8 



ALBANY. 



tion, Solomon Palmer ; Chief -Justice of Su- 

 preme Court, George W. Stone ; Associate 

 Justices, H. M. Somerville and David Clopton. 

 On the 2d of August this ticket was elected. 

 "With one county missing, the vote for Superin- 

 tendent of Education was as follows: Demo- 

 cratic, 144,857 ; Kepublican, 28,688 ; Prohibi- 

 tion, 636. For Chief- Justice, the Democratic 

 vote was 146,293; Republican, 36,867. The 

 constitutional amendment relative to roads 

 was voted down. A majority of the votes 

 cast on the Birmingham amendment were in 

 the affirmative, but, the vote being small, the 

 ratification of the amendment is doubtful. 

 The Legislature is almost wholly Democratic. 

 On the 2d of November, eight Democratic 

 Congressmen were elected. The Legislature 

 met on the 9th of November, and was in ses- 

 sion at the close of the year. 



Confederate Monument. On April 29, the 

 foundation of a monument to the Confederate 

 soldiers of Alabama who died in arms for the 

 Confederate cause was laid on the grounds of 

 the State Capitol in Montgomery by Jefferson 

 Davis. Of this the Governor says : "It is de- 

 signed to perpetuate the names and memories 

 of all Alabamiaus who died in defense of the 

 cause they believed to be just; and every 

 county, city, town, and village in our State is 

 interested in the early erection of this monu- 

 ment to commemorate the patriotism of those 

 whose courage and devotion to duty were 

 illustrated by their death upon the battle-field. 

 . . . They did all that men could do, and the 

 proudest epitaph that can be written upon 

 their monument is, ' They died in defense of 

 their country.' " 



ALASKA. See UNITED STATES. 



ALBANY. Bi-eentennial Celebration of 1 886. The 

 city of Albany celebrated the two-hundredth 

 anniversary of the granting of its charter on 

 July 22, 1886. The claim had been made by 

 many of its citizens that no American city, save 

 St. Augustine, Florida, had a charter of so 

 great an age ; but a careful review of the old 

 Dutch records sustained the counter-claim that 

 New York city had a charter older than that 

 of Albany by several months. The Albanians, 

 therefore, gracefully yielded priority, and cele- 

 brated their anniversary in a manner that ap- 

 pealed more particularly to their local pride. 

 A brief glance at the salient points in the ca- 

 reer of the city will make clearer an outline of 

 the celebration itself. The first settlement of 

 Albany was at Fort Nassau, on what is now 

 called " Castle Island," just below the city. 

 The date usually conceded is 1615, or six years 

 after Hendrick Hudson ascended the river in 

 the " Half-Moon." The high water drove the 

 fort to the mainland, and another was sub- 

 stituted for it in 1623. The new structure, 

 known as Fort Orange, stood near what is now 

 Steamboat Square. There seems to be no 

 doubt that the land surrounding the outlying 

 village, called Beverwyck, was included in the 

 original purchase cf the Van Rensselaer part- 



ners from the Indians. The matter was in 

 doubt for many years, and the uncertainty led 

 to a dispute of the Patroon's claim by the 

 people of Beverwyck. Their cause was assumed 

 by Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of the colony, 

 who came from New York to fire cannon-balla 

 all about the fort in defiance of the Patroon 

 and his agent, Van Slechtenhorst. The Dutch 

 soon (1664) lost the colony to the English, 

 and Beverwyck was thenceforth called Alba- 

 ny, after the Scotch title of the Duke of York, 

 afterward James II. The Patroon had suc- 

 ceeded in establishing his right to Beverwyck 

 in advance of the conquest. A compromise 

 was effected by granting a city charter, leav- 

 ing the exact time of settlement to a future 

 date,- and resulting finally in a settlement of 

 the Patroon's claim for a certain amount of 

 money. It was also thought best to ask and 

 to grant a city charter, because the " Charter of 

 Liberties " had been recently put forth by the 

 new General Assembly of the province, and 



THE STADT HUIS. 



also because the people of Albany had erected 

 at their own expense a meeting-house, a watch- 

 house, and a town-house. Therefore, in the 

 early months of 1686, Thomas Dongan, Lieu- 

 tenant and Governor of the province of New 

 York, sent greeting " to all persons to whom 

 these presents shall come or in anywise con- 

 cern," relative to the chartering of the city of 

 Albany. The new document was received by 

 three prominent citizens of Albany, who went 

 to New York city on that errand. They were 

 Major Peter Schuyler. Robert Livingston, and 

 Dirck Weasels Ten Broeck. The following 

 appears upon the records of the first meet- 

 ing of the justices of the peace thereafter : " In 

 nomine Domino Jesu Cbristi, amen. Att a 

 meeting of ye Justices of ye Peace for ye 

 County of Albany, ye 26th day of July, A. D., 

 1686, Pieter Schuyler, Gent., and Robt. Liv- 

 ingston, Gentn, who were commissionated by 



