Chapter IV: , VII (198)

"The Constitution did not meet the expectations of its
framers. The cumbrous machinery by which it was sought to
insure the control of the People, through the supremacy of the
Assembly, had only resulted in fortifying power practically
beyond their reach. The Council of Revision was objected to
because it had exercised the veto power contrary to the spirit
of the Constitution, which was in harmony with the traditions
of the Colony from the earliest conflict with the executive
power; and because the officers who thus interposed their
objections to the will of the Legislature, holding office for
good behavior (except the Governor), were beyond the reach of
the People. It was seen that this power was a dangerous one,
in a Council so constituted; but it was thought that it could
be safely intrusted to the Governor alone, as he was directly
responsible to the People. The Council of Appointment,
although not vested with any judicial authority, and in fact
disclaiming it, nevertheless at an early day summoned its
appointees before it, for the purpose of hearing accusations
against them, and proving their truth or falsity. At a later
day, more summary proceedings were resorted to. The office
thus became very unpopular. Nearly every civil, military, and
judicial officer of the commonwealth was appointed by this
Council.
{2343}
In 1821, 8,287 military and 6,663 civil officers held their
commissions from it, and this vast system of centralized power
was naturally very obnoxious. The Legislature, in 1820, passed
'an act recommending a Convention of the People of this
State,' which came up for action in the Council of Revision,
on November 20th of the same year; present, Governor Clinton,
Chancellor Kent, Chief Justice Spencer, and Justices Yates and
Woodworth, on which day the Council, by the casting vote of
the Governor, adopted two objections to it; first, because it
did not provide for taking the sense of the People on the
question; and second, because it submitted the new
Constitution to the People in toto, instead of by sections.
These objections were referred to a select committee, Michael
Ulshoeffer, chairman, who submitted their report January 9,
1821, in opposition to the opinion of the Council, which was
adopted by the Assembly. The bill, however, failed to pass,
not receiving a two-third vote. Immediately thereupon a
committee was appointed to draft a new bill. The committee
subsequently introduced a bill for submitting the question to
the people, which passed both Houses; received the sanction of
the Council of Revision on the 13th of March, and was
subsequently amended, the amendments receiving the sanction of
the Council on the third of April. The popular vote on holding
the Convention was had in April, and resulted as follows: 'For
Convention' 109,346. 'For No Convention' 34,901. The
Convention assembled in Albany, August 28, and adjourned
November 10, 1821. The Council of Revision was abolished, and
its powers transferred to the Governor. The Council of
Appointment was abolished without a dissenting voice. The
principal department officers were directed to be appointed on
an open separate nomination by the two Houses, and subsequent
joint ballot. Of the remaining officers not made elective, the
power of appointment was conferred upon the Governor, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate. In 1846, two
hundred and eighty-nine offices were thus filled. The elective
franchise was extended. The Constitution was adopted at an
election held in February, 1822, by the following vote:
Constitution—For, 74,732: Against, 41,402. … The People
took to themselves a large portion of the power they had felt
it necessary, in the exercise of a natural conservatism, to
intrust to the Assembly. They had learned that an elective
Governor and an elective Senate are equally their agents, and
interests which they thought ought to be conserved, they
intrusted to them, subject to their responsibility to the
People. The entire Senate were substituted in the place of the
members who chanced to be the favorites with a majority in the
Assembly, as a Council to the Governor, and thus the People of
all the State were given a voice in appointments. The Supreme
Judicial Tribunal remained the same. The direct sovereignty of
the People was thus rendered far more effective, and popular
government took the place of parliamentary administration."

_E. A. Werner,
Civil List and Constitutional History of New York, 1887,
pages 126-128._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1823.
The rise of the Albany Regency.

"The adoption of the new constitution in 1822 placed the
political power of the State in the hands of Mr. Van Buren,
the recognized representative leader of the Democratic party.
Governor Clinton, as the end of his term of service
approached, became as powerless as he was in 1816. … William
L. Marcy was then State Comptroller, Samuel L. Talcott,
Attorney-General; Benjamin Knower, Treasurer; and Edwin
Crosswell, editor of the 'Argus' and state printer. These
gentlemen, with Mr. Van Buren as their chief, constituted the
nucleus of what became the Albany Regency. After adding Silas
Wright, Azariah C. Flagg, John A. Dix, James Porter, Thomas W.
Olcott, and Charles E. Dudley to their number, I do not
believe that a stronger political combination ever existed at
any state capital. … Their influence and power for nearly
twenty years was almost as potential in national as in state
politics."

_T. Weed,
Autobiography,
volume 1, chapter 11._

"Even to our own day, the Albany Regency has been a strong and
generally a sagacious influence in its party. John A. Dix,
Horatio Seymour, Dean Richmond and Samuel J. Tilden long
directed its policy, and from the chief seat in its councils
the late secretary of the treasury, Daniel Manning, was chosen
in 1885."

_E. M. Shepard,
Martin Van Buren,
page 96._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1826-1832.
Anti-Masonic excitement.
The abduction of Morgan.

