know themselves to be necessary to his views, and thus becomes himself subservient to the designs of his parasite slaves.90

The other article discussed a pamphlet addressed "to the Federal Republican Electors of the State of New York" and signed "a federalist of '98." The editor wrote that they suspected the pamphlet not only to be anonymous, but to have been circulated clandestinely.

It was an "insidious" attempt to get the Federalists to join the Bucktails in opposing Clinton. The author of the pamphlet said the Federal party ceased to exist. Monroe had adopted Federal ideas and Daniel D. Tompkins was vice-president and, therefore, a Federalist too. He went on to search for Federal support not only on the merits of Tompkins, but also on the demerits of Clinton. . . . And what do you suppose, federalists of Dutchess, are the

mighty crimes of Mr. Clinton, which the federalist of '98, calculates will so rouse your indignation and resentment, as to force you into the bucktail ranks . . . . They are summed up in a single short sentence —Mr. Clinton has appointed federalists to office, and therefore federalists are bound to oppose him.91

The editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal thought a disappointed Federalist office-seeker wrote the pamphlet, because it was distributed by men who had forever been hostile to the Federalists. But those men would logically have been Bucktails, with whom Tallmadge was now friendly. The author, if a Federalist, would not have been 65

disappointed that Clinton had appointed Federalists to office. The author was more likely a disappointed Clintonian office-seeker.

Considering Tallmadge's political affiliations at this time, it seems probable that he was the author of both these anonymous articles.

He was changing his political alliance and would not want his name attached to such writings. Furthermore, Tallmadge could faithfully call himself a "federalist of '98," because his brother had received an appointment in that year from a Federalist Council of Appointment, thus linking the family with that party. Tallmadge was appointed by the Federalists to the post in 1800 when his brother moved away.

If one examines these two writings in the thought that Clinton was the designer of the Tallmadge Amendment, that he disappointed Tallmadge of political reward for his service to Congress and that Tallmadge was so incensed by this traitorous action as to join the Bucktails in bitter hatred of Clinton, the shoe fits the foot.

In the light of all this circumstantial evidence, it seems quite probable that De Witt Clinton was the author of the Tallmadge Amendment—a political maneuver inaugurating an era of recurring strife in American politics which only a civil war was able to settle.

NOTES TO CHAPTER FIVE 'Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, Aug. 17, 1821, Ford, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, X, 191-2.

2Jefferson to Charles Pinckney, Sept. 30, 1820, Ibid., X, 162.

3Monroe to Jefferson, Feb. 7, 1820, Hamilton, Writings of James Monroe, VI, 114.

4Madison to Monroe, Feb. 10, 1820, Hunt, Writings of James Madison, IX, 22.

5Benton, Thirty Years' View, I, 10.

6Hockett, "Rufus King and the Missouri Compromise," p. 212.

7/bid., p. 220.

8Congressional Globe, 30 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix, p. 66.

9Adams, Memoirs, IV, 528. Entry of Feb. 20, 1820: "When the amendment was first presented, its importance and consequences were certainly foreseen by no one, not even by those who brought it forward." lo/bid., V, 38.

11/bid., V, 13.

12 Hockett, "Rufus King and the Missouri Compromise," p. 218.

13Rufus King to J. A. King, March 18, 1820, King, Life of Rufus King, VI. 317.

14John Tyler to Dr. Curtis, Feb. 5, 1820, Lyon G. Tyler, ed., The Letters and Times of the Tylers (Richmond, 1884), I, 316.

15Adams, Memoirs, IV, 517.

16Poughkeepsie Journal, Jan. 12, 1820.

17/bid., May 12, 1812. New York City returned eleven anti-Clintonian men to the Assembly, and no others.

18Rufus King to J. A. King, March 18, 1820, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 317-9.

19/ bid., VI. 317.

66

20Rufus King to J. A. King, Feb. 20, 1820, as quoted in a letter to the author from George Dangerfield, Sept. 10, 1951.

21-Idem.

22 Floyd Calvin Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle for Statehood 1804-1821 (Jefferson City, Missouri, 1916), P. 94.

23James Emott to Rufus King, Dec. 28, 1816, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 41.

24Adams, Memoirs, V, 58.

25 McGuire, Democratic Party, I, 70.

26Edward M. Shepard, Martin Van Buren (Boston, 1888), p. 62.

27/ bid., pp. 62-3.

28William Plumer, Jr. to his father, April 7, 1820, Brown, Missouri Compromises, p. 16.

29Baker, Life of William H. Seward, p. 30.

30Rufus King to J. Mason, May 4, 1820, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 337.

31Wrilliam H. Seward, An Autobiography ,from 1801 to 1834 (New York, 1 3891e), I, 50.

21 dm.

33Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 127.

34Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 1214-5.

35Bobbe, De Witt Clinton, p. 230.

36Hastings and Noble, Mil. Min. of N. Y., II, 985.

37/ bid., II, 950.

385'ee Chapter Two. 39 j. A. King to Rufus King, Jan. 8, 1818, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 102. " . . . I regret to say that there are some of the federal gentlemen and influential ones too, who are deeply pledged to support the waning fortunes of Mr. Clinton."

40Adams, Memoirs, V, 58.

41/ bid., V, 203.

42 /bid., V, 438.

43/bid., V, 202.

44j. A. King to Rufus King, Nov. 20, 1820, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 356. Sanford was a Clintonian senator from New York.

451Vlialone, Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 336; William Plumer, Jr. to his father, Dec. 3, 1821, Brown, Missouri Compromises, p.65.

46Adams, Memoirs, V, 438.

47Ma1one, Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 336.

48Adams, Memoirs, V, 203.

49 Bobbe, De Witt Clinton, p. 72.

50 /bid., p. 274.

51-James Renwick, Life of De Witt Clinton (New York, 1859), p. 191.

52/bid., p. 192.

53J0hn Bigelow, "De Witt Clinton as a Politician," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, L (March, 1875), 565.

54Minor, Story of the Democratic Party, p. 78.

55James A. Hamilton, Reminiscenses of James A. Hamilton; or Men and Events, at Home and Abroad, During Three Quarters of a Century (New York, 1869), pp. 43-4.

56Bigelow, "De Witt Clinton as a Politician," p. 565.

57Lord and Lord, Historical Atlas, p. 223.

58Bigelow, "De Witt Clinton as a Politician," p. 565.

59Minor, Story of the Democratic Party, p. 86.

60 Renwick, Life of De Witt Clinton, p. 232.

61/bid., p. 239.

62Poughkeepsie Journal, Jan 13, 1819.

63Renwick, Life of De Witt Clinton, p. 192.

64Idem.

65poughkeepsie Journal, Jan. 12, 1820.

67

66James Tallmadge, Poughkeepsie, to Thurlow Weed, Rochester, Sept.

3, 1825, Tallmadge Papers.

67Adams, Memoirs, I, 512.

681bid., IV, 360.

69Congressional Globe, 30 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix, p. 66.

70Adams, Memoirs, IV, 62.

71C1ay to Francis Brooke, Feb. 4, 1825, Calvin Colten, ed., Works of Henry Clay (New York, 1897), IV, 113.

72David Hosack, Memoirs of De Witt Clinton (New York, 1829), p. 69.

73Adams, Memoirs, VII, 148.

74Malone, Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 285.

76Poughkeepsie Journal, Feb. 24-, 1819.

76Ibid., May 12, 1819.

77/bid., March 24, 1819.

78P1att, Eagle's History, p. 97.

79Poughkeepsie Journal, May 12, 1819; Ibid., June 23, 1819.

80Alexander, Political History of New York, I, 274.

81/dem.

82Poughkeepsie Journal, July 14, 1819.

83J. A. King to Charles King, Jan. 6, 1820, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 242-3.

84Poughkeepsie Journal, July 14, 1819.

86James Tallmadge to John W. Taylor, April 4-, 1819, John W. Taylor Manuscripts, New-York Historical Society, as quoted to the author in a letter from George Dangerfield, Sept. 10, 1951. To "squint" meant to glance at a person with dislike or disapproval, or by means of some covert allusion, hint or suggestion.

86Tallmadge to Taylor, Jan. 11, 1820, Taylor Manuscripts, Ibid.

87Alexander, Political History of New York, I, 274.

88Poughkeepsie Journal, June 13, 1821.

89/bid., March 8, 1820.

90Idem.

91Idem.

CHAPTER SIX — STATE POLITICIAN from Congress, James Tallmadge shunned return Upon his in expectation of a promising political career national politics further with the Clintonian faction in New York. However, he was defeated in the state Senate elections of 1819 and received no political appointment from Clinton. When overlooked for the attorney generalship in July 1819, he bolted from the Clintonians and joined forces with the Bucktails. In the spring of 1820, all Bucktail candidates in Dutchess County won election to the state Assembly, a most unusual outcome.' In 1821, Tallmadge successfully ran on a Dutchess Bucktail ticket for delegates to the New York State Constitutional Convention.

