Description:

Revolutionary War

New York Legislature Appoints Delegates to Interstate Conference on Inflation

 

JOHN MCKESSON and ROBERT BENSON, Autograph Document Signed, Resolutions, October 14, 1779, [New York. 2 pp., 8.25" x 13." Expected folds; some browning and small marginal tears. From the Library of Charles I. Forbes, off the market for 60 years!

 

Complete Transcript

State of New York                                           In Assembly Octr 14th 1779.

Mr Benson from the Committee from this House of the joint Committee of the Senate and Assembly to whom were referred the Message from his Excellency the Governor of the 13th Instant with the Letter from the General Assembly of the State of Massachusetts Bay accompanying the same brought in the report of the said Committee which being read was agreed to by the House, and thereupon

Resolved that if the Honoble the Senate concur herein The Honorable John Sloss Hobart Esq and such other persons as they shall think proper to nominate or any two of them be appointed agents on the part of this State to meet consult and confer with the Deputies or Agents from the States of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire Connecticut and Rhode Island at Hartford on the twentieth day of October Instant agreeable to the request & Proposal contained in a Letter from the General Assembly of the State of Massachusetts Bay to His Excellency the Governor of this State of the 28th of Septr last of and concerning the several matters & things mentioned in the said Letter and of & concerning such other matters and Things as may be deemed proper Subjects of such consultation and conference and that the said Agents so appointed on the part of this State report the result of such consultation and conference to the Legislature at their meeting.

Resolved that the Legislature will in Case of such Concurrence as afd make a reasonable and proper compensation to the said agents for their Services and Expences in the Execution of the Business hereby committed to them.

Ordered that Mr Benson and Mr Fox carry a copy of the two last Resolutions to the Honorable the Senate for concurrence.

                                                A true copy from the Minutes

                                                                        John McKesson Clk

[Endorsement:

                                                                        In Senate Octr 14th 1779.

Resolved that this Senate do concur with the honble the house of Assembly in their said Resolutions, and

Resolved that the Honorable William Floyd and Ezra L’hommedieu Esquires be and they are hereby nominated for the Purposes in the said Resolutions mentioned.

Ordered that Mr Mynderse carry a Copy of the aforegoing Resolutions to the Honble house of Assembly.

                                                By order of the Senate

                                                                        Robt Benson Clk

[Endorsement:

1  The six petitions to be counted & the Blanks filed.

2  This Resolution to be amended.

3  The Entry of the Refugee petitions to be amended.

 

 

Historical Background

Alarmed by the rate of inflation for necessary goods, the governor of Massachusetts Bay called on fellow New England states and New York to send representatives to a meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. Thirteen delegates from the five states met on October 20 and elected former Rhode Island governor Stephen Hopkins president. They considered whether to impose price controls to check inflation and the depreciation of continental and state paper currency. The convention decided to call for a wider convention in January 1780 to meet in Philadelphia and to invite all states from New Hampshire to Virginia.

 

On October 28, Hopkins wrote to Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson asking him to lay the convention’s resolutions before the Virginia legislature. A convention did assemble in Philadelphia in January and February 1780 with commissioners from the four New England states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, but New York and Virginia were conspicuously absent. This convention likewise failed in their efforts to dealt with the problem of inflation. The lack of cooperation from all states made it economically disastrous for one state to impose price controls.

 

John McKesson (c. 1735-1798) was a prominent New York City lawyer and ally of Governor George Clinton. In 1775, he was secretary to the New York provincial congress and the province’s committee of safety. From 1777 to 1794, he served as clerk of the New York state assembly.

 

Robert Benson (1739-1823) inherited his father’s brewery in 1762 and continued as a brewer for a few years before selling the business. He served as secretary of the New York Provincial Congress in 1775 and 1776, as secretary of the New York Senate from 1777 to 1784, and as aide-de-camp to New York Governor George Clinton. After the war, Benson bought farmland in Brooklyn and settled there. He was the older brother of Founding Father Egbert Benson (1746-1833).

 

John Sloss Hobart (1738-1805) was born in Connecticut and graduated from Yale College in 1757. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in New York. He served as a delegate to the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777, and a justice on the New York Supreme Court from 1777 to 1798. He was a member of the 1788 New York convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. He took a seat in the U.S. Senate, when Philip Schuyler resigned for health reasons and served from January to April 1798, when he resigned to accepted a position as judge of the United States District Court for the District of New York. He served there from April 1798 to his death.

 

William Floyd (1734-1821) was born in New York and served as a delegate from New York to the Continental Congress (1774-1776, 1779-1783), where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a major general in the militia in the early stages of the Revolutionary War and served in the New York Senate in 1777 and 1778 and again from 1784 to 1788. Floyd represented New York in the first U.S. Congress from 1789 to 1791.

 

Ezra L’hommedieu (1734-1811) was born in New York and graduated from Yale College in 1754. He read law and established a law practice in New York City. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1777 to 1783 and in the New York Senate from 1784 to 1792 and again from 1794 to 1809. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1779 to 1783 and again in 1788.

 

 

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