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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J., HISTORICAL CLUB. PUBLICATIONS, I.

18 DECEMBER 1787
ADOPTION
OF THE
Constitution of the United States

NEW JERSEY

COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES

NEW BRUNSWICK HISTORICAL CLUB

KIRKPATRICK CHAPEL RUTGERS COLLEGE

Friday Evening 16 December 1887

WITH AN APPENDIX.

The New Beunswick Histokical Club, (organized in
1870) following the recommendation of the New Jersey State
Historical Society, that the action of the State in ratifying
the Constitution of the United States on the 18th of Decem
ber, 1787, be duly commemorated in the various Counties
of New Jersey in December, 1887, held commemorative
exercises on the evening of Friday, the 16th, in Kirkpatrick
Chapel of Eutgers College. The order of the exercises was
as follows :
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, \ W. P. Voouhees, Esq.,
Washington's makch, ( okgan.
THE DEATH OF WAHKEN, (" Mu. W. C. SaMPSON,
MAECH AT THE BATTLE OF TEENTON. ) ODKNET.

INVOCATION, Key. W. H. Campbell, D.D., LL.D.

HAIL COLUMBIA, I ¦,> n n n ^
THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL, [ KtJTGEKS College Glee Club,
ADDRESS, Pkof. D. D. Demakest, D.D.,
PRESIDENT OF THE HISTOBIOAE CLUB.

ADDRESS, Rev. S. M. Hamill, D.D.,
PIlESIDENT OF THE STATE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER, Glee Club.
ADDRESS, Pkof. Austin Scott, Ph. D.
THE SHAKE OP NEW JERSEY IN FOUNDING THE AMEKICAN CONSTITUTION.

NEW JERSEY :-A Cbntennial Hy.vin,
By Mes. M. E. Gates.

BENEDICTION, E^,.. g. B. Joyce.

DR. DEMI^REST'S ADDRESS.

Ladies and Gentlemen : — It is my pleasant duty, in be
half of the New Brunswick Historical Club, to welcome
you to the entertainment provided for you this evening.
On the 18th of December one hundred years will have pass
ed since the State of New Jersey formally approved and
ratified the Constitution of the United States, which was
submitted to, and in due time adopted by all the thirteen
States. New Jersey was the third State in the order of
time to ratify it. Her ratification was made promptly,
unanimously and enthusiastically by her Convention, and as
Jerseymen we are proud of the -record of our State. It
could not be said in those days that New Jersey was out of
the Union, for she march,ed in promptly and took her seat,
while some of her sisters who have since put on grand airs
continued for a considerable time to stand sulking outside.
The Historical Society of the State of New Jersey, being
impressed with the propriety of commemorating this event,
has recommended the local societies in various parts of the
State to commemorate it by suitable public proceedings.
In accordance with that recommendation, and moved also by
our sense of the importance of bringing before the people of
this generation an account of the origin of, and of the men
connected with, what may be called the great event in the
history of our country, the adoption of the Federal Consti
tution, we have provided these commemorative exercises.
We have selected the 16th of December, inasmuch as the
18th will fall on the Lord's day.
The adoption of the Federal Constitution by the thir
teen original States made us a nation instead of a confed
eracy of sovereign and independent States loosely held

together by articles which any one of the contracting
parties may at any moment repudiate, an association from
which any member may withdraw whenever apparent self-
interest shall call for separation, but a consolidated nation
composed of States, who, reserving certain rights, yet have
by this Constitution been brought into a more perfect
union, in which common interests are recogaized and
sectional interests are denied the supremacy.
The history of our country for one hundred years is a
history of wonderful advancement in every element of
Christian civilization. Those of us who can look back over
even half of that period, have witnessed marvels which
we would deem incredible if we had not the testimony of
our own eyes. Time does not permit me, nor is it my prov
ince to-uight, to paint the picture of the procession of the
years of American progress and prosperity under this
marvelous product of patriotic statesmanship.
This Constitution has at various periods been subjected
to the severest strains, the last and chief one being a civil
war of magnitude unparalleled in the history of nations.
How well do many of us remember the dreadful days of
anxiety, and the sacrifices of treasure, affection and life !
But our Union was saved, and our Constitution maintained
in its integrity, and we and our children dwell under its be
nign, protecting shade. The preservation of it was well
worth all the cost of treasure, affection and life. More
over, in the formation and preservation of our glorious
Constitution we cannot fail to see the hand of Him who. from
His lofty throne looks down upon and directs the affairs of
men, and shapes the destinies of nations. Therefore, with
our tributes to the memory of the fathers who did for us a
work so grand, we to-night mingle our thanksgivings to God,
and sing our praises to the Most High.
We feel a deep interest in whatever belongs to the
history of our State and country, although our special field
is New Brunswick and Middlesex and adjoining counties.
For seventeen years, with some intermission, has the work of
our club been carried on to the great interest of the mem
bers, and we hope to the profit of the community. We aim

to preserve the records of the past, to gather letters,
documents and traditions, to trace the changes in
domestic, social and political life, to save as much as
possible from perishing, the history of the beginnings of
our institutions, civil, municipal, mercantile, literary and
ecclesiastical, to raise up, as it were, to bring before us the
men who were prominent in the early history of this city
and its vicinity, the clergymen, professors, lawyers,
judges, physicians, merchants, military men, and also
devout and patriotic women, mothers of heroes
who abode by the stuff while husbands and sons
fought the battles of their country, and kaew how
to manage the red-coats who at times were quartered in
their houses. Every year of work in this field has been
marked by new and surprising discoveries of its richness.
The pioneers in the settlements of Middlesex County were
men who are worthy to be held in remembrance for their
civic and social virtues, their zeal for liberty, and their reli
gious devotion. Here the fires of patriotism burned most
brightly. The Declaration of Independence was read to joy
ous crowds in the streets of New Brunswick as soon as it was
brought hither after its adoption by Congress in Philadel
phia. Within the ancient bounds of Middlesex County
were fought the battles of Monmouth and Princeton, and of
the delegates to the Convention which unanimously adopt
ed the Federal Constitution, none were more ready with
their votes than the men who represented the County of
Middlesex. If we are pfoud of New Jersey because she
was among the first to accept the Constitution, and to do it
unanimously and heartily, we are no less proud of Middle
sex County and New Brunswick for their share in this
grand work, and for the steadfast loyalty to their inhabitants
from the beginning to the end of " the times that tried
men's souls."

DR. HSMILL'S ;\DDRESS.

Ladies and Gentlemen- and Members of the New
Brunswick Histoeigal Club : — I accepted with pleasure
the invitation, so kindly extended to me, to be present with
you this evening and on this anniversary occasion.
I am glad to find such recognition and appreciation of
the blessings that have come to us, increasing each year for
a century, from that remarkable instrument, the constitution
of the United States, and the important part New Jersey
had, by her prompt action and early example, in pro
moting its adoption by the rest of the States.
This document, conceived in wisdom, well adjusted in
its distribution of powers, broad, minute, and comprehen
sive, is to-day as well adapted, in its application, to • the
wants of the people, whose it is and whoso rights it pro
tects, as it was one hundred years ago. A century has
tested its merits and is ready to pronounce it good.
I am glad, too, to be here as a representative of the
New Jersey Historical Society, an association of gentlemen
organized more than forty years ago, which has been dili
gently engaged in gathering material both at home and
abroad, connected with the history of our State, and which
has by its published proceedings and the many able papers
which have been read before it, as well as by the publica
tion (with the authority of the State) of the " Archives of
New Jersey," done much to develop and to pre
serve in a permanent form the History of New Jer
sey, a State than which no other can be as appropriately
called the Battle Ground of the Kevolution. Every acre
of her soil through this great central belt, from the Dela
ware to the Hudson, is sacred to the cause of Freed

The New Jersey State Historical Society has its rooms
on Broad street, Newark, filled with valuable collections
relating to the History of the State. They greatly need,
and we hope will soon obtain, a fire-proof building for their
better preservation. If destroyed by fire most of them can
never be renewed. My theme is history. How expres
sive the word! While it is made up of only seven
Eoman letters, it stretches through a period of nine
teen centuries and reaches from the Euphrates to the
Earitan Eastward and Westward. How to bring a theme
of such scope within the narrow compass of time allowed
is a problem difficult to solve. But as I am nicely sand-
witched between two honored Professors, both of whom
are instinct with historic life, I am consoled by the thought
that any lack on my part will be more than made up by
them. Every letter of the word history is suggestive. It
introduces us to the man Hancock, whose name written
with bold and fearless hand heads the list of immortal
names affixed to the Declaration of Independence. The
second letter, I, suggests Independence itself secured for us
by the sacrifice and blood and treasure of our patriot fath
ers. The central letter, T, gives us the word Territory,
that grand inheritance stretching from ocean to ocean and
from the Lakes to the Gulf, the choicest portion of the
Western Hemisphere. E gives us Eevolution and Y
Yorktown, words most significant to every true American.
The American Eevolution was the grandest struggle
for the right and for civil and religious liberty that the
world has ever known, while Yorktown calls to mind
where that struggle terminated, the rod of the oppressor
was broken and the British commander gave up his sword,
and Liberty, again proclaimed throughout the land, lifted
high its banner that the nations might behold and admire
and imitate. The influence of that surrender and that day
has been felt by every government on the face of the earth.
History is simply a record of facts ; men make History,
and History records the doings of man. 'Tis true that
rocks and rills and rivers, lakes and seas, mountains and
valleys, town and country, surging ocean and bursting

volcanoes, grand canons and lofty snow-capped peaks, the
wild beasts of the forest, the fowls of the air and fish of the
sea, with all their thrilling incidents, silent though they be,
have their part in making up the grand aggregate of History.
Yet it is man, active, thinking, reflective and intelligent^
that makes History and gives it tone and vitality and char
acter. He finds the raw material and furnishes the warp
and woof and weaves the web of history. Sometimes it
maybe with axe and pick and shovel, or plow and sickle
and reaper, or by ships that sweep the sea or trains that
rush over the land with lightning speed, by inventive
genius or mighty intellect, by bayonet, sword or musketry,
and all the dreadful enginery of war, by laying hold of the
electric current and with giant hand bringing it under con
trol, and making it tributary to the purposes and enterprises
of men, illuminating the great centres of trades and sending
its brilliant rays along the pathway of commerce and making
near neighbors of men separated by half the circuit of the
globe. By the peaceful pen man makes his record of what
man has done and sends it down through the rapidly flying
course of time from century to century and from generation
to generation, to make its impression on those who follow.
From what a man has done successive generations learn
what man should do, and what he should leave undone.
The centuries past come down to us as great teachers.
They spread out their massive tomes for our inspection and
benefit, with lessons of wisdom on every page. They abound
with valuable instruction. We do well to study and to
study thoroughly the lessons they give us.
History teaches by example. The historian masses his
facts, and sometimes to our amazement hurls them into our
midst with overwhelming force. Deeds of the past plunging
into the present come down upon us like an avalanche,
covering all that lies beneath it, or like a tornado tearing up
root and branch all that lies before it, or like a huge train
on a down grade smashing to fury what stands in its way
thus breaking up theories and speculations and fanciful

9
schemes and changing entirely the current of human thought
and action.
Men are profoundly interested in history. They feel an
honest pride in their own and in that of their ancestors, es
pecially if it be of the right sort. Where is the individual
to-day that does not feel his bosom swell with deep emotion
if he recognizes the fact that his honored ancestor of four
generations back was in the battles of Trenton or Prince
ton or Monmouth, and helped to roll back the tide of
oppression and struck a manly blow for freedom in free
dom's holy land ? Who does not feel grateful to call up
the story of the sufferings endured at that eventful period
when valiant young men marched with Washington amid
the cold and snows of the wintry period of December and
January of '76 and '77, to have a nation newly born and
hand down to posterity the blessings of civil and religious
liberty enjoyed this day by sixty millions of people. Let
the hand be withered that would dare to strike a blow
at our Nation's life. Let the man sink forever who would
introduce anarchy and confusion and ruin where peace
and harmony and order and good government prevail ; and
where every man is himself an important factor in the
sovereign power that rules the land and in the great
account of our national existence.
From history we should learn to cultivate patriotic sent
iment. Let love of country predominate. Let patriotic
streams flow down over mountain, hill and valley. Let the
tide roll up from ocean, sea and river, irrigating the land,
' softening the atmosphere and making the very air we breathe
redolent with health and life and vigor. Let all unholy in
fluences that would curse or destroy or mar our grand inher
itance be banished hence, and all rejoice that this is our own,
our native land. Let the beautiful words of Montgomery be
ours : '¦ Here is a land of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside ;
Here is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest-
That land is my country,
Aad that spot is my hom^."

