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VII. AFTERMATH OF NEW YoRK RATIFICATION
Ebenezer Hazard to Jeremy Belknap
New York, 27 July 1788 (excerpt)'
We were informed last Night from Poughkeepsie that the Convention
of this State had adopted the new Constitution, unconditionally, by a
Majority of six; in Consequence of which the Bells were rung til Midnight.
On Wednesday last [23 July] we had a grand Procession:2-on Thurs-
day Greenleaf ridiculed it in his Paper, & gave great Offence: a number
of his Subscribers dropped his Paper; & last Night (during the Rejoic-
ing) a Body of People collected at his Door:-I am told he fired among
them & wounded one Man; & that they broke his Windows, burst into
his House, & destroyed his Types:-he made his Escape by a back Way.
Oswald, the typographical Cain of Phila. has been confined in Jail
since the 15th. Inst.-is to remain there til the 15th. of next Month,-
& to pay a fine of £10, for Contempt of the Court.3 He & his Friends are
trying to make the Public consider this as an Attack upon the Liberty
of the Press; but the Design is understood, & nothing on the Subject
appears either pro or con, except in his own Paper. He is generally
despised....
1. RC, Belknap Papers, MHi. Printed: Belknap Correspondence, III, 54. Hazard dated the
letter "Sunday Evg. July 27. 1788."
2. See "The New York City Federal Procession," 23 July (RCS:N.Y, 1584-1666).
3. In June 1788, Andrew Brown, formerly the printer of the Philadelphia Federal Gazette,
sued Eleazer Oswald, printer of the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, for libel. While the
suit was pending, Oswald published an article about it, and, as a result, he was fined and
imprisoned a month for contempt of court. In June 1788 Oswald acted as a courier
between New York and Virginia Antifederalists. See "New York Convention Antifederalist
Committee of Correspondence to George Mason," 21 June (RCS:N.Y, 1796-1801).
Seth Johnson to Andrew Craigie
New York, 27 July 1788 (excerpts)'
Yours of the 21 July came to hand last evening. B is competent
& attentive to the business of making the purchases. I cannot say how
much money I can expect from Mr. S. I will endeavour to answer this
by next post. Indents are now selling from 3/ to 3/3 specie. I am of
opinion they will rise & continue to be more valuable than the prin-
cipal.-expectations are formed of the new government's making pro-
vision for the Indents, which the present inability of the country will
not permit them to do for the principal; and indeed it is thought prob-
able that the principal will rise with the expectations which our new
constitution causes: but as soon as the government is in motion, &
people find that they were too sanguine in their hopes of provision
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