"The society of free-masons included a large number of the
foremost citizens in all walks of life, and the belief existed
that they used their secret ties to advance their ambitions.
… This belief was used to create prejudice among those who
were not members, and it added fuel to the fires of faction.
At this juncture, September 11, 1826, William Morgan, of
Batavia, a free-mason, who had announced his intention to
print a pamphlet exposing the secrets of masonry, was arrested
on a charge of larceny, made by the master of a masonic lodge,
but found not guilty, and then arrested for debt, and
imprisoned in jail at Canandaigua. He was taken secretly from
that jail and conveyed to Fort Niagara, where he was kept
until September, when he disappeared. The masons were charged
with his abduction, and a body found in the Niagara River was
produced as proof that he was drowned to put him out of the
way. Thurlow Weed, then an editor in Rochester, was aggressive
in charging that Morgan was murdered by the masons, and as
late as 1882 he published an affidavit rehearsing a confession
made to him by John Whitney, that the drowning was in fact
perpetrated by himself and four other persons whom he named,
after a conference in a masonic lodge. In 1827, Weed, who was
active in identifying the drowned body, was charged with
mutilating it, to make it resemble Morgan, and the imputation
was often repeated; and the abduction and murder were in turn
laid at the door of the anti-masons. The disappearance became
the chief topic of partisan discussion. De Witt Clinton was
one of the highest officers in the masonic order, and it was
alleged that he commanded that Morgan's book should be
'suppressed at all hazards,' thus instigating the murder; but
the slander was soon exposed. The state was flooded with
volumes portraying masonry as a monstrous conspiracy, and the
literature of the period was as harrowing as a series of
sensational novels."

_E. H. Roberts,
New York,
volume 2, chapter 33._

{2344}

"A party soon grew up in Western New York pledged to oppose
the election of any Free Mason to public office. The
Anti-Masonic Party acquired influence in other States, and
began to claim rank as a national political party. On most
points its principles were those of the National Republicans.
But Clay, as well as Jackson, was a Free Mason, and
consequently to be opposed by this party. … In 1832 it even
nominated a Presidential ticket of its own, but, having no
national principle of controlling importance, it soon after
declined."

_A. Johnston,
History of American Politics,
chapter 12, section 3, with foot-note._

ALSO IN:
_T. Weed,
Autobiography,
chapters 20-30, 36, and 40._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1827.
The last of Slavery in the state.

"On the 28th of January, 1817, the governor sent a message to
the legislature recommending the entire abolition of slavery
in the State of New York, to take place on the fourth day of
July, 1827. By an act passed some years before, all persons
born of parents who were slaves after July 1799, were to be
free; males at twenty-eight and females at twenty-five years
of age. The present legislature adopted the recommendation of
the governor. This great measure in behalf of human rights,
which was to obliterate forever the black and foul stain of
slavery from the escutcheon of our own favored state, was
produced by the energetic action of Cadwallader D. Colden,
Peter A. Jay, William Jay, Daniel D. Tompkins and other
distinguished philanthropists, chiefly residing in the city of
New York. The Society of Friends, who never slumber when the
principles of benevolence and a just regard to equal rights
call for their action, were zealously engaged in this great
enterprise."

_J. D. Hammond,
History of Political Parties in the State of New York,
volume 1, chapter 22._

ALSO IN:
_E. H. Roberts,
New York,
volume 2, page 565._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1835-1837.
The Loco-focos.

"The Van Buren party began to be called the Loco-focos, in
derision of the fancied extravagance of their financial
doctrines. The Loco-foco or Equal Rights party proper was
originally a division of the Democrats, strongly
anti-monopolist in their opinions, and especially hostile to
banks,—not only government banks but all banks,—which
enjoyed the privileges then long conferred by special and
exclusive charters. In the fall of 1835 some of the Democratic
candidates in New York were especially obnoxious to the
anti-monopolists of the party. When the meeting to regularly
confirm the nominations made in committee was called at
Tammany Hall, the anti-monopolist Democrats sought to capture
the meeting by a rush up the main stairs. The regulars,
however, showed themselves worthy of their regularity by
reaching the room up the back stairs. In a general scrimmage
the gas was put out. The anti-monopolists, perhaps used to the
devices to prevent meetings which might be hostile, were ready
with candles and loco-foco matches. The hall was quickly
illuminated; and the anti-monopolists claimed that they had
defeated the nominations. The regulars were successful,
however, at the election; and they and the Whigs dubbed the
anti-monopolists the Loco-foco men. … The hatred which Van
Buren after his message of September, 1837, received from the
banks commended him to the Loco-focos; and in October, 1837,
Tammany Hall witnessed their reconciliation with the regular
Democrats upon a moderate declaration for equal rights."

_E. M. Shepard,
Martin Van Buren,
pages 293-295._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1838.
Passage of the Free Banking Act.

See MONEY AND BANKING: A. D. 1838.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1839-1846.
The Anti-rent disturbances.

See LIVINGSTON MANOR.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1840-1841.
The McLeod Case.

See CANADA: A. D. 1840-1841.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1845-1846.
Schism in the Democratic party over Slavery extension.
Hunkers and Barnburners.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1846.
Constitutional revision.