DR, AUSTIN SCOTT'S SDDRESS.

the SHARE OP NEW JERSEY IN FOUNDING THE AMERICAN CON
STITUTION.
The greatness of the act of founding the American Con
stitution lay in its comprehensiveness. Not alone because
it gathered the fruits of a remote past and nearer experience
and preserved for indeterminate time the seeds of the
development of the continent as a whole, but, as well,
because it stored up for the life of each individual, dignity,
if he would receive it, and fullness of meaning, whatever
the sphere of his action and however few his years.
Because we, a few men of this locality, stand ii^ such
relations to the widest nationalism we have the right and
wish to celebrate to-night the part our State and county
bore in establishing the organic law of the land. It is like
wise proper to celebrate in New Brunswick the event of
the 18th of December, 1787, for the relations of Jerseymen
to this new nationalism may be said to have begun here.
On the 23d of July, 1774, the County Committees' of the
State, chosen spontaneously by the people, being convened '
in this city for the purpose, and for that alone, chose dele
gates to represent the colony in the First Continental
Congress. When Gladstone, eight or ten years ago, called the
American Constitution a " poiesis "—a thing made— and
" the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time
by the brain and purpose of man," his tribute was not
exact if he meant to exclude from the genesis of our Con
stitution the processes of growth. It was generated in the
changes in the British Constitution. Its individual life

11
began with the beginning of colonial life. There was a
process in the immediate work of giving form and relation
to its principles and its acceptance involved a struggle.
No consideration of any important part in the great
movement, such, for example, as the ratification by any
single State, can be adequate or discriminating which does
not take account of a connected series of events, longer or
shorter — enough at least to show the real, dominant spirit
to be development and continuity, that the single event is
a part and not a whole in any sense, that it is at once a
result and a cause.
For the first time in the history of the world the
creative principle of the Constitution of the United States
gave simultaneous and due expression to the two forces
coeval with all government — Nationalism, the concentration
of power, and Localism, the self-seclusion of a community
for the purposes of government. These two forces are
antagonistic in method, but harmony is begun when the
highest welfare of each is made the source of life of the
other. The value of any event in our history is best seen
when examined in its relations to the developing union and
constant adjustment of these two elements.
New Jersey has well illustrated their alternating in
fluence and has under both maintained her individuality.
It must have been when wit was off duty that the jest was
first uttered, " New Jersey is out of the Union," for the
point of it seems to lie in the want of application. The
lover of truth who studies American political development,
when he meets this State, finds himself face to face with
that indefinable something which in a man, whatever his
size, we call presence. This is true in the early colonial
times, but the impressiveness of her action grows as the
years of the formation of " the more perfect Union" draw
on. A rapid glance at some of the events of those success
ive years will reveal the fact, and her consciousness of it,
that the act of December, 1787, was done in the presence of
the two historic forces which are as old as government
by man and which have by turns made and destroyed the
strongest empires. In tracing the conduct of New Jersey

12
in the gradual adjustment of these primary elements through
the formative years of the Constitution, the limits assigned
to this address confine our review to one or two lines of
direction. In November, 1777, ten years before the event whose
anniversary we celebrate, the articles of Confederation
were proposed to the States for their final and united
government. When they were framing. New Jersey had
proposed to give to Congress power over foreign trade.
Granted that she enforced the necessity of such general
authority because her own needs were great. For lack of
it she had always been harrassed by her neighbors. Yet
the principle was of universal importance, and it must not
be forgotten that this very principle of commercial control
through the meeting at Annapolis in 1786 led the way
directly to the Convention at Philadelphia the next year
which gave us the Constitution. For a year New Jersey would
not accept the articles of Confederation for reasons which
do her credit. Her legislature demanded that delegates to
Congress should take an oath of allegiance directl}' to the
United States for which no provision had been made ;
just as William had made his conquest of England secure'
by requiring an oath of fealty from all to himself as
the central authority. " The United States," say the
Jerseymen, " collectively considered have interests as well
as each particular State." Furthermore, they maintain
that the whole Union should own the ungranted lands of
the West, and again they demand for Congress the sole and
exclusive power of regulating trade with foreign nations.
The revenues thus arising, thsy say, should build a navy
and should be given to such other public and general
purposes as to the Congress shall seem proper and for the
common benefit of the States. By this means a great
security will be derived to the Union. But her demands
were, for the time being, unavailing. " After unassisted
efforts," says the historian of America, " after unassisted
efforts for a more efficient union," the State, on the 2.5th of
November, 1778, for the sake of harmony and hopin^ there-

13
by in the end to promote the cause she had at heart, ratified
the Confederacy without amendment.
As to her zeal in those days in the common cause of
Independence the story of her share in the war is familiar.
We know that she was among the first in the number of
troops furnished. We know the story of Trenton and
Princeton and Monmouth, and that New Jersey was, as the
legislature called it in an address to Washington, when Presi
dent, "the central theatre of the war." But the distinct
service she rendered at a critical period should never be
forgotten. The words which recite it are those of the same
dispassionate authority and cannot be repeated too often in
the hearing of the children of New Jersey. " In the cold
est winter of the century," ho says, ''the snow lying two
feet deep long before their log huts could be built, the
American army must have disbanded, but that such was the
honor of the magistrates of New Jersey where the troops
were cantoned ; such the good disposition of its people, that
the requisitions made by Washington on its several
counties were punctually complied with and in many
counties exceeded." This was in the fifth year of the war.
In the year 1780 three events claim our attention. The
first took place not many miles from this spot. The
Supreme Court of New Jersey was in session at Hills
borough ia S3ptember of that year when Chief Justice
Brearley in the decision of a case before the Court
announced the opinion of himself and his associate jus
tices that the judiciary has the right to pronounce upon the
constitutionality of laws. This was the first in the series of
decisions which 'finally established that " security to the
justice of a State against its power," which belongs to our
system alone. That supreme function of final arbitration
between the two forces, between the general government and
the States, began its life in our State. This decision of Brear
ley had an influence we know, for it was five years later
made a lever to move the legislature of Pennsylvania, and
Brearley must have carried with him the new principle
of constitutional government into the Federal convention
of which he became a member.

14
The second event of 1780 was the Eemonstrauce sent
by New Jersey to Congress protesting against the action of
Virginia in opening an office for the sale of crown lands
which by the war New Jersey asserted had become vested
in Congress for the use of the Federal Republic. So far as
I know, this is the first time that phrase was applied to our
early union. The remonstrance concludes by expressing
the hope " that the Eepublic will be secured against
detriment and the rights of every State in the Union
strictly maintained." Whiat better expression of the true
federative principle Avill you find prior to the formation
of the Constitution? An indissoluble union maintaining
the rights of every State. When the men of New Jersey
prepared this remonstrance they must have been imbued
with the spirit of Plato when he constructed the ideal
Eepublic. There are two forces which he also retains
in the State when he has cast out what is false and discord
ant. " Of the harmonies," he says, " I know nothing, but
I want to have one warlike, which will sound the word
or note which a brave man utters in the hour of danger and
stern resolve, or when his cause is failing and he is going to
wounds or death, or is overtaken by some other evil, and at
every such crisis meets fortune with calmness and endurance ;
and another which may be used by him in times of peace
and freedom of action, when there is no pressure of
necessity, expressive of treaty or persuasion, of prayer to
God, or instruction of man ; or again, of willingness to
listen to persuasion, or entreaty and advice and which
represents him when he has accomplished his aim, not
carried away by success, but acting moderately and wisely,
and acquiescing in the event. These two harmonies I ask
you to leave, the strain of necessity and the strain of
freedom, the strain of the unfortunate and the strain of the
fortunate, the strain of courage and the strain of temper
ance. These, I say, leave."
It was in 1780 also that a convention of the New
England States and New York expressed the wish that
Congress might have more power and recommended in a
report to Congress that the general government receive

15
authority to lay taxes or secure certain revenue from duties.
Congress recognized the fact that this was the way New
Jersey had pointed out, by referring the report to a com
mittee of which Witherspoon, of New Jersey, was chair
man. But Congress went no further at the time. Not,
however, because Witherspoon failed the good cause.
Acting independently and gathering hope from this ex
pression in favor of supplying the needs of the Union,
Witherspoon, feeling himself supported by his State, revived
one of the amendments to the Confederacy proposed by
New Jersey two years before, and moved to vest in
the United States the power of regulating commerce
according to the common interest. Historians recognized
the motion as a " memorable step towards union," and in
the publication authorized by Congress fifty years later,
designed as a complete record of the steps to Union, it is
printed as the first of the " proceedings which led to the
Constitution." But in the Congress of that time it failed
of complete success, and the members were content to ask
from the States the power to levy a duty of five per centum
on foreign imports. This New Jersey took the earliest
opportunity to grant, and so did many of the States, but
not all, and the particular measure of strengthening the
Union fell to the ground. But the idea was not lost, and
when at the close of the war the army was to be paid and
foreign creditors satisfied. Congress again asked for power
to raise a revenue from duties. Some of the States made
the grant with alacrity. New Jersey among the first, but
some neglected it. The pressure of the war was gone.
The looseness of the Confederation invited to a wayward
conduct, but all at last agreed to the reform save New York,
which taking advantage of her commanding position for
commerce, established her own custom house, and by her
duties laid a tax upon her nearest neighbors.
The burden fell heavy on New Jersey, but even more
than the weight of it, she felt its injustice. Eepeatedly she
complained of the " unsisterly oppression," and she strove
to throw off the burden by making Perth Amboy and Bur
lington free ports. But-New York was too strong. Finally,

