Message to the New York State Senate, 22 February 1798
Message to the New York State Senate
[Albany, 22d Feb. 1798]
Gentlemen,
I think it my duty to lay before you a petition1 and a number of affidavits,2 from which it appears, that in the town of Livingston, combinations of disorderly person have been formed to obstruct the course of justice and by force to exclude certain proprietors from the possession of lands which have been adjudged to them by the courts, and laws of the land; that the service of legal process is frequently and violently resisted, and that the sheriff and his deputies have in the discharge of their official duties been opposed, in a manner and to a degree very offensive to justice and subversive to good order.3
The first and obvious principles and objects of civil society, certainly demand that individual citizens be, without partiality, protected in the enjoyment of their property and other rights; and the honor and dignity of the State require that the authority of its laws be maintained, and the respect due it government preserved.
These circumstances and reflections induce me to recommend to your consideration, whether such extraordinary and daring combinations, do not call for more prompt and efficacious means of repressing them than our laws at present afford.4
John Jay
PtD, Poughkeepsie Journal, 6 Mar.; Commercial Advertiser (New York), 7 Mar.; New-York Gazette, 10 Mar. 1798; , 66; , 2: 411–12.
1. Petition of John Livingston on behalf of himself & the Infant Heirs of Robert Livingston Deceased—Henry Livingston and Henry W. Livingston to the New York State Senate, [Livingston, 17 Feb. 1798], ALS on microfilm, N: Correspondence and Legislative action files (Series A1818).
2. Affidavits of Jacob Gaul and David Ingersoll, both 13 Feb. 1798, LS, NNC (EJ: 09850 and EJ: 09848); Peter Loucks and John Melius, both 15 Feb. 1798, LS, NNC (EJ: 09854 and EJ: 09853); James Lester and Nicholas Kline, both 16 Feb. 1798, LS, NNC (EJ: 09851 and EJ: 09852); John L. Latham, 17 Feb. 1798, LS, NNC (EJ: 09849); John A. Baker and John Noyes, both 19 Feb. 1798, LS, NNC (EJ: 09847 and EJ: 09855).
3. The vast landholdings of Robert Livingston in the Hudson Valley were partitioned among four of his sons following his death in 1790. As explained by the above petition and affidavits, the section of the estate inherited by Henry Livingston was soon embroiled in conflict as tenants and local residents laid claim to the property. Throughout the first half of the 1790s, the tenants resisted largely in a peaceful manner by submitting petitions to the state legislature and by defending themselves in court against Livingston’s attempts to evict them from the land. Matters worsened in the spring of 1797 as the tenants engaged in acts of ritual violence—physical assault, arson, intimidation—against the Livingston family, surveyors, officers of the law, and those tenants and lessees who complied with landlords. The Livingstons therefore sought assistance from the state, sending JJ a petition along with affidavits detailing the actions taken against their estate. See the affidavits listed in note 2, above; Henry Livingston to JJ, [c. 25 Jan. 1800], ALS, NHi (EJ: 00648); , 218–22; , 129–35.
4. Upon learning of the disturbances at Livingston Manor, the state legislature issued a joint resolution in February authorizing JJ to mobilize the militia of Columbia County and surrounding areas to end the insurgency. Shortly thereafter, the governor complied and issued a proclamation ordering the militia to suppress any dissent and bring the protesters to judgement before a Court of Oyer and Terminer. Despite the efforts by New York authorities to restore law and order, it took some time before the insurgency finally fizzled out. Acts of resistance continued well into 1799, and Henry Livingston wrote again to the governor in early 1800 complaining of a tenant conspiracy against him and his family. , 68; , 164–65; Proclamation on the Livingston Land Riots, [1 Mar. 1798], below; Henry Livingston to JJ, [c. 25 Jan. 1800], ALS, NHi (EJ: 00648); JJ’s Address to the State Legislature, 28 Jan. 1800, ADS, PHi: Gratz (EJ: 01135), for full citation, see JJ to Thomas Mifflin, 6 Sept. 1796, above; , 222–23; , 135–36.