Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

History of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, NY
F. W. Beers & Co. 36 Vesey Street, 1878

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

CHAPTER XV.

THE ERIE CANAL AND CENTRAL RAILROAD-THE ANTI-MASONIC UPRISING-THE STATE ADMINISTRATION-NEW YORK IN THE CIVIL WAR.

The construction of the Erie and Champlain canals, which had been projected just at the breaking out of the war, had been virtually abandoned by the repeal of the act authorizing the commissioners to borrow funds for the prosecution of the work. But on the termination of the war the policy was revived, and the attention of the people was again called to this great undertaking. The difficulties of the enterprise however, were formidable. The late war had drawn heavily upon the State treasury. The preliminary measures for the construction of the canals had already been attended with considerable expense, and the people were loth to engage in an enterprise which they plainly foresaw would be so insatiable in its demands upon the public treasury. They were therefore slow to encourage additional legislation for its prosecution, but through the untiring energy and perseverance of De Witt Clinton, an act prepared by him was passed in April, 1817, authorizing the construction of the work. Governor Tompkins having been elected Vice-President of the United States, resigned his office as governor; and in April De Witt Clinton, the ardent and zealous advocate of the system of internal improvements, was elected to succeed him. On the 4th of July, 1817, the Erie canal was commenced at Rome, and in October, 1817, that portion of it between Utica and Rome was opened for navigation.

In 1821 an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing a convention to be called to revise the State Constitution. This convention met at Albany, and after a lengthy session, adopted a Constitution, which was subsequently ratified by the people, and under its provisions the State was governed for a quarter of a century. By the new Constitution the time of holding the State elections was changed from April to November, and the officers elected were to enter upon their official duties on the 1st of January. Joseph A. Yates was elected governor in 1822, and was succeeded, in 1824, by De Witt Clinton. The Erie canal having been completed, the first flotilla of canal boats left Buffalo for New York on the 26th of October, 1825. Intelligence of its departure was communicated to New York in one hour and twenty minutes by the discharge of cannon stationed at points within hearing distance of each other along the entire route. The occasion was celebrated with great rejoicing throughout the State.

The first State charter for the construction of a railroad was granted in 1826. The points to be connected were Albany and Schenectady, and the road was completed in 1831. Although the road was but rudely constructed, the advantages of this new mode of transportation were so obvious that railroads were soon after projected in various parts of the State.

During the year 1826, William Morgan, a printer in the village of Batavia, and a Royal Arch Mason, determined to publish a pamphlet purporting to contain a disclosure of the secrets of Masonry. His intention was discovered, and on the 11th of September Mr. Cheesebrough, Master of the Masonic Lodge at Canandaigua, procured a warrant for his arrest, on a charge of theft. Being discharged for want of proof, he was immediitely re-arrested for a small debt due another person, which Cheesebrough claimed had been assigned to him. Judgment was rendered against Morgan for the debt, an execution was issued, and he was committed to jail. At night he was clandestinely taken from the jail by supposed members of the fraternity, gagged, and conveyed to Canada, and from thence to Fort Niagara, where he remained confined until the 29th of September, at which time he mysteriously disappeared. It was the universal opinion that he was murdered by the masonic fraternity, and measures were taken to investigate the matter. No clew to his fate could be found, but it was believed, from the facts obtained, that there was a conspiracy among the members of the masonic order for the commission of some great crime. Committees appointed for investigating the matter found their efforts continually thwarted by persons supposed to be members of the fraternity. This aroused public sentiment against secret societies generally, and especially against Free Masons. A political party, styled "Anti-Masonic," was organized, whose avowed object was the exclusion of all supporters of Masonry from official trust. For several years it constituted a formidable political element in the western part of New York.

On the evening-of February 11th, 1828, Governor Clinton suddenly expired. This unexpected and sad event was deeply lamented throughout the community. Amid discouragements of every kind, and of a magnitude that would have filled ordinary men with dismay, he had persevered with unflagging energy, and accomplished measures which in succeeding years have proved eminently beneficial to the best interests of the State. On the death of Clinton, Nathaniel Pitcher, then Lieutenant-Governor, succeeded to the governorship for the remainder of the term, and in November Martin Van Buren was elected to succeed him. In March following, Van Buren was appointed to an office in President Jackson's Cabinet, and resigned the governorship, which devolved upon Enos T. Throop, who was elected to the office at the succeeding election in 1830.

In February, 1832, the State Agricultural Society was formed at a convention of its friends in Albany, but received no support from the State until it was reorganized in 1841, and measures were adopted for raising funds and holding annual fairs. In April, 1832, an act was passed chartering a company to construct the New York and Erie Railway, and four years later the Comptroller was directed to issue State stock to the amount of $3,000,000 to aid the enterprise. In November, 1832, William L. Marcy was elected to succeed Throop as Governor of the State. In 1833 a legislative act was passed, authorizing the construction of the Chenango Canal, connecting the Erie Canal at Utica with the Susquehanna river at Binghamton. In April, 1835, the Legislature passed an act by which the schools in the State were to be provided with libraries. Near the close of this year, a great conflagration occurred in New York city, consuming property to the amount of eighteen millions of dollars.