During the twenty-five years of the existence of the
constitution of 1821, "ten different proposals for amendments
were submitted to the electors, who decided against choosing
presidential electors by districts, but in favor of extending
the franchise, in favor of electing mayors by the people, and
in 1846 for no license except in the city of New York. The
commonwealth grew not only in population, but in all the
elements of progress and prosperity and power, and by the
census of 1845 was shown to contain 2,604,495 inhabitants.
Legislation had tended to the substitution of rights for
privileges granted as favors. The tenure of land, especially
under the claims of the patroons, had caused difficulties for
which remedies were sought; and the large expenditures for
internal improvements, involving heavy indebtedness, prompted
demands for safe-guards for the creditor and the taxpayer. The
judiciary system had confessedly become independent, and
required radical reformation. When, therefore, in 1845, the
electors were called upon to decide whether a convention
should be held to amend the State constitution, 213,257 voted
in the affirmative, against 33,860 in the negative. The
convention met June 1, 1846, but soon adjourned until October
9, when it proceeded with its task. John Tracy of Chenango
presided; and among the members were Ira Harris of Albany,
George 'V. Patterson of Chautauqua, Michael Hoffman and
Arphaxed Loomis of Herkimer, Samuel J. Tilden of New York,
Samuel Nelson of Otsego, and others eminent at home and in
State affairs. The convention dealt radically with the
principles of government. The new constitution gave to the
people the election of many officers before appointed at
Albany. It provided for the election of members of both houses
of the legislature by separate districts. Instead of the
cumbrous court for the correction of errors, it established an
independent court of appeals. It abolished the court of
chancery and the circuit courts, and merged both into the
supreme court, and defined the jurisdiction of county courts.
All judges were to be elected by the people. Feudal tenures
were abolished, and no leases on agricultural lands for a
longer period than twelve years were to be valid, if any rent
or service were reserved. The financial articles established
sinking funds for both the canal and general fund debt,
forbade the loan of the credit of the State, and limited
rigidly the power of the legislature to create debts, except
to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, and declared the
school and literature funds inviolate. Provision was made for
general laws for the formation of corporations. The
constitution required the submission to the people once every
twenty years of the question whether a convention shall be
called or not."

_E. H. Roberts,
New York,
volume 2, pages 567-569._

{2345}

NEW YORK: A. D. 1848.
The Free Soil movement.
The Buffalo Convention.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1848.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1848.
Legal Emancipation of Women.

See LAW, COMMON; A. D. 1839-1848.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1848.
Adoption of the Code of Civil Procedure.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1848-1883.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1861 (April).
The speeding of the Seventh Regiment
to the defense of Washington.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (APRIL-MAY: MARYLAND).

NEW YORK: A. D. 1862-1886.
The founding and growth of Cornell University.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1862-1886.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1863.
The Draft Riots in New York City.

"A new levy of 300,000 men was called for in April, 1863, with
the alternative of a draft if the quotas were not filled by
volunteering. The quota of the city of New York was not
filled, and a draft was begun there on Saturday, the 11th of
July. There had been premonitions of trouble when it was
attempted to take the names and addresses of those subject to
call, and in the tenement-house districts some of the marshals
had narrowly escaped with their lives. On the morning when the
draft was to begin, several of the most widely read Democratic
journals contained editorials that appeared to be written for
the very purpose of inciting a riot. They asserted that any
draft at all was unconstitutional and despotic, and that in
this case the quota demanded from the city was excessive, and
denounced the war as a 'mere abolition crusade.' It is
doubtful if there was any well-formed conspiracy, including
any large number of persons, to get up a riot; but the excited
state of the public mind, especially among the laboring
population, inflammatory handbills displayed in the
grog-shops, the presence of the dangerous classes, whose best
opportunity for plunder was in time of riot, and the absence
of the militia that had been called away to meet the invasion
of Pennsylvania, all favored an outbreak. It was unfortunate
that the draft was begun on Saturday, and the Sunday papers
published long lists of the names that were drawn—an instance
of the occasional mischievous results of journalistic
enterprise. … When the draft was resumed on Monday, the
serious work began. One provost-marshal's office was at the
corner of Third Avenue and Forty-Sixth street. It was guarded
by sixty policemen, and the wheel was set in motion at ten
o'clock. The building was surrounded by a dense, angry crowd,
who were freely cursing the draft, the police, the National
Government, and 'the nigger.' The drawing had been in progress
but a few minutes when there was a shout of 'stop the cars!'
and at once the cars were stopped, the horses released, the
conductors and passengers driven out, and a tumult created.
Then a great human wave was set in motion, which bore down
everything before it and rolled into the marshal's office,
driving out at the back windows the officials and the
policemen, whose clubs, though plied rapidly and knocking down
a rioter at every blow, could not dispose of them as fast as
they came on. The mob destroyed everything in the office, and
then set the building on fire. The firemen came promptly, but
were not permitted to throw any water upon the flames. At this
moment Superintendent John A. Kennedy, of the police,
approaching incautiously and unarmed, was recognized and set
upon by the crowd, who gave him half a hundred blows with
clubs and stones, and finally threw him face downward into a
mud-puddle, with the intention of drowning him. When rescued,
he was bruised beyond recognition, and was lifted into a wagon
and carried to the police headquarters. The command of the
force now devolved upon Commissioner Thomas C. Acton and
Inspector Daniel Carpenter, whose management during three
fearful days was worthy of the highest praise. Another
marshal's office, where the draft was in progress, was at
Broadway and Twenty-Ninth street, and here the mob burned the
whole block of stores on Broadway between Twenty-Eighth and
Twenty-Ninth streets. … In the afternoon a small police
force held possession of a gun-factory in Second Avenue for
four hours, and was then compelled to retire before the
persistent attacks of the rioters, who hurled stones through
the windows and beat in the doors. Toward evening a riotous
procession passed down Broadway, with drums, banners, muskets,
pistols, pitchforks, clubs, and boards inscribed 'No Draft!'
Inspector Carpenter, at the head of two hundred policemen,
marched up to meet it. His orders were, 'Take no prisoners,
but strike quick and hard.' The mob was met at the corner of
Amity (or West Third) street. The police charged at once in a
compact body, Carpenter knocking down the foremost rioter with
a blow that cracked his skull, and in a few moments the mob
scattered and fled, leaving Broadway strewn with their wounded
and dying. From this time, the police were victorious in every
encounter. During the next two days there was almost constant
rioting, mobs appearing at various points, both up-town and
down-town. The rioters set upon every negro that
appeared—whether man, woman, or child—and succeeded in
murdering eleven of them. … This phase of the outbreak found
its worst expression in the sacking and burning of the Colored
Orphan Asylum, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Fourth street. The
two hundred helpless children were with great difficulty taken
away by the rear doors while the mob were battering at the
front. … One of the saddest incidents of the riot was the
murder of Colonel Henry J. O'Brien of the 11th New York
Volunteers, whose men had dispersed one mob with a deadly
volley. An hour or two later the Colonel returned to the spot
alone, when he was set upon and beaten and mangled and
tortured horribly for several hours, being at last killed by
some frenzied women. … Three days of this vigorous work by
the police and the soldiers brought the disturbance to an end.
About fifty policemen had been injured, three of whom died;
and the whole number of lives destroyed by the rioters was
eighteen. The exact number of rioters killed is unknown, but
it was more than 1,200. The mobs burned about 50 buildings,
destroying altogether between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 worth
of property. Governor Seymour incurred odium by a speech to
the rioters, in which he addressed them as his friends, and
promised to have the draft stopped; and by his communications
to the President, in which he complained of the draft, and
asked to have it suspended till the question of its
constitutionality could be tested in the courts."

