Melancton Smith (May 7, 1744 – July 29, 1798) was a merchant, lawyer and a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

. Praised for his intelligence, liberality, and reasonableness, Smith had attained considerable respect in the State of New York by 1787 and he has been described by modern scholars as the most important

Anti-Federalist Anti-Federalism was a late-18th century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The previous constitution, called the Articles of Conf ...

theorist and spokesman. Additionally, Smith played an active and central role in the ratification of the U.S. constitution.

Biography

Melancton Smith was born in Jamaica, Long Island, New York, and was homeschooled by his parents. When his family moved to

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeeps ...

, he became involved in the mercantile business. Smith manifested a life-long interest in

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and religion, and in 1769 he helped organize the Washington Hollow Presbyterian Church and purchased one of its pews.

Career in New York

He became a delegate to the first

New York Provincial Congress The New York Provincial Congress (1775–1777) was a revolutionary provisional government formed by colonists in 1775, during the American Revolution, as a pro-American alternative to the more conservative New York General Assembly, and as a repla ...

in New York on May 22, 1775. He served in the Continental Line Regiment on June 30, 1775, which he organized as the

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

Rangers. On Feb. 11, 1777, he became one of three members of a Dutchess County commission for "inquiring into, detecting and defeating all conspiracies ... against the liberties of America;" he served for the next six months administering oaths of allegiance, arresting suspects, informing upon and examining

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

. While wielding this powerful civil and military authority, he was also serving as sheriff of Dutchess County. He extended his land holdings by purchasing some of the forfeited Loyalist estates. In May of 1777 was appointed Sheriff of Dutchess County, an office he retained until 1781. In the following year, the Provincial Commission selected Smith to be the Second Judge on the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. He was also elected to be the

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

and held both positions until 1784, when he and his family moved to New York City.

US Constitution

Smith moved to New York City in 1784 where he became a prominent merchant. He helped found the New York Manumission Society in opposition to slavery and served in the

from 1785 to 1787. He played an active role in the writing of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. He was the most important

member of the State ratification convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788, where he made many of the same arguments as the

Federal Farmer The Federal Farmer was the pseudonym used by an Anti-Federalist who wrote a methodical assessment of the proposed United States Constitution that was among the more important documents of the ratification debate. The assessment appeared in the fo ...

, bore the brunt of the

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

attack and got into heated debates with

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...

. Smith was so successful in opposing even Hamilton that he had been characterized as "one of the ablest debaters in the country". Following the ratification of the Constitution by New Hampshire and Virginia, and a letter he received from

Nathan Dane Nathan Dane (December 29, 1752 – February 15, 1835) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1785 through 1788. Dane helped formulate the Northwest Ordinance while in Congress, and ...

, Smith became convinced that New York had no choice but to accept the ratification of the Constitution and could not afford to wait until it had been amended because of external threats. His vote for the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, albeit with the recommendation of amendments, broke Anti-Federalist ranks and brought down Governor George Clinton's wrath. He was one of the few important landowners and merchants among the Anti-Federalists, and Smith continued in the Clintonian party. He was elected to the Assembly in 1791 and canvassed the state for Clinton in 1792 against

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the f ...

. He died during the

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

epidemic in New York City in 1798 and is buried in Jamaica Cemetery, Jamaica,

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. The homonymous Unionist naval officer Melancton Smith was his grandson.

Anti-Federalist Papers

Smith has been cited as the likely author of some of the more prominent Anti-Federalist essays written to encourage voters to reject ratification of the Constitution: the essays of Brutus and The Federal Farmer. While many believed Robert Yates to have been the author of the Brutus essays and

Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence f ...

to have written the Federal Farmer, scholars have recently cast doubt on those attributions. In a computational analysis of the known writings of Smith, Yates, Lee, and other prominent Antifederalists, John Burrows concluded that Smith was the most likely author of both sets of essays. He found that "Brutus is consistently unlike... Yates's other writings." However, "the resemblance to Smith is strong and unfaltering." Furthermore, " l of the tests employed upheld Smith's authorship of Federal Farmer's papers, while the claim for Richard Henry Lee found no support at all."

Michael Zuckert Michael P. Zuckert (born July 24, 1942) is an American political philosopher and Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Zuckert earned a bachelor's degree in Cornell University in 1964, and completed his m ...

and Derek Webb, noting that it would be odd for one person to write two separate sets of essays covering similar topics and publishing at the same time, suggest that Smith instead collaborated closely with other Antifederalists. They find it more probable that he wrote one of the sets of essays, while another person or persons close to him wrote the other.Zuckert and Webb. ''The Anti-Federalist Writings of the Melancton Smith Circle'' p.xxix

References

External links

Debates in the Convention of the State of New York.
* Robert H. Webking. "Melancton Smith and the Letters from the Federal Farmer," ''William and Mary Quarterly,'' 3rd Ser., Vol. 44, No. 3, (Jul., 1987), pp. 510–52
online in JSTOR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Melancton 1744 births 1798 deaths Members of the New York Provincial Congress Continental Congressmen from New York (state) 18th-century American politicians New York (state) Anti-Federalists Members of the New York Manumission Society