All five Bucktails were elected from Dutchess County, with Tallmadge amassing the largest individual vote.2 The convention had a decided Bucktail majority and met from late August until early November 1821. The purpose was to alter the undemocratic framework of the existing constitution. There were four main points of revision: the Council of Appointment, the Council 68

of Revision, suffrage and the judiciary system. First, a committee, of which Tallmadge was a member, was formed to consider the manner of taking up the business of the convention. This group proposed that ten standing committees be appointed to study and recommend revisions of certain aspects of the constitution. The chairmen of all ten committees were members of Van Buren's Bucktail faction, including Tallmadge, who was chairman of the committee on the Council of Revision.

The Council of Revision was composed of the governor, chancellor and at least two of the supreme court justices. This body had the power of veto over legislation and could only be overruled by a legislative majority of two-thirds or more. Thus the judiciary assumed a quasi-legislative and executive function, as a sort of third branch of the legislature. Since the judges were not elected by the voters, this was an abridgment of direct representative government, which was a subject of growing concern in American political thought.

On September 3, Tallmadge reported that his committee recommended the abolition of the third article of the constitution which provided for the Council of Revision and that the same veto power then vested in the council be given to the governor alone.3 The following day Tallmadge explained that his committee was unanimous in its opinion, reasoning that the legislative and judicial departments should be kept separate, but that there still should be a veto. After speeches had accused the committee's motives as involving censure of the judges, Tallmadge rose to the defense of his group and stated that all its members wanted to do was to separate the judiciary from politics and keep the veto as a defensive and precautionary measure over the legislature. Continuing, Tallmadge argued that government is a libel on man, but necessary because man is weak and corrupt. All provisions of government should be based on the fundamental principle that it should restrain the vicious and profligate. There is safety in government by majority rule, but as expressed by representatives of the people and not by democracy in its collective capacity. The fate of ancient republics should warn us against the danger of all democracies. Their liberties were lost because they had no check on the people.4 With the Council of Revision went the Council of Appointment. In its place, the power of appointment was transferred to the executive and the Senate. This proposal was opposed only by Tallmadge, who thought the legislature should have nothing to do with the patronage of the government.5 Throughout the entire discussion of the judiciary, Tallmadge, along with the Van Buren Democrats, stood for moderate 69

measures and opposed the abrogation of the old supreme court in favor of establishing a new one.6 The convention removed all property qualifications as conditions of suffrage for white men but, for the first time, required Negroes to possess a freehold of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars as a condition of voting. The Clintonian minority was more liberal on this issue than the majority.7 The governor's term was altered from three to two years and the office of lieutenant governor took on increased prestige and responsibility.

The Constitutional Convention of 1821 definitely placed James Tallmadge in Van Buren's camp. Tallmadge had been elected with Bucktails, had been appointed to an important chairmanship by Bucktails; he sided with Bucktails and claimed to be a Bucktail.s Rufus King relates that there was no cordiality between factions and "3uspicion and jealousies are more extensive than we could have anticipated."9 We can be sure the presence of James Tallmadge intensified this atmosphere.

It was evident in 1821 that the Bucktails controlled state politics; so Clinton declined a renomination for governor to avoid the risk of defeat. This left the Clintonians without a running candidate and the party temporarily disintegrated." Yates, a member of the Van Buren Democrats, was elected governor.

In 1823, there were not more than a dozen friends of Clinton in the legislature. During this session, the Democrats, while in caucus to fill appointive offices, encountered only one serious controversy—that of comptroller. They were divided in their support between William L. Marcy and General James Tallmadge. Governor Yates and his friends in the legislature backed IVIarcy, while the friends of Colonel Young, headed by John Cramer of the Senate, were in favor of Tallmadge. Van Buren, who was in Washington, avoided the struggle among his friends but favored Marcy. Marcy won the appointment by a large majority of the caucus.il Once again Tallmadge became a disappointed office-seeker.

Ever since Monroe had been elected to his second term as president in 1820, the politicos had been forming alliances in anticipation of the presidential election of 1824. Virginia had ended her dynasty and no longer possessed a favorite son, leaving the race wide open. Perhaps the most undecided state in the Union as to its choice was New York. De Witt Clinton had ambitions but, without the control of his own state, he could not be a contender. The leading candidates were John Quincy Adams, William Crawford of Georgia, 70

Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Andrew Jackson. Presidential preferences knew no party lines in New York except that Van Buren's "Albany Regency" was expected to adhere to the nomination of the congressional caucus in a desire to keep the national Republican party together.12 The Republicans feared that the election of anyone but Crawford would lead to an amalgamation of parties.13 Their nomination was anticipated to be Crawford, but there was a large group in New York opposed to such a nomination. In New York State the legislature still enjoyed the prerogative of choosing presidential electors and; with the Bucktails in a majority, it seemed certain that Van Buren would have his way. This caused the anti-Crawford men to desire that the choice of presidential electors be taken from the legislature and given to the people. This developed into a great democratic crusade which was immediately popular with the voters. Other states had adopted the change; so it seemed a natural right of the people to choose their own presidential electors.

To give strength to the issue, the anti-Crawford men formed the People's party, of which Henry Wheaton of New York City and General Tallmadge became the most prominent leaders.14 The New York Patriot, a newspaper edited by Wheaton and devoted to a change in the electoral law, gained so much popularity during the state Assembly campaign of 1823 that Democratic candidates feared opposing a change in the law and many had to pledge open support of it.15 The Cherry Valley Gazette of November 1823, recorded that seventyfive per cent of the elected Assembly members had done so.16 Pledges of presidential preference of the candidates were not often requested, because it was hoped that the state electoral law would be repealed.17 The People's party nominated candidates in opposition to the Democratic candidates, with Tallmadge and Wheaton winning election to the Assembly by large majorities.18 Again Tallmadge became opposed to his former allies after failing to receive an appointive office. Outwardly, the sequence of events paralleled those which caused him to turn against Clinton, but there is no reason to believe that he expected to be appointed by the Democrats as state comptroller. It is likely that Tallmadge joined the Bucktails because there was no other party in opposition to Clinton, but his reason for leaving the Bucktails was probably not hatred.

It may have had several motives behind it: a sincere desire for democratic political reform; a realization that there was little political future in the ranks of the Bucktails for a late-corner; a wish to have a northern president in John Q. Adams; and a desire to break the 71

Virginian hamstringing of New York's political influence which Van Buren's strict party discipline perpetuated.

When this forty-ninth session of the legislature met, one of the first orders of business was to elect the speaker of the Assembly. The People's party, which had become a conglomeration of former Federalists, Clintonians and some Bucktails, met in caucus with the Democrats to nominate a speaker." Wheaton was urged to run, but this session of the Assembly conflicted with his Supreme Court duties. The People's party supported Tallmadge but, in a letter to Daniel Webster on November 30, 1823, Wheaton wrote: I doubt whether Tallmadge can be got in. Should that be the case I shall perhaps be compelled to run . . . De Witt is playing the fool—but he can do nothing in this state. There are exactly 12 Clintonians in the House—and not more than three who have stood by him in all his turnings and windin gs.20

But Tallmadge was defeated by a large majority,21 and Wheaton persisted in not running for speaker.

In the Assembly, Wheaton then proposed a motion to give the choice of presidential electors to the people but Democrat Flagg offered a resolution, opposed by Wheaton and Tallmadge, to refer the motion to a committee of nine.22 Flagg became chairman of this committee, whose members were all pro-Crawford men, except Wheaton and two others. Tallmadge was not a member. Flagg had previously been in favor of a popular election of electors until he was "instructed."23 In committee he was able to curb Wheaton's motion by amending it so that presidental electors be chosen by a majority of the voters with no provision for re-election if a majority were not obtained.24 With at least four contenders for the presidency, a majority vote for any one candidate was nearly impossible and, therefore, New York's vote would be invalidated. The Democrats then wanted the legislature to have the choice of electors if the voters were unable to elect by majority vote, but this would have accomplished little change in the law and was defeated.

