Politics as Blood Sport: Caning and Fracas at Albany, 1808

Subscribe to Times Union Subscriber Services Advertise With Us Get TV Weekly Magazine Weather Closings Traffic Help Register Sign In Saturday, April 05, 2014 42°F timesunion.com Home News Were You Seen? Sports Business Buy Photos Opinion Calendar Businesses Entertainment TU Events Albany, NY Mostly Cloudy Archives Living Obits Blogs Jobs Capitol Confidential Real Estate On the Edge Cars Classifieds Table Hopping Index ▼ Home Style Magazines Lottery POLITICS AS BLOOD SPORT ERIN DUGGAN CAPITOL BUREAU Albany Roger Cusick runs an ad that talks about David Soares' arrest record. Soares cries foul. Section: MAIN, Page: A1 Date: Monday, November 15, 2004 Correction: ***** CORRECTION PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 16, 2004 *****A story on Monday's A1 identified Solomon Van Rensselaer, the man beaten in 1807 by John Tayler, as Adjunct General of New York. Although some 19th-century documents refer to him by that title, the correct title is Adjutant-General. Bob Reilly runs a radio ad taunting Assemblyman Bob Prentiss with the refrain ``Oh really, Bob Prentiss?'' Listeners gasp. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth run an ad that questions John Kerry's Vietnam War record. Pundits declare the campaign has gotten dirty and the gloves have come off. Kid stuff, said historian Tricia Barbagallo, a research fellow at the State Museum. There was a time in politics when gloves really came off. Those who think New York and American politics have sunk to a new, hopeless low and imagine a kinder, gentler time are doing just that -- imagining. Even the late U.S. Rep. Gerald Solomon's legendary invitation to Patrick Kennedy on the floor of Congress to ``step outside'' during a fight over gun control was nothing compared to the bad old days, when political fights weren't about verbal sparring, but physical beatings, duels and even death. Barbagallo has delved deep into one of the most vicious legislative attacks, which took place right here in Albany, where a state senator who would later have a brief stint as governor beat a colleague in front of a crowd of 100 on State Street. John Tayler was one of New York's first ``commoners'' to rise to a seat in the statehouse. He was born in New York City to parents of no great wealth, at a time when the nation was ruled largely by men with money, political heritage, or both. Tayler gained fortune and political clout with a string of military supply stores, and an understanding of Native Americans that helped him broker many Indian treaties. In 1807, state adjunct general Solomon Van Rensselaer, a Federalist in charge of all military appointments, assaulted Secretary of State Elisha Jenkins, also a lobbyist and a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. The fight came two days before Election Day, after Jenkins accused Van Rensselaer in a newspaper of coercing votes from someone by bribing them with a better position. Van Rensselaer hit Jenkins three times with his cane, on State Street, and went to a nearby tavern, state records show. ``I looked at the words in the newspaper,'' said Barbagallo, who is planning to write a biography on Tayler and is currently doing research she estimates will take another two to three years to complete. ``They're challenging their political moral character. They do it by using the newspaper, and it gets so intense, it goes into the streets.'' Tayler, a good friend of Jenkins, was in the watering hole and followed Van Rensselaer when he left. On State Street, Tayler, 65, called Van Rensselaer, 33, a rascal, and challenged him to a fight. As a crowd gathered, Tayler struck twice with his cane, and was hit in the chest. Gov. Morgan Lewis saw the commotion from his office and came down the street to separate the men. Tayler's nephew, Francis Bloodgood (who later became mayor of Albany), jumped in and swung his cane like a baseball bat at Van Rensselaer's head. Several more of Tayler's allies kicked Van Rensselaer, now lying bloody in the gutter. (He claimed in a case against Tayler that he could no longer ride his prized horses but was seen just a few years later riding in battle, Barbagallo said.) ``It's what happens when emotions enter politics,'' said Barbagallo, who said the fight was about more than a newspaper article and honor -- it was about the philosophical differences dividing the Federalists, who believed government should be run by wealthy men for the good of the people, and the Democratic-Republicans, who wanted to give more power to average people. Another famous fight just three years earlier -- between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr -- also began in New York, but since dueling was outlawed here it was settled in New Jersey, according to Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany. Hamilton, a Federalist, helped Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson win the presidency over Burr, who became vice president. When Burr lost his bid for governor to Lewis, he blamed Hamilton and challenged him to a duel. They met in Weehawken and Hamilton was mortally wounded. Killing a Founding Father might seem like good cause to throw a vice president out of office, but Burr remained in Jefferson's administration, according to the National Center for the American Revolution. He wasn't the only one in high office to have a duel under his belt. Two decades before becoming president in 1829, Andrew Jackson killed a man in a duel. ``Dueling had an air of respectability and chivalry,'' said McEneny, noting that then, like now, the loss of one's good name was a serious matter. ``If your reputation was attacked, you started a duel.'' New York is hardly the only place where politicians literally took it outside. Washington, D.C., hosted many of the nation's most violent battles, among them the 1859 duel between California Sen. David Broderick, an anti-slavery Democrat, and California Chief Justice David Terry, a pro-slavery judge. Broderick became the first U.S. senator to die in a duel. Terry was acquitted but ultimately met the same fate as his rival -- in 1889, he was shot to death after threatening the life of a Supreme Court justice. U.S. Senate archives say Broderick became a martyr in the eyes of abolitionists, and helped fuel the passions that burned into the Civil War two years later. ``At a time when passions were intense and feelings were very hot, anything like that charged both sides and motivated people,'' said Betty Koed, assistant U.S. Senate historian. While political altercations today are limited mainly to things like expletives on the Senate floor, gunfire isn't altogether unheard of. Last year, in New York City Hall, Councilman James Davis was shot to death by a political rival the councilman brought into the building, bypassing metal detectors. But ``three men in a room'' doesn't seem likely to become ``three men in a ring'' today. Righteous fights and duels of honor are things of the past, said McEneny. ``It's not going to happen,'' McEneny said. ``It literally took a generation or more to make it politically incorrect.'' The closest we've come, Barbagallo said, was in this fall's race for Albany County district attorney. When Soares and archrival Paul Clyne met for a debate, it seemed a good decision to keep the men separated by several feet, with Republican challenger Roger Cusick sandwiched between them. As the barbs turned to out-and-out insults (Soares blithely suggested Clyne, his former boss, send Soares his resume next year), the men kept their physical distance, but the anger was palpable. The fighting was restrained to the news media and the voting booth, but the mood of the campaign was undeniably aggressive. ``I think the Clyne and Soares race is the most intense I've seen it,'' said historian Barbagallo. ``I was waiting to see if there would be a punch.'' The fists in that race stayed down. And while Americans might lament that the political system is a mess, Barbagallo sees hope: At least our leaders aren't killing each other. ``It should be comforting,'' she said. ``We're not doomed by this.'' Erin Duggan can be reached at 454-5091 or by e-mail at eduggan@timesunion.com. 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