New York, colony of
The bay of
New York and its great tributary from the north, with the island of
Manhattan, upon which part of the city of
Greater New York now stands, were discovered by
Henry Hudson (q. v.), in the early autumn of 1609.
The
Indians called the river
Mahiccannick, or “River of the
Mountains.”
The
Dutch called it Mauritius, in compliment to Prince Maurice, and the
English gave it the name of
Hudson River, and sometimes
North River, to distinguish it from the
Delaware, known as
South River.
The country drained by the
Hudson River, with the adjacent undefined territory, was claimed by the
Dutch.
The year after the discovery, a ship, with part of the crew of the
Half Moon, was laden with cheap trinkets and other things suitable for traffic with the Indians, sailed from the Texel (1610), and entered the mouth of the Mauritius.
The adventurers established a trading-post at
Manhattan, where they trafficked in peltries and furs brought by the Indians, from distant regions sometimes.
Among the bold navigators who came to
Manhattan at that time was Adrian Block, in command of the
Tigress.
He had gathered a cargo of skins, and was about to depart late in 1613, when fire consumed his ship and cargo.
He and his crew built log-cabins at the lower end of
Manhattan, and there constructed a rude ship during the winter, which they called Onrust— “unrest” —and this was the beginning of the great commercial mart, the
city of New York.
In the spring of 1614 Block sailed through the dangerous strait at
Hell Gate, passed through the
East River and
Long Island Sound, discovered the
Housatonic,
Connecticut, and
Thames rivers, and that the long strip of land on the south was an island (
Long Island); saw and named
Block Island, entered Narraganset Bay and the harbor of
Boston, and, returning to
Amsterdam, made such a favorable report of the country that commercial enterprise was greatly stimulated, and, in 1614, the States-
General of
Holland granted special privileges for traffic with the natives by Hollanders.
A company was formed, and with a map of the
Hudson River region, constructed, probably, under the supervision of Block, they sent deputies to
The Hague--the seat of government—to obtain a charter.
It was obtained on Oct. 11, 1614, to continue four years. The territory included in this charter of privileges—between the parallels of lat. 40° and 45° N., as “lying between
Virginia and New France” —was called New Netherland (q. v.). At the expiration of the charter, the privilege of a renewal was denied, for a more extended and important charter was under contemplation.
In 1602
Dutch merchants in the India trade
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A Dutch West India Company's trading-post.
formed an association with a capital of $1,000,000, under the corporate title of the
Dutch East India Company.
Their trading privileges extended over all the
Indian and Southern oceans between
Africa and
America.
In 1607 they asked for a charter for a Dutch West India Company, to trade along the coast of
Africa from the tropics to the
Cape of Good Hope, and from
Newfoundland to
Cape Horn along the continent of
America.
It was not then granted, for political reasons, but after the discovery of New Netherland the decision was reconsidered, and on June 3, 1620, the States-General chartered the Dutch West India Company, making it not only a great commercial monopoly, but giving it almost regal powers to colonize, govern, and defend, not only the little domain on the
Hudson, but the whole unoccupied Atlantic coast of
America and the western coasts of
Africa.
Meanwhile the
Dutch had explored
Delaware Bay and River, presumably as far as
Trenton, and had endeavored to obtain a four years charter of trading privileges in that region, but it was regarded as a part of the
English province of
Virginia.
At the same time the traders on the
Hudson River had been very enterprising.
They built a fort on an island just below the site of
Albany, enlarged their storehouse at
Manhattan, went over the pine barrens from the
Hudson into the
Mohawk Valley, and became acquainted with the nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy (
q. v.), and made a treaty with them.
The Plymouth Company complained that they were intruders on their domain.
King James growled, and
Captain Dermer gave them a word of warning.
The Dutch West India Company was organized in 1622.
Its chief objects were traffic and humbling
Spain and
Portugal, not colonization.
But the attention of the company was soon called to the necessity of founding a permanent colony in New Netherland, in accordance with the
English policy, which declared that the rights of eminent domain could only be secured by actual permanent occupation.
King James reminded the States-General that Hollanders were unlawfully seated on English territory, but the Hollanders paid no more attention to his threats than to take measures for founding an agricultural colony.
