Читать книгу General Richard Montgomery and the American Revolution - Hal T. Shelton - Страница 13

Having a heart distended with benevolence, and panting to do good, he soon acquired, without courting it from his neighbors, that authority which an opinion of superior talents and inflexible integrity never fail to create. . . .¹

Having swayed him to the patriot cause, prevalent events coaxed Montgomery’s entrance into politics to serve in the New York Provincial Congress. This extralegal body had evolved from several precedent assemblies that New Yorkers called to consider the mounting crisis with England. Long before the Revolution, New Yorkers became accustomed to creating unauthorized political pressure groups to protest against and win concessions from the constituted government. Through the years, the process evolved as a means of redress against any autocratic governor. As the conflict between the colonists and the British government became more acute, New Yorkers formed committees, corresponding with those of other colonies, to devise ways of opposing perceived oppressive measures by the British government. The Navigation Laws revived in the 1760s, the Sugar Act of 1764, and the Stamp Act of 1765 engendered such reactions. Although these organizations initially included members who were moderate in their views toward King and Parliament, their voices were progressively drowned out by more extreme rhetoric. Thus, the patriot faction increasingly dominated the ad hoc governmental entities.

Following the royal colony pattern, New York’s official government before 1775 consisted of a Crown-appointed governor and council and a locally elected general assembly. By 1774, a power play began in the colonies to wrest political authority from royalist control and place it in the hands of patriot bodies. The First Continental Congress recommended that the various colonies establish a network of committees in order to mount a unified opposition to unwanted British policies. On January 20, 1774, even before the First Continental Congress met, this movement started in New York with the creation of a Committee of Correspondence, also known as the Committee of Thirteen, to keep watch on the ministerial government and to coordinate with like committees in other colonies.

Since the duly constituted General Assembly authorized its establishment, the Committee of Correspondence was an officially sanctioned organization. However, on May 16, 1774, the Committee of Thirteen spawned the Committee of Fifty, which had no legitimate basis for its existence. Three days later, the group admitted an additional representative, becoming the Committee of Fifty-One. The New York committee system flourished with the apparent inability of royal officials to counter it effectively and reaped increased popular support.²

The colony was without its chief royal official during this critical period. In April 1774, Gov. William Tryon had sailed for England to discuss deteriorating conditions within his province with the British government. Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden, the acting governor, displayed an attitude of forbearance in dealing with the licentious situation. In a July 1774 report to the colonial secretary in Parliament, Colden described the current committee’s political transgressions as “dangerous and illegal transactions,” but questioned “by what means shall Government prevent them?” He then agonized, “An Attempt by the Power of the Civil Magistrate, would only shew their weakness. . . . It is thought much more prudent to avoid; and to shun all Extreams. . . . Things may take a favourable turn.”³

The heady atmosphere caused by the success of these extralegal activities encouraged more individuals to risk being singled out under charges of sedition. Expanded committee representation reflected this boldness. On November 22, 1774, a Committee of Sixty succeeded the Committee of Fifty-One. On May 1, 1775, a Committee of One Hundred replaced the Committee of Sixty. In addition to enlarging their membership, the committees assumed an increased range of functions, including enforcing the nonimportation of British goods, harassment of loyal colonists, and designation of even more radical groups.⁴

Controlled by the loyalist faction in February 1775, the New York General Assembly refused to approve the proceedings of the First Continental Congress and to appoint delegates to the Second Continental Congress. The patriot faction soon retaliated. On March 1, 1775, the Committee of Sixty advised county committees to send representatives to a Provincial Convention that would meet in New York City to elect delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Although four or five of the fourteen counties failed to respond, approximately one hundred representatives from widespread regions of the province reported to the convention when it met on April 20, 1775. Two days later, the convention appointed twelve delegates to represent New York at Philadelphia, including Montgomery’s brother-in-law, Robert R. Livingston. Having accomplished its work, the convention then dissolved.⁵

The startling news of the Massachusetts militia and British army skirmish at Lexington and Concord reached New York by an express rider from Connecticut on the Sunday afternoon of April 23, 1775, the day after the convention concluded. The feelings of betrayal and outrage with which many New Yorkers received the report aroused general sentiment against the British government and inflamed patriot ardor. For several days, New York City disintegrated into mob rule, while a large number of residents, led by Sons of Liberty radicals, vigorously demonstrated against British authority. Crowd activity focused on confiscating public stores. Isaac Sears, John Lamb, and Marinus Willett organized a gang to force open the arsenal at City Hall and distribute about six hundred weapons among the “most active citizens.” Armed groups paraded in the streets. The customs house closed, and business came to a standstill. British troops, reduced to a garrison of about one hundred soldiers because of reinforcements sent to Boston, confined themselves to their barracks. All regular government disappeared, and the municipal committee could not cope with the situation.⁶

