Proclamation regarding a Protest at the New York State Assembly, 11 March 1796
Proclamation regarding a Protest at the New York State Assembly
[New York, 11 March 1796]
A Proclamation
Whereas the Honorable the House of Assembly now in Session were pleased on the tenth day of this month to declare and resolve in the words following, to wit,
[“]Whereas the Deliberations of this House were interrupted by the tumultous Shouts and clamors of People within the Bar of the same on the ninth day of March instant.1 And Whereas an Attempt to controul the proceedings of the Representatives of this State by any particular Set of them is a Violation of all Order and would tend to the Destruction of a free and equal Government if the same were tolerated in as much as it would render the Great Body of the People of this State subject to the passions which might influence the Conduct of Individuals in a particular part of it.
And Whereas the People of this State have received an outrageous Insult thro’ the Medium of their Representatives from the aforesaid persons which insult ought out to remain unpunished—
Therefore resolved (if the Honorable the Senate concur herein) that his Excellency the Governor be requested to issue his Proclamation commanding all Magistrates and other Officers of this State to make every exertion for the apprehending of every person or persons guilty of the above Offence and take such other legal Steps as he may think necessary to bring all persons offending in the premises to condign punishment to the end that the Representatives of the People when deliberating for the public Good may not in future be exposed to interruption and insult—”2
And Whereas the Honorable the Senate did on the same day concur in the said Resolution—3 Now therefore in pursuance thereof I do hereby command All Magistrates and other Officers of this State, and particularly in the City of New York, to make every exertion for the apprehending of any person or persons guilty of the abovementioned Offence, and to give immediate Notice thereof to the Attorney General of the State, to the end that proper Measures may thereupon be taken and pursued for bringing the said Offenders to condign punishment; it being of the utmost importance to the preservation and enjoyment of national Liberty and Good Government that the Representatives of the People when deliberating for the public Good should never be interrupted or insulted with Impunity—
Given under my Hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Government House in the City of New York on the eleventh day of March in the Year of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and ninety six, And in the twentieth Year of the Independence of the United States—
(signed) John Jay
By His Excellency’s Command John H. Remsen Private Secy
LbkC, N, Governor’s Lbk. 2 (EJ: 03220); PtD, American Minerva (New York), 12 Mar.; Argus, Greenleaf’s New Daily Advertiser (New York), 14 Mar.; Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia), 16 Mar. 1796.
1. The fracas that disrupted the meeting of the New York State Assembly in March 1796 stemmed from a series of events that began four months earlier with a dispute between Gabriel Furman, a merchant and alderman of New York City, and member of the Health Committee, and Thomas Burk and Timothy Crady, two recent Irish immigrants who worked on a ferry operating between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Although Burk and Crady were subsequently convicted in the Court of General Sessions and sentenced to two months imprisonment, with an additional twenty-five lashes for Crady, they managed an escape from jail and fled to neighboring Pennsylvania. William Keteltas (Kettletas) (1765–1812), a Republican lawyer who had moved from Poughkeepsie to New York City, viewed the proceedings against the pair as a miscarriage of justice and petitioned the state assembly to impeach Mayor Richard Varick and the other magistrates who had tried the case. When his petition was dismissed in mid-February 1796, Keteltas responded by penning editorials that accused lawmakers of unfairly shielding Varick and his Federalist colleagues while persecuting him for daring to defy their authority. Federalists in the legislature sought to sanction Keteltas, ordering him to appear before the Assembly to answer charges of slander. On the appointed day, a large crowd of supporters accompanied Keteltas to the assembly chamber and disrupted the proceedings, leading JJ to issue the above proclamation. This would not be the last time that Keteltas would be embroiled in controversy. During the gubernatorial election of 1798, he campaigned on behalf of Livingston in Dutchess County and was set upon and assaulted by political rivals. For an overview of these events, see , 476–85, and the editorial note “John Jay and the Response to the XYZ Affair in New York,” below. A Republican editor reported that upon learning of the disturbance involving Keteltas before the state assembly, the governor made his way on foot to the legislature dressed in his militia uniform and armed with a sword. Argus, Greenleaf’s New Daily Advertiser, 10 Mar.; Greenleaf’s New York Journal, 11 Mar. 1796. See also the diary entry of 9 Mar. by Alexander Anderson, a medical student at King’s College and physician at Bellvue. Diarium commentarium vitae Alex. Anderson ann. 1793–[99], vol. 2, NNC.
2. , 125.
3. , 66–67.