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At that time
Holland was the asylum for the oppressed for consciencea sake from all lands.
There was a class of refugees there called Walloons, natives of the southern Belgic provinces, whose inhabitants, about forty years before, being chiefly Roman Catholics, had refused to join those of the northern provinces in a confederacy.
The Protestants of these provinces (now
Belgium) were made to feel the lash of Spanish persecution, and thousands of them fled to
Holland.
These were the Walloons who spoke the
French language.
They were a hardy, industrious race, and introduced many of the useful arts into their adopted country.
Some of them wished to emigrate to
Virginia, but the terms of the London Company were not liberal, and they accepted proposals from the Dutch West India Company to emigrate to New Netherland.
A ship of 260 tons burden, laden with thirty families (110 men, women, and children), mostly Walloons, with
agricultural implements, live-stock of every kind, and a sufficient quantity of
household furniture, sailed from the Texel early in March, 1623, with
Cornelius Jacobus May, of Hoorn, as commander, who was also to remain as first director, or governor, of the colony.
They took the tedious southern route, and did not reach
Manhattan until the beginning of May, where they found a French vessel at the mouth of the
Hudson, whose commander had been trying to set up the arms of
France on the shore, and to take possession of the country in the name of the
French monarch.
The yacht
Mackerel had just come down the river.
With two cannon taken from the little fort at the southern end of the island, the Frenchman was compelled to desist.
His vessel was convoyed to sea, when it went round to
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Trading with the Indians. |
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the
Delaware, and there her commander attempted the same kind of proclamation of sovereignty.
He was treated by the
Dutch settlers there as at
Manhattan, when he sailed for
France.
This performance was the last attempt of the
French to assert jurisdiction south of lat. 45° N., until a long time afterwards.
These emigrants were soon scattered to different points to form settlements— some to
Long Island, some to the
Connecticut River, others to the present
Ulster county, and others founded
Albany, where the company had built
Fort Orange. Four young couples, married on shipboard, went to the
Delaware, and began a settlement on the east side of the river (now
Gloucester), 4 miles below
Philadelphia, where they built a small fortification, and called it Fort Nassau. Eight seamen, who went with them, remained and formed a part of the colony.
The company, encouraged by successful trading, nurtured the colony.
In 1626 they sent over
Peter Minuit as governor, who bought
Manhattan Island of the natives, containing, it was estimated, 22,000 acres. At its southern end he built a fort, calling it Fort Amsterdam, and the village that grew up near it was afterwards named
New Amsterdam (q. v.). The States-General constituted it a county of
Holland.
So it was that, within fifteen years after the discoveries of
Hudson, the foundations of this great commonwealth were firmly laid by industrious and virtuous families, most of them voluntary exiles from their native lands, to avoid persecution on account of theological dogmas.
These were followed by others, equally good and industrious.
In 1629 the company gave to the settlers a charter of “privileges and exemptions,” which encouraged the emigration of thrifty farmers from the fatherland.
As much land was offered to such emigrants as they could cultivate, with “free liberty of hunting and fowling,” under the directions of the governor.
They also offered to every person who should “discover any shore, bay, or other fit place for erecting fisheries or the making of salt-ponds,” an absolute property in the same.
As the rural population of
Holland were not generally rich enough to avail themselves of these privileges, grants of extensive domains, with manorial privileges, were offered to wealthy persons who should induce a certain number of settlers to people and cultivate these lands.
Under this arrangement some of the most valuable part of the lands of the company passed into the possession of a few persons, and an aristocratic element was introduced.
The colony was flourishing when
Governor Minuit returned to
Amsterdam, in 1632, and was succeeded next year by
Wouter Van Twiller, who had married a niece of
Killian Van Rensselaer, a rich pearl merchant, and who became a patroon.
Van Twiller was stupid, but shrewd, and the colony prospered in spite of him. At the end of four years he was succeeded by
William Kieft (
q. v.), a spiteful, rapacious, and energetic man, whom
De Vries numbered among great rascals.
His administration was a stormy one.
