By Tom Reynolds S.C.O.P.E. Treasurer and Board Member

On May 21, 1776, the New York Provincial Congress issued a “Report on Disaffection.”It said: “Whereas his Excellency George Washington hath lately exhibited to this congress sundry information and evidence, from which it appears that the enemies of American liberty have a general communication with each other through this and part of neighboring Colonies…and there are also several ill-disposed persons in the City and County of New York… many of whom will most probably take up arms on the part of our foes…”

Enemies of American liberty in New York? Ill-disposed persons in New York City who will most probably take up arms on the part of our foes? Whom could they have been talking about?

Answer: The Governor of New York (William Tryon) and the Mayor of New York City (David Mathews) were these ill-disposed people and enemies of American liberty.

Nothing has changed in 243 years!

The Governor and Mayor were actively recruiting members of the Continental Army to switch sides and fight with the British. In addition, they had formed a plot to kidnap or kill George Washington.

Tryon later became a Major General in the British Army and led raids which slaughtered unarmed civilians and burned down homes, churches and farms.

Mathews escaped jail and returned to be the Mayor of New York City (during the British occupation) and, later, becomes Attorney General of Cape Breton Island.

With all the effort to erase any trace of history offensive to liberals, especially Confederate Generals, surely such disreputable persons as a New York Governor and a New York City Mayor would have their legacies erased. Not so! Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan above 190th street as well as a street in the Bronx and streets and buildings in Albany are named after him. Mathews has only the Mathews-Muliner Playground in the Bronx to memorialize him.

It’s well to remember that the Revolutionary War started at Lexington and Concord when the British tried to confiscate guns and ammunition. The New York Governor and the Mayor of New York City then, as today, sided with gun confiscation. Hopefully, the current officeholders’ efforts will be as successful as their predecessor’s earlier efforts.

Read more about this in Brad Meltzer’s The First Conspiracy.