colonial new york themes lecture

8/8/2019 Colonial New York Themes Lecture

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/colonial-new-york-themes-lecture 1/56

Prof. Phyllis Conn



St. Pauls Chapel (the oldest public building

in continuous use in NYC, built in 1766)



Precolonial

Eastern division of the Algonquin Indians:

Atlantic coast from Maine to Maryland.

Upper Delaware/Munsee confederacy

occupied the Delaware basin (eastern

Pennsylvania and southeastern NewYork).



Lenape Groups

Lower Hudson Delaware tribes: Lenape

Meaning: possibly real men

1600: possibly 15,000Lenape living in

what is now New York City

Groups in metropolitan area: Raritans;

Tappans; Hackensacks; Matinecocks,Massapequas, Rockaways, Merricks, and

others



Lenape Lifestyle

Autonomous subgroups: 40 400 people

Routes: included Jamaica Avenue(Queens), Kings Highway (Brooklyn),

Amboy Road and Richmond Road (StatenIsland)

Campsites: Coney Island and downtown

Brooklyn; Tottenville, Great Kills Park, andSilver Lake Park (Staten Island); HuntsPoint and Clasons Point (Bronx)



Seasonal Movement

Hunted fish, shellfish, game birds, and deer

Longhouses: saplings covered with sheets

of bark, plugging in the crevices with clayand cornstalks.

Limited personal property

Limited human impact on animalpopulation and land; time to recover



Crops

Planted a variety crops together

Maize, squash, beans (Three Sisters);

sunflowers, melons, cucumbers, andtobacco

Soil stayed nourished; didnt need heavy

plows or draft animals



Lenape cultural artifacts

Beadwork:http://www.jstor.org.jerome.stjohns.edu:81/stable/659665?seq=30&Search=yes&term=lenape&term=women&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dlenape%2Bwomen%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=414&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle

Woman wearing ceremonial hat, approx. 1860:http://www.jstor.org.jerome.stjohns.edu:81/stable/659665?seq=7&Search=yes&term=lenape&term=women&list=hide&searchUr

i=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dlenape%2Bwomen%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=414&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle

JSTOR: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 15, No. 2(Apr. - Jun., 1913), pp. 208-235



European Views of Lenape

Deeply inferior; primitive conditions andpoverty

Seasonal living sites; simple homes

Lack of domesticated animals Disorderly planting

Matrilineal kinship

English compared them to the wildIrish with similar seasonal migrationswith sheep and cattle



Lenape Contact with Europeans

1525 1600: European fur traders

Blankets, brass kettles, iron plows,

knives, etc.; later offered guns and

alcohol

As Lenape men hunted more for trade,

increased controversy over boundaries,

land, traps, and animals war with other

tribes more likely and more deadly



Lenape under British Rule

British continued Dutch practice of signing treaties with Lenape

Displacement of the Lenape continued By 1700, Lenape were pushed out of

present-day New York City.

By 1800, almost all of Lenape were gonefrom metropolitan area due to disease ormoving up the Hudson Valley



Treaty Example

http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/archives/downloads/

EsopusIndianTreaty.pdf

Treaty between Richard Nicolls, Governor of

New York Colony, and Lenape Sachems, 1665



Mannahatta Project

http://themannahattaproject.org/home/

(Wildlife Conservation Society)

TED Talk: (Technology, Entertainment, Design)

Eric Sanderson, July 2009

(maps begin at about 4 minutes)http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eric_sander

son_pictures_new_york_before_the_city.html



European Explorers

Verrazano: 1524

Hudson: 1609

(portrait at right)

Others



Verrazano

Giovanni da Verrazano, Italian explorer hiredby the French to find Northwest Passage

Arrived in NY Harbor near SI on April 17, 1524

Others arrived earlier, but he is the first weknow by name

Lenape sent dozens of boats to greet them

Area was pleasant; people friendly; but notthe Northwest Passage. When a storm

started, he left without stepping on land



Hudson

Henry Hudson, English explorer hired by

Dutch East India Company to find

Northwest Passage

September 12, 1609, Hudson steered his

ship, The Half Moon, into the inner NY

bay

Huge bay sheltered from rough winds

and currents of the North Atlantic



Hudson (continued)

Met by Lenape; Hudson was impressed byland and residents

Sailed 90 miles up the river

Did not find Northwest Passage; did find

one of biggest and best natural harbors of

the world; easy access to North America

Advantages of harbor?