He exasperated the surrounding Indian tribes by his cruelties, and so disgusted the colonists by his conduct that,. at their request, he was recalled, and sailed for
Europe, with ill-gotten wealth, in the spring of 1647, and perished by shipwreck on the shores of
Wales.
Peter Stuyvesant succeeded
Kieft.
He was a brave soldier, who had lost a leg in battle, and came to New Netherland from Curacoa, where he had been governor.
He was then forty-four years of age, energetic, just, and so self-willed that
Washington Irving called him “Peter the headstrong.”
He conciliated the
Indian tribes, and systematically administered the affairs of the colony.
He came in collision with the Swedes on the
Delaware and the
English on the
Connecticut River.
During his administration he subdued the Swedes (1655), and annexed the territory to New Netherland.
Finally serious political troubles overtook the colony.
From the beginning of the settlement the
English claimed New Netherland as a part of
Virginia, resting their claim upon the discovery of
Cabot.
In 1622 the
English minister at
The Hague demanded the abandonment of the
Dutch settlements on the
Hudson.
Five years afterwards
Governor Bradford, of
Plymouth, gave notice to
Governor Minuit that the patent of
New England covered the domain of New Netherland.
In the spring of 1664 Charles II.
granted to his brother James,
Duke
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of
York, all New Netherland, including the region of country between the
Hudson and
Delaware rivers; and in August the same year an English fleet appeared before New Amsterdam and demanded its surrender.
Governor Stuyvesant resisted for a while, but was compelled to comply, and the whole territory claimed by the
Dutch passed into the possession of the
English on Sept. 8, 1664.
At the treaty of peace between
England and
Holland, the
Dutch were allowed to
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New York City Hall and docks in 1679. |
retain the colony of
Surinam, in
Guiana,
England retaining New York.
Edmund Andros was appointed governor, and a formal surrender of the province occurred in October.
In 1683
Thomas Dongan became governor, and, under instructions from the
Duke of
York, he called an assembly of representatives chosen by the people, and a charter of liberties was given to the colonists.
This was the foundation of representative government in New York; but the privileges promised were denied.
When James was driven from the throne, and
Nicholson, the
lieutenant-governor, afraid of the people, fled,
Jacob Leisler, a merchant of republican tendencies, administered the government for some time in the name of the new sovereigns, William and Mary.
When
Sloughter, the royal governor, came, the enemies of
Leisler procured his execution by hanging (see
Leisler, Jacob). During these political troubles, western New York, then inhabited by the
Seneca Indians, was invaded by the
French, under
De Nonville, governor of
Canada.
Two years later (1689) the Five Nations retaliated by invading
Canada.
The retribution was terrible.
More than 1,000 French settlers were slain, and the whole province was threatened with destruction.
The
French then attacked the
English.
A party of Canadians and Indians burned
Schenectady in 1690, and murdered nearly all of the inhabitants.
In 1691 the province of New York was redivided into ten counties—namely, New York,
Westchester,
Ulster,
Albany,
Dutchess,
Orange.
Richmond, Kings,
Queens, and
Suffolk.
Cornwall county, in
Maine, and
Dukes
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county, in
Massachusetts, forming a part of the domain of New York, were transferred to those colonies under its new charter.
The
French invaded the
Mohawk country in 1693, but the greater part of them perished before they reached
Canada.
Count Frontenac, governor of
Canada, prepared to attack the Five Nations with all his power, when the governor of New York (
Earl of
Bellomont) declared that the
English would make common cause with the
Iroquois Confederacy.
The colony was largely involved in debt by military movements during Queen Anne's War, in which the
English and
French were engaged from 1702 to 1713.
The vicinity of
Lake Champlain afterwards became a theatre of hostile events.
In 1731 the
French built Fort Frederick at
Crown Point, for a defence at the natural pass between the
Hudson and St. Lawrence; and in 1745 a party of French and Indians invaded the upper valley of the Hudson and destroyed
Saratoga.
Finally, in 1754, the
English and
French began their final struggle for supremacy in
America, in which the Indians bore a conspicuous part (see
French and Indian War). Meanwhile the colony had been the theatre of warm political strife between the adherents of royalty and democracy.
