January 11, 1776

William Tryon was the royal governor of North Carolina and then New York, but by the end of 1775, he was living on board a British ship in New York Harbor. On January 2, 1776, Tryon issued a proclamation: “WHEREAS the General Assembly of this Province stands prorogued to the first Day of February, now next ensuing: I have thought fit for his Majesty’s Service, and I do, with the Advice of his Majesty’s Council, and by Virtue of the Power and Authority unto me granted by his Majesty, dissolve the said General Assembly, and the said General Assembly are hereby dissolved accordingly.” The New York Provincial Assembly was in recess when Tryon made this announcement. He was trying to control the assembly and, specifically, limit the power of representatives who would support independence from Great Britain.

The dissolution of colonial governments by royal governors was so disruptive that the issue was included in the list of grievances in the Declaration of Independence, though the Continental Congress cast the blame on the king rather than his governors: “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

His Excellency Gov. Tryon, on the second instant, dissolved the Assembly of the Province of New-York.