| Province of New York Provincie New York |
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| British colony | ||||
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| A map of the Province of New York. | ||||
| Capital | New York City | |||
| Language(s) | English, Dutch | |||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | |||
| King | ||||
| - 1664-1685 | Charles II | |||
| - 1769-1776 | George III | |||
| Royal Governor | ||||
| - 1664-1783 | List of colonial governors of New York | |||
| Legislature | New York | |||
| - Upper house | Executive Council | |||
| - Lower house | New York Assembly | |||
| History | ||||
| - Capture of New Amsterdam | August 27, 1664 | |||
| - New York Provincial Congress | May 22, 1775 | |||
| Currency | Pound sterling, Spanish dollar | |||
The Province of New York (1664–1775) was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania. The majority of this land was soon reassigned by the Crown, leaving the territory now known as New York State.
The province resulted from the surrender of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland by the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom of England in 1664. Immediately after, the province was renamed for James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II of England. The territory was one of the Middle Colonies, and ruled at first directly from England.
The New York Provincial Congress of local representatives declared itself the government on May 22, 1775, first referred to the "State of New York" in 1776, and ratified the New York State Constitution in 1777. While the British regained New York City during the American Revolutionary War using it as its military and political base of operations in North America,[1][2] and a British governor was technically in office, much of the remainder of the former colony was held by the Patriots. British claims on any part of New York ended with the Treaty of Paris (1783).
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This English province was established upon the former Dutch territory of New Netherland, with its core being York Shire, in what today is typically known as Downstate New York.
The Province of New York was divided into twelve counties on November 1, 1683 by New York Governor Thomas Dongan:
On March 24, 1772:
On 4 May 1626, officials of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland founded New Amsterdam, which subsequently became New York City.
New Netherland was captured from the Dutch on August 27, 1664. The capture was confirmed by the Treaty of Breda in July, 1667, in exchange for the Isle of Rum in the East Indies.
In March, 1665, the Duke of York was granted a Royal 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 the Treaty of Hartford negotiated by the English and Dutch colonies in 1654 but not recognized by either the Dutch or English governments) putting the new province in conflict with the Massachusetts charter. The York charter allowed the traditional propriety rights and imposed the fewest restrictions upon his powers. 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 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.
In 1665, the Province of New Jersey was created from a portion of New York, but the border was not finalized until 1765 (see New York-New Jersey Line War). In 1667, territories between the Byram River and Connecticut River were split off to become the western half of Connecticut.
In July 1673, a Dutch fleet recaptured New York and held it until it was traded to the English by the Treaty of Westminster. The second grant was obtained by the Duke of York in July 1674 to perfect his title.
The first governor Richard Nicolls was known for writing the so called "Duke's Laws" which served as the first compilation of English laws in colonial New York. The British continued the Dutch policy of welcoming dissenting Christian sects, including the Huguenot founders of New Rochelle. The Duke's Laws established a non-denominational state church. Governor Edmund Andros in 1674 said "permit all persons of what religion soever, quietly to inhabit within the precincts of your jurisdiction"[3] The British replaced the Dutch in their alliance with the Iroquois against New France with an agreement called the Covenant Chain.
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, 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 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 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.
New York became a royal province in February, 1685 when its proprietor, the Duke of York, was crowned King James II of England. James II did not approve the New York constitution and declared it void in October, 1685. The charter assembly did not meet after 1685. In May 1688 the province was made part of the Dominion of New England. In April 1689, when news arrived that King James II of England had been overthrown in the Glorious Revolution, Bostonians overthrew their government and imprisoned their governor. 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 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.
In the 1690s, New York City was the largest importer of the colonies of slaves and a supply port for pirates.
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.
Nearly 2800 Palatine German emigrants were transported to New York by Queen Anne's government in ten ships in 1710, 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 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.
The first newspaper was started in 1725.
With its shipping and trades, New York slaveholders used skilled Africans as artisans and domestic servants. Two notable slave revolts occurred in New York City 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 Burying Ground in Lower Manhattan, which was used through 1812. It was discovered nearly two centuries later during excavation before the construction of the Foley Square Courthouse. Historians estimated 15,000-20,000 Africans and African Americans had been buried 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 the remains has been described as the "most important historic urban archaeological project undertaken in the United States."[4]
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, the New York assembly refused to raise troops and only appropriated a token three thousand pounds.[5] 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 persons. After this attack the assembly was more generous and raised 1,600 men and forty thousand pounds.[6]
In 1754, the Albany Congress took place in Albany and discussed a failed plan of union of the British colonies.
Upstate New York 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.
One of the largest impressment operations occurred in New York City in the spring of 1757 when three thousand British troops cordoned off the city and impressed nearly eight hundred persons they found in taverns and other gathering places of sailors.[7] New York City 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 City was two hundred thousand pounds. By 1759, the seas had been cleaned of French vessels and 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.