_R. Johnson,
Short History of the War of Secession,
chapter 18._

ALSO IN:
_J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 7, chapter 1._

_H. Greeley,
The American Conflict,
volume 2, chapter 21._

_D. M. Barnes,
The Draft Riots in New York._

{2346}

NEW YORK: A. D. 1863-1871.
The Tweed Ring.

Between 1863 and 1871 the city of New York, and, to a
considerable extent, the state at large, fell under the
control and into the power of a combination of corrupt
politicians commonly known as the Tweed Ring. Its chief was
one William Marcy Tweed, of Scotch parentage, who first
appeared in public life as an alderman of the city, in 1850.
Working himself upward, in the Democratic party, to which he
adhered, he attained in 1863 the powerful dignity of Grand
Sachem of the Tammany Society and chairman or "Boss" of the
general committee of Tammany Hall. "At this time, however, the
Tammany 'Ring,' as it afterwards was called, was not
completely formed, and Tammany Hall, though by far the most
important political organization in the city, was not absolute
even in the Democratic party. It had a bitter enemy in Mozart
Hall, a political organization led by Fernando Wood, a former
mayor of the city. The claims of Mozart Hall were satisfied in
this same year, 1863, by granting to its leader the Democratic
nomination to Congress. … Soon afterwards Tweed was
appointed deputy-commissioner of streets. The 'Ring' was now
fast consolidating. The enormous patronage possessed by its
members enabled them to control almost all the nominations of
the Democratic party to positions in the city. They provided
their adherents with places in the city government, and when
the supply of places became inadequate, they enlarged the city
pay-roll to create new places. By means of the political
influence they exerted over the Democratic party in the State,
they packed the State legislature with their followers, and
placed upon the bench judges on whom they could rely. … In
1865 the Ring obtained control of the mayoralty. Its
candidate, John T. Hoffman, was a man of much higher character
than his supporters and associates. He was personally honest,
but his ambition blinded him to the acts of his political
friends. … In 1868 … Hoffman was nominated for governor
and was elected. His election was secured by the grossest and
most extensive frauds ever perpetrated in the city, e. g.
illegal naturalization of foreigners, false registration,
repeating of votes, and unfair counting. The mayoralty, left
vacant by the promotion of Hoffman, was filled by the election
of Hall [A. Oakey Hall], who took his seat on the 1st day of
January 1869. As Samuel J. Tilden said, by this election 'the
Ring became completely organized and matured.' It controlled
the common council of the city and the legislature of the
State, and its nominee sat in the gubernatorial chair. Hall
was mayor; Sweeny [Peter B. Sweeny, 'the great schemer of the
Ring'] was city chamberlain or treasurer of both city and
county; Tweed was practically supreme in the street
department; Connolly [Richard B.] was city comptroller, and
thus had charge of the city finances; the city judiciary was
in sympathy with these men." But great as were the power and
the opportunities of the Ring, it obtained still more of both
through its well-paid creatures in the State legislature, by
amendments of the city charter and by acts which gave Tweed
and his partners free swing in debt-making for the city. In
1871, the last year of the existence of the Ring, it had more
than $48,000,000 of money at its disposal. Its methods of
fraud were varied and numerous. "But all the other enterprises
of the Ring dwindle into insignificance when compared with the
colossal frauds that were committed in the building of the new
court-house for the county. When this undertaking was begun,
it was stipulated that its total cost should not exceed
$250,000; but before the Ring was broken up, upwards of
$8,000,000 had been expended, and the work was not completed.
… Whenever a bill was brought in by one of the contractors,
he was directed to increase largely the total of his charge.
… A warrant was then drawn for the amount of the bill as
raised; the contractor was paid, perhaps the amount of his
original, bill, perhaps a little more; and the difference
between the original and the raised bills was divided between
the members of the Ring. It is said that about 65 per cent. of
the bills actually paid by the county represented fraudulent
addition of this sort." The beginning of the end of the reign
of the Ring came in July, 1871, when copies of some of the
fraudulent accounts, made by a clerk in the auditor's office,
came into the possession of the New York Times and were
published. "The result of these exposures was a meeting of
citizens early in September. … It was followed by the
formation of a sort of peaceable vigilance committee, under
the imposing title of the 'Committee of Seventy.' This
committee, together with Samuel J. Tilden (long a leading
Democratic politician, and afterwards candidate for the
presidency of the United States), went to work at once, and
with great energy, to obtain actual proof of the frauds
described by the 'Times.' It was owing mainly to the tireless
endeavours of Mr. Tilden … that this work was successful,
and that prosecutions were brought against several members of
the Ring." The Tammany leaders attempted to make a scapegoat
of Connolly; but the latter came to terms with Mr. Tilden, and
virtually turned over his office to Mr. Andrew H. Green, of
the Committee of Seventy, appointing him deputy-comptroller,
with full powers. "This move was a tremendous step forward for
the prosecution. The possession of the comptroller's office
gave access to papers which furnished almost all the evidence
afterwards used in the crusade against the Ring." At the
autumn election of 1871 there was a splendid rally of the
better citizens, in the city and throughout the state, and the
political power of the Ring was broken. "None of the leading
actors in the disgraceful drama failed to pay in some measure
the penalty of his deeds. Tweed, after a chequered experience
in eluding the grasp of justice, died in jail. Connolly passed
the remainder of his life in exile. Sweeny left the country
and long remained abroad. … Hall was tried and obtained a
favourable verdict, but he has chosen to live out of America.
Of the judges whose corrupt decisions so greatly aided the
Ring, Barnard and M'Cunn were impeached and removed from the
bench, while Cardozo resigned his position in time to avoid
impeachment. The following figures will give an approximate
idea of the amount the Ring cost the city of New York. In
1860, before Tweed came into power, the debt of the city was
reported as amounting only to $20,000,000 while the tax rate
was about 1.60 per cent. on the assessed valuation of the
property in the city liable to taxation.
{2347}
In the middle of the year 1871, the total debt of the city and
the county—which were coterminous, and for all practical
purposes the same—amounted to $100,955,333.33, and the tax
rate had risen to over 2 per cent. During the last two years
and a half of the government of the Ring the debt increased at
the rate of $28,652,000 a year."

