The Monmouth County Whig Society

By May 1781, the local war in and around Monmouth County spiraled toward greater brutality. On both sides, paralegal organizations (the Association for Retaliation and the Associated Loyalists) loaded prisoners in irons in response to real and perceived abuses by the other; irregular gangs and raiding parties “man-stole” unarmed citizens and plundered their homes. After five years of war and sacrifice, thousands of Monmouth Countians embraced extra-legal, eye-for-an-eye retaliation as a military strategy. But not all Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) supported the move in this direction.

Historian Richard McCormick discussed the rise of Whig Societies in Monmouth, Somerset and Middlesex Counties, starting in May 1781. He noted that Whig societies devoted themselves to protecting the value of State and Continental money, promoting free trade, and halting illegal trade with the British. While the Retaliators promised eye-for-an-retaliation with or without the legislature’s authorization, Whigs societies pledged to conduct themselves in accordance with the law.

The Monmouth County Whig Society

The first meeting of the Monmouth County Whig Society was held on May 10, 1781, at Freehold. It was reported in the New Jersey Gazette. The Whig Society resolved, "That we will use our utmost endeavors to support the credit of the paper currency of this State and to execute the law strictly against every person who shall, to our knowledge, attempt to depreciate." The resolves were signed by John Covenhoven, the Whig Society’s President. Covenhoven was a venerable political leader in Monmouth County. Captured at home at the start of the Loyalist insurrections in 1776, Covenhoven signed a British Loyalty oath to earn his release. He laid low after that; the Whig Society returned him to leadership.

Two days later, three petitions to the New Jersey legislature went forward from Monmouth County. The first petition, signed by 34 men mostly from Freehold Township, stated the “estates of numbers of us are wrecked, either by means of external violence or internal policy.” The petitioners then called for economic reforms against New Jersey’s price controls:

When we meet ruin in the line of our duty, by complying with the laws of our said Country, we stand amazed! The staple of this State (grain and stock) ought to be encouraged. A State can never flourish when its staple commodity languishes. Limitations of prices and embargoes may answer good purposes upon special emergencies, but if they are frequent or of long duration, they become pernicious, as they usually operate as taxes on industry & discourage the raising of the articles they are designed to make cheap.

The petitioners then addressed a proposal in the legislature to pull money out of circulation (in an effort to slow inflation, as the state’s price control laws had failed).  The petitioners were concerned, as taking money out of the economy “appears calculated to ruin the credit thereof… they humbly recommend that more severe penalties be inflicted [for currency depreciation], rather than the tender be taken off.”  The petitioners then called for free trade (except with the British):

Your Memorialists would further recommend that the supplies to the Army, such as the Country may produce, may be raised in kind to feed the troops and money to pay them & every restraint upon trade [be] taken off, & it be free to all the world, excepting Great Britain.

Two other petitions went to the New Jersey Assembly from Monmouth County on May 12. One carried 84 signatures. As with the prior petition, the petitioners called for free trade: “that every restraint on trade may be taken off, and it be freely to all of the world, save Great Britain and her dependencies - by this measure, supplies may be raised speedily & with greater ease & equity to individuals." Unlike the prior petition, these petitioners were unconcerned with the state’s currency, but very concerned with legalizing eye-for-an-eye retaliation. They requested: “permission to practice retaliation to have recourse to retaliating on the disaffected amongst us, from which we have experienced the happiest effects." Several prominent Retaliations—David Forman, Kenneth Hankinson, Thomas Henderson, Elisha Walton, Samuel Forman—signed this petition.

What likely occurred is that the Whig Society, meeting on May 10, authored the petition on free trade and currency deprecation. Potential signers, however, may have been ambivalent about currency depreciation (if they owed debts, inflation may have been in their self-interest). So, these men authored their own petitions and included a provision about eye-for-an-eye retaliation—which the Whig Society did not support.

