This outline of the Constitutional History of New York, may give us a tolerable conception of the origin and rise, the nature and progress, of our political institutions. In their infancy, under the Dutch, though necessarily simple, and in some respects narrow and despotic, they yet contained the elements of a sound and expansive polity, which afterwards, on the change in the colonial government, readily blended with the free principles of the English law and constitution. These principles, it is true, were neither adequately secured, nor perfectly enjoyed, during the British rule; but the arbitrary prerogatives claimed, and often exercised, by the Crown and its deputies, and the grievances to which the People were subjected, awakened reflection, and nourished in their bosoms, an intelligent and unquenchable love of liberty. In spite of opposing influences of great power, some of them peculiar to the colony, the inhabitants were thus fitted to embark in the revolutionary struggle. This they did under the leadership of men, in whom genius and talent, courage and fortitude, energy and caution, were remarkably combined with personal virtue and supreme love of country. The metropolis soon fell into the hands of the enemy, and was held by him until the termination of the conflict-his fleets and armies, with fire and sword, carried havoc and devastation to the centre of the State-its northern and western frontiers were often given up to savage warfare, and repeatedly drenched in blood-yet, amid all these discouragements, this hardy, unyielding, and indomitable People gave to the common cause a patient and unwavering support, which essentially contributed to its triumph. In the patriotic, right-principled and well balanced Constitution of 1777, these traits of character were practically exemplified. We may also see, in the provisions of our several Constitutions, the effects of the intermixture of the different races the Dutch-the English, Scotch and Irish-the French, Swedes and German-the Anglo-Americans, from the eastern colonies-from whom our People have been derived. To this cause, and to the great number and diversity of religious sects and opinions which have flowed from it, may especially be ascribed, the absolute freedom and perfect equality, in matters of religion, and the utter separation of the Church from the State, secured by these instruments. The new tide of immigration to this city, and to the interior of the State, from New England, and from various parts of Europe, which began immediately after the peace of 1783, and has ever since continued, still keeps us a mingled population. This state of things, if it has made our people less homogeneous than those of the neighboring States, has also made them more liberal in their opinions, and more ready to adopt and to carry out, the spirit of progress and reform.* It is but seventy years since the establishment of our first Constitution; and yet, besides the amendments of 1801, to that instrument, and the amendments to the Constitution of 1821, there have been framed, during this period, two entire Constitutions, each introducing very great changes, and each going beyond its immediate predecessor, in limiting official power and patronage-in abolishing monopoly and privilege--in freeing the People from needless burthens--in securing the rights of person and of property-in protecting the credit and resources of the State-and in bringing nearer to the ballot, and more completely within its action, all the organs and measures of the Government. Accordingly, our present Constitution--it may safely be affirmedis the freest and most democratic that has ever existed in a territory so extended and populous as our own; and it invites the People-as we have seen-at the end of every twenty years, to apply to its provisions, if the public voice shall demand it, the hand of thorough revision and unsparing reform. The founders of our first Constitution were an industrious and sober-minded, a reflecting and virtuous people. However different in origin and language, in habits and condition, they agreed in their love of order, their respect for law, and their reverence for religion. In some parts of the colony, the means of education were scanty and defective, and the masses had little instruction, except such as they could gain from the pulpit, and, when the art of reading was possessed, from the Dutch or English Bible. Since the delivery of this Discourse, the influence of the mixed origin of the People of New York, on our government and history, has been ably discussed, by Mr. C. F. HOFFMAN, in his Anniversary Discourse, delivered in December last, before the St. Nicholas Society of Manhattan, and recently published. In the same performance he also vindicates the claims of the Pioneers of New York to the authorship of the early civil privileges of the colony. I observe, in passing, that Mr. Hoffman has adopted (p. 22) the mistake of Dunlap, in applying to New Amsterdam, in 1621, the charter to New Amstel in 1656, pointed out ante p. 21. His general strain of reasoning is, however, well sustained by the other historic facts to which he appeals; and the New Amstel charter, though granted at a later day and referring to a different place, may yet, to a certain extent, be vouched for the same purpose, since it shows the liberal principles which the Dutch, before the loss of New Netherland, were prepared to introduce in the management of the colony. From this source, they derived much of their knowledge, and all their morality; and from this same fountain of light and truth, the ablest and most useful of their leaders evidently derived much of their political philosophy, and many of their principles of government. În both classes, there was a sufficient amount of available intelligence and active virtue, large as was the demand for these qualities, to put in motion the new system. With the advance of the State in population and resources, there has been a constant, if not a corresponding, advance, in the means of intellectual and moral culture; and, at all times, so much of enlightenment and virtue in the body of our People, as to enable them to maintain, with success, their republican institutions. With the larger duty they have now assumed, let us hope, that they will be still more sedulous, to fit themselves for its faithful execution. And let each of us resolve, as the lesson of these inquiries and reflections, to cherish and foster, so far as in us lies, and in every way commending itself to our consciences and judgments, the great interests of knowledge and religion, as the best and surest means of securing, in this great commonwealth, the advancement of society and the perpetuity of freedom. |