_F. J. Goodnow,
The Tweed Ring in New York City
(chapter 88 of Bryce's "American Commonwealth," volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_S. J. Tilden,
The New York City "Ring": its Origin, Maturity and Fall._

_C. F. Wingate,
An episode in Municipal Government
(N. A. Rev., Oct. 1874, January and July, 1875,
October. 1876)._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1867.
The Public Schools made entirely free.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1867.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1867-1882.
Amendments of the Constitution.

The constitution of 1846 having provided for its own revision
at the end of twenty years, if so willed by the people, the
calling of a constitutional convention was approved by popular
vote in 1866, and the convention of elected delegates
assembled June 4, in the following year. Its final adjournment
was not reached until February 28, 1868. The constitution
proposed by the convention was submitted to the people in
1869, and rejected, with the exception of the judiciary
article, which reorganized the Court of Appeals, and provided
for a temporary Commission of Appeals, to determine the cases
pending in the Court, where business in arrears had
accumulated to a serious extent. The rejection of the
constitution framed in 1867 led, in 1872, to the creation by
the governor and legislature of a Commission for the revision
of the constitution, which met at Albany, December 4, 1872,
and adjourned March 15, 1873. Several amendments proposed by
the Commission were submitted to popular vote in 1874 and
1876, and were adopted. By the more important of these
amendments, colored citizens were admitted to the franchise
without property qualifications; a strong, specific enactment
for the prevention and punishment of bribery and corruption at
elections was embodied in the constitution itself; some
changes were made in the provisions for districting the state,
after each census, and the pay of members of the legislature
was increased to $1,500 per annum; the power of the
legislature to pass private bills was limited; the term of the
governor was extended from two years to three; the governor
was empowered to veto specific items in bills which
appropriate money, approving the remainder; the governor was
allowed thirty days for the consideration of bills left in his
hands at the adjournment of the legislature, which bills
become law only upon his approval within that time; a
superintendent of public works was created to take the place
of the Canal Commissioners previously existing, and a
superintendent of state prisons to take the place of the three
inspectors of state prisons; a selection of judges from the
bench of the Supreme Court of the state to act as Associate
Judges of the Court of Appeals was authorized; the loaning or
granting of the credit or money of the state, or that of any
county, city, town, or village to any association,
corporation, or private undertaking was forbidden; corrupt
conduct in office was declared to be felony. By an amendment
of the constitution submitted by the legislature to the people
in 1882, the canals of the state were made entirely free of
tolls.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1869.
Black Friday.