On January 11, 1824, Marcy wrote to Van Buren in Washington: If it were not for the embarrassing question of the electoral law we should be in the best possible condition here . . . . I believe all Republicans have serious apprehensions as to the consequences, if the mode is changed, but they think there is a demand for it by the great body of the people and that a refusal to yield to this demand jeopardizes their popularity and exposes the party to an overthrow.25

Closely connected with this internal state issue, was a growing 72

national sentiment against the congressional caucus practice of nominating presidential candidates. The Tennessee Resolutions which proposed such a caucus in 1824 prompted James Tallmadge to speak out in the New York Assembly against the method. He contended that caucuses curtailed the elective liberty of the people and allowed United States government officers undue influence. There are men not in elective government who direct the government. "They are the office holders who now live on executive favour—and fatten on the profits of their craft." These men dictate caucus policy and this defeats the Constitution. After a few examples from history, Tallmadge argued that all power belongs to and proceeds from the people, and all government officers should be held accountable to the people. He denied the right of the legislature to appoint presidential electors. The right belongs to the people.26 On January 30, in his fight to liberalize the electoral law in New York, Tallmadge spoke against the bill proposed by the committee of nine. Instead, he supported a substitute bill proposed

by Waterman which also had the majority feature but which provided for election by plurality if a majority vote failed. Tallmadge disliked the majority-vote practice, and thought it was ripe for intrigue.27 However, the committee bill passed in the Assembly with Flagg's amendment by a vote of 110 to 5.

The Senate referred the electoral bill to a select committee which submitted a report, February 24, stating that the legislature should remain as the mode of choosing electors and that the state should wait for an amendment to the federal Constitution. New York must not split, and thereby lose her vote, by district choice or general ticket."

By a vote of 17 to 14, the Senate postponed action on the bill until November, when it would be too late to alter the method in the coming national election. Only a minority of the senators had been elected in 1823, so as a body the Senate could oppose this bill with a clear conscience." Nevertheless, this vote weakened Van Buren's party with the people.

The year 1824 was no lean one for politics for, besides the electoral issue and national election, New York had to elect a new governor. The People's party favored the nomination of Colonel Young, but the Democrats forsook their own Governor Yates and stole the People's candidate by nominating Young themselves. The People's party favored Adams and Clay for President, and this move by the Democrats was designed to weaken that faction by reducing 73

their chance of winning control of the state.3° Four days later, on April 7, stunned by the Bucktail maneuver, the People's party held a legislative caucus denouncing the Democratic nomination and proposing a nominating convention at Utica on September 21.

On April 12, the Democrats introduced a resolution in the Senate to remove De Witt Clinton from the office of Canal Commissioner.

Clinton had performed the duties of his office devotedly and there had never been any complaints regarding his competence. This resolution was therefore quickly recognized as a political trick. The Clintonians and the People's party were working in concert to promote the presidential interests of Adams and Clay; but many of the People's men w2re much more akin to the Democrats in their political thinking and affiliations than to the Clintonians. Thus, men such as Tallmadge and Wheaton were faced with a dilemma, either side of which would prove disastrous. By voting for the resolution they would offend the Clintonians with whom they were acting on the presidential question. By voting against Clinton's ouster they would be denounced by the Regency and identified with the Clintonians."Wheaton saw just the latter horn of the dilemma: This was a contrivance of the faction to fix on us the imputation of partiality to him [Clinton]. They believe we should vote against it. But they were much mortified to find that the most conspicuous members on our side of the House voted for the Resolution. The gun missed fire, as many of their own mien voted for it.32

Tallmadge was treading a tight rope, for his position was even more ticklish. His predicament is best described by Thurlow Weed who wrote: I hastened back to the Assembly to inform our friends what was coming, and to prepare them for resisting it. General Tallmadge, our leader, was first appealed to. After Colonel Young's defection, it was conceded all around that General Tallmadge must be our candidate for governor. I knew how bitterly General Tallmadge hated Mr. Clinton, but in a few hurried and emphatic sentences implored him not to be caught in the trap thus baited for him. I urged him to state frankly, in a brief speech, how entirely he was estranged personally and politically from Mr. Clinton, but to denounce his removal during the successful progress of a system of improvement which he had inaugurated, . . . as an act of vandalism to which he could not consent to be a party. I concluded by assuring him solemnly that if he voted for that resolution he could not receive the nomination for governor.33

When the resolution was read in the Assembly, Tallmadge remained silent and voted in the affirmative. Clinton was ousted by a vote of 64 to 34, with only three Democratic dissenting votes.34 The legislature adjourned at noon and several members who voted for the resolution were hissed by the people as they came out of the capitol. Tall74

madge became aware of his great error, for his hotel was filled with citizens who rebuked him loudly as he passed to his apartment." Weed continued his description: At three o'clock General Tallmadge sent for me. I found him nervously excited, pacing rapidly backwards and forwards in his parlor, 'the victim of a remorse that comes too late.' He perceived both the depth and the darkness of the political pit into which he had fallen. He said that he left me with the intention of first denouncing Mr. Clinton as his personal and political foe, and then, in language as indignant as he could command, denouncing the resolution and its authors, but that Messrs. Wheaton and Pierson, who occupied seats on either side of him, claimed that they were all embarked in a common cause, and that it was their duty to stand by each other, and that, thus pressed and thus yielding, he had committed the greatest blunder of his political life.36

It was truly an unfortunate decision. "Had it not been for that vote, he would undoubtedly have been the next governor of the state of New-York, with the consent and support of the Clintonian party."37 The legislature returned to its constituents for the summer with two extremely unpopular acts committed: the tabling of the electoral bill and the removal of Clinton.

James Tallmadge returned to Poughkeepsie and what must have been a summer of grief. On June 17, his older remaining son, James Edward, died at the age of four years and five months. Less than a month later, his last son, Sutherland, born in the spring of the previous year, died, the fourth son to be lost, leaving the Tallmadges but one daughter.3 8 The summer of 1824 was not without its politics. Governor Yates had been promised by caucus advocates that he would be rewarded with the renomination for governor if he did not call for the choice of electors by the people.39 But he was discarded by the Regency in favor of Colonel Young, and so, free from his agreement or in revengeful anger, Yates called for a special session of the legislature on August 2, to enact an electoral law which would place the right of choice in the people. Jenkins claims that Yates entertained the idea that should he openly favor the electoral bill, he might obtain the nomination of the People's party."

When the session opened, Flagg offered the following resolutions: Resolved, That since the last adjournment of the Legislature, nothing has transpired within the letter or spirit of the constitution, requiring an extraordinary session at this time; and therefore the proclamation of the governor convening the same is not warranted by the constitution.

Resolved, That iinasmuch as the transaction of legislative business, in obedience to a proclamation thus illegally issued, . . .

75

would sanction a precedent of dangerous tendency; it is due to the members of the Legislature, . . . that they should forthwith adjourn.41

Tallmadge naturally opposed both these resolves, but they passed with strong votes. However, a third move, for immediate adjournment, was postponed. The now famous "seventeen senators" voted that an electoral law ought to be enacted after the Assembly passed it, but the expediency of such action at this session was voted down by the same senators 42 General Tallmadge made several addresses, one of which, on August 4, lasted nearly four hours. With sonorous voice and dramatic elocution he plied the Assembly with patriotism and emotion. Tallmadge was fighting to prevent throwing away the representative government for which "our fathers" fought the Revolution. "The public will not misunderstand our votes on this occasion; and according to those votes, we are to be classed hereafter."43 In refuting Flagg, Tallmadge said extraordinary occasions were to be determined solely by the executive. In explaining his vote for an electoral law, Tallmadge said: Those to me . .

I am not candidates,

who know me, know the compensation can be no object . . I disclaim being influenced by party considerations. to this hour, the partizan of either of the presidential now in the field.44

If Tallmadge were not a partisan of John Adams, he was certainly an interested friend, for on August 9, Adams stated: I received a letter from James Tallmadge, at Albany, where the New York Legislature, after a session of five days, were to adjourn on the 6th, leaving parties as much undecided as ever, and a victory claimed on both sides.45

Despite the General's efforts, no electoral law was enacted, although one was recommended, and the session ended August 6 with nothing accomplished except the increasing of public resentment.

The proposed Utica Convention was now only a month and a half away. It had been conceived at a meeting, at which Tallmadge, Wheaton, Weed and others were present, for the purpose of nominating candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, by those opposed to Crawford for president and in favor of an electoral law.46 Thus, the nominating convention was inaugurated in New York. Until Clinton's removal as canal commissioner, General Tallmadge had been conceded to be the People's party's leading candidate for governor, but Clinton's removal caused popular sentiment to endorse him, so that by September he had greater backing than Tallmadge. Thurlow Weed felt that this development might be fatal to the People's party 76

and therefore also to the electoral prospects of Adams, since the People's men were bitterly hostile to Clinton.47 Weed toured the state to assess public opinion and unite the anti-Van Buren forces for Tallmadge. Weed found public sentiment disappointing for Tallmadge and suggested to the Clintonians in New York City that Tallmadge be run for lieutenant governor with Clinton; but they would not support a man who had voted for Clinton's removal. Tallmadge was "the prince of rascals."48 Nor was the idea appealing to Tallmadge.