16
in 1786, the legislature of New Jersey deliberately, and by
a large majority refused to pay a dollar of the last
requisition of Congress for funds until all the States should
accept the proposed impost for the benefit of the common
treasury. The act deserves careful attention. It startled the
Union. Congress were alarmed, so a member wrote ; New
Jersey had declared Independence, he said, and a commit
tee were dispatched to Trenton to remonstrate with New
Jersey, and request a repeal of the act. Of this committee
the three delegates represented each a State which was
a formative centre of political influence. Charles Pickney
of South Carolina, Grayson of Virginia, and Gorham of
Massachusetts. On the 13th of March, 1786, Pickney held
before the legislature the evils that would result if New
Jersey persisted, and begged her if she felt oppressed
under the Confederation to instruct her delegates in Con
gress to call a convention to increase the power of the fed
eral government. But New Jersey was tired of asking
Congress for the reform. Yet, she was delighted with the
hope of a convention, and rescinding her vote of refusal,
though not granting the funds until she should see what the
promise of better laws for commerce would prove, she
accepted at once an invitation which had gone forth from
Virginia to meet the other States at Annapolis to devise
uniform regulations of commerce. The Act of 1786 of
refusal to obey the summons of Congress, at any rate shows
fearlessness and an independent spirit. It is that and not
mere petulance that sways her. Her expressed purpose is
to strengthen the Union, and she offers a legal justification
for her conduct in averring that Congress had made a
breach in the articles of Confederation by the manner
in which the appointment was made, which was true. It is
most of all the heavy burden of an unequal commerce
which afflicts her, and the proposed convention at Annapo
lis is a solace and gives her hope of relief. But is she con
tent with its object ? By no means. Eising from the
consideration of her own special needs, she, in the language
of Wordsworth, " turns her necessity to glorious o-aiu "

17
and instructs her deputies to that convention, " to con
sider how far a uniform system in commerce and other
important matters may be necessary to the common interest
and permanent harmony of the several States."
New Jersey, and New Jersey alone, had from the first,
and constantly, demanded for the central government a
grant of power over commerce, the necessity for which had
finally led the States to the door of the reforming conven
tion, and she, and she alone, now when events were to prove
that the time was ripe, through the credentials of her
delegates, points the way to the most complete nationality.
Madison, rightly named the father of the Constitution, says,
that in the interval between the call to this commercial
convention and its meeting, public opinion advanced. " Nor
had it been unnoticed," he says in his mild way, " that the
commissioners of the New Jersey delegation had extended
the object of the convention to a general provision for the
exigencies of the Union." For six months, from March to
September, from seed-time to harvest-time, the rallying-call
of New Jersey, " other important matters" was heard by the
people of the United States. Its very vagueness gave
it meaning ; it opened up an endless vista of nationalism.
From five of the States, the Middle States and Virginia,
commissioners, among them James Schureman of New
Brunswick, met in Annapolis on the 11th of September,
and did not touch the subject of commerce. They caught
at the suggestion of Now Jersey and made it the burden of
their report. " Your Commissioners," they say, " submit
an opinion, that the idea of extending the powers of their.
deputies to other objects than those of commerce, whiclr
has been adopted by the State of New Jersey, was an
improvement on the original plan, and will deserve to be
incorporated into that of a future convention." And they
propose for the following May, the meeting in Philadelphia,
to provide such further provisions as shall appear neces
sary to render the Federal Government adequate to the
exigencies of the Union. It was Alexander Hamilton who
drafted this report ; Hamilton, the herald and champion of
the stronger Union, who thus inscribed the watch-word of

18
New Jersey on the banner of the further progress of the
United States. Say what you will, render credit to whom
you will or to what State you will in all this movement, that
day when the States caught step on their final march to the
Constitution, New Jersey whistled the tune. In the last and
best history of the Constitution, in its more than a thousand
pages, only a single phrase, and that in three words, is printed
wholly in capital letters. It is OTHEE IMPOETANT
MATTEES. All. honor to that unknown Jerseyman who
proposed it in the legislature of his State ! Many a thought
complete in its form of symmetrical prose or harmonious
verse will perish, but that phrase with its fulness of mean
ing will never fade from our history. New Jersey felt its
value and cherished it, for she thrice repeats it in the
appointment of her deputies to the constituent Convention
in Philadelphia. While thus suggesting the freest scope for Nationalism,
the leaders of her national purpose did not neglect to point
out a definite direction for reform.
One of them reveals the ripe thought of the State
in a noteworthy communication to the Nero Brunswick
Gazette printed shortly after the close of the Annapolis
Convention. His appeal "to the people of the United
States " is remarkable for its clear analysis of the defects
"iu the administration of justice and power," and because
of its suggestions for reform. The defects of the Confed
eration he enumerates as follows : First, The deficiency of
coercive power. Second, a defect of exclusive power to
issue paper money and regulate commerce. Third, iu
vesting the foreign power of the United States in a single
legislature. Fourth, in the too frequent rotation of its
members. He suggests that the coming Federal Convention
recommend to each State the surrender to Congress of their
power to emit money. "In this way a uniform currency
will be produced that will facilitate trade, and help greatly
to bind the States together." There follows a hint of what
may be taken as a germ of our National Bank System. He
would divide Congress, the supreme Federal power into
two distinct independent branches. He proposes a President

19
one of whose powers shall be the appointment of officers
of the United States. In previous proposals for increasing
the powers of Congress the necessity of a division into two
independent branches with a separation of the executive
power- had not been insisted on. Our Jersey author main
tains that this is necessary when Congress shall be "invest
ed with more ample powers of levying and expending public
money." He next carefully defines the proper idea of
sovereignty, shows how its powers may be delegated by
the people, and denying sovereignty to each State says
that Congress are the only sovereign power in the United
States. He enforces the necessity in a republican govern
ment of the widest schemes of education and proposes even
instead of a Capital for the Union that Congress found a
"Federal University" so comprehensive as to embrace
what has been realized in the academies at West Point and
Annapolis, together with a department of " Economy "
supplied with able professors. In the details of this plan
he anticipates modern methods of instruction and assumes
that politico-economic legislation should be based upon
facts scientifically gathered and arranged. Thus his school
of political science is of the largest scope and highest
practical purposes. He advises that the honors and offices
of the United States, that is, the places in its civil service,
shall be confined to those who " repair to this seminary
after completing their academical studies in the colleges of
their respective states." Perhaps the most remarkable
prophecy of the address is connected with the subject of the
Post Office. Besides suggesting that all newspapers be
Conveyed free of charge, he says that " every state, city,
county, village and township in the Union should be tied to
gether by means of the Post Office." This he says "is the
true electric wire of government, the only means of convey
ing heat and light to every individual in the Federal
Commonwealth." Giving the assurance that the "United
States are traveling peaceably into order and good govern
ment, with nO strife but what arises from the collision of
opinions, he calls upon all, since " every man in a republic
is public property," upon the patriots of the early years of

20
the revolution, the heroes of its later years, upon the spec
ulative philosophers and friends to mankind, upon the lov
ers of peace and order who declined taking part in the
war, whose timidity he assures them their country has
forgiven, to lend their aid in completing the revolution
begun by the war for independence, by establishing and
perfecting our new forms of government.
This address, coming from the middlemost place in the
State, was reprinted in Trenton, the meeting place of the
legislaturjO, and may be held to express the wish of the
State at that time. Such a paper, surpassed by none of that
immediate time, could not fail to have a wide influence.
Its views are far reaching and many are yet to be realized.
The call to the Federal Convention sent from
Annapolis in September was accepted by three States
before the end of the year 1786 — Virginia, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania. The times of the -meeting of the
various legislatures for the most part determined the
time of action on the proposal, so that it was in part by
a happy coincidence that the consent of these three States,
whose aetion was especially significant came first. Those who-
have told the story of the Constitution have uniformly given
credit to Virginia for taking the lead in the line of march
to Philadelphia, and so in a sense she did. Her House of
Delegates, the lower branch of the legislature, on the 9th
of November accepted the proposal, but there for a fort
night the matter rested. Only on the 23d of November the
Senate agreed, and it was eleven days later, on the 4th of
December, when her deputies were appointed by the joint
vote of both houses. Meantime in November New Jer-'
sey completed, without a voice of dissent, her acceptance of
the call and the appointment of her delegates in one act ;
so that the State first ready for the great duty was New Jersey.
Brearly and Houston, Paterson and John Neilson, of New
Brunswick, whom she trusted with her share of the task,
were named before Virginia sent forth Washington, Madi
son, Mason and the rest to do the like for her and for the
nation. Virginia and New Jersey of right took the lead,
the one as the largest State and the home of Washington'

21
New Jersey as the representative of the small States, and in
the Convention to become the champion of State equality and
because her word had provoked the higher call. It was a
good omen that Pennsylvania soon, on the last secular day
of the year, joined her voice to theirs. She keyed North
and South, had been the old meeting place of Congress
from which the Declaration of Independence had gone forth,
and it was at her Capital, then the metropolis of the Union,
that the work was to be done. The other States, save
Ehode Island, followed in succession, some before, some
after the Congress of the time endorsed the call on the 21st
of February, 1787. In an instruction given to her delegates
in the old Congress, vot>ed the day when the State appoint
ed the deputies to the Convention, the legislature of New
Jersey resolves that the " welfare of the Union is the object
nearest our heart." .; Such words have now become of a
second nature, but then they were of original force.
The delegate first named was David Brearly, then Chief
Justice of the State, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the
patriot army, an . upright judge who would, as we
have seen, carry sound constitutional principles into the
Convention. Another- deputy was William Paterson, at
that time Attorney-General of the State, a man to be
reverenced whether our thought represents him in the
streets of New Brunswick, where in his youth he had
his home (Paterson street bears his name,) or in the
gown with its old-time scarlet facings of a Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, an office to which he
was called by Washington and in -which he died. William
Churchill Houston was the third delegate. A native of North
Carolina-, he early came to New Jersey and gave her the val
uable services of an indefatigable life. Trained in Princeton,
made by her a professor of mathematics and physics, he
nevertheless turned to the profession of the law. As
clerk of the Supreme Court he was most careful and
industrious. In searching a year ago among old papers
of the court in a musty vault, I found great masses of his
work, and all as fine as though done by an. engraver. He
was of scrupulous integrity, never taking a case unless

22
assured that it was just. He had had experience in
legislation, both in Congress and in the States, and had
been one of the delegates to Annapolis. John Neilson
declined the appointment : of him a word later. His place
was filled by the appointment of Abraham Clarke of
Elizabeth, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but
he was too ill to go to Philadelphia. The State subsequent
ly chose the excellent patriot, William Livingston, graduate
of Yale, war governor and. statesman, and lastly Jonathan
Dayton, the youngest member of the Convention — -then but
twenty-six, but cultivated and experienced beyond his years.
He was, later. Speaker of the House of Eepresentatives and
afterwards Senator from New Jersey. The Convention was
to have met on the 14th of May, but various causes hindered,
audit was not until the 2.5th of May that a complete delegation
from the seventh State making a majority of the thirteen and
a quorum were present. That State was New Jersey. The
delegate whose coming completed the representation was
Houston. Ill health caused his delay. His days were
already numbered, for he died the next year. Sometimes
the eye that is about to close is gifted with prophetic sight.
Did Houston foresee the glories to spring from the act
begun that day ? He was too feeble to continue his
attendance,, but what a joy for his last days it must
have been to reflect that his mere presence had given
movement to an enginery which wrought for all time. The
form of parts of the Constitution was repeatedly decided in
those days of delicate adjustments by a single circum
stance. We do not know what a day more or less would have
brought forth. We do know that the work begun that day by
virtue of the presence of a Jerseyman brought forth good. It
is not necessary to enter in detail into the proceedings of the
Convention during those four middle months of 1787. It is
sufficient for our purpose to consider the one great service
which New Jersey rendered in the early weeks of the
Convention to popular government for all time.
Virginia by virtue of her leadership promptly proposed
a plan for a new government, which was then and has ever
since been known by her name— the Virginia Plan. It was

23
avowedly national, but the proposed representation of the
people in the States in each of the two Houses proportioned
to population was meant to serve the interest of the large
States. Had this idea prevailed it would have resulted at
first in leaving the direction of the newly concentrated
powers to the large States, and as parties should spring
into being and action, an inevitable necessity in a free
people trained to one habit of thought, but a possibility
hardly taken account of in the convention, there would not
have been in the constitution of the two Houses a differ
ence of origin sufficient to divert party zeal from many
excesses. This danger was averted by the small States,
New Jersey leading them. The plan for the reform of the
old government known then and always as "the Jersey
Plan," offered an equality oi the States in a Congress of a
single House. It was meant to be thoroughly federal,
though it proposed the distinctly national power of coer
cion of a delinquent State. Thus the spirit of localism
was not wholly wanting in the Virginia Plan, and the Jer
sey Plan proposed national coercion. But neither offered
a due adjustment of the two forces. We have seen that
New Jersey had opened up the largest possibility to nation
alism in her actions previous to the convention. We know of
her unbounded enthusiasm after the convention for the
Constitution in which the national spirit had free scope.
How was it then that she as of course assumed the lead in
saving the integrity and self-direction of the individual
State ? Was the conduct of her representatives wholly
ingenuous ? In the first place there was not a State in the
ifnion to whom self-government meant so much, for her
life had been intensified and concentrated by her situation
between two commanding States, New York and Pennsyl
vania, as a valley between two mountains. The integrity of
the individual State as a historic development, and even as
the place where the national spirit had grown up, must be
saved. To this end New Jersey proposed an inadequate
measure of reform as a temporary breakwater to give
direction to the strong current which once started was now
setting toward an extreme nationalism, in which the other

24
invaluable element might be overwhelmed. The truth is
New Jersey never meant her plan to be the ultimate iorm
of government. The act of her legislation with which she
entered into the reform suggests as much, for in it she does
not even insist that the result shall be submitted to Con
gress, the body which her " plan" proposes to strengthen.
In offering her plan she appeared as an advocate to whom
has been assigned the task of defense. The papers of Pater
son, carefully preserved in a neighboring town of this
county, show that his argument and that of Brearly, though
positive and aggressive, were in their nature defensive. It
was a plea for justice, not an attack. This character of an
advocate on the part of New Jersey was felt and acknowl
edged even in the convention.
It was by a process of natural selection that New Jersey
thus became the champion of the small States, and as it
afterwards proved of each State. Besides what has been
said of her special training for this task she was fitted for
it by the circumstance that her deputies represented the
different departments, and so the State as a whole as the
delegation from no other State save Virginia. New Jersey
had transferred herself, her government, almost bodily to
the convention. There was Livingston, her first, and until
he died her only Governor ; Brearly, at the head of her
judiciary, with Paterson, her Attorney-General, while Day
ton was in her legislature. Virginia had felt, and at times
had shown, that she knew well the value and the power of
separate action, and ten years later the author of her
present plan was to share in the responsibility for the
extreme Virginia and Kentucky Eesolutions, but even if she
felt in the Convention the value of local rights, her duty
then was as the' State of commanding influence to offer com
plete nationalism as the first object in true government.
Her logical place was to 'lead the gathering purpose of the
people. Connecticut was full of the spirit of mediation, and
it was largely through her action that the final compromise.
was made. But no real adjustment was possible until both
views had been fully expressed, until all arguments on t)oth
sides had been presented. So only would the true nature

25
of each element 'become known and thepoints where recon
ciliation was necessary and possible. • Each of the two
forces gained the respect of the other. The work, therefore,
set for New Jersey to do was in the highest degree essential
and her representatives were clear-eyed and judged wisely
when they chose her part in the work to be done.
The two forces whose combined action is the life of
our system of government, the spirit of Nationalism and of
Localism, may be compared to the masculine and feminine
elements in the perfect Union of the family. The man holds
sway as its head, controls affairs abroad and is responsible
for its welfare. The routine of daily life, the care of the
endless details are committed to the woman. Their aims
are one, their sphere and their methods differ. The Con
tinental Eepublic needs for its preservation equally the
vigor of a manly nationalism and the quieter virtues, knowl
edge of special needs, patience even with evil, virtues only
found where the spirit of home reigns.
With the spirit of a Knight the representative of New
Jersey undertook the defense of the integrity of the indi
vidual State — this feminine element in our system. I
appeal to you, Mr. President, did not the champion display
true chivalric courage ? The New Jersey plan, as such,
went down, but the honor of domestic rule, the true right
of the States, was saved. Nationalism did not make Local
ism his victim that day, but agreed, would the latter consent,
to join in a lawful marriage. Thus Nationalism gained a
moral victory over self, and became purer and truer and more
manly for the struggle. Henceforth the life of the separate
State was to be the source of the perpetuity of supreme
national power. So it had been historically determined, so
it lay in the purpose of the people as they came to realize
it, and so it has continued to be, for there was no inten
tion, says the Supreme Court in the Slaughter House Cases,
by the- amendments to the Constitution to change the
general system.
When the indestructibility of the State was secured by
an equality of representation in the Senate, the delegates of
New Jersey were prompt to join in the work of giving

26
ample powei's to the government thus constituted. It is not
necessary to follow -in detail the labors of the Convention
in perfecting the Constitution. New Jersey shared fully m
the laborious task which still lay before them, though not
prominently in the discussion.
Special mention is necessary of one matter. After the
adjustment of national and local relations, the question of
superlative importance concerned the slave-trade, the power
to tax slaves and to pass navigation acts which involved
the whole matter of foreign commerce. The principles of
this second compromise of the Constitution were determined
by a committee from all the States, of which Livingston was
the chairman. On the 24th of August he delivered the re
port :to the Convention, which finally adopted it on the 29th.
The Convention hastened now to finish its work. The
Constitution was signed on the 17th of September and sent
at once to the Congress then in session in New York, and
to the several States. As yet, it was only a bill. It re
quired the sanction of the people of the several States to
become an act. It came to each State as the proposal of a
wooer, asking the local spirit to share in a life among the world
states. It was proper that the single State should withdra-w
to the seclusion of maidenly reserve to decide whether to
merge her existence in that of the great union. The heart
ot New Jersey beat fast and she was won. Madison watch
ing eagerly as he passed from Philadelphia to New York,
writes hometo Virginia, "New Jersey appears to be zealous.
Meetings. of the people in different counties are declaring
their approbation and instructing their representatives."
Gouverneur Morris, always a friend to decision in act or
character, intimates in a letter to Washington, that if
necessary. New Jersey would fight to carry the Constitution.
Petitions in its favor were sent up to the legislature,
which promptly, with no dissenting voiee in either house,
votes to call a convention of the people of the State to pass
upon the proposed Constitution.
This convention, composed of three delegates from each
county, met in Trenton on Tuesday, the 11th of December,
1787. It is their act, concluded on Tuesday, the 18th of

27
December, which we celebrate to-night. The time is pass
ing. The larger view we have taken of the share of New
Jersey iu the -whole work will not allow us at this hour
to pass from group to group of the delegations to learn how
worthily the various counties were represented. Men were
there who had served in the field in the early dawn of
Independence and through the war ; men who had been in
the Congress of the Union, in the provincial Congress, in
the various Councils and Committees of Safety and in the
Legislature ; men of whose public service this was the
worthy end or a hopeful beginning.
But the auspices under which we meet demand that we
should dwell for a moment before concluding, on the men
from Middlesex, John Neilsoii, John Beatty, and Benjamin
Manning. There could have been no more fit representative from
this county than Colonel John Neilson, But it is not
necessary to speak at length of him, in a community where
he lived for 88 years. Indeed, we are almost too near to
him as though he were our fellow townsman even now.
Here is his portrait ; many of his descendants are in this
room. This College felt his care as one of its trustees.
The impress of his character is within our sight, the very
spirit of the man seems here. Neilson when chosen to rep
resent his State in the assembly of the Union declined.
And he was as we have seen among those first sent to the
Federal Convention to frame the Constitution — but he
resigned the honor. Yet he never lost the confidence of
those whose hopes were highest for the Union. Washing
ton was his friend, and Lafayette his guest.
His ardent patriotism he seemed to focus on the needs
at home, the kindling of enthusiasm for the national cause
there and keeping it bright, and on the defence of the State,
and so he' served the whole land. He did his duty as his
sound judgment and his tlignified and modest reserve de
termined it. He discriminated, no doubt wisely, as to the
kind of service he should render, and we must believe that
in this his own way he served his country best. I have said
we might be too near him to make a just estimate of his

28
character in this respect. But our judgment is confirmed
by those who had the advantage of a large perspective. I
hold in my hand two letters, written just fifty years apart,
the one in 1783 from Timothy Pickering, then Quarter
master-General of the United States, afterwards Secretary
of State under Washington. He writes Neilson : " I have-
been perfectly happy in your assistance while in office,
and shall think myself honored by a continuance of your
friendship and esteem, which our connection in the public
service has given rise to." The other letter was written in
1833, three weeks before the death of Neilson, but with no
knowledge of its approach, by Lewis Cass, then Secretary
of War under President Jackson, and in 1848 within the
vote of New York of the Presidency. Cass says of Neilson,
" of his high character and valuable services there is and can
be no doubt. He is identified with the history of his
country." John Beatty was the second member of the delegation
from Middlesex. The son of a well-known missionary in
Pennsylvania, and grandson of one of her Governors, he
was graduated from Princeton in 1769, studied medicine
under the celebrated Benjamin Eush, fought as Major at
Fort Washington, was captured and languished in the hands
of the British ; on his exchange he was made American
Commissary General of prisoners, and in that office was in
frequent communication with Washington. After the war
he settled in our State, in Kingston, I think, the corner of'
our county, which jutted into Princeton village. New
Jersey soon sent him to the Congress of the Union. Living
ston says of him in a letter of this time — " As honest a
member as ever sat in the first Congress." Beatty practiced
his profession in Princeton and later in Trenton, but was
often called to hold public office. He was Speaker of the -
Legislature in 1789, being a member sent from this county ;.
in 1795 Secretary of State of Ne^^ Jersey. For a year he
was Adjutant-General of the State. For a long period he
was President of the bank in Trenton-and of the Delaware
Bridge Company. He laid the corner stone of that fine
old structure, which so long linked this State to Pennsyl-

29
vania — fit emblem of his work done for the Union. Beatty
was tall and of courtly manners, and, as a picture of him
discovered within a few days shows, of fine features. He
was versatile, diligent and resolute.
Benjamin Manning, of Piscataway, worthily represented
that side of the Earitan. He was a member of the first
Assembly of New Jersey under the Constitution of 1776, and
was many times returned. He long represented the county in
the Council or Upper House, and as a member of the Council
of Safety, whose powers in the dark days of the war were
almost absolute, he was one of the three most constant at
tendants. He must have been a sturdy yeoman patriot, for
the Governor gave him his confidence, and the peoj^le of
his town were always asking his services. Not a scholar,
for he spelt "getting" with two i's and one t, and other
words phonetically, but he knew what good law was and
helped to make it. We know he was an honest man, for he
was trusted to appraise the damages done by the British in
this county.
The delegation as a whole was well chosen ; all three of
its members were distinguished for patriotic services, two
had been commissioned officers and Manning a private.
Neilson was a shipping merchant and landed proprietor ;
Beatty, the physician, represented the professions, and
Manning the men who tilled the soil. Neilson and Man
ning were at that time men of earnest religious convictions
and life. Neilson was an officer for life in the Presbyterian
church of Brunswick, and Manning a deacon in the Baptist
church in his town. Beatty entered the communion of the
Presbyterian church in Trenton only in 1808, but he became
one of her elders. Hi? epitaph in her churchyard tells of
his zeal in her behalf. Of the active work of the conven
tion we find that to the Middlesex men was assigned a large
share. There were three main committees during the ses
sion. The first act of the convention, before organizing,
was to appoint Beatty Chairman of the Committee on
Credentials. Of the Committee on the form of Eatification
Neilson and Beatty were two of the five members. Neilson
was one of the three members of the Committee on Eules.

