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100-467: The Province of New York (predecessor of the U.S. state) had already guaranteed each soldier at least 100 acres (0.4 km) at the end of the war (depending on rank), but by 1781, New York had enlisted only about half of the quota set by the U.S. Congress and needed a stronger incentive. The legislature authorized an additional 500 acres (2 km) per soldier, using land from 25 Military Tract Townships to be established in central New York State. Each of

200-550: A Liberty Pole . It became a rallying point for mass meetings and an emblem of the American cause. In June, two regiments of British regulars arrived in New York and were quartered in the upper barracks. These troops cut down the liberty pole on August 10. A second and third pole were erected and also cut down. A fourth pole was erected and encased in iron to prevent similar action. In 1766, widespread tenant uprisings occurred in

300-554: A debt. The territory was named after the Island of Jersey , Carteret's ancestral home. The other section of New Jersey was sold to Lord Berkeley of Stratton , who was a close friend of the Duke. As a result, Carteret and Berkeley became the two English Lords Proprietors of New Jersey . The Province of New Jersey was created, but the border was not finalized until 1765 (see New York-New Jersey Line War ). In 1667, territories between

400-562: A father his children," and began the task of rebuilding the physical and moral state of the colony. In September 1647 he appointed the Nine Men , an advisory council composed of representatives of the colonists, to help rebuild relationships with them, temper his rule with their guidance, and restore New Netherland to the kind of well-run place that the Dutch preferred. In 1648 a conflict began between him and Brant Aertzsz van Slechtenhorst,

500-661: A fleet to take the Dutch colony of New Netherland , then under the Directorship of Peter Stuyvesant . Stuyvesant surrendered to the English fleet without recognition from the Dutch West India Company . The province was renamed for the Duke of York, as its proprietor. England's rule was established de facto following military control in 1664, and became established de jure as sovereign rule in 1667 in

600-523: A fraction of the original townships. The names themselves have been attributed to Robert Harpur , who served in various political roles, and was at the time a clerk in the office of New York's Surveyor General, Simeon De Witt . Townships were as far as geographically feasible made up of a 10x10 square of mile-square (640-acre [2.6 km]) lots; 40 acres (16 ha) were used for boundary roads, leaving 600 acres (2.4 km) to be deeded in each lot. Ninety-four lots in each Township were to be deeded, with

700-490: A meeting at Burns Tavern of New York merchants, where they agreed to boycott all British imports until the Stamp Act was repealed. A leading moderate group opposing the Stamp Act were the local Sons of Liberty headed by Isaac Sears , John Lamb and Alexander McDougall . Historian Gary B. Nash wrote of what was called the "General Terror of November 1–4": But New York's plebeian element was not yet satisfied. Going beyond

800-644: A quartering bill in 1766 to provide barracks and provisions in New York City and Albany which satisfied most, but not all of the requirements of the Quartering Act. London suspended the assembly for failure to comply fully, and Governor Moore dissolved the House of Assembly, February 6, 1768. The next month New Yorkers went to the polls for a new assembly. In this election, with the Sons of Liberty support,

900-723: A royal province. In May 1688, the Province of New York was made part of the Dominion of New England . However, in April 1689, when news arrived that King James had been overthrown in the Glorious Revolution , Bostonians overthrew their government and imprisoned Dominion Governor Edmund Andros . The province of New York rebelled in May in what is known as Leisler's Rebellion . King William's War with France began during which

1000-569: A system of fire wardens and a volunteer fire watch that patrolled the streets to keep an eye on any fire, or potential fire, from nine o'clock in the evening until the morning drum-beat. As such Stuyvesant became the organizer and head of the first volunteer firemen in America The colony of New Netherland had severe external problems. The population was too small and contentious, and the Company provided little military support. The most serious

1100-495: A wooden stick studded with silver nails as a prosthesis . The West India Company saw the loss of Stuyvesant's leg as a "Roman" sacrifice, while Stuyvesant himself saw the fact that he did not die from his injury as a sign that God was saving him to do great things. A year later, in May 1645, he was selected by the company to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of the New Netherland colony, including New Amsterdam ,

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1200-519: The New-York Gazette , started November 8, 1725, by William Bradford . It was printed on a single sheet, published weekly. During Queen Anne's War with France from 1702 to 1713, the province had little involvement with the military operations, but benefited from being a supplier to the British fleet. New York militia participated in two abortive attacks on Quebec in 1709 and 1711. When