The General peremptorily refused such an opportunity tendered him by a delegation on its way to Utica.49 Thurlow Weed was successful the next day in what the delegation had failed to achieve. Tallmadge listened attentively to Weed, who endeavored to show him that, with his consent to run with Clinton, they could carry the state; that the presidential electoral vote of New York could be given to Adams; and that in making the sacrifice, "even a broader field for usefulness than that of being governor of New York would be opened to him."5° Weed left for Utica with a letter from Tallmadge "authorizing his friends at Utica, if in their judgment the success of our cause required it, to consent to the use of his name as a candidate for lieutenantgovernor."51 There were one hundred and twenty-two delegates at the convention; of these about thirty were People's men. Since Clinton had a majority of support which was opposed to Tallmadge, the People's men proposed for nomination John W. Taylor, late speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Taylor, however, declined.

Hammond felt that if the People's party had been able to offer a candidate with talents equal to those of Tallmadge, a majority of Clintonians would have supported such a man.52 On the first ballot for nomination of governor, Clinton received 69 votes, Tallmadge 21 and Henry Huntington 21. There were also ten other votes scattered among three candidates. On the second ballot, Clinton polled 76. Tallmadge 31 and Huntington 13, to give the nomination to Clinton. The People's men then deemed it fit to run Tallmadge for I;eutenant governor. He won the nomination on the first ballot by 89 votes, with only 10 against him.53 In contempt for Clinton's nomination, most of the People's party delegates seceded in a body to form another meeting, but, since they had denounced the legislative nomination and supported the Utica Convention as a representative body, they could do nothing but endorse Tallmadge's nomination. The only effect of this rump convention was to banish any suspicion of a secret understanding between the Clintonians and the People's party.54 77

The gubernatorial election fell on November 1 and swept Clinton and Tallmadge into office with commanding majorities. Clinton obtained a majority of more than 16,000 votes over Colonel Young, while Tallmadge received strong support from both the People's party and the Democrats, and amassed a 32,000 majority over his opponent, General Root. The election also gave Clinton control of the Assembly by a three to one ratio and brought in six Clintonian senators.55 However, the Democratic-controlled legislature of 1824 was still in office and had the right of choosing presidential electors. Several days of balloting for electors proved ineffectual. Neither the Adams, Crawford nor Clay tickets could gain a majority, and only two tickets could be selected. The only chance of success for any faction was a joint ticket with another faction. Clay needed at least seven New York electoral votes to be a candidate for the House of Representatives' election. Thurlow Weed, General Tallmadge, Wheaton, and three other Adams men met secretly several times with the leading Clay supporters, whereby a union ticket was designed to gain Clay supporters, in return for which seven Adams electors would deliver their votes to Clay in the electoral college.56 With this support, the New York Adams men could expect a majority of only two votes and this majority depended upon political pressure applied by Weed Tallmadge and Wheaton to several recalcitrant Adams men.

Previously, Weed had accidentally discovered that a Crawford member of the Assembly had been able to induce an Adams member to support Crawford and also convert two other Adams men. Just prior to the balloting, Tallmadge, Weed and Wheaton called on the first deserter and told him that they knew of his scheme. Wheaton required him and the other two to give their support to Adams on the electoral ballot and have Tallmadge's and Wheaton's initials endorsed. Only in that way could Wheaton be assured of those three votes.57 Tallmadge then said: As friends of Mr. Adams, knowing what we now know, we have a high responsibility resting upon us. We should lose the electoral ticket if these three votes, or even two of them, should be cast in favor of the Crawford ticket. In addition to what Mr. Wheaton requires, it is proper for me to say that we shall carefully examine the ballots as they are being canvassed, and that if the three, with our initials indorsed, appear in the box, all that has passed here shall be regarded as confidential; but if these ballots do not appear, I shall, as certainly as my life is spared, rise in my place, proclaim the facts within our knowledge, and demand a committee of investigation.58

The three initialed ballots appeared and the first ballot on the union ticket elected thirty-two Adams and Clay electors. The second 78

ballot chose four Crawford electors. So the Adams men were victorious without the benefit of an electoral law.

When the electoral college met in December, there was a shift in the New York vote which gave Adams 26, Crawford 5, Clay 4, and Jackson 1. Even though the Adams men yielded only four of the promised seven Clay votes, Weed maintained that they acted in good faith because Clay had to have Louisiana's vote, which he lost, to be brought into the House of Representatives, therefore, the New York Adams men were freed from their bargain." Weed admitted, however, that those seven votes could not have been delivered. This electoral college vote gave Jackson 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37.

While the Adams men needed Clay supporters to win New York, they could not later surrender the agreed number of votes to Clay because Crawford would then have been eliminated from the race and would have thrown his support to Jackson, thus defeating Adams.

The contest was thrown into the House of Representatives where Clay was dropped from the running. Clay threw his support to Adams who was elected president on the first ballot without any material support from the Jackson or Crawford elements.

By this magnificent chicanery, the People's party had virtually made Adams president. In return for this service it expected to reap the spoils of victory and Tallmadge, being the virtual leader of the party, expected the most. Adams felt it essential to get New York ehind his administration and he also felt a debt of gratitude. Thus, Governor Clinton was offered the ministry to England. Either Adams wanted to reward the most powerful man in New York, or remove !Jim from the state to allow the People's party to assume control with Tallmadge as governor. If either of these reasons was not his motive, Adams was misinformed as to the nature of his New York support— thinking that the party which swung New York's electoral vote to him was the same party that made Clinton governor. Clinton viewed this offer skeptically and declined, for "'various other considerations' " than serving the people who elected him governor in 1824.6° Clinton's refusal widened the breach between him and Tallmadge who chafed t the idea of occupying a subordinate and powerless position. Tallmadge asked Thurlow Weed to go to Washington to ask for the English post for him, and the Lieutenant Governor's friends in the legislature united in a letter to Adams asking for Tallmadge's appointment to England; all to no avail, for Rufus King was given the appointment.61 After the legislature adjourned in 1825, Tallmadge again met 79

Weed and said that his situation had become so irksome that he was determined to get out of it. He asked Weed to renew his application to the president for a mission, on the grounds of political services rendered and the political future of Adams' administration.62 The debt which Adams owed New York support had not been recognized in any political sense. Adams' patronage policy was mystifying to Tallmadge : Mr. Adams is pursuing a steady course. But will he succeed to keep old friends — buy up old enemies? He began by an attempt on Clinton, who snuffed at him because the price was too low. Next he selected King . . . . Next comes Conklin for District Judge — . . . now a mere page to Clinton, in his tour to Ohio— & no where able to influence a second vote . . . . As yet I will presume all is correct.

Altho' I confess I do not perceive the wisdom of such a course.

It reminds me what was so often and so warmly urged on me during our Elector Strife—when Judge Spencer and other of Clinton's agents urged me to give up Adams—that his friends could not rely on him— He would sacrafice them to buy up his opponents—I then said it was a slander—They said they would prove it true . . . .

How can Adams' friends oppose Clinton after such decissive acts as Adams has given to him? & no one act to his [Adams'] own friends? They can not oppose him [Clinton] for Adams. They may for some other man . . . . His old friends can not retain the power to give him the votes of this state & make him President a second time, as they have the fi rst if he pursues the course he has begun.63

Although Weed was confident of success in his errand for Tallmadge, he met disappointment. The President felt he could not give the mission to France or Russia to a state which already had received zhe mission to England and only a first-class mission was acceptable to Tallmadge. The Lieutenant Governor was disappointed and annoyed but did not for a moment consider accepting a second-class inission. However, Adams gratified his New York friends with the mission to Sweden which was obtained for Henry Wheaton.64 Through personal contact and association at this time, Weed observed Tallmadge to be inordinately ambitious and easily exasperated t ut with many redeeming qualities: His anger could be appeased; he was hopeful and confiding; and as a politician was efficient, zealous, and popular. He would soon recover from a disappointment, however severe, and, fining his mind upon some other position, would go to work with renewed energy.66

In 1827, when he was no longer lieutenant governor, Tallmadge still was warmly concerned over his treatment by Adams: Those who supported him [Adams] braved every thing, were successful, have been abandoned by Adams St have been cast off as dishonoured . . . . Had he been faithful, the Republican party would this Day have been his supporters . . . . It will be very hard to reunite an active ardent party for him in this State, Sc without 80

this State, he is lost . . . . The President is a Bookman, locked up in his closet— & Every member of his administration are hostile to him — & Seem to have plotted his destruction—in causing him to permit the destruction of his friends . . . . I have been & shall continue to be, silent, & . . . neither ask—or murmur—as to myself I have a profound indifference to the course Mr. Adams takes hereafter. If the choice band of '24 will be faithful to themselves & to each other— the time is not far off when they must be felt, at least in this state. I will promise them to be ready in the camp or in the field— & sustain any part allotted to me . . . . But we must be firm & patient & redeem ourselves.66

In December of the same year, Adams was informed by Taylor, who had a conversation with Tallmadge upon the subject of appointments in New York State, that the General had for the present abandoned the pursuit of politics and returned to his practice at the bar.67 But only a few weeks later Tallmadge wrote to Representative Van Rensselaer, a member of the People's party of 1824: We are curious to see in what shape he [Adams] indicate his obligations & gratitude. In tokens heretofore those who opposed him in 1821 have opperated like a [secure] majorities against him. Perhaps this is what he But we shall look patiently for results.68

may yet given to charm to deserved.

