James Jauncey Jr. was a ship captain, merchant, and most notably a loyalist in the

New York General Assembly The General Assembly of New York, commonly known internationally as the New York General Assembly, and domestically simply as General Assembly, was the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the Province of New York d ...

Early career

He originally started off his career as a merchant captain in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. He traded between the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

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

and eventually settled in New York in 1743 as a merchant/business man. He kept his connections with many goods coming from the Caribbean and subsequently found himself funding many

privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

, including owning his own privateer fleets. With his major successes as a merchant in New York, Jauncey became the Warden of the Port in 1758 (an office he held until 1774).

Stamp Act

In 1765, after the passing of the

Stamp Act 1765 The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. 3. c. 12), was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British America, British coloni ...

, Jauncey was one of the merchants who agreed not to import any British goods as long as the Stamp Act withstood. Subsequently, he also was one of the significant advocates that addressed this issue in the New York General Assembly. This issue of the Stamp Act would be one of the main reasons that Jauncey would be elected into the Assembly.

John Morin Scott John Morin Scott (1730 – September 14, 1784) was a lawyer, military officer, and statesman before, during and after the American Revolution. Early life Scott was born in Manhattan, Province of New York in 1730. He was the only child of John ...

, the candidate facing Jauncey, was an adamant supporter of the Stamp Act.

Election to New York General Assembly

On March 11, 1768, Jauncey (having nominated himself a month earlier) had been elected into the

. This was a controversial time for him because his honor was questioned by fellow candidate

. The matters were on delicate ones pertaining to honesty, corruption, and embezzlement. One such dispute was in a written document presented by Gezelena Rousby. The dispute here was about an "unjust" imprisonment of a man over a debt owed by a Henry Lane. According to Rousby, the estate was given to be taken care of by the Widow and her father William Rousby. There had existed a 155-pound debt for Henry Lane and instead of having Jauncey take the house as sufficient payment (which would have proven more than sufficiently capable), he wanted to have the Rousby's and Widow of Lane pay off the debt instead. Their refusal led to the imprisonment of William Rousby. At this time,

James Duane James Duane (February 6, 1733 – February 1, 1797) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, attorney, jurist, and American Revolutionary War, American Revolutionary leader from New York (state), New York. He serve ...

(the future mayor of New York) used his influence to help defend Jauncey against the accusations. After long discussion amongst the General Assembly, on December 16, 1768, it was found that Jauncey was innocent and was worthy of his position in the Assembly. Subsequently, a newsletter was written thanking/acknowledging those who had supported and did not falter to the false slanders against James Jauncey. The election of 1769 was another close call as Jauncey, along with

Henry Cruger Henry Cruger Jr. (November 22, 1739April 24, 1827) was an American and United Kingdom, British merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774 ...

, Oliver De Lancey, and Walton scraped by with votes against their Church supported party. With their triumphs, each of the men donated 200 pounds to the poor, of which there was great public praise. In fact, this was so much the case that several verses of song praised these men in their generosities. Subsequently, there were public slanders against supposed political opponents who questioned the generosity of those individuals like Jauncey; however there were subsequent political campaign flyers/pamphlets that mentioned secret dealings of generosity of men like Jauncey. Jauncey's popular standing amongst the populace ensured his position to last until his dismissal in 1775.

War of Independence

In 1775, the colony of New York was taking sides in the developing conflict. Jauncey found himself siding with the loyalist faction while a good majority of his supporters (members of his Presbyterian church) favoured independence. Jauncey's popular standing amongst the populace helped him keep his position until his dismissal in 1775. On June 5, 1776, Jauncey was considered a suspected person and traitorous to the Patriot cause. In August 1776, Jauncey, as well as his father (James Jauncey) and brother William, were imprisoned in Middletown, Connecticut. Jauncey was arrested on matters of considering himself worthy of his granted title (Master of the Rolls) that had been set in place by the prior government (under British rule). It was considered traitorous to acknowledge the old form of government. In addition, due to a being connected by marriage to Sir Gilbert Elliot, a prominent figure in Parliament who advocated against American revolutionary efforts, the Jauncey family was labelled as a suspicious group undermining the colonial government authority. On December 20, 1776, the Jauncey family was given parole. On October 22, 1779, Jauncey was banished from the new American States because of his fervent support of the British sovereign. In February 1784, he asked the New York Legislature to be sympathetic and drop their charges related to a

bill of attainder A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder, writ of attainder, or bill of pains and penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and providing for a punishment, often without a ...

; however they ignored his pleas. Jauncey's living sons (William and John) wrote up a petition on January 22, 1790, to allow James Jauncey to return to New York. Jauncey died February 6, 1790, even though it would be passed a couple months later to allow Jauncey to return to New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jauncey, James People from the Province of New York 1790 deaths Bermudian sailors