"During the war gold had swollen in value to 285, when the
promise of the nation to pay a dollar on demand was only worth
thirty-five cents. Thence it had gradually sunk. … All our
purchases from foreign nations, all duties on those purchases,
and all sales of domestic produce to other nations are payable
in gold. There is therefore a large and legitimate business in
the purchase and sale of gold, especially in New York, the
financial centre of the nation. But a much larger business of
a gambling nature had gradually grown up around that which was
legitimate. … These gambling operations were based on the
rise and fall of gold, and these in turn depended on
successful or unsuccessful battles, or on events in foreign
nations that could be neither foreseen nor guarded against.
The transactions were therefore essentially gambling. … So
large was the amount of this speculative business, gathering
up all the gold-betting of the nation in a single room, that
it more than equalled the legitimate purchase and sale of
gold. There were large and wealthy firms who made this their
chief business; and prominent among them was the firm of
Smith, Gould, Martin & Co., four gentlemen under one
partnership name, all wealthy and all accustomed to this
business for years. Their joint wealth and business skill made
them a power in Wall street. The leading mind of the firm,
though not the first named, was Mr. Jay Gould, President of
the Erie Railway, joint owner with Colonel James Fisk Jr., of
two lines of steamboats, and largely interested in a number of
railroads and other valuable properties. Mr. Gould looked upon
gold, railroads, and steamboats as the gilded dice wherewith
to gamble. … During the spring of 1869 he was a buyer of
gold. There was perhaps fifteen millions of that rare currency
in New York outside the Sub-Treasury; and he had bought half
that amount, paying therefor a bonus of a little more than two
millions of dollars. As fast as he had purchased the precious
metal he had loaned it out to those who needed it for the
payment of duties, and who hoped to repurchase it at a lower
rate. And so, though the owner of seven millions, he had none
of it in hand; he merely possessed the written acknowledgment
of certain leading merchants and brokers that they owed him
that amount of specie, which they would repay with interest on
demand. Having this amount obtainable at any moment, Mr. Gould
had the mercantile community at his mercy. But there was some
hundred millions of gold in the Treasury, more or less, and
the President of the United States or the Secretary of the
Treasury might at any time throw it on the market. On this
point it was very desirable to ascertain the opinion of
President Grant; more desirable to have constant access to his
private ear." In various ways, argumentative influences were
brought to bear on President Grant and the Secretary of the
Treasury, Mr. Boutwell, to persuade them that it was desirable
for the country, while the crops were being moved, to hold up
the price of gold. One important channel for such influences
was supplied by the President's brother-in-law, a retired New
York merchant, named Corbin, who was drawn into the
speculation and given a share in Gould's gold purchases.
{2348}
By strenuous exertions, Gould and his associates pushed up the
price till "in May it stood at 144 7/8; but as soon as they
ceased to buy, the price began to recede until in the latter
part of June it again stood at 136. The others were then
frightened and sold out. 'All these other fellows deserted me
like rats from a ship,' said Gould. But for him to sell out
then would involve a heavy loss, and he preferred a gain. He
therefore called upon his friend and partner Fisk to enter the
financial arena. It is but justice to Mr. Fisk to say that for
some time he declined; he clearly saw that the whole tendency
of gold was downward. But when Gould made the proposition more
palatable by suggesting corruption, Fisk immediately swallowed
the bait. … He … entered the market and purchased twelve
millions. There is an old adage that there is honor among
thieves. This appears not to be true on the Gold Exchange. All
Mr. Gould's statements to his own partner were false, except
those relating to Corbin and Butterfield. And Mr. Corbin did
his best. He not only talked and wrote to the President
himself; not only wrote for the New York 'Times,' but when
General Grant visited him in New York, he sent Gould to see
him so often that the President, unaware of the financial trap
set for him, rebuked the door servant for giving Mr. Gould
such ready access. But it is worthy of note that neither
Corbin, Gould, nor Fisk ever spoke to the President of their
personal interest in the matter. They were only patriots
urging a certain course of conduct for the good of the
country. These speculations as to the advantage to the country
of a higher price of gold seem to have had some effect on the
Presidential mind; for early in September he wrote to Mr.
Boutwell, then at his Massachusetts home, giving his opinion
of the financial condition of the country, and suggesting that
it would not be wise to lower the price of gold by sales from
the Treasury while the crops were moving to the seaboard. Mr.
Boutwell therefore telegraphed to the Assistant Secretary at
Washington only to sell gold sufficient to buy bonds for the
sinking fund. Through Mr. Corbin or in some other way this
letter came to the knowledge of the conspirators; for they at
once began to purchase and the price began to rise. … On the
13th of September, gold, swelling and falling like the tide,
stood at 135½. The clique then commenced their largest
purchases, and within nine days had bought enough to hold
sixty-six millions—nearly every cent of it fictitious, and
only included in promises to pay. On the evening of Wednesday,
September 22, the price was 140½; but it had taken the
purchase of thirty or forty millions to put it up that five
cents. Could it be forced five cents higher, and all sold, the
profits would be over ten millions of dollars! It was a stake
worth playing for. But the whole mercantile community was
opposed to them; bountiful harvests were strong arguments
against them; and more than all else, there stood the
Sub-Treasury of the United States, with its hundred millions
of dollars in its vaults, ready at any time to cast its
plethora of wealth on their unfortunate heads. … Corbin,
while assuring Gould that there was no danger of any
Government sale, and yet himself greatly in trepidation,
addressed a letter to General Grant urging him not to
interfere with the warfare then raging between the bulls and
the bears, nor to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to do
so. … The letter would probably have had some effect, but
unfortunately the ring overdid their business in the way in
which they sent it." The letter was conveyed by a private
messenger. The messenger, "Mr. Chapin, delivered his letter,
asked General Grant if there was any reply, and being told
there was none, started for his home, first telegraphing to
