NEW YORK INTRODUCTION

will discover such feebleness and want of Energy as will stain us with
Disgrace and expose us to the worst of Evils."16
A New State Perspective
With the end of hostilities and the evacuation of British troops, the
military justification for a strong Union with increased congressional
powers ended. Consequently, New Yorkers reassessed their state's po-
sition within the Union. Alexander Hamilton reported from Congress
that "There are two classes of men [in Congress] . . . one attached to
state, the other to Continental politics."'7 In postwar New York two
political parties developed-the followers of Governor Clinton opted
to address the state's problems, while the followers of Philip Schuyler
favored a more Continental program.
Hamilton described his father-in-law as the second most influential
man in the state-second only to the governor. Schuyler, however, ac-
cording to Hamilton, had "more weight in the Legislature than the
Governor; but not so much as not to be exposed to the mortification
of seeing important measures patronised by him frequently miscarry. "18
In a candid characterization of Schuyler's role in the state Senate, the
governor wrote "in special Confidence" in January 1787 that "Genl
Schuyler arrived last Night & now I suppose the Senate Room will ring
with incoherent Rhapsody and feigned Patriotism, hitherto it has been
blessed with singular Harmony-So much for Politics."19 By the end of
1786, the mantle had shifted to Hamilton.
Party structure and hierarchy were not as clear on the other side.
Everyone knew that George Clinton controlled a large number of leg-
islative votes, and that he was the titular head of a party composed of
several factions led by different men. The aristocratic Schuylerites-
later to be Hamiltonians-did not want the popular governor as an
avowed, personal enemy. Far better to oppose some of the more radical
factions led by Abraham Yates, Jr., John Lansing, Jr., Ephraim Paine,
and "the levellers" Mathew Adgate and Jacob Ford. Yates served es-
pecially well as the aristocrats' whipping boy. According to Hamilton,
he "is a man whose ignorance and perverseness are only surpassed by
his pertinacity and conceit. He hates all high-flyers, which is the ap-
pellation he gives to men of genius."20
George Clinton was satisfied to exert his influence behind the scenes
and was not eager to be publicly acclaimed as the leader of a political
party. He believed that he could be more effective above the fray of
partisan politics. Furthermore the majority in the legislature was com-
posed of various elements, some of which were too radical for the gov-
ernor's taste. By staying publicly aloof, the governor stayed out of the

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