The death of
Leisler had created intense popular feeling against royal rule by deputies, and there was continual contention between the popular Assembly and the royal governor.
There was a struggle for the freedom of the press, in which the people triumphed.
A colonial convention was held at
Albany in 1754, to devise a plan of union (
Albany), and during the
French and Indian War many of its most stirring events occurred in the province of New York.
That war ended by treaty in 1763, and not long afterwards began the struggle of the
English-American colonies against the oppressions of
Great Britain.
New York took a leading part in that struggle, and in the war for independence that ensued.
The Provincial Assembly of New York steadily refused compliance with the demands of the mutiny and quarantine acts, and early in 1767 Parliament passed an act “prohibiting the governor, council, and Assembly of New York passing any legislative act for any purpose whatsoever.”
Partial concessions were made; but a new Assembly, convened in February. 1768, composed of less pliable
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New York Harbor in colonial days. |
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materials, would not recede from its position of independence, though the province was made to feel the full weight of the royal displeasure.
In May, 1769, the Assembly yielded, and made an appropriation for the support of the troops.
In December the Assembly, under a pretext of enacting laws for the regulation of trade with the Indians, and with the concurrence of the
lieutenant-governor (
Colden), invited each province to elect representatives to a body which should exercise legislative power for them all. This was a long stride towards the American Union.
Virginia chose representatives for the
Congress, but the
British ministry, who saw in the movement a prophecy of independence, defeated the scheme.
On Jan. 26, 1775,
Abraham Tenbroeck moved, in the New York Assembly, to take into consideration the proceedings of the first Continental Congress.
He was ably seconded by
Philip Schuyler and a greater portion of those who were of
Dutch descent, as well as
George Clinton.
The motion was lost by a majority of one.
Toryism was then rife in the Assembly.
They refused to vote thanks to the New York delegates in the
Congress, or to print the letters of the committee of correspondence.
They expressed no favor for the American Association; and when, on Feb. 23, it was moved to send delegates to the second Continental Congress, the motion was defeated by a vote of 9 to 17.
The Assembly was false to its constituents, for a majority of the province was, in heart, with
Massachusetts.
After the Provincial Assembly had adjourned, never to meet again (April 3, 1775), a committee of sixty was appointed in the
city of New York to enforce the regulations of the American Association.
Warmly supported by the Sons of Liberty, they took the lead in political matters.
By their recommendation the people in the several counties chose representatives for a Provincial Congress, which body first convened on May 22, 1775.
The conservatism of New York disappeared when it was evident that the door of reconciliation had been closed by the
King.
On May 24, the convention referred the vote of the Continental Congress of the 15th, on the establishment of independent State governments, to a committee composed of
John Morin Scott,
Haring,
Remsen,
Lewis,
Jay,
Cuyler, and
Broome.
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The Canal, broad Street. |
They reported in favor of the recommendation of the
Congress.
On the 31st, provision was made for the election of new deputies, with ample power to institute
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a government which should continue in force until a future peace with
Great Britain.
Early in June the Provincial Congress had to pass upon the subject of independence.
Those who had hitherto hesitated, with a hope of conciliation, now fell into line with the radicals, and on the 11th the Provincial Congress, on motion of
John Jay, called upon the freeholders and electors of the colony to confer on the deputies to be chosen full powers for administering government, framing a constitution, and deciding the important question of independence.
The newly instructed Congress was to meet at
White Plains on July 9 (1776). Meanwhile the Continental Congress, by the vote of eleven colonies, had adopted (July 2) a resolution for independence, and a declaration of the causes for the measure on July 4.
The new Congress of New York assembled at
White Plains on the 9th, with
Nathaniel Woodhull as president; and on the afternoon of that day, when thirty-five delegates were present,
John Jay made a report in favor of independence.
The convention approved it by a unanimous vote, and directed the Declaration adopted at
Philadelphia to be published with beat of drum at
White Plains, and in every district of the colony.
They empowered their delegates in Congress to join heartily with the others in moving on the car of revolution, and called themselves the representatives of the
State of New York.
So the vote of the thirteen colonies on the subject of independence was made complete, and New York never swerved from the path of patriotic duty then entered.