his employer, 'Letter delivered all right.' It was a most
unfortunate telegraphic message he sent back. He swears that
his meaning was that the letter was delivered all right; and
so the despatch reads. But the gold gamblers, blinded by the
greatness of the stake at risk, interpreted the 'all right' of
the message as an answer to the contents of Mr. Corbin's
letter—that the President thought the letter all right; and
on the strength of that reading Fisk rushed into the market
and made numerous purchases of gold. But that very letter,
which was intended to be their governmental safeguard, led to
their ruin. Carried by special messenger for a day and a half,
its urgency that the Administration should sell no gold,
coupled with frequent assertions in the newspapers that Mr.
Corbin was a great bull in gold, excited General Grant's
suspicions. He feared that Corbin was not actuated by
patriotic motives alone in this secret correspondence. At the
President's suggestion, therefore, Mrs. Grant wrote to her
sister, Mrs. Corbin, telling her that rumors had reached them
that Mr. Corbin was connected with speculators in New York,
and that she hoped if this was so he would at once disengage
himself from them; that the President was much distressed at
such rumors. On the receipt of this letter, Mr. Corbin was
greatly excited." Corbin showed the letter to Gould, and got
himself let out of the game, so that he might be able to say
to President Grant that he had no interest in gold; but Fisk
was not told of the President's suspicions. "On the evening of
Wednesday, September 21, it was determined to close the corner
within two days." A desperate attack on the market began next
morning. Gold opened that day at 39½; it closed at 44. The
next day was "Friday, September 24, commonly called Black
Friday, either from the black mark it caused on the characters
of dealers in gold, or, as is more probable, from the ruin it
brought to both sides. The Gold Room was crowded for two hours
before the time of business. … Fisk was there, gloating over
the prospect of great gains from others' ruin. His brokers
were there, noisy and betting on the rapid rise of gold and
the success of the corner. All alike were greatly excited,
palpitating between hope and fear, and not knowing what an
hour might bring forth. … Gold closed on Thursday at 144;
Speyers [principal broker of the conspirators] commenced his
work on Friday by offering 145, one per cent. higher than the
last purchase. Receiving no response, he offered to buy at
146, 147, 148, and 149 respectively, but without takers. Then
150 was offered, and half a million was sold him by Mr. James
Brown, who had quietly organized a band of prominent merchants
who were determined to meet the gold gamblers on their own
ground. … Amid the most tremendous confusion the voices of
the excited brokers could be heard slowly bidding up the value
of their artificial metal.
{2349}
Higher and higher rose the tide of speculation; from 156 to
159 there was no offer whatever; amid deep silence Speyers
called out, 'Any part of five millions for 160.' 'One million
taken at 160,' was the quiet response of James Brown. Further
offers were made by the brokers of the clique all the way from
160 to 163½. But Mr. Brown preferred to grapple the enemy by
the throat, and he sold Speyers five millions more, making
seven millions of gold sold that hour for which Speyers agreed
to pay eleven millions in currency. Such figures almost
stagger one to read of them! But Speyers continued to buy till
before noon he had purchased nearly sixty millions. … As the
price rose cent by cent, men's hearts were moved within them
as the trees are shaken by the swelling of the wind. But when
the first million was taken at 160 a great load was removed,
and when the second million was sold there was such a burst of
gladness, such a roar of multitudinous voices as that room,
tumultuous as it had always been, never heard before.
Everybody instantly began to sell, desiring to get rid of all
their gold before it had tumbled too deep. And just as the
precious metal was beginning to flow over the precipice, the
news was flashed into the room that Government had telegraphed
to sell four millions. Instantly the end was reached; gold
fell to 140, and then down, down, down, to 133. There were no
purchasers at any price. … The gold ring had that day bought
sixty millions of gold, paying or rather agreeing to pay
therefor ninety-six millions of dollars in currency!" But
Gould, Fisk & Co., who owned several venal New York judges,
placed injunctions and other legal obstacles in the way of a
settlement of claims against themselves. "Of course these
judicious and judicial orders put an end to all business
except that which was favorable to Fisk and Gould. They
continued to settle with all parties who owed them money; they
were judicially enjoined from settling with those to whom, if
their own brokers may be believed, they were indebted, and
they have not yet settled with them. … As the settlements
between the brokers employed by the ring and their victims
were all made in private, there is no means of knowing the
total result. But it is the opinion of Mr. James B. Hodskin,
Chairman of the Arbitration Committee of the Exchange, and
therefore better acquainted with its business than anyone
else, that the two days' profits of the clique from the
operations they acknowledged and settled for were not less
than twelve millions of dollars; and that the losses on those
transactions which they refused to acknowledge were not less
than twenty millions. The New York 'Tribune' a day or two
afterward put the gains of the clique at eleven million
dollars. Some months after 'Black Friday' had passed away,
Congress ordered an investigation into its causes. … For two
or three days the whole business of New York stood still
awaiting the result of the corner. … In good-will with all
the world, with grand harvests, with full markets on both
sides the Atlantic, came a panic that affected all business.
Foreign trade came to a stand-still. The East would not send
to Europe: the West could not ship to New York. Young men saw
millions of dollars made in a few days by dishonesty; they
beheld larger profits result from fraud than from long lives
of honesty. Old men saw their best-laid plans frustrated by
the operations of gamblers. Our national credit was affected
by it. Europe was told that our principal places of business
were nests of gamblers, and that it was possible for a small
clique, aided by our banking institutions, to get possession
of all the gold there was in the land; and that when one firm
had gone through business transactions to the amount of over
one hundred millions of dollars, the courts of the United
States would compel the completion of those bargains which
resulted in a profit, while those that ended in a loss were
forbidden. For two or three months the sale of bonds in Europe
was affected by the transactions of that day; and not until
the present generation of business men has passed away will
the evil influence of Black Friday be entirely lost."

