Leading Facts of American History

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LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1647

and laborers, but he had the promise from the Dutch West India Company of as many negro slaves as they could' "conveniently provide" him. There was no one to contradict the Patroon's will. He was actually "monarch of all he surveyed."
   62. Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor of New Netherland. Peter Stuyvesant came out to New Amsterdam (1647) as fourth and last governor of the province. Governor Stuyvesant was an old soldier who had lost a leg in the service of his country. He was hot-tempered and headstrong; but he was honest, fearless, and determined to keep order in the colony at any cost. If a man was disorderly, a constable took pains to show him the shortest road to the public whipping post; if he was a robber or murderer, he was marched straight to the gallows.
   The inhabitants complained of the taxes, and wished to have a word to say about how the money should be raised and spent. The Governor strenuously objected, but finally agreed that a council of "Nine Men" should be elected to assist him in that matter.
   Later, when the people demanded the right of electing their own officers, he emphatically refused. If, said he, citizens once get the liberty to elect whom they please, "the thief will vote for a thief and the smuggler for a smuggler."
   The Governor was equally decided in rejecting liberty of worship. He fined a minister $500 for venturing to preach doctrines different from those of the Dutch Protestant Church; next he fined those who went to hear him $100 each. This made free thought expensive.
   When some Quakers came into the colony and began to proclaim their peculiar doctrines (§ 85), Stuyvesant punished them cruelly.

1647-1664 ]
GOVERNOR STUYVESANT
63

   The authorities in Holland rebuked him, and ordered that every man should be permitted to worship God in his own house in his own way; but the Governor did as he liked.
   Still, in many ways Peter Stuyvesant showed himself a good ruler. He made numerous improvements in the "city" of New Amsterdam, and in order to better defend the place, he built a high and strong fence across the north of the town. That fence, or palisade, marked the beginning of Wall Street, which is to-day the great money center of America.
   The population of the town was made up of Dutch, French, and English. On this account the laws had to be published in three languages. Even then New Amsterdam was beginning to represent all nationalities. The Dutch predicted that the time would come when its "ships would ride on every sea." Today the miles of wharves on the East and North rivers, lined with great ocean steamers and vessels hailing from all the ports of the globe, show how far their judgment was correct.
   But the Dutch did not keep possession of New Netherland. The English king, Charles II, claimed the whole country on the ground that John Cabot had discovered the coast (§ 14) and planted the English flag on it in 1497. For this reason Charles now gave it to his brother James, Duke of York. England and Holland were at peace; but suddenly (1664) a British fleet sailed up to New Amsterdam and demanded its surrender.
   Governor Stuyvesant was furious. He swore that he would never surrender "as long as he had a leg to stand on or an arm to fight with"; but, finding that the citizens refused to uphold him, he had to submit. The English promised full protection of life, liberty, and property to the inhabitants. Furthermore, they agreed to grant religious liberty, freedom of trade, and to allow the people to have a voice in making the laws.

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LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1617

   The result was that the Dutch flag on the fort was hauled down, and the English hoisted their flag in its place. Then, in honor of James, Duke of York, the name New Netherland was dropped, and the country was called the province of New York. In like manner the quiet Dutch "city" of New Amsterdam became "his majesty's town of New York."¹
   Ex-Governor Stuyvesant went back to Holland, but soon returned to spend the rest of his days on his "great bowery," or farm, which was on the east side of the island, just outside the city limits. The street now called The Bowery recalls the "Bowery Lane" which once led to the stern old soldier's home.
   63. Summary. While endeavoring to find a way either round or through North America to China and the Indies, Henry Hudson (1609) sailed up the river named for him. The Dutch claimed the country and called it New Netherland; they founded the city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Later (1664), England took possession of the country and named it New York, in honor of James, Duke of York, the King's brother.