A month later, in January 1828, Van Rensselaer and Dickinson, having heard that Adams was inclining to nominate Tallmadge as district attorney at New York, made representations to the President against him because they felt the appointment would produce an ill effect since Tallmadge had lost the confidence of all parties. Adams wrote "that however irresolute or wavering his general political character may have been, he had not been so to me, as on two important and critical occasions he had been a decisive and most efficient friend to me."69 Despite his feelings of obligation, Adams did not appoint Tallmadge to this post. Tallmadge remained hopeful to the end, but was always disappointed.

The complaint lodged against Tallmadge by Van Rensselaer and Dickinson was not unjustified. As soon as Tallmadge was elected lieutenant governor, he went to work to prevent any of the People's party from forming a political alliance with Governor Clinton or his friends.70 It is Hammond's opinion that Tallmadge formed the project of leading off a party, of which he was to be the head, to be composed partly of Clintonians and partly of Democrats, leaving Clinton and Van Buren as castoffs. This is the only rational explanation Hammond could give for the conduct of the Lieutenant Governor. Tallmadge was indignant at not having been made governor himself and was on very poor terms with Clinton from past experiences. His thirty-two thousand majority, twice that of Clinton's, deluded him in judging 81

his own strength. The faults and errors of Clinton dominated his conversations and he seemed suddenly to be alarmed and horrified by the fear of the ghost of Federalism.71 The mutual friends of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor made frequent and ardent appeals to the latter, assuring him of their continued friendship and support and warning him of the inevitable ruin which would be the consequence to both parties if there should be war between him and Clinton.72 The office of lieutenant governor had taken on greater dignity and responsibility as a result of the revisions in the Constitution of 1821, but neither this greater responsibility nor the appeals of friends had any restraining effect on Tallmadge. His own feelings and actions made his position extremely uncomfortable. Hammond, a contemporary political observer, wrote of him: General Tallmadge, though beyond all question a man of talents, appears to me, nearly through his whole life, to have been politically eccentric and wrongheaded. One of his errors undoubtedly was, that he had imbibed an opinion that political success depended more on tact, and what is called management, than on the measures which the politician advocated, or on personal merit.73

When Rufus King was given the mission to England, the New York legislature had to elect someone to fill out his term in the United States Senate. The Assembly voted on three occasions, representing the leading factions: Spencer, a Clintonian, received 56 votes; Tallmadge 13 votes; and Tracy, a Democrat, 4 votes.74 In the Senate, the Tallmadge and Van Buren factions united in opposing Ambrose Spencer by nominating a number of candidates and, thereby, distributing the votes so no candidate could win a majority. After Spencer was voted down, Tallmadge was nominated but that resolution was laid on the table by a vote of 19 to 12.75 Tracy was also rejected. Tallmadge wrote to Weed: It is essential some active, decissive man be sent to Washington, who can be of use, to approach & act in concert with Mr. Adams . . . . Some persons believe the Clintonians will wish to unite on the Lieut. Gov. for Senator & insist on his excepting the place & that if he will take the place, it will be conferred with unanimity.

His 'intentions are not known. The papers will soon speak about the place. You will think & act as editor.76

But Clintonian support never materialized for Tallmadge. The People's party hoped to have him appointed by a joint resolution in case of a stalemate. This passed the Senate but the Assembly refused to concur on the grounds that that mode of appointment was foreign to the laws of the state.77 The stalemate was not resolved in Tallmadge's favor and he failed to get out of this incongruous political position.

The Erie Canal was officially opened in October of 1825 with 82

a voyage from Buffalo to New York by Clinton, Tallmadge and other public figures. For Tallmadge, the "whole tour on the Canal was very pleasant," but not without its political implications. He wanted to know from Thurlow Weed what effects the canal celebration had in the West in relation to Clinton. Tallmadge observed that, "It appeared to be public rather than individual. I am pleased that I went the whole voyage. My friends think it was a good measure & useful to me."78 Throughout his term as lieutenant governor, Tallmadge unsuccessfully sought a way out of his close political association with Clinton either by patronage favor or elective office. Political ambition was not strong enough to force him to run for re-election on a ticket with Clinton. "There are many reasons which induced me & my friends to think it best I should not run with Clinton. I was entirely satisfied the west should have had a candidate for Lieut. Gov."79 In 1826, Clinton ran against Judge Rochester and was re-elected by a slim majority of four thousand votes, but lacked majorities in both the Senate and Assembly.

In 1827, Tallmadge was out of public office and returned to his law practice in Poughkeepsie but he still looked to President Adams for an appointment. However, Tallmadge's activities were not confined to the practice of law. During the legislative session of 1825, an application for charter of the Dutchess County Bank at Poughkeepsie was approved and Tallmadge was chosen as a director. He was also one of fourteen who incorporated the Poughkeepsie Steamboat Company in March 1827, but plans for this business venture were never completed.8° This came three years after the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Gibbons-versus-Ogden case against the old Fulton and Livingston monopoly of steamboat navigation in New York state waters.

During these years, a fifth son, Charles, was born to the Tallmadges ; and in 1827, the General lost both his mother and brotherin-law through death.

By 1828, Tallmadge was chairman of the Bar of Dutchess County but left his home that year to live in New York City during the winters, until his death in 1853. The office of lieutenant governor was his last public office and, except when he served as a delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention of 1846, in which he was 'conspicuously inconspicuous, Tallmadge participated little in politics during the remainder of his life.

83

NOTES TO CHAPTER SIX

'Poughkeepsie Journal, May 3, 1820.

2/bid., June 27, 1821.

3Nathaniel H. Carter and William L. Stone, reporters, Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821, Assembled for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution of the State of New-York (Albany, 1821), pp. 42-3. pp. 64-6.

511ammond, History of Political Parties, II, 73.

6/ bid., II, 63-4.

7Seward, Autobiography, I, 50.

8Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 170.

9Rufus King to C. King, Oct. 15, 1821, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 416.

10 mcGuire, Democratic Party, I, 87. iillammond, History of Political Parties, II, 115.

12 C. H. Rammelkamp, "The Campaign of 1824 in New York," American Historical Association Report for 1904, p. 180.

13Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 128.

14Alexander, Political History of New York, I, 324.

165,11ammond, History of Political Parties, II, 131. deni.

17Rammelkamp, "Campaign of 1824," p. 181.

18Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 132.

19Baker, Wheaton, p. 48; Fox, Decline of Aristocracy, p. 292.

20 Baker, Wheaton, p. 48.

21ll ammond, History of Political Parties, II, 140.

22 /bid., II, 142.

23Fox, Decline of Aristocracy, p. 283.

24 Baker, Wheaton, p. 50.

25Rammelkamp, "Campaign of 1824," p. 185.

26Speech of James Tallniadge, Esq. on the subject of Caucus, to Nominate a President and Vice-President, as Brought up on the Tennessee Resolutions, in the House of Assembly, 26th January, 1824 (Albany, 1824), pp. 3-11.

27speech of James Tallmadge, Esq. on the Bill to Provide for the Choice, by the People, of the Electors of President and rice-President, in the House of Assembly, 30th January, 1824 (Albany, 1824), pp. 5-10.

28Report of the Select Committee of the Senate, on the Electoral Law (Albany), [no year given].

29 Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 150.

30 Harriet A. Weed, ed., Autobiography of Thurlow Weed (Boston, 1883), p. 108. (In Life of Thurlow Weed Including his Autobiography and a Memoir, edited by Harriet A. Weed and Thurlow Weed Barnes).

31Weed, Autobiography, pp. 110-1.

32H. Wheaton to R. King, April 12, 1824, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 564.

33Weed, Autobiography, p. 109.

34 Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 159.

35Weed, Autobiography, p. 113.

36 /bid., pp. 113-4.

37Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 163.

