In December 1775 the extralegal provincial congress was the only effective governing body in New York. The royal assembly had been prorogued in April, and Governor William Tryon had been forced to take refuge on a British vessel at anchor in New York harbor, where he met periodically with his council. But as the year drew to a close, New York Loyalists saw an opportunity to regain political control of the colony.

The First New York Congress was forced to adjourn frequently through the summer and fall because of absenteeism, and the Second Congress, elected on 14 November, could not muster a quorum until 6 December. Sensing a loss of momentum in the revolutionary cause, conservative elements in the colony maneuvered to restore the authority of royal government. The plan, developed by Judge William Smith, envisioned persuading the provincial congress to request a meeting of the colony’s royal assembly. The assembly, it was expected, would petition the king and Parliament and take up Lord North’s proposal for reconciliation. Since North’s overtures had been rejected by the Continental Congress in July, the effect of Smith’s stratagem would have been to separate New York from the Continental Congress and her sister colonies as well as to reestablish Tryon’s authority.1

Smith convinced a reluctant Tryon to adopt his strategy, and on 4 December 1775 the governor published a letter to the inhabitants of New York lamenting the failure of the colony to express its objections to North’s proposals in a constitutional manner.2 The obvious inference to be drawn from this statement was that the assembly should be reconvened in order to determine the opinion of the populace.3

In the letter printed below, John Jay responded to a letter from Alexander McDougall of 6 December that apparently enclosed a copy of Tryon’s public letter of 4 December.4