The last May 12 petition was signed by 25 petitioners, mostly from Upper Freehold. The petitioners worried over the "present & alarming state of affairs... the estates of a number of us are wrecked by means of external violence & internal policy." They also called for free trade within New Jersey, “that every restraint on trade be taken off” and they also called legalizing retaliation, though their language was more circumspect than in the petitioners from Freehold:

Your memorialists beg leave to set forth the depredations committed against us by the refugees from amongst the enemy, while we inform your honours that our incredible distress has compelled, altho’ with great reluctance, to have recourse to retaliating on the disaffected among us, from which we have experienced the happiest effect, we would therefore pray your honours pass an act for all past retaliation, and that you would disenfranchise those amongst us [who are] notoriously disaffected.

The New Jersey Assembly recorded reading and considering the three petitions on May 21 and June 4. The Whig Society, likely comprised of wealthier Whigs and creditors only looked to curb runaway inflation.

The concerns of the Whig Society with runaway inflation was underscored by a May 13 letter from Capt. Beckwith, a Philadelphia privateer at Shrewsbury. He wrote that "old Continental dollars are now at 8 or 900 to one, the new state money at five or 6 to one and bad credit even at that; no person can make any considerable purchase in town or country with paper at all." A few days later, on June 6, Hendrick Vorhees complained to Colonel Asher Holmes about David Forman, leading the Association for Retaliation, refusing to accept Continental money. Vorhees wrote:

Agreeable to your orders, I went to General Forman's… to pay him for the ozenbergs, which he refused to take, and says he will not take a farthing of it [Continental money] unless he is allowed depreciation, therefore I should be glad to know what I am to do in the matter.

The Whig Society continued meeting. Its next public meeting was advertised on September 5, to occur on September 12, in Freehold. The advertisement was signed by William Wilcocks, the Whig Society’s Secretary. Wilcocks was an attorney who had served as a judge advocate in the Continental Army before moving to Freehold. He became famous for his successful litigation in Holmes v. Walton, in which he successfully defended a Monmouth Countian who had almost certainly illegally acquired silks, but was denied a full jury trial.

The Whig Society’s Platform

On July 17, 1782, the Whig Society met again at a public meeting chaired by Covenhoven. It passed a number of resolves which fleshed out its platform. These were published in the New Jersey Gazette two weeks later. The Society noted that British peace overtures had increased the temptation to trade with them. Illegal trade with the British might "weaken the Union" and cause a "drainage of specie.”  Therefore, the Society pledged:

We will...exert ourselves to have the laws of this State for preventing illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy carried into full effect...use our utmost endeavors to detect and bring legal punishment to all persons that have or may hereafter be concerned in holding a trade or intercourse with the enemy...publish in the New Jersey Gazette the name of every person within this county that shall be detected in violating the said law, in order that they may be publicly known and treated with such a degree of contempt as their crimes deserve...encourage the collection of all taxes that now are or hereafter may be levied by law.

The Society then resolved that its members would engage in “endevouring to carry into the full effect the laws of this State for the preventing of illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy, and for the collection of taxes.” Further, the Society devoted itself to advertise those who engaged in illegal trade so that these individuals would be shunned, as was done with violators of the Continental Association prior to the war:

We will use our utmost endeavours to detect and bring legal punishment to all persons that have or may hereafter be concerned in holding a trade or intercourse with the enemy; that we will, from and after this time, publish in the New Jersey Gazette the name of every person within this county that shall be detected in violating the said law, in order that they may be publickly known and treated with such a degree of contempt as their crimes deserve.

The Society also pledged that it would “encourage the collection of all taxes that now are or hereafter may be levied by law for the purpose of supporting the present war.” Into the 1780s, tax collection was a dicey proposition in disaffected parts of Monmouth County. The full resolutions of the Whig Society of Monmouth County are in the appendix of this article.

No membership list exists for the Whig Society. While their political rivals in the Retaliators gathered 436 signatures, it is probable that the Whig Society never numbered more than a few dozen—but the membership skewed toward the county’s wealthier and better-connected. It is probable that the Whig Society never sought members from middling and poorer people. In 1782, other associations sprung up across that county—each of which came into existence as a check against illegal trade without resorting to extra-legal retaliation. While the Whig Society, of itself, might not have commanded the affection of very many Monmouth Countians, these other associations would enlist hundreds more Whigs who sought to express their patriotism while upholding the law.

