COLLECTIONS OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1870. New York: Printed for the Society, MDCCCLXXI [1871]. Octavo, pp. [i-ix] x [xi] xii [xiii-xvi] [1] 2-488, original green pebbled cloth stamped in gold and blind, untrimmed, brown coated endpapers. First edition. Pages [1]-144 is "State of the Evidence and Argument in Support of the Territorial Rights and Jurisdiction of New York against the Government of New Hampshire and the Claimants Under it, and Against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" by James Duane, printed from the manuscript brief in the possession of the New York Historical Society. This document prepared for an expected trial, not used in hearings before Congress, "contains the essence of the New York claims in that affair, which was yet unsettled when it was prepared. In all these transactions Mr. Duane was the principal agent and manager on the part of New York" (introduction). The New Hampshire Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants ... were made on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River, territory that was also claimed by the Province of New York. The resulting dispute led to the eventual establishment of the Vermont Republic, which later became the U.S. state of Vermont ... Following the Revolutionary War, Vermont was excluded (primarily due to objections from New York) from the loose confederation established among the 13 former colonies. The state remained outside until 1791. In 1790 New York finally consented to Vermont's admission to the Union. New York ceded its New Hampshire Grants claim to Vermont for 30,000 dollars. A convention was held from January 6 through 10, 1791 at Bennington to consider joining the federal Union. The convention voted 105–2 in favor of seeking admission. Congress gave unanimous approval to Vermont statehood the following month, and on March 4, 1791, the New Hampshire Grants, as Vermont, became the fourteenth state, the first admitted to the Union after adoption of the federal Constitution (Wikipedia). The remainder of the work is devoted to local and family history of "Old New York and Trinity Chruch" and a reprint of Rev. Francis Makemie's sermon, A GOOD CONVERSATION. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, JANUARY 19th, 1706, 7, printed in Boston in 1706, one of the rarest of American tracts. "In 1707, Makemie (1658–1708), an Ulster Scots clergyman, considered to be the founder of Presbyterianism in United States of America, was arrested by Lord Cornbury, the Governor of New York, for preaching without a license from the Crown as required under the Toleration Act. He spent two months in jail before being released on bail. Then at trial he produced his preaching license from Barbados, whereupon he was acquitted and released, but had incurred heavy legal costs. This became a landmark case in favor of religious freedom in America. The controversial Lord Cornbury was recalled to England the following year" (Wikipedia). A ex-library copy with the usual ownership marks (relatively light in this case), cloth worn at spine ends, a sound, very good copy. (#167422).
Price: $50.00
No statement of printing.