Replica of The Half Moon

Built in 1909 (300 year anniversary)

Scott, By Richard. "Henry Hudson: The Savior of 1609? by Richard Scott." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 07 Sept. 2010.

<http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/special_program

s/honors_program/hudsonfulton_celebra/homepage/biographies/henry_hudson_32210.asp>.



Dutch Response

Inspired to act, especially to beat Englishwho had settled in Chesapeake Bay

1621: Group of Dutch merchants called

the Dutch West India Company, part of global trading empire

Claimed a large area along the Atlantic,from the Delaware River in the south to

the Connecticut River in the north,including the entire Hudson River valley

Area now called New Netherland



The Netherlands in the 1600s:

Global Context Fastest ships in the world

Opened up markets from Singapore to South

America

By 1630s, Holland surpassed France, Spain,

and Portugal, and seemed close to surpassing

England as the strongest, most advancedmaritime power in the world



New Amsterdam

Thirty families arrived in the New York area in

1624

Spring 1625, settled into southern tip of Manhattan

Bark cabins, a stone countinghouse, a

brewery, a mill, a small fur-trading post, and a

small earthwork Fort, called Fort Amsterdam



Theme:

Diversity and Immigration

Most constant fact of life in New York

City: diverse nature of its population

From the earliest days as a European

colony to today, New Yorks populationhas been among the most diverse on the

planet



Diversity under Dutch Rule

Companys primary goal: profitability

Diverse colonists as traders or farmers

1638: 400 people, about half Dutch dominated politics, society, economy

Others: English, French, Irish, Swedish,

Danish, German, African slaves, others 18 different languages; effects?



Relationships with Lenape

Companys policy of tolerance generally

extended to friendly economic

relationships with Lenape Hoped to develop profitable fur trade

Most colonists, however, still viewed

Native Americans as wild Heathen andbarbarous Savages (1643 letter from New Amsterdam to

Estates General in Netherlands)



Peter Stuyvesant and Diversity

Peter Stuyvesant,Director-General,1647 to 1664

Confronted socialand politicalproblems that arosefrom such a diversepopulation

Image from NY Historical Societycollection



(Continued)

Stuyvesant tried to prohibit immigration

among those whose religion or ethnic

background was different from the Dutch-

speaking majority that belonged to the DutchReformed Church

Example: Jewish immigrants in 1654/55

Tried to prohibit religious observances amongthose of different faiths, as he did with

Quakers in 1657 and 1659



(Continued)

Stuyvesant promoted assimilation: learnthe Dutch language and worship in the

Dutch Reformed Church

Protests. Quaker example: FlushingRemonstrance of 1657 (religious

toleration, the tradition in the

Netherlands, should carry over to NewAmsterdam)



(Continued)

Company Directors encouraged

Stuyvesant to maintain a more open

policy toward immigration in regard tocivil and political liberties, although the

Directors were less tolerant of religious

diversity



New Amsterdam Grows

Expansion in fur trade

1635: Dutch colonists formed the villageof Breuckelen, named for a town back in

Holland and linked by rowboat toManhattan

1639: Danish sea captain Jonas Bronck

settled his family on a large plantationnorth of Manhattan (Known later as theBroncks)



Expansion continues

Five colonists selected as aldermen toallow for limited self-governance;convened in 1653

First act: authorize the construction of a2,340 foot wall, stretching all the wayacross the island, from the East River to

the Hudson, to keep out hostile Indiansand the English

What does the wall symbolize?




continued:British New York

British takeover in 1664 Bloodless surrender

Colony renamed New York after the Duke

of York, brother of English King Charles II

Tension between diversity and

assimilation continued



Name Changes and Reorganization

New English governors brought changes

Flatlands around Brooklyn were named

Kings County in honor of King Charles Regions to the north named Queens in

honor of his wife, Catherine

Staten Island was named Richmond afterthe Duke of Richmond, the Kings

illegitimate son



Population Growth

1740: Population almost 11,000

Enormous diversity

Uneasy relationships

National differences, religiousdifferences, language differences, classdifferences, cultural differences

Compact area meant little there wasmuch mingling and overlap



Slaves under Dutch Rule

First slaves brought to colony in 1626

from Angola

Slaves used to build the fort and clearland; later used to build docks and build

the wall

Slave market began to grow



Slaves under British rule

Even more important to the British economy

Unpaid members of the workforce

Slave market commodities 1711: a special slave exchange had to be built

by the East River to handle the volume of

business (today: corner of Wall and Water

Streets)



The Slave Market c. 1750

From MAAP: Mapping the African-American Past, http://maap.columbia.edu/place/22.html



Responses to Slavery in NY

Some considered it barbaric. Slaveholding depraves the mind, one Quaker

minister said, with as great certainty as

cold congeals water. But demand for African workers grew

Global perspective: slave trade in 1700s?

