AARON BURR AT THE HELM
1798-1802
The second period of the Tammany Society began about 1798. Relieved
of its Federalist members, it became purely partizan. As yet it was
not an “organization,” in the modern political sense; it did not seek
the enrollment and regimentation of voters. Its nature was more that
of a private political club, which sought to influence elections by
speeches, pamphlets and social means. It shifted its quarters from
Barden’s Tavern to the “Long Room,” a place kept by a sometime Sachem,
Abraham or “Brom” Martling,[1] at the corner of Nassau and Spruce
streets. This Wigwam was a forlorn, one-story wooden building attached
to Martling’s Tavern, near, or partly overlapping, the spot where
subsequently Tammany Hall erected its first building--recently the
_Sun_ newspaper building. No larger than a good-sized room the Wigwam
was contemptuously styled by the Federalists “the Pig Pen.” In that
year New York City had only 58,000 inhabitants. The Wigwam stood on
the very outskirts of the city. But it formed a social rendezvous very
popular with the “Bucktails” of the time. Every night men gathered
there to drink, smoke and “swap” stories. Fitz-Greene Halleck has
written of a later time:
“There’s a barrel of porter at Tammany Hall,
And the Bucktails are swigging it all the night long;
In the time of my boyhood ’twas pleasant to call
For a seat and cigar mid the jovial throng.”
This social custom was begun early in the life of the society, and was
maintained for several decades.
Aaron Burr was the first real leader of the Tammany Society. He
was never Grand Sachem or even Sachem; it is doubtful whether he
ever set foot in the Wigwam; it is known that it was never his
habit to attend caucuses; but he controlled the society through his
friends and protégés. The transition of Tammany from an effusive,
speech-making society to an active political club was mainly through
his instrumentality. Mooney[2] was a mediocre man, delighting in
extravagant language and Indian ceremonials, and was merely a tool in
the hands of far abler men. “Burr was our chief,”[3] said Matthew L.
Davis, Burr’s friend and biographer, and several times Grand Sachem of
the society.
Davis’s influence on the early career of Tammany was second only to
that of Burr himself. He was reputed to be the originator of the
time-honored modes of manufacturing public opinion, carrying primary
meetings, obtaining the nomination of certain candidates, carrying
a ward, a city, a county or even a State. During one period of his
activity, it is related, meetings were held on different nights in
every ward in New York City. The most forcible and spirited resolutions
and addresses were passed and published. Not only the city, but the
entire country, was aroused. It was some time before the secret was
known--that at each of these meetings but three persons were present,
Davis and two friends.
Though Davis was credited with the authorship of these methods, it is
not so certain that he did not receive his lessons from Burr. Besides
Davis, Burr’s chief protégés, all of whom became persons of importance
in early New York, were Jacob Barker, John and Robert Swartwout, John
and William P. Van Ness; Benjamin Romaine, Isaac Pierson, John P. Haff
and Jacob Hayes.[4] When Burr was in disgrace William P. Van Ness, at
that time the patron of the law student Martin Van Buren, wrote a long
pamphlet defending him. At the time of his duel with Hamilton these men
supported him. They made Tammany his machine; and it is clear that they
were attached to him sincerely, for long after his trial for treason,
Tammany Hall, under their influence, tried unsuccessfully to restore
him to some degree of political power. Burr controlled Tammany Hall
from 1797 until even after his fall. From then on to about 1835 his
protégés either controlled it or were its influential men. The phrase,
“the old Burr faction still active,” is met with as late as 1832, and
the Burrites were a considerable factor in politics for several years
thereafter. Nearly every one of the Burr leaders, as will be shown, was
guilty of some act of official or private peculation.
These were the men Burr used in changing the character of the Tammany
Society. The leader and his satellites were quite content to have the
Tammany rank and file parade in Indian garb and use savage ceremonies;
such forms gave the people an idea of pristine simplicity which was
a good enough cloak for election scheming. Audacious to a degree and
working through others, Burr was exceedingly adroit. One of his most
important moves was the chartering of the Manhattan Bank. Without this
institution Tammany would have been quite ineffective. In those days
banks had a mightier influence over politics than is now thought.
New York had only one bank, and that one was violently Federalist.
Its affairs were administered always with a view to contributing to
Federalist success. The directors loaned money to their personal and
party friends with gross partiality and for questionable purposes. If a
merchant dared help the opposite party or offended the directors he was
taught to repent his independence by a rejection of his paper when he
most needed cash.
Burr needed this means of monopoly and favoritism to make his political
machine complete, as well as to amass funds. He, therefore, had
introduced into the Legislature (1799) a bill, apparently for the
purpose of diminishing the future possibility of yellow fever in New
York City, incorporating a company, styled the Manhattan Company, to
supply pure, wholesome water. Supposing the charter granted nothing
more than this, the legislators passed it. They were much surprised
later to hear that it contained a carefully worded clause vesting the
Manhattan Company with banking powers.[5] The Manhattan Bank speedily
adopted the prevailing partizan tactics.
