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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Congress, Continental (search)
he cause and its ultimate triumph. As that Congress approached its demise, it addressed itself to a final settlement of its financial accounts. Since the adoption of the peace establishment, commencing with 1784, the liabilities incurred by the general government, including two instalments of the French debt, amounted to a little more than $6,000,000, over one-half of which had been met. Only $1,800,000 of the balance had been paid in by the States; the remainder had been obtained by three Dutch loans, amounting in the whole to $1,600,000, a fragment of which remained unexpended. The arrearage of nearly $8,000,000 consisted of interest on the French debt, and two instalments of over-dues. This indebtedness was passed over to the new government. The accounts of the quartermaster, commissary, clothing, marine, and hospital departments were either settled or about to be settled. The accounts of many of the loan offices were unsettled. There seems to have been much laxity in their
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Democracy in New Netherland. (search)
s around them and sea-rovers. The governor tried in vain to control their action; they paid very little attention to his wishes or his commands. He stormed and threatened, but prudently yielded to the demands of the people that he should issue a call for another convention, and give legal sanction for the election of delegates thereto. These met in New Amsterdam on Dec. 10, 1653. Of the eight districts represented, four were Dutch and four English. Of the nineteen delegates, ten were of Dutch and nine were of English nativity. This was the first really representative assembly in the great State of New York chosen by the people. The names of the delegates were as follows: From New Amsterdam, Van Hattem, Kregier, and Van de Grist; from Breucklen (Brooklyn), Lubbertsen, Van der Beeck, and Beeckman; from Flushing, Hicks and Flake; from Newtown, Coe and Hazard; from Heemstede (Hempstead), Washburn and Somers; from Amersfoort (Flatlands), Wolfertsen, Strycker, and Swartwout; from Mid
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dermer, Thomas, (search)
He sent home his ship from Mohegan Island, laden with fish and furs, and, leaving Squanto at Saco, sailed southward. Near Cape Cod he was captured by Indians, but ransomed himself by a gift of some hatchets. Passing Martin's (Martha's) Vineyard, he navigated Long Island Sound by the help of an Indian pilot, the first Englishman who had sailed upon these waters, and passed out to sea at Sandy Hook. Going through Hell Gate he lost an anchor in the dangerous cataract, and the current was so swift that he did not stop at Manhattan; but on his return from Virginia (1620) he touched there and held a conference with some Dutch traders on Hudson's River. Dermer took occasion to warn the Dutch that they were on English territory, when they replied that they found no Englishmen there, understood no such thing, and hoped they had not offended. Dermer sent a journal of his proceedings to Gorges, and thus, no doubt, hastened the procurement of the new charter for the Plymouth Company (q. v.).
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Esopus War, the. (search)
Esopus War, the. There had been a massacre by the Indians of Dutch settiers at Esopus (now Kingston, N. Y.) in 1655. The settlers had fled to Manhattan for security, but had been persuaded by Stuyvesant to return to their farms, where they built a compact village for mutual protection. Unfortunately, some Indians, who had been helping the Dutch in their harvests in the summer of 1658, became noisy in a drunken rout, and were fired upon by the villagers. This outrage caused fearful retaliation. The Indians desolated the farms, and murdered the people in isolated houses. The Dutch put forth their strength to oppose the barbarians, and the Esopus War continued until 1664 intermittingly. Some Indians, taken prisoners, were sent to Curacoa and sold as slaves. The anger of the Esopus Indians was aroused, and, in 1663, the village of Wiltwyck, as the Esopus village was called, was almost totally destroyed. Stuyvesant was there at the time, holding a conference with the Indians
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Evertsen, Cornelis, 1673- (search)
Evertsen, Cornelis, 1673- Naval officer; born in Zealand. In 1673 he was despatched against the English colonies in America. He captured or destroyed a large number of ships from Virginia to Staten Island, where he arrived on Aug. 7. He demanded the surrender of New York City, and the next day, Aug. 8, he landed 600 men, to whom the fort was surrendered, the British garrison being allowed to march out with the honors of war. He renamed the city New Orange and reorganized the government upon the old Dutch lines, and after proclaiming Captain Colve governor he sailed for Holland.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Federal Union, the John Fiske (search)