1300-506: The Battle of Golden Hill on January 19, 1770, where troops cut down the fourth Liberty Pole which had been erected in 1767. Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( c.  1610 – August 1672) was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was provisionally ceded to the Kingdom of England . He

1400-633: The British took over, the great majority of Dutch families remained, with the exception of government officials and soldiers. However, new Dutch arrivals became very few. While the Netherlands was a small country, the Dutch Empire was large, meaning that emigrants leaving the mother country had a wide variety of choices under full Dutch control. The major Dutch cities were centers of high culture, but they sent few immigrants. Most Dutch arrivals to

1500-539: The Byram River and Connecticut River were split off to become the western half of Connecticut . The acquired territory land designations were reassigned by the crown, leaving the territory of the modern State of New York, including the valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers , and future Vermont . The territory of western New York was disputed with the indigenous Iroquois Confederacy, and also disputed between

1600-579: The Dutch Reformed Church remains an important part of the community, as well as shopping centers, yacht clubs and other buildings and facilities throughout the area where the Dutch colony once was. The Peter Stuyvesant Monument by J. Massey Rhind situated at Bergen Square in Jersey City was dedicated in 1915 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Dutch settlement there The World War II Liberty Ship SS  Peter Stuyvesant

1700-618: The Dutch West India Company in New Netherland created a settlement at present-day Albany, and in 1624 founded New Amsterdam , on Manhattan Island. The Dutch colony included claims to an area comprising all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey , Delaware , and Vermont , along with inland portions of Connecticut , Massachusetts , and Maine in addition to eastern Pennsylvania . New Amsterdam surrendered to Colonel Richard Nicholls on August 27, 1664; he renamed it New York. On September 24 Sir George Carteret accepted

1800-458: The East River and to erect a fortification. In 1653, a convention of two deputies from each village in New Netherland demanded reforms, and Stuyvesant commanded that assembly to disperse, saying: "We derive our authority from God and the company, not from a few ignorant subjects." In 1654, Stuyvesant signed a deed for an allotment of land 10,000 square feet (930 m ) that corresponds to

1900-758: The Stamp Act of 1765 . In October, at what became Federal Hall in New York, representatives of several colonies met in the Stamp Act Congress to discuss their response. The New York assembly petitioned the British House of Commons on December 11, 1765, for the Americans' right of self taxation. In August, the intimidation and beating of stamp agents was widely reported. The New York stamp commissioner resigned his job. The act went into effect on November 1. The day before, James De Lancey organized

2000-613: The Stuyvesant Town housing complex; the site of the original Stuyvesant High School , still marked Stuyvesant on its front face, on East 15th Street near First Avenue, Stuyvesant Square , a park in the area; and the Stuyvesant Apartments on East 18th Street. The new Stuyvesant High , a premier public high school, is on Chambers Street near the World Trade Center. His farm, called the "Bouwerij" –

2100-649: The Treaty of Breda and the Treaty of Westminster (1674) . It was not until 1674 that English common law was applied in the colony. In the late 18th century, colonists in New York rebelled along with the other Thirteen Colonies , and supported the American Revolutionary War that led to the founding of the United States . British claims in New York were ended by the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , with New York establishing its independence from

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2200-484: The Treaty of Hartford negotiated by the English and Dutch colonies in 1650 but not recognized by either the Dutch or English governments) putting the new province in conflict with the Massachusetts charter. In general terms, the charter was equivalent to a conveyance of land conferring on him the right of possession, control, and government, subject only to the limitation that the government must be consistent with

2300-534: The Treaty of Hartford , to settle the border between New Amsterdam and the English colonies to the north and east. The border was arranged to the dissatisfaction of the Nine Men, who declared that "the governor had ceded away enough territory to found fifty colonies each fifty miles square." Stuyvesant then threatened to dissolve the council. A new plan of municipal government was arranged in the Netherlands, and

2400-651: The Unadilla River , with Iroquois lands to the west and colonial lands to the east. During the middle years of the 18th century, politics in New York revolved around the rivalry of two great families, the Livingstons and the De Lanceys. Both of these families had amassed considerable fortunes. New York City had an inordinate influence on New York province politics because several of the assembly members lived in New York City rather than in their district. In

2500-640: The United States Constitution 's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights . In 1664, King Charles II of England ceded to his brother, the Duke of York, later King James II , a large tract of land that included all of New Netherland . This came at a period of considerable conflict between England and the Netherlands in the Anglo-Dutch Wars . Four English ships bearing 450 men, commanded by Richard Nicolls , seized