During the middle years of the 18th century, politics in New York revolved around the rivalry of two great families, the Livingstons and the DeLanceys. Both of these families had amassed considerable fortunes. New York City had an inordinate influence on New York politics because several of the assembly members lived in New York City rather than in their district. In the 1752 election DeLancey's relatives and close friends controlled 12 of the 27 seats in the assembly. The DeLanceys 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 the influence of James DeLancey and his faction. The DeLanceys 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.[8] New York 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 the Stamp Act of 1765. In October, on the site of what is now Federal Hall in New York City, 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 DeLancey organized a meeting at Burns Tavern of New York City 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”:[9]
But New York’s plebian element was not yet satisfied. Going beyond 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.[10]
Historian Fred Anderson contrasted 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 the opposition until after November 1.[11]
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.”[9]
On January 7, 1766, the merchant ship Polly carrying stamps for Connecticut was boarded in New York City harbour 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 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 City 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 the countryside north of New York City centered on the Livingston estates. They marched on New York City 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 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. The tenant riots of 1766 showed the need for a police force in the colony. The Livingston controlled New York assembly passed 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, the DeLancey faction gained seats, but not enough for a majority.
The Assembly was also temporarily suspended for failure to comply with the Quartering Act in 1769.
In 1768, a letter voted 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 City 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 the resolution repugnant to the laws of England and dissolved the assembly. The DeLancey 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 the attached conditions were unsatisfactory. While New York was boycotting British imports, other colonies including Boston and Philadelphia were not. The DeLanceys 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 the City and Colony of New York which was an excellent piece of political propaganda denouncing the DeLanceys for betraying the liberties of the people by acknowledging the British power of taxation. The Sons of Liberty switched their allegiance from the DeLanceys to the Livingstons. Alexander McDougall was arrested for libel.
Conflict between the Sons of Liberty and the troops in New York City erupted with the Battle of Golden Hill on January 19, 1770 where troops cut down the fourth Liberty Pole which had been erected in 1767.
In July, 1770, the merchants of New York City decided to resume trade with Britain when news arrived of Parliament's plan to repeal the Townshend Duties and to give permission for New York to issue some paper currency. The Sons of Liberty were strongly opposed to the resumption of trade. The merchants twice polled their members and went door to door polling residents of New York City and all polls were overwhelming in support of resumption of trade. This was perhaps the first public opinion poll in American history.[12]
New York was peaceful after the repeal of the Townshend Act, but the economy of New York was still in a slump. In May, 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act cutting the duty on tea and enabling the East India company to sell tea in the colonies cheaper than the smugglers could. This act primarily hurt the New York merchants and smugglers. The Sons of Liberty were the organizers of the opposition and in November, 1773 they published Association of the Sons of Liberty of New York in which anyone who assisted in support of the act would be a "enemy to the liberties of America". As a result the New York East India agents resigned. The New York assembly took no action in regard to the Sons of Liberty assumption of extra-legal powers. The New York City Sons of Liberty learned of Boston's plan to stop the unloading of any tea and resolved to also follow this policy. Since the Association had not obtained the support they had expected, the Sons of Liberty were afraid that if the tea was landed the population would demand its distribution for retail.[13]
In December, news arrived of the Boston Tea Party strengthened opposition. In April, 1774, The ship Nancy arrived in New York harbor for repairs. The Captain admitted that he had 18 chest of tea on board and he agreed that he would not attempt to have the tea landed, but the Sons of Liberty boarded the ship regardless and destroyed the tea.
In January 1774, the Assembly created a Committee of Correspondence to correspond with other colonies in regard to the Intolerable Acts.
In May, 1774, news arrived of the Boston Port Act which closed the port of Boston. The Sons of Liberty were in favor of resumption of a trade boycott with Britain, but there was strong resistance from the large importers. In May, a meeting in New York City was called in which members were selected for a Committee of Correspondence. The Committee of Fifty was formed which was dominated with moderates, the Sons of Liberty only obtained 15 members. Isaac Low was the chairman. Francis Lewis was added to create the Committee of Fifty-One. The group adopted a resolution which said Boston was "suffering in the defence of the rights of America" and proposed the formation of a Continental Congress. In July, the committee select five of their members as delegates to this congress. Some of the other counties also sent delegates to the First Continental Congress which was held in September. The New York delegates were unable to stop the adoption at the congress of the Continental Association. The association was generally ignored in New York.
In January and February, 1775, of the New York Assembly voted down successive resolutions approving the proceedings of the First Continental Congress and refused to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. New York was the only colonial assembly which did not approve the proceeds of the First Continental Congress. Opposition to the Congress revolved around the opinion that the provincial houses of assembly were the proper agencies to solicit redress for grievances. In March, the Assembly broke with the rest of the colonies and wrote a petition to London, but London rejected the petition because it contained claims about a lack of authority of the "parent state" to tax colonists, "which made it impossible" to accept. The Assembly last met on April 3, 1775.
