A Pictorial History

MARSHALL B. DAVIDSON

In the first comprehensive pictorial history of NewYork ever to be published, Marshall B. Davidsoncombines immense learning and a vivid writingstyle to show the richly varied history of theEmpire State from Indian times to the present.He has chosen 750 historical pictures, some neverpublished before, to document the story of thestate that is home to almost one in everyten Americans. The illustrations show life up-state and life in the world's greatest city. Theydepict the development of New York's farms andfactories, the building of the Erie Canal, and thephenomenal growth of the port of New York; theyshow the warriorsIndian, English, French, andAmericanwho have battled over its land andwaterways, and notable figures in the state's his-tory, from Peter Stuyvesant to Fiorello LaGuardia.Above all, they convey the wonderfully variedmixture of population that makes New York amicrocosm of the nation as a whole.

The picturesold engravings and watercolors,maps and paintings, architectural drawings, an-tique furniture and fine photographs

provide anunequalled source of visual documentation forunderstanding the state's history. The result is atreat for both the eye and the mind, a volumeideally suited as a souvenir album, gift book, orlibrary reference book.

Author of the highly acclaimed Life in America,a pioneering work in the use of pictures for in-terpreting history, Marshall B. Davidson has alsowritten the three-volume American HeritageHistory of American Antiques; The Writers'America; Toe Artists' America; The World of

'76 and other books. He was formerly editorof Horizon Magazine and the editor of publica-tions at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2012

http://archive.org/details/newyorkpictorialOOdavi

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oA Pictorial History

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MARSHALL B. DAVIDSON

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CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONSNew York

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Copyright 1977 Charles Scribner's Sons

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Davidson, Marshall BNew York: A Pictorial History

BibliographyIncludes index.

1. New York (State)HistoryPictorial works.I. Title.

F120.D38 974.7'0022'2 77-3921

ISBN 0-684-14772-6

This book published simultaneously in theUnited States of America and in CanadaCopyright under the Berne Convention

All rights reserved. No part of this bookmay be reproduced in any form without the

permission of Charles Scribner's Sons.

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 MD/C 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

Title Page

New York skyscrapers around the turn of the centuryCharles Scribner's Sons Art Files

Editor Norman Kotkp.r

Assistant Editor Patricia Luca

Art Director Ronald I ;ariu:r

Contents

This Book and Its l/ses ://Map of N^a York vMap of New York .uul Brooklyn .v/7Introduction

A Pictorial History 11

1 Before P89 18

E.irlv Exploration ot New York f6Aborigines roDutch New York 22Dutch Gties in the WildernessDutch Domesticity 26In the Dutch Fashion 28Homes on the Land 30New World Dutchmen 32The English Takeover 34

York Under English Rule 36lorn of the Press 38

rderland Indians 40The French and Indian War

and TriumphantAlong City Streets 46

erasing 48Living in Style 50Educating the Gentry 52On the Eve of War 54Preparation for a Siege 56The Battle for Manhattan 58Hudson Valley CorridorThe Battle of v w. 62Arnold and AndreFrontier Warfare-

Ratifying the Constitution 68

II. P89-1860 10

Capital of the Nation 10

Return to the Sea 12

Capital ( itus 14

I Frban Developments 16Duncan Phyfe's New YorkThe Federal Si vie 80The Scientific Spirit 82Looking Westward BThe War of is I.! 86West Point 88Hie Erie (anal 90Frie Canal Cities 94The Port of New York 96Steamboats on the Hudson anonBoom and Bust / /' /'

orners to the State 146The ( oming of die GreenReligion and Reform / 50

V

Religious Currents 152

Sing Sing 154The Crystal Palace 156Upstate Cities at Midcentury 158Syracuse and Utica 160

III. 1860-1900 162

The Civil War 162The Home Front 164Draft Riots 166Commerce, Industry, and War 168Postwar Corruption 7 70Industry Upstate 112Industrial Growth 174The Sewing Machine 176The Burden Iron Works 1 78Rural Living 180The Rural Economy 184In the Small Towns 186Batavia 188Troy 190Buffalo 192The State Capitol 194Faces on the Wall 196Westchester 198Elevated Railroads 200The Brooklyn Bridge 202Croton Reservoir 204Central Park 206Cultural Institutions 208The Statue of Liberty 210New York Mansions 212Slums 214Huddled Masses 216Better Living 220Eating Out in New York 222Merchandising 224The Garment Industry 226Recreation 228The Sporting Scene 232Women in Sports 234Vassar and Cornell 236

The Chautauqua Movement 238Olana 240The Catskills 242Artists of the Adirondacks 244The Adirondacks 246The Telephone 248Electricity 250Edison 252Energy 254The Trolley Car 256Leisure and Pleasure 258Life at the Turn of the Century 260Literary New York 262

IV. The Twentieth Century 264

Skyscrapers 264Commuters 266Automobiles 268The Stock Exchange 270Ash Can Art 272World War I 274Postwar New York 276The Twenties 278The Great Depression 280Fiorello 282World War II 284Governors 286Highways 288Air Traffic 290Waterways 292New York Agriculture 294Modern Industry 296Education 302A New Albany 304Ethnic Groups 306History 308Natural Wonders 310

Bibliography 313Picture Sources 315Index 319

VI

This Book and Its Uses

picture, as the saying has >t. is worth ithousand words. It' thai is true, then this hook.with its 750 or so pictures, illustrating innu-merable aspects of New York lite from the

enteenth century to the present, is equivalentto .1 ma ilumc on the history of the state,

a volume much more comprehensive than anyavailable at present. The aim of this hook is tomake the folk saying valid, to provide authorita-tive and thorough documentation o( the richmd varied pictorial material that has evolved inthe centuries ot New York history .\nd % by theinclusion of .m extensive and unique index, toenable the reader and the reference librarian torind in the pictures themselves hundreds of factswhich are unavailable elsewhere, or. it" available,very difficult of access.

In this work, as in Scribner's notable Albumof A which has proven so useful

I book of historical reference, the picturesthemselves contain the history, and the text as-sumes a subordinate role. The captions aimmerely to identify the pictures within a historical

context, without intending to be in any sense acomplete, however brief, narrative history of the

I . this lxx)k. we have a thread of textwhich explains the pictures, instead of scattered

ires which only scantily illustrate a text.The plan of the book has been to reproduce

only pictures which are contemporary with thents they illustrate. As a result, each

is a primary source of historical information, arich.

-

ut the|

whichit was ma.: '' I of us are not accustomed tolooking at pictures in this way. We generallylook at them aesthetically and as illustratioi

-her than a

of historical facts. This book is desig

alter that balance, to enable the reader tO milk"the pictures, as it were, of the historical Or

factual information they contain, and to provide,through a comprehensive index, an instrumentoi reference and research.An example will show the system by winch

this is done. The view ol (tu.i. reproducedoverleaf and on pages 160 and 161, is a lithograph showing the town around 1850. It is a fineexample oi a panoramic view of an Americancity, one of many which were produced iii thenineteenth century. By consulting the index

entry for the picture, under "Utica," and other

appropriate entries, the reader can learn that

the picture shows the following t.uts:

1. By L850 treatment of the insane had pro-gressed, for there was a fine asylum.

2. Utica was sizable enough to support threelarge hotels.

v The town was served by the Utica andSyracuse Railroad,

i Outside the railroad station, passengercoaches customarily waited to meet t he-

train, as did freight wagons waiting fordelivery of freight.

5. Pedestrian crosswalks were pi led on

the streets.

Not all the are m the ( aptioi >mc

may not be readily apparent to the reader Thecomprehensive index, which ind the sub-jects which are illustrated but n< ' in

the captioi ed to pi

ply a ke\ to ea< h oi thi

pictures in the l"w>ok. The index cntr* thereader ... in .

multitude

of

in

v. ^rfrTV' ... .'.il',|

1 '*

,

the subject of Ins interest throughout the cen the events described, ensuring its trustworthinesstunes of Niu York histor) .is a historical document. Eventually, a compn

This book is part ol -i series ol volumes on hensive index nn 1 1 1 be published for the entirethe American states. The series will bring to series, providing on a national scale the samegether an uneoualed library oi pictures devoted sort ol reference documentation contained in

American history, some (5,000 pictures in individual volumes.all, each different and each contemporary with

IX

New York- 1H7

1

A counry-by-county map of New York resembles a horn of plenty thrust down towafdl the tea fromthe north and west, ovf-ri.< U Manhattan and Brooklyn. XI

Xll

N"yy TO?.BEOOELTN

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N Y0R1i

Introduction

From high in the air most of the land that com-prises the state of New York looks puckered intohills and mountains, and laced by waterways thatseek their outlets in all directions through in-

numerable valleys. In the northernmost cornerthe Adirondack Mountains, a spur of the Cana-dian highlands, jut across the international bor-

der to provide the state's most picturesque peaks.

The tallest of those is barely a mile high, hardlycomparable to the towering heights of the westernranges of the country. But the Adirondacks areancient mountains, shaped of rexks that tooktheir place above the primordial sea scores ofmillions of years before the Rockies were formed,rexks that are as old as any in the world knownto g l Near the highest reaches of the

I uplands, from "a minute, unprcrendingtear of the cloudsa lovely pool shivering in the

breeze of the mountains," spill the thin begin-nings of the Hudson River, one of the world'smost enchanting waterways.

Another province of mountains covers almostthe entire southern portion of the state, rising in

the Catskills to occasional relatively lofty sum-

mits overlooking the Hudson, and leveling offinto a plateau that rolls gently southward into

and Pennsylvania and extends to theGreat Lakes bordering the state on the west. Theyare products of hundreds of millions of years oferosion that has softened their contours anddeepened their valleys. In one of those ample-folds the water of the Schoharie Reservoir now

covers the remains of the oldest forests knownin the world, gigantic petrified stumps of fern

trees, eleven feet in circumference, that flourished

in the western Catskills far back toward the be-ginning of time.

Most of the long, straight eastern border of

New York is

than any other state, New York has known thecontinuous ferment and restless excitement that

attend the fusion of different peoples uprooted

from their several soils and ancestries and cast

together as in a crucible.

In area New York is not large as the states ofAmerica measure, ranking only thirtieth amongthe fifty. But within its relatively modest bounds

the land has accommodated a wealth of humanexperience out of all proportion to its size. It has

been a coveted land, for it promised abundance

and authority to those who could invest and com-mand it, and it long played an important andoften bloody role in the strategy of nations.

Long before the white man came to settle in

America, Indians found what was to becomeNew York an ideal habitat. The wooded landsteemed with wild game and provided an abun-dance of fruit and nuts; fertile clearings pro-

duced corn, beans, and tobacco; the earth yielded

edible roots and salt in ample quantities; streamsand lakes swarmed with fish, and provided acommunications network that reached to allpoints of the compass. There is reason to believe

the ancient Indian legend that the Great Spirit

regarded this land with special favor. The im-print of the hand he once laid upon it in bene-diction can still be traced in the tapered out-

lines of the Finger Lakes.

It is almost within the span of those clear-

watered valleys, according to the Indian story,

that Hiawatha dreamed and spoke of a peacefulbrotherhood of man. And round about, coveringpractically all the present state from Lake Erie tothe Hudson River, the tribes of the Iroquois inthe sixteenth century did actually establish the

league of the Five Nations (Mohawk, Oneida,Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca), a remarkablystatesmanlike and democratic confederation ofaboriginal tribes that for a time was the mostpowerful combination of Indians on the NorthAmerican continent. In consolidating their posi-tion as virtual masters of the New York andadjoining areas, the Iroquois proved fearsome ad-versaries whose name struck terror among othertribes as far west as the Mississippi. Nevertheless,

Hiawatha's concept of a lasting settlement inwhich all nations would sit down under the Treeof Peace was cherished in principle even when itwas violated in fact. It has often been observedthat such an ideal of democratic participation ina confederation of equal states may have influ-

enced the white men when, at the birth of theUnited States of America, they framed first theArticles of Confederation and then the Consti-tution.

The Iroquois' first head-on confrontation withwhite men was a tragic event, with long-drawn-

out, dire consequences. In 1609, prodding south-ward from his recently established base in Que-bec, accompanied by a band of northern Indians,the French explorer Samuel de Champlain gavebattle to a party of Iroquois who contested hisway. With the first shot of his arquebus, loadedwith four bullets, Champlain relates, he killedtwo Indians and mortally wounded a third. Whenone of his two French companions fired anothershot from the surrounding woods, the astonishedIroquois, "seeing their chief dead . . . lost courageand took flight, abandoning their field and theirfort, and fleeing into the depths of the forest."With that one paltry battle the French won thefierce, lasting enmity of the Five Nations. HadChamplain managed to find a peaceful way tothe mouth of the Hudson River, he could havereached it before Henry Hudson and establishedthe claims of France before the Dutch gained afoothold. In consequence the history of all NorthAmerica might have been quite different. As itwas, the Iroquois neither forgot nor forgave

that first shot fired in their wilderness domain.Their enmity was long to be feared, their alli-ance to be coveted; their hireling tomahawksmight strike death in any direction. And for mostof the next two centuries they held the balance of

power among the European nations and colonistscontending for the mastery of America.

As the map of New York was gradually out-lined (the final boundaries were not settled until1880-81, when an Act of Congress ended a longdispute with Connecticut), it looked like a hornof plenty thrust down towards the sea from thenorth and west to receive the wealth of the con-tinent and funnel it to the extreme limit of theland at Manhattan Island. Thus the Englishviewed it when they quietly and firmly took overHolland's claim in 1664. And thus also did theFrench, who for a century and a half held acounterclaim to the largest part of the present

state, as the names of its counties and towns

St. Lawrence, Orleans, Montcalm, Chatcaugay,and Raqucttecontinue to remind us.

Other place names, in the eastern part of thestareBrooklyn, Kinderhook, Coblcskill, Spuyten

4

Duyvil, and the like recall Holland's relativelybrief occupancy oi those areas t,as do such wordsas cruller and cookie, boss mk\ >. anddope, whieh long ago found a fixed place inever\dav American speech V The Dutch startedBO people the Hudson River vallev following thepioneering visit of Hcnrv Hudson who. a tewmonths after Champlain's unfortunate skirmishwith the Iroquois, in the late summer of 1609,sailed his little //.;// .M > : as far as the present

site oi Albany. Hudson, .m Englishman in theemploj oi the Dutch last India Company, wasseeking a northwest passage to the Orient. In-

stead he discovered rich lode of precious furs

of mink, heaver, and other peltsthat foresterIndians would exchange in quantity for cheaptrinkets. For the next century that lucrative fur

trade gave shape to both the promises and theproblems that New York offered the Europeanswho ventured there. The Indians, principally theIroquois, controlled the supply oi furs, becomingever more deeply involved in the contentious

rivalry oi the whites and with one another forshares in the spoils.

Through its trading company the Dutch triedto run their North American colonyNew\ -herlands. as it was calledas a businessproposition. In 162 1 eighteen French-speaking,Protestant. Walloon families settled at FortOrange, which would become in time the capitalcity of Albany. A year later forry Dutch colonistslanded at the tip of Manhattan Island, a spotwhich would in its turn become the wealthiestsmall area in the world, although it rose to little

importance under Dutch rule. From the begin-ning. New Amsterdam, as the little settlement

I named, was a sailors' town and, according toone witness, it soon acquired the arrogance andthe sounds of Babel. As early as 16 H a visitingmissionary overheard in and about its short streetsthe babble of eighteen different languages. "Ourchief unhappyness here." complained one resi-dent, "is too great a mixture" of different racesand religions, an observation which has oftenbeen repeated in the last three hundred years.

For various good reasons westering Englishcolonists were attracted to the Dutch territory insizable numbers. "Doe not forbeare to . . . crowdon," the governor of neighboring Connecticut

I instructed in I6i2. "crowding the Dutch outof those places where they have occupied, butwithout hostility or any act of violence." So it

was that in 1664, wlun a small English fleetarrived tO take over the colony, there wire mimerous Englishmen already in New AmsterdamtO see it turned over to British rule "without a

blow or | tear." Furious as he was over theusurpation, with no support from Holland, Governot Peter Stuyvesant could do nothingabout it.

The takeover had been engineered by theDuke of York and Albany, brother ot ("harks IIand later king himself, as Janus II. lie had en-joined his governor, Richard Nicolls, to treat theDutch with "humanity and gentleness." He madeno effort tO impose the English language or hisCatholk religion on his new subjects. As a con-sequence, Dutch customs as well as the Dutchlanguage persisted along the Hudson Valley untilwell into the last century.

However, the duke also made no effort tosummon an assembly, and there were enoughEnglishmen already in the colony to cause himtrouble when he chose to tax them without theirrepresentatives' consent. A code of laws similarto those of New England was drawn up by rep-resentatives of Long Island and Westchester,granting New Yorkers (as the inhabitants wouldnow be termed) trial by jury, freedom of reli-gion, and protection of property rights; ir alsoauthorized strong local governments with electedmembers. But that was not enough. In 1 6S s a"Charter of Liberties and Privileges" providedfor an elective assembly and a Bill of Rights andreaffirmed religious freedom and trial by jury.However, that charter was repudiated by Jameson his accession to the throne of England twoyears later. When in turn he was dethroned,in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, New Yorkbroke our in a revolution of its own, led by theGerman-born merchant Jacob Leisler, in favor ofa more popular government than had yet beensecured. With another turn of the wheel Leislerwas deposed and hanged for treason. But theprinciples for which he stood did nor die withhim. The rebellion he fostered widened a riftbetween the prominent and wealthy colonists onthe one side and the small farmers, medianand merchants on the other. Partly as a conse-quence of the issues time wen the ari

CS themselves divided inro rival liberal andconservativi is. From this discord politiparties were formed, each gathering to i f s cause

diverse elements of the population. Eventually

many of the reforms for which Leisler had diedwere hammered out in a practical manner.

Throughout the English colonial period the af-

fairs of New York were dominated by what wasvirtually a feudal aristocracy. To encourage col-onization the Dutch had offered free and sizable

grants of land in the Hudson Valley to those in-dividuals who would settle fifty families on anystated tract. The English confirmed the owner-ship of those large estates

patroonships, as they

were calledand some royal governors madesimilar extravagant handouts to other favored in-

dividuals. One early governor complained thatupon his accession the whole province had al-ready been "given away to thirty persons."

About a half century later, in 1764, GovernorCadwallader Colden wrote that three estates alonecontained "above a million acres each, several

others above 200,000," most of which still re-mained uncultivated, "without any benefit to thecommunity." The manorial lords controlled notonly most of the land, but also the politics, the

law, the church, andthrough intermarriagewith prominent merchant familiesthe trade ofthe colony. The Livingstons, Schuylers, Rensse-laers, Philipses, and other often-related familiesoverawed not only the common folk but theroyal governors to boot.

The monopolization of such vast areas of de-sirable land by a relatively few owners had anenduring effect on the development of NewYork. Together with the mountain barriers of theCatskills and the Adirondacks and threats fromthe French and Indians along the borderlands, itlong discouraged any such substantial immigra-tion as rapidly populated the hinterland ofPennsylvania in the eighteenth century. On theeve of the Revolution, after more than a centuryand a half of colonization, most of the New Yorkcountryside remained a wilderness. Only a scat-tering of settlers had moved more than a fewmiles from the coastal area and the Hudson andMohawk rivers.

In spite of its relatively small and restrictedpopulation, New York remained the Americankey to the struggle for empire that was bringingEngland and France into confrontation on aglobal scale. Each of those nations coveted theroutes that led most directly through New Yorkto the heartland of North America; each lookedto the Indians for support in their conflicting in-terests. In 1687, to placate and flatter the Five

Nations, James II authorized the protection ofthese tribesmen as subjects of his realm. Proud oftheir new sovereignty, the Iroquois launchedvigorous raids on French settlements along the

St. Lawrence. That provoked retaliating raids byFrench and Indian war parties dispatched by themilitary governor of Canada, the comte de Fron-tenac. In 1690, without warning, the upstatetown of Schenectady was destroyed and its in-habitants mercilessly butchered.

That was but a prelude to the strife the colonywould suffer over the next several generations.Immediate fears were felt for the safety of Al-bany, major crossroads of the traffic in furs. "Al-bany is the dam," it was reported from Massa-chusetts, "which should it through neglect bebroken down by the might of the Enemy, wedread to think of the Inundation of Calamitiesthat would quickly follow thereupon." Albanydid not fall, but those fears persisted. A halfcentury later Benjamin Franklin, not usually analarmist, warned his countrymen in lurid wordsof their peril from French and Indian attacks."On the first alarm," he wrote, "terror willspread over all; and, as no man can with cer-tainty know that another will stand by him, be-yond doubt very many will seek safety by aspeedy flight.

. . . Sacking the city will be thefirst, and burning it, in all probability, the lastact of the enemy. This, I believe, will be thecase, if you have timely notice. But what must beyour conditions, if suddenly surprised, withoutprevious alarm, perhaps in the night!" In 1754at a congress held at Albany, he called for anecessary union among the colonies that wouldplan concerted action in the defense of theirborders.

Although nothing came of that proposal, theBritish home government, with William Pitt asprime minister, was concerned enough by aseries of humiliating defeats at the hands of theFrench at such vital posts as Oswego and Ticon-deroga to undertake vigorous offensive action.British victories in and around New York soonled to the ultimate victory of that campaignwhen Quebec fell to General Wolfe in 1759.The French and Indian menace in New York-was finally ended, and the colony entered a newphase of its development, with a newborn senseof its independent destiny.

With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War,New York once again became a vitally important

Strategic center ot intcrn.uion.il military opera-

tions \,. other colony knew so well the COSt oifreedom. Almost I third of the battles oi the

Revolution were fought on New York soil (in-cluding many oi the most decisive), .is blackenedruins along its valleys and frontiers made tragi-cally clear before the peace was won England's

aim was to split the united Colonies In winningcontrol oi the Hudson Valley with its importantmilitary routes to the north .\nd wist. It was the

only large-scale offensive planned by the Brit i->h

Arm\ during the war. Alhanv w.is the key pointControl, but Albany was never taken. Am

Uity ^nded with Burgoyne's surrender

American troops at Saratoga in Octobet 1 7 77,the turning point of the Revolution and one ofthe truly decisive battles in history. With thatimpressive American victory England's masterplan was frustrated. Encouraged by such a showof American strength and determination. Francesent the troops and ships (and money) which SO

Stantialry contributed to the final triumph atYorktown in PS1.New Yorkers were seriously divided among

themselves throughout the war. The state prob-ably had the largest number of English Loyalistsin the colonies, and the ground was bloodied bythe civil strife of friends and neighbors, as ar thedecisive conflict ar Oriskanv the most sangui-nary battle of the Revolution.

Following Washington's retreat from Manhat-tan Island in 1 6 the city of New York re-mained in British hands for seven years. It be-came a haven for Loyalists, who fled there from

s controlled by patriots. When, after formalnations. Washington reentered the city on

\ '.ember 25. 1783, the British officials andtroops sailed off. taking with them thousands ofhap . alists and leaving a population onlyone-half as large as it had been before the war.During the occupation two major fires had de-stroyed many hundreds of the city's buildings.But the port of New York and the new state itserved were destined for greatness, as develop-

ments in the coming decades would make abun-dantly clear.

In the year of the peace Ge'iui "H^oci^laet/en afk Jiorren Jer .Huiu \nj

ende unJre )ats/t niter ,

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-f tprt Ttteuw ^itnJherdanu ajr

Dutch New York

In 1626 it was reported to the States General thatPeter Minuit, director general of New Netherland,had bought Manhattan Island from "the wild men[the native Indians], for the value of sixtyguilders." About that time the earliest known viewof New Amsterdam was drawn (1), probably in-tended primarily to show the directors of theWest India Company the proposed location of afort with five bastions (as built, the fort had four).The view depicts about thirty houses in the littlecolony, a windmill, and a stone-walled counting-house. A copy of an annotated map made in 1639(2) represents the first actual survey of Man-hattan Island with all its important topographicalfeatures, its rudimentary road system, and thefarms of the early settlers, as well as adjoiningfarms on Staten Island and Long Island, in theBronx, and in New Jersey. A detail from anothermap issued about 1648 (3) shows the course ofthe Hudson River along which Dutch settlementshad clustered as the seventeenth century advanced.Only a few years later, in 1651, a map was is-sued in London which traced the Hudson Riverbending westward and, after filtering through "amighty great lake," finding its way by this north-west passage to "the sea of China and the Indies"(4). At the end of the seventeenth century ap-peared the earliest known view of Niagara Falls( 5 ) , which had been discovered by the friar LouisHennepin while preparing for an epic voyage downthe Mississippi.

22

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26

r&f Duhh Do\\iL\lhit\

Indoors as well as out of doors the colonists of

\ctherland reproduced as best they couldthe atmosphere of their homeland. Beds werearranged in alcoves behind curtains, .is in the re-

Structed house of the ferry keeper at the VanCortlandt Manor < 1 >. "You may go thro all therooms of a great h ne traveler reported in

ny. "and never sec a bed. . . ." Also in typicalDutch style, doors were divided in two horizontally,like- this one at Philipsburg Manor (2). The greatcupboard, or j. indispensable storage facilityDutch home, was reproduced, often with paintedimitation of the richly carved decoration of Euro-

pean models (3)

probably the first still-lifepaintings done in America. The engraving on a

r beakei made by Cornelius Vanden-burgh. the first native-born smith, copied ilh

! from the fables of the Dutch author Jacobuswhich were popular on both sides of the

The earliest known colonial tea-kettle (i was a relatively novel and expensive-drink at the time ) was fashioned by theYork silversmith Cornelius Kicrstede in the firstdecade of the eighteenth century (6).

27

In the Dutch Fashion

i?" *

/wp

&Unlike their typical \\w England contemporaries,the Dutch settlers in the Hudson Ri\er valley werenot avers in the painted dec-

orati their houses and churches. A benchfashioned in \~02 ( 1 ) hears a scene of the Last

gment, with an appropriate verse in Dutchscript admonishing that "there is still time to leavefolly" bd final judgment. In PS2, whenhe visited a house in Xewhurgh. New York, "builtin the Dutch fashion." the Marquis de Chastellux

-! that "the fire is in the room itself." A re-I the Museum of the City oi New

York B fair impression of such an early in-Glazed earthenware Delft tiles (3),

decorated with profane as well as religious sub-jects, were commonly used as Facings for the large.jambless. hooded fireplaces; mantel ruffles keptsmoke from spilling into the room. The stout-bottomed Dutch burghers so affectionately carica-tured bv W ashington Irving would have foundample accommodations in one of the rare chairssurviving from early Xew York ' i>. The over-mantel painted panel still survives to recall thefarmhouse built in 1729 at Leeds, in the Catskills,for one Marten Van Bergen, obviously a personof Durch origin or descent ( 5 ) . As the artist re-corded the scene, the barn, haystack I with an ad-justable "roof"), cattle, sheep, chickens, laden

m, and complement of people of both sexesand all ages, suggest the early farmers varied life.