The General Assembly had adjourned for one month on April 3, 1775. Now on April 24, Acting Governor Colden and his councilors met to assess the disturbing turn of events. The council considered strong measures but concluded that they lacked the means to enforce them. In their opinion, the local royal government was “entirely prostrated.” Feeling helpless and vulnerable to escalated hostility if their authority became too conspicuous or intrusive, they decided to maintain a low profile. William Smith, one of the councilors, recorded the outcome of the meeting in his memoirs: “We were thus unanimously of Opinion that we had no power to do anything and the best mode of proceeding for private Safety and general Peace was to use Diswasion from Violence.” With civil power eluding his grasp, Colden prorogued the assembly to June 7, 1775.⁷

Meanwhile, patriot leaders scrambled to assert full control over the extreme reactionaries and their followers during this state of upheaval. Patriots had already formed provincial congresses in several other colonies, from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Now, it was New York’s turn. To meet the crisis, the patriot faction determined upon the extension of its jurisdiction and reorganization. While Colden and his councilors were conferring, the Committee of Sixty called for a public rally. An estimated eight thousand people responded and approved proposals to authorize the committee with “full and unlimited power” Tor the protection of the city and its citizens. On April 26, 1775, the Committee of Sixty made provisions through a general election for expanding into a Committee of One Hundred, which convened on May 1, 1775. Concurrently, the Committee of Sixty sent a proposal to the counties for the establishment of a provincial congress to function in concert with the Continental Congress. This represented a significant change in the scope of the patriot movement in New York. Before, the patriots largely confined their activities to the provincial capital; now, they began taking a larger view of their operations.⁸

During this time, Montgomery continued building and improving his country estate removed from the political storm center at the seat of government. Thus, he remained only an interested and sympathetic bystander during the patriot committee system accession to civil authority. However, with the advent of the New York Congress, Montgomery would be swept into the political maelstrom.

To secure an effective sanction for the proposed infrastructure, the Committee of Sixty published a General Association on April 29, 1775. This declaration pledged support for “whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our Provincial Congress.” More than one thousand persons signed the affidavit when it was first presented. Later, committee agents posted copies in various public places so that other citizens could affix their signatures. Although signatories abated somewhat as a few passions sobered, this instrument helped patriots coerce many reluctant individuals into choosing sides in the escalating political confrontation. The committee ordered its agents to report the names of those persons refusing to sign, although such persons were not to be designated enemies to their country “but by the determination of the Continental or Provincial Congress, or by this Committee.” In effect, a person either made a public commitment for the patriot cause or became readily identified as a loyalist sympathizer.⁹

The Provincial Congress thereupon emerged as New York’s de facto government, supplanting the General Assembly. The assembly, after its adjournment on April 3, 1775, was never able to resume its normal functions because of patriot disruption. The patriot faction in New York took advantage of the chaotic times by moving swiftly to fill the vacuum vacated by the irresolute colonial government, securing support from a large segment of the population and usurping legal authority. The Committee of One Hundred would act as the city government and become subordinate to the Provincial Congress in this extralegal hierarchical political system. The New York Congress, in turn, would cooperate with the Continental Congress.

By May 1775, the eighty-seven-year-old lieutenant governor, Cadwallader Colden, was weary of the political disputation and retired in disgust to Spring Hill, his country estate near Flushing on Long Island. He explained: “When Congresses and Committees had taken the entire direction of government it was extremely disagreeable to me to remain as a spectator of the proceedings and confusions in town which I had not in my power to prevent.”¹⁰

The repressive measures inflicted recently by British authorities against Boston and Massachusetts alarmed many New Yorkers. An impending threat of similar actions directed against their province seemed very real to them. As the patriots waited for the Provincial Congress to assemble, the Committee of One Hundred met practically every day to organize the city’s defenses. A subcommittee considered how additional supplies of arms and ammunition could be obtained. The committee ordered each ward to organize militia companies and established a military night watch. It also undertook the suppression of loyalists by confiscating and forbidding the sale of arms to tories and thwarting their efforts to mount an effective opposition. When convened, the Provincial Congress continued these measures.¹¹

On May 16, 1775, Dutchess County officials met at Poughkeepsie and elected Montgomery as one of the ten deputies to represent the county in the New York Provincial Congress. Although he had been in the colony only two years and had not sought political involvement, Montgomer was well known and respected throughout the area. Consequently, with this draft into public service, he felt obligated to answer the call. Reluctantly, Montgomery put his personal affairs in order, bid goodbye to his wife, and departed for New York City, some eighty miles away.¹²

Upon arriving, Montgomery threw himself unrelentingly into his work. From the initial session on May 22 to its adjournment on July 8, 1775, the First New York Congress increased its work load until it met twice daily Monday through Saturday, with an occasional session on Sunday. Montgomery served on eleven committees. Only Gouverneur Morris and Alexander McDougall undertook more assignments, with sixteen committees each. Most other deputies, including those from New York City, participated in six or seven congressional committees.¹³

One of the first orders of business for the New York Congress was to legitimize its authority. Therefore, on May 26, 1775, Montgomery and the other ninety-seven delegates signed a resolution: