History of New York State

A Brief Chronology

Part 1

Source

• Chronology & Documentary Handbook of the State of New York.

• Ellen Lloyd Trover, State Editor

• William F. Swindler, Series Editor

• Oceana Publications

• Dobbs Ferry, New York

• 1978

1609• French explorer and geographer, Samuel

Champlain, travels south from Canada an discovers lake which now bears his name.

• Henry Hudson, Dutch navigator, discovers the mouth of the river later named for him and claims that area for Netherlands.

1614• The Estates General of the United

Netherlands created a trading syndicate with three year’s trading rights in the region named New Netherland.

• Hendrick Christiaensen, constructs a trading post at Fort Nassau on Castle’s Island near Albany.

1621

• Dutch formalize the trading venture in the New World through the creation of the agency to be known as the Dutch West India Company.

• The agency was directed to “plant” settlements in the region.

1624

• First permanent settlement, consisting of

Dutch and French Protestant refugees,

established Fort Orange near present day

Albany.

• Cornelius Jacobsen May, as company

director becomes, in effect, the states’ first

governor.

1626• Peter Minuit, as third governor, made the

renowned “purchase” of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for an assortment of trinkets worth approximately $24.

• Since Native Americans did not believe that land could be owned individually, they likely thought they were merely exchanging gifts.

1629• Patroon system established which gave

large land grants to men of influence. They

were encouraged to create large feudal

plantations where families would settle

and farm the tract.• Feudalism -- the system of political organization prevailing in Europe

from the 9th to about the 15th centuries having as its basis the

relation of lord to vassal with all land held in fee and as chief

characteristics homage, the service of tenants under arms and in

court, wardship, and forfeiture. [Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary]

1630• Kiliaen van Rensselaer establishes

community on the upper Hudson River.

• The community called Rensselaerswyck, now makes up metropolitan Albany.

• Lands were leased to tenants and equipment was supplied to establish farms, breweries, mills, and brick kilns.

• Fort Orange established as marketplace.

1632• Governor Wouter van Twiller begins

expanding the Dutch claims in the Hudson valley.

• Van Twiller acquires land in Long Island, fortified the Connecticut River Valley and sent expeditions to the mouth of the Delaware River.

1636-1646• 1636- Jacob van Curler purchases land on

Long Island, settlers take up land along what will become Long Island Sound.

• 1638-Governor William Kieft alienates Native Americans by demanding payments, called tributes.

• 1641- Kieft forms “Council” of twelve men which becomes first representative council

• 1646- Community of Yonkers established.

1647

• Peter Stuyvesant becomes last Dutch

governor. He will hold office until 1664.

• Stuyvesant sets up a local council of nine

representatives who immediately petition

to Holland complaining of Stuyvesant’s

autocratic rule.

1653-1661• 1653- In response to complaints against

Stuyvesant the Estates General establish a “burgher” form of government in New Amsterdam.

• 1654- First Jewish colonist arrives from Holland. More arrive from Brazil the following month.

• 1654- Dutch annex New Sweden.

• 1657- Religious freedom granted Quakers.

• 1659- Dutch Reformed Church established in Kingston, then called Esopus.

• 1661- Arent van Curler establishes Schenectady.

1664• In settlement of a long series of

commercial wars with England, New Netherlands is annexed to English New World holdings.

• English fleet takes control of New Amsterdam and proclaims it the new province of New York.

• Grant is given to the Duke of York, who will later become King James II

1665• Colonel Richard Nicolls, first English

governor establishes a legal code which keep most Dutch laws, but terminates the feudal Patroon system land holdings.

• Long Island made independent from the settlement of New York, called Yorkshire.

• New Jersey, originally part of Dutch colony and the Duke of York’s holdings is separated establishing a new colony.

• Claims to Connecticut Valley are dropped.

1668-1674• 1668- Governor Francis Lovelace, 2nd English

governor, buys Staten Island from the Aquehonga tribe, a branch of the Raritan Nation.

• 1673- Dutch fleet recaptures New York.• 1674- English regain New York via Treaty of

Westminster.• 1674- Long Island conspires with Connecticut to

become independent from New York.• 1674- English governor establishes provincial

assembly to placate dissident Long Islanders.

1679-1683

• 1679- French establish Fort Niagara in an effort to influence the Iroquois Nation.

• 1683 [October] – First legislative assembly convened at Fort James [now the Battery].

• Assembly drafts a charter which provides for religious liberties, jury trials and elective assemblies.

• First eight counties established.

1684-1690

• 1684- Five Indian nations recognize the supremacy of the English crown.

• 1688- French Protestant Huguenot refugees establish New Rochelle.

• 1688- Plans to create Dominion of New England threaten New York’s existence.

• 1690- French attack Schenectady. Part of King William’s war in Europe.

1710-1733• 1710- Governor Hunter encourages 2,500

Palatinate Germans to settle in Hudson Valley.• 1713- Treaty of Utrecht ends hostilities with

France, ending Queen Anne’s War.• 1715 - Hunter approves law making all residents

of Dutch descent citizens of the colony.• 1731- French establish fortress at Crown Point

anticipating next conflict with England.• 1733 - Gov. Wm Cosby arrests newspaper

publisher Peter Zenger, charging him with libel.

1736 -

• 1736- Governor Cosby dies without a successor.• 1736- Absence of colonial executive combined

with conflicts within the assembly result in the emergence of a colonial legislature which had powers comparable to the House of Commons.

