Sign up to receive email notices of recent acquisitions.

At a very numerous meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Troy…on the 7th day of may, 1812…to take into consideration the present embarrassed and calamitous situation of our country…resolved, [caption title]. [With, as issued:] (Circular.) Troy, N.Y. May 7, 1812. Sir, the inhabitants of the town of Troy, feeling in common with their Fellow-Citizens the calamities which the disastrous policy of the government has overwhelmed our country…

[Troy, N.Y.? May, 1812]. Folio. Two leaves, on a large folded sheet. Resolutions printed on the first page, Circular printed on the third page. Addressed in manuscript and postmarked May 15 at New York on the blank fourth page. CONDITION: Old folds for mailing. Some edgewear and tears along the folds (affecting only two letters of text). Tanned, some staining. Very good overall.

A rare and urgent set of resolutions issued by the citizens of Troy, New York in opposition to James Madison’s embargo on trade with Great Britain, requested by the President on April 1, 1812. These resolutions were pronounced by the citizens of Troy just a month after that and directly challenge Madison’s embargo, but ultimately to no effect. The formal of declaration of war against Great Britain came in June, resulting in the War of 1812.

Years of British harassment of American vessels trading with Europe, and England’s continuing impressment of American sailors into the service of His Majesty’s Navy, strained Anglo-American relations to the breaking point by early 1812. Madison hoped that an embargo on trade with Great Britain might convince Parliament to end its commercial restrictions. On April 1st, Madison requested an embargo of sixty days; the Senate extended the time period to ninety days (in the hopes of giving England more time to react) and Congress approved the embargo on April 4th. “A very numerous meeting of the inhabitants” of Troy, New York was held on May 7th, and they issued a series of ten resolutions, printed here. 

The resolutions are both practical and high-minded. They remind the readers “That Commerce, the nurse and support of Agriculture, is the basis of the wealth and prosperity of the Northern and Eastern States, congenial with the habits, the genius, and the character of their inhabitants. The total interdiction of Commerce, therefore, is an evil which presses with peculiar and unequal weight upon these States, and if persevered in, must dry up their resources, paralize the spirit of industry and enterprize, and extend incalculable distress to every class of the community.” They continue with the assertion that “acts of Congress prohibiting the exportation of the Produce and Manufactures of their Country, as inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution and destructive of the vital interests of the United States.” Further, they implore that only defensive war is compatible “with the genius, the spirit and safety of a free government,” and that a war of conquest “will most certainly lead to the establishment of a permanent military force, dangerous to the Constitution and liberties of our Country.” 

The penultimate resolution names fifteen prominent citizens to make up a “Committee of Correspondence to communicate the proceedings of this meeting to our fellow-citizens in other parts of the country,” inviting their concurrence and cooperation. Among the members of the Committee are several prominent residents of Troy (which was a Federalist-leaning community) including former Congressman George Tibbits (chairman of the committee) and Hugh Peebles, among others. Appearing on the third page of this document is the printed “Circular,” dated at Troy on May 7th and signed in type by the fifteen members of the Committee, transmitting the resolutions of the townspeople “with an unanimity unexampled for the last thirteen years [i.e., since the Quasi War with France], assembled and expressed to the Government and World, their most decided disapprobation of the recent measures and views of Congress.” 

This copy was sent to Stephen Row Bradley, a United States Senator from Vermont and is addressed to him at Washington on the blank fourth page. Stephen Row Bradley (1754–1830) was a significant figure in the early political history of the state of Vermont. Born in Connecticut and a graduate of Yale, he studied law and commanded a volunteer company during the Revolution, and then moved to Vermont where he was involved in politics and law. After Vermont attained statehood in 1791 Bradley was elected one of the first two senators from the state, serving until 1813 (with the exception of 1795 to 1801, when he was out of office). Bradley was a Jeffersonian and a supporter of Madison’s and these resolutions were likely sent to him to inform him of Federalist sentiment in upstate New York, not far from the Vermont border. 

We find just two other examples, at the National Archives and at Yale. OCLC lists several microform and electronic records, apparently provided by the American Antiquarian Society, but the AAS online catalogue states that they do not own an actual copy. Very rare and significant, coming less than a month before the formal declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812. 

REFERENCES: Shaw & Shoemaker 24653; OCLC 54178507.

Item #9492

Price: $4,500.00

Add to Wish List