In April 1775, the rebels formed the New York Provincial Congress as a replacement for the New York Assembly. News of the battle of Lexington and Concord reached New York on April 23, which stunned the city since there was a widely believed rumor was that Parliament was to grant the colonies self-taxation. The Sons of Liberty led by Marinus Willett broke into the Arsenal at City Hall and removed 1,000 stand of arms. The armed citizens formed a voluntary corps to govern the city with Isaac Sears's house the de facto seat of government and militia headquarters. The crown-appointed New York executive council meet on April 24 and concluded that "we were unanimously of the opinion that we had no power to do anything."[14] The British troops in New York City never left their barracks.
On October 19, 1775 Governor William Tryon was forced to leave New York City for a British warship offshore, ending any appearances of British rule of the colony as the Continental Congress ordered the arrest of anyone endangering the safety of the colony. In April, 1776 Tryon officially dissolved the New York assembly.
New York was located in the Northern theatre of the American Revolutionary War. New York served as the launching point for the failed Invasion of Canada in 1775, the first major military operation of the newly formed Continental Army. General George Washington took the Continental Army from Boston, Massachusetts after the British withdrew following the Battle of Bunker Hill, and brought it to New York City in 1776, correctly anticipating the British would return there. The province was the scene of the largest battle of the entire American Revolutionary War, and the first after the Declaration of Independence was signed. The British recaptured the city in September 1776 in the New York and New Jersey campaign, and placed the province under martial law under the command of James Robertson, though his effective authority did not extend far beyond the southern tip of Manhattan (then the extent of New York City). Tryon retained his title of governor, but with little power. After its reoccupation, New York City became the headquarters for the British army in America, and the British political center of operations in North America. The British cut down the Liberty Pole in the common. Loyalist refugees flooded into the city raising its population to 33,000. Prison ships in Wallabout Bay held a large proportion of American soldiers and sailors being held prisoner by the British, and was where more Americans died than in all of the battles of the war, combined. The British retained control of New York City until Evacuation Day in November, 1783, which was commemorated long afterward.
The Fourth Provincial Congress convened in White Plains on July 9, 1776 and became known as the First Constitutional Convention. New York endorsed the Declaration of Independence the same day, and declared the independent state of New York.[15] New York City celebrated by tearing down the statue of George III in Bowling Green. On July 10, 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress changed its name to the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, and "acts as legislature without an executive." While adjourned it left a Committee of Safety in charge. The New York state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, it concluded in Kingston, New York on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution was adopted with one dissenting vote. It had been drafted by John Jay, and was not submitted to the people for ratification. Under its provisions, the governor would be elected not appointed, voting restrictions were reduced, secret ballots were introduced, and civil rights were guaranteed. On 30 July 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston. On July 9, 1778 the State of New York signed the Articles of Confederation and officially became a part of the government of the United States of America, though it had been a part of the nation since it was declared in 1776 with signatories from New York.
The governor of New York was royally appointed. The governor selected his Executive Council which served as the upper house. The governor and king had veto power over the assembly's bills. However, all bills were effective until royal disapproval had occurred which could take up to a year. During King George's War, the governor approved two assembly initiatives; that the colony's revenue be approved annually rather than every five years and that the assembly must approve the purpose of each allocation. Elections to the house of assembly were initially held whenever the governor pleased, but eventually a law was passed requiring an election at least once every seven years. New York City was the seat of government and where the New York assembly met.
Between 1692 and 1694 the governor of New York was also the governor of Pennsylvania. From 1698 to 1701 the governor was also the governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. From 1702 to 1738 he was also the governor of New Jersey.
Representation in the assembly in 1683 was six for Long Island, four for New York City, two for Kingston, two for Albany, one for each of Staten Island, Schenectady, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and one for Pemequid on the Maine coast. In 1737, the assembly was expanded to 27 and in 1773 to 31.
Voters were required to have a £40 freehold, in addition to requirements related to age, sex, and religion. The £40 freehold requirement was often ignored. Jews were not allowed to vote between 1737 and 1747. In rural counties slightly more than half the males could vote. No secret ballot safeguarded the independence of the voters. The elections were held at the county town, under the supervision of the sheriff and sometimes at such short notice that many of the voting population could not get to the polls. The candidates were usually at the polls and the vote was taken by a show of hands unless this vote did not result in a clear winner.
Upstate New York (as well as parts of present Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Ohio) were occupied by the Five Nations (after 1720 becoming Six Nations, when joined by Tuscarora) of the Iroquois Confederacy for at least a half millennium before the Europeans came.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1664 | 10,000 |
| 1688 | 20,000 |
| 1698 | 18,067 |
| 1715 | 31,000 |
| 1723 | 40,564 |
| 1731 | 50,289 |
| 1749 | 73,448 |
| 1756 | 96,775 |
| 1774 | 182,251 |
The fur trade established under Dutch rule continued to grow. As the merchant port of New York became more important, the economy expanded and diversified, and the agricultural areas of Long Island and the regions further up the Hudson River developed.
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