City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Theses Lehman College 2021 The Dutch Atlantic and American Life: Beginnings of America in Colonial New Netherland Roy J. Geraci Lehman College City University of New York, [email protected] How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/le_etds/12 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] THE DUTCH ATLANTIC AND AMERICAN LIFE: BEGINNINGS OF AMERICA IN COLONIAL NEW NETHERLAND by ROY J. GERACI A master’s thesis submitteD to the GraDuate Faculty in history in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York at Lehman College 2021 ©2021 ROY J. GERACI All Rights ReserveD 2 CUNY Lehman College The Dutch Atlantic and American Life: Beginnings of America in Colonial New Netherland by Roy J. Geraci Abstract Advisor: AnDrew Robertson SeconD ReaDer: Robert Valentine The Dutch colony of New NetherlanD was one of the earliest attempts at a non- inDigenous life on the east coast of North America. That colony, along with the United Provinces of the NetherlanDs anD Dutch Atlantic as a whole, playeD crucial roles in the Development of what woulD become the UniteD States. This thesis project examines the significance New NetherlanD helD in American history as well as explores topics which allow for new anD inclusive narratives of that history to reach further exploration. Similarly to how inDiviDuals from various cultures, ethnicities, anD backgrounDs all come to exist amongst one another in the UniteD States toDay so too they did in the Dutch colony between the Delaware anD Connecticut Rivers. Through the Dutch Atlantic worlD connections were maDe which brought the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia together in ways like never before. It was of those connections which causeD an array of outsiDers to builD a new life upon the shores of the HuDson and beyonD. Overall, this thesis project shows that New NetherlanD haD a very real presence in colonial America, how the people within it were a Diverse group connecteD to a larger worlD, anD Displays why the colony, its inhabitants, anD their connections haD a lasting effect on the Development of the UniteD States of America. 3 Table of Contents Chapter 1: A New Role for New Netherland ................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: People of the Islands, Rivers, Bays, and Beyond .................................... 19 Chapter 3: A New Republic and World ......................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: Atlantic Creoles, Enslaved Africans, and an American Community ..... 58 Chapter 5: Establishing a Remote Colony on the Hudson ......................................... 82 Chapter 6: Rowdiness, Religion, and Social Welfare .................................................. 96 Chapter 7: Blending Continents and Cultures ........................................................... 115 Chapter 8: Vying for Dominance in a Changing World ............................................. 129 Chapter 9: Colonial New York ....................................................................................... 149 Chapter 10: The Empire State and Nation ................................................................... 159 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 171 4 Chapter 1: A New Role for New NetherlanD There can be many elements consiDereD to have harboreD the Development of an American iDentity, yet one of the earliest anD essential haD for too long anD often been overlookeD. This was the Development of something uniquely American in the Dutch colony of New NetherlanD with lower Manhattan as the capital of this process. While areas such as New EnglanD anD Virginia are often locations colloquially unDerstooD to be cannon of everything “American,” New NetherlanD anD its succeeDing regions are not often common in public Discourse. New York is the largest city in what is toDay the UniteD States as well as one of the olDest. While size isn’t everything in the founDation of America, New NetherlanD certainly helD a magnificent anD critical role in that Development. The American Revolution was the moment where the UniteD States of America became its own nation but an American iDentity was something which began to Develop long before that. The narrative that something uniquely American DevelopeD in New NetherlanD is both new anD of the present, yet it is also one which transcenDs time. New York anD its surrounDing area haD been in the UniteD States from the very beginning and what began in New NetherlanD haD roots back to the Dutch Republic and Atlantic worlD. The UniteD States of America is a country within the Americas maDe up of inDiviDuals holding backgrounDs from virtually every corner of the globe who have arriveD through every means imaginable over the course of multiple centuries. Whether those inDiviDuals arriveD yesterday, their ancestors haD four hunDreD years ago, or their ancestors in this lanD preceDe 1492, all within the UniteD States generally refer to themselves as Americans in some form or another. The UniteD States anD the inDiviDuals within this nation have a unique history anD web of histories, but that is a uniqueness which from its very nature is connecteD to others throughout the globe. This is the same for every contemporary nation in the Americas anD all share the year 1492 as one in which inDiviDuals from America, Europe, anD Africa all came into contact with one another for the first time. What happeneD in 1492 was the continuation of a process which haD alreaDy begun by European actors, but from then on the processes which 5 DevelopeD within those three geographic locations anD beyonD woulD be changeD permanently. This woulD come to incluDe many Dynamics such as power structures, genetic makeups, societies, anD cultures. Most of the lanD which haD come to encompass the current UniteD States helD minor roles of contact anD influence throughout roughly the first two centuries of these processes. During those first two centuries certain processes began in the Americas unDer Iberian influence which were similar anD connecteD to those which came later in the colonies to the north. One of those processes was the Development of a concept referreD to as mestizaje. In Latin American stuDies the term mestizaje haD origins in the 1925 writings of Jose Vasconcelos who envisioneD a society maDe up of inDiviDuals with the combineD ethnic roots of the Americas, Africa, Europe, anD Asia. IDeas on mestizaje thought came about again During the Chicano movement of the 1960s. As the years progresseD this iDea came to be stuDieD through various lenses anD is one much more commonly DiscusseD in the acaDemic worlD internationally. In his work Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico, Ben Vinson III wrote that the early twentieth century iDea of mestizaje “representeD one of the strongest moves toward imagining racial conformity anD consensus that Latin America haD ever seen.”1 The iDea itself is one Vinson haD calleD “one of the most powerful socio-racial iDeologies to emerge in worlD history During the nineteenth anD twentieth centuries.” He pointeD out that there exists a Difference between the actual “racial mixture” which playeD out During Latin America’s colonial era anD the moDern iDeological form which haD DevelopeD regarding the term anD processes.2 Both have valiD places in the stuDy anD Developments of racial iDeologies which exist, anD an important take away from the ideas of mestizaje both past anD present is that it counters that of a “racial” purity or superiority. What occurreD throughout Latin America During its history from 1492 onward was the mixture of people from various societies, ethnicities, anD cultures into ones with blenDeD attributes. The iDeas which exist surrounDing mestizaje have not widely been useD to Describe occurrences within the regions north of Mexico, but in the 1 Ben Vinson III, Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico, (New York, NY: CambriDge University Press, 2017), 37, hereafter citeD as Vinson, Before Mestizaje. 2 IbiD, 17. 6 contemporary era it coulD be a useful aiD in unDerstanDing both the past anD present as well as the interconnecteDness which exist between the two. What occurreD in North America, anD particularly the colonial anD future UniteD States, was not iDentical to that which occurreD within the lanDs to its south but many things coulD be saiD about how those processes were connecteD to a greater stream of history. This is a stream in which the nation that came to be calleD the UniteD States of America was most certainly involveD. A non-controversial iDea in the UniteD States somewhat similar to that of mestizaje would be the idea of a “melting pot.” This common term is one useD to Describe a people of many ethnicities anD cultures who came together whether it be amalgamation or assimilation into one single American. The melting pot analogy is useful in Describing the Development of an American iDentity, but it coulD also be misleaDing. Within the UniteD States there is a reality of one America which is known colloquially to all within it anD abroaD, that which has its basis in the constitution, government, anD shareD