By 1730, one in five New Yorkers was

owned by other New Yorkers: 2000 men,

women, and children



(Continued)

Every day, slaves went to the slavemarket, waiting to be rented out as day

laborers and domestic servants. Shared

news there; looked for chance to escape Violent incidents: in 1712, blacks set fire

to a building, then ambushed whites.

Quickly suppressed and the conspiratorsexecuted. More restrictions enacted on

slave movement in the city



Fires of 1741

February 1741: Reports of uprisings in

other colonies; whites were afraid

Fires broke out. Probably arson.Buildings attacked included the Kings

Chapel, barracks of the royal army, and

homes and businesses



Fires (continued)

White fear; false information led topolice targeting blacks and Catholics

160 blacks and 21 whites were arrested;20 slaves were tortured or killed;

medieval punishments June 1741: fires and punishments

ended. Was there a conspiracy? Stilldisagreement among historians

Comparison to other events?

Significance for slaves in NYC?




Conclusion

What effects do these trends

have on NYC in the 1800s,

1900s, and today?



Theme:

Commercial and

Financial Capital

Orientation toward commerce: second

most important characteristic

Foundation of life in NYCBased on harbor in earliest days



Overview

Commercial activity in the New York harbor

began with the fur trade in the 1600s

Exploded in the 1700s and 1800s

Continued to grow in the twentieth

century



Commerce in New Amsterdam

Build fur trade: Colonists widenedhunting trail going north from the fort

calling it Heere Straat, later Breede Wegh

(current name?)

A Company town: citizens were Company

employees; Director General was

Company appointee told to do

everything that the increase of trade

shall require



Commercial growth

after British takeover:Global perspective

New Amsterdam under Dutch: trading

post, minor port in worldwide empire

New York under British: became the

third largest port in American colonies by1776. What explains this growth?



Possible explanations:

Mercantilist policies enacted by English

governors of New York

Local merchants who experimented withpartnerships, diversification, and

manipulating interest rates

Main reason: New Yorks role in thetriangular trade of the British Empire.



Triangular TradeSource:

https://qed.princeton.edu/main/Image:Atlantic_Triangular_Trade



Advantages of British Empire

Continued problems, including a string of

incompetent governors, in NYC

But as England surpassed Holland as the

greatest maritime power on earth, New

York was pulled into the stream of its

rapidly growing network of global trade

Explosive economic growth in NYC



(Continued)

Potential of the harbor

Worlds most powerful navy

British global trade routes

1664: 35 ships per year in NY harbor

1760: 700 ships per year in NY harbor

NY rivaled Philadelphia and Boston as

largest ports by 1740



Effects for City?

Related industries: shipwrights, coopers,sailmakers, rope makers, linen weavers, sugarrefiners, tanners

Urban industries: printers, clockmakers, coachmakers, metalworkers, wigmakers, hairdressers,seamstresses, dyers, menders, and scourers.

Blanche White, an upholsterer whose shop

combined furniture making with undertaking,proudly advertised funerals furnished with allthings necessary, and proper attendance as inEngland



Effects of French and Indian War

Also called Seven Years War 1756-63: Britain waged war against the

French and Indians in Canada

Strategic port of NYC was the stagingground for the English armed forces

Windfall for the colonys merchants.

By 1756, the port had outstripped Bostonin size and seemed more urban thaneither Boston or Philadelphia



Financial Aftereffects

Financial effects of the war for Britain?

How can Britain rebuild its treasury?

1765: Stamp Act special tax on almostevery document printed in the colonies,including legal contracts, handbills,shipping orders, college diplomas,newspapers, liquor licenses, marriagelicenses, and playing cards

Direct blow to NYCs merchant culture



(Continued)

Protests from colonists

Parliament backed down; repealed

Stamp Act More intolerable acts were passed,

along with more taxes, on sugar,

molasses, and tea, and anger at GreatBritain flared again.



Commercial and Financial

Orientation: Conclusion

What effects do these trendshave on NYC in the 1800s,

1900s, and today?



Themes in Next Chapters

New Yorks role as a cultural

capital

Relationships among the five

boroughs

Relationships between New YorkCity and New York State



Colonial heritage and

highlights

colonial new york themes lecture

Documents