RAYMOND, Allan Russell, 1941- THE POLITICAL CAREER OF CADWALLADER COLDEN. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 History, modern University Microfilms. A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE POLIT10AL CAREER OF CADWALLADER COLDEN DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Allan Russell Raymond, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1971 Approved b Advi^r Department of History PLEASE NOTE: Some pages have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Eduration Company VITA July 29; 1941... Born, Fall River, Massachusetts 1963........... B.A., Bowdoln College, Brunswick, Maine 1963-1965....... Teacher, Kingfield High School, King- field, Maine I965-I967...... Peace Corps Volunteer, Turkey 1967-196 8...... Teaching Assistant, Department of His­ tory, The Ohio State University, Colum­ bus, Ohio 1968.......... M.A., The Ohio State University, Colum­ bus, Ohio 1968-I97 I Teaching Associate, Department of His­ tory, the Ohio State University, Colum­ bus , Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Colonial and Revolutionary America. Pro­ fessors Bradley Chapin and Paul Bowers Minor Field: American Constitutional and Legal His­ tory. Professor Bradley Chapin Minor Field: American Diplomatic History, Professor Marvin Zahniser TABLE OF CONTENTS Page VITA. ................. il INTRODUCTION.................................... 1 Chapter I. THE EARLY YEARS......................... 6 II. ADVISOR TO THE GOVERNOR: PART ONE.... 57 III. ADVISOR TO THE GOVERNOR: PART TWO......... 106 IV. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR COLDEN: LEGAL BATTLES. 168 V. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR COLDEN: THE STAMP CRI­ SIS.................. 225 VI. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR COLDEN: REAP THE WHIRLWIND.......................... 260 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 305 INTRODUCTION This paper is severely limited in its scope, Cad- wallader Golden was a man of exceedingly broad interests and represents a versetility rarely found in colonial Am­ erica. He was a doctor, a philosopher, a scientist inter­ ested in a wide range of activities, an historian, an ed­ ucator, and a politician. To discuss merely Golden’s po­ litical career is to present only a shadow of the man, just as such a treatment of Thomas Jefferson would not reveal most of the depth of that great figure. Likewise, this is not a complete account of the de­ velopment of New York provincial politics except for those years when Golden was a participant. Thus there are gaps which must be filled from other sources for a com­ plete picture of perhaps the most controversial of royal provinces. A classic debate has raged over the nature of New York provincial politics since Garl Becker wrote The His­ tory of Political Parties in the Province of New York. 1760-1776. In that seminal work Becker argued that the revolution was the result of two movements; a struggle for home rule, and "the democratization of American po- 1 litle8 and society", movements generally summed up as the questions of home rule and who should rule at home,^ As Becker looked at colonial New York, he saw no political parties in the strictest sense; merely those men currently attached to the governor and those using the assembly to thwart his wishes. He felt that the aris­ tocracy dominated politics with an organization on the "feudal principle of the personal relation", largely eco­ nomic ties and marriages. Thus political issues were those of family interests. Aristocratic predominance was aided by a "wide spread indifference to political matters" and a natural tendency of the lower classes to subservience. The assembly to Becker was not really a democratic insti­ tution; but since the governor's legal position was un­ assailable, the assembly was forced to Justify itself increasingly in terms of natural rights and the general 2 welfare. This view has come under increasing attack. Most critics will accept that New York was ",,,perhaps the most aristocratic of all Britain's North American colo­ nies in the eighteenth century, ", and was dominated by the large landlords and great merchants organized in a number of great families,^ But now historians are in­ clined to discount much of Becker, They often admit the apparent general lack of ideological content in election campaigns, point to the identification of factions by 3 family names, to the virtual monopoly of these families on high office, and the landholding system as dominant features.