38 Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, ed., Notices of Marriages and Deaths

About 4,000 in Number Published in Newspapers Printed at Poughkeepsie, New York 1778-1825, Collections of the Dutchess County Historical Society, Vol. IV (Poughkeepsie, New York, 1930), p. 102.

39J. A. King to Rufus King, Jan. 9, 1824, King, Life of Rufus King, VI, 5454 96j ohn S. Jenkins, The Life of Silas Wright (Auburn, New York, 1847), p. 37.

84

41/bid., p. 38.

42/bid., p. 39.

43Tallmadge's Speech on the Electoral Law, Aug. 4, 1824, p. 6.

44/b id., p. 18.

45 Adams, Memoirs, VI, 407.

47 6,Wee e d, Autobiography, p. 117. dm.

48Clinton to Post, April 21, 1824, Bigelow, "De Witt Clinton as a Politician," p. 569.

49Weed, Autobiography, p. 119.

50 /bid., p. 120.

51Idem.

52 Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 171.

53Albany Daily Advertiser, Sept. 24, 1824.

54 Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 173-4.

55Weed, Autobiography, p. 121.

56/ b id., p. 123.

57/bid., pp. 124-6.

58/bid., p. 126.

59/bid., p. 128.

60Bigelow, "De Witt Clinton as a Politician," p. 556.

61Weed, Autobiography, p. 178.

62./dem.

63Tallmadge to Weed, Sept. 3, 1825, Tallmadge Papers.

64 Weed, Autobiography, pp. 181, 183.

65/bid., p. 183.

66 james Talmadge, Poughkeepsie, to Thurlow Weed, Rochester, Feb. 5, 1827, Tallmadge Papers.

67Adams, Memoirs, VII, 370.

68James Tallmadge, Poughkeepsie, to Hon. S. Van Rensaler, Washington, Dec. 26, 1827, Tallmadge Papers.

60 Adams, Memoirs, VII, 411-2.

70Hammond, History of Political Parties, II, 184.

71/ bid., II, 185.

72 /bid., II, 184.

73Idem.

74Weed, Autobiography, p. 167.

75Jabez Delano Hammond, Political History of the State of New York (Syracuse, 1852), III, 61.

76 James Tallmadge, Poughkeepsie, to Thurlow Weed, Rochester, Nov. 24, 1825, Tallmadge Papers..

77Jenkins, Life of Wright, p. 46.

78Tallmadge to Weed, Nov. 24, 1825, Tallmadge Papers.

79Tallmadge to Weed, Feb. 5, 1827, Tallmadge Papers.

80 platt, Eagle's History, p. 117.

CHAPTER SEVEN — EDUCATOR AND ECONOMIST When James Tallmadge left politics, he did not become less active in public life. In New York City, he became one of a group of men who urged the establishment of a university in the city.' In October 1830, this council of "literary and scientific gentlemen" held a convention in respect to founding such a university. The University of the City of New York, later to be changed in name to New York University, was formed a month later as a stock company. Shareholders elected the council which had complete authority over the university.

85

The council sent a memorial to the state legislature prepared by Tallmadge and two other persons requesting incorporation. This petition the legislature granted on April 21, 1831.2 Albert Gallatin resigned as president of the council in 1831, so Morgan Lewis became president and Tallmadge was elected vicepresident. Tallmadge and Chancellor Mathews were appointed as a board of visitors to lectures and classes. During the first year of instruction, Mathews interfered with the curriculum and discipline.

This caused dissatisfaction among the faculty and some of the members resigned. The faculty wanted Mathews' dismissal and submitted written complaints to support their charges. Tallmadge was a staunch supporter of Mathews and was able to control the situation in his favor, even though a minority of the council was against Mathews.

According to the faculty, Tallmadge replied to their charges that the 'professors should be treated with severity and made to feel their own insignificance.' "3 After this incident had passed the university directed activities toward obtaining endowment and constructing buildings. Tallmadge and Mathews were most active in these capacities and Tallmadge became president of the council in 1834. While in London the following year, he obtained a gift from the British government for the library.

In 1837, a new building was dedicated by Tallmadge, to the purposes of science, literature and religion. The university, however, had gone $140,000 in debt. This prompted a new controversy which fell about the heads of the council. Because of difficult economic conditions in the crash of 1837, Mathews' failure to collect the pledged endowment and his spending for the new building, the faculty unanimously wanted him removed as chancellor.4 To attest to the financial plight of the university, Mathews was in Albany in February 1838, lobbying at the state legislature for a $10,000 grant for the university.' The grievance came to a climax in August of the same year when Tallmadge defended Mathews in the council from faculty attack but the council took financial control out of the chancellor's hands.

The faculty grievances were also directed at Tallmadge and other council friends of Mathews. Tallmadge refused to present the grievances to the council even when requested by that body, because he would then be an "accuser."6 Tallmadge felt that the professors had lobbied with some of the council:7 Mathews and Tallmadge requested the resignation of two council members so that their faction would have a majority.8 Then the council removed seven professors from the university, leaving only one. Tallmadge wrote that professors 86

could not accuse their principals.° Financial retrenchment was given as the cause for the dismissals, but the faculty claimed they were made to stifle any investigation which their grievances might have caused.1° Although the members of the faculty lost their jobs, they were indirectly successful in forcing Mathews' dismissal for, after the controversy, Tallmadge favored Mathews' immediate resignation; it came about in February 1839.

Tallmadge was president of the council until he resigned in May 1846, because of allegedly dishonest annual reports made by Chancellor Frelinghuysen.11 Tallmadge had been largely responsible for the selection of Frelinghuysen as chancellor, whose salary was increased under the General's direction. But, in 1846, Tallmadge objected to the chancellor's extravagant salary while the annual deficit had increased and classical education was lowered.12 Author Theodore Jones thinks it strange that Tallmadge made this stand after defending charges of Mathews' extravagance. Jones feels that personal antagonisms, due in part to national politics, was the cause of the feud. Both men were Whig party leaders in New York State and Frelinghuysen was the Whig candidate for vice-president in 1844 on a ticket with Henry Clay. Jones considers a more plausible reason for Tallmadge's resignation to be the charge by one of the faculty that Tallmadge wanted to be chancellor of the university as well as president of the council, but that Frelinghuysen checked his ambitions in that direction.18 The fact that Tallmadge was awarded the LL.D. degree in 1838, by the University of the City of New York while he was president of its council, would appear to support the thesis of his ambitiousness.14 Tallmadge's charge that classical teaching was lowered was disingenuous of a man who considered Latin and Greek of no essential value and who was a partisan devotee of utilitarian education.

Frelinghuysen believed the purpose of education was to train the intrinsic powers of the mind and he disdained the economic advantages from learning.15 Tallmadge, on the other hand, exhalted science which "should be taught with reference to productive industry, and especially in agriculture and mechanics."16 He viewed America as a middleclass society without high and low classes. A university, he said, "must be adapted to foster the middle class of society."17 It should provide business and professional training which promote practical learning and creation. In relation to foreign nations, Tallmadge said, "our people, even now, hold a rank incomparably pre-eminent in general intelligence and productive industry. It is the natural result from the difference of their and our institutions."18 The common 87

school, he said, was "the wisest and the noblest institution ever devised by man for the public vvelfare."19 Tallmadge's criteria for education were economic in nature, and had little appreciation for the development of the individual.

Another interest of utilitarian nature, which chronologically paralleled his interest in education, was Tallmadge's connection with The American Institute. Tallmadge was one of the founders of this organization which was incorporated by the New York legislature.

It was dedicated to the advancement of American productivity and creativeness in agriculture, manufacturing and commerce. Tallmadge served as president of The American Institute from 1831 until his death in 1853, except for two years when he declined re-election. He was also one of two vice-presidents, in 1831, of a convention held in New York which called itself the "Friends of Domestic Industry," but which John Adams called a tariff convention.20 Every October, The American Institute held a fair, at which individuals displayed agricultural produce and inventions which would facilitate production or save labor, in competition for prizes among which was the Tallmadge Gold Medal. At the close of each yearly event an address was given, usually by the president, reviewing problems and advances in agriculture, manufacturing and commerce.

General Tallmadge often sopke on these occasions in glowing terms of American progress. But he also had many complaints and gave much advice. He said that agriculture creates commerce and manufacturing, therefore all legislation which benefits agriculture also benefits commerce and manufacturing. "Hence protection to commerce and manufactures should ever be considered a measure in support of agriculture."21 But he later reversed the order of dependency of these factors and said, "Agriculture cannot prosper, without the first prosperity of commerce and manufactures."22 He viewed agriculture and manufacturing as reciprocal types of industry, each needing the other, and both beneficial to commerce. Manufacturing areas use more agricultural products and increase the labor demand rather than reduce it. Tallmadge felt that both these forms of industry should be provided with a home market and an adequate market for surplus productions.