30
Thus the share of Middlesex in the active work of the Con
vention was large, no county vieing with her save Hunter
don, which then of course included Trenton, and had sent
Brearly and John Stevens, President of the Convention.
We may not conclude without expressing our interest m
Somerset, the offspring and neighbor of Middlesex. The
present jurisdiction of our club obliges us to claim as its
own two at least of the Somerset delegation. These were
Colonel Frederick Frelinghuysen, at that time a trustee,
and Jacob E. Hardenbergh, then president of tliis college.
Next to our first President sat Witherspoon, the patriot
President o£ Princeton.
The sessions were public and opened by prayer by the
Eev. James Armstrong, the pastor of the Presbyterian
Church. All was order and decorum. The Constitution
was read four times during their proceedings, and meeting
at ten o'clock and at three, they discussed it section by sec
tion for six days, though from the first there had been but
one mind and intention as to the final action.
The work was complete upon the sixth day after the
real beginning and on Tuesday, the IStii of December, 1787,
the convention "unanimously for and on behalf of the
people of the State of New Jersey did agree to, ratify and
confirm the Constitution and every part thereof."
Wednesday morning the members signed the ratification
in duplicate copies, each on four great parchment sheets,
joined and sealed, the one copy for the Congress of
the United States, the other to be kept at home. After the
President, each county delegation of the thirteen, at that
time the perfect number of Union, signed by itself, in the
order of the age of the counties, from Bergen the oldest,
to Sussex, the youngest.
At one o'clock the Convention went in procession to the
Court House, and Samuel Stockton, the Secretary, read the
act as the minutes say : " In the hearing of the people."
The story is told in one of the most interesting of mod
ern biographies that the beautiful Caroline Claudius, when,
according to the custom in Germany, about to be publicly
betrothed, was warned by her pastor that she was now to do

oi
an act which bound her fast and only the powers of the
church could set her free. The girl of clear perceptions and
strong character replied with calm dignity : " I have already
done an act from which neither you nor all the church can
even now release me."
Thus New Jersey " took upon herself the obligations of
the Union for all time," though the full ordaining of the
Constitution by the whole people still awaited the action of
ten of the States. Thus, with so much dignity, with such
resolution, with grace in action and hope in her heart.
New Jersey completed her share in founding the American
Constitution. In our review it has been necessary to confine our study
for the most part to her cohduct and to iiers alone. We do
not thus disparage or belittle the work done by other States
and other men.
Theirs was important, possibly more important. But
hers was distinct and essential. We have to-night accented
one syllable in a word to which every syllable is necessary.
New Jersey has not always received credit for what she did.
Even her own sons have been slow to insist upon her praise
perhaps from a motive of a genuine pride. But this is not
the main thing. That is, that the work was done and well
done. She was a faithful servant of Humanity.
In closing there is one claim that must be made in her
behalf to a service which cannot accurately be measured
but must have been inestimable.
Of the members who attended the Convention which
drew the Constitution a large percentage were the sons
of Princeton College. In the stirring days of the Stamp
Act and of the early Eevolution they were under her care.
There and in those days they learned what "patria" meant.
Madison, Paterson and Ellsworth, more than any others, are
identified respectively with the Virginia plan, the Jersey
plan and the Connecticut plan of mediation. The first hon
ors of each of these three men came from the College of New
Jersey. One by one the States shared in the perfecting of the
creation of the new people, some gladly and with one voice.

32
others cautiously or after a struggle, and in some the struggle
was hard, but at last one hope united them.
Each of the first three weeks- in December saw a ratifi
cation by a State ; Delaware on the 7th, Pennsylvania on the
12th, our own State on the 18th. Georgia began the new
year, Connecticut followed, first of the New England States,
then Massachusetts, Maryland in April, South Carolina in
May, and on the summer solstice, 1788, New Hampshire gave
the ninth vote requisite to give life to the organic law.
At almost the same moment Virginia gave her favoring vote,
meaning it to be the ninth. New York tardily followed in
July, while North Carolina and Ehode Island were for a time
laggards. The old Congress of the Confederation died of inanition
and there was an interval of rest before the Government was
organized under the Constitution. 'Then the current of life
surged through the veins of the one people.
The Nation arose with joy, took its place among the
powers of the earth and the real era of humanity began.
The newly created people may have felt and might have
spoken as Milton makes Adam in the primal creation feel
and speak : —
As new waked from soundest sleep,
******
Straight toward Heaven my wondering eyes I turned,
And gazed awhile the ample sky, till raised
By quick instinctive motion up I sprung
As thitherward endeavoring, and upright
Stood on my feet.

33
NEW jIERSEY.
A CENTENNIAL HYMN—Tir MBS. MERRILL E. GATES.
Ye Thirteen Stars of Light,
Hung in our stormy night
Of blood and war,
Still through uncounted years
Burn on, undying spheres !
Shiue far, amid thy peers,
New Jersey's Star !
'Twas on thy central field.
Sure victory first was sealed ;
Here turned war's tide !
Ever live Trenton's name !
Princeton's and Monmouth's fame,
Written iu words of flame,
Deathless abide 1
For us our God hath wrought ;
For us thy heroes fought ;
So are we free !
Third on the ringing roll,
Thy hand endorsed the Scroll,
Pledge of a nation's soul
To Liberty !
Our Century's vast increase
Rounds its full orb in peace :
To God be praise !
Increase in every part.
Trade in each port and mart,
Our learning and our art,
Be His always !
From elemental strife,
From our great nation's life,
Deep, restless, broad ;
Blend Thou a mighty chord
Of myriad music. Lord,
Ascending in one word : —
That word be, God !
Master of men and states.
Builder, whose will creates
Nations and powers !
The pillars Thou dost place,
-With lily-work of grace
Crown Thou ; that all the praise
Thine be, not ours.

Letters Read at the Commemoration Exercises.
EXTBA'CTS.
From Geokge Bakcboft.
You are altogether right in paying full honors to the anniversary of the
day when (he people of New Jersey took upon themselves for all time the
obligations of the Union. I regret that I cannot be with you to enjoy the
great occasion.
From Justice Joshph P. Beadley.
Forty->ix years ago last January I remember reading with much interest
the manuscript journal of the proceedings of the Convention which assem
bled ill Trenton to consider the New Constitution, and was greatly delighted
at the apparent unanimity and promptness with which it was approved and
adopted. In an address delivered by me before the N. J. Historical Society
io January, 1851, I noted this patriotic aliiority as higlily creditable to the
State. (See N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc. pp. 105, 121.)
From Aebam S. Hewitt.
It is to the credit of New Jersey that not only was the Constitution of
the United States largely shaped by the intelligence and activity of her
representatives in the Convention, but that she was among the earliest to
approve the instrument which has been so effective in securing the per
manence and prosperity of this government.
From Justin -Winsoe.
I am sorry that my ewgagements will prevent my acceptance of the
kind invitation to the commemoration of New Jersey's aid in placing the
whole people of the United Stales under the government of the Constitution.

APPENDIX.

The following letters and documents selected from the
collections, originals or copies, of the New Brunswick His
torical Club, serve to illustrate combined personal, local
and national relations :
[Draft of a will by Hendiuk Fisher. Original wholly in
his own handwriting.]
0. all mighty godt wharas I ain now fare adfanset in years and siasable
of my a proching chinch whare four & iu tender Regard to my belovet wife
& children and in obedints to thy comand o lord I woult now set myn
Hous in order, be pleeset o lord to gide & derect me thare in that it may
be don consistent with eaquety & Justis. grant o lord that my belovit wife
(fe children may Eeceve thare hearbj bequeatet portions in love & pees and
in Joy them to thy honer & glory for Christ his sake amen  and 
 In hopes thareof I do in the nam of our lord Jesus Christ make this
my last will & testament in maner fallint; and 
1 first I geve to my belovet wife Elizabeth all hor waring aperle one
Bedstet with Bed <fe'bed close properly belonging thare to. and also one
Cobert Chist and other hous hold Fornyture which shea had & Braught weth
hor when I maret hor except shuch as are lost or whoren out. and also my
negro Boy callet minck as also one hunderet and ten pounts in Cash, to be
payt hor weth in one year after my disees by my Exs. I also geve hor the
use of one Room in my dwelling hous wilst shea Eemeans my wedo. and
also died for one whole year ad my son Jeremiahs table But in case ray sad
wife shoult chuse to live els whar or my sd. hous be sold then and in that
case my son Jeremiah shall pay unto hor the sum of Five pounts per anam
during hor wedehood as aforsd. & no longer and all these above mentionet
artikls & things I geve unto my sd. wife in lew of hor Dowery and not other
wise. 2 secontly I geve to my son John the plantation he now levs on weth
every thing thare unto belonging to him his hiars & asings f )r ever hee pay
ing to the childeren of my son Volkei-t to wt. Hendk. Gorge Elizabeth Jany
& Margret each of them twenty pounts. to sd. hendk. weth in two and to
george weth in three to sd. elizabeth wethiii four & to the sd. Jany & Margrit
weth in fife years after my disees.
(Providet my son volkeits wedo Elizabeth sings of hor Dowery to the land
my son John livs on & not otherwise.)
3 thertly I give unto my son Abraham and my son mine all that plase
& lands at lamington whare oq my son abraham now livs. to be by them
equely devidet to them thare hiars & asings for ever so as neverdeles that my

