July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
MOORE, Sir Henry (1713-1769) In 1764 he was named royal governor for New York. He arrived in New York City with his family in November 1765. Relations between the colonies and England were strained by this time, but not yet in open rebellion. New York City had seen riots and protests over the Stamp Act. The new governor calmed these by meeting directly with Isaac Sears, a leader of the Sons of Liberty. Moore agreed with Sears and the colony's assembly to suppress the Stamp Act, and gained additional goodwill by reducing military fortifications within the city. His openness and courtesy earned him floral tributes while other colonial governors were being burned in effigy. However, during the next few years, he actively used military force to suppress rural riots by tenants of the large estate owners. He ordered General Thomas Gage to actively pursue and suppress this form of rebellion. This did not seem to bring him any increased difficulty in governing, for two reasons: that the Sons of Liberty also feared the introduction of rural problems into the city, believing that they should be the only ones to use riots as a bargaining tactic; and that the Assembly at the time was dominated by the Patrons, or large estate owners. In December 1767 Moore even dissolved the Assembly to allow the Patrons to make up through new elections some of the numbers they had lost earlier. Autograph Letter Signed “H. Moore” 2-1/2pp. quarto, August 21, 1769, New York, with good content, it reads in most part: “..I am extremely concerned to hear of the accident mentioned in your letter to me & hope that before this comes to hand, you will be free from all the effects of it. I am not at all surprised that the Indians should be uneasy at the recall of the Commissioners without others being appointed by the Province in their room, & mentioned my apprehensions of it to some members of the assembly before their progration, but it was without effect, & the inadequate provision made for the Interpreters and Smiths shows how little the matter in agitation was then understood; I shall renew my application to the members in town, that they may be better prepared at the opening of the approaching session, where I hope everything will be settled to the satisfaction of the Indians & shall tomorrow lay before His Majesty’s Council what you have urg’d upon that Head. The division of the County of Albany has been brought upon the carpet, in almost every session of assembly since my arrival here; All joyn in allowing it to be necessary, but they cannot agree on the like of the division...I beg you will make my Compts. & apology to Col. Johnson, for not having forwarded his commission sooner, I can assure him it was order’d immediately upon the receipt of your letter & the delay has only been owing to the cause here set forth, but shall be dispatched immediately...” Fine condition. Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawks, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League. Johnson learned the Mohawk language and Iroquois customs, and was appointed New York's agent to the Iroquois. Throughout his career as a British official among the Iroquois, Johnson combined personal business with official diplomacy, acquiring much Native land and becoming very wealthy. Johnson commanded Iroquois and colonial militia forces during the French and Indian War. His role in the British victory at the Battle of Lake George in 1755 earned him a baronetcy; his capture of Fort Niagara from the French in 1759 brought him additional renown. In 1756, Johnson was commissioned as the superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern colonies. Serving in that role until his death, Johnson worked to keep American Indians attached to the British interest.
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