From the earliest days, men of many other landsmingled with the Dutch along the Hudson River.As early as 1644 one observer heard as many aseighteen different languages spoken in New Am-sterdam alone. Among the few houses that survivefrom the seventeenth century there is some indica-tion of that diversity. In 1663 Pieter Bronck, sonof a Danish settler (who gave his name to TheBronx), built a stone house at Coxsackie, to whichhe made additions- in 1685 ( 1 ). The Bronck fam-ily lived here until 1939- Late in the seventeenth

century, the Huguenot Jean Hasbrouck built astone-and-clapboard house with a steep-pitchedroof at New Paltz (2); it is one of five earlydwellings that line what is said to be the oldeststreet in America with its original houses. In 1 660,far out on Long Island, at Last Hampton, RobertDayton built a wooden saltbox house of the sortfamiliar to the Fnqlish settlers of Massachusetts

and Connecticut (3) . This was to be the birthplaceof John Howard Payne and his boyhood "Home,Sweet Home." A limestonc-and-brick house builtin 1676 by Colonel Wessel Ten Broeck at Kings-ton (4), became the meeting place of the firstpublicly elected New York Senate in 1777. OnStaten Island, the oldest section of the only remain-

ing house built there during the New Netherlandsperiod dates from 1662 (5). It was raised In aFrench Walloon settler Pierre Billion.

Houws on the Land

31

New World Dutcfanen

In his genial, satirical stories Washington Irvingcreated an enduring image of the typical NewNetherlander as a slow-witted, fat, pipe-smokingtippler. No one familiar with the bustling citizensof New Amsterdam and Albany and their familieswould have recognized such a caricature. PeterStuyvesant ( 1 ) , director general of New Nether-land from 1646 to 1664, had lost a leg in colonialwarfare in the West Indies before coming to Man-hattan where, with a wooden leg ornamented withsilver bands, he ruled with martial severity. He alsoconquered New Sweden, before his colony was inturn taken over by the British. His close contemp-orary Cornelius Steenwyck ( 2 ) served as burgo-master of New Amsterdam and later became mayorof New York City under British ruleand one ofthe city's six wealthiest inhabitants. Young Jacquesde Peyster ( 3 ) , clutching his gold-and-rock-crystalwhistle (4), brought from Holland to amuse him,was born into one of the most prominent of Dutchcolonial families. In 1664 the English took overNew Netherland "without a blow or a tear." TheDutch burghers preferred peaceful surrender tobloodshed and plundering, and accommodatedthemselves easily enough to the new regime. Cap-tain Johannes Schuyler, shown here with his wife(5), fought the French in early intercolonialwars and later was a peacemaker between theIndians and the English.

32

33

The English Takeover

With the surrender of New Netherland to theEnglish, King Charles II gave his brother James,duke of York (1), who later became king asJames II, a charter for the territory, now namedNew York. The terms of the surrender hadbeen generous, guaranteeing the Dutch, amongother things, full property and inheritance rights.The patroon system of the Dutch, and the ex-travagant handouts of England's royal governors,brought enormous estates into the hands of certaincolonial families. One favored individual, FrederickPhilipse, who had come from Holland in 1650and who for a time had served as Peter Stuyve-sant's carpenter, amassed before he died in 1702holdings of ninety thousand acres, known asPhilipsburg Manor (2), over which he ruled likea feudal lord. When James ascended the throne in1685, he hatched a plan to make New Yorkerssubjects of the "Dominion of New England" underBoston-based Governor Edmund Andros (3). ButJames was ingloriously dethroned in 1688 andAndros was shipped back to London. Robert Hun-ter (4), who served as governor of New Yorkand New Jersey from 1709 to 1719, was success-ful in assuaging the rancorous political factionalism

that flourished within the colony.

Xm York LfiiLr linolish Rule5

The most important and detailed view of Manhat-tan as seen from Brooklyn Heights, with the New

of the Hudson shown in the far back-ground, is a six-foot-long panoramic print madefrom a drawing by William Burps, engravedabout 1717 (1). In it can be traced the develop-ment of the city as it pushed northward up theisland. At the far left of the scene, the early Dutchbuildings of the old city, with their steep roofsand stepped gables . contrast with the housesshown farther north on the island, many of themfine mansions overlooking the East River andbuilt in the later, more formal style favored inEngland at the time (3). Just left of dead centerlooms the tall spire of the first Trinity Church

which had recently been built facing Wallnd near the new City Hall. In the right

foreground '5), cattle and produce from therural reaches of Brooklyn arc being ferried acrossthe East River to be sold in the city. The ferry-house, run by James Harding, served as a "pub-

house of Entertainment" as required by Hard-ing's franchise as ferryman. At the time the popula-tion of the city of New York was around seventhousand persons ( somewhat less than the popula-tion of either Philadelphia or Boston, which werethe most important cities in English North Amcr-

'.t the time). As ever. New York remainednrJally a trading center, its shipyards

Freedom of the Press

i

Numb. II.

THENew

-York Weekly JOURNALContaining t\n frcfbtft Advices, Foreign, and Donieflick.

MUNDAT November i a, 1795.

1

Mr. Zenger.

Nccrt the following in your next,and you'll oblige your Friend,

CATO.

Alira tempornm j"elicitat uhi fentiri quxveiis. & qu* fnitiat dieere licit.

Tacit.

THE Liberty of the Prefsis a Subject of the great-eft Importance, and inwhich every Individualis as much concern*d as

he is in any other Part of Liberty

:

therefore it will not be improper tocommunicate to the Publick tne Senti-ments of a late excellent Writer uponthis Point, fiich is the Elegance andPerfpicuity of his Writings, fuch theinimitable Force of his Rrafonin|, thatit will be difficult to fay any Thingnew that he has not fa id, or not tofay that much worfe which he hasfad.

There are two Sorts of Monarch ies,an abfolute and a limited one. In thefirft, the Liberty of the Prefs can neverbe maintained, u k inconfiftcnt withit , for what abfolute Monarch wouldfuffer any Subject, to animadverton his Actions, when it is in his Pow-er to declare the Crime, and to nomi-nate the Punifhment > This wouldmake it very dangerous to exercifefucha Liberty. Befides the Object againftwhich thofe Pens mutt be directed, is

their Sovereign, the fole fuprcam Ma-giftrste , for there being no Law inthofe Monarchies, but the Will of thePrince, it makes it ncceflary for hisMiniftcrs to confult his. Plcafure, be-fore any Thins can be undertaken :He is therefore properly chargeablewith the Grievances of his Subjects,and what the Miniftcr there acts beingin Obedience to the Prince, he oughtnot to incur the Hatred of the People yfor it would be hard to impute that tohim for a Crime, which is theFruit ofhis Allegiance, and for refufing whichhe might incur the Penalties of Trea-fon. Betides, in an abfolute Monar-chy, the Will of the Prince being theLaw\a Liberty of the Prefs to complainof Grievances would be complainingagainft the Law, and the Constitution,to which they have fubmittcd,or havebeen obliged to fubmit j and therefore,in one Senfe, may be faid to delervePunifhment, So that under an abfo-lute Monarchy, I fay, fuch a Libertyis inconfiftent with the Conftitution,having no proper Subject in Politics.on which it misht beexercis'd, and ifexerciVd would incur a certairrPenalty.

But in a limited Monarchy, as Eng-land is, our Laws are known, fixed,and eflablifhed. They arc the ftre'plitRule and fureGuide to direct theKjng,the Miniflers, and other his Subjects :And therefore an Offence asainfi theLaws is fuch an Offence againft theConftitution as ought to receive a proper adequate Puni(hment j the levrri

Conflil

38

In the summer of 1735, >u the cornet o( Walland Nassau streets in Manhattan, a trial by jurytook place that excited concern and attention notonly in New York but in other colonial cities, aswell as in London. Tin. N . \ V rk Weekly Jour-

1 i. a tour-page weekly newspaper published

by an obscure German immigrant John Zenker,had had the courage and audacity to challengethe ruling governor of the colony, William Cosby

for misusing and exceeding the authority ofhis office. ( In setting up his printing shop Zengerhad been backed by a faction of local patriots

to give voice to such criticisms.) For

persisting in his outspoken assertions, Zenger wasjailed by Cosby, as the governor's proclamationpromised (3), while, one way or another, the) .;.' continued publication of its accusations.

hs after his arrest Zenger was brought totrial for his "seditious libel" with little prospectof acquittal. The jury was friendly, but the gov-ernor's authority in this matter seemed all butabsolute. At the very last moment, when allseemed lost, Andrew Hamilron < 4), former at-torney general of Philadelphia among other things(he > one of the architects of IndependenceHall ), came to Zengcr's defense, eloquently plead-ing for freedom of the pn fen minutes after he-had finished his lengthy discourse, the jury returneda verdict of not guilty Years later GouverneurM -ris observed that "the trial of Zenger in P 1^

the germ of American freedom, the morningstar of that liberty which subsequently revolution-ized America."

By his ExcellencyIVfillam Coiby, Opriin General .md Govcrnourin Chief

of 'he Province of hhv-Tork^ New J r/r*, an. I TerriroiKt llwifMIdepending ut America, Vico-Adnural of the bar, and CoJuolI u> Hi* MajeAy'aArmy.

A PROCLAMATION-WHereas 111 minded andnifarftfred Pcrfonthavc larrly difprifcd

in the City of A/nr-Tork, and diver* other Place*, IcviTalScanJalou* and Sedifloin Librl*, bur more particularly two HrintrdScandaloui Song* or BallaJt, highly defaming the Adininiftranon ofHi* M a jefty' Government in this Province, tending gnatly toinflime the Mind* of Hit Majefty't Rood 5ubjecl, nd fo dilturbthe Publick Peace. And Wbmxj the Grand Jury for the City andCoutuy of New-York did lately, by their Addrcfa to me, eomnliinof thefe Pemiuous Pradtict-% and requeft mc to iflue a Proclamationfor the Difeovery of the Offender*, that they might, by Law, receivei PuniOiment ailecjaatc to their Guilt and Crime. / Hjv* thereforethought fit, by and wirh the Advice of hit Majelty'a Council, toUTuetrwi Proclamation, hereby Promifinq Tmty Peunrfm a Reward,to fuch Perfon or Petlon* who (hall difcorer the Author or Authorsof the two Franilaloo* Sonp* or Batladt eiorcfhid, to be paid to thePcifon or Prrfoos JidoveTin

July 14th. 1703/Prices of Goods

20.

Borderland Indians

Supplyed to the I

attern 3fntrians,By the fcveral Truckmafters ; and of the Peltry received

by the Truckmafters ol the faid Indians.

OVf yard Broad Cloth,/Wc Beaver skins,/* /m/m.One yard tx h.ilf(jingerline,or Beaver %km,injejjen

Om ) jrj Rrdor Blett Kcrlcj ,two Beaver skins,/*Jenjon.One yard good Duffels, aw Beaver skin, imfetfem.OneyuJii halfbroad iincCottor>,Beavcr skm,i//*^jw^ards of Cotton, nr Beaver skin, mjea/on.

l*eaver

J%(/' PJtTWealfcf^^flS^Qr sklnr*^r^*,7x> Pints of Powdc/, Beaver skin, in Jen/in.One Pint of Shot, r Beaver skin, /* feafon.Six Fathom of Tobaeco, one Bcav cr skin, /* feafon.Forty Biskcts, one Beaver skin, in feafon.Ten Pound of Pork, one Beaver skin, in Jeafon.Six Knives, one Beaver skin, in je

-ifon.

Si v Combes, one Beavct skin, mjeajon.Twenty Scaincs Thread, one Beaver skin, in feaftn.One Hat, two Beaver skins, mjejjon.One Hat with Hatband, three Beaver skins, infeafon.Two Pound of large Kettles, one Beavct skin, m/eajon.'*< l'und& halfof lma!lKett!cs,

Indians along the- borderlands of New York were-inexorably drawn into the vicious circle of tradeand strife- between the- French and Rnglish colo-nists, which centered largely around the vast in-land commerce* in furs and hides. Durinc much ofthe colonial period Albany remained an importantEnglish focus of this competitive- trade Scheduleswere printed ( 1 ) to establish the- value of pelts

in terms of the fabrics, clothinq, and hardwaredemanded by the Indians. As one French engravingSuggested, the Iroquois we-re- formidable savagesto cope- with in the northern forests (2). In thewinter of 1709-1710 Peter Schuyler (3), firstmayor of Albany, sailed for London with fivefriendly Mohawk sachems to impress them withthe might and majesty of Queen Anne and to

nade the- English monarch to support Schuy-ler's bold plans to invade French Canada with thehelp of Indian allies. ( In America the current in-ternational conflict involving England and France

known as Queen Anne s War, otherwise re-membered as the War of the Spanish Succession.

)

The sachems, garbed in formal English clotheshastily contrived by a theatrical costumcr. werepresented to the queen at St. James's Palace. Thetall and handsome Thoyanoguen, the so-calledKing Hendrick. was portrayed thus garbedThoyanoguen remained a powerful and devotedfriend of the English. He and a companion. EtowaCaume, were painted in their forest dress (5, 6).They generally attracted enormous attention inLondon and were constantly reported in the press.Feted to surfeit and loaded with gifts, four of thekings returned to America in May 1710one haddied en route.

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The French and Indian \\ j>

In 1754 the intermittent warfare between theFrench and English in Amen*. a broke out intoanother major conflict. Known here as the Frenchand Indian War, it was to be better known abroadas the Seven Years' War; it was in fact a worldwar. Th< Hudson Riser, Lake George, and LakeChamplain provided a natural route tor warringparties of the two antagonists and their indis-

sable Indian allies (1), In September 1755the British colonial led bv the immigrant\ > rker William Johnson (2) and with sup-

n the Mohawks, defeated a French ,1

43

England Triumphant

44

^v*'rrr

An ingenious engraving on a powder horn madeabout 1755 depicts the general scene of the Frenchand Indian War in the New York area (1). Fort

.. which was to become such a historicAmerican landmark, was built by the French in!~ s ^

'_

command the passage between LakeGeorge and Lake Champl.iin (2). Here, on July8, 1758, after William Pitt in England had or-dered the vital bastion taken, one of the most

sanguinary battles in British military annals was

fought. As can be seen from a contemporary battlemap J English and colonial troops attacked inan arc from the woods; from their central breast-works around the height, the French met the as-sault with pointblank musket fire. Almost twothous.ind of the British force were killed, wounded,or reported missing; the rest retreated. A year later,Major General Jeffrey Amherst, shown here in aportrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds ( i >, returned tothe attack, and this time the French, vastly out-numbered, blew up the fort and abandoned it.Five days later they also pulled out of a fort atCrown Point, fifteen miles to the north, andAmherst temporarily encamped there '5). Thecentral route to Canada was now open to theBritish. When Quebec fell, later in the year, theissue of the wilderness war was ended.

:

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Along City Streets

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46

Probably no city in the United States has so sys-tematically destroyed the physical evidence of its

past history as has New York. St. Paul's Chapel,built in 1766 as a virtual duplicate of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in London, is one of the very fewcolonial structures to remain standing withinmetropolitan bounds (1)an almost miraculoussurvival in that repeatedly burnt-out and rebuiltcity. Fires menaced the community from the start.A fire department was authorized in 1737 and by1750 the city had six engines. The accompanyingdetail from a notice of the Hand-in-Hand FireCompany ( 2 ) shows the customary bucket brigadepassing water to the engine from a neighboringhand pump, while people carry away salvage fromthe burning building in sacks and baskets. In 1817,to preserve a record of what the city had beenlike in 1768, Joseph B. Smith painted a viewof John Street between William and Nassaustreets (3). The first Methodist church buildingerected in America, Wesley's Chapel, is shownin the center of the painting. Most of the figuresare portraits of actual persons, done from memory(4). One of the men standing before the chapel,Captain Thomas Webb, a disciple of Wesley ("j ),wears a patch over the eye he lost during theFrench and Indian War.

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"London and Brtjtol Crtvn Windowiriq/i / *U S>X4J, 41 Urg$ tU ZJ hf21 Imchtt.

Coacb and Plate Gfa/i.> Printer* anb Ifmnritf Colours,

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New York emerged from the French and IndianWar tat with profits made on government con-tracts, shipping, and privateering. In the yens im-mediately following, hundreds of thousands ofpounds ol New York money went into the con-struction and furbishing ot mansions and (.states,and into "French and Spanish wines, portraitpainting, carriages from London." Between 1765and 1768 Stephen Van Rensselaer II, seventhpatroou of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, built oneot the most elegant houses in the colonies. Hand-painted wallpaper made to order and measure inLondon, decorated with adaptations of contem-porary European paintings, lined the great centralhall ( 1 ), now reinstalled in the MetropolitanMuseum. An unidentified gentleman had the artistJohn Mare paint his portrait with his hand restingon a chair made in New York in the fashionableChippendale style (2). Gaming tables were madefor those with time to spare and money to wager(3). James Beekman enjoyed a French coach withhis coat of arms painted on the door panels (4).During a visit to New York in 1774 John Adamswas much impressed by such "Opulence and Splen-dor" as he saw there. It was by no means all newmoney. Early in the century Lewis Morris, firstlord of the manor of Morrisania and associate ofGovernor Robert Hunter, sailed about the NewYork waterways in his private yacht ( 5 ) ; and hisson and namesake, who owned one of the fineststables in New York, treasured a silver bowlcelebrating his racing horse Old Tenor (6).

Educating the Gentry

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^^^^^7 S3?In the year 1754, coinciding with the outbreak ofthe French and Indian War, New York's culturaland intellectual life was enriched by the foundingof two enduring institutions: King's College, laterto become Columbia University, and the NewYork Society Library, the oldest library in the city.The original college building ( 1 ) also can be seenin the distance in a view of lower Manhattandrawn in 1763with an incongruous palm treein the foreground (2). The name of SamuelVerplanck, a fifth-generation descendant of earlyDutch settlers, is listed with the first graduatingclass (3). In 1771 Verplanck had his likenesspainted by John Singleton Copley (4), when thatprominent Boston artist visited New York. Copleyreported that the New York gentry were so dis-cerning he could "slight nothing" in painting theirportraits. An early bookplate of the New YorkSociety Library symbolically suggests its educa-tional endeavors (5). (Samuel Verplanck was atrustee of the library.) The Society still activelyserves the New York "gentry" and others with itsexceptional collections, which incorporate thelibrary early formed in Boston by John Winthrop.

