colonial new york themes lecture
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 Colonial New York Themes Lecture
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Prof. Phyllis Conn
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St. Pauls Chapel (the oldest public building
in continuous use in NYC, built in 1766)
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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).
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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European Explorers
Verrazano: 1524
Hudson: 1609
(portrait at right)
Others
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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
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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
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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?
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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>.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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)
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Peter Stuyvesant and Diversity
Peter Stuyvesant,Director-General,1647 to 1664
Confronted socialand politicalproblems that arosefrom such a diversepopulation
Image from NY Historical Societycollection
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(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
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(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)
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(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
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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)
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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?
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Diversity and Immigration
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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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The Slave Market c. 1750
From MAAP: Mapping the African-American Past, http://maap.columbia.edu/place/22.html
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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
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(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
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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
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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?
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Diversity and Immigration
Conclusion
What effects do these trends
have on NYC in the 1800s,
1900s, and today?
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Theme:
Commercial and
Financial Capital
Orientation toward commerce: second
most important characteristic
Foundation of life in NYCBased on harbor in earliest days
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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
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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
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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?
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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.
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Triangular TradeSource:
https://qed.princeton.edu/main/Image:Atlantic_Triangular_Trade
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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
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(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
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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
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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
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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
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(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.
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Commercial and Financial
Orientation: Conclusion
What effects do these trendshave on NYC in the 1800s,
1900s, and today?
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Themes in Next Chapters
New Yorks role as a cultural
capital
Relationships among the five
boroughs
Relationships between New YorkCity and New York State
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Colonial heritage and
highlights