2600-400: The 1752 election, De Lanceys' relatives and close friends controlled 12 of the 27 seats in the assembly. The De Lanceys lost control of the assembly in the election of 1761. Governor Cadwallader Colden tried to organize a popular party to oppose the great families, thus earning the hatred of the city elite of both parties. The Livingstons looked to the imperial ties as a means of controlling

2700-633: The Amsterdam Chamber of the GWC in 1654, he hoped that "the deceitful race, — such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ, — be not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony." He referred to Jews as a "deceitful race" and "usurers", and was concerned that "Jewish settlers should not be granted the same liberties enjoyed by Jews in Holland, lest members of other persecuted minority groups, such as Roman Catholics, be attracted to

2800-593: The Articles of Capitulation. The Dutch settlers mainly belonged to the Dutch Reformed church, a Calvinist denomination, holding to the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dordt). The English were Anglicans, holding to the 39 Articles , a Protestant confession, with bishops. In 1665, Stuyvesant went to the Netherlands to report on his term as governor. On his return to

2900-480: The Carthaginian general Hannibal , and a few honoring English authors: The tract covered the present counties of Cayuga , Cortland , Onondaga , and Seneca , and parts of Oswego , Tompkins , Schuyler and Wayne . Most of these township names are reflected in current town names in these counties, but the area of the military townships do not correspond exactly with any of the modern towns, which only cover

3000-575: The City and Colony of New York which was an excellent piece of political propaganda denouncing the De Lanceys for betraying the liberties of the people by acknowledging the British power of taxation. The Sons of Liberty switched their allegiance from the De Lanceys to the Livingstons. Alexander McDougall was arrested for libel. Conflict between the Sons of Liberty and the troops in New York erupted with

3100-587: The De Lancey faction gained seats, but not enough for a majority. In 1768, a letter issued by the Massachusetts assembly called for the universal boycott of British imports in opposition to the Townshend Acts . In October, the merchants of New York agreed on the condition that the merchants of Boston and Philadelphia also agreed. In December, the assembly passed a resolution which stated the colonies were entitled to self-taxation. Governor Moore declared

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3200-578: The Duke of York from the Earl of Stirling , and are no longer within the territory of the State of New York, having been transferred by treaty to Massachusetts . While the number of counties has been increased to 62, the pattern still remains that a town in New York State is a subdivision of a county, similar to New England. An act of the assembly in 1683 naturalized all those of foreign nations then in

3300-541: The Dutch colony. On 30 August 1664, George Cartwright sent the governor a letter demanding surrender. He promised "life, estate, and liberty to all who would submit to the king's authority." On 6 September 1664, Stuyvesant sent Johannes de Decker , a lawyer for the West India Company, and five others to sign the Articles of Capitulation. Nicolls was declared governor, and the city was renamed New York . Stuyvesant obtained civil rights and freedom of religion in

3400-880: The English Connecticut Colony were strained, with disputes over ownership of land in the Connecticut valley, and in eastern Long island. The treaty of Hartford of 1650 was advantageous to the English, as Stuyvesant gave up claims to the Connecticut Valley while gaining only a small portion of Long island. In any case, Connecticut settlers ignored the treaty and steadily poured into the Hudson Valley, where they agitated against Stuyvesant. In 1664, England sent an expeditionary force to capture New Netherland. The colony's settlers refused to fight, forcing Stuyvesant to surrender and demonstrating

3500-626: The English and the French from their northern colonial province of New France (modern eastern Canada ). The province remained an important military and economic link to Canada throughout its history. Vermont was disputed with the Province of New Hampshire to the east. The first governor Richard Nicolls was known for writing " The Duke's Laws " which served as the first compilation of English laws in colonial New York. Nicholls returned to England after an administration of three years, much of which

3600-557: The French attacked Schenectady . In July, New York participated in an abortive attack on Montreal and Quebec. A new governor Henry Sloughter arrived in March 1691. He had Jacob Leisler arrested, tried, and executed. New York's charter was re-enacted in 1691 and was the constitution of the province until the creation of the State of New York . The first newspaper to appear in New York was

3700-506: The French, but many prisoners were then massacred by the Indians. Some prisoners had smallpox, and when Indians took the scalps to their home villages, they spread a disease that killed large numbers. In the end the British won the war and took over all of Canada, thereby ending French-sponsored Indian attacks. One of the largest impressment operations occurred in New York in the spring of 1757 when three thousand British troops cordoned off

3800-458: The GWC in 1651. Stuyvesant did not tolerate full religious freedom in the colony, and was strongly committed to the supremacy of the Dutch Reformed Church . In 1657 he refused Lutherans the right to organize a church. When he also issued an ordinance forbidding them from worshiping in their own homes, the directors of the GWC, three of whom were Lutherans, told him to rescind the order and allow private gatherings of Lutherans. The Company position

3900-632: The New World in the 17th century had been farmers from villages who on arrival in New Netherland scattered into widely separated villages that had little cross contact with each other. Even inside a settlement, different Dutch groups had minimal interaction. With very few new arrivals, the result was an increasingly traditional system cut off from the forces for change. The folk maintained their popular culture, revolving around their language and their Calvinist religion. The Dutch brought along their own folklore, most famously Sinterklaas , which evolved into

4000-436: The New York assembly refused to raise troops and only appropriated a token £3,000. The assembly was opposed to a significant war effort because it would interrupt trade with Quebec and would result in higher taxes. The French raid on Saratoga in 1745 destroyed that settlement, killing and capturing more than one hundred people. After this attack the assembly was more generous and raised 1,600 men and £40,000. Upstate New York

4100-463: The Spanish had taken from the Dutch. Peter thought they had few men. When Peter raised the Dutch flag the Spanish fired. A cannonball hit Peter. They lost the battle and Peter had his lower leg amputated. Stuyvesant returned to the Netherlands for convalescence, where his right leg was replaced with a wooden peg . Stuyvesant was given the nicknames "Peg Leg Pete" and "Old Silver Nails" because he used

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4200-581: The Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. Historians estimated 15,000–20,000 Africans and African Americans had been buried in the approximately 8 acres surrounding there. Because of the extraordinary find, the government commissioned a memorial at the site, where the National Park Service has an interpretive center. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark and National Monument . Excavation and study of

4300-493: The application of Dutch law to bargains and contracts made prior to the capitulation. In 1664, James, Duke of York , was granted a proprietary colony which included New Netherland and present-day Maine. The New Netherland claim included western parts of present-day Massachusetts (to an extent that varied depending on whether the reference was the States General claim of all lands as far east as Narragansett Bay or

4400-493: The attached conditions were unsatisfactory. While New York was boycotting British imports, other colonies including Boston and Philadelphia were not. The De Lanceys tried to reach a compromise by passing a bill which allowed for the issuing of paper currency, of which half was for provisioning of the troops. Alexander McDougall , signed a 'Son of Liberty', issued a broadside entitled To the Betrayed Inhabitants of

4500-491: The capitulation of the garrison at Fort Orange, which he called Albany, after another of the Duke of York's titles. The capture was confirmed by the Treaty of Breda in July 1667. Easing the transition to British rule, the Articles of Capitulation guaranteed certain rights to the Dutch; among these were: liberty of conscience in divine worship and church discipline, the continuation of their own customs concerning inheritances, and

4600-400: The city and impressed nearly eight hundred persons they found in taverns and other gathering places of sailors. New York was the centre for privateering . Forty New York ships were commissioned as privateers in 1756 and in the spring of 1757 it was estimated the value of French prizes brought into New York was two hundred thousand pounds. By 1759, the seas had been cleaned of French vessels and

4700-552: The colonies by the Dutch, and thereafter by the British, largely bought from African tribal chiefs who exploited prisoners taken during the numerous tribal wars of that period. In the 1690s, New York was the largest importer of the colonies of slaves and a supply port for pirates. The black population became a major element in New York City, and on large upstate farms. With its shipping and trades, New York had use for skilled African labor as artisans and domestic servants. New York sold these slaves using slave markets, giving slaves to

4800-461: The colony in terrible condition. Only a small number of villages remained after Kieft's wars, and many of their inhabitants had been driven away and returned home, leaving only 250 to 300 men able to carry arms. Kieft himself had accumulated a fortune of over 4,000 guilders during his term in office, and become an alcoholic. Certain that righting New Netherland was the work which God had saved him for, Stuyvesant told its people "I shall govern you as

4900-548: The colony professing Christianity. To encourage immigration, it also provided that foreigners professing Christianity may, after their arrival, be naturalized if they took the oath of allegiance as required. The Duke's Laws established a non-denominational state church. The British replaced the Dutch in their alliance with the Iroquois against New France , with an agreement called the Covenant Chain . The colony

5000-422: The colony stopped sheltering runaways from New Netherland. In 1657, the GWC's directors wrote to Stuyvesant, telling him that they were not going to be able to send him all the tradesmen that he requested and that he would have to use slaves as well. Although it is commonly thought that Stuyvesant was New Netherland's largest slaveholder, he only owned two slaves, purchasing them as part of the farm he bought from

5100-483: The colony, he spent the remainder of his life on his farm, Stuyvesant Farm , of sixty-two acres outside the city, called the Great Bouwerie, beyond which stretched the woods and swamps of the village of Nieuw Haarlem . A pear tree that he reputedly brought from the Netherlands in 1647 remained at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Third Avenue until 1867 when it was destroyed by a storm, bearing fruit almost to

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5200-486: The colony." Stuyvesant's decision was again rescinded after pressure from the directors of the company. As a result, Jewish immigrants were allowed to stay in the colony as long as their community was self-supporting. However, Stuyvesant would not allow them to build a synagogue, forcing them to worship instead in a private house. In 1657, the Quakers , who were newly arrived in the colony, drew his attention. He ordered

5300-399: The commissary of the patroonship Rensselaerwijck , which surrounded Fort Orange (present-day Albany). Stuyvesant claimed he had power over Rensselaerwijck, despite special privileges granted to Kiliaen van Rensselaer in the patroonship regulations of 1629. When Van Slechtenhorst refused, Stuyvesant sent a group of soldiers to enforce his orders. The controversy that followed resulted in

5400-499: The countryside north of New York City centered on the Livingston estates . They marched on New York expecting the Sons of Liberty to support them. Instead, the Sons of Liberty blocked the roads and the leader of the tenants was convicted of treason. In the last years of the French and Indian War London approved a policy of keeping twenty regiments in the colonies to police and defend the back country. The enabling legislation took

5500-505: The crown. The final evacuation of New York City by the British Army was followed by the return of General George Washington 's Continental Army on November 25, 1783, in a grand parade and celebration. This British crown colony was established upon the former Iroquois nation and then Dutch colony of New Netherland , with its core being York Shire , in what today is typically known as Downstate New York . In 1617, officials of

5600-481: The dilemma of domestic dissatisfaction, small size, and overwhelming external pressures with inadequate military support from the Company that was fixated on profits. Stuyvesant became involved in a dispute with Theophilus Eaton , the governor of English New Haven Colony , over the border of the two colonies. In September 1650, a meeting of the commissioners on boundaries took place in Hartford, Connecticut , called

5700-507: The early instruction of youth." In 1661, New Amsterdam had one grammar school, two free elementary schools, and had licensed 28 schoolmasters. As director-general of New Netherland, Stuyvesant greatly increased the colony's involvement with slavery . During the late 1640s, authorities in the neighboring English colonies of Connecticut and Maryland encouraged New Netherland slaves to escape there, refusing to return them. In 1650, Stuyvesant threatened to offer freedom to Maryland slaves unless

5800-445: The first of its kind in the colonies. This constitution gave New Yorkers more rights than any other group of colonists including the protection from taxation without representation . On November 1, 1683, the government was reorganized, and the state was divided into twelve counties , each of which was subdivided into towns . Ten of those counties still exist (see above ), but two ( Cornwall and Dukes ) were in territory purchased by

5900-504: The form of the Quartering Act which required colonial legislatures to provide quarters and supplies for the troops. The Quartering Act stirred little controversy and New Yorkers were ambivalent about the presence of the troops. The assembly had provided barracks and provisions every year since 1761. However, the tenant riots of 1766 showed the need for a police force in the colony. The Livingston-controlled New York assembly passed

6000-410: The founding of the new settlement, Beverwijck . In an effort to remedy the neglect on the town, previously under Kieft's administration, Stuyvesant took measures to improve the appearance and safety of the town, with numerous regulations to achieve this end that were routinely issued by his office. Building codes were established for houses and other structures, including fences in an effort to control

6100-530: The highest bidder at an auction. Two notable slave revolts occurred in New York in 1712 and 1741 . The numbers of slaves imported to New York increased dramatically from the 1720s through 1740s. By the 17th century, they established the African burial ground in Lower Manhattan, which was used through 1812. It was discovered nearly two centuries later during excavation before the construction of

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6200-423: The influence of James De Lancey . The De Lanceys regarded imperial ties to be a tool for personal advantage. Parliament passed the Stamp Act 1765 to raise money from the colonies. New York had previously passed its own stamp act from 1756 to 1760 to raise money for the French and Indian war. The extraordinary response to the Stamp Act can only be explained by the build-up of antagonisms on local issues. New York

6300-1028: The largest single group of immigrants before the Revolutionary War. By comparison, Manhattan then had only 6,000 people. Initially, the Germans were employed in the production of naval stores and tar along the Hudson River near Peekskill. In 1723 they were allowed to settle in the central Mohawk Valley west of Schenectady as a buffer against the Native Americans and the French. They also settled in areas such as Schoharie and Cherry Valley . Many became tenant farmers or squatters. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. The first slaves were introduced to

6400-458: The last. The house was destroyed by fire in 1777. He also built an executive mansion of stone called Whitehall . In 1645, Stuyvesant married Judith Bayard ( c.  1610 –1687) of the Bayard family . Her brother, Samuel Bayard, was the husband of Stuyvesant's sister, Anna Stuyvesant. Petrus and Judith had two sons together: He died in August 1672 and his body was entombed in the east wall of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery , which sits on

6500-437: The laws of England. The Duke of York never visited his colony and exercised little direct control of it. He elected to administer his government through governors, councils, and other officers appointed by himself. No provision was made for an elected assembly. Also in 1664, the Duke of York gave the part of his new possessions between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to Sir George Carteret in exchange for settlement of

6600-407: The merchant ship Polly carrying stamps for Connecticut was boarded in New York Harbor and the stamps destroyed. Up to the end of 1765 the Stamp Act disturbances had largely been confined to New York City, but in January the Sons of Liberty also stopped the distribution of stamps in Albany. In May 1766, when news arrived of the repeal of the Stamp Act the Sons of Liberty celebrated by the erection of

6700-446: The mob actions in New York with those in Boston. In Boston, after the initial unrest, local leaders such as the Loyal Nine (a precursor to the Sons of Liberty) were able to take control of the mob. In New York, however, the "mob was largely made up of seamen, most of whom lacked deep community ties and felt little need to submit to the authority of the city's shorebound radical leaders." The New York Sons of Liberty did not take control of

6800-408: The modern day Santa Claus . They maintained their distinctive clothing and food preferences. They introduced some new foods to America, including beets, endive, spinach, parsley, and cookies. After the British takeover, rich Dutch families in Albany and New York City emulated the English elite, purchasing English furniture, silverware, crystal, and jewelry. They were proud of the Dutch language, which

6900-422: The modern-day Financial District of lower Manhattan . It was co-signed by land grantee and secretary of the New Netherland Council Cornelis van Ruijven (alternative spelling Ruyven). The lot was given and granted to van Ruijven. The deed conveys a tract of land on Manhattan island in the Sheep Pasture. It was bounded by present-day Broad Street to William Street , and Beaver Street to Exchange Place . In

7000-417: The name "New Amsterdam" was officially declared on 2 February 1653. Stuyvesant made a speech for the occasion, saying that his authority would remain undiminished. Stuyvesant was then ordered to the Netherlands, but the order was soon revoked under pressure from the States of Holland and the city of Amsterdam. Stuyvesant prepared against an attack by ordering the citizens to dig a ditch from the North River to

7100-399: The nearby Brazilian state of Pernambuco . In 1638, he was moved again, this time to the colony of Curaçao , the main Dutch naval base in the West Indies , where, just four years later, aged 30, he became the acting governor of that colony, as well as Aruba and Bonaire , a position he held until 1644. In April 1644, he coordinated and led an attack on the island of Saint Martin —which

7200-482: The opposition until after November 1. On November 1, the crowd destroyed a warehouse and the house of Thomas James, commander at Fort George . A few days later the stamps stored at Fort George were surrendered to the mob. Nash notes that, "whether the Sons of Liberty could control the mariners, lower artisans, and laborers remained in doubt," and "they came to fear the awful power of the assembled lower-class artisans and their maritime compatriots." On January 7, 1766,

7300-594: The other six reserved for public purposes such as churches and schools. The portion of the Military Tract north of Seneca Lake (i.e. townships of Galen and Junius) was divided by the New Preemption Line from land to its west assigned by the Treaty of Hartford of 1786 to Massachusetts . The tract immediately to the west became the Phelps and Gorham Purchase . The west limit of most of the tract

7400-599: The peace in 1674, the Duke of York appointed Sir Edmund Andros as Governor of his territories in America. Governor Edmund Andros in 1674 said "permit all persons of what religion soever, quietly to inhabit within the precincts of your jurisdiction" Nonetheless, he made the Quakers of West Jersey pay toll on the Delaware, but they applied to England and were redressed. He was followed by Colonel Thomas Dongan in 1682. Dongan

7500-565: The privateers were diverted into trading with the enemy. The ending of the war caused a severe recession in New York. Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet , negotiated an end to Pontiac's Rebellion . He promoted the Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix to protect the Indians from further English settlement in their lands. The treaty established a boundary line along the West Branch Delaware River and

7600-414: The projects built by Stuyvesant's administration were the protective wall on Wall Street , the canal that became Broad Street , and Broadway . Stuyvesant, himself a member of the Dutch Reformed Church , opposed religious pluralism and came into conflict with Lutherans , Jews , Roman Catholics , and Quakers as they attempted to build places of worship in the city and practice their faiths. Stuyvesant

7700-471: The public torture of Robert Hodgson, a 23-year-old Quaker convert who had become an influential preacher. Stuyvesant then made an ordinance, punishable by fine and imprisonment, against anyone found guilty of harboring Quakers. That action led to a protest from the citizens of Flushing , which came to be known as the Flushing Remonstrance , considered by some historians to be a precursor to

7800-469: The remains has been described as the "most important historic urban archaeological project undertaken in the United States." This province, as a British colony, fought against the French during King George's War . The assembly was determined to control expenditures for this war and only weak support was given. When the call came for New York to help raise an expeditionary force against Louisburg ,

7900-482: The resolution repugnant to the laws of England and dissolved the assembly. The De Lancey faction, again with Sons of Liberty support, won a majority in the assembly. In the spring of 1769, New York was in a depression from the recall of paper boycott and the British boycott. By the Currency Act New York was required to recall all paper money. London allowed the issuance of additional paper money, but

8000-554: The respectable leaders of the Sons of Liberty, the lower orders rampaged through the town for four days. Some two thousand strong, they threatened the homes of suspected sympathizers of British policy, attacked the house of the famously wealthy governor Cadwallader Colden, paraded his effigy around town, and built a monstrous bonfire in the Bowling Green into which the shouting crowd hurled the governor's luxurious two sleighs and horse-drawn coach. Historian Fred Anderson contrasted

8100-561: The seventeenth-century Dutch word for "farm" – was the source for the name of the Manhattan street and surrounding neighborhood named " The Bowery ". The contemporary neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn includes Stuyvesant Heights and retains its name. Also named after him are the hamlets of Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Falls in Columbia County, New York , where descendants of the early Dutch settlers still live and where

8200-399: The site of Stuyvesant's family chapel. The last acknowledged descendant of Peter Stuyvesant to bear his surname was Augustus van Horne Stuyvesant, Jr., who died a bachelor in 1953 at the age of 83 in his mansion at 2 East 79th Street. Rutherfurd Stuyvesant , the 19th-century New York developer, and his descendants are also descended from Peter Stuyvesant; however, Rutherford Stuyvesant's name

8300-602: The site of present-day New York City . Stuyvesant had to wait for his appointment to be confirmed by the Dutch States-General . During that time he married Judith Bayard, who was the daughter of a Huguenot minister and hailed from Breda . Together, they left Amsterdam in December 1646 and, after stopping at Curaçao, arrived in New Amsterdam by May 1647. Kieft's administration of the colony had left

8400-536: The summer of 1655, he sailed down to the Delaware River with a fleet of seven vessels and about 300 men and took possession of the colony of New Sweden , which was renamed "New Amstel." In his absence, Pavonia and Staten Island were attacked by Native Americans on 15 September 1655 in what became known as the Peach War . In 1660, Stuyvesant was quoted as saying that "Nothing is of greater importance than

8500-434: The townships was to comprise 100 lots of 600 acres (2.4 km) each. Three more such townships, Junius, Galen, and Sterling, were later added to accommodate additional claims at the end of the war. The United States Congress approved in 1789, and the arrangement became final in 1799. The townships were at first numbered (1 through 28), but were later given (mostly) classical tradition Greek and Roman names, along with

8600-589: The widespread problem of wandering livestock about the town. As the housing and other structures in New Amsterdam were built almost entirely from wood and stood very close together the possibility of a spreading fire was very great. As governor, Stuyvensant forbid the construction of wooden chimneys, and imposed a tax of a beaver skin, or its trade equivalent, on every householder to finance the cost of two hundred and fifty leather fire buckets and hooks and ladders, which he had sent from Holland. He also established

8700-788: Was Seneca Lake . Two Indian reservations were included in the Tract, for the Onondaga and Cayuga . All of the Cayuga and most of the Onondaga (including the City of Syracuse ) were taken a few years later by New York State by treaties whose legality has been repeatedly challenged, since following the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 only the United States could conclude treaties with Indians. Province of New York The Province of New York

8800-576: Was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to the Great Lakes and North to the colonies of New France and claimed lands further west. In 1664, Charles II of England and his brother James , Duke of York raised

8900-419: Was a major figure in the history of New York City and his name has been given to various landmarks and points of interest throughout the city (e.g. Stuyvesant High School , Stuyvesant Town , Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood , etc.). Stuyvesant's accomplishments as director-general of New Netherland included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam beyond the southern tip of Manhattan . Among

9000-524: Was changed from Stuyvesant Rutherford in 1863 to satisfy the terms of the 1847 will of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant . His descendants include: According to historian Eleanor Bruchey: Stuyvesant and his family were large landowners in the northeastern portion of New Amsterdam, and the Stuyvesant name is currently associated with four places in Manhattan 's East Side, near present-day Gramercy Park :

9100-491: Was empowered, on the advice of William Penn , to summon "...a general assembly of all the freeholders, by such persons they should choose to represent them to consult with you and said council what laws are fit and necessary to be made..." A colonial Assembly was created in October 1683. New York was the last of the English colonies to have an assembly . The assembly passed the Province of New York constitution on October 30,

9200-521: Was expelled from the school after he seduced the daughter of his landlord. He was then sent to Amsterdam by his father, where Stuyvesant – now using the Latinized version of his first name, "Petrus", to indicate that he had university schooling – joined the Dutch West India Company (GWC). In 1630, the company assigned him to be their commercial agent on a small island just off of Brazil , Fernando de Noronha , and then five years later transferred him to

9300-568: Was experiencing a severe recession from the effects of the end of the French and Indian war. The colonies were experiencing the effects of a very tight monetary policy caused by the trade deficit with Britain, a fiscal crisis in Britain restricting credit, and the Currency Act , which prevented the issuing of paper currency to provide liquidity. From the outset, New York led the protests in the colonies. Both New York political factions opposed

9400-697: Was in particular antisemitic , loathing both the Jewish ethnicity and religion . Peter Stuyvesant was born around 1610 in Peperga or Scherpenzeel , Friesland , in the Netherlands , to Balthasar Stuyvesant, a Reformed Calvinist minister, and Margaretha Hardenstein. He grew up in Peperga, Scherpenzeel, and Berlikum . At the age of 20, Stuyvesant went to the University of Franeker , where he studied languages and philosophy, but several years later he

9500-543: Was one of the Middle Colonies , and ruled at first directly from England. When the Duke of York ascended to the throne of England as James II in 1685, the province became a royal colony. In 1664, after the Dutch ceded New Netherland to Britain , it became a proprietary colony under James, Duke of York . When James ascended the throne in February 1685 and became King James II , his personally owned colony became

9600-569: Was strongly reinforced through the church, but were much slower than the Yankees in setting up schools for their children. They finally set up Queens College, which is now Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey . They published no newspapers, and published no books and only a handful of religious tracts annually. Nearly 2,800 Palatine German emigrants were transported to New York by Queen Anne's government in ten ships in 1710,

9700-402: Was taken up in confirming the ancient Dutch land grants. Francis Lovelace was next appointed Governor and held the position from May 1667 until the return of the Dutch in July 1673. A Dutch fleet recaptured New York and held it until it was traded to the English by the Treaty of Westminster . A second grant was obtained by the Duke of York in July 1674 to perfect his title. Upon conclusion of

9800-412: Was that more tolerance led to more trade and benefited everyone. Freedom of religion was further tested when Stuyvesant refused to allow the permanent settlement of Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil in New Amsterdam (without passports), and join the handful of existing Jewish traders (with passports from Amsterdam). Stuyvesant attempted to have Jews leave the colony "in a friendly way". As he wrote to

9900-468: Was the economic rivalry with England regarding trade. Secondarily there were small scale military conflicts with neighboring Indian tribes, involving fights between mobile bands on the one hand, and scattered small Dutch outposts on the other. With a large area and limited population, defense was a major challenge. Stuyvesant's greatest success came in dealing with the Delaware River colony of New Sweden , which he invaded and annexed in 1655. Relations with

10000-501: Was the scene of fighting during the French and Indian War , with British and French forces contesting control of Lake Champlain in association with Native American allies. Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet , and other agents in upstate New York brought about the participation of the Iroquois. The French and their Indian allies laid siege to Fort William Henry at the southern end of Lake George in 1757. The British forces surrendered to

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