In 1837, an insurrection originating in popular discontent occurred in that portion of Canada bordering on the State of New York, and received the sympathies of some Americans, who unadvisedly became involved in an unauthorized invasion of the British possessions. In December, a party of well armed and equipped Americans, under Van Rensselaer, and accompanied by William Loyd Mackenzie, the leader of the insurrectionary movement, took possession of Navy Island, in the Niagara river, within Canadian territory. The Caroline, a small steamboat, was brought from Buffalo, and used as a ferryboat between the island and the American shore. During the night of December 29th, Colonel McNabb, with an armed force from Canada, crossed over to the boat, and while its occupants were asleep, loosened it from its moorings, set it on fire, and let it float down the river and over the Falls, by which operation several lives were lost. Mackenzie fled to this State, and the Governor of Canada made a demand upon Governor Marcy for his surrender, which was refused. A proclamation was issued, however, by Marcy, and one also by the President of the United States, forbidding American citizens to take any part in the insurrection, and General Scott was ordered to the frontier to enforce our neutrality laws. The excitement continued for some time, but the insurgents were finally subdued by the British and Canadian authorities.

In 1838 Wm. H. Seward was elected Governor of the State, and in 1842 was succeeded by William C. Bouck. After the death of the patrcon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, disturbances arose in Rensselear, Albany, and other counties, from the tenants refusing to fulfil the obligation of their leases, which in 1844 assumed serious aspects. The tenants organized and arrayed themselves in opposition to the enforcement of legal proceedings, and outrages were often committed upon executive officers in the discharge of their duties. Many of the tenants on the Van Rensselaer manor were seriously aggrieved by the demands of their landlords under the provisions of ancient leases, which for a long time had been suspended, and the revival and enforcement of which threatened to ruin them. Silas Wright was elected Governor in November, 1844, and on assuming the duties of chief magistrate in January following, called the attention of the Legislature to these anti-rent outrages, which continued to increase. Stringent laws were passed for the punishment of offenders ; but the excitement still prevailed, and lawless acts were committed by members of an organization of Anti-Renters, disguised as Indians. These occurred so frequently that it became necessary to order out the military to suppress the insurrection. In1846 the Legislature passed laws to abolish "distress for rent," and facilitate legal remedies by extending the time for a "re-entry" on lands for its non-payment, and during the ensuing year those who had participated in these outrages were pardoned by a proclamation.

Through the energy and genius of Professor Morse the magnetic telegraph was added to our list of public facilities for intercommunication, and as early as 1845 various lines were in process of construction through the country. A Constitutional convention having been called, met at Albany on the 1st of June, 1846, and continued in sessions upwards of four months. The amendments to the State Constitution, adopted by that body, were ratified by the people in November, and John Young was elected Governor of the State.

The annexation of Texas to the Union led to hostilities between Mexico and the United States, and on the 11th of May, 1846, Congress declared that, by the acts of the Mexicans, war existed between the two nations. The Americans were victorious in all important engagements with that nation, and the part taken by the troops from the State of New York was conspicuous, and highly creditable to their valor. Peace was concluded on the 2d of February, 1848. In November of the same year Hamilton Fish was elected Governor of New York.

By the census of 1850 it was found that the population of the State amounted to upwards of three millions, being an increase of two and a half millions in half a century. In November of this year Washington Hunt was elected to succeed Hamilton Fish as Governor of the State. He was a candidate for re-election in 1852, but was defeated by Horatio Seymour. In 1854 an amendment was made to the State Constitution requiring the appropriation of an annual sum during a term of four years for the enlargement of the Erie and the completion of other canals in the State. In November of the same year Myron H. Clark was elected Governor. In 1855 the State contained about three thousand miles of railroad, constructed at an aggregate cost of $125,000,000. In 1856 John A. King was elected Governor, and at the expiration of his term was succeeded in1858 by Edwin D. Morgan.

The recognition of slavery in the Territories belonging to the United States having been earnestly combatted for several years, the difficulty finally terminated in a gigantic civil war. On the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, in 1860, upon principles of avowed hostility to the extension of slavery, and the failure to effect a compromise by which slavery should be recognized or tolerated in any portion of the Territories, the Southern States resolved to secede from the Union, and organize a separate government. The capture, by the Confederates, of Fort Sumter, has been considered the first open act of the rebellion, and upon its occurrence, in April, 1861, active hostilities were begun, and before the close of the year one hundred and fifteen regiments had been put in the field by the State of New York. In July, 1863, during the execution of the draft ordered by an act of Congress for recruiting the Union army, a terrible riot occurred in the city of New York. The police were unable to check its progress, and for several days the city was convulsed and over whelmed with tumult, rapine, and murder. The outbreak was finally quelled by the interposition of the military, but not until a large amount of property had been destroyed, and a considerable number of lives lost. The war was prolonged until the spring of 1865, when it terminated with the complete success of the Union cause, and peace has since prevailed.

By the census of 1875 the State was found to contain 4,705,000 inhabitants. Within a period of two and a half centuries this immense population accumulated, and from the almost pathless wilderness, in the beginning trodden only by wild beasts and savages, it has, by industry and enterprise, removed the primeval forests, reared large and numerous cities, and constructed vast and magnificent public works, which conspicuously appear in all parts of what is justly termed the "Empire State." With the full enjoyment of peace, it continues to advance with accelerated and rapid strides, in harmonious accord with its proud and becoming motto, " Excelsior."

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