The First Constitution of Neio York. 



41 



sided with the king. In the colony at the outbreak of hostilities, they 

 were the large landed proprietors, like Beverly Robinson, Frederic 

 Phillipse, Philip Van Cortlandt, David Colden, Sir John Johnson, of 

 Tryon county, and they controlled the political opinions of their 

 tenantry. Among the adherents of the crown were some of the 

 Livingstons, Staats Morris, the brother of Gouverneur Morris, and Dr. 

 Isaac Wilkins, his brother-in-law, whose influence in the colonial as- 

 sembly kept that body to its kingly allegiance after hostilities had 

 actually begun. 



These differences were made more potent by the jealousies which 

 New York already felt toward her sister colonies. Already her citizens 

 foresaw that New York was to be the Empire State. They were aware 

 of the commercial supremacy of her harbor; they knew there was no 

 limit yet set to the spread of her settlers through the wilderness of 

 Tryon county — then the " great west; " and they detected little profit 

 in alliance with weaker States. During the entire year tbat this com- 

 mittee waited, it was doubtful whether New York would be one of 

 the confederacy, or the ally of the king against her neighbors. The 

 influence of a few bold and far-seeing men barely turned the scale. 



These things make it all the more a matter of marvel that the first 

 Constitution of New York, when finally adopted, was a frame-work so 

 free from faults. It is the verdict of experience, that it was the best 

 of the thirteen Constitutions under which the colonies severally passed 

 upon the Declaration of Independence. Bancroft says of it, that al- 

 though it was the last of the thirteen, " in the largeness of its humane 

 liberality, it excelled them all." The praise of the eminent historian 

 brings us face to face with its chief beauty. Seven of the thirteen 

 States required some religious test, as a qualification for office. In 

 Massachusetts and Maryland, it was enough to declare " belief in the 

 Christian religion." In South Carolina and Georgia it was "the 

 Protestant religion." In North Carolina, it was " God, the Protestant 

 religion, and the Divine authority of the old and new Testaments." 

 Not until 1877 did New Hampshire formally remove the test of 

 Protestantism from her organic law. New York, one hundred 

 years ago, alone of all the States, abolished all religious tests for 

 office ; and in the name of " her good people," she did " ordain, de- 

 termine and declare the free exercise of religious profession and wor- 

 ship, without discrimination or preference, to all mankind." The 

 men of this young commonwealth felt themselves " required by the 

 benevolent principles of national liberty, not only to expel civil tyranny, 

 but also to guard against that spiritual oppression and intolerance 