52

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Tbe WaroJ 1812

In 1811 the United States wis battling Britainon two fronts: at sea, where armed merchantmenand frigates fought each other tor passage through

sea lanes; and in tlu \\ est, where Indians, un-der British influence, confronted American annusBut war was not declared until June IS

York Harbor was blockaded. American armies. d through the port of Buffalo ih to face

the British in Canada. British expeditions attackedand captured Fort Niagara (2) and Fort Ontarioat Oswego, In July 1814 thousands of British

in Montreal, ready to advancedown the Hudson and take Albany, as Burgoynehad planned to do in 1 . To oppose them, somefour thousand American troops under General

Ulder Macomb were entrenched in the villageof Pittsburgh on Lake Champlain. Each side

ended on naval support. On September11. action began on lake and land. It is said thatthe British commander Sit I {e Previ

:nc the naval engagement, predicted it wouldtake just forty minutes to dispose of the American

under Commodore Thomas MacdonoughIn the action that ensued (5), almost the entireBritish naval squadron was captured, and theBritish ground forces made a hurried retreat. The

: offensive had ended. A contemporary poemrejoiced over the memorable victory (6).

oCOMMODOat

MACDONOLGH's VICTORY;FREEMEN. raife a joyous flrain !

Alott the Eaqle towers,*

' #Vt* met ibe enemy " again

Again have made them 'auai! 1

Champlain I the cannon's thunderingvoice,

Proclaims thy; waters ftee jThy foreft-waving hills rejoice,.And echo Vianry |.

Theftriped flair upon thjr wave,Triumphantly appears,

And to inverted lanbTmen, brave,.A ftar of promife bears*

Now to the world Fame's trumpet foundsThe deed with new applaute,

While from a Qonquer'd bktt r'efounds.Our Teamen's loud huxxag.

Britannia, round thy haggard browsBind bitter wormwood Kill %

For lo t again thy ftandard bowsTo valiant Yankee (kill.

But. O 1 what chaplet can be foundM a cDomouc H ' brows to grace }

*Ti 6nnt I the glorious wreath is bound,Whioh time can ne'er efface,

And ft ill ajufta rich reward,Hiscountr? has to give j

He mail be firft tn her regard,And wuh her PERRY live I

Columbia I though thy cannon's rearOn inland Teas prevail.

And the* aront while round each flioreOutnumbering (hips aiTail.

Yet deed with deed, and name with nam*Thy gallant fon, fhall blend.

Till in* bright arch of naval fame,.O'er i he broad ocean bend I HI

West Point

From trying and bitter experience in the field,George Washington was painfully aware of theinadequacies of the militia system in wartime ,crises. Supported by Alexander Hamilton andHenry Knox, he urged the establishment of aschool to develop a base of military skill uponwhich the nation could depend in national emer-gencies. Finally, in 1802, such an academy wasauthorized by Act of Congress, to be situated onthe escarpment at West Point, where there wasstill a Revolutionary War fort (1). A few gradu-ates performed brilliantly in the War of 1812, butby 1817 affairs at the little academy had becomea scandal. To correct matters, recently electedPresident James Monroe appointed as the newsuperintendent Brevet Major Sylvanus Thayer (2),a graduate of Dartmouth and in 1805 of WestPoint, and a serious student of military science.Smartly uniformed cadets ( 3 ) were introduced tothe strict discipline that has ever since charac-

terized the institution. Thayer's complete overhaulof the curriculum and the plan at the Point earnedhim the sobriquet "Father of the Military Acad-emy." During his administration, the school, withits meticulously drilled cadets marching with ut-most precision on the plain (4) overlooking thelordly Hudson, became one of the nation's show-places.

JF*"-

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88

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The Erie Canal

Two years after the War of 1812 was formallyconcluded, work commenced on the constructionof the Erie Canal, the greatest engineering feat

thus far attempted in the nation. The guidinggenius of this colossal undertaking was DeWittClinton, canal commissioner and later governor ofthe state ( 1 ), who in 1817 persuaded the legisla-ture to authorize the project. Even Thomas Jeffer-son with his vision of the future had observed thatbuilding such a waterway through 350 miles ofwilderness was "little short of madness." Newmachinery in the form of great hoists to removestumps and full-grown trees, and devices to cutdeep-lying roots, were employed to clear the wayfor the giant cut through the wooded land; a newvariety of cement was used to solidify the stone-

work (2). By 1825 Clinton's "Big Ditch" wascompleted, and by means of this artificial riverNew York's commercial empire was able to reachfar into the western hinterland. Almost immedi-ately, merchandise and produce of all description,travelers and migrants of every stripe, found theirway to and fro along what was now the majorthoroughfare of the country (3). The opening ofthe canal was probably the most important oc-casion in the history of New York Harbor. Tocelebrate the event, City Hall burst into a "Mag-nificent and Extraordinary" display of fireworks j^H(4). When, as a symbolic ritual, a keg of waterfrom Lake Erie was emptied into the Atlantic, aflotilla of twenty-two steamboats, among othervessels, was on hand to witness the proceeding (5 ).New York City's claim to be the "great com-mercial emporium" of America was now firmlyclinched.

90

The busy trade that developed along the Eric-Canal is depicted in an aquatint showing a canallock in an unidentified canalside town around 1 830.

Erie Canal Cities

At almost every point the canal touched, it seemed,

new towns sprang into being, old towns were

charged with fresh vitality, all prepared to sharein the passing commerce. According to one touristguide, in 1821 Lockport boasted just two houses;with the completion of the canal a few years later,five ascending and five descending locks, "themost stupendous work on the whole route," madethat site a key point on the canal, and Lockportflourished ( 1 ) . Wheat grown in western parts ofthe state, formerly fed to pigs or converted into

whisky on the spot because of the cost of trans-porting it elsewhere, could now be moved to sea-board markets for a few cents per bushel. As itspopulation soared, Rochester quickly became theforemost flour-milling center of the country. Its

great granite mills at the upper falls of the

Genesee River (2) were called "the most stupen-dous works of modern art." The growth of Buffalo,the western terminal of the canal, was almost

explosive. In 1810 the site had been a frontieroutpost (3); several decades later, with its handsome stores, its fine churches, its hotels, its theaters,

and its "harbour full of shipping and magnificentsteam-boats" (4 ), the city reminded one astonishedtraveler of Aladdin's magic palace, sprung upvirtually overnight on a lake shore. Albany (5)was the hub of the canal trade. It was a (oininonoccurrence for fifty gaily painted canal boats to

leave there in a single clay, laden with cafjand passengers headed for the West.

U >

The Port of New York

M M M MUNE Or AMERICAN PACKETS

BETWM&Jf #. JTOHK ft LIVERPOOL*IN order to furnish frequent and resnilar convey

-

ancet for GOODS and PASSENGERS, thelobscribem have undertaken to establish a lineof vessel* between NEW-YORK and LIVER-POOL, to tail from each place on a certain dayin every month throughout the yearThe following vessels, each about four bandred

tow burthen, have been fitted oat for this par-pose ;Ship AMITY, John Stanton, matter,~ COURIER, W. Bowne, " PACIHC, Jno. Williams,

' JAMES MONROE, And it i% the intention of the ownen that one

of these vessels thai) satl from New-York on the5th, and one from Liverpool on the 1st of everymonth.

P

AAs the nineteenth century advanced, Nev YorkCity became tar and away the nation's chief sea-port, "a great open window to the world." NewYork was a city of ships, hemmed along its water-front by a dense pattern of masts and bowsprits,as South Street was show n in a print issued in

1834 ( I ). About that same time another artistpictured the city's ample harbor teeming with craftof every description and from all parts of theworlda spectacle that brought crowds of lands-men to the waterfront to watch and wonder (2).In the autumn of 1817 a new era of maritimehistory had opened with the announcement that afleet of transatlantic packet ships would operate-out of New York on a fixed and regular schedule

. regardless of wind and weather. These pio-neering, square- rigged vessels of what was to beknown as the Black Ball lineopposite is one ofthem, the Jamei Foster, Jr. I i I-averaged twenty-three days on the eastward crossing to Liverpool

and forty days on the return voyage against headwinds. Within a few years they were carryingmost of the passenger and freight trade of theAtlantic. As one consequence of the city's sea-

faring activities. New York became the majorshipbuilding center in the Unir* The Smithand Dimon yards ( 5 i , although not by any meansthe largest of such operations, turned out some-

important ships, including the first extreme clipperbuilt in this country. In IH^S New York ship-yards were responsible for constructing tv. enty-six

ships and barks, seven brigs, thirty-six schooners,and five steamboats.

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Steamboats an the Hudson

The first commercially successful src.imhoat in theUnited States was Robert Fulton's N rth River

umt, popularly known in laters simply as the (. In 1802 Fulton

( 1 >an inventor, engineer, and artistcon-

o construct such a vessel for Robert R.

