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The Hempstead Convention was a ten-day assembly where 34 delegates met starting on February 28, 1665, "to settle good and known laws" according to a letter by newly appointed Governor Richard Nicolls, the first English colonial governor of the Province of New York.
Towns were invited to send two delegates who were "the most sober, able and discrete persons" chosen by taxpayers at their respective Town meetings.
Nicoll opened the Convention by reading the Duke's Patent and his own commission. He then announced laws similar to those in New England, with one critical difference. They were less severe "in matters of conscience and of Religion." Blasphemy and witchcraft, for instance, were not included among the eleven capital crimes. Other provisions included equal taxation, trial by jury, establishment of land tenure with land being held from the Duke, and old patents were recalled and new ones required. Significant for future settlement, was that no land purchases from the Indians were to be made without consent. Every parish was required to build and maintain a church, and no minister was to officiate, who "had not received ordination from some Bishop or Minister" of the Anglican Church. Prayers for the English royal family were required and services were to be held on the historic days of Nov. 5th, January 30, and May 29. Other laws were enacted to guide the manners of the time and actions of daily life.
These laws were met by some resistance for the conferees, who had hoped for freedom equal or greater than in the new England colonies. They desired all civil officers be chosen by the freemen, all military officers by the soldiers, and that no magistrate "should have any yearly maintenance." One request that would gain strength nearly a century later was that no tax should be imposed only with the consent of deputies to the General Court. This might be considered an early expression of the concept, no taxation without representation.
Some compromises were made, though for others, Nicolls recommended if delegates wanted a greater share in government than his instructions allowed, they "must go to the King for it." [1]
The Judiciary was also formed at this meeting. The High Sheriff of Yorkshire was to yearly appoint a Deputy for each Riding. Two Justices holding office at the Governor's pleasure, were given to each town. The towns were allowed yearly, on the first day of April, to elect a constable and eight overseers (later reduced to four). Two of the overseers were chosen to "make a rate" for maintenance of the church and clergyman, and support of the poor. From the overseers the Constable selected jurors to attend the Courts of Sessions and Assize. The Court of Assize was the highest tribunal, subordinate only to the Governor and Duke. The Governor, his Council, and the Magistrates of several towns met yearly in New York. The court held jurisdiction in suits of over twenty pounds, and appellate to lesser amounts.
At the close of the Convention, Governor Nicoll appointed William Wells of Southold as High Sheriff, Captain John Underhill as High Constable and Surveyor-General, and the following as Justices: Daniel Denton of Jamaica, John Hicks of Hempstead, Jonas Wood of Huntington, and James Hubbard of Gravesend.
High Sheriffs of Yorkshire would continue to be appointed, until counties were organized in 1683. High Sheriffs that followed included William Wells (1665–69), Robert Coe (1669–72), John Manning (1672–75), Sylvester Salisbury (1675–76), Thomas Willet (1676-79), Richard Betts, (1679–81), and John Youngs (1681-1683). [2]
The Middle Colonies were a subset of the Thirteen Colonies in British America, located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies. Along with the Chesapeake Colonies, this area now roughly makes up the Mid-Atlantic states.
John Underhill was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, where he also served as governor; the New Haven Colony, New Netherland, and later the Province of New York, settling on Long Island. Hired to train militia in New England, he is most noted for leading colonial militia in the Pequot War (1636–1637) and Kieft's War which the colonists mounted against two different groups of Native Americans. He also published an account of the Pequot War.
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the United States.
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming a proprietary colony. The English renamed the province after the island of Jersey in the English Channel. The Dutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673–1674. After that it consisted of two political divisions, East Jersey and West Jersey, until they were united as a royal colony in 1702. The original boundaries of the province were slightly larger than the current state, extending into a part of the present state of New York, until the border was finalized in 1773.
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and was based in the merging of several earlier British colonies in New England. The charter took effect on May 14, 1692, and included the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of Maine, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the direct successor. Maine has been a separate state since 1820, and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are now Canadian provinces, having been part of the colony only until 1697.
A high sheriff is a ceremonial officer for each shrieval county of England and Wales and Northern Ireland or the chief sheriff of a number of paid sheriffs in U.S. states who outranks and commands the others in their court-related functions. In Canada, the High Sheriff provides administrative services to the supreme and provincial courts.
Richard Nicolls was the first English colonial governor of New York province.
The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constitution's provisions tend to be more detailed and amended more often than its federal counterpart. Because the history of the state constitution differs from the federal constitution, the New York Court of Appeals has seen fit to interpret analogous provisions differently from United States Supreme Court's interpretation of federal provisions.
Samuel Moore, was notable as one of the civil leaders in the early years of the Province of New Jersey.
The Duke of York's Laws for the Government of the Colony of New York were a set of guidelines laid out during the early years of English rule in the Colony of New York.
John Lawrence (1618–1699) was Mayor of New York City from 1672 to 1674, and again in 1691.
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress (1774–1780) was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay early in the American Revolution. Based on the terms of the colonial charter, it exercised de facto control over the rebellious portions of the province, and after the British withdrawal from Boston in March 1776, the entire province. When Massachusetts Bay declared its independence in 1776, the Congress continued to govern under this arrangement for several years. Increasing calls for constitutional change led to a failed proposal for a constitution produced by the Congress in 1778, and then a successful constitutional convention that produced a constitution for the state in 1780. The Provincial Congress came to an end with elections in October 1780.
Benjamin Platt Carpenter was an American lawyer and politician from New York and Montana. He was governor of the Montana Territory from 1884 to 1885.
Matthias Nicoll, a.k.a. Nicolls, was the sixth mayor of New York City from 1672 to 1673. He is the patriarch of the Nicoll family, which settled and owned much of Long Island, New York. Numerous place names on the island now bear the Nicoll name.
The Council of Assizes, also referred to as the Court of Assize, was given power of making, altering and abolishing any laws of New York. The Court had yearly meetings. The Governor and Council attended and had complete power of the proceedings. They were joined by the High Sheriff and the Justices of the lower courts who were subservient to the Governor.
During the American colonial era, the colonies of New York and Connecticut often disputed the precise location of their shared border, leading to a border dispute that eventually gave the colonies their modern shapes. Though the dispute was officially resolved in 1731, effects of the boundary conflict persisted until well after both colonies gained statehood as part of the United States following the American Revolution.
The New Amsterdam judicial system was initially developed privately by the Dutch East India Company, and gradually brought into closer conformity with Dutch law of the period.
Captain John Scott of Long Island (c.1634?–1704) was a royal advisor, military leader, spy, cartographer, attorney, land speculator, and early settler and leader of Long Island. He lobbied to make Long Island a colony in North America with himself as governor and, when not appointed by the crown, was elected President of Long Island by that region's leaders. He was often in financial and legal trouble through land speculation and other enterprises and has been called a swindler and scoundrel. He was the principal accuser in the plot leading to the imprisonment of Samuel Pepys in 1679.
William Nicoll was an English-born colonial American merchant and politician who served as the Speaker of the New York General Assembly.