438“I am more and more convinced”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, July 3, 1787, Washington Papers.
438“The Men who oppose”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, July 10, 1787, Washington Papers.
439“Met in Convention”: Washington, Diaries, September 17, 1787.
Chapter 19: Glowing with Zeal for the General Happiness and Improvement of Mankind
440A man might come . . . paired off: Gentleman’s Magazine, February 1770, 98.
441Women in England. . . . influence policy: Chalus, “Elite Women, Social Politics, and the Political World of Late Eighteenth-Century Women,” 680.
442“my native country”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 62.
442“all the comforts and delights”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 62.
443“every virtue”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 64.
444“While with Mr. Giffard”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 66.
445a housemaid could expect: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Coinage.jsp#costofliving.
446“In Cavendish-street”: Daily Universal Register, June 4, 1787.
446Mr. Vaughan was considerably shaken: Coghlan, Memoirs, 67–68.
446That, anyway, was what: The few historians who have charted Margaret Coghlan’s life all assumed that the obituaries of June 1787 were correct, and that the portion of her life after that period that is documented in her autobiography was manufactured by someone else. My determination that she faked her death to escape her creditors is based on the letters of hers I have found that date after this period, on the passage in her memoir in which she details her flight to Paris, and on the simple fact that her life continues, and continues to be documented by multiple sources, well beyond 1787.
447“that you was defunct”: Melancton Smith to Abraham Yates, January 23, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 192; Bielinski File, NYSL.
447“the better sort”: Melancton Smith to Abraham Yates, January 28, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 193; Bielinski File, NYSL.
448“still well”: Melancton Smith to Abraham Yates, March 2, 1788, Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 197; Bielinski File, NYSL.
448“I have the satisfaction to inform you”: Melancton Smith to Abraham Yates, March 12, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 198; Bielinski File, NYSL.
448“With Civility”: Abraham Yates to Abraham Lansing, May 28, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 202; Bielinski File, NYSL.
449“An Absurdity”: Abraham Yates to Abraham Lansing, May 28, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 202; Bielinski File, NYSL.
449“the friends of the rights”: Narrett, “A Zeal for Liberty,” 296.
450“our Friends”: Abraham Lansing to Abraham Yates, August 3, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 223; Bielinski File, NYSL.
451“remain quiet at Home”: Abraham Lansing to Abraham Yates, August 3, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 223; Bielinski File, NYSL.
452“the Lord of the Manor”: Abraham Lansing to Abraham Yates, August 3, 1788, in Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 223; Bielinski File, NYSL.
452Five days later. . . . had written: Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 224; Bielinski File, NYSL; Hamilton, Papers, Certificate by Ezra L’Hommedieu, Egbert Benson, and Alexander Hamilton of a Statement by Abraham Yates, Junior, Respecting His Vote on the Constitution of the United States, August 8, 1788.
452“Being Confident”: Yates Papers, NYPL, Reel 1, Piece 224; Bielinski File, NYSL.
453George Washington stood: George Washington to Richard Peters, September 7, 1788.
454“by giving their votes”: George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, October 3, 1788, Washington Papers.
454“on your acceptance”: Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, September 1788. Washington Papers.
454“in the Name of America”: Lafayette to George Washington, January 1, 1788.
455“your Excellency has every vote”: Henry Knox to George Washington, February 16, 1789.
455“a mind oppressed”: Washington, Diaries, April 16, 1789.
455“descending the hill”: George Washington to Lafayette, December 8, 1784.
456“serve to establish a Precedent”: George Washington to James Madison, May 5, 1789.
456“The President of the United States”: George Washington to John Adams, May 10, 1789.
457London was larger . . . accounted for: Garrioch, The Making of Revolutionary Paris, 237–238.
457She knew the city . . . to Parliament: Coghlan, 70; Young, Revolutionary Ladies, 165.
458“made me acquainted”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 70.
458“the greatest splendour”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 73.
459The king ordered . . . royal person: Luckett, “Hunting for Spies and Whores,” 122–124.
460“played on the dinner table”: Chernow, 581.
461“The revolution”: George Washington to Lafayette, October 14, 1789.
461“Every thing that was”: Lafayette to George Washington, January 12, 1790.
462“the revolution is of too great magnitude”: George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, October 13, 1789.
463stood outside the door: Most historians seem to have assumed that Cornplanter and Washington did not meet face to face in 1790 but merely exchanged written declarations. But Cornplanter’s nephew, late in life, recounted details of the series of meetings (Abler, Chainbreaker, 176–80). The fact that he is mistaken in some details, such as dates, is no reason to discount his assertion of the events he took part in.
464Tadadaho: I am indebted to Michael Galban of Ganondagan State Historic Site for this insight.
464flanked by three soldiers: Abler, Chainbreaker, 176.
464“the voice of the Seneca nation”: To George Washington from the Seneca Chiefs, December 1, 1790.
466He promised to reply: Abler, Chainbreaker, 177.
466“never consent”: From George Washington to the Seneca Chiefs, December 29, 1790.
466to personally walk the Senecas: Abler, Chainbreaker, 192.
466“Red Jacket was next to Washington”: Abler, Chainbreaker, 192.
466Meanwhile, the State of Pennsylvania . . . new settlement: Abler, Cornplanter, 83.
467Senecas were attacked: Abler, Cornplanter, 83–84.
467“I ever have grasped”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 122.
467“Beware, then, ye lovely victims”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 100.
469“If woman is made to please”: Rousseau, Émile, 358.
469an “enlightened nation”: Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 250.
470a man named Pigott: Sarah Knott, “Female Liberty,” 5.