Livingston (2). who held a monopoly on steam-boating in N Y rk waters. ( Among his manyother distinctions, Livingston had as chancellor ofthe state of New York administered the oath at

ungton's inauguration.) History was made inwhen the Clermont, sounding "like the devil

in a sawmill." chugged its way from Xew Yorkto Albany in thirty-two hours. In 1810 a print

issued in France, after a drawing by an eye-witness, showing the craft, probably rebuilt andenlarged, passing \\ Point on one of its trips

up the river (3). A view of Fulton's third Hudson- boat, the Paragon ( n. was painted by ang Russian artist, to whom the vessel was a

spectacle of wonder with its spacious and elegantaccommodations, where one could enjoy "the bestwines, all manner of dainties, and even ice-creamin the hot season." The n was, he ex-claimed, "a whole floating town'" Sreamboatingquickly caught the popular imagination, and thenumber of such vessels plying the Hudson rapidlymultiplied. Travelers swarmed to steamboat land-ings ( ") | in response to broadsides issued by com-panies competing for business M anwhile,in 1811 Fulton and Livingston introduced steam-fern.- service between Manhattan Island and the

-

. shore; by the 1830s their ferrieshandled most of the traffic across the lower Hud-son ~

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The Hudson

The Hudson is by no means the largest nor the ^wlongest of rivers, but it is without question oneof the most picturesque. From its tiny beginningsin the Adirondacks until its majestic entry into Y/the Atlantic, it is only about 315 miles long. Alongits course the Hudson has cut its way throughancient rocks and mountainous terrain, fashioninga landscape of irresistible allure to artists. Duringthe last century particularly, artists celebrated the

beauty of the Hudson River Valley. The popularityof the view from West Point ( 1 ) was enhancedby colorful historical associations dating from theRevolution. From Mount Ida, at the Falls ofCohoes, just north of Troy, one could observe thejunction of the Hudson and the Mohawk (2).The appropriately named villa, Undercliff (3),near Cold Spring, was the riverside seat of GeneralGeorge P. Morris. Near Hudson (4), riversideroads provided a stirring view of the CatskillMountains. Many artists depicted the command-ing escarpment on which West Point was built;Robert Havell's painting (5) shows West Pointand an encampment of tents on the plain below.

Pages 102 and 103: In the early days of steamnavigation, Peekskill was an important landingplace.

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The Hudson River School

Reporting on his visit to the United States in the1830s, the English naval commander and authorCaptain Frederick Marryat observed that the Hud-son River was "incomparably more beautiful" thanthe Rhine; it was as he imagined the Rhine tohave been in Caesar's day. The first artist to cap-ture that semiwild beauty with his brush wasThomas Cole (1), a virtually self-taught Englishimmigrant who settled in New York in 1825. Inthe years thereafter Cole spent weeks and monthswalking and sketching his way through the Cats-kill Mountains that overlook the Hudson. His workimmediately attracted attention, and he was al-ready prospering when he painted "The Clove,Catskills" in 1827 (2). Cole strongly advisedyoung painters of the necessity of outdoor, on-the-spot drawing of nature, as he himself did in suchsketches as the "Highlands of the Hudson NearNew Windsor" ( 3 ) . His work strongly influenceda group of painters known as the Hudson Riverschool, an unorganized fraternity of able artists,whose meticulous portraits of the hills, lakes,valleys, and rivers of the state preserve a rich andlyrical record of the primitive landscape. AsherB. Durand (4), Cole's fellow artist and frequentsketching companion, was a pioneer in paintingout of doors. English-born Robert Havell, Jr., cameto America and settled in New York State, wherehe recorded aspects of the surrounding countryside.In an unidentified view, he included the figures oftwo artists at work in the open (5 ). In 1869 JohnFrederick Kensett, one of the most prominent land-scapists of the day, painted his impression of LakeGeorge, nestled in the wilderness of the Adiron-dack foothills (6).

) i

Mount's Long Island

The commonplace aspects of rural life on LongIsland in the middle years of the last century, itsaccustomed routines and bucolic pleasures, weredepicted with engaging candor and a skilled brushby the local painter William Sidney Mount, whowas born into a farming family in Setauket in1807. His canvases are self-explanatory, as theywere intended to be, and reflect the artist's intimateunderstanding of the daily activity he recorded.The titles he gave his paintings are suggestive buthardly necessary: "Farmers Nooning" (1), "CiderMaking" (2), "Long Island Farmhouses" (3),"Eel Spearing at Setauket" (4), "The Power ofMusic" (5), and so on. A number of his workswere reproduced in Europe, where they were widelycirculated. Mount was the first American painterto treat black subjects with dignity and individ-uality.

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?MWv V

106

Literary New York

3 y-m&-M

^ ^ ^ile the artists of the Hudson River school were

celebrating and documenting the natural wondersof the state with their paintings and drawin.number of talented novelists and poets were creat-ing new visions of New York with their writings.The historical w himsics of Washington Irving ( 1

)

and the frontier romances of James FenimoreCoo:

, both culled from the lore of theland, provided the state with a legendary pastthat is unforgettable. Whatever their origin, to-day's \ Yorkers are all the spiritual heirs ofthe bearded Rip Van Winkle (3), and of Leather-stock

Iand the other characters who ani-

mated the fictions of the two authors. As Irvingwove its magic into his stories, the Hudson Riverbecame one of the world's enchanted waterways,and his stories were widely read on both sides ofthe Atlantic. Out of his love for the forested landto the north and west of the Hudson, Cooper spuntales that have been called America's own "Ara-bian Nights of the Frontier" and that were readin translation throughout the western world.

nz Schubert pleaded from his deathbed forstill another Cooper novel to distract him fromhis mortal illness.) In 1825 William CullenBryant (5) fled New Fngland for New York withhis reputation as a poet already made in Americaand soon to spread to Furope. His lyrical naturepoetry was 3n inspiration to Thomas Cole, withwhom Bryant hiked in the Catskills. As a mem-orial to their friendship, the two kindred spiritswere painted by Asher B. Durand as they stoodat one of their favorite mountain haunts

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Although New York Ciry was moving uptown a:formidable rare, in die 1820s Broadway, neigh-

boring Bowling Green, was still New York'sntial quarter and a Fashionable mall

which, wrote James Fenimore Cooper in I828,with any promenade in the world (1). The

house at the extreme left in the illustration was

occupied by George Washington during the earlydays of the Revolution. At the time. Greek Revival

- in architecture, furniture, and decoration en-,.it vogue. An ideal interior in that

fashion was designed by the prominent contem-porary architect Alexander J. Davis for John C.

! \cw York (2). Another stylish interior

of the period, depicting a reception in 18 10 at the

Broadway home of Dr. John C. Cheesman. wasrendered in a silhouette by Augustin EdouartBehind its elegant Greek Revival facade, the AstorHouse, built on Broadway in the 1830s as NewYork's most sumptuous hotel (4), featured such

ordinary and novel conveniences as baths andtoilets on every floor, supplied with water raised bya steam pump. In l^ ; s Davis undertook to createa summer retreat near Tarrytown. New York, for

iam Paulding and his son. Philip. This timethe architect designed a structure in the Gothic

val manner < 5 I, of such an elaborate appear-

ance that Philip Hone predicted it would becomeknown as "Paulding's Folly." Fnlarged by subse-quent owners and named Lyndhurst, the buildingstill stands, one of the prized possessions of the

mal Trust for Historic Preservation. Some ofthe original furnishings made for Paulding in theGothic scyle are still preserved in the house .

The Style of Life

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Metropolitan Merchandising

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In the middle of the nineteenth century, house-hold products and provisions of almost every sortwere hawked about the crowded streets of \e\vYork City by a picturesque assortment of vendors,whose tries advertising their wares were pitchedabove the other noises of the metropolis. About1840 the Italian artist Nfkolino V. Calyo, a per-ceptive and sympathetic observer, made a sprits otwatercolor sketches of these colorful and some-times well-known hucksters. Young bloods of theFive Points district fought for the favors of the

wittiest and prettiest of the Hot Corn girls (1).Charles Brown the butcher (2 ) sold twelve poundsof mutton for $1.50, for which he was accused ofovercharging. Root beer, however, sold for three-

cents a glass (3), and Patrick Bryant sold liberallysalted oysters for a penny or two apiece (4). Char-coal could be had from the self-professed "biggestrogue in the world" | 5 ), and cheap ice brought tothe city from the winter's harvest at upstate Rock-land Lake ( 6 ) had by now become "an article ofnecessity." Strawberries were offered that were

"Fine, ripe and red!" (7).

113

Tenements and Shanties

Not far uptown from the fashionable residential

section, the city's Five Points, a name applied to

a district of slums, became a spawning ground forcrime, vice, and misery. The unidentified artistwho depicted a street scene of the neighborhoodabout 1829 portrays himself in the center fore-ground holding a handkerchief to his nostrils toallay the stench (1). Here gathered the worst ofsuch New York gangs as the Soap Locks (2), thePlug Uglies, the Dead Rabbits, and others whobroke the peace and one another's skulls, often inmurderous earnest, beyond the control of theprimitive police system of the time. Here, too, in

miserable tenements (3), lived the poorest NewYorkers. In the year I860 Mr. Peter Williams rana basement "ballroom" on Baxter Street where jigdancing was a popular form of entertainment (4).Farther uptown, on and around the present siteof the United Nations, a village of rickety andfilthy shanties (5) housed immigrant laborershired to level hills and valleys and to gradeavenues and streets in preparation for the advanc-ing urban frontier. As the accompanying illustra-tions reveal, omnipresent roaming pigs helped dis-pose of the garbage that littered the streets. In itsissue for August 13, 1859, Frank Leslie's Illus-trated Newspaper pictured a police roundup inwhich pigs were driven to the city's pound (6).