The campaign of 1800 was full of personal and party bitterness and was
contested hotly. To evade the election laws disqualifying the poor,
and working to the advantage of the Federalists, Tammany had recourse
to artifice. Poor Republicans, being unable individually to meet the
property qualification, clubbed together and bought property. On the
three election days[6] Hamilton made speeches at the polls for the
Federalists, and Burr directed political affairs for the Republicans.
Tammany used every influence, social and political, to carry the city
for Jefferson.
Assemblymen then were not elected by wards, but in bulk, the
Legislature in turn selecting the Presidential electors. The
Republican Assembly candidates in New York City were elected[7] by a
majority of _one_, the vote of a butcher, Thomas Winship, being the
decisive ballot. The Legislature selected Republican electors. This
threw the Presidential contest into the House of Representatives,
insuring Jefferson’s success. Though Burr was the choice of the Tammany
chiefs, Jefferson was a favored second. Tammany claimed to have brought
about the result; and the claim was generally allowed.[8]
The success of the Republicans in 1800 opened new possibilities to the
members of the Tammany Society. Jefferson richly rewarded some of them
with offices. In 1801 they advanced their sway further. The society had
declared that one of its objects was the repeal of the odious election
laws. For the present, however, it schemed to circumvent them. The
practise of the previous year of the collective buying of property
to meet the voting qualifications was continued. Under the society’s
encouragement, and with money probably furnished by it, thirty-nine
poor Republicans in November, 1801, bought a house and lot of ground in
the Fifth Ward. Their votes turned the ward election. The thirty-nine
were mainly penniless students and mechanics; among them were such men
as Daniel D. Tompkins, future Governor of New York and Vice-President
of the United States; Richard Riker, coming Recorder of New York
City; William P. Van Ness, United States Judge to be, Teunis Wortman,
William A. Davis, Robert Swartwout and John L. Broome, all of whom
became men of power.
The result in the Fifth Ward, and in the Fourth Ward, where seventy
Tammany votes had been secured through the joint purchase of a house
and lot at 50 Dey street, gave the society a majority in the Common
Council.[9] The Federalist Aldermen decided to throw out these votes,
as being against the spirit of the law, and to seat their own party
candidates. The Republican Mayor, Edward Livingston, who presided over
the deliberations, maintained that he had a right to vote.[10] His vote
made a tie. The Tammany, or Republican, men were arbitrarily seated,
upon which, on December 14, 1801, eight Federalists seceded to prevent
a quorum;[11] they did not return until the following March.
The Tammany Society members, or as they were called until 1813 or
1814, the Martling Men (from their meeting place), soon had a far more
interesting task than fighting Federalists. This was the long, bitter
warfare, extending over twenty-six years, which they waged against De
Witt Clinton, one of the ablest politicians New York has known, and
remembered by a grateful posterity as the creator of the Erie Canal.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Martling was several times elected a Sachem. Like most of the
Republican politicians of the day he had a habit of settling his
disputes in person. Taking offense, one day, at the remarks of one
John Richard Huggins, a hair-dresser, he called at Huggins’s shop, 104
Broadway, and administered to him a sound thrashing with a rope. When
he grew old Tammany took care of him by appointing him to an obscure
office (Keeper of the City Hall).
[2] Mooney was a life-long admirer of Burr, but was ill-requited in
his friendship. At Mooney’s death, in 1831, a heap of unpaid bills for
goods charged to Burr was found.
[3] _American Citizen_, July 18, 1809.
[4] Hayes, as High Constable of the city from 1800 to 1850, was a
character in old New York. He was so devoted to Burr that he named his
second son for him.
[5] Hammond, Vol. I, pp. 129-30.
[6] Until 1840 three days were required for elections in the city and
State. In the earlier period ballots were invariably written. The first
one-day election held in the city was that of April 14, 1840. For the
rest of the State, however, the change from three-day elections was not
made until several years later.
[7] During the greater part of the first quarter of the century members
of the Legislature, Governor and certain other State officers were
elected in April, the Aldermen being elected in November.
[8] Shortly after Jefferson’s inauguration Matthew L. Davis called
upon the President at Washington and talked in a boastful spirit of
the immense influence New York had exerted, telling Jefferson that
his elevation was brought about solely by the power and management of
the Tammany Society. Jefferson listened. Then reaching out his hand
and catching a large fly, he requested Davis to note the remarkable
disproportion in size between one portion of the insect and its body.
The hint was not lost on Davis, who, though not knowing whether
Jefferson referred to New York or to him, ceased to talk on the subject.
[9] The Common Council from 1730 to 1830 consisted of Aldermen and
Assistant Aldermen, _sitting as one board_. The terms “Board of
Aldermen” and “Common Council” are used interchangeably.
[10] _Ms. Minutes of the Common Council_, Vol. 13, pp. 351-52.
[11] _Ibid._, pp. 353-56.