HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
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October, by the approach of the enemy up the Hudson. Kingston was laid in ashes, and all was confusion. As soon as the:alarm had subsided; Governor Clinton called a meeting of the Legislature at Poughkeepsie. It assembled in the Van Kleeck House, (then a tavern,) early in January, 1778. Various acts to complete the organization of the State Government were passed; provisions were made for strengthening the civil and military pourers of the State, and it was during that session that the state gave its assent to the Articles of Confederation.. This building was the meeting place of the inhabitants to consult on the public welfare, when the Boston Port Bill" and kindred measures awakened a spirit of resistance throughout the country. There the Committee of Correspondence of DUCHESS held their meetings; and there the Pledge to sustain the Continental Congress and the Prn~Tir, -*i.1 Assembly. was
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signe 1 by the inhabitants of Poughkeepsie, in June and
July
'T75• Ain Lea, fou ler of the sect c2lled Shakers, was confined in this house in 1776, charged with complicity with the enemies of Republicanism. There many members of the State Convention in 1788, who met to consider the Federal Constitution, found a home during the session. About half a mile below where Livingston Street intersects Prospect Street, near the river, stands the Livingston Mansion. It was built by Henry Livingston in 1714, and is a fine specimen of a country mansion of that period. The situation
Dutchess County Historical Society