_W. R. Hooper,
Black Friday
(The Galaxy, December, 1871)._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1875-1881.
Stalwarts and Half-breeds.

See STALWARTS.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1881.
Adoption of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1848-1883.

NEW YORK: A. D. 1892.
Restored Tammany government in the City.

The Tammany organization was greatly discredited and crippled
for a time by the exposure and overthrow of Tweed and his
"ring," in 1871; but after a few years, under the
chieftainship of John Kelly and Richard Croker, successive
"grand sachems," it recovered its control of the city
government so completely that, in 1892, Dr. Albert Shaw was
justified in describing the latter as follows: "There is in
New York no official body that corresponds with the London
Council. The New York Board of Aldermen, plus the Mayor, plus
the Commissioners who are the appointive heads of a number of
the working departments such as the Excise, Park, Health and
Police departments, plus the District Attorney, the Sheriff,
the Coroners, and other officials pertaining to the county of
New York as distinct from the city of New York, plus a few of
the head Tammany bosses and the local Tammany bosses of the
twenty-four Assembly Districts—all these men and a few other
officials and bosses, taken together, would make up a body of
men of about the same numerical strength as the London
Council; and these are the men who now dominate the official
life of the great community of nearly eighteen hundred
thousand souls. In London the 137 councillors fight out every
municipal question in perfectly open session upon its actual
merits before the eyes of all London, and of the whole British
empire. In New York, the governing group discusses nothing
openly. The Board of Aldermen is an obscure body of
twenty-five members, with limited power except for mischief,
its members being almost to a man high Tammany politicians who
are either engaged directly in the liquor business or are in
one way or another connected with that interest. So far as
there is any meeting in which the rulers of New York discuss
the public affairs of the community, such meetings are held in
the Tammany wigwam in Fourteenth Street. But Tammany is not an
organization which really concerns itself with any aspects of
public questions, either local or general, excepting the
'spoils' aspect. It is organized upon what is a military
rather than a political basis, and its machinery extends
through all the assembly districts and voting precincts of New
York, controlling enough votes to hold and wield the balance
of power, and thus to keep Tammany in the possession of the
offices.
{2350}
Its local hold is maintained by the dispensing of a vast
amount of patronage. The laborers on public works, the members
of the police force and the fire brigades, the employees of
the Sanitary Department, of the Excise Department, of the
Street Cleaning and Repair Department and of the Water and
Dock and Park Departments, the teachers in the public schools
and the nurses in the public hospitals, all are made to feel
that their livelihood depends on the favor of the Tammany
bosses; and they must not only be faithful to Tammany
themselves, but all their friends and relatives to the
remotest collateral degree must also be kept subservient to
the Tammany domination. The following characterization of
Tammany leadership and method is from the New York Evening
Post. … 'None of the members occupy themselves with any
legislation, except such as creates salaried offices and
contracts in this city, to be got hold of either by capture at
the polls or "deals" with the Republican politicians here or
in Albany. When such legislation has been successful, the only
thing in connection with it which Tammany leaders consider is
how the salaries shall be divided and what "assessments" the
places or contracts can stand. If any decent outsider could
make his way into the inner conferences at which these
questions are settled, he would hear not the grave discussion
of the public interests, how to keep streets clean, or how to
repave them, or how to light them or police them, or how to
supply the city with water, but stories of drunken or amorous
adventure, larded freely with curious and original oaths,
ridicule of reformers and "silk-stockinged" people generally,
abuse of "kickers," and examination of the claims of gamblers,
liquor-dealers, and pugilists to more money out of the public
treasury. In fact, as we have had of late frequent occasion to
observe, the society is simply an organization of clever
adventurers, most of them in some degree criminal, for the
control of the ignorant and vicious vote of the city in an
attack on the property of the tax-payers. There is not a
particle of politics in the concern any more than in any
combination of Western brigands to "hold up" a railroad train
and get at the express packages. Its sole object is plunder in
any form which will not attract the immediate notice of the
police.'"

_A. Shaw,
Municipal Problems of New York and London
(Review of Reviews, April 1892)._

NEW YORK: A. D. 1894.
Constitutional Convention.

A bill passed by the legislature of 1892, calling a convention
to revise the constitution of the State, provided for the
election of 128 delegates by Assembly districts, and 32 at
large, but added 9 more whom the Governor should appoint, 3 to
represent labor interests, 3 woman-suffrage claims, and 3 the
advocates of prohibition. By the legislature of 1893 this act
was set aside and a new enactment adopted, making the total
number of delegates to the Constitutional Convention 165, all
elective, and apportioning five to each senatorial district.
The convention assembled at Albany, May 9, 1894. Its labors
are unfinished at the time this volume goes to press.
Questions of reform in municipal government have claimed the
greatest attention.

----------NEW YORK: End----------

NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY.

See LIBRARIES, MODERN: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

----------NEW ZEALAND: Start--------

NEW ZEALAND:
The aborigines.