This, he said, is the duty of government, and that government is at fault which does not obtain or create a market for its citizens.23 He did not have parity prices or government contracts in mind, but rather reciprocal trade and protective tariffs. Free trade, Tallmadge said, cannot exist. He was not for a high tariff, he argued, but rather 88

complete protection. Buy nothing that you can raise or make, he said.24 Tallmadge went so far as to propose that all payments to foreign countries be made with home agricultural products. He was speaking in 1843 and 1844, during the low point of a protracted depression following the crash of 1837.

The Compromise Tariff of 1833 provided for a gradual reduction of all duties above twenty per cent and this trend was not altered until 1942, when a Whig measure returned the tariff to the level of 1832.

In 1841, Tallmadge argued that American commerce was crippled by unwise legislation but in the same speech blamed England for this inequality with Europe.25 He complained of high British import duties on goods in American ships and free British import duty on American goods in British bottoms. This, he said, was detrimental to American commerce and the cause of American unemployment and currency derangement.26 Tallmadge misrepresented and exaggerated the effects of British shipping and presented known incorrect facts of commerce to support his charges.27 England was his scapegoat and a high tariff was his cure.

With a higher tariff passed in 1842, but the depression at its low point in 1843, England was still the cause of American economic ills in the mind of Tallmadge. Now he referred to history in citing England's economic policy. England refused exportation of cotton machinery to Russia but after Tallmadge had been to Russia in the late 1830's, aiding that country in obtaining American machinery for the manufacture of cotton, England lifted her ban and competed in the trade with Russia.28 Tallmadge said that England taught free trade to others while offering protection to her own subjects.

There was some validity in Tallmadge's charges, to be sure, but he was immersed in the spirit of nationalism. He considered foreign investment in United States' industry as virtually an infringement upon American rights. He painted American progress of agricultural pi oductivity in brilliant hues, and with good cause, for he could cite the steel plow, the reaper, mowing, threshing and haying machines, as well as seed drills and cultivators, all of which came into wide use in this period. But his views on trade and tariff were largely Whig in politics and northern in sectionalism, though couched in the phraseology of nationalism.

James Tallmadge outlived, by nearly twenty years, his wife, Laura, who died at New York City, February 22, 1834. He passed away in his seventy-sixth year on September 29, 1853, in the 89

Metropolitan Hotel in New York City. It was the hotel of Tallma dge's son-in-law, Philip Van Rensselaer, who had married the General's daughter and only surviving child.

In a speech before The American Institute on October 20, 1853, William H. Seward said: How sudden his death! Only three weeks ago, . . . the evening despatch, . . . bore the painful intelligence that the lofty genius had departed from the earth, and that the majetsic form which had been animated by it, had disappeared forever from among living men.

The first ballot which I cast for the chief magistracy of my native and most beloved state, bore the name of James Tallmadge, as the alternate of De Witt Clinton . . . I have found as little occasion to hesitate or waver in adhering to the counsels and example of the illustrious compeer [Tallmadge], who, after surviving him [Clinton] so many years, has now been removed, in ripened age, to the companionship of the just. A vote for Clinton and Tallmadge in 1824, what censures did it not bring then? Who will impeach that ballot now?

If the counsels of James Tallmadge had completely prevailed, then not only would American forests, mines, soil, invention, and industry, have rendered our country, now and for ever, independent of all other nations, except for what climate forbids; but then, also, no menial hand would ever have guided a plough, and no footstep of a slave would ever have been tracked on the soil of all that vast part of our national domain that stretches away from the banks of the Mississippi to the far western ocean.23

In a sermon given in his native county of Dutchess, Tallmadge was eulogized as "his country's true and beneficent friend, as the ever active and efficient promoter of America's best and leading interests."

He was "distinguished as a patriot and philanthropist, eminently characterized by public spirit and private virtue, and conspicuous for his refined and elegant manners."30 NOTES TO CHAPTER 7 'Journal of the Proceedings of a Convention of Literary and Scientific Gentlemen Held in the Common Council Chamber of the City of New York, October, 1830 (New York, 1831), p. 11.

2Theodore Francis Jones, ed., New York University 1832: 1932 (New York, 1933), pp. 27-8.

3/ bid., p. 40.

4 /bid., p. 46.

5James Tallmadge, New York, to Rev. J. M. Matthews, Albany, Feb. 16, 1838, Tallmadge Papers.

6History of the Controversy in the University of the City of New York, by the Professors of the Faculty of Science and Letters (New York, 1838), p. 34.

7Tallmadge to Mathews, Feb. 16, 1838, Tallmadge Papers.

8History of the Controversy in the University of New York, by the Professors, p. 45.

3/bid., p. 38.

10/bid., p. 8.

"Jones, New York University, p. 61. nidem.

90

13 /bid., p. 62.

14if istorical Catalogue of Brown University, p. 68.

15Joshua L. Chamberlain, ed., New York University its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics (Boston, 1901), p. 90. isjddress Delivered May 20, 1837, in the Chapel of the University of the City of New York, on Occasion of the Dedication of the Building to the Purposes of Science, Literature, and Religion, by the Hon. James Tallmadge, Esq. President of the Council (New York, 1837), p. 7.

17/bid., p. 11.

18/bid., pp. 8-9.

19/b id., p. 7.

20 jddress of the Friends of Domestic Industry, Assembled in Convention, at New York, October 26, 1831, to the People of the United States (Baltimore, 1831), p. 39.

21Address Delivered at the close of the Sixteenth Annual Fair of The American Institute, Held at Niblo's Saloon, New-York, October, 1843, by the Hon. James Tallmadge, President of the Institute (New York, 184-3), p. 3.

22 American Institute. Seventeenth Annual Fair. Agricultural Convention, New York, Oct. 11, 1844. Remarks of the Honourable James Tallmadge, President of the Convention, on the Commercial Policy of England, Affecting the Interests of American Agriculture (New York, 1844), p. 12.

23/bid., p. 4.

24 /bid., p. 9.

25Address before The American Institute at the close of its Fourteenth Annual Fair, on the 26th of October, 1841, by Gen. James Tallmadge, President of the Institute (New York, 184-1), p. 6.

2 6/b id., p. 10.

27 [Anon.] The West Vindicated. A Review (in part) of the Address of General James Tallmadge, before The American Institute, Oct. 26, 1841, by a western New Yorker (Buffalo, 184-2), pp. 3-4.

28ilmerican Institute. Seventeenth Annual Fair. Oct. 11, 1844. Remarks of James Tallmadge, p. 7; Malone, Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 285.

29 Baker, Life of William H. Seward, pp. 159-60.

30A Sermon, Occasioned by the Death of the Hon. James Tallmadge, Delivered in Zion Church, Franklindale, Dutchess County, on Sunday Morning, Oct. 9, 1853, by the Rev. Geo. B. Andrews, Rector (Poughkeepsie, 1853), pp. 14, 20.

CONCLUSION The significance of James Tallmadge to American history lies in his connection with slavery restriction and the implications that his career presents in understanding his role in that controversy.

Tallmadge was largely a product of the early nineteenth century American scene, which was his environment. It was a period of growing nationalism when America was overcoming its inferior international position.

Tallmadge reflected this sentiment in his addresses before The 91

American Institute and also glorified American material progress which he incorporated into his utilitarian ideas of education. He was h:inself an example of the advancing social democracy, for his father had been a blacksmith and farmer while Tallmadge gained a college education and became a lawyer and politician. However, he was not immune to sectionalism, for he mirrored the protective tariff economics of the manufacturing Northeast. Tallmadge also reflected the prevalent American theories on government, supporting the separation of powers and republicanism, but with broader democratic methods.

At the same time, his study of the ancient republics gave him a sincere fear of extreme democracy.

Tallmadge possessed no great legal mind, for he could only see what was politically expedient and failed to perceive the logical conclusions of his ideas. His zealous support of the popular election of presidential electors in New York State was prompted more by a desire to prevent Bucktail control of the situation than by democratic beliefs. The manner of thinking was not unusual for one who was politically fostered by an active spoils system formulated on a personal basis, and therefore, conducive to political management and tact rather thai1 party discipline. Perhaps this training was his undoing, for his actions seemed to quell political success.

The major historical importance of James Tallmadge lies in the significance of the Tallmadge Amendment that he proposed in Congress, which provided for the prohibition of slavery in Missouri.

This amendment precipitated a national crisis of prime historical importance to the slavery issue of the ante-bellum period.

Tallmadge's significance is not derived from his congressional role in the Missouri controversy and Compromise, but rather in his being a link in determining the cause and the author of slavery restriction. Any valid thesis about this problem must begin with a study of Tallmadge but the treatment of his own career must be directed toward and subordinated to the solution of the question.