III. NEW JERSEY (1617)

   64. The Dutch claim the Country between the Hudson and the Delaware; New Jersey. The Dutch crossed over from Manhattan Island (§ 60), and built a fort at Bergen, on the west bank of the Hudson. Later, they built a second fort nearly opposite

   ¹In 1673 New York was captured by the Dutch during war between Holland and England, but was given up to the English again when peace was made, less than a year later. From that time until the Revolution it remained subject to England.

1674]
NEW JERSEY
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where Philadelphia now stands. They claimed the country between these forts as part of New Netherland (§ 59).
   But the English declared that the country belonged to them (§§ 14, 62). The Duke of York, when he came into possession of New Netherland, gave the whole territory between the Delaware River and the Hudson to his friends Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Sir George had been governor of the island of Jersey in the English-Channel. During the civil war in England (§ 53) he gallantly defended that island in behalf of Charles I, the Duke of York's father. For this reason the Duke named the country which he granted to him and to Lord Berkeley, New Jersey. An English settlement was made (1664) at a place which the emigrants called Elizabethtown, in honor of Lady Elizabeth Carteret, wife of Sir George.
   The proprietors of the province granted the settlers very liberal terms, and the people had a direct part in the government.
   65. The Friends, or Quakers, buy New Jersey; Treaty with the Indians; Prosperity of the Country; New Jersey becomes a Royal Colony. Some English Friends, or Quakers, bought Lord Berkeley's share, or West Jersey (1674), and later, William Penn and other members of the Society of Friends bought the other half, or East Jersey, from the heirs of Sir George Carteret.
   The Friends made a treaty with the Indians at Burlington which entirely satisfied the savages. After that if they found an

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LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1620

Englishman sleeping in the path, they would not molest him, but would say, "He is an Englishman; he is asleep; let him alone." In the same spirit of good will the Friends granted self-government to the colonists. The people levied their own taxes, made their own laws, and all settlers enjoyed religious liberty.
   But eventually trouble arose about titles to land, and the proprietors thought it best (1702) to put the two colonies directly into the hands of the English government. They were united under the jurisdiction of the governor of New York; but later (1738), New Jersey became a separate province. From this time until the Revolution it was ruled by a governor of its own appointed by the King of England. The last of the royal governors was William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin.
   66. Summary. The Dutch first claimed possession of what is now New Jersey. The English Duke of York seized the country and gave it to two of his friends, naming the province from the British island of Jersey.
   A company of English Quakers then bought the land, granting to the settlers most of the privileges of self-government. The Quaker proprietors surrendered their rights to the English sovereign (1702), and New Jersey became a royal colony until the Revolution.

IV. MASSACHUSETTS (PLYMOUTH COLONY, 1620).
   67. Former Lack of Religious Liberty in England; Catholics; Puritans; Separatists. When the English began to make permanent settlements in America in 1607 (§ 46), no country in Europe had that freedom of worship which every civilized nation enjoys to-day. In England the law required every one to attend the Church of England upheld by the government, and compelled all persons to pay taxes to support that church, which maintained the Protestant Episcopal form of worship.
   Three classes of good and loyal citizens objected to that law:
   1. The Catholics, who protested against being obliged to pay for maintaining preaching which they did not believe in.

1620]
PURITANS AND SEPARATISTS
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   2. The Puritans (§ 53), who thoroughly believed in the doctrines of the Church of England, but decidedly objected to some of its ceremonies.
   3. The Separatists, who, like the Puritans, accepted the religious teachings of the Church of England, but who had withdrawn from it because they did not like its form of worship, and had set up independent congregations of their own.
   68. Emigration of those who sought Religious Liberty; the Separatists go to Holland. Not being able to obtain the freedom

HOMES OF THE PILGRIMS IN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND

they desired in England, many emigrants, representing the Catholics, the Puritans, and the Separatists, came to America. Here they hoped that they might be able to worship God without molestation, according to the dictates of their consciences.
   The first who thus emigrated were the Separatists. A congregation of these people held religious services in the little English village of Scrooby. (See map.) They found that they