NEW YORK. 



251 



named Fort Orange, and Manhattan Island in 1G12. The English claimed a prior right to the 

 country, and gave the Dutch settlers some trouble ; but the claims of the latter were after- 

 wards acquiesced in, and the colony, under the title of the New Netherlands, soon began to 

 flourish. The territory, as originally claimed by the Dutch, extended from Fort Goed Hoop 

 on the Connecticut to Fort Nassau on the Delaware. The border feuds and contests with the 

 Swedes on the one extremity, and the New i'^nglanders on the other, have been made more 

 familiar to us by the pen of the humorist than by the labors of the historian. In 1650, Long 

 Island was divided between the Dutch and English, but the former still retained half of the 

 present State of Connecticut. Soon after, however, Charles the Second set up anew the 

 claim of the English to the whole country, and made a grant of it to his brother the Duke of 

 York and Albany. England and Holland were then at peace, but a fleet was immediately 

 despatched to take possession. The Dutch were unable to ofi'er resistance, and the whole 

 province peaceably surrendered in 1664. Colonel Nichols, the commander of the expedition, 

 assumed the government ; the name of the colony was changed to New York, the capital 

 having been originally called New Amsterdam. 



On the breaking out of war between the Dutch and English in 1673, New 1 ork fell into 

 the hands of the original settlers, but was restored to the English the year afterwards, at the 

 conclusion of peace. The Duke of York obtained a new patent, and appointed Andros 

 governor of the colony. No representative power was enjoyed by the people till 1683, when 

 the first Assembly met, and, by a declaration of the governor, were invested with the sole 

 power of enacting laws and levying taxes. When the Duke of Yoik became King, under the 

 title of James the Second, his Catholic bigotry and arbitrary spirit were no less objects of 

 hatred and apprehension among the colonists than in England. When the news of the revolu- 

 tionary measures against him arrived in the colony, the people rose upon the officers, seized the 

 fort at New York, and declared for the Prince of Orange. The chief director of this move- 

 ment was Jacob Leisler, who, having overthrown James's authority, took upon himself the 

 office of governor. The people of Albany, although they acknowledged the Prince of 

 Orange, refused to submit to Leisler, and much discord followed, but Leisler finally succeeded 

 in establishing his authority, and confiscated the estates of his opponents. This injustice 

 brought a bloody vengeance upon his head in the sequel. King William, being established 

 upon the throne, appointed Colonel Slaughter governor of New York ; but Leisler, intoxicated 

 with power and success, refused, when the new Governor arrived, to surrender the government 

 into his hands. Slaughter caused him to be apprehended, and put him, with many of his 

 adherents, upon trial, for resisting the royal authority ; Leisler, and another named Millborne, 

 who had been active in subduing the malecontents of Albany, were condemned to death. It 

 appears that the Governor designed to pardon them after conviction, on account of the services 

 which they had rendered the country, but the enemies of the unfortunate criminals used every 

 exertion to induce the Governor to sign their death-warrant ; this he constantly refused. Not 

 meeting with success by open persuasion, they resorted to a detestable stratagem ; the Gov- 

 ernor was invited to a feast, and, when intoxicated, the warrant was produced and he signed 

 it ; when he recovered his reason, the prisoners were already executed. 



The political history of New York, subsequently to the period of the revolution in England 

 in 1638, is not remarkable ; many struggles were elicited between the representative body and 

 the governors by their conflicting pretensions respecting the finances ; but these led to no 

 important results. In the year 1741, New York was thrown into great alarm by a supposed 

 plot of the negroes to burn the city ; large numbers of them were tried and executed or ban- 

 ished, on very little evidence, so great was the panic that fell upon the inhabitants. When 

 their fears had subsided, it was found, that the " negro plot " -vvas hardly more established 

 by proof than the celebrated popish plot in England. During the v/ars with the French, the 

 northern parts of the State were the scenes of many bloody contests with the French of 

 Canada and the savages. The conquest of Canada, by the English, in 1759, secured the 

 tranquillity of the interior till the breaking out of the revolutionary war. In the latter struggle, 

 New York was the theatre of some of the most important and memorable campaigns. 



