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HIST 3480: The History of NYC The English Colonial Era

HIST 3480: The History of NYC The English Colonial Era. A view of New York from Brooklyn by engraver William Burgis , probably in the 1720s. The English Colonial Era. ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE 1600s Legacy of the English Civil War (1642-1651)

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HIST 3480: The History of NYC The English Colonial Era

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  1. HIST 3480: The History of NYCThe English Colonial Era A view of New York from Brooklyn by engraver William Burgis, probably in the 1720s

  2. The English Colonial Era ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE 1600s Legacy of the English Civil War (1642-1651) • RELIGIOUS CONFLICT: Between Church of England advocates, Catholics, and Calvinist/Puritans • POLITICAL CONFLICT: Between King and Parliament: Should England be an absolute or constitutional monarchy?

  3. The English Colonial Era ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE 1600s • 1603 - James I of England crowned (he already was King of Scotland) • 1605 - “Gunpowder Plot” discovered: Guy Fawkes and his Catholic associates try blow up James and Parliament • 1625 - Charles I crowned King of England, dismisses Parliament in 1629 and does not allow it to meet again until 1640 • - English Civil War breaks out between Parliament/Puritans and the King who was Pro-Church of England • - Charles I captured and executed by Parliamentarians • - 1660 Commonwealth of England until 1660 • 1653 - 1658 Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell • 1660 - Charles II proclaimed King of England and rules until his death in 1685 • 1664 - Fleet of James, Duke of York, seize New Netherlands • 1669 - James, Duke of York (future James II) converts to Catholicism • 1685 - James II becomes King of England • 1688 - Glorious Revolution removes James with William and Mary, who agree to share power with Parliament

  4. The English Colonial Era TRANSITION FROM DUTCH TO ENGLISH RULE • Not really a transition from Dutch to English, but rather from the West Indian Company to James Stuart, Duke of York (from one set of private hands to another). • James as “proprietor” of the Province of New York had more rights over his settlers than the King of England over his subjects: landholders were his tenants and he could impose taxes and control trade as he saw fit; not too different from a feudal lordship. • “Articles of Capitulation” signed by the Dutch were not harsh: Dutch could keep land, religion, language, etc.

  5. The English Colonial Era CONTRASTS BETWEEN DUTCH AND ENGLISH RULE • Women’s Rights: Dutch law was much more favorable to women, giving them more extensive property and inheritance rights. Women kept their own surnames after marriage in the Dutch tradition, and inheritance was split equally between males and female heirs. In English law, inheritance passed only through the male line, and when a woman married, she became a feme covert, meaning her property became her husband’s. Many Dutch continued their own practices contrary to English law. • Slavery: Slaves’ rights were harshly restricted under the English in the early 1700s compared to under the Dutch: they could not own property, legally marry, or attain “half-freedom.” Slavery became definitive lifetime service under the English, and slaves became legally “chattel”—nothing more than private property.

  6. The English Colonial Era EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS • Captain Richard Nicolls (1664-1668): Known for his leniency toward the Dutch and closeness with the mercantile elite. Institutes English political practices in the city in 1665: mayor, aldermen, and sheriff replace the two burgomasters, schout, and schepen; many of the new officials were Dutch.He also initiated horse racing at Hempstead. During this period, James II impulsively gives away what becomes New Jersey away to his Civil War supporters, George Carteret and John Lord Berkeley. • Colonel Francis Lovelace (1668-1673): He improved NYC’s commerce by lowering tariffs and requiring many agricultural goods from Long Island and upstate to to be brought through the city. • New Orange: Brief retaking of the New York by Dutch during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1673-1674: the city was renamed “New Orange” during this time, and the colony’s “New Netherlands” name was restored and governed by Dutch naval captain, Anthony Colve. Short-lived: colony restored to England by the Treaty of Westminister in 1674.

  7. The English Colonial Era EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS • Sir Edmund Andros (1674-1683): Experienced administrator who spoke fluent Dutch, he was brought in to restore order and offer almost the same generous terms of capitulation as ten years before. Required all imported goods into the colony to pass through NYC. and built up the waterfront, and filled in the HeereGracht, which had become polluted. He astutely aligned New York with the Five Nations of the Iroquois during the big Indian uprising known as King Philip’s War in New England (1675-1678) that devastated other colonies. New English merchant criticized him for being too close to the Dutch elite, allowing them to violate the Navigation Acts and taking bribes from them, and got him summoned home in 1680.

  8. The English Colonial Era EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS • Sir Thomas Dongan (1683 – 1688): James II replaces Andros with an Irish Catholic who had been loyal to the crown during the Civil War. Dongan favored the English more than the Dutch in his appointments. He also called for the first elected assembly to draft “A Charter of Libertyes and Privileges” in Oct. 1683, followed by a charter for the City of New York (“Dongan’s Charter”). • Dongan was initially well liked, but a source of friction was his grants of semi-feudal “manors” upstate: Rensselaerswyck already existed, but he granted Livingston Manor, Pelham Manor, Bentley Manor, etc. He also gave himself big slices of Manhattan real estate. Overall, he alienated men who did not receive big estates. The Dutch were also resentful of Dongan’s lack of favor toward them. Working people, mostly Dutch, also did not benefit from the new charters. Dongan’s Catholicism was also an issue; the Duke of York had recently publically converted), and anti-Catholic sentiment was rising in England and New York. Charles II dies in 1685 and the Duke of York, James II, takes the throne.

  9. The English Colonial Era CHARTER OF LIBERTIES AND PRIVILEGES (1683) & CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK (1683) • The Charter of Liberties and Privileges was created by a colonial assembly authorized by the proprietor, James Stuart, Duke of York. James reluctantly was convinced that more self-government would lead to a more profitable colony. • The Charter guaranteed certain political rights for the colonists (no taxation without representation, trial by jury, religious liberty, etc.) • Divided New York into twelve “shires,” including New York (Manhattan), Kings, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Suffolk, and seven others. • Governor Thomas Dongan still retained most appointment powers. • Dongan also issued a new charter Charter for the City of New York, divided the city into “wards” and made the city a self-governing corporation, with privileges other towns in the colony did not have.

  10. The English Colonial Era THE DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND (1686-1689) • The Lords Of Trade created the Dominion of New England in 1686, as the autocratic King James II took the throne. It was an administrative union of the colonies of present-day New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The provinces lost much of their self-government, and were ruled from Boston. The Dominion was generally detested. • King Louis XIV’s persecution of French Protestants—Huguenots—was happening at the same time, whipping up anti-Catholic feeling and paranoia about an international Catholic conspiracy. • Governor Edmund Andros returned not as governor of New York, but as Governor of the Dominion of New England. Boston was declared the capital of this new political structure. Andros removed Dongan from office and left Colonel Francis Nicholson behind as lieutenant governor in New York.

  11. The English Colonial Era THE DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND James II (reigned 1685 – 1688)

  12. The English Colonial Era THE “GLORIOUS REVOLUTION” (1688-89) • James II takes throne in 1685. • Political crisis ensues as much of the political elite has a big problem with James’ Catholicism, especially when he has a son in June 1688, who replaced his Protestant daughter, Mary, as first in line to the throne. The Stuart dynasty looked to become Catholic going forward. • James also seemed too close to France for many. • Opponents of James in Parliament invite Protestant William of Orange to England; he lands in November 1688 with a large invasion fleet. William is “Stadtholder” of the Dutch Republic, not a monarch, but “head of state.” • After two minor clashes, James’s regime collapses; there’s little fighting England, but a bloody conflict in Ireland. James flees to France. • William and Mary jointly take the throne and promise to share power with Parliament by early 1689, clearing the path for a constitutional monarchy. • The unpopular Dominion of New England collapses in April 1689. • Dominance in world trade shifts from Netherlands to England in part due to William’s policies.

  13. The English Colonial Era LEISLER’S REBELLION, 1689-1691 • Lieutenant Governor Nicholson gets word of the revolution in March 1689, but sits on them for six weeks. • When word of the revolution got out in Boston, an angry mob arrested Governor Andros. • By mid-April 1689, New Yorkers all know about the revolution. Rumors abound that the Catholic French would invade from Quebec in support of the Jacobites (those loyal to James II). The Protestant English towns on Long Island raise militias and march on the city. • Merchants, like Jacob Leisler, withhold customs payments until government secession is clarified. • Jacob Leisler and his followers seize power on May 30, 1689, after Deputy Governor Nicholson makes an intemperate remark about burning the city rather than to allow further insubordination. Nicholson wisely flees to England. Leisler was a former soldier of German birth who became a successful merchant.

  14. The English Colonial Era LEISLER’S REBELLION, 1689-1691 • Leisler styles himself “Lieutenant Governor” in December 1689. • Leisler dismisses old mayor and assembly and calls for a new elections in the spring of 1690. While Leisler proved an effective revolt leader, he did not prove effective in actually governing. • Favored by non-elites and those with strong anti-Catholic, anti-Jacobite, and anti-French sympathies. Leisler’s regime played heavily on class sympathies, although some wealthy merchants went along with him. Dutch artisans and working people were most sympathetic to Leisler’s cause. • New royal governor with commission from King William, Colonel Henry Sloughter, arrives with troops in March 1691. After a standoff, Sloughter arrests Leisler, tries him for treason, and executes him and his chief accomplice, Jacob Milborne, on May 16, 1691, at what is a now City Hall Park.

  15. The English Colonial Era LORD CORNBURY • Edward Hyde, Third Earl of Clarendon served as colonial governor of New York from 1702 to 1708, and was corrupt and inefficient. • Rumors went around that he was a cross-dresser, but this has pretty much been disproven by a recent scholar. For years, though, people thought this portrait at the N-YHS was of him.

  16. The English Colonial Era SLAVE REVOLT OF 1712 • The city had a large population of black slaves, partly due to many years of trade with the West Indies. • Communication and meeting among enslaved people was relatively easy, since the New York City's inhabitants lived in a small area on the southern tip of Manhattan. • Living in such a densely populated area also meant that slaves worked in close proximity to free men, unlike on the plantations to the south. • Perhaps after meeting in a tavern, 23 blacks gathered on the night of April 6, 1712, around midnight. Armed with guns, hatchets, and swords, the men set fire to a building in the middle of town. • While white colonists gathered to extinguish the blaze, the slaves attacked, then ran off. At least 9 whites had been shot, stabbed, or beaten to death; another six were wounded.

  17. The English Colonial Era SLAVE REVOLT OF 1712 • While white colonists gathered to extinguish the blaze, the slaves attacked, then ran off. At least nine whites had been shot, stabbed, or beaten to death; another six were wounded. • Militia units from New York and Westchester were mustered, as were soldiers from a nearby fort. Twenty-seven slaves were soon captured. Of these, six committed suicide. The rest were executed, some by being burned alive. • Strict laws were soon enacted, and more would come, over the next thirty years. No longer could more than three black slaves meet. A master could punish his slaves as he saw fit (even for no reason at all), as long as the slave did not lose his or her life or limb. Any slave handling a firearm would receive twenty lashes. Anyone caught gambling would be whipped in public. Involvement in a conspiracy to kill would result in execution, as would a rape. A law even discouraged masters from freeing a slave: A master could free a slave, but only after posting a bond of 200 pounds. This money would be paid to the freed slave if the slave couldn't support himself or herself.

  18. The English Colonial Era JOHN PETER ZENGER (1697-1746) • German-born publisher of the The New York Weekly Journal, criticized Governor William Cosby after he replaced Lewis Morris, the Chief Justice of New York, for deciding a lawsuit against the Governor. • Zenger was sued for “for printing and publishing several seditious libels dispersed throughout his journals or newspapers, entitled The New York Weekly Journal; as having in them many things tending to raise factions and tumults among the people of this Province, inflaming their minds with contempt of His Majesty's government, and greatly disturbing the peace thereof.” • Zenger employed a top Philadelphia lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, who argued that the paper’s accusations were not slander because they were true; the jury decided the case in favor of Zenger, establishing a significant departure from English law, which still has much tighter standards for slander. “Seditious libel” in England was anything that potentially could undermine the authority of the government.

  19. The English Colonial Era ECONOMIC CONDITIONS & THE GREAT AWAKENING • New York City had been fairly prosperous in the 1710s and 1720s, but had fallen into a depression by the 1730s, in part due to increasing competition in grain exports from Philadelphia. • Hard economic times exacerbated race relations in the city. • Hard times perhaps made the Cosby administration more sensitive to the “libel” of Zenger as economic troubles made the city more politically volatile. • Hard times perhaps also made cosmopolitan and jaded city residents more open to the message of George Whitefield, an itinerant young English preacher who was an early evangelical for the Methodist movement. His outdoor “revivals” attracted thousands of New Yorkers in the 1739-1740, and again during his visits in the 1760s.

  20. The English Colonial Era THE NEGRO “CONSPIRACY” OF 1741 • The main written source about the arsons and the consequent trials was that account left by Daniel Horsmanden, the city’s recorder and one of the colony’s supreme court • English colonists in New York City felt anxious; they worried about Spanish and French plans to gain control of North America.  They felt threatened by a recent influx of Irish immigrants, whose Catholicism might incline them to accept jobs as Spanish spies. • They feared that the city's growing slave population, now numbering about 20 percent of the 11,000 residents of Manhattan and increasingly competing with white tradesmen for jobs, might revolt. • When a series of thirteen fires broke out in March and April of 1741, English colonists suspected a negro plot--perhaps one involving poor whites.  Much as in Salem a half century before, hysteria came to colonial America, and soon New York City's jails were filled to overflowing. • Despite grave questions about the contours of the suspected conspiracy, thirty-four defendants were executed.  Thirteen black men burned at the stake and seventeen more hanged.  In addition, four alleged white ringleaders--two men and two women--made trips to New York City's gallows.

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