• 1743- George Clinton becomes governor.• 1743- Anglo-French war emerging in Europe.• 1746- Clinton appoints Indian Commissioner

who goal is to keep them loyal to England.

1746-1765

• 1746- French build forts in the Ohio Valley.• 1746 - Clinton treats the Iroquois Nation poorly

causing them to shift loyalties to the French.• 1754 - Seven Years War begins in Europe.• 1755 – French build Fort Ticonderoga.• 1755 – French and Indian war begins.• 1764 – English Parliament taxes sugar.• 1765 – Colonial representatives meet in New

York to protest the Stamp Act.

1766

• Widespread revolt of tenant farmers, led by Irish immigrant William Prendergast, broke out in protest against denial of political rights and practice of evictions at will from tenancies.

• Governor Moore called out regular troops to suppress the “Westchestermen,” but anti-rentism continued to be a political issue for many years.

1774

• April - When news of the Boston Tea Party reaches New York, citizens have their own party dumping 18 boxes of tea into New York harbor.

• May – NY Committee of Correspondence calls for a Continental Congress to be held in New York.

• November – Committee of Sixty formed to protest against English rule replacing a committee which sought to ask for grievances to be addressed.

1775

• April 20 – Colonial Assembly doesn’t send delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

• May 20 – Ethan Allen leads his “Green Mountain Boys to capture Fort Ticonderoga. First act of rebellion against England in New York state.

• November 13 – New York City occupied by the army led by Lord William Howe. How had defeated General Washington and the Continental army at the Battle of Long Island.

1777

• April 20 – Convention at Kingston completed work

and adopted first constitution of the new state of

New York.

• July 30 – George Clinton becomes first governor.

• October 17 – Surrender of General John

Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga. First major

American victory which will encourage foreign

nations to loan the Continental Congress money.

1778-1784

February 6, 1778 – New York ratifies the Articles of Confederation.

October 25, 1781 – Last battle of Revolutionary War to take place in New York with victory at Johnstown over British soldiers, Indians & Loyalists.

May 21, 1784 – At Governor Clinton’s urging, the legislature creates the University of the State of New York to support public education.

1787• New York appoints three delegates – Robert

Yates, John Lansing, and Alexander Hamilton –

to participate in a convention in Philadelphia “to

strengthen the Articles of Confederation.”

• October 27 – Hamilton, realizing difficulty in

winning New York’s ratification of the new

constitution, publishes first installment of The

Federalist.

1788- 1795

• July 26, 1788 – New York ratifies the new Constitution of the United States in convention at Poughkeepsie, by 30-27 vote.

• April 30, 1789 – George Washington inaugurated first President of the United States at Federal Hall in New York City.

• 1790 – First census shows New York state’s population at 340,120.

• April 6, 1795 - John Jay resigns as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice to be NY 2nd governor.

1797-1807

• 1797 – State legislature meets in Albany, formally establishing the city as the state capital.

• 1800 – State population listed as 589,051.• 1801 – State constitutional convention held, no

proposals were passed.• July 11, 1804 – Alexander Hamilton slain in duel

with Aaron Burr across Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey

• 1807 – Fulton’s steamboat travels from New York City to Albany in 32 hours.

1810-1820

• 1810 – Population: 959,049.• 1813 – Ogdensburg was raided and looted by

British-Canadian forces in War of 1812.• September 11, 1814 – Outnumbered American

fleet defeat British flotilla on Lake Champlain.• 1817 – DeWitt Clinton, mayor of New York City,

becomes governor.• July 4, 1817– Erie Canal construction begins at

Rome.• 1820 – Population: 1,372,812

1821- 1825• 1821 – New state constitution drafted, featuring

universal male sufferage.• 1822 – Hobart & William Smith Colleges

founded at Geneva.• 1823 – Joseph Smith of Palmyra reports visions

which leads to the Church of Latter Day Saints.• 1824 – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute founded

at Troy.• October 26, 1825 – Erie Canal completed.• 1825 – DeWitt Clinton re-elected governor.

1828 - 1836

• 1828 – Martin Van Buren elected governor but resigns in less than 3 months to become President Andrew Jackson’s Secretary of State.

• 1829 – Fanny Wright & Robert Dale Owen start Working-Men’s Party, America’s first labor party.

• 1831 – First railroad runs from Albany to Schenectady.

• 1831– New York University founded.• 1836 – Union Theological Seminary founded.

1839 - 1847• 1839 – William H. Seward becomes governor.• 1839 – Anti-rent disturbances resume in the

Hudson Valley and adjacent counties.• 1840 – Population 2,428,921.• 1841 – Fordham University founded in the

Bronx. First Catholic college in state.• June 1, 1846 – Constitutional convention meets

in Albany.• 1846 – University of Buffalo founded.• 1847 – John Humphrey Noyes founds the

Oneida Community, a religious commune.

1848 - 1855• July 19, 1848 – First Women’s Rights convention

meets at Seneca Falls; 300 attend.• 1848 – Millard Fillmore elected Vice President.• 1850 – University of Rochester founded.• 1850 – Population: 3,097,394.• 1851 – Several major railroads completed.• Hudson River RR., Erie RR., Delaware RR.,

Lackawanna and Western RR.• 1855 – Suspension bridge over the Niagara River

completed.