city for national consolidation. Among the great modern nations it was only England— which in its political development had remained more independent of the Roman law and the Roman church than even the Teutonic fatherland itself—it was only England that came out of the medieval crucible with its Teutonic self-government substantially intact. On the mainland only two little spots, at the two extremities of the old Teutonic world, had fared equally well. At the mouth of the Rhine the little Dutch communities were prepared to lead the attack in the terrible battle for freedom with which the drama of modern history was ushered in. In the impregnable mountain fastnesses of upper Germany the Swiss cantons had bid defiance alike to Austrian tyrant and to Burgundian invader, and had preserved in its purest form the rustic democracy of their Aryan forefathers. By a curious coincidence, both these free peoples, in their efforts towards national unity, were led to frame federal unions, and o
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Haldeman, Samuel Stehman 1812- (search)
ew Jersey, and in the following year he joined the Pennsylvania survey, in which he was engaged till 1842. He was Professor of Natural Sciences in the University of Pennsylvania in 1851-55, and then took the similar chair in Delaware College. From 1869 till his death, Sept. 10, 1880, he was Professor of Comparative Philology in the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Haldeman had a wonderfully delicate ear. In 1848 he described in the American journal of Science a new origin of sound which he had discovered in lepidopterous insects. He also determined more than forty varieties of vocal repertoire in the human voice. His publications include Fresh-water Univalve Molluska of the United States, a prize essay on Analytical orthography; Zoological contributions; Elements of Latin pronunciation; an edition of Taylor's Statistics of coal; Tours of a chess knight; Affixes in their origin and application; Rhymes of the poets; Pennsylvania Dutch; Outlines of Etymology; Word building, etc.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Long Island. (search)
ish families who had moved from Stamford, Conn., to Hempstead, L. I., were exposed to forays by the Canarsie Indians, and begged for troops to protect them. The governor and the eight men sent 120 soldiers, who surprised and sacked the Indian villages and killed more than 100 warriors. Two of the Indians were taken to Manhattan and cruelly tortured to death. This was soon followed by another expedition against the Indians at Stamford and Greenwich. Underhill, with a force 150 strong of Dutch and English, marched through deep snow in February, 1644, to attack the principal Indian village there. The moon shone brightly, but the savages had been warned, and were on the ground 700 in number. They were also protected by rude fortifications. Steadily the Dutch and English moved upon them, and nearly 200 Indians were slain. After a while Underhill succeeded in setting fire to the village. The slaughter was dreadful. Only Map of the operations on long Island. eight of the 700 In
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), New England. (search)
ructed by Governor Kieft to expel them, the Swedes assisted the Dutch with energy. The New-Englanders yielded without resistance. They were carried prisoners to Manhattan, and thence sent home to Connecticut. In 1644 a vessel was fitted out by a Boston company, and ascended the Delaware in search of the great interior lakes of which rumors had reached Massachusetts, and whence they supposed much of the supply of bear-skins was derived. The vessel was closely followed by two pinnaces, one Dutch and the other Swedish. The New-Englanders were forbidden to trade with the Indians, and the vessel was not allowed to pass the Swedish fort. Thus excluded from the Delaware, the New-Englanders approached the Hudson River, by establishing a trading-post on the Housatonic, nearly 100 miles from the Sound. Governor Andros, appointed by James II. president of New England, exercised his powers in a tyrannous manner. He, with his council, made laws and levied taxes at their pleasure. With
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), New Jersey, (search)
New Jersey, Was one of the thirteen original colonies. Its territory was claimed to be a part of New Netherland. A few Dutch traders from New Amsterdam seem to have settled at Bergen about 1620, and in 1623 a company led by Capt. Jacobus May built Fort Nassau, at the mouth of the Timmer Kill, near Gloucester. There four young married couples, with a few others, began a settlement the same year. In 1634, Sir Edward Plowden obtained a grant of land on the New Jersey side of the Delaware . When, in 1670, quit-rents were demanded of the people, discontent instantly appeared, and disputes about land-titles suddenly produced much excitement. Some of the settlers had bought of the Indians, some derived their titles from original Dutch owners, others received grants from Nicolls, and some from Berkeley and Carteret, the proprietors. Those who settled there before the domain came under the jurisdiction of the English united in resisting the claim for quit-rent by the proprietar
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