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Continental Congresses

Charles DeWitt (1727–1787)

A delegate from New York, Charles DeWitt gave lengthy service to his colony and state, as a delegate to the colonial assembly, to the Provincial Convention (1775), as a delegate to the Provisional Congress that approved the Declaration of Independence, and, later, as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1784). He was also the editor of a New York State newspaper.

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He was born in Kingston, in Ulster County, New York, in 1727. His parents, according to several genealogical websites, were Johannes DeWitt and Mary (née Brodhead) DeWitt. [1] Johannes and Mary DeWitt had four children, two sons and two daughters, with Charles being the second oldest. [2]

According to his official congressional biography, DeWitt pursued classical studies—usually the study of languages, of English, and mathematics. In 1768 he became a member of the New York colonial assembly, having already served as a colonel of the colonial militia. He served in the Assembly until 1776, during which he sided with the patriot cause against England This period began a series of positions in which he aided in the establishment of the new American nation, including as a delegate to the New York Provisional Convention (1775), as a member of the Provisional Congress (1775-77) which, during his service, approved the Declaration of Independence, as a member of the Constitutional committee (1776), and as a member of the Committee of Safety (1777). [3]

DeWitt was elected to the Continental Congress in February 1784, sitting in that body from New York from February 1784 until October of that same year. Robert Morris, the economic “brains” behind the American Revolution, wrote in his diary for 16 March 1784, “Mr. DeWitt a Member of Congress from the State of New York[,] [appeared in Congress].” [4] According to historian Edmund Cody Burnett, DeWitt was elected on 3 February 1784 “for the ensuing year,” and that he attended sessions from 27 March to 4 June of that same year. Burnett added that “DeWitt was the New York member of the Committee of the States but attended only the first session, June 4.” [5] There are, incredibly, several pieces of correspondence from DeWitt during his service in the Continental Congress. For instance, he apparently wrote several letters to Governor George Clinton to keep him informed as to the in the Congress:

Congress having Resolved to Adjourn on the 3d of June next to Trentown [sic] and to appoint a Committee to sit in the recess thereof, it may perhaps be thought unnecessary for the Delegates at Home to come, but this is not the case. General McDougall has promised in the most positive terms to be here by the First of June. I shall therefore propose in Congress that he be appointed the Member of the Committee, from our State. I proposed it to Mr. Paine the other Day, on which he replied that he did not believe that General McDougall would come. From this and other circumstances it appears to me that it would suit him to stay, but I hope not. I shall write General McDougall by the next Post and put him in mind of his positive promise to me in New York, which I expect he will perform. If any documents to Prove that the United States took the Bells belonging to the City of New York can be produced, I wish they may be sent, in order to save the expence of transportation from Carlisle, if the Corporation Should think it an object worthy of an application to Congress. [6]

DeWitt also informed noted New York politician Robert R. Livingston of matters happening, as the Continental Congress assembled not in Philadelphia, but in Annapolis, Maryland: “Inclosed you have an extract of a letter of Mr. Franklin by which you will find that our old Friend Mr. Jay is by this time on his way to America: in consequence of which, Congress did on Fryday last appoint him, Secretary of Foreign affairs, and in his room Mr. Jefferson a Minister. These appointments I believe will please you. I should not have consented to dismiss my much beloved friend Mr. Jay from the office of Minister, if this letter of Mr. Franklin’s had not arrived, notwithstanding the positive declarations he made in some of his letters that he would return to America. My situation with my curious and singular Colleague is not so agreeable as I could wish; when I have the Happiness to see your face, which I much long for, I shall communicate the reasons.” [7]

Finally, in another missive to Governor Clinton, 4 June 1784, DeWitt told of the chaos in the Continental Congress:

I take this oppertunity to acquaint your Excellency that Congress adjourned last night at near eleven oClock [sic] in C__f_sion. Mr. Paine will some days hence be with you, Who will give every necessary information. I am appointed one of the Committee of the States, but I shall not stay many Days after Mr. Paines departure, expecting that Genl. McDougall or some other Delegate will take my place. I hope the Legislature have taken every precaution respecting the W. Territory. I believe Sir a Plan is formed and perhaps wrought into System to take that Country from us. Massachusets Delegates have put in a petition Yesterday From the Legislature of that state setting forth that New York is possessed of a part of their Land and requested a Court agreeably to the Confederation for a Decision etc. I shall bring with me a Copy thereof, but my fears are not so great from this quarter than from a quarter which I do not know how to name, I shall postpone it to a future Day. [8]

After he left the Continental Congress, DeWitt worked as the editor of the Ulster Sentinel of New York; he also served as a member of the New York state Assembly (1781, 1785, 1786), and, near the end of his life, as a member of a state committee which drafted a new New York state constitution. Charles DeWitt died in Kingston, New York, on 27 August 1787, either aged 59 or 60, and he was laid to rest in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery in Hurley, New York, now called the Old Hurley Burial Ground. The marker on his grave calls him a “patriotic statesman and leader.”

An historical paper for the Historical Society of Newburgh [New York] and the Highlands stated in 1900:

Charles DeWitt was one of the most prominent men of Ulster County in the events which preceded and accompanied the war of the Revolution. From 1768 to 1775, he was a member of the Colonial Assembly, and, as a member of the last legislative body which sat under Royal authority, was one of the nine resolute and patriotic men who voted to approve of the Continental Congress, then recently organized in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Provincial Convention of April, 1775, and of the third and fourth Provisional Congresses, where he was associated with John Jay, William Duer, and others in the Committee for Defeating Conspiracies, etc. [On] 21 December 1775 he was commissioned as [a] Colonel of Minute Men [sic]. When the State Government was organized, Col. DeWitt was made a member of the committee to draft a Constitution, and from 1781 to 1785 he sat in the State Assembly. [9]

[1] [1] DeWitt family genealogy, online at http://www.jonesgenealogy.org/getperson.php?personID=I3331&tree=Jones.

[2] [2] Further DeWitt family genealogy, courtesy of The Genealogical Society of Bergen County, NJ: http://www.njgsbc.org/files/familyfiles/p377.htm.

[3] [3] DeWitt official congressional biography, online at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000283.

[4] [4] “Diary, March 16, 1784” in Elmer James Ferguson, ed., “The Papers of Robert Morris” (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; nine volumes, 1973- ), IX:188.

[5] [5] Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., “Letters of Members of the Continental Congress” (Washington, DC: Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight volumes, 1921-36), VII:lxxi.

[6] [6] DeWitt to George Clinton, the governor of New York, 8 May 1784, in ibid., VII:520-21.

[7] [7] DeWitt to Robert R. Livingston, 9 May 1784, in ibid., VII:521-22.

[8] [8] DeWitt to George Clinton, 4 June 1784, in ibid., VII:545.

[9] [9] Information on Charles DeWitt in “Tjerk Classen DeWitt, and Some of His Descendants” in “Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and The Highlands. Centennial Number, May 8, 1900” (Newburgh, NY: Newburgh Journal Printing House and Book-Bindery, 1900), 44-45.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Charles DeWitt (1727–1787)." Continental Congresses, edited by Mark Grossman, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0102.
APA 7th
Charles DeWitt (1727–1787). Continental Congresses, In M. Grossman (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0102.
CMOS 17th
"Charles DeWitt (1727–1787)." Continental Congresses, Edited by Mark Grossman. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0102.