America’s Forgotten 1689 Revolution and New York City’s First Mayoral Election — NYC Department of Records & Information Services

Confirmed in their offices, the new city government ordered the former magistrates to deliver up all city and county books and papers in their custody. While most complied, former Mayor Stephen van Cortlandt was nowhere to be found. When Van Cortlandt’s wife, Gertrude Schuyler, received the order, the council minutes state she threw it away and retorted, “take it with force in Caise they would have it” (REC0081, p. 347). In desperation to obtain the necessary records to operate the city, the council petitioned Leisler to invest them in their offices. Meanwhile, Van Cortlandt had fled to Albany, which had formed its own convention at the outbreak of the disorders. Dominated by the relations of Leisler’s wife’s stepsisters, who had battled Leisler in an acrimonious inheritance dispute for over a decade, the former New York City officials cast themselves as a government in exile and organized a campaign to subvert his government.

In mid-December, a royal letter arrived addressed to “whomever was taking care of the government.” The Committee of Safety voted Leisler the correct recipient and disbanded. Leisler, aware of the legal situation of his lacking personal royal designation, named himself “lieutenant governor.” Believing that James II had illegally revoked the 1686 Charter of Liberties, he reestablished the provincial government according to the Charter, including an elected provincial assembly. According to a 1683 “Act of Assembly entitled An Act to Settle Courts of Justice,” Leisler instituted a four-tier system: town courts for minor issues, county courts for civil and minor criminal cases, a court of oyer and terminer for treason and major criminal cases, and the Court of Chancery to oversee matters of equity (N. 36: 14265). Records were kept in separate books, of which fragments survive.

Extant pages of Leisler’s administration reveal that the city government and its courts continued to operate in 1690. For example, loose pages of council minutes for April 26 confirmed the court resolution of a dispute between Albert Bosch and Adolf Pieterse (NNMA); those of August 9 dealt with the nuisance of a tar pit and selling of liquors (NNMA); and those of October 11, address the repairing of the Bowery Road to Fresh Water Pond (NHi: NY Misc. Mss. Box 2, No. 25). City court records during Leisler’s administration are found scattered throughout numerous archives such as in the Municipal Archives, New York Historical, Pennsylvania Historical, and the State Archives.