the day (April 30, 1789). To John Jay Washington tendered the choice of offices within his gift. He preferred a place in the judiciary department, and was appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States.

Hamilton was given a seat in the cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury. In that capacity he soon developed that remarkable system which laid the basis for the national financial policy and established public credit.

New York's First Representatives. In the first Congress under the constitution (March 4, 1789), New York had at first no representatives in the Senate. This was owing to a quarrel between the two branches of the legislature. The Federalists controlled the senate and

the Anti-federalists ruled the assembly. They refused to agree, and hence New York took no part in the election of the first President, and had no voice in the Senate until another state election gave the Federalists a majority in both branches of the legislature. Rufus King and Philip Schuyler were then chosen senators. In 1791 Aaron Burr, an Anti-federalist, was chosen senator to succeed Schuyler. The first representatives in Congress were Egbert Benson, William Floyd, John Hathorn, John Lawrence, Peter Silvester, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. In December, 1790, New York ceased to be the capital of the federal government. which was moved to Philadelphia.

Dispute with Vermont.-At the close of 1790 there were seventeen counties in the state. Two of these and part of another are now in Vermont. The success of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in establishing their western boundaries against the claims of New York, emboldened Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire to claim what is now Vermont. He issued land grants to settlers in that region (1760-68) in the face of protests from New York, whose title was valid and confirmed by George III. Of course a conflict soon arose between those who held grants from New York and those who held grants from New Hampshire. The former paid taxes to New York, the latter refused to do so.

Vermont Becomes a State.-Chief among those who resisted New York's authority were Seth Warner and Ethan Allen. Allen, as commander of the armed force, protected the New Hampshire grantees and even removed the New York settlers. This led Governor Tryon to offer a reward of £150 for the capture of Allen

and £50 each for several of his associates (1774). The war of the Revolution and the patriotic services of Allen and his comrades checked further proceedings against them. When Vermont applied for admission to the Union (1789), New York successfully opposed it. Finally Vermont agreed to pay $30,000 as compensation to settlers from New York who had suffered from the hostility of other settlers, and then New York withdrew all objection (1791).

CHAPTER XXIII.-THE DISPOSAL OF WESTERN LANDS

Condition in 1800.-In 1790 the population of New York was 340,120 and the state ranked fifth. In 1800 New York had risen to third place. This was due, in large part, to emigration to the western wilderness. In 1771 Albany county embraced all northern and western New York. The next year Tryon and Charlotte counties, changed in 1784 to Montgomery and Washington, were formed. When the Revolution closed, the whole state west of Utica was not settled by white men. By 1800 there were 94,000 whites west of the Hudson, and thirty counties in the state. Clinton, Essex, and Saratoga had been created on the north; Greene, Delaware, and Rockland in the south; Herkimer, Otsego, Schoharie, Oneida, Chenango, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tioga, Ontario, and Steuben in the center and west; and Columbia in the east. By 1791 over 5,000,000 acres of land had been sold, some of it as low as six cents an acre, and $1,000,000 had been turned into the state treasury.

Sullivan's Famous Expedition (1779-80) first made known to the revolutionary soldiers from New England and the Middle States the beauty and fertility of western New York. In 1784 the first settlement near Utica was made by Hugh White and family from Connecticut. This was the origin of Whitestown. Settlement was rapid. In a few years log cabins had sprung up along rivers and lakes. "Hosts of New Englanders poured into New York. They cleared the forests, bridged the streams, built up towns, cultivated the lands, and sent back to Albany and Troy the yield of their farms." The Germans and Dutch were not far behind them. Up the Susquehanna came settlers from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to settle the "Lake Country." "In 1800 the front of emigration was far beyond Elmira and Bath."

1

First Settlements. Horatio Jones and Lawrence Smith located at Seneca Falls, and Amos Draper at Oswego (1785). Ephraim Webster and family settled Onondaga county, and Samuel Harris, Steuben county (1786). James Bennet was at West Cayuga, Captain Joseph Leonard at Binghamton, and several "Yankees" at Geneva (1787). Moses Foot and ten families founded Clinton; Oliver Phelps, Canandaigua; Colonel John Handy, Elmira; and Corning, Havana, and Watkins were begun (1788). Judge Cooper established Cooperstown; Horseheads, Ithaca, Ovid, Aurora, Waterloo, Penn Yan, Honeoye, Lyons, and Palmyra were started, and Troy received its present name (1789). John Swift also built a log house at Elmira; Geneseo and Naples were located, and Monroe and Liv

1 This was a name then applied to people from New England,

ingston counties were inhabited (1790). Newark and Wayne took root (1791), and also Bath and Trumansburg (1792). Auburn and Hammondsport were begun (1793). The first white settler in Allegany county

Lewis and Jefferson coun-
Buffalo, early called New

was Nathaniel Dike (1795). ties were settled (1797-8). Amsterdam, had several log houses, a store, and a tavern (1798). Batavia and Westfield were not starte l till 1801. Such was western New York at the opening of the nineteenth century.

Among

Baron

On this

There a

Character of Settlers.-Settlers came by thousands from the east and south, and across the ocean. them were Tories and disbanded soldiers. Steuben received 16,000 acres from the state. tract the old soldier spent the rest of his life. county and a town bear his name, and a monument is erected in his honor. To raise troops New York had promised 500 acres of land to every private and non-commissioned officer. Commissioned officers were promised 1,000 acres for a subaltern and 5,500 acres for a major-general (1781). After the war the soldiers demanded these bounty lands. Commissioners were appointed to settle the claims (1784), but it was not until 1786 that the surveyor-general was ordered to lay out townships for the soldiers.

The "Old Military Tract" of twelve townships was laid out in Essex, Clinton, and Franklin counties. But this was poor land, and the speculators, who had bought up most of the claims of the soldiers, demanded lands in the west. Accordingly the "New Military Tract" was laid out between Oneida and Seneca lakes (1789-90). It included Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Cortland,