36
son abm. has the inprovement tharon & first Joys, in Oonselheration tliare ot
my son minne must pay to my exs. one hunderet & twenty five pounts with
in one year after my disees and besidesS clear my estayl from paying a bond
on any part thare of to leve powlin Esqr. of marbletoun.
4 I geve to each of my tbrie daughters to wt. Elizabeth inilly and mar
gret the sum of one hunderet & twenty five pounts to be payt them by my
exs. weth in eghtien munths afther my disees. •
5 I geve to my grand Daughter Mary Vulkerson the sum of seventy
pounts to be pa^t hor by my exs. one year afther my Disees.
6 I geve to my Daughter mary the sum of sixty pounts. to be payt hor
by & ad the discracion oO my exs. as to time and proportion of it.
7 I geve my waring aperle to all my sons.
8 I geve all my linnen which is not all Eedy disposet of to my wife &
four daghters to be by them equely devidet shear & shear alyke.
9 I geve onto my exs. or the survivonrs of them foul power & hear by
orther them to sell & dispose of all my personal estnyt and also of my Raele
estayt ef uasysary to pay my just debts & the bove legetsis.
10 I geve to my son Jeremiah the Resydew of all my estayt Both Reale
& personie to liim his hiars & asings for ever, in Consetheration whure of hee
must pay or coss to be payt to my son heudrik the sum of two hunderet
pounts weth in one a year after my disees this and all the above mentionet
sums of muny are to be payt in corent muuy o£ new Jersy ad eght sljiluns
the ounz.
11 and in case my son Jereminh shoult ho.pen to die weth out leving living
Isue to hiar the estayt hier by grantrt him than and in that case my will is that
the sd. estayt be sold by my exs. and the muny arising thare from to be
eaquly dividet amungst all my surviving childeren & his wedo ef alife. Ex-
ept my sou hendk. shall have as much agin as one of tbe other Brothers &
sisters. And lastly I doa hearby apoint my son hendrik my son Jeremiah my son
iu law John Field & my son iu law hendrik Sydam to be my exs. of this
my last will and testament. And in testomony thareof I have hear unto set
my hand & seale this therty first day (/f Janaury one thousent seven hon-
deret and seventy four and I do hear By Revoge all former wills by me
mayd & sing and proclame this & no other to be my last will & testament
HENDK. FISHER.
singnet sealet & delevert iu the presens of
the 4th & 5ih line in the secont pag whare Rayset befijur sing sealing
& deleveiy.

(It is not known to whom the following letter from the
first President of Eutgers College was written, the address
being mutilated. The matter referred to is the proposal
to make the right of suffrage universal in New Jersey.)
Rakitan Febr. 5th 1776.
Respected Sin, —
Your favour of the 3rd instant I this evening received. I would fain de
cline complying with your request of advising on the subject you mention,

37
because I find it a subject carried on both sides of the Question with some
Degree of warmth ; and consequently will not do for me to take a part iu
without urging reasons. However your friendly request induces me to risk
the offering some reasons on the subject, which occur to mind.
I shall at present wave the reasons that pleades for the alteration you
mention, which would readily induce me, was I to act in the affair, to give
my vote, was it not for the insurmountable Difficulties following—
1. Such alterations in Elections would be directly contrary to the
Resolves of the continental Congess in this matter would it be prudent or
advisable to counter-resolve the continental Congress ? If you do, which
must our Assoeiators in the Province obey ? By the sd. association we are
bound by the most solemn ties to observe both, as far as they proceed ac
cording to the English Constitution. This obligation supposes a conformity
of resolves, admits of no opposition?, for then both cannot Possibly be
obe., ed. How then ? must one follow the Resolves of a lower, the other of
a higher Congress ? Must the People at large argue the point which is
most according to our happy Constitution? Who then shall be judge?
Must the Province now be drove into such a Delemma? Exposed to such
wranglings & Disputes ? It is probabel the refusal of the Petitions may,
create uneasiness, but let it ba considered ; an alteration in an old and long
established usage, cwstum Yea perhaps I may say Constitution, is petitioned
for, which always ought to be maturely considered, and never done, without
strong and urging reasons, perhaps the change would in the Issue promote
tenfold more uneasiness and that with such as are of tenfold more weight
.and Importance to civil Society iu these our times of Trouble.
2. Let it be observed, that no Constitution of civil Government can
possibly, in this imperfect and depraved world, be so framed as to avoid all
Inconveniences. Therefore that must be chosen and maintained which is
best calculated to promote & secure the Good of Society. The Inholders al
ways bare a proportion, in every Country to the Freeholders, and as the
Country becomes more popelous and florishing by Industry, Econimy &
liberty, the proportion of the former to the latter gains the ascendency by
reason of the Introducing & encouraging home manufactories. Now it is
undeniable that the bulk of Inholders are mostly dependent on the
opelent and welthy in every State from whom oppression and Infringments
on liberty are mostly to be dreaded. By their opelence, power and Influence
they acquire the irresistable force of bribery, the Destruction of Civil
Society. I doubt not, many an honoust Inliolder when he had a vote, and
brought to the Dilemma of Counteracting his owwn honoust Inclinations or
else rob his family ot their sustenance or refuse a bribe which might prove
of advantage to himselve & Family, would wish he Never had one. It may be
ohjected Freeholders may be exposed to this also. I grant it. But which is
the most common, the most probable ? It is said, Inholders might have
this Privilige during these our struggels for liberty With all my heart, but will
they not say, this we paid our proportion of tax for, this we bled for, shall
we now give it up ? Is it impossible that welthey and designing men, per
ceiving this prospect of obtaining their Sinister Vieuws, may so far improve
it as to baffel all attempts of reclaiming this part of our happy Constitution ?

38
I have thus given you in haste a tow Difllculties, which I think the
granting of the sd. Petitions will inevitably be attended with. I proceed no
furthur and so remain Your
Humble Servt. & sincere Friend JACOB R. HARDENBERGH.

[Gen. Putnam to Col. John Neilson.J
Peinoeton 13th Feby 1777.
Deak Colol. I am informed, but by very bad Authority, that the Tories have
again made Head in Monmouth. If the Report is not contradicted before
this reaches you, and you can spare the men, I should be glad if you send
about 30 of your Party under some active, Intelligent oiBcer who will not be
terrified with the Report of a Runaway, to Monmouth Court House to re
inforce and inspirit the well disposed People of that neighbourhood. If you
hear anything that may be depended upon from that Quarter inform niK of
it by express. I am Dear Sir Your humb Servt
Col. Nlilson. ISRAEL PUTNAM.

[The following letter was written the day after the battle
of Monmouth, and refers to that event. It was addressed
to " Colonel John Neilson near Scotch Meeting House,"
and is endorsed by Col. Neilson " Major Taylor in behalf
of Gen. Dickinson June 29, 1778." Original iu the posses
sion of Mrs. T. P. B. Parker.]
De Col : Monday Morning
The Genl. has received your two letters for which he thanks you he
would have answered them himself but being so much engaged he has not
had time. Genl. Lee's division had a severe engagement with the enemy
yesterday, in which he lost a number of men But maintained his ground
with a much greater loss on the side of the enemy, in the' afternoon his
Excellency commanded in person with a division of fresh troops, in which
he drove the enemy near two miles, took a number of prisoners, and dead
and wounded among the dead we found two colonels one of them was Col.
Moiixkton, the militia had a skirmish with the enemy iu the morning in
which we at first got diove, we afterwards rallied and drove the enemy with
some loss we had two men wounded, we are again upon the march to the
lines of the enemy, what they are about this morning we have not yet been
able to learn, our men are in high spirits. The Genl. desires you will con
tinue in that part of the country where you at present are, and act in such
a manner as you shall think most eoudusive to the public good we last night
got some whiskey a part of which you can have by sending for, if you can
send a Cagg I will endeavour to get two gallons of Rum for your own use

39
You may send to Englishtown, and if the liquor shall not be there, it will be
about one and half mile in the rear on Princeton road.
In behalf of the Genl.
To Col. Jno Neilson. jNO. TAYLOR ADC.

Col. John Neilson to Gov. Livingston. (Original in posses
sion of James Neilson, Esq.)
SlE— His Excellency General Washington in his Letter of yesterday say's the
real intention of the enemy is not yet perfectly evident he however is moving
towards the North river to fake such measures as may seem best Calculated
to counteract their designs — he has directed me to have the Beacons and
every other signal that will facilitate the collecting of the Militia in the utmost
state of readiness, should it be found necessary to call them out. Your Ex
cellency seeing the necessity of being in this situation will please to give the
directions necessary for the above purposes and acquaint me therewith that
the proper steps may be taken to put them in Execution and set the machine
at work. I should be glad to be informed by your Excellency if there's a maga
zine of Ammunition iu the state and where it is — The Fleet from Virginia is
returned and gone up the North River where tbe Enemies whole force is
collected, they have taken possession of a small detached Work of three guns
on the East side nf Kings ferry which contained about fifty men it surren
dered on the 2d instant. All the people on Long & S. Island both black &
white that fled to them for refuge are presst into the service on this Expe
dition to drive their waggons & other drudgery — I must again repeat to
your Excellency the Situation this place is in, the returns yesterday amount
to 2 Capts 4 Subs. 9 Sergts. 5 Corpls 1 Drum. 93 Privates a small detach
ment from the Artillery with one piece & a few Horsemen makes up the
whole force at this Important Post a Capt with about 40 men at N — ark & a
Capt with 12 men at Woodbridge. There's no men yet come from the
County of Hunterdon but the small detach iiient of about 14 men Col. Cham
bers Regt neither are there any from Colo Scudder's Regt from Burlington
nor from Gloucester. My tour of Duty being nearly performed the Situa
tion of my Family and the Important necessity of my being at home makes
it absolutely necessary I should be relieved Your Excellency will t.herefore
please to give ordeis to an officer of such rank as may be thought proper to
relieve me on the 11th of this month. I should be glad to be informed who
the officer is to be and that he may have notice to prepare himself by that
Time. I have the H(mour to be with the utmost respect Your Excellency's
Obedient and very Humble Servant
Elizabeth Town ) JOHN NEILSON.

5 June 1779

Bethlem Orange Co. New York State
DearSiu: June 14th 1779.
Inclose. I is a letter for Mrs Beatty, which I am to request you to for
ward, by the first safe conveyance.

40
As you are a Military gentleman, I presume you Expect me to write in
thatstile-agreed— as then my letter will be short— The Enemy continue
near by in the same situation, as when I first arrived to this ground— Their
posts on this side the river, are strongly fortified by several redoubts, thrown
up in their Front -& appear from the labour & pains taken in the Execution
as tho they meant to continue in them for some time— That part of the
Army which lies on the East side have within these two days advanced
higher up by four miles & have broken ground on a Height on a neck of
land, which overlooks the channel nearly opposite I believe to the old Fort
— They remain in this position at present— Nothing can with certainty be as
yet ascertained, with regard to their object or designs — if West point is In
tended, they mean to proceed very regularly & I give you my word -should
they attempt the reduction they will find themselves deceived .and de
feated  .'
I am just this moment tnld the whole Pennsylvania line have marched
towards Fort Montgomery — I presume from this circumstance the Enemy
are making some movement— I shall rite to Head Qrs if anything new, shall
from them inform you— shall be glad of a line from you— Comps to all
Friends — In haste Dear Sir —
Colo Neilson. Yours. JNO. BEATTY.