^ But they claim a much more reliable indicator is the way men act, and as one recent historian remarked, a political history of New York, "...is the story of party rivalries. Perhaps the modern approach is bast summed up by Milton Klein. "The student of its politics must work his way through a tangled morass of related elements in­ volving the interplay of family alliances and rivalries; conflicting economic interests— land and trade, monopo­ lists and free traders, wholesalers and retailers; eth­ nic and national differences ; religious tensions; and sectional differences— the Hudson Valley, New York .6 City, Long Island," This view of provincial politics is more realistic, taking into consideration the multitude of factors opera­ tive in the province and given partial expression by Philip Livingston, "we Change Sides: as Serves our In­ terest best not ye Countries." But even given this more sophisticated approach, much of the material from which to draw conclusions is not yet done. We lack bio­ graphies of most of the major figures in the provincial politics of Now York from 1700 until the eve of the 8 Revolution, 4 Golden is a crucial figure for an understanding of ©vents in New York. His life has been treated extensively only in a work done in I906 which badly needs revision and updating. He was most expert in Indian affairs and land administration, two areas that inclined him to an imperial point of view. Thus Golden's long career shows the failure of that viewpoint in the colonies and indi­ cates some of the reasons for that failure. FOOTNOTES ^Carl Becker, The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York. 17^0-177§ (Madison. Wisconsin: 1909), PP. 5, 22 ^Milton Klein, "Politics and Personalities in Colo­ nial Hew York," New York History. XLVII (1966), p, 3 ^Becker pointed to these things in "Nominatlona in Colonial New York," American Historical Review. VI, (1900- 1901), pp. 260-75 ^Klein, og. cit., p. 5 ^Ibid., p. 8 "^Livingston to Jacob Wendell, 23 July, 1737, Museum of the Ooty of New York, cited in Stanley N. Katz, New­ castle *s New York Anglo-American Politics. 1732-1753 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1968), p, Ô4 ^Lawrence Leder, "A Neglected Aspect of New York* s Forgotten Century." New York History. XXXVII (1954), pp. 259-65 CHAPTER 1 THE EARLY YEARS Cadwallader Golden was born In Ireland on February 7» 1688. His father, Alexander Golden, was a minister in Scotland, Alexander wanted his son to follow him in the mi.istry and sent Oadwallader to the University of Edin­ burgh. If Gadwallader had pursued that course, his ca­ reer would probably have been relatively successful, aided by his father's connections. At the university. Golden found his interests aroused by science rather than the church. After graduation he traveled in Europe for a time before going to London to study medicine, the pro­ fession he had chosen to follow. But Golden soon saw that his father lacked the necessary funds to establish him in a practice in the manner he desired either in Lon­ don or in Scotland. Indeed, part of the money for his education had come from the Duke of Roxburgh as his father had not been able to afford even that,^ At this time fortune intervened. Elizabeth Hill, his mother's sister, wrote from Philadelphia to suggest that Gadwalladeg? set up his practice there. Elizabeth was a childless widow with some property, and the offer was an 6 7 appealing one. Golden arrived In Philadelphia in 1710, hut even there patients were not abundant, and he turn­ ed increasingly to trade ventures, on occasion sailing to the southern colonies or the West Indies.^ Golden returned briefly to Scotland in 1715; a visit marred by the Jacobite uprising of that year. He made the journey north from London with Lord Jedburgh, later the Marquis of Lothian, e childhood friend who was returning to Scotland to raise volunteers to suppress the rebels. Golden raised seventy men at Jedburgh's request, but this force dispersed on orders when faced by a larger rebel force at Kelso,^ This visit to Scotland in 1715 later would be used by political enemies in New York who ac­ cused Golden of having been a Jacobite drummer in the up­ rising. On a more pleasant note, while in Scotland Gol­ den married Alice Ghrystie, the daughter of another clergyman. The couple returned to Philadelphia in 1716, and Golden resumed his trading ventures. At some time in 1718 Golden visited New York for three days. While there he made the customary courtesy call upon the royal governor. General Robert Hunter", Hunter, a fellow Scot, was impressed with Golden, hold­ ing two more conversations with him during the brief stay. Less than a month after Golden's return to Phila­ delphia, he received a letter from Hunter; an invitation 8 to New York, and an offer of a position in the government. By the beginning of August Golden had made the move,^ The New York City that Golden entered was a small, ’ ustling seaport whose architecture still reflected its Dutch heritage. Increasing numbers of more typically English structures were rising. Its skyline was a uniform one of two to four story homes, warehouses and shops, broken only by the steeples of the four chief churches, the chapel in Fort George, and the weathervane on city hall,^ Hunter and Golden worked well together.