Smith, one of the councilors, recorded the outcome of the meeting in his memoirs: “We were thus unanimously of Opinion that we had no power to do anything and the best mode of proceeding for private Safety and general Peace was to use Diswasion from Violence.” With civil power eluding his grasp, Colden prorogued the assembly to June 7, 1775.7
Meanwhile, patriot leaders scrambled to assert full control over the extreme reactionaries and their followers during this state of upheaval. Patriots had already formed provincial congresses in several other colonies, from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Now, it was New York’s turn. To meet the crisis, the patriot faction determined upon the extension of its jurisdiction and reorganization. While Colden and his councilors were conferring, the Committee of Sixty called for a public rally. An estimated eight thousand people responded and approved proposals to authorize the committee with “full and unlimited power” Tor the protection of the city and its citizens. On April 26, 1775, the Committee of Sixty made provisions through a general election for expanding into a Committee of One Hundred, which convened on May 1, 1775. Concurrently, the Committee of Sixty sent a proposal to the counties for the establishment of a provincial congress to function in concert with the Continental Congress. This represented a significant change in the scope of the patriot movement in New York. Before, the patriots largely confined their activities to the provincial capital; now, they began taking a larger view of their operations.8
During this time, Montgomery continued building and improving his country estate removed from the political storm center at the seat of government. Thus, he remained only an interested and sympathetic bystander during the patriot committee system accession to civil authority. However, with the advent of the New York Congress, Montgomery would be swept into the political maelstrom.
To secure an effective sanction for the proposed infrastructure, the Committee of Sixty published a General Association on April 29, 1775. This declaration pledged support for “whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our Provincial Congress.” More than one thousand persons signed the affidavit when it was first presented. Later, committee agents posted copies in various public places so that other citizens could affix their signatures. Although signatories abated somewhat as a few passions sobered, this instrument helped patriots coerce many reluctant individuals into choosing sides in the escalating political confrontation. The committee ordered its agents to report the names of those persons refusing to sign, although such persons were not to be designated enemies to their country “but by the determination of the Continental or Provincial Congress, or by this Committee.” In effect, a person either made a public commitment for the patriot cause or became readily identified as a loyalist sympathizer.9
The Provincial Congress thereupon emerged as New York’s de facto government, supplanting the General Assembly. The assembly, after its adjournment on April 3, 1775, was never able to resume its normal functions because of patriot disruption. The patriot faction in New York took advantage of the chaotic times by moving swiftly to fill the vacuum vacated by the irresolute colonial government, securing support from a large segment of the population and usurping legal authority. The Committee of One Hundred would act as the city government and become subordinate to the Provincial Congress in this extralegal hierarchical political system. The New York Congress, in turn, would cooperate with the Continental Congress.
By May 1775, the eighty-seven-year-old lieutenant governor, Cadwallader Colden, was weary of the political disputation and retired in disgust to Spring Hill, his country estate near Flushing on Long Island. He explained: “When Congresses and Committees had taken the entire direction of government it was extremely disagreeable to me to remain as a spectator of the proceedings and confusions in town which I had not in my power to prevent.”10
The repressive measures inflicted recently by British authorities against Boston and Massachusetts alarmed many New Yorkers. An impending threat of similar actions directed against their province seemed very real to them. As the patriots waited for the Provincial Congress to assemble, the Committee of One Hundred met practically every day to organize the city’s defenses. A subcommittee considered how additional supplies of arms and ammunition could be obtained. The committee ordered each ward to organize militia companies and established a military night watch. It also undertook the suppression of loyalists by confiscating and forbidding the sale of arms to tories and thwarting their efforts to mount an effective opposition. When convened, the Provincial Congress continued these measures.11
On May 16, 1775, Dutchess County officials met at Poughkeepsie and elected Montgomery as one of the ten deputies to represent the county in the New York Provincial Congress. Although he had been in the colony only two years and had not sought political involvement, Montgomer was well known and respected throughout the area. Consequently, with this draft into public service, he felt obligated to answer the call. Reluctantly, Montgomery put his personal affairs in order, bid goodbye to his wife, and departed for New York City, some eighty miles away.12
Upon arriving, Montgomery threw himself unrelentingly into his work. From the initial session on May 22 to its adjournment on July 8, 1775, the First New York Congress increased its work load until it met twice daily Monday through Saturday, with an occasional session on Sunday. Montgomery served on eleven committees. Only Gouverneur Morris and Alexander McDougall undertook more assignments, with sixteen committees each. Most other deputies, including those from New York City, participated in six or seven congressional committees.13
One of the first orders of business for the New York Congress was to legitimize its authority. Therefore, on May 26, 1775, Montgomery and the other ninety-seven delegates signed a resolution:
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