Historical Summary

IN a message to the New York House of Assembly, June 13, 1766, Governor Moore informed the House of the expected arrival of troops in the city, and recommended that provision be made for them in accordance with the late Quartering Act [No. 34]. On the 19th the House adopted five resolutions, reported by Philip Livingston, excusing themselves from compliance with the request, on the ground that the requisition was "of such a nature and tendency that, should it be granted, the expence might, and probably would, very soon exceed the ability of this colony to pay, as the number of troops that may from time to time require the like provision, are . . . entirely unknown, and the articles required for the greatest part . . . unprecedented;" but the House intimated, at the same time, that a balance of £3990 in the treasury of the province, subject to the order of the commander-in-chief of the forces in America, might be used for the purpose in question. On an inquiry from the governor as to the precise use to which the money referred to was to be put, the assembly again, June 23, pleaded the small resources of the colony, but recommended that provision be made "for furnishing the barracks in the cities of New York and Albany, with beds, bedding, fire-wood, candles, and utensils for dressing of victuals for two battalions, not exceeding five hundred men each, and one company of artillery for one year"; and that the money beforementioned be drawn upon for the purpose. A bill to this effect was accordingly brought in and passed, and July 3 received the assent of the governor. A report of the action of the assembly having been made to the Board of Trade, the Earl of Shelhurne, in a letter of August 6 to Governor Moore, expressed the hope that the requirements of the Quartering Act would be fully complied with. To this letter, communicated to the assembly in November, the House replied that New York had already assumed a heavier financial burden in the matter of supporting troops than any other colony, and that, since the act appeared to them designed for the needs of soldiers on the march, and not of such as might be stationed in the province for a whole year, they could not "put it in the power of any person" to lay upon them such a "ruinous and unsupportable" expense. December 19 the assembly was prorogued until the following March. May 15, 1767, the committee of the House of Commons to whom the matter had been referred, recommended the suspension of the assembly until the terms of the Quartering Act were complied with; and June 15 a bill embodying the recommendations received the royal assent. The assembly continuing obstinate, it was dissolved. The newly elected House also refused compliance, and was likewise dissolved. A third, in 1769, made the required provision.

REFERENCES. — Text in Pickering’s , XXVII., 609, 610. The act is cited as 7 Geo. III., c. 59. Extracts from the proceedings of the New York legislature are in Almon’s Prior Documents.