Piscataway June, 14. 1779
Dbae Sir- Inclosed I transmit you four Supplements to an Act for embodying
one Thousand of the Militia, and also a Letter from his Excellency the Govr
informing you of your appointment to the command of said men &c
Should have waited on you myself, but being very much fate luged in
giting home will I hope be excepted as a sufficient excuse — I have the honour
Dr Sir to be Your very humble Servt
benj. manning.
Colo Jno. Neilson.

[Eeprinted at Trenton in New Jersey Gazette of 6. Nov. 1786
from the New Brunswick Gazette.]
Mk. Aenett,
By inserting the following Address in your next paper,
you will greatly oblige a constant reader.
To the Peojjle of the United ijlates.
There is nothing more common than to confound the term of the
American revoluti n with that of the late American war. Tlie American war
is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution.
On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is cloted. It
r«:mains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government, and to
prepare the principles, morals and manners i.f our citizens.
The confederation, together with the most of our state constitutions,
were formed under very unfavorable circumstances. We had just emerged
from a corrupted mondi-chy. Although we understood perfectly the princi
ples of liberty, yet most of us were ignorant ot the forms and combinations

41
of power in republicks. Add to this, the British army was in the heart of
our country, spreading desolation wherever they went. Our resentments,
of course, were awakened. We detested the British name, and unfortunate
ly refused to copy score things in the administration of justice and power in
the British government, which have made it the admiration and envy of
the world. In our opposition to monarchy, we forgot that the temple of
tyranny had two doors. We bolted one of them by proper restraints ;
but we left the other open, by neglecting to guard against the effects of
our own ignorance and licentiousness. Most of the present difficulties of this
country arise from the weakness and other defects of our government..
My business at present shall only be to suggest the defects of the con
federation. '1 hese consist,
1st. In the deficiency of coercive power. 2d. In a defect of exclusive
power to issue paper money, and regulate commerce. 3d. In vesting the
foreign power of the United States in a single legislature : and 4th . In the
too frequent rotation of its members.
A convention is expected soon to be appointed for the purpose of ob
viating part of the two first defects that have been mentioned, But I wish
they may add to their recommendation to each state to s urrender up to
Congress their power of emitting money, In this way a uniform currency
will be produced that will facilitate trade, and help greatly to bind the
states together. Nor will the states be deprived of large sums of money by
these means when sudden emergencies require it ; for they may always bor
row them as they did during the war, out o£ the treasury of Congress. Even
a loan office may be better instituted in this way in each state, than it can in
any other.The two last defects that have been mentioned are not of less magni
tude than the two first. Indeed the single legislature of Congress will be
come more dangerous from an increase of power than ever.
To remedy this, let the supreme federal power be divided, like most of
the legislatures of our states, into two distinct, independent branches. Let
one of them be called the council of the states— and the other the assembly
of the states. Let the first consist of a single delegate, and the second of
two, three or four delegates, chosen annually by each state. Let the presi
dent be chosen annually by the joint ballot of both houses, and let him
potsess certain powers in conjunction with a privy council, especially the
power of appointing most of the officers of the United States. The officers
will not only be belter, when appointed in this way, but one of the principal
causes of faction will be thereby removed from Congress. I apprehend this
division of the power of Congress will become more necessary, as soon as
they are invested with more ample powers of levying and expending publick
money. The custom of turning_ men out of power or office as soon as they are
qualified for it, has been fouLd to be as absurd in practice, as it is virtuous
in speculation. It contradicts our habits and opinions in every other transaction in life.
Do we dismiss a general, a physician, or even a domestic as soon as they
have acquired knowledge enough to be useful to us, for the sake of in
creasing the number of able generals, skillful physicians, and faithful ser-

42
vants ? We do not. Government is a science, and can never be perfected
in America until we encourage men to devote not only three years, but their
whole lives to it. I believe the principal reason why so many men of abili
ties object to serve in congress, is owing to their not thinking it worth while
to spend three years in acquiring a profession, which their country imme
diately afterwards forbids them to follow.
There are two errors or prejudices on the subject of government m
America, which leads to the most dangerous consequences.
It is often said that the foreign and all other power is seated in the
people. This idea is unhappily expressed. It should be— all power is de
rived from the people. They possess it only on the days of their elections.
After this it is the property of the rulers, nor can they exercise or resume it
unless it is abused. It is of importance to circulate this idea, as it leads to
order and good government.
The people of America have mistaken the meaning of the word sover
eignty ; hence each state pretends to be sovereign. In Europe it is applied
only to those states which possess the power of making war and peace, of
forming treaties— and the like. As this belongs only to Congress they are
the only sovereign power iu the United States.
To conform the principles, morals and manners of our citizens to our
republican forms of government, it is absolutely necessary that knowledge
of every kind should be disseminated through every part of the United
States. For this purpose, let the Congress, instead of laying out half a million
of dollars in building a federal town, appropriate a fourth part of that sum
in founding a Federal University.
In this university let everything connected with government, such as
history ; the law of nature and nations ; the civil law ; the municipal laws
of our country, and the principles of commerce, be taught by able pro
fessors. Let masters likewise be employed to teach gunnery, fortification,
and everything connected with defensive and offensive war. Above all let a
professor, of what is called in the European universities, of economy be
established in this federal seminary. His business should be to unfold the
principle and practice of agriculture and manufactures of all kilids ; and to
enable him to make his lectures more extensively useful. Congress should
support a traveling correspondent for him, who should visit all the nations
of Europe, and transmit to him from time to time, all the discoveries and
iuiprovements that are made in agriculture and manufactures
To this seminary, young men should be encouraged to repair after com
pleting their academical studies in the colleges of their respective states ;
the honors and offices of the United States should for a while be confined to
persons who had imbibed federal and republican ideas in this university.
Pen- the purpose of diffusing knowledge as well as extending the living
principle of government to every part of the United St itdS, every state, city,
county, village or township in the union, should be tied together by means of
the post-office. This is the true electric wire of government. It is the only
means of conveying heat and light to every individual in the federal common
wealth. Sweden lost her liberties, says Abbe Raynall, because her citizens
were so scattered, that they hud no way of acting in concert With each other.

43
It should be a constant injunction to the postmaster to convey all newspapers
free of charge for postage. They are not only the vehicles of knowledge and
intelligence, but the sentinels over the liberties of our country.
The conduct of some of the strangers who have visited our country since
the peace, and who fill the British papers with accounts of our distresses
shows as great u want of good sense as it does of good nature. They see
nothing but the foundation and walls of the temple of liberty, and yet they
undertake to judge for the whole fabric.
Our own citizens act a still more absurd part, when they cry out after
the experience of three or four years, that we are not proper materials for
republican forms of government. Remember we assumed these forms iu a
hurry, before we were prepared for them. Let every man exert himself in
promoting virtue and knowledge in our country, and we shall soon become
good repubhcans. Look at the steps by which governments have been
changed, or rendered stable in Europe. Read the history of Great Britain.
Her boasted government has risen out of wars and rebellions that lasted
above 600 years.
The United States are traveling peaceably into order and good govern
ment. They know no strife but what arises from the collision of opinions ;
and in three years they have advanced further in the road to stability and
happiness, than most of the nations in Europe have done in many centuries.
There is but one path that can lead the United States to destruction ;
and that is their extent of territoi-y. It was probably to effect this that
Great Britain ceded to us *o much waste land. But this path may be
avoided. Let but one new slate be exposed to sale at a time, and let tho
land office be shut up till every part of this new state is settled.
I am extremely sorry to find a passion for retirement so universal
among the patriots ,ind heroes of the war. They resemble skilful mariners
who, after exerting themselves to preserve a ship from sinking in the mid
dle of the ocean, drop asleep as soon as the winds subside, and leave the
care of their lives and property during the remaining part of the voyage to
the sailors without knowledge or experience. Every man in a republick is
publick property. His time and talents— his manhood— his old age— nay,
more— life, all belong to his country.
Patriots of 1774, 177.'), 1776 — heroes of 1778, 1779, and 1780 come for
ward ! your country demands your services. Philosophers and friends to
mankind, come forward 1 j our country demands your studies and specula
tions. Lovers of peace and order who declined taking part in the war, come
forward ! Your country forgives your timidity, and demands your influence
and advice. -Hear her proclaiming in sighs and groans, in her government,
iu her trade, in her manufactures, in her morals, and in her manners—
" The Revolution is not over." NESTOR.

[The following letter to James Drake, keeper of the
tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey, may serve to show
something of the business ways of John Adams. The
letter, it will be noticed, is dated ten days before his inau-

44

guration as President. The pair were evidently meant for
use in that office.]

Philadelphia, Feb. 23. 1797.

Sir,

In answer to your obliging Letter of th(? 21st, I have to answer, that I
have this Morning bought a Pair of beaunful Bays, with all the good Quali
ties you describe in yours for 6'JO dollars These will answer my purpose
for the present and allow me time to look about me for another Pair.
If therefore you will Sell me yours for 600 dollars ani wait one month
for your pay, I will Send my Coachman to bring them to me : otherwise I
cannot have them at all. I should be glad of your answer by return of Post.
I am. Sir, your Friend & humble Servant

JOHN ADAMS.

[ Feby 27th 1797 Reed, the above
Mr Drake J Desi-ribed Pair of Horses
( tor Jno Adams —
JOHN BRISLER—
Letter addressed
MR JAMES DRAKE
Free New Brunswick
John Adams. New Jersey

MIDDLESEX COUNTY-
List of Freeholders of about the Year 1 748.

RETURN OF JOHN DEARS, SHERIFF.

Samuel Ayers,
James Ayres,
Jacob Ayers.
Obadiah Ayers,
Robert Ayers,
Joseph Ayers, Jun.,
Abraham Ajers,
John Alston,
David Alston,
John Allwood,
Benjamin Allwood,
Simuel Allen,
David Alford,
Stephen Am all,
Wm. Britton,
Moses Bishop,
Timothy Bloomfield,
Ezekiel Bloomfield,
Thomas Bloomfield,
John Bloomfield,
.leremiah Blonmfii Id,

WOODBEIDGE.
David Deboonrepose,
Thomas Edger,
Peter Elston,
Francis Everitt,
David Evans,
Samuel Fitzrandolph,
Rdward Fitzrandolph,
Edward Fitzrandolph.
Jun.,
Samuel Fitzrandolph,
Jun.,
Jacob Fitzrandolph,
Joseph Fitzrandolph,
Nathaniel Fitzrandolph,
Jun.,
Joseph Fitzrandolph,
Jun.,
Henry Freeman,
Edward Freeman,
John Freeman,
Jonathan Freeman,

Henry Moores,
Benjamin Moore,
Sauiuel Moore,
Michael Moorf,
William Moore,
Joseph Martin,
(leisham Martin,
Samuel Martin,
Mulford Martin,
Jn,hn Morri-,
George Morris,
John Morris, Jr. ,
John Noe,
John Noe, Jr.,
Joseph Oliver,
Zebulon Pike,
Thomas Pike,'
Peter Ferine,
John Price,
Isaac Prall,
Moses Rolph,