470had given him a new career: Knott, 12–14.
471“an aera replete”: Coghlan, Memoirs, 84–85.
472He took to the task . . . paving the streets: Street paving and other details, Munsell, Annals of Albany, III:147–157.
472In August: Munsell, Annals of Albany, III:158.
473he was furious: Alexander Hamilton to Abraham Yates Jr., September 26, 1793, “From Alexander Hamilton to Abraham Yates, Junior, 26 September 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-15-02-0268.
473people threw rocks: Chernow, 731.
474The danger: “Sidney,” December 18, 1795, Yates Papers, NYPL (Bielinski File, NYSL); Wolf, chap. 7, 41.
474he began writing: Yates, untitled history document, Yates Papers, NYPL, Box 3, typescript, p. 32; Bielinski File, NYSL.
475“Beneath lies Abraham Yates Jun.”: Albany Gazette, July 8, 1796.
Chapter 20: Which Nothing Else Can Equal
477“ignorant of war”: Tagg, “Benjamin Franklin Bache’s Attack on George Washington,” 226.
477highly critical book: James Monroe, A View of the Conduct of the Executive in the Foreign Affairs of the United States.
477“has no friendships”: Thomas Paine, Political Writings, 2:10.
478“the great champion”: Riley, Slavery and the De
mocratic Conscience, 55.
478“the danger of Parties” . . . “ruins of Public Liberty”: Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.
479There were five churches: David Field, A History of the Towns of Haddam and East-Haddam, 25–38.
479many owners had preferred: Witzig, “Beyond Expectation,” 288.
480had come back to Haddam: Barnes, “Venture Smith’s Family,” 48.
480Cuff was convicted: Brainerd, Court Papers, January 9, 1795.
480“Cuff Negro”: Karl Stofko, “A Story About Cuff,” September 26, 2009.
480“to be whipped”: Brainerd, Court Papers, January 9, 1795.
480Slave Code: Menschel, 213.
481in 1798, he learned: Blevins, 74–80.
481For 200 pounds: Haddam Town Land Records, 13:48.
481He signed an agreement: Haddam Town Land Records, 13:252, 13:246.
481sturdy log house: Abler, Cornplanter, 135–136.
482a new council with the Americans: Campisi and Starna, “On the Road to Canandaigua,” 480.
482The man he sent . . . his demands: Campisi and Starna, “On the Road to Canandaigua,” 483.
483Washington had that very day: Washington, Veto Message, February 28, 1797.
483“Father,” Cornplanter began: J. H. Newton, History of Venango County, 89–90.
485gave him his sword: Abler, Cornplanter, 181.
485“the licentiousness of elevated life”: British Critic, 1794, 346.
485“The publication of Mrs. Coghlan’s Memoirs”: The Times, February 10, 1794.
486“who has long been known”: British Critic, 1794, 346.
486“the absurd practice”: Coghlan, Memoirs, Preface.
487“None of which events”: George Washington to Sally Fairfax, May 16, 1798.
488“Such a Pen”: George Washington to James Anderson, December 13, 1799.
489At two in the morning: Tobias Lear, “14 December 1799.” Founders Online, National Archives.
489“I feel myself going”: Lear, “14 December 1799.”
489“circulate political intelligence”: New London Bee, June 14, 1797.
490At the same time: “Books for Sale at C. Holt’s Printing-Office,” New London Bee, August 23, 1797.
491took down his words: Lovejoy, Paul, “The African Background of Venture Smith,” in Venture Smith and the Business of Slavery and Freedom, 39.
492“Captain Hart was a white gentleman”: Smith, Narrative, 30.
492“a temperate, honest and industrious man”: Smith, Narrative, 32.
492“Just published, and for sale”: New London Bee, December 26, 1798.
493“The editor of this paper”: New London Bee, June 6, 1798.
493“directly contravening”: Pasley, Tyranny of Printers, 136.
493he was imprisoned: Pasley, 140.
494“Whereas Venture Smith”: Blevins, 80.
494Meg died: Blevins, 81.
494“the wife of my youth”: Smith, Narrative, 31.
496“Sir // With the greatest submission”: Margaret Moncrieffe Coghlan to Robert L. Livingston, December 28, 1803, New-York Historical Society.
497“To the Kings”: Coghlan, “Petition of Margaret Coghlan, Daughter of Major Thomas Moncrieffe,” January 11, 1805.
498“in the most abject state”: Universal Magazine 7 (January–June 1807): 275.
499the first sawmill: Rothenberg, “Friends Like These,” 154.
499boards to Pittsburgh: Sipe, Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania, 467.
500hadn’t brought the equipment: Rothenberg, “Friends Like These,” 163.
500The cultures, however: Swatzler, 160–161.
500was feared dead: Abler, Cornplanter, 142–143.
501journey to Fort Plain: Whittemore, The Abeel and Allied Families, 9.
501served as a major: Abler, Cornplanter, 168.
502“towards the setting sun”: Abler, Cornplanter, 174.
502A former New York congressman: Hauptman, Conspiracy of Interests, 187–189.
502a dream, a vision: There are several accounts of Cornplanter’s dream and its aftermath, all of them second- or thirdhand. I have relied on Timothy Alden, An Account of Sundry Missions, 142–144; Morgan, League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, 205–206; and Betts, The Hatchet and the Plow, 335–343.
503how Sky Woman had fallen: Timothy Alden, An Account of Sundry Missions, 143.
Epilogue
507Venture’s great-grandson: Barnes, “Venture Smith’s Family,” 62.
507Nelson’s son George: Barnes, 70.
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