XXX. VAN BUREN ENCOUNTERS WEED. 1824 334 XXXI. CLINTON'S COALITION WITH VAN BUREN. 1825-1828 344 XXXII. VAN BUREN ELECTED GOVERNOR. 1828 357 XXXIII. WILLIAM H. SEWARD AND THURLOW WEED. 1830 370 XXXIV. VAN BUREN'S ENEMIES MAKE HIM VICE PRESIDENT. 1829-1832 382 XXXV. FORMATION OF THE WHIG PARTY. 1831-1834 392 A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK CHAPTER I A COLONY BECOMES A STATE On the 16th of May, 1776, the second Continental Congress, preparing the way for the Declaration of Independence, recommended that those Colonies which were without a suitable form of government, should, to meet the demands of war, adopt some sufficient organisation. The patriot government of New York had not been wholly satisfactory. It never lacked in the spirit of resistance to England's misrule, but it had failed to justify the confident prophecies of those who had been instrumental in its formation. For nearly a year New York City saw with wonder the spectacle of a few fearless radicals, organised into a vigilance committee of fifty, closing the doors of a custom-house, guarding the gates of an arsenal, embargoing vessels ladened with supplies for British troops, and removing cannon from the Battery, while an English fleet, well officered and manned, rode idly at anchor in New York harbour. Inspiring as the spectacle was, however, it did not appreciably help matters. On the contrary, it created so much friction among the people that the conservative business men--resenting involuntary taxation, yet wanting, if possible with honour, reconciliation and peace with the mother country--organised, in May, 1774, a body of their own known as the Committee of Fifty-one, which thought the time had come to interrupt the assumed leadership of the Committee of Fifty. This usurpation by one committee of powers that had been exercised by another, caused the liveliest indignation.