45

Joseph Bloomfield,
Benjamin Bloomfield,
Richard Bloomfield,
James Brown,
William Brown,
Andw. Brown,
Matthew Bunn,
Joseph Bunn,
Micajah Bunn,
William Bloodgood,
Samuel Barnes,
Richard Cutter,
Edward Crowell,
James Clarkson,
John Clarkson,
Benjamin Codington,
John Codington,
David Campbell,
Caleb Campbell,
Jonathan Campbell,
John Campbell,
Job Conger,
John Clawson,
Richard Carman,
Samu>-1 Crow,
Dennis Combs,
John ComptoD,
Wm. Comi.tou,
David Compton,
Samuel Compton,
James Compton,
Thomas Coward,
Morris Collier,
Jonathan Dennis,
David Dunham,
David Dunham, Jr.,
Joseph Dunham,
Jonathan Dunham,
Jonathan Dunham, Jr.,
Jonathan Dilley,
Henry Decamp,
Phillip Dolidridge,

John Hamilton,
Andrew John-ton,
Lewis Johnston,
Philhp Kearny,
William Skinner,
John Watson,
John Nevill,
Alexander Mc. Dowall,
John Hull,
Andrew Robisoii,
John Lonfborrow,
Joseph Marsh,
Alexander Thomson,
Alexander Carnes,
Samuel Fleming,
Lawrence Smith,
William Thomson,

Benijah Freeman.
Wm. Ford,
Charles Ford,
William Flatt,
Joseph Gray,
Benjamin Gray,
Thomas Gach,
Richard Gibson,
Ezekiel Goodfellow,
Adam Hude,
Robert Hude,
John Heard,
William Heard,
Jonathan Hornett-
Thomas Haden,
Solomon Hunt,
David Harriott,
Andrew Hariott,
Willi am Hider,
Richard Jones,
Eliphalett Jones,
Jonathan Isley,
Elisha Insley,
Samuel Jaquess,
Henry Jaquess,
John Inyart,
Cornelius Johnson,
David Kent.
Nugient Kelly,
John Kelly,
John Kelly, Jr. ,
Samuel Kelly,
Jonathan Kinsey,
Ephraim Lockhart,
Adam Leigh,
John Leigh,
Nathan Loofborrow,
John Mootry,
Samuel Moores,
John Moores,
R' •bert Moores,
Thomas Moores,
PERTH AMUOY.
Joseph Johnston
Peter Gordon,
Richard Hews,
William Melvin,
John Barckley,
John Rue.
John Parine,
William Hompton,
John Gordon.
Peter Parine,
Daqnace Mc. CoUum,
James Dyce,
John Jolly,
William Scoby,
Johh Scoby,
Timothy Loyd,
John Throckm orton.

Benjamin Bolph,
John Rinoe,
Reziah Runyon,
William Runalls,
James Ross,
John Roye,
Joseph Shadwell,
John Shadwell,
James Smith,
Icabod Smith,
Shuball Smith,
John Smith,
John Smith, Jr.,
William Sharp,
Obadiah Soper,
John Skinner,
William Spencer,
John Spencer,
William Stone,
Samuel Stone,
Samuel Stone, Jr ,
WiUiam Tharp,
Daniel Tharp,
Benjamin Tharp,
Thomas Tharp,
Zebulon Tharp,
David Tappan,
Abraham Tappan,
Abraham Thorn,
Jacob Thorn,
Israel 'Thornall,
William Thomson,
James Wilkensou,
George Webb,
Richard Wright,
Charles Wright,
Allen WUbenson,
Thomas Wilkenson,
Francis Walker,
William Mc. Donall,
Samuel Carman,
Isaac Noe.

Thomas Applegate,
Matthew Rue,
Henry Parine,
James Parine,
Andrew Gordon,
James Willson,
George Warne,
Stephen Warne,
Humphrey Mount,
John Applegate,
John Dye,
Richard Mount,
Matthew Mount,
James Abrahams,
Francis Buckaloe,
Andrew Crawford,
Nicholas Everson,

46

John Thom.son,
John Burnett,
Charles Rolison,
Richard Fitzrandolph,
Norris Thorp,
William Buinet,
Thomas Skinner,
Samuel Nevill,
Peter Savory,
James Newell,
Pontius Stelle,
Matthias Iselstiue,
Griffen Disbrow,

Benjamin Dunham,
Edward Antill,
Cornelius Low,
Peter Kemble,
Peter Bodine,
Isaac Smally,
Moses Burgess,
Derrick Conine,
Jeremiah Field,
Joseph Ross,
William Olden,
Moses Lonzada,
Hendrick Fisher,
Oriah Boram,
Hendrick Smock,
Cornelius Van Clief,
Robert Matthews,
Israel Fulsom,
John Sebring, Jr.,
Samuel Walker,
William Williamson,
Samuel Long,
Daniel Drake,
Evert Duyckinck,
Henry Longstaff,
John Boyce,
Nathaniel Manning,
Doctor Marser,
Andrew Van Home,
Phineas Potter,
Abraham Drake,
John Stamfast,
Benjamin Woodin,
Daniel Waldron,
Jonathan Martin,
David Fitzrandolph,
John Blackford.
Benjamin Gross,
Peter Martin,
Benjamin Hull,
Gilbert Mullison,
Joseph Sutton,
James Willson,
David Furott,
Elisha Thomson,
Jonathan Thickston,

John Kerr,
Thomas Applegate,
Daniel Pariue,
Frederick Buckaloe,
John Disbrow,
Samuel Warne,
Sjth Ellison,
Samuel Leonard,
John Buckaloe,
Frederick Buckaloe, Jr. ,
John Peairs,
John Jewell,
PISCATAWAY.
Edam Masalason,
Cornelius Clawson,
John Leforge, Jr.,
Runia Runyon,
Benjamin Muuday,
Peter Labryteulx,
Benjamin Martin,
Jacob Bnyce,
Cornelius Buyce,
George Buyce,
Benjamin -Vanveighten,
Benjamin Smalley,
•lohn Dennis,
John Manning,
Jonathan Fitzrandolph,
Philip Conine,
John Sebring,
Benjamin Bond,
William Harris,
Lucas Siuock,
Jeremiah Field, Jr.,
John Boram,
Samuel Drake,
Elias Van Court,
William Bond,
Elisha Whitehead,
John Suttou,
John MoUisim,
Nicholas Leforge,
Thomas Morlatt,
Thomas Pound,
Joseph Mnnday,
Lawrence Reuth,
Peter Woodin,
David Coryell,
George Morlott,
Jouaihau Smalley,
John Pound,
Peter Runyon,
Benjamin Dunn,
Edward Dunham,
Jeremiah Dunn,
Samuel Mackferus,
John Leforge,
Thomas Sutton,
Moses Fitzrandolph,

George Buckaloe,
Peter Buckaloe,
Charles Morgan,
George Leslie,
John HendricksoD,
Thomas Loyd,
George Williams,
James Lnyton,
Francis Letts,
John Letts,
William Buckaloe,
William Letts.

Francis Cassart,
Hendrick Lane,
William Mackridiah,
Charles Wilson,
Eligrah Pound,
Gesbrah Manning,
Moses Freeman,
Peter Sutton,
Joseph Blackford,
Jonathan Dunham,
John Hepborne,
Ebenezer Drake,
Andrew Drake,
John Wooledge,
Isaac Smalley,
Phineas Dunn,
John Longstaff,
John Willson,
Thrustron Manning,
Isaac Manning,
James [Pyatt?]
Nicholas Munday,
Hopewell Munday,
Thomas Munday,
John Holtom,
Moses Martin,
Samuel Munday,
Jeremiah Drake,
Richard Taylor,
Joseph Fitzrandolph,
Joshua Martin,
George Drake,
Benjamin Stelle,
John Pound, Jr.,
John Kent,
James Thompston,
Paul Bertowe,
Philip Drake,
Samuel WMker, Jun.,
John Bodine,
John Stelle,
Benjamin Stelle, Jun.
James Hutchinson,
John Roosevelt,
William French,
Willinm Smith,

47

Samuel Dunn,
James Campbell,
Abraham -Vansickall ,

Lawrance Hartwick,
John MuUiner,
'John Long,

Hendrick Vroom,
George Vroom.

John Collins,
Robert Cammell,
John Ireland,
James Hude,
Joseph Allison,
Daniel Baker,
Dunkan Cammell,
William Cheeseman,
William Cox,
Aaron Deane,
Court Van Voorhees,
Andrew Anderson,
John Corle,
John Lake,
Thomas Lake,
Hendrick Lake,
William Yeats,
Thomas South, Jun.,
James Wall,
William Story,
John Wetherill,
WiUiHiii Wetherill,
George Wetherill,
Thomas Ashlee,
Isaac Fitzrandolph,
Josiah Davison,
Henry Davis,
John Dally,
Thomiis Hageman,
Benjamin Maple,
Thomas Van I)yck,

Archibald Wilson,
Benjamin Doughty,
Benjamin Applegate,
Cornelius Covenhoven,
Charles Jolley,
Elias Smith,
Edward Page,
John Clarkf,
.lohn Schank,
John Olden,
James Worth,
James Clarke,
Isaac Tin gall,
Josiah Van Room,
John Swane, '

NEW BRUNSWICK.
Daniel Baley,
¦Jacob Binge,
Judiah Higgins,
Aaron Longstreet,
John Van Dyck,
Conrad Barckaloe,
Dallius Hageman,
Nicholas Williamson,
Keigniel Fountain,
William Williamson,
Cornelius Dehart,
Arie Bennet,
Isaac Laquere,
Cornelius Cornell,
Jacob Van Ander,
Lafford Waldron,
Nicholas Lake,
Cornelius Cornell, Jun. ,
Roeluff Van Voorhees,
Gerrard Stoutoff,
Jeremiah Van Derbilt,
Henry Longfield,
Lucas Van Voorhees,
David Chambers,
Reubin Runyon.
Nicholas Dally,
Francis Dildine,
Benjamin Price,
Francis Costigin,
James Neilson,

William Ouke,
Derrick Cockeson,
Derrick Schuyler,
Jacob Ouke,
Abraham Schuyler,
Nicholas Vandyck,
Matthias Solium,
Berrant Hartwick,
Benjamin Van Clief,
Aria Van Clief,
Peter Van Norden,
William Murphey,
Peter Slcght,
John Lyell,
Richard Gibbs,
John Van Nuys,
Thomas Mountgomerie,
John Van Pelt,
Daniel Baley, Jun.,
Lawrence -Williamson,
Hendrick Vanduzen,
Tunis Montouey,
Nathaniel Ogden,
Samuel Bailey,
John Guss,
John Denison,
Alexander Craige,
Vorkert Vorkertson,
Jacobus Cornell,
Wm. Blane.

NEW WINDSOR.
James Lane,
James Hepborne,
John Rogers,
Joseph Vance,
John Brown,
Lucas Covenhoven,
Nathaniel Fitzrandolph,
Peter Groom,
Peter Cowenhoven,
Robert Lyall,
William Tingall,
William Cowenhoven,
Wm. Cowenhoven, Jun.
William Page,
William Hankence,

William Hutchinson,
Cornelius Van Voorhees,
Albert Schank,
Samuel Worth,
Benjamin Sutton,
William Ford,
William Dugalls,
Daniel Hendrickson,
Tunis Montanyen,
Joshua Lee,
Thomas Tindall,
Joshua Atchlee,
, William Worth,
Francis Larkins,

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