It is fairly evident, and historians seem to agree, that the Tallmadge Amendment, though ostensibly moral in purpose, was a political rather than humanitarian measure. Mounting northern opposition to the leadership of the Virginia Dynasty, and Tallmadge's own record as a slaveholder, support this thesis. The political implications became clearer when the argument centered about the ":njustice" of the three-fifths representation clause and the balance of free and slave states. The hope was to create a new political party 92

along. geographical lines but this did not fully materialize.

The real significance of Tallmadge's part in this issue was his link with the originator of slavery restriction. There is no reason to believe that this restriction originated with Tallmadge. He was not a politician in his own right at that time, but merely a political servant raised and nurtured by De Witt Clinton. This study presents strong evidence for assessing the authorship of restriction as that of De Witt Clinton. Tallmadge's desire not to return to Congress, his subsequent neglect by Clinton of an appointive reward and his resulting desertion of Clinton, all suggest that he had gone to Congress to perform this very important service for Clinton.

Having been reared in a personal spoils system, James Tallmadge would naturally have reacted in this way. To further support the contention that Clinton was the author of restriction or at least responsible for its introduction, the record has been given of Clinton's own ambitious and reckless pursuit of the presidency, besides the intricate political alliances which eliminate other factions from consideration. All the evidence points to the same conclusion. The personal and political relationship between Tallmadge and Clinton was real and positive; though abruptly terminated, its effects were lasting, both in state politics and in the development of great national issues.

If this view is accepted, the mission of De Witt Clinton, as the challenger of the Virginia Dynasty and the dissolver of the Jeffersonian alliance with New York, assumes an historical importance transcending his share in the attempt to restrict the spread of slavery and the resultant compromise on the statehood of Missouri.

The boatmen that sail from the different landing places from Red Hook to Fishkill, have lately had a Meeting, at which they have agreed on a general rule for regulating the prices of Passengers and Freight. They have signed the same, and had them printed, a copy of which may be seen on board of each vessel.

Poughkeepsie Journal, May 15, 1793

93

BIBLE RECORDS OF DUTCHESS COUNTY FAMILIES A COOKINGHAM FAMILY BIBLE BIBLE, . . . ; Old and New Testaments. . . . Nurnberg, 1755.

For some months one of the trustees of the Dutchess County Historical Society, Mr. Harris N. Cookingham, had tried to locate the family Bible and in 1960 he appealed to this society for help. He wished to insure the preservation of the volume and its records and planned, if he could purchase it, to present it to the society. After the publication of his request in the year book, it was surprising and gratifying to receive word from the late Mrs. C. Jonathan Slocum of Beacon that she had, in a collection of local historical material, a Bible printed in 1755 which contained Cookingham family records. Mrs. Slocum was pleased to present the volume to the Dutchess County Historical Society.

There are no pages designed for family records and the items are written on blank pages in the front and back and on the inside of the back cover. Many of the entries can be confirmed in the register of St. Paul's German Lutheran Church at Wurtemburgh and by inscriptions on the gravestones in the cemetery attached to that church. The records are in German and English and a combination of both and include those of the family of Michael Boltz (or Pultz), Jr., in addition to the Cookingham items. The entries have been copied and translated, as follows: Michael Cookingham was born July 2, 1757 Elizabeth Ackert, 2nd wife to Michael Cookingham, was born November 20, 1786 Margaret Cookingham was born May 26, 1786 Phillip Cookingham was born April 24, 1788 Daniel Cookingham was born October 26, 1793 Gertrude Cookingham was born March 20, 1797 Jonas Cookingham was born October 8, 1805 Conrad Cookingham was born March 29, 1827 Conroat Cookingham was born March 29, 1827, and departed his life September 13, 1828 * 1739, 1737, 1761, 1814, 1823,

December 16, I, Michael Boltz, was born September 29, Marckgrid Didrick was born May 4, we were married by Pastor Ofenberg April 26, my wife, Marchgrid, died December 30, Michael Pultz died

[Two lines of faded, German script are almost illegible] . . . of our children are born,-Michael Boltz, Jr. 1 [Anna?] Boltz was born February 19, 1762 2 Maria Boltz was born March 17, 1764 3 Gardrauda Boltz was born December 27, 1765 4 Sabina Boltz was born April 22, 1768 5 Daniel Boltz was born April 22, 1770 6 Christina Boltz was born October 8, 1772 7 Georg Boltz was born February 12, 1775 8 Johannes Boltz was born May 7, 1779 9 David Boltz was born May 10, 1781 ( )erymias S( )eider [Jeremiah Schneider] was born March 10, 1800 Anmarckgrieda Gieb was born September 5, 1804 91.

Mr. Cookingham has supplied the following items which were copied some years ago from an earlier family Bible, owned by Daniel Cookingham who came to America with the Palatine migration of 1737 and who was married December 9, 1756, by the Reverend John Casper Rubel, to Anna Maria Traver, daughter of Sebastian Traver and Christina Uhl: Children of Daniel and Anna Maria: John Michael born July 2, 1757 Frederick November 26, 1758 Catherine October 4, 1760 Christina June 7, 1762 Anna October 29, 1763 Gertrude August 8, 1765 Hans George April 20, 1767 Elizabeth March 1769 David February 9, 1771 Magdalena May 18, 1773 Margaretha May 15, 1775 Adam Children of John Michael, who married on May 18, 1784, Agnes Marquet and, on April 19, 1824, Elizabeth Acker, widow of Henry Nichol: Catherine born May 29, 1786 Phiilip September 26, 1788 Daniel October 26, 1793 Gertrude March 20, 1797 Jonas October 8, 1805 Children of Daniel (born October 26, 1793), who married Margaret Crapser (born January 24, 1797) : Sarah born Matilda Michael June 6, 1822 Children of Michael (born June 6, 1822), who married Abigail Harris: Harris Llewellyn born August 21, 1850; married May 18, 1876, Mary J. Nicks [born April 11, 1852] jchn Calvin; married Mary Carpenter In 1915, Mr. George S. Van Vliet contributed to the year book of the Dutchess County Historical Society an article on the Pawling Patent and some of its early families. It included a short sketch of the family of Frederick Cookingham and it is reprinted here because it shows a connection between the Cookingham, Pultz and Lambert families: Cookingham Frederick Cookingham who settled on Lot No. 10, in 1785, was a son of Daniel Cookingham, who came with the Palatine emigration of 1737, and Anna Maria Traver, his wife, who was the daughter of the first Sebastian Traver and Christina Uhl. Frederick Cookingham married, October 9, 1781, Elizabeth Marquart.

Their children were: May 19, 1782; m. Catharine Waltermire born John F., February 7, 1783 Anna, June 30, 1786 Gertrude, January 19, 1789 Jacob, August 20, 1791; m. Michael Pultz Anna Maria m. Fred I. Pultz Ormie, m. November 5, 1815, Savina David Marquart 95

January 9, 1798; m. Andrew Fultz 1802; m. Catharine Traver m. Lucy Lambert June 20, 1806;

Rebecca William Andrew

Michael Cookingham, brother of Frederick, located on Lot No. 12.

He married, first, Agenes Marquart, by whom he had the following children: Catharine, born May 29, 1786 m. Elizabeth Smith; Philip April 24-, 1788; m. (2) Anna Fradenburg Elizabeth November 20, 1790 October 26, 1793; m. Margaret Crapser Daniel Gertrude March 20, 1797; m. Timothy Crapser Jonas October 8, 1805; m. Catharine Marquart LAMBERT FAMILY BIBLE [No title page, no date] German Bible presented to the Dutchess County Historical Society by Mr. Harris N. Cookingham. There is no section for family records and the items are written on pages where there is some blank space: page 529 George Lambert, Junier, was born January 18, 1778 Anna Bultz was born April 5, 1782 George Lambert, Junier, was married to Anne Bultz Henry Lambert was born December 12, 1800 Eliza Fraleigh was born March 2, 1802 and my son John Henry was born September 18, 1820 back of page 913 October 22, 1769, I George Lambert was married to Elizabeth Sitsar, and my daughter Anne was born November 15, 1770 John was born February 5, 1772 Elizabeth was born December 12, 1774 Friderick was born October 9, 1776 George was born January 18, 1778 Jacobus was born November 12, 1780 then I, Fredrick Lambert, was married to Lany Miller, and my son George was born October 14, 1796 John Lambert was married to Elisabeth Sipperly the last day of June, 1798 my son Henry was born December 12, 1800 on title page of New Testament

George Lambert was born January 18, 1778 Henry J. Lambert was born December 12, 1800 Elizabeth was born December 12, 1774

inside the George Lamert, back cover

his Book

96

1793