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I ) I\m Traffic

By theI treet traffic had emerged as one of

New York's most persistent and growing problems,a problem made more vexing by the proliferationof omnibuses that crowded the main thorough-tares. An illustration opposite ( 1 ) shows them

nd fro along Broadway before SaintPaul's Chapel about 1831. The limits of the cityhad already expanded to make the distance fromhome to place of business or main shopping centerbeyond convenient walking ranee, and such con-

nces had become necessary. In 1848 an F.ng-lish visitor remarked that all Broadway seemed tobe paved with them. As early as 1S25 an elevatedrailway had been proposed to alleviate congestion,and in 18 48 elaborate plans for such a construc-tion were drawn up '2. i ). Stationary steam en-gines would propel passenger cars along endlessropes; gas lights would brighten the way; and

elevators" would lift ladies to restful pavil-ions where they could meet their friends. However,another twenty years passed before the first "El"

actually constructedalong somewhat dif-Bf lines. Meanwhile, traffic worsened. At mid-

century one visitor from abroad observed thatwhen crossing Broadway, a perilous adventure pic-tured in a contemporary magazine illustrationher great concern was to reach the other side

alive.

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111

Water for the City

W R I V

1

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M B E R S

One of the greatest engineering achievements ofthe mid-nineteenth century, the Croton Aqueduct,was completed in IS \2 after five /ears of planningand building. This remarkable system tapped theCroton River, some forty miles from New YorkCity, and carried its waters over hills and valleys

to provide the metropolis for the first time with

an adequate water supply. High Bridge (1), whichcarried the water across the Harlem River, hasbeen compared with the finest aqueducts ol ancientRome in grace and strength. Extravagant dem-onstrations were held to celebrate the great event

(2), and New Yorkers traveled uptown to viewthe distributing reservoir, designed in the Egyptianstyle (3) and built on the site of the present NewYork Public Library. ".Nothing is talked of orthought of in New York but Croton Water,"Philip Hone wrote in his diary. As water pouredfrom city faucets, plumbers were in a position todevelop kitchen and indoor bathroom facilities inunprecedented ways (4), although it was someyears before the new conveniences became stan-dard equipment for the average home. Firemen,still enthusiastic volunteers rather than profes-

sionals, fought for the honor of being first at the

hydrants that were now in use replacing the old

hand pumps (5 ).

Gaslight

The main streets of New York City and Other com-munities in the state which could warrant the ex-pense were traditionally lighted by whale-oil lamps

set upon posts and tended by an appointed lamp*lighter (1). Such illumination, it had been com-plained, barely made the darkness visible. In 182-1the New York Evening P"

Early Railroads

o-*-

WHOLESALE STORELYON'S FALLS!

THE RAILROAD TERMINUS',A. H. TYLER & Co. would respectfully

announce to the Merchants and Citiens of LEWIS and adjoining Connties,that they have on hand and are daiy receiving A LARGE STOCK of

GROCERIES

!

DRY GOODS!BOOTS and SHOES, Nails. Ac.

Which they will sell at a small Advance of Coat.

Call A Examine our Teas !Look at our

SUGARS. COFFEES. PRINTS and

Read) Hade Uilkiis:!

^~_-T_ 1. ^'^

The Steamboats' Heyday

Less than a generation after Fulton's pioneering

voyage, the Hudson had become a broad thor-oughfare teeming with the traffic of its steamboats.At midcentury nearly a million people patronizedthe river steamers in any one year, as many as athousand in a single passage. Developments insize and speed were remarkable. A Currier & Ivesprint of the S. S. St. John suggests the slim andsleek elegance of these side-wheelers ( 1 ) . Thepress referred to "our mile-long steamers" thelargest to be built before the Civil War was 371feet longand to the "fastest boats in the world";in 1843 one sped from Albany to New York injust seven hours and twenty-one minutes. Racessuch as that between the Isaac Newton and theFrancis Skiddy were sporting events ( 2 ) , with thefastest boat attracting the most business, unless itblew up and burnt down in the contest, as did theHenry Clay in 1852 (3) with an appalling loss oflife. These were, as the press claimed, "the grandestpalace drawing-room steamers in the world," aboast justified by the rococo extravagance of thesaloon of the S. S. Drew (4). Within a few yearsof Fulton's first run, steamboats had also venturedinto the more open waters of Long Island Soundand the Great Lakes. About 1840 the English artistGeorge Harvey painted this scene at Portland Pieron Lake Erie as passengers rushed to board a de-parting steamer ("3 ).

**T!r*W**%,

124

Fanning the Land?r^ ^4;'

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Early in the nineteenth century. Washington Irv-ing described the fields of western New Yorkwhere the occasional pioneer farmer worked abouthis rude cabin amid the charred stumps of yester-day's forests ( 1 ). Reports that the land thus

cleared could yield prodigious crops sent the hope-

ful to that area in huge numbers to try their luck.The amount of improved farmland in the stateincreased from about 1 million acres in 1784 to5 million acres in 1821. Within a generation, theGenesee Valley was transformed from an unre-

lieved wilderness into "the granary of the nation,"

centering around the Rochester mills which, it

seemed, produced more flour than the world couldneed. Throughout New York, as in other regions,county and state fairs, such as the 18 16 AuburnFair 2 . .-.ere held to demonstrate publicly the

abundance of the soil and the industry of theregion's farmer | cattle, Such .is the

Durham bull named Archer, owned ( lonelJ. M. Sherwood of Auburn N > >, wereexhibited, and their somewhat glorified likenesseswere reproduced in farm journals to promote thegood care and feeding of livestock. Farmers viedwith each other demonstrating their skills; at leftis a competition among reapers and mowers, whichtook place at a Syracuse Fair in 185" < 5 ) . Out-

standing apples, such as the "King of TompkinsCounty," were celebrated in popular prirr 127

Rent Riots

In the 1830s substantial areas in New York werestill owned by descendants of the Dutch patroonsand English manor lords, a landed aristocracywhose tenant farmers leased their small holdingson semifeudal terms. The tight-knit privilegedfamilies held almost 2 million acres on whichmore than a quarter of a million persons lived.When Stephen Van Rensselaer (1) died in 1839,his holdings alone included some 700,000 acrescentering about Albany. Such long-established ar-rangements were an anachronism in America. Asearly as the 1760s there had been popular up-risings against that archaic system, but they weresuppressed. Now, in the 1830s and 1840s, anti-rent protests took on the nature of guerrilla war-fare. At the warning sound of a tin dinner horn,militant units of farmers ludicrously disguised asIndians wearing calico gowns ("calico Indians,"as they were called) would rally to challengeagents commissioned to collect overdue rents or toforeclose on tenants' properties (2). In 1839 Gov-ernor William Seward felt obliged to call out thestate militia to support a sheriff who had beendispatched as a rent collector (3). The country-side was aflame with grassroots protests against"patroonry." Mass meetings were held (4), andthere was violence and bloodshed. In the end thetenants won their struggle largely through courtaction and political pressure.

ATTENTION

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ANTI-RENTERAWAKI! ! AICOI*l *

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Publishing

THE SUN.Xlmbkr I.] NEW VOBK, TI ESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1833.

[Price One Penny.

PUEBLfSJIED DAIXY,X 22 J WILLIAM M' BI S3. H. Ml, PRINT! B

The Hjor. of this paper is to la) before il blic.ata

lce within the mean's ol oven on?,mi mi "'>'-- a1

,' J Ml h*i OMfflERCE, Capt. II. H;Fuch, willrftatS & :, .,- the > "f Cuiiriiaiidl St. 1 on,',,-.,..:.. : .,,., p. M.for .viuar,,,-...,..;.;*

During the middle decades of the last century,Vw York became the indisputable centei olAmerican journalism, with an influence that radiated throughout the country. Foi almost hall .1

century after ls. V) William Cullen Bryant, editorof the /..'.'. P u fearlessly attacked everyrhrc.u to free speech and supported unpopularcauses he considered worthy. In 1833 BenjaminDay published the first issue ol Tb< Sun i L), apenny journal that mixed sensationalism withdaily reporting oi topical developments. Soonafterward, the Scottish immigrant James GordonBennett followed sun with Ins \ew York Herald,Technological improvements in printing made itpossible to print thousands oi papers per hour inthe Herald's press room (2). Horaa Greeley (3)iwho founded the Nev York Tribum in 1841,was probably the most influential newspaper edi-tor of his time, .i man who was sensitive to moralissues and who militantly crusaded for reformsthat ranged from abolition and temperance tofeminism and vegetarianism. One oi the most en-during of these great dailies, the N< w York Tinu r,founded in 1851, was soon housed in a structurethat towered "upwards of eighty feet above thepavement" ( i). The Albany As - I *S ) was oneof the leading Democratic journals in the country.Across the state the Buffalo Republican I 6 | spokefor the opposing political faction.

,

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JUbann tonsl Dssr=ss-*i

Bl F I A I.O It E IM It L I < ' A >

Correspondents

132

The New York Herald boasted of its fleet ofspeedy dipper ships th.it brought news from over-seas in record time, picturing them in 1846 < 1 >,along with a Spoofing allusion to the linn's

"Chinese war correspondent" | 2). Distribution of

the published news was in good pan delegated tosuch children as Thomas Le Cleat painted in 185 Jin his "Buffalo Newsboy" (3). Visiting foreignerswere struck by the wild energy of those small city

Luis who, as one Englishman observed, rushed"hither and thither with their arms lull of wisdom,ar a penny an installment" | I I Another English-

man observed that America was becoming "theland of the general nadir, who had a strongaddiction to his newspaper I 5 >. By the middl

the century \'< w York journalism had alr'Outdoor ,///,/ Indoor Sports

141

Away for Vacation

The proliferation of railroads and steamboats madeit ea