Related Historic Site: National Museum of American History (Washington, DC)

Appendix: The Resolutions of the Whig Society of Monmouth County, July 1782

Whereas the court of Great Britain, after having in vain attempted to subjugate the American states force of arms, have at length been obliged to acknowledge the impracticability of the measure, but still not willing to relinquish all attempts for the purpose, have changed their system of politicks, and are now endevouring the seduce the inhabitants of these states into a compliance with them; in measures that if not prevented will be very prejudicial to the Union, by publickly countenancing a trade with us, from which every evil is to be apprehended; but one that particularly more affects us is the danger of draining specie out of the country and thereby rendering it impracticable for the inhabitants to pay their taxes; therefore:

Resolved, that it is the duty of every friend to the independence of America, at all times, to exert himself to counteract the efforts of the enemy; but more particularly so at a time when our political salvation (under God) depends on, and must be procured by our exertions.

Resolved, that at this critical situation of publick affairs, there is no way in which exertion can be better applied, nor any measure that can be adopted more necessary than supporting and endevouring to carry into the full effect the laws of this State for the preventing of illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy, and for the collection of taxes.

Resolved, that we will, as far as our power and influence will extend, exert ourselves to have the laws of this State for preventing illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy carried into full effect; and that we will use our utmost endeavours to detect and bring legal punishment to all persons that have or may hereafter be concerned in holding a trade or intercourse with the enemy; that we will, from and after this time, publish in the New Jersey Gazette the name of every person within this county that shall be detected in violating the said law, in order that they may be publickly known and treated with such a degree of contempt as their crimes deserve.

Resolved, that we will, as far as our influence will extend, encourage the collection of all taxes that now are or hereafter may be levied by law for the purpose of supporting the present war.

Freehold, County of Monmouth, July 17, 1782 –John Covenhoven, President"Resolution of the Whig Society of Monmouth County

Whereas the court of Great Britain, after having in vain attempted to subjugate the American states force of arms, have at length been obliged to acknowledge the impracticability of the measure, but still not willing to relinquish all attempts for the purpose, have changed their system of politicks, and are now endevouring the seduce the inhabitants of these states into a compliance with them; in measures that if not prevented will be very prejudicial to the Union, by publickly countenancing a trade with us, from which every evil is to be apprehended; but one that particularly more affects us is the danger of draining specie out of the country and thereby rendering it impracticable for the inhabitants to pay their taxes; therefore:

Resolved, that it is the duty of every friend to the independence of America, at all times, to exert himself to counteract the efforts of the enemy; but more particularly so at a time when our political salvation (under God) depends on, and must be procured by our exertions.

Resolved, that at this critical situation of publick affairs, there is no way in which exertion can be better applied, nor any measure that can be adopted more necessary than supporting and endevouring to carry into the full effect the laws of this State for the preventing of illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy, and for the collection of taxes.

Resolved, that we will, as far as our power and influence will extend, exert ourselves to have the laws of this State for preventing illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy carried into full effect; and that we will use our utmost endeavours to detect and bring legal punishment to all persons that have or may hereafter be concerned in holding a trade or intercourse with the enemy; that we will, from and after this time, publish in the New Jersey Gazette the name of every person within this county that shall be detected in violating the said law, in order that they may be publickly known and treated with such a degree of contempt as their crimes deserve.

Resolved, that we will, as far as our influence will extend, encourage the collection of all taxes that now are or hereafter may be levied by law for the purpose of supporting the present war.

Freehold, County of Monmouth, July 17, 1782 –John Covenhoven, President

Sources: Richard P. McCormick, Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period 1781-1789 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1950), pp. 11, 164; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Larry Gerlach, New Jersey in the American Revolution 1763-1783 A Documentary History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975) pp. 395-6; Hendrick Vorhees to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 9; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #65; New Jersey State Archives, Dept of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #11037; Captain Beckwith quoted in John Austin Stevens, Magazine of American History, 1884, vol 11, p69; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 22 and June 4, 1781, p 8-32; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930.